Play the Fool


Fool 1.01

Friday, December 24th, 2010
Time: Afternoon
Weather: Snow

The frigid breeze that whipped against my skin as I walked around the Boardwalk made me thankful for Mom's scarf around my neck.

Of course it had to snow when I decided to go out, however, the fifty dollars in my pocket were a reminder that my Dad had trusted me enough to pick out something I wanted for myself. It was... nice, Dad had apparently gotten some sort of small Christmas bonus for all his hard work and he had decided to give a portion to me. I wasn't sure if it was true or not, but the look in his eye was enough to tell me that it meant a lot to him that he could do something like this... it meant a lot to me too.

Things had been bad, to say the least, at my school since I'd started and only recently had they started to die down, if only somewhat. Christmas Break was a godsend for me if only to get away from school for awhile. A small part of me couldn't help but despair at the fact that break was already half-gone, I quickly buried it so that my good mood wouldn't be utterly ruined. It would be awful to feel like crap on Christmas, I had to at least try to keep positive somewhat. It was much better than any other alternative.

The sound of last-minute shoppers and Christmas carols sang by well-wishers helped motivate me to keep looking around for awhile longer, even if I didn't have anything in particular that I wanted to buy. My school supplies were, surprisingly enough, still intact, and I felt like I had more than enough clothes. With those things out of the way, I wasn't sure what I wanted really. My taste in clothes tended towards darker shaded clothing and things that made me stick out less, the exception being the light gray varsity jacket Dad had bought me and a few other things that I hadn't worn for a multitude of reasons.

The jacket was warm, and I could probably get away with wearing it once school started back up in a week or so if I was careful, though Mom's scarf was a different story. It went well with Mom's scarf, the rose and gray tones mixed perfectly. It had been the first time in awhile that I had hugged my Dad, wasn't that a sad thought I told myself, but even so, I was very thankful for it.

I dragged myself away from those thoughts to get back to the task at hand, finding something that I actually wanted to purchase as a present to myself.

I walked around for awhile just eyeing places up and down, including a few of the shops that had seemingly opened up specifically because it was Christmas. Most of those, I noted, were more Asian themed, probably a result of the influx of Asian people that had ended up in Brockton Bay over the years. Mom, having technically been one of them since her own mother was Japanese and father typical American had given me darker hair, slightly paler skin, and a slightly more Asiatic look. If it wasn't for my other facial features being from my Dad, I'm sure the ABB would've already tried to recruit me. As it was, I flew under their radar. If only that was the same for my other problems.

"Miss!" A sudden shout made me instinctively turn to where it had come from, only to be weirded out by the strange looking... person approaching me.

They were wearing some sort of formal attire, with a yellow apron over top of it with a large mascot plastered over it that advertised what looked to be a lottery or something. The person themselves were very effeminate, with short curly black hair and a cabby hat, I couldn't tell if they were a boy or a girl but they certainly looked... nice.

"Miss! I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, but the store I'm working for is having a small raffle and I was wondering if you'd be willing to participate." He, the voice sounded somewhat masculine I thought to myself, stated politely.

"Eh... um, why me in particular?" I managed to get out after a moment, good job Taylor.

"Oh, no reason really, though the fact that you were one of the few that didn't look like they were rushing somewhere or on their phone certainly made you more likely to at least hear me out. Though, if it's a problem I can-"

"No, no! It's no problem at all!" My Dad had given me an hour or so before I needed to get back to the food court we had designated as our meet-up spot, so long as this didn't take too long I'd be fine. "I'm really not that busy."

"Okay, then follow me for a moment, Miss, our shop is set up right over here actually." He said pointing towards a large stall set up outside of what looked like an antique store. "It's lucky I managed to catch you so close to the stall actually, the few others that I managed to talk to weren't willing to walk too far. Holiday Season sure makes people busy, huh?"

"Oh, yeah I guess," I replied a bit stiffly, having only really talked to a few other people in the last few months made conversations hard. "I haven't really paid attention to it much."

The boy let out a giggle that sounded entirely too feminine at my response.

"I suppose for a young lady such as yourself it wouldn't be much of a problem, though I can attest to the fact that working anywhere during the holiday season is stressful, to say the least. All of those people that end up rushing to buy last minute gifts, or buy presents extra cheap makes things a trial. It's a bit weird for me working at this stall actually, with so few people coming by I've been mostly trying to get people's interest or holding the fort down while Boss does his thing. So how about you, Young Miss, how's Christmas been so far for you?"

"Fine... I'm actually looking around to buy myself a little something, but I don't really have much I want. Also, my name's Taylor, the Young Miss thing is a little embarrassing."

"Okay, Taylor, my name's Natsumi. It's very nice to meet you." He said with a smile as he turned to look at me, just as we reached his stall.

The stall itself seemed to be made very well for something that would end up being taken down in a few days, with large banner's hanging from its top stating that it was a Fortune Telling Stall that was currently holding a raffle. The prizes seemed to mostly be small things, though a cell phone and weird set of playing cards stood out to me.

"Okay," I said feeling a bit more at ease after talking with Natsumi for a bit. "So what do I have to do?"

Stepping behind the stall, Natsumi quickly pushed forward a large brass raffle drum filled with several small balls. The vast majority of them were an eggshell white, with a lesser amount of them being bronze, silver, and gold.

"Simple, you just have to crank this handle until one of these balls pop out. It's set-up so that after 5 or so cranks, one of the balls will drop down from the drum into the small hole in the bottom. A white one is a loss, bronze is a minor prize, silver is a medium prize, and gold nets you a top prize. The odds are a bit against you, but I think that just makes it more fun if you manage to win." They stated with a small smile. "Anyways, whenever you're ready, give it a go, Taylor."

Looking at the phone on display reminded me of... bad memories, but if I won it, it would also mean I'd have a means of quick and efficient contact with Dad or any of the local authorities if necessary. The cards would also be interesting if only to sate my curiosity on what they were exactly, but other than that there wasn't much else that caught my eye. Well, there was only one thing to do. Putting my hand on the crank, I began spinning it slowly, watching as the many small balls inside the drum turned and turned as the drum spun. After a few more cranks the sound of a ball dropping down made me stop to see what I had gotten.

"Huh." Looking down at the small golden ball facing back up at me, I was utterly surprised.

"Congratulations! You won the gold prize, Taylor!" Natsumi announced loudly, I quickly saw a few people turn to look at the sudden commotion and let out a sigh of relief as they continued on with their business soon after.

I couldn't keep the wide smile off of my face despite, my slight embarrassment, I'd actually won! What were the odds?

"So currently we have a prepaid cell phone and a deck of tarot cards as the two gold prizes, though the boss insisted about the latter being included even though it's a bit of odd choice, so you're free to pick whichever you want."

I wavered a bit in the front of my sudden choice.

I hadn't expected to actually win, not many good things had happened to me recently so I had just expected this to be the same. To have actually won felt good, but now I had to pick what I wanted. The phone was clearly the better option, but there were a few things that made it a bit risky. Things like the memories it brought back, and the potential priceyness of keeping it long-term. However, the latter was mitigated by it being a prepaid phone instead of one with a contract, that meant it'd come with a number of minutes on it and at the end of the month I could either buy more or just wait until I or Dad could afford to do so.

The cards were a more curious pick, if only because I didn't really have an idea of what Tarot cards were. I vaguely knew that they had something to do with fortune-telling, but not much else. It'd probably be a waste if I decided to pick them unless they came with lessons or something. Seems like there was only one choice then.

"Could you tell me more about the prepaid phone please?"

"Sure, it comes with 360 minutes already on it and so long as it's being used at least semi-regularly 300 minutes will be added on the first week of each month. Normally, you'd have to have some sort of contract for something like this, but due to this being something of a promotional item the company behind our stall decided against it. So, I presume you'll be picking the phone then?"

"Yeah, I mean yes! Yes, I'd like the phone please." I stuttered a bit, as I held my hand out for the phone. I had to get used to this interacting with other people without getting nervous or paranoid that they were planning to do something malicious.

"Alright then, here you go, Taylor." Placing the plastic case with the cell phone inside in my hand, Natsumi gave me a polite smile. "Well, I suppose you should get back to what you were doing, I wouldn't want to waste any more of your time here when you could be out buying a gift or spending time with a special someone." He said the last part with a wink as he leaned against the stall.

I forced down the small blush that tried to color my cheeks, I didn't have someone like that, not in that way at the least.

"Well, bye Natsumi, good luck with finding more patrons." I waved a bit as I turned to walk away, a pep in my step after the surprising fortune that had come my way. Even the cold air that seemed to pervade the air in the mall wasn't enough to make my good mood sour, I had made sure to dress warmly after all.

I had ended up getting a phone for free, and I still had the 50 dollars Dad had given me. I'd probably save the money for now, or use it to get more minutes on my new phone if I ever ended up running out. More likely was that I'd buy Dad something, I'd have to figure out what he wanted, but if I could do that I'm sure he'd appreciate it. It'd also help close the rift between us if only a little bit I hoped. Things just hadn't been the same since Mom died... it was hard on the both of us, but Dad had taken it the worse.

Things weren't the same, but maybe they could be one day. I held out hope for that at the least.

Walking around for awhile longer I ended up deciding to spend the money on my Dad, I'd already gotten something that was pretty nice. The cell phone actually being a cheap smartphone, something I noted after taking a closer look at it, made it even better. Now, I just needed to find something for Dad.

I wasn't exactly sure what he would want as a gift so I ended up grabbing him a rose colored tie, I hoped that the sentiment would carry through at the least. Even I knew that it wasn't the nicest of gifts, but he hadn't worn the one that Mom had given him in a long time. I hoped that maybe this could help him in some way.

After buying that I decided to make my way towards the food court and wait for Dad, there wasn't much else to do otherwise.

"Taylor!" Looking towards where the sudden shout had come from I could see Dad sitting at one of the tables in the food court. He looked less stressed than usual. Picking up my pace just a bit I quickly made my way over to the table he sat at, noting the Fugly Bob bags that were on the table.

"Hey, Dad," I stated with a smile and surprised myself as I hugged him. He was thrown off tilt for a moment but quickly wrapped his arms around me too. It was nice to know we could still share hugs.

"Uh, what brought this on Taylor?" He sounded slightly confused, and maybe a little concerned.

"Nothing really, but today's been pretty good." Pulling away I smiled at him. "So why are you here early, Dad? I'm pretty sure we were supposed to meet up in thirty minutes or so."

"Oh, well your old man was getting a bit hungry from walking around so much and I already bought what I needed to so I decided to sit down here and wait for you. I'm assuming that it was a similar case for you since you're here too?"

"Yeah, something like that," I said after a moment, my eyes looking down at the bag that held the phone I had recently got. I wasn't sure how Dad would react to it, and I didn't want to stress him out more than he already was. I'd bring it up to him eventually just... not right now.

"Well then, wanna head home kiddo? It's getting a bit late after all."

"Okay, let's go home, Dad."

The mood during the drive back home was warm, though I was getting a little tired. Maybe I'd just rest my eyes for a bit.

It was the sound of a woman singing that roused me from my sleep.

Opening my eyes, I found myself not in Dad's truck nor was I in my bed, instead, I was in what appeared to be a large and dimly lit library. There were bookshelves that went up almost impossibly high to the point I wasn't sure if they ended, several small velvet lounges littered the place, and off in a side room I could see an onyx black piano sit on a small stage. The piano seemed to be playing itself, and I could not see any woman in the place that matched the voice that was singing softly in the background.

I couldn't help the fear that sat in my gut, had I been kidnapped? Or, maybe this was just a dream? I truly hoped it was the latter.

A closer inspection revealed that many books were just sitting on tables as if left haphazardly, and a small layer of dust covered some items. Wherever I was, it seemed like it was either in the middle of being repaired or possibly abandoned semi-recently. Deciding that standing around wouldn't get me anywhere, I started walking around. Maybe I could find out where I was if this was a dream it seemed a little too realistic and wow, didn't that send a shiver down the spine?

With only the sounds of singing in the background as I walked around, the place was becoming gradually eerier. The hairs on the back of my neck seemed to stand up as I walked, it felt like someone was watching me intently. I tried to keep the fright I felt inward, I'd become an easier target if I started to panic right now, and I still didn't know if I was here alone. I had to try and keep myself calm, deep breaths Taylor, keep it together. Just have to figure out where you are and then go from there. One step at a time.

Walking over to one of the larger tables, I wiped down one of the chairs and took a seat. I needed to calm down.

Closing my eyes, I counted to ten as I took some deep breaths.

When I opened them, I had to keep myself from letting out a yelp of fear.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room."

Large, bulging bloodshot eyes stared at me from above an inhumanly large, pointed nose. A... person, I tentatively labeled the strange figure as in my head, had appeared sitting at the table I found myself at whilst my eyes had been closed. His body was oddly proportioned, with long gangly limbs and a long torso, though his head seemed stumpy in comparison. He wore a crisp black suit, white gloves covered both of his hands. He was balding, with long strands of hair that seemed more white than gray, alongside two pointed ears that stuck out on either side of his head. The large grin he sported was off-putting.

I couldn't stop myself from staring.

Seconds ticked by as we stared at each other before the man smiled, his eyes remained unblinking.

"Your arrival here is quite unexpected, this world is filled with such things I suppose. However, this event is not unwelcome," The man's voice was odd, almost theatrical but in a cultured way. "Ah, where are my manners. My name is Igor, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"I-um... yeah, nice to meet you," I stammered out after a moment, I had something more important to ask though. "W-where exactly is this place? And why am I here?"

"You may think of this place as one that is a dream, yet not a dream. It exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. Those who enter this room are destined to undergo a Journey of self-discovery to find their own Answer. It is a room that only those bound by a contract may enter, however... it seems you have not done so," The grin on his face widened slightly. "How curious."

Okay... so this was more than likely some weird fucked up dream or something similar, and I had a creepy old man in my dreams. Wow, never thought that I'd ever think anything remotely like this. Why couldn't it be someone like Armsmaster or Alexandria? Why random creepy old man that looks a bit inhuman?

"Do you believe in fortune telling?" Igor said after a moment.

With the way my life was currently, I wasn't a big fan of fate. "No."

"Well then, may I?"

Thinking about it for a minute, I shrugged dispassionately. "Go ahead."

"Well then, let's see what fate has in store for you." With a gesture, large familiar blue cards appeared laying face down on the table. They were tarot cards, specifically the ones I'd seen earlier today.

Why did I have a bad feeling about this?