A certain tall and busty girl continued her long walk down the street, by now tuning out all the people ducking and hiding and trying desperately to get out of her path. Instead she was daydreaming. Instead she was thinking about a few idle thoughts, how she’d have done things differently if she had the chance…
“Give us all your money,” a thug would say to an innocent bystander.
“Oh, please don’t hurt me!” the innocent bystander would reply.
“Is there a problem here?” she would ask. They would all turn to face her. Weapons would be dropped, faces would become flushed, nervous habits would manifest rather obviously. “If there were a problem, I would be <i>so</i> disappointed.”
“N-No problem!” one of the thugs answered, nervously fidgeting on one foot and rather obviously trying and failing to maintain eye contact. “W-We were just giving him directions, right?”
“Well, that’s a relief,” she said, leaning over to gently push one of the thug’s mouths closed. “I’m sure you boys wouldn’t mind accompanying me, then?”
“Of course!” they said in unison, and off they’d walk, her with her hands on her hips and a confident swagger in her step, them pining after her like lost puppies, swearing they’d improve their behaviour in future.
Not a blow thrown, not a bruised fist, not a threat nor a hostile word. Peaceful resolution, caused by their desire for her.
Then again it could have gone differently. They might have decided to fight for her attention. But this was easily resolved as well. At the first sign of a fight breaking out, all she had to do was warn something like, “Now, now, boys. The first one to insult or hit another will simply have to leave.” Then they’d fall in line for certain. Before long, they’d stop their selfish ways and under her guidance take up her former role gladly: Saving people from those who think might made right.
Her thoughts shifted a little bit in a different direction after that particular musing. It was rather inevitable in a sense. <i>What if she</i> did <i>use it to get herself the attention of a cute boy? Would that be so bad?</i>
Initially, Makoto shook her head. Yes, it sort of would be. Wouldn’t it? Putting a boy under a spell like that and getting him to date her against his will seemed a little bit -
<i>Was it really any different from daydreaming about making punks into upstanding members of society? Really. All you’d be doing is helping a boy get past a lousy first impression and helping him see the real you.</i>
It was hard to argue the point, and Makoto sighed a little bit. She could see it so easily. There she’d be, having sent off the former delinquents on various good deeds. Then she’d spot him. The very living image of her ex, struggling with a whole load of bags that looked like they were full of baked goods.
She would approach him, he’d back away slightly but then she would concentrate just a fraction and he’d stop, staring at her breathlessly. She would gently lay her hand on one of the bags and heft it into her own arms. “I’ll help you out,” she’d say, and he’d smile at her and tell her his name. She would say her own, and they’d walk off towards his home.
That was all it would take. An initial push to get past the bad first impression, and then the two of them would develop a real connection. They would go back to his house, and the two of them would bake cakes together. They would swap recipes, spend the rest of the day in the kitchen and then when night rolled around and she waved goodbye he would grab hold of her hand, look her in the eye, and she would make no move to resist as he pulled her back inside with a steamy kiss.
Then their clothes would simply vanish into thin air, and after that -
Makoto very nervously swallowed and stopped to lean against a wall to catch her breath. Goodness, but that had been pretty intense. Well. It wasn’t like she’d actually do that even if she did still have the power; after all, her behaviour hadn’t really been at all corrupted by it, now had it?
<i>Which raises the question of what you really would do with the power if you still had it. Right?</i>
Well. To begin with she would have to assume that she would develop some measure of control over the power. Otherwise it would be just like earlier. Boys would throw themselves at her constantly, begging for her attention, pleading for it like they were starving and she had the only food around. While it had admittedly been kind of fun to have that kind of attention for a little bit, it would probably get really old really quickly.
<i>But with control? What then?</i>
Well. If she had control over the power it would be a different matter altogether. Obviously, she wouldn’t go all out. No point in making every guy drool over her all the time… Though it did conjure up a fun little image of her reclining while they served her hand and foot… Idle thoughts, bad thoughts! No!
What she’d probably do is, well, something like maybe make sure people didn’t walk away with a bad first impression of her. That was always her biggest problem dealing with people, right? They thought she was a big scary delinquent, when actually she was a pretty nice girl that happened to be strong and tall enough to kick the shit out of just about anyone she met.
<i>What does that say about you, then? That this is all you really want?</i>
Makoto stopped in her tracks. What did it say about her? What <i>did</i> it say about her? What was wrong with wanting people just to like her for her? What was wrong with wanting not to have an uphill struggle to get to meet nice people, make friends, go out with cute guys and -
All she really wanted was for someone to like her.
That particular thought was like a cold slap. That was it? That was what she wanted? To be liked. By anyone worth being liked by. An image of Usagi flashed through her mind, and she smiled just a little bit. Well, of course Usagi was worth being liked by. The girl may be a bit of a ditz, but she had a strange charisma that just made her so darn approachable and cute.
But, well, Usagi couldn’t provide the kind of comfort she was looking for. Her friends were great. The team was fun to hang out with and all that, but Makoto couldn’t help it. She wanted more. She needed more, and with each passing thought it became increasingly obvious: With that power, she could have managed the one thing she wanted. Unconditional love.
The thought left her dazed, so much so that she walked around a corner and wound up bumping right into someone that yelled, “H-Hey, watch where you’re going!”
She looked down and saw just the cutest boy, sprawled on the ground where she’d knocked him on his ass. Well then. So much for the whole “good first impression” thing. She reached down and pulled him straight up to his feet, but he still seemed kind of annoyed with her about it.
“Sorry about that,” she said, feeling like a bit of an idiot if she was quite honest with herself. Ugh! If only she had that power, she could wipe that annoyance away and start afresh like a blank slate. If only she could -
“Well, maybe you -” he started, but suddenly a funny look came over him. His eyes glazed over and he blinked a few times, then stared at her as if really seeing her for the very first time. “No, actually... It was my fault. I wasn’t watching where I was going. Let me make it up to you. I was just heading to the shops to pick up some baking ingredients, and I know this great biscuit recipe!”
“Well, I know a few things about baking as well,” Makoto said, linking arm in arm with him. “Maybe we can… learn a few things from one another?”
Makoto snapped her fingers, almost absently, and some of the former delinquents arrived with a simple carriage pulled by a team of bikes. She was too lost in her soon-to-be boyfriend’s eyes to really think about the inconsistency, or wonder how something from a daydream had become reality. Instead she simply got inside and said, “To the shops,” and away they went, Makoto smiling the most genuinely satisfied smile she had in years.
<hr>
“I never knew she felt that way either,” Usagi said, staring at the reflection, staring at the image of Makoto with a really, really hot guy being pulled down the street like a Queen.
“Not everyone consciously knows what they really want,” her reflection explained. “Many people ignore it. Many people are afraid to admit it. If you ask Ami, you would learn that this is not a healthy approach to take.”
“Uh… So long as she didn’t use big words, yeah.”
The reflection giggled a little, and it was just too contagious. “You see?” the reflection said, still giggling slightly. “You can help people like this, guide them in a way that they would not allow normally. Now that Rei and Makoto are aware of these truths about themselves, they will be able to make themselves and others around them much, much happier.
“Isn’t that what you want? Don’t you want people to be… happy?”
Usagi very slowly nodded. Yes. That was exactly what she wanted. She wanted people to be, you know, happy and stuff. It still felt just a little bit weird doing it this way, but… Looking at Makoto and Rei and how content they were felt kind of good. Genuinely happy. That’s what it seemed like to Usagi. Both of them were genuinely happy like this.
“Why don’t we take a look in on Ami or Minako?” the reflection suggested. “Or perhaps you could look in on the Outers? After all… You don’t get on with them quite as well, do you? Their methods are a lot harsher than you like. Maybe you could change that? Or… Maybe understand why they are so harsh in the first place? The choice, as ever, is in your hands.”
- Ami is engrossed in the study of sexual psychology, finding it by far the most fascinating subject she’s ever read up on.
- Minako decides to adjust herself to better fit into the world of a star. Just, you know, minor changes here and there to help craft herself a bit better of an image…
- Check one of the Outers, who happen to be asleep right now.
- Meanwhile, the Moon cats try to figure out what the hell.
- Makoto and Rei’s dreams intersect somehow.
- Something else
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