[Saturday, May 8, 2004] [Jihatsu] It's later that afternoon, and Wataru is panicky. He has been cleaning all day, but never quite finishing a task - tidying the living room led to washing dirty dishes, led him to address the issue of overcrowding in his kitchen cabinets, led him to emptying everything out onto the counters and kitchen floor, led to him taking out the trash, led to him scrubbing his hands, led to him noticing the soap scum in his bathroom and scrubbing out the shower. So by the afternoon, he's got his hair up out of his face with a sweatband, smudged glasses, soap flecks all over his clothes, and the kitchen is an avalanche of jars and cans and glasses. --- [Ardweden] Wataru may have forgotten that Katie's coming over that day, but she hasn't. She illustrates this fact by knocking on his door. --- [Jihatsu] FUCK SHIT Wataru comes to the door with pink rubber gloves and bare feet, pajama pants rolled up to mid-calf, hairy legs sticking out and soap stains dampening his knees. As he opens the door, he pushes his glasses back up his nose with the back of his gloved hand, leaving a smear. --- [Ardweden] Katie's blinks at him from the other side, dressed as she usually is, with a flimsy scarf over her neck and her bag over her shoulder. "Hey," she says, in English. And then, "You have soap on your nose." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru sighs, and wipes it - successfully getting even more on both nose and glasses. He peels off his gloves, stepping aside. "Come on in." He takes off his hopelessly soapy glasses and peers at them. --- [Ardweden] Katie does come in, then, and closes the door behind her. She removes her shoes while Wataru peers at his glasses. --- [Jihatsu] Wipe wipe. "I've, uh, been cleaning, is it afternoon already?" He's going to need to wash them under the tap, likely. --- [Ardweden] "Yeah." Katie stands up straight and looks around, taking in the state of the apartment. "... You weren't kidding. Do you need help?" --- [Jihatsu] "Nah, that's..." He heads towards the kitchen to wash off his glasses. "It's fine. Jesus," he says, nearly tripping on a pile of clean takeout containers. --- [Ardweden] Katie tags along behind him, stopping just short of entering the kitchen. She raises her eyebrows at the sight. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru rinses off his glasses, his back to Katie. "I can hear you judging me, Katie Andrews." --- [Ardweden] Katie smiles, slightly. "You sound like Kaede," she quips, both because it's true and to see what Wataru does. --- [Jihatsu] He snorks. "Oh no, save me." He gets a clean towel out of the drawer to dry his glasses! And pops them back onto his face. --- [Ardweden] Katie laughs. She steps into the kitchen, carefully. "You've been rearranging things?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru looks around. "I guess." --- [Ardweden] "You don't know?" Now Wataru can hear her judging him. "It looks like everything in your kitchen is on the floor." --- [Jihatsu] "Yyyyep. I've.. Yep. Got carried away, looks like." He adjusts his glasses, a little awkwardly. "I'm not like, crazy. I've just been ... been keeping busy." --- [Ardweden] "Because of Satoshi." --- [Jihatsu] "You haven't heard from him either, have you." --- [Ardweden] "No," Katie sighs. She puts her hands in her pockets. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru exhales harshly, raking his hands through his hair and disturbing his headband. He takes it off and stuffs it in a pocket. --- [Ardweden] Katie watches him do this. "I told him he has until midnight our time." --- [Jihatsu] "And then?" --- [Ardweden] "Then I hit the panic button and recruit you and whoever else to find out what the fuck is going on." --- [Jihatsu] "Sounds good." He drums his fingers on the countertop. "What time is it?" --- [Ardweden] "About four thirty." --- [Jihatsu] "Christ, already? Okay." He steps over the takeout containers, more carefully this time, and heads into the living room. "So we have seven and a half hours before we hit the panic button." --- [Ardweden] "Pretty much," Katie agrees, following him out. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru flops onto his couch. At least this part of the apartment looks pretty tidy. "We don't need to be worried yet, right?" --- [Ardweden] "Probably not, unless we're worried about the whole idea of the ritual, which I am." Katie doesn't quite flop on the other side of the couch, but she does sit. She looks at Wataru. "He said it's a night of meditation; it'd be like... three thirty there? In the morning. So..." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru actually has a strained chuckle. "He's going to do great. He's ... he's made for this. And the ritual was made specifically with him in mind. Maybe it would rip me in two if I tried to do it instead, but... If everything's the way it seems, then it should resonate right." He looks at Katie. "Before he went in... we talked. I reminded him that he's ... like... a complete person. He's Judgment, and that means whatever he wants it to mean, you know? The people who came before, they're gone. This isn't about them. This is about him. He can own it." He relaxes a bit. "He's got this." --- [Ardweden] Katie nods, watching Wataru relax. She doesn't seem particularly reassured, but then, she didn't seem as worried as he was before. "Okay." --- [Jihatsu] "It's weird to me that he's embracing the aspect of his card, but it's probably healthy. Right?" --- [Ardweden] "I guess." Katie lets out a breath. "You'd honestly know better than me. Kyon would, too." Now she flops, looking ahead and up at whatever's there. Probably a corner, where a wall meets the ceiling. "He talked to both of you, and you basically said go, so... he's going." --- [Jihatsu] "He was very much decided about going before he talked to me. I just tried to help him get his head on right for this ritual. Because like... that's what we are, right?" He pulls his legs up, sitting crosslegged on the couch. "Magical mystical fuckers. We're all this other stuff too, like people, but we are also fundamentally mystical superheroes or whatever. Which means that we can _do_ shit like this. It's in our DNA. Running away from it makes no difference. I know I did for... a long long time. But we might as well come to terms with it and get to know what we can do, right? Especially if the world's full of assholes out to get us? It's easier to say no once you know what you can do." --- [Ardweden] Katie frowns at the ceiling. "I guess that's one way of looking at it." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru glances at her. "You don't like it?" --- [Ardweden] "Never did." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's not sure what to say to that. ".... You want some tea? Hot chocolate?" --- [Ardweden] Katie chuckles. She rolls her head so she's looking at Wataru, across the couch. "Kaede got me hot chocolate earlier today." --- [Jihatsu] "Damn! That's two strikes!" Wataru laughs. --- [Ardweden] "Three and you have to start wearing suits and being too busy for anything." --- [Jihatsu] "Noooooo." Wataru grins. --- [Ardweden] "Yup. So doomed." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru leans his head back. "Drat." --- [Ardweden] Katie smiles, a touch. "Do you own any suits? May as well be prepared..." --- [Jihatsu] "The one from Coming of Age Day." --- [Ardweden] "Oh yeah! Good, you've got this." --- [Jihatsu] "That's probably fancy even for that guy, though." He stretches his legs back out. "Want to play a video game?" --- [Ardweden] Katie blinks. And sits up. "Yeah." --- [Jihatsu] Good. Yes. Wataru gets up and goes to his collection. "Smash Brothers? Mario Kart?" --- [Ardweden] Katie shifts, watching him. "Um... MarioKart. Can we play the cooperative mode?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles. "Sure." She remembered from last time! "Do you play with Kyon sometimes?" --- [Ardweden] She shakes her head. "Nope. I, uh... almost never play video games." --- [Jihatsu] "You have a console at home?" He goes and turns the TV on, getting the system ready. --- [Ardweden] Katie 'ha's. "Nope. I'd probably play more if I did." She scoots on the couch to where she figures a controller can reach. --- [Jihatsu] "Should get one." He sets everything up and returns to the couch. "When's you birthday again?" Wink! --- [Ardweden] Katie blinks. "October 18th?" Pause. "You're not actually talking about getting me a GameCube, are you? Those things are expensive." --- [Jihatsu] "I'm sure something could be arranged. You've got a lot of friends." He grins! Is he joking? Who knows! --- [Ardweden] Katie smiles, a little. "Yeah." She looks down at her hands. "I guess I do." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru feels unexpectedly fuzzy inside at that. Huh. The game starts up! --- [Ardweden] Katie reaches for a controller! "I'm in the backseat," she says. "I'm gonna throw _all_ the turtle shells." --- [Jihatsu] "You do that. Show those other racers what for." Wataru goes to select a car! With Katie's input, if applicable! --- [Ardweden] Wataru has to pick a team. "Can we be the turtles?" Katie asks, excited, when his cursor goes over Koopa Troopa and Koopa Paratroopa. "Do I get to be the red one with wings?" --- [Jihatsu] "_Heck_ yeah. Koopas it is." Select! --- [Ardweden] "Awesome." Katie looks down at her controller. "I don't really remember which buttons I have to push." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru explains it to her, and shows her all the moves she can do - throw shells, honk the horn, attack nearby cars, and most importantly, coordinate for a double-dash with Wataru if they time it right! --- [Ardweden] Katie nods, a look of concentration on her face. She presses buttons while Wataru goes over what they do. --- [Jihatsu] Once she seems to have it figured out, they start a game! --- [Ardweden] Yeah, MarioKart! It's a good thing Katie isn't driving this car, because she barely knows what she's doing, but Wataru counts down to a fantastic double dash so they can start the race right. --- [Jihatsu] Woo, game! They certainly manage to play it for a while without thinking about Satoshi. That is how you win MarioKart! --- [Ardweden] It _is_, and Katie's even laughing sometimes, which might be just a little bit of an evil laugh, given she's throwing red turtle shells at the other drivers. --- [Jihatsu] It makes Wataru feel _really happy_ to hear her laugh. It untangles something deep inside. --- [Ardweden] This is something Katie doesn't particularly notice! Not that that'd be easy to do anyway, but also, she's too busy playing MarioKart. --- [Jihatsu] They keep playing for a while, and time passes! It gets darker outside, slowly. [Pause!]