(open) help out a newbie

[reloves]

🧙 WHO: Minako Aino and you!
⚔️️ WHAT: Minako is new to town, so it's time to explore.
🕒 WHEN: Mid-July
🗺️ WHERE: Camelot
⚠️ WARNINGS: Should be none, will edit if that changes!


(a. at the senshi (and friends!) house)

[ Minako's arrival hadn't exactly been.. pleasant. Somewhere between everything being so chaotic back home right before she showed up here instead, then suddenly being dropped into the water out of nowhere, and then getting covered in gross jelly stuff didn't exactly make it the most fun course of events.

But at least Makoto helped her over to the house, and now Minako has been able to bathe and get all that junk out of her hair, things are starting to look up a little more. Or at least, Minako thinks she looks presentable enough to be seen by others.

Which means she starts wandering the house, peeking her head into all the rooms so she can greet people with a: ]

Hi! [ You know, casual. Just showed up here. No biggie. ]

(b. on the streets of camelot)

[ If you just happen to be calmly walking along the city streets, your moment of relative peace and quiet gets interrupted really, really quickly.

Because you might suddenly feel something jumping on you. It happens so fast that you can't even see what it is, other than that there's a sudden pressure on your head, like something is clinging on for dear life up there. If you try to remove it - which is possible if you put some effort into it - you'll find it's a cat. A kind of.. odd-looking cat, since it's a little too big for your usual cat, but it's still definitely a cat.

Or even if you don't manage to remove it, there's suddenly a blonde girl outright charging at you, yelling out-- ]

Wait!

[ What do you do. Do you run. Do you stay. Do you ponder why your life suddenly turned out like this? ]

(c. outside a bakery)

[ After having managed to recover her familiar, Minako is making sure to tightly hold it to her chest, not wantin to start an entire chase scene all over again.

Which means things are a little bit calmer right now. Instead you might find the blonde girl standing outside a bakery, staring at the delicious goods inside, looking like she's about to drool right over them. ]

Ahh, it looks so good, right? [ She squeezes the cat-like creature a little. ] Maybe you were just hungry too.. Rough is the fate of those who don't have money.. [ Please, Minako. You literally have a house full of friends you're staying with. Cut down on the melodramatics.

Still, her stomach growls. Loudly. That chase must have taken some energy. Do you help out this poor blonde girl. ]

(d. on the streets of camelot, less chaos edition)

[ Or maybe you, very simply, just find the girl walking up to you on the middle of the streets. Do you know her? Probably not! And yet she talks to you so casually, as if you're not total strangers. Welcome to the power of an extreme extrovert. ]

Hey! Sooo.. if someone wanted to practice these new powers everyone's talking about, where do they do that? Won't you help a cute girl out?

[ Look at her batting those doe eyes at you! You're locked into this fate now. It's inescapable. ]

(ooc: as a note for those who have threaded with me on the tdm, i am more than willing to carry those over as in-game canon, so feel free to assume those interactions happened! c: )

Comments

[roseeclair]

I-I was trying to ease into it! I just dumped a ton of info earlier!

[Not to mention she was kind of expecting a grilling for this "betrayal," just like Ami flipped out when she learned that Makoto and Usagi haven't been going to school here.]

[reloves]

And you thought mentioning your boyfriend wasn't the very first piece of information you should have told me about?!

[ Granted, the other stuff Makoto told was actually way more important. Even considering Minako standards, technically.

But this is definitely important information to her too. ]

How did you meet?! What's his full name? His birthday? His starsign? His blood type? Is he handsome? Did you kiss yet? Is it a serious thing?! Tell me about your most romantic moments! Is he treating you well or do I need to visit him and beat him up?! [ No, she didn't bother to stop and breathe in the slightest between saying any of that. It's like a waterfall of words streaming forth right from Minako's mouth. ]

[roseeclair]

[YUP, no one expects the Venutian inquisition!]

O-okay okay, slow down! [Deep breath.] Kurogane Naoto; we met at a quest helping out the farming district prepare for the spring planting. He made sure I didn't work too hard, and I shared some of my bento since he forgot his lunch. His birthday's four days before mine [so they're both Sagittarii], blood type B, he's very handsome... n-not yet... but he's treating me really well. [Her smile goes tender.] And... yeah. Yeah, I think it's serious.

[She'll get to more romantic moments in a bit, she needs to catch her breath first.]

[reloves]

[ Please, Makoto, there's now slowing down when it COMES TO LOVE.

But Minako is definitely filing all this information away in her mind. You know. For purposes. Blackmail purposes if he ever breaks Makoto's heart, that is.

There's one thing here, though, that stands out to Minako more than anything else. ]

.. what do you mean, you haven't kissed yet?

[ She looks so surprised. Haven't they dated for months?! Minako has kissed people she never even dated, please!!! ]

[roseeclair]

[YUP, she should've expected this!]

I-I know I know I know! But like... this is kind of a first relationship for both of us and I don't wanna rush him, but then I do wanna kiss him but I have no idea how to do it and I don't want to mess up my first kiss and look like a loser! I've only kissed him on the forehead and cheek so far!

[reloves]

Hey, what's there to be so worried about if the two of you are serious?

[ Her cheeks are puffing up now. This is clearly serious talk. Minako is forgetting all about her meal for the moment, because there's no way she can give one of her best friends advice and eat at the same time. ]

Even if the first one isn't great, it's not like it's the only one you'll ever have for the rest of time! You'll have plenty of chances to do it over, that's the beauty of romance..!

[roseeclair]

[Oh wow! That speech was honestly beautiful, Makoto's sniffling back tears!]

M-Mina-chaaan...!

[reloves]

[ She may be puffing out her chest a little bit at this point. Proud that her love skills are being acknowledged. ]

So don't hold back! Mako-chan, next time you see him, just go for it!

[ Do it for all of them who don't have partners to kiss!! ]

[roseeclair]

Yeah!

[Well, maybe time after next so he's not STUPID DRUNK, but for now, LOVE FOR THE LOVE GODDESS! Have a hug, Minako!]

You're the best, Mina-chan! I've missed you so much!

[reloves]

[ She'll take that hug for now. Especially while she's also being called the best. Thank you for propping up her ego, Makoto. ]

Of course, of course! I mean, what are you going to do without me? Ami-chan is married to her textbooks, and Usagi-chan's engaged! [ Not to mention Rei's BURNING DISLIKE OF MEN. ] I don't even know how you survived so long without having me around!

[roseeclair]

[A faint laugh.]

Yeah. [It's a dramatic moment but... Makoto pulls back to give her a real smile.] I've had the others here, and lots of new people... but still really missed you, especially when this thing started. I'm really glad you're here.

[reloves]

...

[ It's nice. It's so genuine that it's almost a little too nice, being missed so specifically. It's touching in a way Minako can't quite put into words, and she momentarily, very momentarily, ducks her head to try and process the feeling before she looks back at Makoto. ]

Well, I'm glad to not have abandoned you guys either. [ Even if it wasn't exactly voluntarily. ] Now I'm here, you know you can rely on me, right? That's what I'm here for.

[roseeclair]

[A light nod.]

I know. You've never let us down before. [Ever.] And don't forget I'm here for you too, okay?

[reloves]

[ She smiles. ]

Of course I know that!

[ Minako almost looks like she's about to say more, but then she seems to realise something, turning her head back to the food. ]

.. ah! The curry! The curry's getting cold!

[ HOW COULD GIVING LOVE ADVICE BETRAY HER LIKE THIS. She quickly hurries back to sit down and move more of the food into her mouth. ]

[roseeclair]

[Makoto just chuckles before she starts on her own curry, more calmly than Minako's doing.]

Let me know how everything tastes; apparently Green magic lets you play around with properties of plants in cooking, it's really cool!

[Or poison or alcohol content, but not usually how she applies it. (Save for drugging kidnapper trowes one time.)]

[reloves]

[ Clearly Minako is going to have to be more careful around Makoto now, huh.. ]

.. green magic?

[ She's eating, she's eating! But Minako has no hesitation in speaking up with that, even with her mouth half-full. She does swallow before she continues though. ]

What's that, some sort of.. plant magic?

[roseeclair]

Yeah, exactly! [Another bite.] It lets me grow and control plants, but it also lets you amplify or neutralize poisons, or other components like capsaicin.

[VERY useful for making sure spice-addict Ren's cooking was suitable for human consumption...]

I even amped up the alcohol on some to drug these kidnapping trolls last month!

[reloves]

Well, the plants part isn't too surprising.. Since it's you. [ If any of them were into plants, it was definitely Makoto.

.. though hearing that there's also some poison-related abilities as part of it right while she's eating is a little omnious. Thank god she's on Makoto's good side.. ]

Is all magic like that here? Does it suit the person wielding it, or something like that?

[roseeclair]

Sometimes? Mine does at least- I've also got Elemental, so I can control lightning and other elements- but I think it depends from person to person which two magics they get. Like Usagi-chan has Healing, but she also has Animal magic now.

[Then again, Usagi might've mentioned Prismatica being a bit on the furry side.]

[reloves]

[ Animal.. Usagi didn't really have anything like that back home, huh? But it's also not something that seems entirely out of the blue for the girl - it suits her well enough that Minako can't think of it as too odd, as she slowly pricks into the curry with her eating utensils - thinking, but not grabbing another bite yet. ]

I wonder what kind of magic that gives me then.

[roseeclair]

I mean... there are a couple of ways to find out. The Red Springs does have a training ground for practice, and we've got a yard.

[reloves]

But even then, how am I supposed to start?

[ It doesn't sound like she's given up right from the getgo, at least. That's not Minako's style, after all. But she is definitely frowning as she's thinking about it, considering this whole issue. ]

It's hard to use magic when you don't even exactly know what it's supposed to be in the first place, right?

[roseeclair]

[A soft chuckle.]

Honestly, I just tried to shoot lightning and figured out I still could. [Because straightforward is very much her style.] So just... try something you would like in battle, see what happens. Or maybe your familiar can give you a hint.

[reloves]

... well, I guess I should try to do that later then.

[ Once she's done eating, yes.

But more importantly because-- ]

I don't exactly want to ruin the entire house on my first day here. [ You know, in case her power ends up being a little bit more destructive than anticipated. ]