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[presgarddihellis]

[Action | Prayers]

Comments

[ordimame]

[okay, okay. . . he is starting to understand]

Okay. I get it. Though. . . now I haven't a different question.

How do people decide which Pathway they want to traverse?

[presgarddihellis]

[actually, a good question.]

Ease of availability and access, mostly.

The potions' ingredients are kept largely secret. So you'd either have to become a member of a Church and its secret organization, or be involved in the underground Beyonder markets where the chances of the recipes being fake are higher.

In my case, the Church of Evernight had access to four different Pathways' Sequence 9 recipes: Sleepless, Corpse Collector, Mystery Pryer, and Seer. [flips pages in the book, pausing on The Star, Death, and The Hermit.] As a Nighthawk, I was able to choose any of those four, but I was cautioned that they only had Sequence 9 of the Seer Pathway.

I might've gone a different route, but... something that Emperor wrote down convinced me otherwise. It was a risk of being stuck at Sequence 9 due to lack of recipes, but... it was a risk that paid off.

[probably because it was meant to... set up to...]

[ordimame]

[hah]

So you chose the-- the Seer-- as a sort of gamble.

That seems like you.

[and it seems very much like a "Fool" thing to do, too]

[presgarddihellis]

[hmm... turning the pages to Wheel of Fortune.]

Fate's very fickle. And truly... to assume we're above it is when you're asking for trouble.

[ordimame]

So you took a risk hoping that it'd be on your side? That's pretty brave.

[he doesn't sound judgmental, though. just amused]

Has it been treating you well since then?

[presgarddihellis]

[... flips the pages to The World.






shuts the book.

smiles.]

Lately, it hasn't been so bad.

[ordimame]

[HE SAW THAT!!! a quirked brow]

Is that one you, too?

[presgarddihellis]

No.

[the smile of truth telling on a technicality.]

It's funny. That one has the meaning of "new beginnings", also.

[ordimame]

[nts ask Raven the same question]

"New beginnings," but from the perspective of understanding the self from within. Versus the Fool's "new beginnings" from the perspective of the outside world's influence.

. . . or something poetic like that!

[BE PROUD OF HIM SMITH HE IS LEARNING]

[presgarddihellis]

["Something poetic"... but well. he's not wrong.]

They do say that the Major Arcana are actually more like the story of one's life journey. The zero and the twenty-first cards are the beginning and so-called end. But the others can be arranged in whatever way and can show up at any time.

And then, of course, once you reach the "end", it can result in starting back at the "beginning".

[jazz hands. TAROT!]

[ordimame]

[TAROT!!]

It's cyclical. . . symbolic for how life is a series of many journeys, not just one?

[presgarddihellis]

Exactly so.

[ordimame]

[hmm. . . giving Smith a soft, lopsided smile]

. . . thanks for sharing. It was fun, to learn something new.

[presgarddihellis]

Just be sure to use such knowledge wisely.

[he is. still vibrating internally, a little.]

[ordimame]

[. . . . . . .]

Do you think it counts? If someone were to invoke— that?

[it's vague, but. what he means is. . . if someone were to call him "The Fool," would that be considered a true name?]

[presgarddihellis]

Yes.

If it is something that people only know something or someone by, it should count.

[ordimame]

[. . . . . . . . . . well then]

[. . .]

[. . . mutters something quietly underneath his breath]

[presgarddihellis]

[... that better not be you muttering his title.]

[ordimame]

[IT'S NOT?? CHRIST!!! WHAT DO YOU TAKE HIM FOR]

[sounds a bit like "Ma—" actually]

[presgarddihellis]

[HAND GOING OVER PUCK'S MOUTH, JFC.]

[ordimame]

[startled noises?? gives Smith a Look (TM) as his own hand flies up to pry fingers form his mouth]

[more muffled protesting!!]

[presgarddihellis]

[HE'S PRETTY FIRM!]

There is a spirit haunting this auditorium. Do you think they're not listening?

[ordimame]

[features grow slack for just a brief moment, because no. he hadn't considered that the spirit haunting the auditorium might be listening. thanks for the save, Smith!!]

[. . .]

[and then his features pinch together as he tugs against that hand again. more insistent this time. let go!!]

[presgarddihellis]

[okay, moving hand away.]

[ordimame]

[SHARP EXHALE. . .]

. . . okay. Not here.

Come back to Anzen with me.