I kind of saw Ami having the Dark Moon because of the whole long life aspect, though it’s probably more the kind of science aspect of long life. Which would go like science trying to improve lifespans but I’m sure if I am hitting it right. Idk, maybe it’s just me being used to the anime more and Rei having the visions of the end of the world. Saturn’s destruction and fire can burn and be destructive (seems I’m rambling at this point but these were my initial thoughts.)
I like this take a lot! Ami and Rei are hard ones for me, because I feel draw to have both of them work like this for both arcs. Rei for Infinity could be really interesting playing against Hotaru and Mistress 9 for the reasons you said, and playing with the line between righteous anger, hatred, and cool minded destruction for a purpose (and hello father issues, though we don’t see much of Rei’s in the anime). And Ami for black moon could give rise to a lot of different things, depending on how it would play out.
She’s hard for me, for a lot of reasons, because she strikes me as the most… well-adjusted? of the Inners. Like, she has flaws, but she’s self-aware for a lot of them, so I have a hard time digging in to meaty storylines with her. (Though like, I do not know if you are familiar with PGSM, but THAT Ami, filled with self-doubt and jealousy, could play really interesting against a toned-down Demand and Setsuna, for ideas of loneliness and desire and how much can you try and possess things and how much can you hold yourself back)
Beryl is a great reflection of Usagi’s dark side, jealousy, possessiveness, two royal women seeking vengeance on each other. Good shit.
Galaxia can easily be a Mina-gone-wrong figure, they are both the best soldiers, they both feel overshadowed by circumstances and want more than they are given, if you told me Minako went rogue and took over the universe to prove herself it would not strike me as out of character outside of her loyalty to Usagi/Serenity
There are five inner senshi and five arcs/big bads
I HAVE BEEN TURNING IT OVER IN MY MIND FOR WEEKS AND I CANNOT MAKE THE REST WORK TO MIRROR OR FOIL EACHOTHER WITHOUT FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGING THE BIG BADS
OH MY GOD YES and I raise you the idea that both Haruka and Mina would do this, Haruka because if anyone must make the sacrifice, it should be her, and Mina because if anyone can succeed, it would be her
I’ve been grappling with the idea of inner-outer-baddie trios in each arc being highlighted for the sake of a theme, and they work BRILLIANTLY for the idea of what does it mean to be powerful and what does it mean to be noble. I also like Rei/Setsuna/some revised black moon clan memeber for the idea of how can you build a future you want, and what is inevitable. The rest gets difficult to parse out, though I have the slightest hint of an idea of Mako/Michiru and almost Nehellenia playing with the idea of who are you supposed to be.
Beryl is a great reflection of Usagi’s dark side, jealousy, possessiveness, two royal women seeking vengeance on each other. Good shit.
Galaxia can easily be a Mina-gone-wrong figure, they are both the best soldiers, they both feel overshadowed by circumstances and want more than they are given, if you told me Minako went rogue and took over the universe to prove herself it would not strike me as out of character outside of her loyalty to Usagi/Serenity
There are five inner senshi and five arcs/big bads
I HAVE BEEN TURNING IT OVER IN MY MIND FOR WEEKS AND I CANNOT MAKE THE REST WORK TO MIRROR OR FOIL EACHOTHER WITHOUT FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGING THE BIG BADS
Oh man I LOVE Hotaru in this, I love the characterization you’ve given her! Can’t wait for the next chapter, as per usual!
Thank you so much! I feel like Hotaru is almost an OC I’ve slapped a canon name and a few references on, and that is so fun to me. I also love having her as a middle ground for Rei and Mina, and mixing up my usual friend pairings outside of Haruka and Mina has been a blast.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING I HOPE YOU CONTINUE TO ENJOY IT
Part seven of HaruMichi BatB! This takes place concurrently with part six. (Masterpost)
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Hotaru kept the radio low, humming along to the heavy metal melodies like they were love songs. Rei sat in the passenger seat next to her. She fiddled with a cigarette lighter, despite not seeming the type to smoke, occasionally flicking on the flame with a click!
Mina sat in the back, listening to the two of them and feeling like a child.
“Question,” she said when she could take it no longer. “The map doesn’t show a road through the woods you pointed, so which one do you think Haruka took?”
“The road that’s not on the map,” Hotaru said.
Rei flicked on the lighter again. “It’s not supposed to be there, but it will be.” She stared at the tiny flame. “Turn off here, Hotaru.”
Hotaru swung the black car onto the exit. Uneasiness rose in Mina’s stomach. “You’re not just PI’s, are you?”
Hotaru laughed. “What, because Rei’s psychic we can’t be real investigators?” She glanced at Minako in the rearview mirror. “That’s why she didn’t want you along, and why I did. It’s always fun when people figure it out.”
“Hotaru’s hardly normal either,” Rei said, crossing her arms.
“Rei is a precision hitter. I’ve got broader, vague senses.”
“And that drew you to the forest.”
“And that drew me to the forest!” Hotaru nudged Rei. “She picks up quick, you should get on that.”
While Rei insisted she was not getting on anything, Mina sat back and processed. There had always been stories about people like this, but she’d written them off as old wives tales. Perhaps that hadn’t been wise. She prided herself on knowing the world, being street-smart enough to make it through any situation. And she’d missed something huge. She pressed her hands into the vinyl seat and willed herself to absorb. To recontextualize. Rei used the flame to sense things, probably a form of scrying. Hotaru didn’t need a flame or a mirror, but didn’t get details. There must have been other people in Mina’s life like them. Maybe even who had entirely different sorts of powers.
She sprang forward as far and fast as her seatbelt would allow. “So the witch…”
“Is not real.”
“Might be real,” Hotaru said. “Curses are real, certainly. I threaten Rei with them all the time.”
“You are not a witch.”
“Only because I’ve never tried to be.”
Mina leaned over the center council and craned her neck to look Rei in the eye. “How certain are you the witch isn’t real?”
Rei frowned, huffed, knotted her brow. “… Fifty fifty.”
“Fifty fifty. Really.”
“If she was real, she shouldn’t have lived anywhere near this long. Usagi’s grandma says it was nearing on two hundred years, and–”
“And Teenie’s gran says it wasn’t like anything seen before or after. So we can’t know.”
“Longevity magic is rare.”
“So is magic that could raze a town, but that’s the story.”
It grew dark and the car made its way into a wooded lane. It was only as the trees got thicker and thicker around them that Mina realized they were somewhere they weren’t supposed to be. “This is it?”
“Yes.” Rei flicked the flame.
“I thought it would be harder to find.”
“The key is not to be looking. Places like this like to draw people unawares.” Hotaru brought the car to a slow coast. “Keep an eye out for anything unusual.”
The forest grew darker and darker as they crept along. Mina peered out into the trees, willing Haruka to be camping along the road. She was handy, she’d be fine. God knew she kept enough snacks in her truck to last her a few days. They’d find her sick from living on marshmallows and jerky, but alive and otherwise fine.
But then Mina saw the truck, dark and empty and to all appearances, abandoned.
“That’s hers!”
Hotaru stopped the car and Rei followed Mina out. She looked at the tires, all intact, and observed no clear damage. Mina pulled at the handle, then reached for her spare key. “It’s a good sign she locked it, right?”
Rei did not confirm.
Mina hopped in and tried the engine. “Out of gas.”
“She probably went to find help.”
“There’s nothing behind us for a long ways,” Mina said. “So she would have pressed ahead.”
Hotaru nodded and locked her car. “We should go on foot, like she would have.”
“You think we’ll find her that way?”
Hotaru shrugged. “It’s either intuition leading me, or my commitment to having the right atmosphere. They’re hard to tell apart sometimes.” She smiled. “You know, when I convinced Rei to lend me money to fill the bar with lamps, I had the same feeling. Thought they might be useful to my powers. Turns out, I just think they’re cool.”
“I don’t think that was a surprise to you at all.”
“Mm, who can say?” Hotaru clicked on a flashlight. “The universe works in mysterious ways.”
Rei grabbed her own flashlight out of her bag. “She always does this.” She glared at Minako. “You don’t help at all.”
Minako smiled to hide her uneasiness. “Hey, there are ways to get me on your side, if you want—-“
“Ugh!” Rei threw up her hands and stormed ahead past a laughing Hotaru, who turned to give Mina a thumbs up.
“She’s too serious. With the work we do, we gotta—“
Rei stopped and held up a hand. She clicked off her flashlight and motioned for them to come close.
“There’s a house.”
It was, to Mina, a wild understatement. It was a veritable mansion, only short of a castle by a few towers and battlements.
“The witch’s house.”
Rei smacked Hotaru’s arm. “There is no witch and this is not her house.”
“It just happens to be a big creepy mansion in the middle of nowhere.. Nothing witchy at all about that.” Mina crossed her arms. “Sorry firecracker, I’m with Hotaru on this one.”
“Ooo, firecracker, I like it. We should put that on the business cards.”
“Shut up, both of you.” Rei started towards the house. “We should scope the outside before anything else.”
They followed her around the trees at the perimeter until they came to the back. A balcony jutted out from a high floor. Mina could just make out a lanky figure with blonde hair in the moonlight.
“Haruka!” She was okay, she looked fine, she—
“Shhh!”
They stayed still and watched. Haruka held something delicately in her hands and stared at it intently, then jerked her head up and set it aside. She spoke, but Mina could not make out the words.
And then something frightening emerged from the shadows.
It looked like a great snake, scales glinting in the moonlight all up its body, but then it twisted into something resembling a human, though not quite there. It lifted Haruka by the shoulders, threw her to the side, and then Minako couldn’t see anything beyond the balcony edge.
“We have to get up there!”
Rei grabbed her shoulder. “If we go in unprepared, it might kill her.”
“And if we don’t go in, it might still kill her!”
“If it hasn’t yet,” Hotaru whispered solemnly, “it has other plans.”
Mina knew Hotaru was right, and she didn’t like it. “So we’re leaving her to be abused?”
“We’re leaving her so we can find what we need to rescue her.” Rei sighed. “Hotaru, we’re going to pay Usagi’s grandma a visit.”
Hotaru held up her phone. “She’s already expecting us.”
SittingOverHereDreaming 