Bright Sun, 2008-06-17
From Tourmaline
Max thinks the sun is too bright. Really too bright. In fact, it's drying up and killing all of the water that should be washing things (like tattoos) clean, leaving ink/blood stains all over the place. It's poking sun-shaped holes in the water, making it drain away...
Max thinks to himself, all right, it's early in the morning, and I haven't had a drink yet. He has a drink, and leaps to the conclusion that his vision refers to an impending drought. Panic! He heads over to the temple of Hessan and warns them, but Launeth, one of the priestesses, is wise to his ways of coming into the temple bearing dubious visions. She gives him a sandwich and tries to talk him down, suggesting that perhaps what he's foreseeing is the coming summertime. Max eats the sandwich, but as his warning does not seem to be heeded, he departs.
Max heads down to the Acadystra to find his old teacher, Levin Marinus. He describes his vision to Professor Marinus, who thinks he's off on the wrong track, and patiently guides Max (by a process of Charades) into a more sound interpretation of his vision.
It would seem that someone is about to be murdered! (Probably future tense. Maybe it already happened.)
Max heads down to the temple of Mehan Saa. He talks to the priest some, beating around the bush some, but making it clear he's had a vision that portends danger to someone helping slaves. The priest avers that Mehan Saa isn't so much a god of obvious actions, but praying couldn't hurt. Max is not so keen on this, not being a praying sort, so he waffles some until Blaze wanders in. Max has heard that she's a do-gooder, so he unloads his story on her.
Blaze thinks it's worth trying to help, but doesn't seem to have an immediate plan. She and Max go over to the Pig and Pansy, where Blaze talks to the barkeep in some kind of code, which might or might not have done anything. Meanwhile, Max pulls out his Thresh deck and does a tarot reading on his current situation. It makes even him look a little more sober--he's getting indications of high-energy, danger, and drawing attention all the way. He and Blaze depart, not sure of what they've accomplished, though Max tells Blaze about his reading, which he thinks means that they have done something, just not sure what.
Blaze offers Max a place to crash for the night if he doesn't feel safe, but for reasons that could hardly make sense to anyone else, Max feels safer in a lively tavern with all the ale he can drink--which he does...
When Max comes to the next morning, he doesn't seem to be dead yet, which he takes as a good sign. Out of ideas, he heads back to the temple of Mehan Saa to pray. It's really not his element, but he does the best he can. "Oh great and benevolent Mehan Saa, I have had a True Vision of the Sun stabbing to death the Water that washes away the stains of the land, and I think this must have to do with danger for someone who is helping slaves to evade the law, maybe removing their tattoos, and I'd like to warn this person, because it all seems unfair. Well...gods, what a stupid prayer." Then he mutters "Gods, what a stupid prayer", and then gets up to leave.
As he does so, he's stepping forward when he sees a little helpless kitten right underneath his foot, and he gets a vision of a poor squashed kitten, and sees that he has three choices: he can step on the kitten, or he can just stay where he is, trying to keep his balance with his foot in the air, going "hop hop hop" with all kinds of possibilities for disaster, or he can just give up on balance and fall on his butt, which is embarrassing, but survivable.
Max yells "Wuah!" and falls on his ass. And then goes to get roaring drunk.
When he next comes to, he's in a seedy dive, having ranted loudly and often about someone trying to kill whoever is helping slaves escape. It seems likely that the intended victim has been warned. Blaze comes to warn him that he's irritated the guys with lots of pointy knives, and offers to help him get home, but Max declines.
