382/Snapping One, Two, Where Are You

Snapping One, Two, Where Are You
Date of Scene:	07 September 2023
Location:	Dorms #2
Synopsis:	Following Scenes 376 and 380, Hematite, Sailor Moon, and Nephrite put their heads together to try and find Naru. Well, they try to, anyway. Hematite's the only one getting useful information so far. Also including: booster seats, tears, and Nephrite's surprisingly masterful craftsmenship.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, Nephrite
Tinyplot:	Dangerous Orbits

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
In the time it takes Inai-sensei to leave her office and Darien - Hematite - Darien - to suggest teleporting instead of jumping over campus together (Usagi wouldn't care, but teleporting is faster, and doesn't every second count?), Usagi's shot off a string of text messages. The promises of support from her friends - their care, their concern - it's not a surprise. She knew she could count on them. But it still feels good.

When they land in the empty dorm room, she doesn't let go of Hematite's hand right away; even once she's confirmed the room is empty, she doesn't let his hand go. That will only change once their company comes.

"You said his name is Nephrite, right?" There's a hint of nerves - oh, who's fooled by that? There's a pound of nerves in her tone, her body tense - for all her willingness to meet with anyone who can help, the idea of meeting an -ite, not knowing if they'll be more akin to Hematite or Jadeite, is nerve wracking.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Nephrite, yes," says Darien-- Hematite-- not wanting to let go either. They swanned in out of nowhere, and the room is undecorated, two empty beds and two empty desks and chairs, two empty dressers and closets. The walls have tiny pinprick holes in them from the posters of students past.

He reaches to take Sailor Moon's other hand and he doesn't take his eyes away from her face, and he looks-- so--

"It'll be okay." He leans in to whisper, "He wants out. That's still a secret, okay?"

Nephrite has posed:
    The text that it was safe to come to Hematite's side was sent. It still takes a couple minutes before anything happens then. Nephrite is being extra careful by scanning the area for auras, life glow, and anything else he has the means to detect, just incase. Sailor Moon's aura is a much bigger and brighter version of a normal human's, and with all the barriers and wards nothing else is coming through other than Hematite's familiar presence.

    So, hoping the wards don't block him from teleporting if he's just using his natural abilities instead of Dark Energy, the tall Shitennou appears suddenly, long wavy brown hair not swaying at all from the change in location. He does have a sword though. Once he has verified the room is safe, he dismisses it. "Sorry for being a bit late. Just checking some things."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Despite being prepared - and despite Darien's reassurances, which she believes, if he says one of his friends (they hurt people they hurt people they hurt people) wants out then she believes him, he wouldn't lie to her, this all proves he wouldn't lie to her, he wouldn't - Sailor Moon still jumps a little. She doesn't drop Hematite's hand though.

"Making sure none of us sparkleskirts are waiting for you?"

It's not mean-spirited - or at least, it's not said meanly. It's curious, but, also - well, okay, maybe it was a little. "Sailor Moon. I'm guessing you know about me."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hematite doesn't drop Sailor Moon's, either, but it's not a show of defiance. It's just something he doesn't think of doing, and doesn't do. He's about to respond to Nephrite when Sailor Moon does, and he makes an indelicate sound. "Sparkleskirts?" he asks, trying not to laugh. "Have you been talking to Riventon?"

Then he does let go, and it's to step forward and hug Nephrite briefly but unapologetically. Right in front of Sailor Moon. "Thanks for coming," he says, stepping back. Then there's the gesturing introductions. "Sailor Moon, this is Nephrite. Neph, Sailor Moon is one of Naru's best friends. I'm just hoping we can help. I haven't talked to Pyrite yet."

Nephrite has posed:
    Using his normal, raspy voice, Nephrite puts one arm behind his back and the other over his chest as he bows towards Sailor Moon. "More accurately, I was verifying that no third parties were hoping to get rid of the leader of the Sailor Senshi and the leader of the Shitennou at the same time, and were waiting for someone to come along who they could make out to be the perpetrator. Not my usual level of paranoia, but these are difficult times." He smiles apologetically as he lowers his head and then straightens up, arms falling to his sides.

    Right up until Hematite steps forwards to give him a hug. Nephrite gives a one-armed hug, still on alert for the unexpected. Once they separate, he says, "Yes. Nephrite, Second of the Four Heavenly Kings. Sworn enemy of the Sailor Senshi. Dark General of etcetera. Nice to meet you." It's said very dryly, rather than in a threatening manner.

    "Who else knows about this?" he asks, all business suddenly. His stormy blue eyes are narrowed as the military leader part of him comes to the surface. It's what made him a Dark General in Beryl's forces. He was about to ask 'Is the clock ticking?' But the answer was just stated outright. So, Pyrite hasn't been informed yet.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"The leader of the Shitennou...?" Oh she's giving Hematite the sideeye for that. She doesn't bow to Nephrite in return - she trusts Hematite, but she's not a formal person as it is, and definitely not right now. There's more important things to worry about. But she will not be forgetting that Hematite is the leader of the Shitennou.

She is ratting Jadeite out right away.

"I don't know who Riventon is, but I've heard it around?"

Hugs. Those are happening. A little hard to feel threatened by someone getting a hug - even if that person does tower over you and is on the same team as a total lunatic -

"Stellar and three of my allies know about this. No of them will talk, all of them care about Naru, and one of them fought Sunbreaker before. Do either of you know a white haired guy with a red-eyed mask in a lab coat?" It's an abrupt question, looking from one to the other. She refuses to give any names - maybe she would have, with Darien, but not with Nephrite.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hematite sort of spreads his hands at Sailor Moon, not quite a shrug, at her reaction to Nephrite's appellation of him. And then he nods to Neph at Moon's summary of who knows, and then he flips his cape back over his shoulders and sits down on the edge of one of the empty plastic-covered mattresses. "I haven't told anyone but you, yet, though I was going to."

He pauses and parses the rest of what Moon says, and blinks. "That's Riventon. That description -- that's Riventon. That makes this somewhat simpler," he says, and digs his phone out again. "Lemme text him and see if he knows where to find Sunbreaker." He glances up at Sailor Moon. "He's another friend of mine. He yells at me when I get hurt, too. Sorry this is so complicated."

Always sorry, always always sorry.

He types in Takashi's number and starts thumbing out a message.

Nephrite has posed:
    'Stellar' is an unrecognized name, not that it's apparent from Nephrite's body language or facial expression. He just makes a note of it and moves forwards. Both arms go behind his back when he turns to look at Hematite. He asks to Sailor Moon while looking at his leader, "Do you believe this Riventon to be involved with the aggressor? If he has sided with the Enemy, that would actually connect several points." He smiles faintly as he looks back towards Sailor Moon. "More connections will only help in locating Osaka-san. Additional points of reference for my brand of searching increase accuracy, you know." Sailor Moon probably does not know. He does not ask after the identities of the three friends.

    Instead, he seats himself on a high-backed, ornate wooden chair with lion-head designs on the arms, and crosses one leg over the other. Was there a chair there before? It doesn't matter becau--Yes, okay, Nephrite made the chair from psychoplasm, he's going to keep doing this, it's a thing now.

    "Perhaps his assistant might know something as well." he suggests as he rests his arms on the chair's arms and lets his gloved hands loosely lay over each other at his mid-section.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
He's a friend? Of Darien's??? Is Koji-kun his only normal friend -

Not important. Not important right now. "He teamed up with her at least once, but I don't know if he's working with her. Stellar didn't say that, so probably not -"

The Dark Kingdom could be involved - probably is definitely involved - with Midnight Tokyo. She can't forget about that, even now. So she isn't giving Inai-sensei's name, because she wants Nephrite's help, and the last thing she wants is him connecting anything to what got Inai-sensei's arm broken and deciding he won't help after all. Besides, she really doesn't know a Riven-

"Wait... does he like to steal things from people?"

Because there is a faint ding in the back of her mind, something tentatively clicking back in her memory.

Something Wako-chan had said, ages ago, spurred between thinking the name and hearing it and also texting with Wako-chan, having gotten her to agree to help -

"...that chair wasn't there before."

Should she have said anything? Maybe not. "He has assistants?! Hemachan, did your friend help kidnap Naru-chan?!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
That chair was absolutely not there before. "I doubt it," Hematite tells Nephrite, glancing up from his phone and shaking his head. "Kidnapping's not his style. It's a dumb move and he's not dumb except for when he's dumb--" And his phone buzzes again and he looks down at it, and he texts and he texts and he talks slowly while he texts, pausing every now and then to look up at either Nephrite or Sailor Moon.

"His assist-- right, Firefly? Or another one?" he asks, before Sailor Moon starts using exclamation points again. "No! I mean yes, he's REALLY dumb about trying to steal stuff. But no, he did NOT help kidnap Naru. He does know Sunbreaker and he's trying to figure out what I'm talking about because he was asleep and I get past his phone's do-not-disturb." A beat. "He's sleepy but waking up, don't wor-- yesssss."

Abruptly Hematite's smiling. "He's going to help!"

Nephrite has posed:
    Nephrite nods along. He doesn't reply to Sailor Moon pointing out his new chair other than to smile winningly and tilt his head at her. Instead he says, "I am only aware of the one assistant." He also silently wonders what the hell is wrong with Hematite. With another look that is no different from any other look, but may mean something to Hematite that it wouldn't to anyone else, Nephrite explains casually, "I only meant that he might have shared information..." He shrugs. In that shrug, there is a ripple of black, like a scribble but in 3-D. It is gone just as quickly as it appeared.

    But in the same moment it appeared, Nephrite's voice, distorted by filtering through a corrupted Soul Projection, hisses in Hematite's ear.

    Why do you keep dropping names of our allies in front of the Enemy?

    Aside that scribble, there's no other sign that anything happened.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon doesn't like him. Nephrite, obviously; even a gecko could tell she likes Hematite.

But she doesn't need to like him. She just needs him to do what Hematite says he can, which is -

"Hematite says you like Naru. That you want to help. What can you do?" She's not trying to be aggressive - she's a foot shorter than him, probably more than a foot shorter than him, and she's wearing a jeweled tiara. She's not aiming for intimidation. But she is stubborn, with her jaw set and her head tilted back, and - "Firefly."

Just like that, she's distracted, tapping her chin, "She's supposed to be cute. Not too good at being evil. I know about her. If that's the kind of person Riventon hangs around... he's going to help? Can he get her to let Naru go?!"

Hope brightens her face - Nephrite is utterly dismissed, disregarded now, all of her attention on Hematite.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hematite stiffens slightly and glances toward Nephrite, then purses his lips and looks a little calculating. Sailor Moon probably won't like that, but this isn't for her-- this is for that whisper and the filter of corruption around it. He shrugs. "He could have, but he doesn't tell many people very much."

He glances back down at his phone, then shuts off the screen and holds it facedown against his knee. "He's going to help, but I don't know how well he actually gets on with Sunbreaker--"

The phone buzzes yet again, even as Sailor Moon's asking Nephrite what he can do, and he glances at the screen and his face falls. "Apparently not well. He's still trying though."

Nephrite has posed:
    Nephrite turns his head slowly towards Hematite at Sailor Moon's words, and says in a cheerful voice somehow dripping with venom and promises of reprisals in the form of pranking Hematite, "Did he now? How odd. I've only encountered her the once that you know of. What a very particular conclusion to come to." Then with a roll of his eyes and the vague hope that Hematite isn't trying to set him up with Naru (who, yes, is very cute, but also very smart and valuable as a potential student), he focuses back on Sailor Moon ahd her question of what he can do. "I'm an expert craftsman, clearly." he answers Sailor Moon as he raises a hand partially to drum his fingers on the arm of his chair.

    "Also, I am very good at finding things, as long as I know what I'm looking for." Also, as Sailor Moon uses her minimal height to try to lord over Hematite and Nephrite (a failure, they're both still taller than her sitting down probably), Nephrite gestures as though to something behind Sailor Moon. There's a fancy silver throne there, with engravings of the phases of the Moon along its high, high back, with red velvet on the seat and the arms. There is also a booster seat on the throne. "Feel free to sit. This may take a while."

    Finally, sighing a heavy sigh, Nephrite stands up from his chair that doesn't exist anymore. "I should have enough information to start. Before you set your hellhound on the case, please let me know first."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It takes a heroic amount of will, but Sailor Moon does not stomp her foot or tap her toes, even when it seems like Nephrite is picking a stupid petty fight instead of helping find Naru who was definitely kidnapped and anything could be happening to her!

"Great. You're looking for Naru-chan, and he's looking for Sunbreaker, and between the two of you, since you're so good at finding things, you'll find her." And there's more hope than faith in her voice, because she absolutely doesn't know this tall guy, and she doesn't look back -

Well, alright, she glances back. She notices the chair and her eyebrow twitches at the booster seat and she turns back to him and -

Doesn't yell. Bites her tongue. She's fourteen. She can be mature and wise and not rip into some absolute fucking jerk. She scrubs a hand to her forehead, frustrated. "Please thank him for trying, Hemachan. I guess he doesn't know where she'd hide out with Naru-chan? And, thanks Nephrite, but I'm good standing."

Does she want to know who the hellhound is? Yes.

"Who's the hellhound?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hematite gets this look on his face like hee hee hee I'm in danger hee hee hee when Nephrite goes for the cheery venom, and he leeeans back away-- but then he gets more serious, and stands up, himself. "Thank you, Nephrite," he says quietly, also he hasn't seen the booster seat.

He will, though.

"I'll definitely let you know."

Then he nods firmly to Sailor Moon, and-- oh dear. "Um, Py-tan."

So much for dignity.

Nephrite has posed:
    Nephrite nods firmly towards Hematite. Then he looks towards Sailor Moon. "It was a pleasure to meet you. Ah... Before I go, might I ask you something? Would you happen to own a black cat? With a crescent mark on her forehead? I believe her name was 'Luna'." He leans forwards a bit with a concerned expression as he asks gently, "How is she doing, by the way?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's been a bad evening. Usagi is stretched to her limits as it is, witheld fear and panic bubbling in the back of her mind, imagining what Sunbreaker could be doing to Naru, thinking exhaustively of their fight and every word that had been exchanged and the way she'd escalated so quickly, the fire that had nearly burned her face off, the spear leveled at Naru's head.

Nephrite's not actually done anything wrong. But he works with Jadeite and Hematite works with Jadeite and Hematite is Darien is Jadeite's boss and he's not helpful even if he's not mean and the stupid booster seat -

Which is all to say, when he asks about Luna -

When he knows her name -

When he asks how she's doing as if he has reason to know she was hurt -

The one and only Sailor Moon bursts into tears.

She turns away, quick but not quick enough, horrified at herself, and also, beginning to openly sob, hiccuping little breaths and wet heaving ones mixed together as the floodgates unleash.

(Surely that won't give any wrong impressions.)

Stupid Usagi.

Stupid, stupid Usagi, should have pretended she didn't know anything, should have held it together, but there's not a chance of that - she's crying and she's thinking about Luna and the blood and Naru and what if there's blood and does he know, does this mean he knows her, does this mean even if she finds Naru there will just be Jadeite coming after her in the night, because he said he'd kill her and here's Nephrite asking about Luna, what if he kills her, what if Sunbreaker is killing -

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Nephrite," says Hematite then, and it's exactly as flat and dangerous and ice-cold as the voice of the one they're missing, the one they don't talk about, the one they can't talk about in front of Her--

--and exactly as commanding as the Leader of the Shitennou should be, but more. More than that. There's the sound of someone they can't even think about in that voice, in the way that name is said, in the way that that voice expects to be listened to.

It's reproach and it's command and it's actually angry.

And it's all he says.

...and then he turns toward the sobbing Sailor Moon and his stomach is in knots and he sees the booster seat.

Slow turn back to Nephrite. "Please look for Osaka-san. I'm very worried about her," he says evenly. His face says 'your timing is the worst I have seen in two lifetimes and I don't even remember one of them'.

Nephrite has posed:
    Nephrite understands. He looks at Hematite with a hollow smile, more grimace than sign of mirth, and those eyes of someone who has seen so many terrible things that he has become accustomed to seeing terrible things. "If I figured it out, Jadeite will too." are the last words he says. Not a threat. A caution. Because he didn't save Luna just to let her die. He has already made that girl cry twice now after all. He won't do it a third time.

    Nephrite disappears. The throne remains, without the booster seat.

    It might take Jadeite a bit longer to realize the connection.

    After all, Nephrite specializes in connecting the dots.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The weeping isn't even for herself, which is part of the reason it's so hard to stop. It's for Naru being gone. It's for fear of what happens when Naru is safe and the danger still isn't gone. It's for fear for Luna, who was vulnerable and had been hurt. It's for anger, at herself, and Sunbreaker, and Stellar, and yes, Nephrite and Jadeite and everyone else who made everything worse, and it's for -

It's for knowing that someone she absolutely cannot trust knows her most important secret and there's nothing she can do about it.

Would he tell Jadeite? He wasn't out. Hematite wasn't out. He was deep in whatever awful mess the Dark Kingdom was involved in, and he was her enemy, and her Mama and Papa and Shingo were all the way at home where she didn't see them every day and even sharing a room with Naru wasn't enough to save her -

"Darien," Usagi gasps, because even in henshin, this is Usagi, more than the Soldier of Love and Justice. Her voice is ragged and hiccuping and tears are still pouring down her face and she is nowhere near cried out, but the sobbing, she gets under control. "They're your friends. He saved Luna. But."

And she pauses, swallowing down another sob, another rough exhale, another - "Jadeite told me he would kill my friend, because I fought him. And Nephrite knows who I am, even if Jadeite doesn't. And Naru is kidnapped and I believe you that he's not involved but -"

And she almost doesn't know what to say.

But she does.

She just doesn't know where the line is.

"I won't let that happen. No matter what."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Nephrite's... still himself, but teetering and worried about it and has a point--

She calls him Darien; he drops his henshin and he's just... he's just a tall, gangly boy in glasses

    (leader of the Shitennou, General of the Dark Kingdom)

and black trousers and a white-button-down and dress shoes, safely anonymous on the streets of Tokyo, just some student. He's just

    (he knows)

a boy.

He's afraid she'll push him away; he knows she should. He's afraid for her. He's afraid of the situation. He's afraid of the thing in the back of the minds of his Shitennou, the thing behind his creepy boss's power, the thing he never swore to but is still stuck with, because of what he did to his Shitennou. What he did. He's afraid.

Usagi is more afraid, and all of a sudden he can't stand hearing the tears in her voice anymore, he couldn't stand it anyway but he's so awkward-- all of a sudden he's moving, and a tentative hand partly reached toward her is him taking a step forward, two, and pulling her into a tight hug, half bent to enfold her.

"I told him," he murmurs, "that Naru was my friend. And he stole her fries at the mall. As Jadeite. And then bought her new ones. He won't kill her."