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There was a silence that carried through the office, there was no speaking, the two weren’t even looking at each other, just the sound of a pencil on paper, and cards being shuffled again and again. Pure Vanilla looked up to see his husband, Shadow Milk shuffled the cards again before spreading them across the table.
“Blueberry?” Pure Vanilla said, breaking the silence. “What are those? They don’t look like normal playing cards?”
It was obvious they weren’t the normal playing cards, the normal cards had a complicated design on the back that was often in yellows. These cards were dark blue in color, with a simple diamond pattern.
“They're my tarot cards?” Shadow Milk replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“Tarot?” Pure Vanilla repeated.
“I thought I explained this to you; I didn’t?” Shadow Milk asked to which he earned a ‘no’ from Pure Vanilla. “Shoot, well tarot was taught to me by knowledge…actually it’s an artform from the Witches.”
“The Witches?!” Pure Vanilla asked in awe as he dragged his chair to get closer to his partner.
“Yeah, it was a way of foretelling the future even if you were not born a seer, actually it had some advantages over being a seer as you get a better message of what’s coming rather than visuals.” Shadow Milk explained absentmindedly messing with the cards. “Knowledge taught me the basics long ago, I started practicing more when I was locked in th-....”
The former Fount of Knowledge words trailed off, going into a past he definitely didn’t want to remember. Pure Vanilla easily picked up on the hint and reached over to grab Shadow Milk’s hands.
“You said these cards can help you tell the future, could you read me mine?” Pure Vanilla asked with a bright smile.
“Really? Nilly, these things are not accurate, you know anything with magic can't be boiled down to an exact science. And the possibility of pulling a bad card can leave you stres-” Shadow Milk started to explain.
“Please, Bluebird.” Pure Vanilla begged.
“...the things I do for you, come on, get comfortable and I’ll explain everything as we read for the future.” Shadow Milk said with a smile.
Pure Vanilla smile got bigger as he moved his chair closer, now directly across his husband. He watched as Shadow Milk skillfully shuffled his cards, before the blue cookie finally spoke.
“What is the question you want answered?” Shadow Milk asked.
“Huh..hmm what does the future hold?” Pure Vanilla quickly answered.
Shadow Milk just rolled his eyes as he finished shuffling the cards, setting down the stack.
“Let’s see what the past holds.” Shadow Milk said as he pulled the first card.
The card was flipped over, revealing the form artwork of Gingerbrave, looking up towards the cloud, completely unaware of the path in front of him. The cracks on his body contrasting the blue sky.
“The fool.” Shadow Milk said matter of factly.
“What? Gingerbrave?...why?” Pure Vanilla started to sputter out, trying to figure out why the card had a picture of the semi adopted friend, and his husband was currently calling him a fool. Shadow Milk, noticing the king frantic nature began to laugh, easing some of his worried.
“I’m not calling Gingerbrave a fool. It’s the name of the card.” Shadow Milk said through laughs. “These cards are connected to my magic, so the cookies on the card are just who I think best represents the card.”
“What does the card represent?” Pure Vanilla asked.
“The fool card is the beginning card of an adventure, the beginning of the deck. If you look here the cookie is about to set forth into the unknown. Adventure, innocence, and freedom is what this card is associated with.” Shadow Milk explained.
“...yeah that does sound like Gingerbrave.” Pure Vanilla said with a small style.
“This means, in your past you took a leap forward to a new adventure, one you may still be on.” Shadow Milk explains.
Pure Vanilla didn’t say anything, just nodded in agreement.
“Ok where are you currently?” Shadow Milk as he asked as he flipped over another card, this time it was a dark dough cookie with short hair, hanging upside down by his foot. “The hanged man.”
“That's…Dark Choco cookie.” Pure Vanilla said as he noticed the scar and short hair on the cookie. “The hanged man, that doesn’t sound very nice.”
“The hanged man represents feeling trapped, confined or the need to look at something from a different angle, see things in a perspective. Typically it means you're in a situation or facing a dilemma you're not currently happy with.” Shadow Milk explained.
Pure Vanilla didn’t say anything, he didn’t need to, they both knew why this card was drawn. It was related to White Lily…or really Dark Enchantress, the one who started the first Dark Flour War….and mother to the triplets. It was a constant question Pure Vanilla asked himself, was there a way to defeat Dark Enchantress without killing what was left of White Lily cookie?
“,,,,and the last card?” Pure Vanilla asked.
“The last card is the future…and it is…” Shadow Milk picked up the card, he looked at it, not offering any reaction at first.
“Shadow Milk? Is it bad?” Pure Vanilla asked, panic creeping into his voice, shaking Shadow Milk out of his state.
“What? No, no not bad, just got stunned seeing your handsome face in card form.” Shadow Milk said with a smile as he flipped the card, showing Pure Vanilla resting on a throne. “It’s you, the emperor.”
“The emperor…?” Pure Vanilla repeated staring at the card.
“Yep, the emperor represents leadership but also stability and protectiveness. Considering what the other cards have said, I believe this means that your adventure and confusion will soon come to an end, and you will find leadership either in yourself or someone else to solve it.” Shadow Milk said with a smile.
“So a happy ending it seems?” Pure Vanilla asked.
“Yeah, it looks like that.” Shadow Milk replied.
“....it feels like this card should be Dark Cacao.” Pure Vanilla said, causing Shadow Milk to laugh. “Leadership, stability, protectiveness all sound like Dark Cacao to me.”
“Maybe…” Shadow Milk said, the card flicking from Pure Vanilla to Dark Cacao. “Maybe I just like to think about you as an emperor.”
“Aww bluebird” Pure Vanilla cooed out.
“Hey don’t get all sappy on me.” Shadow Milk said however before he could speak a loud knock at the door cut him off.
The knock quickly stopped and the door was open slightly, allowing Black Sapphire to poke his head in.
“Dad, Papa, sorry for bugging you, but we currently have a problem with Blueberry Crepe.” Black Sapphire said.
“What’s wrong?” Shadow Milk asked.
“They’re-” Black Sapphire started to say, however Black Raisin quickly pushed him aside, frustrated.
“The brat lost control of one of their wafflebots and it’s attacking my crows!” Black Raisin yelled out.
“Oh dear!” Pure Vanilla said, jumping to his feet. “Shadow Milk, I’ll be right back.”
“Go, make sure our child doesn’t burn down the kingdom. Take all the time you need.” Shadow Milk said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
Pure Vanilla quickly rushed out of the room, following Black Sapphire and Black Raisin. He could hear the patter of Vanilla’s feet fade as he ran down the hall. Soon the footsteps faded into nothing, all that could be heard was the sound of Shadow Milk’s own breathing and the clock in the room. Shadow Milk let out a huff as he reached for the emperor card, staring at it with unconcealed hatred.
‘Lying to your partner, I thought you gave up on being the beast of deceit’ A voice in his head cackled, his own…of what he used to be.
“Shut up.” Shadow Milk said to no one in particular as his magic swirled around the card. He had changed it during their reading, hiding what he had truly pulled for the future.
The Tower. Sudden upheaval, chaos, unexpected change….disaster.
Shadow Milk took a deep breath as he set the card down before burying his face in his hands. He was doing his best to think about this calmly, after all this wasn’t an exact science, magic is always a mess in some way or form. This could mean that Dark Enchantress might do something, but maybe they might find a way to bring White Lily back? That could be an unexpected change. It could also just be something small? Maybe to change up the way he looks at something? He was trying to remember the Light of Knowledge’s voice telling him not to slowly focus so much on the cards, that they weren’t always perfect….
…the last time Shadow Milk pulled the tower card was before he corrupted into the beast he now was.
The ex-beast moved his hands away to look at the form the card took, it had changed from when he last pulled it. This time it was the Spire of deceit, black lighting striking the top sending rumble scattering. However, instead of no figures like last time, this time it had two figures falling off the tower, one in dark blues and one in black and gold. The dark blues had blue hair, making the cookie clear it was supposed to be Shadow Milk, but the other one, the one dressed in black and gold, had light blond hair….
“You know what he can yell at me about being anemic later.” Shadow Milk said to himself as he forced himself to get up, pulling out his hair pin and slicing his palm with him. “But a few more jam wards around the castle can’t hurt.”