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Interacting: @Dealla Prince | @Aly Salinger | @Rebecca Lark | @Evelynn Decipio

Outfit: ✿

Mentioning: @

English | Irish

"Wait, mud? Are we going to play with mud?" Like mud masks or something? That would be so fun!

It was with a giggle that Winnie made herself more comfortable next to Dee. "You don't need a makeover, Dee, you're already natural beautiful. If you want to borrow some of my stuff for tomorrow, though, you're more than welcome to." She loved Jack with her entire heart, but the worst mistake he'd ever made was fumbling when he had a girl like Dee. A girl like her deserved a fairytale romance.

"But a makeover also doesn't have to do with looks, it could just be letting us pamper you by painting your nails or like giving you a m-massage maybe..." She informed the older Ravenclaw before popping a piece of the offered chocolate into her mouth.

Aly fawning over the dress she had all but tossed at Bex was more than enough to distract Winnie from Dee. She twirled in her seat, her eyes widening with excitement, "ALY! You don't have to give me money to borrow anything. You can borrow whatever clothes you want from me!"

Winnie hardly flinched when Aly started to brush through her hair. It was more knotted underneath, as she had a tendency to toss her hair over her pillow and then rub her head against it in her sleep. She was used to her mother's rather aggressive attempts to tame her hair, now a days Winnie usually went with some magic product to help her hair fall into shiny waves. Long gone were the impossible knots that first year Winnie often sported as she ran barefoot through the grounds, her grass stained jean overall pockets stuffed with handfuls of wildflowers.

"But Evie! I like romance and Matt is... Well... He isn't usually that way." Winnie pulled her legs up to her chest, her arms hugging her knees, and her head resting against Dee's shoulder. "Mattie has been a good boyfriend to me. Sometimes we spend a lot of time together, holding hands and reading... In each other's company. He has made me picnics and buys me very nice things. If he's mean to me it's usually for my own good or because I deserved it. I'm kind of high maintenance, a-a lot of people leave, but Matt has been the one constant in my life for the last three years."

This one's for the girls...
✰

The girls came together before Aly's eyes, with Bex, Eve, and Dee seemingly bonding over their inability to escape her... well, hey, whatever worked! She winked at an outraged best mate, gaping open-mouthed at her comment about a glow-up. "If you think I did all of this-" waving a hand vaguely around her messy curls and undereyes that were probably faintly smudged with mascara at this late point in the day- "just overnight, you're absolutely batty. Takes work, you know! But I'll take the compliment." She narrowed her gaze, staring at Dee even as she continued to gently brush out Winnie's way-too-long hair. Seriously, had the coppery redhead never had a haircut in her entire life? Well... clearly, that had paid off, but Aly already had enough trouble with her hair and it wasn't even half the length of Winnie's, so this was perhaps not quite the way for her to go. "Now. Dress, if you please. How are we supposed to figure out hair and makeup if you're not even showing us this gown we've heard so much about?" She blew a kiss back. "Not that we don't trust your taste, of course..."

Then again, Dee had had questionable taste in the past, though that was more for boys than for clothing. But Aly didn't mention that bit.

A green mess of tulle and white butterflies somehow made its way into her hands, and Aly nearly dropped her brush in shock as Bex gladly passed off Winnie's dress to her. Even better, Winnie assured her most excitedly that her fellow Ravenclaw and former fellow Chaser could happily borrow the dress for whenever, without even so much as paying a Knut. Aly squealed a horribly girlish sound that was perhaps not even quite human and threw her arms around Winnie from behind. "Eeee! Thank you, love! Oh, Merlin, we'll have to get ready together tomorrow. I could so use someone to help me lace up the back of my gown - the sleeves are so puffy, it's hard to reach the corset part..." She took a deep breath, reminded herself to not talk Winnie's poor ears off, and returned to even, careful strokes of the brush through reddish curls. "Anyway, hold on, let me just get these knots here..."

It did take a fair few minutes to detangle all of Winnie's long locks, but Aly had plenty of practice with her own curls and a deft, skillful hand. Once she was comfortable enough that braiding wouldn't present a painful problem to her younger friend, Aly moved around to Winnie's side and began to crouch over her in a hovering stance, pulling smaller waves away from her face - whilst still leaving a few strands to frame pale cheeks - to nimbly weave them into a French braid. While she did so, she listened to the girl talk about her boyfriend and pulled a face before offering her admittedly unasked-for advice in a teasing tone: "Winnie, darling, the only thing high-maintenance about you is your hair! No, but really, from what I've seen from you..." Aly bit back the words crying in the locker room. "...just, I suppose, in general, you don't seem really happy with him. I love romance all the same as you lot, but a boyfriend's supposed to treat you right and make you happy, not just buy you nice stuff. You deserve much better than that!" Once she reached the back of Winnie's head, the nape of her neck really, Aly clipped off the braid and moved to do the same on the other side, pulling gently to rise the redhead from Dee's shoulder. "Oi - let me get in here, will you?"

It was then that the Ravenclaw - well, one of four, but this particular Ravenclaw noticed their lone Gryffindor's divinatory activities. Evelynn had distracted Bex from wanting to wander off and fence, apparently, by offering to read a tarot spread for her, the one part of Divination class that Aly had never quite understood. The prediction lessons were some of her favourites, and yet, there were simply so many cards and even more meanings that Aly oft found herself quite lost by them. Still, she flashed a grateful smile in the lioness's direction, happy that their littlest one had found something to interest herself in and happier still at the breaking-out of the cards. "Ooh, that looks fun," she called out to Eve, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the firelight flickering on the darker-red-head's face tarot deck. "D'you think you could do me after Bex? Maybe some kind of romance spread. My love life's been drier than a Drought Charm lately." Again, she gave Winnie's shoulder a small squeeze, then leaned down and whispered into the younger girl's ear, "Maybe you should do one, too. Eve can prove that there are better blokes out there for you."

✰

@Evelynn Decipio @Winnie Harper @Dealla Prince @Rebecca Lark
Charmer ✰ Paragon of Health ✰ Lovely Creature
Foulplay ✰ Keen Eye

"Aww, you're too sweet," was Dee's placid reply to Winnie's assessment of her looks, and she twisted slightly to plant a kiss on the younger girl's cheek. "I wouldn't even know what stuff to borrow, but if I'm letting Aly give me a makeover anyway," and she had kinda sorta asked her best mate for this, she supposed, "you're more than welcome to join in on the fun." She could play dead while they did so. Or perhaps take a nap. "A massage sounds nice, though?"

Then she rolled her eyes at mentioned best friend. "Maybe I am absolutely batty, ever considered that?" But it was followed by a fond smile. It wasn't like Dee didn't know how much effort was behind Aly's perfect hair and eyeliner. She could see it every morning, when Aly got up and Dee turned over in her bed with a groan to sleep for another half hour. Or longer.

The demand (command?) for her dress was met with a lazy salute, and when Aly rather forcefully shooed her away to continue braiding the mind-blowing amount of red hair spread around them, Dee gave Winnie another squeeze before she fought her way ungracefully out of their communal pillow pile. "No necromancy yet," she commented a bit belatedly on Bex's solution to the holes in their seppuku plan, patting the girl on the shoulder as she walked past. "Who knows, perhaps this is the year? Are you volunteering for me to practice on you?"

But then, perhaps Rebecca was onto something, if not about the necromancy, then at least about how to handle boys. "You know what," she said, taking a small pause from rummaging through her trunk to point at the Ravenclaw beater, "you might be smarter than you look. Here, have a treat for your effort." She tossed a bag of jelly slugs at the girl. Really, while Dee was not the most observant of people, the disgusted grimace on Bex's face at the pile of chocolate had been hard to miss. "Although I might wait with trying that approach until after tomorrow, if that's alright? Making that sort of decision right before this particular event seems like it defeats the purpose." The ribbing was accompanied by a grin and the shine of amusement in her eyes. There were always two sides to Dee's teasing, although no one was completely safe from it. The soft, fond needling reserved for the people she liked, and the relentless biting comments for those she did not.

While she hadn't been surprised by Rebecca's perspective on this matter - twelve year old Dee might have rather agreed with her - Evelynn's assent gave her a short pause. "Evelynn," she said whole-heartedly, "Has anyone ever told you that you need to go out and have fun more often? I spent as much time in the library as the next person this past year," more than most, actually, although perhaps Evelynn specifically was not included in that most, "but everyone needs a break every once in a while." She'd learned that the hard way. There was only so far you could push yourself before something broke.

Finally, she pulled the dress that she'd packed for the occasion out of her trunk, spinning around and presenting it to Aly with a grin and a little tadah flourish. It was of a fiery red fabric, a short jumpsuit with a long sheer chiffon skirt and sleeves reminiscent of flames licking up her arms. It also did not match the theme at all.

Tossing it onto the pillows next to Winnie, she sat back down to offer her two knuts on the matter. They were more blunt than Aly's. "Isn't he?" she asked, skeptical. "Winnie, from what I've seen, he doesn't treat you very well. Not nearly how you deserve to be treated. Buying you things doesn't make up for that." Admittedly, she hadn't seen that much of Matt, but what little there was had left a very distinct impression. "Wasn't he a complete ass to you from your very first meeting? During that ball, I think?"

Of course, it was clear that boy talk wouldn't keep Bex around for very long, and apparently, neither Evelynn, but the latter had a solution to that problem: tarot reading. With a slight grimace, Dee settled into the pillows to watch. She didn't want her cards read - didn't need her cards read, she knew what they would say. Her friendships were going great, she excelled academically, and her love life was a dead, burnt waste land. Which was fine. Boys sucked, and Dee definitely wasn't bitter.

@Winnie Harper | @Aly Salinger | @Rebecca Lark | @Evelynn Decipio

⋄ Banner made by Aly Salinger ⋄
⋄ August 1st, 2024; 20:00 | London Quidditch Stadium: Circinus Tent ⋄
⋄ Interactions: @Aly Salinger, @Dealla Prince, @Evelynn Decipio & @Winnie Harper | Mentions: @Finnegan Connor⋄

𝓘t wasn't every day that you got a no-strings-attached offer to kill you and then reanimate your corpse for fun. It was certainly tempting; she'd probably die at Hogwarts anyway, after all, and at least this way her skeleton could live on after her, continuing to do cool stuff. "Do I have to decide now?" She asked Dee. "Can I get back to you on it later?"

Bex bristled at the implication that she looked stupid, Dee taking a reflex-hammer and gently tapping against a nerve that she couldn't have known existed. It was a mortifying thing to feel dumb in the house of academia and sharpened wit; it was awful to feel like you'd been missorted, and worse still to feel like everyone else around you knew it. She responded with a toneless, "thanks so much," in response to the jelly slugs that were thrown at her. It, too, would join the chocolate in her bag, an eventual offering to the vengeful sugar-God that was Finnegan Connor. Dee had likely found herself confronted with the same problem that had been plaguing Bex's grandparents for a decade, now: a child who had no interest in sweets, and was, as such, much more difficult to bribe because of it.

She shrugged in response to Dee's tongue-in-cheek query. "Suit yourself. That gives boys a whole day to get to you, though. So watch out."

She couldn't help but feel a bit bad for Winnie. Having a boyfriend did sound nice when she put it like that - well, not the holding hands, or the, God forbid, reading, but being bought things sounded great - but she couldn't imagine that the price of it was worth it. The leaving and unkindness sounded about right. Love rarely ended well.

She wrinkled her nose in distaste. "How could any of that possibly be for your own good? It kinda sounds like it sucks."

She looked up as Evelynn lowered herself to the floor next to her, her face unreadable. Evelynn's face sometimes gave her the same feeling that trying to perform Transfiguration magic tended to, like there was a vast, cavernous well of meaning just below the surface that she knew must be there, somewhere, but of which she had no access to. To Bex, lacking in social awareness as she was, Evelynn was a dark, opaque pool, smooth and featureless as glass the whole way across.

Evelynn's logic was sound, even though Bex would never find it in her heart to enjoy studying. It was a necessary evil, at best. Quidditch, though, was a different story. "I'd much rather play Quidditch than fall in love, yeah."

She blinked up at Evelynn, tilting her head slightly in confusion. "I'm don't think I know what that is."

While her step-father did have his fair share of woo-woo hobbies, his were more of the mindfulness and guided meditation walks variety than tarot, and neither of her biological parents were at all the types to dabble in it. She was wholly unfamiliar with the art, and all the more curious for it.

The redhead held up a deck of cards for her to see. The cards looked slightly thicker than standard playing cards, with some sort of intricate gold design on the back. "Is it a card game?"

The idea of seeing what was ahead on the path was a tantalizing one to an anxious child. It's where all her worries rested, after all, the idea that she was powerless in the face of whatever monstrosities were barrelling on a collision course directly towards them. She was quick to agree to Evelynn's proposal. "Okay, sure. What do I have to do?"

As if she'd chosen the right dialogue option, Evelynn rose elegantly to her feet, off on some fetch quest that Bex herself wasn't privy to. She'd grabbed an assortment of things from her own belongings, as well as a few things of Bex's that she could recognize: a worry-stone, nicked from a class trip to the beach in primary school and worn smooth over the years; a dull silver locket, circular with an intricate knotted design on the front, hardly ever worn but almost always kept close in her belongings; a large silver whistle, first used when acting as lifeguards with Finnegan back in December, and then again here at camp during Battle of the Seasons; and a fidget-cube, a pale, faded blue colour, gifted to her from Kayla on her eleventh birthday.

Evelynn once again joined her on the floor, eyes closed as she shuffled the deck across from her. She offered the deck out for Bex to cut, and she did so, looking back to Evelynn in the aftermath in search of some sign that she'd done it correctly.

She watched as Evelynn laid out the cards, as Aly called out from somewhere behind them: "D'you think you could do me after Bex? Maybe some kind of romance spread. My love life's been drier than a Drought Charm lately."

Bex cringed. "Er, maybe don't do a love spread for me. Please."

⋖ 01/Aug/2024 @ 8PM | ENGLISH [#715380] | FRENCH [#b654a9] ⋗
INTERACTIONS @Rebecca Lark @Winnie Harper @Aly Salinger @Dealla Prince | MENTIONING n/a
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While Evelynn had largely remained passive during the fashion related exchange between Prince and Salinger, it was difficult to remain so when directly called upon.

"Evelynn, has anyone ever told you that you need to go out and have fun more often? I spent as much time in the library as the next person this past year, but everyone needs a break every once in a while."

Disapproval crimped the Gryffindor's lips in response, before plainly answering, "No." Few people cared to comment on her habits. Those who did were generally obnoxious dormmates with poor study habits and a poorer sense of responsibility--@Finnegan Connor--to whom she rarely deigned to reply. Besides. She didn't really spend all that much time in the library. It was usually by the lake. "And you say that as though time spent studying is not fun."

Criticism about how she chose to spend her time interested her far less than Winnie's response about her romantic interests, however. Gaze shifting away from Prince as she twirled to show off the skirted jumpsuit she planned to wear the following night, it came to settle dubiously upon the other redhead. Given the year gap and not sharing a House, Evelynn could hardly claim to be any sort of expert on the nature of the time shared between Winnie and Pride. Nevertheless, much of what she said did not sit well with her. Lips parted to interject, but the others beat her to it. Instead, she absorbed the new perspectives.

"I can hardly claim experience on the matter, but I am inclined to agree with much of their sentiments.." Evelynn replied quietly when Prince and Salinger had said their pieces. "Sharing time together with picnics and reading does sound nice. My mother refers to that sort of activity as 'Quality Time'. But does that not sound strange to you to say? That when he is mean to you, it is usually for your own good?" The Gryffindor shifted in her seat.

"First, you say usually, suggesting that even you agree there are times when his unkindness is not deserved. But to say that any of it is deserved seems...off. Who said it was deserved? Him? What did you do to deserve those instances? 'Two wrongs do not make a right', is something my grandmother often said, suggesting that negativity is not the right response to negativity. If she were here, she would tell you that even if you had done something wrong, that would not justify a mean response. In those cases, a respectful and loving partner should communicate with you, prompt a discussion for mutual understanding.

"Moreover, they--" she nudged her head in the direction of the other two fifth years "--already said it, but gifts do not make up for that. They are nice, and one of the love languages, so should not be discounted, but only if that is something that makes you feel appreciated and are given outside of a context of an expectation of return. Otherwise the gift is a tool. Either a transaction to distract and buy you; or a means of shifting power so that you feel indebted to him.."

Evelynn may not have been experienced in the ways of romance, but she did have a mother who had a vested interest in trying to raise her daughter to be socially intelligent in a way that she had not been. But she wasn't there to lecture, and worried that to continue talking would start to sound like it. So she had merely shrugged a brow and retreated to the fringes of that particular conversation, content to provide Miss Lark with the distraction of a tarot reading, the young eaglet following along with her queues of participation just as she was supposed to and receiving a nod of approval and thoughtful "Hmm.." as she cut the deck.

Now, though, Evelynn tried to disconnect from all of them, attempting to tap into whatever magical aura that always seemed so far out of reach whenever she tried to divine anything at all. Granted, it wasn't as though she was trying to do an authentic Reading with a capital R, doubting whole-heartedly in any true Seer abilities of her own, but that never stopped her from trying to find some sort of novel connection anyway. It had always been that one subject that fascinated her the most. Maybe because it had always eluded her.

"Ooh, that looks fun." Salinger's voice flitted over from across the room. "D'you think you could do me after Bex? Maybe some kind of romance spread. My love life's been drier than a Drought Charm lately."

Evelynn opened her eyes, attention sliding over. "Certainly," the lioness purred, mischief glinting in her gaze. "If you be brave enough to face it." The sentiment was spoken with light-hearted amusement. Nothing could have prepared her for how impactful the almost-warning might seem in hindsight by the time she actually drew a spread for the Ravenclaw seeker.

"And fret not," Evelynn reassured the eaglet sitting across from her. "I had no plans to read romance into yours. As I mentioned, I think we will try to discern what your next year at Hogwarts will comprise." A hand gestured to the four cards laying face down between them. "What great obstacle you will have to face." Tilting her head, she dropped her finger to the card furthest to her right--Miss Lark's left. "This is the primary issue that will rear its head this coming year."

She turned the first card over to reveal the Ten of Coins. [Serene-looking people relaxing in a beautiful walled garden. Many birds surround them, as well as a squirrel and two white dogs. One woman is reaching to pluck coins from a tree while another reads. A third woman plays with a baby on an instrument, and a fourth uses a ladle to scoop water from a trough. A shield emblazoned with a castle hangs on the wall].*

"Interesting," Evelynn hummed, considering the card. "The Ten of Coins is one of family. Wealth. Inheritance. Expectation. This is a card that speaks to tradition. It is possible that this card may indicate the arrival of a familial problem in the year to come, but I have a feeling this refers to something less tangible. A sense of being "stuck". After living all your life in a world with specific rules and understandings only to be thrust into a new environment where nothing seems to make sense at first and worldly understanding is turned upon its head, the first year for a non-wizardborn is never easy. It can be difficult to consolidate the two worlds, to find one's path forward. You have been at something of an impasse, stopped at a point where you can see the possibilities, but have yet to break free from those long-standing traditions and understandings that had served as the foundation of your worldly understanding. I imagine you have found comfort in that place of safety, of veering towards connections and activities that generally follow familiar rules, but at the expense of personal growth. You are stagnating in comfortable routines and established patterns."

"But let us move on to learn more. Next, we will see not what the obstacle is, but why. This," she dragged her finger to the card at the 'bottom' closest to herself, "shows us the root cause of the obstacle." The second card is turned, its face displaying The Fool. [A woman with a faraway look sings to herself and beats a drum while wandering near a cliff edge. A small dog jumps at her skirt, trying to warn her of the danger of which she seems unaware.]*

"The Fool," Evelynn stated with something very close to a breathy chuckle, as though its revelation surprised her not at all. "New beginnings, spontaneity, recklessness, blissful ignorance... this card can mean many things. In this particular position, however, it suggests that it is these qualities that are contributing to the challenge. In other words, you are what is standing in your own way. Perhaps it is a fear of shedding your former life, of fully accepting this new world in which you have found yourself immersed. Perhaps it is a reluctance to take the education seriously, or avoiding the hard work that it takes for those like us," she gestured between herself and Miss Lark, "to simply catch up to where those who grew up in this world got to begin their educational journey. Perhaps it is a tendency for unpreparedness, acting without thinking things properly through. Perhaps it is all of the above. Regardless, it seems serious introspection is in order."

"But that is not to say that you are the sole factor of this situation. You find yourself surrounded by others, influenced by events and peers and the impacts of various external factors." The Two of Swords revealed itself next, its image depicting [a woman sits on a wooden stool holding two swords across her chest. Behind her, a rocky inlet is illuminated by moonlight.]*

She didn't say anything at first, instead inclining her head to regard the card. "Balance," she eventually spoke. "That is what the Two of Swords generally represents. Indecision. Difficult choices. Compromise. It can also refer to adversaries, or the arrival of a new friend. And in this context, relating to the impact of others on the obstacle in question, it may be that there exists tension between yourself and others that is preventing you from being able to even address those qualities of yourself that are keeping you in stasis." She dragged a finger back to the Ten of Coins. "Your family. They will never understand what it means to be a witch. They might be privileged to step beyond the Statute of Secrecy, but they will always be considered Other by those in this world. There is tension here. Guilt about walking paths along which your loved ones cannot follow. Conversations have yet to be had about differing perspectives, about your fears of accepting the Gifts you have been given, what it will mean. Those talks have been avoided, and until addressed, will anchor you in your stagnation, preventing meaningly development."

Finally, Evelynn turned the last card over, the Seven of Cups coming to rest upside down in a way that meant it was right-way up for Miss Lark. It depicted [a red-robed nun offering a sheet on which seven cups appear. In the cups are a boy's face, a man wrapped in a white sheet, a snake, a building, rich jewels, a victory wreath, and a dragon. Six angels look up at the offerings.]*

"This is what you have to do in order to move forward. The Seven of Cups. Confusion and overwhelm, paralysis in the face of too many possibilities and desires. A tendency to get lost in fantasy and wishful thinking, making it difficult to see what is real or practical. But you will notice that it is reversed, meaning you must distance yourself from this chaos. Take a step back, analyze your priorities and seek guidance, whether through conversation with trusted confidantes, meditation, or self-reflection. This card calls for you to focus your attention away from the distractions and really define your values and critically assess the reality of your situation. Then take decisive action, tackling those tasks previously avoided. Doing the hard work, having those hard conversations, confiding your fears, preparing for the future, defining the path you want your life to take."

With that, she would fall silent, rocking back away from the cards to balance her weight back upon a hand. Her gaze wandered the young eaglet's face, curious to see how the interpretation of the spread would land. While she wasn't at all confident in her ability to discern Real insight from the cards, they had come together in a way to tell a story that she knew quite well, herself, one that she still struggled with in many ways. But whether it would actually speak to the girl on a deep level, or simply come across as the reaching ravings of a mad woman disconnected from reality, were yet to be determined.

Me and my, me and my girls...
✰

Aly felt copper hair slip through her fingers, tugging at her grip on the fine threads, and instinctively she tugged back, trying to separate what she believed to be a knot obstructing the attempted braid on Winnie's other side. However, when the sixth-year Ravenclaw looked down, she found that it was no knot at all, but rather Winnie herself trying to escape from the braiding. At first, Aly chuckled, thinking that the redhead was just tired of having her knots so forcefully detangled - but as soon as she let go of Winnie's hair, the younger girl made a break for it, slipping from the tent exit as wordlessly as a Nundu. In less than ten seconds, it was if she had never been there at all, with the only evidence that she had ever joined in with the girls' night being various fashions thrown about the tent and the brush that slipped listlessly from Aly's hand as her mouth dropped open.

It took her a moment to realise what had happened, but she threw out her arms as soon as she could, lamely calling after her, "Winnie, wait!" Alas, it was too late, and the girl was gone. Face reddening from embarrassment, or perhaps disappointment, Aly glanced to Dee, whose opinion she could always trust. As Bex and Eve were clearly busy with their tarot-reading, maybe they wouldn't even notice as Aly dropped her voice to whisper worriedly to Dee: "Was it something I said? Maybe the stuff about Matt was too much. D'you think I should go after her, or leave her some time alone...?"

No matter what Dee said, whether she agreed or not, Aly would come to her own conclusion that if she'd said or done something to make Winnie mad enough to leave, following her and only making her madder was perhaps not the best of ideas. Of course, she had no idea what the younger Ravenclaw was feeling - if it was anger, or sadness, or if she felt betrayed by her closest friends' inability to accept her chosen partner - but there was enough of a risk that it could be frustration at Aly herself that the curly-haired teenager did not follow. Instead, she chose to turn back to the rest of the group and plaster an almost manic smile upon her freckled face; she'd be damned if she would lose another one, and so her determination to ensure everyone left had a good time was renewed tenfold.

Pouncing upon the produced dress-jumpsuit-thing that Dee was to wear to tomorrow's ball, Aly examined it with a scrutinous eye and the excitement that so often comes with teenage girls and shared outfit choices. "Oh, Dee, this is wonderful," she enthused, rubbing the light, sheer fabric between two of her fingers. "Okay, legs! I swear, mate, if every boy on the dance floor isn't ogling your knees within five minutes of your arrival, then something's wrong. Oh, goodness, and look at these sleeve details. Your seamstress knew what she was doing." Looking back up to Dee, Aly held up the fit and cocked her head to the side, squinting and imagining various options. "I think a smoked-out eye is the obvious choice, smoke and fire and all that. Heavy focus on the eyes, lots of eyeliner and mascara and such. Some warm blush on your cheeks, too. Good thing I brought my Hardanger's set - that'll surely have the right shades. And as for the hair... may I?" She stepped closer to her best mate, gathering up soft, silky, chocolately brown tresses in her fingers as she bent to pick up the discarded brush from the grass below. "We could do an elegant twist, like this, if you want to go more mature... or perhaps we part it here, on the side, and leave it down to make use of those gorgeous natural waves..."

She continued to mutter to herself for a bit as she messed with Dee's hair, holding up various parts of it and trying different types of braids and curls and pins. Eventually, she remembered that she was next in line for Eve's tarot reading, and called out across the room: "Do you think you could do the reading while I try to work with Dee's hair, Eve, or do I need to sit down for it? I've never been much good at sitting still..."

✰
Winnie has given me permission to godmod her leaving the thread.

@Evelynn Decipio @Dealla Prince @Rebecca Lark
Charmer ✰ Paragon of Health ✰ Lovely Creature
Foulplay ✰ Keen Eye

⋖ 01/Aug/2024 @ 8PM | ENGLISH [#715380] | FRENCH [#b654a9] ⋗
INTERACTIONS @Aly Salinger | MENTIONING @Rebecca Lark @Dealla Prince
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Whatever conclusions Bex would come to with Evelynn's reading, they would be for Bex and Bex alone. As was wont to be, such divinatory revelations could be quite a personal matter, and so Evelynn left her to her musings, allowing her what time she needed to look over the spread of cards, jot down notes, or do whatever it was she needed to do. In the mean time, the elder reclined back on her palm, attention swiveling in the direction of her two peers to catch the last of what Aly had had to say about Dealla's outfit plans for the upcoming Mistletoe Spin. Personally, she thought a natural look would suit the dress-pantsuit best. Perhaps wild and carefree waves like the surf of a tumultuous ocean stormfront might seem a juxtaposition, but she nevertheless felt it would complement the chaos her fire.

"Hm?" The sound of her name pulled her from her thoughts.

"--or do I need to sit down for it? I've never been much good at sitting still..."

"No, I imagine we can accommodate your present ministry." Pushing herself upright, she lifted her hand to motion to a space near to where Aly was working, mind putting two and two together to imply the intended question. By then, Bex had seemingly moved on to other matters had the Gryffindor quietly collected the cards, almost reverently reorganizing them back into the deck. Unhurried, she relocated herself, doing as she had for their youngest resident, and set up something of a halfmoon nearer to her fellow fifth-year graduates of focuses and oddities, candles and crystals, and a few accessories and trinkets pilfered from Aly's belongings. With a few last adjustments, Evelynn seated herself before the assembly of decor.

"You requested something to help with your romantic life," Evelynn mused, beginning a slow contemplative hand over hand shuffle of the cards. "I think I have just the thing: a spread to identify your soulmate."

To her credit, despite having no natural Seer talent, the lioness kept her tone self-assured, as though she believed herself capable of scrying into the future. The truth was more complicated than that. Prior to Hogwarts, she had held a certain reverence for the performance, a childhood innocence that magic and fortune-telling was real. Now that she knew that to be showmanship, the veil had been lifted; at least insofar as an average muggle attempting such an act. But her trek with Divination had informed her that even those without the Sight could sometimes tap into something beyond themselves if only they knew what to look for. It might not be Prophetic in the same was as a Seer's Vision, but neither did that mean it was entirely without credence. And there existed an ever-present part of her that wished to believe that she was capable of such feats.

"Of course, the more engaged you are as the recipient of the reading, the more accurate it will be." She gestured to some of the items she had gathered. "In lieu of your relative lack of proximity, I have attempted to supplement your presence with items with which you regularly interact, items that would best imbue your essence." Hands returned to their passive shuffling. "But I think it would be best if you are able to ascribe as much of your mental attention to the matter as you can. Even if it is only while the cards are being shuffled and placed into their spread. So, for the immediate moment, I want you to hold in mind a desire to find your soulmate. Close your eyes. Embody that inquiry as I shuffle. Do not bring anyone specifically to mind, but rather remain open to curiosity to pull back the curtain. When you are ready, tell me when to stop."

Until instructed otherwise, Evelynn would continue to shuffle, likewise doing her best to feel the cards, imbuing into them a will of discovery on the Charmer's behalf. As soon as directed to cease, she would do so. Quite unexpectedly, however, one of the cards would flutter out from her hands, casting it prematurely to the blanketed floor. While some readers would return such wayward cards to the deck, curbing their rebelliousness, that was not so inclined. Brows furrowed curiously, regarding the card with interest, but setting it--for the moment--aside, still face down. And then she proceeded to lay the cards out, one by one, from the top of the deck to their respective places on the outspread scarf.

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"The universe is filled with a multitude of individuals. Some ascribe to the belief that we each have a single soulmate, while others suggest there may be many candidates. This card manifests the characteristics of yours. What this card represents is how the universe would describe your soulmate." In a moment of repetition, she turned the first card over to reveal the Ten of Coins. [Serene-looking people relaxing in a beautiful walled garden. Many birds surround them, as well as a squirrel and two white dogs. One woman is reaching to pluck coins from a tree while another reads. A third woman plays with a baby on an instrument, and a fourth uses a ladle to scoop water from a trough. A shield emblazoned with a castle hangs on the wall].* xx

"Well that certainly is curious..." A brow flared, a flick of the eye glancing to where she'd recently sat with Bex. It had been the same card she'd first pulled in the other Reading as well. Had she not mixed the cards well enough? Too well? Uncertainty flashed across her features, but she quelled it quickly. These things could happen, she assured herself. And in fact, perhaps that only gave all the greater significance to this particular card. Uncertain as to whether Aly was tuned in on Rebecca's reading, Evelynn repeated the initial introduction. "The Ten of Coins is one of family. Wealth. Inheritance. Expectation. This suggests that whoever your soulmate, they are a person of wealth, status, family legacy, and long-term success. Perhaps they are a pillar of their family, or even of their community, embodying a stability success that comes with dedication and hard work. They may appear well put-together and respectable. Their attire is likely to reflect an understated affluence, or perhaps timeless elegance. Perhaps they carry themselves with dignity and quiet confidence. They are likely to be an individual who carries a deep sense of responsibility towards family and community."

It was probably a good thing that it was only the girls in the tent this night. The values and traits represented already in just the first card led Evelynn to think of at least a couple presently-absent members of their own tent. As a reader, the expectation was that personal bias and interpretation should be kept out of her reading. Even still, she wasn't sure she'd have been able to stop herself from reflexively glancing in either Eden's or Pericles' direction had either of them been nearby just now. Instead, she glanced up to Aly to gauge the girl's reaction, pausing before drawing the next card in the even that she had thoughts to express or clarifying questions to ask.

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"It is one thing to be able to know what characteristics and qualities to look for, however," she eventually continued, "and another thing to be able to recognize a person for who they are when they ultimately do present themselves. Sometimes, our own biases and beliefs can cloud our perceptions, veil our sight and leave us blind to that which is standing right before us. In order to find yourself ready for your soulmate once they do enter into your life, you must first discard these limitations. But how?" With that, Evelynn turned over the second card, resting immediately below the first, to reveal the The Magician. [A man stands behind a table surrounded by birds and animals. He appears to be conjuring the animals, or perhaps blessing them. On the table are symbols representing each of the Minor Arcana suits. An infinity symbol floats above his head.].* xx

"The answer is The Magician. This is a card that lives by the belief that knowledge is power. In this case, your own knowledge will provide you internal power. It implores you to investigate the world around you and to fully explore and understand your own abilities and values. Afterall, you cannot let go of limiting beliefs if you do not recognize what those beliefs are. It calls for you to spend time in introspection, to study the environment in which you were formed and how that has molded your biases, and to recognize that it is your beliefs that then shape your reality. It challenges you to challenge yourself. In order to prepare yourself to receive your soulmate, you must first recognize that you are the one creating your own inner world, the only one with the authority to dictate your values and beliefs. While daunting, this card--with a table laden with resources--implies that you already have everything needed at your disposal to tackle this task. In a way, it could suggest that you are the magician. You do not need to wait to be healed or made ready--you are the one capable of transforming yourself."

Here, Evelynn fell quiet, hand reaching for the third card with every appearance of being about to turn it over and continue with the reading. "Actually..." Something else occurred to her relating to the magician, and she paused. "The Magician is also known as the Alchemist," she recalled. Her gaze flickered over in Aly's direction, but it wasn't upon the Seeker that they settled. "An alternative--or supplemental--interpretation could be that while you yet have all the internal strength and resources to define and redefine your beliefs, you also already possess the external support needed. The Alchemist is the ultimate potioneer. Fire, water, air, earth...they all bend to the Alchemist's will. They are the alchemist, filled with knowledge and a wisdom of experience beyond their years. And they--" Her expression shifted, lips faintly curving into soft smile as she watched how Aly continued to manipulate @Dealla Prince's mane. "--have been at your side this whole time. All you have to do is turn to them and tap into their wealth of understanding. Perhaps you may find that in some things, she knows you better than you presently know yourself."

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Once more, Evelynn would pause long enough for Aly to muse over the implications of the second card's meaning and ask whatever qualifying questions she might have. When appropriate to move on with the reading, however, she would do so. "Now... as important as it is to understand and adhere to one's true self, a relationship is not the domain of an individual alone, but rather a dance between two people, impacted by aspects such as trust and commitment. This card implies that which you still have to learn on the topics." She turned over the third card she had placed, the one in the top right corner. Upon its face was depicted the fourteenth of the major arcana: Temperance. [A winged nun stands in a stream, pouring water from one cup to another. A saint casts a blessing upon her from the sky. The stream is flanked by Irises and gentle green hills. A duck floats gently by.].* xx

Evelynn blinked, brows furrowing slightly as she pulled her hand back slowly to rest palm down upon a bent knee. "Temperance." Could this reading get any more peculiar? The first card had been a mirror of Becca's reading and arguably spoke of traits that both of the senior boys in their tent shared; the second card could be interpreted as representing Dealla; and the third...was Evelynn's own birth card. At this rate, she half expected the last two cards to represent some combination of the last three tent residents not already featured. "Moderation in all things. Having achieved many spiritual goals, now is a time of equilibrium. Appreciation of simple pleasures, and a sense of balance. Diplomacy and skilled negotiation of a mutually acceptable compromise." The almost disembodied recitation of the explanation from the little book of meaning that had come with this particular deck of tarot was spoken verbatim, revealing her intimate familiarity with this particular card.

"In context to the question.." she went on, life returning to her tone, "it emphasizes that trust and commitment... they require careful balancing. Neither party in a relationship can carry the weight of these efforts alone. It requires patience and harmony, and a need for personal emotional equilibrium before one can even engage in these acts. I suspect...that in conjunction with The Magician calling on you to self-examine, this is a call to make sure you neither give, nor withhold, of yourself in excess. This card calls on you to learn how to take the middle path--one where you allow connection while maintaining boundaries; where you can give and receive love in equal measure; to respect your soulmate as much as you respect yourself."

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"That brings us to the fourth card..." Evelynn eventually continued, finger tapping on the card she had placed in the bottom-right corner of the spread. "At the heart of trust and commitment is communication. We can neither trust, nor be trusted, if we cannot open ourselves to be seen, to be heard. This card--" Fingers gently turned the Two of Wands to lay face up in its position. "--provides enlightenment on such ways you can improve just that." [A merchant looks out from a castle battlement over a city and the landscape beyond. He holds a wand in his hand and another rests against the wall behind him. He also holds a globe with the three known continents marked - Asia, Europia and Africa.].* xx

The imagery of this particular card always reminded the Gryffindor of a wizard standing along one of Hogwarts' walkways, looking out across Hogsmeade and the Highlands beyond. With the globe in hand, it seemed so scholarly, in a way. "The Two of Wands is a card of looking ahead, planning, and stepping into the unknown." There was almost disappointment in the way that she couldn't decisively connect the card with any of the remaining Circinus residents. Alas, the trend had to end at some point. "It is really quite an appropriate metaphor for communication. As is the case when traveling into uncharted territory, there will always be a certain level of unpredictability and uncertainty when communicating from the heart. It calls for you to have courage in the face of the unknown, while also being curious of those with whom you interact. It encourages you to take emotional risks, to speak your truth, to chart your own path forward even if it is the path less traveled or one that others may not understand."

As was similar in the case of The Magician, inspiration struck for an additional path of interpretation. "In fact, this may also suggest a more literal calling. The wizard holds a globe and we--" She raised a palm to gesture around them, to those unseen beyond the confines of their tent. "--are surrounded regularly by peers from all walks of life, from all corners of the world. How better to learn to communicate than with those whose ways of life are different than our own. Perhaps, in the short-term, this card urges you to connect with others, from other schools." Something about this suggestion just felt right, and Evelynn found herself nodding almost to herself as she continued, "Risk allowing others the opportunity to know you more deeply. Determine what it is that you truly wish to share, and what parts of you that you wish to be seen. Initiate more honest conversations, even if that comes with a certain vulnerability. This..." She shrugged a brow. "...actually ties in nicely with the Magician. You do not have to figure everything out on your own. Perhaps these journeys of self-reflection and belief affirmation can be done by inviting someone else into the process with you."

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Finally, the last card of the reading. By now, any initial uncertainty or expression of focused determination to ensure she did a proper job of the reading was replaced with a certain serenity. "The path to finding lasting love is one that requires inner work. Previous cards have spoken to specific aspects of that work, but this last card addresses everything else, providing additional insight on how to get from here to the you that will be ready for your soulmate." The last card--the last intentional card, rather--was flipped over to sit in the middle of the other four. Upon its face, Eight of Coins. [A craftsman works sitting at a bench with a variety of woodworking tools. A castle can be seen through the window, and a woodpecker sits on his bench.].* xx

The meaning of the card in this context was not one that made itself immediately apparent to Evelynn. It was a card that referred to learning new skills--reasonable enough--and applying them with success. But then it would go on to describe how creativity could be used to overcome financial hardship; making due with little; and seeking apprenticeship for a more secure future. Given the overall theme of personal development... "Ah..." After a few moments of thoughtful silence, understanding seemed to dawn. "I believe this card is a reminder that things are not expected to come to you overnight. All good things take time, and the most treasured artefacts, the most precious relationships, are ones that were crafted painstakingly over a long time." Yes... that sounded right. "This card urges you to take care, and to take your time. Treat your own personal development with an artisan's touch, honing and building yourself like sacred craftsmanship. This is not something that can be done with a single burst of inspiration, but rather something that must be approached methodically and with precision, with care and deliberation. Visited and revisited over time. Just as with mastering a craft, the skills required to investigate and define oneself, to find balance with trust and commitment, to learn effective communication, and to recognize your soulmate... they take practice."

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"And that leaves us with one card remaining..." Evelynn's gaze drifted to the sole tarot card that had fallen from the deck towards the end of her shuffling, the one that seemed to have insisted on being a part of the reading, the one she had set dutifully and curiously aside. "In tarot, cards such as these are often referred to as 'jumpers'. Not everyone considers them, but I find that when shuffling has been performed mindfully as we did, these cards can carry quite the significance, adding a unifying message across the spread itself. In fact, there was one thing in particular that you had said that seemed to return frequently to the forefront of my thoughts as I shuffled. You stated your love life has been dry. Perhaps this will shed light as to why." With that, she turned the card over to lay across the rest. Death. [A woman dies gently, surrounded by angels. A winged skeleton spreads his arms to arch over the scene.].* xx

"Oh?" Surprise made itself evident upon Evelynn's features. Across all cultures, muggle and wizard, there was something about any representation of death that made everything seem suddenly instantaneously more significant. This tarot reading was no exception. For a jumper card to come up as Death.... A cool shiver ran down the length of the lioness' spine. It was hard not to feel like this reading carried a certain weight. "This is not a bad omen," Evelynn spoke, almost more as a reminder to herself than a reassurance to Aly. "In fact... quite the opposite. In tarot, Death is actually a card about change and renewal. For this particular spread... it is uncharacteristically appropriate. It is very clear that there is a great deal of work that must be done on your part. If I might be so grim, I might hazard to say that the reason you have had such ill luck within your love life is because the you that you are currently, is not the you that you will be when you find success in love. There is very clearly some concrete aspect of your current self that is stagnating your potential. It really just emphasizes the importance of the tasks called upon you by the cards elsewhere in the reading. Unless you are able to identify and put to rest that limiting belief, you will never find true love."

For additional clarification, Evelynn had fished out her little book of explanations for additional insight given how important this card seemed to be for the overall message and read, "If you are single, the Death card can indicate that you will soon be casting off the old beliefs, issues or behaviours that are no longer applicable to you. Embrace this transformation as it will bring new love into your life." With a shrug of her brow, she glanced up to Aly with a sort of there-you-have-it look. But she wasn't quite finished. "It is very interesting, though.." she continued, looking back to the cards in the spread, studying their interrelationships. "There is something here." With index and middle finger, she touched upon Death and Temperance. "In the sequence of the deck, these two cards are related. Death is the thirteenth card, Temperance is the fourteenth, immediately after Death. In tarot lore, it is said that Temperance is the one that welcomes the departed into the Underworld. This combination very clearly emphasizes a transitionary period. Obviously, balance and harmony will improve once you have worked through and embraced that change; but I also cannot help but feel that something about Temperance--perhaps a lesson of trust?--will be what ushers you to recognize that moment of chrysalis."

"Nevertheless...." And with that, Evelynn returned the little book to the blanket and reclined with her weight on one hand. "I think that may be all the interpretation I have for you." She offered a light-hearted smile. "Take from it what you will, I suppose."

Girls, you were born to run, to reach the stars and chase the sun...
✰

Aly at first kept twisting Dee's hair in her fingers, marvelling at the pure smoothness of her friend's locks - what products did she use? Surely Aly would have seen them in the Ravenclaw girls' bathroom, but she couldn't bring to mind any particular bottles with Dee's name on them - as Eve across the tent shuffled and soliloquised. Then the part about being active, present, and engaged sunk in, and Aly let Dee's rich brown curls fall through her fingers, giving her best mate's excellent bone structure, brilliant teal eyes, and the pure, unrestricted volume on her head a quick once-over. "Honestly, I do just think that having the curls be loose might be our best bet," she assured her fellow Ravenclaw with a bright smile. "No need for fancy updos or wild styling when you've got that mop and that dress! Hold on, I'll be back in a minute and we can do a makeup trial..."

With that, she flounced over to the lone redhead left in the tent - nearly tripped over a sleeping bag on her way - and plopped onto a cushion across from her on the ground. Her green gaze danced over the semicircle of eccentricities Eve had set up there, all sorts of crystals and tchotchkes of varying shapes and sizes and colours, but finally settled on the deck of cards jumbling about in the Gryffindor's slender, pale fingers.

"Mental attention acquired," she confirmed with a grin. Despite being a big fan of the divinatory arts and quite a good study at the prophetic class at Hogwarts, she had never been quite so inclined to conduct readings on her fellow students outside of lessons or even conduct analyses of herself for fun; she enjoyed the homework, liked the professor, and that was about it. She followed Eve's directions, closing her eyes, imagining a shifting entity in her mind rather than a single person: male, female, tall, short, thin, plump, red hair, or blonde, or black, or brown, or white, or some kind of unnatural dyed creation. Almost like a Metamorphmagus, it glimmered and wobbled from potential person to potential person in her mind, though none of them particularly seemed familiar to her; only the odd sound of a whisper drew her from it, and Aly peeked one eye open to see a card on the ground while Eve continued to shuffle the rest. She opened her eyes and pointed to it, informing her friend both cheerfully and sincerely, "You dropped one." Her stare dodged back up to Eve's steely grey gaze. "Oh, you can stop now. Sorry. I think I got a little distracted."

She watched in eager suspense as Eve laid out several of the cards from the top of the deck, then listened carefully as she flipped over the first - the Ten of Coins - and explained its meaning. Aly did know the arcana, did know the suits, from the cartomancy unit in Divination, but it was still intriguing and fresh to hear the Gryffindor's perspective on each one instead of Aly simply drawing her own conclusions. How the universe would describe my soulmate. Most interesting. She wrinkled her nose at the insinuation that her "soulmate", whoever they were, would come from a wealthy family of influence and power - almost certainly suggesting a pureblood, some sort of arranged marriage, perhaps, like her grandparents had once wanted for Aly's own mother. Then again, Hesper had broken free of that sort of expectation. Perhaps Aly would, too. Someone who carries themselves with dignity... quiet confidence... understated affluence... It did quite seem the opposite of what Aly, wild and carefree and recalcitrant and overwhelmingly quite agrestal by nature, might have wanted for a lifelong partner; if given the choice for herself at the moment, she might have wanted for someone a bit more innately social, more life-of-the party than solemn and shy. Still, she joked, "I wonder if Peri or Cass have any friends." Of course, it wasn't lost on her, either, that the description could have easily been attributed to either the white knight or black king of their tent. But Pericles was far too close to her heart to ever be seen in such a fashion, and Cassius's pureblooded intensity was way too much for Aly. The two were both wonderful as friends, and the Ravenclaw girl had no intention of ever risking that by developing feelings for either of them, nor did she think either one could possibly be her "soulmate."

Aly's own limitations being her internal knowledge, as represented by the Magician being drawn as the next card, made her nose wrinkle slightly. Self-diagnosed as wise and intelligent and with criminally perfect grades, she had never thought of her knowledge as a weakness but rather as one of her greatest strengths. Spending time staring into her own soul just seemed like a cop-out of an answer. Everything you need is within you; it sounded like a quotation from a book on how to help oneself, or worse, some sort of magical therapist's mantra. A bitter laugh boiled out of her, but she managed, hopefully, to turn it into one that seemed almost wry just as it escaped. "Well, I already know I'm a magician," she teased, a witty and somewhat transparent attempt to cover up the disdain in her laugh and on her face. "Pretty sure that's what those last five years at Hogwarts meant, no?" But then, a reinterpretation - a reminder of the Magician's other name, and her best mate's penchant for potions. Aly cast Dee a smirk across the tent. "Oh, but that I could get behind. Dee, if you happen to see my soulmate somewhere, do something blazingly obvious so I see them too, yeah?"

What Aly still had left to learn about romance could have filled the Hogwarts library, as she was loathe to remember and of which she nearly reminded Eve during her next monologue prior to drawing the third card: Temperance. Moderation, simplicity, balance, diplomacy. Aly nearly gagged at the thought. When she had asked for a reading to reveal her future love life, she hadn't expected the universe to predict the exact opposite of what she had desired: wealth and prestige instead of freedom and escape, self-introspection as a limitation instead of someone or something else (which she could control) holding her back, and now... it was like divination was slapping her in the face. You're too much, it was saying. You give it your all, and you chase them away.

It wasn't entirely untrue, but still, 'twas not a fun message to hear from stardust itself.

Once again, humour came to her rescue to chase the demons away. "Balance? I literally just almost went arse over teakettle on my walk from Dee to you about two minutes ago," she quipped, pointing back at the sleeping bag over which she'd nearly tumbled whilst coming to sit by the scarlet-haired lion. "If we're talking about weaknesses, I dare say that's not my strong suit." Still, she mentally filed away the notion, even if she didn't show it. The cards were hardly the first to tell her she was too much of something or too off-kilter for love. Anyway, what Aly gave tenfold she hardly ever received back. She needed no temperance to tell her that much.

Communication, on the other hand, was something which she both hardly struggled with and simultaneously found the most difficult endeavour in the world. Aly Salinger never shut up, and she could converse with a brick wall and a hundred different people all at the same time, but there were also just some things she couldn't say. That was normal, right? To struggle with communicating at the tender age of sixteen years old? But the Two of Wands being drawn almost... eased that anxiety and tension, somewhat. Everything was unknown, in a way. The whole world was uncharted territory, and Aly looked forward to nothing more than to explore it - hopefully with someone by her side, someone who (if the other cards were to be believed) would be quiet and stoic and influential and steady. Actually, in the grand scheme of things, it didn't sound too bad - as long as they were down for a bit of recklessness and fun every so often. Or every day.

A more literal path. A whole world to explore.

You do not have to figure everything out on your own. You are your own protector.

Despite the fifth card, the Eight of Coins, being pulled - despite Eve's not-so-subtle reminder that inner reflection was what was necessary to find love, rather than a tarot reading - Aly couldn't help the tenuous smile from overtaking her freckled face. Sure, the cards were telling her that good things take time and all that Dugbog shit, but they had also reminded her of what was truly important: her dreams, her desires, her future goals, and to be quite honest, though Aly was a romantic at heart, less and less did she imagine herself as someone tied down.

It would take time, and if she entrusted in the world, the world would reward her in full.

And then the smile died as Eve turned over the jumper, explaining its significance as a card that needed to be seen, as the overall theme of the reading, only to reveal the one image that every not-so-experienced cartomancer dreads not as symbolic but as far too literal: Death itself, a beautiful woman with porcelain skin and golden curls lying in soft repose, clutching a rose of pure white, surrounded by angels in sapphire and encircled by skeletal arms. The sight took her very breath away. The woman's eyes were closed, her face slightly blurred by the image's artistic license, but Aly imagined that if they were to open, they would have burned emerald in the paint. The blue was that of Ravenclaw's Quidditch uniform. The white rose, symbolising innocence. Purity. Newness. Weddings, and eternal love - but that of Death's embrace. Yes, Aly could not breathe, and not in a good way.

The ringing in her ears nearly drowned out the redhead's explanation, and she only caught snippets of the lion's soothing voice, a clear attempt to assuage any fears, as she stared down at the card Eve had turned so confidently. Not a bad omen, poppycock. Perhaps the Aly that she was right now was not the Aly she would be when she found love... or perhaps, and maybe much more likely, Death's tender embrace would come for her before love's ever did.

She intook the rest of Eve's descriptions, about transformation and sequence and harmony, but did not respond to them. Instead, she reached forward, silently, and touched the face of the slender maiden lying so peacefully there; it was a soft touch, gentle and loving, and then Aly stood and made her way back to Dee without saying so much as a word. Only after several minutes of messing with shadowy powder and strong black liner did she get up the courage to send Eve a half-courageous smile from across the tent and call over, "Thanks, by the way." Politeness was key, naturally. And that was all. Aly could think over it all later, once she had shaken off the odd feeling that all that reading had said was that she was destined for a life of loneliness and an eventual solitary demise... if she did manage to shake it off, ever.

✰

@Evelynn Decipio @Dealla Prince
Charmer ✰ Paragon of Health ✰ Lovely Creature
Foulplay ✰ Keen Eye

Thread over, I believe.