1898/What's In a Name

What's In a Name
Date of Scene:	02 September 2016
Location:	Earth Court Frat House
Synopsis:	Turns out, kind of a lot.
Cast of Characters:	Kyouko Sakura, Mamoru Chiba, Kunzite

---

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    It's mid-morning at the ECFH, but it's summer break, so people are probably more likely to be around than they otherwise would be when school is in session. That said, Kyouko is emerging from the part of the apartment which is under renovation- nobody had any reason to be in there.. Well, nobody except for Naru, who was the person that Kyouko had come to see. See first, anyway.

    That meeting must have been successful, as Kyouko, padding back into the currently-active living room, is clutching a piece of paper. It's hard to see what's on it, but she's being careful with it- making sure not to fold or crease it, which is pretty much the only reason it hasn't vanished into a pocket yet. She glances around as she crosses the room, perhaps trying to figure out if anyone is awake yet (no one had seemed to be when she had initially come in and crossed over to talk to Naru).

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
She won't have to go far.

"What I don't get is the logistics," Mamoru's saying when Kyouko comes in. He's sitting upside-down on one couch with his head dangling over the edge, holding a tablet up in front of his face and reading something on it-- or is in the process of doing so, but is currently taking a break to complain at Kunzite.

He's in shorts and a t-shirt and moccasins; he'd be barefoot except that leaving his feet hanging over the back of the couch without protection means someone could (and probably would) assault them.

"Like, okay, fine, someone's living on a pillar for thirty years, with people gathering at the base of it to ask for blessings and advice, fine. Presumably that means there's a way to get up and down it, but nobody ever talks about that. Maybe they don't. Maybe they get their food pulleyed up to them in baskets. Maybe the people at the base just... leave when the revered personage has to evacuate his or her bowels. But legit nobody ever talks about how impractical stylitism was."

Kunzite has posed:
"Nobody ever talks about it for two obvious reasons," Kunzite points out. He has an actual book in one hand, and coffee in the other, and is apparently ignoring Mamoru in favor of both. Except, of course, that he's sitting at the far end of the same couch and talking to him. "One, hardly anyone remembers or cares what stylitism was. Two, it was sufficiently obviously impractical that the complaints and arguments about it happened back when people were actually trying to do it. Remember that the entire thing originated from idiots spending a week starving themselves to try to induce visions, and the 'idiot' part never actually went away. Good morning, Kyouko."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko halts for just a moment inside the door to the living room. She hadn't been in the other section of the apartment for that long (or at least it hadn't seemed that long), and to come out and find the exact two people she was looking for engaged in an ongoing conversation is a bit unexpected. But hell, Kyouko is never one to question the will of providence, as long as it's in her favor anyway.

    "Hey nii-chan, Mamo." She says, as she changes trajectory to walk over to the sitting area where they are relaxing. Rather than join them on the couch, she drops into one of the big chairs, still clutching the paper in her hands, now in her lap. "Sorry to bust in so early, I just wanted to talk to Naru about somethin'.."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Kyouuu-channnn," cheers Mamoru, shutting off his tablet and reaching further over his head to put it down on the coffee table, then looking upside-down at her through the glass until he decides that this mode of operation is just as impractical as stylitism and starts wrenching himself around. He's careful not to kick Kunzite in the process, because coffee. "What is this 'busting in' BS. Anyway I just got home so it's not early for me, it's really really really late."

Then he slithers off the couch entirely and picks up his empty coffee cup. "You want some?" he asks Kyouko. "I mean even though it's not tea." A pause, and he decides against making a dad joke in favor of trying to catch a glimpse of what Kyouko's holding as he passes her on the way to the kitchen.

Kunzite has posed:
"Also, if you ask Nephrite, I don't sleep. Therefore there is clearly no 'so early.'" Kunzite lifts his cup toward Kyouko. Unusually, it's actually showing signs of his having drunk some of it, instead of just caging it in both hands and hoarding it and its heat like a dragon with gold.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "You can tell me I'm welcome all you like," Kyouko says, making a face at Mamoru as he passes, though it's a playful one, "But a lotta people still get annoyed when you traipse through the living room before breakfast." She grins though, her usual lopsided expression, seeming to take his reassurances (and Kunzite's) to heart. As Mamoru rises and goes towards the kitchen, she shakes her head, making a bit of a more negative face than the first one. "Nah, thanks though."

    She sees him trying to peek, of course, and a faint hint of color rises in her cheeks as she momentarily pulls the paper closer to her chest. "Um.. well, look, I wanted to show you this anyway.." She says after a moment, her glance including Kunzite in the statement as well. "I didn't wanna just do it cuz.. I dunno, I felt like that'd be rude, so I got Naru to sketch it out for me.." She still doesn't actually turn the paper around though, waffling.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Kkhhh I'd hiss at you if you thumped on my bedroom door before breakfast but the living room is fair game. Especially if someone's hungover in it," Mamoru says, waving his free hand in the air as he disappears into the kitchen -- once, of course, Kyouko's pulled the paper closer to her chest so he can't see.

It doesn't take him long with the coffee to refill his own, since he takes it black, and there's a blink as he does because Kyouko's hedging around and that's weird.

He's also eyeing Kunzite for a second like he's going to give him a hard time about something, but then doesn't; instead, he cocks his head slightly as he looks to Kyouko, slowly putting his coffee down on the table next to the tablet. "Rude...? Since when do--" That's not tactful, Mamoru. "Well... what is it?"

Kunzite has posed:
This is the point at which Kunzite finally folds the book closed and puts it down. There's not a word spoken on his end; Mamoru said all the important ones.

(Especially the part about the hangovers.)

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko's eyes dart left and right a few times as Mamoru comes back over from the kitchen with his coffee and just demands she come out with it. It's not, particularly, that she fears rejection. It's that she's not used to asking for things, so she's worried maybe she's not doing it right, and she really doesn't want to upset what, for her, is still a new and wonderful situation that she can't quite believe she's lucked into. As the one, at least in her mind, being given the gifts, the last thing she wants to do is trample all over that good will (even if Mamoru and the others don't see it that way at all).

    But there comes a point where you just sort of have to do what you're gonna do, and she's more than familiar with this idea as well, so, after that moment of hesitation, she just thrusts the picture out at him. It's a sketch of The Outfit, done in Naru's sure hand, though without a Kyouko-head (its just the outfit itself, not her body) and not in color.

    She doesn't say anything, and as soon as she hands it over she turns her head to the side, looking for all the world like a cat who has just tripped and is trying it's hardest to look like it doesn't care at all how silly it looks. Her cheeks are red.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
This may be the first time even Kunzite has heard Mamoru literally squeak, nevermind Kyouko. The picture is in his hands and he sees it and he squeaks.

And then abruptly he's hugged Kyouko except it's less of a hug and more of a headlock and he's dragging her and the picture over to Kunzite, waving the picture. "Look at what she-- look! Can you DO that? I didn't want to-- I didn't know if you could do that-- and I didn't want to-- I mean--" The words are tripping over each other before he remembers he should probably let go of Kyouko's head before she kills him and negates the whole thing, and he's braced to get laid into either way, and it doesn't stop him from talking anyway.

"THAT'S NOT RUDE AT ALL you can DO that? You WANT to do that? YES DO THAT! Kunzite do you have the thing? Did we get it from Luna yet!"

Kunzite has posed:
"I can't look at anything if you're waving it around," Kunzite points out blandly to Mamoru. "Yes, we have the thing. Probably against Luna's better judgment, but most things are." He sets down his coffee and eases out of his seat, going to disappear into a hall; it's less than twenty seconds that he's back, a small and slightly battered box of lacquered wood in one hand. Possibly, by then, Mamoru will have calmed down enough to let him see what his prince is talking about.

Maybe.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Mamoru squeaks, and then Kyouko squeaks, mostly because Mamoru is trying to hug her and pull her at the same time and the resultant headlock threatens to cut off her air supply.

    She batters at his arm, though she's obviously not serious about trying to escape or else she'd be battering a lot harder. The other clue is that she's laughing, a sort of half-relieved, half-incredulous expression of surprise at Mamoru's reaction. "W-well, y'know, I didn't want to overstep, or assume or.."

    He finally lets her go and she straightens up, brushing at her hair and straightening her shirt, but she's smiling, one of those real smiles that isn't sardonic in the slightest, even if there is still a hint of red in her cheeks- mostly because of all the reactions she had anticipated, this is perhaps a bit more extreme.

    But her eyes travel to Kunzite curiously as he steps back into the room, her head tilting slightly. "What? What is it?" Now it's her turn to be in mild suspense.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And as soon as Kyouko's straightening her hair, Mamoru's messing it up again with a rough ruffling as he trades Kunzite the paper for Kunzite handing Kyouko the box. He's grinning so hard his face is gonna break. "No no no. No -- I didn't either -- we're both idiots, hahaha! No I'm just so happy you really mean to-- can I, can--"

And then he's holding his hands up and laughing. "No I'll ask you after. Open it! Kunzite look at that!"

Kunzite has posed:
The box is handed to Kyouko duly -- matter-of-fact, with no kind of fanfare whatsoever. "Thought you could use that," is the only thing he says. He takes the paper as his hands are clear, and glances down at the drawing.

Eyebrows go up.

After a moment, so does the corner of his mouth, and he glances toward Mamoru. "All right. I'll let you off the hook for forgetting what nouns are this time."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "Hey, gerrof!" Kyouko scowls good-naturedly as Mamoru proceeds to ruffle her hair all up again, swatting at his hands in a manner which might have descended into an affectionate scuffle except for the fact that Kunzite is handing her the box.

    She takes it from him, curiosity lighting up her red eyes, and cracks the lid open, peering inside.. then opening it all the way as her eyes widen a little bit more. "Is this...?"

    She pulls the bracelet-like ornament out of the box and holds it up. "Is it like the ones you guys have?" She asks, looking at them both. her expression is a mixture of incredulity and excitement. "That's.. wow.. I mean.. it's.. awesome!" She's grinning again, and all but bounces on her toes right there in the living room, looking less like her normal fierce self and more like a five-year-old who just got given a nifty new toy at Christmas.

    Then suddenly she's sniffling, and her head turns away again, clutching the bracelet against her chest. "You guys are way too nice to me."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Now it's Kunzite's turn to get rough-house affection from the prince; he reaches over to shove at the taller boy's shoulder, still grinning, eyes maybe a little overbright. Maybe a lot overbright.

And then Kyouko's opening the box and reacting like that, and suddenly Mamoru's hugging her again -- from the side; she can breathe -- even if this isn't something he often does, even if this isn't something she often allows. He laughs in her hair, and only Kunzite can see that overbright traitorously spilling over an even tinier bit. "Nice? Too nice? It's just like ours -- which means you get distress calls, can make them, and get tracked by a talking cat from the moon who types really cutely on a computer and has tiny cat headphones. I mean tracked in case you either can't answer and are in trouble, or happen to go evil, which is less likely because who'd keep a known tracking device on them if they went evil? Tch! But of course it's like ours-- if you're one of my guys, Kyouko, it's the whole deal--"

He's breathless, he's talking a lot, he's distressingly excited; he leaves his hand on her shoulder even as he pulls back...

And then his breath is catching and he's turning red, and he's still smiling but it's a very different one, and there's something terribly solemn and weighted about it.

"And your name. It's not just-- this isn't just a team. And it's not just a family, either. The world's not the way it used to be; it won't replace the name you have. But-- it will be yours forever. It'll be a name that stays on your soul. I'm the only one who can give it to you, and I know what I would choose -- but the world's not the way it used to be. It's your choice, not mine. So is whether you want to take one, and make that kind of mark on your soul when it's already been marked so many times."

Kunzite has posed:
It's exactly like the ones they have. Exactly like the one Kunzite's wearing now, except in a smaller size. Kunzite might have been intending to demonstrate, but he's getting shoved by Mamoru, and snags at the other boy's arm instead, pushing him toward Kyouko because of course they both know how he's going to react to her expression doing that. He folds his own arms, hanging back for a moment. "Luna," he notes, "has warned us all that she can shut us down individually if anyone starts trying to prank the channels too much. And you don't want to see what happens if we realize for the third time that you're in trouble and left the tracker in your apartment while you went off to do something ill-advised." ... they take the tracker with them when they go to do ill-advised things. Usually. That's the whole point.

Going evil, of course, is an entirely different matter.

The name ... is between Endymion and her; he falls quiet, standing back, watching.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko gets hugged, and for once she doesn't protest. In truth, she'd probably protest less than people imagine in the correct company, and this certainly qualifies, though she does have a reputation to protect.. although that's pretty much the farthest thing from her mind at the current moment as she wraps her arms around Mamoru in return and squeezes him.. laughing despite herself at his continued enthusiasm.

    It puts a warmth in her chest which is something she has seldom felt in the most recent half of her life. The feeling of being wanted, of belonging somewhere- of people who actually seem to like her, not because they're afraid of her or because they have a common enemy, but for her own sake. Kyouko is not good at making friends. That's why this moment seems all the more miraculous to her.

    But then Mamoru is pulling back, though he leaves his hand on her shoulder, and giving her that very solemn smile. Her eyes turn up, bright, fierce, and full of that fire which so characterizes her as she meets his gaze and he talks to her about names. "The marks on my soul so far have all been pretty negative, Mamoru. They've been inflicted on me, not gifted, or taken for myself. This.. would be both. Given by you. Taken by me. And even if it can't stamp out the old marks.. the scars, already there, maybe it can lay over them. That's a mark I'll be proud of, and one I'd want to be what people see when they look at who I am."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Again, Mamoru's-- Endymion's-- eyes are overbright, glittering to complement that reserved and grave little smile.

"Then," he says slowly, "there's something you should know, first. Before, during the first time Beryl lived, she began her life as a seer before she turned to sorcery. Sorcery and darkness turned that sight away from true things, from dreams of the future; her desires did even before that. But sometimes she could still catch glimpses of things that were right, things that were true. That must have persisted into this life, because she took the name that you've since earned and dared to place it on you without the kind of authority that could grant it."

A breath, and Endymion's hand moves from Kyouko's shoulder to her forehead, and then to her soul gem, ensconced in the ring on her finger-- this time it's only fingertips, just barely touching the solidified source of all that is Kyouko and her magic. "So let's reclaim what should have been yours to begin with. Let's overwrite that scar. Let's let you own it, the same as the others do theirs."

There's time to stop him. He's giving her all the time in the world to stop him, he's making it so obvious what he intends to say, what he intends to name her, before the name leaves his lips. If she wants to move away from it, if she wants a new one, she has time. She has that choice.

There's a pause, finally, in which -- because this life is different -- he does not expect her to kneel.

Then, with the weighted gaze of ancient, world-filling presence, of an awareness both vast and broad, and with blue eyes the color of Earth's oceans from space focused solely on Kyouko, Endymion says:

"You are Apatite, the Knight of Sincerity and Respect."

Kunzite has posed:
Quietly, in the background, Kunzite greets that title with a subdued smile, with a bowing of his head. Sometime in those last words -- sometime, perhaps, almost precisely in the moment in which Endymion's fingertips touched Kyouko's soul gem -- he's gone from white shirt and jeans to white and gray and brown. Cape at his shoulders. Sword at his side. He didn't have to; this life is different.

He didn't have to. But some kinds of respect Kyouko earned longer ago than she's ever known.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    She knows where he's going as soon as he begins to talk about Beryl. There's a shift of emotions across her face, as he looks into her eyes and she looks back into his.. at first, a drawing together of brows; slight consternation. Then, as Mamoru goes on, explaining that some things can be claimed, overwritten, made ones own, that consternation clears- replaced by a fierce, burning pride.

    It was the same with Kyubey. She had been played, granted powers to serve someone else's design, manipulated to be a pawn in someone else's game. But she was never happy with that, and over time, she had taken that power and made it her own. She was still a Puella Magi- nothing could change that. But she used her powers as she saw fit, to her own ends, to her own goals. She had made them her own. Though they had been given to dominate her, she had dominated them.

    It's the same with Apatite. A name given as a mockery of ancient traditions, to enslave her will. But just because it was conceived in that way, doesn't mean it has to stay that way. Forces in this world can warp what is good into something perverse- but, just the same, forces which are good can turn things which are wrong into things which are right, taking an ill-fitting mantle and, with time and effort, making it into something wonderful.

    Just as with her nature as a Puella, she could take Apatite, what she was and what she stood for, and turn it to her own ends.

    After all, she's Kyouko Godamned Sakura.

    But no longer just Kyouko Godamned Sakura. Nor is she under the misconception that she had arrived here alone. As she had said to Mamoru- given freely, taken freely. A true title can't be forced onto someone, nor can it be given to oneself. It has to be earned, granted by one with the right to give it, accepted by the one for whom it is meant.

    All this passes through her mind, but, looking into her eyes, Mamoru can see it, see the meaning of it and the spirit of it, even if she says nothing aloud as he speaks to her. When he speaks her name, something shifts in her eyes, and he can tell that it has taken root.

    She will never be unthinkingly obedient. She will never be refined and gentle. She will never be a servant.

    But she will be loyal. Because when a gift this great is given, especially to someone who has had such a desperately lonely life, the gratitude never dies.

    "Yes," Apatite says, after a moment of silence. "I am."