1475/Scraping Her Off the Pavement

Scraping Her Off the Pavement
Date of Scene:	18 March 2024
Location:	Penguin Park
Synopsis:	After Disrespect, Usagi and Mamoru come to rescue Kyouka from the parkbench where Fuyuko left her after getting slapped into a bus by Beryl.
Cast of Characters:	Kyouka Inai, Mamoru Chiba, Usagi Tsukino

---

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Well," thought Kyouka in the split second before the blow landed. "This was a mistake after all."

    Only her nigh-inhuman reflexes save her from becoming an actual smear on the pavement. She henshins, a panic manuever, just before the blow strikes, and then she's flying through the air, tumbling end-over-end a good eight feet above the pavement from the force of that single slap.

    She doesn't see the bus but she sure as heck feels it. She strikes the window with enough force to shatter it and completely snap the metal strut holding it in place. Passing completely through the bus, tearing off a few headrests on the way, smashing through the opposite window, she only finally comes to rest when her path intersects a tree planted in the sidewalk on the other side of the street.

    Stellar survives. The tree does not. It snaps under the force of the impact, teetering off to one side and sending people scurrying out of the way as it falls onto the pavement.

    Stellar is left laying prone in the ruins of the stump. She is thoroughly unconscious, bloody, and unmoving.

    This isn't the first beating that running her mouth has gained her. But it might be both the quickest and the worst.

    Surely she'll learn something.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
----- A short time later... -----

"--and she said we needed to scrape her off the pavement, but then she said she moved her to Penguin Park?" Mamoru's recounting to Usagi as they hit the park and he drops to a crouch to touch the ground with his hand. "Finding her's still faster than following terrible directions, so-- okay, this way!"

Not too long ago, Mamoru received a text from Fuyuko Yuuhi that Kyouka, in fact, needed scraping off the pavement. Something something 'your sensei' can sound disparaging over text, somehow. Earlier today, there was a fight for a Rainbow Crystal. And then there was healing Fuyuko. And then there was Zoisite escorting him back to the dorms because of being so tired. And then there was talking to Double Trouble. And then there was being absolutely splatted on his bed for a while. And then came a text and Mamoru desperately hoping that Kyouka doesn't have any broken bones, because Fuyuko did and now he is exhausted and that's twice this month.

"What could possibly have hit Kyouka this hard?" he asks rhetorically, the same day as Fuyuko took Beryl on to try and save Sunbreaker. Maybe he's just that much of an optimist.

Then the bench is in sight.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka is sprawled upon the bench. She is thoroughly unconscious, although the damage is not terribly visible. There's some blood, which mostly seems to have come from her nose or perhaps a split lip, its kind of hard to tell. She's not dead- that was implied by the text but also the rise and fall of her chest is visible, but she's also clearly not awake. Her limbs sprawl bonelessly, a puddle of sensei.

    Likely a relief to Mamoru, she doesn't have any broken bones. But she does have several hairline fractures, especially in her arm which she raised to attempt to block the blow, and a lot of bruising and possibly a conscussion. If that's any better.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Whatever it is, it can't be that bad. And if it is, you'll be able to fix it, and then Inai-sensei will have to thank you and apologize for being reckless, probably, but I bet she's fine -"

Unfortunately for all of them, Usagi Tsukino loses that bet. She's been walking with Mamoru, having scampered along with him when he got the message from Fuyuko. It's been a long day, and she knows Mamoru has to be tired. If whatever smeared Inai-sensei on the pavement is still around and ready to rumble, she'll transform lickety split.

"Maybe she fell off a -" the guess is never to be completed, because at that moment Usagi spots her hapless and hopeless mentor dumped onto a bench, limbs akimbo and face covered in blood

"Inai-sensei! What did you do?!?!" The lecturing has begun and poor Inai-sensei isn't even conscious yet. But then, maybe the sound of Usagi's stern disapproval will encourage her to wake up? "What happened? Why didn't you call for help?! We totally would have helped!"

Usagi. Usagi. She's unconscious.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh for--" whatever Mamoru was about to plead the sake of is eaten by the teenager's frustration as he scrambles over to the bench and onto his knees, taking one of Kyouka's hands in his and putting the other in the grass again.

A moment later, he transforms and then lets go to irritably yank his gloves off, then touches Kyouka's hand and the ground again. There's a golden glow, from both hands, and he sees to the concussion first. It helps considerably that he's healed her before, and therefore-- like with Jadeite-- has a sort of blueprint for how she's supposed to be, but most of what he can do there is ease the inflammation and bruising inside her skull.

"Don't move," is all he says when he can feel emotions begin to surface from unconsciousness, whether or not she's actually conscious yet. "Usa, save the really good stuff for when she wakes up. She's got a concussion, a LOT of bruising, and a bunch of hairline fractures all on her back and the back of her head and arms and legs, like she got thrown through a wall or something by Godzilla."

A beat. "Can you tell her not to move, too? If she does, those hairline fractures might get worse before I get to them. Ugh, this is going to take forever," he sighs. And he just sits on the ground instead of on his heels, and as he does he thinks of Fuyuko unceremoniously falling to sit on the rooftop earlier, and he's so tired.

A moment later, he tells Usagi, "I healed her best friend earlier. She'd gone toe to toe with Beryl, trying to save Sunbreaker from getting shoved in a giant crystal for a while. This is really sus."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    It actually takes quite a while for Kyouka to begin to come around. It seems Usagi's lecturing is not helping, at least not helping her to return to awarness any swifter. Mamoru's healing is doing that- without it, these sorts of injuries would probably have her laid up in the hospital for a couple days at the very least.

    Slowly though she does begin to stir. First there's twitching of fingers and eyelid flutters. Then she groans, her free hand raising to her face as if suffering the worst hangover of her life.

    Eventually her grey eyes open to slits, enough to see who is in front of her, though the feeling of Mamoru's healing, familiar enough to her to be recognized, tells her the story before her eyes do. "Did you.. get the lisence plate number of that bus...?" she asks weakly.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"I will," Usagi huffs, because seeing Inai-sensei hurt is terrifying but she knows that Mamoru has it in hand, knows that she doesn't have to be afraid when he can make it all better. But he's tired, and she puts her hand on his shoulder - and then she thinks better of it and withdraws her hand, takes the Silver Crystal from her neck and places it in her hand, on his shoulder.

"If you need more energy, take it from me. I'm offering. She has plenty. Unlike him, she was only in a fight today.

"Sunbreaker from getting what?!?" She demands, not really asking but expressing shock, and then she waits, biting her tongue because he needs to concentrate probably. At least until Inai-sensei speaks and then - "It was 1-800-R-U-Stupid! Inai-sensei! Tell me you didn't pick a fight with Beryl because she bullied your friend!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yuuhi-san texted me where you were," Mamoru says flatly, as if that in and of itself should tell Kyouka a big chunk of the story. He works on relieving bruises, closing scrapes and cuts, and then he takes a deep breath and starts working on the fractures. "It's not just you that you need to look out for when you do something stupid. You don't have a barrier. What if she slammed you through other people?" He exhales through his teeth, closing his eyes. Seems like they've both already decided Kyouka was dumb enough to go after Beryl solo because of Beryl screwing with Fuyuko. "And Sunbreaker will be physically fine in a week or less, Usako, I'll explain later for sure. I already told her friend about it so she wouldn't be worried about her being missing."

Then to Kyouka as he goes back to the concussion and makes sure if she cracked her skull, that's taken care of too, "We need to save up every indignity, every pain, every single time she treats anyone badly, and serve it all back to her together. You can't solo her. She's an end boss."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "Okay, I didn't pick a fight with Beryl because she bullied my friend." Kyouka lies to Usagi, resting her head back and closing her eyes again. "I didn't... I wasn't going to fight her." This is also a lie, though perhaps less of one- to say she had any plan at all in the moment would be giving her too much credit. "I was just so angry, I didn't even expect to actually see her.."

    When Mamoru tells her that Fuyuko is the one who texted him, she groans, lifting one hand to cover her face. "Oh god, she's never going to let me live this down." As if that's the biggest concern here. It isn't, of course, and she'd admit that if it were pointed out, but that doesn't make it any less cringe-worthy for her.

    Mamoru's point about other people is a good one, but she protests, "It's not like I expected her to do that! I expected some indignant scoffing, maybe a dismissive pejorative. Not a one-way bus-trip to treetown."

    When told she can't solo Beryl, that she's an end boss, she twists her lip. "Killing end bosses is my job." A beat, and she deflates. "Or.. it used to be." Not to mention, there's end bosses and then End Bosses. It is unlikely even at her peak that Kyouka faced any single individual as powerful as Beryl.

    She adds in mild annoyance, "It's really hard to be angry when you're healing me, do you know that?"

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"Uh huh," Usagi says skeptically, one hand on her hip. She's staring down at Kyouka, partially enjoying her once in a lifetime chance to loom over an adult but also, honestly furious. Beryl! Beryl! She's not denying that it was Beryl! "Sure. But you knew something bad could happen!"

And her eyes teary? No! Shut up!

"Killing someone like Beryl isn't any one person's job. Mamochan is right, she's an end boss, and she's hateful and evil and she murdered us both so why did you think even coming near her alone was a good idea?!"

Her voice is rising and she consciously lowers it, stomping her foot into the grass.

"Thank you, Mamochan," she says, voice brittle. "I'll worry about her next."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
First to Kyouka, a tired little half-smile. "I try to make it hard to be really mad at me anyway, these days." Then to Usagi, slowly, "I think the biggest worry with Kyouka-sensei is--" he looks from Usagi to Kyouka, then, and his use of her first name is a solid thing, even talking to Usagi in front of her, even if using a proper honorific, "you're not going to try and do it again, right? Not with her. She's far more powerful than I was as Hematite, and I broke your arm on accident, while being careful. You're really, really lucky she didn't kill you."

Finally, his hands are both around Kyouka's hand, and he squeezes, and the fact that his heart is still in his throat with wild adrenaline-fueled worry for her, coming down from near panic getting stomped down to deal with the injuries... it comes through that touch, unfiltered. Maybe it's not ideal, but hey, look, Kyouka is beloved.

He lets go, finally. "Please think first before you confront anyone like her, and then get lots of backup before trying." Not don't do it. Just... not like that.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    'Why did you think coming near her alone was a good idea?!' Kyouka opens her mouth to reply to this, and pauses, as if coming to a realization herself.

    "I didn't think." She says, softly, after a moment, her eyes falling. "I just.. didn't think about it. I just did it. That's what I do. 'Never tell me the odds', right? We do the impossible on a daily basis, and stopping to dwell on how impossible it is isn't going to help anyone. At least that's how I've always been." No doubt to Fuyuko and her other past allies' vast frustration.

    She says this as if its an excuse, but there's no hiding the shame in her voice, or the way she avoids Usagi's eyes. She puts on the act, day to day, of the wise, experienced mentor with all the answers. But the fact of the matter is she's only 8 years older than Usagi. Much less, even, if you count past-lives. And taken as part of the sum total of a life, is the difference between 15 and 23 really that vast when it comes to wisdom, to judgement? The gap is there, but only enough to convince us it exists. When push comes to shove, Kyouka is the same reckless, hot-blooded, leap-then-look girl she was when she was Usagi's age.

    It's bitten her before, but it hits different when its her kids, her students who are the ones pointing out to her what an idiot she's been. Will it change her? No, likely not. But at the very least it might make her hesitate. Next time.

    No protest to Mamoru's use of her first name- she doesn't even react to it, as if it's expected rather than unusual. The feelings he shares with her through the bond of healing don't reflect outwardly. After all, she's already looking shamefaced at her own lap. But they are received nonetheless.

    She looks up then, and there's tears in her grey eyes- not for her mistake but for what he asks of her. Not to do it alone again.

    "She hurt my oldest friend." She says, quietly. "Because she tried to defend someone who didn't deserve what she was getting."

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    "I can promise you I won't make that same mistake. But if she hurts someone I care about-" her eyes look from Mamoru to Usagi, and the message is clear; she'd have done the same for them as she did for Fuyuko. If either of them had been hurt. She would have gotten herself smacked though a bus just the same. "-she won't see me coming next time."

    She says it, makes sure it's known, before adding, in a much more humble-sounding voice. "And I'll bring help. Promise."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi's temper has always been the sort that flares up hot and fast - alcohol lit aflame, the better for cooking. It's not a long-lived thing, though. She gets angry, she expresses the anger, the anger dies. Grudges, even long fits, they don't make much sense to her. She feels in the moment.

Being furious with Inai-sensei isn't entirely new, but it's not a familiar, comfortable feeling, either. And when Kyouka looks down? When she... lowers her head? It pangs her heart, even as she's not fool enough to believe they've actually managed to cow their indomitable teacher.

"Kyouka-sensei," she echoes Mamoru in using the name, the intimacy natural to a girl who -chan's and -kun's everyone on first meeting. The name is a sigh of sound, drawn out, sad, older than her years. A part of her wants to say - of course she did. That same part says - it's what she does. She hurts people who don't deserve it. But Kyouka knows that, and Usagi knows she knows that, and harping on a point won't help anyone either. "She deserves to suffer for that and more. We know. But do you think we want to lose you?"

For a girl who had been fire and brimstone and anger, she knows how to gentle her tone.

"I would have wanted to do the same thing. I do want to do the same thing! You think I don't wish I could just... just, jump through her window and shove an Escalation down her throat?"

This, from the girl who had cringed in horror at the thought of death.

"Call us first," she nods slowly, recognizing this might be the best they get. "Because we don't want you to die, and because we do want her to die. We want to give it our best shot, you know? There's no other way for it to end, because it's her or us, so - before you do something dumb, next time, call us, and we'll make sure it's the time when it can finally be her, instead of us."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's going to be a little bit before Kyouka is fully healed, like it's going to be a little bit for Fuyuko -- but the worst of it is definitely seen to, Kyouka's not in danger and nothing's going to get worse if she moves. Even her headache should be gone -- there'll only be some stiffness, some tenderness.

Mamoru doesn't disagree with a single thing Usagi is saying, even nodding emphatically at 'we do want her to die'. Instead, he hauls himself up onto the bench as soon as Kyouka moves her legs down. He's so tired, he sits there leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, head in his hands for a moment before he spends the extra effort to sit up properly. "I don't know if you need help getting-- you can teleport, nevermind. Can you teleport home?"

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka hears what Usagi says, really she does. She doesn't try to defend herself further, or explain her actions- how can she? Everything Usagi says makes perfect sense. The one thing the younger girl doesn't understand is that when Kyouka gets that angry, she doesn't stop to consider the consequences. It simply isn't in her nature.

    Which doesn't mean that she is immune to the consequences. Or that she doesn't recognize the pain she causes others when she behaves in that fashion, after the fact.

    "I promise." She repeats to Usagi, as the girl exhorts her to call first next time. She means it- circumstances allowing it. But she offers no such qualifications aloud. "I understand that she's hurt you more than she hurt me.. or Fuyuko, for that matter. This wasn't about you- but next time, it will be. Your grudge is older and stronger than mine. It'll be my pleasure to help you make good on it."

    Feeling more or less in one piece again, she observes the way Mamoru sits and seems to wilt. She reaches out, laying a hand on his shoulder, concern in her voice. "I can get home. One way or another. Thanks, Mamoru." She glances down again. She doesn't know how much energy he had previously expended today but it's obvious he's not got much left. "You've done plenty for me tonight. I feel like I should be asking you if you need help getting home, at this point."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"You better promise," Usagi says, and absolutely doesn't sniffle because she definitely doesn't get a little teary-eyed when she's angry, shut up. She looks down at Inai-sensei (a rare experience for her) and says, "It's not about us having dibs. If someone else got her, I'd buy them dinner, you know? It's about not losing you to a fight you can't win by yourself. I want you to see Mamochan graduate high school!"

She makes no promises about graduating herself. With a slow exhale and a sigh, she reaches out and puts a hand on Kyouka's shoulder, squeezing tight.

"I trust you to keep your promise, and I get that if you feel like something bad is going to happen, you're going to do something stupid. Just... make sure it's something stupid we can help with, okay?"

And then she releases her teacher in favor of wrapping an arm around Mamoru, hugging him.

"I could transform and carry you back to school. It might be a little awkward! But I can definitely do it, you know? Everyone's been really wearing out your healing lately."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru just sort of glosses over the rest of the scolding and Kyouka's response to it, and Usagi's reaction to that response, in favor of concentrating on staying upright. But then he's addressed directly, and he lifts his head to look up. "I probably do need help-- it's been a day. But..."

Here he gives Usagi a very crooked smile, turning his gaze to her from Kyouka, and he says, "Been a while since you carried me. Last summer, maybe a week after your first fight, on the beach with all those vines...? Sailor Moon is still my hero, you know, but Usagi Tsukino is even moreso."

Oh he'll be fine.

Kyouka Inai has posed:
    Kyouka reaches up and places her hand briefly over Usagi's on her shoulder. "I'm supposed to be advising you kids about not doing stupid things.. instead I'm getting advised to do stupid things with company."

    She shakes her head at the irony of it, but can't help an amused smile. "Still.. I promise. I would also like to see both of you graduate." A stern look given to Usagi. Maybe feeling this is regaining a little ground.

    She slowly gets up to her feet. "How about I just get us all a taxi back to campus? I kinda feel like that's the least I can do. And it might be a little easier. You can still be a hero while riding in a taxi."