Temperance

"Ugh..." for some reason, Anthony woke up with bricks on his body.

It was heavy and weary.

He got up and washed up in his bathroom, attempting to get rid of his fatigue.

He looked at the grubby mirror, checking if he still has blood on his veins. Jet black hair and hazel eyes were his striking feature, just a little beyond the average standard.

And no, you're wrong, he's not Asian.

"Little Anthony? You're steaming right now!"

You take a second look at your face, "Holy shit...." steam was coming out of your body like a kettle in heat.

You immediately cooled yourself from the shower, attempting to get rid of the anomaly.

But nothing seems to work, "Jihn what the fuck do I do?!"

"Je ne sais pa!"

"English language would be a great help right now!" you were still steaming but you felt no discomfort.

You tried to look at yourself in the mirror, and almost tripped at the sight of your face. It was horribly disfigured.. like it was peeling off of itself.

"Uhm... this is exactly Jonathan's face when we killed him, right?"

Jihn stifled a laugh, "Denvers? Fuck yeah, that was a sight to see," forgetting that it was happening to you, "Wait, ami—

You hastened the peeling process by doing it yourself. It didn't hurt as much as getting whipped with attached nails.

Seeing how calm you are, the clown just decided to tell you what happened last night.

"By the way... about the card," he said in a deadpan tone, "I experimented with it while you were knocked out. It was actually glowing."

Still occupied, you urgently replied "Oh really? What happened?" If you're gonna be honest, things like this don't surprise you anymore.

Jihn suddenly acts as if he's deeply in thought, "Well... first of all, I tried to tear it apart."

"Wha-"

"Ata ta let me finish, mon chéri," he chuckled, "It felt like someone impaled a hot rod into my juicy, delicious brain and the funny thing is! you didn't feel it at all.." seemingly sad at the outcome, "Just me, ami."

"So I tried different ways to destroy it blah blah blah turns out it's pretty indestructible and it's stuck on us."

After removing all that gooey skin, you replied, "What do you mean by stuck?"

The clown grunted, "It's exactly what I mean, Little Anthony. I tried dumping it in the trashbin outside and non."

"Uhuh"

"Aren't we too chill about what's happening to me right now?" you added, "and the supernatural things around us?"

Jihn was silent, "Well, we're in a fucking Marvel universe, aren't we?"

You wiped your face and took a look in the mirror, "...Motherfucking Jonathan Denvers," you gaped at the face before you.

You look.

Like Denvers.

You immediately tried to grab at the razor beside the sink, attempting to carve out him out of your face.

Then you suddenly lost control, "Are you fucking mad?!?" Jihn took a deep breath, "I know your reply already, so shut up, se détendre!"

You hated Denvers so much, his torture was a special case for the both of you.

A pedophile, killer, and rapist.

Bottom of the fucking barrel.

"Haha... sorry," you mumbled, "This isn't a dream, right?"

"Mon chèri, try to think of someone else," he seems to get the gist of the bizarre situation right now.

You thought of Jenny, with her blonde locks and foggy azure eyes.

Always full of fear and contempt.

"Bwahahaha! Ami, look at yourself!" Jihn overreacts someti—

You feel yourself freeze up to the outcome of your efforts. Looking at the mirror, your head was.... Jenny's while your body is... yours.

"Bahahahha! What the hell..." you really couldn't help it, "Help, I'm gonna cry..."

"So what... hahaha... now? We're suddenly gifted with pfft.. a superpower?" the clown asked while dying on the imaginary floor.

You thought about the deck of cards, mysteriously appearing in your room, and the unsolved case of teleportation.

What do the Gods have in plan with you?

"Is this our superhero debut?" your eyes were sparkling as if your dream finally came true.

Jihn suddenly stopped laughing, "Sorry to burst your bubble, ami, but the closest to we are right now is being is a villain—

And with that pretty little head of yours... tsk tsk."

You rolled your eyes, "So what actually triggered this newfound power? You said the card glowed, right?" you asked Jihn, "The Temperance... doesn't that symbolize the balance between the everyday world and the emotional realm?"

But its real lesson was there can never be a definite balance.

If we're talking about its actual depiction then wasn't 'The Magician' the best card right now? It's the starting point of all events and their undertakings.

...Is it because of the fact that you weren't really from this world?

Destroying what's left of the balance between the reality and the emotional state of a human being.

Plus, you're not really in the right state of mind.

"Usually, I'd just say.. merde! but the existence of these cards really intrigued me, Little Anthony," the clown dubiously remarked.

He was smiling exaggeratedly.

You grabbed the journal and wrote down the things you had uncovered.

"Teleported here... Mysterious deck of cards.. Mateo the cannibal..."

You thought for a while and said, "I think what triggered this power was the exact moment when we discovered our location.. like a real evidence that we're somewhere unfamiliar."

The peculiar time that you banged your head at the ground. Depressing.

Jihn delightedly asked, "Ohh, Jenny? Hmm is it because she's a resident of this world?"

You nodded.

"So back to the power we acquired uhh... shapeshifting?" you paused, "So we can adjust ourselves to the rules of this world?

Jihn suddenly clapped, "Wonderful, wonderful!"

A hand pulled you out of your consciousness, replacing it with the very loved clown.

"Let's experiment, shall we?"