Description: A mysterious fortune teller arrives in Southtown Village and attracts Jira's attention. And the interest of her partner. No battle here, folks!
Evening in Southtown. In the 'village,' you can often have a good time, even if you aren't drinking or smoking drugs - and of course, if you are, it only helps. It's also a place where things can happen or get set up that are gone in the next day; unannounced events and unique experiences.
An eye-catching red cloth over a table set in a little nook, with a vending machine to one side and a bike rack to another, is just such an example. The owner of this instant fortune-telling establishment is hard to make out, as her hair is wrapped up with a cloth, and her makeup is heavy, as is her jewelry. The concept, though, is clear enough - your fortune told, and questions answered.
There also wasn't a price tag. (This is one of the ways in which Rose 'gives back.')
With a jingle of bracelets, Rose - not that she has introduced herself, even if asked - sets the deck of cards down before the querent. "Take these," she says, "and shuffle them once. Then state your question aloud, cut them wheresoever you like - and I will tell you what the future holds."
Certainly, the village is where Jira hangs out nowadays, after she's done her rounds at Taiyo she heads out to there and just unwinds. Today she's got her sweater on as the evening progresses, walking around and eyeing the people and places for something new before settling somewhere. And it just happens that a red-dressed table has her eye, but the woman staffing it has the attention of her 'guest'.
Taking a seat she quietly looks up at the teller and accepts the cards. In a fashion that leaves Jira herself surprised she shuffles through the cards, once as stated, and asks her question.
"Why does he say you feel familiar?" she asks and cuts the cards, though she lifts most of the deck up until an eighth remains, and sets it on top.
The woman says, with an amused tone, "He?" But when the cards are offered, she turns three over in a stately procession - past, present, and future.
The art is unique and idiosyncratic. Rose puts her fingertip on the first one. "First, let us consider the past."
"This is the Knight of Swords... The lord of the winds and breezes. A man with dark brown hair and dark eyes. It indicates attack, intelligence, and inspiration - if without reflection. Could this, perhaps, be 'he' of whom you speak?"
As soon as that card is played, things got real. Jira's eyes narrow, there is a deep mental debate going on, but she does nod.
"Yes, that certainly describes him. And has his attention." she murmurs, turning her seat and settling in. Both her, and her guest are giving their utmost attention to the teller.
"Next, the present. We have the Seven of Wands, which stands for valour - but as you see, it's reversed. Possible victory - it depends on the courage and the energy brought to the question at hand. But it could also mean quarrelling, ignorance, and pretentious wrangling. Or, perhaps, victory in a small and unimportant thing."
Rose's eyes turn up towards Jira's. "Does it ring true so far? Is this your 'present'?"
Jira looks and listens, seeming to ponder on this and applying it to her experiences recently. Victory, in something recent certainly applies. But he importance of it is unknown to her. Ignorance and quarrelling definately fit with how little she knows of her guest, and minute clashes of personality, so she nods.
"It seems to apply more than it does not- in regards to being victorious alongside squabbling and lack of understanding." she replies, looking to Rose. "Yes, it is appropriate." she finalizes, offering a smile.
"Then we come to the ten of cups - which is certainly a good sign, for it indicates that the matter is settled with complete good fortune. Permanent, lasting success, pleasure, quietness, peacemaking, debauchery, kindness... it's certainly something to look forward to, isn't it?" Rose murmurs.
"But perhaps you're simply feeling out my accuracy, so far?"
Jira listens to the next card and glances up at Rose. Permanence, the other additions hold little meaning as is told by her expression.
"My guest certainly is trying to feel you out. A familiar presence, or.. the antithesis of such? Someone so eerily similar to someone they know, but they won't give me their name. The cards certainly seem to fit, yes." she murmurs, keeping the tone low. Mental gears are churning, psionic energies reaching out from Jira's self, most sensitive psychics would pick up on it with ease.
"Does your 'guest' have a question, then, that... he? wishes to ask?" Rose murmurs, eyes turning down towards the cards. She reaches up to sweep the three chosen cards and slide them back into the deck, turning it over in her hands afterwards and raising her eyes to meet the younger woman's.
"I don't believe I've met 'him,' at least not for a very long time," she adds. "What is 'his' name?"
Jira gives an immediate nod to the question, briefly eyeing the cards being put away.
"He wants to know how knowledgable you are with... psycho power? And if you can manipulate.. human energy. I don't understand myself." she replies, giving a few pauses that seem to be ensuring she's saying things properly.
"Psycho power? Human energy? These are rather weighty subjects to ask an innocent fortune teller," Rose says, if with a certain amused tone. "Does he care to introduce himself, or is he the sort who has no concern for politeness, for sociability?"
She's shuffling the cards, though.
Jira seems innocent enough to the terms, or atleast unfamiliar and the amusement has her pause a moment. She does finally seem to reach a mental agreement and nods.
"I'll let him out, then. You two can talk." she consents and looks at the other woman in the eyes. With a slow sigh, she shifts mental gears and remisses herself, letting her guest take the forefront. Accompanying the shift is a slight twitch to all her movements, including her hands moving up to fold themselves on the surface of the table. An even more notable tell is that as she speaks, a second, masculine voice sounds out alongside her normal tone. She also seems a bit taller and has a healthy, white glow from her usually pale skin.
"Generally, I defer to using my hosts to utilize proper tone. Keeping up with social norms is a chore between partners. I am Akabara, and you remind me of someone that I knew quite well." they greet.
Rose smiles faintly. "Well now," she says, "this is interesting."
Her tone is a bit more authorative and less mysterious. "I think you're hurting your host here, if this is anything to be witnessed. How did you come to have such an arrangemet, Akabara?"
She also puts the cards down. "Ask your question - shuffle them, cut them, as she did."
She shrugs, unsure how interesting it is. The change in tone warrants a smile, and a slow nod.
"The girl is of strong blood, and is more than capable of facilitating my energies. Few people can without breaking down, or being attached so.. perversely to the planet that my sustained presence is intolerable. While it is true acclimating will be rough, the benefits outweigh the costs." they respond, "And the circumstances behind this particular arrangement arose out of a series of events that." a brief flash of anger? Displeasure, distaste. "Should have _never_ conspired. Some laws have dire consequences to all when they are broken. But perhaps you should know this more than most, or am I assuming the monster I know is not one you are familiar with. My question is this, Can you teach this girl how to harness her psionic talents?"
With shaky hands she reaches for the deck and segues to a calm breath before shuffling. Exactly as before, with the same cut.
Rose smiles faintly as the entity speaks to her, listening and waiting. When the cards are shuffled and cut, Rose takes them and deals out three from the top, just as before. The last one's obviously upside down from the back, though - perhaps that's already a bad sign.
She turns over the first: the hierophant. "Strength, endurance... manifestation. That's what's in your past. It must be very difficult for you, isn't it?"
She gives a nod. Another accurate start for the past.
"Difficult, yes. In a sense of frustration." they note, gaze half lowering to keep her view half on Rose and half on the cards. Her hands return to the tabletop and again fold together in waiting, accompanying a very relaxed and open posture with deep, measured breaths.
"But your present is the nine of disks - gain, the inheritance of material goods. Complete gratification," Rose says, "of your physical demands. But, in a sense, that IS the case this moment, isn't it, Akabara?" Her fingernail runs over the portrait on the card, circling around one of the nine disks.
Jira inclines her head briefly in reply to Rose's question. "Quite literally." and raises her eyes up to meet the other woman's. "Now, for the last card." they state, waiting patiently for it to be turned, maintaining their relaxed and calm state.
Rose's manicured fingers turn the last card.
"The seven of cups," she says. "Promises unfulfilled. Deceit, deception, error. Fornication, violence against women... deception. Success gained, but not followed up in the end."
Rose laces her fingers together. "May I ask how, exactly, these matters came to pass?"
Jira doesn't look down, letting Rose do what she does. Once she's finished, they hum.
"This sounds more of.. events that have passed, more than of things to come." they murmur. "I am an open book, though to prevent another.. incident, I will refrain from names. Do -you- have any questions, more specific, stranger?" they ask, easing into place.
"Only the ones that I have already asked," Rose says.
"I am suspicious of your goals and your desires," she says then, crossing her hands neatly before her. "I could, of course, be wrong - you are not exactly a typical sort of person, no open book easily read."
Jira gives a smirk in reply, and the specification is more inclined to be answered.
"My original purpose for being was to protect and serve as a weapon to a forgotten bloodline, one that slowly dwindled in numbers and died out from seclusion and ritual. Since then, I have acted to catalogue and prolong their legacy, and expand on my own knowledge and power by cohabiting and acting through select people. Trial and error has led me to only find interest in those naturally inclined to Human energy, were of sound mind and body, and had no leniency towards overly pious nor heinous deeds and thoughts." they start. "The cohabitance is important, and thus I do what I can to protect my host and empower them with power. Part of the acclimation is letting their body adjust to elevated levels of energy. That card almost to a point reflects the events that led to me finding place with this girl. More details I will not give in public, if my previous statements weren't hint enough of how reluctant I am to even admit such was possible."
Rose is silent as she listens to the words of the spirit, weapon, or creature. She can't say which.
She leans slightly over, reaching into a canvas sack where she presumably brought the materials that made up her table. She fishes out a relic of a poor habit - an expensive looking cigarette and a small silver lighter. As Jira's 'weapon' finishes, she lights it, exhaling afterwards and then leaning slightly forwards, one arm on the tabletop as she says, "I see."
"If I understand you correctly, you are furthering the goals of a bloodline of people. Now forgotten, yes? Something lost to history... but not quite lost. And you look for those who are oriented towards 'human' energy. If you are saying that you met this woman in a manner in accord with the Seven of Cups, I am not certain I like you very much. And, of course, I don't know your 'goals.' Why should I trust you?"
Jira resumes her quiet, actively attentive place and listens to the reply. Then they give a sigh.
"Because to protect my previous host from untimely demise, I had to put on the guise of a careless monster equal to, perhaps greater than the threat at hand. Reluctantly and with many stipulations, she was taken in as their student. I had more than enough time to know their energy, one that is strangely similar to yours. Almost as if the polar opposite, part of a whole." they murmur. "And because now, as with all my other hosts, the girl's path lies with those what would take her in and give her support. It is not in my ways to take a life that is not mine, with or without consent. Unless danger is present, enough to damage the purity and entirety of my host. Such danger is why my previous host had fallen, but not before she was saved and carried on as part of me into this girl. Teach her to maintain herself and better use the abilities I have given her, and in return you will have two allies to assist you as you need. I do not want to have her run into that monster again, a path harnessing anger is not one that I can abide by." they explain.
Rose smiles faintly, pointing the cigarette approximately towards the other side of the table. "So you say you are powerful, and you say that you know me - that you can sense me. And you imply several rather key things about me. Then, you present me with this challenge... a person whom I should save, so that I would have allies. Two of them, in fact."
"You seem to know me very well. And I know you very little. That's quite peculiar, isn't it? Have you been watching me...?"
Jira gives a quiet, affirmative gesture to the first part, but shakes her head at the question. "No, infact, this is the first time I've met you. I am hoping that you are something that can adequately protect this girl from the one being that I wish to avoid. If I had been watching you, I would have atleast taken the courtesy of learning your name and making sure my intuition is correct before a confrontation. I am on a limb here, fortune teller. I would like to have allies before Shadaloo again gives an irrefusable offer." raising the stakes and perhaps laying out even more hints about past events.
Rose arches one eyebrow, even as she sweeps her cards back together.
"'Again' gives an 'irrefusable' offer? These are an interesting choice of words... Why do you speak so poorly of your.. host, your partner? It would seem that one of the best things I could offer her, is not training in her talents, but training in self discipline. Who, if I may ask, is the being you wish to avoid?"
Jira gives a saddened, serious nod to the question.
"When a .. creature willing to sacrifice anything, even a part of themself in the pursuit of power confronts the thing you wish to protect most and demands you submit, or both die, do you accept death at the risk of empowering it, or give the illusion of giving in to persist until a time they can be overthrown? My previous host was in that situation, and I chose to give her a fighting chance. Self discipline is a lesson easy to teach when you can impart lifetimes of empathy and experience unto aa person, when the training of a body requires more physical interaction than I can provide." then they add, "Tell me, is the creature called Vega still present in this day and age?" with severe distaste and a notable shake.
Rose leans back in her chair. Her expression seems confused, with a certain aspect of 'really?' to it as well.
"There are some things which I am reluctant to answer. But: Do you reside in this area? There are things which I can do, to give you the benefit of the doubt. I will need, at least, her name, however. Perhaps in time, matters will become easier - I am sure you understand how it is, though I wish it were otherwise."
Jira nods. "Her name is Kasagi Jira. She is a good person, if you ask around I'm sure more than a few will note this. Yes, she does live suitably close. Given the nature of the person I speak of, I am assuming they are present at this time and can whole-heartedly understand your unease. I also request you do not tell my partner any names I have volunteered unto you. She needn't be aware unless the situation warrants it.. Shall return to merely observing? Or is there more for me?"
Rose slides the tarot cards into a silk scarf, wraps them, and then gathers up the cloth of the table. "Haven't you had enough," she murmurs, her eyebrows lifting slightly. "I'll be quite frank with you - as it would be easy enough for you to tell - that you're alarming me quite a bit, my dear fellow. Perhaps you shouldn't let her back til I've gotten a little ways away. Can she see, or hear, any of this, now?"
Jira offers a raised brow in return, "My skills in reading expressions aren't the greatest. And no, not unless you have anything you feel she should note. I do not need her upset. I give you my deepest apology and will return home before returning the reigns to her. Feel no obligation to respond or react, or even remember this encounter if it distresses you. I am simply looking after my charge. Have a nice day." they reply before sliding their chair back and standing, offering a polite bow and setting it back into place and turning to leave in rather casual stride.
"I can assure you," Rose says as she folds up her table - "That come what may, I will certainly not forget this. Have a safe evening."
Log created on 20:08:07 11/06/2014 by Jira, and last modified on 00:05:07 11/07/2014.