802/A Book in the Origin

A Book in the Origin
Date of Scene:	23 November 2023
Location:	Korma Chameleon
Synopsis:	More Midnight Tokyo data changes hands, this time in the rooftop greenhouse of Korma Chameleon.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Rashmi Terios, Usagi Tsukino
Tinyplot:	Midnight Tokyo

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It wasn't the usual kind of texting that Hematite does-- no, okay, it was totally the usual kind of texting Hematite does. In other words, businesslike with proper words for approximately three texts and then just the laziest typing ever and emojis and enthusiasm.

It resulted, basically, in a time and a place and an invitation to Usagi if she wanted to come, and when Hematite gets there he immediately de-henshins so it's just... Darien. In his school uniform, a little disheveled, hair not tied back. He's got his school book bag with him, too.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The benefit -- and problem -- of linking a telepathically-controlled Device to your cell phone is, you can text like you talk, if you also think like you talk. Which means Rashmi's texts tend to reply to both business and emoji lazy shitposting in full, conversational clauses. But the important thing is that she does, indeed, confirm that Nicomachea has finished double-checking the results of his number crunching, and has helpful information to disseminate!

Luckily, the place for the meeting seems to be on the roof of *her home,* so she doesn't even need to bother to henshin to get there; she just opens the rooftop door, and bops out in full winter gear; pale-pink fuzzy sweater, matching knit cap, and mittens to go with her favorite charcoal woolen skirt. Rounding the corner of the greenhouse, she waves brightly at Mysterious Boy Mooching On Her Roof.

"Hiiii Darien-san! If it's too cold let me know, the greenhouse is nice and warm."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi's texts tend to be a combination of voice-to-text hilarious mistakes, conversational run ons, acronyms, and emojis. In this case, it meant that she'd confirmed she would be there with a lot of heart emojis.

She hadn't mentioned that she'd be coming as Sailor Moon, but only because she thought it was obvious! For as tough as self defense class was making her, climbing up a roof without being spotted and having the cops called on her was just not something that Usagi Tsukino was going to be able to do.

Sailor Moon, who could leap buildings with a single bound on the other hand -

"Hi Rashmi-chan, hi Mamochan, sorry I'm late," the words aren't even breathless, which is a plus - the stamina of her henshin means even though she'd crossed multiple city blocks to get here, she's as energized as if she'd just strolled to a takoyaki stand instead. Plus, it's good for warmth, too!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Hello, Rashmi-san! Oh, really??" This last is to the greenhouse comment, and abruptly those generally honest-looking blue eyes are full-on puppydog plea, and his voice is so hopeful. "I was absolutely not thinking clearly and I don't want to wear that uniform anymore right now."

This as he's turning to greet Usagi as she's arriving and before she even speaks, or lands, or is in fact visible at all. "Usako! Rashmi-san just invited us into the greenhouse. And I just got here too."

Then he turns back to Rashmi and holds up his bookbag. "I don't know how much work it is... a lot, I guess. But I--"

He takes a breath. "I can talk about it inside."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Absolutely," Rashmi says with a grin, "and hiii, Moon-chan! You're just in time! C'mon." Leading the way around to the door and letting the couple in, Rashmi takes a moment to just *bask* in the vaguely muggy warmth and green-tinged smell of *growing* spice plants -- Up to and including a trellis of exceedingly fragrant roses, high on the back wall -- then shakes off her mittens and cap.

"So okay! It *was* kind of a lot of work, but mostly because it was a combination of math and pattern-matching; just going word by word is a *terrible* idea, in case the language is structured anything at all like Japanese, so that meant pushing entire chunks through the calculations a couple dozen times and looking for context clues. So... Sorry it took so long! But, it's done, and by the way I need to ask Hannah-chan what kind of treats you give to Devices, because he even used my phone to put it on an SD card!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi gets right up close to Darien, smiling brightly at him, and offering Rashmi a smile nearly as bright. As soon as they're in the muggy warmth of the greenhouse she drops her henshin - she's still wearing her school uniform, with a longer version of the skirt and leggings in adherence to the cold, but nothing that would have stood up to the chill outside. She inhales the scent of herbs and flowers with obvious delight.

"I'm glad I wasn't late then," she giggles, and then listens carefully as Rashmi shares her progress. "If Hannah-chan does know the treats, I hope she shares with us, because I want to give him one too! That's amazing. Naru-chan showed me the calculations once, and it gave me a headache just looking, and that was for one word!"

Whole chunks translated! She claps quietly, suitably impressed.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Oh maybe this is how Rashmi and Chrono look? Usagi's right up close to Darien, and he leans into her a little, grinning down, and he's starting to put an arm around her when Rashmi opens the door. WARM. WARM.

The wall of humid green warmth is like stepping directly into heaven -- something primal about Darien-- Mamoru-- seems to come alive, and he just breathes for a long moment, looking brighter and more relaxed with every rise and fall of his chest. He looks the longest at the roses; he's still looking when Rashmi starts talking, and it takes him a second to tear his gaze away.

His eyes might be a little too bright, but by the time he speaks, his voice is steady. "Thank you for letting me in, and thank you and Nicomachea both for your hard work," he says with a formal bow. Then, standing up straight again, "I wish I could have given you help with that earlier. It's nothing like Japanese. There are elements of it that sound vaguely reminiscent of roots from proto-Sino-Tibetan, but no cognates, nothing..." he trails off, then chuffs out a rueful laugh. "I can read some to you? I mean, it sounds pretty. It'll take me a little while to translate it into Japanese though! You'll definitely get copies, obviously, when I do."

He pauses. "So the thing I have is-- is more of it. It's just that a lot of it's going to be private. And some of it might be private to me. And I'm afraid of you and Nicomachea being able to use that pattern recognition to construct a, a basic dictionary, given that there's a lot more writing involved in what I have. Which is, uh."

Mamoru's voice lowers, and he closes his eyes. "I asked Kazuo if I should and he said wait on it, think on it, work on some parts. So if you're willing to do more, I have a couple of pages from the end-- it's Nephrite's journal, I think." He opens his eyes. "My name is Mamoru. The Shitennou, as awful and fucked-up as they are right now, are very dear to me. I want to get them out so they stop being so awful and fucked-up. I'm telling you all this because it's really hard for me to ask for this help, and if you accept the task, it's really REALLY hard for me to hand over the pages in question."

He draws a long, slightly shaky breath, and then ruins it with a nervous laugh. "I'm sorry."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Honestly me too, Usagi-chan," Rashmi chuckles. "I'll never have half the head for math that Chrono does, it's why I *need* Nicomachea the way he is. But there's a lot of times, he's *so much more helpful* than any Sari could ever be."

"...Mami makes the rosewater in-house too," Rashmi says gently, noting the long, long look Mamoru gives to that particular part of the greenhouse. "Rose hips too, sometimes, when Papi's of a mind to play with new styles of chutney."

The formal bow is returned, deeper, and when Mamoru explains the details of the language, Rashmi also chuckles. "I think I'd like that, sometime! ...Maybe when things aren't fifty kinds of panic though, and we have a bit to breathe, though? That sounds like some kind of fun relaxing time, it *deserves* full attention paid I think."

At the offer for more translating work, and the caveats therein, Rashmi purses her lips. She thinks about this through the rest of the scruffy, tall boy's confession, socking *that* away to process after the really hard stuff is thought through. Finally, she nods slowly, then faster as what seems like an equitable tradeoff takes shape in her mind.

"...So okay. First off, Da-- Mamoru-san. I don't *ever* want to break your privacy. With everything you've said, it's probably more precious than anything else in the world for you, so... Let's do it like this."

Removing Nicomachea's standby-mode charm from its chain around her neck, she bids him move to active mode, where he can hover in the air between the three of them. "Nicomachea?"

    << *BONG!* >> << COMMAND INPUT AWAIT >>

Glancing between Mamoru and Usagi, Rashmi nods, taking a deep breath. "Files labeled 'Moonspeak Translation Project' are to be marked for conditional deletion. Upon activation of trigger, retain translation matrix, but both input and output are to be deleted, immediately, without possible recovery. Trigger will be activated by registered Guest Users and *not* myself. Also, please register Mamoru Shields and Usagi Tsukino, currently present, as allowed Guest Users, with sole rights to Moonspeak deletion triggers."

<< *BONG!* >> << WORKING. WORKING. REGISTERING... COMPLIANCE. SUBJECTS 'Mamoru Shields' AND 'Usagi Tsukino' REGISTERED GUEST USERS. PLEASE TO PROVIDE DELETION TRIGGER PASSPHRASE. >>

Looking between the pair, Rashmi smiles, eyebrows rising. "That's the best way I can think of to afford you your privacy, Mamoru-san. I hope it helps?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi is solemn and serious as Mamoru makes his plea, and bright with delighted affection when Rashmi takes his concern so seriously, her body language filled with warmth and her eyes sparkling and this is all going so well -

And then Mamoru Shields is said, and she bursts out laughing.

Whoops.

"M-Ma-Mamoru Ch-Chiba!" She's doubled over a bit, her arms clutching her middle, "S-sorry, s-so-sorry, Ra-Rashmi-chan, it's j-just -"

Yes, she is laughing too hard to speak. She hugs Rashmi instead, just a quick and sudden hug! Watch out, she's a hugger. She manages to catch her breath after a moment. "Thank you, Rashmi-chan, that was - that was such a good idea, and I'm honored you'd even want to give us guest access like that for this, and just - it's just Mamochan's name is Mamoru Chiba! Darien Shields is his bad-guysona."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Their faces both change at that -- Mamoru's had also gone bright; maybe there's not so much dark energy now? Maybe he's been getting rid of it somehow, to keep having such honest, untarnished reactions? Or maybe it's just him when he's near Usagi -- but his face goes from vast relief and something like shyness to this frozen expression where he's not sure how to react, and then Usagi just starts laughing and he reaches up to rub at the back of his neck ruefully. "Yeah, sorry. I got all worked up and forgot that part." He sidelong looks at Usagi for 'badguy-sona' though, seriously. But then! "Thank you! So much!"

Back to earnestness, apparently.

"Um-- a passphrase? Can I use 'code 1-1 a-2b' or is that too arcane? Oh how about ummm." Mamoru shifts his weight, then laughs. "Chihiro. That's all. My passphrase is just Chihiro."

He takes a manila folder out of his bookbag and holds it out to Rashmi, then, and tries not to be as awkward as he feels. "So... it's on an SD card? And do you have a copy of it also for Sailor Pluto--? That you'll-- I just mean, obviously, this isn't the only copy of the map notes, right?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Waaaaaa..." For the first minute or so of the hug, Rashmi is just frozen in wide-eyed, fire-cheeked embarrassment. Butwhen she finally unclenches, Nicomachea -- quite literally -- chimes in.

    << *BONG!* >> << REGISTRATION UPDATED. SUBJECT 'Mamoru Chiba' VERIFIED. PASSPHRASE 'Chihiro' REGISTERED, LOCKED TO DELETION TRIGGER OF 'Moonspeak Translation Files'. >>

"Uhhhh. Yeah sorry about that," she says, finally returning the hug and managing a chuckle of her own. "...So it goes without saying, don't say that word in front of Nico-kun anymore, but also; since he's linked to my phone, that means you can send me a text with that word in it, and it'll trigger the delete. So... Now you have a permanent, remote nuclear option if what's in there is just *too personal.* And anyway... Ordinarily all Guest access means is you could talk to Nicomachea without needing me around. Naru-chan's registered too, I figured she'd make a great backup if I got caught without him somehow.

Mentioning the SD card, apparently, reminds her that the card exists, and the moment she steps back, she taps Nicomachea's central 'gem,' coming away with two cards marked with a tiny yellow starburst -- paint-pen, apparently -- in the palm of her hand. "Yeah I figured you'd be getting your copy to Naru-chan too, so the other one's going to Se-- Pluto-chan."

...Just how familiar is the redhead, that she can familiarize long tall and time-locked so easily?

"And until you decide there shouldn't be any more, I can make more as people need them. But seriously, I'm just happy to be any kind of help at all."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi is immune to the looks Mamoru is giving her. She considers - does she need her own passcode, or can Chihiro be hers too? It's Mamochan's top secret journal belonging to his good evil friend, after all. But... maybe it would be a good idea to have another code. In case something happening, and Mamochan needed her to do it for him?

"Can my passcode be..." and she hesitates, trying to think of something she would remember but not say too often, something more complex than coffee and cream, something that wouldn't come up too often in conversation... "Um... umm... bodhisattva?"

Don't look at her! She has been doing a little reading, okay? Getting back in touch with some of the Buddhist philosophy she'd kind of let slip by before she knew rebirth was real and reincarnation was a real, definitely happening thing and not just a sign someone was hitting on her.

"Pluto-chan will definitely be a good person to have a copy of this part," Usagi says, though she looks very curious at the near slip. "If we get the right heads together, we'll definitely be able to pull through!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's habitually not a very tactile person (though one would never guess it watching him with Certain People), but if he were he'd also want to hug Rashmi. Instead, his hand's over the center of his chest, and he's smiling.

"Thank you again and again. And thank you, too, Nicomachea," he says, and then he sets his bag down to take out the literal zip paper datebook he's got in there, and that's what this nerd puts the SD card in.

Given he's met Pluto once and she offered to hide him and his friends where nobody could find them and it didn't sound like a death threat, he's honestly not sure what to make of the school nurse, nevermind what Rashmi's actual relationship with her is. The slip-up glides on past him.

"The map isn't my call, I didn't acquire it," he says, though, "for the record, not that it really matters. I'm so glad you're so willing to help."

Irony? What irony?

Mamoru absolutely looks at Usagi with her bodhisattva, blinking. Not a word he expected to hear today in a greenhouse from his girlfriend. But then she's cheering and he grins again. "I've been telling Inai-sensei all along that you'd all make sure it was stopped, that it would ultimately fail. I believe in you."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
<< *BONG!* >> << PASSPHRASE 'Bodhisattva' REGISTERED, GUEST USER 'Usagi Tsukino.' IT IS A PLEASURE AND HONOR TO DISCOVER NEW MEANS TO FULFILL MY DESIGN PURPOSE. >>

From aflame with embarrassment, Rashmi's dark cheeks now pinken under the *happiness* her efforts have brought to her friends. "You're welcome, both of you. I'll let Chrono know too, and let me know what's on the other pages if it's not personal? I gotta admit, kiiiiinda curious."

Which apparently reminds her of something, and she starts to sway back and forth on her feet. "Oh and uh... Sorry about the other day? I was gonna join you guys for lunch, but like... I mean, Jade Eyes is still gonna terrify me for awhile, so, sorry for just running off like that."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"The not-so-personal stuff, you'll definitely hear about," Usagi says honestly, because the stuff that isn't personal, that's got to be about Midnight Tokyo, and they're going to need as much help as possible to handle that. She feels confident enough to assert that much, at least.

The personal? She's letting Mamoru handle, with no pressure.

"Thank you, Nicomachea-san! We really appreciate your and Rashmi-chan's trust."

A little bow to the device!

"If you keep talking us up, some day we might not live up to it," she teases Mamoru, before shaking her head a little. "Not on this one, though. We've got this. We're not going to let anyone make a mistake like this. Even if they are as scary as Mr. Fire Eyes."

Naru-chan is more familiar with Mamoru's friends, and she seems to like them, genuinely. Usagi... will like them more when she's more confident that nothing bad will happen.