Ami-chan is now all squeaky clean, hair washed and scalp scritched, body scrubbed (with Ami doing certain bits herself!), and best of all, toasty PJs. Usagi'd put them in the dryer in a hurried dash, so Ami not only has that nice clean feeling going on, she also has that delicious fresh from the dryer feel!
It was easier to get Ami back to the living room than it was before. A quick transformation, long enough to get the bluenette to a chair, and now she's washing the bedding!
Luna is, of course, curled up on Ami's lap. A big bundle of purring fur!
Every once in awhile, Luna would look up at the ceiling, nose flaring and a slight growl coming out. Other than that!
Cuddly blue silk pajamas are pretty much the epitome of wonderful. Ami may normally prefer a long nightgown, but there's something to be said for silk pajamas. "I hate having you do all this for me," Ami admits as she continues to scritch Luna's fur.
"But I do appreciate it, too," Ami continues a moment later. "Hopefully I'll work all of this poison out of my system quickly, and I'll be back to solving things for you instead of being useless to you."
Of course, even 'useless', now that she has some limited ability to move again, Ami has the Mercury Computer out and resting on the armrest of the chair beside her. She's wasted no time in reviewing the sensor readings from Kunzite's attack. She has, however, spared Usagi the details of what she's learned thus far. It isn't pretty.
There's the sound of someone fumbling for the lock on the front door. It goes on for what seems like an inordinately long time - to the point where Takashi long ago would've walked through the Dusk Zone to bypass it if he didn't know he had guests who would be a bit less than thrilled by this.
He does, however, eventually get in and the door swings open and Takashi is hanging on it. His nice suit looks like it went through a blast zone. There's a bruise on the side of his forehead, and other little nicks and injuries all over him. "No, that did not go according to plan." he says to the little charm in his left hand. Then blinks. "Agh." he says, a bit, looking at the two girls. He doesn't offer an explanation immediately, and any questions are stifled with an indication to 'wait.'.
He does, however, head upstairs, changing into sweatpants and a blue t-shirt. If Ami can sit around in his house in her pajamas he's not going to deprive himself of a little comfort. Not after what just happened.
He pretty much collapses into his chair. He mumbles. "You look like you're doing better." to Ami. Takashi looks like he's doing worse than when he left. But perhaps still better than the bluenette.
Usagi raises her eyebrows. "For someone as smart as you are, sometimes you can be a real dummy." She fluffs the freshly laundered sheets and makes up the couch. "I'm not doing this because I want to get you back in action. I'm doing this because one of my best friends is hurt and I wanna make sure she's comfortable and cozy while she recovers." She points a finger at Ami. "And no rushing to get better, either! You can help with stuff still, you have your computer, but no over doing it!"
She pauses in the middle of making up the couch as the sound of the door. When Takashi finally walks in, she tilts her head in mild confusion then her brows furrow in annoyance as she realizes he's all hurt.
She has time to stew while he goes up and gets changed.
"Speaking of dummies!" A bop to the head with a pillow! "Getting into fights? Really? When Ami-chan needs you around?!"
Bunny Fume!
And grumblings about stupid boys!
Ami smiles at Usagi's accusations, but she's interrupted from responding by the sound of the door opening. She turns her head to regard Takashi, then blinks in surprise at his appearance. WHen he goes upstairs to get changed, Ami turns to Usagi confusedly. "What do you think happened?" she asks. But of course Usagi has no more idea than she does.
Some part of Ami wants to get up and fetch cocoa for Takashi. That part is hastily squashed by the pain of trying to even start standing. Oh right, this isn't her house, and she's still relatively unwell. Still an odd desire.
"What even happened?" Ami asks Takashi confusedly. "I thought you were just going out for a meeting. You look like you got into a fight with a bear and lost."
Takashi winces a bit as he takes the pillow to the head. It's not because Usagi's particularly fierce with it (though the beating he took means everything hurts) but it's because of the words she says. Tying it to Ami's condition - which wasn't something he took into consideration - that actually makes him feel bad, because he's perhaps more aware than anyone else that she needs him around. And that actually puts a real concern into him, more than he showed in front of Precia.
"Yeah well I wasn't planning to get into a fight." he says, a bit sheepishly. "I shouldn't have." That's an understatement. "Note to self: do not engage the crazy-strong creepy old lady with the big staff and poor fashion sense in a fight while you're still recovering from helping someone fight off soul poisons." he adds, getting up to get a soda out of his fridge.
"Look, not exactly something I've dealt with before, and things did not go according to plan." he says, putting the soda against his arm like a cold pack. "I wish it was a bear. Bears like me more."
An irate Bunny, now! She helps Ami to the couch and fluffs her pillows and settles Luna carefully next to her. Hair smoothing and a forehead smooch!
Then she's following Takashi, and shoos him back to the chair. "Sit." Even if he doesn't hesitate, she's quick to make her demand more demanding! "Sit!" She grumbles and gets a bag of peas from the freezer, and presses it against the bruise on the side of his head, tilting his chin so it doesn't fall off.
She sighs and shakes her head as she rummages through her purse, pulling out a small bottle of peroxide and cotton balls. "This will sting, you big dummy."
Grumble grumble!
Despite her irritation, though, she doesn't press too hard against the deeper cuts. And those are just the ones she can see!
Ami allows herself to be herded about, because she is neither in the shape nor mood to argue with the irate moonbunny. She does, however, fix Takashi with a confused expression. "Why did you fight with some old lady?" she asks confusedly.
Takashi does hesitate, but Usagi's second demand causes him to sit down a bit, though somwhat grumpily and reluctantly. When Usagi starts to work, he winces a bit. He's not unused to pain - but he's unused to someone actually trying to doctor him.
Now that Usagi's close enough, little scars that aren't visible at a distance will probably become apparent to her - the after effects of the last few months of magical combat and an attitude of 'magical body will heal it up eventually.
"Well, I wasn't planning to get in a fight when I left. She was 'some old lady' like I'm 'some student' - she was a mage, like me. Device and everything. I wouldn't have, but she threatened me and a cute little ten year old girl." Takashi knows how to toy with the truth to get some sympathy, and it's not a lie. So he feels less bad. "I think the girl got out okay, though."
After checking those tiny scars, Usagi just clicks her tongue and gets up. She holds his hand to the bag of peas before she heads back into the kitchen.
She holds her tongue on the matter, though. She doesn't know what's what!
She comes back out with a glass of water for Ami. "If you like, I have some of that squeezy stuff that makes it Gatorade. Purple, of course, my favorite flavor!"
Ami accepts the glass of water dutifully. There's really no point arguing with Usagi at the moment, so she doesn't, except to say, "No thank you," to the offer of the purple stuff. She even manages to drink a third of the glass before setting it down on the endtable beside her.
"Why did this old lady threaten you and the little girl?" Ami asks Takashi confusedly. "Actually, why were you with a ten year old little girl, anyways? I feel like you're not telling us the whole story."
Takashi just blinks as he holds the bag of frozen peas. He uses his other hand to pop the top on that soda and drink it as he talks. "I'm not." he confirms. "Just like you haven't told me your whole story." he says before taking another drink. "But... she wanted to..." hmmm. How to put this without incriminating himself. "She wanted to push the girl too hard. She was being cruel." Takashi really does think this. "The girl... She's a mage too, so I try to help her. She's taking on some real tough fights." Also not untrue.
Usagi sits on the cushion where Ami's feet are, carefully placing them in her lap and firmly but gently begins to work her fingers against the arches. (Normally, really gross because ew feet, but these little piggies were just scrubbed very clean!)
"Pushing someone too hard isn't a good idea. Usually ends up with someone exploding."
She'd push more, but hey! Everyone here has secrets!
Ohhhh footrubs. Ami's eyes lid lightly. The combination of footrubs and having a purring cat so close are pretty much murder to her concentration. Nevertheless, she tries, because being able to do something is better than feeling useless.
"Actually," she mumbles, "I pretty much told you all of it. I help perform research for Sailor Moon, in her fight against Queen Beryl. I also do some research for Virtue, as well. Most of what I am good for is research and investigation, although I certainly can fight if pressed to it. I admit I haven't told you anything about my powers or my identity, but I have told you the whole truth about what I'm doing."
Ami sighs and wiggles her toes. "Anyways, I am mostly asking because I'm bored and want something to do that isn't analyzing Kunzite's attack on me. I've already determined I can't figure out anything particularly useful about the poison. Therefore researching that further is just an exercise in curiosity rather than poignant. So if there's something I can help with ..."
Takashi nods. "It's the exploding I'm generally trying to avoid, yeah." he says, as his phone buzzes. He takes it out, looks at it, and frowns. He texts something back, but tries not to let it get to him here.
"Well, you know my identity and my powers..." One of them anyways... "...so I'm still ahead. But really, I'm protecting her more than me here." And that is a lie. And he knows it. But why does this lie actually bother him - maybe he's just upset about the issues back with UMBRA.
"But sure. You know, it's not about what happened today, but I do have a couple of problems I'm pretty sure you could be a great help to me with." he adds, because changing the subject is very appealing to him right now.
"Both of them would greatly benefit from the help of someone who's got a firm background and handle on the way cross-dimensional spaces and travel work. So... let me see. Two questions. Did you see that purple glow on some of the buildings during Walpurigsnacht - and unrelatedly, what do you know about objects falling out of subspace, out of phase with normal... time?" he asks. Then he stops to fire off another text.
Usagi shrugs at Takashi. "Just because you show a girl your underwear doesn't mean she's gotta show you hers. Even if they are a matching set."
And then they're getting nerdy. Which is interesting to listen to, of course, but for some reason it's not as much fun as when she's watching Mamoru and Ami nerd out.
So, she pulls out her own phone and just scrolls through Tumblr.
There's a sad lack of kitty pictures in her feed now...
"Oh hey, Ami-chan. You text Dr. Ami-chan's Mama yet?"
Ami reaches up to squeeze the bridge of her nose. "No," she mumbles to Usagi. "I thought you texted her about me staying with Mako-chan. I don't want to text her. I'm a terrible liar and she's going to see right through it and I don't think I want to explain henshins, magic, and Kunzite to her, yet."
She sighs and gives Usagi an uncomfortable look, then turns back to Takashi. "I saw some sort of dimensional shielding on several buildings during Walpurgisnacht. I assume that's what you're referring to?" she asks. "As to the second question: not nearly enough. I can make several hypothetical leaps, but all of them rely on an unstable subspace field, which most of my models suggest would cause catastrophic interractions with realspace."
Usagi sighs. "I did. But it would make her worry less if you send a text. Or, since I'm here, I'll send one for you from your phone."
She turns back to her phone. Let the nerds nerd. She doesn't have any plans until around dinner time, when her family drive in for their weekly dinner and Papa's 'My Daughter's Not A Freeloader' money.
Takashi is so confused by Usagi, he doesn't even have the energy left to actually be embarassed about the specific nature of the commentary. "I haven't shown Ami-chan my underwear, Tsukino-san. Nor have I seen hers. That was the whole point of calling Kaname-san over." he states. It takes him a moment to pick up on the fact that it's an analogy. "Oh. No, she can keep any secrets she needs to keep. Just... that works both ways, is all."
To Ami, he looks. "Well, a message telling her that you're okay wouldn't be amiss." he adds. Something about mothers worrying gets to him. Unless that mother is Precia, but that's a new wrinkle in that rule. "If you need me to check it over before you send it to make sure it doesn't seem too suspicious, I will." And Usagi's offering to text, too.
Takashi fires out a few texts of his own, brow furrowing a bit. "Yeah, there's more to the dimensional shielding - it's part of that system that runs through Mitakihara that lets them stack dimensions inside each other like one of those Russian dolls. I haven't quite figured out how they manage that successfully, though. And the re-orienting of it to shielding against something like Walpurgisnacht means it must have a system somewhere that uses an incredible amount of energy, so I'm thinking there's gotta be a system somewhere that holds and controls it."
"I want to find it and understand it. I was thinking maybe you could help me anaylze the readings, maybe see if there's a central anchor or something." he says, looking at her. "On project two - well, there was a big ship that broke up in dimensional space around Earth. Peices of it are coming down. I'd like to be able to figure out how to pull things out without waiting for them, or at -least- predict their trajectory."
Usagi just blinks at Takashi. He's...not quick on analogies, is he.
"Wait, stacked subspace?" Ami asks, leaning forward to squint at Takashi. "I didn't think that could be done beyond a single layer. More than that would result in potential collisions." She frowns just faintly, clearly deep in thought.
Without really even thinking about it, Ami hands her phone off to Usagi, then pulls her tablet up into her lap. The golden symbol of Mercury on the back of its teal rubber casing is surely just a pretty decoration that the dolphin-loving Ami likes, right? Switching over to her subspace models, Ami begins skimming through her own notes, briefly, then mumbles, "You did mention that craft breaking up before, but then we got interrupted by Endymion attacking you. You said that ship wound up ... crashing? Because of subspace being 'tricky' to navigate? Anyways, if you can find the subspace frequency and coordinates it should be possible to reach the location of those objects. Leave the tunnel open and you can almost certainly pull things out or put things in. That's how my dimensional pocket works."
Takashi nods at Ami. "No, it shouldn't be possible. But it clearly is. I think it has to use a tremendous amount of power just to keep them stable. Much less prevent them from changing when you don't want them to, yet relocate them when you need to. So there has to be a central... something... somewhere. I want to find it." he says, firmly.
Takashi feels a lot more limited without Axion, he realizes, the device sitting on the table silently repairing itself. But with Usagi on the couch he can't just go lean over, so he'll have to work from raw memory. The Horror!
"Being torn apart, is my understanding. I know a survivor. Stuff's way more advanced than what we have here. Same kind of tech as Devices, but lots bigger. And the disruption just annhilated the ship like paper."
"So now occasionally big chunks fall out, and little chunks, and artifacts, and people. Not being able to contain them is pretty dangerous." he says. "Plus, that sort of tech is useful to me in my research. So lots of reasons to know how they work."
Usagi texts Dr. Ami-chan's Mama.
Mother: I'm sorry I didn't text earlier. I'm just tired. Still feel ill. I love you.
She stares at it a moment, shrugs, and hits send.
And then...more nerding.
It's not the nerding that has her eyes glazing over. It's the realization that if she were to ask, Takashi wouldn't use candy to aid his explanations.
Probably, in fact, would make her feel incredibly stupid without trying.
"Hey, I need to go meet up with my folks for some dinner soon." Luna lifts her head at this. Usagi opens her purse, and Luna looks at Ami like 'do I stay here with you?'
"Are you okay? If you need me to come over again to help, I will!"
Ami leans down to kiss Luna on her moon-mark, scritching the cat behind the ears. "You can stay if you want. Or you can go. It's up to you," she says to the cat, as if it could understand her. This may leave Takashi confused for two reasons: first, that Ami is talking to a cat like it's a familiar; and second, that Ami is inviting such a creature to take up residence in his home for the duration of her own stay.
Ami accepts her phone back from Usagi, glances over what was sent, then smiles at Usagi. "Go noogie your little brother for me," she asks. "I'll be okay here," she promises. "Hopefully in a day or two I'll be well enough to actually move in with Makoto until I'm fully recovered." Because staying with this weird creepy boy is embarassing. "But I'll text you if I need anything. I promise."
Ami turns to regard Takashi again, then falls right back into the conversation. "Well if I can witness even one event of an object falling out of subspace I can nail down the frequency like ... immediately. But if I have to discern it from an event which has already taken place it's a lot harder. The bigger problem is the amount of energy required to access the space. The larger the space, the more energy it takes--and it's exponential, not linear."
In the grand scheme of things that have happened this week, talking to a cat really shouldn't register. But it still does, and he gives her a funny look. The discussion with Usagi doesn't involve him, except for her offering to come back. But he decides not to argue on that point right now.
The talk with Ami is a thousand times more interesting than a concern about Usagi's return or lack thereof. "See you around, Tsukino-san." he says, but he's already turning back to Ami and the conversation. "Well, then be prepared for much harder. Cause the event happened already. What we're seeing is just the after effects. Even judging when it happened is difficult because the way the Asura was moving plays merry hell with actual judgements of time in useful ways."
"We're talking like... a continuous dimension, I believe. Not a pocket one. I think. I'd love to get ahold of the technical logs for the Asura, but every time one drops, there's a scramble to get ahold of the stuff. I'm lucky to come away with what I have."
Luna curls up against Ami's shoulder and gives Usagi a Look. Then she offers Takashi one that would whither plants. Then licks her hindquarters at him for a moment.
Usagi gives Ami a hug and a forehead smooch. "I will! At least twenty of them!"
And hmmm. She wondered how that would work, all three of them staying at Makoto's. She should probably talk to the tall girl! Offer to sleep again at Mamoru's apartment but not telling Ami so she doesn't feel bad!
And then she's blinking at Takashi. And getting irritated. Her nose tilts up, just a bit. "You, too, Agera-san." Uh oh! Last name basis! And so formal! "Thank you for taking care of Ami-chan, and if you get yourself in another scrape while she's still recovering, I will surely return to kick your ass."
And then she's gone!
HMPH!
Really! Mamoru thought he was bad with people? Her introvert of a boyfriend is not nearly as socially inept as Takashi!
She strides down the hall and pulls out her phone. And puts on some headphones, because this is not something people should hear in public!
"This is the circumference, which you can remember because it sounds like circle. This is the diameter. Each of them has a measurement. We'll measure in pocky because they're more interesting than centimeters. If the diameter of this circle is one stick of pocky, the circumference is--"
"Ohhhh yeah." She realizes she has at least an hour or two. "Talk nerdy to me, MamoRecording."
Ami opens her mouth to justify Takashi to Usagi, but her friend is already mostly stormed off. So instead she just scoops up Luna and cuddles the kitty. "Continuous dimension," Ami mumbles thoughtfully. "That'd be more complicated," she says. "Then you'd need not only to know the dimensional frequency, but also where in the dimension you're referring to. Coordinates are less about our frame of reference and more the frame of reference of the dimension in question. I can try and analyze something from this ship you've mentioned," she explains, "but I don't know that I'll be able to get much from it. It sounds beyond what I can investigate. But I'll try anyways, if you'd like.
"I'd appreciate it." he says, inclining his head. So the cat is staying. Nice of him to be asked. He looks down and texts something, and for a moment it seems as though he's very sad, texting it and leaning back before he shakes it off. "Yeah, you can see my problem. I can handle the energy calculations, but I think I lack the necessary background to make heads or tails out of anything that'd help with the coordinates."
"But I figure you wouldn't." he says, with a smile. It is, to Takashi, a huge compliment he just gave her. "I can probably try to get something to you - but I don't have anything here." That's an understatement when it comes to the mostly-bare house.
"Well, if it ends up beyond what you can investigate, maybe the much more local disturbances in Mitakihara have potential." he says. But then he seems to light up, like he's gotten an idea. "Back to subspace for a moment. What if the thing I asked you to trace was a producer of a tremendous amount of energy. Would that make it easier? I mean we're talking off the charts energy. Lost Logia."
"Lost what?" Ami asks, confusedly. She suqints a little, then repeats in Japanese, 'lost words'? I have no idea what that has to do with the power-level you're talking about. But from context, I'd guess a massive energy source would be easier to track, but it still starts with finding the dimensional frequency. Studying a known locational ocurrence would certainly make it easier, since then you're not guessing and checking."
Takashi seems momentarily distracted by something. "Sorry." he says, and actually looks away for a moment to compose himself. There's a sigh, a heavy hearted sigh that doesn't match the tenor of the conversation, before he makes it back to it. "Lost Logia - it's a term for artifacts from ancient civilizations. A lot of them are just junk, but... there's the occasional outlier. Some of those outliers were onboard the Asura." he adds. "Or fell here recently, but independantly. I'm not entirely sure on the situation. But these little crystals... they possess a truly prodigious amount of energy."
"If I get hold of one maybe I'll bring it to you." he adds. "Though I don't have any right now. I do have access to some small bits of the Asura itself, but I'm not sure how useful that'll be to you without watching them fall."
He leans back. His eyes rest on her, perhaps a bit too long, before they wander back elsewhere.
Ami falls silent, watching his expression for a moment. She doesn't say anything, though; it would be rude. If he wants to include her in whatever frustration is currently eating at him, he will.
So instead, she simply looks back to her own tablet and sighs. There's nothing else to say, really. Nothing except ... "Your earing thing talked to me."
Takashi blinks. "It talked to you?" he repeats, almost parroting it word for word. And a side-eyed glare at his Device. "...what did it... say?" he asks, looking at her. "I mean. Yeah. Axion can talk. Usually doesn't though. Not even to me."
"Guess it just recognizes a superior intellect worth conversing with," Ami teases gently, eyeing Takashi out of the corner of her eye as she does. There's an expected response to this statement.
"But yes, 'Axion'?" she tests the word. "It talked to me. It said you were worried for me. I believe it was trying to make me not mad at you for threatening Usagi-chan."
Takashi takes the teasing... rather well, all things considered. "Perhaps. Maybe it's just bored of me. We've been together for months now, it knows most of what I know." he says, with a laugh.
Takashi looks at her - somehow, not away - somehow, not making a fool out of himself, maybe - as she says what it said. "Well, it's not wrong. I was - am - worried for you. And it probably came out negatively."
Ami smiles a little at Takashi accepting the teasing. "Well, I know that," Ami points out. "Otherwise you wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of catching me as I fell for Kunzite." She winks at him, then looks back to her tablet.
"You should probably get some rest," Ami notes quietly as she reaches down to stroke Luna's ears again, gently. "You look like that fight took a lot out of you. I'll whimper if I start dying again, promise."
Takashi smirks. Maybe it's the magic-science-nerd talk that relaxed him, because now Ami is acting more like Ami Mizuno and less like an ICU inhabitant. "Hey, from where I was perched, it looked a lot more like you were saying you'd rather fall for anybody BUT that guy. But you know, maybe he was going to catch you with something that wasn't liquid death and sweep you off your feet." he says, with a grin. "What do I know, I've been told I'm bad at reading signals. Something about being too forward." he adds.
"I spent so much time worrying about the effects of the poison on you I forgot to worry about the effects on me." he adds, a bit ruefully, because he'd never admit to losing all things being equal. Of course. "As long as you promise." he says, leaning back in the chair and getting comfortable in it. "Course, you also swore you'd never let me take care of you - and yet..."
"Having your care forced on me is not the same as letting you," Ami notes softly. "I am here under protest. I mean to leave just as soon as I am able."
There's a pause, then she asks, "Are you really going to just sleep in that chair? Surely your bed would be more comfortable."
"You came here under duress, not protest. You were too busy dying to protest. I am reasonably sure you would still elect to take the care were you able to choose your choice." he says, pointing.
"I've slept in this chair for what, five days now? It's getting comfortable at this point." he adds. "And I'd just be up there worrying I couldn't hear you and you were in pain, or something stupid like that." he admits, quietly, before leaning back into the chair.
Ami considers the response, then chooses not to argue it. Instead, she clicks her tablet off and sets it, face down (Mercury symbol up) on the table, then sinks down under the blankets again. "Good night, then," she says as she tries to make herself comfortable. This is not an easy task with the pain she's in, but exhaustion itself will do when comfort can't be found.