There's been a scrub of orange throughout Tokyo. There's been video (more akward than adorable, no matter that the account is usually used for adorable) that shed some light on the situation, although perhaps with more questions than answers. And now there's a Naru at the garden.
One of these things is not like the other, and the fact that there's a Naru at the garden is probably a whole lot more questions, or at the very least different ones.
Naru doesn't look all that shy as she makes her way across the garden, a touch wary perhaps, but based on how her last couple weeks have gone, that seems only reasonable.
Tadase is, of course, somewhat aware of the situation - or at least as aware as anyone in Virtue is. What to do about it, though, is another question entirely.
But sometimes smaller problems take precedence over bigger problems. Or maybe it's that sometimes smaller problems locally can seem like bigger problems than global concerns.
And that's why, as Naru makes her way across the garden, Tadase - in an absolutely different attitude than she's seen him, far more the 15 year old with all of his problems than Virtue's point of contact - bursts out of a bush in front of her, shaking his fist at the sky.
"GIVE THAT BACK, KISEKI! OR I'LL PUT YOU BACK IN YOUR EGG AND THROW IT IN THE SEWER!" he shouts, full of equal parts anger, desperation, and a degree of humiliation. Above, Kiseki is floating, with a letter in one of his hands. It looks big in the tiny Chara's grip.
With his other hand, he makes an akanbe at Tadase - right before a clod of dirt hits Kiseki square in the face and makes him drop the letter. It flutters down until Tadase leaps in the air to grab it, and in doing so, he (finally) notices Naru.
And he practically lights up like the red part of a police lightbar. "Osaka-san! What brings you here?!" he says, trying to regain some of that regal bearing. It's really not working.
There is a pause at the exploding shrubbery that evicts a Tadase who is .. yelling at Kiseki? Well then. Naru stops to watch, the antics of both of them making her smile as she folds her arms, lingering there. Just a little tiny bit of a giggle, especially at the dirt throwing and letter tackling.
"Hotori-san." Naru greets with that amused smile stil holding, increasing really as Tadase glows with the blush. "I hope I'm not inturrupting."
How she manages to keep a straight face as she asks is basically a miracle, especially as her attention flickers from Tadase, over to the dirt splattered Kiseki and then back to Tadase. It is still with a hint of that amusement, tamped down to something vaguely appropriate. "Social call, mostly. Although based on a lack of orange, I can't promise that it will stay at discussions of weather, or local sports teams."
Tadase blinks. A lot. Kiseki comes down to float over Tadase shoulder, like he always does, as though Tadase chasing Kiseki down like that was a common occurance. (It is.)
"Yeah, I really should get myself together and visit the Keepers." he says, though an attentive person might notice the degree with which he's clutching the letter he dirt-clobbered his chara to get back. "And see where Mercury-san is with our project..." he continues, but the social call aspect brings him back to the conversation.
"Well, if you wanted to discuss sports, you've got the wrong Guardian, that's Kukai. But I imagine you didn't mean that literally." he says, smiling, before nodding to the table underneath the gazebo at the top of the dias. "Would you like tea, or snacks? I think I have some of Nadeshiko's cookies I can get into."
"I didn't mean that literally." Naru confirms with a smile and a nod. "I don't actually follow most of what Kukai talks about when he gets going on sports, but his enthusiasm is infectious, so it doesn't really matter."
"If you were having tea anyhow, I would be glad of some, but no need to make it special on my behalf." Naru comments and then quirks her head. "I didn't know Nadeshiko baked. I've been spoiled by Makoto's baking, mine doesn't hold a candle to it."
"I don't know where to find the Keepers, which I admit, was part of my thought in coming to visit." Naru comments as she catches Tadase's comment on visiting them. "Pink is not coping. Yellow was doing better, but not great. At least as of right after, I have hope that Pink's doing better today."
Tadase laughs. "I know exactly what you mean. I don't know what he's so excited about, but I'm at least excited FOR him." he says with a grin. "Look, there's always tea and cookies. It's good for after studying and after youma fighting." he says, walking to the back.
True to his word, there's tea and cookies. Nadeshiko might be one of the few people in Tokyo who could have their food on the same plate as Makoto, and it shows in the cookies - Kiseki floats down, grabs one, and carts it off to somewhere high up to eat the thing which is almost as big as he is.
"I can contact them on the Virtue phones, but if they're taking it rough they might not answer. And I honestly don't know if that's the right thing to do... before I make any moves I want to talk to Tuskasa, maybe have him... do the thing he does. Maybe he can tell me if I'd do more harm than good."
"Sometimes, people need to work things out themselves, and outside intervention doesn't make that an easier process."
"My refreshments of choice post-youma generally are somewhat less delightful and more medicinal." Naru comments with a note of dry to her tone as she joins Tadase for tea and cookies.
They ARE good cookies, that's for certain.
"I will have to compliment Nadeshiko on the cookies when I next see her." Naru comments as she tries one and then nods. "I considered contacting them by Virtue phone as well, but had the same thought on it not being quite as effective as stopping by. There's much to be said from watching the subtlties that aren't there by text." She quirks her head, curiously. "Tuskasa?"
Naru nods in agreement on working things out. "They're so young, a bit of checking in feels more supportive than invasive, but perhaps I am overthinking it. I expect I am overstepping, if nothing else."
"I suppose it depends on the youma. Sometimes delightful is medicinal, if they've gone for the right suckerpunches, emotionally speaking." he says, taking a drink of his tea.
"Nadeshiko would appreciate that very much, I'm sure." he says with a grin. Then, the conversation gets more directly about the situation.
"It's a good point. A lot of things can be missed in text." He knows a little bit about that, and there's someone he sure misses communicating with in person. But he shakes that thought away to return his focus to the discussion at hand.
"They're young, but this is also a responsibility vested in them by some sort of force, just like the Senshi have a duty and the Guardians do. While you're probably right - and I have no intent to hang them out to dry - I also think that rushing right in would be... the wrong response. Giving them a little time before coming by to offer a helping hand, rather than just picking them right up... it's just about striking that balance."
"Tsukasa is... a very good friend of Virtue. He and Lindy help keep things running. And he can... see things in a way we can't - the way they could or might unfold down the line. He's the one who helped forsee the attempt to take all those jewels, for example."
"I dont fight youma, I get attacked and drained by youma. Tea and cookies don't have sufficient punch to get through the haze." Naru explains briefly as she considers Tadase thoughtfully.
Naru is quiet a moment, taking a lingering sip of tea before carefully setting the cup down again. "I disagree on some nuances on that sentiment, but that is probably largely besides the point in the bigger picture. To offer support, or a helping hand, is something entirely different than picking them right up, or not permitting them to explore their own responsibility. To know that they have that network, not just if they think to ask, but actively know that they are not alone is important to my mind." She smiles gently. "But I am rambling, and likely speaking entirely out of turn. I am not Senshi, nor Guardian, nor Keeper."
"I spoke briefly with Reiko about jewels, a few days ago, but I am far behind on most details." Naru comments with a nod.
"Well, that's sorta like fighting. Just not winning." Kiseki notes in regards to Naru being attacked before Tadase calmly pulls a pen from his pocked and hurls it at him. Kiseki goes down amongst the flowers.
"I don't know what's happening, or what the right direction is." Tadase admits. "But I'll do my best in any case. I do think she needs someone - a helping hand and someone to talk to - so I will be speaking with her. Just after a moment. I think you're saying something similar to what I'm saying, and it's also likely that when it's a good time for other people to help is sooner than me."
He looks up at Naru. "Out of turn? There's no need to think that way. You're a member of Virtue, and you're helping Ami with the Archives. There's no out of turn. Your opinions are valued."
"I would never turn away your views just because you weren't one of those things."
"I haven't been as active with the Keepers - or with Virtue - as I perhaps ought to be."
"Fair point. I am very good at losing." Naru notes with a faint amusement, and watches the interplay between him and his Guardian.
"I have some very limited idea on what's happening, purely because I sat down with Reiko before any of this began and asked her about her magic, and what it entailed and what it's basis and beliefs were." Naru gives a touch of a shrug. "It didn't help me prevent anything, nor anticipate it, save in the most general of senses." She nods. "I do think we're on the same page, I just am a soft touch when watching small girls look quite that lost as I saw her look. I am not certain my own life will let me help as I want to, but I'll hope."
Naru bows her head only a touch as he admonishes her for her thoughts of not being able to be fully opinionated. "I am not magical. I am still getting a handle on the culture, the people, the interactions. How groups interact, or more often than not, how they don't interact. It's fascinating."
Tadase leans back a bit. "The catch to all of that getting a handle on it, is so are we. I find groups from similar backgrounds, with similar enemies and stories, work well together. But sometimes there can be a little water and oil when that's not the case. I hope to change that."
He looks at her. "Well, you saw that look on her face and I didn't. The way you're talking, it does seem like she might benefit from more rapid response." he muses. "Can you tell me what you know? Anything that might help, anything at all."
"There's a lot of really big personalities." Naru adds to the thoughts on getting people to work together. "Finding how those fit together is going to be the key, but I admit, I spend more time looking at how the magics fit together. Watching the threads fall into patterns that feel very familiar, one to the next. Subtle differences, of course, and how everyone gets there are wildly different, but the repeated patterns are interesting.
"The Prism Keepers came about out of a shared story, amongst a group of friend." Naru explains as she straightens her tea cup. "They are protecting colour from the Grey Kingdom, and the mistress of that realm Griselda. Princess, I think. She wishes to steal colour from the world, and that renders things, predictably, grey and lifeless and dull." There's a pause there. "Which is not so dissimilar from the Wraiths, although they work in emotion, but the result comes down much the same. Her minions are Shades. I don't know quite what their powers are, or how they fight. Griselda possessed one of their own, just to add proper oomph to the emotional trauma."
"Big personalities with big responsibilities packed into young minds and bodies." Tadase says, his eyes a bit distant for a moment. "You're an artist, right? I can see how that would make more sense for you, to look at it that way."
"Colors begat a lot of emotion. There's a reason we use red for danger, after all." he muses. "So it's probably even less different than those Wraiths. Or than X-eggs, really. Emotion is power. Bad emotion is corrupting. And... it can certainly make you -feel- the way a dull color looks. Greyed out. Dim." he says.
"I am an artist, yes." Naru nods in confirmation and lifts her tea for a slow sip. "I'm always surprised at how many people I speak with have some connection with art. It's a happy surprise, to say the least."
"Colours are excellent fuel for emotion, I use them as such all the time. Even mundanely, colour is used to manipulate on subtle levels the emotions in waiting rooms, in movies, in all sorts of situations." She quirks her head, the curiosity evident. "X-eggs? I'm not familiar with those." She takes a deep breath and then notes. "I've had my emotions frozen with a curse, and I've had them removed by wraiths. Twice. I do not recommend any of these to anyone. I expect it is very much how Reiko feels right now, and that may contribute greatly to how invested I am in helping her and her group."
"You know, this is going to be a problem for art. I would say I wonder how long it'll go unnoticed by normal people, but after all the things I've seen the magic make them rationalize? I would guess forever."
Tadase nods, though the talk is a little bit over his head. He thinks with his heart more than his mind. "Well, we've been doing a good job of keeping them contained. An X-egg is... a dream that someone's given up on, given form. It's not like a witch or a wraith. If you destroy it, you destroy their dreams, too. You have to rescue them. It's something that takes up a lot of my time - ever since Amu left."
"We should absolutely render any assistance we can to them. I don't think that's in doubt at all." he says, firmly. "I'm going to try to meet up with them as soon as I can."
"You are gifted at understatement." Naru comments dryly and nods. "Problem was not the first or second word I came up with, but it's part of the bigger whole in how this is a problem. So far, none of the mudanes I've spoken with have noticed anything odd, beyond easily explained little woes around oranges, or the like. I can see the lack, but I seem to be an eternal exception that proves the rule."
Naru pauses, considering Tadase's explination and the implications therein. "Interesting." She finally decides upon. "And tragic, and yes. I can see how there's no destroying those, not in good conscience at least." She quirks her head. "Amu?"
"Well, as far as I can tell, you sorta... push the understanding of it all away until it becomes so obvious you can't, and then it all just falls into place clear as day like it'd been there before. That's how it's been for the few... mundanes, I think you said, that find themselves pulled into our world of craziness."
"But then again, you might not be mundane. You've formed connections in a way that at least makes me wonder."
"Amu. She... is someone very special to me, but she left to go to Europe when her parents got called. She used to handle the X-eggs. She's much better at it than I am."
"For my part, I started noticing after I was kidnapped to the Dark Kingdom. I skipped the 'clear as day' section and went straight for 'hazy, confused and mind altered' as my opening." Naru gives a half smile, a little shake of her head. "As I said, exception generally, except when I'm not."
"So far, there's no indications that I am not mundane." Naru clearly hasn't closed that door of potential. "My Guardian is quite contentedly asleep, I have made no contracts and I do not henshin into associations with planets, rocks, colours or anything else. I don't henshin at all, which covers all of the above. We shall see what the future holds."
Naru watches Tadase at the words about Amu and her expression is gently sympathetic. "I'm sorry to hear that she's had to move so far away. I hope she might return, eventually."
"So nobody explained anything to you, really?" he says, leaning forward a bit. "You just... went from passive observer to active?" He gets quiet and listens.
"Well, maybe your power, your strength is the ability to give us all some grounding. When you live with a Guardian 24/7, or you have a past history, or your storybook dreams come to life... sometimes that can make it hard to associate with people for whom that's not the norm. Maybe your strength is keeping your friends grounded." he says, leaning back and intertwining his fingers.
"I hope so. But you didn't come here to hear about that, so I won't dwell on it." he says, a smile that's a clear mask.
"I went from passive observer to being in the Dark Kingdom, to rescued and very confused and asking a lot of questions." Naru corrects only slightly. "Then the explinations came, and continue to come. The questions dont ever really stop."
Naru smiles a touch and nods. "Possibly. That's been speculated. I tend to bring a different perspective, if only because I do need to ask the stupid quesitons which can challenge assumptions that might not actually be valid."
"At this point, I've delivered the message I came to deliver, about the state of the Prism Keepers, and we're just chatting." Naru sets her empty tea cup down. "Tell me about yourself."
"Fair enough. To confide in you, the questions haven't stopped for me, either." he says, nodding. "I'm looking for explanations, too."
"It's not a stupid question if it challenges assumptions. Even if the answer is the same, knowing why you got to that answer, and making sure your logic makes sense, that's good too." Tadase says with a smile.
Then he blinks. "About myself?" he asks, looking down into the tea. It's easier to talk about other people or magic. A good leader, after all, doesn't dwell on his own ego. But he finds a little bit. "I don't know. I'm Tadase Hotori, I lead the Guardians and I help out with Virtue. Beyond that I guess you'd have to ask? I don't know what you'd want to know."
"About yourself." Naru confirms and then relents a little as he struggles to find something beyond the basic labels to place upon himself. "Tell me about Kiseki. Or how Virtue came to be. I will hope you have some hobbies beyond leadership?"
Naru looks at him expectantly, her hands settled in her lap, cookies and tea already vanished.
Tadase continues to look into the tea, like the drink is going to offer him answers. But, Kiseki is something he can talk about, right? "Well, I... think you'd be dissapointed, there. Kiseki ties into that too. You know, I always wanted to help people. To lead. But not in a tyrant's way. The way that a good leader takes care of people, is at their back, helping them along. That a good leader can make everyone around them better."
"But I was never really.. good at it. Especially at standing up and talking in front of crowds. And that's where Kiseki comes in. He's the manifestation of that dream, and he helps me with it."
"And that all leads to why I'm here, with Virtue. I want to help people. It makes me happy, to be able to support others." he says. "Tsukasa came to me and talked about all of the danger - I've been working against Easter for longer than most magical people have been aware."
Naru has a gentle smile at the notion of her being disappointed and she shakes her head. "Careful, such admissions of a lack of hobbies have resulted in marked up recreation class booklets being deployed before."
"I'm glad that Kiseki is there to give you that confidence." Naru smiles a touch in the direction that the little Guardian got knocked into a shrubbery. Because that's how one shows affection in the teen world. Clearly.
"Easter?" Naru asks with a quirk of her head and then nods. "It's a noble goal, and pursuit. To help others, to support them, to encourage them to work together, is also part of Virtue's mandate?"
Tadase laughs. "Trust me, if I needed more reacreational activities I'm sure Kukai and Nadeshiko would be more than happy to indulge me." The way he laughs is almost uneasy. Like he might have other people try to get him involved on a regular basis, too.
"Kiseki means a lot to me. He's just got some... bad personality quirks." Tadase doesn't mention the fact that those are also his quirks, particularly when he was younger.
"I might have had something to do with that mandate...' he says, scratching the back of his head. "Easter. It's a big company, and they're after a really unique Heart's Egg called the Embryo. It grants wishes. I don't know what wish they want to grant, but I'm sure it's nothing good."
There's a comment, almost made, but Naru clearly refrains on the topic of Kukai and Nadeshiko providing recreational activity suggestions.
"I think its in the contract, which is rather different than a Contract, that the two of you be rather fond of each other." Naru points out with a little smile. "Which, much like family or friends who might as well be family, doesn't make anyone suddenly perfect, it just means that you love them in spite of it."
"I would have been surprised to hear otherwise. You helped found Virtue, you should have had a hand in its mandate." Naru smiles and then nods at the explination of Easter and then there's a soft hunh. "Interesting."
"I think that's a good way to see it. Or maybe it's like... when you see shades of yourself in someone else and it makes it just look a little more loud, I don't know." Kiseki flies back to Tadase and rests on his shoulder, quiet for once.
"But deep down I know we both just want to see the best for each other. And it's not like our fates aren't intertwined!"
"Easter's not the only group like that though. There are a lot of people out there who want to see harm come to others. And I think, if I'm going to call myself a good leader at all, I need to be ready to stand up to anyone who thinks like that."
"Perhaps just a tiny bit intertwined." Naru agrees, holding up a hand with her fingers crossed to show just the tiniest bit. Teeny.
"There are more than just one group, and some who don't identify with a group." Naru agrees and then sighs. "The hard ones are the ones who have lost their minds to something or someone else. You know its not /them/, but it's hard to remember that, and sometimes very hard to pull them back, to fight for their own minds and autonomy."
Tadase's expression grows a bit grim, here, for just a moment, a big change from his normal cheerful look. "You know, when all of this started happening, I was thinking - hoping - that we could reach everyone like that. Make everyone see that they couldn't gain anything by harming others. But that didn't turn out to be the case." he says, sighing.
"I am still not good at handling those situations. I'll probably have a very personal one eventually. I'm trying not to lose hope, but I'm not going to let them continue to harm people, either."
"But... even if we can't save everyone? I'm going to try to save as many people as I can. And that's what I hope everyone else will do. And I've got a feeling you've helped in ways you may not notice, or maybe you do. And you're always welcome in the Garden."
"No." Naru shakes her head slowly, and with a heavy sigh. "We can't save all of them. Show them how much better it is without doing harm. Some have simply gotten too far in, and .." She lets the sentiment trail off and her voice is gentle. "I'm sorry that it will be very personal for you soon. If I can help, even just to listen, please let me know."
Naru smiles more easily. "Thank you for the invitation. I should get back, and let you get back to .." chasing around his Guardian about a letter? ".. matters at hand. Be well, Tadase. Take care of you, as well as everyone else."
Naru stands, giving him a small bow.
Tadase nods. "I promise, I won't let you stand on the sidelines if I think there's a place you can help. This sort of thing... this... is really about the future. I need all the help I can get - we all do."
"It was good to see you, Osaka-san. Tell your friends I said hi, and remind them Virtue's there if they need us for anything."