"The cards, the cards, the cards will tell! Your past, your present, and your future as well." Said Master Reigen. She was all dressed up, now, in her outfit that made her look like a TV psychic. Puffy white shirt, long skirt with dangling, sparking things, and a scarf tied around her hair. She hit on the idea, she said, because people had an idea in their minds of what a psychic was supposed to look like and sometimes you had to give the people what they wanted.
Also she had been watching Supernatural Detective.
Master Reigen had spiritual powers, not psychic powers, which meant that she could do things that Mob couldn't. Read the cards, do séances, spirit photos, charms, things like that.
Right now she was reading someone's cards. The lights were dimmed, the curtains were drawn, and a bunch of candles were lit. The smell of scented candles and incense was getting up Mob's nose and making her eyes water but it didn't seem to both Master Reigen.
"Please, take three, and then your future we will see." Said Master Reigen. Mob watched in rapt attention. This was always so cool. How could cards tell the future? Master Reigen said that it was part art and part science. Mob got alright grades in either subject. The cards looked complicated, sometimes, like when Master Reigen did the spread of ten. This was a spread of three. Past, present, and future.
Though Mob still had trouble with what each card meant.
"Ah yes! Let us see! Fates, reveal the future for me!" said Master Reigen. Lots of arm waving there, lots of loud talking. Lots of Master. Her scarf fell down over her eyes but Mob quickly fixed it with her powers. She tied it back around Master's hair for her, she hadn't tied it tight enough.
"Ah yes, the Emperor, the Empress, and the Fool. No, no, don't despair. The Fool here is not foolish but wise, a little nonsense now and then does not affront the wisest men after all. The Fool, here, is a wise and eternal soul which symbolizes innocence, trust, and a new cycle. But we're working backwards." Said Master Reigen. That was the confusing part, to Mob. Even the bad cards meant good things. It should have been straightforward, like how the Death card should have meant that you were going to die, but it wasn't. Like so much in life it was ambiguous and confusing.
But Master Reigen always knew what they meant.
"Here we have the Emperor. Tell me, is there something happening in your life involving a male authority figure? I father, boss, etcetera….this card can also represent authority, passion, leadership, and sex….yes….really? Of course it can mean wanting to start an affair with your boss, your desire guides your life after all…." Said Master Reigen. Mob looked away when Master Reigen said sex. Not a bad word but not something she wanted to think about in conjunction to Master Reigen. Not that she thought about it that often…not that she went around asking people about it. But it was weird to think that Master Reigen even knew that word, even though she was an adult and stuff. That and, well, that was not the thing to discuss or even mention, mom had been very clear about that.
"Secondly we have the Empress, it is very rare to get these two cards together. This card can refer to any relationships with other women but most often refers to the moth-oh. Yes. This can refer to your boss's…wife…" said Master Reigen. She tugged at the collar of her puffy psychic shirt. A shirt for psychics, not a shirt which was psychic. Mob wondered if she'd have to wear a costume, too, when she got up. Or maybe it was different for espers. She had only met two other girl espers, one had been the little doll girl from the Claw base and the other had been the lady from the Claw base who liked to hit stuff. Mob hoped that she'd end up like Master Reigen, not them. She only used her powers for good.
"This brings us to the final card, the Fool. Now in the past you say that you've…slept with your boss…and the present card, the Empress, could refer to your boss's wife in the present possibly knowing about the affair. This ties into our next card which can be the beginning of a new cycle…so perhaps it's time to begin the cycle of finding a new job…" said Master Reigen. The client got up with a huff and tossed the money on the table before stomping out so quickly that Mob didn't even get the chance to write up a receipt.
"Mob, get the windows, would you?" asked Master Reigen as she pulled the scarf off her head. Mob nodded and opened the windows with her powers.
"I swear to God I am going to suffocate one of these days." Said Master Reigen as she picked up the
money and began to count it.
"At least she paid. I honestly thought that she was going to take a swing at me. Mob let me give you a very good piece of advice. Never, ever, ever get involved with a married man, especially if he's your boss." Said Master Reigen as she put the money away. Mob nodded but then stopped mid nod.
"But then how does that work? I thought that married meant that you agreed to be with that person forever. Why would you cheat on someone you wanted to spend forever with?" asked Mob. Master Reigen shook her head.
"A lot of reasons, Mob, and none of them good. Sometimes people feel unfulfilled or unloved or just…have something to prove. But don't ever cheat…or be an accessory to cheating. Trust me on this, he'll tell you that you're special and he'll make you feel special but you won't be. If you were so special then he wouldn't….but that's adult stuff. Nothing you need to worry about. Anyway it's not like you even have a boyfriend…or do you?" asked Master Reigen. Her eyes met Mob's and Mob suddenly felt like looking away.
"….I don't…" said Mob. She didn't, not really. She and Teru just hung out, that was all. They saw a movie and then went to get coffee, well Mob got hot milk and vanilla, and then they walked around the shopping center for a while. That was just hanging out. Even if she did spend the entire time wondering what it would be like to hold his hand.
"Damn. So it didn't go well with Haystack the other day?" asked Master Reigen
"No, it went well. We saw a movie and went to get coffee, he got coffee and I got hot milk with vanilla, and then we just walked around for a while. He didn't do any date things like hold my hand or confess to me or anything like that. So I guess that he just meant for us to hang out as friends." Said Mob
"Uh-huh. Sure, that's all the kid had on his mind. Right." Said Master Reigen
"Right." Said Mob. Well if Master Reigen thought so too then Mob must have been right. Well of course Teru didn't want to go on an actual date with her, she was Mob. Master Reigen thought that she was pretty…but Master Reigen also thought that dogs were a superior pet to cats and that everything needed extra salt.
"Mob, I wasn't being serious. Come on, middle school boys don't take girls out to the movies and for coffee if they're not interested. Hell, middle school boys shouldn't even be getting coffee in the first place. Seriously, what kind of a kid gets coffee of all things?" said Master Reigen
"Teru does. He likes coffee. I just think it tastes burnt and bitter but he doesn't mind. He said that next time he'll take me to a place that I like." Said Mob
"Ah, so there's going to be a next time." Said Master Reigen
"Yes. He said so. He didn't say when, though, or what we were going to do but he said so." Said Mob
"Here, come sit down. Let's see what the cards have to say about all of this." said Master Reigen patting the folding card table she used for these sorts of things. Mob got up and sat down. The chair was still warm from the client. She sat down and crossed her ankles. Master Reigen reshuffled all of her cards. Mob watched her hands as she worked. Mob would have had to use her powers to move the cards around like that.
"The cards, the cards, just take three. Let's what there is to be." Said Master Reigen. Mob smiled and took three cards. She laid them down on the table the way she had seen it done a thousand times before.
The Chariot. The Lovers. The Hanged Man.
"The Lovers, I knew that it was going to be the lovers…" said Master Reigen. Mob blushed and tucked her face down low into her school shirt.
"Oh don't be like that, I'm only teasing. This is good, actually, because it's in the present. The past, let's see-" said Master Reigen
"The chariot is birth, right? Does that mean that I was born? Because I didn't need cards to tell me that." Said Mob
"While it is true that chariot is representative of the vehicle of our creation it can also mean the vehicle of control." Said Master Reigen doing her psychic voice. The one she used when she needed to sound like what people expected her to be.
"So like how I'm learning to control my powers?" asked Mob
"Yes, exactly. You're a fast learner, student. Well the Lovers card is pretty much self-explanatory. Romantic success in your future. Maye not with necessarily with the kid you're into but with someone." Said Master Reigen. Mob couldn't meet her master's eyes. Boys besides Teru? Thinking about Teru was…enough…not that there weren't other boys who were nice and stuff…but Teru was Teru.
"I know what that card means, Master…." Said Mob softly. Master Reigen rolled her eyes.
"To be young again…" said Master Reigen
"You're not old, Master, you're only twenty eight. That's not old. My mom says that forty is old." Said Mob
"You're too kind, Mob. It's a shame you drew the Hangman. Oh Mob, I hardly knew ye-" said Master Reigen as she dabbed at her eyes with her sleeve. Some of the black around her eyes smudged.
"Master, I remember that card. It doesn't mean that I'm going to be hanged or anything like that. It's like the Death card, it doesn't mean what it seems like it means." Said Mob
"Ok then Miss Smarty Skirt, you tell me what it means, then." Said Master Reigen
"It means that I have to let go. I don't know what I have to let go of but I'll figure it out. If that's what the cards say." Said Mob
"The cards…the cards have told. Ok Mob, the way I see it is that you've worked hard to control your powers, you've found love, but you've got a lot to let go of." Said Master Reigen
"What do I have to let go of?" asked Mob. Master Reigen reached into her shirt and pulled out her cigarette case and her lighter. She was doing that so she had time to think, she had taught that trick to Mob. Then she told Mob never to start smoking. Her cards must have been really hard to read, Master Reigen usually always knew just what they meant.
"Fear, maybe. Fear of yourself. I think that your fear of yourself might have something to do with your lack of confidence. Believe in yourself, Mob, and all of that." Said Master Reigen.
"But I should be afraid of myself. I mean…you know what I can do…" said Mob. Master Reigen had been there at the Claw base when she exploded. Master Reigen had even borrowed Mob's powers, for a time. She knew why Mob had to be afraid and, yes, maybe that fear did live in the back of her mind all the time. Maybe she did know that if she couldn't even control her powers she couldn't do any of the things that she wanted to do or be who she wanted to be. There were better people out there, people who weren't dangerous to be around or weird like she was.
"Yeah, I do, and it's pretty amazing. You're an amazing kid and you shouldn't forget that. Just let go, Mob, and success will follow. The cards have spoken." Said Reigen. She reshuffled her cards quickly. Well, she tried to, but Mob beat her to it. In a second she had the whole deck shuffled and put back in their box.
Yes, alright, Mob was crazy powerful. She could both lift people up and toss them around with her powers as well as shuffle a deck of cards without so much as bending them.
But she was still a great kid and she needed to know that. She needed to know, to think, that she had nothing to worry about. Even though she could lose control at any time she had nothing to worry about. Reigen had been the first one to tell Mob that she had nothing to worry about, that she was human the same as everyone else.
She was.
Mob was just a kid.
That was the trust, she was just a kid.
And for once the cards were right, and Reigen was telling the truth.
For once.