402/Definitely Not Naru

Definitely Not Naru
Date of Scene:	11 September 2023
Location:	Dorms #3
Synopsis:	Double Trouble shows up at Naru's & Usagi's room for their debut performance as Naru Osaka. It does not go well. What kind of girl has a pre-determined test for if their roommate is an impostor?!
Cast of Characters:	Double Trouble, Usagi Tsukino

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Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble loved a challenging role, and there was no doubt about it, this was going to be one of their most challenging ever. Usually, when they put on another face, it was either a character of their own invention, or somebody they'd studied and only portrayed briefly. This was different. This time, they were going to be playing the role of Naru Osaka, and their stage was going to be the dorm room she shared with her best friend Usagi Tsukino. They were walking right into the demesne of the person _most_ likely to suss out that they're not Naru. But, they're going there because it's a sensible place for 'Naru' to go after 'escaping' her captor.

Looking every bit the part, this Naru is disheveled and dirty like she had to struggle and climb through who knows what to escape where she was being held. She stands in front of the door she should be able to open, but can't, because she doesn't have a key. She looks at it, takes a deep breath, and then knocks. Is it how Naru would knock? Probably not.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The dorm room is quieter without Naru, and it's been that way for too long. Even a few days are too many, when Usagi Tsukino has no idea what Naru is suffering, trapped with Sunbreaker. What would happen if Sunbreaker finally accepted that Naru didn't have any powers? What would happen if turned out Naru did have power?

Luna and Usagi had taken to ensuring one of them was always in the dorm room at any given time, just in case a miracle occurred, and Naru came home. Before, it had been Usagi's turn to get out, and she'd spent a good chunk of it fighting what had turned out to be a Witch. Now it was Luna's turn, searching the cabin area where Naru's belongings had been found.

Which meant Usagi was alone in her dorm room. She had a stack of manga, homework, a laptop, plenty of things that could have occupied her - but she was just staring at a glowstick instead, watching it's light gleam against the aluminum foil her hotdog had been wrapped in.

Both had been gifts from Darien, who had survived the shenanigans at the Makuga Finn show with gifts intact. He'd offered to stay over.

Usagi had been very, very tempted to let him.

Instead, she'd sent him on his way, and now she was lonely, which was pathetic, because Naru was probably way more lonely, and - a knock. On the door.

"Who is it?"

But she's getting up, anyway, going over to the door, because it's probably one of their friends, hers or Naru's or Darien's, and if they aren't here for support then they'll be here with news, and Usagi could use some news -

She throws open the door. She freezes the second she catches sight of the person on the other side of the door, but it's only for that second. The very instant her mind processes what her eyes are seeing, she's launching herself at Naru, wrapping her arms around her.

"NARU-CHAN!"

Double Trouble has posed:
Naru all but collapses into the blonde's embrace, wrapping her arms around Usagi and saying, "I am so grateful you are here, Usagi-chan." She sounds exhausted, but relieved. That would have been horrible, wouldn't it? Escape the clutches of an egomaniacal unicorn, only to be stuck in the hallway because she lost her key. At least, that's what Double Trouble is imagining as they embody the character.

She takes a ragged breath, and then starts sobbing on Usagi's shoulder, right there in the doorway.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Being the world's - the solar system's - perhaps even the universe's biggest crybaby, Usagi is weepingly openly the second she has her arms around Naru. The fact that Naru grabs her back? It only makes her cry harder, fingers digging into the back of Naru's dirtied shirt, clutching her close. The wave of relief is enough to make her lightheaded, the weight of days of fear and anxiety evaporated in an instant.

And then the words register.

Grateful that she was here? Why would she - well! Well, no, that made sense, because if she wasn't here then Sunbreaker could just take her back, before Usagi even knew she escaped, it made sense -

And then Naru started sobbing. On her shoulder. Right there in the hallway, not even locked up in their room.

And Usagi.

Froze.

"N-Naru-chan?" Panic, a seed of it in her throat, tightening her lungs like iron bars wrapped around her chest.

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble feels that subtle shift in Usagi's being, and hears the tremble in her voice. They blew it already. Oversold it. Naru is more collected than this. She certainly had been rather calm about everything when they interviewed her. They were not going to fumble their _debut role_. They could recover from this.

Another deep, faltering breath, and Naru lets go, straightens up, and at Usagi. "Y-es?" Then she looks past the girl and into the room then back at Usagi. "Can I come in now?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi has allies in the dorms - there's Ikiko, on another floor, and Darien and Koji on the other side of the building - but not, as far as she knows, anyone on her floor. Which is what she'd need, if this is not Naru, if this is a trick.

But it's Naru. It's got to be Naru. It's got to be Naru.

(It's not Naru.)

She swallows. Clutches Naru, even as she draws in a breath, and only let's go when she's ready to wipe her face. "Of course. Of course, come on - you - you need to - we need to call you mom. And get you a shower! And - you want something to drink?"

Two of those things are traps, because Naru-chan would never want to call her mother when she needed help. And she'd definitely, definitely want coffee, strong as Usagi could make it, in their tiny little coffee press.

And if she asked for coffee, Usagi would still have their code to fall back on. Just in case. This wasn't Naru.

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble is wary of that question. Naru was not drinking anything when they interviewed her, and they did not ask her about favorite things to eat or drink. Rookie mistake. Clearly they're off their game because of the foreign environment. They look around the room, then, because Usagi wouldn't offer something to drink if there weren't something _in the room_ to offer, would she? Water is always an option, of course, but then they spy the coffee press. That is perfect. She's exhausted after her ordeal. Coffee would be _perfect_.

"Yes, please. I would love some coffee," Naru says, as she walks into the room. She stands there for a moment, and then turns around to look at Usagi, "We do not need to involve my mother in this." The last thing Double Trouble needed was somebody else who knew Naru intimately involved in this performance. They were struggling enough already, and they'd only just begun!

As for the shower? Well, that was a given. She was filthy. "A shower would be nice," she says, then. "It has been a long few days."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Naru's looking around, and it's hard to decide if it's because she's never seen their room or if it's because it's been days and she's missed everything and - Luna's not here.

Naru would ask about Luna.

Usagi does not mention Luna.

She doesn't want to be suspicious. It's not in her nature. She's always worn everything on her sleeve, has never been very good at lying or hiding things, has always - always - always - trusted the people she loves.

She's spent most of her life loving Naru.

Naru wouldn't want her mother called. Naru would want coffee. Naru wouldn't - would Naru sob like that, for a moment, because it really had only been a moment, breathless and exhausted and terrified and - and -

She hates scary movies.

Why is so much of her life a scary movie now?

"Coffee coming up," Usagi says, and scrubs at her face. "You get some new clothes. I did the laundry! I figured... I figured, you know - but - what happened?"

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble knows why Sunbreaker wanted to kidnap Naru. They can't believe that she's not magical. They can't accept that they got beat fair and square by Sailor Moon. They know, as much as they trust Sunbreaker's recounting of events, what transpired with her and Naru. What they don't know is that Sailor Moon is _right there_. All they know is this is Usagi, Naru's best friend and roommate.

Naru walks over toward a wardrobe. Is it her wardrobe? Well, she picks the one next to the desk that looked like it belonged to an artist. Hopefully Usagi isn't an artist. She starts going through the wardrobe and assembling an outfit to put on post-shower. And while doing so, she talks, rather calmly, recounting the events, "That unicorn, Sunbreaker, just showed up out of nowhere and wanted to talk to me. She's obsessed. She's convinced I have some magical powers because Sailor Moon beat her. She fought with Stellar, and then it gets all fuzzy after that. I don't remember a lot of the last few days. She moved me a couple of times."

With her outfit assembled, Naru turns around to look at Usagi again. "She'd leave me alone a lot of the time, and I finally found a way out of the warehouse she was keeping me in," she says. A warehouse can be in the city. Much easier to get out of and back from than a mysterious cabin in a dark magical dome that is who knows where. Hopefully Usagi won't want to know where the warehouse is. "And so here I am."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Naru walks right to her own wardrobe. Starts picking through her own clothes, no real hesitation, and Usagi did do the laundry. She put the clothes away, too, pretty neatly, and she's calm, and -

Unicorn?

"Unicorn? Sunbrea - a unicorn - took you? A unicorn, like - from stories...? A unicorn kidnapped you?" Forget the horror story that is wondering if this is a fake Naru, she's just got to - stare. For a minute there. The confusion is honest. The bafflement real. But the things she says do sound like Naru - right until she says Stellar.

She's never heard Naru refer to Inai-sensei as Stellar. And also, Naru is a lot more polite than Usagi, so she'd call their teacher a teacher, not just her hero name... right? And - a warehouse. In the city. From a cabin to a warehouse... and Naru was dirty and beat up... and...

"Naru," she says, dropping the chan, and looking away, back to the coffee press. Putting the grounds in, setting it up. If this was her Naru, she'd totally apologize. "Do you want some cream and sugar in your coffee? I bet that - I bet that crazy girl didn't let you have anything... ah, I have some snacks - some mochi - do you want some? You're probably hungry, right? Ahhh, I'd be hungry..."

It's not lies. It's not even acting, not really, it's stream of conscious words and they're all true, sort of, and -

"You're so brave, Naru-chan. I'd never be able to do what you did. You're like coffee, and I'm like cream, you know? You're a whole drink."

Come on. Come on. Naru. Naru-chan. Please. Catch on. You're going to catch on and get the code!

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble, again, doesn't trust that question. It sounds like a test. A question only the real Naru would know the answer to. What kind of girl is Usagi that she has a pre-arranged test to tell if her friend is an impostor?! They put that thought out of their mind for now. There will be plenty of time to think about it later. Right now they need to figure out what to _say_.

Naru's like coffee, and Usagi's like cream? Is that some reference to their respective hair color? Why didn't they think to ask her about foods and drinks? Seriously. Basic stuff, and they completely flubbed it. It's been rough, not having enough magic. They're just off their game. 'You're a whole drink,' is a weird thing to say there. That's got to be the key.

They need to say _something_, and they need to say it soon, or it'll be clear they really don't know what to say, so they take a gamble, and smile, saying, "Does that make you a whole snack, then?" Because, you know, you make ice cream from cream.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Fuck.

Usagi laughs. "You know it! But just this once, I saved you some snacks! I - I was really hoping you'd come home soon."

Act like your life depends on it Usagi, because Naru's really might.

She's afraid. But in this situation - with someone who is definitely not Naru, who would not have forgotten their code, who would have understood Usagi because she's always, always, every time, understood Usagi - she's not only afraid.

The door is shut. Luna's gone. No one knows Naru came back.

"I've got to tell everyone you came back! We've been kind of covering for you, didn't want anyone to know you were skipping school, so I said you were sick, but, you know -"

Get to her phone. Say something.

Double Trouble has posed:
That was not it. Double Trouble knows it was not it as soon as the words leave Naru's lips. The look in Usagi's eyes when she heard them, as brief as it may have been, was unmistakable to a skilled observer such as themselves. So, when she immediately suggests telling everybody Naru's back, and moving to find her phone, they know they need to act.

Their cover is already blown, and they know it, so there's no need to keep up the charade.

They drop the clothes and shift into themselves with their green skin, yellow eyes, pointy ears, long yellow hair, and tail. Definitely _not_ Naru. They dash over toward Usagi and try to get between her and whichever direction she's heading. Their tail whips around and tries to trip her up. "This was supposed to be a _private_, performance, _Usagi-chan_."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi was going for her phone, which was there, on her desk - but there's a tail tripping her up, and she's already a klutz, her coordination absolutely nothing to speak of, and she's going down, bellyflopping against the floor and knocking the wind right out of her, chin clacking against the floor - she bites her tongue. Blood fills her mouth.

Definitely, most absolutely and utterly, not Naru.

"Where's Naru?" She wheezes, lungs struggling to refill themselves. "W-who are you?!"

There's a blowdrier on the floor; it's Usagi's side of the room, of course there's random things on the floor instead of in the boxes they should be in. Forget organization - being a mess was about to save her life. It was heavy. It was going right in this awful fake Naru lizard person's face, as soon as she could breathe again.

Double Trouble has posed:
Their cover is blown. They need to get out of here. But they wouldn't be Double Trouble if they didn't linger for some witty banter. They do, at least, dash to the door first.

"Honestly, darling, I have no idea where Naru is. Sunbreaker teleported me in and out. But she's doing okay. She's bored out of her mind, honestly. She was curious to see how long I'd be able to pull this off. She'll be pleased with you, I'm sure. You knew something was up from the very first moment. It was the tears. It was too much," they say. Wow, for someone trying to escape, they're talking a lot.

Their hand _is_ on the door though. They start to pull it open. "It's time for me to exit the stage," they say, and right before her eyes, they turn into _her_. They can't go walking out of here looking like themselves, can they? They step out of the door, pull it shut behind them, and beat a hasty retreat.

They find an unobserved spot and shift back into themselves, then they fetch their necklace from the pocket it lives in, putting it around their neck.

Dianora emerges from the shadows and skips right back into the dorms. Time to go find her onee-chan and tell her the bad news.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
One hand clenches around the blowdrier. The other helps her push herself up, still ready to throw it -

The lizard person who had been Naru acts like they don't have a care in the world. They talk to her as if this is a joke - but they've seen Naru, and Usagi doesn't trust them at all, but if Naru is okay - bored and curious, that sounds like her, that sounds so much more like her than the crying -

"You're not very good at your job!"

It's wheezed at their back. The blowdrier doesn't survive smashing into the door frame - Usagi hadn't expected to hit them, but they're leaving, they're leaving, they turned into - her -

By the time she's on her feet and gottent he door open, her look alike is long gone. Usagi is alone with her anger, her guilt, the embers of her fear.

"I'm going to kick her until she stops moving," she breathes out, thinking about Sunbreaker and thinking about her sending a copy over - what did she WANT? Did she want them to stop looking? How long was she planning on keeping Naru? "I'm going to kick her and kick her and kick her -"

But first, she's going to find her phone. The room isn't any different than it had been, but it feels different, now, knowing there'd been a fake here, a pretender, knowing she's alone and had been alone -

"Maybe Darien will want some company," she mumbles, going to find her phone. She's got to tell someone - she might as well do it from the safety of his room.