477/Laugh it up, Space Boy

Laugh it up, Space Boy
Date of Scene:	21 September 2023
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	After Chrono has a bit of an existential crisis, Setsuna meets with him following her OWN...small problem...and attempts to help him cope. Literature is involved.
Cast of Characters:	Setsuna Meiou, Chrono Harlaown

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Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna Meiou was small. So very, very small.

To be frank, the implications of things haven't fully sunk in for her. Right now she's more or less riding the philosophy of 'get what needs to be done, done...fall apart when it's convenient'.

And despite how much she'd like to try to hide somewhere and not be seen by ANYONE...not only is that something she realizes is an impractical solution...

...more importantly, she knows her friend is having a bit of a crisis.

Her problems can wait.

Like it or not...she's gotten rather GOOD at waiting.

Still, she suspects that stealth is the order of the day...so once she manages to get away from campus and sufficiently out of sight...she henshins...

After it's over, she stands there...exactly as tall as she was before. After taking a moment to sigh at the loss of her vain hope that her transformation would break whatever magic has ahold of her, she shakes her head.

A rooftop is going to be needed for meeting.

After a few initial failures that NOBODY SAW where Pluto had to learn the hard way she couldn't jump as high as she could before, she manages to get herself up to the top of a reasonably tall building, whereupon she gets her phone out and sends a text identifying which building she'd be on top of...and then she sits down to wait.

Thus, when Chrono arrives, it will be to seeing a very, very smol Sailor Pluto sitting on an HVAC unit, the Garnet Rod (resized to her current height) across her lap and idly kicking her feet.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown arrived and... and stared. Slowly, very slowly, he just... lowered himself to the ground. And stared. And she could see his gears turning in his head. And how much of a break was he having? "Sailor... Pluto?" he asked.

Once she confirmed, he held up his hand, needing a moment. Then closed his mouth. Then opened it. Then paused. Then closed it. Deeeeep breath. He walked over and... sat by her.

For a loooong time there was silence. Then, finally, he spoke up. "You know, if you thought I was cute you didn't need to shrink yourself to my height to have a chance." The smile on his face... was the same he always had, so it was likely hard to tell if he was joking. Except...

"In full seriousness. Is this what my linker core scanned picked up? I knew there was certainly... something off about you. Do you just relapse to... this every decade or so? Is that how you're immortal?" he asked. Ahhhh. So he had noticed her not confirming yes or no... "Or is this something else? Because, well... I'll be honest? Someone... getting younger... like this? supposed to be impossible. But you know what? Today has been a day. Just... a hell of a day. Apparently there's a group called the pretty cures. They have a god. A kami. Gives them their power." And then he just dropped back and stared up at her.

"So... what is going on, exactly? Cause I'll be honest. I'm not sure there's much I can do about... this. Other than let you know, yes, the short jokes will get old. But you get used to them."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna waves back at Chrono, then nods when he quietly sits down next to her. She gives him a flat look as he cracks a mild joke at her newfound height...but there's no real heat in the glare.

After a moment, she shakes her head, "I've basically resigned myself to the jokes. There will be no end of them from my housemates, I'm certain." She sighs, "...that being said, you appear to be having a day...as you can see, I'm having a bit of a day myself."

She hops down to the roof, "...so. What I suggest is this. You fly us to my house, I'm sure you still have the co-ordinates. My housemates won't be back for hours, and I'll answer the myriad of questions I imagine you have."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown shook his head. "No... no there won't be. They are endless as they are ridiculous," he said with a sigh. "Be prepared for many hugs, and kisses, and who knows what else. It's going to suck. Are you sure you want to go home? Now might be a good time to go to Pluto," Chrono muttered before glancing up at the sky. "If... you can do that... still not sure what you can do, to be fair."

He reached over and lightly put his hand on hers, giving it a squeeze. Not in a 'Guy trying to flirt with you' way. But in a 'I know this is going to suck, but I understand so don't worry, it'll be okay' way. He hopped down and held out his own rod towards her. After a moment, little wings formed on her feet. "A simple enough flight spell," he said. "But as long as we don't go too far apart, it should work," he said before flying up and moving with her.

"As for questions... I don't know if I actually... have any. If anything... I want to... stop... asking questions. I want to... stop... learning new things that turn my world upside down. So... for... just a little bit... Let's... not ask questions. How about we just..." He struggled to think of a solution, a thought, an answer. "... Okay, maybe explain this, first."

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
The little squeeze of the hand gets a squeeze right back...acknowledging the contact.

As the spell is cast on her and she raises up a little, Sailor Pluto takes a few moments to hover back and forth a little, wobbling about as she gets a feel for doing exactly what make which go each way.

She's not the quickest study for flying in the universe, but she takes to it reasonably well...enough that she needs only a brief period before she's to the point of simple enough flight to do some direct travel.

Once that's done, she turns, orients herself, then sets off at the best pace she can manage out, into the suburbs and eventually to her home.

She hovers herself shakily to a point over her yard...then she just cuts the spell and falls about three stories straight down.

Of course, anyone familiar even in passing with the Sailor Senshi would know that landing from a three story leap is a fairly trivial thing for them...but Chrono might be surprised before he sees her light easily on the ground.

Or maybe not.

In any event, she walks towards the house...and partway there there's an explosion of the impression of ribbons and a brief flare of 'cosmic nonsense' which leaves a very smol Setsuna Meiou in it's wake...and she walks up to the back door of the house, opens it up, then holds it open for the TSAB agent before then pointing him at the kitchen and telling him to wait for her there.

A few minutes later, she joins him...wearing what appears to be a t-shirt...though one that seems somehow something very 'not-her'.

In point of fact, it's a very bright blue t-shirt sized for an adult, but which comes down to almost her knees on her tiny frame with a picture of a half-circle with numbers from one to what looks like 250 written at intervals along it...and there's a pointer that goes from the center that's aimed straight at the 250. The wording on it reads: I PAID for the whole speedometer, I'm going to USE the whole speedometer!

She wanders in, heads right over to the freezer, rummages around, then walks over to the seats at the island in the center and dumps several half gallons of ice cream down: Vanilla, Strawberry, Chocolate, and something called 'Moose Tracks'. A bunch of spoons are dumped on the countertop and she hops up into a chair, "I have found in my exceedingly long life that when one is having a particularly trying day, that drowning one's troubles in an unwise amount of ice cream tends to do wonders. Help yourself."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown has had the memory of her PRINCESS CARRYING HIM EMBLAZONED IN HIS MIND, so her dropping three stories and landing on her feet doesn't really surprise him. He was a little surprised she didn't just land, but well... maybe landing was harder than falling when you weren't used to it.

What he didn't expect, however, was for her to return to the kitchen... in that shirt. He had to pause for a moment and bite his tongue. You know what? He kind of understood it now. He resisted the urge to tease her, as much as a part of him wanted to. Because PAYBACK! But he was also aware that, one day, she would be tall again. He would still be short. And besides... she has, for the most part, one of the more respectful people he knew. Terrifying ,but respectful.

He climbed into the seat besides her and.... took... "Are there any bowls?" he asked. Of course. Once he got one... he... would put two... large scoops. One strawberry, one moose tracks. But... but he didn't start eating. He idly played with the spoon.

"... So, what happened? If this isn't natural for you?" Focusing on that.... first. Before he says more.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna really hadn't intended to bother with bowls...but when Chrono asks, she shakes her head and points him at where they are. When he comes back with some, she grabs herself a big scoop of chocolate and one of moose tracks herself, then stashes the ice cream back in the freezer before it gets melty.

She takes a bit of chocolate and spends a few moments savoring the flavor before she sighs and shakes her head, "...no, this is quite very not the norm for me. I haven't been this short since before the concept of floors."

Well, for the CURRENT iteration of humanity, at least.

She shakes her head and takes another bite, "And to reiterate, No, I'm not a God." She smirks, "...though by saying that, I'm violating some very important advice a wise man once gave."

She pauses to take another spoonful, then goes on, "...no, from what I understand, this is the result of some kind of magical prank that didn't happen as whomever created it intended." She shrugs, "The best guess right now is that it will wear off on it's own after a little while...I have, at the moment, no PARTICULAR reason to doubt that prognosis, but I'll be getting someone I know to look me over in a day or two in any case."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown gave a small nod, staring at the ice cream. He... still hadn't dug into it. He just.... stared at it, lightly moving the spoon around in it little by little. Relaxed. Calm. But not eating any. "I... see. A prank. They turned you into a child as a prank," Chrono said softly.

"... Fascinating." Another magic that he believed was fundamentally impossible just... cracked.

He stared at the ice cream. "I... do hope it will wear off on its own. If it doesn't, well... I mean... in ten years or so you'll outgrow it," he offered.

"Or... I guess... maybe ten thousand years. I don't know. Never met an immortal. Met a few people who tried, though. Lost Logia. Immortality is a.... disturbingly common wish for many people."

He sighed before, finally, taking a small bit of the moose tracks on the end of this spoon and eating it. "Mmm. It's good. My mo..." and then he trailed off, staring at the bowl again.

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna shakes her head, "Oh, no...it's not that simple. It wasn't just 'turn me into a child' it was 'switch the physical ages of the people sharing a candy bar'." She snorts, "...and the poor girl who gave me the other half was as surprised as I was."

She eats a bit more she listens, then she says, "Fourteen Thousand for me. Not that I chose for things to work out this way." She trails off, the continues, "...I very much did not..." Then she shakes her headd, "...being immune to the passage of years is...NOT what most people imagine it to be. Sure, it has certain benefit...but...there are downsides."

And then she hears him cut himself off again on that syllable.

Slowly, she reaches over and places her hand on his, then says in a soft voice, "...it's okay, Chrono. You can say it. You can cry if you need to. I understand what it's like to be where you are right now. I've been there myself. Alone. Cut off from everything you'd ever known. All of it gone. I've been there..."

She trails off, then gives a little squeeze to his hand, "...but you've got people here who DO care about you. Myself, Miss Terios...many others...why not the other day I had had a young man half in tears thanking me for saving your life."

She lets that sink in, then says, "...but also remember...the insanity that is causing you so much confusion? The daily being confronted by what you've been taught to believe is 'impossible'? There's a silver lining to that."

She leans over and says in a much lower voice, "...didn't you believe before you arrived here that leaving would be 'impossible'? You're seeing the 'impossible' on the daily as it is. Which means it's not 'impossible' anymore, now is it?"

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown blinked a few times. "Ah. Switching ages. That... I imagine if that was a thing that could be done... more than a few unscrupulous people would do it as well," he said.

Fourteen thousand years. Huh. That. That was a lot of time. In the grand scheme of things, his little... issues seemed inconsiquential.

And there it was. Cut off. His hand holding the spoon trembled and, slowly, he dropped it into the bowl. Let her finish. And....

"I haven't cried since I was three," Chrono said softly. "My father's funeral. I... cried a lot before then. But... after that, a lot changed," he said softly. "I don't even know if I can cry anymore. My... mother cried. A lot. But she tried not to do it in front of me."

"Our work. Both of our work. It takes us... into a lot of dangerous things. Lost logia. People pursue them for all kinds of reasons. Power. Hatred. To bring back the dead. To change the past. IT always ends the same. With heart ache and pain. You cannot change such things. I learned that... so long ago. You can't... undo what has happened. You can only work towards the future," he said.

He finally just pushed the ice cream away. "I never... needed help. When I became an enforcer. I was... exceptional. I was the... poster child. Not just incredible. I was the standard. The one who others strived to be for. I never needed backup. I did everything perfectly. Despite my age, I always ensured everyone around me would know they could count on me. I never needed the help... but I always had it. I knew who to turn to, who to call. I didn't need it but I could always... always call on it. I wouldn't have hesitated. It just.... wasn't necessary. It was... my duty. So long as I did my duty, everything seemed so clear."

"I don't have it anymore. I don't have... backup. I don't have the TSAB to call on. I have... backup... but... I'm not exceptional anymore. I'm so far out of my depth I can't even see the ocean floor anymore, let alone dry land. And now, more than ever, it matters."

"I... I wasn't... there are nine other members of the TSAB here. The ones who's devices I am holding onto. They're counting on me. Because they don't HAVE any of their memories. They... they can't..."

"... My mother was the admiral. The captain of... of the Arthra. Right now... she's... somewhere on this stupid backwater planet and I have *no* idea where and I keep *looking* for her and I don't even know if she can *remember* me because she certainly can't remember magic or anything else about who she is! I've searched and I've searched and for all I know she's already dead and I... I don't... I don't know if I can handle that... I just... keep... expecting her to... show up and tease me or... or pat me on the head... or... wave me off in the silly little way she does because she knows it embarrasses me and I would give anything just to have her here right now so I could know she was safe and... and she'd...."

"She'd probably tell me it's okay. If things were reversed, she'd have eaten an entire tub of ice cream and just... gone back out there and found me and I keep trying but what if she's already dead? What if something got her? What if she knew just enough to get in trouble but couldn't use her power? Or what if right now she has no idea who she even is? Removing her magic.... it's who she is. You don't become an admiral without being a powerful mage and I... I can't..."

He didn't know if he could cry. But damn if he didn't want to right now...

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
And somewhere in that ramble, in that confession from the young man who has been teetering for so long, Setsuna got off her chair and stepped over.

And then, just as he trails off, she leans over and gives him a tight hug.

It's all she can think of to do, and she kind of thinks he really, really needs a hug.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown blinked a few times and then sighed and leaned into her. She... hadn't said it would be okay. Or that they'd find her. Or that things would be better. Or....

She hadn't lied to him. Because they both knew that sometimes... just... sometimes things didn't work out. Sometimes the worse happened. Sometimes they lost and it hurt but you jsut. Kept. Going.

And that silent hug? He needed it right then.

"Thank you... for the ice cream. But... ice cream is really more my... mother's thing. Than mine. And... I'll be honest..." he said with a sigh. "A part of me wishes you could go to pluto and.... I could go with you. Because right now, more than anything? I think I just want to get away. From this. From all of this.... and just.... pretend it's not real. "

".... You give very nice hugs, have you practiced?" Just a small hint of levity in these times...

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna lets go of the hug then, and steps back, "I wish you could, too. I wish I could, sometimes...but all that is left is here and the Gates of Time...and the Gates are broken, so I am not required to guard them. One day, perhaps, I might be able to fix them...but it will be a very very long time before that's even remotely possible."

Looking over at the ice cream, she nods, then grabs the bowls and stashes them in the freezer as well.

Waste not, want not. She'll probably decimate them later if Haruka or Michiru don't snag them first.

Closing the door, she turns back, then shakes her head, "...actually, I can't really say I have."

Now that her attention is called to it...the greenhaired girl pauses and looks off into the middle distance for a moment as she thinks.

She HAS been rather huggy lately.

Ever since the switch, in fact.

After a moment, however she shrugs, "...in any event...for escapism..."

She trails off...then smiles, "...give me a moment."

With that, she walks as briskly as her much shortened legs can take her out of the room.

She's gone for a good ten-ish minutes before she comes back with a large and long cardboard box with a very colorful picture on the side. The picture is of space...but at the center of the long box is what appears to be a giant sea turtle...upon whose back stand four elephants...and upon whose back rests what looks like a giant disc-shaped planet.

In Mid-Childan...or English, as the locals call it, is the name 'TERRY PRATCHETT' and the title 'DISCWORLD BOXED SET'.

She then holds out the box, which is full of the paperback editions of all the Discworld books, "I want you to have this. They're all quick, fun reads...though there's a surprising amount of depth to them, too...they're ridiculous and nonsensical...and that's the whole point."

She gets a very soft smile on her face as she looks at the box, "...the books in this series got me through a LOT of time...so I want you to have a copy."

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown just stared at her again. "Gates... of... time..." he said slowly. Then, deeeeeep breath. "Time and space guardian, right. You know what? Not even going to ask. Sorry about your gates, I'd offer to help but... I didn't do ship maintenance and so I doubt I'd be much use. But if you ever need someone to like. Throw magic swords at them or light them on fire or encase them in ice, I'm your guy," he said in a dry tone. Possibly joking. Possibly that was what you did with gates of time. He didn't know anymore.

He wasn't going to ask, either.

The books, however, made him stare in bewilderment and... ".... This isn't a place, right? Like, these books? Aren't an actual place?" Because THAT would alter even more fundamental laws off reality and he wasn't ready for that right now.

Still... he picked up one and... "Which... is the first?" Oh. Ohhhh that was a loaded question. "... Do you want to just sit and read for a while?"

Setsuna Meiou has posed:
Setsuna shakes her head, "It's only a place in the realms of imagination. It is a dream and a fantasy that inspired wonder and joy in millions of people. Written by a man who, since he once commented that 'A man is never truly dead so long as his name is spoken', after he passed, his fans took to keeping his name continually circulating around the internet so that he might always be remembered."

She looks through the books and pulls out the first book in the series, and points out that in the corner, they're helpfully numbered, "...don't take them seriously...they're all meant to be humorous and lighthearted allegories...with character such a a seven foot tall dwarf...or a librarian who, after having been turned into an orangutan in a magical accident refused to let them turn him back...because as an orangutan it was easier for him to shelve books and if he scratched himself in public nobody cared."

She hands over the first book, then nods, "That sounds like a wonderful idea."

She nods towards the next room, which is the entertainment room...whereupon she flops down on one end of the couch, and with a twist of her hand, drops a paperback that matches the set she gave in style...though her is obviously much more worn. The title on the cover is 'Guards! Guards!' And it has a picture of a draconic figure breathing fire.

She opens her book...and drops out her bookmark...which, at first glance seems to be a literal hole in reality within which floats a slightly glowing golden symbol for the planet Pluto.

In actuality, it's just a bookmark painted with vantablack and embroidered with gold thread...but...well...vantablack tends to make the human eye do funny things.