ax_main | Jester and Molly | Backdated to 2/13

A newly-arrived Jester gets her fortune told.

Jester had never lived anywhere that wasn't the Lavish Château, and she was curious. So of course, as soon as she had dropped her bags in her new room (a double room, but she wouldn't have a roommate for now, the Professor had said), she had gone on a mission. A mission to explore!

She kept her bright pink backpack with her, since it contained her most treasured possessions - apart from the figurine of the Traveler she had Drawn for herself before coming here, and wore as a pendant. And she walked out into the hallways, with that same feeling she had had since this morning (or was it technically tomorrow morning, technically?), that feeling of previously unknown freedom, the elation that came with it, and the thrill of doing something that still felt, to some extent, forbidden. After being taught to keep out of sight for her entire life, this was... different.

And the mansion, even though it wasn't the Château, was pretty cool! She started with the top floor, and tried every door she found, until she found one that was open. Her eyes widened as she spotted its sole occupant - he was like her!

"You're like me!" she blurted out, accent heavily tinting the words. Whoever this was, he had horns like her, and even a tail! His skin was purple instead of blue, but that was pretty too! She rushed forward and into the room, fingers curled around each strap of her backpack. "I've never met anybody like me. I didn't even know there were others!" Her eyes fell on the cards laid out in front of him, stopping her short as she peered curiously at the designs she had never seen before. They had to be tarot cards! She looked up at him with excitement shining bright in her eyes. "Are you a fortune teller?"

Molly blinked up from his cards at the sudden entrance, momentarily taken aback by the unexpected exuberance. But she wasn't wrong, was she? They did look surprisingly alike, which meant that Molly appreciated her taste already. A second later, his expression had widened into a grin, red eyes gleaming.

"Something like that," he agreed, leaning back in his chair a bit and gesturing at the seat across from him. "Want your fortune told?"

Jester was sitting in the chair before he was done asking, folding her skirt down under herself. "I thought you'd never ask," she joked, purple eyes glinting. The joke, of course, was that she hadn't had to wait at all. "I've never had my fortune told," she admitted, leaning towards him in her eagerness.

"Never?" One smooth gesture gathered the card on the table back into a pile, and then into a neat stack. Molly smiled at her as he gathered it up, shuffling nimbly between his hands. And maybe putting just a bit of flair into it. He couldn't help but want to show off to someone so lovely. "That's a shame, but we'll fix that. Do you have anything in particular you want to ask?"

Jester watched him shuffle the cards with obvious delight. Maybe she could ask him to teach her how to do that some time? At his question, she looked up into his face, his red eyes, and gave it a few seconds' thought. "Yes! Do I tell you, or is it like wishes?"

"You don't have to tell me," he said, meeting her eyes even as the cards kept moving through his hands, "but it does help."

"I will tell you, then," she decided, and took a moment to think about what she most wanted to know. There was so much! But in the end, she settled on, "I want to know if I will find him." She remained vague on purpose, to see what he would make of it. She hoped so badly that he was for real!

Molly's eyebrows lifted a bit, but he gave a thoughtful sort of not and shuffled the deck a few more times before setting it down on the table in between them. And he may have given it just a bit of an unnecessary flourish when he reached for the top card, but he had to milk at least a little bit of drama out of the whole thing.

"The Wheel," he said with an absent hum as he laid the card down. "New beginnings and bright circumstances. Seems like you're setting out on a fortunate path. Not a bad way to start things off."

"That's good!" Jester stated enthusiastically. Maybe she would find him! A fortunate path. She would need fortune on her side, really, given how little she knew about him.

Molly smiled, pleased with her excitement, and watched her this time as he reached to place another card down next to the first. "The Page of Cups. Emotional rebirth. Renewing or starting a new relationship." He paused, letting that hang in the air for a dramatic heartbeat. "The cards do seem to be working in your favor, darling."

"They must like me," Jester said, eyes alight with hope and pleasure. She looked up from the Page of Cups, and at Molly. "I'm very likable, you know."

"I can tell," Molly agreed solemnly, but there was a twinkle of amusement in it. The last card he pulled got studied for a moment, before Molly slowly set it down besides the others. "Eight of Cups. Leaving a bad situation for something new. Severing old ties to become your own person." He eyed the cards, then glanced back up at Jester. "Seems like you're onto something, dear."

"You think it means that I will find him?" she asked, her eyes full of hope as she leaned towards him in her eagerness.

"Certainly seems that way," Molly said, though he gestured elaborately over the spread. "Or something else entirely new. The cards are not always so literal."

Jester wrinkled her nose, lips twisting into a disappointed moue. "I mean, good on them. No one should be predictable." But she wished she had had an answer to her question.

Molly just smiled, folding his hands on the table in front of him, right under the spread of cards. "The answer is what you make of it, dear."

"That's a good one!" Jester congratulated him, and then stuck her hand out for a shake. "I'm Jester."

"Molly," he returned, reaching for her hand with a flash of a grin. "A pleasure. Did you just arrive? I'm certain I would have noticed you before."

"I did! Just a few hours ago." Jester gave his hand a firm shake, then turned it in hers instead of releasing it, to have a look at his knuckles, before letting go and smiling over at him. "I really like your rings, Molly!"

"Why thank you," he said, smile broadening. She did know how to compliment someone. "You'll have to speak to my roommate, Gilmore. Honestly, most of my decorations are down to him."

"He seems really talented," Jester stated, looking dreamily at the horn jewelry. She would have to speak to Molly's roommate, yes! That was decided. But for now, she was very interested in Molly himself. Who knew, they looked so much alike, maybe there was something there! Jester gave him a curious look, then asked, "Where are you from, Molly?"

And Molly was certainly content to wax fondly over his dear roommate, but then Jester turned the questions back to him, and who was Molly to turn that down? Even if all he did was grin, more than a little mischief in it. "Oh, everywhere really. I traveled with a circus for as long as I can remember."

Jester gasped with excitement. "A circus? Really? That is so cool!"

"It is, isn't it?" Molly agreed brightly. "It was a good time."

"Why did you leave?" Jester asked, eyes shining bright at the thought of circus life. "To come here?" The school was exciting to her, compared to the Château, but not compared to a circus! "Were there lions and tigers and panthers and elephants?"

"We weren't that sort of circus, alas. More performers, less animals. But as for how I came here, well." He made a show of leaning in a little, holding her eyes with his as he smiles. "That is quite the tale."

Jester grinned, completely taken in by the smiles, the allure, the promise of a great story. "I love tales!"

"Ah, well." Molly leaned in even further, smile widening to show off the tips of his sharp teeth. "I was dramatically rescued from some quite terrible people and brought here."

"Dramatically!" Jester echoed delightfully. She expected dashing heroics now. "Tell me everything."

And so Molly did, launching into a very heavily embellished version of his rescue from the Right. There hadn't been quite so many magic spells or swordfights in the actual version, but that was clearly a failing of reality. And somehow he managed to avoid naming any of the other people who'd been rescued along with him, though it seemed less like a purposeful exclusion than just how Molly felt the story should be told.

By the time he wound down, he was grinning and gesturing extravagantly with both hands. "And that's how I came to be here."

Jester listened with rapt attention, hanging on Molly's every word. She gasped and laughed and clapped and gaped, and eventually, she grinned at him brightly. "That is a really good story, Molly. You should make it into a movie!"

"Maybe I should," he agreed with obvious amusement. "But I'm not much of a writer. More just a storyteller."

"Then you should find a good writer to bring your stories to the screen," Jester suggested easily. There would be more than just this one, she was certain. "I would watch them!"

"Oh?" Molly promptly planted an elbow on the table and rested his chin on his hand, red eyes dancing. "And how are you at writing?"

Jester felt a little heat rise to her cheeks as she giggled. "Oh, no! I'm not very good at writing. But I'm a very good drawer though! Maybe we could make a comic book."

"Oh, now that would be interesting. And worth thinking about, wouldn't you say?" He grinned faintly.

Jester nodded enthusiastically, and turned to open her hot pink backpack and pull her sketchbook out, along with a pencil. "You're going to be awesome to draw, Molly." She flipped it open, gave him a grin, then immediately started sketching him. "And you can describe the other characters to me! I've never really thought about making a comic book before." But she loved the idea, now that she'd had it.

It might be worth thinking about, but Jester tended to do more than to think.