1706/La Mer Arrive à Tokyo

La Mer Arrive à Tokyo
Date of Scene:	27 June 2024
Location:	Beach
Synopsis:	Following the indication of Grand Ocean's Mermaid Queen, Laura reaches Tokyo's shore and actually meets a few helpful people that are willing to point her out in the right direction. Unfortunately, things were going to well to continue without any snag, and Chongire, the crab chef of the Witch of Delays, tries to steal Motivation Power with a Layabout. With Puella Red, Cure Wing and Sailor Charon's help, the threat is abated, and Laura and Amy can go to Radiant Heart with their minds at ease.
Cast of Characters:	Laura La Mer, Tsubasa Yuunagi, Katsuko Takezaki, Mana Soga, Amanda Faust, Hotaru Tomoe

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Laura La Mer has posed:
Deep below in the oceanic water of the planet, there are seven mermaid kingdoms, freely accessible if one has the means and knows the way. But separate from that, accessible only via magic, there is a hidden realm, an eighth mermaid kingdom known as Grand Ocean, where its Mermaid Queen rules peacefully over her citizens, both natural-born and those she has gathered herself.

A few weeks earlier, a mermaid swam away from it on a mission. Fast forward to the present, that mermaid is not too far from Tokyo's bay, nearby a beach at the Yumegahama Ward. There just so happens to be very little attendance right now, but the mermaid is swimming through a small canal that leads further in on the beach, not seeing any beachgoers from her position.

Swimming at her side, there is a small pink seal with a red heart-shaped tailfin and two membranes of the same shape and colour at each side of its head. At a certain point, the mermaid stops to lean against a huge rocky pillar with a hole on top, looking around as if to ascertain she has come to the right place, unaware of any that might be noticing her right now.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
'Hey, Katsuko, wanna go to the beach after school?' Tsubasa was brave for suggesting it right. Asking his classmate to go to the beach, it means splashing in the water, cute swimsuit, maybe a frozen coffee at Gullwing? At least, someone would probably think that.

Class is out, which gives Tsubasa a chance to be on the beach and explore. He's currently at a part of the beach which is near the surf, but not terribly busy. On a string, he flies a kite, the teen boy watching it cut through the air currents above and just enjoying the warmth of the sun. It was a lesson on thermal updrafts and how they work as he glances over at Katsuko. "Make sure you get good notes, I'm sure we'll get high marks on our science project!" he offers to her encouragingly.

He glances at a seagull that's flying around the kite, and sighs. "No, it's not a new friend for you." he informs the bird matter-of-factly, as if it understands him.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    Katsuko did, in fact, not expect this to be about their science project. So she's in her swimsuit, on the beach ... begrudgingly taking notes. Though begrudgingly, she is at least taking this pretty seriously. "I'm doing my best." She yells after Tsubasa, giving the seagull a worried glance. Be a shame if the bird caused them to have to start over.

Mana Soga has posed:
    Normally after school, Mana would be tending to her plants in the garden club, but today was one of those days where the awesome weather would call out even someone like her. So after finishing up with her classes and checking on her plants, she went home to gather her things and then took a bus to the beach. By sheer luck, or maybe by preference, she had chosen the more secluded area near where other people were geathering but where there were not too many people gathered. Laying out her beach towel after getting changed, Mana sat down and stretched out to watch the ocean and blinks glancing towards a kite in the sky as it passes across her view while the sounds of the ocean fill the ambient noise around her.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The beach, the beach, the beach!

    Everyone's talking about the beach.

    A year ago, Amanda had no interest in the beach. 10 or 11 months ago, during beach season, she kind of had other things on her mind like holy cow magical girls are real and she is one. Maybe if friends had asked her then she would have had an awkward and nervous beach experience! But she didn't.

    Now, she's not so clueless as to suspect why she hasn't gone to the beach (or swimming at all, until Radiant Heart PE class) since she was a teenager (the first time.) But it's still, like... It's not somewhere her thoughts would normally go? In her mind, if dragged to the beach she'll either sit somewhere shady reading with a loose T-shirt on, enjoying the breeze, or eventually be coaxed into the water and have a good time as long as she's in the water but hating things before and after.

    But everybody's talking about it, and that gets her thinking. Is it... really... all that bad? And isn't second teenagerhood a chance she should take to try different things?

    Preparing is still weird. She doesn't have a beach blanket. Or umbrella. Or sunscreen. Thinking about it, sunburn is trivial for her to fix with magic, though. She only has her school swimsuit. Is she really prepared for this? Should she really do this? It would be so much easier to just go read manga, or even go on patrol...

    It kind of is a relief, to settle into reading manga for a bit once she's on the train. The familiar and comfortable is a break from the stress of trying to force herself to go out and do something.

    But eventually she reaches the Yumegahama stop. And she walks from there to the beach.

    The young redhead who walks onto the beach is dressed in her red T-shirt and black athletic shorts and sneakers and aviator-style sunglasses and a dirty old baseball cap with some foreign company name on it, carrying a desert camo military surplus backpack that says US on it, with her towel and stuff stuffed into it. Here... here she is. Uh. What now? She doesn't even have a blanket. I didn't think this through at all. I'm gonna look like an idiot I should just go home...

    The kite catches her eye though. She glances down to see who's flying it and... hey, she recognizes those people! At least with people she knows around she can leave her bag with them while she's in the water... she walks over to Tsubasa and Katsuko, "Uhh, hi! Nice weather today, huh? I didn't know you liked the beach." What kind of dumb question is that everyone likes the beach. ...Okay you're a counterexample but you're weird. "I mean I didn't know you liked to fly kites, heh." She smiles awkwardly.

Laura La Mer has posed:
Looking around at her new surroundings, Laura decides it's time to go on her way. A glance is spared to the group of other kids innocently playing, causing her to react with a shake of her head. Of course there would be humans. Not like that's her problem though. She looks at the kite that the bird is flying close to with curiosity. Why would they hold... Paper, she thinks that is? Why would they hold paper by a string and let it into the sky?

Not the time for dallying. "Let's go, Kururun", Laura says to her mascot. Now, how to do this... Taking a deep breath, she feels her transformation activate, completely changing her getup and giving her legs in place of her tail. "How do humans manage these things?", she sighs, walking along the beach, with a clearly unsure and slow stride.

"Now Kururun, remember, we have be on the lookout, we can never know where attacks might come or where we can find Precure", she tells to the seal fairy, who has started floating alongside her as soon as Laura has left the water.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
When he hears Amy, Tsubasa glances over to her and offers a smile to the girl. "Oh, I'm doing an experiment on how the air currents coming off the ocean affect the air currents over land with this kite!" he explains to her. "Katsuko and I are going to do a science project on it." he admits, a glance over to the girl in a swimsuit takink notes. It's not that Tsubasa hasn't noticed that Katsuko is in her swimsuit. Really, he has. Just, aviation is his passion. Just like fighting is hers. And perhaps, fortunately for Katsuko in this case, the seagull seems to ignore Tsubasa's warnings and attacks the kite. The kite crumples and falls towards the ground, and when he notices the girl on the blanket near the falling kite, he calls out to Mana.

"Watch out!" he warns as he yanks the string, trying to keep the kite from crashing into the sunbathing girl. It hits the sand, and he frowns. "Oh no." He holds onto the guide line as he jogs over towards the crumpled fabric and plastic. "Did it hit you? Are you alright?" A worried smile touches his features as he takes in Mana, hopefully the kite didn't hit and hurt her.

"Sorry, I told the seagull that it wasn't a new friend, but she's a new mom and was protecting her eggs." he explains.

And it is when he gets to his kite and collects it, that he notices the girl coming out of the water with a... "...is that a seal?" he asks as he notices Kururun. Lifting a hand in a wave to Laura, he calls out to her. "Hey!" But not sure if he should say 'You have a seal fairy floating next to you'. His group doesn't have any fairies, after all.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    Katsuko reaches out to hug Amy. "The goober asked me to come to the beach." She whispers, trying to be quiet enough Tsubasa doesn't hear it, "And all he wants me for is to take notes on his science experience." Then a little louder, "You here to swim, Faust-san?" The kite fails, and she goes to pick up her notes, then pauses when she follows Tsubasa's gaze and notices the seal fairy. And so does Zwillingrute, the oar necklace pings <GUTEN TAG>

Mana Soga has posed:
    Mana rests with her eyes on the kite still, not noticing the girl coming out of the water for the moment.. the way the seagull is attacking that kite has her full attention and fortunately enough, gives her plenty of time to move to the side when the kite comes falling out of the sky. Her blanket not so much, but even if it did manage to get struck by the falling kite, it's not like it would be the end of the world. At the very worst maybe a fray or a small tear, though the way Mana stares at the kite for a few moments might suggest otherwise.

    The young girl glances over towards Tsubasa as he rushes over, her eyes locking with him for a moment as she listens to his explaination of what had happened while she brushes off some excess sand she picked up on her swimsuit and hair in the sudden movement.

"No... It's fine... Really. Accidents happen." The girl replies in a soft tone, barely above a whisper once Tsubasa is close enough to hear. "You... Talk to birds?" Mana asks, before glancing back up at the seagull in the air for a moment, considering that before she smiles. I talk to plants... It's not that strange, I suppose. She thinks to herself as Tsubasa makes mention of a seal while looking out towards the girl coming out of the water, her head tilting to one side as she holds up one hand to block the glare of the sun.

"A... seal...? .. Sorry, I don't see anything." Mana replies, although the question wasn't aimed at her.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy quirks an eyebrow at Tsubasa's explanation. "What... exactly, is the experiment?" She sees the string jerk and looks over, "Oh no! Why did it do that?!" And it almost hit a sunbather with drilltails, she's probably gonna be mad. Amy shrugs off her pack, asiding to Katsuko, "Can I leave this here?" And is about to turn to follow him to the kite when hug.

    She isn't expecting it, and she's been tense and anxious the whole walk over, and hug.

    She didn't know how badly she needed that, and Katsuko is very warm from being out in the sun.

> The goober asked me to come to the beach. And all he wants me for is to take notes on his science experience.
    Amy cocks her head slightly to one side, confused. The lowered voice implies there's some reason Katsuko doesn't want this overheard. Goober, said in this tone, implies she thinks Tsubasa is being a dork or dumb but is still quite positively disposed towards him. And the second sentence is phrased oddly; not just an explanation of their presence together, but...

    While she's thinking that over, she's asked if she's here to swim. Still puzzling in the back of her mind, she smiles awkwardly and nods, "That's the plan! I've got my suit on under my clothes, but I didn't have a beach blanket or umbrella."

    Red eyes look away from Katsuko and then back at her nervously. Lowering her voice to match Katsuko's earlier tone, she asks, "Um... is there something else you wanted to do?" Oh! She's wearing a swimsuit! "I'm sure if you want to take a break to go swimming he won't mind if you ask. Do you know if he brought his swimsuit too?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
Of course that thing would be dangerous, the pinkette thinks internally as she watches the seagull's attack on the toy and it on its way to crash onto the sunbathing girl. They really should be more careful with those. At least, the incident is taking their attention away from her, sparing her the indignity to be noticed with her uncertain walk. Though, she really should have thought of going inside her Aqua Pot and avoiding them altogether.

At least until Tsubasa calls out to her. "Yes, what is it?", Laura says, immediately assuming a fully erect stance, only to stare at with incredulity at him when he remarks Kururun's presence next to her. "Of course, I have a seal fairy next to me. She is Kururun, we are travelling together while we seek Precure", she states without any kind of regard for the situation. "You are a special human, aren't you? Then you can point me out to them", she tells him. 'Finally! Progress', Laura thinks satisfied.

"What did that thing say?", she gazes perplexed at Zwillingrute, trying to make sense of what it even was. That wasn't really a language she recognised from here.

Oh. There is a complete normal human here. That is... ok, she got this. "Nothing you have to worry about, you can keep doing what you were doing." Masterful deflection. 10/10.

"If you are about to swim, the waters are a bit more pleasant over there", Laura says absentmindedly to Amy, pointing to her left.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Crouching down next to Mana, Tsubasa is working on collecting the kite, when she asks him about the speaking to birds and his cheeks darken with a bit of a blush. "I mean, sometimes they listen?" he asks with a hint of amusement and embarassment as he reaches up to rub the back of his head. As he takes inventory of the kite, he sighs. "I'll have to repair it back in my dorm room." he decides. Flying is done for the day. A hand is offered to Mana in greetings. "I'm Tsubasa Yuunagi, grade 7 at Radiant Hearts."

A glance back to Kastuko, who is pointedly pointing out going swimming and it flies over his head what she's saying for the moment. "That's Katsuko Takezaki, she's my classmate and friend. Thank you for your forgiveness for the errant kite." A warm smile is offered if she accepts his hand, he'll shake it for a moment and then push himself back to his feet.

He catches the tail-end of the Katsuko and Amy conversation and ohs. "I was going to ask Katsuko if she wanted a turn, but since the kite is broken until I can take it home and get it fixed, I... sure, swimming would be fun! I'm really good at swimming!" he admits.

Wait. "I am wearing swim trunks, yes!" he quickly adds, "We just need to go where we put our stuff so I can take off my shirt and put on some sunscreen and I'll be good to go!"

"Oh, I mean, I just assumed it was a flying toy or something." Him? Special? Nope! Tsubasa is still having a time with admitting the fact that he's a high-flying Precure. "We were just about to go swimming, I think. What's your name?" he asks curiously. Sure, she said she's looking for Precure, but she may be hunting them! There's a guy that puts them in mirrors after all! She may be trying to drown them?

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "Oh, Zwillingrute said hello." Katsuko explains to Laura, glancing to Mana with some concern. "He doesn't speak Japanese... like he understands it, but..." She shrugs, then Amy comes to the rescue and things finally head in the right direction. "Right, let's go swim!" She encourages cheerfully, "Last one in the water is a flight obsessed goober." She says and rushes into the water, heading in the direction Laura indicated.

Mana Soga has posed:
    Mana's eyes adjust after a few moments of still searching for the seal Tsubasa mentioned before she blinks seeing a seal-shaped balloon near the girl causing her to tilt her head... Then the girl speaks to her telling there's nothing to worry about and to continue what she was doing. It serves as a strong enough distraction that her mind glasses over the talking toy, for the moment. Mana just... blinks silently at that response before she smiles sincerely.

"Just... Be careful... You don't want to lose your baloon, right?" Mana replies before she glances back towards Tsubasa and the other person he was with as Tsubasa does introductions and explains that he attends Radiant Heart academy as well before she looks to his extended hand and freezes for a moment, thinking to herself. It's just a greeting.. You're already talking to him, don't be even more awkward than we already are. YOU ARE TAKING TOO LONG SHAKE HIS HAND.

    Mana reaches out cautiously, her hesitance to do so likely easily explained by being shaken from the kite incident. Taking Tsubasa's hand, she gives a polite shake lingering on for several moments before she pauses and bows forward politely, then looks to Katsuko and bows politely before she looks back to Tsubasa.

"Ah... Radiant Heart Academy? I attend there as well.. Mana Soga, grade 9." A short pause as Tsubasa tells the other girl they were about to go swimming, her eyes moving to the water for a moment before she exhales softly and then back to Tsubasa. "Sorry about... your kite. I hope it won't be too hard to fix... I appologize for making my comment seem like I thought it strange, about the birds, I mean. I talk to plants alot... I find it easier to talk to plants than people, most times. So I get it."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy finally turns around and sees the girl with a seal fairy. Wha--

> Last one in's a rotten egg!
    Amy runs after Katsuko, gets like two steps before remembering she still has her clothes on, steps out of her shoes, pulls off her shirt catching her sunglasses and hat in the process and tosses it on the blanket, and shucks off her shorts, then pulls off her socks, and... yeah, she's not winning that race now.

    She stands there awkwardly by the beach blanket in her swimsuit for a moment. With her height and build, a school swimsuit only makes her look even more like a little kid.

    "Y'know, I don't have sunscreen either. Can I borrow yours?" She asks Tsubasa while, at a slower pace, she bends over, sets all her things together in one corner of the blanket, and fishes a hair tie out of her shorts pocket to start tying back a ponytail.

    And she looks over Laura as her brain finally processes what was said. Ah. It has become a magic stuff day. "You're... looking for..." She looks directly at Kururun, then back at Laura. "...Why?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Are you serious?", Laura gazes at Tsubasa suspiciously. He did call Kururun a fairy, and why would that be the kind of thing that pops to his mind first. She doesn't believe Tsubasa at all, but her attention shifts onto him having mentioned Radiant Heart, and it having a grade. Of course, that is perfect! "Is that a school you just mentioned? Where is it?" Lots of people gather at a school, she can surely find whoever this Compact is for, then she will be queen!

"Don't worry about my balloon, she will be fine!", Laura replies to Mana as if that's perfectly normal. "She will just be around here for a bit."

"I am looking for Precure because the Mermaid Queen needs me to!", Laura replies to Amy, noticing the latter's stare at Kururun and labeling her special too. "Grand Ocean has been attacked by the Witch of Delays, and she and her lackeys are moving here now. They are the legendary warriors that can stop her, and that's why the Queen entrusted the Tropical Pact to me." Maybe, Amy will be useful to her, Laura thinks, and the Mermaid Queen will then recognise her worth!

"Are you having a swimming challenge?", she turns to Katsuko, a self-assured grin on her face. "What you have here is a real pro! I am gonna ace it!" she says, as she forgets her goal and rushes after the bluenette as best as she can, finding a spot that is deep enough to go in. "Wait there, Kururun!", she tells her seal fairy while the mascot looks at her puzzled.

In her favour, when she leaps into the water, she does it perfectly, with a fantastic forward motion that would have been a great start in any swimming competition.

Then she goes under. 1 second passes. 2 seconds pass. 3 seconds. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Just what is she doing down there. All that can be seen from above is a few ripples. Below the surface, Laura has sunk down while trying to use her legs like she would her tail.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
"Oh. I get it a lot." Tsubasa admits to Mana, returning her bow with one of his own. "It is nice to meet you, Mana-chan." he offers to the older girl politely as he shakes his head. "I appreciate the empathy. But when I get it home and repair it, it'll be right as rain." he promises. "And maybe I'll invite you when I try again." he suggests.

As everyone takes off to go swimming and Katsuko taunts him, he smirks a little. "I-I'll the the flight obsessed goober that isn't sunburned!" he responds, sticking his tongue out at Katsuko's back, before turning to head to where his blanket it is, with the assumption that Mana is probably going to want to join the other girls in the water.

As he fishes out the sunscreen, he hears Amy's question and ohs. "Sure." There's a quick underhanded toss of the SPF 75 to Amy as he works on removing his shirt and shorts, dressing down into a thigh-length pair of loose board shorts of dark blue and a lithe build of a chest.

He watches the girls go into the water. And Laura goes under. And stays down. And down. And... should he start worrying? He knows some species of birds can hold their breath up to a minute under water, maybe she's got good lungs?? Not gonna panic yet.

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "Oh that sounds bad. I wouldn't know where to find any Precure though, especially not on this beach." Katsuko answers Laura, she is in the water quite quickly. She notices Laura go down and not come back up and panics, diving down to try to help Laura up and probably only making things worse in the pricess, as she's got no rescue diving experience whatsoever.

Mana Soga has posed:
    Mana just blinks in shock at the sudden -chan and again when she's offered a potential invite to return when Tsubasa tries again, her face flushing a shade of red that could be described as "tomato." The interaction catches her so off guard that her mind blanks a bit at the mention of mermaids and other things... Not to mention she's not directly in earshot so most of it she doesn't catch correctly anyway. At least that's what her brain processes.

"I ah... ...I would like that.. I'm not used to people wanting me around." Mana admits in a sheepish tone before she glances towards the ocean as the girl witht he baloon dives into the water again in a way that's almost hard to not notice, her eyes locking on those ripples as the girl stays down and doesn't come back up.

"....Ah... is... is she okay..? She's staying down an awfully long time..." Mana comments to Tsubasa, before she starts moving towards the ocean as well while watching the others wait to see if the girl is going to come back up. She hadn't planned on joining the swimming, herself but the sudden outburst and excitement has drawn her in.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    The Mermaid Queen? "You mean Aqua Regina?" Oh dang is this seriously a mermaid who just. Came out here with something to deliver and she just tells any passerby. Aren't they supposed to have practice with the surface world? Wait, maybe that was just princesses...

    Amy stretches. "Alright, I guess today is gonna be a magic stuff day. Let's tal--"

    But then someone who, now that Amy's looking for it, runs like they're not used to legs, runs off to the water. Understandable, the surface world is no doubt strange and it's got to be nice to get to show off something you're good at compared to the humans, but... "Hey, wait!" Amy calls after, and then tosses the bottle of sunscreen onto the blanket and chases her.

    Pausing only briefly to shiver as her toes touch water. "[God that's cold...]"

    So the thing is um.

    It's a beach. If you're standing in water that isn't deep enough to stop you from leaping into the water, the water next to it isn't very deep.

    Amy makes her way over there and looks down at the writhing person kicking up sand for a moment, and then sighs. "Idiot..."

    She gently pokes Laura with her toe so she can find her with kinesthetic sense as she takes a breath and then ducks down under the water.

    Of course, trying to get a flailing person out of the water, with Katsuko trying to do the same, is probably a recipe for disaster... but Amy can sustain herself without breathing if she has to, and knowing that helps her not panic. (Although, knowing that and fighting instincts when her lungs are screaming half a minute from now are two different things.)

    If she or Katsuko are able to get Laura's and her own head above water, Amy opens her eyes again. "You forgot to change your legs back. Do you even have gills in that form? ...Are you okay?" And if she's not, well... more underwater strggling!

Laura La Mer has posed:
Of course, Laura can't actually drown, but that can't really stop the others from worrying since they don't know that. She does quickly figure out just what went wrong, but by then, Katsuko and Amy would have reached her, and if the bluenette and the redhead try to hold her and bring her upwards, Laura will glance at the two, telling them "Let me go", somehow a perfectly clear sentence despite being underwater.

She is writhing in the other two girls' grasp, discontent at having done such an embarassing mistake, and transforming again even as she is brought back up. "I was perfectly fine", she tells the two of them, now keeping herself afloat normally if she is let go of. "I can totally do this now, I just wasn't prepared earlier", she quickly declares.

"And no, this is Grand Ocean, not one of the Seven Kingdoms", Laura tells Amy. "Aqua Regina and Grand Ocean's Mermaid Queen are completely distinct people, and it's the latter who gave me my mission against the Witch."

Swimming towards the shore, she adds "Let's go outside, I have decided going to that school that was mentioned earlier is the best way to fulfill my mission".

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Remind Tsubasa to buy Katsuko a cookie or something later for not selling him out as a precure immediately when asked. However, he notices that Mana is a new and interesting shade of red, and he doesn't quite realize what he did as he's still figuring out '-san, -kun, and -chan', but it does cause his own cheeks to turn a slight shade of red as well. "I mean. If you wanted to. It'd be neat?" he asks Mana, which probably isn't helping him any, especially since he's probably about as social adept as she is. "Oh, you talk to plants? That's neat. Does it help them?" he asks, geuninely curious and not teasing her.

But his attention returns to the bubbling of the water. "Amy's got it... she's a responsible type..." She's also the oldest, so that really makes her responsible.

Right?

But then the trio breaks the surface of the water, and he lets a breath of relief out. Noone's gonna drown today. Finishing getting ready to swim, he glances to Mana. "Ready to join the others?" he asks, starting to make his way towards the water. And well, Mana's probably in for a surprise when she sees Mermaid Laura.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy lets go of Laura and stands up a few seconds after hearing her speak perfectly clearly underwater. (It takes a moment for her to realize breathing probably isn't an issue, then.)

    Well, she's just a little too deep to just stand, sort of bobbing up and down as she sinks and then pushes herself up with her toes.

    Not one of the Seven Kingdoms, there's also the Grand Ocean. "There's more?!" Well, I guess there's a lot of ocean... no reason the divisions wouldn't be as arbitrary as our own political borders on land...

    "Huh? What do you mean? We already are outside..." Oh. That's what she meant. Makes sense.

    "Hey uh." she treads water. "We could also talk here for a bit? Come on, I haven't swum in the ocean in decades, you're really gonna make me leave now?"

    "So, what do you think of having legs? Weird how they call them toes when they don't even toe, right?" Amy frowns. Wait, that joke doesn't work like it did with fingers when she said it to Hinoiri. Darn.

Mana Soga has posed:
    Mana blinks when Tsubasa asks her about talking to plants before her face lights up a bit, a small smile forming as she nods.

"There's alot of research that suggests talking to plants helps them grow.. I don't really believe they hear or understand me, so much as they get things from my voice like carbon dioxide or ..." She pauses, blushing again before she trails off, her eyes glancing towards the ocean and the group gathered again as she reprocesses what Tsubasa had said before her excitement took her off track. "It... would be neat, yes. I think i'd like that, Tsubasa-san." She replies finally, before she turns to follow Tsubasa closer to the water. Today is certainly not going how she expected it to, so far... It's not unpleasant, either.. Holding somewhat of an awkward conversation with someone she's never met and even being invited to join a group for swimming, on top of a second invite to join Tsubasa-...

    There's a brief pause in Mana's step as her eyes lock with Laura in the water.

"...Fish... ....That's a fish... Big fish..." Mana states fairly incorrectly and completely bewildered as to what she's looking at in the moment, her head tilting to one side as a thoughtful look spreads across her face, both eyes filled with a bit of confusion and just how /normal/ everyone is behaving while talking to her. "...Ahhh... Did.. DId I stay out too long..?" She asks herself, moving her hand up to feel of her own forehead for signs of heat stroke before she glances back at Tsubasa. "Please tell me you're seeing that... or I really need to get to a doctor..."

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Yes, indeed there is more, human!", Laura tells Amy proudly. "Mermaids are the numerous and valiant inhabitants of the ocean, and I am a perfect example!" It was clear that her confidence was as inexhaustible as her embarassment when she made mistakes.

"You won't find Grand Ocean that easily, though", she adds. "It's in a separate space compared to Aqua Regina's kingdoms, and only my Aqua Pot, Kururun and the Witch of Delays can open a portal to it."

The seal-fairy has actually swum back to Laura the moment she saw her resurface from the water! "Kururun!", the pink mascot exclaims joyfully, rushing into Laura and nuzzling happily against there. "You really couldn't wait", Laura tells her, but she actually has a fond smile on her face.

"Decades? You clearly aren't a day older than 14", Laura frowns at the apparent illogicity of Amy's statement before catching on. Somewhat. "Are you cursed? For how long have you been forced to stay like this?"

A blank stare is given at Amy's attempt at a joke before she disregards that. "It's so weird, how can stand having two separate limbs moving so weirdly? A mermaid's tail is clearly much better under every aspect", she asserts.

"I am not a fish", Laura hastily corrects Mana as soon as she hears she is being called that, she frowns. "I am a mermaid, feel for yourself", she says moving her tail towards Mana so she can extend her hand and touch her fin.

"So, anyway, what are your names?", she addresses the entire group neutrally.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Tsubasa realizes when someone has a deep interest in something. Mana is talking in many ways like he talks about aviation and flight. As she talks about how she communicates with plants and that the don't really don't talk back, he nods. "I would believe that a little encouragement from you would be helpful." he offers to her cheerfully as he was about to join them in swimmimg... just to realize that Laura has become a merperson.

There's many moments that mark someone's youth that cause major changes in them. First crushes, first kisses, first heartbreaks. And the first time a teen discovers magic. In Tsubasa's defense, he was six when he learned about magic when a pair of mahou saved him from plummeting to his death. But here, in this moment, he watches Mana's expression as she misidentifies what Laura is. And for a moment, he wishes he had a way to cloud her memory, because he's not sure how she's going to take it.

But finally, he offers a hand to the girl. Because it seems that she may need it with everything that's going on. "So... you know those stories you hear when you're young about magic and fairies and getting powers and fighting evil? Well, it's all true. And well... I think that seal balloon is her fairy, and she is yeah... she's a mermaid. Not heatstroke." he offers to her. "So... that's good news at least?" then he adds. "There's a lot of us about."

Yeah. Us.

As Laura asks for names, Tsubasa would introduce everyone in the best of circumstances. In this case? He keeps it to himself, except for his own name. "Tsubasa Yunnagi, Grade 7 at Radiant Hearts Academy."

Katsuko Takezaki has posed:
    "Katsuko Takezaki, also grade 7." The girl introduces herself after recovering from the reckless attempt to help. "And this is Zwillingrute." She gestures to her device. <GUTEN TAG> The device pings again. She's about to say something else when she hears her ringtone from the shore. "I need to take that, sorry." She rushes to deal with it, and not long after, she waves. "Got to go, sorry." And she gets herself ready to leave.

Mana Soga has posed:
    If there's a visual expression that one could corelate to a crashed computer or a looping record, it's probably the look on Mana's face right now as the mermaid girl not only gets angry - understandably so, once Mana will come around and think about it. - but also verbaly corrects her and moves her tail over to offer her a chance to touch it to see that it's real. The girls eyes just stare for a moment without blinking until Tsubasa reaches out and takes her hand which seems to cause her brain to un-hang for a brief moment as she turns her head to him and takes in that explaination slowly. Magic? Fairies? Fighting Evil and ... it's real? Her first - and probably most sane instinct is to roll back to thinking she's been out in the sun too long... But that wouldn't explain why all of this feels real.

    Looking back to Lauren, the girl steps forward into the shallow water and carefully reaches out, placing the tip of her finger on the mermaid's tail before she quickly draws back her hand at the strange feeling. She hasn't had /much/ experience with fish, but it definitely feels fish-like to her mind. ...Well other than the fact that visually she's processing what she's feeling as something completely alien to her. Once the initial shock passes, the girl extends her palm slowly to put her entire hand on the mermaid's tail and blinks softly.

"Oh... oh wow okay... not dreaming.. not heat stroke.." A pause follows, as Mana realizes what she said initially then quickly the girl bows forward as close to the surface of the water as she can in her kneeling position. "Please, I didn't mean any offense it's just.. ... I've never seen anything like this. I apologize if I offended you." Mana says, before glancing to Katsuko and her device as it speaks, her eyes blinking slowly before she smiles. "I ah... Mana Soga. Grade 9 at Radiant Heart Academy." She replies to the group as they start introductions again, then glances back to Tsubasa once more, having made note of the fact that Tsubasa said 'us'. "I feel like i'm going to need some time to process all of this." She adds with a somewhat nervous laugh.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Fish? "That's kind of rude. No one's calling you 'a big mammal'..." Amy points out. "She's a mermaid. You know what a mermaid is, don't you? And if they're not real then how come everyone knows what they are?"

    Beat.

    "...Okay, just um... yeah. We know it's weird that this stuff is real, but it is. Um. I kind of need to talk to this mermaid for a moment, though?"

    Amy swims a little closer to shore so she can stand, and waves to Katsuko as she goes. "See you lateeeeeer!"

    Okay, the mermaid is smarter than she thought and immediately tweaked to the implications of her comment. Cursed? Forced to stay this way? "That is, uh, complicated... But I got this body about a year ago and I like it much better than my old one." There is no quick way to explain this. Oh wait. "Um. I'm like the white-scale merfolk. But I didn't get to choose before. The... the magic helped. But there are also downsides."

    Amy looks pointedly at Laura's arms as she complains about separate limbs. "I dunno, couldn't a snake ask you the same thing? Or an eel."

    She stretches. "This body is perfectly-shaped for me, but I get that everyone has their own preferences for what they're comfortable with. A tail suits you, and legs suit me." Amy smiles. "Still, I'd be quite curious to try other shapes temporarily."

    She holds her hand over her chest. "I... am..." She hesitates, briefly. Which name to give? But she's out of henshin, so her civilian identity will be recognized anyway. "Amanda Faust. Presently attending Radiant Heart Academy in 10th grade. Pleased to meet you!" She holds out a hand to shake.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Hello, then, Tsubasa", Laura nods towards the boy. He proves to be useful as he deald with explaining things to Mana in her place. That's perfect, maybe she should keep him in mind. "Can you tell me more about the Academy now?"

Though apparently one of them is in a rush and she excuses herself right away. The bluenette does think of giving out her name though, and Laura commits that one to memory too as she waves at her.

"It's alright, Mana. I guess I can't fault you for not quite being able to understand up to now, but now you know, and that's the important part", Laura grins as she accepts Mana's apology. She recognised her mistake, and now she will remember it.

The mermaid blinks as Amy reveals to her she got it all wrong. "Uh, you aren't unable to age? Your body was older? Well, if you are happy now, that's all good then." She clearly thought it was the cause of a curse, and then it was not! What a difference there was.

"I have never seen eels grow arms, so that's not a problem that concerns me", she denies Amy's opinion. "Anyway, hi, Amanda. Same place then as Tsubasa. I really should go pay a visit next them."

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
There's a sharp frown from Tsubasa at Amy's comment. "Hey! It's her first time experiencing this, dial back the righteous indignation a bit! She apologized for it." he snaps at her, a sympathetic smile offered to Mana. "I totally get it. It takes some time. Ah. If you want to leave, I could give you my contact information if you want to talk to me or Katsuko or both of of us later." he offers to her.

Oh right, he needs to let go of Mana's hand, which he finally remembers to do. Speaking of, as Katsuko retreats, he waves to her. "I'll share my notes with you later!" he promises, "Goober." he adds with a smirk.

Now that it's out in the open and all, he's still not going to go changing into his Precure form, just out of an abundance of caution. And there doesn't seem to be an emergency at the moment that requires him to be Cure Wing right now.

But at the mention of the school, he considers. "It seems that a lot of what you might be looking for would be found at the school. I'd suggest, if you're interested, that you consider meeting with the staff and faculty for a possible tour to see if it's something you'd fit into."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    If you're happy now, that's good then. "Hoo boy was it quite a time to manage to realize that. You make it sound so simple, and I guess it is when you look at it that way."

    Amy blinks. "Right, anyway... you said you're the one entrusted to find the people who are going to fight for the Queen and stop the Witch. So uh... know anything about who you're looking for? How will you find them? How will you know them when you find them? Anything in particular you're looking for, or...?"

    She also briefly sticks her tongue out at Tsubasa, smiling. But then looks to Mana. "Sorry. I guess other people really didn't go through life always waiting for the day they finally saw the impossible, huh."

Mana Soga has posed:
    Mana shakes her head a bit at Amy, then Tsubasa as the two start talking about her. "No, she's right. It was rude of me to just blurt out that she's a fish like I did, even if I was shocked..."

    Then Mana glances back to Laura and stares for a brief moment before she smiles and nods as she seems to accept her apology before she exhales a bit. "I can't promise I'll understand everything going on but if there's some way I can help or even just offer you an ear, my door is open..." At this point, Mana is so taken in by the situation that she seems to have forgotten her usual tone of voice, even speaking a little louder than normal as she does. Once she has her other hand back, Mana moves back a b it, taking her hand off of Laura's tail herself to respect the mermaid's boundaries as well before she smiles at Tsubasa when he offers to share his contact information.

"If you would, I would like that... ...Not just because of all of this but..." There's a pause, longer than a few moments before Mana glances down at the water. "...It's nice talking to all of you...? ... That sounds weird, shouldn't have said that out loud..."

    Before she has time to withdraw from speaking, she blinks when Amy apologizes before she smiles at the other girl. "Yeah uh... ...this is a strange day for me for sure... I mean... Sure I guess I've always had days like everyone does where I might wish magic was real but I ..." The girl shakes her head. "I guess I just stopped thinking about it, after a while...?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
While they were speaking, a group of people had started setting up a booth in a remote corner of the beach. There were a lot of them, and once the booth had been built, they started hanging up all sorts of typical summer decorations all over it in conjunction with images of drinks, to end in a listing of names and prices.

But nevermind that. Back to Laura and the others, the mermaid nods at Tsubasa. "That seems to suit me just fine, I will be sure to take a look at it all once we are done here." Though, she is only really interested in enrolling for it as far as the opportunity to fulfill her task goes. With such a prestigious gathering of people, success is as good as hers!

"The Queen only really gave me these things", Laura tells Amy, bringing out the Tropical Pact and the Mermaid Aqua Pot. "The compact is what I am supposed to give the legendary warriors, while the Aqua Pot has been my home ever since I left Grand Ocean", she explains. 'Is that enough information for Amy to work off of?', Laura thinks as she shares it. She doesn't know much more herself.

"Well, then, you can go ahead and ponder all of it", Laura concedes to Mana. "I am sure it has been a very important to you. If you can remember all of it, it may even change your whole life. I wish best of luck to you, Mana", Laura tells her.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Okay, apologies all around, everyone seems to be good again. Tsubasa doesn't really have much to say at the moment - as Mana takes her place and shows her projection, the boy kind of backs down a little, his own shiness showing up for a moment as he folds his hands behind his back, since he can't find anything else to do with them. When Mana speaks of making contacts, he nods. "Well, we're friends now, right. I don't mind giving you my contact info. Or Laura, as well." he says with a little shrug of his shoulders.

He's not sure what else to say at the moment as he glances over where the stand is being set up, his interest drawn the3re for a moment before his attention returns to the group, glancing at the items that she brings out. "Is that why you are looking for Pretty Cures?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "After a while?!" Amy's voice squeaks. "You're what, lady, 14???" It doesn't escape Amy that there's an obvious reason she dreamed of the impossible daily, but that's a conversation for another time, if ever.

    She looks back to the mermaid. And at the pot. "Your home? What, like the box from Terranigma? ...I mean, I guess it's bigger on the inside and you go inside, somehow?" She looks at the compact. "One compact for multiple warriors? How will that work? Or will it create something for them, to allow them to transf-- you know, I don't actually know that much about how other types of magical girl work."

    She looks at the compact, and back to Laura. "How will you know you've found the legendary warriors? Like, what sets them apart? Like, what I'm looking for here is... I dunno. If you repeat a prophecy describing something about them. Or if they're all secretly merfolk. Then I can think about who shows signs of secretly being a merfolk or something. But I'm not sure how to point you in any direction, if you can't tell me what you're looking for."

Mana Soga has posed:
    Mana just smiles at Amy as she comments on her age and how she phrased what she said before she shakes her head, a hint of something deeper in her eyes that seems to take her focus from the conversation for a moment before she shakes her head vigorously then replies, "I suppose it is silly, when you put it like that..."

    Mana quietly closes her eyes thinking about everything going on for a moment before she stands up as Tsubasa says they should share contact info, then moves over to her bag for a moment to retrieve a small notepad from her bag that she writes down her info on three pieces of paper. Returning to join the group, Mana stops near the group's belongings that she saw Tsubasa and Katsuko at before he ran over to check on her and places one of each paper into the two bags before she tilts her head placing the extra in one of the two before she moves to rejoin the others. "I left my phone number, and my room number in the dorms on those papers.. I dunno how any of this works, once I leave here. But I want my new friends to stay in contact, okay...? One of you will have to give the extra to Laura once she gets sorted too, okay?"

    Then she smiles at Laura and nods. "Thank you. I don't really understand your problems, but I wish you luck as well. If you ever need anything, my door is open."

    Finally she glances to Tsubasa and grins, before she tilts her head saying, "And I'm looking forward to your next kite outting. Hopefully next time it won't get attacked by a seagull and I can enjoy watching it for longer. I'll be waiting for that invite!"

    After saying that, Mana bows to the group again before she stands back up and waves. "I should get going now, I have to give my parents a call and let them know how things have been going since it's been a while, but I hope to see you all again soon okay?" Then Mana smiles waiting to hear the replies from the group before she waves once more and turns to head back to the dorm.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Tsubasa, you remember the Witch of Delays, right?" she tells the boy, reminding him of who she mentioned. "This is who we are fighting here, and why my queen gave me this task after Grand Ocean got attacked. The land of humans are in danger now, so the Pretty Cure have to be found and push back against her. And once I prove my worth with this mission, I will become queen myself", she summarises again.

"I have no idea what that is", Laura tells with disinterest to Amy. "But this is the gift the Queen has had for me personally!", she says with a smug grin. "It can make photos, it can fly while I am inside, and of course, once I enter it, it's really big inside!" She is showing off all of this as a sign of the prestige granted to her.

"I have multiple compacts with me of course, and it's really not that simple", Laura contradicts Amy. "Somewhere here there are humans whose heart contains shining sunlight. That is who the Tropical Pact is for, and when they resonate with us mermaids, they will be able to unlock its power and fight off the Witch's minions."

"We may see each other at school then, Mana. I am Laura Apollodoros Hyginus La Mer. See you there".

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
When Mana goes to leave her information, Tsubasa watches after her for a moment before his attention returns to the conversation, nodding at the mention of the Witch of Delays. "I'll be honest, though, you're coming into a world where there's lots of bad villains that are causing trouble all over the place." he admits. "I mean, I'm sure you will get plenty of help for your cause here as well." he offers to her encouragingly.

When Mana returns and comments about flying kites with him again. "Sure! Sounds great!" He's always glad to make new friends and contacts. However, as he's noticing the drink stand going up, he makes a decision. "I'm going to go put away my kite and put Mana-chan's information in my phone. I'll be back shortly!" And with that, he's on his way.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy shrugs, and waves dismissively as Mana calls herself silly. "Nah. It'd be sillier to keep focusing on the impossible. Unless it's what you need. Or... think you need, because no one told you what's really possible. Discussion for another day!" Mana might not even remember, after all.

    She gives a thumbs-up at Mana putting the number in their bags. "I feel that. It was nice talking to you!"

    She looks to Laura. "Well, I hunt Witches, but probably not the kind you're thinking of. And uh. Shards of sunlight, huh..."

    Amy folds her arms. "I confess, I never thought to ask Kyubey how he found girls." The thought seems a little skeevy, now... "Or any fairies or anyone else who had that job. Maybe there's some reasoning to it, but I'm not sure how... I mean... are we looking for someone with a heroic heart who feels moved to help even if they have no power? That's what Kyubey let me think was why I was picked. We could look for civilian bystanders who step up heroically. Although... I guess there's no way to know if that's because of shining sunlight in their heart, or because of something else that another mascot is out somewhere looking for..."

    She nods to Tsubasa and then looks to Kururun. "Um. Seal person. I'm sorry I don't think I got your name? Do you have any insight about how to go about finding people with sunlight in their hearts?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
"You hunt Witches? In the plural?" Laura looks shocked at Amy. "Are they all able to absorb all motivation until nothing is left?" That is able to catch her off guard for, a distinct pallor on her face as she absorbs the news. Tokyo can't have a whole group of beings like the Witch of Delay, can it?

A puzzled look is reserved to Amy when the redhead addresses Kururun and the seal-fairy just stares at her innocently. "Kururun?" it squeaks in a confused tone, having clearly not understood what Amy wants to know from her.

"You are overthinking it", Laura says, a small slap of her tail that displaces a barely perceptible wave towards Amy. "It's really just shining sunlight, the power to stay motivated against all odds. That is how we can fight back against the Witch of Delays."

"I will see you shortly then, Tsubasa", Laura tells him. She feels like she has definitely made lots of important progress with these people, even if not all news have been positive. There are leads definitely worth following.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "...In a manner of speaking, I suppose they do. But I don't think they're like the Witch you're talking about. If anyone who's seen her in person has lived without having to kill her, it's probably not the same thing."

    The... the seal can't talk?

    Amy looks at Laura as she considers the descriptor. "Well, I'm sure not your girl. ...To stay motivated? Like, actually cheerful and excited? I know a lot of people like that, but they're all already magical girls. To stay determined? To keep trying even when they get nothing? ...I can think of one, but if we told her she might be able to get magic again and then she wasn't one of them, it'd crush her."

Laura La Mer has posed:
Seen her in person without having to kill her? What is Amy even describing? Do they fight to the death with these "Witches"? What kind of fight is she a part of? And she said it all with such ease. That can't be normal. She opens her arms, giving Kururun the signal to swim inside of them, at which she starts petting the seal, lost in those terrible thoughts.

"Are you alright?" Laura shows concern towards Amy. "That cannot really be normal. Why do you even seem so calm? You have just talked about so..." She is clearly horrified by Amy's situation.

"You aren't alone doing that, are you?", she checks with worry. "That is commendable, but that sounds like something terribly dangerous. Don't do it alone", she remarks decisively.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Red eyes look back at Laura and blink. "It's just life. There are others. And that's rule one of hunting Witches: Never enter a Witch's Labyrinth alone."

    She bobs up as a wave passes under them. "Ooh. Finally, we getting good waves? It has been awhile, but..." She looks out to sea and smiles.

    Then she looks back at Laura. Witches are curses upon the world, that mark mortals and feed off their deaths. They can't enter our reality directly--usually--so you have to go into a crazy pocket dimension to fight them. A little white foxcat thing called Kyubey recruited me--"

    She gasps and dives with a cresting wave, but doesn't quite catch it. She surfaces and treads water back to Laura. "Without telling me the details. But like..." She looks out into the distance. "...An invitation to be a magical girl? To have the power to help people? To get involved in magical adventures? I haven't regretted it for a second. I told you, I--"

    She dives in front of another wave, and this time, surfs with it to the ankle-deep water before standing up, grinning and holding up her fists in victory. "YEAH! I still got it!" Then she calls over to Laura, "I should probably go put on sunscreen though?" She motions to be followed back to the blanket.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"That sounds horrible", Laura shakes her head. "I won't talk about why or how you could get duped, but be more careful next time. This is your only life", she scoffs with irritated concern. Really, she still doesn't see why the Mermaid Queen wants to rely on humans out of everyone. They really ought more to be defended than anything else.

Laura doesn't waste any time imitating Amy when the redhead starts swimming. It is supposed to be where she excels after all, and this time she is in the right form for it! Going under she starts following the water towards its more pleasant sections, letting the currents tip her off.

She swims towards the open see quickly, Kururun going after her with joyful shouts, startling a few fishes with her passage, until the mermaid is more or less onto a place deep enough for three of her by length, then she goes right towards the seafloor and then upwards, her tail kicking up speed for a leap 20 meters in the air, a relaxed smile on her face.

Once gravity has brought her under again, she swims back to redhead, letting her tail split into those thin limbs again. "A sunscreen?" she exclaims curiously, imagining she is going to apply a literal screen on herself not unlike a shield, but then discarding the idea as preposterous. "What is it exactly?" She follows her to her blanket, ready to see the mysterious object.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Only life? Amy gives a short laugh. "This is more than anyone else would give me. There's not gonna be a next time. I don't have sunshine in my heart, I'm not a reincarnated princess. When you can actually make a better offer, then you can lecture."

    She stares in awe, mouth agape, at the giant leap. THAT was cool.

    "That was REALLY COOL!" she tells Laura so, when the mermaid joins her. And shakes her head at the question. "Okay, so, here on the surface, when you're outside in bright sunlight with exposed skin, there are ultraviolet rays..." She launches into a scientific explanation.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Of course, thank you", Laura replies, feeding on the admiration that Amy is showing, and being completely captured by it, as she revels in it. "That is what being a mermaid is like, you know? Nothing like what happened earlier."

And then there is Amy talking about ultraviolet rays. "Those, yes. I actually studies about those. But I don't know how this sunscreen works. The name... is not to be taken literally, right?" she adds while she catches Kururun in her arms as the fairy goes alongside her.

Laura La Mer has posed:
"There are no Pretty Cure here after all", Laura says as she crosses her arms in disappointment. Sure, there is still that human that claims to have been duped and to fight Witches on the regular, but that is not even the same kind as the Witch of Delays. Not like it mattered, she wasn't one of the legendary warriors her Queen had tasked her to find anyway. She will have to check out this Radiant Heart place. Maybe she will have more luck there.

"Energy drinks! Energy drinks! Fresh and invigorating drinks of all kinds and flavours!" shouts one of those employees that had been setting up the booth not a long while back, indicating a long line of glasses with all kind of juices inside, coasters and umbrellas decorating the whole thing. "Geez, humans sure are noisy", Laura gets incensed as she glares at the group of workers.

"No matter, I will just go now", she sighs, taking out the Mermaid Aqua Pot. She is about to enter it when another noise distracts her, this one of water crashing as a boat emerges out of it and... floats in the air? Above it, there is some sort blue and green very vaguely humanoid crab monster.

"I am really not feeling this", he murmurs, looking around until his eyes fall on the group of sellers still shouting about their drinks. "Those vendors sure are energetic. Go, Layabout!", he yells, a black orb appearing in his right claw as he tosses it towards the drinks. A few seconds later, one of the wooden coasters the drinks are on has become much larger, gaining huge eyes and a frowning mouth.

"Layabout, take their Motivation Power!" the crab man points at the employees. Gaining glowing red with crosshair, the youma smiles as a malignant light surrounds its targets, making them collapse to the ground with a cry of "Layabout!". "A servant of the Witch of Delay!", Laura shouts tensely, which unfortunately for her attracts Chongire's attention. "Hmm? Aren't you a mermaid from Grand Ocean?" seemingly recalling her. "Layabout! Get her Motivation Power too!"

With flailing arms, Laura dives to the side as she barely dodges the Youma's drain. "Ahhh!" This is trouble, and she clearly recognises that.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Tsubasa had just finished putting away his broken kite and storing Mana's information on his phone. It had been a good day, and he was going to return to the dorms to put down his notes and work on his paper when he heard the disturbance that was happening over at the energy drink tent that had been set up earlier. It was something he had avoided, he isn't big on artificial energy - but as the cries rise from the tents, he glances over, just in time to see the attempted attack on Laura. "Oh no!" he says as he turns to his small beach bag.

Reaching within, he finds his Mirage Pen and grips it tightly as he moves to run and hide within one of the changing tents. A quick henshin later, he's transformed into Cure Wing and leaves from the tent, taking to the skies in a blur of orange and brown. And that's when he sees the massive drink coaster that's now a youma. "I don't know what you're serving, but I've got a tip for you!" he calls out.

"I think you need to put a cork in it and give up!" With that, he flies forward, looking to punch the large Layabout and knock it backwards away from it's attempted collections!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    After getting sunscreen on, Amy went back into the water. It's a novel experience, she hasn't done this in forever, and she goes out to around where the waves break, practicing bodysurfing. And she'll happily talk to Laura more between surfing attempts.

    But uhhh... is that boat supposed to be this close? When it reaches close enough that someone could swim out to it, it's definitely too close, right? There's no dock here! Aaaand it's... in the air. With a crab monster. She looks around, and then ducks under the water.

    There's an explosion and a lot of steam and Magical Rocket Girl Red shoots out of the water, arcing towards the flying boat. "A servant of a Witch, huh? Guess what I hunt! Also, you don't know that, she could be any kind of merfolk! There are so many! So leave her alone!"

    She's already holding her rocket launcher, although she doesn't aim it at the crab-man or the youma yet, if she manages to land on the boat. Instead, she points up at him. "Alright. Are you one of those monsters that can barely think, or are you gonna tell me what your Witch's deal is, and what your goals are? I like to know what we're fighting over!"

    And, maybe if he is the talkative type, he'll let something useful slip?

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Not too long ago:

Hotaru had been hanging out in Setsuna's cosplay room and she may, or may not, have put on clothing that was far, far too big for her. And may, or may not, have done an over the top, silly runway sequence. She was home alone and knew the outers would be gone for a bit so she may, or may not, have been taking advantage and having read quite a few books decided to have some silly fun.

She knew Setsuna wouldn't mind, anyway. But it'd be embarrassing if they knew! But well... she was bored. She glanced out the window.

It was such a nice day... and the others weren't home...

<< Negatory >>

"But... I haven't said anything yet."

<< A patrol is too dangerous >>

"Oh my gosh, we should go on patrol!"

<< Neg! A! Tor! Y! >>

So, suffice to say, Sailor Charon was patrolling the beaches of japan, leaping from roof to roof, not giving anybody free cable but instead focusing on keeping the city safe while the Sailor Senshi were away!

And there was a beach! And a youma! And her eyes lit up! "I knew it! You ready? Halt, evil doers!"

And she went onto a long, empassoned speech, filled with yelling, dramatic pointing, and the kind of words that surely would have made them surrender already...

... If she hadn't been so far away that nobody could have POSSIBLY heard her!

Not long after, she finished the commute, landing on the beach with a graceful leap. "-- as evidenced by all people of sound and reasonable mind, ergo, Pluto IS still a planet despite what a few scientists would have you believe! And this planet is under its protection so I, Sailor Charon will be here to help defend it!"

Laura La Mer has posed:
"Layabout!", the Youma says when Wing approaches with a punch, responding with its umbrella hands as it repels the punch with its own.

"I really can't be bothered", Chongire sighs as he sees Puella Red point the rocket launcher at him. "Listen, kid, don't you think I recognise her? Just scram. No need to ask for reasons, I have nothing to tell you. I will just bring that Motivation Power back to the Witch and that will be it."

"Another intruder, again?", he shakes his head at Charon's appearance. "I don't care about this Pluto deal, but nobody has any interet in it. Leave, no need to bother yourself", he shrugs at Charon.

Meanwhile Laura is watching with stupor the scene unfolding before her. She is quite sure most of them are not Precures (maybe the boy? Possibly?), yet they are all staring down at the Layabout with no hesitation. This will have to do at the moment. "The Layabout! Focus on the Layabout! That's what is keeping the motivation power he stole!", she shouts at the other three.

The crabman points his claw right at the group of sparkles. "Enough! Layabout, get them!" Its umbrella arms start whirling as it cries out its. They are fired from its arms and fly on a straight path right towards Sailor Charon. At the same time, a series of 5 giant coasters appear right in front of the youma each of them popping off towards the red Puella. Lastly, it looks at Wing and jumps again, seeking to crash down on him with its weight.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
After slamming into the youma, Cure Wing bounces back as others arrive on the scene. Puella Amy, he expected to see, she was nearby earlier. But as she starts questioning the crab-thingie - will it really tell her anything? He usually doesn't learn much from Kabaton, admittedly. Just the usual 'I serve the Undergu Empire, I must be the strongest fu fu fu' bit.

However, off in the distance, who is that in a fuku? He can make out Charon posturing and pointing and doing all types of justice poses, but ... she is like, way too far away to hear anything she said. Finally, though, she closes the distance and lands on the beach. "I don't know what you were saying, Sailor Charon, but I'm sure it was amazing!" he calls out to her as he gestures to the drink coaster. "Look, youma's have sponsors!" he points out with a small smirk.

He slams into the umbrella arm, bouncing off of it as it turns to fire off it's umbrellas towards Charon. "Watch out, Charon!" he calls out. But apparently, it seems that Wing is going to have his own problem as the shadow of the Layabout appears over him. The giant coaster has taken flight, and for a moment, Wing's feet land in the sand, digging into a small pit. "I know I look small and frail..." he bristles, the flames of orange starting to glow around the small form as he shifts his feet.

The Layabout lands on him for a moment, water and sand thrown up all over the place, but then, there's a shift of movement, and from beneath the youma, a glow of orange as Wing starts to take flight, showing a supernatural strength as he starts to rise off the ground. "...but you should /never/ underestimate someone just on their size!" he cries out as he starts to lift the giant coaster into the air, aiming to take it into flight.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon blinked a few times. They... didn't have an interest in it? But Pluto was awesome! It even had a dog named after it! Also, it had a HEART! It had a HEART ON IT! That was all about love! "H-how could you?" she asked. "More people should care about Pluto, she's positively lovely, sweet and generous and-- EEP!"

AND UMBRELLAS! She squeaked and turned, fleeing from them... before having no choice. She leaped into the air, her foot catching the umbrella and... shrieked! Well, it ended up knocking it off contact, so it was right up... but it kept going. And now she was stuck running BACKWARDS on the spinning umbrella, shrieking as she flailed, the umbrella digging into the ground as, despite all rules of physics, it kept going.

For a good ten or fifteen feet she was trapped in this spinning movement, but finally, with a bit of cheating with Luminous Titan's magic, she managed to turn the umbrella around and ride it, bouncing like a top all the way, back AT the youma. "TAKE THIS! CHARON UMBRELLA TOP BUMPER SMASH!" she yelled, leaping off it at the last moment...

Before landing in as dramatic a pose as she could... despite falling on her butt as soon as she landed. "O-ow... owie... YOU!" she yelled, pointing at Laura. "DO YOU ACCEPT THAT PLUTO IS A PLANET?!" Mermaid interogation time!

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "I hunt witches." Amy states, but, doubts she's getting anywhere with that. Laura shouts to focus on the youma, and Amy turns around to look at it. Coasters are flung at her, and she takes a running leap off the boat, landing on the coasters and jumping between them in sequence while humming a Sonic theme to herself before leaping and somersaulting off the last one and firing a couple of rockets down at the youma. "[Yamete, Layabout!]"

Laura La Mer has posed:
Wing has grabbed the Layabout and is flying away and away in search of deeper waters for as long as he can hold the struggling Layabout in his grasp, who is doing everything it can to make the task as difficult as possible for him, with his glass feet trying to kick itself away from the Precure's grasp.

And by a mix of Wing letting go of the youma and the youma getting out of the hero's grasp, the corrupted coaster is now free. Free to fall, that is, as it plummets into the water, before it emerges dazed thanks to the buoyancy of the wood. It is still quite dry for now.

Back onto the beach, Laura gets a rather loud ping from the Aqua Pot. "Uh?", she whispers confused as she takes out the precious item, which is shining a bright white. "Uh, what it is doing?" Laura exclaims in confusion as she presses down the conch on its top, which starts reacting to the youma and capturing its image, but it's not close enough for that, Wing having sent it away enough from the beach.

Ok, she gets it, she has to get closer, right? With a deep breath, she rushes into the water, this time remembering to change form as she swims closer to the Layabout, close enough for the Aqua Pot to starts analysing it all over, a white sphere moving all over the youma's image it captured in its screen, before settling on the center of its head and showing a white heart in its screen.

"A white heart? The motivation power it stole?" the mermaid exclaims, pressing the conch one more time, a rainbow stream getting out of the Layabout and right into the Aqua Pot. "Layabout, wake up!" Chongire yells as he floats closer, the youma actually doing just that and leaping up from its position, an impressive jump that gets it onto dry land again.

Just in time for the combo of Charon's and Puella Red's attacks to send it flying once more, crashing it into the sand and raising a huge cloud of it, the by now quite beat up Youma getting on its feet again much slower. "Layabout!" it shouts angrily as it grows new arms, grabbing a nearby big rock and just tossing it at Puella Red and doing the same with more of its coasters a Wing.

Then the youma decides to get it to the close quarters with Charon, attempting to approach her and starting a fistfight.

Having just swum back to land, Laura doesn't get a breather, not because of the youma, but because of Charon's strong interrogation. "Pluto being a planet? Yes, of course. It orbits a star, its own gravity made it round. Saying it is not because its orbit isn't completely clear, or there are much bigger spheres than Pluto, is inane."

Her tail splits again into legs as she keeps speaking. "Pluto wouldn't be the only planet not to completely clear its orbit, and trying to discredit it on size is like saying all mountains have to be at least like the Nuptse. The Taigar Peak doesn't stop being a mountain just because the Concord Peak is taller."

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
"Time to take you for a swim!" Wing says heroically as he flies out over the water, but Layabout manages to finally wiggle free from his grasp with a kick to Wing's side which forces the small Precure to drop him down into the water. Holding his side for a moment, he starts to prepare for the next attack, when he notices Laura entering the water with the Aqua Pot. "What are you doing?" he asks in confusion as Laura becomes a mermaid and swims out.

And then she activates the Aqua Pot and seems to be draining Layabout's power into the pot in a bright rainbow color. It's not something that the Precure has seen before, so for the moment, he holds his place in the sky, not yet moving to attack. After all, what Laura's doing may be more powerful than anything he could do.

"Charon, you good?" he calls out over to the Senshi, a brief glance of worry now that he has his hands free as he saw the attack that was launched towards her - which is part of what inspired him to move Layabout away from the others, leaving them with the crab-monster. "And of course Pluto's a planet, and you're the best moon." he says with a wink at her.

But with the Layabout heading back to land, Wing was about to head off in pursuit of it, before it starts to launch coasters at it. And this is where Wing puts on a demonstration of his speed and agility, diving and ducking beneath the coasters, dodging around them as he tries to get closer and back into the battle, as he ends up having to knock one of the coasters away. All of the time he's taking though is forcing him to use more time to get back into the fight and having to fall back on occassion for a dodge.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon just needed a moment to catch her breath, that was all. After all--

AND THEN SUDDENLY VIOLENCE! She let out a startled squeak as the youma came flying at her and she used her glaive to get up to her feet and--

FIGHT!

The youma's fists were coming at her and she pushed off with the glaive, leveraging it to dig into the ground and redirect the first punch, but it was just the first of many. She stumbled back, one catching her shoulder and knocking her back in time to avoid the third.

Charon swirled around, bending down and spinning the glaive over her back as she bent, the energy blade glowing a fierce purple for a moment before releasing a circular blast of magic from it, expanding out. Not the most powerful, but it would hopefully by her a moment where she could step back, spin around and then slash up with the glaive, the energy blade leaving a searing, burning purple slash of magic that radiated in the air.

"Charon's Comet!" she called.

She did, in fact, just name that on the spot.

... And then gave Laura a thumbs up. "Then you are obviously the good guy here and we won't stop until this youma is defeat!" Pause. "Well, we wouldn't anyway, because we're the goodguys, but now the good guying is DOUBLE!"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy's just going to assume Laura is naming underwater mountains. "I guess because it steals motivation power, it can keep fighting for awhile, huh?"

    Amy closes her eyes and takes a breath. "Its magic is shaped like a white heart, huh? Well, monster... do you really think you can stand against the power of a human soul?"

    She opens her eyes just in time to rocket jump over the thrown rock.

    "My turn."

                  +-------------------------------------------+                
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                  |  [<3FIGHT] [    ACT] [   ITEM] [  MERCY]  |
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                  +-------------------------------------------+                

    She comes arcing out of the sky almost to land on the youma, but just as she'd make contact, she aims the rocket launcher at it point-blank and fires a solid-projectile point-blank to try and crack it in two before leaping away.

    "...[My very educated mother just served us nine pizzas]. It doesnt work without Pluto." She observes.

Laura La Mer has posed:
With the dark coaster fully focused on its fight with Charon, there is not much it can do about Wing's slow and steady advance, so the Precure will be able to make the process required to get back into the fight all he needs.

And via a series of dodges, parries and even 1 small energy attack, Sailor Charon is able to manage the flurry of attacks, with the smaller energy attack making the youma break up the improptu duel while the bigger one brings it to its knees.

And with Amy arming her rocket launche again, the Yarameeda has no time to respond as it gets all on them , creaks starting to show on the youma's face.

"Glad you decided that, but of course I an on the good side", Laura remarks at Charon's response, not at all pleased with having been doubted. At least she is not being aimed at by the youma, the Layabout collapsing once and for all and leaving it vulnerable for any final strike.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon let out a little cheer of VICTORY as the monster was brought down! "Ha! That's what you GET!" Only to, a moment later... "Wait. Would... Would Charon's Razor or Charon's Comet sound better? Cure Wing, what do you think?"

Only to, a moment later... go red in the place. "W-wait, you think I'm the BEST moon?! Do you think I'm almost as good as Sailor Moon then? She's the mooniest of the moons! She's so moon we call her Moon!"

She then glanced to Amy and grinned. "Ha! Exactly! Pizza with Pluto is the best!" She did not get why Amy's mom bought her nine pizzas. She hoped they weren't too big, she didn't want Amy to get sick.

"OH! Cure Wing! Let's do a combo attack again!" she yelled, running towards him... And when he'd fly by, she'd leap up, to jump onto the bird. Glaive out, blade a dark purple as it'd streak through the air...

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy lands from leaping back, and glances over at Sailor Charon. "I mean, we call Luna 'the moon' because it's Earth's moon and we live on Earth. If we lived on Pluto, we'd probably just call Charon 'the moon'. ...Oh wait, there's the other one now, isn't there?"

    ...but...after a moment, she realizes the monster hasn't actually finished? Damn, it's not as weakened as she thought! They need more to finish it...

    Cure Wing! Let's do a combo attack again! "Yeah!" Amy spins, her cloak swooshing dramatically, and stops, with one hand on her hip and the other making a fingersnap motion and then pointing dramatically at Cure Wing with a cocky grin! Bird mode is enhanced with super parts again, thrusters to boost him to even higher speed and he can use her magic to fire rockets!

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
Cure Wing was a ways back, because he had been dodging attacks to keep Layabout busy for Charon to get in there and unleash her attacks and help Amy weaken the coaster creature to the point where... and there it is. Weakened enough that where Cure Wing can feel that slight ping in his heart that tells him that there's only one more powerful attack needed.

As he hears Charon and Amy call out to him, Wing nods firmly, straightening up for a moment. As he does so, the orange flames erupt around him, and he combines with Amy and Charon's magics, grabbing Charon by the hand to pull her up with him as he builds up speed and power, as he starts to dive, more speed added as he gains the armor and weaponry from Amy's magic wrapping around his unique mix palette to power him further.

And they all three sound it out together:

"Crimson Meteor Blast!"

And with that, the conflaguration slams head on into Layabout to pass through the youma and purify it!

Laura La Mer has posed:
The bird slams into the Layabout, purifying it and turning it back into drinks as a bubble envelopes them and floats them back to safety. A tch of Chongire is heard ou loud as he just leaves witn no more words. The rainbow energy gets out of the Aqua Pot as easy as it got inside, returning the Motivation Power to their owners.

Charon's reaction to being complimented as the best moon gets a confused look from Laura. "Why are you happy over getting that compliment? You are a human, are you not? In what way would you be a moon? Who is Sailor Moon?" She is soooo out of her depths right now, to her frustration. She is supposed to be prepared for this mission, not be as clueless as she is right now.

But it that was surprising, what comes next is that all the more, as the boy is called Cure Wing by Sailor Charon. "Wait, you are a Pretty Cure!?", the mermaid cries out, a smile of satisfaction amidst the surprise. Some actual progress! And she hasn't even had to use the Tropical Pact! The Queen will be so ecstatic to know!

"I was looking for one like you! You are just what is needed to fight the Witch of Delays. My Queen sent me out to find you!" She would so reach out to Cure Wing right now were he not flying. This is her chance, she cannot waste it at all.

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
After the attack is complete and the youma is purified, Cure Wing turns to set Sailor Charon back on the ground, floating in the air for a moment longer before he touches down with a gentle tap of his feet. "Good job!" he offers to Charon and Amy as he doesn't quite transform back into Tsubasa yet as he blinks a couple of times when Laura is calling out to him.

His left hand comes to his stomach, his right settled on his lower back as he bows politely at the waist. "I am Cure Wing, yes. It is a pleasure to meet you." he offers with all courtly manner he imagines his Princess would want him to use. "How may I be of service?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy watches, impressed, as the super purification triple-tech finishes off the monster! She grins up at Chongire and waves, "Okay byyyyye, delay your return as long as you can okaaay?" She's in fairly high spirits!

    She walks over to them, and to Laura, once they land. "She's the... She has a connection to Charon, Pluto's moon. It's complicated. And like. If you are a thing. Literally or in a more abstract sense; or if you feel a connection to something... isn't being called the best something that makes you feel good? I mean, if somebody called me [best girl] I'd feel--" She smiles but holds a hand to her chin. "Okay that'd be a little weird of a thing to say. But like, still a good thing?"

    She turns to Charon and waves, "Good to see you again by the way!"

    Amy looks curiously at Laura. "So... you're not just looking for the people with sunlight in their hearts you're going to empower, but existing Pretty Cures as well? Well then I've got good news for you, there's a lot of them around! Pretty sure we've got at least two or three that are like... sunny- or day-themed, too!"

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon landed with a little soft, bubbly squeak! Holding her glaive up! "Eeeee! I love doing that! It's like I'm a real magical girl!" Pause. "Which... I guess I am. But like, more of on?"

She then turned back towards the mermaid. "I mean, obviously I'm human! Mostly! And I mean, of course I'm happy! I'm a good moon! And I'm representing Pluto, so if I'm a good moon she'll be happy! If I'm a bad moon, she'll be sad. I don't want her to be sad."

Of course, as Cure Wing was called out, she blinked a few times... Looking for a pretty cure? A small, mischievous grin formed on her lips. "Oh, he's not just a pretty cure, he's the BEST pretty cure! I don't just do combination attacks with anyone, you know. He's like a phoenix! They name CARS after phoenixes, which means they're EXTRA special, I know, because Uranus would drive one, and he's named after the same bird that the car is named after which means he's really awesome!" Pause. "Wait, no, he's named after wings. Which, like. All birds have, but they're the fundamentals of birds. Well, most birds. I guess not all dinosaurs might have had wings, but like, some do, and that means he's like a magic bird slash dinosaur slash pretty cure!"

... Her glowing endorsement... may... have not been... very effective.

And then she glanced to Amy and grinned up at her. "You are *best* rocket launcher girl."

Laura La Mer has posed:
And Wing is offering her help to her, perfect! Even if she is having to say more of it, the fact remains that's a step forward in the fulfillment of her mission, and a step forward in getting to the next step from Queen candidate! "I am looking for the Pretty Cure to fight together against the Witch of Delays!" She gestures to where Chongire was, a serious expression on her face. "That was one of her lackeys you just fought. She has taken all of Grand Ocean's Motivation Power, and she is coming here next."

He has to recognise that's important, right? If he is one of those warriors of legend, he has to realise why she is telling him this.

Squinting her eyes at Amy, Laura turns towards the redhead, an expression of suspicion on her face. "Were you eavesdropping on our conversation earlier? Who told you that otherwise? That's not a thing I am hiding, but I don't condone shifty behaviour." She crosses her arms and stares at Amy. "I am in fact looking for humans with sparkling sunlight because they have the best chances to fend off the drain on Motivation Power, but Pretty Cures in general are the way to go."

"So you have a connection to Pluto's moon, then", Laura tells Charon after Amy's explanation. "I can see why you would be so defensive of Pluto. You have a lot of arguing ahead of yourself, but I am sure you know that."

A thing she now knows about the Charon girl is she quite excitable, from her endorsement. Would it be possible that... But no, that doesn't matter. She already has this job as emissary of Charon. Anything else is going to be precluded to her. "That's more or less it, but none of what you said really matters here, just the fact that you may or may not be suited to opposing the Witch."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    It's like I'm a real magical girl! Amy grins and leans forward slightly with her hands on her hips. "Right?! I guess you must have awakened to your powers more recently, but wild, right? We're magical girls! Sometimes it's good to, every once in awhile, remember how awesome that is, and cool, when we start getting used to fighting evil day by day."

    A rant about phoenixes. "I mean. Birds basically are dinosaurs. They're what dinosaurs evolved into!"

    You are best rocket launcher girl. Red eyes blink, and Amy looks away, smiling and maybe blushing just a little bit. "Aww. Thanks! That's probably an overly narrow superlative, but I'm sure I'm cooler than any other rocket launcher girl on account of being real..." She stands up straight and jabs her thumb against her chest, grinning. "I do try to be a great rocket launcher girl, thanks!"

    Amy turns to the suspicious Laura and looks at her like. What. "Dude. We were just talking about-- oh right, the veil. You didn't see me transform. Damn, I've been doing this for 11 months and it's still weird seeing it in action like this. I'm the girl you were just talking to. I told you I hunt Witches, remember? In this form, I'm Magical Rocket Girl Amy. Nice to make your acquaintance once more!" She holds out a hand to shake.

    After than, Amy wonders some things and looks thoughtful as she turns back to Sailor Charon, holding her hand to her chin. "Hmm. You represent Pluto, but Sailor Moon doesn't represent uh... Endymion. He does have those four guys, uh... Malachite, Jadeite... Neeeeephrite? And... Kunzite? And his sister Pyrite? And Zoicite? A whole bunch actually?"

    Amy considers this. "So are you like that for Pluto? Do you have Sailors Nix and Hydra out there too?" She's forgotten about Styx and Kerberos.

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon gasped, her eyes going wide and staring at Cure Wing. She wondered if this meant he had some great destiny... And he was going to fight besides a magic mermaid? "There's another mermaid, she's really cool too. I bet you'd get along well. And yeah, being a magical girl is the best! And I've opposed lots of witches, five of them even. If Cure Wing needs any advice. They absolutely HATE having glitter bombs dropped in their offices."

... Across Tokyo, all four members of the witches 4 sneezed at once.

She then glanced back towards Amy. "Uhhhhh... I don't... think so? But maybe? I think... Sailor Moon is a bit... errrr... special...? But she's really cool and I look up to her! I wanna be more like her, when I'm mooning!" she said proudly.

Laura La Mer has posed:
Recognition shines on Laura's face as the effects of the Veil disappear. "Ah. I see. You are her", Laura recognises as she grimaces from the embarassment. That was really not fair, why could the events make fun of her like that? She really wants to just let go of things and not worry about everything until later. So she shakes Amy's hand and then just... jumps into the Aqua Pot, leaving Kururun to just stare at Laura inside from the suddenness of it all. Should she follow as well?

"Well, you have done good, really", Laura tells Amy from inside there, having gone back to her mermaid form. Both Amy and Charon are able to see inside through the screen if they want. Which makes the whole point of hiding in there much less effective. "You are not a Precure, but you still helped. And you as well", she looks at Charon.

Mostly she is not rushing off in the distance because well... "Another mermaid?" she repeats with interest, even if she cannot be one of her people. After all, each and everyone of them has had the motivation sucked out of them. "One of Aqua Regina's people then? What is she like? Any reason she is here too?"

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
As Laura says she needs Pretty Cure in particular, it draws a curious tilt of Wing's head as he considers the girl. "I'm willing to help, of course, it's my duty as a knight." he starts to say. "But I will add that as you just saw here - with the aid of my allies, we were all to defeat the youma together!" Despite Charon hyping him up, that knightly humbleness shows through.

"And yes, there are other mermaids and more allies out there. My suggestion is that if you want to seek Precure, we are about, but be not afraid to seek out all manner of ally that will guide you in your quest to defeat the Witch of Delays." he actually remembers the name.

As Charon goes about on phoenixes, Wing's cheeks warm to the color of his ear studs and he might actually be floating slightly off the ground. "The phoenix is only something that happens with the right synergy with someone." he admits with a little rub at the back of his head. "I am glad to have found it with my new friends in this land, without the need of the Mix Palette." Anyway, he's off track. Instead of henshining back into Tsubasa, he gets out his phone - the one he carries in this form - to present to Laura. "We can exchange contact information and when you need me, I will endeavor to be near."

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy blinks. "Offices?" She's suddenly suspecting that this isn't the same type of Witch as she's thinking of. She can't help chuckling and smiling a bit at Sailor Charon's enthusiasm, and coining 'mooning' for the activity of... being or representing or whatever a moon.

    She cocks her head to the side thoughtfully. "I guess that is weird. Why does Earth's moon get a senshi, but Phobos and Deimos don't? Or what about Jupiter's moons? The outer planets have lots of moons. Is there a Sailor Ceres? A Sailor Eris and Dysnomia? Why not Sailor Haumea and Makemake? Why doesn't Saturn get a senshi?"

    Red eyes widen at a thought: "...Is this gonna be one of those things where like, our history is even more not what we think it is? What if Saturn magically appeared between the Silver Millenium and now, and wasn't always here? It's not like I looked through a telescope when we were in the past..." Amy taps her chin. "If those moons are more recent asteroid captures, that'd explain lack of senshi, too. Or maybe it just depends on where people lived 14,000 years ago? I guess the Moon is the biggest moon in the solar system, or at least one of them. Do Ganymede and Titan even come close?" She shakes her head. "I don't remember."

    Amy taps her chin and looks at Sailor Charon. "But then, there's you... Were there people on Charon? Do you remember your past life?"

    She smiles and tries to pat Charon on the shoulder. "Anyway, if you keep fighting for good and stopping evil, that makes you more like Sailor Moon, doesn't it?"

    Amy blinks at Laura. What's the other merfolk like? "Uh, she's a princess, Aqua Regina's daughter, yeah. They've got their own troubles, some kid named Gaito is trying to kidnap all the princesses and he's operating here in Tokyo."

    Amy looks at Wing's phone, and at Laura. "Uhhhhhh... we may have to get you set up with an identity and stuff. I'm not sure if it's better to get a burner phone, or a normal account linked to--" She shakes her head. "We can work all that out later."

Hotaru Tomoe has posed:
Sailor Charon gave a shrug to Laura. "No idea. But she's really pretty and IIIIII got a fin-o-graph from her. OH! I should get yours too!"

She then glasnced to Amy and sighed. "You're overthinking it too much. Who knows why? Some have senshi, some don't. Maybe some will in the future, maybe some won't in the future. Just because things are a certain way now doesn't mean they've always been that way and always will be. It just means they're that way at this moment. So take a deep breath and don't overthing everything so much, silly. You'll just make yourself sick."

Still, she grinned at the idea of being more like Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon was so COOL!

"Wait, you mean you and I have good synergy? Ohhhh, I can't wait to tell Pluto! She's going to be so proud!"

She then looked to the mermaid. "Trust me, Cure Wing won't let you down. Believe in what he says and you'll be fine. However, I should get back to my patrol, I've still got a lot of territory to cover! It was great meeting all of you, bye bye!" she said, before waving and running away, fleeing the scene of the chaos!

Laura La Mer has posed:
Laura peeks from inside the Aqua Pot at the phone Wing is showing her, trying to ascertain the purpose of the foreign object. "Contact information? Is that a way to communicate with you across distances? That sure is convenient. How do I go acquiring it, Cure Wing?" Not only is he promising her his assistance, but also a way to get in touch with him whenever he wants? The Queen will undoubtedly be proud of how fast she is making progress! She has barely been on land for two hours now.

"I will consider that, but the Queen has expressely told me to seek out Pretty Cures. You see, it was all because when things were looking dire a very long time ago, it was a Pretty Cure who saved both humans and mermaids, and since then it is to Pretty Cures we turn in moments of peril", she waves with dismissal at the proposition. Not that she knows much more than that when it comes to that legendary warrior.

"You lot have a whole lot of people bound with planets and other celestial bodies", she states actually interested in the subject. "How does that work? Do you use magic to draw power from there, or have you had contact with aliens that have brought here the power of their worlds?" she asks, her head close to the screen of the Aqua Pot.

"That sounds good to me, Amy", Laura tells her. "How do I go about getting myself an identity here? Do you have any special contact with your head of state?"

At Gaito's name, Laura nods. "Yes, I am aware of the King of the Deep Seas, but unlike the Witch of Delays, he has no way to get to our Kingdom. He simply doesn't have the power yet."

"But of course, Sailor Charon!", Laura glows with pride. "If you are such a fan of mermaids, then you are welcome to touch it too." But then Pluto's passionate defender does her greetings and bails before the mermaid can get out of the Aqua Pot. "Eh, weird", she pouts with disappointment. "Another time, I guess."

Tsubasa Yuunagi has posed:
"I know a few other Pretty Cures, I will let them know you are seeking them out. It sounds like a story from long ago. A lot has changed since then, but I can see why she would make her request." Wing decides. And then he realizes she doesn't have a phone, and he ohs - right until Amy mentions the school. "Ah! Amy can help you with all that, yes." he agrees readily.

"Once you're in the school and settled in, I'll contact you and we can talk some more. I look forward to helping you." Another little polite bow as he rises into the air again. There's a little wave to the pair and then he takes off to head back towards the city and find a place to return to his Tsubasa form.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy shrugs. "Overthinking is just how I am." She smiles and waves to the retreating moon, "Byyyye!"

    Sure enough, Laura doesn't have a phone. "Did they tell you anything about human technology?"

    As for the provenance of the Sailor Senshi's power, she shrugs. "I really don't know how they work, or what exactly their connection to celestial bodies is, as my conversation with Charon just now illustrated. But yeah, we've got.... Like ten magical girls connected to planets or moons, well, Earth's is a magical boy, and then there's some additional magical dudes connected to him somehow?"

    "...We have had contact with aliens. Both alien humans that use some kind of magitech devices to cast spells, and an alien alien who gave me my power. He's not... trustworthy, though."

    Gaito can't reach the grand ocean, he doesn't have the power yet. "Yet." echoes Amy.

    On the subject of identity, Amy laughs when asked if she has a connection to the President (of her country, or of Japan.) "No, it's not... Look, if you're willing to go to human school, we can get you some records at school first, and there's a couple of adults there in the know about magic who have contacts to forge you an identity. Because of the veil, it's not like you can immigrate formally because no one knows Grand Ocean exists, and it'd probably take impractically long anyway."

Laura La Mer has posed:
"I will get your contact", Laura promises Wing as he goes away. "See you around."

The mermaid looks expectingly at Amy thanks to Wing having mentioned she is able to set her up with an identity, only to be asked if she has any idea of what human technology is like. "Not really, no, we don't really keep lots of contact with humans anyway. We know about your languages, but anything more than that is typically incompatible", she shrugs.

Amy admitting they have no ideas about the Sailor powers' origin makes Laura pensive, as she looks at the ceiling of her house. "Well, I will have to ask them myself, and maybe run a few checks here and there." 'How hard will it be to meet Charon again anyway?', she thinks.

Popping out of the Aqua Pot again, she looks at Kururun, who has been snoozing there all this while. "Kururun, go inside of the Aqua Pot for now, I will go visit this Radiant Heart place with her." The seal fairy obliges, a cheery "Kururun!" as she enters the magic vessel, leaving only Amy and Laura. "That's just what I need", she tells the redhead. "Will you accompany me there?"

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy nods understandingly about not knowing about technology. "It's fine. I know a lot, so I can exposit anything you want to know, I guess."

    Amy looks longingly at the ocean. "I dunno if I wanna leave just yet..." She sighs and turns to Laura. "My contact will have gone home for the day, so here's my plan: When we leave the beach, it's like, an hour of train ride and walking to get back to the school. I'll disguise you as a student so you don't stand out. I'll sneak you into the dining hall for dinner. I guess you can stay in my room tonight. Tomorrow, I'll skip my first class to take you to Setsuna-san --err, Nurse Meiou, and she'll be able to set you up with school records -- damn, we really need to get me an account that can do that -- and she has contacts who can help with the fake ID for government records and stuff. Umm..."

    Amy taps her chin. "I guess we can probably get you a burner phone tonight? I'll look up how much they cost when we leave the beach. Maybe Setsuna-san will be able to handle getting you a smartphone if you want one. Ah, they..."

    She de-henshins as she walks over to the blanket, dries her hands on her towel, and retrieves her phone. "This is not just a portable communications device but a computer, able to retrieve information from a worldwide information network and help you navigate, as long as you're within reach of a cell tower or wifi signal that you have access to. Which should be most places, but maybe not inside some buildings, or like, basements, or cages, or underwater. They're generally not waterproof, don't take them underwater."

    Amy blinks, then smiles. "Anyway, how does that plan sound?"

Laura La Mer has posed:
"You will? Thank you" Laura says at Amy's offer, pleased. Are people here all so generous? They are literally going out of their way to fix every possible issue she could ever have. She is actually impressed.

The pinkette follows back the redhead's gaze towards the ocean, taking note of the longing in her gaze. They really do seem to regard the ocean in some special way. Their fascination is actually interesting. It really can't be helped, if Amy wants to stay here still, then that's what they shall do. Not like they can do much if this contact is not around right now.

"We can still swim some more if that's what you want to do", Laura tells her, after keeping track of all the useful details and warnings Amy has specified. "Your plan takes into consideration everything, so following it is very good. I will sleep inside my Aqua Pot then, no need to trouble yourself with that. And if it helps you, I can stay put in my room while you get into the school. You don't have to sneak around", she finishes explaining, smiling back to the redhead, heading towards the sea again to swim a bit more with Amy, looking forward to see the world that awaits just behind her.