<@Grysar> [Date: April 28th, dawn.] <@Grysar> [Technically the tower doesn't open until 9 AM, but Masaru lets Katie in on a route that's not particularly secure. It normally doesn't have to be, because the elevators would be locked down anyways.] <@Grysar> [So Katie, the normal side lobby is a bit shadowy, but the elevator door opens for you. Masaru said he'd meet you down there. He wasn't clear on whether he's staying up late or getting up early.] <@Grysar> [Start!] * Katie is tired but alert. Extremely alert. Even if she didn't plan on being up this early, the adrenaline rush that comes from entering the elevator to go to the Tower Reversed would ensure it. * Katie clearly intends to go to school right after this, as she's dressed for it, though her bag has plenty of not-technically-school things in it (like mace and a knife intended more for stabbing than it is for carving). She presses the down button for the elevator and, when it arrives, steels herself and steps in. <@Grysar> [She has the elevator all to herself, which does mean no one to hold her hand. On the other hand, it's only Masaru, not like being that composed on exit really matters. On the ride down, what does she do?] * Katie stands pretty squarely in the middle of the elevator, fingers clenched around the phone in her pocket (which she most recently used to text Kyon, telling him that she's at the Tower), and tries to breathe at least somewhat like a normal person. And keep her focus on the doors, which she tells herself repeatedly will open, like they're supposed to do. <@Grysar> [Katie finds she's actually surprisingly okay. She knows how long the ride takes and sure enough, the doors open right on schedule. Masaru is in the center of the room, he's go a longer canvas, one that bends in on the edges.] * Katie breathes a sigh of relief anyway. She steps out of the elevator and walks over, already seeing whatever it is Masaru's working on (if his back is to her). <@Grysar> [His medium today is charcoal, though instead of depicting the shadows with it, he's charcoaling the rays of the morning line. His technique... is not without talent, but since he's doing something only a step or two away from the conventional, the flaws are a little more obvious.] * Katie stops a few steps behind Masaru. "That's a new medium for you," she rasps. "I like the idea." * Masaru glances back. "Oh?" Yeah, a sort of... , right? Along with the Reversed world. * Katie peers at the drawing more obviously. "It's big, though. Did you try this with a smaller canvas before?" * @Masaru makes a slight nod of acknowledgement and then lets out a breath. "I did not." * Katie smiles slightly, somewhat amazed that Masaru is actually talking to her seriously about art and technique. Maybe some things really can change. "Try sketching it out before you do it? A few less-final tries would go a long way before tackling something like this. Everything's enlarged." * @Masaru is wearing white shoes, stripped grey and white pants, and a dark black shirt that nicely drapes on his thin frame. He has his cufflinks but no blazer this morning, though his white cotton beret looks like it could be pulled down a bit to keep his head warm. * @Masaru again makes a slight nod, "Though for now, I suppose I'm committed." Oh yeah, and it'll be an accomplishment anyway. Just for next time. * Katie looks at Masaru and changes her tiny smile to an actual grin. "If you want advice from a hack like me, anyway." * @Masaru tchts. "You don't believe that." That I'm a hack? No. * Katie lets the follow up question hang unspoken. * @Masaru is content to leave it unspoken. <@Masaru> [As the rising sun peaks past Tokyo's skyline, the room slowly begins to saturate.] * Katie's fingers twitch, and she gives in, pulling out her sketchbook and finding a seat by a low table so she can spread out some colored pencils. If Masaru's going to draw, she will, too, and the sunrise is amazing if super weird, so perfect - she can at least get a skeleton sketch before it's completely gone. <@Masaru> [Time passes as the two of you work in silence. Masaru does glance over every now and then and seems faintly pleased with himself. He loses that satisfaction when he returns to his work.] <@Masaru> [Masaru would have benefited from working on a smaller scale, but that's not the only thing throwing him off. The concave canvas actually suits him well. However, he's still obviously a frustrated by an attempt to capture one beam of light that hangs in the slightly dusty morning air. He almost seems to want to draw it coming out from the page, and while there's ways to accomplish that with a bit of geometry, he instead seems frustrated by his medium. Nonetheless, he is glad to share this moment with you.] * Katie doesn't offer any advice when it comes to that. She might *have* some, but she doesn't think he'd benefit much from it. It's a minor miracle that she was able to say as much as she did, she figures. * Katie does, however, work to get a decent drawing out of this - it's not as detailed or sharp as she'd normally like because of time, but the perspective is interesting and the colors are on their way to blending beautifully. <@Masaru> [Another ten minutes pass before the sun is entirely over the horizon. The skeleton is complete. Masaru continues to glance over every now and then, but he's not prying and you likely position yourself to give some privacy anyways. What do you do?] * Katie touches up her sky, or ground, with whites where the clouds would be. A couple of skyscrapers are next on her docket - they need more definition. And, hmm, maybe she could put a tiny Winston and Jin on the street... it looks so lifeless otherwise, even if most people wouldn't notice them. So much for not a lot of detail. "So you read the books?" she asks, while she considers how exactly she's going to put the Hermit and Fool in her picture. <@Masaru> The first was more and less than I thought. The second, I would not imagine the ending pleased you, but the middle seemed to veer away from your lives, at least what I know of them. * Katie nods. So it turned out your brother used our lives, but also other people's and maybe some fiction for... inspiration. And that he was doing it as part of a deal, I'm pretty sure to attract Arcana to a social media thing he and others are involved with. Shuffle. You've heard of it? * @Masaru nods. "I've signed up. I'd heard of it before your message but joined afterwards. I don't approach computers with alacrity, and I do feel spied upon when using it." He grins slightly, "But I suppose that means I have an audience." * Katie laughs a bit. "Yeah, that's something." She pauses. "What do you think? Of the Council stuff?" <@Masaru> I found some of those involved to be surprisingly earnest. I don't know what to do with people like that. * Katie tilts her head slightly. "You've been earnest." * @Masaru smiles faintly. "Therefore..." * @Masaru works on finishing touches for the day. * Katie looks up at Masaru. "It's uncomfortable?" <@Masaru> I never know what to do with myself. * Katie nods, letting him continue if he wants. <@Masaru> As for the rest, a good number of cunning and ambitious people using various cloaks. It does seem like a useful way to keep them occupied, although I do worry whether I'll have to rearrange my studio hours. Yeah... though nobody's shown up yet, so dawn still might be pretty safe. * @Masaru makes a face. She's not wrong, but... * Katie smiles sympathetically. Wanting to be alone is a feeling she's very familiar with. And then she sighs. "I'm going to run. For the second Swords seat." <@Masaru> At least half of them are in over their heads. Probably included. You, might not be. * Katie thinks about that. I don't know. But I might realize when I *am* over my head, so... definitely is. Both over his head, and realizing it. * @Masaru nods and puts away materials and draws a thermos from his satchel.. "Mimosa? I still allow myself some indulgences." * @Masaru opens the thermos of orange juice and takes out a miniature bottle of champagne that looks like it belongs in a minibar. * Katie looks at it, considering what to say, then settles on, "I've never tried one before." * @Masaru removes two stemmed glasses, also of dubious origin, and pours. Judging solely by presentation, he's a more disciplined mixologist than artist. * Katie makes a mental note of that while she watches. "So made a deal with who or what he calls the devil, though it's not the *actual* Devil as far as we know. And he seems to think that it's too late to turn back on it." And it's pretty clearly related to his books, and probably Shuffle. Do you have any idea why he might have wanted to do something like that? <@Masaru> [The two are served in equal parts, he also had a small vial of grenadine in that bag, which apparently is more efficiently and securely organized than you'd have suspected. He removes and orange and tosses it gently over to Katie, "Two slices please, about.. a sixth each." He then ponders her question. * Katie catches the orange and sets her book and pencils on the table before peeling it. <@Masaru> isn't really a bit player sort. I might have been enough for him, but he found me... insufficient ultimately. <@Masaru> He doesn't necessarily need to be the hero of the story. He was always good at eliciting those of others. But the role of narrator, story teller, to actually have the genuine wonder in his hands to distribute as he saw fit... * @Masaru trails off there. * Katie nods. "And you didn't help him do that?" <@Masaru> I did for a while. But not all stories are mine own. And my story proved disorganized, distracting, disappointing. <@Masaru> Disempowered. * Katie frowns. "So he looked somewhere else." * @Masaru nods. <@Masaru> His interview style, in the social sciences, is called a snowball survey. Talk to one person, ask them to introduce you to the next. He's quite good at finding and eliciting gossip. I suppose one of those threads lead to this Devil. Hm, yeah. I suppose so. Whoever's behind the Council, I bet... <@Masaru> That's beyond my ken. But after he came back from Osaka, I'd say. Osaka - do you know why? <@Masaru> When he came back, he had some new friends and some closely guarded story notes. But his disposition was different then. He changed, slowly, once he was back from college. * Katie nods. "When was this?" * @Masaru smiles whistfully. "He was more of a physics geek back then, always had an interest in magical realism." * Katie blinks. She never imagined Aka Uehara as a physics nerd. * @Masaru thinks. "2002." Ah, so around *then*. Okay. * @Masaru places both concotions by Katie, awaiting their orange slices. * Katie sets them on the edge of the glasses. * @Masaru picks up his in a toast. * Katie picks up hers and waits for whatever he's going to say. * @Masaru was content with kanpai. Although after a moment he adds "to your new beginning." * Katie laughs a little. "Gonna vote for me?" she teases before she tries a sip. She looks at it. Better than beer; still kind of weird. "Kyon's going to run, too." * @Masaru echoes her light tone, "Gonna make sure I can keep coming here?" * @Masaru doesn't feel moved to add a mention of Kyon to the toast. He drinks at a measured pace, glancing down at the city that is rousing itself from slumber. I don't think I have to. You like being here way more than I do. * Masaru takes another sip, glancing around. "I don't know, I could see this place gentrifying." He keeps the tone light, but he does genuinely enjoy coming here and largely being left to his own devices. He's not sure what's coming next, but he doesn't want to lose a good thing. That said, he also is dodging the Kyon topic. Some assurances would be sufficient to get his vote for you. Kyon, well, he'd just as soon not have that conversation. * Masaru does trust Katie, a promise would suffice. * Katie wrinkles her nose slightly. "Maybe. I think the current Wands representative wants to put some sort of memorial here." * Masaru laughs. "I know. And I'm enough of a hack to consider it, if she were paying and could keep her hands off once the proposal was picked." * Katie laughs, too, genuinely and pretty loudly. ", I didn't think I'd *ever* hear you say something like that." * Masaru blushes slightly. "Well, I doubt she'd like my proposal. But you know..." He gestures at his bag, materials, and drinks, "These have to come from somewhere." There's nothing wrong with taking commissions. * Masaru settles slightly, now that his cred isn't on the line. * Masaru nods and chats idly on arty topics for a bit as the drinks run down. "Well, you know my price, but if you give me some handbills, I can also share them with anyone interested. I won't push, I do commissions but I don't shill. Still... we could do a lot worse." * Katie drank maybe a third of her small mimosa before she decided she had enough; definitely better than beer, but she'd really rather just have orange juice. "I think so, but that's why I'm trying for it. I'm..." She trails off, listening to who knows what, before continuing. * Masaru waits. I don't trust the people who put this together. And I think I'm right not to. But there are relatively innocent people involved too, and if they go and make a system that can be shaped, maybe we can make it better. Or burn it down, if it's too much. I tend not to trust anyone with real power. But I do like to see a mix of perspectives at least. You'll bring that. * Katie smiles. "Thanks. If it helps any, I don't really *want* it, but I feel like someone should..." She shrugs. "Thanks." Brief pause. "But you don't think Kyon will, do you?" * Masaru laughs, "Doesn't help, you're not allowed to want it. Although I suppose Hiromi manages somehow." * Masaru thinks, "Nothing against him, though he is, literally, the man, if you'll pardon the cliche." * Katie snerks. "Pardoned." I guess... maybe I'll take you up on your offer, if you think it's worthwhile. I'd have to put something together. This is hard. * Masaru thinks and then nods, "And as for Kyon, it's one thing when it's a big group, like against the reversed. As an artist I do try to stay out of organized politics but I rather like the world. Still now, I don't think the stakes are quite that high, so I'd like the chance to meet a few of the other candidates." He nods. "It does sound hard, Kyon need fear no competition from me." Yeah. I think the other Wand running is Kazuko Yamagata. Besides that, I really don't know yet. * Masaru nods without comment. This does not appear to entirely be news to him. * Katie has set her mimosa down and is looking at her sketchbook, still open and on the table. * Masaru glances at it and smiles. He seems content. When last you met he did feel somewhat indebted to you, this time he seems to have feel that he's doing his part. He'll follow through on what he says and isn't eager to hand out brochures for anyone else. He'll also *slowly* work on his craft, though not really to the degree he should. He's watching what's going on with his brother and with Kazuko at another step of remove, but absent a major intervention he's probably going to be keeping up his status quo. * Katie looks over, sees Masaru's expression, and thinks about it while she starts packing her things away. It's getting to be time for class. She says, "You know, this wasn't bad." * Masaru glances for permission and then collects your glass while cleaning up on his end. Looks like he'll probably wash up down here so you'll be leaving seperately unless you wait for him. "Let me know your taste, I'll fix something outright good next time." * Katie raises her eybrows. "Another art date? Sounds... pretty good, actually." She picks up her bag and shoulders it. "We can talk about a time, but I have to get to campus. Let me know if anything weird happens, okay? Or if there's anything I should consider." * Masaru waves. "My social planner is fairly open, so just drop me a line. If something comes up, I'll let you know." * Katie smiles a bit. "Sure, I will." She waves, too, and then is off to the crappy elevator ride to the world upright. [End!]