2294/Dusk Discussions

Dusk Discussions
Date of Scene:	06 January 2017
Location:	Plot Room #2
Synopsis:	Ami talks with Kunzite a little, about Takashi's mother.
Cast of Characters:	Ami Mizuno, Kunzite

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Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami wasn't even back in town before she sent a subtle text to Kunzite. From 6000 meters, the message was simple and yet hopefully interesting:

TXT from Ami Mizuno: I learned so much about the Dusk here. Things I want to discuss with you. Also about his mom. Back tomorrow. Can we meet later this week?

Thus, Ami arranged for a meeting over pizza (at least for Ami; Kunzite can fend for himself if he's not interested).

Seated in the pizza parlor, Ami is huddled up in far more layers than strictly necessary for Japan's winters: a sweater-dress over tights, a heavy coat, little blue earmuffs, and fuzzy boots. She's shivering, despite all of that overwear, and of course she's got her study guide out on the table while she waits.

Kunzite has posed:
She's not alone. The particular tall, white-haired one who arrives (five minutes before on-time, precisely) is at least wearing a coat -- black wool, somewhat military-styled, and sharp enough on him that it's almost certain someone else was responsible for the choice. He's also carrying a study guide with him, for the Politics and Economics test specifically.

He does regard the shivering warily for a moment before crossing the rest of the distance. "You look," he says, "as if anything under thirty degrees were now suddenly too cold." (Of course he means Celsius.) His own study guide is set down; he shrugs out of his own coat, and holds it a little toward her side of the table for a moment in silent offering.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Do you know how hot Peru is this time of year?" Ami asks without looking up from her notes. She finishes the page, wrinkles her nose, then pulls her glasses off her face and straightens up. The book closes of its own accord. Yay tension.

Ami stares at the coat confusedly for a few moments, then blinks and shakes her head, "No, another layer won't make a difference. I just need to re-acclimate to up being up and down being down and Winter being cold and water being wet. I was gone ... far too long," she mumbles.

Kunzite has posed:
"Well." Kazuo settles in across from her, coat and all. "We didn't lose Naru. And Mamoru doubled down on studying while you were gone, so he can take turns with you dealing with Usagi when she realizes the deadline is upon her. So possibly you were merely gone too long, rather than far too long."

A pause, and he admits, "I've never been to Peru. I understand it's greener than I'm accustomed to, as hot places go."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"..." The fact that losing Naru might have been an option does not sit well with Ami, but rather than yelling about it she merely stares, open-mouthed for a moment, then sighs and rubs at her nose. "At least we've still got a week before the testing begins," she mumbles quietly. "I'm not sure I want to know what exciting things did happen while I was away. I'm sure it will all catch up with me eventually," she says.

Clearing her throat, Ami asks, "What kind of pizza would you like? I ordered a works, but we can get something for you if you're pickier than that."

Kunzite has posed:
"It's all right," Kazuo says to that open-mouthed stare -- there's a very small lift of one hand, careful not to look like any kind of spell-invocation he's ever used. "Luna's keeping a quiet eye on her, and besides, whatever it was, it's settling down."

(Kazuo needs to either (a) get better at flagging that kind of joke or (b) stop trying to make them. Or both. Both might be good. Odds of that actually happening: ... yeah, not so good.)

He does let the subject drop when Ami makes that topic switch -- even the moment before that, he's letting it go. And there's a brief twitch at one corner of his mouth when she asks about the pizza. "That sounds fine," he says. "Unless you secretly harbor an appetite to match Usagi's. Even if you don't normally, a return to the lands where pizzas are readily available might inspire it, just the once."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I've put Usagi to shame on one or two occasions," Ami observes amusedly, "but I ordered an extra large, and we can always get a second pizza to go if I want more." She glances towards the counter, then sighs and looks back to him.

"I don't even know where to begin," Ami admits after a moment of thought. "So much happened, and also so little. We did find some of his mother's notes. And I was right ... sortof."

Kunzite has posed:
"That's the nature of archaeological digs." Except when they uncover hideously cursed treasures that devour the souls of the scientists. Ami's soul does seem to be intact at the moment, granted. At least as far as one can tell from casual conversations. Kazuo studies Ami's expression for a moment, trying to unriddle the layers of concern, but not for long; he glances away before she has much of a chance to get uncomfortable. "On which of the many potential topics were you right?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"She wanted to close the rift," Ami says quietly. "Once they realised that dark energy was negatively impacting them, she wanted to close it permanently, rather than risk losing control. Takashi-kun was not very happy with that. He had this view of his mother as believing that the science--the knowledge--would trump all fears. She did want to study it, though, despite its proven negative side-effects. Just ... not without figuring out how to control it first."

Kunzite has posed:
"Ah." Kazuo's silent for just a moment, as he considers this. Processes this. "So she was sensible after a fashion. And someone with a hand in shaping him does see him as expendable." Both are stated in the same tone, and as if both were similarly clear conclusions to come to, with no need to explain an underlying reasoning.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Mmm, I don't know that she sees him as expendable," Ami counters quietly, thoughtfully. "None of her notes pertained to him; I believe this project predated his conception. But certainly she believed the dark energy was expendable--and given how much he has relied on it for everything in life, learning his mother didn't view it as this perfect beautiful form of power was a bit of a shock to him."

Kunzite has posed:
"I don't mean his mother. I mean whoever told him the things from which he drew his view of his mother." Kazuo has been frowning at the table, head bent; he doesn't straighten, which leaves it possible for him to, in a sense, glance almost-up at Ami. "It could be chance, rather than a shaped thing. But it seems too convenient for me to rate that as likely. Still. That's peripheral to the matter at hand. You found her notes; she behaved at least reasonably as a scientist, if with potential ethical issues, and with a reasonable understanding of the necessities of survival. Agera, who believes himself a scientist but is actually excellent at engineering and terrible at actual science, was taken aback."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"I'm not sure I'd even call them ethical issues," Ami points out quietly. "Prior to the discovery of the rift, they didn't know what dark energy was at all. They had no reason to challenge their ethics on the issue any more than Marie Curie did when she researched radiactivity." She offers a faint shrug, then says, "Either way, I wish I could find more of her notes. I have a feeling that's how we're going to really learn his past."

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo inclines his head to her correction, then rests his right hand on the table and covers it with his left. "So," he says quietly. "How do we go about granting your wish? Things must have happened, between the rift and his birth. Many may have been swallowed up by the shadow; it seems likely that they would have tried to conserve the records, but they don't seem likely to be easy to get hold of. Is it possible that others might exist, outside of that fortress? Not easy to find themselves, if they do, or Agera would have them. But less likely to start a war."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami concedes the point that things must have happened readily enough--although maybe it's just because she's reaching for slices of hot greasy pizza to put on her plate, since the first pie is being brought out.

Once she's situated herself with food, the bluenette says, "I don't know how to go about getting it. Well, short of hacking an eclipse database, but that seems ... ill advised."

Kunzite has posed:
Pizza is an important distraction, and it keeps them busy for a few moments. Kazuo takes a single slice after Ami has hers, but lets it cool a little before tasting it. Ami's concern is agreed as valid with a nod; Kazuo suggests, deadpan, "We could try to convince Miss White to hack an Eclipse database. But that seems potentially unfair to her."

... once again it is entirely unclear whether he's joking or actually proposing that as a potential plan.

A moment's consideration. "Or we could review your data on that rift, and her data on that rift, and consider whether she might have tried to further her research by searching for similar signatures in some fashion. Try to move in her footprints."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami chews on the idea--and a slice of pizza--quietly for a few moments. She wrinkles her nose in distaste, then notes, "If there are other rifts like this one, then they're likely quite common. The odds of us following her footsteps is unlikely at that point. Still, I wouldn't mind a second set of eyes on my notes and hers. They're fascinating, anyways. The things the darkness can do when manifested like that is terrifying. And Takashi says this was only a fraction of the Dusk Zone. I'm not sure I want to know what it looks like when you get all the way in.

Kunzite has posed:
There's a breath drawn to say something, but whatever it was is stopped, carefully, dead. There's a moment of expression in its wake, the sign of something wistful and bladed and sharp -- that blade not turned against Ami, but against the man opposite her. He makes no attempt to hide it; it goes away on its own, leaving only something faint in the vicinity of his eyes in its wake.

"I'd like to see that," he says quietly. "There might be parallels I can speak to, or traces I recognize." Or things that should have been obvious, that Takashi might have chosen not to mention. He doubts that, though. If there were any hints of terrible wonders, Riventon would far more likely have tried to lure her with them, to tempt her curiosity and her hunger to know.

His pizza waits for its share of attention, lonely and forlorn.