Like a Warning of What Could Be Lost
| Like a Warning of What Could Be Lost | |
|---|---|
| Date of Scene: | 12 February 2016 |
| Location: | Midtown Tower, 54th floor |
| Synopsis: | Makoto gives Valentine's chocolates to a Dark General and can't quite tell if it goes well or badly. |
| Cast of Characters: | Makoto Kino, Nephrite |
Makoto Kino has posed:
It takes almost exactly two weeks, Friday to Friday, for Makoto to contact Nephrite on the number that he gave her. When she does, it's by text message rather than calling directly - two lines, short and mostly simple.
She's fretted entirely too much over sending those brief lines. Mako almost talked herself into waiting until the day of the 14th - but while she waited, who knows what could be happening in the Dark Kingdom? How much might already have changed since the last time she saw him that she knows nothing about?
So Friday afternoon, as soon as she leaves Ami, she takes out her phone and sends two short messages, one immediately after the other:
TXT: I have something for you
TXT: is there somewhere we can talk that you know your queen won't be listening?
And then she waits.
Nephrite has posed:
His response is swift. Evidently wherever he spends his time has cell service.
TXT: for me? I'm intrigued
TXT: is it pink
TXT: I didn't die btw I can tell you were worried
There is a thoughtful pause before the texts resume.
TXT: midtown tower
TXT: the big shiny building by tokyo tower
TXT: 54th floor
TXT: ask for me at the desk
Makoto Kino has posed:
TXT: ok, got it
In spite of the tension coiled in her stomach, Makoto catches herself smiling down at her phone as she walks.
TXT: it's not pink
TXT: I can't afford bottega, sry
And then, a little later:
TXT: I actually was worried, you know
Nephrite has posed:
Masato Sanjouin materializes at the restaurant wearing a tailored Brioni suit in a shade of dark red that only somebody truly convinced of his own greatness could pull off. Fortunately for him, he is the owner of Hoshi 54, the posh top-floor restaurant that overlooks Tokyo Tower. Everything here is sleek, black, and modern, subtly lit by mood lighting made to avoid dimming the nighttime view. By day, it is nearly empty, and the staff is quick to jump to attention at the sight of him.
The private VIP lounge in the back is made to accommodate large parties, and he sits like a king waiting to hold court in the center of a long black couch, arms spread wide over the back and a grand view of Tokyo laid out behind him. He sets a glass of wine on a low table at his feet and taps out a few more texts while he waits.
TXT: order whatever you like. they can make anything here
TXT: maybe even tea
Makoto Kino has posed:
TXT: if they can't make tea you might want to think about getting some new staff.
After touching 'Send' this time, Makoto puts her phone away and lengthens her stride, heading briskly along the sidewalk.
By the time the elevator lets her off on the 54th floor, she's practically jittering with anxiety that has nothing to do with the Dark Kingdom and everything to do with how incredibly self-conscious she feels amidst all this sleek luxury, out of place and awkward in her school uniform with her bag in hand and a soft pink scarf looped around her neck. She feels inordinately afraid that she might smudge something. This suddenly seems like a terrible idea.
But it's either go forward or go back, so Mako squares her shoulders resolutely and walks toward the reception desk with as much poise as she can muster. "Excuse me," she says. "I'm here to see Sanjouin-san? He knows that I'm coming."
Nephrite has posed:
The staff is too well-trained to balk at a teenage girl in her school uniform showing up at their posh 5-star restaurant, not when she is an expected guest of the owner. An immaculately-dressed hostess bows deeply at Makoto's arrival and smiles at her. "Of course, Kino-san. Come right this way. Would you like us to prepare you a beverage?"
She leads Makoto to the VIP lounge, where Nephrite sits waiting for her, a lonely patch of red in a sea of black. He brightens when he catches sight of her, smiling as easily as if their previous interaction did not turn strained. "So you did miss me."
Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto smiles at the hostess's offer, shakes her head. "No, that's all right," she says, following the woman's lead towards the VIP lounge. "Thank you."
The smile doesn't leave her face when Nephrite greets her, but it does turn a little more guarded. Rather than answer him right away she looks him over, closely, searching for - something. Some sign that anything's different since the last time. Mostly, she thinks, he just looks less rained-on. She's not really sure she'd even be able to tell if anything had been messing with his head, but relief trickles through her all the same and a bit of the tightness at the corners of her mouth relaxes as she meets his eyes.
"I wouldn't say that," she answers him. "But I was worried."
Nephrite has posed:
"Close enough, then," he shrugs. Makoto does look a little out of place in her uniform, but she first caught his attention precisely because she stood out. The fact that she seems to almost deliberately clash with the world he owns the deed to amuses him.
The hostess exits the VIP room with a bow and closes the doors behind her, leaving the two of them alone. Nephrite holds a finger to his lips before Makoto can speak. "One moment, please."
He presses his hand to the wall, and it becomes, if possible, even more black than before. Blackness seeps across the ordinary black paint, makes it so dark that the walls seem to vanish into an empty void. The floor, too, turns from dark carpet to sleek black tile. Most dramatic of all, the wide rectangular window behind Nephrite stretches and contorts into a perfectly circular stained glass window. If it still looks out onto the daytime cityscape, it is impossible to tell through the sickly swirl of red, purple, and blue that clouds the glass.
The couch that he sits on and the low square table at Nephrite's feet are still there, and the table's surface is lit from underneath, a perfect square of glowing white glass. The table and the murky, dimly-illuminated window are the only sources of light in the whole place.
"There," he says lightly, picking up his wine glass again, "now we can talk without being heard." The door behind Makoto has vanished along with the walls.
Makoto Kino has posed:
A small strangled sound escapes Makoto as the world transforms around her. It's the sound of Mako abruptly realizing that this idea has not been thought through well enough at all, of every instinct in her body screaming at her to get out getoutgetoutRIGHTNOW.
She bites down hard on the panic reflex, reminding herself that this is what she asked for. In any case, there's no point in bolting now that there's nowhere to bolt to, so she plants her feet firmly on the floor and lets the breath go out of her in an unsteady chuff of a laugh. "That's handy," she manages to say. Her eyes are huge.
Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite watches her reaction with mild amusement. It is not every day that he gets to show off his little hidden dimensional pockets, least of all to somebody so easily impressed. "Perhaps we should have ordered you some calming tea. Unfortunately," he says, crossing his legs and raising his wine to his lips, "it seems we're all being monitored more closely now. Fortunately, I happen to have a few places like this. I never designed them with this intention, mind you. It is made to block out ambient energy so I can focus on the stars more clearly. But it seems that crystal balls have yet to find a way to peer inside."
He smiles benevolently, lord of this small bubble of darkness. "You only have to ask, and I will bring back the door. But it would be a shame if you came all the way up here for no reason, wouldn't it?"
Makoto Kino has posed:
The comment about calming tea does as much to settle Makoto as anything; she pulls a momentarily indignant face, and in its wake she seems to recover some of her self-possession. "It's fine," she says with a firm shake of her head, hair flicking behind her with the energy of the motion. "I just wasn't prepared for..." Her eyes slide towards the window and the roil of colors that can be seen through it, regarding them with suspicion. "...that."
She breathes in, trying to reorder her scattered thoughts. "I talked to my friends about you." Right to the point, as before. This part she'd like to get over quickly. "They're willing to meet with you, but it might take a while to set up. For one thing," she says plainly, looking Nephrite right in the eye, "I still don't know if I can trust you. But also, if we act too carelessly it could get you killed. Or worse."
Her gaze slides downward, settling on the glowing white square of the table as she tugs absently on her scarf with her free hand. "I don't want that to happen."
Nephrite has posed:
His eyebrows raise. "Did you? How thoughtful." He mulls over her words. Does she mean he is likely to be killed by sailor senshi or by... well, in the past he would have been secure in the knowledge that Beryl would understand Nephrite's methods, that getting close to the sailor senshi was all just part of the plan. Now, in the aftermath of her reaction to Walpurgisnacht, it seems like being spotted anywhere near a sailor senshi who he is not in the act of decimating could be perilous for his health.
The thought troubles him more than it should, and he cannot hide that as well as he would like to. He rushes to smother it with a joke. "So you do care! I knew you couldn't resist me."
Makoto Kino has posed:
"Of course I care." Makoto's reply is emphatic, faintly exasperated, and utterly without hesitation. He might be joking, but she is serious. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."
Which is the problem, really. If she didn't care, she would not be here in this doorless space that could at any moment easily become a trap. How close they came to losing Ami not very long ago is still fresh on Mako's mind.
But she does care. She can't turn her back from that.
"...Seriously," she murmurs, "be careful. You should probably assume she's watching you unless you know for sure that she's not." A glance around the dark room, and then Makoto's worried eyes settle on Nephrite again.
Nephrite has posed:
"Hmph," Nephrite muses. "It seems your side has plenty of its own spies, if you're aware of that." He stretches, seemingly unconcerned that his own queen may be looking for reasons to do him harm. "Luckily for me, I've always made a habit of disappearing into places like this for hours at a time. My hiding here shouldn't be any more suspicious than it ever is."
He smiles. "Oh, but do sit down." He shifts to the side, gives her space on an already spacious couch. Several more people could easily fit onto it, given the chance. He has no need to assert his presence here, in a place where the walls themselves drip with his power. "Forgive my manners. I so rarely have guests."
Makoto Kino has posed:
A look of dismay flashes over Makoto's face at the word 'spies,' and then her mouth tightens, jaw clenching. Preparing to be stubborn, but then he changes the subject. It throws her a little. "...I can't imagine why that would be," she murmurs without meaning to, glancing toward that ominous stained-glass window again.
She stands where she is and eyes the generous amount of room on the couch for some moments before she finally makes up her mind and moves to sit, perching herself on the edge of the seat outside of Nephrite's immediate reach. Her school bag is set on the floor by her feet and then Mako sits up, back straight, feet tucked in against the place where the couch meets the floor. Making no effort to get comfortable.
"How is Mamoru-san?" Her eyes watch him carefully, reluctant and anxious, half afraid of what the answer is going to be. "Is it really bad?"
Nephrite has posed:
The wine glass pauses at the edge of Nephrite's lips. "He is..." The question has thrown him. Struck something that he cannot quite cover. Something he cannot spin into a joke. "He isn't Mamoru. Not anymore." Not comforting. But still understating. There is no reason to scare the girl. She does not need to know how... hollow he has become.
The thought weighs on him. He tries to shrug it off, emotionally and literally. "He's in one piece, anyway."
He takes a sip of wine, seems to recover some of himself. "Anyway, if you're going to diss my decor, you may as well get the full experience." He waves his hand almost flippantly, and without any preamble a starscape bursts into being above the table. Stars and nebulae shimmer in midair, clearer and seemingly closer than they ever appear when gazing into the real night sky. Unlike the murky window behind them, there is nothing impure about the stars glittering down at them.
The presence of the stars seems to relax him. Nephrite settles back against the couch. "I say that I don't bring guests, but they're more like friends. Or guides. Or mood lighting. Take your pick."
Makoto Kino has posed:
"...oh." Makoto's brows draw together, furrowing her forehead and making her look like she's about to ask more, but then she thinks better of it. "That's something, at least." Not reassured. But she already knows it's bad; as long as he's alive, she tells herself, the rest can surely be healed in time. Knowing the details of just how bad it is when there's not yet anything she can do about it won't help anything.
She subsides into an uncomfortable silence.
As the starlight shimmers to life within the confines of the room, however, Makoto's breath catches. For just a moment she forgets all of the things she was worried about and just leans forward in her seat, tilting her head back to look up at the full glory of the starscape in wide-eyed wonder.
(How many times has she seen the stars? They are beautiful, bright gems scattered across the void of space, but living among them as she does she's long grown used to the sight. It has been a long time since she's given them much thought beyond picking out the distant point of light that is Jupiter, her sisters' home planets, the shape of the constellation of the Sacred Eagle. The countless other stars beyond their own solar system seem far distant, nothing much to do with her.
Now unexpectedly the stars seem closer than they ever have, even moreso than when seen from the highest point of Io Castle where there is no sunlight nor atmosphere to obscure their light. If she were to reach up, she feels as though she could gather them into her hands.
Instead she reaches out to touch the shoulder of the man beside her, looking toward him with bright and questioning eyes.)
"What do they tell you?" Makoto asks.
Nephrite has posed:
There is nothing fake in the smile he gives her. Nothing performative about it. He points to the most prominent cluster of stars, floating directly above and in front of them. "This constellation is Leo. That star right there--sort of in the center. That's Leo's heart, Regulus. It can mean either victory or crushing defeat, depending on what it's interacting with. But here..." he flicks his hand, and the starscape rotates slightly, making different stars visible. This is only a small patch of visible sky, fading out into darkness at the edges.
"See the planets? That is Jupiter. Mercury and Venus right there. Mars down in the corner. It's always a sign of good things when the inner planets are so close. But there--" he points to a fainter point of light poised between Mars and Mercury. "Saturn interferes. A bad omen. Death and war are dangerously close together."
He is clearly enjoying himself. Sharing something untouched, never warped by darkness. It's a useful tool, something that Beryl never saw fit to alter from its natural state. "Oh, but we are missing the show." He flicks his hand, spins the stars again. Just as they come to rest in place, a light streaks across them. "The Alpha Centaurid meteor shower." Tiny slivers of light slice through the darkness. "Meteors mean... change. Good or bad. They do not care which."
Makoto Kino has posed:
Forgotten in her lap, Makoto's scarf begins a long, slow, noiseless slide to the floor as she unconsciously shifts in her seat, hands gripping the edge of the couch cushion to either side of her legs. It's as though she's listening with her whole body, eyes following the direction of Nephrite's pointing to each celestial body that he names. Her voice breathes out through parted lips. "Amazing..."
A tiny laugh of surprise escapes her when the first meteor flashes across the starscape; unthinking, she begins to reach out, as though to trace her fingertips along the brief, shimmering trails, before she catches herself halfway and draws her hand back to curl against her chest instead, over her fluttering heart. When she looks over at Nephrite her face is lit up with delight and admiration, radiant with it. "They're beautiful," she says. "Thank you. For showing me."
Nephrite has posed:
The thrill of seeing her excitement reflected back at him makes butterflies leap in his stomach a bit. It is not a sensation he can recall having ever experienced before. "Most people seem to find it boring. Thank you for... for humoring me."
He feels... exposed. Like she has seen too much of him. Not quite embarrassed--the day Nephrite feels embarrassment is the day he stops wearing a red suit--but still. This is not part of the plan. He quickly takes another sip of wine, just for the distraction.
Makoto Kino has posed:
"Humoring you?" The expression on Makoto's face swiftly becomes one of blank incomprehension, followed by an emphatic shake of her head. "That's not it at all. The things that you see are incredible - how could anyone find that boring?"
As soon as she's finished saying it, she goes still where she sits, and something faintly uncertain flickers over her face, there and then gone. She feels unaccountably like somehow they've had this conversation before.
Just before the silence draws out long enough to be awkward, something occurs to her and Mako abruptly sits up straight. "--ah, that's right!" She all but dives for her school bag, opening the fastenings and moving aside some of its contents until she can get at one of the main reasons she came here in the first place, tucked carefully in among the books and notebooks and other belongings to keep it safe from being unnecessarily jostled or crushed. "I said I had something for you, remember?"
Nephrite has posed:
Nephrite thinks of the look that Zoisite would give him whenever he dared suggest that he might enjoy watching the stars with him, and he laughs. "You'd be surprised."
Normally, when he watches the stars, everything else fades away. Any distraction serves only to annoy him. Honestly, that is probably the main reason why nobody else likes to watch the stars with him--he gets cranky when they so much as breathe too noisily. But somehow, he feels at ease with Makoto beside him. Like the world of words and wine can coexist easily with the world of stars and patterns in her presence.
He chuckles at her sudden urgency. "I was beginning to suspect that was just an excuse to get me to see you."
Makoto Kino has posed:
Her face colors a little in embarrassment, though it may be hard to see in the low light. "No," she says, still ducked down over her bag, "I just... got a little distracted."
The hint of a blush is still on Makoto's face when she sits up and holds out the unlabeled white box to him with both hands; there's a certain pride in the way she holds it, a mixture of eager hope and faint, self-conscious anxiety in her smile and the brightness of her eyes. "Here. It's a little early, but I kind of feel like literally anything could happen between now and Sunday, so I thought it might be better not to wait."
The contents of the box rustle quietly with paper when it tilts. Inside, the best work of the past several days is lined up neatly in rows of miniature paper baking cups, smooth, simple, perfect. In the end she went with sea salt as the extra flavor accent - the smallest amount, not enough for the tongue to register as salty, just enough to bring out the richness of the dark chocolate and accentuate the sweetness of the rose-infused honey.
She watches him expectantly over the box and tries hard not to fidget.
Nephrite has posed:
Her bashfulness is as charming as the little, perfectly formed chocolates in their paper cups. With his enhanced night vision, Nephrite can easily see her blush, how it brightens her features. The chocolates look professional, but the packaging betrays its origins. "You made me chocolates?"
He laughs--his laughter is as deep and rich as cocoa. "I forgot what day it almost was. I've been away too long..."
Without awaiting permission, he plucks one from its wrapping and pops the whole thing in his mouth. The dark chocolate shell bursts into oozing sweet rose honey. The rose taste is subtle, barely there, but...
But like the rose tea scent in Makoto's kitchen, it seems to flood his mouth, seems to fill and envelope him. His head swims, the stars above blurring to one side.
(Roses wet and crushed with rain. They no longer look pretty, but the smell of the petals crushed beneath their feet blended with faint ozone is intoxicating. The rain drums down on them, but their clothes are too soaked already for them to notice. They dance to the music of the thunder overhead.
He'd almost forgotten about things like thunderstorms, before she pulled him back down to Earth.)
Nephrite lurches forward and catches himself on the table. The other chocolates, still perfectly wrapped in their little box, slowly slide from his hand.
Makoto Kino has posed:
That laugh sends a thrill through Makoto that turns her heart over in her chest, an electric feeling running up her spine. She blushes even more fiercely, but she manages not to look away.
--which means she sees the moment he begins to sag, and the hopeful, expectant smile leaves her face in an instant as her eyes widen in dismay and alarm. She moves on reflex to close the space between them, one hand coming under his arm while the other rests lightly against his back, supporting and soothing. The chocolate is momentarily forgotten. "What's wrong?" she asks, watching his face with quiet urgency. "Are you okay?"
Nephrite has posed:
Memories press at the inside of his skull, writhing and straining at the chains that held them locked away for so long. In the labyrinth he could pass them off as the delusions of someone trapped in hell. In Beryl's throne room he could chalk it up to adrenaline. But this time he cannot ignore them, cannot pretend that they are not there, cannot escape into some distraction.
(He ruffles the boy's hair, just to see him make that sour face. Laughs harder at his every protest. Somebody has to keep him humble.)
(Chocolate was his gift from the southern part of his kingdom across the sea, a dark and bitter beverage to warm their hands beneath the night sky. It was her idea to try sweetening it, adding different flavors. It was his idea to spike it with alcohol.)
"I..." Her hand on his back is grounding. Brings him back to the present. "I don't..." he breathes, steadies himself. "I should go."
Makoto Kino has posed:
She almost protests. For all the unreasonable burden of hope and feeling she'd poured into her chocolate-making she hadn't expected very much from it, can't be sure if this reaction is a stirring of Nephrite's true self or - something else. Makoto's hand lingers where she placed it against his back, undemanding but not quite willing to leave him.
There's a question on her lips, but it's nothing she can articulate well enough into words. At last, Mako reluctantly moves back, putting a little space between them once again "...Okay," she says softly. She's not sure if it's the right thing, but it doesn't feel right to push him now. Watching him with worried eyes, she begins to gather up her bag. "But please... take care."
Nephrite has posed:
The waving of his hand now is not the careless flick that it was, but instead a frantic movement like clearing smoke from the air. The stars fade from above them, the shadows retreat from the walls. The stained glass behind them rearranges and clarifies until it is an ordinary picture window, gazing out onto the city.
Nephrite pulls away from her touch. He still clutches the box of chocolates as he stands, absently tilted but not quite falling from their packaging, like he has forgotten they are there or why he is holding them.
He cannot honestly say that he will take care. He is not sure of anything right now. But he hesitates where he stands, looks at her briefly. His dark eyes are a blend of distraught and... something else. "You... " he is uncharacteristically uncertain, lacking his earlier eloquence. "Stay safe," he finally mutters, before teleporting away. Leaving her there alone, with an unlocked door.
Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto sits for a moment after he's gone, collecting herself and trying to understand what just happened. A step forward? A step back? Considering everything else that's happened in the past couple of weeks, the way that he acted was enough to leave her feeling hopeful... and yet, remembering how distressed he'd seemed just now, she can't quite bring herself to feel good about it either.
She closes up her bag and gets to her feet, and leaves the empty room in a hurry. She doesn't look up to make eye contact with the hostess on her way out, just beelines for the elevator with long, quick strides.
It's only when she steps out of the building and into the February chill that Mako realizes she left her scarf behind, an incongruous pile of pink in that sleek black room. For a moment or two she looks back and up at the gleaming windows high overhead, wondering if she should go back up, but then decides she'd better not.
Hugging her bag close to her body, she hurries off down the sidewalk towards home.
