169/Take a Step Back

Take a Step Back
Date of Scene:	28 July 2023
Location:	Obsidian Tower
Synopsis:	Hematite comes to ask Jadeite about the youma that exploded the mall, and unexpected vulnerability happens.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Jadeite

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's not like it's a surprise, ever, that Hematite doesn't like meetings in offices, but it's usually a surprise where he'd rather be that day.

Today it's the roof of one of the tallest (not *the* tallest, Hematite's not foolish enough to think standing on the heads of the board of directors is a good idea) buildings in the Obsidian Tower complex. It's hot, but that far up it's also breezy, and the sky's at least got big fluffy white clouds that occasionally occlude the sun.

Hematite's in his Shitennou uniform, arms crossed, leaning against the waist-high lip of the rooftop. The wind is, indeed, blowing through his hair like a shampoo commercial. He doesn't look happy, but he doesn't look angry, either. He rarely looks angry at any of them, the Shitennou, the small group of people at Obsidian he actually really cares about.

"I'm assuming," he says to start, "that the thing that blew out the Obsidian storefront and put your employee in the hospital wasn't actually part of the plan. I assumed that at the time, too, which is why I let Pyrite eat it. If it was, maybe warn me next time? We were shopping for a swimsuit for her."

Jadeite has posed:
    Jadeite has been dragged out of his office, where he was sorting through invoices for construction work, lost inventory, compensation to the injured and their families, the hideous loss of Black Jades with most of them crushed or otherwise damaged beyond usefulness, and questions from investors about how this could have happened. It was very tempting to just go to each one of these people individually and mind control them to leave the matter alone. He has actually already had to do that more than once for the really angry ones, and the very curious.

    And the reporters! My God, the reporters! The cover stories he has had to provide while constantly using his telepathy on them has left him with a raging headache. Thus all the others invoicing his department and asking questions being a temptation rather than just doing it. Whoever is responsible for all of this is going to pay.

    But now he's on a rooftop, with his hair being messed up by the wind, the powers vested in him when he was a Guardian in a forgotten past making him so resilient that the heat is barely even noticed. He's in his Shitennou uniform as well.

    "Excuse me," he begins. "But what is all this about 'my employee'?"

    Yes, that's the part he fixates on.

    "That entire outlet was ruined, as well as surrounding stores. Lots of humans are in the hospital. It's the >costs< that concern me, not the humans themselves." He is scowling as he walks towards the edge of the roof to look down on Tokyo. He holds his tongue on more than just the 'plan' however. He is distinctly >not< going to comment on the fact that Hematite has been >feeding< his pet monster with other monsters. There are many things that he will argue with Hematite about, as their way of hashing things out, rather than just agreeing and letting one or the other have their way because of their relationship.

    Pyrite is a subject that Jadeite believes is beyond solving with discussion or reasoning.

    And that makes her an even bigger problem as a result, because it means that Hematite is being controlled. Not like Jadeite controls minds -- or at least not exactly. But it's a connection of the heart that threatens to make her as important as any of the Shitennou, despite not being one of them. That is a threat that cannot be ignored.

    And Hematite is >feeding it<.

    Yes, Jadeite's just going to scowl at the city below for a little bit instead of looking at his interlocutor, thank you very much.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hematite is silent for a moment. It's a sunny silence, high above the city and local sound deadened by the breeze and the lack of walls. He sighs, and it's carried away.

"You think the cost of her injuries in medical care, as well as any lawsuits that might come up for other humans' injuries, aren't part of the cost?" he asks mildly, finally. The breeze makes the sunlight on his hair dance as he watches Jadeite, watches the tension in his shoulders, watches the set of his jaw and the cant of his head.

He brought up Pyrite. Maybe he should stop: he knows they hate her, and it stops rational conversations when they have to acknowledge her existence. He thinks, briefly, that he'll stop unless he wants to start a fight -- he didn't want to start one now.

"It doesn't matter to me either way. The important part, to me, is how it happened and if it's someone's responsibility. I assumed a Midnight Tokyo incursion was at fault, since it didn't seem your style," Hematite says, not seeming to have any difficulty staying calm. He runs a hand through his hair and then drops his arms. "But there was something weird about the youma. I was particularly trying to get to a Black Jade that was on the floor in front of it. Just the sight of one was enough to nearly make it frenzy."

He stands, then, and hoists himself up to sit on the ledge, looking sidelong at Jadeite, at his profile. Hematite's back is to the edge and he could just fly, but he likes the thrill of almost-falling down however many floors that is--

"Why do you think it would do that? Honest question. I mean I know you said you'd help with the defense of the construction, but construction hasn't even begun yet, has it? So, why would it go after a Black Jade more than it went after magical girls?"

Jadeite has posed:
    Jadeite sighs heavily and dramatically for several seconds before replying. "Their medical costs are paid for by their insurance. Or her, I suppose. Whoever it was. You can tell someone in personnel later and they can figure out who it was that was stationed there. At any rate, we have very good employee health coverage, as you well know. It's the long-term effect this will have on profits, and what that means for having the resources to make things we want happen. This is long-term, big picture stuff. The Black Jades are a Beryl Holdings product, under Obsidian branding. If this affects the bottomline of investors and higher-ups, we may be looking at Queen Beryl herself coming down on us."

    Jadeite turns to look at Hematite. "Coming down on >me<. You might not be aware, but she is much harsher on me than you, or even the other Shitennou. I'm given all the dirty work, the hard sells, the jobs that have me opening juice bars and fitness clubs and toy stores to try to get just a small bit of human energy out of it, and then when some girl with more braids than brains comes along and trashes the place and any gains are lost, the business is also a loss, and that means I gain the ire of both Her Majesty >and< the other investors. Then she gets mad that I'm bringing attention and criticism on her, and I get scolded and threatened a >second time<."

    He looks back over the city. He can't look at Hematite right now. There's too many feelings. Too many of them are impotent rage over something that isn't even his leader's fault. He doesn't delve into how the vultures above and below him keep pouring poison in the ears of anyone who will listen that Jadeite is incompetent, a waste of resources, and how much better they could do in his position if only there were an involuntary redundancy.

    Even his own 'faction' within the Shitennou is composed of youma who whisper that he is the weakest among the Shitennou, and that his repeated failures are a sign that an ambitious underling might have a chance to finally transcend the deadlocked hierarchy after centuries of pointless jockeying for position beneath the Dark Generals.

    Red meat is being waved in front of starving dogs, and that meat is Jadeite.

    And then Hematite adopts himself a sister whom he names or allows to name herself 'Pyrite', and it doesn't take a genius to see the writing on the wall.

    If something happens to him, then that grave mistake of an apprentice is going to be first in line for Jadeite's position. And he's supposed to be worrying over margins and stocks and litigation and whether any humans are feeling sad about their boo-boos. What a tragedy for them.

    "They are barely magical at all. I deliberately made sure there was nothing in them that would set off any alarms or defenses, and very little that someone could sense even when they're in operation. If turned off? There should be nothing to detect." Another big dramatic sigh, though this one is shorter. Jadeite steps back from the edge. "Maybe you should take a step back too." he says after a pause. He might not just be talking about the precipice they're on right now.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Hematite is focused, listening; when his attention is this squarely present, the weight of his regard is a nearly palpable thing. Earth-blue eyes stay locked on Jadeite for the explanation, the whole of it. It's not a power, it's just-- him, the him he's always been, the him who woke Jadeite up in the first place: someone who was always supposed to be there, someone who feels like too much all at once, sometimes. Someone who's invested.

Maybe that's part of why they hate Pyrite. He's invested in death now, too, and it's growing.

"I think it was turned on and facing the thing," he says as he sits up properly, then stands and takes a half-step forward. Maybe not so invested in death.

He can still see Jadeite's face, can keep trying to read it. (He should be able to feel what they feel, shouldn't he? It's a vague and nonverbal wistfulness in the back of his head, and he ignores it. He's good at that.)

"I'm looking at prevention, not blame," he says. "But I didn't realize, that, no. I can't read your mind, and you know I've been involved with the operations I've been maintaining in the Global South. I'm sorry."

Hematite sounds sorry. Not rueful, but apologetic-- and he looks concerned. His focus is still fully on Jadeite, and it's a heavy thing. "I'm sorry I was too busy to notice. I feel like that's a problem I've been guilty of before."

Then he lightens up, his mood evening out and his reasonable and pleasant calm hiking up a notch to cheerful, "Let me do some of your gruntwork, and you manage some of our assets in my territory. If I do any better, I'll take notes and share them. And I know you'll do better than me in what I've been doing."

Jadeite has posed:
    Turning his back to Hematite, mainly to make the wind stop blowing hair in his eyes, Jadeite answers, "Don't worry about it. It's my problem. I'll take care of it." 'And if you clean it up for me, I'll just look even more incompetent and useless because I can't deal with the problems I caused.' "So it was fixated on the device then? Very strange." Jadeite forgets about the wind within moments as he paces up and down the rooftop. "Did the creature at least retire an Enemy? It's too much to hope for a body. No deaths were reported, but maybe if we just hurt them >enough< they'll stop trying to fight us." He shakes his head. "As far as I'm aware, this is unrelated to Midnight Tokyo. No construction has started. We're still in the planning stages and trying to secure the support we'll need to move forward with it. Before we can present this to Her Majesty, it needs to be solid, easy to understand, and have obvious value. A big presentation on a big screen isn't going to cut it. The Black Jades were my attempt at both increasing our budget and our popularity."

    'And the 500 at the mall were specially design to be taken in by students at the Academy and act as mundane transmitters of information and data collectors through solely technological means, making magical detection methods fairly useless. That would help with identifying specific Magical Girls by listening in on their conversations. But that's ruined now.'

    He doesn't say that part though. Nor does he mention that at least two of the Black Jades actually were picked up and activated and are on Academy grounds right now. He'll wait until he has something to show for it. "Did it say anything? Did it have any identifying characteristics? Anything we've seen before? Potential origin or affiliations? Anything?" Jadeite asks as he finally stops pacing. "You are doing great at what you do. So don't feel like you have to cover for me or that you've failed in some way. I can take care of it." He smiles weakly.

    'And I don't want you to be dragged down with me.'

    There's an awful lot of this conversation that he isn't saying. Maybe Hematite can't read minds, but he should know his brothers... His Shitennou well enough by now to guess at some of it. Not the ones that they lock down hard about, the secrets they keep even the other Shitennou from knowing about. But even the fact they have secrets is something that Hematite, more than anyone else, can identify.

    "Oh, one more thing." Jadeite says, snapping his fingers as he remembers. "Was anyone in the area that you knew when the incursion took place? Anyone you recognized, or could pick out of a photograph or video? Not the Magical Girls, though them too. Just who was on-site when the explpsion happened."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"All right," and Hematite sounds disappointed, but then he shakes his head as Jadeite paces up and down in front of him. He moves himself until he has something else to lean on, if Jadeite doesn't like him so near an edge-- there, an HVAC unit, and the sun's not quite in his eyes.

He de-henshins in order to avail himself of his student identity's transition lenses: instant sunglasses. Apparently he wasn't dressed for work under it. Short-sleeved button down over a band shirt, jeans, sneakers. Pockets, which he puts his hands in. His head tilts, and it's harder to be pinned by his gaze when it's behind darkness.

"It didn't get any of the Enemy," Hematite says, sounding more businesslike again. "And the Black Jades were an excellent idea. I wouldn't give up on them having an impact anyway, though -- they were nearly gone by the time I was there. But as far as the sequence of events goes-- there was an outpouring of air and energy from the Dusk Zone from the back of the store, and maybe two minutes later, a shockwave. Then the monster came lumbering out, and it didn't cause any injuries itself, though the girl holding it back with ofuda took herself out from the effort."

He pffts his hair out of his eyes for a second, moving along the HVAC until his face is in the wind again, keeping his hair out of it. Best way to have a meeting.

"The thing itself was silent until the very end, when it made a really awful sound," Hematite continues, then holds out his work phone. "I drew a sketch of it. I think it was just something that lived in the dusk zone and broke out somehow. It ripped a hole in reality in the back of the store, and that didn't close on its own."

He waits until Jadeite either looks at or takes his phone. "I'll give you the paper later, there are more notes on it, but basically it looked kind of like that but more oozy, and it felt like it shouldn't exist, and the eye there in the middle was glowing red, and there were an awful lot more teeth."

Then he chuffs out a rueful laugh. "I can name thirty people I knew or recognised that were there in the vicinity. I mean, I actually go to school. Is there something you're looking for in particular?"

A beat.

"Can I come with you sometimes anyway? It just seems like I haven't gotten to work with you in a long time, and I miss it," says Darien, and his face is still so easy to read, even with his eyes behind sunglasses. He's being truthful. He's being true.

Jadeite has posed:
    Jadeite sighs, just letting some of his tension leave his body. He has to do it slowly. With how strong his muscles are, and how tense, they might just snap if he doesn't relax slowly. Or so he imagines. He often imagines, in his head, just snapping like a bow string and flying off somewhere, the last arrow in a quiver, expending himself for the sake of killing one last foe. A blow right to the heart would be nice.

    The thought of it even feels familiar. Though maybe an arrow is the wrong weapon.

    Like Hematite, Jadeite reverts from his Shitennou form. At least he is wearing some kind of suit, so that when he passes through the building he doesn't have to maintain a Glamour. Or maybe the suit is also a Glamour. Hard to tell. He's really good at Glamours. "I see. If you were anyone else, I'd--Well, not anyone else. If a random person had seen it, I'd lift the memory out of their mind so I'd have it first-hand to sift through. I might still do that. Do you know what hospital that employee was sent to? Never mind, I'm sure it's in the paperwork on my desk somewhere." Jadeite runs a hand through his curled blonde hair, as he continues trying to put aside business and just... Relax. A little bit at a time. "Thank you. I mean it. I... It's easy to feel lost here. Like I'm just barely treading water and there's..." Don't go with that analogy, don't picture sharks in the water or people on a boat trying to keep her from boarding with harpoons, and don't put the faces of the Shitennou over those peopl--"It matters, to know there's someone I can turn to if I really need help. That I'm not competing within the Shitennou." 'Aren't I, though? Maybe I should ask.'

    "Having you along would be a great boon for--I mean... It would be nice. Just the two of us sometime, whether we're fighting or... Not." He gives a tired-sounding laugh. A bit manic, but also tired. "What in Hell am I going to do." he asks out loud, not really expecting an answer. He just stands there with his head tilted back, staring up at the sky, looking spaced out and exhausted. After a moment or two, he snaps out of it, and rubs his eyes before looking at Darien. And it's Jason there, not Jadeite. He may have transformed into Jason Dite, but he was still Jadeite up until this moment. Now he's just... Just him again. "So you say you were buying her a swimsuit? What an absolutely random reason to be at the mall. I don't know why I have such a hard time picturing you as a big brother to her. You're already basically that for most of us. Or at least >a< brother. I think Nephrite may be a bit older than he says he is..." He runs a hand from his forehead to his chin, like he's just trying to wipe away whatever leftovers from the previous conversation are still lingering there. "No. No, I'm not giving up on the Black Jades. They're useful and popular. Maybe Pyrite wants one. Or, no... Himeko, was it?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"There you are," murmurs Darien, his own shoulders relaxing with a tension he didn't even know was there. One hand briefly starts to lift, but the movement is quietly discarded before it commits.

"You can always come to me for help. You know I won't hold it over you, and you know I need you with me." The boy's face is fierce, but his tone is quiet and determined; the sun's behind a big cloud, so he's taken his sunglasses off and his eyes are that impossible blue, like the oceans of the world as seen from space. "That's not going to change. I need you to remember that actively."

An exhalation; En- Darien takes a step forward, meanders over and turns so he's standing abreast of Jad- Jason, and then he laughs and it's affectionate, and somehow-- somehow it's possible to tell that the affection is for Jason, despite the subject matter.

I see you.

"Himeko, yes. She might want one, and I think it'd be good for her. Get her a little more grounded. And yes! She was befriended by someone in the study group with me and Agera, and she apparently invited Himeko to go swimming and looking for ducks. So we were looking for a swimsuit with ducks on it," Darien says with a helpless little laugh. "Sometimes she really does sound like a ten year old instead of a murderghost."

A beat. "I think of you guys as my brothers too. Or my best friends maybe. Or my best friend brothers? Is that a thing? Can that be a thing?"

Jadeite has posed:
    Jason nods along. Still tired, but listening. "I'll remember." There's so much that needs to be done still. But this is one thing that can't wait. He needs to ask. "If you're buying her things, I assume that means she'll be around long-term." The question he's scared to ask. The question that the Dark Energy he uses makes him too paranoid to ask. But, at least for now, Metallia is not influencing his judgment in this one issue.

    "If... Something happens--" Jason's throat closes and he needs a moment to clear it again by swallowing repeatedly. Just ask. The fear of losing his place is overwhelming, but he needs the answer or else...

    Or else.

    "If something happens to me, will you still remember?" he asks, as he looks towards Darien. "No matter what? Even if..." He gestures vaguely towards the tallest building in the Obsidian complex. "Even if they try to erase me. Can you promise me that you'll still remember?"

    That isn't the question he wanted to ask. But... It's a way of addressing the issue through the most indirect and ambiguous manner possible.

    And if that isn't quintessential Jadeite, then nothing is.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Darien's eyes widen; he takes a half-step closer, looking at Jason, and he listens. Blue eyes that aren't always so focused, so intent, close a second after Jason finishes, and Darien opens his mouth to say something, then closes it. He frowns slightly, then turns fully to face Jason, puts a hand on the other boy's shoulder.

"I remembered you before I even met you," he says, voice low and almost urgent. "And sometimes I remember things I shouldn't. My name was Mamoru and I was here and real like you. If something good happens to you instead, remember us."

Closer still, tactile; the hand on Jason's shoulder squeezes it gently. It's warm through the fabric, it's heavy, it's grounding. The wind breezes past and the sun comes out from behind its cloud; Darien's now backlit, his shadow standing between the light and Jason's eyes.

"I will remember if it comes to that, but I'll do everything in my power to make sure nothing happens," he says firmly, and then he laughs and it's quiet, it's different. Still him, but preoccupied. "Himeko likes you, you know. She's staying around, but as much as she's my shadow, she's her own person, too, and she likes you," he says, looking to the side, out over the horizon again. "She's not one of us."

Then Darien's voice goes low again, even more quiet, unsettled, worried. "But sometimes I feel like I'm not, either. There are supposed to be four of us, it's in the name-- but that guy at the dance that Zoi noticed too? I feel like he belongs a lot more than I do."

Suddenly he's back, focused and present again, though it's lighter than before. "Anyway, if something good happens to me, will you stay with me?" The question's light and easy, and the only thing giving away the worry that's still there is the tightness around his eyes and the way his jaw works after the question.

Jadeite has posed:
    He can't bring himself to feel the same way about Himeko. But in regard to Darien... Or Mamoru as he is apparently known in truth if not in name... "You can't forget someone carved into your soul." he responds earnestly to Darien. "While I do feel there should be four of us, and you might not be the fourth... I do feel like you are critical to us. All of us." He reaches up a hand to put in on the back of Darien's, on Jason's shoulder. "Maybe something even more amazing than a Shitennou." He chuckles a little, despite not thinking it's funny, when he suggests, "Maybe even a prince."

    He gives a long sigh as he pulls a pair of eyeglasses out of his front pocket and opens them by snapping his wrist out so that they unfold on their own. He lets go of Darien's hand. "The Prince of Lost & Found, with the way you keep bringing all of us broken people and creatures together. We were lost, until you found us."

    He has to muse much longer over the question of 'going with' Darien, even if Jason doesn't know why. He puts on his eyeglasses, something he doesn't do in front of others for fear of criticism or mockery, despite Darien himself wearing them as well. "Only," he answers finally and quietly. "If there's a place for me."

    He gestures to clear some room as he hops down from the HVAC unit. It's a very short hop. The Shitennou are all obscenely tall. Zoisite is the shortest and he's still taller than most people in this country. "So," Jason begins as he starts to make his way towards the roof access door to head back inside. "Should I be calling you Mamoru instead of Darien from now on? Or only when we're alone?" The easy smile of a boy comfortable with a good friend is there on his face. And it isn't necessarily 'false' or 'wrong'.

    But there's still the question he didn't ask. That he still is too scared to ask directly, because of what Darien might answer with.

    'Is she my replacement?'