Character Sketches #1, Sailor Mercury - Part II, "Mizuno the Senshi"
Chapter 3: In which Amy meets the realities of American life.

"Today, police chief Ronald Baker resigned in the midst of widespread allegations of corruption and misconduct in the Baltimore police force. As of yet, no replacement has been named.

"Baker steps down as the city is in the grips of the highest crime rates in twenty-five years. As the mayor has half-jokingly considered declaring martial law, reports have indicated that such malfeasance as graft, bribery, and other crimes are widespread. Many blame this for the lawlessness sweeping the city, but others blame a new crime syndicate.

"Sources close to _The Sun_ says that a major drug-smuggling ring has set its headquarters in Baltimore, and this has had a serious effect on the city. Robberies, muggings, and murders are at rates rivaling Los Angeles and New York, and no relief is in sight."

-From the Baltimore _Sun_, March 20, 2003.

Students generally come to Johns Hopkins knowing that they will get more than their fair share of work. This is, after all, a college where students can be denied admission because of trifles such as getting a B in 7th grade pre-algebra. Therefore, it was the norm, not the exception, for students to pull late night study sessions. The faculty recognizes this, and they often accommodate by offering one-on-one opportunities to get more in-depth coverage of topics that may have been glossed over in lectures.

Thus, it was not at all surprising that Amy was strolling across the commons at 11:32pm. Quite a few students were on their way to or from such sessions. Generally, they preferred to go in pairs, but then again, the students were adults, and theoretically expected to be able to take care of themselves.

It was not normal, however, for a student to be headed for where she was, beneath the gathering clouds. Room 116, in the fine arts building. Mr. Henderson's room.

Mr. Henderson valued several things. One was his privacy. Another was his avoidance of lawsuits. Being no fool, he knew how his female students fawned over him. In the same vein, he knew the current political climate, and was in no mood to start anything with his students, lest they start going off about sexual harassment. He'd seen too many careers ruined that way. Therefore, he welcomed those who needed extra help, but only on the condition that it be done in the daytime, with a couple of witnesses.

Thus, for him to agree to tutor Amy at night, alone, was extremely unusual. Had Amy been her old self, analyzing before emoting, this might have sounded a few alarms in her mind. But she had it bad for David, bad in a way that Usagi would be hard pressed to match in her love for Mamoru. And truth be told, she was no longer her rock steady self.

Amy came to the innocuous metal door of the building and tapped the call button, looking about furtively for followers.

"Um, Mr. Henderson?"

"Wha-hm! Oh, Amy. Yes, I'm coming."

"Okay."

"And for heaven's sake, call me David!"

Amy looked around her again. Even though the campus was rather well lit, the recent news reports were still fresh in her mind, and she had no aspirations to become a statistic. After what seemed like an eternity, the lock made various clicking noises, and the heavy door swung open.

"Well, Amy, please come in." They made their way past the lecture halls, past the studio where she had her class, and into a little corner of the first floor she had never seen, to ascend a flight of stairs.

"I don't recall seeing these stairs before. Is it some kind of secret?"

He chuckled. "Kind of. The previous art chair had a little bit of a mental problem. He'd get some frozen dinners and some soda and stay up in the attic for weeks, saying he was on the verge of a breakthrough. A month later he'd come back down with a blank canvas and start the bidding at $200,000. Sad, really. Especially since he usually got only $50,000 for them." He carried on through Amy's giggles. "So the administration doesn't really advertise...this!"

They had reached the top of the stairs, and David threw open the door to reveal a rather roomy chamber, with a rose window looking out over the commons. Or, at least that portion of the commons that could be seen at night, namely a half-dozen islands of yellow light, surrounded by fuzzy darkness.

"Welcome, my dear, to my parlor. This," gesturing at the various canvases, papers, and paint splotches, "is where I make my finest work. Or rather, made it."

He paused, gathering his thoughts, and came to a decision. "Amy, let me tell you something." He strode to a battered table and cleared some space. She grabbed a chair and moved it over. "Never, ever let your love for anyone stand in the way of your goals. Love and all that crap is hooey. Now, that may seem harsh to you, but consider this. Twenty years ago, I had it all. I was churning out wonderful artwork, I was virtually assured of making it big in art design, and then I lost it all."

Amy's mind was still reeling. She had seen true love, seen it in Usagi and Mamoru, almost seen it in her and Urawa. Where did he get off saying that it was bunk? "How?"

"A woman. A stunning woman, actually. Beautiful, devastatingly intelligent, reminds me a lot like you, actually." He pressed on, ignoring her blush. "Anyway, I was all set to marry her, have a few children, and live out my life with her.

"One out of three isn't bad. Had a baby, a baby girl it was, and things just went downhill from there." He sighed. "She was just too overbearing. Insisted on having the last say every single time.

"So I left her, and the kid, after just two years. Now, don't get me wrong; I always wrote her. Still do. I always take care of my own. I just hope she isn't too down by my never replying. My wife...I honestly don't give a damn about her.

"And after all that, I came here, and had wasted two years I could have used getting ahead of the competition. Instead, I teach a bunch of kids, almost all of whom either want to be engineers or doctors. Not a true artist in the bunch."

"That's...that's very sad."

"Ah, we artist types are all the same. Not like you doctors, all cold and confident. I suppose you'd have to; deciding who lives and who dies has to be tough sometimes."

Amy thought back to a particular incident; two trauma patients had come in simultaneously, in almost equally bad condition. As the only senior staff member on duty, her mother had had to make the quick decision. Who do you operate on first? She chose, and a week later, the one patient walked out of the hospital. The other had died while junior residents tried desperately to stabilize him. He never made it into the OR.

Ayumi had had to decide, in a split second, which would live. Someday Amy, too, would make that decision; indeed, she had already made that decision, in a way. And what, in all the years as a student, and even as a senshi, had prepared her to make that kind of decision? Unheeding of Amy's internal troubles, David pressed on, gazing furtively at her anatomy.

"Sometimes I envy you, and sometimes I don't. How often can you look at a person and not say 'Okay, we have an abnormally sized proboscis and lopsided aural cavity?' How often can you look at the human form and say, that's pretty?

"Ah, look at me; pontificating. Let's get to work, shall we?" He pulled out a medium sized book. "Now, Amy, you've no doubt heard of this book."

She looked at the cover: _Drawing with the Right Side of the Brain_. "Yes, I've seen it."

"Good." He handed it to her. "This is now your bible. I want you to carry it everywhere with you. I want to you take it in the restroom, to parties, even sleep with it. Treat it as if it's a volume of Gray's Anatomy, because it is sheer genius. Every time you come up here, I'm going to quiz you on it, so read it, and read it again. Okay?"

"Okay. Reading's one thing I can handle." One thing I can't handle, she didn't add, is seduction. Such an act was so contrary to her nature that she didn't even know how to go about it. But the opportunity had presented itself, and she simply had to capitalize on it. Perhaps it was Urawa's letter, perhaps it was another mood swing, but she found herself needing David, and methodically plotting out a method to get what she wanted. Makoto would have been proud. Perhaps. More likely she would have been scared senseless.

"Excellent. Now, it explains this in the book, but..."

And so an hour passed. At the end of David's rather lengthy explanation, he turned to her once again. "Any questions?"

"Um, yes. How do you get the proportions of the body right?"

"Such as?"

"Well, take the breast. Too big, too small, how do you decide?" She decided to inhale deeply at that time to accentuate the part of the anatomy in question. Now that will get his attention, she thought. Smooth as ice.

Smooth as sandpaper, thought David. She doesn't have much experience in the seduction field, does she, he asked himself. Really, for a guy as hit on as he was, he expected something better. Ah well.

"The human breast," he said, can be drawn as large or as small as you like. What size-" and here he looked straight into her eyes, "-is a totally personal and subjective decision. It's up to you to decide." He paused a beat. "And you are not going to get me to notice you like that, miss."

Her face fell; she hadn't expected this. "but-"

"Amy, here's some more advice. Don't bother. You're not that kind of person. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who can do a hell of a lot better job loving you." Not true, he thought, but how else can I preserve my cold exterior? "You're a nice looking girl, and you deserve better than someone old enough to be your dad, okay? Now let's just forget that that happened and move on, okay?

Some hours later, Amy was walking back to her dorm. She had been so close to being physical with him, and he had flat out turned him down. Patently infuriating.

She tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and barely recovered enough to avoid falling. Too upset to fret over her near miss, she continued on with her thoughts, unheeding of her surroundings. She'd love to just turn right around and tell him how she really felt. But there were only so many hours left until her next class, and-

"Hey, baby, bit late to be walking out alone, hm?"

The gruff voice took her completely by surprise. She looked about frantically. Four thugs surrounded her, leaving her with no apparent escape. They had caught her in one of the dark areas equidistant from the adjacent lampposts.

"Well guys, I suppose we'd better give the young lady an escort home, hm?" He was answered by various affirmative noises from his gang that made Amy's flesh crawl.

The men closed in. She looked about, but no-one else was around. The nearest emergency telephone was a good ten second's dash away, even assuming she could get out. Her options were severely limited at that point.

"HELP!"

Say the words, an inner voice said. Say them.

But I can't. I won't.

Mercury...

"Looks like we'll be having us some of that oriental tail, huh boys?" Snickers followed that comment. She screamed.

Mercury planet...

You must.

...make...

Mercury...make-up...

Crystals smashing on the ground.

Mercury...

"Mercury-"

Thud.

The moon disappeared between the clouds.