undergrounds | It was a ball, it was a blast (OPEN)

A: Library

Kenzi has been a busy little bee as of late - something that has gotten her a sizable hill of cash. (She doesn't do banks. Not when people like her are around to steal innocent folks identities.) However, for all her success, Kenzi has yet to find the goose what laid the golden egg.

Figuratively. Or maybe literally? She doesn't know yet. All she knows is that when Barnet was taken over and Jenny from the block's stuff became hers, she found a page of a book. At first she didn't think it was anything worth taking - but it was old, the writing almost like Old English, and therefore worth a quick glance.

What she saw there made her stuff it in her bra and wait until she was home to read it more thoroughly. It was torn from a spell book of some kind, that much was clear. One made by a Circle Midnight witch, by a Circle Midnight witch if what little she could read was any indication. The page told her that this book - wherever it was - could help her summon a Fae long before she was technically powerful enough to do it on her own.

Not that she was alone now. But she wasn't about to pull Nancy into her mess, and Abigail might have been their merry band's leader - but it didn't mean she trusted her beyond that role.

So Kenzi was trying to do some research.

It was a pretty amazing place in Kenzi's opinion. The British Library was near the King's Cross station, which didn't make it hard to find. And while the more accessible public areas were fantastic for the collections they had, what Kenzi wanted was in the basement. Specifically the basement below the basement. It was no secret in the supernatural community that the person in charge of the downstairs was...something else. Nobody knew exactly what. Some people suspected they were a dragon wearing human form, and that their hoard was more books than gold. The specifics of the rumors eluded her, but she wasn't here to learn about the owner.

The sub-basement was dank and musty, the lighting in the hallway was sparse and covering the rows and rows of books was floor to ceiling wire gates. Spell books were scattered among their ranks, and the feeling of old power leaking from the racks of books was heady. Whether or not they were white or black spells, Kenzi didn't care.

There was a good-sized room hidden behind the books with a thick oak table and four mismatched chairs of assorted fabrics and wear. It took her an hour or so to start picking out the oldest looking books and placing them on the table.

B: Tarot

Once again on Portobello, Kenzi has her fortune telling stall open for business. Her working name is printed on the cards she hands out from her stall as Madam Czigany - palms, runes and tarot readings. Everyone on the street knows her as the blond hippy Russian who was way too into wiccan stuff. They didn't know she was an actual witch, and they didn't need to. Neither did her customers, as far as she was concerned. It wasn't as if they cared.

Kenzi waited patiently under her covered booth at the table, alternatively smoothing out the thinning shawl she'd placed on top to cover the stains on the plastic top and shuffling her cards. People ate up this gimmick, so she wasn't anxious.

C: Stealing from a Dead Woman (a...again.)

Kenzi had a cousin (she has a lot of cousins doesn't she?) who used to work at the Kitterick hotel where Carmilla had kept herself, before it had become the decrepit mess it was now. When Anton (her cousin) told her suddenly the power was back on and that a bunch of people had been seen coming and going from the penthouse floor up until a few days ago - Kenzi figured she could at least start watching it and scoping out the place to see if she could maybe make a profit. (This is open to interaction!)

Once she realized that nobody was coming back to the place, Kenzi decided to call her very best friend - and the only other person interested in making some money this way that she knew right now.

The vampire's attendents had abandoned all of Carmilla's valuable and beautiful things in the penthouse and where ever the finery was, Kenzi only saw a profit to be made. She rented a truck to park in the loading bay of the hotel's kitchen, so as to transport things like the curtains and creepy chair with a little less effort. Though she didn't have any preliminary security set up to warn her of when someone might stumble upon their work, Kenzi had some nasty little spells ready to go if she needed to fight someone off.

She was also armed with her keen lies as well.

D: W-W-WILDCARD!!!

Make up your own if you feel up to it!

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Kenzi nods, as if considering. If he's paying her, she's going to make it just as legit as she would for any customer.

"Sure. That's doable." She shrugs and shuffles the deck a few times, just to mix up the cards. Tarot was an easy scam for a normal con-artist, but when you could actually do magic - it made it that much more believable. At one point when she was younger, Kenzi used to put on a clairvoyant act. A little fog charm from a friend who was better and older and some lights made it really convincing.

Once she was done shuffling, Kenzi set the deck down horizontally in front of him.

"Picture that person in your mind. Then cut the deck anywhere you like."

Well. There were a few relative unknowns in his life right now, but one stuck out in particular. Heiji pictured the tall American from the Seattle area he'd met a little while back as he cut the deck in one neat motion.

Hopefully he wasn't required to focus the entire time, though, because:

"Hey, there a good place to get somethin' to eat around here? I'm in the mood for some lamb."

Kenzi begins laying out the cards when Heiji asks her where to eat around her. In response, she lightly smacks the back of his hand.

"Shush, child! Do not interrupt the reading!"

She says with her usual thick accent, and accompanines it with a smile. Kenzi only means to kid, and Heiji seems like a pretty normal guy. But he's Fae. Who knows what'll set him off?

The first card she turns over is the Six of Wands and it's upright. A good sign. "You bring confidence to this relationship, and the ability to overcome obstacles."

But maybe that sign was less good than she thought. After that comes a reversed card, and while reversed cards in and of themselves are not bad, their meanings usually are not positive. This card shows a man on a throne, and on the back of the throne is a star. The King of Pentacles.

"Your friend may bring you danger. You shouldn't trust them."

Kenzi wants to lie very badly right now. Just to improve the telling, but she doesn't know what Heiji knows of tarot. He could be an expert. And then she'd really have mud on her face.

The next card is reversed, again. And shows a man in front of a blacksmith's hearth, polishing three of the same star that was on the back of the king's throne in the last card.

"You might be bored in this relationship, unless you put forth the effort not to be."

She turns this card over with some speed. At this point, she just wants to get it over with. The Five of Wands is next, and what do you know - it's reversed.

"This person will be cautious, and avoid blindly trusting you. You must give them a reason to believe you won't doublecross them."

All in all, not the greatest read ever. Kenzi isn't looking forward to the last card. And yet, as she turns it over, she smiles with relief. It sort of ties everything together, and it isn't so bad! The Seven of Wands shows a man harvesting the card's suit of wands out of the earth.

"But - if the two of you work together and make your differences work, you'll both find a loyal friend with the other."

She seems pleased with herself as she finishes up the reading.

Heiji gave Kenzi a comically wounded look, but as the reading began, he focused more intently on the cards as they were flipped over. He seemed to have forgotten he'd been scolded at all.

He frowned a little when the second card was revealed, though more in puzzlement than concern. Why would Snake bring danger with him? Aside from a little spark of something extra, he seemed like a normal human. And Heiji couldn't imagine why he might be unworthy of trust.

When the third card was turned over, his frown deepened and he looked away. A little more context, perhaps. Friendships with humans didn't always work out. There was distrust on both sides, which could make things dangerous even if it didn't come from the two people directly involved. And the fae did have a reputation for being fickle and easily bored, even if Heiji didn't personally count himself among that number. It was something that he was afraid of, though. That in the end, he might also end up like many of the other spirits -- angry and embittered, a destructive force.

But what was the alternative? Wasn't it worth the risk?

At the end of the reading, he gave Kenzi a bright, sunny smile. "Well, nothing's free, right? Besides, they say the more ya fight, the better friends you are!"

Kenzi's smile turned sympathetic. Heiji was slowly managing to win her over - even with her pragmatism and stigma towards Fae. But there was always that little voice telling her to mind herself when it came to Fae. Her step-father had always thought it was funny scaring her with stories about them.

"Right," Kenzi liked the policy he had though.

"You're pretty good at this, though," said Heiji, sitting back thoughtfully in his chair. "Or you're great at cold reads." Maybe both?

Either way, she'd given him something to think about. It was so difficult, though, to figure out what the best course of action was -- especially with a new acquaintance. It certainly didn't seem like Snake had much to do with the Underground...

"My aunt taught me."

Not on purpose. But before she made a habit of actually running away, Kenzi would run to her trailer to get away from everything for a while. She watched her give readings to everyone who came by.

"She's a pretty fantastic psychic."

"Yeah? Well, I guess she did a pretty good job." He stood up, put his hands in his pockets. "Anyhow, I should get going. But hey, if I find anyone who needs a reading, I'll send 'em your way."

Kenzi smirks and taps the cards against the table before she begins shuffling.

"You're a doll."

She isn't aware if she has a line outside the tent or not, but nevertheless Kenzi shouts out: "Next!" in her very thick accent.

It was a ball, it was a blast (OPEN)

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