Scene #2561: Lots of People Worry About You

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Takashi Agera	Hiddenite had a date with Cure Sharpsong earlier, over ramen and about classical music - but also the subject of his interactions with the other -ites and how 'he' 'felt' about being left behind in the future had come up and she'd advised him to speak directly about it. And after a little bit of time for the thoughts to roll around in his mind and the ramen to digest, he'd decided that was what he'd do - plus, he had an idea that she'd given him that he wanted to float in terms of his 'cover identity'. He was wondering how long he'd be able to hold the paper-thin disguise up at this rate. Cure Sharpsong had already made some intelligent deductions that hit a little close to the truth, so if the suspicion continued... well, he was going to need to either adjust the view of him or adjust the him. And all of that lead to him landing on the balcony outside Mamoru Chiba's oversized, wall-knocked-out apartment. Knocking on the transparent door thgat lead out to the balcony, the sun dipping below the city skyline making him look a bit like a shadowed silhouette, tall and thin with a cape but no top hat - until walking closer brought the definition to his form that made clear who was doing the knocking. He seems a bit annoyed, if anything, but unconcerned about the fact that he's not knocking from the standard door. What, you couldn't expect him to enter the building from the lower floors in henshin!
Mamoru Chiba	Through the door is visible-- well, Mamoru's feet over the top/back of a couch, and they vanish when Hiddenite knocks on the door. Mamoru looks puzzled when he gets up, and then more puzzled until the backlighting isn't a problem, and he comes over and opens the door, looking annoyed himself. "What are ''you'' mad about? You know most people at least text before they drop in, but ''you'' decided that I knocked up my fiancee and didn't ''get'' my number because you ''stormed off.''" His hair's the kind of fluffy that happens when someone with fluffy hair has been sitting upside down on the couch, and he's wearing a lavender t-shirt with a shattered heart on it and the words 'girls like you are the worst'. Skinny jeans, sock feet, smudged glasses, mulish expression.
Takashi Agera	"Because you went gallavanting across to another timeline and ''got hurt''." he says, putting emphasis on the got hurt part. "Because I spent a week worried about you, trying to protect this world, after all of the crap the rest of the guys gave me, and then you came back injured, and I've been boiling over the fact that I can feel it and finally I was talking to someone and they said I should talk to you and now I don't know what to say other than 'DON'T GET HURT' which seems really obvious now that I'm standing here?" he offers, shaking his head. "Imagine what it'd be like if Princess Serenity - well okay that's a bad example as we aren't romantically intertwined, I guess if Jadeite got hurt and you could sense it but you also knew they didn't trust you." he tries. "it gets a little frustrating after a while." "You must be ''incredibly difficult'' to keep safe, since I know the other four 'were' with you. I could sense the temporal disruptions from where you all left. From where you took a bunch of people with you." he says. Hiddenite hasn't changed his outfit at all, it's still the same -ite outfit with the golden trim and the green jewel accents.
Mamoru Chiba	"Maybe if you'd do something like, I don't know, ''exchange contact information with me'' you wouldn't have problems like getting left off the 'call at 3am when a toddler tells you to time travel' list," Mamoru says sharply, but steps back from the door to let Hiddenite in, scowling. "And maybe if you didn't wear a uniform you didn't earn as one of my ''four Shitennou'' they wouldn't be giving you so much crap. Look, man, I don't believe you if you're not willing to show me, but I'm willing to work with liars. A different shirt might help though." He closes the door behind Hiddenite if the other boy comes in, and he pads away from the door toward the kitchen, "If you knew me at all, you'd know I was frustrating, difficult, and frustratingly difficult to protect. I always have been. Then and now. And yeah I came back hurt, but like... what I was trying to do with it worked and I'm not dead and didn't give in to using dark energy. So... get used to it if you're going to stick around." A beat, and he looks out from the kitchen, around the corner, "Coffee?"
Takashi Agera	Well, there's an easy way to separate himself from Takashi Agera at least. He pauses after a moment of debate. "Coffee sounds amazing." he says, doing his best to sound honest. "I've been thinking about that. The uniform. Being told I didn't earn it." he says, quietly. And then after a moment. "Oh. Sorry about the accusation. It made sense in the moment but I have been made aware it was an off base assumption made in an emotional time. So that ''is'' my bad." he says. "And I'm sorry." Another way to separate himself from Riventon/Takashi, the apologies. Though in this case he'd give one too, it's legitimately kind of a jerk thing to say, and he'd just used it to get out of an encounter he wasn't fully prepared for. "So. She was from another timeline, right? I'm... trying to recognize that sort of thing because now I have a theory I'm trying to square." he says. And he doesn't sit down, he just stands at the table, his hands on the back of a chair, fingers tapping along it in an attempted show of nerves.
Mamoru Chiba	Amazingly, Mamoru backs down immediately after the apology, and he nods about the coffee and fills a new cup before refilling his own. "Have a seat," he says, putting the cup down on the dining room table with its tavern-style captain's chairs, and then he half-curls up into the seat at the head of the table with his hands around his coffee up, leaching warmth. "You ''didn't'' earn it. There were literally four, and there are still only four, of my personal guard that I grew up with. And you claimed you were part of the system where I wouldn't see you, because you're Hidden-ite ell oh ell, and that could absolutely be true. But then that still wouldn't be your uniform." Mamoru sips his coffee, then goes back to cradling it in his hands, feet up on the chair. "And that's the part that really pisses off the other guys -- brand dilution or whatever. And me, after thinking about it, because... I'm really hard on them about doing things while wearing a uniform that associates them with me. If you're wearing a Shitennou uniform, you're personally aligned with me. And none of us even knows who you are." He sighs. "But yeah. She ran here from another timeline."
Takashi Agera	Hiddenite pauses for a bit. He's had some... personal experiences, with people who represent him at Obsidian, who are under his name, being... troublesome. Or people that he's advocated for their entry into the company, being troublesome. It might be part of why he's only a vice-Director, if he sits and thinks about it. So it's quiet for a little while. "All of that makes sense. And yet still, I ''must'' protest. I wore this uniform. I ''remember'' it. I ''remember'' my role." he lies. There's only so much tiptoing around the truth one can do and he spent a lot of it on a date this evening. "That being said. I understand the five of you don't see it that way, don't recollect it that way. And that's made me wonder a lot." he says. "It's why I'd like to see if there's some way to determine if someone's from another timestream - a different timestream. Because turning it over in my mind I've noticed some discrepancies between the way the others, and you, act, and how I remember, in addition to discrepancies about how you see me, answers you should have, trust that's not there..." "I don't have any evidence of this..." but he probably was going to try and make some up "...but I'm wondering if I might be from a different timestream too, like your little pink friend." he says. "Were there differences in the people who were present where you went for that week? People who are in this world, but weren't there? Not just in how things went, which I have to assume was different, but who even participated?" Of course, he KNOWS there were. He knows Chibi-Usa didn't remember her Coolest Uncle. He slowly takes the cup and does a reasonably admirable job of pretending like the coffee doesn't taste like sad bitter dirt water, ish. He resists the urge to yeet the cup entirely. "Ah, wonderful black blood of the earth, coffee is."
Mamoru Chiba	"My ''daughter''--" interjects Mamoru at 'your little pink friend', but Hiddenite is still talking, so Mamoru slouches a little and continues to listen, sipping at his coffee. One corner of his mouth turns up. "No, I haven't imported Black Blood of the Earth since Shindo-kun bought me ''so much coffee'' it made me wonder whose dowry it was. But this is Kona, from Hawaii, roasted right here in this apartment." He looks contemplative for a moment, his fingernails tapping at the ceramic mug in his hands, then says reasonably, "Text me and I'll text you back my brother's contact info, he's the person I can think of who's most likely to be able to come up with an answer for your 'how to tell someone's from another dimension' problem. But he can't run experiments on Chibiusa even if she's currently corrupted by dark energy and tooling around in a flying pink convertable with her new sidekick." Another sip, before the mug's set down. "There were differences. I mean there are also A Lot Of Dimensions. Pretty sure you're not from Kirakirafantastica."
Takashi Agera	"Sorry, your daughter." he corrects. "That's still a little bit of a trip to say but I am going to respect it... and when I say this I truly don't mean to be disrespectful." he says, putting the accursed coffee down. "But she is your daughter from another you, correct? Kind of... daughter by timeline connections? But in this timeline she hasn't existed yet." he says. "Could theoretically be a son here when you and your wife have a kid, that's a genetic coinflip, right? And yet you still feel this intense connection with her? And presumably she with you." he says. "But you and I, the connection seems much more one-way; perhaps that's because we're not blood-related in a possible timeline I might be from. Of course this is presuming you're the native to this current timeline, stream of time, dimension, but I feel like thinking if one of us is displaced, it's safer to assume it's me." he says. "Sorry, I'm sort of... working through this out loud. Apologies." He looks at the coffee, reaches for it, then doesn't drink it. Dirt water. It tastes like dirt water. What madman drinks this without sugar and cream? "Who is it that you're directing me to?" He asks, seeming to be a little suspicious. Of course he can guesss and it's exactly who he'd hope to be directed to, but he feels like he can't seem to be too excited, too happy that he's Mamoru's first choice for dimensional timeline nonsense stuff. He can preen later. When 'Hiddenite' 'tells' him. "I am not, no. I've only the most vague awareness of such a place, and whenever I get little snippets of information about it... it seems almost cartoonish."
Mamoru Chiba	"Well I mean have you seen some of the youma around here?" Mamoru asks at the last, grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "But yeah, I-- I was hilariously jealous of my alt-universe future counterpart, but we finally had a real conversation and I understand him a lot better now. And he trusts me with his daughter, ''because'' he knows I love her like she ''is'' my own. She and I had a conversation about it months ago. It was only the Veil hiding things that didn't let us figure out immediately that she was ours, and honestly we were acting like she was anyway, even before we knew." He acknowledges she isn't theirs in the same breath as insisting that she's theirs. It's Complicated. "I felt a connection to the reincarnated Shitennou in that place. They weren't mine. We weren't blood related. In fact, the Nephrite there was Naru Osaka's grandson," the prince says, getting his phone out and spinning it around to show where Hiddenite should put his information. He pushes it across the table. "But I ''do'' feel a connection to you. It's just not the same kind as I do to the Shitennou. I just-- I don't feel like I'm in any way obligated to believe you when there's a really easy way to prove you're telling the truth and you refuse it." He hugs his knees. "I'm directing you to my brother Riventon. Sorry, he's a supervillain. But even if he's not a goodguy, he's a good guy. And he's really, really, really smart, in a much more technical way than I am, and he has actual experience working with dimensional nonsense."
Takashi Agera	"Riventon is your brother?" Hiddenite spat out. "I just fought that guy!" Well, in a manner of speaking. Takashi fought with himself a lot. It's hard, arguing with yourself. "That's a whole thing." he says, leaning back and rubbing his forehead. Taking a breath. Sighing. Taking his glasses off, for a moment, and then deciding maybe don't clean them with his Shitennou uniform in front of the guy who's concerned about his uniform's respectfulness or lack thereof. He puts the glasses back on and punches in his third phone number. One for Takashi, one for Riventon, and now one for Hiddenite. He'd at least thought ahead on that. He almost asks what the easy way would be, but thinks better of it, since it's probably going to involve unhenshining and while theoretically he could prepare for that in a sort of layered illusion, today is not the day. And he's not sure how deep he wants to dig this alternative identity. What started as an excuse to protect Mamoru had gotten complicated; especially with the presence of Sharpsong, who he also needed to set up another date with. And would eventually have to meet out of henshin. Everything had so quickly gotten so complicated. He folds his hands after typing in his number. "So. I was talking with someone I'm close to and... thinking about if I can find some way to..." he pauses. "Maybe it's premature, maybe I need to know a little more. I know I don't want my presence or my uniform to be something that causes stress. I'm supposed to understand and protect things, not cause trouble. But there's also a part of me... all of these memories..." he taps the side of his head "...all of this feeling that I can't just leave behind who I am. But if you - or past you - or alternate you - are the one who gave me the role, and now you don't want me to have it, or my having it is causing trouble, then maybe it's best to just not."
Mamoru Chiba	'I just fought Riventon' says Hiddenite and Mamoru snorts. "Well, just apologize and say he was right about whatever you were fighting over and he won't be mad at you. He might be smug but you're pushy enough that I don't think that would ding your ego too much," says the prince maybe a little too candidly. He finishes his coffee and puts the still-warm mug down on the table in front of him, letting his knees drop and his feet fall to the floor. As if 'unhenshining' were the easy way in the mind of the touch psychic. Pushing his fluffy hair out of his face, Mamoru takes ''his'' glasses off to polish them on his t-shirt. "I'm sorry if it doesn't feel fair to you, but at least in this universe, communication and trust problems can generally be solved by shaking my hand. If you can't do that, then you wearing that uniform is going to continue causing stress and upset. But..." Here Mamoru smiles, and it's rueful. "I also know what it's like to have false memories implanted. Like how I honestly thought that in the past, I was Hematite, one of Beryl's Shitennou. That could also be going on with you, and it kind of more occam's razor than 'you're from an alt-U and didn't notice until now'." He sighs. "BUT-- you can earn a place with me. Just not as the fifth of the elite four."
Takashi Agera	The problem is... Riventon, Hiddenite, Takashi himself; he doesn't think he has the necessary data to fool Mamoru's touch empathy. He actually should have a lot of experience with it, but the boy had often shunned touch growing up, and a lot of that was before he had become so focused on understanding magic and magical things. One ungloved handshake could likely spell a lot of disaster here, and even then he'd have to work overtime. So even as his hand almost timidly reaches out before he pulls it back, he had no intention of doing that. Could he clog it up by forcing heavy emotions to the front, even if it worked would it be noticed, even otherwise he didn't have a whole second lifetime of memories, or even things to plot out. He didn't have the data to take the risk. He wasn't even sure how he'd get the data without taking the risk, as now the same connection as Riventon, as Takashi; it'd also be trouble. One thought about catching Cure Sharpsong in his arms and... yeah. "I don't think I want to risk upending my whole personal meaning all to get a spot on the bench instead of up front." he says, rubbing one hand with another. "Maybe that makes me a coward, or maybe I'm just not in the right space for it. I'm sorry." he says. "But if the memories aren't real then the uniform isn't either." he adds, trying to look a little stressed and concerned and nervous and uncomfortable; which is easy when he has very good reasons to feel that way legitimately, and let them bubble up.
Mamoru Chiba	Mamoru looks a little disappointed, but not surprised; he draws his hand back from where he'd extended it before Hiddenite quailed. He says gently, "It doesn't make you a coward. It just means you're not ready yet. It ''is'' hard. It's really hard to realize that the way you thought you fit isn't true. It's hard to get deprogrammed from a cult, it's hard to change your mind, it's hard to change your life -- especially when you're comfortable. But I don't think you're comfortable. And a lot of times I wish I were still Hematite, first among equals, instead of a prince and a goddamned symbol. I wish sometimes that I weren't allergic to Dark Energy so that I could go be with my brother. But I'm so happy to have Kunzite and my real memories back and Beryl dead and my body clear of poison that the wistfulness doesn't last too long."
Takashi Agera	Hiddenite leans back, as though deep in thought. There's some notes there, for his other self. Complexity and difficulty in life; this role is... challenging. He wants to argue about poison, about cults, and the rest. Instead, he says something that all of the different mental versions of him can truly agree on. "I am glad Beryl's gone." he says after a moment. "I'm not comfortable, but there's a lot of reasons for that. This whole world is still under attack - even if Beryl's gone there's new threats, and I'm not very strong in henshin. I can protect a little but even still there's a lot I can't do." he continues. "And then there's the fact that like... maybe my memory is wrong and I'm not who I think I am or I'm not ''where'' I think I am. But there is still a life I live here even if my memories are false. There's still people I care about and have to protect. If I'm from another world do I want to even go back? I don't know. It's a lot to take in. And then the people I care about, a lot of them are suspicious of me and that's bad but what if I am wrong and that comes out?" He shakes his head. "But I'm still here having coffee with you. The dichotomy in brain right now... it's a lot. I want to reach out for that hand but I also feel like I can't."
Mamoru Chiba	"Of course the world is still under attack," Mamoru says gravely. "It will always be under attack. Even if there are three hundred years of global peace after two hundred years of reconstruction from a horrible violent end of the world as we know it, something dark and vicious will always come around to wreck it, no matter what anyone tries to do to safeguard against it." He pulls his legs up again, but only sits on one of them, and he tosses his hair away from his eyes again. "And it doesn't matter how little you feel like you can do ''solo'' when you're working with people who have your back and want to see you succeed. I'm not as strong as Sailor Moon, and I never will be, but that doesn't mean I'm useless." Mamoru tilts his head a little, smiling at Hiddenite. "And it's okay if you're wrong and it comes out. I'll protect you, unless you're like... a Cylon."
Takashi Agera	And at that, Hiddenite shakes his head. "No, that's not right. We can't... strive for a world, be comfortable in a world that's always under attack forever, because then it only takes on mistake and we're back where the Golden Kingdom was. At some point we need to win; we need to have assurance that, if a problem does rear up again, it can be dealt with - far easier than the Dark Kingdom or this Black Moon stuff." Hiddenite says, some of the other his views sneaking in. "There is so much precious here, so many precious things and precious people..." he says, leaning forward and looking down into his coffee before remembering he has to drink it, which he does slowly and with great difficulty to not spit it out. Overall he's doing a good job but there are... occasional small signs... "...I guess I should figure out who I am before I say anything more or make any more plans, or at least rule out some things. You think Riventon can help me - you think he would help me? That it's a good idea?" Hiddenite asks, seeming suspicious. "The last I heard his name from someone else it was because he was busy trying to cart stuff off from the Museum's 'Magic Through History' exhibit; a particularly valuable actually magical artifact that had just arrived; he'd already apparently gotten it destroyed before I even got a seer-vision of it."
Mamoru Chiba	"Well, I mean, you can also ask Cure La Licorne who's ''from'' another dimension, or... no, asking Adora probably isn't a great idea, but maybe Catra? They're from alternate dimensions, too. But if you want a magitech rundown that sprinkles quantum mechanics liberally within it, and is also very very likely to be correct, then Riventon's your guy. And if you say I sent you, and then explain what the problem you need solved is, he's much more likely to help you. And remember to apologize." Mamoru glosses over the philosophical debate, knowing that his particular acceptance of the way the world actually works isn't popular among either side of the dark energy divide. "But yeah. Take your time figuring out who you are -- and consider wearing a different outfit, because it'll ''really'' help the goodwill with the other guys."
Takashi Agera	Hiddenite takes his glasses off for a second time, sighing, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I was actually talking about that with someone close to me before I came here. I was considering leaving my past in my past and trying something brand-new instead. Because it's only as good as the connections it has, really. Like... it'll always mean something to me, and even you can't take that from me, much less them. I'll always be Hiddenite, and there's really not anything to change that. But if being Hiddenite tomorrow is causing people distress, I can be someone else going forward too." he says. "But then she advised me to reach out to you first. Talk things out. So here I am. Drinking your coffee after knocking on your balcony door." he says shrugging. "Cure La Licorne... that's a mouthful." he says, chuckling. Okay to him that name's just funny. "Maybe I'll reach out to Riventon because I'm less likely to laugh at the name and torpedo my help."
Mamoru Chiba	"Tuxedo Kamen is new," says Mamoru, an observation in the quiet, with just the tick-tock in the background of a grandfather clock and the muffled sounds of Juuban's little 'downtown' outside and below. "And any time you're willing to take my hand and trust me, no matter what the outcome may be, you're welcome to. And even if your memories aren't real, I-- I know we know each other, and I know I like you an awful lot, whoever you are beneath that henshin. You feel like one of my important people. And that kind of connection doesn't flicker out or get erased. It lasts beyond death and into the next life." There's the faintest hint of a smile, there, and Mamoru unfolds from the chair again, this time standing and picking up his cup, looking to see if Hiddenite is done. "That aside, ''shi-tennou'', if I can't be the fifth then there's no way you'd get to either."
Takashi Agera	"I don't think I wanted to be one of them. It's a very four man band kind of thing -as you pointed out." Hiddenite says. "I think I did want to be seen on that level - different title is fine." he says, shrugging. "Someone who you knew would protect you and you'd protect if it came down to it." he says. He starts to slowly get up. "But there's more to it than that - I think I wanted to connect my past with the present. The memories I have with this world - the memories came first, like really real but super fuzzy dreams - and then the transformation. Then I realized not only could I help people, I had this draw to do it. Once I saw magic and thikngs going down it was hard to stay out of it - and when it involved you in particular I couldn't." he says simply. "But the situation I'm currently experiencing isn't making any of that come together, in a way that helps make it any easier to deal with these extra memories and maybe I should just let them go, find a Tuxedo Mask or a Sailor Moon - a version for this sequence, this timeline, this reality - whatever it is. Something I can do without upsetting anyone, and keep the focus on the good things I can do instead of people worrying I'm usurping their symbols or trying to be something I'm not." he says, starting to head towards the balcony. "Well, thanks for speaking with me, and... you've got my number, now, and I suppose we'll work it out from here. Figure something new out. I guess point me to Riventon, and we'll go forward a bit more." he says, opening the door to let himself out. "And keep yourself safer than you have been please, lots of people worry about you." he says before stepping up to the balcony railing and jumping away.