Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Pluto's Mysteries ❯ Birthday ( Chapter 1 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Dumas1 
It's Setsuna's birthday and she celebrates it by gathering the Senshi from the corners of the world. At this party, she shares a few hints about her past that may be less than surprising.
A little piece of nonsense spawned to get away from studying.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 12.14.2006 | Updated On: 01.16.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.7K | Visits: 447 | Status: Completed
It's Setsuna's birthday and she celebrates it by gathering the Senshi from the corners of the world. At this party, she shares a few hints about her past that may be less than surprising.
A little piece of nonsense spawned to get away from studying.
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Comedy | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 12.14.2006 | Updated On: 01.16.2007 | Pages: 2 | Words: 1.7K | Visits: 447 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and its characters belong to someone Naoko Takeushi. Various other characters belong to their respective creators, whom I will not specify here as they will be appearing at random.
‘Why did you fly us all the way out here?’ Minako asked. The Senshi had scattered to the winds after school, each pursuing careers in different parts of Japan and beyond.
‘It’s my birthday,’ their host replied.
‘Your birthday? I thought that was next week! I didn’t get you anything!’ Usagi wailed. Mamoru had remained in Japan on business, and his wife was still quite flighty without him.
‘My real birthday is today. The calendar on Pluto doesn’t quite match up with Earth’s. Here, take a look.’ Setsuna produced a large pocket watch on a gold chain and showed it to the others. Strange runes crawled across its face in an intricate dance that none of them could interpret. One particular rune was a blazing red, which they assumed meant it marked a special date.
‘Well, happy birthday, then,’ Ami said. ‘How are you celebrating?’
‘There’s a production of Carmina Burana on tour in Rome and I’ve made reservations for dinner at the best restaurant in town. After that we’ll come back here and catch up on the last few years.’
Setsuna produced a dusty bottle from a locked cupboard when the young women returned to her apartment. She set out nine small glasses and said, ‘This is something I saved from my last birthday. A dram for each of us and that’s an end of this old brandy.’
The nine took their drinks after a toast to the birthday girl and followed it down with the liquors Setsuna had acquired from every country. Finally, around midnight, Haruka asked, ‘Just where were you for your last birthday?’
‘Edinburgh in ’45. Fall had just come and the Prince was in town. He was the most charming man I’d ever met– and that’s saying something. Balls nearly every night and the brandy flowed like water.’ Setsuna smiled. ‘He’d just come back from a victory and said he’d march off to more. Shame for old Charlie.’
‘Wait a minute. Prince Charles wasn’t born until 1948,’ Ami pointed out. Her mind was still sharp even after three cups of champagne.
Setsuna blinked and poured herself another dram of Scotch. ‘Not Charles, Charlie.’ The name sounded decidedly non-English the way she said it. ‘Besides, you know that Pluto’s year is a lot longer than fifty Earth years.’
Further discussion of her time in Edinburgh was cut off by Minako’s discovery of Setsuna’s karaoke machine (it had come with the rest of her home theatre and she’d never gotten rid of it). The girls spent a few hours singing the latest songs from whatever country they lived in before the conversation came back to their host.
‘I’m surprised you’re still single at your age,’ Minako said. ‘You know what they say about birthday cake.’
‘That’s Christmas cake. [1]’ Makoto corrected her friend. ‘And that’s not a nice thing to bring up at a birthday.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’ Setsuna waved the question away. ‘I’m still far short of 25.’ She added in an undertone, ‘In Pluto years, anyway,’ before taking another drink. [2]
Setsuna returned to the living room where Haruka had been hiding from the poor singing of a certain old friend. The racer had stayed in England for a few months while racing in France. She said, ‘This party’s too quiet for something that only comes every couple centuries.’
‘That’s because we have no men. I have a few designer friends in Rome, but none of them are any good to drink with, all moaning about exes and boyfriends. Besides, I wanted something just for my old friends from Japan. Ah, those Scots could party. Once I got away from the formal parties, we had a wild time.’
‘It was nice, getting everyone together again. Maybe we should go clubbing tomorrow night, do something more exciting.’
‘That’d be nice. Things were always exciting around Charlie. Rumours flew left and right, thicker than bullets.’ Setsuna poured herself yet another drink and started singing a song in a language no one else in the apartment knew:
‘O Teàrlaich mhic Sheumais, mhic Sheumais, mhic Teàrlaich….’ [3]
She continued on for a while, unaware that the younger Senshi had stopped singing and had gathered in the doorway to listen. A few of them clapped softly when she finished, causing her to blush. She recovered quickly and shouted for everyone to pour new drinks and toast ‘The King Across the Water,’ whom most of them thought to be the future Endymion.
The green-haired hostess sang a few more soft, sad song in strange languages, but her audience had already lost interest. They returned to the karaoke room for cheerier and younger music. After one particularly old song, Haruka said, ‘You must’ve had it bad for this Charlie. So how long has it been since you’ve partied like this?’
‘Me and half the island. And my last real party was in…’79 at the Crossover; before that was a Cossack wedding in June of ‘08 in the middle of Siberia. Now they knew how to have a good time.’ Setsuna gave the blonde a crooked smile and downed more whiskey. ‘Two men too drunk to stand tried to have a swordfight over me and they thought four men were fighting. Then a horse stepped on me in the morning and I…overreacted. Come on, Haruka, it’s your turn to sing.’ [4]
‘Fine. Let’s see if I remember anything.’ She bumbled her way through an old Japanese pop song that had been popular during their career as magical girls with Setsuna making nonsensical corrections– she insisted that ‘pickled cat’ was the proper end to one line.
Eventually, the others filtered back through the living room on the way to bed. By this time, Setsuna had become merry again and was happily singing whatever phrases came to mind:
‘I’ve fed Nessie with me own right hand
And stalked young boys with the Theban Sacred Band
Yonder lies the kingdom of a Queen long dead
Here is the Queen whose name is never said
I know the man who scrawled on Joyeux’ hilt
And I know what hides ‘neath the Scotsman’s kilt’
She continued on in this vein for nearly half an hour, always coming back to the Scotsman’s kilt. Eventually, she got tired of the song and opened the rum. At this point, Haruka took one more drink and excused herself to go to bed, leaving Setsuna alone in the living room with the bottles.
‘Young girls can’t handle their liquor these days,’ she said to them. ‘My mother’s birthdays never went for less than two days. Maybe that old fool was right about the decay of humanity over the ages.’
The others woke up hung over and out of sorts to find Setsuna sitting amidst the empty bottles waiting for them. She was smiling strangely and asked, ‘Who wants to see some gladiators? I can get us in the front seats at the Coliseum, nevermind the laws.’
Notes
This little spamfic is the product of too much reading about the abortive attempt in 1745 to depose George III and restore a Stuart king to the throne of England. I suppose you all know by now which famous Prince Charlie Setsuna was drunkenly singing about. If not, you’re more than likely online and capable of using Wikipedia or Google to figure it out.
1) A charming Japanese expression for the idea that a woman who was still single at 25 would be too old to ever catch a husband. Or so I’ve heard online. The expression comes from the fact that no one wants Christmas cake (some sort of seasonal pastry, presumably) after the 25th.
2) The Pluto year is a bit over 248 Earth years. Thus, 25 Pluto years is somewhere around 6200 Earth years. I suppose that this is the place to mention that this places this fic around 1993 based on Setsuna’s remark about her last birthday. Prince Charles entered Edinburgh around 16 or 17 September (Old Style) and left on 1 November. In the New Style (i.e., the calendar used now) the dates would be 28 September to 12 November. I’m not sure how old the rest of the Senshi would be since I am not sure when Sailor Moon is set.
3) This translates to ‘Charles son of James, son of James, son of Charles….’ It’s the beginning of a song that was performed before Prince Charles by poet Alexander Macdonald soon after his landing in Scotland in 1745. I nicked it from a biography of the Prince, so blame one of the authors for the spelling. Teàrlaich sounds rather like ‘Charlie’ to Anglophones, hence the usual name for the Young Pretender.
4) This particular ‘overreaction’ is quite famous and to this day unexplained. As Russia still used the Old Style at this time, I think the rest of the world dates it in early July. I don’t think Pluto really cares. She knows when it was. Oh, and Neptune temporarily became the furthest planet from the Sun in February of 1979; Pluto passed it again in February of 1999.
Birthdays
‘Welcome to my home. Please, enter of your own free will.’ Setsuna bowed deeply as she slid to one side of the door to let the younger Senshi enter. Her new home (or possibly very old one; it was hard to tell with her) was a penthouse apartment with a spectacular view of Rome (as she put it, ‘The Eternal City needs an eternal resident’). Dark wood paneling and a deep green carpet gave the home a dark but cozy look.‘Why did you fly us all the way out here?’ Minako asked. The Senshi had scattered to the winds after school, each pursuing careers in different parts of Japan and beyond.
‘It’s my birthday,’ their host replied.
‘Your birthday? I thought that was next week! I didn’t get you anything!’ Usagi wailed. Mamoru had remained in Japan on business, and his wife was still quite flighty without him.
‘My real birthday is today. The calendar on Pluto doesn’t quite match up with Earth’s. Here, take a look.’ Setsuna produced a large pocket watch on a gold chain and showed it to the others. Strange runes crawled across its face in an intricate dance that none of them could interpret. One particular rune was a blazing red, which they assumed meant it marked a special date.
‘Well, happy birthday, then,’ Ami said. ‘How are you celebrating?’
‘There’s a production of Carmina Burana on tour in Rome and I’ve made reservations for dinner at the best restaurant in town. After that we’ll come back here and catch up on the last few years.’
Setsuna produced a dusty bottle from a locked cupboard when the young women returned to her apartment. She set out nine small glasses and said, ‘This is something I saved from my last birthday. A dram for each of us and that’s an end of this old brandy.’
The nine took their drinks after a toast to the birthday girl and followed it down with the liquors Setsuna had acquired from every country. Finally, around midnight, Haruka asked, ‘Just where were you for your last birthday?’
‘Edinburgh in ’45. Fall had just come and the Prince was in town. He was the most charming man I’d ever met– and that’s saying something. Balls nearly every night and the brandy flowed like water.’ Setsuna smiled. ‘He’d just come back from a victory and said he’d march off to more. Shame for old Charlie.’
‘Wait a minute. Prince Charles wasn’t born until 1948,’ Ami pointed out. Her mind was still sharp even after three cups of champagne.
Setsuna blinked and poured herself another dram of Scotch. ‘Not Charles, Charlie.’ The name sounded decidedly non-English the way she said it. ‘Besides, you know that Pluto’s year is a lot longer than fifty Earth years.’
Further discussion of her time in Edinburgh was cut off by Minako’s discovery of Setsuna’s karaoke machine (it had come with the rest of her home theatre and she’d never gotten rid of it). The girls spent a few hours singing the latest songs from whatever country they lived in before the conversation came back to their host.
‘I’m surprised you’re still single at your age,’ Minako said. ‘You know what they say about birthday cake.’
‘That’s Christmas cake. [1]’ Makoto corrected her friend. ‘And that’s not a nice thing to bring up at a birthday.’
‘Don’t worry about it.’ Setsuna waved the question away. ‘I’m still far short of 25.’ She added in an undertone, ‘In Pluto years, anyway,’ before taking another drink. [2]
Setsuna returned to the living room where Haruka had been hiding from the poor singing of a certain old friend. The racer had stayed in England for a few months while racing in France. She said, ‘This party’s too quiet for something that only comes every couple centuries.’
‘That’s because we have no men. I have a few designer friends in Rome, but none of them are any good to drink with, all moaning about exes and boyfriends. Besides, I wanted something just for my old friends from Japan. Ah, those Scots could party. Once I got away from the formal parties, we had a wild time.’
‘It was nice, getting everyone together again. Maybe we should go clubbing tomorrow night, do something more exciting.’
‘That’d be nice. Things were always exciting around Charlie. Rumours flew left and right, thicker than bullets.’ Setsuna poured herself yet another drink and started singing a song in a language no one else in the apartment knew:
‘O Teàrlaich mhic Sheumais, mhic Sheumais, mhic Teàrlaich….’ [3]
She continued on for a while, unaware that the younger Senshi had stopped singing and had gathered in the doorway to listen. A few of them clapped softly when she finished, causing her to blush. She recovered quickly and shouted for everyone to pour new drinks and toast ‘The King Across the Water,’ whom most of them thought to be the future Endymion.
The green-haired hostess sang a few more soft, sad song in strange languages, but her audience had already lost interest. They returned to the karaoke room for cheerier and younger music. After one particularly old song, Haruka said, ‘You must’ve had it bad for this Charlie. So how long has it been since you’ve partied like this?’
‘Me and half the island. And my last real party was in…’79 at the Crossover; before that was a Cossack wedding in June of ‘08 in the middle of Siberia. Now they knew how to have a good time.’ Setsuna gave the blonde a crooked smile and downed more whiskey. ‘Two men too drunk to stand tried to have a swordfight over me and they thought four men were fighting. Then a horse stepped on me in the morning and I…overreacted. Come on, Haruka, it’s your turn to sing.’ [4]
‘Fine. Let’s see if I remember anything.’ She bumbled her way through an old Japanese pop song that had been popular during their career as magical girls with Setsuna making nonsensical corrections– she insisted that ‘pickled cat’ was the proper end to one line.
Eventually, the others filtered back through the living room on the way to bed. By this time, Setsuna had become merry again and was happily singing whatever phrases came to mind:
‘I’ve fed Nessie with me own right hand
And stalked young boys with the Theban Sacred Band
Yonder lies the kingdom of a Queen long dead
Here is the Queen whose name is never said
I know the man who scrawled on Joyeux’ hilt
And I know what hides ‘neath the Scotsman’s kilt’
She continued on in this vein for nearly half an hour, always coming back to the Scotsman’s kilt. Eventually, she got tired of the song and opened the rum. At this point, Haruka took one more drink and excused herself to go to bed, leaving Setsuna alone in the living room with the bottles.
‘Young girls can’t handle their liquor these days,’ she said to them. ‘My mother’s birthdays never went for less than two days. Maybe that old fool was right about the decay of humanity over the ages.’
The others woke up hung over and out of sorts to find Setsuna sitting amidst the empty bottles waiting for them. She was smiling strangely and asked, ‘Who wants to see some gladiators? I can get us in the front seats at the Coliseum, nevermind the laws.’
Notes
This little spamfic is the product of too much reading about the abortive attempt in 1745 to depose George III and restore a Stuart king to the throne of England. I suppose you all know by now which famous Prince Charlie Setsuna was drunkenly singing about. If not, you’re more than likely online and capable of using Wikipedia or Google to figure it out.
1) A charming Japanese expression for the idea that a woman who was still single at 25 would be too old to ever catch a husband. Or so I’ve heard online. The expression comes from the fact that no one wants Christmas cake (some sort of seasonal pastry, presumably) after the 25th.
2) The Pluto year is a bit over 248 Earth years. Thus, 25 Pluto years is somewhere around 6200 Earth years. I suppose that this is the place to mention that this places this fic around 1993 based on Setsuna’s remark about her last birthday. Prince Charles entered Edinburgh around 16 or 17 September (Old Style) and left on 1 November. In the New Style (i.e., the calendar used now) the dates would be 28 September to 12 November. I’m not sure how old the rest of the Senshi would be since I am not sure when Sailor Moon is set.
3) This translates to ‘Charles son of James, son of James, son of Charles….’ It’s the beginning of a song that was performed before Prince Charles by poet Alexander Macdonald soon after his landing in Scotland in 1745. I nicked it from a biography of the Prince, so blame one of the authors for the spelling. Teàrlaich sounds rather like ‘Charlie’ to Anglophones, hence the usual name for the Young Pretender.
4) This particular ‘overreaction’ is quite famous and to this day unexplained. As Russia still used the Old Style at this time, I think the rest of the world dates it in early July. I don’t think Pluto really cares. She knows when it was. Oh, and Neptune temporarily became the furthest planet from the Sun in February of 1979; Pluto passed it again in February of 1999.