[April 27 / 28. Haruko and Satoshi have scheduled a chat! It's a big day for Satoshi talking with people in Japan, as he talked with Kyon earlier. Luckily, they are pleasant spring days at the time for both of them. Haruko's room is more settled now, and so it's a good place for taking chats. The appointed time arrives!] * Haruko is perpetuating a small fraud. She's actually got the part of the room in view of the camera all cleaned up and organized. There's a pile of papers and a few unpacked boxes that she hid outside of the view of the camera. She's wearing a sleeveless dress, blue with white polkadots and has been experimenting with her hair, there's tight curls at the end of her long locks. * @Satoshi is not perpetuating any kind of fraud, given that the angle he sets his webcamera at doesn't really allow for much view of the room. Tonight he's got a dark green button-down shirt on, with the sleeves rolled up halfway, and his hair is pulled back into a ponytail. * Haruko's room is nicely lit by morning light. She has a small tall bookshelf with a mix of fiction, textbooks, and mechanical/engineering manuals. Adjacent to that is a standard issue wardrobe. There's a sheet taped to the front with some intricate Katie outfit sharing plans written upon it. There's also a few houseplants that look new, but it's hard to say how long they are for this world, as Haruko has yet to demonstrate green thumb. Hi Satoshi, it's been too long. * @Satoshi smiles. "Yeah, it really has. How are things going?" * Haruko lets out a breath. "Splitting myself a too thin, as ever. Think I'm going to pull back some from the automotive club, though I'd like to see it in Maki's good hands first." She glances over at her computer, still no Taki email. "Moderate drama levels although on that note at least the rehersals are more fun with Hibiki there." You? * @Satoshi stretches. "Busy. End of the semester is coming and I'm finishing my papers and studying for finals. But I'll be home soon!" * Haruko raises her arms. "Yay!" * Haruko then glances somewhat guiltily offscreen. "I have been working on the summer lakeside cabin planning. Once I have a location, I'll email you and Katie, and then invite Wataru. I've made some progress, but I've been a little slow getting through the lists of places with hang gliding and non- technical climbing options nearby." * @Satoshi laughs. "Oh, no worries. We've got plenty of time. And if you can only get one thing, go for the hang-gliding. I think Katie would have a lot of fun." * Haruko waves it off. "I'll find both. I'm not sure I've even got Katie sold on the hang gliding yet anyways." * @Satoshi nods. "Okay. I just don't want to put extra stress on you trying to find stuff." * Haruko smiles. "Thanks, but it's no trouble and a little extra stress to make a fulfilling road trip is well worth it." * @Satoshi grins. "Well, maybe I'll end up with road trip stories to tell my friends here the way I was able to tell you guys about the Canada trip back in January." * Haruko grins. "Darn straight you will. Stories that will put your American friends on notice that they need to up their roadtrip game." How are they doing? End of semester stuff too I assume. <@Satoshi> Yeah, studying and papers for them, too. Liam's broken out entirely new colors of Post-It Notes. * Haruko contemplates this. "Like pastels?" <@Satoshi> Pastels, neon... he even found dark-colored ones where you have to write in white ink. Which he also has. * Haruko's eyes widen. "Wow, that is fancy. I now feel slightly inadequate with my quad-color dry erase marker Council campaign white board." <@Satoshi> You do not get into an organizing competition with him. You just don't. * Haruko contemplates this for a moment, glances off screen at the piles and boxes. "Yeah, I'll let him have that one. I'll content myself with driving and dancing." * @Satoshi notices that Haruko is looking offscreen, but he doesn't comment on it. "That's fair." He pauses. "So, the Council. That's... a thing." * Haruko nods. "I'm campaign managing for Katie and Kyon. You figured out if you want to register?" * @Satoshi lets out a slow breath. "You guys are really going for it, huh." For me, it's actually a pretty easy choice. A lot of the problems we faced in the bad old days came from people organizing against us or not having a way to organize against common problems. I don't think it will get that bad again, but give me a chance to talk to people and I'll take it. * Haruko puts some emphasis on 'for me.' * @Satoshi hmmmmms. "I'm just worried. About what kind of authority they're going to try to have over us. And if, by running, we're essentially saying 'yes, we recognizes this as valid and we grant this autority.' What happens if we lose?" Well, I guess on principle I'm more afraid of anarchy than authority. But yeah, we might lose. But 1) if we participate we can find out the other candidates and maybe make some deals and 2) Katie and Kyon are actually pretty good at this. * Haruko thought a bit before answering there. She pauses some between sentences, suggesting that she's working this out as she goes. * @Satoshi scratches the right side of his neck, right around the collar of his shirt. "This just feels unsettling to me, given who appears to ultimately be behind it. Also I might be channeling some latent Hideo feelings. I gathered from my vision that he wasn't too fond of the Council in his time. And... he had reason to be." * Haruko nods. "That's fair. We do need to be cautious and cunning. That, and a lack of time, is why I thought Katie or Kyon would be better than me at this. And, well, Isao..." She frowns and thinks for a while. * @Satoshi tilts his head. "Isao?" * Haruko looks down, and then back at Satoshi. "I'm sure we've both had this argument in a past life. And I think both Isao and Hideo were right about some things..." Like, Showa-era authorities, including the Council, got involved in some dark deeds. But there were good people on it, not just Isao, but Ayano- sama was running an orphanage. And while the game is a bit rigged, but there still are elections and aside from Yorihisa and maybe the two of cups the first round councilmembers don't seem so bad. * @Satoshi sighs. "I just still don't like it." * Haruko smiles. You don't have to like it, let alone join it. I just want you to understand what I'm doing. <@Satoshi> I'm still not completely sold on registering. If I do, I'm definitely waiting until I come back to Japan. Assuming some other crisis doesn't strike first and for some reason I absolutely *have* to. Are there things you'd like me to find out for you? <@Satoshi> I guess... well, really want I want to know more of is what you guys are planning. One, because I'd like to actually know, and two, because I don't want to accidentally mess up your plans. * Haruko nods. "I'm going to be talking to my network and trying to round up support. Kyon has one known competitor for the Wand seat, Kazuko Yamagata- san. She's probably going to give him a run for his money, but at least Katie doesn't think she's terrible." I don't know if Katie has any competition yet, but presumably some Sword will go for it. Hers is probably the easier one to win, I'd guess, though she may have more enemies out their than Kyon. Nekotani-san is the current Wand representative, and she's willing to work with Kyon. She was the one who did the astral projection that found where people were being held in Osaka. Specifically I'm going to go talk with Sumire-san, Ryuji-san, Matthias-san, Hirokazu-kun, and, uh Hibiki. That last one will be just swell. * @Satoshi takes a little bit to process all of this. "Okay, well, if Katie doesn't think the other Wand candidate is terrible, then that's actually saying something. Isn't she involved with the Council already, though? Like she ran into Taki in Osaka, and then showed up at graduation." He sighs. "Honestly, the one I'm *really* worried about is Hinako." * Haruko thinks for a moment, "Yeah, I think she is. Katie might know more soon. She was going to go talk to her when she got the chance." She then thinks for a moment. What are your specific worries with Hinako? It is a problem that she does that name thing and hasn't listened when you told her to stop. But if she meant us any harm, she could have easily done so at multiple points by just not helping. <@Satoshi> What she knows, and what we don't know that she knows. Plus the whole Taki thing... * @Satoshi sighs again. * Haruko nods. "Yeah. She does have her secrets. Always did I think." I have told Katie that I think its okay to not share stuff with Taki if you're worried about Hinako finding out. Taki has been thinking some about her own rules and how she's going to handle that. She was planning to send an email, but between the move and getting sick she's had a lot going on. * Haruko is again pausing between her sentences, but she speaks each of them as a complete thought, selected with some care. * @Satoshi blinks. "Oh, she's been sick? Well, I hope she's doing better. And, well, about not telling her things..." * @Satoshi fidgets nervously. "Okay, I'm going to send a group e-mail out about this soon. Like, very soon. But... keep this between us for now?" * Haruko nods and smiles. "Her spirits seemed a little higher around move time. She's safely there now." * Haruko looks serious and nods. "I promise." * @Satoshi says, slowly, "How bad would it look for Katie and Kyon's political prospects if Judgement activated a Tower Reversed in America?" * Haruko nods thoughtfully and thinks. <@Satoshi> I mean, I'm not sure if people would even know, but I feel like at least *some* Arcana might feel something? Right. Well, first off, it might make sense to do anyways, once you have a sense of what activation means. It might be important, and if makes my job harder, so be it. * @Satoshi takes a deep breath and visibly lets it out. "Okay, well, you should probably start thinking about how to spin that if people do realize what went on." * Haruko frowns, "As for the risks, well, if Temperance has an accomplice in Maine, that does increase the likelihood she'll figure out what happened sooner or later. So it might mean that whatever the World is plotting over here might be accelerated or some other reaction will be provoked. As for how I spin it, what are you comfortable with me saying and what should I hide?" * @Satoshi frowns. "Well, I'd prefer it not get brought up unless you really had to, but... I'll talk more about this in the group e-mail, but I'm doing this on my own and not because Kyon or anyone told me to." He thinks for a moment. "Katie might be angry at me anyway, but I'll talk to her before I do this and... okay, I'm rambling, but the heart of the matter is that apparently if I don't activate the Tower, it's possible that someone else could, given enough time. And with me out of town, they'd have that time." * Haruko nods. "Why would Katie be--" She sighs, "You don't have to tell me there. But if someone presses I'll say..." I'm not sure what you've heard, but I do keep up with Satoshi, I know his top priority are his classes and his hockey team. He's a good guy and if you know anything about what he did here you'd know that. There's also a possibility that some of us, including him, are being spied on. We're looking into that, and if we find out anything solid we'll let you know. * @Satoshi grimaces. "Maybe not so much detail? I don't know, I guess apparently I'm not comfortable with random Arcana knowing that much about what I've been up to. Even without spying." * Haruko nods. "Satoshi is my friend and a good guy and you've got nothing to worry about from him. He's also not running for office and deserves his privacy. If you'd like to talk about the actual issues and ideas that Katie or Kyon have, then I'll happily answer any questions. Otherwise, I don't see what we have to talk about. * @Satoshi relaxes a bit. "Yeah, that's better. Thank you. I mean, I'm not doing this as a power grab. Mainly, it'll be so Temperance or whoever doesn't get their hands on it." * Haruko nods. "That's a good reason. And it's not like you even want power most of the time anyways." * @Satoshi raises an eyebrow. "Most of the time?" * Haruko laughs. "Look, of the two of us, I'm obviously the power hungry one. I mean I literally want to draw massive quantities of power from the oceans as my career path. But we all have times where we want to protect people or fix things and to have the strength it takes to do it." * @Satoshi makes an amused sound. "That's not a bad kind of power to want to use. Me, I just... well, if this is going to happen, then I need to be careful and think it out. Have you heard the expression 'with great power comes great responsibility?'" * Haruko thinks. "It sounds somewhat familiar. I like it." <@Satoshi> It's actually from an American comic book. My friend Joshua quoted it. I like it too. * Haruko grins. "Oh, right, Spiderman. I shouldn't be surprised." She keeps the grin but it's not really showing in her eyes any more as she continues. "So, on that note, mind helping me with a dilemma to make sure I don't abuse my power?" * @Satoshi blinks. "Uh, sure?" So, from one person who would prefer to stay out of Arcana stuff on behalf of another, how should I talk to Hibiki about whether he wants to register? Or just my powers and... <@Satoshi> He still doesn't realize what's going on? * Haruko closes her eyes. "He's not dumb. I think it's more that if we don't talk about it, we don't really have to deal with it. But I want to talk about it... but is that fair to him?" * @Satoshi sighs. "Well, I can get the not talking and thus not having to deal with it." * Haruko opens her eyes. "And if I'm being at all honest, I'm not really the best girlfriend. I mean we do stuff together, but I have this whole other part of my life that pulls me away from him. And even though he could be involved he doesn't really want to." <@Satoshi> I'm kind of amazed he's managed to not find out somehow by now. But... I'd have to say you're probably the best person to tell him. But I don't know about registering? Do you need him to? Like do you need his vote? I mean, if it were me I'd definitely register if you specifically needed my vote. * Haruko thinks, "Thank you. I don't think we'll know for sure before the registration deadline, but I'll let you know what the situation looks like and how costly victory is looking." * @Satoshi nods. "I appreciate it." Maybe it's time after he meets my parents. I... I've been losing touch with the weather these past years. It feels like the more I try to control my feelings to be careful around others, the more it slips from my grasp. And I'm afraid... <@Satoshi> Wait, what? Well, you know the rain tied to my mood, right? If I really needed water I'd throw myself a pity party. <@Satoshi> It was probably better for your emotional health if you found a faucet... * Haruko snorts. "I don't know, maybe. Yes. But it's like, Katie and I had a big fight but not even a drizzle. And I feel like I'm always plotting, picking my reactions and words, studying people. It's so easy to hurt someone or to harm a relationship but I sometimes don't know which me is real anymore." * @Satoshi considers this. "So do you think that you're subconsciously learning to separate your weather control from your moods? And so you don't know how to make it work anymore?" Yes. Well, no, it's bigger than that. I think I'm learning to seperate myself from my moods. <@Satoshi> What do you mean? Like sometimes I'm observing my emotions more than feeling them. Like a lot with Takeuchi, I try to practice that, but not just him. <@Satoshi> True, Kaede is not the biggest on feelings, but... <@Satoshi> I don't know; sometimes it's not bad to take a step back and look. * Haruko tugs at her hair. "And with Hibiki, I don't love him." She's quiet for a moment. "Not yet or so I like to tell myself. But I enjoy how easy it is to be me around him. The fun we have together. But does that mean I'm just using him?' <@Satoshi> Well, I mean, you don't have to fall in love with someone right away to want to spend time with them. It takes time, you know, getting to know them and all. * Haruko nods and thinks about it. "Yeah, that's true. I mean, maybe it's a good thing I don't get infatuated like I sometimes did when I was younger. I mean, I tried to fight it then." <@Satoshi> So is your biggest concern here actually the powers, or the emotional separation? * Haruko shrugs, "I'm changing. I'm just not always sure what I'm losing when I do." Of course, old infatuations never really go away. Which does make it challenging sometimes to deal with... uh, Ryuji. * @Satoshi frowns. "He was kind of a jerk to you, you know." * Haruko grins, "Thanks, though I kind of deserved it." She stretches. "I've been keeping you a while. I'll go talk to Hibiki and maybe meditate under a waterfall or something. It may not change anything, but it's really for perspective more than superpowers." * @Satoshi half-smiles. "I'm not entirely sure you did, but... I guess mediating for you is like skating or puck shooting drills for me. Clears the mind." Yeah, helps me focus on something other than my own voice or doubts. * @Satoshi nods. "I can understand that. Take care, Haruko. See you soon!" * Haruko waves, "It'll be nice o talk to you in person again." [End!]