521/Joanna the Nap Tree

Joanna the Nap Tree
Date of Scene:	02 November 2015
Location:	Mitakihara/Pikarigaoka - King Penguin Park
Synopsis:	Sailor Mars and Tuxedo Kamen meet Silenus of the Dark Kingdom!
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, 61, Rei Hino

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Silenus (61) has posed:
    It's a cold autumn day in Penguin Park, with a gray sky and the leaves on every tree starting to turn brown. All except one, that is. One huge cherry tree, its foliage still a beautiful green, stands proudly where some of the more frequent (and observant) visitors might notice there was no tree a day ago. Even more strangely, it seems several people have decided to take a nap under its shade, despite the cold. In fact, here comes another, a young woman, who seems mysteriously compelled to join them...

Meanwhile, on a bench nearby sits a middle-aged man, fat and bald and quite short, rubbing his oversized nose on his sleeve. "Pfah. Stupid cold..."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It also just happens to be Mamoru's class at Infinity's lunch break and his friend Saburo's not at school today to skip out with, and Madoka's not there to eat lunch with on the roof, and truth be told he hates the cafeteria. So, in a stunning display of dgaf, the boy henshined and took his bento with him to defiantly go eat in the park.

He should know better by now. He should always know better than to go to the park.

A strikingly familiar head of black hair above a cape that gives deja vu like nobody's business lands not too far away from Silenus, but turns quickly and shatters any familiarity with a glimmering white mask. Tuxedo Kamen, holding his lunch, stares at the green tree and the sleeping people beneath it with a look of disbelief. "What, really?" he asks, complaining, "Now?"

He can see the faint greenish tinge of the energy being pulled from the sleepers, and, disappointed, flourishes a hat out of his cape and sticks his lunch box in it before vanishing it again. And then he goes over to start dragging the civilians away from the nap tree.

Silenus (61) has posed:
    Really, things are working out pretty well here. The nap tree isn't the fastest way to drain energy, but it does have a sort of snowball effect as more and more people see the others napping peacefully beneath it and join in, and Silenus himself barely has to do anything. Problem is, he didn't count on someone magical appearing to stop him.

He also didn't count on that person being /disturbingly familiar/.

For a second, the whole world seems to stop as the little old man stares, wide-eyed, at Mamoru, seeing not a high schooler skipping out on school lunch, but a regal, handsome prince, bordered in roses. /Why/ would he see such a thing, though? He certainly doesn't recall ever meeting such a person... and then it's gone, like a fading dream, the moment that mask comes into view.

Shaking his head to get that sense of deja vu out of there, he calls to Mamoru, "Hey, stop! It's rude to drag people away! Can't you see how peaceful and pleasant they look? They're probably having some sweet dreams that you're interrupting with your manhandling!"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen doesn't even pause in his dragging. He does call back, "It's rude to energy-drain people who just want a nice nap on their lunch break!"

As justice speeches go, it's severely lacking, but he's also busy with his hands full of civilian. Ooh, this next one is small; the masked boy just picks him up and carries him across the way to recover under a safer tree. "So if this is your tree, you're being very rude and I'd appreciate it if you stopped. If it's not, you'd probably better get out of here, sir, someone will undoubtedly show up objecting harder and try to make my life miserable."

Silenus (61) has posed:
    How very unprincely. Silenus doesn't know how he could have ever mistaken this stranger for royalty that he has never met to begin with. Crossing his arms over his chest and grumping a bit, he calls back, "Fine, but Joanna doesn't like it when people interrupt her!"

Joanna, you might have guessed, is a youma. Specifically, the one emerging from the trunk of the tree in the form of a beautiful woman, like a Greek goddess carved from smooth wood and clad in a robe made of leaves, her hair smoothly flowing vines. And those vines waste no time in lashing out toward Tuxedo Kamen.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Oh crap, it IS your tree--" Tuxedo Kamen blurts, backpedaling a step and then literally jumping out of the way of the lashing vines. Out of the way, and then up, up, to the top of another tree. He's scrambling for his phone. "Hey Joanna, that's a really pretty robe!" he yells out toward the youma. "Who's your tailor? I was thinking of updating my wardrobe--"

The next lashing of hair-vines has him somersaulting overhead to land behind Joanna and springboard off the ground there to land up in another tree. THERE. THERE his phone is open. Speed dial dialled. "Youma! Park!"

Waiting to see when the call's picked up and then yelling into the phone costs Tuxedo Kamen a precious second of awareness, and he's knocked right out of the tree, landing hard on his back on the ground.

Silenus (61) has posed:
    Silenus, at Tuxedo Kamen's reaction to this surely /stunning/ revelation, simply laughs uproariously. "Whatever gave you /that/ idea? Bwahahaha, now just sit back and get what you deserve!" he calls out, but he still can't shake the feeling that, for whatever reason, he doesn't really /mean/ that. Weird.

Joanna, meanwhile, has managed to get Tuxedo Kamen right where she wants him. Those vines begin to snake out toward him again, this time with the intent of wrapping him up and lifting him in the air, where one of her hands, the nails wickedly pointed like wooden daggers, takes aim at his heart. There will be no mercy on /this/ day, and nobody to come to his rescue.

Is this the end of Tuxedo Kamen!?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The phone's skittered out of reach, lying open in the grass, and Tuxedo Kamen's still trying desperately to catch his breath from having the wind knocked out of him when he's ensnared by the tangling vines and wrapped up tight. He twists and struggles, but every move makes Joanna curl her vines more tightly around him--

--and then her hand comes up with a fistful of fully organic certified green vampire-stakes that also (as stakes all do) work on regular human hearts, no matter how pure or strong they may be.

He can't move his arms, his feet can't gain purchase, he's seeing spots from lack of oxygen, but...

...taking a cue from a girl he knows, in a flash he's toed off the heel of one shiny dress shoe and he kicks his foot up, flinging the shoe at the dryad's face. He doesn't know how long it'll take Mars to get here. He'd rather not be dead when she does.

But, well, it's a shoe.

Rei Hino has posed:
"Stop right there!"

The voice comes from above, standing in a nearby non-energy-draining tree. It's very clearly Sailor Mars, authoritatively pointing her finger down at the dryad and shouting.

"Afternoon naps are an important part of getting through the day. I won't forgive anyone who takes advantage of those who have worked themselves to exhaustion! In the name of Mars, I'll chastise you!"

In the brief time she's given her justice speech, Mars has taken in the key parts of the situation. Energy draining dryad, Tuxedo Kamen being entangled and... staked! Also a strange guy who may or may not be the youma's handler.

Well first things first: Make sure Tuxedo Kamen doesn't die via getting staked.

Fire gathers around Mars's hands, and she puts her hands together, making a double-barrel fingergun. After she gathers the fire into a tight point, she shouts, "FIRE SOUL!", launching the fire at the vines that are currently reaching for Tuxedo Kamen... and some of the ones that are grabbing him! This may or may not be bad for him depending on how far the fire spreads. Ooops.

Silenus (61) has posed:
    Both Silenus and Joanna stop and look up, momentarily but /critically/ distracted by the appearance of SAILOR MARS! And in that moment, her fire bolts burn right through Joanna's vines, causing the dryad to screech in pain as she draws back from the flames, the tendrils that were holding Mamoru now burning away to ashes.

"J-Joanna! Grr... I'll get you for this!" Silenus growls, hopping off of the bench and making a run for it. Joanna, in the meantime, launches her leafy dress at Sailor Mars, each leaf proving to be surprisingly razor sharp! But still, that shouldn't be any trouble for the Senshi of Fire, now should it?

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen drops to the ground again, coughing. He pushes himself to his hands and knees, squinting at Silenus for a second as he yells, then glancing up at Mars.

Then Silenus starts running, and something in the back of Mamoru's soul is supremely disappointed. It translates to Mamoru himself being supremely irritated, and he flings himself back on his heels and wings a hand out. He still can't yell yet, but crackling red lightning trails after a sharp-stemmed red rose, winging after the small angry man.

Rei Hino has posed:
The dryad's razor leaves fly towards Sailor Mars. While this wouldn't be a big deal if she still had her fire to use, the fact remains that she just used much of it. Fighting by herself is a bit different than fighting alongside the rest of the senshi.

Yet, Mars should probably stop the monster before it hurts even more people, and she can't really pursue the fleeing man while she has a monster to deal with.

Mars holds up her arms in an X position in front of her, covering them with magical fire. The dress smashes against it, cutting her gloves up, but the magical forces she's using, both in her henshin armor and the fire, manage to protect her from the far worse injuries that could've occured.

What comes next is the counter attack. Mars rushes towards the dryad, jumping into the air to avoid further attacks, and landing a few feet away from the youma. She swings a firey fist at the monster, shouting, "Sailor Mars Punch!"

Silenus (61) has posed:
    As Silenus runs, some random impulse tells him to turn his head and look behind him... which gets him a rose blapping into his face, causing him to stumble for a bit before he pulls it off, gritting his teeth and steaming at the apparent insult. "Next time! NEXT TIIIIIIME!" he shouts, before ducking into an alleyway.

Over at the fight, Joanna's leaves burn away on contact with the magical fire, despite doing their damage. The now-unprotected dryad youma howls as she slashes at Sailor Mars with her needle-like finger tips, but gets a flaming punch to the face for her efforts, charring her wooden skin and causing her to reel backwards again, clutching at the burn with her hands.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Kamen makes a chuff of annoyance, then hauls himself to his feet, really aggravated and now also chagrined because Sailor Mars is taking damage and he's being useless. HE CAN FIX THAT. Sailor Mars punch causes Joanna to reel backwards, but that's backwards toward the boy in the mask, and he rips off his cape and swirls it overhead to drape over the dryad's head as she stumbles toward him. As it entangles her, he spins and switches feet mid-turn to snap a kick at the youma's back.

Something in him feels really, really horrible about this fight, but he's not going to stop. "Do--" he gasps out, "do you want me to call-- another senshi? Venus might be-- be close--"

He can't really tell how much more the youma can take, or how badly Mars is hurt, but he trusts she can judge that.

Rei Hino has posed:
Mars sees the needle-fingers coming at her, and leaps back quickly after her punch. She doesn't want to get caught up in that again. Seeing the youma on the ropes from her fire attacks is encouraging, but she still has to be careful about it.

At least Tuxedo Kamen is doing well after his close call. He's at least doing well enough to fling roses and throw capes. "I think I've got it," says Sailor Mars. The enemy reacts badly to fire so it should be fine, right? At least that's what Mars is thinking at the moment.

With the cape attack, and the previous fire attacks, Mars quickly assumes (guesses, really) that the dryad should at least be distracted enough for her to get a solid attack in. When she gets the chance, she gathers more flames into her hands and spreads her hands apart, letting fire rise from her hands, becoming a large arcing inferno that floats in the hair from her palms. Then, all at once, that inferno crashes towards the youma.

Silenus (61) has posed:
    Silenus is long gone, but Joanna is starting to recover! She takes her hands from her face, showing how badly blackened it is, only to have a cape thrown over her face. Clawing at the cloth to try to get it off, she's unprepared for Mamoru's kick, sending her stumbling toward Sailor Mars, who goes in for the kill! With a shriek, the youma is consumed in magical fire.

At the same time, the tree begins to dissipate into motes of darkness, which float away a bit before disappearing. It seems the threat of Silenus is over... for now.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Panting still, one hand on his chest in a fist and the other braced against his knee, Tuxedo Kamen -- reduced to his literal henshin name minus one shoe -- watches Joanna burn and the tree break up into air and darkness. The victims start to come around, and he straightens, looking at Mars as he tries to slide his shoe back on surreptitiously.

"Thanks," he says, voice a little scratchy. "Pretty sure that guy was Dark Kingdom. You okay? Sorry I called you out of lunch."

Rei Hino has posed:
Mars watches the youma burn down, and she doesn't allow herself to relax until she's sure that it's completely gone.

Once it is gone, however, she breathes a sigh of relief. She stands up straight, looks around at the people who are knocked out and might be slowly getting up. She glances at her gloves, frowns at them. Then she looks over at Tuxedo Kamen.

"Don't mention it. Something like this had to be dealt with. I think I'm fine enough to go back to school. How about you? Are you going to be okay here by yourself?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"No, clearly," the tall boy says with a laugh that's not funny. "But I'll be fine getting back to school. The only reason I was even here was for lunch. --let's get out of here. I'm sure I'll see you soon."

That said, it almost looks like straight-up Astaire (with rather more hair) vaults impossibly away. Tux needs to try not to lose the cape anymore.