[Wednesday, January 7th, 2004]
[Haruko has scheduled a visit to Kyon to discuss various matters and 
perhaps also help with his injuries.  Kyon has accepted, and now Haruko 
is on her way to (or possibly already at) the Kyon and Katie apartment!]
[Session Start!]
* Haruko knocks at the door.
* Kyon calls out from inside as he makes his way down the hallway. "Who's 
there?"
* Haruko is wearing a dress under her coat, with a shawl over her 
shoulders that just seemed appropraite to the topic. "Haruko."
* Kyon makes it the rest of the way and opens the door. He's in a dark 
grey t-shirt and dark jeans, and army green slippers. "C'mon," he says, 
holding the door open from the lip of the hallway, so she can come in 
under his arm.
* Haruko does so, taking off her shoes and switching to slippers as 
ritually she apologies for the inconvenience of her presence. Less 
automatically, she adds "I'm grateful we could arrange this on such short 
notice."
* Haruko also slips off her duster as she comes in with some care, trying 
to make sure she doesn't lose her shawl in the process.
* Kyon nods, and lets the door close behind her so that the cold doesn't 
get in any more than necessary. "Sure." He smirks. "You snuck into one of 
the openings in the schedule."
* Haruko grins as she hangs her coat. "I'm not subtle, but I can be 
sneaky."
* Kyon backs up a couple of steps. "Better for both of us."
* Haruko 's hair is back to a simple braid, as she's needed to wash since 
the 4th and Maki isn't in French braid territory. "So lead on sensei."
* Kyon leads her into the main part of the apartment, going into the 
kitchen. "Tea?"
<Haruko> Yes, please.
* Kyon puts on some water to boil, and then gestures to the living room. 
"I'll bring it in."
* Haruko follows along. She sits down gingerly, still a bit sensitive in 
her hindquarters. She lays her bag down next to her and checks for 
something in her bag.
* Kyon will be a couple of minutes not saying anything if she wants to 
look around or talk or anything!
* Haruko finishes searching and gets out a few medical supplies and also 
a small selection of religious accouterments. "Ooh, is that new wood 
block?" She says turning around looking back into the living room.
* Kyon calls in from the other room, where he's clinking together a tray, 
"Yeah. Got it for Katie for Christmas."
* Haruko stands up with a slight grimace and walks over for a closer 
inspection. "Ah, Kumagaru. You find such elegent gifts."
* Kyon smirks as he puts the tea together. "Find, commission. Same 
thing."
* Haruko gasps and then composes herself. "Oh, I see."
* Kyon barks out a laugh at that gasp, and then comes in with the tray. 
It's got a nice teapot and some little mochi cakes on it. "That hard to 
believe?"
* Haruko makes her way back to her seat. "In fairness to me, you made a 
commission in a medium known for prints even at its most authentic." She 
smiles. "Which I suppose makes the uniqueness a bit of a shared secret. 
Katie probably recognized that immediately."
* Kyon smirks as he sets the tea set down. "She didn't say. But the guy 
does want to sell them. Which is fine by me. But she gets to see the real 
things in it, so that's rare."
* Haruko sits down carefully once again. "That makes sense." She adjusts 
her shawl. She settles into proper tea appreciation for a bit and after 
expressing her pleasure with the tea and mochi she looks up at her host. 
"How's your arm doing?"
* Kyon frowns, and sits on a cushion on the other side of the tray, 
facing her. "Not great. Not as bad, but it gets shaky, and the range of 
motion's more limited. Good thing we're not intensively training yet."
* Haruko frowns and nods. "Would you like me to look at it? My abilites 
aren't quite what they were before sharing a drink with Zein, but if I 
focus I should be able to help."
* Haruko does not attempt to hide her distaste at mentioning the fool, 
reversed.
* Kyon looks at her, cocking his head, and nods, frowning more deeply. 
"Yeah. Should have occurred to me sooner. I don't know what I was 
thinking."
* Haruko smiles, gently. "You've been busy. And none of us really want to 
remember the days when I was doing this all the time."
* Kyon shrugs quickly, and winces slightly. "Yeah, but I still should 
have." He covers with a smirk. "You sure you're good for it?"
* Haruko just gives Kyon a look and stands up, walking over to her fellow 
Queen. She gingerly inspects his arm, lightly massaging it at points and 
judging where the soreness is.
* Kyon looks pretty uncomfortable about this, and just looks off at the 
window quietly.
* Haruko frowns for a moment. She notes his look and adopts a 
surprisingly professional tone, "I'm sorry, I can do it, but I'm going to 
need direct contact for several minutes."
* Kyon looks up at her sidewise, looking dubious. "You telling me I need 
to take my shirt off, Haruko?" He smirks. "Good thing Katie's not around 
for that one."
* Haruko blushes slightly but then recovers. "She'd just smirk and eat 
popcorn." Her tone then gets more professional again. "You could keep a 
sleeveless undershirt if you like." She frowns. "This didn't used to be a 
problem for me."
* Kyon shrugs quickly again. "Could just be out of practice. Or it could 
be something else. Can talk about that." He hesitates, and then asks, 
staccato, "I can leave on the armwarmers?"
* Haruko nods. "I only need to touch the injured area."
* Kyon nods curtly, and then, after a beat, straightens, and tugs off his 
shirt, tossing it on the other side of the tray. He's unsurprisingly in 
good shape, with his pitching arm and shoulder more significantly 
developed than the other one, and a small scar on his shoulder. He 
doesn't look up at her, though. "Right. So, do what you have to do."
* Haruko blushes slightly again and is fairly grateful that Kyon's not 
looking at her. She doesn't dwell in the moment but instead gets to work. 
Her methods are mostly light massaging and some use of hand towels with 
warm and cool water before and after working with an area. Every now and 
then they scoot position slightly even when she's not physically moving 
them.
* Kyon definitely will not look at her, or talk, unless she asks him to. 
His posture stiffens somewhat, and he rests his other hand on the tray 
next to the plate of mochi cakes.
* Haruko frowns slightly as she works and refocuses her efforts. Kyon can 
feel himself getting better but sometimes there's a bit of light pain 
before the soreness flows away. She pauses checking if he's okay every 
now and again, but otherwise is the model of efficiency even if it makes 
it a slightly more demanding healing for Kyon.
* Kyon winces sometimes, or makes a bit of noise when the pain get worse, 
and will answer her honestly, but as tersely as possible, when she asks 
if he's okay. He focuses on the woodblock print, and then the teapot.
* Haruko finishes up a bit quicker than he might have expected. She's at 
least gained something from experience. She hands him back his shirt. 
"That should do it. Warm up as usual of course, but I don't sense any 
underlying damage left. And excuse me a moment." She steps away to give 
him a little privacy and washes up in the bathroom this time, rather than 
using the kitchen sink as she did before the healing.
* Kyon nods quickly, and gets up off the floor, stretching, and rolling 
his shoulder tentatively, then more fully, expression getting calmer, and 
then slightly pleased. "You need anything?" he calls out.
* Haruko calls back from the bathroom. "Perhaps a bit more tea. Oddly 
enough I get this dehydrated feeling afterwards." She gives him a little 
extra time before reemerging.
* Kyon grabs his shirt, puts it back on, and then goes back to the 
kitchen to get the kettle to refill the teapot. "Right. But you're not 
putting out water for doing it."
* Haruko goes back to sit down, readjusting her shawl and actually for 
once trying to look fairly ordinary rather than cute or alluring. "I 
don't know. With the Cup, I always felt as if I was pouring myself out. 
Perhaps it's spiritual water?" She shrugs. "Regardless, I'm thirsty 
afterwards now. I figure there's no point in overthinking it."
* Kyon shrugs quickly, with less hesitance now, and pours her a cup of 
tea. "Right." He smirks. "Magic's magic. Can't explain why it works how 
it does."
* Haruko takes her cup after he's done pouring and enjoys the scent, 
waiting for it to cool.
* Kyon takes one of the cakes, and looks at it for a beat before biting 
off half of it. "Although the books do help. You get a look yet?"
* Haruko shakes her head. "It's been a surprisingly busy winter break. 
I've gone through my father's library some. I'm thinking of getting some 
omamori from more specialized shrines."
* Kyon nods quickly. "Good plan. Actually got you one up in Aomori, when 
I was up visiting my parents. From where we went for the first visit of 
the year. You want it?"
* Haruko looks eager but tries to keep it out of her tone. "I would be 
honored. That was very thoughtful of you."
* Kyon shrugs quickly, and pops up from the cushion. "It was easy. I'll 
go grab it. You think about whether you want to talk first, or check the 
books first."
* Haruko looks at the shelf, trying to pick out the mysterious box. But 
no, other things matter more. "Maybe we should talk, if you have a 
moment. I'm quite curious, but I can't jump and forget my life plans 
everytime something weird happens."
* Kyon snorts, and heads off into his study area, going to the desk 
there. "Then you'd never get anything done."
* Kyon finds the small white envelope with the charm in it, and comes 
back, holding it out to her. "Here."
* Haruko nods. "I think I emailed you that my experiment with Katie 
worked. I succeeded in sensing things in the water about the quality of 
different turbines." She accepts it with both hands and a quick bow.
* Kyon nods curtly back in response, and then settles back on the 
cushion. "Yeah. It's a good skill. Could be useful, if you work out how 
to use it right."
* Haruko checks inside the envelope, presumably recognizing a few things 
about the omamori unless they're quite obscure and commenting on such 
before returning to the topic at hand. "That's my thought. I could make a 
difference with my abilities directly. And maybe when drought or flood 
are at hand I will. But if I can learn something with them, that's 
something that can expand well beyond the reach of my magic."
* Kyon nods quickly. "Right. So what are you thinking?"
* Haruko looks thoughtful for a moment, but also speaks quickly so as not 
to leave Kyon waiting. "Long term, tidal power still has some big 
problems to work out but could be very important. My classes there are 
sometimes challenging, but I think I'm on my way." She then frowns. "But 
I'm going to have a hard time working into a position where I can do real 
research at a reasonable age." She sighs. "Some of the companies are also 
really conservative. Even laying aside the magic problem, I don't know if 
they'd take me seriously at the moment as an engineer, no matter what my 
test scores say."
* Kyon frowns. "So what you want is a chance. And a good word, maybe."
* Haruko nods. "Though perhaps not yet." She looks out the window with a 
bit of exasperation. "Some of my classmates, their fathers have been in 
the same field they're looking to go into and they're naturals in the 
workplace culture. I'm a bit afraid I'm going to encounter my first 
Takeuchi-san in the office and he'll know I'm a low-class flake at a 
glance."
* Kyon smirks, and looks at her more directly. "So you want to train on 
that."
* Haruko nods with an intent look. "Getting to the right job without 
explaining why will be challenge enough. I don't need my...." She briefly 
adopts a lower register and an affectless tone "Kinsha-ness" She reverts 
her normal speaking voice, "Working against me."
* Kyon rests his hands on the table by the tray. "Getting an internship 
somewhere shouldn't be hard. We can work on it. Can get you a spot, just 
pull a few strings. But if you want training before then, we can do that. 
I know what to expect." He smirks a bit more. "Just don't expect Katie to 
give you any slack for it."
* Haruko giggles. "Well, that just means I play slightly different games 
with her. Keeps me sharp." Her expression then turns more earnest. "I 
think that could make a big difference. And since you know what I could 
do, maybe we could find somewhere that I actually can meaningfully help. 
I can just pass you whatever I learn so the idea doesn't come from an 
intern."
* Kyon raises an eyebrow. "You could. But we're not sticking you in 
Arisugawa somewhere. We'll put you somewhere with someone that owes us. 
Or that we can influence. Be better for you that way. You can know it's 
really you doing it."
* Haruko nods. "Right, so then." She looks at him appraisingly for a 
moment and ponders his words. "So let's find as close to actual research 
or power operations as I can get. There's even some foreign companies 
that work in Japan I should probably consider, although..." She shakes 
her head. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I can get you a 
wishlist and we can see how close we can get."
* Kyon looks back at her, raising the other eyebrow, but looking a bit 
approving. "Right. Good plan."
* Haruko lets out a slow breath, she's screwed up enough courage for 
today. "So, time for the occult?"
* Kyon smirks. "Sure. Come on." He pops off the cushion and heads out of 
the room.
* Haruko stands up with a spring in her step. And a pain in her knees. 
With that insistent reminder to stay humble she follows along.
* Kyon heads down the hall to his room, and slides the door open, heading 
in towards a set of shelves in the corner. There's a chest set in the 
base, and he opens it, looking at it critically, and then turning back to 
look at her.
* Haruko walks up to the threshold, hesitating just a moment before 
reminding herself that she's already been in Katie's room anyways just go 
in. She does her best to check out the room without obviously checking 
out the room.
<Kyon> [Kyon's room is pretty sparsely furnished. There's a large expanse 
of space where a futon would obviously go, but it's not out now; none of 
it is. There's a large chest of drawers, wooden, with some simple 
Japanese carvings in the design, and a couple of books laid on top. 
There's a large window in one wall, and sets of shelves along one other, 
with square baskets set in most of the shelves. On the wall with the 
door, there are four calligraphy scrolls.]
<Kyon> [You can even read them if you go look at them.]
* Kyon is standing by the shelf, and waiting, one eyebrow raised.
* Haruko steps in. She figures she has exactly one moment of forebearance 
and actually steps towards the calligraphy scrolls. "Also originals?"
* Haruko does read them assuming she doesn't get immediately chided.
<Kyon> [Each scroll has three or four characters on it, drawn in a bold, 
old-fashioned hand. In turn, they say, "As swift as wind," "As silent as 
the forest," "As fierce as fire," and "As unshakeable as the mountain."]
<Kyon> From home.
* Haruko nods. "They're striking." She walks over to shelf, stopping a 
polite distance from her host, "An elegent way to remind yourself of your 
standards."
* Kyon smirks. "Go look at the books." He moves off so she can get in 
more easily.
* Haruko does so, removing looking at one then the other and then 
starting with whichever seems more introductory or more relevant.
* Kyon watches her for a bit, and then quietly leaves her to it.
* Haruko tarries over a book on occult syncreticism. It discusses Western 
and Japanese fortunetelling practice in great detail detailing key 
persons in practices of the 19th and first half of the 20th century. As 
she reads it suddenly aspects of tarot begin making sense to her when 
before they'd always felt foreign.
* Haruko does not spend as much time on the second book, but even the 
with the brief skim she can give it, she already knows that the 
prophecies and artifacts of which it speaks seem all too familiar. She 
suspects if Wataru would salivate at the chance to get at the answers 
hidden within.
* Kyon comes back after a while, holding a larger mug of tea. "Good? 
Katie's back soon."
* Haruko is startled by his approach. She finishes the sentence she's 
reading and then gently folds the book to replace it. "Yes, I should 
probably be going. I've imposed on you long enough."
* Katie opens the front door right about now; Kyon couldn't hear her 
coming, but he's reasonably keyed to her schedule. "<I'm home,>" she 
calls, a bit winded, as she starts removing outerwear and shoes (no puppy 
deaths today).
* Kyon turns to look at her, and offers a quick nod, waiting for her to 
come up. "<Welcome back,>" he says, and leans against the wall. "<There's 
tea.>"
* Katie smiles at the Kyon near his bedroom door. "<Thanks.>" She goes to 
get a mug. "<Haruko's here?>"
* Haruko walks out of Kyon's bedroom breathing heavily for a moment as 
she hears the back and forth but trying to regain her composure and 
giving a quick bow. "Hi Katie, we were just going over the occult books." 
She looks to Kyon. "I'm meeting with Yamada-san this Friday. I'll do my 
best to mitigate whatever the thing he has with you. And, I should be 
getting out of your hair..."
* Kyon nods to her curtly. "<Yeah.>" And to Haruko, "Right. Sounds good. 
Keep me posted on how that goes."
* Katie moves out of the way for Haruko, and she looks at her curiously, 
then moves to glance around her and at Kyon. Back to the other girl: 
"Good luck. I think Satoshi softened him up for you."
[Session End!]