2585/WHAT. IS. GOING. ON.

WHAT. IS. GOING. ON.
Date of Scene:	03 June 2025
Location:	Radiant Academy Rooftops
Synopsis:	Rashmi and Mamoru text, then meet up on a school roof to catch up: wedding stuff, Wicked Lady stuff, Seriss Nyx stuff.
Cast of Characters:	Mamoru Chiba, Rashmi Terios
Tinyplot:	BMC: Wicked Ride
Tinyplot2:	Black Moon Clan

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Mamoru Chiba has posed:
    Mamoru TXT: heyyyyyy >_>

    Rashmi TXT: HI! Are you okay? Is it safe to talk? Wh-- no not where are you bad question ARE YOU OKAY.

    Mamoru TXT: hi! i'm fine! well, i'm weary af, but there will be plenty of time to sleep after the wedding.
    Mamoru TXT: it's safe to talk, and you know what, it's literally always safe to text right now

    Rashmi TXT: ...Wait wedding? But don't you need a bri-- Mamo-kun *what is going on.*

    Mamoru TXT: 8D
    Mamoru TXT: the wedding is still on :D i'm planning it with usagi and roping everyone into it

    Rashmi TXT: ...If it were anyone else I'd assume Dark Energy turned you even trollier but I remember those days.

    Mamoru TXT: hahahahahaha
    Mamoru TXT: i have no dark energy
    Mamoru TXT: literally hanging around wicked lady and new moon out of henshin

    Rashmi TXT: That sounds like an excellent way to absorb it in the background, but you know you better so okay.
    Rashmi TXT: WHAT. IS GOING. ON.

    Mamoru TXT: ugh omg do you want to just meet? there's SO MUCH

    Rashmi TXT: ...Sorry if I'm being annoying, but... yeah probably. Would that be safe too?

    Mamoru TXT: no the ugh was not to you!!!
    Mamoru TXT: it was at the situation XD

    Rashmi TXT: Okay that's fair!

    Mamoru TXT: And yeah sure, it's safe. School roof?

    Rashmi TXT: (typing... typing... typing... pause... typing... typing... typing... pause... ... .....) Yeah okay school roof!

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Luckily the buildings are all of a height, for the most part, and any one of the millions of roof the school has is visible from the rest, basically, so it's not hard to find a boy in formalwear, a mask, and a cape sitting on the widow's walk of the girls dorm, not too far from where Naru and Usagi and Chibiusa bunk when there's less evil going on.

He is eating from a conbini bento, and there's a lot of fried stuff in it. Oh my gosh is there fried stuff in it. His gloves are off because there is so much fried stuff.

It's maybe 9 or 10 PM, windy, moonlit, and starry-- or at least as starry as one can get when in Tokyo. He looks fine.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
There was a time when Rashmi would have regarded the ability to just step onto a balcony and fly to the school roof as a child's fantasy, regarded with wonder and awe. Then when she could *do* that, there was a time when she felt such an incredible feat deserved to be used with respect for the power that it implied, and not saved for trivial things.

But like anyone who has a smartphone for more than a couple months, unfettered access breeds familiarity, and now telepathic texting, Device storage, and casual point-to-point flight are as familiar as breathing. So when Mamoru asks to meet on the school roof rather than cover all the current nonsense via text, the fact that it was after-hours meant absolutely nothing. Open dorm window, hop out, henshin in the air, fly to the roof with bag of salt-flavor Tongari Corn held closed in both hands.

When she lands, she looks... frazzled. Like a cram-school student getting ready for college-placement testing, who is *also* waiting on a medical diagnosis that seems to be taking longer to happen than it ought to.

"...Okay that helps," she says upon laying eyes on Tuxedo Kamen. "So... what have I been *missing* while I've been flying apart in seven different directions?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I'm-- I'm so sorry that I'm putting more on you, but the more I'm hoping to put on you is help with a forcible purification of someone with as much power as Beryl before she ate Metalia and her sidekick who's about as powerful as Hematite, if not more. Namely, Wicked Lady and New Moon." He takes a breath, then puts the lid on his bento while he licks off his chopsticks. "What better place to do that than the place we were already prepping for half or more of the mahoujin in Tokyo to attend at once?"

Hopeful smile. "Nephrite and Aloisia and Mercury and I think? Some other people? Are already working on it, Mercury is concentrating on ways to bind Wicked Lady. Uh, and Riventon is Best Man, but Neph has effectively taken over his duties..."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Blink. Blink blink. "...Hang on. So... wait. Hang on." It seems like at the moment Rashmi is an active thinker, by the way she's pacing on the rooftop. And a hungry thinker, as cones of fried corn are cronched on as she comes to *terms* with all this information. "...Okay so... Who's Wicked Lady and New Moon? ...Strike that, which one of them is Chibiusa-tan? Because I'm *guessing* they came from... well, Nemesis?"

The problem with a dozen different social circles; sometimes a few of them miss out on tea as it is spilled.

"I mean, sure I'll help, and I can probably do *something* to help Mercury-san. Which... that'll be nice. Having a deadline and a team all working on one thing? That'll be *really* nice."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Wicked Lady," Mamoru answers immediately. He turns around and crosses his legs, sitting forward with his elbows on his knees, watching Rashmi pace. "Wicked Lady is Chibiusa. She's the one as powerful as Beryl. New Moon is someone precious also, but I can't tell you who. Usagi is hidden, Wicked Lady and New Moon are protecting her -- and me when I'm there -- from Demande and Saphir. They set a trap for her in the future, in the city. She was flying so she got further than we did faster, and I stayed behind to hold Demande off. But the power behind the Black Moon Clan -- Wicked Lady calls him Wiseman, but he's got to be Death Phantom -- he caught Chibiusa and corrupted her, and then Chibiusa stole Usagi away. Then everyone left the future. The Black Moon Clan's ship, including Wicked Lady and Usagi and New Moon, just arrived here like... a week ago. Maybe a bit more."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
'I can't tell you who' is answered with a momentary look of frustration, that is almost immediately waved off. "Okay... so if I'm getting this right, the plan is to trap Wicked Lady at the wedding, hamster-ball her -- or the nearest equivalent to hand -- and while that's happening... hold New Moon off? Are we assuming Saphir and Demande will show up too? Do we *have enough* throw weight to match all that? I-- sorry. Brain running. Want a Tongari?"

The half-box with its bag is held out, perhaps a third full by now. "Wiseman, huh...? That... makes sense, I think? But the way you're talking, it sounds like Demande and Wicked Lady are kinda working at cross purposes? So... Hm..."

As she chews on this new information, she looks up, smiling in what she hopes is a reassuring manner. "Anyway yeah, you know you've got my help. Is there anything specific you need me to do, or is it more of a 'whatever you can think of' kind of deal?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Trap Wicked Lady and New Moon and purify them, and we'll bring Usagi with us. We're selling it to Wicked Lady as that our wedding is the perfect celebration of her future birth. It made Usako a little nuts to say it, but what can you do?"

Tuxedo Kamen absolutely takes a tongari, "Thanks," and gestures with it as he talks, "The idea is to hold Wicked Lady in place while New Moon is purified, then tackle Wicked Lady. The actual wedding -- when we do, you know, vow stuff and rings and making out in front of all our friends -- isn't until after the purification, so there's going to be a lot of leaning on Device storage to hold food while a fight is happening, too. Other than that, yeah, whatever you can think of, and work with Nephrite and Mercury and Aloisia and whoever else."

MONCH tongari.

After a second, "We're hoping Demande and Saphir don't show up, and I think Aloisia's handling coordination on keeping them away if they do. Oh and," he adds, "Demande wants Usako, everyone wants the Silver Crystal, Usagi hid it, and the other one I just got yelled at for saying Minako has it, but you're one of the people who should know that anyway."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
Rashmi nods along with Mamoru as he explains everything, and it *is* a lot. A lot a lot. And all barely a month after their half-victory in Crystal Tokyo. "Hooooo.... Yeah I *think* I can hold a wedding's worth of food... ?" Glancing at Nicomachea, and receiving a cheery *ping!* in reply, Rashmi nods. "Okay gonna have to clean the storage space out, but I can make it work. *That* won't be a problem, and if Mako-chan wants a spare hand give her my number."

Because we *all* know who's gonna be in charge of catering this wedding.

"Wait... why'd you get yelled at? That's a good, *safe* pick, and anyway if you'd asked me I'd've said no. Secure Storage is... chancy... right now. I'm sort of holding onto something that can't be perma-sealed so I don't know what the proximity would do if stuff went mental at the wrongest time."

Drawing in a breath, she shakes her head, beaming at Mamoru. "So okay! Coordinate with the security team, offer my sword to Catering, clean out my Space Closet to keep food for three hundred, then get ready for a Beryl-class fight with *no collateral damage.*"

With each new thing, another hair pops out of her plait, but her cheery smile never wavers. "All I ask is that when Chrono and I inevitably get married, *nothing like this gets to happen.*"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"Actually, offer your sword to Mako and Koji; she's doing desserts and he's doing the rest of the menu--" says Mamoru helpfully, and he starts grinning, and he's grinning at Rashmi. "It'll be fine. I mean, if there's any chance to purify New Moon or Wicked Lady before the wedding? People should go for it. But again, it's a lot of power."

He sits up, pulling at his ankles as he does, then lets go and stretches his legs out. "It's harder to aggro Wicked Lady than New Moon. New Moon is very excitable. But-- they don't care if I stick around to heal people after fights, and neither of them is actually cruel, just... not compassionate really? Right now? I only really have two strictures on me."

Then he laughs, eyes sparkling in the moonlight behind his mask, and he says, "I'll do my level best to make sure your wedding is a normal amount of exciting."

Finally he says, "I got yelled at because I said out loud in front of a group that I gave it to Minako. I kind of deserved it and I have to apologize for getting huffy about it. It might be proximity to dark energy, but it's more likely that I'm just tired and scared and overwhelmed and masking, and the timing was bad."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"...Okay yeah I wouldn't've done that either, but being almost exactly where you are I get it," Rashmi says after a moment. "And I need to talk to Koji-kun anyway, he said he had some ideas for tuning Hanzo up and I *definitely* want that done before the wedding."

Lifting up her glasses, she massages the bridge of her nose. "Oh also I at least have *one* piece of good news you might not know; Alo-chan's gonna be my sister-in-law eventually. We were helping Lindy-mama move, and she just... asked Alo-chan, out of the blue."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"... she's getting married to Lindy?" Mamoru asks, completely bewildered.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"*Adopted,* silly," Rashmi answers immediately. But the question *does* bring a chuckle to a very tired face.

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"OH!" Oh. For a second, Mamoru's face goes from bewildered to weirdly a little frozen, and then it just melts into warmth and happiness for Aloisia. "If anyone deserves a mom to fuss over her, it's her. I've never met Lindy, but I can put together a reasonable broad-strokes idea of what she's like just from what I've heard," he says cheerfully, then wryly.

He unfolds himself from the rooftop, then holds his arms out in a wordless question.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
The moment Mamoru holds out his arms, Rashmi blinks, tilting her head to one side as if to ask 'is it really okay?'

But apparently she'll wait for the answer *after* the hug, since she moves in to throw her arms around the noodle's waist. "Yeah, Lindy-mama is... really good at what she does. But she has the sweet tooth of ten Usa-chans."

The hug is simply relaxed into for a moment, then Rashmi sighs. "...I know it's unfair that there's a little part of me that's... kinda *mad* about this? Like... I *still* have no idea how to boot Seriss out of Molly-chan, but we're about to tie a bow on Wicked Lady and party after?"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Tuxedo Noodle folds his arms around Rashmi and hugs her back -- and he is good at hugs. He just hugs for a moment, squished tight, and then his arms loosen but don't let go.

"I'm glad. I'm so glad for her," he says, meaning it.

There's a little chuff of a laugh, a piece of Mamoru's voice broken off before hitting his mouth, resonant in his chest. "It's not unfair. Feelings are feelings, and that sucks. Have you considered getting married early?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Lindy-mama asked when Chrono was gonna propose," Rashmi mumbles against Mamoru's chest. "He got lemonade up his nose."

Her shoulders shake in quiet laughter at the memory of the moment, and she moves gently back. "And I mean, both of us are pretty sure. It's just a matter of time, and it never felt right *hinting* at engagement until you two got married. Lindy-mama even gave me Chrono's father's Device to fix up for him, but didn't know what it was." She looks up, eyes wide and horrified. "*She was using it to level a couch leg.*"

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"... that's ..." Mamoru's eyes are wide. "Poor Device! How rude. I mean, not that she would know it was rude but."

He shakes his head and smiles down at Rashmi. "But I meant, if you have a sacrificial wedding you can invite Seriss Nyx... after inviting all the purifiers you know and enough people to hold her down for it. I mean, you can see if it works on Wicked Lady, you know?"

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yeah," Rashmi says around a chuckle. "That's a thought... Well, we'll see how well this works, and plan from there. And after... well, we'll see if Seriss even knows what's going on enough to be cruel *on purpose,* or if she's so checked out on the world she gives us breathing space *by accident.* And she's gotten *scary,* Mamo-kun... Like, created superyouma that can make their own lieutenant-grade youma kind of scary. And she *doesn't* back all the way off while they're at work."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
"I wonder if there's a way to debuff her partway. Ugh, she's so rude, and she's supposedly in Obsidian huh? Not backing off while the youmas fight is considered really poor form," Mamoru says with a shake of his head, hooking his thumbs in his belt for a second before remembering to scoop up his bento.

"I can come to fights and fight normally, I just can't fight against Wicked Lady and New Moon. Tag me in next time she attacks, and we'll see if I'm any help at all. I think as long as I don't try to tank..."

He looks at the bento in his hands. "I should go pick up some sweets for the girls and head back."

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"Yeah but she's basically all that's left at Tomoe," Rashmi points out. "There's really nobody to ride herd on her that has a hope of making it stick. No Beryl, no Mistress 9, just her and her experiments."

At Mamoru offering to help, Rashmi's eyebrows rise. "I mean... you've *had* enough to deal with, but if you think you're okay enough to get some mad out and leave a few smoking craters... Just... be glad you're offering *now.* The last one was... yeesh. Would not wish it on anyone, and I *know* she made it take the form of a spider *just* because Molly's deathly scared of em."

Mamoru Chiba has posed:
Now Mamoru literally shrinks back. "I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. I'm so happy I did not have to deal with that. I have trouble with pink, glittering spiderwebs." He full body shudders, actively trying not to picture a spider youma and failing. "I mean. I mean. I could probably... if I can... if I can avoid also fire I can maybe? deal? with a spider? But I hope she doesn't do that one again..."

Then his bento's in one hand, and he smiles a little crookedly as he salutes with the other one. "Thanks, Rashmi-chan. Again, still, always."

And then, then, he steps into the air and vanishes.

Rashmi Terios has posed:
"You're never not welcome!" Rashmi calls into the air, just in case. She's never really delved into the *mechanics* of Tuxedo Kamen's teleportation, so, it feels right to try to get the last word in anyway.