Sometimes you just need to get away from your own house. This never used to be true for Kyouko, when she lived alone, but now she shares her closet-sized apartment with her sister, and it can get a bit... cramped. Oh, she loves Momo to pieces, and in fact would die for the girl many times over, but that doesn't change the fact that she can be a bit overwhelming in close quarters at times, especially for someone like Kyouko who is often a very solitary-minded individual.
Of course, coming here, to Mamoru's apartment, might seem like a bizarre choice in that case, as it's almost always got people in it, but it's big. It's big and it's safe, and sometimes when Kyouko just wants to chill she'll end up here of an evening instead of at home.
That must be the case this evening, although apparently nobody was around when she arrived, because currently the redheaded Puella is stretched out on the couch in the currently-used living room, in her jeans and t-shirt but sans shoes, of course, and appears to be dozing. She has her head propped up on a pillow and her eyes closed and just seems to be enjoying a few minutes of peace and quiet.
Makoto understands well the need to get away from your own home, although her reasons aren't the same as Kyouko's. There is nobody sharing space with her in her little apartment... and that, sometimes, is the problem. Though she's used to having her own space and she's made it a comfortable and welcoming one, sometimes the solitude gets overpowering and she just needs to be around people.
The guys' place is good for that. There's almost always someone around, or will be in short order. Even before she had a key, Mako had already developed a habit of dropping in a couple times a week.
Today is just another of those days; she lets herself in and, with one of her well-used canvas shopping bags over her shoulder, starts across the apartment towards the kitchen.
"Hey," she calls as she goes, not very loudly but enough to be heard in other rooms. "Who's home?"
Only after this does Makoto catch sight of Kyouko stretched out on the sofa. Immediately she winces and tries to walk a little more quietly, as though that will help anything.
When one lives on the streets for an extended period, one develops certain instincts. It's self-preservation- always being aware of your surroundings, reacting to the slightest sound, even when sleeping. Kyouko's eyes had cracked the moment the door opened- to say she was a light sleeper is an understatement, though the trait in her is acquired, not inherent.
She sits up on the couch as Makoto calls out, leaning over the back with one arm and giving a bit of a crooked smile. "Oh, hey Mako-chan. I don't think anybody is home right now.. or if they are, they're nappin' too. I been here about half an hour or so, I'd guess, and haven't seen anybody."
She gets up off the couch, stretching an arm above her head before padding over towards the kitchen in Makoto's wake. This takes the form of seeing if the girl needs help with anything, but in actuality probably involves a hope of snacks. "What's up?"
Her apprehension fades at Kyouko's greeting, and Mako cracks a lopsided smile. "Hmm, that's kinda rare," she says lightly, resuming her path to the kitchen and starting to unload the contents of her bag onto the counter - fresh catfish filets, a bundle of green onions, a zucchini. When the bag is empty, she hangs it off a doorknob.
"If nobody else is here yet, I guess it's be a little bit early to make dinner," she muses... but then shakes her head. "I might as well get started, though, if you want to supervise." And by 'supervise' we mean 'taste-test.'
She looks toward Kyouko as she moves to the sink to wash her hands. "How've you been?"
Kyouko shrugs a bit as she loiters around the edge of the kitchen. "Ehh, they might be here, but like I said.. seems to be quiet time. I guess it is kinda unusual though, huh..?" She casts a glance back out towards the living room, then shrugs.
Kyouko has a few things in common with Dog, although if you pointed that out she'd probably be a tad bit insulted. Still, the comparison is unavoidable as she's asked to 'supervise' the food production, and her eyes light up. If she had a tail, it'd probably be wagging. "I can help.. s'long as it's simple tasks." She says, with an incorrigable grin.
As she moves over to stand next to the taller girl, though keeping out from underfoot, she shrugs slightly. "Eh, y'know. Keepin' on. Oh.. hey, thanks for that info about Agera's lab. Paid him a visit a little bit back." She quirks her lips to the side. "Not sure it was worth it, given the outcome, but still, your info was spot on."
Mako's shoulders lift in a momentary shrug. "Well, it's summer. Maybe they're all out hunting for pokemon or something." She dries her hands on a cloth hung near the sink for that purpose, then turns and surveys the kitchen.
"Let's see... there should be a jar of peanuts in that cabinet over there, if the guys didn't eat them all," she says, pointing. "And ponzu sauce and sesame oil, if you could get those out?"
For her own part, she moves to the fridge to rummage up a few cloves of garlic and a chunk of ginger root in a plastic baggie. Kyouko's comments about Takashi's lab have her looking back over her shoulder, mouth curling a little. "Yeah? It's not like I told you anything I wasn't sure about, but it's good to hear I didn't steer you wrong. Sorry it didn't pan out as well as you hoped."
"Oh yeah, the pokemans." Kyouko says, with the air of someone who knows absolutely nothing about this game all the kids are playin'. Well, she doesn't even have a smartphone.. just a humble flip phone. But considering she didn't have a phone at all until last year, that's a pretty big step up. "I guess you could be right."
Peanuts, peanuts. She can find peanuts. She does find them, and if a few find their way into her mouth before she hands the jar over well.. there are enough left. It's fine. Thankfully she isn't able to skim ponzu sauce and sesame oil. She isn't even sure what the former is, but she can read labels well enough and manages to loate and hand them over.
She rubs the back of her head after doing so, her grin slightly embarassed. "Ehh, well.. I guess I ain't cut out for the whole stealth thing.. at least, not that sort. I did manage to nick a few Grief Seeds off of 'em, but.. well, he came home and caught me there. Dude wasn't pleased." She sighs. "Still waitin' for the other shoe to drop on that one. He made some threats." Her red eyes harden for a moment. "Serious ones."
She shrugs, then, turning back around. "I told nii-chan, though, so long as he leaves me be, I won't do nothin'." Implying if he doesn't leave her alone, something will be done, of course.
"...of course he did." For a moment, Makoto's expression turns grim. "I guess we'll see what happens, but hopefully he'll let that be that."
It must be said that she doesn't sound all that confident of this being the case. But they'll see, one way or the other.
As she talks, she selects a small knife from the knife block and starts carefully peeling the piece of ginger root. "I guess it'd be kind of petty of me to hope you did some damage while you where there," she comments wryly.
Kyouko shakes her head slightly, leaning back against the fridge door and crossing her arms over her chest. "Nii-chan said Mercury had talked to him and he said he would, but I don't trust that guy a damn inch. Frankly, I'm fine if he comes after me. Bring it on, right, I'd relish the chance to get a piece of 'im and have nobody able to say it was my fault, but he mentioned Momo too, and that I just can't have."
"Well," She says, her slightly crooked smile returning. "I actually was tryin' to be quiet, so I didn't really smash anything up, but.. I saw the damage you did on your way out." She grins, her tone approving. "That was some fine smashin', girl. I'm glad we're on the same side."
She pushes off of the fridge and steps over, watching Makoto peeling in silence for a moment, before adding, "Means a lot to me, y'know, havin' people around I can trust. So really, thanks."
She can't keep an expression of satisfaction and a certain pride from coming to her face at the compliment to her handiwork. At the rest of what Kyouko says, though, Makoto's brows lift in faint surprise - only for a moment, before she smiles and dips her head in a little nod.
"You're welcome," she says. "I haven't experienced the same things that you have, but I know what it's like to be on your own. It's better to have people you can count on."
She sets the peeled ginger down on the cutting board on the counter, and with ease born of practice begins cutting it into thin slices. "Besides," Mako adds, in a lighter tone now, "with Mamoru-niisan and all we're practically halfway family. If you want to think of it that way, I mean. Either way, if Agera does come calling and you decide you'd like some backup, you can feel free to call me in. I wouldn't mind another chance to punch that guy in the face."
Kyouko laughs softly, and nods her head at what Makoto says, her smile genuine. "Nobody's experienced just what anybody else has but.. those of us without real families tend to gravitate together, it seems." She watches the taller girl cutting the ginger, and adds in a quiet tone, "Mamoru said somethin' to me right before we went to the North Pole, y'know before that whole thing.."
"He said, 'Kyouko, orphans make their own families'. And that really stuck with me, y'know? I don't have any family.. well." She pauses, amending with another short laugh, "I didn't. Hard to parse your little sister coming back from the dead, but hey.. s'not like any of us are strangers to miracles."
"Anyway, like I said.. I never had any real family, well, not since.. y'know, all the stuff that happened back in my hometown. An' I know I ain't always the easiest to get along with-" (Reckless, hotheaded, quick to violence, stubborn to a fault, prideful) "-but finding a place where I feel like I belong.. it's really made all the difference in the world to me."
She pauses again for a moment, then shakes her head with another little laugh. "Ahh, sorry. Listen' ta me gettin' all introspective. Sorry." She grins. "I'll be sure to take you up on that. Never a bad thing to have backup in a pinch."
"Make our own families..." Makoto muses thoughtfully over the words as the knife makes its rhythmic tapping sound against the cutting board. "That's a good way of putting it. Of course Mamoru-niisan would understand."
She's quiet for a short space, busy mincing the ginger into little bits. Soon, though, Makoto lets out a little laugh. "You don't have to apologize," she comments, gently ribbing. "It's not bad to be introspective occasionally. At least you're not thinking around in circles without getting anywhere."
Unintentionally, the statement ends on something a bit like a sigh, and the smile on Mako's face slips a little. That 'at least' was a comparison, it seems.
"Yeah.. well. Mamoru's a lot smarter'n he looks." Kyouko says, her teasing grin saying she knows that's a silly statement since he looks pretty darn smart. "He knows what it's like to lose people.. even if he did end up with wads o' cash instead of living in a half-collapsed ruin by himself." She twists her lips as she says it, but the expression is more for herself than because she blames Mamoru for having it better than she did- it's all relative, after all.
At Makoto's statement about 'thinking in circles', Kyouko chuckles. "Hey.. I been there, although thankfully, not at the moment." She tilts her head slightly, peering at Makoto's face for a moment. "Somethin' botherin' you?" The question is meant as an invitation to speak more, without demanding it. If Makoto decides not to share, Kyouko won't press.
She doesn't answer right away, thinking it over as - on autopilot - she finds a skillet and a bottle of olive oil and sets both by the stovetop, and then opens a cabinet to retrieve a small plate to scoop the minced ginger onto. Eventually, though, as she's taking the lid off the jar of peanut, she seems to decide to say something after all.
"Mercury." Her voice is heavy. "And Agera. She's set on saving him somehow, and I don't think she's wrong, but... it's like you said, he can't be trusted at all. I'm worried that she's going to get hurt, and I can't think of any way to have her back." Her mouth curls in a grimace. "Especially not since that guy makes me so mad I can't see straight."
Kyouko watches Makoto cooking.. maybe taking some mental notes. Not that she's ever likely to be any sort of skilled chef, but hey. Conbenie bentos get old after a while, even if they are cheap. When the other girl finally begins to talk, she grimaces slightly in unconscious mimicry of Makoto's expression. "Ah.. right." She knew about that of course, as she had mentioned before what Kunzite told her, but..
"I ain't real close with Mercury at all, so I can't tell you what she's thinkin', but.." She pauses for a moment, then goes on.
"I've had ta make a lotta hard choices in my life, Mako-chan. And I come to realize that sometimes, not everybody can be saved, no matter how much you might want to save 'em. As somebody who was once on the other side, lemme tell you this.. the real telling point is gonna be if he wants to be saved."
"You can't save somebody who don't want to be saved. It's possible he does- maybe deep down, this guy knows what he's doin' is wrong and he wants somebody to come along and tell him how to do better." She sighs softly. "I know that story. Y'know, I used to be kinda an asshole. Bullyin' people, flexin' my muscles and taking things that weren't mine to take, so I know what it's like. You tell yourself you're just doin' what you have to do, that anybody'd do it in your place but.."
"All it takes is somebody to come along and say, "Hey, no, there's a better way" and to give you a shove down that path." She wears a faint smile. "For me, that was Mamoru, and Saya-chan. But my point is just this.. Inside, I always wanted that. I wanted somebody to come along and show me what to do, cuz no matter how much I acted like I knew everything, truth was I had no idea what I was doing and I was flailin' around way too deep."
"Does Agera feel that way? I dunno, but I think that regardless of Mercury's intentions and efforts, that's what it's gonna come down to. He's gotta meet her half way, and if he don't, if he really doesn't want to be saved, well then.." Her tone falls slightly, "Then it's up to the rest of us to do what needs doin'."
Makoto is not still or idle as Kyouko speaks - the peanuts are spread over the cutting board, to be broken up with a few passes of a longer knife; she drizzles some olive oil into the skillet and lights a burner to start it heating. Even as she's adding the peanuts and ginger int the oil and stirring them together, though, she is listening, paying every bit as much attention to what Kyouko is saying as she is to what she herself is doing.
She waits until Kyouko is through, and takes a little bit longer to digest it all, stirring the gingered peanuts in the pan as it starts to pop and sizzle. At last, she quirks a rueful smile.
"Part of me wants to start talking about how that guy is hopped up on so much dark energy he probably has no actual idea what he really wants..." she begins. "But the truth is, I can't say that you're wrong. So I guess, mostly, what I need to do is to figure out how to watch Mercury's back while she's trying whatever she's going to try, until we all find out one way or the other if he wants to be saved or if it's going to get ugly." A loud pop! from the skillet, and Mako hisses quietly, drawing back her hand and giving it a little shake. "Well," she amends. "Uglier."
"Darlin'," Kyouko says with a wry smile. "I been 'all hopped up' on Dark Energy. I can tell you, first-hand, that I wanted out every moment.. even if that part of me wasn't able to take control and say it. It was still there."
She, carefully, because she's still not that close with Makoto and doesn't want to violate any boundaries, puts a hand on the taller girl's shoulder. "What you need to do is watch Mercury's back, like you said.. and be ready to pull her out. Sometimes, when we want somethin' real bad, it blinds us to everythin' else goin' on around us, and that can be dangerous. That's what we need friends for. To sometimes give us a good smack and say 'hey, wake up and take a look around'. If you can do that for her.. y'know, metaphorically or literally, whichever she needs, then I think you're doin' what you need to be."
She removes her hand then and takes a step back, a few steps away, then glances sideways.
"Fair warning though. Agera threatened to hurt Momo to get back at me. Out of respect for nii-chan, and for you guys, I'm lettin' that slide in and of itself." Her tone hardens, and her eyes blaze for just a moment before she says, "But if he touches a hair on my sister's head, I'll kill him. I lost her once, and no way in hell am I gonna lose her again."
After a moment, she shrugs. "Eh. Hopefully it don't come to that."
Mako doesn't protest the hand on her shoulder, although she does, after a moment, move to shift the skillet off the burner so that her attention's no longer divided. Once more, she listens, with a direct and earnest attention that makes it seem as though she's taking Kyouko's words to heart.
She's just opening her mouth to say something when Kyouko adds that warning, and suddenly Mako's face grows very serious.
"I do want to think he can be saved," she says gravely. "But if it comes down to that or stopping him from hurting people, it's not a choice, any more than it was when it was niisan and the guys we were trying to save. Believe me," and Mako's voice is firm with conviction. "If he tries anything towards your sister? You're not going to find me getting in your way."
Kyouko regards Makoto for a moment with a serious, almost curious expression, as if waiting to see how the Senshi responds to her statement. The response she does get seems to satisfy her, though, and after a moment she breaks into a genuine, if lopsided smile. "Well. Like I said.. hopefully it won't come to that. I think we'd all be happier for it."
"As ever, Mako-chan, we all do what we gotta do and hope for the best."
"Now, is there anything else I can help you with? I gotta contribute somethin' around here or eventually I'm gonna get my access privledges revoked.." She jokes, her demeanor suddenly light-hearted as she turns to pull open the fridge and scout for soda.