occultigen: (PONDER ⚜ or i could stab him in the face)
Meridiana Everett ([personal profile] occultigen) wrote in [community profile] route_10652016-02-05 04:26 pm

I'm Dreaming of the Life I Once Loved

Who: Meridiana ([personal profile] occultigen) and YOU!
Where: Goldenrod City
When: Anytime during the month of February!
Summary: What do you get when you cross a Victorian-era seeress with a pack of tarot cards? There's one easy way to find out...
Rating: PG!
Log:

[It's not particularly nice out these days, but at the very least it's not snowing most of the time and the weather's usually above freezing, and even on the worse days of the month, with the benefit of a couple of Fire-type Pokemon (and a few who happen to know Sunny Day) it's not altogether difficult to keep warm in spite of the chill in the air.

Which is why, at various times during the month of February, you might just see Meridiana bundled up and sitting at one of the outdoor tables of a cafe in Goldenrod, facing the street and playing with a pack of tarot cards. Every so often, she'll make a face and shake her head at a card she turns up; most of the time, though, she's shifting and arranging them with practiced and familiar ease. She's done this sort of reading before, in a similar way, and made a little bit of money at it and helped give passerby some guidance into their circumstances and futures, so all in all it's a reasonable enough way of passing the time on a quiet afternoon.

On days when she's out, she's got a little handmade sign up to advertise her business (which her Tropius is helpfully displaying for her), so if you happen to be passing by and would like to sit and have your fortune told — or even just stop by to chat a while — feel free to pause and say hello!]



[OOC: Okay, so! This is an open log for people in Goldenrod who'd like to stop in and interact with Meridiana, either just to hang out or to use her fortune-telling as a hook! As a standard disclaimer, I am not anywhere close to being an expert at this myself, so I'll be using this website for any readings she's asked to give and just going with whatever it returns; if you'd prefer to handwave something or for character/plot reasons would prefer to have her give your character a specifically-tailored prediction or result (that is, specific cards, a particular overall meaning, whatever), feel free to let me know and we can swing it that way as well! And of course, you're not obligated to ask for one; you're just as welcome to chat and hang out with her instead!

This log is good for the entire month of February, so please give me a rough date of when a thread is taking place on your starter, along with anything else I might need to know before we get rolling!]

hashtagafreakingghost: ('cause it's all coming back to me) (be still‚ my heart)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-18 08:18 pm (UTC)(link)
[Eliot nods at Meridiana, yes he is curious, how nice of her to notice.]

He's...special. [The little Espurr points calmly at the sign. That draws her Eevee's attention too, oh dear...] Yes. He- Please hold still- He's a handful.

...Not literally, obviously, since. [She's got a Litwick and a wiggling Eevee for that.]
hashtagafreakingghost: has fallen behind you (when all that you know)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-19 03:45 am (UTC)(link)
[Eliot's fur perks up. A saying? ...Whatever it is, Ashley isn't going to enlighten him, because she's a bit too busy laughing, just a little bit too forced.]

Yes, I'll have to keep an eye on- oh--! [The Eevee takes this opportunity to jump from her arms on to the table and start sniffing Meridiana's cards.]

...On a few of them, actually. Arwen, really?
hashtagafreakingghost: we'll stop and count to ten (before you walk‚ you'll learn to fall)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-20 06:20 am (UTC)(link)
Yes. All of them except for Eliot and Agatha- oh, um, the Espurr and the Litwick. I caught him, and she was my starter. ...So who knows how old they are.

[Eliot, who is now trying to climb up on a chair to get a better look at the Tarot cards. Ashley shakes her head and approaches it.] Do you mind if I sit? They won't stop until they're completely satisfied. ...And I have to admit I'm kind of curious too.
hashtagafreakingghost: they're taking in the new girls (err on the side of caution)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-21 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
Read? For me?

[Well. Ashley takes a seat and bites her lower lip, glancing from Meridiana to the cards and back again.]

I mean- if you really don't mind, that...would be really cool.
hashtagafreakingghost: feels like it pulls me away (all this meaningless direction)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-23 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
O- oh! For nothing? Really, um. That's really nice of you, uh...

[She bites her lip. Questions? She always has questions, so many, to choose just one would be-

Hesitantly, she picks one...two...and, after consideration, three.]
Okay. Okay, here we are, Miss...Seer? I should've done this first- I'm Ashley, hi.
hashtagafreakingghost: in the pages that we burn (there's a lesson that we learn)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-23 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
[At first, Ashley's calm and eager; her first psychic reading, that's kind of cool, and not in an occult way like trying to use the spirit board, like an idiot.

But from the instant Meridiana starts talking about an uncontrolled emotional state, she tenses up. As it continues, goes cold. It really is cold out here, isn't it? Like that night. Like those nights, the mountain, and-]


Okay. [Oh, she's talking. When did she give her mouth the signal to start talking?] Okay, I understand.

Then what?
hashtagafreakingghost: you wore your imperfections well (despite your lack of pride)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-23 03:38 am (UTC)(link)
I...

[I want to stop and I want to know, dueling with each other quietly. On one shoulder, Ashley's Zubat nuzzles the side of her face. On the other- oh, there's her new Munna. Little thing's intuitive. Even in her lap, the other three Pokémon are cuddled up to her. Funny, almost like they know.]

...Yes. Yes, let's proceed.
hashtagafreakingghost: it's wearing me down (it's not what i want)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-23 08:07 pm (UTC)(link)
D- don't need to...blame myself?

[Her voice is faint, restrained. Ashley stares at the card, breathing tight. A hand resting on Eliot's head trembles.]

It's n- not my fault? How- how can there be- sure, there's something but how can I- after everything I-I saw, and- everything he did, because-

[She starts to shake her head very slightly. It'll go away- or she can make herself stop.]

S-sorry, I- I didn't think this would--

[Why didn't she? She didn't think.]
hashtagafreakingghost: to peel back the shade behind the gray (why can't i just trade a dream for a way)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-23 09:15 pm (UTC)(link)
[With a free hand, Ashley rubs her eyes, waiting for the coming tears, because isn't that always how she works. When they don't arrive, she drops it, not to her lap where Arwen the Eevee is pawing at her in concern, but to the table, where the cards are.

She's about to take the banana from the strange tree-dinosaur, since that's apparently what her life's become now, but instead her eyes catch the two cards side-by-side, and the last one, unturned.

A king, upside-down. So very fitting for that night and for the things that happened. The cups spilled, a person standing over them in sorrow. A perfect representation.

And then...

Ashley is naturally curious by nature. Even when it's bad for her, she can't help but wonder and pick and pry until she's sitting there with an open scab and

[⬅]

Of course she peeks.

That's just the kind of person she is.]
hashtagafreakingghost: my eyes are open now (a fool's devotion was set in motion)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-23 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
[...
She has no idea what that means.

At least it's not something like a man stabbed full of ten swords or someone falling from a tower, that'd be awful!!

But yes, this tells her nothing and she just keeps a finger on it, staring, as if that'll tell her what she needs to do with her future.]
hashtagafreakingghost: and every hand is holding me down (lately‚ nothing passes by me)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-23 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
[At Meridiana's voice, Ashley's head snaps up, as if she'd been caught stealing.]

Wh- what does this one mean? [Her lower lip trembles.] I- I'm sorry, I shouldn't have, b-but I- I had to know, s-so.
hashtagafreakingghost: you've learned your lessons falling down (farewell this blackened eye)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-23 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[just when you think the bar can't get any lower, ashley digs a hole and buries it in the backyard]

O-okay. [Sniffs. Takes the water.] Thank you, um. Please tell me you, you get people having weird freaked flashbacks all the time at these.
hashtagafreakingghost: i need you to know (though it brings me to tears now)

[personal profile] hashtagafreakingghost 2016-02-24 12:20 am (UTC)(link)
I-it's not? B-but. The other two w-were so...that.

...And accurate. [Her voice comes out in a bitter, rough gasp.]

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