WHO: Rafe Brightstar and Phoebe Lewis (NPC) WHAT: Sometimes even a Seer needs to consult a Seer. WHEN: Monday, March 2, 2020 | Evening WHERE: Phoebe's house RATING: SFW
The community of true, magical Seers was a very small one, and even when adding those who were talented with Divination, the numbers didn't grow by much more. The latter was a dying art, and the former was a rare gift to begin with and one that many struggled with far more than they embraced. Rafe had definitely been in the "struggling" phase of his development when he'd met Phoebe Lewis as a child, so it was as appropriate as it was frustrating to need that level of support from her now, nearly twenty-five years later. She was the only one he knew whose abilities manifested at all similarly to his, though, and given that she was only a decade or so older than him, he figured he might be spared some of the older generation's sermonizing over how the Sight should be used.
She already knew he was coming, but Rafe still stood on her doorstep for a few minutes longer than was necessary before knocking. Probably she'd Seen that, too. Phoebe's sight had always been clearer than anyone he'd ever met, which was another reason why he'd thought of her. If anyone had seen anything like this before, it would be her. "Hey, Phoebe," he said, offering her a genuine—albeit small—smile as she opened the door for him. He kissed her cheek as he stepped inside. "Thanks for making yourself available on such short notice. I know you're busy."
The house smelled like chai tea and fresh baked banana bread. It was the kind of thing that hit a body right as the door opened and wrapped them up tight. Phoebe patted his opposite cheek when he leaned in and gave her own kiss in return, after which she led him further into the house. "I can tell by the look in your sad, sad eyes that now is not the time for our normal song-and-dance about not expecting you. Your acting is getting to be really good. I didn't see a hint of it when you did your WAG presenting, even though I knew it was there."
They bypassed the formal sitting room for a smaller, much more cozy den. Photographs covered virtually every surface, but most of them were either covered in small squares of jewel toned fabric and/or non-magical and therefore still, but smiling, all of clients past and present. Two cups sat out on the small coffee table, still steaming. "Take a load off, sweetheart. In any way you want. You know I've seen some stuff, but we're friends so I'm gonna let you tell it however you need to."
Despite knowing it wouldn't be necessary, Rafe had mentally prepared himself for the social niceties more out of habit than anything. He was the optimist, the one people came to when they needed to know things about their futures, or even just reassurance that they were making good decisions. He wasn't used to being on the other side of the fence very often. He didn't answer her observations about his Betties presentation, because he wasn't sure what he could say that she didn't probably already know. Instead, he followed her into the house, absorbing the familiar sights and smells despite the fact that it had been a couple of years since he'd been there.
He took one of the cups of tea and sat curled up on the end of one of the couches. Even if he hadn't known this woman for most of his life, there was something about her and her home that set one immediately at ease. If he was honest with himself, it was probably the calmest he'd felt in weeks outside of a few blessed moments with his brother. Maybe it was simply the knowledge that after today he'd know what he had to do, one way or the other.
"Has there ever been anyone you couldn't See? Who was entirely invisible to—wait." Rafe's brow creased as he looked at her over the rim of his teacup. "Can you see him? Ari. My roommate. My..." He worked his phone out of his pocket as he trailed off, unsure how to describe the man in few words. He found the most recent picture he could on Wizpix and turned it toward her. "Him. Have you Seen him at all?"
Her initial reaction would have been to crack a joke about having seen him on the WOMP box, but the gravity and urgency in Rafe's face had her re-thinking it. "Not since that awful accident of his, and even that was second hand." Phoebe went quiet for a moment, considering. "He died. It's the only thing that explains it. Got himself cut off from whatever it is gives us our Sight. I had a client like that once—well, her sister. She got into a really bad way during a Quod match, and I stopped being able to See her. But I'm telling you the things you've already worked out for yourself." She sat back and blew on her tea, fingers wrapped around the mug. "This explains the blank spots around you, at least."
It wasn't as comforting as Rafe might have thought to have his theory confirmed, and to know that Phoebe had experienced the same with someone else before. Maybe he'd expected it to be a surprise, some new thing for the Seers to work out together, or maybe he'd hoped she'd know how to change the blank spaces. Given her response, it was obvious that she didn't.
"I noticed the blank spots right away," he said, nodding. "That I couldn't see him in the future at all. It was disconcerting, but only because I like to...well, you know, know things before I—" He waved a hand. "I'm getting ahead of myself. Which is, sadly, not a Seer pun right now." He managed a little smile at that, but it quickly faded. "I've been having these dreams. Nightmares. I don't think it's directly related, because I had them before I even knew him, but it's how this started. When he was around...touching me...." Despite hundreds of far more explicit conversations with his own clients, Rafe blushed at that. "The nightmares went away. I didn't realize at first that it was anything other than the comfort of having someone there. There were a few times I had trouble Seeing things that I wondered, but it also wouldn't have been the first time my visions were temperamental when I was over-extended."
Rafe paused to take a few sips of his tea. He was skipping to only the pertinent bits, but he figured he could fill in if she was confused about something she thought sounded important. "I got drugged on Valentine's Day. You might have read about it. Bad drugged." Phoebe was one of the few people in the world who understood exactly what that meant. "And it wasn't until the next day that I realized some of the things I was Seeing while I was in the hospital were things I normally would have Seen days and weeks past. At some point, he'd started blocking me, not just from Seeing him, but from Seeing everyone. Not wholly, but enough. And I panicked and I broke things off and I still see him sometimes because he's my roommate, but I miss him anyway, and I'm really, really hoping you can tell me if there's anything I can do about it. I've never been afraid to give someone up before, but...this terrifies me, Phoebe."
The news of the dreams was disconcerting. It was the one thing the Sight couldn't pierce and was unique to each Seer. But adding the potion to the mix had exacerbated what was obviously an already awful situation. She winced in sympathy and scooted closer. "Perils of our life. We get to See what happens, so it keeps us safe. But we stop making risks, y'know? Because we See the outcome, so we know the ones that'll work out, and those aren't risks, those are certainties." Phoebe patted his knee and then gave it a squeeze. "So, that's Seer 101. Now we get into the upper level divisions. You can't See him, but can you See around him? Have you tried that? Expanding past what's easy, what just comes. Do you ever feel the bubble? Like you're just touching the surface of a Vision?"
Rafe frowned, thinking about it for a moment before he shook his head. "I don't think—well, I don't know." He closed his eyes, because the only way to know for sure was to try it. Given his state of mind right now, he wasn't positive it would work at all, but he was just desperate and stubborn enough to go for it anyway.
He focused on Ari at first, and all it gave him was the vast expanse of emptiness to go with the emptiness in his chest when he thought about everything that had happened. A little grunt of frustration escaped, but he forced himself to take a breath, grit his teeth, and push further. All of the normal things came to him freely, the mundane, short-term things that were the visions he had every day. But he quickly realized that almost none of them featured him. His eyes flew open, and he looked at her with a creased brow. "It's hard to See myself. That's...that's different. I think I see what you mean, about the bubble, though. It's like...I can feel that there should be a vision there, that my future exists, but I can't See it. Or not all of it. What does that mean?"
She sat there, drinking her tea with quiet sips, and let him work through the problem. It was the best way to learn, and the only way in this particular instance. The Sight never came with easy answers, and forget about getting into any kind of quantifiable mechanics. There were only tools and a Seers willingness to use them creatively. "It means, hon, that there's spots of your life I can't See either. I can See around you, like your neighbors, for instance, who are very jealous of all the delicious smells coming from your kitchen, and how they're going to sign up for cooking classes." Chuckling, Phoebe sat forward and ran her fingers through his hair before cupping his cheek and then letting her hand drop back to the mug again. "Take that for whatever you want to make of it, but it seems to me like you've got a choice to make. Stick with what's safe, what can be Seen, or decide to take a risk. Fate's handed you a rare and scary opportunity to step into the unknown."
When the realization dawned on him, Rafe was embarrassed that he'd had to sit there and puzzle it out for more than a few seconds, because it seemed so obvious. "Parts of my life have blanks spots now, because Ari's there, in my future." For the first time in weeks, hope bloomed in his chest. He couldn't help thinking back to his recent meeting with Wyatt Mills and what he'd told the man: Most people come to me because they're unsure or curious about the future, but they've usually already made up their minds about the direction they want to take, even if they don't realize it. He huffed out a shaky laugh. "Because I've already decided that I want him in my life. That it's worth the risk. That he's worth the risk."
He stood up, cup still in his hands, and paced a short distance away from the couch, dodging side tables and their colorfully-draped picture frames. "Do you think—" He ran a hand through his hair and deposited his tea on a nearby surface to free both hands up to twist anxiously in front of him. "Could I break the bubble? When I was a kid, you told me that there were very few things I wouldn't be able to See if I just worked at it hard enough. That was the day you taught me Tarot—which I still hate, by the way." He gave her another fleeting smile. "If I can start by focusing on the things around the bubble, sneak my way in...." The last was more to himself to her, but by the time he'd uttered the last syllables, he'd already made his decision.
"You already know I'm not going to stay for banana bread, which is why there's one all packaged up for me to take with me," he said slowly, now noticing the detail that had escaped him upon entry. Rafe crossed to the couch once again and bent to kiss her cheek. "I may have the angelic name, but you're the one handing out the miracles. Thank you. Can I call you later this week? I want to tell you more about these nightmares and get your thoughts, but right now...." He pulled his phone from his pocket and held it up. "I need to make sure this revelation isn't too little, too late."
Watching him get to where he needed to go was its own special kind of joy. A bundle of aluminum wrapped goodness whizzed in from the kitchen at her wand's magical behest, and she held it out to him with a smile that was both knowing and maybe just the tiniest bit smug. "I really do love our conversations, darling. They're usually the best part of my day. Now get out of here and go text that man." She stood with the intention of showing him out, but paused and put her hand on his arm. "If he asks, tell him the truth, even if you don't think he'll want to hear it."
Rafe smiled at this last bit of advice, sure that there was a purpose to it that he'd understand in time. "Always do. Even when it rips out little pieces of my soul." He ran his free hand over his face and chuckled lightly, mostly nerves but with a tinge of real humor. He snatched the packaged loaf from the air. "Man, that sounded positively melodramatic. I really am becoming an actor. Thanks for the bread. Maybe I'll get to share it. Maybe Ari will finally be the one who figures out your recipe." He winked at her and then headed for the door, fingers already poised over a text message draft.