2504/We're Good

We're Good
Date of Scene:	03 May 2025
Location:	Crystal Tokyo
Synopsis:	In the wake of 'Dibs,' Makoto and Izou come to an understanding about what happened during that battle.
Cast of Characters:	Zoisite, Makoto Kino
Tinyplot:	Black Moon Clan
Tinyplot2:	BMC: Dimension Future

---

Zoisite has posed:
Like most battles, there is always a moment that lingers after that warrants a pause. Rest and recover, take in the moments and discoveries therein before moving forward with questions. At least, this was Izou's experience as of recently. So he did not stray far away from the group, but there was some distance once he found a moment to slip away.

Had it been granted? No, he didn't ask. It was merely something he needed in that moment.

Being dehenshin'd, he mostly stayed nearby jagged wooden columns of what was once a building of sorts, identity lost in the rubble and rotting like the ground beneath them. His back leaned against one, eyes set on the Crystal Palace far off, a glum yet tired look in his eyes. Hair loose, both green ribbon and icy blue gem in his hands.

He knew what would be coming next. A bollocking. Perhaps nitrogen. Who knew. But it would not surprise him if someone decided to approach him then.

Makoto Kino has posed:
The Crystal Palace - the real one - lies ahead, but there's still this moment of quiet in the wake of battle. A chance to regroup and see to any injuries. Sailor Jupiter took some time herself, to catch her breath and to check in with her fellow senshi and the others.

She left Izou alone for a bit. Now, though, she makes her way towards the remains of the building where he's gone to seek his solitude. As she approaches, she lets her henshin dissolve, changing back from Sailor Jupiter to Makoto Kino for what might be the first time since they arrived in this alternate future.

She's rolling her right shoulder a little as she walks, like she's trying to work the kinks out of the joint.

"Do you want to tell me what all that was about?" she asks when she's reached an easy conversational distance. "Back there?"

Zoisite has posed:
Not who he was expecting to come greet him first, recognizing the tone. Mamoru or Usagi, perhaps. Masato surely, he knew that boar would be coming for him. But with a second of thought, it made sense why Jupiter would near him.

Leaning the back of his head to wood, Izou took in a breath, letting the smell of decay fill his senses before turning his head to get a better look at the girl.

Civil clothes. Like him. Eye to eye conversation then? He considered her, the stance she took. Casual, but a presence that had weight to it. Even if he was stubborn, he knew well where strength lied.

And she did approach him to ask.

"TL;DR or whole thought process. You'll need to be specific, Makoto."

Makoto Kino has posed:
He gets a slow blink, a little tilt of her head. Makoto is an easy one to read; Izou can plainly see the caution with which she regards him. Her guard is quietly up, half ready for a slap. She doesn't know what to expect from him right now. Or at all, possibly.

"Walk me through it," she answers after a brief pause. "I think I deserve to know why you took a shot at me earlier... don't you?"

Zoisite has posed:
"Of course, I assumed that's why you're here. You also deserve to pick how brief I can be with the delivery. I can be rather verbose at times." He could tell she was guarded, but he made no move to threaten her or correct her stance on his end. His lean was relax and resigned.

Turning his head back, he looked at the Crystal Palace again, taking in the distance they still had to reach it. A long walk, even as he recovered his energy.

"Weakness." A simple reply at first, but the word encompassed what he saw of his own actions. "When I heard the twins, when I saw them, my head was replaced by my heart. It spoke louder than anything else. Sense was not part of the equation." Thumb caressed over the gem in his hand. "And yours was the first attack I noticed."

Looking back, he remembered the moment his bones shook, the shock of similarities bordering identical. "Granted, I did not realize what you intended to do, and I didn't want to risk wasting time. I assume, regardless of my better judgement, that you would be using lightning first."

Lips pursed some, remembering the look Jupiter gave him, and the mistake he made. Mistakes. That had been the second one. "Had I known you were using your fist, I wouldn't have done what I did. I would've taken other measures to intervene. Taken your punch instead of risk you hurting them."

And a small hint of a cynical smile on his lips. "The first rule we the Shitennou have now is to not hurt the senshi. I take it seriously. So my intention was not to attack you, but to stop you from what I assumed were the reincarnations of the man I love."

He gave a shrug then. "Of course there were other variables, but this is mostly for you right now."

Makoto Kino has posed:
She listens, eyes steady on Izou, and she doesn't make any bid to interrupt him while he talks. Makoto is quiet for a space after he's finished saying his piece; she's mulling it all over, thinking back through the sequence of events between the trap snapping shut on them and everything that followed.

Eventually she lets out a quiet breath. Her shoulders drop a little with it, and some of the guardedness ebbs from her stance. "It's just as well you didn't put yourself in the way," she says with a wry twist of her mouth. "I wasn't holding back, you know?"

A beat, and she shakes her head. "...all right," she says. "I get it, kind of. If it were someone that important to me, that they'd resembled instead--" Her face turns away from his briefly, green eyes tracking back toward the others. "I don't know if I'd have done the same thing, but I'm sure I'd have wanted to."

Her expression is solemn when she looks back to Izou again. "Even if they had been a version of Saitou-kun, though... it's not like that would've changed what we had to do."

Zoisite has posed:
"I know you weren't holding back. It wouldn't have been the first time you punched me." A nod. "And I have protected Kunzite before with my own body before. Be it a bullet or sword or fist, none of it makes a difference as long as he, or a chance of him, is protected." That was one of his weaknesses.

Izou still did not look at her, but his gaze averted from the Palace, looking towards the ruins before it. The death of thousands and more, numbers climbing up beyond the stratosphere. Humans, animals, plant life. So much, gone forever. Her words hit like thunder in the distance of decisions that rung mightier than his own.

"I know nothing would have changed the outcome of this fight, had it been Kunzite or not. Truthfully however, I did not know what else I could have done had I been successful in stopping any and all of you. Plea, understand..." Hold them by the face and try to see from their point of view. What hurt them, what turned them this way, had it been them. "But you're correct. It wouldn't... have made a different. At all."

Paths forged, like molten rock hardened. Nothing would even budge it from it's shape, and that possibility alone sadly ached him.

"They're gone now, and I realize what I did wrong." A finger wrapped around the green ribbon, hands now pressing the gem against his middle.

Makoto Kino has posed:
A quick grin flickers over Makoto's face, there and then gone. "The last time I hit you I hadn't even transformed yet," she points out. As though that's the point of concern, here.

She watches him for a bit before breathing out a sigh. "...Well," she says, "if you're going to kick yourself about it, then there's no point in me kicking you about it too." Not that she'd had much intention. "But..."

There's a question in her tone, but she hesitates before actually putting it into words. "If it came down to it, would you really put yourself in harm's way to protect Saitou-kun over anybody else, even while he was turned dark and working for the enemy? While he was putting Mamoru-san and Usagi-chan and everyone else in danger?"

Zoisite has posed:
Ah. There is was.

Even with the momentary smile at her kicking him back, or the pointed difference of her being transformed to her being in civil alone when the first punch from her had been delivered, it all was gone at her last question.

Like everything else around them, it weighed. With bodies of hidden under the debris they walked over. And more, long decomposed and returned to the earth itself, when the moon still had a Kingdom, and the title of Elite was still something to be proud of instead of being a cautionary story bound by history.

Hatred and mistakes and more mistakes and more scars and selfishness. And he wished he could remember the truth of it all. The details that swarm his mind like the petals he controls by a snap of his fingers.

He knew what the right answer was, in the end of it all. What was worth dying for the most: the protection of others, of those that would lead the rest of what remained of Earth into a world full of hope, or who he considered the most precious to him, regardless of where they were. A knight, a soldier, a kind soul or pure tar of hell's depths?

Did he believe in the convictions enough to give her the right answer? To be Zoisite or Izou.

His fingers tighten around his ribbon, gem still pressed against his middle, like he wanted to shield it from himself. "It would be the hardest decision to make in myself. Had you added the option to die instead, I would easily pick it instead, as long as it was a beautiful one." A smile at his own expense. "But..." A pause, ribbon tighter upon his fingers. A reminder, a comfort, before he continues. "I know what the right choice is, for my lifetime."

He looks back at Makoto then, nodding. "I would pick Mamoru."

Makoto Kino has posed:
There's no judgment in Makoto's leaf-green gaze, as it holds on Izou's face. Her eyes soften a little in genuine sympathy as he admits he would rather choose death, given the option. Her head dips slightly in a nod that answers his.

"You dying wouldn't make anybody happy," she observes in a very mild tone. "Mamoru-san and Saitou-kun least of all. But, knowing what the right thing is doesn't always mean our hearts agree to it, I guess."

Absently she brings her hands together, the heel of one rubbing across the knuckles that so recently ran afoul of his power. "This could happen again. I'm not... my job is simple, you know? I give out the hits, and I take them. Hopefully before anyone else has to. I won't apologize for doing that. And... I can't pretend like I know better than you, but I'm pretty sure if it came to taking him down to protect the others, Saitou-kun would buy me an ice cream after."

Her brows are lifted, green eyes searching his face almost like she's asking a question. Looking for understanding, or something of the sort.

Zoisite has posed:
"Yes, I know your job very well. You're a boulder of a woman and I am a paper thin stick of a man. A twink, if you will--" A matter of fact tone to it all, mixed with some good humor. Deep down, he appreciated that she understood where his heart was.

"And of course Masato is the scissors, with him rushing in after you did. But instead of cutting he'd of course prefer to bludgeon someone with it." A sigh, brow lifting at her. "That's also his job. I don't fault him for it." Nor did he protest when Nephrite had attacked. It was the reason he stepped back when he did. "One of us needs to make sense of this chaos. And if that means to cut through it, so be it. His methods are as good as any other." It was sincere in his part, and a quiet nod towards her own duties as the Sailor of Thunder.

"I am aware, however, that Kazuo would treat you to ice cream if you had to beat him. He's nothing but kindness." Unlike himself. And he was okay with that.

Izou turns to look back at the Crystal Palace. His grasp around the gem softened. "I am sorry for hurting you, Kino-san."

Makoto Kino has posed:
'Boulder of a woman' sends a jolt right up Makoto's spine. She's left rather flustered; a hint of heightened color rises in her cheeks, and it takes her a bit to recover her balance. Though Izou's good humor about it helps somewhat.

At his apology, she simply smiles and shakes her head. "It's okay," she assures him. "If that punch had landed, I'd have only ended up with my hand stuck to the wall anyway. So really, in a way you did me a favor." She straightens up her stance a little and bows, oddly formal. "We're good."

Zoisite has posed:
He furrows at her reaction. "Oy, no need to be embarrassed. It's attractive that you're strong." A nod, reassuring her. Beauty was something he was familiar with, and the form it enjoyed taking, sneaky as it was.

Finally he pushed away from the column, turning to Makoto with a little smile and bows back to her, mirroring her formality before straightening back. "What can I say except you're welcome?"

Only a small tad of smugness at her realizing he did, in fact, do her a favor.