[Ciara] Satoshi answers his phone. "Wataru! Hi." He sounds a bit surprised and a little distracted. --- [Jihatsu] "Did you get the email?" He says, without preamble. --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes a sharp breath. "Yeah. I just replied, actually." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru exhales. "Should I -- oh there it is." He takes a moment to read it. --- [Ciara] "Yeah, so.... I wasn't... I wasn't expecting that." Satoshi's voice is a bit strained. --- [Jihatsu] "I'm a little bit freaking out, to be honest. I don't know if I missed the memo the first time around, but I didn't even know that Kaede was... I didn't know this was something he was trying to do. Hey, do you want me to come over or something? This is too weird." --- [Ciara] Satoshi exhales slowly. "I knew he was going to go talk to Yorihisa, but I didn't know when. I was talking with him and Katie and Kyon about what I saw in the Bangor Tower, a few days after I talked to you about it. So he knew about Yorihisa and the World working together in the past, and... well, I didn't think it would end up with this." He's currently sitting on the couch, phone in hand, laptop in lap. There's a soft notification sound from the laptop that he has a new e- mail. "Oh, hey, Kaede replied already." A few moments pass. "Oh no," Satoshi says, his voice full of quiet anger. "He *isn't*." --- [Jihatsu] "...What. What did he do." Satoshi sounds scary. --- [Ciara] "Hang on a second. I'm going to send a reply." Satoshi puts the phone down next to him, and Wataru can hear the sound of fast typing. A minute later, he picks the phone up again. "Kaede's being all 'well, I don't to push things and I think Yorihisa was inviting just me, so...' If someone's going to talk to The World, I want to be there. I need to be there." --- [Jihatsu] "Satoshi," Wataru says, taking a slow breath. "I don't think you want to rush into this. You're being super fixated and I don't... I don't think I've seen you like this." A pause. "I don't mean the email, though, fire back at Kaede all you want," he adds, a smile coming into his voice for the first time. --- [Ciara] "I'm not rushing into this!" Satoshi practically yells. "We have time to plan!" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru flinches a little, startled by this uncharacteristic outburst. "Okay," he says, trying to sound calming, but maybe failing, since he's slightly frazzled himself. "Okay. Good. Planning is good. Talk to me about your plan." He holds the phone in the crook of his shoulder, moving around the apartment as Satoshi talks to pack up things like keys, wallet, tarot deck, in case he needs to be somewhere fast. --- [Ciara] "Think of questions. To ask. At this meeting." Satoshi speaks in short sharp sentences. "I'm not saying Kaede's ideas are bad, I just don't want to be shut out of this if I can be there." At least Satoshi doesn't sound like he's on the verge of running out the door to find Kaede and/or The World Right This Minute. --- [Jihatsu] "Sounds like a good start. I bet we could brainstorm a lot of good ones." He grabs a notebook and a handful of pens from his dinner table makeshift desk, shoves them in his satchel. "I can take notes, if you want." --- [Ciara] "Sure. Yeah." Satoshi sounds like his anger is starting to burn itself out. "I mean right now the only one going through my mind is 'Why?' And we should have something more detailed then that. So." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles a little. "This is definitely fucked up and I'm not sure my brain is handling it either. I mean, I always told myself that if your mom came back I would run up and punch her in the face." He ducks into the bedroom, grabbing a couple more things. "So, you know." --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets out a surprised laugh. "Please don't punch my mom in the face. She'd probably do something terrible to you. Like turn you into a toddler or something." --- [Jihatsu] "Noooo I'm cranky enough as it iiiisss!" --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs again, but it eventually fades into a sigh. "What if she tries to hurt Kaede, though? If I'm not there?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru hmms. "Yeah. We need to plan. I'm not letting Kaede put himself in danger blindly either." He sighs. "You wouldn't happen to have something of his? --- I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me come over, we'll at least think this through and then see where we're at." --- [Ciara] Satoshi sighs again. "He's good at putting himself in danger, although it's generally not blindly. And I think I know what you're talking about, but yeah, let's wait until we can talk some more because this is the sort of plan he'd need to be in on and ... yeah. Please come over. I don't think I want to be by myself right now." --- [Jihatsu] Finally, Wataru relaxes a bit. He's been on edge this whole conversation, worrying about exactly what Satoshi just said, but him admitting he doesn't want to be alone shows a reassuring degree of self-awareness. And makes it unlikely he'll rush out and do something he can't take back. "I'll be there ASAP. Don't worry." He pulls on his shoes! --- [Ciara] In the interim, Satoshi texts with Kaede. He's starting to feel a bit more okay. Then reads Haruko's e-mail. He's less okay. It's a rather shaky and shaken Satoshi who answers the door when Wataru arrives. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru hasn't been keeping up with the email thread - during the trip to Satoshi's, he's very much in his own head, trying to figure out how he can protect Satoshi or Kaede or even his own damn self from whatever consequences this visit might entail. He's got his hand in his bag, thumb tapping against the hard case he keeps his tarot deck in. Then he gets off the subway and takes the stairs two at a time, increasingly frantic. He hasn't heard from Satoshi in like twenty minutes, which is normal, which is fine, but it's been twenty minutes in a very weird day. He rings Satoshi's doorbell, and looks sort of frazzled himself when Satoshi answers. "Hey." There's some relief in it. --- [Ciara] "Hi," Satoshi says quietly, letting him in. "I'm glad you're here." Wataru can see that his laptop is on the couch, sort of pushed off to the side, as if it were set down in haste. --- [Jihatsu] "Me too. I'm glad you're here too." He has a sharp exhale, something like a laugh. "Today got real weird real fast. Sorry if this is an imposition, but you think I could have a glass of water...? I'm real thirsty for whatever reason. Sorry." He steps out of his shoes, lining them up tidily in the genkan. --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks. "Oh, yeah, it's not an imposition at all. You got over here pretty fast." He heads for the kitchen area. "Today has been... it has been a day. It keeps being a day." --- [Jihatsu] A daaaay. "Thanks." Wataru follows him into the kitchen. "I think I was about to get some water when the email hit and then I forgot and now I am dying." --- [Ciara] Satoshi gets a glass of water for Wataru and then one for himself. "Here you go. And thank you again so much for coming." He sighs. "You know, I thought I was maybe starting to better handle the whole thing about The World, and Judgement, and everything, especially after the Tower, but I'm really... really not." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru drinks half the water, then looks at Satoshi sympathetically. "Yeah...?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes a sip of water. "Some things Haruko said in her e-mail, but... I don't know if I really want to talk about that right now. I think I..." He lets out another slow breath. "Well, I don't think I was expecting her to potentially want reach out. To us. At all. Even through an intermediary." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru makes a mental note to check this Haruko email, but benches it for the moment. "Yeah. I'm startled too. So she's the one who reached out first? It isn't something Kaede started?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi shakes his head. "No, I think this is entirely due to Kaede's meeting with Yorihisa, but that's not something I thought was going to come out of the meeting. I thought Kaede was just going to try to get information out of him, not receive an invitation." He half-smiles. "I suspect *Kaede* thought he was just going to get information out of him." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru sits down at the closest convenient spot, which turns out to be the same spot on the L-shaped couch where he sat the first time he visited Satoshi. He puts his glass on the coffee table. "So she wants something," he says. Frowns, looks over to Satoshi. "Think she knows you're in town?" --- [Ciara] "Possibly," Satoshi says. "I think if she wanted to keep tabs on what I've been up to, she could. And she has to have known that Kaede and I were in the same group back in the old days, if she's tracking Arcana things." --- [Jihatsu] "And we know for sure that the invitation comes from her? It's not just Yorihisa posturing to make himself seem more connected than he actually is or something like that?" --- [Ciara] "No, he's an arrogant jerk, but I don't think he'd promise something this big without being able to deliver." Satoshi moves over to the couch and shuts his laptop without even looking at it, pushing it even further to the side before sitting down next to Wataru. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru leans against him, a brief grounding gesture. "I'm really sorry you're going through this," he says. --- [Ciara] Wataru feels a tiny shake run through him when he leans against Satoshi - he's still a bit scared and on edge - but it's immediately followed by a slight slump, part relaxation, part exhaustion. "Thank you. I.." Satoshi closes his eyes. "I was so angry earlier. I didn't mean to yell at you. Well, I wasn't yelling at *you* specifically, but... yelling while talking to you." --- [Jihatsu] "Yeah, no worries," Wataru says, easily. "I never felt like that was directed at me." He leans back against the couch, no longer touching Satoshi but just a lean away. "What were you the angriest about?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi screws his eyes shut. "That Kaede was making this all his thing and being all 'I hope you understand.'" He opens his eyes. "It's not just his thing. It affects me, too. I wish he'd said 'I have this opportunity; are you all right with me taking it?' before he brought it up to the rest of the group. I would've said yes. I still would have said that I also wanted to go, but I would have said yes and been less angry." --- [Jihatsu] "Ughhh," Wataru says. "Right. Ugh." --- [Ciara] "I mean, it's entirely possible that the invitation *is* just for him, that he'll ask and Yorihisa or whoever will come back and say that she doesn't want to talk to me at all." He slumps lower. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru makes a face. "And you're *sure* I can't punch her in the face?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi lets out an amused sound. "Please do not punch my mom in the face." Then he makes a face of his own. "And... that's the thing, really. Even though I know she's The World now, and I know I'm Judgement and everything... I still can't not think of her as my mom, you know?" --- [Jihatsu] "I mean... she is," Wataru says, looking over to Satoshi with a certain gentleness. "That's what she is. Maybe she's other stuff too, sure, but..." He exhales. "That's what's fucked up here. Who cares about the rest, you know? Arcana shit is Arcana shit. But she's your _mom_." _And the way she treated you makes me want to punch her REAL BAD_, he doesn't add. --- [Ciara] It's probably good that Satoshi's not picking up that last part telepathically. Probably. "Yeah." Satoshi meets Wataru's gaze. "Finding out about all the Arcana things just made it more complicated." --- [Jihatsu] "I'm not even sure I understand half of it," Wataru admits. "But I guess it does complicate things, huh? What's she even playing at?" He sighs. "I really haven't... haven't been paying enough attention to Shuffle. I. Uh. Got scared by an owl, and since I've sort of been..." He shrugs. --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks, rather in the manner of a nocturnal avian. "An... an owl?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru blinks back. "I. Yes? I told you about the owl, didn't I?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinks some more. "No? I mean I feel like if you'd told me about an owl, I would have remembered. That's pretty memorable." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru runs a hand through his hair. "Shit. Uh. So. So yeah, like, I was stalked by an owl for a while? Like a few months ago? I had to basically quit my job because of it. Anyway, it brought me a scroll - I know, I fucking know. But yeah, the... I think I did tell you about the Shuffle invitation, right? Did I just... did I just somehow neglect to mention it had been delivered via fucking Hogwarts nonsense owl?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi makes a few sounds that are between laughter and shock. "No, you didn't tell me you got a personal invitation to Shuffle via owl! That's... that's definitely a weirdly personal touch. Really weird. Kind of creepy. Definitely nonsense." --- [Jihatsu] "ALL OF THE ABOVE," Wataru agrees. "Anyway. It spooked me bad, and I kind of...........never followed up. Whoops...?" --- [Ciara] "Do you... do you still have the scroll?" Satoshi manages to ask, trying really hard not to laugh because this whole situation is kind of ridiculous, really. Honestly, Wataru's probably going to agree that it's ridiculous, too. --- [Jhatsu] "At home, yeah," he says. The ridiculousness is indeed beginning to get to him, too. --- [Ciara] "I wonder if they sent owls to anyone else? I didn't get one. Which is good, because I also would have totally and completely freaked the hell out, although an owl's probably easier to explain in the woods of Maine than in Tokyo." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru chuckles. "I'm glad you understand my freaking out. So yeah, not to derail or anything. Basically it means I don't really have a clue what's going on with Shuffle, or even why we especially care, except that we were - you all were, I mean, I guess I, me, wasn't - that you were excluded at first. And that maybe the World's behind it, and she's always trouble." --- [Ciara] "I *completely* understand your freaking out." Satoshi nods. "So, yeah... I signed up when I got back to Japan, because even though Kaede helped me with disguising network traffic and privacy and all that, there was no reason to give them any evidence that says 'hey there's someone in Maine!' I almost didn't sign up except for the Council election thing, which... yeah." Satoshi makes a face. --- [Jihatsu] "Right. Because all our friends are politicians now." He sighs. "Anyway." He relaxes against the couch a bit. "What did Kaede want with Yorihisa?" --- [Ciara] "Well, Yorihisa's involved in Shuffle - I think we'd talked about that - and he's also got this weird thing going with Kaede. Like I don't think they interacted that much in high school, but they were in the Computer Club together, and so I think Yorihisa maybe thinks Kaede is his destined rival or something. Except every time they've talked, Kaede's come out on top. So Kaede and Katie were figuring they could get more information out of him. Which is what led to where we are now." --- [Jihatsu] With every new sentence, Wataru's eyebrow inches higher. "Destined rival," he says, ultimately. "That's. That sure is a thing real people have." --- [Ciara] Satoshi grins. "It sure is! Don't you have one?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru thinks about this. "I mean, if I had to pick, Kaede's not a bad choice really," he says, laughing. "He'll never acknowledge it, which I could choose to see as a personal affront! To my honour! As a gentleman!" --- [Ciara] Satoshi snerks. "Honor duels are a pointless waste of his valuable time." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru chuckles...! "I'd say they're a pointless waste of anyone's time, but anyway. So he's probably showing off about this World thing regardless, right?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi nods. "Like I said, I don't think Yorihisa's promising he can't deliver, but he may be promising the most impressive thing he can deliver." --- [Jihatsu] "Right." Wataru sighs. He thinks for a bit. "So what are we worried about the most." --- [Ciara] Satoshi echos Wataru's sigh. "Well, I'm worried the most about what's going to happen when we have that meeting. Will it be just Kaede? Will more of us get to go? Is it actually going to be The World there, or her 'representative?' What does she want, really?" --- [Jihatsu] "Mmm, that sounds like questions more than worries," Wataru muses. "Like, I mean they're all super valid questions, but..." His hands form loose fists against his knees. "I want to try to help, if I can. And to help I need to know what we're up against. If there's anything I'm able to do that will ward against whatever we're scared of happening." --- [Ciara] "That's the thing. I'm not sure we know enough about the situation yet to really get that kind of a plan together." Satoshi thinks. "We don't know how many people will be there, and we don't know where it will be." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru taps his fingers on his knees. "I think.... I think I could probably... uh... like, do some kind of..." he blushes. "Protective spell. On Kaede, maybe, or you, or whoever. I don't know." He exhales. --- [Ciara] Satoshi considers this. "So is that what you mean by 'ward?' Or are your wards like a field and they cover an area rather than a specific person?" --- [Jihatsu] "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh I've never thought of that. I don't know, I'm still super new to this ritual magic thing... I *did* borrow a super cool book from Kyon though, wanna see?" --- [Ciara] "Sure! Was this part of your mystery solving? And do you want more water, or anything else to drink?" Satoshi stands up and picks up his own glass. --- [Jihatsu] "I think I'm okay for now, thanks," he says, getting up to fetch his bag. He pulls out the book on magical syncretism that Kyon so kindly lent him. "And yeah, I saw it in his library when I was over there and he was kind enough to let me borrow it." --- [Ciara] Satoshi goes to get himself more water. "I didn't know Kyon even had a library." --- [Jihatsu] "Duuuuuuude. It's wild. He has all these like, occult books and shit. I am, I will admit, mad envious." --- [Ciara] Satoshi returns, glass in hand, and sits back down on the couch in the same spot he had been. "I wonder where he got them?" --- [Jihatsu] "I didn't quite have the nerve to ask. Maybe he has a literary interest in them." --- [Ciara] "It's entirely possible. It's not the kind of thing you're just going to walk into your local bookstore and pick up, though." Satoshi attempts to peer at the cover. "So, what exactly is this one?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru shows it off! "It's about like, commonalities between different magical traditions, and combinations and blendings and stuff. Fascinating stuff. I've been getting tons of ideas just from looking through it... oh, and I have no idea if this is relevant at all, but check this out." He flips to the page with an illustration of a white baton that looks like it has a candle head on both sides, strikingly similar to a baton that appears in Rider- Waite depictions of the Magician and the World. "This is a Shinto thing, I'd have to ask Haruko about it I guess, but it looks a lot like that thing that shows up on the Magician and World cards of the Rider-Waite deck..." --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks a bit shy and slightly embarrassed. "That seems interesting, but before we get too far... uh... is Raider-Waite like the tarot standard or something?" --- [Jihatsu] "Oh - yeah! I uh... I would show you except that's not the deck I have, because I don't like how they look," he admits, laughing. "If you pull up your laptop there's definitely images online though. They're like old- timey illustrations with simple colours. Yours has like, butts on it, and a trumpet angel." --- [Ciara] Whatever Satoshi was expecting Wataru to say, that was not it. "I... what? I..." He reaches for his laptop and brings up a search window, typing in "rider Judgement." He clicks on the first result. Wataru was not wrong about any of this. He blushes and closes the laptop. "Okay, I *have* seen this before. I just..." He shuts the laptop. "*Why*?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru giggles! "Satoshi. In the face of COSMIC JUDGMENT are we not all naked? Are our souls not bare?" --- [Ciara] "I did *not* think it was supposed to be literal!" But Satoshi looks like he's on the verge of laughing himself, or at least he's blushing a bit less. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru cackles with delight!! Satoshi's thinkin' about butts and it's hilarious! --- [Ciara] Satoshi puts his head in his hands. "This was really not where I expected things to be going." And then he starts laughing a little himself. --- [Jihatsu] Yay! Laughter! "The Wheel moves in mysterious ways," Wataru concedes. --- [Ciara] Satoshi lifts his head up, smiling. "I guess it does. So I think that if I ever do get my own deck, it's, uh, probably not going to be that one." --- [Jihatsu] "I've shown you mine, right?" He tucks his feet up, sitting comfortably cross-legged on the couch, and pulls out his bento box with the deck inside. "Or have we only ever done this over video chat?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks mildly embarrassed. "I think last time I was paying more attention to what we were trying to do with them than what they actually looked like." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles a sunny smile, and opens the box! It's a set of very pretty art-nouveau style cards, with stylized plant motifs and flowy fabrics and similar designs. "Judgment in this one is... well," he holds the deck out to Satoshi, "pick and I'll show you." --- [Ciara] "That's very pretty," Satoshi says, before carefully reaching out to take a card about a third of the way down from the topmost one. He slowly turns it over. --- [Jihatsu] It's the head-on image of an angel, beautiful and androgynous, floating in flowy robes with their wings folded up and their eyes downturned. Their left hand holds a long narrow trumpet; their left hand extends gently downward, towards a small planet Earth at the lower middle of the card. The top and bottom of the card have more stylized planets lined up in arcs, making an oblong frame for the image. "Zero butts," Wataru says, quietly. --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks at the card for a moment. There's something almost calming about it, like it's representing power, but also... balance? Less overt weirdness? And also, as Wataru points out, zero butts. Satoshi makes another amused sound. "Yes." He holds the card back out to Wataru. "Thank you." He smiles. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles. "I actually like the Hanged Man one a bunch too," he says, drawing it out with nonchalant confidence, not even looking at the deck. It represents a bearded but not elderly man tied upside-down to the trunk of a truly glorious tree, with intricate branches and a serpent coiling in its roots. "It's very clearly Odin, and stuff, but I really like the focus on the tree. It helps me remember that like... yeah you have superpowers or whatever but it's never really about you." --- [Ciara] Satoshi examines the card. "I like that," he says quietly. "Both the drawing and what you said. That's a reallt good thing to keep in mind." He pauses. "I don't actually really know Odin, though?" --- [Jihatsu] "Me neither, but Kyon's book talks about it a bit. He's a Norse god, hung himself from a tree for nine days or something in order to... gain knowledge I think. Some people think he's the original Hanged Man, you know? The inspiration for the card symbolism. Although." Wataru frowns, runs a hand through his hair. "Maybe since, uh, like, all this is actually real, maybe that's not true actually...? I wish I knew the history of us. Where we came from, how long we've been around, all that. Did we emerge out of mythological archetypes or did we give rise to them in the first place?" He's sort of floating off into Scholar Space, oh no, reel him back! --- [Ciara] "Maybe both? Maybe there were some archetypes that created the first Arcana, and then we refined them further? I mean, the cards only date back so far - was there something like us before that, and how much did the cards shape what we ultimately became, and..." Sorry, Wataru. Looks like Satoshi *also* might be drifting along with you. "...although please don't hang yourself for like nine days to try and find out," he finishes. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru snooorrrts. "Promise. That sounds horribly stubborn even for me." He sighs, then settles comfortably against the couch, smiling. "This is so weird. It's just so weird that we're expected to be people and also whatever nonsense demon-fighting mythological bullshit we also are. Being a people is fucking hard enough, man." --- [Ciara] Satoshi nods. "Being people is hard. Some days, it's less hard, but some days, it's really hard." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru leans his head against Satoshi's shoulder, just the slightest shift to get there. "Yeah. Which I guess brings us back to the matter at hand," he says. --- [Ciara] Satoshi gently rests his head against Wataru's for a moment. "I guess it does." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles a little, his heart pounding wildly in his chest. Hopefully Satoshi can't hear it. "So what's the next step?" --- [Ciara] "Honestly, if you don't have anything happening for a bit, I'm starting to feel hungry, so would you like to have dinner? We could talk plans some more, and I can practice my oyakodon recipe since it's been a while." Satoshi would really like to hang out with Wataru for at least a little while longer, looks like. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles, his heart calming down a bit. "Yeah. That sounds really nice," he says. "And, yeah, plans. We can go over the options while we cook." --- [Ciara] A bit later, Satoshi and Wataru have moved from the couch to the kitchen, where they're both working on dinner preparations. Satoshi is currently cutting the chicken. "So, among the parts we don't know yet... who exactly will be there, where this is happening, and when this is happening. What we do know: we'll be able to ask questions." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru has taken onion duty. "I'd also add 'why this is happening' to the things we don't know," he says, sniffing under assault from onion fumes. "At least, what the other side's motivations are." --- [Ciara] "Yeah." Satoshi pauses cutting for a moment. "Is this a good opportunity for them? Have we pushed their hand somehow?" --- [Jihatsu] "Either them in general, or like, Yorihisa personally, or whatever." He squints, blinking back onion tears. Keeps chopping. "So I mean, maybe 'why now' is not a bad question to ask. If they'll answer it." --- [Ciara] Satoshi does a mental check of the amount of chicken he's cut up already and decides to add a bit more. (He's cooked this for Jin before. When in doubt, add more chicken.) "If they will, yeah. Did something change? Is it because I know about more things now? Or because of something Kaede found out?" --- [Jihatsu] "I feel like... like... There's a bunch of us and everyone is either researching something or going around talking to people or whatever, and Taki's dating the Hierophant's sister, and I'm an unknown quantity, and..." He exhales, shortly. "Like there's too much going on. I don't know if we can even guess what part of it matters to them." --- [Ciara] "It's a lot." Satoshi sets the knife down on the cutting board. "A whole lot. Heck, I don't even know what we know, let alone what they think we know." He pauses. "I anchored a Tower, though. That... might have been noticeable." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru glances at him and smirks. "You did do that. That was fucking awesome." --- [Ciara] Satoshi blushes a little bit. "You helped. With the redesign of the ritual. And that lead to learning more about what happened on the night Masaru and I got linked, and learning about Takeshi and while that opened up a whole bunch more questions, I'm glad I actually know." He picks up an egg and cracks it into a small bowl, then begins whisking it. "On the other hand, this whole Shuffle and Council and elections thing has been going on for a while now, so I wonder if anchoring the Tower affected their timetable or if it's unrelated. And what's happening with the World Reversed, too. Does that tie into anything?" --- [Jihatsu] "Hell if I know. But we should totally visit the World Reversed. Maybe we should make a list." He ponders. "World Reversed visit, and then some prep work for this bullshit with the World - I think the least we can do, the least I can do I guess, is approach it like we did the Tower. Assess the situation, maybe do a reading or other stuff to put together the tools you need, and then you go into it like... you know," he says, looking at Satoshi. "Like you're in charge. Don't let this be her game. She's your mom, but... You're your own man, and you're not a kid anymore. You can go into this with your eyes open and your thoughts clear." --- [Ciara] Satoshi quirks a half-smile as he beats the egg. "Well. First I actually need to get to go to this meeting, but. Clear thoughts and open eyes and a very good amount of preparation are all good ways to make my case. Because I really *do* want to be involved. And being mature and focused about this is the way to go. But yeah. Let's think about the World Reversed. We can start by checking out the Tower, yeah?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru makes himself not hesitate, instead closing the short distance between them to briefly rest a hand on Satoshi's back, near his shoulder blades. "Yeah. And I want to help you, okay? With this whole mom bullshit. I'm sure we all do. You're not in this alone." --- [Ciara] Satoshi relaxes. "Thank you. I'm glad you're here, and I'm glad that you want to help work this out." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles, and rubs his hand on Satoshi's back just the littlest bit. "I'm glad you're here too," he says, with a shy warmth. --- [Ciara] Satoshi's cheeks color slightly, but he gives Wataru a smile in return. "It's... it's really good to be back. Despite the mess with my mom and ... all the Arcana weirdness and everything ... I'm glad to be home, and to get to spend time with you." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's cheeks colour too, a soft heat filling his face as he smiles and takes his hand back. "Yeah. Go figure some Arcana nonsense would rear its head right away, huh? I was sort of looking forward to just hanging out and talking about regular stuff." He stretches a little. "Although okay yes I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the Arcana stuff at least a little bit." --- [Ciara] "Well, we can still hang out and talk about regular stuff, too. There's nothing stopping us from doing that." Satoshi resumes egg beating. "And the Arcana stuff is... it's much better than it used to be. Less scary now. Getting easier in places to talk about." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru also resumes his cookery. That went well. That went well? That went well. "Yeah, I think... like, I dunno, a few months ago I'd have been way more nervous about something like exploring the World Reversed. So it's getting easier for me, too." --- [Ciara] "I'm glad. Though we should definitely still be careful." Satoshi ponders for a moment as he finishes up with the egg. "Although... I don't actually know how to get to the World Reversed without using a field." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru goes over to the stove. "Huh? What do you mean?" --- [Ciara] "The only way I've been to the World Reversed was by someone making a field inside the Tower." Satoshi ponders. "There might be other ways, but yeah, that's the one I know. Which is why, if nothing else, we could start by checking out the Tower?" --- [Jihatsu] "Like what Katie does, where it gets quiet?" --- [Ciara] "Kind of, but not exactly. It's like a field in that she's using her powers, and it's localized to a particular area. But a field is... it's kind of like temporarily being moved into an alternate dimension? It's the only ability that I know of that multiple Arcana have. Basically, only Arcana can be in it - non-Arcana either look like they disappear or they can't come back in after they leave, and electronics don't work, and anything that gets damaged inside the field isn't damaged in the real world." He grimaces slightly. "Fights in fields were a thing that happened. Also I can sense them when they go up, which, I mean, okay if people are disappearing and the lights go out, everyone's going to notice, but sometimes it was less obvious and being able to just telepathically go 'field!' to people as w warning was helpful." --- [Jihatsu] "Ohhh like what Reiji's sister did. Okay. Yeah. I've been in those." He gets the pan ready. "They can get you into the World Reversed?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi starts placing onions in the pan. "Yeah, she can make them. Taki can, too, though her control's shaky. So can Akemi, and Matthias... I'm not sure if you've met him, but he got me into the World Reversed by a field at the Tower once." --- [Jihatsu] "Y-- wait no I'm thinking about Masaru. Different guy?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks amused. "*Very* different. Matthias Weiss, went to the same high school as Akemi, knew Kyon for a while, and is now... I think Haruko said he's studying law? He's a Pentacle." --- [Jihatsu] "Mm," Wataru muses. "Don't think I've met him. He sounds German?" --- [Ciara] "Yeah, could be. Oh, could you hand me the sauce mix?" --- [Jihatsu] "Oh, yep! Sure thing!" He passes it over. "So I guess neither of us knows how to make a field, huh?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi pours some of it into the pan, then sets the bowl down and uses the knife to slide some of the chicken from the cutting board into the pan. "I don't. I kind of feel like if it were a thing I could do, I'd probably have figured it out by now? My ability to sense fields isn't something I consciously do. I feel this tingling sensation on the back of my neck whenever I'm in one." --- [Jihatsu] "Oh, neat. Yeah I've never felt that. I've also never tried making a field, though... I guess I'd know if I could do it...?" --- [Ciara] "You might not be able to do the standard Arcana one, but maybe you could ritual magic up something?" Satoshi ponders this as he pokes at some of the chicken to distribute it more evenly. "Like it'd be more... static? Tied to a spell? I admit that I have *no* idea what the right vocabulary for magic is." --- [Jihatsu] "Oh, funky," Wataru says, impressed. "That's creative. Maybe! I wonder." --- [Ciara] Satoshi adjusts the heat, then looks back at Wataru. "And I'm realizing that I'm talking about magic with you and not freaking out or getting really scared?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru grins!! "Maaaaaagic." --- [Ciara] Satoshi gives him a small smile. "Magic. And I mean, you could maybe ask Akemi how she does it, just to see if that connects any dots for you. Out of all the people who can make fields that I know, she's probably the, uh, friendliest." --- [Jihatsu] "She sure is friendly," he says, blushing. He stirs the chicken a bit. --- [Ciara] Satoshi also blushes. (This might also be one of Akemi's Arcana powers). "So, uh. Yeah. Actually... how did you guys get back from the World Reversed? This is... this is a very important thing to consider." --- [Jihatsu] "HANDHOLDING," Wataru says. --- [Ciara] Satoshi blinkblinks. "Handholding?" --- [Jihatsu] "Yeaahh. I had to hold hands with Haruko and Kaede and everyone stood around together and Kyoko Ozora booped us back into the real world." --- [Ciara] Satoshi laughs. "Boop?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru blushes harder, but laughs. "Yeah! You know! Boop!" --- [Ciara] "Boop." Satoshi attempts a solemn nod but ends up laughing even harder. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru is almost self-conscious, but he ends up leaning into the silly - and into Satoshi, putting a hand over his giggling face as he lets his weight rest against Satoshi's warmth. "It's important to uh. Proper terminology is important." --- [Ciara] Satoshi's laughter is more gentle now. "Very important." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru's giggles subside, and he doesn't linger against Satoshi's side - the pull to snuggle is strong, but he overcomes it, and attends to the cooking. --- [Ciara] Satoshi is near-snuggled, but Kitchen Vigilance intervenes. He too keeps an eye on the cooking. "So yeah, we might need to end up getting help from someone to, uh, boop us. I got back from the World Reversed either from someone using a field from the Tower, or Jin. And we can't expect Jin, even if we do have chicken." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru smiles. "Man, I haven't seen that guy in ages. Weren't you roommates at some point?" --- [Ciara] "Yeah, he stayed with me for a while. It was... interesting, sometimes. But ultimately, it was nice." Satoshi looks contemplative for a moment. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru leans against the counter, watching him. --- [Ciara] "He came to Maine to show me the Tower in Bangor. I told you that, right? That it was Jin who showed me?" Satoshi checks the heat on the pan again. "I freaked the heck out when I realized the building elevator had a down button just like the Tower here does, and even more when we stepped out of the elevator into the Tower there." --- [Jihatsu] "You did, yeah. How did he know...?" --- [Ciara] "To quote him, 'I'm not sure.'" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru snerks. "That is his answer, isn't it." --- [Ciara] Satoshi nods and turns the heat down, then picks up the lid and covers the pan. "I guess maybe Winston could have sent him? Or maybe he just knows things sometimes without knowing why." --- [Jihatsu] "This seems like an apropos skill for The Fool to have." He exhales. "It's still just so weird that we're, like, supernatural playing card archetype people. Like what the fuck." --- [Ciara] "I agree, it's weird." Satoshi leans against the counter. "I wonder if we came first in some form, and then the cards, and then we sort of changed to match the cards, or if we were created specifically because of the cards? Does Odin predate the tarot?" --- [Jihatsu] "Odin predates the tarot," Wataru nods, semi-decisively. "Fairly certain there. I feel like probably there were some Egyptian deities or something even before Odin, that might have had those kinds of traits too. Although I don't really know what I'm talking about. But the, like, the idea of figures who represent certain attributes... that's old as shit, yeah?" --- [Ciara] "I think so. I mean, Japan has them, too, so it would make sense. Every place has stories." Satoshi has a small smile. --- [Jihatsu] "Mm hm." Wataru smiles back. "It's so weird *being* them, though." He looks away thoughtfully. "I don't feel like a story. You know? I just feel like a dude." --- [Ciara] Satoshi's smile widens as he reaches out and gives Wataru a very gentle nudge on the arm. "I mean, you're right. You do, in fact, feel like a dude. But you do have a story. We all do." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru blushes furiously, and laughs. --- [Ciara] Satoshi beams delightedly at Wataru, then turns his attention back to the stove for a moment to check on dinner. "I think we're about ready for eggs?" --- [Jihatsu] "YEP, EGGS TIME," Wataru says, a little too loudly, but who's counting? --- [Ciara] Satoshi is not, apparently, as he lifts the lid off the pan and begins pouring in the eggs. "So yeah. We'll keep adding new chapters." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru beams. "You are literally the cutest. Yeah. Okay. New chapters. Maybe I can work with that." --- [Ciara] Satoshi nearly drops the egg bowl in the ensuing MEGABLUSH. He manages to just barely hang on, though. "Oh! Um." Words are hard, apparently. "Thank you? I'm... not sure anyone's ever really said that about me." He sets the bowl down, attempting to gather some of his composure, and gives Wataru a shy smile. "But... yeah. New chapters." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru glances at him, nibbling his lip. "I mean, you are," he says, "that's just facts." Then back to business - he picks up the spoon and hands it to Satoshi. "Think the rice is ready?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi takes the spoon, still with a small shy smile and reddened cheeks, feeling like he's just finished a particularly vigorous workout. "Yeah, I'll check." He goes over to the rice cooker, where the rice does, in fact, appear to be ready. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru briefly lifts the lid on the oyakodon and checks it out too. Coming along nicely! His glasses are all steamed up when he covers it up again. --- [Ciara] Satoshi glances over at Wataru and sees his steamed-up glasses and he can't help but giggle just a little. --- [Jihatsu] "What." --- [Ciara] Satoshi looks mildly sheepish. "Sorry. Your glasses... they're all fogged up." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru chuckles, and takes them off, looks at them. "They do that sometimes, I guess." --- [Ciara] Satoshi goes to get bowls for the rice. "I mean I've never seen anyone who has glasses have that happen before, though it makes sense." --- [Jihatsu] "It happened so often in the kitchen when I helped out at the restaurant that I sort of have learned to ignore it. It'll evaporate quickly enough." He puts them back on; already, the middles of the lenses are transparent again. --- [Ciara] "Yeah, I guess it would. So you've had glasses since you were little, then?" Satoshi scoops out some rice for himself, then holds up the bowl for Wataru to look at. "Do you want about this much?" --- [Jihatsu] Wataru peers. "Yeah, that looks good. And yeah. Since I was like, a baby basically. Before school." --- [Ciara] Satoshi pictures a smaller Wataru with a smaller pair of glasses and smiles. He scoops rice into another bowl and sets them both on the counter near where Wataru is checking the oyakodon. "Here you go." --- [Jihatsu] "Thank you~" Wataru wants to make sure the oyakodon doesn't burn, but isn't too runny, either! Cooking is fun. --- [Ciara] "You're welcome!" Cooking *is* fun. Satoshi goes to get some chopsticks. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru feels that the mood has changed, but not in a bad way. It had gotten a little more flirty than anything he's used to, so focusing on food and letting some time pass isn't bad. Ah! The oyakodon is ready! --- [Ciara] Satoshi sets out the chopsticks on the kitchen table, then goes to retrieve their water glasses from the living room. "Do you want more water? Or would you like something else?" --- [Jihatsu] "Hmm, maybe more water!" --- [Ciara] Satoshi fills both glasses and sets them on the table. "How's the oyakodon coming?" --- [Jihatsu] "Ready! Want me to serve us both, or...?" --- [Ciara] "Sure!" Satoshi double-checks to make sure they're not missing anything, but things look good to him. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru ladles the deliciously fragrant combo of chicken, onion, and egg over the rice! He then covers the pan again and brings both bowls over to the kitchen table, with a smile. --- [Ciara] "Oh man, that smells fantastic." Satoshi smiles back. --- [Jihatsu] "Heck yeah it does." He takes a seat! "This was a good idea." --- [Ciara] Satoshi sits down as well. "It really was." He puts his hands together. "Itadakimasu!" This may not help with dispelling any thoughts about how he is literally the cutest. --- [Jihatsu] Wataru chuckles softly. "Itadakimasu." --- [Ciara] Satoshi picks up his chopsticks and digs in. "Wow, this is really good," he says after chewing and swallowing a few bites. "I feel like it's a little different from how I usually make it, but I can't really say exactly how? But yeah, really good." --- [Jihatsu] "Haha. Teamwork makes food taste different?" --- [Ciara] Satoshi grins. "It just might." --- [Jihatsu] Wataru chuckles, and looks down at his food. "Well, teamwork tastes pretty good." [End!]