Intake / The spread
Three cards. One finding. A status.
How a file gets read, so you know what you are looking at when yours comes back.
The positions
HOW IT STARTED
Where the pattern came from. The first card is always the card of the day, the same one for everybody. Which card you tap does not matter; the office decides.
HOW IT'S GOING
Where you are in it now. This is the one people screenshot.
HOW IT ENDS, ALLEGEDLY
The probable direction if you keep participating, or what you will say about it afterward. A trajectory, never a prediction. No dates. The office reads this one allegedly, and the label says so.
The finding
One paragraph, ninety to a hundred and forty words, written by the office. It names the pattern, gives you the receipts, says what the pattern is for, and lands on a last line that stands on its own. The last line is what goes on the image.
One sentence of every finding is sealed. On the page and on the share link it is a black bar, for everyone, every time. The email is the only copy that shows it.
The exhibits
Three items the office has entered into evidence, lettered A, B and C. Objects, counts, documents. Never a feeling. Every card keeps one on file, and your three start from the cards you drew.
The order of a file
- The header: Reviewed by the office. The office also has a file.
- Three lines, one for each position.
- The finding, with one sentence sealed on the public copy. The email shows it.
- Three exhibits.
- The stamp.
The status
Six stamps. The office picks one by what it means, then adds a clause.
APPROVED
You already chose this. You are continuing.
DENIED
The permission or the reassurance you came for is not granted.
UNDER REVIEW
You are keeping it ambiguous on purpose.
CLOSED
It ended. You keep reopening it.
OVERDUE
Something was due a while ago.
MISFILED
You are asking the wrong question, or blaming the wrong cause.
The rules
- One file a day, by the office's clock. Tomorrow's opens at midnight, Eastern.
- You can pull without telling us anything. The finding is sent to the address you give, if you give one.
- A file you share shows the reading and the image. It never shows your email or your name.
- The cards are original. Twenty-four of them, in four houses. Browse the deck.
Intake is a fictional assessment of your questionable circumstances. It is not a prediction, diagnosis, or substitute for professional advice.