short-shorts for mind games

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 26 Feb 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Imagemaker	26 Feb 2004
I had an idea for a new tarot fiction game that would help me work with new decks and give us all practice playing with our interpretations of spreads. How about posting whole mini-stories on the same 6 cards? No question, just a narrative of what we see in the cards. Let your imagination roam. We can get different stories from the same 6 "stimulants" if posters take different cards as the Hero, then tell his/her story from the other 5. What do you think? I just got my Victoria Regina deck and the characters seem to have major adventures in their futures. Use any deck you like and see what others do with the same 6 cards. The stories could be mysteries or romances or horror (depends on the deck you choose, perhaps). These are the cards I drew:! 8 cups 7 cups 9 wands 2 coins Prince Swords (a woman in this deck--I see gender-crossing already . . .) Come plot with me!

ncefafn	26 Feb 2004
This sounds fun, Image. Just one short-short per card, or all the cards combined in one short-short? And what's your length for a short-short? Kim

Imagemaker	26 Feb 2004
All the cards in one short-short. If we can keep it relatively simple, more people will play and it will help "real" reading practice, I think. I'm picking the 8 Cups as my main character.

Imagemaker	26 Feb 2004
Well, this is what came out. More involved than I expected, but the characters started talking! In the Victoria Regina, the man on the 2 Coins turned out to be the villain. If I'd used another deck, I'd have had a different image to work with. And this 7 Cups has flying monkey heads and a moon drinking from a wine glass. Ve-ery interesting! Because my heroine was the 8 Cups, I didn't try to figure out where she's going. That card image became the end of the story. Anyway, here goes: The Escape Helena left the cups stacked neatly, not wanting to leave dirty dishes for the maid in the morning. The poor girl would be walking into a firestorm. Gerald would be in a rage when he found that his fiancée had left. He wasn’t a lover, he was a tyrant. Helena packed money and a change of clothes into her small backpack. There was just a sliver of moon tonight. She found a flashlight for the path through the woods to the train station. “I’m getting out,” Helena kept muttering to herself. “I’m not a lover. I’m a servant.” After three years, she was emotionally exhausted from meeting Gerald’s demands, angry at his expectations. What little time they spent together now was all public appearances for the neighbors and factory employees. Since she'd moved in a year ago her time was spent with social schedules and appointments, all focused on his position as CEO. Helena’s growing resentment of Gerald’s arrogance that she’d always be there, doing his bidding, had finally awakened her rebellious spirit. “How could I have wanted to marry this man,” she thought. Now, she shuddered at the idea of staying. For several weeks she’d been worrying how to tell him she wanted to end it. The final straw had been tonight when he’d come home from the factory, crowing about defeating the machinists’ union. “We broke the strike,” he said. “They’re losers. Anyone who picketed will be fired, too.” Workers had picketed the factory for four months, protesting wages and hours. Gerald’s lack of compassion, even viciousness, in defeating them had made Helena see for the first time that his attitudes came from a real core of meanness. As she endured his victor’s strut around the room, she looked at the stuffed pheasant from one of his hunting trips and remembered the pistol he kept in his desk. Standing there, looking at the bird and listening to Gerald crow, Helena realized that she didn’t trust how he’d handle her announcement. She’d get out secretly, tonight. She felt a thrill of fear and excitement. Where could she go? What would he do when he found out? She'd have to leave a message. “I’m going to the country club,” Gerald said. “The Board is celebrating with me.” He left, still preening. Helena was grateful he hadn’t made her join the backslapping buddies. After 7 or 8 drinks he’d be back, doing his silly act of flying like a drunken monkey. He thought he was hilarious when he was drunk. This time she wouldn’t be there to suffer his comedy act. Helena put her diamond ring and a note in an envelope, pinned to the stuffed pheasant. "Sorry," she told it. "I'm headed for sky and open air. I wish you could come." She stepped outside the front door and locked it. She dropped her key on the doormat and didn’t look back as she started down the path to the train station. Helena thought of those stacked cups in the kitchen and wondered if he’d sweep them to the floor in one enraged push. The poor maid.

The short-shorts for mind games thread was originally posted on 26 Feb 2004 in the Tarot Games & Fun board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Games & Fun, or read more archived threads.