The Royal Garden. Where the Guardians of Seiyou Public School meet, and known to a small but increasing number of magical heroes of Tokyo as the heart of the Virtue group - heroes working to help each other without being cloying, to protect Tokyo, and oppose the machinations of Eclipse and dozens of other varied enemies.
It's also the place where, currently, Kiseki is trying to balance a third Takoyaki ball on his head while standing on one foot. Why? Because Daichi got three earlier and he will not be outdone.
"Tadase, the third one, please." he says, uncharacteristically polite in his focus. Tadase picks one of the balls out of the dish and carefully places it atop the other two, balanced on Kiseki's head. He should be doing paperwork, but he can't help but be amused at Kiseki's antics. He manages to keep them balanced for a few moments before one begins to tumble, and in his attempt to catch it, toppling over goes Kiseki, and the takoyaki balls with him. It's up to tadase to catch two, and the third one nearly rolls off the edge before Kiseki stops it.
But the doors open, and Tadase looks up from his Very Important Paperwork He Was Totally Doing Just A Moment Ago and waves. "Hello, Mercury-san!" he shouts. "Thanks for coming!"
Stepping through the front door of the garden dressed in a Sailor Scout fuku is bound to draw some attention, which is why Ami made sure to cross as little of the campus as possible. The trip from the observatory--where she has a waypoint--to the garden is a short one, at least from the possible angles of being caught; made all the shorter as Mercury ducks from bush to bush.
Nevertheless, when she does reach the garden, Mercury enters as if she were personally invited, and given the little folded up letter in her hand, she was. "Hotori Heika," replies Sailor Mercury amusedly. "And Sukoshi'o," a greeting directly to the 'little king' in the room.
"Kunzite left me a note," Mercury says , setting the folded letter down on the table. "I hope it wasn't too inconvenient waiting a day and a half for me to find the time to come by."
Tadase shakes his head, though all of the styling makes him grin. "No, not at all. It did say 'at your convinence' for a reason. I recongize you've been somewhat busy and put upon, and you've more than earned your rest." he says, getting up to walk over and pull out a chair for her specifically, before getting up to get the tea.
Of course there's tea, and Nadeshiko's scones. He gestures to Ami, pouring some for her if she wants it before pouring some in a tiny cup for Kiseki and then lastly for himself. And scones for all three.
"I think, if I was keeping score, you and your friends would have racked up an awful lot of Apocalypse Stopping points." he says. "Of course, as I'm sure you guessed, I didn't ask you to come by just so I could congratulate you on making sure the world keeps going for another day or so."
He smirks a little, and leans back. "Naturally, I want to ask if I can add more to a plate which I'm sure is already quite a bit full. But I think it's important, and I hope you'll agree."
Sailor Mercury takes the seat with bemusement, cautious not to crumple the long ribbons on the bow she wears on her back as she sits. She allows Tadase to serve her, waiting patiently but amusedly as he does, until at last he gets to the point.
When he begins with flattery, Mercury's expression dims just slightly from amusement to a guilty uncertainty, and rather than meeting his gaze she focuses on stirring the honey into her tea. When he's finally done, she admits, "We do what we can, but I'd argue we're no more active than anyone else in Virtue. Beryl was our problem, as was Fiore--problems we made for ourselves, which we appreciate Virtue's help with. But when it came to the actual apocalypse scenarios, Virtue on the whole stepped up in both cases.
"That we personally went to the asteroid to deal with it was my decision," Mercury admits quietly. "We could have invited others, but I was not fully confident in our ability to succeed, and I wanted to minimize the risk to the Earth should we fail. If more defenders had gone, and we'd failed, who would be left to make another attempt?" she points out to Tadase gently.
"Besides," she continues, "as I said, these were problems of the Moon and Earth Kingdoms, and we try not to make Virtue clean up messes we made for ourselves. My one regret is that I took too long to inform Virtue that the problem existed in the first place. I was blinded by foolish affection," Mercury admits. "I won't make the same mistake again, Heika," she promises gently.
But he wants more, and Sailor Mercury just isn't sure she has more of herself to give. Still, it would be impolite not to hear him out, so she motions, "How else may we aid Virtue?"
Tadase begins another set of remarks to Mercury with a soft shake of his head. "They weren't just your problems. You might've had a closer attachment to them for one reason or another, but just like the White Flower or Walpurgisnacht, Queen Beryl and the Xenian Meteor were threats to all of us, and it's up to us all to stick together. Even if they had only been threats to you, they still would've been Virtue's business." he says.
At this, Kiseki folds his arms. "Virtue isn't an organization designed to take. We come together to help each other in any time of need." the little chara says with a firm nod. And then Tadase nods.
"Even if the problem isn't global, or even Tokyo wide. Even if it's just a friend in danger. We'd like to help. There's a lot of us, and if we all spread our resources out, we'll find less people getting burnt out, and more effectiveness for the really major things like plant zombie apocalypses."
"As far as the rest of it goes, I trust your judgement, Mercury-Sensei." he says, having decided on the honorific in response to hers. "And I certainly didn't ask you here to question it. On the contrary, I actually called you here to see if it could be a thing I could avail Virtue of."
He folds his hands and leans forward. "When we created Virtue we were... shortsighted, perhaps. We thought the threat of Dark Energy would be temporary, especially at the rate we were seeing new heroes, and if we could bring them together we could snuff out the enemy."
"That's proving to not be the case - Dark Energy grows in the same way that we do. And that means we need to prepare for an extended conflict - one that may even span generations of Heroes." he says, solemnly. "And... in the event of something like that, one resource that we've decided it would be important to preserve is knowledge. That way we can hand down our understanding of the enemies, our experiences, to any future generations, and bring us closer to that victory we all seek, so we can lay down our arms and live in a safe world."
"...I'd like to tap your for help at least getting the Virtue Archives set up. I've talked with some people who have been inside Eclipse and I know we're behind on what they have. And I think if anyone's fit to tell me what we need, that's you. Plus, we've got some salvaged databanks from the Asura and I can't think of anyone else I'd trust enough to put those with who's also brilliant enough to actually get functional data and equipment out of it."
To say that Sailor Mercury believes in Virtue's Cause would be an understatement. The idea of an organization working together for the common good, lacking in formal structure or rank, and actively seeking to empower those in need with the resources to do good, is as close to the platonic ideal as she could imagine.
So to have Tadase Hotori remind Sailor Mercury of that vision is, to say the least, a bit humbling for her. Mercury leans forward a little as he does remind her, the guilt in her expression somewhat obvious. She tries to bury it, nonetheless; sublimate it behind a sip of her tea.
Too soon.
The tea comes spewing right back out when he follows such a humbling reminder by referring to her with such a high honourific as 'sensei'. At least she has the grace to turn her head so that neither Kiseki nor Tadase (nor his papers) are drenched!
"S-sensei!?" Mercury asks soto voice, blushing severely as she turns to regard him. But he's not done, and her eyes slowly widen as he explains what he wants from her.
Humbling indeed.
Sailor Mercury's eyes go from terrified, to slowly widening with understanding and interest, to downright excited.
"King," she mumbles quietly, then blushes again and looks away.
For a moment, Mercury says nothing else. She takes that moment to compose herself, sets down her tea, then leans forward to explain, "We are not as far behind as you think.
"When I awakened as the Soldier of Wisdom," Mercury explains, "I very early used my powers to draw forth an analytical computer which I have used to catalogue and analyze every encounter I have been a part of, and several which I have only witnessed from afar. I Have cameras placed in strategic points throughout the city to aid that analysis, and frequently Sailor Moon and Sailor Jupiter carry those cameras with them into battle when I am not able to have a direct presence, as well.
"Additionally," she says, "when we gained access to the Moon Palace earlier this year, I was granted a gift by Queen Serenity of the Silver Millenium: a computer system that has stretched through the aeons, beyond the barriers of time, known as the Eternity MAIN System. It is what powers the hologram of Queen Serenity, and the amount of knowledge stored in that library is vast--more vast, perhaps, than anything Eclipse can claim. I've only just begun to scratch the surface of the knowledge stored there. And I'm still adding my own notes to it, constantly."
So she smiles, and says, "I cannot give unrestricted access to Eternity; there's dangerous knowledge stored in there which, even in well meaning hands, could cause disaster. But what I can do is begin indexing it, and indexing my own notes, and provide terminals with access to the less dangerous information for Virtue to use. I won't tie it directly into heartnet, but perhaps with Lindy-sama's and Luna's help, we can perform regular synchronizations of the less restricted data into heartnet. In that way, we will have an archive that Eclipse will be jealous of."
Kiseki and Tadase exchange the quickest little smirk when Ami turns away for her spittake - one that's gone by the time she turns back. Wether intentional or not, they're surely going to pretend to each other it was.
"Ah, you're not as far behind, currently. But people like Runealy-san and Suzuki-san don't have that access - not even a fraction of it - which is why I wanted to come to you. I couldn't think of anyone who'd be better suitied to give us a jumpstart, and it's good to see my faith rewarded."
Kiseki turns to Tadase. "Did you understand all of that?" he says, his eyes little spinny circles. Tadase laughs and says, as much to Ami as to Kiseki, "I understood enough to know I've found the right person to lay a foundation for us to make sure we don't lose information, so we can know what works and what doesn't, and so we don't make the same mistakes repeatedly." he says with a smile.
"And any mistakes you can inform us of ahead of times are mistakes we don't have to make at all!" he adds with a smirk. "I understand you'll want to keep some of the more dangerous cards close to your chest, though I perhaps might implore you to share them with Tsukasa and Lindy if not all of Virtue and Heartnet." Notably, he doesn't include himself here. "I admit to not liking the idea of keeping information - even dangerous information - dependant on our access to only one person who quite often finds herself busy, as you've attested." he says, ever the concerned one.
"And I'd like for this to not become too terrible a burden for you. You can be as involved with the Archives as you like. Of course there's not much to them at the moment. We've got some of the TSAB remnant digging em out magically under the Garden at night - heavy equipment raises questions and wakes neighbors!" he says with a grin. "But eventually we want to have something big down here. We don't need you to manage it, don't worry." he says with a smile.
"Just, you know, Data and Analysis Consultant or something. If you want a fancy title I'll make one up, it's good to be King. But Lindy and Tsukasa are going to handle the actual day-to-day stuff."
"Fancy titles are for Eclipse," Mercury says honestly, smiling like a kid in a candy store. "Just ... let me manage the project, with Lindy-sama and Tsukasa-sama's oversight," she says, "and I'll be satisfied. As for giving them access to the dangerous information, I'll take it under advsiement. Maybe I'll even discuss it with them. But it's frankly knowledge I'm not sure I want, yet. I know it's there but I haven't read it."
Now she reaches for her tea again, and this time she manages not to spit it back out. She sips demurely, then returns it to the table. "It will take some time; probably all of summer vacation to set up the scripts to transfer the right data from Eternity into Heartnet. But I think that will be a good use for my summer, if nothing else tries to blow up the world in the meantime."
Tadase doesn't know anything about being overly concerned with a specific title. NOTHING AT ALL. NOPE. So he just nods. "Fair enough. But I do want to ensure you get credit. This could actually save a lot of people, if not immediately then down the road. It could aleviate undue suffering. And in that way it fights our enemy directly, by reducing the places Dark Energy can get a foothold."
"As I said, I trust your judgement implicitly. All I want you to do is think about it. If you decide the information is better kept hidden away, and that's what you're sure is best? That's where I want it to be - hidden away."
"You've got my full support, and I'm sure Tsukasa and Lindy's. Just tell me what you need, Mercury-Sensei, and I'll make sure we find it." he says with another smile.
"We can only hope our lives are so calm. I'd like to remember what it's like without some sort of looming apocalypse headed for Tokyo or the world or the universe."
There it is again. 'Sensei'. Sailor Mercury twitches, and turns her head agside, then asks, "Just call me Mercury-senshi if you need to use an honorific, Hotori Heiki," she begs him quietly, amused and a little overwhelmed at the same time. Then she tries to crack the joke, "Mercury-sensei is my mother."
She grins faintly, then says, "Just get me access to the TSAB computers you've been working with." She taps her chin in thought, then explains, "I've still got my access to heartnet from when we upgraded the security protocols last time. Speaking of, we should do that again. And ... Kunzite." Pause. "I don't know about the rest of the Shittenou, but Kunzite has earned a place in Virtue, I think. Please consider it," she notes.
But then it's back to the matter at hand, "When can I get started? I'll want to talk to Lindy-sama and her engineers; they've got the most experience interfacing alien technologies. I'm sure I've got a lot to learn, but I'm eager for the challenge."
Tadase shurgs. "If you insist, Mercury-Senshi." he says, though he tries to pronounce it as close to Sensei as he can. He must be messing with her. "I didn't know the Sailor Senshi ran in families!" he says, suddenly, blinking. The comment went totally over his head and activated full on Blank Look Tadase.
But back to the work at hand, hereditary sailor senshi aside. "Sure. I think we plan on getting them moved down here Friday, so you can spent the weekend poking at em' if you like." he says, and then leans forward.
"Kunzite... I think with everything I've heard I'm onboard, but I'll have to have Tsukasa do a rea- I mean, Tsukasa will have to look over them." he says. He isn't sure he wants to admit to Mercury a lot of weight is placed on Tsukasa's readings. Though they have never been wrong.
"So... Friday I can meet you here and show you where the entrance is, and we should at least have the databanks down there by then. I'll try to get Lindy and some of her engineers here too."
Then he coughs and looks suddenly and sharply decidedly less proper and in charge of things. "Actually... since that would be Friday, can I ask something? Strictly nothing to do with Virtue. Just me asking a favor?" he says.
This weekend!? That's before the summer even starts! Mercury's eyes light up excitedly at the idea, but she doesn't express it too openly. She nods her head at the Kunzite news, but then Tadase's changing the subject, and Mercury tries to come back down from cloud nine so she can focus on the more immediate matter.
"Something before Friday?" she asks, curiously furrowing her brow. "Sure, what can I do for you?" she's curious, now, and he's pretty much made her week. She's absolutely willing to give him a lot of leeway right now.
Tadase puts his pointer fingers together slowly and doesn't look her in the face. Basically by that gesture alone, much less the way he says 'uhhhh' for a moment, he doesn't look like the Very Clear Voice Of Virtue, but just like another boy her age she might run into at school. When he finally does talk, it's a river of words that flow out all at once without proper punctuation.
"So there's the dance on Thursday and it's for a really good cause and I feel like I should really show up but my girlfriend just started a foriegn exchange program but if I go to a dance alone I always get mobbed by girls and I can't really deal with that so I usually go with Nadeshiko but I'm sure she's going with Kukai..."
And Then there's a kick under the table of a tiny king to a bigger 'king's' shin. And Tadase shakes his head and asks directly. "I'd consider it a personal favor if you'd accompany me to the Charity Ball."
It's a good thing Ami doesn't have her tea to her lips again, because she'd be spittaking for the second time in this conversation. As it is, her jaw drops open, and then she forces her mouth shut again with an audible *click*.
Right now, she has never wanted an excuse of 'But I already have a boyfriend' more. But she doesn't. How is she supposed to weasel out of this?!
She could try to hook him up with someone else, but then he might be insulted. Oh bother. "That ... will entail learning my true identity," Mercury points out very gently. "And it will mean that I will be seen in public with you. I think I'm okay with these things, but I will want to establish some ground rules in advance," she notes.
"Foremost," she says, "my identity is a secret I would scarcely like openly revealed. I will thank you to continue referring to me as Sailor Mercury whenever you are speaking of me in any capacity, even though you might then know my name." Unless she decides to go to it with a mask on. Hmm! It's not a masquerade ball, but high class and snooty does qualify right? Yeah, that might work.
"Second," Ami says, banishing those fears, "we are going as friends, not as a couple. You're a very sweet boy, Hotori-san, but you're not my type. I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.
"If you need me to pull you out of a gaggle of girls by claiming you for a dance, I can do that for you. But attending a dance together does not entitle you to my affections on a personal level. And if anyone asks, I expect you to say we're just friends. Is that acceptable?"
To be fair, having someone set ground rules for Tadase is an odd and new experience, but sitting there and listening he also can't find fault with any of them. Still, it was easier when he went with Nadeshiko and they just knew, just understood the situation, without any of this stuff making him feel like he'd been locked in a room with one of Eclipse's youma lawyers and forced to debate with it instead of fight.
"Well, I will point out you know my identity, but I will be sure not to breach yours. I understand how important such saftey can be for you and your family." he says, clearly and carefully. Something about the way she's talking is so clinical, so direct that it makes him feel the need to step verbally to her level, or at least try to.
"Of course we're going as friends. I don't want Amu to kill me." he says. Tadase seems to be... far less jocular about this than one might expect - like that might be a serious concern. "I... don't think you're my type either, Mercury-Senshi, all respect intended." She's certainly no Amu, he thinks, but has the courtesy to not say. "I wouldn't want anyone to, as well."
"Friends, absolutly. Trust me, you'll know if I need your help. Last time they nearly suffocated me to death. At which point I'd request a life preserver dance from my Friend And Nothing More Mercury-san."
Sailor Mercury chuckles amusedly at the idea of being a life preserver. "Well," she says, "I think we can make this work out just fine, then." She reaches for her tea again, then says, "How about I meet you here about thirty minutes before the dance. Do you have transportation to it from here, or should I have a car pick us up?"
"I'd feel really out of place if I made you arrange transportation." Tadase says, smiling. "I know it's not a date, but... well, I guess the King thing makes me a little bit old fashioned at times. If you meet me here 30 minutes before I'll have a way for us to get the rest of the way."
"It's settled then," Mercury replies, inclining her head just faintly. "And I guess I can tell you now, my real name is uh ... Snowe," she says, blushing just a little. "Maru Snowe." Setting her teacup aside, Mercury starts to rise, then. "I'll see you on Thursday?"
Tadase nods. "Thank you, Mercury-senshi. You have no idea how stressful these things can be for me. I'll see you on Thursday."