route_1065 | I'm Dreaming of the Life I Once Loved

Entry tags:

I'm Dreaming of the Life I Once Loved

Who: Meridiana (

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!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ashley, it's very pleasant to make your acquaintance! Mine is Meridiana — and let's see what the cards are showing for you, then, shall we?

[She sets her deck aside, then moves to the first card and turns it over to reveal the King of Cups, reversed.]

...I see. In your past, then, the King of Cups. Um...well, upright the King of Cups would represent emotional balance, and a feeling of being in control; reversed, however, he's the opposite — some sort of uncontrolled emotional state, whether it be from confusion or chaos or...something of the like.

[She frowns at the card a little.]

Though, if I might ask — the court cards sometimes also represent a particular person, and signal it when they turn up. So it may be that there was a person in your past who behaved toward you that way? Perhaps someone manipulative and moody, whose emotions were...uncontrolled, in that way?

[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?

...Well, in any case, whether it be a person or simply just a situation — likely we'll learn more of it with your other two cards, I should think.

[But she frowns a little, watching Ashley's reaction carefully; it's tricky to gauge the fine differences between surprise and shock, and she'll need to be much more careful if this visibly progresses into the latter.]

Shall we go on? To the next card, that is.

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.

Very well, then.

[She reaches for the next card, turning over the Five of Cups.]

...And in your present is the Five of Cups. The Five is...about loss.

[She makes a slight face.]

Like the cups spilled over on the card, the meaning of the Five suggests that you've been disappointed, recently — perhaps by something you thought was going to happen that didn't, or something that's made you feel disillusioned about life and the future. Coming off of the King in your past, it's possible that the Five here is representing the lingering effects of that past — perhaps you're having more trouble than you might otherwise have liked in moving on from it, or that you're still blaming yourself for some aspect of the situation, when perhaps you really needn't.

I think what this card seeks to say to you is, you've been having a difficult time of it lately — but as you see, not all of the cups are turned over. There is still good that might come for you, if you know where to look for it.

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.]

...Perhaps we'd better leave it at that, then, shall we? Please, there's no need to go on, if —

[She hesitates, then gets up from the table carefully, pushing back her chair to get her skirts free.]

I'll just run and fetch you some water to sip. Tropius, my dear, won't you please — yes, thank you, I'll only be a moment.

[And she dashes off for the cafe, leaving Tropius — who leans down over the table and attempts to offer Ashley one of her neck bananas in consolation (and the recognition of an apparent need for potassium) — and the cards on the table for the moment.

Of course, there's still that future card left unturned; if Ashley decides to peek, she'll find what's in her future a little early — but of course, that's only if she decides to peek.

So. What will she do?

[ ] PEEK AT CARD ⬅ ? ➡ WAIT FOR MERI [ ]
Decisions, decisions.]

[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.]

[ [O] PEEK AT CARD

Well, then. When the card turns over, she will find that it is of a man with the world in one hand and a staff in the other, appearing to be posed on the ceiling from the way that it's upside down.

The good news: It's not something overtly threatening, by all appearances.
The bad news: Ashley probably doesn't have any idea what the Two of Wands, reversed signifies.]

[...
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.]

[And soon enough, Meridiana comes zipping back with a cup of water clasped in her hands and a concerned look on her face; hurriedly, she offers it to Ashley, still in hovering-mode too much to sit down or resume.]

Here you are — I'm so very sorry it took me so long, I hope this might steady you a bit —

[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.

Pardon? ...Oh, you — my goodness, it's quite all right. Please, let's all simply take a minute to calm down, shall we, and then we can finish once things have settled.

[because seriously holy shit when meridiana is not the emotional one in the conversation something is hilariously awry]

[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.

Oh, goodness, yes. There are all sorts of reactions people might have to something like this — heaven knows I used to have a fair few of them myself, just from the telling. And still do, sometimes.

[But she glances at the last card.]

It's not a bad omen, you know. The Two of Wands, even reversed like that. Really, it's quite all right.

I-it's not? B-but. The other two w-were so...that.

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

Yes, but this is your future. Moreso than any other, this is a place for the cards to give you guidance and advice.

[In contrast to Ashley's, she does everything she can to keep her voice patient and calm.]

Reversed, the Two of Wands means that you have a fear of the unknown. Your ability to grow is being held back — and it's hard not to see why, with these other two cards anchoring you down so.

This card turned up to remind you that you can defeat that. It's saying "find your goal and start over again; you can do it". It's saying your future doesn't have to be more of the same.

So...please. Your reading brought some ugly things to light, anyone can see that — but that's just it, the Two of Wands reversed is about someone who's lost their way, and you couldn't start finding that path again until you were conscious of what's been leading you astray from it.

[She rhythmically pets her Pokémon, back and forth between Eliot and Arwen, listening intently.]

...It was so much. The whole last year, and now... [She blinks away tears and digs her teeth into her lower lip.] H-how can I... How can I be anything but what's happened? I-I just- I keep remembering.

Yes, you see, that's just it. When it feels as though you can't move forward and let any of it go, that's precisely what the Two is seeking to warn you against — not to grow disillusioned, amid those thoughts.

[She pauses, hesitating, trying to decide the right thing to try.]

There are cards, for the way that you're feeling. The Nine of Swords has no other meaning but depression and despair. The Wheel of Fortune means the prisoner of forces outside one's control. But — but you didn't turn up any of those, you see? You picked one that tells you there's hope, so surely there must be...? Or else why that one, and not one of the others — especially when you say yourself that the others were so fitting?

[...]

...Then how...do I find that hope? Do the cards say anything about that? It's s-so hard...to...process it, o-or to- think about him [The King of Cups; Josh] or to...forgive myself.

Please...

[She keeps her voice as calm as she can, trying to remain steady even in the face of Ashley's rapidly deteriorating composure. It's far easier said than done.]

If you like, I can draw again for you and try to answer that, but — r-really, I don't...I don't think it's these cards you ought to be asking, when it comes to a question like that. Something like that is meant for a friend — is there someone I might call for you, perhaps?

I... I just...got here...earlier this month. Everyone's been s-so nice, but I-I don't...I don't have anyone I can talk to about this.

[Her shoulders sag and she tries to keep herself from going any more to pieces.]

I'm sorry. I-I'm sorry. You sh-shouldn't have to deal with all of this.