RE: [IC][Story][Arc 1] Rob and Brent's as-yet-untitled sidestory (Rob's #10, Brent's TBD)
08-12-2019, 07:59 PM (This post was last modified: 08-12-2019, 08:20 PM by robkelk. Edit Reason: "on", not "om"... )
08-12-2019, 07:59 PM (This post was last modified: 08-12-2019, 08:20 PM by robkelk. Edit Reason: "on", not "om"... )
Now to open the can of worms that I mentioned in the planning thread. I cleared this with Brent before completing the scene.
Ottawa, ON, Canada
Saturday, January 14, 2017
11:23 AM ET
"Rin-san! It's good to see you again!"
"It's good to see you as well, Kazari-san. I believe you met my friends at Halloween: Shirou Emiya, Sakura Matou, Saber, Archer, and Rider." Each nodded as Rin named them.
"The ones who I didn't meet then, I met at the Christmas party. It's good to see you again, everyone."
Rob cleared his throat. "Kazari-kun, would you be kind enough to take Ms. Tohsaka's friends out and show them around the building while she and I discuss today's events with Usagi-san?"
Usagi chose that moment to walk into the common room, followed by Mamoru and Chibi-Usa. "Oh, our guests just got here, Rob-san! They've been on the train for a couple of hours, right?" Shirou nodded, and Usagi continued, "I don't mind if they listen in."
"What exactly will we be doing today?" Rin asked.
"It's easier to show you than to tell you," replied Rob as he unlocked the special cabinet - the one with the stories about the displacees that he knew were somewhere in the world - and pulled out the Cardcaptor Sakura set. "I have permission from the involved people in L.A. to show this to everyone," he said as he loaded the disc with episode 43 into the player.
They sat down to watch the show, with Minako and Mii joining them before the opening credits ended. Other residents joined them as the episode continued ... including Mimi, who noticed that something was going on in the common room. She placed her bags on a table and sat down to watch the second half of the show. Or, at least, try to watch the show. She couldn't help but think about the new life that Sailor Moon had given her.
Ever since she had heard the previous evening that there was an apartment filled with people like her in Los Angeles, she'd thought about going to try to make it big in Hollywood. But she didn't know anyone in Hollywood. The live theatre scene in Ottawa might be smaller than the acting industry in Hollywood, but at least she knew Donaldson-san well enough to accept his offer of a bed for the night, and she knew Sailor Moon - Usagi, she reminded herself - and the other Sailor Senshi even better than that.
She knew them as enemies, a small part of her countered. Go to L.A. and be a big star! She can do it!
But wasn't that vanity one of the hooks that Tomoe-sensei had used to anchor Mimete into her soul? No, she wasn't going to listen to that part of herself for a long time yet, if ever. The people she knew, including Sailor Venus - Minako - all lived in Ottawa. They would help her learn how to be a normal person again; S- Usagi had all but promised that, hadn't she?
That small part of Mimi that she wanted to ignore asked, Had she?
"Hi, Mimi-neesan, Mimi Misaka says!" She turned to see her namesake standing beside her. "Can I sit down here?"
Mimi smiled. "Sure. Er..."
"Do you want to ask me something, Mimi asks?"
After a moment, Mimi replied, "I feel silly asking somebody your age for advice."
"Do you want to talk with one of my clone-sisters, Mimi asks? We share a telepathic link, so I could get a sister here really fast."
"You have a mindlink with your sisters?"
"Uh-huh! Rob-oji told you that yesterday, remember? He mentioned to Niiko-neesan that he said that, and we all share memories, so I already know that you know." She nodded in satisfaction that she'd successfully reached the end of the logical chain.
Mimi stared at her younger namesake's enthusiasm for a moment, then remembered what she was thinking about. "I have a choice to make."
"What kind of choice, Mimi asks?"
"Do I stay here where I already know people, or do I ask whether I can move to Los Angeles and chase my dream of becoming a star?"
Mini-Mimi thought for a moment, then remembered what was about to be shown on the common room's television. "Mimi thinks you need to watch the show right now."
They did, and Mimi was fascinated. She had no idea that that sort of magic existed anywhere. Then she realized something: when the boy's apartment was duplicated, so was his butler. She turned to the young clone. "Is that your answer?" The younger Mimi nodded. Mimi thought for a long moment, then smiled. "Don't tell anybody until after the apartment has been twinned, okay?" She held out her pinky finger.
The younger Mimi grinned and wrapped her own pinky finger around her namesake's. "Okay, Mimi promises!"
They turned back to watch the show.
Ottawa, ON, Canada
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Noon ET
Portals from San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Pensacola opened right on time.
Rob turned his attention away from the TV and toward the portals just as they were opening. "Welcome to Ottawa!" He made a gesture as if he was offering a toast, reminiscent of the one Ricardo Montalbán used to start off every episode of Fantasy Island. "I hope you're ready for a really big show, followed by lunch and some skating outdoors." Then he noticed River's outfit. "Miss Tam, if you go outside barefoot today, you'll end up with frostbite."
"They're in my bag," she replied.
"Your shoes? I hope you have heavy socks to go with them."
Meanwhile, Sakura Kinomoto had made her way over to where Usagi was sitting. "Hello, Usagi-oneesama," she all but whispered. She made no move to sit down... or to hide her smile.
By now, everyone - including the people involved - had figured out why Sakura was acting that way around Usagi: The Moon was a powerful influence on the descendants of Clow Reed. That didn't make Sakura's feelings for Usagi any less real.
"You look lovely, Miss Kinomoto," Mamoru remarked gallantly. Rob nodded in agreement.
Sakura blushed at the compliment. She was of course wearing something that her best friend had picked out for her - not made specially for the occasion, since Tomoyo had only learned of the plans the day before, but still assembled especially for her. The outfit was based around overalls; not the usual sloppy jeans and bib, but well-fitting salopettes of baby-blue denim that reached down to the ankle. Under the salopettes' bib, Sakura wore a flannel shirt dyed her namesake sakura pink, the sleeves reaching her wrists, loose enough to give her freedom of movement but not so loose that they would catch on anything. In place of a tool belt, Sakura wore a broad cotton belt that matched her shirt, with a pocket just the right size to hold the Sakura Cards. And the outfit was topped off with a yellow construction hard-hat - Tomoyo had made sure the regulation helmet was emblazoned with Sakura's winged-heart design at the front. Construction boots finished the ensemble.
"You're so cute, Sakura-chan!" Ruiko added.
"I'm jealous," Minako commented.
"Hoeee?"
"Really! You have the classic good looks that would make a rice sack look good on you, and you have a friend with good fashion sense. I'll have to be careful if you decide to become a fashion model!"
Minako's comment sent Tomoyo into a fantasy world, where Sakura was wearing outfits that Tomoyo made for her every day and everyone was clamoring to wear what the world's cutest girl was wearing. "That would be so lovely," she whispered.
"Oh, I'm not pretty enough to be a model," said Sakura.
That caught Tomoyo's attention. "But wasn't your mother a model, Sakura-chan?"
"Yes, she was. But I'm not my mother, I'm me."
Rob sighed quietly. Sakura was one of the most beautiful girls he knew personally (and he lived with the Bishojo Sailor Senshi, so that was saying something) but despite everything she wasn't aware of how beautiful she was. Or maybe she was just being modest. Either way, her not flaunting her beauty added to her beauty, of course. He made a mental note to try to find a quiet moment alone with Shaoran and ask him what he thought of Sakura's attitude about her own looks... but, with Rob being the designated driver to get everybody to and from the canal, he doubted that talk would happen today.
Usagi kept her opinion to herself; she could tell that any more complements would distract Sakura so much that they wouldn't be able to twin the apartment building until after lunch, and Usagi wanted to go skating some time today! She was in her Eternal Senshi form, with the addition of leg-warmers ... and was considering going skating in the same outfit if she could convince Makoto to go as Sailor Jupiter.
Ben noticed Usagi becoming antsy, and motioned to Rob, who nodded. "Okay, everybody outside! Let's start the show."
As they headed out, James made sure River actually put her shoes on, Ben helped Fate and Nanoha help Hayate get outside, Brent rode herd on Tomo's antics that if left unchecked would have delayed everything even further, and Rob and Mii did one last look around the common room to make sure nothing that shouldn't be twinned had been left behind.
Nobody thought to check the laundry bin at the landing at the top of the stairs. Maika had emptied that the previous night; she had no desire to do two loads of laundry when she could do one instead. Everybody knew it was empty...
Outside, everybody gave Sakura, Usagi, and Rin enough room to work. As Sakura recited her spell to unlock the Star Wand, Rin withdrew all of her charged gems from her pocket, and Usagi took a firm hold of the Ginzuishou. They were all ready at the same time.
"Card that holds the power of the Stars, make this building into two! TWIN!"
The card giggled mischievously as it began to glow. The Ginzuishou glowed with the pure radiance of Usagi's soul, bathing Sakura in its and its owner's power. Rin's gems also glowed, one after another, shattering into dust as the stored power within them was spent.
After a long moment, the glows faded in the sunlight.
And Usagi fell to her knees.
Mamoru reached her before anyone else. "Usako, what's wrong?"
"I'm just a little tired..." she replied in a ragged whisper as he helped her stand.
"You're exhausted. Did something go wrong with the spell?"
Everyone looked around - to see that the Blossom apartment building was now two buildings. Raising Heart almost immediately reported, "No lingering type Clow or type Senshi magical reaction detected."
"Then it just took more out of you than you expected?" Rob guessed.
Rin counted the gems remaining in her hand. "It took more of my power that I expected, as well."
Usagi nodded slowly. "I know. And thank you, Rin-san."
"It would have been remiss of me to fail to shoulder my share of the burden."
"But..." Everyone turned to look at Sakura. "I didn't feel any more strain on my magical power than I expected."
Ami was the first to figure it out. "You protected her, didn't you, Usagi?"
"She did?" Sakura's face was a picture of concern. "But why? And from what?"
Usagi smiled at her. "Because you were also learning how to make a permanent change to the world," she replied, more strongly than she had spoken earlier but not as strongly as she usually spoke. "Let your oneesama shoulder the burden of an unexpected addition to the task."
"What unexpected addition?" Ben and Rob asked in unison - Ben in concern, Rob in suspicion. Rob continued, "What did we miss?"
After a moment of silence, a small voice replied, "I promised I wouldn't tell until it was too late, Mimi Misaka admits."
"Tell what??"
"Eek!" Nobody was sure who said that... but nobody had seen Rob angry before, either.
"Rob-oji... Don't scold her, please." They turned to Usagi. "I could have stopped this as soon as I realized what our combined magic was being asked to do. But I didn't. If there is any fault here, it is mine."
"What happened?" Rob said through clenched teeth, barely keeping himself from shouting.
"Rob ..."
"This better be important, Ben."
"Where's Mimi?"
"She's right here." Rob pointed at Mimi Misaka.
"Not her. The other Mimi."
Rob looked around, and failed to see anyone with carrot-orange hair. Then the penny dropped. "Oh, sh- shoot," he whispered, catching himself just in time as he remembered children were present. "You're tired because you made another soul." Then he did shout. "Hanyu Mimi! Get out here! NOW!"
"Yes, sir. I'm sorry to trouble you." Her voice came from both buildings at once.
Ottawa, ON, Canada
Saturday, January 14, 2017
11:23 AM ET
"Rin-san! It's good to see you again!"
"It's good to see you as well, Kazari-san. I believe you met my friends at Halloween: Shirou Emiya, Sakura Matou, Saber, Archer, and Rider." Each nodded as Rin named them.
"The ones who I didn't meet then, I met at the Christmas party. It's good to see you again, everyone."
Rob cleared his throat. "Kazari-kun, would you be kind enough to take Ms. Tohsaka's friends out and show them around the building while she and I discuss today's events with Usagi-san?"
Usagi chose that moment to walk into the common room, followed by Mamoru and Chibi-Usa. "Oh, our guests just got here, Rob-san! They've been on the train for a couple of hours, right?" Shirou nodded, and Usagi continued, "I don't mind if they listen in."
"What exactly will we be doing today?" Rin asked.
"It's easier to show you than to tell you," replied Rob as he unlocked the special cabinet - the one with the stories about the displacees that he knew were somewhere in the world - and pulled out the Cardcaptor Sakura set. "I have permission from the involved people in L.A. to show this to everyone," he said as he loaded the disc with episode 43 into the player.
They sat down to watch the show, with Minako and Mii joining them before the opening credits ended. Other residents joined them as the episode continued ... including Mimi, who noticed that something was going on in the common room. She placed her bags on a table and sat down to watch the second half of the show. Or, at least, try to watch the show. She couldn't help but think about the new life that Sailor Moon had given her.
Ever since she had heard the previous evening that there was an apartment filled with people like her in Los Angeles, she'd thought about going to try to make it big in Hollywood. But she didn't know anyone in Hollywood. The live theatre scene in Ottawa might be smaller than the acting industry in Hollywood, but at least she knew Donaldson-san well enough to accept his offer of a bed for the night, and she knew Sailor Moon - Usagi, she reminded herself - and the other Sailor Senshi even better than that.
She knew them as enemies, a small part of her countered. Go to L.A. and be a big star! She can do it!
But wasn't that vanity one of the hooks that Tomoe-sensei had used to anchor Mimete into her soul? No, she wasn't going to listen to that part of herself for a long time yet, if ever. The people she knew, including Sailor Venus - Minako - all lived in Ottawa. They would help her learn how to be a normal person again; S- Usagi had all but promised that, hadn't she?
That small part of Mimi that she wanted to ignore asked, Had she?
"Hi, Mimi-neesan, Mimi Misaka says!" She turned to see her namesake standing beside her. "Can I sit down here?"
Mimi smiled. "Sure. Er..."
"Do you want to ask me something, Mimi asks?"
After a moment, Mimi replied, "I feel silly asking somebody your age for advice."
"Do you want to talk with one of my clone-sisters, Mimi asks? We share a telepathic link, so I could get a sister here really fast."
"You have a mindlink with your sisters?"
"Uh-huh! Rob-oji told you that yesterday, remember? He mentioned to Niiko-neesan that he said that, and we all share memories, so I already know that you know." She nodded in satisfaction that she'd successfully reached the end of the logical chain.
Mimi stared at her younger namesake's enthusiasm for a moment, then remembered what she was thinking about. "I have a choice to make."
"What kind of choice, Mimi asks?"
"Do I stay here where I already know people, or do I ask whether I can move to Los Angeles and chase my dream of becoming a star?"
Mini-Mimi thought for a moment, then remembered what was about to be shown on the common room's television. "Mimi thinks you need to watch the show right now."
They did, and Mimi was fascinated. She had no idea that that sort of magic existed anywhere. Then she realized something: when the boy's apartment was duplicated, so was his butler. She turned to the young clone. "Is that your answer?" The younger Mimi nodded. Mimi thought for a long moment, then smiled. "Don't tell anybody until after the apartment has been twinned, okay?" She held out her pinky finger.
The younger Mimi grinned and wrapped her own pinky finger around her namesake's. "Okay, Mimi promises!"
They turned back to watch the show.
Ottawa, ON, Canada
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Noon ET
Portals from San Antonio, Los Angeles, and Pensacola opened right on time.
Rob turned his attention away from the TV and toward the portals just as they were opening. "Welcome to Ottawa!" He made a gesture as if he was offering a toast, reminiscent of the one Ricardo Montalbán used to start off every episode of Fantasy Island. "I hope you're ready for a really big show, followed by lunch and some skating outdoors." Then he noticed River's outfit. "Miss Tam, if you go outside barefoot today, you'll end up with frostbite."
"They're in my bag," she replied.
"Your shoes? I hope you have heavy socks to go with them."
Meanwhile, Sakura Kinomoto had made her way over to where Usagi was sitting. "Hello, Usagi-oneesama," she all but whispered. She made no move to sit down... or to hide her smile.
By now, everyone - including the people involved - had figured out why Sakura was acting that way around Usagi: The Moon was a powerful influence on the descendants of Clow Reed. That didn't make Sakura's feelings for Usagi any less real.
"You look lovely, Miss Kinomoto," Mamoru remarked gallantly. Rob nodded in agreement.
Sakura blushed at the compliment. She was of course wearing something that her best friend had picked out for her - not made specially for the occasion, since Tomoyo had only learned of the plans the day before, but still assembled especially for her. The outfit was based around overalls; not the usual sloppy jeans and bib, but well-fitting salopettes of baby-blue denim that reached down to the ankle. Under the salopettes' bib, Sakura wore a flannel shirt dyed her namesake sakura pink, the sleeves reaching her wrists, loose enough to give her freedom of movement but not so loose that they would catch on anything. In place of a tool belt, Sakura wore a broad cotton belt that matched her shirt, with a pocket just the right size to hold the Sakura Cards. And the outfit was topped off with a yellow construction hard-hat - Tomoyo had made sure the regulation helmet was emblazoned with Sakura's winged-heart design at the front. Construction boots finished the ensemble.
"You're so cute, Sakura-chan!" Ruiko added.
"I'm jealous," Minako commented.
"Hoeee?"
"Really! You have the classic good looks that would make a rice sack look good on you, and you have a friend with good fashion sense. I'll have to be careful if you decide to become a fashion model!"
Minako's comment sent Tomoyo into a fantasy world, where Sakura was wearing outfits that Tomoyo made for her every day and everyone was clamoring to wear what the world's cutest girl was wearing. "That would be so lovely," she whispered.
"Oh, I'm not pretty enough to be a model," said Sakura.
That caught Tomoyo's attention. "But wasn't your mother a model, Sakura-chan?"
"Yes, she was. But I'm not my mother, I'm me."
Rob sighed quietly. Sakura was one of the most beautiful girls he knew personally (and he lived with the Bishojo Sailor Senshi, so that was saying something) but despite everything she wasn't aware of how beautiful she was. Or maybe she was just being modest. Either way, her not flaunting her beauty added to her beauty, of course. He made a mental note to try to find a quiet moment alone with Shaoran and ask him what he thought of Sakura's attitude about her own looks... but, with Rob being the designated driver to get everybody to and from the canal, he doubted that talk would happen today.
Usagi kept her opinion to herself; she could tell that any more complements would distract Sakura so much that they wouldn't be able to twin the apartment building until after lunch, and Usagi wanted to go skating some time today! She was in her Eternal Senshi form, with the addition of leg-warmers ... and was considering going skating in the same outfit if she could convince Makoto to go as Sailor Jupiter.
Ben noticed Usagi becoming antsy, and motioned to Rob, who nodded. "Okay, everybody outside! Let's start the show."
As they headed out, James made sure River actually put her shoes on, Ben helped Fate and Nanoha help Hayate get outside, Brent rode herd on Tomo's antics that if left unchecked would have delayed everything even further, and Rob and Mii did one last look around the common room to make sure nothing that shouldn't be twinned had been left behind.
Nobody thought to check the laundry bin at the landing at the top of the stairs. Maika had emptied that the previous night; she had no desire to do two loads of laundry when she could do one instead. Everybody knew it was empty...
Outside, everybody gave Sakura, Usagi, and Rin enough room to work. As Sakura recited her spell to unlock the Star Wand, Rin withdrew all of her charged gems from her pocket, and Usagi took a firm hold of the Ginzuishou. They were all ready at the same time.
"Card that holds the power of the Stars, make this building into two! TWIN!"
The card giggled mischievously as it began to glow. The Ginzuishou glowed with the pure radiance of Usagi's soul, bathing Sakura in its and its owner's power. Rin's gems also glowed, one after another, shattering into dust as the stored power within them was spent.
After a long moment, the glows faded in the sunlight.
And Usagi fell to her knees.
Mamoru reached her before anyone else. "Usako, what's wrong?"
"I'm just a little tired..." she replied in a ragged whisper as he helped her stand.
"You're exhausted. Did something go wrong with the spell?"
Everyone looked around - to see that the Blossom apartment building was now two buildings. Raising Heart almost immediately reported, "No lingering type Clow or type Senshi magical reaction detected."
"Then it just took more out of you than you expected?" Rob guessed.
Rin counted the gems remaining in her hand. "It took more of my power that I expected, as well."
Usagi nodded slowly. "I know. And thank you, Rin-san."
"It would have been remiss of me to fail to shoulder my share of the burden."
"But..." Everyone turned to look at Sakura. "I didn't feel any more strain on my magical power than I expected."
Ami was the first to figure it out. "You protected her, didn't you, Usagi?"
"She did?" Sakura's face was a picture of concern. "But why? And from what?"
Usagi smiled at her. "Because you were also learning how to make a permanent change to the world," she replied, more strongly than she had spoken earlier but not as strongly as she usually spoke. "Let your oneesama shoulder the burden of an unexpected addition to the task."
"What unexpected addition?" Ben and Rob asked in unison - Ben in concern, Rob in suspicion. Rob continued, "What did we miss?"
After a moment of silence, a small voice replied, "I promised I wouldn't tell until it was too late, Mimi Misaka admits."
"Tell what??"
"Eek!" Nobody was sure who said that... but nobody had seen Rob angry before, either.
"Rob-oji... Don't scold her, please." They turned to Usagi. "I could have stopped this as soon as I realized what our combined magic was being asked to do. But I didn't. If there is any fault here, it is mine."
"What happened?" Rob said through clenched teeth, barely keeping himself from shouting.
"Rob ..."
"This better be important, Ben."
"Where's Mimi?"
"She's right here." Rob pointed at Mimi Misaka.
"Not her. The other Mimi."
Rob looked around, and failed to see anyone with carrot-orange hair. Then the penny dropped. "Oh, sh- shoot," he whispered, catching himself just in time as he remembered children were present. "You're tired because you made another soul." Then he did shout. "Hanyu Mimi! Get out here! NOW!"
"Yes, sir. I'm sorry to trouble you." Her voice came from both buildings at once.
--
Rob Kelk
Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown
Rob Kelk
Sticks and stones can break your bones,
But words can break your heart.
- unknown