Mitch Tells Mary-Lynn’s Fortune
Mitch wakes up.
Jeff
"What time is it?" Mitch rises slightly, propping himself up on his elbows. "It's early."
"You ... you ever hear of Joshua Norton? The Emperor?"
Michael
Mary-Lynn laughs. "You're a hell of a pillow talker. That was the first thing on your mind this morning?" She winks. "Yeah, sure, I've heard of him! Local eccentric back during San Francisco's frontier days, sure."
Jeff
"Yeah. Well." Mitch flashes a smile, suddenly nervous and awkward. He reaches over, gives her a sort of a pat. "Just had a dream. I was arguing with this guy, he was trying to get me to do a thing and I didn't want to do it and I wasn't sure if he was trying to use reverse psychology on me, or what, and also I was trying to do a complicated card trick at the same time and he was distracting me ... Anyway, yeah. How're you? How have you been?"
Michael
"Well, hon, I'm terrific this morning," Mary-Lynn says with a smile. "You have a lot of dreams like that? When I have 'em it's usually my boss trying to get me to do something I don't wanna do and my real desire ends up getting pushed off-stage. Sounds like whatever the card trick represents was way more important to you than the thing this guy wanted you to."
Jeff
"Yeah, no doubt. It'll all come out in the wash. Fuck that guy, anyway." Mitch releases his elbows and flops down, a little closer to Mary-Lynn than he'd been before. "Better things to do."
Michael
Mary-Lynn does need to get home at some point, but I was thinking room service breakfast might be a good time to have one last quick conversation, about Tarot and psychic powers and the rest of it. Let's say that Mitch's dream and the mention of cards serendipitously nudges Mary-Lynn into talking about it while the two of them are eating their Belgian waffles in their Hilton-branded robes.
"So next week I go back for another few tests for the psychic program. And ever since the other day I've been waiting for a quiet moment to ask you ... about your cards ..." she says a little portentously, gesturing to Mitch's tarot deck; maybe the lipstick-streaked Lovers card is hanging out of Mitch's shirt pocket draped over the laundry rack or something, "... and about me and my ... hunches. Because let's say I pass these medical and psychological tests, and then they want to bring me in for the real stuff. I honestly did this as a lark but now I'm wondering ... why exactly is a big scary serious place like SRI studying stuff like this? I'm fine with my hunches and little voice leading me to good things in my life, I'm fine with how it's made my life easier and more interesting. But I'm guessing that knowing which guy is the right one to invite up to my hotel room is not one of the goals for one of the biggest scientific research facilities in the country."
Jeff
Mitch shrugs. "Uncle Sugar says anything worth doing is worth doing three times as much as anybody needs for thirty times as much as anybody ought to be willing to spend. But I hear your meaning ..."
He carefully cleans the Lovers with a napkin and returns it to the deck, then shuffles. "So what's your question? You want to know what they're up to, or how it affects you?"
Also seems like a good time to check both our auras and scan for History not-A.
Michael
Sure, go for the Aura Sight and Detect at your convenience and I will think sincerely about what Mary-Lynn might ask.
Jeff
Aura Sight.
>>> ACTIVATE … SUCCESS by 5
>>> DETECT … SUCCESS by 2
>>> ANALYZE … SUCCESS by 4
Detect History-B.
>>> ACTIVATE … SUCCESS by 5
>>> DETECT … SUCCESS by 2
>>> ANALYZE … SUCCESS by 2
Michael
Cool. Well, Mary-Lynn's aura is very groovy. Physically she's just fine. Emotion-wise she's languorous and happy and at peace and feeling really centered. Possibly the only thing that Mitch sees that's off is just a tiny streak of doubt; a very narrow plum-colored stripe in her aura that is probably indicative of her asking about SRI, her abilities, and dropping that hint in the conversation with Mitch that her hunches led her to Mitch and she's feeling a bit suspicious at being so contented. No History non-A energy can be detected anywhere in the vicinity. Mary-Lynn ponders Mitch shuffling the cards and closes her eyes, looking for her own inspiration.
"Oh, I dunno. I mean, even though I said this was all a lark, I mean ... if you had powers, real psychic powers, wouldn't you wanna know where they came from and what you could do with them? I guess that's my desire. I want to know if SRI is going to give me answers on ... any of this. 25 years of old wives' tales and family legends about Indian ancestors and superstitions trying to explain why I get these feelings, all to no avail. I've been tested by doctors all week but I mostly want to know ... if it's all real or if I'm just foolin' myself." She looks a bit abashed.
Jeff
Mitch chuckles. "Shit, I don't even need the cards for that one. Yes, secret mind-powers are real. And yes, you have some ... I do, too," he adds, "That's why I'm so sure."
Michael
Mary-Lynn's streak of self-doubt fades into the background of her swirling iridescent aura at Mitch saying that. Mitch can feel, both mundanely and with aura sight, an overwhelming wave of relief, appreciation, trust ... and the first inklings of something deeper than the mere surface flirtatious fascination Mary-Lynn's experienced the past 48 hours with Mitch. Also Mitch feels like she trusts Mitch because, on some level, she's always known that her powers are the real deal and all the events of the past couple of days have been a powerful confirmation for her.
"Awright. Then my question for the cards is, is SRI the right place for me to get guidance on these powers. Can I ... can I trust them. That might be two different questions, sorry."
Jeff
"I think that is two different questions, yeah, but let's give it a shot." Mitch lays out (I think) his usual simple four-card spread: where the issue is, where it came from, where it's going, and what it all means.
Michael
Okay, I'll roll Fortune-Telling (with aura sight and situational bonuses) and then IQ.
Where's the issue?
Where it’s going.
Where's it going?
What does it all mean?
Mary-Lynn looks at the cards, points at the 6 of Pentacles, reversed. "So ... generosity reversed? That seems to tell me that SRI isn't gonna be very helpful? Maybe?" For the first time, Mary-Lynn seems tentative and unsure of herself. She makes direct eye contact with Mitch, looking for his interpretation.
Jeff
"That's one way to look at it. I mean, check it out: your typical act of charity, there's a guy giving money to somebody poor with a beige coat, right? But here, it's upside down. The money is falling out of the poor person's hands and up into the rich person, and the rich person isn't even catching it, it's falling all the way up to the extreme close-up of the camera. Meanwhile, richie rich has a nice set of scales he isn't even looking at, and there's this poor schmuck--" Mitch points to the kneeling figure in blue. "What're they waiting for? Nothing good is going to happen to them, they've been forgotten about. I'm looking at this and I'm not seeing malice, I'm seeing institutional incompetence."
"If it's not Richie's fault, whose fault is it? This dude." Mitch taps the King of Swords. "He's got some kind of plan, sitting there all smug with his chair and his crown, out in the middle of a field. He's got a lot of power, he'll lop your head off if he thinks he needs to, but he's just sitting there. He's not paying attention to the birds flying away, which, why even set your chair up in a field if not to look at the birds? Nah, this dude is clearly Mister Head Nerd in Charge at SRI, is what I'm seeing, and he thinks he's got it all under control but he's hanging out with a sharp sword and no clue that his scales-and-coins guys are messing it up so bad. Malice? Maybe a little. Maybe."
"And that all sounds pretty negative, but check this out." Mitch gestures to the two cards on the right. "Hanged Man, that's a funny one. You'd think that hanging by your ankle would be a dreadful ordeal, right, like, the dark night of the soul or something, but does this guy look like he's having a bad time? Nah. He knew what he signed up for and maybe it looks to the casual outside observer like he ought to be in bad straits, but he's fine. He's fine. Scott Free, you know? He could get out any time he wants, he's got that cool head-halo thing. He's just hanging out and having a time. And this! The Star!"
"This is one of my personal favorites, you know. She's got big hanged-man energy, chilling topless with her water pitchers. It's a pretty night, she's got a bird with her, she doesn't need clothes because she's hot as hell, and she knows what she's doing. Don't mind me, just pouring some water over here, that's what she's saying. Why is she pouring water? Because she feels like it. Letting it all hang out. Splashy-splashy. Having a good time. A good, low-key kind of time, doing what you feel. Groovy, that's what she is. She is, and I'm serious here, one groovy chick."
"So all in all, what does this say, these four together? Says SRI is chasing its own tail, they just don't know what they're looking for, can't spot a good thing when she shows up and draws houses for them, maybe there's a shadowy man-behind-the-curtain who thinks he knows more than he does, maybe that's just dumb Uncle Sugar throwing money in a hole. But it's not dangerous, really. Maybe a little stressful in parts. Don't mean to undersell the sense of risk associated with hanging from one ankle from a tree. But you got your halo and your water pitchers and you just hang in there, you'll be fine."
Michael
"That all sounds ... well, it sounds interesting to me. Reasonable. My own vibes are feeling copacetic; I don't hear any big or little voices telling me to bail out of the tests or anything. But I do feel like that Hanged Man," she points at him hanging out on his pole, "isn't a phase or a portion of the experience for me. I got a feeling I'm going to meet someone there. You know? Like how I felt I was gonna meet someone in line for a Big Mac? Your cards are giving me the same feeling, like I'm gonna meet someone there and they're the one who's gonna go through the Hanged Man stuff. Not an ordeal, per se, but ... someone who's up on a pole or a cross or a pedestal and I'm gonna learn from them." Mary-Lynn blinks and nods to herself. "No, I'm sure of it now. There's an older man who I'm going to meet and draw to me there and he's going to know his shit, A-to-Z."
Jeff
"Huh." Mitch stares down at the Hanged Man. "Yeah. Yeah! You're right. You're a star, you're not splashing around and hanging by your ankles both. That's another guy, someone else who Richie Rich over there ought to be paying more attention to." He taps the kneeling figure in blue absently. "Same guy, I guess, lookit the shirt and the hair. Older, you think? Huh."
"You nailed it. And you're asking me if your gift is real ..."
Michael
Mary-Lynn looks serious for a moment. "Do ... do you ever wonder if we're foolin' ourselves with these hunches and visions and gifts, Mitch? Do you ever think maybe we're backfilling the hunch after something happens that we could've reasonably expected? I mean, if I get there into SRI, is there a chance they're just gonna say I'm a fraud because I can't move a needle or levitate or see inside an envelope locked in a safe?"
Jeff
Mitch picks a burned-out cigarette stub from the ashtray on the nightstand, holds it up with his fingertips.
"No," he says as it starts smoldering.
Michael
Mary-Lynn takes the stub from Mitch's fingers, feels the heat on her own fingers, and takes a perfunctory drag from it. It's real. her eyes seem to say. As if she was doubting Thomas probing the wound.
Jeff
Mitch shrugs, like, it is what it is.
Michael
"Well, this has to be the hottest date I've ever been on." Mary-Lynn almost winces as she realizes how corny that was, but her eyes soon crinkle up in concentration as she stares deeply at Mitch and gives him a deep passionate kiss. Mary-Lynn's aura flares with a cascading cool blue undulating waterfall of energy ... it's belief, Mitch's aura sight discerns. Belief in Mitch, the wonders he can do, and everything meeting him represents.