Hope Abrams

“I mean.. the future is fickle in itself, wouldn’t want to take any chances with it.” he said shrugging and showing off how spooky he thought the more specific fortune tellings could be. “Hope… interesting name, it’s nice to meet you Hope.” 

“Depends on your perspective, I suppose,” she mused aloud with a shrug. She then tilted her head back and forth. “Yeah, my parents are big on the whole Christianity thing and naming their daughters accordingly. My sister’s name is Faith.” She wanted to casually drop that in so he’d know that if he ever messed with Faith, he’d have to deal with her.

;; “I know, I know. And I’ll make sure to show you it when I’m done.” She promised. She took her phone out and took a picture of the card before carefully shuffling all the cards back together and back in to the box for her. “I figured you’d still need your tower for your readings, just in case.”

“Yes, thank you,” Hope said, her eyes getting dramatically wide. “As much as I don’t like seeing the Tower in my readings, the deck would be astronomically fucked if I did one without it.”

;; “Perfect then.” She smiled. “I’d never do anything to disrespect the cards on purpose. You know that.”

“I know, but I’m still going to be annoying and remind you every time,” she said with a teasing smile.

;; “No pressure then.” She smiled to her slightly. “Well, I was thinking of mapping out the tower with lightning striking it for the chaos. Does that sound okay?”

Hope nodded, satisfied with her answer. “That should be fine. It captures the essence of the tower. Again, I think they’re fine as long as you understand the importance of respecting them, you know?”

;; Sierra watched her expression change and listened carefully. “So I shouldn’t draw any kind of inspiration from this one?” She asked.

Hope squinted, pursing her lips at the card. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Painting’s are expression of emotion, and it’s not like you’re disrespecting the tower by taking inspiration from it...” She decided with a nod “I think you’ll be alright, just make sure you don’t insult the tower or degrade it in your painting and you should be fine.”

;; “You’re not actually wrong on that.” She chuckled. “I’ve not seen him around much lately but that’s okay.” Her eyes moved to a card and tilted her head ever so slightly before picking it up. “What does the tower mean?” She asked, picking up and taking a closer look at the card itself.

Hope nodded before her expression hardened. She met Sierra’s eyes so she would know Hope was serious. “Chaos. Destruction. Devastation. Really bad shit, you do not want the Tower unless it’s reversed or in your past.”

“best friends it is then!” adrian agreed. “the world needs more of us in it.” he joked. “hanging out with friends can certainly be a lot of fun.” he said shaking his head. “bubbles are the best part of a bath.’ he said blowing bubbles at her.

She smirked at his agreement before chuckling incredulously at the bubbles blown at her. “Oh, okay, we’re playing this game?” she asked, picking up and handful of bubbles and scooting closer to him to place them on his face. “Now you’re Santa Clause.”

“Fair enough.” Ryan replied with a shrug. She was sure some might have found that response off-putting, but she didn’t find anything weird about it at all and honestly respected Hope for sticking so firmly to what they believed in. “Okay, I never really put it into perspective like that, and you’re completely right. I’m… sorry, if that was insensitive.” Apologizing was weird for her and it was obvious she wasn’t very skilled at it. “Same. And, like, I would completely ban anything jump-scary from it because it’s so overddone. Whatever happened to a little creativity, ya know?” 

“It’s fine,” she assured her with a nonchalant shrug. “Most of the time they’re faking it anyway. From the clips I’ve seen, real ghosts probably feel the same way that I do. She didn’t notice the other’s discomfort with the apology, but did smirk at her continuation of her plan. “The scariest things aren’t jumpscares anyway. It’s things that make you question everything you’ve ever known to be true.” She then realized she was probably being impolite, or whatever, by not introducing herself. “I’m Hope, guess I should’ve said that earlier.”

“Nope! It’s my biggest dream.”

“i love blueberries as well.” he pointed out. “no need to seduce me. all you have to do is just hang gout with me for a little.. i am pretty easy to figure out.” he reassure her. “you haven’t had a bubble bath since a kid? that sounds awful.. bath are amazing.”

“Well then we have to be best friends,” she chuckled before saying “Hanging out with friends is fun, or so I’ve been told.” She shrugged. “No, I’ve had baths, just not with bubbles, unless adding some oils or herbs counts?”

“I see your point. I never thought of it like that.” Jason thought about it for  a minute. “A witches hat. Well they do work fast.”

“Absolutely. Cruelty is a great motivator, apparently,” she shrugged. “Oh well, it still beats homeschool.”