A Tarot Sign

I was sitting at Avanti's, waiting for my pizza and looking for a pen in my bag, when my hand fell upon my pack of tarot cards. I paused. I had forgotten that they were in there; they were in a side pocket that is rather inconspicuous if you're not looking for it. It felt like my hand wanted to stay there, wrapped around the cards; so, I pulled the pack out. I put my hand into the plastic baggy I keep my cards in, and my fingers were drawn to a card in the middle of the deck. I pulled it out.

It was a major arcana. Judgment.

I didn't know the exact meaning, but it felt significant nonetheless. I stared at it. It has a painting of an angelic creature on it, blowing a trumpet. When I got back to the dorm, I looked the exact meaning up.

It's a challenge.

The judgement is the moment where you're supposed to face your past; not just face it, but resurrect it, forgive it, and put it to rest. In other words, there's something I have to do. Something I've been putting off. I can guess what it is well enough, but whether I admit it or not is another matter entirely.

Spartan Beauty

I've been thinking a lot about being poor, which sounds strange when I say it.

What started it was reading Holly's  Black's Modern Faerie Tale series and listening to an interview with her saying how she wanted to keep the gritty realism of life in her books. The characters in her books are mostly poor. The only one I can think of who isn't is Val, but she doesn't count. She and her mother are probably middle class, but Val runs away and lives on the streets. Dave, Lolli, and Luis all live on the streets, too. Kaye and her mother move from apartment to apartment, frequently living with her mother's friends and boyfriends. Kaye works to help support them until she decides to stay with her grandmother. Corny lives in a trailer park and works at a gas station. Roiben lives under a hill of dirt, and he starts out as a slave to the fairy queen.

Part of what I love about these books is that the characters sort of "rise above" their circumstances. Not that they become noble, self-sacrificing martyrs; they're real, honest human beings who do their best and don't let where they came from determine who they become.

The other thing that got me thinking about this was reading about Hayao Miyazaki. I've become obsessed with his movies lately, and I read that his films pay hommage to the working class. Most of his characters have a honest determination about them that comes from having to work to earn their keep. In my favorite film of his, Spirited Away, Chihiro has to learn to work hard as a coming-of-age process.

There's something vulnerable, a wild beauty, about being a part of the poor working class. Maybe it's because life is simpler, less clouded with high-and-mighty morals. Maybe it's because there's a humility there that lets us all be real.

Her Name is Chi

And she is me.

Or at least, she's loosely based on me. Granted, she's a little thinner, and her hair is longer. She has super thick hair down to her waist, and it's always going everywhere. She has my brown eyes with fantastic eyebrows and my adorable button nose. She's got my olive skin tone and wide hips. Like me, she wears only black. She's a lesbian, like me, and loves coffee. She's a sarcastic geek with quirky habits.

She is a barista, working in the world of Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside. I'm writing a fanfiction for that series. It's a few years after the events of Ironside, and Chi is an employee at Kaye's coffee/book shop, Moon in a Cup. Everything is normal.

Then a woman charges into the shop, interrogates and curses Chi, and leaves.

What? But why? When Corny (now called almost exclusively "Neil"), Kaye, and Chi seek answers, Chi's curse is quickly lifted, but it leaves behind more questions. The woman was working for someone; who? Why did she curse Chi? Where are the disappearing fey going? Who wants Kaye, and why? Why is Chi missing her memories? Will Corny and Luis get back together? Will Kaye and Chi end up together? (No. They won't. Kaye is already paired with Roiben.)

Oops. A spoiler. Which is fine, since that what readers would have expected anyway. The real mystery is what's in store for Chi.

I have the whole story plotted out. It's going to be novel length, maybe a little bit short. I've been working on it. I won't be able to work on it this week because I have tests, but I'm hoping for next week. I absolutely refuse to post any of it until I have the whole thing done. This is just in case a) I turn into a slacker and never get it done (don't want people to enjoy the first few chapters, only to be disappointed that they'll never know how it ends), and b) so I don't end up having to fix plot holes in the early chapters as I write the later ones.

So that's what up. Just felt like writing a quick post about it, I guess.