True Colors (Lillis & Sam)

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"My Nana was blind, so she could See," he said simply. He didn't know whether her gift came from Avalis or otherwise, and she was dead so he couldn't easily ask her.

He didn't probe further; it wasn't his right. He was secretive too, and couldn't begrudge a person, especially a woman, their secrets. Women were enigmas anyway.

"You did well," he said, "whatever else you used." At least, it had struck home.

Home.

Blast and damn.

[Lillis]

"Thank you," she said quietly, feeling ever so slightly less like a fraud than she had at the conclusion of her last reading.

She paused, inclining her head just slightly, and offered him her attempt at a warm smile. "I can keep going, if you... want more answers." She straightened up, trying to look as professional as possible. "You look like someone who has a lot of questions. Oh, I'm not trying to get you to... pay for anything -- though, if you'd like to tip, you're welcome to do that (we all need to eat) -- but if you wanted. I could try to..." a shrug, "help you."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

"Well, if you see anything glaringly obvious," he said, with a bit of a grin, loosening up a bit. "Nana did say it wasn't a wisdom to rely too heavily on seers, though. Then it's easier to give up on making your own decisions, like."

But he was young and he was alone but for Horse, who rarely offered much more of an opinion than disgust when Sam was being particularly stupid.

"I'm Sam."

[Lillis]

"Your Nana is quite right," she said with a smile, leaning forward so that her elbows rested on her knees and her face hovered about a foot or so above the table. "Seers can be trouble, particularly the good ones."

Her own Nana, or Grams as Lillis and her sisters were wont to call her, was not much of a seer herself -- indeed, her talents were more centrally focused on the healing arts. But she had always encouraged Lillis to choose carefully what she did and did not reveal to people she read. Some information would do nothing but damage. Lillis hoped that she had adhered to this advice.

"A pleasure, Sam," she said, tucking a few errant yellow curls behind her ear. "I'm Lillis."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

He peered back at her, friendly enough, but curious. Perhaps he was trying to read her, though horses made more sense to him than people did most of the time.

It was too bad about Nana, he thought; she could see into the future, but she didn't see the pavilion's death on the horizon, or in the fire, or stars, or whatever. Or perhaps she had and the Ankal had been too greedy, or too desperate, to take a safer route, not leaving Cyphrus to trade.

Likely he would never know.

"Do you ever look into your own future?"

[Lillis]

Lillis gave a shake of her head, delicate yellow curls bouncing with the movement. "Nope," she said, leaning back slightly. "I can't."

She could see how she had died in each of her previous lives, but could not foretell how she would perish in this one, nor did she have the skill -- or, indeed, the desire -- to read her own aura. And the only thing that was absolute, that was definite and not open to interpretation, was invoked by physical contact: She could see how people would die. But as far as fortunetelling was concerned...

"Runecasting, or tarot readings, or even palm readings, leave a lot open to a wide variety of interpretations." She spilled the runestones into her hand once more, closed her eyes and cast them across the table top. "So, for example, I asked the runes just now -- will I find what I seek? A fairly broad question, yes?"

She gestured to the spread of the stones. "Based on this layout, if I were looking at it objectively for someone else, I could ask them some follow-up questions, read their auras and body language, interpret their energy, see? To better inform the spread of the runes, or the cards, or the leaves, or whatever I happen to be looking at. But I can only know one thing about me -- I know what I'm seeking and my desire to find that thing is overwhelming the interpretation of the stones." She smirked, eying the spread. "Besides which, if I were going to be very honest, this spread says 'What you seek will find you', more than anything else. Which is just as silly as, for example, a stone saying, 'You may find that you are home already.'"

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

He smiled, a rather fatalistic thing for one so young.

"It's hard to be, um, objective about yourself," he said, trying to express what he knew without any formal education. "And home, well, that's an idea more than anything, isn't it? My home doesn't exist anymore, so wherever I am is home, sort of."

Then, to turn the conversation away from him, he followed up with, "What do you seek? I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

[Lillis]

"Home is people," Lillis said quietly, pointedly. She returned Sam's smile when he gave it with one of her own -- she liked his smile; it made his face light up.

"What do I seek?" She tossed her head back, oh, very dramatic. "Many, many things. To wit, I seek... a home, er, a place of residence, more specifically. Something permanent, that is not a sad little canvas tent. I seek to refine my skills as a seer, as an aurist, and to expand upon my knowledge of other magics." She ran her tongue, then, along the supple curve of her lips, casting her gaze down to the tabletop. "I seek a someone I loved, once." A pause. "Love, still. But I'm not certain that I can find him."

[Sama'el Sunsinger]

Home is people. Well, that arrow found its mark. His face closed off a bit, his natural light dimming for a moment as he recovered himself.

The problem was he had been dreaming lately, but he couldn't remember of what he dreamed. He hated that.

"Well, I guess I owe you a little toward the place of residence, anyway. I don't know much about magic or your mystery man. How much was it for the reading?"

Not knowing exactly what he sought in accepting her offer, he had accepted it. And while he wouldn't think twice about stealing a purse in order that he and Horse might eat, he thought a person should get paid for their efforts one way or another.

[Lillis]

She gave a wave of her hand, and pursed her lips in an amicable gesture that universally read as don't worry about it. "I told you when you sat down that your reading was free. You can pay for the next one."

She reached into her pack then and pulled out a large, green apple and a knife, cutting it quickly in half and setting one half in front of him on the table -- and should he be uninterested in apples, she knew a sweet Gildling who would gratefully pick up the slack. The other half she munched in small bites, savoring the sweet, puckering her lips against the sour. She eyed him over the curve of the apple, and decided to speak plainly: "If you want... someone, you know, to talk to or just... sit down with or..." a shrug of gentle shoulders. "I set up here most days. On particularly fortuitous evenings, I may rent a room at the inn. Just in case you wanted to find me."