[Day: Friday, April 8th. Time: 7:30 p.m.] [Weather: Rainy] [You've just gotten off the subway and are walking towards the hospital, a few blocks away.] [Session Start.] * Katie is, once again, holding the umbrella for her and Taki as they slog through the rain. * Satoshi trudges behind them, the hood of his jacket pulled up over his head. * Taki walks beside Katie and under her umbrella, mostly dry, but she's looking very pale. * Katie looks at Taki, then Satoshi. She says, quietly, "" * Taki shakes her head. "I... I'm going with you." So am I. * Katie frowns a little, but she nods. "" She goes back to looking ahead. [You arrive at the hospital!] * Katie enters the hospital! She's proactive. * Taki follows Katie and murmurs something about getting her umbrella back. * Satoshi enters last. [You enter the lobby. There's a nurse on a phone at the reception desk, but otherwise the hospital is relatively quiet.] * Katie walks on up to the nurse and smiles. "Hi. I'd like to visit Meimi Sakazaki. Is she in the same room as last time?" * Katie had the sense to close the umbrella, yes, and now she's holding it one- handed as it drips on the floor. [The nurse glares at Katie for interrupting her while she's on the phone, but nods and points down the hall.] Sorry to bother you. * Katie heads that way. * Satoshi follows. * Taki bows stiffly to the nurse and then follows. (*stabs connection repeatedly*) ( Hey! I do the stabbing around here.) * Katie speaks, quietly and once they're well out of earshot, "" * Satoshi nods. "Makes sense," he answers quietly. (Err, put that in English.) * Taki shakes her head. "" * Taki looks at Katie. "" * Katie nods, still walking. "" 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6) and gets 7. 2d6+2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6+2) and gets 9. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Kaede (2d6) and gets 7. (DR1) 2d6+2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6+2) and gets 11. [You enter the intensive care unit!] 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6-2) and gets 2. * Katie idly comments, "" She stops, reaching into her satchel and pulling out her ear helpers. * Katie puts them in. * Taki stops as well and clenches her hand together in front of her. * Satoshi stops and waits for Katie to continue. * Katie idly checks to see that her phone's on vibrate, then goes back to listening. 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6) and gets 8. (DR2) 2d6 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6) and gets 9. * Taki stands still and tries not breath too loudly. * Katie frowns and continues walking to the room. * Satoshi follows quietly. * Taki risks a whisper. "Who... "" * Katie shakes her head. ( Gimme stealth rolls at -3 bonus ) 2d6-7 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Katie (2d6-7) and gets 2. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Taki (2d6-3) and gets 7. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Satoshi (2d6-3) and gets 3. (*smacks Taki for being clumsy* ;P) (Yep.) (;_;) * Katie stops and tilts her head. "Takeo and..." She pauses. "A woman. I don't know who." * Taki stops a few steps behind Katie and asks quietly, "...y..young or old?" 2d6+2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6+2) and gets 13. * Katie swallows. "Young," she says. "I'm going to see if I can hear what they're saying." And she continues walking! Quietly. And listening. With ear helpers. The snoop. 2d6+1 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6+1) and gets 7. * Taki walks slowly and carefully after her, trying to be as quiet as she can. * Satoshi hesitates for a second, then continues following them. * Katie takes a few more steps, then stops. She's listening rather intently. * Taki stops again because walking into Katie would be a bad thing. * Satoshi stops as well. Yay for coordination! (Why are you people even following me? Get a sandwich. ;P) (We want to know what's going on. ;p) (Because Taki won't let you go in alone. How many times does she have to say it? :P) (I'm not out to kill Meimi!) (yet.) * Katie keeps on heading to Meimi's room! Chances are, they're still a ways away. Because, really, if she needs ear helpers to hear, they're a ways away. [Taki suddenly stumbles.] * Katie looks back at Taki. "You okay?" she asks at normal level. * Satoshi moves to help her if she trips again. * Taki eeps and flails her arms to regain her balance. "Yeah... sorry.. I'm just nervy... uhm... do you know what they're talking about yet?" * Katie shrugs, softening her voice to a much quieter level. "You were heard." And she turns, walking on over to Meimi's room and knocking on the door. * Katie removes her ear helpers as she waits, tucking them away. * Taki shivers and takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry." (And now we know the real reason why Taki's specialty is teleporting) (4 body = stealthy like dumptruck!) (I have a 4 body, but I actually have skill levels in that. ;P) * Katie opens the door and peeks in. "Hello?" (Haruko just flows. :P) [Inside, the room is just as it was the last time you entered. Takeo Kirishima is there in his typical rockstar getup, sitting in a chair next to the unconscious Meimi. Also there is Miho Ryokama, in a black dress. She's looking significantly less burned now, although she still has a few bandages here and there.] Oh, hi Takeo. "Yo." * Katie blinks at Miho, and she smiles a little. "Miho. You're looking better than I last saw you." * Satoshi waves. * Katie opens the door the rest of the way and walks in. [Miho gives Katie a surprised look, but doesn't say anything.] * Taki follows Katie in. "H...hello." * Katie keeps her gaze fixed on Miho. "Were you a friend of Meimi's?" [Miho reaches out a hand towards Katie as though trying to touch her from her chair, mumbling. "K... Ah."] [Takeo shakes his head. "Won't do any good trying to talk to her. She can't talk anymore." * Katie blinks. She glances at Takeo, then nods and walks over to Miho, holding her hand out to her. "How are you?" * Satoshi sighs. Miho brushes Katie's arm and nods. * Taki's eyes widen and the shock is clearly evident in her voice. "Sh.. you can't? I... I'm sorry." * Satoshi closes his eyes briefly. * Katie looks Miho in the eyes. "Can you write?" Miho nods. Takeo adds: "Yeah, she ran out of stuff to write on a little bit ago. Still, she's not that hard to understand." [Takeo shifts in his seat. "So what are you guys doing here, anyhow?"] * Katie looks at Takeo and nods, then opens her satchel. She pulls out a notebook, flips to a blank page, and grabs a pen. "Visiting Meimi." * Katie hands Miho the notebook and pen. She looks to Takeo. "You?" * Taki looks at Meimi and nods. "It ...it's been a long time since last time." "Same." * Satoshi moves closer to Meimi's bed and looks down at her. [Miho takes the notebook and pen and starts to write.] [Meimi gets up suddenly and eats Satoshi's head!] [Just kidding, that doesn't happen.] (Night of the sleeping dead!) (Well, she's awake at least! ;p) * Katie sighs. "Yeah." She looks to Meimi. "I feel like I don't have any time between people trying to kill me anymore." And then she pulls a chair up to next to Miho, having a seat next to her and watching her write. * Taki watches Meimi sleep from near the door. [Takeo hmphs. "You're telling me. Oh, uh, sorry about before. I thought for sure you were Judgement."] ( Uhm ...no that's Satoshi....Ooops) [Takeo slams his fist into his palm. "I swear, if I ever find that woman I'll tear her to pieces with my bare hands."] Well, a sorry's nice. Thanks. * Katie blinks. "That woman?" * Satoshi is looking at Meimi, so Takeo can't see him blink. * Satoshi looks up. "Woman? What woman?" "Yeah. Her. Judgement." You know who Judgement is? * Satoshi looks confused. [Takeo shakes his head. "Never got a good look at the bitch. Hell, I thought she was you."] * Katie furrows her brow. "Are you sure that's Judgement, then? Lately, I've been thinking Judgement might not even be what's making this stuff happen." But you've seen her from a distance? * Taki blinks, "...But, why ....why would she tell you it was her?" Takeo: "Woah, woah. Slow down!" (Hee. Overeager PCs! ;p) (I spoke first!) * Taki looks down. "S...sorry." * Katie smiles a little. She goes back to watching Miho write. [Meanwhile Miho gives the notebook back to Katie. "I'm fine :)" is written on it. Although the writing is so bad it's pretty hard to read.] (...a goth using smilies. I KILL.) (So... smilies is a kill worthy offense, but kidnapping and abusing people isn't? Good to know.) Takeo leans back. "Yeah, I've seen her. Feels like forever ago." * Katie grins. She grabs her own pen and writes under it, "I'm glad. I'm doing better than when I was stuck in that room, too. Back in school?" and she hands it back. (No. But a goth using smilies shouldn't exist. :P) (Maybe she's not a goth anymore.) (She could be a born again Christian.) Where did you see her? (Funny how goths stop being goths when they actually have something to angst about) [Miho nods, also writing "It's been abysmal."] (Apparently that happens with hypochondriacs to a degree) * Katie nods, writing, "I bet. You knew Meimi?" She lets the others talk to Takeo. [Takeo closes his eyes. "It was a few years back. We'd just formed Arcana. Sumire, Zein and the rest. Meimi was there, when we'd practice." He smiles. "And she was always in the front row at our concerts."] [Miho nods to Katie, and then at Takeo.] * Taki looks up and across the room at Meimi again. Takeo frowns. "Except that night. That night we had a fight." * Katie listens to Takeo talk. She writes, "Were you there?" * Taki looks back at Takeo. "Wh...what happened?" "I don't remember when, but some time before then Meimi had been telling me she was seeing strange things. Things that weren't really there. It got weirder and weirder." * Katie looks up to Takeo. "Examples?" "Stupid stuff. Like catgirls and people she used to know." We've had that happen to us. Go on. * Taki nods. "The night of our first 'real' debut, she told me she was making them. She told me she was the Moon, and tried to get me to listen to her as she talked about all this Arcana stuff." * Katie nods. Takeo looks at Meimi. "I wish I listened. But I thought there was something wrong with her. She wanted me to come with her to the Tower Reversed. But I had the debut to go to. And we got into a fight.... and I stormed off." [Miho nods to Katie.] * Katie squeezes Miho's hand a little at her nod. She nods, though, to Takeo. * Taki nods twice at Takeo and then looks over at Meimi. "The debut was a smashing success. I mean, of course it was. We'd just picked up Tenjirou as a male singer, and... you know. We were popular overnight." Did you know about his power then? "Hell no. Didn't even know I was one of us then. I told you that." * Katie nods. "Yeah, I know. I meant... well, never mind. Go on." * Taki curls her hands into fists and then tries to calm herself down again- never looking away from Meimi. * Satoshi has been listening the entire time, occasionally glanceing back down at Meimi. "Well, I was pumped after that. I actually ran all the way from the night club we played at to Meimi's house on foot." * Katie blinks, then nods again. "But she wasn't there. She went to Tokyo Tower. I suddenly remembered what she told me, and I headed that way, expecting to find her. And..." He frowns, looking at Meimi again. "And I did." * Taki swallows and starts to say something but stops before she's gotten more then a syllable out. * Katie doesn't say anything. She keeps watching Takeo, waiting for him to go on. "A man had her in a full Nelson, and a woman had a hand on her skull. There were these red things coming from her fingers, in Meimi's ears and... and through her head." He stops a bit, staring at Meimi. "I won't forget the horrified looks she had on her face." He looks down. "And she just fell to the ground, and never got back up." * Katie winces. "I'm sorry. You couldn't- I'm sure you did everything you could." * Satoshi nods sadly. * Taki shudders. "Tha.... that's... horrible." "It wasn't enough." It's never enough. You just do what you can. "And I tried to find her again, but..." He chuckles humorlessly. "It's like finding a needle in a haystack." Did you... I mean, do you have any idea what they looked like? How old they were? He shrugs. "Our age?" I mean, if you're mistaking the woman for me, she must've been a kid. Like us. Yeah. What about the guy? * Katie rubs at the back of her head. "And I couldn't have been her." She looks to Meimi. "I wasn't even in Japan." * Taki nods. "It was dark, and... and at the time I wasn't paying attention to them." He sighs. "I just let them get away. Didn't even try to stop them." [Takeo shakes his head at Satoshi. "Don't remember a thing about him. He could have been you for all I know."] * Taki looks at Meimi. "Sh.. she's what was important." * Katie licks her lips, then says, "How do you know it was Judgement?" He pauses a bit. "A few days after it happened, I met with the rest of Arcana again and told them about it. That's when Zein explained everything." What did he say? * Satoshi shakes his head. Takeo shrugs. "That we're Arcana. That Meimi was Arcana. And the people that attacked her. That one of them was probably Judgement." * Katie sighs. "So you don't know for sure." She pauses. "Takeo?" "Yeah?" It... it's possible neither was Judgement. It's possible they don't have anything to do with Judgement. I think you should keep looking for them, though, but being sure that that's true is... * Katie brings one hand up to the scar on her throat. She looks over to him. "There are a lot more people out there who want to hurt us than Judgement. If you fix just on the card, you might never find them." * Taki nods slightly. * Satoshi nods. "You don't understand. Zein told us who we were. Of course we thought he'd know who attacked Meimi too." Yes, but now? You know better now. "There's no proof that it wasn't." No, but there's no proof that it *was*. "Zein hasn't lead us wrong yet. It was Shingo's dream and Sumire's misunderstanding that made us think it was you." * Katie sighs and drops her hand. "Right. Zein. Just don't be afraid to question." She looks to the girl in the coma. "I'm sorry, Meimi. You didn't deserve that." Takeo: "She can't actually hear you, you know." I don't know. I've talked to her illusions before. "Yeah. Illusions." If you think of them as extensions of her, maybe she can. * Taki nods. "Th...they haven't been around for... a while." Yeah, they haven't. He shrugs. "Think what you want. But she's less than a vegetable. Doctors say her brain is performing only the most minimal activities." You're right. It's been a long time since we've seen them. * Taki looks at Takeo. "H..how long?" He laughs to himself. "No drugs, no sign of brain damage... So no police investigation. That bitch got away with murder so easily." * Katie nods. "Yeah," she says, distantly. And then she blinks. "This is going to sound weird, but what did she think of Tenjirou?" She looks to Miho, making sure the pen's in the other girl's hand. "What did you think of him?" * Taki shakes her head. "Her... her illusions have been around since then." Takeo blinks. "Meimi and Tenjirou? I guess she kind of liked him. I mean, even when she wasn't under his influence. Although when she was I made sure he didn't dare try anything with her. But she didn't know him that well. Not like I do." [Miho seems to have trouble deciding what to write about him.] * Katie squeezes Miho's shoulder a little in support. "Just be honest," she tells the girl. Didn't it make you mad when she fell under his influence? [Miho writes. And erases. And rewrites. And erases. And finally writes without erasing: "I don't know."] Takeo: "Well, yeah. Wouldn't you be pissed if it was your girl? I hated that guy." I was. Still am. So why'd you keep him around? * Taki walks to the bed and Satoshi . [Takeo rubs his head. "Well... We wouldn't have been half as popular as we were without him."] At a price. Was it really worth *that*? "Hey, I never said I liked what he was doing." You put up with it. * Taki looks at Takeo. "You... you didn't stop him either." "I thought I might need him." * Katie rubs at her eyes. "Do you know what he did to me, Takeo?" She looks to Miho. "Do you- no, you don't know." * Taki reaches up and puts a hand on Satoshi's shoulder and then walks to where Katie is sitting. "He could have been useful if I met Ju- er, that woman again. But even without that... We didn't know how far he was using his powers. And if he was popular with the girls, well, that was his business." Yeah. * Satoshi squeezes Taki's hand briefly when she's near him, then looks at Takeo. * Taki stops behind Katie. "And... after you found out?" Takeo pauses, and admits, "We let him get away with it." * Katie is silent for a moment, then says, "Yeah." She pauses again, and then says, "He kidnapped me. I think Sumire told you, or maybe Haruko, but just to be clear... he and Ryo kidnapped me, from my home, took pictures of me and put them on the Internet, drugged me so I don't remember a whole day of my life, and was going to sell me to the Chariot." * Katie looks to Miho. "I don't think you should trust him," she says dryly. "Just to make sure we're on the same page." "Hey, we had no way of knowing he'd go that far." * Taki reaches out to put a hand on Katies shoulder, but holds it a few inches in the air just to make sure Katie won't flinch first. 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6-3) and gets 6. I don't think you letting him get away with it was right, Takeo. I think it was stupid and wrong on a lot of levels. But I'm saying, now, that he's dangerous, and you and other people should be careful about him. 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6-2) and gets 7. Because, you know, being kidnapped and getting abused and almost being sold and seeing people almost die trying to save me isn't really my idea of fun. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened to you. We didn't know he'd go that far. But put yourself in our position." * Taki lets her hand down. "He's ... not what you thought he was." (Haruko can also testify it was no fun. Although Tenjirou was going to keep her, not sell her) In your position, if your music was good, you wouldn't need him. He shrugs. "Some people liked it." He glances at Miho, then back, "But not as many as there were when he was with us." * Katie smiles mirthlessly. "And that makes rape okay?" She looks to Miho, too. "I'm just saying be careful. He's still out there." (dr) 2d6-2 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6-2) and gets 4. Takeo scowls. "There's corporations dumping toxins into rivers where people fish, too. Why don't you go complain to them if you have time to bother me?" * Taki looks at Takeo. "Because... I... I haven't gotten sick from that... and and neither has anybody I know." "Oh. So it's only because I'm convenient, huh?" * Taki shakes her head. "You... knew him." Say that like he's dead, Taki. [Takeo gets up. "You know what? I don't have to take this holier than thou crap. If you thought you could make life better for yourselves and friends committing an 'evil' act, you'd have done it too. Goodbye." He walks off. [Miho raises a hand and calls after him, "Ah~!" But it doesn't do any good. He's gone!] * Taki shakes her head. "I didn't mean... it's just that he's not, I mean in the band anymore." Why doesn't anyone ever want to admit they're wrong? * Katie watches him go. "Yeah. An evil act." She looks to Miho. "What? Did you come here with him?" [Miho shakes her head.] I didn't even... mean to make him upset. I just wanted to warn him. Tenjirou's bad news. Even worse than he thought. * Taki sighs and squeeses Katie's shoulder. * Katie is silent a moment, then she looks at Miho. "Has Tenjirou talked to you at all since you got out?" [Miho shakes her head again.] 2d6-3 * Dicesuke throws the bones for Haruko (2d6-3) and gets -1, a CRITICAL SUCCESS!!! "I love you. Do you love me too? Y_ N_" That's good. * Taki nods. "...When he... no... I.... no..." She shakes her head and falls silent. * Satoshi looks at Taki. "Taki?" * Katie takes the notebook and writes, as Satoshi talks to Taki, "At school, tell Takeo I didn't mean to make him upset, okay?" * Taki lets go of Katie. "I... can't find the right words... Tenjirou... is worse than he seemed... that's all I can say Miho." [Miho nods to Katie.] * Katie smiles at her, then she writes, "If you want to talk, I can give you my e-mail address. But don't just hand it out. Do you want that?" [Miho writes: "No computer."] * Katie frowns a little. "The phone won't work," she just says. "Unless... Text messages?" (E-mail...pfft. Katie needs IMs!) (Katie likes carefully writing e-mails.) (Hey Brett, how many chairs are there in here?) ( Two ) (Katie needs IMs ;P) [Miho writes: "No text yet. Got to get new one."] (Then Kaede and her could message insults at each other late at night!) * Taki looks at the chairs and then Meimi's bed before sitting down on the floor near Katie and Miho. * Katie frowns a little. "Okay. I don't know, then. I'll just see you around?" She sounds unsure. [She nods.] * Katie jots her number for Miho and tears off the page, handing it to her. "If you do get a new phone," she says with a faint smile. "We were roommates once, you know." [Miho nods and smiles, and makes an "Unh." noise.] [She takes the page.] * Katie gives Miho a gentle half hug. "I'll see you around, then. Be careful, okay?" [Miho nods and waves.] * Katie waves back, then gets to her feet and walks over to Meimi. "I'm sorry, again," she tells her. "It's not fair, what they did to us." [Meimi suddenly gets up and eats Katie's head!] [Actually that doesn't happen.] (You just wanted to do that again.) [Does Taki want to take her chance?] ( XD ) * Katie sighs. She looks to Taki and Satoshi. "Ready to go?" * Satoshi nods. * Taki stands up again and rubs her legs before she bows to Miho. "I'll... write to you when you get that phone if you want." [Miho nods.] * Taki then turns to bow towards Meimi's bed. "...And... I'll visit you again." * Taki finaly looks at Katie and nods. * Katie waves at Meimi again, then heads out. To find Tenjirou and kill him. That might take more hospital searchin'. [But not right now, 'cause the session is over!]