<@Wataru> [Date: Thursday, January 29th 9AM, Tokyo / Wednesday, January 28th 7PM, Maine.] <@Wataru> [Katie and Satoshi haven't gotten a chance to video chat yet! It seems high time to put that to rights.] <@Wataru> [Session start!] * Katie is in her room! Kyon's already left, for school and practice, but she doesn't have lecture until this afternoon so video chats are possible. Hopefully. Hopefully assuming she can get this program to work and the web cam's all set up and everything. * Katie messes with her laptop some more and tries to connect. Come on, you can work. * Satoshi has done this before - twice in fact, and he'll be doing it again on Saturday - so he's ready to go. His hair is loose and he's wearing a comfy-looking blue and black checkered button-down and dark blue jeans. He clicks connect and waits for everything to go through. * Katie waits... waits... there! She clicks the button and shows up on Satoshi's screen, a little too close to the camera. "" she calls. English, figures. * Satoshi waves to her. "" * Katie slides her chair (and herself) back a little bit and adjusts the camera so it's angled better. "Is this better?" she asks, now in Japanese. She's wearing a dark blue scoop neck sweater, so the scar is showing (maybe she'll get a scarf for that later, but she doesn't have one right now), and her hair's pulled roughly back in a ponytail. Satoshi can also see her room, or bits of it, for * Katie the first time: there's a bookcase that's filled with more sculptures and random trinkets than books, and he's pretty sure he sees an easel next to her bed. * Satoshi nods. "Yep, much better. Are you working on a new painting?" He attempts to point at the easel, although that's kind of hard to convey over video. I will be. I haven't started it yet, though... not sure what I'm going to do. Got any thoughts? * Katie wrinkles her nose. "Nah. I had a burst of creativity recently with that colored pencil work, but now that I've got to deal with paints I'm kind of stuck." Naoki's never going to let me hear the end of it, either. It's her medium. * Katie looks back at the easel. Stupid easel. * Satoshi laughs softly. "I think Naoki might serve the same role for you as Liam does for me, sometimes." * Katie looks back at Satoshi, briefly confused, then comprehension dawns and she laughs a little. "Yeah. Actually, yeah. That makes sense." But the whole line thing - three people, right? - I'm getting that in biology. I keep ending up in a group with the two smartest and most driven people in class because we might be the only ones who give a crap. Well, it's good to end up with the people who care rather than the people who don't, right? * Katie nods, leaning against her hand. She's a little close to the camera again, but whatever. "Yeah. I just wish they'd get along better." She smiles a little. "We're working on it, I guess." This is... Hotaru and Moeta, right? * Katie nods. You'd mentioned their names before, so... remind me again, how it is they don't really get along? * Katie sighs. "They just disagree about everything. Why they're in biology in the first place, what they want to do with their degree, what to work on, even which IM client to use for group projects." She rolls her eyes. "I ended up having to be their go between." * Satoshi makes a face. "Ugh. Does it really matter to them that they agree on why they're in biology and what they want to do? I mean, isn't that going to be different for everyone?" Just more fuel for a fire. * Katie shifts, poking at the bottom of her laptop and getting its ridge between her fingernail and finger. "It's not that bad, really. Just... things blow up sometimes." That's still rather unfortunate. It's life. Are things going well for you? * Satoshi stretches a little. "Yeah, pretty well. Classes are definitely better this semester. I'm staying a lot more on top of things. Thanks again for essay help. That's actually turning out to be my favorite class. I was not expecting that." * Katie laughs. "That's a surprise, but I'm glad. I thought your essay was really good; I can't write like that, even in English." * Satoshi blinks. "Really?" Really. Have you seen my e-mails? I know I'm not the best writer. Well, I guess I was thinking more along the lines of the English, but... Apparently I like writing. * Katie looks amused. "And it's happening in English." * Satoshi laughs. "Yeah. I would not have thought this would happen." Maybe going to school there is helping you in more ways than one. * Satoshi smiles. "Maybe. On the flip side, I'm finding that Economics is actually really boring. That's actually what I thought I'd be more into, given I've been doing budgets and stuff for a while now, but... ehh." Well, did you *like* doing budgets? * Satoshi gives a somewhat sheepish shrug. "Well, I'm good at it. But... okay, it's more like a necessary evil." * Katie pokes Satoshi's video screen nose. He may not even know he's getting nose poked - he certainly can't feel it - but she does. Nose boop. "There you go." * Satoshi looks amused. "Were you trying to poke me?" You didn't feel it? * Katie tries again. * Satoshi grins. "Okay, I am poked. Anyhow... everything I'm taking this semester can go towards my core requirements, one way or another, so nothing's... I don't want to say 'wasted.' But I'm being efficient." Good for you! Kaede'd be proud. * Satoshi chuckles. "That he would." Then he sobers a bit. "Next semester, though... that's kind of when I'm going to need to start focusing more. I've still got core requirements to work on, but..." Well you know you like writing. That's a start. * Katie smiles, a little. "Figure out what you like writing about, and it's even better." * Satoshi looks thoughtful. "Huh. That... that makes a lot of sense, really. I could... well, it's definitely worth thinking about." * Katie nods. Sorting out other people's problems is so much easier than her own. * Satoshi glances off to the side for a moment. Being a writer? That really isn't something that would have occurred to him. Then he looks back at her. "Yeah, this is definitely a thing to think about. Thanks, Katie." * Katie smiles. "Sure." So... how are other things going? Besides classes? * Katie sighs. "Which thing?" * Satoshi is slightly confused. "Any of them?" I met with Wataru. With Haruko. We talked about it a little bit over instant message, and you probably already talked to him about it, too... I think I might have convinced Kaede that Wataru's worth a decent chance. Maybe, anyway. * Katie bites the inside of her lip, then says, "Coming of Age Day was fine. I mean, it wasn't *my* Coming of Age Day, but it was fine. I went shopping with Kyon's mom the next day. That was a thing." * Satoshi opens his mouth to ask a question, but then stops when she mentions shopping with Kyon's mother. "You went shopping with Kyon's *mom*?" Yeah. Wow. What's she like? She's... very... Japanese. That... somehow doesn't surprise me. But it went okay? * Katie furrows her brow. "Mostly." She sighs. "She wants what's best for Kyon, I guess. But..." Katie pokes at the bottom of her laptop again. * Satoshi leans slightly forward. "But?" But she's- like- talking about how her life is, like I'm going to have it if I stay with Kyon... like I'll have to give up my future dreams and future plans for the sake of the brewery and keeping it and him together, and- I don't even know what those *are*, but. * Katie looks back at Satoshi, meeting his eyes on the screen. "It's not like we're getting married or anything, but still." <@Wataru> [A door opens and a voice cuts through the conversation, ""] * Satoshi is about to say something when the door opens behind him and ENTER ROOMMATE. Satoshi turns to look at him. "" * Katie can't quite see what's going on. Just Satoshi looking away. But she can hear it. "Is that Paul the Roommate?" she asks, in Japanese. <@Wataru> ["" He shrugs. No biggie, it seems!] * Satoshi turns back to the computer briefly. "Yes. Yes, it is," he says in Japanese. Paul can probably make out what he's saying, actually; that seems like something someone in his second semester of Japanese class would probably know. Then he looks at Paul and switches back to English. "" <@Wataru> [""] "" * Satoshi thinks that he can probably fit in an hour or so of watching TV tomorrow. He'll just have to rearrange a few things. [22:04] <@Wataru> [""] "" * Katie has pushed her chair away a bit, picked up a woodblock she's been working on, and is carving while they talk. <@Wataru> [""] "" * Katie doesn't look up from her carving. "" [Paul is intrigued by the cute Japanese girl on the screen! She sounds cute, at least! He hasn't dared peek over Satoshi's shoulder. "" He smiles, a little shyly! "" Grin!] "" <@Wataru> [Exit Paul, stage right.] * Katie, when Satoshi looks back, has an amused little smile on her face. She puts the knife and carving down. "I sound super cute?" * Satoshi turns back to the computer. "Sorry about that. He means well and all, but..." He laughs. "Apparently you do." Good to know. Anyhow... it's his room too, so I feel kind of bad kicking him out for a while... * Katie shrugs. "As long as you're willing to do the same for him, I don't see what's there to feel bad about." I'm around a bit less often than he is with practice and studying and stuff, but I do try to be out to give him privacy when he's calling his family back in Portland. Oh yeah? Which Portland? Maine. Makes sense. It looks like you get along, even though you spend a lot more time with your hockey friends. Yeah, we do. I think he's still a little disappointed that I'm a fairly non-Japanese Japanese guy, but I can at least help him with homework and answer questions and stuff. * Katie wrinkles her nose in distaste. "He'd be disappointed anyway. Japan can't be everything he thinks it is." * Satoshi nods. "Yep. Fewer giant robots." And magical girls. Well... Japan *has* magical girls, but they're pretty fucked up. * Satoshi tilts his head. "We do?" * Katie just looks at Satoshi flatly. Really. ...oh. I... never really thought of it that way. * Katie bops Satoshi's nose again, but not really. "You got it." Does that make me a magical boy? Magical guy? How's it work if you're male? Oh, it's *got* to be magical boy. ... That's kind of unfair, isn't it? Why are there magical girls but no magical boys? I don't know. Maybe it's the skirts. If skirts are a requirement, that probably cuts down on the number of interested ones right there. Right, but isn't magic usually just handed to them? Like they don't always have a choice, do they? And if they *need* it to save the world or whatever, then they should just man up and wear the skirt. If the choices were wear a skirt or let the world be destroyed... I'd wear the skirt. Great! When a talking animal comes by and asks me if I know about any candidates in America, I'll point it at you. I'll know who to blame when it shows up, then! * Katie laughs. "Just concentrate on saving the world, Pretty Magical Boy Satoshi-san." * Satoshi salutes. "Yes'm!" * Katie reaches over to one side, out of view of the screen, then comes back with a sketchpad and a pencil. She flips it open and starts drawing something. Satoshi really can, probably, guess what. * Satoshi looks at the pad. "Oh my god. Are you drawing what I think you are?" * Katie looks up at Satoshi, her eyes amused, and then goes back to drawing. Should I ask what's going to happen to that picture after it's finished? Mmmm, I haven't decided yet. Any ideas? I might set it to Kyon's desktop. * Katie has a straight face. It helps that she's not looking at Satoshi. * Satoshi's jaw drops. "Oh my *god*. You are not serious. You are not." * Katie steels herself. Not going to laugh. And then she looks at Satoshi, with his mouth hanging open, and she lets out a little snort, covering her mouth. Failure! You are *killing* me here. I *am* the murderer in residence. * Satoshi sobers slightly. "Well," he says. "Maybe hide it somewhere so it won't see the light of day... unless you're having a really bad time and you need something to cheer you up." * Katie laughs. "Maybe." Nooooo promises. Oh, speaking of! Your package of food should arrive in about a week or so, I think. Oh yeah? * Katie actually stops her sketching now. "Awesome! I haven't had peanut butter in *years*." Yep! There are multiple jars. And I have clearly marked whose stuff is whose. Yes! You sent it to me, right? I'll have to get in touch with Wataru and figure out how to get his stuff to him. * Satoshi nods. "Yep. Thanks for letting me do that. Saved a lot of postage." * Katie waves it off like it's nothing, because it is. "Shipping stuff overseas is expensive, yeah." Liam's still not letting me live down the peanut butter toast incident, by the way. * Katie laughs. "But peanut butter toast is one of the greatest things in the *world*!" Oh, it's good! Just... it was unexpected. The texture. * Katie blinks. It's pretty sticky, I guess. Have you tried peanut butter cookies? No. Are they sticky? Not as much. You have to try them! They are *so good*. Okay, I'll look for some next grocery run. Liam got maple cream cookies. They were pretty good. Get the break and bake ones! Then you can eat them warm. Do you need an oven for that, or can you microwave them? Oven, usually... you don't have one? Like, not even a shared dorm one or something? No, we just have a microwave and a coffee maker. I'll bet Joshua would know where we could find one, though. * Katie nods. "Great!" It's decided, obviously. Is there a particular brand for those cookies? * Katie shrugs. "Toll House?" she suggests. "Those are everywhere." * Satoshi actually writes this down. "Got it." * Katie glees. "And then *tell me how you like them*." So important! Definitely. We'll probably do another run in a couple weeks. I'm going to look at bikes again, too. The non-motor kind? Yep. Got some advice from Kaede. * Katie nods. "I'm thinking of learning how to drive the motor kind." Not get one, but I'm just... I kind of want to be able to do it. Really? Well, that would make sense, since Kyon has one. Would he be teaching you, or Haruko? * Katie shrugs. "I don't know. I think I'd rather Kyon teach me, but he's really busy." Pause. "Actually, they both are." Yeah, Haruko and I have been trying to schedule a video chat forever. We've finally got time on Saturday. Morning for me, evening for her. Sorry this took so long, by the way. * Katie just looks at Satoshi. "Why are you apologizing?" Oh, just... I've been back for almost a month now. Was hoping to do it sooner. But it's not like we haven't been talking. Yeah. ... I like it. The instant message thing. I wasn't sure, but... it's nice, that it's there. * Satoshi smiles. "I'm glad. And hey, we can do more of these, too." Just don't be surprised if I don't answer write away. I might be off changing Kyon's desktop. * Satoshi laughs. "Oh no. Is the picture done?" * Katie grins. "Not yet." She twirls her pencil; she hadn't been sketching for a while, focusing on the Satoshi on her screen instead. "But I'm going to have some time in between classes, so..." I am almost curious as to how it's going to come out, but with my luck I'll bring it up on screen and then Liam will be suddenly right there. And then my life will be complete. That is your evil plan, isn't it? Our entire friendship has led to this moment, yes. As Joshua once said... Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal. * Katie laughs. "I like that. Where is that from?" It's a TV show. Serenity, I think? I'll have to ask him. * Katie smiles. "Okay." And then she checks the time. "And I need to go - I have to get ready for class. My hair's still a mess." * Satoshi nods. "I'll talk to you online, then. And we can schedule our next video chat at some point. Good luck with class." Thanks. Good luck with your classes, too. And the hockey and bike and things. Thanks! Take care, Katie! * Katie waves with a little smile. "Take care." And then she disconnects. * Satoshi disconnects on his end. <@Wataru> [Session End!]