2053/Bibliolarceny

Bibliolarceny
Date of Scene:	20 October 2016
Location:	Seiyou Public School - Royal Garden
Synopsis:	Blue Lotus has passed posession of the Compendium of Infinite Worlds to Tadase. Madison Perry is not deterred in her pursuit of the tome.
Cast of Characters:	Tadase Hotori, Madison Perry, Reiko Touyama, Kunzite, Yuzuki Amemori
Tinyplot:	Dreams of the White Flower

---

Tadase Hotori has posed:
The Royal Garden is, at least in practice if not in intent, the beating heart of Virtue. It's a beautiful place, the gardens of the massive greenhouse full of plants mundane and exotic.

But there's more to it than that, as there are several doors and passages, some visible and some hidden behind growth, that contain secrets from years of occupants, several Guardian councils back to the Founding King.

It is in one of those rooms, off to the side, that Tadase placed the book that Blue Lotus entrusted to him, still wrapped within its shroud, and shut the door. After all, who would be so brazen as to attack the center of Virtue?

Madison Perry has posed:
    The answer to that question might not be obvious, but could have been predicted- the whole reason that Blue Lotus gave the book to Tadase was that she was being hunted. Madison Perry had learned of the Compendium of Infinite Worlds through her work with Eclipse, and had proved far more adept at tracking down it's wereabouts then Eclipse's previous agents assigned the task.

    Although she had never caught up to Lotus, the girl had told Tadase that Madison was 'getting closer than I'd like', and it's clear that her efforst did not stop just because Lotus no longer has the Book. Lotus wasn't her target, after all, she just happened to have hold of it.

    The first signs that something is amiss would be that several of the carefully placed and tended plants have been defaced- knocked over, flowers cut from their stems, leaves slashed. Wanton, casual destruction with no apparent purpose. This extends into several of the passages. Doors are smashed open, sometimes even if they hadn't been locked, hinges busted or wood splintered.

    The trail of casual property destruction does stop- in the room that held the Compendium. And the culprit, it seems, is still there. A tall, blonde, blue-eyed girl of remarkably beauty, wearing a long black-and-dark-red coat and with a pair of foot-long, curved daggers tucked into her belt stands in the middle of the room, casually leafing through the mystical tome, it's protective wrapping cast carelessly on the floor.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase Hotori, nor the rest of the Guardians, couldn't be in the Royal Garden all the time. Things required their attention - like school, friends, and today, an X-egg. Tadase hadn't wanted to involve Amu - and so he'd handled it with Kukai's help. After Kukai had gone home though, Tadase, ever the workaholic, had returned to the Garden.

And that's where he'd seen the destruction. Already something didn't feel right, but the destruction of the doors caused him to send out a phone text.

    If anyone's nearby, I might need some help at the Garden. It looks like it's been vandalized.

It's a short range text, Tadase thinking this might be something more mundane, only destined for nearby Virtue phones.

That's about all the text he gets, because looking up from his phone, that's where he sees the source of the destruction - well, both really, in the girl and the Tome. Tadase's eyes narrow, and Kiseki's there too on his shoulder. "Put that down. It doesn't belong to you."

Madison Perry has posed:
    Madison hardly seems concerned that she'll be found. The way she stands in the middle of the room, flipping through the book, speaks of casual ease and not the furtive demeanor of a thief. When Tadase enters the room, she glances up, a smirk on her too-pretty face. "Oh, hey kid. Y'know, funny thing about that- s'always seemed to me that objects belong to whoever can hold onto 'em."

    Tadase likely recognizes Madison- not only from the recent reports via Virtue of her activities, but from the previous year. He was present at the Fall of the White Flower, after all, where she was fighting Runealy.

    She snaps the books closed with a 'clap', dangling it by the spine from her fingers. "That chick with the Lotus mask couldn't hold onto it, so she gave it to you and it became yours. Now I got it.. so it's mine. That's the way the world works. By the way," She gestures to the broken door, "You really outta invest in some better locks."

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Reiko Touyama wanted to see Virtue about a thing. So this led her to Seiyou, and she was intent on speaking with the headmaster directly, rather than someone like Tadase or anything. Then her Virtue phone goes off. She's expecting. 'I'm ready to see you now.' instead it's 'Tadase may need help!'. She purses her lips and decides to go investigate.

A koi in a deerhunter cap, bubble pipe and magnifying glass follows. /Investigation time!/. It waddle-swims after Reiko shortly after.

She arrives into the garden, indeed, to see a mess, as she as she purses her lips--- "Tadase-kun?." she calls out. "What's going on? Is this some jerks idea of a pr---"

She says as she pauses when she finds Tadase-- confronting that girl that was attacking Jiaying during the Gem Heist.

"Hey! You! Stop that!" she insists as she huffs.

-then with a flash of orange she transforms into... Prism Keeper Orange. Her wand is a scepter now! It looks cool, and also ends in a fish-shaped orange chorma prism.

Wait- isn't that the book a giant creature came out of when that weird Blue Lotus girl used it?

What the heck does she want with that? Oh god. Is she trying to pull the monster out!?

Reiko's mind goes weird places with what's going on at the moment. "I Mean. There's probably no gems in there. That's what you're after right, gems?"

Kunzite has posed:
It's takoyaki's fault.

Kazuo ran into Yuzuki in line, with a couple of other Virtue members also in the mix. They started talking. Kukai agreed to set up a meeting for Yuzuki -- but, with Yuzuki being at the stage of sorting things out where she's adrift in a sea of unfamiliar proper nouns, Kazuo offered to take her by and show her where the meeting would likely be.

They're not far from the greenhouse when his phone protests quietly for attention; he takes it out, a subdued gray thing that matches the watch he wears, and glances down. The word he mutters is ... less polite than it might have been. "Keep an eye out," he says aside to Yuzuki. "Trouble here." And picks up his pace, going toward the greenhouse and the trouble.

The broken doors come into view a moment later. So, past them, does a bright orange koi with a bubble pipe. That's when Kazuo transforms, without a word or a pause.

Not a word when the pair of them arrive at the end of the trail, either. Only a step aside to clear Yuzuki's path, taking a place behind and to the side of Prism Keeper Orange.

Yuzuki Amemori has posed:
It's by chance and chance alone that Yuzuki's made her way to the gardens. It's the second time in two weeks she's been told to check it out and this time she's got a gude, so she's followed along. It's easier that way, raises fewer questions and in general just seems the smart way to go about it. The exclamation from Kazuo gets a surprised look, mostly because she's kind of surprised at that level of emotion from him!

She takes the warning seriously enough, the cheerful goofing off persona slipping away almost immediately as she quiets up and starts to look around. Then spots a floating koi fish with a bubble pipe. She slowly leans over and murmurs, "That's like the yellow star things right? I mean that I'm not hallucinating them." while pointing at it. Then he changes and she hops back. "That bad?" before reaching out, calling out, "Grasp the cord of fate" and yanking back, the cord surrounding her and before fading away, leaves her standing there in the vibrant armor, heavy sword hanging over her shoulder.

It's adjusted carefully to her left shoulder and hand while she draws her flintlock, holding it loosely like she might a sword itself, "I'll try to keep the collateral to a minimum. Also, hi there" She offers to the prism keeper, having found that probably answers her question earlier.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase frowns, and Kiseki shifts into his egg. The resulting blast of gold and white is brilliantly bright, and Tadase isn't standing there anymore - in his place is Platinum Royale, the combination of Tadase and Kiseki.

He levels his scepter at Madison. "Maybe I didn't expect someone to come here and smash up my home away from home." he says, harshly. "But I'm going to warn you, it's not the locks that you need to be worried about, it's the guards." he says. It's almost on que, then, that the Orange Prism Keeper shows up, and then Yuzuki along with Kunzite. They get smiles. Madison doesn't.

"Odds don't look good for you. Why don't you set the book down and walk away. Theft's a crime, you know."

Madison Perry has posed:
    Madison still fails to look overly concerned, even as Tadase transforms in front of her. She does quirk one eyebrow slightly- she has a vague memory of this kid. The other one joins it as Reiko, Yuzuki, and Kunzite appear. All people she's had run-ins with, although none of particular note.

    She does not, in fact, put the book down, but rather casually tucks it into an inside pocket of her Barrier Jacket, which as mentioned takes the form of a long, ankle-length overcoat. She smirks at Reiko. "Gems? Yeah, I am after a Gem, as a matter of fact. A very particular Gem." She laughs, tossing her head, blonde locks falling over one shoulder. "Do you even know what you had here?" She pats the pocket containing the book. "Infinite possibility, squandered, wrapped up in a room because of lack of vision."

    "Well, don't worry. I am here to rescue this book from obscurity. At least you can rest easy in the knowledge that you'll probably be mentioned as a footnote in the story." Slowly, she rises up from the floor, hovering about two feet off of the ground. She doesn't seem intimidated, even facing four opponents, although whether this is true confidence or just bravado is unclear.

    With a quick motion, she pulls the twin daggers from her belt, spinning one into each hand. "Heartrazor!"

    <<Yes, Mistress?>> Comes the placid, deep male voice of her Intelligent Device.

    "It's about time we were going." She flips one of the daggers up... then turns, and slashes it not at those confronting her, but straight at the nearest wall, preferably one containing a window. A brilliant flash of deep red energy arcs out from the dagger, impacting the wall with a BOOM and opening a hole that she takes off towards, flying low but quickly.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Prism Keeper Orange frowns. "Locked up in a room because the thing contains monsters and danger!" she snaps. "Don't confuse that with 'possibilities'." she snaps.

Oh! Hakuomaru! "Hi!" she says. She looks back over to Kunzite. Blinks once, but smiles but then back to the matter at hand- as she gives Tadase a quick glance and frowns.

"Hey, where do you think you're going! There's Only...."

BOOM!

"...one exit..out of the room....." she says somewhat defeated immediately.

She levies her Chroma staff at Madison and unleashes a brilliant beam of color energy. Then another one in a quick rapid two shot burst--- before swinging the staff downwards and sending a small school of five magical koi bursting off after Madison trying to track her movements and collide into her with the same colorful energy bursts.

"You may think you're a big bad shark, but even they get put into tanks!" she huffs.

Kunzite has posed:
Back in the greenhouse proper: "Not hallucinating. Orange is here." Despite Sherlock Fish being ... well. 'That bad?' gains only a nod.

And when they've caught up -- Kunzite half-bows toward Platinum Royale at his smile; half, after all, is all he can politely do while still watching Madison. Orange receives the beginning of a nod, but Madison Perry is moving --

-- more or less the way he expected.

Kunzite flings up a hand, and a smooth dome of darkness occludes the hole Perry made in the wall, hardening into a renewed physical barrier in her way. "Device user," he says aside to Hakuomaru, fast. "The knives hold much of her power." Never expect it to be all.

Yuzuki Amemori has posed:
Hakuomaru steps into the room behind Kunzite, hefting the sword out in front of her in a blatant challenge. Well that's what it looked like at first. Instead she hefts it back and charges in, leading with the same style she did last time by firing an earthen spike at her, trying to close the distance while calling over to Kunzite, "We've met!". She doesn't expect it to hurt the woman, but she is hoping on a reaction to the threat!

Charging forward, sword at the ready, she comes to a skidding halt and hefts her sword around in a wide arc before settling in a defensive overhand stance, "Leaving already?" she asks bluntly, her menpo hiding the smile on her face while taking on the traditional appearance of a scowling demon, though with a modern dust filter clenched in its teeth.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase blocks some of the debris by spinning his scepter, grunting. That's the Royal Garden. Seiyou's Royal Garden. And now there's a giant hole in the side of it. Between that and the events of last night, Tadase... may be having a little trouble controlling himself.

"Now you've gone too damn far. You want to talk about possibilities? Did you consider the possibility that you're going to get the crap beaten out of you?" he asks, scepter glowing. "HOLY SHOT!" he calls out, and bright orbs launch out of his scepter at high speed.

"Don't let her get away! Whatever she has planned for the book, it's not good!" he says, jumping after her. He doesn't fly, but his jumps are so ridiculous it's not very much of a detriment.

Madison Perry has posed:
    Madison was already speeding straight towards the hole in the wall she had created, with Reiko's fish in hot pursuit, though she managed to dodge the girl's color-beams with quick swerves- only to find the hole suddenly sealed by a dome of impenetrable darkness. She curses, but doesn't even halt her motion, changing direction in a flash to circl the room in the other direction.

    She has to swerve again to avoid Hakuomaru's sword, and in response to the armored figure's taunting, she sneers, "That was the plan, if ya'll weren't making it so difficult!" There's only so much dodging she can do though, especially in so limited a space, and with so many attacks coming her way it was inevitable that one would land. In this case, it's one of Tadase's glowing orbs.

    As she's in the midst of dodging Hakuomaru and verbally sniping back at her, she flies right into one of those orbs, a brief concussion sounding as it knocks her sideways into a shelf which collapses with a clatter. Grunting, she rolls back to her feet. "Kids should know when to go the hell to bed." She snaps (she is in fact the oldest one here, physically- even older than Kunzite in his present body!)

    She snaps out her daggers, spinning them in a bright circle, and Heartrazor states <<Heart Seeker>> before a cascade of brilliant red lines spray out from the knives, glowing like lasers as they beam straight towards each of her opponents, bending at right angles in the air to chage direction. Probably best not to get hit by one of those.

    She doesn't stop to see if any of them hit home though. Instead, she tries to dash through the door amidst the distraction.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
'Kids'. There's always something about that phrase, that name call that sets Reiko off. Is she a kid? Heck yeah, she's a kid, but she's also fought horrible color draining monsters, ran around helping people when the world was ending, and fighting some sort of horrible spirit possessing her friend and stood in front of a god and pleaded the case on why they should /bend the rules this on eon/ for a foxy friend.

The feeling enough causes Prism Keeper Orange to engulf herself in orange energy and come out in the Prism Princess form-- looking way more elegant and also- a little bit older-- looking more like a teenager than her twelve year old self.

She throws up her chroma rod- which has grown with the henshin change- to summon up a brilliant koi shield to absorb the beam laser. She manages to block- but Prism Keeper Orange lifts off the ground and takes off after her- butterfly-like wings fluttering. She keeps her focus on trying to keep up for the moment. Firing a rather sloppy shot from her palm of color energy- orange light unfurling through the air at Madison.

"What the hell's so important in that book!" she says, more to herself and possible at Tadase and the others. "That you're willing to hurt people over it?" she then asks pointed at Madison in a yell.

Kunzite has posed:
"Adults should know when to cut their losses. Put the book down." Last time Madison Perry went up against Kunzite, he and Sailor V together were enough to keep things at a standstill ... and he and V were as much enemies as either of them were to Perry. This time, there are four of them, and they're working together --

-- on the other hand, Kunzite had a lot more power at his fingertips then.

Normally, an attack like Heart Seeker wouldn't trouble Kunzite. One of his shields can swallow it and redirect -- it's a pleasant change from all the dark energy being thrown around. But his power still hasn't entirely recovered from the incident a few days ago, the wild power that he held on to just a little too long. And if he drops the barrier already blocking the wall --

Not happening. He flings himself across the room instead, the red energy angling after him -- sinks himself into the shield he'd already had up, and lets that absorb the shot. It burns, after a fashion, against that only-mostly-recovered reservoir. But it holds. And Hakuomaru was already showing a willingness to put herself in Perry's way, and Tadase has a shield of his own. One way or another, they can do this.

Yuzuki Amemori has posed:
Hakuomaru takes a proactive approach to shielding herself from the laser beams firing off at her! She slams her foot down onto the ground, hoping she doesn't crack anything as she's about to create a bigger mess anyway! A barrier of earth appears in front of Perry, blocking the lasers aimed towards Hakuomaru, what few moments of light before this happened scorching her armor and burning part of it away. "HEY!" She shouts in annoyance before charging forward with her blade held in a reverse grip. She shoulder checks the barrier, which shatters outward at the impact, using this as a chance to plant her sword in the ground behind Madison to try and limit her options while bringing her flame flintlock around to try and club the pirate!

Successful or not, she's going to stay in and try and create a problem for the woman. All the while she taunts, "Give it up, just put the book back and we'll go for something nice, huh?"

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Platinum Royale already has his scepter out and pointed, so the next call out is possibly expected by anyone who has seen him fight. "HOLY CROWN!" The golden crown bursts into view, and the red lines collapse into it, the giant shield absorbing the bursts.

"I'm not a kid. But you're acting like a spoiled brat. It'd be one thing if you'd asked us to help you. But the fact that you haven't makes me think that whatever you're after, it's not going to be good for anyone but yourself. And that's why we have to stop you."

As the crown dissapates, Platinum makes a perhaps ill-advised move, and jumps into the air, trying to meet Madison with a blow, wielding the scepter as a mace. "Don't let her get away with it! It's more dangerous than she knows!"

Madison Perry has posed:
    Madison isn't quite able to get through the door- Reiko's shot may have been sloppy, and it didn't hit Madison- but it did make her pull up short, hesitating as it flashed by in front of her and preventing her from escaping in the moment she had to do so.

    Kunzite is focused on protecting himself, though the method he chooses keeps that avenue of escape blocked off as well. Two people come in for melee strikes on her, Hakuomaru with her pistol and Tdase with his scepter.

    This might be a mistake indeed- Melee combat is really Madison's strong point. She whirls both of her long knives around, catching the pistol with one and the scepter with the other, straining to hold off both blows at once, her teeth gritted. It's obviously taking most of her strength to hold both at bay at the same time.

    She knows she won't be able to keep it up. After a moment of this, she suddenly ducks to the side, aiming a viper-quick slash at Tadase as she does so, more as a distraction than anything else.

    Otherwise out of options, she stumbles a few steps, her feet lifting off the ground again as she pulls the book back out of her pocket.

    "I was gonna wait to play with this, but.." She flips the book open. "Heartrazor! Use this thing to make me a door!"

    <<Attempting interface.>> The red gems on her daggers' hilts glow, and an answering glow comes from the book. Something is obviously about to happen.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Prism Princess Orange stops midair and frowns a bit. "Hey! You don't know what that's going to do!" she spits out- and even Tadase says it's dangerous, eep!

She hopes 'make me a door' doesn't mean 'suck the entire room to another dimension'. Actually. She secretly hopes it does. She missed visiting Spectra and she's still super jealous about that.

Okay maybe not that much.

Regardless, she frowns and huffs. "Prism Aegis ower...." she mutters as she throws her rod upwards.

"Orange Outburst!" she calls out as she throws out-- a koi shaped arc of energy aiming to hit Madison before she can hopefully get away...

Or send them all to another awesome and/or deadly dimension. Who knows what the heck she'll do with that thing!

Kunzite has posed:
The Princess and Kunzite have one absent wish in common, but he knows better than to think Madison Perry's about to be that altruistic. He lifts both hands, instead, and the border of his shield becomes slightly less defined; the room dims just a trace, as he spreads his power out into it. Not enough to affect anyone or any thing -- certainly not enough to affect that arc of orange energy in the slightest. But enough to get a look at certain things --

Enough to get a glimpse of any energy signatures associated with that book.

Enough to get a better look at what interface Heartrazor is attempting, and what patterns it's constructing in and around the nature of local space.

He times his shot, carefully, not letting it be visible what location he's orienting on. But in whatever moment that 'door' materializes -- he lashes out, hands lifting and coming together in the sigil that summons a single coruscating beam. The brilliant red laser-light he took away from Heartrazor at the core of his strike, surrounded and augmented and confined by the pink energy of his own attacks.

If Madison tries for that door, it's going to be a deeply unpleasant experience for her.

Yuzuki Amemori has posed:
Hakuomaru grits her teeth, relying on a mixture of armor and her own strength to hold the daggers at by, though after a moment, she twists her arm, sliding the dagger along the steel barrel and aiming a shot down towards Madison's legs, firing off the fire dart finally. Something she'll reconsider later, maybe saving the green trimmed flintlock for this kind of thing! Too late for regrets though, instead drawing the other flintlock to chop downward at her held out arm. She was serious about using the heavy things as club, pretty as they were!

"Working on it!" She calls out, "If anyone has a plan!" Not quite sure what everyone else is doing, what with her trying to stop the pirate from gaining any kind of vantage over the others.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Platinum Royale has to think fast. He doesn't know what the book is going to be used for. But he knows it's nothing good. As much as he wants to go after her and get that book - and he does - he needs to protect the Garden, and protect the Archives underneath, still under construction. The book... The book can be found.

He moves between the thief and as much of the Garden itself as he can, and raises his scepter. Thankfully, the others are doing work trying to make it hard for her to escape freely.

"Keep the pressure on her! I've got the residual effects of whatever that is!" he says with confidence that he's totally faking. He knows how to at least seem like he's got it under control though. "Don't worry about me or the Garden - try to get that book!"

Madison Perry has posed:
    Madison has to actively dodge out of the way of Hakuomaru's continues assault, the fire dart grazing her leg and leaving a burned, smoking patch in her pants, one swing of the flintlock impacting her arm and causing her to grunt- that'll bruise. She twists to try and avoid the orange burst of Koi-power from Orange, but, confined by Hakuomaru, she isn't able to avoid it completely and it scores a glancing blow to one hip, causing her to briefly stumble. But it's not her who is doing the work at the moment. It's Heartrazor.

    The book continues to glow.. and suddenly a purple 'crack' appears in the very air, like reality itself is a fragile pane of glass that is suddenly under stress. With a horrible screeching sound it pries apart.. giving a brief glimpse into a realm of shifting, formless color which gives off the same sort of 'bad juju' vibes as a Witch Labyrinth, although it doesn't appear to be that, exactly.

    With a snarl of triumph, Madison hurls herself away from Hakuomaru and towards the rent in the air, still holding the book. Wisely or not, she can't resist a parting shot. "Tell Homura Akemi I'll be seeing her soon!" She crows in triumph..

    Just before Kunzite's well-predicted energy blast hits her, aimed at the door, just as she reaches it. She lets out a shriek as the energy of her own attack slams into her- luckily (for her) around the shoulder, which is unlikely to be fatal. But it still hurts a damn lot, and the smell of burnt flesh briefly wafts through the room.

    But her momentum is such that even as she falls, she falls through the rent.. and suddenly is gone. The hole in the air seals behind her almost immidiately with a strange 'whoosh' of air re-filling the space, and it's as if it was never there. It's just gone.

    And so is Madison.

    And so is the Book.

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Prism Princess Orange watches as the rend in space forms. And her Chroma Prism reacts at the top of her Scepter like rod. Bad magic. Bad stuff. She frowns a bit as she listens to Madison spout out words- about Akemi-san and then...

She's gone--- mid charge attack. She blinks a bit as she frowns.

The light from the end of her staff dies down as she drifts down to her feet with a gentle touch of feet to the ground as she quietly huffs.

"Darnit..." she mutters.

She looks to Tadase. "Do you know what that book was about?" she asks. "I mean. Besides, it being dangerous and opening weird portals to weird places?" she asks.

Kunzite has posed:
There's an instant's more hesitation on Kunzite's part, studying that empty space in the air; and then he lets out a breath, and with it, lets his shield dissipate. "Actually gone, not an illusion," he says to Tadase. "And I can't pry something like that back open, not anymore. Mercury might be able to get something from the traces, but that's well past what I can do." Reiko has the important question handled. He asks nothing; only looks to the young king, for answers or instruction or, for all he knows, well-deserved frustration.

Yuzuki Amemori has posed:
Hakuomaru lunges after Madison, dropping the recently fired flintlock so that she can try and get her hand around the woman's ankle, or wrist, or hair, anything really! Especially since she's hurt and trying to get away, maybe- then there's the crack in the world and the weird vibes. Not quite the same as a nightmare vibe, but nothing pleasant either. She pulls away, not really sure if she should be sticking her hand in there.

However, with her trying to get one last taunt in, Hakuomaru lifts the flintlock and fires one more shot with a flash of magical energy, not entirely sure if it would hit or not before the door closed behind her. Maaaybe she should not try to break them of the habit of monologuing or taunting though. Indy-ing those only works once right?

Lowering her hand, she holsters the first flintlock, then grabs the second and scoops up her sword last. Looking to Kunzite, she says, "This is what I meant" gesturing around the room, then there's a beat. "Is everyone alright? Anyone hurt? I uh... sorry I couldn't keep her from getting away with it, she had a better grip than I'd have though." She looks back to Reiko, then to Platinum at the question because that's probably because that really is the most important question currently.

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Platinum Royale's scepter produces another energy shield, and he tries to interpose it between what he expects is an attack - the crown bursting into the air is if to soak the damage to the Royal Garden. But instead it seems as though the attack is on reality itself: the shattering as much visual as it is feeling.

But then it doesn't damage the Garden, and Madison is gone - with that book. Platinum Royale holds the shield for a little bit before dropping it, dropping his hand, and popping out of henshin.

"Damnit." he says, before catching himself. "I mean, darnit." he nods to Orange. "It's some sort of book of portals or something. I don't know much about it. I was hoping to get it somewhere to study... I never should've let it out of my sight. I knew she was after it." he says, defeatedly.

"Kunzite-sensei, I'd appreciate it if you could inform Mercury-san of this." he says, sighing. "She needs to know. I should've gotten her involved sooner, too."

"I think you did as well as anyone could ask of you." Tadase says, turning to Hakuomaru. "I'm the one who should've done better here. But... what we need to do now is focus on finding her and getting it back... who was it she mentioned when she was leaving? By name?"

Reiko Touyama has posed:
Prism Princess Orange head tilts. "Akemi-san. I know she's a Puella Magi, but not much else. I only met her a few times in passing and not very recently either." she says. "I'd have no idea how to find her." she says as she rubs the side of her head a bit as she frowns, settling the scepter against the ground, grasping it in her hand.

"Oh! Um. This is.. um. Hakuomaru, Tadase-kun, she helped when I was. In the coma...thing." she says. "She's nice." she insists.

She looks back to Kunzite. "Um. Thanks. By the way. For helping too." she says. "I don't know if I got to thank you yet." she says. "Sorry." she says meekly.

She looks back to Tadase. "We know who she's after so, maybe we can use that to our advantage?" she asks.

Kunzite has posed:
"She's also been assisting the unicorn, Ariel, with an attack on her family," Kunzite adds to the list of things Hakuomaru has done. "Among other things. And you are welcome, Orange. It was the least I could do, given what some of you and yours have done for me and mine. It's good to see you on your feet again." Then he turns to Hakuomaru more directly. "My apologies for not being more explicit. When I mentioned the knives, I presumed incorrectly that 'try to take her hands off if necessary' would follow; I neglected your preference for blunt weapons. I will talk with Akashimaru, I think; if we're in the same fights this often, we need to read each other's cues better."

Also, need to be more aware when people might have some kind of moral issue with trying to maim an opponent. There are parts of this business that he's still not so good at.

He half-bows to Platinum Royale again, after those two are both dealt with. "The Senshi are elsewhere tonight," he says, "but I'll leave Mercury word. And -- Madison Perry has targeted Akemi before, in the last few weeks. Akemi's defenses held up well that time, but even if portals are all that the book assists with, that may allow Perry to bypass them. Akemi thinks she may be trying to free the White Flower."

Tadase and Reiko may have read that news on HeartNET. But Kunzite has a little of an idea how much paperwork the Guardians wind up going through, and Tadase more of it than most. And Hakuomaru has no access at all.

Yuzuki Amemori has posed:
Hakuomaru makes a note of yet another new proper noun, though she doesn't ask any questions about the Puella thing. She'll harass Hakuomaru or maybe Seishi about it later. For now though, she says, "Ask around maybe? Someone has to know-" she double checks mentally, "Her."

the Prism Keeper's introduction gets a wave from the samurai girl. It's about this point she realizes she's still in full getup and after working her gauntlets and gloves loose, reaches up to pull her menpo free, securing both sets of items on her belt. "Hi, I think we've met." then a warm smile to Reiko, "Hey happy to help. Have to try at some point right?" There's a beat, "Grey armor was so drag anyway."

Finally, back to Tadase, "Prior to this she took a laser from an eye place. I smacked that, because breaking it seemed better than letting her have it, but I don't know if that slowed her down there." She holds a finger up, "But I figure it's a good idea to mention."

Finally, back to Kunzite, "Hey, I told you earlier that 165 centimeters of magicked steel isn't exactly convenient in this kind of environment! If it's wide open I have a lot more options" She points around the room, "But here, we were all close enough I was afraid to really do the kind of swordplay that it requires." She scowls, "Then again, a hit to her forearm like that with that heavy a club should have broken the arm- that's what Hakuomaru figured at least, maybe I didn't swing hard enough." There's a beat, "And the knives I'm familiar with, I was trying to keep her attention so you guys could... I don't know. I don't know what any of you can really do-" there's a pause, "I know some of what you can do now."

Tadase Hotori has posed:
Tadase nods at Orange. "Right, now I think I remember. Akemi-san, I mean. Thank you for jogging my memory." he says. But Kunzite pulls his attention away for a moment. "I don't think most of us are in the business of removing limbs, Kunzite-sensei. But thank you for your help." There's a sort of smile on his face like he hasn't figured out if Kunzite is serious or not.

"Yes. Lets make sure we're in contact with Akemi... the White Flower?" There's a sort of 'oh DAMNIT' look and tone to Tadase's voice even if he doesn't say those words. "I thought that was all dealt with. This is not good. And if the book can make portals we'll all need to be on guard. Akemi maybe moreso but we need to figure out what she's after. If it's the White Flower though..." Tadase makes a face. "Please, get in contact with Akemi-san and Mercury-san as soon as you can and let them know I want to speak with them. Together if possible but alone is fine too."

"A laser?" Tadase says to Hakuomaru first. "That might be related or it might not. There's been a few high-tech thefts over the last few months but we think it's Eclipse. I don't know if that girl is working with them or not, but if she is, that makes things even more troubling. Thank you for mentioning it. And we should really try to develop some basic teamwork if we're going to deal with problems together..." he says, a bit quietly, like the fact that they don't is his fault in a way.

He looks around the Royal Garden. "...man, this is not good." It's suffered a lot, both from the fight, Madison's search, and the fact that Madison is also a destructive jerk. "None of this is good."