yinyangwizard | Is This Your Card?

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Is This Your Card?

For the most part, Abe no Seimei's project to develop a Japanese reinterpretation of the Tarot has been going smoothly. He has developed very specific concepts (even sketches) for most of the cards, and general ideas for the rest that a certain artist of his acquaintance can help to flesh out.

There is, however, one card that is prompting much wracking of brains, ripping of paper, agitated pacing, and chain-smoking. Seimei has considered getting around the problem by leaving the card out of his deck entirely, but that's not really an option. When it comes to magic, one must commit fully or not at all.

So Seimei has devoted considerable time and energy to researching this card in the Milliways library. He has broadened the scope of his research beyond books on the Tarot - even the most obscure and esoteric ones - and is now hunting for references to the card's imagery and meaning in prophetic visions.

At some point he realizes he is very far back in the library, past some kind of event horizon where said library loses its coherence and becomes tangled up with other libraries in other realities and times. The air is thick with magic which doesn't flow so much as swirl around in eddies and whirlpools. Seimei can feel the books watching him, and suspects that they may be planning an ambush of some kind.

While he is all in favor of doggedly pursuing knowledge, he is beginning to think that he may have pursued too doggedly and too far.

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"You really need to clear the mental fog before you keep on working," a gravelly voice declares from between the stacks.

Seimei starts and looks for the source of the voice. Initially, he's relieved to see a fellow human(-ish) being. But that relief lasts only a half-second at most before his healthy (for a mage) paranoia sets in. Yes, this being looks human, but there are a large number of creatures that can easily look human until they get close enough to catch you and eat you. And in this environment, Seimei's not sure that he can trust his magical senses, either.

"I suppose that is sound advice, but I am stubborn, and have a habit of banging my head repeatedly on walls until either they fall down or I do," Seimei says. His body language and tone of voice are perfectly calm, but inside he's trying to decide between fight, flight, or none of the above.

"The Japanese attitude of gambaru," says the man (?), stepping out from between the shelves. "Relax. If you ignore a question, it will grow frustrated and show you hints of the answer."

Certain people might be perplexed or frustrated by such a cryptic and indirect statement, but Seimei is a senior member of an order of esoteric Buddhist mages: cryptic and indirect statements are par for the course. "You are referring, I suspect, to the phenomenon of one's subconscious working out a difficult problem while one is otherwise occupied."

"I mean that letting go of the banana is often a good option," the man says.

Seimei raises a quizzical eyebrow. "What, in this particular scenario, is the banana?"

"The banana inside the monkey trap," the man says, "which the curious monkey will not let go, so it can't get its hand free and is caught."

Seimei is about to let forth with a sarcastic reply, but comes to his senses just in time. He composes himself. "And if the monkey were to look for a different banana," he says, hesitantly, "then might he fare better?"

"A banana that grows in the wild, which is a bit harder to get at, but won't get him caught."

Seimei is developing a theory. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on his part, but...

You need to know them well, and they know you.

"A different banana it is, then. Who are you? I don't expect a straight answer, but it might help me get at the right question."

If his suspicions are correct, the one he is speaking to may not be physically able to give him - or anyone - a straight answer to any question.

"I'm what you think you are," the man says. "I'm Tower."

Seimei nods, and bows respectfully. "I apologize for my rudeness. I was looking for you, in a sense, but did not expect to find you in...well, this fashion."

He is not entirely surprised to run into one of the spirits of the Tarot here: he knows from the accounts of other guests (and some research in safer parts of the library) that they visit from time to time. He knows a few other things about them, too.

"Please forgive me for imposing upon you, sir, but I hope you will accept my humble offering in exchange for your assistance." He reaches into his inner jacket pocket and...

Somewhere close by there is a sound of fluttering pages. Seimei feels more keenly than ever the attention of the books upon him. He withdraws his hand from his jacket.

"Ah. It may be prudent to go elsewhere first," he suggests a bit sheepishly, "so as not to antagonize our present company." He glances sidelong at the looming shelves to either side of them.

"We can go outside in my world," Tower says. "Follow me?"

"Gladly," Seimei says. While he has visited many realms in his time, he has never been to this one, and is not confident that he can find his way out to safety without assistance.

Tower wanders between the shelves, then opens a door.

They're outside, and it's evening.

"So, about that bribe..."

Seimei is relieved to be out of the bizarre and claustrophobic atmosphere of the library - and back in a normal, mortal, physical realm, if he is not mistaken.

He does not object to the term "bribe," because the word fits, albeit not perfectly. He reaches into his coat again and this time withdraws a polished brass cigar case. He presses the catch with a solemn, almost reverent air, and the lid swings open with a soft click.

Inside are four limited edition Davidoff churchill cigars. Seimei has been saving these for a special occasion. As far as he's concerned, this qualifies.

Tower takes one of the cigars, inhaling its scent and sighing deeply, happily.

"This is the real thing," he says. "What do you want to know?"

Seimei closes the cigar case. "I am making a Japanese Tarot deck," he says. "It is styled after the Tarot of Marseilles, but with iconography drawn from our history, literature, and art."

He does not feel the need to justify this: after all, there are multiple variants on the Tarot deck. Seimei's is just one more.

"I am having difficulty with one particular card," he says, holding the brass cigar case out to Tower.

Tower says nothing.

He takes his time cutting and lighting the cigar, puffing on it, and enjoying it in silence for some minutes.

"Which one?" he finally asks.

And Seimei always thought he was the one with a cheeky sense of humor.

Seimei does not answer immediately: instead returns the cigar case to his coat and pulls out a notebook instead. It is marked with colored page flags that bear names like "The Lovers" and "Strength" and "The High Priestess." He opens it to the page marked "Tower."

Much of the page is taken up by notes, but at the bottom there is a colored-pencil sketch. It's rough, but it is quite unmistakably an atomic mushroom cloud.

"This came to mind almost as soon as I began my work." Seimei's voice is very quiet, almost furtive. "It fits perfectly. But I...I don't think I should use this."

"It very much lacks the sense of a new start," Tower says. "A mushroom cloud could illustrate the high swords, nothing else. If you want to refer to Hiroshima, use the atomic dome, and a string of origami cranes flying from it."

"Perhaps for someone who was born in the postwar years, that would work," Seimei says. "But I lived through those years: I was in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the immediate aftermath, when it wasn't the Genbaku Dome but just the stubborn skeleton of a building that had remained standing. I remember well the terror and despair of those days.

"But looking back on it now...if it were not for the bombings, we would not be where we are now. Oh, our government would probably surrendered in a few months or so, but not capitulated as completely as we did. We would not have had the American occupation, and we would not have had the prosperity of the Shōwa era.

"And this is the full meaning of the Tower, yes? Something that feels like the end of the world when it happens, but that ultimately brings a positive transformation that could never have happened otherwise."

"It was too high a price to pay," Tower says. "It's one of the inexcusable blunders of humanity that makes even me want to roll my eyes and turn my back. If you want a nuclear catastrophe that brought change for the good, look to Chernobyl; but that wasn't Japanese. The stones are still falling from the ruins of Fukushima, so we can't say yet if that will bring a change for the better."

Seimei nods thoughtfully. "Perhaps it is possible to split the difference?"

"How would you do that?"

"If you will bear with me..." Seimei says. He sits on the ground, turns to a blank page in his notebook, and pulls a small case of colored pencils from inside his coat. (Yes, he has a pocket dimension or two in his pockets.) He takes a few deep breaths and begins to draw.

As he does, a hazy aura of colored light coalesces around him: it pours onto and swirls around the notebook, then floats a few feet in front of and above Seimei, where it forms a rectangle in the air. The rectangle very much resembles a blank, 10:1 scale playing card.

Seimei keeps drawing. Blobs of color flow around the card, sticking together here and there, jostling each other around. They begin to form an image that is hazy and indistinct at first, but gradually comes into focus. It's the Genbaku Tower - an ukiyo-e print depiction of it - seen as if one were standing on the ground before it, looking upward. From this angle, the stark, jagged skeleton of the dome looms forebodingly above the viewer.

On the page of Seimei's notebook is a very rough, monochrome sketch of the structure: the full-color version hanging in front of him is how the card appears in his mind's eye.

Seimei looks up at Tower with an expression of polite inquiry, as if to ask "what do you think of it so far?"

"It'll work," he says. "At least for the basic structure of the tower."

Seimei nods and resumes drawing. The area near the bottom of the tower blurs and new patches of color appear, coalescing together into a figure - a human - an old woman in a kimono. With one hand she points up at the top of the Genbaku Dome. Although her back is to the viewer, she is looking sideways and down over her other shoulder, so her solemn face is visible.

Another figure begins to appear, this one a little boy in a school uniform, holding on to the woman's other hand. He is looking up at her (or perhaps at where she is pointing), so his face is not visible. In his free hand, he holds a single paper crane.

Then Seimei begins to fill in the sky above the tower. First clouds appear, and then colors - yellow and red. It may be an early evening sky with clouds drenched by the setting sun, or a sky filled with plumes of smoke lit by the flames of a great conflagration. It's not clear which (and that's the point). The colors of the central tower and skeletal dome change, growing darker until they are barely more than a silhouette against the red-orange sky.

The effect is eerie - in large part because the tricks of perspective and lighting employed in the picture are not typical of ukiyo-e, and the juxtaposition of the two is strange and unnerving.

"And that," Seimei says, "is what I mean by splitting the difference.

"I see," Tower says. "You worked that our very well,It cheerfully is both, and brings the message across."

Seimei does not quite manage to keep the look of satisfaction off his face as he closes the sketchbook and puts his things back in his coat. The light and the image of the card fade out.

He gets to his feet. "Thank you," he says, "for helping me find the answer." He bows deeply. "If you wish, I will give you a copy of the finished deck - although it will be a while."

"I collect them," Tower says. "I'd be grateful. Would you like me to open the door back to the library?"

He will, of course, stay out here and enjoy his cigar.

"To the same spot in the library, or a less...interesting part?" Seimei asks. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but those books did not seem very hospitable."

"To just where you need to be."

"Being fully aware that 'just where I need to be' does not necessarily mean 'somewhere safe' - yes. Thank you."

Tower opens a door, and smiles as he holds it for Seimei.

Seimei returns the smile before he steps through the door, off to...wherever it is he needs to be.

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Is This Your Card?

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