1680/But This Isn't Even A Date!!!

But This Isn't Even A Date		!
Date of Scene:	19 June 2024
Location:	Fairy Drop Fashion
Synopsis:	Usagi and Makoto are shopping at Fairy Drop when a most horrific monster makes it's debut... from the depths of fashion don't rises the abomniable JIMONO.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Makoto Kino

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Fairy Drop fashion is one of those stores that Usagi browses every now and then, because they really do make unique designs that are super cute... but only every so often, because like most teenagers she prefers the wide array of options that is the mall.

Still, she and Makoto haven't had time to hang out one on one for a little while, especially with everything that had been going on, so of course she'd snatched the chance to go shopping together after school! It's a hot June day, so they've each got a can of juice (Usagi had not resisted a Sailor V-themed can with mango flavored soda) as they browse.

"This is going to be great, see, they have all these super cute patterns, and they do make a good amount of stuff for tall people, but," and she lowers her voice to a whisper that is really barely a whisper, but no one is paying attention to her anyway, so, "With your pen, it doesn't even matter because it's all going to be perfect for you!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto wouldn't have turned down a shopping outing regardless - bargain-hunting and window-shopping are both frequent hobbies of hers - but now that she has the magic pen tucked carefully away in her bag, Usagi's suggestion is that much more exciting. For the first time in her life, the fashion possibilities are literally endless, and Makoto is eager to explore them all.

"It sounds great!" she tells her friend over her own can of melon soda. "We can try on everything." And by 'try on' she means use the fitting rooms as cover for a fashion pen fashion show. "Where do you want to start? Are you going to get a new swimsuit for summer? We should take a trip to the beach sometime when the weather's good."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I was thinking about it! The one I had last year was pretty good, but, the bows were to cover up some holes hahaha, so I think I should probably get a new one for real, you know? Maybe even try a two piece this time!"

She's never tried a two piece swimsuit, mostly on account of being worried about her figure, but, she has a loving boyfriend and a girlfriend to fluster this year! Her figure has never been better because it's the figure that got her a boyfriend and a girlfriend! Don't question her logic!

"And we could try things to go with swimsuits too, like wraps and scarfs and t-shirts and there's literally sooo many things Makochan, who knows how much we could try? Do you think you want a two-piece?"

She pauses, eyes skimming her friend's figure.

"You'd look really good in one."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Well, you definitely need a new one, then," Mako says in a tone of firm decision. "I bet there's some really cute coverups and things, too--"

Usagi's question makes her pause, suddenly a little awkward. She glances down at herself and bites her lip a moment. "I don't know... I think it might be a bit much. I guess it wouldn't hurt to try some out, though, just to see..."

Makoto has her own concerns about her figure. Not all of them are particularly rooted in reality, but for a teenage girl, sometimes perception is everything.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Makochan, you're really gorgeous, you know? And you've got a really - enviable figure," Usagi bites her lip, looking at the summer collection and then back at Makoto, before nodding sharply. "Yeah, you'd look great in a two piece. But if you don't want to, you don't have to! I just think, you would look really cute, you know?"

Even as this conversation plays out, in the back of the store, a creature lurks. A mistake, made on a whim and a dare by a creator who immediately hated herself for what she had dared bring into the world. It should have been destroyed immediately, but that same creator had been too proud to destroy it. For she so loved her talents, that she could not bring herself to destroy even her hideous failures.

But in a city like Tokyo, where Dark Energy rises to the surface and resentments readily blossom...

Such a hated existence is a dangerous thing.

FOR JIMONO LURKS.

A staffer goes to the stockroom to pull more stock -

And a scream rings out!

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto straightens her shoulders back a little at Usagi's encouragement, with an air of determination. They're here to try things! Trying on doesn't mean she has to commit to anything, after all... so why not get a little crazy for a bit?

Her height gives her a better vantage to look around the shop for the different sections. A glance around, and then she reaches to catch Usagi's arm. "It looks like the swimwear is over there," she begins.

But before they can even start out, there's a scream. Mako goes still, wide eyes sliding sidelong to Usagi.

She sighs.

"Seriously?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She's all set to head over to the swimwear with Makoto immediately, all too ready to try on new swimsuits, new styles, new fashions, and to make sure Makochan does the same -

And then there's the scream of terror and horror and all that bad stuff, and Usagi's face screws up in indignation.

"But we're not even on a date!"

Customers all over are reacting to the scream - some moving for the door, some whippiing around to see what's going on - but no one is prepared for what happens:

The storeroom door flies open, as a body is launched through, wrapped in dark blue fabric - a jobi, or Jean Obi, is binding them head to toe, as if they'd been rolled up in it.

"HELP!" The poor girl screams from behind her jobi prison.

"There is no help for you," a scratchy voice declares as the enemy steps through to the main store - it's a shadow presence, purple and ominous, flowing like gas and filling -

"Is... is that a kimono made of jeans?" Usagi squawks.

"YES," the abomination declares, "I AM JIMONO!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Absolutely not!" The reply bursts out of Makoto's mouth without even taking the time to connect through her brain first. She already has hold of Usagi's arm, and now she simply hauls the shorter girl off with her, making a long-legged beeline to duck into the nearest fitting room.

Only then does she let go of Usagi so that she can rummage her Jupiter Pen out of her bag. "A jimono, are you kidding me? Who even does that? Jupiter Power - MAKE UP!"

Electricity crackles and swirls around her, transforming her from her street clothes into her green-and-white fuku. "Now we're going to have to try to kick its butt without trashing the store too much to keep shopping!" laments Sailor Jupiter.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi is picked up like a clutch and carried off, not that she's protesting. Her eyes are about as big as tennis balls as she looks at the horror, and it's not until she's plopped down on the fitting room bench does she process what she even saw.

"That was... it really was... there was... DENIM?!? for KIMONO?!"

Kimonos are so expensive, a celebration of culture that's centuries and centuries old, and for someone to make a jean one...

She grabs her broach on autopilot, the worlds coming out stunned. "Moon Prism Power, Make Up!"

A flash of light and ribbons, transforming her from casual clothes to a blue-and-red-and-white fuku, and Sailor Moon slaps at her cheeks to wake up.

"A jimono! We're fighting a jimono! Wait - do you think someone here made a jimono?!"

Yeah, she's a little brain broke.
Herutside, some of the shoppers wonder if this is a stunt - "If someone's trying to use this to trick us into buying something that ugly, they've got another thing coming," a haughty looking girl in an expensive dress sneers.

Big Mistake.

"Oh, you think you're too good for me? You think you're BETTER than INNOVATIVE FASHION?! Well TRY THIS!"

And the haughty girl is slapped across the face with a length of jobi - and suddenly, her expensive looking dress has been replaced with a jimono!

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Hang in there, Sailor Moon!" Jupiter certainly can't blame Usagi for being a bit floored at the horror they've just witnessed. That doesn't mean they have time to try to process it right this second, though. "We've got a job to do, okay?"

Deal with the youma first. Then they can melt down over the existence of the jimono.

She'll take point for her fellow senshi, bursting out of the fitting room and taking up an immediate combat stance. "Let those people go!" she declares. "Fashion should be a way for everyone to express themselves and feel confident and beautiful in the way they want to! No matter how avant-garde, you can't force a look on someone who doesn't feel it!"

A hand flicks her ponytail back over her shoulder before she smacks her fist into her palm. "Soldier of Love and Courage, Sailor Jupiter! My lightning will leave you numb with regret, Jimono!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You're right, Sailor Jupiter," Moon scrubs a hand over her face, jarring her tiara, then fixes it in a hurry. "We've got to save all these people from a fashion nightmare!"

She bursts out right after Sailor Jupiter, striking her classic pose and holding a determined look on her face, even as she internally reels from the sight of someone wearing a jimono (even if the girl wearing it is tearing at her clothes in horror, eyes full of tears).

"Sailor Jupiter is right! You might love your style, but no one else has to! You can't force love - you can only earn it!"

"I'VE NEVER BEEN LOVED," Jimono screams back! "EVEN MY OWN CREATOR HATES ME. So I've decided! I'll make everyone love me! When all clothes are Jimono, no one will be able to hate me!"

Nobody Liked That.

The store is filled with new screams, as the shoppers try to crowd out at once, and Jimono turns on the customers furiously, whipping at them wildly with her jobi. Everyone struck finds themselves, to their horror, wearing a jimono! Dark, light, black, blue, every shade of denim is represented!

Makoto Kino has posed:
"That's not how that works!" Sailor Jupiter retorts. "Making it so that nobody can wear anything but jimono will only make people resent you more for taking away the chance to express themselves through their clothes!"

The jobi flails around in the air, and Jupiter extends both hands, calling up a gust of wind that spirals tightly around Jimono in a flurry of petals. "Flower Hurricane! There's surely someone out there who'll appreciate your style!" she calls. "Maybe on the internet!"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"But when they have choices, they don't choose me!"

Sailor Moon winces, because that's an incredibly pitiful fact... but... she also really doesn't want to wear a jimono!

The Flower Hurricane swirls around Jimono, cutting it's jobi whip and leaving it spinning in the summoned wind. It shrieks, struggling, and the sharp petals begin cutting at its fabric body, slicing the sleeves and skirt into ribbons

"Nooooo!! Please! Not my denim! It's all I haaaaave!!!"

Right. Right! She's got to get in gear!

"Moon Tiara Action!"

The spinning disc of cosmic love cuts right through the center of the jimono! The shadowy entity inhabiting the jimono screams in horror, and shadow surges to fill the gaps, trying to bring it together -

"Jupiter-chan! Your lightning! Maybe if we burn this thing -"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto feels bad about this. Really she does. For someone who's felt the pain of rejection herself, more than once, how can she not sympathize with the cry of one who's never been loved?

On the other hand... it's a jimono.

Regardless, she hesitates a moment when Sailor Moon calls out to her. Partly it's sympathy, but mostly she really doesn't want to burn the shop down before they've even had a chance to try anything on. Still, they have to do something, and she only has so many options.

"I'll try!" she answers, readying her fists. "Don't let me get strangled by denim, okay, Moon-chan?"

Then she's bracing herself, squaring her shoulders and calling the lightning to her hands. The energy sparks around her fists, bright crackling threads of electricity charging the air around her. "Supreme Thunder....."

She springs into a charge, headlong towards Jimono, letting the lightning bolt form around her in a trail of white-hot light. "--FIST!"

Her lightning-sheathed fist rams full-force at the center of the jimono, at what would be the solar plexus if there were a person wearing the wretched thing.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I'm with you! I won't let you get got!"

Sailor Moon rushes in behind Sailor Jupiter, ready to snatch at jobi or jimono pieces if it looks like they're going after her friend's throat -

But that lightning-sheathed fist does the job. Lightning crackles across the surface of the jimono, some of the strands igniting at once, burning away...

And it screams, long and loud -

As the shadows burn away, leaving nothing but charred and smoking pieces of fabric.

Unfortunately, the jimonos it created remain.

"Is it over?" Sailor Moon asks in a whisper.

Makoto Kino has posed:
As the lightning and the screaming fade, Sailor Jupiter takes a moment to catch her breath, slow to drop her fighting stance. "...I'm not sure." She keeps her voice in an undertone to match Sailor Moon's whisper, as though reluctant to speak too loudly. "Everybody's clothes are still messed up..."

Her green eyes skim around the store, taking in the sight of the jimono-clad staff and shoppers who are the youma's victims.

"Maybe we should just... go?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I think... we should go shopping... at the mall."

Sailor Moon looks at the crowd full of traumatized shoppers, trapped in their restraining jimonos... and shakes her head, filled with pity.

"I think I saw that there's a clearance sale at one of my favorite stores anyway, plus, there's way more things to study at the mall...."

She's feeling awfully guilty about not being clad in a jimono, which, really, is nothing something she wants to be feeling.

"Um, our work here is done! Loyal shoppers, we wish you all the best in your journey for better fashion! Jupiter-chan, let's get out of here!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Sailor Jupiter needs no further encouragement. Taking only enough time to make sure Sailor Moon can keep up with her, Sailor Jupiter bows to the unfortunate jimono victims, turns, and books it.

Only once they're well out of line of sight of the shop and any nearby onlookers does she drop her henshin, a little bit flushed from the haste of their departure. "That... was so unfortunate," says Makoto.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
A block or two away and flushed not with exertion but rather the relief of escaping a horror, Usagi shakes her head, still looking baffled. "The thing I keep thinking about is... who would do such a thing? And like... why didn't they destroy it, after?"

Why keep something like that going?

Makoto Kino has posed:
"I don't know," Mako says, just as bewildered. "Maybe... maybe whoever made it did love it, just a little? Even if it was just because it was something they made?"

She takes a few seconds to try to put herself into the mind of the person who'd create a jimono.

And shudders. "No, I don't know."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi considers this. Tries to put herself in the mind of someone who...

"Nope, I'm not doing that. I'm not thinking about that. Let's go! Shopping! We are forgetting this ever happened! I don't even know if I want to tell Ami-chan and Mamochan."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"I super don't want to try to explain that thing to anyone who wasn't there," Makoto agrees. "We can just let this one stay done and dusted, I think. Right?"

She actually dusts herself off, as though brushing off the remaining ashes of the jimono from her street clothes. "No more jimono! Today is for shopping!"

She hikes the strap of her bag a little more securely onto her shoulder, and turns a determinedly sunny smile towards Usagi.

"To the mall!"