taxonomites | [Text] / [Location: a cafe in Speares]

Entry tags:

[Text] / [Location: a cafe in Speares]

Does anyone know if transfer of credits can be accomplished from one person to another, here? So far all I have managed is using them at the stores or with the hatches, and as it happens this 'allowance' they give us isn't really adequate.

Where I was from, I offered my services in a consulting capacity, but if I cannot get payment for such here, then that isn't incredibly practical.

....on a similar note, if anybody wishes their tarot read, it appears I'm doing this for free until I figure out a way to return an investment on the deck I just hatched.

If so, I'm at the version of the Café Procope that they have apparently stolen from Paris and transplanted here. It is in the Speares district. I may be found at one of the upstairs balcony tables.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Nah--No." Politeness. Arthur's smile flickers, but it doesn't quite reach the edges of his face like they normally are. Probably because he's taking in everything he can.

Oddly, he find he can't quite read the guy with the funny last name. He pauses things, considers it for a few moment, and then shakes his head.

"If there's a simple, standard fold, I'll go with that." Spoken like someone who's had far more experience with machines than magic.

Jason nods. He's shuffling the cards again, his hands as practiced as any blackjack dealer's despite his very different use for the cards.

"It is customary for the querent-- that would be you-- to have a question into which they wish insight. If you do not have one, I can perform a blind reading, which is more general in its purpose."

Isn't he polished? Isn't he clean?
And so very wary, so guarded, so keen!
But that's what you get when you're constantly testing
Whether you're wakeful, or lost in sleep's jesting.

Jason continued to shuffle, his expression distant and neutral despite Etrigan's commentary. He was aware of the shrewd intelligence lurking behind the younger man's eyes, that he was being assessed.

Let him judge.

Arthur finds nothing.

It's odd, but he doesn't see the other as a threat--not that everyone in Taxon was, but he normally had a good eye for who's potentially dangerous and who isn't.

Sadly, he has a feeling he and Ariadne are on the bottom of that totem poll.

Arthur shakes his head, finally, and remembers he hasn't said anything in a while. The only question he has isn't going to be answered by some cards, it's going to be answered by him.

"We'll go with a blind one."

"As you like."

One more shuffle, then Jason drew three cards from the deck and laid them out, face down. The rest were set to one side. He took a sip of his espresso, then reached for the first one.

It was the Emperor. Jason let out an involuntary half-laugh, a snort. Of course. Of course it would be, his name was Arthur and he'd drawn the damned Emperor. He shook his head fractionally and reached for the next card.

The Hermit, reversed. Hmnn. A hunt for truth, was it? But tangled up in obstinacy, or some other block.

"In a spread like this," Jason said as he reached for the third card, "the three cards usually are taken to symbolize past, present, and future- a situation or role that you have been in, one you may currently be in, and either a revelation about the future or possible guidance towards it..."

He flipped the third card. Ten of pentacles. Like Pryor's, it ended on a surprisingly 'happy' note, he supposed.

Jason tapped his fingers on the table for few seconds, mulling over the cards.

"The Emperor," he said after a little pause, indicating the card in question. "You are, or have been at least, a man in a position of responsibility for others, accustomed to struggle and conflict. You are prized for your level head and ability to assess both the dangers of a situation and to detect illusion from reality, both of which make you a leader, or at least, a competent ally."

Arthur is a trained conman, yes, but it doesn't stop him from hiding every emotion. Especially when he's genuinely surprised at the outcome--he doesn't realize his mouth is open and his throat is dry until he finally tears his eyes away from a card and looks up at Jason, trying to read him.

Trying to figure out if he knew anything out-of-hand. If anyone told him something about his past. Which is impossible, of course, unless Ariadne was here--but Arthur hadn't seen her--or if he was very, very good at reading people.

"...I'm listening."

There is perhaps the brief flicker of a smile over Jason's face at the younger man's reaction. It's a bit petty of him, he knows, but there's always something a little satisfying about watching a skeptic be confronted with something they have no immediate explanation for.

"I'm delighted," he answers drily. "The next card, then-- your present situation.

"The Hermit is a card of someone seeking answers, a searcher who is observing and trying to reach a truth-- perhaps a spiritual truth, perhaps something more mundane. However, the card is upside down, indicating that you are not finding the answer you seek, or you are not satisfied with it; perhaps you are refusing to accept the conclusion that your searching has led you to, because it does not fit with how you understand the world."

The hair on the back of his neck stands up--this is ridiculous, but it's true. The card pretty much reflects exactly what he's thinking, exactly what he's feeling.

Whether or not this is a dream or reality. And, more importantly, if he can trust his judgement right now. He's got people to steer--he's got Ariadne to take care of, or at least it feels like this.

His lips thin, his gaze flickers on the third card and he nods.

"And the last?"

The young man is tight-lipped, but it's easy to see by the way his body stiffens that the reading has hit a nerve.

Jason studies the ten of pentacles. There's a good deal of symbolism in the card. His eyes move from the dogs to the children, the towers in the background, the archway under which the people are gathered, smiling at one another.

"The pentacles is a suit of material rewards and realities-- business concerns, for example, or one's financial situation. The ten of pentacles in the future position suggests a prosperous and successful resolution of these issues. It's a signifier of an achievement reached, a difficult goal accomplished."

Jason's figure taps the smiling people, the child playing nearby. "Also the suggestion of a harmonious family, or possibly a reunion. Although..." he frowned slightly, brows furrowed.

"I don't receive a sense that you're directly involved in that aspect. Peripherally, but the family portrayed here is not actually yours. Perhaps that of someone to whom you are close."

Jason's eyes moved to the dog, and he smiled, a brief, darkly amused quirk of his lips. "You might be the family dog. Loyal to a fault."

It hits a nerve and it shows--Arthur's brow narrows, and he sits up a little straighter than necessary. No, he doesn't believe in magic--but that loyal dog comment had been made once before. In anger, in snide remarks just before they parted ways.

Arthur doesn't believe in things like magic, no--you can't poke holes in magic because by definition magic defies logic.

But he's seen a dragon, and he knows a few people around here are vampires, and he can't help but think maybe--just maybe--this guy's right.

"You said you do this for a living?" Not commenting on what happened. What it was about.

If the young man has no questions regarding his reading-- or none he is willing to ask-- far be it from Jason to force them upon him. He leans back in his chair, lacing his fingers together atop the table.

"It is one of the things I do for a living."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Text] / [Location: a cafe in Speares]

[location]

[location]

[location]

[location]

[location]

[location]

[location]

Re: [location]

Re: [location]

no subject