644/Tower Talk

Tower Talk
Date of Scene:	25 October 2023
Location:	Clover Tower
Synopsis:	Haruka and Michiru have some alone time to try and process all that has happened, and all that seems prepared to happen.
Cast of Characters:	Haruka Tenoh, Michiru Kaiou

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Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka and Michiru were out together, just the two of them. Setsuna had Chrono and Rashmi over to watch a movie. And Haruka was pretty sure it was going to be some super-nerdy affair. So she'd stolen Michiru (probably not physically, but who knows) and taken one of the cars out to the large tower. She'd wanted to talk to her, but somewhere away from... pretty much everyone, just the two of them. This Tuesday night was not exactly prime tourist time, and while the shops below Clover Tower were busy, the crowds lessened as you went inside and took the elevator up to the top. Generally, the last floor of the elevator stopped at the enclosed viewing tower, but Haruka, being a truly awful juvinile delinquent, knew how to get it to go up one more floor, to the flat top of the tower using a button shortcut maintenance used. So instead of the enclosed viewing pad with the restraunt within the building, it opened onto the clover-painted flat tower top. Here you could really feel the wind. And it was not a great place to be if you were scared of heights.

    Haruka was wearing a long, flowing dress, with a leather vest, and a scarf tied at her neck - which just gave the wind more parts of her to catch and make flow dramatically, along with the way it kept her hair juuuuust slightly out of place, like the wind itself was aligned with Haruka to make her look more extra. Really, it probably was.

    Haruka put her arm around Michiru's shoulders. "You know, being up here feels slightly less crazy, knowing what I know now. Probably less dangerous, too." she says. "I used to sit up here, on the edge, when I didn't want to drive but I still wanted to hear the wind - when I wanted to be close to the sky. I haven't come back here for a little bit, though." she explains.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
No theft was necessary. Haruka said she wanted to get out of the house alone to talk, and Michiru was ready to go minutes later. She was a busy young woman, but she would always make time for her prince. She preferred depths to heights, but with Haruka to cling to, she was comfortable standing there atop Clover Tower. So long as they didn't get too close to the edge. She was dressed in a flowy cerulean maxi dress that billowed and flapped in the wind, just like her hair, just like the choppy waves of the sea.

Michiru leaned in to Haruka, one arm wrapped around the blonde's waist as her head rests against her shoulder. "I can't say as though I've ever been up here," she admits. "I've eaten at the restaurant, but I'd have never even thought to sneak up here." She looks up at her then and giggles. "You're a bad influence, my prince."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka laughs. "Well, you're so prim and proper that if I didn't influence you a little bit, soon you'd realize what a bad idea being with me is. Gotta keep you taking on at least some bad ideas." she teases Michiru back. And holds her close. "My life has changed so much for the better in these last few months. Sometimes I'm afraid I'll wake up." she says.

    "I went from living in misery to living in joy. If I had known I could have enjoyed life so much at the small cost of being a warrior for good, Destiny probably could have pulled me into this a long time ago." she says. The wind must be following Haruka's lead again, since it was mostly calm, now. Which leant the night just the hint of crispness without an uncomfortable cold, even up here.

    "I had things I was going to say but whenever I look at you, a lot of my worries and concerns just melt away."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru laughs lightly and shakes her head just a little as she looks up at Haruka. "I'm not ever going to realize what a bad idea being with you is, Haru-chan," she says, only just a little sternly. "Because it isn't a bad idea. It isn't a good idea. It isn't an idea, it's who we are: wind and sea, eternally entangled in our endless dance." She turns her eyes back down and presses her cheek to Haruka's shoulder again, hugging her tightly.

She just stands there for a few minutes, losing herself to her senses. Feeling the warmth of Haruka as she presses in closely. Smelling the scent of Haruka with every breath. Hearing Haruka's heartbeat in her chest. She takes a deep breath and lets out a content sigh.

"I imagine you wanted to talk about things you remember. Things you've learned about yourself. This is the first time we've truly had a moment alone since you woke up," she says gently.

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka nods. "I'm still trying to sort it out in my head. I thought by now it would be all... sensible. That I'd accept the whole past-life thing. But it still feels really distinct. Sailor Moon said it's not like that for her, they're just memories." she sighs, and soothes her anxiety over this by running her fingers through Michiru's hair. "I feel like of the three of us I'm the one who gets it the least. I know I'm Sailor Uranus. I know my duty. I know how to draw a sword out of magical not-quite-thin-air."

    "I know..." she pauses and looks up at the moon. "...that we lost. And I know Sailor Uranus - me - I don't feel like it was really our fault. So I feel angry about it." she says.

    "But I also don't like the idea that there are other magical girls out there, that are... our teammates, our allies... and this feeling from long ago feels like it dictates my interactions with them more than anything I have experienced personally." she says.

    "Sometimes the only thing in the universe I -am- sure about... is you." She pauses. Maybe getting too serious is grating on her. "Okay you and things that are loud and go really fast. And then nothing else."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru's eyes lid and she nuzzles her head into Haruka's fingers, encouraging more pets. "Patience has never been your strong suit," Michiru says with a laugh. "And you've always been stubborn as hell. your past is stubbornly refusing to let go and give way to your present, while you are here understandably impatient to be whole," she says, suddenly serious, but gentle, empathetic.

She nuzzles her head against Haruka's hand again.

"It's different this time, my prince. We're not flung out to the far reaches. We're not alone. We have each other. We have Setsuna. And we have Usagi and the others. It's good that it's different because maybe that's what will let us win this time," she says, getting just a little bit more impassioned as she goes.

"We're stronger together, than we are apart."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka nods. "I'm not saying I prefer it the way it... was." she says, the word 'was' being said like she was unsure about its accuracy. "I remember a lot of loneliness, and I really prefer feeling you cuddled against me."

    "I don't know if we have Sailor Moon and the others." She says. It's not that she ddin't know Sailor Moon's name - the girl gave the whole thing to her. But she didn't need, in her mind, Usagi Tsukino's help. But Sailor Moon's. "I don't know if the rift between us is big enough. Didn't you go and talk to her? I'm assuming it didn't go a whole lot better than my time did, since you didn't bring it up after." she says.

    "Maybe you're right, maybe it's just my impatience. I just hope the situations we're going to need to be ready to face are as patient as our ability to unite."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Michiru lifts her head up and turns away just a little, so that they're standing side-by-side. She looks out over the city from their vantage point, an speaks. "I saw her after we three had our conversation, so I figured she'd like what I had to say," Michiru says, but then she just stops and shakes her head.

"She's overwhelmed, Haruka," she says, turning to look up at the blonde. "She's supposed to be searching for the princess, searching for the Silver Crystal, and then there's these rifles that shoot souls out of people, and the Midnight Tokyo Project--has Setsuna told you about that?--and she's just trying to shoulder all of this."

She sighs and looks back out at the city, silent for a minute. "The whole inner outer division doesn't make any sense any more. With the strange magical things going on here in Tokyo, with all of these different apocalypses converging together. The threats are both inside and from outside our solar system, in a way."

She looks back to Haruka, "If you really want us to be able to unite, then you have to be just as willing to move as you expect her to be. I think we could offer our help, keep our lectures to ourselves, and build some rapport that way. The poor girl is going to burn herself out, I swear."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka shakes her head. "Setsuna hasn't mentioned any project. Honestly, she's not the only who's overwhelmed. I figured you two ladies would just point me at stuff and I'd crack it." she says, laughing softly. "I guess it's not fair to put the mental effort on you two, though. But I can't even sort myself out yet, so maybe I should just be doing that for a little bit." She shrugs, then looks out at the city with her beloved.

    "Did it ever really make any sense? It's one thing for us to have different jobs, but we're all on the same side, right? Even if we don't see things the same, we're all just doing the best we can, in the way we think is right. But none of us are... threatening this world. And there are things that are." she says. "And I really to believe all that. But maybe as long as I'm being so stubborn at myself... I shouldn't be relied on to be the peacemaker."

    "I don't want to be cold to her, or to anyone on our side. It's not helpful and I know that. Even if we're stronger, that doesn't matter. We still can't do it alone. See, I know all of that."

    "And yet I keep being snippy, because of something from a lifetime ago. That I'm sure she didn't intend to do anyways."

    She reaches out and grips Michiru's hand and squeezes it tightly. "It's a good thing I have you and Setsuna. If it's this much trouble with you by my side I'd be totally screwed trying to do it alone." Another squeeze. "Thank you for... being you. Which is a silly thing to thank you for, I guess." she admits. "But you know you're more precious to me than anything, right?"

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
"I do, but I'll never tire of hearing you say it, my prince," Michiru says. She turns and takes a step so that she's facing Haruka, one hand holding hers, but the other coming up to lightly caress Haruka's cheek. "Let me be your lighthouse while you navigate these stormy seas, my love." Then she pushes up on her tippy toes to press a kiss to Haruka's lips. It's brief before she lowers herself back down.

Her hand rests on Haruka's shoulder and she looks up at her eyes. "The Midnight Tokyo Project is not an immediate concern. Setsuna's researching it, but she's sure they're in the early stages. What they want to do is plunge the entire city into the Dusk Zone," she explains. She lets that just linger there for a moment. "But, the more pressing matter is these rifles that shoot souls out of people."

She gets a mischievous look on her face. Haruka knows it all to well. "I think we should go hunting. That'll help you sort yourself out."

Haruka Tenoh has posed:
Haruka presses her lips back agaisnt Michiru's - but they're gone as soon as they were there - but at least Michiru could tell Haruka was looking for more. "No matter how dark the world is I can always see your light in it." she replies.

    "None of that is good, though." she says. "I'll take on whatever you think is the greater danger, for sure. But I would really want to know more about that Project, too. Rifles are one thing - one bad thing - but the whole of tokyo being under threat sounds like it could be the sort of thing that costs us the war, not the battle." she says. And maybe that's some of Sailor Uranus' energy there; the one thinking about what was a battle versus a war.

    Haruka laughs. "I mean... maybe." she says. "But you know, I think... I already found what I was hunting for, for so long." she says, sliding behind Michiru and putting her arms around the slightly smaller girl to pull her back against Haruka's front. "But we can go hunting in a little bit. I just want to spend a little bit more time up here with you." she whispers. "Nobody else, nothing else, just us for a few more minutes."