[Day: Unknown. Time: Unknown.] [Weather: Either very clear of very cloudy, it's hard to tell; the sky seems grey. There's ample light, but no way of even approximating the time of day.] [Satoshi wakes up in.... Not the greatest of places. He's on a ledge formed by an incomplete concrete floor, three stories off the ground.] [Start!] (Brett, you are EVIL.) ( I know ^^ ) * Satoshi opens his eyes slowly. "Uhhh... what happened?" Where am I? * Satoshi reaches out to push himself up, touches concrete, and blinks. Huh? * Satoshi pushes himself upright, then gets a good look at his surroundings, and turns deathly pale. H-holy... * Satoshi swallows. Um. Help? Anyone? * Satoshi does *not* seem to want to move. Or look down. Down is bad. [No help for him!] * Satoshi turns his head, *very* slowly and carefully, to look at what's behind him. [A wall.] [Luckily, though, Kaede begins to wake up. He's in an incomplete concrete room. On the other side of that wall.] * Satoshi begins to sweat a little. "Oh, God, I can't... I can't..." [There is a door-less opening connecting the two areas, but it's a good two feet from Satoshi, and no ledge to jump to; it'd be tricky to get there.] * Kaede blinks a couple of times to clear his vision, then stays lying on his back, staring at the sky. His expression seems neutral. "Well. That's odd." * Kaede rubs his head and adjusts his glasses to make sure he's not seeing things. It takes a bit before he actually sits up. * Satoshi calls out. "K-Kaede?" * Kaede swiftly shifts his eyes to the door and looks at it accusingly. "Watanabe-san? Is that you?" Yeah. It... it's me. * Satoshi swallows again. You do realize this isn't your apartment, don't you? Yeah. What's going on? * Kaede looks up at the sky. "Dark sky, strange things happening...I'd say Reiji's "showing" us..." * Kaede looks at his watch to figure out the time. As watches are wont to do. Wish he'd picked a different way... Oh yes. Throwing ice at me when I first came out of the school was really a subtle way to show me this Arcana stuff too, wasn't it? Um... what's... what's it like on your side? I-is there more of a floor? Any stairs? [There is more of a floor! And another not-door to another incomplete room.] (What of the watch?) [Kaede's watch shows nothing] * Kaede frowns and calls back. "Do you sense a field or anything?" 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6) and gets 5. Y-yeah. It's a field. * Kaede sighs. "Wonderful..." He looks around. "But not like the normal fields...I wonder..." Wonder what? * Kaede shakes his head and walks over towards Satoshi's voice. "Nothing...nothing..is there any way you can get through?" Um. There's a doorway? It's kinda far, though, and I... * Satoshi swallows yet again. "I don't really want to move." Why not? Because. There's... not much between me and the ground. And we're high up. * Kaede looks down at the not-floor part of his room. [Kaede's room has plenty of floor, just lacking some ceiling.] * Kaede sighs and looks at the door, trying it. "Fine. I'll come there then." 'kay. [There's no actual door, just a hole in the wall where a door is meant to go.] * Kaede goes through that then and looks for Satoshi * Satoshi is sitting in the middle of the ledge. He looks quite pale and nervous. He turns his head slowly to look at Kaede. "H-hi." [Kaede shouldn't go *through* that door, because there's no floor on the other side.] * Kaede stops when there's no floor, and blinks as he looks down, groaning. "This just keeps getting better and better..." Y-yeah. Um. * Kaede looks at the ledge. "It's only a couple of feet though..why not just step across?" * Satoshi just stares at Kaede, as if he's just proposed something completely ludicrous. * Kaede judges the distance again, to make sure he's not seeing things. I mean...it's only two feet... Maybe you should go look for help or something. I-I'll stay here. * Kaede rolls his eyes slightly. "Help? For...oh nevermind. What sort of help?" See if there's anyone else around... * Kaede shakes his head and goes back in the room across to the other not-door to see what he can see. * Satoshi stays put. [Kaede finds the room is a bit bigger, with more not rooms leading off from it. But more importantly, there's a construction elevator here.] * Kaede calls back. "There's an elevator here. Come on, we can get down from here." A-all right. I'll try. Just... give me a minute. * Satoshi scoots back until he's up against the wall. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6) and gets 5. * Satoshi puts a hand against the wall to steady himself, then very slowly and carefully stands up. * Satoshi keeps his hand on the wall, and takes a hesitant step towards the doorway. * Kaede paces in the room for a bit before checking to see what's taking so long. * Satoshi slowly progresses forward until he's reached the end of the ledge near the door. * Satoshi eyes the doorway. Kaede? You still there? [The doorway is a mile away.] Of course I am..hurry up. * Satoshi stops. "I... don't think I can do this." * Kaede sighs. "Then you'll be stranded up here for the rest of your life. Or until we go back. I think we might be in the future." It's too far... * Kaede looks out the door and to the ledge to see just how far too far is [The ledge is a wide step away.] * Kaede lets out another sigh and takes the wide step across to show him. "See?" * Satoshi blinks. "A-aren't you worried you'll fall?" * Kaede stares at Satoshi. "Well, maybe if I needed to jump...but really, if you can just step across it... Right. Um. You go back, then, and I'll follow? * Kaede shrugs and steps back. * Satoshi takes a very deep breath. * Satoshi keeps one hand on the wall, and very slowly extends his foot towards the doorway. He's visibly shaking. * Kaede gets ready to catch him if he needs to. ( Ok... first gimme a soul roll - acrobatics (balance) ) (Just Satoshi yes? 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6) and gets 9. (...and that's a no.) (Oh my god! I killed Satoshi!) [Satoshi inches his foot across, and suddenly looses his balance! He tips precariously on one foot over the hole, but by waving his arms manages to fall back onto the ledge.] * Satoshi falls on his butt. "Ow. I-I don't think that worked." * Kaede sighs and looks in the room for something to bridge the gap, so he can just walk across. * Satoshi takes another deep breath, bracing himself, and very very slowly and carefully stands up again. [Kaede finds a plank of wood somewhere.] * Kaede grabs the plank and sets it across the two foot gap. Sheesh. * Satoshi keeps his hand on the wall and hesitantly puts one foot on the plank. Once he's satisfied that it will hold, he carefully goes across until he's through the doorway. ( Same roll! -2 bonus ) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6-2) and gets 4. (Yay!) [Satoshi makes it across. Whew!] * Satoshi stumbles through the doorway, breathing heavily. He looks at Kaede. "Th-thanks." * Kaede shakes his head slightly. "Honestly. Haven't you ever been in planes and such? I mean, didn't you go to the states?" (Wow, Kaede's so supportive. :P ) (Like when Katie's in the elevator. Heh.) I... tried not to think about where I was? And I talked to my... parents, and I guess I kept myself distracted. I was always worrying about competitions and stuff. * Satoshi 's voice seems to be growing steadier. * Kaede sighs and rubs his head slightly. "Look...normally you're pretty steady about things...I'd understand if it was further away but..." I guess I've never had to live with...those sorts of fears. I've had plenty of other things to worry about. And when we're who knows where... ( Like a sudden pie fight *throws pie at Kaede* ) Yeah. You can tell yourself that you'll probably be safe all you want, but it doesn't necessarily take... (PIE FIGHT!) Anyhow. You said there's an elevator? * Kaede looks up at the sky and frowns. "Reiji said he'd saved the deck right?" * Kaede nods and starts walking towards the elevator. He looks for his kaban first though, just in case. Yeah. * Satoshi follows Kaede. Yay, following! He's good at that. ;p [Kaede finds it.] (Some Ace of Wands. >.>) (I know. We need to work on it.) I'm just thinking...maybe this is what would have happened if he didn't. Or doesn't succeed. * Kaede adjusts his glasses. "It's just speculation, mind you.." He goes over to the elevator and pushes the button. [The elevator does not move.] It's possible, I guess. You think he's showing this to us as some sort of test? * Kaede frowns and puts his hand to his forehead. "I should have known if this is a field.." * Kaede looks at his hand. "I wonder if I can try and start it up...I'm not sure if I even have enough energy left to try it.." Oh, of course. The mechanics. Um. Do you think there might be a manual lever inside? It's worth checking. I'll try to pry open the doors. * Satoshi goes to do so! ( Mmm... It's not that kinda elevator. It's a lift. ) ( No doors to pry open ^^; ) (Is the lift part at the bottom or at our level?) ( On your level ) (Ahh, okay.) * Satoshi steps in, looking for a manual lever, then. * Kaede steps onto the lift and looks for the mystic lever of manualitude. [There doesn't seem to be one. It's the modern technological world! Who needs manual stuff?] Great. How do we get down? [There's one way that always works. o/~] * Kaede frowns. "Like I said, I could try to activate it but..." But you might not have enough energy. I guess we could go look around for stairs. (As much as I'm sure you'd like to see Kaede hop down 3 stories like ninja...errm...no.) Wait...is it activated by pulley system? * Kaede checks. "Maybe you could pull it...you're strong enough after all.." ( Climb down, ya wussies.) I probably could, if it does work that way. [It seems activated by a set of buttons.] (You know what I mean. Don't get smart :P) [Satoshi could theoretically pull the chain and get them down. That is, if the chain doesn't break.] * Satoshi looks at the chain. "If I'm careful enough... I think I can do this." * Kaede sighs and folds his arms across his chest. "It's our best chance. I, for one, am not going to just sit around and hope this goes away." Let's do it, then. 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6-4) and gets 4. [Satoshi pulls on the chain, which gets the elevator to go down! When you get to the second floor, though, there's a nasty sound above, and the elevator suddenly lurches to one side (balance checks!)] 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6) and gets 7. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6) and gets 11. [The two boys tumble to the far side of the elevator, which puts too much weight on it and it tips, causing them to fall.] [They fall down, landing with a painful thud.] Aaaaaaaaaaagggggggggghhhhhh- ow. ( Body rolls - acrobatics (tumbling) ) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6) and gets 5. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6) and gets 7. [The REAL bad thing to happen is that the chain finally breaks and the lift comes tumbling down after them. Satoshi leaps out of the lift area in time, but Kaede doesn't, and the thing lands on him with a squash.] Kaede! * Satoshi gets to his feet and rushes over, yanking the lift off of him. * Kaede doesn't respond. He just lays face down, his eyes tightly closed. [Satoshi lifts the lid easily; thankfully it's not that heavy without anyone on it. Still, it's heavy enough so you don't want it to fall on you.] * Satoshi is holding the lift up, above Kaede. "Kaede? Can you move?" * Kaede wheezes and opens his eyes slowly, trying to test each of his limbs to see if they still work properly. * Satoshi keeps holding the lift, relieved that Kaede's at least conscious and hopefully intact. [It's very painful to move, but luckily nothing seems broken.] I am *so* sorry! I didn't expect that to happen. I thought it'd be sturdier... * Kaede coughs and tries to stand up, as slowly as possible. "Don't...worry about it..." [Kaede stumbles when he tries to stand.] I...have to say...that's the first time that's ever happened... * Kaede staggers forward and tries to catch himself before he lands on his face. "Damnit." * Satoshi waits until Kaede's out from under the lift, then drops that and reaches out to steady Kaede. [Crashbang!] * Kaede catches his glasses and sets them on his nose as he stumbles, growling faintly under his breath and trying to look at the surroundings, annoyedly. You can lean on me if you need to. (Lean on me, when you are down, and I'll come around... o/~) I'll be...fine. Really. I'm fine on my own. Perfectly fine. (I'll help you carry on! :P) * Satoshi eyes Kaede briefly, but decides not to press the matter. "Right. So, I guess we should try to figure out where we are. Or when we are. Or if anyone else is around, although since we're in a field..." * Kaede frowns. "..only Arcana." Exactly. But that means we'd at least have a shot at finding the others. * Satoshi does not mention the possibility of other less-desirable Arcana finding them. It'd make sense, if he's trying to show us...but first..a way out of here. Right. (Is there a door or other sort of exit?) * Kaede doesn't either, as those were the first on his mind. Friends didn't even occur to him. [There is an exit, in fact; the front of the building is incomplete, but it's surrounded by a wooden fence. The door of the fence is locked with a padlock.] ( And gimme mind rolls -2 ) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6-2) and gets 6. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6-2) and gets 9. (And Kaede maintains his sanity once again) (I just lost it wondering how we managed to get around that gate when it was an illusion that let us in) * Kaede frowns slightly and looks at the site. "Of course..." Of course what? This is the construction site where we saw Chariot...I THOUGHT that elevator looked familiar. * Satoshi looks around. "So why are we here, then?" * Kaede frowns again. "Good question...the drugs maybe?" Trouble is...Jin brought us here, so I'm not sure how to get anywhere else from here really... I don't suppose you carry a paper map? * Kaede sighs slightly and shakes his head. "No. I usually don't need one with my laptop..but here..." Hmm? I mean, it's not going to work to pull up a map on my computer if it doesn't WORK, now will it? Why don't we just try to get out of that fence? * Kaede walks over towards the lock and looks at how sturdy it is. Well, yeah. And it's probably not worth trying to see if you can get it to work in here with your power. * Satoshi walks over to the fence. [It's fency] Want me to just pull the lock off? * Kaede starts to reach into his jacket, then looks at Satoshi and nods, putting his hands on his waist. * Satoshi reaches out and yanks at the lock. ( Gimme a body roll - SS ) 2d6-4 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6-4) and gets 7. (Yay! Property damage!) [Satoshi tears the lock off.] * Satoshi tosses it to the ground, then pushes the gate open. * Kaede pushes his glasses up his nose and keeps his expression neutral. "Impressive." Well, that time it worked. Shall we? 2d6+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6+1) and gets 6. * Kaede nods and walks out the gate. * Satoshi follows and looks around, then stops. He points at something. "Kaede... do you see those?" * Kaede stops and turns to look. * Kaede shakes his head. "I don't see a thing. At least nothing unusual." He thinks about that statement then adds, "Nothing unusual for here anyway." Really? They look like shadows to me. Shadows of... people. * Kaede peers again at where Satoshi pointed. [Still nothing.] I...don't see anything. Think it might have to do with your powers? It's possible. I guess I can't really do anything about it right now. Just keep an eye on them, and if they start to look threatening or something... yeah. Which way should we go? * Kaede looks down the road. Which ways can he go? [You're in the port, so just about any way. Might want to head to the land route, though.] * Kaede takes the suggestion from the big voice in the sky and heads for land. * Satoshi walks along with Kaede, still keeping an eye on whatever shadows he can see. Maybe since I can sense the field, I can also see where people *should* be if there weren't one... * Kaede shakes his head. "I don't think that's quite it...I'm...not sure." First time I've ever seen something like that. * Kaede nods subtly. "Right...you'd think if your power worked like that, you would have seen it before...this..." He gestures vaguely to the landscape. "is something entirely different." Yeah. Most of the time, the fields don't give off such an obvious visual effect. That's why I think this is a...potential I guess. What could happen if things go horribly wrong. * Kaede frowns to himself. "Though...I wish I knew what that "horribly wrong" thing was...is this Judgement? Or maybe something entirely new." * Satoshi nods. "Makes sense. And so do I. What's Reiji trying to get across to us?" * Kaede smirks to Satoshi and looks over his shoulder. "Don't screw up?" He laughs, though there's a touch of nervousness to it. "I can't tell you...and I assume we won't know unless we find some people to talk to..." * Satoshi keeps looking for shadows, and moves next to Kaede now. "So we're heading back towards the main part of the city... I wonder if we can find a map anywhere. Like at the next subway station or something." * Kaede shrugs slightly and looks around. "Does it matter really when the city's like this?" Well, it would help if we knew where we were and could maybe pick a destination. Like the school, or the Tower, or something... [No people around... Nope.] * Kaede snorts slightly. "The school....50 yen says it's just as deserted as the rest of this place." Maybe some of the others headed there? ...I don't know. As for the Tower...that'd probably be a good place to start...seems to be like some idiotic Arcana magnet. * Kaede thrusts his hands in his coat and walks. His expression is midling to annoyed. Then we'll head for the Tower, and see what happens from there. Right. Problem is, we don't know where there's a map. And I doubt we can see the Tower from here. * Kaede scans the horizon, hand at his brow, just in case though. So that's why we should find a train station or something like that. Right. We don't know where there's a train station either. That's my point. * Satoshi frowns. "True. And I really don't like aimless wandering, but what alternatives do we have?" * Kaede puts his hands in his pockets and looks up idly in the horizon, letting out a slow breath, commenting idly. "And what do you usually do?" Uh. I guess I just... follow whoever seems to know what they're doing. If I don't have any good ideas, that is. Which seems to be pretty often, nowadays... * Kaede keeps his eyes away from Satoshi, though he's slowed a little. "And isn't that pretty much just aimless wandering anyways, Watanabe-san?" ...yeah. You ARE intelligent enough to make decisions on your own. You realize that, right? But what if they're wrong? Or people won't accept them? * Kaede laughs faintly and stops, shaking his head and looking at the ground, still away from Satoshi. "You really think any of us know what we're doing? How the hell can you know what you're doing in a situation like this? It's all in how you handle it..." * Kaede eyes Satoshi and his eyes glint just a bit as he pushes up his glasses, a faint serious expression on his face. "Then screw them." * Satoshi looks at Kaede, and blinks, then starts laughing. "I wish I could, sometimes. I really wish I could." * Kaede tilts his head to the side. His expression hasn't lost a touch of seriousness. "Why not?" Because... well, I don't know. No, wait. I do. I'm afraid of rejection, is what it is. * Kaede blinks at that. Then looks at Satoshi. Then stares at Satoshi. Then snickers. Then laughs. Rather wildly, I might add. What? Rejection? You're afraid of people not liking you so you don't do anything at all?? If people accept you for being a lump, is there really a point? Hey, I do things! I play hockey, and I enjoy doing that, and... I'm not a lump! I...I... * Kaede wipes his eyes and tries to breath. "I...don't mean that..." Then what *do* you mean? * Satoshi doesn't sound angry. Mostly... startled would probably be the best way to put it. * Kaede sighs and puts his hands in his pockets. "I don't know. You're smart. You figure it out." [Satoshi here's the familiar words: "I'm not sure."] But...rejection. Do you even know what rejection is? * Kaede doesn't even turn his face, just waves at Jin. (Jin's just stopping by for chicken.) * Satoshi doesn't answer Kaede's last question, because there's Jin. "Jin!" [Jin waves back, not that Kaede can see.] "Rejection is when the eggs fly out the window." ...right. * Kaede chuckles and pushes his glasses up. "You might say that. But my eggs flew out that window a LONG time ago." "Oh. You should buy new ones." So you're going to take us to the Tower, I presume? * Kaede turns to look at Jin now. "Umm.... I think so." Well, it's where we wanted to go anyway, so... let's go. No...it's where we NEED to go. * Kaede thumbs at Jin. "He always takes us where we need to be, not where we want to be." That's true. "I do?" Just don't think and do it, Jin. Should be easy, even for you. "Okay."