[December 28th, 2003] [Time: Early afternoon] [As promised, Satoshi and Katie have met up for foods and chatting and general hanging out. They're making their way through a shopping arcade, where they can browse stores and various foods - things on sticks, snacks, sweets, and other tasty items.] [It's a reasonably nice day, although still cold, as it is December.] [Session Start!] * Satoshi is munching on some yakitori that he picked up from one of the shops. * Katie is with Satoshi, the skip back in her step and whatever was bothering her during the gathering apparently gone. She's eating warm melonpan she picked up. Her gloves are off in light of the food, and she's wearing the same coat/hat/scarf combination she did last time, complete with a little wooden guardian lion charm on the zipper. * Katie has that satchel over her shoulder, as usual. It's not the same as the one she had in high school, but still... Satoshi likely figures it serves the same purpose as before, just without textbooks right now. * Satoshi has his University of Maine jacket on, although he now has a blue and black scarf to go with it. A present? Or just something he picked up? He finishes chewing and looks at Katie's charm. "That's cute. Did you make it?" * Katie smiles. "Yeah." She stops and shifts the bread to one hand, holding the lion between her fingers and pulling it a little away from the zipper so Satoshi can see it more clearly. It's a male lion, more natural looking than a classic guardian lion, with a baseball under his paw where the decorative ball would normally go. * Satoshi takes a look. "Neat. The baseball's for Kyon, I take it?" Yup. I made a matching pair for him for Christmas. It took me two whole blocks of boxwood to get right. I'll bet. It's really detailed. * Katie smiles, blushing slightly. "I was really nervous, giving it to him. How do you know what to *give* Kyon? He can buy basically anything. And he does." You put a lot of thought into it. Meanwhile, I bring nicely wrapped food items from abroad. Very traditional Japanese gifting. Hopefully he actually enjoys them. He'll use them. * Katie nudges Satoshi in the arm with a grin. "Don't worry about it." Okay, good. If you have suggestions for wacky American foods to bring back later, let me know. Oh, I could make a list. Root beer. Peanut butter! Have you tried peanut butter yet? Yes. It was really... sticky. I wasn't expecting that. I thought it would be more like, well, butter. I wasn't sure I'd be able to swallow it. Liam was laughing his head off. It stops hiccups. * Katie then blinks. "Who's Liam?" Oh, he's one of my teammates. Hang on a sec. * Katie moves out of incoming people-traffic, ending up in front of a takoyaki stand. She moves aside for the people heading for it. There, *by* the takoyaki stand. Better. * Satoshi pulls out his phone and starts scrolling through the pictures. He hands it to Katie. There's Satoshi posing with a blond guy in a hockey jersey and an African-American guy in goalie gear. "Liam's the one in the middle. Grant's on his left." Liam's a good winger. * Katie takes another bite of melonpan before taking the phone from Satoshi. "Mmph." She swallows. "Liam's cute. He also looks full of himself." She peers at it. "I think it's the smile." You're not really wrong. He's aware of his skills. At first I thought he really didn't like me, but then I figured out that he really gives everyone grief, particularly people he wants to do well. So tough love? Grant looks a lot more open. * Katie hands Satoshi his phone back. Liam's from Western Canada, so he's all, "Hey, I came from a foreign country, too!" We all just... kind of ignore the fact that it's one that speaks English and has a lot more in common with America than Japan does. Grant's really nice. He's a good goalie, but has the unfortunate problem of being backup to a backup who's also really good. Still, guys'll graduate, and then he'll get his shot. * Katie smiles. "Yeah. So they're both freshmen, like you?" She goes back to walking! Yep, all first-years. Liam and I are on the same line. Uh, how much do you know about hockey? * Katie laughs. Practically nothing, sorry. Sports aren't really my thing. Okay, well, lemme give you a quick definition. Basically, you have three forwards and two defensemen and a goalie. The three forwards are generally referred to as a line, and most teams have three or four lines. Liam and I are fourth line. Oh, I see. So you need to work together even more closely than other people on your team. Who's the third guy on your line? It varies. Sometimes it's Joshua. Sometimes it's Mathieu. They're both second-years. * Katie nods. "But you and Liam are always together, huh." She takes the phone again without asking and looks at the picture a second time. * Katie also finishes off her melonpan while she's at it. Yep, turns out we work really well together. It's always people you don't expect, isn't it. * Katie gets curious and starts flipping through some of Satoshi's other pictures. It's obvious she's doing it, at least. * Satoshi doesn't seem to mind. There's more hockey pictures, some of the three hanging out around campus, a few pictures of Acadia in the fall. Some random pictures of buildings around campus. I wasn't expecting a brash Canadian, no. * Katie nods and comments, almost but not quite offhandedly, "It looks like you found some good friends over there. Moving to a new country is always hard." She hands the phone back to Satoshi and goes back to walking. * Satoshi takes the phone back and follows alongside her. "It is. I was really homesick at first. Still am, sometimes." He hesistates for a moment, and then asks, "Do you miss America?" Yeah. My parents are thinking of moving back. * Satoshi blinks. "Really? Would... would you go with them?" * Katie shakes her head. * Satoshi looks contemplatively off into the distance. "You'd stay here, then." * Katie twists her fingers together, looking down at them while she walks. "My life is here. My parents don't- will never understand." * Satoshi lets out a breath. "I guess... they couldn't." I don't want that for them. I want them to be happy. * Katie lets out a breath, then pulls her hat farther down over her ears. "That's away from me, in a place where my dad can speak the language." Hey... * Satoshi reaches out and gently puts an arm around her shoulders. * Katie freezes at the touch, stopping and going completely still while looking down and ahead. * Satoshi drops his arm. "I'm sorry. Apparently I shouldn't do that?" It's definitely a question. * Katie says, distantly, "No." And then she looks at Satoshi, her gaze suddenly sharp, and she snaps in English, "" * Satoshi lets out a sound that's not quite a laugh and hugs. Oh, does he hug. * Katie hugs! And sticks her face in his genuine University of Maine jacket. * Satoshi continues to hug and does not mind her face being there. * Katie stays that way for must be a minute, maybe more, and people need to step carefully around the weirdos hugging in the middle of an arcade. Eventually she lets out a long sigh, her face still in jacket. "Thanks." * Satoshi does not care about being weird in public, though loosens his grip slightly so that she can move her face back if she wants. "You're welcome." * Katie looks up at Satoshi and smiles wanly. She steps back, taking his hand and walking again, further solidifying couple status among strangers. * Satoshi walks, hand-in-hand. The mistaken-for-couple-by-strangers thing doesn't seem to be bothering him at all. "I need to find a way to send more hugs via e-mail. I'd ask Kaede to get on that, but he'd probably say it was a waste of his valuable time." * Katie laughs. Probably not. But it does sound impossible. I'm glad you're here to give them. Me too. * Katie looks at Satoshi. "Do you think you'll ever move back?" Eventually. It'll depend on how things go. I don't see myself staying in America forever... but if I make it as a pro, then I'll be over there for most of the year. I'll come back to Tokyo for the offseason, though. And if I don't make it over there, well, Japan has hockey teams. * Katie nods and looks at the sky, stretching her arms (one has a Satoshi hand attached!) and says, a bit wistfully, "It's good to know what you're doing with your life." This assumes I don't flunk out of college and end up being a goon somewhere in mid-Canada. But you'd make such a *good* goon. It's the nose, isn't it? * Katie laughs. "Yeah." She reaches up to poke Satoshi's nose. "But I like it. Nobody else has a nose like you do." * Satoshi blinks as he is nosepoked. And then he just starts laughing right in the middle of the street. Passing pedestrians stare at them oddly. He doesn't care. * Katie grins, and she skips a couple of steps backwards when the way is clear. Good hearing and peripheral vision is so handy. "Let's go somewhere fun. Somewhere quieter." Okay, lead on. * Katie does! She leads on, weaving through the crowds, and eventually after a screenwipe she and Satoshi end up in a coffee shop. She's grabbed a table right by the windows even if it's colder and is keeping her coat on even though it's unzipped now. The hat and scarf are off, though; her collar is low enough that the scar is showing today. * Satoshi sits down across from her and removes his scarf. * Katie grabbed a hot chocolate. She blows on it, tries to drink, and then sets it back down. Too hot! So instead, she pushes her drink aside and sets her bag on the table with a thunk. * Satoshi has some sort of coffee-based drink. He eyes the bag. "What's in there?" Stuff. * Katie opens the bag and looks inside, not letting Satoshi see. Hm, what first... Yes, that definitely sounded like stuff. * Katie sticks her tongue out at Satoshi, then pulls an art book out from her bag and hands it to him. On the cover is The Magician, only with a peacock instead of a man. * Satoshi takes it. "Oooh, bird tarot?" He starts flipping through. * Katie smiles, picking up her drink again and sipping. She doesn't seem put off by the heat this time. "Yeah, a birthday present from Kaede." * Satoshi comes to the Hanged Man. "Oh, now I see what you meant about Wataru. Neat bird." He continues flipping until he comes to Judgement. "I'm... an ostrich?" * Katie laughs. "Yes!" Dare I ask why? I don't know why *she* drew you as an ostrich, but look. They're stubborn and tough and really strong, in personality and physically. Mess with an ostrich, and there's going to be a... a . * Katie reaches over to tap the picture across from her. "Plus, look at that face." I am looking at that face. I admit it's kind of cute. * Katie grins. "Right?" She holds a pen out to Satoshi. * Satoshi takes the pen. "What's this for?" Your autograph. Japanese or English? Or both? Whatever you want. * Satoshi writes his name in very neat kanji at the bottom of the page. "There." * Katie beams. "Thanks!" She doesn't move to take it back, though, since Satoshi might want to keep flipping through. * Satoshi does, in fact, want to keep flipping through. He finds Taki the pigeon (complete with Taki's signature) and then turns the page to Haruko. "Ooh, Haruko has a pretty one. Very blue. What is it?" A formosan magpie. * Satoshi chuckles. "Did not know they came in blue." He continues onward and finds Kaede's hummingbird. "Oh, those are the little ones that dart around all the time, right? Appropriate for Kaede. Keeping busy." Yeah, I'm pretty impressed with the birds she picked. * Satoshi turns the page and see the signature. "What's this one for Akemi?" * Katie leans over to see it again. "That's a woodpecker. They're really hard working birds, too." They peck holes into trees in order to reach the bugs they eat for food. * Satoshi shakes his head. "I can't see Akemi doing exactly that in real life, but the hard work sounds right." * Katie shrugs. "Yeah, well, woodpeckers are also pretty antisocial, so. Win some and lose some?" * Satoshi continues to flip through the book. "Aww, yours is cute!" * Katie smiles. "Thanks." * Satoshi stops at a flash of red. "Oh, a cardinal! I've seen those now! They're really neat!" Then he glances at who the cardinal is. "Ah." He turns the page. "Well, there's a lot of interesting birds in America." There are a lot of interesting birds *everywhere*. It'd be impossible to see them all. Cardinals, I really like. * Satoshi finally gets to Kyon's heron. "Hm, Kyon's not quite this striped." Not *always*. Have you seen his wardrobe? Not really. Stripes? He's a fan. Did not know that. Maybe he should've ended up with the Tigers. * Katie laughs. "Yeah, it's a better cat for him, I think." * Satoshi carefully closes the book and hands it back to Katie. "How's his cat doing? I remember he has a cat but can't remember the cat's name." Kumaguro's okay. He keeps trying to get in my room so he can scratch on the canvas. That's not very nice of him. * Katie shrugs. "He's a cat." She takes the book back and puts it in her bag, then pulls out something else: a package, wrapped in red christmas paper with gold ribbon. This is true. And is this for me? How'd you know? * Katie hands it to Satoshi! "From me and Haruko. Merry Christmas." Well, it'd be a bit awkward if you pulled out a present and- you *and* Haruko? Should I be scared? * Katie smiles sweetly, which btw, yes. Pretty scary depending on how you look at it. "No." * Katie sips her hot chocolate! * Satoshi unties the bow, then carefully unwraps the present. * Katie watches. [Inside the box is a clam-shelled webcam. It's a sort designed for easy clipping onto a laptop. It's not the fanciest available tech, but it promises to be able to be able to stream video or take quality pictures. There's also a printout with installation instructions and with a note that Haruko would be happy to help there but Takeuchi-san could do it, no problem.] [The printout is actually from a third party website with annotations. Apparently Haruko does not think that the included manual is up likely to be up to snuff.] Oh, a webcam! This is great! Now I'll be able to see you guys when I talk to you! Thank you! Err, wait, you'll be able to see me. I'm so excited I'm thinking backwards, apparently. * Katie laughs. "It's okay." I can get a webcam, too. I don't know if Haruko has one already. Yeah, it'd be cool if we could see each other. * Katie looks down into her hot chocolate. "Yeah." She turns her attention back to Satoshi. "I'm glad you're not running." Me too. I'll miss being able to see you in person, but I'll be back in May. * Katie nods. "Yeah. May." She drinks more chocolate. We shall talk a lot between now and then. That's a promise. * Katie looks at Satoshi, then past him. She lowers her drink. "Okay," she breathes. "It's a promise." [And so promises were made, drinks were finished, hugs were given, and Satoshi and Katie scheduled their first chat for once he gets back to Maine.] [Session End!]