the_deck

Agarma

“How was the execution?” said Vincent.

“Shut up,” said Agarma. Vincent shut up.

“What exactly was your plan, here? This was all you, wasn’t it?”

Vincent nervously smiled. “What?”

“‘What’, oh shut up, shut up.” He reached into his pocket, pulled a deck, threw 3 cards on the ground. “Three of clubs, ace of spades, black joker.”

“Is this a new version of tarot?”

He’d grabbed the wrong deck. He’d grabbed the wrong goddamn deck.

“Yes,” he said. “It comes with the benefit that the cards don’t have an interpretation yet.” He’d grabbed the wrong deck. “So, tell me, what do you think these cards mean?”

“Uh.” Vincent glanced around the room. The cards were all around, at weird angles. “Uh. I’m a mathematician. I don’t, uh, know?”

He’d grabbed the wr “Of course you know, you just don’t know that you know. Just try. Make something up. What does the three of clubs inspire in you?”

“I guess. Uh. A bouquet? Because you have three clovers together. But the flowers are covered in mud, or oil.”

He knew about the proposal. How? Did Callister tell him? Is Callister cutting him out? What more did Callister know?

“Okay, yeah, correct.”

“‘Correct’?”

“Shut up. What about the ace?”

“What is an ace?”

“A unit.”

“Oh. Oh, so it’s ‘1’. I guess, uh, whatever comes after ‘Fool’ in tarot, it’s probably that. Because Fool is 0.”

After this, he would need another bath, and another tea, and another inventory audit. “Okay, yeah, and the joker?”

“I don’t play cards, Your Highness. I play chess. If you were to draw chess pieces, I could probably come up with something more accurate.”

“No, no, these interpretations are fine. What does the joker say.” He’d grabbed the w

“Um. I guess the joker is the Fool, then.”

“Okay thank you Vincent.” And Agarma threw the rest of the deck on the ground and walked out the door.

“How was the execution?” shouted Vincent after him.