01<@Ardweden> [January 4, 2004.]
 01<@Ardweden> [Kaede sent Wataru a text late that morning, asking if he 
could meet up with him at the Tower Reversed at some point today. He 
requested Wataru meet up with him, because there's someone who'd like to 
meet him. Wataru, maybe because he's deliberately trying to trust the 
group at this point, agreed. At least he knows how to get there now.]
 01<@Ardweden> [So we open in the Tower Reversed's lobby in the late 
afternoon, with the sun setting over Tokyo's upside down horizon. Who got 
there first? Let's find out!]
 01<@Ardweden> [Start!]
 06* Wataru feels tired today, groggy and weird, especially after the nap 
he took this afternoon. Afternoon naps, especially if they last longer 
than like an hour - always a bad idea, he mulls, as he approaches the 
Tower. His hands are shoved into his pockets, and he's wearing a navy 
blue Waseda sweatshirt under his long coat today, for a change of pace. 
Trying not to show hesitation, he approaches the elevator and catches the 
Down button at a glance. He takes a breath, and presses it.
 01<@Ardweden> [After a couple of minutes, the light above the elevator 
pops on, and the elevator opens. There are a number of other people at 
Tokyo Tower right now, but none of them are looking to use the same 
elevator he is.]
 06* Wataru steps in and takes another, deeper breath. Time to not throw 
up. He presses the button and lets the elevator take him to that place 
that shouldn't exist.
 01<@Ardweden> [The elevator goes down-up in the nauseatingly familiar 
way that way only that elevator can. After a number of minutes, it dings 
pleasantly and opens its doors into the Tower Reversed's lobby.]
 06* Wataru looks out..... Empty. He was here first. Fine, that's 
fine..... Carefully, Wataru heads out of the elevator. He looks around, 
remembering the hiding places and telekinesable objects from last time, 
but really, he's not feeling it today... There are other ways to solve 
problems, and they're a lot more interesting to him this afternoon, 
somehow. He goes to the windows and watches the inverted sunset, training 
his brain to accept what his senses are saying.
<Kaede> [There's a ding from the elevator and it starts moving down. This 
session has not been commandeered by a certain villain, we promise.]
 06* Wataru turns to watch the door...
 06* Kaede is standing in the doorway, texting on his phone. Obviously. 
He looks cool and comfortable. Like some sort of shark or something. 
Well, he certainly is dressed like one. At least the business suit. Semi-
formal, semi-business casual. But either way, he's in rather nice attire, 
even with a tie! And he has company it looks like too.
 06* Wataru looks at him. Who wears a suit, seriously? During the 
holidays?
 01<@Ardweden> [Kaede's company is an extraordinarily beautiful, curvy 
young woman about his and Wataru's age. She's about average height with 
expressive dark brown eyes and blond-streaked medium-length hair, and 
she's wearing a long, light blue coat, cute boots, and hot pink earmuffs 
and mittens. She spots Wataru and her eyes immediately light up. 
"<Herro!>" she calls in terrible English, waving as she steps out of the 
elevator.]
 01<@Ardweden> [Wataru gets the feeling that he's seen this girl at some 
point before, but when and how escapes him.]
 06* Wataru is gay, but even he is impressed by this young lady's pretty 
face and shapely shapes. Wowza! "Haah, hallo," he manages back! "Hi." 
This?? *This* is who Kaede wanted him to meet?
 01<@Ardweden> [The girl smiles, and it's dazzling. She turns to Kaede, 
who's probably still checking his phone. "Is this Wataru Yamada-san? You 
didn't tell me that he's so cute!"]
 06* Kaede looks up from the phone, unfrazzled, but it looks as if he was 
half-paying attention the whole time. His hand is in his other pocket as 
he flips it closed. "Ah. Yamada-san. I..." His cool and comfortable 
demeanor is interrupted by the woman. "I...I didn't really think that was 
important." He steps out now.
 01<@Ardweden> ["Of *course* it's important," the girl says, chidingly.]
 06* Wataru feels stupidly flattered that she - and! implicitly! Kaede! - 
think he's cute. Blaah! He tries to suppress a goofy grin!
 06* Kaede sighs slightly and then looks about, regaining his composure. 
He looks Wataru over with a cool expression. "Thank you for meeting us 
here, Yamada-san. Although it seems someone else got to you first, yes?"
 06* Wataru is momentarily confused, and then clears up. "Oh - Yes, 
Katie, and Kyon Sorata. And we met someone else here, but he wasn't 
invited." He smiles at the young woman, and gives her a warmly polite 
bow. "I presume you're the person Takeuchi-san wanted me to meet. I'm 
Yamada Wataru. It's a pleasure, miss."
 06* Kaede tilts his head to the side somewhat. Polite. He did introduce 
himself as Takeuchi, but at least he's following suit. He does look 
curious though. "Oh? Whom?"
 01<@Ardweden> [The girl bounces once, in place, before bowing back. 
"Akemi Shiraishi. Pleased to meet you!"]
<Wataru> "I think his name was Masaru," Wataru replies to Kaede, after 
finishing the polite interaction with Akemi. "A painter." He's surprised 
Katie didn't tell him... Suspicious. 
 01<@Ardweden> ["I know Masaru! Gustave, Victor, Washington, Philippe. He 
comes here a lot!" Akemi seems to like exclamation points more than 
Izumi.]
 06* Kaede squints a little bit. "Masaru..." And now he's pinching the 
bridge of his nose, silently ughing. "Ah yes. The ar-TEIST. I...don't 
know what to make of him..."
 06* Wataru files away those names. Gustave, Victor, Washington, 
Philippe? He wonders if they're maybe all famous painters or something, 
why all those aliases? "Friend of yours?" he asks, mostly to Akemi, but 
it's fairly open.
 01<@Ardweden> ["Not really!" Akemi smiles, taking any edge off of that. 
"But he's not bad. He always has interesting stuff to say."]
 06* Kaede groans. "Acquaintance. You...if he was your first, I would say 
that's not the best first impressions. I apologize on all of our 
behalves. Not that there was ever, exactly, a united front..." He steps 
forward to look outside the glass at the upside-down world.
<Wataru> "There's a lot of us, then," Wataru says, following him easily 
enough. 
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi bounces across the room to look out the window 
while the guys talk.]
 06* Kaede looks over his shoulder, not budging from the glass. "As many 
as there are cards. And then some. You would *think* there would have 
been a better plan at work, wouldn't you?" He sighs a little and turns 
around, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Quite honestly, I kind of had 
hoped to show you the Tower first. But I suppose it doesn't *really* 
matter..."
 06* Wataru actually smiles, although it's faint. "Katie and Kyon told me 
basically nothing. And I was more or less too busy feeling too nauseous 
to take in much, and then Masaru stole the show. Honestly, if there's 
anything you want to show me, consider me a novice and show away."
 06* Kaede looks a little suspiciously through the glasses for a second, 
but then pushes his glasses up. "Well...hard to say." He glances at Akemi 
for a moment. "What do you think is important?"
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi looks back. She pulls her earmuffs down, so they're 
around her neck, and tucks her mittens into her pockets.]
 01<@Ardweden> [She shrugs. "I dunno." And she smiles, a little ditzy. 
"Things mostly worked out well for me in that whole thing. But I stayed 
out of the fighting."]
 06* Wataru also puts his hands in his pockets, wondering what card Akemi 
is. But he already has more questions than he can count.... He wonders if 
this might not be a good chance to start asking some of them. "Katie 
implied this was the *actual* Tower Reversed, like some people are 
cards," he says. "Does that mean Tokyo Tower is The Tower? Are any other 
cards not people?"
 06* Kaede nods slightly and gestures. "Tower Reversed." He gestures 
outwardly to the window. "World Reversed. As far as we know. We never 
actually found the person. But odds are on the Tower being the Tower, 
yes. It was always the attractor of destruction..."
 01<@Ardweden> ["A lot of us think the Wheel of Fortune isn't a person," 
Akemi says, helpfully. "Nobody I know's met him or her if it is."]
 06* Kaede then sighs and settles down, plopping into an empty couch. 
"Yes. The Wheel too. It's also thought that the Wheel was the one that 
really brought us all *here*..."
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi nods, her expression becoming more serious.]
 06* Wataru perks up at this. "In a literal way? Because... I mean, I was 
in America until... just before this started. I've thought for a while 
that something meant for me to be here, during ... well, the events we 
both were involved in." He glances at Akemi, unsure where she stands in 
all this.
 01<@Ardweden> ["You weren't the only one who got dragged to Tokyo," 
Akemi says. "Katie did, too. And Matthias, and Soleil... I think Akito 
was born in Japan, at least." She frowns slightly, and it's adorable.]
 06* Kaede quirks an eyebrow at Wataru, then gestures his hand vaguely in 
a circle. "Don't you think it weird? There's an entire world out there. 
Japan is a small set of Islands. It wouldn't make sense for 78 cards to 
just...happen to be all in the same place simply by *chance*, now would 
it?"
<Wataru> "But didn't it all happen here before, too? There's got to be a 
reason it's Japan. Whatever it is that's happening. Even if the tarot 
itself is originally a medieval European thing, right? Whatever's behind 
things, the Wheel of Fortune like you said, maybe, it wants things to 
happen in Japan. I mean, I don't think I've ever met one of us who wasn't 
at least partly Japanese. There's gotta be a connection."
 06* Kaede thinks about what Akemi just said and then hrms, rubbing his 
chin. "Actually, now that I think about it, you *did* go to Cardinaux-
san's school, didn't you? How well did you know her?"
 06* Wataru realizes he's getting carried away - Kaede is feeding into 
his curiosity, and he's revealing more than he might have wanted to.
<Wataru> "Cardinaux? She was the exchange student, right? I basically 
didn't know her at all." Wataru frowns. "She was Arcana?" So many...
 06* Kaede nods solemnly, then put his fingers together. "We had to work 
together quite a lot actually. I think..." He frowns a little bit. "I 
believe she was there when we had to talk to Motobuchi-san that one 
time..." He squints his eyes as he tries to recall everything.
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi shrugs and heads over of the chairs. She sets 
herself comfortably into one near Kaede.]
 06* Wataru finds a seat too, but doesn't get too cozy. "Izumi?" he 
frowns. "What does she have to do with this?"
 06* Kaede blinks a little and looks up at Wataru's reaction. "It..." He 
pinches his nose. "Not much. It just happened by chance. It was a long 
time ago really. One of her friends was involved. Why?"
<Wataru> "She... she's a friend," he shrugs. "I haven't told her 
anything. She's not Arcana too or anything, right?"
 06* Kaede rubs his nose carefully. "Not that I can recall. There were so 
many. It's hard to keep track. I apologize..."
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi looks at Kaede, mild concern showing, and then she 
turns that expression to Wataru. "If she's not, you shouldn't tell her." 
She's completely serious now. "Temperance might erase her memory."]
<Wataru> "Whoa, what?" Wataru frowns at her. "--I mean, I wasn't planning 
to. I've never talked about this to anyone alive except you guys, I mean, 
Katie and all of you. Who's Temperance?"
 06* Kaede looks up and glances at Akemi for a moment, not sure about the 
look. "I..." He suddenly closes his mouth as the question is asked and 
gives Akemi a *Look.* Mind meld?
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi blinks at Kaede innocently.]
 06* Wataru looks between them. What.
 06* Kaede gives a small sigh at that and then rubs the bridge of his 
nose. "I'll be honest here. We...Arcana, if you'd like to call it...we 
have all been through a lot. That does not beget a lot of trust...on 
either end, I imagine..."
 06* Kaede glances at the gentleman in front of him. "So if you show 
yourself to be trustable enough with the information, I'm certain it will 
be imparted to you. But in the meantime, you must forgive my 
hesitation..."
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi shrugs! She crosses her legs and starts looking 
over her nails. They're painted a sparkling red-pink.]
 06* Wataru rolls his eyes a bit, and nods. "Fair enough. You don't want 
to reveal other people's secrets. I get it." He looks at him.... "I also 
get that I'm the new kid in town, and I'm asking a lot of questions. I 
appreciate... all the willingness you've all shown towards me. Really, I 
do. But... If... if it's okay for me to be totally frank, here? I kind of 
feel like I'm auditioning for the band. And that's not the best feeling. 
Even though I get it, I'd like you to put yourself in my shoes for a 
minute." He takes a deep breath, feeling strangely calm. "I'm not saying 
you need to tell me anything. But think about where I'm coming from for a 
minute."
 06* Kaede sighs a little, deflating. "Yamada-san..." He then looks 
through his glasses at him. "You're right. As long as we are on the same 
page then." He stands up a bit and pushes his glasses up by his finger. 
"Temperance wasn't...exactly an adversary. You'll know her. Very 
business-like. She's also responsible for keeping Arcana information for 
being filtered to...ugh...*normals*. In check." And even Wataru can sense 
Kaede's distain for the word.
 06* Kaede blows out a breath and then sounds genuinely distant and 
defeated as he adds, "Believe us. We thought about telling other people 
about ourselves before. Temperance was often one step ahead in that 
regard..."
 06* Wataru nods.... "Thank you," he says. "And... I can see how 
that...hmh. That must make relationships very uncomfortable," he almost 
winces. "With non-Arcana, I mean." The question is almost, if not quite, 
rhetorical.
 06* Kaede says softly. "Probably. There are other difficulties. Things 
they simply can't understand..." He takes in a slight breath and sits 
down, hands between his knees. He's strangely quiet now.
 06* Wataru feels sort of shit now. He glances at Akemi, super awkward. 
Woops.
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi speaks up when Wataru looks at her. "Dealing with 
non-Arcana isn't that bad. But it helps to make friends with people like 
us. Or at least allies. You've got a good start, if you met Kaede's 
group."]
<Wataru> "If I may ask," he says, a bit carefully, "you yourself are... 
not... precisely part of the group? I'm sorry if this is, uh, delicate, I 
don't mean anything by it. But you know."
 01<@Ardweden> ["Me?" Akemi laughs, and she leans forward with a grin. "I 
was part of a *lot* of groups. Annnnnnd not. Really."]
 06* Kaede blinks slightly at Wataru's question. "Me?" Then looks at 
Akemi and blinks again, almost at the simultaneous point.
 06* Wataru laughs a bit, because that was cute. It's also sort of 
intriguing that Kaede might consider at all that he was the one being 
targeted, there. Hmm, does he think that a newcomer might think of him as 
being outside the group....? "I see," he says, although he doesn't 
entirely. "Can I ask another general question? Katie implied, I think, 
that Upright Arcana are... mm, for want of a better term, 'good guys', 
and the Reversed are 'bad guys'. Is it really that straightforward?"
 06* Kaede snorts at that. *Hard*. And doesn't answer just yet.
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi's quick on that uptake. "Nope!"]
 06* Wataru nods encouragingly, inviting either of them to go on!
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi looks at Kaede.]
 06* Kaede does first. "War is hardly that simple. Nor were the dividing 
lines that easy. Suffice it to say, different people had different goals. 
It is as simple as that..." He frowns a little. "To be honest, a lot more 
of our fights were with other Uprights...if you want to call it that."
 01<@Ardweden> ["Katie said that?" Akemi asks Wataru, curious.]
 06* Kaede doesn't seem fazed by Akemi's outburst. He does stand up 
instead and wanders over towards one of the frozen vending machines. 
"Could I perhaps get you something? I don't believe I've ever tried it 
actually..."
<Wataru> "Katie said something along those lines, I think," Wataru 
shrugs. "I could have misunderstood. I... I'm really... There's a lot of 
new vocabulary," he admits. "...You talk about War, and fights. I... My 
experience... there wasn't much of that. I was in one ... fight, I guess, 
from the outskirts, the one you know about. There were a couple of other 
incidents I can think of. And then just... a whole lot of worry and 
discomfort, at school, stuff like that. We could tell things were not 
okay, but I've never uncovered what was actually going on. If ... If I 
was to ask..." He weighs his words carefully, glancing at Kaede. "I don't 
think I knew about anyone's goals, and I still don't. If you think it's 
worthwhile for me to understand the, uh, the nature of the conflict... 
Either now or later sometime, I would... I think I'd like to know. Get a 
bit of a history lesson." 
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi nods at Wataru before calling to Kaede, "Can you 
get me a lychee soda?"]
 06* Kaede doesn't react to the thought of what they went through as a 
*history* lesson. History lesson. Naive kid. Outside the conflict. No 
wonder he's not broken. One of the lucky ones. He instead bites his 
tongue and looks carefully on the selections of interest at the vending 
machine and tries it out. "For you?" To Wataru.
<Wataru> "Uh. Uhh, melon soda I guess?"
 01<@Ardweden> [Afterwards orders are in, Akemi smiles sympathetically at 
Wataru and says, "There were a *lot* of conflicts. A couple of my friends 
ended up really, really hating each other."]
 06* Kaede goes for the melon soda, lychee soda, and some Boss coffee. 
Everybody loves the Boss. Does it work? That's the question here. He does 
sigh at Akemi's statement. "Akemi-san..." he lets out sympathetically.
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi just shrugs, bringing her tone back to casual. "At 
least they didn't kill each other." For Kaede is, well, the machines are 
lit up, but they don't seem to want his change. He can hack the problem, 
though, and get his drinks.]
 06* Kaede will do a casual sleight of hand to give the vending machine 
some subtle juice for the juice then. I mean, he's trying to be cordial 
here for the guy!
 01<@Ardweden> [Drinks come out! Hooray!]
 06* Kaede scoops up the drinks and heads back with them all under arm, 
holding them out one at a time for everybody. To Akemi's statement, he 
still says nothing.
 06* Wataru thanks him.
 06* Kaede flops down into the couch next to Akemi and sighs. "At any 
rate, I'm sure it will take time. There's several from your school who 
were involved. So I'm sure you know some in your own right."
<Wataru> "Reiji Ozora, I know. We were classmates. And the exchange 
student," whose name he can never remember. Chandeliers? Champagne? 
Something like that. Even though he heard it not half an hour ago, it's 
gone again. "That you just told me about. There were others, in my 
school?" He frowns.
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi takes the soda. She pulls the lid off and has a sip 
before looking at the brand. "Oh! I did a commercial with this one once!" 
And then she holds it next to her face, winking and smiling playfully at 
Wataru. "<Delicious, no?>" And now Wataru recognizes her: she WAS in that 
soda commercial maybe half a year ago.] 
 06* Wataru blinks as he recognizes Akemi from TV!
 06* Kaede nods vaguely and takes his own coffee. "His sister," he adds, 
with a sigh, not looking at Wataru. "Small blessings. At least she could 
*understand* what happened to her brother..."
 06* Wataru sighs. "Haruko wants me to do a reading on that," he 
volunteers. "I think we're meeting later this week. I hope I can help - I 
knew him. It's..." He sighs again.
 06* Kaede blurts out "Doubtful."
 06* Wataru cocks a brow. Did you just...?
 06* Kaede *did*. Whatcha gonna do 'bout it?
 01<@Ardweden> ["Oooh, you're sure of yourself. Are you good at tarot 
reading?"]
 06* Kaede breathes out a breath and doesn't take that bait. "Don't 
misunderstand me, Yamada-san. I hope you are wrong...it's just...Reiji's 
situation is...complicated..." He then glances at Akemi and though he 
doesn't show it much is momentarily grateful for having a peacemaker 
here...
<Wataru> "I understand. What I've heard... sounds difficult. You might 
well be totally right, and there's nothing anyone can do. But he... He 
was almost a friend, long ago. I'm gonna do whatever I can, you know. I 
didn't even know he was still alive. I...." But no, he holds it back, 
that information, keeps it to himself, close to his chest.
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi leans forward, across the gap between their chairs, 
and takes Wataru's hands. Physical contact!]
 06* Kaede tilts his head for a moment, looking at Wataru with that 
piercing, be-glassed gaze of his. It's a look of honest curiosity, but 
he's not really gonna push. He does blink at Akemi's gesture though.
 06* Wataru is surprised, almost startled, at the touch, but gives her a 
weak and honest smile nonetheless.
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi smiles back. Her touch is light but firm. "Kaede 
might be right," she says, "but there's nothing wrong with trying. We've 
all got to try, and I don't think we should give up on people even when 
we think it might be hopeless."]
 01<@Ardweden> [Meanwhile, Mimi-san buzzes in Kaede's mind, reminding him 
of the time - and an engagement he has booked for Akemi.]
 06* Kaede wanders over and starts to put a hand on Akemi's shoulder, but 
hesitates, then looks down at her. "I misplaced the time. We have a shoot 
soon."
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi looks over. "Really? Crap!" She drops Wataru's 
hands and jumps to her feet. "Sorry, Yamada-san! We've got to go."]
 06* Kaede gives a quick nod, then a wave to Wataru. "It was a pleasure 
to speak with you, Yamada-san. Hopefully we'll get to meet again soon..." 
He thinks of the Reiji situation and gets a slight frown, adding, "With 
more positive circumstances..." He takes pace behind Akemi towards the 
elevator.
 06* Wataru is grateful for her words. "Thank you, Shiraishi-san." He 
stands, and bows politely to them. "I hope we can continue our 
conversations at some later date, Takeuchi-san," he says! All this 
Japanese politeness, seriously. But the guy looks like he eats it for 
breakfast.
 01<@Ardweden> [Akemi waves and starts bouncing out, but right before she 
gets on the elevator, she turns. "Oh!" she calls, "I heard you're the 
Hanged Man! I'm the Three of Pentacles!" And she gets on the elevator 
right after Kaede, the doors closing behind them.]
 06* Kaede slips on in the doors, letting them close behind him. Hey! Guy 
never gave his card. Asshole!
 06* Wataru sort of grins goofily after her. Three of Pentacles, huh. <3
 01<@Ardweden> [End!]