{"id":20607,"date":"2022-10-06T17:15:24","date_gmt":"2022-10-06T21:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/?p=20607"},"modified":"2022-10-06T17:22:11","modified_gmt":"2022-10-06T21:22:11","slug":"sagas-among-the-arcana-the-plague-doctor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/2022\/10\/06\/sagas-among-the-arcana-the-plague-doctor\/","title":{"rendered":"Sagas Among the Arcana: The Plague Doctor"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently indulged in a new deck\u2014 <\/span>Murder of Crows<\/span><\/i> by Corrado Roi! (The Vault of Midnight is going to absolutely drain my bank account in the next few years.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

While I usually prefer the vibrancy of my other two decks, this one is <\/span>so gorgeous. <\/span><\/i>It reminds me of my assignments for art class in high school where I clutched my graphite because color pencils are messy and ruin everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

This deck is also <\/span>perfect <\/span><\/i>for the Halloween season! So I\u2019m going to use it as my primary deck for the whole of October.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Coincidentally, one of the stories I\u2019m working on for a class right now is in line with the spooky theme, so expect future readings to be in a similar vein \ud83d\ude09<\/span><\/p>\n

On with the story!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The Ace of Pentacles is drawn \u2014 \u201ca prosperous beginning, careful planning.\u201d<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Amina looks past frosted glass into the dead city below. 9 pm is usually the time for young people to go out and dance while drinking various martinis. But now even they are too tired to go out \u2014 too <\/span>sick<\/span><\/i>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Disease pervades them all. Even those who are not in bed hover near it, prepared for the dreaded fainting spells they witnessed dear ones fall to. Not Amina, though. She has no loved ones to observe falling sick; she\u2019s only heard gossip on the streets, back when there was less fear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But do not mistake her for being afraid. No, she\u2019s simply following the trends. How <\/span>they<\/span><\/i> all react \u2014 and how she can take <\/span>advantage<\/span><\/i> of that.<\/span><\/p>\n

.\u00a0 .\u00a0 .<\/strong><\/p>\n

Robert is not sick. But the rest of his family is, and he has no means to take care of them. He has a master’s in engineering, yet now wishes he\u2019d followed his mother\u2019s advice to go into medicine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He glances over at her. Her once beautiful and rosy face is now gaunt and sickly. If she were healthier she would reprimand him with an <\/span>I told you so.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

He yearns for it desperately.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He walks downstairs to get some water when he hears shuffling from the outside. He pauses in his steps. <\/span>Who would be out now?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

He thinks he hears knocking.<\/span><\/p>\n

He slows his breathing, feeling too heavy for the hardwood floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The doorbell rings.<\/span><\/p>\n

His breath hitches.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Stupid, <\/span><\/i>he calls himself.<\/span> They used to get visitors all the time before this crisis. What\u2019s so daunting about someone visiting now?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

He leaves his cup, filled by the sink. Then goes to open the door.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He curses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI hear someone is sick here?\u201d The creature is a bit shorter than him and it speaks in a low hum. <\/span>Is it a costume?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

It shuffles beneath its heavy black robe, looking so antiquated along with that beak-shaped mask. <\/span>Where has he seen such a thing before?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cI <\/span>asked<\/span><\/i> if someone was sick <\/span>here<\/span><\/i>?\u201d Robert forgot that he had to speak.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOh, um yes . . .\u201d <\/span>Is it even safe to answer?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cGood,\u201d it concludes satisfied.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Robert can\u2019t help but feel offended by this. \u201c<\/span>Good?\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cYes. I\u2019m a doctor, so I can help?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Doctor?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t look like a doctor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOf course<\/span> I<\/span> am,\u201d it stresses.<\/span><\/p>\n

He imagines eyes rolling underneath that crow mask.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a<\/span> plague doctor<\/span><\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

.\u00a0 .\u00a0 .<\/strong><\/p>\n

To be continued . . . (next Thursday!)<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Ace of Coins (and yes, that is Virizion holding up the card)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently indulged in a new deck\u2014 Murder of Crows by Corrado Roi! (The Vault of Midnight is going to absolutely drain my bank account in the next few years.) While I usually prefer the vibrancy of my other two decks, this one is so gorgeous. It reminds me of my assignments for art class […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2257,"featured_media":19691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1257,778,1382],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20607"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20614,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20607\/revisions\/20614"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19691"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}