2087/boxing day

boxing day
Date of Scene:	20 November 2024
Location:	Administrative Office
Synopsis:	Usagi got the box back to campus, with the prize inside, even though no one expected it. In return? She gets a meeting with the principal, who finally lets her in on just what it is they're protecting.
Cast of Characters:	6, Usagi Tsukino
Tinyplot:	The Best Kind of Quest

---

Mochi (6) has posed:
    It's early in the morning when Sailor Moon makes her way from the streets of Tokyo to the gates of Radiant Heart Academy, after the donut-truck-box-fight in the too-early hours of the morning. A few steps inside the school grounds and she's met - seemingly out of nowhere - by a face that's been seen around the schoolgrounds on occasion.

    To some of the students he is The Mysterious Hot Guy, while to those in the faculty and otherwise in the know he is the Headmistress' Attendant. Black hair, green eyes, glasses, wearing a somewhat out of place traditional garb with a long red scarf. He has a calm and gentle smile, and smells faintly of a floral scent; more akin to actual flowers than perfume.

    "Ah, so the box did make it here then?" he says in a soft voice. "They didn't let us know it was coming, this time."

    Hee starts to reach for it, then pauses. "Ah, actually, perhaps it would be better for you to join the Headmistress and pass it to her directly, rather than expecting you to pass a magical artifact into the hands of a strange young man." he suggests. "Tea and brekafast?" he offers, gesturing towards the administrative building politely.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
It's very early in the morning, and Sailor Moon is going on adrenaline by the time she gets to the school, and it met by -

"Oh! You're the Mysterious Hottie!" Whoops, she said that out loud. Clutching the box tight, she laughs a little sheepishly, blushing. "I mean, sorry about that... and yeah, apparently the thought they wouldn't get attacked if they had no back up. That genius strategy didn't pan out, but we still got the box!"

When he starts to reach for the box, she visibly hesitates. Maybe that's why he suggests an alternative option, instead, one that has Sailor Moon brightening.

"Hey, yeah, I'll go with that. I mean, no offense! But we fought Riventon and La Crima for this, I kind of want to see it through."

Mochi (6) has posed:
    It's a short walk through the nearly-deserted early morning campus from the front gate to the Administrative building, and then up the stairs there to a floor where the landing just immediately presents a door with frosted glass. Her escort reaches out and opens the door - she can hear the door unlock when he touches the handle - and backs away to gesture her, ladies' first style, into what looks like a rather large apartment/office. There are books and a desk with a computer, but also a kitchenette and a living room. In one of the large chairs in the living room already sits a kind looking older woman, likely someone's obaasan. She's seen around the school rarely, always attending to one of the school's many gardens without giving any hint as to who she is. But now, she'll announce herself.

    "Good morning! My name is Kaoruko Hanasaki, and I am the Headmistress of this Academy. And you... are one of the heroes who crawled out of bed early to make up for a mistake some of my less than bright associates made, I see. May I?" she asks, hands out for the box.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Sailor Moon follows the handsome young man, taking in the sight of the campus in the early-early morning. It's practically deserted and darker than usual, emptiness bordering on creepy - but she keeps walking, as they enter the administrative building, past where Kyouka Inai has her office and the nurse's office, up to a floor she's never been, and into an office/apartment -

"Ah, it's good to meet you, Hanasaki-sensei!" And she bows in greeting, before giggling as she holds out the box. "Yeah, pretty much? I'm Sailor Moon. Red, Cure La Mer, and Page Mage were all on the scene with me, sort of? I think we all just got lucky to be there, I know I did."

Mochi (6) has posed:
    Kaouroko sets the box down on the table between them and runs her fingers over the carved wood runes. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions." she says. "I'm sure a lot of you do, of course, but it's hard to meet with everyone, and I don't feel as though a large audience is fit for purpose either." she continues. "We're closer to the end of this now and I think I can share some information - especially as my compatriots saw fit to cut me out of the movement of this peice anyways. Clearly, my students are more reliable than they are. But just a moment..."

    She focuses on the box for a moment and a shine of magic wooshes over it, as well as a soft light from the red pendant around her neck, and then she opens it. She pulls out a long shard of crystal, that appears to be aquamarine at first glance, but as the light hits it, the crystal shines with a rainbow of colors - and it might as well have a flashing neon sign that says 'this is powerful magic' - Sailor Moon can feel it in the air. "Well, no cracks, that's good." she says, before sitting it back in the box and closing it again.

    "So..." Kaoruko begins as the attendant from before steps over with a cup of tea for her and then offers one to Sailor Moon, "... I'm sure you'd like to know what you risked your life for, but I'm sure that's not the only question you've got right now? Or shall I cut straight to crystal?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I do, but I wish my friends were here because they might be better at questions than me," Usagi says honestly - and it really is Usagi, as she drops her henshin. She's wearing a sweatsuit underneat, warm and cyan blue, with a pink bunny label on the right side of the chest. There's no danger here, and Usagi Tsukino won't look out of place walking back to her dorm in the morning, later. "But, Kyouka-sensei told me this was something to help make the school safer. And I want that, of course, so I'm helping..."

The reveal of that aquamarine-into-rainbows crystal makes her blink in surprise, but the magic is strong enough that even she feels it - sparkly, pleasant, pure.

Accepting the tea, she blows on the cup and hums, "Um, I guess starting with the crystal seems good?" What is it with magic and jewelry things, she wonders.

Mochi (6) has posed:
    "Well, the crystals are peices of an artifact of powerful magic, and it's something that should be set up here at the school. To give the students the measure of safety within the walls that we can. There have been far too many mysterious explosions and people passing out without remembering what happened while having vague nightmares about monsters here for my taste." she begins, taking a sip of tea.

    "Of course it's powerful enough that it draws our enemies like moths to a flame, even broken down in parts. Which is good news for when we get it all here, but very bad for transporting it without being attacked by an animated hairdryer." she says, almost with a 'been there done that' kind of tone.

5t"There are still two packages to come. I'd like to have you on call for them as well. You're obviously capable and trustworthy, since you brought this one to me." she says. "Which should also mean I can trust you to know which of your friends and allies to also bring... Hopefully I'll have more warning... or any warning, this time."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"So it's going to make us safer?" There's keen interest in her eyes as she looks at Headmistress and crystal alike. Of course there is - her fiance is one of those who were subject to those mysterious explosions (of pipes, was the official story, in his case, but -) "How? Is it going to - make a forcefield around the school, or make it so they can't send monsters here, or what? Because that would be amazing - and because I don't know why... if this is something that was always around, why wasn't this done before anyone got hurt?"

It's confusion, not accusation, but - it's hard to not hear some faint accusation, there.

"Of course. I already spread the word, quietly, to some good friends who would also want things kept safe. The last thing... The last thing any of us want is Obsidian ending up with these. If your colleagues decide to not be stupid, we'll be there."

Mochi (6) has posed:
    Kaoruko sighs and takes another long drink of her tea. "I'm probably too hard on them, honestly." she admits. "The reason it took so long is that we had to convince a few groups that it was worth it, and important, that those people to risk their lives and give up a great deal in order to keep you safer." she reveals.

    "And you see how each time we've tried to move one there's been an attack." she adds. "Fortunantely they haven't gone after them in transit, only upon arrival."

    "Very few people get the chance to make the deal I made and even fewer are at a place in their lives where they can afford the sacrifices." she says cryptically. "For them, these shards represent... their window into our world, the way they can keep their knowledge. It's a brave thing that they do to give these to us, really... but all of the watching and knowing wouldn't do them any good if we lost girls and boys like you for it." she says.

    "Once we rebuild the Crystal Heart, it will create a ward around the school... it won't prevent Dark Energy from being able to be used here, but it'll dampen it. A lot. Enough that I think youma are out of the question. Rather like if we stepped into that bleak tower. We would be fighting at a severe disadvantage." she explains. "Well, on our grounds, they will be the ones disadvantaged."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
There's a lot Usagi could say about the idea of there being multiple groups of people who had to be convinced to help them - but she holds her tongue, because she of all people knows what it's like to have to 'do it scared', as it were. They are helping, and - "This Crystal Heart - it's letting them see through the Veil?"

The adults, the one time she'd seen a pair, didn't seem to be magical, so it's probably not something that would let them fight the Fade itself. But even still, to get past the Veil...

She swallows. "Are they going to forget, because they helped us? And - there are Cures with them, when they come. Are they at school, or off with these groups?"

There are probably other questions, but she can't think of them just yet, just this moment.

No more youmas at school. A zone of advantage. A place of safety, for real, where they could run away -

"If you could thank them for me," she says quietly, "I would appreciate that."

Mochi (6) has posed:
    She nods. "It's not something just being near something magic can do, it's a part of the crystal heart. We don't know the whole story behind it. Word of mouth, you see. But if you look through one of the shards of the heart and see something magic, you can remember it - as long as you're near the shard. The farther you get, the fuzzier the memory becomes." she continues. "Generally people don't entirely abandon it so the memory returns when they're next in the presence of a shard, but now they're all going to be here, and most of these groups are not exactly local." she says.

    "That's why despite what the Heart does when it's completed, it's been kept in five peices; tiny little organizations all over the world, carrying on traditions and helping us prepare for this moment - like setting up this school." she says. "In the plan the Heart was always going to rest here - it's even in the name!" she says, with a little laugh. "But you can see why it took some cajoling."

    "The cures that are with them... they're not at Radiant Heart, no. I'm not sure how they get in contact with the group. It's distressing to think that they keep secrets from me, but perhaps I knew once and forgot." she notes, not elaborating on that.

    "I'll certainly pass on my thanks. And as for now... there's two parts left. Over halfway there. I'll reach out to you and a few others as soon as I hear something and hopefully it'll be with enough warning that nobody will be blindsided, this time..."