2214/Good Morning, Good Bye

Good Morning, Good Bye
Date of Scene:	13 December 2016
Location:	Mizuno Highrise Apartment - Uminari City - Jubaan Avenue South
Synopsis:	Ami comes over to Usagi's house early in the morning. She's there to tell her friend she's leaving for awhile. Tight hugs and assurances that Ami doesn't want to quit the team are exchanged.
Cast of Characters:	Ami Mizuno, Usagi Tsukino

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Ami Mizuno has posed:
It's early morning--too early by most students standards. School is just an hour away, but of course Usagi is desperately sleeping in hoping she can forget that school will come too soon. But Ami Mizuno is no stranger to Usagi's home, and when she knocks politely at the door, Usagi's parents are happy to let her in. She distributes hugs, stows her shoos, gives a noogie for Usagi's little brother, then creeps up to the girl's room quietly.

While Usagi still sleeps, Ami sneaks in and takes a seat on the edge of Usagi's bed. Quietly, she stares at her slumbering friend for several moments, then sighs and brushes a stray hair out of Usagi's face before quietly calling, "Usagi-chan. Wake up, I need to talk to you." In truth, she's haggard and tired. She's been up the whole night packing, planning, apologizing, and preparing.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi is dreaming about, well, two guesses. And it's a pleasant dream, and not a horrid flashback to past lives or months ago or anything.

So when Ami brushes her hair away and calls for her to wake up, of course the slumbering girl giggles something about Mamo-chans.

It takes a little bit more for her to actually wake up.

She blinks at AMi as she sits up, rubbing sleep from her face.

"Ami-chan...did I miss school?"

She slumps forward, snuggling against one of her bestest friends.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami wraps her arms around Usagi in a gentle hug, then pulls away to shake her head. "No, not yet," she says quietly. "We've still got about an hour. I'm sorry to wake you up so early; I know you hate getting up this early. But ..." she trails off, then sighs and hugs Usagi again, laying her head on the girl's shoulder. "I have to tell you something. You're not going to be happy with me, but it's something I think I need to do, and I wanted to tell you directly instead of having you find out later."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
What could Ami have to say that would have her wake Usagi up so ungodly early? The blonde can think of only one thing.

Her throat tightens and her eyes stung and blur and her lips wibble but she tries (and fails) to keep her voice steady. "Are you quitting?"

She tries to sound like she'll be okay with this, but she snuggles closer. It may take the jaws of life to disengage her.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"No," Ami says, emphatically, pulling Usagi quickly to arms length so she can meet the girl's eyes. The firmness of her reply, the certainty in her stare, there's no question she's sure of that. "No, I'm not quitting. I gave that a lot of thought; a lot of thought. I don't think I could do it. I'm terrified of this burden, sometimes, but if we don't do it then someone else has to, and I couldn't live with myself knowing I'd turned my back on you and humanity for selfish reasons."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi's relief is so thick and palpable it's a wonder Ami couldn't taste it in the air. It's there on her face, though, eyes shining still but small smile bright. "Good. I'm glad. I mean, if you did, I mean, I wouldn't hate you. I'd be sad but I don't wanna force you."

Even if she's thought about it idly, quitting has never really been a plausible scenario for Usagi. In her case, she feels it would be bad to quit something that she technically started with the glinting blade of a sword at the end of her previous life.

And isn't everything else after her fault, to some degree?

Curiously, she tilts her head. "WHat else could it be?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I ..." Ami starts to say, then grimaces and looks away a little. "There's no easy way to explain this. I'm going to South America," she explains, "for a few weeks. Maybe a few months. There's something," she starts, then looks back up at Usagi, "Takashi's mother's laboratory was discovered, there, still partially in tact. It's sinking, and we don't know what the notes there will contain, but it's probably a lot of dark energy, and information into his past. I can't let him face that alone. And if it's a trap meant to make things worse, I can't let him fall to it. And if it's not a trap, I don't know what finding out about his mother will do to him. But I can't let him face it alone, Usagi-chan."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
She jerks a little, more twitching muscles beneath Ami's grip than anything.

Ami? Going away?

She doesn't like it and nearly all are for selfish reasons. But those are easy to push aside.

So instead, she asks questions for not-so-selfish reasons. "What if the dark energy is too tasty and you go to the dark side? Should I beat you up like I did with Mamo-chan and the guys? What if Taka-baka becomes an even bigger butt face? You'll be able to get away, right? What if you get bitten by poisonous kangaroos or something? Or get abducted by piggies?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami normally would answer those questions in order, but the last one catches her so far by surprise that she actually stops to stare at Usagi with her mouth open a moment before stating, "Usagi-chan, there are no kangaroos in South America, and I'm pretty sure Mercury can handle a few little pigs. As for the other questions ... they're valid. I'm going to be checking in every night, Japan time, via video conference. I've also got a bio monitor tracking me and relaying information via satellite to the command center, and a device Jupiter is carrying. If the bio monitor notices something wrong, if I miss a video call, or if you guys think I'm acting funny in the video call, I encourage you to Sailor Teleport down there and kick Takashi's butt, and then escalate me until I'm blind from it. I'm terrified of leaving you guys behind; I don't want to do this. But I have to."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
The more Ami talks, the more relaxed Usagi gets. She's pretty sure she used the wrong word when Ami talks about pigs, but she has to agree, Mercury could take on a few pygmies.

"Every night?" More relaxing. "Can I text you? About stuff? Like if I have home work questions or if I just wanna talk to you?"

Usually when she hears about trips to the jungle, they're always remote with no means of communications.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"You can use the virtue comm," Ami says with a faint nod of her head, "But I won't always be able to reply right away. I expect we're going to face a lot of Dark Energy and monsters that have been warped by it; I'm going to be in a lot of danger, and taking a text could distract me at the wrong moment. But I promise I will always reply to them as soon as I can."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi's eye twitches. Hard.

Her biggest worry aside from the selfish is exactly that. The danger.

"If you're not very careful and if you don't come back okay, I'mma beat up your boyfriend. And then beat you up when it won't hurt you."

Okay truthfully, she'll probably try to purify the hell out of Takashi if anything happens to Ami.

She perks up a little. "Tell him that! If anything happens to you, I'm gonna purify him into the next century."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"He knows," Ami reassures Usagi, "But I will tell him again just for you." She hugs Usagi again, then sighs. "I'm sorry. This is awful timing, I know, with high school placement examinations coming up in just two months. I don't even know if I'll be back for Christmas. But I'll do my best, okay? And I will come back. I promise."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Ug. High school exams. She tries hard not to think about it.

She sighs, a woeful sound. "I know. I mean, it'd be silly to fly back for it. But hey, I'll still get you something! I needa get Mamo-chan something. I already got Rei's!" A pretty pheonix statue. Nothing too fancy, just...it felt like Rei.

"And besides. Maybe she can help me with the studying. And Naru! And if he's not studying for his own, Mamo-chan will help!"

And then her face is serious. "You'd netter come back. I'd rather be sad you're not a part of the team than heart broken that you're...worse than that."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I promise that we'll exchange gifts the moment I'm back," Ami says with a smile, "And I'll find you something from South America." Ami hugs Usagi again, then says, "I should get going. I've still got a few things I have to do before school."

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
"And I'll find you something, too!"

And then Usagi is giving her a hug. It's hard and tight and tells she doesn't want to let go. But she does.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Despite her words of haste, Ami doesn't even try to break out of that hug before Usagi's ready, and she returns it just as tightly. "I'll be in class today," she says when the hug parts. "We're leaving tonight after school. Don't go back to sleep," she chides her friend gently. "I'll see you in an hour." Then she pats Usagi's head, findly, before she rises and heads towards the door.

Usagi Tsukino has posed:
Usagi nods and wipes her nose with the back of her hand. "I won't."

Actually, after this set of news, she probably couldn't fall asleep.

When Ami's gone, Usagi is alert.

"MOM! DO WE HAVE ANY BUG SPRAY LEFT OVER!"

What else does a friend send with someone going to the Amazon?