video @molly

[devilstongue]

[The camera clicks on, and is a little wonky and dark for a moment until a lavender hand corrects it to face the right way. An old dark-wood table comes to view, covered in dripping candles and shiny knick-knacks, and the room is covered in tapestries and drapery, like someone tumbled through a fabric shop and grabbed anything pretty or vaguely mystical.

You can almost smell the incense through the camera.

On the other side of the table is your friendly neighbourhood circus man, dressed about as colorful as the room and smiling coyly as he looks into the camera. (Or at least he fucking hopes he is, stupid modern technology.) Those solid red eyes reflect some of the candlelight, and the baubles and jewelry he wears glimmer as well - all to draw attention and make him look even more devilish.]

Good evening, gentlepeople of Riverview! I hope you are having a lovely time, working together in this little sanctum of ours until we find our way home.

I am Mollymauk Tealeaf, a not-so humble entertainer, here to bring you mystery and magic to your life!

[Leaning back, he flicks his hand and a fan of cards appear in it, the backs decorated with moons and suns. It looks old and expensive, and very well-used.]

Have you felt lost in this place? Uncertain were your life will take you after appearing here? Looking for guidance and signs on how to proceed?

[He sets the cards on the table, making a gesture with some quick sleight of hand to turn one up. It's a very intricately and finely drawn star.]

The cards are always here help you. Past, present and future lies in them, and at Cards of Curiosity, they can answer your questions.

[There's a bit of a movement again, and the cards all have turned over, showing different faces - a serpent, a sun, a tower. Molly smiles again - all fangs, this time. Some people liked a little goosebumps with their entertainment, and he knows how to work his lineage to his advantage.]

Come visit me as I interpret the mystique of the cards. For answers, for guidance or simply just for fun, I promise you an experience like never before!

[Insert Street Here], at the corner. Let your quest for answers lead you there!

[A little wave, and the camera turns off. Molly leans back against the beanbag and exhales. Things were easier in person, but hey. Baby's first commercial.]

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[goblinemperor]

[ Guidance is something Maia is absolutely in need of - that is the first reason he decides to stop by Mollymauk's establishment. The second reason is that he made his own post on the network, not long ago, soliciting suggestions for how he should use his new freedom. Nearly everyone had said to try new things out, take risks, experiment. This would definitely be a new experience, for Maia.

And there is a third reason, as well. It occurs to Maia, watching the video, how much scorn and bile it would have provoked in Setheris, had he seen it. Maia's guardian would have called it frippery, superstition, foolishness, wickedness - and that wasn't even to touch on the things he probably would have called Molly. Maia, who had spent so many of his own young years as the object of Setheris' loathing, feels a natural liking for anything he would have disapproved of.

So he comes by the parlor the very next morning. The alley makes him a little wary, as does the rather overdone decor when he enters. Maia himself is dressed very simply - a plain black long-sleeve shirt (one that is entirely unsuited to the very warm weather the Quarantine is having that week) and his long hair done up in a neat braided bun. He certainly no longer looks like an emperor - one of the perks of living here is that he got to ditch the fancy, elaborate robes, and all the heavy jewelry. But if there is not much in his clothing to give hints about what kind of person he is, and what sorts of answers he might want, his body language is clear enough - he is nervous, and forcing himself to hide it.

When he pokes his head in, he calls out: ]

Hello?

[devilstongue]

[ Molly is sitting on a golden bean bag when Maia enters, and he looks up from the phone where he had been trying to follow the network with little success. A distraction was very much appreciated, especially when it came to a searching soul in need of some entertainment.

He smiles at the grey-ish(?) elf and stands up, moving over to greet him with a little bow and a dramatic flick of his tail. ]

Welcome to Cards of Curiosity! Please, come in and have a seat. Make yourself comfortable and relax.

[ Gesturing to the chair by his extravagant table (deep red with an old look and a blanked hung over the back), Molly then lights a few more candles for 'ambiance'. ]

golden bean bag ksndjfksndf what kind of #aesthetic

[goblinemperor]

[ Maia has never seen a being like Molly before, but in the few weeks he has been living here, he has grown more accustomed to strange races and peoples. Horns and a tail? Why not! And the bow is a surprising little familiarity; Maia bows, back, with the grace that shows he is long accustomed to doing it.

He comes over to the chair that Molly indicated and sits down. He... doesn't look relaxed, sitting straight and proper with his hands folded in his lap, but he at least doesn't seem any more nervous than before. Maia never stops watching Molly as he goes around, lighting candles. He is aware that, perhaps, this man is a charlatan. But he is equally willing to believe that he does have a connection with the gods of his own world, and that they grant him extraordinary powers. Candle-lighting had special meaning in many ceremonies that Maia's mother had taught him as a child. ]

We saw your message, on the network. We... have never frequented an establishment like this, but we wished to- to try something new.

[ Probably not necessary to say all that, but Maia wants Molly to know that he's not an expert at having his cards read, that if there are procedures and expectations, he will be completely ignorant of them. ]

the 'I have no impulse control and a lot of money' #aesthetic

[devilstongue]

[ The 'we' part is new, especially to someone not used to any form of address, but Molly's own pronouns are 'whatever' so he just goes along with everything. What pegs the elf as upper class is the way he sits more than anything else, so the tiefling lights some incense as well to make it all more relaxing.

Then he sits down on the beanbag, tailor-style and smiling in the low light. ]

So this is your first time? It is always good to try new things, my friend. This place is full of new experiences, isn't it?

[ His red eyes gleam in the candlelight again, and he spreads his fan of cards in his hand. ]

What are you looking for? Guidance? Fortune? Answer to those difficult questions in life? The cards are here to help.

[goblinemperor]

[ Maia notices the scent of the incense, as it starts to fill the room, but any relaxing effect it might have works on him gradually enough that he does not notice. It is nice, though. Nothing like the incense that he associates with funerals - something subtler, more spicy, warmer.

Molly, he thinks, has a pleasant voice, and there is something familiar about the red of his eyes. He is not a goblin, or at least not like any Maia has known, but it is like a small fragment of home. They make him miss Nemer, with a sudden pang. ]

We... are seeking guidance. Direction, to help us in this strange place, an it please the gods to give it.

[ Molly might not be a prelate, but that did not mean the gods could not work through him. They were not so limited, in their ways. Looking down at his hands, Maia twists his signet ring (the only one he had kept on, after he arrived here and realized he could remove the others) and adds: ]

We feel lost.