Gale's Fortune

[Anselm]

Gale's Fortune 02 Fall 512 Marketplace in Zeltiva OOC : Continued from Anselm the Fortune Teller. The interior of the tent was dimly lit from what little light could make it through the sides and the entrance. It was empty except for a wooden table and two wooden chairs, one of which was occupied by the fortune-teller, the other obviously for the customer. Cold, empty, gray eyes studied the young man from beneath a deep burgundy-colored hood that cast a shadow across the Nuit's face, obscuring its details. The scent of apricot perfume hung in the air, masking the smell of decaying flesh. Mostly. The young man's clothes were torn and splattered with blood. He had an anxious, almost furtive, look about him. What have you been up to? The fortune-teller wondered. Anselm was tired. Tired of this decrepit body he possessed. Tired of the endless days, one following another with little discernible difference. Tired of life. Or death. Or undeath. Whatever his shadowy existence should be called. When he answered the young man's question, it was with a slow, deep, raspy voice that sounded like he was trying to talk and gargle gravel at the same time. “Yes.”

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Leaning forward slightly, to slide the miza over to the fortune teller, Gale thought briefly of a way to say what he wanted to say without sounding completely hopeless and pathetic. Even though, depending on your point of view, he kinda was.

"You don't get into trouble often, do you?" Gale asked, though not waiting a response because he didn't care."I don't look for trouble, you see, but it seems to me trouble is always looking for me." He felt like a boy again, asking his mother for advice about a bully or something. "So I suppose my question is simple enough. How would you prevent trouble to coming to you, and if it does come, how would you get out of the situation? Preferably as pain free as possible, mind you."Yep. A kid again. "It might be a ridiculous question or one that seems as though it should have been answered already but that's not exactly the case. My positioning in certain situations haven't been pleasant and I'm getting rather desperate. Wouldn't anyone?" Gale started to ramble slightly.

It was odd asking a stranger for advice, especially for advice such as this. But like Gale stated, he was getting rather desperate. He didn't feel like letting people use him anymore so any advice wouldn't be taken lightly. But maybe he just wasted a miza...

"I understand that I might be in the wrong place for this type of question but I don't think either of us care at this point. As long as you're getting paid and I get my help, correct?"

OOCI would really love it if you gestured to some sort of magic or God/Goddess somewhere in your reply. You don't have to but it would be awesome and very much appreciated.

[Anselm]

Anselm considered the young man. His self-absorbed monolog matched his physical appearance: He was a mess inside and outside alike. But at least he had asked a intelligent, honest question, something that in the Nuit's experience was rare. His mind reached back across two-and-a-half centuries to another time, another place. Master Ahn sat beside the brook that bubbled past the dojo. It was a warm day. A gentle breeze plucked orange leaves from their branches and tossed them at Master Ahn's feet. Anselm had a question. “Sometimes an oracle is embraced and integrated by the recipient,” he began. “Other times it is as though it bounces off an invisible shield, never quite reaching the recipient of the word. Why is it one way with one person but the other way with another?” Master Ahn was silent for a long time. Anselm was used to this. When the sage spoke, there was a touch of sadness in his voice. “Sometimes a man is not yet ready to hear the truth about himself. Many, perhaps most, will never be ready. With them the oracle goes out full of wisdom and returns empty. There is nothing you can do about this condition except notice it and move on to the next person. But sometimes you will find someone who is ready to hear the truth. Such a person is worth the wait.” Anselm's attention returned to the present. “I cannot help you. But perhaps an ancient oracle can. Let us see what we shall see, shall we?” The old Nuit took a small cloth bag from his pocket and carefully untied the leather cord that tied it shut. He poured the contents out of the bag into his right hand, which he held out so that the young man could see what he had. What he had were eighteen tiny carved bones with a bewildering variety of designs etched into them. He turn his hand over, letting the bones fall to the table with a clatter. Then he studied them. Suddenly he reached out with his left and and placed two fingers lightly on the back of the young man's right hand. He always wore thin cotton gloves when working with customers because many people found it disconcerting to be touched by cold, dead flesh. He intoned the words of the ancient oracle: Heaven above, strong. Fire below, luminous. Employing strength with illumination, Making illumination effective by strength, Being truthful within and adept without, Developing oneself and others as well, It is therefore called sameness with people. The reason Anselm touched the young man's hand was to allow his Auristic abilities to come into play. He had discovered that with very little effort he could attune his aura with that of the other person just enough to be aware of the emotional layer of his aura. He couldn't identify particular emotions with this light a touch, but he could detect sudden changes. And that's what he was looking for. As he recited the ancient words, he would usually detect one or more “spikes”. He believed these to be words that resonated with something in the person's unconsciousness. Often the unconscious self knew more that the conscious self. He would use this information to formulate a question that he hoped would create an intersection between the person's current situation and the oracle, resulting in a “fortune-telling.” Unfortunately, in this case he detected no variation in the young man's emotional aura, which left him solely reliant on the teachings Master Ahn had taught him that surrounded this particular oracle. “This is an especially difficult oracle to understand,” he said in his usual slow gravely voice. “There are many layers of meaning hidden within it.” He was silent for a few moments and then spoke again. “Suffice to say that sameness with people means being all things to all people, being able to adapt to any group of people you meet so that they are comfortable with you and you are comfortable with them. More often than not, the secret to this is to conceal your own inner illumination from those who might find it threatening. “I hope this answers your question.” THE ORACLE : The 'oracle' and its related teaching comes from the thirteenth hexagram of the I Ching or Book of Changes, an ancient Taoist text. See bibliography. I use a random number generator to select one of the sixty-four hexagrams for each 'fortune' Anselm tells. OOC : I took the liberty of having Anselm touch Gale's hand and of Gale allowing him to do so. Let me know if that's not okay and I will change it. OOC : Sorry I can't provide magical incantations, smoke and mirrors, etc. Not even any appeals to the gods since Anselm is extremely skeptical about them.

[Gale Austin McCenry]

OOCIt's fine, don't worry about it. It wasn't a major detail or else I would have had Gale ask a different question.

Staying silent from then on to not interrupt what the Nuit was doing, Gale was told that he was going to get help from an ancient oracle.

Heaven above, strong. Fire below, luminous.
Employing strength with illumination,
Making illumination effective by strength,
Being truthful within and adept without,
Developing oneself and others as well,
It is therefore called sameness with people.

He was right, it is hard to understand fully. But with the Nuit clearing the idea of it up, Gale thought.

Adapting? To...Him? How would he ever get use to and be comfortable with people like that? He wasn't even comfortable with himself anymore and he only murdered one sailor. Imagine being comfortable with people killing with ease. Himself killing without a second thought. That seemed like an impossible task. But maybe it didn't only apply to them. He could use it for other situations as well. He would most definitely be thinking about this later.

With a nod, Gale stood up,"Yes, it certainly does help." The conflicted blonde assuming the man had nothing else to say because of his last question. "Unless you have another thing to add then I shall leave you to attend to future customers." Gale looked at the hooded undead for a moment before turned and leaving the tent, returning back to the bright and busy market.

Adapting...

OOCIf you actually had something else to add then just tell me, I can modify it to where he stays, but if not then I think that's a wrap.

[Arcane]

Rewards and Treasure! Anselm : Experience Points +1 Fortunetelling Lores Ahn's Teachings: Individual Acceptance of Oracles Gale McCenry's OracleHeaven above, strong. Fire below, luminous. Employing strength with illumination, Making illumination effective by strength, Being truthful within and adept without, Developing oneself and others as well, It is therefore called sameness with people. Gale the Trouble Magnet Miscellaneous Ledger: +1gm Comments I do realized here that I should have given lores relating to Ahn's teachings in mini-flashback moments such as in this one. If you want, feel free to compile a list of already graded threads that have mini-flashback moments and which you think would be able to garner an "Ahn's Teachings" lore. re: Auristics, you're eligible to use Auristics in such an off-hand manner since you've worked for the points, but it won't net you any XP because there is no progression since it's just repetition. Gale McPainty : Experience Points n/a Lores Gale McCenry's OracleHeaven above, strong. Fire below, luminous. Employing strength with illumination, Making illumination effective by strength, Being truthful within and adept without, Developing oneself and others as well, It is therefore called sameness with people. Anselm the Seer Zeltiva: Anselm's Tent To Adapt to One's Situation Miscellaneous Ledger: -1gm Comments I wonder what would Gale make of this in the future... how would it affect his future interactions with Iggy? In Conclusion This thread is such a tease; I would have preferred to see more from Gale but I suppose that it can happen next time