569/Inner Conflict: Blueprint

Inner Conflict: Blueprint
Date of Scene:	08 October 2023
Location:	Starlight View Mansion
Synopsis:	Strange happenings are occurring at Masato Sanjouin's mansion... And Darien and Usagi are just the ghostvestigators to solve it!
Cast of Characters:	Nephrite, Pyrite, Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino
Tinyplot:	Inner Conflict

---

Nephrite has posed:
    The Starlight View Mansion in a wooded section of Tokyo, perhaps even overlooking a certain Forgotten District that nonetheless can't be seen except as a curtain of fog, indistinct in where exactly it fits into the city (like the gray in the middle stratum of the ocean. The twilight zone). It has been getting rebuilt ever since an unidentified intruder invaded with a Dark Energy construct to steal data on Midnight Tokyo. While examining the damage, the basement where rituals are performed was revealed to have writing on the wall.

    It was writing that had been there before Maxwell Stanton bought this place on paper, and Masato Sanjouin began living here in reality, while doing the Dark Kingdom's work as Nephrite. 'Welcome home, Himeko' the writing had said. Nephrite still doesn't have an answer on why, when, or how it came to be. It was under the wallpaper. How long ago was it put there?

    So, dressed in a white windbreaker, loose white pants, and brown loafers, Masato Sanjouin stands out front, watching the reconstruction of his mansion with a scowl. He has one hand in his pocket, and the other holds a glass of scotch. It's fine, 16 is old enough in somne countries, it's fine. Also he might be a bit older than 16, he can't really remember much about his childhood and his human family isn't around to tell him.

    His height and muscle definition seems to suggest something to that effect anyway. But that is true of Darien Shields as well, so who even knows?

    The winds are strong today, the air is chilly up here on the forested hill, and dark clouds are moving quickly through the sky overhead. It's probably going to start raining any minute now.

    "Of course it will," Masato mutters into his glass while raising it to drink the whole thing in one shot.

    At least there's a road now. A road through the woods, making it even easier to find his mansion and get to it, when the entire point was to have a place to hide out where the Enemy wouldn't easily locate or reach him. Well, that ship has sailed long ago. That's why it's being rebuilt after all. Someone was able to find him.

    Feeling nothing from downing a glass of alcohol, thanks to the Dark Energy that purges the intoxicants from his system, just like it repairs his body when injured, he sighs and wonders if he should go inside for the bottle or just stay out here and wait for lightning to hit him.

    Sometimes he feels like he deserves to be struck down by lightning.

Pyrite has posed:
    Sugami Mishima is an engineer and designer for houses. She draws up blueprints and makes sure they are followed. It might be less time intensive on her part to just let the contractors do the work and trust that they'll follow the plan, but she treats each and every one of these projects as though they are personally important to her. As a result, a little piece of her is left behind in each house she helps build. Unfortunately, as she stands over the table, eyeglasses opaque from the angle she is leaning, her hard hat failing to keep her ponytail from whipping around, it appears she may be putting a bit too much of herself into this job. She is gripping the sides of the writing table hard, while people around her say that they aren't going to continue working in a rain storm, especially with the potential for lightning strikes, and all she can really do is just keep replying, "We're almost done. Don't you have any pride in your work?"
    Someone is very dedicated to her craft.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Darien Shields. Well, that's the name that Sugami Mishima has for the tall -- not as tall as Masato Sanjouin, but nearly -- individual that's approaching on the road, hand in hand with a short blonde girl with eight feet of hair, as they come up behind Sanjouin. He does, at least these days, remember his own life before the Dark Kingdom, scars and all.

"Masato-kun," Darien's voice travels cheerfully in the gathering rain. "The forecast didn't say anything about a storm, is it safe to go inside right now? Ah, is that Mishima-san?"

He's dressed in a black button-down shirt and jeans, a dark green blazer his only defense against the chilly air-- and he'd probably look sharp as a tack if he took the thing off, but it's comfortable and warm. He leans a little closer down to Usagi and says, quieter but no less cheerful, "It might be a little haunted, but if it is, it's probably only Hime-chan."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi Tsukino is the girl that poor Mishima-kun has no way of knowing, dressed in a loose, long-sleeved pink shirt with a thick, warm neckline tucked into dull, high-waisted green short-shorts. They're the same green as his blazer. True love truly is blind. She's a little chilly from the wind, but tucked up close to Mamoru anyway.

She shivers at the mention of hauntings and pouts, "Not funny! I mean - Himeko-chan is fine, but no one else, why would anyone want more ghosts in their house?"

If Himeko-chan hears, she'll have to apologize. But she means it. Ghosts and spooky stuff are NOT wanted.

Nephrite has posed:
    Masato turns half-way to look at the happy couple as they approach. Stormy blue eyes and furrowed brow soften a bit at the sight of them. Or perhaps just of Darien. "Darien." he greets with a nod. Then he glances towards the eight feet of hair holding hands with the young man, befoe raising an eyebrow at Darien as if to ask, 'Does she know who I am?' Either way, he smiles winningly, and says, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

    The greetings towards Mishima are a bit unexpected, but Darien is nice to just about everyone. Likewise for his girlfriend, as far as Masato knows. Good, they deserve each other, the sappy saps. "Apologies about the weather. I tried to schedule it for tomorrow but it had other things to do on Monday." he says dryly, before gesturing towards the front door. That thing that exists now.

Pyrite has posed:
    The other workers are quite frustrated and distressed about the prospect of being up on metal ladders in a thunderstorm, and the arrival of Darien and Usagi seems enough to break Sugami Mishima out of her trance. She raises her head, straightens up, and turns around to see who is greeting her. Her glasses are still opaque from the outside, as she looks neutrally over to Masato and his guests. After a moment, she realizes she wasn't actually being addressed, just her name being spoken. She adjusts her glasses and then heaves a sigh, as she says, "Fine. Pack it in. We'll resume first thing tomorrow at 6 a.m. sharp. You there, help me move this table."
    She is pointing at a mousey-looking young man who is also wearing eyeglasses and seems to simultaneously be standing off to the side and also staying nearby to Mishima. Like he doesn't want to be in arm's reach, but doesn't want to leave her out of his sight. "Ah... Yes." he says quietly, before rushing over to help move the drawing table and roll up the piles and piles of paper that are the designs for the mansion's new interior layout.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Sorry," says Darien to Usagi, sounding... well, a little sorry, anyway; at least he's not grinning at her reaction. He does squeeze her hand -- and then Masato's smiling at them (or maybe just him), and Darien's eyebrows lift. He gives a little shrug as if to say 'I didn't tell her, but she's very smart, so....'

He gives a crooked grin. "I wanted to show off the work being done on your house ahead of the party and everything. And honestly, you'd think by now the weather would listen to you--"

He glances over to Mishima again and looks thoughtful-- moreso at the guy who seems like he's uneasy in his skin. But they're headed indoors now, and Darien pushes his own glasses up as they pass, as if in solidarity -- except his aren't opaque at all. He gets enough of that from his roommate.

There are a multitude of things Darien doesn't say to Masato, but the one that actually falls out of his mouth is, "Aren't you cold without a shirt?" At least it's not giving him shit. Well it might be, but if it is, it sounds dreadfully earnest. "I mean it's like ten degrees out."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Darien hasn't told Usagi who Masato is; she's a little suspicious, assumes he probably has something to do with Obsidian, all things considered, but she's also not trying to find out. She's pretty sure he's the guy who ran Luna over, the guy who paid for Luna's treatment, and she should care more. She should care, so much more. But.

It's been a long time. Maybe not in time but in events, and Luna is better, and Darien is trying to give her a nice day, and she wants a nice day, because it's been a relentless downpour of stuff, and what if it's true, that other magical girls aren't always dealing with villains who hate them personally and want to kill them or burn them or think they should show their power or -

She should look into it. She should investigate, considering the dinosaur hostage situation, considering Rina-chan and her big brother Daisuke, considering Sailor Maybe-Uranus' real-but-not anger at her leadership and the way she'd been willing to risk the smallest chance that a kid could be killed if it protected them, but she's tired.

She wants to hang out with her boyfriend and he wants her to meet his friend and also see his cool house that's under construction, and those are both things very acceptable to her. If she doesn't have to see it or deal with it, then Elephant-san can consider himself resurrected, alive and well.

So that's what she's thinking, as she walks with Mamoru, as he greets Masato and the construction leader. The construction workers have the right idea, not wanting to be at work in all this wind, with a burgeoning storm on the way. She supports them, and is glad when Mishima-san apparently decides she does too, even if six in the morning sounds like an inauspicious time to be awake in her book.

"The weather disobedient, like that. Never listens when you think it should!" She would know - it rains whenever she hopes the forecast will be wrong. She walks through the front door without a care in the world - or at least, the appearance of having not a single care in all the world.

Nephrite has posed:
    The inside of the house is... Different. Possibly why Masato is so annoyed. Instead of opening up into a large living room/reception type area, there's a long hallway from the front door onwards, and various doorways, minus doors, on either side. "Don't go up any stairs you didn't go down originally." he warns, almost under his breath. "They don't lead anywhere." He turns to glare over his shoulder at Mishima, but is unlikely to even be noticed. He turns a blind corner that wasn't even visible due to how the hall is construction, producing the optical illusion that he just walked into the wall and vanished.

    His voice can still reach his guests either way. "Well, Darien, some things must be sacrificed for the sake of style." he replies loftily. The short hallway he is standing in now appears to be a dead-end. He waits for Darien and Usagi to catch up before taking his free hand from his pocket and pushing it against the wall in a certain place, causing it to swing open to reveal that living room area that used to be there before Nephrite's Shadow tore the house to pieces. Most of the furniture has been replaced, even if it's all covered in white sheets at the moment. "The lounge has to be reached by elevator now," he explains to Darien. "I have no idea what this architect is thinking, but I need the job done and she's the only one who can do so in the time limit I've put forth."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"This is... not..." Not right? No, Mamoru, it's not right at all. Not sane? As they go further in, the black-haired teenager's gradually getting that impression. His hand tightens a little on Usagi's, briefly, and he glances back behind them as if expecting to see blank wall at any time. "Noted," he says to the warning about the stairs, his voice lightweight and a little far away.

And then he vanishes into the wall-- okay, not quite, but Mamoru had been getting ready to put his hand up on it to check when it turned out, yes, it was just a very blind blind corner. Into an apparent dead end.

He has a politely baffled look on his face until the secret passage to the living room is opened, and then he's just silent, staring. Even as Masato explains, he's just--

"Isn't that a fire hazard? Only an elevator...? Maybe having the party at the Augusta wouldn't actually have been remiss."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The house they enter is. Bizarre. Unsettling. Wrong. The way the hallway stretches, and the mention of stairs that shouldn't be climed unless you descended first, and places only reachable by elevator -

"You're not the one who told them what you wanted?"

She always thought the owner was involved in the making of a house. Why would he take an architect who wouldn't give him what he wanted? She frowns, just thinking about it, because - yeah. Isn't this all a fire hazard? She's clutching Darien's hand, because she really wishes he hadn't told her the place was haunted now... she's getting a bad feeling about this.

The covered furniture is not helping. "You're going to have a party? Here?"

Nephrite has posed:
    He sighs heavily as Darien points out yet another problem that he has definitely gone over with the architect multiple times. "Again, only person who can get it done in time and is willing to drive all the way out here. Everyone else I have reached out to has had mechanical difficulties with their equipment, accidents among their crew, the usual 'oh, such and such saw a scary thing', and so on. It isn't even haunted -- don't believe what he says, Tsukino-san. I've been here two years so far and there's been no resident haunters during that time."

    He doesn't bother goign to the elevator, just plops down on a couch, making the white sheets covering it billow outwards from the shift in air inside and out. He puts his glass down on the floor and makes a mental note of its location. "Yes. A party. For Darien's younger sister. Himeko's birthday is at the end of the month, so we were going to have a big Halloween party for her birthday." He then gestures around loosely with his arms spread out across the back of the couch, as if to indicate the entire everything. "Whenever I have her change something, it just gets even more complicated. Hallways and stairs and secret passages... It's like she thinks she's building the Winchester Mystery House." There's a foreign reference for you. "I just want the the walls, floors, ceilings, plumbing, and wiring to be fixed. When the basics are there, I'll tell her it's done and have someone else fix the rest on a more limited contract."

    He reaches for his glass only to remember it's empty. He rubs the side of his forehead. "I have had such a headache ever since the building started."

Pyrite has posed:
    The secret door swings open again, and the young man from outside hesitantly says, "Knock knock." He has his hardhat in his hands. He has frizzy brown hair, perhaps similar to a mutual friend of Usagi's and Darien's. But he is also wearing glasses of the same style as Sugami Mishima. They're even opaque in the lighting, until he takes a step further into the room, revealing he has totally normal human eyes. With dark rings under them, but just normal human. "May I speak with you and your guests about something, Sanjouin-san?"
    There's a sound like something running from one end of the room to the other, but on the floor above. Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump above the ceiling. The young man flinches at it, but composes himself quickly. Like he's used to it at this point. "My name is Sanji Mishima."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Only the pokemon," says Mamoru -- Darien -- solemnly, when Masato says he hasn't had any haunters show up in the two years he'd been there. But he also shifts, moves around to behind Usagi without letting go her hand-- just wraps his arm around her instead. Nothing can sneak up on her like this.

"Sorry it's been such a nightmare, though, man. I had no idea it was this bad..." he starts, when the frizzy-haired guy comes in. Mamoru gives him a smile, friendly and light, and he blinks. "Oh, brother of the architect? Hello." Are you haunted? he does not ask.

Is it time yet, Himeko? Is it time for that yet? There are loops to close, still.

Usagi can maybe feel Mamoru drifting a little bit, somehow, on some level.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's no resident haunters he says, he's been living here two years, isn't he a little young for that? (He was young to drive too, wasn't - nope, not thinking of that, or about taunts about Luna, or chairs, or -)

"That's what everyone who lives in a haunted house says," she says lightly, and then jumps just a little when Darien moves behind her, only to immediately melt into him and laugh when he jokes about Pokemon. Yes! Something light and simple and silly and -

"Himeko-chan's birthday is coming up?" Ah!!!! She hasn't gotten her a present!! They still despite everything have not been able to see the ducks!!!! "Darikun, why didn't you warn meeeeee? At least I know now! I can get her a cute little present -"

Oh. Wait. Hey. What is that noise, chasing around upstairs? What are those thumps? Who is this exhausted looking guy?

Her bad feeling is getting worse. Her hand drifts to her purse, where her broach lurks.

Nephrite has posed:
    "Don't blame yourself." he waves off the apology. "It's not as though you offered to help me or anything." He smirks at Darien, knowing that his best friend did exactly that. Just twisting the wet cardboard knife a little before it disintegrates. He clearly has no ill will. "I feel like I would have noticed if I had a freeloader in the house." he replies to Usagi dryly. He starts to ask, "Where has Himeko been late--?" When there is a visitor. He sits up, following the sound of running with his eyes, until it ends, but not otherwise giving it attention. He is probably used to it now too.

    "Ah, not the brother, no. Mishima-san is Sanji-kun's mother. He is learning on the job from her." Then he focuses on Sanji instead of speaking as though he isn't in the room. That would be impolite. And one mustn't be impolite. Those are the rules. "Please, have a seat. What seems to be the problem?" Because he assumes it's definitely a problem.

    The rain has started outside and is rapidly becoming a deluge that patters against the plastic covering the window frames.

Pyrite has posed:
    Sanji doesn't get the chance to explain before Masato does it for him. He opened his mouth and then closed it. He bows his head and says, "I appreciate the offer, but I am fine standing." Then he fiddles with his hardhat a bit before looking around at the other three. "My name is Sanji Mishima." he repeats. Then he points off in the direction of that very long, stretched hallway. "And that person is not my mother." Lightning flashes outside, and thunder rumbles several seconds later. Yes, very dramatic, thank you, weather ghosts.
    He walks over, and unfolds one of the rolled up blueprints on the floor in the middle of the room. "I have been comparing my mother's blueprints to those That Person has drawn... My mother has always spoken of houses similarly to bodies. She treats them like people. 'This is the house's heart', for example, for a family room where everyone gathers: The source of life and light and laughter for a home. That Person does the same thing, but... Look."
    He sits back and points to the blueprints.

    They're not the outline of this mansion. They're the outline of a completely different place, with a pathway, and stairs leading up to an enclosed space, and then a single room on the other side. A straight passage, and then stairs, and then a square area in front of a single room. Over and over and over and over. They may connect in different ways, but it's the same sequence, repeated. Even each hallway and room and staircase, is composed of the same sequence of straight passage, stairs, open space, room.

    It's like one of those pictures of someone or something composed of smaller pictures of other people or things, but it's all just the one sequence.
    Straight path. Stairs going up. Open space. One room.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I didn't warn you because I forgot to warn you," Darien tells Usagi sheepishly; at the wet cardboard knife, he scrunches up his nose at Masato's smirk, but doesn't quite get to the point of sticking his tongue out -- after all, there's this kid here. He nods at the explanation as to Sanji's identity.

Uselessly, he looks at the tarp covering the window; even if it's moderately clear plastic, it's impossible to really see outside properly. He listens, instead, and isn't sure whether he's relieved or vaguely sad that he can teleport them back to the school later. This kind of rain is lovely to listen to with the lights off.

But: here's Sanji's explanation, and it's already a good one. Mamoru doesn't move away from Usagi, just being a presence for her, but his attention's suddenly sharp. 'Isn't her.' Repeated patterns. Straight path. Stairs going up. Open space--

"Not even Py-tan knows where Himeko is," he tells Masato in a low voice before returning his attention to Sanji. "When did it start? When did the plans change? Or was it like this from the start of this project?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She might be developing an instinct for this, because this is all bad news bears, and nothing she wants to hear about in a haunted house. Usagi's free hand clenches around her broach. The other clenches around Darien's.

A mother who isn't the mother. A house that isn't a house. Shouldn't someone have questioned this sooner?

"Is that your - not-mother upstairs?" Darien is asking some of the important questions. She'll ask the other pressing one, because, this space that isn't a home is being built by something else.

Nephrite has posed:
    Masato doesn't react the way he probably would under normal circumstances. He doesn't react the way he should, even. He frowns thoughtfully at what Darien says regarding Himeko's whereabouts but almost seems to not even be paying attention to the talk of what's going on with the house, and the architect, and so on. Well, let's take this into the other room. I want to show you the elevator." He gets up and moves to the next room.

    It's... A room full of chairs. Simply wooden chairs, like one would have around a kitchen table. There's also kitchen tables. Maybe this is part of the preparations for the party? Masato sighs and walks over to push the chairs in. "Someone keeps leaving them out..." he mutters. "It's a tripping hazard." Finally, he turns and faces his guests and Sanji, folds his arms, and says, "So what do you want me to do? Fire her?"

    Deffffinitely not acting like normal Masato right now.

    He reaches for his glass, remembers it's empty (and also on the table behind him, instead of on the floor where he left it), and ends the motion before it can complete.

    "I've left this all up to the professionals. I assumed they would tell me sooner than this if there was an issue." Because... The state of the house wasn't enough of an issue for him to say something before now.

Pyrite has posed:
    Sanji looks frazzled but tries to think back to 'when it started'. "Maybe... Two or three months ago? She left the house early one day, and then... That Person came back in her place. She kept up the facade for a while, but the disguise crumbled more and more each day, until... This." He gestures around, and puts his hardhad on when he moves to follow after Masato as per the invitation. He looks towards Usagi when she asks her question. He just looks scared, and tired, and shakes his head back and forth slowly.
    Then he looks back towards his employer and jumps as he tries to stifle a scream with one hand over his mouth. His eyes are wide behind his glasses.
    Behind Masato, all of the tables have the chairs stacked on them in little pyramids.
    It happened in the split second between when he was looking and when he stopped looking. He just points shakily behind Masato.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sanji-kun screams. Naturally, Usagi screams, even before she turns around to see what he's screaming at, and when she does see it - "No. No, we are leaving, right now. Masato-kun, this is not a place that people should be!"

This is a place she needs to drag Rei-chan and Wako-chan too, so Rei could envelop it in cleansing fire and her sutras and Wako-chan could blast it with purification bullets. Her hand is squeezing Darien's so hard it probably hurts. "Sanji-kun, can you give me your mom's phone number? I know someone who can probably help her."

No need to say it's a priestess! No need to share a name! Just give her the number, and she'll make a call, and then, then she'll get to meet with Mishima-san and they will fix this, so help her.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's a lot of screaming. Mamoru's ears hurt a little more than his hand, but yeah, yeah, it's feeling the pressure. "Okay. Listen. Masato-kun, you shouldn't be sleeping in here, please stay in that empty dorm room, I'll bring extra bedding over."

He holds up a finger. "I will come back here with Py-tan, and if she doesn't know who's doing this, we'll get it fixed. Sanji-san--"

He sighs through his teeth. "Do you want to pass out from fright and wake up someplace safe? Oh! Behind you!!"

He doesn't even look guilty. He henshins and steals Sanji's energy, letting go of Usagi briefly in order to catch the young man and hand him off to Masato. "Come on. We're out. Empty room. Now."

He's already magnet-glued back to Usagi and then he teleports.