1539/Chill Waters

Chill Waters
Date of Scene:	30 April 2024
Location:	Club Building
Synopsis:	Michiru, Ami, and Usagi have a conversation the day after their argument with Setsuna. Nothing was resolved, but positions are certainly being drawn.
Cast of Characters:	Michiru Kaiou, Usagi Tsukino, Ami Mizuno

---

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
    A storm was brewing. It had started far off the shore when Michiru arrived home the night before to find all the lights already off and Setsuna curled up in her office drag on the bed cradling her broken hand. The winds of Setsuna's wails and words had stirred up the storm into a hurricane, and this morning it was going to make landfall. Michiru had slept on it, and she was only more upset. But she was also her father's daughter, and he'd taught her how to control her wrath, and put it to good use.

    So, early in the morning, as Takyua-san was driving her to school, Michiru texted Usagi and Ami both.

    << TXT to Usagi, Ami -- I am sorry I missed you both last night. >>
    << TXT to Usagi, Ami -- I am going to be painting in the art room after school today. >>
    << TXT to Usagi, Ami -- Would you like to stop by and discuss things? >>

    And after school, after after school, Michiru was there in the art room. She had a canvas set up on the easel and a palette with several paints already smeared across it. The canvas already had a pencil sketch on it of big stonework walls and arches.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi had had a long day, the day prior, as had Ami, and there had been some - wonderful things, that had happened, but there had also been plenty worse. So it's not much of a surprise when she gets the text message.

<< TXT to Michiru, Ami-- I have a stop to make first. But I'll meet you after, if you're staying long. >>

She's not making one of her friends wait longer than she has too. She'd rather not make any of them wait, but Minako-chan has volleyball practice and Rei-chan has shrine duties, so she'll just be stopping in with Makoto... so.

<< TXT to Ami-- I'm updating Makochan on everything, first. I don't want to push this off. We can head over together, if you want, or I'll meet you both?>>

And one way or another, when her talk with Makoto is done - maybe an hour and a half after classes let out - Usagi is making her way to the art room. If Ami waited, it's with Ami at her side, having been greeted with a hug. If Ami went ahead, she'll greet them both with a nod when she enters the art room, before claiming a seat by Ami.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
So much had happened. Both in what had been learned at Setsuna's, and what had happened after. For once Ami was distracted most of the day as she was worried for her friends and the impending conflict that seemed as if it was bound to occur much like the storm brewing off on the horizon.

<< TXT to Usagi, Michiru -- I'll be there, too. >>

The question from Usagi about how to join up has her chewing on her lower lip at the explanation. It was a good idea for her to follow up with the others after all. A quick decision is made as she sends her text back, and prepares for the afternoon to follow.

<< TXT to Usagi -- I'll go meet her first. Please let me know how the others are doing. Give Mako-chan a hug for me. >>

The *other* water guardian arrives to the art room before Usagi carrying with her a little bag filled with a few various drink options she'd picked up at the konbini. Maybe cool drinks would help cool heads prevail.

"Hello, Michiru-san," she greets with a dip of her head before taking a seat. When Usagi enters she nods to her as well, flashing a smile, and offers out to both, "I have teas and juices if either of you would like?"

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
    Michiru was just staring at the not-quite-blank canvas when Ami walked in. She was making a plan in her mind of how she was going to layer the paint onto the canvas. She had such a clear image in her mind. She would never forget it. But translating a vision to paint wasn't always direct.

    Her attention flicks to the door when Ami enters, and she smiles. "Ami-san," she says warmly, returning the bluenette's greeting. "I hope you are as well as can be, considering." She's got on a smile and her tone is gentle and warm. Not many people know her well enough to know it's mostly masking. "I am still reeling from what I saw, but I cannot imagine how I would feel if I saw what was there for you to witness."

    She turns to start putting paint on canvas until Usagi arrives. First it's a broad brush laying down a pale gray over the entire canvas. When Usagi enters, she's wiping it off and dipping it in a jar of cleaner and setting it aside to dry.

    Michiru gives Usagi a nod in return. Then turns to Ami with a smile, "Oh, a tea would be lovely, whatever you have," she says. "I'm not picky." She's very picky, but tea is pretty safe. Turning her attention back to Usagi she says, "Setsuna gave me her side of things last night, but I am certain she painted an incomplete picture. She was very upset. I was hoping, perhaps, we could try to have a conversation about the situation intentionally rather than accidentally."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"A juice would be good, thank you Ami-chan," Usagi says, and there's the usual degree of warmth in her voice. When she looks at Michiru, there's a distance in her eyes, a degree of caution. She has not forgotten, and will not forget for some time, the way Setsuna roared at her and slammed her fist so hard she broke wood.

"That makes sense," she says after a moment, "By the situation, do you mean with Tomoe-san, or are argument in general?"

She's calm, even as she says Hotaru's name - she's remembering some of her talk with Mamoru and trying to choose her words carefully, not be accusative, all that good stuff they discussed.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
The request for drinks from both is met with a smile, and she reaches into the bag to fish out the bottles. The first is a bottle of Jasmine Oolong tea which she offers over to Michiru. It's one of the nicer brands at least -- She might not have the kind of money Michiru had but she had *way* more than someone her age ought to consider pocket money, so she'd at least picked good brands. Usagi's juice is offered. A bottle of white peach juice in a cute pink and green bottle. For herself? Just a simple bottle of green tea.

"I think the lack of an intentional conversation is the crux of the issue in general," she agrees softly looking between the pair, hoping that things remain calm for now. "I'm beginning to wonder if we shouldn't have some meetings a few times a month to catch everyone up on what's been going on in our lives?" It's an attempt at suggesting a solution before getting down to the thing which had caused the upset to begin with.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
    Michiru takes the Jasmine Oolong tea from Ami with a smile and quiet thank you. Then she turns her attention back to Usagi as she twists the cap off and takes a tentative sip. It's good, so she smiles, when she responds. "The argument is over. None of us are entirely in our right minds right now. Not after what we all saw. There were heated words and there are hurt feelings, and that is all valid, but what is important here is Hotaru."

    She takes another sip of her tea and then puts the cap back on it and sets it aside. Reaching for a narrower, but still wide brush, she dipped it in a black and mixed it with some white to make a darker gray. Several strokes on the canvas left the impression of arches and pillars that are eerily familiar.

    "If the issue is simply that you didn't know until now, and not that we are caring for one of our own, then I am more than happy to apologize for the oversight," Michiru says, nodding toward Ami. "It did not even occur to me to tell you because we have no habit of regular communication. You used to visit Setsuna fairly regularly, but that stopped just before Hotaru moved in."

    Dipping her brush in the cleanser she looks to Usagi. "A leader leads by example, Princess."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi listens carefully, and there's a look on her face, that says that she's not pleased at all, because she is terrible at covering up how she feels, and then she draws in a breath, and smiles.

It's not one of her most genuine, happy smiles, but it's not an ugly one, either. Just the kind of polite smile you give a classmate, and not the kind you know very well.

"I didn't think you considered me a very regular visitor," she says lightly, "Since I only came by a few times. But, since Meiou-san did speak with me pretty regularly on all kinds of heavy subjects here at school, I totally thought we were on sharing terms when it comes to big things."

She can be pointed too, Michiru.

"But things do change pretty quickly. I mean, the last time you talked to me about this one of our own, it was because you were so scared of the apocalypse you told me she'd cause..."

She takes a swig of her juice.

"Things change though, huh? Yes, I agree, Ami-chan, that formal meetings would be a good idea. That's what project partners do. And to clear things up: yes, the problem was that none of the Outers enlightened any of the rest of us as to your recent actions. I let Meiou-san know yesterday that Tomoe LifeSciences have definitely made finding her their top priority. I'll be sure to keep you all informed of anything else that comes up."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"... Hang on." The back and forth from the other two is allowed up until a point. Once Usagi gets all she says out though, it was her turn to cut in with a hand lifting slightly. Not to raise her hand as if she were about to ask a question but with palm out in a gentle 'stay' motion.

"Are we certain that she is one of ours? I had thought that wasn't verified yet?" There's no accusation in her tone just simple, actual curiosity. "*IS* Hotaru Tomoe actually our missing Sailor Saturn? There are other things which need to be covered of course, but just..." She pauses, looking between the pair with a frown. "It's a detail I want to be certain on."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
    Another, narrower brush is dipped into an even darker gray and more details and hilights of the stonework are laid out. The architecture is unmistakably Silver Millenium. It's a large interior chamber with large arched windows that had yet to be painted.

    As she paints she speaks, and her voice is icy cold. "Professor Souichi Tomoe does not care about his daughter. The only reason Tomoe LifeSciences is scouring the city is to recover whatever it is they've stuffed inside of her. Whatever it is that killed those two girls that they blamed you for, and whatever it is that leveled a city block and hurt the two of you."

    She finally dips that brush in the cleanser and looks up. "Now, I know, you also have a history with Firefly, and she does need to answer for what she's done. But I want you to understand that Hotaru Tomoe has been neglected her entire life, left to be raised by his staff. Her first friend was Riventon because he was the first person who showed her any kind of love. Now imagine a girl with some dark energy monster stuffed inside her, a monster that responds to her despair and anxiety and all the other emotions dark energy feeds on. Imagine that that buffoon of a boy is her guiding light and moral compass, through no fault of her own."

    "She was brought to our doorstep and whether or not she is Saturn," Michiru says, with a look toward Ami. "She cannot go back to Obsidian." Turning back to Usagi. "If we had come to you five weeks ago, what would you have had us do differently?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno purses her lips as the tension in the room only continues to get worse. The hand she'd held up hoping to forestall any other digs from either of the girls so she could get a bit of clarification falls back to her lap to scrunch into a fist against the fabric of her skirt.

"Well."

Her eyes shut breifly. When they open again it's *her* that is looking angry. "What *could* have been done is I could have continued with my research to find a way to either completely lock away or seperate what's inside her that I had begun when we were trying to rebuild the glaive she broke. Of course," she adds as her own tone turns Incredibly Icy. "I guess it doesn't matter much given I wasn't updated on *THAT*, either. Not by you, not by my roommate, not by Setsuna."

"Honestly! This entire situation is so petulantly childish! *Of course* we would have wanted to help her! You are not the only ones capable of sympathy, empathy, and charity! Seriously! Do you know what not sharing this information has done? It has driven a wedge between us even further, when we had been trying to bridge that gap and not isolate one another. Yet instead of focusing on the fact that *THAT* is the real issue here, you're doubling down and trying to make it seem as if we *wouldn't have cared about a child in need?!*"

Though she's allowed herself to rant rather fitfully she takes a deep breath, calming herself, while looking at Michiru with a hurt expression. "How little do you think of us?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi listens to her speak, her ice-cold voice, and she doesn't regret giving back bitch when she received bitch first, but she just feels... tired.

She realizes, that they aren't going to get anywhere with this, because Michiru is not actually here to talk to her about things. Michiru is here to convince Usagi that she's wrong, and that she, Michiru, and her, Setsuna, are right, and there's...

And then Ami is the one who snaps, Ami is the one who's angry, Ami... is the one who needs Usagi, who reaches out to take her hand, and squeeze it.

Especially because she hadn't realized that Ami had been involved, or at least, had offered to be involved, even if she's apparently been rebuffed.

"Honestly?" She looks at Michiru, and shakes her head.

"I would have said take her in. And I would have said let us use our contacts in Obsidian to help. I don't like her, because of the things she's done to me, but I wouldn't have wanted even someone I don't like to suffer. My problem is that none of you even mentioned it to us, especially before you turned her loose as Sailor Charon, up against her friends, like Riventon. But is it even us you're talking to, right now, or are you just making up someone to be mad at, so you don't have to admit mistakes were made?"

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
    The next part of the painting is going to take time. It's lots of little strokes. Lots of different colors. It's the windows. They're stained glass. She starts in on the one just to one side of the center, first taking up a yellow hue on her brush and making long, lustrous strokes and a couple little odango. She doesn't look at either of them. She doesn't trust her mask with emotions as high as they are. It's easier to focus on the conversation if she's also focused on the painting.

    "If you'll recall, I opened this conversation with acknowledging our misstep. I apologized for the oversight in our communication. There were a variety of factors that contributed to this situation, and mistakes were made. By all of us. Including you, Princess," she says. Her brush picks up white from her palette and puts it on the canvas in long flowing strokes that evoke the skirts of a dress.

    "Please do not put words in my mouth, Ami-san," Michiru says, flatly. "You're better than that." A few little swirls of a more golden yellow, circles across the chest, and the figure's shaping up. It's Princess Serenity, of course. "I would never suggest that you are not capable of kindness. I know you both too well to think it."

    "It is clear to me that you feel hurt for not being included," she says, finally turning to look at Usagi. "And that's understandable. You should have been. But if my acknowledging that and apologizing and proposing solutions to remedy that situation in the future isn't enough for you. Then I suppose we'll just have to wait until you're ready to be a leader instead of a petulant child."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You didn't apologize," Usagi says, flatly, "You made a bunch of passive-aggressive snipes and said if I agreed one way then you would be more than happy to apologize. And because I also don't like people being passive aggressive at me, I returned that passive aggression, because Ami-chan is right, this whole thing is, in so many ways, petulantly childish, and then you trauma dumped Hotaru's life story after I confirmed for you that Tomoe LifeSciences is after her, which Setsuna informed me you all didn't know. That you said you would aplogize if I agreed with you one specific way, isn't actually giving the apology."

And she drinks her juice, and doesn't look at the painting, because she doesn't care.

"If you're actually giving an apology, then great - I'm sorry that I upset Setsuna so much she screamed at me and broke her cutting board when I didn't take her casually dropping the big secret well. I'm not sorry that I don't like Tomoe-san. She's only ever been a terror for me, and I'm not going to fake that it didn't happen. But ... like I said: you're just making up people to be mad at, at this point. It doesn't really matter."

She shakes her head.

"That's what I've realized, from this conversation. Thank you, Kaiou-san, for showing me that it doesn't matter. What matters is being a leader, right? I will continue to share my information, and to update you all on what I hear is happening in Obsidian, especially as it relates to Tomoe-san."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"*YOU* did *NOT* propose any solutions, Michiru-chan. *I* did." Ami bites back with a slow fury starting to build in her. The touch from Usagi's hand has her take a quick, sharp breath, and she shakes her head. "You did agree it was a good solution, and then you proceeded to be extremely condescending toward Usagi for... What, exactly? What did she do then to have made her a bad Princess?"

She looks away then with lips pursed tight to stare at Usagi. For just a moment her hand squeezes Usagi's again, and then she releases her hold. "I'm sorry. I can't-- I can't do this right now."

Leaning in toward Usagi she presses a quick, light kiss to her cheek. Her voice lowers quietly and she murmers, "I'll wait outside."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
    Michiru just paints while Ami expresses her anger and then leaves. She misspoke, but there's no point in interjecting to apologize or clarify as the Bluenette is already out the door. Another time, perhaps. She sighs, and dips the brush in her hand into the jar with the others. The one stain-glass window is done, and eight remain, three to the left and five to the right of the one that is finished. She'll paint them later.

    "It was an apology, Usagi-san," she says, gently. The ice melting away from her voice. "Setsuna did a very poor job explaining why you were upset, because she couldn't hear why you are upset. When Ami-san clarified the issue, I was simply saying, if I've understood why you are upset, then I've got no problems here. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I should have."

    "We can't change what's already been done, all we can do is make sure we do better in the future, and a key to that is understanding how exactly a failure occurred. You seem bent on it being a moral failure, thinking that we do not care about you or consider you. I can see why you might feel that way, but it's not true. We all care about you deeply, Usagi-san. We do. The failure was one of oversight not malice, and the solution to that is to eliminate the opportunity for oversight with regular communication just like Ami-san suggested," she goes on.

    She pulls her brushes out of the jar and shakes them off, setting them aside next to the big one to start drying while she packs up the rest of her things. "But it seems you'd rather be angry and distrust us than actually fix it. We'll have to do that once you've cooled off."

    She looks to the doorway and then back to Usagi. "You know where we'll be."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Ami walks away, and Usagi looks back at her, her eyes soft and sad, and she sighs, quietly, listening to Michiru go on, shaking her head.

"Kaiou-san," she says, to Michiru's back, as she's walking away, "It's not a moral failure. But you act like it's a moral failure, and a personal failure, and an everything failure, to just need time. You called us here to talk, and you were mad from the start, and instead of just saying that, you... you did all this. You called me a petulant child, but you're saying I'm the one who wants everything to be a black and white issue... it's been a day. Not even a full one. I just wanted some time, to think about it and figure out what I wanted to say, after the fight."

She walks to the dooryway too, and looks steadily at Michiru, "You say you care about me, and maybe you do. I care about you all. But this? This way a funny way of showing it."

And then she walks away, to Ami, and catches her hand, and then catches her, pulling Ami into a hug.

"Hey, Ami-chan, I'm sorry," she murmurs.