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fandomhigh2025-08-18 12:19 pm
Destiny & Free Will [Monday, Period 4]
The students should have gotten a handwaved notice to dress nicely and meet outside the school, where they would find Ghanima and Trebor waiting for them next to a portal.
"Right." Reaching in her coat pocket, Ghanima retrieved a deck of the Dune Tarot and fanned the cards at them. "Step right up, and ask me what today holds for you. Through there -" she gestured at the portal with the cards, " - is Monaco. Home to some of the most wonderful casinos this Earth holds. I am giving each of you fifty dollars. Your mission is to take the future I forsee, and try to beat it. If I tell you that you are destined to win big, sit outside and give away money. If I say you fail, go cheat the casino by whatever means you choose. The one rule is not to get caught, because I am not paying for bail. I want to see how many of you manage to flaunt destiny."
"After all," she grinned humorlessly, flipping up the Hanged Man with ease. "Navigating the future is a family talent. Who wants to try and beat the oracular Atreides?"
Re: Activity: Get Your Future!
Don't worry. The Casino de Monte-Carlo would still let him in. Probably. Depending on whether or not Castor was currently banned from it, which was something he was rapidly trying to ascertain via text.
Re: Activity: Get Your Future!
Her hands stilled, and Ghanima turned over the first card. "Your first future is foretold by Strength, reversed. Weakness in the face of obstacles and adversity. Tremendous power released at the wrong moment. Inability to defend oneself. Confusion, and lack of preparedness. Illness, hardship, distress and the failing of physical force. Dominant behavior, abusiveness and a possible loss of reputation." She raised an eyebrow. "Remember what I said about not getting arrested."
She set it aside and flipped over the next card. "The second road open to you is represented by Assessment. A pause to check on the progress of your labors. Making difficult financial decisions. Exercising patience and perseverance. Evaluating the status of your work and your options for the future." Ghanima smiled at him brightly as she laid it down next to the first card. "The sort of fortune one normally wants for an event like this."
"Now, drawing you towards the first possible outcome..." she flipped up the next card. "Ah. Wealth, reversed. Material prosperity and riches squandered through slothfulness, gambling, or family problems. The loss of reputation or inheritance. However, calling you to the second path--" she turned over the fourth card. "Power, also reversed. Using your power freely for your own enjoyment and the betterment of others. Coming to grips with progress and using your position to help it along. Finding security and identity someplace other than in the possession of material things. Letting go and encouraging others to find their own path. Being magnanimous and generous with your success."
Ghanima set each of the cards on top of their respective futures. "Now, for the deciding factor," she said, closing her eyes to draw the final card.
"Temptation," she said, looking at it after she had set it down between the two piles. "Daydreams and things seen in the glass of contemplation. The scattering of energies by strong desires and unrealistic goals. The pursuit of illusions and the dissipation of energy on false choices. Intoxication, delirium, and hallucination, leading to the negation of effort. Under rare and extreme circumstances, may indicate the revelation of transcendental spiritual truth."
Ghanima looked at Gray, bemused. "It would seem you have two very clear destinies to choose from," she said. "Or, you can chose to flaunt both, and aim for a middle path."
She gestured towards the portal. "The choice is yours. Or is it?"