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Post by Hino Rei on Jan 26, 2009 22:48:43 GMT -5
As she'd worked her way through a good deal of paperwork the day before, and actually managed to clear some of today's out, Rei had had a few hours to go dress shopping that earlier morning. It was something unavoidable as the New Years Ball they'd decided to hold months before hand was now approaching and she still hadn't had a dress anyone would consider appropriate. Her Mikos had tried to convince her to get one made special, as was "appropriate" to her station... and eventually she'd half-way relented.
That morning had been spent with a local dress maker she'd known since she was a young girl. The woman had worked for her mother, and had done many of the dresses Rei had had to have made for her when she'd been expected to appear at her father's side. That hadn't been often, thankfully, but her father had still insisted that no child of his was going to be seen in public with him in an "off the rack" garment. Even now she rolled her eyes at the extravagance... but he had a point. It just wasn't appropriate to their station.
When she had finally left the woman's shop, with a receipt and an assurance that someone would be over to her shrine to check the fitting the next morning, Rei had come face to face with a toy store. Unsure of what exactly had caused her to go inside of it or spend hours looking around at the various little toys and children playing with them, it had ultimately ended in one completely nefarious and entirely tempting idea. One trip to an art supply store, five hours, and a little bit of wrapping paper later, she arrived at the Queen's quarters and walked straight past the guard.
They cast a perfunctory glance at the box she was holding, but neither of them dared to try and stop her. Not that they had any reason to, of course; none of the senshi would ever hurt their Queen.
"Usagi," she called out into the hallway and an aide pointed her towards the office. "Thank you."
This time she rapped politely upon the door.
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Post by Neo Queen Serenity on Jan 26, 2009 23:43:10 GMT -5
After the exhausting previous day, Usagi's appetite had returned with force starting early the next morning. It was funny how a decent night's sleep (helped by a sleeping pill), and a very large breakfast, lunch, and snacks inbetween, could do for her mood. She knew it had also helped tremendously to see the senshi, and spend time with them; even if it had been over upsetting matters, their support and working together with them had given her more strength than she would have thought. She had awoken determined. The hurt was still there, but tempered by her desire to move forward, seeing the goals and purposes yet to accomplish.
The late afternoon found Usagi eating yet another snack to make up for yesterday, and going over some travel arrangements. Though it was ostensibly for business, she was mulling over some of the local attractions, seeing if she couldn't fit one into the schedule. Maybe she could call it an 'important cultural experience.' Yeah, that sounded official! She scribbled a note to that effect, looking up as there was a knock on the door.
"Come on in," Usagi said, not happily, but at least she was relaxed. Relaxed enough not to be thinking of Mamoru every other minute, at least. And at least attempting not to think about him every five minutes, which was actually a considerable improvement on the day before.
She set down her pen and leaned back, curious as to who was coming to see her. This was usually a slow hour around the office.
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Post by Hino Rei on Jan 26, 2009 23:53:08 GMT -5
Rei opened the door but dropped the knob in order to carry her package more efficiently--it was rather large--and side-walked her way into the room. The priestess paused to kick the door closed behind her and smiled at her friend, "You're dropping that paper work for a few minutes."
It was absolutely an order and Rei waited until Usagi had cleared anything important out of the way before she set the package down on the desk. "I come bearing gifts."
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Post by Neo Queen Serenity on Jan 27, 2009 0:09:16 GMT -5
Usagi smiled at the sight of Rei, but her eyebrow quirked in confusion as Rei turned sideways and walked in with a very large... something. A gift wrapped something.
At Rei's order to drop the paperwork, Usagi gave a goofy grin and smartly saluted from her chair (it was obvious that she had been practicing). Usagi was not exactly the neatest person in the world, she simply opened a drawer and used her arm to sweep her desk clear of papers and pens, shutting it closed and ignoring the crinkling of documents in response.
"A gift? For me?!" she giggled, standing up and circling it with wide eyes. There was no fastest way to cheer up Usagi than with a wrapped present. "Can I open it? Can I? Can I? Please?"
Her nimble fingers quickly tore at the wrapping paper, little giggles escaping her all the while. After the paper had been happily ripped apart and discarded in all directions, lay a modified version of a bean bag toss, in distinctly senshi colors, with some fake jewels around the edges, and the words 'Board of Delegation' written over the top of it.
"Oooh, it's a game!" Usagi said with obvious relish, walking around her desk several times to get a good look at it. She then pounced on Rei, enveloping the priestess in her arms. "You made this for me?! It's so pretty! I can't believe you got me a gift! You're so thoughtful, Rei-chan. So. How do we play?" she asked, glancing back at the board.
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Post by Hino Rei on Jan 27, 2009 0:16:02 GMT -5
Rei couldn't help but smile at her friend's enthusiasm. That was definitely a good sign, even if Usagi was known to try and use false cheer when she was upset--they could usually see through that quite well. She returned the hug when her friend gave it and laughed. "Well its quite simple," Rei pulled away after a moment and picked the base of the board up, moving it until it was sat on the floor at the other side of the room. She picked out the bean bags in the cups and carried them back over.
Normally Rei might have been embarrassed at having given anyone something of this nature. It was scrawled over with crudely drawn bunny symbols and silly little graffiti and looked entirely as if a child had gotten hold of it. But with Usagi actually smiling about it, it didn't matter. "See how these are each a different colour?" She asked, holding up the bags. They were random colours but that didn't matter, "That's so you can know which one is which. You play by picking something on your to-do list which isn't world-threatening, or at least not so world threatening that it requires your attention one-hundred percent of the time, assign it to a bag and then..."
She turned towards the board and under-hand tossed the bag towards it. It landed in a blue hole. "And now it's Ami's problem." Rei handed over a bag. "you try it."
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Post by Neo Queen Serenity on Jan 27, 2009 0:27:36 GMT -5
Usagi watched with naked curiosity as Rei set up the game and demonstrated it to her. She burst out laughing, coming over to hug her friend again. "Oh, I get it now! 'Board of Delegation!'" It was so simple, and so brilliant... Rei really knew how to get her to do something. "Have I ever told you you're a genius? As well as an amazing friend?"
She picked up another one of the bean bags, focused for a moment, and then said: "Writing up my secretary for a breach in documents security procedures." Usagi let the bean bag whiz across the room and then plopped down into the green hole. "And... that's Mako-chan." Usagi wasn't prepared for the immense feeling elation and relief at not only delegating such a task to a friend she trusted (and a friend that had made it explicitly clear yesterday that she wanted to help), but doing it in such a physical, fun way. "Hot damn that felt good..." Usagi said breathlessly. "Wow."
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Post by Hino Rei on Jan 27, 2009 0:33:20 GMT -5
The Priestess grinned in response, feeling just a little of her own stress melting away at the simple act. It wasn't much, but it was something and it felt good to just... laugh. She lifted her chin teasingly at the 'genius' comments. "I know, but it does me good to hear it once and awhile."
Rei shook her head, watching as Usagi tried it. "We should get you a punching bag in here as well. Only pink and preferably with a changing slip cover. We'll just put on the face of whatever councilor or board member is giving you trouble."
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Post by Neo Queen Serenity on Jan 27, 2009 0:45:38 GMT -5
Usagi threw back her head and laughed again at Rei's response. For the first time since the break-up, she was actually having fun, and feeling... happy. I thought my world was ending when I gave Mamo-chan back his ring... And yet, two days later, the world was still spinning and she found out she could still laugh and mean it.
"You know what else you should hear?" Usagi asked, quieting down a little. She was serious on this. "You were right. About asking for help, I mean. I saw it yesterday with everyone... I'm not immune to this stuff going to my head... Sometimes I think I know what's best, but in reality things have been staring me in the face all along. So you were right... I should have come to you guys a lot sooner."
Her humor quickly returned, however, when Rei mentioned a punching bag. "Okay, now you're sounding like Lucan. I'm sure he'd be happy if I took up that suggestion, and I have to say it's a pretty good one. And even if I'm Queen, I want to stay current on senshi-skills. Who knows when we could be needed in that capacity again." Usagi hoped they had seen the last of dark creatures and manifestations of Chaos, but it was still best to be prepared.
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Post by Hino Rei on Jan 27, 2009 0:59:54 GMT -5
Rei's smile dipped just the faintest into a more serious expression when Usagi agreed with her. She nodded, faintly, but didn't comment on that. Yes, she was right, but there wasn't any reason to rub that in. Besides, things would be better now and it was pointless to drag out drama. Instead she chuckled, "Lucan is a bright man, you should listen to him, too."
Leaning back against the edge of the desk, Rei crossed her arms over her chest and considered, "I doubt the world has seen the end of our use. If... what little we remember and what little evidence we have IS true, we're going to be around for a good long time. There's something my grandfather used to say to me that I've always considered true and that is... However bad it is now, it'll be as bright a little later on. Same works in reverse, I'd wager. We shouldn't be relaxing on our training, and I'm a bit worried that even this short rest is going to prove problematic the minute we stop looking for problems."
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Post by Neo Queen Serenity on Jan 27, 2009 1:11:37 GMT -5
"He is. And I think I will," Usagi declared. "Why not? It'll feel good and keep me in practice." She picked up a bean bag, said mischievously: "Find a punching bag and arrange for it to be installed nearby," and tossed the bag. It landed squarely in the red hole. "That was just fate," Usagi giggled. "Guess that's your task, Rei-chan," she joked. She wouldn't hold Rei to it if the Priestess didn't want to.
Usagi hopped up, sitting on her desk as Rei lounged against it. "I've always admired your Grandfather, he's so wise." It was a trait that Rei had inherited from him, she thought. "We can't stop looking for problems, not human problems or Chaos problems. We have to be prepared and train. I don't think it's a question of if we'll have to fight again. After all of these years, enemy after enemy... No, it's not a question of if. It's a question of when." When she was younger, Usagi would have wanted to beg off, to feel as if she wasn't appreciated the short peaces that they would have, if she trained as a senshi or continued to believe she'd have responsibilities. It was being Queen that had changed her opinion on that-- she had learned that being able to maintain peace, was to be prepared for the worst. "I know I have changed in that regard," she admitted. "But I have also realized that when we train even in times of peace, it helps us to appreciate all that is important to protect, and what it takes to protect it. That's something I never want to lose sight of."
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Post by Hino Rei on Jan 27, 2009 1:19:58 GMT -5
"So it is," Rei chuckled at the bag now in her "to-do box." She glanced up at Usagi as the girl began to speak, expression slowly becoming more and more thoughtful as the woman went on. In the end, Rei nodded and allowed her gaze to linger upon the game she'd brought her queen.
"I'm proud of you, Usagi," Rei said into the quiet that lingered between them afterward. She didn't think she needed to say why.
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Post by Neo Queen Serenity on Jan 27, 2009 1:27:08 GMT -5
All thoughts about Chaos and senshi business flew from Usagi's mind at that sentence. She stared at Rei for a moment, unable to stop her eyes from filling up, and a lump from gathering in her throat. But these were good tears.
"Rei-chan, I don't know if there are words enough to help you understand how much that means to me," Usagi whispered. It was simply one of those moments that she knew she would remember for the rest of her life. She had finally made Rei proud. Usagi decided not to say anything more; anything else perhaps would have cheapened the sentiment she was trying to express. She knew she wouldn't be here, be who she was, without Rei and the others.
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Post by Hino Rei on Jan 27, 2009 1:32:21 GMT -5
She couldn't look at her friend and wouldn't, for her eyes were a little bright as well. Instead, Rei found Usagi's hand and gave it a short squeeze and pat before she stood up. "I should go attend to that punching bag... and see if I can talk Lucan into helping me schedule work outs." She dropped a quick, familial smile at Usagi before she headed to the door to slip out.
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Post by Neo Queen Serenity on Jan 27, 2009 1:35:37 GMT -5
"You'll probably make his day," Usagi grinned, sniffling a bit from her small outburst of emotion. "Rei... Thank you. For everything." For being who you are...
She gave a quick wave, and sat behind her desk, feeling significantly lightened.
[end!]
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