[Day: Wednsday, February 19th. Time: 7:30 p.m.] [Weather: Clear, but cold. Snow on the ground.] [You're all at what looks like a building under construction, along with Saki and Jin. It's a tower of steel beams, with only three and a half floors actually built. The floors, walls and ceilings that are actually up are all concrete. You have no idea what you're doing there.] [Mini start] * Haruko glances around. "Uh... Hello..What's going on?" * Saki looks up at the building. Then looks around at her surrounds. "... What the...?" * Kaede looks up at the building, then looks around at the others and sighs. "Jin, you did it again..." And... I did? * Kaede blinks. "Jin? When did you get back? * Katie blinks and looks around. I'm not sure. * Kaede sighs again. "Why am I not surprised?" 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6-2) and gets 4. * Haruko eyes Saki, she actually seems rather flustered. "So, you're good Saki, right?" * Kaede adjusts his glasses and looks at Katie and Haruko. "Now you know what I keep going through..." * Saki tilts her head at Haruko. "Depends who you ask." * Katie goes slightly pale, then looks at Saki more fully. She takes a step back. "Why am I here?" How should I know? Hell, why am -I- here? * Kaede shakes his head. "Because Jin brought us here." * Haruko grins a little. "That's good enough for me." She then looks of to Kaede, with just a bit of horror in her eyes at entering Kaede's world. You don't know either? Great. I did? * Haruko glances up, walking around a bit. "So where are we?" She seems to slowly be regaining her cool. * Kaede ignores Jin and turns to Saki. "Jin has some mind control ability or something. You just sort of blank out the whole time and hope for the best..he doesn't know how he does it either.." * Saki stretches. "Not like I don't have better things to do." I do? I don't? .... Do I or not? * Saki eyes Kaede, then Jin. "... You don't say." * Katie turns her attention to Haruko, though she keeps Saki in the corner of her eye. "The building Saki - or someone who looked like Saki - tried to kill me, Taki, and... um, fake-Shingo." But he did say that. * Saki looks up at the building. "This place?" Yeah, this place. I remember it. Beat the hell out of a druggie group here. * Haruko looks over to Katie, her effort to regain her cool set back a bit. * Saki looks over at Katie. "Don't tell me you guys were on drugs?" * Katie squints and points up. "Third floor." * Katie laughs. No. At least, I don't think so. * Saki looks up at the third floor. "You probably wouldn't know if you were." * Haruko looks at Saki, "The people who disappeared, did any of them have drug ties? Aside from the one Katie saw your doppleganger eat?" I probably wouldn't. But if I've taken drugs, it was without me knowing. * Haruko nods. "Me neither, I wouldn't pollute my system like that." * Saki shrugs. "Dunno. I haven't kept up with that whole thing." * Haruko sits down for a moment. "So, Jin, you have anywhere to take us? Or are we just going to wait here and wait?" Um.... I'm not sure. Wait for what? * Haruko thinks for a moment. "Oh, and Jin, please don't pull this trick on me tomorrow evening. I have somewhere I need to be." What trick? Do you know why we're here, Jin? And why us? * Haruko shrugs. "I don't know Saki, but I've got to think we're here for a reason." I'm not sure. Then do you have any idea? * Saki grumbles and shoves her hands in her pockets. "Well, that's annoying." * Haruko stretches then folds her arm behind her head. We're here, because it's important. He's always brought people where it's important." The question I want to know is, why us? I don't know. Why you?" What's more, why Saki? I don't think Jin ever really was introduced to Saki. * Katie looks up the building again. "Maybe we're going to meet the other Saki." * Saki shrugs. "Saw him at the club. Good enough." * Kaede turns to look at Saki, but his head keeps turning till it meets Katie's gaze. "You've GOT to be kidding me.." What? That's what I remember about this building. * Haruko stands again. "Well, on the upside, the Americans probably won't nuke us shortly after the encounter." * Kaede turns back around towards the building, muttering something under his breath. * Saki cracks her knuckles. "I wouldn't mind. If someone's impersonating me, they ain't gonna live long." * Kaede sighs and looks over his shoulder at Katie. "I assume you remember exactly where you saw her. Memories like that don't fade easily...can you take us there?" * Haruko looks around on the ground for a loose piece of rebar. "I'm not going to be much good in a fight, don't even have a wrench." It's not as if I was prepared either Haruko... But you deal with what the Kami gives you, right? [There's some debris that looks like it can be used if you need to.] * Haruko grins and picks up a piece of debris and takes a few swings with it. "Yup!" .... Chicken. * Kaede sighs and looks down among the rubble. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?" * Saki shrugs. "It's just a place." * Haruko laughs. "Regret what? Not like you're here by choice." She then rests the debris on her shoulder, the weight seems to be effecting her and she isn't an intimidating figure. * Jin suddenly runs out the gate! * Kaede dusts his hand off on his shirt and starts to kneel down, but immediately gets back up. "What the..?" * Haruko watches Jin go. "Last time he did that, he brought someone else to the party." * Saki watches him go. "That guy's messed up." I know. It's usually me. * Haruko nods. "Well, chicken doesn't sound scary." ...He might have meant he was chicken. Or he was hungry. [Several minutes pass, but he doesn't come back.] * Haruko chuckles. "What? He's buying his own food now? * Haruko shifts her weight restlessly, and looks likes she's having more trouble with the debris. "I'm getting tired of this, let's check out the second floor." * Katie blinks, snapping out of it. "You serious?" * Saki nods. "Beats standing here waiting for something to happen. Man, I hate waiting." * Haruko nods. "We've got Saki with us. She can certainly handle herself." * Saki sniggers. "I'll take that as a compliment." * Katie glances at Saki, then looks away. "Yeah, she can. And you want me to take you where I saw... her, right?" * Haruko nods. ...I don't really want to go either. But sometimes you have to face your fears. * Katie laughs, sounding remarkably bitter as she does so. "Face my fears, huh?" * Saki sighs. "It's just a pile of concrete." She gestures at the building. "Nowhere near finished yet." * Haruko looks at Katie. "If you don't want to go up, you don't have to. Just give us directions." Doesn't mean it's easy... Besides, we're here for a reason. And I don't think we'll be able to get away from it. * Kaede smiles just as bitterly as Katie sounded. "It's in the cards, you might say..." * Katie sighs. "I know. I'll show you." * Haruko shakes her head. "If you don't want to do it, don't. Screw the cards. No one should have had to see what you saw, let alone go back." * Kaede looks at Haruko with faint admiration. No, it's... well, I won't say it's all right, but I'll show you. Fine by me. * Haruko nods. She prays something under her breath as she waits to follow Katie's lead. * Kaede takes a deep breath and puts a hand on Katie's shoulder. "We're all here. * Saki cracks her knuckles. Again. * Katie nods to Saki, then smiles faintly at Kaede. "Thanks. Come on." She makes her way into the building. * Saki follows. * Kaede takes his hand back and nods, following after. * Haruko follows along. She smiles at Kaede as she goes. [Inside, the building is bare of anything resembling furniture. Spaces for doors and windows are carved into the concrete, but there's no actual doors or windows. There's a small construction elevator in the back.] * Haruko eyes the elevator, looking at the machinery and making sure it's safe. * Katie doesn't even hesitate. She gets on the elevator. * Kaede stops slightly, adjusting his glasses as he looks at the elevator, then taking a deep breath. He looks pretty nervous himself now that it's calmed down a bit. [The machinery is safe enough for something supposed to be temporary.] * Haruko boards. * Saki gets on the elevator nonchalantly. Is she the only one not worried? (Yup. :P) (Yes.) () * Katie looks over at Kaede. * Kaede looks...straight ahead, not wanting to meet anyone's gaze. * Haruko doesn't look at anything in particular, but she has a bit more steel in her eye than is typical for her. Coming, Kaede? * Kaede snaps out of it suddenly. "Oh..." * Kaede boards the elevator awkwardly. * Saki yawns. "So, if we do find 'me' there, are any of you good at beating things up?" * Haruko considers flourishing her weapon, but decides against it. "Nope, I mostly try to avoid getting hit and heal people afterwards." * Katie makes the elevator go up. "No." I...well, there was a group of bullies around the shop once...I managed to chase them off... But...can't say I'm necessarily that good.. Pretty poor actually... * Katie jams her hands into her pockets and takes a few deep breaths. * Saki waves it off. "Not a problem. I'll take care of it. Just try to stay out of the way." So, if she's there, is there any way to take her alive? [The elevator gets to the third floor!] I don't know. This way. * Saki shrugs. "Not my specialty." * Katie gets off the elevator and heads to the right. We'll find out when we get there... * Haruko heads off. * Kaede steps out of the elevator fast, eager to get off and follows behind. [Katie leads everyone to a large, empty room.] * Haruko looks around. "Well... That's a little anticlimactic." * Katie walks a bit in, looking around. She turns to face the others. "Here." * Katie points. "Saki was over there." * Haruko walks over to where Katie is pointing and looks around. * Saki takes a few steps and looks around. * Kaede goes to adjust his glasses, but his hand's shaking a bit too much and he drops them on the ground. "Dammit..." * Katie keeps an eye on Saki. ( Jinkies! I lost my glasses. * Saki gives them to Kaede.) * Kaede kneels down to pick them back up. * Saki turns to face Katie. "Nothing here." () * Katie licks her lips and nods, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "Fine with me." * Haruko nods. "Nothing that I can see, let's go back to the elevator and meet Sho again." There's...there's nothing saying that THIS is the reason Jin brought us here though... * Kaede finally gets his glasses back on his face. To see a whole lot of nothing? * Haruko shrugs. "Guess the drug dealers cleared out once they knew Saki was aware of this place." * Saki frowns. "Wait a minute." * Saki kneels down and puts a palm to the floor. * Kaede leans against the doorframe to steady himself. "What is it?" * Haruko looks at Saki, confused. * Saki "Shh!"s at Kaede. She stands up and stands to the side of the window, peeking out. * Haruko ducks so she can't be seen from outside the window. * Saki scowls. "Crap. We gotta get out of here." * Kaede grips the doorframe now. He's looking worried. * Saki strides normally but quickly towards the elevator. * Kaede looks at Saki with a questioning expression, not saying anything because he was shh'ed :P * Haruko nervously shifts the piece of debris in her hand and quickly walks after Saki. * Katie blinks and glances out the window, then hurries after Saki. * Kaede peels himself off the doorframe and hurries after the line. * Haruko catches up a bit and whispers to Saki. "Who is coming?" Whaddya call it... Chariot. * Saki looks at the elevator and frowns. "There another way out of here?" * Kaede snaps up at the name. "Chariot??" Think so. I dunno. Those stupid cards. Why couldn't it just be a Blackjack deck? * Katie shakes her head as if to clear it. "Not that I know," she whispers, "There might be a back door, but I don't know how else to get down." * Haruko glances around and speaks huridly and softly. "Maybe. I might be able to disable the elevator while we look. Keep the company away." And how'd you find this out? Forgive me for not thinking you're the sociable type...not that I'm one to talk..." * Katie turns to Kaede. "He's tall and big. I know that much." [You begin to hear footsteps. He sounds like he's right below you.] * Katie cringes. Because he told me, last time. * Haruko looks at Saki. "Quick! Should I sabotage the elevator?" * Saki looks in one of the other rooms. "Yeah. Quickly!" * Katie looks around. "Do it." She takes another deep breath, trying to calm herself down. * Haruko rushes up to the elevetor, and does her best to deactivate it, ideally in manner that could be fixed later. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6-2) and gets 6. 2d6-7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6-7) and gets 1. [Haruko sabotages the elevator but good.] (Sorry forgot to add the skill in first time, that'd be a success.) * Saki comes back. "No way out. No easy way, at least." * Katie mutters in English, "" as her mind races. No stairs? * Haruko nods to the group. "Elevator's down for now, I can fix it later if need be." * Kaede takes a deep breath and whispers. "With the elevator out, will he know someone's up here? He might not since it's an old building and all, but he may already know.." [And suddenly everyone is in the Sushi bar near the Yippie! Arcade!] * Katie nearly screams, but manages to catch herself *just* in time. * SushiGuy looks up from restocking the napkin bin. He grins and waves. "Hi every-bo-di!" "What can I get you to-day?" * Kaede almost jumps out of his seat and turns around at the sudden voice. * Katie falls into a stool instead. "Water?" she asks weakly. * Kaede manages instead to kick the stool over and fall flat on his back. Ow. * Saki peers around. "... Damn." * Haruko tilts her head, she looks fairly freaked, but still says a few thankful prayers to whatever Kami are looking after her tonight. O-Kay! * Jin is there! * Kaede opens one eye, then the other, then tries his luck at both. Nope, still here. * Haruko looks over to Jin. "Chicken Sushi?" * Jin smiles. "Sounds good.... Can I have some too?" * SushiGuy takes orders and delivers food. * Katie catches her breath, then lunges at Jin, grabbing his shirt. "What the hell are you *doing*?" * Haruko rolls her eyes. She seems to be trying rather hard to be somewhat exasperated rather than totally freaked. * Kaede turns his head towards Katie and groans, slowly trying to pick himself up. "He's not going to answer. You should know that by now.." * Jin eeps! Uh... Uh... I'm not sure! But... * Saki shoves her hands in her pockets. "Ah, lay off him." * Kaede rubs his head. "You all remember that, right...? It wasn't just me?" * Katie peers at Jin, then lets go and plunks on a stool. "Yeah." Yeah. I remember. I remember we were trapped and Chariot was coming. (Saki's telling Katie to lay off. The world is coming to an end.) ....just what the hell is going on... Rather be here than there. * Saki takes a seat, but doesn't order anything. * Katie takes her glass and has a drink, then shakes her head. "You met him before?" * Haruko sits down near Saki, and orders the cheapest thing she can without being rude. * Saki nods. "It ain't like I'm afraid of him, but I'm not stupid." * Jin stays standing where he is. That guy... He's a dealer. Or he works with them. Whatever. * Katie sighs. "Wonderful." * Haruko begins anew the process of gathering her bearings. "Any chance this is some sort of collective drug induced hallucination? I mean the world's insane now, but this..." * Kaede tries to sit in the stool and his head falls in a perfect arc towards the counter, slamming his forehead against it. "Oww.." * Saki leans forwards and cups her chin with her hands. "Doubt it." Starting about a month ago, Haruko, my *life* has turned into a hallucination. * Kaede raises his head up and rubs it. "Nope, not a dream." * Jin nods. "Not a dream. * Haruko looks at Kaede. "That was probably overkill, and it wouldn't prove it wasn't my dream any ways. But I'll take your word for it." * Saki yawns. "You get used to it. Well I did, anyhow." * Haruko discretely puts down the piece of debris she's been carrying for a while now. * Kaede peers at Jin. "Jin, *I* want to throttle you by the shirt collar too. I'm trying not to. So enjoy your sushi for right now and not a word." * Jin frowns. "That's not very nice." * Haruko then suddenly laughs. "Could be worse..." Yeah. We could be the crew trying to get up to the third floor tomorrow, only to find the elevator is stuck up there. * Saki laughs. * Haruko clings to this thought for a bit. * Katie snickers. * Haruko plays with her hair. "But, Saki, this disappearing and reappearing thing, aside from Taki's teleporting, it's new, right?" * Saki nods. "Can't say it's happened before." * Kaede takes a deep breath. "We can't even be sure if what happened was real..at least not unless we go back to the site.." And if Chariot really IS there, I'm not too pleased with that option at the moment. * Haruko points down to the debris under the bar. "It was real." * Saki nods. "Looks that way." * Kaede looks down to where Haruko's pointing. And as for Chariot, you don't want to go near him. He worse than that crazy rich guy? * Saki nods. "He's invincible." * Kaede stares at Jin for a while, without saying a word. * Katie groans. "I hope not. He- invincible?" * Haruko widens her eyes by a good deal. "Oh." * Jin blinks a few times then stares back at Kaede. Saki, how could you tell Chariot was coming? Vibrations? Is he that big? * Kaede gets drawn into the staring contest, though it's not what he'd first intended. Footsteps. I'm surprised you didn't hear them. * Haruko shrugs. "I didn't here anything until we got to the elevator." * Saki looks at Jin. "The bigger question is why he was there." * Katie spins her glass of water and says, casually, "My guess? He's not sure." Me? * Haruko loks at Jin. "I'd bet my wrench on that. But he's arranged meetings before, Katie, Kaede, and I were taken to see some fortune telling kid the other day." I did? * Katie glances at Jin. "Do you even remember?" I'm... not sure. * Haruko is content to leave any questioning of Jin to Katie. I thought so. Me too Jin....why did you run away? Or do you remember doing THAT? ... I was hungry. So why didn't you ask us to take you to get something to eat? You said you were going to wait for something to happen. * Saki whispers to Haruko. "Not the brightest bulb, is he?" * Kaede starts to reply, then thinks better of it. * Katie just puts her head in her hands. She hasn't been having the greatest day. Week. Month. Whatever. Alright, Jin...I'm going to try something new. * Haruko whispers back. "Reading by his light would give you eye strain." You like chicken right? ... Turkey? I think so... * Jin decides. "Yes. I do." * Kaede tries to keep his voice calm, though you can see his eyebrow twitching. "No Jin..." * Kaede takes a deep breath and looks down, thinking of how to phrase this. * Haruko giggles. "For whatever reason, Jin, you always provide amusement when I'm badly in need of it, thanks." ( Katie went to Disney Land ;_; ) You're welcome. (That was fun. Except for the claustrophobic bits.) How about whenever you ARE sure about something, we treat you to a nice chicken dinner? How about it? * Kaede coughs and remembers something. "As long as it's something important that we ask." Important? We'll tell you if it's important, don't worry. * Jin thinks.... "Can I have chicken?" * Haruko whispers to Saki. "I've given up questioning him, I just don't have the patience. Did teach him to use chopsticks, though." * Saki nods. "Well, that's something I guess." * Haruko shrugs. * Kaede looks at Jin and takes a deep breath, speaking out of the side of his mouth to Katie. "I don't think it'll really work but it's worth a shot.." ... But that was important. * Katie nods a bit at Kaede, then bursts out laughing. "Have fun with this one." You said if it was an important question, I could have chicken. And asking if I could have chicken is an important question. * Kaede sweatdrops. * Haruko laughs. * Saki snickers. ...Jin, I said we'll tell you if it's important..alright? Yes. ... Can I have chicken now? And you only get chicken if you give us helpful information...we also decide what's helpful, alright? Don't worry Kaede, Jin's 'logic' will find away to mooch a chicken meal regardless of how clever your wording is. No, you can't Jin. That was helpful! I should get chicken. * Kaede takes a deep breath. "I'm...trying at least." * Haruko laughs harder and chips in a hundred yen to the Jin chicken fund. Jin, for the last time, let us decide what's helpful and what's important. ... Is it important to leave this decision to you? ( Master loves us, he gives us chicken. But we told him something important, and he gave us no chicken I don't know Kill master, he might taste like chicken!) * Kaede semi-glares at Haruko, speaking calm (or trying to). "You're...not...helping." * Katie keeps laughing, too, despite herself. * Haruko gives Kaede another hundred yen. "That's all your getting out of me." * Saki laughs too, not even trying to hold it in. * Kaede looks at the money. "...I meant with the laughing." * Jin beams. "Haruko is amused." * Kaede turns back towards Jin. "Alright Jin. Yes it's important that we make that decision, no you won't get chicken for that question. You only get chicken for answers not questions." ... That's not fair. You're changing the rules. * Haruko giggles. "Alright, so long as he's here to amuse me, I'll cover him." She looks on the menu to try to find anything chicken in a sushi place. * Jin grins at Haruko. [There is, in fact, a chicken sushi in the land & sea menu] * Kaede looks levelly at Jin. "No, you're trying to." * Haruko stares at the chicken sushi for a moment, then orders it for Jin. She then reclaims her 200 yen from Kaede. Haruko's nicer than you. * Jin gets chicken sushi from the SushiGuy. Both of them are happy ^_^ * Kaede takes a deep breath. "Yes, everyone's probably nicer than me. That's because I'm actually trying to figure things out..." * Kaede looks up in thought for a second. "Well...not everyone." * Saki just laughs. "Come to think of it, I'm glad I didn't miss this." * Katie manages to calm down and has more water. "What a day." She blinks at Saki. "Yeah?" * Haruko grins up to Saki. "See, lots of benefits to being an ally of ours." Then you should stop trying to figure things out so you can be nicer. * Kaede frowns a bit. "Jin, it's just the fact that we're asking for your help and you're not able to help us..it's very frustrating." Stop it, Haruko. Only one of us can turn into Kyon at a time. * Katie grins. * Haruko looks appalled at the suggestion, but she covers it. I suppose so. Where'd you find this guy, anyhow? * Kaede looks at Katie for a second, then slaps his forehead. "Dear god, let it never be me..." Not surprisingly, he found Kaede and us. * Katie studies Kaede for a moment, then smirks. "Sure, Kaede." * Haruko looks over to Kaede. "I appreciate what you're trying to do, but it's probably futile, may the Kami assist you though, you'll need it." * Saki chuckles. "You're right. That's not surprising." * Kaede takes a deep breath. "Yes...I know..." * Haruko then glances over to Katie and says half jokingly, half scared, "Don't do that!" * Katie gives Haruko her most innocent look. "Do what?" * Kaede looks over his shoulder at Jin and takes another deep breath. "Jin, forget it for now. Enjoy your chicken." Ok. * Haruko chuckles. "That's better. But that look of yours isn't fooling any one." * Jin takes a few bites then looks back at Kaede. "Wait... Is this important?" If I enjoy my chicken, I get more chicken! It's helpful! * Jin eats heartily. * Haruko tries to restrain herself from laughing more. * Kaede looks at Jin for a second, then another second, then sighs. "Sure Jin. I'll buy you some more chicken for that." * Katie snerks. "Drat. Maybe I should go the other way. Dye my hair orange, start wearing leather?" * Jin smiles at Kaede. "See? It's better to be nice than to figure things out." He eats! * Haruko chuckles at Katie's comment. "Nothing wrong with orange hair and leather...." Or leather at least. * Katie has a sip as Jin says that, then nearly chokes on her water. * Kaede doesn't lift his head up from the counter. "I prefer to do both, Jin." * Saki gestures at herself. She wears a lot more leather than Kyon :P Ignorance is bliss. Oh God. Though...I have trouble being nice... ... Thought you could only do one at a time. * Katie snaps her fingers, a slightly crazed smile crossing her face. "That's it! I should be more like Saki!" ...which one? The one that doesn't eat people. What do you take me for? ( The MC one :P ) Someone who wants to be like Kyon, and that thought scares me to no end. (Then MC Katie would be like her.) * Katie giggles. * Haruko grins and shrugs. "Works for me, you should get a motorcycle, I can help you maintain it and power it up in exchange for rides." Wouldn't be hard. * Kaede figures if he gets his head up this time it'll just go down again some time soon, so just stays there. No, we should start our own motorcycle gang. * Katie nods. * Haruko giggles at the prospect. "Love to, but I'm not allowed to have one til I graduate." ...I prefer my bike. Better exercise... Feh. Exercise. Can't go 200 kph on a bicycle. If you're Jiro, you could. Can if you're going straight down. * Katie sobers a bit at that. "Wonder what he's up to." She blinks. "Saki, you talked to him, right?" * Haruko laughs. "Alright, I can't then, and I prefer not to drive straight down." Who? * Kaede turns his head to the side, resting it on the counter instead. "I don't think I met a Jiro." Jiro Hosukawa. He used to hang out with us. Well, not you, but... I think it was before your time, Kaede. There's probably a lot of little arcana secrets I missed out on. I don't think I've ever seen that tower you people've mentioned... Tall guy, said 'huh?' a lot? * Haruko shakes her head at Kaede. "Yeah, he left just after I started hanging out with the gang." Oh, him. * Saki shrugs. "Saw him once, yeah." * Kaede snickers slightly. "The gang"...is that what we are now?" * Katie turns her full attention to Saki. "What happened?" Hey. We don't have any catchy names like The Band, so we've got to make due here. * Haruko grins and nods, before turning to pay attention to Saki. "Yup, we should get matching leather jackets." He wanted me to join his master, whoever the hell that is. (* Haruko makes a mental note to learn to fix Juke boxes by slapping them. ) * Katie blinks. "Master?" Something like that. * Haruko frowns at the term. "That sounds, creepy..." It does. Was anything different about him? How about...Card Captors? * Kaede picks his head up very slowly, trying his best to look serious. Uh... Different how? * Katie eyes Kaede for a moment, then falls into a giggle fit despite trying to follow some serious questioning. * Haruko snerks. "Keep trying." * Kaede looks at Saki very carefully. "Master, was it...?" * Katie tries to calm herself down. "Like... did he..." She giggles some more. "Was he less clueless than before? Or nastier?" * Kaede frowns. 'As far as I've seen, only two people have been trying to recruit...the Shinjo brothers..." * Saki shrugs. "Beats me. I don't remember what he was like before." Seemed to know enough about what was going on, though. * Katie nods. "That's different." * Saki smirks. "As for nastier, I'm not the one to ask." ( * Haruko, laughs, "Naww, you're just a big teddy bear... Uh, Saki, put away the knife...." ) Didn't mention who this master was...? (She's one of those teddy bears from the second Tenchi movie. With the knife sticking out of the stomach.) ( Eek! ) * Saki laughs. "Didn't think to ask." I only work for one person: me. * Kaede scowls and looks at the counter. "Seems a lot of them out there messing with people's heads...there's nothing I hate more..." * Saki scowls. "Yeah. Like those drugs." * Haruko nods in agreement with Kaede. "Nasty buisness." * Katie shakes her head. "Speaking of which, I hope they still have Katsuchiyo under lock and key." * Kaede blinks slightly. "Is there another faction?" Another faction of what? I'm just thinking...if it were on Sho's side, then he'd have been able to recruit us all long ago as loyal puppets...Ryo too... * Haruko nods. "That seems to follow." You're assuming Jiro went unwillingly. * Kaede looks at Katie for a second and sighs. "True. but that would mean his obliviousness was all an act." * Saki stands up. "Kinda tired. I'm gonna head home." It's possible. I don't like the idea, but it is. * Katie nods. "Okay. Have a good night, Saki." * Saki wave once and heads out the door. * Kaede bites his lip slightly and waves. "Alright Saki. But, if you find anything else out..." * Haruko nods and waves at Saki. "It's been nice hanging out with you, aside from, well, you know, the insane world." * Kaede leans his chin in his hand. "So there's a new person on the field..and immensely powerful." Mmm. The Chariot. It goes to follow. Either of you know what the Chariot means in tarot? * Haruko frowns. "Not a clue, though if he's another drug dealer, it can't be good." * Katie closes her eyes. "It's basically the victory card." I really need to read up on it or something... * Jin finishes his sushi. "I'm not sure." I try to, but I get distracted. If something's important enough, I'll stick through it till the end. If something's important enough, I get chicken. Victory, I guess that would explain the invincibility. The Chariot is when everything is under control, and being used as a force to achieve success and victory. Nothing stops you. * Kaede takes a deep breath, then looks at Jin and smiles a bit. "Yes Jin, you get chicken." * Jin smiles back. * Haruko grins at Jin and Kaede. "All depends on what you consider important." * Kaede turns back to Katie and loses the smile. Is there...a way we could force a card to reverse? * Haruko chuckles for a moment. "We could turn him upside down." She then resumes a more somber expression. Saki got reversed somehow...but I'm sorry, I forgot my nukes at home. * Haruko chuckles for a minute then stops. "That's a joke right, you didn't just get a grenade and slowly develop it into a warhead, right?" * Katie comments flippantly, "Stick him in a microwave." * Kaede looks at Haruko. "Sure. A joke." * Haruko laughs. "Good. Yeah, giant microwave, that could be fun to make..." She spaces out for a moment as she ponders how she could do it. He might not REALLY be invincible...Saki strikes me as the type to think "If I can't beat him, no one can..." We'll have to ask her more WHY she thinks he's invincible. * Haruko nods. "Fortunately, she's capable of giving actual answers." Does she get chicken if it's important too? * Kaede stares off to the bar, thinking. "Achilles..." Come to think of it, for all her reputation, she seems nice enough. Aside from the evil doppleganger. She does seem to get bored easily though. Oh? I didn't really notice that. * Kaede smirks. "Because you get distracted easily." * Katie snickers. * Haruko sticks out her tongue at the both of them, she then turns to eat her now cold cheap sushi order. * Kaede rubs his head and turns around. "You know..." * Kaede looks off to the side. "No forget it." * Katie glances at Kaede. "What?" * Haruko 's interest is piqued far more by the forget it than the initial statement. "Yeah, what?" * Kaede keeps looking to the side and mumbles softly. "I'm really glad I met you guys.." * Katie blinks. You're not serious. Me too. Could you imagine being stuck in this situation all alone...? Not knowing anyone wouldn't change the fact that other people might know about me... * Katie sighs. "True." Who knows...the first person I met could have been Ryo alone..or Chariot...anyone... * Haruko gives a gentle grin. "You're not so bad yourself Kaede, I'm glad you're on our side..." No, I'm hopeless. I... Or me. It's just hard to get things out sometimes...is all... * Katie looks over at Haruko. Maybe you need to pull harder. * Haruko shakes her head. "You're not hopeless, I don't have the patience for hopeless cases." She flicks her eyes in the direction, "A bit of a challenge at times admittedly, but..." * Kaede takes a deep breath and looks at the floor. "I'm sorry." * Katie turns back to Kaede. "Stop that." * Haruko glances at Katie and mouths 'What?" She then looks over to Kaede. "Yeah, agnst is bad, and don't agnst about being agnsty, meta-agnst is even worse." Don't you have to be very handsome to angst? * Haruko giggles for a moment. "Thankfully, Ryuji doesn't seem to." ...I'm not angsting. Oh * Haruko nods. "Good!" * Kaede looks confused now. * Haruko will accept confused, beats the hell out feeling sorry for oneself. Meimi could be a good therapist that way. ('cept for the illusionary friends, though they could be used to keep clients coming back.) (Meimi's the one that needs therapy. <.< >.>) ( Jin just needs chicken ) * Katie finishes her glass of water, then sets it on the table. "Sure, it's hard. But we all have our problems." * Kaede looks over at Jin. "Some more than others." * Haruko finishes her tiny sushi plate. * Katie looks at her empty glass. "I'm going to head home." I'll see you at school tomorrow. We could all use some rest... * Haruko nods and gets up. "Not a bad idea. See both of you there." ...wait, since Jin's here, who's going to take him in now? Both? But there's three of us. Are you coming to school tomorrow Jin? I don't know. Well then, I might see you there, and if not, I'll see you when around. ::she finishes in a quieter voice:: Please Kami let that not be tomorrow night. Ok * Haruko waves and heads out. * Katie gets off her stool. "Kaede, can you take Jin back to Satoshi's place?" * Kaede rubs his head and looks at Katie, then at Jin and groans. "I guess I can sneak him into the downstairs...just as long as Nanami doesn't spot him..." Or...that'll work...except I don't have the address. * Katie blinks at Kaede. "I thought you all met there, or something." * Haruko grins widely that Kaede was stuck with the duty, but she's out the door now, so no one can tell. * Kaede rubs his forehead. "Right...if I can remember where a place is that I only went once to..." I wasn't paying attention... * Kaede takes a deep breath. "Okay, so I didn't want to get stuck with taking him back. Happy?" I'll go... * Katie snickers and hands Kaede the cell. "Give him a call. This is yours, anyway." (See, there are reasons to be decisive and leave early. ^_^ ) * Kaede walks out the door. "Come on, Jin." He catches the phone and frowns. "The talk..it went well right?" Ok. * Jin follows Kaede * Katie shrugs and heads out, too. "He was nicer than usual." But...it's over...right? He's not going to come after you or anything? It's supposed to be over. I don't control what he does. * Kaede walks a bit with Katie waiting for an answer. ...I didn't say that, Katie. You have a good night. [Mini End]