RP DDC: A Vision of Light

UmbraSight

UmbraSight

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Mai dithered outside the door to the fortune teller’s shop, uncertain if she were simply being silly. It wasn’t like she had actually seen anything wrong, let alone have anything like evidence, but she couldn’t help but feel that all the little weird things equaled some big weird thing. Which, that wasn’t how things worked logically, was it? Still, that note she found on her apartment door really did make her feel like all those little things were more than coincidence.

‘Thanks for the advice.’ was all that had been written on the note and just looking at it made her feel uneasy.

The shop had been the recommendation of a friend who thought a talk with the proprietress would do her some good. Which, maybe just having a talk would do her some good. And if it turned out this was all just a bunch of misunderstandings, maybe she’d be cute.

With that bit of encouragement, Mai pulled the door open and stepped inside. It smelled… pleasantly floral?

“Hello? I’m Mai Yato, I called earlier.” She called, cheerfully enough given everything.
 
She was here.

Of course she'd be, wouldn't she? She always ended up here, in one way or another. It wasn't her Mai. Never was. Never the same Strand, every flicker, just one world after another after another. Here, she owned a shop. A little fortune-teller boutique. It was a quaint way to use her power, a silly little fancy, but she had to hand it to this version of herself -

She had a lovely taste in incense.

"Ah - Mai."

Wasn't her Mai, but the sight of the girl's face that walked into the shop still hit her in the chest like a sledgehammer. She paused for a long second, staring, before she managed to collect herself.

Danger.

"It's lovely to finally meet. I knew you would come here, you know," Cass said, offering a sly wink. "Come inside, come, tell me your troubles, and I'll see if I can help."
 
Oh no, she was very cute, and that wink just wasn’t fair.

Closing the door behind her, Mai stepped into the shop. It was a cozy little place, not quite like home back in Tokyo but more relaxing than her own place currently was. Mai took a seat across from the fortune teller, smoothing her skirt with the back of her hand as she did.

“Well, I hope I haven’t been making you wait then.” Mai said, a smile finding her lips as quick as her laugh. She relaxed, resting her hands on her lap. She drew in a breath, and held it for a moment.

“So, should I tell you about what’s going on?” Mai asked.
 
"Please do," Cass replied warmly.

It was nice to see a familiar face, at least. Always nice. Despite the differences - she always had the same smile. The same laugh. It was crystalline, the tinkling of a glass windchime on a summer day.

Focus.

"While I foretold your arrival - the specifics are a little blurry. The winning lottery numbers, perhaps? Or - whether or not she's planning to ask you out?"

It wouldn't be so simple. It never was. She was here for a reason, and Mai - any of the constants, really - were always a part of whatever pulled her in.
 
“Oh, you do love readings? Maybe you can give me a hint about her favorite cafe.” Mai said, leaning forward in her chair. It would be easy to let herself just be pulled along, nice even to pretend her problems weren’t real for just a little while. Still, that flicker was already in the edges of her smile, a restless shifting in her eyes to catch the source of a sound.

“Well, I suppose that’ll just be a reason for me to come back.” She said with a wink of her own. Her smile didn’t fade away into a serious expression, nor that spark ever leave her eyes as she returned her gaze to Cass. “This might be a little strange, but I think someone has been following me.”
 
Cass laughed, low and soft.

"Well, I can't tell you that much, but I suppose I can give some recommendations in the area?"

As Mai continued, though, Cass' features shifted - slightly, ever so slightly. Her smile hung, her eyes narrows, her hands folded tightly on the counter in front of her. Not enough to do away with the demeanor of the friendly shopkeep, but enough to darken the mood, a tad. So this was it, then. This was why she was here.

Would it be another one where she died?

There were quite a few, already. Being a part of the grand cosmic cast didn't preclude you from such fates. But - Cass would play her part, too, and do her best to make sure this story ended sweetly.

"How do you know, dear?" she asked. "Not to question you. I wholeheartedly believe you. But - what were the signs?"
 
“Ah, well its just…” Mai’s gaze turned from Cass, falling to the smoke drifting from a stick of lit incense. She took in a breath, which was nice. “It was sort of a feeling at first, like always feeling like someone was looking at you sort of thing, but it’s not like that was really new, people always want an autograph you know? But it was just like —” Mai looked back up and raised her hands.

“Okay, so there was this one day I was late coming home, and every time I walked past an alleyway I would always see the same person a street over keeping pace with me. Or when I take the night train back to my apartment, I always seem end up with the same guy in my car.” Mai sighed, feeling a touch silly but also a little lighter.

“It's a lot of little things like that. It might just be a coincidence really, just stress maybe?” It would be nice to hear that it was just stress.
 
Cass nodded slowly. Her hands passed over some of the flowers on her counter, gently rearranging them, idly moving the stems about and smoothing out the petals.

"Our minds do have habits of playing tricks on us, when we're stressed. Making connections that aren't there. Seeing things that aren't real." Fingers curled around one flower in particular. She drew it from its vase, holding it up to the light. Pulling back one of the petals, she ran her thumb over it, and held it out. A little red mite scurried across her skin. "But sometimes, you simply have to look a little deeper to see the real danger hidden beneath our own catastrophizing."

She glanced at Mai.

"You are famous, dear? Most people don't talk about autographs so casually."
 
Mai watched Cass’ fingers as she sorted though the flowers, her lips faintly parted as if it were the most interesting thing. A breath escaped her as Cass drew a mite from the flower, like a little magic trick. Mai visibly relaxed in her chair, shoulders slumping as she ran her own fingers through her hair. It wasn’t as if the fortune teller had told her that she was right to feel as she did, but Mai hadn’t expected it to feel so relieving just to have someone tell her that it wasn’t wrong to feel how she felt. A smile flickered back onto Mai’s lips at Cass’ last question.

“Famous? I don’t think I’m conceited enough to say that.” Mai said with a laugh that felt a little more natural in her chest, and a wink she couldn’t help herself from doing. “I guess calling me a minor celebrity seems fair enough, if not a little embarrassing. Doubt I’d pack out any stadiums, but I’ve managed to fill a room for a performance.”

Her smile didn’t fade, but it took on a bit of a line to it.

“Do you think it might be a fan?”
 
"Well. Perhaps."

How often was it just a fan? A normal person, driven to extremes, but - with none of the terrible, terrible things that followed? It seemed so hard, to separate the human dangers from the Grimm. To see someone with a knife and a wild look and see them, not as the plaything of a King, the servant of a Lord, the seed of a Turned about to fester?

"I would not set aside any possibilities, however. At this point, they are endless." The mite scurried into her palm. Swiftly, she closed her fist, slipping it beneath the table. "Have you noticed anything odd, lately? Any... emotions you are unused to feeling?"
 
“Right” Mai said with a bob of her head. That made more than enough sense, it wasn’t like she was really bringing anything more then just saying she had felt some off vibes so it was a little much to ask the fortune teller to give a definitive answer wasn’t it? Mai’s gaze turned to the flowers, pretty as she rolled a lock of hair between her fingers.

“Mm, I fought a Grimm once, I think I was fourteen or fifteen at the time, and whenever it was near it always felt like… there were eyes always exactly where you weren’t looking. It feels something like that, y’know?” Mai paused, and she reached out to depress the pedal of a flower with a fingernail. “It’s worse in crowds, especially when you look around and find no one is looking your way, ‘cause it really feels like someone should be. It’s something like that, if it makes sense.”

Nothing came scuttling out of the flower as she disturbed it, so instead Mai looked back up to Cass.
 
"It may be a Grimm, yes."

It probably was. It usually was. No - it always was. There might be a human threat, but there was always a Grimm lurking behind the scenes. It was good, though, that this Mai knew about Grimm and knew about her powers. It made keeping her safe a little bit easier.

"Here."

She held out a hand on the table, turned upward.

"May I see your hand?"
 
“I’ve never really known them to be so indirect.” Mai said, with a thoughtful bow to her lips. It certainly made sense, as much as Grimm ever really did, that it could just be another terror to feed on. Mai’s gaze returned to the fortune teller and she smiled.

“Of course.” She slid her hand from the flower and held it out for Cass to take. “Palm up or down?”
 
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