Strawberry * Jamais * Kokoshi * Miss Mayena * Tomo
marwolfer * general_amlex * lovest harding * kuku * Rainbow Danger
Sky Young * Mercury * Glory * Fried
round two
lovest: Judgement
Truths reflected in the face of fate; each memory a stain on who you've become.
Moments pass inside its gaze, captured and replayed.
When final judgment falls, there will be no escape, just reward or punishment. Mercy or damnation. Life or death.
Jamais: The Hanged Man
Jam grabbed her card-The Hanged Man. Despite the name she knew it was not a dark sign. The fool who settles beneath a tree, intent on finding his spiritual self, climbs a branch and dangles upside down. Coins fall from his pockets. As he gazes down on them everything changes perspective. He's hanging between the mundane and spiritual world, able to see both. Perhaps she will achieve the same sense of clarity soon!
marwolfer: The Lady of Shadows
The Lady of Shadows is one of the most feared and misunderstood cards. Like death, she can hold many meanings, though men fear her presence. The star on her forehead casts a perpetual light so that any who gaze upon her only see a shadow.
Strawberry: The Fool
He keeps all his worldly possessions in one small pack tied to a staff, and he the Fool, knows not where. Thoughts, visions and day dreams distract him from a cliff, they tempt his fall. At his heal, a small dog harries him, or at least tries to warn him of a possible mis-step. He, is known as 0 full of endless possibilities, supposedly a warning too.
Mercury: The Prisoner
The Prisoner, enslaved by wants and desires of the mind and body.
The Devil, whispering, encouraging on.
The Regret, of the Prisoner, knowing they've lost all light and everything good.
Fried: Death
Kokoshi: Dominion
Dominion Card: A Triumphant Chief watches the invader retreat in ignoble defeat from his native shores, but destruction remains in the form of oil on the water and fire in the sky.
In traditional tarot "Dominion" corresponds to the 2 of Staffs, representing Power and a Choice, and here one staff symbolizes the murderous technology of the Colonists and the other the Old Ways of the tribe.
This Chief warns me of the danger of using the sixgun to avenge my tribe's slaughter, but he wears his war paint and feather bonnet with the invader's suit and tie, and like him I am now part of my enemy and my enemy is part of me.
Mayena: Life
The intricate art of this card comes to Life in your hands. You can taste the rich cheese, sweet fruit and fine wine she offers you... you can hear the clear spring tinkling in the background shade. Life represents peace, pleasant moments and satisfaction-- the physical beauties and treasures that bind us the mortal world and inspire our hapless struggle against its inevitable conclusion.
Rainbow: The Sailor
Amlex: Ruin
The bells toll ominously, midnight has fatefully come.
All her dreams dissolve in a shroud of mist
Hopes of a wonderful life are ruined with the return of normalcy.
round threee
Mayena
Strawberry
Mercury
Kokoshi
Amlex
Rainbow
Jamais
Marwolfer
Lovest
general_amlex
|| 
Her body grew cold as twilight approached. Amlex leaned over and gave her a final embrace. With tears streaming down his face he looked into her vacant ones.
Softly, he whispered his parting words, " I... I'm sorry that I... couldn't be there when you needed me most. You always were the one to lead, but I fear you may have gone where I can't follow." A reverent bow and with that Amlex turned from Meg. Never were there two people so broken. Alone.
They had always had each other. Childhood sweethearts is what was always said of them. Meg would always be off on some grand adventure with Amlex being dragged along for the ride... That was the past now. Things change.
He left the house, hesitant at first, but with a growing confidence. Although his resolve was firm he was unable to calm his shaking hand. He reached for his matches. A strike. Acrid flames began to crawl along the surfaces of the walls. Devouring everything.
Amlex watched until the last of the flames had died out. Desolate. Meg's old hat still spun round and round in his hands for a time. He wept for his bleak future. His spirit would have been broken had he not realized the glint in the horizon. His ring. It reminded him of their promise.
A clenched fist. He spoke these words with a quiet voice. "See you on the Other Side."
Rainbow Danger
|| 
The two had always hung out as children, Rainbow being a cute little girl who was always wandering off and playing with the flowers. That is how she met Matty, a tom boy who always liked to dress up as a knight with the limited clothes she had and play around. The two instantly became friends, despite how different they were. Rainbow always wearing bright, cute things while Matty wearing darker, boyish stuff. That is how Matty decided that Rainbow would be her princess, and she would be the knight to protect her. They always played like that, pretending to fight off bad guys that looked rather tree-like. Even though the two females were so different, they were perfect for each other. The way after an exhausted day of playing, how they would fall and lay in the grass. How their bodies molded perfectly against each other as they snuggled. Neither told the other on how a smile lit their face when the other was in view, or how their hearts pounded when they stood so close. Neither told the other how much they loved them.
But, they were never given the chance to confess their feelings. When Rainbow went to the usual place where her and Matty played, she was not there. Every day Rainbow went to that place, her heart breaking each time her secret lover was not there. After a week, her mother told Rainbow that Matty's mother said she had vanished, and they think that she had been kidnapped. Scared to be without her knight, slowly Rainbow's eyes dulled from the usually curious spark they had. Her wardrobe grew darker, less happy and energetic. Tattoos started to mark up her once perfect skin, so that Rainbow would never forget her Matty. As years went by, Rainbow went on any trips she could find, never once thinking that Matty might have passed away. That is why she partook on this adventure, although still being slightly the scared little princess, her drive to find her lost love pushes her forward, even if she has to die doing so.
Keshhi Kokoshi
Becoming a man I received my spear and the scarification tattoos. I then went into the wilderness alone and fasting, on my vision quest. The scream of a falcon led me to a strange door standing without walls, and from the door came a hideous evil. I fought. All around swirled mists of confusion and I stumbled lost, but I was buoyed up by pride, for the monster that had come from the door disappeared along with the door, and I thought I had passed the vision's test. I found the falcon and felt triumphant when it guided me back to my village. I was ravenous after the long fast, and grateful when the Harvest Pheasant fed me. The fruit she gave me was sweet, but sweeter was her smile, for the maiden who danced the role of the Pheasant was my beloved.
That very night during the feasting and dancing I slipped away to plait for her the bracelet of rushes: if she accepted it, she would be my bride. I was pulling rushes and dreaming dreams of our future together when I heard the screams. I ran back. The door that I had thought was only a part of my vision stood now in the middle of my village. The vile thing was disappearing into it, and all around was carnage. Just as I threw my spear the door closed and vanished. No one but myself remained alive. I turned over bodies but my beloved was not among them. I have followed the falcon’s flight ever since. It has led me to the gun, and to the path of revenge against all evils I find, and my prayer is that one day the falcon will lead me to the pheasant maiden I loved and lost. But would she know me and love me? For now I am a gunslinger, like the monster that massacred my people.
Changes in avatar from young to old: his eyes have taken on a cynical look instead of wide and shining with visions and love. He has grayed with age. He carries guns instead of spear and wears more gunslinger clothes though he retains much of the look of a native of his village including of course the scarification tattoos. The autumn leaves falling around him refresh his grief, reminding him of the harvest season when the massacre occurred, and his smile is false.
lovest harding
|| 
It was love. It was greed. It was humanity.
He touched my heart. He loved me. And I loved him.
We were oblivious and when the winds changed, we didn't notice.
It wasn't until I found that damned thing, that box full of promises and lies, that we knew what had hit us.
It promised me happiness. And I took it. It promised me eternal life. And I took it. It promised me everything. And I took it.
But I hadn't realized what was happening. I thought it wanted us. It took everything. It took him.
My happiness was ignorance. My eternal life was empty. My everything was nothing.
Its spell didn't hold.
My mind fought out of the ignorance. I learned to live with the endless horizon of eternal life.
But I couldn't find anything to replace him. I had taken my everything and threw it into a box.
I was alive forever, but I was dead. So, I walked, with only my memories and a gun.
Miss Mayena
:: 
Mayena was fourteen when her father, a small innkeeper, arranged her marriage to a wealthy but ancient banker to pay off a loan. He was pale, cold and possessive. He hid her under mountains of clothes and shielded her porcelain skin from the sun. How strange, then, that their son was born the color of amaretto.
Three days later they found Mayena weeping on the edge of town, red blood vivid on her pale green overskirt. Nestled in her lap was a wild-haired outlaw. He was dead with a slug to the stomach. In his dark arms he held Mayena's child, mangled and broken. She whispered a name that no one thought to catch as she ran her fingers forlornly through his tangled, white-streaked locks. A few feet behind them lay her husband, staring glassy-eyed at the sun.
They didn't see Mayena slip her lover's pistol into her bustle as they pulled her stumbling away. A white horse went missing from a nearby farmer's stable. The funeral was on Friday, and the town was in a tizzy because the widow had disappeared. They beat the dirty stranger with a freshly-hacked white mohawk who spat on the banker's coffin and threw her out of town. Turning away with a grin, Mayena hasn't been back since.
Jamais Changeant
|| 
Jam was restless at the camp site. She hated not having something to occupy her mind. She hated to think about her past. But think she did...
"What got me here? I was a good ol' girl back at Papa's Saloon. The town was small, but it was home. I was like any restless teen though...always lookin' fer excitement. Nineteen years old and I thought I was smart. I thought I knew how to handle myself. I thought I knew how to handle him. The bad boy from outta town. He flew through the town, slingin' his gun and robbin' us blind. My growin' pride had me after him without a thought. I knew I couldn't do nothin' to stop him. Turns out, when I caught 'im I rathered to stay with him than to stop him.
He took me on, taught me the tricks, hardened me. I don't deny it, I idolized that darn outlaw. I loved him. He was ten years my senior. He saw me as a little girl rebellin'. I guess that's really all I was. We traveled a lot. I didn't ask many questions 'bout what we did. Didn't know what my parents were doin' all that time. Didn't know that he would lead me back to my own town.
I didn't recognize the place. It'd been a while. We rode in, shootin' at the sky and hollerin'. My parents came out. They didn't recognize me, I recognized them. They ran at us and he shot 'em. He'd killed in front of me before, but these were my parents... I was mute. He just laughed. He knew who they were. He was harder than I thought. I was too slow. I didn't think to pull my gun. I guess that was his way of gettin' rid of me. He rode off faster than I could blink away the tears.
I've grown since then. I'll find him again. Next time, I'll be the one laughin' over the smokin' gun."
marwolfer
|| 
Making camp didn't take long that night, so everyone settled down around the fire to tell their stories. When it was Marwolfer's turn, she took a deep breath, staring into the fire. "I once lived in port city far from here, in the time before the world moved on. I worked in the shop of my father; he was one of the most important merchants in the entire city. Lord Aaron, the ruler of our city, would come personally to do his shopping. I was thirteen when I first met him. His name was Geoff, and he was the son of Lord Aaron. He was the most handsome male I'd ever seen, and my foolish heart immediately fell for him. However, I didn't know that he was a cruel and foolhardy person. When I confessed my feelings for him, he rejected me. Heartbroken, I left the city for the nearby caves where it was rumored a witch lived. I found her in a cave far from the city lights. She was fearsome and hideous, but I actually believed that she was my savior because her magic had already begun to work on me. I begged her to take the pain away... and she did. She cut out my heart and left me stranded on the beach many miles from my home. When I finally found the strength, I vowed to hunt her down. I bartered around before I got my gun, but now I'm looking for her. I will do anything to kill her and get my heart back."
-------
Lovest
Marwolfer
Two orphan twins, playing with their toys.
Jamais
Jam saw herself in these children, they would be the ones that she reached out for.
Rainbow
Kokoshi
They were mostly assimilated but they caught my eye because they had used chalk to imitate the scarification tattoos of warriors: they had not forgotten the face of their father.
Mayena
Twins with different interests. Mayena likes the girl's pants.
roundwhatever
Kokoshi
They prayed for anything edible, even one egg. What happened next was the gods' cruelest practical joke. It was so absurd, both father and daughter began to laugh until they cried. They couldn't seem to stop. I was afraid they would laugh themselves to death.
Jamais
Jam felt her heart fill with fear when she glimpsed the old man's true form. She tried to look away...to stop the laughter...and saw a man standing outside the window. He holding someone's hand, but Jam didn't realize that the hand wasn't attached to a body until the man lifted it higher. He was grinning with vicious, mad, glee at his kill. The demon looked out at the man and grinned in approval.
Lovest
Maniacal wasn't enough to describe the laughter that echoed from the beast.
Marwolfer
marwolfer couldn't help but overhear a joke the old man was telling. "So this lady is getting ready for a big party. She has been saving for months so she can hire this famous fashion designer and hairstylist. The day of the big event, she spends sixteen hours getting ready and is about to miss her ride, so she doesn't have a chance to look at herself. When she arrives at the party, everyone is laughing at her. She assumes that it is just because they are so happy to see how beautiful she is! But the laughing doesn't stop all night, so the woman goes and looks at herself in the mirror. She realizes that she looks so absolutely ridiculous that she starts laughing, too, and laughs so hard that she dies! I guess that gives new meaning to laughing at yourself!
