Intervention

Hooray for summer. It's hot and sunny and muggy and cloudy all over Tokyo, but without the consideration of rain to wash the heat off. Which explains why Kukai Souma is wearing a nice light t-shirt and calf-length shorts with his sneakers today, with no jacket or scarf or anything. What might be a bit harder to explain is why he's up on top of one of the taller apartment buildings in the city, looking at the roof exit door and the tall, white-haired figure taking up the shade of the brick outcropping.

Kukai sighs and closes the phone in his hand, moving to drop it into a pocket before stopping. A little blue haired figure sticks his head out of that pocket and glares up at Kukai before hovering out to look around. "Sorry Daichi." Kukai shakes his head and shifts the phone over to another pocket before dropping it in. "Usagi's in detention. Sleeping in class caught up with her finally. And on a test day, too. So.... it's just us. And Naru, when she shows up. Thanks again Kazuo for letting us do this up here."

He looks over at the aforementioned us and grins. "You doing ok in the sun? I feel like I should've brought an umbrella."

She's figured she may as well do more Guardian things. And she's figured to come out as 'she' today because skirts are infinity cooler than pants.

And cuter, too.

"Detention? Really?" Her shoulders slump a little. "We always seem to miss each other for some reason."

And then her cheeks turn a bit pink. And she may be fighting away a grin. "I'll be fine. If it gets too much, I'll find some shade."

This is, of course, a severe drawback of being a dancer who depends on the lack of sunburn to wear makeup.

Temari and Rhythm are not in a pocket. Rhythm's trying to see out of the telescope while Temari's found a nice patch of shade of her own.

Then she does grin, and it's sly. "I could always use you to block out the sun."

Kazuo has chosen a position that gives him line-of-sight to the telescope. Probably so that, if necessary, a sudden shield can manifest between Rhythm and the scope. 'Necessary' has a broad range; trying to adjust the position counts, or instance.

There may have been a warning not to touch the scope. There may have been a separate warning not to hug the scope. Possibly, if necessary, twice.

"Our pleasure," Kazuo says now to Kukai. And to Nadeshiko, "If you'd prefer, we can arrange that shade. And something a little cooler. If it won't throw off anything else you're doing."

He does not comment about Usagi being in detention. He does not comment about Usagi always being in detention.

Days get long now that they start a whole lot earlier than they once did. Naru has always been a morning person, but not generally quite this /active/ in the mornings. Tuesdays are particularly long, but worth it.

Naru heads up in the elevator, her school bag over her shoulder, and a gym bag besides. Someone clearly hasn't gone home yet. The rest of the trip up to the roof is done via the stairs, and wow. Stairs are /hard/. That next day ache in her legs is reminding her in all sorts of ways on how much /fun/ running is. Really. Honest. At this rate, Naru is going to be joining Usagi sleeping in class.

The door to the roof is pushed open, and Naru blinks against the brilliant sunshine out there as she steps out. A hand goes up to shield her eye and she looks around at the trio of people (with extra little flying friends!). "Er. Hi?"

Kukai grins slyly back at Nadeshiko. "Well, I mean, if you want to stand that close to me, I can provide some shade." He shrugs. "I... y'know, I've seen a lot of what she does when she's on the job. I'm not surprised she sleeps in class. And everywhere else."

Daichi goes over to see what Rhythm finds so interesting about the telescope, and maybe help with the 'don't hug it again' bit.

Kukai waves a hand over at Kazuo and grins. "I'm ok." It's mostly true - he's got a slightly darker tan than most people, which comes from running around being Sportsball-kun all the time. All the sports. "Maybe Nadeshiko could use it. I don't think anything would bother what we're doing, but then again I don't know if it wouldn't bother it, you know."

He shrugs, then looks up as the door opens, waving back at Naru. "Hey! C'mon out. We thought Usagi was gonna be here - this was her idea - but apparently she's in detention, so it's just the two of us and Kazuo." He nods over at Kunzite. "It's good to see you again! Doing all right?"

(It should be noted that Rhythm is indeed taking Kunzite's warnings (both of them) against hugging the telescope to heart. It should also be noted that yes, he was tempted. Because the telescope is awesome. He also shows Daichi what he's been watching. A bunch of people in a park playing a variety of sports!)

Nadeshiko's cheeks turn a little more pink as Kazuo expands on the offer of shady places. "I'm fine for now, thank you." And he gets a sly little grin of his own! "I'll make sure to let you know if I feel like a delicate flower wilting in the sun."

It's easy for her attention to turn back toward Kukai. "What, stand all close like this?" She takes a sliding step closer. There is that touch bit of shade and it's surprising how much it helps.

Something flirty would usually follow, of course, but it's interupted by the arrival of Naru.

Nadeshiko offers a cheerful wave.

Rhythm looks up. Having already hugged (or attempted to) Kazuo, Naru's his next target.

He does a little dive bomb of affection, plastering against Naru's face for a moment.

"As you like." Excuses for standing near Kukai are after all obviously rare and precious, and not at all something Nadeshiko might generate every five seconds. The offer to deal with sun and heat is not extended to Naru -- not out loud, anyhow. Kazuo only nods to her arrival, and keeps half an eye on how she's adjusting. Half. The rest is staying on the scope, even if Daichi might be somewhat safer than Rhythm near it. Maybe.

"Hi Rhythm." Naru covers that divebomb of affection first off, reaching a hand up to gently give a hug against her cheek. "How're you? Staying out of trouble?" She moves further onto the roof, to be able to drop off her bags against the wall that Kunzite is holding up. "Usagi is really good at detentions, she practices." Naru's voice is fond, but resigned to this reality.

The sun and heat doesn't seem to be irritant enough to prompt comment from Naru. There's a nod of greeting to Kunzite before her attention settles upon Kukai and Nadeshiko again. "So.. uh.. what's up?"

There was just about to be a moment of flirting and perhaps an arm around Nadeshiko's shoulders and who knows what else, but the business at hand has arrived, so Kukai nods to Naru and grins, giving her a minute to pat Rhythm. Daichi waves at her as well! "Hey Naru. Yeah, she seems to be. When she finds something she likes she hangs onto it with a death grip, though." He rubs his chin and grins. "Well. Usagi wanted us to talk to you more about Chara Bearers - in short, she wanted us to check to see if you might be one, or might have the potential to be one."

He motions Naru over and grins. "It shouldn't take too long, really. And y'know, if you don't want to know, that's fine too."

"Of course not!" Rhythm's grin is wide, toothy, and full of much cheese! Then Naru's cheek is free as he goes back to the telescope. "Did the guys with the hats score yet?"

If the arm stays, Nadeshiko doesn't move away or shrug it off. After all, it's a bit chilly outsi--

Yeah, she just likes the arm. It's comfy and the heat isn't so bad as to make it uncomfortable.

Nadeshiko hums in thought. "That can either be a good thing, or a bad thing."

She really doesn't know which. Aside from a drive-by 'huehuehue' at the ball, Nadeshiko's barely even been in the same room as the moon girl.

Her attention is on Naru, and she continues where Kukai left off. "And if you aren't a Chara Bearer, it doesn't mean your dreams aren't strong. Oh."

She moves away from Comfy Arm and approaches Naru, digging through her purse. She pulls out a smallish bag and a mediumish bag. Both of them are handed over.

"The small one is a tea blend. You can take it with honey if you like, but it's better straight. It helps counteract the lactic acid. The larger one is an Epsom salt blend. Some bits to help the muscles more, and some other bits that, well, it makes it smell pretty."

Lack of comment is noted and ignored; it's Naru's reactions that Kauzo's watching absently for. But the warmth is likely to be better on strained muscles. Good enough, then; he keeps to what little of a darker patch he has, and lets the others have the sun.

(It's just a touch amusing to him that Temari shares his priorities. But he's wiser than to comment. At least after the first round with the naginata.)

"Wouldn't I be already?" Naru asks, simply enough as she waggles her fingers in a wave to Daichi. She frowns a little, working through this in her head. "Or if I was, wouldn't it be obvious? I mean.." She pauses again, even though she's wandering closer as she considers. "There was a lot of sometimes about heart's eggs and sometimes about Guardian Charas.. and I have no idea how strong my dreams are. Seriously messed up periodically, but those aren't the kinda dreams we're talking here."

Naru accepts the little bags, glancing to them and then her expression turns unabashedly thankful. "Thank you. I apprecaite these. A lot." And more and more after every workout with Hannah, no doubt.

Kukai grins and pats Nadeshiko's shoulder with the hand around her shoulder, until she moves forward. "Right. It just means you haven't needed help fulfilling them. Or the stars haven't been in alignment, or something." He follows her over, watching her hand over little satchets of tea. "...Do you.." He shuts up and nods.

The only thing Kukai thinks as he passes Kazuo is that he notices Temari scootching ever closer to the teen. No reason to say anything just yet.

"Yeah, that's what I thought as well. I mean, generally it's pretty obvious. Um, Daichi, if you can help..." Daichi hovers over and sits on Naru's shoulder, grinning at her. The Chara begins to talk. "Right! Even strong dreams don't always have a Chara, but everyone has a heart's egg, which has a dream, which has a Chara! It's just if yours has ever felt the need to present itself." He peeeeers in at her closely, examining her, much as Kukai does, staring hard at Naru, the top of his head tingling a bit as he tries to detect if there's any magic innately within her - not his main ability by far, but...

"We don't always know our dreams." Nadeshiko looks over at Rhythm for a beat, then double-takes at Temari's discrete shift over toward Kazuo. "Often times an egg is revealed when there's a dream so great that it just...manifests. And sometimes they are quick to hatch. Other times, you get stuck with a stubborn blue egg for months because he's waiting for you to realize the answers to questions you're not even aware are being asked."

Rhythm looks up at this and gives Nadeshiko that large, cheesy grin as he trails behind Daichi.

She looks up at Kukai with questioning eyebrows at his cut off question before turning back to Naru. "There isn't any strong drugs in either of them. So when you take a bath you won't think you're talking to the character from the last movie you watched. That's for those aches that are bone deep."

Rhythm tries to help by pulling out a teensy flashlist to peek in Naru's ear.

Temari, who very much does not scootch how unladylike, is now sitting perhaps a foot away from Kazuo, back turned to him and looking all around. She's very much like a cat trying not to be obvious in wanting attention.

Everyone has a heart's egg? If Kazuo is privately dubious about that statement, he keeps it to himself; first, they're the experts, not him, and second, when dealing with people who are powered by belief, keep the doubting aloud to things that will actually cause problems.

And since the Charas have all vacated the telescope for the moment, there are none of those here right now.

He does not look down at Temari directly, even now that he can spare attention safely. Nor does he address the Chara with her back turned. He does, however, settle down into a crouch, closer to her level. Obviously it's because he just happened to get bored with holding up the wall.

Or possibly because he needed very badly not to be looking at Rhythm and flashlight.

Naru turns her head to do her best to peer at Daichi as he settles on her shoulder. Curious, she quirks a brow at him. "My bet is that my Chara is probably sleeping, or undeveloped or just entirely uninterested in presenting itself." Naru's skeptical is strong.

"I .. didn't even think to ask if they were going to get me stoned, so thank you for the reassurances that they aren't. My legs aren't /that/ sore." Naru quirks a rather wry little smile at that. "My normal life is plenty trippy enough, really. I don't need to help it along."

While there might well be a Chara somewhere in Naru, it certainly has no desire to peek out, even to a flashlight into her ear. There's no real signs of life on that front, mores the pity. It would seem that Naru has no destiny in becoming a Chara Bearer, certainly not anytime soon, likely not ever.

That being said, there's something just a hint /off/ in Rhythm trying to read her magical power. Probably not in an evil kinda way, probably. Faint, odd, out of step, and just a hint of quirk.

It's probably inaccurate to call Naru 100% mundane anymore. Probably closer to 99.5%.

Daichi appears to be concentrating very hard, hands on Naru's shoulder. "It's... I can't tell." He looks over at Kukai and then grins weakly. "I dunno how to do this..." Kukai smiles and nods at him. "It's fine, really." He chuckles a bit. "You think that's weird? I'm pretty sure Nadeshiko's aunt has things in a couple of her teas that may be strictly not legal. They're great at making you not feel like you've been hit with a car, though."

He sighs and looks over at Nadeshiko and Rhythm. "....Anything? I can't tell."

Temari, who's set up her tea set while the others shine light in ears, nudges a tiny cup Kazuo's way.

Rhythm blinks and pulls back. He scratches the back of his head. "Um, I think so? I didn't think it would actually do anything, I was just kinda goofin.'" Big cheesey grin! "But I felt a bit of a something. Felt like a squonk and a vibrating in my spleen. Normally I get fuzzies from non magic people. Sometimes a bit of a wibbley from other Chara Bearers. Kazuo-kun feels like static cling. I figured it coulda been Naru Flavor, because each person has a different one. Kukai has a wibbly with a dash of doki."

Rhythm looks up at Kukai with large, serious eyes. "I'm new. I dunno what I'm doing."

Nadeshiko gives her youngest chara a fond smile, even if she is blushing at the doki. "You did well."

She looks at Kukai out of the corner of her eyes, tilting her head just so that she's looking through her eyelashes. "Why do you think I don't question Aunty exactly what I'm given?"

Naru's skeptical is indeed strong, and the conversation that she and Kazuo had about some of her ambitions -- fashion versus art, and the practicalities and impracticalities of each, not to mention the virtues of instant noodles when compared to nothing at all -- did suggest a few things about the teenager's odds.

... still, even doubters sometimes have secret hopes. Ah well.

When it comes to the Charas that actually exist? Kunzite does not want to know what 'feels like static cling' means. Neither 'glued to the skin' nor 'ow! ow!' is particularly flattering -- though given the basis of his power, it could have been considerably worse. 'Feels kind of like Lacrima' would probably not have been conducive to the conversation staying quite as light.

The nudge of the tiny cup is accepted gravely. "Thank you, Temari." He considers the little Chara for a moment. "Forgive me, I should have asked you as well as the others. Are you comfortable in this weather?"

"A .. squonk.. and spleen vibration." The tone that Naru uses to repeat back that particular verdict is skeptical at best. "I can accept Naru flavour, that seems pretty accurate really." Naru gives a little shrug. "I think I'm pretty safe from my Chara waking up and wishing me good morning, though. Like we all speculated, if I was going to, it would have happened already."

"Thank you for looking, Rhythm. And Daichi too." Naru is polite in thanking them both, offering them each a little smile, and glancing over to Temari and her tea set, including that tableau in her smile.

There's a little laugh and Naru gestures a touch. "If.. no.. when.. I end up feeling like I've been hit by a car and need 'special' tea to help cope.. I'll call you."

Kukai hmms and then rubs his chin, looking at everyone and considering. "I guess a really really little bit of something is to be expected. Magic sort of sticks to people and with as much as you've been around I guess something stuck to you." He doesn't sound very sure, but it's what he says. "I guess that's all we can ask for." He reaches over and pats Rhythm's head. "You did good!" Daichi gets headpats too. "Both of you."

Kukai grins and steps back, looking at Naru and Kunzite, then turns to Nadeshiko and leans over, whispering to her. "dokidoki?" He can't help but have that smug, happy grin on his face at this point. "Well. I don't think there's anything else we can do. We can call Usagi later and tell her what we found out. Are we done here?"

Temari looks up at Kunzite, and it's easy to tell which chara holds similar expressions when speaking to certain individuals. Corner of the eye, through eyelashes. "I have taken measures to be so, thank you."

The tiny chara looks around before leaning toward Kunzite. "I have ice packs in my obi."

Rhythm shrugs at Naru. "When your foot falls asleep, you get prickly pins. But if you don't know what it's called, it's hard to describe."

Nadeshiko smiles at Naru. "I'll be happy to share, though Aunty may want to keep you around the first time or two to make sure you don't react poorly."

She gives a slight frown. "There's a guest room in her wing you'd be able to use, though you could always sleep in the media room if you wish, especially if Father's not home."

Of course, her cheeks are warm as she nudges Kukai with her elbow. "Like there's no dokidoki for you."

And of course, she's biting back a smile.

She clears her throat. "But yes. Um...anything else we can help with, give us a call."

She points her fingers at Naru for a moment, brain still distracted by a smug Kukai. "Give me a call when your legs no longer weep after running. We can figure out a schedule if you're still interested."

Tiny ice packs. Crushed ice must be to her as ice cubes are to human-sized people. "Clever," Kunzite says to Temari (never mind the hint of expression at the corners of his eyes) and returns the tiny cup to her as the tall people prepare for departure. There may be a mental note made to arrange, in among the renovations, dishes and furniture for mascot hospitality.

Still crouched by the Chara, he glances over to Naru. "And wise. Zoisite's been providing for us in emergencies, but it's best not to ask how." Nadeshiko's Aunty is likely to be a safer option. Or at least an option less likely to involve accidentally mistargeted pranks.

"I am still interested." Naru nods to Nades at her comment, and from there, her expression turns a touch rueful. "I expect that when my legs no longer weep after running, that'll just be a signal that there'll be more running. So we may have to sort out a schedule even while my legs, and arms.. and.. well.. while bits still weep." She takes a slow breath and nods. "Might have to do after school somewhere. I don't think I can get up much earlier and still be able to concentrate at school."

"I'm good, thank you though." Naru smiles warmly. "And thank you both for y'know.. looking, and trying to see if I have that sort of potential. It was really thoughtful of you, and Usagi.. I'll aim not to need a guest room, or the media room, anytime soon." Which knowing Naru.. isn't likely to happen. She'll just not think to /call/.

Naru glances to Kunzite as he mentions Zoi and nods, turning back to the others.