[Ciara] [Thursday, May 13th. It's the middle of the night in Maine, but that's irrelevant for the time being as Satoshi is back in Japan, where it's the afternoon.] [True to his word, Satoshi called Wataru to check in. His headache seems to be gone and staying that way; maybe it was stress, maybe it was lack of sleep, but a boost from Haruko and a good night's rest have helped immensely.] [Wataru asked if Satoshi would like some company or any help getting things set back up, since it can be tricky and sometimes frustrating when transitioning back to a different country. Satoshi said yes, as he had errands to run and he'd spent almost all of the time since saying goodbye to his friends in Maine either doing Mystical Tower Stuff, camped out alone in a hotel, doing last-minute clothes shopping, and dealing with airports and planes and unexpected layovers. Company and help would be nice.] [And so we find them on this sunny afternoon, taking care of food shopping and other errands.] --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has a bottle of dashi in each hand, carefully reading the labels. Looks like one can double as a soup base, which is a plus, but the other one's got a shinier label and maybe won some sort of competition? Hmmmm.... "Hey, how likely are you to make soup...?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi is holding a basket full of various groceries. He looks over at the two bottles Wataru is holding. "Uh, hmm. Probably at some point? I like soup." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles. He did not expect a fondness for soup! "Cool. Here." He drops the dashi bottle into Satoshi's basket! --- [Ciara] Satoshi does a mental tally of the items in the basket. He's been leaning towards more versatile and less expensive. He does genuinely like soup, though! And it's been a while since he made it. "Cool. What's next?" --- [Jihatsu] "Hmm. How about household stuff? Toothpaste, dish sponges, TP, that kind of stuff?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi thinks for a moment. "Should be good there. I have a lot of non- food stuff at the apartment already." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods! "As my mom always said: last but not least, special treats." He grins. --- [Ciara] Satoshi performs another quick mental tally. He can probably spring for one thing. Maybe two. "Okay," he says with a smile. Wataru's enthusiasm is fun. --- [Jihatsu] "We'd always get to pick one thing each at the end of the shopping trip. Which, you know. Usually meant we spent the entire time trying to find the best thing." --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs. "That's cute. I admit to not having given it that much thought. But I know exactly what to get." He heads over to the candy section, making sure Wataru is following him, and places a strawberry Kit-Kat in his basket. "There." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smirks. "That was easy, for not having given it thought." --- [Ciara] Satoshi grins. "I'm a guy of simple tastes." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru wonders how that applies to complicated wizards. Best not to dwell on that. "...Pudding," he says, and starts towards the fridges. --- [Ciara] "Pudding?" Satoshi blinks in mild confusion but follows Wataru. --- [Jihatsu] "I was, for at least a few years, The Most Predictable, and literally always got myself a caramel pudding when we arrived in Japan. My sister still makes fun of me for it." He smirks. "I actually haven't had one in ages, but. Seems appropriate for a snack today." --- [Ciara] Satoshi's smile is warm. "Aww. Definitely, then." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru turns away so Satoshi does not see his BLUSH at that MEGAWATT SMILE. Goodness. There! There is the pudding!!! --- [Ciara] Wow, Wataru certainly seems interested in the pudding. Satoshi guesses it must be important to find the right kind. He waits patiently for Wataru to pick one out. --- [Jihatsu] Once Wataru gets to the Very Large Pudding Array, he does take a little while picking one out... --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes note of some of the various kinds. He hasn't paid that much attention to pudding before, to be honest. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru picks a tasty-looking one he hasn't tried before. RISKS. HE CAN TAKE THEM. He turns to smile at Satoshi! --- [Ciara] Satoshi smiles back. "Got everything you wanted?" --- [Jihatsu] "You betcha. You?" --- [Satoshi] Satoshi does a quick double-check of the contents of his basket. "I think so." --- [Jihatsu] "Cool." Onwards to the check-out then? --- [Ciara] Onwards to the checkout! Satoshi will offer to pay for Wataru's pudding, but will not insist if Wataru declines. Either way, they get checked out and begin heading towards Satoshi's apartment. --- [Jihatsu] Since Wataru is under the impression that Satoshi has a ton of money, he will allow this! It's like 120 yen, anyway. --- [Ciara] Satoshi maaaaaaaaayyyybe doesn't have quite the ton of money at the moment that Wataru thinks he does, but it's like 120 yen. The walk to Satoshi's apartment is pleasant and passes reasonably quickly, and pretty soon, they've arrived. Satoshi offers Wataru something to drink and then busies himself with putting away groceries. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru likes drinking things! He offers to help Satoshi if necessary? --- [Ciara] Satoshi will accept Wataru's offer of help, directing him in to put the things that need refrigeration in the refrigerator while he stocks the cabinets. After the unpacking and putting away is done, they settle in the living room with their drinks, Satoshi's being a bottle of cold green tea. He flops down in the chair a bit more than he normally would, a bit of his travel tiredness starting to show. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru also has cold green tea! The super-strong kind!<3 He tucks his socked feet up under him on the couch, and relaxes. --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets out a long sigh. "It's *so* good to be home." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru leans his chin on the opening of the tea bottle. "It's ... cool that you still think of this as home, although the moment I started saying that it sounded dumb. Of course this is home." He sighs, lightly. --- [Ciara] Satoshi gives Wataru a small smile. "It's not dumb. For most of the time you've known me, I've been in Maine, not here. And I do like Maine. It's really different from here. Not just the language and the people and the food, but the place. It's really..." He thinks for a second. "Open? If that makes any sense?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods...! "Yeah, Tokyo is really, really not open. Even the parks seem closed-in somehow." He leans back. "Well now you've made me miss the ocean," he chuckles! --- [Ciara] Satoshi grins. "Sorry. Well, it's not an ocean, but we do have the lake trip coming up in the summer." --- [Jihatsu] "Aarrggghh yess I can't believe it," he grins!! "I've - I've never done this kind of thing before. Like a friends road trip thing?" His face flushes! --- [Ciara] Satoshi's grin widens. "Exactly like a friends road trip thing! Which I've only done once before, and not on this scale, so this will be really fun and exciting." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru takes a sip of tea, then puts it down and hugs his knees instead. "What are you looking forward to the most?" He asks, peeking brightly over his knees. --- [Ciara] "Oh man, I don't know. Hanging out with everyone will be great, and seeing a new place, and sharing food and experiences..." Satoshi thinks. "We could have a campfire on the shore, right? And look up at the stars? That's definitely something we could do." --- [Jihatsu] Wararu has a big floppy grin. "Yeah. That is." --- [Ciara] Satoshi smiles and closes his eyes briefly, picturing the scene in his mind. "Okay, then. We'll do it. Make good memories." He opens his eyes. "Maybe I should get a camera so I can take pictures of everyone." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru pictures it too, but almost certainly a little differently than Satoshi does. "Ooohh, that sounds great! I wonder if I have one lying around. Not like a good one or anything, but I'm pretty sure my mom sent me to Japan with one." --- [Ciara] "You should definitely check. And if it turns out that you do have one, I may ask to borrow it at a few points." Now Satoshi takes a sip of his tea. --- [Jihatsu] "Can do!" Wataru un-pretzels, and gets his tea too. "So what's the weirdest thing about being back, so far?" --- [Ciara] "Honestly, things like what side of the road cars are on, and traffic signs. When we were walking around earlier, I had to keep reminding myself of things." Satoshi gives a wry smile. --- [Jihatsu] "Oh GOD when I used to travel back and for more as a kid, I would get into the wrong car seat EVERY TIME." --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs. "Honestly what freaked me out the most at first was riding somewhere at night. Even though I was on a bus, my first reaction was 'Headlights don't go *there*... oh god we're on the wrong side of the road... oh wait, we're not." --- [Jihatsu] "Hah, oh no." Wataru smiles. --- [Ciara] "And I wasn't sure if anyone else on the bus with me was a future teammate or classmate or anything, so freaking out about headlights was *not* the first impression I wanted to make." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru giggles! He wishes he had, like, a pillow to hold on to. Pillows are so comfy! What is this Satoshi couch with no throw pillows. --- [Ciara] Apparently, The World did not believe in throw pillows. "So yeah, that was my arriving in America travel adventure." Satoshi makes an amused sound. --- [Jihatsu] No frivolity for the World! What's next, VIDEO GAMES??! "I think it's awesome. Like, chasing your dreams like that... It's so cool to think about." --- [Ciara] Well, there is a TV. So video games could someday be a possibility! Who knows? Satoshi smiles, that incredibly warm, happy smile that he gets when he starts talking about playing hockey. "Thanks. It's been pretty amazing so far. I mean, we got to the finals this year! That's honestly way better than I could have hoped for. Okay, so we didn't win, but..." He gets more of a determined look. "Just means we'll try even harder next year." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has an echoing dreamy smile, nodnodding. --- [Ciara] "Oh! That reminds me!" Satoshi bends over to set his bottle of tea on the floor next to his chair, then gets up and heads to one of the other rooms, emerging a few minutes later with a package wrapped in deep red paper and tied with a bright blue ribbon. He holds it out to Wataru. "Happy belated birthday!" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's eyes go wide, then he blinkblinks. "Oh! Uh! Wow, uh cool??" He takes the package. "Wow. Thanks." --- [Ciara] Satoshi smiles. "You're welcome! I hope you don't mind that it's a bit late. I could have sent it back with Kaede and Akemi and had them deliver it to you, but I figured you'd probably be okay with it being late so I could give it to you." He takes a breath. "Okay, sorry, I'm babbling. Open it? I mean, if you want." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru bites his lip, then looks at the gift again. YEAH, TIME TO OPEN IT! He's a little bit careful with the tape and all, but not extremely so. --- [Ciara] Inside is a soft dark blue t-shirt with the Frozen Four logo on it and the official tournament program. --- [Jihatsu] "Awwwww YES!" Wataru lifts the shirt up, taking a good look. "Cool!" He turns it around, looks at the back. He hasn't really taken a look at the program yet. --- [Ciara] There's nothing printed on the back - personalized shirts are not quite a thing, at least not yet. Satoshi, hovering nearby, has an expression of nervous expectation, which turns to a relieved smile at Wataru's reaction. "I'm glad you like it!" --- [Jihatsu] "Yeah, it's really thoughtful!" He quickly checks the size before turning his attention to the program. --- [Ciara] The shirt is a size L, nice and comfy. Satoshi leans in and watches Wataru flip through the program. There's bits on the history of the tournament, the venue, and the current teams. He's waiting for Wataru to get to one particular part. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is, admittedly, impressed and sort of flattered that Satoshi clearly pays enough attention to his body that he got the sizing right. He flips through the program, flip flip flip... --- [Ciara] When Wataru gets to the part that lists the Maine roster, there's something signed in black marker under the name of the last player on the list: the kanji for "Watanabe Satoshi," and next to that, "#92." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru GRINS. "Oh yeah, well, now this is gonna be worth a mint someday." He has a warm laugh! --- [Ciara] Satoshi grins back. "I hope so!" --- [Jihatsu] "Seriously though, this is really cool. Thank you, Satoshi." --- [Ciara] Satoshi smiles. "You're welcome, Wataru." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is completely a lost cause, and he knows it. He gives Satoshi a crooked smile. --- [Ciara] There is something about Wataru's smile that makes Satoshi feel... warm, he guesses? Like he wouldn't mind seeing it more often. He likes seeing Wataru happy, and he likes helping be the cause of that happiness. Maybe more than helping. Maybe being. And then he feels guilty. He shouldn't want... it's too selfish... There's a part of him that feels like he should retreat back to his chair and his bottle of tea, but he fights it off and instead sits down on the couch next to Wataru. "I should... I want to thank you again." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is blissfully unaware of Satoshi's inner turmoil! He shifts over a little to make room on the couch. "Thank me...?" --- [Ciara] "Yeah." Satoshi scoots a bit more on to the couch. "For all your help with the Tower in Bangor. The revised ritual, talking with you beforehand... It helped a *lot*." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's breathing slows, just a bit. He nods. "Man, I'm really glad to hear that. I mean, it was a big thing you did. I would have been scared shitless. I'm glad if I made it less scary for you." --- [Ciara] "It was still scary," Satoshi admits, "but I also felt ready for it. Okay, so there turned out to be some parts that were more scary and I was less ready for, but..." He stops and lets out a breath. "I did it. I made it." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru quirks a grin. "Yeah you did. You did that." --- [Ciara] "I'm not about to go around making a habit of conducting magical rituals, I think. But this ultimately felt right? And I learned a lot. I've got a bunch of questions now, too, but for the first time in a long while, I feel like I might not be completely scared of what I'll find." Satoshi reaches for his bottle of tea that is not actually there! --- [Jihatsu] Wataru, uh, reflexively offers his own tea? Wait no - --- [Ciara] Satoshi chuckles. "Thanks, but I should get mine." He stands up, walks over and grabs his bottle of tea, then returns to sitting on the couch next to Wataru. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru blushes furiously, and drinks some Embarrassment Tea. That was so dumb, why is he so dumb, why did he do that. --- [Ciara] Satoshi drinks some Non-Embarrassment Tea. Now he is the one unaware of Wataru's inner turmoil. He could be more aware if he were a less polite telepath! --- [Jihatsu] Wataru tries to chill. It is semi-effective. --- [Ciara] "So yeah, I'm..." Satoshi's voice trails off, as though he's not entirely sure where to go with that sentence. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru tilts his head? --- [Ciara] "I want to talk about what happened in the Bangor Tower, but I kind of wanted to tell everyone what happened all at the same time," Satoshi admits. "But last night wasn't really the time or place and getting all of our schedules to coordinate so that we can all get together is really hard." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods. There may be a small shift in his body language, sitting up a little straighter. "Yeah... I mean, I can see why you'd want to do that kind of thing in person..." --- [Ciara] Satoshi sips some tea. "Do you want... Would it be okay if I told you now, and then I'll tell everyone else as I see them? Like I'm sure I can get together with Katie really soon. Maybe even tomorrow. I forget what her class schedule is like." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has a little smile. "Sure, that's fine with me. I have been, I'll admit, curious to death." He chuckles. --- [Ciara] "Okay." Satoshi lets out a breath. " So now that I've said this, I'm having trouble figuring out where to start. The beginning, I guess? And then just work my way through." --- [Jihatsu] "That works for me... whatever is the way that will, like, be the best for you to get your thoughts and feels out?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi smiles a small bit at Wataru saying to get his feels out. "Right, so there were actually three parts to it, and for the first part I was actually kind of living out one of Masaru's memories. Because of the Ace of Wands connection. Which I found out about why that is." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru stares. "Masaru?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks. "Yeah, didn't I... I didn't tell you about how when when all the Arcana stuff started, I drew Ace of Wands, not Judgement, but the real Ace of Wands is Masaru Uehara?" --- [Jihatsu] "R-right. Right. That guy though." THAT GUY. "What the hell was it like being him?" --- [Ciara] "It was... it was weird. Like he was very... I'll go with focused. Focused on his artwork even as disaster was going on around him." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru snorts. "Okay. Unsurprising, maybe." Then he sobers a little, brows drawing into a frown. "Disaster?" --- [Ciara] "Yeah, uh, he likes to hang out in the Tower Reversed and paint. And while he was doing that, the Emperor was there, drawing protective circles." Satoshi takes a deep breath. "Because Sho was about to... try some sort of thing to... unmake the Tower?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's stomach does something very unpleasant. "Well that's, uh, not a thing you uh, not a thing you want. No." --- [Ciara] Satoshi shakes his head. "No, that is not a thing you want. So the Emperor was working with my... with The World and, uh, Yorihisa, of all people. Trying to keep Sho from doing his thing. And Sho shows up, and the Emperor goes off to fight him, and, well, he doesn't make it." Satoshi closes his eyes for a moment. "But Masaru sees a signal from outside, meant for the Emperor, and he sees that the protective circles aren't finished, and he knows it's important and figures he's an artist; he can finish some circles." --- [Jihatsu] "Fuck," Wataru says. --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs nervously. "That's... that's very accurate. But Masaru was able to finish the circles and they saved the Tower Reversed, though Masaru got very hurt." Satoshi stares off into the distance briefly. "It's weird because it's the kind of thing that would terrify me, but Masaru wasn't actually all that scared so I remember it weirdly calmly. I wonder if he just couldn't quite process everything that was going on. It was all very surreal." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods, distantly... "I don't really know the guy, but he does kind of seem off in his own little world." He looks at Satoshi. "Like maybe, in this case, that helped." --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks back at Wataru. "It might have. And, well, he may very well have saved my life. I'll get to that in a moment, because the next thing that happens is Temperance showing up in an ambulance. With me." --- [Jihatsu] "You?" He frowns. "An ambulance? Why, what happened?" His fists clench. --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks. "Oh! Oh, no, I was fine. Well, shaken up but not injured. Just, Temperance was driving an ambulance because I guess she and The World were prepared for emergencies." He pauses. "I mean, I think she probably stole it." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru blinks, then one corner of his lips twitch up, then he laughs. "Okay." He rubs his forehead. "Okay. Sure. Why not. Go on." --- [Ciara] "It's a little disconcerting, seeing me through someone else's eyes, but. Temperance starts driving somewhere, Yorihisa is completely freaking out, and The World is able to heal Masaru by doing a very quick age reversion to right before the Tower stuff happened. Which I guess this makes sense, that her power could be used that way for healing. And then she asks Masaru if he'd be willing to help me by sharing his card." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's vision gets a little fuzzy, breath shallow. --- [Ciara] "So..." Satoshi stops when he notices Wataru's breathing. "Wataru? What's wrong?" --- [Jihatsu] "Mm...?" He blinks a bit, face slightly flushed. "Nah, it's... this is all just, I mean, it's a lot. It's fine." He reaches over, and hesitantly gives Satoshi's arm a pat. "I'm okay. This must have, uh, been even harder and weirder for you, right?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi gives Wataru a quick smile. "It's going to keep being weird. But talking about it is helping me process it, so... I think a key thing here is that Masaru was given a choice. He wasn't tricked or coerced or anything like that. Presumably if he'd said no, Temperance would have wiped his memory and sent him on his way." --- [Jihatsu] "Well hey," Wataru has another brittle chuckle, "silver lining there I guess." --- [Ciara] "I mean, it really does help, knowing that," Satoshi says. "I told him he didn't have to do it. I don't remember that, for obvious reasons, but..." He pauses. "I wonder what would have happened if he'd said no, though. I hope their backup plan wasn't to use Yorihisa. He's a gigantic jerk with really bad hair. I wouldn't have wanted to share a card with him. Masaru's very weird, but at least kind of honorable." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru snorts an undignified laugh at the 'really bad hair' comment. "Well, good then. - It's still really trippy that you ended up sharing a card with anyone. How did that protect you? I feel like I'm forgetting a piece of the puzzle here." --- [Ciara] "Basically it was to mask the fact that I was actually Judgement. To protect me until I came into my powers. Because a lot of people were looking for Judgement. Of course, this had the effect of allowing Sho to start a campaign of misdirection focused on people he knew weren't Judgement, but... it kept me safer for a while." He lets out a breath. "Apparently I'm very important." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru quirks a smile, and gives Satoshi's hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry. Being important in Arcana seems to really fucking suck." --- [Ciara] Satoshi gives Wataru a small smile in return. "Thanks. I'm not really sure how important I actually was back when things were going on two years ago, but I..." He pauses. "Well, I think I'll be able to explain some of it better as I go along." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru takes his hand back, and nod nods! --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes another deep breath. "So in order to do the card-sharing, The World had to make a deal with another Arcana. Death. That's her power, the ability to mask an Arcana's traits or powers with another one's. Death agreed to do it in exchange for The World making her young again. Like in her early 20's. The World must have been able to contact her somehow since I think it was later that same night that they met up." --- [Jihatsu] "Oh weeird, that... I was gonna say that's creepy, but that's also an oddly specific power to have." --- [Ciara] Satoshi hmms. "Sometimes I wonder how much certain Arcana's powers change from incarnation to incarnation. Like I know that Judgement's... judgement is a constant. I feel pretty sure like Temperance's memory erasure is, too. I've... got evidence to support that which I'll get to pretty soon. I don't know if Death is always about the card and power masking, or how often that'd even come into play." He stretches his shoulders. "On the other hand, you have someone like Kaede, whose powers couldn't have existed in their current form before now." --- [Jihatsu] "Oh huh, yeah, huh?" He frowns. "I mean. Telegraphs...??" ???SCIENCE? --- [Ciara] "Or something completely unrelated but thematic to whatever a Two of Pentacles does." Satoshi pauses. "I don't actually know what a Two of Pentacles does. But I'm not sure Kaede would care anyway. Anyhow." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru allows himself a brief chuckle. "Anyhow." --- [Ciara] "So Death agrees to The World's offer, though she insists that she get de-aged first, which The World does. And then Death asks me and Masaru to join hands, and Masaru asks who I am, and I tell him, and start to thank him, and that's when that vision ended." Satoshi looks down at his lap for a moment. "I guess it was okay for me to tell him since nobody was going to be remembering that night after all. Except The World and Temperance, I guess. And maybe Death. It was pretty surreal. And just... strange." Satoshi looks back up at Wataru. "I mean, how did I end up with a vision of one of Masaru's memories? Maybe it's the Ace of Wands connection? Maybe he sort of counts as a previous version of me? I don't know. He's still the Ace and I'm more Judgement than I used to be, at least in terms of card picking." He considers something. "I wonder what would happen if I picked Judgement from a deck, put it aside, and then tried again. Would I get Ace of Wands?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru perks up, intrigued. "I bet we could try, if you wanted." --- [Ciara] "Ha, sure, we could do that sometime," Satoshi agrees. "I guess we'd have to figure out when we wanted to do it so I could come to you or you could bring your deck with you." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru gives him a rakish smile. "Oh come now," he says. "As if I don't always have it with me." --- [Ciara] There is something about that smile that Satoshi cannot help but grin in return. "Okay, then. Want to try it?" --- [Jihatsu] "Card science!" Wataru proclaims, and gets up to fetch his messenger bag! --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs and takes a sip of tea while he waits for Wataru to get his deck. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru returns! He hops back onto the couch and pulls the bento box out of his bag, then snaps it open to retrieve his deck. --- [Ciara] Satoshi leans towards him a bit, watching. "Oh. That's a really pretty design." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru beams, just a little, at the compliment! "Thanks - I really like it. There are so many decks out there, and know these aren't, like, the most typical, but -- I'm rambling. Sorry." --- [Ciara] Satoshi smiles. "It's nice that you found one that's right for you and that you really like." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has the smallest blush, but grins. "Yeah." He has a calming breath. "So. How you wanna do this?" --- [Ciara] "I guess I draw a card, which presumably will be Judgement, set that off to the side, draw another card, and we see what it is. And then we leave Judgement out, shuffle the other card back in, and maybe do another draw or two." Satoshi picks up his bottle and has another sip of tea. "We could try it for you, too. Have you draw your card, leave it out, and see if your draws after that are random." --- [Jihatsu] "Oooohhh, spooky. I like it." He gets comfy, crossing his legs up on the couch facing Satoshi. "But let's get back to your story after, yeah? I don't want to derail your whole thing..." --- [Ciara] "Hopefully not *too* spooky," Satoshi answers. "And yeah, we can definitely get back to my story after this." He settles in. "Okay. You shuffle the cards, then hold the deck while I draw." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods! He closes his eyes, expression relaxing as he gently shuffles the cards. It's not fancy, but it's thorough. He opens his eyes and holds out the deck to Satoshi! --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes the top card, looks at it, and holds it out to Wataru. Judgement. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru lets out a low whistle. "Well, there's one." He takes a moment to look at the card. "Totally spooky that it was on top, though, I mean I'm the one who shuffled..." --- [Ciara] "That's how it works, though," Satoshi says quietly. "You draw your own card when another Arcana is holding the deck for you. It's like an Arcana test." He pauses. "I don't know if it's something inside your gut telling you to pick that card, or if the card like magically moves around somehow. I would go with the gut feeling one, personally. Anyhow. Ready for the second draw when you are." --- [Jihatsu] "All right. Should - should I like, shuffle again, or...?" --- [Ciara] "Hmm..." Satoshi thinks for a moment. "I'm not sure if makes a difference." --- [Jihatsu] "Probably not, huh. Cause we're all magical an' shit." He cuts the deck, once, then holds it out again. "All yours." --- [Ciara] "Okay!" Satoshi reaches for the top card again. "Let's see if we're two for two." He flips it over so that they can both see it at the same time. Ace of Wands. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is silent for a moment. "Aaaand there it is. Number two, huh." He stares at it. "Satoshi, th-... that's rad as hell." --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks at it for a moment. "Okay. Wow. I wasn't actually sure that was going to happen. But there it is." He holds the card out to Wataru. "Let's try it again?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru feels a really strong urge to hug him, but resists. "Okay." He takes the card, shuffles the deck a bit - making sure Satoshi doesn't see where he put the card - and hands it out to him again....! "Here we go..." --- [Ciara] Satoshi reaches for the top of the deck again, removes a card, and flips it over... --- [Grysar] [As Satoshi reaches to remove the card, it sticks for a moment. No super strength is necessary to remove it though, but as he does so a second card slides off the deck, fluttering to the ground. Flipping over the card in his hand reveals it to be the visage of Death.] --- [Jihatsu] "FUNKY. What's the one on the ground?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks. "That... wasn't what I was expecting. But it kind of fits? Given what I know happened?" He carefully bends down and picks up the one from the ground. --- [Grysar] [Even upside down, the Devil's scowl doesn't look like a smile.] --- [Ciara] "Death and the Devil Reversed..." Satoshi says quietly. He looks up at Wataru, and holds out the card. "They're the same person, actually. It's a long story that I don't fully understand, so I can't really explain it to you, but... uh. Yeah." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is frowny. "Okay.... I mean, on the one hand, it's very cool, like - the cards are actually volunteering information, here? Independent confirmation that Death/Devil Reversed is responsible for what, uh, what happened... with... all that." --- [Ciara] Satoshi is also frowny. "Right, but that's not what's supposed to happen. Uh. I'm going 'supposed to' about magic. Maybe I should try again?" He holds out Death and the Devil so Wataru can put them back in the deck. --- [Jihatsu] "Maybe you accidentally did a divination," Wataru suggests, half- jokingly? He shuffles the deck again, though. Ready! --- [Ciara] "I mean, maybe? Maybe after you pull your own card it just turns into doing a reading, or what you're thinking about, or something? It's not like I've tried to do this before, so..." Satoshi reaches for the top card again. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is VERY EXCITED to be helping Satoshi play with divination for the first time, then!! He eagerly awaits the card! --- [Grysar] [Five of Cups.] --- [Ciara] Satoshi stares at the card and blinks a few times. "Okay, now it's just being random, unless the Five of Cups was somewhere that night. And if she was, that wasn't in my vision." --- [Jihatsu] "Booooo." Wataru pouts. --- [Ciara] Satoshi hands the card back to Wataru. "Okay, one more, then we put Judgement back in the deck and we try it with you." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods! He gives it a brief shuffle and hands it over! --- [Ciara] Satoshi goes for one near the bottom this time. --- [Grysar] [Eight of Swords.] --- [Ciara] Satoshi shakes his head. "I don't even remember who that is." He gives a disappointed hmm. "I thought I might have had something there. But maybe it had to do with the fact that I kind of stopped concentrating after drawing Death and the Devil Reversed. Maybe it's a mental thing *and* a magical thing?" He holds the Eight of Swords out to Wataru. "Your turn?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru shrugs....! "I really don't know! I guess when I'm _trying_ to draw a card, I think about it, but when I'm doing a draw like for divination, I just try to relax and close my eyes and just pick cards, you know?" He takes back all the cards and starts to mix the deck again, eyes falling reflexively closed. --- [Ciara] "I'll hold it for you when you're ready," Satoshi says. --- [Jihatsu] "All right. Here you go." He hands it to Satoshi, then draws the top card. "Satoshi-style," he says, and flips it over. --- [Grysar] [As expected from a complete and shuffled deck, the Hanged Man is shown.] --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs a little at Wataru's comment, then holds his hand out. "Do you want to try and see what happens if we put your card off to the side?" --- [Jihatsu] "Yeah! -- Actually, no, wait," he says, and returns the Hanged Man to the deck. "So, I can't remember if I ever told you this, but one time, I was - like back in high school, when Reiji cornered me about being Arcana? I picked the Hanged Man first, and he was like, "Oho, so that's who you are" or something. Honestly, I freaked out." He shakes his head. "I wasn't sure what it meant, but I desperately wanted it to not be true, or at least for him to think it wasn't true. So I picked a different card, on purpose, next time. I'd like to see if I can do that again." He smiles. "I did an experiment like this with Katie not long ago, but I have an idea for a tweak." --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks a few times. "Oh, that's right. I'd forgotten that you and Reiji went to the same high school, and that you even interacted. So that's really interesting, if you could make yourself not pick your card. That definitely breaks the rules as I understand them." He pauses. "Okay, again, 'rules.' For magic. So let's try this experiment tweak of yours." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles. "I mean, magic always gotta have rules in fiction at least, right? Maybe not in real life though. Anyway." He looks at the deck. "So, last time, and with Katie, I was just trying to pick anything that wasn't my card. But I'm really curious to see if I can deliberately pick something different." --- [Ciara] Satoshi carefully shuffles the deck. "I mean, this also has huge implications if it's something any Arcana can do. Because then some of them would definitely try to disguise their identity. Though then you run into the issue of what happens if you encounter the person who actually *is* that card." He holds it out to Wataru. "Related to that, Masaru also had a very strong mental suggestion to be rather circumspect with his card after Death did her thing to disguise me. When we first met him, we thought he was the King of Wands based on how he was identifying himself." --- [Jihatsu] "Huh, that's super interesting -- and... Yeah, I mean.. yeah. I have no idea if it's some weird special Hanged Man thing, I mean, Katie wasn't able to do it when she tried. She kept picking the Page. She did manage to dunk my card in tea, though." --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs, his hands holding the cards moving a tiny bit. "Oh no. Tea!" --- [Jihatsu] "IT WAS THE WORST. The cards were okay though." He scoffs, blowing a stray bit of hair out of his eyes. "Insult, not injury." He laughs! "Okay, well, anyway. Got a card in particular you'd like me to try to draw?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi keeps grinning. "Nah, you think of one. That way I won't be unconsciously interfering with what you're trying to draw." --- [Jihatsu] "Sure, okay! Let's see. If you don't want to interfere even unconsciously, let me just, like..." He gets out his phone. "I'll write it down." He type types! Satoshi's phone buzzes with a new text message! "Don't pick that up," Wataru smiles. "Not until after." --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs again. "Okay." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru looks at the deck... closes his eyes, takes a deep breath... concentrates.... and draws, somewhere from the middle! He turns over the card. "_Hooooly shit_," he says, almost vibrating with excitement! He shows Satoshi the Ace of Cups. "Check your phone check your phoooone." -- [Ciara] Satoshi really never has seen Wataru be this excited about something. It's really sweet. It's not even bothering Satoshi that it's about Weird Arcana Things because he's finding it really interesting himself. Who'd have thought? He carefully sets the deck down on the sofa as he gets up and retrieves his phone from his bag, then sits back down and looks at Wataru's text. "Ace of Cups. Wow." --- [Jihatsu] "Holy shit holy shit holy shit. So, like, either I discovered a new thing I can do, or we've been wrong about the rules this whole time, right? Either way this is pretty fucking neat, right???" He keeps staring at the card. --- [Ciara] Satoshi picks the deck back up. "Yeah. Wow." He looks at Wataru. "This could change a lot." --- [Jihatsu] "Actually, I do have - I've been playing around with designing some new rituals, don't freak out, I specifically mean like, protective stuff. There's a lot of forces at play and I want to keep my friends safe. And like, concealment from divination is part of that, so... maybe this is just something I know how to do? Or something I'm learning how to do?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi doesn't freak out, though he feels a tiny bit of unease creep back in. "Yeah, protection is good. And it might be your own Arcana ability or maybe you're really good at ritual magic stuff and it just comes to you easily. We don't have too many spellcasters or ritual mages that I'm aware of. I mean, someone had to prepare the ritual for Hideo initially, and then you found the variation for me." Satoshi pauses. "I do still have the letter with the instructions for him way back then. Maybe at some point you can take a look at it? Not now; I mean, there's still some card science to try and I'm not even sure where it is other than in one of my suitcases, but maybe some other time?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods..........! There is a look of barely suppressed interest in his eyes. "What card science should we do next?" --- [Ciara] "Well, do you want to try picking another specific card again?" Satoshi holds his hand out for the Ace of Cups. --- [Jihatsu] "Sure, okay. A fluke isn't an impossibility." This time, he texts Satoshi a different card. "Okay..." He draws from near the bottom! --- [Grysar] [As Wataru again exerts his will over the deck, this time the cards above his draw arches slightly in Satoshi's hand as the Hanged Man draws his card. The next drawn card is the Ace of Wands followed by a flurry as the top arched cards buck out of Satoshi's hand. Judgment, Death, and the Devil make appearances again along with the Lovers, all jumbled on the floor. Masaru's lingering presence makes its weight known and he gets a string on Wataru.] --- [Ciara] Satoshi, startled, nearly drops the rest of the deck. "Sorry! Sorry, maybe I was holding it wrong?" He peers at the cards on the floor. "This might kind of be my fault." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is super startled, then laughs. "Guess my deck is all excited to have made a new friend, or something. Not that I actually think my deck has a mind of its own," he clarifies, smiling. "Still, that's... that's a bunch of cards. None of them is what I was going for, though." --- [Ciara] "No?" Satoshi bends over to pick some of the cards up off the floor. --- [Jihatsu] "Check your phone, I was going for the Star." --- [Ciara] Satoshi hands Wataru back the cards, then goes for his phone. "So you were," he says, after checking the text. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru shuffles his deck back together, a bit of a defeated lump. "Well, so much for being cool." --- [Ciara] Satoshi realizes he failed to grab Judgement, and so he picks that one up and hands it to Wataru. "Maybe you just need to practice a little more. I don't make all of my shots all the time, after all." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru looks at the card. "Mm. Yeah. I guess I did manage it once." --- [Ciara] Satoshi reaches out and puts a hand on Wataru's shoulder. "You did, and I bet you'll be able to do it again." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has a crooked little smile... "Sigh," he says. "Okay. Thanks." --- [Ciara] Satoshi smiles back at him. "But I am assuming you don't want to try again right now. Want to have our snacks and I'll go back to my story?" --- [Jihatsu] "Sure," he says, nodding. "Snacks - right!" --- [Ciara] Satoshi gives Wataru's shoulder a gentle squeeze and stands up to go get pudding and the Kit-Kat. "Want anything else while I'm up?" --- [Jihatsu] The squeeze is sweet, and snaps Wataru out of his slump a little. "Nah, I'm good. Thanks." --- [Ciara] "Okay." Satoshi heads over to the kitchen area and retrieves snacks. He hands the pudding and a spoon to Wataru, then sits back down and starts unwrapping his Kit-Kat. "So before I move on to the second part, did you have any questions about the first one?" --- [Jihatsu] "Not really, I don't think... Well..." He peers at Satoshi. "Actually, kinda. I'm still not clear about when all this was happening." --- [Ciara] Satoshi take a bite out of his Kit-Kat and chews consideringly. "Based on how old I looked, I'd say probably three or four years ago?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru stares. "Buuut... Wow, so.... I mean, didn't you say you hadn't seen your mom since you were like 13...?" --- [Ciara] "That I knew about." He takes another bite, chews, and swallows. "Believe me, that part of the vision surprised me a lot when I thought about it after it was over. I mean, she may have been around the whole time, for all I know." His voice gets a bit sad. "But I guess she was off taking care of Important Arcana Business, or..." He swallows again, this time fighting a lump in his throat. "Well, it makes sense that I wasn't supposed to remember that night. Temperance was there for that reason, after all." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru leans against Satoshi's shoulder, briefly. "She was still looking after you, I guess, in the end." --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks down and gives him a tiny smile. "I guess so." He lets out a breath. "Ready for part two, in which we head to California and my family tree gets even more weird?" --- [Jihatsu] "What." Wataru grins. --- [Ciara] "Well, one minute I'm Masaru and Death is starting her card-sharing thing, and the next, I'm on a surfboard at a beach." --- [Jihatsu] "That's...... unexpected? Since when do you surf?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi grins. "I don't. But Takeshi Watanabe did." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's eyes bug out. "Ohhhh my goddd tell me everything." --- [Ciara] "So we didn't go straight from Hideo to me. In between, there was Takeshi." Satoshi starts on the second half of his Kit-Kat. --- [Jihatsu] "TAKESHI." --- [Ciara] Satoshi swallows. "Yep. This was also the name of my dad on all my, uh, official paperwork? Which now makes me wonder if Takeshi's paperwork said that his father's name was Hideo. Uh. Anyway. Weird family tree. And it gets even weirder, because Takeshi had an adopted sister." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru starts having questions, and then the questions get IMMEDIATELY PAUSED because WHAT. "Are you - what? Who! What??" --- [Ciara] "Temperance. As in the same Temperance who's around right now." Satoshi takes that last bite of the Kit-Kat. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru stares. --- [Ciara] Satoshi nods. "Yep. Seriously. According to Winston, she wasn't one of the Arcana who survived the war, but she must have been reincarnated before everyone else, and The World found her and raised her and Takeshi together." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru slow blinks. --- [Ciara] "I know. It's very weird." Satoshi's voice is a bit hesitant. "I haven't broken your brain, have I?" --- [Jihatsu] "Yyyy... ooo. Ya." He taps the lid of his pudding cup. "Wow. So... So Temperance is like, your aunt...?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi gives a very slow nod. "Temperance is like my aunt." --- [Jihatsu] "That is FUCKED. UP." --- [Ciara] "I am most definitely not going to argue with that." Satoshi half-smiles. "Told you my family tree was about to get weirder." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru manages some kind of smile. "Man.... man. So okay wait. So Takeshi, who is like, literally you, was adopted brothers - adopted by the World? Raised with? - literal actual Temperance who is this scary horrible thing everyone is horribly scared of, with good reason - I guess, I mean everyone was horribly scared of you and look at you now - so who knows - but like. Also. Surfing???" --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes a moment to process Wataru's words. "The World raised Takeshi and Temperance together. They weren't related by blood, but they were definitely siblings. He wasn't scared of her, but she might have been less scary when she didn't have to deal with the whole Arcana being around thing. They were just starting to be reincarnated in greater numbers when this vision took place. And I'm glad you don't think I'm scary, and yes, surfing. Takeshi Watanabe was in California, but instead of working all the time like my dad supposedly was, he was way more chill." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru giggles! "Okay, no no no but wait, though, I mean - wait. So Hideo - He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named evil mastermind Bond villain murder grandpa - came back as some like .... some like _chill surfer bro in California_?!" --- [Ciara] Satoshi opens his mouth. Closes it. And then bursts out laughing. "Yes! Yes he did!" --- [Jihatsu] "That is UNREAL, Satoshi. Totally unreal. Oh my god." He bursts out laughing too! --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes a few sips of tea to calm down a little. "I think he may have been somewhat less chill in his younger days - Kaede and I found a quick reference in an old article that had been scanned online to him doing some sort of business program in LA when we were in the Tower - but he definitely mellowed over time. And from what he was discussing with Temperance, it sounds like they'd spent at least some of their time in Japan." --- [Jihatsu] "Okay. Wow." Wataru shakes his head, and also sips some tea. "This is really wild, Satoshi. So there's - I guess this would have been in - when was this?" --- [Ciara] "Early 80's," Satoshi says. "Based on the fact that the Arcana were starting to come back in force." He pauses. "Also the clothes." He thinks about what Temperance said in the vision, about a Major having recently been born in America. Satoshi realizes that he might very well be looking at the person she was talking about. --- [Jihatsu] "Oh, my god," Wataru laughs, hiding his face in his hands. "_Early 80s surfer bro_. I'm gonna _die_." --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs good-naturedly. "There wasn't a way for me to look at a mirror or anything. I fear for what his hair may have been like." --- [Jihatsu] "Oh DUDE you KNOW it was a mullet. A rad Asian mullet and like stubble and aviator sunglasses." Oh no, he was probably incredibly hot, oh no oh no --- --- [Ciara] Satoshi cracks up again. "Oh god. Oh no." --- [Jihatsu] "So - but this is like, it's so weird? How do you feel about it? I mean, I know thinking back about Hideo sucks hardcore but like... this guy?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes a breath to compose himself. "I mean, he's definitely easier to think about than Hideo. It feels like we have a lot more in common." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru grins crookedly. "Hot, athletic, easygoing..." His brain begins to scream at him that he just stepped in quicksand, stop stop stop, abort! HE DRINKS TEA, LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN. "So, uh... Are we still scared of Temperance?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks. And blushes. And then babbles. "Uh, well, yes kind of scared but also kind of, uh, sympathetic almost. It's complicated." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru drinks more normal human tea. "Why sympathetic?" He stares easily into the middle distance, you know, the one that doesn't openly flirt with boys. --- [Ciara] "Well, I guess maybe I should talk about what they were talking about so it'll be a little easier to explain." Satoshi may not fully be out of babbling mode yet. "So Temperance, who was going by Felicity at the time, wanted to talk to Takeshi about The World's plans." --- [Jihatsu] "Felicity is a cool name," Wataru says, "kinda 90s but like, never mind. What about the World's plans?" Okay, he can do this. He puts his tea down and looks over to Satoshi. --- [Ciara] "The World wanted to be very directly involved in the new generation of Arcana. Temperance agreed with her. Takeshi... didn't." Now Satoshi's staring off into space. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru gives him space... He oooooopens the pudding <_< --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks over at Wataru. "Takeshi felt like The World would use them as tools, not people. That she'd want to control them. He was definitely on the outs with her." --- [Jihatsu] "Mrf." --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks. "Mrf?" --- [Jihatsu] "Uh. Yeah." He blinks too. "I mean, that sucks? I am not comfortable with the idea of the World using us as tools?" He shrugs, just a little. Satoshi's reaction could have been worse, but Wataru still feels like he broke something with that inadvertent flirting. Broke the conversation, somehow. He shifts a bit on the couch, facing Satoshi a bit more and opening the pudding. "So, like, what did he do? Did he rebel against her?" Time to try reclaiming the mood from before, yeah. --- [Ciara] "Well, he and Temperance used to go exploring the World Reversed. It was where they felt the most free, apparently." Satoshi reaches down to pick up his bottle of tea. "I'm not sure if The World couldn't go there or didn't want to, but they liked doing it. They had charts and everything." He chuckles. "Maps of the World Reversed are exactly the sort of thing you'd expect Temperance to be all nope about, but I guess if she's the one who ends up with the maps, she can certainly keep them hidden." --- [Jihatsu] "Fuck, that's cool," Wataru says, plaintively. "....I wonder if those maps could help us now, with what's been going on." --- [Ciara] "You mean with the World Reversed falling apart?" Satoshi asks, quietly. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods... "If we had maps of what it was like in what I suppose was a heyday of sorts, that might help us figure out what went wrong. Because yes," he eyes Satoshi, smirking, "of course 'going exploring in the World Reversed' is something I would glomp onto immediately, who are we kidding." --- [Ciara] Satoshi half-smiles. "Of course you would. I... well, Judgement's got a connection to the World Reversed. Which is maybe why when I read Haruko's e-mail about things starting to fall apart, it hurt a little, right here?" He taps his chest with his right hand. "I wondered what exactly it was I was doing, trying to stabilize a Tower with things falling apart. But it also was one of the things that made doing it feel even more right to me, like this was something I could do to help. Anyhow." He thinks for a moment. "I'm not sure those maps even still exist, and if they do, I'm not sure how we'd get them. 'Hi, Aunt Temperance, can we please have these maps of the World Reversed that we're not supposed to know exist, and oops, I guess I shouldn't have called you my aunt, either?'" His half smile turns into a full grin. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru puts his hand on Satoshi's early on, when he's saying ALL THESE SWEET EARNEST THINGS ABOUT LITERALLY SAVING THE WORLD, but by the end he's laughing too! "Whoops!" he says! --- [Ciara] "Yeah, probably not the best way to go about it." Satoshi reaches for his tea again, Wataru's hand having slipped off of his once he started laughing. "Anyhow, Takeshi rebelled against The World by not being a part of her plan, I guess. And by staying in California." --- [Jihatsu] "So I guess, like, if he hadn't, we'd all be under her control or something? Early 80s - that's us, right...?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi has another sip of tea. "That's definitely us. Well, you. I was Takeshi at the time, but... eventually me. I mean, I don't know what her plans really were, but Takeshi seemed to think they weren't good, and it's not like I have much experience to counter those thoughts." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods. "So... he and Temperance did something, that helped all of us...?" He looks at his pudding, then back at Satoshi. "I mean... Well... Thanks." He has a bit of a smile. --- [Ciara] "Well..." Satoshi's voice is a bit hesitant. "Temperance was more on The World's side. She wished that Takeshi really would reconsider and join them. But she wasn't going to force him to come back. She just wanted him to promise he wouldn't disappear forever." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's smiles grows sad, then fades altogether. "Aw, man. It sounds like she really cared about him." He reaches up and rubs his eyes a bit, under his glasses. Why's shit gotta be so complicated? --- [Ciara] Satoshi has a sad smile of his own. "She did. And he cared about her." He sets his bottle of tea down, pulls his feet up onto the couch (they only fit so well), and hugs his knees. "Which is why I said I feel kind of sympathetic for her. Because he's not here anymore, and I am, and something had to happen to make that... I don't know what. Maybe Takeshi had a change of heart and realized that he could help the Arcana by coming back and becoming me." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's smile returns at that. "Maybe. Man, shit's complicated, huh...?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi nods. "*Very* complicated. And I mean, well... things were a mess, with the Arcana. Would they have been less of a mess if Takeshi had gone with The World's plan from the beginning? Maybe. But then we'd have The World's... well, world." He lets out a breath. "I can't blame Takeshi for wanting a life of his own, for being free and happy in California. That's... that's ultimately kind of what I want, too." He gives Wataru a half-smile. "Although it doesn't absolutely *have* to be California. I'll take other cities. Maybe not Edmonton, though. Too cold." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru grins at that. "Takeshi a Kings fan, do you know?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi smiles. "Not sure. I mean, it's because of him that I'm one, because I thought it was a way I could connect to my dad being in LA. So I'd like to think he was. He certainly could have gone to games." --- [Jihatsu] "Man, that's so cute. You know... some part of me is like, really happy that your memories of your dad were not completely fake. Like okay, he wasn't your dad, but there was a person who lived this life that got to... I dunno, positively influence you in some way?" --- [Ciara] "Yeah, me too," Satoshi says warmly. He lets go of his legs and puts his feet back down on the floor, then stretches briefly. "So that was Takeshi and Temperance. And then the sun set at the beach, and that vision ended." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru exhales. He has some pudding. --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes a deep breath. "So now we're at the third and final part. And it's different from the other two, because I'm not living someone else's memories, I'm back to being me. In the World Reversed." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru looks at him, pudding spoon in his mouth. --- [Ciara] "So I'm not sure if I'm really actually *in* the World Reversed or if this is just in my head, because the part of the World Reversed that I'm in isn't Bangor, it's back in Japan. A part I've been to before, with a construction site." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru curls up on himself a bit, unconsciously, at those words. --- [Ciara] Satoshi notices Wataru shifting. "Sorry. This part is weird and kind of creepy, but also important." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru noddles. "I'm listening." --- [Ciara] "So I really do start to wonder how I got there, if I'm really there, if me being back in the Japanese part is related to the World Reversed falling apart or something. And then..." He looks at Wataru. "I've told you about the shadows, right? The ones that only I can see?" --- [Jihatsu] "I'm.... not sure, honestly? Is this a thing that happens a lot?" --- [Ciara] "Well, I've seen them every time I've been in the World Reversed. Which is, admittedly, not that many times. And so I don't know if I saw them this time because I was really there or if it was because I was expecting to see them." He lets out a breath. "They're not harmful, I don't think, and if Takeshi spent time exploring the World Reversed, he definitely would have encountered them, but what they really are is reminders. Of all the people Judgement has ever Judged." There are definitely capital letters in his voice. --- [Jihatsu] "Oh maan," Wataru says. "Like... like you don't mean actual actual ghosts, right? There's... I wouldn't want there to actually be such a thing as ghosts, that would fuck up my worldview." --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks pained. "I don't think they're ghosts. I think they're memories." He pauses. "Sorry. I said this was going to be weird. I can stop, if you want. I don't want to fuck up your worldview." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru quirks a little smile. "Lay it on me; I'm already a friggin' wizard, I can handle some memory ghosts, I GUESS." --- [Ciara] Satoshi gives him a tiny smile in return. "Okay. So I see a stairway in the corner, and I wait for the shadows to move because I don't want to get super close to them, and eventually they do move and I start climbing down, down, down into this underground passage. Which probably doesn't have any relation to what things are like in real life, but hey, the World Reversed is strange and different." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods. "I really do want to exploring someday. But yeah, sorry, go on." --- [Ciara] "I mean, it's going to maybe sound strange, but despite the shadows, I kind of want to, too?" Satoshi exhales. "This whole Tower Reversed ritual has made me want to find out more about things. To do things, not just for the sake of doing something, but because maybe I can help them matter. A lot of people sacrificed things for me to be here." His expression grows wry. "Though I wish I could say that I was feeling that determined at that point in the vision. Because when I got underground, I saw a figure in the distance, and I recognized him." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru holds in his excitement about the idea of WORLD REVERSED ADVENTURES WITH SATOSHI, and instead gives him a concerned glance. "Yeah?" --- [Ciara] "Want to take a guess?" --- [Jihatsu] "I meaaannn this is like some Nightmare Before Christmas shit, isn't it. No wait, I mean the other one. The Dickens one. Christmas Carol." He eyes Satoshi. "Three visions... Was it....?" --- [Ciara] "Well, I mean, all of them were past, not really present or future, but this was the Ghost of Asshole Judgements Past." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru grooaaans. "Shit, man. Were you okay?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets out a long sigh. "I would love to say that I was able to stand my ground and face my biggest fear - literally - but this was honestly just too much." He closes his eyes. "I turned tail and started running." --- [Jihatsu] "Awww," Wataru says. He leans against him briefly. "I mean, that's normal, I guess. If I suddenly ran into Sho, I'd shit my pants." --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks grateful for the leaning. "Thankfully, he is very, very gone." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods. "But like.... Isn't Hideo gone, too...?" --- [Ciara] "I mean, yes? He should be? It is entirely possible that this was something that was all in my head. But... I mean, a Hideo that's in my head is probably about as real as a Hideo's going to get, nowadays?" Satoshi looks like he's given this some thought. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru ponders, and then nods. "Okay, sure. I somehow doubt he's in you like some split personality thing, but I'd buy him having left traces, sure." He sighs. "Actually, I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm trying to pronounce myself on this. I have no idea what could and couldn't be going on. I guess I'm just trying to make you feel better." He looks away, embarrassed. --- [Ciara] Satoshi puts a hand on Wataru's shoulder. "I appreciate it. You are making me feel better. And hey, this is weird ritual magic stuff. Who knows what's going on? Your theories are as good as mine." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles, a little. "Okay. So, yeah, okay. Hideo. What happened then?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi moves his hand off of Wataru's shoulder. "So Hideo mocks me for running away and says I've always been good at stopping short of my potential. And he does... something that makes my head really start to hurt." Satoshi pauses. "My head hasn't hurt since Haruko worked on it last night." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru frowns... "One, what a fucking jerk. And two... your head hurt because of ... because of these visions? Do you know what he did?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi shakes his head. "I don't know what he did. And, I mean, again, if this is me mentally projecting, then Hideo's going to be the biggest jerk I can possibly make him, right?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles sympathetically. "Fair enough. Either way, I'm glad Haruko could heal it." --- [Ciara] "Yeah, me too. That sucked. But anyhow. Even with the headache, I'm thinking I could probably outrun Hideo. But then... that's not really what I came to do, was it? Sooner or later, it was going to come down to this. Facing down the past. Facing down Hideo. So I stop, and I turn, and I look at him, and I call him by his name." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru shivers. "Whoo, shivers," he says. --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets out a small breath. "And he's just standing there, smirking, telling me that my name is something *she* gave me. But I say that it's my name." --- [Jihatsu] "Hell yeah it is." --- [Ciara] "Well, he's not so impressed. Says we've had a lot of names, but Judgement's the one that always fits, except maybe this time. And I tell him well *he's* certainly judging. And then I'm thinking, oh what the hell, did I just snark Hideo?" He shakes his head a little in disbelief. --- [Jihatsu] "HA!" Wataru grins. "Respect!" --- [Ciara] "Man, he's still not impressed, though. Says it's not the first time he's heard that before. So finally I just ask him what he wants." --- [Jihatsu] "Did he just want to myeh-myeh-myeh at you like a cartoon villain slash shitty older relative?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi considers this. "I mean, if Takeshi is my cool dad, then Hideo's my diapproving grandfather." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles. "I'm still glad you get a cool dad persona, not _only_ the mean grandpa," he says. --- [Ciara] "I'm not sure Hideo thought all that well about Takeshi, either, but I don't think Takeshi would have cared." Satoshi smiles back. --- [Jihatsu] "You don't know me, _dad," Wataru intones. "I'm a surfer now, that's just who I am, dude." --- [Ciara] Satoshi snerks. "That makes me wonder what, if anything, Takeshi knew about Hideo." --- [Jihatsu] "Oh yeah?" --- [Ciara] "Yeah." Satoshi reaches for his bottle of tea again. "If Takeshi was trying to be as unlike Hideo as possible." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has some pudding. "Mm," he says, nodding. "That would make sense. Or he was just that dude, like you're a chill yet ambitious hockey- playing sweet guy." --- [Ciara] Satoshi both laughs and blushes. "Maybe he was." --- [Jihatsu] Okay, this flirting thing is getting easier. This was fine. Also, man, Satoshi is so cute when he blushes... Wataru sips tea. "Anyway - yeah, so, what did Hideo end up saying he wanted, then?" --- [Ciara] "He told me I was asking the wrong question." --- [Jihatsu] "He sounds like Kaede." Wataru makes a face. --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs. "Nah, they're pretty different. I have an idea of what Kaede wants. Well, most of the time. But anyway, I told Hideo that he said Judgement didn't fit me, but I didn't want to be him." --- [Jihatsu] "I literally honestly don't. Possibly 'to make sure everyone knows he's So Above Everything'. But that's another conversation." He looks at Satoshi. "So what did Hideo say then?" --- [Ciara] "Well, he said that I may not have wanted to be him, but I was. And I said that I'm afraid that I will be again. And again, I was wondering what I was doing. First I snarked at Hideo, now I'm telling him my deepest fears?" --- [Jihatsu] "If he's even slightly real, then he lives in your head, which means he probably already knows, though, right?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi nods. "It's true. But... thinking about it now, it was still cathartic?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods, and smiles...! --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets out a breath. "Well, he says that I hardly knew who I was, and I said that I'm still figuring out who I want to be. That Judgement, to me, is the thing in the shadows that makes people disappear, and the thing that everyone's afraid of. Judgement is him." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is enraptured now. He nod nod nods, and has a bite of pudding without breaking his attention to Satoshi. --- [Ciara] "Hideo's answer is I knew what made people disappear, and that he never hid in the shadows. There was nothing mysterious about what he did to the Arcana of his time." Satoshi pauses. "I'm going to beg to differ on that one, but I didn't say anything at the time, so. He said that what I was saying echoed closer to the present. And he's kind of right on that one - Judgement as the big scary thing is partly because of Sho's manipulations." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods, a little. "Seriously, fuck that guy." His hand squeezes the pudding cup. --- [Ciara] "Seriously." Satoshi frowns. "And then I reminded Hideo that he'd let people die, that if he was so powerful and non-mysterious, he could have chosen to help save them." --- [Jihatsu] "Oh man," Wataru says. "What did he think about that?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets out a sharp breath. "He said that he could have, but he did not, and he has the right to choose. As I do." Satoshi closes his eyes. "He's an asshole. I haven't stood by and let people *die*, but I decided to be honest with him, and admit that I've stood by and not helped people in the past when I could have." He opens his eyes and looks at Wataru. "I'm ashamed of that. But I'm trying. I'm getting a second chance." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods... "It... it really sounds like you've... Like, you're taking that second chance really seriously." He sighs. "I don't think most people approach their lives with as much deliberate choice as you do. I know I don't." --- [Ciara] "Not everyone gets a second chance," Satoshi says, quietly. "I didn't think I would. So I really want to make the most of it. I'll still make mistakes, because I'm a human, but I really want to try to be a better person." --- [Jihatsu] "Is... can I give you a hug? I really want to give you a hug." --- [Ciara] Satoshi gives him a soft smile. "Yeah. I'm not going to say no to a hug." --- [Jihatsu] "Yay." Wataru puts his stuff down, and scooches over to give Satoshi a good warm hug! --- [Ciara] It is a very good warm hug! Satoshi briefly thinks back to the first time Wataru was at his apartment, when he was the one offering the hug. It seems like a really long time ago, in some ways. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru lets his eyes close, face pressed into Satoshi's shoulder. The scent is familiar - much more immediate, but it brings back the memory of the jersey Satoshi sent him, and also the hug they shared before Satoshi went back to America. He gives him a soft squeeze, and can't help but think quite loudly: ~Oh, I've missed this so much.~ It's quite likely no telepaths are listening, though... --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets out a long, slow breath. eyes closed, just letting himself feel warm and safe and happy. Just letting himself enjoy the feeling of holding someone and being held in return. It's good. It's really, really good. --- [Jihatsu] The hug lasts long enough that Wataru is able to shift from thinking entirely about himself, to thinking about the person he's hugging. Satoshi seems really happy for the hug too..... It makes Wataru smile against Satoshi's shirt. He releases the hug a bit, whenever it feels natural to do so. --- [Ciara] Satoshi thinks that he's missed this, too, and is just feeling so good that he doesn't really consider why he's adding the "too" in there. When he feels Wataru start to let go, he does so as well, giving him a warm, grateful smile. "Thank you. I feel really good right now." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles up at him, looking into his cute good face. "Yeah," he says. He has the smallest of contented sighs. "Me too." --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets himself stay in the moment for just a bit longer, lets himself enjoy Wataru's smile and the feeling of having someone he cares about and who cares about him right there. "I don't know if I really want to go back to talking about Hideo," he admits. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru chuckles, and briefly boops his forehead on Satoshi's shoulder. "Yeah, what a downer. Well, we don't have to. There is also pudding." --- [Ciara] Satoshi is forehead booped, and he laughs. "There is! But I kind of feel like I should finish the story. Maybe I can just, I don't know, skip ahead some and talk about what I was thinking about at the end. It's serious, but I don't really think it's a downer. It's more just... thoughts." --- [Jihatsu] "Okay." Wataru smiles and sort of settles in next to Satoshi, not _quite_ cuddled up but, man, his contact is addictive. He retrieves his pudding! --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets out a short breath. "So, I'm Judgement. For a really long time, I didn't want to *be* Judgement, because to me, being Judgement meant being Hideo. I become cold and uncaring and terrifying. So I thought that if I denied being Judgement, if I refused to even look into the possibility of what that really meant, I'd be safe. I wouldn't have to make Hideo's choices." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods and eats pudding, listening. --- [Ciara] "But now I've found out about Takeshi. He was Judgement, too. And he very much wasn't Hideo. Okay, so I really don't know that much about him, but he did things like exploring the World Reversed, so even if he didn't have to do Judgement things like Hideo did because there just weren't that many other Arcana, he was at least accepting that he was Arcana, and some of the abilities and magic that it entailed." Satoshi leans down ever so briefly to get his tea bottle again before straightening back up into his prior position. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods... "That makes sense to me. It's like... You used to be so scared of turning into Hideo, yeah? But if Takeshi didn't..." --- [Ciara] "If Takeshi didn't, then I'm not inevitably going to." Satoshi nods in return. "And I think about Hideo as being my past self, but mostly because the was the contemporary of everyone else's. It's really more Takeshi, though, if you want to think about immediate predecessors. However... I was Hideo, too. I can't just accept Takeshi and deny Hideo." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru nods. "Yeah." He glances over. "You know... In a way, it's sort of neat that you got like, a bonus life in the middle there. You got to live through, what, like the 70s and 80s and stuff?" --- [Ciara] "The 60s, too. Not that I remember most of it." Satoshi gives Wataru a quick smile. "And maybe only part of the 80s, because I'm not sure when I switched over from being Takeshi to being me. Anyhow. I still don't really know exactly what it means to be Judgement, or how to be Judgement. I'm still working out how to be Satoshi. And Judgement is honestly potentially terrifying - the shadows in the World Reversed testify to that. They're the legacy of every Judgement, including me. But I'm curious now. Curious about exploring what it could mean. Learning more about my powers doesn't mean I'll inevitably turn into some terrifying quasi-mythological figure. They're part of who I am." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru giggles. "Okay, I know you just said a bunch of cool important stuff, but I'm still stuck on the fact that you saying you 'don't remember most of the 60s' totally makes it sound like Takeshi was like, way stoned for most of it." --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks, then shakes his head and laughs. "What am I going to do with you? And I don't know, I kind of got the impression that Takeshi was maybe more serious when he was younger and mellowed with age." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru laughs some more! "I'm so sorry. I know you were sharing important stuff, and I swear I was listening." He exhales softly, looks over at Satoshi. "I'm honestly pretty excited - no, that's the wrong word - happy, you know, that you're more comfortable with yourself and the Judgement legacy. Pushing shit away just tends to give it more power. I know that nonsense firsthand." --- [Ciara] Satoshi nods. "It really does. And I guess... there's another thing I was scared of. That choosing Judgement meant I would have to give up being Satoshi. Give up on my dreams and resign myself to whatever role Judgement was supposed to have. But I've just anchored a tower in Bangor. I just linked the two halves of my life." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has a wobbly grin. "I sort of can't believe you did that. Honestly. It kind of blew me away." --- [Ciara] "I kind of can't believe I did it either," Satoshi replies with a smile of his own. "Okay, do you want to know what I can do now? Because it's pretty cool." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru grins, with confused expectation? Nod nod? --- [Ciara] "I can kind of ping it with my mind. Like a sort of checking in on it. It doesn't have a mind, exactly, it's more of a feeling, but I can sense if it's like... okay? It feels like that." Satoshi looks proud. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru stares. "Uhhh, cool???" --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs. "So yeah. I guess maybe once I'm back in Maine I won't have to ping it like that, I can go and check on it in person, but in the meantime, I've got this." --- [Jihatsu] "So like... you just..." Wataru does a Professor X gesture and squints. "...and you're like, 'Yep, nobody's messing with my Tower'?" --- [Ciara] "It's kind of like going, 'Hi, everything okay?' and getting the feeling of a 'yes, okay.' Honestly, that maybe the best way to describe it." Satoshi finishes off the last of his tea. --- [Jihatsu] "Ha! That's so amazing! And it seriously works like, halfway around the world? Did it work from the airplane? Is there like unlimited range on this thing?" --- [Ciara] "I didn't actually try it from the airplane. I know, I'm failing at scientific rigor here, but my head was still hurting from the ritual and I was trying to get some sleep. I got it to work from the hotel room in Bangor - that was when I was like, oh, what's this - and I tried it again in DC, and I was like, oh, okay, this is how it works? And then I tried it again here, last night." Satoshi gives Wataru a quick grin. "And remember, I was able to talk to you from halfway around the world that one time." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru grins...! "You're so coooollll we're so cool. Arcana is so cool. Right???" He bounces a bit. "It's also scary and awful and everything but it's so friggin cool. Like." Wataru reaches out loosely with his hand, and a couple of books lift a few inches off the coffee table. "We have _superpowers_. It's so weird and amazing." --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs. He loves seeing Wataru enthusiastic and happy. He really does. "Yeah, it's weird and amazing and scary and terrifying and cool. All of the above and more." --- [Jihatsu] The books lower back to the table, a little wobbly. "I'm glad we can have fun with it. I spent so much time being so _scared_." --- [Ciara] "Having powers is a responsibility, and what we use them for is very important, but I think it's good to have fun with them, too." Satoshi thinks. "I don't really get to use mine for fun very often. I don't really get to use mine very often at all." --- [Jihatsu] "I mean, especially in America, there's not like other Arcana to have brain-conversations with. And you can't use your super-strength for hockey or anything. So yeah, huh!" --- [Ciara] Satoshi nods. "Right. And it's fine, really, because in America I've got to keep up my secret identity as an ordinary university student. Well, an ordinary university student who's really good at hockey." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smirks, warmly. "Right. Gotta maintain that secret identity." He relaxes into the couch. "Oh man so, like, is the Bangor tower like your secret lair now?" --- [Ciara] "I think lair is a little more ominous than what I'm going for," Satoshi replies with a smile. "Like Hideo would have had a lair. Maybe this is a base? A headquarters? Although I guess it's hard to have a headquarters when it's just one person." --- [Jihatsu] "But like, you get to go there whenever you want and like... do... Arcana stuff or whatever? Is it a Tower the way Tokyo Tower is a Tower, like are there two now? Are they connected somehow? God I'm too full of questions, I'll shut up now." --- [Ciara] Satoshi has a delighted laugh and gives Wataru's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You can ask all the questions you want. It's just the the answer to most of them is going to be 'I don't know yet.' I don't know if I can get there other than walking in through the building lobby in Bangor, I don't know how much it's like the main Tower Reversed, and I don't know if they're connected. But we can work on finding out." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has a squirmingly delighted little smile. :> --- [Ciara] "I don't exactly know where to start, but with your magical research stuff and maybe going to the Tower Reversed here oh and maybe checking out the letter..." Satoshi stops himself and makes an amused sound. "Okay, actually those do sound like places to start.' --- [Jihatsu] Wataru grins. "So we should make a plan then. Do we want to involve anyone else in this?" --- [Ciara] "Well, I'm going to be telling everyone else about the Tower ritual visions, so I guess I'll see if any of them are interested. In the meantime, what do you think is the best next step?" --- [Jihatsu] "Hmmm." Wataru sips some tea, pondering. "I guess it depends what we want to achieve? Exploring the World Reversed and trying to figure out how to keep it stable is one whole thing, but solving mysteries about the Bangor Tower and testing the waters there is like, a whole other thing. Where do you think we should start?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi considers this. "I don't actually know of any ways of getting into the World Reversed that don't involve having another Arcana send you with a field, so we'd need help there. Probably two people, actually. Tower research might be easier, because we have the letter and an actual Tower Reversed right here. Although we also run the risk of running into people. Though that'd mostly be Masaru since he likes going there to paint." Satoshi's expression gets a bit odd at the mention of Masaru. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru ALSO makes a face at the mention of Masaru, but for a different reason (probably). "You're thinking that me investigating the letter while in the Tower Reversed would give me some kind of research boost?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks. "Oh, huh, that wasn't actually what I meant, but it's an interesting idea. I was just saying that because we had the letter and the Tower, that makes more sense as a direction we could start in ourselves.' --- [Jihatsu] "Oh, oh right! That makes sense. Yeah, I don't think I've actually done a reading in the World Reversed yet." --- [Ciara] "Okay, so, you could do your... uh, I think there's a specific word for it but I'm not coming up with it... your magic finding things out ability on the letter either at the Tower Reversed or here or at your place - wherever you think you'll be the most comfortable. And we can also go to the Tower Reversed and you can do a reading there? Would Tower Reversed be close enough to World Reversed for our purposes? I mean I'd consider it part of the World Reversed, so." --- [Jihatsu] "I'd say the Tower Reversed is part of the World Reversed, yeah. I mean you can like walk out of there and land in the World Reversed, right? Did I understand that correctly?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks. "We've never actually tried to just walk out. I'm not sure it's entirely possible - the place where you end up from Tokyo Tower isn't quite on the ground floor, and the elevators only seem to go there, unless there's like an emergency exit stairway hiding somewhere that we've never found. I mean, I've barely spent much time in the Tower Reversed itself. Maybe just wandering around in there is a good place to start. We might not find anything that other Arcana who've been there more often don't already know about, but maybe it'd be good for us to familiarize ourselves with it?" --- [Jihatsu] "That," Wataru says with a grin, "actually sounds super fun. We can start with that!" --- [Ciara] "Okay, so we have a place to start." Satoshi smiles. "Man, I am voluntarily going to the Tower Reversed to explore. I really never would have thought that. It's weird and unexpected, but like... it's becoming the good kind of weird and unexpected." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru grins warmly. "I think I like being a good kind of weird and unexpected," he says. --- [Ciara] "Yeah. I think so, too." Satoshi reaches for his tea again, but then realizes it's empty. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru finishes his pudding, and his tea. --- [Ciara] [Satoshi and Wataru continue to hang out for a while longer, chatting about non-Arcana things and just enjoying the day.] [End!]