1001/Languages and lemon cake

Languages and lemon cake
Date of Scene:	13 January 2024
Location:	The Shed
Synopsis:	Naru, Ami and Makoto discuss birthday cakes, New Year's presents, aliens and the history of language development. As one does.
Cast of Characters:	Naru Osaka, Ami Mizuno, Makoto Kino

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Naru Osaka has posed:
Ever since the big showdown at the Shrine.. and to some degree the much smaller show downs afterwards.. the Shed has been a whole lot quieter. There's not the same level of urgency and worry about what was coming. There's certainly threats still on the horizon, but a big chapter has closed.

Naru is in the Shed, a cup of coffee steaming on the desk that she usually worked at, as she sits at it, sorting through papers. Not every note needs to be kept, but a healthy chunk of things can be archived and filed and tidied up.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno hadn't been to the Shed since the incident either. The discussion she had with Usagi the prior day however had led her to wanting to explore a theory she had developed a bit further that involved not only the world in general, but many of the mahou that had come from other worlds. It's curiosity and a bit of a tip from Usagi herself that she ought to reach out to Naru that leads her here now.

Quickly ducking through the door she steps to the side to stamp a bit of snow off her boots rather than risk tramping it further inside. A somewhat puffy coat is worn to help ward off the cold further.

"Ah, Naru-chan! I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting," she calls over to the familiar 'ordinary' girl with a flashed smile. "How have you been?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto catches the door before it's quite fully closed in Ami's wake, ducking in and pulling it closed behind her before any more warm escapes. "You know," she comments, glancing around, "I can't tell if this place seems bigger or smaller without a ton of people crowded into it.

There's a beat before she turns an apologetic look toward Ami. "Sorry for chasing after you. I saw you headed this way so I thought I'd see if there was anything up that I might be able to help with. Hi, Naru-chan!" She lifts her hand in a little wave.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh I got here early." Naru looks over to Ami and smiles easily. "I knew I'd left my desk a bit of a mess before everything and figured this was an excuse to sit down and do it." She looks over as Makoto joins them as well and smiles. "Hey Mako. How're you doing?" She reaches over to set the paper she's holding onto one of the piles. Shred for it!

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno glances with a bit of surprise at the taller Makoto sneaking in behind her. It only earns a bit of a wider smile as she starts to slip out of her coat. Inside the Shed it was nice, and warm, and the windows showed a rather nice sunny day. It was completely not what was actually outside. This particular magic wasn't one she understood (yet) but it was one she rather enjoyed the effect of.

"Mako-chan, hello! I don't mind at all. I haven't seen you in a bit. I hope you're well, too?" The neatly folded jacket is placed on the back of one chair so it can dry from the bit of snow that had dampened it, and she unslings the bag she wore *under* the coat to protect it's precious contents. Namely a few notebooks, and a laptop. "I'd asked to meet with Naru-chan because Usagi-chan suggested it. She told me that you were keeping track of the various otherworld mahou that you're aware of? I have a theory I'd like to begin collecting data for that would require perhaps interviewing some of them."

A pause comes as the bluenette looks between the pair realizing that may need some context. "It's purely for my own research of course. There's nothing that pertains to an issue going on currently."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"I'm fine!" Makoto asserts cheerfully as she sheds her own coat. Once she's shaken it free of any clinging snow, she hangs it on the back of another chair and settles in, looking between Ami and Naru with bright, interested eyes.

"Oh," she says laughingly to Ami's explanation, "so this is going to be totally over my head then. Well, I'll try to keep up. You can always send me out for snacks if either of you start getting hungry."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I mean.. Usagi visits here too." Naru gestures over towards the mini fridge tucked in. "There's probably some drinks still in there, and there's a basket of snacks on the shelf." She gestures up. "Although nothing perishable." She pauses a moment. 'Hopefully we don't have any mice, now that I think about it. I'm not sure how that would work with the magic, to be honest."

Naru ooohs to Ami and she turns to sort through the notebooks on the desk. "Oh how interesting. I've been looking at various magical types and how they might interrelate. I don't have all of them, by any stretch, but there's a start at least."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Nonsense, Mako-chan! You're very smart in your own ways. Besides, this is just a theory so far," Ami admits as she moves to take a seat for herself setting up her equipment out of habit more than necessity at the moment. It would help for notes though if she felt the urge to take any.

"That's quite alright, I'm just beginning to work on this. It's a pet project after all." Looking between her friends she begins, "Let me explain breifly what my thoughts are, exactly."

"It's been noted that there are at least two known languages that we have on Earth that are extremely similar if not outright identical to languages that those from other worlds speak. Japanese being one, and German being the other." As was the case of her roommate Hannah. "The theory I'm starting to work on is... Well. I believe that perhaps Earth was influenced by the visitation of other off-worlders before the timeline reset that Queen Serenity set into motion that resulted in our inevitable reincarnation."

"It would explain it a bit, if there was some sort of remnant that had carried over which then influenced the evolution of Earth's languages in such a way as that they share similarities with those of other worlds."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Mako rests her elbows on the desk she's sat down at, propping her chin in her hands. Her eyebrows lift at Ami's explanation of her theory. "That would be pretty big, if that's what happened... wouldn't it? Although, I guess when we've already confirmed that aliens are definitely a thing..." She makes a brief wry face. "Maybe not so much."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Aliens are /so/ very a thing." Naru confirms with a nod and a little laugh to Makoto. "At one point, I was pretty sure that every exchange student at RHA was an alien. I think Adrien disproves that theory, but if he tells me that he's secretly from another planet.. well.. I won't actually be that surprised." She giggles softly.

"That's a really intersting theory." Naru hunhs softly as she flips open one of her notebook. "I mean.. it's very likely. Other than a couple interesting tidbits. We're in a seriously weird time. There used to be a lot fewer mahou in the city. Like when Inai-sensei was a magical girl, there was maybe ten. In all of Tokyo. So I wonder how much influence that few would have."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno smilese at Makoto with a nod of agreement. "Given we ourselves were aliens, that's quite the proof right there. Although I wonder if that still counts toward us since we were born here on Earth now?" Thoughts to consider later. It was hard to think of a 'soul' really but clearly there was some power in them that had been transfered even if their memories hadn't been, not entirely.

"Right? It's quite possible that we're all originally from another planet. Perhaps a species that was branching out and colonizing various worlds. For all of us to be from different planets," she points out gesturing toward herself, and Makoto. "Yet still have the same physiology. We were from the 'Silver Millenia' but what about before that? The history of our various worlds may have stretched farther back and not been originally from where we settled."

Ami pauses, taking a deep breath that she lets out slowly. "That's going to be even harder to prove though. If it's even at all possible. Much as I'd love to delve further into the possibilities, what I can reasonably look at investigating at the moment is the language similarities at least."

She has to nod thoughtfully at mention of the increase in magical girls as well with a thoughtful hum. "It does seem as if there's a strange convergence. I'm not certain why, but you are right that there's a great number of us now." Which just means more friends to fight alongside, right? Friends were good.

"Oh, right!" Speaking of friends, she had something. Ami twists to the side to dig into her bag again to sift through the contents. It was all neat and tidy but there was a bit more in her bag than usual. Two small boxes are pulled out to offer to Naru and Makoto.

"It's a bit late but I wanted to get you both New Years gifts. In your case, a bit of a New Year and birthday gift, Naru-chan." Looking a bit uncertain now she murmers, "I hope you both like them. I'm not very good at picking out gifts so I got Usagi-chans help."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"It's wild for it to have changed so fast. I mean... there's nearly that many Sailor senshi, just by ourselves." Makoto is looking thoughtful. "Makes me wonder if there's some reason we all started awakening now. Like, were we reborn on Earth before, but our magic just stayed dormant?"

When Ami brings out the boxes, Mako sits up, looking surprised and pleased in equal measure. "That's really sweet of you, Ami-chan," she says as she accepts the small box she's offered. "You totally didn't have to, but - thank you. And Happy New Year, even if it's late. Happy birthday to Naru-chan, too - I wish I'd known sooner, I'd have made cake. Maybe I will anyway." She grins at Naru over the desks.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Aww.. that's so sweet of you Ami!" Naru leaves off the theoretical for the very real present right here and right now. She digs into the small box, and extracts out the delicate little hair pins with pretty little blue flowers on them. "They are so cute! That's so thoughtful."

"I mean.. we should have belated cake." Naru comments to Makoto wiht a smile. "There's a trio of us with birthdays right together.. Kazuo, myself and Masoto are all within about 4 or 5 days."

Happy surprises aside, Naru settles to more thoughtful. "I mean.. they could have come from other planets and not actually had their magic anymore. That has precident here and now.. with some transfer students arriving to find their magic considerably different, or really deplete."

There's a little hunh. "I wonder if Pluto knows more about the past of it all." Naru muses.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno watches with a nervous little tension as Naru opens her gift. The mention of the others having birthdays as well earns a blink of surprise. "Oh! I wasn't aware about the boys also being around the same time. Should we throw a party for all of you? A bit late, but with all they've been through--" And put THEM through as well-- "Maybe something nice would help to acclimate then back into being, ah, not filled with evil energy?"

A smile is flashed toward Makoto as she adds, "Plus Mako-chan's cake is always delicious."

When the box is opened and Naru seems pleased, so does Ami. "I wanted to get something useful but pretty too. They're all different," she assures while turning to watch Makoto open hers as well.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto makes a high-pitched sound of delight when she gets the box open. "Ami-chan, these are so pretty!" She extends a careful fingertip to touch one of the rose hairpins. "Thank you so much. I'm going to have to figure out things to do with my hair that'll give me excuses to wear them." Looking up from the gift, she favors Ami with a brilliant smile.

It takes her a second or two to catch up to the subject of birthdays. "Saitou-kun too, huh? I didn't know that either... there will be cake for sure. Naru-chan, what's your favorite?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Yeah.. Kazuo is the 30th, I'm the first and then Neph's the 3rd." Naru switches between names for Masoto and Neph fairly interchangably wiht a little nod. She reaches up to tuck the hair pins into her simple hair style that just pulls back to the top part of her hait. The blue is super cute against the auburn colour of her hair.

"Lemon cake." Naru decides after a moment of thought at Makoto's question. "But honestly.. anything is lovely. I'm not sure what Kazuo or Neph's favourite is." She pauses a moment. "Nor do I know when Zoi, or Jadeite's birthday is. Mamoru is in the early summer, I think."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami Mizuno sits with her hands in her lap and back straight looking very, very happy at their reactions. It was nice seeing them both smile over the gift. "I'm glad you both like them," she remarks again only to tip her head to the side at the mention of the other two friends of Mamoru.

"Oh, that's easy enough to find out. They reapplied to join the school if I'm not mistaken?" Ami's already tapping away at her laptop with a studious expression. "It should be in their student files then. Easily enough found out. I just have to go through the student association web portal..." She trails off while the typing continues. What she was doing MIGHT not be completely legal? Or maybe she just knew of something that listed birthdays per month for students.

Only for her to come up short a moment later simply staring at the screen with a look of surprise. "It's unlisted. How odd."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Mako shrugs, not seeming especially concerned about the matter. "I'll try and bother Saitou-kun, but I kind of expect him to refuse to have an opinion about it... so lemon cake it is!" She sits back a little, cradling the box with her new hairpins in both hands and looking newly energized. She is possibly already running through lemon cake recipes in her head.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Hunh. Probably something to do with the oddness of well.." Naru gestures vaguely. "Everything."

Because that about covers it all, really. There's been a lot.

"Kazuo has opinions. He just generally keeps them to himself, but you can extract them eventually. Sort of."

Naru scoots a little closer to Ami as she goes exploring in the student records, watching over her shoulder a little. "How similar is your computer to Luna's?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Likely. It's possible it wasn't added yet as they're newer students, or maybe even their situations mean that they aren't aware of the exact date," Ami considers trying to come up with various possibilities. Though it was likely just the first guess she'd come up with. With the current break not much had been updated recently in the student newsletter, calendar and other items.

Naru's scooting draws her attention as well as the question with a smile. "I haven't really looked at Luna's, but likely they're very similar. It's Silver Millenia technology. Although," she admits with a sheepish smile, "This is just looking up information on the school portal. It's nothing like when I had to break into the network of the planes at the airport to force the auto pilot into working again."

Her opinion on cake? "I've never had lemon cake before but it sounds quite interesting. I'm sure he'll like it too."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Oh, I know," Makoto replies to Naru with a grin. "But you're also more patient than I am. Well, we'll see. Do you have feelings about icing? Maybe a glaze... nothing too heavy..."

Sorry, Ami and Naru. You've lost Mako to Cake Plans for the rest of the afternoon.