2019-04-06 - TIMELINE X: The Snow! The Mountains! Our Friendship! And Of Course, A Youma Too

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Title: TIMELINE X: The Snow! The Mountains! Our Friendship! And Of Course, A Youma Too
Summary:

Rei and Usagi are competing in the Moonlight Course to see who will be crowned the Moon Princess! But disaster strikes, and they're trapped in the ice. The theme of this timeline... is 'warmth'!

Who:

Rei Hino, Usagi Tsukino

Where:

Hokkaido Snowy Island - Kubota Ski Course

OOC - IC Date:

2019-04-06 - 2014-12-27

.*********************** Earth - Hokkaido Snowy Island ************************.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+ Ski Course Kubota +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
 Hokkaido's mountains have some of the thickest, driest powder anywhere, and
 every winter they draw skiers from far and wide. This particular resort is
 set into the high-altitude foothills of a majestically-ridged peak,
 encrusted year-round with snow. Hardy alpine trees delineate the various
 courses from one another, and Kubota offers a good variety thereof, from
 bunny slopes to the black-coded expert slope. Oddly, the easiest slope and
 the hardest slope are right next to each other. Red metal chairlifts offer
 an easy way up to the top.

 Beneath the slopes, thick evergreen forests permit hikers to explore the
 mountain at a more meditative pace, with the particularly ambitious
 utilizing snowshoes to range beyond the path. The resort is some distance
 from civilization, requiring a bus to travel up desolate mountain roads, and
 so exploring around it reveals a wealth of frozen lakes, shallow caves, and
 winter fauna.

 Kubota has a lucrative sponsorship with Olympic skier Saeko Yamamoto, who
 often winters here while working as a celebrity ski instructor.
*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+* Players +*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*


<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Rei Hino is many things, but could anyone imagine she would one day be the princess?!

Not that Moon Princess, of course, but the moon princess, the title given to the fastest girl on skis. She is a talented skier, and she is fully confident she will win the race down the Moonlight Course with speed and grace. After all, her competition is Usagi. It's almost unfair; luckily, Rei has never played fair.

"I'll be sure to remember you when I'm crowned," she crows, to the girl beside her. "Try to reach the finish so you can see my victory, okay?" After all, it's a cold night, and Usagi isn't the most confident skier. She needs some encouragement not to screw it up and take part with everyone else.

Oh, who is she kidding, Usagi will find a way to screw it up.

SHORTLY AFTERWARDS

It's actually more like an evil presence which screws things up. At first the course just gets a little more difficult, and Rei brushes it off - but she can't any more.

This is for an imminently obvious reason.

"Usagi!" She snaps, as a gigantic snowball careens towards them. "Go faster!" Avalanches are seriously horrifying, even ones bouncy and round.

The very ground beneath them cracks and opens up, rising into a vast canyon of ice which funnels the snowball in with them. That seems like the worst possible thing which could happen, when they're only able to see the path in front of them and the ice walls rising up left and right, a claustrophobic maze with no way out. And that's when the ice blocks in front of them start... slamming... shut.

"Usagi!" Rei yelps, as she swoops in to get ahead of the other girl, and lurches to the side to catch her, arresting Usagi's forward motion by sending them both tumbling into the snow. The ice keeps slamming in, closer and closer - until one slams down on the avalanche which was following them. It grinds in against the ball of snow and ice, and doesn't quite crush together.

It's that one tiny sliver of foresight on Rei's part which keeps them from being two-dimensional.

Of course, now they're trapped, in a little box of ice with impossibly high walls, and a snowy slope with nary a foothold to be seen.

"Great," Rei mutters, as she looks up at the snow which has poured over the lip of the ice. "This is just perfect." It is the exact opposite of perfect. "Come on, let's get out of here."

She puffs out her cheeks, and begins trying to scramble up the snow. She gets a few feet up, and slides down. Up -- down. Up..! ... down. Even though she isn't making much progress, she approaches her task with dogged determination.


<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.


Here's a glimpse into the logic of Usagi Tsukino - age fourteen.

Fact: Usagi Tsukino was recently revealed to be the reincarnation of Princess Serenity - the Moon Princess. Fact: Whoever wins the skiing competition shall be crowned Moon Princess. Fact: Usagi Tsukino must then be a fantastic skiier. Despite never having done it before in her life.

"Rei-chan is acting all full of herself again!" Usagi simply sticks out her tongue despite the chilly weather, right now she's wearing a warm pink winter coat with a collar frill, a pair of mittens, and bright snow pants, "Pbbbt-!"

Before putting both mittened hands over her mouth. "C-Cold!" Muffled by mittens, she declares, "For your information - the one who will be crowned is me!"

Usagi has never been really good at the logical algebra of life.

At the starting line for the race though is where her folly was revealed. Looking down the mountain, it feels like it grows larger and larger in her vision. An endless trail of white.

And as the race begins... she finds herself frozen with fear. "M-Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all-" A helpful gentleman behind her states, "Having trouble getting started? Don't worry!"

And gives her the tiniest push.

SHORTLY AFTERWARDS

"-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-" Imagine one long, extended, breathless shriek, as Usagi races uncontrollably down the mountain. It may appear that she's in fact - pretty good, as she's started to pass other racers. However that's simply the result of reckless uncontrolled momentum - not skill.

Rei may not notice this at first, because Usagi is almost neck and neck with her, her skiis going aerial and landing - somehow without too much clumsiness.

Any perception that she's any good though ends the moment that a gigantic snowball comes their way. As she wails back, "I can't control myself!" Normally such a thing would get her hurt, but under these specific circumstances it's all that's preventing her from getting buried by the gigantic snowball avalanche, "I cannnnnnn't! There's nothing I can do!"

Tearfully she shakes her head and closes her eyes and thus does not see how Rei races ahead, into her way, and catches her.

Going down into a tumble.

The next thing she sees when she opens her eyes is Rei's arm around her. Rei looks angry at their circumstances, but Usagi just lets out this tiny little relieved giggle.

It may feel strange for the situation, but Usagi is definitely giggling over the fact that Rei saved her.

"Mmmm-" Picking herself up, she watches as Rei starts to scramble through the slope of ice and snow. Usagi simply casually leans against the side of their little cavern tomb and waits - waits with her arms laced behind her back...

Rei Hino goes back down.

Usagi is watching this all with a thoughtful expression, but doesn't actually move to help her. "Rei-chan are you alright?"

Maybe it's simply that she doesn't think it's a good idea, but knows right now there's no way to convince Rei Hino of that until she's tried it several times herself.

It may not yet be that time though, so perhaps her quiet addition of, "Hey Rei-chan... maybe we should think of a different way."

... might go unheeded.


<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Of course, the reason Rei is so angry...

Well, it's because the race down the Moonlight Course was interrupted, naturally. It has nothing to do with Usagi being endangered. Usagi gets in trouble all the time. It's basically her worst quality, which, Rei will remind astute viewers, is an extremely long and competitive list.

Up she goes, white and purple gloves gripped in the snow. Perhaps it's not completely fair to be cross at Usagi, even if Usagi was just lucking out in her speed when she doesn't even know how to ski. There's a lingering sense of malaise about this situation, and it leads her to one simple conclusion.

Here, her hand scrabbles too much at a patch of ice; it pulls from the snow and brings a big ball of cold with it, catching her about the chest and sending her tumbling down to the ground. "- ack!"

Usagi's voice rouses her from her pile of snow, and she pushes herself up, shoulders knit with tension and hands gripped to stiff fists. "Of course I'm not alright!" She snaps, angrily. "Hurry up and climb out of here!"

... of course, Usagi is just standing there being completely useless, so Rei has to do everything herself, again.

Up she goes, but the snow-patch she disturbed on the slope is still disgruntled. When she reaches it her hand sinks too far in, and as she jerks it out with a surprised noise she frees more snow and ice. This, too, pushes her down, like some sort of cosmic joke which Usagi at least mercifully does not laugh at.

And she hears Usagi again, and she's just as cross as she replies. "You'll become less of a woman if you give up so easily! It's all about willpower! Willpower!" She turns in a huff, and leaps up onto the slope, scrabbling for purchase.

Unfortunately, the slope has gotten no less treacherous between the first and third attempts.


<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.


When Rei asks her to hurry up, Usagi doesn't move from her spot, leaning against the icy cliff side. Watching her slide down again. As Rei replies crossly, Usagi just blinks her eyes in a bovine sort of incomprehension, like she can't understand Rei's logic there. "Is that so?" Though she thinks on it anyhow, with a little tilt of her chin upright. Rei is a hard worker. It makes sense that she'd think that. While she doesn't think giving up would make Rei less of a woman - she does think it would make her less Rei.

And thus she cannot refute that.

Slowly she allows her back to slide to the ground.

It's not that she's giving up - Usagi thinks - because she never tried climbing out. Never tried seems worse than giving up. However it's simply that she wants to think of a better idea. "I guess someone else has been crowned Moon Princess by now."

Fact: The Moon Princess is the one who stole Mamoru Chiba - Tuxedo Mask - Prince Endymion's heart.

"... sorry." From inside of her jacket she pulls out a little star shaped locket, and pops it open. There's a beautiful tinkling music box like noise. As inside a crescent moon revolves around the center.

BGM Change: Moonlight Densetsu - Music Box - https:''www.youtube.comwatch?v=bjRzavKVljY

It's sweet - and melancholy. However she feels happy listening to it rather than sad. Like it allows her to forget sorrow.

Usagi then jolts at the idea that perhaps she's not considering Rei's feelings here and she looks over towards her. "Ah! Sorry! I'm not... trying to show off or anything. It's just... listening to this puts my mind at ease..."


<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

"Of course they were!" Rei snaps, as she claws at the snow. Sink in her fingers, push in her snow boots. There's no way she's letting this slope beat her. There's a hot sort of bitterness as she reprimands her while she's climbing - the anger of someone who is always fighting to catch up. "Thanks to someone, I've lost my chance at the crown!"

Except...

'... sorry.'

There's something about those miserable little mora which push a sigh through Rei's grit teeth, and she sliiides down the slope again. This time she brushes the snow from her hair as she approaches Usagi, and the tinkling music-box she has opened, as if she has been summoned by the sound of notes.

"Hm," Rei wonders, as she comes to rest beside her. "That belongs to Tuxedo Mask, right..?"

There was a time when it might have seemed like Rei was competing for his hand, too - when he showed up so suddenly. Certainly, she took an interest in the boys around Usagi. She told Usagi that if she wanted to win a boy's heart, she'd have to try harder.

... and, well, she tried harder.

It makes sense to think that perhaps Rei might feel badly, that Usagi raced forward ahead of her again.

There's a strange sort of gentleness to her smile, as she looks over to her. "No wonder it makes you feel better," she says, and there's no hint of the hot anger she was lancing at her moments ago.


<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.


Usagi just lets her chin dip when Rei asks. You can almost hear the little unspoken 'Uh-huh' in just her posture as the music box continues playing the melody endlessly on loop. It is like a perpetual motion device, where everything just keeps revolving and revolving.

However Rei acts with understanding, and Usagi checks her gentle smile and that expression on her face, there's almost a sense of panic, like perhaps she's not reading Rei Hino correctly here.

That perhaps she's still sad deep down.

"I-It doesn't hurt your feelings?" She asks quietly.

Because even despite her sorrow, Usagi does not live in her own little world. She never could. She brings everyone into her world, and even missing one person is like her whole world is incomplete.

Thus she cannot ignore the fact that she might hurt Rei's feelings in this way.

"You're really okay with it?" She asks again, because she has to be sure, as her hand cups upon the little locket.


<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Does it hurt Rei's feelings?

There was a thoughtful sort of look to her there, for a moment, but she's smiling now.

There's a certain sort of hopelessness, to a girl like Usagi. She has no idea what she's doing. She just blunders into everything, but... she really does care. Perhaps that's why Rei tried so hard to make sure she was protected. But, as for the girl in second place...

"I don't care about that any more," Rei assures her very best friend, with a warm smile. She sinks down into herself - drawing up her knees, hugging her hands around them, as she looks forward at the wall of ice which pins them in. There's something a little pensive about the whole position, but her expression is kind. "To be honest, I've already given up. After all, Mamoru-san... mm," she shakes her head a little, "Tuxedo Mask put his own life at risk to protect you."

And it might sound like she's saying she has no chance to win his heart - when he would go so far to protect Usagi.

She turns to her again, tilting her head with a smile. "I can't possibly win against that." It's a strange contrast - between the competition she fought so hard to win, and the one, now, she abdicates without aggravation.


<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.


Usagi gives Rei a serious look as she declares it doesn't matter to her anymore. Searching. Rei Hino was elementally herself at all times, but sometimes being herself, meant the quiet white lie, and it was hard for Usagi to spot.

She doesn't see it though.

She doesn't see it, as she draws up her knees, the two huddled together at the bottom of this canyon.

'That's not like you.' Usagi almost says, but it is like her. It's just like the Rei Hino who climbed and climbed stubbornly until finally she discovered it could not happen.

So she doesn't say it.

Instead Rei says that she can't compete with Tuxedo Kamen laying his life on the line for her.

And she finds herself startled, looking at Rei Hino really closely.

She knows what Rei meant. A boy who was willing to sacrifice himself for Usagi - that was true love. That's not something another girl can compete with.

And yet the way she hears it. It's like Rei Hino was saying she can't compete with a boy who lays his life down for her.

She can't truly make the distinction. Her mind can't. It has a certain innocence that has been familiarized into her by the idea of a Prince protecting a Princess.

That is the true romance.

And yet Rei Hino protects her all the time as Sailor Mars - doesn't she?

Usagi finds her head is heavy right now, it's not that she's tired from the cold, it's just that she's always a little tired, as she claps the locket shut in her hand, silencing the tune. The world itself could be tiring, as lovely as it is. And so she slowly lays the side of her head on Rei's shoulder, the coat parting her hair just gently as she rests it against that spot.

"I dunno Rei-chan. I think you can compete just fine."

It's hard to say what her mind is thinking anymore. Whether it doesn't matter that he was laying his life down for her. That Rei could still compete for his hand - just because it's Rei Hino. Or whether it's saying that Rei Hino can compete with Mamoru Chiba.

Maybe it doesn't matter to her tired, innocent little head.

She simply rests it there for a while. It's hard to keep track of how much time passed.

(26 seconds precisely.)

When suddenly Usagi jumps bolt upright - and there's almost something gleeful to her thinking of it. "Oh that's right! With your fire soul I bet you could blast us out of here right away!"


<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

It is certainly true that Rei protects Usagi all the time - as Sailor Mars, and as herself, too. It would be a lie to say she's never wondered about that. Wondered about the way she does the sorts of things a boy ought to do, because she doesn't think anyone else can do them right. Or maybe just because...

Well, it's also true that as close as Rei positioned herself to Mamoru in order to try and determine his allegiances, she never actually tried to date him. She might have insinuated to Usagi that she could, that Usagi ought to hurry up - but she never made that move on her own. She never really seems to, no matter who's in her sights.

And then Usagi lays her head on her shoulder and gives her assurances, and maybe it's the cold which is colouring Rei's cheeks.

(It isn't.)

"Usagi..." Rei begins, yobisute, and perhaps it's remarkable that Usagi is one of the few people granted that closeness in Rei's circle. For all she criticises her, it is never with an honourific, these days. She finds her voice is small, muffled by the snow around them. "... I..."

But it's a slow sort of realisation, unsupported by her world, and she lingers so long on the threshold that Usagi realises another way out. Rei follows her up in an instant, the surprise wiping into determination into irritation. "You're right!" She declares, fists clenched again. "Why didn't you notice that earlier?! Usagi, you are such a slowpoke!"


<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.


Usagi's little cheek just buries into Rei's shoulder a little more when her name is said yobisute. Perhaps it is simply knowing that Rei can say her name like that - that makes her feel safe to nuzzle into her like this. It is not a thing most people would think about the two - bickering all the time.

And yet she feels as safe as she's ever been right now.

Maybe it doesn't matter what Rei was about to say. It could have been anything.

It could have been anything at all.

The moment passes though.

And Usagi just looks all proud, as she leans over to Rei's space, a hand resting on her chin, giving her this cheeky look, "You didn't think of it either~" Usagi teases, and there's something triumphant in that fact. That she thought of it first, even if Rei had turned it back on her for not thinking of it sooner.

Perhaps it might turn to annoyance or irritation soon enough if Rei presses the point. Right now though the look on Rei's face is worth it.


<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

It would be easy to say Rei and Usagi can't stand each other, the way they're always at each other's throats. If anyone asked, Rei would give them an exhaustive list of things she can't stand about the girl beside her.

And if anyone else tried to give Usagi even a fraction of the trouble Rei gives her every day, she would never allow it.

... well, she's an Ohtori girl, after all. It's all about appearances.

"Y-- you're the one who wanted to think of a different way!" Rei insists, stumbling a little over the fact that Usagi is, plainly speaking, correct. But Rei Hino has never once let the facts get in the way of sniping at Usagi Tsukino, "I already had a plan, why would I need another one?!"

Her very, very good plan of climbing up the unclimbable slope.

"Never mind that," she huffs, "let's transform! Mars Power --"

ELSEWHERE

"Where's Rei-san?" Wonders the young man who shadows her like a particularly affectionate puppy. "She should be done with the course by now, shouldn't she?!"

A girl in a green and red snow-jacket claps a hand on his shoulder. "It's no good to stand here worrying," Makoto assures him. "Let's go look for them."

Yuuchiro clasps his hands together. "Such wise words..!"

AND NOW

"-- not so fast!" It's the voice of Saeko Yamamoto, the skiing instructor, but she has a harder tone than she ought, standing atop the icy cliffs. Rei stiffens as she looks up to face her, shock on her face.

"Who are..."

She laughs as she descends - and her form glimmers and shifts, pink and white snow clothing ceding to snowmen and pails. "I am the monster, Blizzar," she tells them, in complete confidence. "I was sent to assassinate Sailor Moon."

Rei looks to Usagi, wide-eyed, because this is not the instructor who helped them before. "Dark Kingdom must have transformed her--!"

"Prepare to die, Sailor Moon!" Blizzar declares, pointing a clawed hand... square... at Rei Hino.

She looks back and forth in alarm, finally pointing at herself. "What? Me?!"

"Good looks, athletic ability, and gracefulness," Blizzar lists off her qualities, and Rei can't help but strike a preening pose as she realises how she's being complimented. (She is being condemned.) "You must be the princess of the moon!"

"Oh," Rei says, in deliberately light wonder, "you think so, too? You're such an honest youma..!"

Of course, while she's busy being self-congratulatory, she's not attacking.


<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.


"And I thought of one!" Though her expression does become irritation, "Well clearly your plan wasn't working!" She harumphs, and turns away. However 'not so fast!'

Usagi looks up and claps her hands together, "Rei-chan it's the ski-guard! We're saved!" It's uncertain where the etymology of ski-guard came from, but maybe she thinks of her like a lifeguard. Having no idea that skiing does not have life guards. It's a dangerous sport! It feels like it ought to have those!

However as she descends, and transforms, Usagi actually lets out a piercing shriek, despite being used to this life, trembling.

Then as she says she's here to assasinate Sailor Moon-

Usagi Tsukino shakes her head- "No no no no-" -she's pointing at Rei Hino.

Whereas a moment ago she absolutely didn't want to be singled out - now the monster is talking up Rei, listing all of her good qualities, and all of those good qualities seem to be making Usagi look worse.

Suddenly Usagi's eyes are tearful as she leans in front of Rei pointing at herself. "You've got the wrong girl!"

Blizzar - who would absolutely in a million years never believe this other girl is the Princess of the Moon shouts, "SILENCE!"

She sweeps a hand aside. "My judgement is without flaw! Blizzar!"

It's only a matter of moments before she attacks...


<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

"There's no such thing as a ski-guard, Usagi!" Rei interjects, her correction made sharper by her growing alarm. Perhaps Usagi doesn't quite feel what she feels - this baleful burgeoning sense now brought to bloom.

She recognises it eventually, though, and her reaction is clockwork. Usagi is scared; Usagi has always been scared. Perhaps there's only one thing which could reach through her frozen terror at this point...

... Rei upstaging her.

Which she is, naturally. Even monsters can figure it out.

Usagi gets in front of her and protests, and at first Rei huffs, because she's still messing with her. It's an attitude which shifts in a moment as Blizzar takes in icy breath, and Rei realises just what the next order of operations is.

Oh.

Clumsy Usagi is in front of her, untransformed, too busy feeling sorry for herself to get out of the way.

In their ice-cliff coffin, there are no distractions to exploit.

She hardly needs to be psychic to see what's about to happen.

"Usagi!" Rei snaps, and for the second time today she tackles her, sending the both of them sprawling to the ground. This time, they are not speeding down a mountain; she can manoeuvre herself on top of her, shielding her with her body.

Going low, it turns out, was the right choice - because Blizzar exhales, and her breath is cold winter, flowing over the place where they stood with icy wind. It catches Rei's back, and freezes, icicles hanging from her fashionable purple coat. "Y-you know," she shivers out, through grit teeth, fists balling in the snow against the pain of being struck without her fuku to protect her, "I always t-tried to protect you, too --"

Maybe she's always taken a bit of a masculine role around her, despite her protests and posturing, and maybe that says something about how she feels about Usagi. There's hardly time to examine something like that right now, because Blizzar is laughing as the ice spreads.

"She thinks -- she's got us," Rei whispers, instead, the words made harsh. "T-take advantage of it and transform already!"


<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.


"Rei-chan!?" Tackled by Rei, the air whooshes out of Usagi as she's struck to the ground - feeling the dark power fed blizzard frost indirectly, because Rei has shielded her through direct exposure. And as she sees Rei freeze in part, Usagi as she regains her breath is in the midst of panic, "Rei-chan!" She squeaks, "I know - I know you do! Don't worry..."

She tries to reassure her, as she slides her hand in her jacket, to her broach, still panicking a little, like Rei's efforts to protect her have truly gotten her hurt. "I'll handle the rest - so you warm up Rei-chan."

Slipping out from her grip, she scrambles up and raises a hand to the air.

"Moon Prism Power - Make Up!"

And in a flash of light, a girding of ribbons into a Sailor Fuku.

"Hold it right there! You're unforgivable!" She says as she takes on a fierce pose, "Taking advantage of innocent young maidens by luring us here - and still being so shallow that you don't know a real Moon Princess when you see one! Sailor Suited Pretty Soldier of Love and Justice - Sailor Moon!"

She points at her in accusation, "In the Name of the Moon - I will punish you!"

However before it can react, she's already spinning the Moon Stick, bearing the Silver Crystal into her hand. "Moon Healing-" She says as she traces a circle into the air. "-ESCALATION!"

The circle dissolves into a glittering lunar curtain of stardust, sending wave after wave of healing energy into her.

Fortunately the healing that banishes dark power, does the same for the frost powered by darkness that's clinging to Rei Hino.


<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

"Y-yeah," Rei grits out through chattering teeth. "Do your t-thing already..." It's close enough to a vote of confidence; after all, it's hardly like Rei can help, right now.

She's been put on ice.

Was it stupid..?

Blizzar recoils in surprise as she realises her mistake. "You impertinent --" Her protest is cut off by Sailor Moon's fluid, as she invokes Moon Healing Escalation. The sneer on her face is replaced by a grimace of pain as the healing waves wash over her, and she is taken by the light of the full moon, a beam of light.

"Refresh..!"

And Saeko Yamamoto collapses into the snow, a woman again.

The dark energy which transformed her is cleansed, and with it, all which follows; the icicle becomes Rei Hino again. She puffs out a breath, leaning back on her knees and rubbing at her arms. "Brr..." She grumbles, more in memory of the cold than any present ice. "Sailor Moon, next time, don't just stand there when a monster shows up!"

She rubs her gloved hands together, puffs into them. "... but you handled it pretty quick, right?" She adds, in an aside which at least edges close enough to appreciation. "I guess you're getting better."


<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.


Sailor Moon exhales a long breath as the Youma collapses, her breath fogging in the air. "That could have gotten bad... are you al-"

Sailor Moon takes Rei Hino's criticism with a glare, and it gives her a sour expression for a moment, not replying. Until finally she adds that at the end.

Sailor Moon let's out this tiny giggle, hands folding over the Moon Stick, her expression having turned from sour to delighted.

"Rei-chan actually praised me!"

She's definitely noting this moment in her notebook so that Rei can't deny it later.


<Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (9)] has posed.

Rei's sniping at Usagi, so she's obviously fine.

"Don't get too comfortable, there's still a lot I can criticise!" Rei huffs, folding her arms in the snow as she turns her nose up. Of course, she would never bring up how she messed that up. "For starters, why didn't you transform right away?! The only one there was a monster!"

A hand comes up to scratch at her cheek, remembering the frost there. "But, then..." She trails off, fightiness taking a backseat to thoughtfulness for a moment. "I guess I'm kind of hopeless, too."

Don't get the wrong idea, she doesn't quite get to saying. It's my duty to protect you, that's all. It's not like him at all.

She can't quite say it, because...

Well.

Usagi did say she could compete.


<Pose Tracker> Usagi Tsukino [Juuban Public School (9)] has posed.


As Sailor Moon is upbraided, she turns her chin up and looks away. However then she says something that causes her arms to unlace and look towards her with a sentimental look.

In the end Sailor Moon's arm wraps around Rei Hino's back as she bends down to her, and says. "Maybe!" There's something so cheerful as she adds, "But you're my kind of hopeless Rei-chan!"

Her giggle is cheery, because she's happy that that's so.