827/Encoded

Encoded
Date of Scene:	13 November 2023
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Mamoru and Kazuo do some communication work, also ft. Neph's journal.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Kazuo Saitou
Tinyplot:	Midnight Tokyo

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
When Kazuo shows up for Koji-isn't-here-right-now study time, Mamoru's pacing, hugging a book -- notebook? with a hard green cover, with a symbol on it that probably means something. That probably looks familiar, honestly.

When Kazuo comes in, the notebook is thrust at him and Mamoru is grinning. "Naru's working on decoding the first page right now. There's a lot to decode. I just-- you haven't had a chance to see it yet, have you? I know I texted you about it, but-- look, it's his, it's his handwriting, and he's still adding to it, this is what I was talking about on the roof with you and Naru and Chrono, new words are showing up in the back!"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Mamoru is hugging a notebook. This is not as expected. If Usagi were missing, possibly, but first, Kazuo has not received any relevant texts from Naru, and second, the notebook is not pink. Mamoru therefore gets a querying look -

which is met by a notebook to the chest, whoops. Kazuo fields with both hands, nudging the door closed with a heel. "This is - I thought it was with Osaka?" The way his fingers fold about it is abruptly more possessive, quite possibly in a mirror of the way Mamoru's did.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I left her a picture of the first page and borrowed it back, I-- need to-- I need to decide," says Mamoru, his voice worked up, he's worked up. He comes over closer and puts his arm through Kazuo's, holds that possessively for a moment in a hug before letting it go. "I mean, decide that it's okay to have anyone else look at it at all. Because it probably has Midnight Tokyo stuff in it? But it's a journal and he gave it to me and I think only I can read it but Sailor Pluto thinks she might be able to? But if we get it deciphered by, by Rashmi and Chrono, then they might have enough for a dictionary, they might be able to read it, Kazuo I want to be selfish! Naru says I can be selfish! But it'll take us two years to decipher it and he's still adding to it-- in the back-- there's more appearing there sometimes--"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"It sounds like we should figure out whether he's writing notes," Kazuo says, "or writing to you. Can we do that? In less than two years? Maybe start with the first line of a new section?" He shifts the book into a one-handed hold and opens the other arm to Mamoru. Invitation to lean. Or to be more possessive. Possibly both.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Just a little bit of possessiveness, for a treat. Mamoru leans in, and once Kazuo's arm is around him, he puts his arm around Kazuo's. "It'll take a couple of weeks between school and criminal activity," he says, only a bit wry. "But that's a good idea. I also-- I don't know why I don't want the Mercury Computer to touch it. It doesn't make sense. I don't know why I'm being so selfish about that, why it's okay for Device mages to crunch Neph's cipher but not, not--"

He exhales and thunks his head lightly against Kazuo, then uses his free hand to run his fingers against the book. "I don't know how he got it where he got it, and I don't know how long it was there. It was in the box of my parents' things I have in the back of my shelves. I don't go in there much. I went in there recently and there the book was."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
The book is shifted at Mamoru's touch, so that it can be held against both of them. Sometimes it's possible for two people to be just a little bit selfish simultaneously. "If it's something I can work on, at least it'd give me something to do in class besides sleep," he jokes. Mostly jokes.

The Mercury Computer's mention gets a more thoughtful angling of Kazuo's head, white hair sliding against and among black. "For one thing," he says quietly, "Device mages weren't in the fight. Maybe less objectionable. For another... if there's a hidden trap in there, a Device isn't likely to be subject to it. A computer based on a tech he knew anything about might be."

The box is a mystery. Prophecy? Ghost sister? Hard to guess.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I like the second reason better than the first," Mamoru says, his voice quiet, his nervous energy stilling somewhat. "Because I know whose side was in the wrong. I don't want to be precious about this because of-- of kingdoms that have been dead for thousands and thousands of years. If it's that first reason, then I'm putting myself on the wrong side, truly."

Quieter still, "I think it's that first reason. I think that's why I'm asking for a check. It would be-- much faster, to have both working on it."

The smallest of exhales, and a second of pensive silence, and then Mamoru finishes, "But I also want to give you something to do in class besides sleep, and give Naru math to do that isn't homework." There's at least amusement in there for that.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"Start with that," Kazuo answers. "See what we find out. Maybe see what the Devices make of a few pages. Once you know what we're dealing with, it'll be easier to make decisions. Whether that's to have Naru and me work on the new sections while the Devices churn through pages, or feed everything to the Mercury Computer, or any other combination ... it'll be a lot easier to figure out once you know whether this is a record of dry astronomical observations, or Neph wisting after some senior girl in bad poetry."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru relaxes, finally, turning his head so his ear is against Kazuo, but his heart is far away. It doesn't matter; he listens anyway. "Thanks," he says softly. He's silent a moment. Then, "And given how he is around Naru, I'm actually kind of suspecting I know some of the content. Let's get you a picture of the cipher and pictures of the last couple of pages." Pause. "In a minute."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"In a minute," Kazuo agrees, and is still for a little - a living, comfortable stillness, the warmth of his arm, the slow steadiness of his breath. Unhurried.

After a little, he murmurs, "I promise, sometimes it's okay not to be able to strike brilliantly into the heart of the murk and come out instantly with the perfect solution. I know it's not what you're used to, but sometimes it's okay."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The quiet muffled acoustics of the room, the sun setting outside, the dim voices of students on the other side of the glass and a floor below -- it's all part of that stillness of heartbeats and breath. Koji had said this room was a place to be normal, and this is part of normal, even with construction paper fire still on the walls and a lump under the covers next to Mamoru's pillow.

And then Kazuo speaks, and Mamoru pulls away to turn and give him a surprised, amused look. "I do what?" he asks, a laugh behind his voice and on his face.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Sometimes normal is being teased by friends. Sometimes normal is little redecorating pranks.

Normal is usually not emus, admittedly.

Mamoru's surprised look draws an outright laugh from Kazuo, too. "Hadn't you noticed?" he asks, nudging Mamoru lightly with a corner of the journal's cover. "You find the middle of things and put something there, just at the right moment. Maybe yourself. Maybe pointing the right person at it. Maybe throwing something." Maybe a rose.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"... only some of those end up with solutions, and 'buying time' is not a solution, it's-- are you teasing me?" Mamoru starts, then interrupts himself and squints at Kazuo, pulling him over to sit at their desks. He pats the desktop absently as if Kazuo didn't know how to put a book down, taking his phone out. "Open to the third physical page for the cipher," he says, messing with the settings on his phone's camera. "Then flip through to the end. I know it's okay to not know what I'm doing, I don't know what I'm doing like eighty percent of the time."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"A little," Kazuo acknowledges. Mostly not. But it's not a good time to point out that Mamoru does pull that off a ridiculous percentage of the time. Especially when Mamoru is reorienting on business.

Book goes down duly. Kazuo folds himself down with a little less care taken. Phone, check. Third physical page, photographed, check. He doesn't ask about metaphysical pages, they're apparently all that. Flipping through ensues. Very careful flipping through, with a little extra concentration, as if checking warily for magical traps alongside more welcome magical writing. "Where did the new text start appearing?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And when Mamoru reorients on business, he throws his whole self in. Mostly. There's a little bit of leaning, a little bit of contact from standing close, a little bit of standing closer than necessary or putting his hand on Kazuo's shoulder or on the back of his chair--

"I'm not sure, since I don't know when the book showed up in my box. But here's..." Mamoru flips ahead and ahead, looking at the numbers he penciled in at the bottom of each page instead of the encoded star script above. "...where I was when I noticed new text." They're at five pages from the new end of the text, and the number at the bottom of the page is circled, and so is the number at the bottom of the next page, and so on. "So these five pages, at least, are new since I found it."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo runs a fingertip over the last of those pages, very gently. Very gently indeed. Maybe he is feeling for the magic.

Or maybe it's just the connection he's being reverent over. They've all had empty places in them, these last years, but Kazuo's had more of them than the ones who could talk to each other. And that Nephrite might have written this...

"All at once?" he asks. "Or has it turned up at intervals?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"At intervals," Mamoru says softly, his hand on Kazuo's back now, lightly. Just above his shoulderblades. "I tried watching it for a long time a couple of nights, but... I fell asleep. I don't know if it just doesn't happen while I'm watching, or if I never happen to catch when he's writing."

There's a little pause, and Mamoru's voice has a different little quality to it. "Do you want to borrow it for a while?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"I don't want it to be away from you," Kazuo admits. He breathes out, slow. Breathes in. Tilts his head toward Mamoru, a little very gentle thud of contact. "How does the cipher work? Can we hop in in the middle of a page and start trying to translate? If we can get even a snippet of what he added lately, it'd tell us something." Even if the something is a drink review.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru smiles down at Kazuo at the little thunk. "Naru and I got the first word after about four hours of work. And... you have as much right to hug this book as me or Naru, you're just as connected to him." It's probably technically unfair that he's an empath, but it doesn't work right, right now; it's probably technically unfair that he can read Kazuo, that he's learned some of Kazuo's tells. "We can start in the middle of the page and try and decipher it that way, sure. Calculators or phones?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
There is only one possible response.

"-- you have a calculator that's not a phone?"