[Afternoon/Evening of Thursday, April 29, 2004]

[Jihatsu]
"If..." He looks at her. "I mean this is not reassuring, but like, if 
something happens? Or if one of you is compromised? Or... I don't know! I 
don't really know. It just... It feels so scary, like such a huge risk to get 
involved, that if I was dating someone and they were also gunning for a 
Council seat, I'd be doubly scared, I think."


[Ardweden]
Katie is silent for a moment, considering, and then she says, "I don't find 
it not scary. But I don't find it... significantly more scary, I guess, than 
him deciding not to run. There are a lot of things that can go down, but I 
trust Kyon to be on my side, even if sometimes he has had to... not seem like 
he's on my side. As much."

She frowns for a moment, thinking about what she wants to say next.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru exhales. "Why not on your side? You're not in competition, right?"


[Ardweden]
"You're talking about being compromised. That's occasionally an effect." 
Katie smiles humorlessly. "And sometimes the way to get or keep someone on 
your side is to not seem like you're too close in philosophy to the person 
they really disagree with."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru rakes his hands through his hair. "That's what I had been thinking, 
too. That email you sent? I've been thinking the same thing for a while. That 
if I get involved....." He shakes his head. "I'd want to pretend - not that I 
don't know you, but that I don't know you well. All of you. That I actually 
am an independent. That I'm neutral and open to see what anybody has to 
offer."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Okay. It's a good idea - if you're okay with it."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru slips his hands under his glasses to cover his eyes. "I hate it 
completely."


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks. "Then don't do it."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru exhales sharply through his nose. "I don't have a choice, though. It's 
a good idea. It'll give us another angle to understand what's going on. And 
if - if really bad shit happens - I mean, you were already being isolated, 
before." He lets his hands slip back down, adjusts his glasses. "Having 
someone on the outside, someone maybe different people talk to, we could all 
be safer in the long run. It's just terrifying."


[Ardweden]
"Then it sounds like you don't hate it *completely*. But you're scared." 
Katie looks away, through Wataru's sliding glass doors, and adds, "I'm really 
trying not to ask you to do anything you're too uncomfortable with, anyway. I 
don't like ordering people around, and you've just started not running from 
*me* not too long ago, so..."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles a little....

"I guess, though, if you could give me a clearer perspective on exactly what 
we're up against - if I could.. You know, actually understand what I'm scared 
of? Would you be able to help me with that? I think maybe I'd be less 
scared."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "I can try. And also there's these." She pushes aside the rest of 
her rapidly cooking eggs and toast to point out the two letters and the key 
that she had brought. "Those are allegedly from people involved with or 
related to Shuffle and the Council of Mysteries. And what we know about them 
already backs this up."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru looks at the items he has very carefully not touched or paid too much 
attention to since they got placed in front of him. 


[Ardweden]
"I was hoping you could get information from them." Katie points at the first 
letter. "This one's pretty clearly from Yorihisa Murimura, about Shuffle 
security. This one," and she points at the second, "is some sort of weird 
game-y thing about an author's dinner party for Aka Uehara. He was supposed 
to go, by the way, but didn't." She gives a little smirk. "Seems we scared 
him away. His publisher had to send someone else instead, so Kyon went. The 
letter checks out, though I really find the text at the bottom the most 
interesting, because they're concerned that Aka's being monitored by whoever 
got and probably redacted the stuff on this letter, but not *why*. Just like 
they think that this is somehow more important than Council elections..." She 
points out the relevant sentence. "It's weird. Who gets access to all of this 
but not know how important it is, or pretends not to know, and then sends it 
to *Taki* of all people."

Katie blows out a breath, upwards, fluffing her bangs briefly, before she 
gestures at the third item - a small, silver key, with Global Personnel 
Services imprinted on it. "That speaks for itself."

(The letters can be read here 
http://bacon.sandwich.net/ardweden/neoarcana/other/ShimiruPackage1_ITmemo.htm
l and here 
http://bacon.sandwich.net/ardweden/neoarcana/other/ShimiruPackage1_Kokusensha
Dinner.html )


[Jihatsu]
Well

Wataru's curiosity

is

_piqued._

He takes his time reading all the things.

"....they have a competitor?" He mumbles, after the first letter, and then 
immediately turns to the other....


[Ardweden]
"Yeah, Kaede and I are pretty sure he means Kaede, who breached their 
security."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods, the information semi-registering as he skims the second, and 
much harder to understand, message. 

He bites his lips at "puerile mundane chick-lit" - must be Kyon. And then 
reads to the end..... 

"...four names, four genres, four secrets... four suits?" He glances up at 
Katie.


[Ardweden]
Katie tilts her head. "I hadn't considered that." She pauses. "There's no 
real evidence, but it's worth remembering. Thanks."


[Jihatsu]
"So, okay, wait." He grabs a pen and paper from a pile on the table, starts 
sketching. "This first letter is from Murimura to Shuffle staff, so that's 
one or more people. It mentions a competitor - Kaede, you think. So that's 
them. But this second weird one, it's from someone, to someone else, but it 
also mentions four people - Kyon, I think? and Aka... wait, no, let me see."

He jots down the following:

YAkatsuki @ kokusensha
? @ kokusensha
BOARD MEMBERS                               SECRETS                                            
GENRES 
1
2
3
4
Lieutenant
[redacted], + their minion

"That's a lot of people involved. And really, it is a fucking logic puzzle," 
Wataru says, with appetite. "I think we can do this."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "They were people at the dinner that Kyon went to. I don't... I 
wasn't there. He told me about it, but I was really distracted by Taki's... 
Taki-ness at the time, and..." She sighs, frustrated. "Anyway, I remember him 
mentioning some people who might likely be them, and I remember some things 
lining up, but I can't remember all the details."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru is visibly frustrated by this, but he doesn't say anything. "Arcana?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head no. "But there were only four of them, and a couple of 
them *really* stood out as being connected to Arcana. One is Katsuro 
Yamagata. He's a politician and Kazuko Yamagata's father. I know that she 
doesn't think well of him, and doesn't read the letters he sends her. I guess 
he thinks more fondly of her. The other is Detective Kenjii Sagara. He's... 
well." Katie sighs, and she rubs at her face before picking up her mug again. 
"His daughter's an Arcana, too. And he was a detective who was looking into a 
lot of the shit that was happening around Sakuragaoka and some of the other 
schools two years ago. Disappearances because of the drugs, a murder that 
Kyon was accused of..." She looks down into her coffee. "The time I was 
trapped in a closet for days. He was in charge of that one."


[Jihatsu]
"Damn," Wataru says, softly. "Okay. That's some shit going on." 

He frowns down at his notes, and adds a few things, thoughtfully...

YAkatsuki @ kokusensha
? @ kokusensha
BOARD MEMBERS                               SECRETS                                            
GENRES                  SUITS??
1 Kyon                                                                                         
History?                wands                         
2                                           wife left                                          
horror
3 Det. Sagara?                              stubborn                                           
Mystery
4 Yamagata dad?                             old, scared of Aka                                 
SF                        
Lieutenant
[redacted], + their minion

"Do you happen to recall the suits of Yamagata the younger and of the 
detective's kid...? These all sound like people whose lives were impacted by 
Arcana, maybe negtively. I mean I'm not sure how Kyon fits in, but..." His 
eyes scan the list, and the letter, over and over. "Do they know Kyon is 
Arcana?"


[Ardweden]
"No," Katie says, though obviously not in response to what Wataru asked 
because she's pointing at Kyon's name on Wataru's logic puzzle. "Kyon 
shouldn't be included. He wasn't *supposed* to be there. Aka was supposed to 
be there instead, and the letter was information gathering for him. Yukio 
Akatsuki." She pulls her finger up to tap at the top e-mail address listed.

"Kazuko Yamagata is the Nine of Wands." Katie refrains from saying she 
mentioned that in an e-mail and continues. "I don't know about Sagara's 
daughter. I think her name's Akari? She had, like... tentacles? Akari... 
something, not Sagara. She wasn't going by her father's name - that'd be 
Sagara's secret, I think, that his wife left him." Katie takes her finger to 
tap at the secrets column, at 2 and 3. "And his daughter left with her. She 
was part of the Jackals, an Arcana gang out of Serizawa High. I remember... 
snooping around his office, at the station, years ago, he-" She hesitates, 
changes tack, then continues. "He might have been in charge of the 
investigations, but someone was blackmailing him because of his daugher - she 
didn't know. I don't think - so he was destroying evidence and stalling out 
cases and..." 

Katie shakes her head. "I don't know if he knows Kyon is an Arcana, or even 
what Arcana really *are*. Just that his daughter was strange and there were 
terrible things going on, and that was his role. To let it keep happening and 
not let anyone get to the bottom of it, because then she wouldn't be hurt."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru takes a few moments to let this new information settle in his mind. 
Police cover-ups, politicians, conspiracies... The hell kind of X-Files 
nonsense has he gotten himself into?

"Okay," he says, slowly. "So move that around..." He makes some fixes on his 
sheet. "And I'm not sure the suits thing works anymore, because now there are 
two people on the list with Wands as relatives." He looks up at Katie. "And 
three with Arcana as relatives. We can only assume the stubborn writer has an 
Arcana relative too." He looks down again. "And I'm not sure about people's 
genres yet, but it is creepy as fuck that they have Aka down as "history"."

YAkatsuki @ kokusensha
? @ kokusensha
BOARD MEMBERS                               SECRETS                                            
GENRES                  SUITS??
1 Aka Uehara                                                                                  
**HISTORY**              wands (brother)      
2                                           stubborn                                           
horror
3 Det. Sagara?                              wife left                                         
Mystery                     ?? (daughter)
4 Yamagata dad?                             old, scared of Aka                                     
SF                  wands (daughter)
Lieutenant
[redacted], + their minion
Kyon


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "Strike Aka from the list. Look." She points at the 
letter. "Four secrets, four guests at the dinner besides the author. Four 
people who *aren't* Aka or Kyon. The letter was to Aka. He's not on the 1-4 
list." She pauses. "I really don't know how the genre stuff works, though, 
like... ugh." Katie rubs at her forehead. "I wish I was there. I'd actually 
know and remember this shit."

"Anyway, the other two people in attendance were... there was this guy with a 
family tie pin who liked to brag about his connections and was nervous about 
Sagara. Kyon realized that those connections dipped into Yakuza and stuff... 
he *really* didn't like him, but the feeling wasn't mutual. He was into 
Kyon's work." Katie snerks a touch at a memory. "I guess interacting with him 
was a chore and the only good thing Kyon got out of him was where he got the 
tie pin. And the other is Oshiro, I think? He was the one who wanted things 
Aka to make things as dark as he liked. His son goes to university with Aka; 
he approves of their friendship."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru feels a tinge of headache coming on. "Okay. So..."

YAkatsuki @ kokusensha
? @ kokusensha
BOARD MEMBERS                               SECRETS                                            
GENRES                  SUITS??
1 ?                                         yakuza                                            
history   
2 Oshiro                                    stubborn                                           
horror                  son?????? right age
3 Det. Sagara?                              wife left                                         
Mystery                     ?? (daughter)
4 Yamagata dad?                             old, scared of Aka                                     
SF                  wands (daughter)
Lieutenant
[redacted], + their minion
Kyon (wands)
Aka (wands, brother)

"How does this look to you? This Oshiro guy's son could be Arcana, maybe. 
Still a fucking wagonload of wands, though. That's weird if it's 
coincidence."


[Ardweden]
"Pretty good," Katie says, "I dunno if that guy's *in* the yakuza, but he 
seems to know some people there." She sips her coffee and makes a face. Cold. 
"The suit thing was a reach, anyway, and I don't think these four people are 
working together besides that they all have an interest in Council of 
Mysteries for some reason or another."


[Jihatsu]
"Because they saw shit go down back in the bad old days," Wataru muses. "With 
kids or siblings or some other ties to what happened. Was there ever a yakuza 
connection for some Arcana people? I mean, I know there was some ugly shit 
with drugs and ... other stuff." He eyes her warily, a little apologetically.


[Ardweden]
Katie puts down her mug and shrugs, then slides it over to rest with her now 
also-cold food. She doesn't seem bothered. "I wouldn't be surprised, but I 
don't know anything specific. I mean, yeah, there was a lot of illegal 
shit"Aren't drugs in Japan pretty much entirely Yakuza business? And I don't 
know if anyone had guns, but guns are ridiculously hard to come by - and 
super illegal - unless you're in the mob. Or a soldier, I guess..." He sighs. 
"Anyway, my point is, Yakuza guy could totally have been involved or 
witnessed some weird shit. But anyway," he leans back and takes a sip of cold 
coffee. "Even if that's true.... What are they doing? We're looking at four 
old dudes, all writers with Kokusensha, all potentially connected with 
Arcana, who are members of some kind of secret society Board. And there's a 
Lieutenant, plus the author of this letter, plus Aka, plus - I think - a boss 
lady who has a minion. I don't like the sound of any of that, but I'm also 
not sure how it fits into the bigger picture." going on. The drugs and mind 
control, assassination and- and human trafficking. But tied to yazuka? I 
don't know."


[Jihatsu]
"Aren't drugs in Japan pretty much entirely Yakuza business? And I don't know 
if anyone had guns, but guns are ridiculously hard to come by - and super 
illegal - unless you're in the mob. Or a soldier, I guess..." He sighs. 
"Anyway, my point is, Yakuza guy could totally have been involved or 
witnessed some weird shit. But anyway," he leans back and takes a sip of cold 
coffee. "Even if that's true.... What are they doing? We're looking at four 
old dudes, all writers with Kokusensha, all potentially connected with 
Arcana, who are members of some kind of secret society Board. And there's a 
Lieutenant, plus the author of this letter, plus Aka, plus - I think - a boss 
lady who has a minion. I don't like the sound of any of that, but I'm also 
not sure how it fits into the bigger picture."


[Ardweden]
Katie thinks about that. "Tenjirou had a gun when he-" She stops, abruptly, 
and then says, "At least later on, when the Band fractured so he threw his 
lot in with Sho. So maybe Sho and his people had ties to yakuza. And I don't 
think there's anything in here that says all or any of them are writers? Or 
even on a secret society board. Just-" She takes the letter, still in its 
sleeve, and slides it around so she can read it without it being upside down. 
It takes a couple of minutes before she continues. "Just that they all went 
to a dinner, and three of them are on this board, and one was a guest."

"But yeah," Katie sighs, "I don't know anything about the Lieutenant and 
whoever Aka's having look stuff up, and boss lady and minion. Or how it fits 
into a bigger picture, exactly. It's just information right now, and I think 
we should treat it like just information."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "Satoshi's mom is a boss lady. Temperance is a minion. I'm not 
saying it's them, that doesn't make sense, just. Parallels."

He looks at the letter again. Board members. Experts in different genres. 
"There's a board of some kind. And maybe not writers, but experts. How do you 
become an _expert_ in supernatural horror."


[Ardweden]
"You follow it. Or live it. Or do research." Katie gives a short laugh, not 
unlike what Kyon would do. "Like Aka."

She stands and reaches for her plate.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru leans his chin in his hand, looking at the paper. 

"You know," he says, "in theory, there's other ways I could investigate this 
stuff."


[Ardweden]
"You mean touch the paper inside the sleeve and see what impressions it gives 
you?" Katie picks up her plate, with half-eaten eggs and toast. "Are you 
going to eat your dinner-brunch?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru looks at the food. "Yeah. One sec." He eats it in a few unhurried 
bites - don't want to waste!


[Ardweden]
It's kind of cold, now, but Wataru did do a good job scrambling the eggs.


[Jihatsu]
Cold, whatever. He finishes the coffee too. He picks up his dishes and 
follows Katie into the kitchen. "Anyway, yeah, I could see what impressions 
this stuff gives me. What would we want to know?"


[Ardweden]
"I don't know. I'm not really sure what you could find out, or how exactly 
your power works. But anything's better than nothing, even if it's to confirm 
what we already know." Katie scrapes her leftovers into the trash, dumps out 
her coffee, and rinses her mug before setting it on the counter. She takes 
Wataru's plate as she asks, "Can I have more coffee?"


[Jihatsu]
"Sure," Wataru smiles. He swaps plate for mug and gives Katie a generous 
refill! "Let's see... I mean, I've really only started figuring out what I 
can do there recently. Maybe I could figure out who wrote it, I dunno. I'd 
rather turn to the cards if I was trying to work out who's hiding behind 
those blanks, though. Or who..." He shakes his head, pours himself more 
coffee too. "That's why I want to know what you want to know. What's most 
useful for us?"


[Ardweden]
Katie lets out a quiet chuckle as she reaches for the sponge and turns on the 
kitchen faucet. (It's like she's washed dishes at Wataru's place before - 
because she has.) "I don't usually get to choose," she says,difficult to hear 
because of the running water but not impossible. She lowers the water 
pressure and gets some dish soap. "But okay. What I really want to know is 
who sent this stuff to Taki at all. So if you can find out that, from any of 
it, that'd be great."

"For the IT Memo, maybe who it was to? We know Yorihisa sent it, but we don't 
know who works for him; we know some of the people involved, but 'business' 
probably means people closer to the Council. I'd love to know where he moved 
their insecure files to, but." She shrugs. "The dinner letter, maybe who was 
writing it and to what purpose, and anything else... I'm not too worried 
about that; seems more focused on Aka, but any information is better than no 
information and it's all tangled up anyway. He's the chink in the World's 
armor."

Katie rinses off a plate and looks it over before setting it in the drying 
rack. She picks up the next one. "For the key... what it unlocks, anything 
about that, and who owns it or cares about it."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods and wanders back to the table, looking at everything again. 

"The key comes with the least information, but feels the most promising to 
me, somehow. I think ... maybe I can figure out what it unlocks. Maybe. I 
think I want to try." He looks at the other things. "Where the insecure stuff 
is...." he thinks. "I don't know about doing that directly. But I might be 
able to ... I don't know. A reading might help figure out who sent this to 
Taki. I haven't actually had much experience doing this, yet..."


[Ardweden]
"That's okay," Katie says from the kitchen as she washes the second plate. 
"Anything is better than nothing."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods... "Sorry I'm not an expert yet. Maybe eventually. I ... I think 
I really like doing this, like I like doing readings. Satoshi's not a huge 
supporter but... It feels natural, for me. I feel like I'm really being 
myself, like I'm a... like a duck or something, diving underwater. A 
penguin." He winces. Nice, elegant metaphors there.


[Ardweden]
"Maybe you could be a penguin," Katie allows, easily. "They're black and 
white for camouflage, you know." She rinses off the plate, checks it over, 
and sets it in the rack before turning off the faucet.


[Jihatsu]
"Really? I thought that was for going to the opera." 

He looks at the key, heart beating a little harder. 


[Ardweden]
"It could be both," Katie says as she wipes her hands and listens to Wataru's 
nervousness and excitement. "Penguins would fit in really well at an opera." 
She looks for cream and sugar, finds both, and starts adding them to her 
coffee. "Anyway, I'm okay with readings when they're from good sources. But I 
don't like it when people rely on them entirely, even if they are from good 
ones."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "Operatic camouflage. Sounds good. I think I want to do this 
right now." 

It's clear that he doesn't mean opera.


[Ardweden]
Katie picks up her coffee and walks over to the table. "Okay. Do you want me 
to do anything, or...?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru shakes his head once. His cheeks feel flushed. "I don't know. It's 
weird with someone watching, but... Stay. Let's see what we can get out of 
this."


[Ardweden]
"Okay." Katie blows over the top of her coffee and takes a careful sip.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru closes his eyes, takes a breath, and scoops the key into his hands. 


[Ciara]
[Wataru's question: What has been done most recently with this, or to this?]

[Wataru concentrates, and images begin to form in his mind: Katie, placing 
the key (in its protective bag) on the table.  Haruko, in an apartment not 
familiar to him, handing the plastic-bagged key over to Katie.  These images 
come quickly and easily.  But this isn't new information - Wataru was right 
there, after all, when Katie put the key on his table, and in order for Katie 
to have it, Haruko must have given it to her.]

[It's time to dive deeper.  Be the duck.  Or the penguin.  Push harder.  See 
that...]

[It's dark.  Then, suddenly, lighter.  Someone opens a door, flips on a 
switch.  Mops, brooms, buckets, tools... a maintenance worker's closet.  The 
figure hesitates for a moment, then darts in, snatches the key from a harness 
hanging next to the door, shoves it in a pocket.  Then removes it from the 
pocket, puts it in the box, though there's a feeling that some time has 
passed between the taking and the packing.]


[Jihatsu]
Wataru gasps softly, feeling his heart throb in his heated face. 
"Maintenance.... maintenance closet, key's on a hook, it's the... someone 
took it. Janitor. Or maybe not a janitor, but... " He opens his eyes. 


[Ardweden]
"Someone who got access, somehow," Katie fills in. "Like they were supposed 
to be there?" She's watching Wataru carefully.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru thinks, eyes growing distant. "No. Stole the key, stuffed it in a 
pocket. If they were supposed to be there, they probably were still breaking 
some rule."


[Ardweden]
Katie hums softly. "Okay."


[Jihatsu]
"I wish I knew more," he said, shaking his head. "I wish I'd seen their face. 
I don't even know if it was a man or a woman. But they put it in a box -- did 
the key come in a box?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs and shifts her weight. She sips her coffee. "I don't know. It 
would make sense if it did."


[Jihatsu]
"But you didn't see one. Mm. Okay." He scratched his head and then sighs. "I 
dunno, want me to look at the other stuff too?"


[Ardweden]
"Sure." Katie's eyes flick from Wataru's face to the key in his hand, to the 
letters in their sleeves, and back to his face. "If it won't hurt you."


[Jihatsu]
He shakes his head. "Let's do this."

Carefully, he puts down the key, and takes the Shuffle paper first. This one, 
he keeps his eyes open, focusing not on the words but on the physical object 
itself, turning it over. 


[Ciara]
[Wataru sees, first, Katie putting the letter on the table and Haruko handing 
it to her at the Soratandrews apartment and then, this time, Haruko removing 
it from the box.  She's wearing gloves.]

[And then there's... a typewriter?  Yes.  It's really a typewriter, tucked 
away in a back room somewhere with a few dusty, institutional bookshelves.  
Someone is typing this letter, every so often glancing down at a printout 
from which they're copying the text.  The hands on the typewriter have smooth 
skin and slim fingers, the nails unpolished.  When the person is done typing, 
they pull the letter from the typewriter, carefully fold it, and tuck it into 
a satchel bag.  And then, some time after that, into the box with the key and 
the other letter.]


[Jihatsu]
"Oh shit, that's weird," Wataru mumbles. 


[Ardweden]
"Everything okay?" Katie asks, worry tinging her voice. She doesn't put down 
her coffee cup, but...


[Jihatsu]
"This was written on a _typewriter_," he says, turning the paper over again. 
"I should have noticed from the indentations, see, you can tell once you 
know." He passes the paper to Katie. "But yeah. And I think it was a woman. 
It was super weird. Like. She had a printout on the desk beside her, and she 
was typing it out, in some... some back room of something. There were 
bookshelves but it didn't look like someone's house. Dusty. Maybe a library, 
a school, a law firm or something?"


[Ardweden]
Katie steps closer to take the paper, and she sets her coffee on the table so 
she can more easily look it over. Typewriter confirmed. "So it's a copy. It 
wouldn't make sense for them to send us an original. If there was a print 
out, maybe that was done on a computer instead? Could you tell? And do you 
know if this person was the same as the one who took the key from the 
closet?"


[Jihatsu]
"Hmmmm. Well this person had smooth, slim fingers, no nail polish. And a 
satchel bag they put it in. She, I guess." He thinks. "I can't tell if it's 
the same person or not.""Hmmmm. Well this person had smooth, slim fingers, no 
nail polish. And a satchel bag they put it in. She, I guess." He thinks. "I 
can't tell if it's the same person or not."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Okay, it's something. Can you describe the bag?"


[Jihatsu]
"It's... kind of like a school bag," he says. "Maybe she's a student. That 
would explain the fingers, too."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods again, thoughtfully. "Yeah. Thanks."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru rubs his face, has a sip of coffee. "Let me get to this third thing 
before I lose steam." He cracks his knuckles and then picks up the letter 
about the dinner party.


[Ciara]
[At this point, the early sequence of events is familiar: Katie to him, 
Haruko to Katie, Haruko removing items from the box and putting them in 
plastic.]

[Someone waits by a copier in an office building, tapping their fingers 
against the machine.  The hands are familiar.  The copier spits out several 
sheets of paper, and the person picks them up, walks down a corridor with 
them, puts them in a satchel.  Time passes.  Now it's the typewriter again, 
the hands typing the notes at the top and the bottom of the page.  Several 
copies of the printout sit to the side of the typewriter; the person had 
attempted to type the notes, but messed up the formatting: too close to the 
printed text on the page.  This time, they've gotten it right, and they 
remove the paper from the typewriter, fold it carefully, put it in the 
satchel.  More time p"So at least the same person wrote the notes."asses, and 
into the box it goes, though whoever it is first attempts to wipe off the 
contents of the box in the hopes of not leaving fingerprints.]


[Jihatsu]
"OOoo, jackpot," Wataru mumbles, a little distantly. "Same hands, same 
satchel. Same dumb old typewriter."


[Ardweden]
"So at least the same person wrote the notes."


[Jihatsu]
"This one... she was in an office building, like a copy room? She made copies 
of the original. Then added the text that's at the top and bottom with the 
typewriter. Took her a few tries to get the formatting right."


[Ardweden]
Katie hums, and she picks up her coffee again. "That means she probably 
doesn't do this all the time. I wonder why the typewriter. That's not 
typical; it'd be easier to just print it at the bottom of a page with a 
computer."


[Jihatsu]
"Maybe she got access to originals, right? Made copies, wanted to 
annotate....." He frowns. "But if she had access to a copier, why make a 
point of re-transcribing the IT memo on a typewriter instead of just copying 
the printout? That makes zero sense. What could that accomplish?"


[Ardweden]
"Unless it wasn't an exact copy," Katie muses aloud. "There's no reason they 
can't change parts of the original document through a 'copy'." Complete with 
air quotes, from Katie's free hand! "Or there was something else about the 
original that they wanted to hide. A watermark, something ... *or*, maybe, it 
wouldn't have copied well for some reason. But yeah, another piece of paper 
with that letter would have done just as well. Same for that." She gestures 
to the dinner party letter. "Just append another piece of paper and be done 
with it."

Katie sips her coffee. "Or they could just not have thought their clever plan 
all the way through, and wanted to play with typewriters and create more work 
for themselves."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru _snorts_ at that last comment. "I mean, this is possible, if we're 
dealing with a bunch of high schoolers," he says. "But you raise a really 
good point. We have no way of knowing that this hasn't been changed, tampered 
with. There might be something they don't want us to see."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Yup. Anyway, I guess... I'll keep an eye out for schoolbags and 
dusty libraries and typewriters." She smiles, a touch, over her coffee.

"Also," she adds as another thought occurs to her, "Taki was in high school 
until recently. But I don't know why anyone in Akaraki would do something 
like this or care."


[Jihatsu]
"Maybe a trip to Akaraki might be in order." He takes a breath. "I wish I 
could go, you know, see if any visions match. But yeah, a 21-year-old man 
wandering around in a high school would probably not be the best. Bummer we 
didn't already know this at graduation."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "And the person isn't necessarily there, anyway. If they were 
Taki's year, they'd have graduated with her. It'd be a shot in the dark, 
anyway."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru leans back in his chair, letting his eyes close. "Well, probably we 
should make a list of people from Taki's school who might be Arcana or know 
something about Arcana, I guess. It's fucking creepy that they're feeding us 
info about _both the things_ we're freaking out about, unless..." He opens 
one eye. "Has Taki been talking about this with her high school friends at 
all?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs. "Probably not. She wanted to get as far away from Arcana stuff 
as possible, and... there was never any concern that she'd tell normal people 
when we were all working together, two years ago." She goes to sit down, too. 
"I think the only one in high school she might even consider talking to about 
it is her girlfriend, and she's not going to do that without assuming Hinako 
knows."


[Jihatsu]
".....But Hinako knows," Wataru says, looking at Katie.


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks. "Okay, yeah." She pauses, thinking, and then sighs. "Fine, I 
meet with Nicola every once in a while, about school. I'll try to probe her a 
little and snoop around, and see if she knows anything. But I'm not a mind 
reader, and if she doesn't, I don't want her *to* know."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nod nod nods. "I trust you not to show your hand. It seems like a 
thing you'd be scarily good at." He rests his head on the back of the chair. 
"What should I do? A reading? What do we want to do next?"


[Ardweden]
Katie grins at the thing about her being scarily good at not showing her 
hand, and she sips her coffee. "If you want to. I'm not an expert. On 
readings, I mean - I'm not even good at knowing when to do them, or what you 
can do with them. I've seen other people do them, but everyone seems to have 
a different style, different amounts of confidence with it."


[Jihatsu]
"I think I'm pretty drained for today, but like, I'm bored as hell, most of 
the time. I could try a reading tomorrow." He yawns. "Find out where stuff is 
hidden, maybe, or find out more about who this typewriter lady is. Got a 
preference?"


[Ardweden]
"Whatever you think is most likely. Do you want me to come over for it?"


[Jihatsu]
"I'm not sure that's necessary, unless you want to see how I work," he 
smiles. "I don't know which is more likely. Should we ask the others?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "We could, but I don't think it'd get us anywhere. I 
was mostly asking which answer you're more confident finding."

"Also," Katie adds, as a thought occurs to her. "Do you think any of these 
are... items of significance? To anybody? Like the drawing you used to find 
me once? Do any of these feel right?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru opens his eyes. "I've been wondering that exactly," he says, sitting 
up properly again and looking at them. "I'm not sure. The key might be. Hell, 
even the letters - the girl spent a bunch of time trying to get them right. 
I'm not sure, but it could be worth a shot."


[Ardweden]
Katie smiles. "Yeah, I think so."


[Jihatsu]
"Cool. You wanna email them, or should I? I guess we should tell them about 
all the stuff we learned, too."


[Ardweden]
Katie hums, thoughtfully. "You can e-mail them if you want. That way I won't 
assume you're going to do things you don't want to do, and you're the one who 
made the notes and got the impressions off of these things, anyway. I can 
follow up if I want to add to or correct anything. I don't... Haruko doesn't 
know that I told you about Taki's behavior earlier, though, so you're going 
to just sort of have to say that I came by with these things and said that 
they were given to Taki, and I asked you to look at them with me. Which is 
true," she adds, her eyes bright. "So no problems there."


[Jihatsu]
"Okay," Wataru says, carefully. "Maybe... Maybe I should just email it to you 
first. So you can make sure I'm not accidentally spilling any secrets."


[Ardweden]
"Sure." Katie sips her coffee, now half empty, then says, "I'm sorry if I've 
made things more difficult than they need to be."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru cocks his head. "How so?"


[Ardweden]
"Just..." She puts down her mug and waves vaguely. "Maybe destroying any 
potential friendship you could have had with Taki. Or this, talking around 
people so now it's actually hard for you to e-mail the group about something. 
Or all of the information I've been giving you, disorganized and probably 
full of holes."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles a little.... "I like information," he says. "It makes things 
less scary. And Taki..." He sighs. "It's sad that she's a liability, but what 
can you do? I wish I could be friends with her, because we really got along, 
and we're both --" He stops himself, quickly, rerouting the conversation. 
"Anyway, you know, if ever I'm in a situation where I don't need to keep 
secrets, maybe I could try being friends with Taki again. Or maybe she'll 
learn. But in the meantime, I'm okay."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Okay." She caught Wataru's slip, but she also decides not to 
press. She's pretty sure she already knows what it was about, anyway.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru stands up, stretches. "So. Wanna help me with my notes, or is there 
anything else you wanna talk about?"


[Ardweden]
"I can help with your notes, and if there's anything to talk about while I 
do, we can talk about it." Katie smiles. "Lemme just text Kyon real quick... 
oh, might want real food by the end, too, depending on how long it takes."


[Jihatsu]
"Cool. And yeah, I can get us some Chinese food? If you want. If it takes a 
while."


[Ardweden]
"Sounds good." Katie stands and stretches. "I'm going to use the toilet. If 
you want to get your notes or whatever ready, so we can update them?"


[Jihatsu]
"Works for me," he says! "Oh hey, check out my snazzy new mirror, if you get 
a chance. I really appreciate it, huh."


[Ardweden]
"Oh, it arrived? Awesome. Did your aunt ever find out?"


[Jihatsu]
"NOPE. You guys really saved my ass on that one."


[Ardweden]
"Saving each other's asses is what friends do," Katie replies with a laugh 
before she heads off to go to the bathroom! And also see this awesome new 
mirror.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru GRINS.

FRIENDS. 


[Ardweden]
Katie doesn't see Wataru's reaction, or she probably doesn't. She does close 
the door to the toilet, though!


[Jihatsu]
Wataru can't fucking wait to tell Satoshi that Katie said they were FRIENDS. 
He's FRIENDS with KATIE.

He bounces over to his bedroom and gets out his secret list! They're gonna 
update it SO GOOD.


[Ardweden]
Katie can hear the bouncing, and she laughs a little to herself. He's happy; 
she can tell that much.

She flushes the toilet, then opens the door to go to the room with the sink. 
"Japanese layouts are still *really fucking weird*," she says as passes 
through the area by Wataru's room, though she doesn't have an angle to 
actually look in.


[Jihatsu]
"Agree," he says. He looks over his notes.


[Ardweden]
Katie washes her hands in the sink and checks out the mirror. It actually 
*is* pretty nice. And a close match. Hopefully Wataru's landlord won't 
notice, but if they do... it's a free mirror, so whatever, probably.

Katie also takes a little while to take stock of what else is in there - what 
soaps and creams, medicines, and other low level snooping around stuff.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru has some nice things! He seems partial to Moroccan Argan Oil Shampoo 
and Conditioner, and has other fancy artisanal-type cleaning products. A 
couple of pretty basic moisturizers that don't look heavily used, though, and 
nothing exciting in the medication department, except that he *does* have 
some American brands, like Advil and Crest toothpaste.


[Ardweden]
Katie sighs softly, jealous of the Advil (Satoshi won't send it in his care 
packages), and finishes washing up. She dries off her hands and exits!


[Jihatsu]
Wataru scans the notes, cringing every few lines. Is he really going to show 
all this goofy nonsense to Katie? "I'm warning you," he says, assuming she 
can hear him, "I'm full of opinions and my notes are very embarrassing." His 
eyes linger briefly on the heart next to Satoshi's name. Well. That can just 
mean they're friends, right...?


[Ardweden]
Katie pokes open the door some more so she can stand in the doorway. "They're 
for your personal use, right? That only makes sense."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru chuckles. "Yes. I really never planned to show them to anyone, so you 
gotta promise not to tell anyone. Or make fun of me. Please."


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks, but she nods. "I won't, I promise. Though I..." She hesitates, 
then presses on. "I might not know when 'teasing' turns into 'make fun of', 
for you. So can you tell me if I cross that line? I don't- last time, with 
the wind, I-" She bites off the end and swallows, staring at some point just 
to the right of Wataru's head.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru sighs. He nods. "I'm not really used to like, harmless teasing, and 
I..." He looks down, scratching the back of his neck. "Um. I've ... dealt 
with a lot of bullying and stuff, so. Don't worry about it, but thanks for 
saying something. Maybe we can both, I dunno, stay aware of things. Without 
having to walk on eggshells," he winces a bit. 


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Me too." She turns and walks out of Wataru's room, leaving him 
with his notebook.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru blinks. Did the room just get a chill? What's going on?

He frowns, and follows her out. "I'm - hey, I'm sorry if I said something 
that upset you." He's carrying his closed notebook.


[Ardweden]
"*You* didn't upset me." Katie is sitting at the table by where she left her 
coffee, frowning at nothing.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru puts his notebook on the table and wordlessly refreshes Katie's coffee 
before sitting down with her. 


[Ardweden]
Katie slides the cup over to in front of her without really looking (she saw 
it in her peripheral vision) and wraps her hands around it. At least she's 
not curling in on herself.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru isn't sure what to do, but he sits with her. He flips open his 
notebook.


[Ardweden]
"I dealt with a lot of bullying, too," Katie says, right when Wataru's 
notebook is fully open.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru looks over to her, and has an understanding sigh. He nods, but won't 
mansplain his way into what she's choosing to share right now.

The notebook seems to be organized by card, starting with the Major Arcana! 
There's a lot of blanks. Also, his handwriting is kind of whoa.


[Ardweden]
Katie glances over at the sigh. And she sees the notebook. She reaches over 
to touch the edge with her fingertips while she continues, "I didn't want to 
be a bully."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. He's not sure what to say to that - just because he's making 
friends with her now doesn't mean she hasn't been a bully to him in the past, 
and probably still is to other people. Or might be to him again. 

But she's clearly hurting, so ...

"Sometimes thing happen to come across a certain way..." he shrugs, gently. 
"My life has like, programmed me to assume that everything is bullying 
though. But it's not like I can go around just saying that to every new 
person I meet."


[Ardweden]
Katie laughs, suddenly, and she takes her hand away. She looks fully at 
Wataru, her eyes clear. "It's in the way you carry yourself. It's in my 
tongue."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "You grow a certain way. Like a tree pushing through a chin-link 
fence."


[Ardweden]
"And when you're finally starting to figure it out, some asshole goes at your 
best branches with an axe," Katie agrees, somehow both venomous and amiable, 
"and you keep growing anyway because there's nothing else you can do."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru has a sharp, messy laugh. 


[Ardweden]
Katie smiles bitterly and sips her coffee.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles, and swallows in a way that Katie can surely tell he's blinking 
away tears.

He leans slightly towards her, just enough so that when he turns his elbow 
out he touches her arm for a moment. 


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks, and her smile turns gentle. She nudges Wataru back. "I'm 
sorry," she tells him. "If I hurt you."


[Jihatsu]
He shakes his head. "Thanks a lot, for the apology and - and all of ..." He 
has a deep breath. He's still smiling a little bit. "I appreciate it. Shit 
happens. But it's good to understand more. And to know you didn't mean it. 
Getting to know new people, making friends..." FRIENDS. "... Yeah I'm... not 
good at it, and I'm scared all the time. So whatever you may have done, I 
probably reacted way out of proportion, too."


[Ardweden]
"It's okay," Katie says, because it is.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "Okay." Phew. That was an unexpected conversation to have. "So, 
let's, uh, share this incredibly embarrassing notebook and laugh at it 
together?" Or something? 

He pinks, slightly. 


[Ardweden]
Katie smiles. "I thought you said no laughing." She looks down at Wataru's 
notebook and asks, "It's arranged by card?" Katie opens her bag to take out 
her mostly-unused tarot deck.


[Jihatsu]
"Yeah," Wataru says, eyeing the deck warily for a second before realizing no, 
she's not going to do a reading, she's probably just going to use the cards 
to organize the list or something.


[Ardweden]
"You think spatially," Katie says, since she caught Wataru's look. She starts 
arranging the cards in her deck by suit and number. It's not taking much 
work. "Maybe you also remember better visually? I could use them to jog my 
own memory, anyway."


[Jihatsu]
"I'm not sure what you mean," he says. "Spatially?"


[Ardweden]
"Spatially," Katie repeats as she sort through the Pentacles. "Your chart 
from last time."


[Jihatsu]
"Oh! Yeah, that's true, for connections and stuff. Definitely." He smiles. "I 
nearly went - well - there was a time where I wanted to major in graphic 
design, but unfortunately I can't draw for shit."


[Ardweden]
"It takes a lot of practice," Katie agrees, still rearranging cards. "Graphic 
design is cool, though. Sometimes I think I should really learn how to do it 
- with the computers."


[Jihatsu]
"Basically if I could make infographics all day I'd be a happy Wataru." He 
sighs a bit, looking at her cards. "Social Science is cool too though. But 
yeah, I mean, have you tried digital art stuff at all?"


[Ardweden]
"A little bit," Katie allows. "I'm just not..." She trails off, shrugs, and 
finishes sorting the cards.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles. "Not what? Techy?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head, still looking at the cards. "No. Not even a little." 
She straightens them and sets them down, Fool face up and on top. "Ready to 
do this?"


[Jihatsu]
"Let's DO IT." Wataru still has his notebook open, and is faintly surprised 
she hasn't peeked at it yet!


[Ardweden]
Who's to say she hasn't? Regardless, Katie looks over at the notebook. "Okay, 
so first, The Fool." She lays down the card. "Jin."


[Jihatsu]
"Jin!" Wataru grins, surprised. "He's the Fool? Cool, I had no idea." He 
rifles through his notes and crosses out 'Jin' from the unknown arcana column 
before putting his info under Fool.


[Ardweden]
"You didn't?" Katie blinks at Wataru, then looks down at the page. She scans 
it a little, then asks, "Do you know what he can do?"


[Jihatsu]
_Be cute and have nice hair._ "Uhh, he has a, like, a quarterstaff thing, 
right? He knocked Sho into that portal."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "It's a sectioned staff. It can split up into multiple, attached 
parts. He can also make fields and teleport, by walking people places instead 
of like Taki, and other people's powers don't affect him. That's why he could 
do that to Sho, I think."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru's eyes sparkle a bit. "Cooooooooooool."

He writes down _sectioned staff, teleports by walking, fields?? Immune to 
powers_


[Ardweden]
"I guess so," Katie says with a small smile. "Until he takes you somewhere 
without asking and can't tell you where you are. And then leaves you there." 
Katie looks over Sho and apparently decides that's good enough because she 
pulls out the High Priestess and lays that down for Wataru to see. "Shika 
Fuyuken."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru corrects his entry! "I remember some people mentioning her," he says. 
"She worked with you guys, right?"


[Ardweden]
"... Yes," Katie agrees softly, after a pregnant pause. "We worked together 
once or twice." Her eyes are fixed on the card.


[Jihatsu]
"Buuut not anymore? Is that what I'm getting here?" 


[Ardweden]
"Not at first. And not after. It was just to stop Sho." Katie scowls and 
slams her hand on the card with a sharp sound. "We're not *friends*."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru's eybrows shoot up. "Okay," he says. He writes, NOT FRIENDS.


[Ardweden]
Katie's eyes dart over at the movement and she snerks, relaxing slightly. 
Accurate. "She's powerful. Something about messing with people at a cellular 
level if she touches them; it's like parts of them burst, and there's force 
there, too. *And* she slows down time for everyone else as she does it, *and* 
she creates fields." She moves her hands to the deck again and through the 
cards. "She was protecting Tenjirou. He was at her and her brother's 
apartment, and they kept me from killing him, and from trying again." She 
flips through the cards until she finds the one she wants: Ten of Pentacles. 
She lays it down next to the High Priestess. "That's him. Yusuke Fuyuken. I 
think he's still Akemi's best friend. He's a very good liar, and can make and 
throw these pentacle... energy... things. They brand you and burn like you're 
on fire, but won't actually kill you."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru's fingernails drum against the tabletop. "Huh," he says, looking 
straight ahead. 


[Ardweden]
"Yeah." Katie straightens the deck and looks at Wataru's notebook.


[Jihatsu]
He jots down a few facts about powers and relationships, then adds the words 
_shit list_ after Shika's entry. 

There.


[Ardweden]
Katie sees that and nods. "Yeah, I hate her. She's got... she... she's 
disgusting. She thinks that because she has all of this power, she can do 
whatever she wants. *Grope* whoever she wants, she's... she's so... And she 
said, she *told me*, that if Tenjirou wanted to kidnap me, or to rape-" Katie 
stops that sentence abruptly, her hands clenching into fists. "Because her 
friend was *in love* with him, and she was in love with *her*, and-" Katie 
takes a deep, shaking breath.

"Feel sorry for Kaede. He has to *talk* to her sometimes. Or at least her 
brother."


[Jihatsu]
"Can I hug you? Is that okay right now?" 


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks. "I." She looks at Wataru. "Yeah."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru breathes, has a nod, and then leans in to give Katie a good hug. He 
closes his eyes. 


[Ardweden]
Katie is stiff at first, and it's a few seconds before she hugs back, 
tightly. She doesn't close her eyes, though, staring at whatever's behind 
Wataru.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru is here for this hug. He will hug until she feels she is ready not to 
hug.


[Ardweden]
In that case, it takes A While, as Katie hugs and hugs, and eventually 
actually does shut her eyes and stick her face in Wataru's shoulder. There's 
floofy hair there, too. She doesn't seem to mind.


[Jihatsu]
He was certainly not expecting that much hug, but he hugs back, breathing 
slow and steady, letting her take what she needs. 

He rubs her back, just a little bit. 


[Ardweden]
Katie hugs a few moments longer, a little shaky and then not, and finally 
lets go. She rubs at one eye. "Thanks."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "Any time." He seems a little shaken, but not in a bad way, 
necessarily. He's also not having much trouble making eye contact, for a 
change. 


[Ardweden]
Katie is. "I, um." She reaches for the cards displayed and arranges them into 
a kind of tarot discard, putting them on top of the Magician. "I'm trusting 
you, okay?" she says to the cards. "Don't... just... don't be like that."


[Jihatsu]
"Be like..." Wataru thinks back, about what they were talking about before 
everything. She surely can't mean 'don't be a kidnapping rapist' because uh, 
no. "Oh, like, be protective of horrible people?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs. "Sure." She looks at Wataru's notes, then the Empress, and sets 
that card in the discard, before putting the Emperor in front of him and 
meeting his eyes. "Emperor. After Kaede's meeting with Yorihisa, he e-mailed 
us to let us know that Yorihisa was working for him or her. They might be 
dead; Yorihisa said they left the elevator in the Tower Reversed the hard 
way."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru has a few small blinks. "How can Yorihisa be working for them if 
they're dead?"


[Ardweden]
"*Was* working for them." Katie shifts in her chair. "I assume during Back 
When."


[Jihatsu]
"Oh, okay." Wataru writes may be dead; former employer of "-- do you know 
which card Yorihisa is?"


[Ardweden]
"Six of Pentacles," Katie says, looking through the deck and pulling out the 
corresponding card. She lays it down next to the Emperor. "Yorihisa 
Murimura's never been *evil*, or even cruel. Just an ungrateful asshole who 
wouldn't share information. Once we saved his life and he couldn't be 
bothered to say thank you."


[Jihatsu]
"Dick," Wataru snorts. "Okay." 

He replaces the # with a 6 in Yorihisa's entry, and updates a couple things!


[Ardweden]
Katie reads them and snerks. "Add dick."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru snerks too! 

_DICK_, he adds. 


[Ardweden]
"*Now* its accurate." Katie grins. "Okay." She replaces those cards with the 
next one: Hierophant. "Hinako Arai. You met her."


[Jihatsu]
"Right." He looks at his notes. "Her sister's dating Taki."


[Ardweden]
"Yeah, Nicola. She's not bad."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru adds that to Nicola's entry. _Not bad._


[Ardweden]
Katie laughs.


[Jihatsu]
"And you have lunch with her sometimes, right?"


[Ardweden]
"Only a couple, so far. But we get along okay. She's interested in going into 
veterinary science."


[Jihatsu]
"But you're not in that - right?" Wataru frowns. He was pretty sure he knew 
what she was studying...


[Ardweden]
Katie considers. "Sort of? I'm in biology and visual arts. So our classes 
intersect."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods! "Ah, all right, yeah that makes sense. I was worried I'd somehow 
forgotten that you were becoming a vet. I feel I would remember that."


[Ardweden]
Katie smiles, a little. "Yeah, I really like birds, but I'm not looking to be 
an animal doctor. I'm not sure *what* I want to be, but my going to college 
at all is a Kyon-induced miracle, so I'm trying not to let it bother me too 
much."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru has a bright little smile too. "Remind me to thank him."


[Ardweden]
"He might be a little confused," Katie says with a small laugh. "Take a 
picture."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru laughs, blushing a bit as he looks away.


[Ardweden]
Katie grins. _Do you have a small crush on my boyfriend?_ she doesn't ask, as 
she turns her attention back to the cards. "So the Hierophant has been an 
ally in the past, and we can probably count on her for the really hard stuff. 
She's the one who gathered everybody for that one day, with the oni and the 
portals. She's a big believer in Fate, though. A *really big* believer. 
That's how Sho got her - she gets visions or dreams, or something, about 
things that have to happen for the future to come about, and he was messing 
with them so she wouldn't act against him."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru updates his notes accordingly!

"Man, already this is teaching me so much." He looks at the page. "My notes 
are really filling in. Thank you for this, huh." He looks at her. 


[Ardweden]
"You're welcome. I don't... I just think you should be prepared. Besides, 
there's a lot of history." She picks up the Hierophant card and sets it away, 
then takes the Lovers and looks at it, and then reads Wataru's notes. She set 
it down. "The one you're talking about, in your notes, I don't know if 
they're the *actual* Lovers or not. But yeah, there were two of them. I 
remember someone calling them 'the false Lovers', but I don't know if they 
were lying or wrong or telling the truth and right. Did you notice that, 
like, when all the lights went out in Tokyo but the Tower was lit up?"


[Jihatsu]
"Was that the time with the snowstorm?" He taps the end of his pen on the 
paper. Hmmmmm.


[Ardweden]
Katie thinks. "No, no snowstorm.  "There was a giant field that covered 
basically all of Tokyo," Katie continues. "So all the electronics went out. 
But it wasn't like a usual field - everyone who wasn't Arcana just froze in 
place, like time stopped. And Tokyo Tower was lit up. We were pretty lucky 
that Kyon's plane landed in time; he was flying in that day. Could have 
died."


[Jihatsu]
"Oh, I do remember that!" Wataru says. "It was so beautiful. I - I was in 
bed, I just went out in my PJs and wandered around Tokyo, through all these 
frozen people. It was amazing."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods, looking at the card. "Yeah," she says, a little distantly. 
"Beautiful. The sky especially."


[Jihatsu]
"A million stars. I felt I should be scared, but I wasn't... It was just so 
peaceful."


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "Maybe on the ground. Did you go to the Tower?"


[Jihatsu]
He shakes his head. "It looked pretty, but it was far off." He thinks. "I.... 
I remember something unsettling at the end there. Like, before everything 
returned to normal, but I'm not sure what it was... A sound, a feeling....."


[Ardweden]
"It was," Katie agrees. "Unsettling." She looks at the card again, turns it 
sideways, and lets out a breath. "So it was set up by Sho to draw us in. 
Hinako, the Hierophant, was there. So was Temperance. I went there, actually 
with some of the Band that was left at the time... they were mostly broken 
up... there were Jackals, Matthias and Akemi, Shika and Yusuke, our people 
also showed up..." She shakes her head. "Yorihisa was out there, too. Maybe 
more Arcana; I don't remember. A lot of us. And them." She points at the card 
- the sideways Lovers. "At the top. By the time we got up there, Akito 
Garcia, leader of the Jackals, was dead. And Takeo Kirishima, with the Band, 
was close." She goes for the deck of unused cards to look a couple, then 
finds two right next to each other: Five of Wands and Six of Wands. "Akito," 
she says, pointing at the first one. Then the second: "Takeo."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru can barely take this in. "I've never heard of Jackals. I almost feel 
like I need a different sheet."

He turns a few pages and then writes:

BAND

JACKALS

But then turns back and says, "Let me get this down first. Five and six of 
wands, yeah?"


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Yeah. "Five's Akito, and Six is Takeo."


[Jihatsu]
"Okay." He writes that down. "Takeo I had already - clearly he did not 
actually die, then? What did all that have to do with the Lovers? What was 
Sho trying to do?" 

Wataru's jaw clearly tenses at even the mention of Sho.


[Ardweden]
"He didn't die. Akito did. And he was one of the decent ones." Katie sighs, 
rubbing at her eyes with one hand. "Sho was trying to draw out Saki Morikawa 
- The Devil, and Death Reversed. He needed her to... to use her, to perfect 
the drugs he was making, so he and his people could outlast the end of the 
world. He got her, too. She showed up to help while were fighting the Lovers 
and... well." Katie turns to the cards, and she pulls out the Devil and 
Death, reversing the second, and lays them out. "That's her."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru manages not to say out loud that this sounds like a perfectly muddled 
anime plot. Just barely. Because it's serious and PEOPLE DIED so no jokes, no 
jokes Wataru _no jokes_. 

"Are you telling me she's two cards?"


[Ardweden]
"Yeah," Katie says, "something about getting hit by the nuke in Hiroshima. 
She was alive then. She was Death, and she- I mean- she killed me. The last 
me, and my girlfriend."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru blinks. 

Every time Katie opens her mouth, there's like six pieces of information, and 
Wataru finds himself unable to respond to any of them, questions caught in 
the bottleneck of his mind. 

? ? ? ? ??


[Ardweden]
Katie looks at Wataru, waiting for him to pick his question marks up and sort 
through them.


[Jihatsu]
"Well, that sounds messed up," he says. "A-about the nuke," he says, rubbing 
his forehead. "And her killing you. Both of you. Also, I didn't know you were 
a guy." He flips to the Page of Swords entry.


[Ardweden]
"I wasn't," Katie says, totally deadpan.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru cocks his head, looking at the sheet, and then blushes DEEPLY. 

"I'm sorry, I - I'm -- an idiot."


[Ardweden]
Katie smiles. "It's okay. You're not the first idiot. And I *could* have been 
a guy." She looks down at the cards. "So, yeah, Saki-back-then was fighting 
the Devil, who is now Death and Devil Reversed and still alive, but haven't 
met him. Apparently nukes fuck everything up."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru blushes and breathes through the INEVITABILITY of her asking him if 
he's gay and then she DOESN'T. 

He tries to find the thread of the conversation again, then. "Death and the 
Devil Reversed. Ok. Wait so they're super old?"


[Ardweden]
"Yeah. One of Saki's powers was she didn't age. I don't know about the 
other."


[Jihatsu]
He nods. "Okay." Deep breath. "Okay. Can - is there like, any limit to the 
weird shit?" He looks at Katie. "Like, is Arcana just like, a neverending 
ocean of weird shit? How is  - I mean, how is _all_ of this real?" He got 
over _how is any of this real_ some time ago, but. 


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs. "I don't know. It just is." She looks at the cards. "And I 
haven't found the bottom yet."


[Jihatsu]
"Lord have mercy," he says, in a deeply secular way. 9_9


[Ardweden]
Katie snortlaughs in a completely unladylike way.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru giggles in response! 


[Ardweden]
This somehow makes Katie laugh more, and she snorts again, and she covers her 
face. "Okay," she manages from behind her hands. "Okay, so where were we?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru's shoulders are still shaking a little with now-silent giggles, but he 
says, "Uh, Tower." 

"NO, CHARIOT. Sorry, I got confused by that whole Death/Devil thing. 
Chariot."


[Ardweden]
"Okay," Katie says, and she clears some cards before checking Wataru's notes 
again. "Yeah, the stuff you have about Lovers is about right. It wasn't just 
me and Kyon, but we did some work." She takes out the next card - Chariot - 
and sets it down. "*This* asshole worked for Sho. He was really involved in 
the drugs and the- the human trafficking... he was going to *buy* me for him. 
And he was strong, and invincible." She snarls. "He's dead."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru writes _horrible garbage person, worked for Sho, DEAD DEAD DEAD._

He also adds a little about his powerset.


[Ardweden]
Katie reads that and nods, satisfied. She sets the Chariot aside and looks at 
the next one. "Justice - I don't know who that is." And she pulls out the one 
after that, laying it down. "The Hermit. Winston Connery. Another survivor 
from World War 2."


[Jihatsu]
"Winston!" Wataru beams. "Him I know. Got us all together, that night."


[Ardweden]
"Maybe you," Katie acquiesces. "He wasn't around when the Hierophant gave us 
our instructions. We didn't see him until after Sho got knocked into the 
portal."


[Jihatsu]
"Oh really!" Wataru leans back, comfortably. "Crazy, I guess I just assumed. 
He came and got me, told me to save his grandson. But that story, I've 
already told you."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Yeah, Jin. He was probably trying to avoid Sho... who I think 
was most afraid of the Hierophant and the Hermit. The two people who could 
really figure out what he's about and how to stop him." She taps the card. "I 
understand that Winston can know anything he wants - but there's some sort of 
price. So he'd help us sometimes, and he never struck us as deliberately 
refusing to give us enough information, but..."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru looks at the card. "I hope he's doing okay. He was always nice to me. 
You know, I think he reminds me of my own grandfather, honestly." He smiles, 
still looking at the card.


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head, chuckling. "He was always kinda cranky with me. Too 
many questions, I think."


[Jihatsu]
"I..... just kind of did what he asked." Wataru chuckles, and blushes again, 
faintly this time. 


[Ardweden]
"Not a bad idea, at the time. It meant you saved Jin, right?"


[Jihatsu]
"That's true!" Wataru smiles. "I mean, I was nobody. He came and got me 
because he needed me, and ... that made me feel like not nobody. I wanted to 
do my part. I was determined."


[Ardweden]
"You did your part." And now Katie tilts her head. "But you were never 
*nobody*."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru shrugs it off with a little smile. "Who's next? Oh, the Wheel of 
Fortune."


[Ardweden]
Katie hums. "Yeah." She takes out the card and lays it down, moving the 
Hermit away. "I don't think that one's a person. Everyone talks about it like 
a... an entity. Fate, basically, this thing that forces us together."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "Yeah....."


[Ardweden]
Katie looks at the card. "I pretty much hate it."


[Jihatsu]
"Fate?" Wataru raises a brow. 


[Ardweden]
"Yeah."


[Jihatsu]
"No wonder you and Satoshi get along. We talk about fate a lot." He sighs. 
"I'm not sure what I think anymore."


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs and picks up the card. "I know it's a thing. I know people like 
you, or Hinako, or Norishige can read it. And maybe I could too, but..." 
Katie frowns at the card in her hand. "I don't like it as an excuse. Or as 
some kind of thing that controls my life, and decides what I have to do or 
be."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru thinks about it. "Like... to me, at least partially, it feels kind of 
like, you know, genetics. Like, it's not telling you what you *have* to be, 
but it's telling you what you are. What you start out with, right out the 
gate. How you use it, deal with it, how much you choose to embrace it or not, 
that's... that's how you make your own life, you know? And it's kind of 
like... I'm not really religious, but it's nice having a sense that 
something's watching over you." 

Wataru sighs...

"... Which is a terrible thing to say to someone who's had awful shit happen 
to them. I don't know. I've had some bad shit too, but it's still nice to 
know that I'm not completely alone. Not completely rudderless." 


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "I guess it must be." She turns to Wataru. "I don't 
think it's going to decide everything about who I am or what I do. But I do 
think people trust it too much. Way too much. That's what it was - maybe you 
don't know, but that's why so many people wanted to kill me, to- to hurt me. 
Because the cards and dreams and... they said I might be a threat, or I was 
one, and they *trusted* that. And maybe it was people or interpretations 
fucking with them, but so what?"

Katie puts the card in the discard pile. "It's just information, with all the 
other information. Stuff to build excuses on. And once we found out Satoshi 
was actually Judgment, nobody cared about that anymore." She scowls. "Maybe 
because they knew he could defend himself."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles bitterly. "Or maybe because internalized misogyny makes it 
normal to punish women," he suggests. 


[Ardweden]
Katie snerks, but it's humorless. "Sociology. Look at you." She sighs. "Yeah, 
being a girl kinda fucks you over."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru chuckles a bit, looking down, self-conscious. "Sometimes university is 
good for something. But yeah. That's some bullshit."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Yeah. I think it's a difference in power or perceived power, 
more than anything. It was bad, being a girl. Is still, maybe. But if you 
were like Shika or Saki, you were mostly left alone. And if you *weren't*, 
you could fuck them up." She presses her lips together, thinking, then takes 
the next card and puts it down: Strength.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru looks at the card. "Satoshi hates him."


[Ardweden]
"Yeah, that's what your notes say." Katie points to the relevant line: _we 
hate him. Esp. Satoshi hates him._ "Do you know why?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru shakes his head. "I don't need to know why. Satoshi had a really 
strong emotional reaction when he came up, which is more than enough to know 
where we stand."


[Ardweden]
Katie raises her eyebrows. "Well, if you don't *need* to know why..." And she 
reaches for the next card.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru snorts. "If you really want to tell me, that's fine, but I also 
respect Satoshi's privacy on this one. He didn't volunteer the info, so I 
really am okay not knowing."


[Ardweden]
Katie hums, pulling her hand back to her coffee, instead. "I honestly don't 
know why he hates Senshirou more than other people. Satoshi doesn't hate 
easily, and we don't talk about him. But I am going to tell you some things 
about him anyway, because not knowing might be worse, if you ever meet him." 
She meets Wataru's eyes. "So."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "Totally fair. Thank you. Go for it."


[Ardweden]
"Senshirou is extremely strong. Probably stronger than Satoshi. He was with 
the Band, though I think he split off from them when Tenjirou did. Sumire and 
Takeo... they stopped tolerating them, for good reason." Katie reaches over 
and taps the card. "When Kyon first talked to us about this guy, he described 
him as 'the Band's torturer', and that's an accurate description as any. He 
was cruel, but matter of fact about it. Calm. Like... it's nothing personal, 
that he's going to hurt you, or maybe kill you, for whatever reason. To make 
a point, or maybe prove or disprove a theory. And if he's not on your side, 
you're probably not going to convince him otherwise. He's just... unaffected 
by things like empathy."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru's face grows increasingly disgusted over the course of that. "Christ," 
he says. "No wonder Satoshi hates him. Why isn't he dead?" 

He kind of kicks himself for that, immediately. "I mean."


[Ardweden]
"It's fine," Katie says with a wave of her hand. "It's not like I'm Haruko." 
She looks at the card. "We, ah, with the exception of Kyon, we weren't 
especially eager to kill. I mean, none of us were ever *eager* to kill, 
but..." Katie trails off, then picks up again with, "For me, there wasn't a 
good combination of reason and time to kill someone like him. He took part in 
some heinous shit, but by the time I'd decided that murder is worthwhile, he 
had already dropped out of our lives. The next time I saw him, he was on our 
side, saving the world." She snerks, softly. "I wasn't going to kill him 
*then*. And even if I was, I'm not a fighter." 

Katie picks up Strength and sets it in the discard pile. "So it's sort of 
like with Shika. Only he probably doesn't hate me as much as she does." She 
considers. "I guess I wouldn't mind if he turned up dead."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "I mean..." He hesitates. "...Like, I have no interest in 
killing anybody. I would absolutely hate to have to." 

He thinks about saying more, but.... nah. That pretty much says it all.


[Ardweden]
"Then don't," Katie replies, calmly but not comfortingly. "You don't have 
to."

She goes and picks up the next card, setting it down: Hanged Man. "Hey, it's 
you." She glances at Wataru's very brief notes about himself.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles, softly. "Hey, so it is. Got any dirt on that one?"


[Ardweden]
"I dunno. He's all right, but desperate to keep secrets and kind of scared a 
lot of the time. I have a few theories about him. I'd also love to see his 
collection of connected-to-other-people tokens. I bet he has them neatly 
organized somewhere." Katie grins at Wataru. "I don't have a lot on Ayano 
either, but the last Page of Swords did a lot of spying. I might get 
something eventually."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru blushes! But he has a tiny smile. "Maybe one day. For today you'll 
have to be content with my super-top-secret nerdy notebook."


[Ardweden]
"Yeah." Katie smiles. "It's pretty great." She picks up the card and slides 
it so it's in front of Wataru, checking the notebook again. "Oh, make sure 
you note that Senshirou's ex-Band. He's not with them anymore."

She goes for the next card. "Right, Death, already talked about him, so..." 
She puts down the one after it. "Temperance, Mamiya Kanae. The memory 
police."


[Jihatsu]
"--Wait, there's still a Band? Hold up," Wataru says. "I assumed *everyone* 
was ex-Band."


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "Nope. Three of them are still producing music 
together."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru actually has a strangled shout of rage. "Hngh - but Tenjirou's 
definitely dead, right? Not like, comic-book dead, but definitive, rotting-
in-a-ditch dead?" His face is red.


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks. "Yes? Someone got sent to jail for it, even." She hesitates, 
then asks, "Are you all right? Should we stop?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru forces down a shaking breath. Then a second one, calmer, and his face 
starts to return to its regular colour. "I'm fine. I know it doesn't compare 
to what you went through, but I had - I had my own experience with Tenjirou, 
and I'm pretty sure I'll never stop hating him. It's ... hard on me. That ... 
that people who..." He shakes his head. "Never mind. I'm fine. Nothing -" he 
exhales. "No, we can continue."


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks. She tilts her head slightly, thinking, and Wataru can 
practically see her connecting the dots. "Did he make you fall in love with 
him?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru's breathing is a little shallow, eyes hard and fixing nothing in 
particular. It's clearly not a thing he's comfortable talking about, maybe 
even thinking about.

Then he nods. "Izumi, Fuyuko and I w.. went to a show. It was supposed to be 
_fun_." He runs a hand across his mouth. 


[Ardweden]
Katie opens her mouth, then closes it. She takes a breath and lets it out 
before she says,"You went to see the Band."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru drums his fingernails against the table. "They were - they were good. 
God. Man, you know, I never went out, back then. All I ever did was study. 
School, cram school, homework for both... Izumi was doing me a kindness, 
dragging my ass out there. I basically never said yes."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Hiding?" she guesses.


[Jihatsu]
He shakes his head. "More like..." He glances at her, quickly, on more solid 
ground. "I was an exchange student studying in a half-foreign language. And I 
was desperate to get into a good university. Stay in Japan."


[Ardweden]
Katie relaxes slightly, too, maybe as a response to Wataru's stability. "Why? 
I would have loved to go back."


[Jihatsu]
He shakes his head, seemingly unwilling to go there. "Anyway... Yeah. We went 
to the show, and ..." He shakes his head again. "I don't remember much," he 
admits, voice low and quiet. "I think I blacked out. I remember him ... 
looking at me, and..."


[Ardweden]
Katie takes in a breath. She reaches over, putting one hand gently on 
Wataru's arm.


[Jihatsu]
He flinches a bit, in spite of himself, but immediately relaxes, and puts his 
hand on hers so she can't take it away. There's a hint of tears in his eyes. 
He nods. 


[Ardweden]
"Did he- were you okay? Are you okay? I don't think he was- I figured he 
might be able to affect guys. I know he couldn't affect girls who weren't 
into guys, so it only made sense, and-" Katie realizes she's babbling and 
stops.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru blushes. "Well, so now you know something else about me, I guess," he 
says, curtly, blush only growing. But at least he doesn't look like he's 
about to cry anymore. "And - fuck, I don't even know. I don't even know. I 
don't think anything... I..." He shakes his head. "I came to after the show 
was over. I was - we were outside. Me and Izumi. She had.. she was hurt, she 
had like, a head wound.. I took her to the ER. Fuyuko..." He closes his eyes. 
"She wasn't with us anymore."


[Ardweden]
Katie hisses. "Izumi, she- was she with *them*? The Band, or just Tenjirou? 
Did you find out what happened to Fuyuko?"


[Jihatsu]
"I don't know." His voice is a bit hollow. "Izumi and me, we don't talk about 
that night." He closes his eyes. "Fuyuko, apparently her brother got her out 
of there."


[Ardweden]
Katie scowls, her eyes dark. Her free hand clenches and unclenches, and then 
she bites her lip, hard, and shakes her head. "I'm sorry."

She hugs Wataru, tightly.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru has a broken chuckle, and he squeezes her back. "_Thank you_," he 
emotes, into her hair. 


[Ardweden]
Katie nods her head, a little, but doesn't respond otherwise. Except with 
more hug.


[Jihatsu]
More hug is GREAT. Wataru hugs.


[Ardweden]
This time, Katie's the one who hugs as long as Wataru wants.


[Jihatsu]
It's not that long. Wataru cries, a little bit, but softly, and after a few 
moments the tears subside, and he has a slow and comfortable deep breath and 
releases the tightness of the hug.


[Ardweden]
Katie lets out a sigh as he lets go, though she hangs on to one hand and she 
studies his face. "He's dead now," she reminds him. "Both of them. And that- 
what happened, with *him*, that wasn't anything real." She squeezes Wataru's 
hand. "Okay?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods, chewing on his lip a bit. "I know. I'm glad." He exhales. "And 
I'm not gonna feel guilty for being glad that son-of-a-bitch is dead."


[Ardweden]
"Nah. Especially when you had nothing to do with it, personally. You just get 
the benefits." She tilts her head. "Do you wanna keep going right now, or 
take a break and put in the order for food, or something?" She looks at the 
cards. "We're still in the Majors. This is going to be a long night."


[Jihatsu]
"Shit, I forgot about food," he chuckles. "And we - we really don't need to 
do all this tonight. I don't think I realized how much new information you 
would have."


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs. "There's a lot of people, and a lot happened. But maybe that's 
why we should do it." She stands and stretches. "What I know about Minors is 
more spotty, anyway. Majors just make a lot of noise."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru giggles a little! Whoops ^^;

He stands too!


[Ardweden]
"I'm going to text Kyon and let him know what's going on," Katie tells 
Wataru. "Do you mind ordering food? I can help pay for it this time."


[Jihatsu]
"Sure," he says. "No problem." 

And so Wataru orders Cantonese chow mein and Ma Po tofu and mixed vegetables 
and Peking duck. Might as well get good fuel, if they're in for a long night. 


[Ardweden]
Meanwhile, Katie paces around and texts Kyon! _meeting with wataru going 
long. catching him up to speed on arcana stuff. going to eat here._ That 
done, she walks back to read Wataru's top secret notebook. It's right there, 
after all.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru sees her and doesn't stop this!


[Ardweden]
So Katie doesn't stop! And she's aware that Wataru knows, so she doesn't hide 
what she's doing. She's just reading, snerking at some, shaking her head at 
others.


[Jihatsu]
Yeah, Wataru is really happy at every one of those snerks.

He returns to Katie and the notebook, food successfully ordered! "It'll be 
here within an hour. Glass of water?"


[Ardweden]
Katie looks up at him. "Please? Coffee just isn't working anymore."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles fondly and goes and fetches them two big glasses of water!

They are plastic, and it is entirely possible one of them has Bugs Bunny and 
one of them has Daffy Duck. He puts them on the table.


[Ardweden]
Katie studies the two cups, then takes Daffy Duck. She drinks some water (not 
blowing over the top this time!) and flips to the page they were on in the 
notebook, sliding it over so they can both see (and Wataru can easily write).

"So. Temperance?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles privately at the makeshift personality test, and sips from the 
Bugs glass.

"Temperance. I didn't realize you'd actually met her. You said you did, 
right?"


[Ardweden]
"Yeah, a few times. The first time, she blamed Kaede for his sister getting 
attacked - by Yushiro, I think. Because he wasn't there to protect her at the 
time, so she had to go and wipe Nanami's memory so she wouldn't remember the 
Arcana stuff. She's super classy."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru makes a face. "I see. And she works for Satoshi's mom?"


[Ardweden]
"I don't know. It looks like they're at least working together, with the 
Bangor Reversed stuff. All I know is she was, like, the Arcana thought 
police. So when she thought normals knew too much, she'd go and remove their 
memories of the Arcana stuff. My best friend at the time had this happen to 
her a couple of times - I'd told her about... about me, anyway - and Kaede's 
sister, too..." Katie sighs. "But I don't know how she decided who to wipe 
and who not to, because there were definitely non-Arcana who knew about us, 
not even that secretly, and she never went after them."


[Jihatsu]
"Wait...." Wataru frowns. "Kaede's sister isn't Arcana?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "Not everyone's like Reiji and Kyoko."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "I mean... I..." He looks at his hands. He looks like he's about 
to say something, but hesitating.


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks. "What?"


[Jihatsu]
He fidgets, weighing pros and cons and - and, fuck it. "I don't think my 
sister is, either. So." He exhales, sharply. The die is cast.


[Ardweden]
"Oh." Katie considers this, then asks, tentatively, "Is she in the States?"


[Jihatsu]
He nods.


[Ardweden]
"That doesn't sound so bad, then," Katie sighs. "Sorry she's so far away, 
though. And that... I mean, not being one's kind of safer from far away, but 
I bet not being able to talk to her about stuff is hard."


[Jihatsu]
He nods some more. "I... I love her, a lot, and we talk, a lot, but there's a 
lot I don't talk to her about." He sighs. "She's fourteen. She's amazing. 
Please don't tell anyone she exists, I'm - I'm constantly worried sick 
something I do will end up hurting her."


[Ardweden]
"I promise I won't tell anybody. And I think she'd be okay even if I did. 
She'll be okay." Katie's eyes twinkle, and her tone turns from serious to 
light. "I *also* won't tell anybody that you draw hearts next to Satoshi's 
name."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru makes a faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace.


[Ardweden]
Katie laughs! She wishes she had her camera but Wataru would kill her!

She makes a mental note for a Wataru-face doodle.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru huffs.

"Are we talking about this now?" He looks aside. He also looks like he gives 
too few fucks to argue with her, though, so. This might be her chance?


[Ardweden]
"If you want. It's right there." She points out the entry - JUDGMENT <3. "And 
I figured it out like... three months ago? Remember?" Katie picks up her 
water. "Have you told him?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru rubs suddenly clammy palms on his knees. "You got really upset with 
me. I'm not sure what to say this time."


[Ardweden]
Katie lets out a breath. She drinks some water and sets the cup back down, 
watching how the water vibrates at its surface, settling down. "Not at you."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru looks at her...


[Ardweden]
The water stills, and Katie flicks the side of the plastic cup to send it 
rippling again. "I was upset with Satoshi."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru frowns. "Because ... Because he hurt you," he says, very softly. "I'm 
sorry."


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs. She looks at Wataru. "Satoshi's a really great person. I think 
he's one of the best people I know. But that doesn't mean he can't or won't 
hurt people. Kind people can be neglectful, or wrong. And he probably doesn't 
feel the same way about you." She frowns, then goes back to looking at her 
cup, flicking the side to send the water going again. "That was probably 
insensitive; you can go back to hating me again."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru shrugs. "It didn't sound insensitive to me. It just sounded true." He 
nudges her, lightly. "I know he's got a gentle soul and that's got its own 
way of hurting people. And I know he probably doesn't _like_ like me. That 
doesn't mean I... Man, it's weird talking about this. But I'm... I _am_ going 
to tell him. Because it would be dishonest not to. I'm just waiting until 
we're together in person, you know?" He sighs. "Katie, I really do love him 
as a friend more than anything. And keeping that is more important than - 
than any of the rest of it. I think ... I mean... talking with him.... I feel 
like it makes both of us better people, somehow. I cherish that, and, yeah, I 
cherish him." He blushes, softly. "I really don't hate you."


[Ardweden]
Katie is nudged. She nudges Wataru back, almost reflexively, and laughs a 
little. "Okay." She blinks, still at her water. "Okay, yeah." And she chances 
looking at her new friend. "I'm glad you're friends, too. I've just seen shit 
like this go really, really wrong."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru looks a bit troubled, but nods at this. "I promise to try my damnedest 
to not let it go wrong. But you're okay with - with me giving it the ol' 
college try?" He chuckles, awkward.


[Ardweden]
"It's not like you need my permission," Katie points out. "Knock yourself 
out. I'll be around for celebration or tears afterwards - maybe on both 
sides, I guess, but I'm pretty sure Satoshi's better friends with Kaede and 
Haruko, so he'll probably go to one of them first."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru exhales.

"Okay. Thanks." He looks at the notebook. "So are you okay to keep going?"


[Ardweden]
"Yeah, let's." Katie points at the card they have out. "Temperance. Mamiya 
Kanae. She's overworked and maybe like five years older than me, likes to 
wear heels, is the Arcana Thought Police who takes care of leaks but not even 
remotely all of them, because there are some people who have known about 
Arcana for *years* and she didn't do a damn thing about them, and has memory 
powers. She's probably working for or with the World in some capacity. And 
she blamed Kaede once for somebody else beating up his sister." She picks up 
the card. "Good?"


[Jihatsu]
"Yep."


[Ardweden]
Great! That goes into the discard. "Already talked about the Devil..." She 
goes to the next one. Tower. "The Tower. It doesn't really seem to be a 
person. Just a place. Or places. Like Tokyo Tower, and Bangor, and that 
building that was always under construction, where we closed the portal."


[Jihatsu]
"Oh! The construction site was another Tower?" :0


[Ardweden]
"Yeah, or something. Some kind of mini-Tower. There were five portals and the 
main one, so that made six, at least at the time." Katie rubs at her 
forehead, then runs her hand through her bangs. "Don't ask me how that's 
supposed to work, because I really don't know."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "Geographically arranged? Like..." He draws a five-pointed star, 
with a small pointy Tokyo Tower in the middle of it.


[Ardweden]
She taps the picture. "Yup. And at each of these points was a portal, for 
each suit and the majors. And had to be closed by using the corresponding 
artifact at each location." She waits for the obvious question.


[Jihatsu]
"What was the artifact for the Majors?" 

Wataru seems surprised but pleased that he guessed the layout right! Thinking 
spatially.


[Ardweden]
"Sacrifice." Katie's eyes are fixed on the five-pointed star. "Saki went to 
the other side. Shika closed this side."


[Jihatsu]
"Fuck," he says.


[Ardweden]
"Yeah." Katie sighs. "She figured she had the best chance of survival of any 
one of us over there. And that was probably true, but..."


[Jihatsu]
"Over where? The, like, hell dimension or whatever? I thought no one could 
live there? I thought that's why we say Sho is dead? Are you telling me Sho 
might still be alive over there? What if he tries to come back? -- shit now 
I'm the one babbling."


[Ardweden]
Katie laughs, a little. "Yeah." She looks at Wataru. "I think he's dead. I 
think she's dead, too. I'm only not happy about one of those."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru hesitates for a while, then says, "I, uh, I'm not sure why, I'm sorry, 
I can't really remember the context, but I..." he looks at his notes. "When I 
wrote this about ... about Saki, I remember feeling positively that she's 
dead. Relieved, maybe. I'm sorry if ..." He looks at Katie.


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "It's fine." She lets out a breath. "Saki is... was... 
complicated. Because she was a girl who went to our school and was always on 
our side, or at least never against us. She also killed the last Page of 
Swords, and her girlfriend, and other people. She also, uh, tried to eat some 
Arcana? Or at least some thing that looked and acted like her tried to. It 
was- it was one of the first things that happened. To me. And to Taki." She 
runs her finger along the points in the diagram. "She also saved my life, at 
least once, and I saved hers."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru really doesn't know how to react to all that.

Sooooooooo he doesn't. He just, uh, quietly writes down, _eats people. Killed 
former page S. & gf. saved Katie once and vice versa._

"Okay."


[Ardweden]
Katie points the beginning of what Wataru wrote out. "Maybe ate people. It 
was... weird, I... never mind, she's probably dead." She sighs and puts her 
elbow on the table, resting her face on her hand. "So, anything else about 
the Tower?"


[Jihatsu]
"I mean................ there's this whole Satoshi business. But I don't 
know. Why, did you have more things to say about the Tower?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "Nope. And you know more about the Satoshi business 
than I do." She puts the Tower in the discard. There. And picks up the next 
one - the Star - and puts it down so they can see it. "Saori Yamaoka."


[Jihatsu]
"She's shown up in my readings sometimes," Wataru comments. "Hope, and maybe 
someone we'll have to rely on, if I'm remembering right." He frowns. "I think 
it was the Reiji one."


[Ardweden]
Katie tilts her head. "She's not a bad person to rely on." She taps the card. 
"Saori's the best at reading cards of anyone I've met. She's also in high 
school - last I heard, she's still good friends with Kaede's sister."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "The one who's not Arcana."


[Ardweden]
"Well, he only has one," Katie says with a small smile. "But yeah, that's 
Saori. She'll make you pay for it, though. At least she used to. She ran a 
small fortune telling business."


[Jihatsu]
"Ha, I thought you were gonna say she made a small fortune. Doing it."


[Ardweden]
"She probably wishes she did. But she was in junior high and didn't have the 
best spot; I bet coming across customers was hard."


[Jihatsu]
"She needs a Kaede. With like three cell phones and shiny shoes all 'buy, 
sell, buy, sell, let's do lunch, I'll pencil you in'."


[Ardweden]
Katie laughs. "He was *not* like that in high school. Then, it was just 
Kyon." She picks up the Star and sets it in the discard.


[Jihatsu]
"Oh really?" Wataru laughs! "Wow. Yeah, that's all Kaede to me. Kyon is..." 
Hmm. "That cool, quiet baseball pro who'll sign little kids' baseballs but 
forget his wife's birthday." Wataru pinks, suddenly remembering who he's 
talking to. "A-although I bet he doesn't forget your birthday. Not that 
you're his wife. Uh."


[Ardweden]
Katie rolls her eyes, amused. "He wouldn't forget his wife's birthday. He's 
obligated to remember, even if he hates her. Just like he's obligated to sign 
little kids' baseball cards, but he'd probably hate it."


[Jihatsu]
"Big on obligations, then. Is that a Queen thing?" Wataru wonders.


[Ardweden]
"Nah," Katie says immediately. Then she amends to, "Well, maybe. I'm not an 
expert; I only know two of them. But yeah, Kyon is big on obligations."


[Jihatsu]
"I mean, so is Haruko though, right?" 


[Ardweden]
"Ugh, yeah." Katie wrinkles her nose. "No wonder they get along."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smirks. "No wonder you and me get along too, then." Grin.


[Ardweden]
Katie pauses in picking up the next card. "What do you mean?"


[Jihatsu]
"Not particularly obligationy except as far as necessary to exist in society? 
I mean, my nose got crinkly at that too."


[Ardweden]
Katie laughs. "Oh, yeah." She pulls her hand back and picks up her water, 
sipping it. "I try to keep my promises and everything, but... yeah, I think I 
just see some things differently."


[Jihatsu]
"Oh, for sure. But yeah." Water! He drinks some too. "All right, Moon?"


[Ardweden]
"Yeah." Katie puts her cup down and takes a breath. "Moon." She picks up the 
card and flips it, setting it down so Wataru can see. "That's Meimi Sakazaki. 
She had... has... illusion powers."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru narrows his eyes, then flips ahead a few pages. "Makes illusions, 
might be evil, might be harmless?" He quotes.


[Ardweden]
"That's about right," Katie agrees. She has more water. "Meimi was part of 
our group, back... well, back when we were starting to be a group, pretty 
much. But it turned out it wasn't actually her - or maybe it was? - it was an 
illusion of her, created while she was in a coma. Along with a whole bunch of 
other illusions, including a major one of Shingo Ryuuzaki, the Knight of 
Swords. And one of Taki, for a little while." Katie rubs at her forehead. "So 
the real and physical Meimi was in the hospital, unconscious, and *she* used 
to... not be part of the Band, but tangentially related to it, because she 
was Takeo's girlfriend."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru flips around in his notes, adding Meimi to Takeo's entry and filling 
in "Shingo Ryuuzaki" for Knight of Swords. "That's freaky. Did she ever get 
out of the coma...?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "Not as far as I know. And her illusions, even like 
that, were *good*. All five senses, her people were like real people, she 
could do more than one at a time..." Katie looks at the card. "She was my 
friend. At least, the illusion Meimi. I miss her, but I don't know if that 
was real." She takes a breath, about to say something else, then stops 
herself.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods, looking at the card. "Okay. So. Complicated person." He doesn't 
say it unkindly.


[Ardweden]
Katie sighs. "Yeah." She picks up the card and looks at it, then sets it in 
the discard pile.


[Jihatsu]
"We've only got three Majors left!" Wataru says, aiming for cheerfulness. 


[Ardweden]
t seems to work, at least a little. Katie smiles some, anyway. "Yeah. And one 
of them's your favorite." It comes across as just slightly teasing, as she 
picks up the next card and sets it down. "The Sun. Soleil Cardinaux. Kaede's 
friends with her; he said she's back in France, going to university there."


[Jihatsu]
"Iiiiiiiii remember her. She went to my school. I don't think she talked to 
me once in my whole life."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. She doesn't look surprised. "Soleil was a little self-conscious 
about her Japanese. But she was nice... I remember, she was worried about 
Fuyuko, too. And she understood when- she understood. She's probably one of 
the better Arcana I've met." Katie shakes her head. "Anyway, Kaede worked 
with her the most." Katie checks Wataru's notes again. "She was under your 
care?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru blinks, then nods. "Back when I was Ayano. The Sun was one of the - 
the kids - I was looking after them."


[Ardweden]
Katie ahs and then nods. "Makes sense. Maybe you could compare notes with 
them sometime, if you know who they are now and they're friendly - if it 
seems important, anyway."


[Jihatsu]
"Oh, that's ---" Wataru blinks! "Super weird. But kind of cool. Man, I would 
be the *most awkward*. 'Hi, my name is Wataru, I used to babysit you 60 years 
ago'."


[Ardweden]
Katie laughs! "Hi, my name is Katie. I used to spy on you sixty years ago. 
Whoops, still doing it."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru snorts! "Well I'm not going to babysit a French college coed. That 
would be just... nah."


[Ardweden]
Katie grins. "At least you're not into girls? So that's pretty safe." Pause. 
"Unless you are...?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru blushes darkly, all the way to his hairline. >//////////>


[Ardweden]
Katie raises an eyebrow. "You're as bad as Satoshi. No wonder you like him."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru slowly thunks his forehead onto the table and just leaves it there. 


[Ardweden]
Katie just laughs, and she picks up the next card and puts it on the table 
with a little toss, letting it slide so the edge hits Wataru's forehead. 
"Judgment. Anything you want to know about him or his badass-but-probably-
evil past?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru sighs. "I'm not into girls, in case that was ambiguous, since we're 
all truthy-truthy here today. And it's just cruel and unusual that the next 
card to talk about is Satoshi's." The table is nice and cool, this is fine.


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs. "Can't help it. That's the order on your list. Also in the 
deck." She has another sip of water.


[Jihatsu]
"I don't know what I want to know about him. I guess I'm curious to know more 
about Hideo, and whether Ayano knew him... but ..." He turns, lifting his 
head slightly, facing Katie. "I'm not sure I feel comfortable gossiping about 
him."


[Ardweden]
Katie is where Wataru remembers her being, with her Daffy Duck cup in hand. 
She shrugs. "Your call. Whatever Satoshi's fears, he's him now, not Hideo. So 
unless it's important - and I don't think it is, right now - we can let that 
stay buried if you want."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods, a bit, edge of his glasses rubbing against the table. 

He sits up. Sighs. "Okay."


[Ardweden]
Katie watches Wataru. Not warily, but she watches.


[Jihatsu]
"So that leaves evil mom."


[Ardweden]
"Yeah." Katie replaces Judgment with the World, and she checks Wataru's 
notes. "You summed her up pretty well. Especially the punching part."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles. "I feel there'll be a line."


[Ardweden]
Katie snerks. "Probably." She checks the notes again. "But yeah, I don't 
think I know any more than you do, about her. Yet, anyway. I started getting 
some memories - I, I mean she, the last Page of Swords, used to give her 
information. At least once. If we're lucky, I might get more about that."


[Jihatsu]
"Get more? Like in dreams?"


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Yeah. It'll probably happen." She doesn't seem especially 
thrilled.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru has a small smile. "You don't like the dreams?"


[Ardweden]
"They..." Katie sighs and leans back. "They're unpleasant." She thinks for 
half a beat, then continues, "I get nightmares. A lot, about what happened... 
you know. I told you. I think about it. The dreams about the past started 
then, when I was in the hospital, with my- her death, with..." She trails 
off, looking at nothing, then reaches up and tugs at her hair, hard but 
brief. "They're as bad, or almost as bad, but usually in different ways. 
Sometimes I don't know what's real or not, and sometimes I can get them mixed 
in with the other ones and I already don't know if _those_ are real or not."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru exhales, and reaches out to rest a warm hand on her shoulders. "I... 
Yeah. I get nightmares too. For me the past life dreams are usually more 
like, conversations, but they're always tense too."


[Ardweden]
Katie twitches in surprise, but she stills. And nods, not looking at Wataru 
but not pulling away. She asks, "Conversations with her?"


[Jihatsu]
He shakes his head. "Conversations she's having with other people. The former 
Council. Kyon and Haruko's former selves show up sometimes. Sometimes it's 
more like I'm watching a movie, almost, although I have no idea if those 
scenes actually happened or if, you know, it's almost as if she was literally 
dreaming through me, about people she knew..."


[Ardweden]
"Yeah... I don't know. For me, 'm always there. I'm always *her*. She's 
making decisions but I'm also making them, the same ones, it makes sense at 
the time, and..." Katie shakes her head, then she looks at Wataru and smiles 
wanly. "Anyway, it'll probably happen again."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru paps her on the shoulder lightly. "I'm sorry it sucks for you."


[Ardweden]
Katie laughs, soft and weak. "Only because it sucked for her. And me, I 
guess. Just a lot of... shit, really."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru makes a sound in the back of his throat that somewhat resembles a 
puppy growl. ~_~


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs. And you didn't know why I dislike 'fate', she doesn't say. 
That's why I'm running for a Council seat, she doesn't say. What she does say 
is, "Yeah." She picks up the World and sets it in the discard.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru exhales. "Good riddance," he says, to the card. 


[Ardweden]
"If she comes back, we can punch her." Katie checks the notes, then her deck 
next. "Swords next." And sets down the Ace of Swords.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru is still chuckling from that comment when she puts the card down. 

Swords! 


[Ardweden]
Katie looks at Wataru's notes, then taps the card. "Yeah, this guy is Ryuji 
Hazuki. He dated Haruko for a little while. He was part of Saki's group at 
Sakuragaoka - it was a trio. Her, him, and Eriko Miyashita, who wasn't an 
Arcana but knew about us. He carried around a katana basically all the time 
and I guess was really good with it, even in school. People who weren't 
Arcana didn't really notice. I mean, they *knew* he had a katana if you 
pointed it out, but they didn't care."


[Jihatsu]
"So a magic invisible not-invisible sword."  Wataru adds the missing info to 
his notes, including a remark all the way at the end in the section reserved 
for miscellaneous non-Arcana, where Eriko Miyashita's name already appears: 
_friend of Ace of Swords and Saki, knows about Arcana (why not Temp’d?)_


[Ardweden]
Katie watches, reading over Wataru's shoulder, and says, "My best guess is 
because she was Saki's friend."


[Jihatsu]
"And nobody wanted to fuck with Saki, because she possibly maybe ate people." 


[Ardweden]
She snerks. "Yeah, well... I don't know how many people encountered cannibal-
zombie Saki, but even without that, she *was* powerful. She was immortal, 
really tough and strong, I remember her making some blue energy stuff when 
she hit people sometimes, and sometimes she had wings, too - the same kind of 
blue energy, but I never saw her fly with them. And I think more than a 
couple of Arcana remembered the trouble she caused last cycle, when she went 
on a rampage and murdered more than just me and my girlfriend. She changed 
since then, but it still would have made people nervous."

Katie sighs, stretching as she leans back in her chair. "Sometimes I think 
that's the only thing other Arcana appreciated. The ability to kill or hurt 
people, I mean."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru frowns, and looks down. "And is that still true now....?"


[Ardweden]
"I don't know," Katie says, honestly. "Probably not entirely. And I'm 
probably not being fair anyway."


[Jihatsu]
He nods, thoughtful.

He adds a few more notes about Saki to his document, as per Katie's comments. 


[Ardweden]
Katie watches this. "Okay," she says when Wataru finishes. She takes the Ace 
of Swords and discards it, then looks at the Two of Swords and sets that 
aside, followed by the Three, and the next one she lays down before Wataru is 
the Four of Swords. "Norishige Matsushina. The blind guy with the owl."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru flips through his notes, frowning lightly, until... aha! "Swords? I 
have him down as Four of Wands."


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks. "Nope. Swords." She picks up her cup and sips. "He fights with 
one. It's straight-edged."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru painstakingly copies out the information up in Swordland, then. "Is 
that common? Like, people fight with the weapons of their suit?" _Do people 
fight a lot?_


[Ardweden]
"I think it's more common with Swords than other suits? Because it *is* a 
weapon. So some powers make that work, and I think other Swords go for it 
because it's in theme. It's not a requirement, though. Kyon fences, and he's 
a Wand."


[Jihatsu]

[Ardweden]
"I think it's more common with Swords than other suits? Because it *is* a 
weapon. So some powers make that work, and I think other Swords go for it 
because it's in theme. It's not a requirement, though. Kyon fences, and he's 
a Wand."


[Jihatsu]
"Some kind of tool, at least," he mumbles, then takes a moment to wonder if 
Katie heard that but _of course she did._ Moving right along. "Anyway."


[Ardweden]
Katie raises an eyebrow but doesn't comment. "Anyway," she says instead, 
"Norishige always seemed to see fate clearly and just wanted to follow it 
through. He was pretty fatalistic about it - we had to fight him three times 
and after the third time his purpose was over - but never mean or resentful. 
I mean, it was *stupid*, but." Katie shrugs. "So we fought him three times 
and he tried to throw himself off the roof, but then we stopped him and 
Haruko kissed him."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru eyes her. "Haruko? Can I ask why?"


[Ardweden]
"She wanted to kiss somebody before the end of the world, maybe?" Katie 
smiles ruefully. "Ryuji didn't help any."


[Jihatsu]
"The guy she was dating at the time?" He frowns.


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head. "No, he dumped her by then."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru makes a face. "Mh. Sorry." He taps his notebook with a fingernail. "A-
and sorry I called your boyfriend a tool, that was uh... toolish of me."


[Ardweden]
"It was, a little," Katie replies, then waves, brushing it aside. "Anyway. 
Yeah. Norishige wasn't a bad guy. He just worked on his own logic, based on 
what he believed. Fate, really."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru exhales softly, and nods. He adds, _not a bad guy, really._


[Ardweden]
Katie reads this and nods. "Yup. So basically, with him, it's going to come 
down to what he believes Fate needs or what he has to do, or whatever. I 
don't know exactly how it works, but he can be really hard to persuade with 
once he's set on something. Like you could work out different ways to make 
what he wants happen, but if he thinks something needs to happen or he needs 
to do something..." She shrugs.

"Honestly, it's kind of weird that he's the Sword representative on the 
Council, unless he thinks Fate needs him to do that. He didn't seem like the 
sort. I guess I could be wrong."


[Jihatsu]
"_He's_ the Sword representative?" Wataru blinks.


[Ardweden]
"He sure is." Katie looks around. "Computer?"


[Jihatsu]
"Computer.........?" Wataru eyes her. 


[Ardweden]
"So I could pull up an e-mail...?" Katie shakes her head. "Never mind. Yeah. 
He's the only Sword representative right now. Kazuko said he was the only one 
who volunteered and nobody opposed."


[Jihatsu]
"Oh, computer. Your phone doesn't have email?" He thinks about the Council 
thing, and says, "Well we know he's heavily involved in Shuffle. If those 
really are the same thing... They are, right? Or is that still conjecture?"


[Ardweden]
"Shuffle's a way for Arcana to find each other and communicate, and the 
people involved with it also made the Council pretty much, so yeah."


[Jihatsu]
He nods. "Can you remind me who the other seats are? I feel like there was an 
email about this, but..."


[Ardweden]
"Um, let's see," Katie says, and she draws something with her finger on the 
table, trying to jog her memory as she talks. "The Hierophant - Hinako - is 
the Major. Four of Swords for Swords. That's Norishige. Six of Pentacles - 
Yorihisa. The Wand seat is... Two of Wands. That's Hiromi Nekotani. I can 
talk about her later. And there's the Two of Cups, who I don't think I know."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru slams his palm on the table. "Fucking Hinako, are you serious?" 


[Ardweden]
Katie jumps slightly, startled. She blinks at Wataru. "Yes?"


[Jihatsu]
"God, no fucking wonder we're all mad at Taki. That's messed up. Messed up. 
More messed up th - than Haruko being on speaking terms with people. Doesn't 
Taki realize we need to stay _safe_? And now she's giving info to the 
_Council_? Jesus!!" Wataru stands up, unable to keep his anger contained.


[Ardweden]
Katie nods and stays seated, tilting her chin up to keep Wataru in obvious 
sight. "Pretty much, yeah," she says, much more calmly. "I don't think the 
Council is a unified faction or anything, and Hiromi at least seems to have 
no real idea what the others are up to, but yeah."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru balls his fists and paces a bit. "They - they're gonna..." 


[Ardweden]
Katie stands, too. "They're gonna what?"


[Jihatsu]
He spins towards her. "Kill us? Decide who lives and who dies? Make - make a 
pecking order, make the rules, make us live in fear? Katie..." Wataru takes a 
few breaths, forcing himself to calm down. "I've just started feeling like 
... like I can be myself, maybe, a little tiny bit in this world. I don't 
want the Council... dictating what is and isn't permitted. Who does and 
doesn't deserve help, respect, forgiveness. That's not a world I want to go 
back to."


[Ardweden]
Katie is silent for a moment, her hand still resting on the back of her 
chair. Then she asks, softly - which isn't unusual, but still, it's soft even 
for her - "Do you think there wasn't a pecking order already? That I - you, 
some of us, all of us, even the people with power - didn't already live in 
fear? Or were killed?" Despite her quiet rasp, Wataru can still hear Katie 
more than clearly, as even the idle electronic hum from his kitchen and 
living room can no longer be heard.


[Jihatsu]
He notices that immediately, and his body seems to go still in response, like 
even the sound of his feet shuffling is weird now, amplified in contrast. 
"No," he says, swallowing. "I didn't think that. And I don't want to. It 
isn't right. No one should feel like they're entitled to make those kinds of 
decisions."


[Ardweden]
"But *I made them*," Katie points out, raising her voice a tiny bit in 
emphasis. Her fingers stay curled around the back of the chair, her knuckles 
white, and she doesn't move. "Everybody did. There were multiple pecking 
orders. There were people at the bottom and people at the top. There were 
people who decided I needed to die, because it was safer, because it was 
easy, because..." She shakes her head and takes a breath, and it also shakes, 
slightly. Wataru can even hear that. "And I also decided."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru takes a careful breath. "Making those decisions, and feeling you're 
entitled to it, that - that it's your goddamn birthright or something, those 
are two different things. Doing something because you gotta..." He shakes his 
head. "That's not how they worked. Something like a Council..." He shakes his 
head, which has started throbbing a bit.


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks at Wataru. She takes a couple of steps in his direction, letting 
go of the chair and reaching out towards him. "Are you okay?"


[Grysar]
[Wataru, the throbbing in your head and the rush of your emotions begin to 
take more concrete form as the past comes rushing back to you. Beyond the 
boundaries of this strangely silent apartment there is wind, a steeple and 
older buildings, and a different companion. What do you do?]


[Jihatsu]
Wataru hunches over, slightly, bracing himself against the wind. He's made it 
this far, dammit. He has to make it to the church. Has to get to safety...


[Ardweden]
Katie tenses, and she takes a few steps closer, so she's just outside of 
striking distance. "What's going on?" She listens - there's nothing, as it 
should be, but she looks around anyway. "Are you sensing someone somehow?"


[Jihatsu]
The voice startles him, but no, that's true - he's not alone here. He turns 
to his companion, even if he's still preoccupied by the need to get to the 
church.


[Grysar]
Wataru, your Council guest has apparently arrived and is already in striking 
distance. That must be a trick of the eye. She's brought with her a 
television on a low table. No, that makes no sense. It's a wheel barrel with 
seedlings in misshapen created small clay pots. "Hate to operate in this 
weather. Don't really have a choice though. I'm the job tonight." She offers 
Wataru a parasol, which fits with this fieldworker's surprisingly fair skin 
and calloused hands, "Help a girl out with a wind shield?"

Isao had promised this one would be a genuine help. She wasn't Council rank-
and-file, just a member whose power was more precious than paper money in 
these times of rationing. Suddenly feeling a bit lightheaded, Wataru 
remembered that he had some questions he wanted to ask her, in hopes that 
someone less forgiving than the priestly middle-man might give a straight 
answer. What do you do?

Katie, Wataru looks like he's nodding off fairly hard, from a slight overall 
slouch to rapid eye movement. To your somewhat trained eye he shows no sign 
of seizure or other ailment so much has being overcome with his recent 
emotion and the fallen asleep on his feet. Judging by his expression, 
whatever is happening he seems to have a sense of urgency but not resistance. 
What do you do?


[Ardweden]
Katie frowns. This... isn't even a little bit normal.

"Wataru, hey," she says, still in English. She crosses the rest of the room 
and tries to move his arm around her shoulder so she can support him. 
"Something's going on. I need you to stay with me, okay?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru takes in the jars, the seedlings. He takes the parasol from her, 
angling it to protect the plants and the life within them - and the girl 
herself. Who is in turn supporting him, somehow.

"Come on," he says, in Japanese, his phrasing old-fashioned and feminine, but 
no-nonsense. "We can get there together." His voice sounds strange to his 
ears, deep and foreign, but he chooses to ignore this. "We can talk when 
we're out of this wind."


[Ardweden]
Katie wrinkles her forehead. "Wataru?" she asks, and then she realizes that 
he's not responding to his own name. Or maybe English. And his speech is off- 
oh. Her expression clears. "<Ayano,>" she tries again, in Japanese. "<That's 
a good idea.>" She tries to lead him to the couch, because he might 
completely pass out instead of half-awake sleepwalking. (Is Wataru 
narcoleptic? She didn't see anything for that in his bathroom.) "<Let's go 
sit down. You look tired.>"


[Jihatsu]
"<Thank you,>" Ayano says. "<The church isn't far off. Komine-san spoke 
highly of you.>" She follows the girl to shelter, or leads her, perhaps. 


[Ardweden]
Katie will let Wataru-or-Ayano-in-Wataru's-body lead her if he wants, as long 
as it's to the couch. Once they're there, she makes sure he sits down. She 
can sit with him. That's fine. (Are they in a church now, to him? Is this how 
she makes Kyon feel sometimes? She really needs to apologize again.) "<Are we 
in the church now?>"


[Grysar]
Time passes in skips and flashes. Seedlings placed in orphan dug holes. The 
visitor cupping her hands over the young plants, light slipping through the 
cracks between her fingers followed by the startling sight of crops growing 
up at such a rate that they could be the children, rising from bed one after 
another. The fenced field behind the church made into a staggered cornucopia. 
with plants left in various stages of growth to blossom and bear their fruit 
over the coming months. In the process, Ayano's nurse's eyes notices that 
while her guest hides it well, the crops might not be alone in these.

All these images jumble together in the walk to the church as the sun sinks 
in the sky. When you arrive and find a pew to share your guest seems anxious 
as to the hour, "I can answer a few questions. But I do have an appointment 
in an opposite sort of place."


[Jihatsu]
Ayano nods. "<You have done beautiful work here, my dear.>" She takes the 
young woman's hand, presses it gently in hers. "<If ever you need my help to 
ensure your crop flourishes as well as mine, you need only ask. I've helped 
many women in your situation, and these are trying times.>" She exhales, lets 
go of the young woman's hand. "<But I should not tarry with my questions. 
You've already done so much.>"


[Ardweden]
Katie frowns. Is Wataru-Ayano talking to Mikari, or someone else? At least he 
doesn't seem upset. She lets her hand rest on her lap and watches him 
carefully. "<How would you help me?>"


[Jihatsu]
"<Proper nutrition is key, you know.>" She lowers her voice, adding softly, 
"<For the baby. But as a nurse, I've helped with many other things. Just know 
you have a friend.>"


[Ardweden]
_Who am I in this scenario?_ Katie wonders, then decides she can ask Wataru 
later. Hopefully. If he remembers. For now... "<Thanks.>" Seems Ayano had 
friends back then. That's nice. She also had questions. "<What did you want 
to know about?>" She hesitates a second, then asks, "<Did it have something 
to do with the Council?>" That was what Wataru was freaking out about...


[Grysar]
(1) Back when Haruko and Wataru were neglecting their duty and chatting with 
one another during Book Club reversed, it seems like Wataru just talking to 
her without flatly contradicting her mindset mostly did the trick.
2) These visions, in the past, have skipped around and varied focus. As long 
as he remains in it, you might actually be able to guide him some to things 
that you're curious about. His strong emotions regarding the council seemed 
to be an entry point, it's by no means proven but you can probably guess 
they're involved somehow. And obviously Komine is somehow involved. Perhaps 
Isao in particular. You can't eliminate that Mikari was involved, but if 
you're taking his meaning correctly he's talking to someone pregnant and that 
seems like it makes her an unlikely suspect.
3) As for who is in control, perhaps the best answer is the Hanged Man. 
Wataru seems far more at peace with this entire process than you would 
generally be. In no small part because the past has been so traumatic, you 
feel like if this sort of thing had ever been at the edge of your 
consciousness, you'd likely have pushed it away hard rather than gently fall 
into it as he seems to do.


[Jihatsu]
Ayano's expression grows darker. "<I worry about their motivations,>" she 
admits. "<I worry about the authority they hold, and how it can mean life or 
death, for - for even the most vulnerable of us. Especially for the most 
vulnerable of us.>" She sighs, aware she may be showing her hand too much, 
but... "<I respect, of course, that they have matters far greater than the 
survival of a few orphans to be concerned with. I understand the limitations 
of my own perspective. But how can I be confident that the power inherent in 
the position is never abused?>" She softly draws her hands into fists on her 
knees. "<When the strongest believe their strength makes right, it is the 
weak who suffer.>" Her eyes are distant, and she may well be speaking about 
more than the Council.  


[Ardweden]
Katie watches Wataru carefully. Okay, Ayano's talking about orphans, which is 
not especially a Wataru concern, but that mostly lines up okay with her then 
and him now. She's not sure what part she's supposed to be playing here, or 
what exactly he'll hear from her, but that worked. She decides to play along, 
at least for now. Maybe she can find out if there's more intersect and if it 
applies in the twenty-first century at all. "<You can't be. That's why you, 
or someone you trust, needs to speak for for them. Who are you worried about, 
who's the strongest and will leave the weak to die?>"


[Grysar]
he woman asks Ayano those questions and then laughs. A lilting trill but not 
a gentle one. "You sound like Masaki-kun when his dander is up. You are both 
so focused on your people that you forget the nature of our world."

"When I go out, he warns me against frisky patrons. But what is my word 
against a man of rank? My boss has connections and he and us staff watch each 
other's back. Alone, I'd be living out my card's tragic destiny."

She instinctual reaches for something in her handbag and frowns to find it 
missing. She snaps her fingers in frustration, an intense light speaking 
between them. "Some of those boys you're looking after are getting older. 
Someone with power kept them, or stole them, from the barracks. Don't forget 
that part."

She sighs,"I'm glad you're doing what you're doing. Why I'm here. But there's 
always going to be people trying to run things. Fine by me, but there's a 
cost. Their job is to look out for us even if the whole country has gone mad. 
Trouble is, they're bad at their job."


[Jihatsu]
Ayano sighs, trying to produce a chuckle but not really succeeding. "<It's 
easy for me to lose track of that, you're right. Do you believe it? Do you 
trust those in power to do the right thing when our lives are on the line?>"


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks. Wataru's definitely responding to a different person, now, 
without her voice. She's pretty sure that what she says here doesn't matter, 
but she also should probably say *something*. So she decides to be honest, 
and to tell him in English. "No." She wonders if what she says will mean 
anything at all, and if he'll remember it at all. Probably not. "Not the ones 
who are sitting. But the ones I can put there or sway, who might care about 
me, or *myself* - I trust them more. That's why all this. Because no matter 
how scared I am, or how scared you are, it's happening. And the best thing I 
can think of doing is run towards it, before it comes for me."


[Grysar]
Katie and the surprisingly urbane farmer, you think she mentioned that Tomoya 
was her name, are next to one another in the apartment. Tomoya ponders her 
response as Katie speaks. Once she's done, she gives her own take.

"Those in power? It depends on the person. Masaki-kun and the Queen of Wands 
don't get along, but...."

She leans in conspiratorially, the earlier harshness gone from her voice. "I 
think sometimes when she blocks him, she protects him." She smiles, there's 
no magical light in it, but it warms the room nonetheless and you don't hear 
the wind outside anymore.

"I don't think I'd trust the prior Council. The Magician was the pulling the 
strings, him and his government friends. When that collapsed, the Queen was 
the only one enough people trusted."

She looks out the window at Tokyo's streets, dismayed at the lack of light. 
"Masaki-kun doesn't have to play to multiple audiences every day. He doesn't 
trust her. But she came to me when the zaibatsu cut off our resources." 
Tomoya purses her lips and chooses her words with care. "I think the Council 
is there to balance personalities. So the Voice of the Council sometimes 
needs to be harsh." She gathers up her belongings, "But it's more important 
to watch what she does." And before Ayano can say another word, she's gone.


[Jihatsu]
Ayano holds her breath for a moment, before releasing it in a sigh. So that's 
what it all comes down to, then. The necessary evil of governance. Tomoya... 
the confused echo of Tomoya, who said more than Ayano remembered... Tomoya 
was probably right. It was better to run towards it than to run away. 


[Ardweden]
Katie watches Wataru sigh, but he seems... calm? Not that he wasn't calm 
before, but calmer somehow. She puts a hand on his shoulder. "Wataru?"


[Jihatsu]
Ayano feels hazy, but this space is warm and safe, even if she's not sure who 
is addressing her. Did they say their name was Wataru? That's vaguely 
familiar... 

"Wataru...? Are you Wataru-san?" She asks Katie, politely. 


[Ardweden]
Katie blinks. "... No." And then, more conversationally, and still in 
English, "My name's Katie."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru blinks too, the language shift visibly confusing him. "Katie-san...?" 


[Ardweden]
Katie smiles a little. "Yeah." She tightens her grip on Wataru's shoulder for 
a brief moment before loosening it again. "You feeling okay?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods, but looks around like he doesn't really know where he is. 
"Where---" the English coming out of his mouth seems to surprise him, and he 
starts again, more slowly. "Where... did Tomoya go?"


[Ardweden]
"I don't know," Katie replies, carefully. "I don't know who Tomoya is."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru pushes his glasses back up his nose. "I'm not sure I do either," he 
mumbles, frowning. "Did I just ask if you were Tomoya?"


[Ardweden]
"Yeah." Katie takes her hand off of Wataru's shoulder and sets it on her lap. 
"You were dreaming or having a vision or- or something. Just... awake and 
alert, and then you looked like you were having a headache, and then gone. 
Right into Ayano." Katie twists at the ring on her right ring finger, not 
taking her attention from Wataru. "Who was she?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru's frown deepens. "A vision? No, you're right, I can remember it 
clearly, but... I wasn't asleep. It wasn't a dream. She was *right there*." 
He blinks. "Well, not here. Elsewhere. A church. Isao's church, I think."


[Ardweden]
Katie nods. "Tomoya then?"


[Jihatsu]
"She had a wheelbarrow," he says, a little distantly. "Full of plants."


[Ardweden]
"Huh." Katie thinks for a bit, then shrugs. "It doesn't ring a bell."


[Jihatsu]
"And she was pregnant," he adds, frowning as he remembers. "She helped me and 
the children grow food in the back of the church. She... her hands, they 
emitted this light..." he gestures. "Everything grew so quickly." 

Wataru closes his eyes and flops back on the couch. "I'm exhausted."


[Ardweden]
"You fell *asleep*," Katie points out. "Standing up. Of course you're 
exhausted." She stands. "I'm going to get you your water. Stay." And she 
walks off to do that.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smiles a bit, head leaning on the back of the couch, eyes still 
closed. He waits for her to come back. 


[Ardweden]
Katie comes back in only a minute. Wataru can feel the couch shift when she 
sits next to him, and the cool plastic of the cup that she presses against 
his hand. "Here."


[Jihatsu]
"Mmmm. Thanks." He takes it, sitting up in a groggy, or possibly mellow, way. 
He takes a sip. "You know, I don't think I was asleep. And you were there, 
Katie, I was with both of you... you..." He wraps his fingers around the 
glass, just thinking. 


[Ardweden]
Katie nods, curling her fingers together in her lap, and lets him think.


[Jihatsu]
"Sorry, I'm...." he shakes his head gently. "Still... not quite. Here. 
Anything. Blah." He sighs. "I should tell you what I saw."


[Ardweden]
"If you want." And then the buzzer goes off, and Katie looks that direction. 
"Over dinner, maybe." She looks back at Wataru and stands. "I'll get it."


[Jihatsu]
"No, I gotta pay," Wataru says, smiling. He stands up a little shakily and 
goes to find his wallet. 


[Ardweden]
"Nope." Katie grabs Wataru by the forearm - not tightly, but steady. "Sit 
down, okay? I can pay for dinner once."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru floooppppps. "But you guys got me a _mirror._"


[Ardweden]
Katie laughs. "It's okay. You can buy me food later." And she goes to get the 
food, pulling her shoes on and closing the apartment door behind her. At 
about that moment, Wataru probably realizes that she has her bag over her 
shoulder; she must have picked it up when she got his water.


[Jihatsu]
And suddenly he's terrified she's not coming back. The fear startles him, and 
he tries to fight it off - _Katie's not going to steal Chinese food and run 
away, Wataru. Chill._

He feels more in the here and now, though, for better or worse. He hugs a 
pillow and waits to see if Katie abandoned him. 


[Ardweden]
Katie is gone for a minute, then two, then five. And during this time, Wataru 
realizes that he can hear again: the ticking of his clock and the low hum 
from the TV, the muffled sounds from outside or his neighbors in the hallway, 
the footsteps getting closer and his doorknob turning, and he smells Katie's 
presence before he sees her, because she is loaded up with Chinese food.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru EXHALES.

and uh puts the pillow aside. He certainly wasn't clutching it nervously this 
whole time.

"Hey," he says.


[Ardweden]
"Hey," Katie replies with a smile. She doesn't SEEM to have noticed Wataru's 
nerves. She raises a heavy paper bag. "I come bearing food."


[Jihatsu]
"Huzzah!" Wataru stands up, clearly less shaky. "I come bearing, like, most 
of my own mind, I think. I think I'm back."


[Ardweden]
"You're still using English," Katie says as she kicks off her shoes. "That's 
a good sign." And she carries food into the dining area!


[Jihatsu]
"Yeah." He smiles. "Wait, I wasn't using English?" 

He heads to the kitchen to get plates and chopsticks, setting them up on the 
table. 


[Ardweden]
"Nnnnnope." Katie carefully scoots the tarot cards and notes to one side, 
trying not to mess with the order or piles. "You were speaking in Japanese. 
Like old-style, feminine Japanese. And not to me."


[Jihatsu]
"To Tomoya, right," he nods. He helps  clear stuff away, then gets some 
napkins and returns. "It was super fucking windy, too. Uh." Pardon my French? 


[Ardweden]
"So you were outside? And in the church?" Katie opens containers.


[Jihatsu]
He nods. "Started outside. Walked to the church. With you, right?" He sits 
down. "You helped me get there."


[Ardweden]
"Yeah, I was trying to get you to the couch. You looked like you were falling 
asleep." Katie reaches over, getting a plate and chopsticks for herself.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "Sorry, uh.... that must have been scary. Or at least weird." :/


[Ardweden]
"Both," Katie agrees, now scooping food onto her plate. "It's not your 
fault."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru also food-scoops. "Well, at least I'm back okay and nobody got hurt. 
Thanks for helping me out, huh."


[Ardweden]
"I'd have been a real jerk if I didn't," Katie says, wrinkling her nose. 
"Besides, I get it. Kyon's had to wake me out of thinking I'm Mikari, 
before."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods. "Being Arcana is super weird."


[Ardweden]
Katie shrugs. "Yeah." She points out the notes, off to one side. "I wasn't 
Yoshiko, by the way. You have that in your notes. I was Mikari Takeda. Taki 
was Yoshiko, and she is the Knight of Cups."


[Jihatsu]
"Hoooly shit, I finally know Taki's goddamn card." Wataru amends his 
notebook!!! "Thank you. Knight of Cups." He thinks for a moment, and then 
chuckles, once. "Yeah ok, I can kinda see that."


[Ardweden]
Katie gives a tiny, quirky smile. "Yeah."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru sighs, and eats some Chinese food. 


[Ardweden]
Katie tilts her head slightly. "What was that about?"


[Jihatsu]
He shakes his head. "Still just really tired, I guess." He smiles a little. 
"Think maybe... we could call it a night? For the cards, I mean. I still want 
to know stuff, but..."


[Ardweden]
"Yeah. I was thinking that, too." Katie picks up some duck. "We need a break. 
I can go over the rest of them with you later? After Golden Week?"


[Jihatsu]
"That sounds really great," he smiles. 


[Ardweden]
"Okay," Katie smiles. "It's a deal." And she eats!


[Jihatsu]
Wataru doesn't feel like talking about much, especially since he was hungrier 
than he realized and the food really is quite good.... He focuses on that for 
a while.


[Ardweden]
They eat in (probably companionable) silence for a while, then, small talk 
largely expended. If it was ever there in the first place. Katie does remark 
at some point that the food is good, especially the duck! That's totally like 
small talk.


[Jihatsu]
"I really like this restaurant," Wataru says. "And not only because they're 
the only guys around here who deliver." He smiles. 


[Ardweden]
Katie snerks and picks the last of her noodles off her plate. "Yeah, I don't 
know why Japan hates delivery so much. I *miss* actual pizza delivery. Also, 
pizza." The noodles! They go into her mouth.


[Jihatsu]
"Oh god, don't talk to me about pizza. Think Satoshi can bring like fifty? 
Pizzas freeze well, right...?"


[Ardweden]
"Fifty frozen pizzas," Katie says to herself as she reaches over for a piece 
of scratch paper, scribbling down the order. "Anything else?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru laughs! 


[Ardweden]
Katie follows this up with a little pizza doodles. It probably looks only 
slightly better than Wataru's pizza doodles.

Then she starts drawing something else, a rabbit, to eat the pizza. Which is 
only slightly awkward because rabbits don't have hands. But this one does 
have glasses, and also a floofy tuft of fur on its head.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru sideeyes her hard, and then bursts out laughing. 


[Ardweden]
Katie grins, still doodling, and leaves the bunny to draw a bird, about three 
quarters the size of the rabbit and pecking at the pizza, with a little scarf 
around its neck and hearing aids incongruously perched where its ears might 
be.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru's laughter mellows into a smile. 

He drinks some water. 
And remembers he told Katie he would talk to Midori about her art.....


[Ardweden]
Bird done to her doodling satisfaction, Katie then draws a sloppy American 
flag above them. She's sure not going to get fifty stars and thirteen stripes 
in there. And adds "(american)" to "Fifty frozen pizzas" up top. She slides 
the paper to Wataru.


[Jihatsu]
"This is pretty much the best thing I've ever seen," Wataru says, grinning. 
"Mind if I....?" he takes the paper and nods towards the corkboard.


[Ardweden]
"Huh?" Katie tracks the gesture to the corkboard, blinks, and then smiles. 
"Nah, go ahead."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru goes and proudly pins it up in a free spot, not far from Satoshi's 
figure skating photo! He's very careful not to pin through any of the art. <3


[Ardweden]
Katie claps! "A place of honor," she says. "Thank you."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru has a shy little smile. 

It seems like a good place to keep it. 


[Ardweden]
Katie totally agrees! She also works on finishing off the rest of her food, 
at least what's on her plate. Wataru ordered a lot so there's going to be 
leftovers.


[Jihatsu]
Definitely. Wataru offers to pack some up if Katie wants to bring Kyon a 
doggie bag!


[Ardweden]
Sure, Katie will share in splitting the leftovers!

And so it comes to pass that she's shrugging on her jacket, about to leave 
with a doggie bag in hand.


[Jihatsu]
Wataru rocks on his heels by the door. "Thanks, huh. Like, for everything. 
Thanks for going through all that with me and I'm sorry I had to put you 
through that - the weird vision thing."


[Ardweden]
Katie smiles a little. "It's okay. It's not your fault." She lifts her bag a 
little bit, with the letters and key inside. "I'll get you the originals once 
I have copies made. They might be useful. You've got the email covered... Did 
you want me to look at it before you send it?"


[Jihatsu]
Wataru nods! "I'll put that together asap."


[Ardweden]
"Okay," Katie says. "Well... I guess I'll see you later, then. Let me know 
when you have free after Golden Week so we can finish going over the deck." 
She moves to open the door.


[Jihatsu]
"Cool, good plan. Not free during Golden Week?"


[Ardweden]
Katie shakes her head at Wataru, hand on the knob but not quite opening the 
door just yet. "Starting Saturday, I'll be in Aomori with Kyon and his 
family. I should be able to get a text or call, but beyond that..." She 
shrugs. "So yeah, let me know if there's an emergency or something, but I 
probably can't come over."


[Jihatsu]
Wataru manages not to say PHOO GOLDEN WEEK WITH THE INLAWS, HUH, but his face 
indubitably says it all.

"All right, gotcha, cool - I'll be in touch after. And I'll send you the 
email draft whenever. Have a safe trip?"


[Ardweden]
Katie's face totally says the same. "Thanks. It'll be fine." That statement 
may be more to reassure herself than to reassure Wataru. (It's definitely 
more to reassure herself than to reassure Wataru.)

She opens the door and gives a small smile, along with a little wave with the 
doggy bag of leftovers. "Bye." And then she's gone!


[Jihatsu]
Wataru cleans up the rest of the food stuff, putting leftovers away and 
washing the dishes. Then he makes a cup of mint tea and goes to flop on the 
couch. What a completely weird evening....

After a while, he flips open his phone and texts Satoshi.

_So, Katie came over and I think we're friends now?_


[Ciara]
Satoshi is on his way to get breakfast when his phone beeps.  He pulls it 
out, reads the text, and then blinks.  Weren't they already friends?

...well, he's not going to *say* that to Wataru.  So instead, he replies _Oh, 
hey; that's really great! ^^  I'm happy for both of you!_


[Jihatsu]
Wataru's phone buzzes, and he smiles. 

_Yeah, me too. We talked about a bunch of stuff and generally had fun. She 
drew me a cute doodle I can't wait to show you._

he presses send, and then writes: _Also talked about some more srs bsns so 
maybe we can bring that up at our next video chat!_


[Ciara]
Satoshi reads Wataru's reply and makes a quiet hmm sound.  It can't be too 
bad if Wataru's calling it "srs bsns," right?  And that he doesn't want to 
talk about it right away?

Are they even going to have time to have a video chat, though, given finals 
and then the Tower and then coming home?  Maybe he can squeeze something in 
after finals and before Tower.  That would be nice.

He replies: _I'm looking forward to seeing it, then, either over chat or in 
person.  Oh, and let me know what you guys want me to bring back with me, 
okay?_


[Jihatsu]
Wataru smirks and types _FIFTY FROZEN PIZZAS._ 

Then he takes a snapshot of Katie's doodle and sends it with a second 
message: _Just kidding, inside joke._


[Ciara]
Wataru gets a reply almost instantly.  _Sadly, fifty's beyond my 
capabilities. :P  I'll check the attachment out after breakfast._ 

And then, a little while later: _Ha, that is amazing!  Maybe the three of us 
should try to make pizza once I'm back.  If you guys don't mind me being in 
on your pizza jokes. ^^_


[Jihatsu]
_OH MY GOD THAT SOUNDS AMAZING. I never even considered *making* pizza. Count 
me in._ 

Wataru is very excited! He texts Katie immediately: _Satoshi suggests the 
three of us *make* pizza when he visits, you in?_ 


[Ardweden]
Katie is leaving the train station when she gets that text. She looks at it, 
then responds: _im not a good cook & never made pizza but that sounds like it 
could be fun._


[Ciara]
Right after Wataru gets the reply from Katie, there's a text from Satoshi: 
_Okay, then, we are on for making pizza.  We can figure out when and where 
once I'm home!_


[Jihatsu]
To Katie: _I'm a decent cook although I've never made pizza either - it'll 
either taste good or at least it'll be a fun disaster to share._

To Satoshi: _Awesome ^_^ Katie's in!_


[Ardweden]
Katie texts to Wataru a minute or so later: _lol fun disaster. i like it. 
most of my disasters are not fun so itll be different._


[Jihatsu]
Wataru isn't quite sure what to answer to that, so he goes a long while 
thinking about it. Finally he replies, Cool, I'll keep you in the loop! 


[Ardweden]
And Katie doesn't respond to that one. Maybe she's on the move! Or thinks the 
conversation is over.


[Ciara]
Satoshi's reply comes a bit later.  _Great!  This'll be a lot of fun!_


[End!]