The Fortuneteller [Open]

[Caitlyn Masters]

Caitlyn set up a small folding table across from City Hall. The teen had tied her hair back into a long ponytail and slipped on a loose, long-sleeved dress to hide her wristband. She was here not as a member of any clan, but to do the side job that tended to earn her quite a bit of money.

Caitlyn was something of a fortuneteller, though she wasn't sure how much she liked that word. There was a connotation of near-fraud to it, and the readings she gave were always as true and accurate as she could make them.

That was why the only thing on the table except for the white tablecloth was a black silk square, in the center of which was a stack of cads. The were too large and the backs too elaborately decorated to be Duel Monsters cards; plus, the deck was much too thick to be a dueling deck anyway.

Caitlyn Masters did not tell the future using crystal balls or palmistry. She was a Tarot reader, and a very good one, and had set up outside on a nice, almost windless day in the neutral sector so that she would be able to give readings in relative quiet to anyone who might desire one, no matter the clan.

Naturally, like any businesswoman, she charged a small fee, but it tended to be no more than a few dollars for her time. She also read what she saw in the cards and never what she thought the client might "want to hear." Caitlyn was one of the most honest and direct Tarot readers one could ever go to.

[Issac Layton]

Issac was on his way home, a bag of groceries being held in his left hand, full of some odds and ends. Ramen, apples, a bag of chips, and a liter bottle of some generic cola soda. He remembered his mother asking for items over the phone, and wanted Issac to bring it over to her.

What Issac didn't know was that it was an attempt to get Issac to move back home with her. She was getting lonely and and was quite fearful of Issac getting his own place. That fear wasn't unjustified. Although the streets were safer than they were years ago, "accidents" seemed to still occur. And she simply missed her son.

As Issac was walking back home, he looked over to see a table full of unusual cards, with a woman behind it. Curious, he wandered over.

"Those dont look like standard cards..." observed Issac, as he examined the cards ontop of the folding table.

[Caitlyn Masters]

Caitlyn gave him a sly smile. "Of course not," she said, selecting one of the cards and flipping it over. The image on the front was a portly man with grapevines twisting all around him. The card read "0"at the top and "The Fool" at the bottom in a strange, calligraphic font. It appeared to be hand-drawn.

"These are Tarot cards, and they are a very reliable method of seeing the future," she gave him a little smile. "I hesitate to say fortunetelling, as that brings to mind strange women in dark tents babbling about images in a crystal ball." There was clear derisiveness in her voice as she said that.

"In any case..." She looked over the groceries. "If you aren't too busy, and if you're interested at all, I would be glad to teach you more...or even do a reading." She reached back and undid her hair so it tumbled around her pale face. She had decided that it would add an aura of mystery to her.

[Issac Layton]

Issac blinked twice and gave a face that seemed to not believe what she was saying. "That's highly unlikely that you can do such a thing." stated Issac blatantly. "I mean...those only been a few recorded cases of people being able to manipulate powers that were unavailable to the common man. And these cases are mostly laughed at by the scientific community."

As Issac was speaking this, he was thinking back to the stories of Yugi Motou and the Millennium Items, as well as various mythological figures in human history, such as Heracles. For a few moments, he stood their, frowning, as he drowned in his own thoughts.

"Although...if you can tell me something that's accurate...that would make what I just said false." said Issac, as he eyed the teen who looked slightly younger than himself.

[Caitlyn Masters]

Caitlyn leaned back. "I understand if you don't believe," she said. She picked up the cards and carefully stacked them. She left twenty-two of the cards separate, however. She piled them up and handed them to him. "Very few people do, but I would be glad to allow you to test my skills as much as you wish."

"Humor me," she said. "Shuffle the deck as you would a deck of duel monsters cards...shuffle them card over card, and be careful, I'm fairly certain they're one of a kind."

A slightly amused smile crossed her face. She had heard all the stories of the Millennium Items, and had done much research into them. However, she wasn't quite sure that she had that kind of power. She didn't know if the power was in her or in the cards, and she wasn't quite sure she wanted to find out.

"Once you finish shuffling, cut the cards into three piles, and stack the bottom pile on top, then the middle one, and finally the top one. How complex of a reading would you like?"

[Issac Layton]

Issac raised an eyebrow when the words "humor me" were stated, slightly confused, but than he nodded his head in understanding. Oh. She didn't mean literally thought Issac, as his first intention was to poke her on the nose. Putting his attention back to the cards, he reached up, and grabbed the deck that was handed to him by the girl.

Looking at it with the top card faced down for a few moments, he sighed, putting the bag of groceries down beside him, and started to shuffle.

"Seeing as all truth is relative..." said Issac, as he was shuffling. "...I think anything you show me can just be coincidence. But...how about something 'basic' for tarot reading? The past, present, and future?"

Issac put the deck down on the table, exactly as he was instructed by the girl.

[Caitlyn Masters]

Caitlyn waited for him to finish cutting and shuffling. She gave him a slight smile. "You are not the first person to tell me that." She said. She reached up and tucked her hair away from her face. "Past, present, future? Very simple. No trouble at all." She took the deck from him and rested it in the center of the table. "These twenty-two cards are what is known as the Major Arcana. They are the cards in the Tarot that are the...most powerful, as it were."

She drew three cards and placed them in front of him. She tapped the card on his right. "This one represents your past." She tapped the one in the middle. "This one is the present." Finally, she tapped the last card. "And this is the future." She reached over, and flipped up the "Past" card.

The image on the card was a beautiful woman reclining on a throne. Her hair was black, and at her feet were a cow and a peacock. However, to his perspective, it was upside down. "Four. The Empress." Caitlyn said. "In this set, represented by Hera, empress of the Greek gods. Normally, it represents domestic stability and maternal care. However..." She tapped it. "This card is inverted. In this position, it reveals the opposite. A rift in the family, perhaps surrounding your mother. How interesting."

She flipped the middle card. It was a woman again, this one sitting on a Grecian column. She was surrounded by steam, and wore a semi-translucent dress. "Three. The High Priestess. In this set, the Oracle of Delphi. She represents hidden influences and, again, the power of women." She glanced at the groceries. "You got those for your mother, didn't you?"

She flipped the last card. It was an old, bent man waring tattered robes and holding a walking stick. "Nine. The Hermit. Mentor, tutor to heroes, in this set. He shows the need for careful thought and planning, and a need to step back and reflect upon circumstances. An odd card for a future position, but I suppose it is something of a warning."

[Issac Layton]

Issac analyzed the flipped over the cards, listening to what this tarot reader had to say. When she finished, he could only shrug his shoulders.

"Your tarot cards only told me what all family deals with. All family members fight. All family has hardships. A rather "safe" reading if I do say so myself..." said Issac, as he reached and grabbed the card that was last revealed: the hermit. "As for this one...people always reflect on what to do in the future."

He examined the card thoroughly, looking at both ends, as if expecting small font to appear right in front of him on the card.

"Although I do now see why people enjoy these little games. Mystery and blind faith. Something humanity has always seemed to enjoy."

Nodding to himself, he put the card down where it was, than looked up and gave a small smile.

"I enjoyed the show Miss Tarot Reader," said Issac, not knowing how to address the teen as well as not thinking that perhaps the woman wouldn't want her profession to be talked about as if it was a simple hoax right in the public eye. It was one of his many negative traits when it came to strangers.

[Madoka Mizu]

Madoka wondered through the streets of her home town, feeling very bored. She needed something to do. She wondered to herself if there was something her aunt needed her to take care of for her. Seeing as though she couldn't quite remember, she began to turn back around and head for her aunt's home. Just when she was about to turn, the sight of a table, with two people beside it. One was standing, and the other was sitting behind it. Curious, she decded to get a better look of things. She grinned when she noticed a familiar face behind the table.

"Caitlyn! How's it goin', girl?" she asked innocently. She smiled at the guy standing before the table. "Hello, nice to meet you. I'm Madoka." she introduced herself to him before turning back to Caitlyn. She looked down at the table and noticed the cards that were sat down on it. They looked pretty to Madoka, very detailed indeed. "What are these cards? I've never seen them before..."

[Caitlyn Masters]

Caityln's expression was blank, as smooth as glass as Isaac brushed off her reading. She gave him her best polite, bland, professional smile.

"Again, you are hardly the first to tell me that the second-simplest Tarot reading gives a very general answer. I have picked up on that in the past, actually. Usually, I prefer to do a more complex nine-card past-present-future spread, but..." She shrugged. She was hardly unused to people brushing off her readings. He was not the first, and he wouldn't be the last. "Though I am glad you at least listened."

She was a little surprised to see Madoka, and her smile and expression warmed at the sight of the other girl. "Hey, Madoka. Nice to see you," she said. An amused smile crossed her face as she watched the other girl examine the cards.

"They're Tarot cards." She said. "I was just giving this young man here a reading." She glanced over at him. "You know, I don't think you ever told me your name." She said causally. "Mine is Caitlyn, as you may have picked up."

[Issac Layton]

Issac caught sight of the young teen, perhaps thirteen or fourteen, who was heading over to the table. He moved slightly to the side before she got there, as to not be in the way. He watched and listened as the two interacted, the young one identifying the tarot reader as "Caitlyn". Their was an obvious familiarity between the two that even Issac was able to pick up. He was obviously the outsider in this pick up possy. It didn't bother him at all.

Issac addressed Caitlyn. "Your craft is cards. From an outsider's perspective it looks silly. But...who knows? At one point everyone believed the sun revolved around the Earth. That the Atom was the smallest form of matter. I could easily be wrong."

Issac paused just for a moment to raise his glasses up that were sliding down his nose before he finished. "I'm probably not though."

He than noticed that everyone introduced themselves, the girl Madoka and his 'tarot reader', and he didn't reciprocate. "My name's Issac."

[Caitlyn Masters]

Caitlyn simply shrugged. "Indeed you could." She couldn't help but smile as he pushed up her glasses. "Perhaps I'm wrong, and this really is all just smoke and mirrors." She shrugged. "I usually prefer to do a much more in-depth reading, but you requested simple." She said.

"I'm glad to meet you, Issac," she said politely. "And I hope you got something out of this, even if it was just a bit of entertainment and a chance to see some pretty pictures," she said. Then, she picked up the three cards and shuffled them back into the stack of Major Arcana cards. She then cut them, then shuffled again, cut again, shuffled a third time, and cut a third time.

[Madoka Mizu]

Madoka watched as Caitlyn shuffled the cards. The childlike awe in her face didn't go away for a while until she finally spoke. "Do you think you could... um..." she was trying to remember the right word for it. "read me or something...?" she finally settled on. It looked interesting, and Madoka had always wanted to try it out for herself. "I wanna know what those cards have to say about me." she smiled innocently.

[Caitlyn Masters]

Caitlyn looked up at Madoka and nodded. "Of course," she said. "Would you prefer something quick, or something a bit more in-depth?" She asked. That would help determine how much of the deck she used.

[Madoka Mizu]

Madoka thought about it for a moment. Something short and quick probably wouldn't have satisfied her curiousity, but either way she would have enjoyed it. "Um, something in depth if that's okay." she finally said, making up her mind. She was getting excited already, and it hadn't even begun.