RavensDagger

  Chapter Five - Cir Voyant

  The human mind was not suited tnition.

  Joy, more often than not, es from the anticipation of a good thing happening.

  No one is happy because they're eating a real-meat burger. They're happy before they eat it, they're happy that they'd be well-fed ter, they're happy that they'd be able t about it.

  Human brains feed happio anticipation. Anticipatio work out so well when you kly what will happen from the moment you get a preition core until the moment you die.

  More often than not, a precog will end it on their own terms, usually soon after getting their preitive abilities.

  Some are smart enough to just get rid of the core ht. Some gain very reition, more of a sense of the near future, or very keen reflexes. Ivil had some of these, and she had very meticulously avoided upgrading those powers.

  Those who weren't smart about preition teo die by their own hand... or they avoided that by simply going absolutely insane.

  Cire was a fantastic example of the tter.

  "Oh, oh, oh!" Cire said as she spun herself around. Her hair flew out into a tangled mess and her dress, another oddity onboard a ship, spun out with the trifugal force of her spin. "I've been looking forward to this since forever!"

  "I'm gd to see that you're excited," Ivil said. She tossed the little core she held up and caught it when it came back down. "Do you know what I'm here to ask about already?"

  Cire reached out and caught one of the chairs mouo the ceiling, bringing her spin to an abrupt halt. She pahen locked eye attention onto the little core Ivil was holding. "I o hear you say it," she said.

  "You do?"

  "Yup."

  "As a fun of your power?" Ivil asked.

  Cire grinned. "No. I just want to hear you say it. Maybe with a 'please' slipped in there somewhere."

  "Please don't make me paint the walls with your innards. I'll have to give your cores to someone else to get what I want then," Ivil said.

  Cire ughed, clearly unbothered by the threat. That was another problem with precogs that were strong enough. They sapped the fun out of life. She pushed herself down until her boots ked onto the floor and locked in pce.

  "Alright," Cire said. "I do o hear you ask though, threats and pleases aside. And the usual warnings e into py."

  "The usual warnings?" Ivil asked.

  Cire nodded. "Right, right, you might not know. Everyohat works with me has heard the spiel before... it's been a while... okay." She cleared her throat. "I, Cire Voyant, seer and see-er of the future, do warn thee who wishes to know what has not passed; the future is ever-ging and in flux, but in the passing of souls and the thread of mankind is a pattern unseen by most. The weave is known to me, and by following the path of your future's thread, I dis your pce within its pattern."

  Cire's voice had deepened, and Ivil felt a power's touch skimming past and arouo most it would be little more than a shiver down their spio her, it was a siren going off in the night.

  "Iing," Ivil said. "So, this warning?"

  Cire sighed. "Look, the long and short of it is that my predis are the best, but they're not infallible. Also, I might not tell you what you want to hear. I've had some people get really pissed off with me whey doesn't line up with their expectations."

  "I imagihere's a story there?" Ivil asked.

  "Oh, you wouldn't believe it!" Cire said, she swung her arms wide, then had to spin them around to return to standing straight. "I had one mom blow up on me because she wao know when she'd reuh her lost kid, and the answer was never. Which, yeah, that sucked. I also avoid doing predis fious people. They wanna know when they'll meet God, or when the end will e, or whatever, and they're never happy with what I have to say."

  "You could lie."

  "Pfft, no," Cire said. "I know what'll happen to me if I get a reputation for lying, and it ain't pretty."

  Ivil nodded along. "Very well. I imagine you know what the deal between us is already?"

  "You gimme that tasty, tasty ultra-rare cht there, and I don't whisper a word of what you ask me to anyone."

  "And you know what will happen if you do tell people?"

  Cire snorted. "One of the two dozen or so spies in the Lunatics will report it up the , word will get out, you'll find out, then the hing I know I'm waking up on the void of space, choking on nothing while my eyes pop out of my skull from the pressure ge. The st thing I'll see is this ship floating in two big parts. Yeah, I know."

  "I don't py with my victims," Ivil said. "That's the only fort you'd get."

  "Uh-huh," Cire agreed. She leaned forwards, feet still pnted on the ground and hands grasping for Ivil. She grabbed onto one of Ivil's hands. "Now... shall we do this?"

  Her hands were cold. "Yes," Ivil said.

  Cire grinned wide, and aige of sanity slipped out of her gaze. "Now, ask."

  Ivil didn't clear her throat. She didn't allow herself the luxury of being nervous. Instead, she asked. "I... I want to find true love."

  Cire snorted. "There's a couple on deck seven. Older people, like, sixties or so, been married for forty years and still adore the sight of each other. It's almost siingly sweet."

  Ivil gred. "That's not what I meant," she said.

  "Then be specific," Cire said.

  "Fihen. I want to find someone who will love me, and who deserves my loyalty. Someohat I live a happy life with. I've been at the top for too long. I want, need, someoo kill my loneliness."

  Cire blinked. "Well, that's something. But okay, I think I manage."

  There was a wash of u warmth through the room. Ivil fixed herself against it, resisting.

  She noticed the sooling on Cire's forehead. "You're not making this easy, you know," Cire muttered.

  Ivil let go, and the warmth washed through and past her, then back. It stopped as easily as it came, and Cire let go of Ivil's hand and fell back. "So?" Ivil asked.

  "Gimme a minute," Cire said. She brushed a hand through her hair, which had started to mat against her scalp. "Oh, this headache had better be worth it."

  "As?" Ivil asked.

  "Yup," Cire siad. "I... hmm."

  "Yes?" Ivil asked.

  Cire brushed the sweat off of her hands along the front of her dress. "Go to Ceres. You'll find what you're looking for on this piece of junk ship called the... uh... Held Together. Yoing to o take that ship to wherever it's goi."

  "That's it?" Ivil asked. "That's hardly precise."

  "Hey, yetting good service here, woman," Cire protested. "I'm leading the horse to water."

  "Am I the horse?" Ivil asked. "Because I might find that insulting, and your usefulo me is certainly ing to a middle."

  "Chill," Cire said. "If I tell you everything, it doesn't work out the way you want it to. This way it does. Figure the rest out yourself, I've already pointed you in the right dire. Cire Voyant's work here is done... now gimme the core."

  Ivil sighed and tossed the core over. Cire fumbled it out of the air, then gri the little marble-sized item. "Is your name really Cire Voyant?" Ivil asked.

  "Is yours really Ivil Antagonist?"

  "Fair enough."

  "Right, you'd best get going, you have like, six days to make it to Ceres or you'll miss your d never find love. Then you'll die old and bitter and angry and lonely."

  Ivil quirked an eyebrow at that pronou. "I see. I won't lihen. Thank you for your service, Cire. And do recall what'll happen if you speak of this."

  "Oh, piffle, you think you're the only person that asks me about love? You wouldn't believe how many divorces and marriages I've caused. There's seven little baby Cires on Haumea and it's all my fault!"

  "I see. Well, try to keep your mouth shut and your head on your shoulders." Ivil o the seer, then walked to the door. It opened on her approad she slipped out into the corridor where Captain Circus was in the middle of a stare-down with Sonic Spectre. There were several more Wars out now. "We're going," Ivil said as she moved past it all. "e on, I don't have time to waste on insequential things. Good day, Captain."

  If time ressing, then she'd do what she could to slip across the system. Ceres wasn't close, but she'd make it.

  ***

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