[Day: Friday, March 26th. Time: 2:50 p.m.] [Weather: Overcast skies, light rain] [Yesterday you got maybe four hours of sleep, if you were lucky. Today you gather at the lockers. We'll see what happens.] [Session Start] * Satoshi is sitting in front of his locker, staring mostly off into space. There's a vaguely haunted look in his eyes that wasn't there before. * Haruko slowly meanders down the hallway. She's got a bag in her hand with apparently a selection of magazines, in addition to the one on her back. * Taki yawns as she slowly walks down the hall, there's a large red spot with a hard egde on her cheek, indicating that she's been using her books as pillows again. * Kyon stands further down the hall, talking with one of the junior student council members. * Satoshi looks up and waves to Haruko and Taki. * Haruko reaches Satoshi and looks him over a moment before giving him a hug. She then sits down by him. * Taki blinks at Satoshi a few times, and then remembers to wave back, she doesn't seem to react to the Haruko hug. * Satoshi blinks as he's hugged, then smiles faintly. Are Akemi and Matthias okay? Yeah, Kaede was taking Akemi home, and I made sure Matthais was alright. That's good. They really did a lot for us. Understatement, really. * Kaede walks down the hallway next, giving a look of someone who seems like they had considerably less than the four hours sleep, if they slept at all. He seems part in that wide-awake state you seem like you have after you've gone without it for a while. He heads over to the locker and fumbles with the lock for a bit before opening it. Katie's probably with him too. And there's so much I should tell you all... (I'm really a woman.) * Haruko also has a bandage on her arm, looks like it was gashed, but doesn't seem to bad. * Taki nods and then yawns again, "...What happened last night? ...I remember taking everybody to the Tower...and then it all goes fuzzy." That must've happened after I went home. * Katie comes wandering down the hall near Kaede, looking around actively. She looks tired, but alert. Wired might be a better word. Di...yeah it did. * Haruko frowns. "We got attacked." She glances at Kaede a moment before continuing. "But eventually we were able to get down because Kaede charged the elevator." Sorry, I'm still asleep. Attacked? In the Tower? By who? Someone who apparently hates Akemi and likes Matthias even less. He...had a wand? * Katie checks eyes when she nears. And glances around some more. * Kaede closes the locker and takes off his glasses, rubbing his eyes and setting his kaban down. A wand, or *the* Wand? Or... maybe we should go to my place to talk about this, and I can start from the beginning. Or the end, depending on how you look at it. Seven of wands. Name is Toshiki, he's a Jackel. It was...it had something red in it, I think. It didn't look like a normal wand, that's for sure. * Taki turns to face Kaede as he speaks, and Katie gets to see that she has the right color eyes. Oh. I met him, I think, when I was looking for Matthias. * Satoshi sounds tired, and rather out of it. And he thinks Saki is hot so he's obviously insane. * Kaede puts his glasses back on. * Haruko looks at Kaede. "Next time we deal with an obviously insane person, could you perhaps allow someone else to try the diplomatic route for a while?" That's not insanity; that's just not knowing better. Nah, just that he judges by appearance. * Katie speaks up. "But she is hot. That's a nice blanket fact." Excuse me, Haruko. I was under the impression that the insane are well known for being excrutiatingly hard *to* be diplomatic with. * Kyon nods tersely to his subordinate, then turns and stalks down towards the rest of the group. He's got his bag over one shoulder, and a clipboard in the other. He doesn't appear to be suffering too much from lack of sleep. * Satoshi leans back against the locker and closes his eyes again, but he's listening. * Haruko smiles. "They are, but he didn't attack until you were somewhat impolite. Now he didn't earn politeness certainly, but even if it is hard, I'd like to try a different way. At least when we have nothing to gain by fighting." * Katie jerks her gaze to Kyon's as he walks over. Besides, he wanted to attack us ever since he found out we were friends with Akemi. He was just looking for an excuse. If it weren't me, it would have been something else that set him off. * Kaede glances at Haruko. "And how was I impolite? I just stated a cold fact. He wanted to find Saki, so I told him where he could go to find her. * Taki walks between Kaede and Haruko and points at Satoshi, "His house." * Kaede sighs. "Alright, alright." * Haruko nods and stands up. * Kaede picks up his kaban and walks forward. * Satoshi opens his eyes and pushes himself upright. * Katie looks around. "Chikako? Is she- okay." Chikako? * Kyon rolls his red-brown eyes, and looks sidewise at Satoshi. "Can't wait for the paper? That much for a rush on chicken?" * Taki blinks, "Chikako? Did...oh right..." There are things all of you should know. * Taki rubs at her eyes. Either way. I have some work to do regardless. This is *important*, Kaede. I don't think I've asked you for anything, but I want you to listen to what I saw last night. * Kaede glances at Satoshi and blinks surprised at him. "I didn't say I couldn't go." * Haruko nods. "What were discussing can wait. I think the newspaper can wait too, unless Chikako's coming right now. Let's just port to Satoshi's." Right, sorry. I just want to get this over with before I lose my nerve... * Katie bites her lip, looking down the hall. "Okay." * Taki turns so she can look up at Satoshi, "Don't worry about it, and thanks for saving us." You're welcome. Really, you should thank Saki and Matthias and Akemi; they did most of the work. * Kaede sighs. "Except Shiraishi's still being elusive..." * Taki blinks at Saki's name and turns to Haruko, "Uhm...did we realy send him after her?" * Haruko smiles. "We have, repeatedly. I've even got a present for Akemi next time we see her. Oh, and we found out Akemi's spying on us for Matthais, but considering she's twice as helpful as most of our allies, who cares." * Haruko grins slightly. "Don't worry Taki. He couldn't break my shield and he was only so dangerous because we were in the dark. Saki would wipe the floor with him." Ahh, good good. So, let's go. ( He was only using 10% of his total power! ) (So he's a water doppleganger) (Dear God, don't let this turn into Dragon Ball. ;p) * Taki looks up and down the hall for signs of a reporter or any other students, teachers, random thugs or cameo chars. * Kyon shrugs quickly, smirks, and stalks off down the hall. "Going to take the bike over. Got to check in with my spies. See you there." (Nope. Naruto instead. ^_~) (Okay. I actually like Naruto, so. ;p) * Haruko looks torn and looks at Kyon. "Uh..." Spies. What else have I missed? * Katie blinks a couple times, then looks at Kyon. "What?" He's making a joke. * Kyon looks back over his shoulder at Haruko. "You coming, or not?" * Kaede sighs and slips out his computer of his kaban, adjusting his glasses. * Taki yawns, "I don't know anymore." * Haruko jumps up and follows after him. She smiles a bit. "See you there Satoshi!" * Satoshi watches Haruko run after Kyon and raises an eyebrow. "That, apparently." * Haruko seems to have her energy back, at least temporarily. * Kaede blinks at that and watches Haruko head off, shaking his head. "She's so easy to please." * Taki waves at her departing friends. * Katie fidgets. (And so, we go to the apartment?) (No gossiping! Just go! =P) (maybe? I never heard back from Brett if there was anybody else in the hall.) [There is nobody in the hall.] Right, so everybody else is going with me right? * Katie nods. Yeah. It's important. Let's go. * Taki reaches out and puts a hand on Katies shoulder, "Then gather 'round." * Satoshi gathers 'round. * Katie swallows and looks around. * Taki looks over at Kaede. * Kaede gathers 'round too. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6-3) and gets 5. [You arrive at the apartment!] * Satoshi tosses his schoolbag in his room, then turns to the others. "So while we're waiting for Kyon and Haruko, anyone want anything to drink?" [Jin is not around. However, Satoshi is the proud owner of three new chickens.] Or a scrambled egg? Or several? * Taki lets go of Katie, "no...just a place to sleep for the next three days." (New chickens, or baby chickens?) * Katie eyes the chickens, then stumbles over to have a seat on the floor. I'm fine. ( New chickens. ) * Taki manages to pull her shoes off on her way to the couch, where she promptly falls in. * Kaede goes to have a seat away from everyone else and sets his laptop where it belongs, on his lap. He turns the screen so it's facing him and no one else and turns it on. * Katie realizes, belatedly, that she should have taken her shoes off. So she does that. * Satoshi sits on the chair which has been described in previous sessions, even if his player doesn't remember where exactly it is relative to the couch. * Katie looks up to Kaede once she's finished. "What are you doing?" * Kaede looks up at Katie for a second a bit hesitant, and then looks back at his computer typing. "I told you. Work." * Satoshi drums his fingers against his leg and actually looks impatient, which is a relatively new expression for him. * Katie eyes him a little longer, then frowns. "Looks like a secret." She grabs a pillow from the couch and makes herself comfortable on the floor. * Taki drifts back off to sleep. * Kaede doesn't respond to Katie's comment and keeps typing. Clickity clack. * Katie starts digging around in her satchel, eventually pulling out an unfinished carving and knife. She gets to work. * Kyon knocks on the door sharply twice. * Satoshi gets up and opens it. "C'mon in." * Katie jerks her head up at the sound. * Taki twitches slightly, but doesn't wake up. * Kaede frowns and leans his cheek into his knuckles, resting his elbow on his knee. He mutters something low and presses down on the trackpad. * Kyon steps into the entryway, takes off his shoes, and steps into the apartment. He eyes the chickens. "Should bring the cat over next time." * Katie hears that and glances at Kaede, then gets a better look at Kyon's eyes. I'm sure he'd have a field day. * Satoshi shuts the door behind Kyon and Haruko (who presumably is there) and heads back to his chair. * Haruko follows Kyon in and takes her shoes off, putting them away carefully, she's still got bags under her eyes, but her eyes and face betray and odd sort of energy. * Haruko practically skips over to Satoshi and then sits by him, looking more somber. "Whenever you're ready." Okay. * Kyon nods quickly. "Likes chasing things." He steps a bit further in, and looks around. "Should keep the livestock to this, though." Then he quiets down, and leans against a wall. * Katie gets a look at Haruko's eyes, too, while she's at it. Someone please wake Taki up? * Kaede clicks something else and hmms, then starts typing away again. * Haruko stands up and walks over to Taki, putting a hand on her shoulder. She says kindly "C'mon knight, you should hear this." * Katie picks up her pillow and absently smacks Taki with it. * Satoshi stifles a small laugh. Hear whaAck! She's awake now. * Kaede lets out a slight snort and clicks again. * Katie grins a little, puts the pillow down, and goes back to carving. Thanks. * Haruko grins slightly at Katie and then sits down by Satoshi again. * Taki sits up quickly, "I'm awake, I'm awake!" * Taki woozes a bit, "...mostly." * Katie sets her knife down, picks up the pillow, and gives Taki another thwack. Okay. Basically, after Saki and I left here, we went looking for Matthias. Ended up going to Serizawa and met two members of Akito's gang, one of whom took a liking to Saki and apparently attacked you guys later. Akito eventually showed up and told us where Matthias was, and the two of us went over there and found him, his guys, and Akemi. She was with him? * Taki grabs hold of the pillow, "List to the nice man Katie, he saved your life." * Haruko nods and doesn't seem surprised. * Katie yelps. "Pillow!" She tries to pull it back. Yeah. In a fairly nice restaurant and bar. * Kaede speaks up but doesn't look away from the screen. "Apparently, she's Matthias's spy. According to Toshiki." Matthias didn't disagree, but let Satoshi speak. Yes, but he also didn't seem terribly stable. I couldn't get her to say anything about it later...she didn't deny it though. She almost agreed to it actually. * Taki doesn't quite let go in time and gets pulled off the couch. It's probably true, who cares? Go on Satoshi. We'll worry about that when we get to it. Kyon's reading was right about needing Matthias, because he knew how to get to the World Reversed. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6-3) and gets 9, a CRITICAL FAILURE!!! "Looks like your thread just got cut. Sorry." * Katie lets go before Taki actually gets pulled all the way to her. * Katie picks up her knife again. You make a field in the Tower, but it costs you. A lot. That's why Matthias and Akemi were in such bad shape afterwards; Akemi made the field to send me and Saki there, and Matthias brought us back. * Katie nods. * Taki takes a seat on the floor and attempts to keep listening to Satoshi and keep one eye on Katie. * Haruko keeps watching Satoshi with great interest. Like we saw last time we were there, the Tower literally *is* reversed there; Saki and I had to climb down, which wasn't fun, but was doable. We wandered around for a bit before Saki spotted a church. Since Komine-san was a priest, it seemed like a good place to look for him. * Kaede blinks and peers closer to the computer screen a little. There's nothing showing he isn't paying attention to the conversation but now he's obviously interested in the computer as well. ...I wonder if that's the same one that me'n Kyon wound up in. And we found him, and he called me Hideo and attacked. * Katie nods. "Makes sense, yeah." Saki stopped him, though, and he asked why she was helping me, after what Hideo had done. * Kyon shakes his head bemusedly. "Can't shake the old ties." * Haruko nods. "I'm sorry he attacked you." * Taki blinks. He's not you, Haruko. It's not your fault. You're not him, Haruko. You're not responsible for him. None of us are responsible for our past incarnations. * Katie peers at her work, then fips it in her hand and keeps going. * Taki nods, "He's not you, and Satoshi isn't Hideo." I explained to him what had happened with Temperance and the World, and that I wasn't Hideo any more than he was Haruko. * Haruko continues in a calm voice. "I was blessed with a wiser incarnation, I'm trying to hold up his legacy. I choose this, just as you choose, wisely, that you are no longer Hideo." * Kyon eyes Satoshi sidewise. "Except you're more your previous form than she is. Can't argue that." No. You're certainly nothing like your previous incarnation, either. They're different people. Same card, different people. * Taki nods. But we're interrupting you. ::Her tone adopts a sadder slightly pleading quality:: Please go on. * Kyon shakes his head quickly. "Believe what you want. Makes no difference to me. Keep talking." However, Komine-san wasn't inclined to believe me. After all, he *knew* Hideo. Knew him pretty well, and apparently followed him. * Haruko looks a little surprised at that but doesn't say anything. Yeah, he did. * Kaede actually looks up from his work for a moment and blinks. "He did?" Komine-san followed Hideo and the Council, and said that Hideo had betrayed them all. * Taki looks like she's about to ask something, but waits for Satoshi to finish. And then... he showed me. In the Cup. * Taki blinks, "It can do that?" * Satoshi stares at the floor as he tells the next part. "It wasn't just a vision. I don't think it would have been nearly as terrible if it had just been a vision." * Katie glances up at Kaede. "If he didn't, they wouldn't have been talking about stopping Death. Isao was having doubts about what the Council and Hideo wanted." * Kaede looks down a little, thoughtful. "We've got to learn what exactly these representations of the deck can do. The more we learn, the better chance we have of figuring this thing out without going insane.." He frowns. "Like Reiji." * Satoshi looks up at Katie. "How do you...?" * Haruko nods at that and lloks reassured. She keeps watching Satoshi. Had some dreams. Mikari eavesdropped. * Kaede then blinks and looks over at Katie. She saw it in a dream, remember? She drew all of them. Mikari... did I meet a Mikari? Did I see your drawings? I don't think I did. I don't think I did either... * Haruko then blinks and looks over at Kaede, with a look of surprise in her eyes. She then shrugs and looks over to Satoshi again. * Katie sets her carving down, and the knife, and reaches over to her satchel. She opens it and pulls out a folder. * Katie opens said folder, and pulls out some loose-sheaf notebook paper that she tore out of Taki's notebook back when. She holds the first one up to face Satoshi: It's Saki as Death, wearing the western-style dress. * Satoshi pales. "Yes. I saw her." I saw her... but I'll get to that part in a minute. * Kyon jams his hands in his uniform pockets, and looks over at the picture, then goes back to scanning the room. * Taki nods. * Katie sets that one down and picks up another. It's Hideo. An older Satoshi, really, in his mid-thirties, wearing a hat, and without the broken nose. * Haruko glances at the pictures as Katie shows them. I saw him, too. In a window. My reflection. Because for a short period of time, I *was* Hideo. Or a prisoner in his body, really. I couldn't do anything. Couldn't say anything. Just watch as he moved... and did *nothing* while innocent people died. That's the way it works. It's like you had one of those dreams, only... * Katie frowns. "When I had mine, it made sense to do those things." She puts the picture down. Only I wasn't asleep. * Taki pushes herself out of the couch and stands next to Satoshi's char. And I tried, I tried to get him to stop her. But he just stood there and waited... * Haruko puts her hand on Satoshi's. "You can't change the past, but you reject it now, that's what matters." * Katie takes out one more. She looks at it for a long moment, then sighs and holds it up. This one's a rather pretty young woman in a kimono, with her hair done up in a bun with chopsticks. I watched Saki kill her. I watched her tear that girl's heart out. * Satoshi points at the picture. His finger is trembling. * Haruko gulps to hear that. * Taki puts her arms around Satoshi's neck, "You wern't the one who did that." * Kaede sighs and puts his hand on the laptop, looking at Satoshi. "Did you...did you feel any of Hideo's reasons for doing all of this? If you were in his body...he had to have had a reason. Other than simply being purely cruel." You aren't the one who did that. * Kyon shrugs quickly. "Why does it have to be more than that? Could just be that. Seems like it was enough for her." * Satoshi shakes his head. "I didn't feel his emotions. I couldn't tell his reasoning. It might have been pure cruelty." I'm not saying it couldn't be. I'm just wondering if Satoshi felt anything else other than that. * Katie stares at Satoshi. Did he...did he say anything while it was happening? Yes. After she killed that girl, she killed another. And *then* Hideo acted. He asked her if she was done killing innocents, or if she wanted to do a few more. He could have saved us? He could have- wait. * Taki keeps right on hugging Satoshi through this. * Katie turns the paper and looks at it. "I saw her die, too." * Haruko grimaces and keeps her hand on Satoshi's. If he couldn't have, Komine-san could have. The second girl was in bad shape, but Komine-san was on his way with the Cup. Did he sound like he wanted her to do a few more or was it a reprimand? * Taki shivers. * Kaede bites his lip as he says that To me, it sounded like he didn't care either way. * Katie sounds pained. "Metal? Was it..." She gestures to her side. "Right here. Stuck through." * Satoshi inhales sharply. "Yes. It was." * Haruko shivers a little. Then it was me. * Katie drops the page. "Her. It was her." * Satoshi closes his eyes and doesn't speak for a minute. * Taki tightens her grip a bit, and repeats "it wasn't you....it wasn't you." over and over. * Satoshi looks up again. "I'm sorry." * Kyon rolls his eyes. "Just don't do it again." * Katie snickers a little. I don't plan on it. What Kyon said, yeah. Don't apologize for that, Satoshi. The simple fact that you're regretting it proves you're not the same Hideo. Even if you were him in the first place. Thank you, Kaede. * Katie shifts. "Bet a psychologist would love this. Nature and nurture." * Kaede shrugs. "It's the truth." * Haruko nods. "We believe in you, we know how you feel." I wonder if my mother tried to make sure I turned out as different from Hideo as possible... * Taki stops muttering, "We do." It was just... very real. Seeing her die before me. I think Mikari was in love with her, because I was, right then. And then Saki killed me. And then Hideo spoke to her, and she attacked him. Or tried to, because before she could reach him, he tried to Judge her. * Haruko nods and listens. * Taki very carfully doesn't look at Katie right now, but Haruko and Satoshi can both see that she's turned a bit pink, and then she pales. Trapped her in this glowing circle, and said he was Judgement and she was guilty. Then she began to sink into the ground. She tried to break free of it, and that *did* actually surprise Hideo. I remember feeling that emotion then. * Katie nods. She's gone back to carving. No one should have been able to escape, I guess. * Taki nods. And then Komine-san arrived with the Cup. He wanted to save her. Hideo refused to listen. He said there was no salvation. * Haruko goes back to listening intently. He mentioned the Council, and that Komine-san should be trying to stop them, not him, that it must have seemed like he was betraying them all, but he really wasn't. Wait. Guilty of what? Killing Arcana. He called her a problem. * Haruko looks confused. * Kaede frowns and gets silent * Kyon snorts. "If that's what she was supposed to be guilty of, then it's hard to argue." Then he shrugs quickly. "If you mean the council, they probably were, too." * Haruko nods and seems less confused. * Taki also nods, "...need to get the old man to tell us what else was happening." Then an elderly woman showed up. Yameko. She said that the Council was aware of what Hideo was doing. Hideo accused her of having her own agenda, and not blindly following the Council, and then he tried to Judge her instead. Komine-san tackled him. She set him on fire. I think we all know who she was. * Satoshi looks at Kyon. * Katie looks up, catches the look, and ends up gazing at Kyon, too. * Kaede looks at Kyon too and can't supress a snort. * Taki blinks and follows Satoshi's look at Kyon. But if the council was bad, wouldn't not following them completely be good? Not necessarily. Two wrongs... * Kyon smirks. "Not taking responsibility for that. But still, good to know the good traits carry over." Shame the elderly woman part didn't. * Haruko rolls her eyes. "Please go on Satoshi." * Satoshi almost smiles. "I think the whole point is that we aren't responsible for our past selves. In a warped sort of way, it's almost amusing." It sounds like everyone was a bad guy. Or a good guy. * Katie looks back down at her carving and goes back to working on it. "Kind of like now." ...It sounds like everybody was there...Except me, and Jin, and Shingo...and... * Taki falls silent. Hideo blacked out after that. He woke up in a car. Two men were in it with him. They said that the Devil went to take care of Death. I guess that's how they got fused. Me either. I still don't know who I am. Or was rather. Yeah. It must have been right before the bomb. Because the city was about to be bombed. * Haruko nods. * Katie blinks, but doesn't look up. * Taki nods at Kaede and then Katie. Hideo was surprised that it was going to happen, and they knew it, but the man said it was the only way to stop the Magician. I don't know if he headed the Council, or what he did. It wouldn't surprise me if he did. Hideo wanted to go back. They chloroformed him. * Kaede winces. "Sho. And since Sho remembers all his past lives..." Before he passed out, the man said that "she" needed him to survive. I guess that was probably the World. * Taki blinks, and then nods. Sho thinks he's the old Magician. * Katie is silent for a moment, then laughs, almost bitterly. "I have an idea, but it'll sound like Haruko." And it took an atomic bomb to stop him... That was the end of the past. The end of a lot of things... * Haruko winces a little. * Satoshi looks at Katie. "So what is it?" * Katie shifts. "I'll say it anyway. What if the Magician always got memories of his past life? What if he was always the same person? And what if the only one who could stop him was Hideo?" Or Judgement. No, Hideo. If it were Judgement, there would be no point in keeping you as the same person. But it would ensure that there *was* a Judgement ready when the Magician returned. * Taki blinks..."So Hideo was supposed to always Hideo too?" * Haruko nods. "That would explain Nagasaki. Maybe they didn't mean the bomb.." Because if they need Hideo, they really don't have him. * Kaede looks over at Katie. "Why Hideo? And I think I see where you're going with this. The World was working to hide Hideo from Sho?" * Taki nods. The only problem with that theory is...it doesn't work. Sho KNEW Satoshi was Hideo before we did. * Haruko nods. "Unless something went wrong, back when the World left." ...Maybe Satoshi's mo...what Haruko said. * Kyon rolls his shoulders. "So either the plan didn't exist, or it went awry. Neither is useful." * Haruko nods. Kyon's exactly right. We can't exactly go on that for now. Just that the World wanted me kept alive for some reason. You shouldn't go on it. * Taki nods, "Too many questions." I wonder if she was Hideo's birth mother. Not that it really matters, but... should I go on now? * Haruko nods. "Please." * Kaede looks at Kyon. "You know much about Sho Shinjo?" * Kaede waves it off. "I'll ask later." * Taki nods, "need to get to the end..." * Haruko smiles at Kaede and speaks in a grateful tone, "Thank you." (Alas, without Brett, I can't verify how much I'm supposed to know about Sho.) (I know I know some stuff. ^^;) ( Sho is completely vulnerable to aluminum. It scares the hell out of him. Funny story..) Komine-san said that was why he couldn't forgive Hideo. I can't blame him for that, but I told him that I wasn't Hideo. I didn't want to be. I'd come to save my friends, whether or not he believed me. * Kyon shrugs quickly, mostly ignoring Kaede's question, and listens to Satoshi. * Haruko nods and goes back to her listening intently expression. * Taki nods. * Katie rubs a thumb over a section, then blows on her carving and keeps going. Hope Satoshi doesn't mind wood flecks. (Not untill they start to eat his vacume cleaner) Saki wanted to get things moving. He asked her again why she was helping. She said because she felt like it. He marveled at how she'd changed, and I asked that if she could change, why couldn't I? He didn't seem to want to listen. * Taki does her noding and hugging thing again. And said that if even if we were sincere, he couldn't give us the Cup, because he'd die. * Haruko starts to say, "I'm sorr.." But she cuts herself off. Her eyes then widen. "Oh.. that's why he survived as a ghost." ...He what? Oh. He wanted to make things right. I think he truly believed that, but he'd spent so much time on his own that he couldn't trust anyone. * Haruko nods sadly. He was scared. Everyone he'd trusted... Hideo, the Council... they'd all betrayed him. And it's hard to keep faith when you're trapped in a ghost world. (::kicks iTunes:: This is not the time to be playing NGE: Rei's theme) But he did. Satoshi? Yes? * Taki blinks, "But..he was at the hospitol...I saw him there." * Katie looks up to nod at Taki. "Exactly. I can't help but think that maybe there was a way to get him here and heal us, without him dying." But, I guess if there were, he would have said as much. He would have, I think. What if that worked the same as the Tower? * Haruko looks thoughtful for a moment and then nods. He didn't want to give it up, and I wasn't going to force him to. I just asked. * Taki looks very confused, and then nods slowly. Finally, he agreed. He gave it to Saki and told me I should never touch it. And... he called me Satoshi then. After that, he was gone. I'm sorry, Haruko. I think he's at peace now. Finally. * Haruko stands up and hugs Satoshi from the side Taki's not on. "Thank for giving him the time to make his choice." * Taki tightens her hug again. * Satoshi gently puts an arm around each of them. "Thank you." After that, Saki and I headed back to the Tower. Matthias brought us back. Komine-san had told us that only a Cup could use the Cup, and since you two were out cold, the only other person I could think of was Remi. * Kyon blows out a breath, and mutters something under his breath in Chinese. We went to the hospital to get her. That strange guy with the owl showed up and brought a wheelchair to help us get her out. * Haruko only seems to be sort of listening anymore, she just keeps a hold of Satoshi. * Haruko smiles faintly. "Oh? Norishige? That was nice of him." * Taki leans into the hug and rests her head on Satoshi's shoulder, "I'm glad he didn't decide to fight you." We brought her here, but I made the mistake of mentioning what the Cup does and she wanted to try it for herself... and I agreed. I shouldn't have, I think. I didn't realize she was going to go insane in her own way. And that brings us to when I got back here. You didn't know she was going to do that. Power corrupts, I guess, and she wasn't exactly the most stable of people to begin with. * Satoshi gives Kaede an apologetic look as he says this. * Haruko nods. "I realized last night, one thing we should think about now that we have it, but it may be risky but I think it may be worth the costs." Where is it, anyway? Saki. Yeah, Saki has it. * Satoshi exhales. "Okay. If anyone can defend it, she can, and I don't think she'll be trying to use it. Not after she saw what it did to me, and to Remi." * Haruko nods. "We should consider more defenses, but she's a great start. But, I was thinking about Meimi." * Kaede barely even registers Satoshi's look. * Katie looks up. "Meimi?" * Taki blinks, "Did to you?" What about Meimi? Being Hideo. And Meimi? She's beyond my power, but so was Kyoko. We might be able to bring her out. I think that would break the Arcana. * Katie blinks, then her eyes widen. "The Cup. Maybe it can." Break the Arcana? What? * Kaede looks at Katie. "You think..." He blinks. It would break the cold war. One of them. We should talk to Takeo and her illusions first I think. It might be better for her mind to come out naturally, but I don't know.. Wait, wait. Do we really WANT to try and heal Meimi with the Cup? * Taki nods, "She's probibly not to happy with us though." Oh, the *Band* Arcana. * Taki looks up and waits for a reply, but there doesn't seem to be one coming. * Haruko nods. "Yeah, sorry Satoshi. I don't think Senshiro would care, Tenjiro wouldn't, but Takeo and probably Sumire would." * Katie furrows her brow, then looks at Haruko. Almost through her, really. "That is healing a mind, right? Using the Cup that way?" * Haruko looks back at Katie. "I think... I think it could heal the coma." She then saddens. "But look at Remi, I don't know if it can do any more then that." * Taki sits up and lets go of Satoshi, her face brightening for the first time that day, and then it falls as Haruko speaks. Yeah. * Kaede rubs his temples. "Look. Look. If Meimi's this bad when she's in a coma, how bad would she be if she could actually consciously control her illusions? And even if we do manage to wake her, there's no guarenteeing she'd be on our side when we did. * Katie looks away, back to her carving, which she wraps. * Haruko 's voice gets real quiet, she almost doesn't speak at all. "I'm sorry." I don't really care if she's on our side. I think we did make a promise to try and help her though.... I never did. * Haruko then speaks up. "So we give Takeo and Meimi the choice." She then stiffens at Kyon's words. "Am I overstepping?" No. Last I checked? The Moon isn't a Cup, either. Beyond the biker girl, you know what the effects of those are on people outside the suit? We may want to find out more about the Arcana first before we try something with that. Without knowing the purpose of the Moon, a Moon awake is a danger... * Taki shakes her head. Kyon, Taki healed Kyoko with it. She's not a Cup. * Haruko nods. "And Isao-senpai wanted to use the cup to help in the past, not just help cups." He thought he could redeem Death with it. It's pretty powerful, if used properly. The question is, can we get it to work? * Taki nods, "all I did was touch her while I was holding it, it's powerful." I'm more worried that, if we try it, she'll be in worse shape than if she stayed in the coma. It'd be dangerous, but I could use it. I could stand in a bucket, so if I tried to run off afterwards I couldn't get anywhere... Me too. So...the Cup heals all afflictions, the Sword presumably is a pretty powerful weapon, the Wand as well, if what we saw really was the Wand... So...what is the Pentacle supposed to do? I want to help her. The Meimi I knew, even if she was just an illusion, was a nice person and I liked hanging out with her. I don't know. What do other Pentacles do? * Kyon shrugs quickly. "Pentacle is a mark of protection and unity." He smirks. "Ironic." * Taki rubs one of her arms across her stomache. Protection, then. The question is not whether we use the cup on Meimi. The question is, do we give her and Takeo the choice. I think we should think about it, there's no rush. * Katie keeps looking down at her wrapped carving and sniffs. She goes about putting it away. * Kyon stretches against the wall. "Potential harm is huge." ...We don't use it on her without asking her first. So's the potential good, though. ...One of her anyway... * Kyon shakes his head quickly. "It's beyond unpredictable. You'd have no idea if it really worked." * Kaede thinks on that, and then looks over at Kyon. "Kyon's right. These...artifacts I guess we can call them, they're way too powerful to just use without thinking about the consequences." * Taki nods unhappily. The amount we need to gain for it to be worth it has to be very large. Without counting what we could get from her in the exchange. Too many variables to play with there. * Haruko nods. "So we think about it. We take our time." I don't think we should forget about the idea completely. * Satoshi nods. We need to find out more...Just...carefully. * Haruko 's tone drops a bit. "But we do need to remember that Shingo is dead. This isn't just about beating Tenjirou anymore." How did he die? * Taki shivers again. * Katie lets out a sigh. We didn't kill him. If the Band continues on that route, they're just using an excuse. Ryuji cut him. I.. I didn't treat him before the ambulance got there, and we kept getting distracted. ::Her voice drops more:: He died in the hospital. * Taki looks down at the floor. * Satoshi gently gives Haruko another one-armed hug. * Haruko hugs Satoshi back a little tighter. There's a lot to think about. * Kaede shuts down his work for now and closes his computer. It's saved and all of course. * Katie checks her watch. "I- I should go home." * Haruko nods absently, she doesn't seem ready to leave just yet. Me too. I guess I'll walk you a ways, seeing as how I don't have my bike. * Kyon nods quickly. "Yeah. Should go back to school. More plans to be made." * Taki looks at Katie and swallows, "I'd offer you a lift...but I don't know..." * Satoshi looks at Haruko and Taki. "You could stay here for a bit and rest, if you wanted." Takeuchi-san, I didn't mean to say you started the fight before, he did, I just, we might not all get out of this alive, but if I can't, I'd want it to be for something. ::her voice trails off some in the end:: * Haruko looks back to Satoshi. "Thank you." If... that...I... * Kaede doesn't reply to Haruko at all. There's no show that he even heard it. "Coming, Katie?" * Katie gets to her feet, almost absently. "Yeah." She looks at Satoshi. "Good luck with the chickens." * Kyon smiles hard at Haruko for a second, then heads for the door. "Later." * Satoshi almost smiles. "Thanks. I think. See you all tomorrow." And Haruko. Later Kyon, Bye Katie. ...I guess...I'm styaying here.... See you tomarrow Katie. * Katie pauses, thinking, then says, "Don't get too used to the idea of dying. If you do, it'll never happen." She waves at Taki, then pulls on her shoes and walks over to and probably past Kaede. * Kaede heads out. * Haruko nods absently. * Taki blinks at Katie's comment. [Session End]