2207/Cousins Cook-In

Cousins Cook-In
Date of Scene:	07 January 2025
Location:	Mamoru Chiba's Apartment
Synopsis:	Due to a short power outage at the dorms, Chiyo heads to Mamoru's apartment to make some curry. Tamaki provides the katsu! And there's a girl hiding in the closet?
Cast of Characters:	Chiyo Sakai, Jadeite, Chibiusa Tsukino

---

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
The power was out at the girls dorm. Just a small issue soon to be resolved they were told. It happened sometimes during Winter, and while there were generators for the dorms, this one had run out of kerosine. It would just be a trip for the groundskeeper to go get a refill and bring it back then prime it and... Well, however it worked, the power wasn't likely to be out *too* long.

If you were patient.

Chiyo was not. She was starving and had a mini-fridge full of food about to go bad. Wako was off with Sugata and Takuto and Rashmi was with her family nice and toasty warm. With bag of groceries in hand she makes her way to the closest place--Mamoru's apartment! Ojiisan was a bit further away at the moment.

Of course she'd gotten permission before showing up, but finding no one readily here didn't matter much. Hearing water from off down the hall she assumes she came at just the wrong time so sets down the groceries and pulls one of those shoji screens out because she did not want to misjudge how a bachelor ran around their own apartment. JUST IN CASE.

Which means by the time the pot of curry is on and simmering sending pleasant smells throughout the apartment, all that could be seen of whomever was in the kitchen was a double-bunned shadow against the shoji screen as she hummed a pleasant tune. One that might have once upon a time been a lullabye for someone perhaps...

Jadeite has posed:
The door opens easily - Jadeite has a key, after all.

And Tamaki steps in with his chunky knit sweater and jeans, (Yes, wearing that despit e the weather), and with a bag full of styrafoam boxes in hand.

"Mamoru-kun, I've brought the katsu!! Time to get it while it's still hot!" he calls out as he steps out of his snow boots -

Hm. There's a set of shoes by the door he recognizes. "Chiyo-san?" he calls out, sniffing as he pokes his head into the kitchen.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa doesn't answer the door for anyone. There are reasons for that. She actually hides in a closet when Chiyo first arrives, small and quiet as she is. Luna-P hovers over her shoulder, peeking through the open door. She doesn't make so much of a peep, and while she's confident that Mamoru would defend her from anything, tragedy can happen in less than a second. Small Lady maintains her tense suspicion and concern up until the moment she starts smelling food.

    It... smells pretty good, actually.

    Moments later, she hears another voice. Wasn't that one of dad's friends? Well, alt-u dad's, anyways. She frowns for a second or two and thinks. Would someone Mamoru knows react like that if there was a member of the Black Moon Clan was here?

    Only after waiting for her nerves to calm down does she come out, followed by her faithful catball. She glances up at Tamaki before approaching the shogi and peeking into the kitchen.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chopchopchop. Swish. Bubblebubble. All the sounds of preparing a curry by someone who knew what they were doing.

Chiyo is unaware of the guest in the closet. She hadn't been told there would be someone here besides Mamoru, perhaps Kazuo, but she was already using up all the ingredients knowing full well that there would be a few hungry guys at least more than likely. When Jadeite arrives with the katsu she lifts her head to smile at him.

About the same time that Chibi comes out and peeks around the shoji.

She's a year older than Usagi, and her hair is plum with spiral curls, but she too wears her hair up in twin buns. Her eyes, like Chibi's are a deep pink in color. "Tamaki-kun! Good timing. I heard you were grabbing Katsu so I was making curry to go along with it before the ingredients started to go bad---Don't worry they're perfectly good," she assures as her hands dust off on the apron she'd borrowed from the few that were here. One likely was Makoto's.

The little movement of pink hair and eyes peeping around the shoji screen catches her attention causing her to blink in her direction with a soft smile. "Ah, hello there! Do you want to help me cook?"

WHY was a kid in Mamoru's apartment? The unspoken question is shot toward Tamaki with a quick look in his direction.

Jadeite has posed:
"I know they're good! You wouldn't bring ingredients that are bad," Tamaki says, setting the katsu out on the table "I didn't realize you would be here - my head is still spinning after the holidays, you know?"

Calling his parents in America, Zooming with the family - managing the time differences had been intense on top of celebrating with everyone at Radiant Heart!

Tamaki turns and looks - puts on his best knightly smile and waves. "Ah, I don't think you two have met? I've only met Miss Chibiusa briefly - she dropped in on magic business a while ago and Mamoru-kun's been helping her out." And he turns to Chibiusa, bowing. "I don't think we've met properly before now? I'm Tamaki, one of Mamoru's friends. THis is Chiyo, she's Usagi's friend and a distant cousin, and the only person who can keep up with Makoto in the kitchen."

Look. If Chibiusa has spent any amount of time with Usagi and Mamoru, which she has, she'll understand the power of that statement. Establish the trustworthiness of the Chiyo.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa looks up at Chiyo and studies her for a moment. Luna-P's unblinking stare looks up at Usagi's cousin, seemingly mimicking her owner's curiosity. The small child doesn't quite catch onto the unspoken body language, because she doesn't really know these two, but she's being invited to help with cooking and the girl seems friendly enough.

    Mamoru sure has a lot of friends that Chibiusa has never met before. Is this because of the difference in universe or...?

    Tamaki does, in fact, seem to know her, and Mamoru trusts Tamaki, so Chibiusa decides to trust Chiyo because apparently trust is a transitive property. Also it's been five seconds and there hasn't been any Droids or dark energy thrown around, so it's probably safe?

    Small Lady looks up at Jadeite as he introduces himself, a bit more properly than their last two meetings. With a small curtsey she gives her own name. "Usagi Tsukino, but... someone here already has that name, so people call me Chibiusa. I'm not from around here. You must be pretty good if people are comparing you to Mako-chan."

    Luna-P turns into a stepping stool, and the small pink climbs up so that she can see above the kitchen counter, looking at all the ingredients. She's taking the offer to help cook at face value. "What do you want me to do?" she asks.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
She'd heard of the 'girl that fell from the sky' by now of course, but Chiyo hadn't met her. She'd had enough things on her plate with running around with her boyfriend, the Star Drivers, Ojiisan and others. She'd only heard that the girls name was 'Usagi' not fully 'Usagi Tsukino'. The surprise is evident on her face as she grins to the girl getting up on the ball-turned-stool.

"I'm Chiyo Sakai, and I'm a good cook but no where near Makoto-chan. My speciality is wagashi. Candy!" She exclaims as she grins brighter with a bit of pride.

The chopping is done, so the 'dangerous stuff' was over. Chiyo instead scoops up a rice paddle and slides the rice cooker over toward Chibi-Usa. "The curry needs to cook a bit longer, but let's start plating up the rice. Could you get the plates, Tamaki-kun?" She asks gesturing toward the cupboards. "There'll be leftovers for women Mamo-san finishes cleaning up, and for Kazuo-kun too." She hadn't forgotten!

Aaah but then she's done with what she's explaining, and just finds herself staring at the pink twin-tailed girl and the urge to just... Reach over and give her a squishy hug is given into. Squishy hug complete with cheek rubbing against the top of Chibi's head with a little squeal.

"Ah you're so cute! Do you want to be my little cousin, too, since you have the same name? I'll give you lots of candy!"

Jadeite has posed:
"If I knew the fastest way to get Mamoru-kun to wait on you hand and foot was to become an Usagi Tsukino, I'd have changed my name years ago," Tamaki says, mostly joking. "Mako-chan's more of a generalist, but Chiyo-chan's really specialized! Besides, she can actually get him to dig in like Mako-chan, which is the important thing."

Not that mr depression cave here can TALK, but he does appreciate Mamoru and Usagi having a friend who can ensure they both eat! (To remember to, for the former, and to satiate, for the latter.)

He hides a grin behind his arm as he pulls the plates out of the cabinet and starts setting them on the table. "Want me to get tupperware too?"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Small Lady looks up at her alt-mom's cousin and listens as she introduces herself, and her face lights up when Chiyo mentions that she can make candy. She takes the rice paddle and considers it for a moment or two, because she isn't sure she's actually looked that closely at the kind of food prep utensils Mamoru has around here.

    It's in this moment of distraction that she's suddenly grabbed and hugged, yelping for a moment and accidentally kicking the Luna-P stool over, where it rattles against the floor and turns back into a floating catball.

    "Wha--? I mean! But--"

    Small Lady nearly blurts something out, but then manages to keep her mouth closed. She'll need to learn to be more careful about letting things slip. Maybe if she needs to she can use hypnosis...

    After a moment Chibiusa just kindof accepts the hug. A princess is not usually handled so casually, but Chiyo doesn't know that yet, so Small Lady musters up all the grace that could ever be expected of a 5 year old and instead comments to Jadeite, smirking while being held, "The name isn't enough. You gotta grow out the twin tails. It's the only way."

    Back to Chiyo, she says, "I think we might actually be cousins on paper. Because, um... I may have kinda told the school that I was related to Usagi-chan."

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai manages to deftly hold Chibiusa in a hug one armed while she shifts her weight to one foot so that she can extend her leg out... and catch the falling stool with her foot. It's tipped back up the proper way proving she at least has far, FAR better balance than her cousin. Once it's back up she lowers Chibi back down with a chuckle.

"Oh, *really*? Ojiisan will be thrilled to know he has another relative to meet," she remarks with a grin. "My Ojiisan was married to the sister of Usagi-chans grandmother. He also owns the store, Nounamu Sweets, where I help out."

A glance is given back to the fridge thoughtfully even as she contemplates Tamaki's question. "Oh yes, definitely the tupperware too. are there eggs in there? If there's eggs and sugar I can make us all some custard for dessert."

And oh-so-helpfully she offers, "I can teach you how to put your hair up into buns when it's long enough, Tamaki-kun.~"

Jadeite has posed:
It's nice seeing Chibiusa not trying to shoot anyone? Or being in danger. (...He really ought to. Get out more. Actually talk to her. Stop running into her only when something's exploding. Ugh, he's been in a RUT, and he shoudln't be being so self-pitying right now, but! It's not like it's stopped him before, unfortunately.)

And with Chibiusa's suggestion and Chiyo's addition, he nods sagely, looking between the two of them with a smirk before goign to get the tupperware.

"Before you two get your hands dirty with custard, want to see if I have enough hair yet? There's got to be hairties SOMEWHERE and my hair isn't that short!"

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Luna-P appreciates Chiyo's reflexive save, even though it's a stool and can't really express it. That also makes it easier for Chibusa to get set back down and, fortunately, she managed to not drop the rice paddle at any point during this.

    "The sister of Usagi's grandmother? So..." Chibiusa stops talking for a moment, but she looks down at her hands and seems to be counting something with her fingers. So Usagi's grandmother would be Chibiusa's great grandmother, and so Ojiisan would be an uncle-in-law to...

    What does that make Chiyo? First cousin once removed. "Yup!" she says, proud of herself for having figured it out all on her own. "We're still cousins!" Sorta. Small Lady's not sure how she feels about meeting non-magical family members, but if Ojiisan makes candy then how bad can he be?

    Tamaki seems to, jokingly at least, be actually taking her suggestion. Chibiusa raises an eyebrow and wonders if he'd actually try it. "I mean, I don't know... Maybe m-- Makoto, or maybe Usagi left some here?" Phew. Good save. Managed to not say the 'mom' word.

    Then she remembers that she was supposed to do something and says, "Oh! Right. Um. Okay. Time to plate the rice!" She begins with all the eagerness of a child wanting to be helpful 'like the big kids/grown ups', but there's a certain hesitation to her follow-up. She looks around, for a moment, for a tool that she doesn't see before scooping up a bit of rice with the paddle and sliding it onto a plate, slightly off to the side, using the paddle to kindof push it into a neat mound. She takes maybe a bit too long trying to get it to look 'right' before giving up and moving to the next one. Chibiusa knows how it's supposed to look, in her mind, but has no knowledge of how to make it look as neat as it would in Neo Crystal Tokyo's palace.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai watches as ChibiUsa starts scooping the rice without saying a word. She lets her try to figure it out herself, and once she moves on to the next plate she nods in approval. "The Katsu and the curry is going to cover it so it doesn't need to be perfect. Just neat," she suggests encouragingly and patiently as one does with someone learning to cook. Of course this was just plating but... It was still important!

At Tamaki's suggestion she gives him a bemused look. "Oh shouldn't we just borrow a disguise pen maybe? I do have extra hair ties in my purse though," she assures with a little laugh at the very notion that even she would go somewhere without them. Her hair wasn't as long thoug---Right? It was curly. Maybe if stretched out it was! "Or Kazuo-kun might, too! He's got long hair too." A pause comes and she adds quietly, "I'm not going to ask him though. It's already embarassing enough what happened with us once."

Jadeite has posed:
Plates out, tupperware out, glasses out -

Tamaki's not going to nudge in on the cousin talk. (Besides, family could be....complicated, and that was before getting into all the magic stuff going on. There's some cousins Tamaki hasn't talked to in years, and he's keeping it like that.) So instead he says: "I wouldn't suggest it if I wasn't willing. We can use a disguise pen if you two want! But I think there's something to be said about doing it yourself, right? Besides, I don't know much about hairstyles, so I'd need you two to guide me anyway."

He is prepared! Chiyo, come at him! It's time to - wait hold on. He leans in to Chiyo, murmuring: "What did you and Kazuo do??"

And he nods to Chibiusa. "Good, generous servings. Everyone here's a growing teen, so we need plenty of food! Food fit for royalty!"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa considers as Chiyo teaches. She wants to look like she knows what she's doing, to look cool in front of new cousin, but it's pretty clear that she doesn't and she's realizing that she's already made it pretty obvious. So she just nods and says, "Okay~!"

    She doesn't have much input when it comes to the disguise pen, though it certainly would make it very easy. Then again, Chiyo has ties of her own. Maybe Chibiusa should bring some with her, also. Instead of trying to discourage him out of trying the thing she only jokingly suggested, she starts taking on a lecturing tone and says, "Well, yes, but in addition to the twintails you also have to get the buns right. You'll have to grow it out a bit more before you can really get the signature bunny-ears look, but we can start with the buns."

    She doesn't really hear Jadeite's murmuring, though she does hear the comment on generous servings and she makes sure to put a little extra on the plate she's decided is Mamoru's. She also has a very similar question. "What's so embarrassing about hair ties?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai dusts her hands off on her apron as the talk goes to more hairties. Before she can step over to her purse though, Tamaki questions what happened which just causes her to go RED faced as she quickly shakes her head. She was over it, but recently was reminded of it, and so it had sprung to mind. Really she shouldn't have said anything at all!

With a little sigh she leans in to murmer back, "He was uh, my first crush and I kind of told him in front of Mamoru once I realized they were an item and I didn't have a chance." With that little explanation blurted out she turns to rush for her purse with a chuckle.

"Oh there's nothing wrong with hair ties, I just meant I didn't want to intrude into his room to ask. He's always seemed like a very private person."

It only takes her a moment to fish out a small cloth pouch with a hair brush, hair ties, and even a mini spray bottle of hairspray to hold aloft. "Besides I have enough here!"

Jadeite has posed:
"You make a good point. We can get a pen to get my hair properly long? Or we can just go for it and see what we can do. I don't think I'm much of a bunny, anyway... Though I don't know what kind of ears I *can* pull off yet. What do you think? Could I be a polar bear?" He mimics little bear buns on his head, grinning.

And he winces at Chiyo's admission. "Oh, I'm sorry. That's a he - a heck of a way for it to go," barely swerving away from swearing at the last second. "Kazuo's nice," he clarifies to Chibiusa, "But he's pretty tired from the holidays and he needs some alone time to rest up. So we're letting him rest."

And he poses. "Besides, you have me as a model! Who could ask for more?"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Mamoru has a boyfriend?! Chibiusa blinks at Chiyo at that particular news. She has to actually take that in for a moment, which stops the progress of her plating the rice. When she continues, she mutters without realizing, "So he's like mom..."

    Small Lady wonders to herself what kind of boyfriend King Endymion would have. Someone tall and handsome maybe? She had suspicions regarding Tamaki too, but she hasn't really had the chance to ask. Asking would mean admitting that it matters to her, which would raise questions that she doesn't really want to answer. All that actually matters to Chibiusa is that her mom and dad are dating, and that they're happy, not that they aren't dating anyone else.

    She snaps back to reality at Jadeite's explanation, and she smiles brightly and says, "Well, I look forward to meeting him sometime! When he has more energy."

    A break, then she realizes that he also asked a different question. "Oh! Hm. Maybe we can try bear ears. Or fox ears?" She says, trying to keep up with the talk that she zoned out of. "We can try a few different things if you want!"

    After making what she thinks is the last plate, she turns to Chiyo and says, "What now?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
"He has *two* boyfriends," Chiyo corrects as she steps back and offers the little pack of hair accessories over to Tamaki with a wink. Looking to Chibi she grins broadly and tips her head toward the blonde in question. "I'd say try a bear with his hair. Like a big teddy bear!"

Back to the kitchen she picks up the styrofoam containers of the katsu while chuckling. "Now I plate up the katsu and then cover with curry. Do you like a lot of curry?" She asks Chibi. "I cut the veggies up nice and small so it's mostly gravy. These guys are not so good at eating their vegetables," she asides conspiratorially to the little cousin-that-may-not-actually-be-related-but-probably-is.

"Why don't you start on Tamaki's hair?"

Jadeite has posed:
"Guilty as charged!" Tamaki chirps, grinning. "Two boyfriends, one girlfriend, and his girlfriend's girlfriend. If we keep this up, we'll have everyone from the moon dating someone adjacent to the two of them within the decade. Which makes sense, since Mamoru is," he stops himself from saying 'perfect', he's trying to not Be Like That, "delightful, and Usagi's been nice to me even when I was being a real pain. Within reason." He did, kind of, escalate most of that fight. Whoops.

"Wha - hey! Chiyo, my family farms! I eat vegetables!" noooooo. "I need to be a vegetarian animal now."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Chibiusa glances towards Tamaki at the indication that he might actually be her alt-dad's boyfriend and once the pieces click into place this whole conversation both starts making a lot more sense and also gets a lot funnier to her. She doesn't laugh, because it could be taken the wrong way, but at the suggestion that she should help with Tamaki's hair she says, "Okay! Let's get you dressed up for Mamo-kun!"

    She wonders why her own timeline's Endymion doesn't have any boyfriends, but that makes her think of home and... she quickly derails that line of thought by hopping down from the Luna stool and leading the way to the nearest seat. Luna-P turns back to a floating catball and follows after her. "Here, sit down and we can get started."

    The idea of polyamory is not at all a foreign concept to her.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai gives Tamaki a look as she gestures helplessly down the hall leading to Mamoru and Kazuo's rooms. "Have you SEEN the fridge?" She asks simply. "If Mako-chan didn't fill it... Who knows how bad it would be." Which was true enough, but she says it all with amusement and a bit of fondness toward those she speaks poorly of.

While they're working on the hair situation she turns her attention toward plating. A quick stir of the curry pot to make sure nothing has settled or burned on the bottom. Then she starts adding katsu to the plates. An equal amount is put into the tupperware of course for those that come later but she doesn't add the curry into it yet. No, that would be on the side to be poured overtop so the katsu remains crunchy meanwhile. Much as it would when cooled and reheated.

"Yeah it's an interesting situation, but you all do seem to care about one another. That's nice. I'm so glad I met Philip though," she adds with a little grin.

Jadeite has posed:
Tamaki sits down on the seat so that Chibiusa can reach him, running fingers through his blond hair to fluff it up some. "Make me look good," he tells Chibiusa seriously.

"That's fair," Tamaki sighs as Chiyo points out the issues with the fridge. "Some vegetables are better than none. I just don't want to be noted as part of the no vegetables for life crew." He has many sins to his name, but not that.

"Are you ever going to bring him over?" he gently teases Chiyo.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    So Chiyo is dating someone named Philip. Chibiusa's internal shipping chart gets updated. Will this work into her schemes somehow? Time will tell.

    "I'm not dating anyone," she volunteers. "I'll give you three guesses as to why but I think you'll only need one."

    To Tamaki, she promises, "Of course! I'll make you look like the best bear ever!"

    Luna-P dutifully turns into a detangling comb and Chibiusa starts brushing out Jadeite's hair. If there's one thing that Chibiusa knows how to do, it's tying hair into concerningly improbable shapes.

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
Chiyo Sakai smiles over at Chibiusa only to respond with, "I'm going to guess because you're new to town," she teases. "But there's no rush to such things anyway. I just had some very, very bad dating experiences before Philip."

She pauses in ladeling some of the curry overtop the rice and katsu to look at Jadeite breifly. "Well I do offer to bring him over, but he's still a bit concerned people will think badly of him given he used to be on the 'other side' of the fight. He imprisoned ... A *lot* of Precure girls." Guys too? There were guys too right? She wasn't sure there.

Besides that he usually wanted to makeout when they were together. THAT she does not state in front of Chibiusa.

"Oh I should get a picture once you're done with him!"

Jadeite has posed:
"Because you're in the flower of youth and want to enjoy your freedom?" Tamaki suggests. Truly, it was good to be a youth and only be concerned with games and school. (and...murder, he guesses? And the silver crystal. Those were less ideal.) He closes his eyes and leans his head back, putting his fortune and his hair in Chibiusa's hands.

He nods minutely as Chiyo explains about Phillip. "Ah, I understand. I was pretty cautious in the first few months when I left the Ohter Side. And you can take a picture, but only if I get a picture of the two of you hugging." For Mamoru!!!

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
    Small Lady gets teased by their playful answers and at first she is scandalized in her childish ways. Then she gets plainly annoyed because even though she knows they're playing with her she realizes that neither one of them are technically wrong. "Yeah that's right. I'm a youthful flower that's new to town!" She says this with her nose in the air, as if she's bragging about it.

    Also Chiyo is talking pretty plainly about magical things, so that answers a question that Chibiusa had on her mind but wasn't sure how to ask.

    Ah Tamaki, so trusting and full of faith. It's probably a really, really good thing that nothing she's doing will require scissors or permanent alterations. Her tiny hands are, if nothing else, practiced. "So first you gotta put it in tails like this. You probably want them... here," she lightly taps a part of Tamaki's scalp, "... and here!" she then taps the same spot on the opposite side. So saying, she starts to make the pony tails, and then begins to narrate, "Then once you got the tails you gotta twist them this way and then wrap them the other way, like this," she says, as if Tamaki can even see what she's doing without a mirror.

    How do they end up looking vaguely like bear ears? Who knows. Future moon magic, maybe.

    After a moment she asks, "Huh? A picture of us hugging? Like... a family picture?"

Chiyo Sakai has posed:
A family picture? Ah that phrasing... Something about it tugs at Chiyo. A familiar something as she had issues with her own absent parents. "A memento," she suggests instead though she does smile wistfully. "You can think of it that way if you want. I don't really have a lot of family photos myself." Lightly clearing her throat she finishes up her task while the pair work on Tamaki's hair.

"But firsts! Dinner!" She picks up some plates to carry over to set down for the pair. "We can discuss photos and such after." Yep. Right now stuffing her face with food seemed like a really great idea.