[Day: Friday, April 2nd. Time: 7:00 p.m.] [Weather: A bit warm. The sun is low in the horizon.] [You're all in Katie's house! Specifically the dinner table. Kaede has just finished a phonecall with Akemi; no help from here. Time's growing short.] [Session Start!] ( Gimme mind rolls - social sciences (psycology) ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6) and gets 8. (nope) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6-2) and gets 7. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6) and gets 5. [Anyhow, Satoshi manages to figure out where Katie might have written Chikako's phone number, and returns shortly with it.] * Satoshi dials Chikako's number, all the while keeping a careful eye on Taki. Chikako? It's Satoshi. * Taki isn't looking too well, but she's at least managing to sit quitely while Satoshi calls. Listen, have you seen Katie today? Or heard from her at all? We haven't, either, and we're worried. Any idea where she might be? * Kaede just sits down in a nearby convenient sitty place and rubs his temples. Okay, thanks. We're going to go look for her. Bye. * Kaede looks over at Satoshi, stopping for a moment. "Nothing?" * Taki stands up too quickly and waivers for a bit before she can speak, "She doesn't know?" * Satoshi hangs up and shakes his head. "Nope, nothing. She seemed pretty subdued, but I don't think that has to do with this." Okay... * Kaede picks himself up off the chair and pushes his glasses up. "Let's go meet Haruko-san then." * Satoshi nods. "I guess so." * Taki makes half a nod and looks over at Kaede, "Wh-what did Akemi say? Will she do it?" * Kaede doesn't say anything, just walks towards the door. * Taki stares at Kaede's back for a second, "Nno?" No. And it was stupid to even ask her. * Kaede walks out the door. * Satoshi sighs. In a way, he's relieved for Akemi's sake, but this means... * Taki blinks, and freezes up... Taki? What's wrong? * Taki doesn't look at Satoshi, and when she speaks it's in a flat tone of voice, "need two of us...if it's just me you'll be trapped..." * Satoshi sighs again. "Let's meet Haruko at the tower and plan there. Maybe we can think of some other way..." Y-yeah... * Taki starts walking slowly twords the front door, most of her earlier fire seems to have burnt out. [Time: 7:30 p.m. You arrive outside Tokyo Tower. It's locked for the night. Haruko is waiting outside next to her - er, Kyon's bike.] * Satoshi waves halfheartedly to Haruko. * Kaede nods to Haruko and sighs looking at the Tower. "And yet another complication..." * Haruko gives a half hearted wave back. "I won't waste time arguing, but I think this is a bad idea. But if I'm out voted so be it." * Taki doesn't look up at Haruko or the Tower, instead concentraiting on the ground just in front of her feet. Well, right now we don't have the means to use fields to get into the World Reversed. * Satoshi looks somewhat relieved as he says that. * Haruko nods and looks slightly relieved as well. "So, what are we doing then?" * Kaede shrugs slightly. "We wait it out I guess." That, we don't know. * Kaede folds his arms and frowns. "I don't like this any more than you do, but it's our best option.." * Taki glares at Kaede, "No." * Satoshi nods, then blinks. "No?" * Kaede looks back at Taki and tries not to get a snarl in his tone. "No?" * Haruko looks back to Taki. * Taki doesn't look away from Kaede, and some of her earlier anger is starting to creep back into her voice "Akemi can't be the only one, if this is the only way for me to find Katie, I... I can't do this by myself." * Kaede glares at Taki. "You're not going to do it at ALL! Do you have any IDEA what you're saying?" We're NOT going to ask anyone else. We're going to let Hinako do her job...I don't like it, but unless we find Jin, there's no safe way to get to the World Reversed. Period. And without that, we don't have answers. YES! Yes I do. Everybody says we have a choice about who gets hurt. I pick ME instead of Katie! * Haruko sighs. "I didn't think to say it earlier, but Kyon had beaten Jin right after the Yushiro fight, that's why Kyon disappeared, I'd forgotten he hadn't told you." But I don't want you to get hurt, either! * Satoshi whirls around and looks at Haruko, "Wait, he *what*?" (if this was a comedy series, Taki would facefault right now) * Haruko looks back to Satoshi. "Jin took him away from us at a critical moment, he wouldn't take him back." Haruko sighed. "Things would have been much easier if Kyon was there then." * Kaede looks at Taki incredulously. "This isn't JUST about getting hurt, Taki- san. This is about you getting killed! Or getting soemone else killed! I'm not going to ask anyone to do that for a possibility! No way! * Haruko looks at Kaede oddly for a moment before looking back at Satoshi. * Satoshi is trying to pay attention to everyone at once. This can't end well. (Satoshi explodes.) (Yes.) But...But! I can't...I... She. I CAN'T SIT STILL AND DO NOTHING! You have to. Because if you die, nothing you've done means anything anyways! * Haruko then turns and walks over to Kaede. She puts a hand on his shoulder for a moment. "May I?" Taki, I don't want to lose you! * Haruko glances over to Taki while she says this. ( Man, I'm glad I'm kidnapped somewhere far away.) I don't want to loose me either! I want Katie back! (For the sake of your ears, yes.) * Kaede huffs and looks at Haruko for a moment, rubbing his forehead. "I don't know if Akemi got lucky or not last time...there may be gaps. I'm not sure. And that's the mild effects of it." We've got nothing solid to go on...the Hermit was just a way to see where the Heirophant was coming from... We can go back and look for Jin again. We can do something that *doesn't* involve you risking yourself. * Haruko nods at Kaede's comments and then looks to Taki. "If this were really a simple choice between you and Katie, don't you think the cards would show it?" They arn't showing anything! * Kaede looks at Taki. "Do you know what the Heirophant represents? Have you checked?" * Haruko looks over to Kaede. "Please let me try." She then looks back to Taki. "So we don't know what's best, we don't even know if our intervening would help or hurt Katie, do we?" You're the one with the book, yo.... No! No, I don't know. * Kaede quiets down for a moment. He looks at Haruko and then hands her the tarot book. [The page with the description of The Heirophant is bookmarked] * Haruko nods. "And it's very frustrating, so your instincts are telling you to make some vast romantic sacrifice to save Katie. How have your instincts on this sort of thing been faring up to this point?" * Satoshi looks somewhat puzzled at Haruko's choice of words. * Kaede looks incredulously at Haruko. "Wait, romantic what?" * Taki sputters, "What does that have to do with anything!?" * Haruko nods and quickly glances at the page, confirming it's about the same as what her Utena tarot book says. If probably a bit more complete. She then hands it back to Kaede. "Patience." She then looks back to Taki. * Kaede grabs the book dumbly. * Satoshi looks very, very confused now. * Haruko looks at Taki. "I'm saying your instincts have been wrong before. What exactly makes you think we're so competant that we can pick who suffers. If we're the only choice, even if fate tells us we're doomed, I'll do all I can. But we aren't the only choice." What am I supposed to do!? Sit quitly and drink tea while Katie's...While Katie's GaaaaaaAAH! * Satoshi reaches out and grabs her arm. "Taki. Taki, look at me." * Haruko stays quiet while Satoshi takes over for the moment. * Kaede sighs and rubs his temples, leaning against the tower. "Will someone please explain to me what's going on?" * Taki twists around and glares up at Satoshi, "WHAT?" ( I will as soon as I figure it out.) * Haruko looks to Kaede. "Yes, but not now." She then looks back to the couple. I don't want anything to happen to Katie. But Haruko's right. Going to the World Reversed was *never* a guarantee that Katie would be completely safe. And I don't want to see you suffer! Not like this, not like what happened to Akemi and Matthias! Come back to my place and help me look for Jin. Or let's think of something else. We'll do something, just not this! Please! * Taki closes her eyes, and takes several deep breathes in a visable effort to regain controll of herself, "Find Jin, I can't do this myself, have to find Jin, can't..." * Haruko nods and watches Taki handle the fight with herself. * Satoshi nods and watches her, still resting one hand on her arm. * Haruko looks back to Kaede and speaks quietly. "Please let it be until this is over, alright? I will explain." * Taki opens her eyes, "If he isn't there...No..." * Kaede sighs. "I'm perfectly fine, Haruko-san." * Taki shakes her head and half laugh, half sobs, "Even if I dragged her here, I can't make her..." * Satoshi reaches out and holds her. * Kaede looks at Taki and just shakes his head. * Haruko nods and looks back. "Alright, we work in teams I guess. Check out places where we've seen him before. The other tower types, chicken shops, recheck the apartment. Don't be alone. If anyone gets a better idea then call the other team." * Arianna is now known as Demota (You realize that this probably means Haruko and Kaede will have to team up. ;p) (Satoshi's not letting Taki out of his sight.) (I do, but she doesn't just yet. :P) (Heh. They could use a talk.) * Masaru comes out of the tower. (Heheh, if it's any consolation Taki will feel guilty about all this later) Just as well...alright. (And Satoshi won't. Miracle of miracles!) (Hey look Inspiration!) * Haruko sighs. "So, Satoshi and Taki are one team." She then blinks and sighs, and then blinks again as she looks over to see Masaru. * Taki nods, "R-right." * Satoshi doesn't notice Masaru yet. "So we'll go back to my place first, okay?" Just a minute. * Taki starts to nod, but glances over at Haruko, "NO...now what?" Huh? * Masaru looks over to the lot of you, and recites: "A passing swallow / my perspective is ignored / forgotten mornings" He counts on his fingers as he says it. * Haruko walks over to Masaru. "Greetings good sir, I apologize for our time is short so I must be curt. Have you seen Katie?" * Kaede quirks his head at the Haiku...and amazingly doesn't make a snide remark. More than a few times, I suppose you could say I have. Well enough...but I think she meant within the last 24 hours. * Satoshi sees Masaru, semi-shrugs, and goes back to consoling/trying to keep Taki somewhat sane. * Haruko nods. "I fear our friend is in danger. I would appreciate anything you could tell us." (Now there's a lost cause. ^^;) * Taki looks over at Masaru with something that might be hope. * Masaru considers, then comes up with: "When people don't work, unemployment results." (You forgot to specify relevant.) * Taki looses that look and gaines one that's gotten far too much use this day, "Do...You...Know where Katie is?" No. I hardly could say I do. Do you? * Satoshi sighs. * Taki looks away, "No, I'm going now." * Kaede puts a hand on Haruko's shoulder and whispers. "Perhaps we should start splitting up the search before she decides to kill him..." 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6-3) and gets 6. * Haruko shakes her head. "I don't believe so. Fredrick, (the last thing he asked her to call hi) we're leaving again to try to help. If there is anything specific to her state that you can tell us I'd appreciate it, if not I hope to see you some other time." * Masaru cups his chin. "I should think that if you were looking for her, you ought to try somewhere she would be normally found." * Taki vanishes, and if Satoshi doesn't resist he's going along for the ride. * Haruko nods. "Thank you." She gives a short bow. "Until we meet again." She then walks over to Kaede. "Let's go for Jin." (Not resisting.) * Kaede nods and walks off. (And now we destroy Brett's mind by splitting into three groups) ( Hokay. ) (Construction site first, then chicken places, starting with the one near the nightclub I suppose.) [You arrive at the construction site!] * Haruko parks Kyon's bike with some care and then heads in towards the elevator, looking around as she does. [The site is surrounded by a wooden fence, the gate of which has a padlock.] (Didn't I break that padlock once? ;p) [It's a new shiny padlock.] (so did the illusionary Shingo, it gets a lot of abuse) * Kaede walks towards the fence and sighs. "This place brings back a lot of bad memories." * Haruko casually removes her hair pins as she approaches the padlock, she tries to pick it, rather than break it off. Somewhere a lock merchant is disappointed. * Haruko nods at that. ( Lockpick roll! ) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6-2) and gets 2. (And that's not counting any lockpick bonueses. :P) [Haruko unlocks the lock!] [The gate swings open, revealing the unfinished construction site; it looks like work hasn't been done on it in months.] * Haruko heads in is incidentally wearing the gloves. In preparation for breaking into the tower, but work just as well for here two. We should actually find out some time what's being built here. * Haruko heads to the elevator while looking around inside. [Kaede's phone rings!] * Kaede picks up the phone and puts it against his ear. "Takeuchi here." * Haruko keeps an eye out while waiting on Kaede. 2d6-1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6-1) and gets 8. * Kaede furrows his brow. "Left? Left where?" * Haruko finishes with her hair and gets out the keys to the bike again. * Kaede 's lips turn into a scowl. "I meant left from where. Where are you calling from?" She's been at school this whole time? But why? * Kaede raises an eyebrow and glances at Haruko for a second before paying attention back to his phone. * Haruko snorts. "Thank you Masaru." She then walks through the gate and closes it again. Locking it behind her. (Before Kaede goes through it? :P) (Yes. She's finally gotten her chance to get rid of him! ;p) (She's closing it with them on the outside. Unless he walked through and I didn't notice) * Kaede cups his hand over the phone. "So you don't know what they had to do? Did you see anyone with them?" He looks at Haruko as she comes back and mouths the word "Saki" * Haruko nods. She gets on the bike and gestures for Kaede to get on. She mouths "Satoshi's?" * Kaede grumbles slightly. "Should have guessed. What DID you see then?" He holds up his hand for Haruko to wait. * Haruko nods and puts the key in the ignition but doesn't start the bike. * Kaede furrows his brow again and narrows his eyes. "For that matter, why are you calling me? What suddenly made you care?" * Haruko frowns slightly but doesn't react otherwise. ...yeah right. Well thanks all the same. If you remember anything else, call me. (Kaede's picked the second hottest girl for his herem, -Arcanamon, gotta catch 'em all.) (Where'd that come from? :P) * Kaede starts to hang up, then stops. "Wait. IP address? What sort of address? What site?" * Haruko looks surprised at that. So he did? * Haruko snaps her fingers. "Right, Hirokazu." * Kaede nods. "Can you give me the address?" He pulls out a pad and pencil while holding the phone to his shoulder with his cheek. ...and you're sure this isn't ANOTHER address? Knowing Hirokazu... * Haruko snickers at that. * Kaede scratches it out on the pad anyways. * Kaede nods. "I will. If you find anything else...thank you." He turns off the phone. So, we driving or web surfing first? * Kaede turns to Haruko and pushes up his glasses. "That was Yorihisa. Apparently Saki just left the school 15 minutes ago. I'm surprised she was still there all this time." * Haruko nods. He didn't see the third person...but apparently Hirokazu visited a site and did a trace on it..." He looks on the pad. "Let's see where this goes..." He steps towards the bike, unshouldering his kaban. * Haruko gets off the bike to stand over his shoulder. * Kaede takes out his computer and starts it up, checking his signal before connecting. Once Taki knows about this, she'll probably demand we go immediately. [Signal OK!] * Kaede nods and types it in. "That's why it'd probably be best if Taki doesn't know." * Kaede sighs. "Though I won't stop you if you want to tell her..." * Haruko sighs. "Well, I know what Kyon would do." She then looks down. "I think we shouldn't, but she'll never forgive us if we don't... I need to think." [The site comes up. Sure enough, it's titled "How Attractive Are You?" and appears to be a site that lets people evaluate the appearance of others.] * Kaede sighs too. "You don't need to worry about that." He looks at the site with a blank look. "Here we are.." * Haruko snorts. "Suppose that's why they needed Hirokazu." She leans back against the wall. "So is Katie in there?" I don't know. He did say this is the site Hirokazu did the trace on... * Kaede types Katie's name into the search. "I'll check." * Haruko nods. * Haruko closes her eyes for a moment. "So, in her position. If you were going to do something stupid, even if you knew it was stupid, but it was for an important reason, would you want to know?" [Tadah! It pops up! It's the only one, that matches the search, too. 'Cause it's a Japanese site, and not many Japanese are named Katie Andrews. The submitter's handle is Arcanico7.] * Haruko looks closely at the picture. Does it have the throat cut mark, anything odd about it? * Kaede eyes the monicer. "...could they be any more obvious?" * Kaede reads the site. Rating, description, whatever they have there. [It's Katie. Or a very good substitute. There's room for comments underneath the picture, and the first one is by Arcanico7: "What do you think of me?" (So it does have the throat cut mark?) * Haruko gets out her phone and stares at it for a moment, she doesn't make any calls just yet. ( It seems to! ) * Kaede keeps reading for any other comments. * Haruko does to. She also types in Satoshi's number but doesn't dial. "Don't know how long an IP trace takes, but you might want to search for anything else on Arcanico7 first. That's a weird nick, probably pretty rare." Or maybe just Arcanico with any number, in case there's more than one. * Kaede mmms. "I think I could probably run the trace in the background. It might slow it down a little bit, but it'd free us up to search.." * Haruko nods and sighs. "I'm going to call Satoshi. We all need to be in on this, she'll never trust again if we don't tell her. Can you make sure the address won't pop up so she can't see it, I at least want a guaranteed chance to talk before she ports away." * Haruko does not look happy about her decision, but her voice doesn't lack confidence. * Kaede frowns but doesn't say anything more as he types to start the IP trace. He promised he wouldn't say anything. * Haruko calls Satoshi. * Haruko keeps watching Kaede's laptop while he works. 2d6-7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6-7) and gets -1. (o/~) * Haruko speaks into the phone. "This is important. Found him yet?" We've been checking out the construction site, I need you to nod and give non-commital responses, uh huh or something. Okay? * Haruko sighs. "Fine. We got a lead on Katie but not Jin, I'm afraid Taki's going to do something stupid because its a lead. But I think we should tell her anyways. Do you agree?" * Kaede snorts at Haruko's conversation. Particularly the "non-commital responses" part. [Kaede discovers the ISP that the IP is for, and can probably trace the location of the computer from there. He also finds that there's multiple pictures on the site from the same IP address.] (All of Katie?) Fine then. She's on one of those internet hot or not sites. Hirokazu traced whoever put her up. Kaede's at this now. Once we find it I suggest we not tell her the specific address until we talk it over, agree? ( No ) Then head over here unless you've got something to do or want to break it to her yourself. Later. * Haruko hangs up and looks at what Kaede's up to. [All of the pictures are not of Katie. However, one of them is of Remi Okui.] * Haruko 's eyes widen. (Who are the rest of? People we don't know) * Kaede scowls. "I wonder if they're all Arcana" [You don't recognize the others. They're all of women who are fairly attractive but not dropdead gorgeous.] I'd bet on it. Be sure to save those pictures. This might not be about Katie as a person, just about the fact that she's an Arcana. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6-3) and gets 6. * Kaede finishes up this trace...let's see where the rabbit hole leads. Is there anything else online about this guy or girl? Hmmm... * Taki and Satoshi arrive just inside the gate in a spectacular lack of sfx. They are however holding hands and Taki is blushing. Arcanico7, Arcanico7...7 of what though? How many people in the band? * Satoshi squeezes Taki's hand once and heads over to Kaede and Haruko. That's possible. I was thinking it could be referring to the card though... * Taki looks around for signs of her queen, and then follows Satoshi to her. True. I'm just thinking because they're all women... * Haruko looks up at the pair. * Kaede frowns. "It's too obvious. Besides, I can't see why the Heirophant would think not to involve us in the Band. We've dealt with them before...no, something's got to be a new threat..." Ultimately speculating is a waste of time, we need to decide if we trust the heirophant that we'd make the situation worse. I do, if Saki feels she needs us she can call us. * Taki looks from Haruko to Kaede, "Wh...Do you know where?" ....Saki never feels she needs anyone. * Satoshi listens. She took Kyon to save Kyoko. That's because she doesn't have a reason to save her. ( Are you going to try to get a street address, Kaede? ) (Yes or neighborhood at least) ( Hacking roll, +2! ) 2d6-5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6-9) and gets -2. [Kaede comes up with an address!] (Your hacking rolls are sicker than Ari's. ;p) (And he's a good boy and doesn't show it onscreen, right? :P) (Right!) [Session End!]