1173/Fish and Butterflies

Fish and Butterflies
Date of Scene:	10 March 2016
Location:	Uminari City - Seishou Public School
Synopsis:	Two Prism Keepers meet to talk about some very important things.
Cast of Characters:	Reiko Touyama, Chouko Murasaki

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Reiko Touyama has posed:
After the whole mess of the hotel fundraiser affair, school had to happen and the party didn't really leave for much discussion about the uh. More amazing things that happened at least not in detail.

After school however, is a different thing! Reiko left a note in Chouko's locker: 'Come to the regular spot! -koi'. Chouko knew who it was and where that was, the big ol' lilac bush on school at the group tends to hang around.

Reiko was sitting indian style there with her backpack and waiting patiently with anticipation after school had let out. She had her backpack open and was fooling around inside it, she brought out a box of cupcakes from Midori-ya and her sketchbook.

She seemed to be nervously waiting.

Chouko Murasaki has posed:
Chouko had been thinking about all of what had happened since then, too. What had all that been? It had been weird enough to just pass off as another one of the pretend adventures they used to have. In fact, she almost did... until the Chroma Crystal in her pocket gave a small hum, as if to say 'Hey, don't forget about me!'.

...Oh right. She can't pass that one off as easily.

She... changed into someone else. A girl who could fight... whatever that evil butterfly was. That still made her mad, to know whatever that this was, it tried to pretend to be a butterfly to do whatever it was trying to do. Though that brought more questions. Like why did it come after HER? Did it sense her connection with butterflies?

It was just like she had pretended she could do when she was very young. Using butterflies to attack. She'd always been thought of as a little weird because she liked butterflies. That whole 'taking the soul to the afterlife' thing was secondary to her.

Her thoughts were almost too cluttered to notice the note in her locker, in fact. But she blinked, seeing the bright scrap of paper. Quickly she picked it up, and read it. 'Koi'. That could only be one person. Chouko was relieved. Maybe she could find out what was going on now!

After school, Chouko left a message for her mother, telling her there was something that she needed to stay after for, that she'd be done as soon as she could. And then? She turned her phone off. Because she knew her mother was going to blow up her phone. Then she headed right for that remembered hangout.

In fact, that's her right there, jogging towards the spot. The hair's probably the clue, her ringlets bouncing against the back of her neck as she jogs.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama nervous nervous...

"Chouko-chan!" she calls out finally as she waves and then pats the spot in front of her and then gives Chouko a great, big hug---- and then awkward silence. She looks down.

"I'm sorry." she says. She said this that night too. "I know it's confusing and strange and weird..." she says as she sighs. She opens the box and smiles. "Cupcake?" she asks.

"I bet you have a bazillion questions, so... I can answer best I can." she admits.

"Just. I don't have all the answers either." she says meekly.

"I can just drone on about what I know... if you'd like." she says softly.

"But that's not very intresting." she says.

"Do you have your Chroma Prism on you? You'll... you'll never want to be without that. Keep it around you." she warns softly.

Chouko Murasaki has posed:
Of all the things Reiko says, the first thing that catches Chouko's attention?

'Cupcake'.

She doesn't get to eat those much, because her mother micromanages every single thing she eats, fearing she'll gain one single ounce too much. There is visible hesitation as the ingrained 'Mom will be upset if I eat this' kicks in, her hands moving to her chest, fingers linking together. But! Ultimately she does take one. Because cupcake, and she's twelve. There are very few twelve-year-olds who don't like cupcakes, even if they know they're not supposed to eat them.

Chouko nods at the mention of having a lot of questions. "Yeah... but not as many as you might think," she intones quietly. "I remember... back when we were pretending. So I remember a little of what I'm supposed to do to make it work."

And the question of her Chroma Crystal? She nods, and puts her free hand-- that is, the one not holding the cupcake-- into her pocket, pulling the purple crystal out. "This? That's what it's called, right-- a Chroma Crystal?"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama nods. "Yeah...." she murmurs. She looks down. "Yeah. It's a lot like the game. Not entirely. Like..." she says. "The powers are the same..?" she says. "--but the stories aren't the same. Like nothing specific. I mean. Griselda is a thing and the Grey Kingdom. That thing was a 'Shade'-- but it must had drained color elsewhere. I dunno why it took the form of a butterfly." she looks down.

She blinks. "I'm glad you're taking this well." she smiles a bit. "I was overwhelmed at first and I had so many questions! I had to learn a lot for myself." she admits.

"There's... so much going on." she mutters.

"There's lots of other monsters and... magical heroes." she says.

"Not just us!"

"Like Sailor V is real!" she says wide eyed. "Not just a video game character!" she says with wide eyes.

Then two koi appear on either side of her and they also have starry eyes and sort of make an 'adoring look' when Reiko begins to fangirl about Sailor V...

She blinks.

"Yeah you'll have to... get used. To that." she admits sheepishly.

"It just sort of happens. Only magical people can see em so.." she shrugs.

"Sometimes they can be annoying though...."

They both look at Reiko's head--- akanbe at her then poof away when she calls them annoying.

"...yeah." she says.

Chouko Murasaki has posed:
Chouko eats that cupcake as she listens to Reiko explain what she can. As ever, the Japanese are loud listeners-- it's how the Japanese show they're paying attention. So she adds 'I see', 'Really?', and the like as she listens. As for taking things well? That just makes her blush. Because no, she hadn't really been taking it well. She'd been ignoring it. Pretending it didn't happen, and then refusing to think about it when something brought it to mind. That's... not really 'handling it well'.

But she just doesn't have the courage to say that. Reiko needs her to be strong. She can't afford to NOT handle this well. She needs to try, at least. For Reiko.

Her eyes go a bit wide when Reiko mentions Sailor V is real, though. "She is?!"

And then suddenly... koi. Chouko blinks. Though she giggles at the dual akanbe just before they disappear. Though she does have a question. "Does... that happen to the others too? Hoshi, too?" She's referring to the koi, of course. "I mean... not koi, I'm sure, but... anything else?"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama thinks. "Yeah Hoshi has starpals that follow her around. They're kind of adorable." she giggles. "Mei's roses aren't really emotive... but she can create them easy enough. Mei is... she's off chasing her mother. She went missing when all---this happened." she says softly.

"We dunno what happened to her." she says softly.

She looks down.

"It was just me and-- and Mei for a long time. Then she decided she had to figure out where her mom was. Then Hoshi got tangled up in a telescope Shade attack... and you got caught up in a butterfly Shade attack and Roy had to make the call to give you both your Crystals." she says with a sigh.

"At least Hoshi got to choose. That bothers me a lot..."

"That Roy had to just awaken you because.. of what was going on."

"Nrg." she grumbles and crosses her arms.

"Roy means well... I know he just wants to make sure I have help but... Mei trusted me with the inactive Crystals. I don't think Mei will be too upset at me unless Momo gets her crystal."

"Then I think she eats me alive." she says letting herself fall bacl against the ground and sighs.

"...Momo's pink. Mei knows it but won't give her the crystal. I'm Orange. Hoshi is Yellow... you're Purple. That makes all the others we played with the other keepers now for sure." she sighs.

Chouko Murasaki has posed:
At the affirmative answer, that Hoshi has stars like Reiko has koi, Chouko wonders if she'll end up with butterflies chasing her around now. She looks around reflexively-- she doesn't see any now. But then, she's not really emoting at the moment. She keeps the thought to herself, wondering. But now there are other things to think of. Reiko seems like she feels bad for what happened with the crystals.

"But now you have more help," she counters, to the mention of how Chouko had to be awakened. "Besides, I..." She stalls. She wouldn't have wanted Mei, Reiko, and Hoshi to have to do this all by themselves. She'd have wanted to help if she could, if she knew about it. But it's hard to express that. She does manage, shyly, "...I would have. Even if... I'd had a choice..."

Gaaah why is that so hard to saaaaay?!

Though Reiko soon gives her something else to concentrate on. Mei and how upset she'll be. Chouko nods. "That's right... Momo always wanted to be Pink, didn't she?" she recalls. A quiet giggle. Though she nods. "I guess so though... if it's that dangerous..." Mei wouldn't want her sister doing something this dangerous, no.

Pause. "...Should we tell the others? Or just wait until it happens?" Since it seems to be a foregone conclusion.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama looks down. "To be honest..." she says softly. "I'm thinking on that. I-- I don't want this to happen again where-- it only matters when they're in danger." she says softly. "What if me and Hoshi weren't there that night!? Then what!?" she says as she digs her hands into the ground--- and then relaxes them sighing as she sits up.

"But at the same time..." she says.

"I dunno." she says forlornly. "Mei left me in charge so... I think it's my call." she admits. "But it feels weird-- 'being in charge' because I don't often feel like a leader. That was Mei's dream I was just the spunky lieutenant!" she huffs.

"I need to have a talk with you and Hoshi soon, about... joining an organization called 'Virtue'... a sort of-- um. co-op. For magical types that support one another."

"The main thing that's stopping me is well..."

"...We'd have to talk to Tadase..." she mutters and blushes severely. "Stupid magic princes..." she mutters.

Chouko Murasaki has posed:
Chouko nods. "There's that, too," she agrees. "B-because... if we know... if we can figure it out..." She stalls. If they could figure out who the rest of the Prism Keepers were supposed to be, couldn't Griselda? And what if Griselda went after the rest of their group? That would be really bad. Wouldn't it be better to get it out of the way?

As for Reiko being in charge? Chouko smiles gently. "...We can help, right?" she asks. "Hoshi and I?" Now that Chouko's any good at being in charge, either. But she could support Reiko, couldn't she? Well, she could try, at least.

The talk of Virtue gets a blink. "...There's that many magical people?" she asks. If they need to form a group like that, there have to be a lot of them. Though the thing that's stopping Reiko gets a blink. "'Magical prince'? A real magical prince?" A pause. "Is there a reason you don't want to talk to him?"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama nods. "Yeah!" she says. "If I'm leader I don't wanna be a dictator." she giggles. Oh then Chouko asks why she doesn't talk to Tadase.

"It's complicated!" she says. Then she pauses and looks down. "N-not really." she mutters. "I just...had a crush on him. Then I confessed when it was too late anyways." she mutters. "Not that it'd had worked out anyways. So It's just awkward I guess.. for me. I mean. I like someone else now too- and I'm not trying to make the same mistakes! But---" she sighs.

"I guess he isn't a /real/ prince but he's stylized like one." she says.

"But.. there /are/ some real Princesses and Princes and Knights and stuff like..."

"There's a Princess from another world here on Earth!" she says wide eyed. "Can you belive that? That there's entire other worlds? I wanna go to one someday..." she says dreamily.

She then shakes it off. "Wow Chouko there's... /so many/ magical heroes and girls and boys!" she says. "Like. There's us-- Prism Keepers. Um. then there's Puella Magi--- Sailor Senshi--- Chara Bearers--- Guardian Knights--- Pretty Cure-- Intelligent Device Mages--- Um, people who hunt Curses! There's so many that's not even the full list because I don't really have names for the others..." she admits.

"But.. these groups have enemies too. I've fought this creepy witch who had these ninjas before! There's this evil magical scientist named 'Riventon' who has it out for me, too--- he even made this weird creepy.. 'Shadow Clone' of me.." she says. "He has it out for me because I helped freed his sister from his control... he was. mistreating her. Making her do things like attack people and she didn't want to at all! because---"

"'He wanted to know how magical girls work'" she says a little disgustingly.

Chouko Murasaki has posed:
Chouko nods when Reiko mentions not wanting to be a dictator. "But I'm sure you wouldn't be," she replies quietly. A pause, as she tries to figure out how to say it. "...Just... let us know, okay? Let me know if I can help somehow..."

Then Reiko explains why she's reluctant to talk to Tadase, and Chouko gasps quietly. "How horrible..." Yes, she's that age where she feels like having a similar thing happen to her-- someone she's interested in being interested in someone else-- would be the end of the whole world! And then she volunteers, "Maybe Hoshi and I could talk to him for you?" she suggests.

That's when Reiko starts talking about princes and princesses, other worlds, other magical types... Chouko's head feels like it's spinning-- it isn't, no. But it feels like it. All these magical types. And then the mention of the matching bad guys! Of course, there wouldn't need to be that many good guys if there weren't just as many bad guys. She didn't think about that at the moment, but it makes sense...

That's when Reiko starts talking about the shadow clone of her, and Chouko covers her mouth with a hand. "Oh no... does he still have it?" Because what if he tries to ruin Reiko's reputation with it? Is that even possible?

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama frowns and leans forward. "I don't know. I destroyed it. You'll know because it acts different than me, full of itself-- and it has grey eyes. Also. It was calling him..." she shivers disgustingly. "/nii-chan/." she mutters.

"But if he created one, he can create another I guess." she sighs.

"But you just can't let him hurt people..." she says. "You gotta stop him."

Then she blushes! and huffs! "W--what no!? I can do it myself!" she says crossing her arms. "I gotta do it myself this time!" she says. She closes her eyes and sighs and leans back.

"I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic I don't know. Like. You watch a lot of anime and you think, 'I wish /I/ could meet a magic prince' and then you find out some of that stuff is real-- and there /are/ magic princes and stuff!" she says. "And then YOU BLOW IT!" she says.

"Ugggggh!" she huffs.

"I guess that's just how I really feel about it." she says sheepishly. "I feel.. so unelgant. Like a fish flopping about.. you know?" she admits softly and sits back and finally shoves a cupcake into her mouth narwm.

"Right.."

"I'll need to get jerky to put in your pocket if I'm gonna introduce you to one of my friends."

"She's a kitsune. She likes jerky. She'll rob your pocket for it." she giggles. "But.. she's a nice person. She was--- 'the sister' of that jerk. She's free now. We---"

"We kinda went to Inari to help. Like. The Inari. We went to Hiwaka Shrine and everything and went to this weird place and had to do some trials..."