Luke Skywalker is here to rescue you! (a_little_short) wrote in crownplazaic, @ 2021-01-07 12:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread, luke skywalker, richie tozier |
Who: Luke Skywalker, Richie Tozier
What: Seeing the future
Where: The Library
When: [backdated] Tuesday, 10pm after this
Status: Complete
Warnings: Nope
Luke knew he had a list of people that he was meant to see -- Rey and Din were front runners for his attention, and he was going to meet with them, to resume training from thirty years in the future for one, and to meet with a small child for the other. He wasn’t overly sure of this place, but he felt he could at least find purpose in being here if he was able to train the next generation of Jedi. Even if it was out of the order of time. But those commitments were for after the new year, he’d decided. Once all the festivities that seemed to be happening in this hotel settled somewhat and they could all focus on the present instead of the future. Funny that, since he was meeting with this man for the purpose of reading the future. “It’s Richie, isn’t it?” Luke asked once he found himself in the library -- and it was empty at this time of night, beyond one soul occupant, a man who looked tall even when he was sitting, his glasses thick. “I just now realized I never asked or introduced myself. I’m Luke Skywalker.” --- For someone who didn’t usually prefer to sit still and read a book on most days, Richie really liked the library in the hotel. Maybe it was that old book smell (though some of the books were old, some looked newer, some were paperback as opposed to hardcover), wafting vanilla and almonds and the funkier smells too. Crinkled paper and shit, that whole thing, whatever the whole gamut of textiles smelled like - he did readings in here on Thursdays, just kind of being available but could come basically anytime. That was why he was here now, to get more practice in. “Luke Skywalker,” he repeated, adjusting his glasses a little, getting an eyeful of the dude - who was sporting an amazing 70s hair coif, though he doubted if he was actually from the 1970s. The Force sounded both familiar and not, and Richie was curious. That’s not what he would have called his own shit, though that was too confusing to make sense of anyway. He had his cards with him, and he gave them a bit of a shuffle. “Yeah, it’s Richie. Nice to meet you. Have a seat, prepare to be wowed.” Or maybe not. Hopefully it wouldn’t end up being too underwhelming. --- Luke, on the other hand, had never been to this library before at all. Han had waved at it in explanation on the tour that he’d given Luke when he showed up -- lackluster and endearing in equal parts, as was Han’s way -- but he hadn’t yet taken the time to step inside. It was in some ways rather smaller than he’d expected. But it was also cozier, too. As suggested, Luke had a seat, leaning on the table in order to look at the cards that Richie was shuffling. This certainly wasn’t working itself out to be a game of sabacc. “Is there anything I have to do?” He asked, curious. --- “Just think of a specific question you have and let me know what it is, or I can do a general reading - past, present, and future,” Richie explained, giving the cards another shuffle. This deck was one of the Christmas presents from Audrey, and the colors were bright and vibrant - the designs were of vintage anatomical drawings, and plants and flowers blooming every which way on any spare space for art. It was a really pretty deck, chock-full of black-and-white skulls and bones too, and Richie was into it. He’d studied the guidebook that came with it so he knew what he was doing, but the Major and Minor Arcana were all there like usual. He supposed he oughta go over how it works too - since Luke said he wasn’t really familiar with tarot. “The cards are like, a tool to channel the....psychic energy?” he said, and that always seemed weird to say. “The energy gets transferred to a particular card, which leads to that one being pulled and giving the insight. The symbols on the cards mean different things.” They said the best way to learn was to teach, and he always felt like he was getting a little better grasp on things the more he did this. So that was something. --- They looked lovely, the cards. Luke was schooled enough to not reach out and touch -- he was better than that these days, less impulsive. He liked to carry himself as a man who was collected and wise, as was expected of a Jedi master. Sometimes though, it was hard to not also be twenty three and a little excitable. “Alright,” he said, appreciating the fact that learning to read these cards clearly took some study. It meant something, when someone undertook learning a skill that wasn’t always easy. “I think I’d like a general reading,” he said. “Past, present, future.” That would give him the most insight toward Richie’s skills. --- He had the deck all shuffled and laid out three cards - past, present, and future. The more Richie focused during readings, the more he tried to see if he felt any change in the energy, or in the air, or whatever - like, maybe a tingle? Sometimes he did. Sometimes he didn’t. Right now he sort of did, because maybe that was part of Luke’s Force thing. It was all about energy, wasn’t it? The first card was flipped over - and there it went, definitely a tingle, zing. “This is the Nine of Wands,” he said. “Your past. It means resilience and courage and like, a test of faith. Like, you ‘felt the fear and did it anyway’ kind of thing, or overcoming something big.” The second card he flipped over, he gave a little chuckle at. “Okay, so this one’s The Fool - it doesn’t mean anything bad.” If he saw a ‘you’re gonna die’ card, he might shit himself but so far so good. Good or neutral news was always better to deliver than something depressing. “This is your present. The card means new beginnings - and see all the white here, that represents innocence and purity, almost.” --- Oh. Luke could sense that power right away once Richie concentrated, and it was no wonder at all that he’d thought this place felt a little weird because he could also tell it wasn’t really the Force at work here, but it felt -- Force adjacent, maybe? Luke wasn’t sure, but it did get him sitting up a little straighter. The reading was a little vague, but it also wasn’t wrong and so Luke nodded like he understood and approved. “That seems accurate,” he said of new beginnings because this was about as new as any situation could be. “And the last card?” --- Right, the future. People always wanted to know about the future - and tarot was pretty vague, but that was the nature of things. Vague but accurate, Richie had discovered, at least that was the way it had been for his readings - because the visions he had, the cards he flipped, all of that seemed to happen at some point or another. The cards were more like a guide rather than instructions anyway - there was always another card to turn, another hand to play. He flipped the third one over. “This is the future and - it’s the Hierophant,” he replied. “It can mean either you’re learning from a master teacher, or you’re the one doing the teaching - so it’s a matter of asking yourself which one, I guess. But overall the meaning is, no matter if you’re teaching or not, to find your own wisdom and form your own opinion.” And there was that. No charge, Luke, though it wasn’t as if he charged people anyway - mostly just traded in whatever was available, for the hell of it. But he wasn’t about to ask for anything - he just hoped that was a delight. --- It had been something of a delight. At the last card, Luke looked satisfied. Not because he was pleased with what his future had in store for him, but because it was accurate to the things he had planned. And because he could feel Richie’s power from across the table and it didn’t have much to do with the cards, but it was a smart focus. “You’ve practiced a lot at this,” Luke said, reaching forward to pick up the last card -- although only after he looked up and made sure it was okay to do so. “Can I ask -- where you learned? Is there anything else you can do?” --- Richie didn’t mind if Luke touched the cards and he indicated as such, giving a swish of fingers which meant go ahead, pick them up. The cards were kind of ‘bonded’ with him personally, he guessed (or maybe that was all in his head) but as long as someone was gentle with them, then he didn’t mind anyone else looking at them. Hell. Protective over his tarot cards, like they were his kid or something. Someone please shoot him, in the face. Oh, but right. Questions. He poked his glasses up on his nose, glancing across the table. “Yeah, I did practice a lot,” he agreed. “Kind of had to because the way it was going before - I’d just randomly get visions, or I’d have dreams. I wasn’t sleeping much so I said fuck it and taught myself, basically. There was this room in the basement of the hotel that had a bunch of junk in it, that’s where I found my first deck and the guidebook that went with it.” As for what else he could do, well, that was the mystery. “I, um - “ He laced long fingers together, clasping and unclasping, yearning for a cigarette. “Sometimes I can hear like...thoughts. If I focus enough but I don’t really know how to do that and I haven’t tried to practice.” Mostly he’d been focusing on putting a lasso around his visions running wild, was all. --- That Richie taught himself was admirable and Luke nodded approvingly. It felt a little late in life for powers like that to just emerge but Luke supposed they’d said the same of him. That he was too old, too undisciplined. Luke didn’t think that was the case. Like this? Luke asked it, but not out loud. It was a bit of a gamble to know if the man across from him would hear it at all, but it was worth trying. --- Jesus - Richie jumped, both mentally and physically; felt like he’d short-circuited something, like suddenly overloading an electrical outlet or some shit. Mostly he was just surprised - wasn’t expecting a voice to settle over his mind like a blanket, echoing in the hot mess and calliope music and carousels that happened to be his brain. “Yeah - “ He chuckled a little, swiping his fingers across his brow. “Like that.” Answering out loud was something he did, but it was apparent he had heard Luke. It was like when Dan did that sometimes, though he hadn’t really been listening for Dan and didn’t pick up on much anymore. “I don’t - I’m not great at it though. There’s probably a trick to it. I just don’t know what it is. You seem pretty good at it though - the Force stuff?” --- Well, that answered that -- although Luke did look a little bit apologetic over the surprise of it all. He wasn’t exactly the sort to cause havoc just for the sake of it, after all. Usually. Sometimes he had his moments. Who didn’t? “The trick is learning and practice,” he said, setting the card back on the table so that it wasn’t missed when Richie picked all the rest of his deck up. “I am pretty good. Where I’m from, I’m the only Jedi master left in the galaxy.” He said it humbly enough, even if the words didn’t sound like it. “It was my intent to start a -- school. For those with sensitivity to the Force.” --- When he had all the cards back, he gathered them carefully and placed the deck into its proper bag. Learning and practice - sure, Richie supposed that made sense. Neither were really his strong suit (at least not in school - he could buckle down when he needed to but most of the time meeeeeeeh, and he hadn’t been in a classroom setting since college) but then again, he had taken the time to learn tarot. And practice - he was still continuing to practice, doing readings for others and pulling a card everyday. So that was something. “Oh, so that’s where the teaching comes in,” he grinned crookedly, one of those eye-crinkling smiles because he got it right. Possibly. “Though I guess you’re destined to start one here too? Maybe I could stand to have a few lessons.” Luke seemed like he had the patience to teach a hyperactive nerd, with his calm demeanor and his baby face. --- “Funny how that worked out, huh?” Luke said, and when he was good humored he had dimples -- it certainly made him look younger. Not that he wasn’t already young. But he did feel a little bit like he’d been destined to start one here -- with Din’s child and Rey already in line for learning. He knew those two specifically were Force sensitive but this didn’t feel much different in terms of power to Luke. “Consider it, if you want,” he invited. “You might be surprised at the things you’re capable of learning.” If Luke had been able to learn when he’d been focused on other things and always ready to give up, probably anyone could handle at least a little study. --- It wouldn’t take much convincing. Richie was pretty eager to learn more - mostly because he didn’t like the idea of this whatever sitting in his brain, the idea of being able to read minds and he sort of looked like it the way he did the psychic energy. Better to do something with it, grab hold of it before it grabs you, that sort of thing - not like he was going to use this power for evil instead of good. Why would he want to regularly read the minds of most people here? Big fucking yikes. No, it was just to know what he was capable of. Reach his full potential and all that shit. “Sure, why the fuck not?” he shrugged. “If I fail then at least I can say I tried.” Or something. Right? Maybe it wasn’t too late to get a grasp on it. He was an old dog who could learn new tricks (and, hey, it was something to do around this place which was always a bonus - idle hands, you know). --- Luke didn’t know why failure was the first thing that came to mind for Richie, and he was pretty sure it was something that they’d need to work on, but for now he let it be. “That’s great,” he said with a boyish sort of smile before standing again. “Let’s get through the rest of these holidays and then figure out a schedule that works best. Thank you again for the reading, it was enlightening.” |