tomorrow's shadows (fated_wren) wrote in rrinitiative, @ 2012-09-20 02:56:00 |
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Entry tags: | day four, kyle, kyle and wren, wren |
what do you see?
Characters: Wren and Kyle
Setting: courtyard
The bourbon he had drunk earlier was still buzzing warmly round his system when he saw Wren sitting in the courtyard. Kyle wouldn’t have described himself as drunk per se, but he certainly was not sober either, regardless of the conversation he’d had with Meg earlier on which had been rather more serious than he had expected.
Kyle had headed back to his room to grab the gift he wanted to give to Wren, pulling a blanket off his bed at the same time. Walking across the grass of the courtyard, he spread out the blanket, then sat down on it, placing the canvas inbetween them. “This is for you,” he told her, pushing the artwork in her direction lightly. It was an abstract piece - reds and oranges, reminiscent of twisting flames lancing through darker areas of purples and blacks.
Wren looked up and was shocked to be presented with a gift. But she lit up when she looked at the canvas, smiling as she looked it over. "Something from the imagination." she said, finally understanding what it was he'd been asking. Looking up, she appeared very pleased, an expression that can only come from being surprised with something great and unexpected. "Thank you!"
He returned the smile. “Something from the imagination,” he confirmed. “I made three, and you got first choice. I was hoping you’d show me more about those-” he told her, pointing at the cards, “-and wanted to give you something in exchange. And also maybe as a bit of an apology if things were awkward last night. Sorry if I interrupted your evening or anything.”
"I really appreciate it, it's lovely." Wren told him genuinely, feeling honored that she had a painting that was actually done by someone she knew. Even if it was in passing. When he motioned to her cards, she gathered them up, and held them out towards him, so he could look through them. The imagery on them wasn't traditional by any stretch of the imagination. "You don't have to apologize. You didn't interrupt anything, and you were not the cause of any awkwardness. You tried your best to make things less awkward."
Kyle took them and looked through the cards. “These are gorgeous,” he told her, appreciatively. He had no idea about what she did with them, but he could appreciate their artwork. “I like this one,” he said, picking one particular card - the five of pentacles. He liked the image, the way that it looked like someone had scratched a five pointed star roughly into black wax crayon, then ripped and melted away a lot of the rest of the design. It was different, rough. A new take on what he could only assume was an age old design.
She smiled at him. "I like them." she said. "I'm glad you appreciate the artwork on them, I know I do." she said. "I have several decks--this is my favorite." She sat back a little looking at her gift, though she continued speaking. "The five of pentacles is a card that denotes loss. Financial loss, more specifically, though it can gear towards other things as well, such as illness. The reverse is basically the opposite, healing up, getting better, a positive push in life."
“Does it mean anything that that’s the one I liked?” Kyle asked her. Financial loss could fit him, he supposed. His ‘finances’ had definitely taken a sharp come down, given that his parents had basically washed their hands of the son who, in their eyes, ‘chose’ to be a criminal. He doubted they would ever forgive him for pleading guilty. He couldn’t work that one out - that it seemed that the crime itself was not as bad as the fact that he hadn’t fought the charge. He had, in fact, been perfectly open about his guilt. In their eyes, he had condemned himself, and that was what was unforgivable. People’s viewpoints could be so fucked up at times.
Wren waved her hand back and forth a little. "Possibly? But not necessarily. You're an artist, so it could be that you were looking for something specific, the artwork that drew you rather than the card itself. But it could. Does what I said it means make sense to you?" she asked. "Was it rightside up or upside down when it first caught your attention?"
“Rightside up,” Kyle told her, nodding at her explanation. “So - if I’m drawn by the artwork, what draws you to a card?” he asked her.
"That depends on the person. Some people look through and don't know why one appeals more than others. It's actually nice when people don't know the meanings of the cards, it means they can't jade the results by not wanting to pick a certain one." Wren said. "Spread them out in front of you and fan them out, then see which one seems like the card you want to pick."
“But - we already know that I’m going to pick one that I like the look of,” Kyle told her, confused, though still he spread the cards out and looked over them.
Wren smiled. "Put them face down." she said. "If there's nothing else that catches your eye. Or just go on gut. Pick the first card that catches your attention. Cover your eyes the quickly open them and go for the very first thing your eye ticks to. There's a lot of ways to do it, if you're interested in single cards."
Kyle closed his eyes and reached. His hand hovered over the cards for a moment, and he tried to let his mind go, before he reached and picked up a card, handing it to her before opening his eyes. “That one,” he told her.
Wren took it, setting it down in front of herself. "The Sun." she said with a smile. "A positive card all around. Either way you turn it, it's about joy, happiness, innocence, confidence, simplicity... The only real difference for the reverse is that there's struggle to get the end result."
“The reverse?” he asked her, not quite following on that point. He understood that she was saying that there were two ways to read everything, but he wasn’t sure how you would tell which way was which, or why that would actually make a difference.
Wren picked up the card and turned it upside down. "Reversed." she explained. "Yours and Leandro's cards were right side up. Adam's card was reversed." she added, since he'd seen the cards on the bar.
“...Does reversed always get a worse result?” he asked her. He kind of got it, though he still didn’t understand why it would make a difference. Or course, he really didn’t understand why any of this was anything other than random. One thing it was, though, was interesting. Fascinating, really.
"No." Wren answered, shaking her head. "Not always. It's not so cut and dried." she said. "That, and certain things people assume would be bad aren't." she added. “Sometimes people see swords, and think they're all awful, or pentacles, and think they're evil. That's not the case, though."
“Right - pentacles. That’s the one I picked out first? I just saw stars. I like stars - for me, they remind me that the world is a tiny place in the scheme of things. And I’m tinier. Stars are about seeing the bigger picture. For me. You, however, are about to tell me that they mean something different entirely,” he guessed, feeling himself relaxing into the conversation. This felt better than earlier. He could let go of some of the stress of talking to Meg and everything that came after. Recharge himself for going to find Adam in the evening.
She smiled a little at that. "I like the sound of that." she said. "And no. I don't even entirely know why people react that way? You might know better than I would. I just know I've gotten it before, when people came into the commune. I like what you said, though. About us being tiny, in the grand scheme. I like the idea of something bigger."
Kyle thought about that. "I guess that, historically, it was all to do with witches. A star in a circle came to be seen as a sign of witchcraft. And, witchcraft was seen as a bad thing. So, a star in a circle became seen as a bad thing. People came to know them as pentacles and then the design dropped out of the picture. It's the word people associate now with, not just the image. You show people a star on its own, they wouldn't bat an eyelid. Context," he explained. He paused, then added, "You really haven't gotten out much, huh?" It wasn't asked nastily, more curious.
"Thank you for explaining." Wren told him genuinely. "And no." she added, eyes ticking down for a moment, before she returned them to his. "I was brought to a commune when I was six years old and never left it." she explained. "I was educated there, but am woefully under exposed to a lot of the world, features therein, so on and so forth. I apologize if conversing with me is awkward, or I miss things."
"It's okay, we all have weird conversations, or don't get things from time to time. What was it like? Growing up in a commune?" he asked, absently picking up one of her cards at random and tracing the design.
Wren smiled faintly at that. "People asked that a lot in prison. But I've found that honestly, it's difficult for me to explain. It was normal for me. So the details you'd be interested in would be the differences between my life and yours, and I don't know what all of those are. I could tell you the things people get most wide eyed about, like not having television. I was the Prophet there, so I had a duty to perform, advising anyone who needed it."
"The Prophet? What's that?" Kyle asked, distracted from what he had been going to ask her.
"I was the advisor for the commune." Wren told him. "Brian saw me as such shortly after I arrived, and ever since then, I was trained for it, then placed in the role. I would read the lines of Fate for everyone in the commune, whenever they needed it." she explained. "I would also do general readings for the group, so on and so forth."
Kyle considered this quietly for a moment. “So - you were six, when they decided that you were advisor to everyone else?” he asked. “You know, I think I’ve read about that kind of thing. Like, children being appointed as spiritual advisors and the like? Because their innocence makes them more... I don’t know. In tune? Or something,” he suggested. It had been a while ago now. It had seemed strange then. And it seemed strange now.
Wren nodded. "That's right." she confirmed. "I don't know why I was chosen, Brian told me it was because I was who they'd been waiting for, I'd been meant to find them. But you've got the right idea, that's what I was, for my whole life."
“And what do you think?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. All his life, he’d been surrounded by people who did certain things because they were so attuned to what other people thought. Ignoring what they would think, or do, as a result. He had always tried to take a different path - never oblivious to the wishes and expectations of others, but trying hard never to let them rule him.
Wren looked down, and didn't answer immediately. "I don't know anymore." she admitted. It was softer than anything else she'd said.
Kyle looked at her with a sympathetic look on his face for a moment, then reached out and placed his hand over hers. “Yeah. I kinda... I think we could probably all get that. At least a little.” God, he knew he had no idea any more. That was becoming clearer and clearer to him. He had been holding it all together so far, but being in this environment... Before, in ‘proper prison’ as he had come to think of it, it had been simpler. Just push everything down and do your crying in private. But here, where they dangled this idea of a ‘normal’ life before you. He had begun finding his way back to himself almost immediately, only he wasn’t that person any longer. Yes, he could understand feeling lost.
Wren looked up when he touched her, not twitching from the contact or anything. She gave a little smile, and turned her hand over in his to give it a light squeeze. "Sometimes I feel like my whole life's been a very carefully constructed house of cards, and it all fell down." she told him. "And I'm not certain I have the correct tools to pick up the pieces. I suppose I'll have to learn them."
He looked at her, giving her a sad smile because, right now, he had exactly no idea what else he could offer. In the last few minutes, he had gone from feeling more stable to, once again, feeling so very much out of his depth, though he did a good job of hiding that from his companion. “Well, if you need any help - it’s not seeming like we’re gonna have a whole lot to do around here,” he offered, belatedly.
She gave him a smile. "Thank you." she told him. "You're very kind, you know. I like you." she said. She gave another little squeeze, then let go. "Anything you want a direction on?" she asked. She motioned to the cards. "We could do something fast, for fun." she suggested. "Like a card for the rest of your day."
Kyle shrugged a shoulder, helplessly. “Sure, why not,” he agreed. After all, what could it hurt. It could hardly make his day any worse. Not that he was sure he even believed in any of this - but he believed in keeping an open mind. He refused to dismiss things, simply because they were new or unfamiliar.
Wren pointed to the cards. "Go ahead and shuffle for as long as you'd like, cut the deck three times, put it back together, and flip the top card." she instructed.
Kyle collected up the cards and did just what she said, taking his time. He eased them back together, put them on the ground and carefully lined them up into a neat pile. He cut the deck, taking just over a third with the first cut, and just a couple of cards with the other. He straightened the deck once more before closing his eyes for a moment, as before, and turned over the top card. Only once he had withdrawn his hand did he look down.
"The seven of pentacles, reversed." Wren said. "So, for the rest of the day, you may find yourself not opting to fully commit to things. Whether it's an idea, people...I'd at the moment put a personal slant on it, so you're going to have some trouble committing to ideas surrounding relationships. Past that, unfortunately, it looks like you might be putting in some effort today that'll be for not." She gave a sigh. "Sorry. The rest of your day might not be overwhelmingly positive. I hope there's a light at the end of the tunnel."
Kyle sighed. “Well, if it carries on the way that it’s going - I’m not gonna be surprised. I’ve kind of resigned myself to today.” He paused and then rolled his eyes. “And, really - I’m not exactly gonna be rushing to start any kind of a ‘relationship’ in here. But, thanks.”
"You're welcome." Wren said, though her eyes remained on him for a long moment. "Kyle," she started. "It would be a shame if you didn't even make real friends. I understand your hesitations, and they're likely founded, I'm sure. But I think you're a good person and could be a really good influence in someone's life. It'd be a shame to deprive everyone of that light."
He opened his mouth, then snapped it shut. Then - he tried again. “I... Maybe. I... I think I need to do some mental adjusting first. I’m sure - I’m certain that it’ll be okay. I just - I need some time,” he explained, knowing that, actually, that was a pretty shit explanation.
Nodding, Wren gave him a bit of a grimmer smile than usual, but it was present. "I understand." she told him genuinely. "Just keep it in mind. I would feel sad, if you were so isolated that you didn't find anyone you could be real friends with."
Kyle thought about Adam. Aside from Meg, the man was the only person he would consider a ‘friend’ so far. He was just scared right now. He had begun to think of Meg as his friend, and to discover that she was a lifer. Even without details, it had given him a hefty dose of reality. He didn’t want to judge anyone for their crimes. Fuck knew, he had guilt enough himself. Yet, still. He needed to readjust. “I’ll keep it in mind,” he promised. He knew he hadn’t asked about why she was here. And until he could cope better, he wouldn’t be asking. He would be hiding, surviving as best he could, unless questions were unavoidable.
Wren watched him, then reached out again to give his hand a squeeze. She could sense the upset on him, even if she wasn't exactly positive of it's origin. That part didn't matter, she just knew he wasn't happy about something. "Let me know if you need anything." she said. "Anything at all. I'm in room fifteen. The numbers are upside down, but I'm sure you can find it without issue."
He returned the squeeze, then let go and stood. “Thanks - and the same to you. I’m in seven. Hope you like the painting,” he added, as he collected up his blanket. “I think - I’m gonna go have a lie down,” he said, decisively. He needed some alone time. That would do him more good than anything else right now.
"I love it. Thank you again. Rest well, Kyle." Wren told him, gathering up her cards once more. Kyle's idea wasn't a bad one, it seemed. She might follow suit. She gave one last light smile, then gathered everything up and headed out herself as well.