2777/She Wins and You Don't

She Wins and You Don't
Date of Scene:	09 October 2025
Location:	The Forgotten District
Synopsis:	CW: Profanity, fraternal violence. Takashi and Mamoru fighting's been a long time coming. Featuring Norie and Masato as seconds, and Hotaru as cheerleader. It doesn't end well.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Takashi Agera, Nephrite, Norie Okana, Hotaru Tomoe
Tinyplot:	Brotherfight

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It was a bright and sunny very-late-summer day, and then the clouds moved in, and it's like ten degrees cooler now as the sun is setting behind them. Everything looks grey, even the overgrown foliage growing out of doors and broken windows. Now and then a solitary beam will break through the clouds and bathe everything in sunset gold--

--one of those clouds decides to open a little just as Mamoru's stepping out onto the wide back patio behind an abandoned house, and the Prince of Earth practically glows in its light, tanned from all the activity over the summer, raven black hair picking up the gold in reflection, eyes bright and cold.

It's not Mamoru's bright hot instant fury, it's Hematite's dry-ice mist of cold anger, simmering in the background for too long as both boys dealt with their own emergencies and problems.

He's in a black turtleneck and skinny jeans and a white short-sleeved shirt, dirty sneakers-- and he reaches in his pocket to take out his pocket watch, and he takes off his glasses, and he gives both to Nephrite. As the sun goes back behind the clouds, Mamoru keeps holding his hand out. "Gloves, please," he says.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    The Abandoned District. One of the biggest marks of magic on this world - a part of the denses metropolitan area on the planet, the most hustle-and-bustle place imaginable, and yet mostly silent, as cars and people largely avoided it, though at least the animals had begun to return.

    "It's a good place to beat the hell out of someone." Takashi said, finishing his thought out loud. For once he was on foot as he walked with Norie out of one of Obsidian's Doors nearest the place they'd agreed to meet, after a couple weeks of passive-aggressive texting. Truthfully, Takashi didn't know how this was going to end up, or what he'd do in the end. He was just. Mad. Simmering mad, not combat mad. Annoyed mad.

    "Thanks for coming, Okana-san. This is really more personal, but... Sanjouin-san used to work for us, so he knows me, and of course you know Hotaru, so there's not a risk with my identity, but. I agreed to thrash him out of henshin. And as long as it's just us it should be fine. But since he's brought someone I should too, and I figure you're more than capable of getting me out if it comes down to it." he says to the younger gloomier girl.

    Riventon's dressed in blue jeans and a dark blue shirt, with a black collared jacket haphazardly thrown on top, only a single button done up. He's already getting rid of that and throwing the jacket over his shoulder as they approach. He also passes his phones (both of them) to Norie as he gets within sight range, which is an unspoken admission he may actually get knocked to the ground at some point.

Nephrite has posed:
Equally earthy toned, standing by in all his wavy-locked glamour, Masato Sanjouin nods. It's a quiet acquiesence, securing precious heirloom and fragile frames in business suit pocket-- dressed in the armour of the modern gentleman, given the terms. It's the perfectly tailored kind, offering freedom to move, if need be.

Such is the place of a Second.

Gloves set to hand, his expression lined with conflicting emotion. Part of him is dreading this, part of him knows it's unavoidable. Most of him, too, is an equal mix of concerned and grieved. Anger is there, underpinning everything, but it is complex.

Not so long ago, they were all at a wedding on the moon-- Riventon was the Best Man. Things seemed, for a moment there, like all would be well in the end for all of them. Masato sighed, turning his sapphire gaze towards the others approaching.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana is dressed in her garish white floral jacket and black T-shirt, and blue jeans with simple black sneakers. She thinks this is fashion. She follows along with Takashi and frowns a little bit. "Be careful. There could be a trap." she whispers. There probably isn't but it's in her nature to assume otherwise.

"It's...good...to accompany you." she finally said as she takes the phones and they vanish into the jacket and purses her lips, gloomy indeed but that was nothing new. Business as usual.

She stayed a good distance away, stopping eventually, to watch the .. going ons.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe had... to get a ride here. And it had, amazingly, not been that hard. 'I need a lift?' 'Why?' 'I need to watch two boys beat each other up.' '... Over you?' 'No, silly reasons.' '... Okay, have fun.'

There may or may not have been a Uranus-senshi-shaped shadow leaping off a rooftop nearby later, nobody would know... either way, she arrived with a juice box, a dark purple dress and a sunhat. The juice box was already opened and she was drinking from it and...

... Okay, she didn't REALLY think the reasons they were fighting were 'silly'... But she didn't want them to fight, either. And she didn't WANT them to fight... But... if they were going to fight, she had to accept it. And if she had to accept it? She was going to be there to support it!

So she held up two little paper flags that said 'Agera Vs Chiba 2025!' and one that said 'Chiba Vs Agera 2025!' The first was blue with a lil purple DNA symbol, the latter was black with a lil red rose on it.

Neutral.

And yes, she made them herself.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
As Mamoru starts pulling his gloves on -- tailored soft black leather, a second skin, a skin that doesn't broadcast his own pain if he's hit -- he says with a thin smile, "Brought you gloves too, Taka-kun. Have to make sure you can sock me in the jaw without feeling it. I mean, provided you manage to hit me."

Another pair of gloves gets lobbed Takashi's way.

"You gotta give Axion to Okana-san," he says, words falling flat on the broken flagstones and concrete, eaten by the jungle-like overgrowth all around the patio, echoing hollowly off the back of the house, and softened by the weeds. "I gave my henshin device to Neph."

His hands curl into fists but he doesn't step forward. "Did you take the rock out of Axion?"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "If it was somebody else I'd be more expecting of a trap or trick." Takashi admitted. "But Mamoru - despite being an absolute bonehead..." he interrupts, now that he's in hearing range "... hasn't used his information to harm me YET which is what started this whole thing. But being sensible about that sort of thing is why you're here. I'm sure it's the same for the fridge-shaped Shitennou hair commercial standing over thataway." he adds, indicating Nephrite by motion and speech.

    And then and finally regarding Mamoru proper. "Man, now it's a mix of pomp and circumstance and orders." he says. But begrudgingly, the gloves are a good idea, given Mamoru's whole touch-empathy thing, so he's putting them on.

    "Did you take the stick out of your ass?" he asks in non response to the gem question, as he tugs the gloves on individually. "I suppose not or we wouldn't be here. You always act like you know what's best, and I'm absolutely sick of it. You're smart but no genius - but you let it get to your head and think you can tell people what to do." Pot, meet pot and kettle manufacturing facility. "You think you know better than me which is, frankly, ridiculous and offensive, it's long LONG passed amusing."

    He does, however, pass Axion to Norie, and the angle it's at makes it hard to tell if the gem's in or out. "And if I give you the answer now, you might not go through with the fight, and frankly, I don't want that." he admits openly. "I just want to punch you until you remember we grew up together, side-by-side, and I've seen you change since you left Obsidian - and since you got all of this Prince stuff into your head." Or into Takashi's head. Or both.

    "Do you even know how to fight with fists anymore?"

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana purses her lips and finally says. "Good luck, Taka-senpai." she says as she takes Axion and pats it carefully, placing it into her jacket carefully. Stay with big sis, Axion.

She listens to the words being said back and forth as she watches gloves be put on. Okay. Good. They'll beat the shit out of each other mundanely. One will fall on their face and the stuff will be over and they can leave with pride hurt and nothing else.

Wait no she isn't that hopeful.

She instead imagines the other guy is here to help Mamoru cheat so she's watching you Nephrite. Fingers. Eyes. Fingers. Eyes.

Nephrite has posed:
In a point of confirmation, the pocket watch is briefly pulled from pocket, held up in plain view within opened palm, and then set swiftly away again in one fluid motion. It is mostly done for the sake of Okana's suspicion, and the pointed glance Masato offers in her direction says as much. 'Help Mamoru cheat? As if he needs help to sock his dickhead brothers when they're acting up.' The mutual expectation is very clearly demonstrated.

Masato's chin lifts, a small pick up in the breeze toying with his hair almost nonchalantly, but the tic of distaste at the corner of his mouth gives him away. Fridge-shaped. Well, actually, he was currently full of one of Makoto's delicious bento-- she put food into him very often these days.

He squinted. "You know, Taka-kun... I'm gonna choose take that as a compliment, only because you're about to get your teeth knocked loose." His tongue clicked. "With any luck, you won't be able to talk as much crap, after that."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe was expecting them to fight like brothers, so... Not cheating, so much as... angrily, viciously, and meanly. They're likely going to be total and utter butts to each other, is what she expects.

She, admittedly, didn't know how well this was all going to work in the end. But she really DID want to believe in the both of them. They were brothers. And love triumphed over all, right! She was here now, and if anything was proof of that, she was. Heck, she shouldn't even be here! So that was proof enough in her eyes.

As it was? She just waved her flags.

"Remember, you two, I want a good, clean fight. No eye gouging, between the legs or sparkles!" Hotaru called out. "And when all is said and done, leave it on the field in the end!"

And she really, really hoped they could, and would.

They... were both good people, in her eyes. They'd both been there for her. And she wanted, desperately, to believe this wouldn't be the end of their relationship.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yeah I've changed, and you KNOW why-- I'm happy and like just a couple months ago you were happy for me and then all of a sudden you saw another dimension where the world ended and that version of me didn't, and was successful without you, and just because I'm not a magitech and superscience genius doesn't mean I'm not a genius at all, you biased fuck! You're literally just jealous of me because of shit someone else did in another dimension and you're afraid you're not as cool as your big brother. I've ALWAYS been bossy. I've ALWAYS been like this, except I used to be dismal about it. You'd rather I didn't shine so bright. It makes you feel small, no matter how many times over you could turn me into a fine red mist in henshin."

Mamoru takes a breath, that Hematite cold melting into Mamoru's old overemotional heat, the color high in his face and his eyes overbright. "AND DO YOU KNOW WHY you can't just BE HAPPY for me being happy? It's because of the dark energy! It's always been bad for you! It's literally the only thing that's holding you back from shining bright too, and I didn't KNOW that until I had it and then didn't have it, it fucks with you, Takashi! I'm so pissed at you, thinking dark energy is what makes you special, when it is such a handicap to you--"

He takes a deeper breath and closes his eyes tight, shaking his head fast, and he says, "No," and he looks up, "No, it's fucked with you enough that you cannot actually comprehend why I am so against you using that thing, or even doing anything but destroying it! You can't comprehend it! You think you know better than me when the only voice you listen to is your own!"

At Takashi's last taunt, the prince makes a come-at-me gesture and he smiles and it's all teeth. "Find out, noodle boy."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi gave Hotaru a look. It was half angry (at Mamoru, yet still visible) and half a bit fond. "He'll be fine. You'll patch him up after. No blasts, should be minimal." He wasn't Riventon. There was always some dark energy he couldn't just lock up - especially with his Device away - but he was going to keep it locked up. Honest. He was sure.

    "Well, at least he brought the one capable of scooping him off the pavement and carrying him home. Although the mental image of Izou dragging him down the street might motivate me." he added to Nephrite.

    "Don't worry, Okana-san. We won't be here long. Sorry for troubling you." That was as much said to Norie as for Mamoru's 'benefit'.

    "You're happy because you fell into - lucked into - a bunch of stuff all at once. Hell, even in Obsidian, you lucked into your position. I clawed my way up, but since Seniorita Psychopath had an unbreakable fixation on Past You, even though she didn't know who you were, right to the near top of the food chain, and oh look - a free squad of people too." he says. That gets another look at Mamoru. "Meanwhile I started as not even a frickin' number in the Witches and worked my way all the way up - found my own people, lost some of them - watched you quit, Mami quit, Hotaru... well maybe she's actually better off now - watched one of them DIE. I carried a dead mermaid to the guy who saw her as his soulmate, you know that? And you know what caused her to die? That alternate-you and not being able to handle his own damn world's business so they followed it here. So you think that version of you was successful? I shudder to think of what you call success." Takashi spat.

    "You know, you always used to boss other people around, but not me. We were thick as theives. Then you found all of this past life shit, got attached to a bunch of other stuff, and now I'm giving best man speeches on the gods-damned MOON. And you know what, I should be happy for you, but you keep making that impossible."

    "Whenever good things just fall into your damn lap it's providence, it's your past life coming home to roost - but when I strive and work for things - when I dig through the dirt and reach out to contacts and make something that was destroyed work again, in my favor - you are still stuck in the past about it and even though the only reason you witnessed it at all was because I came to protect the other you and your half-adopted daughter, my neice, and I threw everything I had for your sake, and now I don't get to use it to benefit me because it makes you uncomfortable? That's not the you I remember. If being an asshole to me and bossing me around makes you happy, I'm sorry but you're just gonna have to be a little bit unhappy."

    "I do know better, damnit!" he adds, balling up his fist and stepping forward. "I'm not even asking you to accept I'm better than you - just treat me like an equal! You don't get to carry yourself as royalty and treat me as a damned peasant!" That's about when Takashi tries to show Mamoru how noodly he is - and well, he IS noodly, and keeping his Dark Energy sort-of in check, but he does at least have good form in the punch that is, in fact, heading for Mamoru's face.

Nephrite has posed:
The things Mamoru said, Masato could no longer deny were astutely truthful. Even six months ago, he may not have been fully ready to accept that fact totally. Not only had Dark Energy 'fucked' with him-- to the extent he'd need to addle himself with copious amounts of narcotics and induce star-based psychosis to even approach where his own head had been, then, power aside-- but it had left a great deal of gap between himself and others. He had needed to rewire his entire brain, and relearn how to listen to his heart and gut, and trust himself and others again.

That wasn't easy work, but the support he'd been promised (even after faltering, and trying to cut himself off from everything in California, and trying to corner-cut the process) had never been withdrawn. The rug pull never came. He had been the one to close off, briefly, because he'd had no idea if he'd had anything left to offer besides amends. He remembered that feeling of 'being suddenly too small'.

But for Riventon-- for Takashi Agera-- the Dusk Zone felt like a birthright. As natural to him as 'Nephrite' felt for Masato. And that made him much, much harder to reach, alienated from what little supports he did still have. Pulling further away by the day. Clinging to what set him apart, in his own mind, rather than being willing to believe in another path. Too much risk to that analytical mind, he supposed.

Masato steps back and clear, because he feels that fist punch gathering. It's not surprising when it springs forth. It's fitting that Takashi swings first, here, and for the face. Mamoru has become the face of everything Takashi feels threatened and abandoned by, perhaps.

Norie Okana has posed:
Norie Okana has opinions on dark energy, ones that.... don't spout from her mouth just now because she's keeping it shut to not make this fight worse. It specifically isn't her fight. What she does do is nod in agreement with Takashi's words.

Turning off dark energy is hard. She's made of the stuff but she largely contains it as Norie. Except for the bad feelings.

She finds past life stuff confusing. Nevermind her own problems living someone else's life in her dreams, she frowns a little and winces when Takashi goes in for the punch wait.

Noodle boy!? That's low hanging fruit, low blow! Below the belt! Hotaru do something! She looks at her! But doesn't say anything.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe was lightly waving her little flags and... admittedly, despite the fact she'd been smiling a bit ago...

She wasn't smiling anymore...

Because there were a lot of words there. A lot of words she reeeeeally did not like. Words that... really cut. Because... she could see truth in both sides to a lot of them. And... She... didn't want either of them to be wrong or right for different reasons.

And sometimes, being neutral, being in the middle, wasn't actually that easy. Sometimes it meant being torn in half because it didn't mean you were on both sides, it meant you weren't on either.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Sure you can use it, if I can tell MY WIFE that I have ONE BROTHER," snipes Mamoru as he half-catches, half-knocks away Takashi's blow. He swings a foot around to catch at Takashi's legs, shoving at his chest, hard. "You keep claiming we're still family but you don't trust the people I need to protect with my life with your fucking name. Why does it freak you out? Are you still butthurt that you have to share me or something? Because guess who ate the world over it once-- the other person I'm gonna tell, the ONE of my Shitennou who doesn't know your name is yours, the boy I'll marry someday after Izou does--"

The older boy snatches at Takashi's shirtfront with one gloved fist and throws a punch with the other.

"I wanted you to come with me! I wanted you to come with me, you stupid ass, I still want you to come with me, to be happy with us, to defend this planet side by side with us-- but all you can do is be sour that I finally stopped hurting enough to--" he screams at Taka, "--SET A FUCKING BOUNDARY!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    There are other people here, other things here, and Takashi is somewhat aware of them - but he's also grown used to having his AI around to help him pay attention to things around him, and without it he is a little tunnel visioned. Normally, that might be a problem, but this is a fight.

    And not just a fight with fists, but with words and emotions and a lot of pent up years of not talking through things.

    He's focused and he trained, too - though he's used to his gauntlet, to Dark Energy, to being able to parry things with it, and in a way both of these things show. Mamoru's foot is avoided, and the push at his chest is deflected, but poorly; the deflection would make more sense if there was energy behind it.

    "You know I don't want you telling people that for a lot of reasons!" Takashi growls, as the scuffle continues. "It's not just about me you pompous princely oaf! It's about not breaking the deal - it's about me risking my life pretending I didn't know Hematite lived next door, or what was going to hap-"

    and he's cut off by Mamoru grabbing his shirt and slugging him. Takashi does not avoid taking the first serious hit, which strikes home - though he moves enough to get more a fist in his face and the side than full on dropped, and glasses askew, he grabs the hand clutching him with one hand - partly reactively, like he might be about to try to drain Mamoru's energy, but the gloves are on and he doesn't want to do that now, instead he just uses it to grip Mamoru back so he can try to punch him again.

    "Happy?" Takashi growls as he tries another strike. "You forgot everything I did for you, the risks I took, the information I shared. I could have used what I knew to get ahead but I didn't, so yeah I think I'm entitled to some fucking secrets when KEEPING MINE DOESN'T RISK YOUR LIFE YOU FUCKING SELFISH PRICK. IT'S JUST SOME STUPID GIRL. THAT I SET YOU UP WITH IN THE FIRST FUCKING PLACE."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe started shaking the flags harder! Noooooo! Why wasn't love winning out?! Okay, wait, it was only the first few hits! She... she had to believe.

And... okay... admittedly... she didn't really think telling Usagi was such a bad idea. Usagi could be trusted. And the Shittenou. And, frankly, the out--

... Okay, maybe not the outers, she'd understand not telling them. But Usagi seemed fine.

And... dark energy was a part of him... removing it from him... would kill him. Even if he left, would there be a place for him afterwards?

There were things in Obsidian that Riventon still did, to help people... and...

Flag waaaaaaave!

Nephrite has posed:
A slight wince catches Masato at this point, not just for the verbal exchange, but for the physicality with which the words are thrown-- with more force and precision than the fists themselves, but full-bodied in motion. Hurling themselves at eachother in in brute force of instinctual pitching. Hurt fuelling attacks, but not in a manner that vents anything. It's almost cyclical; emotional hurt, physical response, physical hurt, emotional response, and so on.

Just some stupid girl, Takashi says, that I set you up with. That's the rub though, isn't it? Usagi, the great catalyst of change. Usagi, who loved freely and unreservedly. Many saw her like a beacon of unassuagable light, or like an unstoppable force of sparkledom, or whatever other heroic gravity and reverence her particular shape of potential destiny was sensed in her by others-- that Serenity-ness. Most people looked to her as a saviour, whether that was fair to her or not.

Perhaps the Wedding and Crystal Tokyo had refocused Takashi's lens on all that, and shifted his view of her too. Masato couldn't help but wonder, if in that brief time spent in a world without a Dusk Zone, in a world where that girl had become a kind of Goddess and Mamoru had evolved into his own full entity beside her, Riventon had clocked something quite confronting that he'd previously dismissed or, at least, underestimated.

Maybe it was as simple as Takashi recognising, on some level, that the people who did care for him... weren't going to give up on him. What that would mean. And so, the twist begins, the push back, the subconscious rejection. The struggle.

Masato watched on.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh oh I've done everything for you -- you have done what you could for me when you could, and I've done what I could for you when I could when you've let me. This is NOT ABOUT THAT! This is about you thinking this tool that was created with magic by the woman who actually literally tortured your brother is REASONABLE to HAVE and USE. This is about dark energy making you too stupid-- ooh mind your glasses, fuck, sorry--" POW! and Mamoru's teeth cut his lip and he staggers a step back, keeping from falling over, looking faintly impressed; the impressed fades immediately on processing the words that came out of Takashi's mouth back.

They've got each other's shirts. Mamoru outmasses Takashi, and outmuscles him, and he yanks at Takashi's shirt and aims a fist at his gut, spitting blood out to the side.

"SHE'S," he thunders, "MY WIFE! She's my princess, she's my love, she's my hero, she's this bright shining wonder that lights up the sky!" 'The sky' is punctuated by a shove, "She's the best thing that ever happened to this planet! And you won't let me SHOW YOU! That's when this started. You stopped letting me show you things. JUST LIKE THEY DID. You can't understand because you can't put yourself in my shoes because you won't let me show you and the dark energy has eaten your understanding of the social contract. The social contract that says 'don't use your brother's torturer's favorite toy'. You've lost your ability to even see which way is up anymore, and you don't want to understand because it's INCONVENIENT!" he roars.

"You ALREADY HURT ME. You already hurt me. You can make it right by letting us purify that thing. But Serenity should know anyway. WAIT. Are you fucking afraid I'd expect you to LISTEN to me when I get bossy? I've always bossed you, you just never took it seriously, and I'm not a prince in this life or a king in this world and even if I were I wouldn't expect you to listen to me, I'm *not the boss of you*-- GOD you wanted me to be powerless, you STILL do-- it makes me nuts because I KNOW what the fuck is wrong with you--"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "This is absolutely about that! About you not even being able to do a tenth for me, keep one tiny insignificant secret, as I did for y-" and cutoff by the fist to his gut which amazingly makes him stop talking, briefly, while he catches his breath and throws his glasses in the direction of Norie and Hotaru. His eyes are brilliant, shining, emerald green, just faintly glowing, just a little bit of the self-righteous fury leaking out there.

    But only briefly, as he pushes the pain and the rage back just a little - he won't give Mamoru the *satisfaction* of seeing him snap, using pride to control (in some ways) his native energy for the moment. "She's DEAD. She's as DEAD as your fuckin' fool's golden kingdom is. Gone! I MADE SURE OF IT, THAT'S WHERE I GOT THE GEM YOU TOOL. MAKING SURE THERE WASN'T A TRACE OF THAT WOMAN." he growls. "I burned things with even her likeness, I checked our databanks for anything that could let her come back, I DID MY DUE FUCKING DILIGENCE." he says before he tries to give the other boy a punch in the gut in response, the two of them gripping on to each other's shirts, hitting and yelling, more turning than actually jockeying for position now.

    "And you know why I don't want that future to be our future? BECAUSE MAYBE I DON'T WANT A WORLD WHERE YOU AND YOUR SHINING WONDER BLONDE ARE IN CHARGE." he says, bluntly. Of course, there's a followup, but. "BECAUSE THEN WHAT IF YOU CAN'T OUTSOURCE MORE HELP FROM ANOTHER TIMELINE, THEN WHAT, HUH? WHAT IF THERE'S NO OTHER TAKASHI WITH A GEM YOU DON'T LIKE TO BLAST YOUR PROBLEMS AWAY!?" he says, before trying to punch again, so that he's not only following up Mamoru.

    "Is that what you fucking want?! Prince of FIRST a dead past AND THEN FUTURE FULL OF ZOMBIES?! DO YOU UNDERSTAND I'M TRYING TO SAVE YOU? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?! IT'S THAT INSTEAD OF LETTING ME SAVE YOU, YOU RAN OFF TO A PAIR OF ODANGOES AND A PRETTY FACE AND NOW YOU'RE ON THE WRONG DAMN SIDE FROM ME ALL OF THE TIME." He yells. "This ISN'T HOW LETTING YOU AND THE BOYS DITCH BERYL WAS SUPPOSED TO TURN OUT."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe was waving the flags HARDER! And... ACK! Glasses! And... Her hands were full! Whew.

Norie for the save. Luckily, Takashi did still have backup.

And...He was DEFINITELY saying a lot of things... A lot of... things she did NOT like about her queen. Things that made a part of her want to rise up and take notice and she had to tell to please sit back down, it was okay. They're just working things out. Usagi was amazing, wonderful...

And a world where Usagi was in charge sounded... Actually... she didn't think Usagi would like it, from what she heard, so maybe not... So instead of focusing on that, she waved her flags HARDER AND HARDER! FRANTIC WAAAAAAVE! WAAAAAAVE! FLAGGER!

But huh... she hadn't known he'd done all that extra stuff with Beryl... But... probably not a bad idea...

Nephrite has posed:
There it was, in amongst the yelling and glasses abuse-- his wondering was on the money. Takashi was supposed to be the saviour, not the one who got saved-- and certainly not by Mamoru and his tranformative 'Princess'.

No, Masato had no desire to live in a future like Chibiusa's world, either, truth be told. Not for obvious the horrors they'd seen-- also he thought they were undead alchemical cyborgs, more than zombies, really, but that was semantics he could argue another day-- but for something a little more personally tragic. That Crystal Tokyo may have ordinarily been a utopian dream and their precious Earth flourishing in harmony with the people who lived upon it, but it had come at a great cost and continued to carry mystical debt for those he loved. The Usagi and Mamoru of here and now? It was almost painful to imagine them following that same course. That future was not theirs, it wasn't suited here. They would all forge something new, together, that was far more balanced and shared responsibility far more widely. No one person, or small handful, should ever have to carry such immense weight.

And the matter of Beryl... well, Masato could only shake his head as Takashi went on. Yes, he was seeing the shape of that shift, now. Not so long ago, he and Takashi had had their moment of honestly-- of acknowledgment-- and more or less affirmed that they would continue to have eachother backs where it really matters. When they needed each other, they would answer that call. It was subtle, for both their prides, but it was undeniable. They were friends. Masato had accepted that they would continue to be friends, and not just because of Mamoru.

That was why the anger struck deep enough to have his own fists clench, just now, listening to him.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
OOF. Mamoru bends in for a second from the hit to his midsection, and it's pain, but it's *just pain*, this is just a fight with his brother, a fight that's been coming for like two years. "GUESS WHO ELSE DID! VENUS! She ALSO kicked around down there, for MONTHS, scouring, using moon magic to look for traces-- and GUESS WHAT ELSE SHE DID IT WITHOUT BRINGING BACK EVIL SOUVENIRS OF THAT WOMAN!" Mamoru yells, shoving at Takashi to hold him at arm's length and just keep yelling for a minute, because that's where they're at, and he can go with the flow.

"And GUESS THE FUCK WHAT ELSE, you couldn't fucking PAY me to be king, I saw how messed up he was, I saw how much he hurt, I saw what it took to get them there, I don't want what it took to get them there! You're stupid fucking jealous over not even me, oh my god--"

Then he pauses, and remembers pinching Masato in the King's office out of jealousy.

And Takashi's yelling in his face still, so Mamoru's chin juts out and he waits until the tirade is through before lowering his voice. "You're literally just burning with jealousy. You're jealous! I don't know what even the fuck to do with how jealous you are! You don't even want to fight me, you want to fight Usagi for taking my attention away from you. You want to keep it secret because you're jealous she saved me instead of you saving me. You want it a secret between us because you want something of me that she doesn't share. Maybe you hope I'll come back and be on the wrong side again."

Mamoru hauls back to DECK his brother, blood between his teeth, scuffed and reddened and already bruising on his face, "I'M NEVER COMING BACK! And you being a whiny jealous baby is literally no excuse to USE BERYL'S TOY?!"

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "IT'S NOT A SOUVINEER, IT'S A TOOL. LIKE YOU. BUT DIFFERENT." Takashi says, the second part coming with a shove back. "I'm not jealous of anyone! Literally. Anyone. On. This. Earth. Or. Any. OTHER!" he yells, and it's not clear if it's because he's sure he believes it or just that he wants other people to believe it.

    "I might be jealous of how other people get TREATED sometimes because I work my ASS OFF and get NOTHING BUT GRIEF for it. BUT THAT'S JUST BECAUSE I DON'T GET WHAT I'M DUE."

    "I don't want to fight Usagi, good grief!" he says, pausing and acting offended at the idea. "I'm still happy for you even now, I just want you to stop telling me my side is the wrong side LIKE YOU JUST DID."

    Then Mamoru scores a really, really, good hit, and Takashi goes still for just a moment, his body moving with it, limp almost, before he snarls and comes back, a bruise already forming on his own face, with an uppercut of his own. "I'M NOT WRONG." he growls. "I'M NEVER FUCKING WRONG. AND YOU?! YOU'RE JUST MAD ABOUT A MAGIC SCREWDRIVER. YOU CHILD."

    Regardless of whether it hits, Takashi is trying to follow up with a punch to the gut. "You tell me how important it is to you, but do you understand what you ask of me now, and ALL OF THE FUCKING TIME? To give up on power the world needs me to have? And I have. I've been careful and slow and methodical and it's because I do care, and all of that means FUCKING NOTHING NOW?! IT WAS ALL A WASTE because you let her LIVE IN YOUR HEAD? YOU SHOULDN'T CARE. But I guess that's all you're good at now, letting random women and girls live in your head and DRIVE YOUR WHOLE LIFE instead of LISTENING. TO. ME."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe went wide eyed. Wait, jealous? He was...

Ohhhh... yeah, she could see it. He did kind of have... jealous energy.

Flag go wavey.

And Takashi DID get angry when people looked at other people the way he felt they should look at him... Buuuut... Beryl was pretty nasty. And she'd seen Takashi's things. Why was this screwdriver so important? He could make a better screwdriver...

And Takashi *was* on the wrong side. They both knew that. When she was Firefly they knew that! That was half the point of them being there, to STOP the worst people from being so bad and...

And she puffed up her cheeks a bit. SHE WAS NOT A RANDOM GIRL! Grrrrr... Close her eyes and FRIENDSHIP FLAG WAVE LET LOVE WIIIIIIIIIN! FLAIIIIIL!

Nephrite has posed:
Hotaru's flags sure were waving hard, over there. Masato understood the position she was in here. She was trying very hard, in her own way, to be as supportive as possible given this entire situation.

The little semantic stops and struggles were shoring up in Masato's mind, however. Notes, shaping up future interactions-- not plans to be disingenuous or manipulative, but a framework for how to phrase things, and where certain language might provide more of a help or hinderance. Mapping out Takashi's more volatile fissures of ego currently were.

Adn here again, another confirmation to his previous thought-- 'Do you understand what you ask of me now? To give up on power the world needs me to have?' No. Closer to the truth, it was Power Takashi needed hismelf to have. That was a critical abstraction, though, and part of the phantasm of self-control.

His arms folded over his chest, blue eyes following the ranting other boys as they continued.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Of all the awful things, Mamoru starts sputtering laughing, wiping blood from his chin and weaving to his left to dodge the uppercut, then twisting his body and clenching his abdomen like Houdini and just soaking that punch. There is a low whoof but then he's grabbing Takashi again and trying to throw him to the ground, and he yells, "It's called a PART-NER-SHIP you-- WOW wait--"

He's not laugh-yelling anymore, he's honestly realizing his privilege wholesale, no matter what it cost him, and he's solemn for a second. But this might be worse than the laughter, "--god you poor thing you really don't-- yeah, it's not fair you didn't get to also be a dead prince from another life who did admittedly have the benefit of a brilliant childhood and loving if unavailable parents -- you really don't actually get what a partnership entails. That's not your fault. The dark energy's not your fault. But I mean--"

If Takashi is still up, he kicks at his legs again, he's trying to get him on the ground. "It sure does making you see reason a pain in the ass. I've been so careful for two years, never telling you HOW WRONG YOU WERE because I knew you'd stop listening to me even a little bit, but see how well that's worked out for me-- you can't even figure out what's wrong with using that shit like YEAH I'M FUCKING UPSET ABOUT IT, it's WHY I'M FIGHTING! YOU'RE fighting because YOU! ARE! JEALOUS!

"You're jealous of me being happy without you, you're jealous of Usagi for getting my attention and trust and love, you are so-ho-ho-ho-ho jealous listen buddy love is not a pie no matter whether romantic or fraternal-- and now you're mad because I'm telling you you're wrong in multiple ways! Wrong wrong wrongity wrong-- and your insults are now whiffing because I let that girl into my soul, and she is my wife, and we have formed a council of Chibiusa-caretaking with my boyfriend, I have more family I AM WILLING TO SHARE WITH YOU and yeah I listen to her, she wins and you don't."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi is a lot of things, but even IN henshin, he is not particularly hard to throw around or shift. Out of it, pushing his power down, trying to keep things fair, he is every bit as light as he should be, and he gets thrown to the ground as Mamoru yells about partners. He gets up quick enough to get kicked back down by Mamoru's followup, yelling about reason. No matter how he tries to keep it down, Dark Energy is in him - it IS him - and it's boiling now, as Mamoru keeps telling him that he is wrong, that he thought he was wrong.

    All of the other words, even calling him jealous, those strike at Takashi-the-boy, but being told he's wrong so keenly strike at Takashi-the-boy and Riventon-the-Self-Appointed-Savior both. With each repition and declaration, Takashi finds it harder to focus, harder to keep himself fully here, and not succumb to a beast he is often rather good at keeping down, considering the situation in his spirit. If he lets the monster out he really will lose. He has to tell himself that, like a mantra, he can't prove everyone who says he can't control it right, he can't go off without Axion, he can't detonate in front of Hotaru, Norie, and Nephrite... but it's clearly taking a lot. There's bits of Dark Energy condensing into oil-like droplets momentarily on his hands before evaporating as he digs into the ground to right himself, small purple glints that wink into existence for only a moment.

    And there's that voice, now, in the back of his head, that urging. How would anyone be able to say he 'lost' if he 'broke them all', snapped them like twigs, stopped holding back for the fear of their weakness? Like a toxic whisper in his hearing. If Mamoru wants to use his words to call him wrong, what right has the other boy to continue speaking? He should be shut up for good.

    It's just too much. The voice wins. The boiling blood wins. The Dusk Zone and Dark Energy win out over even Takashi Agera's pride. As everyone but him might have expected they would.

    He rises from the ground, supernaturally fast, that energy condensing into an aura as it flows through him, and he grabs Mamoru by the shirt and hoists him well off the ground. And now where Takashi Agera once was is Riventon - no henshin, no Device, no lab coat, but clearly Riventon, Dark Energy only, like an inky fog around him. Mamoru's too close, but there are seconds and Riventon's aware enough to know that, so he doesn't even speak before he just HURLS the other boy into the ground in Masato's direction - hard enough to make a human body out of henshin bounce a few times - whether throwing him at Masato is a semi-conscious attempt to soften the blows, provide Mamoru more imediate support, or just try to take out Masato by bowling him over with his charge is unclear, even to him.

    "FUCK YOU." he yells. "FUCK YOU, FUCK HER, FUCK YOUR FAMILY, FUCK YOUR FUTURE AND YOUR PAST AND ALTERNATE TIMELINES AND EVERYTHING ELSE."

    He is fast - he is so much faster than he's ever moved, that even he thought he could move, driven, raging, angry - he is acting before thinking, without thinking in an instant, over by Norie, wresting his Device from her, ripping it out of her hands. So he can rip the gem out and throw it at Mamoru - and then blasting it (and quite possibly people nearby) with an uncontrolled surge of Dark Energy - not an attack, just an unleashing of pure dark-emotion powered rage-energy, to shatter it himself. "Do whatever, I don't give a FUCK. I don't need anyone who will speak to me that way. No friend or brother of mine!" he growls out, before leaving with Norie in a Duskport that's so uncontrolled and violent it seems to more rip into the Dusk Zone than step into it, unleashing a surge of energy that, frankly, might count as yet another attack.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Hotaru Tomoe cringed with every word, just... It was getting so vicious. So... Was this really how they worked things out? How they fought? She was...

Her arms lowered and... they were tired, but that wasn't why she stopped cheering. She just... couldn't. Not even in pretend. This? This wasn't fun.

And she didn't... think Mamoru was entirely right... but she didn't think he was entirely wrong, either... And seeing it get so violent and brutal, she didn't know how they could be okay after this.

If someone talked to her like this, she'd... want to cry. She'd--

And then Takashi broke the rules.

Dark energy overwhelmed him. And she froze. And she couldn't move. She stared. Eyes wide with horror. She needed to act, to move, but she couldn't...

She felt that cold, icy chill was over her, as Takashi's flag dropped from her hand, and Saturn's pen appeared in its place.

The gem was torn out, and her body was moving, but not by her will. And the gem exploded, the ripples washing over her, even the unfocused blast enough to make her stumble back a little, digging her glaive into the ground... Before she lunged at him...

And when he tore a hole in reality, the last, final attack, the blast came through... And she had no choice. "Silence wall!" she called, digging her glaive into the ground, butt first. And forming a wall of silence between them and him...

And it wasn't the confused, hurting eyes of Hotaru that looked back at Riventon when he disappeared... But the cold, unshaking eyes of Saturn that watched him disappear... and didn't move from her position, holding the wall up until the threat was gone. "My king?" she asked. Not senpai...

Nephrite has posed:
It was an incredible level of speed to follow out of henshin, and the tide of things turned far too quickly. Explosive words had become explosive actions, and the first real sign that things are about to go to shit is in the feeling of the weight of that condensed dark aura. It isn't a proper Henshin, and in some ways, that makes it all the more horrific to feel.

It sets an instinctual tension to him, and Masato steps forward before he even catches his bearings-- Riventon is there beside Norie, and suddenly, Mamoru is careening towards him. The heavy impact first bouncing teenaged body across cracking concrete and ground, the kinetics spinning him into Masato's reaching arms in an ungraceful and impossible tangle. There's no chance of halting that momentum, it's a purely bodily cushioning, Masato simply catching onto him in a vague attempt to cushion whatever next impact will come.

Ripped off his own two feet, Riventon is yelling even as he and Mamoru break through what must be part of the abandoned structure behind them, the cracking sound of hollow brick and the splinter of dead wood from an abandoned frontage of a house. It's all just pressure right now, quicker than pain can catch up to his mind, but the blast that follows the yelling stings at the air with a malicious bite.

The stone is blasted, the burst of that like a flashbang to follow, and it is a damn good thing-- Masato thinks, somewhere in the chaos-- that Hotaru is here.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
He can't-- AGH, Mamoru rips off his gloves and starts to reach down blindly for Riventon's face, but it's too fast and he's too strong, and in the back of his mind he thinks, ruefully, that this could have been him so easily. This as he hurtles through the air, and--

Bounce, head on flagstone and crumbling concrete. He can't reply to the fuck-yous, he can't even hear past the ringing in his ears after he blacks out for a second and slams into Masato and he's gripped and shielded from the worst -- maybe? He doesn't understand Takashi's yelling, though he can kind of a little... oh that hurts.

Saturn's voice comes from underwater, under the remains of part of that poor old house. The sun has set and left them all, indeed, in the dusk... but the prince's grimace as he hears her question is hiding everything Masato can feel through his ungloved hand. (He is still hopeful. He is trying not to grieve in advance. He is still hopeful. He is in pain. He is grimly aware that this changes things. He still has a decision to make. Also, he was fucking right and he knew it.)

"Stand down, Sailor Saturn," Mamoru wheezes. "He ragequit. QQ, hehe... um, could you please heal Masa-kun?" His own fingers are digging in the dirt and glowing faintly as he starts to pick himself free of Neph and the wreckage both.

Then falls back down. "And hey Masato, don't. Let me forget, uhh, the pieces of rock. It's okay for me to pass out with a concussion I promise," he murmurs through his fat lip and closes his eyes, one already swelling.

"I won. Sorry you got hurt."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Saturn didn't lower the glaive until she was sure the threat was gone. Then, slowly, she turned to look at the two of them. She then started walking towards them. With a flick of her wrist, the glaive disappeared and...

She walked right past Masato.

She then knelt, to grab Mamoru, and try and see his wounds. And to try and heal him. And this? Was definitely different from Hotaru. He'd taught Hotaru. She was... definitely not like his methods, but the idea was the same. He taught her kindness, gentleness. Softness. Care. This? Wasn't that.

This was... she knew efficiency. She'd kneel down, and if he didn't stop her her? She'd make sure the wounds were fine, there were no rocks in them, that they were properly cared for. She knew how to take care of someone. But she didn't know how to *take care* of someone.

Worse? She was *trying* to help. But there was no warmth there. It was... almost calculated. He was the king, the one the princess cared for. Therefore, keep him safe. Hotaru had care for him, love for him. He was her senpai. But this girl? She barely knew who he was, aside from being the one her princess loved. But she loved her princess, and that was enough.

Still... this girl *was* better with her abilities. Stronger, more efficient, more in control. She knew what she was doing, from a strict, cold sense...

Nephrite has posed:
Mamoru's sorry that Masato got hurt, which is nice and all, but the murky thought Masato is currently having-- under the tidal ebb of 'holy shit, this feels so much worse without henshin'-- is whether Takashi will also feel sorry that Masato was hurt. Whether he does recognise, anywhere inside him, what it meant to have used that horrid gem in the first place after everything, or how the words 'this is not how letting you guys ditch Beryl was supposed to turn out' really reframed everything just so. How that stacked up against a claim like being there if needed, and everything Mamoru had tried to get through Takashi's ego-fog.

The real hurt here wasn't just in body.

"Rock-- pieces... got it." A tight, airless response in turn, throat squeezed by pain and shock. A verbalised mental note. Here comes Hotaru-- there goes Hotaru. Fucking-- "I'll just be here. Take your t-time, Hotaru."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Saturn-chan," Mamoru says with his eyes closed, letting her act with brisk efficiency, though occasionally stopping her with a hand and one eye open. "Thank you. Fast doesn't mean rough, but thank you. Anyway, sorry, I can see you need a bit of integration work on your memories." There's nothing but rueful affection and a desire to help, there, but there is a faint irritation that the boy who shielded him with his body is being left for last again.

He reaches to grab for Masato again, other hand in the dirt, and pointedly heals him while Saturn heals Mamoru himself. They can just push energy around.

Endymion's eyes stay closed and his breathing evens out as he focuses on syncing up with Neph's system and going for the worst damage first. "I'm sorry, Masa," he says helplessly, and it's more condolences this time.