Chapter 28: Scene 28 – Tasting Wine (VOTE #2!)

"You mean 'tarot.'" Gaia interrupted, adjusting her round glasses. "Playing cards, right? They number one to fourteen for minor arcana, with five face cards. There's also twenty-two major arcana; divination tools, in a sense."

Amanda was amazed. Gaia knew so much about playing cards; she must be a genius! That made the Tyrant even more nervous. She wasn't the most intelligent of her peers at the best of times, nor was she well versed in gambling. This would be a difficult battle.

"These cards look like you." Amanda stroked the side of her monitor— of her cheek. There was no monitor. These strange and intrusive thoughts bothered her still. "Is this your history? To nurture, to teach, to rule, to fight?"

"By everything, you mean...?" Gaia's throat felt dry, like a rock had caught in it.

"What happens to the things we've lost?" Amanda squeaked. "What if we bet something important, like our gender? Or our cuteness?"

Amanda traced the edges of the carrow cards; they were blank and unwashed. She heard Calico's suggestion and found it to be reasonable. If she could toss away all of these unwanted feelings, why wouldn't she? Her glove brushed against the edge of a card, filling it with images of clothes tight and confining, slacks and suits, and all things masculine. A tie wrapped around her neck, a silken snake closing in for the kill.

No suit was assigned, not that Amanda could observe; the card must be designed to conceal its nature until played.

Thoughts of ties bled into the neighboring card as the visions of a gender-segregated church lesson bubbled to the top of her brain. They would divide the sermons into male and female, distorting the words of God into tools of oppression; a violation of these gender norms would be to anger God, to risk never seeing Heaven. Religions like these were outdated in a world where gods walked among men, but those lessons with Sunday-school teachers were still imprinted on her once-impressionable brain.

Amanda dropped both cards in disgust, both for consideration. Each card lay face up on the table, and Gaia lifted a brow.

"Easy first round. Four of Pentacles, two of Swords." Gaia would have to come up with memories greater than that to match… or to risk a skill. There would be little chance of loss if she bet what mattered to her, but she couldn't go all out on this.

"Sorry," Amanda whimpered and shrunk back in her seat.

Gaia pressed her fingers into the first card, offering nine skill points. She had earned quite a few in one day, but they were precious commodities. It could be months before she earned nine more. The card was from the suit of Wands; Gaia could tell little else, but she was confident of the value they held.

Since she was sure her first wager would succeed, she moved to her second wager. This was an opportunity to test the system's limitations; she offered her leg on this card. Limbs could be replaced with magical prosthetics, but she would be crippled at this critical moment without one. The card became a suit of… Wands, again? Gaia was confident it would be Pentacles. She played her wagers, flipping them over.

A pile of clothes fell around Gaia, crashing down upon her shoulders and smothering her in useless suits built for a figure much wider than her own. The nebulossom clambered out of the pile, gasping for air. "Oh, Divinity, these smell awful…." Gaia tried to escape from the cloying stench and stuff the fabric into her inventory

"I'm not a villain," Amanda cowed from the accusation of intention.

Gaia held fast to the dealt hand, racing through the freshly earned memories from Amanda. Was she religious? Maybe she could use that to her advantage, present something of immeasurable worth to a Protestant. Keeping her eye on the mechanical angel, she colored and set her first card with something she imagined to be very valuable to Amanda: her virginity.

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