<@Grysar> [Date: May 4th, 2004.] <@Grysar> [It's been a busy two days, yesterday, you all went Lake Towada, which between the travel and some traffic ended up eating much of the day. Today, Katie went off shopping with Tomoe and Kyon had some business at the plant.] <@Grysar> [Afterwards, Hanami! The Sorata family, family friends, and honored guests have prime spots. Kyon was even able to ensure that his and Katie's space was a little more isolated from crowd, even if it meant that your viewing area wasn't quite as good.] <@Grysar> [The two of you are by yourselves for the moment, though Kyon did get word ealier today that the family lawyer had wanted to check with him on something when they had the chance. Unfortunately, meetings at the brewery and an inspection tour ate up more time than expected, so that may have to happen that evening.] <@Grysar> [So, how are you dressed? Start!] * Katie is with Kyon. She's wearing a yukata she doubtless got with Tomoe earlier that day: fairly modern and light blue with darker blue, gray, and white seagulls, and a gray patterened obi. Kyon's never seen her in a yukata before, but she's wearing it decently well. The scar is showing, as she's not wearing a scarf, and her "hearing aids" are in. * Kyon is settled down on a nice green blanket that's subtly patterned with leaves. He's sitting crosslegged, and wearing a navy yukata with an orange three-comma tomoe pattern on the back, resting back on his hands, with the regular armwarmers on. * Katie sits as comfortably as she can, but not crosslegged, because apparently that's bad? ugh, japan and ground. * Kyon looks up at the flowers, and then sidewise at Katie, and smirks. He matches her pose. Solidarity. * Katie laughs, putting her hand to her face. <@Grysar> [Kyon spots Gotou Yoshihiro slowly making his way over. Katie hasn't met him before, but he's about the same age as Nozomu, but the years show more. His five o'clock shadow is quite noticeable and his grey on black yukata is as formal as he gets outside of court, and is his go to for this sort of occassion. Katie can notice a few spots where someone has done decent spot repair work on the thing. <@Grysar> But while his body looks tired, his eyes are sharp, carefully picking his way through the crowd, gladhanding when necessary, bypassing when not. A man with a mission.] * Kyon glances over at Katie, and leans to take a thermos to offer her some tea, giving him an excuse to look away. "Our lawyer's coming over. You good for that now?" Katie picks up her cup to accept and lets Kyon pour the tea. "" she asks softly, in English. "" * Kyon shrugs quickly. "" He offers her a container of sakura mochi. * Katie smiles, not quite reaching her eyes, and takes one. "" * Gotou arrives, bowing to both of you. "Sorry to interrupt the party." He then looks to Katie, "Yoshihiro Gotou, counselor to the Soratas, dampener of moods, honored to meet you." * Katie looks up and kind of bows as best she can without getting up because she doesn't *think* she has to get up right now? "Katie Andrews. I'm with Kyon." * Kyon moves into seiza and then bows without getting up. "And it's no concern. Our party's fine. Can I offer you some tea?" * Gotou laughs, "Oh I know that ma'am. Not just anyone that can keep the young master on the straight and narrow." He kneels down, which is a bit of a multistep production. "Yes, please." * Kyon fetches an extra cup out of their hanami basket, and offers it to him before filling it with tea. "I've been on the straight and narrow all along," he comments. * Gotou takes the cup and snorts but offers no further comment there. "So, I have about twenty minutes while your distinguished mother sees to the procurement of the nice sake. Didn't mean to pull in Andrews-san to this, but we can talk now, if you like." * Gotou's pronunciation of Andrews isn't half bad. He may have some english under his belt, or he may just have practiced. * Katie tilts her head slightly. Word gets around. She sips her tea and nibbles on the mochi. * Kyon glances at Katie, and then pushes the box of mochi towards the older man. "Should be fine. What is it?" "Notice anything about-- Thanks." He picks up some mochi and takes a bite, "Nozomu..." He coughs, covers his mouth, drinks a little tea than continues, "Nozomu's workload, now that you're here in person?" * Kyon looks pensive for a beat, lips thinning. "It's been a lot. Very long hours. Not sure if it's standard, but it's longer than I remember." * Gotou had taken a bigger bite of mochi, using the old legal trick of asking an open endeded question to buy snacking time. He snorts again, "Standard enough, when he was your age. You put together the why of it?" * Katie glances at Kyon. How safe is this guy? * Gotou catches that glance and while his mouth is busy eating, there's a smile in his eyes. * Kyon glances back, and raises his eyebrows slightly, signalling he's safe to confide in. * Katie nods a tiny bit and turns to look at Gotou. "Yusuda-san," she says, remembering the honorific, "had a good idea but no ability to implement it in time, tried to save face instead of asking for help, and left Kyon's father to pick up the pieces." * Gotou shifts his stance, kneeling a bit more evenly between the two of you. "There's a reason Yusuda-kun does that, but longer story than we have time for today." He sips a bit of tea. "But good man, wrong job. Which suggests another puzzle." * Kyon waits for him to continue, adjusting his armwarmers reflexively. * Gotou seems disappointed that he has to continue rather than finish his mochi. "Yusuda-kun is a cousin of course. Second, once removed. But Nozomu didn't get where he is today without knowing how to move around a family member when the time came." * Gotou glanced at Katie when he mentioned the details of the family relation. His diction was crisp and short there, wasting no time. That said, something about his manner suggests that he was expecting her to pick up these details and that there may just be a test later. * Katie just looks back at Gotou. And has another sip of tea to go with her mochi. * Kyon frowns. "So why is Father keeping him in place and working himself more?" * Katie says, softly, "He hadn't figured out where to put him. Yet?" The last bit was definitely to Gotou. * Gotou shakes his head. "This has been going on since before October. We do get soft when we age," He pats his stomach, "And Nozomu has gotten more sentimental, but not *that* sentimental." And he'd need someone to replace him, I'd think... * Kyon transitions from frowning to scowling, and refills everyone's tea. * Gotou nods at Katie's comment. "You found a sharp one." He looks back to Kyon, expectantly. "Could always bring someone up from one of the subsidiaries." Gotou frowns at that, "Or if you're willing to go younger, Namie-chan is out of school." * Katie finishes her mochi. * Kyon shifts his legs to a more comfortable position, slightly less formal. "But you think it should be me. Even though Father wouldn't ask." * Katie didn't formal up in the first place, so she's fine! That thought is a bit lofty for the help. Nozomu is holding that place for you. Up to you to decide what you think about that. * Kyon nods curtly. "And he's told you about our discussions about it. And the timeline." * Gotou nods. "He has." He snorts again, "These modern days, when people have choices." He finishes his mochi, speaking slightly before he's done chewing. "I like it, but Nozomu sometimes needs to remember that choices means accepting that tradeoffs exist." * Kyon nods again. "I can talk with him. But as long as the business is steady, me doing what I'm doing will be better for us in the end. That hasn't changed. But there should be something we can fix." * Gotou shrugs, "Direct or not, your choice. Not my place." He's been keeping one eye on Katie as this goes though, curious to read her reaction. * Katie is sipping her tea, displaying mild curiousity as to what Kyon decides to do or say. * Kyon smirks. "But you wouldn't come talk with me if you didn't think it was worth making the point. I've been watching these conversations a long time. I can decide. But I know your view." * Gotou raises the hand not holding tea, in his own defense. "These things you accuse me of." * Kyon snorts a laugh. "Your counsel is appreciated, as ever." * Gotou just mmms. He glances out towards the main party. "You're welcome. And it appears our time is up." He creakily rises to his feet and gives a bow to both of you. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance. Glad he's in good hands." * Katie bows-ish again. "It was nice to meet you," she says, honestly. * Tomoe is in a subdued and tasteful yukata, warm brown with paler pinstripes and a splash of pink-and-silver sakura blossoms across it, with a satin-sheen light blue obi. Her hair is smooth and freshly styled, and she is politely laughing to something some older Sorata cousins have said, some ways away from where Kyon and Katie are. The conversation, however, seems to wind down, or at least * Tomoe seems to manage to extricate herself.... and head back towards her family's picnic area. * Kyon bows back to him from his seated position. "We'll talk soon. Enjoy the flowers." * Gotou putters off, but he seems to have a bit more energy than when he arrived. He gives an awkward bow to Tomoe and says a few words before slipping out of her presence. * Katie waits for Gotou to leave and then leans over to Kyon to murmur, "" * Gotou incidentally does take Kyon's comment to heart and does some flower looking once he's on his own. And seeing if any of those octopus weiners are around. He loves those, but you don't always get them at the fancy events. * Kyon smirks, and nudges the basket towards her. "" * Katie wrinkles her nose slightly. And takes another mochi. Because they're delicious. When Tomoe looks their way, she waves. * Kyon does tea refills, opens a package of senbei, and waits to greet her until she gets closer. * Tomoe's face seems to regain some colour as she approaches her son and his companion. "So, how are you enjoying yourselves...?" She smiles. * Katie offers a small but genuine smile back. "Mostly." She raises a mochi. "These are really good." * Kyon nods back to her, and gestures to the spot where Gotou had been sitting before. "Weather's good. Flowers are actually blooming. Good mochi. Pretty much it's everything this is supposed to be." "Aren't they? They're from my favourite bakery." She exhales, and looks at the flowers. "They really are in full bloom. It's a good day for it." Do you sometimes end up having these parties when the flowers aren't blooming? "Mother Nature doesn't always play along," she says, a small glimmer in her eye. "Once, a fantastic thunderstorm broke out just as everyone was getting the food out and settling in." * Kyon nods quickly. "Wet mochi is bad mochi." [There are some clouds out today, but no sign of rain thus far.] * Katie snerks. "Yeah, I bet. Then it practically stops being mochi." "It becomes oshiruko," she giggles, a little tiredly...! Oh, ew, not the plan. * Kyon snorts a laugh. "Plus sometimes, you go when the flowers aren't totally open. Or already half gone. Because that's the time you have to do it." * Katie nods. "Getting all these people together..." She pauses. "Do you sometimes *not* invite four generations of distant cousins?" * Kyon snorts. "Trust me. Just gets worse when you don't." * Tomoe puts her beer glass down somewhere safe, bending carefully. "Katie- san, have you seen the stone footbridge? It's quite nice." * Katie shakes her head. "Not up close," she says, avoiding the total lie. * Tomoe stands up, smiling! "It's worth the visit, I think!" * Katie and stretches her legs a bit. "Okay, I'm in." She looks at Kyon. Is Kyon invited? Surely. "Lovely! Kyon, you can make sure your father doesn't get into any old arguments, can't you?" she smiles, the corners of her eyes crinkling. * Katie checks that off mentally. Okay. * Kyon nods back to her quickly. "Sure." [After a short walk, slightly longer to avoid the risk interception, and you are there. A brook flows beneath the bridge and a stone lantern stands on a hillock on the far shore.] * Tomoe takes a long, slow breath, forcing a peaceful expression as she looks at the branches thick with pink flowers reaching down towards the water. * Katie smiles sympathetically at Tomoe. She wears no such expression. She's been watching and listening for anyone reasonably in earshot, decides this is good enough, and asks, "Does this happen a lot?" "The flowers do seem quite thick on the branches this year. Sometimes, not as much," she says. "You ended up lucky, this is a very nice first introduction to the park." * Katie nods. Okay. She looks up at the flowers, and then at their reflection on the water. "So? How did you like Aomori so far." It's beautiful. I bet super cold in the winter, though. Kyon's repeatedly warned me about that. * Tomoe has a small, but tenacious, smile tug at her lips. "Has he?" * Katie rolls her eyes. "God, yes." And then mimics a conversation they had in a one woman play by Katie Andrews: "It's coooooold. Why is it cold." She changes her expression to a smirk and drops to a lower register. "This is why you don't go with me to New Year's." Tomoe smiles distantly. "He said that...?" Katie laughs a little. "Yeah." She looks around for something, then settles on reaching to her right hand, twisting the silvery lark ring around her finger. "I just don't have much cold tolerance." "It is much warmer in America?" Tomoe watches the ring-twirl from the corner of her eye, briefly, before politely averting her eyes. Katie shrugs, eyes on the blossoms and the brook, and pretends she doesn't notice Tomoe's glance and look away. She doesn't stop messing with her ring. "Depends on where you're from. America's a big place. I'm..." She trails off for a second, then continues, "My father's from Texas. I was born there. We moved to Iowa when I was younger, though, which is farther north. My first memory is moving into our first house there. There's snow in the winter there - none in Texas." Tomoe nods. "I've never been to Texas or Iowa. Only Niagara Falls and New York City. And Prince Edward Island, of course, but that's in Canada." She lets out a somewhat heavy, relaxing breath. "Never in the winter, though." "Hm," Katie says with a small smile. "I've gone to Niagara Falls once. When I was in junior high." "Oh! A place we've both been!" She turns a bright smile to Katie. Katie laughs and looks back at Tomoe. "Yeah," she agrees. "I guess so." Some petals flutter down and land on the water. "I'm happy you came to visit, Katie-san. I think... I think it meant a lot to my son." Katie tilts her head. "It meant a lot to me," she says honestly. "But you think... him, too?" Tomoe glances back in the direction of the Sorata party, out of sight and earshot. "I can't speak for him, of course, since he's a grown man now, and sometimes he's... almost a stranger... But... I'm sure it took courage to..." She shakes her head, collecting her focus. "Katie-san, I'm going to say something that's important for me to say. You can dismiss it, if you wish, as the whims of a tired old woman, but I would feel amiss if it went unsaid." She presses her palms gently against the flat of her skirts. "I don't want you to feel like Nozomu and I are pressuring you into marriage." Katie nods in understanding when Tomoe speaks - that's how her parents feel about her, too - and is about to respond, but then the older woman presses on and so she doesn't. She listens, and when Tomoe mentions marriage she laughs, not being able to stop herself, too loud and sudden. Her hands fly to her mouth and the laugh stops as suddenly as it started, her eyes wide. Tomoe has a strange laugh of her own, sudden and reflexive, and then she frowns. "I, hm!" She glances around, just for a moment, but everyone has already moved on from the outburst. "I take it that's not how you feel, then." Katie flushes. "I'm sorry." She drops her hands from her mouth, instead clasping them together too tightly. "Sorry. Uh, not... Nozomu-san. I get the feeling he tolerates me at best." "He's slow to decisions," Tomoe says, reassuringly. Then she sighs. "Well. Well then, I suppose there was no need for me to worry." Katie blinks. "I'm sorry?" she manages again, still slightly confused. "I feel like I..." She sighs. "I know. I know that me coming up here was important. To me, and to him. And to you." The smallest smile quirks at the corners of Tomoe's mouth. "And... I like you," Katie admits. "I didn't think I would at first, but I do, so that's... I mean, I'm not saying that..." She trails off and sighs, then tries again. "I haven't even been thinking about getting married. Not just not to Kyon, but *at all*. I never thought that- that I should get married. Really. Or... not get married, I guess." Tomoe lets this tide of Katiewords wash across her, and nods. "You're very young. I was much older than you, when I met my husband..." She looks at Katie. "And times are changing, of course. If I could offer one piece of advice?" Katie looks back at Tomoe. She's twisting her ring around her finger again. "It's the oldest piece of advice in the book, but it never stops being true. Communication is the key to any relationship." She exhales, soft and decisive. "Marriage - a relationship - it's like trying to steer a boat alongside another boat. You both need to be correcting course, and comparing what your compass and his compass says. Watch for Kyon's compass. And make sure he sees yours," she adds, with a bit more force behind her eyes. Katie nods. "I try." She smiles a bit - almost a smirk, really. "And if he doesn't, I'll make sure he knows." Tomoe nods, apparently satisfied. "Thank you," Katie adds, "for looking out for me. I know you want to look out for your son, but..." She shrugs. Tomoe has a tiny smile. "I like you too, you know," she says, and touches Katie's shoulder for just a moment. Which she then turns into adjusting the seam of the yukata. "That's a very nice colour on you, in the end. Good for Hanami, but it might be even better in the hot summer, if you and Kyon go to the matsuri in your neighbourhood." Katie laughs a little, looking down at her yukata, too. "Yeah. I guess I could be convinced to wear it again." Tomoe seems pleased. Katie looks up at Tomoe, briefly shy, and then around to see if anyone's nearby - but they're not, or at least not close enough. So she asks, "So, is Hanami always like this for you - a big production for the family, and putting on a nice face? Minus the talk-to-the-girlfriend part." Tomoe takes in a deep breath, then lets it out smoothly. She nods. "I thought..." She catches herself, hesitates, but continues. "I thought maybe this year it could be just our little family. And you, of course. I'm very silly, I had written the wrong weekend down for the company picnic. But, it all worked out, I mean, look at these flowers. You couldn't ask for a better day for everyone to enjoy together." Katie smiles a little, sympathetically. "Yeah." She looks out at the flowers. "Thank you for inviting me." Tomoe nods in acknowledgement. [And they head off together back to the picnic. End.]