1482/Dimension Past: Jolene, Jolene

Dimension Past: Jolene, Jolene
Date of Scene:	24 April 2024
Location:	The Golden Kingdom
Synopsis:	Jadeite's crush on Mamoru is exposed in the most mortifying way possible - by his past self spouting love confessions to a statue of his prince. Will he survive the mortifying ordeal of being known by Usagi and Kazuo? And more importantly, can Usagi and Kazuo survive Jadeite's cringe behavior?
Cast of Characters:	Jadeite, Usagi Tsukino, Kazuo Saitou
Tinyplot:	Operation: Past

---

Jadeite has posed:
The portal drops them all in a stone corridor; the stone are unnaturally smoothed over, rather than bearing the usual wear and tear of time and feet. It's chilly, too - although the castle windows show green foliage and let in puffs of warm air, the corridor is being swept with chill air.

In a corner sits the present Jadeite, knees tucked to his chest, his eyes haggard. "You need to get out of here now. If I stay here any longer, I'm going to go mad. We have to leave!"

From the nearby doorway sings the Jadeite of the past: "My prince, how handsome you've become tonight! Have I finally gotten it right? No? Then we begin again!"

There's a hideous crash of ice.

Anyone who sweeps into the room alarmed will find the room as cold as a freezer, and for good reason: Jadeite's personal art room is filled with statues of granite, marble, jade, but mostly ice. Big statues, small statues, busts, full bodies, body part studies.

They are all statues of Prince Endymion.

Jadeite in sculptor's smock and protective gloves stands in front of a mangled ice statue as he dispels his rapier, then holds up Endymion's iced head, carressing one cheek with his now free hand. "Don't worry, my prince. This time, I shall make sure your depiction is correct. I'm going to do this until I can get it right. You deserve no less from me."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There had been a few hours of peace, after the nonstop chase through the portals that had been following Endymion right through to the depths of hell. Usagi had sprawled in the grass beside the river and simply refused to move for at least an hour, herself - she wasn't entirely sure what everyone else had done, but she knows that she had checked out, as it were.

But then Jadeite had disappeared through a portal that literally opened and closed right under him, quite rude, and she'd plunged through the next portal, hoping to reach him (Mamochan would be so disappointed if she lost him), and ended up -

Here.

Jadeite - Tamaki - sounds wrecked. Usagi would normally be offering some comfort, except that there's another voice, the same voice but a touch older, and sounding way more messed up, singing out, and some dots are being connected.

The right way, for once!

"What is going on?" She hisses to Tamaki, keeping quiet as best as she can, as she sneaks over to the doorway, looking in on -

"What is happening?!"

Somehow, she's still being quiet, despite the emphasis and disbelief in her voice.

"Is he - do you - Mamochan?" Was that intelligible at all?

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo was supposed to be trying to keep pace with Mercury, to give her some kind of cover when he could so she could work on getting a controllable communication line out of the portal, or tracking the rest of the people trapped in the echoes, or analyzing the area, or anything else that was actually practical. 'Supposed to' did not cover 'except that Usagi just lunged through a portal right next to him.' Split-second decision said 'try to cover the princess, if Mercury can make it before the portal closes you'll be keeping pace with her anyway, if not, they're likely to meet up again, so...'

So now Kazuo (thank heavens he is not in uniform at the moment) does not, in fact, accompany Usagi to the doorway. Because he can picture very clearly what is probably going on in there. "If we're going to get out," he murmurs to Tamaki, "you need to either stand up, or let one of us carry you. Your pick."

He is going to pretend just for this moment that they are not hearing anything. At all. Nnnnothing. He is going to presume the echo of Jadeite is excessively drunk.

He's pretty sure he's not drunk at all, but Usagi is covering the sputtering nicely, and Tamaki could probably use not getting it from two sides at once right now.

... well, not unless he does something to really deserve it, anyway.

Jadeite has posed:
"This is - how Beryl's madness overtook me," Tamaki groans as he leans on Kazuo, trying to get back on his feet. "I got artist's block. Among other things."

He doesn't want to say It. Don't make him say It. He has been trying so hard not to say It!

Meanwhile, the past Jadeite spins around with the statue of Endymion's head, humming in delight as the ice of the statue crumples,then begins to form a human body again. "Once I get the statue right, I know the time will be right," he tells the ice head, holding it up so it's about Endymion's height. "I can quit, and then we can start things off properly this time. Even if it's a little irregular, I can't be that much worse than that vixen from the moon, can I? I've been vetted. I'm trustworthy."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi stares at the past Jadeite as he spins about, humming and sculpting and - "I think this is like, more than artist's block. Like, a lot more, actually?"

And normally she might be a bit more... compassionate. But she's fried, actually, has been overloaded by everything she's witnessed for the last few days, with the opportunities for peace and rest few and far between. The fact that she isn't actively getting upset is accounted for by the fact that she had gotten to rest, at least for a little while..

And then Past!Jadeite calls her a vixen, and she whips around, disbelieving.

"Did you think I was a vixen? Like, me? Princess Serenity? You know I remember being that girl, right, and I was like, waaaaay sheltered!"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo supports the lean, and lends his free hand in drawing Tamaki further upright if legs that may have been curled too long protest bearing weight. That ... doesn't quite get Tamaki off the hook. Not quite. "Obviously Beryl accidentally did something horrible to his vision, and he thought your hair was orange," he suggests to Usagi. Either it will make her giggle, or it will make her mad at him and give Tamaki a break. Win-win! ... for everyone but Tamaki, but that really can't be helped right now.

Jadeite has posed:
"I was a moron," Tamaki admits. "Endymion obviously had the worst of it with his memories, remembering the fall of the Golden Kingdom, but I've been marinating in my past self going so mad with envy he was doing," and he gestures lamely. "This."

The statues, the dancing, the evidence of trashed art in the corenrs of the room.

"Serenity was perfect for Endymion. I couldn't see that. I was so envious that all I could see was warped shadows on the wall..."

And the past Jadeite settles as a basic frame of ice rebuilds itself. He holds the head atop it and looks up at it longingly.

"Between that red-headed maniac and that moon hussy, you're beset on all sides, aren't you? I don't know how you're going through all this. I wish you'd confide in me more. I just want to take care of you..."

And as he sets the head back on the statue's frame, he hops onto his toes and kisses the icy lips.

Tamaki groans and hides his face in his cloak. "I am so sorry."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The orange hair comment gets a little laugh out of Usagi, quickly stifled. She glances back at Tamaki, taking in the fact that he very obviously needs some support, and she decides to drop it. Decides that maybe, they need to discuss the more offensive parts later, but for now they could just get out of here before this gets more awkward.

"Well, I don't know if you're supposed to judge things like this by who had it worse," she offers, the faintest consolation, and well - yes. She and Endymion were pretty perfect for each other, if she says so herself, but it's not like things are - and she pauses.

"Are you still -"

And then past Jadeite calls her a hussy, and her eye twitches, and she snaps her head around, not entirely sure what she's going to do but knowing that it's probably a bad idea, and sees him kiss the ice sculpture of Endymion's head square on the lips.

The squeak is the sort of sound that only dogs and sonar receptors can hear.

"You - how - how did your lips not freeze off?!"

It's the first thing she can get out.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo did not see. Did not look. That may be the only thing that lets him say to Usagi, "Magic?" with a straight face.

He glances up and down the corridor, trying to determine if there is a reasonably safe direction to flee while any of them have any sanity remaining. Even if he has to gently orient Tamaki by the shoulders and guide him in the right direction with his cloak over and wrapped around his head.

Jadeite has posed:
"Magic. Also practice." Please! Do not! Ask for details! He's mortified as as it is!

(The unfortunate thing is that he could tell what she was asking about despite his head being under his cloak and his arms wrapped firmly around Kazuo.)

"I'm still - but I'm not! Going to ruin things again! Not when you and Endymion are finally happy again."

"My prince," says the past Jadeite: an endearment. "Once I get this statue right, I'll know I can tell you properly. If I can just show you how I see you, you'll understand."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She cannot believe this is happening to her. The viewing of the past, the misunderstanding of the present - and she does the only thing that makes sense to her in this moment: slowly, carefully, closes the door so that there's some separation between them and him.

Then she turns and looks at Tamaki, firmly wrapped around Kazuo and being braced for standing, and she says bluntly, "You know he's dating Kazuo-kun too, right? Did you at least call him a hussy?"

Yes, she's pouting a little, but mostly because it's easier to pout than to process everything.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Kazuo turns Tamaki gently, and starts trying to nudge the conversation thataway before Jadeite - if Jadeite ever - notices the door being closed. They can walk down the corridor. It's possible. They do not currently need to leap out a window. He puts himself between Tamaki and the windows, just in case.

"I wasn't dating him back then," he feels obligated to say in Tamaki's defense. "This life? Who knows. Maybe just a hussar, instead." Prince-stealing brigand. That would work, right?

Jadeite has posed:
"I would have called Kunzite a hussy if he was dating him back then. He'd be slightly preferred as another Shittennou, but I imagine that would have devolved rapidly," Tamaki says, grimace unseen under the cloak.

"Perhaps a cad or a gigalo?"

....he eyes the window nonetheless. There's no escape for him now.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
They are walking. Down the hall. Usagi could let it die.

Usagi absolutely does not let it die.

"This isn't why you keep calling him 'my prince' instead of his name, is it? Because that would be almost as uncool as the sculpture room. Did you ever tell him how you feel? No, scratch that, you definitely didn't, he would have told me, the way he told me about Kazuo-kun, because did I mention they're dating too?"

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Look, eyeing the window is an improvement. He's looking at something other than fabric, right?

"Cad I would've accepted," Kazuo says. "Under the circumstances."

A beat.

"Also Mamoru would've told you to go talk to Usagi and to me." A pause. "Which seems to be vaguely related to what you're suffering through now. Interesting coincidence, isn't it?" At least his tone of voice is moderately amused, and reasonable amiable, not randomly borrowing tiny cat-claws from Luna in absentia.

Jadeite has posed:
Groan. They're both being very reasonable! It's unfair! How can they be so nice after seeing....That!

"...I didn't want to ruin things again, after my jealousy and spite helped lead to the fall of the Golden Kingdom," he admits, leaning more on Kazuo as they walk away together. "The three of you are so happy together. If he says yes, I could ruin things for you two, and if he says no...."

....His heart could not take it.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Well, personally, I think the sun demon summoned by the wicked witch that literally murderized everyone has more to blame, but, yes, that was definitely a your bad," Usagi says tartly, "But Kunzite fucked up too, and you know it. We were both in that city."

She doesn't have to offer anymore specifics than that. She certainly won't be forgetting running for her life as people dropped by the dozen, anytime soon.

"And we're not a three of us together."

She exhales, a little sharp, a little annoyed.

"Look, I think you're really in your own head about everything, and you're like, totally overestimating your own impact, too, because if Beryl murdering our empires and killing Endymion over loving me didn't ruin things, you definitely aren't. You're scared to hear a no, but keeping it locked up inside is how you end up making out with ice sculptures in a creepy wing of a deserted castle."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Both in that city? Both in wh--

Oh.

That is almost instantly compartmentalized away again; if he's lucky, Jadeite will be too absorbed in the lean to notice. (Nevermind that leaning on him makes it more likely for Tamaki to notice, not less.) "I could never use my powers again," he offers to Tamaki instead. "Or never try to protect Mamoru again. How do those sound to you? That's how she got at me, right - would those make things better?"

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite exhales softly. "At least he looked cool doing it?" he offers, an attempt at humor that's flat on arrival.

There's nothing cool about kissing an ice sculpture. Eating a city with darkness, however,,,

He gives Kazuo a reassuring squeeze before he tugs the cloak off his head, looking between them.

"You're both right. I've been too afraid to try and move forward and getting stuck in the past, ironically enough. If you two are alright with it, I'll. Tell him? And we can all be the spokes of a wheel, or something."

"He could live with that. One third of his prince is more than none at all.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"What? No, I don't even care if Tamachan might think that's a good idea, Kazuo-kun, those are both stupid things to say."

Someone save her from emotionally constipated boys!!!

"And it wasn't cool either, it was maybe in the top ten things I've ever seen and Kazuo-kun, that's not to make you feel bad, you fucking died, you both did, and we're on take two, so - aaaaargh, you're both actually disasters, aren't you? Kazuo-kun, I've thought you were cool for like, eight whole months, and it's all been like, a clever disguise or something, because you're just as much of a disaster as Tamachan over here!"

And her voice is raised, perhaps more than is wise, considering past Jadeite is down the hall and behind a door, but she's stomping ahead of them now, utterly annoyed with them both.

"Yes, you should tell him, but you just better know that I am absolutely not sacrificing any date time, because our dates are barely getting to happen anyway with all the interruptions, so you two get to negotiate sharing Mamochan time. Stupid, idiot boys who make dumb self-sacrificing calls instead of just asking for what they want-"

That last part is muttered darkly, but absolutely still loud enough for them both to hear.

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
Those are both stupid things to say! Yes! Kazuo nods encouragingly to Usagi as she ... yells at him. Because this is his life now. Okay, granted, given his blood relatives, the only difference is that he isn't staring patiently ceilingward.

"You are not going to taunt me into throwing you out a window myself, either," he tells Tamaki about the 'looked cool doing it' line. "Just for the record." There's a squeeze back in return, mostly because pushing him on the shoulder would (a) be counterproductive for the 'moving' thing and (b) possibly get Mamoru complaining at him about trademark issues later.

"Ground rules. You do not lie to Mamoru. You do not avoid physical contact with Mamoru. Whoever's hurting the most has priority, and that is one of the reasons you don't avoid physical contact with Mamoru, so that he can adjust, and so that we can make sure he's not making dumb self-sacrificing calls. If Usagi wants date time or cuddle time, she wins. Also? If Mako, Naru, or Chiyo aren't around, we are the backup snack providers. Be prepared."

He is hoping very hard that Jadeite isn't paying attention. 'Kazuo-kun' is obviously not a familiar name. Clearly it's a new servant arguing, who hasn't figured out how to be careful of the cold air yet, right? Right. Door's closed, he's fine, the voice is going away, please think that, ahem.

Jadeite has posed:
It wasn't a taunt! He was trying to be complimentary! It failed.

He pouts between them before trying to pull himself together; a bold move for someone more melted marshmallow than man at the moment.

"So I should be more selfish, but I also can't take any time away from you?" he teases Usagi, then considers her previous reactions. Pauses. Elaborates: "That was a joke. I will not take your time. I will take Kazuo on a date instead?"

He looks to Kazuo. Would that work?? He is going to get an A in dating, which is normal to desire and good to have.

"No lying, no avoiding contact, we prioritize who's having the worst time of it, princess gets what princess wants, princess wants some of the snacks my parents are sending me from the States. Is that all of the rules?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi continues stomping ahead of them for maybe a hundred feet before turning around, looking a little sheepish, and a little frustrated.

"I'm - a little sorry," she says very specifically. "I'm really stressed because this all sucks and I didn't know two out of four of my boyfriend's friends want to be his boyfriends and I'm pretty sure it's actually three out of four, because so far, the only one of you I know likes girls is Nephrite."

Zoisite. She should have known better than to think her problems were solved just because he was too gay to be into Ami-chan!

"And it's not a problem to like boys or to want to date multiple people or anything, duh, but like, with everything else going on, it kind of feels like a lot to realize that you also like Mamochan. I mean, obviously, he's probably going to like you too," she has zero doubts about this.

And... and this is what Beryl wants, so she sighs, deep, and brushes her bangs back with one hand.

"Right. Okay. Those are the rules. The other rule is you matter too, so don't be a jerk."

Kazuo Saitou has posed:
"That's all the rules I can put in words right now. We'll probably trip over others." Don't make Usagi upset. That's a big one. Also impossible to keep one hundred percent of the time. A pause, and Kazuo lets eyebrows quirk at Jadeite. "We'll get back to the other question later." Easy tone, not an ominous one.

He starts to put his free(er) hand out toward Usagi, considers the recentness of the city topic, converts it to pushing his hair back. "All of this sucks," he agrees, with deep feeling, and momentarily not in the slightest like Kunzite. "And it sucks worse for you, in a lot of ways, because people keep expecting you to be able to be in charge and handle everything all the way through it, and that might be okay if it didn't keep splitting you off from Naru and your girls. Or it might be okay if you could lean on us instead when they're not here, but everything around is making you really, really justified in not wanting to lean on us." He echoes Usagi's sigh. "So. I know it doesn't help much. But ... consider hugs offered in advance, if you decide you want them."

Also cookies. Unspoken, but owed for the rest of eternity.

Jadeite has posed:
"I understand," Tamaki tells Usagi. "This is the worst days of our lives on loop. The fact that you haven't tried to deck anyone from the past about it is sa sign of your self control, frankly. I wish we could have had this conversation at a better time... but that's `a lesson for next time." He attempts a smile. "I'll try not to be. I'll be better at it once we all get the hell out of here. I jumped in here, you know? I had to make sure you came back to him." He doesn't say who him is. He doesn't need to.

And to Kazuo, as they walk together, hands and arms entwined in the lean - "It's a date. We'll figure out the rules later. We can hit up some conbini on the way."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I will take a hug," Usagi says without hesitation, noting that aborted gestures. "You're Kunzite, and you're not. You didn't make all those choices, and you didn't do all those things, and I like you, Kazuo-kun, and I like you Tamachan, when you're not being a self-sabotaging jerk, so... don't worry about it. We'll make things work. You two aren't my enemies, and I know that, it just kind of seriously sucks seeing you guys at your worst."

In fact, she said she'll take a hug, but she's actually not waiting for it to be offered anymore, she's hugging Kazuo, and also Tamaki, because he's there.

"It's the worst time in our lives, and I trust you, I just... would really like getting out of here, you know?"

A pause.

"But you guys owe me soooo many snacks. Like, maybe more than a month's worth."