[Day: Thursday, March 25th. Time: 8:30 p.m.] [Weather: Cloudy grey skies.] [You are all in Kyon's apartment. Twice, in fact: Your other selves are lying unconscious in the bedroom, although you can't see them. And things are gradually getting darker. Kyoko is lying down with a bizzaire look in here hyper-space eyes.] [Session Start!] * Haruko slowly leads Taki over to the bedroom and puts her next to Kyoko. * Haruko then checks on Kyoko's stats and gets to work on sewing the dress, which is a tad awkward as she is still wearing it, but it's fairly big so she manages for the moment. * Dicesuke has joined #arcana * Katie is still seated on the floor. She watched Satoshi go and doesn't seem keen on moving quite yet. * Kyon sits cross-legged on the floor, looking at Kumaguro quietly. He flicks the deck of tarot cards back and forth in his hands, a calm look on his face. * Kaede looks over at Kyoko, then peers at Kyon. "So anything like this ever happen before that you know of?" * Kyon shrugs quickly. "Like the Hierophant said. Nothing. Not that I've come across." * Kaede shakes his head and performs the valiant act of wall-support. * Katie gets to her feet and wanders over to the couch. She flops down on it. * Haruko 's miss rate is way up, so she goes to the bathroom to change, returning a bit later still wearing the Miko jacket, but with her school uniform dress. The jacket still looks as if it was done by someone not remotely versed in the art of tailoring, it hangs wrong and the sleeve sizes are a little off. * Kaede sighs and closes his eyes. "Now I wonder how exactly I explain THIS to Nanami." You don't. * Haruko checks on Kyoko and Taki, and then gets back to sewing. * Kaede opens his eyes back up and looks at Katie. "And if I don't come home tonight?" * Kaede quietly adds "or ever" under his breath. Poor Katie can probably hear that. * Katie winces. "Then come up with a reason when you do." Easy for you to say. * Kyon smirks down at the cat. "Or assume that she's just going to have your other assistant over and talk about your shortcomings." * Katie stares at Kaede, then flops on the couch the rest of the way and puts her face in the pillow. * Kaede sighs again. "Sure, Kyon. We can all have a good laugh about that about now." * Kaede slumps on the wall and slides down to the floor. (We all had a good laugh about it then as well.) (Sure did!) (I'd find it funnier if Kaede weren't depressed :P) (Not in the slightest. :P) (Cause if Kaede weren't depressed, it wouldn't be funny in the first place. ) (Well, a little funny, but not very.) (Your logic boggles me, Greg :P) (Kaede's personality is why this is so funny. So you're doomed either way. :P) It...makes you wonder. * Kyon shakes his head bemusedly. "Why they're drawn to discussing them?" No, not that. * Haruko quietly hums Meatloaf's Bat out of Hell as she works. She's in the other room, so it's pretty faint, probably even for Katie. I mean if our bodies really still out there and we're fading...what happens if we completely fade out? * Haruko 's available attention span seems mostly consumed by trying to hum the instrumental bits, which are pretty trickey, or maybe she just doesn't feel like replying. * Kyon strokes Kumaguro's head lightly. "Die. Or take up room next to the Moon. Or nothing. Doesn't matter. No way to guess." * Kaede looks over at Kyon. "I'm not so sure it doesn't matter. It's possible this is a way that the Blacks are made." * Katie stays right where she is, face down in the pillow. * Kaede rubs his forehead. "Of course that's just wild speculation...forget it." He slumps forward a bit and goes quiet. ( Wow. Kaede has a good idea! Er... I mean he's figured it out! ) (Sorry, guys. It was nice knowing you.) () * Haruko calls out. "The blacks were around at the start I believe." She then makes a face cause she lost her place and starts again from thee begining. Though this time repeating the word 'ra' rather than humming, as humming is too hard. I didn't say it was the way...just... * Kaede lets out a heavy breath. "Nevermind. I'm being stupid." I'm just--just not used to not being able to do much of anything.. * Haruko might have a facial expression of some sort in response, but no one can see it, so you'll just have to guess. * Kaede wraps his arms around his knees. (It's a smile because she's happy he finally figured it out.) (With slight trace of smirk, but yeah. :P) * Haruko then checks on the two girls again, and frowns briefly and props Taki's legs in case she ends up going into shock as well. * Kyon looks up halfway, with a smirk. "Better to do nothing than do something ineffectually." * Haruko slumps a bit at that. No, it's the same. Now...if you do something actually hindering, then yes it's better to do nothing. * Haruko sighs for a moment. "I've found ineffectual tends to be hindering." She keeps her place this time though. Maybe... * Katie says something in her pillow, but it's muffled and very quiet. * Kaede perks up and looks over at Katie. "What's that?" Or at least it tends to for me. You may well have a different experience with it. * Kaede doesn't really seem to hear Haruko's response. * Haruko switches songs to Driver's High. Although for the record she didn't finish Bat out of Hell. Not even close. * Katie doesn't seem to want to look up. Face in pillow. * Kaede sighs and gives up, going back to being curled up. * Kyon turns to look at Katie sidewise. "Proving the point. Ineffectual talking. Worse than not saying anything at all." (And the rest of the session was complete silence.) (Haruko's quietly singing. :P) * Kaede looks back over at Katie at Kyon's comment but still doesn't say anything. * Katie shivers a little, then shifts to her side and away. * Kaede keeps staring. For the record, if it does look like we're going to fade to black, I'm dragging Kyoko downstairs and stealing a diesel truck. No way I'm going out a pedestrian if I have a choice in the matter. * Kyon pats Kumaguro just above his tail. The cat gets up, stretches for a few moments, then walks over to the couch, looks up, and jumps up next to Katie. * Haruko checks on the girls again. * Kaede watches Kumaguro. * Kyon watches bemusedly, then looks sidewise to Haruko. "You could do better than a diesel truck." * Katie twitches a little but doesn't move beyond that. We're in a field, it has to be diesel. Need to get around the spark plugs. I wonder if it'll even move. Since we're partly not in the field. I mean it'd have to move half of it in the world wouldn't it? * Kaede goes over to Katie and puts a hand gently on her back, whispering. "It's just the cat." It'd move so long as it didn't have an electric fuel injection system. Just like if you picked up a pillow and threw it the thing would move. Although the starter might be a problem. Need a diesel motorcycle to be guaranteed ignition without a battery. [Kumaguro perks, then jumps on top of Kaede's hand on Katie's back. Sitting on two people at once!] * Kaede blinks but doesn't try to pull his hand away. He's dealt with cats enough to know not to make the sudden movement. * Katie didn't move at Kaede's touch, but when Kumaguro does that, she half- shrieks and scrambles to sit up. Her eyes are wet and face a little tear streaked. [Kumaguro yowls as he jumps away, and zips back to Kyon. He then stares back at Katie with wide eyes, his ears turned to the sides.] * Kaede snaps up at Katie's outburst and puts his hand on her left shoulder. "It's okay! It's just the cat. That's all it is." * Katie stays rigid as she stares at Kumaguro, face pale and eyes also wide. "I- I-" * Taki groans slightly at the scream, rolls onto her side, and makes a futile attempt to curl up. * Kaede keeps his hand firm on her shoulder and looks straight in her eyes. * Kyon scratches the cat between the ears. * Haruko starts a little at the shrief and the looks over at Taki. She says in a low pleased tone, "Back with us? Good." * Katie stares a bit longer, then crumples and puts her face in her hands. * Kyon smirks. "He's not that scary." * Taki doesn't open her eyes, "Ask me again in a few hours." * Kaede rubs Katie's back and starts to say something before he whips his head around to glare at Kyon. "Dammit Kyon, follow your own advice. That's the most ineffectual talking I've heard this fucking night." * Katie sobs, curling her fingers to stare at the ground over them. * Haruko leans over and cups her hands, and whispers "Katie might have use for you now, but if it still hurts too much, I can go and do my best." * Kaede goes back to look over Katie and rubs her back whispering. "Come on, Katie. You said we'd get out of this okay. You have to believe it yourself.." * Kyon shakes his head bemusedly, and strokes the cat some more. Within a half a minute or so, Kumaguro calms down. * Taki opens one eye and looks at Haruko with it, "Katie? ...What?" * Haruko gestures to the other room. "Kaede may need some help." * Katie whimpers and doesn't lower her hands. * Taki stays silent for a bit and then connects the crying to it's source, "...Hand up?" * Haruko helps Taki up. "Need my help to get over there?" 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6-2) and gets 3. * Kaede doesn't say anything else, just looks her over with a pitying look and rubs her back, surprisingly gently. * Taki wobbles and grimaces as she trys to stand on her own feet, "Yes. ...What happened? Last thing...Kaede not telling Satoshi." * Katie half-whispers, "Taki's awake. There's nothing we can do." * Haruko stands up and stands next to Taki, ready to catch her if need be. "You didn't miss anything." * Kaede whispers back. "No there's not, but that doesn't mean that we're helpless." * Taki takes a few shaky steps twords the other room, "Katie crying isn't anything?" * Katie blinks. "It doesn't?" * Haruko looks down for a moment. "I think the cat startled her." No. Not being able to do anything and being helpless are two entirely different things, Katie Andrews. * Haruko keeps watching out for Taki. * Taki slowly moves closer to the doorway, "Wassuch a nice cat." Doesn't sound like it. * Haruko keeps shadowing Taki but seems a bit more at ease. Do you honestly think we have no chance of getting out of this while Satoshi, the Heirophant, and possibly Saki are out there looking for what exactly happened to us? * Katie keeps staring silently for a while, then says, "Still helpless." No. * Katie lowers her hands to clutch the edge of the couch and says, with a little more conviction, "Yes. We are." * Kaede sighs and takes his hand off Katie's back, propping himself up by his hands as he sits on the floor in front of the couch, watching Katie. What was Kyon just talking about? * Katie looks over to Kyon. * Taki achieves the doorway and celebrates this great acomplishment by leaning on it and closing her eyes for a bit. * Haruko checks Kyoko for a moment, and then goes back to watching Taki. That doesn't mean you can do anything. Other people doing stuff for you doesn't mean you can do something about what you're in. So we do something about what we're not in. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6-2) and gets 4. * Kyon looks at Kumaguro while he pets him. "It does. Not like we can't do anything. Just that I don't know the consequences. So it's better to wait, for now." * Katie sighs and doesn't say anything to that. * Kaede nods a little. "Exactly. Besides, we've got other problems besides just this. I mean...what could have happened to Kyoko to cause this? Is it part of the after effect of the drugs? That's the working theory. So.. * Taki pushes herself back to verticle, "Too bad we can't just ask." Yeah. * Kaede leans back and looks half at the ceiling, but keeping Katie in his periphery. "Someone's drugging Arcana, some using them as slaves or bodyguards, and we know it's something intense. On top of that it can seriously screw up the powers...." * Kaede thinks. "Or...there's another possibility." It's made by Arcana. It's handed out by them, right? I think the withdrawal was what screwed up the powers. And yeah. * Kaede nods. "Chariot's one of them, we know that. But he's not handing it out." Someone with a field. * Kaede looks back up to the ceiling. "I'm not so sure, Haruko." What if the aftereffects of the drugs still allow partial control even if they're "no longer under the influence."? * Taki lets go of the wall and resumes her walk twords the couch. * Haruko shakes her head. "The addiction and the addled mindedness is the means of control, from what we know. Not some sort of telepathic link." Can't be sure of that. And I'm not jumping to that conclusion, I'm just throwing that possibility out there." * Haruko chuckles for a moment, or maybe snickers is a closer term. Anyone remember if Remi tried to use her powers after her withdrawal? She did. 'nything happen? What happened? At the party for one, and during the fight in the tower as well I think. Worked just fine. But...that wasn't really an after effect of the drug. I'm meaning...we didn't see any after-effects there... Maybe less drugs? * Kaede rubs his chin. Remi was in the hospital for a bit, and was only under for a night. Kyoko was under for longer. * Kaede sighs and rubs his forehead. "I still wonder about the possibility of 'sleepers.'" S'not like there's way to find out 'for is too late. It's possible, but they'd probably still be taking the drugs. We can at least take some comfort in the fact that drug use seems to lead to erratic behavior. Besides, if they were that effective, there'd be no reason to give away so many for free. If you've got a subtle drug, you'd want to advertise it as little as possible. * Kaede sighs again. "Yeah...I need to talk to Yurika-san again." She can flesh out details about the drug, but I doubt anything more. If we want the supplier, we need to do a reading or do a stakeout at a drop off spot. * Taki keeps walking. It's slow, but she's getting where she's going. * Haruko checks Kyoko again and then resumes sewing, sitting fairly close to the door. Doesn't matter. I want to know who she gave the drugs to..if she recalls. * Kaede smiles slightly, but it's not very effective. "Plus I promised her I'd visit. I can't go back on that." * Katie speaks up: "I'll go with. If you want." * Haruko nods. "True enough. And that's not a bad way to get details on the after effects. They may well be different for Arcanas, since it's an Arcana drug, but it is still useful information. Don't go back on promise. * Kaede looks over at Katie. "I think she'd like the company. I know I would." * Katie smiles a little and relaxes some. "Okay." * Haruko sighs. "I should talk to Riko again. Tell her as much of the truth as I can." You mean that her cousin has turned into a lying, impersonating bastard? * Haruko misses a stitch and then fixes it. "Quite." 't be bad if she saw him looking like that... She'll never believe it. No she won't. Doesn't matter. I didn't promise to tell her what she wanted to hear or what she'll believe. I'll leave out the magic stuff, but I'll keep my word. You also promised not to spread it, yet everyone knew except Katie and Kyon in the end. * Taki finaly reaches her goal of the end of the couch closest to her. She stares at it for a few moments and then looks up a bit at Katie, "Mind if I take a seat?" * Satoshi has quit IRC (Quit: Let there be sleep. ) * Haruko digs into the bed with a hand. "I had permission to use assistants. Even had permission to use you by name." * Haruko then sighs and checks on Kyoko again, no point sewing until she won't be missing stitches. * Katie looks at Taki, then shakes her head. Yet apparently she didn't trust me with that task. It doesn't make sense. * Kaede sighs and closes his eyes a little. She told you about him, and I doubt you offered to do what you could to help, you were busy. * Taki gingerly sits down next to Katie and lets out a sigh before muttering to herself. * Kaede opens one eye to look at Haruko. "Oh, I'm so glad that you understand me so fully, Haruko-san." * Haruko takes a deep breathe and then gets back to sewing, she's sitting in the other room, so he's going to have a hard time looking at her. "Better to offer only if you can really help, I probably shouldn't have, I wouldn't have if I didn't think it was how to find Reiji." * Katie sighs. So now you don't even think I can help. Such a wonderful opinion you have of me. * Haruko shrugs and stops talking. * Kaede closes his eyes and tilts his head back a little. Haruko, if we're going to die, you could at least not insult him. I bet Kaede did his best. Riko just heard what she didn't want to. He didn't have time to do the search for me, I'd assume he didn't have the time to do the search for her. Not going to die yet. Can try find at Hospital. * Kaede doesn't say anything, keeping stone still. And she's a lot like you. That's why you don't like me, right? I told you things you didn't want to hear. * Taki blinks, "Can try to find the Isao and The Cup at the hospital, C'mon Taki, think." * Kaede blinks and opens his eyes, looking at Katie. * Haruko puts down the clothes and walks over to the other room, looking at Katie and saying in a sad voice. "I like you, I just think you're mean sometimes. But sometimes it's important to be mean." * Katie looks up at Haruko. "Are you saying that just because you were scared that I'd be gone?" * Taki rubs at her eyes, but stays silent. Katie, I'm not...it wasn't that bad, really. * Haruko keeps eyecontact. "I'm saying it because it's true. It's was true before you were kidnapped as well. I just wouldn't have said it because I thought it was impolite." * Katie looks, unblinking, before turning away. "Yeah, okay." * Kaede closes his eyes. "There's-- * Haruko nods and looks over to Kaede. "I didn't mean it as an insult, we can only help so many people. Our time and resources are limited. The fact that I offer help to everyone means I tend to end up doing no good for anyone." * Kaede hesitates then opens them again. "There's a difference..between being mean and not wanting to lie just so someone feels better about themselves.." * Taki looks at the floor, "and lieing so that people feel worse about themselves." I think I've done that. * Kaede looks over to Taki. "What do you mean?" * Kaede then looks over at Katie, blinking. * Taki doesn't look up, "The fake." * Haruko nods. "This is true. I think Katie mostly wants to tell the truth. I also think she's been mean at sometimes. But I like her, none of us are perfect, but you are a good person." * Katie winces. * Haruko looks quite uncomfortable and clasps both of her hands behind her. She also spares a glance for Kyoko, to make sure she's still breathing. Who the hell wants to be perfect anyways? * Taki turns her neck a bit so she can see Katies feet and closes her eyes for a moment to concentrate, "You...arn't her, even if she sometimes acts like you, or if act like her. It doesn't change that I..." * Kaede winces at Taki's statements. * Katie shifts to focus her attention on Taki. * Haruko looks more awkward and heads back into the other room. * Taki slowly leans back and swallows, "The truth hurts, lies hurt, I hurt...I just want to go back to sleep and wake up a month ago." * Kaede tsshes under his breath. "Hiding never solves anything." * Haruko spins on her heels and heads back in the room and looking over to Katie. "Look, in the end, we all like you as a whole person, not just what we see as your good qualities, for some of us, it goes beyond just friendship. She wanted to change that, she failed." * Taki winces. * Katie nods. She doesn't look much happier, but she says, "Okay." * Haruko nods and leaves the room, going back to sewing. [End]