strangetrip | [EP] London Lucida

Entry tags:

[EP] London Lucida - OTA

When the egg meant for Emma had opened to reveal what looked like her entire collection of tarot decks – minus the three she'd chosen to take on her trip to London to visit Sabine, and therefore the only ones she'd had with her at the inn – she'd been tempted to pull them all out at once. But she couldn't use all of them at once, and the anticipation of reconnecting with the various decks was appealing too. So she'd decided to begin each day by pulling one deck from the egg, the one on top or first she touched, as one of her decks for the day. Spread out the enjoyment over the better part of a month, at least. She wasn't sure exactly how many decks she had had. The day she pulled out a Mucha-inspired deck she didn't recognize, and that had a copyright date of 2015, she almost decided not to wait, but really it was more fun knowing there might be surprises still to come.

She couldn't have predicted this surprise. Not without a tarot vision giving her a clue.

Today's deck had still been in its original box with associated book. That was rare. Boxes tended to get crumpled or misplaced, and it was simply easier getting to individual cards when the deck was in a pocket or pouch. And when she'd looked to see what deck it was, it wasn't one she knew. London Lucida, it said on the box, along with artwork that felt familiar but wasn't anything she had seen before. It was the name at the bottom of the box that made her really pause, but she had breakfasts to cook, including her own, so exploring the deck had to wait.

It was afternoon before she took the time. She'd found an empty table in the cafe, had a mug of cafe au lait in reach, and now she sat crosslegged in the booth, the entire deck laid out over the table in order. She wasn't trying to See anything, focusing instead on the cards' art, as she picked up one card at a time, studying it in detail. Some of the paintings were obvious London landmarks: the Eye, the Shard, the Tower Bridge. Others were less obvious locations and people, that could possibly have been from any city with some history, but there was still a very English feel to them.

"I can't..." she trailed off shaking her head, not knowing how to finish the sentence. She couldn't believe it, except it was here, proof. The London Lucida Tarot, by Marie-Ange Colbert.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Those are pretty." Bo happened to pass by, but it was hard to miss a bunch of cards laid out on a table. She stopped and leaned over a little to look at them. "Looks like something from Ottawa." She was particularly looking at Tower Bridge.

"It's London," Emma said, sort of absently, still more puzzling over the cards. "England." Because there were other places with Londons, including in Canada, although she didn't know enough about its geography to know if it was anywhere near Ottawa.

"And, thanks. They're, um, mine, sort of. Or they would be." She shook her head. Between timey-wimeyness and alternate realities, pronouns and tenses could be difficult. "Some version of me will have designed them."

"Wow. Talk about messing with your mind. Getting something from the future is one thing, but getting something you made from the future." Bo shook her head, almost looking impressed. "Just when you think this place can't get any weirder."

Emma shrugged. "The future part of it doesn't bother me. I'm used to the future." More comfortable with it than the present sometimes. But it was what this glimpse of the future suggested that was disturbing.

"What will be, is. Sorry. The quirks of being a fortune teller. We're not quite like everybody else."

Edited 2018-04-16 20:59 (UTC)

Bo's eyebrows lifted a little. "You're a fortune teller? As in like, Crystal ball, see your future kind? Or is it more like the cryptic riddles of what might come true kind." Bo at least knew enough that Emma wasn't probably of the 'Call Me Now!' kind.

"As in a mutant with precognitive visions triggered by tarot cards." Emma wasn't going to hide what she was here. She would have thought the tarot cards part would be obvious, given she had an entire deck spread out in front of her, but it made sense Bo wouldn't assume that was the only thing Emma could use. "And if I see it, it's real. I might not interpret it correctly every time, but what I see is true."

"So does it work only with tarots? Could you read my palm?" Bo obviously believed her. She slid into a seat on the other side, mostly so it wasn't this awkward standing and talking to someone sitting thing.

"Only in the way any half-decent carnie fortune teller can read your palm. Cold reading." It wasn't something Emma did often, when the cards were so accurate, but she had read palms occasionally when she'd been with carnival.

"My mutant abilities seem, so far, to be triggered by images, specifically the tarot, but that could be because I've been using it so long." Whether it was necessary, a focus, or a crutch was the subject of much debate back home. As long as it worked for Emma, she didn't much care which. As long as she had a deck at hand anyway. She was a little worried what might happen if she needed to See and her decks had all been taken from her.

"Did you want me to read for you?"

She blinked. "Me?" Bo thought about it for a moment, then shrugged with an interested smile on her lips. "Alright, sure. What do I do? Is it like black jack or more like poker?"

Oh. So she hadn't been asking, until... Emma could feel the heat of a blush starting to rise on her face. "Only if you want to, I mean. I wasn't... It just sounded like you were asking me to do a reading.

"It's not a game," she explained, not exactly sure what Bo meant by asking if it was more like blackjack or poker. "That's what I did with the carnival or out busking, but not here. I see your future. Or your past, if that's what you're more interested in. But I usually tell people to come up with a question they want an answer to, and are ready to get it."

"No, no, this'll be fun." She smiled reassuringly. Now she wanted to know. "Maybe I can finally get some solid leads on my love life. Like if it's stable for once in my life or not." It came out with some humour even though Bo really meant the sentiment. It was not her best record.

Emma felt like maybe she and Bo weren't talking the same language. But she told herself it was okay, that this would be more like the fortune telling she used to do. For entertainment purposes only. Although really, the last thing she wanted to ask about was the love lives of the people she lived here with. It was too small a community for that to be comfortable.

She gathered up the cards, neatening the stack from long habit, and then set the deck on the table between them. "Shuffle the cards, thinking about what you want to know. When you feel like you've shuffled them enough, give me the cards, and I'll see what they say."

Bo picked up the cards and started to shuffle. She couldn't help it. She should have probably thought about the Garuda and if she'd beat him or who was her father or what the lottery numbers were going to be, but she just wanted to know if this thing with Sam was going to work out. Of course, that was exactly what she thought about - all of those things - instead of one clear, concise question. Because Bo was Bo.

When she was done. she held out the cards to Emma.

Emma took the deck and turned over the first card, her gaze going unfocused and distant as she looked beyond the painting of the Shard that graced this deck's Tower.

Darkness and...

She only got a glimpse, but it was enough. It was too much. She put the card back in the deck and gave it a riffle, so sharply the cards seemed to snap. Shaking her head, Emma tried to blink away the images lingering in her mind. No.

"Sorry. I can't..." She took a slow breath, in and then out. "Whatever you thought about, I'm not going to carry those visions in my head. There are reasons the stories warn of seers going mad."

Before Bo could ask, Emma stuck the deck in her bag and stood. She needed to clear her head. That was all.

Bo looked thoroughly confused and a little concerned. She stood when Emma stood. "Uh... I'm, sorry?" For what she had no idea. She got the sense she wasn't seeing some weird BDSM relationship with Sam or something, either. Her brow furrowed. "Sorry."

"No." Emma shook her head. "If anything, it's my fault."

She bit her lip, feeling like she should say more, but not sure what she could. The impression she'd gotten from her vision before she shut it down was too vague and more a feeling than anything else. Nothing she could put into words.

"The Tower," she tried, "is not usually a happy card. More a foundations crumbling, everything falling down around or on top of you kind of card. A finding out some core belief or part of your life is based on a lie kind of card.

"I really didn't see enough to know what specifically it was about, but...maybe, be prepared for a big shock of some kind."

That was basically the story of her life. She paused, but somehow didn't look surprised with Emma's comment. "Alright... thanks. I'll keep that in mind." What the hell she would do with that information she didn't know.

The Tower, huh?

She would take a break. Maybe check on things in the kitchen. Maybe practice the meditation patterns she didn't spend enough time on lately. Something as a distraction from the vision unseen pressing on her mind.

Emma ducked her head, offered one last quiet, "sorry," and headed for the kitchen. After the room she shared with Jag and the ghost Zoe, it was the place here she felt most at ease.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[EP] London Lucida - OTA

no subject

no subject

no subject

Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo

Re: Emma & Bo