Scene #2560: The Void and the Evening Star

Owner	Pose
Kazuo Saitou	Thank heavens for (a) clever people and (b) autopilots. Despite the drain of Nemesis' particular brand of planetary dark energy miasma having affected the ship's power stores somewhat, they were able to get back to the solar system, then to the Jupiter-orbit portal, before running out of fuel. There ''is'' technically a refueling station. They could probably have figured it out. They don't have to. There's a charging port not far from an airlock; it looks something like a geode dipped partly in silver, glittering crystals all aimed like a dish antenna at a single point. Kunzite has limpeted himself to the side of the ship via one of his forcefields, one that also covers the outside of an airlock and holds pressure so that people can come and check on, or pester, him ... or just take the brief opportunity to ''be'' in space. To be able to look out at the volcanic immensity of Io nearby, glowing warm surly oranges and reds against its nightside dim; to strain and catch a cut-off arc of Jupiter's unimaginable striations just past the curve of the ship's hull; to hold hands up to block both their glows and Kunzite's own from the eyes, and see - dulled only slightly by the darkness of the field holding in the air. Kunzite as light source is not necessarily something that people would want to work with too often. He's stretched out a hand into the focal point of the geode's arc, and dozens of flickering arcs of electricity (only a few occasionally manifesting momentarily something like tiny draconic heads and wings) stream from his hand to each of the crystals' points, contained by an ethereally faint golden glow that nonetheless makes the entire scene somewhat less terrifying ... because it's traces of King Endymion's Mantle, absorbed in the fight against Esmeraude, now turned to helping modulate Sailor Jupiter's energy into a form that the ship's power is comfortable with. It is honestly weird that that also makes it something that ''people'' can be comfortable with, but it's a lot better than the alternative.
Minako Aino	The inante urge to ensure that they stick together in some manner is what drags Minako from her spot on the shuttle to 'step out' into the space beyond the airlock to join Kazuo. Someone ought to be there to catch him, or drag him back, or simply to watch his back in case something might attempt to attack at this critical moment. There was precious little she could do inside the shuttle to begin with. Most everyone was tending as much they could to Mamoru or otherwise licking their own wounds. So Sailor Venus moves into the forcefield that Kazuo had set up finding her gaze locked on the sight of Jupiter, and Io, with the light dancing in her eyes. She's not even bothered by the light that he eminates; she was accustomed to dealing with light in her own way after all. For a few long moments she doesn't say anything. Then her head cants in his direction with a small nod of acknowledgement as her hair fans out around her. Forcefield or not there was no proper direction for gravity right now to hold it in check. "He's resting right now," she explains simply to reassure him immediately that she hadn't come out here because Mamoru had taken a turn for the worse. Instead she asks, "How are you holding up? You've used the most energy out of all of us so far."
Kazuo Saitou	It's a good thing that her bow keeps it from drifting at least immediately into her face. Pity he doesn't use one; he could lend it to her for helping keep the mass of hers confined, because his, while it's drifting every time he moves or breathes, is at least mostly staying as a single cloud rather than imitating hers. Not quite as if it were under gravity, but still ''staying together.'' He has to be cheating. Somehow. Has to. Kunzite glances her way, very carefully not turning his head more than absolutely necessary, so that the air itself has time to slow down silver locks before they can interfere with the weird little structure of power exchange. "I'm fine. This is all borrowed energy - mostly Jupiter's. Spillover from the ''thing'' she did in that fight - I was on the wrong side of the doors to see what she was doing, but I picked up some of the excess anyhow." He exhales, quietly, and adds, because she's who she is and because he owes the answer, "Psychologically, I'm managing. Reminding myself that if I gave in to whatever that was, so would the others, kept me from doing anything egregiously stupid. But I ''don't'' like whatever that was ... I wouldn't even call it watching us. 'Watching' would imply a lot more interest. Casually monitoring us without actually caring enough to stop being bored."
Minako Aino	'Whatever Jupiter had done' earns the faintest of nods as she recalls mention of there being a dragon. Even Nephrite, after being wounded, had spoken of a second dragon. Some part in the back of her mind vaguely finds it familiar but right now memories of a lifetime ago weren't really rising to the forefront. Her mind was so many other, darker, places. "One of her more powerful lighting attacks I believe. I wasn't there either. I was with some of the refugees when it all started." At least she'd been doing something useful, even if she felt guilty for not being at the front like she should have. It's the talk of the darkness, and being watched, that causes her to suck a slow breath for longer than she really should. Until she was full of air so that her lungs expanded, ribs stretched, and she could almost ease the tension in her shoulders. Almost. "We were in the territory of whatever it was, and couldn't use magic. We weren't much of a threat." With lips pressing together into a smile she regards Kunzite again. "You did a good job fighting against it. So did Mamoru, and the others."
Kazuo Saitou	"Being with the refugees was important," Kunzite says, and it doesn't sound like he's just saying it to say it. "The defenses depended on ''not'' opening the gates. And some of them would've tried to go out if nobody was there keeping an eye on them. I've dealt with Naru hyped up on dark energy before. I do ''not'' want to find out what would happen to Grandmother Naru; we don't need the Black Moon to have a gleefully shrieking little old lady in a scooter-based magical tank added to the mess." ... that is in the neighborhood of 'suspiciously specific,' Kazuo. "We weren't much of a threat there," Kazuo agrees. "But it didn't care enough to squash us ''while'' we weren't much of a threat. Either whatever it is doesn't have motivation as we understand it, or it's even more bored than I was thinking, or it's intelligent and thinks it can use anything we do to its advantage." He pauses. "Or it's a cat in its equivalent of a sunbeam. Can't rule that one out."
Minako Aino	The oddity of such a remark about Naru is enough to drag Minako out of her still-fresh memories of that dark place with a rapid double-blink. "... I think Kaito-kun would do his best to stop her if that came up," she points out with an amused half-smile. "He did really well helping to fight against the droids, too." Leave it to her to make friends with the Future Shittenou. "It sounds like you had your hands full in that situation though. I'll have to ask Usagi about--" About what happened with Naru. That part gets choked off as she realizes she spoke a name she was trying very hard not to think about. That fight was the last that Usagi and ChibiUsa had been seen. Mina's head drops forward in favor of reaching up with a hand to pinch at the bridge of her nose as an excuse to abruptly change the subject. "Is the ship almost full again? The sooner we can get Mamoru to a proper infirmary the better. Right now the Crystal Castle is our best bet."
Kazuo Saitou	"Getting there. Give it another couple of minutes; I don't want to push this too hard. The ship can take a lot more than I'm putting out, but it's getting it to accept what I'm giving it that's the trick, and I don't want the last five percent we need to get to Earth to go skittering off into ... physics class fails me. The hull, I guess." It's chatter, of a sort, of a business-type sort. Giving Minako something to pay attention to that's just verbal flow; that she can distract herself with without having to track. That can keep Kunzite from saying out loud 'if she were really hurt, we'd know.' Minako knows that. Being reminded wouldn't help. "Back to Earth, back to Tokyo, back to the others. Any plans for after that, or are we saving that for when we can all put our heads together?"
Minako Aino	It's something for her to fixate on as she listens to Kazuo continue to speak. The words themselves and their meaning don't sink in immediately. She still listens and toward the end she realizes he was talking about the refueling she'd asked about. Soon was the overall meaning of the words. Soon and back to Earth and the others and... "No idea," is the first thing out of her mouth to which she gives a quick laugh. "I guess I'd better think of something quickly then, before I have to face the others. I can't let them think I don't know what to do any more than you could give in to the energy on Nemesis." Her head tips back to gaze up at the... out at the sky? There wasn't really any sense of direction here. It's just another view of the expanse of space and the giant planet they were so close to. A view that can be appreciated even now through the ache of melancholy.
Kazuo Saitou	Kunzite pauses - he can't meet her eyes, the angles are all wrong. But he says, "Maybe sleep on it." There's a note of amusement there, but only because it's a besetting sin of both of theirs. "'Consult' is also a great verb. Very useful." He wishes, so much, that he could be spending his time out here looking at what she's looking at now. Not for the same reasons Nephrite might. Nephrite is drawn to the stars, and then there's Jupiter, and that's an entire other volume of issues. But for Kunzite ... that vast expanse between them, the black where there is nothing close enough to be seen, is a comfort in itself. Ah, well. He'll see it through atmosphere again.
Minako Aino	"Consult?" Venus pauses on hearing that to look away from the starscape she'd been absently admiring to instead turn her attention fully to Kazuo. Bright as he may be she manages not to squint. Somehow. Maybe her eyes had the time to adjust to being close to such brightness. "You've got your plate full as it is right now. And the others..." Ami perhaps she could speak to but she was just as busy. Makoto was worrying over Nephrite. She pauses to consider another option before nodding silently to herself. There was another royal she could perhaps speak to. "Sleep is probably the right idea. I haven't in a bit," she admits quietly. With a sigh she twists around to head back toward the air lock. "I'll let you finish up."
Kazuo Saitou	"If nothing else," Kunzite says, "saying your next move is to consult with someone buys you a little time." His mouth tugs at the corner nearer Venus. "If you tell someone worrying to go get somebody's opinion, too, it keeps them busy." ... not that he has had any experience working with Zoisite, Fretting Champion of Eight Planets and Honorary Pluto, or anything. And then the way she trails off and then changes topic makes his eyebrows twitch upward; she ''did'' think of something useful. The briefest of startlements shifts to a trace of a smile as she turns. "I'll do that and get inside. And keep an eye out while you nap." In case something might attempt to attack. Because when it comes down to it, both of them think first in terms of watching someone's back.