Some meetings one does not want others walking in on. Which is why for this one, Alexis and Mercury were directed to a different portion of the joint apartments -- the living room here is more elegant, more finely furnished; there is even a piano, and it shows no signs of gathering dust.
Kunzite, already in uniform (and cape), meets them there and directs them to one of the side rooms: it looks remarkably like Alex's usual guest room. Except smaller. There is a desk, and a chair; there is a second chair brought in for the occasion; there are shelves with a scant handful of physical books on one, and a single inexplicable bunny eraser on another; there is a picture hook with no picture at present, and a piece of framed calligraphy reading 'First, do no harm.'
"My apologies if this is unsuitable," he says, more to Mercury than to Alexis. "I thought you'd both prefer it if we didn't have unexpected visitors passing through."
Sailor Mercury does not arrive by front door, nor by leaping to the balcony and entering. She simply walks in through a doorway that wasn't there five minutes ago, appearing in Makoto's favourite kitchen. From there, she grabs a cookie from the cookie jar, and munches on it as she makes her way towards the livingroom Kunzite suggested she meet him in.
Polite introductions to Alex, and then they're back into a more suitable location, which Mercury takes her time looking over. "It's fine," she says quietly at his concern. "Honestly, this is mostly just an introduction, and maybe an initial scan--if you'll allow, Raskoph-san. Things like this are best not rushed, unless there is an external urgency."
By all likelihood, Alex came inside by way of the balcony rather than the elevator. As he is wont to do around these times, really.
Regardless of wether this happened before or after Mercury got here, he's been lead to this same room now-- the hood of his hoodie flipped back now, and hands stuck into the thing's pockets.
The 'polite' introductions on Alex's side are more 'deadpan' than 'polite', really, but there you go. And over the Sailor's words within the room, he eyes her over, once, and lets out a quiet scoff. "If you say so," he murmurs. "I should say, I suppose. That Lacrima thinks. This can't be torn from me."
(This living room has its own balcony. Leading was hardly even required.)
"One would be ill-advised to take someone off of life support with a knife," Kunzite says to Alex, as he retreats to the far side of the bed. "That does not mean that no-one on life support ever recovers. We don't know the nature or extent of your situation at present; Lacrima herself does not well understand what she did, and has no way of knowing how it interacts with you. Much of the point of this is beginning to figure that out."
Sailor Mercury puts a finger on the piano, playing a single low note. She lets it linger a moment, then shrugs and looks towards Alex. "I don't know Lacrima," she admits quietly, "but I do know that in the last two years I've been involved in this mess, and in the many years I was involved in it in my last lifetime, I have never met a problem that couldn't be solved. My definition of 'impossible' has become very fluid," she says with a faint smirk.
"The question is," Mercury observes, "What do you want? Because if you're happy with what's happened to you, and if you aren't hurting others to be this way, then I don't want to interfere with you. My goal is to help you achieve your goals, not to take things away from you or set limits on you."
"I'm not going to say that part of me isn't. Glad to have this power." Alex lifts one hand from his pocket with those words, to peer down at it as he turns it around one way, and then the other.
"People keep saying I'm. Doing well to keep in control, too. But it's not. Easy." He looks to Kunzite, then. "When you found me. On the rooftop. Part of me wanted to tear Naru into pieces." The fact that he's saying all this in perfect deadpan probably doesn't really help things much.
"So I'm not exactly. Happy. About this." He turns his eyes over to Mercury again, now. "Not that I can really. Feel 'happy' right now. But you know what I mean."
"That's a promising sign," Kunzite says back to Alexis, with nearly identical deadpan. "That you resisted the urge, obviously, says excellent things about your control. But also that a notable part of you wanted to tear her into pieces, instead of straightforwardly consuming her, is a strong suggestion that there is a significant part of your original emotional core remaining. That's promising."
At no time, it should be noted, does he move anywhere that Mercury can't throw something at him if she believes it necessary.
Sailor Mercury grimaces just a little at Alex's calm explanation of what he wanted to do to Naru. She starts to respond, but Kunzite beats her to it. Good he did, because as he speaks, she pauses and seems to reconsider her own words, thoughtfully. "Actually that's a good point," she notes. "That means you were hurt by what Naru did to you, in some way. Which means you do still feel things. It's a negative feeling, but something--even negative somethings--are better than nothing. We can work with that."
Mercury clears her throat a bit, then asks, "What do you want, Raskoph-san? Now that you know the truth about Magic ... that darkness exists, and that the light fights it ... which side do you want to be on? Or would you rather go back to being ignorant of it all? I can arrange ignorance if that's what you really want. But if you'd rather find a place for yourself fighting for one side or the other, well ... I have picked my team, and can help you figure out your place in it. And if not, I will not hinder you directly from finding your own way, without my help, until I catch you involved in actions which hinder the freedom and happiness of others."
"They're all coming. Easier," Alex says, on the matter of 'negative' emotions. "Stronger. That is why I. Worry about my state."
He lowers his hand down now, but rather than sticking it into his pocket, he allows it to just hang down by his side-- now falling into silence to consider Mercury's questions.
"I already knew. Before I turned," he explains. "I never wished for ignorance. Even then. Part of me wanted to be able to. Do something to help the rest of you, too. Even though I had no. Power like any of yours."
He leans his weight back then, to set his shoulders against the wall nearest to him. "I could help now. I could fight. But it comes with that. Risk. Of losing control. Any given day. I don't know if it is. Worth it. But at the same time..." He draws his hand upwards, now, to slide over his front, before settling to clutch at his chest lightly. "Even if this can be. Fixed. I don't know if I recovered from the. Damage I had before I turned. Properly. For all I know. I'm being kept together by the dark energy inside me."
"Possible," Kunzite says to Alex, straightforward. "Even if true, it's possible that, if that energy is tamed sufficiently, and if your original body still exists and is encouraged sufficiently, you might recover somewhat over time. Mercury might be able to analyze whether that potential exists, or whether it is close enough to existing that others might be able to help you with it."
He pauses for a moment. "The problem that you are having with negative emotions is a usual and expected consequence of dealing with large enough quantities of dark energy. The dark energy encourages the negative emotions; the negative emotions feed the dark energy further. Self-control helps to put a brake on the feedback. So do a number of other things."
Sailor Mercury allows Kunzite to explain how dark energy works. She's far from the expert he is, even now. Even with all the studying she's done of Takashi. So she nods her head along with his explanation, but doesn't interject or supplement it.
"Don't worry," Mercury does promise of his other concern. "I won't even begin to touch the darkness until I have diagnosed the medical problems and guaranteed that they will be properly repaired at the same time. As I said, Raskoph-san, my goal is to help you. Removing the darkness only to kill you will never be on my todo list. Not so long as you are fighting against those negative emotions. And even then, I'll do my best to save you. I don't like losing people."
Alex turns his head to look away from both of thhem for a few seconds, there.
"At least having people. Willing to stop me if I. Go bad. Is a start. I think." Well, isn't that the most upbeat way of looking at it then. He lets out a quiet bit of breath, before he turns his gaze back to Mercury, head dipping downwards slightly after. "Then. What do you need me. To do?"
Of course it's the most upbeat way of looking at it. It's some kind of reassurance. That almost qualifies as hope. Kunzite is perhaps just a little familiar with that way of thinking, much as it appalled Mamoru at the time.
There may, however, be some hope on his part that this won't require something as drastic as his situation did. Alex would probably have trouble with the idea of being reconstructed out of roses, even if it were possible to pull that one off twice. Which it isn't.
He inclines his head to Mercury, all the same. "I'd like to take a look as well," he says to Mercury, "but you have priority for multiple reasons; I may be able to offer another perspective, but you have far finer resolution. The likelihood of my being able to add much is minimal."
"There's no reason we can't look together," Ami notes to Kunzite with a smile for him. "I know what your energy signature looks like. As long as you're not using powers you've borrowed, I can filter them out."
Back to Alex, she explains, "For today, all I need is for you to agree to a few things. First, I need you to agree that you want this help. To be clear, I will set my tasks as follows, and in the following priority: That you are physically and mentally healthy, that the darkness is removed from you, or that you are given additional means to control it, and that you do not lose recollection of these events.
"If this is what you want, then I would like you to agree to it. Then, I would like your phone number, and your agreement that you will make yourself available to me for study as needed. I don't mean drop everything; I just mean that we will arrange a time when you will come where I need you. At any point you can drop back out and ask me to stop, and I will respect it. I will also treat your case with confidentiality: it will be recorded in my journals, which are stored on very well secured servers, but I will restrict access to only those who you authorize.
"Finally," Ami says, "I will ask you to submit yourself to an initial scan, today, which will form a baseline for my notes. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to scan you directly before today, so I will have to hope that someone else has some notes I can compare against, but even without it I'm sure I can work things out." A pause, then, "Does all this sound acceptable to you?"
Alex's expression doesn't change much. That's not to say that it doesn't change at all, mind you, for the corners of his mouth do edge downwards just by a subtle modicum while Mercury goes through her list of... er, terms and conditions.
At the end of it all, he wrinkles his nose. Silence for all of five seconds, before he declares, bluntly, "Just do what you need to," and promptly pushes himself away from the wall. His other hand gets drawn out of his pocket now, too, and he steps closer towards the bed, though he pauses in his path to look to her. "By default, I want whatever you find to be shared with no one but Kunzite. Just so we are clear from the start."
Kunzite inclines his head to Alexis, steady. "If we find something that might help Lacrima, it is exceedingly unlikely that it would be so urgent that we could not obtain your permission first."
(And if someone's life is riding on something held confidential ... well. Whether the lack of explicitly calling that out says something about Kunzite's state of mind, or about his estimation of Alexis's, or something else altogether? That's something Mercury might or might not catch enough to speculate on.)
Ami looks between Alex and Kunzite for a moment, quietly studying the interplay. There's more here than she uite understands, but she files it away for the moment. "Kunzite only," she agrees, reaching up to gently touch the trio of blue gemstones in her left ear. A blue visor winks into existence over her eyes, and she studies Alex through it for nearly a minute.
Then, she reaches up to banish the visor once again. "That's all, for the moment," she says with a smile, then offers a pad of paper (where did she get that?) and a pen (?) to Alex. "Full name and number," she asks.
There's a pause on Alex's part when Kunzite says *that*, and he peers over his shoulder to him.
"Addendum," he mutters. "When it comes to matters pertaining to *me* specifically, Kunzite only. If you find something that helps her, don't stop to ask me, just go."
That said, he drops himself down to sitting on the bed-- for some reason apparently assuming that 'analyzing' him comes easier when he's down there. And if there's any confusion over the visor appearing on Mercury's head appearing, Alex makes a masterful effort of not showing it.
The deadpan expression does break a litlte when the inexplicably-appeared paper pad and pencil come along, though, and he even stares at both objects with what can only be described as suspicion for a few seconds before he scribbles down a number onto it, as instructed. His name too, for that matter, but no middle name is scribed. Jerk.
"I hope this goes without saying," he mutters then, as he holds the pen and paper back towards her. "Do not look up my address. Do not talk to my parents. Do not even approach them."
Kunzite does wait, out of courtesy, sparing Mercury the minimal time it would take to filter his own powerset out. And then the room shadows ever so slightly as his powers activate -- darkening as he feeds, by a tiny trace, on the light. On the heat of the room, and the heat that Mercury exudes. Not draining Mercury or Alexis directly, but studying the way Alex's energy interacts with what's around him, tasting the patterns it makes, comparing them to a knowledge base built out of years in the Dark Kingdom, out of his study of Lacrima, out of his own time both manipulating and composed of dark energy. Not expecting to find anything identical. But looking for similarity.
Even after the shadows are allowed to wisp back away, he remains oddly quiet. Particularly after that last goes-without-saying.
"Noted," Mercury replies. "I'll save her if I can, and if she wants it," she agrees. Because she's not going to force anything on anyone who doesn't want it. Except maybe Takashi.
Mercury takes the pad back and commits the number and name to memory, then tears it out of the notepad and offers it back to Alexis. "Burn this, keep it to hand to a pretty girl, whatever," she says with a smile. She'll put it in her computer later. "Any questions?" she asks once Kunzite's study is done.
Even with Alex's current state, the fact that he is NOT used to being studied like... some kind of scientific sample, is readily apparent enough in his face, what with the akwardness showing through in his eyes, at the very least.
A moment of bemusement when the paper piece is given back to him along with suggestions on what to do with it, too, complete with an arch of one brow before he decides to just crumple it up and shove it into his pocket for the time being
"I'd like to know as soon as possible if I am. Not healed properly from before," he offers, instead of a question. "At least then I'll know if there's an additional risk to me losing. Energy."
Hardly a scientific sample. A medical patient. Welcome to the world's least annoying MRI, and he doesn't even need to donate blood to the cause! Yet, anyway.
"Disentangling the effects may take a little time," Kunzite says quietly. "But that seems both reasonable and well-reasoned."
"That is, after all, the point," Mercury replies to Alexis with a faint nod. "Thank you for letting me help you, Raskoph-san." Pause. "I'll call your number later this evening so you will have a way to get a hold of me. I'll also give you my email address. If you need me for anything, don't hesitate to call. Baring an exam, I'll drop anything to come deal with an emergency for you." She's missed enough exams, thanks. "If there's nothing else, though, I need to go and see Prince Endymion. We've got .. other business to deal with."