[Date: May 9, 2004.] [Some time has past since both Kaede and Kyoko have arrived. Katie, Kyon, Matthias, and Wataru have all been at various spots, though Katie, Wataru, and Maki have been pretty scarce and on the roof.] [Kaede's found ways to be helpful, even if the rolls Kyoko brought proved to be already cut he could still improve their presentation. He can also autopilot a party with the best of them and now has averted a potential manager catastrophe with a few well timed texts to the right people.] [With that finished, he notices a slightly antsy Kyoko headed his way. He also does have a drink, which he may or may not have touched in the intervening time.] [Start!] * Kaede doesn't know about touching drinks, though he has been following Proper Protocol and drinking his drink when Socially Appropriate. He hasn't even shown his disinterest in people approaching him to talk that much. But even with Akemi, social gatherings had always been more an obligation than an enjoyment and it's hard to hide that entirely. Angsty Kyoko gets a head raise though. "Something the matter?" [Kaede has learned by this point that Haruko gave him a Gin Old Fashioned. So a bit potent, as gin is, though diluted over time by the ice cube. The taste is a complex somewhat flavor, on initially more bitter, but followed by hints of sweetness.] [Kyoko not-really-answers with, "You look like you're enjoying yourself as much as I am." She darts around him to get at the food and grabs some chips.] * Kaede snorts at that, looking down at his drink. "Alas, my days as a social butterfly dried up long ago and I am back to my larval state. Perhaps one day, my flap of wings will break down nations and make them as miserable as I am..." He sips slowly on his drink, looking at her again. "We could escape the crowd for a bit..." [This being the food area, there is a bit of a crowd. However, while there there is a fair number of attendees there's also some overflow areas like the courtyard and the craft room that offer some relief. You could also claim Haruko's room for yourself, a mite odd, but she probably wouldn't mind and has been hinting that there's some cool new art there.] [Kyoko looks up from her chips in surprise. "Um," she says. "Where would we go...?"] [Matthias glances over in your direction. He may have noticed the fellow Arcana as he is moving towards you. There's a fair crowd though and there's still time to slip away if you decide quickly.] [Kyoko spots Matthias. "Shit," she half-whispers to Kaede, "he's coming this way."] * Kaede waves it aside slightly, leaning back against one of the convenient counters or table. "There's usually ebb spots in gatherings like this. Porches, balconies, roofs..." Though probably not rooves. Those are *way* too common. "Places away from the..." At the statement, he blinks, turning to look right back at Matthias. "Is...that an issue?" [She nudges Kaede in the arm and hisses, "I kinda tried to kill him, remember?"] * Kaede looks at Kyoko for a moment and rubs his forehead, speaking far more quietly, given the nature of the guests. "To be fair, so many people tried to kill so many *other* people, it's hard to keep track..." But it doesn't really make for pleasant table conversation. He looks at her. "Well, where would you like to drag me, then?" ["What? I don't know. Uh..." Kyoko looks around. "How about that way?" She indicates the stairs.] * Kaede nods. "That way sounds good." And he's already walking that way. Not by way of avoidance, just what would he even say to the guy? [What would he? Kyoko doesn't know. She goes with him and DOES NOT look back at Matthias; they're just leaving. Like normal people.] [The upper level is less crowded, mostly a main hall with rooms leading off, a bathroom, and a set of stairs leading further up to the roof.] [Kaede notes that one of the rooms is notably devoid of electronics, might be it doesn't have a tenant.] * Kaede gets up to the landing, managing to get to the railing. That's where party people hang out sometimes, right? He taps his temple, his brow furrowing as his eyes close. "You know...I never thought of how much of a relief that might be..." [Kyoko lets out a breath of relief and leans against the railing next to him. "What do you mean?" She glances back, now.] * Kaede continues to tap his head. "Much quieter up here..." He lets out a small sigh, then looks at her, hand still holding his drink. Didn't have two for a plate. "I've gotten fairly good at blocking it out, but it's still....you know you're blocking it out." [Kyoko looks at him for a second. She left her chips back on the table. RIP chips. "You mean people?"] [There's a warm, subdued lighting up here. A range of mismatched paper lanterns (electric powered, but still pleasantly difuseing the light) have been hung and the florescent lights left off.] * Kaede lets out a long sigh, glancing up at her. "No. I mean electronics. People are far easier." And then he turns around to look more at where they ended up. [Kyoko tilts her head, but she doesn't say anything. She also looks around, more obviously.] [Most of the doors are shut, with the exception of one dimly room where a bit of a mixed media piece can be seen hanging. The shower/washroom door is also helpfully labeled with a sign. The share house is probably at the mid-to-low end of such things, and seems like it could fit maybe six people, assuming no one is doubling up.] [There's a few party goers sitting next to one another, leaning into each other a bit, at the far end of the hallway. Possibly some of Haruko's dance people, they look pretty fit.] * Kaede stares at the dance people and then lets out *another* snort, gesturing at them without them looking. "Behold, the glory of people who *want* to be here. I'm not sure whether I should envy them or not..." And then he looks at his drink, holding it out to Kyoko. "Would you like this?" [She takes the drink and looks down into it. "What is it?"] * Kaede looks down at it himself. "Gin. I think. Can't say I'm much of a drinker." [And now that you've had a little more time and your eyes have adjusted, you can see more of the painting. Something with a ship and an ocean sunset looks like. Kaede recognize Katie's work in both the water color and colored pencils, though he hasn't seen this individual piece before.] ["Huh," Kyoko says, and takes a sip. She pulls the drink away, looks at it again, and takes another.] [The gin does burn a little, which may surprise Kyoko if she's unfamiliar. The aftertaste is sweeter though, and by now the ice has mostly melted so it goes down smoother.] * Kaede, meanwhile, *has* caught the eye of the painting, shifting to point that way before turning to Kyoko. "I don't recognize that piece...if you'd like to look?" This is *your* escapism after all, not his. [Kyoko looks, and her eyebrows go up, slightly. "Sure." She heads into the room, sipping Kaede's drink.] [Haruko's room is now pretty thoroughly unpacked. Her computer is turned off, though Kaede can tell at a glance that this is the family computer from her house last seen a few year's back. There's shelves of books, some engineering texts Kaede recognizes, a psychology text, and Kyon's novels. At present, lying futon side, she has a bookmarked copy of Emma.] [The painting is of a Haruko-like girl in a turquoise dress on a wooden, European-style ship. Her hair is undone and blowing in the wind, and she's holding a knife. She looks like she's about to plunge herself into the angry ocean below. The cabin behind her has a window and a couple of figures are in the bed, but they're impossible to really make out. The sun is setting in the distance, and there are a couple of girls calling to her in the waves, one with brown hair and the other with red. The Haruko analogue's hand is bleeding, but as the blood falls it transforms into sea foam. It's a mixed media work - watercolor for the setting sun, sky, ocean, girls in the water, and foam; colored pencil for Haruko, the ship, the cabin and what's inside, and her blood.] * Kaede doesn't go searching *too* much. He's not a *snoop* after all. "Huh," is all he has to say, before finding a spot on the futon to sit and get a better look at it. "Wonder what this all means." [Kyoko walks in, eyes fixed on the painting. "Wow," she says, softly. She sips the drink, still standing.] [In addition to the futon, there's one chair and a few pillows laid out allowing multiple places to sit. There's an overhead florescent light, but also a lamp that looks like a car, aligned straight up with "headlights" positioned to shine into the lampshade. Apparently the lamp itself was second prize for something or other.] ["It kind of reminds me of The Little Mermaid," Kyoko says.] * Kaede turns towards Kyoko and gives her the tilt of the head, pretty clear he hadn't read it with the look of confusion. "What do you mean?" ["Like... the fairy tale. Not the modern one." Kyoko waves her hand at the painting, getting more animated. "The mermaid goes to be with this human guy she likes, but the witch gives her a deadline to get him to fall in love with her, or she dies. And he doesn't. He's engaged to someone else. So her sisters show up. They struck another bargain with the witch to bring her back to them. All she has to do is kill the guy she loves. But she can't do it, so she dies, becoming part of the sea."] * Kaede just listens, for a little bit, considering the story. "I've never read it," he's the first to admit. "Becoming part of the sea, huh?" And now he looks back at the painting again. He can *see* it. But the people in it....he'd write it off as coincidence, if it wasn't Katie. Is this supposed to be romantic? ["I-" Kyoko blushes. "Um." She takes a good swallow of her drink and then coughs in surprise. Tastes like burning.] * Kaede doesn't seem to notice, just gesturing with it. "I mean, putting someone in the position of killing someone just seems like coersion. I don't see why they didn't just turn on the witch who trapped them with false promises in the first place. Seems ill-advised to me..." Practical deal with the devil. [Kyoko nods, her cheeks flushed. "Yeah." She tries to focus on the painting. "It's a pretty bad deal. I think the witch isn't supposed to be evil, though...?"] * Kaede snorts at that. "What? 'I'll help you, but you'll die?' And her sisters come to her later and she says 'Oh no, just kidding, I had the power to save her all along! I just chose not to tell her about that?' That doesn't sound exactly honest to me..." * Kaede turns now to look at Kyoko. "And that's assuming there was just *one* on land that she could have gone for. What if she got someone else to fall for her instead? Would it just not work? Seems like shoddy magic is all..." He shakes his head in disgust. Sheesh. [Kyoko shrugs. "It's a fairy tale," she says, like that explains everything. "It's all dangerous magic, with costs and..." She shrugs again. And finishes off the rest of the drink, putting the empty glass heavily on Haruko's desk. "The witch at least *told* everyone what the bargain was. It's not like we got that." A dark look flits across her face. "I didn't, anyway."] * Kaede sighs and tilts back, looking once more at the painting. "Or an option to opt out..." Then he glances to her. "When did you found out? I don't think we've ever talked about it...." ["About what?" Kyoko looks at Kaede.] * Kaede gestures. "When you first found out. Your card. Introduced to other Arcana. Things like that. I assume Matthias is in there somewhere." [Kyoko shakes her head. She walks over to sit next to Kaede and rubs at her face. "Not that part. Reiji knew before I did. He's older than me, so... you know. He kept it secret, too."] * Kaede glances her way. "From you too?" It's not accusatory, just curious. ["Yeah," she sighs. "I knew he was keeping secrets from me, but he wouldn't say what." She leans forward, elbows on her knees, and puts her face in her hands. "I was *so mad*."] * Kaede turns towards her to look with an even look. "You do that," The getting mad thing. Then, with a voice more curiosity than accusation. "Why *do* you do that?" ["What? Do what?" Kyoko looks back at him. "Get angry?"] Yes. ["There's a lot to be angry about. Why *don't* you do that?"] * Kaede seems to give that some thought. Not like he'd ever been asked it before. "I don't..." he says simply. [Kyoko leans back on her hands, still watching him. "Don't what?"] * Kaede gestures with one of his hands. "Don't not get mad..." God that's an awful sentence. "I guess...I try to keep focused what I let bother me and what's not really worth my time. It just....seems easier is all." ["Huh." Kyoko looks up at the picture. It's really cool. She thinks about that for a second before she says, "I can't just *let* something bother me or not bother me. But you have it backwards. I mean..." She waves, vaguely. "In the scheme of people and things and stuff, I'm the one not worth people's time, not the other way around."] * Kaede lets out another snort at that. "What, do you think value is so easy to mechanically measure? I'm not *Kyon* after all..." [Kyoko doesn't seem to think it's funny. "Whatever." She flops back so she's lying half on Haruko's bed, her legs dangling off the edge.] * Kaede didn't think it was funny *either*, so there's a whole lot of confusion on his part. Leaning over to look now. "I mean, isn't that basically what this whole Council nonsense is about? People feeling that their opinion is more important than others simply because they were voted upon?" [Kyoko looks up at Kaede. "Isn't that how democracy works? You're the one who got through high school."] * Kaede frowns. Was that a slight? "Barely," he says, continuing to look her over. "Don't look at me. I've never considered myself all that important." ["You're more important than me." She yawns. "Not like it matters, anyway."] * Kaede almost *immediately* responds with a disgusted breath as he flops on back next to her. "That's ridiculous." ["Nope."] * Kaede snorts again. Which he's getting in a good habit of lately. "Yes, which is why I'm here in a bedroom all alone with you in a party of many people I don't care about." [Kyoko smiles up at him. "Still more important."] * Kaede lets out a small sigh, closing his eyes as he settles his arms behind him. "I'd say "Whatever" but then you'd accuse me of copying your schtick. You're important to your brother. Does that not matter?" ["But I'm not. I'm the fuck up. He's smart and controlled... or he was, and even now that he's not, it's because he decided to save *everyone*-" Kyoko realizes she's starting to yell, and she stops, abruptly. She pushes herself up to sitting position.] * Kaede grins as he looks up at her. "And you're still there..." He breathes out another breath, relaxing as he adds, "You realize you're sounding like *my* sister right now..." [Kyoko sees the grin, and she rolls her eyes. "You're not Reiji."] <@Matthias> [Just then, Maki appears in the doorway. She freezes.] [Kyoko can't see Maki; she's looking at Kaede and facing away from the door. Kaede can see her, though.] * Kaede slowly moves himself up, eyes on Maki. "Not as if I'm trying to be." He waves to Maki. "You getting away from the crowds as well?" [Kyoko freezes at that, and she slowly turns to look at Maki.] <@Matthias> [Maki blinks. "Uh. Yeah. I was going to grab something for Haruko, but... uh... I can just come back later." She waves awkwardly and gets the heck out of there.] * Kaede watches Maki go and then blinks, looking at Kyoko now. "Was...that not the right thing to say?" ["I dunno." Kyoko looks back at Kaede, blushing slightly. "I think she thought we were... you know. Making out."] * Kaede gives *another* snort, sitting up more on the bed. "That's ridiculous." Almost immediately. ["Yeah." Kyoko looks away. "Guess so."] * Kaede sighs, flopping back down on the bed. "What a pain." [Kyoko, on the other hand, stands up. "I guess I'm ready to go back down now."] * Kaede nods, slowly standing up. "Not worried about Matthias anymore?" ["It's been a while." She still isn't looking at him. "He probably went off to talk to someone actually important."] * Kaede looks her over, then sighs. "I thought we went over this." [Kyoko rolls her eyes. "It was a joke, dumbass."] * Kaede sighs again, rubbing the top of his head. "*Please* at least tell me I'm better than my counterpart at this. My old self is an asshole." ["He really was," she agrees.] * Kaede grins. "At least we agree..." He then pokes her. "Feel free to grab me later if the party gets unbearable. We can disappear again or I can walk you home." And with that, he heads off back downstairs. [Kyoko blinks at the poking and then watches him go, not saying anything.] <@Matthias> [When Kaede returns downstairs, he sees Kyon talking with Matthias over to one side.] * Kaede notices that, but doesn't head on over. A good opportunity to grouse the food selection. Also to see how much of his dish is taken up so far. <@Matthias> [Kaede's dish is either half full or half empty, depending on how he wants to look at it. There's still a ton of food, though, and more's arrived since his last reconnaissance of the food table. There's a girl who's not Haruko at the drinks table, carefully mixing something for a boy with dyed reddish-brown hair and long bangs.] * Kaede is close enough to give it a casual listen but not close enough to focus *too* much on it. It's probably relatively unimportant. <@Matthias> [The girl hands over the drink with a flourish. Maybe she has a future in bartending. Or drama.] <@Matthias> [Matthias, having finished his conversation with Kyon, is making his way over to the food table.] <@Matthias> [Matthias half-fills his plate with an assortment of foods, then nods to Kaede. "Good evening."] * Kaede is staying relatively quiet now, working on gathering another round. His phone, thankfully, has not alerted him to anything catastrophic and thankfully, this wasn't the type of party Kaede needed to actively network at. So food works out fairly well. May want to swing by Haruko in the end though. To thank the host. * Kaede looks up as Matthias comes his way, eyebrow half-raised. "A little formal, isn't it...?" He chuckles, taking another piece to his plate with a small bow of his head. "Suppose this is a place for rare acquaintances to gather." <@Matthias> It's quite the crowd. * Kaede gives a small shrug as he looks at the man. "Not very fond of crowds myself. Like I was just telling Ozora-san not too long ago..." He takes in a deep sigh and waves it off. "Obligations, you know?" <@Matthias> So this is merely an obligation for you, then? * Kaede rubs his nose, somewhat bothered by the question, before he finally answers, "....well, it is better to merely be seen as anti-social rather than rude, is it not...?" <@Matthias> True. Although you seem like you've been socializing. * Kaede snerks then grins, taking up one of the inarizushi because lord knows he'd hear it if he didn't try one of Akemi's creations. "If I am going to be obligated here, I may as well make it worth my time, right?" A faint tone of amusement with it. * @Matthias chuckles. "Smart." He points at the inarizushi. "How is it?" * Kaede raises an eyebrow as he looks at it. "That's a trap. Akemi made it." He looks down at the piece that he has. "That said, it's safe..." He was at least part supervising it. * @Matthias takes one for himself. "No doubt she was quite enthusiastic. Please give her my regards." Akemi is always enthusiastic. * @Matthias makes an amused hmm. "That she is." He pauses. "There is a matter that I'd like to speak with both of you about at some point in the near future." * Kaede pauses, almost as if time had stopped, then slowly raises his head to glance at Matthias now. "...is this about the coming Vote?" * @Matthias nods. "Astute, but I wouldn't expect anything less." * Kaede's eyes narrow, just a bit. "If you know what to expect from me, then you know pleasantries are lost on me. I'd understand if it's too crowded..." He gestures to the area. "Here to talk about, but please let me know if you'd like to get straight to the point." * @Matthias seems unfazed. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a card, handing it to Kaede. "If you would be so kind, you are the person to speak to in the matter of both your and Akemi's scheduling." * Kaede nods, taking the card into his possession. "So you would like to speak to both of us at once then. No preamble?" <@Matthias> Well, it has been a while since Akemi and I last spoke. I would enjoy catching up with her. But I also don't wish to waste your time. * Kaede sighs, then runs fingers through his hair. "That is difficult to determine, given I have no idea what you really wish to say..." After a moment's consideration, he does gesture to pull the man aside when he can. Wherever is the most quiet. * @Matthias starts to move to the side, but then a beeping sound comes from within his jacket. He sighs. "I apologize. I have another commitment." * Kaede gives a small nod and an apologetic smile. "I know too well about commitments..." Another sigh as he looks at the card again. "I'll discuss it with her. We'll let you know." <@Matthias> Thank you. * @Matthias looks for a spot to set his plate down. Apparently he really did lose track of time. * Kaede offers to take the plate from him, smiling apologetically. See? Matthias can be human too. Or is that Kaede? Who knows? * @Matthias chuckles and hands him the plate. "Thank you again. I hope to speak with you again in the future." He bows his head politely and heads off. <@Matthias> [End!]