[Grysar]

The ritual diagrams and instruction all seemed fairly straightforward to 
Wataru's eye. The pentagram itself was a little more complex than first 
appearance, with double lines in the center, but even in his early days he 
was sometimes playing with more complicated preparations. Of course, that was 
probably part of the point. 

[The diagram: 
http://bacon.sandwich.net/ardweden/neoarcana/other/BangorReversedDiagram1.png 
]

If the Towers Reversed were prepared through complex ritual magic, it was 
finished over half a century ago. The meditation and Hideo's innate power as 
Arcana instead appeared to be the key. Based on what Wataru was reading in 
his books, it was actually the tarot elements here that were key. The twin 
Pentacles would ground both one meditating and the tower itself.

While the ten candles fit naturally on the full pentagram, Wataru's books 
showed layouts that could easily include any number of candles. Ten was a 
choice. A quick review of the meaning of the Ten of Pentacles was reassuring, 
transcending wealth and inheritance. A creation of a prior generation passed 
on to this one. However, when looking back at materials Satoshi sent, that 
didn't fit. Hideo's plan appeared to be that he'd use one of these Towers 
himself and not two "generations" later.

Taking a closer look at the diagram the double line in the middle stands out. 
It isn't the Ten that's being invoked, it's the Five, twice. That's... not 
good. The fives are cards of loss and conflict. The loss of the outside 
pentacle seems to refer to the opportunity cost, referenced in the letter 
choosing this Tower Reversed to the exclusion of others. That seems like a 
manageable cost, even if it might have made Hideo Watanabe grumpy..

The bigger deal is that second interior pentacle, which likely reflects the 
interior version of the card: a long dark night of the soul. Salvation may be 
nearby, Satoshi could come out of this knowing more about himself and with 
the Tower likewise recognizing him as its true owner. However, doing so will 
require facing his past self. The inner pentacle also isolates, even if 
Satoshi were not alone in that room, this would be a challenge he'd have to 
face on his own. Reading over the materials again and studying some other 
cards, he thinks that Hideo's agent did fulfill their end of the bargain, but 
may have chosen a method of sealing the connection that pointedly required 
introspection. There may also be other approaches that could work, (OOC: 
Akemi could have stabilized) though they would likely have involved a 
comparable cost, albeit perhaps in a preferable form.

---

<@Grysar> [Date: Morning of Saturday the 24th in Japan. Evening of Friday the 
23rd in Tokyo.]
<@Grysar> [Last night, Kaede emailed out about his meeting with Yorihisa and 
his report on Shuffle. This has brought to the surface some thoughts that 
were already brewing in Wataru, ones he'd like to discuss with Kaede.]
<@Grysar> [In addition, Wataru has been researching the diagram and letter 
that Satoshi sent over to better explain the nature of the Tower-reversed 
ritual. He even has some alternatives he's considering.]
<@Grysar> [At what Wataru likely considers an ungodly hour, the video chat 
begins.]
<@Grysar> [Start!]
* Wataru is in his brown-and-navy striped hoodie over his PJs. He's not even 
trying to be completely awake here, steaming mug of genmaicha in front of 
him. It's a rainy morning.
* @Satoshi opens the connection on the video chat. He's wearing a pale blue 
button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to about mid-forearm, navy blue 
pants (not slacks; that is not a good word), and his hair is pulled back 
tonight. "Hey," he says once the chat is open. "Sorry to keep making you have 
to get up early, but this sounded like it was urgent and I was free tonight, 
so."
* Wataru's expression cracks into a grin. "No worries. And hey, nice look, 
what's the occasion? Gave a presentation in class or something?"
* @Satoshi smiles back. "Oh, thanks. Academic advisor meeting, actually. I 
try to look studious and respectable."
<Wataru> "I would call that a success," he says, trying not to stare at the 
really cute ponytail look ARGH. "Anyway, thanks for meeting up with me. I had 
a bunch of thoughts about the diagram." He looks down at his notes. "You're 
alone, yeah?"
* @Satoshi nods. "Yeah. Paul's out doing a thing and I told the guys I'd be 
busy tonight. I locked the door, too." He reaches for something in his desk, 
then stops. "You think it's okay if I take notes?"
* Wataru nods. "Yeah, so long as you keep them hidden wherever you hide these 
things," he smiles a bit. "So this diagram is actually - did you get like, a 
creepy vibe off of it? More than just, you know, it being a ritual diagram in 
a creepy Tower."
* @Satoshi makes a slightly amused sound. "I'm not sure I have that much 
ability to distinguish between creepy vibes. I think the whole ritual diagram 
in the Tower thing is creepy enough to overwhelm any other vibes I might be 
getting."
<Wataru> "Right," he smiles. "Anyway, well, I did. Like. Not like really bad 
or evil or anything, but... You have a picture of it on hand?" 
<@Satoshi> Yeah, sec.
* @Satoshi rummages in his desk drawer and pulls out one of the photos of the 
diagram, holding it up to the camera to show Wataru.
<@Satoshi> So what's so creepy about it specifically?
<Wataru> "Well, so, something about the candles just struck me as... off, 
somehow. I mea,. okay so at first I'm seeing pentacles, I'm seeing ten 
candles, we're all Arcana so I think "Ten of Pentacles", right?" There's an 
energy in him as he gets into the topic, smoother and deeper than morning 
caffeine. "Which is a pretty nice card - prosperity, carryover of material 
wealth and attainment, etc. Inheritance.  And I was like, 'Cool, that fits'. 
Except."
* @Satoshi looks at the photo for a moment, then back at the camera. 
"Except?"
<Wataru> "Well, the letter didn't really seem like it was intended for future 
generations, did it."
* @Satoshi blinks. "No," he says quietly. "It may have ended up that way, but 
Hideo's plan - whatever it was - was definitely meant for him."
* Wataru has a sip of tea, nodding. "So, that got me thinking. And looking at 
it again. And that's when the candles thing hit me. It's not really ten - 
it's two times five. Right?"
* @Satoshi looks at the photo, this time more intently. "It *is*, isn't it? 
The inner and the outer. So what's *that* mean, then?"
<Wataru> "Five of Pentacles, twice, maybe? Which... is a lot less shiny. 
Loss, lacks, setbacks." He frowns at his notes. "Two layers of sacrifice, 
maybe. That would be some pretty stong magic. Potent."
* @Satoshi feels his throat go dry, and he swallows. "Sacrifice? Like... what 
kind of sacrifice, exactly?"
* Wataru smiles a bit. "Relax, not like, the creepy altar kind. I think it's 
symbolic. Like," he sips tea quickly, "okay, so there's two levels. Outer, 
inner. Maybe outer is like, surface-level: the concrete, material stuff. So 
maybe, I mean you were saying that there was some implication that making one 
Tower Reversed stable might wipe out the other ones, right?"
* @Satoshi nods, but he doesn't smile back. "Right, in the letter. That's... 
that's not a bad thing. At least for me. I mean, it would have pissed Hideo 
off, I'm sure, and maybe he would have picked differently, but..."
<Wataru> "So, sacrifice." Wataru looks at the sketches in his notes. "One 
Five taken care of. And then there's the inner one. -- I have no idea if this 
is making any sense, but..."
* @Satoshi is a little hesitant. "I think I'm getting this," he says. "I 
mean, I don't have anything close to your magical knowhow, but it's making 
sense so far."
* Wataru nods. "Okay," he says. "So... Every card has a more concrete 
interpretation and a more like, metaphorical one, right? So maybe that's why 
the Five is invoked twice. I don't know. But if it is, then the inner 
pentacle would be about a more personal kind of sacrifice. Introspection of 
some kind - acceptance and loss and moving forward. But maybe I'm projecting 
some Hanged Man into it in spite of myself." He has a quiet half-smile.
* @Satoshi sighs. "That sounds a lot less benign than the 'meditative night' 
in the letter. Maybe that's why whoever wrote it suggested having a second 
person with field skills around to help."
<Wataru> "Meditative night sounds right, too, though. But I think what you'd 
end up meditating about would end up being unpleasant. Really facing 
yourself, you know?"
* @Satoshi looks down at the photo. "Yeah," he says quietly. "That... yeah." 
He looks up. "Is it *me* I'd be facing, though?"
* Wataru thinks about this. "If by "me" you mean "Satoshi and not... the 
other guys", then... I don't know. I think so. But... I'm guessing... 
Probably the parts of you you're not the proudest of, if that makes any 
sense." His voice is quiet and gentle, by the end of that.
<@Satoshi> Ah.
* @Satoshi is quiet for a bit, then finally, in an almost barely audible 
voice, says, "I think I'd almost rather face Hideo."
* Wataru bites his lip, nodding softly. "Well...." he looks aside, then back 
up to Satoshi. "I think... Probably? Maybe? I could probably arrange that."
* @Satoshi blinks. "You... what? I'm sorry, Wataru, now I really don't 
understand."
* Wataru exhales. "Okay. So - I know this wasn't the idea, but, just looking 
at it, and the candles, something jumped out at me right away. Like a gut 
instinct. I just wanted to undo the wrongness, and make it look like this 
instead," he says. He lifts a clear, freehand diagram to show the camera. In 
it, a big circle has been drawn around the star, and all the candles around 
the inner pentacle have been simply moved out so that they rest on the 
circumference of the circle along with the other ones - ten candles, evenly 
spaced, circumscribing the diagram.
<Wataru> "I can't even explain why that feels better, but it really REALLY 
does."
* @Satoshi studies the new diagram. "Is that because it makes it ten instead 
of two fives? Can we even *do* that? Would it still work?"
<Wataru> "You catch on quick," Wataru has a fast, earnest grin. "Yeah, I 
think so. I mean, I've never actually done anything like this, and I 
certainly haven't ever fucked around with someone else's magic. But this 
effectively gets rid of the Fives, like you said. Now we've got a different 
flavour of introspection completely. Upside? None of that hard self-
acceptance stuff. Downside, though, is that the whole 'generational legacy' 
symbolism of the Ten is front and center. So in a way, you *would* be facing 
Hideo. Probably coming to terms with that instead of coming to terms with, 
you know, whatever else." Wataru looks at the diagram and frowns a little. 
"Hmm, I wonder if this still breaks down the other Towers, though. Or if it 
just does something completely different and I shouldn't be messing with it 
at all." He blushes, just a little.
* @Satoshi shakes his head. "No, it's... I mean, I *asked* you to research 
this, I..." His voice trails off and he's quiet.
* Wataru looks at him... "....It's like, you know when a cup or something is 
too close to the edge of a counter? Do you ever get that, the urge to just 
push it in a bit?"
* @Satoshi bites his lip and doesn't say anything.
<Wataru> "That's the same feeling that I got looking at that. Like I just 
want to move those candles out and go THERE, NOW IT'S FIXED. I don't know 
what that means, though," he admits, with a slight self-deprecating chuckle.
* @Satoshi closes his eyes. "Maybe you've got better instincts for these 
things," he finally says, still very quiet.
* Wataru wraps his hands around his cup, watching Satoshi. "...I... Yeah, 
maybe," he says, "but I mean... I'm also way over here where it can't touch 
me. If I'd have walked into that Tower with you..." He shakes his head. "I'd 
honestly... probably have freaked out so hard I would have noped right out of 
there all the way to another continent. And now I've been... kind of treating 
it like a puzzle, you know, when it's more than that. I lost perspective... 
I'm sorry."
* @Satoshi opens his eyes and shakes his head rapidly. "Oh *god* no. It's not 
you. You don't have anything to apologize for. I mean I..." He swallows. 
"You're really into this, and I..."
<Wataru> "You're -" Wataru can't help but smile a little. "Hell, I'm scared 
*shitless* about like, municipal politics basically, and you're the guy who 
got away from it all, and you're investigating creepy ritual circles in the 
World Reversed."
* @Satoshi attempts to smile but can't pull it off. "Hey, in a few weeks I 
get to come back and deal with creepy municipal politics."
<Wataru> "Hopefully we'll get to do a bunch of cool stuff that has nothing to 
do with politics. Or Arcana."
* @Satoshi sighs. "That'd be nice."
<Wataru> "I'll take you to the movies. Hellboy's coming out, I'm super 
excited," he says... "Okay?"
* @Satoshi nods. "Sure," he says. "I don't know what that is, but you can 
explain it to me."
* Wataru smiles a little, wishing he could do more to make Satoshi feel 
better, and not even realizing he just basically asked him out on a date and 
Satoshi (also probably not realizing) said yes. "It's based on a comic book, 
and yeah, I'll explain it to you before we go." He sighs. "It'll be nice to 
all be in the same place, that's for sure."
* @Satoshi half-smiles. "It really will be. Facing this stuff together is so 
much better than facing it all alone..."
* Wataru nods! "I always forget I..." He shakes his head. Sips tea - ugh, 
cold already... "It's gonna be all right."
* @Satoshi lets out a long breath, folds his arms on the desk in front of 
him, and slumps down. "I don't know what to *do*, Wataru," he says, looking 
up at the camera. "Face the worst parts of myself or face Hideo - and they're 
not the same thing - or just... let this be. I feel like I should do 
*something*, because not doing things is something I'm getting tired of, but 
I don't want to do something stupidly dangerous just for the sake of doing."
* Wataru does that thing that Satoshi does sometimes, where he reaches 
towards the camera... "I... I *was* kind of wondering why you were looking 
into this at all, given how much you've told me about getting away from all 
this Arcana weirdness and living your own life." He lets his hand rest on the 
desk.
* @Satoshi lifts his head up and swallows. "I don't want to run away again if 
I can *help*. I mean, this," he motions to the room around him, "this wasn't 
running away, this was me doing something I really wanted, but... if doing 
this thing with the Tower will help you guys, or help me, or keep my friends 
here safe..."
<Wataru> "I'm not sure anyone sees it as running away. I mean, I see it as 
running *towards*. This whole amazing hockey thing," he says, and can't keep 
the smile off his features. "But... God, I mean, I don't know how you feel, 
but I know how you feel. You guys are all something so new in my life, but I 
would *fight* for you. Except that I'm also fucking terrified. This whole 
Shuffle-Council thing is just gaining momentum like crazy and --" Wataru 
shakes his head. "Anyway... I don't know. The urge to help..." Wataru's voice 
gets quiet, and he looks away. "That I get."
* @Satoshi slowly nods. "This Shuffle thing, I haven't really been paying as 
much attention to, but... it scares me too. I'm kind of inclined to not do 
anything with it until I get back home and my IP address is very obviously 
located in Japan and I have a chance to really *talk* to all of you about it. 
Hopefully I'll get that luxury."
<Wataru> "Yeah. God." He shakes his head. "People have been busy. I don't 
understand half of what's going on. I'm not good for anything in this whole 
thing."
* @Satoshi half-smiles. "I don't understand half of what's going on, either. 
Maybe more than half. And I'm even less good in this than you are, really."
<@Satoshi> Uh.
* @Satoshi frantically waves his hands. "That sounded like I was saying you 
weren't good and that is totally not what I meant at all! I'm sorry!"
* Wataru laughs!!! "Don't sweat it," he chuckles! "I - I know what you meant. 
I'm a noob at this, it is true. I've got like, what, four months of 
experience being an Arcana. Relax."
* @Satoshi looks relieved. "You help me a lot. I just hope I'm not forcing 
you deeper into Arcana Weirdness while I'm trying to get away from it. 
That... really wouldn't be fair, you know?"
* Wataru sighs, and shrugs. "It's not just you. Katie, Kaede, Haruko... all 
of you are neck-deep in this thing that's become a new normal for you, and I 
don't even want to touch it, but then stuff like *this* comes up," he waves 
his notes, "and it's Christmas for me. So I don't even know. What am I even 
doing, you know?"
* @Satoshi looks at Wataru. "I want you to be safe," he says quietly. "And 
happy."
* Wataru has a big exhale. "Man. I honestly don't know if I'll ever feel that 
way again."
* @Satoshi looks surprised for a moment, then sad. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. 
I wish there were something more I could do."
* Wataru's smile is sad. "Heh... Sorry, shit got a little too real for a 
moment there. I mean, it's been a really long time since I felt safe and 
happy. But yeah, I mean..." He fidgets with his cup. "Arcana stuff sure makes 
me feel like that's not a state I'll have the luxury of having again. But 
it's not like there's anything I can do about that, huh..." He pushes the cup 
away. "At least I can do some good while I'm here, I guess. Sorry, I don't 
want to be such a downer. I'm okay, really."
* @Satoshi reaches out towards the camera. "You shouldn't apologize for shit 
getting real. We're friends. It's what friends do. They talk about things. 
Good things, bad things. They care about each other."
* Wataru blushes a bit, but some of the sadness leaves his smile. "Thanks, 
man. I..."
* @Satoshi gives him a tiny smile. "I'll be home soon. Then maybe I can 
actually help you with this."
* Wataru nibbles his lip. "Okay."
* @Satoshi smiles a little bit more. "Okay." Then his smile fades and he 
sighs. "I... really kind of hate to ask you this, but... can you still do 
that reading? Is it possible for you to get more information on whether I 
need to do this Tower thing now as opposed to going home and finding more 
about the letter and stuff with you guys and then coming back to it in the 
fall?"
<Wataru> "Oh, absolutely. So specifically that? Whether it has to happen now? 
- I would also be curious about whether my alternate diagram thing has any 
chance of working, so maybe I'll either try to get to that in the same 
reading or maybe do a separate one."
* @Satoshi nods slowly. "How and when, if that's possible. So that'd cover 
the diagram and the timing. I mean, I don't know how readings work for people 
so if that's two instead of one... but those are the things I want to know 
the most."
<Wataru> "Got it, boss," Wataru quirks a grin. "I can tell you're not keen on 
having to drag me in deeper, like you said, but this *is* the part of the 
whole Arcana deal that I legitimately enjoy, so." 
* @Satoshi laughs. "I'm not the boss here. But, okay, I was team captain at 
Sakuragaoka, and a good part of that is helping figure out what people's 
strengths are and then having them play to those strengths. So."
* Wataru has another little laugh! Aaand there it is, the feeling of love 
welling up in his chest again. He smiles! "Much appreciated," he says.
<@Satoshi> [End!]