Chapter 75:
Gloudhaus
“Hello? Yes. Really? But where it will… What?! No, no, there’s no space for equipment here… No! She can't decide to… I know. I know! I’m waiting here, okay? Yes… Goodbye.”
Anna watched as her partner answered the sudden call, trying to logic her way through her answers while ignoring the other two girls in the room. Seeing Col panic due to some luck-reading and Minako trying to actually make a read in this situation wasn’t in her interest, what Karim’s talk was.
“What was it, shorty?” She asked with nothing but a small hint to go with. “We’ve gotta work already?”
“No. Not a new job or anything, it’s just… Just a weird request they’re throwing on me for some reason.” Karim answered with confusion in her eyes and without leaving the side of the telephone. “You requested some delivery or any equipment, Annabeth?”
“Equipment? I don’t think… Wait! I may know what’s this ‘bout.”
“So it IS your fault again, eh? Dammit, Annabeth, my apartment isn’t big enough to bring more things here, you know? Colette is already sleeping on the couch and Minako is... I don’t want to think about Minako’s situation...” The owner of the dominated house lost her energy halfway through her complaints, sighing at the kitsune and the inquisitor on the couch. “Maybe I should throw you three inside the mansion and burn my bedroom’s door… Seems like a good idea.”
“Wouldn’t recommend it, y’know? Although I wasn’t expectin’ that yer auntie’d do things like this.” Anna added to the speech of her darkening partner as she assumed that it was all about the request made a few days ago. “By the way, they said what’s comin’ ‘ere? I’ve an idea, but it’s kinda weird.”
“Some crate with a ‘fragile’ label. The customs guy said it was an express delivery from auntie with a clause to make sure that Annabeth Solomon would receive it no matter what.”
“I see…” The redhead stopped to think as she tried to think if this delivery was what she was expecting and if she could deal with it here too. “Ya’ve a line to yer aunt? I need to’ve a talk with the boss lady.”
“We’ll need to go there to talk with her… And I’m not sure if she’s there by now considering that she personally handled this whatever to be delivered to you.”
“That’s a shame… Can you ask someone to warn you when she’s back?”
“That I can do.” Karim nodded in agreement and turned again to the telephone, starting the procedure to contact the DP. Her words didn’t sound like all the truth and Anna was sure she had some emergency way of doing it, but this much was fine for now.
Even if this equipment wasn’t the one requested, then Anna still had ways to do with it. Acting as if she was dealing with spirit trafficking only to find out that it was all about some new communication device would be very depressive, but that’s that.
And before Anna could fully settle on whatever she was planning to do, the girl she was ignoring for a while now finally rushed towards her small table.
“Anna!”
“What’s it, Col? And no, I’ve gotta no idea how to change yer luck.”
“That’s not it! It’s a terribly more pressing matter than a single card telling me I’ll be unlucky...” Col answered in a tone of outrage before setting five equal cards on the table Anna was working at. “It’s five of them!”
Five dark-colored wheels of fortune, all of which seemed to have been drawn upside down. The generic meaning would, of course, be 'unluck' in whatever was the subject when these were drawn, but Annabeth knew it wasn’t that simple. More than that, she knew it should be impossible to draw five of the same major arcana.
“Yer deck’s broken, fox lady. Kinda sure yer supposed to’ve only one of each card there.”
“And I assure you it’s working as intended. This isn’t some simple tarot deck, it’s a magical tool, remember?” Minako explained as she focused on the three cards she had pulled. “I won’t bore you with specifics, but the idea is that, no matter what, you’ll always be able to pull the right card to answer your question. It’s a very limited tool that’s reliant on an oracle, though, so I’m unsure if it works with someone else drawing…”
“Heard her? The thing’s malfunctionin’, and even if it wasn’t, this just a prediction, ay? And luck ain’t a thing either way.”
“But what’s the chance I would get five of the same card?! It has to mean something.” Col continued while fuzzing around. “Even your brother said once ‘three coincidences in a row aren't a coincidence at all', right? And these are five!”
“Four.”
“What?”
“The first one ain’t… Whatever, actually.” Anna shook off her absent-minded correction and went back to what she was going earlier. “Anyway, all ya’ve to do is ignore this and calm down, ‘kay? As long as you don’t believe, nothin’ will happen to ya. Luck’s only a placebo effect…”
“But if it isn’t? I can’t punch luck back to place! Dealing with a problem I can’t see is a little too much…”
“Then what ‘bout this?” Anna asked her brunette friend as she slowly turned each of the five cards at the table. “See? Yer lucky now.”
“I don’t think it works like that…” Col answered as she tried to rationalize if this much was even a possibility considering how the system worked.
“Why not? Yer only goin’ ‘bout some bad luck when there’s no reason to think so. I’m quite sure you didn’t even make a proper question before drawing yer cards, ‘aight?”
“Now that you say it…”
“See? It’s likely that this tool is only acting up cause someone unable to use it tried. Maybe it’s even some security system to make anyone but an oracle use it.”
“It... It makes sense somehow.”
“Course it does! I’m the one sayin’ it, y’know? Now stop worryin’ ‘bout luck and go back to whatever, ‘kay?”
The red-haired inquisitor couldn’t just accept this much fuzz due to something like bad luck. It was way too subjective and way too generic for her taste, even more with the likely chance that it was only a dud caused by having someone without the proper skill use that deck.
It would be a different matter altogether if Minako had drawn these five and made a proper reading, though. She would’ve at least thought about it in this case.
“Nice speech, my dear Anna, but I’ll need to disagree with what you said.” The subject of her line of thought joined the talk right as she finished her reading and then gave her results. “It may not be as bad as our Col here is thinking, but I can indeed see why she would be so unlucky…”
“And also, I can see very well where’s our next investigation target.”
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