Tarot memory share [Phoenix]

[guillotineroom]

The room you enter this time is an ostentatious fortune tellers tent. Colourful silks drape the walls with intricate golden constellations embroidered on the ceiling. Various crystals, candles, magic 8 balls, and other superstitious sundries are scattered throughout the tent.

In the centre of the room is a table with ten chairs around it, and three cards laid out for you:

HIEROPHANT, STRENGTH, SUN

[ RULES | TURN-IN ]

Comments

Turn-in

[guillotineroom]

Please submit your anonymised memories here, and note which card they are for by Wednesday 15th 4pm GMT/8am PST/11am EST.

STRENGTH (slight cw for mentions of maiming and human experimentation)

[gunmettle]

The memory begins in a dingy sewer, a pair of figures looking waterlogged and worse for wear deep in conversation. One of them is shrouded in shadow and static, their voice distorted beyond recognition, though still perfectly understandable. Clearly the subject of the memory.

The person across from them appears to be a robot of some kind, with a hole blown in its head and its lower limbs missing. It struggles to speak, its voice pained and strained and young. The voice of a boy in a massive steel body.

“How are you alive in that condition?” Asks the shadow, like they expect something that is clearly a machine to be a living being.

The boy’s voice in the robot body goes on to explain in grim detail how he is a test subject, a lost and forgotten child living in an “orphanage” that was just a front for a sinister corporation’s experiments. He tells of how they shoved a special prototype device in him that allows him to control this body, and any body like it, from a distance. He hijacked it to escape, but his real body is elsewhere, lost before the fall into the sewer, and now being carried back to the facility as they speak.

“I’ll be their tool again soon enough,” he laments. “I should have known I couldn’t escape.”

The shadowy figure says nothing, but their body tenses with anger. The boy simply continues.

“In order to focus the device, you need to mentally move your own body parts. That’s why they removed my vocal cords and severed the tendons in my arms and legs. But I still managed to escape. I guess they underestimated… the strength of my will to be free!

The people in the city… security… no one would listen to me, but… you did…” He cuts off as a burst of static drowns out the name of the shadowy figure, his would-be savior if things had gone a bit better. With one final lament over how things have ended, the robotic body shudders and falls still, an empty shell once again.

The shadow is quiet for a while, fishing around in their pocket for something. Whatever they dig up is ruined and soggy with sewer water. With a sigh, they remark to no one in particular, “This is why I hate humidity, and kids.”

Time slides by in a short blur then, as the figure makes their way out of the sewer, following the blips of a radar device set into their wrist to a set of train tracks circling the city. It’s the dead of night, buildings glittering in the distance. The figure steps fully onto the tracks as the light of a fast approaching train washes over them. The boy is on that train.

The figure sets their feet, a gout of steam or smoke or something bursting from their silhouetted form with the sound of clicking and whirring metal. The train is almost upon them, and they rear back a fist and lay into the nose of the speeding train with all their might. The train’s wheels give a godawful screech as it meets resistance, the force of the figure’s fist caving in the shining steel of the train car. The figure skids back along the tracks for a short distance, pushed by the impact, but in this battle, the figure ultimately wins. The train’s cars erupt from the tracks as the sheer strength of one punch brings the speeding vehicle to an abrupt stop.

Soldiers start to pour out of the upended train cars, weapons trained on the figure.

“I’m just one unarmed man,” quips the silhouette. “Aren’t you guys overreacting just a little?” They dive into the fray, then, and that’s where the memory ends.

SUN

[mountanoffensive]

The person in this memory is in a dark place with no visible light. Except when they start singing and somehow get a HUGE spotlight effect. Where did that come from? They are apologizing for leaving someone behind, someone they care deeply about. They know that person would have tried to stop them if their loved one had known what they were going to do. But the memory-holder is certain that at least their loved one and he others are safe. They're wondering what everyone must be saying about them now that they're gone from this world. Or all worlds. Especially since they never even said goodbye. They regret doing that but also know they would make the same choice, if they had another chance. They reflect on being a solider and orphan and having to be tough for so long. By now, they understand they have to open themselves up to find true strength. They reflect on following the Rainbow Road through everything. And ultimately decide that who they were doesn't matter since they were loved.

HIEROPHANT

[briarliar]

The shadow is walking alongside two others, following the steady flow of other people as they make their way through a wide courtyard. On each side of the well kept area are tall buildings with scores of windows overlooking their progress, and the gazes of these buildings' inhabitants are staring down directly on them in judgement.

In their path is the statue of a man with a fierce gaze and long flowing beard, one hand clutching a book and the other outstretched toward the entrance. The shadow's companion stops at the base of the statue, removes their hat and places a hand over their heart. The shadow follows suit, saluting the statue in a respectful moment of silence.

Discussion

[guillotineroom]

[briarliar]

[ somebody has found a magic 8 ball and is delightedly testing out all the outcomes ]

"Outlook not good" again? Well, at least it doesn't seem to be missing from the billiard table...



[ to anyone who is here and actually wants to get work done, she seems ready to help! except... ]

I'm sorry, once again I'm not sure what they're asking of us. I thought they said taro like the root...

[rosellan]

[Frederica examines the cards]

I have never seen anything like this before.

[Though there's a bit of a scowl that crosses her face as she reads the word 'Hierophant']

[totalmisplay]

[Stoat is just sitting on the table, next to the dealt cards.]

Tarot, huh? As far as cards go, these ones suck.

I'm not sharing any memories, but I can explain what they mean at least. I guess.

STOAT'S SEMI-HELPFUL EXPOSITION CORNER

[totalmisplay]

[It touches each card as it describes them.]

Hierophant. That's like an old-school religious nerd type, by the way. Symbolizes authority, education, conformity and obedience. That kinda vibe.

Strength. You all know that word at least, right? Courage, conviction. Strength of character more than physical strength, but, y'know. May as well double up for other teams that might not know.

Sun. Not like, the literal sun, although we can double up there too if anyone's got anything. Joy, success, celebration. All that crap.

[retroductions]

[After listening to Stoat's quite helpful explanation, he "hmms", and sits.]

So, to my understanding, we must all offer up a memory we think is suited to each card's theme, and as a group, choose which fits best?

And when I say all, I do mean all. [That includes you, Stoat!!]

[totalmisplay]

Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa. So you want me to offer up not one, but three memories for you to just discard anyway?! I don't have anything that matches them that hard! I should get a pass for having done the explanation!!

[gunmettle]

[ Juzo has parked himself in a corner and is looking pretty dour as he puffs away on his cigarette. ]

There a reason all these things are about getting personal?

[ Someone's grumpy. He doesn't like sharing!! ]

[freearcadia]

Welcome to the games, this will be far from the only time - least we actually have a say in what we share this time around.

[freearcadia]

I believe I have a memory for Strength - the image makes me think of strength of will, rather than power. I will warn you that it is not a happy tale.

This involves a member of the crew - before this started, he was married with a wife and child. His wife was revealed to be a spy and his young daughter was spirited away as a child. Many years later, we were attacked but he recognized a particular sound - a bell he had given to his daughter, she was among our attackers. He chose to try to convince her to surrender, and to protect her from us - despite our assertions she could not be that girl.

[A strange, complicated expression crosses his face]

He was willing to go as far as throw himself between me and her despite our years of working together.

[He touches his forearm, grimacing]

And to shoot me.

Unfortunately, he was unable to convince her to defect, and more questions are raised about our enemy. I welcomed him back to our crew and aside from apologizing for wounding me, he didn't regret what he did.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

[briarliar]

[ new Phoenix game tradition, Harlock makes Yor want to cry!! ]

[briarliar]

[ quickly leans towards an incense burning candle's smoke and coughs to cover it up ]

Oh dear, that's a pretty strong scent!

[mountanoffensive]

... you took him back?

[retroductions]

[Times like these, he wishes he had his pipe for deliberation. Instead, Sholmes has taken to vigorously shaking a magic 8 ball as he thinks.]

Correct me if I'm wrong--and I am hardly ever wrong, being a great detective--but this group feels ill-suited to the themes of the Hierophant. As I recall, tarot cards can also relay the opposite meaning when reversed, which may be more appropriate for this lot. Doesn't everyone agree?

As for the Sun... well, a happy summer memory seems most apt!

[freearcadia]

Agree, tradition and hierarchy certainly isn't my idea of how people should be lead.

[He rest his chin on his hand]

Yes, or a memory of youth...

[retroductions]

[There are other cards present than just the ones drawn for Phoenix, of course. Sholmes cannot sit still for the life of him, and so—after losing interest in the magic 8 ball—picks a card from the deck of tarot. It's the Moon, and he holds it out.]

What a shame. I would have had a proper tale or two for this one. At least on a surface level — illusion and deception, and all that.

[Apparently he knows his tarot, too.]

it's time for Juzo's memory theater! (1/3)

[gunmettle]

[ Juzo isn't entirely certain how this works but thankfully he doesn't have to try too hard. The second he picks up the Strength card and thinks about those moments with Tetsuro all those months ago, the card does the rest, taking the memory right out of Juzo's head for all to see as it's transferred to the card.

It is a little weird, he thinks, watching himself like an outside observer. ]

now it's time for Yor's comedy tiktok contribution

[briarliar]

[ Yor fidgets nervously as she reaches for the Hierophant card, since she didn't even know what it was before coming her and now she's supposed to be the one contributing to it, she taps it gently and... ]

DEDUCTION DISCUSSION SUBHEADERS

[totalmisplay]

This is why they invented the term "tl;dr".

[Does it matter that these are visual memories. NO,]

We're gonna break this down, Reading by Reading. Except we're skipping Reading 5, because that's us, in case you have the memory of a goldfish.

HORSEY MEMORY TIEM

[mountanoffensive]

I don't really have a lot of memories involving the sun so... I guess this is close enough...

[Touching Sun to impart memory '-']

A NOTE

[retroductions]

[scribbled on a piece of paper in rushed handwriting, placed on the table, reads:]

ECHIDNA
FOOL
LOVERS
STAR

PHOENIX
SUN
STRENGTH
HIEROPHANT
(This is us, in case anyone has already forgotten. -HS)

SPHINX
JESTER
COUNCILLOR
APOSTLE

CERBERUS
CHARIOT
DEATH
MOON

YATAGARASU
FAITH
HOPE
AEON

BUGBEAR
MAGICIAN
HANGED MAN
TOWER

BASILISK
EMPEROR
EMPRESS
JUDGEMENT

NYMPH
HUNGER
UNIVERSE
WORLD

KRAKEN
FORTUNE
JUSTICE
HERMIT

TSUCHIGUMO
PRIESTESS
TEMPERANCE
DEVIL