[Day: Friday, April 22nd. Time: About 10:15 p.m.] [It's snowing. What the hell?] [Fortunately, it's warm inside the hotel. We open on Katie, who's sitting in the hotel's small to mediumish dining area, even though the hotel restaurant is closed. But you can get anything from Japanese vending machines, and that might be why she has a sandwich, a cup of soup, and a can of Coke. Late night meal of champions.] [She's also sketching, because heaven forbid she ever do one thing at a time. Her seat is to the wall, within view of both the hall with the stairs and elevator and the front door.] [Mini Start.] (That doesn't protect her from Arcana that can walk through walls though.) * Haruko enters the hotel in a bit of a hurry. She's been returning the van and it's cold out there. Her duster helps, but she's not otherwise dressed for it. She glances around the lobby once she gets in and notices Katie, who as was already mentioned, sits in view of the front door. (You cover all the bases you can.) * Katie is dressed as she was earlier that day, though she doesn't have her coat on, being inside and all. It's clear she's showered since the mess. * Katie doesn't look up at Haruko, instead intently sketching. * Haruko gives a brief smile to the guy at the hotel desk and then walks over to the restaurant. She heads straight for Katie's table and she's no longer smiling. She has a convenience store bag sticking out of one pocket, but otherwise her appearance is normal. Hey. * Katie looks up at Haruko and checks her eyes as a common courtesy. "Hi. Hungry?" A bit. I picked a big dinner for reason. * Haruko 's eyes are normal. * Katie snerks. "Sit down, then." She pushes her sketchbook aside and goes about moving her food so it's not taking up the whole table. Her sandwich is half- eaten and the soup mostly untouched. * Haruko does. "Any news since I've been out? How's Taki?" She's... * Katie frowns a little, then says, "She's hurting so much, she isn't hurting now." Numb? * Katie nods. "Kind of, but worse. " She waves, like *that'll* really explain it. "Not just numb. It's worse." Thinking about everything. Doesn't know what to do. * Haruko tilts her head at the English. "Okay. I'll talk to her later. Kyon or Eriko made a booze run yet?" I don't think so. Eriko's watching Saki and Ryuji. I think Kyon's on a date with Hiromi. * Katie picks up her sandwich and has a rather large bite. As she chews, she glances at her sketch. * Haruko grumbles. "I guess that's important." She takes out the convenience store bag, which Katie can check out if she's curious. She removes a can she apparently got from a vending machine or by flirting with a clerk. So much for having good stuff. Anyone in earshot? * Katie looks around, listens for a moment, and then shakes her head. * Haruko opens the can. "Any other small talk we should cover?" The weather sucks. * Katie picks up her soup and sips. She makes a face but keeps with the sipping. You're telling me. If the van owner didn't have a good CD in, I'd have said screw him and just dumped it nearby. Oh? Which one? Oh, L'Arc-En-Ceil. Feels like ages since I last heard it, but I think it's only been a few months. Forget which of their CDs. Hm. I never liked them very much for some reason. * Katie bites and chews more sandwich. She's clearly pretty hungry, even though she forgets sometimes. * Haruko shrugs. "Yeah, well... I don't think anyone ever gets our tastes confused." * Katie mmphs and nods, because this time, her mouth is full of sandwich. She chews, swallows, and washes it down with some Coke. * Haruko takes a drink from the can. She follows it with a slightly longer drink. "So... you're a murderer now." * Katie shrugs and and puts the Coke down, picking her soup up again. "Some people might say I was before. In self-defense, though." She has a long sip. Some people are full of it. Yeah. * Haruko takes another drink. "So did you mean it when you said it was 'so we wouldn't have to fight them again?' And that you'd be willing to murder the rest of the dealers?" * Katie shrugs. "I hope that now that two are lost, they'd give it up." Besides, I need to talk to one of them. And the first question? That's at least a part of the reason. Is it sufficient? No. If that were sufficient, I'd have to kill everybody just to stop the chance. * Katie has more soup. What is then? * Katie puts the soup down and picks up her sandwich, glancing at the bag as she turns her attention downward. * Katie picks at sandwich crust. "They're evil. You saw what they did. They don't care about us or anyone else, they can't be stopped short of killing them, and there was and will be no better time." We don't have time to... to hope they change. Really, they can't be stopped? So that's why we lost down there? * Katie raises an eyebrow at Haruko. "Lost?" Y'know, how we weren't able to save all the hostages with no losses, how they thwarted us at every turn, how we didn't destroy or capture all their machinery. * Haruko's tone is actively bitter as she takes another drink. Maybe you missed it, but Kyon blew it up. * Haruko, for the record, also got a train schedule back, small pack of condoms, and a motorcycling magazine that lists the latest prices on parts and bikes. Maybe you missed the part where we stopped them. Where Sho's plans lie in ruins. These guys aren't serial rapist or even serial killers, they were thugs. Evil thugs to be sure, but no Tenjirou. * Katie glares at Haruko. "They *knew* what was going on. I heard that one held a gun to Eriko's head. Is that true? They wouldn't stop to kill us... only they would, because then they could *use* us, turn us into drugs, and then leave us to die." Are you stupid or what? Those aren't simple drug dealers. They were people who were making that shit. I already said they were evil. If they died fighting, I'd have been unhappy but we wouldn't be here. They haven't done the Tenjirou keep coming back no matter how many losses things. I realize we don't have time right now to make a prison, but that may change. You realize that the boy with the scythe was seen attacking people on school grounds, and the Chariot has attacked not us, but others more than once. You realize they were down there with the hostages, clearly *not* giving up kidnapping, assault, and abuse out of goodness and light. Well, we can try fear. Hell, I don't support it but we can do executions, get together the gangs and try the case. I'd vote no but I'm guessing I'd be in the minority. We don't have the time or things we need to do that, and maybe you haven't noticed, but we're not the most organized group of teenagers out there. And people won't listen to just because we tell them to. * Katie frowns. "And really, how would you like to take care of those two? Have a better idea? A *realistic*, immediate better idea?" Yeah. Suppression bands. Take them with us. Let them plea for mercy, convince us that they'll reform. If people think they're too powerful, too much of a dead ender, too far out of control, fine. * Katie shakes her head. They evaporate fast and will run out of chemicals. That's why I didn't take them. They don't last long at all. We could have tried. You took them down in one shot. Hell Scyther could probably have just been bound. * Katie shrugs a little. "I didn't think it was worth the risk. Chariot was definitely not." I guess we could have kept them in Kyon's apartment. That would have been a good idea. And Sho? I'm sure he wouldn't have done a *thing* to help them. You're murdering people because it's less risky, not because it was necessary. If you can convince a group that execution is the only answer, fine. But you don't get to make that decision all by yourself. And what group? How are they better at making that decision? How do they know more? Are you talking about... what, Remi, Shika, Yusuke, Akemi, us, Saki and Eriko and Ryuji... Reiji, Temperance, Toshiki, the Jackals, the Band, Miho, Norishige... all of *those* people, to come to an agreement at the same time, not do anything stupid, and give Sho's little group time to be freed or free themselves all the while? * Katie thinks. Oh, Matthias. How about Winston? We can get him on it, too. I'm not calling for unanimity. Here, I'd be happy with us and the hostages. Longer term, representatives of the gangs. It's a crappy system but it's a system. If we live through the week, we can make a better one. The hostages were in no condition to make any comment. They still aren't. Saki's like I was after I got out of that closet! * Katie glares at Haruko. "If it came down to it, you would have kept protesting, like you are, and stalling for them to get free and then come back when we *don't* have surprise. I don't expect you to like what I did or to like me, but I'm not buying this." Wait until morning. There's risks, I never said there wasn't. But Sho didn't look twice at the state of his men. I'm not some sort of philosopher or historian or constitution writer. But what you did goes against every definition of justice I've ever heard. Those men were *not* the people running his drug thing for him. And waiting for morning means the Chariot is conscious and free. We still have the sword. Tell him we'll kill him if tries to escape. Then do it. * Katie looks at Haruko blankly. "So he'll be ready for the Sword. Right." Bind him too, whatever, it'll probably take at least a few seconds. Hell if he breaks out instantly don't give him the warning. And you didn't even kill Chariot first. You killed the guy we could have bound. And he was also powerful. You'd know if you paid attention to him before. He fell off a roof and walked away. We surprised them and were lucky, and I wasn't going to waste that. Satoshi can bind him with metal. And he sliced my stomach open, I remember what he can do, don't think that just because you're willing to kill without compunction that you get to patronize me. * Haruko takes another swig of beer. * Katie gets to her feet. "Just because you don't want to deal with things as they are doesn't mean you get to talk down to me. I'm going to do what needs to be done." She closes her sketchbook and tucks it into her satchel. * Haruko sighs. "Alright. We just don't work together any more then. I see I'm not going to convince you." It's up to you. You might as well leave the hotel if you don't want to work together anymore. You don't have a better idea. You suggest these things, but you know they won't work. I've considered them all. They don't work. Maybe you're willing to die and suffer and let other people do the same because you don't like killing people, but I'm not. And if you can't respect that - and accept that I do these things because then other people don't have to - we're done. Have a good meal, and I hope the sex is great. * Katie shoulders her satchel, picks up her meal carefully, and walks off. The room goes completely silent. * Haruko stands up and tries to speak, presumably to no effect. She frowns and walks up behind Katie to put a hand on her shoulder. * Katie turns and looks at Haruko right before she manages to do that. Katie *seems* pretty calm, anyway. * Haruko stops and tries to speak again. Any success? * Katie frowns a little when nothing comes out, and suddenly Haruko can speak - probably mid-sentence. --but I really need to be able... Oh, I can again. Good. ::she takes a breath:: Neat power. ::she takes another breath and a swig and speaks, clearly trying to minimize the pain in her voice:: So I'm now too naive and obstinate to be your friend? You're the one who decided you wanted nothing to do with me. I said I wouldn't work with you. How is that the same? Not working with me means cutting yourself off from everybody else. Maybe the works in your head so it isn't that way, and maybe that makes you feel better, but you won't be able to avoid dealing with me. * Haruko shrugs. "I'll make my case, we'll see what happens. But you only deal with me because we go out and fight people together?" No. I care about you. * Katie shifts her food around a little, sighs, and goes back to a table to put some of it down. It's what she gets for only having two arms. * Haruko nods and looks visibly relieved. "And I care about you. I know why you do what you do what you do. Before all this I'd read about scapegoats and sin- eaters. I could figure out why the community would want them, but I never imagined why someone would be willing to do it. Now I know." (Go cultural knowledge of religion!) * Katie shrugs a little and picks up her sandwich, going about finishing it off while Haruko (probably) continues to talk. * Haruko does indeed continue. "By doing our violence, you protect the rest of us. If I condone something but am not willing to do it myself, you take my burden by acting in my stead, even as I call you a murderer. Right?" * Katie chews and swallows. "To be fair, 'murderer' is accurate." She goes back to eating. * Haruko nods. "I'm not making up my standards. I'm not wise enough to." Haruko sits down and takes another drink before continuing. * Katie keeps standing and pops the last of her sandwich into her mouth. And if I'm on your team but don't help with what you think is necessary with what I fail to convince you is unnecessary, then I increase your burden. My hypocrisy adds to your chains. * Katie swallows and picks up her Coke. "I know that you don't want to kill people or see them die, Haruko, and I'm okay with that." Make the case in advance for who you're unwilling to take prisoner. ::She takes another drink and is starting to show a bit of color:: Heck set criteria. If you convince a majority of us, fine. When we get more allies, we can include them, for now just the people here. * Katie shrugs and has a drink of her own, not flushing in the least. "I've had a hard enough time trying to find the time to figure it out myself. I don't have time to explain it to everyone I come across." Not to mention the potential danger. Not everyone. Allies. For now at least. We can leave out people who aren't willing to fight. But there's a reason police and armies have rules. Maybe there's occasional exceptions, but they work in most cases. * Katie blinks and looks at Haruko. Why do you feel the need to compare us to things much more organized than we are? Half of our 'allies' don't even want to admit they're our allies. Everyone wants to go their own way... and they *do*. I'm not a law enforcing agent thing. I'm a girl in over her head. A girl over her head that's deciding who lives and who dies. I know you aren't go to go crazy and start your own drug empire. But individual people can't be trusted to make these decisions on their own. Not even well intentioned ones that have suffered immensely at the hands of evil people. ... So you want to leave it up to the Arcana. A *group* of not-always- well-intentioned children who sometimes suffer immensely at the hands of evil people. We - you, me, Kyon, Satoshi, Kaede, Taki - get along better and are better organized than just about any of *them*, and we still can't get anything done most of the time, argue always, and half of us want to go our own way, too. I want people to argue and vote for what they think is the best argument. You're a brilliant person Katie. You're smarter and better at logic than I am. But there are some decisions that at very least you should have to justify when we still have a chance to say no. And if we don't have the time? Let's work out some quick rules and a short list. The perk of declaring yourself our ally is that you get to participate. Hour limit on debate, most popular rule-set wins, everyone who doesn't like it can leave or work against us in the future. * Katie sighs and rubs at her eyes. I like the spirit of your suggestion, Haruko, but we're *not* a government, and we can't spare the time or energy to become one. We have to move. We need action now. This might be the last break we get before it's over, one way or another. None of us have time to spend a few hours, days, weeks, whatever on this. I know you're scared and over your head Katie, but a lot of people are going to start being afraid of us now. Next to Sho and 'them,' we're probably the most powerful group. We've killed multiple people. If we don't know our own rules, why should anyone trust us at all? I'll explain it to the others in our group if I have to, but we've already had a lot of talks like this. Outside... no time, and we have better things to do. If we're powerful, and if people are a little afraid of us, all the better. Fear also makes enemies. Sometimes it makes people strike first. Any you'll have to decide if I'm worth the time. Maybe I can't participate in all your rules, but I need to know that I can at least condone them. If my abilities aren't worth the time it takes, then well, you can always come to me when you need healing. * Haruko finishes off her first beer. "Or, for movies. Or if you've got some beer. Y'know. Assuming we're not dead." * Katie picks up her soup, now, along with the Coke. She looks down at Haruko. "I already told you why." Scyther could have been contained. A lot of us can take a fall from a roof. We've beaten him even without the sword. If he has surprise, he can kill one or more of us. Or others. Dying's easy. True. So try him, let him plead his case. Even an evil me can kill someone with enough surprise and an electrical source. That's way too low a standard for 'too powerful to capture.' * Katie rolls her eyes. "And where would we do this, and how long would we hold him, and who would attend?" You want to spend time arguing about this while he gets free? I don't know. We offer the other big gangs a chance. Remaining band, jackals, Matthias. Give them a quick call. No response, their loss. But really, the time limit affects them too. Dump him in irons in a basement somewhere that has some water, room, and light. The big, bad, evil force would kill all Arcana apparently, it's not going to go around freeing people. If we live through this week, we have time to do a better system. If we live through this week, I'll consider making a system. We don't have one now, and we don't have the time to do it. Fine. No system. Bind them and dump them somewhere. There's a risk they get free but life's full of risks. ... And this is a risk you're willing to take? Seriously? Because people *never* get free from anywhere. Especially not Arcana. Fine, they will escape, there's a risk they'll escape quickly. And you're willing to... put everyone else in risk, too. Right? * Haruko nods. "Yeah. I am. I'd like it if could be just me, but that's life." * Katie nods. "Okay." She looks at her soup, then works on finishing that. "I'm not." * Haruko nods. "So, I'll make my case in the morning. Sho, Tenjirou, !Saki, do what you like. Anyone that dies in battle, I'll try to avoid it but that's life, but I won't sign on for any individual, not even you, deciding which prisoners die just because their evil. Anyways, if the world is really in danger we call in the government and run away before they turn us in to lab monkeys." (Greg? How does Haruko pronounce !Saki?) (not Saki) (Not bang Saki) (She's not Eriko after all. :P) (Ha.) * Katie says, annoyed, "It's not 'just because they're evil' and you know it." And just because the scythe boy hasn't tortured us *specifically* doesn't mean he's any better than Tenjirou is. Evil and there's no prison system available. And a threat and knowing what's going on. Knowing what's going on? Sho's out for personal revenge now. The drug thing is over. And practically any Arcana that knows their powers or can find, y'know, a gun is a threat. * Katie studies Haruko for a moment, then turns. "You're right. I should kill them all. Thanks for helping me think this through." * Katie heads off again. We'll see if Haruko tries to stop her a second time. (Quick! Sneak a gun into Haruko's purse!) Fine, evil and meets your judgment call as a sufficient threat. * Haruko stares at her empty beer can. "Somebody better have bought some." * Katie does stop, actually, and looks at Haruko. "You don't have a better idea that works with what we have, Haruko. I'm willing to explain to anyone who wants to hear me and understand. It looks like you're about done with that, so it's a waste of time." It's an acceptable risk for you. It's not for me. I don't agree with you; that's okay. I can't change your mind in the time we have. But I won't have you simplify things, and I won't have you demonize me any more than I already am. I am sorry you're hurting. I am, too. But it had to be done, and I'm not sorry I did it. If you want to keep up with this, find me when you're sober. * Katie heads upstairs now. * Haruko nods. "I see that. Well, I'll make my case to the group in the morning. Hopefully I won't be getting us all killed." He tone softens. "Good night Katie." * Katie probably heard that, but if she gives any response, Haruko doesn't hear it in return. (And end now or after you provide another pose.) [End]