1552/Cakes for Kyouko's Peach

Cakes for Kyouko's Peach
Date of Scene:	04 June 2016
Location:	A cafe
Synopsis:	Mamoru and Kunzite meet Kyouko's little sister! Before Kyouko has...
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Kunzite, Momo Sakura

---

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
It's still the middle of the school day, but Some People don't go to school, and Some People are currently too sick for school, but have to actually convince the administration of it. One of the latter category is Mamoru Chiba, who found it less difficult than it might have been, considering his always-high marks and his having been going to school clearly in horrifyingly bad shape lately, and the fact that he was out for three months toward the end of last school year but still managed to ace his finals.

Rumors around school have always been interesting, regarding Chiba.

Rumors around school now are hushed and deliciously worried, because maybe he has some terribly tragic terminal illness, look how pale he is, look how thin and tired and weak he is, he's wasting away; he should have someone nursing him back to health and maybe he'd fall in love with her-- who, you? --he has a girlfriend! --is it the redhead? --no that's a boy, but he lives with him... --so do the other two pretty boys, and the older one who probably lost a bet, his hair used to be so pretty... --no he's dating that blond girl from Seishou, Tsukino, you should see the way he looks at her, you don't have a chance in hell. --maybe we should send her condolence cards or something. --well he's not dead /yet/...

Either way, today he went in, having to be supported most of the way there and back to the car. The school administration didn't keep him long; it was clear he was not in any shape to be up and about. He'd insisted, to their vast impress, that he did not want a break from school, and wanted to graduate on schedule with the rest of his class; they agreed to let him give it a shot, but that it wouldn't be held against him if he couldn't.

Kunzite gets to drive the Batmobile.

The Tesla stops, though, at the curb outside a bakery. Mamoru fusses with the door and fumbles it open, insisting on getting out and going in too. He's talking when the door opens, and it's not about anything normal. "--flowers or something else? Everyone's been worried about her but no one's saying why. And I don't know, maybe I shouldn't know. Is this part of what I don't want to know? Because if it's still going on maybe I should. Especially if Naru-chan's getting involved."

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo has his own door open and is out, but waits patiently for Mamoru to get his own door open rather than shutting the door actually on the other boy talking. The moment that door's open, though, Kazuo's own is closed (gently, gently, one must forever be careful with the precious Batmobile) and he's coming around as if his glare could fend off traffic, on hand to catch Mamoru if he needs to be supported again.

"Flowers and something else, yesterday. And you're right, there is a possible preexisting issue related to the breakup; I'd written off the possibility, since her behavior hasn't changed, but if she's attracting that much trouble, she might have picked up some peripheral contamination. Shouldn't be difficult to clean that up, if so." If they can get around the social minefield. "She said she met a couple of other girls. One of them was talking about witches. We should probably follow up, see if we can make sure she's gotten the warning; Naru was fairly incoherent but it sounded like the girl might still be at risk."

Momo Sakura has posed:
Bakery yummies. Oh, so good!

Momo's face and hands are pressed without apology against the window, nearly drooling over the sweet smells of sugary and savory delicious devilry just inside.

(She's come to realize through the course of being dead and the few short months she's been back that perhaps everything Father called devilry actually...wasn't. A lot of shifting world views and foundations of belief being shaken occur when your father kills you.)

Dog is at her feet, huffing in annoyance. Or maybe he's tired. Or maybe he has fleas.

Well, more fleas.

"Hush, Dog! We'll get going in a second. But I think if I sniff here long enough, it'd feel like I'm taking a bite, right?"

Technically she could buy something. But technically that would mean splitting a burrito with Dog later. And the last time Dog ate more than his half! So rude.

So, pausing and drooling! And cursing the minimum amount it costs to keep her phone from dying an agonizing death.

A car stops, which isn't in of itself unusual. What is is the make of the car. It looks like something the Devil himself would ride to bring forth Armageddon.

"Dog..." Her voice is soft and quiet as wide eyes take in the sight before her. "I want...to drive it."

But that would be hard to do with the driver and another guy coming out of it. Still, her eyes are trained on the sinful black beauty of sheer beautifulness. So much so, her ears only partially twitch at the name Naru. And then witches--

Oh! Are they talking about her?

Wait, what?!

She huffs and slings her gunlance onto one shoulder. "You mean ta tell me Sketch Book Girl got into more trouble? I just finished helping her yesterday! Why can't people just stay saved?!"

Ug!

Then she realizes that she's talking to strangers.

Pretty strangers.

Pretty...boy strangers.

Oh crap, keep cool, so what if they're pretty, you don't need to--

"It's not fair you look half dead and are still gorgeous..."

Oh dammit, Momo, that was not your in-loud voice!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Well-- she's always kind of been a target," Mamoru says ruefully, taking the help getting out of the car with a quiet resignation built on the pride that comes of swallowing one's pride. Once he's out and the door's closed, and nnngh Kunzite has his keyyyys, Kunzite gets to beep it lockedddd...

No actually that's when some girl who was outside the bakery with a dog is talking to them about Sketch Book Girl and trouble and saving her and how gorgeous-- the prince's face flushes, startling against the pale, and he clears his throat, definitely taking advantage of Kunzite's support. "Hi. Yes. Thank you for helping her. You--"

The black-haired boy stops, stumbling over the words as he squints at pale-haired and red-eyed girl. Suddenly his heart's in his throat, and he finishes the question. "I'm Chiba Mamoru. You are--?"

Kunzite has posed:
(Beep. Lockthump. ... totally unfair privilege, it's true.)

-- Sketch Book Girl?

Kunzite's attention isn't permitted to swing over to the girl with the dog until he and Mamoru are entirely out of the street. Traffic is composed of very large kinetic weapons; this truth he is constantly aware of. Then he's permitted to blink. At the girl. At the dog. There is not, for the moment, a giant gun thing. (Honestly, he was thinking more along the lines of Mami. The consonants are right!)

"Takeba Kazuo," he says to her. "Would this be Dog?"

Apparently he thinks that question makes sense.

Momo Sakura has posed:
If possible, Momo's face is even more red than Mamoru's. Had she seriously just used her outside voice for something that was supposed to be inside? Darn puberty!

And then even more so, because this boy is looking at her so weird! She covers her embarrassment and shyness with a very grumpy face. The first part of what she says next is mumbled. The next...not so much. "My name is Momo Sakura, I'm very pleased to meet you what are ya starin' at ya--"

She's cut off by the other pretty boy. He's even more pretty, if that's possible, and her face almost matches the shade of her eyes!

Suddenly she's shy again and brings her gunlance around to hug it like a protective teddy bear. "Yeah, this is Dog...be careful, he...he bites!"

Dog, for his part, is concerned about the human that's about to keel over dead or something. He gives a low whine and gently bumps against a limp hand. "Woof?"

"Ug you traitor."

Dog, of course, ignores her.

At least she still has Sammy!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Said hand isn't entirely limp; it flinches back at the sudden cold nose sensation, and then Mamoru's glancing down at Dog. He gamely moves his hand to place it gently on the dog's head, then laughs a little stiltedly. "No, I'm fine," he tells Dog, clumsily ruffling the fur between his ears before letting his hand fall again, making a fist and letting it go, then making a fist and letting it go, ad nauseam.

The black-haired prince looks back up at Momo and gives her an apologetic smile. "I didn't mean to stare. Are you related to Kyouko?"

Then, before she even has the chance to answer, "And did you want to go in with us? If you are related to her, I owe her a bag of sweets and karmically I should be able to pay that off by giving them to you. None of my business what you do with them after that."

This has nothing to do with the fact that he would rather not remain standing any longer than is necessary. Nothing.

Kunzite has posed:
-- ah. THAT giant gun thing. And -- Sakura?

Red eyes?

Mamoru has the question asked before Kunzite is certain whether it's a good idea to ask at all. "It's a pleasure to meet you both," Kazuo says, as much and as gravely to Dog as to Momo. And then glances toward the door as Mamoru makes the offer.

Because he's fairly certain that if he watched Momo to see if she were about to bolt at the question, she'd bolt just from being watched.

Momo Sakura has posed:
What! What! Kyouko! What! INTERROGAT--

Wait, food! Sweet yummy food!

Curse her traitorously growling tummy!

She relaxes her sudden militant grip on the gun lance, eyes darting back and forth between the two boys. "Um, well, if I weren't, would you still buy?"

Gah, no!

She brings up the gunlance. She doesn't take aim, but it's obvious its there if needed. "No! Wait! What are you to Kyou-nee!" Its her turn to continue before either of them can answer. "Are you her --" very whispered "--boyfriend?" Regular voice! "Or you?! Are you treating her good? I'll beat you up if you aren't! I'll sic Dog on you! He'll give you rabies!"

Dog, of course, is in a state of post-ear scritch panty bliss. He yawns up at Momo.

"Augh, traitor!"

A beat, a pause.

"Can I have...something with a bunch of cream in it?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Sometimes, Mamoru thinks in terms of powderkegs and bribery. Sometimes it pays off.

"I'd still buy," he reassures Momo, "and it's kind of you to be honest like that. I'm glad you are, though. She thought she was all alone."

He moves such that it's obvious to Kunzite that Yes They Are Going In Now, and gives Momo a sidelong smirk. "No, neither of us is her boyfriend. But I hope you're all right with us calling her our sister, and her calling Kazuo here 'niisan'-- not to steal her from you, but just to share. She means a lot to us."

Determinedly, he reaches out to pull the shop door open, and he manages it, and poor Kunzite is privy to the spike of pain he keeps off his face aside from thinned white lips. "Not sure," he says more quietly, "if they let dogs in. But if-- he behaves and waits-- we can get him something too..."

Kunzite has posed:
The look that Kunzite gives Mamoru when he opens the door is translatable as mild irritation to other eyes, and as my-idiot-prince to its target's own. "Kyouko Sakura and I were in a great deal of trouble together at one point," he says to Momo rather than following up the point. "It leaves marks."

Or it would certainly have if he hadn't gotten a whole-body transplant since then. but that's a different story. He's about as likely to tell that one as he is to explain that 'boyfriend' is not likely to be a concept in Kyouko's life for a good long time, if ever.

-- he's getting that goddamned door away from Mamoru as soon as he has an excuse, though. Even if he has to stay out and watch the dog to do it. The boy's more of a threat to himself right now than the little girl with the gun is.

Momo Sakura has posed:
Momo blinks. When she looks at Kazuo, she blushes again. Nii-san? Really? Aw, maaaan!

She's very sad to hear Kyouko being alone. But she covers it well! "Feh. Of course she was alone. When you have dead family, you're not not alone!"

Her logic makes sense!

She's pretty sure they won't allow gunlances in, either. So one minute she's holding it, the next she's not.

And Mamoru's looking even more almost dead. So she takes the door away -- or tries only to get flustered because Prettier Boy is taking it -- and scowls at him. "Hey! Stop it! Being dead isn't as fun as it sounds, you know! It's just very, very, very, very boring! ...So I hear!"

And then she has suspicious eyes. "Wait. You'll get Dog something? Why?"

Suspicious eyebrows to match!

She pauses for a bit, looking at them both. These two are weird. What do they want! Why are they gonna buy food for a dog!

"I'm very confused here. But one thing I do know?"

She gives a familiar one-fanged grin as she points to Kazuo. "I ain't callin' you 'nii-san.'"

As she flounces in, Dog lays down on the sidewalk just below the window. After all, that's a Human Portal, and going in sometimes leads to kicks. Or worse, Bad Boys.

At the counter, a loud voice is heard. "Hey, Not-Boyfriend-kun! Can I have some hot cocoa, too?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
--and Kazuo and Momo are both trying to take the door away from him, so Mamoru just lets it go irritably, pulling his hand back and stretching it again, then dropping it because it's heavy and his elbow hurts. "Only if you pick one of my actual names. You can even call me Endymion if you want, that's my name too."

As he steps in the rest of the way with Kazuo, he bumps his head against the taller boy's shoulder, even though his expression and his general bearing basically scream 'completely huffy right now; it's an apology and a complaint and an apology for the complaint. And then he oozes into literally the first open chair and pulls his wallet out of his jacket pocket, handing it to Kazuo.

Then, with his head leaning against the wall-- because the first open seat is, in point of fact, by the wall-- he eyes Momo. "I can think of worse things. But believe me, I'm not dying. And why NOT get Dog something? He's hungry and he's nice and he's worried about me."

Kunzite has posed:
When you have dead family, you're ... riiiiiight. Kazuo isn't saying a word on being dead, either. "She'll be back soon," he says down toward the dog, regardless of whether it can understand him, and takes the last place among the humans going in. Picking up Mamoru's wallet en route to the counter is done with hardly the need for a glance, as if they'd followed that routine hundreds of times.

"Yes," he says to Momo as he comes up beside her at the counter. "You can have hot cocoa." A brief pause. "Dog, however, can't." They'll find him something minus the chocolate part. Also there will be coffee. A lot of coffee. Though possibly less than Momo's 'a lot of cream.' He doesn't know whether she's the Pretty Cure or the Puella, but his pessimism is voicing a very loud opinion, and in that case the more calories she gets in her the better.

There are all kinds of energy, after all.

Momo Sakura has posed:
Wait. "Endymion...Hey, is that some weird American snack food?"

She waits at the counter, somehow managing not to get nose prints all over the glass. "They all look so gooooooood!"

Outside, Dog looks up at Kunzite for a moment. "Woof." And then, well, the sun's out. He's earned a nap!

Inside, Momo's face lights up at Kazuo. "Yummy! I haven't had any since..." She trails off and stares up at the ceiling as she tries to remember. "A long time! And Dog doesn't like hot cocoa, so that's okay."

She looks at all the different pastries, and finally her eyes fall one that's chocolatey, pastryey, and so full of cream it'd give an entire choir cavities for a month! "Ohhhhh, that one!" Not the one next to it! That one!

And then she remembers which one of the boys is next to her. Timid, shy, she points again before scuttling over to where the other one was. And she distracts herself by answering a previous question! "Because I didn't know you weren't a People." She sits down and leans her elbows against the table. "People are mean. They throw dirty mop water at you when they don't like what Father tells them. People stop going to church. And then Father becomes People when he finds out what his daughter was doing." She perks up a bit. "Hey! Do you know where someone can take their dog to get a bath? Dog smells like they alley."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru gets a sour look when she says his name sounds like a candy bar. "Well your name sounds like a weird American hat," he mutters, letting his hands just ache quietly in his lap. Then, without moving his head, his gaze slides over to Momo as she starts answering his question, and--

A burning church. A hanging man, wearing a priests's outfit. Food spilled on the floor from an overturned table.

As half-dead as he looks, there's nothing even remotely dead about the blaze that lights behind his eyes, or about the quiet ferocity of his voice, most assuredly not aimed at Momo. "Is that what happened. I'm sorry. No, we're not People. We're persons."

Then he chuffs out a tired laugh. "No idea, sorry. I'm generally a cat person, but don't have one."

Kunzite has posed:
That one. Right. And not just that one, though that one above all first, with the hot cocoa and the coffee. There was a list that was why the boys were stopping there in the first place. There was also a bag of sweets promised -- though there are quiet negotiations over some less sweet as well, because if Momo's lifestyle is anything like her sister's, Dog should not be the only one receiving a meat pie. It would probably take Nephrite interrogating the stars to find out the last time the girl had a half-decent meal.

(There are also quiet negotiations to check that one of the meat pies is a dog-safe option.)

Shortly thereafter, Kazuo is playing ferry; that pastry is set down by Momo, with cocoa. Coffee comes in the second round. And there's a brief trip back out the door to make sure that Dog is not left alone and starving woefully, because huge canine sad eyes being made through the glass might cut the conversation short.

Conversation that he's listening to, the entire time.

Momo Sakura has posed:
A squawk! "A hat?! That's just...at least candy bars are sweet! You can't even eat a hat!"

Hmph! The nerve!

Her eyebrows draw together in confusion. What did Kyouko say happened?

Oh well, hopefully she'll find out soon!

"Persons are better than people." She nods.

For Kazuo's trip outside and the delivery of food, he gets a happy woof and a tail wag. Maybe even an almost lick. (Which is progress for Dog.) Kazuo + Dog = BFFs in the canine's mind now.

Fortunately for Momo's sweet tooth, she's not privy to the vile plots to make sure her tummy gets full of healthy things with gross stuff like 'vitamins' and 'nutrients.'

For now, though, she's taking a good long moment to just gaze longingly at the pastry in front of her, savoring the fact that in a few short seconds it will be in her tummy!

And now...

CHOMF! NOMF! Savory noises of yummy!

Also, don't forget the dainty dab of a napkin!

Okay, enough for now, you can have more in a few minutes! Anticipation!

Sip of the cocoa and a happy wiggle.

"So, what do you guys do? I don't think you make cures that are pretty. But I could be wrong!"

Actually, what she wants to ask is why Kyouko died. It's been a question that's gnawed at her. And what about that voice! And now a new question! Why does the boy in front of her look like he's got a serious cold going? Ug. So many questions.

But if she asks too many too fast, the pastries may stop!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Does anything about me look like Blue to you?" Mamoru asks, finally lifting his hands to the table and wrapping his long fingers around the cup of coffee Kunzite put there. He doesn't even look at his pastry yet. "No. We don't make Pretty Cures. Once upon a time I was a prince, and more recently I was a superhero whose girlfriend is a goddess, but lately, all I do is complain and do homework. Even though I'm a homework-doing complainer now instead of a prince, Kazuo here is still head of my guard. I think he's getting the short end of the deal on that one. Luckily, he's also my b-est friend, so he thinks he's making out like a bandit."

Kunzite has posed:
"Or precisely unlike a bandit." Kazuo returns to claim the seat by the other cup of coffee. Said claiming is done without crowding Momo. Maybe they really do know the right Kyouko. His urge is to study Momo, but it's difficult to do that covertly with so few distractions to keep her occupied; he puts it off till the next time she picks up the pastry, and studies his coffee instead in the mean time. "He still has the girlfriend, though," he adds aside to Momo. Not that certain space botanists have made mentioning that early on a conditioned reflex lately, or anything.

Momo Sakura has posed:
Her cheeks get rosy at the information overload. Princes? Superhero goddesses? Homework?

"Actually, you look kinda green...I didn't wanna say anything, but you brought it up..."

She looks over at Kazuo for a moment, wondering if he'd have answers written on his face. (Or just to look at his face! Its a nice face!)

Then she gasps, eyes widening and cheeks growing more pink as though he'd just told her something scandalous. "Girlfriend, oooooo."

Hey, when you die at the age of nine after being raised by a rather...biblical father, these things are like forbidden candy!

There's a reason she picks up books with people getting smoochy at the library!

She takes a few more bites of her pastry, unknowingly giving Kazuo that opportunity to study her. She has a similar vibe as Kyouko, especially with that fang bearing grin, but lacks that jaded temperament. Even her earlier comparison between People and Persons had been more matter of fact than grumpy.

"How did Kyou-nee die? Was it a witch? Why was there snow? Who was that voice? Why haven't they figured out how to get kitties out of the phone yet?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
When Momo says he looks a little green, Mamoru looks almost comedically alarmed. He immediately turns to Kazuo, expression tragic. "Please tell me that's a metaphor."

But then she's asking all kinds of questions, and the prince takes a fortifying sip of his still slightly too-hot black coffee before answering anything at all. "She died saving the world and the people she cared about. It was a witch but it wasn't the kind with a Labyrinth, it was a demon woman who sold her soul for things she could never have. There was snow because it happened at the North Pole. What did the voice sound like and what did it say? And they actually have figured it out, but with the number of kitties there are that live in phones, if they let them out, the world would be completely overrun, so instead, they upload food to the kitty servers."

Kunzite has posed:
"That's a metaphor," Kazuo replies to Mamoru, and the deadpan expression doesn't give any more answers than it has all along.

Which, given the questions about the North Pole and then the question about kitties in phones, is probably a good thing. At least Mamoru's explanation gives him an excuse to be saying not a damned thing, because ... well.

Beryl. And Tumblr.

And the coffee's still too hot to drink, so he can't hide behind it yet.

Momo Sakura has posed:
For some reason, Mamoru's reaction at her comment sends her into giggles. It's weird how reassuring to one's self esteem when seeing someone else (who's much prettier than she is!) worry like that! "I meant green as in sick!"

She listens to Mamoru's answers, eyes widening, and she almost believes the last one! In fact, her eyes are wide and her mouth is open in a very 'really?!' way before she scowls. "Heeeeey. That's not--! If that really happened, there'd be kitty poops all over the internet!"

Still, though.

What did that voice sound like?

"She sounded like a girl." A decisive nod. "And she said... uuuuuum...."

Okay, she knows this, but it's been something she's wanted to ask for ages that her mind just blanks!

Oh, right!

"'Make sure the ones I love are never alone.' And that sounded like a really good idea, and then Kyuubey, and then--" Hand waves all around!

And ug, still, the cat thing! She flashes Mamoru a smug look. "And if that is true, about the kitty food, what do they use for litter boxes, hmmmmmmmm?"

Kunzite has posed:
... all right, now Kazuo's expression changes. At that last question, he arches an eyebrow as he looks at Momo again. "Have you ever read comments sections?" And they keep them under the pictures, don't they?

It lasts only a moment past that, before he returns to the showing-nothing that he's been doing. "That sounds like what a friend of Kyouko's said. When she brought her back." When she brought all of them back. "She calls herself Sailor Moon."

The white-haired boy orients on Momo a little more closely, after saying that. "-- you talked with Kyuubey?" It's one of those sentences that isn't quite a question. Not a surprise, anyhow. More confirming what she said. And exhaling a moment after, before adding, in the same tone, "-- you made a deal?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Kazuo's reaction to the litterbox comment makes Mamoru hide in his coffee again for a moment, and he manages to keep a straight face. "Otherwise, what's your proof they actually live in phones anyway?" he asks reasonably.

And then Momo goes on to say what the voice said, and Mamoru smiles down at his coffee--

--and then his heart practically stops.

It's a good thing Kazuo handles things from there. He was operating, without examining it, under the assumption that Momo was a Puella Magi... but 'examining it' is the kicker, there. And he can't just leave to cope. He has to cope right then and there.

So his coffee is held in one hand, now, as the other one slides across tabletop to creep under Kazuo's and curl into a fist there.

To his credit, he still keeps an even expression.

Momo Sakura has posed:
Momo's eyebrows raise. "You're right! Some of those people are just so mean!" She looks at Kazuo, her expression that of one personally offended by the action of others.

Sailor...Moon.

Isn't that also another weird American snack food?

No wait, that's Moon Pie.

Their reactions...set her on edge. She feels scrutinized, and a part of her feels oddly scolded, especially by Kazuo's Non Expression and Non Inflection.

And then Mamrou's hand does that thing and--

"She's lonely!" Her voice is loud, but she lowers it, even as her lip trembles. "She wasn't alone, but she was still lonely! And she always took care of me! She always made sure I had--" More to eat, warmth, Kyouko even protected her from nightmares. Even when Kyouko would complain about her cold feel in the winter, she made sure they warmed up.

She stands and fidgets from foot to foot, ignoring the loud scrape of the chair across the floor. "She always took care of me, and now I get to take care of her."

Kunzite has posed:
Kyouko's going to kill them.

Fortunately, Kazuo has experience in that department. That's why his hand doesn't press down on Mamoru's curled fingers. There's just that perennial focus, available to call on. Even if, at the moment, it's focused on Momo rather than Mamoru.

"Neither of us is arguing with you," Kazuo says, and it's calm enough, and his voice isn't raised. Looking quietly respectable, at least in manner, to keep the bakery staff from taking the outburst as anything other than typical teenagery. "Neither of us would. It's only that there's a problem you need to know about, if you made a deal with him. Maybe you already do. But if you don't, you need to know right away."

His eyes are steady on her. "Naru said you were talking about Witches. Have you been having trouble finding them lately?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Well, that and it would hurt.

Mamoru looks apologetically at Momo, his general demeanor agreeing with the white-haired boy's assertion; he sips his coffee, letting Kazuo direct the flow of conversation.

Momo Sakura has posed:
Momo slowly sits back down, very much adopting the Grumpy Teenager attitude that is usually universally seen as 'woe is my special snowflake self.'

She shrugs a shoulder. "I mean, I don't see them every day. I think that'd be silly. Kyuubey didn't really give me any time to adjust before the first one, but..." She shrugs. "There was one in Chiba last week. The city, not you." This was, of course, said to Mamoru. "But, I mean...I don't know, how often are they supposed to be?"

Kunzite has posed:
"You'd have to ask one of the older Puella about that," Kazuo admits. "I know how often I find traces of them, but I don't know them the way your people do; I only see them when they're obvious, or sometimes when I'm looking closely." Obviously he doesn't know them the way Puella do. To start with, he's a boy. "But I know that I've been looking for a month, without seeing a sign of one. Other Puella are seeing the same thing. Kyouko spent a couple of weeks surveying other cities; it's not just Tokyo. Witches are scarce right now, and getting scarcer. You need to conserve your strength as much as you can for a while."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I would meet up with your sister as soon as possible," Mamoru says gently, setting down his coffee, not moving his hand. "I have her address, I can give you that. Or text it to you-- it'd be a good idea if you had our numbers, regardless. I'm a healer; if you get injured, call Kazuo. If neither of us answers, someone will, and they can all get me fast, or get you to one of the other healers in the city if I'm not able to be there. Part of conserving your power is not healing yourself if there are other options."

Momo Sakura has posed:
Momo furrows her eyebrows together. "A Witch Draught? That...ain't two words I expected to go together. Ever."

And then she slaps her forehead. "Oh, so that's why I haven't been able to find her! I've been lookin' in the wrong city! She's back now, though?"

And she's quick to try to assure them. "Oh no, don't worry! Yesterday was the first time I hadda use some outside a witch thing. I still got a few, it should last me a bit! I hope!" Her eyes widen. "Is Kyou-nee okay? Does she...I mean..."

She then stops and stares at Mamoru. And then she lunges across the table, somehow not squashing her pastry. She doesn't exactly grab him, but she's up in his personal space. "Phone address favorite hangouts recent pictures anything anything anything please please please!"

She fumbles for a pen from her satchel and scribbles on a napkin. It looks like a fourth grader is writing, jeeze. "And and and if you see her before me, yes, all the things. Here's my number where I'm at and if it smudges its the church she knows the one and--"

Huh. She must look like she's a few bats short of a belfry.

Okay she kinda is.

Clearing her throat, she sits back down. Then she picks up the pastry and takes a few more bites. "It's also important to not think you'll be without tomorrow. Small bites, don't scarf. Stretch it out!" She beams at them. "Not exactly the same, but it sorta is!" She gets a scowl. "Unless you're sharing with Dog. Then he scarfs down most of the burrito. The pig."

Kunzite has posed:
Momo doesn't exactly grab, and therefore the taller of the two teenagers does not actually lay hands on her. When she lunged, he was no longer sitting. It's not that he moves exactly. It's just that somehow he was on his feet, his hand was no longer over Mamoru's, and he was a heartbeat and a half-inch from physically shoving her back from the other boy.

Then she's going for her satchel instead, and that's when he sits back down. Picks up his coffee with one hand. Puts the other back where it was, light contact, nothing more. "She's back now," he confirms, as if nothing had ever happened. "It's good to hear you've got both a supply and a plan. I'd be surprised if Kyouko didn't have both, too."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
From the split second where Momo doesn't quite telegraph her lunge before moving to the moment where Kazuo's hand covers his again is not long at all. In terms of relative reaction times, though, the full-body bracing flinch Mamoru winds up pulling is glacially slow: if she were moving to stab him and Kazuo hadn't been there, Mamoru'd be well stabbed indeed. It takes him even longer to relax after it, because he has to consciously do it muscle by muscle, swollen joint to aching bone to fatigued tissue.

He's breathing a little shallowly by the time Momo's produced a pen and is talking about how to eat, and he looks significantly more pale by the time Kazuo's complimenting her apparent resourcefulness.

Clumsily, hand shaking, he pulls his phone from his jacket pocket and places it on the table, then rests his arm there to tap out the unlock code rather than turn his arm in order to use his thumbprint. And then he just reads off Kyouko's address and number. A moment longer, and he slides the phone across the table. The picture showing on the screen is of Kyouko in a very beautiful red ballgown and two-inch heels, hair gathered up in its customary enormous spiky ponytail. She's at some kind of gala.

"This is from last summer. I don't really have anything super recent of her. She's usually wearing just regular clothes, you know? I'll text her and let her know you're back so you don't give her a heart attack."

Like the one you almost gave me just now, he doesn't say.

Momo Sakura has posed:
Blissfully unaware that she almost met her doom at the hand of a protective Kazuo (and probably a short blonde some miles away), Momo takes the phone and cradles it in her hand. "Oh..."

She's half listening, of course, and she nods along. "Heart attack bad. Mmm, planned supplies."

When she finally does look up, her eyes are glittering and not just from the stars in her eyes. "Kyou-nee's so pretty." She slides the phone back over (though it takes awhile because she keeps pulling it back to stare at it some more), and the sniffle is totally because a bug just flew up there or something. And she scrubs her eye because of allergies. Yeah.

She perks up. Phones! Texts! "Can I have it? Not the phone! The picture!" She ruffles through her satchel and pulls out her own. It's...very much not on par with Mamoru's. About the only thing it has going for it is the name it sports, but it's probably been around longer than she's been dead.

Kunzite has posed:
The protective Kazuo in question is having no part of this, mostly because he doesn't have a copy of the picture to send. He glances up toward the counter instead, and gets up from his seat for a more mundane reason this time. Shortly thereafter, he returns with three bags. One will be leaving with him and Mamoru. Two are set down by Momo, though it'll likely take her a while to recognize either that they exist or that one of them is marked neatly 'Eat This Today.'

Eventually, Mamoru might even get his wallet back.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Eventually, Mamoru might even notice Kazuo still has it.

For now, the prince is smiling a little lopsidedly at Momo, affection welling at her reaction to the picture. "Yeah," he says, "I was going to suggest I text it to you. Here--"

Tmp tmp tmp, he flips screens around and sets it up, then slides the phone over again. "Here, just type in your number and hit 'send', okay? Then I'll send Kyou-chan your number, too. When you're done, we gotta go, though. I'm not dying, but I'm not in good shape and I need to go pass out for a while now."

Momo Sakura has posed:
It should say something how important getting this picture is to Momo that she hasn't even noticed the bags. She tapataps in her phone number and hits send, as suggested. Her phone makes a bloop a few seconds later.

She looks up at Mamoru and beams. "Thank you!"

If she was about to say anything else, she's sidetracked by a twitching sniff of her nose. Jerking her head, she sees the two bags and tilts her head before sniffing at them. "What are these?"

Wait! She jerks back to look at Mamoru again! "Oh no! Well, you gotta go! Shoo! Get some bed rest! Don't sleep on the side of the bed with the broken window! Make sure your blanket isn't damp!"