[RDMGryphon] A list of parcels mailed out by Taki, probably arriving Monday, May 10. Akari: 1 box of a dozen macarons, postcard from Osaka Aquarium, Taki business card, envelope with Jackals written on it and a note inside. Postcard: Dear Akari, As long as our parents are happy, I’m happy to have you as a [sister.] … I forgot to ask if I’m going to be the older or younger sister. My birthday is March 3, 1986. Bloody Type B. First Year Student at Tsuji Culinary School. My hobbies are cooking and wild flights of fantasy. If we become friends you can expect more cookies and some chaos. Thanks for the towels, your younger/older sister to be, Shimiru Taki Note: Hi again, This letter is the chaos from the postcard. I don’t know which card you are, but I’m the Knight of Cups. It’s okay if you don’t want to share back. What I really want is some advice about dealing with Kashiwagi Kei and Toshiki. He seems to want to make me his new chew toy/sparring partner and I’d really rather not. Thanks in advance, Taki Nicola & Hinako 1 box of a dozen cookies each, postcards of Osaka in the spring each saying “Cookies for Sisters!” Katie and Kyon: 1 box with 2 bags of 6 cookies each, two picture postcards. Kyon’s is of Osaka Castle, Katie’s is of the aviary at the Osaka zoo. Katie Postcard: Please enjoy some cookies. Kyon Postcard: Dear Kyon, I’ve made a little bit of progress with my other projects and am sending out lots of packages today, but I need advice on another subject, please. This isn’t Arcana related, the stakes arn't very high, and the only danger is to my pride. Nicola’s parents want her to bring a boy to a fancy dinner party. We want somebody who won’t embarase anybody, but isn’t so amazing that her parents start getting ideas, or if they do, can let them down gently. I haven’t made any male friends since I switched schools, so the only people I can ask are the ones I knew before. I’d like to ask Satoshi, but I can’t just go get him from America, Haruko and I have very different taste in men, Kaede and Katie have done more than enough for me already, and I don’t know Wataru well enough to know if he’d be a good pick or know anybody. So, I’m left asking if there’s anybody you can recommend. Sincerely, Taki --- [Grysar] A response comes fairly swiftly by email. Date: Evening of May 10th, 2004 From: Akari Toshibara To: Taki Shimiru Subject: Yum! Onee-san, Thank you for the cookies, they were delicious and fancy. Good that you're the spoiling sort of older sister and not the bossy sort. I'm glad you like the towels! No thanks for the chaos, but nothing I can't handle. My birthday is April 1 and my blood type O+. I'm a first year student at Kurobane studying Marine Biology. My card is the Six of Cups. Okay, advice time. So it sounds like they're starting an Osaka Arcana gym? Or a shonen manga? I'm a little confused. Your reputation in the Jackals was a little funny, like you were a scrapper but also a pushover (sorry). But while Kei is tough, he's also a gentleman in his way. Toshiki's a rude punk, but he respects strength in whatever form he finds it. It sounds like they're making it about what they want, and that's not what the Jackals were supposed to be about. What do you want onee-san? You going to become a top chef? Start your own hole-in-the-wall restaurant or cart? What flight of fancy would you like to make real? Put things on your terms instead. Even that oaf Toshiki is as much about pushing himself as fighting per say. If you tell them what they want and they don't try to meet you half way, tell them I said to "let you do what you want and stop being like Matthias." Akari P.S. Marine biology is a joke. There are no jobs there. I think I'm going to study criminal justice, but Mom wants me to study medicine or anything that isn't criminal justice. P.P.S. I'd also tell Toshiki "no bities," we can't be sure he's had his shots. P.P.P.S. Kei's power isn't really a fighting one, it's about making people face their own demons and darkest moments. Your gang are all goody-two-shoes, so you should be fine. P.P.P.P.S. Give Kei a kiss on the cheek for me and tell him I miss him. --- [RDMGryphon] Taki replies also by email that same evening. Date: Evening of May 10th, 2004 From: Taki Shimiru To: Akiri Toshibara Subject: Re: Yum! Imoto-chan! It's totally a shonen manga thing for Kei, but I think Toshiki just misses Saki. I'm going to open my own restaurant, it’ll probably start as a hole-in- the-wall, but I don’t want it to stay there! Fancy delicious food for my friends and family is totally part of the plan. I’ll probably spend years being somebody's sous-chef before that though. There’s still a long way to go! It’s too bad there’s no work in the major you’re in. Can you minor in marine… international… whatever law and then switch when your mom isn’t looking? I’m trying to imagine Kei as Matthias now and it’s like a little kid pretending to be a super serious adult, but not knowing how to do it other than glaring and swooping around in that trenchcoat. Thanks for the warning about the potential montage of every mistake I’ve ever made; trying to be good doesn’t necessarily make a person good. I’m kinda okay with being known as a pushover, just because I’m somehow good at fighting doesn’t mean I like it. It does explain why he seemed so surprised when I tried negotiate my way out and didn’t just fold. I’ll tell Kei that you miss him, but you’re on your own for kissing him, I like goody-two-shoes type guys. Taki P.S. For future meal planning: What are your two favorite flavors and your least? --- [Grysar] Akari must be up late, that's college for you. Date: Evening of May 10th, 2004 From: Akiri Toshibara To: Taki Shimiru Subject: Re: Re: Yum! Blech Onee-san, for a fine cook you have terrible taste in men. Let's see, I like Katsudon. And, crustaceans. Although part of the fun is breaking their shells to get at their tasty tasty meat, so dunno if that counts. I hate miso, it's everywhere and its boring. I guess I could talk to my adviser about a minor. That said, I find when I try to do two things at once, I end up with neither. Unless my tentacles can help of course! <3==== Akari p.s. "Somehow good at fighting?" Really Onee-san? I won't tell you what you do or don't like. But people don't just get good at things that are totally separate from everything else about them. I fear you're trying so hard to be good that you're blinding yourself to a part of you that doesn't fit your ideal. p.p.s. Don't tell me you're good at fighting just because of teleporting. Dad likes Star Trek. That show has more teleporting than a wuxia anime trying to save money on in-betweeners. It's terrible at fighting! --- [RDMGryphon] Date: Late Night May 10th, 2004 From: Taki Shimiru To: Akiri Toshibara Subject: Re: Re: Yum! I swear to any kami you care to believe in, when I was down here house hunting I threw a street punk into the ground so hard the landlady gave us a discount. BY ACCIDENT. I was just going to trip him to keep him from going after Dad, and nope, he falls on me and then WHAM, I've driven off a bunch of kids and Dad's looking at me like a space alien. I thought I was gonna die of embarrassment! Being able to suddenly be behind people is just a cheat on top of the cheat. --- [Grysar] Slightly longer wait after that, but a shorter message. Date: Late Night May 10th, 2004 From: Akiri Toshibara To: Taki Shimiru Subject: Re: Re: Yum! Mom actually raised me Christian, which I hope isn't too weird for you. ^^; Dang, that's pretty amazing onee-san. You can call it a cheat if you want. Maybe it comes with being a knight. But nothing about being an Arcana is easy, even with the biggest monsters defeated. I'll take what we can get. So you were embarrassed afterwards, I get that. Even I would feel that around my parents. But what were you feeling during? When you were protecting, uh, our honorable father (should I say that yet? Like my Dad is still my Dad, but I can have two, I guess. Maybe that should wait on the wedding). Akari --- [RDMGryphon] (A good half hour later, Taki replies) Date: Late Night May 10th, 2004 From: Taki Shimiru To: Akiri Toshibara Subject: Re: Re: Yum! It's not too weird! And I don't remember what I was thinking at all. Probably something about not letting somebody hurt my dad. He's the only family I've got (for now). How about you? Grandparents? Aunts? Uncles? Cousins? P.S. Waiting until after the wedding seems like a good idea. P.P.S. Is there something I'm supposed to call your dad besides his rank? --- [Grysar] (Not too long therafter) Date: Late Night May 10th, 2004 From: Akiri Toshibara To: Taki Shimiru Subject: Re: Re: Yum! My grandfather, Mom's father, is still alive. Father has a sister. There are some cousins too, but we're not super close. Hmm...He'll probably like the rank. Stick with that until he's told you not to like three time. So the flip was just operating on pure instinct? There are some people that get all emotional about their powers, but that's not everyone. When my tentacles first appeared, I freaked out. Afterwards, I can't even tell you how many things I broke: alarm clocks, remotes, chairs. Some punks too, but that wasn't really an accident. Still, with some help, and a lot of work, it got better. Akari --- [RDMGryphon] Date: Early Morning May 11th, 2004 From: Taki Shimiru To: Akiri Toshibara Subject: Re: Re: Yum! Good Morning Imoto-chan, Sorry I didn't respond last night, I was thinking about what I was going to say and then it got too late. It's really hard for me to know where the line between powers and emotions is. If I want to be somewhere enough, I'm just there. The farther I want to the stronger I have to want it, and I get dizzy afterwords if it's more than dozen kilometers or so. It's really useful for sneaking past sleeping roommates and parents, but really bad when you're reaching for something off the couch and then have to explain off why you thought it was a brilliant idea to lunge and crash onto the floor. I haven't done that in years and years though! Who was around to help you? I kinda cut off contact with everybody I knew and did my best to be the most boring, ordinary person on the planet. It totally didn't work! *attached is a picture of a breakfast setting for two with fried eggs, sausage, white rice, and bowls of miso soup that are nearly out of frame.* --- [Gryar] Date: Mid-Morning May 11th, 2004 From: Akiri Toshibara To: Taki Shimiru Subject: Re: Re: Yum! That's too early onee-san! Don't tell my parents you get up that early! They might start having expectations. Though I suppose if you're making fancy breakfast its'... No, I will stand strong! No to mornings! All the Jackals helped some. Even Toshiki, but don't tell him said that. I guess Nori-san actually had some of the best advice. She told me that it wasn't about technique, it was about choosing. Like, I don't get the physics of it, but they can be a barrier, or limbs, or like weapons. And they'll get me what I want, but if I try for a half measure, it's just a mess. Nori told me it was important not to let my emotions run rampant, but that they would never really be under control. Instead, it's about choosing and accepting the consequences. But onee-san, there's something I don't get. The most boring, ordinary person on a planet can be a cook, but she isn't going to have her own restaurant. And if ordinary people allow flights of fantasy, then that just leaves them open to exploitation. Some jerk-off supervisor will use your talent to make it big while your promised break never comes. Mom's clinic would never have happened if she were just ordinary. Which is it? Still, I'm glad you realized it didn't work. It's really cool and bold that you went to some awesome school in Osaka. Like, I'm proud of my school, but half the time people mix up its syllables! Akari p.s. Oh, is that why you like goody-two shoe guys? They're boring, but you know they won't hurt you because they don't hurt anyone. There's no accounting for taste, but I don't think you can outsource your desires to someone else. Still, if you do want to try for one I'll back you up. Which is easy as I won't want him. * Akari attaches a picture of herself, from waist up, waving with both hands, despite droopy eyelids. She's wearing a casual yukata that's not folded in a particularly chaste manner, but isn't outright scandalous. Her dorm room is fairly ordinary, except for being precisely half decorated with various construction paper cutouts of flora and fauna illustrated with markers as the dance committee picked "under the sea" as their theme and then really committed. * --- [RDMGryphon] Date: Late Morning May 11th, 2004 From: Taki Shimiru To: Akiri Toshibara Subject: Re: Re: Yum! I’m envious of you managing to not have any early classes. And I'd say that my thinking I could be ordinary was a flight of fancy, it just didn't take me anywhere good. I'm sure if you asked Dad he could find you a picture of when I was dyeing my hair black and didn’t really do anything but read books and write awful, awful poetry. (Don’t even ask, I burnt it all.) I think it's okay to have dreams that don't include all my talents. What even would use them all? Some sort of traveling martial artist who prepared all her victory feasts herself? If that was my goal, Kei wouldn't be the only one acting like he's in a shonen manga. I like having reliable, helpful people around, I find it attractive. I want to be a reliable helpful person! Getting better at that is one of my goals that I’m hoping isn’t just a dream. Also, I want somebody who’s more grounded than I am around. You’d probably find it boring, but it’s reassuring to have somebody who actually knows where the ground is, and not just where I think it should be. I’ll pass on your help though, as I’m not looking for a boy right now, but thanks for the offer. More food pics tonight. I’m glad we’ve finally gotten out of the “here is how you hold a knife and not cut yourself” and “what is a spice?” phase. But we’re still doing super basic Japanese stuff. --- [Grysar] Date: Late Morning May 11th, 2004 From: Akiri Toshibara To: Taki Shimiru Subject: Re: Re: Yum! Eheh, I didn't say I had *no* morning classes. Whoa, you had a goth phase?! So much for Kei's "sources." You got me on the dreams. Let's not even talk about what that idea would mean for me. Grounded is a good sometimes. I think I get what you're saying. But, as someone with eight limbs on the ground, no offense onee-san but maybe pick one of the two to start? Like, we all know people that try to be reliable and helpful to everyone, and end up being neither, right? What you find attractive in other people doesn't gotta be the same as what you should be, that could be what makes you good partners. And if you somehow became that, who wants to date someone just like themselves anyways, even if we are dang sexy? Akari p.s. Speaking of picking one, reliable can come in a lot of forms. Maybe give Kei a chance to prove himself. Doesn't have to be anything big, but you're wrong to think he's just a kid. Stand up to him, earn his respect, but listen and watch too. Please, for me? [Akari chooses not to dispute Taki's shit talk. She takes a string on Taki. She immediately spends it to offer Taki an XP if she gives Kei a chance in some form.] --- [RDMGryphon] Date: Noon May 11th, 2004 From: Taki Shimiru To: Akiri Toshibara Subject: Re: Re: Yum! I probably shouldn’t feel so proud about my “be ordinary and indistinguishable” phase, but it’s good(?) to know it succeeded. And you’re probably going to be family, and we were on different sides in a fight sort of thing, so I’m going to forgive you for having “sources” on me. Wanting to date people like myself is a problem I’m going to let future me deal with when she has it. :P We’ll see how standing up to Kei goes before anything else. --- [Grysar] Date: Mid-Afternoon May 11th, 2004 From: Akiri Toshibara To: Taki Shimiru Subject: Re: Re: Yum! ^^;;; Sorry, I kind of assumed you had the super spy over on your team give you the run down too. Like, not to stereotype, but that's what the Page of Swords does, right? My big concern was just double checking my memory that you weren't the super bossy one that never-- stops-- talking. I was relieved when I learned I put the name to the right person. Also, want to make a deal? We can both be friends with whoever we want, but maybe have a veto over who comes to family stuff when the other is around? And I veto her. Unless your techie has invented a mute button and I'm allowed to use it. Standing up first is fair. You shouldn't let anyone push you around, not your friends, not my friends. Akari p.s. Because you haven't yet had a chance to become wise to my wiles, onee-san, I'll reveal the trick behind my apparently generous offer. Mom or Dad have kind-of-sort-of already vetoed most of the people you might veto. p.p.s. Mwa ha ha ha. p.p.p.s. Still, I'm not kidding. I don't want to deal with her. She's annoying. --- [RDMGryphon] Date: Mid-Afternoon May 11th, 2004 From: Taki Shimiru To: Akiri Toshibara Subject: Re: Re: Yum! I don’t know if Kaede has has Haruko cancelling headphones, but I’d only be a tiny bit surprised if he did. I’m not going to force you and her together unless there’s some sort of shonen manga nonsense going on, so I’m pretty agreeable. You don’t have to be friends with my friends and I don’t have to be friends with your friends. P.S.If I were a cruel person I’d ask you to give her the same chance you want me to give Kei, just to watch both of you squirm on your best behaviour. P.P.S. Somebody just dumped their entire pan into the burners, I’m going to smell like burnt soy sauce all day. --- [Grysar] Date: Mid-Afternoon May 11th, 2004 From: Akiri Toshibara To: Taki Shimiru Subject: Re: Re: Yum! **Attached is a picture of Akari sticking her tongue out on Korubane campus. She's changed to a t-shirt and jeans. Her shirt has been cut to give a wider neckline and has the fancy star symbol of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department logo on the chest.** Been good talking to you, but maybe you should focus on your food onee- san. One thing at a time! Akari <3==== p.s. I've made exceptions for annoying people in a scrape before and will again. Better to be annoyed than to lose.