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“Okay, so, I went with your nickname, if that’s alright- six letters means I divide them into three sets of pairs, with a sort of ‘past, present, and future’ interpretation. Not that it has to be looked at that way, it’s just- the format I use.”
“Sure, makes sense.”
“Right. So- Southern Rain, Traveler’s Shield, and the Emphasized Dawn. S represents the south, and heat, and feelings, and P is the rain, a gift, receiving something. Together they’re, well, a present from someone else that meant an awful lot to you. The person or the present, either one.”
Her single audience member fell still. If Thea didn’t have his full attention before, those words managed to get it. She swallowed, abruptly feeling three times as nervous, but kept going.
“Then, I and D, those are the road and the shield, so- it could be that you’re running away from something painful, or like in a fight, when you dodge all over the place before getting whoever’s shooting at you! Whichever. Like I said, this isn’t- it’s just me trying to generalize, and let people think of things on their own that could fit-”
“Yeah,” Spider-man said softly, “I get it. What, uh, what else?”
“Well, there isn’t a letter Y, so I used double E to get the right sound, and at the end of a name that always means, like, really strong encouragement to keep looking ahead, because things are bound to get better.” She twisted her shirt hem again. “What do you think, Spidey?”
It was stupid. Thea knew that, but- her best friend always said the runes were awesome in a nerdy way, and that Thea should try telling fortunes for more people, and after Spider-man saved her from nearly falling off the fire escape because of a damn cat-
“This is really, really cool.”
A grin spread across her face, from ear to ear. “Yeah?”
“Totally! And the way you painted it too, the lettering, it’s- really neat. Do you make a lot of these?” She’d made a few, for the names of her characters, but the little watercolor card with 'Spidey' spelled out in red and blue was only the second one she’d ever made for a real life person.
“I’m trying to. My friend says I could probably, like, sell them online, but I dunno if anyone would go for it. I mean, maybe if they’ve read my book, but...”
“Book?”
And from there she’s off, telling the superhero literally perched on her windowsill about the high fantasy trilogy Thea’s been writing since she was still in high school, from the cast to the plot to all the background magic stuff - including a system of runes, used by one character to tell another’s fortune, which Thea started referencing in real life when she struggled with making decisions.
“It doesn’t always help,” she didn’t mind admitting, “But like, the other night, I was having a really hard time convincing myself to wash dishes before sitting down at my computer, because there’s always gonna be more dirty plates tomorrow so why bother, y’know?”
“Ohhh yeah, I know.”
“Right! But I reached for these little oval tokens I painted with each rune, and without looking I pulled out L, for water, and that-” She snickered, amused in retrospect all over again, “-that seemed like a pretty good sign to go turn on the sink and wash some dishes.”
Spider-man snorted. “Yeah, I wouldn’t argue with that either.” They chatted a while longer, as the sun finished setting and the city lit up, rush hour traffic thinning out only to be replaced by evening crowds. Eventually, Thea knew Spidey would need to leave, to actually go save people and keep the streets safe instead of helping stave off her depression for another day, but- it’s the nicest face to face conversation she’s had with anyone in- well. Since coming back from being dead for five years, and finding out her best friend had already graduated college and moved to another state.
Anywho.
“How much would you charge for these?” Spider-man suddenly asked, when they hit a lull. “If you made them for other people?
“Uh. No idea.” Thea glanced at her closest notebook. “I could totally give you some quick translations, though, whether I make more cards or not.”
“...yeah, okay. Just- promise not to tell anyone?”
“Of course not!”
So. Friday night, another evening spent in her crappy little apartment, somehow resulted in Thea flagging down Spider-man to give him a present for saving her life the week before and then hanging out with him on the fire escape as she used her made-up magic runes to guess things about people she’d never met before. Ten out of ten stars.
The first one came out pretty simple. “Northeastern Shield - with only three letters, I stick to interpreting them as, like, a basic look at who the person is. Put together, N and E usually mean you’ve got a really clear vision when starting a new project. And the solitary shield, that’s- you work best in defense, or behind the scenes, where you can hold your ground on your own terms.”
She would’ve sworn Spidey whispered something about a ‘guy in the chair’, but that might’ve just been the radio playing in a neighbor’s apartment playing tricks on her.
The next name- or rather, nickname, made her laugh. “Mountain Valley! Okay, that’s really ironic, ‘cause- there’s technically only fourteen runes, but twenty-one letters, the way I designed them. These seven, they’re the same upside-down or rightside-up, but these others stand for different meanings depending on which way they face. So, M and J are literally opposites, the mountain and the valley: obstacle and aid, struggle and rest. Together, just by themselves, I guess- I guess they represent someone who’s always going to sign up for a challenge, but knows when to tap out, or ask for help.”
Spider-man nodded like that made perfect sense.
And then: “Mountain Air, Gathered Roots, and a Northern Arrow. Three sets of two, like your name, so, I’m gonna lean into the past-present-future thing again. M and O are something big that happened, a drastic change that stuck with you; R represents roots, and G is for the herd, so like, family is super important. You can always lean on them when you need to. A is the arrow, moving forward, going on the offense; then N, the north - it’s the opposite of S, so logic instead of emotion, which, when paired with the arrow- they turn into a search for knowledge, someone who’s going to be at their best when they’re learning something new.”
The superhero sounded a little choked up when he said that sounded pretty accurate. And, after hesitating, gave her one final name to translate.
“Eastern Rain, Hunter’s Dawn, and the Taproot. P and E combine to mean each day is a gift; be thankful for all the ones you’ve already gotten to experience. T is the hunter, the seeker, a leader. Combined with E, I would say they represent the first step towards finding something important- or maybe accepting something, like a duty or responsibility. And then the single R at the end, your history and ancestry, that’s a reminder to never forget where you came from.”
Spider-man took a while to respond after that one.
Thea ended up tearing the sheet of paper out of her notebook, folded it up and gave it to Spidey along with his little watercolor card. He was really careful, sliding them into a neat hidden pocket in his boot, and then- then he leaned a little closer and hugged her, saying ‘thanks’ one more time.
“You’re welcome,” Thea told him, as strongly as she could manage. “If you want any of those painted, just let me know. No charge.”
“We’ll see,” Spidey said. Then he pulled away, flipped backwards off the fire escape, and swung off into the night.
(Two months later, one short novel self-published and a second in the works, Thea got a ping to her Fo-Ki account. A payment, which didn’t happen often.
And a big one, which never happened, like, at all.
Mutual web-friend of ours recommended I check out your runes, the attached comment read. Pretty cool stuff. Thought I’d drop a down-payment and a list of names, make them my token Christmas gifts this year. A certain someone will swing by and check on your progress in a few weeks, no rush.
Thea stared at the gleaming six hundred dollars abruptly deposited into her account. Then she slowly reached for her notebook, to start translating the three dozen names included with the commission request.
If and when Spider-man did swing by, he’d have a lot of explaining to do.)