tarot cards may show the way

[faciliheir]

Who: Freddie, her anxiety, and YOU
What: runaway corpse bride
Where: outside vista way/joffrey's
When: night/day after election

A. Vista Way

[it’s late at night-- or early in the morning, depending on how you see it. the window to the apartment Freddie shares with Ariel and Basil opens, and… a rope made from bedsheets is tossed from the window, and a figure starts to descend.

it’s been quite a while since she’s done this, which is why she underestimates the amount of length needed to safely reach the ground, and how to position it properly so her weight doesn’t snap the rope. which it does, while she is still quite a ways away from the ground, which she hits with an undignified thump.

at least it wasn’t too high of a fall, so all Freddie has is a bruised hip and a bruised dignity.]

B. Joffrey's Coffee Shop

[Freddie is sitting at a table in the coffee shop, sitting crossed legged on a chair as she shuffles the deck of cards she’s holding. a small purple gem sits on the other end of the table, and an iced latte with a visible layer of sugar on the bottom sits at her side. slowly and with great purpose, she places three cards in front of her.

ace of swords, reversed. four of pentacles, upright. two of swords.

she grimaces and shuffles again, placing another three cards.

nine of swords. the world, reversed. two of swords.

shuffling, harder. three more cards.

temperance, reversed. the hanged man. two of swords.

she makes a loud, frustrated noise and grabs the two of swords, violently tearing it up into a pile of confetti. struggling to control herself, she shuffles the deck again and again before taking another card…

two of swords.

she throws the entire deck in front of her and puts her head into her hands. She glares… at the gem.] I don’t need this right now! [she wanted answers. but she doesn’t like what she’s been given.]

Comments

a

[itsthecount]

[Huh, look at who it is. Count Olaf, MIA since the election was announced, is casually walking by. What a coincidence. He raises his unibrow at her.]

You didn't break anything, did you?

[faciliheir]

[maybe if she pretends to be dead he'll go away.

no he'll probably just try to loot her corpse. shit.]

Doing just fine, Jerry. No need to worry.

[itsthecount]

Who is this..."Jerry" you speak of?

[faciliheir]

... Seriously? I can almost respect your craft, but what kinda chump doesn't even sign their work?

[itsthecount]

I have absolutely no connection to the equally handsome and talented Jerry Mander in any way, shape, or form.

[...]

Now, then. You’re positive you didn’t break your ribs.

A

[standingonmyneck]

[Daria hadn't slept too well either. Anxiety dreams kind of did that. Maybe she had a nightmare about Mayor Plankton actually turning this place into a dictatorship and taking any person who liked to read and putting them on the guillotine. With Count Olaf laughing over it.

Yes. Very horrible dreams.

Bad enough dreams that she went right out from getting a glass of water to making some cocoa. Cocoa with her thoughts. Because screw it. With whatever money she scrounged up, she got herself some pretty okay-ish hot cocoa. Just need to boil some water and-

Plunk.

A fall from outside got her to jump.

Her room was on the ground floor, and could see that it was the girl who was at Ariel's meatball party; and whom she met on the first day. Probably...not a threat.

She poked her head out of her now opened window, straggly hair and in her sleep clothes.]

Do I need to call a medic?

[faciliheir]

[man she used to be a lot better at sneaking out without anyone noticing. but that was probably just because dad never cared where she was to begin with. whoops.

this girl, she's friends with Ariel, right? so she should definitely make sure she doesn't know where she's going. that'd definitely put a hamper on the whole "running away" thing.]

Nope! Just fine! Just... going for a walk! [VISIBLY WINCES mostly bc that didn't sound real even to her but also slightly bc ow her fucking hip.]

[standingonmyneck]

So nothing broken.

[Sorry mate, she didnt buy it. Daria looked tight on over st the woman, deciding it was best to be vocal about this.]

It’s also 3AM.

[faciliheir]

Best time for walks! No sun to bother you, lots of drunk people to steal from... I'm surprised more people don't give it a try!

[she doesnt sound semihysterical you sound semiDUMB]

B

[whatarenext]

[So Mike just arrived and learned that everyone is trapped in Disneyland that's now ruled by a guy named Sheldon. As far as Mike knows, pretty much no different than being born and trapped in Wisconsin, so why make a fuss about it now?

Mike is the last person to be anywhere near a coffee shop, but by some serendipity, he's there. He would walk right past it and return to his aimless bumbling when he spots the girl doing cards. With no reason and no prompting, Mike takes a seat nearby.]

Ohhhh a poker game! Deal me in!

Now, I don't have any money so...can my shoes count as chips?

[faciliheir]

[oh, good. a moron. those are great for distracting yourself from feelings of impending doom.]

These aren't exactly the kinda cards you play poker with. [pauses] And your shoes aren't my size. Pass.

[whatarenext]

[If you need an idiot to revel in impending doom, Mike's...a guy.]

Oh right. [Part of his enthusiasm has already drained.] I forget I'm in anime nerd town. Is this one of those anime nerd card games? With the eye-searing monsters? And the names that would be better off as a wikipedia title?

[faciliheir]

[the fuck is an anime]

It's. Tarot. Y'know, fortune telling. You know that much, right?

B

[kindaruledatit]

[After a day like yesterday, Wendy may have wanted to sleep in for a while, but what better way to protest then to get coffee and try to figure out how you're going to help your friend get over this?

She was just making her way out as she spotted Freddie, currently in the grips of her own crisis, it seemed.]

So, is this whole election business messing you up too?

[Sips her coffee. She's going to need a minute to fully wake up.]

[faciliheir]

I don't know. I mean, I've lived under worse. At least here, there seem to be people who actually want to prevent a dictatorship.

[she idly spins a card between her fingers.]

How's Belle taking it? [tries to sound casual. fails.]

[kindaruledatit]

Yeah, thank goodness, right? Some people here aren't crazy.

[At least no killings have started. And it's been, what, a month?

Wendy reflects on Freddie's question a moment, then slides into one of the chairs at her table.]

About as well as you think, probably? Daria's being there for her.

[faciliheir]

I wouldn't go that far, but they're at least the good kind of crazy.

[beat] At least it wasn't Olaf, I guess. The bad kind of crazy...

B

[not_over_yet]

[ Basil awakens at an odd hour (as happens now and then--dreaming has its drawbacks) and rather than immediately trying to go back to sleep, he gets up to clear his head first. Just a bit of a stroll around their apartment and why is that window open. Why is there a bed-sheet rope going out it.

He's more exasperated than anything else--they have a perfectly functional door, do either of the girls really think that he of all people would set a curfew, nevermind try to enforce one--and then he sees that bed-sheet rope hadn't er. worked too well, apparently...

...Mmmmaybe he'll just. do a quick check-in. Make sure no one's trying to walk around on a broken foot or anything.

Fortunately there aren't a whole lot of places open at this hour. Joffrey's is his first stop, as it's the easiest to look through. Joffrey's is also his last stop because apparently the girls felt the need to be sneaky about late-night coffee. To be honest he'd more expected them to be getting up to something at the Adventurer's Club. But no--it's clandestine coffee. One coffee. Did only one of them--Ariel's not even here, is she.

Something's wrong. Freddie's trying to deal with it by herself--without a great deal of success, judging from her mood. He doesn't know how serious this problem is, but... he read her journal in the manor. Freddie's hit do-or-die mode once before without him noticing. Things got desperate, went bad, and she had to deal with all of it alone. He's not about to just. leave her on her own like that again. Maybe he can't help, he has no idea, but at minimum he intends to stick with her through whatever's gone wrong this time. ]

...Most decks stick to one of each card.

[ Mouse clambering up onto the tabletop. Sup. ]

[faciliheir]

Yep. Just my luck, huh?

[she's. not really looking at him. her hands slip down to rest beneath her chin, looking at but not really seeing the cards in front of her.]

Did I worry you? [she says, not really apologizing for it if she did.] How'd you even find me? [she says, because she thinks she's being super sneaky right now]

[not_over_yet]

A bit. [ tbh an apology would just worry him more He examines the cards briefly, before sitting down beside them. ] Next time do use the door, we have one for a reason.

Simply not many places to go, this time of night.

[ ........Now what? What's the next move. It's his turn. It'd be really great if he knew what the rules of play were. ]

I... don't suppose there's anything that needs. Doing? Attending to? Some manner of task involved. That I could take care of. [ Talking is also on the table, that counts as a task. Even if the talking needs to be about feelings or... some other. thing involving people skills. despite his being the one with the worse ability to people. ]

[faciliheir]

[her gaze finally falls on him. she looks tired. to be honest, she hasn't been sleeping well since even before the election.

where does she even start.]

You don't know that Belle is part of the reason I was born on the Isle. [sigh] I call you guys my family, but there's just... an endless list of stuff I've never told you. Important things, things I'm just not... You shouldn't keep stuff like that from your family. [hell, dad probably told her too much.]

A

[notasingleword]

[Did you really think you would get away so easily, Freddie? The fall makes Ariel wake up instantly, and she springs out of bed. She frantically looks around the room when she realizes Freddie is gone, and only then does she see the open window. She hurries over to it and sticks her head out.]

Freddie, what're you doing!? Are you hurt!?

[faciliheir]

[ah if only the fall had killed her.]

Uh. [freddie. you can do this. dad didn't prepare you for most things in life, but he sure as hell prepared you to lie!]

I'm. Going to buy some milk. [n a i l e d i t]

[notasingleword]

....At 3 am? Through the window?

[Something seems fishy here...]

[faciliheir]

Uh. The door. Broke. Had to use the window.