wyld_dandelyon | Divination Time!

Look at my beautiful new icon by

meeksp! She captured the bright enamels, the different metal colors, and even the casual integration with daily life shown in my Torn World-style readings by Rai-Kunabei. Thank you, Meeks!

(For those who don't know, she periodically draws an icon as a random "door prize" for one of the people who comment on her drawings. You should go check out her art.)

I've done this before. If you hang out here, you probably know what to do. If not, and you want more information that the notes below, go here for a bit of information. (I'm carving a bit of time out of my lunch hour to make this post, so please pardon me if I seem rushed!)

EDIT: THIS DRAW IS CLOSED. However, if you missed it, and really want a card or three, I'll add you to the queue for $5/card.

Please leave a question or comment, and a tip if you can. Anyone can request a free card. As a thank-you for people who tip $5 or more, I'll do a two-card reading, and $10 or more, a three-card reading. You can suggest a divination method/deck if you have a preference, out of the ones that I use.

I will probably do most of the readings over the weekend, however, I wanted to get this posted so anyone who particularly wants a reading drawn on the Equinox has that opportunity. Please let me know if a reading done during the equinox would be particularly meaningful to you. Otherwise, patrons will be given priority on readings. Please note: I do readings to the best of my ability to provide inspiration, insight, and entertainment. Please go see a mundane professional if you need one.

Again, sorry for the brevity of the introductory post! Gotta run!

Oh, dear, I almost forgot to put the hat out!

Tips so far:

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Horrah! I would love a reading from Rai-Kunabei on the topic of an art project I'm embarking on. :)

You climb up through a beautiful autumn day to get to Kuleilyi. The leaves are mostly on the trees, still, brilliant golds, oranges, and reds, with an occasional purple or brown. As they let go of their branches, one by one, they drift down slowly, turning in the wind, sometimes seeming to flutter. They remind you of the butterflies when you walked this path last spring.

When you get to the tiny town, you find that Rai-Kunabei is not there. The teenage boy who you're talking to explains that she has climbed up into the mountains to check out something one of the goat-kids found. "No, not a baby goat, one of the young goat-herders. Listen carefully--the word is slightly different, though that's what most lowlanders hear. Would you like to go look? Someone could be found to take you to her..." the houng man trails off, suddenly sounding uncertain, "You do know how to spin ball, whistles, don't you?"

You shake your head. Even if you did know, you don't want to go higher than this nice, safe little town where every tall promontory has bells on the roofs.

He leads you to the Mayor, an old woman who is sitting under a tree, mending clothes. She tells you a story about Dragon and Rock Tender, which you follow by telling the story

Skycat and Woodpecker Make a Bet. The two of you gather a small audience, but only young children. The rest are either practicing their whistle-twirling or already up the mountain. The mayor is about to start another story, the tale of Phoenix and the Autumn Leaves, when there is a sound of many people talking. Rai-Kunabei walks up, surrounded by several dozen young people--young adults and older children. With her is a heavily muscled older man, who is grinning broadly.

"So, what did you find?" The mayor asked quietly, her hands still busy with her needle and thread, but people settled down, most of them sitting on logs or benches or the ground.

Rai-Kunabei said solemnly. "Wraiths did indeed strike the mountainside, up where the old apple tree used to stand."

"And there's a rich new vein of ore exposed up there!" The man opened his huge hands to show hunks of rock. "Definitely iron, and maybe other metals too! We'll have to build a mine entrance and some bell towers, but we can stop trying to dig the Riboyorl mine deeper, now. We will have a new nine, the Karliyorl."

People pushed forward a mid-size child of indeterminate gender, and the big man pressed a hunk of metal into the child's hand. "Thank you, Karli, for finding the new mine!"

Then there was an impromptu party, people bringing out food and musical instruments, and dancing, and the blushing child assuring people, "I'm glad I didn't encounter the wraith that did it! I'd rather be a smith than a Rai!"

It's a little while--not until after the smith who is making Rai-Kunabei's new disks has agreed to try Karli as an apprentice--that Rai-Kubabei takes you aside. "Did you come for a reading?"

You nod, and smile.

"For your--" She waves toward your belly.

You shake your head. "No, not this time. This time I'd like some insight regtarding for an art project I've started."

She leads you to her tree and lifts the leather bag down out of the hollow where a branch meets the trunk. "I know I carry these almost everywhere, but not into the mountains when someone saw signs of a wraith. These are heavy, and I wouldn't want them to get all warped and scorched."

"Do they ward off wraiths too?"

"I doubt it--these are silent, to the ear, at least, no matter how loudly they sometimes speak to my mind. But," she reached into a pocket and pulled out a rock--no a piece of ore. "Look--you can see where the metal in the rock is, and it's all crackled and iridescent like my ball-whistle."

You looked, and nodded, then she placed it back in her pocket. "Let's see what the disks have to say about your artwork." She reached into the leather bag and pulled out a disk. You can see that it glows a rich gold in the late afternoon sun. She turns it over and hands it to you to look at. Depicted in the enamels, in amazing detail, are a man and woman, all dressed up and with a string of bells suitable for a rooftop wrapped around their shoulders.

"Marriage," Rai-Kunabei smiled. "The embodiment of human-made connection. This disk invites you to think about how things are connected harmoniously and fruitfully within the art--and also about how you will use this art to connect with your audience.

You thank her, and the two of you head back to the party. As you head down the mountain later, you think not only about the ambitious art project, but about Kuleilyi culture, and how much fear of the wraiths has impacted their culture. Binding a couple together with a string of bells designed to protect a house from wraiths seems so in-character for them. And then, this new thing--waiths bringing not just fear and death, but the prosperity of a new mine. The Empire scientists laugh at the idea of wraiths, calling it superstition. But how could mere superstition warp and scorch metal, mush less open a rift in a mountainside deep enough to expose a new vein of ore?

Edited 2011-09-24 18:50 (UTC)

*claps in glee!*

Thank you!!

You're welcome!

Do you think the details about exposing a vein, and starting a new mine, are good? If so, we could use the parts of this that aren't part of the reading as the inspiration for a story.

I love the idea of exposing a vein - it should probably be something non-metallic, though, like coal, rather than iron ore. That will be as (if not more!) valuable to them, actually. Gems of some kind would be another alternative.

Then the only question is who should write the story?

Divination Time!

no subject

no subject

Marriage

Re: Marriage

Re: Marriage

Re: Marriage

Re: Marriage