2094/Expository Ramen

Expository Ramen
Date of Scene:	22 November 2024
Location:	Okujoo Ramen
Synopsis:	Right after Best Kind of Quest IV, Usagi and Molly decide to grab a meal at Ramen Okujoo. Glimmer did leave them plenty of gift cards, after all. Usagi has information, Molly has questions - it's a good time.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Molly Skyline
Tinyplot:	The Best Kind Of Quest

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Earlier that afternoon/evening, Molly Skyline and Usagi Tsukino had been two of many fighters, escorting a magic box to campus. As was the usual, that very simple task had been quickly complicated by the fact that Riventon wouldn't stop showing up. They'd made it out, of course, and technically they'd made it out a little richer than they'd started, because Glimmer had decided to use Pokémon as a guideline to being an enemy and left giftcards, but really. Laura, who had the box this time, had gone off to complete the delivery with Koji and Bow as back up, but they'd gone ahead for food.

"I really wish we didn't have to fight so often," Usagi sighs as she follows Molly up to Ramen Okujoo's rooftop, where they would feast. "And I mean, this part is almost over, but still..."

Getting clocked with Dark Energy had not been fun. Not even a little. Terrible, actually. And Riventon had... gone a little crazy, which... had been unsettling.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Yeah, me too sometimes," Molly agrees, holding the door open for Usagi. "Oh hey! My favorite table's open. Come on, let's grab it."

Some people were just in the process of vacating a table in one corner, right where you can see over the balconey in basically every direction and enjoy a view of Tokyo no matter where you look; Molly strikes a rapid pace to get there; then she waits for Usagi to catch up, and pulls back a chair to offer her the spot with the absolute best view.

The purplenette waits for her to take a seat, before plopping down in one herself, with her back to one side of balconey. "I knew there was gonna be fighting," she continues, "I just... I dunno. I didn't know how much of it there'd be, and I always worry if I'm, y'know, good enough."

She lets that hang in the air for a moment, but only briefly, as she flushes red and looks out over the view. "So... what's the deal with Riventon, anyway? He's always trying to beat us up over stuff, he literally tried to drop a nuke on the docks over the Arthras wreckage and today he's got purple-girl and wants to steal our stuff again? Boy's got a serious temper too."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Favorite table, sweet!" That gets a little energy out of Usagi, and she puts some pep in her step as she hurries after Molly. Hurries-ish. She's wiped - she really had been underestimating exactly how much the happy juice hurt, because this sucks. She would feel sorrier for doing it to Riventon if it wasn't his fault she aches right now.

Once she's in a seat, able to look out over the balcony, she slumps over the table, letting her body just - rest for as moment. "You're definitely good enough. I mean, you want to know a - well, it's not a secret, but it's a little embarrassing. One of my first powers was crying. Supersonic, so, you know, breaks glass and concrete and stuff, but still. I found out because my first fight was one of the scariest things that ever happened to me. But I got better! And you've been fighting a while, so you must have too."

Simple as that. Maybe they started out not good, but they sure are now.

"Ugh, Riventon. He's my least favorite future brother-in-law and I only have two. He's like, a genius, but only for evil, and I feel like the other kids must have stolen his toys a lot, like, as a child? Because he'll steal basically anything, even the things nailed down. ...today was a little weird, though. I mean, he was totally crazy."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly kinda slumps in much the same fashion, except she leans backwards instead of forwards. For a moment she just rests; one of the servers wanders by and drops a couple of menus (Molly greets her by name) and slides a couple glasses of water onto the table before wandering off again. Molly picks up the water and downs it in one gulp.

"Yeah, he's pretty intense, he-- wait hold up, future brother-in-law? You're gonna be related to him?!" Her eyes pop wide open. "Wow, that's gotta be interesting. ...I've never had any family beside parents who didn't wanna be parents, and my Moms who adopted me a couple years ago. How... how do you feel about that? If I'm not prying into things."

Molly flips open her menu, but really seems just to be looking at the ramen of the day entry (which turns out to be a seafood ramen, with muscles and shrimp, egg, shitake mushrooms and squid ink noodles). Her eyebrows rise at that one. "Special looks amazing," she admits.

"I like to think I'm-- No, I *know* I'm getting better. If Rashmi-chan were here she'd probably bonk me over the head with a newspaper until I admitted it. It just, I dunno, feels like everyone else is getting better faster sometimes."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
A menu lands near Usagi's head, pillowed on her arms, and she looks up to retrieve it, not fast enough to say hello to the staff.

"Yeah," and there's a world of lament in that. "It's definitely going to be interesting. If he ever figures out who I am, I'll have someone else trying to steal my Silver Crystal every chance they get... but it could be worse. I mean, he's Mamochan's family, so I'll put up with him unless he does something really bad."

At Molly's admission, she pauses, looking at her without pity, but sympathy. She really does know so, so many orphans, huh? "It's not prying! I brought it up. I think he'll be troublesome, but my little brother is trouble too, and he's still family. I've got a pretty big family, actually, between all the extended relatives, so if Mamochan's willing to cope with all that, I figure I can hope with him having one cool brother and one dumb one."

Oh boy would she be eating those words, some day.

She skims the menu herself, humming - "It really does - but I think I want tonkotsu today, with extra egg. If I come home smelling like all that fish, Anko might try to eat me. She's Mamoru's pet bakeneko."

Hmmm...

"Well, the best thing for it is throwing yourself into things, right? I mean, I think you're really good, but what got me from 'lucked out being powerful' to 'hey I'm kind of good at this' was just the fact that no one ever leaves me along and I'm always fighting for my life." She delivers it humorously but - there's some real truth to that.

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Extra Egg is a *great* idea," Molly agrees. "And the Tonkotsu is great, I..." She blushes, "I'd know 'cause this is my Mom's restaurant and I eat here like, constantly. But sometimes Mom tells me I've had too much ramen when I order, and the server plops like a donburri or something in front of me instead, which..." she looks down, "I really hope that doesn't happen today 'cause I really wanna see waht these squid ink noodles are like."

The server comes back as promised, and Molly gives Usagi a chance to order, before asking for what she'd like; and asking for some sushi rolls to share, on impulse. Because why not? Also she needs to restore her mana so there's that.

"So uhh..." She scratches the back of her head. "Yeah, it'd be nice to get better at this just by like, I dunno, reading a book? But that doesn't seem to work. But Rashmi-chan and Koji-kun are helping me come up with some new defensive tricks, which hopefully will mean I get my barrier jacket turned into swiss cheese less often. I'm... really bad at defense." But really good at offense, being the part she doesn't say.

"So..." She clasps her hands behind her head. "Uhm, what's a Silver Crystal? I promise I will not try to steal it, I'm not a grabby-girl. And what's in the boxes we've been protecting, that Riventon tries to steal, like, every darn time? And who *was* the pink girl who turned purple, who like, seems to be way too giggly to actually be a villain?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The server comes back, and Usagi does end up ordering tonkotsu - chicken tonkotsu, with karaage and extra egg, even. And a smoothie, because what was better with a hot meal than a cold drink?

When the server is gone though, she hums contemplatively, nodding, "I mean, you're really good at offense though. Those like, homing attacks you were doing were really useful! And honestly? It's kind of cool that you can just... make new attacks. It doesn't seem to be how being a Senshi works."

Which is getting annoying, even if she had managed something new, on Walpurgisnacht, which everything crashing down around them. She hasn't been able to do it sense though.

And then she laughs a little. "Don't worry! I don't think you'd steal it. It's uh - " and she reaches to her neck, lifting her silver chain enough that Molly can see a fairly large silver crystal has been attached to the necklace. "It's this. The legendary Maboroshi no Ginzuishou, a - supposedly - infinite source of energy and miracles, that can save lives and purify evil and... other stuff. And it's mine, but, all that stuff makes people want to steal it, like the little girl who moved into me and Naru's dorm."

A huff-puff of indignation at that, before she shakes it off. "The thing we're moving is a secret, so don't tell too many people, okay? Like, Rashmi and Koji are safe, but try to keep it on the low. It's called the Crystal Heart, and when the pieces are together... it will make it so that the school is a place where Dark Energy is weak, and new monsters can't just sprout up and attack people. A place we'll be safe, for real, and have the home advantage. That's why we're protecting it from people like Riventon and - Glimmer. That's that girl's name. She's Bow's friend, and she's working for Obsidian for... well, she says she has a good reason."

Molly Skyline has posed:
"Well, that crystal sounds extremely cool," Molly decides, "And I'm glad that you have it, and I'm glad that I don't have it. I like having Starcrash." She reaches up to pat her earring. "Even if someone stole him, they couldn't use him. He's keyed in only to me and anyone I set as a guest user, which--" She stops, chewing on a thought. "...I wonder if I could set a Senshi as a guest user? As far as I know you don't have a linker core like I do, but you have magic... Hunh. ...Question for later though, not at the dinner table. In the middle of my Mom's restaurant."

"Anyway, yeah, I'm glad YOU have it and I'm glad I DON'T have it, I don't think I envy you having to deal with people constantly trying to steal it. But, if you ever need help hiding it, I can definitely help with that! Just, y'know, the usual way. ...I can store stuff in Starcrash, he's got like this extra-dimensional space, but I'm not sure how it'd work with putting a limitless source of magic and miracles in it. I'd rather not accidentally tear a hole in time and space, centering on my head."

The purplenette bobs her head, and leans forward conspiratorially. "I will tell absolutely nobody," she assure Usagi, "Well except Rashmi 'cause she already knows. But please, *please* don't hesitate to call me if you need some thief blown up or something, I'll always come. And..." She sighs, and shakes her head. "People who work for Obsidian always seem to think they have a good reason. Aloisia did too, and now she's Prinzessin Nicht. I hope Bow's friend gets out before something horrible happens to her."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I know how you feel! Once, I ended up with Ladybug's Mirauclous - she's another hero like us, her Miraculous is what she uses to transform - and I was so anxious until I could get it back to her, because I already have my own thing! ...huh. It might be good to be able to set someone for Starcrash, if only so if something does happen, they can get him back to you."

Honestly, she's kind of jealous! She doesn't think her Silver Crystal has that kind of keyed to only her loyalty.

"Thank you! That's really sweet - and if something happens, I'd definitely try that, to make sure no one gets it... but hopefully we don't have to try it. I think everyone would be mad at us, if we blew them up." It's said with a joking little smile, but, makes it clear that it's not too serious.

"You got it. I'll call you. And... yeah. I wish people would realize there's no being in Obsidian and being... not a bad guy. You're there because you're willing to hurt people or... or you're there because you don't have a way out."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly hmms, "Well... Hey, I've got your number, right? Starcrash, can you recognize Usagi-chan as a guest user, even if she can't actually wield you? Enough that she can still access your non-combat functions, and you can contact her in the event of an emergency, or she can call you?"

<< AFFIRMATIVE. RECOGNIZED GUEST USER WHO IS USELESS: USAGI TSUKINO>>

Molly turns. Absolutely. Crimson. "I... sorry," she half-squeaks. "He's... We're... having some growing pains. I thought all this time his personality module was missing, I guess it's just there and he's... working on filling it. Starcrash, it's uhm, rude to... call people... useless."

About that moment, the food arrives, and Molly takes the opportunity to look out over the balconey and enjoy the view while food is being set in front of her and Usagi -- her Ramen came with extra egg too, even though she forgot to order it, becuase her Mom knows how she operates -- and she thanks the server as she's on the way to another table again.

"Yeah, uhm, anyway. Right! So, hopefully never have to use that, but we'll probably need it in a week, I know how this works."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
As soon as Starcrash calls her out as useless, Usagi bursts out laughing. There's something just so - petulant and mean about it, and the way poor Molly immediately goes red with embarrassment, it makes her think of a little boy, begrudgingly pouting.

"No, it's okay - I mean, he's not okay, but you are ahaha, that was like hearing my little brother call me out for being terrible at building in Fortnite," maybe being compared to a young human would get him in the pride. She's still snickering when their food comes, and then starts to happily tuck in.

"Hopefully we won't. But if we do? You'll be proud you thought ahead. And hey, this is almost done, you know? There's just one more of those pieces left, and then we'll all be better off."

Molly Skyline has posed:
Molly's blush slowly fades, and she manages to focus on something else, by picking up her chopsticks and starting in on her meal -- it came in a black bowl with a white squid engraved on the side of it, and the noodles are all piled up in the middle where they make a little cradle for the egg, and the mushrooms and muscles and shrimp all all scattered around it in the broth.

"Yeah, but then it'll be on to the next thing," she points out. "Obsidian isn't gonna give up and surrender just 'cause we succeeded in protecting the school. So we'll just get to take a deep breath, relax, and get ready for the next fight." She shrugs her shoulders lightly, "And yeah, I mean that's fine, I guess? It's what we signed on for. I mean..." She pauses. "Okay I don't know how it is for Senshi, but when I got Starcrash I could've just said no I guess. I still could, I could tap out any time I want to really, I just... I don't want to. My friends are in this, I could never abandon them."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Chopsticks are flying, as Usagi digs into her food, but Molly makes a good point - one she can only smile and shrug about. "You're not wrong. It's going to be another thing, before long... Inai-sensei, she tells me that we're in it 'til we're done, you know? There's always something on the horizon, but right when it's over... that's when we get to take our breaks, get ready for the next thing. So once we win this, we should celebrate and enjoy the calm before we get another storm!"

She didn't have a choice about this. She was born for this, to this, would always be this, and it's something she's cried over, yelled over, come to terms with in pain and joy alike - but she doesn't feel a need to share that, not now. Not when the important thing is -

"Yeah, exactly. We made our lives in this, you know? Our friends, our loved ones, this is who we are now. And besides - it's not like it's all bad, right?"