View source for 1376/Please Stand By While Ami Reboots

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2016/04/15
|Location=Uminari City - Seishou Public School
|Synopsis=Ami and Naru have lunch together at school. The conversation is somewhat less mundane than Ami was expecting.
|Cast of Characters=54,127
|pretty=yes
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{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>It's lunch time, and Seishou's rather large student body have all filed out to enjoy the spring weather. Some of the younger students are already out on the playground, playing while they have the opportunity.<br /><br />Of course, Ami Mizuno isn't one of the 'younger' students. Ten months ago, the brainy bluentte would b ehaving lunch with only a book and her bento for company. Rumours around the school said she was alternately arrogant, cruel, or very shy. None of them would have described her as 'friendly'.<br /><br />Of course, that was before Usagi Tsukino came into Ami's world, and flipped everything on its head.<br /><br />These days, Ami typically shares her lunch with Usagi and Makoto, and--of course--with Usagi's best friend Naru. ('Best' being a relative term, since most of them would describe Usagi as their best friend.)<br /><br />Today, the bluenette makes her way through the school grounds with a confused look on her face. In one hand, she carries her bento, and the other a sky blue tablet computer with the golden sign of the constellation Mercury blazoned on its back.<br /><br />It looks like Ami is busy studying the tablet, and yet somehow she manages to avoid knocking into anyone, and eventually finds her way to where Naru has set up to eat. "Naru-chan," she asks confusedly, "do you know where Usagi-chan is?"

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Lunchtime! And there should be an Usagi invading Naru's lunch, but the brunette weirdly is eating alone. She reaches over to lift her backpack of the seat that she'd been saving for /someone/, and Ami fits the bill perfectly. The table holds Naru's bento, and her ever present notebook, waiting for clean fingers to get opened and a few more doodles and sketches added based on lunchtime.<br /><br />There's a little shake of Naru's head, and a swallow from her water bottle to help the bite she was chewing go down before she answers. "She fell asleep in literature class, and got held behind." There's a litle furrow of her brow as she says that, no matter that it sounds quintessentially Usagi.<br /><br />Naru takes up a rice cracker to dip it into some sort of thick dip. "How are you?" She looks up at the bluenette, her voice perhaps a bit more serious than that question usually encompasses.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"What, ''again''?" Ami asks, looking back towards the classrooms uncertainly. "That girl," sh e mumbles quietly as she slides into the seat next to Naru, natural as can be. Ami smiles fondly, rolls her eyes, then sets down the tablet on the table.<br /><br />Mathematical graphs and charts, and some sort of hieroglyphics all dance across the screen. There's no way that's Japanese. Or Greek. Or English. Or any other language Naru has ever seen before. Unless, of course, she's seen the Moon language, somewhere.<br /><br />"I'm doing okay," Ami says, a little soft sigh. "This year is proving really boring, so far. I thought we'd get into some really challenging mathematics, but instead it's just ..." she trails off. "More of the same." The girl sighs uncertainly as she opens her bento, revealing cute little octoyaki balls, plenty of vegetables, and some kind of sweet jelly for dessert. "How about you?"

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Again." Naru agrees ruefully with a little twist of her lips in a half smile. "Apparently a new teacher for literature was not sufficient." She takes a bite of cracker and dip, chewing quietly for a while, or at least as quietly as rice crackers get.<br /><br />"I'm not sure there's any grade school that offers mathemathics that you think of as interesting." Naru flickers a smile, a touch of teasing coming at the reality of the situation. "The rest of us are just grateful that we're not lost, yet. Give it a couple of weeks, and that will change." She considers the question on how she is for a moment.<br /><br />"I'm okay." Naru finally decides after a moment of thought. "School is just school, but I'm thinking of taking up a new hobby, or at least vetting some to find Kunzite a hobby." She notes almost absently. "He could use a hobby."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Really, you think they'll add more interesting subjects in a few weeks?" Ami asks. Naive she is not usually, but optimistic ... now that's another thing.<br /><br />"Oh," Also observant, "You meant the other thing." Ami frowns, just faintly, then notes, "Well if you do wind up feeling lost, please let me know. I'd be happy to tutor you," she points out gently."<br /><br />Wait. What? Kunzite?<br /><br />"Wait, what? Kunzite?" Ami repeats her thoughts aloud. "How do you know that name?"

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"They'll at least get to new stuff in a couple of weeks, but I think you're going to be stuck bored in maths forever." Naru sounds apologetic about that reality at least. "I'm super looking forward to art, but I think I'm the only one. The new teacher looks really cool."<br /><br />"I can usually muddle through eventually, but I might take you up on the tutoring offer, if only to have two of us to pin Usagi down to actually /study/." Naru grins brightly, realistic about ''that'' reality too.<br /><br />"Uhh." The startled query about Kunzite gives Naru a moment of pause. "That's how he was introduced to me?" She offers. "And.. Um. I've already forgotten his other name, becuase I think of him as Kunzite in my head."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Yes, yes, Usagi needs to study, but more importantly, "You've ''met'' him?" Ami asks, confusedly. She reaches up to rub at her nose, squinting a little. "I guess maybe Usagi introduced you to Mamoru. Kunzite ''has'' been following him a bit like a shadow lately. Is that how you met him?"

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Um." Naru ers softly, and her voice drops a bit quieter, not really carrying beyond their table. She reaches for a carrot stick. "Well. The first time I met him, was.. unfortunate and he was creepy and there was kidnapping and messy and then everyone rescued us. I dont /really/ count that."<br /><br />"The second time I met him, /really/ doesn't count, cause he was a rock in Endy's pocket." Naru muses a moment and then shrugs, accepting of that reality. "Totally doesn't count."<br /><br />"So then I guess I /properly/ met him, like actually met HIM in Endy's kitchen when I was helping put away groceries, and he and Endy were answering questions." Naru thinks on that, remembering perhaps, or at least thoughtful. "They both give good answers."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Wait kidnapping!? That sounds like the old Kunzite! Ami just stares, slack-jawed, at Naru. There are no words to properly convey the thoughts crossing through Ami's mind, because those thoughts aren't in a language that has words.<br /><br />Please stand by while the bluenette reboots.<br /><br />"Naru-chan," Ami asks tentatively. "Do you know who Sailor Moon is?"

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Un hunh." Naru nods her head with a little agreeing noise, as if Ami had just asked if Naru was familiar with water being wet, and the sky's status on blue.<br /><br />"I mean, I didn't for a long time, but then it all got kinda messy, and Zoi explained a few things. And then a few more things. And Usagi didn't change back after.. and there's a big chunk that is really very hazy." Naru admits with a bit of a sigh. "But when Zoi had to babysit me while you guys were keeping the world from ending, I had a much better idea that time."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Zoi," Ami says, pinching the bridge of her nose. She closes her eyes faintly and takes a deep breath. "No one told me you'd become involved," Ami notes quietly, then opens her eyes again to regard Naru uncertainly. It bothers her more than a little to be left out of the loop.<br /><br />"I guess that means you know who I am, too," Ami mumbles, then glances down at her tablet, still displaying information on one of her current research projects. "Kidnapped, huh? That sucks."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Mostly?" Naru nods in agreement on knowing, generally, who Ami is when she's not Ami. "I'm sorry. I .. tend to assume that everyone else knows everything. I probably should have warned you, or something?" She hrms softly and then reaches for her water bottle again. "I know the theory of who you are, and I know Ami. But I don't know the you where those fit together. I don't know all the interesting bits, and the quirks and even knowing, I'm a long way from understanding." She explains quietly.<br /><br />Naru chuckles a little. "Kidnapped. Did you know that at least when Melanite kidnaps you, it totally doesn't suck until later. You /totally/ think it's all cool. And then its really hazy and sort of surreal later." She gives the other side of the perspective coin, as only a muggle really can.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami sighs and leans forward very suddenly to give Naru a hug. "I'm sorry. Usually things like this, everyone tells me, and then I can do something about it. I suspect that either Usagi didn't want to worry me, or else everyone else thought someone else had told me already. Whatever the case, I'm ''still'' sorry that you've become involved," Ami says.<br /><br />"The world is a lot more complicated than we used to think," she mumbles thoughtfully, then looks around at all the other students nearby. "If you don't mind, would you be upset if I took a scan of your biosignature? Melanite may have been the first to capture you and introduce you, but there's no guarantee she's the last who will try to use you to hurt Usagi-chan. If I have a reading of you, it will be easier for us to find you and help you in the future."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Naru Osaka leans in to the hug and squeezes. "Usagi spent a lot of time not wanting to worry me, until she couldn't hide it anymore, through no fault of hers." She settles back with a little bit of a rueful smile. "I get to worry about you all a whole lot more than I did, but I also .. well.. I suppose I'm glad to know to worry? If that makes any sense at all. I am glad to help, in the tiny ways I can, and feel less .." She shakes her head. "I'm glad to help as I can." She cuts herself off, and her smile is a little more solid.<br /><br />"Woah.. you can /do/ that?" Naru blinks and nods quickly. "Yes please, that would be excellent. Might mean a little less need for people to babysit me in future, or at least just make it easier." She takes a drink from her water bottle again. "Endy was mentioning someone new stalking him."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Mmm," Ami mumbles uncertainly. "Fiore-san," she says softly as she reaches for that tablet on the table beside her. "Apparently he's a friend of Mamoru-kun's from when he was younger. I haven't met him, yet, but I'm starting to wonder why everyone is stalking Mamoru." She grins at Naru, then points the camera in the midst of the golden symbol of Mercury at her friend.<br /><br />It's almost instantaneous; like taking a picture. Then, Ami flips the tablet around and shows it to Naru. The writing is still that same strange hieroglyphics, but now there's a picture of Naru on the screen, along with some sort of graph. "That's you," she says. "And now all of your data is stored up on a big mainframe up on the moon."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"He's got a magnetic personality?" Naru offers with a little smile. "Or he's got all the politics and enemies of a Prince /and/ a teenage boy." She offers a bit more pragmatically after a beat.<br /><br />"Oooh. Neat!" Naru looks over the screen, the text incomprehensible to her, but she admires the graphs and colours and lights nonetheless. "No cool predictions from it? No weird revelations that I'm not really me or something? At this point, anything seems possible." She pauses a moment. "Although I'm pretty sure I'm the same me that I've always been."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>There's really no ''nice'' way of telling someone they aren't special. Ami turns the tablet around to study it briefly, then grimaces at Naru. "I can't always tell when someone has magical potential," she suggests. "I can tell the difference between someone who has a magical power source and someone who doesn't, if they aren't hiding it. But ... the Mercury Computer is less a discovery tool and more a cataloguing tool."<br /><br />She sigh sand gives Naru an uncertain expression, "Don't go looking for magic, Naru-chan. Much as I'm proud of all the things I've done, it's also been a huge responsibility. But if you do find it, please tell me so that I can help you. And most importantly, if you meet a little fuzzy white rodent offering to let you make a wish, say 'no thank you'."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I'm not." Naru hurries to reassure Ami with a quick shake of her head. "I thought I was going to fall off the floor when Endy even mentioned it as /possible/, and it took me about half a minute to decide that I wasn't interested." She is quiet a moment, twirling her water bottle in her hand. "He said the same thing about wishes and fuzzy rodents, although he was less polite in his suggestion about turning them down."<br /><br />"And.. I think I'm at the stage of not saying never." Naru admits softly. "But as much as its weird, and I spend a lot of time feeling pretty .. well.. extraneous, I guess. Or like the dopey little kid hanging along.. I don't know if I /want/ magic or not. And it seems like something, if I get a choice, I should be pretty certain on." She looks down at her lunch by the end, chewing on her bottom lip a moment.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I didn't really have a choice," Ami says with a smile. "You may not get one, either. I was being mind controlled by a youma, and then suddenly a cat was throwing me a wand and telling me to say something, so I did. I've been Sailor Mercury since," she admits with a faint shrug. <br /><br />"It's that way for a lot of magical girls," Ami suggests, "but not for those who take the rodent's contract. Just trust me on that one: it's not worth the price."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I've been mind controlled twice, I think. I only remember once, but apparently twice. Unless there's others I don't remember." Naru gives a little wrinkle of her nose at the notion of not remembering. "So far, still Naru. Which.. is okay." She smiles a little, perhaps reminding herself as much as she's telling Ami.<br /><br />"Endy said much the same thing, that it wasn't worth the price." Naru nods a little. "Which I don't really understand, but I /do/ understand two people telling me that its a bad idea."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Good," Ami says, not elaborating on the price. Someone else can do that if Naru really presses the question. After a moment, then bluenette frowns and asks, "So ... if you were kidnapped by Melanite, who got you free?"

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"That is part of one of the really hazy bits." Naru acknowledges with a soft ummm. "I remember the freaky purple stuff, and some sort of drink, and Zoi being super sweet to me, and seeing his garden, and then we were somewhere odd, and I remember Usagi being there, and Endy .. and then it got weird, and then it got weirder, and I got rescued." She hrms softly. "That probably doesn't make much sense."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami snickers just faintly at Naru's thoughtful apologetic observation. "Naru-chan, most of my explanations come from Usagi-chan. Yours is practically clear as crystal compared to most of what I get out of her." She winks, then finally starts in on lunch. "So how are your classes going so far, this year?"

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Classes are fine." Naru can't help but grin at the notion of Usagi's explinations and she nods. That, she understands, but she sombers just a touch. "I.. well." She pauses, collecting her thoughts. "I expect you've already noticed, but after not knowing about me, it seems better to tell you twice than not at all." She mmms and then explains a touch. "Kunzite told me to tell someone.. someone relevant.. if I noticed oddities. Usagi being held back for sleeping in class isn't weird, but I've watched Usagi sleep in class all of our lives, and it's weird. It's not /super/ weird, it's just niggle weird." She ums softly. "And it's probably nothing, and I'm just being silly, but there. Now I've told someone who can do more than just wake her up for next classes."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>Ami considers the information silently, eyes cast back towards the school thoughtfully. "Hmmm," she murmurs. "I wonder ..." she trails off thoughtfully. "Well, I'll look into it," she promises quietly. "Mako-chan actually missed the first day of class because of a plant-monster that was sapping her energy. Maybe there's another one sapping Usagi-chan's. But I won't be able to detect if it's anything like Mako-chan's." Then she turns to Naru and smiles. "I hadn't noticed," she points out. "So ... thank you. It's really helpful."

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"You're welcome." Naru smiles, a touch of pride at being useful, even if it really is just making more work for everyone else. "I had heard that Mako was feeling under the weather in a way that was more than a cold. I have some cookies I was going to take her, but.. well.. /her/ baking is about a million times better than mine, so it seems silly to take her cookies."

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Ah, I sometimes think Makoto cheats," Ami admits to Naru with a grin. "I know she's cheated at least once before; using a rosebush saturated with magic for your chocolates is definitely not playing fair." She winks at Naru, then says, "But I bet she'll love your cookies. She's always loved receiving as much as giving. You should do it," she agrees.

:'''{{#var:127|Naru Osaka| (127)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"I mean, I know she's back at school and all, but.." Naru trails off and then quirks a smile. "Alright, so I tend to forget that there's not a lot of healign time when you do it the fast way. Still. Perhaps I'll see if she is around this afternoon, or this evening." She takes a deep breath, listening as the first bell goes, warning students that lunch is almost over.

:'''{{#var:54|Ami Mizuno| (54)}} has posed:'''<br><span></span>"Just do it," Ami says as she starts to pack up her things. "Makoto would love it, I promise." Grabbing the Mercury computer, she simply causes it to disappear as if it was never there. There's certainly nowhere in her uniform it could have gone, and her Bento's still open so it didn't go in there. Weird. Next she closes her bento, then gives Naru one more hug. "I'll see you later. You should come hang out with us at the Crown sometimes, after school. Video games, pizza, milkshakes, and homework!" One of these things is only like the others in Ami's head.
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