[Date: Friday, January 31st. Time: 5:30 p.m.] [Weather: Light snowfall. The sun is just setting. Cold.] [After the meeting with Ryuji and Eriko on the roof, the group hung out in the school's lobby with a bunch of people who didn't really exist, who told them there was someone they should meet under a bridge. So the group happily headed that way (or maybe not happily), and got on the nearest mass transit system. They're just getting off at the station as this opens. And Kyon's not there; he's doing important stuff.] * Katie looks around. "So where are we going, Meimi?" * Jiro gets off and looks around. [Session Start] * Satoshi hops off and looks around as well. A bridge. Which bridge? This one. * Meimi starts walking. * Satoshi sighs and follows. Okay, okay. * Jiro shrugs. * Jiro follows the Meimi. * Katie walks after Meimi. [Through a window, you see that this uptown area of Tokyo is nice, though not really a place for the rich. There's not a lot of people around, however. At least, not on the streets.] [There's a river not far from the station, and a bridge not far from that. Progress, already!] Oh, that bridge. [Unfortunately, it's the wrong bridge! .... Just kidding ^_^] * Satoshi notices the bridge. "This one? [It's a few blocks away, mind.] * Katie keeps walking, humming to herself as she pulls a small recorder out of her satchel and checks the mini-casette in it. [Yup, it's still there, Katie.] ( Yeah. It's not hard to miss a bridge over a river :P ) (Hey, it could be a small bridge. ;p) (Thank you, GM. ^^) * Katie sticks the recorder in her pocket. [After a few minutes, as you get nearer, you start hearing music; sounds like a saxophone.] * Satoshi tilts his head slightly. "You guys hear a sax?" Huh? Yep. Music, Jiro. Can you hear it? * Katie nods, smiling a bit. Oh. ...yeah, I think so. * Satoshi listens a bit harder. "It's pretty good." [As you get even closer.... It's coming from under the bridge! Yay!] * Katie flips her recorder on as they get nearer. [Finally close enough, you see three guys under the bridge, dressed casually, around your ages. Two are squatting on the ground while the third leans on the inside of the support column; he's the one with the sax. The shadow cast by the bridge is just low enough so you can't make out his face.] * Meimi tries to find a way down. [The two squatting on the ground are facing away from you at an angle. If the third one's noticed, he hasn't given any indication.] * Katie follows Meimi down. * Satoshi follows. * Jiro follows too, listening to the music. [They don't seem to notice.] * Katie looks to Meimi. * Satoshi looks at the others and then motions to the three guys. * Meimi walks up to the sax guy and leans against the wall next to him. [By the time Meimi takes three steps, he's stopped playing. By the time she's half way there, the other two guys are up, reaching into their jackets.] Who the hell are you? A friend, maybe. * Meimi smiles. * Katie steps to one side to get a better look at what's going on. [They all laugh at that.] I doubt it. * Jiro follows Meimi over, frowning. * Meimi shrugs. Up to you. I was directed here for information. * Satoshi puts his hands in his pockets and watches. This isn't an information stand. And I've never even seen you before. That's nice. [The two other guys scowl at that. One turns his head to the guy with the sax. "Want us to cut her up, boss?"] * Satoshi tenses. * SaxophonePlayer goes back to playing his sax. "Sure. Go wild." ( Init ^^ ) * Jiro frowns more. Hey, there's no need for that. d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Meimi (d6+7) and gets 9. d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jiro (d6+8) and gets 12. Swell. d6+5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (d6+5) and gets 6. (Bleah, Dicesuke. What'd I ever do to you?) d6+5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (d6+5) and gets 7. [Jiro, Guy1, Meimi, Guy2, Katie, Satoshi] [Jiro's turn] * Jiro draws his daito and puts himself between the guys and Meimi. [Guy1's turn] [In one swift motion, the guy pulls a butterfly knife from his jacket and chucks it at Meimi. Fortunately(?) , Jiro's in the way. Ranged def. roll, Jiro.] 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jiro (2d6) and gets 7. [The knife glances off Jiro's torso.] [Meimi's turn] * Meimi casually slips her backpack down off her back, swinging it around on one arm so the other hand can reach in. She withdraws a small pistol and aims it carefully at the guy who hasn't done anything yet. "Do you mind? I was trying to talk to this guy." ( Roll a 2d6, Meimi ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Meimi (2d6) and gets 7. [Guy2's turn] [This guy laughs aloud. "You think I'm afraid of guns?" He doesn't make any sudden moves, though.] [Katie's turn] * Katie flicks her eyes from one guy to another as she reaches into her pocket. She doesn't do anything more, though. (holding action) [Satoshi's turn] * Satoshi shifts into a ready position, but makes no other moves. (holding action) [Suddenly, without warning, the two guys you were just fighting vanish!] * Jiro blinks. Ohshit... * Satoshi looks around. ...huh? * Meimi quirks an eyebrow. * SaxophonePlayer stops playing the sax. * Katie blinks, startled, then nods and takes her hands out of her pockets. * Meimi turns to look at the sax player. I thought you looked familiar. * Satoshi stays in his ready stance. Really? Oh? Didn't want to believe it, but I guess it must have been true. And why wouldn't you want to know little old me? ...huh? (How far away am I from Jiro?) * SaxophonePlayer chuckles. "I wasn't talking about you." ( He's halfway between you and the guy with the sax. ) * Katie tilts her head. * Satoshi realizes that Jiro's too far away to talk to without alerting sax guy. * SaxophonePlayer holds his saxophone in one hand, and it changes, becoming a single bladed hand axe. He steps towards Katie, and his face is finally visible. "I mean you, Judgement! I'll kill you myself!" [New init ^^] d6+7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Meimi (d6+7) and gets 13. d6+5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (d6+5) and gets 7. d6+5 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (d6+5) and gets 6. d6+8 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jiro (d6+8) and gets 12. [And you've probably figured it out, but since you can see him anyhow, yes, the guy looks just like Shingo. He probably is Shingo, but maybe not. You'll just have to find out.] SHINGO?! What the hell are you doing? * Katie stares. * Jiro blinks. "...Huh?" [Shingo, Meimi, Jiro, Katie, Satoshi] * Shingo charges towards Katie. "Let's see if you're REALLY as much of a threat in reality as you are in my dream!"] * Shingo swings, but, lucky for Katie, he misses. Not so lucky for Katie, he pulls the axe around and slashes at her again. ( Roll a 2d6! ^^ ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6) and gets 6. (DR1) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6) and gets 3. [As though it were an act of God, Katie steps back, barely getting out of the weapon's way!] [Meimi's turn] What the hell?! * Meimi jumps inbetween Shingo and Katie and holds action. [Jiro's turn] * Jiro runs for Shingo in an effort to tackle him. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Jiro (2d6-2) and gets 6. * Shingo quickly steps back as Jiro dives; the latter ends up on the ground. [Katie's turn] * Katie backpedals as she puts a hand in one pocket. "Shingo, snap out of it!" [Satoshi's turn] * Satoshi rushes to stand next to Meimi, between Katie and Shingo. "Shingo, goddamnit! Stop it! It was just a freakin' dream! She's your *friend!*" [Shingo's turn] * Shingo raises the axe. "The hell she is! I've never even met any of you!" * Shingo looks like he's about to charge, but then stops. "... Aw crap." * Shingo suddenly turns and bolts! The axe turns back into a saxophone as he does. "No way. I ain't dealing with this today!" [Meimi's turn!] Wait! [Jiro's turn!] * Jiro gets to his feet. [Katie's turn] * Katie whirls to take a look behind her. [Katie sees Saki! She's hunched over and staggering towards the group. Grinning like mad.] [Satoshi's turn!] * Katie stares. "" * Satoshi , hearing Katie's reaction, whirls around, going into a defensive stance. (Total defense.) Well, fuck. [Jiro's turn] * Jiro blinks, and draws his daito, getting into a defensive stance and looking confused. [Saki's turn] * Saki charges! [Meimi's turn] * Meimi turns around. Saki!? [Katie's turn!] * Katie starts backing away from Saki, but she's not doing a very good job, as she nearly falls over. "" [Surprisingly, she does! As Saki is but a few feet from Katie, she suddenly vanishes. Just like that.] * Jiro blinks in confusion some more. * Satoshi relaxes a bit. "It's down, guys." * Katie stares at where Saki used to be, not relaxing in the least. * Meimi blinks. What the heck? [The two people who were fighting you before are back!] [But they leave when they see their boss isn't around.] Wha- what... * Satoshi comes out of his ready stance. "Okay. If anyone has *any* ideas as to what just happened, I'd love to hear them." * Katie swallows, then digs out her ear helpers, which she sets into her ears with shaking fingers. Magic. * Jiro puts his sword away and has a seat on the ground, rubbing his head. Yeah. Was any of that real, or was it just illusions, like Meimi's friends yesterday? * Katie jerks her head around, looking this way and that. "I think-" She swallows again. "-I'm getting real tired of magic." I don't think I am. I *know.* * Meimi smiles. Present company excepted, of course. * Katie is still looking around, still tense, but she seems to be relaxing a bit. She takes a few steps, then starts circling under the bridge. "Illusion, probably. I don't know about Shingo, but I think the rest were." Somebody put up a field. * Katie blinks. Just now? No. Before. Arcana. Maybe it was Shingo. Is it gone now? Huh. Yeah, it disappeared right after Saki did. When did it appear? When the two guys disappeared. * Katie blinks. "Huh." Did Shingo ever try to make a field? I don't think so. I remember... Saki can make those fields, I think. When we fought her that first time, yeah. If that was really Saki. I don't know. Two Sakis and two Shingos? Doppleganger? Or someone else entirely. * Katie sighs, going to where 'Shingo' used to be standing, playing the saxophone. She takes a good look. [Mind - awareness, Katie!] 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6-4) and gets 0. [Katie sees a scrap of folded paper!] * Katie picks up the paper and unfolds it carefully. What's it say? * Katie reads. * Note had a few things scratched on in pencil. At the top 1/3rd: "Sakuragaoka High School Kendo team meets Wednsdays 3:30 p.m." * Katie reads the rest, too. * Note reads: "Other days, on roof." in the middle, crossed out. Written under it in blue pen is: "No good. Crazy psycho." * Katie stares. "" This has a note on when the Kendo team meets. And it says that other days, it meets on the roof? And... * Katie frowns. Kendo team... and roof. Ryuji? Why in the world...? I think so. Maybe... the writing under that is about Saki? "Crazy psycho." Yeah, that fits. * Note reads on the back with a checkmark in front: "Later: Follow. Must find weakness." But why would somebody be after Ryuji? [That's all it says.] Ryuji? * Katie studies the back of the note. "It has a check by it." Ryuji's on the kendo team, and he hangs out on the roof with Saki and Eriko. Ah. And follow who? Saki or Ryuji? * Note does not respond to Satoshi's questions. (Drat. Things would've been so much easier if it did. ;p) * Katie snaps her fingers. "Ryuji. To the..." She flips the note over. "Roof and kendo practice, in order to find a weakness." And I think it's been found. Is that good, or bad? What is it? * Katie lets out a breath. "I have no idea." She looks at the note again. "Does anyone have a phone? Maybe Kyon knows something." Not I. * Jiro gets out his cel phone and holds it out to Katie. "I got one." * Satoshi rummages in his pocket and pulls out his cell phone, which he got back from Meimi after the last time. "Here. Kyon's number is on speed-dial." * Katie takes the phone from Satoshi. "Thanks." She dials and waits. * Katie holds out the note for anyone else to take a look, too, if they want. * Jiro shrugs and puts his phone back. Sorry, Jiro. Huh? Oh, never mind. * Jiro nods. * Kyon stabs a button on his cell. "Queen of Wands." Sorry to interrupt your paperwork, but things got a little strange over here. * Kyon blows out a breath. "Let me guess. You need me." Not in the way you'd think, since we're all still alive. * Meimi scowls. * Satoshi rolls his eyes. * Katie twirls the note around a couple fingers. "We might have found Shingo. And Saki. Maybe." * Kyon pauses before answering. "I'm done here. Where are you?" Under a bridge at . * Katie pauses for a moment. "Oh, and Kyon?" "Yeah?" * Katie switches to English. "" * Satoshi snickers. * Meimi giggles. * Jiro blinks and frowns. * Kyon barks a quick, hard laugh into the phone. "" He hangs up. * Meimi starts looking around the area under the bridge. * Katie removes the phone from her ear. "" She hangs up and hands it to Satoshi. [Nothing else there.] * Jiro remains sitting and rubs the side of his head again. * Satoshi takes the phone and puts it back in his pocket. [Time: 6:20 p.m. Kyon shows up! Meanwhile, the sun just barely hides behind the horizon, so the sky is half red, half dark blue.] * Satoshi nods to Kyon. * Jiro looks up and nods in Kyon's general direction. * Katie is leaning where Shingo used to stand, looking the note over in the fading light. * Kyon steps off his bike, pulls off his helmet, and shakes out his hair before surveying the scene. "Who'd you fight here?" [Street lights are on about now, even though they're not really necessary, yet.] Two assorted thugs, maybe-Shingo, and possibly-Saki. Somebody put up a field. At one point. * Katie speaks up, quietly, "Saki can put up fields that powerful - the one that tries to eat us, in any case. That's the one that attacked us. She vanished before she could get to me, though." * Kyon looks sidewise at Satoshi. "So there was someone here that was real, out of all your maybes?" When we got here, there was a guy playing a sax, and two others with him. The two guys attacked first. Sax guy held back. Sax guy put up a field, turned his sax into an axe, and attacked. Oh, and he looked like Shingo. And mentioned a dream, and Katie being Judgement. * Katie winces. * Kyon nods tersely. "Sounds like him. You fought him off?" * Satoshi notices Katie's reaction. "Sorry." He looks sheepish. He ran. Yeah. When Saki, or not Saki, showed up. * Katie folds the note. "Or when he noticed her." She looks over at Satoshi and Kyon. * Satoshi nods. That's more likely. I smell the hand of our friend-hijacking, illusion-using informant. * Katie nods, thinking. "Actually..." She frowns. * Kyon looks over at Katie. "And the biker girl just disappeared. Didn't think she knew how to do that. Illusions sound right from that." He raises an eyebrow at Katie's frown. * Katie walks over to the group. "I think you're right, Meimi. I bet Shingo, or not-Shingo, was real, and so were the thugs." Exactly. But Saki wasn't. She was created to scare him away. Because Saki would scare off just about anybody. * Jiro rubs the back of his neck, glancing around idly. Especially Shingo. And if the guy who created Takeo yesterday knew Meimi well enough to do that, it's very possible that they'd know Shingo well enough to find what would scare him off. * Katie hands Kyon the note. "I found this where Shingo was standing. I think it means he's been following Ryuji to find his weakness; I don't know why, though." * Kyon scans the note, and rocks back on his heels. "It doesn't explain enough. The Knight's been erased from everyone's minds. He didn't need to do that to follow someone. Or to show up to attack you. Why bother getting rid of everything?" He didn't seem to recognize us. Aside from his dream. What if that's what Judgment does? But would it erase his mind, too? * Kyon shakes his head irritatedly. "The other people taken by Judgment have been remembered. So that doesn't work from that end." Maybe it's something else. * Katie thinks some more, then sighs in exasperation. "I don't know enough about tarot for this kind of thing." Neither do I. * Jiro clearly isn't thinking very hard about it at all. He watches the river go by. * Katie removes the recorder from her pocket, which she stopped a while ago. She starts rewinding the casette. * Katie rewinds it all the way, then hits play. * Kyon jams his hand into his pocket, and scans the note again. "Someone wants to track down the kendo captain. And someone had a field. And illusions." He scowls. "You see anyone else around?" * Satoshi watches, and then listens intently. * Katie shakes her head. [Nobody around here, nope] (Is anything coming through on the casette end of things, Brett? ^^) [If you turn the volume up all the way, you can make out the saxophone music.] [It starts and ends at abrupt points, though.] * Katie turns up the volume, listening to when it starts and stops. "Odd." * Jiro blinks and listens, frowning. * Kyon listens, and shrugs disinterestedly. "Odd? Sounds like normal music." ( Oh, I meant the confusion with the GM. :P) ( I am never confused. Consequently... it's your fault! :P ) * Katie waits for the yelling, screaming, and hacking to start. [It starts! ... up to a point. Shortly after Meimi said something (it's difficult to make out what), the tape clips to where you're discussing stuff, then you find the note, etc.] * Katie blinks, rewinds, and listens to it again. (Was there any conversation before whatever Meimi said was in there?) [The guy yelled something about not being afraid of guns, or something.] ( And I don't have anything before than on backscroll, so I dunno ^^ ) * Katie frowns. It shouldn't be jumping like this. I had it on the entire time. Great, the supernatural forces are screwing with the tape recorder, too. * Jiro frowns. * Katie thinks back. Hey, Kyon. * Kyon blinks, and stops surveying the ground around the bridge. "What?" * Katie rewinds the recorder and plays the casette yet again. "If a field is strong enough, can it block cameras and recorders?" * Kyon nods tersely. "Yeah. Anything that isn't strictly Arcana." * Katie sighs and shuts it off. Then that's what happened. * Satoshi nods. "Makes sense." Too bad tape recorders of the Arcana aren't exempt. * Kyon nods again, and shrugs before turning to Katie. "And the thugs were real? You're sure?" Well... * Katie turns to Jiro. "You got hit with a knife, right?" Huh? ...oh! Oh, yeah I did. Pretty sure. They showed up again after Shingo left. * Jiro checks his side where the knife winged him. Yeah, they disappeared and reappeared in time with the field. [The wound is shallow.] [It'll probably heal overnight.] * Kyon looks at the wound briefly and nods. "So they were real. So the Knight or whatever was probably real." He scowls, shakes his head tersely, and pulls out his tarot deck. * Jiro eyes the cut, shrugs, and once again disregards it. * Katie watches Kyon with some amount of interest. * Satoshi folds his arms and observes. * Jiro looks up in hopes of catching a neat magic trick. * Kyon crouches down, shuffles the deck, and grimaces before saying quietly, "How can I find the Knight of Swords." * Kyon picks off the first card, and flips it. The card is... the Hanged Man! * Kyon scowls, and lays it down. He takes the second card, flips it, and puts it to the left of the first one. The next card: The Three of Swords * Kyon sighs quietly, and flips the third card, putting it to the right of the first. The card is... the Moon! * Meimi scowls. ( The translation: Hang upside down and stab Meimi! :P ) (In the heart? *thwaps Brett*) * Kyon looks up at Meimi, and smirks. "Looks like you're the one we need to find him." We already knew that. It was my imaginary friend that brought us here to meet him. ( Gosh, Meimi, Shingo disappeared right before you showed up. Coincidence?) ( There is no coincidence. We are all Shingo. ) * Kyon shakes his head quickly. "Not that. It's your talents that will bring him out. Not your illusions, necessarily. You." * Meimi shrugs. It could just as easily be saying that you need to look inside and trust your instincts. * Jiro frowns. * Katie looks down at the cards, then over to Meimi. She blinks at the other girl's reaction. "Either way, you will help look for him, right?" ( Or it could be saying the Meimi will hang you all, but hey :P ) Of course. * Kyon scoops up the cards, and smirks. "You're so sure about the spread?" [00:36] [Session End]