<@Ciara> [Date: Thursday, April 15th, 2004. Time: Early afternoon.] <@Ciara> [Wataru and Katie have made plans to get together at Wataru's apartment for cheescake and coffee and maybe peanut butter (but probably not peanut butter cheescake). And talking. Definitely talking.] <@Ciara> [About what? We're going to find that out.] <@Ciara> [Session Start!] * Wataru finally got his house clean. He also got a rather nice if not overly expensive Japanese-style cheesecake, golden and fluffy and spongy and not too sweet and delicious. He's in a dark blue t-shirt with sky-blue text on it that reads (in a perplexing variety of fonts) "BECOMES THE ONE AND ONELY, giving loving THE SKY IS rock 'r' roll". And jeans. * Katie buzzes Wataru's apartment! * Wataru lets her in! * Katie heads up the stairs and before long is knocking on the door. She's wearing a light blue coat with her guardian lion charm, a gray t-shirt that says 'Trouble.' on it in English with corresponding katakana underneath, a flimsy gray scarf, paint-stained jeans, and sneakers. There's a bag over her shoulder and an unopened jar of peanut butter in one hand. * Wataru opens up the door, takes in the peanut butter and the t-shirt, and grins. "Hey." * Katie smiles back. "Hi," she returns in English. * Katie hands him the peanut butter and rasps, "How're you doing?" Her voice sounds a lot worse than normal. * Wataru notices this. "Whoa. Um, please don't take this the wrong way, but possibly better than you. Are you okay? Can I... You want some tea or something?" He moves aside to let her in, hoping she's not contagious. * Katie nods. "Yeah, tea." She swallows, taking off her scarf and looking around for a place to put it. "I wrecked my voice when we met with Yamagata. Still not totally better." "Oh shit. All right, you got a favourite kind of tea? Let me take that." He helps her hang her stuff up on the hooks provided for that purpose! Not barley? Kyon's been making that a lot lately. * Katie gets her scarf hung up! And her jacket! She even takes off her shoes because she's learned some level of Japanese politeness. * Wataru snerks. "He's early, I thought that stuff wasn't really seasonal until June." He heads to the kitchen, then calls, "You like the sakura green stuff? I got a big tin as a present and I feel it won't last until next spring." * Katie doesn't raise her voice to reply, "Yeah, thanks." Good thing the apartment's generally quiet! * Katie paces in, looking around and noting any differences on her way to the kitchen, her bag back over her shoulder. * Wataru has tidied up well, and there are no school things covering up the dining room table! There is a notepad and pen, though, but the notepad is closed. "Cool." He commences tea preparations! * Katie checks out Wataru's corkboard while she waits for the tea. * Wataru's corkboard appears unchanged from last time! Still has the purikura with Izumi pics, the ticket stubs, the photo of Sophie at summer camp, and the newspaper clipping of teenage Satoshi. Perhaps this summer there will be more memories to add! "So is your semester over too?" He leans on the edge of the kitchen doorway, waiting for the water to boil. * Katie looks over from the pictures and nods. "I did okay." Rueful smile. "Didn't knock anything out of the park in my finals, but I was distracted." Better than high school already, though. You? "I think I did okay," he sighs. "Crammed like crazy the last couple weeks while basically taking a break from Arcana, though..." He rakes the fingers of one hand through his hair. "It's a balancing act, huh." * Katie lets out a faint laugh. "Yeah." She looks back at the pictures. "I'm not going to claim I'm good at it." "I guess I'll get better at it," he replies, a little bitterly. "Although, does shit like *this* happen regularly?" No, but... I guess, when it rains it pours? You find something weird and pry it open. Then that leads to more questions, and answers to those lead to more, and you find more and more people who are also looking. * Wataru shakes his head, and just sighs. He'll listen if she has more to say, only going back to the kitchen when the water boils. * Katie peers at the Satoshi figure skating newspaper clipping. She reaches out to touch it, lightly. "Basically..." She swallows. "If I decided to ignore the rumor about my classmate giving someone information about me, we might have skipped everything about the book." And so everything about Shuffle. Because that's how we found out. * Wataru visibly flinches when she touches the clipping, and colours slightly. Not everyone would notice it, but Katie likely might. "I guess what matters at this point is that we are where we are now, right? And how we decide to move forward?" * Katie nods, a thoughtful look on her face. "Yeah." And then she turns to Wataru again. "You wanted to compare notes?" "Pretty much," he sighs. And then the water is ready! "Gonna..." he gestures to the kitchen before going to take the kettle off. * Katie goes to the table and puts her bag down, then, having a seat. * Wataru returns with a teapot! and then some cups and plates! and then CHEESECAKE "There we go," he says, smiling a little. The smile does not reach his eyes. * Katie smiles back, small but her eyes crinkling at the edges. "Thanks." She pours tea for both of them and then sips hers carefully, trying not to burn herself in a haste for TEA. * Wataru realizes he forgot to bring a knife. Time to get SHARP! * Katie has a knife, but it's not really for cutting cheesecake. * Wataru remains blissfully unaware of this as he returns with a more appropriate implement. "So." He cuts the cake! * Katie sets down her teacup and watches Wataru. "So?" * Wataru serves cake, his gestures simple and direct. "So." He gives her one of those smiles again - perhaps this one reaches his eyes just a little? "To summarize, and correct me if I'm wrong: Aka Uehara wrote these books because he was jealous of his brother's involvement with Arcana and wanted to be a cool guy, during research he met Yamagata and they started dating, but she's the protegee of Satoshi's evil mom, who is trying to relaunch the Arcana Council and is recruiting via Shuffle, and Satoshi owns a bunch of creepy land in America." He has a short exhale. "And yes I know most of what I said is guesswork, but bear with me. Does that kind of cover it?" Okay. That's guesswork. But it could all be right. * Katie sips her tea and slides her slice of cheesecake over. * Wataru nods. "Am I missing any like, major pieces of the - pardon my language - clusterfuck that seems to have emerged while I was writing exams?" * Katie quirks a quarter of a smile. "Pardoned. Um... there are parts of those things, and which of what you said is guesswork and which ones we really know probably matter. But no, it works okay." She blinks. "But there are the books, right, and Yamagata's involvement with them. And that some sort of Council is already active." "And, if I understand correctly," Wataru sits and slides over his own piece of cake, "there's trouble in ... well I'm not gonna say Paradise, but you know. Aka is scared, Yamagata is sort of hapless, Temperance is or was in America..." * Katie nods, picking up her fork. "We don't know how this affects them as a group, or even what the group dynamic's really like, but yeah. Stuff's going on." She grins, suddenly. "We can *make* stuff go on." There's a small element of glee in her rasp, for sure. * Wataru cannot help but smile too. "I like this idea," he says, before he can stop himself. Then he sighs, leaning his head in his hand. "I was so scared, Katie. I was so completely fucking scared and now I'm not, and I don't really know why. Talking... talking with Kaede helped, but I don't know why it would have, it's not like we even talked about this." * Katie tilts her head slightly, then says, "It helps when you're not alone." She tries a bite of the cheesecake. "I guess," he says, quietly. "Who'd have thought." He has a bite. * Katie snorts a little laugh. "Right? This cheesecake is good." She reaches for her tea. * Wataru nods. He seems thoughtful, but stays quiet. * Katie drinks her tea. "I don't know about you," she says between sips, "but I... sometimes I got so hurt and scared that I would just stop. I stopped feeling. All I could think about was what I had to do to to make things safe." "That's kind of how I feel right now," he says, in a quiet matter- of-fact tone. "I... I want Satoshi to be safe. I want Reiji to be okay. I want all of us to be protected from whatever the World and her cronies expect of us. I want it all to go away, and the only way..." He sighs, some of the tension in his shoulders releasing. "That can only happen if we're smart and prepared and organized. So." * Katie looks at Wataru, appraisingly. "So," she agrees, and reaches for the teapot to refill her cup. Things are a little more complicated than your summary. We still don't know enough. But we do know a lot more than we used to. * Wataru flips open his notebook to an empty page. "Enough to find some loose threads and pick at them until the whole damn t---" he stops, frowns, and then looks at Katie. "What are we doing." * Katie raises her eyebrows, already sipping her new cup of tea. "Eating cheesecake? Drinking tea? Talking?" * Wataru shakes his head. "Okay look, I really want to wreck the Council and Satoshi's evil mom, but at the same time... Who are we to mess with things? Not that I mean they have the right and we don't, just... We go in there, yanking at strings... The tapestry isn't just them. It's all of us. Fate is kind of a big deal. We could mess up a lot more than we realize." * Katie nods. "Right." I don't... really care about 'fate', but that's something I tried to explain over e-mail. Maybe I did a bad job. * Wataru shakes his head. "Or maybe it just went over my head. I uh, kind of had a lot to digest at once." * Katie looks at her teacup, picking it up and putting it back down. She runs a finger along the bottom. "The Council doesn't have to be a bad thing. The people involved aren't all bad." Yamagata... seems all right, really. None of us trust the World for good reason, but we'd be the bad guys if we try to ruin something that can actually make things better for most Arcana. A governing body? That's what Haruko's wanted since the beginning. She's not wrong to wish for order. * Wataru's hand tightens on his fork. "I don't want it," is all he can say. * Katie glances at Wataru's hand. "Neither does Kaede." She has a little more cheesecake. "What about you?" * Katie sighs. "I could be convinced, I guess. But I don't trust them." "Because it's them? Or because of the idea?" He looks at her. * Katie looks down at her tea and cheesecake. She plays with the fork. "I don't... I don't like making decisions for people. And I don't like people deciding for me. But- left on our own, it's- we're a disaster. We were, anyway. Everyone hurting each other, nobody knowing what to do or who to trust..." * Wataru listens, and then nods, slowly. Remembering. "...We gotta look out for each other, right?" It's almost a whisper. * Katie nods, still not looking at Wataru. She's studying her teacup now, turning it so she can see it from all angles. "Haruko said once that there has to be a better way. A better way than killing people. I asked her how, and she said, lock them up. Take away their powers. But there was no way to *do* that. There were no guards. There was no system. And I told her that until there was a better way, I..." She sighs. "I mean. I did." * Katie's voice faded even more there, and she picks up her tea and drinks it. * Wataru frowns, but in a way that doesn't seem directed at Katie at all. "It's funny, you know, I don't actually believe in the death penalty..." * Katie glances up at Wataru. "It believes in you," she says humorlessly. * Wataru responds with a small smile, face a little pale. "Yep," he says. He works on breathing for a while. Oh, cake. He eats a bite. So I can support the idea. But I can't support who's in charge. And I bet their methods are crap. * Katie sips her tea. "I *really* don't trust them." * Wataru nods. The world stops fizzing a bit, and he finally remembers his tea, taking a sip. Mh, lukewarm. "So what do you suggest? Take them down but leave the structure? And then what? They're already talking about holding elections, how would you improve on that?" * Katie shrugs. "Don't know yet." We don't know enough. I want to know how the whole process works. How they get votes. What information they get on us. The election cycle, the existing power structure. All of it. Can't decide until we know. * Wataru rubs a hand across his face. "And you want to throw me in the lion's den." * Katie blinks. It's a suggestion, not a desire. You suggested it before. If you don't want to go, don't go. But one reason I suggested letting everyone know about this is it will throw things more out of the World's control, which is only a good thing no matter what we know. It's also relatively safe, as long as there's no kool aid. * Katie finishes off her second cup of tea. It takes a lot of tea to keep talking like this. * Wataru nods. "Yeah." He leaves his face in his hand. "It's still a good idea. I just don't know if I can hack it." * Katie looks at Wataru for a second, then tentatively reaches over to touch his hand. "You don't have to." * Wataru flinches, hard, profoundly startled at the touch. But immediately, he makes himself relax, and looks over at her, chuckling with embarrassment. * Katie pulls her hand back, startled. "I'm sorry." "No, no, it's fine," he chuckles more. "I - I just wasn't expecting that. It's - it's fine, Katie." He smiles. "I was ... all caught up in my head." * Katie nods, still unhappy. "Okay. I just- sorry." "I appreciate it, but really, you don't have to be. You didn't do anything wrong, I'm just jumpy as hell." I- okay. * Katie puts cheesecake in her mouth. Cheesecake really does make some things better. * Wataru does the same. Yes. After a few minutes of eating and drinking in relative silence, Katie is lightly poking at the half-there dessert on her plate with the tines of her fork. "Do you want to do it?" Wataru breathes. "No. But ..." He glances at her. "I want to talk about it more. Not - not necessarily right now, but with everyone, and probably soon. I should also..." He rubs his forehead. "So I told Kaede about my - my abilities. Everything I can do. He knows. And Satoshi knows. But I think everyone else should know, too. Just so we can... make the most informed decision going forward." Katie nods as Wataru talks. Then he continues, and she turns her attention from the cheesecake to him. "More than you've told me?" "Probably...?" He taps his fork on his plate. "I'm sorry, I can't quite remember what I told you." "You have telekinesis," Katie supplies quickly. "You can read the tarot to pretty great effect. You can use objects that are connected to people to find them - you used a doodle I made to find me in another part of the city. You can feel the impressions that people leave on objects by touching them and concentrating. And you can cast spells, of a sort, by staring at people and chanting in tongues. Like you tried to do to Kyoko. And," she adds almost as an afterthought, "you've hidden your card on a draw, at least once." Wataru is listening carefully through that, and is about to respond when she adds her afterthought, which makes him choke a little. He clears his throat. "Yeah you've.. pretty much got it. I actually forgot to mention the tarot thing to Kaede, even. And that last one." He peers at her thoughtfully for a moment, but decides to let it go. Katie sips some tea, then says, "You've done a reading for us, and you told Kyoko about hiding your card from Reiji, with Haruko and Kaede there. I just connected some stuff." "So that's... that's not something you all can do too?" Katie thinks about that. "I've never really tried. Everyone's always said that you just can't do it." She thinks about it some more, sipping her tea, before setting the cup down. "Want to? Try?" "You mean, you want to try? I'm kind of surprised you haven't, honestly." He smiles a little, there. "No one ever told me anything, so I never assumed it was impossible. I was acting out of panic." Katie laughs. "Maybe that's it. Panic. I... all I wanted was for people to believe me when I said I was the Page of Swords. Not Judgment." She pushes the tea and cheesecake to one side and pulls her bag over, opening it up to look in for- ah, there. She pulls out a deck of Rider-Waite tarot cards, in its box, and slides them out. They look practically new. "Not a big reader of tarot, I'm guessing...?" Wataru smiles at the deck. "Classic choice, though." "Nope. I leave that to other people." Katie shuffles the cards; for someone who never reads, she's decently good at it. She slides the deck over to Wataru so he can shuffle, too. "You don't mind me touching them?" he asks, before doing anything. Katie shakes her head. "One Arcana holds the cards; another draws. That's how you get it to work." She pauses. "Plus, it'll probably help with randomization, too." "Oh, okay." Learning! "Well." Wataru shuffles, then hands her the deck...? Katie gently pushes the cards fully into Wataru's hand, then reaches to the top. "Control test," she says, and flips the top card. It's the Page of Swords. She hands it to Wataru. "Let's do it again." Wataru nods. He peers at the card. "You know, it kind of looks like you. Those boots would be a good look on you." He shuffles it back into the deck! She hmms. "You think?" When presented with the cards again, Katie slides out one about a third down the deck and flips it. Page of Swords. She looks at the card and its boots. "I could climb in those." Wataru watches, rather fascinated. "You know, I've never actually watched anyone do that before. So normally you'd always pull the Page?" "As long as another Arcana is holding the deck, yeah. I've never seen a reading done with someone else holding the deck, so I always figured that's how we got around it." She hands the card back to Wataru. "Two's enough for control, you think? Especially given previous data." Wataru nods. "Sure. Are we doing SCIENCE?" whoops that sounded super dorky oh no will katie think i'm a dork Katie laughs. "_Obviously._ There's got to be rules. Even to magic." She waves for Wataru to shuffle again. "Haruko'd approve. She's always trying to science up Arcana powers, but sometimes I think she goes too far, too fast with her testing and hypotheses in her rush for big picture stuff." "Well I think it's pretty cool. Satoshi and I were talking about doing some long-distance experiments, but given all that's been going on..." He pauses briefly in his shuffling. "I guess he's coming here pretty soon, huh. Maybe I should bring that up again, while there's still a long distance between us." Wataru seems noticeably more chipper than he was a few minutes ago. He shows Katie the deck! Katie smiles a little. "Yeah, maybe." She reaches for the cards but hesitates right before taking one. "Actually," she says, "before I try, let's have you do it. See if we can repeat the event. So first we'll draw a couple of controls for you, and then you can try to draw a different card if both controls ended up Hanged Man." Wataru bites his lip. "All right," he says. He hands her the deck! Katie shuffles it a couple of times, cuts the deck, and holds it out to Wataru for a draw. "Bwuh." Okay. He pulls out a card. The Hanged Man! He exhales. Katie offers another one of her faint smiles and takes the card back, shuffling it in and holding out the deck again. She's been smiling like that a lot, since she came over. Wataru is focused on the deck, frowning. "Same thing again. Right?" "Yeah, just to make sure." This time Wataru picks the bottom-most card of the deck. Surprise! Hanged Man. "This is actually kind of creepy. Don't you think it's creepy?" He waves the card at her. "A little," Katie allows, looking at the card. She takes it back and starts shuffling it in. "I haven't thought about whether or not it was creepy in a while. It just is, you know?" "It's been a long time since I did this. Not since I was a kid." He pokes at the deck again, dislodging a random card, which flutters facedown on the table. He lifts up a corner, peeking. Hanged Man! Katie waits to see what it is. "Yeah? You played with tarot cards then? I was drawing the Page of Swords before I ever knew what my powers were." "Same," Wataru says. "But yeah, I was already pretty into it when I was like,15. I thought I was just tapping into some power of the cards, though. I didn't realize the power was in me." He chuckles, a little distantly, and flips over the card so Katie can see it too. "That makes sense. I wonder how many fortune tellers were Arcana. Maybe they didn't know it." Katie takes the card back, studying it for a moment, before shuffling it in. "Are you ready to try not drawing Hanged Man?" He frowns. Crankily. "Weren't you going to do it?" Katie blinks. "I am. I can try first if you really want. But you actually did it before, so I was wondering if you could repeat it so we know that it's not a one time thing or because of something that isn't you." "Yeah, I guess that makes sense." He takes a sharp breath in through his nose. "All right." Time to pick... NOT THE HANGED MAN! Stay away, Hanged Man! * Katie holds the deck out for him, helpfully. <@Ciara> [Wataru draws The Magician. Well, that ain't the Hanged Man.] * Wataru visibly pales. * Wataru looks up at Katie. "Ha, haha, well," he croaks. "Ta-dah?" * Katie draws back a little at Wataru's expression. "What?" And then she looks down at the card. "Oh." And she lets out a little laugh, of all things, taking it back and shuffling it in, once, before handing the whole deck to Wataru to shuffle. "Guess it worked." * Wataru nods. He shuffles the deck reflexively, trying not to think too hard about the card he drew. "You want to try?" Sure. * Katie grins. "Maybe I'll get The Magician, too." Her eyes dance. "Sho'd have gotten a kick out of that." * Wataru snorts. "Mm." He offers her the deck! What did you get last time you drew a card that wasn't yours? Do you remember? "Hmmm." He narrows his eyes. "It was a Minor Arcana, for sure, maybe something of cups? The six of cups, the page...? I'm not really sure, sorry. I was... kinda distracted." It's okay. I was just wondering if it was the same one. "Yeah, it wasn't, thank god." * Katie reaches over and presses her hand to the top of the deck. "Maybe I'll get Judgment. That'd be funny." And she quiets, concentrating, willing herself not to pick the Page of Swords. She's not really sure *how* - she's never been superstitious, and probability is probability. But Arcana isn't, so she just hopes, like hoping she can push the wind or shut Haruko up. <@Ciara> [Katie concentrates, and. Well. Remember that bit about hoping she can push the wind? A breeze kicks up around her, scattering cards everywhere! Under the table, into the couch, behind the bookshelf... one even ends up in her teacup. All the cards scatter, except for the one Katie's holding. The Page of Swords.] * Wataru raises his eyebrows. * Katie blinks at the card. "Oh." And then she looks around. "*Oh*. Damnit." * Wataru tries unsuccessfully to suppress a giggle! * Katie smiles sheepishly, twirling her card. "I, uh. Oops?" She looks down at it. "Didn't work anyway..." "I-- I'm not laughing at you. I'm. That was just kind of cinematic." He fishes the one out of her teacup, carefully. "Well, that's interesting though. I don't know why I assumed anyone could do it." <@Ciara> [The Hanged Man ended up in the teacup.] * Wataru shakes the card a little. NO NOT THE HANGED MAN * Wataru shake shake shake!! We can try again? I'm not really sure what you think about when you do it, but I... oh, that's your card. I- "You made me take a BATH." He pouts! <@Ciara> [The card was only in there for a moment. It'll clean up just fine.] * Katie continues looking sheepish. That's a new look for her. "Sorry? Water's usually Haruko's thing." She crouches and starts gathering the ones nearby. * Wataru smiles, and goes to help her collect. "Ah, don't worry about it. Sometimes things happen, when you do SCIENCE." * Katie murmurs, "Tell me about it." She goes to pick some up off the bookshelves, idly noting Wataru's collection as she does. <@Ciara> [Between the two of them, they manage to get probably most of the cards? Katie'll have to sort the deck later, probably, to figure out what's missing.] * Wataru has books! They are NERDY AF. And mostly in English. Babylon 5 novels? Check! Abhorsen trilogy box set? Check! 3 Well-worn Choose Your Own Adventure books? Check! Sandman trade paperbacks? Check! There's also a fair amount of LeGuin and Pratchett and Stephen King, a double-deep row of manga in Japanese, a large quantity of Haruki Murakami in Japanese, some nonfiction history/biography about British magic and magicians, and one of Kyon's light novels. Among other things. * Katie slides out a Choose Your Own Adventure book part way and looks at it, fondly actually, before sliding it back. Her eyes land on Kyon's light novel and she raises her eyebrows. "You have the first volume of Peach and Plum?" * Wataru grins. "Saw it at Book-Off, how could I not?" Indeed, there is a white-and-yellow 200Y price tag on the cover! * Katie laughs a little, and she taps it. "Doesn't get any better." This is followed by some coughing. She shakes her head and goes back to the table with her gathered cards. And the tea. * Wataru has an amused groan. "Way to be the supportive girlfriend," he says, but he can't really stop grinning. "I will abashedly admit that I may not actually have read it." * Katie sips her tea and manages, barely, "Some people like it." More tea. "Does Kyon?" I hope so, or I'll have to ask him what he's doing with a third of his life. * Katie drains the rest of her cup and pours some more. She starts sifting through the found cards. * Wataru helps, if she wants, by sorting Major from Minor. "I always wondered, I mean, because he does so much stuff. Whether it's for the money, or the heartthrob stardom, or because he legitimately enjoys writing." * Katie focuses on the cards while she answers, also dividing by major and suit. "Honestly?" I think he likes the challenge. Kyon doesn't need money. And I don't think he likes fame that much. * Wataru bites his lip not to SAY THE WORDS FIGHTING TO GET OUT OF HIS MOUTH. * Katie pretends she doesn't notice. But she totally notices. * Wataru STRUGGLES. * Katie looks at Wataru, eyebrow going up. "--OKAY but you started it, I'm just saying this because you started it, but - but if he likes the challenge, maybe he should challenge himself to write better books." Wataru BRACES FOR IMPACT but his eyes sparkle! * Katie looks at Wataru for a moment, her face blank, and then she bursts out laughing. This is *kind* of a bad idea, because she loses her voice pretty quickly and tears are in the corners of her eyes, which may or may not be from pain. * Katie mouths 'ow' breathlessly and reaches for the tea. * Wataru covers his mouth as he cracks up in turn! * Katie drinks what must be half the cup before she stands. "Bathroom," she gasps out without any real volume, gesturing in that direction before fleeing. To the bathroom! * Wataru thinks this is legit! That was a lot of tea, and a lot of laughing. * Katie ends up in the bathroom! There is flushing and washing and other such things. * Katie, specifically, ends up in the toilet, and THEN the bathroom, because it's Japan and a Japanese apartment. <@Ciara> [And when Katie gets to the bathroom to wash her hands... the mirror is broken. Looks like something hit it? Hard enough to crack it from impact.] <@Ciara> [Wataru, if he realizes this, is just a bit too late.] * Wataru tidies a bit, making sure there is no spilled tea and such from before. He will continue sorting cards if necessary, occasionally checking the art on a few cards. * Katie peers at the mirror. What happened here? She looks around, but whatever it is, Wataru cleaned up after himself. There's a card, though! * Katie dries her hands and picks it up, heading out and back to the room. She waves the card with a little smile. * Wataru looks over to her. "Wow, one got all the way to the bathroom?" <@Ciara> [Katie found the Six of Cups!] * Katie tries to say something, fails, and sets the card on the table. She picks up her tea and sips it, then tries again: "When I first did this, I-" sip "-sent furniture flying." * Wataru pulls over a pad of lined paper and pen, left over from exam- revision stuff. Leaves it in reach, if Katie wants it. "I've... Yeah. Stuff happens sometimes." * Katie nods. She sees the paper and smiles at Wataru, then reaches for the pen and paper, writing in English: 'It's kind of unreliable though.' * Katie turns it for Wataru to see. * Wataru nods. "I really do wish I could just like, practice more. But this shit..." He shrugs, lifting the pad of paper about an inch off the table with his mind before letting it donk back down. "I love that I can do it, but it also still scares the crap out of me, you know? I wish it was something normal. I wish there was like, a framework for it. Context. I dunno, community." He sighs, and the pages of the pad ruffle. * Katie nods, and she gestures to herself, then the deck, sliding out Page of Swords, Judgment, Queen of Cups, Queen of Wands, Two of Pentacles, Knight of Cups, Three of Pentacles each with one finger. She writes YOUR COMMUNITY with an arrow that points to the pile when she turns the pad back to Wataru. * Wataru MASSIVELY ROLLS HIS EYES AND GROANS, but there's a smile pricking at the corners of his mouth. "You are very cheesy sometimes," he says, breaking into a grin. "But okay, I get it." * Katie sticks her tongue out at Wataru, then writes, 'Seriously you're not alone anymore. Not in that.' She hesitates, then underneath, writes, 'I saw a broken mirror in your bathroom. Everything ok?' Turns it back to Wataru. * Katie finishes off her cheesecake while he considers. Because that's cheesecake and you've gotta *eat it*. * Wataru's grin becomes a real, honest smile, and then fades down into a gentle frown. "..." He nods. "No, but yeah. That..." He glances at her, then back at the row of cards. "I uh. I got upset," he sighs. "Kind of sent shit flying a little bit." * Katie blinks. Sticks her fork in her mouth and writes quickly, 'Still upset? Can I help?' * Wataru shakes his head. "I mean, you already are, by being here. It was just, after I read all the emails, you know. I told you before that I wasn't scared anymore. I guess maybe my fear turned into... like, like all that stuff with the Council and whatever just boiled all my fear away and turned it into like, fear-steam," Wataru gestures, "and then it built up and EXPLODED out of me and I happened to be standing in the bathroom at the time and something cracked the mirror." He clears his throat. "I don't like, telekinetically explode often or anything." * Katie pops the last of the cheesecake in her mouth while Wataru finishes his explanation, and she snerks around it. * Katie flips a page and writes, 'That happens. I've fearsteamed.' All one word. 'Not with an explosion but I know the feeling.' * Wataru hearts "fearsteaming" as a word/concept, and smiles. "So yeah. I'm better, but I'm also uncomfortably quiet in my brain now, like I said. Anyway. I need to get that mirror fixed; my aunt's gonna kill me." * Katie nods; she looks pretty understanding, really. And she writes. 'She visiting soon? Landlord out?' "Dunno exactly. Landlord would tell her, anyway, plus it's her apartment technically. I mean, she's paying for it." He gives her a sheepish little now-you-know-how-come-I-can-afford-to-live-in-Tokyo smile. * Katie sips her tea and nods, thoughtful, then drags her bag over to open it, pulling out a roll of measuring tape. Who just carries measuring tape everywhere? Katie Andrews, apparently. She stands and walks off into Wataru's bathroom. * Wataru just frowns perplexedly after her for a moment. Then he springs up and follows. * Katie, when Wataru gets there, is measuring the bathroom mirror and writing the results on the palm of her hand. "What." * Katie raises her hand so Wataru can see! Because that totally explains everything. * Katie grins mischievously, then walks back out, past him, and looks for a computer. Wataru's got to have a computer somewhere around here. * Wataru peers at her. "What, you have magical mirror-mending powers? What. Where are you going." He follows her! There is no computer in the living room, that is sure. * Katie walks to the tea. She sips it and turns, speaking just an edge over a whisper: "We could just install a new mirror." "What like... without telling my landlord? OR aunt?" * Katie shrugs. She doesn't know what Wataru's landlord is like. "If you got the same kind. I wanted to see what was online." "Oh, hm... Risky, but I guess if no one sees us bring it in or anything? And we did it within the next couple days?" * Katie nods and teas. "It's that or make up a story." "God, I made up a story to Izumi already and I *totally fucked that up*. But I know her, she probably noticed but won't ask." He sighs, rubbing his forehead. "Anyway." * Katie smiles sympathetically. "I mean, if you think we can pull it off, let's look into it later!" * Katie nods. "Come up with a good story in case," she suggests. * Wataru nods. Always a good plan! * Katie looks around, then walks off to pick up a card she just spotted, sticking between couch cushions. She walks back. "What do you want to do now?" <@Ciara> [Katie picks up the Six of Wands.] * Wataru sits. "Maybe cake. And I guess planning when I can meet up with everyone and tell them about my powers, and see whether they have thoughts about me wandering into the lion's den here." * Katie goes to sit back down, too, reaching for the tea. "They'll all have thoughts. Getting everyone in one place is hard. How do you feel about e- mail?" * Wataru groannnnns in reply to the email suggestion, but will listen to her input. * Katie reaches for pen and paper and starts laying out options, mostly by writing lists, but hey! This is important, and they want to move one direction or another sooner than later. <@Ciara> [And so Katie and Wataru work on lists and plans!] <@Ciara> [Session End!]