THE MOMENT
"That's... that's a lot to take in...," Carson sighed as he tried to process everything. It wasn't what he expected when he decided to get a tattoo. But the artist, Mundo, seemed to know what he wanted even before Carson did. She got to work quickly while they chatted, and at some point, the conversation led to his luck. Mundo was a heavyset woman with forest green hair, and Carson guessed her deep insights came from working with people. It was weird that she asked if his luck had been good or bad, and he couldn't stop himself from sharing his life story. Then, she answered questions he didn't even know he had.
"We're just getting started, hon," Mundo smiled. "The full multiverse talk takes a few hours, but your tattoo is just about finished," she said. He looked down at the pair of dice she'd been inking on him. It showed a 'two' and a 'five' side by side. Anyone glancing at it might've assumed it was meant to be 'seven' points. She had one more step to do, as she described it, and that was to add the actual number '25' under the dice. "Are you ready?"
"And after you finish it, I'll be able to control my luck?" he asked. He wasn't questioning her as much as ensuring he was on the same page. "Because you said I'm Unique Soul #25, El Borracho, right?" She threw so much information at him that the only thing he could do was focus on the things relevant to him in that moment.
"You'll be able to control it better," she nodded. "Your ability has been kind of 'leaking out' so to speak. And, because you've convinced yourself you have bad luck, it stayed that way. This will help you reframe it at any time and take control."
"Wow...," Carson nodded. "All this time I was doing it to myself...?" Mundo nodded, but she chuckled with understanding. It wasn't an easy realization but he seemed to be coping well.
"Not what you expected, huh?" she asked. He looked at her and gave his head a slight tilt before shaking it.
"I mean, I've been unlucky all my life, as long as I can remember. It was never tragically overbearing, just mildly miserable," he shrugged. "That's the way things have always been, it never even occurred to me to expect anything else."