1975/Netflix and NO CHILL

Netflix and NO CHILL
Date of Scene:	30 September 2016
Location:	Earth Court Frat House
Synopsis:	Makoto brings Chibiusa over to the frat house to see Mamoru and meet the guys. Unfortunately she was missing two important details: Mamoru isn't home, and Chibs and Zoisite have met before.
Cast of Characters:	Makoto Kino, Kunzite, Kyouko Sakura, Naru Osaka, Chibiusa Tsukino, Zoisite, Mamoru Chiba

---

Makoto Kino has posed:
"There's pretty much always someone here," Makoto comments as they ride the elevator up from the entrance. "If not Mamoru-niisan, then one of his brothers, and the people like me who don't live here but visit a lot. It's a good place to go if you need help."

She's mostly let Chibiusa have her space since she first snatched the girl out of traffic, just made sure to keep her properly fed and make occasional gentle reminders about things like baths and bedtimes. Mako hasn't pried about where she's from, or why she doesn't have anywhere else to stay, or what happened that makes Chibiusa sniffle quietly for her parents late at night when she thinks Mako is sleeping.

And aside from the marathon Netflix sessions that Chibs has had going since Mako first introduced her to the concept, the little girl has been an inoffensive houseguest. But this state of affairs can't stand indefinitely, Makoto knows. There are questions that need answers, and she's not equipped to figure out how to ask them.

Anyhow, the more people looking out for the kid, the better.

She holds the elevator door for Chibiusa to get out when they reach the top floor, before letting herself in with the comfortable ease of a frequent visitor who no longer has any lingering impulse to knock. "Hello," she calls, sing-song, to whoever's present as they come in. "I've brought a guest."

Kunzite has posed:
It may perhaps be slightly disconcerting that this apartment, too, smells of baking going on. It is not /Makoto's/ baking. (Makoto may pick up on the sweet-spice combination that Naru's experiments tend to center around.) There is a definite difference in skill levels, here. But it is indeed a valiant attempt, not unworthy in its own way.

It is also a decidedly /practical/ attempt, given that it has taken Kyouko into account and generated her own /completely separate/ batch of cookie dough to keep her hands out of everyone else's.

Additional evidence that Naru is involved: homework and a sketchbook occupy part of the coffee table in the living room.

At Makoto's call, Kazuo makes himself manifest -- exits the kitchen with his hair tied back, still drying his hands on a towel. Whatever's going on is far enough along that he's ditched any apron he might have been wearing, leaving the typical jeans and white shirt, sleeves rolled up and top button open as per usual.

Look, Chibiusa -- it's someone even taller than your dad.

There's a moment in which he's taken slightly aback, indeed, since Makoto doesn't seem to have anyone with her. Then his gaze finally travels down far enough to register. "So you have. Hello to the both of you."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko is sitting cross-legged on the kitchen table with a bowl of cookie dough cradled in her lap, looking like a cat with a bowl of cream. She leans back, craning her neck to try and see out of the kitchen and towards the front door as she hears Makoto's call. "Mako-chan! Hiii~" She calls out, unaware of the littlest Tsukino accompanying Sailor Jupiter.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Between the homework, the sketchbook and Naru's shoes and school bag hanging out by the door, it's a good bet that Naru's the one babysitting the baking going on in the kitchen. Even lower skilled cookies are, indeed, still cookies, and a worthy degree of procrastination against the history homework that Naru is valiently ignoring.

Naru leans over from where she's washing up the prep dishes. "There'll be cookies shortly!" She calls, as if the smell of them isn't enough to give that away.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
It's been really, really nice not to be living in a playground anymore. Not that she wasn't doing an excellent job of taking care of herself. And not that she was getting lonely and cold at nighttime. She could have stayed at King Penguin Park for as long as she wanted, thanks -- but Mako-chan's home is a lot comfier, she'll admit. With better food and as much tv as she wants to watch!

No slide though. That's a bummer. Maybe she can bug Mako to take her to the park after they stop by her friend's house.

Chibiusa nods at her explanation, reaching up and placing her hand in Mako's much larger one.

"Mamoru sure has a lot of brothers and sisters," she says. "I don't know why some kids have lots like that. Are babies just something that happens to Mamas and Papas?"

That auspicious questions rings loud and clear as Mako opens the door to the apartment, a sign for any and all who don't want to deal with a child to make their escape now. Like, *now* now. Of all the topics that pass through the frat house, where babies come from is probably not one that comes up too often.

Oblivious, Chibiusa steps into the apartment, wide red eyes looking around as she hugs Luna-P close to her chest. She's looking pretty adorable today: tiny denim overalls over a striped white and pink shirt, with a red bow decorating one of her pointy bunny-ear odangos. Importantly, she also looks less dirty and poorly fed than she did before Mako took her in, and there's less defensiveness in the air about her.

The chances of her pulling out a gun on anyone here are probably lower, too.

Makoto Kino has posed:
A strangled sound escapes Makoto at that question, something that might be an effort to smother laughter before it can escape. "Ah, well," she says aside to Chibiusa, "kind of, but it's a little more complicated in this case. More like... adopted brothers and sisters. When you don't have any family, you make your own out of the people you care about the most."

With that out of the way, Makoto looks up again, offering a slightly rueful smile to the others. "Sounds like we have good timing," she says brightly. "Chibiusa-chan, this is K--Kazuo, one of those brothers I was talking about." One day, she'll remember his legal name on the first try. Today is not that day. "And that's Kyouko, and Naru-chan is making cookies."

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo folds himself down into a crouch, the fingertips of one hand resting on the floor to balance him. "Hello, Chibiusa-chan. Welcome." He pauses for just a moment, and does not -- unsurprisingly to Makoto -- look any less serious. "What Makoto says is true. Sometimes people say 'brother' or 'sister' to mean someone they're as close with as brothers or sisters should be."

It is, honestly, a lot less putting himself on a level with Chibiusa for her convenience than it is the simple and practical matter that he can't actually see her face from up there. Ahem.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko hears Makoto talking to Chibiusa, and Kunzite says her name which clues her in on who the mysterious other person Jupiter had been addressing actually is. She quirks a brow as she chomps a bite of cookie dough off of her fingertip, before calling out, "Oh, hey kid. I was wonderin' why our day-old donuts weren't gettin' takin' anymore. But if you've been with Mako-chan, I guess you've been getting better food than I could provide." She sounds amused, but retains her kitchen-table perch.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh! Hi Chibiusa-chan!" Naru calls from the kitchen, peering around the corner as she collects a tea towel to dry her own hands a moment. She watches Kunzite crouch down in front of the little girl and considers that particular level of adorable a moment. Yep. That's adorable.

"Would you like something to drink?" Naru offers, to the group as a whole, most especially the two who have only just arrived.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
Chibiusa nods, not even looking up at Mako as she holds in laughter. She must have been convincing enough about it -- or maybe the little five-year-old just smelled cookies and can't cram anything else in her brain. Probably the latter.

She's gotten over her aversion to junk food after eating it for two weeks. Short memory, and cookies are yummy. She's already pivoted, making a bee line for the kitchen and the source of the sugary smell, when someone very tall and tan comes out and kneels in front of her, answering her question about brothers and sisters.

Headtilt.

"Huh. Does that mean I can call Luna-P my sister?" She holds out the kitty sphere, introducing it to Kazuo in a strange way. "Or -- brother? I don't know, I don't think Luna-P is a boy or a girl, but I don't like being an only child. And Luna-P is always nice to me."

Offhandedly, she wonders if that makes Puu her sister -- but then what was the difference between a sister and a friend? She thought that brothers and sisters had to have the same parents, whether they liked it or not. Does this mean that everyone who likes each other enough becomes family? Is it like that in Crystal Tokyo too?

She's distracted again before she can think of an answer. That girl from the convenience store is here, and there's someone else offering her something to drink.

"Yeah!" Chibiusa nods, a bright smile crossing her face at the mention of Mako's food. "She's a really good cook, and -- did you know she has a computer with all the cartoons in the world on it? She lets me watch them as much as I want!" Crystal Tokyo had TV too, obviously, but the limits on her watching time were a lot stricter. "Do you have apple juice here? I'd like a cookie too. Please."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Netflix," is Makoto's sidelong explanation for the 'all the cartoons in the world' thing - as though anyone here couldn't figure that out for themselves.

Mostly, for now, she stands back a little, letting Chibiusa meet people, and joining Naru in taking a moment or two to appreciate really how cute it is to see Kunzite hunkered down on the little pink-haired girl's level.

She does contemplate Luna-P briefly, though neither the robot cat ball or the question were specifically directed towards her. "I think that's something only you and Luna-P can decide," she suggests, before Chibiusa is mercifully diverted by food. Never fails. "Naru-chan's a good baker, too," she adds cheerfully. "I wouldn't mind some ice water, if it's not a bother."

Kunzite has posed:
"Have the two of you met?" Kazuo calls back to Kyouko, casual inquiry with no particular concern. Then his attention is distracted right back to Chibiusa, because there's another introduction to be handled. He regards the ball with the cat ears gravely. "Again, Makoto's correct, I think. It would be impolite to assume that kind of relationship without Luna-P's agreement." The solemn nod toward Chibiusa's ball probably does the opposite of helping, where Naru's and Makoto's evaluations of the situation are concerned.

Then he straightens up so as to be able to remove himself from the line between Chibiusa and kitchen. Small child and cookies. There is a certain degree of gravitational pull, here.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "Oh yeah, you didn't hear about that?" Kyouko's voice difts out of the kitchen, amused. "She tried to rob my store with a fake gun so I gave her some food. Mamoru came over too and talked to her, so don't worry about it. I was leaving her day-old donuts for a while but she stopped taking them a while back.. I guess when Mako-chan got ahold of her. Probably for the best." She seems happy where she is on the kitchen table, though, with Naru. Close to the baking.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I.." Naru pauses at Kyouko's explaination and then she glances out to the wee one again and then shakes her head as she goes to get drinks. Juice and water. "Right. I /see/."

Any further comment is distracted by the bing of a timer and Naru bending to draw out two cookie sheets full of spiced oatmeal cookies onto the top of the stove to cool a moment.

There will be cookies and drinks on offer in short order, the cookies only left long enough to cool to vaguely hold their shape before being put on plate to go out into the living room.

Zoisite has posed:
There's a figure in a corner, not that Chibiusa probably noticed him. In fact, the odds that anyone noticed him (aside from perhaps Kunzite) are rather low, considering that he was previously invisible. The strawberry-blond Shitennou doesn't act as if there's anything out of the usual in his sudden appearance, though he does start drifting closer to the kitchen.

He's not dressed in anything fancy today, though he has a habit of wearing t-shirts and jeans in a way that makes them seem like dressing up. It might be his bearing. The pink-haired girl has said a lot, and it's taken him a bit to master the urge to bristle at her for his first (and so far, only) encounter with her. Even some of her comments about siblings get a nebulous Something he doesn't remember on edge, which is irritating. Instead of acting on any of this, he walks over to casually invade Kunzite's personal bubble, saying nothing.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
Fake?! What a terrible thing to say about her robbery of that convenience store! It doesn't matter if it's technically true. Luna-P's gun looks super real, and she tried very hard to be scary that whole time. Chibiusa looks over at Kyouko, positively offended.

"You don't know it was fake!" she whines. "I could have really robbed your store, if I wanted. I'm a big kid, I can use a gun." She crosses her arms across her chest, but softens a tiny bit when she mentions the donuts. Those were really good, even if she got kinda sick of them over eating them for breakfast and lunch five days a week. "But thanks for the food anyway. Luna-P doesn't like having to rob people."

The catball chirps in agreement. She'll have to ask it later if it wants to be her sister, or if it just wants to be Luna-P. It might be weird having a robot instead of a real sister, now that she thinks about it. But it's something to consider, especially with Mama and Papa...

She shakes her head to clear that thought away, trotting over to climb up on a kitchen chair while she waits for cookies and juice. Luna-P she stows on the table next to her, as it swivels about, recording the new faces around the apartment.

"So where's Mamoru?" Chibiusa asks, blunt in the way only a child can be. "He said he'd help me find Sailor Moon."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto's eyebrows go up at Kyouko's explanation of how she and Chibiusa have met before. "I didn't hear about any of this," she notes. "That sort of thing isn't good, you know?"

It's a gentle enough admonition, though. Kyouko certainly doesn't seem bothered, and in the end nobody was hurt. Mako folds her hands against the back of her neck as she trails across the room in the same general direction as Chibiusa - not following, exactly, so much as staying in easy conversational distance.

"He must be out," she says when Chibiusa asks about Mamoru. "He's been studying a lot lately, hasn't he?" The upward inflection that makes it a question is accompanied by an inquiring look toward Kunzite, the one Mako assumes most likely to know these things off the top of his head. "Or else he and the other guys are out chasing Pokemon, that could be it. Along with Mamoru-niisan, there's three other guys who live here - geez, Zoi, where did you come from?"

Yeah, Mako was just a little startled by Zoisite appearing out of nowhere just now. You'd think she'd be more used to it, but... Zoisite.

Kunzite has posed:
Zoisite's sudden appearance and invasion of Kunzite's personal space is dealt with as it usually is. That is to say, Kunzite sets a hand on Zoisite's nearer shoulder, acknowledging and confirming his presence without a word spoken. "I'd wonder if guns fall under the 'no explosives' rule," he says aside to Makoto, dry, "but Mamoru's never objected to Homura stopping by." Then again, she usually doesn't pull hers out of her shield's pocket dimension. Hmm.

Somehow he is suddenly not at all surprised that Kyouko seems to like the small pink-haired girl. They have a few things in common. Even if he imagines the tiny one's choice of weapons might leave something to be desired in Kyouko's eyes.

Where's Mamoru? "Chasing Pokemon seems likely." He will not scowl. He will not scowl. He will not scowl much. That game and Mamoru's obsession with trying to get him to play it. "He has been studying, yes. Looking toward the entrance exams. That game's half of the breaks he takes from it."

Granted, half of that game is also, in Mamoru's case, conducted in formalwear. But that's not something he needs to say.

"If you'd like to stay until he gets home," Kunzite adds slightly more thoughtfully, "that might be possible to arrange." He glances Makoto's way. Welcome to the closest thing they have to in loco parentis in this case, Mako.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko finally stirs from the kitchen, hopping down from the table, bowl of cookie dough now cradled in the crook of her arm as she wanders into the living room. "I know it ain't good, Mako-chan," She says, wryly, "But she was desparate, so I helped her out. Mamoru, too, an' I think he imparted the moral lesson of 'please don't rob people'." She eyes Chibiusa from a few yards away, as if wondering if it took. "Anyway, she wasn't ready to be 'found' yet then. It was a while ago. Glad she ended up with you."

    She smiles, then walks past, ruffling Chibiusa's pink odangos as she passes. Nearing Kunzite and Zoisite, she wordlessly passes the half-full bowl of cookie dough over to Zoisite. "I gotta get goin', got a shift in a bit." She one-arm-hugs Kunzite, then heads for the balcony, waving over her shoulder. "See you guys around. Bye Naru!" This called back towards the kitchen.

    Then she is out on the balcony, and soon on her way.

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite takes the cookie batter with a smile for Kyouko. "Nobody's really sure where I came from," Zoisite says airily. He knows that's not what Makoto asked, but he's feeling like a smart aleck. He leans his weight just slightly against Kunzite.

"There are worse things he could be doing, rather than catching pokemon," the blond says, meandering toward the kitchen with a glance over his shoulder. "Like pulling a Mizuno and overtaxing himself on studying for his exams." Still, he can understand Kunzite's annoyance at the topic when a great deal of it revolves around 'play with me'. Zoisite goes to wrap and freeze the cookie dough, since he doesn't have any plans for it (other than being an example of Bad At Adulting and eating it raw. Not done in front of children, as he understands it.)

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
Riiiight, not everyone here knows about the whole 'attempted robbery' thing. Probably most to all of them don't know that she held Mamoru up at gunpoint either, unless --

Chibiusa's about to launch into a defense of herself to Makoto -- she really needed food, okay, and it's not like she was actually gonna *hurt* anybody -- but then she sees a face she very much recognizes from that first horrible day. Very much indeed.

The pavement really, really hurt. Her knees are still a bit scabbed over from where they scraped against the sidewalk. And the one responsible has just come out from nowhere, like nothing's wrong at all.

She goes very quiet for a moment, eyes locked on the back of that blonde head, all questions about Mamoru and 'pokemon' forgotten. If she were anywhere else, she might run, or feel the patter of her fearful heart in her chest, but she is safe here. She's surrounded by people who have helped her or kept her safe -- if this guy tried to throw her again, they'd have to stop him. So no, she's not in any trouble here.

But she is angry. And Zoisite has his back turned.

Silently, and with absolute seriousness, Chibiusa stands up on her chair, gathers Luna-P in her arms, and lobs the catball across the room at that head of blonde hair.

"Jerk!" she yells, red eyes blazing. "Why don't you say sorry for throwing me, huh?!"

Makoto Kino has posed:
...well that went sideways in a hurry. Why does Zoisite just seem to have this effect on people?

Makoto was off-guard, not quick enough or positioned quite right to even try to intercept Luna-P when the catball goes hurtling towards Zoisite; for a critical moment, she can only watch in wide-eyed dismay. "What the hell--?"

A second or two later, rational thought re-engages and Makoto moves, planting herself between Chibiusa and Zoisite like a barrier. "All right," she says, firm and serious. "I don't know what happened, and I'm sure he was a jerk. But this house has rules, and one of them is no fighting or attacking people. It means nobody here will hurt you. It also means you don't get to start throwing things at anybody, no matter how much of a jerk he is. Okay?"

Zoisite has posed:
Zoisite doesn't trust the pink-haired child, and he was half-expecting something like this.

When Luna-P should connect, instead Zoisite ducks and moves over rapidly, glancing very sharply at Makoto, cat-green to forest-green. There is something restrained but hateful in his gaze, even if it's not truly directed at her.

"Let me make something very, very clear, you brat. You had me fearing for the life of the single most important person in my life. You are lucky I gave you skinned knees, and I am not saying any part of an apology to you until you make that move first. Are we clear?" He's not yelling. In some ways, that's almost worse, because the harsh, ferocious whisper his voice has dropped into says more of hate in-potentia, and harm that he could do but has restraint not to, than raising the volume would.

"In fact, the only reason you don't have worse than skinned knees and bruises is because he told me not to hurt you." Someone subscribing to certain fantasy games would call his eyes felfire green at this point, bright with restrained dark emotion.

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite's sharp intake of breath is a reflexive warning, but an unnecessary one; Zoisite was already starting to move. The taller one moves, too, placing himself by Makoto, dropping down to ... not to that crouch again. To one knee. Not out of deference, but because if Chibiusa tries to duck around the two of them on his side, he can push off more easily to intercept.

"Zoisite," he says quietly, and for all that the word suggests 'restraint is good, but you could use a little more of it,' there's something gentler in it, too. And then, just as calm: "Chibiusa."

That one is not so gentle. The calm in it is stone, solid and unyielding, an anchor point to draw attention. Not a weapon. Not an attack. Only an abrupt obstacle, something that demands a moment's pause.

"Makoto is right. No-one is going to hurt you here." No-one is even going to to take away her cookie. "But think for a moment. If you had seen someone pointing a gun at Luna-P -- what would you have done to them?"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
And suddenly, everything gets scary again.

Chibiusa doesn't know what she expected Zoisite to do, but it certainly wasn't that -- his back was turned, how could he have dodged like that? As soon as she sees Luna-P sail past his head, she's jumped down to the floor, cookie tossed aside and forgotten. It's only a few feet to where Luna-P landed, she can run over there and pick it up before he does, maybe turn it into something he *can't* dodge --

But then Mako cuts her off, towering above her tiny form, and much as she'd like to believe she could juke past and keep running, her reflexes in snatching her out of traffic mean she'd probably make it two steps, if that.

So she has to stand there, motionless, as Zoisite's angry words drown out whatever Makoto is saying. And, somehow, she feels smaller than ever. Smaller, and trapped in this room with a man who wanted -- wants? -- to hurt her.

Pivoting on her heel, carried forward by adrenaline, Chibiusa makes a dash for the door instead of the kitchen. She doesn't have Luna-P -- that's a problem -- but it should start following her once it sees she's running away, as long as Zoisite doesn't stop it. She can still go back to King Penguin Park. There's still space on that slide for her to set up her sleeping bag, she can still find Sailor Moon and get out of this awful time before it's too late. It had been nice, living with Makoto for a while, but she should have known not to get comfortable. No matter where she goes, no one stays nice for long; no matter what, she'll do something wrong, and she'll be on her own again. She just has to get out of here before anyone can hurt --

The tall man cuts her off before she can go anywhere. Chibiusa skitters to a halt, the world racing up to meet her as she falls forward to her knees, unable to keep her balance. Kazuo ahead of her, Makoto behind. Luna-P out of reach, Zoisite calling her names and saying how much more he wanted to hurt her.

There's nothing she can do but cry.

"Please -- don't hurt me, please." Big, blubbery tears well up in her eyes and spill over, her vision swimming like watercolors in front of her. "I -- I n-need to help Mama and Papa. I need to go home. I'm not -- I wasn't trying to *hurt* anybody." She can barely make it through a sentence before emptying her little lungs. "I never wanted to do anything bad -- !"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Wait--!"

As Chibiusa bolts towards the door, Makoto moves to follow. She's not sure what she plans to do, really, just doesn't want this lost little girl to run out of here all on her own, without even the toy she calls her friend.

Perhaps it's for the best that Kunzite is there first.

In any case, when the tears begin, Makoto's response is immediate and without thought. Closing the last space between them as Chibiusa pours her heart out, Mako sinks down onto her knees next to the girl and wraps both arms around her, hugging her not hard but warm and close.

"I believe you," she says softly, moving her hand in small, soothing circles against Chibiusa's shoulder. "I know you're not bad. I know you've been doing your best. Nobody's going to hurt you."

Kunzite, she trusts, can take steps to calm Zoisite down somehow. For Mako, the small bawling child takes priority.

Zoisite has posed:
The strawberry blond folds his arms over his chest, glancing at Kunzite. He exhales sharply through his nose, eyes briefly closing as he curls and uncurls his hands. "I am not going to hurt you. I'm furious at you, but I'm not going to hurt you, or try to." His voice is still full of that snarling swirl of anger, and he leave unsaid that once, not all that long ago, he would have casually tortured a child of her age for far less than what she did.

He lets out a sharp breath again, and strides over to where Luna-P sits. He scoops the cat-head-ball-thing up and walks over, expression still tight with contained anger. He offers Luna-P over, with far less of his usual grace in the motion.

"If you apologize for scaring me, I'll apologize for hurting you, and we can try to start being less mean to each other. Deal?"

Kunzite has posed:
"You never wanted to," the tall one agrees to Chibiusa, and his voice is not soft like Makoto's, no, but the solidity of it is on her side now. Or maybe it always was; maybe there was only one side to begin with. "But you were frightened. It's easy to make mistakes when you're afraid. It's easy to scare other people, too."

He doesn't climb back to his feet until then, staying far enough back not to tower over her. Far enough to give Zoisite space to move, to offer the -- toy? robot? guardian? --

-- is it a guardian?

"It's all right, Chibiusa," he says. And then, just as gravely, "It's all right, Luna-P. We want to help you help Chibiusa's Mama and Papa, and help you both go home. Mamoru does, too." Therefore the rest of them do. Even if Zoisite's furious.

It's only after Chibiusa has reclaimed her toy -- presumably, she'll reclaim it -- that he puts a hand out to Zoisite in turn.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The door opens behind Kazuo, and Mako and Chibiusa; the only ones currently facing it are the crying child and Zoisite. It's Mamoru, and he's not looking as he comes in because he's looking at his phone screen incredulously.

"Can you BELIEVE the stupid GPS tells me I'm obviously driving and shouldn't be playing when I'm jumping rooftops? I have to walk to get Magikarp candy and hatch..." he trails off because crying children are not a sound generally heard in the ECFH. "Eggs."

Phone gets turned silent and pocketed in school jacket, glasses get absently pushed up and tie straightened. He looks at Zoisite, he looks at Kunzite. He looks at smol pink crying, and Mako soothing her. He lets out a tiny sigh and drops his schoolbag next to the door and toes his shoes off, all calmly, everything calmly. "Hey," he says, "who wants chocolate milk?"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
She can't see who they belong to properly, but warm arms enfold her as the tears flow, and she can't help but sink into them, snuggling her face into the waiting shoulder there. At times, she's been able to turn her crying on and off on a whim -- that's usually when she's throwing a tantrum, not when a near-stranger has yelled at her, and told her that he would have hurt her worse, had his friend not stopped him. Chibiusa can't control these tears. And she can't help feeling afraid.

She stays buried in Mako's hug for several seconds, eyes shut tight, letting everyone's words wash in and out of her mind as they war with her still pounding heart.

Until a warm, familiar voice reaches her ears, and her little pink odangos perk up to see its source. In Zoisite's grasp, Luna-P's antenna blinks red, on and off, a robotic voice chirping out of some unseen speaker. */ Don't cry, Lady! Don't cry, Lady! /*

In an instant, she's snatched the ball away from the Shitennou and skittered over to the door, eyes puffy and red, tears clinging to her lashes before she can blink them away. Whether she missed his attempt at an apology, or whether she simply ignored it, who can even say? She might not know herself.

"Mamo-chan," Chibiusa says, sniffing as Luna-P continues its squeaky chant beneath her, "tell your friend to stop yelling at me!" She's not sobbing anymore, soothed by Makoto and Kazuo's attempts at comfort, but she has yet to calm down completely -- and whether she realizes it or not, nine hundred years as a five-year-old has given her some *potent* puppy dog eyes.

Makoto Kino has posed:
This time, Makoto stays where she is, on her knees on the floor as Chibiusa pulls free of her arms and scoots toward the door. The look she turns upwards towards Mamoru over Chibiusa's head for a moment carries a distinct wide-eyed expression of 'halp.'

Then her regard drops back to Chibiusa, and Mako reaches up for just a moment to rub her hand over her face. "Chibiusa-chan," she says, in the gentlest tone she can manage, "nobody's yelling at you any more. He was trying to apologize just now, so let's all try and calm down a little, okay?"

Zoisite has posed:
Mamoru's entrance isn't exactly unexpected, but it does temporarily grab Zoi's attention. The question about chocolate milk gets a derisive snort, and Zoisite angling like he's going to just quit the situation. He's still furious- even at five, and even scared, a child should have some grasp of when she is threatening the life of another, shouldn't she?

Zoisite eyes the ball in his hands, one eyebrow going up sharply. He twitches a bit as she reclaims Luna-P, biting back the reflex to attack sudden movement from someone who still occupies the status of 'threat' in his mind. "Ijn case you weren't listening, I already stopped." He nods to Makoto, briefly, and with that, he's headed elsewhere, a tightly-contained but obviously-simmering ball of anger.

Kunzite has posed:
No deal, apparently. Not between Zoisite and the tiny girl, not between the offered hand and the simmering anger. At least Kunzite's on his feet again. There is no way to deal with a human being this small and retain dignity; then again, that's true with the people he lives with, as well. He glances aside to Mamoru, arching eyebrows. "Breaking speed limits on foot," he says mildly, and shakes his head. "Naru made cookies, if that consoles you." By the way, Makoto found the girl ... nope, not saying that part out loud. He turns to pace after Zoisite instead, as if to leave the tiny one to Mamoru and Makoto -- though he keeps Mamoru in his peripheral vision long enough to be called back, if Mamoru chooses to.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru decides to take the path of most steamrolling-- or possibly least resistance-- or possibly just the quickest road to getting himself some chocolate milk. He puts his hand briefly on Mako's head as she looks up at him, and his eyes crinkle at the corners to go with the faintest hint of a smile and all the gratitude in the world. He nods firmly to Kazuo, and then he wordlessly scoops Chibiusa up and holds her more or less on his hip with one arm, padding into the kitchen. "It's okay, Zoi--" he calls over his shoulder as he goes through the wider door, "--I'll explain later, I promise. You can raid what I raided from Neph earlier, it's on the top shelf of my closet."

This kitchen, as opposed to the original, has a counter and a lengthwise opening, like a window, between it and that particular living room-- Kunzite can still see him.

"Do you actually want some chocolate milk, Chibiusa? Because I definitely do. Hot chocolate's even better, though, especially for calming down after a big row. Did you and Mako-chan come over looking for me?"

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
Zwoooooop! Here she'd thought that Mamoru would turn around immediately and scold Zoisite for being a jerk -- and now she's hoisted up to his chest, getting carried back over to the kitchen and asked about chocolate milk again. Surprise overcomes her tears, which slow as she reorients to her new position, and to how nice everyone's being now. Well, *mostly* everyone.

Chocolate milk does sound good right now, but she hasn't heard an apology yet. Did Mamo-chan not hear her at all?

"-- yeah, I want some chocolate milk," Chibiusa says, but oh no, she is not getting distracted that easily. Just gotta get the important business out of the way first, that's all. Or she might not get chocolate milk, and that would suck. She looks from Mako, to Kazuo -- glowers at Zoisite as much as her little face can muster -- then turns back to Mamoru, puppy eyes back at full power, like they never even left.

"He's being mean to me. He said that he wouldn't say sorry for anything until I said sorry first, but everyone already knows I wasn't actually doing anything bad. It's not fair, Mamo-chan!" she whines, making sure everyone in the room is listening, though she's only addressing Mamoru for now. "Make him be nice to me."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Now, finally, Makoto picks herself back up and onto her feet, letting out a soft whoosh of breath as she regains her balance. A glance follows Zoisite and Kunzite as they vanish from view, before she follows Mamoru into the kitchen.

Hoo, boy.

"You can't make people be nice to you, Chibiusa-chan," she says patiently, rubbing a hand against the back of her own neck. "Especially not if you don't want to listen to what they have to say."

Big eyes toward Mamoru. She gets some chocolate milk too, right?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
A firm nod to Makoto. Everyone gets chocolate milk. Well, everyone in the kitchen. He keeps carrying Chibiusa, and opens the fridge one-handed to take out the milk and put it on the counter; the same goes for opening the cabinet where the syrup is and taking glasses down one-by-one. He uses the methodical activities to pace his talking. "Mako-chan's right," he says gravely. "Zoi is still angry that you pointed a gun at me -- none of us knew it was fake, and we all thought you would really kill me. You were the only one who knew you wouldn't hurt me, so you scared us very badly. It's Zoisite's job to protect me, and one time, a very long time ago, he failed and I died. He saw it happen. We were all reborn in this era, and I almost died again-- and then it looked like you were going to kill me, and who knows how many hundreds of years it would take before I came back again? Or even if I would. He would have lost me again. That's why he's so angry. I think you know, now, that pointing a gun -- even a fake one -- at somebody has very bad consequences, and you're not going to do it again, right? But Zoisite doesn't know that. He wants to know you won't, and saying sorry to him would mean that you understood that what you did hurt him, even if you were scared, even if you were desperate."

The syrup's going in the glasses now, and Mamoru pauses before pouring in milk to switch Chibiusa to his other arm. "I already got mad at him for throwing you. I didn't get mad at you for pointing a gun at me. I know how scared and lonely you feel. But not everyone can tell that kind of thing, and I'm still his priority. I'm still the person he looks after. So he's hurting a lot right now, just like you are." Now he pours the milk. "You're separated from your home, your mom and dad... he doesn't even remember his. A bad lady did a lot of bad things to him, and me and the other guys and Mako-chan and the other girls... we're all he's got. A lot of us don't have family, so we made one. We all care a lot about family. So we'll definitely help you with yours, for sure! But I need you to be a little more forgiving, too. Would it work better if you both said sorry at the same time?"

Here's where he's actually mixing the chocolate milk. He hands one to Chibiusa first, and then walks one to Mako, holding it out. "You don't have to do it right now, but I'd like it if you thought about it. Are you staying with Mako-chan?" The question's directed at Chibiusa, but his glance moves questioningly over to the teenager at the end. Like 'is it okay', like 'do you need a break'.

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
On the one hand, chocolate milk! On the other hand -- Mamo-chan's giving her an explanation she can't follow to its ending, and Makoto's using that voice all grown-ups use when they're mad, but trying to be nice. It doesn't make any sense. Hadn't she always gotten in trouble when she didn't say sorry for something mean she did? Why does Mamoru's friend get a pass, when he'd *thrown her* and made her *cry*? Twice?

Chibiusa pouts as he hands the milk to her, shifting Luna-P to one arm so she can hold the glass. 'Hold' being a bit generous here; there's a good chance Mamoru's getting stains on his shirt if he doesn't put her down.

Now, how does a person keep looking angry with a chocolate milk moustache?

"It's not fair," she repeats with a 'hmph,' after a big gulp of milk. "Everyone says I have to be nice, even if someone's being mean to me. I get in trouble for not saying sorry, even if I'm *not* sorry. Isn't that lying? Saying stuff that isn't true?"

She puckers her lips to one side, face reddening as she nears Maximum Pout. She thought for sure Mamoru would be on her side -- he *knows* that gun was fake, he should have already told Zoisite that he has to be nice now! Did that rule only apply to her, for some reason?

"I'm sorry that I scared you, because you're nice to me. Mako's nice to me, too. But I'm not sorry I scared him, especially if he's gonna yell at me and scare me all the time. Mean people just make fun of you more if you're nice to them." She knows, because she's tried, at Mama and Puu's advice. It never works, and it makes her feel all icky inside, like she did exactly what the bullies wanted.

Still, chocolate milk and his second question are enough to distract her a little bit. Chibiusa nods when he asks if she's staying with Mako-chan, draining her glass and holding it out for Mamoru again. "Yeah. More, please."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Thanks," Makoto murmurs when Mamoru brings her the glass of chocolate milk. His questioning look gets a little smile and an equally little nod - it's fine, her expression says without words.

She's been listening carefully to both Mamoru and Chibiusa as they talk, and her forehead slowly creases as she watches them over the rim of the glass - gradually piecing together a better idea of what happened.

"...It sounds like both of you were mean to each other without meaning to be," she says at last, after Chibiusa has said her piece. "I know what you mean about mean people, but Zoi's not really like that. If he thought you were going to take Mamoru-niisan away from him, it's no wonder he got upset. And then he was mean to you because he was scared and angry, and that made you upset..."

What a mess, Mako thinks, looking down into her chocolate milk for a moment.

"Zoi didn't know you weren't really going to hurt anyone, you know? If it looked like someone were going to take away the person who's most important to you, wouldn't you be mad at them, and try to stop them if you could?"

She's speaking hesitantly, trying to choose her words with care. "Now he understands you didn't mean it, and he's willing to apologize for acting the way he did. But you don't want to apologize for making him think you were going to hurt his most important person? Who's really being unfair here?"

A moment passes, and then Mako sighs quietly and offers Chibiusa a lopsided smile. "Well, we can't make you be nice to him if you don't want to, any more than we can make him be nice to you. It's just, Zoi is Mamoru-niisan's brother, and he lives here. It'd be a problem for you, too, if the two of you keep fighting all the time."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Besides, since I did already get mad at him, I don't think he'd've just come out and yelled at you... but I wasn't here for whatever started this latest mess, so I really can't take anyone's side. All I know is right now, you're drinking chocolate milk and feeling pretty entitled, and Zoisite feels like you're getting away with everything and he's not. He might be crying because of how unfair it is, but because he's a big kid instead of a little kid, he has to hide that kind of thing or he'll get picked on," explains Mamoru, finally setting Chibiusa down on the counter so he can swap out her empty glass with his full one.

He looks thoughtful for a moment, leaning against the counter next to her, glancing at Mako then nodding. "He's not really mean unless he's scared and angry, or he's trying to defend someone he loves. And it sounds like that's pretty true for you, too. You don't have to be nice to people who are mean to you, but if you're mean back, then you also have something you did wrong. So if they say they're willing to make up, you do have to say sorry also. He gave you your friend back, didn't he? That's not something someone being mean would do."

He has to wonder what her life was like before the apocalypse he saw in her head, if this is the kind of thing she responds with. After a moment, he sighs and just pours more syrup and milk into Chibiusa's empty glass and hopes she didn't toddler-backwash it, because it's what he starts drinking. "Listen, do you want to stay here tonight? I have a really big TV and it's got Netflix and Amazon Prime, and I'll make sure you're safe just like you are with Mako-chan. Then maybe you can meet some of my other friends, like Nephrite -- he's Mako-chan's boyfriend, and he's a giant teddy bear."

Chibiusa Tsukino has posed:
If someone tried to take away her most important person -- well, she already knows what she would do. Because it's what she's doing right now: whatever she can to get them back. Not that she can just *say* that, though. These people she's met are nice, but they wouldn't believe her if she told them everything that happened. Worse, they could very well believe her, and then stop trying to help her when they learn that it's all her fault.

Life's way too hard for a little kid like her.

Chibiusa stares into her milk as Mako and Mamoru speak, not drinking anymore even though she asked Mamoru for his glass two minutes ago. On the counter next to her, Luna-P swivels and whirs, taking her side of things in a language the other two can't understand. Her little friend is always loyal -- there's not a single time she can remember that it disagreed with her -- but she's not stupid. She knows it was programmed that way, to be on her side at all times. Somehow, when it's always there, it doesn't mean as much.

But is she *really* being the mean one here? All she wanted was for Zoisite to say sorry to her. Beaning him on the back of the head with Luna-P was just a bonus, and probably wouldn't have even hurt that much.

"It's not like I'll never say sorry," Chibiusa mutters, "but he still sounded mad, even when he gave me back Luna-P. Mamo-chan was nice to me even when he was scared. He hasn't stayed angry at me at all." She looks over to him, tiny hands wrapped not quite around her glass. "If you already got mad at him for throwing me, why was he still mean to me?" With a pout, she props her chin up on her arm. "I didn't throw Luna-P that hard..."

But the conversation's moved on, and she's quite happy to talk about anything else. The edges of her frown tug into a small smile when Mamoru mentions her staying over for the night. Staying over with Mako-chan is fun -- but *big tv*. And *more chocolate milk.*

"Okay! Can you get more donuts from that shop? Those were really yummy. Pizza would be yummy, too. Or cake!" It took her no time at all to get over her wariness of junk food, it seems. "Mako-chan, I didn't know you had a boyfriend. Do you want to stay over too? Don't you need to, like, kiss him and stuff, if he's your boyfriend?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
Philosophically, Makoto accepts this as probably about as much ground as they're going to gain in this particular discussion right now, and she shrugs a little, still smiling that crooked smile. "Not everyone can be as reasonable as Mamoru-niisan," she says. "We're just asking you to give Zoi a chance. When you're ready to tell him you're sorry for scaring him, I'm pretty sure he'll be willing to say he's sorry too. But until then, it's really not fair to expect him to not get mad when you throw things at him or yell at him."

She's just lifting her glass to her lips when Chibiusa asks those last questions, and she only just manages not to snort chocolate milk. She does turn rather pink in the face. "Yes, well," she says, fumbling with the words for a moment, "I think I'm doing okay with that sort of thing, thanks."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Yeah-- that's Kyouko's work, and she's one of my guardians too-- she and her little sister live a few floors down from here," Mamoru says with a smile. It's at the news that Chibiusa threw Luna-P at Zoisite that his gaze flickers right back to Makoto, though, with the distinct expression of '.../oh/', but he does not otherwise outwardly react to it.

Instead, he hides his smile behind his own chocolate milk at her reaction to Chibiusa's last comment. "They have plenty of time to do that kind of thing that's not school nights," he agrees firmly. "But since Mako-chan has school tomorrow and I don't, I can stay up a bit later, and you and I can go check out Tokyo tomorrow before lunchtime. Do you want to meet for lunch, Mako?" he asks cheerfully. "If you want to text me later for details, that works."

He specified texts. He probably has some stuff to tell her about he doesn't want Chibiusa to overhear.

Makoto Kino has posed:
"That sounds good," Makoto agrees, nodding to Mamoru at his suggestion. "I'll text you tomorrow after class. You know," this is to Chibiusa, brightly, "if you ask Kyouko nicely, she'll probably bring some of those donuts over here for you."

She drains the last of her chocolate milk in a hearty swallow, and moves to the sink to rinse out the glass. "I should head home," she says, over the running water. "You guys have fun with Netflix. And don't forget, Chibiusa-chan, you're welcome at my place any time. I'll see you guys tomorrow, okay?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru gives Makoto a cheerful salute. "Will do! And if she gets upset or scared, I'll call you first then bring her over. I mean, you know, by car not motorcycle, not at like two in the morning," he says with a laugh, then scoops Chibiusa up off the counter, chocolate milk and all, and goes to find a different living room. Probably Nephrite's. It's not the projector taking up the whole wall, but it is an immense television for sure, and a tremendously comfy couch. "Okay, so," he can be heard asking the pink-haired child, "we'll order pizza. What do you want to watch? Do you like science fiction, or cartoons-- ooh, do you like Miyazaki...?"