Off to the Mall I go (Zodiac)

[CharlotteC]

Charlie let out a bit of a laugh at Zodiac telling her that should couldn't afford her. Though, at this point, she was probably right. Still, she took the pricing list from Zo and glanced over it as she moved to the door to help a customer that came in. 'Best to start simple' she thought about that as she watched Zo with the other customer, making it look like she was reading over the prices and taking them in, even though just the slightest glance was enough for her to have ever option and every price down in her head. She need only close her eyes and she would see the list just as clearly as if she opened her eyes and looked down at the slip of paper in her hand.

When Zodiac returned, she smiled to her and glanced down at the list once again and then back to the woman before her. "Sounds like a plan. Should I just call when I have time or do you want to pick out a date and time right now? Truthfully either works for me so I'm pretty flexible." She said with a smirk and glanced around "And while I may be a science type, I was raised religious, I tended to piss off my Sunday school teachers." She added with a laugh, "But I know that sometimes there are just things that are beyond our control. So I am up to see what your spirits and cards say about me and my future."

"I see it as a challenge, to see if I can figure out how you do the things you do. If I can't explain it then I'm sure you will make a believer out of me." She said with another laugh.

[Zodiac]

An eyebrow raised at the girl's words. This was nothing new. Charlie was sweet. She had not used the term fraud but judging on her words concerning religion in general it was floating somewhere in the back of her head. The 'spirits' as she so quaintly put it did not punch time clocks or vanish if one pressed 'CTRL, ALT, DELETE' . They were temperamental at best and it took patience to understand them and that was a quality most computer types lacked in some ways. This could be interesting.

"I would suggest you make an appointment. That way there are no interruptions and we can focus on the matter at hand. As far as what you should select I would recommend the ten card spread. Goes into a bit more depth in its answers and not such a generalization."

Zodiac glanced around under the counter now. "Jenn? Where's the appointment book?"

"Lower left side," the woman answered as she passed by with the empty boxes. Ginny Jr was stalking behind her as well. Ready for another round with the discarded bubble wrap.

"Ah, thank you." She pulled the binder out and flipped through the pages to the current date. "Yeah, tonight is not so good. Got a couple due in the next couple of hours, so I would not have time to squeeze you in till much later tonight. Night after tomorrow is open and several after that has spots." she turned the book to allow Charlie to check the days for herself and decide.

"As far as how do I do the things I do? It's a lot of things that come together at once." her fingers clicked the keyboard bringing up the appointment file there as well. "Being perceptive, listening, picking up clues, asking the proper questions is part of it, but being open to suggestions to a most un-scientific source of information and knowing how to apply it as well. You ever hear the expression 'A doctor who diagnoses himself has a fool for a patient'? Or something like that anyway. It's the same for people like me when it comes to this. You are too close to the problems and questions to be able to ask and learn things objectively. You need that outside eye and viewpoint to make the proper connections."

Zodiac leaned on her elbows and watched. "And, before you ask, I treat all sessions as private information much like a doctor does with their patients, so no worrying I am going to talk about what I discovered with Charlie to anyone else. Having your cards done puts one in the spot to..." the mystic considered for a moment. "Open up about yourself. Some things you may feel are personal and private may come out in the conversation and no one wants such information to be passed around to others or else they would be doing it themselves. You would be surprised who in this town has come through that door or had me come to them in order to get a clue about things in their lives, or un-lives, as it were. People trust me for my silence on such details and I do nothing to break such a trust."

[CharlotteC]

Charlie gave a nod of her head as she glanced back down at the brochure in her hand even though she really didn't need to, it was just one of those involuntary things she did to keep people off the track that she had such an ability as to remember everything she saw and now with her vampire mind she didn't even feel that clutter she used to feel when she was a human. In-depth was good, that meant that she would really show her things she had either never seen before or would be totally off the mark.

She glanced back as she heard the girl's voice behind her and then glanced back to Zodiac. That was still something she was getting used too, the fact that the woman could speak to her and anyone really with her mind. It made her wonder if she did such things in front of the humans. Given that she had been part of the group that hated any and all idea that human's knew about vampires when Charlie had been beaten to death, she would probably guess the answer to that question was no.

Shaking away the thoughts, she once again lifted her eyes to Zo and listened as she spoke about the times that she would be free for a reading. Charlie smiled a little at hearing that the woman would be free relatively soon, for some reason, the idea of getting one of these sooner rather than later excited her to a small amount that showed in her eyes in the way the chocolate seemed to warm and melt - or at least hold the impression that they did so. She began to think of things she would as and as she did Zodiac went on to talk about how she was too close to be able to explain and it made sense, so she would definitely have to be the objective view point in this. That was something that she was rather good at.

It wasn't until Zo mentioned that she would treat the session like that of a doctor visit, that anything said would be between them, and most likely the cats. She glanced for the kitten and its mother for a moment before she nodded again and finally spoke up, having not wanted to interrupt Zo as she explained things before. "Well then the ten card spread sounds like what I will do, also since you said you are free tomorrow, I'll take any time you are free then. I'm quite interested to see how this works, that said, I'll be truthful, I was a bit worried, and still a bit am about the things that may or may not come up. Especially with how we first met. I know it was just business to you but it does have me mildly on edge, even though since I adopted Morpheus you have been nothing but kind. I hope you can understand that, I don't say it to be mean, I just don't see the point in lying, especially if you find it out tomorrow anyways." She said with a bit of a nervous chuckle.

[Zodiac]

She cocked her head as Charlie explained herself. The girl still had a knot in her tail over the situation with Ty. Normally such twitches in another hardly fazed her. Charlie had it right-it was her job and nothing more. "I will say this much," she began slowly while she absently petted Ginny. "I cannot speak for all of those I used to work with in the past. Only me. There was only one individual I took personal pleasure in hunting down and giving a time out, and it wasn't you. The rest of you was for a reason that is becoming more apparent to anyone who is paying attention to current events."

She sighed sadly. "All that 'humans and vamps can be best buddies' stuff isn't panning out like everyone said it would, is it? A good look around that entrance to the mausoleums is proof. Did mortals send ambassadors? Or soldiers? Those jaws are slowly closing around us now and I did what I could to help keep all safe, but that was a waste of time now, I guess."

"I gave that all up," she continued. "And if you feel concern for your safety and such, I understand all that but the bounty list and my private business never crossed. You are a customer in this shop? No one bothers you. You are my guest. What happens out there in the city I cannot be held accountable for because I no longer hunt and I honestly don't care anymore about if pro or anti masq wins this thing, because we have already lost. Put four vampires in a car and have them approach a traffic light. One says 'Oh look, a red light, we'd better stop' while the second says 'Actually, it's more of a shade of pink so should we stop' while the third goes 'Screw mortal laws! We are the superior beings so run it!' while the fourth hopes the lot of them get pulled over so they can hand the police a pamphlet and try to promote the anti masq agenda. We can't even agree on something so simple let alone the bigger issues. We're doomed, Charlie. I am just trying to live my own existence and not bother anyone till the end gets here is all, so no worries about being killed while you are here."

And just as suddenly as the doom and gloom rant began, it stopped and the mystic was back to her normal smiling self. She filled out an appointment card and entered the information in the computer. "If you are unable to keep this, please call us ASAP and let us know." Zodiac handed Charlie the card. "I will see you tomorrow evening. Will be most interesting what both of us shall learn in this." she smiled brightly again and winked.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie blinked for a moment as Zodiac brought up the Mausoleum. She had not really spent time there since the attack, not wanting to end up tired and in need of rest there. That being said, she had noticed the army around the place but she was sure that it had nothing to do with vampires, just like the quarantine had nothing to do with vampires. Yes, vampires were there, but the thing that people were trying to hide from the human race wasn't vampires, but zombies and in the Mausoleum there were zombies and creatures of things she didn't even know how to explain. And then those freakish zombie animals. She sighed, shaking her head. She didn't agree that that was something between vampires and humans, that was humans trying to hide from other humans the existence of zombies.

Still, she managed to relax a little more as she continued to tell her that she was a customer and that she would not allow the bounty to cross into that with her. It was something that she had to respect about the woman, even if there were still lingering effects of the attack haunting her from time to time. It wasn't so much the fact that they had attacked, but the place that attack had sent her too. Just the mere thought of it caused her to shudder a little, something she was sure that Zodiac would pick up on, even if she didn't say anything about it. She took a breath though to steady herself and she shook the images away so that she could concentrate on what the lady before her was saying. Of course, as she shook the last image from her head, Zodiac was coming to a close on her rant. The change was almost enough to give her whiplash but she ignored it and put on a light smile as Zo then handed her a card with the information.

She glanced at it, again converting the information to memory, she would not need it anymore but she held onto it just because and nodded to Zodiac. "While I don't agree with your idea about the Mausoleum, I thank you for your assurance that I am safe here and I will let you know if things change, but so far, I don't see things getting in the way of me dropping in tomorrow night." She said softly and held her hand out for the woman to shake. "We can continue our convo tomorrow I assume?" She asked as curiously.

[Zodiac]

The offered hand surprised her. Most considered Zodiac the huggy-squishy type and either enjoyed it, accepted it, or rolled their eyes and just endured it. However, considering the vibes she was getting from Charlie, she felt the last thing the girl would want to do was have any kind of physical contact, so she had not acted in her usual impulses.

But there was a hand extended.

Nothing was ever perfect or exact. Not even sensing anothers vibe or reading their auras. The mystic hated when things like this happened. It tossed her off her game and made her appear suddenly unsure and not the calm, smooth exterior she liked to display to her clients as the norm. If a professional appeared uneasy, it did not inspire much confidence in their clients.

An eyebrow cocked as a notion occurred to her. Something Charlie kept thinking apparently. She was not poking into her thoughts. That would be rude and abusive to do to a client, unless their vibes were suggesting actual danger. Did she rant? Zodiac never thought she did, but she was picking that notion up from a lot of people lately. Charlie was not the first to be generating such a vibe. 'Do I rant? I never thought I ranted. Is long winded ranting? That's funny in a way. A mute who rants! Maybe I put too much of myself into my answers?' She wondered to herself as she ranted on the idea of ranting in her own thoughts. The idea might have swallowed her if Ginny had not decided to get up, stretch, and head boop against the girl's chest seeking attentions.

"What?" she blinked as the cat brought her back to the here and now. "Oh. Oh yes!" Timidly she took the girl's hand and gave it a quick shake, then pulled away to pet the cat. "Yes. We will. Tomorrow night. Talk like a pair of Magpies on the telephone line we will. No ranting!" She smiled but the damage was done now she felt. Charlie would either feel she was scared of her or found the idea of shaking hands with her downright repugnant. Neither was the case of course. 'Smooth move, Ange,' she thought to herself. She placed her palms together and inclined her head. "Until then, blessings of the night upon you and yours. Be safe out there, Charlie." She wished the girl while mentally kicking herself in the ***.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie gave a smile as the woman shook her hand, in that moment, she concentrated on the woman and gave her an inspiring boost and then pulled her hand back as well. "I am glad to hear it, though I don't believe you have been ranting too much today, at least, not any more than I may have." She said with a light laughter, gathering her goods before she glanced around, giving a nod to Zodiac's assistant and then giving Ginny one final scratch before she lifted her brown gaze to Zodiac just as her words filtered into her mind once again. She was getting used to the feeling of the woman's words in her mind, and was even beginning to consider the idea of speaking to the wraith guide she had spoken to about learning such powers.

With a blink, Charlie pulled herself out of her thoughts and smiled to Zo, "Thank you, I do try to be very careful now a day." She said and then gave the woman a wink. "I will see you tomorrow night. Have a good night yourself, and thanks again." Charlie said as she lifted the bag to let her know she was talking about helping her find the things she bought. It was then that she turned and headed for the door, smiling to the assistant once more on the way since she was unable to give a wave with her hands and arms currently full of the products she had bought.

Outside, she nearly skipped out of the market place and headed across the street to her apartment so that she could introduce Morpheus - who, as she walked into her apartment, was currently sleeping in his castle on his back until he heard the door close. Then he was nearly trying to kill her by weaving between her feet.