video; un: tealeaf

[viciousmaukery]

[A few days after everyone's settled in, this pops up:]

—working now? Oh, good, that took so much longer than I thought it would.

[To those well-versed in such things, they might quickly identify the androgynous figure onscreen right now, dressed in an eyesore of a coat, as a tiefling: there are the horns, the tail, the lavender skin, the red and pupil-less eyes. To those who aren't? Jesus, it's another fuckin' weirdo, and he's giving the camera a bow.]

Mollymauk Tealeaf, formerly of Exandria and the Mighty Nein and now of Trench, at your service! I'm a bit lacking in funds at the moment, so if you have some coin to spare, come to Cellar Door. I've set up near one of the statues. [And he pans the camera up to show an artistic, distinctive statue of a woman dancing, with cloth draped over her arms. Then down to a little portable table with a set of tarot cards laid out.]

For just two coppers, or whatever the equivalent is here, I'll tell you what the future has in store for you. Doesn't that sound like a steal to you?

[Advertisement over, he gets serious, and adds:]

Oh, and—if anyone from the Mighty Nein is here? Let me know you're safe. [Please.]

Comments

i action

[siriusly]

Eh-?

[it's the last part, after the ad, that stops Manabu as he's passing by, confused as to whether he's being addressed all of a sudden or not. he swivels his head to glance over.]

Uh? [wait, no, he's talking to a--the thing. weird disc thing.] Oh. Sorry.

[viciousmaukery]

[He turns to see—oh, it’s just some guy. He turns the video feed off (with some fumbling around, it’s obvious Molly’s learning to work the device as he goes), and waves hello.]

Want your fortune told?

[siriusly]

[Manabu blinks a couple times. this guy is...very purple. is he an alien?

...it's rude to stare. he bristles a bit, looking askance very quickly...before looking back right away because of the question.]

My...fortune? You mean like, telling the future?

video; un:scifo

[thinkfirst]

[ Flynn is not usually one for fortunes. He is a firm believer in making one’s own destiny through things like hard work and conviction, and no future anyone has ever told for him would have been able to predict the path his life would take.

But he is near Cellar Door, and this person (what an interesting person—like an Entelexia, or a Krityan, with such odd skin—and, well, he is a little curious, so he settles onto a bench and actually lets himself engage. ]

The trade system in this city seems to be based on bartering rather than currency, unless you’re interested in particularly shiny rocks.

[ How does he say he’s interested without feeling foolish about it…? Flynn is unclear about that. ]

video;

[viciousmaukery]

Didn’t know that. But hey, sure, why not? If you have shiny rocks then I’d love to get my hands on them.

[This guy’s going to be an easy sell, Molly can tell. It’s just a matter of picking the right words to get him here, so he can do the reading.]

Come try it out. If you’re a little busy, I’ll do a quicker read than my usual. [Kindly:] Whatever it is you’re wrestling with, I won’t tell a soul.

[thinkfirst]

I have several, as well as some food, if you require any.

[ Okay so clearly he is basically already sold, and conveniently he's quite nearby, having just come from the market. He isn't exactly busy, but it does sound nice to perhaps know what's coming for him. Flynn has always secretly liked this kind of thing, even if he's never really let himself act on those impulses. It's fun: something he doesn't let himself have often these days.

So at that promise of--secrecy? Does he need that?--Flynn smiles tentatively. ]

How does it work? I assume it's hard to find any details. My own magic has been working strangely, I assume because there is no aer here.

[ He is on his way. Sold. ]

Video

[schoolingfish]

[For a minute, all Molly will see is random shots of someone's living room as the camera seems to turn and spin at random.]

-do I turn this on? Oh! Oh, I think I've got it!

[He turns the so his face is actually on screen.]

Hi! Um...I don't have any money, but that sounds really neat! How are you able to tell the future?

Video

[viciousmaukery]

Apparently you’d just have to barter off something instead, which is just fine by me. I’ll take whatever you’re willing to offer.

[Flicking his hand, and voila! Another card appears as if by magic (it came from his sleeve)! This one depicts a pale woman, with one blue eye and one purple eye and dark hair fading to white near the tips, surrounded by flowers. Love, reads the title of the card.]

Through these. Generally I pull three cards, one for the past, one for the present, and one for the future. But I can do a one-card read, if you just want to know what your future’s gonna be like.

[schoolingfish]

Oh, that's easy! Do you take fish?

I'll do all three cards.

[Mostly because he's curious about what will come up.}

video; UN: TripleJ

[kyley_b]

What is this, the fucking psychic friends network?

Dude, we JUST came out of a fucking ocean into some creepy ass city and you're going to immediately try to scam a bunch of vulnerable people?!

video;

[viciousmaukery]

The what now.

[He shakes his head. Oh, here's a person who's a lot like Beau, pissed at him for helping in his own way. Molly simply waves it off, dismissive.]

I'm not going to scam people. [He totally is.] If I were, I'd be asking a far higher price than two coppers, and far pickier about what people are willing to barter. I'm helping people figure out what they want to do next. Nothing wrong with that, surely.

video un:wulala

[royalfling]

You can tell the future?!

[ Call him intrigued! For sharing a name with the most prolific fortune teller in Earth Kingdom history, Wu's never has his fortune read ]

Oh, boy, I'd love to hear mine! I don't have coppers, though. I have...

[ He doesn't have much. It's like the beginning of Deerington all over again! ]

Hm, how about free tickets to a show?

video

[viciousmaukery]

Oh, yes. [Oh no.] Got it from my mother. She always said I had the Gift. [No you don't.]

That's fine, that's more than fine! I'd love to go to a show, it's been a long time since I went to one. I take it you'll be wanting the standard three-card spread?

Video: UN - Runeseeker

[onerthes]

[Well, for one weird very much not-human, here's another. That third eye definitely blinked. Vira-Lorr hadn't seen Mollymauk in so many years and she'd had too much damage in Deerington that she couldn't quite recognize him this time around. However... she remembered Jester, adorable, spunky, little Jester with that freaking Lollipop spell of hers. So she definitely recognized a tiefling quickly enough.]

Ahah. You're a tiefling, yes? Like Jester... I remember her. [She smiled and gave a bow in turn. She was settling herself in a small room with a table and a crystal ball, and an abysmal lack of decorations. It was painful for the moment, but she was still working out the furnishings.] I'm afraid I'm not sure if she was part of this Mighty Nein. We didn't speak much of her past. It's been some time since I last saw her, but she'd been well at the time. She's likely fully awoken back in her world now.

Mmmm, but fortune telling you say? I wouldn't worry too much about money. They don't seem to have it here. It's more cooperation and barter, but I'm curious about your methods. How do you tell fortunes?

Video

[viciousmaukery]

[Molly's posture straightens, his eyes going wide. This woman knows Jester. Jester was here.]

She's my friend, she's one of the Nein. Was she—she didn't look hurt, did she? We were going to rescue her and a few others of our number, and then... [He goes quiet, shakes his head.] I just want to make sure. And, hang on, what do you mean, fully awoken? This feels a bit too real to be a dream.

Tarot cards. I made them myself. And yeah, so I've been told since posting this, which is quite a relief on account of I haven't got a lot of money.

video: diggs

[justoscar]

[This was a really interesting person. A teenager with bright eyes and a mess of brown curls that hung disheveled around his face peered into the video feed like any other fascinated kid-- and he grinned.]

I don't know what any of that means, but you're likely to get further by trading a few ounces of tea leaves than you are a couple of coins. This place doesn't seem like it has regular money.

[viciousmaukery]

So I've been told! Ironically, I don't have any tea leaves on me, and while I'm willing to trade away some of my jewelry, I'm not sure they'd get me much.

[On account of they're all costume jewelry.]

But I'll take anything you're willing to give, if you want a reading.

[voice | un: seeingeyefox]

[auralaura]

[Fox never bothers doing video since he can't see it to begin with.]

So you can tell the future? I'd love to know when I can see my best friend again.

[He's teasing and he knows this person isn't aware of that, so will they take it seriously?]

voice

[viciousmaukery]

[Molly, who's only ever met one blind person in his whole two years of consciousness, completely falls for it, his voice leaning towards a more sympathetic tone as he speaks:]

Certainly, I can do that. I won't guarantee it'll come to pass the way you expect, though.

action;

[foolintherain]

[ Cellar Door, eh? Conveniently, Cas was already in the area. Finding the statue doesn't take long, and in that coat, Mollymauk does stand out from his surroundings of black and white and gold. He's easy to find, and Cas isn't shy about approaching. He doesn't look nearly as impressive. Just a regular old scruffy-looking human, dressed pretty much the same way everyone else is around here. ]

Mollymauk Tealeaf? I saw your video, before. Are tarot readings still available, or did I miss the window of opportunity to barter my soul away?

action;

[viciousmaukery]

Still available! [says Molly, sitting behind the little table, shuffling through the cards with a showman's panache. He favors Cas with a fanged smile, and fans out the deck onto the table.]

I'm feeling very generous today. I'll take a trinket in place of your soul, how's that sound?

text; username: grollschwert

[hauntedsavior]

Uh huh? Predicting the future?
What've you got for someone who's seen her own?

voice;

[viciousmaukery]

[Molly takes a while to respond to this, because he's functionally illiterate and reading is something he does not want to bother with. It takes him a bit to figure out how to get the device to read the text out loud to him, and he doesn't bother to try to text back:]

Good advice, I'd hope. After all, the future isn't set in stone—maybe the future you saw isn't the one you're going to have here and now.

video | un: vyng

[spiritwalks]

Hello there, friend.

[Vyng doesn't have the best attention span. So he latches onto the last thing in the message.]

Who are the Mighty Nine? Maybe I've seen one of them around.

[viciousmaukery]

My friends. We're something of an adventuring group. [Or a mercenary group, take your pick.] Fjord's a half-orc, Jester's a tiefling but she's blue and a little shorter than I am, Caleb's a shabby-looking human who likely has a cat with him, Nott is—is a halfling in a hood, [a lie, she's a goblin, but Molly knows how people feel about goblins, and he doesn't quite trust Vyng not to hold those same prejudices,] Beau's a human in blue who's very abrasive and punchy, and Yasha's—Yasha's one of my closest friends, you'll know her when you see her. Tall, pale woman, one eye's greenish-blue and the other's violet, wears a lot of black, hair's black and white.

[He doesn't think they're here, but—maybe he's met one of them. Maybe they just haven't figured out how to work this device yet.]

Have you seen any of them?