2362/Milkshakes are medicinal

Milkshakes are medicinal
Date of Scene:	17 January 2017
Location:	Sakura Territory
Synopsis:	Pizza, milkshakes and discussion of injuries, healing and witches with Kyouko, Naru and Kunzite.
Cast of Characters:	Naru Osaka, Kyouko Sakura, Kunzite

---

Naru Osaka has posed:
Waking up in Zoi's palace is a downright decadent experience. There's sunshine and colour and the play of light and windows and a bed that is /to die for/, and it's like someone took all the best bits of castles, art installations, high end hotel spas and put them all into one guest bedroom. There is /one/ downside.

No cell reception.

Sometimes a feature, distinctly not a feature at the moment. The reality of wanting a shower AND clothes that are not walk of shame worthy, means that there's a freshly scrubbed Naru in bare feet and leggings and t-shirt, settled on Kyouko's couch trying to brush tangles out of her still wet hair. She hasn't kept up with getting it cut, apparently that was a one time deal.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    There might have been a minor freak-out the previous day. Look, Kyouko had that whole thing about 'not enough fear' last week, but 'Your girlfriend has been shot' tends to remind someone exactly what fear feels like, even when its prefaced with 'she's fine, but...'

    To her credit, Kyouko recovered quickly. She meant what she had said to Naru in their talk a few nights back- we get hurt, it's part of the job. She just hadn't realized, at the time, how much easier it is to be the one hurt than to have the ones youc are about get hurt. Well... lesson learned.

    Now, though, she seems to have recovered her temperament enough as she walks back into the room, also barefoot though wearing jeans and a t-shirt, indicating work at some point today, either later or already past. She's carrying two mugs, one of coffee and one of tea, which are placed on the table near freshly-scrubbed Naru.

    "Here, let me." She says, sitting down on the couch behind Naru and taking the brush from the girl's hands, beginning to work on the tangles on her behalf. "Drink your coffee." There's a note of command to that statement, as if she's not quite sure that Naru is as recovered as she seems to be, despite knowing objectively that healing magic is, well, magic and she's probably fine.

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite knows that Naru has staggered back into the real world, because otherwise, there would not have been the magic of text messages. He also knows that she is not upstairs. Odds of her being at her actual home right now: low. And school hasn't yet started back up again.

Therefore there is another text message appearing on Naru's phone, under whatever she has the white-haired one's contact label.

    The kitchen hadn't been noticeably raided, so I brought pizza. May I come in?

(Knocking is less of a thing when the people you're trying to contact may, quite possibly, include someone twitchy, potentially hair-triggered, and lethal sprawled on a couch.)

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru reaches for her coffee and scoots forward on the couch to let Kyouko settle in behind her. "Yes dear." Is the sardonic reply to that command of coffee drinking, but it's accompanied with a smile. The bingle of her phone means she picks it up before her mug.

"C'mon in, Kunzite! If you have a hand free to text, you've a hand free for the door." Naru lifts her voice rather than the couth and sane and reasonable tactic of getting up.

Not even her house, and she's inviting people in while passing her brush to Kyouko.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko isn't about to complain about Naru inviting people in on her behalf, especially not when said people are A) always welcome and B) bearing pizza. She does wince a little bit at the shout. "Alright, now I'm convinced you're fine." She mutters, though fondly. She works the brush through Naru's damp hair with more stubborn enthusiasm than skill, but the tangles do start to disappear, hopefully with only a few sharp tugs.

    She glances over towards the door to see Kunzite as he enters, and her grin is both welcoming and pleased. "Nii-chan. Thanks! I was startin' to think about food, but hadn't actually made any decisions about what to do yet." She wasn't about to try and make recently-injured Naru cook.

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite does in fact have a hand free for the door. And a key, which he is certain works only after it proves to actually open the door. The pizza box gets to make its home on the coffee table. Next to it: two lychee milkshakes. Daisuke is right, half the people they know use the things for medication. "The day after these things," he says to Kyouko, "decisions are overrated. Or at least take too much focus. If you ever have to manage it, just use Mamoru's card and shove food at people; they'll start thinking sometime after."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Told you I was fine." Naru notes as she gives Kyouko a little nudge. She leaves off the reality of the fact that had someone asked how she was just prior to passing out, she'd probably also have said 'fine' then too. Fine is a bit of a sliding scale.

"Morning, or what passes for morning, Kunzite." Naru greets and there's a smile at the fact that pizza comes with a lychee milkshake sideline. Medicinal, certainly.

The reality of Kyouko having a hold of her hair means that Naru isn't about to move all that much. Kyouko has a hold of her hair, and there will be fewer wince inducing tugs if she's not wriggling through it. "Everyone else alright?" She asks of him. "I sort of missed on exactly what happened after I left the main action."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "I know what you told me." Kyouko says, in a low tone, "But now I also know it's true." There's no censure in the statement, just an acknowledgement of the fact that Naru (like so many people) makes a habit of downplaying her distress sometimes.

    It is perhaps a measure of Kyouko's concern that she had only just begun to think about food (rather than the normal state of thinking about food all the time) and that when the pizza box is placed on the table she doesn't leap for it immidiately. Rather, she turns back to Naru's hair, working through the last few tangles and giving a few soothing brushes afterwards before turning to place the brush down and exchange it for a slice of pizza, which begins to disappear almost at once.

    "Nobody's.. dead.. at least." She says between bites, "or that's the story I got anyway." She glances to Kunzite for confirmation. She grins slightly. "Thanks for the advice. I'm new to this whole 'not actually being the greivously injured one' thing."

Kunzite has posed:
"Nothing that won't heal, on our side," Kunzite says. "Except possibly the boy I don't know; I'm not familiar with that kind of injury. Endymion's having some trouble -- he's been dealing with several situations, lately, and it'll take him time to settle everyone, and build his reserves back up." His frown is an absent thing, habitual.

(The pizza was chosen with Naru's tastes in mind. Kyouko and Kunzite will both eat essentially anything, after all.)

He doesn't comment about whether Hannah will heal. Or indeed whether she's dead or alive.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru pffts softly at Kyouko, immaterial of the fact that she has a point.

Once hair brushing is done, Naru too leans over to gather up pizza and milkshake, and let her coffee cool for the moment. So much delicious, all at once.

"Until just recently, I didn't know that kind of injury was a /thing/." Naru admits as she finishes a bit of pizza, probably in about the same time for Kyouko to inhale a slice of pizza. "I feel bad for eternally being a drain on Endy's reserves. I can't just hand /him/ sketches to offer more energy." She wrinkles up her nose.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "Getting your magic drained isn't usually fatal.." Kyouko comments, with a twist of her mouth, one full slice of pizza indeed already vanished, "Unless you're a Puella. But it's never fun, and maybe this was somethin' different. I dunno, I didn't see it myself."

    Milkshake is claimed and straw is busily drawn upon for several moments as she considers. "If you need me to pull any extra duty, just say so." She comments, when the straw leaves her mouth, looking at Kunzite. Stressing the fact that, injured girlfriend or no, she takes her duty as Shitennou seriously if Endymion is having issues.

    She also does not comment on Hannah, or on the fact that if she had been there, 'dead' might have been the sought-after outcome. She is very studiously not thinking about it in order to prevent herself doing something rash.

Kunzite has posed:
"It depends on who's doing it, how, and how hard," Kazuo says offhandedly to Kyouko. Naru he merely shakes his head to. "Normally it's not a problem in the slightest; he has an excess, and he's often enough looking for ways to use some of it. There was an incident with one of the cards a few days ago, though. He had to deal with the drain on himself and on me -- and then multiple injuries last night." After he was feeding Kunzite energy directly during the fight, as a bonus.

The matter of extra duty wins Kyouko a more direct nod. "We've already talked about what we need you most to keep an eye on," he says. "If Witches are behaving anomalously, not only might there be more, but even that seed we collected the other day might try to hatch early. And that's something none of the rest of us can keep watch for."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Is that the same card issue that Lacrima was telling me about, about her houseguest?" Naru asks thoughtfully, sipping on milkshake more than reaching for more pizza as she absently leans on Kyouko.

Naru is quiet a moment and then takes a slow breath to add on the heels of Kunzite's comment to Kyouko. "Hana getting closer to .. hatching... really? That's the word for it? Anyhow.. apparently she thinks she'll attract other witches as her power grows. How much of that is ego and how much is accurate, jury is out."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko nods in acknowledgement of Kunzite's point, reaching for a second slice of pizza. "Yeah.. well, I'm doin' that one way or the other, after the incident the other week." She bites into the pizza, chewing a moment before continuing. "As long as I keep the Seed, it shouldn't hatch. But I've got my senses tuned as much as I'm able to 'listen' for any other Witches. Nothing so far. But I'll let you know if that changes."

    A glance to Naru, shifting just a bit as the girl leans on her, providing a more stable support. "Hatching." She confirms, with a twist of her mouth. "I dunno if that's the reason, but it seems as good a one as any. I know last year when she showed up, it was like Youma-palooza right beforehand."

Kunzite has posed:
"Shouldn't," Kunzite agrees to Kyouko, "is the point." It should be safe. He's not trusting even that much, lately.

More to the immediate topic -- he glances at Kyouko at the phrase 'Youma-palooza,' but doesn't question it. "The witch we did fight had not been in the vicinity long, or it would have been noticed; and it had enough familiars that it most likely had existed for some time. So attracted may be a fitting term. And yes; the effect on other youma was sufficient that the Phantom Empire's queen was moved to send a strongly worded letter."

He's completely deadpan on that last one.

(And completely failing to acknowledge the question aboutthe card issue, for the moment; there is pizza, and he claims a piece for himself, instead.)

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru yoinks another slice of pizza before she loses out to a second slice to people eating faster than her (Kyouko), but she's not in a rush to actually eat it just yet. She can't help but giggle softly at the mention of 'stongly worded letter' and she arches a brow.

"Who, exactly, does one send a strongly worded letter to about a surplus number of youma. I should have thought of that like.. 9 months ago!" Naru grins at the very idea, still relaxed. "If there /are/ the potential of more witch fights, I really /really/ need to get my defenses in gear. So much for a relaxing school term that isn't full of ache."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko might be eating her pieces of pizza faster, but she's not about to take more than her fair share! Unless, of course, people indicate they aren't going to finish their portion of the pie, but it's a bit early for that yet. Still, one can hardly blame Naru for her caution, as Kyouko's second piece has already ceased to exist.

    "I ain't gonna contradict you on that one." She notes to Naru, on the comment of getting her defenses in gear. "Whether this Hana chick is the cause or not, there's no denying that shit is going down, so to speak, and being prepared for the worst is just good sense. I think that goes for all of us, too." A short nod of her head, as more milkshake is consumed.

    Then a sigh. "And I was complaining about it being too quiet, few weeks ago.."

Kunzite has posed:
(Kyouko's fair share is about two-thirds, right?)

"In this case, she sent it to Beryl." Kazuo gives what may possibly be the world's smallest grimace. "Which is how I first met Madison Perry, and began a tradition of irritating her that has yet to be broken with."

He considers Naru, then. "Have you and Makoto managed to start meeting more regularly, or has that been a plan set aside for the great studying?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I've only met Madison the once, and I really can't say that we came away from the experience exchanging numbers and talking about going for coffee." Naru mmms softly, thoughtfully and then shrugs a touch.

"I spar sometimes with Mako, sometimes with Kyouko and my cardio is currently my own." She doesn't elaborate on why, exactly, her running partner might not be joining her in the mornings. Something about mostly dead. It was a good excuse for Naru, it's still a good excuse for Hannah.

"Some mix of exam hell and nightmares and crisis pushed sparring down the priority list, but at the /very/ least I need to learn how to fall." Naru takes a deep breath. "And as much as I'd basically rather get shot again, possibly with a side order of Fiore /and/ nightmares at the same time.. I probably need to get over my aversion to jumping."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko very pointedly does not reach for another piece of pizza. Yet. Although her eyes do keep darting back to the box as if to see how much is left.

    "I spar with Mako-chan regularly once a week," She informs Kunzite, with a shrug. "Sometimes Naru joins us, sometimes she just watches." She flashes a small smile towards the girl next to her. "She's definitely improving, but.." But there's still plenty of distance to cover before she's in youma-punching territory, if she is indeed capable of getting there.

    "Falling we can work on." She's quick to add.. and then, with a grin that might just be ever so faintly mischevious, "And jumping."

Kunzite has posed:
It's less the youma-punching territory than the youma-punch-evading territory, but that's all good -- it's all practice. Kazuo nods to Naru and Kyouko, steady. All he says out loud is: "Preferably in that order."

(Pizza: excellent cover for his attempts at jokes.)

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Ha. Ha. Ha." Naru snorts softly at Kunzite and his 'joke'. She settles for eating her own second slice of pizza and shakes her head at Kyouko's 'improving'. "The 'but' she's not including is that I still suck. Which is, all in all, fine save for the fact that I somehow seem to end up trying to hit things, and generally just getting smacked into next week. Which means I need to learn the 'not getting hit' part a lot faster than I have been. Which might be a trick."

"On a different topic, I talked to Lacrima about Alexis some more. I'm not sure it's all /that/ much help in working out if he can return to being fully human or if it's a management situation at this point." Naru adds into things.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "Gotta learn how to deal with returning to the ground before your learn how to leave it," Kyouko says merrily, her glance sideways at Naru positively trollish, indicating she is indeed in a better mood than she had been previously. "You don't suck. You just aren't as good as two fighters with years of experience. Ain't no shame in that, Naru. But I'm all for working on 'not getting hit', I generally would prefer you not to get hit."

    She falls silent as the topic switches to Alexis. She hasn't much to contribute here, though her interest is obvious from her gaze flicking between Naru and Kunzite as the topic is broached.

Kunzite has posed:
"A great deal is practice," Kazuo says. "Learning how to see the patterns in an opponent's movements. But for that, you need to see them often enough that you can recognize them as patterns. We may need to see about arranging more than once a week for you." Because Naru really needed more of her free time taken up, didn't she?

Alexis. Kazuo leaves his single slide half-consumed, and regards Naru ... not more steadily, but with a different quality to it. "What have the two of them sorted out so far?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I am alright with embracing my suck at fighting, my ego is really quite comfortable with embracing that suck, but apparently most fights seem to result in some flavour of 'oh crap, how am I in front all of a sudden?'.." Naru sighs as the reality of not /actually/ gaining any free time in spite of the mural being done sinks in. "Likely for the best." She agrees, if somewhat reluctantly.

"Short version." Naru notes as Kunzite regards her with /that/ look, one that she is familiar enough with, and doesn't shy from. "Fight in the park with a big Dusk zone critter that beat the snot out of both of them and ultimately killed Alexis. She lost it at the idea of one of her few friends dying, and turned him instead." She pauses, thoughtful. "And is pretty much losing her mind over the guilt. She wishes to tell him herself, what she remembers."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "You don't suck." Kyouko says to Naru, more firmly, with a level look that says she'll keep saying it until Naru starts to believe it. "You're just not amazing yet, but nobody starts amazing." She sighs faintly, perhaps renewing her conviction to do just that, no matter how much Naru continues to protest.

    She listens to the story on Alexis and Lacrima, twisting her mouth slightly. "Well.. if he lives and can be turned back to normal, maybe her guilt will be a little less. Better'n bein' dead."

Kunzite has posed:
"You're still breathing and retain all limbs in working order," Kunzite confirms, as if this were evidence for Kyouko's point.

There's a glance aside at Kyouko, and Kunzite amends, "Possibly better than being dead. He might be recoverable. He might not be so badly off that it is in fact worse. The important part is that we have time to find out."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I have no aspirations to amazing." Naru points out. "I would like to eventually get to the breathing and all limbs in working order stage after a fight /without/ requiring some sort of intervention, but that day will come."

"Possibly better than being dead." Naru has to agree. "We do seem to have time to find out, I hope. To the best of my knowledge, Lacrima didn't mention anything about his situation deteriorating or anything, but needless to say, he is not exactly going to seek /me/ out. You're more likely, Kunzite. He does seem to be wanting to at least continue his fondness for vigilante work, now with actual powers."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "You're already amazing." Kyouko says to Naru, now with a hint of stubbornness in her voice, "Just not at fisticuffs. And yeah.. that day'll come." Because she is equally determined for it to be so, partially for Naru's sake and partially for her own. That hint of stubborn belligerence in her voice is definitely the trailing end of stress she is not altogether used to dealing with.

    Switching topics back to Alex, she says, "I just meant, if it turns out he can be turned back, then she made the right decision. Maybe she didn't, it's a roll o' the dice, but if she'd've done nothin', there wouldn't be any hope. I woulda done the same in her place, if I had the means."

Kunzite has posed:
"We haven't had enough time to see whether his situation is likely to deteriorate. Improving is just as likely, at present." In that they have no way to tell whether either will happen. Kazuo nods to Kyouko, then, easy and straightforward. "He did leave us a hostage. That's an encouraging sign."

(In that there is a leather jacket tucked away upstairs. Waiting.)

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Mmm hmmm." Naru comments noncommitally to Kyouko as she gets stubborn about Naru's skills. Which legit, are not awesome... although points made previously about the fact that she doesn't freeze and makes an /attempt/ which puts her above 'suckage' are valid.

"I suspect I would have as well, Kyouko, had I the means." Naru has to agree. "Especially running on fury and instinct and desperation not to watch a friend die. I think she's strugging a lot with the fact that /she/ has had .. still has.. a really rough go of lost humanity, and the idea of inflicting /that/ on someone else.. I can see that being a really hard thing. This isn't something that's going to happen quickly, I just hope that if there's changes, someone who isn't dark energy based hears about them early enough to mitigate things if they go south fast, but time will tell."

Naru frowns at Kunzite. "He left you a hostage?"

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "I like Alex, I really do." Kyouko says, with a hint of melancholy in her voice- perhaps because it's true, and even if she feels absolutely no regret about the way things have gone between herself and Naru, there is some measure of regret that Alex was, to some degree, collatoral damage. She doesn't blame herself, or Naru, for what's become of the guy, but that doesn't make it easier to contemplate. "But I'm not sure I'm in a position to help him."

    She glances down slightly, then flicks her gaze up at first Kunzite, then Naru. "Dark Energy and I.. well. Safer not to mix if it can be avoided." Both of them know about, or share to some degree, her difficulties in this arena, but that also doesn't make it easy to admit to.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"And if something goes weird with Alex, I'm approximately as useful as a random smear of paint on a wall." Naru points out. "I can't detect it, I can't heal, I can't purify anything and he can kick my arse. So unless /somehow/ talking it out with someone he /doesn't want to see/, is going to help, I pretty much am gathering information for others, most of which they can get just as easily as I can." Her voice starts to ring with edges of eternal and ongoing frustration before she pauses and takes a slow breath, let out in a sigh.

Naru nods to Kyouko in understanding. "I think that's generally a statement that could cover a lot of people, but I would also prefer not to mix you up with dark energy at the moment. More so, at the moment, than usual, really."

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite is quiet over that speculation about Lacrima's decision. He's certainly not disputing any of it. But his own experiences give him a ... different perspective, perhaps.

"Watch his eyes, if you can," he says. "Lacrima's changed color. His hadn't yet, when we saw them."

He rises, then, the piece of half-eaten pizza still in hand. "As for the hostage," he says to Naru, "you saw what he was wearing. You're welcome to come up and confirm its whereabouts and well-being at any time." He bows to her and to Kyouko, and takes his leave; whatever he was looking for, it seems he thinks he found it.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko hears that edge of frustration in Naru's voice, and whatever stubborn annoyance she had with the girl's self-deprecation earlier fades away. She shifts to slip an arm around Naru's waist, and although that's all it is, her voice is firm as she says, "But you're doing something Naru. If he's smart, he'll see that for what it is- an attempt to help. Even if other people coulda done it too, the fact that you're doin' it means something. At least, I think so."

    She blinks as Kunzite suddenly rises. "You can stay to finish your pizza.." She starts to say, but he's already heading for the door. "Oh.. well.. thanks again for the pizza and milkshakes!" She calls over the back of the couch, before settling back down with a mutter.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Thanks for the milkshakes and pizza." Naru echos Kyouko as Kunzite takes his leave with about as much ceremony as he ever does. She leans forward to snag another piece of pizza before settling back against Kyouko's arm around her waist. "I like being useful, and I'm back to feeling like a liability again. It's an irritating feeling." She acknolwedges and then leans in to kiss Kyouko on the cheek. "Sorry love, apparently I come with a heap of baggage of my own, that makes me feel like a complete drama queen at the moment. I promise to be back to sane soon."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    "Aint' that part of what a relationship is?" Kyouko asks, with wry amusement. "I get to put up with you when you're crazy, and you get to do the same for me. Unless you wanna have some kind of baggage competition." She laughs at the kiss on the cheek. "I wouldn't recommend that, though. All I'm sayin' is, I consider this banking time for my own inevitable meltdown, and I apologize in advance." Then she grabs another piece of pizza, because clearly Kunzite isn't going to be finishing his.