01<@Ardweden> [A yawning Javy steps into the Lunatic Fringe. The thick smell of incense greets him along with smokey air, and he suddenly realizes he's alone when the door closes firmly behind him. He's greeted by Medea. "Good evening, Javier Mayberry," she says.] 01<@Ardweden> [The store has shifted since he was last here; while still filled with old trinkets and the occult, a considerable amount of space has been cleared in the middle of the room. Medea's there, looking just as Javy remembers, smiling a smile filled with crooked and missing teeth. She's seated at a bare wooden table with a candle flickering slightly off its center. There's one seat opposite her.] 06* Javy goes in a couple of steps, and then looks around, before settling back on her. "Uh... good evening. Where, um... the others, where... why is it just, uh, me?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Because I desired to speak to each of you alone. Please, sit." She gestures.] 06* Javy sits down, looking concerned. "But they're, uh, they're fine... right?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Without doubt," Medea says, removing a deck of cards from her sleeve. She hands them to Javy. "Shuffle these, child."] 06* Javy looks down at the cards curiously, and then does as he's told. "What... what is this for?" 01<@Ardweden> [They're tarot cards! If Javy's familiar with them at all. "Answers," Medea supplies. "I've gathered that's what you children truly crave, and as a favor, I am going to try to provide."] 06* Javy nods, looking at them nervously, and then shuffling them inexpertly again on the table, and then a third time. "Okay, is this... did I do it enough?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Perfectly, thank you." Medea gathers the cards and straightens them expertly, then cuts them before sliding them to the center of the table. "You are going to flip a card, and it will show you a lesson - one you are trying to teach yourself."] 01<@Ardweden> ["After that, I will allow three questions, each of which I will attempt to answer to the best of my ability through this medium."] 06* Javy looks from her to the cards, and nods. "I think I... okay. I take, uh... just, just the top one?" 01<@Ardweden> ["That's acceptable, yes."] Do I, uh... I just flip? I don't, ah, need to... uh. Think about something? 01<@Ardweden> ["Whatever makes you most comfortable, child."] 06* Javy looks at the card, thinks for a few seconds, and then flips it over, setting it next to the pile. 01<@Ardweden> [Javy flips a card: Strength, it says, the picture a Lion with its mouth held open by a man in samurai armor, somehow serene even though he's standing in a raging storm. "You are Strength, and the Summer Storm," Medea informs Javy as she looks at the card.] 06* Javy blinks, leaning forward to look at the card more, too. "What does that mean?" 01<@Ardweden> [She chuckles. "It means that you're stronger than you give yourself credit for. Not physically, but in spirit. Strength is no quick thing, but it's gradual, marked by determination. Surely you've felt it when you were in the realm of dreams."] 01<@Ardweden> ["The Summer Storm is within you, and once you've mastered your own reactions and wayward emotions, your self-consciousness and embarrassment, you'll be able to mirror him in the waking world as well, and though you may be beaten, you will no longer know defeat."] 06* Javy keeps his eyes on the card, and nods slightly. "I... I know it, uh... it does feel different." He glances up at her at the end. "That's... it'll really, uh... happen?" he asks, eyes big. 01<@Ardweden> ["Not tomorrow. Perhaps never. But yes, it may. Susano-O is already there; he's already you."] 06* Javy looks back at the card, and reaches out a couple of fingers to touch it lightly, before saying reverently, "Wow." 01<@Ardweden> [Medea waits for Javy.] 06* Javy looks back up at her. "Uh, sorry. I..." He colors across his cheeks. "It's just... I never thought." 01<@Ardweden> ["It's quite all right. Take your time, but not too much - my own is quite limited."] 06* Javy nods, and colors a little more. "Sorry. Uh. Questions. So... it can be, um... anything?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Just about." Medea smiles her ugly smile. "I won't even count that one."] Uh... thanks. 06* Javy thinks for a bit, and then asks, "Why... why should the dreams be, be like this? All coming together? Is it all the, the... those others? The ones in the, um... that... uh. That don't wake up?" He colors, and looks at the cards. "Is that one question? Can I... I just want to..." He trails off, and finishes, "...more, so, I... just, if it's one question." 01<@Ardweden> [Medea frowns slightly. "Child, you must speak more clearly." Pause. "Would it be easier for you to write?"] 06* Javy blushes more, and shakes his head. He looks off away from her, towards the shelves, and says, "Uh. No, I can. I..." He closes his eyes, not even facing her, unzipping his jacket, keeping his hand on the zipper. "The dreams, they're coming together. We... we've seen it. I think. But... is that because, those... the other people who haven't, uh, woken up. At all. Is it because of them, 06* Javy so... uh. So we need to wake them to, to fix it?" 01<@Ardweden> [She flips the Nine of Swords, with a man holding his head in bed, then Death, with the skeleton and the horse. "Waking them *alone* will only delay the inevitable. Change is coming."] 06* Javy looks at the cards, which don't look happy. "So... then we need, uh, more. On top of that. But it's part, right? Is that, uh... that's what it says?" 01<@Ardweden> [She nods. "It delays."] 06* Javy nods, looking at the cards for another beat. "What, uh... so. What's the other part?" 01<@Ardweden> ["To fix the problem?" Medea asks, as clarification.] 06* Javy nods, looking up at her wordlessly. 01<@Ardweden> [Medea draws another card: The Tower. "Change to match change, and power for power. You need to restore The Tower."] 06* Javy looks at it for a beat. "Restore the Tower? Is it, uh, a real tower? Or, um, like... a metaphor?" 01<@Ardweden> [Medea chuckles. "A metaphor. There is a force out there with abilities much like the Tower. Bring this force back to its full potential, and it will be able to combat Death. This is the clearest solution. Otherwise..." She shrugs. "More likely than not, you are facing the inevitable."] 06* Javy nods, looking at the Tower, and then to Death, and back. "Okay. So, so we need a Tower. The Tower. Um. Thanks." He looks over the cards. "So, uh, one more... right?" 01<@Ardweden> ["Correct," Medea says, nodding her head.] 06* Javy nods, and thinks for a couple of beats, before again looking away, closing his eyes, and clenching a fist in his lap. "There's... over there, we met this, this boy. And a friend. He, he says that... he lives there, and. I don't know. He's forgotten a lot, like... who he is, or was. Can you... um. Can you tell me how we can, uh... help him?" 01<@Ardweden> [Medea nods, picking up the cards. She shuffles them, then sets them down again.] 06* Javy blinks at the shuffling sound, and looks back over at her curiously. 01<@Ardweden> [And she draws: Death. "What occured," she says, gesturing to the card, followed by The Fool, which she lays crosswise over it. "What he is. Unformed and lacking definition, with limitless potential." She moves to draw again, then stops and looks at Javy. "How do you want to help him?"] 06* Javy looks at the cards intently, and says, "If he... if he lives there. And that's who he, uh, he is, then... I just want to, to help him... uh. Just to find himself. Be happy, know what and, uh... who he is." 01<@Ardweden> [Medea nods, silently. She concentrates for a moment, then flips the card: The Chariot, with an unmistakable four-armed, red figure driving. "She knows who he was."] 06* Javy blinks a couple of times, and looks from the card to Medea and back. "Her? I mean, she does?" 01<@Ardweden> [Medea nods. "Though she may not realize it."] 06* Javy looks rather stunned, and says more softly, "Uh... and she, she can help him?" 01<@Ardweden> ["If you wish for him to know who he was, then yes."] 06* Javy nods quietly. "Will... will she know what, uh, how to help?" 01<@Ardweden> [Medea shakes her head. "I cannot say."] 06* Javy nods a couple of times. "But she'll know." He looks at the Chariot. "That's... I guess that's, uh. That's a good step." 01<@Ardweden> [Medea bows her head.] 06* Javy gives her a small smile. "Thanks. This... I didn't, uh, I didn't know what to expect, and it was..." He blushes once more. "I was nervous, but this was... it's a big help." 01<@Ardweden> ["I'm glad. Be careful, Javy, and I hope to see you next cycle."] 06* Javy nods, and stands up. "Thanks. I'll be back. Um. As long as I can be." 01<@Ardweden> [Medea nods.] 06* Javy looks at the cards one more time, nods to Medea, and says, "Bye. Thanks again." And then he makes his way out! 01<@Ardweden> [Javy leaves. The session ends!] 01<@Ardweden> [Session End!]