1427/Fiore Fiasco Epilogue

Fiore Fiasco Epilogue
Date of Scene:	29 April 2016
Location:	Earth Court Frat House
Synopsis:	Kyouko, Kunzite, Makoto, and Mamoru discuss wtf to do about Fiore.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Kyouko Sakura, Kunzite, Makoto Kino

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Back at Mamoru's place, as he'd specified. It's definitely more filled-in and more lived-in than it was the last time Kyouko saw it, with Sayaka and Nephrite-- but it's no more finished-looking, with everything in upheaval as it is. There has apparently, at this point, been a ruling: 'no moving that couch unless doing so will save a life'. It's possible to tell because there's sawdust and grit and plaster dust lightly scattered over everything and drawn tracks in and had the tracks dusted over, except around that venerable piece of furniture.

A lot of people have slept on that couch.

A lot of people have bled on that couch.

Mamoru is curled up in one corner of that couch, out of henshin, as he finishes pulling Kyouko's wound together and sealing it up, making it look like it never happened. He hasn't said anything since they left, and his face is white and his hands aren't the steadiest. Then they drop, though, listless in his lap. "You're good. Does that really not hurt as blindingly badly as it looks like it must?" There's interest in the question, but it's somewhat rote.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko had protested that she didn't really need healing. That Mamoru should save his strength for the people who did, that the wound would close up on its own in an hour or so. This is all true- Puella, especially veteran Puella, are extremely hardy. She may not have Sayaka's near-instant regeneration, but even stab wounds that would be fatal to a normal person would vanish in a matter of hours, so long as she had the magic available to facilitate the healing, which she does.

    Eventually, though, she had given in and let Mamoru heal the wound. Maybe she thought that letting him do so would provide some comfort to him, even if she herself didn't need it.

    Maybe she just felt bad about this whole thing. Obviously it hadn't worked out quite as she had intended.

    "It hurts like a bitch, if I stop and think about it." She informs him, in somewhat terse tones. "Thing is, with a body like this, after a while you learn that the pain is irrelevant. Pain exists to warn you that your body is in danger, but to a Puella that ain't really the case. You learn not to feel it." Well, maybe Kyouko has. Homura too, probably. You might get a different story from someone like Madoka or Sayaka, though.

    No longer in henshin either, the redhead pulls her shirt back down to cover the site of the former wound, on her side just above her hip. She hestitates a moment, then says, "Thanks. Look.. I'm sorry, okay? We were just tryin' to help."

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite's dropped the uniform, too; it's one of those days when normal clothes don't quite work on him, leave him looking as out of place and out of time as he is. The weight of fabric at his shoulders and a sword at his side are missing, and it shows in his stance, in every motion.

It's only something that is, though, not something he's self-conscious about, and that lessens the effect. Besides. He's not moving so much; he's taken up a place leaning on the back of the couch, one hand resting on it, the other settled on Mamoru's shoulder. It keeps him out of the way as Mamoru's working on Kyouko.

(There's a cost to all healing. It's easy for Puella to think of it in terms of costing magic. That doesn't mean that it doesn't, ultimately, cost in a risk to the soul.)

There's not a word said from him about the healing. Not a word said about pain.

"You did help," he says instead. "Though not necessarily the way anyone would have planned."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It'd only been a mild argument, healing or not healing, yes. Mostly on Mamoru's side of it was 'look you have to hunt your magic down, and I accumulate it like dryer lint, jfc let me fix it for you'.

Now, though, there's something about Mamoru's body language right now that says he'd like nothing more than to curl up further, in on himself, and maybe disappear. Or at least hug his knees. But he keeps pretending he's a grown-up, and leans back a little with his head against Kunzite. A rallying sign, there, is the fact he laughs. "No you really did help. Next time you want to help, though, tell me ahead of time? There was stuff it'd've been useful for you to know before springing your trap. Good job catching him, seriously."

He wilts a little. "You saw him, didn't you? You saw him getting it, and then that thing taking him over... it's really strong. It's blown up planets. It wants to do the same to this one."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko stands there in front of the couch, fingers still curled around the hem of her shirt in a tight fist, looking as if she wants to do her usual 'flare up, deny all wrongdoing, storm away' thing. But this is Mamoru, and Kunzite. Her pride fights a visible battle with her loyalty.

    She's had her eyes cast out towards the balcony, but eventually she looks back towards the couch, and there's heat in her red eyes, though the people in this room know her well and likely can recognize that her anger and frustration is aimed as much at herself as at them or even Fiore. "Newsflash, Mamoru. I always want to help you. How about next time you fill me in on the details first? Sometimes I don't know what to ask. Sometimes.." She turns her head away again. "It's not easy, even though I know it should be."

    She glances back again at the seconds tatement, about the 'thing' inside Fiore. "Look, Mamoru, you keep calling it 'your' planet, and maybe that's true in some fucked up space-royalty sense, but in a very real sense it's my planet too. You don't need to convince me that the planet blowing up is something I need to worry about."

    She turns fully then, long ponytail whipping behind her. "What I do worry about is you trying to save literally everybody, even the bad guys. I love that about you man, I really do, but sometimes tryin' to save everybody leads to saving nobody."

    A shadow passes over her face, and she glances down at the floor. "I know that better'n most."

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite doesn't move; that's not a surprise. Not when Mamoru leans his head back, trapping his other hand between couch cushions and curve of skull. Not when Kyouko turns toward the balcony, looks back toward the couch, whirls in angry insistence.

He doesn't move, but every time she looks back, his eyes are watching her.

"He's not the threat," he says. Quiet pragmatism. He, there, is most certainly not Mamoru. "The threat lies past him, somewhere. He's a distraction and a possible interface. The only way we're going to get solid information on whatever is using him is through him; and for that, we need him alive."

His turn to glance away, then; down toward the top of Mamoru's head for a moment, then up to Kyouko again, steady. The shift in his expression almost matches hers. But he doesn't speak of it, not now, not yet. The other boy's privilege, first.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"If the only options were killing him and letting Earth explode, he'd already be dead," Mamoru says in a low voice, making himself sit up better, freeing Kunzite's other hand again. His voice loses a little more of its color. "And now he knows what he's doing, somewhere in there, and objects with everything. Which means that if it comes down to it, he's opted in to killing him if necessary."

His hand comes up across his chest and rests on Kunzite's for a second, and the prince's tone picks up a little more life. "It's just that-- yeah. Now we know four things about the actual enemy, and none of them involve useful details. It's an option on the table, Kyou-chan, it's just not the preferred one, and it never will be."

Finally, there's actually a smile, crooked as it is. "I'll fill you in on details when I get 'em. In this case, I got a lot more details than I had before because of your plan; I'm sorry I yelled at you about it. I was worried he was going to go off and kill everyone any second." And then Mamoru coughs sheepishly, looking away. "I didn't call it 'my planet' just now, did I? I'll try not to sound so possessive."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko keeps looking at the floor for several long moments, flicking a glance up as Kunzite speaks.. then Mamoru. In all honesty, Kunzite's reasoning makes more sense to her. But there's a reason she started calling him 'nii-chan', after all. Then again, if what Mamoru says is true (which her suspicious nature doubts, for no other reason than she always doubts altruism), it strikes quite near what she told him just a little earlier when he asked if they should have killed Apatite. 'Yes, if you needed to' had been her answer.

    Mamoru says he'll keep her in the loop, and says he's sorry. That seems to melt something in the firey Puella, even if it's just an easing of her wounded pride, wounded by her own hand more than anyone else's, as usual. After a moment, she turns around, and flops down on the couch next to Mamoru.

    She leans against him and tilts her head back, so the back of her head, her voluminous red hair, rests atop both Mamoru and Kunzite's hands where they rest on Mamoru's shoulder. It's not really cuddling- it's more a tired, wounded wolf flopping against members of its' pack after a hunt. "Not now you didn't. Earlier you did." Referring to Mamoru calling it 'his' planet.

    She stares at the ceiling for a moment. "I'll tell you next time I come up with a plan. Just make sure you tell me if I'm not supposed to do something. I keep feeling like all this shit is going on and I'm like.. staring at it through a dirty window. I see the shapes and the forms but none of the details."

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite's other hand is free; he crosses it over the one now neatly twice captive, and rests it briefly on Kyouko's shoulder. Only briefly. Kyouko isn't Mamoru, doesn't have that same need for touch, or doesn't let it show if she has it buried somewhere; but the rest of the pack can still greet the wounded wolf coming home.

"You could start," he suggests down to Mamoru, "with what we know about the actual enemy beyond 'it exists.' If it's something you can put into words yet." It may not be. It may well not be. And it may not, as Mamoru said, have useful details. But sometimes different eyes find uses for different things.

And Kyouko's inadvertently trapped Mamoru into having access to more support than he'd otherwise have had, anyhow. How terrible.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
We will just use the logic, here, that although wolfpiles are totally cuddlepiles, and both Mamoru and Kunzite definitely count as Kyouko's pack, this can't be a wolfpile because Mamoru's totally a cat if nothing else, so Q.E.D. not a cuddlepile and there is no cuddle here whatsoever. It's not very cuddly-looking, to be fair.

"Can I wait to fill you in on that stuff until Mako-chan is listening? Minimizing repetitions is the discretion part of valor. I will definitely tell you not to do things, though," he adds, slipping his hand free to poke Kyouko lightly in the arm. "You know I never have a problem being bossy and tiresome."

He's definitely looking less pale, now, anyway, with a little time and distance and reconstruction.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Speaking of Mako-chan--

Sailor Jupiter disappeared off somewhere after they got back, with the terse explanation that she needed to clean up. Shortly after that, the sounds of stomping and rattling from the direction of the kitchen suggested some idea of where she'd gone and what she might be up to.

Now, as though summoned by the mention of her name, Makoto - freshly scrubbed and looking rather less cranky than she did when they left what remained of the warehouse - emerges into the room carrying a tray, steam wafting gently from an array of dishes. Four bowls, four smaller bowls, four cups, utensils. She surveys the totally-not-a-cuddlepile as she brings this over to set down on the coffee table.

"You guys look better, but you should still eat something," she pronounces. The larger bowls are oyakodon, chicken-and-egg over rice; the smaller contain miso soup. The cups, of course, are for tea. Quick comfort food, Mako style.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko doesn't seem to mind Kunzite's hand on her shoulder. Sometimes even she needs a little physical reassurance- it just has to be on her terms. But the fact that she's here means that she's not going to snap at any attempts to reach out- that moment is past, for now. Never for good, but for now.

    She turns her head, ears practically perking as Kunzite asks to be filled in on the details of the threat, but Mamoru begs off, and her lips twist to the side in a half-grimace that is accepting nonetheless. To Mamoru's comment about being bossy, her response is "No, I just have a problem listening." This might be a joke if it weren't so absolutely true, and even she knows it.

    Makoto appears with food. Food never fails to capture Kyouko's attention, and within moments she is sitting up from where she had been leaning on Mamoru, her eyes surveying the offerings. Sure beats conbenie food (job loyalty notwithstanding).

Kunzite has posed:
... and Kunzite does not even point out to Mamoru that Mako-chan is clearly now listening. He inclines his head to her instead, as the tray is set down. "Thank you." Never mind that he's on the wrong side of the couch and not showing any sign of moving around it. Mamoru needs food, and Kyouko is physically present; these two things are more than enough to prompt thanks for Makoto's work.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Obviously Kunzite is a wall and walls do not move. Equally obviously Mamoru is bossy, as claimed, and tilts his head back to give Kunzite a Look, then reaches up and physically tugs at the white-haired guardian's shirt to get him to come around. Then he shifts -- which also pushes Kyouko sideways, which she might indeed resist -- to make room for Kunzite in the corner he'd just been occupying. It's not until there's obliging going on from two different people that he ends up with food in his hands, though the grateful look at Mako comes well before that.

Once that's settled, he does obliging of his own:

"All right. Fiore and his creepy parasite. I met him when I was six and he was lost and dying and also six, and I was in the hospital after the accident where I lost my memory. We made friends, but I didn't know how to life-support him or give him energy, so he had to leave," he says calmly, getting the distance on his face that indicates a clinical retelling of events that he's not going to get emotionally mired in. Soup first. Sip soup.

"He was preparing to leave, and I was alone in my room and I guess I was crying, because a little girl came in with a bunch of roses she'd brought for her mom, who'd just given birth to the little girl's new brother. She gave me one of her roses. Her dad eventually came and found her, and took pictures, and I actually got shown one of those pictures a bit over a month ago." Soup sip. Right after slurping up a piece of seaweed, Mamoru glances up, smiling faintly. "Because Usa'd just found it and wanted to make sure the boy in the picture was me." Calm, calm soup sip.

"Anyway, later that day, I ran up to the roof with Usa's rose, and gave it to Fiore as he was leaving, because I wanted him to remember that if he found a way, there was a place he could come back and have a friend. Worked a little better than I expected it would, apparently. He went all over the galaxy looking for a flower to give me when he came back that'd beat the rose." Soup finish; oyakodon start. He's hungry. "Apparently he found one? And apparently it was evil and latched on to him and got him to decide that Earth had to die because everyone on it had left me Forever Alone, and that he should rescue me so I could be with him forever and ever and neither of us would have to be alone. And it's not he who has the power to blow up the planet, it's the parasite using him as a host. It's blown up other planets. If you've seen the original Star Wars trilogy--? I got a flash of it, it looked like the destruction of Alderaan but without the Death Star beam shooting at it... it just collapsed in on itself, like it'd been hollowed out. Like it ate out all the life and then kicked the husk. It ate it with those pink flowers."

Then he puts way too much oyakodon in his mouth so he can't keep yammering.

Makoto Kino has posed:
Makoto finds herself a place to sit, probably on the floor in front of where Mamoru is sitting on the couch, which is not the most convenient place from which to listen to explanations but it does leave her situated to easily pass people things to for from the coffee table.

Picking up a bowl in one hand, she begins eating, listening intently to what Mamoru has to say as she chews.

No commentary, at least not verbal - she makes several fairly eloquent faces from sympathy to rueful affection to indignation at appropriate points. Until he mentions the pink flower, and then she grimaces. "Like the one in my apartment." Her voice is heavy. "There's got to be more of them. We should get the word out on HeartNet or something, warn people to be on the lookout."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko is pushed sideways on the couch by Mamoru, Prince Bossy. She grumbles and scoots with only a little bit of manuvering, but she was going to sit up and reach for food anyway so it's not as big of a grumble as it might have been. Fingers reach for cup and bowl, and before long she is slurping and chewing enthusiastically as she listens to Mamoru, because if Usagi can't be here, at least Kyouko can sub in for her appetite.

    When Mamoru finishes, she swalows and wipes her hand across the back of her mouth before making a face. "Evil flowers? Seriously? I guess that dude did seem to have a thing for plants.." The goop-covered interior of the Crown can pay testament to that. Luckily it should wipe off. Probably.

    "Look, all that is great to know and stuff but it doesn't really help with the problem of what to do about it." She poinst at Mako-chan with chopsticks. "Other than find the evil flowers, I mean that's a good first step but it ain't gonna solve the problem, just delay it."

Kunzite has posed:
Some walls oblige. Kunzite yields to the faintest hint of a smile at the Look and the pushiness, and a few moments later he's settled at the end of the couch, soup in hands. Having been meticulously careful not to risk stepping on any part of Makoto. She's had enough encounters with architecture for the month.

And he listens.

"The flower in your apartment," he says to Makoto, "drained energy." Attention flickers over toward Kyouko, past Mamoru. "Some of that energy might be transmitted back." (-- the portal behind him, as he drew power and strength and life from an ever-widening circle of the city, siphoning some off to increase the distance he could pull from, some to feed his shields, but channeling most back to the portal, to feed the demon in the dark --)

He doesn't pause, and his expression and tone never change. "If so, that transmittal might be tracked or interrupted, used to locate the primary parasite. There may also be ways to shield Fiore's mind, to interrupt the influence; if we can free him for longer than a few seconds, he may be able to locate the thing for us."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru chews on his lip instead of the food for a moment, thinking about what everyone's said. And for a half second, he's got his hand on top of Makoto's head-- gratitude for the understanding, in part; gratitude for her presence; sneaky relief of the bruising she'd taken when the warehouse fell on her, at the last. And he finishes his rice and egg and leans forward to put the empty bowl down next to his empty soup, then reaches to get his tea before sitting back with it.

"So we get HeartNET to both be on the lookout and to let us know, or let anyone who can track energy know, and we track some and destroy some. Mako-chan didn't get all her energy back after the destruction of the one in her apartment, and I was absolutely pouring energy down a black hole. It did have to be going somewhere."

Makoto Kino has posed:
"First steps lead to further steps," Makoto says with a philosophical little shrug, setting her half-finished bowl of donburi down to pick up the remaining bowl of soup and cradle it in both hands. The momentary press of Mamoru's hand atop her head and the sneaky soothing energy that comes with it prompt a grateful smile tipped back over her shoulder. "It's a good start to work from, anyway, right?"

She takes a moment to think as she sips from the bowl of miso, a contemplative look coming over her face. "Come to think of it," she says as she lowers the bowl from her mouth, "I might have taken a picture of the flower after it bloomed. I'll check; if I have one, I'll see about posting it."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko lowers the teacup from her mouth after slurping some down, though she had been listening while she was drinking (and stuffing more food into her mouth.) She actually catches the brief glance Kunzite shoots at her, and seems to acknowledge whatever it is that he's communicating.

    A moment later, she says, "Horticulture, alien or otherwise, ain't my specialty." It's actually pretty shocking that she even knows the word. "Sounds like a solid lead though. Energy drainin' means sendin' the energy somewhere. That's logical."

    "So tell you what. Find the flowers. Call me when you know where it's goin', and I'll stab it for you." Lopsided, fangy grin, quickly subsumed in another bowl.

Kunzite has posed:
Kunzite's mouth turns up at one corner again for a moment, a smaller mirror of Kyouko's lopsided grin. He adds, "Someone should take Mercury where our other encounters have been, too. If he left a flower this time, there might have been others before." And it's a way that might locate the flowers without making Mamoru search for them. Those things aren't good for him in the slightest.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Good. Plans are good. Yes. And..." The corners of Mamoru's mouth turn down. "I suppose, considering it's a world ending threat that involves energy tracing, we should tell Agera." He sighs deeply and slouches in his seat with the tea, sinking down between Kunzite and Kyouko until it looks like even the latter is taller than he is. He sips his tea in a way that decidedly casts all the shade he's allowed to cast on the dude at the moment.

There's slight brightening. "But yes. Lawnmowers and napalm. And telling people the damned things can walk and shoot armor-piercing energy-draining vines. So they should bring magical weedwhackers. And take pictures."

Makoto Kino has posed:
Mamoru may be restraining himself from casting any more shade than he already has, but Makoto clearly feels no need to do likewise. That is an impressive stinkface she's made just now.

"I vote we let Mercury handle that part too," she suggests over her soup. "Less aggravation for everyone. But yeah," a tip of her head toward Kunzite as her expression clears, "I can show her the places I was there for, no problem. Maybe she can pick something up."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko glances at the slouching Mamoru.. the name 'Agera' not really ringing a bell for her, having managed to avoid the guy for months now (and only knowing him as 'Takashi'.. or Riventon when she had). If she knew who they were talking about, she'd definitely be on the Makoto side of the argument.

    "Well.. sounds like the start of a plan anyway." She mumbles. "Guess I'd be wise to let somebody else make it this time." She busies herself with the food, not seeing the need to add any more comment than that.