************************************************************ Logging Started: 05/11/2001 at 20:57:30 ------------------------------------------------------------ A low ratting echoes through the reaches of the planetarium as the elevator engages, rising slowly to the top of the planetarium with its usual, passive speed. The elevators occupant, on the other hand, feels nothing that even begins to resemble patience or serenity... he knew that this moment would come, but it seemed that he would be forced to play his hand a little earlier than anticipated. No matter what Utena thought she was capable of, the matter could not end up in her hands again... seeing her broken as she had been after the last Duel of Revolution was not something he wanted to do again. But before he could do anything else... he had to see *him* again. It had taken him this long to find the End of the World again... and now things would resume a more familar course. The elevator slides to a stop at the top floor, the gate that blocks the occupant from leaving before they arrive at a floor sliding aside with a soft clank. And Touga steps off of the elevator, and into Akio's lair. Two white lambskin couches, facing each other, a glass and silver coffee table, with a heraldic rose of five petals etched into it. A HUGE projector, probably brought in and assembled painstakingly, by hand. A single, muted, persian rug, thick, fringed, dense with detail. A floor, polished to a mirror sheen... and Him. Setting down the ever-familiar silver and glass tea set on the table that matches it so perfectly. Looking up, with that predatory smile that could be so full of promises, he speaks, in that smooth, honeyed voice. "Kiryuu-san, welcome. I've been wondering when you'd arrive." Touga steps off of the elevator, a small polite smile on his face as he offers a small bow to Akio. "Ohtori-sama, a pleasure as always..." he intones politely, offering the proper courtesies to the Chairman of Ohtori Academy as he enters his domain. "I trust that you are doing well, despite our unfortunate change of location?" The red haired duelist walks across the floor, his reflection shining up to meet him... it Touga were not as preoocupied with the rooms occupant, he might have stopped to check his appearance. As things stand, Touga walks across the room to stand respectfully across the carpet from Akio, his back to the projector. Akio inclines his head in something that passes for a bow, barely. "Kiryuu-san, do sit down. Tea? It's fresh." Without waiting for an answer, he pours, two cups, twisting a paper-thin slice of lemon and dropping it into his own cup, before settling onto one of the gleaming white couches. He gestures at the orrery behind his visitor. "I've gotten it working again, just a little while ago. Quite the project, getting it all the way up here." Touga nods slightly in response, and sits down in one of the couches across from the white haired man. While he does pick up the cup of tea that has been prepared for him, he makes no move to drink from it. "Of course... such a daunting project, but one that is worth the costs I assume." Touga turns to look up at the projector for a moment, his blue eyes narrowing for a moment as he sets his untouched tea on the table in front of him. "I hope that Kanae-san is doing well, with all of the turbuilence that we have encounted?" Akio is smooth as ever in his response, "I haven't seen her since I got here, actually. Whatever forces invited me here did not see fit to include Kanae in that invitation." It's odd, his voice isn't really... cold, per se, just... detached. As if he were discussing his neighbor getting the flu, or that he had counted his socks and found a pair missing. "Who else is here, Touga? I've seen you, now, and Tenjou-kun. And that silly little girl... what was her name again... Wakare? no, no... Oh yes, Wakaba. the one with the Saionji obsession." Touga inclines his head slightly, and lifts the tea to just below his lips, but pauses as he hears Akio's question. But he does not answer that question first... no, not quite yet. "You must be devistated to have lost the presence of your beloved fiance from your side, Ohtori-san." Touga's pronounciation of the name offers just a slight quirk, but he continues before Akio can make any response. "And they are here... enough of them, at any rate. Miki. Juri. Saionji. Anshi. All of them believing that they are free of all that binds them, in this new world. And of course, Tenjou-kun." Touga's voice recounts all of this as if it is a simply recounting of one of the parties that his parents had thrown back home. Akio says, "oh, yes, it's terrible not having her by my side." Still conversational. ALMOST lip service. There does seem to be a little regret in his voice, but hard to tell regret of what, exactly. He sips from his cup, nodding slightly. "Then that's all of my Duellists, here again. And sweet Anshi. I'm hurt, really, that she hasn't come to say hello to her dear older brother. Ah, family." He smiles, that knife-edge grin. 'I must say, I'm pleased to see you again, Touga. I have... need of your services. There was always a reason that Touga did not like coming here.. it seems that he is again reminded. The polite civilities. The false smiles. The insinuations. But Touga meerly shrugs slight, a small smirk crossing his face as he listens to Akio speak. "It seems that all of the Duelists have come here, although they appear to have arrived at, and from, different times. Some of them are..." Touga pauses and looks down into his tea for a moment, before setting it back on a saucer and leaning back on the chair. "...it does not matter. So, you say that you have need of my services? Please, tell me of your needs then, Mr. Chairman..." Akio gestures toward the end table that may or may not have been there when you sat down. On it, are seven heavy creamy envelopes, each addressed in perfect script. One each for Anshi, Juri, Saionji, Miki-kun, Utena, yourself, and two with just seals. "You will deliver these for me, yes? They're... invitations, of a sort." Touga quirks an eyebrow slightly at the sight of all of the envelopes... "Messages from the End of the World? Or an invitation for something... unreleated, Mr. Chairman?" Touga reaches over and gathers all of the envelopes into his hands, fanning them out in front of him for a moment. "And of course, I shall make certain that each of these... invitations arrive to the proper recipiants." Touga's lip twitches slightly at that, but he sets the letters down on the table after a moment and leans back in his chair. "But what are these two without names...?" Akio leans forward slightly, resting his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands together to prop his chin on. "Invitations to a ball. A grand party. I think it's time you all got... reacquainted. And those two are... discretionary. Find me two people worthy of our company." His tone is quiet, intimate, and utterly unrevealing. True, the falsity's annoying, but it's just so DAMN tempting to let him lead you again, turn all the responsibility, all the effort, all the subterfuge over to him and his serpent-eyed, damnably beautiful self. "I think it's time we... revolutionized... the way the former Duellists think." And it seems that it works... Touga's eyes turn inwards for a moment, and a small, languid smile crosses over his face as he looks down at the invitations that are sitting on the table in front of him. After all, isn't it so much easier to allow Akio to call the dance, and to follow the steps behind him? Is that not what he has done all along...? "So... you want to find a pair who would be suitable to be duelists? Or just two who are... worthy of our company? And do you have any preferences, or are you going to leave them to my discression?" He leans back and rests one elbow on the arm of the couch, so he can lean his chin on his hand as he looks at Akio. "And perhaps you should explain what you mean? As far as I know, we are duelists still, Ohtori-sama." Akio smiles just a little broader, a little darker. "Find me two who will show the rest how a duel SHOULD be fought. Find me... us... two who are worthy of becoming revolutionaries. You may use your own discretion. For if the others will not fight, thinking, as you said, that they are free of The Game, then I will find others who are capable of winning." Touga chuckles lightly at Akio's announcement, leaning a little more heavily on his hand as he listens to the chairman speak. "In the end, combat is the only way to truely bring about revolution... and some of the duelists still recognize this. Give them a reason to duel, and they shall ascend the stairs to heaven to cross blades once more. I have advised those I have seen that the Game is not quite over... but it seems that we must add up the ante." Touga leans fowards, looking at Akio across the table with a small smile on his face. One placed there by the knowledge that he has seen the end of the duels, and its result. "So, you wish to make an... example... at this grand ball?" Akio shrugs one elegant arched eyebrow. "Not necessarily. I want to see what happens when all of the are in the same place again. Call it an experiment, if you will. A planned hypergolic misture." "Fascinating..." Touga replies, picking up his invitation and turning it over in his hands. "So you hope for a specific reaction? Or do you simply wish to see what should occur?" A moment passes, and a small smile crosses Touga's lips. "Or are you hoping to gain something by the chaos such a meeting would produce?" Akio leans forward, pouring more tea into his cup, watching the steam rise in tendrils... "This time, I merely wish to... observe. I want to see if these Duellists, that gather here in this world between worlds, are as... strong, as driven, as the ones I left behind." Touga leans back and nods slightly, that confident smile still on his face. "You may find that they are stronger now than before, Mr. Chairman. Now that they have something to truely lose in this new place, this crossroads, they may prove to be greater than ever before. But I wonder... what will you do if none of your duelists remain willing to duel, and participate in the game?" Akio smiles.... and sips from his freshened cup. "More tea, Touga-san?" To answer that, it seems, would be telling. Touga shakes his head politely, and stands up with the letters in hand. "I will pass, thank you..." he says, not looking at the untouched cup of tea sitting on his sacuer. "I do, after all, have these invitations to deliver... I would not want risk missing one of my fellow duelists, and not having them attend. This should be an event to remember..." Akio nods, and places his cup on the table, no noise. He uncoils from his seat, standing for the first time. He seems more solidly built than he was at the old Ootori, a little more... well, filled out. Not spindly. He's still tall, the bastard, and his hair's a little longer, reaching almost to the base of his spine, pulled back in the same pony tail. A little older, maybe, but not much. Akio from another time as well as everyone else? different points in the cycle? With easy familiarity, he drops a hand onto your shoulder. "My thanks, Touga, for your services again. Do come back when you've delivered them. I'll expect a full report." Touga resists the urge to let his skin crawl at Akio's touch, not really comfortable with letting many men touch him, and offers a sardonic smile to Akio. "Of course, Mr. Chairman... I am, as always, your humble servant. A full report, as soon as the last of these messages has been delivered." Touga turns around, slipping out of Akio's grasp in order to deliver a polite bow to the white haired man... and incidentally placing himself almost inside of the elevator. "Is there anything else that I should be aware of, Ohtori-sama?" Touga adds, pausing for a moment. The dodge is not lost on Akio, whose eyes narrow just slightly, then are back to normal within an instant. "No, Kiryuu-san. I think that should be all. Do wish your sister well for me, should you happen upon her here. And... be careful in that arena of dreams over the campus you've been playing in. You could fall off those edges dreadfully easily. " The last bit, his back is turned, and he's placing tea things back on the glass tray to carry to the kitchen nook on the other side of the orrery. He doesn't turn around, but you can almost HEAR the smile. Touga reaches out and presses the down button on the elevator, watching as the gate slides closed in front of him. "The roses bear the sharpest thorns of any flower... be careful that you do not prick yourself and bleed to death. We would be lost in this crossroads without you." Touga smiles as the elevator descends out of sight, returning him down and away... (Fin.)