Third Floor Common Room, Tuesday Morning

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

The problem with a first period class, Claire reflected as she started a pot of coffee, was that once it was over you were too awake to go back to sleep but it was still too early to do much of anything else.

Once the coffee was done, she sat down at a table with a mug and a deck of tarot cards -- a birthday present from her Aunt Sarah. She fiddled with them idly, half laying out cards for a reading on herself but mostly just looking at the pictures on the deck. They were beautiful illustrations, anyhow.

She wasn't in a mood for TV, but she had the radio on and tuned to a classic rock station just for the background noise.

[OOC: Open common room, yep!]

Comments

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

After his class, Ned had contemplated staying in his room for awhile but he'd gotten daring and decided to venture out. His common room was empty but the one above his wasn't and seeing Claire in there made him stop.

"Playing solitaire?"

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

Claire shook her head slightly, glancing up at Ned. "Tarot cards. In theory they're telling my fortune."

Her tone made it clear she didn't quite believe this.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Cards can do that?" Ned asked, wandering in and peering at the cards a little anxiously.

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"My hippie aunt thinks they can," Claire shrugged. "Or she might just think they're pretty. Birthday present."

She held up the (pretty, if disturbing (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_StLk5qXxAv0/RbpqfOtMBeI/AAAAAAAAAHI/sgH8VzYcD48/s400/tower.jpg)) card she was holding so Ned could see it. "See, this is called the tower, and it's supposed to mean chaos or revelation. They all have a bunch of different meanings."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I've heard of a Ouija board," he said, taking a seat and watching the cards as if they might move. "Do they work like that? Turn over when asked or something?"

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"No, it's more like magic solitaire?" Claire said. "You ask a question and lay out cards, and supposedly they answer your question if you interpret them right. I'm still mostly reading from the instruction sheet, so I have no idea if I'm doing it right."

She smiled slightly at his wariness. "They don't bite."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"I didn't think they did." Yes, he had. "Okay, yes, maybe I did. It's just...wow, cards can maybe tell a future. Kind of creepy. It makes you want to know but then what if its something you don't want to know?"

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

Claire brushed her bangs out of her eyes as she thought about the question. "I guess you don't ask if you don't want to know?" she tried. "Or you can blame the cards and say it's not for real."

"Or," she added speculatively, "maybe it's better to know so you can be prepared?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Maybe." He didn't know if he wanted to know that he'd be crushed under a giant airplane or something like that but learning that he got married or something good was enticing. "Have you done it for yourself?"

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, that's what I was working on when you came in," Claire nodded. "You have to think of a question? So I'm asking it what I'll do after graduation. The one I showed you with the burning building, that's supposed to be my current challenge."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You're...going to burn a building?" Ned would, one day, to not be so literal. "Like...a stuntwoman?"

Oh, Ned.

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I don't burn things!" Claire protested. She'd been accused of arson once at home, and she was still a little defensive, and she stuck with the literal theme. "Maybe I'll be a firefighter."

Yeah, she couldn't see that, either.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Sorry!" Ned apologized quickly. "It's just the burning building and all. Firefighter's good. They have a lot of equipment. And...your hair would match?"

Yeah, way to go there, Ned.

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"No, no, burning buildings are freaky to have in the future," Claire agreed. "Even if it's not literal, it's kind of a sucky card."

She pulled the next one, hoping to erase the unfortunate connotations of fire, and glanced at the handbook. "And now I got the emperor. Which is, um, 'a successful ruler.' Too bad that's in my past."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"You were an emperor in your past?" Ned asked, eyes widening a touch.

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"... you have a literal mind, don't you, Ned?" Claire had to observe.

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Well." He blushed. "I think of it as trying to keep an open mind since there's so many different people here and someone could have been an emperor once."

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"Actually that's stunningly possible," Claire said, thinking about it for a second. "It would be way more interesting than my real life, too."

"What about you, ever been an emperor?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"Only in my dreams," he said and laughed. "And even then, I usually got defeated by a monster or something."

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"Maybe that's a past life," Claire said, half-teasing. "You were a great king and a dragon nabbed you."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"That's...oddly close to the truth," he said and glanced at the cards in case they'd told her. "It was kind of a Godzilla monster but that's pretty close to a dragon."

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"... okay, weird," Claire decided. "I promise I'm not psychic at all."

"So Godzilla won, in your dream?"

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"All the time," he said and laughed. "The way he won would be different. Sometimes, he'd..eat me. Or stomp on me. Or kick me into the ocean."

Ned realized his dreams were kind of weird.

[swipedthatfoot.livejournal.com]

"And you just never win?" Claire said sympathetically. "That sucks. My dreams are just ... random shit. There was one last week where I was hunting for Easter eggs, only I was a mermaid."

[death-and-pies.livejournal.com]

"How did you manage that?" Ned asked curiously. "Since mermaids don't have legs and all."