There is an old famous metaphor called "the camel's nose." It's usually expressed as a parable. The main character is a human living in a tent in the desert, when he notices a camel sticking its nose inside. He does nothing to prevent this. Shortly thereafter the camel would push through the rest of its body piece by piece. Its head. Its neck. Eventually its entire body. The main character will then attempt to get it to leave, but the camel will refuse as it had not been denied at any stage. One version of the fable ends with the moral "It is a wise rule to resist the beginnings of evil."
Not that Usagi would have ever heard of the metaphor, nor taken its lesson into consideration. One might say that she didn't think with her head so much as with her heart. She could tell that something was wrong because it felt wrong, not for any reason that she could articulate. It was her greatest strength, but also her greatest vulnerability.
Which is why she didn't think anything of it when Libra said, "You should probably practise these new techniques while it's safe." A small dramatic flourish followed, flowing into a deep bow. "It would pain me so much to see your sexy, gorgeous friends being hurt because you were not fully familiar with the techniques you are employing."
Usagi paused for a moment. Staring at the cards. She was still a little uncertain regarding the "Lusty Lunar Locus" one. Still. What Libra said had made sense. She could easily imagine a situation like earlier on where they were being attacked by a freaky enemy, and it was up to her to save them but she couldn't because she couldn't quite get the technique to work properly. Because, Usagi did not crave power for its own sake. Keep that in mind. The most selfish reason she wanted that power was simply to keep those she cared about, those she was close to completely safe. How better a manner to get the camel's nose inside the tent?
"You want to practise in the dream?" she asked. "What should I use it on?"
"Me, of course!" Libra replied. "I'll transform into a scary monster, and then you hit me with your best shot. Don't worry, since it's my own power you'll be using it won't hurt me at all!"
"No!" Usagi firmly said. She could see that he was lonely. So terribly, terribly lonely. It was so obvious to her that she couldn't miss it. This poor man wanted a friend. He wanted to help out in any way he could, even if it meant putting himself at risk. Therefore: "I won't risk hurting you because of this. Isn't there another way we could do this?"
"Well, maybe..." Libra commented, stroking his chin in what would, to anyone else, have seemed like a rather exaggerated performed gesture to the point it was suspicious. "But you'd never go for that. It would be better if you used me as target practice instead. Much safer, no risks!"
"What is it?" she insisted, much preferring to know all the options available to her. "This other way. What risk would it mean to me?"
"Well, not much..." Libra admitted, seeming rather sheepish and kinda cute in a weird way. "It's just that the problem is, the only thing I have full control of in this dreamspace is me, myself and I. Technically you're in control over this place, which is why that can of soda just appeared in your hand out of nowhere. Trouble is, asking your sweet ass to control this dream and practise the technique is going to cause all sorts of problems." Libra sat down on the ground and lay his chin upon his hand. "Go ahead. Give it a try. Conjure up a monster, then hit it with 'Moon Friend Zone'. See what happens."
Conjure up a monster? Well, okay... Usagi put her index fingers against her forehead and squinted her eyes at an empty corner of the room. In no time at all she could see a vague form begin to take shape. "Ah! I'm doing it!" she called in triumphant excitement. "I'm making a scary... Monster? Why does it look like a giant adorable kitty?"
"Never mind that for now," Libra interrupted. "I need you to concentrate. Feel the magic I have bestowed upon you flowing through your super hot body. Let it gather into your fingertips, and when it's fully charged yell 'Moon Friend Zone' and let the energy fly."
Alright. She could do that much. It wasn't hard. She could feel a little electrical charge pass down both of her arms and into her fingers, then the energy went even further until her gloves transformed into a stream of ribbons just like in the card, resembling white pompoms attached to her hands. She looked at the monster, which was rubbing itself up against the crystal wall in a completely adorable fashion, stuck her hand on her hips and pointed with the other hand before declaring at the very top of her voice -
"Moon Friend Zone!"
The energy shot out of her hand, hitting the monster, and then it just sort of disappeared while rolling around on the ground and pawing up in an attempt to catch a fly. She did it! In her first try! She turned around towards Libra, beaming with pride that was quickly dashed when she saw him holding up a sign with a great big "zero" on it.
"Hey! That's not fair! I did it first time!"
"Alright," Libra said. "Conjure up another monster, and this time just point at it and say 'begone'."
She did just that, this time creating a singing fern plant. Pointed out her index finger at it. Said 'begone', and just like that it was. Now, Usagi might be a bit of an idiot at times but even she couldn't miss a lesson this obvious. She'd conjured the monster. Which meant that she'd also made it vanish because part of her wanted to make it vanish in the first place.
"I'm such an idiot!" she bawled. "How could I miss that? You even told me I had control over this dream and I made the monster and everything!"
"Sh, don't you worry your pretty little head," Libra whispered, gently massaging Usagi's shoulders. She had to admit. He knew what he was doing. "That's why I was saying you'd be better off using me as target practice. No part of your mind has any control over what I'm doing, and the only other alternative would be to give me complete control over your dreamscape. Which, you know, that would be crazy since we only just met and you couldn't possibly trust me with something like that, could you? Hahaha, perish the thought!"
If you listened really closely, you might just hear the iron hinges on the cage door beginning to slam shut. Usagi had already decided that she wasn't going to use Libra as target practice. He had established to her that not practising at all could result in her friends being hurt. She couldn't use her own dream to conduct the training. So she really had only one option ahead of her, and the only reason Libra had given for not taking it seemed like a somewhat silly obstacle.
After all. He was the one objecting to taking that path in the first place based entirely on the reason that he couldn't be trusted with that much power. Libra might not be as experienced at manipulating people as he once might have been, but -
"It's alright," Usagi said. "I trust you."
"Really are you sure okay let's get started!" Libra said, all in a single breath. Really, that sentence shouldn't even have had spaces between the words. "All you have to do is take my hands and say 'I willingly and knowingly of my own free will surrender control of my dreams to the one I know as Libra'. Then we can get started on your training. Bwahahahahahaha! Ahem, excuse me, had to clear my throat."
And that's how the camel got its nose in the tent.
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Libra. What a name to choose. A constellation associated with Virgo the virgin, of all things. Demons appreciate irony every bit as much as humans, make no mistake of that. Now, one might expect that the very first thing he'd have done with Usagi under these conditions, once he had control over her dreams would be to 1: Make her forget that she was dreaming in the first place and 2: Induce an orgy. Indeed! That might have been Libra's next course of action before.
But not now that there actually was a potentially dangerous enemy out there. That simple fact made it necessary for him to actually stick to the intention of the agreement. For now. Actually help Usagi practise both of the techniques he had given her. Extend his influence over her mind and body while assisting in overcoming their new enemy. Help them grow and grow in terms of power and control, and do so in such a way that gave <i>him</i> greater power and control over them.
Of course, none of that had anything to do with the fact that Usagi Tsukino had, in her own inimitable way, completely charmed him. Perish the thought. Just a cute mortal girl with a good heart that happened to completely sympathise with him even while he was trying to manipulate her and her friends.
"Ugh..." Libra grimaced. "No wonder that girl was given the power of purification. I'll have to try and watch out for that..."
"Huh?" Usagi said. "Did you say something?"
"Nothing important!" Libra cheerily replied. "Just keep practising Moon Friend Zone until you get it right!"
She was still reluctant to try out the other technique. Which was fine. For now. He watched as Usagi channeled the power into the ribbon-pompoms while delivering high knee lifts. She would shake the ribbons in front of herself, crossing her arms across her midriff and then planting both feet firmly on the ground. Both arms then shot out straight in front of her while her hips unconsciously shimmied from side to side, creating a nicely distracting, gentle sway of that tiny, frilly skirt she was wearing. The ribbons would transform into energy, striking the target and filling them with lustful regret that the best they could hope for was an eternal friendship with no sex.
To a lust demon, there was no fate crueler. Unsatisfied, unrequited lust? Like something out of a horror story. Still. Those order-based goons would have it even worse. Such emotions would tear them apart from the inside out. Anyone possessed by that kind of power would have it expelled from their bodies, while anyone completely sustained by it would be destroyed utterly. Possibly add small bit along the lines of: ‘And to think, this was a support technique with minimal offensive capability when I gave it to her! Note to self, do not ever underestimate these girls!’ Not really needed, as he already knew what he was giving her and how she would use it.
"I did it!" Usagi triumphantly yelled. "Finally!"
"... That was only your third attempt," Libra noted.
"Really? It felt like I was going longer."
Libra caught himself chuckling in amusement at Usagi's adorable scatterbrained nature. "Stop that, stop liking her... Ah! Ahem! Alright. Now that you've got the practice for that technique down, let's try creating an actual combat situation. Ahem!"
The room around them underwent a huge and dramatic alteration to a more modern building rather than the crystalline structure set up inside the original dreamscape in which they had been practising. Libra chuckled a little to himself. A swimming pool. Yes, that would do quite well. He conjured up the rest of her team already transformed, and then the water in the pool burst into life, sprouting numerous appendages that grabbed the random, faceless swimmers. And in good measure, also grabbed the rest of the Inner Scouts.
"Huh?" Usagi gasped. "Wait - Hey, put them down!"
"Make me," the water gurgled.
"Fine!" Usagi replied, and her gloves transformed into the ribbon pompoms in the time it took to blink. "Moon Friend Zone!" No effect. She tried again, flexing her hands. But to no avail. Her gloves had vanished from her body ,and Libra wasn't about to let her have them back that easily. She wouldn't in the real world, after all.
"Didn't I tell you?" Libra said from above the battlefield. "You might encounter an enemy too strong for you to overcome with the basic technique. Consider this scenario. Your friends are helpless. Ordinary people are being attacked as well. You're the only one that can stop it. Even though this is just a dream, consider what might happen in reality."
"This is too cruel!" Usagi said.
"Maybe," Libra replied. "But is it any less cruel than what the enemy will do in the real world? The purpose of training is to find your limits and push through them. Now, try channeling that same attack into different parts of your uniform. See what happens instead!"
You could see the hesitation playing out on her face. The dismay. The torment. He honestly considered stopping it for the time being, but then again he was also correct. This was an important step for her to take in order to confront this enemy. Do it. Do it! Join him on the hentai side, save your friends the only way you can! Give in! He couldn't stop the wicked smile appearing on his face, and was terribly grateful Usagi was too busy watching the monster to notice the real one.
"Lusty Lunar Locus!" she finally called, and Libra punched the air triumphantly. She did it first time! Because of course she did. This was the kind of chick that was motivated perfectly by her friends being in danger. Her uniform disintegrated, transforming into bright shining ribbons that whipped around her body, never showing much but not needing to. Anyone watching for long enough could easily tell that beneath those ribbons she was absolutely naked. A hint of leg here. Some of her taut stomach there. The side of her breasts. Her cleavage. Underboob. Nothing naughty was shown, but through the implications the effect became even more erotic than if she were standing there completely exposed!
The raw power of the technique was astonishing. The energy whirled around and around her, growing brighter and brighter until at last it flashed out, striking the water creature in its centre of mass, prompting it to gurgle and all of the people being held within it to writhe out in surprising ecstasy. Yes, this attack was far more powerful, far more potent than anything Sailor Moon had used before! The potential was astonishing!
It did have one pretty significant weakness. Which Usagi's stifled whimpers and moans were illustrating quite effectively, even though the water monster was collapsing back into the pool. There was no safety in the eye of this storm. In fact, she was right at the point where she would feel it the most intensely.
"Ah!" she gasped when the ribbons dispersed. She staggered a little and collapsed to her hands and knees. "W-Wow! This feeling! I feel... I feel so..."
"Good girl," Libra said, patting her on the head in an experimental test. As he hoped, Usagi reacted as though he had rubbed an erogenous zone. "This technique should only be used as an absolute last resort. It might leave you and your friends extremely vulnerable to attack."
"N-No," Usagi whimpered. "I'm not using this perverted attack again!"
"Unless you have to," Libra said with a completely triumphant smirk. "Someday, you might have no choice. Now. Let's see about letting your friends have access to their own techniques, shall we?"
- Usagi's training continues
- A dream Mamoru is conjured up to entertain Usagi. Or maybe more than one.
- The next day Usagi tells her friends about this.
- While Usagi awakens, Libra experiments with his new level of control within the crystal.
- Another enemy attack.
- Something else
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