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

[personaldemon]

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.

Comments

[personaldemon]

Jason only half-smiles in response, a weary smile.

"If it were a demand you can be sure I would reject it, Mr. Lupin."

[apackofone]

"Yes, I imagine it would be. You don't strike me as a man who listens to demands, from anyone."

[personaldemon]

A tiny nod. "From most people, at least."

Jason leans back in his chair, runs the hand bearing the fresh scar through his hair. "Did you still wish the secondary reading-- the clarification into the Strength card?"

[apackofone]

"Yes, please." He nods his head. "Would you like a healing spell run over that scar?"

[personaldemon]

"No."

Jason takes a breath. "No, thank you," he amends, trying to ease the initial flat brusqueness of his words. "But it is kind of you to offer."

He stares down at the Strength card lying to one side, maiden and lion locked in a struggle-that-isn't one. He holds the card in mind as he reaches again for the deck.

The knight of pentacles, reversed.

Jason folds his hands over the lower half of his face, studying the card, eyes sliding half-shut again as he opens himself to the symbols it represents.

[apackofone]

Someone mean with money, misfortunate and slippery, coasting by. Sadly, he could see it reflecting a few of his friends and other people he knows, but he stays quiet, waiting to see what Jason's Gift will see in it without his prompting.

[personaldemon]

Jason is silent for a few seconds, a slight frown built between his brows.

"I see a man, dark of features," he says finally. "He takes his responsibilities seriously and drives himself and others with little sympathy for error or mistakes. He is humourless, or near to it. He is intelligent, but... his gifts have brought him little joy or fulfillment."

Jason ran a finger over the armor the figure wore. "Fighting a war, still. For some people, wars never end; and others carry wars with them. The plowed fields behind him can signal the consequences of reaping what he has sown..."

Jason paused a few beats, trying to fit this into the larger reading, to see how it related to the Strength card and the images and sensations he'd received off it.

"He bears you a grudge, but his outstretched hand holds a pentacle-- a symbol of something he has given you, or will give you-- I am not receiving a clear sense of time-- some gift that promises.... security, a measure of control."

The red-headed man fell silent a little more, then shook his head. "I believe he ties into the Strength card, but the connection is... messy. Like a road strewn with the rubble of past failures, but... perhaps the potential for repair."

[apackofone]

Remus' eyes close at the first words. He knows exactly whom the cards speak of and he really didn't want this dug up. It's only been a year, it still hurts.

"Severus Snape," he finally whispers. "He's one of the only people I know of who can brew the Wolfsbane Potion. He brewed it for me, for a year. Under sufferance, he hated 'wasting' ingredients on me.

"He cost me my job, my home and everything I had fought to regain because of a petty grudge from when we were children. I didn't protect him when I should have. And he's made sure to make me pay for it every step of the way."

Severus Snape is a loaded topic, especially in the reading like this. "I don't want to hear anymore, thank you, Jason."

[personaldemon]

"As you wish."

Jason hasn't missed the flicker of pained memories across Lupin's face. He settles his hand over the knight of pentacles as if to hide it, gesture signifying an ending.

"I believe the two of you have unfinished business, but the reading is at an end."

He paused a few beats of silence, then said words that didn't often pass his lips: "I'm... sorry if the answers are... painful, Mr. Lupin."

[apackofone]

Remus smiles slightly, eyes still closed. "No, not too painful. I just, yes. Severus Snape is a painful topic and we both have far too much emotional investment in each other to even begin to say our business is done. But here, I can at least move on from it."

He inhales, exhales slowly and opens his eyes, the pain gone from view, calm once more. "Thank you. And really, it's Remus. My father was Mr. Lupin, and he's been gone a long time."

[personaldemon]

Jason nodded wordlessly-- he didn't feel he was in any position to offer emotional counsel independent of what the cards suggested-- and started picking up the cards, slipping them back into the deck, the deck into the box. No more readings, at least not today, at least not for Lupin.

"I will try and keep that in mind," he said neutrally to the request to be called by his first name. As a rule, Jason distanced himself from others with surnames as much as possible.

[apackofone]

"Thank you, for your insights." He stands up, finishing his drink and offering his hand to shake. "Hard as they may have been to hear."

[personaldemon]

Jason hesitated a moment, then nodded and reached up to shake Remus's hand. His own was warm to the touch.

"You're welcome. I bid you a good day, sir."

[apackofone]

Remus' grip is firm and comfortable. "Good day, Jason." He gives a small smile and nods, turning and heading out.