<@Ciara> [Afternoon of Thursday, April 29, 2004] <@Ciara> [Wataru messaged Katie a few days ago about getting together, and now they're doing it, meeting at Wataru's apartment.] <@Ciara> [In the interim, Haruko sent out an e-mail about a reading Kyon did on Aka, Katie met up with Masaru in the Tower Reversed, and Satoshi send out an e-mail on Kyon and Wataru's Bangor Reversed research that Haruko, Kaede, and Katie answered (plus an e-mail just to Wataru that Wataru's replied to).] <@Ciara> [Katie's bringing over the items she and Kyon acquired from Haruko, the stuff in Taki's Mystery Package that she handed over.] <@Ciara> [There's lots of stuff to talk about, including Shuffle and the Council and all of that bracketed stuff up above, if they so choose.] <@Ciara> [Also there is a literally shiny new mirror that got delivered and installed in Wataru's bathroom yesterday.] <@Ciara> [They can talk about that too, if they want. <3] <@Ciara> [Session Start!] * Katie doesn't know about the mirror has arrived! Some things, Katie does not know. Regardless, she's approaching Wataru's apartment complex and keeping an eye and ear out for roaming owls. Presumably, she hasn't noticed any, or she'd probably have taken a different route to get there. * Wataru is barefoot in a plan light blue t-shirt and loose black jeans, sitting crosslegged on the carpet, playing Metal Gear. Did he forget Katie was coming? * Katie presses a button, letting Wataru know she'd like to be buzzed in. * Wataru pauses the game and hops up! He is not in pyjamas anymore, which suggests that he did in fact know she was coming. He goes to let her in! And then quickly finds somewhere to save the game. * Katie is buzzed in, with minimal fanfare, and she heads up while Wataru saves the game. He probably even succeeds by the time she knocks on his apartment door. * Katie is wearing a teal windbreaker with a wooden lion guardian lion charm dangling from the zipper, a heather gray scoop-neck shirt under that, halfway decent jeans, and a newer pair of sneakers. She's got her bag with her and a flimsy white scarf (which maybe she recently removed) wrapped around her wrist. * Wataru has chosen to be EXCITED because the alternative is FEAR and he's had quite enough of that. He lets her in! "Hey," he grins! "I like your jacket," he says. "Cool colour. C'mon in!" * Katie blinks, and she smiles. "Thanks?" It comes out more hesitant than she'd like, but she steps in, going to hang up said jacket and scarf, and remove her shoes. * Wataru has energy! "How're you doing?" * Wataru offers to help her with her things, if desired. * Katie gets stuff hung up in record time, then! "Okay, I guess. Stressed out." She makes sure the scarf is in place before she glances at Wataru. "You're cheerful." * Wataru has an awkward smile. "I feel like I haven't seen anybody in a long time. I guess there's only so much introvert I can handle before I snap or something. Can I get you a drink? Something to eat? I have eggs. Christ I really am coming on strong, huh? Sorry." He exhales. * Katie laughs a little. "Um, eggs would be fine. And yeah, something to drink... good. Do you want me to wear slippers-" She stops mid-sentence and doesn't really look at Wataru's feet, but regardless walks over to the table with her bag wearing socks-but-no-slippers. "Nah, whatever. Sorry, I'm barefoot, is that like a taboo?" He heads over to the kitchen. "Scrambled? Boiled?" Nah, I go around barefoot all the time. I'm just used to everyone *else* looking at me funny when I'm at their place. Scrambled is good. "We're barbaric Americans anyway," Wataru grins. "Man now I wish I had bacon or something. Like actual bacon. Oh well. Eggs and toast!" Oh god, actual bacon. * Katie sighs. Bacon! * Wataru starts kitchening! "Want some coffee with that?" Only if it comes with milk and enough sugar for Kyon to make a sour- lemon face. * Wataru laughs. "Well, I'm not sure I have Kyon faces on my measuring spoons, but I can probably make that work. Dude takes his coffee black, huh? Why am I not surprised." He'll put a tiny amount of sugar in, but yeah, pretty dark. Like his soul. * Katie sets her bag down and starts pulling things from it. "I prefer counter-balancing mine." * Wataru snorts. <3 He has a small sigh, apparently quite content with this line of humour, and starts preparing their brunch, because apparently they are having brunch now. * Katie will totally take brunch in the evening. She finishes laying a few things out on the table. "How's he doing, anyway? Mr, black-slighly-sweet soul." Oh, fine. Gearing up for his campaign for office. And spring training. And meeting his parents next week. And finishing a draft on those chapters for his novel. * Katie says all of that so-very evenly. "Yooooo meeting the parents? Not the first time, right?" * Katie looks over some of the material she's about to hand off to Wataru. "Me? No." Her voice is still too even. "Cool cool." He doesn't seem to notice. "Wait, did you say running for office? Is the guy going into politics on top of everything else?" * Katie snorts a little. "Yeah." I don't really blame him, I guess, but I don't think he really has the time for actually everything. * Wataru scrambles a bunch of eggs. "Yeah, I can't imagine." * Katie makes a small noise of agreement and sets the letter back down. She waits for eggs to scramble. "So what's he running for?" The toaster oven dings, and Wataru turns the toast over! ... The second Wands Council seat? * Wataru drops a piece of toast and curses harshly. "R-right. Right, duh." He drops the toast in the trashcan, watching it fall and nestle irretrievably among eggshells. * Katie listens to that happen. She doesn't look over, but she does say, "I thought that's what you wanted to talk about. Not Kyon specifically, but..." "Yes," he says, quickly. "That is in fact what I wanted to talk about." The aroma of coffee starts to fill the apartment. * Katie looks over now. She already knows the answer, but: "Are you okay?" "Yep," he says cheerily. "I'm fine! Let's get this breakfast happening." * Katie rolls her eyes. What a terrible liar, she doesn't say. * Wataru heaps the eggs on two plates and waits for toast and coffee. * Katie has moved on from looking at the letters and to flipping through her sketchbook and wondering why Kyon's parents are presently more terrifying than facing down an unknown Arcana for a position she never wanted (but Satoshi's situation is probably as scary, she allows to herself). * Katie looks up and at Wataru's corkboard, now reminded of the whole Satoshi thing, to see if there's been any change. "So, there's a lot going on, huh," Wataru says, a little sheepishly. And there is nothing new on his corkboard! Although presumably there will be many new purikuras within a few weeks! * Katie sighs. "Yeah." Pause. "Met with Kazuko Yamagata recently. You knew about that. And Masaru Uehara. I don't think I told you about that." Argued with Haruko, too. Had a difficult talk with Kyon. Busy few days. "Man," he huffs. "I have Thoughts about Masaru Uehara." He is not touching that 'difficult talk with Kyon' thing with a hundred foot pole. * Katie looks at Wataru again, as best she can (since he's in the kitchen). "Yeah?" "I don't know if you've noticed, but the Ace of Goddamn Wands is showing up much too often in readings for my liking lately." * Katie tilts her head, thinking about that. "He is connected to both Satoshi and Aka Uehara." "He's got a finger in every pie and I have no idea who he actually is. You met with him?" Wataru gets the plates ready and brings them over to the table! Brunch! Yeah, and I'm realizing *I* have no idea who he actually is. Or I had no idea. * Katie brightens slightly upon brunch approaching. Who doesn't love brunch! "Oh yeah?" He sets the plates down. * Katie nods, salting her eggs a little. "You were there. He admitted to being high on cocaine and stuff. When I knew him two years ago, he was loopy. Just... almost impossible to talk to. I mean, rarely he had good insights, but mostly he came off as pretentious and weird." But... Arcana. * Katie picks up her chopsticks. "And now he's cleaned up? I'm getting the coffee, but I'm listening." He heads to the kitchen. Right. You were there for that. "Right. But what was the new meeting all about, why was it weird?" He pours the coffee and wonders if he should put the milk and sugar in for Katie, or let her do it. Oh. I met with him yesterday, to fill him in on what's going on with Shuffle and his brother and stuff. He's pretty different. More... stable. Able to take some criticism about his work. And way more considerate, in general. * Wataru feels himself blush a bit, but hopefully Katie can't see him. He pours milk into her cup, and his. "That's good. Why fill him in?" * Katie probably saw, but she doesn't say. "Because I told him I would." "Is he on our side? He - I mean, you uh, didn't seem like friends, before." Sugar time! * Katie snorts a little. "No, we weren't." But Masaru's never been an enemy, even if he did some really shitty things. This Council of Mysteries stuff, that's his brother. He'd have some insight. And he'd be good to have on our side. * Wataru shakes his head, smiling a little. Then he comes back with coffee. "Man, you really are a politician. I could never pull stuff like that off." * Katie makes a face. "I don't want to be one." * Wataru sits down with her. He sighs. "I'll drink to that." * Katie picks up her coffee and raises it, then. "Careful, it might be hot." * Katie blows the top and takes a very careful sip. * Wataru smiles, charmed for some reason. He looks at his own coffee, and misses Sophie hard, suddenly. He sips. * Katie looks at the coffee appreciatively, and she turns the look to Wataru. "So what did you want to talk about?" * Wataru has a small sigh. "I guess we already are. The Ace of Wands was one thing. And I guess if you have any questions or comments about readings or Satoshi's ritual or whatever." He scratches the side of his nose. "And the Council, of course." * Katie wrinkles her nose. "I don't like the ritual. I know it's *there* and Kyon told me about his reading, and I trust what Satoshi said about yours, but... ugh." She stabs her eggs. "If it was me, I'd have destroyed the site and never looked back." * Wataru takes another sip of coffee. "I'm also not a fan." Well, he's going to do it. I hope he's still Satoshi after. * Wataru glances over the rim of his cup. "And not, like, the other guy?" Or whatever. I'm not worried about Hideo specifically. "I think he's approaching it from a pretty healthy place, all things considered, though." * Katie sighs. "Yeah, I know. All considered." "I'm surprised - I mean, I was just so surprised. That he was even considering it at first. For all he talks about cutting Arcana out of his life and stuff. But I guess he's coming to terms with it more, or something..." He feels bad, for running away. * Wataru actually rolls his eyes. "He shouldn't be coming to this from a place of "feeling bad from running away". He's allowed to do what he wants. I mean *I* wish I could run away. But who am I to say how he should or shouldn't feel." He sighs, heavily, and pokes his eggs. He's revealing a lot to her, he realizes. Probably he should find some way to dissimulate... * Katie shakes her head. "No, I mean, two years ago he ran away." Not physically. Mentally and emotionally. He was there, but he wasn't *there*. So now, I think he wants to turn that around. Do something. * Wataru thinks about this. ".....Yeah, all right, this I can see." * Katie pushes egg onto her toast with her chopsticks, then picks up the toast and has a bite. "I want to believe he'll be fine. I want to believe we'll all be fine. On a scale from idiot to reasonable....?" He eyes Katie. * Katie makes an eh noise and a so-so motion with her hand. She chews and swallows. "Do you trust your own reading?" * Wataru thinks about this. "Yes, as much as I trust any. It felt solid. Maybe surprisingly easy, but that happens too. Sometimes I'm just in the zone." "I'm not saying it's infallible, but it's as solid as any reading I've done." Then there you go. * Wataru nods. So I guess we'll see. * Wataru has some toast. "He'll be fine." * Katie sighs. "Yeah." She looks at Wataru. "And you?" * Wataru flumps over until his forehead is on the table, beside his plate. "Who the fuck knows." * Katie watches him do this. This is the Wataru she knows and expects. "Anything I can help with?" "Put the entire Council on a cruise ship and sail them around the world a few dozen times until we're all old and grey?" * Katie snerks. "They could play shuffleboard. It'd be great." That'd be *nice*. Ha, shuffleboard. "Great, so we have a plan." Wataru turns his head to the side, cheek on the table, and looks at her. "I'm glad we have these talks." * Katie smiles apologetically, and she slides the plastic-sleeved letters and key to him. "Do you know what you want to do about it? Running's on the table." "I think I've already run away in my brain and then come back. What's all this stuff?" He sits up, a little. Remember when Taki had that tip? "Tip?" He sits up the rest of the way. Yeah, with the mystery people. When I sent that e-mail a week ago and we talked online. "Oh - with Yamagata?" * Katie's eyebrows knit. "Yamagata?" "Am I just mixing stuff up in my head? Sorry. No, that's right, Yamagata gave her a letter of recommendation. Who are the mystery people?" * Katie says, deadpan, "A mystery." She points out the letters and key. "They gave Taki a package with this, and a letter saying not to figure out who they are, and to burn it and leave a message if she wants more information, or something." I don't know. I didn't read it. Haruko *burned the damn thing*. "Is this normal? Like this is a thing that happens? Randos coming up to us with mysterious packages? Because I got stalked by an owl, and now this." Not really? Seems to be happening more often. "I don't like it." I mean, mysterious messages were a thing two years ago. Here's some information! But not what you *really* need to know. Now someone's going to kill you and I'm going to disappear in a swirl of belts and capes. Next you'll spend an entire week trying to puzzle it out before you're too busy with another mystery to bother anymore. * Wataru rolls his eyes. "Jesus." "Dodged a bullet there I guess." Pretty sure he didn't exist. Or if he did, he didn't know about Arcana, because he'd probably be like, 'That's bullshit. Let's give them a break, Dad.' "Why *Taki*, though, of all people? Who looks at Taki and goes "oh hey there's a trustworthy person we should give these secrets to, because Reasons"?" Yeah. *Exactly*. Who the hell. * Wataru ruffles up his hair. "This is dumb. I mean, fuck, I'm in for the long haul I guess, but at the same time, I feel I should say at some point that owls and mysterious letters and cloak-and-dagger bullshit isn't what I realized I had signed up for." I sure as hell didn't sign up for it. I got conscripted. "I feel like.. like the people who *did* sign up for it are the ones we maybe should be wary about." * Katie nods. "Yeah." She looks down at the letters, then back up to Wataru. "Which is why I'm trying to join the Council." * Wataru takes a deep breath. "Right." He looks straight at her. "So that's happening, huh. How's it going?" * Katie shrugs a little. Just started. Yamagata respects me and my position. She thinks I'd be a good person to have on the Council but hasn't promised support or anything. Apparently I'm running against the King of Swords. No idea who that is, but they have 'ideas'. * Wataru cocks a brow. * Katie sips her coffee and then sets it on the table, playing with the handle. "Seems like at least a few people... I mean, Kazuko Yamagata, Hiromi Nekotani - she's the person who currently has the Wands seat - sounds like others too, had no idea we were being blocked, and Yamagata thinks we might get support if they know we're running. Because of what we did two years ago. That's... I think that could be something They, or She, was trying to keep from happening." "They? She? The World you mean?" Yeah. Her, Yorihisa Murimura... he's the Six of Pentacles, by the way. Confirmed. "I should be writing all this down," Wataru smiles. * Katie grins. "Maybe. I remember when I helped you with the last chart." * Wataru laughs! "Cool, well if you're not in a rush, I'm positive my shit is out of date by now." If you want, I can stick around after we finish talking and help you update it. Kyon's going to pretty much have my attention all of next week anyway. He can live without an evening. * Wataru smiles. "Sure." He sits up straighter, stretching a little. "So both you and Kyon, huh?" "Are running, I mean." Yeah... came to that conclusion independently of each other. "Is that... isn't that..." Wataru rubs the back of his head. "Wow. I mean, that's something. Risky. I'm not sure what I'm saying. Feels scary." * Katie tilts her head slightly. "Why?" [To be continued!]