185/In the Wake of a Cat-astrophe

In the Wake of a Cat-astrophe
Date of Scene:	31 July 2023
Location:	Tsukino-Osaka Dorm
Synopsis:	Nurse Setsuna conducts a wellness check on one Usagi Tsukino, and encountering a recovering Luna leads the nurse and secret senshi to only one conclusion.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Setsuna Meiou

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The dorms are more or less the same for each student group, at least from the outside. They have the same brick exteriors, the same roofing, the same windows. The same turreted towers attached, and in the lobby, the same plants, and more or less the same type of dorm attendant. The floors are divided by grades, and while it's not so segregated that each dorm building houses students of only one particular grade or school group, it is generally divided along those lines.

Usagi Tsukino lives on a floor inhabited only by other Grade 9 students, and her wing houses only other girls from Grade 9. Her dorm room is more or less exactly like any other, with a little name plaque reading Osaka/Tsukino, and a cutesy little decoration pinned to the door, a sign with a little black cat surrounded by red hearts that says, WELCOME TO OUR ROOM!

This place is definitely Usagi and Naru's room.

The room is quiet, no sound tricking through the doors, which anyone familiar with the residents would know is unusual. Both residents are staying in the dorm for the summer, after all.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou had been sitting in the infirmary, passing the time by reading a book. This one's cover has the same trenchcoated protagonist from before looking less beat up, but facing dramatically off against a monster that kind of looks like an ent with a giant jack-o-lantern for a head. When the door opens, she snaps the book closed and looks over to the student there (revealing the book's title in English to be 'Proven Guilty' for some reason) and asks, "How can I help you?"

Said student doesn't enter, but glances back and forth along the hall before leaning in, "Nurse Meiou...I just thought you should know. That one girl in grade 9...wassername...the really perky blonde with the twintails? Tsukiyomi?"

Nurse Meiou looks confused for all of a second, then asks, "...you mean Miss Tsukino?"

The upperclassman nods, "Yeah...that's her. Anyway, I just saw her walk on campus looking like death warmed over. I thought maybe you should know?"

Nurse Meiou blinks once...then nods, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Miss Mikkokusha. I'll take care of the situation."

That said, she grabs a few things around the infirmary, then quickly heads over to Usagi's dorm room.

Upon arrival at the room, Nurse Meiou glances at the door as if it had personally offended her as she ponders how best to proceed forward for a moment...before then deciding to try diplomacy first.

Reaching up, she knocks on the door, "Wellness check, Miss Tsukino."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
That student, the one who saw Usagi walking across the campus looking like death on legs, they weren't wrong. When she opens her door, leaning against the frame as if too tired to stand up straight, she still looks like death on two legs. Her face is pale and wan, her eyes red and puffy from crying, bloodshot. Her hands and arms are damp, the strong suit of soap and hand sanitizer lingering. She blinks at Setsuna Meiou with the kind of exhausted puzzlement that only comes to those entirely too worn out to properly emote.

"Wellness check?" Is all she manages to say. Her voice is a little scratchy, hoarse.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Despite what she'd heard and what she was therefore expecting, the sight of happy, bubbly Usagi in such a state momentarily catches Nurse Meiou rather flatfooted. There's a discernable pause before she gives herself a little shake and smoothly stepping into Usagi's room and closing the door behind her. Nobody else needs to overhear anything with her standing in the hall.

Once that is done, she turns back to Usagi and absently puts the back of her hand against the younger woman's forehead for a quick and dirty temperature check. She keeps her voice soft with a note of concern as she says, "Miss Tsukino...Usagi...one of your fellow students saw you as you came in and was worried. I can see why. What's wrong?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The thought of blocking entrance or refusing to talk doesn't even occur to Usagi. She just blinks, sluggish and exhausted, as the nurse steps into her room, shuts the door, and takes her temperature.

The dorm room is obviously the home of two very different people - one side is neat, organized, practically begging for a label maker - and the other side is Usagi's. It's not a pigsty, but it's the definition of organized chaos; a basket with haphazardly dropped clothes here, a stack of manga atop a stack of textbooks there, a messily made bed, a cat carrier, a scratching post, a litterbox, a black cat with a cast on it's left foreleg atop a pillow there -

That last one may give pause.

"I'm fine - I'm fine - my frie- my ca-" she fumbles on the words, eyes welling up with tears; it's obvious why they're so red, "Luna got hit by a car!"

And oh that's a wail.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Once assured that Usagi isn't running a fever, Nurse Meiou spends a moment glancing around the room...and she quickly figures out which half belongs to whom. She's only passingly familiar with Miss Osaka...but she cannot imagine the organized chaos belonging to anyone BUT Usagi. The cat with the cast catches her attention...and the implications run through her mind as Usagi staggers through her sentence before breaking into a wail.

Her reaction is immediate. The taller woman drops down to one knee in front of the blonde and pulls her into a hug. She doesn't even question the reaction. If asked, she'd probably justify it with some comment about taking care of her charges.

Gently rubbing the young woman's back, she says, "I can see she's had some competent medical attention." One does not place a cast on a cat without being fairly certain of their recovery, after all.

After as long as is needed for Usagi to get some measure of composure back, Nurse Meiou stands back up and gently nudges Usagi towards the bed to sit down, "Let's get you off your feet, Usagi."

The name Luna normally would gather more attention from her...but at the moment, she's much more focused on the crying young blonde.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi has been crying on and off ever since she woke up in the animal hospital, ever since the vets had told her Luna would be okay, ever since they told her the procedure was paid for, ever since they loaded the cat carrier for her and wrapped her hands around the handle, ever since she knew for sure that Luna was going to live and make a full recovery and be fine.

Crying from relief. From guilt. From being filled with so much emotion that all she could do was weep.

So this hug? It's a good one. Usagi leans in, wraps her arms tight around the nurse, and just sobs a bit, words trickling out in stops and starts. "The doctor said - said she was going to be okay - said it wasn't as bad as it looked - but she was so still - and there was blood and I saw her bones and, and, it was my fault - I made her walk because I was annoyed - and she got hit - he didn't see her -"

Eventually she regains enough composure to just be sniffling, breath hitching. "I'm - sorry -"

For being such a mess, and for the patch of wetness definitely staining Nurse Meiou's lab jacket.

She goes to her bed willingly, scrubbing at her eyes. "She hasn't woken up yet, they said, they said it might be awhile because of the ana-anaestha- the medicine they used to make her sleep." She is not making her tongue cooperate today.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Nurse Meiou absently supplies the word Usagi was stumbling over, "Anesthesia."

The wet spot on her lab coat is something she pays no attention to. The reason she wears the lab coat is to keep her regular clothes from getting stained or wet, after all.

As Usagi settles down, Nurse Meiou moves over to give Luna a more thorough inspection, looking over the bandage and castwork absently. To be frank, she's not expecting to see anything wrong. What she spotted earlier seemed to be competently enough done, and she imagines that she won't be disabused in that regard.

No, the 'inspection' is much more for Usagi's benefit...as seeing a professional she's more familiar with is likely to set the young woman's mind at ease.

Never mind that she's a nurse, not a veteranarian, dammit

She really doubts that Usagi's faculties are really working at that level at the moment. Still, she's too much of a professional to NOT at least give Luna a cursory inspection...so she moves from one side of the feline to the other, making absent note of things as she goes along, "...she has quite lovely fur...these bandages were well done...as were these sutures...very good work on the cast, as well. She shouldn't have any problems with it beyond the annoyance of having it in the first place." Then she gets to the kitty's head...and she sees the crescent mark on Luna's forehead.

The very prominent crescent mark.

The crescent mark that has HUGE significance to anyone who lived during the Silver Millenium...as it's the exact same kind of crescent that the Queen and Princess both had.

Only a few beings could wear that mark openly...and the list of those who could who wore feline bodies was even shorter.

And if Usagi is paying a bit more attention, she'll get to see a rare sight indeed.

Setsuna Meiou looking utterly poleaxed as she says, "...that's a Mau." There's a beat, "...Luna is a Mau."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Anesthesia. That's right. It was the anesthesia that was keeping Luna asleep; or at least, that had put her to sleep for surgery. They said she could wake up any time, but animals tended to need lots of sleep after surgery - people tended to need lots of sleep after surgery too, but especially after trauma like - like - well. Usagi watches Nurse Meiou examine Luna with the exhausted but intense focus of someone desperately waiting for a miracle. And she relaxes by degrees as the workmanship on bandaging, stitches, and cast are complimented. It's not that she doubted, per se, but who wouldn't relieved by a positive second opinion?

"They said she should heal well. That the breaks were clean and cats bounce back really well, and as long as she got good care, she'd be fine and - eh?"

Confusion fills her face as those last sentences register. "A mau? Is that - her breed? The vet said she was a short hair...?" It's genuine incomprehension.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Usagi was hoping for a miracle...and after a fashion, she may have found one.

Normally, up until now, when Setsuna has been caught off guard, she's shaken it off fairly quickly...

This time, not so much.

She'd self-appointed herself the task to find her Queen's daughter's court...but she'd been here for several weeks without so much as a solid peep of evidence that she could point to that any of them was even here. Oh, she had suspicions, but in her bereft circumstances, she was relying on having to watch events slowly unfold. After all, any spell powerful enough to gather the spirits of the court and fling them forward thousands of years to be reborn in the here-and-now?

Even as vastly powerful as Serenity was, to accomplish such a feat, she'd have had to tie her spell very much to the concept of Destiny. And thus that Destiny would eventually bring together the members of the court. The fabric of the universe itself the spell was woven into would assure it...but it was by no means guaranteed to have been a QUICK process.

In point of fact, Destiny could be aggravatingly slow at times.

So to find someone she recognizes here? Now?

Oh, Setsuna's duties and responsibilities kept her away from the day to day goings on...and time, circumstance, and inherent protective magicks have left her memories shredded to the point where she has many generalities but very very few details left to work with.

But two details she DOES have is that one of the Royal Advisors was named 'Luna', and that Luna was a Mau...a talking feline with the Royal Crescent on her forehead.

This is THAT Luna.

Setsuna then turns to stare at Usagi as little details start arranging themselves in her mind. Like 'I made her walk because I was annoyed'...normal cats don't get MADE to do anything...and that kind of phrasing implies actual verbal coercion...once again, something that would not work on a true cat.

And Usagi had stumbled and was about to call Luna her 'friend' in the same kind of tone one normally reserves for people.

All of which meant that Luna was with her willingly...and that she and Luna had a good relationship. Which heavily implied that Usagi might have been one of the people she was looking for.

Absently, her hand gently and almost automatically strokes the top of Luna's head in a very soft caress as she continues to stare at Usagi.

Slowly...hesitantly, she answers Usagi's question, "...less 'breed', more 'species'. A mau. A moon cat. An advisor. A friend. She talks to you? She'd have to. Does she remember?"

Frankly, Setsuna isn't firing on all cylinders. It's been a VERY VERY long time since she's met anyone from her home culture...and even if they don't remember it, the enormity of the moment is causing her thoughts to jumble.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The incomprehension is real, true, and not in the slightest lifted by the time it takes for the nurse to respond. In fact, her tension grows as she waits. It's a simple question, isn't it, especially if Nurse Meiou recognized the breed because she likes cats, so why is she taking her time? Why is she looking at Luna so intently?

In better times, Usagi wouldn't be so suspicious, so untrusting; today, Luna is injured and relying on Usagi to watch out for her. She won't be able to just nimbly leap away or bite or claw the way she usually would if someone displeased her - she's vulnerable, a unfamiliar state that has Usagi on edge on her behalf.

"Meiou-san," she starts, an edge of uncertainty in her voice, particularly when Nurse Meiou turns to stare at her, and she tenses when Luna is pet, relaxing only when she sees for herself how gentle, how ginger the touch is. Her exhale of breath is sharp, noisy in the silent room.

And then nurse Setsuna says -

"You - you know Luna?"

Record scratch. The world gone still and Usagi stares at Setsuna Meioh, looks her up and down in bewilderment, steady and growing, and if there was a chance to deny any of it, it's long gone by the time she speaks again. Rei-chan and Ami-chan, they were both as completely in the dark as her, the three of them having gotten only the most minimal of answers out of their yes, advisor, who had said that the truth was too much to believe, that she wanted more time to gather evidence, but that they had a mission. To find the legendary silver crystal, to defeat their enemy, and to find the rest of their allies, the other Sailor Senshi.

"How do you know Luna? What do you want to know if she remembers?"

Are you one of our allies? But she can't ask that, not yet.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna looks back...for she's not Nurse Meiou at this point...all hints of professionalism are gone at the moment, leaving the woman alone to answer, "...less know her and more know 'of' her...I had different duties and responsibilities..."

She takes a deep breath, and you can see her trying to regather her composure as she says, "...it's...it's been so long...all the details are gone...but I remember that I couldn't do anything. I was bound by my duty, and by the time I knew anything was happening, it was too late. The failsafes had kicked in. It was all over."

Another gentle pet to Luna's head, "...but I felt her spell...I knew they'd be back again some day...so I waited."

She trails off, then quietly says, "...I waited."

After a few moments of quiet, she looks back up to Usagi, "...I had hoped her memories of the past were better than mine, but apparenty time and the tides of Destiny weren't any kinder to her."

Setsuna straightens up a little, and she shows signs of being a bit closer to normal as she spins a pen into her hand like she often does...but this pen looks...different. Kind of a light lavendar with a large ball at the top, a heart underneath it and a star with a stylized P on the top.

It looks kind of like a henshin pen.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Knew of her. Duties and responsibilities.

Not for the first time, Usagi wonders just who Luna is. A cat has never been the start and end, but this... Setsuna-san (she's not the school nurse, not with how lost and distant her eyes are right now, her words slow and shocked, composure broken by recognition and - memory) clearly knows more about who Luna is than Usagi ever had.

What can Usagi do but listen in growing confusion, growing concern. And it's obvious that something happened. Something bad. Something -

Something that Usagi can't hope to understand. And that makes her feel... small. How many people are suffering that she can't help? Has Luna been suffering too?

"Luna's spell?" she asks, helpless, wondering if Luna can do more than - well, spontaneously create the magical objects they need. Setsuna-san looks... small. It's a little uncomfortable, a little brainbreaking on a day that's already broken so much of her brain.

And then, before she can demand to know what past, what memories - there's the pen. An incredibly familiar shape, even if the style is ever so slightly different. It's -

"You're one of our allies?!" Her voice jumps, cracks. She's quick to lower it, glancing worriedly (hopefully) at Luna, who doesn't stir. "Setsuna-san, you're a Sensehi like me?"

Like me, if her earlier outburst didn't confirm it, makes it obvious that Usagi Tsukino is indeed part of this court. And for Usagi, as much as this is a shock, it almost makes a strange amount of sense. Of course it makes sense. She'd liked Rei-chan and Ami-chan on sight, and she'd felt the same with Setsuna-san (Setsuna-chan? Maybe even she isn't audacious enough to -chan a school authority). It's just, she'd thought it had something to do with the candy bar, not this.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
And there it is. The words that cement everything that Setsuna's thoughts had been circulating around. 'a Senshi LIKE ME'.

A storm of emotions rushes across her face.

Relief...that she has found another.

Sadness...that she is still so YOUNG.

Grief...at knowing that Destiny WILL NOT CARE.

And finally Resolve...to help lift Luna's burden and help care for the new Senshi.

She pushes herself to her feet and steps back slightly...and then she holds up the pen and calls in a reverberating voice, "PLUTO PLANET POWER...MAKE-UP!"

From the outside, her entire body seems to softly glow, reducing her to a silhouette and outline as she swings her pen around...and then a wall of wind (that fortunately doesn't disturb things too far around it) obscures her...and when it disappears a moment later, the school Nurse has been replaced with a sailor suited woman. Her outfit follows the same pattern as any other Senshi Usagi would have seen (or been), though her skirt, scarf, stilleto-heeled boots, and the acccents on her gloves are all black, and the bow at her front is a dark brown held in place by a large garnet. A small silver chain belt hangs from her waist, several silver keys dangling from short chains of her own.

In her hands she holds a long staff with several oddly-shaped protrusions at several places along the shaft and a heart shaped ring with a massive garnet at the bottom mounted on the head of the staff.

She spins the staff around in her hands once and strikes a pose as she says, "Protector of the planet of Space-Time Pluto, Guardian of Revolution...Sailor Pluto"

At which point she punctuates her sentence by clacking the butt of her staff against the floor.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi watches the transformation in awe; it's only been a month, and she doesn't think she'll ever truly tire of the fantastic sight of a transformation. It's not like she can watch her own, after all, and the times she's seen Rei's - well, usually she was focusing a little more on the danger surrounding them than the visuals of Rei's transformation.

With Sailor Pluto, there's nothing to distract the eye from the glow that overtakes the woman's body, until she's nothing but a silhouette - and then, a wall of wind that hides her from view entirely - wind that is incredibly powerful, but nonetheless avoids doing any damage to the room around them. It's - impressive.

More impressive is the Senshi who stands before her, when that wall of wind comes down - a Senshi with a motif of black and brown, intimidatingly tall, with a staff nearly as tall as Usagi herself, a gleaming stone set at the base of the heart-shaped head. She's stunningly beautiful, and in a better time, a better mood, Usagi would absolutely feel her heart pound. In this mood -

"I can't believe it's you! You're - Setsuna-san, are you actually a grown up?"

It's been a long day, alright? And Usagi - well. She's never had the best filter. And, well, even though the shroud of professionalism clings, in this form, with that fuku so similar to her own, she can't help but think Setsuna-san looks more like Chiyo-chan than Inai-sensei or Ms. Haruna.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Sailor Pluto blinks at Usagi's question...as it's very much NOT something she was anticipating.

Still, seeing Usagi's mood lift from the dark thoughts is a pleasure in itself. Thus, she lets out a bit of a giggle that she hides behind a hand, "I certainly didn't get any younger when I put this fuku on, Usagi-chan..." That said, she moves over to kneel on the floor in seiza so that she will simultaneously be near eye level with Usagi but still be close enough to Luna for her to reach out and gently pet once more. She, sadly, possesses no healing abilities of her own...and while she'd like to think that a magical cat will be helped by exposure to a magical girl, she has no data to support that hypothesis...but by the same token, she can't imagine that it'd hurt.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Well - it's just that before, I thought you were definitely a grown up, like Inai-sensei! But now, you don't look that much older than me, that's all!" She flails a little - mentally, anyway. Physically, she's still sitting fairly still on the bed, worried about jostling Luna. "I can't believe you're another one of us, and you're working for the school."

This strange school, that seemed to set in motion all these changes in her life, that brought with it Luna and from Luna, a destiny she didn't want but that certainly wanted her... she reaches out too, stroking her fingers along Luna's flank.

The little cat shifts slightly, a low, quiet noise leaving her throat. Her tail twitches, just faintly, almost as if she were dreaming. Usagi's breath hitches.

"That's the first noise she's made since I brought her home!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Sailor Pluto smiles more broadly at Usagi's declaration, "That's a good sign." She leans over and whispers into Luna's ear (though just loud enough for Usagi to hear as well), "Feel better, Luna. There is a young woman here who loves you very much and is very worried about you. You're in good hands." As she does, she glances over at Usagi and winks a bit, then sits up once more and sighs, "Yes, well...there are REASONS for that. I'm physically not terribly old...but I've been around for a very, very long time...and since the advent of electronic records, I've made a habit over the last few decades of keeping several sets of identifications about as needed. One of them had nursing credentials that I AM qualified for."

She shrugs a little, "The school was a good central place to be to keep an eye out for you all." She then frowns a little, "...though I'll admit that the absolute explosion of magical girls has caught me kind of off guard and complicated things."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Luna breathes in and out, a little shallow, a little hitched from the injury - but the rhythm almost seems to steady when Setsuna speaks to her, as if this too is comfort, the sound of her voice, the cadence of delivery, perhaps even the meaning of her words. She shifts that slightest bit, one of her ears shifting, sliding against Setsuna's fingers.

Usagi is a little flushed, a little bashful, but none of it's untrue, and besides, she has something a little more concerning about. It's one thing to be impressed by someone your age faking adulthood. It's another to realize -

"Is that because you're a Senshi?" -

That maybe there's another layer to this magical thing you didn't consider. A long life is cool and all, very cool, but how long is very, very long, exactly? And besides -

"You mean you go to school for things on purpose? For more than just - high school?" Disgusting.

Who would do such a thing!

"There's... more than there used to be, right? It used to be that there were just a handful for the whole city, I heard."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Pluto looks down at the reaction from Luna, then looks over at Usagi and shrugs, "Maybe? My domains are mostly Time and the Underworld, not Healing or Purification. If she's getting any benefit, it's just from the ambient magic coming off me, I'd imagine. I don't know if that ACTUALLY helps her, but it probably doesn't hurt."

Usagi's thoughts on high school once more cause Pluto to grin a knowing little grin, "Usagi-chan, this is probably the single easiest posting I could have gotten while pretending to be a nurse. In the last month or so I've spent MAYBE five hours doing anything ACTUALLY nursing related that's not just administrative paperwork. And as I said, me taking the job was less about the job and more about where I could best keep an eye out for awakening Senshi."

She then nods, "Up until recently, there being more than a tiny few active magical girls at a time was something of an event. Now we have DOZENS.."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Time and the Underworld?" Usagi cocks her head, thinking - "You mean, like how I'm Love and Justice?" She'd chosen them herself of course, naming what she was fighting for, because she was fighting for Naru! To keep her safe!

She's not entirely sure why someone would be fighting for Time, but it was important, and the Underworld... maybe Pluto was a bit of a chuuni? That would make sense for someone so interested in school...

"That makes sense," she says, as if she had definitely continued paying attention. She smiles a little, because now that she's moved a little and made noise, she's less worried -

"We've been looking for our allies too! I didn't think that I'd find another one at school, but - well, the school does try to find all of us apparently, so it makes sense..."

Honestly, Usagi still isn't sure how to feel about all that. At least she's made a number of friends, though! "I meet so many, all the time," she has to admit. "Well - less, now."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Were her memories less shredded, Pluto would be taken aback at the mention of 'Love' and 'Justice' as things to be bound to, as there wasn't really a Senshi bound to either of them...but as it stands, the fact that those ARE at least concepts nebulous and large enough to bind mean the discrepancy goes unnoticed to her.

Of course, neither of the two has cottoned on to the fact that they're both talking ever so slightly past each other.

She shrugs, I think Destiny is playing a hand, here. Something's going on and the spell that cast everyone forward to be reborn here and now is caught up with it." She frowns, "...it sounds like Luna might know more than I do in that regard. Hopefully, she's able to recover quickly."

After a moment, she sighs and shakes her head slightly before turning to look at Usagi once more, "So...who is 'We', Usagi-chan? Just you and Luna here?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You're not the first person to talk to me about destiny," Usagi notes, frowning just a little, wondering anew what that means, even. What does destiny mean? It was her destiny to be Sailor Moon, apparently, no choice involved - Luna found her, and that was it, because no one else would even be the one who could do this. Just her.

The word spell has her brows wrinkling as does the much more concerning reborn, which, well, has her opening her mouth to ask some very pertinent questions, like who was reborn, and when, and where, and, hey, what exactly -

"Oh! I found Mars-chan and Mercury-chan!" Instantly distracted. After all, she has success to share! "Luna and I, we found Mars-chan first, we had to fight a monster bus and the monster bus driver, and we did it together, and then we found Mercury-chan, and did you know one of the librarians was a youma?!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Pluto imagines that Luna is probably the one who spoke to Usagi about Destiny...but before she can expand upon the subject, the blonde's distraction serves to leave those questions unanswered for the moment. She tilts her head in thought, trying to remember, Mars and Mercury...then sighs and shakes her head. All she can remember is that there WERE a Mars and a Mercury. Details about who and what they were and what they can do are, sadly, lost to her.

The monsters described, however, get her to blink, "...a monster BUS? Well, I can say THAT'S one I haven't heard before."

She then nods, "...though a youma hiding as a librarian doesn't surprise me...it would give them plenty of opportunities to drain people and have it dismissed as students overstudying or the like."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I know, right? At first we thought it was just the driver - well, no, at first we thought someone was kidnapping all the peoplen on the bus, but then, then we realized the bus driver was a youma - and the bus was alive too! We were inside it."

It was so gross! And the memory - well, it wasn't a fun memory at all. But there was something about telling the story, and getting to tell it to someone like her - a Senshi like her, even, and one with experience, one who knows things, well it enboldens her a little. "We took them both out, just me and Mars-chan!"

They are such impressive little Senshi!

"Yeah, it was a smarter idea than the youma who was giving our succulents," Usagi shakes her head - there's a moment where her heart clenches, thinking of what Darien had said, his criticism of the plan, but she moves on, quick. "It drained energy when you watered the succulents."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Pluto smiles a bit more as Usagi becomes more animated as she gets a little bit of confidence back. It's so much more RIGHT to see the young blonde more animated and alive than she was when Setsuna first arrived.

Then there's a moment where Pluto almost audibly blinks, "...wait...when you WATERED them? That's...that's STUPID."

After a moment, she shakes her head, "I suppose having enemies with dumb plans is better than ones with competent plans...but that...that's kind of on another level of dumb."

Absently, she reaches out to pet Luna some more...if she's lucky, her earlier theory about exposure to magic helping might have weight.

And if not, kittys needing all the love still get pettins.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Yeah! Exactly! It was whenever you watered it - I almost fell asleep too, I, ah, I kinda forgot my transformation broach that day -" sweat! "But the others took it down, and until then... we were all totally fine, right up until we actually watered the pots."

She still remembers bits and pieces of that lecture, the droning voice of the youma as it spoke to them out of apparently genuine emotion.

"I do like the dumb ones better; we can laugh at those, even if - even if they're still dangerous."

The funny ones, the ones she can make stories about, at least she can make stories about them! The dangerous ones - they just give her more nightmares. And who does that benefit?

It's in the midst of this story that Luna mrrrrrps, that quiet little cat activation noise, lifting her head to butt up against Setsuna's palm. Her eyes are still closed, but her ears twitch yet more.

Usagi goes still and stiff and - "Luna?!"

"...'sagi..."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Pluto nods, "Here's hoping all our enemies are dumb ones." She sighs, however, knowing that they probably won't be that lucky.

Luna's waking, however, gets her to keep giving gentle pettings as she lets the young woman communicate with the moon cat she has come to care about so much. Still, it would be impolite for her to not make herself known, "Greetings and well met, Luna."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi slides down to her knees, kneeling at the side of her bed so she can look more closely at Luna, barely breathing in her stillness - "Luna, are you waking up?"

The answer might seem obvious, to one who hasn't been worriedly fretting.

"Mmmmmmm," Luna manages, which might just be a sound and not an actual answer, but Usagi is taking it as one!

And then Setsuna speaks, and Luna's eyes slide open, slits of red visible, pupils blown - still mildly under the influence. "Puuuuu?"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Pluto blinks.

It's amazing what little details get retained in minds at times. Little strange details that never come up but stick in the memory to lay dormant until something sparks them and it comes rushing back. She hasn't heard that nickname in...a long, long time.

Frankly, she'd forgotten about it entirely, as it stems from an episode when she was told about her heritage as the Princess of Pluto when she was SIX...and had problems pronouncing the name 'Pluto'.

Because, as mentioned, she was SIX.

But of course, it was one of those adorable things that becomes instant gossip around the court.

Fortunately, only the Queen would use it...at least in her hearing.

Apparently, though, it was one of those things that would never truly die...as it was well known enough for the little detail to get similarly stuck in poor Luna's head before circumstance shook it free.

Pluto SHOULD be upset about it, as she always had been before...but with Luna in such a state, she can't bring herself to hold it against the mau...and given the name has followed her fourteen thousand years through time...might as well just accept it and move on.

She smiles, "Yes, Luna. It's Pluto. I'm glad to see you're getting better."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The world is distant and warm, softness under her, cool air over her, central A/C stirring cool air in the room, against her fur. There's pain, a dull throb of it, centered in her chest and one leg, but she doesn't linger on it, not when there's something else to consider. Luna can't quite think clearly, her thoughts heavy and clouded, her eyes barely open, blurry shapes and shadows and swirls of color, but there's Usagi, asking silly questions, and there's, there's Pluto - young Pluto who would be ancient Pluto, stumbling over her guardian planet's name, young Pluto, given a crucial duty, young Pluto...

Something's off with that picture, but her thoughts are too blurry to identify what it is. Instead, she stretches her neck just slightly, rubs her cheek against the soft hand petting her, looks from blurry green and red and black and brown blur to yellow and blue and white blur, and mews a little. "'m okay, 'sagi."

She has the thought, that dignity matters, that she should present herself appropriately, and tries to stand, attempting to push herself up -

" No, no, Luna don't put any weight on that -"

Luna topples right down. She's medicated enough that it doesn't hurt particularly bad - but her eyes pop open, staring in surprise at this failure.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Pluto lets out a little noise of surprise, "Please Luna. You're still not well. There is no need to try and stand, silly mau."

And now that Luna is awake, Pluto mentally lets go of her transformation...and in a brief burst of light and transluscent ribbons, she's clad in her labcoat once more. There's an off chance Naru might come back to her room, after all, and she is unsure if Usagi has shared her secret with her roommate.

Setsuna then gives another little scritch, "And you may call me Setsuna in the here and now."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Luna mrows, still clearly bedraggled and confused, but settles herself again, barely open eyes sliding shut again as she pants in exhaustion. All her energy is gone now.

"Set...suna? Mmm, is that your name? Sorry, Setsuna..."

She doesn't remember - so much of her memory is gone, a blur of faces and colors, experiences and moments, emotions and facts.

Usagi sits back on her haunches, smiling in relief. She looks at Setsuna with bright eyes - "She's awake!"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Despite the confusion and uncertainty of a few moments ago, the smile that comes to Setsuna's face is a very genuine one. Seeing Usagi's unalloyed joy at her friend's first signs of recovery are more than enough to banish for the moment at least any darker turn to her thoughts.

She nods, "Setsuna Meiou is my name, Luna. Please, don't push yourself. You've been through an ordeal. Do you need some food or water? There is a young woman who cares about you very deeply who would be happy to help."

She shifts back slightly so that she's not in Usagi's way, "...in the meantime, is there anything you'd like to know? I'm not sure how much help I can be, as I fear I remember very little of the past."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Luna mrrrs a little, settling down. "Some water would be nice -"

The words aren't even fully out before Usagi is going to get her water dish, a purple dish decorated with golden stars. The water she pours in is cold, having been packed in ice, and she places it gently on the bed besides Luna.

"There you go! And I bought snacks, too, so if you're hungry!"

"Not hungry," Luna declines, and laps at the water for a moment, tension in her brow eases.

"You'll tell me what happened? Later?" She's too tired to hear the story now, though she doesn't remember an enemy -

"I promise. And - Setsuna-san," should it be -chan now? "Do you know..." and she pauses, glancing at Luna. Luna's been keeping things to herself, quiet and serious, and worried about revealing too much, and - "Do you know where the silver crystal is?"

She doesn't think so, but she's got to ask, right?

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
A blink, "...silver crystal?"

She ponders visibly for a moment, "...wait. The Queen's Silver Crystal?" She shakes her head, "Sadly, no. I looked for quite some time, but it's power was greater than that of the Gates, and it had protections against easy scrying. They could not track it."

She gives a sad little look, "I fear I can not help you find it easily if that's your current goal."

She pauses again, "...though I can see why you'd prioritize it. It IS an artifact of immense power."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi pauses. At the risk of sounding very stupid, she asks cautiously, "There's a Queen?"

She knew there was a crystal, and she knew there was an enemy, but - a queen, too?

Luna makes a quiet, mournful noise. She doesn't answer. Usagi's shoulders hunch.

"Luna told us that our mission was - to find the legendary Silver Crystal, to find our fellow soldiers, and to fight the enemy. But Tokyo's a big city, you know? I don't know where to find the Silver Crystal, or what it looks like, or - it's powerful?"

She figured it wasn't just jewelry, but - well - um -

She's giving Setsuna a look of 'please, you do not understand how little I understand'.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna blinks, "There's an enemy?" She knew there were forces of darkness afoot...but she didn't know there was an enemy specific to THEM around.

After a moment, she sighs and her shoulders sag a little, "...oooooooof COURSE there is." She reaches up, pinches the bridge of her nose, then begins muttering a string of...well, by tone, it's probably invective...but it's in a LOT of languages...mostly dead ones...though Luna's ears may perk enough at one part to recognize what is effectively Silver Millenium Low Gutter Slang whereupon Setsuna describes several very creative and inventive ways for the concept of Destiny to go have vigorous carnal relationships with itself and anyone or anything related to it.

After a few moments, the visibly gets ahold of herself, takes a deep breath and asks, "...and do we know who our enemies ARE?"

She has a very terrible suspicion she knows the answer and will NOT like it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Oh that's not what Usagi wanted to hear. That's not what she wanted to hear at all! An experienced, older, beautiful Senshi should know who the enemy is, right? And that wasn't an answer about the queen thing either, though given how Luna reacted, Usagi doesn't doesn't want to push just yet...

"There's an enemy, but it's hard to tell if we... well. I think we found one?"

Where is your power, Sailor Moon!?

"And his boss, I think. But I don't have any names. You'd think they would introduce themselves!"

Well.

She thinks about Hematite and Pyrite, but - she doesn't know that they're her enemies. And she thinks about Darien, who said he hurt people, but who didn't know who she was, and she'd never seen him fight and - no. She doesn't know anyone's names.

Luna does understand those curses - some of them - and her cheeks pink under her fur, though she doesn't disagree. Destiny has indeed made trouble for them, after all. Instead, she sighs very quietly, drawing her scattered wits together. The water has revitalized her, woken her up just that little bit. "I have a suspect. But... they have not behaved as I would expect."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna sighs, then seems to fall in on herself a little once more, "Okay...okay...on the one hand, we're working on limited information. On the other hand...I think we might have a bit of a silver lining in this cloud."

She shakes her head a little then goes on, "As I had been mentioning to Usagi just before you started waking up...there has been a veritable explosion of various magical girls recently. Numbers that are, frankly, rather absurd. SOMETHING has happened. Now the silver lining here is that there are probably AT LEAST as many different groups of enemies out there as are groups of magical girls showing up...which means our enemies are numerous...but by nature they're going to be FAR, FAR less inclined to working togther...and may even start working at cross purposes. Which is not to say our job is going to be any EASIER...but it's not all doom and gloom, either. I've met at least one other...and her magic is...very different from ours."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"There is - Setsuna, there are things we should talk about, later." Luna says, and it's not that she doesn't want to tell Usagi, it's only that - well. She doesn't want to tell Usagi.

(Who absolutely does notice this! And there's a moment of frustration on her face, but she thinks about Ami and Rei, and decides that the three of them will get Luna to tell them - later.)

Luna stretches a little, wincing. Her ribs ache, sharp little pains as she moves, deep breaths sore, but equally - liberating, drawing air into her. "I had noticed this. The Earth is - not as it was."

Usagi's ears are burning listening to this. The Earth? But she doesn't ask, not yet. Instead she says - "I've met a lot of other magical girls. There are boys too, but I haven't talked to them much..." Hematite comes to mind, of course! "Cure Tide, Culinary Guardian Daifuku, Red, Yellow Pearl Voice... and we have an ally, too. Cute Wolf Tsukiko! There haven't been many fights where Mars-chan and I have had to fight alone."

Luna nods in agreement. "It's true. The enemy hasn't shown it's face, well -"

"One of them showed their face. He was an old guy, who - was after me, personally. But otherwise, it's just been monsters... and none of them work together, not like us."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna narrows her eyes at Luna...that sounds uncomfortably like the Advisor is keeping secrets...and she's not at all sure she LIKES keeping secrets in this regard.

Still, she gives a little nod to Luna, "Very well, Luna."

She makes it clear she's unsure of this route, but is willing to acquiese for the time being. Perhaps Luna has a good reason. She'll have to find out later.

She then looks over at what Usagi says...and blinks a few times, "Old guy? HOW old?" She's WELL aware that Usagi is of that kind of age and temprament where anyone barely beyond apparent teenage years tends to get classified as being 'old', "And after you, personally?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Luna is a little too tired, a little too hurt to be bothered with suspicion. She simply nods, looking at Setsuna, accepting the faint judgement. She'll talk about it, she will! But the young guardians... they aren't ready. And she's not ready, either. What if they crumble beneath that weight?

"Soon. Usagi is gathering our allies so quickly."

It's been just over a month, but they now have found four of the Senshi! There's only two remaining.

Luna purrs a little, genuinely pleased, and Usagi softens, exhaling.

"Old like my dad," Usagi says, nose wrinkled. "And - yeah. He was mad that I wasn't more powerful. He wanted to know where my power was - so I exploded it right in his stupid face."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna frowns slightly for a moment as she realizes that her hopes of an easier time of things have been well and truly dashed, but then she sighs and relaxes as she realizes that she's no worse off than she was at the BEGINNING of the evening.

Nodding to herself, she pushes herself to her feet smoothly...perhaps prompting Usagi to wonder how she does that while wearing 3in heels.

She takes a moment to stretch a little, then cracks her neck a little, "Ah...well, I think that in a few days when Luna is feeling a bit better, you should 'ask the school nurse for a favor' and 'have me look after Luna for a day'." She even makes the finger quotes in the air as she says it.

She smiles a bit knowingly, "That way she and I can compare notes a bit more thoroughly when she's got more energy to do so."

Then a hand is reached into one of the many pockets on her labcoat, and a small pad of paper is retrieved therefrom. Another twirl of her fingers, and a pen seemingly materializes in her main hand, and she starts scribbling down information for Usagi, "First off, my personal phone number. Contact me anytime, anywhere, especially if you think you'll be going into a fight." Another bit of scribbling, "Second, my home address. I suggest you come visit some time. I have a fair bit of room and I can possibly show you a trick or two. Feel free to bring the others."

If Usagi knows the area enough, she might recognize that said address is in the more swank part of town.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's not been an easy time, and things are not as Luna would have wished either. But -

"That will do."

And she nods. Usagi puffs her cheeks out, but when Setsuna offers her phone number, she smiles, and quickly texts her with her own. "That's my number too! So you can call me. I'm pretty bad at school, but I'm a good friend, and a good shopper, and a pretty okay fighter, apparently, so -"

If you need help, call Sailor Moon!

"I'll bring them to meet you as soon as I can. You've been waiting for us, right? Well, we're here now!"

The home address is very carefully stored in her desk drawer, after she snaps a quick picture.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna smiles, then reaches down and gives a gentle pet to Luna, "Get better, Luna. We have much to talk about."

She then turns to Usagi...and she stares at the younger woman for a long moment...

And then she leans down and gives her a hug.

It's a tight hug...the hug of someone who's taking the opportunity to cling onto something or someone and needs to hug as much as to be hugged.

After a moment, she stands up straight again, shifts her shoulders a little, then walks for the door, "I'll leave you two for now, but you know where to find me if you need me."

She steps over to the door, the pauses, turns and calls, "Usagi!" to get the younger woman's attention...then once she's looking, Setsuna lobs another full-sized Snickers bar gently at Usagi (once again, the lettering is all in English), "Eat that. You'll feel better, and I imagine you haven't eaten in a while, anyway. Eat that, get some real food, then get some sleep."

And with that, she'll step through the door and close it behind her.

But just as she does, a sharp set of ears might catch an incredulous mutter of, "...AFTER you water them...SERIOUSLY...how stupid can they GET?"