2014-03-18 - And Stay Away From the Princess!!
| Title: And Stay Away From the Princess! | |
|---|---|
| Summary: Still lookin'for that recalcitrant Silver Crystal. Still getting told to go home like he's Stephanie Brown or something. Tuxedo Mask is having the worst week. | |
| Who: | |
| Where: Yamanote High City, expensive jewellers' section. | |
| OOC - IC Date: Studying-for-finals week! | |
It's the dead of night. The shopping district and all its beautiful jewelry stores, are all closed down for the night. There are no alarms ringing, there's no craziness about, but there's always the lingering threat of some jackass from the Dark Kingdom snappin' out a youma and stirring things up.
The night's cold and clear, and the stars and moon are out, benevolently watching over the Earth below, and
there is--
there.
A flash of movement, red and disembodied white, carefully closing the door of a jewelry store so it doesn't click too loudly; there's a faint be-beep as the alarm system re-arms.
The figure, disproportionately tall and dressed in black, vanishes into shadow after an almost blurred race beneath a streetlight.
He can almost certainly be caught. He could very easily be chased. HE COULD BE A YOUMA normal people aren't tall with funny-shaped heads.
Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight, and gravitating towards this real fight, she's silhouetted by the light of the moon.
Is she the one named Sailor Moon?
Oh wait that's not... Sailor Moon.
But instead! A similarly-clad figure standing on a-- lamppost? near the jewelry store, upon Tuxedo Mask's exit, the girl holds up a crescent-shaped object of some sort. It glints in the moonlight, as the blonde shouts, "Crescent Boomerang!", and hurls it towards the fleeing gentleman.
COMBAT: Sailor V has used Crescent Boomerang on Tuxedo Mask.
COMBAT: Sailor V has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask fails to dodge Sailor V's Crescent Boomerang, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Bind Break! All of Sailor V's debuffs are cleared!
He thought he'd disappeared well enough into the shadows, but apparently not-- Tuxedo Mask picks up his pace to a dead sprint, headed for the next alley, when he hears an attack called: all that yellinating generally means a certain amount of doom has entered the arena.
But he's not fast enough, even hearing it winging toward him; there's a glint of pointed white and a human face in profile for a second as he glances behind to see which way to duck, and he swerves but it's not fast enough.
The caped and masked man in a tuxedo and a top hat staggers slightly as the crescent cuts through his sleeve and arm on its way past, and he turns around furiously, to whip something out of his cloak: one brilliant white glove, matching the gleaming white mask and shirtfront of Tuxedo Kamen, throws a fastball at the outlined figure on the rooftop. A fastball that looks like...
...a rose.
Without looking to see if it hits, he ducks into the darkness.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has used The Loveliest Rose Has Thorns In Addition To Petals on Sailor V.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor V narrowly dodges Tuxedo Mask's The Loveliest Rose Has Thorns In Addition To Petals, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Sailor V's Flash ability activates!
Meanwhile, in the Alley...
Sailor Vega, studying her purple manicure in the moonlight, looks up from it as Tuxedo Mask ducks in from -- did someone female just yell something?
Anyway.
"So, was it there?" Vega asks, suddenly interested.
Ducks in from the street, specifically; the billow of his cape briefly reveals a hole through which light from a streetlamp pours, before falling back down as Tuxedo Mask nearly slams into Sailor Vega. "Crap! No! It wasn't I'm being chased now by another one of you, I have no idea who she is--"
The tall youth pushes at Vega a little, physically, to get her moving. "Come on come on--" But he just as abruptly stops. "No. No. Better plan. I'm the obvious. She might like you. Take me hostage. Quick take me hostage."
She catches on quickly! Sailor Vega, smiling brightly, eagerly says "Okay!" almost before Tuxedo mask even FINISHES saying 'Hostage!' the second time!
In a flash, the Star River Wand is out, Aurora Ribbon flowing...
"LOVING AURORA EMBRACE!"
Looping the ribbon towards the dashing Tuxedo Mask, Vega barely keeps herself from giggling.
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has used Loving Aurora Embrace on Tuxedo Mask.
COMBAT: Sailor Vega has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Tuxedo Mask accepts Sailor Vega's Loving Aurora Embrace, taking 18 Fatigue damage!
So when Sailor V ducks down that alley after the masked mystery man, he was supposed to have a headstart. Instead, he's only a few steps in, and tangled tightly in a shimmering pinkish gold sunrise-colored ribbon attached to Sailor Vega's weapon of choice, and he's a little off balance.
If V crashes into him, he will undoubtedly fall on Vega. Senshi dominos.
"DAMN it," the young man says through his teeth, which sounds authentic because he's actually complaining about how unexpectedly tightly tangled he is. Totally the one time his cape doesn't help.
Sailor V mutters an epithet under her breath as Tuxedo Mask continues despite her super cool attack, and starts to pursue - the rose he throws at her is just barely dodged with a muffled yelp as she begins pursuit!
Somehow running even faster when she hears that attack called - perhaps she wasn't at full speed before - she nonetheless seems just a tiny bit miffed when she stops at the end of the alley, and sees that her target has been captured by another girl. Still, she only falters for a moment before striking a dramatic pose, one hand on her waist, the other pointing grandiosely at the admittedly trapped Tuxedo Mask, and she takes in a deep breath for her speech.
A diamond is a precious gift, to be given by a man to the woman he loves! For you to try to steal such a treasure is disgraceful! On behalf of Cecil Rhodes, founder of the De Beers company, and women everywhere who dream of becoming brides... I, Sailor V, will punish you!"
"Oh em gee, it's Sailor V!" Sailor Vega practicaly *squeals* - and considering he's wrapped up and therefore close to her, he'll probably catch more of it than she means even Sailor V to.
"She's REAL! You're being chased by Sailor V!" Vega tells Tuxedo Mask excitedly. "SAILOR V!" Because he hadn't heard her, right?
Okay, she's still holding on to her ribbon, though she's losing focus on holding onto her 'captive.' "I have the whole run of your Manga!" Vega blurts out to V.
The whole focus-losing thing means that the ribbon Vega's keeping Tuxedo Mask trapped with just sort of falls and fades, as magic ribbons are wont to do. He sags against the wall, concentrating on breathing for a second as Vega continues to basically fangasm all over the place.
"Nah, I didn't steal anything. If I found what I was looking for, I'd pay for it," he finally huffs out, rubbing at his arm a little bit where the crescent nicked him. It's already healing, but whatever, it stung!
"Sailor Moon knows me, it's okay. I thought you were an urban legend with a lucrative licensing line of merchandise," Tuxedo Mask admits after a long, staring-at-Vega moment. He stares an extra second for good measure, then shakes his head and rubs his eyes. "Can we get this over with so I can figure out what's going on so I can go home and study?"
For now, Sailor Vega's response suddenly diverts Sailor V's attention from Tuxedo Mask so fast she may as well not have been paying him any mind in the first place! She crosses one leg over the other in a coy pose, rubbing the back of her head with the hand she'd been pointing with. "Of course I'm real! And if anyone says otherwise..." Striking her serious pose again, she crosses both arms in front of her chest, making the finger-gun with one hand. "...I'll punish them!"
But now she should probably finish basking in the glow of that adulation, and so lowers her arms again, striding towards Tuxedo Mask with determination. Frowning as she looks at him mask-to-mask, she asks, "And what, exactly, have you been looking for?"
"THE SILVER CRYSTAL!" Sailor Vega says - because nobody evil is overhearing anything, right? - her hands pressed up against her cheeks. SAILOR V!
Ahem! Oh man, be cool, Vega! You're totally a hero now, too! Someone asked you if you were Sailor V when you were fighting that giant cup of ramen! Be Cool!
"The Silver Crystal," Vega says quite a bit more calmly this time. Riiiiight. Calm.
The look Tuxedo Mask gives Sailor Vega could take out a buffalo at fifty yards. "Thanks, Vega." Then he spreads his hands, open and empty, still leaning against the wall; his cape slides back on his arms and the almost luminous white mask, showing tired blue eyes behind it, trains on Sailor V.
"Are you even working with Sailor Moon? Or is V for Vigilante?" he asks, and we'll forgive him if he sounds a little irritable: this has not been his week for sleep. "I'm Tuxedo Mask. She's Sailor Vega. I just-- I just need to find it. Look I don't know if you know what's been going on in town lately, because you've been out of the headlines for months."
Vega's enthusiasm actually puts Sailor V on her guard, the girl turning to look at Vega with a gasp of shokku, then turning back to Tuxedo Mask when he more-or-less confirms her suspicions. "Are you two working together!?" Suddenly she's on the defense, taking a few steps back so that she isn't completely sandwiched between the two, and cursing the foolishness that led to her getting caught in this trap.
"Sailor Moon may know you, but I don't know /her/. And I think you know quite enough for one night." She looks behind herself at the wall of the building behind her, doing some quick thinking to try and figure out her next move. But in the meantime, "And I think you should leave the Silver Crystal to people who know what they're doing."
"He slipped past you," Vega offers - face all innocence and confusion. Why the sudden 'Gasp, shock, defense'? She has *no* idea why the Silver Crystal is such a big honkin' deal, just that Tuxedo Mask is looking for it quite intently!
She would say more probably, Vega's got her mouth open to do so, but then there's a loud, "What are you still doing out?"
Parent? Adult Guardian?
Half right.
Talking cat.
A calico with a double-star mark on its forehead and green eyes leaps down from a ledge, and is... SCOLDING Sailor Vega! "Why are you still out *playing around?*" "I'm no--" "Did you forget your Science final is tomorrow?" "But, Sailor V!" "There'll be plenty of time to play with Sailor V *after* your final! Let's go!"
SO EMBARRASSING. Vega looks like she might die.
The cat takes to her shoulder, and she just abruptly gives some sort of ... apology? Before leaping up to the rooftop and taking off.
"Not to brag, but Sailor V has a lot of fans," notes Sailor V, though despite the bravado she's still obviously a bit nervous. Even moreso when a talking cat shows up and summons Vega away, and all but sweatdropping when she remembers that she has finals tomorrow too. This night is getting worse and worse.
After that distraction, though, she's able to strengthen her resolve again, taking in a deep breath and returning to her authoritative tone of voice. "That all just sounds like things a youma would say to throw me off-guard!" she notes, wagging a finger from one side to the other. "The only thing I'm interested in is why you're looking for the Silver Crystal."
If he weren't wearing a mask, Mamoru would be dragging a hand down his face at Sailor V's insistence on his possibly being a youma. He takes off his hat and spins it in his hands instead, watching the motion for a second before he glances up, and his eyes, though tired, are clear and bright. "Dreams," he says, voice quiet, and then he looks up at the narrow swath of night sky visible between the buildings, and edges toward the mouth of the alley so he can see the moon again.
"There's a princess, or a goddess-- a beautiful girl, in my dreams every night, asking me to find the Silver Crystal and give it to her. And I feel like-- I should know her. Like I'm missing
something
everything.
"And," he continues, gaze drifting back toward Sailor V, rallying himself with a sigh and a straightening of his back; the cape does its 'silk in a slight breeze' thing, "the rest is my story. Since you're interested in it, too, you really ought to go talk to Sailor Moon. I can't give you her phone number, but I can give you Vega's, and you can look for her together."
For a moment, V almost looks convinced. She bites her lip uncertainly, glancing towards the moon as well, and finally takes in a deep breath. "If you know about the Princess, and you know about the Silver Crystal... then you should understand why I'd be hesitant to trust a stranger who's intent on finding her."
Finally dropping her stern facade, the girl lets out a little sigh, pressing a finger between her eyebrows with exasperation. "I'm not sure what you think me finding Sailor Moon will do, but fine. Give me Vega's phone number and I'll see what we can do."
"Finding her means you can get what I could tell you from someone you'll be able to trust," he answers, first. Then Tuxedo Mask shakes his head, his hair half shadowing his face, making the mask all the brighter. "I don't know about the Princess. I told you-- it's just dreams, over and over. Every night, she asks for it. I really--
--really--
--want to know who she is. She might--"
He reaches into his hat, then, and takes out a slip of paper and a pen, which he scribbles on. It's a little messy, because a hat is not the best writing surface, but he hands her the slip anyway.
Then, pen away, hat twirled up on his head again, and fully recovered, Tuxedo Mask pushes off the wall. "She might be able to tell me," he says,
"who I am."
With that, there's a sudden rippling of his cape and a fluid motion in an upwardly direction, the brief 'tap' of dress shoes against fire escape, and then nothing; he's gone, swallowed into the night's deepest shadows.
Sailor V is clearly uncomfortable with this whole situation, and when she takes the slip of paper, she tucks it away into one of her gloves. "I don't know what you expect to find out," she slowly begins to say, but by the time the words are out, Tuxedo Mask is-- already on his way away. How rude!
And so the pretty-suited guardian runs to the end of the alley, to yell after Tuxedo Mask's retreating form, "But forget about the Silver Crystal, and stay away from the Princess!"
