Usagi Quest (CK3/Princess Maker) (Sailor Moon)
Almech_Alfarion
(Unverified Paradox)
- Location
- Roaming the Void of the Space between Spaces
So, leaving them the Hikawa Shrine's address has two advantages I see.
1) It's presumably far enough away from their neighborhood where they may be more comfortable going there than a more local shrine or counselor.
2) It's a shrine. I don't think that Usagi is pulling the equivalent of saying "y'all need Jesus", but seeking guidance or mediation from priests is something people have done for millennia because they're considered neutral/hallowed ground. That means it's still some place they could go for help even if they aren't going there to meet with Usagi again.
1) It's presumably far enough away from their neighborhood where they may be more comfortable going there than a more local shrine or counselor.
2) It's a shrine. I don't think that Usagi is pulling the equivalent of saying "y'all need Jesus", but seeking guidance or mediation from priests is something people have done for millennia because they're considered neutral/hallowed ground. That means it's still some place they could go for help even if they aren't going there to meet with Usagi again.
Nope, the author makes it abundantly clear that is not the case. At all. What is the case is that they are willing to hurt each other, tear into each other, about many things. About the the cleaning of the house, about work, because those things are safe things to be angry and furious about. But Minako? If they mention her, it all goes up, it is scorched Earth and nothing will remain. Because it hurts too much to talk about her.
Look at the Mother's reaction. She nearly had a full on panic attack at thinking her daughter was in the house. There are deep and powerful emotions here, and for people who aren't adept at handling their emotions? They stay in the shallow end, where it is "safer"
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Yeah, this is ugly and painful... but surgery involves taking a knife to someone, cutting them open and sticking you hand in their guts. Also ugly and painful.
This CAN be healing, they just need to accept it as healing, which is the second hardest part.
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Yep, this is exactly the kind of reading I'm getting from it. And combine that with both of them not being sure what to do, and just doubling down and pushing through.
I mean, the right there at the beginning of the argument, Ayaki says that she keeps the house how HE said he wanted it, and he says he stays in his office because it is the only space he feels like he has any say. They've both been trying to do what is best for the other, while never actually having the communication skills to make sure that is what the other person actually wants.
People have mentioned the Ainos being Desertian catnip, but as I haven't watched Heartcatch I've got to ask, what are the effects on the victim of an attack? Does it take the nastiness and burn it up to make the monster? Does it have no effect on the victim other than forcing them to acknowledge that something in their life is fucked and they need to do some personal work to recover? The above, plus physical injury?
Lunaryon
Dual Aurora Wave
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So when they are attacked, the actual attack itself turns the victim into a small crystal orb that has a pillar of crystal sticking out of it. The bad guys take the pillar and dump the orb then fuse the pillar with anything nearby.
This creates the main monster of the week that in addition to gaining powers based on the emotional damage and the fused item basically spends the fight bellowing out the subconscious feelings of the victim.
When the monster is purified, it doesn't by any means solve the problem. But it does make the effected consciously aware of the issue and allows them to confront them.
Which a lot of the time gives them enough context to at least act to start fixing things.
FictionPack
Monochromatic Ursine
- Location
- Tennessee
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Desertians really need to step up their victim picking game.
Because you can throw a rock on a street in Tokyo and hit a really messed up person almost every time.
Because you can throw a rock on a street in Tokyo and hit a really messed up person almost every time.
- Location
- Gainful Employment
- Pronouns
- He/They
Unless you're Jadeite or a fairy, in which case the rock hits 7 magical girls.
FictionPack
Monochromatic Ursine
- Location
- Tennessee
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Not exactly mutually exclusive.
SuperBigMac
My titles: MacTheEditor; SuperiorPosterior
- Location
- Untitled States of Disarray
- Pronouns
- N/A
When Usagi throws a rock, it pings off walls and clatters across the ground until an arrow pointing at a depressed magical shows up, so that Usagi knows who she needs to hug, right before imbedding itself into a Monster of the Week that we accidentally missed because Action Economy.
- Location
- Painting, Peach's Castle
Lil' Setsuna's stated to be around 8, so definitely same age range.
Also, I can't believe you mysteriously died from repeated knife wounds.
I'm imagining that rock just causing a monster to scream and spontaneously vanish into sparkles.
Last edited:
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
The Desert Apostles never seem to have any trouble finding people to make Desertrians out of in Kibougahana either, when they're actually trying to make a Desertrian.
Taking the canon Inner Senshi as a representative example, we've got five teenage girls who, between them, have 5-7 missing parental figures three of which are dead, two serious cases of failing grades, one case of social ostracization for suspected paranormal abilities, one suspected case of gang membership, and one set of obsessive pointless time-wasting behavior powered by sheer neurosis.
So yeah. Not mutually exclusive.
View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ar1grAdGkec&pp=ygUPb2ggd29uZGVyIHdhc3RlMan, that chapter got heavy. This song feels really appropriate, though I don't think the Ainos as so far gone as these lyrics paint. But it's close, I feel. A little longer under this strain, and maybe…
FictionPack
Monochromatic Ursine
- Location
- Tennessee
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The song that comes to my mind is Dollhouse sung by Melanie Martinez.
Precure Pileup Part 1 - When it Rains, it Pours
Lunaryon
Dual Aurora Wave
- Pronouns
- She/Her
But the anger is thick like poison in the air and the shouts are ringing in her ears. And at last, Usagi quietly slips out of the room and makes her way to the door of the house, stopping for only one thing. On the little table closest to the door, she sees a too-neatly positioned pad of paper and peels the top sheet off. And she writes an address. Well, she stops to think of an address. NOT her house. NOT the Crystal Millennium building, no... she almost thinks of the Crown Arcade but NOPE…
Ah.
Hikawa Shrine.
Distant enough that it won't connect Minako directly to the Sailor Senshi in the Ainos' minds, but close enough that if one of them does come looking for her like they should… they'll at least be close enough to find a way to reach her.
But right now Usagi… really needs some fresh air.
Because no matter how much hope the girl has for tomorrow, next week, or even the next year makes watching two people who are supposed to love and cherish and be there for one another shouting and screaming at each other until they are hoarse any easier to watch. It is more than Usagi can bear, and the girl girl pauses outside of the Ainos' front door, trying her best to tune out the cruel words of the screaming match that she can still hear even the walls. She's learned... well... something at the very least.
Usagi has, at the very least, learned why it was that Minako's father hasn't reached out, and she has learned that the household is falling apart. For the time being that's going to have to be enough, because there isn't a chance in the world that Usagi can learn anything more out of- that. Despite the fact that the house itself is pristine, the household is a mess. Unless something changes, Usagi isn't sure that she should even let Minako go back there.
Usagi doesn't even make it past the next house on the street before Artemis slides up beside her. The white Mao looks back towards the Aino house and his ears flatten against his head.
"It wasn't like that before I came into Minako's life. That… is also my fault, Isn't it?" He asks the question softly, certain that he knows the answer but dreading to hear it.
Usagi only sighs, shaking her head. "Given all the things that they are shouting in there, I have a feeling that all of this has been brewing for years now. Minako leaving might have made things worse, but all of this was already in the works." Artemis says nothing. His body language is too uncomfortable for someone who entirely believes that, but at least he isn't arguing against it.
Superintendent Natsuna Sakurada stands at the end of the block. She has a cigarette in her left hand and a lighter in her right by the time she sees Usagi, but stops in mid-motion. She glances towards the Aino household, eyes half-lidded.
"How bad is it?" Usagi winces. The police officer isn't mincing words, and that is for the best.
"The whole house is pristine." Usagi says, drawing a confused look from Sakurada. "There isn't a speak of dust to be found, or a single hair out of place. Everything in the house was so clean that it felt dead. There aren't even any photos of Minako on the walls. That place isn't a home. It is a house that strangers live in, a showroom floor for what the nuclear family is supposed to look like. I barely even started to ask any questions, and everything came tumbling down."
"Oh?" Sakurada asks. Artemis winces.
Usagi cocks her head to one side, concentrating. Even without the transformation, her hearing is a little more than human now, especially when she concentrates and pushes her senses to their limit And… yes. Yes, that's what she thought she could hear, even distorted beyond recognition. "They're still screaming at each other."
"...Oh." The woman sighs, then nods. "Right, then. Not the answer I'd hoped to hear, but close to the one I expected. I'll… get the paperwork ready then."
"Paperwork?" Usagi asks, not entirely sure what Sakurada means by that.
Sakurada nods wearily. "Yes. I'm not letting Minako stay another night at your company building. She needs a real bed and proper access to a shower and so on." Usagi winces, but that's… entirely fair. Usagi and the Senshi have done their best, but with Minako having been missing for a year, and her parents not yet reporting her, it's been difficult to really set anything up for her.
The superintendent smiles ruefully, shaking her head and finally lighting her cigarette. "But you know? It's funny. As I suppose you might have noticed-" her smile twists into something downright silly for a moment- "some strange things have happened lately. So strange that apparently, somehow, the Diet has found itself juggling thousands of people who grew up so far removed from society that they don't have any paperwork at all. Of all kinds, shapes, and sizes, even. There are some special programs being put into place."
The yokai. Oh... Oh, yeah. That... That makes a degree of sense, and again Usagi finds herself surprised at how quickly the Diet is starting to move, compared to how TV and movies make it seem like they move. There is a bit of the girl that feels like the Senshi might be taking advantage of something that they shouldn't, using this situation to Minako's advantage. She isn't a yokai after all, and she has a life and paperwork already.
Sakurada takes a drag from the cigarette, and her strange smile softens a bit. "I had a bad feeling that something like this might happen, so I've already been talking with my sister. She'll put Minako up for a week or so until I can get the guest bedroom at my place... unburied. She's a teacher at one of the local junior highs, so she should be able to help Minako get back into the swing of things, since she's been gone for a year."
It takes everything that Usagi has to keep herself from reacting to what Natsuna Sakurada is saying. Because it really hits home, suddenly, that yes, Usagi knows the superintendent's sister. Miss Haruna is Usagi's homeroom teacher, after all. The homeroom teacher who was giving her 30%'s on tests three months ago. She... would rather that the police officer not be thinking about that.
But Usagi manages a small smile, and means it. "Thank you."
"Least I could do… For now." The police officer glances at Artemis, who in that moment looks as though he wants to dig a hole in the sidewalk and pull it in after him.
After a pause for thought, Sakurada speaks again.
"So, now what?"
Usagi just shrugs. This was, in its way, the heaviest thing that she'd been planning to do all week. With it over, she finds herself heartsick, weary, exhausted. That place was a horror show of a kind that Usagi has never experienced before, and she'd rather never see something like that again.
"I..." Usagi starts to say, but before she can get another word out, there comes a cheerful chime from the communicator at her wrist. Quickly glancing around, Usagi makes sure that there isn't anyone too close- Sakurada's eyes seem to have held off what few passersby there have been. Usagi brings up her arm, fiddling with the communicator as if it were the digital watch it vaguely resembles.
Usagi slips around towards the back of the block's corner store, in a little niche beside a dumpster, away from others' eyes. "Moon here. What's up?"
"Mercury here." Ami says quickly, panting like she's out of breath. There are sirens in the background, and strange creaking noises. "We've got a problem. Are you close to any TVs?"
"No... What's going on??" Usagi asks. Once again that strange crawling sensation builds in the back of her neck, right where her shoulders meet. Though if there's any of that static again, she doesn't notice it.
"A series of massive trees, roughly one hundred to a hundred and fifty meters tall, have appeared in the streets of Uminari City. The roots are pushing into buildings, overturning cars, and… it's a lot of destruction. Worse still, the branches have been rocking back and forth and the leaves of the trees are razor sharp and serrated. At their size, the falling leaves have already sliced through a few roofs. So far there have been no casualties, but I can't say for how long that is going to..." Ami's voice trails off. There's a rumbling sound in the background.
"Mercury!" Usagi cries out, trying to get her friend's attention back.
"Sorry, Cures Bright and Windy are here and trying to handle the leaves."
"Pretty Cure?" Sakurada asks, a worried frown on her face. "Aren't they even younger than you all are?"
Ami's voice, a little tinny in spite of the communicator's amazing quality, takes a nervous tone. "Oh, Superintendent Sakurada! I didn't know that you were with Moon. But… yes, they are younger than we are. And they aren't as strong, either. I'm a little worried about letting them try to handle this all on their own.
Usagi takes a moment, a very short moment, to think. Part of her just wants to go home. To hug her mother and father, reassure herself that they're not like the Ainos, collapse in bed, and not think about anything else for the rest of the day. But there's trouble, and that means that the Senshi need to keep moving.
Usagi needs to keep moving. She sags slightly, and for a split second she can hear that strange static again, before it fades away.
"Oh! More good news!" Ami says. "That's the first MCAT van pulling up. Still a ways from the trees, but they're piling out."
"And emergency services?" Sakurada asks.
"Already here- Uminari police are directing evacuations and guiding the fire trucks and the ambulances closer in."
"I thought you said there were no casualties." Sakurada's eyes narrow.
"Not yet, but they're getting ready."
"Good."
"Okay…" Usagi gulps, squares her shoulders, and looks over to the superintendent. She gives the woman a quick smile. "You can get back home on your own, right?" Usagi asks.
"Not going home. I'll call Dispatch and get a car to the office. Uminari's going to be calling for help, and who knows, this instant forest stuff might spread."
"Hope not. I'm going to go and hand-"
And the communicator chimes again, and Usagi hits the button again, connecting whoever else is calling onto the circuit with Ami. "Moon here." Usagi says.
"Miss Moon, thank goodness!" Shizukua says nervously, "I don't know what to do! It's that magic rattle that the 'Spellblade' fellow sent to us."
Usagi suppresses the urge to swear. "What about it?"
"It's rattling really fast. I know it's supposed to be Wabun Code, and I've got the code book in front of me, but I'm only catching about one character in three. It's so fast… I can't give you the whole message, I'm sorry. But if it's rattling like this, then the knight needs your help, right?"
"Yes... And the timing couldn't be any better." Usagi draws in a long, slow breath as she brings a finger up and sets it against the tip of her nose, thinking for a moment. She doesn't think that call would be coming without a reason- though maybe it's something that one Senshi could handle, or at least something for one Senshi to check out and call others if she needs to? Hard to guess... maybe better to be safe than sorry.
…
"Okay, right. Thank you for calling, Shizukua. I'll let the rest of the Senshi know and get right on that!" Usagi says cheerfully, and after a moment there are a pair of clicks. "Right, Mercury, I'm back." Usagi says quickly. "Did you hear that?"
"Most of it. He's calling for help in Kibougahana now? What are the odds..."
"I'd rather not think about it… no time to start worrying that someone with the ability to set things like this up is out to get us." Usagi admits the thought, takes another moment to center herself, and nods to herself. "Okay, so we have two disasters, and there are seven of us, We can easily split up with three of-"
And then she feels another shuddering sensation, hears another snatch of static, and somehow it carries an emotion to it, something exultant. Oh. Oh no. What even is this-
And then there is another beep, and Usagi goes quiet for a moment. And she… she really doesn't want to click the communicator, because she's dreading what happens next, but at this point she isn't even sure who's left to be trying to get into contact with her.
The moment that Usagi touches the communicator, she hears a heavy, jagged sob, the kind of cry that makes your lungs hurt because you are pushing them to the breaking point. "Oh god... No... No..." The voice on the other end of the communicator is Cure Peach, and the girl is babbling and sobbing, with soft hiccups between her words. "Please... Please no."
"Cure Peach..." Usagi says the words softly, shaping her voice and trying to get through, to make her know her call has been answered. Every instinct that Usagi has demands that she teleport to where Peach is, so that she can help. The other situations are surely desperate as well, Usagi knows that, but this is pain.
Peach whimpers. "...Sailor... Sailor Moon… I don't know what to do. I... I... I didn't mean to."
"What's wrong?" Usagi asks, her voice firm but soft. She can't help unless she knows what is happening.
Cure Peach finally manages to answer, weakly, barely finishing a handful of words. "It-It... It's Mom. My mom is gone."
Usagi freezes.
'I didn't mean to.' 'My mom is gone.' Those are sentences that should never be side by side. If this is what Usagi thinks that this is... That might be something horrible. Something that Usagi might not be able to handle.
"Okay, Peach, I need you to talk to me." Usagi says softly. "Explain what happened."
"O-oh-Okay." Peach says, having to take a moment to swallow in the middle of her words. "I got into an argument with my mom," Peach says. "I was yelling, and I wasn't thinking. I just... I said that I wished she would just go away. And then she… she faded. Just vanished right in front of me. I don't... I don't know what happened. I... My mom. She's gone. What do I do?"
"She faded away right in front of you?" Usagi asks, her mind somehow holding back the clawing sense of horror, trying to come up with an explanation. Her thoughts roll and roil before coming to a stop.
Cure Peach is a Pretty Cure.
A Zakenna that took control of a bicycle transformed into something much bigger than the bike, and was able to attack in strange ways. A Zakenna that took control of a microphone turned into an electrical monster at the Cinderella Caravan. Yet another Zakenna was responsible for the thing in April that knocked out the electricity to every train line in Tokyo, Honoka told her later. The first Nakewameke that Peach fought against took control of a speaker during that first video, catching the Senshi's attention. That Nakewameke, like the Zakennas, was able to do things that a speaker can't normally do.
"Has anything else been going missing?" Usagi asks.
Peach sniffles. "Wh-waht?"
"Has anything else gone missing?" Usagi asks. "Anything else that was right there, and then all of a sudden was missing."
"...There. There. There was that hamburger that Tarte said that he didn't eat. And there was the pencils I tried to find earlier... Are you... Do you think that it is a Nakewameke?" There is a moment of silence before Peach speaks again, her voice harder than it was before. "You think that one of Labyrinth's warriors made Mom disappear... And there was that Soular guy around earlier!" Cure Peach growls out.
Usagi takes her own shuddering breath, forcing herself to stop and think and princess and not scream. "Okay... It'll take a moment, but I'll make sure to get someone up there to help you. I'm not letting you fight something that can make people disappear without back up," Usagi says firmly.
A few quick clicks of the communicator's buttons bring Usagi back to Ami's circuit, and do more than that- she can hear faint chimes she's learned to recognize as the other Senshi starting to connect.
"Sailor Scouts, fall in. We've got... problems."
"Naru here." Usagi's best friend answers first. "I don't know what the problems are, but I'm already helping MCAT with something far out of town. You're going to have to handle this without me for now, sorry."
Usagi laughs, her tone a little nervous and there is a tinge of something stressed and strained to it as well. "I'm gonna guess that you aren't near any TVs either. Don't worry, you handle whatever you're working on. This looks to be fighty stuff, and I know that you don't like to fight. So that's fine." The tinge of Usagi's voice makes it clear that not everything is completely fine. "Everyone else, here's the deal." Usagi says, as she quickly explains the sudden surge of calamities all happening at once.
[ ][PLAN] Plan Name Goes here
- [ ] Sailor Venus Goes to ____
- [ ] Sailor Mercury Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Moon Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Mars Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Jupiter Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Uranus Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Neptune Goes to ___
- [ ] Optional: Specify modes of transit
SENSHI SPARK NOTES:
- SAILOR MOON
Advantages: Very strong. Excellent purification and healing magics. Capable of rapid short-range teleportation and long-range teleportation with cooldown. Diplomacy build. Knows Nanoha, Yuri, and Peach
Disadvantages: Will be sorely missed wherever she is not, the Senshi can handle themselves, but they will be leaderless wherever she isn't. Wherever she is not, she cannot Diplomacy. ???
- SAILOR MERCURY
Advantages: Excellent general magic-handling and sensory capabilities. Moderate healing magic. All-range teleportation that requires prep time but has negligible cooldown. Already has the Kibougahana train station and outskirts dialed in as a teleportation destination. Is currently in Uminari. Has maps of both Kibougahana and Uminari memorized because she has looked at them. ???
Disadvantages: Relatively less overwhelming force in direct one-on-one combat. Lacks purification magics.
- SAILOR JUPITER
Advantages: Very strong. Has access to nonlethal binding and battlefield control magics. Has unique counter-teleport capabilities. Has access to Plant elemental magics. Can fly fairly fast. Is capable of all range teleportation that requires long prep-time.
Disadvantages: Lacks healing/purification magics. Teleportation magics requires both at least one other Senshi, a map or a communicator to teleport to, and has a long cooldown time. Has little experience with Plant element magics. ???
- SAILOR MARS
Advantages: Moderate purification magic. Has fought a Desert Apostle. Has access to Fire Magic. Is capable of all range teleportation that requires long prep-time. ???
Disadvantages: Relatively less overwhelming in direct one-on-one combat. Minimal healing magics. Has access to Fire Magic. Teleportation magics requires both at least one other Senshi, a map or a communicator to teleport to, and has a long cooldown time. ???
- SAILOR VENUS
Advantages: Quite strong. Moderate wide area healing and purification magic. Tactically experienced, proficient, and versatile. Good Area of Effect and battlefield control options. Knows Sir Frederick. Is capable of all range teleportation that requires long prep-time.
Disadvantages: Teleportation magics requires both at least one other Senshi, a map or a communicator to teleport to, and has a long cooldown time Has never been to any of these locations. ???
- SAILORS URANUS AND NEPTUNE
Advantages: There are two of them, and they complement each other quite well. Is capable of all range teleportation that requires long prep-time. Has access to a second Senshi and so counters one disadvantages to the teleportation magics. ???
Disadvantages: Teleportation requires map or a communicator to teleport to, and has a long cooldown time. Have never been to Uminari or Kibougahana. Sir Frederick will not recognize either. ???
TELEPORTING TO A COMMUNICATOR TAKES ROUGHLY 90 - 180 SECONDS. (1.5 - 3 min)
TELEPORTING USING A MAP TAKES ROUGHLY 600 - 1200 SECONDS. (10 - 20 min)
Kibougahana is roughly 100 km from Tokyo
Uminari City is within the Greater Tokyo area
and Yotsuba City is on Shikoku, which is some 760 km from Tokyo
Each Senshi has at least one mystery trait related to one of the locations that they can be sent to.
Ah.
Hikawa Shrine.
Distant enough that it won't connect Minako directly to the Sailor Senshi in the Ainos' minds, but close enough that if one of them does come looking for her like they should… they'll at least be close enough to find a way to reach her.
But right now Usagi… really needs some fresh air.
Because no matter how much hope the girl has for tomorrow, next week, or even the next year makes watching two people who are supposed to love and cherish and be there for one another shouting and screaming at each other until they are hoarse any easier to watch. It is more than Usagi can bear, and the girl girl pauses outside of the Ainos' front door, trying her best to tune out the cruel words of the screaming match that she can still hear even the walls. She's learned... well... something at the very least.
Usagi has, at the very least, learned why it was that Minako's father hasn't reached out, and she has learned that the household is falling apart. For the time being that's going to have to be enough, because there isn't a chance in the world that Usagi can learn anything more out of- that. Despite the fact that the house itself is pristine, the household is a mess. Unless something changes, Usagi isn't sure that she should even let Minako go back there.
Usagi doesn't even make it past the next house on the street before Artemis slides up beside her. The white Mao looks back towards the Aino house and his ears flatten against his head.
"It wasn't like that before I came into Minako's life. That… is also my fault, Isn't it?" He asks the question softly, certain that he knows the answer but dreading to hear it.
Usagi only sighs, shaking her head. "Given all the things that they are shouting in there, I have a feeling that all of this has been brewing for years now. Minako leaving might have made things worse, but all of this was already in the works." Artemis says nothing. His body language is too uncomfortable for someone who entirely believes that, but at least he isn't arguing against it.
Superintendent Natsuna Sakurada stands at the end of the block. She has a cigarette in her left hand and a lighter in her right by the time she sees Usagi, but stops in mid-motion. She glances towards the Aino household, eyes half-lidded.
"How bad is it?" Usagi winces. The police officer isn't mincing words, and that is for the best.
"The whole house is pristine." Usagi says, drawing a confused look from Sakurada. "There isn't a speak of dust to be found, or a single hair out of place. Everything in the house was so clean that it felt dead. There aren't even any photos of Minako on the walls. That place isn't a home. It is a house that strangers live in, a showroom floor for what the nuclear family is supposed to look like. I barely even started to ask any questions, and everything came tumbling down."
"Oh?" Sakurada asks. Artemis winces.
Usagi cocks her head to one side, concentrating. Even without the transformation, her hearing is a little more than human now, especially when she concentrates and pushes her senses to their limit And… yes. Yes, that's what she thought she could hear, even distorted beyond recognition. "They're still screaming at each other."
"...Oh." The woman sighs, then nods. "Right, then. Not the answer I'd hoped to hear, but close to the one I expected. I'll… get the paperwork ready then."
"Paperwork?" Usagi asks, not entirely sure what Sakurada means by that.
Sakurada nods wearily. "Yes. I'm not letting Minako stay another night at your company building. She needs a real bed and proper access to a shower and so on." Usagi winces, but that's… entirely fair. Usagi and the Senshi have done their best, but with Minako having been missing for a year, and her parents not yet reporting her, it's been difficult to really set anything up for her.
The superintendent smiles ruefully, shaking her head and finally lighting her cigarette. "But you know? It's funny. As I suppose you might have noticed-" her smile twists into something downright silly for a moment- "some strange things have happened lately. So strange that apparently, somehow, the Diet has found itself juggling thousands of people who grew up so far removed from society that they don't have any paperwork at all. Of all kinds, shapes, and sizes, even. There are some special programs being put into place."
The yokai. Oh... Oh, yeah. That... That makes a degree of sense, and again Usagi finds herself surprised at how quickly the Diet is starting to move, compared to how TV and movies make it seem like they move. There is a bit of the girl that feels like the Senshi might be taking advantage of something that they shouldn't, using this situation to Minako's advantage. She isn't a yokai after all, and she has a life and paperwork already.
Sakurada takes a drag from the cigarette, and her strange smile softens a bit. "I had a bad feeling that something like this might happen, so I've already been talking with my sister. She'll put Minako up for a week or so until I can get the guest bedroom at my place... unburied. She's a teacher at one of the local junior highs, so she should be able to help Minako get back into the swing of things, since she's been gone for a year."
It takes everything that Usagi has to keep herself from reacting to what Natsuna Sakurada is saying. Because it really hits home, suddenly, that yes, Usagi knows the superintendent's sister. Miss Haruna is Usagi's homeroom teacher, after all. The homeroom teacher who was giving her 30%'s on tests three months ago. She... would rather that the police officer not be thinking about that.
But Usagi manages a small smile, and means it. "Thank you."
"Least I could do… For now." The police officer glances at Artemis, who in that moment looks as though he wants to dig a hole in the sidewalk and pull it in after him.
After a pause for thought, Sakurada speaks again.
"So, now what?"
Usagi just shrugs. This was, in its way, the heaviest thing that she'd been planning to do all week. With it over, she finds herself heartsick, weary, exhausted. That place was a horror show of a kind that Usagi has never experienced before, and she'd rather never see something like that again.
"I..." Usagi starts to say, but before she can get another word out, there comes a cheerful chime from the communicator at her wrist. Quickly glancing around, Usagi makes sure that there isn't anyone too close- Sakurada's eyes seem to have held off what few passersby there have been. Usagi brings up her arm, fiddling with the communicator as if it were the digital watch it vaguely resembles.
Usagi slips around towards the back of the block's corner store, in a little niche beside a dumpster, away from others' eyes. "Moon here. What's up?"
"Mercury here." Ami says quickly, panting like she's out of breath. There are sirens in the background, and strange creaking noises. "We've got a problem. Are you close to any TVs?"
"No... What's going on??" Usagi asks. Once again that strange crawling sensation builds in the back of her neck, right where her shoulders meet. Though if there's any of that static again, she doesn't notice it.
"A series of massive trees, roughly one hundred to a hundred and fifty meters tall, have appeared in the streets of Uminari City. The roots are pushing into buildings, overturning cars, and… it's a lot of destruction. Worse still, the branches have been rocking back and forth and the leaves of the trees are razor sharp and serrated. At their size, the falling leaves have already sliced through a few roofs. So far there have been no casualties, but I can't say for how long that is going to..." Ami's voice trails off. There's a rumbling sound in the background.
"Mercury!" Usagi cries out, trying to get her friend's attention back.
"Sorry, Cures Bright and Windy are here and trying to handle the leaves."
"Pretty Cure?" Sakurada asks, a worried frown on her face. "Aren't they even younger than you all are?"
Ami's voice, a little tinny in spite of the communicator's amazing quality, takes a nervous tone. "Oh, Superintendent Sakurada! I didn't know that you were with Moon. But… yes, they are younger than we are. And they aren't as strong, either. I'm a little worried about letting them try to handle this all on their own.
Usagi takes a moment, a very short moment, to think. Part of her just wants to go home. To hug her mother and father, reassure herself that they're not like the Ainos, collapse in bed, and not think about anything else for the rest of the day. But there's trouble, and that means that the Senshi need to keep moving.
Usagi needs to keep moving. She sags slightly, and for a split second she can hear that strange static again, before it fades away.
"Oh! More good news!" Ami says. "That's the first MCAT van pulling up. Still a ways from the trees, but they're piling out."
"And emergency services?" Sakurada asks.
"Already here- Uminari police are directing evacuations and guiding the fire trucks and the ambulances closer in."
"I thought you said there were no casualties." Sakurada's eyes narrow.
"Not yet, but they're getting ready."
"Good."
"Okay…" Usagi gulps, squares her shoulders, and looks over to the superintendent. She gives the woman a quick smile. "You can get back home on your own, right?" Usagi asks.
"Not going home. I'll call Dispatch and get a car to the office. Uminari's going to be calling for help, and who knows, this instant forest stuff might spread."
"Hope not. I'm going to go and hand-"
And the communicator chimes again, and Usagi hits the button again, connecting whoever else is calling onto the circuit with Ami. "Moon here." Usagi says.
"Miss Moon, thank goodness!" Shizukua says nervously, "I don't know what to do! It's that magic rattle that the 'Spellblade' fellow sent to us."
Usagi suppresses the urge to swear. "What about it?"
"It's rattling really fast. I know it's supposed to be Wabun Code, and I've got the code book in front of me, but I'm only catching about one character in three. It's so fast… I can't give you the whole message, I'm sorry. But if it's rattling like this, then the knight needs your help, right?"
"Yes... And the timing couldn't be any better." Usagi draws in a long, slow breath as she brings a finger up and sets it against the tip of her nose, thinking for a moment. She doesn't think that call would be coming without a reason- though maybe it's something that one Senshi could handle, or at least something for one Senshi to check out and call others if she needs to? Hard to guess... maybe better to be safe than sorry.
…
"Okay, right. Thank you for calling, Shizukua. I'll let the rest of the Senshi know and get right on that!" Usagi says cheerfully, and after a moment there are a pair of clicks. "Right, Mercury, I'm back." Usagi says quickly. "Did you hear that?"
"Most of it. He's calling for help in Kibougahana now? What are the odds..."
"I'd rather not think about it… no time to start worrying that someone with the ability to set things like this up is out to get us." Usagi admits the thought, takes another moment to center herself, and nods to herself. "Okay, so we have two disasters, and there are seven of us, We can easily split up with three of-"
And then she feels another shuddering sensation, hears another snatch of static, and somehow it carries an emotion to it, something exultant. Oh. Oh no. What even is this-
And then there is another beep, and Usagi goes quiet for a moment. And she… she really doesn't want to click the communicator, because she's dreading what happens next, but at this point she isn't even sure who's left to be trying to get into contact with her.
The moment that Usagi touches the communicator, she hears a heavy, jagged sob, the kind of cry that makes your lungs hurt because you are pushing them to the breaking point. "Oh god... No... No..." The voice on the other end of the communicator is Cure Peach, and the girl is babbling and sobbing, with soft hiccups between her words. "Please... Please no."
"Cure Peach..." Usagi says the words softly, shaping her voice and trying to get through, to make her know her call has been answered. Every instinct that Usagi has demands that she teleport to where Peach is, so that she can help. The other situations are surely desperate as well, Usagi knows that, but this is pain.
Peach whimpers. "...Sailor... Sailor Moon… I don't know what to do. I... I... I didn't mean to."
"What's wrong?" Usagi asks, her voice firm but soft. She can't help unless she knows what is happening.
Cure Peach finally manages to answer, weakly, barely finishing a handful of words. "It-It... It's Mom. My mom is gone."
Usagi freezes.
'I didn't mean to.' 'My mom is gone.' Those are sentences that should never be side by side. If this is what Usagi thinks that this is... That might be something horrible. Something that Usagi might not be able to handle.
"Okay, Peach, I need you to talk to me." Usagi says softly. "Explain what happened."
"O-oh-Okay." Peach says, having to take a moment to swallow in the middle of her words. "I got into an argument with my mom," Peach says. "I was yelling, and I wasn't thinking. I just... I said that I wished she would just go away. And then she… she faded. Just vanished right in front of me. I don't... I don't know what happened. I... My mom. She's gone. What do I do?"
"She faded away right in front of you?" Usagi asks, her mind somehow holding back the clawing sense of horror, trying to come up with an explanation. Her thoughts roll and roil before coming to a stop.
Cure Peach is a Pretty Cure.
A Zakenna that took control of a bicycle transformed into something much bigger than the bike, and was able to attack in strange ways. A Zakenna that took control of a microphone turned into an electrical monster at the Cinderella Caravan. Yet another Zakenna was responsible for the thing in April that knocked out the electricity to every train line in Tokyo, Honoka told her later. The first Nakewameke that Peach fought against took control of a speaker during that first video, catching the Senshi's attention. That Nakewameke, like the Zakennas, was able to do things that a speaker can't normally do.
"Has anything else been going missing?" Usagi asks.
Peach sniffles. "Wh-waht?"
"Has anything else gone missing?" Usagi asks. "Anything else that was right there, and then all of a sudden was missing."
"...There. There. There was that hamburger that Tarte said that he didn't eat. And there was the pencils I tried to find earlier... Are you... Do you think that it is a Nakewameke?" There is a moment of silence before Peach speaks again, her voice harder than it was before. "You think that one of Labyrinth's warriors made Mom disappear... And there was that Soular guy around earlier!" Cure Peach growls out.
Usagi takes her own shuddering breath, forcing herself to stop and think and princess and not scream. "Okay... It'll take a moment, but I'll make sure to get someone up there to help you. I'm not letting you fight something that can make people disappear without back up," Usagi says firmly.
A few quick clicks of the communicator's buttons bring Usagi back to Ami's circuit, and do more than that- she can hear faint chimes she's learned to recognize as the other Senshi starting to connect.
"Sailor Scouts, fall in. We've got... problems."
"Naru here." Usagi's best friend answers first. "I don't know what the problems are, but I'm already helping MCAT with something far out of town. You're going to have to handle this without me for now, sorry."
Usagi laughs, her tone a little nervous and there is a tinge of something stressed and strained to it as well. "I'm gonna guess that you aren't near any TVs either. Don't worry, you handle whatever you're working on. This looks to be fighty stuff, and I know that you don't like to fight. So that's fine." The tinge of Usagi's voice makes it clear that not everything is completely fine. "Everyone else, here's the deal." Usagi says, as she quickly explains the sudden surge of calamities all happening at once.
--==--THERE IS GOING TO BE A TWELVE HOUR VOTE MEMORATORUM SO THAT PEOPLE CAN THINK AND PLAN BEFORE THE VOTE OPENS COMPLETELY--==--
[ ][PLAN] Plan Name Goes here
- [ ] Sailor Venus Goes to ____
- [ ] Sailor Mercury Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Moon Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Mars Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Jupiter Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Uranus Goes to ___
- [ ] Sailor Neptune Goes to ___
- [ ] Optional: Specify modes of transit
SENSHI SPARK NOTES:
- SAILOR MOON
Advantages: Very strong. Excellent purification and healing magics. Capable of rapid short-range teleportation and long-range teleportation with cooldown. Diplomacy build. Knows Nanoha, Yuri, and Peach
Disadvantages: Will be sorely missed wherever she is not, the Senshi can handle themselves, but they will be leaderless wherever she isn't. Wherever she is not, she cannot Diplomacy. ???
- SAILOR MERCURY
Advantages: Excellent general magic-handling and sensory capabilities. Moderate healing magic. All-range teleportation that requires prep time but has negligible cooldown. Already has the Kibougahana train station and outskirts dialed in as a teleportation destination. Is currently in Uminari. Has maps of both Kibougahana and Uminari memorized because she has looked at them. ???
Disadvantages: Relatively less overwhelming force in direct one-on-one combat. Lacks purification magics.
- SAILOR JUPITER
Advantages: Very strong. Has access to nonlethal binding and battlefield control magics. Has unique counter-teleport capabilities. Has access to Plant elemental magics. Can fly fairly fast. Is capable of all range teleportation that requires long prep-time.
Disadvantages: Lacks healing/purification magics. Teleportation magics requires both at least one other Senshi, a map or a communicator to teleport to, and has a long cooldown time. Has little experience with Plant element magics. ???
- SAILOR MARS
Advantages: Moderate purification magic. Has fought a Desert Apostle. Has access to Fire Magic. Is capable of all range teleportation that requires long prep-time. ???
Disadvantages: Relatively less overwhelming in direct one-on-one combat. Minimal healing magics. Has access to Fire Magic. Teleportation magics requires both at least one other Senshi, a map or a communicator to teleport to, and has a long cooldown time. ???
- SAILOR VENUS
Advantages: Quite strong. Moderate wide area healing and purification magic. Tactically experienced, proficient, and versatile. Good Area of Effect and battlefield control options. Knows Sir Frederick. Is capable of all range teleportation that requires long prep-time.
Disadvantages: Teleportation magics requires both at least one other Senshi, a map or a communicator to teleport to, and has a long cooldown time Has never been to any of these locations. ???
- SAILORS URANUS AND NEPTUNE
Advantages: There are two of them, and they complement each other quite well. Is capable of all range teleportation that requires long prep-time. Has access to a second Senshi and so counters one disadvantages to the teleportation magics. ???
Disadvantages: Teleportation requires map or a communicator to teleport to, and has a long cooldown time. Have never been to Uminari or Kibougahana. Sir Frederick will not recognize either. ???
TELEPORTING TO A COMMUNICATOR TAKES ROUGHLY 90 - 180 SECONDS. (1.5 - 3 min)
TELEPORTING USING A MAP TAKES ROUGHLY 600 - 1200 SECONDS. (10 - 20 min)
Kibougahana is roughly 100 km from Tokyo
Uminari City is within the Greater Tokyo area
and Yotsuba City is on Shikoku, which is some 760 km from Tokyo
Each Senshi has at least one mystery trait related to one of the locations that they can be sent to.
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb2fjZa_L74&ab_channel=FlashbackFM_%D0%A0%D1%83%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B8%D1%8F
Welp it looks like almost fucking everything decided to make a move after the cluster fuck of the Aino house.
Did we poke murphy with a chainsaw or something?
KnownParadox
Not a sphere
- Location
- Canada
Well there had to be magical girl event pile up happening some time, may as well be now. As in several events going off at the same time in separate locations not like the time with Ranma.
FictionPack
Monochromatic Ursine
- Location
- Tennessee
- Pronouns
- He/Him
It's a monster that can make things disappear by drawing and erasing them.
It just now erased the concept of mothers.
We are not sending Usagi anywhere near there now that Mini is in play. Just in case.
Rei either, because she made a baby egg with Naru.
Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Gah, and I just know the Black Moon Clan are going to use this distraction to cover something.
- Location
- Pittsburgh PA
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Well, things are HAPPENING™.
Tentative thoughts Jupiter, Mars, and Venus all need someone else to teleport with them so putting some of them together makes sense, though Jupiter can also fly and Uminari is implied to be rather close if not actually one of the wards of Tokyo. Venus probably should go to Kibougahana she is the most connected to the other people there. Moving Mercury away from where she currently is would probably be less than productive. Cure Peach is in Clover Town on the island of Shikoku so would have to be a teleport pair going to her.
I'm thinking Outers to Clover Town, Mars and Venus to Kibougahana, and Moon Mercury and Jupiter to Uminari.
Though there are already two of the cures at Uminari so putting a third in Kibougahana might be an option, I don't think Clover Town would need a third as Berry and Pine are both active there as well.
Tentative thoughts Jupiter, Mars, and Venus all need someone else to teleport with them so putting some of them together makes sense, though Jupiter can also fly and Uminari is implied to be rather close if not actually one of the wards of Tokyo. Venus probably should go to Kibougahana she is the most connected to the other people there. Moving Mercury away from where she currently is would probably be less than productive. Cure Peach is in Clover Town on the island of Shikoku so would have to be a teleport pair going to her.
I'm thinking Outers to Clover Town, Mars and Venus to Kibougahana, and Moon Mercury and Jupiter to Uminari.
Though there are already two of the cures at Uminari so putting a third in Kibougahana might be an option, I don't think Clover Town would need a third as Berry and Pine are both active there as well.
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Winged One
Not the Simurgh
- Location
- definitely the ground
- Pronouns
- They/Them/It
Venus, then, since she's the only purifier left on our roster with those two eliminated.
Wait, does that mean Mrs. Aino just vanished in the middle of her shouting match? Or does this monster's effect work in a limited radius?
Grue
滅亡迅雷
- Location
- -
*Double-checks timings in relation to what's currently happening*
Actually the other half of Team Time Travel Trouble looks like more of an issue, we're about on schedule for the first Oshimaida turning up(and consequently Cure Yell's debut).
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
I quite sincerely have no idea whether a conceptual motherhood-eraser would have a continuous effect or if new moms entering the area are unaffected, and I quite sincerely have no special information about what would happen...
But I'm pretty sure that if a Nakewa-whatever tries to use conceptual erasure on the avatara of the Silver Crystal, it's gonna be like a toddler trying to suplex an NFL linebacker. The theory's sound, but the little punk just doesn't have the leverage.
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