2041/Mysteries are for Solving

Mysteries are for Solving
Date of Scene:	26 October 2024
Location:	The Shed
Synopsis:	Marinette meets Usagi. Sailor Moon meets Ladybug. The Shed has a new guest, and Ladybug has a realization.
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino, Marinette Dupain-Cheng

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Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's been a little while since Usagi temporarily ended up with Ladybug's Miraculouss, and she's been more than relieved to be rid of it. Not that she begrudged Ladybug or Tikki, not when it was mostly her own fault, but, well, two super important magical artifacts is simply one too many for her.

She's thrilled to receive word from Ladybug though, her Sailor Moon cellphone number receiving a few messages, and she'd been quick to offer for them to meet in person, on Radiant Heart Academy's campus, along a certain wooded path...

When Marinette arrives, she'll see a fairly short girl with long blond twintails and distinct buns waving cheerfully, standing in front of an old shed. Her school uniform is the winter version, and she's wearing leggings under her longer-skirt for warmth.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Well, it is getting cold out. The young lady who comes around the corner looks kind of touristy, looking around as if she's not seen the place before. Definitely not Japanese, she's got a european look to her. As she gets closer, blue hair and curious eyes.

Is it Ladybug? The girl spots Usagi and doesn't seem to recognize, maybe this is someone who's just passing by. But the outfit is the school's, and her text said that 'you'll know my friend'.

The girl nods her head, almost opening her mouth. Almost speaking. Then a little bug flies out from her hair, and gives Usagi a nosebeep. Which makes the girl smile.

It's a nice smile, if slightly terrified.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's a girl that Usagi actually recognizes, vaguely - she might forget names, but she usually doesn't forget a face! She'd seen this girl in Korma, some time ago, back when Hinoiri was on much thinner ice with her. She'd been kind to Hinoiri, and Hinoiri had been - well, pretty kind to her too.

Is she Ladybug? She's ready to greet her anyway, but then -

"Oh, Tikki! It's so good to see you! Then you are the right person, hiii!"

This is the greeting Marinette receives before she's hugged. Forget what they say about the Japanese being reserved and polite - it clearly doesn't hold up for this one!

"I'm Usagi, Usagi Tsukino, and also," she glances around, then lowers her voice a bit, "Sailor Moon. It's good to see you face to face, and - ah, I'm so sorry! I really never meant to cause you so much trouble that day!"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Slight flailing at the unprovoked hug does nothing to stop it! Ack! Also, that shampoo smells amazing. Wait, back on track. The bluenette (so blue!) says, "Ack," as she goes for breath.

Then she wiggles free and the smile's wider than before. Bordering on natural! "Tikki says...I mean. Um." She pauses, pulling a hand through her own hair, and looks like she's new at this. "I'm Ladybug. But also Marinette!" The first was whispered. The second, acceptable volume.

"It was a lot of day, so you were the one who got the...earrings?" She touches them on her ears. Nervous. "You didn't cause trouble, you saved me. I am so sorry to put that on you."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Marinette! Who is Ladybug! Usagi's smile widens, and then so do her eyes, as she realizes she recognizes that name. "Oh, you're Adrien-kun's friend! He's mentioned you before, you two came from Paris!"

That's such a coincidence, but, it makes sense that at least one of the people who came from Paris would be Ladybug.

"That was me, yeah, and my fiancé," she sighs, "We got some really bad news, and then, before we knew it, there were butterflies, and all that - but no, you didn't put anything on me. We did our best, and it all worked out. You got the Ladybug Miraculous back, as you were supposed to."

She's so relieved, she almost hugs Marinette again. Almost. She respects her space, for now.

"I wanted you to meet me here, so I could show you this place. I thought, since you haven't been able to tell very many people, you might not know about this place but, it's somewhere people on our side can meet up! Hang out, talk, share information. Mamochan - that's my fiancé - has his number and stuff up here, because he's a healer, so if you're ever hurt after a fight, he can help you out!"

She walks over to the Shed, gesturing for Marinette and Tikki to join her.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Marinette's face falls when Adrien is mentioned, and she mumbles "Yeah. I can not believe I didn't figure that out. I feel so stupid. We both came from France, both our heroes appear here? I swear, I'm not that stupid most of the time."

Does she not know about the veil? A mahou with limited contact might not!

Pausing, Marinette listens. She closes her mouth to listen, letting Usagi speak, and lets herself be led. "I didn't recognize you, you looked all dark and evil." Well, yeah. "..." She touches her earrings, then looks at Tikki as she's led to the Shed.

"It's okay, Marinette." Tikki's voice says from the girl's shoulder. "You can trust Usagi."

Marinette nods, then visibly stands up a bit straighter. "Then I want to see it, let's go!" And she reaches for the handle.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Aw, hey, don't blame yourself!" Hands, waved!

"You wouldn't have been able to figure it out - see, there's this magic that protects identities; we call it the Veil, and it means that unless you see someone transform, of they tell you who they are, you can't figure them out at all. One time, my friends and I forgot about Jupiter, like the planet, because the Veil was hiding that we hadn't found all of us Sailor Senshi."

Usually she doesn't tell that pretty embarrassing story, but, in this instance? She feels like it needs to be shared.

"Yeah, apparently when the butterflies get me, I turn into Sailor Eclipse, who can turn people into toys and also control toys. I guess it's cool that that's my evil? At least?"

She'll take it! With the door, Usagi reaches out quickly, catching the handle before Marinette can.

"Wait, let me show you the trick - see, if you twist it this way -" and she twists the handle one way as she opens it, revealing a totally normal, kinda busted up old shed. "It's exactly what it looks like. But if you're keyed in, and you twist it this way -" aaaand now it looks like a spacious room, with plenty of desks and tables, a Christmas tree with ornaments in the corner, and windows that the actual physical structure definitely didn't have. There are blackboards and whiteboards and corkboards up, some blank, others with information scribbled or tacked on.

"Neat, huh?" Usagi puffs up with pride for the place. "Can you pick up that statue, over there?" She points to a very ugly tanuki statue. "You need to carry it across the threshold to be keyed in, then you can always get into the magic side by yourself!"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
"Neat, huh?" Marinette parrots what Usagi said, her eys as wide as saucers and her brain not entirely re-engaging. She takes a moment, with Tikki waving a hand in front of her face to see if she's responding.

Then Marinette shakes herself, and leans down to get the Tanuki statue. As she walks up with it, she looks at Usagi and says, "Honestly I don't think we need a ..veil? Because if I hadn't done magic myself, I wouldn't have believed this anyway!"

Then she walks in, promising herself silently that she'll bring cookies. This feels like coming to someone's home, and you shouldn't come empty handed.

"Itadakimas," she says, using entirely the wrong japanese phrase but trying to be polite..

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"It's not something we made," Usagi says with a shrug, which is true. She's not going to drop the whole, my mother from a past-life who was functionally a god-queen created the Veil to prevent tragedy from happening again, that's way too heavy! "But it happens, anyway. Sometimes it's really ridiculous, how good it is..."

She does not correct Marinette on her Japanese, because honestly it's impressive how she's done so far!

"So, this place is... like I said, a meeting place. Sometimes I come and study, or, well, nap, and sometimes we meet up and share information - and last year someone left that Christmas Tree, and it's been here ever since."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Still holding the tanuki, Marinette looks around. She bites her lip thoughtfully, glancing at all the things. There is a lot, especially if you look at the boards. She is silent for a moment. Then she turns toward Usagi, kind of suddenly.

"How does that work, you forgot an entire planet? And that's..." She squinches her eyes closed, thinking a moment. "Not important, it's just an example and I get that but I'm trying to make my brain integrate all of this."

"Hawk Moth came here from Paris too. Is he someone else that I already know? Too? Or am I not going to be able to find out because Veil? And do we all have evil forms? Because I am not sure...about..." She fingers her earrings, almost drops the Tanuki, catches it.

"Can I put this down?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"More like... okay, so, I'm Sailor Moon, and there are others in my group - we call ourselves Sailor Senshi - and there's one of us for the planets in the Solar System and also the Moon and dwarf planets, see? But we knew Jupiter the planet existed... we just didn't think, even a little bit, about that meaning maybe there was a Sailor Jupiter, because we thought we'd found all of us."

Because of her. There were supposed to be Four Inner Senshi, but then, she's the very first Sailor Moon, and hiding that fact - had meant hiding other things.

"So like, you probably couldn't think about whatever made you think of Cat about him, because that would have been a clue that was protecting his identity, see?"

Beat.

"Wah! Of course you can, sorry!!! Ah, I totally forgot, it's so heavy, too! You can put it down now, you're all set!"

Whoops!

"Well, I think if you get butterfly'd you'll get an evil form. I don't really, know all the details about that? Cat told me about Hawk Moth following from Paris, though. And he could be someone you know... or maybe he's not?"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Clunk goes the tanuki, and whew goes the bluenette. Only one sweatdrop, promise. "So heavy," she admits. "But I might be strong so it's okay maybe." She isn't strong. "Okay, I'm not, but I am when I'm transformed and that halfway counts."

"I'm actually super clumsy and I fall over when I step on a chocolate chip the wrong way and my parents were bakers and I am going to bring cookies next time. Wait they're still bakers, I'm not saying that they're dead or anything like that."

Breathe.

A pause, and marinette says, "You're making a little bit too much sense. Usagi? Usagi, right. Sorry. Sorry." Tikki looks up at her ward, then at Usagi, and then shrugs.

And then Marinette says, "Look, I had nobody to ask but I'm panicking and you can probably tell, but since I got these back," fingering her earrings, "they feel different. Did you...did you do something with them?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I only got kinda strong after a ton of training," Usagi says, waving it off, "And that thing is so heavy, I'm sorry, I should have told you!"

She definitely should have, she just completely forgot -"

And then she falls silent, because everything Marinette is saying is so relatable - okay well, not the part about the parents being bakers -

"I totally get that! I'm super klutzy - I've been getting kind of better since I became a Senshi if only because I have to run around all the time but also admittedly because my friends are usually around to catch me." Literally and figuratively. "Um... well, I used them? Once! Just once. But... I kinda have a lot of magic, so it's possible, that maybe some of that could get in there? Is that a thing, Tikki?"

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Marinette looks to Tikki too, who is just hovering there. It's a fair question.

"It isn't out place to teach," Tikki says, flitting around Usagi's head. As if that's how she shows who she's interacting with. "Kwami are old, we let you discover for yourselves!"

Which makes Marinette frown. "Um. That's not an answer," she says. Then she pauses. "Or is it? If Usagi could do things, more than I did, can I do more too? Now that she's charged it up?"

Tikki doesn't answer, but she does land on Usagi's head like a little mascot.

"Usagi, this thing is super old, like older than time I think. I don't think you can break it. What if it's got more abilities than just, you know. Whoosh, Ladybug suit?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Wah, Tikki, can't you help us out a little?" But Tikki seems to be being firm, intent on letting them discover it for themselves, so Usagi shifts closer, and hums, because -

"Well, my energy kinda flows into things all the time, it's how I use my very first attack," she considers, "So it's possible my Silver Crystal did that to your Miraculous, because it was mine for a second. But if you can discover things... I think that means it has to have more powers, right? Because otherwise you'd have discovered it all? Are there any stories about the Miraculous and what they can do?"

She's tilting her head a little, trying not to dislodge Tikki. "I mean, it's yours right? So if you think it should be able to do more, you can do more."

Marinette Dupain-Cheng has posed:
Marinette reaches out and grabs Usagi's hands with her own! She looks excited, bouncing a little as Usagi says this. "We are going to do so many things aren't we?" she asks, then adds, "And most of them are going to be huge disasters, aren't they?"

She doesn't seem upset by the idea. No, she seems....elated? Like she's looking forward to whatever comes. Tikki tilts her head, a little smile appearing on her face. Mysterious, but mysteries are for solving.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi clasps their hands, as soon as hers are grabbed. She grins, wide. "We're going to do amazing things! And even if they're disasters, they'll be new! They'll be different! We're going to do this!"

Creating new chances, new opportunities, new places, she's so excited.

"There's this thing, we call it Mahou Fite Club, but it's more a training thing, and a bunch of us get together - it's on Wednesdays after school, after the self-defense class! I'll take you, and we'll introduce you to everyone - as Ladybug, if you want, don't worry, no one will bug you about it - and we'll help you figure out everything you can do!"

It's going to be great.