742/The Job Never Stops

The Job Never Stops
Date of Scene:	11 November 2023
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus halt patrol for a quick snack - and are joined by Cat Noir! Conversation gets underway, but before long, the trio are given a pair of unexpected visitors - Sailor Mars, in hot pursuit of a nekomata!
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Minako Aino, Adrien Agreste, Rei Hino, Pyrite

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Ah, the bane (or delight, depending) of every magical kid's night: patrol!

Sailor Moon has been on a few since her whacky adventure as a supervillain, but this one's the first that's been - calm. Even a little boring. The youma she'd found was easy to defeat, Moon Healing Escalation having cleansed it of the Dark Energy taint that had transformed a poor unhappy stray dog into a beastly creature chasing cars (and people) down the dark streets.

She's hopping across rooftops, figuring she'll make her way back to school, when she spots a streetfood vendor and hops down to snag a bite.

Come on, who can blame her? Hot, fresh tomorokoshi - grilled corn on the cob, flavored with miso, butter, and soy sauce - and this stand is happy to let her add sugar and chili flakes, for the perfect mix of sweet, spicy, salty, and savory. The four most important S's of flavor.

The shopkeeper gives her a suspicious look - fair, given that she's fully in henshin and thus probably looks inappropriately dressed - but takes her money, and hands over the snack.

"Thanks!"

Anyone passing by rooftop-wise will see the one and only Sailor Moon casually strolling down the street, snacking on roasted corn.

Minako Aino has posed:
"You know we've got a -lot- we need to talk about, right?" the voice of a certain fellow blonde speaks up beside Sailor Moon, another guardian on patrol but this partiular blonde wrapped in her orange and white outfit, save the red ribbon in her hair.

Patrol was so very different with Usagi compared to when she was patrolling as Sailor V...but it was nice to have the company, and the snacks were a nice touch.

"The stuff at school, the parade...your boyfriend..."

Alright, she might almost sound like Rei preparing to lecture but...at least she seems to be trying to be gentle as she spoke, pausing to stop and sip from her own hot chocolate.

Well, -Usagi- had stopped for a snack, why shouldn't she? Her suit didn't come with leggings to keep warm!

Adrien Agreste has posed:
"Oh that looks tasty!"

The voice comes from a figure perched on a lamp post is a darkly clad figure. The dark attire alone might strike fear into some unexpectedly, if not for the fact that... It's a cat boy. Or at least he has ears atop his blonde hair and the belt around his waist trails loose behind him like a tail.

He hadn't really had a chance to be out on patrol for a few nights or more given the recent incident with the Akuma, and Sailor Eclipse. Now that he'd had the chance to rest up from that experience, had the time to explain things to Naru, and was now properly hyped up on some espresso, he was out again trying to ensure things were safe from Evil Butterflies.

Cat Noir lifts a hand to waggle his clawed gloves at the pair below grinning brightly. "Hello, ladies! Having a good evening I hope?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You're not wrong," Sailor Moon says around a bite of corn, her words more than a little muffled because of it, "But I mean, at least the stuff at school, I really can't explain! There was a butterfly - an akuma, apparently, but it looked like a butterfly, and then the whole world was... weird. And my boyfriend got a bunch of people together to help fix it. There was even a catboy, if you'll believe it."

She doesn't know if Minako will believe it - heck, she doesn't know if she believes it.

"He wasn't as cute as my Darikun, though."

Alas, poor mysterious Cat Boy, doomed to be maligned by besotted girlfriends. At least he'll never know -

At the sudden voice, Sailor Moon nearly jumps out of those famous boots of hers, reflexively tightening her grip on the corn stick to avoid losing her treat. Her free hand presses to her chest, soothing her jumping heart.

"Oh - you know - just hanging out. Are you going to get a treat too? Pretty sure the vendor won't judge you for your outfit the way they were judging us!" Under her breath, for Minako's ears only, she whispers, "That's the catboy!"

Minako Aino has posed:
"I kinda believe it," Minako offers, shaking her head. "I mean, I think I actually -saw- the cat boy when you...y'know, turned Jupiter into an adorable plush toy-" she begins, a little shake of her head despite herself. "I mean...sure, but at least catboys aren't generally secret generals of the bad guys who..." she befkns only turn and whirl around. Protect Sailor Moo-...oh. Nevermind.

"I'm sure he was just jealous he couldn't pull off a skirt like we can," Minako offers, a little lazy nudge to Usagi before she tilts her head. "Uh...hi. Thanks for...your help last time?"

He never did actually introduce himself last time they met!

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir had been crouched atop the lamp post balancing rather well. As he's greeted, he hops up to stand properly. A step to the side is taken so that he suddenly *DROPS8 but his hands snag out to catch the overhanging arm of the lamp to swing up, and around, and finally flip down to his feet. A bit of showing off perhaps but he was rather acrobatic.

"Oh I'm sure I'd get a judgey look all my own! But a snack might not be a bad idea."

He doesn't immediately head over to that food vendor that they had already hit up though. Instead he takes a step forward, sweeping an arm in front of himself as he bows dramatically toward Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus.

"Glad to have been of help! Cat Noir, at your service." Smoothly rising from the bow he flashes a toothy grin again. "You know I don't often get to hit up the night vendors. I could really go for some yakitori. Being out patrolling really does require snacks."

Rei Hino has posed:
    Patrol. That thing that Sailor Mars totally does on the regular. For realsies. Okay, she has been doing it more since the splitting headache she had when the Spirit World got opened up for the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons, and she had no idea where to go or what to do about it. Also finding out that Usagi got possessed and she wasn't there to stop it. Thanks for keeping her updated, Minako!

    Now, she is actually putting in the time, instead of just relying on 'sensing' when something is wrong and doing something about it then, or spending hours meditating in front of the fire, trying to see what's coming ahead of time, when there are threats actively wandering around. Patrol is over though. Time to go home. She lands outside the shrine, sliding open the door, to make sure everything is okay there. Burning down the shrine through lack of dilligence would be a huge disgrace.

    Don't worry, she'll run into the rest of the patrollers-with-snacks momentarily. You'll see.

Pyrite has posed:
    The doors of the shrine slide open, and there is a cat standing on its hind legs, with two tails tipped with fire, and an upside-down tivet on its head being worn like a hat. The cat is in the process of stoking the shrine's fire, but looks at Sailor Mars in the doorway, and freezes with a bamboo pipe in its mouth, slowly releasing the last of the air in its lungs to make the flame bigger.
    The Gotoku neko stares.
    Then it slowly loosens its grip on its pipe out of pure shock, until the bamboo falls to the floor with a hollow *thunk*.
    A few seconds later, there is a nekomata running out of the shrine, fore legs pumping the way human arms do, looking cartoonishly ridiculous as it power walks away from the shrine, down the stairs, and out onto the street. Nope nope nope.
    Nekomata has officially noped out.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I wish someone had gotten a picture - there are a lot of pictures of Plushie Naru, and Naru-chan said I could call her cute, so I don't have to feel bad about that, but I was kind of evil when I saw Plushie Jupiter-chan..."

Alas, the memories of being evil have kinda tampered with the absolute adorable factor of that which she could have seen....

And then there was The catboy with them - "Cat Noir. You were there when -"

Ah, wait, there was just one little problem - eh. Ehhhh. "You were there when I got possessed by that butterfly. And you helped break it, right?"

What's a little identity reveal between people who saved you from being a toy-crazed version of yourself, right?

"We could probably find some yakitori somewhere on this street," she says casually, as if she hasn't dropped a bomb on them. She's going to suggest more, when there's - "Ah. Did we all see the two-tailed cat with the flaming tail?"

Minako Aino has posed:
"I technically hugged her," Minako offers, before she blinks as Sailor Moon just...outs herself to Cat Noir. Huh, okay.

A blink, a shrug, she looks Adrian up and down at his comment before laughing. "I mean, I'd offer to swap you but...I only dress like that on halloween!" Venus takes another sip of her beverage, seemingly amused by her own friendly jest before...well, she was just staring, a blink over the rim of her drink as the sudden Cat...thing comes running by.

"That's...not your sidekick or anything, is it?" she questions, pointing to Cat Noir and then the direction of the fire tailed thing running hilariously.

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir pauses to stare openly at Sailor Moon when she reveals her identity in that way. It takes a moment for things to click together in his mind. He was rather quick on the uptake, but he hadn't really expected an identity to be revealed so openly and right off the bat.

Rolling with it he lifts a hand with fingers snapping to point at Sailor Moon with a bright grin. "Ah! That kind of makes sense why you were so insistent with keeping Naru near you then! I met her awhile back when she was out on one of her morning jogs," he explains, grinning broadly.

The talk of outfits and swapping earns a playful little cat-paw swat at Sailor Venus. "Oh, ME-ow! You're a spicy one. I bet you pull it off *great* though!"

Then there's a cat going through with tails on fire. He pauses to stare as well with a quick shake of his head.

"Nope not mine. I totally saw that though. Think we should investigate? I'm going to go investigate. That's weird even by my standards."

Rei Hino has posed:
    Sailor Mars finds herself staring back at a bipedal cat with two tails stoking the sacred fire. She likewise remains frozen in place, as the bamboo pipe slooooowly slides from the youkai's paws. The sound of it hitting the floor is like a gong going off. Moments later, as the nekomata makes its escape, the Senshi of Fire yells, "HOLD IT!" and goes chasing after it. After making sure the bamboo pipe is rolled away from the fire so it won't catch flame if a spark lands on it.

    Because she is responsible darn it.

    Senshi speed and agility allow her to chase after the surprisingly fast cat youkai relatively quickly, so there's a red and white blur chasing the Gotoku neko after it passes by the patrollers. "I said stop!" Sailor Mars' voice can be heard yelling. Oh, boy. What a night.

Pyrite has posed:
    The Gotoku neko does not stop!
    It continues its high-speed power-walk away, because messing with someone so much more powerful than it is not in its agenda this evening!
    Oh, what a night indeed!
    It's going to be difficult to escape, given it has two signal flares trailing behind as it high-tails it (hah) away from the scary lady. It briefly turns its head to look at Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, and Cat Noir, and nopes even harder. Too many scary people! Why couldn't it have just been a human that came in!? A human would totally just accept it as a normal cat probably!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You helped save me," she says, simply, because she can see Cat Noir's surprise right there on his face. "Plus, this way, you always know how to find at least one Senshi."

It's worth it - plus, with Wako as a role model, and Naru as an ever present reminder, Usagi isn't too precious with her identity, not around people who have proven themselves. And Cat Noir had helped save her - and Naru. What else did she need?

Well. She did need a night without youkai. That would be nice. She should have thought about that, because there's -

"That's Mars! Chasing the... I really should spend more time researching youkai," this is a belated realization, but then Sailor Moon rolls up her metaphorical sleeves, takes a huge bite of her roasted corn, and starts chasing after the youkai and her fellow Senshi. "Hey! Hey! What's going on? Did you light that cat youkai on fire?"

Minako Aino has posed:
For her part, the amount of people that knew who Sailor V and/or Sailor Venus was was...well, pretty much only the Senshi themselves, though working back from Usagi might make it a little easier.

Oh! There -was- Mars!

Minako took off in a run, tossing her cup towards the nearest trashcan with suprising accuracy before she rushes after Rei and Sailor Moon asks that question. "Sailor Moon! Mars wouldn't just set a yokai on fire and let it run around!...right?"

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir reaches behind himself to pull the small staff at his back free. It flicks out longer with a gesture so that he can tamp it against the ground using it to pole vault along after the others. They *were* quick, and there *was* a headstart on Sailor Mars and the Youkai. He launches through the air to land running beside Sailor Moon starting to run himself properly.

"I'm not really up on my youkai, but... Wasn't there a character like this in that one anime about the dog boy and the future girl? I think it was always on fire."

"I mean, to be fair, cats *do* like heat. Though I'll refrain from setting myself on fire, I'm more a 'hot cocoa and blanket' kind of cat."

Rei Hino has posed:
    Sailor Mars barely glances over at Sailor Moon as she snaps, "Of course not! It was already on fire! I mean, it's some kind of monster obviously!" Then she does a double-take. "What is that? Is that corn? You're running after a monster, with roasted corn?" Oh my god, Senshi were a mistake. Then there's Venus too. At least Venus isn't running with corn.

    "That's a youkai!? Didn't you bottle them all back up on their side!?! Wait, was that butterfly thing a youkai too!?!" She sighs as she just starts keeping pace with the nekomata, since it is definitely nor faster than a magical girl. She watches it scamper desperately away.

    "What an absolutely ridiculous creature." she mutters. Then there's Cat Noir, and she stares at him with her violet eyes for a few seconds. "...Please tell me you aren't a youkai too." Then she sighs again. She has found herself sighing a lot since becoming Sailor Mars.

    "It was in th--In a shrine. Messing with the fire. Stoking it with a bamboo pipe? It took off when it saw me. I have no idea if it's dangerous or not, but I'm not going to let youkai mess with shrines." She mutters under her breath as she picks up the pace something like, It's bad enough with the Dark Kingdom doing it.

    Then just adjusts her speed to be running alongside the youkai. "Hey! What were you doing in the Hikawa Shrine? There are other places you can stay warm!"

Pyrite has posed:
    The youkai is power-walking for its life. Then it realizes it's being chased! Oh, man. It's getting tired already! How can anyone be so fast!? Oh my gosh then it double-takes when it realizes the first scary lady is right next to it.
    Trying to explain itself, the Gotoku Neko says, "Mreehh mreehh mauuuu rrehh mrooow!" Very eloquent.
    You're questioning a cat, Sailor Mars. What did you expect.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Well, okay, Mars-chan wouldn't let it get away on purpose - but Rei-chan is already explaining, and Sailor Moon is slightly suspicious, but she's going to let it go - "We were getting a snack! Patrols are tough work, okay, no one can blame us for getting something to eat."

Us she says, despite being the only person with corn. She is happily throwing everyone under the bus.

Cat Noir polevaulted to join them, and Sailor Moon is pretty impressed, honest.

"Okay, so, the butterfly was not a youkai, it was just, y'know, evil and stuff, but youma usually try to fight, so I have to guess this is a youkai instead, and I uh, I don't think it can talk. And Luna isn't here to translate for us. So... "

How do they interrogate a youkai that can't speak?

Minako Aino has posed:
"Where are Luna and Artemis when you need them?" Venus speaks aloud as they continue to chase, Senshi making their way towards the fleeing cat thing.

"Did it try to burn down the shrine?" she calls to Rei even as she draws level. She might be assuming the worst but...

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir tips his head one way then the other for a moment as he nearly skips a step not intending to really hear it speak, even in meows. It was definitely a youkai. "No, the butterfly was an Akuma, not... It's controlled by someone, not a youkai though," he opts to explain breifly, and quickly.

As for what the fire-tailed youkai could possibly be saying? He blurts out, "It's sorry for trespassing at the shrine, but it needs to collect fire for it's sixteen kittens that are shivering in the cold. The shrine was the only place with an open flame around. It was just going to gather some and head home. It offers it's deepest apologies," he continues non-chalantly.

Rei Hino has posed:
    Mars sputters at the questions, turning a bit red as she realizes she may have overreacted. "Well, no! But it was in there, and... You know, it's a sacred fire! I'm sure the miko of the shrine takes its protection very seriously and doesn't appreciate youkai wandering in whenever they please! Also, she is probably as wise as she is beautiful and graceful, and it would be completely insulting to suspect of her setting a cat on fire if she were in a position to do so!"

    Then she looks down at the youkai again as it makes cat noises at her. Oh, boy. What now? Sailor Mars is increasingly feeling like maybe chasing it is just, kind of... Pointless? Like, it hasn't hurt anyone. But it could! But also, like, just setting a random creature on fire doesn't sit well with her. Maybe Sailor Moon is okay with disintegrating youma ladies unprovoked, like at the Sensoji Temple, but Sailor Mars is, perhaps surprisingly, a bit more discerning in who and what she turns to ashes.

    "Look, can you just... I don't know. Uh... Ask permission first before enter--No, you can't speak. Um... I think there's an animal shelter, if you can turn into a normal cat. Just don't start any fires?"

    ????????

    Then Cat Noir starts translating from nekomata, and it's the second time tonight that Rei does a double-take. "I guess you have cat powers so you can understand it or something?" she ventures cautiously, not sure she wants to know the answer actually.

    The butterfly-and-akuma-connection thing is a headache for another time, she just assigns that to the 'This is fine' box in her mind for now.

Pyrite has posed:
    The nekomata looks back at Cat Noir as he translates for it. Does it understand after all? No, it just turns on a dime and starts power-walking in the opposite direction, and then taking a hard left, as it makes for the alleyway behind a store that makes amazing rice balls with tuna in them--I mean... 'Jelly donuts'.
    It does not want to catch hands from all these people what have hands! Because it has no hands to catch them with!

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon listens to the translation in silence. She is pretty sure that Cat Noir is making that translation up, but she's not going to tell Rei-chan that. Nope. She's just going to take another bite of corn, sweet-salty-savory kernals bursting under her teeth, and chew slow and calm.

When the youkai starts walking away, she considers it, then says, slow, "I think we should forget we saw that. It's got kittens to feed, right?"

Not the most heroic sentiments, but are they really going to chase a cat around all night?

"We were talking about yakitori before you got here, Mars-chan."

Adrien Agreste has posed:
When the nekomata looks his way, Cat Noir just gives a quick wink toward the creature. I mean, really, it wasn't doing anything other than power walking away. Not even flat out running. It was like a tubby old uncle trying to race somewhere while refusing to do anything remotely excersize-like.

Sailor Mars' question earns a bright, cheeky grin from him. "Oh, no, I have no idea what it's really saying. I just felt like the chase needed a bit of plot given the situation."

Rei Hino has posed:
    Sailor Mars is leaning towards Sailor Moon's suggestion, and then Cat Noir reveals he was fooling all along. Ugh. Boys! She rolls her eyes as she slows her roll until she just... Comes to a stop in the middle of the street, and watches the funny feline scurry off. "Okay, sure." she admits after several seconds of standing there with her hands on her hips. "Let's get yakiniku and forget this ever happened."

    She pinches the bridge of her nose as she closes her eyes and just shakes her head slowly. "So what's this about akuma? Is that a third type of monster now, alongside youma and youkai? Are they all butterflies or just some?" She is so tired. She is probably just going to get her food and go home to sleep. And she should probably ward the shrine just in case something more dangerous than the nekomata comes by.

    Enjoy your 'jelly donuts', strange cat thing, and live your best life.

    "I'm Sailor Mars. Who were you again?" she asks the faux cat translator.

Pyrite has posed:
    Gotoku Neko enjoys the discarded rice balls in the trash and lives their best life. At least until someone figures out how to send all the youkai back home. What a scary experience!

Adrien Agreste has posed:
Cat Noir slows down to a stop once the 'chase' seems to end, letting out a sigh. Much better. "Sorry, I can't resist a joke now and then." The topic of Akuma though? He glances over to Sailor Moon, then back to Sailor Mars thoughtfully.

"The short version is there's another individual with a Miraculous--Ah, that's what lets me transform--And his power is to create Akuma, whihc bestows temporary powers on others. Hawkmoth uses it for his own purposes though. He stole it years ago from it's original owner. So they don't just appear randomly, he creates them and sends them out."

It seems he may say more but a little beeping noise comes causing him to wince a bit. "Ah, that's my alarm. I've got to get back before anyone notices I'm gone."

A quick grin comes only to lift two fingers to tap to his forehead in salute. "A pleasure meeting you lovely ladies tonight. I'll have to snag some yakitori another time."