Only the Lonely will Know

ReD · Jan 15, 2016

Lochlann realized he was an idiot. He walked over to the counter and grabbed a few tissues and brought them back for Emily. He thrust them out to her awkwardly.

"Here," he said. His eyes fell to the ground for a moment.

He closed them. He sighed.

He was thinking about Guin.

"I did try to kiss her," he admitted. "I did a lot more than kiss her. But she was the one who started it."

When she asked him to make her a taco, Lochlann nodded. He was thankful for the task. It was something he could do with his hands to get his mind off of her. That woman was probably the reason he was back on this damn island. Why else would the police have called him?

"It's been a long few months."

Lochlann chopped the rest of the tomatoes and set them in a small bowl. Carefully, he filled a taco shell with the ingredients on the counter and brought it over to Emily at the table. He set it down before her.

He sat down in the chair across from her and said, "Emily...no one strange has contacted you in the last few months, right?"

Nightstripe · Jan 17, 2016

Emily took the tissues and began lightly dabbing at her face with them. "Th-Thank you..." The tissues slowly began to help the tears situation. She found a seat at the table and just listened while he told her about Guin. Her face flushed slightly as she began to understand.

"S-S-So... You d-did... th-things... with h-her then..... B-But then... Why w-would she try to stab you?... I-If she wanted it..." She suddenly dropped her eyes to the table as her face turned a deep red. "..... A-A-Are you... U-Um... I-I-Into that... o-or... S-Something?....."

She began to calm down once she had the taco. "Th-Thank you..." She wouldn't have been able to do much with her hand all bandaged up. She probably could have made one for herself, but it wouldn't have been as well crafted as Lochlann's. She glanced up with Lochlann when he inquired about strangers.

"...N-No... But... That's a s-silly question, Lochlann... M-Most of the p-people here... a-are strange..."

@ReD

ReD · Jan 17, 2016

"Well..." Lochlann said. His face was starting to turn red, but he managed to grit his teeth and try to kill the awkwardness. "She stabbed me a lot first, and then everything sort of happened afterwards. I don't know. I don't want to try and figure that out."

He shook his head and, surprisingly, Lochlann laughed. He seemed to relax a little bit now that the idea of that woman was something of a joke.

"I am definitely not into that," he said. "The only plus side is that it's taught me a lot about taking care of knife cuts. "

He sat back in the chair and watched her eat. Despite his earlier stomach rumble, Lochlann wasn't sure if he could stomach anything now, not after seeing her blood and thinking about Guinevere. He relaxed a little bit more when Emily said no one strange, well, at least, no one stranger than usual, had contacted her.

"That's good," he said. "I was worried about you. I didn't want to drag you into everything. I'm glad you've been safe. "

He patted her hand with his own and then stopped suddenly, again feeling awkward, again blushing, but he hadn't done anything wrong this time.

"Oh...I uh, I got you something," he said. "Do you want me to give it to you now?"

Nightstripe · Jan 18, 2016

Emily tilted her head to the side, furrowing her brow a little as she listened to Lochlann. "I... Don't think I understand... Wh-Why would you... Do th-things... After she stabbed you a bunch... W-Wouldn't you have c-called the police?..."

She sighed a little, whiping her mouth with a napkin and staring at the bandages on her hand. "W-Well... You d-do seem to know what y-you're doing... S-So that's good... B-But don't go and get s-s-stabbed!... Y-You're goong to make w-worry about you..."

She began to look around her room, trying to find something to focus on that wasn't Lochlann. "... Y-You're really confusing Lochlann... And I-I'm supposed to be a-able to tell the future....." She looked back again when he mentioned a gift. "... I-I guess now is fine... If you w-want me to have it n-now..."

@ReD

ReD · Jan 18, 2016

Lochlann shifted uncomfortably.

'Well," he said. "Historically, I haven't exactly had uh, good experiences with the police."

He shrugged. He scratched the back of his neck and looked anywhere but her face while he spoke again.

"They're sort of why I'm back here to begin with. So I wouldn't call them, especially not with my um, background," he said. He didn't like saying that. He pulled himself back up from the chair and went to the living room to grab his coat. Inside the pocket was a small jewelry box, but it did not have jewelry inside of it. The box held a small set of elder futhark runes carved onto birch wood. It was wrapped in brown butcher's paper with a green bow on top of it.

He came back down and sat at the kitchen table and passed the box to her.

"I don't know if these will work for you, but I thought of you when I saw them," he said.

He would wait before she opened them to explain, "They're also for fortune telling."

Nightstripe · Jan 18, 2016

Emily slowly slipped into a pout as Lochlann explained his situation with the police. "Is it really that bad?... I-I'm not sure I believe you..." it felt like Lochlann wasn't telling her something, but if that was the case she coulsn't really do anything about it.

Em glance between the box and Lochlann a couple times before reaching out to begin fiddling with the paper. Before she had it all open and was staring at the small tiles. She seemed a little awestruck as she held them gingerly in her hands, tracing the runes with her fingers.

"W-Wow... Wh-Where did you get these?... They're amazing... H-How do they w-work... How d-do I use them?..."

@ReD

ReD · Jan 18, 2016

"It's really that bad," Lochlann flinched. This was how he ruined most of his relationships--he didn't tell enough until it was too late. But, if he told her any more about him, he might be dragging her back into a mess. "It's why I'm here on the islands and not back in America."

He perked up considerably when she looked at the box and, to Lochlann, it seemed like she liked them. He was happy she liked them; it made a warmth spread out in his stomach that he had not experienced in some time.

"Each of the runes represents something," Lochlann said. He reached into the pile she had and pulled out a rune that looked like an M. "This one is the ruin for horse. Horses can mean a variety of things--transportation, taking a journey, stuff like that, but you know how to read the symbols in cards. If you pull out another rune--"

Lochlann grabbed another one. It looked like an arrow missing half its fletching.

"This one is...water. So it modifies horse. You might be taking a journey by sea, for example."

He dropped the runes back into her hands like they burned him, frightened of the meaning they produced. He wrung his fingers together.

"I thought maybe they might be helpful if someone is afraid of tarot cards,' he said. "There's probably someone in the underground who could actually teach you. I just thought you might like them."

Nightstripe · Jan 19, 2016

Emily watched with rapt fascination as Lochlann demonstrated the runes for her. Her fingers rifled through the tiles even as he showed her examples of the reading. "Th-They seem simple... But that will make them m-more complicated... Ooooh I'm excited..." She fidgeted in her chair a little, she would have hugged Lochlann if she hadn't been sitting down.

She finally broke her attention from the small pieces of wood when Lochlann dropped the tiles fearfully. A couple seconds passed as she just stared at him, trying to see past just his face. "W... Were you reading for somebody?... You don't have to be afriad of them... They won't t-tell you anything until you decide to use them..."

She tilted her head slightly while she contemplated him. Em seemed to have become comfortable with Lochlann, and was beginning to figure him out a little. She shuffled the small tiles back into a stack rather then a sprawling pile. "... Would you like a reading Lochlann?... I believe you're due for one... Since the last one has run it's course..."

@ReD

ReD · Jan 19, 2016

He was glad she liked them but he didn't like that she caught onto his reaction. Christ, he was tired. He was getting sloppy. A good predator was not sloppy. Maybe that was a good thing.

Lochlann gave her a soft smile. He rubbed his eyes on his knuckles again.

"I'm not a fortune teller," he said. "I wasn't reading for anyone."

It was just a horrible, horrible coincidence.

Then again, wasn't most magic?

Lochlann fidgeted, but he considered what she was saying. Her last reading had been spot on. Wouldn't it be worth knowing what was on his horizon? Lochlann bit the inside of his cheek. She was only looking at the future, right? She couldn't see his past? She could't see...him?

"Okay," he said. "I...i think you're right. It's probably good to know. What..what should I do?"

Nightstripe · Jan 21, 2016

Emily giggled a little bit at him. "I-It's not really going to b-be different..." She stood up and went to get a deck of cards off one of her shelves. She really, really wanted to try and use the tiles Lochlann had given her, but she wouldn't be able to understand what any of them told her.

With the deck in hand, she slowly walked back over to the table, sparing a moment to dim the lights slightly on the way. "Y-You just shuffle the d-deck... and th-then d-draw the cards... B-Be sure to focus on y-yourself when you b-b-begin to draw them... it's y-your fortune after all..."

Em set the cards in front of Lochlann, and sat down across from him again. Patiently, she waited while he shuffled the cards, watching them as the moved around. "... Four this time... Just four... Set them face down in a cross shape, please..." Once he had done that, she reached over and flipped two around and, oddly one of them sideways.

Slowly, she flipped them all over, starting from the card at the top of the circle for Lochlann and working clockwise.

3 - The Empress.

0 - The Fool.

13 - Death, inverted.

6 - The Lovers, sideways.

Em stared down at the cards for a few moments before raising her big, green eyes up to Lochlann once more, idly licking her lips. "... These cards make you taste like alcohol... Are you anxious?... Why?... They seem to be common cards for you..."

She looked down at the cards and pointed at Death. "This one though... It isn't about you this time... It also seems to be the center... The one the others revolve around..." She looked back up at Lochlann. "There's a big event in your future... Woman trouble, no?... You might want to watch her very carefully... Me perhaps?..."

Em blinked a little, then began fidgeting and averting her eyes from Lochlann. "I-I'm s-sorry... I-I don't know why I asked that... W-Well I do... I-It's just you a-always seem to be... in t-trouble when you come to s-see me... i-is all..."

@ReD

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