Scene #2531: Are we friends?

Owner	Pose
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara was standing on the balcony of her room, her hair down (was it ever up?), in... well... pajamas. Red ones, with the sun on them, and a rainbow. Don't ask, they were frumpy and she looked ridiculous but what did she care? She was single, had good friends, a mentor who adored her, lives to save and more intelligence than the average three people. The walls had all kinds of drawings pinned on them, a lot of Chibiusa and magic symbols, with books... And some other books added to the stack. Some on royal culture, it seemed. Hinoiri was leaning against the railing of the balcony, staring out over the city, giving a soft sigh, the wind blowing through her hair. The setting sun illuminating her form, the reflacting light causing rainbows to play across the horizon and her in dazzling displays that mesmerized the eyes... She managed to look both majestic and like an absolutely bucking mess at the same time. A senshi she was not and could never be. It also didn't help that she had a small stack of papers in hand and a pen dangling from her lips. Nope. Definitely not.
Mamoru Chiba	There's a gentle knock on Hinoiri's door, and a call through it. "Are you decent?" Mamoru, giving her the opportunity for an old joke.
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara glanced towards the door. "Huh? Oh, come on in," she called. ... The fact she didn't take it meant one of two things. She either didn't know... or something was DEFINITELY up. Considering the look she was giving outside, probably the latter. She did, however, have her pen in her hand now, at least. "What's up, your highness?" she asked when she turned her gaze back towards the horizon, before pausing. "Mamoru."
Mamoru Chiba	"Good god, what did I ever do to you?" Mamoru makes a face, coming in and closing the door over, but not shutting it completely. Habit when he's in a room alone with a girl other than Usagi or Chibiusa, or when he's in a room with someone nervous. Unless they're Koji, and then their escape routes are blocked off. "Or what did ''he'' do? Hotter older me, I mean. We finally talked alone and the last thing he did was ask me to look in on you. And I thought it was a good idea because I hadn't seen you around."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a light snort. "Honestly, I think calling either of you hot is just a sign of how weird you humans really are," she said in a teasing tone. "And would you like the list?" However, the smile on her lips fell off a moment later when he mentioned that the man asked him to check on her. "It's... fine. We're fine. I'm fine. I've just been doing research. Since we came to this world, I've well... you know me. I can't NOT work on a problem when it's in front of me. The whole... Chibiusa thing has been on my mind for a while. Since we're here, I figured I'd look into how this world's magic works, see if I could figure out how to jerryrig a way to fix it. No success yet." "... And I managed to step in it... Ended up... well..." She gave a big sigh. "I ended up..." She turned and looked up at him. "Mamoru... would... you say... you and I are friends? Like... I know we have a... unique... relationship. For example, I'm the only girl you know who seems to like guys but doesn't find you attractive. Then again, considering your history with fiery red heads, something tells me that doesn't bother you much," she said with just a hint of teasing in her voice. "But... we're still friends... right?" she asked, looking... genuinely unsure. "Not just... Friend of a friend type thing?"
Mamoru Chiba	"Pfff," comes out over the hotness sidetrack, and a crooked little smirk, but, "Uhh... yes?" says Mamoru uncertainly, like it's a trick question. "I mean, I would HOPE we are after all our everything? I was really mad at you for a while because like, friends don't generally do what you did, and then I finally got over being mad, especially when I saw you trying so hard to make up for what you'd done. And now we're ''friend''-friends. Like, really friends." And then he's got his hands in his pockets, slouching comfortably, his fluffy hair starting to creep toward his glasses. He's in clothes he brought, his usual black skinny jeans and expensive shoes, a metal band shirt, and apparently an argyle cardigan. His eyes are the same, but lacking all the pain, frustration, stress, and -- especially -- anger. She's seen his anger before, and she's seen it pointed at her before. "If it's any help, though, senshi magic comes from heart and soul, and if the two aren't in alignment, or aren't in alignment with what you know you need to do, it doesn't work as well. So maybe, if Chibiusa-chan is supposed to be a senshi, and I'm positive she is, her heart and soul aren't in alignment with her mind."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small mind. "That... that could be it..." she mumbled softly. "Soul and alignment... does seem to have more say in the matter than even I realized, heh..." she said, a little grin forming on her lips. She then made her way towards the bed, tearing off a piece of paper and started drawing on it. A... caterpillar? "So, like... I'm... not human, you know? I know, I know, strange. And then consider the fact my origins even amongst ponies is kiiiiiind of a bit wonky as it is, and I'm already kind of weird. So... yeah. When I came to your world? I had like. NO baseline. I had to learn a LOT. I've been LEARNING a lot. My first few weeks here, before Obsidian found me? You don't wanna know the stuff I got up to. Even after, I still got into some trouble. I ended up going to a zoo one time and let me tell you, THAT threw me for a loop. Not that zoos were a thing, just what were in them." "... But... It's just... the baseline. I've been getting grounded. In a lot of ways, everything I do, I see, is filtered through what I've learned, through who I was. There are a lot of new things, but it all connects and has these points of references." She then pointed at the picture. It was a caterpillar. Next to the caterpillar was... a fish. And next to the caterpillar was... a... frog? "... I bucked up," she said. "I treated Endymion like he was you. I treated him like he was a friend. It's... a third baseline. That's what I failed to realize. I think it's good, now. But... I think it'll be best if he and I stay away from each other for the time being. I messed up, and I know how I messed up... I just..." And then... she lowered the pen down and he'd be able to see the sadness in her eyes. The defeat. It wasn't that she'd messed up, entirely. "I thought... I was better by now... I thought... I was finally understanding things... I still don't know anything," Hinoiri said softly. "I could have made everything so much worse for everyone and caused real damage... And I think... me coming here... might have been a mistake."
Mamoru Chiba	Mamoru doesn't sit on the bed -- it's not like a dorm room, there are plenty of other things to sit on -- he pulls a chair over and drops himself into it, maybe four feet away and with his elbows on his knees, leaning forward to pay attention. Full attention. Even Mamoru -- not just Endymion -- even Mamoru's full attention is a weighty thing: he's pulled all his awareness in, and Hinoiri knows very well how big that awareness can be. It's a little heavy, but it's not a bad thing. If he's not mad, it's warm and serious and calm. He listens without trying to formulate a response before it's his turn to say something, so he can hear all of her words. He nods along with things here and there, and cringes at 'treated Endymion like he was you'-- But at the end, he shakes his head. "First off, that last thing. You do know anything. You just don't know everything, and that's really hard to deal with for know-it-alls like us. You learn your whole life. Secondly, do you really think you could have fucked things up for everyone? He ''is'' a version of me. Even if he doesn't know you, look at the society that he and his Usagi and the Senshi built. Does it look like the kind of place that grudges are held?" He laughs a little, but it's not really funny, just sort of vaguely amused. "Whoof, if you got a version of me mad enough that you feel like ''this'', you must really have stepped in it but good. I'm not on my best behavior either, mind you, I pinched Neph."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a small nod. Yeah. She felt like she SHOULD know everything some days, though. Or, well, she tried to. It wasn't easy. It was... a fight, most days. It really was. It was a struggle, even, to admit she didn't. But she was getting a LOT better at it every day. "Well... okay, not everyone. But I could have caused a lot of trouble. I could have broken some bridges and done some damage that, frankly, none of us need right now... And... I don't know... And... kind of... I stepped in it really good..." She idly doodled again. It was kind of impressive that she could have such absolutely miserable handwriting, yet actually draw really well and detailed images. But, well, different strokes, literally. "Hee hee. Is it considered bad form to pinch your friends in front of royalty? Or something else?" she asked.
Mamoru Chiba	"No, I briefly lost my mind with jealousy because Masato told the King that he'd be lost without him. In front of me. I was ''right there''," Mamoru says and it's sheepish before it's righteous indignation. "Rude! And I mean he told me immediately that he just meant Endymion, no matter which Endymion, and that helped ''a little'', because I am absolutely also Endymion. But it only helped a little because he still said it to ''him'' and not ''me''."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a light snort and leaned over to give him a very light push on the shoulder, with the flat part of the pen. No direct touching. "For what it's worth, I'd be lost without you too... But like, only if my map function on my phone wasn't working and it was a part of the city I hadn't been to. Otherwise, you'd mostly be superfluous," she said in a playful tone. "But I can see why that'd make you jealous. He's one of your boys. But uhhhhhh... If you want to know what I did... I can tell you... just... promise not to tell anyone else? Or give me grief over it? I know why what I did was wrong, I don't need another telling off... I kind of... already feel shitty about it."
Mamoru Chiba	"Pffff!" Mamoru says with more emphasis now, rolling his eyes. ''Superfluous.'' But then he grins, swaying with the light push. "He is one of my boys! And I had already avoided trying to get King Endymion's Nephrite to wake up, because he is none of my business." He himself sits back and lifts a sock foot to nudge Hinoiri slightly. "I'm SUPER curious about what you did. His Majesty didn't tell me, only that he lost his temper and swore. And I guess for him that's pretty rare. Which makes sense since he's like literally a thousand."
Hinoiri Kirara	Hinoiri Kirara gave a light grin, leaning back. "Pfft, light weight. Only known me a day and already cursing? It took Runa three days of knowing me before she started cursing," she said with just a hint of pride. "But... yeah. So, uhhhh... I treated him like you, I guess... so..." Back to doodling. And she might be surprised to realize she was doodling... Him. And Usagi. And Chibiusa. Holding hands. Cute lil family. "So, I was... well. When I was in school, Sora used to tell me I could come to her if I ever needed help, right? Granted, after the third time I came to her for help and she was, of course, away, I kind of gave up on ever asking for it," Hinoiri said, rolling her eyes. "But she also said I could go into her throne room whenever I wanted. So... when she wasn't around? I'd often go into the throne room and just kind of study in there." "... People would bug you in the library, ask questions. They'd ask about room charts, or how much longer if you borrowed one of the rooms. But the throne room? When she was gone, nopony came there. So... I just started doing that. I'd kind of just... sit on her throne, spread my books out, and like... imagine she was there, sitting by me, giving me advice, making suggestions. Yeah, silly, I know. But... when you don't really have anyone to help you... you make do with what you can pretend. It just kind of became a comfort after a time, one I'd... used for a long time and... given up ages ago." "Then we got here. I realized how much stress the... Endymion was under. And I was like 'Oh, I am going to give him a bit of a jolt'. So I did that. Figured he'd pop in, see me doing that, and he'd give me some shit, I'd give him some shit back, we'd do some back and forth, it'd help him get some of that steam off the valve he needs out and just..." Hinoiri just sighed. "Yeah... it was stupid. I know it was stupid, now. I forgot... who he is. He and I aren't friends. I'm just one of the weird people who came here to help his daughter, not the..." She closed her eyes for a moment and leaned back. "Being human is hard. I preferred being a pony. But I like my human friends more. It's a conundrum."