The day after Runealy got Haruna to send the letter off, Runealy woke up in her bedroom. (an actual bedroom and not a store's broken cooler.), she found a lightly glowing folded card in front of her dresser vanity's mirror. It is addressed: 'Princess Runealy Waldia, Crown Princess of Waldia'. It stops sparkling when she picks it up. She can open it and read it.
It reads, thusly: 'Dear Princess Waldia, I would love you chat with you!, a friend of Cure Gull is a friend of mine, too. Please knock on the mirror in the living room, gently, three times while wishing to chat with me.'. It is signed '~Blue'. No title.
Hinote Kagari is sort of kneeled in front of the coffee table as he uses a feather quill pin and tries to write with it on paper. There is a literarly explosion of balled up paper around him as he tries and tries again. He's using his own quill and ink and paper at least. It's assuming he'll pick it up later when he either gets the hang of this or gives up for the day.
Hino's gone through the trouble of making tea when it was clear Runealy was ready to meet Blue. He seems content to sit there and practice his writing while gods and royalty handle things.
Runealy should be more or less set. She probably is all diplomatically dressed up?
He pauses. "Uh. Want me to clean up quick and get into something formal or something?" he asks suddenly.
"I mean. I can just sit here and practice. I figured this was. A you thing?" he asks.
Even a single day in a place like this has shown some marked improvements in Rune's demeanor. There are still some problems; she remains ill (still functional, but deteriorating a bit at a time) from her mistakes in falling for temptations of dark power. She still has nightmares... but she wakes up a bit better rested than she was back at the abandoned store, and is remembering to eat.
Nonetheless, getting a formal reply - or rather, a friendly reply to a formal request - has made her very nervous. "This is the second time I've done anything like this, ever," she explained to Hinote, and found some solace and distraction in offering him some insight on antiquated writing methods.
She was also deeply relieved when he stepped up to prepare tea; Runealy borders on useless in domestic matters, having almost no experience at it. It wasn't needed, aside from one incident in her earlier years, when she always had castle staff when at home or Gaofele when out camping; "You're a life-saver," was her general sentiment on Hinote handling this!
And now, wearing the same red and white royal attire - with the smaller crown marking her as a princess but not a queen - as her meeting with Tsukasa and Tadase, Rune is indeed ready. ...Or as ready as she can be. She frets. "This living room isn't a proper place for diplomatic meetings... I hope he won't be offended. You can attend this if you want, though. You've more than earned that if you want to be here."
Regardless, once they arrive at a decision she will head to the living room mirror. One, two, three taps and a near-whispered, "I wish to speak with Blue," then she braces for meeting someone she is only vaguely familiar with, and someone who seems to be staggeringly important.
Hinote Kagari blinks. "Oh!? Well. Uh. Okay!" Hinote is now spastically shoving balls of paper into a bag that contained a burger he was eating earlier. (Runealy has one in the fridge and it probably needs warmed up in the microwave. Hinote will need to teach Runealy about what a Microwave is he bets.). When he shoves the bag into the trash, he says quietly. "To project justice I am Guardian Hino." and shifts into his flowly finery clothes. He really doesn't know how that works. He imagined it one day. Maybe sometimes he just wants to be a fancier knight.
Also, it makes him look more formal too.
He smiles. "It was a small thing." he says about the tea.
She finally knocks on the mirror. It takes a few seconds for a response. The mirror glows blue and--- that Blue haired guy Runealy's seen before enters. He's wearing the same frilly white with the few open buttons at the top. (Colliqually, the 'Kunzite' style!?) and blue pants and fancy shoes. He doesn't bleed formal too much- though the clothes ARE fancy.
He smiles softly at the two. "Hello." he says softly. "My name is Blue. I'm the deity of the blue skies." he says warmly. He looks at the two. "Oh my...! You two are so fancily dressed. I'm afraid I didn't dress proper now." he says with a coy smile down at the two.
"You are....?" he asks towards Runealy. "Princess Runealy, yes?" he asks. He looks towards Hinote. Hino blinks. "And you young man?" he asks. "Guardian Hino." he says softly. He is transformed, afterall!
"I see." he says with a smile. He has noticed the Princess's 'affliction' but he has politely not mentioned it yet. "Let's go sit down." he says.
Hino leads them to the small kitchenette where the tea service has been setup. This is way more proper than the garbage assortment of mugs and cups used when Tsukasa visited.
Hintoe wonders if there's a seating order.
Blue sits down.
Hinote moves a chair aside of Runealy because this seems at least a gentlemanly thing to do? He's never been in any sort of diplomatic type situation before.
It is indeed likely that Runealy will wonder about the 'cell phone with a door on it' that re-warms food, yes. For now however there are more immediate concerns. "It's huge, we need to make sure we have a proper reception for him," Rune insisted prior to working on summoning Blue. "This meeting is one of a few that, just like when we met with Virtue's representatives at the store, may very well determine the fate of our world. I hate to say it, but we're negotiating from a pretty weak position."
Then Blue arrives, and she's visibly surprised. First from recognizing him; Blue is indeed the one she saw near Clover Tower on that fateful day. Then again as he comments on being under-dressed for this event. She quickly tries to cover for it; "That's... that's quite alright, your..." She's nervous all over again, struggling to come up with the proper title, and blunders: "Skyness." Rune mentally 'cringes' at that, realizing just how absurd that probably sounded.
Regardless, she goes along with the introductions and invitations to sit. "That's right. And Hino here is one of my Knights, a friend who has sworn to protect our world." She nods after this, heading to the tea service... and waiting for Blue before she accepts Hino's offered seat with a quick "thank you."
A few deep breaths follow, heart pounding as she takes a short drink of tea, watching and waiting for any prompt from Blue. She's not about to press him, not when she believes he holds all the cards. Just what sort of concessions will he want in return for his vital support? If either of her parents were here, Rune imagines they'd be able to handle this far better. Yet one is 'gone', and the other has their hands full preventing the public from finding out about a dire situation... full-scale rioting would likely ensue if they did.
So she will be the one to handle this, and she's letting Blue dictate the pace.
Blue gives a good natured chuckle at 'Skyness'. "If you wish to call me an offical title, you can use 'Kami-Sama'. It loosely translates to god. It's what most of my Pretty Cure friends call me." he says. "Not all. But it's the closest to 'formal' you'll get, I imagine. Skyness sounds...." he smiles. "It is stilly, yes?" he asks with a good natured smile.
He sits down and sips tea.
He lets himself fall into a more slightly more serious mood.
"Princess. You're afflicted. May I ask what's wrong?" he asks softly to her.
"Then, I'll refer to you however you like," Rune offers back, hoping that his laughing over her odd choice of words is a relatively good sign.
And then he's getting down to business, asking about her condition. There's no point hiding it; the information is out there, and denying it would be ridiculous. "I was stupid enough to do something very desperate. In order to be able to do anything useful, anything at all without my Knights there to do it all for me, I started using crystalized demon energy. 'Power at a price.' It does make you stronger, but... it's poison."
A few headshakes. "I know. Before you tell me that was a dumb thing to do... I know. But it worked at first. At least, it enabled me to do something horrible... if you want to accept that definition of 'worked.'"
Hinote Kagari softly listens and closes his eyes. "We were.... doing something. Not particularly nice. Trying to... drain energy. From Tokyo's defenders so we could fix a situation back...." he softly clears his throat. "home." he says. "We stopped doing that." he says softly. "We're very sorry. We know that isn't the way now." he says.
Blue seems to listen with a short smile. "I see." he says. He probably really already knows this story.
He asks on Runealy's behalf. He asks because it's...she's.. important to him. He doesn't want to dance about the issue that, for what he understands, is here to get Runealy cleansed.
"...Are you able to help get it out of her?" he asks bluntly.
Blue looks to Runealy for a moment and makes a hand motion at Guardian Hino. The kind Runealy might interupt as 'Is what he's saying correct? Do you have anything to add?'
Rune starts to open her mouth, but stops as Hino explains the rest of the details; she silently wonders if Blue needed that information, or if he already knew what they were up to here in Tokyo?
And so she sits in silence for several seconds, favoring tea over words. The drink is eventually set down as she concludes: "I really messed up. Every time now I try to do anything related to sealing demons or helping anyone, nevermind the ritual to renew our world's Barrier... I just start choking and coughing and there have been a few times where it probably would have killed me if someone else wasn't there to help. I can still fight, but..."
A few more headshakes, gaze low, follow. "If we go home now, if we try to fix what we have to, I'll fail again and this time it will probably be the last mistake any of us make. I just don't know what to do! The ritual failed even when I wasn't sick, and now I'd be out of my mind to even try it, like this."
Blue listens and closes his eyes and opens them when the Princess is done. "Everyone messes up Princess." he smiles. "Even me. That first night you saw me--- when feathers rained from the sky, was me trying to fix a mistake. Something I should had said-- that only would had taken me fifteen minutes from my countless lifetimes I've lived- was not said, led to a young girl beliving her sister was dead--- who proceeded to make a contract with a dark being so she could wish her sister back. This is Cure Gull's story to tell, so I will stop there, but you met her already. You were there. You know this story has a happy ending." he says softly with a light smile.
Blue regards the poison and it's effects. "I can cleanse this from you. It will take a small while. Days. Maybe some weeks. It depends on your state of mind. The calmer and happier you are, the easier it'll be for me to remove. Despair. The unhappyness--it's like an anchor for corruption like this." he says. "I'm happily willing to do this for you."
"But there's a request." he says softly.
"It is simple. I am a god. I don't wish for material things. If I needed things done for me--- I have Pretty Cures who would drop everything and help me." he says. "The request is, for either of you.... if you see one of my Pretty Cure out there, that you do your best to lend a helping hand. I have a feeling that either of you would do this regardless. But, I am asking this, in gentle return." he asks honestly.
"What? So that's what was happening?" Rune reflects on all this information; she never did have the complete story of why people began randomly falling over unconscious, and why things got so dangerous all of a sudden. Now she still doesn't have all the facts, but she has enough to form /some/ conclusion of what Haruna's and Corvus' situation was. "Yes... it does look like she's doing a lot better. Just amazing to think that's what was behind all of it."
Then she blinks several times as Blue outlines his plans. "We've been helping them already. We were doing that even before we found out what they're really facing and that it concerns us too. So our answer is basically 'yes in advance, and even more so now.'" She actually has no problem, or any meaningful reservations about, helping Cures.
What really puzzles her is the treatment he's offering. "What you're saying makes a lot of sense, I just don't know how you do that. 'Calmer and happier'... calmer I guess I already have. Happier... I wish I could just change my thoughts that easily. I think the best I can do right now is 'less sad.'"
Her head lowers, as if ashamed to admit that. "That much, at least, I am doing. I'm still really scared, but about fewer things. Learning that Pretty Cures and Sailor Senshi and Puella Magi and so many others here aren't going to hate you forever and some of them actually want to help your home survive... that's a start, you know. I have that, at least."
Blue listens and smiles. "Princess. You are not the first princess coming to Earth to seek aid. You will not be the last." he sips his tea. "We'll start properly tommrow." he says softly. "I know it's hard, when things are bad. But being calm should be enough to slowly remove bit by bit." he smiles kindly.
Hinote looks up. "Thank you." he says softly.
Blue merely smiles.
He looks over to Runealy. "If you ask Cure Gull.... Haruna, about her time as... The Priestess Witch-- please be gentle." he asks softly.
He glances towards Hinote. "This is good tea." he asides.
"So, that is all I have to say." he says. "Unless you have questions. I'll do my best to answer them." he says.
"I'll be careful," Rune agrees in regard to Gull's situation. "It sounds like the sort of thing where questions could easily come across as accusations and attacks. I'm the last person on either of these worlds who has any right to do that, both for my actions and for how others responded to them. So if I do ask, it will be very carefully."
She nods over to Hinote, acknowledging his remarks to Blue; she appreciates it even if no immediate words say so. A little more tea follows. "Calm I think I can do. Hino's here, Gao's here," if not immediately present for this meeting, "and nobody has come here for revenge, and a lot of the things I've been terrified about either aren't as bad as I thought... or just outright have not happened. I'm sorry if I can't give you perfect circumstances for this... I just... even with the way things are improving, there's still so much I think about all the time. I think the only question I have is where we'll be doing this?"
Blue smiles. "The Cross Mirror Room. I could do it here. But it's not optimal. Things will go easier." he says softly. "Don't worry. It's safe. It's also filled with positive energy. It's why it's ideal." he says. "Your Knights can come along if they wish. The support should help anyways." he says.
Hinote nods. "I can be there. I promise." he murmurs.