[Day: Wednsday, April 6th. Time: 3:45 p.m.] [Weather: Sunny and cool.] [You're on your way to see Saori! You're just getting off the subway.] [Session Start] * Katie is getting off the subway. She's being quiet. She's been quiet all day, really. * Kaede gets off too. He's quiet too. He's normally quiet though so it's natural. * Katie looks around, then adjusts her satchel and heads off to talk to Saori. [One big quiet happy family, lemme tell ya.] [You enter the less-than-spiffy area Saori's commonly in. * Katie keeps going! Look at her walk! And not talk. * Kaede follows behind Katie. Now he's looking at her. He looks a little concerned. "You're not upset about the whole website thing are you?" * Katie blinks and glances at Kaede. "What, because they rated me five out of ten?" * Kaede looks at Katie...then looks at her harder...and snickers. He can't help it. * Katie smiles a little and lets him snicker for a while before asking, "What?" [You get there! Saori is there at her box, wearing that silly hat and chewing some gum. She has her head propped up with her arm, and looks bored. Oddly enough, Norishige is there too, resting with his hands on his cane.] * Kaede glances up at her and pushes back his glasses. "I'm just amazed after what's happened to you that you can still keep a lighthearted sense of humor." * Katie grins and shrugs. She waves at Saori and Norishige. * Kaede eyes Norishige off to the side and slowly loses his cordial expression, turning back to neutral. "Because I hope that's not your only worry..." I'd be stupid if that were my only worry, and you know I'm not. [Norishige nods. Saori glowers.] * Katie keeps walking up to them. "Hi, Norishige. Are you after the third time today?" * Kaede looks at Saori carefully. "Something wrong?" [Norishige shakes his head. "It is not yet that time."] Works for me. [Saori glares. "Yeah. You people. I don't do buisness with you anymore. Not after what your friends did last time."] * Katie blinks, then she looks to Saori. I'm sorry, what? "Yeah, your friends, lady. The weird-hair lady and the one who cares about money more than you." Okay. But I didn't do anything to you. * Katie looks for a place to sit. Is there one? [There's an apple box nearby.] * Kaede eyes Saori. "Taki and Haruko then?" * Katie drags the crate to before Saori's stand and has a seat. Saori nods. "Yeah, that's right." * Katie sighs. * Kaede sighs and leans his back against the wall. "What'd they do now...?" "Oh, they came here and asked for a fortune." Saori points to Katie. "You was kidnapped, they said. In 'great' danger, they said. But not enough danger to accept the fair price I laid down." I was kidnapped, yeah. I was almost killed. Again. * Saori continues on, oblivious. "Then they started getting mad that my fortune wasn't accurate enough. Hell-O! You can't just ask fate to be more accurate." * Katie turns to look at Kaede. As usual, the scar's plain to see. And then she looks back at Saori. "Thanks for pointing Kaede and Satoshi to where I was, back when. I would've died if you didn't." Saori: "And the freaky-hair girl kept wanting me to give her information I didn't even know! What am I, a seer? ... uh, I guess I am. But still!" You are, yeah. Would it help if we didn't ask them to come to you anymore? If it were just us? "It's a start, dude." ( Dude in English XD ) * Katie snerks a little at that. "Okay." * Kaede rubs his forehead. "We've all been under a little stress lately..." Well, yeah. I guess constantly being kidnapped counts as stress. * Kaede keeps rubbing it. "okay...how much did they owe you...?" * Katie shakes her head a little. * Kaede looks up and gives Katie a "I don't like this any more than you do but what can we do?" look Saori grumbles. "It was 4000 yen. She asked a question, I gave her an answer, and she didn't like it and demanded her money back." * Kaede sighs and glances at Katie. "I'm not sure I have that much on me..." ( It's about 40 bucks :P ) * Katie takes a breath. "I... can cover it, I guess. But it's a lot. How about I ask you a question, and if you can give a good answer, I'll pay the four thousand." Saori throws up her hands. "There's that 'good answer' again. Look fate doesn't give good or bad answers, ok? It just gives answers." "Except when it doesn't. And that's even worse!" * Katie nods. "Yeah, it's worse." How about if you give an answer, then? To the best of your ability. This is really important. "That I can do." * Katie smiles. "Okay. Thank you." She glances at Norishige, then it's back to Saori. "I'm looking for Tenjirou Torajima, the Nine of Cups. I'd like to know where he is and what condition he's in, and if there are any obstacles in getting to him." [Saori nods and takes out her deck of cards. "Hmmm..."] [Saori starts laying down cards: the Nine of Cups, Chariot, Moon, the Tower, Death.] * Katie blinks. "Wow. Pulling out the major tarot." * Kaede nods but stays looking silently. Saori points to each card in term. "Um... Here's an obstacle" She points at Chariot. "Meaning... I guess if you look for him you'll be hit by a bus?" * Katie nods. "Yeah. He's something like a bus." "Annnd... This is where he is," she points at the Moon. "He's on the moon." "Or... In the moon. Or something with the moon." Really? You're better than that, Saori. "Or... He could be here, in the Tower. Or maybe just in trouble." Wait, wait. "And... um... he's dead? Or changing. Or changing into something that's dead. Or..." Which one's the location and which one's the condition? "Um... Could be either or." * Katie frowns. "Okay. Keep going, then we can connect it all." * Saori shrugs. "Whatever the case is, he's not in the best of places." Yeah, I bet he isn't. So he could be with the moon or influenced by the moon? She nods. So if he's in one, what does the other mean? "It could be either a location or a condition also." "He can be in both places at once, you see." * Katie tilts her head. "How does that work?" "Well, um... Look, you can be in a state of denial and a state of anger, right? Or, you can be in a state of stress and a state of Washington. See?" Yeah. Is there any way you can narrow it down? Saori shakes her head. "Nope! Can't be done." * Kaede looks at Katie. "I think I know part of what it could mean...I mean I have some theories..." I'd have to write some of it down though... Yeah. We'll hash it out. Okay, keep going. * Kaede takes out the pad and flips it, sketching down some of the pattern. "And you're not sure how Death fits in?" * Katie idly drums her fingers on her knee. "Um... I hate to tell ya, lady, but there ain't no where else to go. That's it." * Katie sighs. "You can call me Katie, Saori. We've talked enough that you can use my name sometimes." She points at the cards. "Okay. Go over it one more time, please. No pauses." "You got it. Ok, this is him, right?" She points at the Nine. "And here's an obstacle," She points to the Chariot. "This one is where he is," she points to the Moon. "Physically or metaphorically, I dunno... Or maybe it's another obstacle, but probably not." "He's also here," she points at the Tower. "And here," Death. * Katie nods. "Can you translate the cards for me?" "Uh..." "Not... really..." * Katie blinks. "Why not? You're the seer." She points to Moon. "I mean, this one could mean he's on the Moon, dillusional, or the Moon is going to get in your way..." * Kaede blinks and looks at Saori. "Wait. Why are you sure Chariot's an obstacle? Everything else is either-or." She nods. "I don't think he's on a bus." But what about the...well, the meaning of the cards..? "Um... They mean more than one thing." * Kaede watches her and gestures for her to continue. "The general interpretation then..." * Katie nods. "Yeah. Can you give us the most likely ones? I mean, that's your job." She grins. "You are getting money out of it." "Hmmm... Well, he's probably not on the Moon. That would be silly. And he's probably not dead, because then this other stuff wouldn't be here. Maybe he's dying? Or just changing, hard to tell." * Katie nods. "Death is changing, right? The kind people can't stop?" * Kaede comes up to the cards and points to Chariot, then the 9 of cups. "Could the change be interactive? Say...between these two cards here?" "There's no reason it couldn't." * Katie studies the cards. "Can you tell us anything else, Saori?" [She shakes her head.] All right. * Katie reaches into an inner jacket pocket and pulls out her wallet. She opens it, counting out four thousand yen. Ouch. * Katie puts it down on the table. "Sorry about Haruko and Taki. And thanks." Saori grins. "Pleasure." * Katie smiles back. "I bet." She gets to her feet, putting her wallet away, before looking to Kaede. "Got anything to ask?" So we can count on you if we need you again? * Kaede then shakes his head. "Not at this time, no...maybe if something else comes up..." Saori grins. "If you bring enough money, sure." I'll make sure to save up next time. * Kaede glances at Katie for a moment. "Ready?" * Katie nods. She waves. "Be seeing you. Thanks for getting Saori here, Norishige." Norishige nods. * Katie heads off, probably with Kaede. * Kaede heads off with Katie and meanders through the alleyways until they're out of earshot, then lets out a deep sigh. "And she thinks she's good with people, eh..?" Who, Haruko? You've gotta be kidding me. [Session end]