[Tuesday, March 2nd, afternoon.] [Jihatsu] Wataru heads over to the Waseda campus, with a clear goal and battle plan. He wants a job that will give him maybe 10 hours a week of work, preferably outside the public eye, and his first thought is shelving books in the library. Plan B is data entry, plan C is any other clerical stuff professors might need. Only if all those fall flat will he start looking for customer service work. He'll take minimum wage if it's all he can get - it'll probably be enough to cover the new internet plan he's got his eye on (whyyy did Midori go with Yahoo, come on, AsahiNET is way better) - but he's hoping he can find something decent that will let him maybe get a new cell phone plan, too.... --- [Grysar] Wataru finds a few job listing and does discover that there is a shelving job available as a few student workers recently left. However, the reason they left was that they were getting swamped by the end of the term and taking their place would involve a taxing end of semester schedule. However, there's a job at the end of it for next semester as well. There are also a few social scientists that are looking for data entry/classification student aids. However, those pay a monthly stipend, and Wataru's finances would be a bit stretched for the first month. Third, Wataru does hear from a classmate who sees him checking out the sociology job board that the there's a professor over at the business school that needs work done in one of their tiny new labs. Pay and hours aren't bad for a student job, but there's a good chance of running into a certain someone more often than he'd like. Lastly, he does see a fairly vague handwritten flyer saying "Love books, don't mind irregular hours? Come work for us!" with a Jinbocho address. Looking at the hours, it looks like it would probably cut into to Izumi time, though Wataru thinks she'd probably come out to him if he didn't tell her not to. --- [Jihatsu] Well that first one doesn't fit his mental image of what working in a library would be like at ALL, so he decides to give it a pass. Same for the super sketchy flyer thing - "Love books, only need one of your kidneys?" No way. The two labs both sound promising, though, maybe especially the business one (although ugh, business). How to avoid a Kyon, though? Maybe if he found a way to get his shifts scheduled while the Lions have practice? Those schedules are surely public knowledge, right? --- [Grysar] Over the course of the week, Wataru is able to find the Lions practice schedule, in rudimentary form. He won't be able to completely avoid Kyon, the hours are set up for the professor's convenience and not his, but meetings will be comparatively uncommon. That said, Wataru still feels on some level like he's giving Kyon the power by arranging his schedule around avoiding him. On the other hand, the business school really does have some nice perks, the computers faster, the chairs comfier, the lounges have no trace of the 70s. There's even a white owl Wataru has spotted once or twice out of the corner of his eye that seems to be hanging out there, so perhaps there's some of that old school magic to the place. --- [Jihatsu] God dammnit, well that owl seals the deal. What exactly is he getting himself into, here? --- [Grysar] On Monday, March 8th, Wataru heads in to check it out. The business school is due to move to a new building in 2009, but the current high-rise digs remain notably nicer than those of his own major. His employer to be, Prof. NASU Atsushi has an office that is somewhat challenging to is one of the smaller offices on the floor, it's enclosed and not particularly convenient to the computer room where Wataru will be working. For better or for worse, Prof. Nasu appears to be one of the senior faculty member, he doesn't have a bald spot so much as a clear lane down the center of his head flanked by large tufts of white hair behind both ears. However, the years do not seem to dampen his enthusiasm. He was hoping for someone with a finance background, but Wataru should do just fine and "My first choices all decided that they'd prefer other sorts signaling, ha ha." The work will be fairly straightforward at the start; he's trying to develop techniques for discovering fraud or stock manipulation and needs someone to do the drudge work of processing annual and quarterly reports. There's also trips to the library and literature review support to break up the data entry. Prof. Nasu gets respectful looks from some of his fellow faculty as he walks through the halls though others, including some of the younger faculty imported from the business world, seem to prefer to avoid him. That said, he's got his own dedicated funding stream on this one from people at a Ministry he's worked with for years, so he is in charge of his little island and the project should have Wataru covered for at least a semester. The lab is nicer than the office and the computers are fairly cutting edge. With a bit of looking around the room and actually reading some of the guidance binders, Wataru realizes that the school has a variety of tools, including a few expensive subscription services, that could be used in the initial stages of the work and cut down the tedium dramatically. Basking in his realization, he notices hooting from outside a nearby window. Looking down, the snow white owl appears to have made a makeshift nest, with a variety of materials at hand but also a sealed scroll on decorative bit of metalwork between the 9th and 10th floors. It would almost be in reach if one was willing to dangle out the window, but from the 10th floor it is quite a long way down. This apparently is a phenomenon that has been noted before, someone's been tracking the number of days the owl has been there and a few different cockamamey schemes for getting the scroll have been recorded on a corner chalkboard. --- [Jihatsu] That scroooollll. He needs it. But the fact that people have been keeping track is irksome... He can probably make it float in through the window (Accio scroll!), if there's no one else around for a bit, but what will he do when people ask about where it went! But he NEEDS IT THOUGH. Is there a suitable moment of lab solitude? --- [Grysar] There is enough solitude, a quick check of the hallway finds no one headed in your direction, though that may not last, so hurry! --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nudges the window open, checks around some more - no security cameras? No kids smoking on the roof? - and then he does like Luke Skywalker with the lightsaber. And he doesn't even care that he's mixing his fandoms. Use the Force, Harry! He does make a slight show of semi-dangling, just in case someone is watching. --- [Grysar] No cameras or visible smokers. The scroll swiftly flies to Wataru's hand. The owl seems unperturbed by this development and indeed hops up a neighboring windowsill, one where the window is closed, to observe Wataru as he works. The scroll has a seal about three centimeters wide with a foreground and background image. The foreground is a man standing on one foot on a line on the ground, or perhaps hanging upside down from the branch. The background is a simple pentacle. Otherwise the paper is quite nice but no external writing is visible. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru drops it. It clatters to the ground, and Wataru staggers back, pressing his back against the wall as if he yearned to meld through it, eyes fixed on the scroll that moments ago burned his hands with stone-cold foreknowledge of him. This only lasts a few seconds, though. He quickly scoops it up again, shoving it in under his shirt and pulling his coat back on. He flags down someone who looks like faculty, telling her that if she could please give Dr. Nasu his most sincere regrets, but he's feeling quite ill and needs to go home immediately and will make it up to him soon. With his clammy pallor and clutching at his chest, he's probably convincing, too. --- [Grysar] The owl watches you leave. It keeps an eye on your journey from above, but you can lose it easily given the range of alternative Tokyo transportation options. The journey home is not further interrupted by arcane forces. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's heart is in a panic. He hurries away from campus, on foot, glancing at taxis with a wary eye, unwilling to go underground for the subway, unwilling to even cram into a train car. His free hand fumbles with his phone in his pocket as he goes, finally managing to pull it out and dial Katie Andrews' phone number. --- [Ardweden] Katie picks up halfway through the second ring. "" --- [Jihatsu] "," Wataru's voice comes rough and raw through the receiver. "" A pause, with the sound of something like traffic. "" --- [Ardweden] "" Katie asks, her voice going from curious to alert and concerned in an instant. "" --- [Jihatsu] "" Loud honking, a splash. "" --- [Ardweden] "" There's a pause. "" --- [Grysar] In Wataru's panic he has kept to the surface and is indeed still tracked by the owl. It stays a few stories up, flies a bit ahead of him, and just observes. --- [Jihatsu] Katie can hear him taking shaky breaths. "" --- [Ardweden] "" is Katie's first bit of advice. "" Pause, then, "" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru does breathe. He breathes long enough that Katie might almost think the line has gone dead, but then he says, "" He's walking again, though. Get underground. --- [Ardweden] "" Wataru can hear something on the other end; sounds like a door closing. "" --- [Jihatsu] "" --- [Ardweden] "" Katie sounds vaguely amused. "" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru actually snerks with laughter. "" --- [Ardweden] "" --- [Jihatsu] "" --- [Ardweden] "" --- [Jihatsu] "" He heads into the subway entrance. --- [Ardweden] "" Another door closing. "" --- [Jihatsu] "" --- [Grysar] Wataru is able to take the subway without further sign of the owl. A few other people did note it perching outside, it's quite an impressive bird, and more would certainly have reacted if it followed him. There's no sign of it when he arrives and there continues to be no sign of it on the remainder of his journey home. Due to the roundabout route, Katie gets to his apartment shortly after he arrives. --- [Ardweden] She sure does. Katie's kept an eye and ear out for any signs of owls or blind dudes, and she found neither. So she walks right on up to Wataru's complex and buzzes in. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru lets her up as soon as he's confirmed it's her. He sounds terse. --- [Ardweden] That's understandable! Katie goes right on in, folding her umbrella in the process, up the stairs, and to Wataru's door. She knocks! --- [Jihatsu] He lets her in, looking down the hall, possibly for vagrant owls. "" he says, closing the door behind her. He looks wet, hair droopy and glasses speckled, but he did toe off his shoes and hang up his trenchcoat. --- [Ardweden] "" Katie is also wet! She sets her bag down so she can take off her shoes and her dripping coat, looking for a place to hang it. And her umbrella. --- [Jihatsu] There are places for such things! Wataru notices Katie is smudgy, and takes off his glasses to dry them on the edge of his shirt. --- [Ardweden] "" Katie says, successfully hanging up her things and sliding on slippers if they're there. She goes to pick up her bag. "" --- [Jihatsu] "" Wataru blushes slightly. "" He shows her the scroll, still very much sealed. --- [Ardweden] Katie takes the scroll and looks it over, examining it carefully and noting the weird seal. "" Katie says. "" She hands it back. "" Pause. "" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru frowns, and looks at it again. "" he says, vaguely. --- [Ardweden] "" She goes to the table and sets her bag on it, opening it and removing a battered sketchbook. Katie sets that on the table, too, and starts flipping through it. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru takes his scroll, and follows her to it. --- [Ardweden] There's a lot of art in that sketchbook, mostly done with with graphite pencil, some with color or pen. Quality and style and level of finish vary a great deal, as does subject matter. Eventually, she stops on one that looks a great deal like the owl Wataru saw earlier, only it's darker - at least, if pencil shading is any indication. It shows a large owl settling down from flight. "" --- [Jihatsu] "" Wataru peers. "" --- [Ardweden] "" Katie asks, looking up at Wataru. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods. "" He looks at the drawing again. "" --- [Ardweden] Katie blinks a couple of times. "" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru stands there "" --- [Ardweden] Katie rubs at her face. "" She just sits down. "" --- [Jihatsu] "" he blurts. Yes, coming from the man who *levitated a scroll through a window*. --- [Ardweden] "" Katie asks, ruefully. She pulls her book back to herself, flipping through the pages while keeping her finger on the one with the owl. "" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru sits down, sighing. "" --- [Ardweden] "" Katie admits. "" --- [Jihatsu] "" Wataru sighs, without enthusiasm. "" --- [Ardweden] "" Katie says, easily. "" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru rubs his forehead. "" --- [Ardweden] Katie sighs. "" --- [Jihatsu] "" Wataru says, pushing himself up. --- [Ardweden] Katie nods, sitting straighter. --- [Jihatsu] "< I guess I should like, document this before breaking the seal.>" He snaps a couple pictures with his cell phone camera, still freaked out by the hanged man symbol. And wonders if there's any way he could test it to see if there's any weird magical shit in it before cracking it open. Sometimes scrolls activate upon reading or breaking the seal, right? He looks up at Katie. <"I'm sort of... kind of having trouble telling apart fiction stuff and real stuff lately. Any chance I'll trip some magical trap when opening this, you think?>" --- [Ardweden] "" Katie says, "" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru looks at the scroll. At the seal, at the paper of it.... Really taking the time to stop hiding from it for a minute and trying to see it for what it is. It's in his life now, so he better assume it. They want to throw arcane shit at him, he can throw it back. He gazes into the deeper nature of the scroll, eyes glassing over slightly as he stares at it, trying to see if there's anything metaphysically wrong about it. -- [Grysar] After careful examination, some poking, prodding, trying to lift around the seal, Wataru finds that there's nothing wrong with it. Distant memories do stir of messages, cashiers checks for the orphanage with three red diamonds drawn on them (a quick book check finds no Arcane meaning), and a mechanism that limited the message to intended recipient. There is nothing "broken" or trapped about this seal, it's a lock intended for only you to open. --- [Ardweden] (NB: They're both still speaking English; it's just easier to not have to type <> all the time.) Katie watches. "What are you doing?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru puts the scroll down, satisfied. "Uh. Looking at it," he says, feeling as the words come out that they're inadequate, but... "Like *looking* at it. Anyway." He exhales. "It doesn't seem trapped. But it's clearly just for me. Should I do it?" He looks at her, eyes fearful and uncertain. --- [Ardweden] "Looking at it?" Katie scoots closer. "Is this that thing you can do with objects? Reading it, like tarot cards?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru shrugs, accepting her scoot. "I dunno. Maybe? I just... you said it might possibly be magically trapped or something, so, I don't know, I looked at it to see if I could tell. And I guess maybe I can? It ..." He looks at her, gauging how much to reveal. "...I got something off of it. I think it had to do with my past life. But I don't know what it means." --- [Ardweden] Katie nods, accepting that. "Well," she says, after a moment. "If Norishige wanted to kill you, he'd probably have tried already. I didn't spot anything dangerous, and it sounds like you didn't, either... it's just strange, like someone who knew you back when..." She trails off, working through the implications. "Anyway, I guess it's a message, just for you. I'm here, for whatever that's worth." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods, and looks at it again. He takes a few breaths, and pops it open. --- [Grysar] The seal opens easily for Wataru providing no resistance to his touch. The scroll is a letter written via brush stroke. _Long awaited one, I apologize for the delay in contacting you, but perhaps it was not yet fated. We wished to express our gratitude for your role in preserving the weapon that exorcised our collective enemy. We would like to speak with you when you feel comfortable doing so. Because communication is so easily observed in this era and we only have so many owls, I have set up a service called Shuffle that allows for secure communication. You may use the code S1T5-NQR9-L37P to login and verify your identity using the usual method. If you wish to send a reply via traditional means, please write a note and return it to the owl, Yukinaga, which will await your reply or dismissal. Sincerely, MURIMORA Yorihisa_ There's a bit at the bottom added with ballpoint pen that's a little squished up against the bottom of the paper. _p.s. I have been asked to inform all that Yukinaga will refuse most birdseed if offered, please do not take this as a snub. Owls are carnivorous, and while whole mice or chicks would be appreciated, you are certainly not expected to have them on hand._ --- [Jihatsu] He begins to read, face growing serious, rereading the first paragraph a couple times as he makes sense of it. It's alarming, but also encouraging, and he continues - the colour drains out of his face, and as he forces his way down the page he begins first to shake, and then, actually, to cry. The scroll falls out of his hands, coming to a rest on the floor. --- [Ardweden] "Wataru?" Katie asks, alarmed. She stands, walking over to him. "Are you... what did it say?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru slowly pulls his legs up onto the couch and hugs his knees, eyes blankly staring into nothing as tears streak down his ashen face. He is not responsive. --- [Ardweden] Katie looks at Wataru in alarm, then down at the scroll. She hesitates for a second, then steps over the thing and gets close to Wataru. "I'm going to give you a hug, okay?" Assuming Wataru doesn't object, she bends over a bit and does so, lightly at first. --- [Jihatsu] He doesn't stop her. He is trembling, stiff, and cold, and doesn't seem to respond physically to her touch either. --- [Ardweden] "Hey," Katie says, giving him a tighter hug. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here. You're not by yourself." She takes in Wataru's reactions, trying to figure out what he's feeling. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru hasn't really responded to her yet. There's room next to him on the couch, though, and he's certainly not pushing her away. --- [Ardweden] Katie settles in next to Wataru, then, sliding the scroll gently to the side with one foot. She'll find out what it says later. She hugs him some more. --- [Jihatsu] Eventually, his breathing becomes a little deeper, a little more steady. He leans towards her, and makes a noise almost like a whimper. --- [Ardweden] Katie sighs lightly. She pulls Wataru so he can lean on her, if he wants. --- [Jihatsu] He leans, finally letting go of his knees but his legs still tucked up on the couch. His breath comes in deep, trembling gasps, not quite sobs, but almost. "R...read it," he rasps. "Oh god. What am I gonna do." --- [Ardweden] Katie squeezes Wataru, briefly, not wanting to let go of him just yet. "Okay." She keeps one arm around Wataru and reaches out with her other, creating a gust of wind that flutters the scroll up and away, then another that sends it back so it flies close but not quite there. She snatches it before it falls away. Smoothing it over one leg, she reads, and then reads it again. She curses softly. "Assholes," she says. "He's not a weapon." --- [Jihatsu] "What am I gonna do," Wataru repeats, not acknowledging her. "Oh god. They found me, they found me, what am I gonna do." He sniffs, and only then really seems to realize he's crying, which makes him wipe away frantically at his face but only cry even harder. --- [Ardweden] "Hey. Wataru." Katie hugs him again. "They were going to find you eventually. It's okay. You just... keep going. You're not alone." --- [Jihatsu] "No," he gasps,"no. Oh god, it's all over," he groans, holding his face in his hands. --- [Ardweden] "It is not," Katie tells him, decisively. "Whatever 'it' is, it's nowhere close to over." --- [Jihatsu] He looks at her, face plotchy and red now instead of grey. "They found me," he says again. "I was so careful. I w-... I was supposed to be the one on the outside. Now it's all on Satoshi. Oh god, they're going to find Satoshi," he says, panic clamping up his throat. --- [Ardweden] "You're still the one on the outside," Katie points out. Her eyes are calm, and her voice is steady. "They probably don't know you're with us, at least yet. Or they wouldn't have given you this." She waves the letter. "And they're not going to give Satoshi crap before they give the rest of us crap. We're here. He's an ocean away. I know two people with travel powers, and unless Jin really surprises us, they don't have either." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru tries - he really does try - to focus on her words, but it's hard. He nods. He wipes his face. "How... I've been so careful," he says. "I only ever talk with you guys. How did they find me. Oh god, our emails are encrypted but... Does he say something about emails?" Wataru's eyes alight on the scroll again. "They could know everything. Nothing is safe anymore." --- [Ardweden] Katie closes her eyes and lets out out a sigh through her nose. "They didn't say anything about our e-mails," she says, then opens her eyes. "And nothing's ever been completely safe. You're an Arcana. People can figure that out. That Sho let you go was probably one part your power and four parts luck. There are completely mundane ways to find out almost anything we want about somebody." She looks at the letter again. "I mean... right now, it looks like they just want to talk to you. Maybe she wants to train you. Like Remi." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru breathes. He's silent for a long time. --- [Ardweden] Katie lessens the hug, giving him time and a little more space. --- [Jihatsu] "Can..." He breathes. "I... I don't know. Can we hide my connection to you? I... I can't, I..." He shakes his head, running his hands through his hair. "If you... I don't want to follow up on this," he says, shaking his head again quickly. "But I can. If you want me on the inside instead of the outside. If." He exhales. Looks down. "If that's how I can keep... Keep him safe," he ends in a whisper, almost not audible to non-Katie ears. Then audibly again, "Keep everyone safe." --- [Ardweden] Katie frowns for a second, but by the time Wataru looks at her again, it's gone. "Do what you're comfortable with. I mean..." She sighs. "I mean, yes, maybe it would be useful for you to put yourself into Shuffle. Or to... send a message by owl. But if that's too much, don't. You'll only hurt yourself, and that'll hurt all of us." She looks at the letter again. "I think Yukinaga's going to keep an eye on you until you say yes or no, though." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru breathes. "I just want it all to go away," he says, hoarsely. --- [Ardweden] "I'm sorry," is all Katie can really say. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru just sits there, breathing. ~They know who I am.~ --- [Ardweden] Katie's not psychic, (un)fortunately. But she doesn't go anywhere. --- [Jihatsu] "They know where I work, too," he sighs. He's running out of terror, even running out of shock. Mostly, what's coming to the surface now is exhaustion. --- [Ardweden] "Yeah," Katie sighs. And then, "Where do you work?" --- [Jihatsu] "At Waseda. I literally got this job today," he heaves a heavy sigh. "Fucking hell." --- [Ardweden] Katie shakes her head. "If they found you this easily, they can probably find you wherever else you work, if they decide to." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru tucks back into the couch a bit more, bringing his feet up and hugging a pillow. "It's ... I feel like it's game over. I can't get away from them now. They've caught me and everything will be different forever." Dammit, he was *just* starting to feel like he maybe had a good thing going! --- [Ardweden] "Everything already was different forever," Katie points out. She sighs and folds the piece of paper. "Look... as far as this stuff goes, this isn't bad. Yeah, they know some stuff about you. But if they think they know all there is to know, they probably won't keep looking for more. You're not known for getting involved. That's kind of the point. And them telling you about this means you know stuff about *them*." "Plus," she adds with a little smirk. "You can do things with items, right? Does this-" she waves with the letter "-count?" --- [Jihatsu] He looks at the scroll again. "Do things... Yeah, yeah probably," he admits, with a little frown. He straightens up a little. "So maybe we can... I mean, they've got something on me, but we've got something on them, too. And... I think you're right. They probably don't realize I know you guys." He looks at Katie, now, almost like he's seeing her for the first time tonight. --- [Ardweden] Katie smiles reassuringly upon seeing Wataru start to calm down. "They tipped their hand here, too. Even if they don't know it. I mean... look." She unfolds the letter again, laying it on her lap so they can both see it. "Now we know Norishige's part of it, which is *weird*. In high school, he'd only do things if he thought fate told him to. Yorihisa's not the kind of person who would, but his language picked up the kind of thing Norishige'd say. 'It's fated,' see? When I knew Yorihisa, he'd just give you a look like you're garbage and continue on his way. They stuck their necks out to contact you. We know a little bit more." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru sits, and slowly the implications of what all this could mean start to trickle into his consciousness. He won't say anything unless prompted for a minute or two, but he looks like he's thinking. --- [Ardweden] Katie waits, smoothing the letter out as she does so. She's not touching Wataru anymore, though she's still sitting close by. --- [Jihatsu] "... I'm gonna have to be way more careful. Really limit my interactions with you, now that they're watching. Not just Satoshi, the rest of you too. I'm going to have to work on plausible deniability. Shit. How are we gonna do this?" --- [Ardweden] Katie shrugs. "Not sure yet. We just found out about this." She looks down at the letter, thinking. "So the owl gave this to you where you work, at Waseda. That means that they know you work there. But even though it followed you, it wasn't here, outside your apartment, when you got here, right? At least, I didn't see it. That means it doesn't know where you live. Once you give them an answer, the owl will probably go away, at least most of the time. Norishige does kind of need him to see." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods... "....Katie... I don't know what to do here," he confesses, open and lost. "I'm just gonna say it. I... I've got nothing. I'm scared and I've got nothing. You need to help me." --- [Ardweden] Katie blinks at Wataru. "Of course I'll help you," she says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world. Maybe, to her, it is. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru exhales, and nods. "Thank you. We should probably get everyone else in on this, too. I don't want to make any decisions without having all the facts." --- [Ardweden] Katie nods. "Do you want to tell them, or...?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru frowns. "You... You should probably tell Kyon. I think I'd like to tell everyone else myself." He sighs. "In person, I guess. I'm nervous about email and phones now. Guh, how are we gonna tell Satoshi?" --- [Ardweden] "Okay, I'll tell him. And you're working on campus, right? Kyon goes there. We could probably ask him not to bother you at work, except in an emergency. And then through phone. About Satoshi, I..." Katie trails off, looking away and thinking. "... I mean. This is all just speculation. But I kind of don't think they'd have contacted you if they thought you were associated with him." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods at this. "So.... Wait, so what you're saying is that we might not need to worry so much about our communications. All of us." --- [Ardweden] Katie shrugs. "If they were watching you all the time or tracing your e- mails, they'd already know you're associated with us. If they could hear through your phone, they'd already know you called me and asked me what to do. We should still keep an eye out, but this isn't the same as when there were literally people pretending to be us, copying our habits and taking over our lives. I'm not saying you should drop your personal information into Shuffle or anything, but... you know?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru eyes her, but just nods. "Okay." He rakes his hands through his hair. "Okay. Still. Let's be careful." --- [Ardweden] "Always careful," Katie agrees. If she was put off by Wataru eyeing her, she doesn't seem so. She just skims the letter again, then folds it in half and hands it to Wataru. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru feels a pang of panic when she gets up to go. He swallows, looking at her. --- [Ardweden] Katie had just stood up and was about to explain that she should get going when she sees the look on Wataru's face. "I can stay," she says. "If you want, I... I know how hard it can be. I just wasn't sure... I mean, you like your privacy and we've scared each other a lot before." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has a damp chuckle at that. "Well, this has scared me a lot more. Please stay," he says, making something that unintentionally really does resemble puppy eyes behind his big oval glasses. "I... I can order pizza or something. I really would rather not be on my own right now." --- [Ardweden] "You don't have to bribe me with pizza," Katie says with a tiny grin. "Though I really wish we could get real pizza here." She pulls her phone and looks at it. "... But sure. Let me just text Kyon really quick, okay? I should let him know where I am." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods. "That's a good idea. And yeah. The travesty they call "Pizza Hut" here is just heartbreaking. Nepalese food?" --- [Ardweden] Katie brightens! Maybe she's hungry. "Sure." She steps back to the couch and flops down, typing in a text to Kyon. _wataru had some weird stuff happen to him. i'm at his place & staying for a while to help him through it._ --- [Jihatsu] Wataru orders two set courses of his favourite curries - a sweet and fragrant Butter Chicken, and a scrumptious chick pea curry full of indecipherable spices. They come with rice and all kinds of sides! Even dessert! Having something normal and easy to do is good! Ordering the food! --- [Ardweden] Katie has a short conversation in text with Kyon while Wataru does this, as she got a text back that says, _Right. Let me know if you need backup. Probably better without me. Message again if you're going to miss dinner._ Her response: _i am. he's going to order food._ And then she gets up and retrieves her things from the dining room table, going to sit down on the couch again. Now with bag and book! She starts flipping through her high school artwork. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru goes to get them both glasses of water, if Katie wants one too, and takes the kitchen sink as an opportunity to wash his face. Buuhhh face. --- [Ardweden] Katie thanks Wataru for the water, looking up from her sketchbook, and then her phone buzzes. She flips it open. Kyon again, saying, _Right. Let me know when you're on your way home._ Two letters: _ok._ And a period! She looks at it for a second, then types, _might be late idk._ There. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru sits. And now he is sitting, with a Katie in his living room. --- [Ardweden] It's true! There's a Katie in his living room. On his couch, even, with a sketchbook on her lap. There's silence for a bit, then Katie asks, "So, how does the thing with the items work? Did you use it to find me?" Katie Andrews, Master of Small Talk. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru sighs, and decides to explain a bit. How people leave an impression on things, sometimes, and sometimes he can feel those impressions. How he doesn't really like telling people he can do that, because it's sort of crazy? Also, hell, welcome to his life of hiding. And she's probably noticed by now that he kind of tends to reveal as little as possible. --- [Ardweden] Katie finds this super interesting. She agrees that it's sort of crazy, but she doesn't seem particularly freaked out. Instead, she asks what makes something work for a token, what kinds of impressions things leave, what it's like when he tries to cast spells with it (Is it really like casting spells? Dark rituals and stuff? Nothing she does is anything like casting spells). She just seems genuinely curious, at least until or unless he gets skittish. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru shrugs and admits that he doesn't know! His shit's not an exact science. Sometimes things feel... like... like, infused with ... stuff. Meaning. Context. Personality. History. He's sort of just starting to work it out, actually. And he doesn't know. Dark rituals? It's not like there are goat skulls and pentacles and shit. --- [Ardweden] Katie says with a straight face that there totally _could_ be pentacles. And swords and cups and wands. Magic wands, because he's a magical boy. Food arrives! --- [Jihatsu] He snerks. And food!!! He is suddenly _starving._ --- [Ardweden] Katie is too, actually. And the food smells _really_ good. She'll help Wataru set up for foodstuffs! --- [Jihatsu] He doesn't have cherry Coke, but he *does* have regular Coke, which he offers to share! --- [Ardweden] Regular Coke is actually what Katie asks for, so that's great. She digs in. The butter chicken is actually the best and she's looking for information on this place, even though it's not really close to where she lives, probably. --- [Jihatsu] It *is* actually the best. And this particular info, Wataru is quite forthcoming about. ^_^ --- [Ardweden] Yeeeeeeees. :9 Katie eats the hell out of this food, with far more gusto than Wataru maybe would have expected, but then, he's only eaten with her once before, and that time she didn't even touch the main course because she stormed out. --- [Jihatsu] It's.......... it's kind of adorable????????? <_< Maybe it reminds him of Izumi, but if it does, it's subconscious. --- [Ardweden] Katie sees some sort of look on Wataru's face, and she pushes food his way. "Sorry," she says, "Arcana stuff always makes me super hungry once I calm down." --- [Jihatsu] "No that's... It's -" NOTHING I CAN SAY WON'T COME ACROSS AS WEIRD. He has a little laugh. "Me too. Hungry, thirsty, sleepy, whatever. Things always really hit me physically." He sighs. --- [Ardweden] "It's all the chemicals," Katie says around her food. "Then again, everything's chemicals. For most people. Kyon's actually a robot." Rice! Rice with sauce! --- [Jihatsu] Wataru dunks his buttery naan in the curry on his plate. "Not at all surprised by that." Food is good. Food is real and warm and delicious. --- [Ardweden] Katie snerks. "Right?" And she rips her naan into pieces. The rest of dinner probably passes mostly uneventfully, as food cuts down the need for conversation. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru will encourage conversation topics such as: his new job, her art, Satoshi and what they will send him in their care package and how there is pretty much no way they're telling him about this new Shuffle development before they have some kind of solid plan, is there. --- [Ardweden] Katie definitely wants to hear about the job. That the scroll's been there for a while strikes her as odd - it means that Norishige or Yorihisa or whoever probably knew that Wataru would show up there eventually and have some way to get it, but maybe not when he'd show up. Did the owl see him use his telekinesis? Then they probably know about that, but as powers to keep secret goes that's minor. Concerning Satoshi and Shuffle, it's probably a bad idea to keep him _waiting_ exactly; maybe Wataru should tell him over video chat? After Kaede makes sure the connection's absolutely secure. She semi-brushes off art, for some reason. Obviously she cares about it, but she admits to having had some trouble lately, and she isn't exactly sure why. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru stares at his food and says that the TK is an easy thing to be open about, TK and being decent at reading cards. He'll try to keep the rest secret. He glances up, adding that he did manage to keep it secret from most of them until now, after all. --- [Ardweden] Katie nods. That's why she told him about wind first. It's the easiest thing. --- [Jihatsu] As they talk, it eventually dawns on Wataru - chillingly - that they're actually considering taking Yorihisa up on this bullshit, aren't they. --- [Ardweden] It was never really in question for Katie, and she does emphasize that she doesn't want Wataru doing anything he's not willing to do, but... yeah. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru pushes his food around on his plate. Draws little concentric spirals in the sauce. Lines up stray peas. Closes his eyes, with a deep shuddering sigh of finality. "If anyone had to get in.... you could do worse than have it be me. Fuck, I'm pretty well suited for the job, aren't I." He lines up the facts, like peas. --- [Ardweden] "They handed it to you," Katie admits, quietly. Her plate is empty; she's toying with her chopsticks. --- [Jihatsu] "God." He opens his eyes again. "They handed it to *us*. This is probably the best goddamn chance we're gonna get to find out what they're up to." He groans, hanging his head back. "*Fuck*," he emotes! --- [Ardweden] Katie just runs a hand through her hair. She gets up and starts collecting take out debris to throw away. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru flops back onto the carpeted floor (since they were probably eating at the coffee table, sitting on the floor). He stares at his ceiling. --- [Ardweden] Wataru stares at the ceiling. Katie cleans up! If he doesn't come out of the ceiling stare, she washes his dishes, too. --- [Jihatsu] At one point, she hears "....Are you washing my dishes? Dude, Katie, don't," and then the grunty sound of Wataru pulling himself off the floor. And a few moments later he pokes his head in the kitchen. "Aww." --- [Ardweden] Katie's halfway through, holding one of the plates up so she can see it better. "Hey," she says, rinsing it off and setting it on Wataru's drying rack. It may be the cleanest that plate has ever actually been. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru goes over to help her. "If we're even going to consider doing this, I need a hell of a lot of preparation. And an escape plan." --- [Ardweden] "Yup." Katie keeps washing, but Wataru can dry! --- [Jihatsu] Wataru dries. "All of you know a lot more about all of this than I do. I need an idea of what I'm going into - not just who these people are, but just general Arcana... stuff. Things to be careful about, you know?" --- [Ardweden] Katie sighs. She looks at the dish in her hands, then scrubs at it some more. Checks it again, rinses, and hands it over. Then reaches over to pick up a mug and starts washing that. "There's almost too much," she says. "I tried to explain before. When I came here the first time, I mean... there was too much. And you didn't even follow everything I was trying to tell you then." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru takes the dish, looking away. "There's only so much a guy can take in. This is a huge and crazy world I've been thrown into. I'll try, though. I've been trying to keep track of things better." --- [Ardweden] "Okay," Katie says. "Okay. How about we finish washing these, then I'll tell you whatever I can." She smiles, a bit ruefully. "But I'm going to forget to mention things." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles. "That's why we need to talk to everybody about this. That's what a team's all about, right? Ideally, the advantages stack and the disadvantages cancel out. Or that's what I've heard." He seems quirkily amused. --- [Ardweden] "Ideally," Katie echoes, faintly amused. She hands the mug to Wataru without looking at him and reaches for the other one - the last thing they need to wash. "No, it... a lot of this stuff is new. The World being active is new, as far as we know. Norishige working with anyone besides his idea of fate is new. Yorihisa, too... being part of a group and a potential enemy is new. I had no idea what his powers were. I guess sealing things is one of them. Remi was even an ally." She falls silent briefly, then adds, "They're not working against us, at least not directly. Nobody's been hurt, or trapped, or nullified, or kidnapped, or replaced." --- [Jihatsu] He doesn't even really want to ask what 'nullified' means. He dries the mug attentively. "And I take it these are things that happened. So prudence is called for, but like, it's not necessarily dangerous." --- [Ardweden] Katie nods. "Not necessarily. And then there were a lot of things that didn't seem necessarily dangerous but were. We found those, too. And just one of them can..." She trails off, gazing at the mug, then seems to come to herself and rinses it out. "There's a lot that's weird out there. Everything any of us can do is weird." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods. "I want to use my weird to help all of you." --- [Ardweden] "Yeah," Katie says, distantly. "I got that." She cleans the sink of suds and dries her hands. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru puts his mug away, feeling weirdly offended by her choice of words, but whatever. He huffs. --- [Ardweden] Katie hears the huff. How couldn't she? "Sorry," she says, not looking his direction. She hangs the dish towel back up. "I didn't mean to upset you." --- [Jihatsu] "It's fine. I'm not sure what you meant by what you said, but - no, it's fine." He musses up his hair. "We're gonna have to learn to work together without triggering each other 24/7. So." He tries a bit of a smile? --- [Ardweden] Katie turns to see Wataru. "Triggering each other?" She looks past him. "I guess that's normal." And then she crosses past him, walking back to where her bag and the old sketchbook are. --- [Jihatsu] Something about her behaviour tells him not to push it. He goes and sits on the couch, near her. --- [Ardweden] Katie's flipping through her second year high school sketchbook again, but she's not really looking at it. Her eyes are unfocused and slightly glazed over, like she's seeing something far away or not even there. A minute or so after Wataru sits down, she speaks: "Did anyone tell you how I got my scar?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru was looking at his phone, but looks up again when she talks. Triggering is right. "No," he says. --- [Ardweden] She flips her sketchbook shut and looks more or less at the cover. "I'm going to tell you." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru swallows, and nods. "You know you don't have to, right? But you can. I'll listen." --- [Ardweden] "Of course I don't have to," she says, suddenly sharp. One hand goes up to the scarf around her neck and she tugs it off, sending it fluttering to the floor away from her in a half-conscious breeze. "I hated ties. I hate scarves." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru pulls his legs up onto the couch, reminded vividly that she's the most dangerous of them all. He holds onto a pillow, eyes on her. --- [Ardweden] "It was two years ago, in March," Katie says, gazing straight ahead, at the plant next to Wataru's television (or whatever else she's seeing there). "I don't remember exactly when, but counting back days on the newspaper, it was Monday, March 17. They found me Thursday, March 20." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru lets her talk. He doesn't interrupt, but he does consider that if he's going to have dangerous Arcana over more often, he should probably do some redecorating for maximum defensibility. --- [Ardweden] "I was walking to school. It was... cold. Clear, the sky a bright and endless blue. There was a girl on the way. She whispered to me, from across the street. She called me by my name. Said she needed to talk to me. She told me that my friends were in trouble." Katie swallows, but she continues steadily. "I looked her way. And she ran." Katie takes a breath. "I chased her, and she goaded me on, saying we had to talk in private; we knew how it was. She led me into what used to be a hotel. And I tried to be careful, but I also wanted to know. After she led me down a hall, she stopped, turned, and said that she always wanted to meet herself. I... Illusions, doubles, these weren't strange things to us... they were strange, but not that strange to us. They were mostly harmless. Sometimes they could play cruel tricks. Other times they gave us information. Most were Meimi's illusions, and I had known Meimi, or at least an illusionary version of her. So I was cautious, but I wasn't scared." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru follows, breathing shallowly, not wanting to even make too much noise with that. He can tell that this is something big. He doesn't think she'll hurt him, but he tries to prepare himself mentally for the possibility. --- [Ardweden] Katie continues, still looking at that plant. Her voice is still calm but only barely, as the steadiness starts to leak out from under it. "She convinced me to step over to a door, saying she had something she wanted to show me. She told me some nonsense. About how it was part of a Tower, about past lives, I- I-" She stops at her stutter for a second, then continues. "I could hear her stepping behind me. I saw her shadow. I had mace in my hand but the knife was at my throat before I could-" Katie's eyes squeeze shut, and her hands curl into fists on her lap, the sketchbook between them. "She told me to drop it. So I did. I asked her what she wanted. She said to show everyone what a lying bitch I was. Then she slit my throat, shoved me in a janitor's closet, and locked the door behind me. There was no light on the inside." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru frowns, as the reality of this sinks in. This is something that really happened, and it happened to Katie. And she's here to tell the tale. What has he gotten himself into? --- [Ardweden] "I was in... there... for days. Ken found me. Ken and Kaede and Satoshi. I don't remember them getting me. I think I was unconscious. I remember the hospital room later, different smells and different sounds and bright lights. I remember not thinking that anybody was real. That I was imagining them, or they were doubles playing tricks on me, or that I was actually dead. I felt like-" Abruptly, Katie stops herself. She forces her fists open, digging her fingertips into her thighs. She forces her eyes open, too, fixed on a space in the wall, or the plant, or whatever it is that's directly in front of her. "It was luck." --- [Jihatsu] "Luck." Odd word to choose, so he encourages her, seeing if she'll elaborate on it. --- [Ardweden] Katie's silent for a second, then she says, softly, "They shouldn't have found me. I should be dead. That they knew I was missing... that was pure luck. She decided getting the Wand was more important than pretending to be me." --- [Jihatsu] "God, I mean," Wataru sighs, hugging the pillow tighter, some of his fight- or-flight dissipating. "The fact that any one of us is alive is luck." --- [Ardweden] Katie laughs, sudden and short and unexpectedly loud. "Yeah," she says, her eyes regaining some of their focus as she tilts her head back to look at where the room's ceiling meets the wall. "That's got a lot to do with it." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles a bit.... Not quite looking at her, though. --- [Ardweden] "Anyway." Her voice is regaining its control, sharpness and life seeping back into it. "You wanted to know something to watch out for. That was one, even though one source is dead and the other seems inactive. Doubles. Perfect illusions from Meimi, which were mostly harmless if sometimes annoyingly deceptive... and then people _she_ could shapeshift," It's clear "she" is not at all Meimi, whoever that is, in this case, "including herself, with eyes their original color, and they really weren't. She was the Page of Swords Reversed, but not all Reversed are like that. They're just people, like me or you, maybe sought out by other Reversed like some Uprights seem to seek out each other. All of them, all of this. It's just people with power." --- [Jihatsu] "Wait," Wataru puts the pillow aside, "waitwaitwait. There are *Reversed* Arcana?" --- [Ardweden] Katie looks at Wataru. She blinks. "Yes? I told you there are, when we met in the Tower Reversed." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru shakes his head. "Too much info, to quickly, sometimes it doesn't stick. Sorry. You're right - but - man, so there's like, what, hundreds of us?" --- [Ardweden] "One hundred forty-four," Katie says, "but then you have to take out the ones that are dead and the ones that are concepts or locations, like The Wheel or The Tower. But something like that, yeah." --- [Jihatsu] "All but like, two of whom are Japanese?" It's so weird. "Anyway. Okay. Sorry. So there's 144 Arcana minus the dead or imaginary ones. Right. And Reversed are not all evil. Is there a World reversed?" Then his eyes get suddenly big. "Could Aka Uehara be the Magician Reversed?" --- [Ardweden] Katie sighs. "Yeah, the Japanese thing... I don't even know. As far as I know, the only one who isn't Japanese at all is Winston. And maybe The Hermit Reversed. But I never met him." And then she laughs, a little. "I guess Aka could be? But it's pretty unlikely. When we talked to Masaru that day, he gave the impression that his brother was annoyed that he didn't have any magic." --- [Jihatsu] "--which would make sense for the Magician Reversed." Wataru continues, sitting straighter with excitement. "No, like. Frustration, feeling you you've got a lot to give that you're not having the right outlet for? Unfulfilled, latent abilities? If there's anyone who could be a late bloomer, Magician Reversed works for me. Am I crazy?" --- [Ardweden] Katie shakes her head. "No. But he could also be a lot of other things. Including someone without any card at all. Lots of people feel that way." --- [Jihatsu] "'Lots of people' aren't spared by Temperance after writing copious books about shit that went down." He sighs. "But, fair." He seems thoughtful for a moment, and then: "I wonder in what way he's her weak spot." -- [Ardweden] "By 'her' you mean The World, right?" Katie considers. "I've never actually met either of them, but my guess is he might not be happy about what she's actually doing. Maybe he doesn't even know what she's actually doing. I mean. If he thinks this is unfair and that people should know, why would he want a bunch of us to come together for whatever reason? But... it's all pretty base speculation." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods, then stops. "I've been assuming they're working together though. Like. His maybe-girlfriend is probably the one who coached Murimora." Blink. "But you haven't seen my crazy person chart." --- [Ardweden] Katie's eyebrows go up. "You have a chart?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru laughs a bit. "Mm.... Yeah this is probably getting torched tonight. But I've been working on connections. I showed Satoshi. Okay, gimme a sec." And he gets up to go into his bedroom! --- [Ardweden] Katie is somewhat surprised, and she half rises before she catches herself and sits back down. She looks around the room in the meantime. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru takes like twenty seconds in the bedroom before coming out with a large piece of paper. "Soooo, yeah." He just hands it to her. It's covered in scribbles! --- [Ardweden] Katie takes the large piece of paper, which probably is so much so it's unwieldy. She drops off the couch and spreads it out over the floor. --- [Jihatsu] It's not *that* large! There's only a few clusters of names on it. --- [Ardweden] Katie looks the paper over for a good, long moment. "You think spatially." --- [Jihatsu] "I... I guess? I mean maybe it comes from feeling all the objects around me ." --- [Ardweden] "It's not a bad thing," Katie says, still looking at it. "It's just a thing." She looks at Wataru. "Do you keep more notes? Charts, like these?" --- [Jihatsu] "Some," he admits. "There's... a lot to keep track of. But I've been hanging on to some of them too long - there's gonna be a purge tonight." --- [Ardweden] Katie nods. "I don't think there's anything wrong with some, I mean... there is a lot to keep track of. And if someone breaks into your apartment, it's not the first thing you should worry about. But... yeah." --- [Jihatsu] "It kind of *is* the first thing I worry about," he laughs, uncomfortably. "Hey can steal my TV and shit, I'll live. But if they come for my notes..." He shakes his head. "We'll see. Anyway, what'cha think?" He nods towards the paper. "About my connections. Got any info I don't?" --- [Ardweden] Katie shakes her head. "I'm not talking about stealing things..." She looks at Wataru. "Probably. There's the new people we know about, right? And your chart doesn't have everyone I'd think it would." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles at her, looks at the couple of pens on the table pointedly, and at his chart, and then smiles more! --- [Ardweden] Katie studies Wataru's smiling face. "... You want me to add to your chart for you." --- [Jihatsu] His smile softens. "I get it if you'd rather not. I've noticed we all keep our information compartmentalized, me maybe worst of all, you know, and I'm sure we all have good reasons. But I'm sharing this with you and I would just legitimately appreciate the feedback. Doesn't have to be now, doesn't have to be ever, but the suggestion is out there." He goes and sits down on the couch. "Of course, it goes both ways. If this Shuffle thing happens, whatever I learn, I'll keep you in the loop." --- [Ardweden] "I *hope* so." Katie's tone indicates not keeping her in the loop would be tremendously stupid. She looks at the chart again. "A lot of this looks deliberately blank. Like this." She points out the Sakuragaoka filler, which just says there are too many. "Do you have more comprehensive notes somewhere?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru purses his lips. "Kinda, but they're..." He clears his throat. "Kind of personal. I just meant there's too many Sakuragaoka involved in this particular situation, with the Shuffle and the books and stuff." --- [Ardweden] Katie looks up at Wataru for a long moment, pretty damn sure she knows what he means by 'kind of personal'. "Okay," she finally says. "I just thought I could fill in more gaps." She gets up and goes to her bag, taking out her pencil case, then picks up Wataru's oversized chart. She heads to the dining room table. --- [Jihatsu] "Feel free to ask me questions though," he says, relieved. Even though he can pretty much tell that she can pretty much tell what that's all about. And then he realizes. She just knows, doesn't she. She just already knows he's gay and it's a big stupid charade and that's probably not going to stop him keeping it up but it's still incredibly dumb. He sighs. --- [Ardweden] "Here's a question," Katie says, settling into a chair. She opens her pencil case and takes out a sharp one with navy blue lead. "Do you want me to just fill in most connections I see, from high school?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru cocks his head. "What do you mean?" --- [Ardweden] "Most of what I know about any of these people comes from two years ago. I'm not like Haruko. Or Kyon. Or... whoever. I didn't try to maintain friends." She says this without any shame whatsoever. "Shuffle is new. So those connections might be tenuous." She spins the pencil between her fingers - a practiced motion, and a lot like she was doing with a chopstick earlier that day, when she wasn't eating with them (which wasn't often). "I can label them." --- [Jihatsu] "Okay," he says, trying not to be stupidly protective of his stupid chart. "Go for it." --- [Ardweden] Katie nods. She's about to start writing when she sees something. "Where did you get this?" She points with the pencil at 'classmates gives info to' from Yorihisa Mirumura to Aka Uehara, making a tiny dot on the paper. --- [Jihatsu] "Uh, I can't remember. One of you guys? I think it came up in one of those emails that went around. Why?" --- [Ardweden] "I never said that." Her pencil goes to Noboru Kagome, attached to Council of Mysteries. "He's the one who gave information to Aka. He's my classmate." And so Katie starts. She writes 'SHUFFLE' in cramped blue within the Global Personnel Services circle. She crosses out/erases the connection between Yorihisa and Aka. She draws a dotted line between Noboru and Aka, with 'gave information to'. Another line goes from Noboru to GPS/SHUFFLE, with 'art for', and still another to a different circle, 'KORUBANE ART DEPT'. A solid line goes from GPS/SHUFFLE to Norishige Matsushina, with another line between him and Yorihisa, saying 'invited Wataru together'. Dotted also lines spring from GPS/SHUFFLE, to Matthias Weiss and Takeo Kirishima, both labeled 'invited to'. Matthias gets a dotted line to Akemi Shiraishi, arrow pointed Matthias' way, with 'worked for in high school'. To Takeo, she draws a line with another circle that says 'BAND'. A dotted line attaches between Takeo and Sumire Himeyama, with 'dating still?' Sumire gets attached to the band. Another name, Miho Ryokama, is also attached to the band. Takeo gets a dotted line to Council of Mysteries, arrow to CoM: 'worried about'. Sumire gets a dotted line to Remi Okui, arrow pointed to Remi, with 'chopped off her hand - not her fault'. (When Wataru reads that, he may recall that Remi actually does have both functioning hands in the video.) And then, Katie changes colors, from blue to red, and she starts labeling people in tiny print on the upper right corner. Older Woman gets 'WORLD' and under that 'Mitsuko(WW2)'. Remi: 5C. Yorihisa: #P. Norishige: 4S. Sumire: 7S. Takeo: 6W. Miho: 5P. Matthias: 7P. Temperance: Mamiya Kanae. Hinako: HIEROPHANT. Katie sits back and looks at the chart for a moment, then picks up the blue pencil draws a dotted line between Older Woman and Temperance, arrow to Temperance, with 'used services in past? see Hideo'. She looks it over one more time. "There." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru passes through a range of emotions, his eyes growing wide and his face hot with the almost carnal thrill of knowledge. Some of Katie's comments ping with other things he already knows, but otherwise he feels the urge to run into the bedroom and update his notebook SO BAD. And then, she finishes up, and Wataru swallows, contemplating the last thing she wrote. --- [Ardweden] Katie turns her attention to Wataru, watching him. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods, then. "Thanks, Katie. This... It's really helpful. I'm gonna have to study it, um, and maybe transcribe the gist of it in some kind of code before I burn it." He looks at her, earnest appreciation clear on his face. "When you look at it, is there anything that jumps out at you now?" --- [Ardweden] Katie looks back at the chart, then draws a finger from Temperance to The World, then runs that across connections to Aka Uehara. "The World might be the reason Temperance hasn't wiped Aka yet. Maybe they have an agreement. It could be that Shuffle is a good incentive, or The World is offering something else. Alternately, she could have created a distraction. Either way, I don't think it's coincidence that Temperance is out of the country right now, or that Hinako *thinks* she's out of the country now. Oh." She picks up the blue pencil again and draws another dotted line from Hinako to Council of Mysteries, with an arrow to CoM. She notes, 'didn't know about - Taki told'. --- [Jihatsu] "What does Temperance *want*, anyway? Like is she just a normal person like you and me? She just feels it's super important to Men-In-Black mind wipe people who find out about Arcana?" --- [Ardweden] "I don't know," Katie sighs. "I really don't. We've met Temperance. She's one of the older Arcana, maybe in her mid-twenties now? The impression that I got is she felt like she had a job to do, and she was going to do it. She didn't care how unfair things were, or how hurt people got, or why or how. All she cared about was keeping us hidden from everyone else. That said... I mean. She didn't do a very good job in a lot of ways. A small handful of normal people knew about us, some to a really good extent, and never got wiped. And those are just the ones I know; there's got to be more. But for some reason, she didn't touch them." --- [Jihatsu] Gears are visibly working in Wataru's head. "Has anyone ever just like. Asked her?" --- [Ardweden] Katie shakes her head. "Not really. I remember running into her once. She was waiting for us. She was pissed because we were making her job harder, and she accused Kaede of-" She stops, suddenly, than continues, "-of not taking care of his sister at the time, right after Yushiro beat her up. And it's not like we knew who did it, and we were trying to save... Remi. We had to save Remi. She was taken hostage because..." Katie trails off, lost in the memory, then she adds more harshly, "She told us that *we* put people in the way. That we were the reason *other people* were trying to hurt them. I thought she was a bitch. I haven't gotten any evidence any other way." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is so lost with all those threads of information that he doesn't even really know which one to follow up on. "Okay, so Temperance is a bitch," he concludes after a moment. "So asking nicely probably has like, zero sway with her." --- [Ardweden] "Yeah." Katie brings both hands up and rubs at her eyes, then runs them back through her hair, doing a little stretch after that's done. --- [Jihatsu] "...I've been keeping you pretty late, huh," Wataru realizes then. --- [Ardweden] "Yeah," Katie says, "It's okay." Then... "Hey." She looks at him. "*Did* you use an item to find me?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has a little awkward smile, and he nods. --- [Ardweden] Katie smiles a touch back. "Where did you get it?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru tries to remember. Ohhhhhh. Um. --- [Ardweden] Katie waits. She doesn't seem angry, at least. --- [Jihatsu] "I... Found something of yours once. A doodle. I liked it." He shrugs. --- [Ardweden] Katie blinks. She thinks for a moment, then shrugs too. Doodles happen. They particularly happen to her. "Does the... energy? Magic? In an item go away after you use it for something like that?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru blinks. "I... I'm not sure?" Hmmm. "I've never really thought about it." He thinks about it. --- [Ardweden] "Do you still have it?" Katie spins her blue pencil on the table. "Can you go see?" --- [Jihatsu] "I..." He frowns. "Why? I mean, sure, but why?" --- [Ardweden] "Because I'd like to know. Don't you? I mean." She twirls her pencil some more. "Doesn't that seem kind of important?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru thinks for a moment, then shrugs. "Why not. Ok, one sec." Off he goes again! --- [Ardweden] He goes! Katie studies the chart she helped make. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru takes a moment this time, in his room, the door nearly shut. He's pretty sure she'll remember drawing this. Should he just say he found it on campus.....? God, honesty is fucking *hard*. He grabs the napkin and goes back out. "So," he says. --- [Ardweden] Katie turns in her chair to look at him. And the napkin. --- [Jihatsu] "I guess..." He looks at it. The art's still really good. "Hmm." He tries to figure out if it still has that web of connections and context that he used to find her last time.... "...It's kinda weird to do this with someone watching," he says, laughing a bit! --- [Ardweden] Katie snerks. "Want me to turn around?" --- [Jihatsu] "*No*," he rolls his eyes, amused. "Just... Okay." He breathes. Just think about locating Katie, right? Ignore that she's like right there. Focus on the napkin.... --- [Ardweden] Katie stops twirling her pencil. Really, she goes very still. --- [Jihatsu] IT'S DISTRACTING ".... You -- please don't take offence, but you watch things with the concentration of a stalking animal." He laughs! "It's weirdly distracting, but anyway, I'm not feeling anything," he shrugs. --- [Ardweden] Katie actually blushes slightly, looking away. "Sorry, I... yeah, sorry about that." --- [Jihatsu] The blush surprises him, but he chooses not to draw attention to it. "It's cool. But anyway, yeah, I really can't feel anything. Maybe it is just a one- shot deal." --- [Ardweden] Katie makes a quiet 'hm' noise, and she glances at the napkin again. She looks back at the chart, then picks up her pencils and sets them neatly back in her case. "I guess you picked that up before we officially met." She snaps the case shut. --- [Jihatsu] It's Wataru's turn to blush a little. "Found it on campus, yeah." --- [Ardweden] "And you knew it was connected to me." She stands up, picking her case up with her, and fixes her gaze on Wataru. There's nothing accusatory in it. --- [Jihatsu] He looks at her without shame, then. "Honestly? I noticed you doodling one time, in a cafe I think, and happened to pass the table you'd been at after you left, and..." He hands her the napkin. "I just really liked the art, and they would have just bussed it into the trash, so I took it. Sorry if that's weird." --- [Ardweden] Katie's attention drops to the napkin, and she runs a finger over the pen drawing of Waseda's clock tower. "That's appropriate," she says, softly amused. And then she hands it back. "Keep it." --- [Jihatsu] "*Right*?!" Wataru chuckles! "Thanks. " ^__^ --- [Ardweden] Katie smiles back. She crosses the room, pencil case in hand, to pick up her scarf - it had fluttered to over by the television set. She hands the flimsy, blue thing to Wataru. "Does this work?" --- [Jihatsu] "Oh!" He's surprised, but nods. "Yeah, that would definitely work. You sure you don't want it...?" Wait. "You're giving me something on purpose?" --- [Ardweden] "How else are you going to find me if I disappear again?" Katie's tone is light, but there's a serious undercurrent there. "It's not like you're going to take my stuff without asking." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru actually grins. "You - yeah." He nods, holding the scarf decisively. "Thank you. I'll do my best." He hesitates, body language tentative. --- [Ardweden] Katie smiles. Then asks, "What do you do for fun? I saw some video games." --- [Jihatsu] And the moment's passed, and it would be super weird to hug her now. Wataru rocks back on his heels. "Yeah, I like some games." He looks at the TV. "Reading, watching stuff. I'm basically a nerd." He rubs his forehead, and heaves a tiny sigh. "What kind of stuff are you into? Besides art?" Because why *not* have the smalltalk portion of the conversation for dessert? --- [Ardweden] "Birds," Katie says dryly, "I'm pretty sure I'm the bigger nerd. Seriously - I've never played any games besides ones on display at places like CompUSA, which doesn't even exist anymore, and the one time Haruko had me play Dance Dance Revolution with her. I mean..." She sighs. "I mean, do you want to beat me at a game? Before I go? Because then it won't be like I'm just abandoning you to night terrors?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru giggles! "Sure," he says, warmly. "I can try and pick something fairer. And hey, at least 'bird nerd' rhymes." --- [Ardweden] Katie snerks. "Yeah, because *that* makes it cooler." And so they settle down to play Mario Kart Double Dash, which Katie is expectedly terrible at. But she does decide that koopa troopa is the best! Turtles are cute. [End!]