Open Broadcast.

[fridgeninja]

I know the Trumps sometimes use Liminal Space to send us messages, but I'm not at all sure what this one means. Does anyone have any ideas?

I think the last one meant that the Hierophant, Fortune, Temperance, and the Star are dead.

Comments

[shiroganeheir]

They were absolutely working together. Did I ever tell you that Moon told me to talk to Sun? I was told to tell Sun, in not so many words, that Moon sent me. I am still uncertain what that means.

[She thinks for a moment, finally responding.]

If the death or disappearance is recent, perhaps they have realized they must band together.

[fridgeninja]

... Thinking about what could threaten them that way makes me uneasy. But you're right.

So... we should look at a deck, and see who might be team-mates.

Temperance and Fortune, maybe?

[shiroganeheir]

Emperor and Empress definitely. As to Temperance and Fortune, as they are both gone, it is possible, if not likely. In theory, I could also see Temperance and Justice as a team. They are both highly steeped in balance.

I think we might need to find a deck at some point. I wish Margaret could have left us one. I should have examined the shelves in our last space to see if there was one there.

[fridgeninja]

Her deck was magical, so the cards are missing.

Mine isn't, though, and it's in my jacket pocket.

[shiroganeheir]

I had forgotten that you had a deck.

Perhaps if we lay the cards out, it might help.

I'm also wondering what connects those specific four Arcana. One would think Star would be with Moon and Sun.

[fridgeninja]

It's always felt a little different to me...

[He opens his mind, broadcasting his senses across the network to her with casual ease as he lays the Major Arcana out on the floor: one row of five, then a row of six beneath it, then the pattern repeats, until all twenty-two are laid out.

He turns on his infoglasses, and immediately a wealth of data begins to overlay the tableau- common interpretations and alternative images or decks appear as tiny thumbnails he can expand by looking at; Trumps that have appeared are highlighted in gold frames, and black frames surround the four Trumps that Liminal Space might have declared dead.]

[shiroganeheir]

Woah.

[There is honest admiration in her mental tone as she sees the layout.]

That is impressive, Senpai.

Down to business, however, The first was the Fool, which makes a degree of sense. I believe I read once that the entire series of Arcana can be seen as the Fool's journey.

[She falls silent for a bit, thinking.]

Death and Tower, I believe, are both cards of Change. I doubt they would be a pair, as that would be too much change. As I mentioned, Emperor and Empress seem a natural team, and I would guess Hermit would be alone. Magician and Priestess perhaps, or actually Chariot and Strength would be a possible team.

[fridgeninja]

[As she speaks, he flicks his eyes from card to card, and dotted lines trace the connections.

It's part of why he may sometimes be more distant than the senpai she remembers, why he can detach so easily - with these glasses, he is constantly submerged in a sea of information and cross-reference. It's both an incredibly powerful tool and an influence that makes the world a far cooler, more remote place. He doesn't always have them on, but often enough...]

It looks like... some of them are also matched by numbers? The Fool and the World as first and last, the Empress and the Hanged Man, Emperor and Death, Lovers and Devil, Chariot and Tower... any two cards whose digits add up to the same number.

[shiroganeheir]

[She thinks for a moment, scanning the connections.]

World will likely not show up for quite a while, if at all. Chariot and Tower would be another possibly powerful connection, and as Lovers has shown up by itself, I would say that pair is improbable, unless there is a connection on a larger scale.

[Quietly, she files away her own thoughts about his glasses to be used later.]

Is there a thematic element to the four that are missing? Authority, change, balance, hope.

[fridgeninja]

I don't see one.

We should ask the others.

[shiroganeheir]

We should.

[She quietly scans the cards, still thinking.]

There might be thematic elements that I am missing, because I do not know other decks.

[There's a deep mental sigh.]

I feel like there is something right there and I am not catching it.

[fridgeninja]

Well... let's make a list of everything in Liminal Space that refers to these Trumps, and see if we come up with anything.

[shiroganeheir]

Alright.

[She thinks for a moment.]

Margaret mentioned some of the things on the shelves, did she not? Those seem to be obvious. Crosses, wheels, goblets and stars. Otherwise, there have been two instances of water since I have been here. Both stagnating. There have also been two different modes of transportation.

[She pauses for a moment.]

Also, in the airport, there were four main rooms. I do not know if the symbolism exactly matches, but the one with the arching gravity could be like Fortune's wheel. The one that produced something, like Temperance, perhaps? I am not certain about the other two, however.

[fridgeninja]

I'm not sure... is there a different pattern those rooms could fit? Blue, yellow, white, and red or black...

[shiroganeheir]

Blue, yellow, and red are primary colors. White, if I remember right is the combination of all colors. Or the absence of color. I have never actually taken an art class.

[A moment's thought, and then.]

White and black are opposites, I know that.

[fridgeninja]

What about... symbolism?

[shiroganeheir]

Now that is where I am possibly useless. Wait. Are there colors associated with certain Trumps? I have not thought of that before, but... it is, in theory possible.

Otherwise, I am afraid whatever symbolism is lost on me. Unless... blue could symbolize water as an element, red fire, white air, which leaves yellow for... no. That does not work.

[fridgeninja]

Yellow could be fire. Red and black and brown could all be earth colors.

[shiroganeheir]

Hm. That is also possible. Where does that get us, though? The four elements. Temperance? But that doesn't account for the other three missing Trumps.

[fridgeninja]

Maybe it doesn't relate to them at all.

The Minor Arcana are all connected to elements.

[shiroganeheir]

That's a good point. I think in all of the worry about the Trumps, I had forgotten the other half of the deck.

So, is this trying to tell us that the Minor Arcana are in play as well?

[fridgeninja]

It's possible.

Or maybe we're the Minor Arcana.

[shiroganeheir]

[There's a long pause before Naoto speaks.]

Would that mean that each of us corresponds to a specific card, or am I overthinking this?

It is, in theory possible, we are more pawns of the Trumps, and the Minor Arcana are supporting cards.

It feels off somehow, though.

[fridgeninja]

I'm not sure there have ever been exactly the right number of us. But I know there used to be too many...

[shiroganeheir]

Hm.

[Naoto is not fond of the idea of the Trumps cutting down the number of Travelers, but that is not the point at the moment.]

So, going with that theory for a moment, if we are the Minor Arcana, what does that mean? How does that fit in?