Conversation Space IV.

[powersthatbe]

The small room is painted a dark beige, with stained wood paneling on the lower half, and lush burgundy carpeting. The ceiling, however, is cracked and bowed, sagging alarmingly, occasionally shedding chips of plaster. Wrought-iron lamp-posts in the corners suspend pale, wan globes of light, and between them along the walls run rows of painted sunflowers, all turned towards the center of the room as if listening attentively. A jutting spire of granite rises from the floor on a diagonal, its flattened top sporting a cracked wineglass from which the wine (a white) slowly spatters teardrops across the plinth. And there is no chair, but a therapist’s couch, blue with gold trim, and ornate scrollwork on the legs, beside which the fluted horn of a phonograph player pipes music into the room, quiet enough to just be background ambience.

Comments

[capital_asset]

"Mei..." He runs down the list of Arcana in his head. "Empress?" He thinks he's heard mention of her over the network...

[iseethe]

"Mm. She marked outside of turn on two separate occasions. Even PSYCHE restrained herself to one."

[capital_asset]

He'd ask why, but that's a question better directed at Empress herself. "Is there an upper limit to the number of people you can claim? I know there was talk at one point of five people per turn, but that was before the cheating started in earnest, I think. And at the time, we didn't know whether a turn was a single Jaunt or something else."

[iseethe]

"Five on our designated marking Jaunts. Other marks count not for the total, but doing it out of turn is considered... déclassé. Which does not mean it is not done."

[capital_asset]

"...And the more people you mark, the more people you have working on your behalf during your match."

Theoretically.

[iseethe]

"Exactly. Two more now, at our World Series opening ceremony. And then, whenever Fortuna's mechanisms bring in a new influx of Travelers, we have the opportunity to claim one or two."

[capital_asset]

Empress had mentioned Fortuna when they'd spoken. "That could still potentially leave some of you at a disadvantage, couldn't it? Since which people you claim depends on which archetype they fit..."

[iseethe]

"It can."

[capital_asset]

Especially if their archetype is one of the more negative ones, the sort whose 'game pieces' are more likely to work against them than for them. Archetypes like Devil, or Tower.

Or Moon.

"So new Travelers will still be arriving for all of this... although given how we're prone to 'disappearing,' that would probably be a necessity." He's at least partially thinking aloud.

[iseethe]

"That mechanism is still running, yes."

[capital_asset]

"What other mechanisms did she leave in place?"

[iseethe]

The Moon does not reply, their porcelain face smiling enigmatically.

[capital_asset]

...Right.

Another thought occurs to him. "What happens to the winning Arcana afterwards?"

[iseethe]

The Moon reaches to stroke his cheek with their thumb. "Help me out," they say, "and you shall see."