1149/Collect Your Courage

Collect Your Courage
Date of Scene:	06 March 2016
Location:	Jadeite's Palace
Synopsis:	Kyouko's told the plan is to kill Kunzite -- and that it's okay to call him brother. Pre-scene to Power's Out.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Kyouko Sakura
Tinyplot:	Power's Out

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
ABOUT A WEEK AGO:

When Kyouko comes down the millions of stairs to the pocket dimension beneath the abandoned house, the first thing she sees upon coming in range of the tranquil retreat that is Jadeite's palace is Mamoru, sitting on the lawn in the sunshine and playing with the white-and-orange temple cat in the grass. He looks well-slept, if pale, and he's in jeans and a NASA t-shirt, glasses on and e-reader in the grass beside him. His motions and expression speak of someone in slow recovery from something, but he's otherwise in good health-- and not at all the twitchy and confused mess or the glowing-eyed horror he'd been the last few times she'd seen him. He glances up and brightens when he sees her, getting a little laboriously to his feet. "Kyou-chan!"

NOW:

When Kyouko comes down the millions of stairs to the pocket dimension beneath the abandoned house, Mamoru's not immediately visible, but there are textbooks and a scientific calculator and a tablet spread out on the porch, mid-homework. As she comes through the gate to the lawn, the temple cat trots over and trills at her, half-underfoot and looking for a scritch; Mamoru comes out the front door of the main building with a Thermos of coffee and an empty mug. He looks more awake by miles and miles than he did the last time Kyouko saw him, in jeans and a t-shirt again, eyes bright and sharp and a little tense around the edges.

He looks much more like the Mamoru-in-the-middle-of-constant-crises that she knows and loves so well, though really, the crises shouldn't be reaching him in a place like this, should they? No: the guy goes fishing for them like a hobby.

He looks up and brightens when he sees her, and then a shadow crosses behind the sudden smile. "Kyou-chan! I've got updates for you."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
ABOUT A WEEK AGO:

    It's been a bit of a slow recovery for Kyouko as well. The Dark Energy that Endymion had pumped through her during the rescue attempt hadn't played well with her body, and she had spent a few days in the hospital. After getting out though, and speaking to Usagi, she had returned to the temple to see Mamoru. When she descends into the peaceful place and spots him, she pauses just at the bottom of the stares, looking over.. and then breaks into a run, hitting him with a soft 'oof' and wrapping her arms tightly around him. He may not be able to see because of the way she hides her face against his chest, but tears glisten in the redheads eyes as she mutters, "Goddammit, I missed you you son of a bitch."

NOW:

    Kyouko returns to the temple. Visting Mamoru wasn't something she did every day, but when she finds the time. Perhaps just to make sure he hasn't gotten into trouble again- especially with all the craziness that's been going on recently. She bends as the cat wanders up, smirking slightly as she scritches behind its ears. "I ain't here to visit you." She teases it.

    When Mamoru appears she glances up, then straightens. A brow quirks slightly at his mention of updates, and she saunters closer, smiling her lopsided smile. "Oh yeah? I take it by your expression they ain't the good kind of updates, though I guess they ain't usually."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
ABOUT A WEEK AGO:

Mamoru's had a reasonable amount of impact-hug absorption training from his girlfriend, so he doesn't actually topple over when Kyouko hugslams into him-- but he staggers a little as he catches her, and then he's hugging her back just as tight, his tall frame practically wrapping around her and the side of his face mooshed into her enormous ponytail.

He can't see the tears, but he'll probably see the evidence on his shirt. He won't call her out on it ever; it's not like he hasn't done any crying himself in the past couple of months.

Instead, the upperclassman laughs a little, a wavery thing, into Kyouko's hair. "I missed you too, Trouble," he murmurs back. "Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for helping save me."

He's never been one for too much physical contact, especially without long sleeves or gloves or anything, but none of the rumored side-effects seem to trouble the embrace.

NOW:

The cat doesn't look especially affronted; it gets its scritches and trails its tail around her arm as she straightens again, then wanders off into the foliage to hunt like the mighty predator it is.

Mamoru, on the other hand, looks wry and fond all at once. He hops off the porch and sets the Thermos down next to his textbooks, then comes over and-- he's the one who initiates the hug, quick and tight. "I'm really glad you came today."

It's not until he withdraws, giving Kyouko a fair shot at doing him violence for the update that comes out of his mouth next: "It's hard for me to get in touch with anyone down here, I have to rely on people to relay messages. We're going to have to take Kunzite down. We have a way to bring him back afterwards, but we have to kill him first. And we're going to try and do it today."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
ABOUT A WEEK AGO:

    Kyouko holds the embrace for a few moments, then pulls away, sniffling. To her credit, by the time she turns her face up to regard the taller boy, there's only the faintest glimmer in her red eyes. "Hey.. it ain't like you didn't do it for me." She says, with a small laugh. "I owed you. S'all."

     Of course that's not all, and he knows it, but Kyouko is Kyouko. Plus, that /is/ true on top of everything else, as well.

NOW:

    Kyouko quirks a brow as Mamoru approaches and hugs her- special circumstances aside, she's not exactly the 'huggy' type, although she doesn't protest.. though she stiffens noticably at the words that Mamoru says next as he withdraws from the contact.

    It's clear from her expression that Kyouko is conflicted over this news. Her 'relationship', such as it is, with Kunzite has never made much sense and nobody is more aware of that than she herself. And it's not like she hasn't tried to kill him herself. But that doesn't mean it makes her happy. And..

    "Today?" Her brows knit as she peers at him. "A little bit short notice, ain't it?" She hesitates a moment, then shakes her head, ponytail swaying behind her. "Look, man.. whatever needs to be done. You know I'm on board. Maybe it don't make me happy, but lotsa shit in this world don't make me happy and I've learned to deal with it."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
ABOUT A WEEK AGO:

And even that glimmer-- it's not like Mamoru's eyes aren't a little overbright, as well. He's a little out of it, but he was being messed with for a long time. He just smiles again, maybe a little crookedly (after all, it's still him, it's him in there again). "Yeah, oh-kay," he says after a second, like he has to remember to be sarcastic.

There's a pause, and he gestures back toward the shady porch, pulling back a little further but not breaking contact. "You want some tea or something? I'm-- sorry I'm not really--" What? A good host? A stunning conversationalist? Kyouko knows he's always been an introvert, but he's definitely more off-kilter than that, and clearly trying hard not to be. "How about-- tell me about stuff. What's been going on? How are you doing with Sayaka-chan? Anything blow up lately? I'm so far behind on everything..."

NOW:

It's pretty clear from the content of the news that that was meant to be a bracing hug or something, however that works. Maybe an apology. Or maybe he's just been spending so much time cooped up in here and so much time with Usagi and his guys that hugging is becoming a weirdly awkward expectation of something he's supposed to do. (It'll get sorted.)

It's just that there's nothing that can make that any better. Mamoru jams his hands in his pockets after pushing his glasses up, gaze casting away and aside for a moment. "That's not really his body anyway. It's a dark energy construct. His soul's in a gem, like yours, but he doesn't even have a body anymore. And he doesn't have control over it anymore, and he can't even really think straight at all, and every second of being alive in that construct is literal torture for him. It's a miracle he was able to--"

The tall teenager shakes his head and closes his eyes, then turns his face up into the sunlight. "We're going to get his soul gem and build him a real body afterwards. One it won't hurt to live in. One that won't be made of corruption and despair and wasps, basically. It's going to be okay." One hand comes up to take his glasses off and scrub at an eye with the heel, and he takes a deep breath and looks at Kyouko again. "It has to be today. He can't hold out much longer. I can't lose him. So we're gonna meet here, then go storm his place and try and make him show up by messing with his stuff. Door to it's over there," he points down a shady stone path through the woods toward the mountain face. "Can you do me a favor and get anyone you can to come help? I mean as long as they're not actively evil or full of dark energy themselves, these places are kind of sacred ground and it might fuck with the ecology or something..."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    

ABOUT A WEEK AGO:

    "Yeah.. tea sounds good." Kyouko says, not bothering to respond to Mamoru's aplogies. He doesn't need to apologize to her, and he should know it, so she just doesn't bother acknowleding them. Instead she smiles, and shrugs her shoulders slightly as she walks towards the porch.. "God.. where do I even start.."

NOW:

    Kyouko continues to just look at Mamoru with an odd sort of fatalistic acceptance of his words.. though her eyes follow his gestures as he explains and points out the path. After a moment, she gives a slight shrug again. "Yeah. Alright. Dunno who I'd be able to get though." She smirks sliightly. "I don't know anybody chock full of dark energy anymore, so you don't need to worry about that. Who do you think I hang around with, anyway?" A little laugh. "I'll ask Saya-chan, but I dunno if she'll be around. It's not much warning and unlike me, she actually has a.. life. Y'know, that involves non-magical people."

    After a moment, she nods her head again. "I think.. well, you know more about it than I do, Mamoru. But if you think he's suffering that much, then I'm on board." She tosses her head, ponytail flipping slightly. "I mean, I woulda been on board, anyway. Despite any.. lingering affection I might have for nii-ch-" She cuts herself off, "Kunzite, he's still the enemy right now, an' I understand that. You and Usagi and Saya-chan and everybody else mean more to me than that. But ending somebody's suffering, even if you have to do it in an unpleasant way.. I understand that."

    She gives a wry smile. "Kinda have to, with the whole Witch-huntin' thing, don't I? So yeah.. I'll help. However I can."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
JUST NOW:

"It was part of that jerk's plan all along," mutters Mamoru, half-turning and moving back to the porch, getting the Thermos. He unscrews the lid and pours himself a cup of coffee in it while he's talking, and sets it aside. He holds up the mug he'd brought out and holds it and the container up toward Kyouko inquisitively, but doesn't actually ask her if she wants any with words. "I've got a way into the back door of his real self, right now. The only hope he's got is that we'll kill him before he gets controlled into killing everything. The Dark Kingdom's literally out to destroy the world, all of it-- and he can't kill himself, he can't even sabotage himself anymore."

He laughs a little, but there's no humor in it at all. "I know you agree, I know you're on board. And I know -- it doesn't make me happy, either. But he really won't actually be truly dead, not any more than you are if some piece of crap steals your soul gem and throws it across the street. I just want you to know because you deserve to know, not because I think you'll hesitate or something."

A beat.

"It's okay if you call him your brother. I can share, you know. Especially since you and me--"

Now he hesitates and laughs and it's a real laugh, and he looks away again, because what the hell, but he's still smiling lopsidedly. "I dunno. I've felt kind of like you're my sister for a while, anyway."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko shrugs her shoulders slightly and shakes her head at the offer of coffee, not much for the drink herself. She walks over and sits down on the edge of the porch though. "Yeah. Well.. I'm actually startin' to be a little bit fond of the world, so I'm not really cool with lettin' them destroy it. Plus, y'know.. aside from everything else, I still owe those guys. And not in the good way."

    At the mention of calling him bbrother.. and that Mamoru thinks of her as a sister, she flushes slightly turning her gaze away. She's smiling though, unable to help herself. "That.. means a lot to me, y'know. I guess cause I ain't had a family in a long time." And of what happened to the last one, but she doesn't need to say that part. "So thanks."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's that little Mamoru smile, the one that's just straight-up fond, the one only a small subset of people get from him. "Hey, us orphans make our families, right? So thanks for letting me, too." He picks up his coffee and holds it in both hands as he sits back down, right back in the middle of the piles of homework, and he looks out across the lawn.

For all the drama and tragedy, though-- he's a lot more like himself again. So there's at least that.

"Anyway yeah, pretty sure a lot of us have quite a bone to pick with them. You probably have a couple of hours before everyone gets here and we make our move, so if you wanna go do stuff first, now's the time."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko smiles in return, and shrugs her shoudlers again. "You know me.. I'm a big advocate of doing whatever the hell you want." She winks.

    Then she nods, as he mentions having a few hours, and gets back to her feet. "Yeah.. yeah, I should. If we're doing this today, I need to get ready. I need to go talk to Saya-chan, and I need to make sure everything is in order." Whatever that means, but the simple fact is that she never counts on coming back from something like this.

    She reaches out and puts a hand on Mamoru's shoulder, squeezing it slightly. "Thanks, Mamoru. For everything. And know I'm with you on this. Whatever it takes." She looks into his eyes for a moment to show the determination in her own.. then turns and starts walking back towards the entrance, hands tucking into her pockets.