2319/Thank god for elevators.

Thank god for elevators.
Date of Scene:	10 January 2017
Location:	Earth Court Frat House
Synopsis:	Nanami makes a detour on the way home, and tells people about what happened at Hikawa Shrine. Mamoru sort of explodes over it, and Ami decides Alcyone is best dog to cuddle at that moment.
Cast of Characters:	Nanami Hamakawa, Mamoru Chiba, Ami Mizuno, Kyouko Sakura

---

Nanami Hamakawa has posed:
Thank god for elevators. Thank whatever god magical girls have for elevators. Nanami leans against the back wall of the elevator, closing her eyes. Her left leg is knotted up all to hell and back with the strain, she has a searing headache, her arms feel like noodles, and she's glad that the fur coat makes her look like the sort of classy lady who belongs here. Fortunately for her, whatever strange magic transforms her also has her hair in some kind of fancy braid arrangement she really wants to learn how to do, because it makes her reflection in the panels of the elevator look really cool, and a brief look in the selfie-cam view just confirms it. When the elevator dings, Nanami jumps slightly. Fortunately, Alcyone is more than happy to remind her tired, wobbly handler to walk forward.

She doesn't know what to expect, going in, but-- she figures it's good to let someone know she was attacked by a known 'bad' actor, right? She doubts Apatite would have warned her the way she did if Miss White had been known to randomly attack people. "Um, hello?" she calls. "I-- give me a minute, getting my shoes off is kind of hard for me."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
And Mamoru, who'd told the concierge to let the cosplayer and her dog up, is already opening the door-- and then blinking. "Hey, don't worry about it, I can make an exception," the ludicrously tall black-haired boy tells the girl, then smiles at the freaking enormous dog but does not reach to pet her. Whether this is because of the harness or because she is a dog or some combination of both is up for interpretation. And then he's totally matter-of-fact, holding the door open, "Are you okay? Do you need a hand, or are you good?"

Yes, this before introductions. People do randomly get sent here for 'oh god need healer stat', but... service dog.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
There's a little rattling noise somewhere behind Mamoru. A hand in a candy bowl. Ami Mizuno is there, dressed in a pair of grey sweatpants and an oversized white teeshirt that proclaims itself as a spaceship timeline, starting and ending with the tardis, and showing several Star Trek, Star Wars, and other references in between.

The bluenette sticks a handful of candies in her mouth, then blinks and reels her head back a little like the candies might have bit her back. "Mmmhff?" she mumbles, before swallowing them. "Whoa. Uh. What?"

Nanami Hamakawa has posed:
"That's good, because I'd have to have Alcyone help me back up. I'm just... tired, between transforming for the first time yesterday and then getting attacked today and walking. I think the worst thing I have is the mother of all Gordian knots in my good leg. Nothing a hot soak won't fix, when I get home." The regular Japanese shoe-ridiculousness sorted, Nanami and Alcyone both bow, slightly. "I'm Nanami,"

"And I'm Alcyone," Alcyone says, wagging her tail at Mamoru and looking at him, beyond-dog bright intelligence in her eyes. "You're being very polite about it- some people are rude, and think Nanami can't do anything for herself, and are overbearing... or ignore her because she needs me."

Nanami resists the urge to facepalm. "She literally just learned 'speak' yesterday when we transformed for the first time. I think at this point the do not pet patches are mostly for people she's pretending to be a normal dog in front of, so if you want to pet her, ask her." Nanami peers beyond Mamoru at the lady with blue hair and waves slightly. "I'm-- gonna go sit, though. My leg is killing me." That said, Nanami proceeds to do exactly that, then finagle her way out of the boots. Her right leg moves stiffly as she does so, as if something is wrong with it. The boots being removed reveals the end of a sturdy leg brace. Alcyone, without prompting, takes the boots to put them with the other shoes.

"Nanami's parents have a bench in their entryway for Nanami to use to take her shoes off," Alcyone informs Mamoru brightly, before going to sit next to Her Human again. "And I don't know what, Miss."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Blinking again when the dog talks, Mamoru's briefly distracted by Ami making weird sounds and puzzled noises behind him, and he glances back briefly, then doubletakes and holds an apologetic hand up at Nanami and Alcyone. "Sorry Ami! I did not put them out this time, it was probably Jadeite-- you'll be fine-- I'm sorry? Um. Don't eat any more. I'll put them away again in a second--"

There is some internal flail because all of a sudden he feels like he has absolutely no control of any situation anywhere, but all it does is show as a faintly strained smile for a moment. "Nanami, Alcyone, it's a pleasure to meet you," he says, bowing slightly. "Chiba Mamoru. This is my home. And, uh, thank you Alcyone?" A beat. "That's a good idea. I'll install one." He looks blank as Nanami comes in, sits, and takes her boots off after all and announces and explains absolutely everything, then covers a startled laugh with a cough into his hand.

And he closes the door, and runs his hands through his hair, faintly overwhelmed. "They're memories of animals somewhere in the wilds of Northern Canada and down the Pacific Northwest coast," he tells Ami like he's explaining exactly what an Amiibo is for. "A youma did it."

Then down at Nanami again, and he exhales. "So you're a magical girl as of yesterday, you learned to talk yesterday, and you know what, I'm a healer, I can at least handle the joint and muscle aggravation you got walking here and any injuries you might've gotten in the attack. And make tea. The two are about the same amount of effort."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami still looks like she's experiencing a bad trip. Or maybe it's a good trip, but it's definitely not normal. She looks up at Mamoru as he approaches, but then immediately past him towards the dog.

"Mamo-kun, that dog is talking," Ami notes to him quietly. "And I don't know if you know this, but I ... have really vivid memories as a husky, and I am pretty sure I could not talk as a husky. Why," she says to him, then shakes her head again to try and clear it. "Why do you still have those?"

Nanami Hamakawa has posed:
Nanami sighs. "That'd-- be nice, thank you." It's not that she didn't want to take off her boots, it's that she couldn't at the door and stay standing. Honestly-- she's not sure a healer could fix her bad leg. "I doubt you can fix what was born messed up, anyway," she says with an offhanded gesture to her right leg. She snickers at Ami a little, and Alcyone shakes herself.

"Huskies are for pulling. I am for helping, Miss Ami," Alcyone says firmly. She's like a five-year-old with the way she declares it. Nanami chuckles.

"Funny you say Canada- Newfoundlands are a breed of water retrievers from the northeastern coast of Canada, actually!" The way she says Newfoundland definitely reeks of having been surrounded by native English-speakers and learning to keep up with them- something that will probably serve her very well in high school English classes, at least. "Ami-san, if you want to sit down or you feel wobbly, Alsie can help you- just kind of hang on to the handle there and lean like you would with a cane." Alcyone nods, walking up to Ami and bumping her with her nose, gently. "Since I don't plan on getting up and you sound... uh... you sound like you've had a little too much magic brownies, if you catch my meaning." She was in California, after all. Magic brownies are a thing she is aware of.

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko wanders in from the balcony, obviously having just arrived. "'Sup, a-holes?" She calls cheerfully, as she pads through the room on bare feet, vanishing into the kitchen a moment later.

    Then her head pokes back out. "Oh, hey, is the talking dog. And the girl too. Glad you found the place."

    Then her head vanishes again. There's clattering and clanking and probably water going on for tea.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Mamoru just looks at Ami for a second. Then he looks at the bowl of 'jellybeans', and he picks it up, and he carries it over to the bookshelves, and he puts it on the top. Not even the highest shelf. On the top. Then he comes back and he shrugs at 'why do you still have those'. "Why do they sell moonshine maraschino cherries in places Nephrite can buy them?" he asks philosophically. "Anyway Luna and Artemis can talk. So can the fu dogs. And the raven and the thunderbird and the caracal."

And then Alcyone is being Chibiusa and Nanami is a font of knowledge and implying Ami is on drugs, and Mamoru wonders if he's going to wake up anytime soon. Absently, he tries pushing one hand through the other. It doesn't work. He sighs.

Finally, Mamoru crouches down in front of Nanami and reaches for her good leg, glancing up to make sure she knows what's going on, and gently takes hold just below her knee. The anaesthetic is instantaneous, pain vanishing in a sea of golden warmth and peaceful stillness, immense and ancient. It only takes half a minute to take the inflammation down and soothe the angry nerve endings, and he's talking in the meantime. "I can't heal something like that, no. Not that I know of. Has to be recent. You were saying you got attacked? Hey, Kyou."

Ami Mizuno has posed:
That Luna and Artemis can talk is actually a really good point, and it seems to bring Ami back from her dazed high. She blinks at him, then frowns and nods her head. "Fair enough," she says thoughtfully, before kneeling down next to the dog. "Hello," she introduces herself to the creature. "My name is Mizuno Ami. It's very nice to meet you, Alcyone. I don't need the help walking, but I do really like cuddly animals. May I pet you?"

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko must have a faint sense that Mamoru is feeling a bit overwhelmed, because a moment later she walks back into the room, and without saying anything or taking time to study the situation, she walks over to where he is crouching in front of Nanami, drapes herself over his shoulders momentarily, ruffles his hair, and kisses him on the cheek. Then she pushes herself back up, gives a lopsided, fangy smile to Nanami, and walks back towards the kitchen. "Anybody want tea, I put water on. Hi Ami." This last offered to Ami as she passes by where the girl is on the couch. "Feelin' alright?" That had been a nasty wound after all.

Nanami Hamakawa has posed:
"There are other talking animals? Have they been talking their whole lives?" Nanami asks Mamoru, eyes bright with curiosity. For now, she's letting Alcyone putter around on her own.

"Yes! Since Nanami doesn't need me to help her anytime soon, you can pet me." Even though she's in uniform. A small corner of Nanami's brain files this away with pleasure- no more playing Fun Police over who can pet Alcyone while she's in her harness! Thank god.

And then the real 'thank god' moment happens. Nanami sags, visibly, as if the pain of knotted muscles was the only thing keeping her at least somewhat upright and un-jelly-like. "I figured not. At this point I'm not even sure I'd... want it healed." As werid as it is to say. Her voice is blurring at the edges, the adrenaline she was running on petering off into a bone-weary tiredness. She smiles at Mamoru a little. "But-- yeah. I got attacked. Oh! Apatite-san was at the conbenie earlier and warned me about a 'Miss White'... and then I more or less got attacked by said 'Miss White'. Apparently she's looking for... mages? To fight? And thought I was one, with a familiar, so she tried to attack me... and then a zombie-guy more or less tried to mug her, or might have mugged her because she was in the way of getting to me? I think he was like I am, but-- he kept saying something about 'give me the other half of your soul'. ...Anyway-- since Apatite-san decided to warn me, and gave me this address, I figured I'd warn people, since-- what she said was not to trust her, not that she'd try to beat me up, that was different from what you guys knew about what she was doing, or-- something like that."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"The ones I know, yeah," Mamoru answers the question about talking animals absently-- and then there's a Kyou-hug and a kiss on the cheek, and he smiles distractedly but looks very slightly less deer-in-headlights when he sits back on his heels and lets go of Nanami's leg. He glances back at Ami and then grins at her and Alcyone, and his attention finds its way back to Nanami-- then sharpens suddenly.

"She what?" he sputters, then gets to his feet and whips out his phone, starting to text furiously. "And what was this about a zombie guy? What do you mean 'like you'?"

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami looks up at Kyouko's hi and smiles back. "Yeah, I'm okay," she agrees. "Mamoru-kun's healing plus a bag of blood and Makoto's cookies agnd hugs are enough to fix just about anything. I'm actually planning to go home today," she notes.

Then she's got permission to pet the puppy, and immediately she wraps her arms around the dog, hugging him gently before she starts petting behind the ears. "You're so big," she says to the dog with a grin, before looking up at Nanami. "Sorry, I've been on the mend from losing a lot of blood. I'm a little out of it. It's nice to meet you, too."

Nanami Hamakawa has posed:
"She attacked me, but stopped when she realized I wasn't a mage like her-- the coughing fit didn't help, apparently, but..." Nanami shrugs a bit, letting the end of the sentence trail off. "As to the 'being like me'... Alcyone said she thought that he was like us- apparently we're something called a Twinsoul, which makes sense. Alcyone only started talking after I transformed and the Weird Marble showed up." Nanami fishes in a pocket, swirling the liquid in the small sphere idly and watching it move. Nanami wags her tail a bit at the 'you're so big'.

"That's part of why I'm so good for Nanami! She's not all that big, so if her leg completely goes out, I won't get hurt catching her and helping her up!"

"Nice to meet you too. I was going to make a joke about being a blood donor and feeding the vampires, but then... if I can be a magical girl and zombie-guys are also real, that might be a bad joke," Nanami offers, giving Alcyone a speculative look. "The whole-life talking thing for the other talking critters is different from what's going on with her- I did a lot of research on dogs as soon as they told me I was getting one, and she's... literally not thinking like a dog in some ways, anymore." Nanami's tone makes it clear it's not a bad thing, but it does have a speculative cast, practically adding a 'I wonder...'

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko comes back out with four mugs of tea. "Nobody said anything so I made everybody tea anyway." She notes, as she manages to put all four of them down on the coffee table without spilling anything.

    Then her eyes narrow and she glances between Mamoru, Nanami, and Ami. She'd only caught the tail end of what they were talking about, something about people getting attacked and zombie-guys. "What's up?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
The furious texting continues. Furiously. Mamoru's listening. When Nanami adds the bit about the coughing fit, his angryface gets even angrier and he's jabbing his thumbs into the phone screen. "Don't feed the vampires, everyone gets angry," he says through his teeth, still looking at his phone. "The only ones I know drain energy, not blood, anyway. Also I know a girl who talks to regular dogs, she's called Cute Wolf Tsukiko. Kunzite -- he lives here too -- knows where to find her, if you're curious about the ways of thinking stuff."

    You text Hannah Sharpe: you give kunzite your dad's bayonet and then like a week later you're attacking a magical girl with a leg brace and a service dog??
    You text Hannah Sharpe: WTF
    You text Hannah Sharpe: LIKE SERIOUSLY WTF
    You text Hannah Sharpe: that is legit as bad as attacking a fourth grader on the goddamn sidewalk
    You text Hannah Sharpe: what is WRONG with you? what is this backsliding bullshit? like seriously
    You text Hannah Sharpe: ...a COUGHING FIT? okay what the FUCK hannah
    A text from Hannah Sharpe at Tue Jan 10 19:47:48 2017: She wasn't what...damnit, Mamoru! You've got your own problems! Don't get in the middle of this one. Please. It won't end well for anybody.
    You text Hannah Sharpe: what, did you think i wouldn't find out and get worried and pissed off? jesus. i'm grounded so i can't just come over and yell at you and make you tell me, BUT MAYBE KUNZITE WILL COME WITH ME
    You text Hannah Sharpe: okay so you're attacking other mages? don't you dare attack storm knight.
    A text from Hannah Sharpe at Tue Jan 10 19:54:32 2017: Yeah. Yeah that is you. You always have to stick your nose in everything you loving jerk don't you!? F...FINE! Just do whatever you want!
    A text from Hannah Sharpe at Tue Jan 10 19:55:06 2017: ...Fine. I'll do that for you.
    You text Hannah Sharpe: I WILL. PRINCES DO WHAT THEY WANT. EXCEPT WHEN THEY'RE GROUNDED. okay thank you <3

Mamoru irritably jams his phone back in his pocket then glances up at Kyouko, and his brain kicks back into the groove of the conversation. Ish. He looks down at the tea, then reaches to take one with a look of sheepish gratitude. "Thanks. And Miss White's being an asshat again, and apparently there's a zombie guy. I half wonder if it's Alex..." He holds the tea in both hands and looks at Nanami. "What'd zombie guy look like?"

Nanami Hamakawa has posed:
Nanami stares blearily at Mamoru-- it's pretty clear that she is not long for this waking world. "...He looked... like he fell out of a renfaire, or something. Long hair, tan, tan-- or he was before he started looking ghastly-- he wasn't a real zombie, but he acted like one. His voice-- sounded like he did a lot of screaming and crying. He was acting like he was way out of his head, and then Alcyone and I hit him with... a thing, and I think that let him move on. He completely disappeared after that. I think he was Twinsouled, but he-- didn't have anyone else with him? And I think that's what he wanted, because twin kind of implies two, right?"

Oh. That's what he meant, alright. Nanami stares at Alcyone in horror. "He wanted Alsie. He wanted Alsie, Jesus Christ I am so thick. The other half of my soul is Alcyone, if Alsie and I are Twinsouled!"

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko picks up one of the other mugs of tea, wrapping her hand around it as she watches Mamoru. Man, he looks angry. That's angrier than Mamoru is supposed to look, and for some reason, it really doesn't sit right with her. So she edges over and positions herself so she can lightly lean against him in the most unobtrusive way possible, totally casually, and sips her tea, and does her best to radiate calm. Kyouko is not good at this, but she does her best anyway.

    "Miss White is always an asshat." She mumbles, upon hearing the source of this unaccostumed and unwelcomed Mamo-rage. "Do you want me to go beat her up?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"No-- I'm going to ask Kunzite to come with me to yell at her and ask her exactly what the hell she thinks she's doing. Whenever she starts doing something really dumb or reprehensible it's because she's either jacked up on corrupted energy or super desperate, and she never asks for help because she thinks it's weak or something, and it pisses me off," the prince says, words grumbling and sharp and accusatory. Not at Kyouko. But then Nanami's starting to panic on her own.

"--okay-- okay, calm down, it'll be okay, he didn't get her," Mamoru says-- and with the Kyouko now leaning on him, he at least sounds patient instead of half-panicked and vehementabout it. "It's going to be okay. Listen, you're falling asleep at the wheel. We've got guest rooms, do you want to take a nap or something until you're good to go home? Do you need to call anyone?"

Nanami Hamakawa has posed:
Nanami shakes her head. "I know he didn't, but-- Christ I feel dumb for not realizing that soon." She tucks the Weird Marble away, the Fancy Coat vanishing in favor of her regular clothes. "I think-- yeah, a nap would be good. My folks are expecting me to be out and about, but--" she fishes out a phone and taps out a text to her mother, more-or-less telling her the truth- albeit abbreviated- about going to a friend's place and her good leg being a little tired, so she's staying there until she's less tired, and then going home.

"I just-- either you get to help me, or Alcyone needs to," she says. "I need something or someone to lean on in order to walk."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko seems mildly satisfied with herself, as she sips her tea. See, she can do other Shitennou stuff other than just stab dudes. She helped Mamo not freak out about something! ..more amazingly, perhaps, she didn't freak out about it, considering it's Miss White, but hearing about it second-hand isn't quite the same as witnessing it and wanting to stab the woman all over again.

    She sips her tea. "I told you it was safe here." She asides to Nanami. She eyes the dog. Other half of a soul, huh? She's glad her soul is in one piece. She glances at her ring.. not exactly in her body, but in one piece. And very glittery. She buffs it against her shirt a little.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
Ami really is listening to the conversation at hand. She's listening, and she's very interested. The problem is, "I have the most ridiculous urge to get on all fours and stick my tail in the air to ask you to play." This, said very earnestly to Alcyone. "But I don't have a tail, and I would be terrifically embarassed to have these people see me acting like that. These memories are super weird," she notes to the dog.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
There's a very small laugh from Mamoru, and he lifts a hand to ruffle Kyouko's short hair, then nudges her side and finishes his tea all in one super hot mouthful, then does that wince-AAAHHH-face from it, and then rubs his face as he puts the empty cup down. He looks to Nanami again, then looks to where Ami's got this serious conversation going on with Alcyone and it's hilarious and he has to keep a straight face, and then holds out a hand to Nanami. "I can try to be leanable, but my elbows are practically at shoulder height to you. It would be a lot easier on me if I carried you, but if you really don't want me to-- well, I can try. But, y'know, I'm usually carrying Sailor Moon so you'd be in good company."

Nanami Hamakawa has posed:
"...Well, if that'd make the most sense," Nanami says, though it's clear she doesn't like the idea. It reminds her too much of her helplessness from when she was chair-bound. Still, she's practical enough for it. "That works, I guess." But there's a small degree of strain in her tone, a tightening around the corners of her eyes, that betrays how little she likes this.

Alcyone laughs, her tail whisking across the floor. "It must be how I feel, but backwards. Talking like a human is... werid. Nice, but weird... And it makes a lot of my puppyhood kind of weird, too. If I'd been this smart all along, it would have been much easier to teach me how to help people."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Kyouko grins at the ruffle-nudge, and ducks away from Mamoru, still holding her own tea but giving him back some personal space. She quirks her lips a little bit to the side at the discussion of Mamoru carrying her, and whether or not this is a thing that should be done. "She can always lean on me, if she needs to." She offers after a moment.. just a bare moment of hesitation. Mamoru, at least, probably knows how she feels about casual touch from people she isn't very familiar with, but this is sort of a different situation.

    "But he really is pretty good at carrying people." She adds. "He definitely wouldn't drop you."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Could make the indignity up to you," Mamoru offers, his dark blue eyes suddenly twinkling, and he puts a hand inside his overshirt like he's going to pull something out-- and then Kyouko offers, and Mamoru looks relieved and lets his hand drop. Drop briefly, because then it's up again to fall atop Kyouko's head for a second. There's a flash of gratitude on his face, and then he's stealing Nanami's tea since she's going to go take a nap and Kyouko's gonna help her get there. "Thanks, Apa. Guys I'm gonna be in the study-zone apartment unless something explodes, until Kunzite gets home. Ping me if you need me."

Nanami Hamakawa has posed:
"It's not that, it's that-- I used to be stuck in a wheelchair, before I got Alcyone, but-- I can be practical about it. It's not that I don't appreciate the offer, it's just... Mom and dad had to do a lot of carrying me when I was little." Nanami doesn't look all that comfortable, and Alcyone looks over, ears flicking. "I'm probably exhausted enough that I'd fall over anyway, though." It's said with rueful humor. She makes a fate at Mamoru's joke, but nods to Kyouko. "Just-- if my leg buckles, be prepared to hang on," she says.

Ami Mizuno has posed:
"Mmmm," Ami says quietly, furrowing her brows as she looks Alcyone in the eyes. She's already basically curled up on the floor with the dog, dignity be-damned. But she is not--and this is very important--*not* sticking her butt in the air. "I know exactly what you mean," Ami notes to the dog thoughtfully. "This time two years ago, I had no idea magic was real. Now, not only am I a foremost leader in magical research among teens our age, I'm also responsible for a massive library of knowledge about magic, and I have the memories of a Millenias-old kingdom that never was. And now apparently another year's worth of assorted animals. It is weird. But you get used to it. Mostly."

Kyouko Sakura has posed:
    Mamoru's hand lands on her head briefly, and Kyouko turns her head up to look at him for a moment, red eyes on his face. Then she nods, although he hasn't said anything to her, and gives a brief lopsided smile before offering her elbow to Nanami. "No worries. I'm stronger'n I look. C'mon, let's get you into one of the guest rooms." She says, in a friendly enough tone, after surrendering her tea.