death_gone_mad | It's in the cards.

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It's in the cards.

Creative Expression...

What the hell? Diviners always have to be so ... indirect. What did that card mean?

███████ marched up into the foothills of the mountains that lay west on Pollnivneach. The sun hung in the sky and shone brilliantly. But ███████, the Sun's daughter, could not be seen by Tumeken, the Sun. Neither did the people of Pollnivneach see her as she was leaving. They saw Sumona. A completely ordinary Kharidian woman. Her red hair and red eyes were unusual, yes. But it wasn't anything special. She wasn't a demon; she wasn't the Devourer; she wasn't the Scourge of the desert. She wasn't a murderer.

She was completely normal.

The hills eventually stopped and turned into a plateau. Here lived Ali the Hag, in a nice thick walled adobe house. The woman who everybody thought was Sumona came up to the door and knocked. "Alice? Are you there? I need to speak with you."

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It had all been good until now, and then, Tower.

"What is next?"

"The ultimate outcome if you pursue this course of action." She pointed to the page of cups, reversed. "Emotional excess, distraction, and seduction."

She sighed.

"It's never a straight answer, is it? Who is going to be … distracted?"

"So, you see what I mean. It's vague, useless. Having a question on your mind helps, but things are never clear."

"Maybe a second question will clarify things."

"Oh, no, that is going to cost you. That last one was a bit too intense."

She collected up the cards and began shuffling the deck.

"So what is it Alice? Do you believe in this or not? Or is just another trick to get money out of me?"

She fished out 7 gold coins out of a pocket and placed them on the table.

"That was three questions."

She laid the deck down in front of Sumona and took the coins.

"Why do you call me Alice?"

"That's another question," she answered. "It's because I am not sick in the head like everyone else here. I am Sumona, my sister is Jesmona, you are Alice. Not Ali. You aren't from around here. No one here has green eyes."

She split the deck into five and restacked it, addressing it with the question, "Will victory be mine?"

That should clarify things.

"Red eyes aren't common around here either. Don't think I haven't noticed. You aren't from around here, are you?"

"This sister of yours, I have never seen her. Does she have the same red eyes and hair?"

After the question to the cards, she asked, "What is this about?"

She lays down the cards in the same pattern as before.

"We are more from around here than anyone in town. And trust me, you have seen me, you have seen her. She exists, if that is what you are implying."

"You don't need to know any more than those cards reveal."

"It isn't the cards doing the revealing, dear."

She took a peek at the card underneath, smiled, and took it out to show to Sumona. "And what brought on the question. You have been around here for longer than anyone. Those red eyes of yours."

The Devil.

"I am not a demon, Alice. I am not the devil, either."

I am much worse.

"Your obstacle, avoidance of pain, obscurity."

Ten of Staves, reversed.

No one will remember your name, no one will ever worship you again.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Your goal, a lustful pursuit of something, irrational actions …"

Four of coins.

Ali looks to Sumona and and raises an eyebrow.

"It doesn't mean anything to you?"

"No."

Bottom of the cross - "The foundation of this, bullying, grandstanding, sword rattling, a setback or defeat."

The Chariot, reversed.

She smiled.

"I am not telling you what that means."

Opposite of the staff, the Empress, and toward the staff, the Eight of Cups. "What will pass or needs to pass, civilization, domestic tradition, fertility or a mother and queen. What is coming or needs to be embraced. Surrender to temptation, intoxication, sleep."

--

"I don't even want to know anymore. Go, go and destroy civilization, maybe you will take a few bastards down with you."

"No… No! She's gone! She's not coming back!" Civility is dead. Apmeken is gone, the empress is dead. Who could be coming?

Temptation. Intoxication. Sleep.
Fields of marrentill. Eternal ecstasy. Eternal uselessness, eternal slavery.

Eternity.

The Empress who has passed away will pass again, and she is supposed to embrace the thing, the accursed weed that brought her low enough to be put in this deplorable state? Isn't it enough that she is addicted to it?

She dug into her dress and produced a cigar which she lit with the tip of the index finger of her free hand.

Accursed weed.

Ali had never seen such a thing. But the smell? Ah, marrentill, catnip of the gods.

"Who sucks down marrentill smoke, willingly?" She moves down to the bottom of the staff. "The Knight of Staves, reversed. Travel cancelled, stopped." One more card up. "Who are you asking this question about? The Tower, this time not reversed. I think you know what this means." One more up the staff. "What are your hopes, fears, what aren't you expecting?" Seven of cups. "Temptation again, or maybe you are living in a fantasy world."

"Both my hopes and my fears? What nonsense. These cards of yours sound unsure of themselves. Afraid."

She took a puff of the cigar, and blew the smoke in the witch's face. "I'll tell you who sucks down marrentill smoke. A monster, an animal that you should not tease."

She pointed to the card at top of the staff. A single sword, held up against a blazing sun. But reversed, it looked like a dagger plunging through it. The ultimate outcome.

"Ace of swords. Brutal power. Violence. Consuming heat."

"Fire. I have had enough of these card games."

She got up and began to leave, but halfway through the door, she turned and said, "Do not breathe a word of this to anyone else. I am sure those cards will tell what will happen if you do."

She left.

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myriadbeautiful - 2011-01-30 05:44 (UTC) - Expand

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