77/Meeting of the Senshi.

Meeting of the Senshi.
Date of Scene:	20 June 2015
Location:	Uminari City - Shopping Strip
Synopsis:	The Sailor Senshi meet in the game center, where two awakened Senshi meet for the first time and they give data on this new enemy.
Cast of Characters:	Makoto Kino, Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino

---

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Another day after school, and the Game Corner is usually a popular place for many people after school, like Usagi. It wasn't Ami's favorite place in the world, because the games were so easy. Ami knew the logic behind them, and it was easy to see where the programming kicked in. So usually the game was boring, except for Sailor V. That game changed every time she played it. It was a conundrum that Ami couldn't figure out at the time. But that wasn't the point why she was here.

OKay, the second point why she was here.

Today, she had gone on a walk with her friend, Makoto into the game center, as a return favor for Makoto joining her for lunch for the past few days (and cooking those delicious lunches).

Makoto Kino has posed:
For Makoto, on the other hand, Game Center Crown has unquestionably become one of her favorite hangouts since she moved to the area. The games are fun - the Sailor V game especially poses a satisfying challenge, though Mako can't really claim to challenge Ami's scores. The presence of the owners' pleasant and good-looking high-school-aged son as a part-time worker there didn't hurt the arcade's draw, either.

Not that Motoki Furuhata is the hot guy who's currently occupying Makoto's mind. "...I kinda wish I had a way to get in touch with him," she's telling Ami as they walk in through the Crown's doors. "Just to make sure nothing happened, since he didn't make it to our appointment..."

Nephrite may have been telling the truth when he suggested that Masato Sanjouin had simply blown her off - but who'd put that much stock in the words of an enemy? Not Makoto, that's for sure.

Rei Hino has posed:
Rei Hino is also here at the arcade, possibly hoping to run across some of her friends who hang out here. Since she goes to a different school, catching her senshi friends takes a bit of extra effort. Yet, the effort is worth expending.

She looks up from the game she's playing as she notices Ami walk in with an unfamiliar tall person. The light gun hangs from her hands as she reaches high into the air to wave, ignoring the game for a moment while vicious enemies tear at her HP bar. "Ami-chan! -oh shoot!"

She goes back to shooting digital monsters for a moment, but they overwhelm her and the Game Over screen glares her in the face. A little pouty, Rei says, "Oh I was done anyways."

Walking over to Ami and Makoto, Rei says, "Hey Ami! Who's your friend?" Rei turns to Makoto with a smile, saying, "Hi, my name's Rei Hino. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami smiles to Rei, despite her getting a 'game over' screen. "It's okay Rei, you'll get them next time." Despite being in a crowded arcade, Ami had managed to get two of her close friends in the same place at the same time, and a little bit of privacy. "Rei-chan, this is Makoto Kino. She goes to my school. Mako-chan, this is Rei, as she just introduced." She gives a bright smile to both.

However, As she introduces each other to them, Ami smiles to each of them, and.....actually tugs out her computer for both of them to see. "Oh, Rei-chan? Remeber the other day you said you were curious about meeting who had 'awakened'?" She then gestures to Makoto. "This is her." She then looks up to Makoto. "See...the three of us have something in common, Mako-chan." She doesn't blatandly say it out loud though. Too many people.

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Hi," Makoto offers to Rei in return, regarding the other girl with friendly, polite curiosity. "It's nice to meet you, too. Which school do you go to?"

She glances sidelong as Ami speaks, and her eyes widen a little when the handheld computer comes out - this time, at least, Ami's effort to be oblique doesn't fly completely over Mako's head, and the look she turns back toward Rei is one of belated understanding and new respect. "I guess that means we'll be working together from now on, huh?" As she says it, she flashes a broad grin. "I'm looking forward to it."

Rei Hino has posed:
"Of course I will!" says Rei to Ami, with a bit of boastful confidence. "When I put my mind to it, enemies like that are nothing!"

When Makoto asks what school Rei goes to, she tugs at the collar of her uniform and says, "Verone Academy, 8th grade. Do you go to the same school as Ami and Usagi?"

Ami drops the important details, and Rei's attention is caught. "Awakened?" says Rei, immediately comprehending. So this is the one whom Ami described as 'safety'? In that case, Rei's smile becomes just a bit brighter, "That's right. We will be. I've heard nothing but high praise for you. I'm really happy to meet you, Mako-chan! We'll have to talk more about it later." Later as in... when there is a bit more privacy.

"Speaking of, Ami, there's a little bit more we can talk about regarding that. You know, later."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami nods to Rei. "Exactly." She then sees Rei's comprehension and smiles brightly. "you see what I mean now, right?" She then chuckles a bit. "We can talk about a few things here though. Mainly that 'person' we ran into a couple of days ago, Rei-chan. I've been doing more detailed scans, but they all end up the same. So you know, Mako-chan, when this person attacks, all you feel is despair, loneliness, and depression. It brought up memories I thought I had buried long ago about my parent's divorce. It was not a great feeling at all. I thought I had fought it back when that girl came to help us. She's a princess, but not 'our' princess. So to save confusion, I call her 'ma'am'....out of respect. I figure, if she's willing to help us, we should help her when we can."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto spends a short interval tennis-matching, looking back and forth between Rei and Ami, eyebrows lifting as she tries to follow along with what increasingly feels like less than half the relevant information that the other two are working from.

At last, she reaches upward, awkwardly rubbing at the back of her neck. "It kind of seems like it'd be better to talk about this somewhere where we can talk about all of it," she points out. "At least so that you guys can catch me up on what you guys saw?" She pauses a beat, eyes setting on Ami with a hint of a worried expression, but the only other thing she says aloud is, "It's kind of hard to keep up if we have to talk like we're in a spy movie."

Rei Hino has posed:
"Yeah, let's go sit at a booth," suggest Rei. "Most people wont overhear us. In the future we could probably meet at my Shrine, too." Turning to Makoto, Rei explains, "I work as a miko at the Hikawa shrine. I've actually been in a few magazines. Maybe you've heard of me? Anyways, it's pretty private there."

Rei starts moving over to a quiet corner of the arcade. Loud arcade noises can probably drown out enough that the three senshi wont be overheard by eavesdroppers. At least it seems to work well enough for most things.

"Umm... let's see. Ami and I have been investigating the latest sickness going around, the one where people are going comatose. We were in the middle of sharing data when... the culprit appeared. A girl in a witch's outfit, riding a broom like witches do, and with a talking rhyming raven hanging around her."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami goes and follows Rei to sit at a booth. She listens to Rei and Ami doesn't even say anything different. "And when she hits you with that spell, all you feel is lonliness, despair, and depression, like I said." She then sighs a bit. "I wasn't kidding about my parents though." She then looks to Makoto. "I've done more scans, and got a reading from this girl on the broom. She's definitely the one cause these strange comas. But, it seems like she goes after people in pairs, or it was just coincidence with the two boys."

Ami's definitely speaking in hypotheticals, since she doesn't have an answer to any of this, but she remains optimistic. She has to. "Have you gotten anything from your divinations, Rei?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Ah, well," Makoto answers Rei with a bit of a laugh when Rei suggests she might have heard of her, "I just moved to this area pretty recently. Up until I met Usagi-chan and she introduced me and Ami-chan, I didn't really know anybody."

Once they've settled into the booth, she goes back to listening, fingertips tapping an idle and patternless rhythm against the surface of the table as she takes in the story of what happened during Ami and Rei's investigation. "So," she says slowly, "you caught her going after some people, then? What happened to them - are they okay?"

She falls quiet again after she asks it, looking toward Rei to hear her answer to Ami's question.

Rei Hino has posed:
Rei frowns at the subject of Ami's parents, and she considers adding to that conversation, but considering the nature of the attack they were hit with yesterday she wants to push depressing things away.

Focusing instead on the subject of divination, after taking her seat, "Well I told you part of what I found out yesterday," says Rei. "Which is to say, nothing conclusive other than the fact that the Raven is important. Snacks and food had nothing to do with it, and there was a vision of raven feathers falling over tokyo." She repeats that much for the sake of their new member, "However, once I focused on the girl herself, I started getting a lot more substantial readings."

Rei clasps her hands together, propping her elbows on the table, trying to remember the reading. "We felt depression, sorrow, and other things. I think the victims did, too. However, there was a loneliness and a desperation that I felt before, but it didn't come from the victims."

"Ami-chan, Mako-chan... the enemy, herself... I think she's the one who's lonely. I think she's the one who's desperate. Whatever she's after, it means a lot to her."

Turning to Makoto, Rei answers, "Well, its a little hard to determine aside from the fact that she drains energy constantly from her victims. However, if her own description of her attacks is to be believed, the witch is stealing their souls."

"One of them got away. The other... she got the other before we arrived."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"So she's the one who feels lonely, and....she wants everyone else to feel the same way." Ami says, almost to hear herself say it, and she puts her head in her hands. "This would be a lot easier if Usagi was with us. She has a much easier time making friends." She then chuckles. "naturally, it requires her to step up though.....and get motivated." She then shakes her head. "I should know better than to talk about Usagi like this. She came through for all of us in a pinch." She says as she adds data to her datapad.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto is quiet for a while, not saying anything. She seems to be gathering her thoughts, frowning a little in concentration as she turns the facts as Ami and Rei have presented them over and over in her head.

"...this might not be entirely a bad thing, though," she ventures at last, brows drawing together in inquiry as she looks between the other two. "If she's that lonely and desperate, if there's something that means that much to her, then she's not just doing this stuff because she wants to, right? If that's the case, there might be a way to convince her to stop."

Just briefly, a flicker of a fond smile crosses Makoto's face. "I'm sure Usagi-chan will want to try."

Rei Hino has posed:
"Usagi probably will," says Rei, "Maybe the witch is trying to make others feel the same way, but I don't know. It might be that she feels like she /has/ to. I never could figure out why."

Rei pauses for a moment before dropping one last bit of info. "I did one other reading that had... bad results. I tried focusing on the Soul Release technique. I got a reading, but as I looked at it, I felt like something was looking back at me. There was a strong sense of malice and hatred, and a desire to be free. It was too much for me. I had to pull out of that and stop reading for a while."

Rei admits, "I felt like I was going to pass out at one point. Those feelings seemed to be focused on the Raven. The girl may be misguided, but if the raven gives off that kind of vibe, he might very well be pure evil."

Rei shakes her head, "I don't want to overspeculate, but that's what I saw."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Everything seems to point to the raven, not the girl. Which makes a lot of sense, consider what we go up against." Ami says as she sips at a bit of water. "I'd call it strange, but it's not." Ami looks at the data on her pad and makes a bit of a face.

"Once again, it seems the key here is Usagi-chan and how she would attack this.....if you can tall it attacking." She doesn't even ask if Rei is okay, but the concern is still there in her eyes as she looks to Rei. "Oh...speaking of something compeltely off topic, Mako-chan? Can we come by your place in a couple of nights, if we can rouse Usagi to come along too. So we can talk about this with her, and also so Rei can taste some of your cooking?"

Makoto Kino has posed:
"We shouldn't expect Usagi-chan to do everything, though," Makoto puts in, less as an objection and more as a reminder, to herself at least as much as the other two. "We've got some things to go on thanks to the effort you guys have put in, so don't push it any farther on your own if you feel like it's putting you in danger, all right?" That's directed toward Rei, accompanied by a warm smile. "After all, that's the point of having a team to back you up."

Stretching upwards in her seat in the booth, she folds her arms loosely behind her head. "Anyway, it sounds like the next time we catch this witch in action, we should focus on that raven. If it's the real threat, we'll probably have to separate them somehow to talk to her properly..."

She's still musing on this subject when Ami switches topics and brings her attention back down, brows going up in surprise; it takes Mako a second or two to catch up. "Sure," she says, "we can do that. It's not a big deal, since I'm living on my own."

Rei Hino has posed:
Hmm? Mako-chan's cooking? Rei looks over to her new friend with interest. "You cook? Oh I'd love to try your cooking! I'm not really good at it myself." The last sentence is said with Rei covering her mouth and speaking in a low conspiratorial whisper.

At the subject of coming over, Rei says, "I think I could make it. It'd be fun, and a chance for us to get together. And don't worry, I know my limits. If I do something like that again, I think I might need the support of several friends. I'm not... sure what would happen if I really caught that thing's attention, whatever it was."

Rei nods in agreement as Makoto mentions focusing on the raven. She adds, "There's one thing I might be able to do to the raven. It's at least worth a try. I can place an ofuda on enemies to cause them to freeze, but it only works on those with evil spirits. I'm not sure I could hit a target as small as that raven, but if it worked..."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"If it worked, it would be immobile and we could deal with it properly." Ami says softly. "I don't like the prospect of killing an animal. but if it's controlling the girl, we should get rid of it." She then smiles to Rei. 'If you could do it, it'd be perfect."

She then giggles at Rei's whisper and smiles. "That's the reason why I wanted you to head over. Mako-chan's a great cook.....what of it I can get once I count my fingers when Usagi-chan's around."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"Hey," Makoto says with a laugh, "that's not fair. I always make sure there's enough for everyone!" An amused shake of her head, and then she looks back to Rei, still smiling. "I could give you some pointers sometime, if you want? Between fighting evil."

Which thought circles her back around to the more pressing topic at hand, and Rei and Ami's most recent comments on it. "From what Rei-chan saw in her divination, doesn't it sound like it's probably not a real raven? If it were an animal, it wouldn't be able to cause that much of a problem."

Rei Hino has posed:
"I don't want to make promses," says Rei. "There's a chance that even if the attack lands, it won't do anything, and that girl /is/ powerful. We need to be on guard when we meet her again."

Ami's praise of Makoto's cooking gets Rei's interest up even more. To Makoto, Rei smiles, "I'd like that! Maybe I could learn something."

Rei leans back into her seat and nods, saying, "There's a chance that the raven isn't even a real animal. In fact, the feeling of being caged and wanting to escape, that might indicate that the raven's true self has been sealed away somehow. That's pure speculation, so don't take it to heart, but it's possible."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"It makes more sense than you might realize. I mean, look at what's happened to us." Ami says with a shrug and a sweep of her hand. "But speculation is all we have right now. So your guesses are better than nothing." She then finishes her water and looks at the glass as if it committed a sin by being empty.

"But you're right, Mako-chan. We've done plenty so far, on our own. I just want to have Usagi-chan with us, not just as a friend, but as....one of us." She then shrugs. "We have to take care of things as they come though. Which includes this raven....thing." She says before she starts to put away her computer. "Sorry to have called you out here on such dubious reasons, but I didn't want you to get caught off guard, like Rei and I were. Plus I wanted you to meet Rei-chan."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto's expression is entirely puzzled at what Ami said about Usagi, but she seems to be willing to let it go for now. Instead she shakes her head and laughs a little. "What do you mean, dubious? I'm glad. Forewarned is forearmed, they say!" She punctuates the cheerful statement by holding up her fist for a moment in a gesture of strength.

"For now, we'll all keep our eyes open. We've still got the Dark Kingdom to worry about, too... That Nephrite guy is definitely going to be back sooner or later. And..." Here she pauses to check her watch, then winces, "...and I need to get to the store before it gets any later, I'm sorry." Making an apologetic and rueful face, she begins to unfold herself out of the booth. "We'll talk more soon - I'm happy we met today, Rei-chan!"

Rei Hino has posed:
"I'm happy to have met you too, Mako-chan!" says Rei, smiling sweetly. "We'll have to have more fun things to do sometime."

To Ami, she says, "Well, I had to tell you this stuff sooner or later. This is as good a time as any. We've at least got a few leads, and some idea of where to go next. I might want to get you all together to do a reading, but we'll see how things go."

Turning back to Makoto, she says, "See you later, Makoto-chan."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami waves to Makoto as she gets up and goes. "Couple of days, Mako-chan. It was nice to see you outside of school!" She then looks to Rei. "Aren't you glad you came here now?" She then gives Rai a playful wink. "Speaking of which, I should get home too. I already have my homework done, but I do have to study some more."

She does give Rei a smile though. "I am glad you awakened, Rei-chan. I can't tell you how much better I feel with you and Mako-chan around." She says getting up from the booth. "and meeting at the shrine sounds like a much better idea than meeting here. See you, Rei-chan. Oh....I did give you my phone number, didn't I?"

Rei Hino has posed:
"I think so?" says Rei. "Well just in case, here let me give you mine again."

Granted they have communicators but there's no point in /not/ having each other's numbers. Rei takes out a scrap of notebook paper and writes down her number, giving it to Ami.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
At the same time, Ami does the same. It was always better to have phone numbers, just in case they lost their communicators. Which would be bad. Ami slides her number over to Rei and grins as she takes the slip of paper. "Thank you, Rei-chan. I'll call you soon." She says standing up. "Thank you again for coming by." She then bows to Rei and starts to head out of the game center so she can head home.

Rei Hino has posed:
Rei waves. "It was good to see you!" After Ami leaves, Rei starts heading home as well. The walk back to the shrine isn't very long.