File:Makoto-manga2.jpg

2014-09-03T00:48:58Z

Joiedecombat:

Makoto Kino

2014-09-03T00:47:50Z

Joiedecombat:

__NOTOC__
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{|style="border:2px solid black;background: #FFFAFA;width: 22.5em;float: right;clear: right;vertical-align: top;-moz-border-radius: 10px;margin: 0 0 0 0.5em"
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!style="color:#fff2f4;background:#008000;font-size: 120%;text-align: center;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px"|Makoto Kino
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| [[File:SailorJupiter.jpg]]
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{|style="border:2px solid black;background: #FFFFFF;width: 360px;float: right;clear: right;vertical-align: top;-moz-border-radius: 10px;margin: 0.5em 0 0 0.5em"
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!colspan="2" style="color:#fff2f4;background:#008000;font-size: 120%;text-align: center;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px"|Status
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|'''Name''' || Makoto Kino
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''AKA''' || Sailor Jupiter, the Senshi of Protection
|-
|'''Gender''' || Female
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Age''' || 14
|-
|'''School''' || [[School:_Juuban_Public_School|Juuban Public School]]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Grade''' || 8
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|'''Club''' || [[Clubs:_Juuban#Cooking_Club|Cooking Club]]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Birthday''' || December 5
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|'''Zodiac Sign''' || Sagittarius
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Blood Type''' || O
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|'''Hair''' || Brown
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Eyes''' || Green
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|'''Favorite Color''' || Pink
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Favorite Flower''' || [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camellia_sasanqua Camellia Sasanqua]
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|'''Favorite Animal''' || Horse
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Favorite Food''' || Cherry Pie
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|'''Least Favorite Food''' || None
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Favorite Subject''' || Home Ec
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|'''Least Favorite Subject''' || Physics
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Hobbies''' || Cooking, Bargain-Hunting
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|'''Likes''' || Flowers, Romance Novels
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Dislikes''' || Airplanes, Cheaters
|}
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!colspan="2" style="color:#fff2f4;background:#008000;font-size: 120%;text-align: center;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px"|OOC
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|'''Theme''' || [[Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon]]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|'''Player''' || [[Joiedecombat|Joie de Combat]]
|}
{|style="text-align: left; border: black solid 2px;background:#FFFAFA;-moz-border-radius: 10px"
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!style="color:#fff2f4;background:#008000;font-size: 120%; text-align: center;width: 1500pt;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px" | Quote
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<blockquote> ''"Soldier of Thunder and Courage, the pretty sailor-suited soldier Sailor Jupiter! I will beat you into submission!" ''
 </blockquote>
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!style="color:#fff2f4;background:#008000;font-size: 120%; text-align: center;width: 1500pt;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px" | Profile
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Makoto Kino transferred into Juuban Public School in the middle of the eighth grade. Rumor has it that she was kicked out of her previous school for fighting, and tall and imposing as she is she certainly looks the part, but in actuality she's a warm-hearted girl who loves cooking and flowers and is constantly falling in love with any good-looking guy she sees... all of whom somehow seem to remind her of her old senpai.

Secretly, Makoto is also Sailor Jupiter, the sailor-suited soldier of thunder and courage. Alongside Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Senshi, she fights to keep Tokyo safe from the Dark Kingdom and any other dangers that might threaten people's safety.

When she's not fighting for justice, Mako can often be found playing video games at Game Center Crown, or hanging out with her friends at the attached Fruits Parlor Crown. She also maintains a food blog which began simply with posted photos of whatever tasty-looking dish or cute lunch bento design she'd come up with most recently, but which soon expanded to include recipes, thoughts on striking a balance between "easy," "cheap," and "delicious," and occasional cooking and housekeeping tips and favorite tricks.
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!style="color:#fff2f4;background:#008000;font-size: 120%; text-align: center;width: 1500pt;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px" | Current Events
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|Life hasn't been easy lately for the Senshi of Protection. The followers of the mysterious "Mobius" have somehow managed to brainwash Makoto's dear friend Sailor Mercury over to their side, turning her against her fellow Sailor Senshi. And as though that weren't bad enough, Nephrite of the Dark Kingdom - the very same Dark General who's already proven just how dangerous he can be by seriously injuring both Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask - seems to have taken a very personal interest in going after not only Sailor Jupiter, but Makoto Kino as well.

It remains to be seen whether or not Makoto's stout heart will be able to hold up under all of this punishment. She's not in it alone, however, and both supporting and being supported by Usagi, Mamoru, and the rest of their friends and allies, Mako has so far managed to weather the storms.
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!style="color:#fff2f4;background:#008000;font-size: 120%; text-align: center;width: 1500pt;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px" | What's in your heart?
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|A work very much in progress. If I have overlooked any CR with your character, please let me know!

<big>'''Sailor Senshi and Associates:'''</big>
* '''[[Usagi Tsukino]]''' - First and forever among the best of Makoto's friends, and leader of the Sailor Senshi as Sailor Moon. Usagi's unhesitating friendship has been Mako's salvation, and she'll never forget it - whenever it comes down to choosing sides, Makoto is on Usagi's, without question. Even aside from that, she's just genuinely fun to be around, and Makoto feels privileged to know her and happy that the two of them can share things they enjoy like food and video games and manga.

* '''[[Ami Mizuno]]''' - Like Usagi, Ami has a special place in Makoto's heart - there's just so much to admire about her, and yet she doesn't seem to see it. Mako has absolute faith in Ami's intelligence and her judgment, and in turn she'll do whatever she can to protect Ami and build her up until she understands how amazing she is. Even being brainwashed to the side of Labyrinth can't make Mako give up on Ami.

* '''[[Rei Hino]]''' - It must be said that in many ways Makoto doesn't really quite ''get'' Rei. They are very different; where Mako tends to take things at face value, there are always layers of meaning in the things that Rei says and does which Makoto often cannot read. But they share a powerful common ground in their responsibilities as Sailor Senshi and their friendship with Usagi, and that's good enough for Makoto.

* '''[[Minako Aino]]''' - A bona fide celebrity as Sailor V, and - with the revelation that she is really the Princess - bona fide royalty on top of that. Makoto is very impressed! The situation being what it is, Mako doesn't really know the girl the Sailor Senshi have been charged with protecting very well yet. She'd like to, though.

* '''[[Mamoru Chiba]]''' - For a while Makoto wasn't sure what to make of Sailor Moon's mysterious protector at all, but as circumstances have led them to work together more and as he's come to confide in her, it's become clear that the two of them have more in common than she'd have thought. Mako has come to trust Mamoru; he's had her back too many times, both as Tuxedo Mask and in civvies, for her not to do the same for him.

* '''Luna''' - Advisor to the Sailor Senshi, and companion to the Sailor Senshi. Makoto respects Luna's knowledge and wisdom about their mission, and heaven knows she and the rest of the Senshi put the poor space cat through a lot of stress. Sometimes Mako is concerned by how uncompromising Luna can be, however. It's for the sake of the mission, but still...

* '''[[Asagao Uekawa]]''' - Sailor Vega! Mako hasn't had a lot of chances to really get to know Asagao, but they've fought alongside one another on several occasions and she's been a helpful ally.

* '''Sailors [[Michiru Kaioh|Neptune]] and [[Haruka Tenoh|Uranus]]''' - Mysterious Sailor Senshi with their own personal mission. Makoto doesn't know what drives these two, or why, if they're also Sailor Senshi, they insist on remaining apart from Usagi and the others. They're definitely powerful, but if they're willing to hurt other people for the sake of their goal, that's something that Mako absolutely is not okay with. There are some things that you just don't do.

<big>'''Friends and Allies:'''</big>
* '''[[Eri Shimanouchi]]''' - Makoto is still getting to know Eri, but she feels that they have quite a few things in common, both in their love of flowers - although Eri's knowledge of plants and gardening far exceeds Mako's own - and in their mutual understanding of just how it feels to be alone, and to be saved from loneliness.
* '''[[Yukimi Amane]]''' - Acquaintance of Ami-chan, video game buddy, and generally nice girl. Although Yukimi is in high school, Makoto has found her easy to talk to, and the concern she's shown regarding the whole mess with Ami has been much appreciated. (As is the fact that she called Mako cute.)
* '''[[Mai Tokiha]]''' - Friends with Eri and Mamoru, and, it seems, in the know regarding Mamoru's secret identity, which Makoto figures means she must be trustworthy. Someday they really need to swap recipes.
* '''[[Kuniko Saito]]''' - Member of the Infinity Institute's Cooking Club, and impressively knowledgeable about food and cooking. Definitely someone Makoto would like to get to know better.
* '''Prism Keepers [[Mei Akatsuki|Red]] and [[Reiko Touyama|Orange]]''' - Sailor Jupiter has fought alongside these young magical girls on several occasions, and they've handled themselves very well. She'll definitely be keeping an eye out for them, in future battles or otherwise.

<big>'''Enemies:'''</big>
* '''[[Nephrite]]''' - A General of the Dark Kingdom and an enemy to the Sailor Senshi, and not an opponent to be taken lightly. In their handful of encounters so far, Nephrite has demonstrated a positive genius for getting under Sailor Jupiter's skin and leaving her unsettled and off-balance in ways she can't even begin to define - and worse, due to carelessness on Makoto's part he's begun targeting her in her civilian identity as well. He doesn't seem to have realized that Makoto Kino is Sailor Jupiter - yet - but Mako is all too aware of how narrow some of her escapes have been, and she knows with just as much certainty that the Dark General isn't simply going to give up.
* '''[[Eas]], [[Soular]], and [[Westar]]''' - Sailor Jupiter has had several run-ins with the executives of the mysterious Labyrinth during their efforts to collect "misery energy." It's their corruption of Sailor Mercury to their side, however, that ''really'' has them on her list. As of yet Mako's attempts to investigate them haven't borne much fruit, but she has no intention of leaving the trio alone.
* '''[[Ail]]''' - ''That'' guy, the one with the green skin and blue hair who keeps trying to steal people's energy. He claims it's a matter of survival, but he certainly does have an attitude about it. Makoto has heard that at least one other magical girl, Princess Runealy, hopes to reason with him, and Mako wishes her well... but as long as he's out there attacking people, Sailor Jupiter intends to stop him.

<big>'''Crushes:'''</big>
* '''[[Nephrite|Masato Sanjouin]]''' - Talented, sophisticated, and ''super hot''. Probably entirely out of Makoto's league, but he's been surprisingly gracious and complimentary toward Makoto and doesn't even seem to hold it against her that their first meeting involved her judo-flipping him flat on his back. Recent events have given Makoto reason to be concerned that the Dark General Zoisite might be targeting him for some reason...?
* '''[[Ail|Seijuro Ginga]]''' - Mako mostly goes for older guys, but Seijuro is pretty classy for a second-year student, not to mention really good-looking and not even bothered that Makoto can lift him off his feet.
* '''Motoki Furuhata''' - Older, really handsome, and an incredibly nice and decent guy. If only he didn't seem perpetually oblivious to Makoto as anything other than a friend of Usagi's and a regular customer at Game Center Crown.
* '''The infamous senpai''' - Before she transferred to Juuban, Makoto was head-over-heels for her senpai at her old school... and was crushed when he rejected her and told her she was too tall and unfeminine. Mako doesn't seem to bear a grudge, however; when she says a guy reminds her of her senpai, it's a compliment. It's hard to tell much about just what the guy was really like, though, given that with very few exceptions ''every'' reasonably good-looking guy Makoto encounters seems to remind her of him.
|}

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!style="color:#fff2f4;background:#008000;font-size: 120%; text-align: center;width: 1500pt;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px" | Logs
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!style="color:#fff2f4;background:#008000;font-size: 120%; text-align: center;width: 1500pt;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px" | Cutscenes
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{|style="text-align: left; border: black solid 2px;background:#FFFAFA;-moz-border-radius: 10px;margin: 0.5em 0 0 0"
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!style="color:white;background:#008000;font-size: 120%; text-align: center;width: 1500pt;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px" | Soundtrack
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu77Vtja30c Gustav Holst, "The Planets, Op. 32 - Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity"]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4stTwfdKRk Emi Shinohara, "Starlight ni Kisu Shite"]
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlzaKrG4ljw Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts, "Autumn in Ganymede"]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsI5UCTFom4 Ella Fitzgerald, "The Man I Love"]
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pIfdcvzdww Maiko Fujita, "Give me Sandbag"]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4stTwfdKRk Emi Shinohara, "Anata no Sei ja Nai"]
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaT7DaqPbxs Idina Menzel, "I'm Not That Girl"]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KkLuRFtuCc Supercell, "Utakata Hanabi"]
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onVjiCfi0wQ Supercell, "The Bravery"]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|[https://soundcloud.com/ginadonahue/makoto-bellatrix Gina D. Sharp (feat. Caleb Lowrey), "Makoto Bellatrix"]
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkIRA7_sAxQ Emi Shinohara, "We Believe You"]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCwngip74Hs Nao Tokisawa, "BRYNHILDR IN THE DARKNESS~Ver. EJECTED"]
|-
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4n_8R5lKnw Vienna Teng, "Level Up"]
|-bgcolor="#fff2f4"
|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlv23UWCRM0 Indigo Girls, "Love Will Come to You"]
|}
{|style="text-align: center; border: black solid 2px;background:#FFFAFA;-moz-border-radius: 10px;margin: 0.5em 0 0 0"
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!style="color:white;background:#008000;font-size: 100%; text-align: center;width: 1500pt;-moz-border-radius-topright: 10px;-moz-border-radius-topleft: 10px" | Gallery
|-
|<gallery height=320px>
File:Makoto-anime2.jpg
File:Jupiter-manga.jpg
File:Makoto-crystal.jpg
File:Jupiter-crystal.jpg
File:Flower-hurricane.jpg
</gallery>
|}
[[Category: Characters]] [[Category: Juuban]] [[Category:Unaffiliated]]

File:Jupiter-manga.jpg

2014-09-03T00:45:50Z

Joiedecombat: Joiedecombat uploaded a new version of "File:Jupiter-manga.jpg"

2014-08-24 - Much Ado About Nothing

2014-09-01T23:53:33Z

Joiedecombat: Added continuation of scene.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Much Ado About Nothing (or, Panic at the Planetarium)'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Makoto and Mamoru go to the planetarium on a rainy evening because they both need a distraction and it was Mamoru's idea and he's a nerd. But... Nephrite's tracking Makoto. And Zoisite's tracking Nephrite. Things get really, really uncomfortable.''

''No, I mean REALLY uncomfortable.''

''It has an OP: http://soundcloud.com/ginadonahue/panic-at-the-planetarium ''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Makoto Kino]], [[Mamoru Chiba]], [[Nephrite]], [[Zoisite]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
The Ohtori Academy Planetarium
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
3 March 2014 - 8/24/2014
|-
|}
[[Category:Logs]]

<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

"--been a while since I've been in here. Not since December, probably."

As the door to the planetarium opens, it lets in Mamoru Chiba's voice as well as light spilling from the hallway. "Usually I'm just on the roof or the balcony with my telescope. You can't see what the moon and stars are like ''right now'' in here, it's just a photo, basically."

As he closes the door, the place goes very dark again, and it'll be a couple seconds before their eyes adjust to the very dim light. It's in those seconds that he hangs his coat up next to the door and leans his umbrella against the wall. Then he heads for the giant metal eye in the middle and uses his phone's flashlight to find the controls.

"But if you want silence with your cosmos instead of the breathing of the city or the chorus of the countryside, then outside of going into space... well," he flicks the machine on, and the dome above them goes from black to the glittering and stately array of the night sky in its slow dance. "This is a reasonable substitute."

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"I kind of like the chorus of the countryside," Makoto comments, and her voice is rich with amusement at Mamoru's turn of phrase, but it's nothing but affectionate. She trails after him into the planetarium, moving carefully in the darkness, and as the projector lights up the dome with the sparkle of myriad stars, she laces her fingers behind her head and looks upward in admiration.

The still air of the indoors doesn't speak to her the way it might if they were truly out under the open sky, but still... "It's only a simulation," she says, pitching her voice a little softer without quite realizing that she's doing it, "but it's still beautiful."

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

The definition of insanity is trying the same plan multiple times and expecting different results. Nephrite is many things -- but he is not insane. His interrogation tactics towards the Kino girl had yielded but little, and it is time for a change of tack.

Namely, one that does not involve physical violence, because that only seemed to give her strength. Better to manipulate her weakness instead: her trust in Masato Sanjouin.

He'd been confused, at first, when he saw the tracking dot approach Ohtori's planetarium. He'd always disliked the place, with its artificial sky that muted the stars and turned them into merely baubles to be observed. But it was a secluded enough location for a private talk, concerning one Tuxedo Mask.

Perhaps, while he was there, he could show her a more...complete vision of the stars as well.

It doesn't take long to arrive at Ohtori, thanks to his sports car's powerful engine and a few tweaked stoplights along the way. It would be easier to teleport -- much easier, in fact -- but in truth, Nephrite preferred to avoid using that power as Masato, lest he be spotted by an unsuspecting mortal and his reputation put in question. He does, however, bend reality the slightest bit to find a parking spot close to the planetarium itself, for fear that she would leave before he entered.

Fortunately, those fears are unfounded, for he hears the voice of Makoto even as he walks into the dimly lit theater. "Beautiful though it may be, a simulation will never match the true night sky," he remarks in response to the last words he heard from her. "It is a shame one must use a computer to view even a semblance of it here in Tokyo. When you have seen the night in its full beauty, returning to the washed-out urban atmosphere is...disheartening."

Saying this, he steps closer so as not to speak from the shadows any longer. "Do you have a love of the night sky, Kino-san?"

<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Invisible in the darkness, the corners of Mamoru's eyes crinkle up at Makoto's amusement, but he remains silent, straightening up and looking overhead. As he listens to her, he absently starts mapping out the constellations and working out whether the image of the sky they're seeing is exactly on time, from positioning, or if it's off from what's above the clouds outside.

Then the door opens and lets light in again, and for a second, Mamoru can't see anything at all. He stiffens as he hears a third voice and it's familiar -- this is the Student Council tower, it could be a Councilor -- but then he can make out the newcomer's build and see his face, and his shoulders relax. It's just the pompous guy from the poetry slam.

"Sanjouin-san," he greets the man, not quite pointedly, but with a firm establishment of his presence in the room.

His presence.

He's on his home turf; he is, as he's been called, one of Ohtori's kings. But it's not a warning of any kind, it's not the coldness or the aloof amiability he wears like armor around the school -- it's perfectly friendly, and there's almost a laugh behind it.

"The wilderness isn't that far away. It's just raining. But if you feel it's so subpar, why have you come?"

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

It's a concern for Nephrite, but not for his troublesome brother-in-arms. One moment, Zoisite-as-Zoë Palissandre is studying in Ohtori's cavernous library; the next, he is ducking out and down an empty stairwell, stepping across the sprawling campus in a single stride as soon as the door closes behind him.

In his manicured hand, Zoë's mobile phone darkens over the word 'PLANETARIUM'.

---<--@ @-->---

Inexplicably, Nephrite will feel a slender arm slip between his side and his own arm, capturing it with the terrible strength only a besotted teenage girl can muster.

"Sanjouin-saaaaaaaan, you didn't wait for meeee! How /could/ you? And after I worked so hard to clear my social schedule for tonight's date!" a feminine voice trills, edged with the watery waver of a young girl's tears. "I know you're busy, but would it have killed you to send me a text message?" Sniffle.

If he looks down, poor Neph will catch a wicked gleam in Zoë's tearful eyes before they're squeezed shut and wiped on his sleeve.

"Ah...c'est Chiba-san," the faux French girl murmurs, looking up from her deathgrip on Masato's arm and blinking a few times to clear the totally manufactured tears from her vibrant green eyes. "Et...pardonnez-moi, but who is your friend?" Though the inquiry is directed at Mamoru, Zoë has let her gaze drift to Makoto. Who, for the record, Zoisite legitimately doesn't recognise.

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Makoto does not have Mamoru's degree of self-possession. Even with the forewarning of the light that comes in when the observatory's door opens, she barely manages to keep from letting out an entirely undignified squeak of surprise when she realizes just who has joined them in the star-spangled darkness of the planetarium. "--Sanjouin-san!"

She drops her arms hastily back to her sides as she turns to face him. At least it's dark enough that (she hopes) neither of them can see her blushing. "Well--" she says, tripping a little over the words before she manages to answer, "--yes. Isn't everyone, at least a little?" Her eyes turn upwards again for a moment, once again catching the light of the simulated stars. "No matter how many times you see it, it doesn't get old."

A beat passes, and though it might well be too dark to tell that she's blushing but when she turns her eyes from the dome back toward Nephrite there's a look on her face that Mamoru will probably recognize. She opens her mouth to say something--

--and then there is a gorgeous person latched onto Nephrite's arm and Makoto's face suddenly freezes, her spine going stiff as inwardly her heart cracks just a little. She closes her mouth again, feeling very foolish.

Of course he has a girlfriend. Really, she should have expected it.

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

"That depends on your definition of subpar, Chiba-san," Nephrite-as-Masato says without missing a beat, inclining his head towards the youth. He hadn't seen him when he walked in, and while his presence is a slight disappointment, it is hardly consequential in the grand scheme of things. Besides, after that bit of trickery on the bridge, the high schooler bears investigating on his own merits. "From here, we cannot see the Venus de Milo. We use photographs to rectify this. You do not see the statue when you see the photograph, but is it not worth seeing because of that?" It's a convoluted metaphor -- he can't simply tell these two that there is a *true* night sky that can only be seen from the observatory in his mansion. But he believes his point to be made. (Even if he doesn't mean it completely.)

"And you are right, Kino-san," the long-haired man says with a slight smile, focusing on her once again. "The night sky is a living thing, in some way. Ever-changing, ever in motion, and yet as regular as clockwork. In many ways, it resembles--"

A strong force grasps his left arm out of nowhere, and he cuts himself off mid-sentence, a bit of instinctive defense snapping his head to the side and tensing his muscles. He's half-expecting an attacker. Instead he gets

Zoisite?!

Nephrite can almost not contain his surprise, eyes widening almost unnaturally and taking a reflexive step backwards, though his arm remains firmly in the girl's (boy's?) grasp. /What in hell's name are you thinking??/ he wants to yell, his free fist clenched and trembling with sudden anger. /Is this your plan to have me killed? In Kunzite's jealous rage?/

But, alas, the presence of mortals stills his tongue. Though something akin to bile rises in the back of his throat, the man forces the suave and collected countenance of Masato back onto his face, straightening so as not to look like he's repulsed by the new arrival.

/You'll pay for this, Zoisite./

"Ah, my...apologies," he says through teeth only slightly gritted, "I did not mean to upset you." Manufacturing every gesture, he extends his hand towards the two students, noting bitterly the change in Makoto Kino's expression. Damn. It will take time to undo this *unfortunate* misunderstanding. "These are Mamoru Chiba and Makoto Kino. I happened upon them by happy coincidence."

He lowers his hand, then looks back towards the (no doubt gleeful) Zoisite. "This is...my. date."

(Damn Zoisite didn't even tell him the name of this mortal guise.)

<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

The world stops and resets for Mamoru Chiba when Zoë Palissandre shows up out of nowhere and attaches herself to Sanjouin's arm. He'd noticed that look on Makoto's face, and started to look amused, but his face freezes as surely as does Mako's, as does Nephrite's. Then it rapidly closes off into distant amusement and faint annoyance.

He shifts a quick glance in Mako's direction, but the ponytailed middle-schooler's gotten that ''other'' look on ''her'' face, and the depth of the ramifications make a little bit of 'oh no' leak past his mask. Probably only enough for Zoisite to see.

Mamoru's hand snakes out quickly to grab Makoto's, and the charge she'll feel is familiar by now.

Calm. The stillness of stone, the quiet of deep caves. The peace of the sunny golden haze of a late August afternoon.

He keeps the distant amusement in his face and voice, which resonates in the dimness. "Zoë Palissandre-san, this is Makoto Kino-san. Sanjouin-san, I didn't know you two were seeing each other; it's such a small world sometimes."

His hand's gripping Makoto's tightly, but it's dark in here and the shadows favor them. His eyes, meanwhile, are desperately trying to read Zoisite's.

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Well, I take that back. Though Zoisite does not recognise Makoto herself, he /does/ pick up on the way tension galvanises her frame the moment her forest green eyes meet his. It's not the same as that which draws Mamoru's noble features taut; no, the disguised spymaster knows heartbreak when he sees it.

Interesting.

Zoisite's head bobs when Mamoru -- sounding more put-upon than ever -- effects the necessary introductions. Even as 'Makoto Kino' is filed away in the back of Zoisite's mind, he is chirping, "Non, non, mais non, I am sure it was just a misunderstanding!" in Zoë's French accent, all smiles now that her 'date' has proved sufficiently contrite.

Seeing each other? "Ahahahaha," Zoë laughs, the sound the tinkling of windchimes, and covers her lush mouth with exquisitely-manicured fingertips. Now fluttering her equally lush eyelashes in false modesty, she fatuously coos, "I would not say that, only that Sanjouin-san has been good enough to extend this poor exchange student a few hours of his valuable time." Masato's arm receives a new squeeze, and then--

--she is gone, crossing the short distance between the couples to clasp Makoto's hands in her own. Green eyes meet green eyes like overlapping leaves, the redheaded girl's sparkling as though with morning dew. "Oh! Mako-chan -- may I call you Mako-chan? -- it's so lovely to meet you! You may call me Zoë-chan -- in fact, I insist upon it~!" Zoisite gushes, breathless. "After all, any friend of Chiba-san's is a friend of mine~!"

Here, she turns her sparkle onto Mamoru -- and, just for him, it gleams briefly with a particular wildness. Almost as if all this chaos was planned.

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Makoto has never had a poker face to speak of.

The dim light of the planetarium's projected stars gives her some screen, but even so, everything that she feels is on display for all present to see. It's written across her face and in the way she carries herself, the way that she begins almost to deflate in a growing sense of dejection as Sanjouin-san confirms that he and this beautiful, elegant girl are in fact dating--

--and the way she goes ''absolutely still'' when Mamoru makes the introductions.

It's a good thing that Mamoru takes hold of her hand when he does; it reins her in, gives her a moment to think twice about taking any reckless action. But her eyes have gone hard, and though she's barely moved there's a stiffness in her posture now, the tension of violence carefully leashed. When Zoisite sweeps across the space between them to clasp her hands, just at the moment of contact there's the tiniest crackle of static electricity, not even enough to make a sound and barely enough to feel.

"Sure." Mako's hand stays slack and unresponsive in Zoë's grip, and her voice is utterly flat. "Zoë-chan."

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Nephrite is, shall we say, selectively observant. He's trained his eyes to search the stars and interpret their slightest movement, sensing the dying throes of stars millions of light years away and mapping the orbits of countless planets. When he's looking upward, he has eyes like a hawk.

This doesn't translate as well when he turns his gaze back down to Earth.

The General sees the minor twitches and reactions of the other three in the planetarium, but their more nuanced implications are all but lost on him. Perhaps he's too distracted by rage at being interrupted like this; perhaps the more delicate aspects of body language simply go over his head. Nevertheless, his eyes stay trained on Makoto for a bit, wondering how she'll react to this new development, though it is *patently* false.

"We're not--" the words jump out before he can stop them, but thankfully, it appears Zoisite -- well, Zoë -- had the same idea, and left his side with one final squeeze. There's a barely audible sigh of relief as he's released of his bonds, and he all but snaps his arms close to his body, leaving little room for an arm to sneak its way in again. "Yes. Zoë here is a fine..." what cursed instrument did he play, again? Ah, right, "pianist. She has accompanied me on the cello a few times, and I am showing her my *fondest* appreciation."

He shoots a smile to the mortal girl that has just the tiniest amount of poison in it, probably nothing that the mortals would pick up on in the dark. It doesn't really change anything, but it felt good to reduce Zoisite to the second (figurative) fiddle. An accompanist, nothing more.

A beat or two passes as the two girls hold hands with one another. He hadn't thought their interaction too suspicious originally, just more of the youngest Shitennou's meddling. But Makoto appears...quite angry, if that posture is any indication. The man furrows his brow a bit in confusion, eyes once again centered on the brunette of amazing strength. He's not entirely sure why she's so suddenly hostile, but if any harm is about to come Zoisite's way, he certainly doesn't want to stop it.

<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Calm blue ocean. Calm blue ocean. Mamoru hangs tightly onto Makoto's hand until it's obvious Zoi is coming over to clasp the brunette's in his, and then the best he can do is hope with all his heart that she keeps her temper and isn't too--

--that was a very flat voice, wasn't it.

All of his senses are on alert; he doesn't want Zoisite to know that Makoto's magical, though Nephrite will probably sort ''that'' out later, and he's pretty sure that Zoisite will just deliver him to Beryl with a ribbon if Makoto lets on she knows who 'Zoë Palissandre' is.

Diversion. He needs to divert Makoto's attention.

"Hah," he laughs after a second of watching the interaction, then leans to elbow Makoto lightly. "See? You don't have to be jealous!" he teases her, lifting his eyebrows. "It's all right, Palissandre-san. Don't let us keep you two from your dinner of fondest appreciation!"

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

As plain as the secrets of the heavens are to Nephrite, so are the minutiae of human behaviour to Zoisite. It's enough for most people.

Makoto, though, is not most people. Her electric passions lend her body language an incandescence, lighting her from within. The Shitennou can feel the static that jumps between their hands, but dismisses it as mundane; what he focuses on instead is her indifferent grip, the two-dimensionality of her reply. She's lightning in a bottle. Is it because Zoë's trampled all over the blooming garden of her teenage love? Young girls /can/ become surprisingly hostile when their romantic aspirations are thwarted...

Wait. Since when has Nephrite played the cello?

"Ohohohoho," Zoë titters, dropping Makoto's hands and springing backward, "yes, such an honour to be given the opportunity to get in on the ground floor of such a promising career~" And, to twist the knife, the redhead throws her arms around Masato -- folded arms and all -- and gives his torso a squeeze. "I hope you'll remember me when you become famous, San~jou~in~san~!" Squeeze, squeeze.

And then Mamoru says the 'J' word, and time stops.

See, it's not that Zoisite didn't know his antics were making Makoto jealous -- far from it; it's that calling it out like this stands to explode them all. (A girl doesn't have to be magical to be dangerous, you know.) What is that idiot thinking?!

Immediately, Zoisite switches into self-preservation mode. "Ohhhh non, non, mais non, Chiba-san, aheheheh," she protests, laughing weakly now, "an- euh- /appreciation/ date needn't be just les deux! Linden Baum has les gateaux fantastiques..."

Nephrite will feel a pinch just above the waistband of his trousers. Think on your feet, stupid!!

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The various assurances that the connection between Sanjouin-san and Palissandre-san are, unfortunately, rather cold comfort to Makoto at the moment. What a minute ago would have come as a relief pales in comparison to the fact that the three of them - Mamoru, Sanjouin-san, and herself - are standing here in the company of a Dark General, one who ''knows'' who Mamoru is and seems to have some kind of an interest in Sanjouin-san besides.

Mamoru's likely to find elbowing her something like the same experience as elbowing a tree. She scarcely moves. It's not that she can't tell what Mamoru is doing, playing things off as lightly as he is, and in her head Mako understands ''why'' it's absolutely vital that this situation not escalate - but when Mamoru suggests that they leave the other two to whatever Zoisite has planned, Makoto shoots him an incredulous sidelong look.

"Mamoru-san--!" She says it half in an undertone, part protest, part plea. Maybe the urgency in her voice is just the intense embarrassment of a girl who's just had her crush pointed out right in front of the object of it?

Then Palissandre-san (the Dark General) has her (his) arms around Sanjouin-san again and Makoto feels like she's inches from pulling her own hair and just ''screaming''.

"Ah, that's--" She fumbles to reply to Zoe's suggestion, eyes flicking desperately between Mamoru and Masato for some clue as to what either one of them thinks about any of this. "--That's generous of you, Zoe-chan," somehow she manages not to choke on the name, "but we wouldn't want to intrude..."

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

This entire situation is making his blood boil. Were it anybody but two high-priority targets in the room, Nephrite very likely would have blown his cover and given Zoisite the beating he deserved for this interference. Unfortunately, preserving the innocence of Masato Sanjouin in the eyes of the mortals is paramount, and he suspects that is the very reason the youngest Shitennou chose this moment to strike.

No, not strike. Nephrite would have preferred a straightforward attack. Zoisite is *meddling* -- and for what purpose? He can't fathom how this child's play advances the other General's plans in the slightest.

But he can't waste his efforts on figuring out Zoisite, for it is a truly impossible task. Salvaging his reputation with Makoto is far more important, as is keeping his secret identity intact. If his so-called comrade had come here just to expose him -- wait, what's that about jealousy?

And Mamoru Chiba is trying to abscond with Makoto Kino. Unacceptable.

"That's--" he begins, then is cut off for the umpteenth time this evening as Zoisite throws his arms around his chest, circumventing the defenses he'd set up but a minute ago. His face slowly morphs from surprise into barely disguised contempt, only smiling so that this ruse doesn't completely backfire. "Well. I focus more on my conducting career, naturally," he say, stilted. "But I find the cello much more relaxing -- tch!"

The man winces when Zoisite pinches him from behind, and it takes every ounce of self-control he has not to throw the disguised high schooler into the nearest wall. He turns his head and, shrouded by the dark of the planetarium, shoots his 'date' the iciest glare he can muster, Nephrite-the-Shitennou coming out for a split second. /Pinch me again and I swear on my *life* I will make you regret it. Cover or no./

But, after a deep breath, he looks back towards the other two. "It would be our absolute delight to have you along with us. If we are not the ones, in fact, intruding," he says, looking furtively at Makoto. He hadn't suspected it at first, but he supposes there's a possibility that Makoto and Mamoru are romantically involved, them having been together many of the times he appeared as a Shitennou. It isn't a disaster if it is true, but it's better to work out the truth now than to continue with an angle of infatuation blindly.

<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Mamoru's just giving Zoisite the ''widest eyes'' as Makoto hisses at him; he glances toward her and the wide-eyes turns into pleading - ''play along, PLAY ALONG, '''please''''' - for a half second before he reasserts his emotional mask.

He grabs Makoto's hand again and squeezes it, half in reassurance and half in insistence. There's the static of them both, a split second of feedback--

''The stars burn steadily in the sky; there's no flickering, from where they watch.''

''He just stands there under the arch, looking up at the blue and white marble in the sky. "Of course I stand with you," he finally says, voice like forgotten thing, lost and sorrowful and uncertain of the future.''

''But then he repeats it, turning around, and eyes that match the blue of the oceans overhead meet the forest green ones watching him, and they're not uncertain at all. "It's not even a choice. Maybe if we defeat her they'll come to their senses, but..." He shakes his head. "You know she'll always come first."''

--but it's only that steadying calm and determined acceptance in the boy's grip running into Makoto's fury head-on. "You're very sweet, but we can't, I'm sorry," he says firmly. "It's a school night, and I need to finish helping Mako-chan with her assignment. I ''do'', however, have tickets to a performance of Holst's Planets in a couple of days, and I had to cancel-- it would be such a shame if they went to waste!"

Letting go Mako's hand, he looks down at her with a bright smile on his mouth and apology in his eyes for how he's doing this, and claps his hand on the back of her shoulder. "It would make me very happy if you took Sanjouin-san--"

Quick checking-not-checking to see if Masato looks like he might think of objecting! and he looks back at Mako. "--seeing as I know the two of you would appreciate it."

It's like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it's done yet.

<Pose Tracker> Zoisite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Honestly, whatever claptrap Nephrite is spouting to get himself out of the latest hole Zoisite's pushed him into goes in one ear and out the other -- especially now that it's become vastly more important to keep this Makoto girl from coming unglued. That sentiment is what meets Nephrite's full Shitennou glare: marvelously expressive poison-green eyes burn like alchemical fire for him alone. /You are such an idiot!!/

Of course, politeness takes over even the ugliest personal feelings. Inwardly, Zoisite is cursing his lack of control over the situation -- one false move and he's steered this outing into a /double date/ that even he may not be able to salvage -- when Mamoru finally does something useful and provides a rather graceful out. The youngest Shitennou inhales sharply through his nose, relief writ plain upon his elfin features; a heartbeat later, he's wrested his mask back into place.

"Oh my goodness yes it is a school night isn't it," pours from Zoï¿½'s rosebud lips in a breathless rush, the words barely escaping before she's covered her mouth with her delicate hands. "Pardonnez-moi, j'ai oubliï¿½!"

(Never mind that that would mean as indifferent a student as Zoï¿½ Palissandre was in the library on not-a-school-night. Did she ever say she'd come from the library? Zoisite doesn't even know at this point.) "Mais oui- une bonne idï¿½e, Chiba-san!"

Somehow, Zoi's hand has tangled itself in the third of his ponytail streaming over his shoulder. "Euh, Chiba-san," the willowy girl steps away from Nephrite (finally letting go her slackened grip on his torso) to take up a conspiratorial stance by his unoccupied elbow, "perhaps we should give Sanjouin-san et Mako-chan the chance to work out the details between themselves? And," there is a tug on that elbow now, "would you escort me to my dorm? So," in a stage whisper, "I may have a moment with you en privï¿½?"

The look in Zoisite's vivid eyes is strangely desperate.

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Feedback buzzes through Makoto for a split second when Mamoru grips her hand, like a flash of an image of another time and place, an instant of disorientation. In the next moment it's passed, but she brings her free hand up to press her fingers to her temple. There's almost too much to parse right now, even without strange sensations flashing through her and leaving her dizzy.

At least Mamoru's efforts at disarming the situation seem to be working - the rigid set of her shoulders has relaxed a little, and the sense of restrained violence that all but crackled in the air around her has faded. She's still on edge, but she manages to turn an apologetic smile towards Nephrite. "He's right... I'm sorry, I'd forgotten too. But--" She breaks off there, glancing sidelong at Mamoru as he claps her on the shoulder and then back to Sanjouin-san, and tries (and completely fails) not to look hopeful. "--I wouldn't mind, if..." She can't quite make herself finish the sentence.

And then Zoe's at Mamoru's elbow and her request has Mako's brows drawing together in concern. It's either a reasonably safe resolution to this whole mess or the worst suggestion yet, and Makoto can't decide which. Maybe Mamoru has a slightly better perspective on how much trouble he'd be in. "Mamoru-san, is that all right with you...?"

<Pose Tracker> Mamoru Chiba [Ohtori Academy (11)] has posed.

Like the presumptuously regal jerk he is sometimes, Mamoru doesn't even wait for Sanjouin to agree before he's beaming at Makoto's affirmative answer and Zoisite's enthusiastic encouragement. "Excellent. I'll give you the tickets when we get back," he says cheerfully. Then all of a sudden, Zoisite's ''relief'' is registering at the same time that Zoisite's person is approaching his at speed.

Blinking owlishly down at the youngest Shitennou, he leans down when his elbow's tugged, and his eyebrows go up--

Mamoru sees that desperate look and instantly glances over his shoulder at Makoto, who's looking concerned, and who... ah.

Abruptly, his dark blue eyes soften at the eighth-grader, and he gives her a real smile for the first time since Sanjouin got here. He looks so grateful, so terribly, purely grateful. The tiniest of nods at her, and he straightens, turning that smile toward Zoisite. "Sure." Then, businesslike as he pretty much reflexively offers 'Zoe' his arm and starts for the door, "Mako-chan, I'll be back in fifteen minutes, it's not far. Sanjouin-san, nice to see you again. I hope you enjoy the concert, if you've left by the time I'm back."

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Nephrite is, at the end of the day, a straightforward man. He uses only one mortal disguise, and lives it as honestly as he possibly can, nary a difference between himself and Masato Sanjouin besides name and magical strength. Subterfuge and politics are beyond him, by and large; not because he is unintelligent, mind. Merely because his mind is direct and his heart impatient.

Thus, the only strand of this complicated knot that he has any grasp on is Zoisite's identity. Something prickles his senses -- something tense and wrong -- but he cannot place his finger on its cause, so he attributes it to his rage at the younger man's interruption.

His expression hardens noticeably when Mamoru Chiba excuses both himself and Makoto. All his efforts to get information out of the Kino girl seemed fated to fail, though this time, it is thanks to someone who, at least theoretically, should have supported his goals. He's about to curtly leave the scene as well -- when Chiba mentions something about him going to a concert with Makoto in a few days.

And everything falls into place.

"I would be delighted to go -- if Kino-san would have me for an escort," he all but purrs, his smile becoming a touch more genuine now that his plans weren't about to be driven before him. "Your offer is quite generous, Chiba-san. You have my thanks."

In more ways than one, it would seem, as Zoisite/Zoe finally lets go of him and clings to the young man instead of him. Nephrite's shoulders relax at last; they had been hovering somewhere around his ears a moment prior. "Far be it from me to interrupt your private moment, Pelissandre-san," he says, glancing towards the disguised General with contempt. What sort of business Zoisite had with the mortal, he couldn't guess, but that line of questioning could wait until later, after he made his displeasure about his presence tonight *abundantly* clear. "Kino-san, would you like a ride home? We can discuss the details of our symphony outing without taking up your friend's time."

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

In what seems like barely seconds, Zoe and Mamoru have swept out of the room on their way to the Ohtori dormitories. In their wake, the air inside the planetarium suddenly seems much less tense. Makoto lets out a breath, bringing her hand to the nape of her neck as she finishes processing everything that's transpired in the last few minutes and makes what is almost a visible downshift of mental gears. When she turns her gaze back toward Nephrite, it's with an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry about that, Sanjouin-san," she says. "It was a bit awkward, wasn't it?" --right, he said something about a ride home, didn't he? Letting her hand drop, Makoto makes a polite little bow. "It's kind of you to offer me a ride, but I really should wait for Mamoru-san. He was doing me a favor bringing me here, after all, it'd be rude to just leave on my own."

Not to mention that if Mamoru isn't back in fifteen minutes, she's going to have to go after him, and that's going to be much more difficult if she leaves here without him.

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

"It... was," Nephrite admits, a touch reluctantly. Perhaps he hadn't been as good at disguising his distate for Zoisite's antics as he thought, if the girl had picked up on it. Of course, her male friend had also just implied that she fancied Masato, so it's entirely possible she's referring to that instead. Either way, he's glad that he's finally managed a moment alone with Makoto Kino. "I apologize. Pelissandre-san read more into my invitation than I had truly meant." He returns his hands to the pockets of his jacket, finally resuming his relaxed posture. "But she seems to have recovered fine. And was awfully keen on spending time with your friend Chiba-san. Maybe he was her true goal all along."

He smiles conspiratorially. There's no way Zoisite would stray from Kunzite for one such as Mamoru Chiba, but of course, Masato Sanjouin wouldn't know that.

"That's all right," he replies when she turns down his offer, tilting his head upwards at the projection above them. "You must be considerate of your friends, of course. And we can certainly discuss logistics while we wait for the two of them to return." Here, Nephrite smiles almost mischievously, returning his gaze to ground level.

"But, first -- why don't I show you something?" His eyes almost seem to shine, even in the low light. "After all, you came here to see the stars, did you not?"

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"You might be right about that," Makoto agrees, and laughs a little - but it's an awkward, uncomfortable sound, a joke that isn't very funny. "I hope he'll be okay..." For a moment she glances through the darkness in the direction of the door. For the next fifteen minutes, at least, there's not much she can do about it either way, except to wait and put her faith in Mamoru's faith in Zoisite.

Not a very reassuring thought, that.

Mako lets her attention be pulled back to Sanjouin-san, grateful for the company, and seeing the smile on his face she can't help but smile back. She can feel herself start to blush again, but at least it's a welcome distraction from her worries.

"Yes, I did," she answers, brows lifting in clear curiosity at the question and the somewhat cryptic suggestion that it's attached to. "What did you have in mind...?"

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Nephrite raises his eyebrows a bit when Makoto makes a quiet comment about her friend's safety, looking at the door the two of them left through. He knows that Zoisite is always to be considered dangerous -- but her? Why did she think Mamoru Chiba was in danger around the pretentious, conniving piano student? Could she possibly--

No. Zoisite is not so loose with his true identity as to risk discovery from a mortal. Still, her concern means she is either desperately paranoid of women hanging around Chiba, or is possessed of an uncommonly sharp intuition. Both are worth considering, and so he doesn't say anything about the odd pairing one way or the other.

Instead, he smiles once again at Makoto, then deliberately makes his way towards the computer controlling the projection.

"I'm sad to say that most within Ohtori do no know how to operate the planetarium to its full capacity," he says as he walks, his voice managing to carry across the room despite the sound-dampening carpet. "Having spent a fair amount of time around telescopes and observatories, I have picked up a few tricks that will let us see the stars and planets in their true glory. Not this mere...projection."

Nephrite says no more as he reaches the computer, reaching down to glide his hands over the keyboard convincingly. In reality, he's doing nothing of the sort; rather, he reaches out with his mind (and a not insignificant amount of magic) to create an invisible viewing field, just the size of the planetarium, on which to project his own images of the cosmos. When he feels the mystical energy settle around the two of them, he smirks, then presses 'enter' with conviction -- just to keep in line with his cover story.

And immediately, the dome above them is alight with the majestic, hurricane-covered enormity that is the planet Jupiter, as though they were standing in front of it themselves, without the intermediary of a telescope.

He stiffens with displeasure when he sees the image; all too often, his power to view the skies centered on whatever was most pressing on his mind. That it is Jupiter before them and not the solar system at large suggests that he has not truly gotten over his failure to abduct Sailor Jupiter in her weakened state, and lingering so on one failure speaks of an uncharacteristic lack of confidence.

But he can sort that out later. Right now, his mission is to dazzle the mortal girl, and if his gut feeling his correct, this sort of magic is just the thing for it.

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"Really?" Folding her arms absently behind her, Makoto leans forward a little to watch as he begins to fiddle with the planetarium's controls - although really with only the light of the projection to see by she can scarcely see what the controls even consist of, let alone what he might be doing with them. "I guess I've never thought about it, but to be able to project the way the night sky changes--"

She doesn't manage to finish the thought, because just as she says 'changes' the simple projection of a starry sky is replaced by the sight of Jupiter looming vast before and above her in the spangled darkness of space, and Makoto's voice breaks off sharply as her throat closes and for a moment she forgets how to breathe.

It's a shock like a lightning strike, like a blow to the chest that takes the air out of her lungs. The sight of the gas giant in its full, enormous glory would be awe-inspiring even if it meant nothing to her personally... but it does, because she ''knows'' this view. It's familiar, on some deep gut level in s way that she can't begin to define, as familiar as her pretty little apartment or her own face in the mirror.

Her hand reaches up towards the oval of the great red storm that swirls perpetually in Jupiter's lower hemisphere, larger than the Earth. "...Incredible," she breathes, barely more than a whisper.

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

"It is, isn't it?" Nephrite says, managing to catch Makoto's whisper from halfway across the room. "A beautiful subject for a symphony. All the planets in our system are."

Of course, the planets orbiting Sol are the least of what he could show her, if he wanted to. He could all but transport them to another galaxy, fly in close to a supernova or map out the constellations as seen from the surface of Nemesis, the dark planet. In focusing so much on their predictive power, it is easy for him to forget how awe-inspiring the stars could be, especially when viewed with his brand of astrological magic.

Such gifts had died out with the rest of the arcane arts, and he remains one of the few practicioners in this system. Makoto likely doesn't realize the rare gift he's giving her -- and it is better that she doesn't. Masato the talented astronomer is a more convincing disguise than Masato the celestial magician.

A *little* bit of mystique certainly couldn't go awry, though. Many mortals are drawn to what they do not understand.

With a few (perfunctory) taps on the keyboard, Nephrite pulls the viewing angle back to encompass the entire solar system as it is aligned this very moment, then walks back down the aisle of seats, back to where the girl is standing. "Have you ever been to the symphony, Kino-san?" he asks, figuring that they should get this worked out before Mamoru reenters with 'Zoe'. "We are fortunate to have a wonderful hall, here in Tokyo."

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Makoto is slow to answer, still staring wide-eyed at the vision of Jupiter, encircled by its moons and the gossamer arc of its rings. It's only when the view changes, shifting back from its focus on Jupiter to show the larger scope of the whole solar system, that she begins to recover her self-possession a little - the sight is still incredible, to be sure, but it no longer swamps her with that strange sense of familiarity, and she's able to drag her gaze downward to Nephrite again and reluctantly shake her head.

"I haven't," she admits. "The tickets are pretty expensive, so it's not really something I can just do on a whim... I wanted to see that free event that was going to happen recently, but - well, things came up."

Her head ducks in embarrassment, but only for a moment. In the next moment Makoto is looking up at Sanjouin-san again with an expression of earnest relief. "I didn't get the chance to say so before," she says, "but I'm glad that you're all right. I heard about what happened - the, um," what was the official story in the news again? "--gas leak."

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Nephrite isn't totally surprised when Makoto admits that she's never been to the symphony. Though there were cheap ways to get tickets if you knew the right people, more often than not, seats were quite expensive, often beyond the budget of a student. It would be easy, then, to woo her with the high-class spectacle of the grand hall, and the upper crust that made a habit of being seen at the symphony. In fact--

"Chiba-san's offer is most generous, then, if it gives you the chance to experience the symphony for the first time," he says, the ghost of a plan beginning to form behind his gentlemanly facade. "Being the conductor, I may be able to get the seats upgraded to a box, if I make a few calls. You'll like it much better, both the view and the acoustics are superb." He won't have to use magic for this goal, for once, because Masato Sanjouin's status is enough to get one of the best seats in the house. "There's a cafe close to the hall itself as well, if you'd like to eat beforehand. Symphonies are lengthy affairs, after all."

When she mentions a gas leak, Nephrite blinks slowly in confusion, trying to keep his face as neutral as possible while he figured out what she was referring to. Luckily, it doesn't take all that long: the mortals found some explanation or other for the disaster during the teenager-pandering concert, and seeing as he had been the conductor that night, it followed that she would be concerned for his wellbeing. He affects a grateful smile.

"Thank you -- it was quite the scare. A shame that it happened during an outreach performance, but it is fortunate no one was hurt."

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"It really is..." Makoto can't quite look at him while they're talking about this; she turns her gaze away, looking out across the illusionary starscape. If it hadn't been for the necessity of trying to stick convincingly to the official version of events, she might've already given into temptation and called him... but Mako knows as well as anyone that she's a terrible liar, and if she says anything else about that evening she's sure she won't be able to keep from giving away something that she shouldn't.

Fortunately, there's a much more immediate subject occupying her thoughts, because Mamoru's spur-of-the-moment suggestion is quickly turning from an unexpected stroke of fortune into actually too good to be true. "...I'm looking forward to getting to see a proper performance," Mako says, trying hard not to fluster and feeling like she must be turning several different shades of pink. "Ah, but you don't need to go to that much trouble on my account. After all, the whole thing is something that Mamoru-san kind of decided on his own..."

Or so Makoto says, but the look on her face when she glances back toward him tells a very different story. It's all faintly disbelieving hope and starstruck admiration; she's completely smitten, soaking up the gentlemanly attention like dry ground soaks up rainfall.

Makoto Kino

2014-08-28T21:57:43Z

2014-08-23T23:38:53Z

Joiedecombat:

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: A Symphony For Unfriendly Instruments'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Nephrite has a plan. Ail has a cardian. Magical girls object, and all hell breaks loose at the symphony hall.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Nephrite]], [[Ail]], [[Gordon]], [[Runealy Waldia|Princess Runealy]], [[Ren Aizawa]], [[Reiko Touyama|Prism Keeper Orange]], [[Makoto Kino|Sailor Jupiter]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Searrs Symphony Hall, Shitamachi Low City.
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
1 March 2014 - 8/18/2014
|-
|}
[[Category:Logs]]

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

If there is one thing every orchestra in the world can agree on, it's the fact that the prime audience for classical music is getting much too old. The future of every industry in the world lies with the youth -- and yet many symphony halls are hard pressed to get audience members below the age of thirty-five into their seats. Perhaps it is the elitist nature of the classical music community combined with rising ticket prices that is driving the younger demographic away?

Nonsense! It must be that they think classical music is boring! Certainly a 'hip-with-the-times' program, one night of free tickets, and heavily discounted refreshments will get those whipper-snappers through our doors!

And that is exactly what the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra is offering tonight. The program is peppered with orchestrated video game tunes and pop songs, along with some of the more well-known pieces of the Classical and Romantic periods. It is the very definition of pandering, and if you listen closely, you'll hear a few of the orchestra members grumbling -- none more so than than the conductor himself, Masato Sanjouin. But there is undeniably a much bigger crowd tonight, many of whom are younger than the typical patron, so...mission successful?

The audience is currently milling about in and around the hall itself, slowly filing into their seats with beverages, popcorn, and other treats not usually offered at an event like this. The clock is about to strike on the hour, and the lights are due to go down any minute now.

<Pose Tracker> Gordon [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Gordon is, among other things, a fan of classical music. He purchased tickets to this symphony out of curiosity, because he enjoys some video games, and thought it would be fun. The grey rabbit -- wearing a tiny suit and tie, of course -- hops down the aisle, carrying (naturally) a carrot that he bought at the concession stand. He gets to his heat and hops up into it.

His neighbor turns and looks at him, wide-eyed.

"What?" Gordon asks, his British accent thick as he speaks. "Chefs enjoy a bloody concerto every now and then! It's not that strange!"

<Pose Tracker> Ail [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Ail hasn't noticed the fliers and advertisements for the Tokyo Symphony either - but what has been much harder to ignore on his scouting runs is the flare of energy being generated by someone in the building. It's been an interesting wait, but Ail knows that the best time to strike will be during the performance - if the symphony is putting in the effort to draw in the younger crowd, it'll be a great time to strike.

The security or ushers don't notice his passing, even when he's looming around the private upper seats, blending into the shadows and staying in full Space Elf regalia now, card between the fingers of one hand, flute in the other.

Besides, a bunch of teens and younger passing out during an orchestral performance won't even be that wierd. Now, to wait for the music to start and the right time to strike...

<Pose Tracker> Runealy Waldia [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Rune is among those attracted to this performance. It's not a matter of free tickets or cheap refreshments; she can cover the full price easily. The alien princess simply ''didn't know'' there was any place in Tokyo offering this kind of music! Once advertising brought it to her attention, she gladly showed up at the symphony hall.

Making a fairly smart guess that this is a high-brow venue, she's dressed in a white and black dress with puffy shoulders and various embroidery to it. Not a local style, not local materials... honestly, not even modern, but it is well made and should satisfy the dress code expectations. Eyes bright and mood eager but calmly contained (the 'royal we' must act with some decorum in a place like this, after all), Rune takes to her seat and looks around, taking in the sights... pink marble, lots of glass, red carpets... it's a very impressive place and she likes it immediately.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

The orchestra! Such a romantic backdrop!

...Except Ren isn't here on a date or anything like that. But there's no need to fret! This will still likely be a great experience. They /are/ playing video game music after all, according to the flyers. That's the huge selling point for her. Plus she's always wanted to check out the Tokyo Symphony ever since hearing her parents go on and on about how prestigious it is.

Shuffling inside she balances on a pair of heels she's starting to regret wearing. But they went so well with the beige, frilly dress she has on that it would've been a crime now to wear them. So... she'll make do for the sake of style for now.

After grabbing some refreshments she squeezes into an aisle past a few seated people, mumbling apologies along the way while trying not to step on any idle feet. Finally she takes a seat, letting out a sigh as she decompresses. Then, on a whim, she turns to look at the person seated directly next to her and sees...

"R-rune-san?!"

<Pose Tracker> Reiko Touyama [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

Reiko Touyama was originally supposed to be coming with grandpa to this event, but alas, the tough old goat had a more pressing matter to attend to, and thus Reiko went alone. She didn't bother asking her parents, they were too buried in thier phones in and paperwork. This made her sigh outloud out the door as she arrived. Grandpa did, however, help her pick out an appropiate dress, that consists of a casual, light colored orange dress.

She passed on popcorn and drinks like that. She was still a little put off by needing to go alone, for sweets. Maybe during intermission--if the music improves her mood. She has her seat after staring in awe of Runealy's dress. Wow. It's so /gorgeous/... she wishes she had a dress like that. She still even is kind of almost rudely staring after she has her seat.

She manages to break a bit to look at the ocestra mulling about ahead of everyone.

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The orchestra can certainly count one Makoto Kino among the members of tonight's audience who wouldn't normally think of attending a performance at the symphony hall. Not that Mako doesn't like music, but an orchestra performance is awfully high-brow fare, and not something that she would have thought of taking the time out to see had the advertising for this event not caught her attention.

It came at a good time, though. She's still a bit sore, as much as in heart as in body, and right now Makoto finds the thought of sitting still for a while and taking in a performance more appealing than she normally might.

Music is supposed to soothe the soul, isn't it?

Her decision to come to the event had nothing at all to do with the possibility of getting to see a certain celebrity conductor, if only from a distance. Absolutely nothing at all.

So she's dressed up just a little bit in a simple black dress over a pale green mock-turtleneck, and she's edging her way along to an open seat murmuring apologies to those already seated with every other step as she looms into their fields of vision one after another. "--sorry, please excuse me... pardon--" At last she reaches an empty seat and folds her excessive height into it before turning to look, still making a somewhat apologetic face, at Reiko in the next seat over. "Sorry," she says, "this seat isn't taken, is it?"

<Pose Tracker> Runealy Waldia [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

"Huh!?" Rune somehow outright failed to notice Ren was right there, and is surprised (not upset, merely not expecting this) to discover her. "H--" Too loud. Rune's voice lowers. "-ey. So you're here too? Once the shock has worn off, Runealy's brighter expression returns; she's glad to see Ren! "I wish I'd heard about this place a lot sooner, I..." A pause, "...no, maybe this was the best time to find out. It sounds like they'll be playing music kind of like what we have back home."

That's a pretty random guess. How does Rune justify it? "At least, I figure they are since I've actually heard of some of the instruments they'll be using."

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

In the lobby, the clock chimes and the lights flicker slowly: the concert is about to start. The remaining stragglers make their way into the expansive concert hall, and with a hush over the crowd, the lights dim.

Anyone who's been to a symphony before knows the routine that follows. There's a few words about the 'strength of youth' and 'hope for the future' over the loudspeakers, before the musicians on stage all stand up. A tall man with long brown hair and a solemn -- almost icy -- expression enters shortly afterward, and the hall bursts into applause, which is perhaps a tad rowdier than he is used to. After all, Masato Sanjouin is not in the business of pandering. This excuse for a program is an insult to his conducting prowess, but alas, the board of trustees pulls even the conductor's strings.

Being a Dark General, though, Nephrite has a few methods of dealing with unwanted interference, even if it is strictly of the mundane kind. How very convenient that the first chair violinist was in prime condition to receive a Dark Seal in time to ruin this wretched event.

He nods for the orchestra to ready themselves, lifts up his baton -- and all hell breaks loose. Exactly according to plan.

The woman holding the violin lets out a short, strangled scream, then collapses as a demonic rune lights up on her instrument, leaking green smoke and light. There's chaos on stage as various musicians either rush to help the fallen woman or scramble away from her, seeing that there is no longer a violin, but the silhouette of a kind of human/violin hybrid rising from where their colleague used to sit.

"Viol!"

The smoke clears, and the youma Viol opens her eyes wide, brandishing her bow like a sword.

Masato Sanjouin is nowhere to be seen, but Nephrite hovers near the ceiling, surrounded by shadow -- for now.

COMBAT: Nephrite transforms into Youma Form Viol!
COMBAT: Nephrite has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 3 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Ail [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Ail is only periphirally aware of anything going on, as just when Viol is giving her announcement, the sound is cut short by a distinct flute sound - clearly a flute, and yet distinctly not part of the performance and alien and eerie. The card which he previously launched above the seats begins to take shape as the note causes the dark energy contained within the card to pulsate and unleash itself, and the card changes form...

Rapidly twisting as it comes into form, it is the eerie visage of a massively oversized child's top, upon which floats what appears to be the upper torso of a life-size doll, bald and with a face streaked with colors, two pairs of hands crossed over her chest as the entire apparatus teeters and totters despite no direct link to the top as it spins in the air. A familiar-to-some space alien appears behind her, dramatically flourishing at the ground even as the crowd tries to escape from the room.

On wordsless command, the doll-face twists into a warped smile, and the top begins to spin rapidly, collecting surges of energy from any of the civilians and orchestra members who haven't already run away. "Spirania!" Ail commands. "Take the energy from these lowly humans."

It's only then that he notices Viol, and by extension, unwanted attention. "What are you doing here?" he asks, quickly aware that this isn't a magical girl, but something more like his own cardians. "Go away." he adds, and makes a shooing gesture, speaking with the disaffected air of a noble speaking to a peasant.

COMBAT: Ail transforms into Youma Form Spirania!
COMBAT: Ail has fully healed himself. He is now ready to take on 3 opponents!

<Pose Tracker> Reiko Touyama [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

Reiko Touyama looks up at the tall Makoto Kino with that look of wonder not leaving her face. She however, has the sense to not stare at Makoto. "Oh..Oh! No.. no one's sitting here." she says softly. "I'm all alone tonight." she says with a soft smile and a tone that suggests she's not happy about that. but this cannot be helped. "My name's Reiko Touyama!... who are you?" she asks as she tries to make polite pre-music conversation in a shy sort of way, or at least, what she belives is polite conversation. "I'm looking forward to this concert." she says giving Makoto a smile.

"Did you see that girl's awesome dress over there? it's really pretty, is----"

There's a shriek from the stage and she looks on in surprise. "Ah, what happened!?" at first it looks like a violinst has fainted, but instead-- some horrible being has risen from the mess. She looks down to herself, then up at the stage.

Then this...other one!? Two!? There's TWO!? and one's an utterly creepy doll thing! This is overwhelming on so many levels right now.

She looks to Makoto with wide eyes. "Uh...I have to go... dosomethingbye!" she says in a panic but not quite a scared as she should be panic. It's weird. She ducks under the seats and begins to crawl away. She gets to a safe area and looks around a bit before she makes her Chroma Crystal materialze into her hands, cupping it as it floats there, glowing bright orange. "Chroma Prism Orange! Transform!"

There's a brilliant flash of orange, the sound of fabric billowing , two magical 'pops'! as wings appear, and two koi tying a hair bow before swimming away.

She sort of floats out of the safe space and looks between the two.

"This is stupid!" she says.

She fires a beam of light at the violin flavored youma right now. She doesn't want to know what happens if she attacks the most creepiest youma she's ever seen just yet.

COMBAT: Reiko Touyama transforms into Prism Keeper Orange!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has used Orange Beam on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nephrite perfectly counters Prism Keeper Orange's Orange Beam, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, Horsehair Whip, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Prism Keeper Orange!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Ren smiles fully at Rune, leaning over to give her a small hug. "I'm glad you're here! At least we'll be able to enjoy this together, right?"

Oh Ren. You should know by now that saying stuff like this aloud only leads to trouble. And right on cue, just as the lights dim and the conductor walks on stage to begin the symphony, trouble surely does rear it's ugly head. "Oh!" The high schooler exclaims, covering her mouth as the violinist collapses and has something very much a youma arise from her instrument. Not good!

...But then things get /worse/. An eerie flute melody cuts through the air. Moments later, /another/ youma appears, and starts harvesting what is very clearly energy from the room's occupants. Really not good!

"Rune-san!" Ren calls out, turning to her companion. From there she only gives a nod before ducking down into the aisle between the seats and clasping the silver ring. "Souverain Heraut!"

The golden gem on the ring pulses and lets off a chime. <TWO ANOMALIES DETECTED. YOUMAS. COULD THEY BE WORKING TOGETHER?>

"I don't know! That's not important right now! We-"

<UNDERSTOOD. SORTIE!>

One flash of golden light produces Mage!Ren, who jumps atop the seats to survey the area. "Ah..."

<YOU SHOULD SUPPORT THE WINGED GIRL.>

"Right!" Prism Keeper Orange could use some support! Ren provides just that, brandishing her scepter to fire off little superheated gems at the violin youma.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa transforms into Barrier Jacket!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Seeker Barrage on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Gordon [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Gordon sits -- well, stands, really -- up sharply when the woman drops down with a shriek, and then the silhouette of a youma rises up. His big brown eyes widen sharply when he sees it, and then he hops down to the ground, quickly, and scurries underneath the seat. He needs to find the closest magical girl; Saito isn't anywhere nearby for him to assist, but he can make due if he must.

But, then, Gordon realizes there are two youmas -- and their masters -- here. He mutters a word under his breath; before it can be heard, a fleeing man trips with a crash, covering the word up.

He sees Prism Keeper Orange appear, and then Ren -- who jumps on a seat nearby -- so he leaps up onto one, too, and nods at her. "You can do this!" he says. "Focus on helping her! They've tried mixing a bad ingredient into this mix... but we won't let them spoil it!"

COMBAT: Gordon has used Ma Cuisine on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Gordon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nephrite fails to brace Ren Aizawa's Seeker Barrage, taking 27 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa accepts Gordon's Ma Cuisine, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Runealy Waldia [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Rune leans into the embrace, hugging back. "Yeah! I think you're going to like this, if it's even close to what I imagine it's like!"

Then the concert is about to begin, so she quiets down and gets ready to listen. This should be great! This should... ...a scream from one of the performers? Green light and smoke send a chill through her; even with the gaps in her memory, Runealy has a very good idea what could have caused that and details Mamoru gave her allow Rune to have a name to go with that sight. Eyes wide, she makes a frightened guess: "Nephrite!?" Merely a name; she doesn't know what he looks like, nor that he might be nearby.

Nonetheless, this conclusion is enough to get Rune jolting out of her seat. In all the commotion, hopefully it will be overlooked if she starts shouting what bystanders might otherwise think of as 'crazy nonsense.' "Summoning Princess' Tiara!" The silver jewelry appears in one hand. "The Line of Succession," it's passed to the other hand, and brought to her head in the same motion. "Transform!" A flash of red light replaces her attire with her magical garb, wand in hand and ready to fight the monster that just emerged.

Then a bizarre cardian appears, and a familiar voice gives it orders. A hurried look spots Ail, sending another wave of fear through Runealy. Fear, and worry as she recalls what she learned the last time they fought. Her friend's warning (and her ring's speech - is that new? Rune isn't sure) net a worried apology: "Ren... sorry, there's something I need to find out! It's important!" Then Rune breaks away to begin jumping from seat to seat.

She's taking an arcing path, trying to avoid the largest parts of the crowd while still making her way toward the stage. Toward the cardian... toward Ail, specifically. She's not heading straight for him, mindful of the power he brought to bear previously. "You!" A shout to the 'space elf', trying to get his attention. "Why are you here!? I'm asking you!"

Her attention is somewhat split however, as her wand points at Viol. Landing on the top of a seat, the Guardian Princess shouts: "Rune Blast!", launching a green energy ball at the youma. If it strikes, it will explode into sparkly mist and deploy a set of swirling white magical text... which tries to wrap around Viol's arms and weigh them down.

COMBAT: Runealy Waldia transforms into Princess Runealy!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Rune Blast on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nephrite fails to dodge Princess Runealy's Rune Blast, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Makoto Kino [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

In the lull before the performance--

Makoto offers Reiko a warm, friendly smile and a hand by way of greeting. "I'm Makoto Kino," she says. "It's nice to meet you, Reiko-chan. It's too bad that you're on your own," Mako's smile takes on a certain note of sympathy as she says it, "but so am I, so at least we can enjoy the performance together?"

Reiko has more of Makoto's attention than the speech over the PA system does, but when the conductor takes the stage and it seems as though the performance is about to begin, Mako sits up a little straighter, still listening but more with one ear as Reiko mentions another girl's dress. She begins to nod--

And then the violinist screams and collapses, and everything starts to go wrong.

Now--

The symphony hall has erupted in chaos as the members of the audience who haven't already fallen unconscious from energy drain panic and flee. "Reiko-chan!" Makoto calls out in alarm as she leaps to her feet, looking for her impromptu seatmate but the younger girl has already scrambled off before Makoto can make any move to try to ensure that she gets out safely - for the best, maybe.

For a moment, just for a few seconds, Makoto stands where she is as though transfixed, taking in the youma, the cardian, the ominous figures hovering overhead, and her hands clench into trembling fists.

Then the second passes and she breaks into motion, vaulting over the row of now-empty seats and launching into a ground-covering sprint toward the nearest doorway that will take her out of sight.

"Jupiter Power - MAKE UP!"

Out comes the green transformation pen, and a surge of whirling electrical currents transform the tall but ordinary girl into the Senshi of Thunder and Courage. Her transformation is barely complete before Sailor Jupiter rushes back the way she came into the performance hall, already feeling a charge crawling over her skin. "I've had ENOUGH!" she bellows, voice ringing out with the power of her frustration. "Just for ONCE, can't anybody have a decent evening without SOMETHING showing up to ruin it? Just ONCE can't you JERKS just stay home?" Sparks snap at her fingertips; she throws out a hand toward the cardian, a thin stream of lightning leaping at it from her pointing finger as she glares upwards. "What is WRONG with you?!"

COMBAT: Makoto Kino transforms into Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Jupiter Thunderbolt on Ail.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ail narrowly braces Sailor Jupiter's Jupiter Thunderbolt, taking 3 Fatigue damage! Ail is Quipped! Ail's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Much has been on Nephrite's mind of late. His defeat on the Rainbow Bridge, the impossible return of Sailor Moon after her (obviously faked) death, and that blasted illusion-memory that flooded him after laying hands on Mamoru Chiba -- all of it had been circulating in his mind nonstop, leaving him on edge, agitated by the anxiety and doubt the events of the other day brought on. But, of course, you wouldn't know by looking at him. The man floats effortlessly above the crowd, face cool and emotionless, even as the magical girls start to join the scene. The only thing that truly moves him into action is the appearance of another creation, of a species he is not familiar with. His eyes narrow, and his fingers tighten around his elbows in their crossed position. Clearly he is dealing with an interloper.

"I would ask you the same thing," the Dark General's voice booms across the hall before he teleports closer to the stage, directly behinid the green humanoid that is the youma's master. "You and your...creature are intruding upon a Dark Kingdom energy-gathering operation. The penalty for this is death -- unless you have an astonishingly good reason." Nephrite raises an eyebrow. There is honestly very little that the alien could tell him to merit his life being spared, but he is compelled to ask him anyway. All the better to learn what competition Dark Fall faces in regards to human energy.

Before he can hear an answer, though, he feels the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and he teleports himself away from the action in time to avoid the hail of attacks that come Viol's way. The feminine youma successfully dispatches the first, summoning a thicking whip of horsehair to cut cleanly through the blast of orange, but is not so lucky with the remainder. Superheated gems batter her feet and scorch her wooden torso, while a runic spell makes contact with her arm. With a feral yell, she shakes it off before it can enact its more disabling magic; however, the damage it has done does not go away, leaving the symbols carved into the wood of her arm.

There's thunder, too. She does not take notice of it, having not been its target. But Nephrite does.

And it makes him smile.

"Viol! Eliminate the interloper and kill the magical girls -- but leave the Senshi. I want her alive," he commands the youma, lowering himself into a box seat away from the battle proper. Viol nods, then draws her bow across the strings stretched vertically across her body. The melody is sorrowful, corrosive to the spirit of all who hear. It will not do direct damage to mind or body -- but without the will to fight on, how will the fighters resist her at all?

COMBAT: Nephrite has used Air of Sorrow on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Air of Sorrow on Princess Runealy.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Air of Sorrow on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Nephrite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly braces Nephrite's Air of Sorrow, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa's Block ability activates! Ren Aizawa's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter fails to brace Nephrite's Air of Sorrow, taking 0 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy perfectly counters Nephrite's Air of Sorrow, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter! Princess Runealy's Reverse ability activates! Princess Runealy's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy's counterattack, Aegis Burst, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nephrite!

<Pose Tracker> Ail [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Ail floats above the fray and begins his 'discussion' with the man he considers an interloper to -his- operation. Ail shows him neither fear, nor confusion, continuing to speak with the air of royalty being intruded upon by peasantry or lower servants - something Nephrite is probably familiar with.

"Dark Kingdom... sorry to inform you, but from the moment my feet graced this earth the only relevant royal family was mine. Back off, or you will find yourself groveling at the feet of the traveling royalty of the galaxy." he adds, finding suitably threatening and overdramatic lines in his mind, likely somewhat drawn from the style of the plays he's been reading recently ever since not getting a callback.

Then he turns to Rune. "I told you why I'm here. I'm here to take the energy I need to survive. And nobody - not you, not this Dork General, nor anyone else, are going to stand between me and what I need to take to ensure the survival of myself and my people. Now, Spirania..."

And at that exact moment, a bolt of energy from Sailor Jupiter comes flying at the creature - and though it distracts her, the clay that makes up her arms is relatively non-conductive and the two sets shield her decently well. "Spirania... Eliminate all the interlopers. Start with the lightning rod... then this interloper's ally. And we'll work our way down."

For Spirania's part, all she can do is scream her name loudly before she engages, using the bottom of her top, which is remarkably top, as a weapon, spinning like a drill into Sailor Jupiter while calling her name out once again, then suddenly launching off of her and diving... at Nephrite's youma!

COMBAT: Ail has used Spin Driver on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Ail has used Driving Punch on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Ail has used Spirania! on Ail.
COMBAT: Ail has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ail accepts Ail's Spirania!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate and Empower applied to Ail!
COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly counters Ail's Driving Punch, taking 11 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, Col Legno, partially gets through, doing 22 Fatigue damage to Ail!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter fails to dodge Ail's Spin Driver, taking 23 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

It's hard to keep your focus when a talking bunny hops up and address you directly. Ren falters a bit, eyes wide. "It's you..." She mutters aloud, remembering Gordon from the Valentine's Day fiasco. Isn't he the culinary instructor at Infinty? Yeah... he is! She looks around suddenly, wondering if any of the civilians noticed his presence. As if /that's/ what's important right now.

...Still, his encouraging words are appreciated. Ren nods at him, eyes set. "Yeah!" She isn't sure about the "bad ingredient" part of what he says, but everything else is on point.

Then she hears Rune questioning someone about their presence here, and she turns to lay eyes upon a certain green space elf. No! Not him again! It takes her all not to tear off through the air and smack him good with her scepter, remembering his attack on the theatre previously and his scary determination to get his hands on the pink-haired little girl with the cute red bows. WAIT. Ren takes a moment to look around frantically. She isn't here tonight, is she?! Please please please please no...

The thunderous entrance of Jupiter comes next out of nowhere, the sailor soldier's anger over the evening being ruined resonating through the hall. "Yeah!" Ren finds herself suddenly agreeing, pumping a fist into the air. "You jerks are the worst kind!" She shouts at Ail, the youmas, and the still hidden Nephrite. That should be effective!

But gasp! What's this?! Ail and Nephrite /aren't/ working together?! Ren looks between the two villains, noting Nephrite's unwillingness to play nice and have someone encroach on his territory. And the way he nonchalantly threatens to kill his competition makes Ren frown. This guy really is dangerous!

Viol is prompted into action, intent on murdering them as its master commands. And it doesn't help that Ail commands Spirania to do the same. Even if they are against one another, they can still seem to agree that eliminating the magical girls in the room is a joint priority. How nice. Ren bounds forward towards Viol... only to stop in midair to cover her ears when she begins to play a sorrowful song. "Don't listen everyone!" She shouts, refusing to let herself fall under the spell of the music. Once she's sure she's safe from the effects she continues on her previous path, getting just a few feet away from Viol to launch off a multitude of gems similar to her earlier attack. Except this time when they explode they release a cloud of suffocating golden powder that also stings and burns those enveloped in it. Probably not good for a youma made out of wood, really.

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Lustrous Burning on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Gordon [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Gordon nods at Ren, giving her an encouraging if stern look, before he does a hop onto the seat. He sees Sailor Jupiter run in, listening to her call out. The rabbit nods at her, too, and points a paw in her direction. He actually knows this magical girl. They worked against Soular's monster together. "Sailor Jupiter!" he calls out. "Don't let their disrespect bring you down too much! We'll show them why they should never stop service!"

Then he looks back at the two youma, and comes to a realization: the youma are fighting. Gordon's eyes narrow with realization: the youma are at odds! He looks from Viol to Spirania, then his eyes widen with anger. "You both are so concerned with taking what belongs to others that you will fight each other!? This is unacceptable!"

COMBAT: Gordon has used Ma Cuisine on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Gordon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter accepts Gordon's Ma Cuisine, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Jupiter is Cheered!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Rune freezes in place as Nephrite appears near Ail. She doesn't recognize him, and has no idea what he looks like... but this man seems to have some real presence and his words leave only a little doubt as to his identity. That doubt is just enough for her guess to be voiced as a question, though. "'Dark Kingdom'? Are you the one who has been..." All sorts of recent events rush through her mind; some she was present for, some she knows about but cannot directly remember, and others she has only heard about. It's hard for her to summarize any given one of those right now, so she goes with: "...been hurting my friends?"

Viol disrupts these conversations. The command is to kill; Runealy is pretty sure Viol could make that happen if given the chance. As low music plays, Rune recalls how some of the Bad End Kingdom's singers can wilt the terrain around them... so even something this unusual could be a real threat to her. The Guardian Princess encases herself in a sparkling red dome, a forcefield that dampens the sound and helps her feel safe within its warmth. Here, she can try to wait it out as though she were within a shelter and the music was a storm. A storm that provides a backdrop for her to listen to Ail, head lowering as he recounts his situation. How he's going to take what he needs for his people to survive.

"I know someone who said that same thing." Rune responds in a soft voice, gaze low. Ail's words hurt, bringing up a lot of recent memories. "She was willing to cross almost any line to save her home... and because of that, she almost destroyed it. I'm not going to stop you from surviving, I don't want to! Just talk to me! Tell me about the people you're here to protect, that you're willing to go this far for!"

Her attention remains split, however. Viol's music is going to become a threat again as the barrier fades, and Rune leaps straight up to aim down at her. A simple shout launches another bright green energy-orb from her wand, though this one splits apart in mid-air to become several tinier versions of itself that try to 'pepper' the youma!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Scatter Orb on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Orange [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

Prism Keeper Orange watches as the various heroes all assemble AND..mostly gang up on the violin youma. Maybe they're all scared of the giant... baby doll horror creature like she is. What. That won't do!. She needs to girl up! She needs to get messy! SHE NEEDS TO BE A PRISM KEEPER she thinks. But, not yet. She still has an excuse not to engage that horrible nightmare!

Mainly, seeing this thing blast Jupiter with a powerful strike of some sort. This makes her eyes go wide. Not Sailor Jupiter. She still has to meet Mei and herself before anything terrible happens--- she means! She's a defender of love and justice and needs help! Well. They all do, it seems perhaps!

Prism Keeper Orange summons her Chroma Wand and holds it above her head and spins it around as a sparkling dazzling array of light appears around the other fighters, hopefully giving them a sense of vigor, also, an orange koi follows around after the spinning away of lights.

Because cute fish make you forget about HORRIBLE EVIL DOLLS.

Orange is kind of trying to not look directly at that thing, but she knows she HAS to sooner or later.

COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has used Orange Prism Power! on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has used Orange Prism Power! on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has used Orange Prism Power! on Princess Runealy.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter accepts Prism Keeper Orange's Orange Prism Power!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Empower applied to Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy accepts Prism Keeper Orange's Orange Prism Power!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Empower applied to Princess Runealy!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa accepts Prism Keeper Orange's Orange Prism Power!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Empower applied to Ren Aizawa!
COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly braces Princess Runealy's Scatter Orb, taking 12 Fatigue damage! Nephrite's Block ability activates! Nephrite's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly counters Ren Aizawa's Lustrous Burning, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Exhausted applied to Nephrite!
COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, On The String, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Ren Aizawa! Stagger applied to Ren Aizawa!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Viol's lament washes over Sailor Jupiter, a toxic melody that seems to touch all of the raw places in Makoto's heart. It makes her shudder - but rather than bow underneath it, the green-clad senshi glares up at Nephrite all the more fiercely. "Don't think we'll let you just do whatever you want, Nephrite!"

...unfortunately, while Jupiter's so focused on the Dark General, she's not paying nearly enough attention to Ail and his Cardian. The drill comes flying at her and she realizes it only just in time to turn before it slams into her full-force, knocking her off her feet and bowling her into the seats behind her with a breathtaking impact.

"...nnh..." Sprawled over the seats, Jupiter grimaces, sucks in a breath. That HURT. At Gordon's encouragement, though, she drags herself up again, recovering her feet in time for the Prism Keeper's light to shower over her and further invigorate her.

"--right," she says, tipping her head in a quick nod of thanks to the rabbit chef and to Prism Keeper Orange. "Thanks." A green boot plants onto one of the seats; she climbs up to stand braced with one foot in the seat and the other on its back, adding a little bit more to her already considerable height. "Let's do this, everyone!" Even as she says it, a wind is already picking up around her, swirling with sparkling orange petals that soon become a torrent, rushing toward the doll-like Cardian to engulf it in a blizzard of color and fragrance.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Flower Hurricane on Ail.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ail narrowly dodges Sailor Jupiter's Flower Hurricane, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Ail's Fade ability activates! Blind, Stun, and Trap applied to Ail!

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Who does this boy think he is, that he dares to taunt the Dark Kingdom so?

Nephrite had been expecting a respectful grovel from the alien when he admonished him -- and had that happened, he might have been inclined to let him live, though his youma and its stolen energy would still be summarily destroyed. But now -- /now/ he is truly angered. He straightens out of his semi-relaxed seated posture, not quite standing up yet, but the muscles of his hands and face tensed in restrained emotion.

"The survival of your people is irrelevant, doubly so now that you have made an enemy of the great Dark Kingdom," he all but growls, meeting Ail with a stare that could draw blood. "You are a sorry species if you are what they have to show for 'royalty.' Viol!" he calls out, looking downwards towards his youma. "Move the destruction of that pathetic creature to first priority. The magical warriors will be prove to be our ally in this cause," he looks to the small group of fighters, centering on Sailor Jupiter, and smiles a wickedly poisonous smile. "Won't you?"

Her last attack not hitting its mark with any of her targets, Viol lets out a groan of frustration and removes the bow from her strings, returning it to its purpose as a sword. Almost immediately, the Cardian comes hurtling toward her -- but she is prepared. Flipping the bow in her hand so that the wooden edge is facing outward, the youma swings it at the incoming threat, perhaps with a bit too much force. The damaged wood of her shoulders *snaps* with the effort, sending cracks like fault lines down her upper arm. But she does not fail to hit the enemy, and it goes flying away with the force of the blow.

And, once again, she is assailed by the mage and the princess, a cloud of golden dust seeping into her wooden skin and tiny green orbs eating away at her like so many termites. Pained, Viol growls and shoots a metal string towards the source of the golden cloud, aiming to hog-tie her hands and feet together; alas, the orbs vanish before she can identify who cast them. Her current state is entirely unacceptable. It's time for a little upkeep.

She conjures a waxy yellow gem-like object in her right hand, one that anyone familiar with string instruments would recognize as rosin. In its mundane form, it is used to increase friction between bow and string. Here, it is something of a panacea for the youma's injuries. Viol crushes the chunk of wax in one hand, and her wounds begin to close up, her bow-sword tightening and becoming more evidently sharpened. Woe to the person who she targets in this state.

Fortunately for the magical girls, it is not one of their own. The youma leaps towards her competition, slashing with her makeshift sword in an attempt to decapitate her. After all, there can only be one top dog in the orchestra -- and that role belongs to her.

COMBAT: Nephrite has used Caccia on Ail.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used How Ironic on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Resin on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Nephrite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nephrite accepts Nephrite's Resin, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Empower applied to Nephrite! Cleanse! All of Nephrite's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter perfectly braces Nephrite's How Ironic, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Brace! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Ail fails to counter Nephrite's Caccia, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Cripple applied to Ail!
COMBAT: Ail's counterattack, Rapid Spin, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nephrite!

<Pose Tracker> Ail [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Ail regards the Dark General and smiles. Irony was another thing he'd picked up on recently, and he makes an all-too-overstated bow to Nephrite. "Oh, my apologies." He leans up, pushing his long blue hair back where it falls perfectly behind his shoulders. "Whatever." His immaturity shines through. "Ladies, I think we can all agree on one thing - this man and his crude attitude, with his ridiculous creature, are defiling a fight we should be having amongst ourselves - lets send him packing and then..." he looks directly at Rune "we can resolve this amongst ourselves in whatever way we see fit. But he's quite a distraction now."

The youma is directly attacked during all of this, and its attempt to spin through the attack only results in the creature taking more damage from the blade - perhaps it is distracted by the flower petals zipping around it. "Lets eliminate this horrible creature and it's equally horrible master, Spirania." Another exaggerated hand motion and the creature is off, howling its name and gathering energy from the vicinity as it spins in toward one of the girls, bouncing off to strike at Nephrite's youma.

COMBAT: Ail has used Wide-Area Energy Siphon on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Ail has used Wide-Area Energy Siphon on Prism Keeper Orange.
COMBAT: Ail has used Wide-Area Energy Siphon on Gordon.
COMBAT: Ail has used Rapid Spin on Princess Runealy.
COMBAT: Ail has used Driving Punch on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Ail has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Gordon narrowly dodges Ail's Wide-Area Energy Siphon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Gordon!
COMBAT: Nephrite fails to brace Ail's Driving Punch, taking 17 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Gordon [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

The rabbit jumps as Spirania begins to drain energy. Gordon doesn't quite get over it in time; he still feels some energy drained away, when he lands on an armrest. He glowers at Spirania, then turns to face the Dark General.

Gordon points a paw at Nephrite. "Don't think that we will help you! We'll defeat both of you! We're opposed to both of you! And besides, look at your youma!"

He jabs a paw in its direction. "The grip on its sword is all wrong! You should hold your knife with pride, not with a waxy grip--" Yes, he just used the presence of wax to make this argument. "--like that! And the eyes, the look of that youma..."

He shakes his head. "It's without the spirit and heart that go into a true performer! This is a pale imitation of what a virtuoso can do, and even I, a chef, can see and hear that!"

COMBAT: Gordon has used Bad Oyster on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Gordon has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly braces Ail's Rapid Spin, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy's Block ability activates! Princess Runealy's Parry ability activates! Bind Break! All of Ail's debuffs are cleared!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange narrowly counters Ail's Wide-Area Energy Siphon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Diversion applied to Prism Keeper Orange!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange's counterattack, Orange Crush, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ail!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly counters Ail's Wide-Area Energy Siphon, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Diversion applied to Sailor Jupiter!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter's counterattack, Jupiter Thunderbolt, partially gets through, doing 7 Fatigue damage to Ail! Ail is Quipped!
COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly counters Gordon's Bad Oyster, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nephrite is Quipped!
COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, Horsehair Whip, partially gets through, doing 2 Fatigue damage to Gordon!

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Orange [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

Prism Keeper Orange looks at Nephrite, who ... now seeks thier aid!? And to Ail who... ALSO now seeks thier aid!? One jerk is a handsome man with an evil violin youma. The OTHER guy is also a handsome man with an evil horrible night of a doll youma. She looks at one. The other. The other one... and. Wait. Why ... why is she even arguing this point in her head! They're both evil and both want to drain energy! One evil isn't more better than the other.

"I think you're both big huge dumb jerks!" she calls out, finally. She raises her chroma wand to try to raise a counter burst against the wave of energy drain as the horror spins on by!, but fails, in part, as something wicked washes over here. Since winces heavily, as she frowns... looking over to Jupiter. "Ah! You can do this!...I mean, everyone can!" she says as she glares at Ail's creature. Yeah. Time to start being brave and not afraid of the horrors of the magical world.

She points her wand forward, and vibrant, orange koi conjure around it and fly off after it, aiming to try to crash into it!

COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has used FINale on Ail.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Ren isn't sure how Jupiter is faring against the Cardian. Until she takes a peek in that direction, anyway. Guilt washes over her immediately, causing her to turn away from Viol. "Heraut! She needs help!"

<IT SEEMS OUR ALLIES ARE ALREADY DOING SO.>

Gordon and Prism Keeper Orange lend a much needed hand to Jupiter -- with the latter also going so far as to extend her warming light onto her and Rune, too. And /then/ Jupiter jumps and and unleashes what looks like a storm of flower petals onto Spirania. Woah.

Of course Viol responds to being hit with a burning dust cloud by firing back. Ren isn't able to react before she's hit, and is flung directly back into one of the unoccupied front row seats. "Ouch ouch ouch..." She hisses under her breath, kicking off into the air to hover above the stage where the living violing is situated. She's vaguely aware of Nephrite hanging out in one of the box seats, likely sitting there with arms crossed and smiling with smug satisfaction. Jerk to the max!

"Alright. Time to switch it up..." Ren turns and flies directly for the Cardian, and flicks her scepter at it. A Midchildan circle appears beneath its feet, and pretty soon it'll find itself encased in a glittering gem prison if it's not quick enough...

COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Spinel Coffin on Ail.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ail fails to dodge Ren Aizawa's Spinel Coffin, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Tangle applied to Ail!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Rune is taken by surprise as orange light - and a fish(!?) - swirl past her, serving as a contrast to the green light from dark seals that she has come to be very worried about. A quick look around suggests the orange-colored Prism Keeper is to credit for this, and Runealy tosses a thankful nod her way.

'Let's do this', Jupiter urges. It's probably well-meaning, and Runealy thinks well of her - Jupiter seems to be a Sailor Senshi in the same vein as Moon, V, Mars, and Mercury - but right now the Guardian Princess just isn't sure what exactly she wants to do. The man she presumes is Nephrite is here; part of her wants to try to take a shot at him. It's extremely tempting, and impossible for her to forget what he has done so far: Tampering with her collection of letters from mother, creating a monster from the energy that drained out of Rune. Worse than that, she heard of how he nearly killed Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon! Maybe there's a chance she could stop him from doing that ever again, right here and now!

Yet Viol is a huge obstacle to those urges, making it hard for Runealy to really go for Nephrite. His threats to Ail end up having an impact on her, a jolt-shudder and gasp coming as Nephrite talks down on survival. She doesn't know who Ail's people are, she knows nothing of his home... but Rune has a very personal guess about how that will come across to him; she remembers how she felt when far more well-meaning, gentler remarks that were even slightly like that were made to her mere months ago.

Yet Ail seems to take it far better than Rune ever did, with his bow and smile. Ail faces her, and her gaze widens from the eye contact. This surprises her so much that Runealy almost doesn't notice Spirania in time. Almost; a startled "huh!?" right as the cardian enters her vision is accompanied by a flash of dome-forcefield, deflecting the spinning attack. Gordon speaks (which is novel to her; rabbits talk? Since when?), and Runealy appreciates the spirit in his words. He seems very proud of skills that take a long time to develop, whether it's cooking or musical talent. Rune has nothing to say about it just yet, but it does stick in her mind.

Despite everything going on, Rune begins a series of sideways jumps meant to bring her closer to Ail. She's not aiming at him, though. Her wand remains pointed at Viol. This time, a simple thin red beam fires from it... nothing spectacular, merely an attempt to keep up the pressure while she gathers her thoughts.

COMBAT: Ail fails to brace Prism Keeper Orange's FINale, taking 16 Fatigue damage! Prism Keeper Orange is Psyched!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Basic Beam on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nephrite perfectly dodges Princess Runealy's Basic Beam, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Dodge!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Sailor Jupiter's chin lifts when Nephrite shoots that mocking smile her way, and if she was angry before, now she's fairly ''alight'' with fury, standing tall upon the symphony hall's seats, sparks crackling between her fingers.

"Both of you SHUT UP!" She flings a hand out beside her as she shouts upwards, tracing arcs of electricity in the air; Spirania may try to drain Jupiter's energy, but all the Cardian gets from her for its trouble is a jolt of raw voltage. "We're not helping EITHER of you! We're helping THEM - the people who you're trying to hurt! And I won't give up until we've stopped you BOTH!"

She springs from her perch on the seats, and as Ren and Prism Keep Orange turn their efforts toward the Cardian, as Runealy fires on Viol, Sailor Jupiter charges the stage - gathers herself and ''leaps'' - and whirls in the air to bring down her fist on the youma in a trail of lightning like a tiny comet.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Lightning Fist on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly counters Sailor Jupiter's Lightning Fist, taking 17 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter is Psyched!
COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, Col Legno, partially gets through, doing 25 Fatigue damage to Sailor Jupiter!

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

"Fool," Nephrite spits out under his breath, relaxing into his chair once again. None of these wastrels is showing him -- or the Dark Kingdom -- the proper respect; he expected that from the petulant magical girls, but to meet such blatant resistance from an unaffiliated party is jarring. And, of course, none of the so-called 'good' warriors on the stage below has the good sense to team up against the Cardian, so he (well, Viol) will be fighting this on their own.

No matter. As if a creature as asinine as that could pose a threat to a Dark General's youma.

Meanwhile, Viol is wrapped up in checking over her body for cracks and splinters. She has to be in prime condition, after all. If she isn't, then her tone won't be right, and she'll never be able to perform for Queen Beryl and Nephrite-sama--

Her thoughts are interrupted as the Cardian barrles into her like a cannonball, sending her flying several feet backwards. Her wooden casing groans under the weight, bits of her shoulders chipping off as she makes contact with the far wall. Shrieking at the /nerve/ of such an attack, the youma pulls out her sword-bow at stabs it towards the Cardian, the tip sharpening as she does so in order to obey her will.

Nephrite watches this passively from above, not quite moved enough to intervene -- when something among the emptied seats catches his eye. And his ears, for it is a talking rabbit that is hurling insults at him, of all things. He blinks once in pure surprise, then settles into a condescending smirk.

"As if Viol and I are swayed by the critique of vermin," he gloats, sitting back in his chair leisurely. That is, before he sees his monster strike at the rabbit out of the corner of his eye, the whip of horsehair smacking the side of his head accusingly.

...it appears Viol's ego is a little more easily hurt than Nephrite's. (And, truth be told, that is saying something.)

"I tire of this nonsensical back-and-forth," the Dark General says firmly, rising at last to his full height. "Lay waste to this pretender and the resistance. And--"

Here he interrupts himself, teleporting down to the field of battle in a flash, just in time to catch and hold Jupiter's lightning fist, holding her gaze menacingly, "--do make sure the Senshi stays alive. Nominally, at least." He pushes her backward, aiming to throw her across the hall.

"Viol!" the youma cries out in obedience, dragging its bow across the strings in an unholy screech of metal. They didn't like her music? Fine -- she will show them the pain that she can truly wreak with sound.

COMBAT: Nephrite has used Caccia on Ail.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Sawing Screech on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Sawing Screech on Princess Runealy.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Sawing Screech on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Violin Screech on Prism Keeper Orange.
COMBAT: Nephrite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly counters Nephrite's Sawing Screech, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa's counterattack, Quartz Guard, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nephrite!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly counters Nephrite's Sawing Screech, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy's Reverse ability activates! Princess Runealy's Tactician ability activates!
COMBAT: Princess Runealy's counterattack, Aegis Burst, partially gets through, doing 6 Fatigue damage to Nephrite! Critical Counterhit!
COMBAT: Ail narrowly counters Nephrite's Caccia, taking 26 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Ail's Reverse ability activates! Cripple applied to Ail!
COMBAT: Ail's counterattack, Four Arms Assault, partially gets through, doing 7 Fatigue damage to Nephrite!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Nephrite's Sawing Screech, taking 5 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange perfectly counters Nephrite's Violin Screech, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange's counterattack, Orangella Obfuscation, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nephrite!

<Pose Tracker> Ail [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

As the doll-top-cardian-creature-thing careens through the air, taking wisps of energy with it to charge its punch, it bounces firmly off one girl and into the creature's body. Then, as it bounces off from its attack, it is in no position to defend itself from Ren's crystal coffin, which slows its spinning down substantially, and prompts the creature to take a few of the orange koi to the face before it can get its arms up to shield itself the rest of the way. It stops whirling long enough to see Nephrite's youma driving into it, and begins to frantically flail its arms about, hoping to blunt the assault - though the attack itself is ineffective, the creature does succeed at slapping some of Viol's delicate frame.

"Have fun with the thundering one, Dork General." is all Ail says. "And you should know the score, girls." He adds, and seems to spend particular time addressing Rune. "If you stand against me, I will do all I can to knock you down." he continues. There's a palpable tinge of remorse in his voice though. "Stand down, and deal with the one who is truly threatening your life. I only want energy - this savage and his pet seem to want to demand far more."

As if to accentuate his point, and to firmly try to settle himself in the camp of 'less bad' at least for now, his next command to Spirania seems more reserved. "Gather energy, weaken the girls, and let us end this fight, Spirania, before it gets out of hand. This man is too dangerous, and I extend that to his pet as well." he adds with yet another flourish.

Spirania complies, whirling herself up into a frenzy, then crashing again into the Violin-youma, trailing her four hands behind her, grabbing out at the energetic Prism Keeper, trying to sap more energy to keep herself in the melee despite the continued assaults of fish, noise, lasers and lightning.

COMBAT: Ail has used Energy Drain on Prism Keeper Orange.
COMBAT: Ail has used Rapid Spin on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Ail has used Spirania! on Ail.
COMBAT: Ail has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ail accepts Ail's Spirania!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Accelerate and Empower applied to Ail!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange perfectly counters Ail's Energy Drain, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange's counterattack, Orangella Obfuscation, interrupts, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Ail!
COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly braces Ail's Rapid Spin, taking 4 Fatigue damage! Nephrite's Block ability activates! Nephrite's Parry ability activates! Bind Break! All of Ail's debuffs are cleared!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Rune doesn't get much to directly go on in regard to Nephrite. No blatant admission of the things she has been wondering about, no gloating about various events on her mind. Instead, he introduces a new thing to worry about by reiterating his desire to see 'the resistance' killed... and for Sailor Jupiter to be kept alive (but not well, it seems?). Why would he want that, specifically?

She won't get to find out right now, not when Viol is causing wrenching metal noises. Noises that are sharp enough to hurt, to make her cringe and put herself behind another forcefield to try to insulate herself from any more noise. It only partially works, but Rune dismisses some of her barrier and uses what remains of it to form another thin beam; this gets sent at Viol.

Ail's reasoning actually seems to be getting through to her to some extent. Her head shakes several times, yet the Guardian Princess' response is not completely condemning. "I can't just let you keep doing this, but I'm not trying to be your enemy either! You're talking about surviving! The difference between living or dying, not just taking what you want because you think it's fun. I understand how you feel!" Her free hand tries to reach out in Ail's general direction, pleading: "But we're not 'insects' or 'batteries' or anything like that! Stop calling us that, and maybe we can find some way to focus on what really matters!"

Despite nitpicking on the details, she is to some extent on Ail's side in this by making no effort to attack Spirania. Rune's wand remains firmly aimed at Viol, cutting loose with three more red rays fired one after another!

COMBAT: Princess Runealy has used Beam Volley on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Orange [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

Prism Keeper Orange watches incoming attacks coming into her.... from that violin youma, in a screeching wail it lets loose, and that horrible creature most that is most certainly causing nightmares for a certain ten year old later on tonight. She raises her wand and holds it out as she summons up a wave of orange koi, circling around her in a dizzying fashion! They absorb the wail, causing some to dissapte, while the others are left behind as she floats backwards as the koi threaten to collapse inward. She leaves them to thier fishy fate, perhaps with a little sad frown. But... they're just magic. She was just THROWING them at the creature earlier. So this bit of sadness doesn't last too long.

She grits her teeth. "STOP ARGUING WHO'S WORSE! YOU'RE BOTH HORRIBLE ATTACKING A CONCERT HALL TO D-.. TO DRAIN ENERGY YOU!... YOU!..."

"DARKHEARTED DORKS!" she yells out at the top of her lungs as she throws the hand holding her wand forward in a cast motion was an orange wave rocks out, trying to weaken the utterly horribly creature of Ail's.

COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly dodges Princess Runealy's Beam Volley, taking 16 Fatigue damage!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has used Orange Diffusion on Ail.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ail narrowly counters Prism Keeper Orange's Orange Diffusion, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Ail's Reverse ability activates!
COMBAT: Ail's counterattack, Drive Tornado, partially gets through, doing 13 Fatigue damage to Prism Keeper Orange!

<Pose Tracker> Gordon [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

"I'm no vermin! Vermin are filthy creatures that dirty reputable establishments. I'm a master chef of the Blue Ribbon Society, and a certified expert in excellent service!" Gordon retorts back at Nephrite. "And this is anything but!"

Then Gordon turns, looking at Ail, and he shakes his head. "I don't think so!" the rabbit says. "You're making an excuse -- saying what you do isn't as bad, but you're still robbing energy from people. You have to be accountable for your own actions, and robbing people of their energy is never right!"

COMBAT: Gordon has used Bad Oyster on Ail.
COMBAT: Gordon has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

Battling two youma is still proving to be tricky. Though Ren successfully tags the Cardian with her attack, she ultimately lowers her defenses when it comes to the living instrument. Thankfully enough, Souverain Heraut is on the case, the golden gem on the scepter pulsing mightily as it senses the incoming sonic assault.

<QUARTZ GUARD.>

Ren turns towards the violin youma with widened eyes, holding out a hand instinctively. White light forms a solid barrier in front of her that takes the force of the hit. It holds well-enough -- though ultimately cracks -- then shatters, and Ren cringes as her ears are minimally assaulted with the godawful screech. There's a ringing left behind that she has to shake her head to clear, but she's alright.

...But having to hear Nephrite and Ail go on and on is starting to grate. Is this how bad guys act when they blatantly try to one-up each other? It's pretty unbearable! And she doesn't seem to be the only person who is sick of it, going by Prism Keeper Orange's outburst. Little girls sure can be violent when provoked.

"I think they're going to tire us out with their arguing before anything else..." Ren sighs.

<THEY ARE FOOLS.> Souverain Heraut states, clearly as fed-up as his master. <WE MUST BRING THIS FARCE TO A CLOSE.>

Ren chooses to show her agreement by flipping forward to bring her scepter down upon Ail's Cardian. Bam. Take that.

COMBAT: Ail narrowly braces Gordon's Bad Oyster, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Ail is Quipped! Ail's Block ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has used Magical Burst on Ail.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ail narrowly dodges Ren Aizawa's Magical Burst, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Ail's Fade ability activates! Stagger applied to Ail!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"Wh--" Instead of smashing into the youma as she'd anticipated, Sailor Jupiter finds her flying punch cut abruptly short by Nephrite's grip as the Dark General is suddenly RIGHT IN FRONT OF HER. Her eyes go wide with shock--

--and then she's flying through the air again, this time in an uncontrolled tumble that ends with her crashing unceremoniously to the floor in the middle of the central aisle, rolling several times before she comes to rest on her side with a groan.

At least she didn't land in the seats this time. Gritting her teeth, Jupiter braces both hands on the floor and pushes herself up again; once she's onto her knees, she lifts her head, eyes searching the field of battle to gauge the state of her allies, their enemies. Indecision flickers across her face, there and gone in the space of a heartbeat before she heaves herself back up onto her feet once more.

There are no more words from the Sailor Senshi. She's all out, and anyway the others have said everything she could have. Instead she raises her arms, holding them out to either side of her to once again call on the wind and send a swirling torrent of petals at Viol.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Flower Hurricane on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly counters Sailor Jupiter's Flower Hurricane, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Stun and Trap applied to Nephrite!
COMBAT: Nephrite's counterattack, On The String, partially gets through, doing 11 Fatigue damage to Sailor Jupiter! Trap applied to Sailor Jupiter!

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

"You waste your time," Nephrite calls down to Ail as he makes a plea towards the warriors to stand down against his absurd top-doll monster. "Have you truly not learned by now that these types do not listen to reason? I took you for a fool already, but you seem bent on proving that to me regardless."

Of course, 'reason' to him means 'unconditional surrender' -- the diplomacy that Rune is attempting is laughable. He chuckles dryly, perched on the railing of bow seat he sat in minutes ago. "Pathetic. What damage do you think your words do, girl? If you seek to enforce your will, prove it with force. That is the only true way to ensure obedience."

Unfortunately, he failed to see that Rune was *not* going fully diplomatic, and Viol finds herself on the receiving end of both the Cardian's spin and three rapid-fire beams of magic, each forcing her futher back on the stage, knocking down stands and crushing strewn instruments in her wake. A large crack snakes its way along her torso, parallel with the strings that allow her to play music -- and any hope of playing well again is ruined. Viol half-squawks, half-screams at its discovery, and she conjures a block of rosin in her hand to go about fixing it.

"Cease that at once!" Nephrite responds, shooting it out of her hand with a bolt of black lightning. "Your health is not our objective here. Act outside of my orders again and I will make no effort to save you from these," he glances backwards to the fighters, "*threats.*"

He doesn't like acknowledging the strength of his foes, but when it is obvious, it is unwise to ignore it.

Viol nods, nothing if not unfailingly loyal. She lifts her sword in one hand only to find herself assailed by hurricane-force winds, the petals carried along by them wedging themselves inside her and inhibiting her movement greatly. It would be easy enough to fix that, if Nephrite would allow her to patch herself up. But...if he will not...

The youma darts out as fast as her legs will carry her, aiming to hit the foreign princess and the Prism Keeper with a wide arc of her sword. Then, in a fluid motion, she flips it to the wooden side and brings it down over Jupiter's head.

That's the order, right? Nominally alive?

COMBAT: Nephrite has used Caccia on Princess Runealy.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Caccia on Prism Keeper Orange.
COMBAT: Nephrite has used Col Legno on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Nephrite has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Princess Runealy narrowly braces Nephrite's Caccia, taking 18 Fatigue damage! Princess Runealy's Block ability activates! Princess Runealy's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Ail [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The Cardian turns rapidly, whipping up a tornado and urging it on to crash against the wave from Prism Keeper Orange - and it does more than that, dissapating the attack completly and crashing against the Prism Keeper hard. The speed of its revolution causes it to shoot off like an uncontrolled rocket when Ren's magical burst heads its way, and it rolls through aisles between the chairs for a good long while, the eyes in its doll-like head spinning.

"Oh, you're a master chef, are you?" Ail asks, only having become recently aware of what food is, and still having not experienced it himself, through cultural osmosis he has gathered the general idea of what a Chef is. "Do you cook meat? Do you feel remorse for the ingredients you eat in the food you cook to survive?" he asks, his voice growing far past indignant and directly to rage, pointed at the little creature.

Then, he turns around. "Do any of you?! You think you're so much better than me, so good, so protective. You're just lying to yourselves. You want to survive, I want to survive. But when I try to reach a comprimise that allows us both to survive for only a small donation of energy, you rise up to fight me, saying you'd rather..." he almost seems to choke up on a combination of rage and sadness. "You'd rather see me and the last of my race die for the sake of a little ENERGY THAT DOESN'T EVEN KILL YOU?!" His fists shake, though he knows he's still too weak and wounded from his last fight to engage himself, he still seems outwardly very ready.

"And YOU!" he turns to Nephrite. "Fighting in the service of some Dark kingdom like some sort of warlord without values - you're as bad as they are. Really, who goes around advertising themselves as a member of an actual 'Dark Kingdom'?" He seems to quickly go from angry to visibly exhausted. "Spirania! Mop this up. I grow weary of the hypocracy being perpetrated here by all sides. When they regain consciousness they can continue to fight amongst themselves if they so desire."

COMBAT: Ail has used Spin Driver on Prism Keeper Orange.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter fails to counter Nephrite's Col Legno, taking 41 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter is unable to keep fighting!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter's counterattack, Supreme Suplex, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Nephrite!
COMBAT: Ail has used Energy Drain on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Ail has used Driving Punch on Ren Aizawa.
COMBAT: Ail has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange narrowly braces Nephrite's Caccia, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Prism Keeper Orange's Block ability activates! Prism Keeper Orange's Parry ability activates! Cripple applied to Prism Keeper Orange!
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange narrowly braces Ail's Spin Driver, taking 6 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Prism Keeper Orange's Block ability activates! Prism Keeper Orange's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa narrowly braces Ail's Driving Punch, taking 7 Fatigue damage! Ren Aizawa's Block ability activates! Ren Aizawa's Parry ability activates!
COMBAT: Nephrite narrowly braces Ail's Energy Drain, taking 2 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Nephrite's Block ability activates! Nephrite's Parry ability activates! Exhausted applied to Nephrite!

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

"'What damage'?" Rune repeats, stunned. "I don't want my words to hurt him! And I'm not trying to beat him into being my... my... my minion!" She's definitely rejecting Nephrite's take on the situation. Doubly so when he attacks his own 'minion' for showing any interest in self-preservation; that strikes her as shockingly cruel, enough so to make her recoil a step and gasp at the realization!

That takes her somewhat off-balance as Viol rushes in, blade swinging. Runealy's wand is brought up to meet it, but Viol has the advantage of momentum and Rune's defense only serves to knock it somewhat off-course. It manages to glance her side, enough to make a noticeable cut! Her hurt cry is a clear sign she felt it, even if that's far preferable to what could have otherwise been a lethal slash.

Even as the Guardian Princess staggers back and tries to get some space, Ail's concerns tear through her heart. "I don't think I'm better than you, and this isn't about valuing some principle over lives! This is going to sound ridiculous, but what you're doing now can go far more wrong than you'd ever imagine! Just let me explain!"

Yet explanations are hard to give in the middle of a battle. While Viol's mistreatment tugs at Rune's conscience, what little she knows of seal-spawned monsters suggests there may only be so much anyone can do for it. With all this talk of a Dark Kingdom, Runealy decides it's worth trying demon-sealing magic in this case. Leaping away to get some space, her wand traces a glowing white circle in the air. "This has to stop! Wardliiight..." That chant turns the circle into a dome of bright white light, expanding until it's wide enough to potentially engulf Viol. "Epilogue!" The dome launches, attempting to catch and entrap the youma. If it does so, gold light begins to flood within the seal... expanding wider, brighter... until it fills the dome and bursts!

COMBAT: FINISHER! Princess Runealy has used Wardlight Epilogue on Nephrite.
COMBAT: Princess Runealy has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Nephrite fails to brace Princess Runealy's Finisher, Wardlight Epilogue, taking 120 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

As the Cardian spins around like a mad top, Ren feels the frustration start to set in. How much longer could they all keep this up? Something has to give, eventually. And she doesn't want it to be anyone on their team. The more they toy around with these youma and their masters, the more they were opening themselves up to being-

And then it happens. Jupiter is hit hard again. But this time? It's straight up lights out for the sailor soldier.

No. No. No no no no no!

"That's enough..." It's said lowly, and probably not heard by anyone. So, she repeats it, bellowing it aloud. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" Her rage is directed at Ail and his Cardian. "You... you..."

Her scepter glows brightly as she swings it out in front of her. <GEMLIGHT...>

There's a pause as a Midchildan runic circle opens up right at the tip of her device, spinning madly as it glows the same bright white.

"GO!"

<...FUSILLADE!>

The entire scepter bucks back in rapid succession as a stream of golden mana-infused globules are fired off, rushing towards the Cardian. They'll explode on impact. And then /keep/ exploding until there is nothing left to explode anymore.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Ren Aizawa has used Gemlight Fusillade on Ail.
COMBAT: Ren Aizawa has finished attacking.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The storm of flower petals has just begin to die out when Viol makes her charge, the sweep of the youma's sword cutting the last fluttering petals out of her path. Sailor Jupiter has only just begun to recover her stance when she sees the violin monster coming; with only a split second to make a decision, Jupiter throws herself forward to meet Viol's charge, a reckless bid to come in under that downward swing and bring the youma to the ground.

The sword comes down.

Jupiter is not quite fast enough.

Her vision whites out when the wood slams into her head, and Sailor Jupiter drops, collapsing to the floor as her legs buckle underneath her and her own momentum carries her down. She ends up sprawled on the aisle's carpet, limbs slack, stars dancing across her vision - still conscious, barely, but it's clear she won't be getting right back up from ''that''.

COMBAT: Ail narrowly braces Ren Aizawa's Finisher, Gemlight Fusillade, taking 68 Fatigue damage! Ail's Block ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Orange [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

Prism Keeper Orange raises her wand and attempts to brace the sword with an vibrant burst of orange light expelling from the wand, expelling it at the attacks of the youma's besetting her. She mostly suceeds, though the sword of Nephrite's musical youma gets through something a little deeper of a cut. She frowns as she has to deal this discomfort, it's not really pleasent, but it doesn't kill her.

Of course, there's Sailor Jupiter, that Prism Keeper Orange watches in abject disbelif as she gets one hell of a hit. She looks over to Ail's stupid whining about how he's better than everyone and deserves energy... "YOU... YOU BLUE HAIRED JERK!" She calls out. "You're not better than anyone here! You deserve nothing right now! NOTHING AT ALL! THIS IS NOT HOW YOU ASK FOR THINGS!" she calls out.

Also, she is ten and knows her pleases and thanks you and 'asking before you take things firsts'.

She brings her wand over her head as she closes her eyes tightly, and calls out the name of the most powerfulest attack she can feel in her heart.

"Prism Aegis Power!... Orange Outburst!"

She then throws her arms downwards as a particularly nasty giant orange-flavored lovebeam blasting through the air towards the horror.

That's still going to give her nightmares tonight despite her bravdo.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Prism Keeper Orange has used Prism Aegis Power! Orange Outburst! on Ail.
COMBAT: Prism Keeper Orange has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Ail narrowly dodges Prism Keeper Orange's Finisher, Prism Aegis Power! Orange Outburst!, taking 29 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Ail's Fade ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

''*Clunk*''

The Senshi standing in front of her drops to the ground as the wooden sword makes contact with her head, and for a second, Viol can only stare. Blink a few times.

...did she just drop a Sailor Senshi?

An incredulous smile begins to light up her face. Yes! She managed to fulfill her master's orders after all! Maybe this means she can--

Her celebratory monologue is cut short before she can even remove her eyes from the fallen Jupiter, for a great dome of white light hits her back and encloses her completely within. She lets out a startled yell, which slowly turns more desperate as the glowing cage fills with yellow light, seeping inside her like acid and eroding her from within. No! No, she can't be defeated! Not like this, when she's not even ready! But alas, the golden light rises over her head and breaks the dome apart, dispelling her dark existence along with it.

For, at the end of the day, she was a creature wholly made of darkness.

Nephrite, however, does not pay attention to any of this, hardly even registers that it is happening. No, he is too busy standing over the collapsed form of Sailor Jupiter, his well-polished black boots just inches away from her face. And his lips contort into a crude, satisfied smile.

"It appears I have underestimated my youma's strength," he says, enjoying every word as he watches his enemy barely cling to consciousness. "Or overestimated yours." That is meant purely to demoralize -- he was not at all disappointed by the fight she put up against the two competing monsters. Luck played no small role in the battle tonight; but then again, that is why he made allies of the stars. "No matter. We shall see what Queen Beryl thinks of you."

The man reaches down in a quick motion and tightly grasps Jupiter's arm, pulling her up to her feet and making to teleport away.

<Pose Tracker> Ail [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The horde of multicolored gems strikes down at the spinning Cardian, and in reaction, she spins faster, away, batting at them - and as they try to detonate, shielding herself with one pair of hands while defending her body with the other. It works decently well, though the doll-like body is cracked and peices are missing. Then, it narrowly dodges the massive blast of orange, and so narrowly does so that part of its clay and offwhite top and body are tinged a burnt orange.

Ail floats down from his too high perch to land next to his Cardian as she slowly stops spinning. "You did well." He says in a tone that is not exactly kind, though serious. He draws a flute from within his vest and the creature closes its doll-eyes, as a single soft note is playing, then shifting and reverting back to a card with a stylized visage of the cardian on the front face, which he collects from mid-air, flipping it over between his fingers a few times, and, making sure that the girls see it, pushes it into an /entire deck of such things/ he draws from nowhere with a flick of the wrist, and which vanishes just as easily.

"I think I will take my leave as well." Ail announces loudly, and suddenly, like a lash he is off, tearing through the empty concert hall, past Nephrite and Jupiter, but more specifically past Runealy, a lighting quick motion of his hand as he does so, and then he's literally shifting between dimensions - escaping, but not without saying "I'd save your friend from the true villain, ladies..." as a last remark. Then, he's just gone - shifting between dimensions as is his usual escape.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

''*HISS*''

Steam is vented out of the sides of the scepter as Ren comes down from the adrenaline rush. Her anger is still there, of course. Ail has not been her favorite person for awhile now. When the smoke clears, however, she's floored to see the Cardian still alive. An attack from Prism Keeper Orange isn't enough to down it, either. It's almost enough to make Ren scream.

But there are more pressing matters. Like Nephrite trying to make off with a barely concious Jupiter! "Hey! Stop!" She completely disregards the green space alien and throws caution to the wind to fly over at Nephrite. "LEAVE HER ALONE YOU CREEP!" And with that a kick is aimed at the Dark Kingdom General's head.

<Pose Tracker> Princess Runealy [Ohtori Academy (7)] has posed.

Rune sags in a mix of exhaustion and relief as Viol is wiped out. Whatever sympathy she felt for the mistreated youma is kept in check by the realization that's one less genuine monster that can prey upon people. One less manifestation of, in all likelihood, the pain and obsession a performer went through that gave rise to this creature's existence.

Whatever she might have said to anyone is cut short by several things happening almost simultaneously, though. Ail is there. She wants to talk to him, especially as the concert hall is now much more clear for that sort of thing. Any such hopes are dashed when Nephrite looms over Jupiter; he said he wanted her 'nominally alive'... and that could mean any of several awful things. None of which she'd want anyone to go through. "Stop!" Rune's voice cracks, making it more of a plea than a demand. Even as Ren makes a move on him, Runealy starts to follow her in the hopes of joining in on the effort to interrupt Nephrite's efforts to leave with Jupiter.

Yet Ail manages to stop her all of a stumbling step into that sprint, brushing past her and pressing something to her free hand. A startled "Uh?" follows, a critical moment's distraction that others might have to make up the slack on when it comes to stopping Nephrite.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Sailor Jupiter is still blinking, trying to drag her jangled thoughts into some kind of order and clear the lingering ghosts from her vision when Nephrite seizes her arm and drags her up. She can't seem to make her limbs work as they should; her feet drag uselessly along the carpet, but somehow she musters the effort to ''move'', and with a shaking hand she reaches up to grip Nephrite's forearm, digging her fingers into his sleeve just above the wrist as though she means to pry his hand away.

A breath hisses out of her, sounding almost like a word, and though her eyes are half-focused and watery with pain she glares up at him with a defiant grimace. "I won't--"

(--Jupiter's symbol glowing on her forehead, brighter than a brand--)

Electricity sparks along her fingers, hissing and snapping, voltage crawling through her hand where she's grabbed onto him and her arm where he's got her. She can't begin to direct the charge in the state she's in, and she's not immune to her own lightning; tiny threads of smoke begin to curl up from her gloves, but even so--

(The breath that she hissed through her teeth sounded like 'traitor'.)

<Pose Tracker> Prism Keeper Orange [Juuban Public School (4)] has posed.

Prism Keeper Orange watches as Ail bolts- not catching his neat sleight of hand motion, passing something secretive over to Runealy. She frowns and looks angry, but then that frown and angry look turns into one of fright and alarm as she looks over to what that man is doing to Sailor Jupiter.

"HEY!.... OTHER--- DORK!...." she yells out, casting her wand forward as she sends a wave of koi out.

"P-put her down!" is all she can fish up after that stark namecall as her fish dip and swim through the air, aiming to intersect on Nephrite....and all bump into him repearedly like they were hitting the wall of a fistank repeatedly with thier noses.

This hopefully hurts more than it looks, she secretly thinks.

<Pose Tracker> Nephrite [Infinity Institute (S)] has posed.

Nephrite chuckles low in his throat as he sees the Sailor Senshi struggle to find her footing. It's entirely too amusing to have such a powerful warrior at his mercy -- and he has many, many plans for her and her place in the Dark Kingdom, now that he has his hands on her. To kill a soldier is one thing. To /break/ one...that is something else entirely. And he is looking forward to every second.

His internal gloating abruptly stops as she digs her fingernails into his arm and sends a shock that permeates even the armor of his uniform.

He can't stop the cry of pained surprise that escapes him, feeling the flesh underneath the fabric begin to burn. Blue eyes dart to the green ones that abhor him so. This power clearly is clearly not harmless for her, if that expression is any indication. Yet she puts herself through this pain just to spite him?

"You'll regret that, dog," he spits, bringing his other gloved hand to wrest hers away.

(--"I'm sorry, Jupiter," the armored man says as he withdraws his sword, "I gave you your chance."

His eyes are not his own.)

/The damn illusions again--/

Nephrite's innate danger sense sparks, and he looks over his shoulder to see a hail of attacks coming his way from the remaining warriors of the battle. Briefly looking back at Jupiter -- and still being electrified by her -- he curses and disappears totally.

No taunts. No threats. Nothing but the silence of the near-empty concert hall.

It seems the Dark General has, for once, been left speechless.

<Pose Tracker> Ren Aizawa [Infinity Institute (10)] has posed.

One minute that smug jerk is there, about to whisk Jupiter away to no doubt do terrible, jerky things to her.

And then the next minute, he's gone.

Ren stops short, righting herself in midair as she blinks. "Oh." Is all she says before floating back down to the ground, landing near Jupiter. She then rushes over to lay hands on the hurt senshi.

"Are you alright? He didn't do anything to you before he left, did he? I tried to get over here as fast as I could..."

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Freed, Jupiter sinks down onto her knees and just kind of... sits there for a bit. A last spark fizzles and dies at her fingertips as she looks up at Ren, blinking a few more times to try to bring her eyes into focus.

"...I'm all right," she says, after a slow and careful breath. A hand comes up gingerly to her head where the youma smacked her. "--ugh." Yep, still hurts. "Thanks, everyone." One by one, her eyes seek out the other magical warriors, a look full of shame and gratitude.

2014-08-18 - A Symphony For Unfriendly Instruments

2014-08-23T06:25:03Z

2014-08-22T23:09:37Z

Joiedecombat: Joiedecombat moved page 08-19-2014 Charged Emotions! Jupiter's Challenge to 08-19-2014 - Charged Emotions! Jupiter's Challenge: Corrected title formatting.

{|class="toccolours" cellspacing="2"
|-
! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: Charged Emotions! Jupiter's Challenge'''
|-
|'''Summary''': 
''Sailor Jupiter has been searching for leads on Mobius and Labyrinth. Although she's already made a heap of trouble for herself in the process, it hasn't brought her any closer to finding the people who corrupted Sailor Mercury... until now.''
|-
| '''Who:''' 
[[Setsuna Higashi|Eas]], [[Makoto Kino|Sailor Jupiter]]
|-
| '''Where:''' 
Shitamachi Low City, near Game Center Crown
|-
| '''OOC - IC Date:''' 
2 March 2014 - 8/19/2014
|-
|}

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

Evening unfurls over the block on which Game Center Crown sits, the streetlights having already largely flickered to life as the sun set earlier. There's still a little glow on the horizon that suggests it's only just finishing, but most of the people roaming this part of the city are too busy to stop and consider it. There are many still at work, there are some on their way home, and of course, the arcade is pretty popular.

But Eas, denizen of Labyrinth and faithful servant of its Supreme Ruler Mobius-sama, is not in the arcade. While she's also too busy to care about the golden glow at the bottom of the deep blue sky off in the distance, it is not because she is on her way somewhere but because she is already there; clad in black leather and pale red, her white hair waving slightly in the breeze of her location, she stands on the roof of a building opposite the arcade, frowning into the cafe above it. Few are likely to notice her, because few are likely to bother looking up. She is, of course, wearing the diamond pattern familiar to those who have seen other agents of Labyrinth.

But she isn't making her attack... yet.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Patrols are one of the bigger drawbacks to being a Sailor Senshi, to Makoto's way of thinking - time-consuming, frequently uncomfortable when the weather declines to cooperate, and more often than not pretty boring. Today more than ever, still sore and aching from the disastrous symphony outing, she'd seriously considered staying home for once and calling it the better part of valor.

Then, feeling ashamed of herself for thinking it, Makoto had transformed and gone out to do her duty as one of Tokyo's protectors.

She's compromising a little by keeping it close to home, which is why the evening finds her on the roof of the familiar Crown building, looking out over the streets and rooftops of the neighborhood as people go on about their business unaware of the guardian watching over them.

When a flutter of white hair catches Sailor Jupiter's eye from the top of the building across the street, she frowns.

Some short while later a wind picks up, sweeping over Eas' rooftop perch - a wind that carries with it a fluttering of pale pink flower petals that have no business being in the air at this particular end of the neighborhood. In the next moment, Sailor Jupiter makes the last hop onto the edge of the roof, on the other side of the building from where Eas has been standing. Drawing herself up to her full height, she crosses her arms in front of her and gives Eas a hard-eyed stare. It was nothing more than caution and curiosity that brought her across the street to investigate who else might be lurking on rooftops at this time of the evening, but--

She's seen this woman before.

"You're from Labyrinth, aren't you?" No preamble, no pleasantries: it's a clipped, blunt question, a demand for an answer.

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

Eas, of course, is quite in thought; what she's thinking she isn't sharing with the world as a whole, but her expression certainly doesn't suggest much of anything kind. The movements of the people on the other side don't even qualify for a flicker in her expression.

The delicate petals casting through her peripheral vision, however, do--she has grown familiar enough with this place to know what doesn't belong... though flower petals would be strange regardless. From where she'd had one foot on the edge, he brings it to meet her other, turning around with her arms at her side and her expression unchanged, uncaring, frankly kind of dour. Red eyes flick up and down the girl before her, and what may be strangest up close is not that her eyes are stony like Jupiter's expression, but the strange, hollow quality they have een when focused.

There's no contest in their heights; even in her heeled boots, Eas is shorter than Sailor Jupiter. So, she's obligated to look up.

"That's correct," she answers simply, in the same blunt sort of tone. She isn't offended by efficiency. "I am Eas. And you're one of the sailor soldiers."

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The answer confirms what Sailor Jupiter already more or less knew. As soon as she got a good look at Eas, she remembered this woman with her white hair and her red-and-black clothing from the battle outside the hospital some time back. And even if she hadn't, there's no way she could've failed to recognize that diamond insignia - not now.

So her only visible reaction to Eas' introduction is a lift of her chin, a subtle tightening at the corners of her mouth. "Sailor Jupiter," she states flatly, and then dropping her hands to her sides she takes a step towards Eas. Spine straight, shoulders squared. A stance of unmistakable challenge.

"What did you do to Sailor Mercury?"

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

Eas's diamond is different from Dark Mercury's, of couse; red, rather than blue. But the shape remains the same. And, while she hasn't summoned a monster here, this is indeed the very same woman who was at the hospital that day.

Eas's eyes remain focused on Jupiter, red locked onto the other young woman's face as she makes her introduction. While she makes no movement or reaction about the step forward, her own unyielding gaze suggests that she sees the challenge.

...Though she does not rise to meet it otherwise, yet. Instead, she lifts an eyebrow at the question.

"Why do you care?" she asks simply, as if the very idea is somehow bizarre. "She was weak. She was holding you back, a liability; you should be glad your cause has lost the dead weight."

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"She's ''not'' weak," Jupiter snaps back immediately, eyes bright with a fierce anger. "She's brilliant! And she's my ''friend''." Two more steps close a little more of the space between Sailor Jupiter and Eas. Jupiter's hands have closed into fists at her sides. "It has nothing to do with a 'cause' or anything like that. I care about what happens to her because she's important to me."

She stops again, lifts a hand to point an accusatory finger at Eas. "And I know she'd never really want to help you guys make people miserable, so whatever you did to her, undo it."

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

Eas studies Jupiter's expression amidst that anger. Despite the fierceness and obvious resolve on the part of the sailor soldier before her, she does not recoil or change her stance as Jupiter moves forward. Maybe it would be wiser, but part of Eas's own intimidation factor is maintaining the illusion that she doesn't really care what her opponent is up to.

...Though in this case, Jupiter has gotten onto a note more important to the agent of Labyrinth than she'd admit. "She /was/ weak, regardless of what she is now. Her brilliance is worthless if it isn't applied. It doesn't matter whether you /could/ have won--only whether you did." Scoffing, she rolls her eyes a moment, in a move more appropriate to her age than would be expected for her demeanor. "Friends. You humans always talk about 'friends', as if that's a word that means something worthwhile. You'd be stronger if you forgot about 'friends' and focused on your goals. What do you get from worrying about such things?"

The accusation, implied more than spoken, sinks her way. Eas actually lets herself glance down at that one finger, before almost lazily returning her gaze to Jupiter's face. "She's under the control of Mobius-sama now, like all worlds will be when we complete our task. Even if I could undo it--why would I?"

She does not smile, but her gaze intensifies to finally begin to match Sailor Jupiter's presence. "Give up. It's useless."

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Jupiter meets Eas' gaze unflinchingly, intensity for intensity. The air around her seems almost to tingle with it, dry and crackling like the charge that precedes a lightning strike. "You don't understand anything. My friends give me strength that I'd never have on my own. If they weren't there, then my goals wouldn't mean anything anyway!"

She moves again, crossing the remaining space of the rooftop in a few long, quick strides that bring her right in front of Eas, looming over the white-haired woman like a tower of fury. "That's why I'll ''never'' give up on Mercury," Jupiter declares. "If you won't let her go... I'll just have to make you."

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

So, this /is/ another of the guardians of this world. Though the only effect the storm seeming to rise in the air has on Eas visibly is that the loose leather of her sleeveless jacket and the fur trim of her collar are rustled harder by the wind, she can feel the change more than see it. The hair on the back of her neck stands on end, slightly.

But her expression finally turns, eyes narrow, mouth shifting into a scowl as Jupiter speaks about her friends.

There is then the powerfully-built Jupiter standing right before her, forcing her to look that much farther upward to meet her expression. "This is that important to you," she notes.

"...Then, you're a fool. Your friends will only leave you, one way or another. The only thing you can count on is yourself." A beat, "But if you believe so strongly... why don't you show me?"

Suddenly, she is in motion; spinning backward, she does not strike Jupiter, as might be expected. Instead, she moves to the barrier marking the edge of the roof, and drops down into a spinning kick that shatters concrete and kicks up a cloud of dust to obscure her motions. One chunk--one large brick--does remain intact, white and jagged with mortar. It sails upward.

"NAKEWAMEKE!" Eas calls, separating her hands that have come together in a smooth motion, revealing a red Data Diamond. She hurls it, one handed, straight at the rock, without so much as turning back before she sees it strike. There's a flash of light...

"Do my bidding!"

From the dust crashes onto the roof a creature twice Jupiter's height, made up of disjointed pieces of construction material, broken in places but with a recognizable face. Eas, now, is standing on what's left of the railing, arms crossed, smirking. "Show me the power your friends grant you when you're here alone, Sailor Jupiter! If you fail, you'll only send the Sorrow Gauge higher!"

COMBAT: Eas transforms into Nakewameke!
COMBAT: Eas has used Cry More! Wail More! on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Eas has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Eas's Cry More! Wail More!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Eas is Psyched! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates! Tangle applied to Sailor Jupiter!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

When Eas whirls into motion, Sailor Jupiter is ready; she springs backwards, arms coming up before her to brace for an attack. She was not at all expecting Eas' strike to be directed elsewhere, and for a startled moment she watches the Nakewameke take shape...

...then her face sets into a look of determination, and her stance shifts to orient her towards the monster. "Fine!" she replies. "I'll prove it to you - whether they're here with me or not, my friends are always giving me strength!"

Her arms reach upward, both hands stretching open towards the sky, summoning a wind that swirls around her, kicking up a flurry of petals as it gains steadily in strength and speed. "Flower Hurricane!" With a shout, Sailor Jupiter sends the wind raging towards the Nakewameke, a full-blown blizzard of dizzying fragrance and blinding pink and white.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Flower Hurricane on Eas.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Eas narrowly braces Sailor Jupiter's Flower Hurricane, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Eas's Block ability activates! Eas's Parry ability activates! Trap applied to Eas!

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

The monster, too, sets its stance towards Jupiter, though it doesn't have the manners to bow. Eas herself stays in her perch for the moment, eyes intent upon the battle before her, between her monster and its new opponent.

"We'll see," Eas says darkly, crossing her arms in her usual defiant posture to watch.

The wind crashes forward, kicking up more of the dust from a moment ago along with it, the fragrant blast collides full-on with the creature, who can only bring forth its craggy arms in an 'X' to shield itself. For a moment, there is nothing.

Then, now with petals and broken wall stuck to it slowing it down, the creature is still standing. "NAAAAKEWAMAKE!" it calls back, and puts one rocky foot down, then the next, picking up speed as it charges. If Jupiter doesn't act quickly, it may crush her outright with sheer weight.

"You humans always talk about your way of living, but I just see unfocused, meandering fools!"

COMBAT: Eas has used Nakewameke! Direct Approach!! on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Eas has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter perfectly counters Eas's Nakewameke! Direct Approach!!, taking 0 Fatigue damage! Critical Counter!
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter's counterattack, Supreme Suplex, fails to get through, doing 0 Fatigue damage to Eas!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

"That's because--"

The roof shakes with each step that carries the Nakewameke forward, but Sailor Jupiter holds her ground as it bears down on her, poised and ready and bright-eyed with intent. Just as the massive blunt object is about to slam into her, she ''springs''--

--and planting both hands on the wide, rough surface of the monster's shoulder she vaults up and over, using the momentum of its charge to swing her legs around so that she's sitting astride its shoulders, unscathed. "--you're a jerk!"

Perched atop the Nakewameke as she is, Jupiter plunges both hands at what passes for the thing's head, fingers alive with sparks of searing electricity.

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Jupiter Thunderbolt on Eas.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Eas fails to dodge Sailor Jupiter's Jupiter Thunderbolt, taking 10 fatigue damage! Eas is Quipped!

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

Eas frowns.

It is hard to say whether it's because she's just been called a /jerk/, of all things, or because Jupiter is now riding her Nakewameke around as if that's an entirely natural thing to do.

But it's less important to say it than it is to say a few other things just now--such as how the monster lifts its blocky arms, each segment dragging across the other with a shaky rumble, and flails them upward as Jupiter swings in. The blast stops it short for a moment, lighting up the night with the force of the electricity. "Nonconductivityyyy," it complains in a droning voice.

"You're annoying," Eas snaps, "And green is a terrible color! Nakewameke, stop fooling around and /crush her/!"

Finally getting its bearings, it manages to move again--and while it flails around to try to hold its foe in place, starts its rumbling steps, bending at the waist (or what passes for the waist) in an effort to crash its head--and Jupiter--right into a nearby wall.

COMBAT: Eas has used The Other Kind Of Crush on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Eas has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Eas's The Other Kind Of Crush, taking 11 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

She sees the wall looming fast, but when Sailor Jupiter tries to leap clear of the Nakewameke before it makes impact she quickly finds her legs pinned, too entangled by the creature's flailing to let her get free.

This could suck.

No help for it; she hunkers down and steels herself, gritting her teeth against what she knows is coming. Monster and sailor soldier ram into the wall together with a fantastic CRUNCH.

When the Nakewameke reels back from the damage it's done to the wall, however, Jupiter is still clinging gamely to it - bruised, covered in dust, feeling a chorus of protesting aches all over her body, but grinning fiercely in spite of it all. "Is that the best you can do...?"

Voltage arcs between her fingers, snapping sparks into the air as she hauls back a clenched fist and brings it slamming down at the monster's head. "Our goals--" her other fist comes down, "--don't mean anything--" and again, "--if we don't--" and again, punctuating each phrase with another electrified punch, "--choose them ourselves!"

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Lightning Fist on Eas.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Eas fails to brace Sailor Jupiter's Lightning Fist, taking 30 Fatigue damage! Sailor Jupiter is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

As her monster crashes towards the wall, Eas watches, cold-eyed. She hears the ugly noise of a person bashed between two hard places, sees the spiderwebbing cracks in the wall that come with it--...

"Tch," the sound of annoyance from the agent of Labyrinth comes up as Jupiter hangs on--and even starts to keep up the assault. Eas takes step along the edge, moving to keep a good eye on the battle at hand, scanning to see here her creature could bet get advantage.

But the fists crash down, punctuated by the sailor soldier's words, and this Nakewameke is staggered for the moment by the impacts. Her hand bring up clouds of powdered concrete, cracks forming in the back of the thing's head as a result of the devastating impacts, little craters left as it grunts its complaint.

But when it has a moment, it takes it; seeing before it a rain gutter, the creature rips it off and /tears/ the piece of metal free, swinging for its shoulders like a giant using a backscratcher.

...Which, as it tries to crush Jupiter, it more or less is.

"Ridiculous!" Eas shouts from her vantage point. "Why should that matter?"

COMBAT: Eas has used Public Property on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Eas has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter fails to dodge Eas's Public Property, taking 10 Fatigue damage! Eas is Psyched!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

When the creature grabs for the rain gutter, it frees Jupiter's legs, letting her push herself off of the thing's back - not fast enough to avoid the improvised bludgeon, unfortunately, and she ends up dangling for a few moments, hanging onto the Nakewameke's shoulders as the gutter slams into her back. "Nnh--!"

The gutter comes up and Jupiter takes the chance to drop clear, half hopping and half stumbling backwards for a step or two before she catches herself and regains her footing. "...because," she answers Eas, breathing a bit more heavily now, "if you're following a path that you set for yourself, with people who care about you to support you..." She springs into motion again, whirling at the Nakewamake with a kick aimed at the back of what passes for its knee. "...you can work much harder!"

COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has used Jupiter Smash! on Eas.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Eas fails to brace Sailor Jupiter's Jupiter Smash!, taking 25 Fatigue damage!

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

The gutter rings in the air after it impacts the Nakewameke's rocky back, Jupiter's escape speedy enough to avoid its next blow. "NAAAKEEWAMEKEEE," it proclaims in triumph, turning one earth-shaking step at a time towards its opponent, a slow process that's still in motion as Jupiter answers Eas and then makes her next charge.

Thus, the shorter of the two sees the kick impact, hears the cracking of concrete that marks its knee suddenly going out from beneath it, sends it tumbling downward--though it does not disappear. And she can still hear that response. Work harder...

Her scowl is angrier now, than it was, her red eyes flashing despite that hollow quality. "Worthless crutches for those too weak to do it on their own!" he counts. "/I/ do't need anything like that!" She lifts her arm to point, and her monster lifts its head again.

Rising, it whirls faster than it's been able to move before. A black aura surrounds its ruined knee as it rushes, swinging at Jupiter once, twice, three times, again--aiming to send her straight off the roof entirely.

COMBAT: FINISHER! Eas has used All-Out Misery on Sailor Jupiter.
COMBAT: Eas has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter narrowly braces Eas's Finisher, All-Out Misery, taking 76 Fatigue damage! Critical Hit! Sailor Jupiter's Block ability activates! Sailor Jupiter's Parry ability activates!

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

The hulk of brick and concrete and rebar comes at her in a mad rush, and Sailor Jupiter stands her ground, planting her feet and bracing her stance as though one girl can stop that animate battering ram in its tracks. As it swings at her she brings up her hands--

--and catches the blow in midair.

The Nakewameke swings again, and again, and it's clear that the effort of standing against it is taking absolutely everything that Jupiter has. Her arms and shoulders shudder as the heavy arms come down again; it drives her back, boots grinding against the surface of the roof, arms and back and hips screaming with fresh pain at each new shock. Her face contorts with it, teeth bared in a grimace.

...but she doesn't bend.

When the third blow comes down, she catches and ''holds'' it, fingers digging into the cracked concrete. There's that tingle in the air again, the dry static crackle of a building charge, and now overhead the clouds are growing heavy and dark and rumbling with a low growl of thunder.

"...You wanted to see... the difference between my power and yours..." Jupiter's voice comes out breathlessly, rough in her throat. "Well, this is it--"

A slim metal rod extends upwards from the center of her tiara, already sparking with energy.

"SUPREME--"

The skies open, the clouds split by a column of blazing electricity that crashes down towards the Nakewameke in a resounding clap of "--THUNDER!"

COMBAT: FINISHER! Sailor Jupiter has used Supreme Thunder on Eas.
COMBAT: Sailor Jupiter has finished attacking.
COMBAT: Eas fails to brace Sailor Jupiter's Finisher, Supreme Thunder, taking 79 Fatigue damage! Eas is unable to keep fighting!

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

Apparently, one girl /can/ stop this giant in its tracks.

Eas watches, unblinking, as her monster swings its gigantic arms again and again towards Sailor Jupiter, and as she catches each blow. It drives her backwards, but none break through the line of her defense. Eas watches this, noting Jupiter's expression and bearing through each swing, right up until she catches /hold/ of it--and she can feel that heat in the air, that humidity, that...

Power.

Even the unflappable Eas, agent of Labyrinth, is forced to avert her eyes in the moment, turning her head to the side to spare her vision against the column of heavenly power that crashes down into her monster. The power crackles all around it, its aura remaining for moments still.

"...schwa schwaaaaa," it calls mournfully, before it fades into darkness. A single white brick hits the ground at Jupiter's feet, the data diamond embedded in its side. Black smoke hisses off of it as the diamond disappears, burning away all at once.

"Hmph," Eas answers, from her perch away, now that she turns to look at Jupiter once again. "So, you do have some power." She lets her arms fall to her sides, but her gaze remains on the victorious guardian only a few yards away, on this roof. "But there's no reason to believe that it comes from your 'friends' instead of your own resolve. When I fought Sailor Mercury, it was like she wasn't even trying. Not like you at all."

"She didn't have resolve. But I do. Remember that, if we meet again." The white-haired girl turns, as if to leave directly from the roof to the ground.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

Somehow, Sailor Jupiter stays on her feet in the wake of the lightning strike... although she's panting for breath, clearly spent, and it's probably only by virtue of the solid and braced stance she'd already assumed that she manages to remain upright.

She wants to go after Eas - to stop her, to insist that they're not through yet and demand once more that the woman release her hold on Ami. But in the state that she's in now, even Makoto knows how that will end.

She's made her point, as much as she can. It'll have to be enough.

For now.

So Jupiter just stands where she is, watching Eas turn away with a hard, steady stare. "She thought she couldn't count on us." The answer is quiet, hoarse, but firm. "That was our fault. But you took advantage of it."

She draws in a breath to steady herself. Her muscles quiver with effort. Just a little bit longer...

"I won't stop until you let her go."

<Pose Tracker> Eas [None] has posed.

For now. ...Especially since Eas herself is still in top form, having allowed her monster to handle all the fighting for her. At least, all the direct fighting--there's a change in her expression now that the battle is over, a different sort of assessment in her eyes.

Whether or not Sailor Jupiter has made the point she wanted, it seems she's given the denizen of Labyrinth something to consider. One way or another.

But now, she only stops when she hears that quiet, firm answer. "So I did," she agrees. "That much is true. But you can't hesitate when it's time to strike."

She takes a step, opening her stance, to partially face Jupiter again when she says she won't stop, to look her over once more. "That's fine," she answers. "I'm not holding her anywhere. If she decided to leave, it wouldn't be my place to stop her. I don't have any orders concerning that at all. If her resolve fails again, it means she wasn't strong enough."

"But if she's that important to you, you should know; you have the right target. I brought her to Mobius-sama."

Eas turns the rest of the way, and steps off the ledge.

<Pose Tracker> Sailor Jupiter [Juuban Public School (8)] has posed.

In the wake of Eas' departure, the rooftop is still, quiet save for the city noises all around. A wind sweeps over the rooftops, clearing away the last lingering dust kicked up by the battle. Sailor Jupiter holds her stance for a little while longer, until she's sure that Eas is gone.

Then, at last, she lets her knees buckle, dropping down in a barely-controlled fall to sit amidst the roof grit and breathe out a shaky sigh.

"Eas..." She says the name out loud to herself, eyes still fixed on the edge of the rooftop where the woman disappeared, even though by now she's long gone. "...We'll definitely meet again."

[[Category:Logs]]