deernet | video; un: tealeaf

[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.]

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Cooked or raw? It's fine either way, but I'd like to know how much prep I'd have to do for dinner.

[That's totally why someone would bring him fish, right?]

All right, just come to Cellar Door and I'll be happy to do the regular spread for you.

[Luckily for him, Luca's from the rare Disney work where animals don't talk, and fish are food, so that's exactly what Luca meant.]

Raw, because I don't know how to cook. How many do you want?

I'll be right there.

[Action spam.]
[Luca arrives, with whatever amount of fish Molly requested in hand. Freshly caught, too. Luckily for him it seems to have stopped raining for the moment, but the clouds are still thick and ominous overhead, so Luca also has the robes he was given on arrival so he can pull them over his head if it starts. Sure, this means his robes are getting fish juice on them, but liquids just seem to roll off of the robes they gave them on arrival. Besides, Luca has a natural fish scent regardless, so it's not like anyone would notice him smelling even fishier. Not that he thinks it'll matter, considering Molly's purple.]

Ciao! I'm here with your fish!

Two should work just fine. [One for dinner and one for breakfast. Never let it be said Mollymauk Tealeaf didn't think ahead.

Good god, though, that's a very fishy scent. Molly scrunches up his nose for a moment, getting his bearings, then rallies quickly, because honestly, he's waded through a sewer before and gotten monster guts all over himself. He can handle some kid who smells like raw fish.]

Ciao! [In Molly's vaguely lilting accent, it comes out more like chow.] Just put 'em on the table and I'll bring them home with me. Now...

[Hm, what to start this session off with? Molly shuffles the deck, discreetly cutting the Chariot to the very top, then fans the deck out with their faces down, looking down at the cards as if concentrating on them. Then his hand rests on the Chariot, and he places it face-up in front of Luca.]

Your past is the Chariot. Upright, this card speaks of journeys, of striking out from your home to find some place better. [He tilts his head to the side, searching Luca's face for a reaction.] You've been on a long, strange journey, for one so young. Haven't you? [He's actually thinking about the bit where they were all squids for a while there, but Molly's been at this for long enough to know how to sound somehow both vague and knowledgeable. Let the kid come up with his own conclusion, say something Molly can use for the next card.]

[Luca puts the fish on the table before watching Molly intently to see what he'd do. The first card was the Chariot. Which...isn't surprising.]

I mean, yeah, there's the whole squid thing we all did. Although, I'm not sure I'd count this place as some place better. Maybe it means when I ran away from home so I could see the human world. I was going to go to school and everything.

[Molly raises an eyebrow, things clicking into place in his head. Ah. So the kid's not all human, and he was raised away from humanity. That he ran away to the human world to see the sights and go to school says something about his curiosity. Except here he is now, in a brand new world, and apparently he's working as a fish-monger and doesn't entirely think much of the place. All right, Molly can work with this.]

You're right, that was very intense. You're all right now, though?

[It's asked as a question. He's worried about this kid in front of him, who apparently didn't come here with a friend or a guardian. Gods.

His fingers pass over the cards again. The next one he pulls is the Hanged Man, reversed: a blonde half-elf of androgynous gender hanging from their foot, hands behind their back, looking off to the side.]

The Hanged Man, reversed, for the present. Means you're stalled. [He clicks his tongue. His eyes watch Luca as he speaks, searching for his reaction.] Your plans have been derailed by your new circumstances—you're stuck, still getting your bearings, and you don't quite know what to do next. Everything's on pause while you're getting back on your feet, but it's starting to get to you, the new world, the abrupt stop to your plans, not being able to see them come to fruition back home, and this new uncertain future.

[He cocks his head to the side.]

Take this card as a sign: you can move forward. You can make new plans, see new sights. You're on your feet, and you've gotten as much of your bearings as you can get.

[His hand passes over the cards once more.]

Ready to see what the cards make of your future?

Yeah, I'm okay. I met some other kids here, and we're all staying in a house together.

[He is actually enjoying the part where he gets to live with a bunch of other kids unsupervised, even if Varian has been bouncing off the walls all month. At the same time, even though he was going somewhere where he wouldn't be around any other sea monsters back in his own world, he misses knowing that he could go back any time he wanted. Not to mention some of the comments on the network make Luca think this place might be more dangerous than it initially appears.

He looks at the next card. That one also makes sense. The last thing he remembers of his world was riding on the train to go to school, and now...now he's in a whole new world. Molly's right, though, about moving forward.]

You're right. I mean, I won't get to go to the human school back home, but the Gaze is here, and I looked around there and they have so many books. I can still learn a bunch of stuff even if I'm here.

[He nods at the next question.]

Yeah, I'm ready.

video; un: tealeaf

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