1495/Dimension Past: Days of Past's Future

Dimension Past: Days of Past's Future
Date of Scene:	05 May 2024
Location:	Senshi Secret Base
Synopsis:	Luna introduces Mamoru and Zoisite to the Senshi's secret base, while the Senshi and allies are trapped in a time bubble.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Mamoru Chiba, Zoisite

---

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's been over a day since the portal went up and to say that Luna is stressed is putting it lightly: every single one of her Senshi has gone through the portal, leaving Luna and Mamoru to figure out a solution from this end, with the theoretical support of Riventon on data analysis and Zoisite and Nephrite to guard Mamoru, the only Senshi she can be sure still exists in this dimension at all. And she likes Mamoru - she very much likes him, both as a person and as someone who makes Usagi very happy, but his safety wasn't entrusted to her by his mother, with what may have been her last words, so there's a very different sense of responsibility and duty of care that she owes to him.

That doesn't mean there's no duty of care, though, which is why there's a mostly grown cat sitting on a bench, eyeing Mamoru carefully. "You do look like you've slept and eaten," she says finally, a note of approval in her voice. She turns her judgemental (she is a cat, what else could it be?) gaze to Zoisite next, "You're making sure he eats more than just conbini snacks?"

Before they get to anything else, health must be assessed!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"He's making me eat things and nap, and I swear I'm okay! Sometimes when I nap Usagi is sleeping too, and then we dream together, she's so tired of this but they're all okay," Mamoru says, a little mock-sulky at the first, but bumping affectionately into Zoisite's side as he says it. "I'm glad we're not in school, though, I can't concentrate on history when I'm thinking about... uh, history."

He looks up and down the street. "And Riventon cannot complain about not being in on whatever we're doing here, because he didn't want us to see his sensors."

He's out of uniform, wearing thoroughly anonymous clothes -- white button down shirt and black slacks, dress shoes, a tie tied loosely. If people don't pay too much attention to his sixteen year old face, he looks like he could be anybody, not somebody skipping school.

Zoisite has posed:
Of all the Shitennou, Zoisite is probably the worst to play babysitter. Because he's awful. Just awful. He rigorously enforces bedtime and thinks salads are the perfect meal for stressful situations. Because vitamins. And protein. He holds himself to exacting standards and unfortunately anyone in his care are going to be subject to them too.

While Zoisite has surmised that he simply doesn't have the technical knowledge necessary to solve the Problem of the Portal, well, at the very least he can do his regular job, standing guard while Mamoru rests and prepares for the challenges ahead. So despite the tiredness he's starting to feel, just the edges of exhaustion, he looks as impeccable as ever, dressed in a slouchy sweater and slacks and looking like he's supposed to be posing for the cover of a magazine, not in school but skipping.

"I wouldn't let him eat anything I wouldn't," Zoisite says, a touch of imperiousness to his tone, as if to say he wouldn't be caught dead eating conbini snacks (he would, he just keeps that a secret, shhhhh). He raises an eyebrow at the side-bump from Mamoru, but his mouth twitches with restrained amusement. "We're both ready for whatever comes next."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's an approving nod for Zoisite's approving tone, for Luna is herself an often unforgiving taskmaster and busybody. Naturally, she respects these traits in another. Jer ears perk at the mention of dream sharing, and the update that Usagi is doing well. If she can complain of being tired, she can't be badly hurt! "I am glad to hear of her. Ami's successfully updated the communicators, so we're able to receive communication from time to time, but the messages are at times garbled - I believe time must be sped up there..."

Yes, she has had to artificially slow down voices to understand some updates.

"Riventon has his secrets, and so do we. I was planning to reveal this location to all of you, but in waiting for the right moment I fear I allowed perfect to get in the way of good enough."

Ears, tail, even whiskers droop a little, before Luna forces herself upright. "That's why I've brought you both here today. Though you've undoubtedly been here many times before, this time, we come to this place to seek information and tactical advantage, rather than leisure.

This place? Game Crown Arcade. A paw is commandingly thrust to the shut doors, which will require a human hand to open.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"We're ready even though Zoi is the worst," agrees Mamoru, who demanded coffee with sugar and cream. He knows Zoisite is a hedonist. Oh how he knows. But now is not the time to argue.

He reaches over and almost scritches Luna's ears at the drooping, but she might need more dignity than scritches at this particular juncture. At least he says comfortingly, "Now is a good time. It's fine, Luna, I promise."

And he obligingly opens the door to let Luna in, asking, "Is this about the Sailor V game? Because if we need to win it to get the tactical advantage, you should know I'm absolutely awful at it."

Zoisite has posed:
It's a near thing, Zoisite only barely resisting the urge to huff out a breath of offense. "You'll be thankful later," is what he decides on saying, with a little flick of hair over his shoulder to accentuate. He crosses his arms over his chest.

Operating on the belief that no news is good news, he refrains from asking about Kunzite or even Jadeite, noting only that, "I expected nothing less from Ami," though his fingers tighten against his bicep at the news of the warping of time in the portal. By the looks of it, he doesn't like that one bit.

He looks up at the facade of the arcade, and presently has nothing to add about the place. Instead he lets Mamoru do the honors of opening the door, following in right after.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"This is indeed about the Sailor V game, though fortunately for all of us, we won't need defeat it go proceed."

She proceeds through the door quickly - as it's the middle of a school day, it's fairly empty, with a few young adults and teens who opted out of high school making up the majority of those present, all occupied with their own fames, or seats at tables with snacks from upstairs.

"Mamoru, I'll need you to bring your communicator to the coin slot, and allow the face to be read. Given the nature of the veil, no one should notice us..."

And once Mamoru complies? A hole will open beneath him, sliding him down, well, a slide, into the inky darkness - when he's descended what nutst be two stories, light appears, and he lands on a soft pad on what appears to be a floating marble platform. A large, futuristic computer set up sprawls in a semicircle, and six tall, evenly spaced pillars in the classic architectural style give definition to the otherwise floating emptiness. "We'll be with you in a moment, Mamoru!"

Above, Luna gestures at the hole, clearly expecting Zoisite to slide.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Of course Mamoru complies, he trusts Luna. Well, up until now he's trusted Luna.

There may be a stifled scream, but only while he's in freefall. After the stifled scream there's an oof.

A few seconds later, distantly, Mamoru's voice calls up, "How do we get out? Should I have brought sneakers for traction?"

He absolutely gets out of the way of the slide, though, he doesn't want Zoisite to crash into him.

Zoisite has posed:
As he watches, Zoisite isn't certain where this is all leading, figuratively speaking. Some sort of secret hideout, perhaps?

His suspicion is proven correct as Mamoru disappears, and you'd think one of the prince's Guardian Knights would be more concerned with this. But instead, Zoisite presses fingers to his mouth as he titters, unapologetic in his amusement.

At least until Luna suggests he should go down the hole himself, and Zoisite visibly balks. He looks between her and the hole several times, back and forth in rapid succession, before heaving out a great sigh.

"Very well," he grumbles, and steps forward...

When he skids to a stop next to Mamoru down below, Zoisite climbs to his feet as quickly as he can manage and dusts off his pants, looking a touch frazzled.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Luna is perhaps a bit too amused by the scream that Mamoru lets out when he falls into the abyss (down the slide), but, it's been a rough day. Surely, she's earned a little amusement here and there. What harm do her small pleasures cause? The fact that Zoisite looks horrified about having to go down as well? Only makes it better.

Once both have descended, she slides down as well, prowling forward to hop onto a stool.

"So," she says, flicking her tail. "First things first, to get out, you can do this -"

She taps a button on the console, and the slide transforms into a floating staircase, transparent blue steps climbing up.

"Or alternatively, you can step in between those two pillars, and be transported back to the arcade, to a corner near the broom closet. Second of all, this is what Artemis and I call Headquarters. It's... a secret base, for the Senshi... and the Shitennou, I suppose."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru's been Looking O.O the whole time he's been waiting (not that long) for Zoisite and Luna to come down the slide; he's in the process of peering at the controls when Luna hops up onto the stool, and he glances up at her, then at the new stairs, then at the pillars... and he makes a little bit of a face. "We can't just have teleported down here in the first place?" he asks, slightly put out.

Then he waves a hand around. "Nevermind. Secret base! With really pretty technology... and the form really reminds me of the Moon Kingdom's decor. You think it can amplify my connection? I know we haven't had time for you to study it, but..."

He comes back over, brushing a querying hand against Zoisite's for a casual second, just checking on his guardian's state of mind given the frazzled look.

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite recovers swiftly, or at least appears to from the outside, after doing a quick fix of his hair. He takes in the room with narrowed eyes, skeptical at first until Luna leaps up onto stool and starts pressing things on the console. As he turns around to watch the slide transform, he says, "Couldn't we have just walked down?"

The incredulousness of the question is reflected in his mental state, which is a bit put-out about having to go down a slide. It's just childish annoyance at having to do something he thinks is silly, nothing more.

"Having a place we can gather where we won't risk being discovered or overheard is a good idea," he says, relenting slightly.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"No, the activation equipment is down here," Luna says, unrepentant, a perfect :3 expression on her face. "The last time one of us came, it was set on the slide function, so it remains. You can be transported up, but you can only walk or slide down. And given the lack of railings, it seemed safest to slide."

Big ol' innocent cat eyes, bright with amusement.

"The technology here is from Silver Millennium, and the architecture is indeed based from the Moon Kingdom. Though we haven't had much time to study your empathy, Mamoru, my hope is that the technology here will allow us to study and amplify your connection, which may allow us to... somehow... get the others out."

The plan has flaws, namely in that they still don't know how they can transport everyone! Teleportation had simply been magical in nature, rather than technological. But still - there was something they could do here. She could feel it.

"This place is protected from outside observation, because it doesn't... quite... exist within normal space, as you can see."

Given hat they're on a floating platform.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Relief; nothing's wrong. There's warm reassurance in that brief contact, and then Mamoru's leaning over the console to watch what Luna's doing, or to look at what she did. Oh how he wants to push buttons, but he doesn't know what they do... yet.

"You enjoyed messing with us, you can admit it," he says affectionately to Luna, then puts his hands in his pockets to keep himself from poking at anything. "All right. So it can amplify it-- Usagi and the Shitennou can find me through it when I'm in big trouble, and Zoisite can find me and teleport to me -- I used to be able to teleport too, I just don't remember how. And Serenity definitely used to teleport down to Earth by herself -- maybe they can do that thing, the group thing? To me? But that would put everyone in here, including the construction workers."

Mamoru looks thoughtful. "Can you make something to amplify that connection between me and them that I can carry with me, and we can go in the barrier to meet them? If they can do the group teleport thing aimed at me? I mean while Riv is keeping the portal signal stable. And then he can probably shut the portal down..."

Zoisite has posed:
The desire to poke buttons is lessened for Zoisite, who stands a bit further off from the console than Mamoru, arms crossing again. Or maybe he also really wants to push buttons, so he's holding his hands back. Hard to tell.

"I might be able to move other people, but it already takes time and concentration, so it wouldn't be fast." If it is possible at all, goes unsaid. He sighs and twirls a lock of hair around his finger, thinking for a moment, before he shakes his head. "I wouldn't bet on it, though," he adds.

Then Mamoru mentions going into the barrier, and though it's subtle, Zoisite takes in a breath faster than his resting rate. He looks briefly concerned, eyebrows drawn together, but he says nothing against the idea. Rather, he just murmurs, "Whatever we have to do to bring them back."