2195/So Very Monday

So Very Monday
Date of Scene:	06 December 2016
Location:	Naru's apartment
Synopsis:	Kunzite and Naru catch up in the aftermath of Through and Voice, and synchronize their ongoing-crises-and-status-thereof lists. Unsurprisingly, number one on both: Usagi's probable reaction to impending high school entrance exams.
Cast of Characters:	Kunzite, Naru Osaka

---

Kunzite has posed:
<PHONE> A text from Naru Osaka at Mon Dec 05 15:48:48 2016: It's so very Monday.
<PHONE> You text Naru Osaka: Going that well?
<PHONE> A text from Naru Osaka at Mon Dec 05 15:50:29 2016: Sakura has her fairy back. It trashed my apartment on the way and I hope Alex doesnt have a concussion.
<PHONE> You text Naru Osaka: It wouldn't be the first concussion this week. Need a hand with cleanup?
<PHONE> A text from Naru Osaka at Mon Dec 05 15:54:49 2016: Sakura helped clean up the living room. I'm working on cleaning up my room. It doesn't help that I didn't really go back to sleep after the most recent creepy puella dream.
<PHONE> You text Naru Osaka: Not going back to sleep seems entirely reasonable, under the circumstances. I take it that if you're on your room now, the rest is manageable. Should I send someone over with dinner, or do you have that handled?
<PHONE> A text from Naru Osaka at Mon Dec 05 16:02:53 2016: It's managable. There will need to be some repairs, but their fairly minor, and some knick knacks and a chair didn't survive the encounter. My room's a /mess/, but I'll cope. Dinner would be welcome, or I'll just order something in.
<PHONE> You text Naru Osaka: We'll provide. May be able to help with the repairs, too, depending.
<PHONE> A text from Naru Osaka at Mon Dec 05 16:16:04 2016: So company will be welcome. As will dinner and adult conversation.

It's some time after the text conversation, naturally, that there's a knock at the apartment door. About the time that sane people might be considering dinner. Naru's mother will of course not be, but Kazuo knows her schedule as well, by this time.

Naru Osaka has posed:
The living room is mostly back together, only moderate signs of the hoopla that went on when Naru opens the door to Kazuo's knocking. The kitchen is still a bit of a mess, and goodness only /knows/ what state Naru's room is in. There's a couple spots that could use a bit of drywall repair, and the broken chair is set by the door to head for the dumpster.

"Hi." Naru greets as she steps out of the way to let Kazuo into the apartment. "I feel well spoiled with having dinner delivery, thank you."

Kunzite has posed:
"If the place was in that bad a shape," Kazuo replies, "using your kitchen seemed like a potentially unhealthy idea. Not in terms of cleanliness, necessarily, but unexpected fire hazard." He comes in to search for a usable table, and set out what he brought. It's not as elaborate as a real dinner ought to be, but the elements are there, if recombined into fewer dishes: curry rice, pickled vegetables, oden to sweep seafood and soup and egg all into a single winter-comfort-food bowl. And to retain heat more easily against her mother's working late.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Through largely kept the rampaging to my room and the living room, but the kitchen caught collateral damage." Naru admits as she gestures to the freshly cleaned off and wiped down table that managed to only get a few scratches. There's only three chairs at the moment, rather than the usual four, so probably good that only two of them are there at the moment. "Smells delicious."

Naru heads into the kitchen to fetch drinks and napkins and other assorted bits and pieces. "On the up side, apparently a rampaging fairy is sufficient incentive for me to transform, which is reassuring on some level."

Kunzite has posed:
"Descriptive name." Kunzite's tone might likewise be descriptive, of what he might possibly be tempted to do to certain cards if he ever caught them away from their mistress. "I'll check over the appliances before I go." Disinclined to have the apartment explode, for some reason. He gives the room a little more of a deliberate once-over, noting the drywall damage without a word spoken. "Also good to see that your survival instinct is in operating condition. I've had to wonder about a few people's lately."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'd appreciate it." Naru nods at the offer to check over the appliances before Kunzite leaves. Supper things come to the table, and Naru settles with the assumption that Kazuo will be settling with her.

"Generally seems to be alright." Naru allows on her survival instinct. "Whose has been going astray? Sakura admitted that the big storm on the weekend was also one of her cards. I got to learn that I'd rather run in snow than on a treadmill."

Kunzite has posed:
"She caught one over at our place, too." Kazuo ladles fish (well, mostly fish) (well, at least half of it's fish, and most of the rest is marine, anyway) into Naru's bowl, along with enough broth that it still actually qualifies as fish, and stirs the rest enough to find a boiled egg for her. The curry rice and vegetables he seems to presume she's taking care of for herself. Height is only an advantage when dealing with containers with tall sides. "Which she was at largely so that we could take care of her concussion. Between that and the two hundred-foot falls? For her experience, she didn't do badly the other day, but I'd still prefer your sketchbook. Whether or not you're up to changing over at the time.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"As Alexis got bashed through a few walls, and not entirely through a few others, that might not be the only concussion on the docket." Naru can scoop out rice and veggies herself, with a quiet murmur of thanks for the filled bowl. Battles with rampaging fairies and associated clean up works up an appetite.

"Watching her fall was heart attack inducing." Naru agrees as she picks up her spoon and waits for Kazuo to serve himself and settle properly. "Although I'm not much help against Madison, that's for certain. First time I'd met her, she's.. very direct. For some reason, I had it in my head that she was also a puella, I'm not sure why."

Kunzite has posed:
"Mn. Better ambush him with Asclepius. Mamoru's flagging a bit; it's been a busy week." 'Through a few walls.' Kazuo does not, thankfully, inquire as to how she's explaining that one to her mother. He concentrates on hs own plate, and on settling a few moments later. All is clear.

Kazuo shakes his head a moment after. "Madison Perry is the kind of person whose best friend is a pair of knives," he says. As if that explained things on several levels. "And no, she's a Device user. The White Flower is eclectic."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'll text Daisuke later." Naru nods at the suggestion of letting Mamoru rest, or at least study more. The whole mess will be interesting to explain to her mother, as Naru is so given to throwing wild parties.

"She's interesting." Naru decides upon, although if she means Madison or The White Flower, is unclear for the moment as she focuses on eating for long seconds.

Kunzite has posed:
"They both are, after their fashion," Kazuo agrees. "And dangerous."

Given that Kazuo is the kind of person who lets Zoisite casually use him as furniture, that certainly says something, but in what direction might or might not be clear.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Yes. In very different ways." Naru takes a scoop of seafood and broth, letting that settle for a few moments as she eats.

"Did Mamoru tell you that Hana was talking to me during the fight?" Naru asks, clearly willing to admit something that she figures Kunzite already knows.

Kunzite has posed:
"We've been a little too preoccupied to catch up properly." ... which invites the question of what the hell has been going on over at the frat house the last couple of days. "It would explain why she stopped talking with Madison Perry, granted. You caught her interest?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru arches a curious brow at the mention of 'preoccupied to catch up', but she leaves that for the moment. "She didn't appreciate me cutting down on her dining options by calming people down and chose to tell me directly. Which was unexpected."

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo pauses over his food, and regards Naru directly for a moment; a moment after that one, the corner of his mouth ticks just a touch upward. "Good to know that distracting Perry did have the desired effect. So the Flower identified you as her primary threat, then."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Yes." Naru nods after a moment and returns to eating. "Madison didn't pay me any attention, mostly because you and Sakura were keeping her well distracted. I don't yet know how to do much against that sort of physical combat situation."

"She's very polite, at least." Naru notes thoughtfully as she holds up a spoonful of broth to let it cool a bit. "Unsurprisingly, I expect Madison will do more of these sorts of things to generate fear and panic."

Kunzite has posed:
"Princess Runealy reported one before this." Kazuo's typical frown appears, but only for a moment. "I'd hoped that separating Perry from her Device might slow her down, but I'm not certain now that that's a practical method. Sooner or later, she'll be feed the Flower enough to wake her fully."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'm not sure that there's a good way to sense how soon that is, save that if she's chatting with people in their heads, she is clearly more awake than she has been." Naru settles back in her chair, taking a moment to enjoy curried rice and vegetables. "Although, I thought once a witch became a grief seed, they were dead. Apparently not."

Kunzite has posed:
"No. They're called seeds for a reason. Given time, they grow." Kazuo shakes his head a little, reaching for his bowl again. "If you find one, don't keep it in a drawer. The Puella can keep them under control."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"And energy. Very specific energy, or so I was informed by The White Flower." Naru nods. "The likelyhood of me finding one is slim, but I will bear in mind that the sock drawer is a poor resting location."

Naru is quiet again, thoughtful as she eats. "I wonder how much of Hana is still in the White Flower."

Kunzite has posed:
There is a longish pause broken only by the sounds of utensils and eating. Ten seconds. Fifteen. Maybe twenty.

"That depends on what wish she made," Kazuo says quietly. "Doesn't it. And whether or not she locked herself into grief and ostracism and fear in the process."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru is thoughtful, eating for a while as they share slow conversation. "She was scared of being changed. That was a theme in her dreams. Yet at the same time, changed herself from the tearful small child into being ruthlessly efficient." She mmms softly. "I expect her wish to have been something in that theme, but what it was, and more importantly, how Kyubey interpreted it are both very different, and unclear."

Kunzite has posed:
"And how Kyubey manipulated her to interpret it. The question of whether she is still capable of reinterpreting it is a good one. And how to discover whether the answer might be yes, while still guarding against the possibility that it might be no."

Kazuo glances aside from Naru, studying the air over the place where a chair is not. "It's been a little time since we've heard from Madoka and Homura. Perhaps we should check in."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"A lot of questions, not a lot of answers." Naru agrees and then takes a slurp of broth. "I don't know either of them well enough to just casually stop by, or randomly text."

"Although if ECFH is busy enough that you've been too preoccupied to catch up with Mamoru, I clearly have more time, regardless." Naru points out with a glance over to Kazuo.

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo sets down chopsticks to make a little noncommittal gesture with that hand. "Concussed unconscious child," he says. "Card capture. Aftermath of card capture. Monday."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Ah." Naru nods and there's a little mmmm. "Clearly our Mondays looks not so dissimilar. Which card was at your place? She has an awful lot of them."

Kunzite has posed:
Technically, the card capture happened over the weekend. Monday just perennially deserves a place all its own in the list. "In the interest of all involved remaining on speaking terms with me," Kazuo says, "it might be best if I didn't go into detail. One not as overtly obnoxious as yours was, though. No physical repairs necessary."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru pauses and then starts to giggle softly. "Oh dear. I can /only/ imagine if that disclaimer comes alongside it." She takes a slow deep breath, held a moment. "I think I'm down to killer plants that I dont have enough information on, and an atypical witch who is trying to awaken on my to fuss about list. Oh and the fact that I am possibly slightly less useful wiht my powers now than I was before. And exams. What other crises am I forgetting about?"

Kunzite has posed:
"Mizuno-san's not-vacation," Kazuo provides. "Rehabilitating the Shadow Witch. Sorting out what Alexis can and should not do. Tracking the origin of the interference with your dreams. Semester end. High school entrance exams. Small traumatized children. Ariel's mothers. Makoto's birthday."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"What's up with Ariel's mothers?" Naru asks with a quirk of her head. Because that's the only one of the long and esoteric list that she's not clear on the details of. "I did remember to include exams on my own list. Although I suppose I'll get to deal with Usagi's freakout too, so having them there twice seems more reasonable based on that."

Kunzite has posed:
There's a brief blink from Kazuo. Apparently he had forgotten that Naru wasn't familiar with that one. That may also speak to the amount of stress he's been under the last few days. "Dream troubles. Temporarily somewhat stabilized, but it might add to her resilience if it can be sorted out. Mostly a matter for Akashimaru and Hakuomaru, rather than for us." He considers the matter of exams, and then adds, "Thank you for incidentally clarifying for me why Mamoru is studying so hard now."

... because just before the end, no-one is going to actually see Mamoru through the cloud of blonde hair and tears.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Mmm. I might touch base with her, simply to let her know that she has support if she wishes it, from someone who can be there at school." Naru nods slowly, as if mentally adding that to her task list.

"Ah.. yes." Naru nods as Kunzite puts together the timing on exams. "I'm behind in my studying, with that assumption. I keep getting distracted."

Killer plants, killer dreams, witches.. it's not ideal for one's focus on schoolwork.

Kunzite has posed:
"Mn. It's something of a private matter. But support is something she can always use." Kazuo frowns a little further, then adds, "I talked to you about Ayana already," as if to cross that item off a mental list. Again. Distractions are a thing.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"As I hoped to speak with her before I knew she was having her own dream troubles, I wont mention that, but support nonetheless." Naru assures and then nods. "I did catch up with Ayana, although briefly. I should make a point of having lunch with her again. Have you spoken to her since?"

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo shakes his head. "I've spoken with Tsukiko, but I don't know whether she's followed up; it didn't occur to her that anything external might be affecting Ayana in the first place. She's sufficiently imbued with purification that she has little experience with the subtler conditions that might make someone need it."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Does she know if anything external is affecting her?" Naru asks as she uncurls from her chair to pad over and fetch her phone. That phone. She returns to the table, tucking herself back into her chair to take a few notes. "I'm not sure if I'm just not attracting them as much, but it feels like the ambient little stuff that used to snag me all the time isn't quite as common."

Kunzite has posed:
"We don't know for certain. My suspicion is that something is; I have a further suspicion about what. I talked with Ayana, and separately with Tsukiko, about the possibility and about why I think so. But we don't, in honestly, know anything on the subject." ... except that something about it sets Kazuo just faintly on edge; he has most of his expression in that usual mask, but there's a faint hint of a furrow between his eyebrows that doesn't belong. "You're likely not trailing as much bait as you had been. But I don't know for certain."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I can feel it, even when I couldnt transform or draw, I could feel it, but I don't actually know how to use it very well." Naru nods thoughtfully. "I don't think I'm trailing any bait these days, which explains a lot. Even still, there's fewer mentions of it that I can see."

The furrow is noted, and Naru nods slowly at the lack of details about potentials with Ayana. "Lack of concrete information is endemic at the moment."

Kunzite has posed:
"Which is an ongoing concern. There are, after all, only two likely conditions. Either something is going on in Tokyo that Agera does not want Mizuno-san to see; or there is something going on Tokyo that someone does not want Riventon to see; or, granted, that some element of the timing is coincidence." At least Kazuo's paranoia grants that that's possible.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Personally? My vote is the later." Naru notes thoughtfully. "Either something that doesn't want Riverton to mess with, or coincidence on the timing. Exams and life and Taka and everyting have Ami fairly well distracted at the best of times here in Tokyo. It would be overkill to set up the premise of the lab and everything just to distract her."

Kunzite has posed:
"Riventon is the kind of person who thinks that developing a supernatural prison and a dark energy cloning lab is a reasonable and proportional response to someone mentioning to his girlfriend that they're not entirely happy with her dating habits being unsupervised," Kazuo says. "But -- yes. I think you're right. Lying about his mother would be worth more than that, to him."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I am fond of Alex, and there are some challenges in the whole not-magic/new-magic combination, but I am just going to say that basically no matter the state of weird in our relationship, it seems so sane and stable and normal by comparison." Naru points out with a soft mmm. "That being said, I agree. He wouldnt make it that personal on a whim."

Kunzite has posed:
"Not unless it were highly valuable, and we haven't seen signs of that yet." Kazuo shakes his head, just a little. "I'll see what we can do to cover for the possibility. But agreed. Relatively sane and stable and normal is ... highly valuable in a manner all its own." Attention is turned to the remainder of his curry rice. Presumably, he feels obligated not to make Kyouko have to stab him by wasting any.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh. We should add that Sailor Earth woman to the list." Naru remembers after a moment. "Unless she's somewehre in that list and I haven't yet made that connection, or unless she's been dealt with and I missed that in the nightmares and kill plant haze."

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo's eyes flicker narrower. "She hasn't," he says. "And I haven't picked up any traces of her energy. Wherever and however she's hiding, it's very good cover."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"The fact that we almost forgot about her says that it's an /excellent/ cover." Naru mmms softly and returns to eating. "Sensing energy as you do seems really handy. I don't think I can do that."

Kunzite has posed:
"Not necessarily. It's only local, and it's simultaneously a vulnerability; in order to analyze energy, I need to absorb it. Since energy can carry corruption or other contagion, it's not necessarily safe."

Another of those silences ensues, a relatively brief one. "Also," Kazuo says at the end of it, "there are other disadvantages. Mercury's variety of analysis is ultimately superior -- better range, better detail, better and more easily shared records, and less inherent risk."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru listens to Kunzite's assessment of the comparative merits of his and Mercury's analytical skills. There is a thoughtful pause as she considers his words, spoken and unspoken.

"Information at all at the time seems fairly useful compared to coming into situations blind." Naru replies thoughtfully. "Although not having to absorb it is a significant advantage."

Kunzite has posed:
"You can ceate things," Kazuo counters. "Can you create something to give yourself a comparable advantage?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
Nsru considers that question. "I haven't tried explicitly magical things. I have mostly been pretty uninspired in the heat of the moment and acquired a weapon of some sort."

Kunzite has posed:
"Not unreasonable," Kazuo agrees. "But your advantage is in your flexibility. It might be worthwhile, in time, exploring the breadth of that. Within reasonable limits -- it would probably be unwise to create anything harmful if uncontained at this juncture, and there are ethical questions to consider carefully before creating things that might have life or thought of their own."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Having just watched a fairy trash my apartment, I am so not in a rush to draw things that might rampage." Naru considers a moment and then adds. "Deliberste emotional urging was new. I wasn't sure showing art that held a different emotion would work as well as it did."

Kunzite has posed:
"Under the circumstances, I'm pleased it did. For all that there are ethical considerations there, too. But I suspect you and Mamoru have already discussed some of those." In a situation Kazuo was not privy to, so he can't be certain. But he knows both of them. That's enough.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Yes and no." Naru considers with a quirk of her head. "Not as such. We've only had one conversation about my powers, and they were fairly unsettled. We don't overlap much these days." Which is hardly surprising, Mamoru doesn't overlap with anyone much these days.

Kunzite has posed:
"I suspect you've had some discussion about his powers, though, which might apply to the emotional parts of yours." 'Suspect you've had' here might be read as 'can't imagine you'd have let him in your head without,' and Kazuo certainly knows that happened.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Well.. yes.." Naru's voice trails off a little, as if the /idea/ that her powers could bear /any/ resemblence to Mamoru's on any level was utterly foreign and only just now having that connection made.

"Hunh." Naru pokes with her spoon at the last in her bowl as she considers that. "It.. felt really awkward to use it that way, on the people there, but kludgy or not, it worked enough to calm some of them down."

Kunzite has posed:
"Good. If manipulating people's emotions ever stops feeling awkward, there is very likely to be a problem." Kazuo puts no actual emphasis on any of that; only rises to clear away dishes, and fetch the remaining soup into the kitchen -- if it's going to be kept warm for Naru's mother, he should probably make sure that there's no fire or explosion hazard left in a tiny cardfairy's wake. That the clearing away leaves a fish-shaped cake by Naru's place is obviously a complete coincidence. Given where it came from, odds are fairly good that it's chocolate-filled.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I don't think you notice that stop being awkward. You get used to the awkward feeling, so /that/ stops being quite so odd, and then when it slides away it's just there." Naru comments, lifting her voice to follow Kazuo into the kitchen. The fish-shaped cake by her place makes Naru smile as she looks down at it and she reaches for it. "At least based on how other awkward things slowly stop being awkward." She considers. "I think they can override me.. but this is rather hard to test. Becuase it's not like my art forces people into what they think, you just get to feel what I put there, and empathy does the rest. I think?"

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo's voice is slightly flatter, and it probably isn't just the echo. "Jadeite noticed."

-- what that says about the rest of them is also a good question.

Her further consideration returns it to something like normal. "Possibly. It might be possible to test that, but I'm not entirely certain how. Mamoru might have a better perspective." Whether he means /on/ the test, or that /being/ the test, again, a good question.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I wish I knew Jadeite better." Naru comments quietly.

A bite of cake confirms that yes, there's chocolate inside. And yes, it in delicious. Naru isn't in a rush to finish it, savouring instead. "I'd say I'll try and remember to ask him when next I see him, but we'll no doubt get off topic long before I get to anything approximating what I'd hoped to ask him, but that's alright."

Kunzite has posed:
"If he's back to himself by then," Kazuo says, "the two of you will never discuss the actual topic, yes. But you'll still be as likely as not to come away from the conversation with everything you needed out of it at that juncture."

... or Naru will finally have joined the apartment habit of solving problems via sudden scuffle. Hard to tell.

Kazuo actually sounds slightly wistful, either way.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I expect you all will be really glad when exams are over. I miss him, and it can't hold a candle to the rest of you guys." Naru comments with a nod and a quirk of a smile. "Possibly he'll have made me either snap, or tears, or both again, and yes. What we needed, even if we didn't realize it."

The likelyhood of Naru solving problems with a scuffle seems slim, but stranger things have happened.

Kunzite has posed:
There's a pause, and then Kazuo emerges with that faint trace of expression that passes for amusement on him. "I meant Jadeite," he says. "But it does hold for either of them, doesn't it. One of the places they're similar."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru pauses and then starts to giggle. "See? I don't even know him well enough to know when you mean him!" She shakes her head a little. "Missing him is probably not so far off either."