[Ciara] (Encrypted e-mail) Date: January 3, 2004 Subject: Today's Meeting To: Katie Andrews, Haruko Kinsha, Kaede Takeuchi, Kyon Sorata So I met up with Wataru today like I said I was going to. We actually hit it off pretty well. There was some hockey discussion, and also some Arcana discussion. I confirmed that he's telekinetic; he now knows that I'm telepathic. He asked if you guys had powers; I said yes, but I wasn't going to elaborate. He didn't push. I am hoping that this paves the way for him to be more open with you guys; that having been said, he's still pretty nervous about things and it honestly seems like he knows practically nothing beyond what we've told him and what he saw That Night. Along those lines, I haven't told him everything about myself yet, and I'd prefer that he hears it from me. Also, Haruko, I confirmed that he does still have your card. He promised he'd give it back the next time he saw you, but I'd suggest taking the initiative and scheduling a meeting with him. Like I said, he's still pretty nervous and I'm not quite sure he's at the point where he'd reach out to you on his own. We all know from experience that I am the least scary one here. ;) I'll be seeing some of you at Haneda tomorrow, and then I'll let you all know when I arrive in Maine. Satoshi [Grysar] Haruko would texts Wataru after seeing Satoshi off on January 4th. She'd show Katie afterwards as they'd be subwaying back part of the way together, but wouldn't wait on the Page's permission to send. Yamada-san, this is Kinsha Haruko. Any preferred dts for Ozora visit? I'll OK by Takeuchi. May take few weeks. ^^; He's way busy IRL. Satoshi suggested try something sooner 2. Dunno what u like aside from sports. Could give you 2-way ride, do DDR, hit pool, or just meet you w/e. We could try cards re: helping Ozora. No good answer in past. :/ Maybe different w/ u? [Ardweden] Katie looks over to see Haruko's shoulder to see her texts when she offers (though really, she probably saw them already). "The pool, really?" she asks as she goes back to braiding the other girl's hair. [Jihatsu] Wataru is mostly confused by her scattered text speak, given that it is a different idiolect from Izumi's scattered text speak, but after a few readings he feels he knows what's going on. It's about her card, of course. Someone, either Katie or Satoshi, told her that he said he'd give it back... He looks at it, the stylized trace of a rose representing 'The Dueling Arena' from Utena, and he thinks. There's a lot he could do here - a lot he could learn. An advantage he could have, facing this new group of people he doesn't fully know if he can trust. But... Fuck it, he's made some promises over the past few days. He can just imagine Satoshi's disappointed face if he were to break those... After a drawn-out struggle with himself, he literally shouts "GAH" and picks up his phone, to reply to her message. _I'll gladly help with a reading on Ozora. Reminds me, I have one of your cards - meant to give it back but totally forgot about it. Two birds with one stone, want to meet sometime later in the week? I have a half day Friday._ Wataru sighs and puts his phone down. The die is cast. He's just going to have to trust. He picks it up after a moment to add, _PS I like your taste in anime_ [Grysar] Haruko sits still contentedly with her back to Katie as her hair is braided. Her neutral expression only does so well at hiding the enjoyment of obvious in her eyes as reflected in the window of the subway car. "He likes sports, he might like swimming. Also, it's easier on my knees and rear than other forms of exercise after my spills on the ice." She smiles to herself for a minute. "And alright, maybe a bit of 'come into my parlor' there." Sometime later she carefully pulls out her phone showing Katie the message and smiling with relief and then showing slight trepidation. "Yes, deck will be whole again. Oh, by the Kami, a full prose texter. This is going to take forever." She slowly types out her response, taking care to fix typos as she goes. Haruko rolls her eyes, trusting Katie will see the reflection or hear or otherwise apply her Katie senses. She then continues laboriously, After sending that out, she sees the follow up messages and smiles warmly. "Guy has taste." Haruko pauses before making a face, backspacing, and continuing the message slowly. After hitting send she relaxes slightly before straightening again for the ease of her hair dresser. She flits her eyes to the left to try to catch her image in the reflection as Katie braids. She adds an oral addendum to her message, "I was not happy when I got that as a web survey result, but I suppose it's only fair to warn the guy. Although at least I don't have a questionable relationship with an older sibling." Afterwards she'll agree pretty much any reasonable suggestion Wataru makes on location. [Ardweden] Katie snorts. "No, thank you. We've had more than enough of that." She gets a tiny frown, concentrating on Haruko's hair. [Grysar] Haruko lets the quiet persist for a minute or two before switching over to a more pleasant topic. [Jihatsu] After a while, Wataru replies, _Fair warning! :) I wonder who from that show I am._ And then goes on to suggest a cute little bohemian cafe on Cat Street, near Harajuku! [Grysar] Haruko does look at the response and sends off a confirmation text saying agreeing to the location and saying, we'll have to figure out that together. The Harajuku note then triggers something in her mind, carefully, not moving her head much, she reaches through her bag and brings out a small gift wrapped cylinder. The paper is a solid blue with wood-print style snow drops. She then hands it over her shoulder to Katie. "Merry Christmas, Katie. I meant to give this to you when we all got together, but, well... the mood wasn't right at the end of the evening. But I get twelve days to do it right?" [Ardweden] Katie blinks in surprise, and she shifts Haruko's hair to one hand, taking the present with the other. "Yeah? Um... can you hold this for me?" She looks embarrassed and a little mortified. "I didn't get you anything. I didn't think..." [Grysar] Haruko takes her braid while replying haughtily with a smile. "Please, like I'd celebrate your silly gaijin holidays. Just remember that my birthday is in April." The wrapping is perhaps surprisingly light. When peeled away, it reveals a grey fitted woman's T-shirt. It's even the right side, almost as if Haruko has an inside source. The front has an elaborate black filigree pattern surrounding a single a single calligraphic word (with corresponding katakana subtitle). It reads, in totality, "Trouble." [Ardweden] "You're an April baby, okay." Katie unwraps her gift and pulls out the shirt, unfurls it, and looks it up and down. She lets out a little laugh. "Trouble?" [Grysar] Haruko looks back over her shoulder, noting the little laugh. She hesitates for a fraction of a moment, wondering if the gift was dumb or worse hurtful. But the die is cast and she banishes her doubts. "So, I saw when I was in Harajuku with... well doesn't matter I was in Harajuku and thought the shirt was real elegant and when I asked what it meant, I thought of you." Haruko immediately continues, not intending to give Katie a chance to interject. "When I showed it to my roommate, she said 'Shouldn't you get one for yourself?' and I replied 'Pschaw Maki.'" Haruko does actually say that first word. "Everyone knows I'm trouble. But Katie, she's subtle. She needs a warning label." Haruko catches her breath here but holds up a finger. Assuming Katie doesn't interrupt, Haruko continues "So Maki just laughs, but I continue, 'but it's still a good gift because she's just that good, it won't disrupt her game, people just need to know not to trifle with my friend.'" Haruko stops speaking at last, looking at Katie and waiting for her to pronounce judgment. [Ardweden] Even though Haruko's watching Katie, she may be somewhat surprised by the sudden hug from the other girl, t-shirt still in hand. "I love it!" she says, quietly but enthusiastically. "And that story was awesome. I'll try not to get paint on it, and..." She backs off, looking at the shirt again. "When do I *want* to give someone a warning?" she asks with a grin. [Grysar] Haruko is surprised the hug and oofs slightly with a grin as she's grabbed from behind, almost losing her grip on her braid-in-progress. That grin expands into a glowing smile at the praise of her storytelling ability. "Oh paint's alright, it's just a t-shirt and could use some color, just be y'know, artistic about it." She then ponders Katie's question but quickly decides she doesn't have an answer. "I think if I knew that, I'd need my own shirt." She then ponders for another moment. "Oh... maybe if you're meeting someone with too much pride in their cleverness. It might get them pondering what level game your playing." Haruko puts her free hand above her braid hand and then flips their position, a gesture that doesn't quite work in the current circumstance. "It might get you in their loop. While they try to solve you, you make your next move." [Ardweden] "" Katie asks, curiously. It's not often Haruko confuses her with her native language. She opens her bag and stuffs the t-shirt and wrapping paper in there so she can get back to braiding Haruko's hair. [Grysar] Haruko hands back her braid when the time is right. "Observe, Orient, Decide, Act." The acronym doesn't make sense in Japanese but Haruko certainly hasn't memorized the English words that make it up. "My psychology professor is a bit of a foreign oddball with some military experience I think. He's always 'trying to find some example to get through to you engineering-types just here to get your core credit.' The loop is a fighter pilot thing I think. Winning dog fights isn't just about the physical properties of your plane, it's about how it lets you respond. It actually has some applications for steering systems." Haruko cuts herself off before she starts babbling. "Anyways, he was using that to illustrate some of the implications for how neurons worked." [Ardweden] "Huh, that's interesting," Katie says, clearly concentrating on Haruko's braid now. Almost done... "I haven't taken a psychology course. I don't know if I will." [Grysar] Haruko is quiet for almost a moment too long. "You might find it insightful or you might find it frustrating depending on your teacher. Maybe audit it?" The former Miko relaxes again at ease as her hair is being finished. "Like, you might think I'm goofy but machines feel like they have a spirit to me, but that doesn't mean the underlying mechanical processes aren't real and important. People are way more complex usually, and harder to figure out, but we can also break and..." She frowns. "Be repaired is too facile, but there are things we can do to help troubleshoot some common problems." Haruko's tone alternates between growing self-consciousness and the comfortable grooves of her professor's words. [Ardweden] Katie mmms noncommittally. "Maybe. We'll see." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a hairtie, tying off the end of Haruko's hair. Now she has a French braid! "There you go." [Grysar] Haruko checks herself in the subway cars reflection. "Oooh, fancy, people will be startled by this new fancier Haruko!" She then glances at the station map. "So my stop is coming up, but I shall have to give you a braiding in return later." Her tone doesn't suggest that Katie necessarily has a choice in the matter, but who would decline such an honor? [Ardweden] Katie smiles. "Sure. Braids are fun." She moves aside for Haruko to get out, then settles in as comfortably as she can for the rest of the ride home. [End!]