2126/Conversation and Onions

Conversation and Onions
Date of Scene:	14 November 2016
Location:	Earth Court Frat House
Synopsis:	Naru and Kazuo chat about All the Things while the onions (and everything else) gets chopped.
Cast of Characters:	Naru Osaka, Kunzite

---

Naru Osaka has posed:
There's been a bit of quiet out of Naru for the last little while. Not entirely worrisome, she's still answering text messages and turning up at school, just not entirely social. A little pause in mural painting, no matter that it's getting close to being done.

Today, however, ECFH has re-acquired its Naru infestation. There's Naru shoes by the door, and a Naru school satchel by the couch, and freshly cleaned Naru paint brushes wrapped loosely in a paper towel on the counter and a Naru leaning against the counter as she watches the kettle, thereby ensuring it won't boil.

Kunzite has posed:
The orange book that Kazuo has been trying to work his way through for weeks was lying out on the table when Naru got there. Its owner was not present, though there were some suggestive items out on the kitchen counter: yellow split peas, walnuts, dried apricots and barberries. But Naru has plenty of time to deal with brushes and with the kettle before company arrives more directly.

Kazuo's arrival is heralded by a small chirp from the tablet he's carrying, some minor notification or other. He ignores it in favor of investigating the kitchen anyhow. "Satisfying art day?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Moderately." Naru decides as she turns towards the query. "This section hasn't yet come together, but I hold faith. Layers makes for a lot of waiting time, though."

"Better run day than art day." Naru adds after a moment and then gestures. "As I got your heartnet message while I was in the apartment, I figured I would hold off on texting you until I checked if you were home or not."

Kunzite has posed:
"Home," Kazuo agrees. "I planned to get grating onions out of the way before anyone else made it in, but it seems my estimates were off. It'll wait till you're safely ensconced with tea." Unsurprisingly, he does not seem unduly concerned. If anything, the opposite -- more at ease than when she saw him a week ago. And there were pancakes then.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Or I can help you chop." Naru offers as the distraction from staring at it prompts the kettle to burble and whistle its delight in being ignored. Naru reaches to collect it and pour herself tea. "Do you want coffee while the water's hot?"

Someone might be /trying/ to scale back on her caffeine addiction. At least a little.

"How're things around here?" Naru asks as she wiggles her tea bag in the hot water.

Kunzite has posed:
"No sense in contaminating the coffee." Kazuo shifts to the other side of the kitchen, reaching up to retrieve spices from their cabinet. "Or your tea. Things locally are improving, on the whole. Mamoru has come back around to the idea that studying himself into unconsciousness might not improve his exam scores. You will probably find random jars of jelly beans around for the next few weeks. I recommend checking their contents individually to make sure they are actually candy. Or at least to be informed in case of consuming something that isn't."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Fair point." Naru settles kettle away and takes her and her tea to conversational distance, but out of onion-contamination zone. It's a fine line.

"I'm glad Mamoru is relaxing a touch about his exams." Naru sips cautiously from her tea and finds it predictably too hot yet. "Do I want to ask about random jars of jelly beans that probably aren't jelly beans?"

Kunzite has posed:
"There was a Dark Kingdom youma that consumed memories," Kunzite replies. Onion. Onion to be gotten out of the way as soon as possible. He steps aside to wash hands and tie his hair back, first. "When it was defeated, the memories remained. They're encapsulated in a similar size and shape, and similarly colorful, though if you look at them right, you can glimpse a flash of their content. Some of them are people's, and we're trying to get those back where they belonged. Some of them are animal memories. And we have a household full of pranksters."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru considers that answer for a few moments, blowing over the surface of her tea as she considers that. "No jelly beans for the forseeable future, got it." She is quiet again, thoughtful of some of the wide and varied implications. "Does it include dreams? I suppose if its a memory of a dream, it could. Mmmm."

Naru shakes her head a little, as if clearing that thought briefly. "Dreams are strange things."

Kunzite has posed:
"I don't know. It's something I've left largely to Nephrite." If there's a further story there, Kazuo doesn't volunteer it; he bends his attention to the grater, instead. "And -- yes. They are." ... it's not a question of whether there's a further story that time. Only how many.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"It's disconcerting to both have people in my dreams, and to wonder how much of mine aren't actually mine. I've a much better sense of if my head is my own when I'm awake." Naru comments conversationally as she sips her tea again. Even still too hot. "And when they change dramatically, it's just as odd and uncertain."

Kunzite has posed:
"Mn. Not something I've ever truly had to doubt," Kazuo admits. "There's a feel for the ones that are mine, that influence doesn't seem to really match. And I can always tell when it's Endymion interfering."

He pauses to consider something else, before finally adding, "Akashimaru turning up in them is always unsettling, though. Much as I appreciate her."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I wouldn't have expected a sunny scene to be mine, but I don't actually /know/ anymore." Naru shrugs a touch. "But dreaming of an artist and Kyubey isn't so odd, I suppose."

"She's very effective." Naru agrees with a nod. "But it was generally odd in the same way showing you my paintings was odd."

Kunzite has posed:
Dreaming of an artist and Kyubey. Kazuo stills; his head comes up, though he doesn't look toward Naru. "Hana."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Naru pauses as Kazuo mentions that name and she sighs softly. "Either I've hit upon dreaming of someone you know, or my dreams aren't actually my own if you're providing names of people I don't know that I've dreamt of."

Kunzite has posed:
"I dreamed," Kazuo says, "of a girl talking with Kyubey. One who wanted to be an artist. She called herself Hana. I'd thought it was only an extrapolation of yesterday's incident -- Hana Shiroi, the White Flower. But if you dreamed something similar..."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Sitting on a curb, crying about the fact that no one got her?" Naru asks with a quirk of her brow. "What happened yesterday? Back to the original question, I suppose."

Kunzite has posed:
"Yes." Kazuo turns his attention back down to the onion and the grater. Deliberately. "I forget. How much do you know about Kyubey and the Puella, and the creatures that the Puella fight? Wraiths you know, obviously, all too well. But there are more than Wraiths."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I know that Kyubey grants their powers in what is generally a terrible deal." Naru considers, able to sip from her tea more freely now that there's been some cooling. "I don't know anything about anything else they fight. I only know the Wraiths."

Kunzite has posed:
"Mn." Kazuo keeps his focus on what he's doing, despite the chemicals trying hard to keep him from doing exactly that. "I'll skip the technical details, then, and try it from another approach. You remember that I was a rock for a while. The White Flower, when she was defeated in her attack on Tokyo last fall, was reduced to a similar state. Madison Perry came after her where she was being held, last night, and managed to escape with her."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Hunh." Naru makes that sound that generally indicates that bits of information are being filed, and considered. "What was her intent in the attack on Tokyo, just flat out generic world domination?"

Kunzite has posed:
"Don't know. I was on the other side, then." That's a remarkably said-in-passing comment. "Whatever she was doing, it annoyed everyone; Queen Beryl received the only message from one of her allies that I can recall about it. Queen Mirage of the Phantom Empire requested we interfere with her activities if possible; something about minion-poaching." He leans back away from the rapidly diminishing onion, looking upward for a moment. "Madison Perry was working for her at the time. Tried to kill Sailor V; I couldn't sort out any more reason for it than 'because she was there.'"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"So now they are together. White Flower and Madison Perry, yes? Which seems less than ideal. I'm going to run with the assumption that Madison Perry can probably, or will soon enough, be able to change the rock-like state of White Flower?" Naru asks thoughtfully, nodding at the details from the perspective from the other side of things. "For any number of people 'because they were there' is entirely a valid reason. I've met that more than a few times."

Kunzite has posed:
"Madison Perry is going to need to spend some time recovering, at least," Kazuo says. "She took hits from Princess Runealy, and Sailor Moon, and Tuxedo Kamen, and possibly some shrapnel from the crate of grenades she was standing on; she teleported off of it but stayed close enough that she might have been hit. I'm not certain. Space-time was doing interesting things for the event."

Phenomena he would like to have studied more closely for three hundred, Alex.

"Also uncertain is whether being ... condensed ... is an issue for the White Flower at all. She was communicating much more widely than I could, and produced at least one spatial distortion. I couldn't so much as say hello without physical contact or a medium involved."

The bowl of grated onion is covered, and Kazuo moves to wash the residue from hands and grater alike, getting as much of it as possible down the drain before it can make it into air and eyes. "Some research seems to be called for."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"That sounds like quite the fight." Naru hunhs softly as she nods, thoughtfully. "So her rock-like state doesn't seem to be hindering her much? That's interesting, and disconcerting." She drinks from her tea and moves further in as onion is vanquished to be able to put the kettle back on.

"I wonder what, if anything, Virtue archives might have on anything. Precious little, as best as I can tell, but I might see about asking."

Kunzite has posed:
"We had a firefight in an armory and no-one lost a limb. I'm pleased enough at that." He's quiet for a moment, before adding, "Someone has to know who was opposing her then. It may be time to pay a call on the young king."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"By rights, I'm an assistant archivist." Naru comments thoughtfully. "So I might be able to find someting. Which isn't to discourage you from visiting the young king, although if I happen to be free and you don't mind, I'd be glad to come along and listen."

Kunzite has posed:
"If anyone recorded it at the time," Kunzite agrees. "It's worth investigating. And yes. I think, if he's willing to speak about it, the more who listen the better."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Sometimes, having someone who has to have the utter basics explained helps fill in details that people don't realize are not common knowledge." Naru adds as she reaches for coffee stuff. Clearly tea only goes so far.

"There's a lot of holes in the archives." Naru agrees with a nod. "When I get the mural done, I can focus on it a bit more."

Kunzite has posed:
"Often." Kazuo measures out rice and yellow split peas and water; once the stove has those, he turns to regard Naru, keeping out of the coffee's way. "I think," he says, "that the young king may have forgotten that not all of his people remember the flower. But he's had a great deal on his mind, of late. So has Mercury. And Sky Jack and Nadeshiko are the type to take action by preference, not talk. They do need another, at times."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"There's not so many of us who are generally noobs, but there's a few." Naru is fairly comfortable at staying out of Kunzite's way as he works, and him out of hers.

"A lot of people have had a lot on their minds, and it's felt a bit backgroundy for the time being. Not so much anymore, that's for certain." Naru moves over to rinse out her mug, no sense dirtying up a second one.

Kunzite has posed:
"Enough that many of them feel out of the loop. And presume information is passing in secret, or that they have no luck, rather than that people are overburdened. That needs to change. A king should have his court to aid him, after all." There is, in that last, a trace of actual audible humor.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Communication is not anyone's strong suit." Naru points out and there's a flash of a smirk at Kunzite's trace of humour. "Clearly. That's exactly how this works, I'm certain."

Naru gestures up at the mug shelf. "If you want coffee, you can fetch your own mug." The distinctive burble of coffee and the scent of life giving liquid is winning over the smell of onion.

Kunzite has posed:
Communication is not anyone's strong suit. "Says the artist." Kazuo doesn't move to chase a mug. Not till after Naru's been able to fill her own. There's no rush; the coffee is unlikely to be a youma.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Art isn't about communication, certainly not when you play in the abstract end." Naru fills her own mug, and it doesn't seem to be a youma. Not this time at least. "Emotion more than communcation, poking at uncomfortable places, asking questions, but there's very little about answers involved."

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo fetches his, and adds a trace of ground cardamom before pouring his own not-youma. "What makes you think that communication is about answers?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Wishful thinking." Naru quips in return as she leans against the counter and then inhales the fragrant steam, savouring the scent in ways she absolutely did not do with her tea.

"Communication is generally about bringing people to, if not the same opinion, at least an understanding on where those opinions came from to have a vaguely level playing field." Naru muses, clearly thinking aloud as they chat. "Whereas art is not about finding common understanding, it's about what it means to each person as an individual."

Kunzite has posed:
"Mn. A narrow view of communication." Kazuo takes up a place of his own, the coffee taking priority over cooking for now. "Communication is, ultimately, sharing experience. The reactions and conclusions sparked by those experiences may vary widely. Art is not so different. Only that words often focus on the quantifiable, and art often focuses away from it."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Mmm." Naru doesn't disagree on the narrow view accusation, considering the perspective. "I can't disagree with any of that, save that I am of the opinion that art is a personal rather than shared experience. Sometimes shared, but more often deeply personal, even when I am encouraging specific emotions, with or without extra energy."

Kunzite has posed:
Kazuo cocks his head to one side, just a little. "Is it necessarily only one or the other, or is it possible that there are elements of both?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Rarely is anything one or the other, save when one is clinging to being right against all logic." Naru replies with a quirk of a smile. "Possibly with a side order of repeating the dogma of art as being inaccessible and aloof, which is absurd by and large." The smile emerges more fully. "I maintain that even with art on my side, communication isn't my strong suit. I'd have to /show/ my art for that."

Kunzite has posed:
... that's a smile answering hers. An actual one. Not in existence for more than a second and a half, but it's there. "Now that argument I can't dispute, neither logically nor some imagined moral high ground. Still. You've shown some of it. That's more than some do."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I do hope to show more of it." Naru sips from her coffee, relaxed and content, in spite of everything. "It's easier after the first, although I like my privacy, and I dislike upsetting people." There is so much left upon that last. That /he/ doesn't freak out at her darker work, that others interpret it as an immediate concern. "I really have considered, perhaps in the new year, pushing my own comfort zone and holding a show. Mundane gallery or otherwise."

Kunzite has posed:
"Upsetting people is sometimes a matter of finding your audience." Sometimes a matter of horrors crawling through your dreams. Kazuo falls silent for a moment, communing with his coffee on the subject. "Granted, given your first, most things thereafter will be easier."

He pauses for a moment. "I'm tempted, when the current problems are settled and we have a new set, to suggest an experiment of sorts."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Which set of problems?" Naru asks with valid need for clarification. "Problems tend to overlap messily, and rarely all wrap up before new ones begin, at least not entirely."

A sip of coffee rather than merely sniffing it, before Naru adds. "And what sort of experiment?"

Kunzite has posed:
"Akashimaru's venture. Possibly the White Flower. I'd prefer either no or identifiable influence in dreams, if it can be avoided." It's a marked if. "As for what sort - I'd like to look at the tools you use, and perhaps ask you to try a couple of alternates or variations."

He does not, at least, seem overly concerned one way or another.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"What venture is Akashimaru doing?" Naru asks, curious enough for a quirk of her head. "We've got white flower on tap, possibly plant dude, and I don't know what state Sora's in. Any other current big picture messes?"

Naru considers and then nods. "That seems like valid experimentation anytime, if you and I both have time and attention. I have very little grasp on the tools I use, and am not good at pushing that envelope."

Kunzite has posed:
"Akashimaru and Ariel," Kazuo clarifies, and the amused note is back. "In your dreams. Which count."

He pauses for a moment, then says, "Sora has chased Shiniko away, and been separated from the book that gave Shiniko power. 'Plant dude.' Ariel has trouble of her own. The Pretty Cures have some kind of problem, I think, but I'm not certain of specifics; that may just be their background level. Locke's problem, and whatever it originated from..." He shrugs. "Depends where your big picture cuts off."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Oh. Right. Yes." Naru erms softly as Kunzite reminds her that her dreams are not entirely healed. A cease fire, rather than a battle won.

Naru considers the list and nods at the additions. "I didn't realize Ariel had some troubles of her own. I'm sorry to hear that." She mmms. "Oh and the Sailor Earth thingie, unless you guys figured out what was up with that while I was sleeping off the last set of sleep deprivation and getting caught up on school."

Kunzite has posed:
"Also something that should ideally be settled first. But we can't track her, as of yet, and we don't know what she's after." Kazuo's coffee receives an undeserved frown.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"She didn't strike me as the type who was going to leave it as a surprise indefinitely." Naru points out with a bit of a shrug. "She was fairly determined to be obvious." Kunzite isn't the only one who isn't very reassuring.

"There's a lot of loose threads floating about, apparently I really have been out of it." Naru hunhs softly and then sips from the frowned at coffee. "There's the race next weekend too, but that's hardly a giant thing. Should just be a couple hours and done."

Kunzite has posed:
"Mn. That's what worries me. When Endymion makes it obvious what he's doing, it's to take someone's attention off Moon. I'm wondering who we're being set up to be punched by."

He takes another swallow of his coffee, then sets it aside to turn to the refrigerator. Leeks, apparently, are important. "The race. Yes. And I need to ask Zoisite for a favor or two. Not all of which are related to the race."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"It's a fair consideration." Naru comments about who the distraction is for.

"By rights, I don't /actually/ need babysitting quite the same way I did when the race was first a thing." Naru points out. "I might be a non-combatant, by and large, but at least I'm likely to notice and manage /something/ if things go bizarre. If my race is longer than 50 minutes, I'll be disappointed. If I'm under 45 minutes, I'll be delighted and really surprised." There's a flicker of a smile at the mention of Kunzite asking Zoisite for favours, not related to the race, but she doesn't comment per se.

Kunzite has posed:
Surprise isn't something Kazuo shows too often, and it's often in small ways. The open surprise of an opponent coming from an unexpected direction. The little frown when he gets a text from someone he expects to be asleep. The distinct little twitches of eyebrows when someone says something markedly more or less stupid than he expected.

The blank what-are-you-talking-about that he shows now, as if Naru not needing babysitting were an obvious and established truth, and she were reminding him out of nowhere that they were in Japan.

"We'll see if we can meet your expectations," he says. "Do you happen to know anyone who knows the social dynamics of some of the younger girls at your school?" Well, there's a topic change.

Naru Osaka has posed:
It takes little enough to shake Naru's confidence in her own skills, and being incapable of even /sleeping/ without getting into trouble may weigh upon her independant streak.

"How much younger?" Naru asks as she considers thoughtfully. "Ariel is who first comes to mind, but I'm not sure how much she's invovled in the social dynamics, per se. Mmmm. Reiko might also be an option, she's about the same age as Ariel."

Kunzite has posed:
"Three years behind you, give or take. She might be close to them. Ikiko would know; I'll have to ask her." 'She.' 'Them.' Kazuo is doing well on the pronouns today. Possibly washing and chopping the leeks secretly takes over the part of the brain normally dedicated to remembering one's antecedents.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Ariel and Reiko are four years behind me. I think." Naru mmms softly. "Who is it? I could just ask Ikiko directly if I see her before you do." She drinks more coffee and then gestures. "What can I chop, rather than just drink coffee that I'm trying to cut back on."

Kunzite has posed:
"Ayana. The foxgirl. I don't know the last name she's using." Kazuo tilts his head down the counter. "There's another onion that needs to be chopped for frying." But not grated. Just chopped. So much less sulfur in the air. "Also mint and parsley, if you'd rather those."

Back to the original topic. "Ayana came to me about trouble she's having with her classmates; she isn't good at classwork, and isn't always good at behaving like a human, and it appears to be having the usual results. I need to remember to ask Zoisite if he's willing to skip class for a couple of days and take a look at the situation." 'Willing to skip class.' Such a terrible, terrible sacrifice.

Naru Osaka has posed:
Coffee set down, well out of the way, and hands washed. Naru is willing to take on the other onion and she collects her own knife to get to the chopping.

"I've heard the name, but I don't know her myself." Naru mmms as she settles to chopping and there's a little nod. "I can imagine. School isn't the most forgiving for those who are different. Usagi struggled when we were younger, but telling people it gets better, a little at least, when you get older isn't /hugely/ helpful at the time if it all just seems awful."

Kunzite has posed:
Onions have this advantage over leeks: once you have chopped them, they are done. Kazuo, on the other hand, will be some time on sand-removal duty. "She tried to rescue you once," he replies, "but it wasn't the best time for conversation. I suspect Ayana has additional problems at the moment, too; but those are Ikiko's to worry about, and to figure out how to deal with."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"There's a few people like that in my world. I think Ayana's amongst the last that I've not met again to meet properly." Naru comments as she chops onion, efficiently enough, all things considered. "If you think Ayana would be open to it, she is welcome to seek me out at school. Not quite the same as a peer support, but at least /some/ degree of friendly face at school."

Kunzite has posed:
"That might be enough. Having reliable connections sometimes makes someone less of a target." Kazuo considers this. "Also, you're accustomed to people trying to eat your lunch."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I'll be sure to keep packing extra." Naru nods, as if this is just utterly normal, and for her it is. "Which I have to anyhow, my own appetite hasn't completely stablized yet. I always have something to feed people with, even if its not much."

Kunzite has posed:
"If she eats all of it," Kazuo says, deadpan, "text me and I'll bring you something." Emergency teleport to fetch munchings. Obviously this is the best possible use of magic.

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I wonder if I can draw myself lunch." Naru muses thoughtfully. Another utterly best practice use of magic. "Skipping lunch won't kill me. I'll just come and eat your fridge empty after school." She grins as she retrieves a bowl for chopped onion to live in.

Kunzite has posed:
"And then we shall find your bloated body, swollen like the snake that eight an elephant, and step over it carefully on the way to worship at the altar of Mario Kart. I'm sure Mamoru can take care of anything that ruptures." Kazuo glances back her way, sidelong and startlingly at ease. "How are your own classes going?"

Naru Osaka has posed:
"Just roll me into the other apartment so I can at least obsess on the mural." Naru returns on that notion with a touch of a smirk. The chopped onion gets covered and she rinses off the board before the herbs get pulled out.

"There's some tiny portion of me that wonders if my geography teacher is secretly a bordom youma, but I think he's just gifted that way." Naru wrinkles her nose. "I got a little behind where I wanted to be, especially with exams in the spring, but I'm mostly caught up again."

Kunzite has posed:
"I can check, if you like." Hopefully Kazuo is joking. It's one of those moments when he's not giving any cues.

A couple of seconds later, the splashes of water stop changing for a moment; he's still, holding pale concentric rings in his hands. After a breath or two he begins again, thumbs moving by rote to spread them out and wash the grit away. "There hasn't been that much in Seishou. That I've noticed. Actually, never mind, there could have been a hundred attacks and I wouldn't have seen traces unless someone complained at me."

Naru Osaka has posed:
"I like to think that if one of our teachers was /actually/ a youma, one of the seishi would have at least had a moment of 'gee I wonder'. I suspect I just particularly don't care for his ability to teach geography." Naru smiles a touch. "There could have been a hundred attacks, and unless they attacked /me/, I wouldn't have seen a trace. School is, as often as not, rather a safe space for us that way." Naru pauses and then adds. "Gossip and social stupidity, distinctly not. Teen girls can be fairly awful beasts without any help from dark energy."

Kunzite has posed:
"That's the awkward thing about dark energy. We can be the source as well as the victim." Leek, sorted. Onion, Naru handled. Parsley and mint -- Naru is handling. Well, then. Kazuo retrieves rice and peas from the stove, and drains duly, keeping half an eye on Naru's location to avoid any unfortunate scalding icidents. "And generally are. Even saints get annoyed."

Naru Osaka has posed:
Herbs being dealt with and Naru pauses with the knife. "How small?" She asks, as she gets them started at least. Herbs can't get to tiny without getting past rough chopped first.

Naru is pretty careful not to get into the way of boiling water from draining foods. "I'm half surprised we don't have Wraiths and other things that feed on petty and snarky just hanging out in cafeteria. I suppose it isn't /that/ bad, but teens can be mean."

Kunzite has posed:
"Not too much. Just enough to keep them from being an uncomfortable bite." A large bowl lurking in the fridge is fetched; so is the grated onion. Spices and salt, and then Kazuo starts mixing things, somewhat heedless of temperature variants. He can't do much out of henshin, but there's still a little bit of cheating. "Cafeterias generally also have circles of friends interacting. It keeps a sort of balance. Find a teen who's mean enough, though, and you'll find all too good a target."