Description: A chance (?) encounter gives Tiffany the chance to try a little divination with the help of everyone's good friend Rose. She seems pretty into it!
The Southtown mall is of course an open air sort of place rather than an enclosed megalocapitalistoporium wherein all sorts of things can be bought, as long as all sorts of things includes a Spencer Gifts, an Apple Store, and an Abercrombie and Fitch.
Not that there isn't an Abercrombie and Fitch here, of course.
In fact, set up not far outside of the Abercrombie and Fitch is a silk-covered table with a woman sitting behind it.
In this case, Rose has taken no efforts to disguise herself. She has her cards stacked neatly to one side, and she is enjoying the sunshine as well as (thanks to a recent break) a bratwurst in a roll from the Germania Wurstatorium a few stores down.
People have noticed it's her, but the dominant perception among the public is that this is some kind of a variety show or commercial setup.
Even though Tiffany has been sort of halfheartedly trying to take in the local flavour, she generally has a hard time actually committing to the idea of 'being in Japan.' There are tons of reasons not to do so, of course!
As such, she is indeed outside the Abercrombie and Fitch... and after a moment of consideration -- only a moment -- she decides to take a second to check out the strange fortune teller.
Stepping up to the woman, she blinks a few times, saying, "So, uh... what exactly are you doing here? I see the deck... is this, like, a game?" That's /her/ best guess. "Or -- wait, this is fortune-telling, right?"
The Abercrombie and Fitch continues to provide a reassuring luminance of handsome people in expensive clothing and a faint whiff of Axe body spray. It is definitely a place for people named Tiffany.
Rose does not quite blend in with that. When Tiffany ambles up, she smiles faintly. "Ah," she says, "just the person I was hoping to see. Indeed it is, though that is a little bit of a glib name for it."
She slides a red silk cloth off of the cards, revealing the stack. "Do you have any questions about your future...? Concerns weighing your mind? It is simple to reveal the path you face. If, of course, you are curious."
It doesn't take Tiffany long to answer that question; she has /tons/ of concerns about the future! It's... a rare feeling for her, honestly; usually she just lives from moment to moment, rolling with things as they come, but lately she's felt the need to stick her head into things and go with it.
The fact that she is 'just the person Rose was hoping to see' means Tiffany furrows her brow -- but she still answers with a pretty quick, pleasant, "Yeah, for sure!" She glances up to one side, looking over the table a little more thoroughly now that the cards are present.
The chance to speak English is not lost on her either; that's novel enough over here that that /alone/ would rate a little time. "So.... wait, how does this work?"
"It's simple," Rose says. She could probably have guessed that Tiffany would have been glad to speak English. (Her English is faintly accented, but not enough to impair clarity.)
She raises the cards, shuffling them as she speaks. Several riffling flows of silk-lined paper echo her as she says, "Once I have given these loyal friends a good mixing, I will hand them to you. Ask your question - aloud if you wish, in your heart if you prefer - as you cut the deck. I will then take them and analyse the situation."
Rose slides the deck forwards now, expectantly.
PRESSURE.
Taking a deep breath, Tiffany steps up to the deck. How to frame the question? That, in itself, is a hard one -- Tiffany is used to asking short, punchy questions with yes or no answers, because she's kind of a short, punchy person. Well -- five foot four. Not /that/ short. Definitely punchy, though.
She settles on a vague, 'So how's this weirdness with the schools going to go?' because at the end of the day, Tiffany is not /quite/ the sort of person who asks the right questions, except by accident. She keeps it locked away in her heart, because the idea of talking to cards is weird!!
Her hands rest gingerly on the deck for a moment, perhaps expecting some sort of weird shock, before cutting them. It's a pretty unceremonious cut once she actually works up the nerve.
Rose takes the cards - and deals out, not three, but six of them.
Two rows. One down low: The 8 of disks (Prudence), the 6 of wands (Victory), and the Knight of Swords. "This represents the face of the world," Rose says. "The vision of things as they appear to go. But..."
One row above it, now. The Fool. The Devil (reversed). The Princess of Wands (reversed). "This represents the hidden face of things. The action backstage, if you will forgive the expression."
"Would you like a seat?" Rose then offers. "I ought to finish my lunch as it is - I hope you won't mind if I take a moment."
When she's offered a seat, Tiffany -- sure enough -- takes it. She breathes in slightly through her nose, taking a second to cross her legs and get good and settled. She looks over the cards -- but she really has /no/ idea of what the cards mean. She doesn't even really have the popular culture exposure thereto; it's a total mystery to her.
As such, her eyes widen significantly, and she just sort of looks over the cards slightly in awe. "So... what are they -- what do they actually /mean/?" The blonde asks, with a cant of her head to one side. As is, this is a lot of information with which she can do nothing.
Rose's cards are the Thoth deck, which is a bit different from the usual sorts - the cards are much more brightly colored, for one, and seem almost timelessly moderne in their style.
As Tiffany sits herself in a folding chair, Rose finishes off her bratwurst with every sign of evident relish. As she dabs at her lips to get rid of some stray sausage juice, she answers. "You can think of them as symbols, but they're quite complex. And, of course, they are very dynamic - you see here how I have this arrangement of six cards, and in a particular pattern. If I were to draw them again, I would have a wholly different assortment in that same pattern."
"And," Rose continues, "if I dealt those six cards in a different layout, they would hold a different meaning as well. Think of it like letters - C A T, D O G, but with those letters, what else is there? Goat. Dot. Cot. God."
A pause. Rose chuckles. "Well, perhaps I'm being a bit elliptical... think of it as a way to read the ripples of the universe."
She puts her finger on Prudence. "So, we have the past here - the prelude to the present, what has set the stage. This card indicates over-caution in small things, at the expect of the great; ready money in small sums, gathering, perhaps even hoarding. But no real enterprise, no great reaching. You see how the leaves are turning on themselves?"
As Rose directs Tiffany's attention to the cards, the cheerleader follows her finger; she /also/ follows her explanation well enough. Indeed, it seems pretty simple once you get down to it! It's the universe spelling things out for you, except you have to be able to know enough to read it!
Tiffany does not learn second languages very well.
Lips pursed a little as her gaze rests on the card, Tiffany asks, "So -- not doing enough, basically. Just sort of... going with it?" That makes sense to Tiffany -- and indeed she can /sort/ of see how it applies, though only just a little.
That already gives her a reasonable amount to think about -- but she seems eager to move on to the next card, her eyes occasionally shifting in that direction.
"Exactly," Rose says. Her red fingernail moves to the next card.
"The six of wands, Victory. Triumph after strife. Carefulness, sociability, avoiding strive and winning by it... taking pride in what you've found. Love, perhaps. This marks the present, or at least how it appears."
"And for the future," Rose continues, "you have a man - a person, of course, it only suggests, mm, a masculine /energy/, a sort of yin instead of yang - who is active, clever, subtle, fierce, delicate, courageous! But he is prone to domineer, and to overvalue small things. This is someone who will be pivotal to the future of your query - it indicates a person in particular. The dignity is good, though."
"Do you have any questions, before we turn to the other side of things?"
A man... someone fierce and clever but also petty? Tiffany can't think of someone like that -- someone in the future, though... perhaps it's someone she hasn't met yet. That /would/ make it make sense with the future thing. The present tracks, too -- she /did/ find someone who she thought was suspicious and ultimately avoided a conflict with them, and even found some information!
Accordingly, she decides that she doesn't have a whole lot of questions. Once Rose explains it, she decides that that all make sense -- and it's pretty auspicious about the future, too!
After a second, though, she does decide to ask, "Wait -- 'the dignity is good...' Does that mean that the person is going to help me?"
"It means the positive aspects will be accented. If your question focused upon yourself - then he would, though perhaps not directly. 'They,' I should say. Had the card been like this -" Rose reverses it. "Then much of the meaning would have been weakened."
Rose puts the card back the way it was before moving forwards. "Now, this is interesting. The secret background of what is occuring in your question is... the Fool. But the Fool doesn't represent silliness; it represents, if you will, the infinity of potential. In a very real sense, all the rest of the tarot are mere commentaries on the Fool."
Lips curling into a frown, Tiffany regrets the vagueness of her question. This just means positive for /someone/, which renders it a little more... well, vague as to its effects, for one. Perhaps if she'd asked a particular question that would've been better! Then again... if there's any truth to this, the cards would probably have been different.
The cards move on to the Fool, and Tiffany starts to understand -- or at least /thinks/ she understands. The charitable interpretation, of course, is that the Fool is her -- with limitless potential. There are certainly less charitable ideas about it -- especially since the question is about her -- but Tiffany mentally picks the interpretation she thinks is cool.
Leaning back in the chair now that she's had the chance to have something /really/ cool happen, she just says, "That ... seems like a pretty sensible card to have at the start of things in the background?" She blinks a few times.
"It is a bit peculiar," Rose says with a thoughtful expression. "It would be a bit as if I were asked to explain Japanese rice farming, and began with: Once upon a time, there was a volcano. That leads us to the present day..."
"Though," she says, "it could indicate an origin that is quite recent. That whatever problem has posed itself is quite new. That could be encouraging - it might mean it does not have deep roots."
Rose moves on to the Devil. "Well," she says.
"The Devil indicates immense power - something that presses forwards. It's dominating, and very masculine as well... rigid, discontent. Given that it is ill dignified like this, I cannot help but see it poorly. Something driven by need and lust - not in the, shall we say, explicit sense necessarily - is what rules the present of your query, from behind the scenes."
"So something new and powerful, but..." Tiffany turns this one over in her head. So there /is/ something up -- something powerful and lusting after... something in the schools? Something in the /students/? Tiffany has no idea what that could be; it seems almost too abstract for her. Not that this whole /thing/ doesn't, really.
"So there /is/ something going on," she finally says. She /knew/ it -- this was beyond a mere 'Japan is weird,' this is /too/ much weird to just write off like that. Scooting forward in her chair, she asks, "So what's the last thing mean? That kinda seems like the big deal card here." The past and present descriptions, while certainly /novel/, don't precisely provide a lot of direction.
A well-manicured nail drums against the table absently, as Tiffany tries to coax thoughts out of her head and into her mouth. It doesn't seem to be taking quite as well as she'd hope.
"The Princess of Wands, ill dignified." Rose frowns slightly.
"A brilliant and courageous woman - sudden in force, anger, and enthusiasm. But ill dignified as it is..."
Rose frowns a bit more. "Superficial. Theatrical. Unstable, domineering, and cruel. This is the figure who stands behind the future of your query - the hidden force. Perhaps associated with the Knight of Swords."
Rose crosses her hands, leaving the cards out for now. "I am sorry it is not happier news, but forewarned is forearmed. Do you have any questions, regarding what these have shown?"
That last fact gives Tiffany cause to frown. There's so many things at play here, and so many of them are vague... but at the very least, it gives her a vague sense that there /is/ something more to do, that her line of inquiry is correct and that she is successfully finding /something/.
She is very silent, for a long time; there is an unusual gravity to the situation that Tiffany isn't actually used to contending with, and accordingly, she has to put some very real thought into it. After a few moments, she puts her elbows on the table, rests her hands in her hair, and starts mussing it.
"... Augh, I don't know where to start!" she says, frustration settling in. "I just want to know who I should be looking for!" She knows full well that she's not going to get that with any specificity, though.
"It would certainly be apt if I said, sorrowfully, that I cannot tell you such things," Rose says now.
"But the court cards, in fact, are associated with physical traits. The Prince of Swords indicates a person with dark brown hair and dark eyes... perhaps not that useful in Japan but even so... who will likely be slim and dextrous. In their features, of course, not their skills."
"As for the Princess of Wands, that is simpler - red or golden hair, and blue eyes. Very energetic."
Dark brown hair and dark eyes... that actually eliminates a couple of the guesses that Tiffany had been entertaining, which is good. Coming out of her momentary frustration to breathe a sigh of relief, the cheerleader says, "... thanks. Do you, uh -- do you have a pen? I kinda..." There's a pause, before she realizes, "Wait -- /I/ have a pen!" She withdraws it from the side pocket of her purse. After a second, she follows it with its good friend, 'a piece of scratch paper' (actually a receipt).
Making a few notes, she says, "Are you gonna be here for a while? Like -- could I come back in a month and we could do this again?" Tiffany asks, curious if divination could help her more consistently; she seems pretty credulous, now that she's had the chance to have everything shake out.
Rose watches this note-taking with an upraised eyebrow.
"Normally, my dear, I do not make a practice of that," she says; "I have to keep my professional reputation, after all. However, I see that there is authenticity in what you are saying. This is a matter, then, that is more complicated than the affairs of the heart?"
Rose sweeps her cards together and draws out another - no, it's a business card, /handily sized/ to be the same scale as a tarot card. She extends it.
"In a month," she says, "I suspect I shall be available."
"... /probably/," is all Tiffany can really say for certain to that question; strictly speaking, this could be nothing -- though those proclamations are pretty dire, and she's pretty sure that she's dealing with something well beyond her means. Reaching up and neatly plucking the business card out of Rose's hands, Tiffany shoves it into her purse immediately; that's a hell of a gesture, she thinks to herself -- clearly she, too, needs to work on her theatrics.
"Thanks," she says, with a smile, which gets a little bigger as she stands up and stretches. "So, hey -- if you /don't/ hear from me in a month or so... uh... assume everything either went really okay or /really/ not okay." That seems like a fair way to describe the situation, after all.
Bobbing back and forth on her feet a little, she wonders for an instant if this 'princess' could be her -- she does match the physical description... but then she remembers that she's also unstable and cruel and promptly tosses that thought in the garbage. /Focus/, Tiff!
Rose seems gently amused by all of this. "Please, be calm," she says, reaching out to pat the back of Tiffany's hand momentarily. She does rise up though, looming slightly as she gathers her things - mostly the cloth. Her table, perhaps, belongs to Abercrombie and Fitch.
"I will hope that it goes really okay, then; and if it should seem likely to go 'really not okay,' please do not hesitate to reach out."
SECRET FACT: That card has Alma's number on it.
That touch of her hand gives Tiffany cause to bring her other one up in a sunny, pleasant peace sign in Rose's general direction; she gives her one last, "Hey -- thanks! I'll let you know how it all turns out." And with that, she's ready to go -- her head already full of ideas. Let's see, she thinks -- dark hair, dark eyes, dextrous and slim... That's where she'll focus her attention, she thinks.
After all, this hypothetical person sounds cute.
Log created on 22:30:41 11/29/2014 by Tiffany, and last modified on 02:05:24 11/30/2014.