[Day: Friday, April 22nd. Time: 9:30 p.m.] [Weather: Just when you thought winter was over, it's started to snow again. Awww. But it's nice inside the hotel.] [Having rescued captive Arcana from the drug lords, everyone holed up in a hotel, courtesy of Kyon. As an added bonus, I'll assume he didn't leave them all topless, too.] (Woo hoo! Nuclear winter!) [For whatever reason, Katie goes to check on Saki! She's outside Saki's room. Actually it's Saki's, Ryuji's and Eriko's room, but who's counting?] [That was exciting. Ok, Mini Go!] * Katie is outside the room! She's taken a shower since the whole mess - it was one of the first things she did - so now she's clean, too. Good times. The Sword is not on her; instead, she has a sweatshirt in her arms. And she knocks. [The door is opened shortly by Eriko. She peers at Katie, looking more unnerved than usual.] * Katie blinks. "Are things okay?" ["Yeah. I mean... As well as can be expected, y'know?"] * Katie nods. Yeah, I know. I, um... brought a shirt. * Katie holds up the sweatshirt. "It's cold, and I can't buy much, but someone might want it." [Eriko nods. "Sure, thanks." She takes it.] * Katie smiles a little, then drops it and says, "Can I talk to you guys for a second?" ["I guess. They're not really all together right now, though. Ryuji's asleep, and Saki..." she pauses, then says, "She's obviously out of it, but I don't think she CAN sleep right now."] * Katie nods, something flickering behind her eyes. I know how that is. We don't have to wake Ryuji up. That's okay. I just wanted to ask you guys if you remembered anything, let you know what's going on, and see how you're doing. [Eriko nods, opening the door wider and moving aside so Katie can get in.] * Katie walks in, taking stock of the room once she enters. [It's a two bed room. Ryuji's lying on the bed closer to the door, while Saki's on the other one, facing the window. There's a table with two chairs, one of which was moved in between the beds. There's also a small sofa with a blanket draped over it, for a makeshift bed. And of course there's a dresser, lights, a TV and the usual hotel stuff.] [Saki's still wearing Eriko's leather jacket, and ergo is not topless.] * Katie walks over, her steps completely silent, and looks to the girl on the bed. "Saki?" [It's nice and warm in here anyhow, though.] (Yay for heating!) [With some effort, Saki manages to turn her head from the window to Katie.] How are you? The leather doesn't look very fun. ["S'okay." Whether she means that as an answer to the first question or the second is anyone's guess. Eriko comes up beside Katie.] [Naturally, she shut the door first. I mean, duh.] * Katie looks at Eriko, then back at Saki, and then has a seat at the end of the bed. "Did Haruko tell you what happened?" she asks, addressing the question to both of them. [Eriko shakes her head. "I could guess most of it, though." Saki nods. "Yeah."] Okay. * Katie takes a deep breath, then says, "We can't play games here. We knew it before, but now this is too awful... with what Sho said, we have to find out if it's true. If either of you can help, that would be good. If either of you knows what happened to you, that would also be good." I know that when I was kidnapped, I couldn't remember anything, even how they got me, so it's okay if you don't. [Saki shuts her eyes. "Lovers... Right?" She opens them, looking at Katie. "That's when."] * Katie nods and lightly touches Saki's hand. "That's when they took you." She glances at Eriko. [Eriko nods. "And then Ryuji and I went looking for her... and got caught." She says it with shame.] They were dangerous. I wasn't even sure our plan would have worked. [Eriko nods. "I never thought we'd be caught so easily, though."] When did it happen? And do either of you know what happened after you were caught... anything they said? [Eriko thinks. "I think it was yesterday. Maybe two days ago? Ryuji and I were checking our leads, but they found out about it somehow." She looks down. "Took me out before I even knew what hit me."] * Katie winces. "It might have been best. They had guns." ["Anyway, I woke up tied. They didn't talk to me, but one of them said they should kill me. The bald guy said he wanted to use me for experiments, though."] The bald one? Was he upstairs? [Saki adds: "They didn't know... the drugs... they didn't know... what they did... the effects... that's why... so many..."] * Katie blinks and turns to Saki. "What? So many...?" [Eriko interprets: "I think what she means is why they kidnapped so many Arcana, and why they spread the drugs around so much, using different dealers."] * Katie squeezes Saki's hand. "So they were experimenting." And watching what happened with Arcana and not. ... With Sho's help, to know who was what. [Saki doesn't seem turned on by Katie's advances. Eriko might be getting jealous, though.] [Eriko nods. "I over heard them talking about Saki, saying how she was the most important one they had."] * Katie is just being comforting! Geez, some GMs. Because she... survived before. Maybe if they had what she did, they would, too. ["But she's not the only one who survived it."] I know. * Katie sighs. "Sho said something about a prophecy. Did you guys catch it?" [Eriko nods. "Not sure I get it, though."] I'm not, either, but we need answers. Sho can't be trusted. That's clear, but we can't ignore him, either. [Eriko nods. "He seemed positively freaked."] * Katie grins a little. "Emotional, for once." ["Also..." She frowns. "Didn't I hear somewhere that he's got all of the memories of his old self? Why would he care so much if he died again. Wouldn't he just come back in a few years?"] He said that all of the Arcana would die. It might mean the Arcana... * Katie taps her chest. "What makes us Arcana. So no coming back." [Saki blinks. "Not... come back?"] * Katie nods to Saki. "Yeah, I think so. Not coming back." [Eriko blinks. She glances at Ryuji. "No... No way."] * Katie blinks. "No?" Why is it hard to believe? [Eriko stares at Katie. "You DO believe him? How do you know he's not lying?"] I don't. I told you that he can't be trusted. And it's... it's . It's thought. But we can't let it sit, either. ["So he must have some other reason, right?"] * Katie shrugs. "I don't think he was doing this to 'benefit all of us' or whatever he said. He doesn't care about *us*." So, yes. But we need to know everything we can. [Saki nods.] Soon, I'm going to talk to some of the others about going to the World Reversed. I'm pretty sure Taki can take us there. If she can't, Akemi can. We'll find the Hermit and see if we can't get some answers out of him. [Saki nods again!] If what Sho says is true, we're going to need as much help as we can. I know you guys will... it probably won't take much to get everyone else here. Other people... if you guys have any ideas, I might come asking later. ["Maybe..."] * Katie waits for Saki to finish. [She doesn't!] * Katie waits a bit longer, then says, "Saki... I know this is hard, but if you know anything else - *anything* else - about your powers, your past, or anything that could help, I'd really like to hear it." [Saki closes her eyes in concentration. But after a minute, her eyes open and she shakes her head.] Okay. ["... Sorry."] No, don't be sorry. I'm sorry. * Katie looks at Eriko, then back at Saki. "I think we're both sorry we didn't find you and the others sooner." We just have to do everything we can now. [Eriko shakes her head. "I'm just glad you did."] [She sighs "I just wish I could do more. Just because I'm not like the rest of you, I feel so useless."] No, you're not. You've done a lot - do a lot. Not having powers makes you less of a fighter sometimes, that's true, and that... hurts... but... Even with powers... even with whatever comes with it, you're going to be useless sometimes. Look at what happened to me, and I have powers. People have powers all around me, and these things still happened. You do what you can, how you can. That's all anybody can want. [Eriko frowns. "You're right. Shouldn't have brought it up. Sorry."] You don't believe me. [She shakes her head. "That's not... never mind."] No, talk. Do you... really, Eriko, I might... I went a long time without powers and weird things happening around me, too. I felt useless, too. [Eriko shakes her head. "I'm not smart, I know that. So the only thing I can be is tough. But I'm not that, either. And I can barely tell what's going on."] * Katie chuckles a little. "Nobody can tell what's going on." If you're not smart and you're not tough, then, why are you here? ["Wish I knew."] * Katie sighs and folds her hands, looking down at her fingers. "I think you're braver than anyone else." [Eriko blinks.] ( Even Green Claymore? 'Cause that guy's a superhero, practically. ) (Bah, he runs away all the time!) You're here because you want to be. They wouldn't get you because you're an Arcana. The Wheel wouldn't force you back. You're here because you want to help people you care about. ( He's only allowed a few minutes of airtime! ) You say you're not smart, and you say you're not tough, and you don't have powers, but... you try to help anyway. And not because your esteem is low or because people keep hurting you or because you want power. That's pretty brave. [Eriko says nothing in response to that. Looks like the gears are turning.] * Katie looks up at Eriko. "And you're not... haven't been useless. You figured things out; you got the right people to the right place; you probably stopped a lot of things before they got too bad. That's not useless." [Eriko glances to the side, still not sure what to say. Then she adopts a serious expression. "W-Well, this is no time for self-pity anyway. We should be thinking about what to do, right?"] * Katie smiles. "Yeah." [Saki laughs weakly.] * Katie starts a little at Saki's laugh. [She doesn't say anything, though!] We do need your help. You guys know people we don't... if any of them can give us any answers, that would be good. [Eriko nods. "I'll ask around when we get back."] Okay. Thanks. * Katie stands and twists some of her hair between two fingers before letting go. "I'll let you guys get some rest now." [Eriko nods. "Okay." After a minute, she adds, "Thanks. I mean that."] Thank you. You're a good friend. * Katie adds, more lightly, "Besides, without you, Haruko'd be lonely and she'd yell at me more." She grins and heads for the door. [Eriko shows Katie out. And just in time, too, for unbeknownst to either of them...] [The mini ended!]