<@Grysar> [Date: Night of Sunday May 2, 2004. Katie's third night in Aomori, she's had two full days, including a chance to spend some time on her own in the city and some Sorata family activities yesterday.] <@Grysar> [Being a venerable and traditional family even a day of doing things together can feel like throat clearing, so when Katie retires to her own private room in a seperate wing of the manse, expectations for the remainder of the trip are still very much unset.] <@Grysar> [Even so, finding herself in an all white space, devoid of features, was perhaps not what she anticipating.] <@Grysar> [Start!] * Katie looks around, confused. She takes a few steps in a direction. Are there walls? <@Grysar> [As she takes a few steps, the ground ramps up quickly, the floor is apparently curved and she awoke in the center of a basin depression. There are also walls, but they're curving inwards, perhaps to a dome above.] <@Grysar> [She can hear faint voices through the wall. Male. Familiar.] * Katie squints up. "The hell?" Faint voices, though, that's something she's used to. She moves towards the wall, trying to make out who it is. <@Grysar> [The room shakes and the sound becomes less muffled. "Another egg in my pocket?" This is followed by an echoing sigh.] * Katie tilts her head. Weird. She tries knocking on the wall. "Satoshi?" she calls. Probably not loud enough, so she tries for louder. "Satoshi!" <@Grysar> I'm not sure. I'm sure you aren't.. wait, did you hear something? * Katie bangs on the wall some more. "Satoshi, get me out of here!" <@Grysar> [The room shakes again before Satoshi's voice repeats more sternly. "No, not again, you'll make a mess." The walls itself seem surprisingly fragile to the touch and small cracks appear. What do you do?] * Katie blinks at this revelation, then she does the sensible thing: she throws herself at the wall. <@Grysar> [Katie burst through the shell, and is left standing on Jin's giant palm. Satoshi has a restraining hand on his arm and they both stare at you. Your painting garb is now covered in shell and yolk and it feels more than a little gross.] <@Grysar> * Satoshi's hair is shorter in length and he's actually a little shorter in general than the last time you saw him. Jin is just Jin. * Katie stares back. "What the hell!" she half-yells up at them with her tiny voice. <@Grysar> [A quick sweep of the room notes that the giant books on the table have illegible titles, likewise a wall calendar. This would appear to captivity dream - absurd variant. You have a running list in your dream journal but this one hasn't occured for some time. The way it had previously played out, Jin would simply throw away the egg before Satoshi could take any action...] <@Grysar> [Finally, you're in charge here, this is your absurd dream, in your head, and you can do as you like as two giants stare dumbfounded.] * Katie sighs to herself. She's dreaming. Well, that's fun. She kicks up the wind - she has the best wind control in dreams - and floats up to get right in Satoshi's face, which might make him crosseyed. <@Grysar> Whoa! Tiny Katie. * Katie is unimpressed and replies in English: "" <@Grysar> [While hockey injuries loom quite large, Satoshi takes surprisingly good care of his remaining teeth.] * Katie turns to Jin. "" * Katie is unimpressed by the teeth. She's seen them before. <@Grysar> [Jin flinches as if the words were a blow, and gazes down, chastened. "I promise, don't be mad. I don't know what to do."] <@Grysar> [And Katie remembers that she has a test to attend to. One coming up fast that she didn't even realize was coming. No longer are there just a few books on the table, but there's a profusion of tomes and scrolls on the wooden paneled walls.] * Katie sighs. She picks up a book and tries to read the title. <@Grysar> [You certainly can, this one covers chemistry. Glancing through, the periodic table is smaller than you recall, or is it...] * Katie tilts her head slightly, studying the table. Weird. What's different about this... <@Grysar> * A female protoctor looks over the half dozen young women in the room. "I know you likely feel unprepared. Please remember, this is an assessment and not an entrance examination. It is open book covering a range of the liberal arts. Answer as many as you can." * Katie blinks. ... Okay... She looks around, taking in the people with her. <@Grysar> [They look fairly normal to you, dressed in kimonos or full length dresses. A few seemed dressed for the shrine. At least half are likely the daughters of prominent families. A few weeks ago you might have felt like one of them. After one week under Mitsuko's care, you almost wonder if this might be your life again. She didn't tell you what would be coming today, just to do your best.] * Katie notes that they're largely around her age, nothing strange about their dress, nothing especially threatening - at least she's supposed to be here. Apparently. She puts her fingers on the book, looking down at it. Mitsuko, though... <@Grysar> [Glancing through the book, it actually is quite recent. Back when you were being tutored by Morikawa-san, he had to slip in inserts for some of the discoveries that were printed into his tome already. Apparently neither his family nor the tutoring were sufficient to get fine 1930s textbooks like these.] * Katie's eyebrows go up slightly. These are *nice*. How will she compete-? She looks up at the protoctor to see if there's anything else she has to say. <@Grysar> [The half dozen other girls take a range of approaches. One begins collecting basic reference tomes and unsubtly slipping them into her kimono sleeves. Another just seems completely in shock. A third rapidly flips through the pages filling out the top one or two questions on each page.] <@Grysar> [This is the first time you've seen the proctor, but something about her face seems familiar. Her face is weary, with lines that show practice with hard expression. At your look though she smiles, flitting her eyes over to a sign in one corner of the building that lays out the organization of the library.] <@Grysar> [Mikari, you have ample resources but far too little time. Some of your erstwhile competitors have frozen, others seem driven to win at any cost. What do you do?] * Mikari follows her gaze to the map and guide, and nods to herself. She opens her test and starts organizing questions, making small notes in the margins - a system all her own - as to the ones she can answer easily, the ones that will take some research, and the ones that are completely foreign to her. She makes an additional note as to what subject it is, then starts grouping them. If she * Mikari has scratch paper, she'll use that; if not, she'll just have to paint on her arm or wrist so she can keep track. <@Grysar> [The questions are challenging, and some have demands beyond facts. Composing a haiku and then writing three stanzas of a song on the same theme. The scratch paper is quickly used up and Mikari is on to her second arm when the proctor notifies you by the ring of a bell that one hour remains.] * Mikari sighs mentally and just answers what she can, because seriously, she doesn't have TIME for this. At least she knows what she can answer now. <@Grysar> [While she's tried to be subtle about it, when others are not pestering her, the proctor's eyes rest on you for much of these past hours. Meanwhile a few others seem to take inspiration from you, scooping up your books when you are finished, if you let them.] * Mikari doesn't even care; she's busy, and she has all of the research she's going to get. <@Grysar> [Meanwhile, you've found that a few key books are missing. The newest tome in a series of annual series on physics, a history of the occupation of Manchuria from outside the country, and a scroll on the scandalous origins of kabuki. There's a sense of danger just glancing through the titles of some of those works, even asking about these topics would bring a stern talking to from your father.] * Mikari totally blushed. When she hits those questions, she re-blushes. <@Grysar> [Perhaps at a similar point, one of the students protests that such topics are not suitable for a lady-in-training. She storms out in a huff, or attempts to, before hitting a locked door. The proctor calmly stands and allows her out, but not before laying a hand on her arm. The scandalized student blinks and glances around as if lost, before being gently pushed from the room.] * Mikari isn't leaving. This is her chance. For what, she's not sure, but... something. She's determined to prove herself. <@Grysar> [Mikari, what do you think you're being tested on?] * Mikari is telling herself that she's probably being tested on her potential for tutoring someone in reasonably high society, or some similar position. Some of these questions seem a little too heavy for a position as something like a geisha - not that she would really *know* - and they're not as popular as they used to be anyway. <@Grysar> [That next day she has her answer. Some similar position apparently means spy, for that is the role of the Page of Swords. Another woman, mistaken at first for a man in her dress, explained it to her and patiently demonstrated the trick. Again and again her companion drew a Pentacle and again and again Mikari faced the same card, no matter how many were in the deck. There were other tricks to be sure, though she had none of her own yet.] * Mikari draws the cards, and it's strange, and she asks what they mean if anything. And who she would be spying for, and if she has a choice. <@Grysar> [The history of the cards is allegedly illustrious but seems to now be full of infighting rather than any grand purpose, but isn't everything like that these days?] <@Grysar> You always have a choice. You will not be cast out in the cold if you say no. But you would be spying on behalf of one that can imagine a better future. * Mikari furrows her brow slightly. "What future do they imagine? And why should I take you at your word?" <@Grysar> * Sora seems quite earnest, noting the dubious look she tugs at her tie. "I have followed up on some that have said no. Their memory of their time here is fuzzy, surely you can see the need in that when we are a shrine in the midst of a garrison city." She smiles, or perhaps his is not the prettiest face but there's an honest about it. "And democracy, liberation for men and women a like, the downfall of those of our kind that would sit at the peak of society." <@Grysar> I don't know that it will work, she's failed before. I don't know who if any of us would live to see it, but I think my odds are better in here than out there. "She"? <@Grysar> The headmistress of our school. Mitsuko. * Mikari laughs! She can't help it. All of that beating around the bush, and it's exactly who she'd have thought of following anyway. <@Grysar> * Sora seems a little startled at this, but doesn't press. "So I'm afraid I have duties of my own. Your next task is to study your role. She'll see you this afternoon. You can ask a boon if you choose to follow, most do, but choose carefully, and..." <@Grysar> * Sora rolls his eyes, "You'll have to choose a challenging art form. She's quite insistent on that. I'd rather spend more time on engineering, but she claims I'm being myopic in that." * Mikari blinks. Art form? But more importantly: "What kind of boon?" <@Grysar> * Sora looks into the distance, a little starry eyed. She speaks, her voice and carriage more feminine though nothing else about her has changed, "She is no genie, but if there is something you want that is in her power, and does not stand in the way of us reaching that pure land together, she will deliver it to you." * Mikari nods, a mix of hope and excitement starting to bloom in her heart. She already knows what she's going to ask for. And she'll gladly deliver more information to Mitsuko to make it happen. <@Grysar> [Mitsuko faces a chalkboard, contemplating your request. "This I can grant you, so long as it is her will as well. But know what you ask for. Society's feelings on forbidden love are embedded in our stories. The candle that burns brightest burns shortest."] * Mikari frowns but holds otherwise still. "But it's also for safety, Mitsuko-sama. We would be safer this way - wouldn't we?" <@Grysar> When you left your father's home. When you sought her again and again. Was safety your goal? * Mikari hesitates, then says, "No." That's one reason I'm asking for your help. If you can grant us this, I... I don't want to burn out. I have a *reason* not to burn out. <@Grysar> * Mitsuko's voice has a note of melancholy, "You will have safe harbor here, so long as my roof stands. But Page of Swords, you must face the truth. Unless you embody your card to the fullest, in the grand scheme I may be giving you no more than one fleeting moment. We would truly be taking on enemies far more dangerous than your father to make the world truly safe and we may fail. Would that uninterrupted moment be enough? <@Grysar> [Mitsuko speaks as someone all too familiar with tragedy and with a very literary sense of it. You are certain that this is not the first such request she's received and that she has seen a range of endings. The way she said "Page of Swords" seems almost to will you into that role, to make sure you understand what you would receive and honestly evaluate whether it is enough. There's also just a hidden bit of hope in her voice, that this time may be different or that you will truly rise above.] <@Grysar> [Her words are genuine, but the caveats are important. In this age, many roofs have fallen. She can give you safe harbor as long as her shrine is secure, but she cannot guarantee safety in the wider world nor that Hiroshima will not suffer a dire wartime fate.] * Mikari nods, and she replies, steadily, "Then the only solution is I embody my card as fully as I can. Show me how to start." <@Grysar> * Mitsuko turns towards you, her face seems strangely familiar for a moment, but that's silliness of course, you've seen her earlier this week that's all. "We start by granting a measure of justice to another wronged woman. What do you know of your tutor's sister, Saki Morikawa?" <@Grysar> [And Mikari wakes.] * Katie wakes with a start, gasping and groping around blindly. It's so dark and quiet, and she was just going to- she stumbles to her feet. Mitsuko. Mitsuko is somewhere around here. * Katie walks, reaching around for the door or a light source. Something. <@Grysar> [The room is unfamiliar but luxurious. Perhaps you fainted. You don't immediately see the outline of any lamps in the dark, but you find the sliding door out of the room easily enough.] <@Grysar> [This hallway has a window looking out to a small courtyard. The angle is better for letting in moonlight.] * Katie calls, softly and tentatively, "Mitsuko? Sora?" She finds some slippers and slides them on her feet, then starts exploring the grounds. <@Grysar> [Nozomu, what are you doing that has you not sleeping soundly at this hour?] * Nozomu is in his office, sitting behind a vast green leather and burlwood desk that is empty other than the laptop computer perched on the blotter and a glass of water on a coaster. He's wearing a set of silk pajamas and staring intently at something on the computer's screen. <@Grysar> [The wooden floors sing out softly as you walk. This certainly is not your family home, the layout is traditional but remains unfamiliar. You see the faint outline of a glowing rectangle down the hall behind a sliding door. Your night vision must be better than you recall, or perhaps something mystical transpires in the room beyond.] * Katie approaches, cautious but curious. <@Grysar> [Despite the singing boards, the Page of Swords is able to tread carefully up to the door and quietly open a smidge to see what is inside.] * Katie peers in. There's a man there - an older gentleman, wearing something a bit western in style but not ludicrously so - and is face is bathed in light. He looks like... but that's ridiculous. She swallows down her terror and tries to stop her hands from shaking. He's the only one she's found, and he must be like her. That light-! She slides open the door some more and, in a shakier voice * Katie than she intends, calls, "Hello? Sir?" * Katie doesn't have the accent Nozomu is used to hearing from Katie. * Nozomu blinks and shakes his head before sitting up. "Yes? Is there something you want? Have you gotten lost?" As an afterthought mostly to himself "What ti- Urghh..." * Katie straightens in the doorway, relieved, and pulls down the strange dress she's wearing. Nozomu sees a Katie with mussed hair and a grossly oversized shirt, and slippers. "Yes, I have, and I'm sorry to inconvenience you," she says politely. <@Grysar> [As the Page of Swords gets her bearings, the strange place she woke in starts to seem less strange and alien. Even that glowing rectangle may have an explaination.]' * Katie then points out the glowing rectangle. "And what's that?" * Katie blushes slightly. "If you don't mind me asking," she adds, hurriedly, because shit, overstepping bounds. <@Grysar> [The Page certainly has worked past her fears, though she still cuts a surprisingly intense figure in her oversized shirt. There definitely is something off, even a bit frightful, about her. Nozomu, this may be your chance to figure out what that is without Tomoe smoothing everything over.] <@Grysar> [What do you do?] * Nozomu glares at Katie for just a moment and then sighs and turn it so that she can see a glowing color image of a few beer bottles with slightly different lables and several column of numbers. "One of my subordantes has had both a clever idea and missed his deadlines. You're an artist arn't you? Do you know anything about package design?" * Katie peers, seeing the pictures and numbers surprisingly well from where she is. But it's so *bright*, and she ends up squinting slightly. She takes half a step into the room and then stops, not particularly wanting to get closer to him. "I'm supposed to take up an art, and I've been tested on it, so I could try...?" * Nozomu stares at Katie, clearly puzzled by her answer. "No, nevermind. I'm grasping at straws. What room were you trying to find? The kitchen, your own, or..." As he trails off he closes the lid on the glowing square and starts to stand up. [To be continued!]