1022/I Always See It

I Always See It
Date of Scene:	19 January 2024
Location:	Juuban Ward
Synopsis:	Before Christmas, while the Gates of Time are still an essential shelter, Princess Serenity and Sailor Neptune finally speak. Hope is alive and well, but the Silence lurks.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Michiru Kaiou

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's late evening, the cloudless sky above dark - Tokyo's light pollution too strong for all but the strongest stars to be seen, and the moon is but a thin sliver in the sky.

Serenity hasn't returned to herself - or rather, she is more the self she remembers in this form and less the modern girl she is now. Between her white dress, long white hair, and the faint, delicately moonglow of her skin, sat high atop a skyscraper, she could be a replacement for the moon high in the sky.

A faint, pale reflection of that light. The Silver Crystal is set in the Moon Stick, clutched carefully in one hand. Her eyes, a deep blue as fathomless as space, are distant, barely taking in the city.

Honestly, she's just asking to be snuck up on.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Sailor Neptune wasn't at Soryuu Shrine when Serenity emerged from the magic hiding her away, so she wasn't impacted in quite the same way as her roommates. She wasn't ridden by her past self like Uranus, nor was she bound by oaths sworn early on in an eons-long life like Pluto. She lived in a world full of ambiguity and possibility. She saw visions of futures that might come to pass, so that she could work to make sure that they did not. So, while it was quite a surprise to learn that Sailor Moon was Princess Serenity, Neptune adjusted to that reality with ease.

But as it got closer to Christmas, she started to feel an urgent need to finally see Serenity with her own eyes. To re-meet her without the magic interfering. To see if that strange feeling she always felt around Sailor Moon feels different now that she knows just who the girl is.

Normal girls would text each other, but these girls aren't normal. Besides, text messages are vulnerable to interception, and Uranus was worried about counter-attacks. So Neptune relied on something much less precise, but much more secure: her intuition. She spent the afternoon at her penthouse apartment, trying to pick a few more pieces of her older art to take home, and as evening fell she went up onto the roof of her building to look up at the sky.

And that's when she saw her, glowing against the dark night sky, just a few buildings away. A quick henshin later, and Neptune was bounding from rooftop to rooftop to join her princess.

She's not particularly sneaky about it. Serenity might even see her coming, if she's not lost in thought that is.

"You know, it's an even better view on top of Clover Tower," she says, as she sets down next to Serenity.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Serenity does see her coming - or maybe it's just that she feels her coming, knows she's coming. Never mind that she was never granted the opportunity to be particularly close to Neptune - there's still something there, something that binds them, that simply knows when Neptune draws near.

It leads Serenity to lift her head, shifting herself position from draped against one propped knee to more neatly, delicately presenting herself, a certain regal presence that Usagi Tsukino alone had never possessed.

She smiles when she sees Neptune, a smaller, far less playful than Usagi's, but nonetheless honest or pleased. "I'm sure it is, but it seems such a romantic place. It wouldn't feel right to go there alone, with my unhappy thoughts."

She doesn't have to gesture for Neptune to join her - Neptune already is. Serenity shifts, turning to face her, and the mark of the moon shines golden against her pale skin, the darkness of the night and the light below makes the shine of the skin and hair all the brighter.

"I'm glad to see you, Neptune. Michiru."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
She was looking at Serenity the whole time she approached, and yet when the princess turns to face her Neptune is still struck by her radiant beauty. Her mouth drops open just a little for just a moment as she inhales and then catches herself.

Neptune smiles and bows her head. "I am overjoyed to see you, Princess. I..." She pauses and then looks up, smiling. "I have so much hope, now." Even if she still dreams about apocalypses every night. "We really are going to do things differently this time."

She looks out over the city lights. One of the many reasons to hang out in tall places: it's pretty. And then she giggles. "I'm glad it turned out to be you, Usagi." Even if she couldn't believe it could possibly be right up until she knew it was.

She looks back to Serenity and smiles, "You make us all better."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's a moment of mutual appreciation - Serenity looking over the Outer Senshi, the guardian she had so rarely ever encountered, and Neptune taking her first proper look at her princess reborn - and then Serenity's smile widens further, becoming a purely pleased, delighted expression.

"I do too. The world is so - different. Such a different place. The people are different. We are different... and that might be what we need, you know?"

Everything is different, they're different, the situation is different - so much is the same, but different. Nothing has to be how it was.

A flush crosses her skin, embarrassed. "It feels really obvious, now, but - is it weird to say I'm glad too? I would have been happy for anyone, but - I'm glad I remember now, what it was like."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
Sailor Neptune smiles and shakes her head. "No, that's not weird at all. Of course you're glad you turned out to be you. I remember what it felt like for me, when I remembered everything," she says, and then pauses. "Well, what felt like everything, anyway. I didn't realize I had more to remember yet. The Queen's magic was very powerful."

She looks back out over the city. "But I think deep down, we all could feel our true bonds. As much as we all thought you foolish, we three still listened to you. We still followed your lead in the end." She looks back to Serenity and laughs. "We're a stubborn lot, us Outer Senshi. You managed to guide us to the right path anyway."

She giggles. "That's the first thought that came into my mind when Uranus and Pluto told me. I said no wonder we listened to you."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Poor Luna - she genuinely thought I was one of the Senshi. I think... she remembered more, once she knew, and she thinks she might have, at some point, chosen to forget, so she could gather the Senshi without treating any of us differently, and help us without letting the Enemy know I'd been found."

Poor Luna - she'd been such a good, good friend, through all of this, to herself and her mother.

The mention of the Queen makes her smile fade, just slightly, grief filling her eyes. "My mother... she must have wanted to be absolutely sure no one could find me, or the Phantom Silver Crystal, before we were ready to defend it."

Ready to defend her, which she can't quite deal with.

But she smiles, at Neptune's amusement - "I was so frustrated with you all. I understand a little better now, I think. And you listened, when I asked. You followed me, even though you disgareed. Thank you, for that."

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
"Deep down, we all knew you were right. It's just not always easy to listen to those better voices," Neptune says with a smile. "So it's good that yours is a persistent one."

She looks out over the city in silence while she considers her next words. After a minute, maybe two, she breaks her silence. "The last time we talked, you asked me what it is I'm doing. Aside from fighting the random youma we all deal with, I've been having dreams." Beat. "I've been having the same dream every night since I awakened as Neptune."

She looks back to Serenity. "I told you about this when we first met. But the dream has changed over time. It's getting more clear. More detailed." She frowns. "I think it's getting closer."

"I always see it. The destruction. All of Tokyo, just piles of rubble. But now I see her. This shadowy woman whose face I can't quite make out. But she has the Silence Glaive in her hands," she says, her voice flat, as if she's just describing any old dream and not an apocalyptic vision of the future.

"I was there. I saw what happened to those two girls. Do you remember what I told you in September about Firefly? I'm worried that's somehow her in my vision. I'm worried I'm right about who she really is, and that, well..." She shakes her head.

It's bad.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"It's easy to want - an easy solution," Serenity agrees, "I'm glad you listened to me then, even if - I understand better, Uranus' anger, that night. Pluto - Suna-san - she told me, after, why she was so driven, and I... I understand even more now."

And yet, as Neptune looks out, as she speaks of her dreams, the hair rises on the back of her neck. Fear, and the knowledge that Neptune speaks the truth - that she speaks of what may come - cause the hair to rise on the back of her neck.

"Who is she, Neptune? Pluto... she once mentioned that as there are four Inner Senshi, there are four Outer. Do you truly believe she's one of our own? Wouldn't that make her our ally, not our foe to fear?"

Could one of their own truly be destruction, the end of it all?

And yet.

The Silence Glaive.

The mere name strikes her still.

Michiru Kaiou has posed:
"I don't remember much about Saturn. She was almost more a rumor than a princess like the rest of us. Her power was so great, so dangerous, that she slept. As the rumor went, if she were to awaken, that would be the end," Neptune says, her voice low, and eyes looking out over the city lights.

"I've felt the same feeling from Firefly that I felt from you and all the other senshi I've met. That same familiarity. But there's something wrong with her, Princess. She emanates dark energy. When I encountered her in September, that glaive of hers was talking about dark energy levels being too high before that boy showed up," she says, and then looks back to Serenity.

"I think Obsidian's done something to her and put something dark where it shouldn't be. Where it mustn't be. But I don't know what or how or what we can even do about it," she says. "But that girl has a glaive that uses the word Silence in its attacks. If she's Saturn, she must not awaken."