The (Intermittent) Journal of Natsuki Hashimoto

29^th April 2013

Generally I do not make much use of my journal, but then not much of interest happens to me. Today, is it the same day or does crossing dimensions using a Trump portal make the concept irrelevant, has to date not been one of those days. As I've previously commented Miss Chan's summons did not have a responders address but neither did it have any indication of exactly how I was to be collected, other than I was to have my invitation on me.

The Invitation turns out to be the key to how I was retrieved, or to put it another way, it allowed Miss Chan to locate where I was and create a Trump portal through which to arrive. Although I had experienced Choki's memory of her previous departure, the actual reality of the formation of the gate was much more dramatic and as I wasn't expecting it more than a little surprising, even if Choki did bark to warn me of it's imminent appearance. It was interesting to note that once she appeared not only did he stop barking but he also approached her for affection as he does a number of my friends who he is intimately familiar with. I had wondered if taking Choki along was going to be an issue and tentatively asked the question. Her response was a little odd "not at all, I'm sure he'll enjoy meeting Mikato" especially as she didn't then explain who Mikato was. It turns out he is her most unusual Japanese Akita, although he's the biggest dog I have ever seen and at least 3 times as big as the largest Akita I have encountered.

Having established that Choki was welcome she then asked if I was ready, which I was, where upon she took a trump from her jacket pocket and formed another gate ushering me through. We arrived in the foyer of what I initially thought might be a hotel, but it turns out to be her private mansion in this dimension. Waiting for us and obviously rehearsed where her household staff, her butler of Korean descent Hui-Jin Sun, her PA, also of Korean descent Choi Lee, and a selection of others of Oriental descent, one of which was to be assigned to me as an assistant for the duration of my stay. There were 4 girls and 1 guy, although it turns out there are actually 7 assistants here for the duration. Purely because she appeared to be of Japanese descent I picked Jasmin, although her real name is Liu Choa-Fang, and like the others is employed by the Purple Dragon, a nightclub owned by Miss Chan. She like the others applied for this assignment and was selected from a shortlist of 35 candidates following a 30 minute interview with Miss Chan (Cordelia as she prefers to be called). What she and the others were unaware of at the time was that the assignment would be in a different dimension where the time rate is faster than that of Earth. However, they are being paid by the day here which means they will earn the equivalent of 5 weeks wages for 2 weeks of Earth time, plus they all have a $10000 clothing allowance for their stay, but that does include needing 2 dresses, one for each of the 2 balls that are due to take place on the Saturday of the Expo, which is 14 days away local time.

Introductions over I was then given a tour of the Mansion. It consists of 3 wings, North, West, and East, with the Northern wing being the rear of the house, and is pretty much the kitchens, servants quarters, offices, and Hui-Jin's and Choi's private quarters. The ground floor of the East and West wing are a huge ornately decorated Ballroom and a similarly appointed dining hall respectively. The second floor of the west wing forms a house floor, consisting of a library (incompletely stocked with books), games room, relaxation room, and a smaller more personal dining room. Above the second floor up to and including the roof is Miss Chan's personal space.  The first and second floors of the East Wing are guest rooms, with the first floor allocated to males and the second floor allocated to females. My room is the Emerald room, although it is not decorated in green. It is a curious mix of old and very modern like a lot of the mansion appears to be. There is a lot of glass and steel forming the shell, but it is all counter pointed with varnished and stained timber frames and decorated wooden tiles reminiscent of old Japanese palaces.

The third floor is more permanent suites, one for the Queen of Amber, and the other for Miss Chan's daughter. The fourth floor is apparently space and machinery to support the roof top swimming pool and hot tub which was occupied by 3 of my cousins when we reached the roof. The roof in itself is not conventional in any sense of the word. Aside from the swimming pool, which is covered by a glass roof, the whole roof being enclosed by a glass screen, the roof is a luxurious garden. There are trees, shrubs, and plants of numerous varieties, all in a natural setting as the roof above the pool only extends for about 3m around it's edge, and does not therefore cover the area above the hot tub. The roof above the West wing appears to be similar, but there is no access from the roof level.

With the tour completed I was escorted to my room where I was left with Jasmin, to get acquainted with both her and the Black Shadow console and AI system that  forms an interface to the household AI system, although there are panels throughout the house, including 3 in my room that allow interaction with it without the use of the VR system. As Miss Chan left she informed me that I was expected to be at a meeting in the library in 1 hours time. This was listed in the schedule by the AI as "Introductions" and proved to be an interesting event, since it did not appear to go according the Miss Chan's plans.

By the time I arrived, joining the procession of participants as it entered the corridor, all bar one of the 10 of us, and I'm excluding Miss Chan here as she was already there, were in the library. I was the only one who appeared to be of oriental descent, a fact which was confirmed a short time later. Miss Chan waited for a couple of minutes an then apologizing went to fetch the miscreant. She returned about 20 minutes later with a Caucasian girl in school uniform and apologized on her behalf for starting the meeting late. The girl, Joanne Hemsworth, just scowled and sulked.

Miss Chan then proceeded to cite her lineage, confirming that she was the daughter of someone called Tiberius, and the Granddaughter of someone called Oberon, and by virtue of these facts she was a Princess of a place called Amber. Most of those present obviously didn't believe anything she was saying, particularly Joanne, but certainly 2 did, the boy from Ireland, Cathal O'Donohughe, and the girl from Poland, Natalia Lis, the one who has the intelligent telepathic falcon Casamir. Since I am vaguely familiar with who my father is her story sort of made sense. She then proceeded to name each of us in turn, with an indication of where we were from, before revealing the two suppositions. The first is that we are all sons or daughters of one of her Aunts or Uncles, and the second that she could not prove this using DNA as she could not get to Amber due to something she described as Shadow Storms which have made travel there impossible. The conseuence of the latter is that there is only one way to prove that her supposition is true. We must walk the Pattern. If we are who she says we are then we will survive, if we are not then we'll be dead within a couple of steps.

Joanne had a major temper tantrum at this point giving voice to an interpretation of the sentiment I have previously expressed. Whilst I likened our invites to that given to a feudal lord by the shogun, she instead accused Miss Chan of kidnapping us and her in particular. Given that Miss Chan had to fetch her for the meeting, and that she was the only one of us who appeared not to be in casual clothing I can only assume that she was indeed brought here, if not by actual force, then under duress. Given everything she has demonstrated so far it is a sentiment I can fully concur with. Miss Chan is not somebody who one would tangle with or annoy lightly and someone around whom one must take care and accord her the respect associated with one of her status.

The exchange between Joanne and Miss Chan was derailed by one of the others, and descended into name calling, until Joanne did something which caused the offender to turn as white as a sheet. Exactly what happened I have no idea, but it did not escape Miss Chan's notice as she told Joanne to "pack it in", and whilst I'm not familair with the phase her tone was unmistakable.

Miss Chan then took questions from the rest of the group, answering most of them although most of the answers seemed to pass most people by, although notably not Cathal, although his expression did noticable change at one point. In a lot of ways I now have more questions than answers. Perhaps after I've walked the Pattern, assuming I'm capable of doing it, Miss Chan will be a little more forth coming with infortmation.  The problem is we now have a 48 hour wait until we can walk it, apparently because we need to memorise our rooms, such that when we reach the middle of the Pattern it's the first and only thing we think of. The consequences if we don't..well Miss Chan won't be looking for us for any other reason than to put us in a wooden box.

The meeting broke up at this point and we, well I'm assuming that the others did likewise, returned to our rooms.

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