fandomtownies | Parents' Weekend Meet & Greet, The Park, Friday Afternoon

Parents' Weekend Meet & Greet, The Park, Friday Afternoon

The day had dawned crisp and clear, but by the time afternoon had rolled around... it was really still kind of ridiculously warm for fall. People could probably get away with not wearing a sweater, even.

Which made rather good weather for a picnic, convenient since that was the traditional way of kicking off the Fandom High Parents' (and assorted other relatives, friends, acquaintances, or sometimes even enemies, but that was harder to fit nicely on a banner) Weekend. So there were rows of picnic tables decked out in blue and yellow, laid out with just about any sort of foodstuff one could imagine. And just in case there was any lingering doubt as to the purpose of the picnic, a glittery banner (Petra's work, naturally) adorned the registration tables:

[ooc: ocd up! registration / security / food & drink / mingling / post two ]

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Right. Ludmilla had seen enough. "Look at your life, Kenzyushka. Look at your choices," she muttered, crossing her arms and shaking her head. Well, if the kid wasn't going to take advantage of the glaringly obvious opening here, someone had to.

Three minutes and a trip to the Port-o-Let later, she was out of her relatively normal street clothes and dressed in her best culturally-ambiguous-not-at-all-pretending-to-be-Romani finery, complete with headscarf, jingly coin-belt, tarot cards and crystal ball. She spread the last two items out on an empty picnic table next to the sign she'd swiped from registration. The side facing her said Welcome, Parents and Family, but the side facing the world said

Psychic Readings!
Love Spells and Curses!
Initial Consultation: 5$
Advanced divination and spellwork: negotiable (but reasonable) rates!
Ask about our discount for Russian-speakers.

There wasn't really a discount for Russian-speakers; she just needed to know ahead of time to pick another language to babble in when she tranced-out.

[OOC: she's not psychic and she can't cast spells. (Though in a pinch she can apparently summon Baba Yaga, not that she actually believes in Baba Yaga.) She's just a really practiced con-artist.]

Edited 2011-09-30 18:55 (UTC)

Mulder stopped, squinted, and wondered if this was for real. He'd lost the nametag before he wandered over. "Hi. Do you actually have powers, like some of the people here, or...?" Yeah, he didn't know how to finish that.

Ludmilla eyed the man, sniffing the utterly contradictory scents (as it were) of both Law Enforcement and Easy, Easy Mark wafting off him. Iiiiinteresting.

"Of course I have powers, young man," she answered, playing up the thickness of her accent for all it was worth. "What kind of terrible person would charge money for things they can't do?" Oh, those clear, innocent eyes, not a hint of irony floating around in their freakily-blue depths.

Yeeeeah, he'd busted the Amazing Yappi's chops for claiming to find clues that weren't there. But he's also been fooled into believing an alien scam perpetrated by homicidal little girls. It was amazing how that aroma was so unique.

"The kind of person who probably only wants a donation after their reading of a client, since that's what's legal, right?" Mulder smirked a little, and sat down, still hopeful at finding real psychic powers. "Okay. Go ahead. Let's consult."

"Psh, local laws can be so antiquated." And it paid to be aware of them, so you could break them properly. "You understand is purely for entertainment, of course, no medical or religious guarantees can be offered. Payment is for spiritual experience!"

She placed her open hands on the table, palms up. "Give Sister Lidunka your hands, now."

Mulder smirked and put his hands in hers, confident she wouldn't figure out anything real. Unless she was psychic. "Well, that puts you ahead of the Amazing Yappi. You seen his commercials, or is he finally off the air here?" He paused, re-reading the sign. "How much Russian do you have to speak?" He could order lunch in it. Did that count?

"Bah; commercializing God-given powers." Was nice work if you could get it, but a risky proposition to let people get that familiar with your face; small-time might pay less, but it was a hell of a lot easier to disappear when you needed to. She narrowed her eyes at the man's question, while also filing it away in her cold-reading cabinet. "Can read Brothers Karamozov in original Russian?"

"No," Mulder admitted. If he could've done that, he could've left Alex Krycek in the U.S. when he want to Siberia, which Krycek probably would have appreciated. "So you're a God-fearing woman, Sister Lidunka?" Profiler mode was so hard to get out of. Sister Lidunka's accent sounded legit, if overly thick; the outfit, on the other hand....

Good; that meant she was safe to use that speech from page 327 when she needed to rant at the spirits. "Of course. I sense that you are not, though." With her, you know. Sarcasm sense.

Edited 2011-09-30 20:55 (UTC)

"I could be a believer," Mulder said in his flat deadpan voice. Okay, it was also his sarcastic voice. "I want to believe." That sounded more wistful to his own ears, and probably gave too much away. Okay, stop explaining, Mulder. "I've seen things Science can't explain, I'll say that much."

"You'd like to believe in higher powers, but you've been hurt and disappointed before, no?" She didn't even really need that moment of vulnerability to play that line out. Who wouldn't it apply to?

Edited 2011-09-30 21:03 (UTC)

What he'd said would trigger any good 'psychic', and he'd seen them grab the possibility before, but give her props, Sister Lidunka knew how to make with the sympathy. "The past is the past. I'm more interested in... the future." Like, would it ever be possible to turn Scully back into a real adult again.

"Aren't we all, young man. Aren't we all." 'Sister Lidunka' studied his face for a moment before starting off with, "You're worried about something. Someone?"

[And I disappear for a bit as it is work-fleeing tiems!]

Edited 2011-09-30 21:26 (UTC)

Re: Food & Drink! [PW1] - and Psychic Readings!

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...no, there was no way to miss that.

Kenzi stood there about fifteen yards away. Stunned. Speechless.

Well, for ten seconds.

"Tatya?"

//"Keep it down, little cabbage. What, you want to scare off the marks?" // Unlike Ludmilla, who'd only scare off the ones who could do more than order lunch in Russian.

Edited 2011-10-01 17:20 (UTC)

Kenzi's flailing became largely non-verbal for a second, then she was getting in closer, eyes still huge. //"What are you doing here? What-- how--?//" Stupid question. Sasha blabbed or someone in the system di and-- "//Warning is nice! Is good! And... How much have you made so far?//"

"Enough," Ludmilla answered in English, which was, please, always a lie, because there was never enough. "And what, you think your family would abandon you just because you never write, never call, and tried to drop off the face of the earth to avoid us?" Actually, those did seem like halfway decent reasons, but again, please. For some other family.

"Well... I did get caught, too," Kenzi pointed out, dropping back into English, still stumbling forward in shock. "Which was so embarrassing, Tatya. And I thought I'd be right back after I got kicked out of here, but it hasn't happened yet." Um. And there was the stepfather thing. "Besides. It's not like I wanted Moms or the Step to know where I was."

"What, you think I was born in dark and last night? Need to know basis only, and some people don't need to know." Lumilla gave her a stern look. "Unless some people think they can get away with not writing or calling or hugging. In that case, all bets off!"

Edited 2011-10-01 20:34 (UTC)

"Oh well. Just to make you happy..."

GLOMP. It was family. Lies were the truth. Truth were lies. Hugging was required.

"Kenzi, stop trying to pick pocket. Money is in my underwear anyway."

"Just keeping in practice, Tatya!"

"This is good. The getting caught..." Ludmilla unwrapped one hand from around the skinny frame enough to make a see-saw motion. "Not so good. You had to learn, though. Everybody does."

"Yeah, yeah," Kenzi muttered, not disrespectfully, just still embarrassed. "Oh, but this place has been great for learning!" She rose up on her toes, gleeful. "You have to meet Mr. Caffrey! I'm his TA! He's teaching me encryptions and how to fake-age art!"

That got her a suspicious look. "And in exchange for this you give him the T and A? Is not horrible deal, but we taught you to haggle better than that."