Runealy has been slowing down the last few days. Having been in relatively numerous fights back to back, and secretly used a few more crystals during that time frame, she has effectively taken the day off as she sits in the candlelight of the abandoned store, resting by the checkout counter.
This proves to be a terrible idea. Even though nothing is obviously wrong, she's crying. Nothing is attacking her, nothing has recently injured her, nobody is trying to break in and threaten to bring an end to their campaign of energy theft. There is simply no obvious reason for this, and it may make her oblivious to noise of anyone approaching in these evening hours...
Hino comes through the front door. That is. Guardian Hino. In armor. Walks through the front door. He doesn't care about taking the backways right now. He's royally, super frustrated at himself. Why couldn't he take down that girl with the a firesword? He threw everything he had at her and she just brushed it off. The only happiness he had. Was he had at least /one/ mostly filled crystal to bring back with him today. If Runealy looks up. He can see that Hino's armor looks severely damaged, burned and pocked. It looks like he got in a fight with a steamroller and that it put up a good fight.
He drops his henshin. He physically looks okay. He just looks tired. Wait. What's.....?
Runealy is crying again. He closes his eyes. Hinote is a wonderfully kind soul. He just wants to..physically take all of Rune's bottled up problems... emotions.... into himself for a day so. So she can have a day just to think without....
He shakes off that thought. He reaches into his pocket and produces the gem, filled with energy. And holds it out to Runealy. "I.. I did my best. Last night Runealy." he says. "He thought that. You sent me after him. I told him that wasn't the case." He's expecting Runealy to fill in the gaps about 'he', most likeling being Tuxedo Kamen. "I also tried to pin down someone else who was using a book to drain energy. But.. I threw everything I had at her and she still ran away." he says.
He sits down near the Princess. He closes his eyes a moment. He needs just a minute to clear his head. He reopens his eyes. "Are you okay, Rune?..." he asks.
Rune isn't so out of it as to not notice the door itself moving. She looks up, and... stares. Hinote - no, 'Hino' to be more precise, is here... and clearly just got into a fight. She starts to say something about that, but he cuts this off with words and... "Th... is that what I think it is?" It has to be.
Her crying slows down significantly to mere sniffles, as she reaches out to take the crystal. "You got this? From who? And someone else with a book...?" This is quite the surprise, and it's jumbling her sentences up significantly.
She pauses to tap a finger to the crystal, looking at the light within. It takes a few seconds of this before she works up an answer. "I get like this whenever I actually stop to think about everything that has happened. Should probably stop doing that... I don't get like this, not as bad at least, when I'm out there doing things. But this! This," She holds the crystal up for Hinote to see, as if it was novel for him too.
"How did you get this?"
Hinote Kagari nrgs. "Tuxedo Kamen. I managed to sneak up on him. We ended up crashing into the Hotel's ballroom." he says. "We got into a sword fight. Well. a Sword and Cane fight. But that thing might aswell be a sword. It hurt like one." he says. "He has a strong conviction. He almost beat me. But he told me to stop after a bit. And to just take the energy." he says. "And had me take him to some illegal doctor or something like that when he passed out." he says.
"Today I fought someone else to do the same thing. They weren't doing nessacrily nice things to people when I arrived." he says. "But I wasn't able to pin them down fully for me to take thier energy." he says.
He closes his eyes. "I wish. That I could take away your hurt into me, Rune. Just for a day.. you know." he says to Runealy. "I know that's a silly wish. But. I want you to be okay, too." he says.
"Him?" Runealy looks and sounds surprised. "That must have taken some doing, he's pretty hard to catch." She starts to say more, then Hinote says something that startles her. "You what? I... wow... ah... I..." She tries to think of what that would be like, if she could just package up her emotions and fears and shove them onto someone else.
To let someone else deal with the grief of losing the most central figure in their life so suddenly, of shame and anger at being unable to do what everyone else needs her to do or else their world is going to be destroyed. Of having to talk friends into coming along on such a awful, frightening plan to save everything. Of feeling even more inadequate for having to use demon energy as a quick advantage in fights, lest she be too reliant on the Guardian Knights who have already risked a lot.
It only takes her a few seconds to realize there are very, very few people she would tolerate going through that kind of anguish. The idea that Hinote, if he understands even a fraction of what's going on in her head, wants to take that upon himself stuns her. "That's not silly or stupid, it's... that's..." She has no real words for it at first.
Eventually they come, though. A sudden steel in her demeanor. "We just have to get through it. This! This," She indicates the crystal Hinote brought, "is one more step toward that. Instead of worrying about the impossible, of giving you my feelings like that, I'm..."
She demures very suddenly, and begins to walk toward the back office. Hinote is waved along to follow, and she talks along the way. "I'm really sorry you had to do this. It felt awful, didn't it? Doing that to someone like him? But you did it. We have this. It's one step closer to saving everyone, both on our world and probably here," she imagines demons would eventually stumble upon the portal and be glad to cross over once they finished having fun hunting down everyone on Waldia, after all, "and for that..."
She begins to peel down the Sailor V poster used to hide their successfully gathered crystals thus far, and gently puts this one in with the other two. "You've done something incredible. I'm sorry, and thank you. I swear this is going to be worth it in the end!"
Hinote Kagari listens to Runealy. "I didn't like doing it." he says. "If it didn't hurt so much... I'd feel less bad about it. But. I'm doing it." he says. He then pauses. "Tuxedo Kamen said some things about you. I think he expected similar behavior from me- but he didn't get it." he says. "I think he means it when he says he can help us. But he also hangs out with... what. White? That Black Jerk?" he says waving a hand dissmissvely. He watches the crystal be put away with the others and takes a deep breath. He turns back around to have a seat. "Runealy. There's. Something I want to talk to you about..." he says. "I mean. it isn't anything bad. Or pressing, so if now isn't a good time. I understand." he says with a smile as hard as he can muster. It's not big.. or bright. But it's there.
He looks down. "I've been. Pondering dropping my Clubs and stuff at School." he says. "To give me more time in a day to hunt energy- and devote all my time to it. I feel like...I'm not pulling my weight sometimes. I mean. Everything we've collected so far. It's just been you, Runealy!" he says.
"I think my Crystal is the first one you didn't fill yourself!" he says.
"The exact people who, other than ones who have outright said they're conquerors of worlds, are most likely to cross over and ensure our world dies?" Runealy can easily envision that chain of events. Tuxedo Mask finds out what's going on, word spreads from one person to the next, reaches Mr. Black's ears... and then, what? Would he go to their world just to see to it the demon hordes break free of the Barrier sealing them within the abyss? Would he think it's a great chance to study them? In her mind, the answer is an unambiguous 'yes', and this simply renews her commitment to secrecy. "He probably means it, but there are just too many out there who would hurt us if they found out how vulnerable we are. I'm sorry, but we can't accept his offer. You did the right thing, Hinote. And any time is a good time. We're friends, so we'll talk."
And Hinote talks of dropping clubs, of spending more time hunting, of being inadequate. "Hey, listen? If you need something to relax, do it. If you just do this nonstop, I think that might actually have the opposite effect. If you fight and fight and fight, won't you wear yourself out? So figure out the right balance for you, but I don't think 'no ways to have fun' is it. You want to talk about who pulls what weight?"
She carries on with that idea. "Let's start with that Witch world we got caught up in, by the bridge. I go through that fight in my head just about every day, and I come back to the same answers. Could I have dodged what that monster was trying to do while I was exhausted and scared? I can't be sure, but it's really not likely. Would I have survived the hit? Probably not. You could sit everything out from there and still would have done plenty, because I should probably be..." Her head lowers as she admits, "...probably dead, right about now. If that happened, that would be it. The restoration ritual only works for the royal line. But let's keep going. You were there when I slipped up and Mr. Black was about to finish me off," she's presuming he would have killed her after taking her wand.
"And there when we've had to split our attention between two problems at once, on more than one occasion. And now you've brought us this. There are a lot of things happening besides energy collection, and you've been part of those. I don't want you feeling like you're not helping! You have been, and..." There must be some reason this comes up, she realizes with a sudden worry to her thoughts. "Why would you think otherwise?"
Woah. Woah Wait a minute. Hinote rewinds that in his head. You can see the blinking.
'If you need something to relax, do it. If you just do this nonstop, I think that might actually have the opposite effect.'
Yeah okay. Runealy just said that. Relax. Doing this Nonstop is bad. Why... why isn't Runealy taking her own advice!?
He abousltely, postitootly does not bring this up to her face. It would be so incredibly rude! Maybe. He can say it nicer. Later. When he's not on the verge of a nervous breakdown himself.
"Ah---ha. I'll. Be honest with you Rune." he admits a little, biting his lip a moment. "I got worried when you sent for Sol and Raine. That you were bringing in more help. I guess. it's just natural to assume for me that it's because me and Gao weren't cutting it alone." he says.
"I mean. I know that isn't the actual case. But sometimes it's hard to remove doubts from your head. Even when you know they're wrong..."
Some people can give good advice but not follow it, for whatever reason. Runealy carries on in her own hypocrisy, even as she invents her own justifications for carrying on with her unfortunate decisions. "Wait, Solomon and Raine were...?" Ohh... she can see how that might look now.
"No. No no no no. That's not it at all! Yes, you're wrong on that one. I didn't do that to criticize you, to shame you and say 'work harder!' That's not it at all," she stares at Hinote, no longer crying and now fully serious on the matter. "I asked them to come here," well Raine showed up on her own initiative, but that explains why the summons-letter for her was never delivered, "because that's the only responsible thing to do. If we mess this up, we are going to die. There will be no second chances, no do-overs. A demon army, thousands and thousands and thousands of them, will get free. They will destroy everyone and everything we've ever cared about, and then they'll probably move on to do the same to Earth." It might take a while for them to find the portal, but they would manage it eventually; bored rulers of a shattered, dead planet would go looking for something to do, after all.
"When we're facing that, there's no room for holding back. I know you're doing your best. You're helping! You're part of us now, and I don't look down on your efforts one bit! Not at all! I brought them here because even with them, it's five of us and a kitten versus the dozens of people who protect Tokyo, plus those who want to destroy it. Those are bad odds. Better than three plus Mistpaw, though. Way better. So please don't tear down your efforts, it's not fair to you and it's not even close to correct!"
She calms down after that outburst and asks more gently, "Okay?"
Hinote Kagari gets a fast outburst of explanation. "Y--yeah I figured that." he says as he scratches the side of his head. He blinks. Did Runealy just include the cat? That cat is not a battle cat! It is an adorable one----where is she anyways!? Probably sleeping under the bed like cats are wont to do even though they bought her a ton of stuff like a /pet bed/. He nods. "I understand Rune." he says. "It's just. nrg. I'm sorry I brought it up. We have a lot to worry about besides stuff like that." he says as he closes his eyes.
"I guess. Back to earlier today. Yeah I met some girl with one of those weapons that speak in another language?" he asks. "She was using some sort of book to drain energy from someone----that someone is okay, mind you. It didn't look like they killing her. But the book kind of well- I got the same feeling I get when we're around that black masked guy." he says.
"But... herself proper. She wasn't like that guy. So I figured I could beat the hell out of her and then drain her energy. I dunno. She sort of just shrugged everything I threw at her. She ended up just running away even though I threw all my power into uh. Some sort of Fire Dragon..."
"Because I guess I can make Fire Dragons now? I dunno. It just sort of came to me in the moment." he admits.
"Well, /I'm/ not sorry you brought it up!" Rune's moods shift rapidly, and now she's fired up. "You should be doing that. This isn't a one-way relation where you use yourself up for the glory of our world. If something is hurting you or bothering you, even if it seems weird, mention it and we'll figure things out!" She's firm and insistent, but not angry.
Hinote brings up several other important things, though. "Another language? Oh! I saw someone's cell phone," everything modern is a cell phone to her, "that does the same thing. Draining with a book doesn't sound like the one I met, though. 'Shrugged off', though? No, I doubt it. Not if she ran away. If she was really that unhurt, you wouldn't be here with a crystal right now. Maybe she put on a brave face, but results are results. You walked away, she /ran/ away. So you probably gave a lot better than you got, and she couldn't take it."
There was one other fascinating thing in that summary, however. "A fire dragon, huh? I wasn't even sure what dragons were until I saw Earth stories about them," there certainly aren't any back home, after all. "But maybe it's possible. You're one of the first in centuries, you know. We don't have much history to go on, few records of how Guardian Knights back then fought. Maybe you'll grow like that, maybe in ways you 'feel' more than you 'know', if that makes sense?" She's puzzled by this development too. "If so, I'm really glad. Does it feel good? To see real proof of improvement like that?"
Hinote Kagari laughs. "I think it's just me and my idea of what knights are." he admits. "Creating things like fire dragons and what not." he says scratching the side of his head. "Grew up on a lot of fairy tales...." he says. "and what not. Still am. Even if I'm kinda in one now." he smiles.
He listens to Runealy. "I guess you're right. Just wish I could had gotten in that final hit to knock her on her ass." he pauses.
"I destroyed the skylights on top of the Augusta Hotel's ballroom last night. That's where I found Tuxedo Kamen. I was able to trap him by breaking the window and forcing him to fall down with me into the ballroom." he says.
"If my dad knew I broke the skylight on his favorite ballroom floor, I'm pretty sure he'd hang me." he says.
He closes his eyes. He does that a lot. Maybe he's tried. He did just get done fighting not all too long ago.
"I guess..." Rune isn't immediately convinced this is a 'fairy tale'... to her it's pretty much the opposite. Yet she does arrive at one thought on it, one more constructive than her usual fretting: "You're going to help shape the ending to this one. Let's make sure it's a good one."
She has some calm opinions to share on the rest of how the fight went. "'I wish I had', 'could have', 'should have'... mom always told me those would be things for the next demon. That you can't change what already happened, so just learn from it. And for what it's worth? Breaking the window was pretty clever." She's presuming it was, anyway. She has little idea how the fight truly went, but if that worked out the way she thinks it did... it's certainly an interesting maneuver.
But this has perhaps gone on long enough this evening. "Listen. You're doing great, but for right now it's okay to slow down. Want me to call a driver to pick you up, take you back to your house?" She puts the Sailor V poster back in place, and looks back to Hinote.