Open Bad Omens

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot had decided to escape out to the courtyard for some fresh air while he got some classwork done. It had been warming up the past few months and with November starting it was quite pleasant outside. Finding a corner with a good wall to lean against, Elliot spread out his tarot cards, deciding to try out a new divination reading so he could do some homework on it. He carefully laid out his cards in the Celtic Cross like Professor Le Fey had shown them in class, then pulled his notes over so he could begin parsing it out.

His first card, his present, was the Queen of Swords, which referred to facing the honest truth and setting reasonable expectations, which made Elliot frown. He didn't really feel like he wasn't living up to either of those ideals right now. The next card, regarding challenges he was facing in his present, was the Nine of Swords and Elliot flinched. The same card had shown up in his last reading. It mean anxiety and guilt, which was definitely right. Now this reading was starting to make sense. Elliot sighed, looking to his next card, the Ace of Cups, which was what he had to focus on. His notes said the Ace of Cups meant intimacy and expressing deep feelings. Elliot groaned again, pushing his face in his hands. "Be nicer, please," He asked the cards fervently before moving to the next one.

Taking a break, Elliot moved onto the third card, which should represent his past. The Ace of Wands supposedly meant courage or expanding your potential and Elliot supposed that could refer to him trying out seeker. It didn't seem to fit into the scheme of the rest of the spread so much, but Elliot was grateful from the break from feeling bad about his relationship with Lars. Next card was supposedly his strengths, and Elliot looked curiously for his notes on The Tower. It was a card for sudden changes or your downfall. "That's not a strength," Elliot muttered to himself. Again though, it was another card focusing on uncomfortable truths. Elliot sighed, moving to the next card, the near future, with a sense of trepidation. Judgement. That couldn't be good. Judgement was pretty self explanatory and Elliot scrunched his eyes shut for a few breaths. A reckoning was coming, something that would let him unburden himself. Something he couldn't avoid by leaving the room every time his boyfriend wanted something. "So much for being nice," He muttered at the cards.

Finally Elliot moved onto what he hoped would be the most useful part of the spread. The next card was meant to show the suggested approach, and Elliot needed all the advice he could get. The Three of Pentacles meant teamwork and planning and Elliot thought for a moment. Maybe that meant he was going to need help with this whole thing. Katy had already helped enough in his opinion, but Elliot moved on. Next was representing what he needed to know and Elliot looked at the card, the Page of Cups. Again it was about emotions and being intuitive and empathetic, both with himself and those around him. If Elliot broke Lars' heart he'd definitely need to know how to be empathetic then he thought miserably. Next was the card for his hopes and fears and Elliot wasn't sure if he even needed to see it. It was the Two of Cups, which mean healing a relationship and accepting your preferences. Well, that was certainly what Elliot was hoping for. Some way to either make things with Lars work.. or not ruin their friendship because Elliot didn't know how to say no.

Finally, Elliot got to the last card, his potential future. This was a loaded one, the potential outcome of his relationship with Lars, and Elliot took a breath before flipping it. It was the Two of Swords. Elliot already knew from the last few cards that he didn't really like Swords cards anymore. The Two of Swords meant denying your true feelings and feeling afraid to act. Elliot's heart sunk. Did this mean after all that, he wasn't even going to be able to be brave enough to speak to Lars? It was only one possible future he tried to remind himself, but it was one of the worst and Elliot didn't feel confident that this was the one he was being shown. "What do you know anyway." He mumbled bitterly, slumping back against the wall and closing his eyes.

 

[Eutropia Vetrov]

Ro liked to be out in the open air sometimes, when he wasn't studying. Since his disastrous last year, he was having trouble catching back up. He wasn't sure how he'd managed to do so poorly on his exams, but he had, somehow, so now he had to catch up, but, mostly he wanted to fresh air and a break and the best way to do that was out in the Courtyard since most people didn't seem to go there. As he reached it however, he realised his assessment may have been wrong, as there was a younger boy sitting against the wall surrounded by what looked like Tarot cards. Ro had always hated Divination, he thought it was a useless subject. He was curious as to why the boy looked forlorn and decided he hadn't done enough procrastinating today, so why not snoop on this one, who was clearly not having a great day. As he got closer, he could see some of the cards and though he'd only taken Divination for a year, he remembered that the more dire ones tended to look like those and frowned. It wasn't like it was a science, Divination only really worked when paired with someone who was a seer, so for this younger boy to be upset by the cards, it was silly. "You know," he started, standing a little away from the boy, but close enough to be heard whilst not raising his voice. "Dire cards are only as dire as the mindset of the person who believes them. If you think, it will." He wasn't sure why he was bothering, but it got him mind off of other things, like how badly he'd trolled in classes last year. Though he hadn't trolled, just not gotten the marks he had been hoping for.​

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot looked up when someone addressed him, fumbling with his cards. He hadn't realized anyone else had been paying attention, so absorbed in the deck and flushed with embarrassment at his own outbursts. He vaguely recognized the older boy from around the common room, but Elliot had no idea what his name was. It seemed like he was trying to offer some advice, though Elliot frowned when he tried to parse it out. "Okay.. but how do I stop thinking about it now that I'm.. well.. Thinking about it?" He asked with an edge of desperation. If Elliot ever learnt to the secret of just not thinking about his problems, it would make his life so much easier. Though he did feel a kernel of guilt for getting a reading like that and still thinking he could ignore the problems between him and Lars.

 

[Eutropia Vetrov]

Ro puffed out his cheeks a bit as the younger boy asked him a question he hadn't really been prepared to answer, though, he supposed he should have known it would be the obvious question. He hadn't really thought through anything when he'd approached. None of this meant anything to him to be honest. Thala had always been the more pragmatic one, that was what she was a Gryffindor and he was a Hufflepuff, though she was in Scotland, so he couldn't really just ask her. He sucked air in through his teeth and shrugged. "Sorry, I dunno. I mean, I didn't really think that you'd ask me anything," he said, shaking his head. He realised he wasn't being much help, but, that was how it was. "I mean, you know it's all just interpretation right, so... I mean really you could be wrong?" The cards had obviously confirmed or denied something pretty big for the kid, but Ro had never liked Ancient Runes or Divination, so he had no idea what any of the symbols meant. He almost wished he had just to help this guy. "They only ever mean anything to Seers and I mean the proper ones not those fake ones that make you pay for information they could get by reading a book." He frowned. Divination was annoying enough as it was without worrying about con artists and crack pots. "This won't help, like, at all, but have you tried just... not thinking about it?"​

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot scrunched up his face in confusion when the other boy said he hadn't expected Elliot to ask him about what he'd said. He supposed he'd never have the nerve to approach a stranger like he had so maybe he wasn't supposed to have questioned it? Elliot had enough problems to worry about than etiquette on advice from older students and focused instead on what the guy was saying after that. "That's true..." He admitted slowly. It really would be a lot easier if he was wrong about all of this. "It's just.. I've been getting the same answers all semester," He said sadly, frowning particularly at the Nine of Swords sitting innocently on his spread still. But the older boy was right, Elliot wasn't a seer, so he could just be reading too much into things. He couldn't help the choked laugh at his next piece of advice though. "If only," Elliot shook his head, sweeping the cards back into the deck before he could stare at them too long. "Does that work for you? Can other people really just uh. Do that?" He asked, looking back up at the older student as he absently shuffled his cards. Elliot felt like he'd not been able to stop thinking about worrying things all his life and the idea of just.. stopping seemed impossible.