1528/So Something Happened

So Something Happened
Date of Scene:	30 April 2024
Location:	Dorms #1
Synopsis:	Usagi isn't planning to repeat the mistakes of the Outer Senshi. The day after her fight with Setsuna, she approaches Makoto to share the truth, and seek the Senshi of Courage's advice.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Makoto Kino
Tinyplot:	We Got The Beef

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's April 30th, the day after Usagi Tsukino had an argument (yelling was involved) (perhaps it could be fairly dubbed screaming) with Setsuna and stormed out of her house with Ami in tow. It's a day after she and Ami kissed for the first time. A day after she and Mamoru hashed out - a good deal, of things.

And, incredibly relevant to all of this: it's the fifth day since they escaped from the portal that Beryl created. The memories are fresh, but there's some distance now, created by the days they've lived and slept and woken and lived again, grounded in the present once more.

Usagi feels steadier (though still furiously disappointed with regards to the Outer Senshi... and she doesn't want to perpetuate their mistake. She doesn't want anyone caught off-guard or kept out of the loop. Which is one reason among many that she's knocking on Makoto's door as soon as classes are done, hoping to catch her before she's off to club duties.

"Hey, Mako-chan, are you home? And is Adora-chan gone?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Usagi is in luck on both counts. It takes no time at all for Makoto to open the door for her as soon as she hears her voice - and from the quiet of the room behind her, she's currently the only one in residence.

She's looking more her usual self, most of a week after their return. Not so much the subdued, troubled Mako who came out of the portal. She greets Usagi with a smile, opening the door wider and stepping back to clear the way into the room she shares with Adora. "It's just me right now," she confirms. "Come on in. What's up?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Good! I mean, not that I don't like Adora-chan, but, I was hoping we could talk in private."

She gives Makoto a once over, taking in the smile on her face and the life in her eyes, the way words are at least for now coming easy. Usagi's been keeping an eye on her girls as best as she could, all of them walking wounded after what they saw, what they experienced. Once invited in, she scans the room, too, but everything looks normal. Usagi herself looks... tired. A little drawn, a little serious around the eyes, but otherwise, still her same, lively self.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto's eyebrows lift, and she pushes the door quietly closed behind Usagi once she's all the way into the room. "Sure, of course. I've got time."

She gives Usagi a closer look, her forehead creasing a little at the signs of fatigue. "Did something else happen?" she asks with concern. "Or is it just about...?"

She trails off and waves a hand, a vague gesture encompassing everything that's already happened so far, that she knows of. It's already a lot.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
A huge sigh is heaved. "Something else happened."

It feels a little ridiculous to say, like that new-bad Star Trek movie, where the poor actor just looks at the screen as he delivers his nonsense lines. But it's how she feels. Despite everything... something else happened.

She takes a seat on one of the chairs in Makoto's room, feeling comfortable enough to assume her friend would't begrudge that, and her expression is fairly tense, fairly tired, as she looks down at her hands, then back up to Makoto.

"I had a fight with Meiou-san," she says simply, finally, and the mere fact that she's calling her Meiou-san instead of Setsuna, or Suna-san, says plenty, all on it's own. "And it was about something serious. Something relevant to all of us. Mako-chan, did you ever run into a girl who called herself Firefly? Or a girl named Hotaru Tomoe?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Usagi can sit anywhere she wants on Makoto's side of the room, as far as Mako is concerned. She moves to perch on the edge of her bed, angling herself towards Usagi to listen seriously to whatever news her friend has come to share.

The question has her frowning vaguely in thought as she casts back through memory. Firefly. Hotaru Tomoe. After a moment, Makoto shakes her head. "I don't think so... at least, I don't remember hearing either of those names." Which means that at the very least, if she has met either, it was only in passing and not enough to make much impression.

She doesn't ask any questions yet, just watches Usagi, waiting to hear more.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Good for you," Usagi says, fervent, and that also says something, because just like the rest of them, Usagi's fought a lot of people, and even if she's still kind of a chicken and definitely hates getting hurt, she's not usually the sort to sound relieved about not encountering anyone in particular.

"Firefly is... dangerous. She worked with Riventon, for a while, and she had this energy glaive device weapon, and I guess, everyone else knew this totally sweet, sugarplum pie type of girl or something, sickly and in need of help, and I was just the unluclky one who only ever saw her crazy, but she killed two people in front of me, a while ago - I think I told you about it, because it was so... and then, I didn't see her for a while, but then Riventon made some dumb peacock youma, and she was at the fight, and she freaked out again, and also tried to like, murder me that time, because I guess that's what she does, and broke her device, and tried to murder everyone. I had to go Princess mode to purify her, and even that didn't totally work."

A full force blast from the Silver Crystal. Hadn't been enough to purify the problem entirely. Bad sign.

"I didn't see her again, and I guess, technically I still haven't, because she wasn't actually at Meiou-san's house yesterday when she told me that she and the Outer Senshi have been hiding her for weeks."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto listens, silently, and by the time Usagi has finished explaining Mako is leaned in towards her with absolute attention and a very grave look shadowing her face. "And they didn't tell you until now." Her frown deepens. "Did they know? About her killing people, and trying to kill you, and the rest of it?"

She's still processing the thought of a problem that princess mode and the Silver Crystal can't banish. That's a very bad sign, indeed. But first things first.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"They were there, when she killed those two girls," she says frankly. "I - don't know if they knew about the time she tried to killl me, but they probably do, because she must have come to them not that long after. There's something wrong with her; something wrong in her, I guess, that's what Meiou-san said, and she tried to blame it all on that, but it's not just that, because she was definitely herself when she went nuts screaming and stabbing at me about how bad her life is."

Yes, she still very much remembers that incident, and has not forgotten it.

"I'm even willing to believe they're right, and most of it's because of the thing inside her - but they should have told us, and that's why we fought - well, that and because..."

She grimaces.

"Okay, so do you want the bad or the worse?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto's eyes narrow, sharpen. It's the kind of look that's usually dangerous for someone, but she stays as she is, sitting just on the edge of her dorm bed's mattress and leaned in towards Usagi with her hands braced to either side of her legs.

"Better make it both," she says, "but start with the bad first and we'll go from there."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You got it," a little sigh, a little grimace, "Hotaru's the daughter of some bigwig in Obsidian. Like, same status as Beryl, in Obsidian. Dr. Tomoe, from Tomoe LifeSciences. I don't know for sure that they're a dark agency like Beryl Holdings, but, like, if his daughter had a Device, and his daughter worked with Riventon, who works for Obsidian too, I think he probably is? And he uh, he didn't give permission, for her to be with the Outers. She's friends with Mamochan's brother Takashi, and apparently he got her out of Obsidian, and I get the feeling that was either by helping her run away, or by helping her get kidnapped. Either way, her dad's looking for her - I had Mamochan check with Riventon, and they haven't found her yet, but..."

But it's a real possibility that they will eventually.

"And on top of that, there's a chance that... there's another Senshi. I haven't talked about it very much because there wasn't a lot of signs that she was awake, and I was really hoping Michi- Kaiou-san, was wrong, but I don't think she is. There's a real chance that Firefly is Sailor Saturn."

It's a flood of words, just a rush of words.

Makoto Kino has posed:
"So... just to make sure I'm keeping up..." Makoto shifts position a little so she can tick things off on her fingers. "She's full of something bad that even the Silver Crystal didn't get rid of. She's killed people and tried to kill you. And Obsidian is looking for her, and if they find where she's hiding out, it's going to get ugly..."

She waits a beat, just to make sure she didn't miss anything. "And... Sailor Saturn is the 'worse'?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"And Sailor Saturn is the worse," Usagi says grimly, "I don't think Sailor Saturn is evil. I don't think she was evil back then, and I don't think the idea of her, existing, like, in general, is bad, but I just - I talked to Luna about her, last night, after she came home, after Mamochan went back to his place, and she... once I told her the name, she remembered. But I knew about her before, because Kaiou-san told me she thought Firefly was Saturn. Because she'd been having visions, like the ones Rei-chan would have, about the apocalypses, and bad signs, only, the thing she was seeing, was... Saturn."

Which isn't great.

"Sailor Saturn, she's... the Soldier of Death and Rebirth. The last Senshi. Meiou-san said, and Luna confirmed, that she was basically.... hidden away, our entire lives back then, because her power is just..."

Usagi trails off for a moment, trying to put it into words.

"Her power could let her end the world. All at once. And she's Firefly."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto is quiet for a little space, digesting this. Trying to wrap her brain around it - the idea of a senshi with the power to simply end everything.

"They should have told you," she says at last, firmly. "I mean, it's one thing to hide someone who ran away from Obsidian, but... knowing she might be one of us? Especially knowing she might be Sailor Saturn? And all the rest of it... You deserved to know she was staying with them way before now."

She's sitting up straight now, halfway to working up a pretty good head of annoyance. "What are they planning to do if whatever's inside her comes out again? Or if she awakens as Sailor Saturn? A potential senshi, with that much power, being influenced by something evil... and they didn't tell you until now they were hiding her at their house?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"It's crazy, isn't it?" Usagi says, meaning Saturn, meaning the scope of her power, "But... but yeah. She's got Rebirth, too, so she's... I guesss she makes it so people come back, too. Which is nice, I guess, if you don't mind everyone being dead about it first..."

Not to be bitter!!

"I know, right? I mean, not just me, either, they should have told us. I thought we were a team, or at least, trying to be one, even if not everyone knows each other well, I mean - we don't even all know each other well, I know you and Rei-chan and Minako-chan haven't really like, hung out super often, and I know I've not really had a lot of one on one time with like, Tenou-san, but I thought we were a team. I thought we kept each other in the loop, on things like potentially picking a fight with a big bad..." She's obviously very annoyed, just, in general. "I don't want you to feel like you have to take my side, or something, or even be mad at them. I just want you to know what's going on."

And she grimaces.

"I don't even know, what their plan is. Apparently, they're letting her run around and fight and call herself Sailor Charon, which, to me, just sounds like the stupidest thing I've ever heard in my entire life. And I've failed a lot of tests."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"I'm not mad at them because I have to take your side or anything," Makoto puts in, "I'm mad at them because they're being jerks. It's just like you said... this is something to do with all of us, not just something they can decide on their own."

And then she catches herself, and makes an odd face, somewhere between incredulous and a light bulb going off. "Sailor Charon. I did run into her once - with Sailor Pluto, when Mamoru-san and I and some other people fought the moth girl at the clock shop. That's her? She seemed kind of..."

This time when she trails off, it's with an expression that suggests she's trying to find a way to not be mean about this.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
A little beat of relief, that Makoto agrees with her, and that it's not just blind loyalty, which, it's not that she'd accuse Makoto of that! But she doesn't want this to be some Inners vs Outers thing. As far as she's concerned, it's an Usagi vs Outers thing, until and unless the others agree with her...

And then she catches that look on Makoto's face, incredulous and understanding all at once, and she sits up, and says, "You ran into her? Mamochan mentioned it once, that he ran into her, and... he told me he talked to Meiou-san about her, and she said she'd tell me, so that's probably why he didn't mention it the second time."

There's that look on her face, this time less realization, more struggling for words, and Usagi says, "You can't be meaner about it than me."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Mako hesitates a little longer before simply shaking her head. "Let's just say, she didn't make a good impression." Her tone is very wry. "I meant to ask you about there being another senshi, but then all this other stuff happened and to be honest, I kind of forgot. But from what you said, it's more like a disguise?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I think it's more like a disguise, yeah. I mean, she can't be Sailor Charon, because she's still Firefly... or still has device, like Firefly, anyway, and I'm pretty sure you can't be both. Pretty sure magic only lets you be one, and Mmaochan pointed out that that means she shouldn't be able to be Sailor Saturn.... but I'm pretty sure that device was given to her to like... Meiou-san called it a Spectacularly Bad Reaction, she has to Dark Energy, and I know Obsidian gave it to her to help control her dark energy, so..."

She pauses.

"She didn't hurt you, did she?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Mm-mm." Makoto shakes her head. "There wasn't any crazy or anything, she was just really loud and really excited and kind of dumb. And you're right, that disguise seems like a really stupid idea." Her mouth twists, and she shakes her head again. "Especially since she could actually be a senshi... ugh, well, whatever. I guess there's not much we can do about it right now, except be ready for things to explode into some kind of spectacular bad."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Yeah, I like, I half-wonder if they wanted us to get to know her and accept her as Charon and like her, and then they could be like, good news! Charon is a lie, but Saturn is real, like - what did they think? And both times I saw her go crazy, were in combat situations, and maybe she's not gone crazy every time she fights, but it happening twice, seems to me, like a pretty good reason why she shouldn't be in fights? You know? What if she gets hurt? What if someone else gets hurt? What if someone insults one of the people she likes? She's friends with Riventon, and he's our enemy - is she going to snap if he gets hurt in a fight?"

She's relieved, and it shows, that Makoto wasn't hurt, and there's a faint flicker of a smile that Charon was just - loud and excited and kind of dumb, instead of a terrifying threat...

"I'm sorry I don't have a plan. I just didn't want to do to you what they did to me, and keep a secret from you."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Riventon was there too, at the clock shop," Makoto notes. "He didn't really fight, but at least him being there didn't make her freak out."

She breathes out and reaches up to push her bangs back from her eyes. "It's fine not to have plan," she says, more gently. "This kind of thing isn't easy to plan for, anyway. I'm glad you told me." She offers Usagi a reassuring smile as she says it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Good. That means she dealt with it well, at least once," some tension drains out of her, not much, but some. "I'm just so... I had to tell you, Mako-chan. I wanted to tell you. I trust you and I love you and I wanted to hear from you, I wanted yout o know, I wanted your advice -"

Everything is so much and so hard and she hates carrying things along, she always has, and she'll never be able to understand wanting to carry something alone, like the Outers seem to.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Somewhere in the middle of this, Mako gets up from where she's sitting and crosses the step or two to the chair Usagi is parked in, so that she can bend down and give the smaller girl a hug. "I wish I had better advice to give you," she says, in a tone of real apology. "I don't really know if there's much we can do except for get ready for it to go bad. But I've got your back, okay? Whatever happens."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi leans into that hug, returning it tightly, because she's always loved hugs. "You're giving plenty. I was a little worried that maybe I'm being childish, but it's just - if they don't want to tell us when something important happens, what are they going to tell us? How can I trust them, when this is how things are? How do I rely on them, if I can't trust them?"

She's not sure.

"But I can count on you. I can count on Ami-chan. I can count on Rei-chan, and Minako-chan, and I know that because we talk, and... I've got your back, too. It's not like - things aren't like they were, in the past. I'm not just a princess, who has to be protected."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Definitely not," Mako agrees without hesitation. "And you're right, you know? If they didn't tell you about something this big, then..."

She doesn't finish the thought. Bringing up the past has distracted her, dimming her expression. Breathing out a sigh, she halfway releases Usagi and kind of props her hip against the side of the chair, keeping one arm draped over Usagi's shoulders. "Things don't have to be like they were back then."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It keeps coming back to that lack of trust, that failure to communicate. Usagi doesn't know how she can trust someone who can't talk to her, and she doesn't know how to deal with that, yet. She'll come up with something, though.

But for now... she can see the way Makoto's expression has dimmed, and she frowns looking her over.

"Mako-chan... did something happen, when - when we were all in the portal? I mean, I know a lot happened, but - did something, especially... happen?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
She's slow to answer, eyes downcast. Of course something happened, a lot of somethings. It's difficult to put into words. Difficult to even know where to start.

"I didn't really remember any of it, you know?" she says eventually, her voice quiet. "Not like you and Mamoru-san do. I don't really know about Ami-chan or the others, but... I got a little flash, at Soryuu Shrine, and that's all."

It's a good start at an explanation, but it's still not the whole truth, and Makoto lets out a slow sigh. "I saw how I died," she says. "And... I saw Nephrite, before that. And I still don't understand anything."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She waits it out, quiet. Of course things happened. Of course, a lot happened. And of course... it's hard to put it into words. Any of it.

"I know," she says, quiet, "I didn't remember much at all until Soryuu Shrine, and waking up to my power, and.. AMi-chan told me she didn't really remember either, but she does now."

So Makoto at least isn't alone, in not remembering much, and then suddenly... but Usagi listens, and there's grief in her eyes, and sorrow, as Makoto reveals what she saw.

"Did... did you and Nephrite... we all saw the storm, at the end. I think - I guess - that you... had to kill him?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"I killed him," Makoto answers softly. "Had to? That part... I don't know."

Her head bows, low enough for her bangs to half screen her eyes. "If you didn't remember all that much, then maybe you don't know either, but... Back then, were he and I...?" She can't quite bring herself to finish asking it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She can't make Makoto feel any particular way, but Usagi herself? She thinks... she thinks it was a had to. The Shitennou - she saw how they reacted, when Endymion was murdered. The emptiness, the despair, the loss. She thinks, they would have wanted to die, but more than that, she thinks that if it had been her - her as she is now - if her girls...

Who knows what had to means, anyway?

"I remember a lot more nowm," she says quietly, softly, and she's looking at Makoto, and she's -

"Being there made a lot of vague things become solid, and made even more come back. And I..."

She can't lie about this. She can't...

"I remember that you spent a lot of time together. But I don't know, if..."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto tries for a reassuring smile. It comes out somewhat half-hearted. "It's okay," she says. "It doesn't really matter anyway. This Nephrite, now... he likes Naru-chan, doesn't he?"

Even if what she saw was true, that was a past long since gone, and she's not that princess.

"There were a few times, while we were in the portal, when it kind of felt like I was someone else. I guess you know what that's like, huh?" Her mouth twists, like she's tasting something bitter. "It just... got to me, is all."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"But it does matter, because it bothers you," Usagi says matter-of-factly. "Anything that bothers you is important, because it's having an effect on you."

Even if it was the past, if the past impacts Makochan... and she frowns. "I don't know. I mean, I think he might have, for a while, but I don't know if anything ever came out of it. Naru-chan liked him, I'm pretty sure, but she liked Tamachan when he was going by Jason, too, and he was a total jerk, so."

She loves Naru, but part of being life-long friends is being able to say, with full honesty and love, 'sometimes that girl ain't right'.

"...I do. Sometimes, when I was back there, it was really... really like I was Serenity, the way she was then, instead of the girl I am now. I mean - I'm both, but... it was almost like I wasn't. It gets in your head."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Mako bobs her head in a slow little nod. "Yeah," she says. "It was a lot like that. And, I mean, it mostly helped me out back there, just... I wasn't expecting it."

She scrubs a hand over her face in a quick, abrupt gesture, like she's trying to wipe away whatever face she's making and start over. "Ugh, I'm being so dumb. Nephrite's talked to me maybe twice. I don't actually know if he even remembers my name or anything. And he sure didn't pay Sailor Jupiter any attention, either. It's pointless to let this mess me up now."

How do you mourn for someone you never knew?

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"...I don't think you're being dumb. I mean."

She considers, slowly, and then says, trying to pick out her words, "I met people there, that I didn't really know, in real life, but... it still hurt to know they were going to die. That they were dead. And you... Makochan, you saw yourself die! You saw yourself die, and you saw yourself kill people, and I think it's only,.. it's only a part of being a perosn, I think, to feel a way about that. Even if you don't know him super well, you still saw it. You still - lived it, once upon a time."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Yeah." Once upon a time. Makoto's voice is very quiet.

After a moment, the arm around Usagi's shoulders pulls snug, a brief little squeeze. "Thanks, Usagi-chan. I'll... I'll be okay. It's not like there's anything anyone can do about it, anyway, I just... needed to say it to somebody."

She breathes in, and lets it out in what's almost a laugh. "I don't know what sort of face I'm supposed to make the next time I see our Nephrite, though."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
A brief squeeze, returned.

"I know you will. But you don't have to be okay, right away, okay? If you need to be sad, or hurt, or just... I don't know, if you want to mope or bury your face in Luna's belly, all of that's okay. We're... we're just trying to cope with it all."

And she considers, then smiles, wryly, "I bet it will be one for the picture books, honest."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Please don't let me embarrass myself," Makoto pleads. "Isn't that a friend code thing? It should be in the friend code."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Who said you'd embarrass yourself?! If anything, I bet you embarrass him. I think they remember a lot more than the rest of us, on like, average, so - I bet he takes one look at you and goes, oh no! She remembers what a total ass I was!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto laughs, as much out of surprise as humor, but it seems to break the brittle mood she'd fallen into and bring her back to herself. "He wasn't, though!" she protests. "I mean, until he turned evil. Then he was."

She's quiet for a moment before she adds, again: "Thanks, Usagi-chan."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Anytime, Mako-chan."

She looks her friend over, eyeing her with intense eyes, before nodding a little, in satisfaction. "Yeah, you know, he's going to take one look, and know: he fucked up. I can't wait."