Preview: In the Cards (Patreon)

A continuation of Taking a Pawn.

___________

Any self-respecting boardwalk has certain attractions it must have: a midway arcade, a Ferris wheel, and countless gaudy and cheap souvenirs to be purchased or won. And of course, it could hardly be a boardwalk without a fortune teller.

Where some might use a simple machine for a yes or no answer, or perhaps dispense fortune cookie advice, the Pier 14 Boardwalk of Wavecrest City has a true and proper teller. Her tent is a rich purple, the flaps heavy, the interior dark and mysterious, seeming to transport people to a whole new realm.

The table in the center has a crystal ball, of course, and the madam sitting behind it is an alluring question hidden by tactically-placed veils and shawls, revealing just enough skin to distract, while not taking away from the intense green eyes of the woman.

Though she's currently without a client, she hides a devious smile behind a veil as she shuffles her tarot and lays out three cards: Justice, Hierophant inverted, Moon. She bears her teeth behind her veil in a vicious grin. "Euclid and Grandmaster are still clueless. Good." Her grin falters slightly, but only for a moment before she corrects herself. "Mostly clueless. It doesn't take a divination power to see that Firebrand wasn't following Grandmaster's usual strategy."

She shuffles and pulls three new cards: Sun inverted, Temperance inverted, Tower. She snorts at what she sees. "What a surprise, Firebrand's dead. Who could have possibly seen that coming? The only one surprised would be Firebrand himself, if he wasn't too dead to feel it."

She shakes her head and shuffles the cards. Firebrand was nice to look at and easy to manipulate, but she knew from the start he wasn't going to stick around for long. "How about my plans? Megadude, the Fool, was standing in my way without even knowing it. How are things now?"

The Wheel, the Sun, the World.

She rolls her eyes at the cards. "Sure, the Sun now. It usually ends in tragedy. But I want what's coming, not what was."

She shuffles again and frowns at the cards she gets: the Wheel, the Fool, the World. "How can he still stand between me and my goal?! He's dead!" She reshuffles, yet gets the same three cards. She glowers as she shuffles again, but pauses before she draws. Her frown turns thoughtful for a few moments before she sighs.

"Of course he's not the only Fool. Everyone knows the world's full of them. So... which Fool is still in my way?" She deals three cards and gasps at what she sees: the Fool, the Wheel inverted, Temperance.

"Working against me? Nobody knows me, that's the whole point!" She practically growls as she glares at Temperance, knowing full well she's been doing everything she can to put her thumb on that particular scale. If someone is trying to put things a bit more in balance...

She closes her eyes and inhales as she shuffles one more time, and deals with her eyes still shut. "Who is the Fool, then?" She opens her eyes and smiles in relief at the Fool, the Magician, and the High Priestess. "At the start of his journey. Good. That'll give me time to track him down."

She smiles behind her veil and shuffles the cards once more, this time much more at ease. A young couple ducks through the flap to her tent, and she greets them with her mysterious look, bidding to have a seat. She'll read their fortune for them, then see what the cards have in store for the unaware Fool in her way.

___________________________

In his apartment on the 5th floor, Edmund sits on his couch, staring at the newspaper, the events of yesterday playing through his mind. Ordinarily, he might be thinking of what happened to Megadude, and while that should be the headline for the paper today, it's not. It also wasn't the main story for yesterday, either. He's still staring at that story, trying to piece together what it means.

He glances over at his door, still wondering how old the door is to still have a mail slot. Was it replaced at some point, and the building owner just... had a door with a mail slot handy to replace it? He usually doesn't pay it much mind, occasionally seeing an advertisement slipped through it, but yesterday was different.

Yesterday was a newspaper. Who even gets physical newspapers anymore? Certainly not him. Curious, he had picked it up before pouring himself a cup of coffee and decided to look it over while he had some breakfast. The headline was nonsensical, featuring him in the big black and white picture on the front. The rest of the text was... weird, like someone had printed out the smeared text an AI might generate.

Staring at it now, he swears the text moves while he's not looking. That morning, he hadn't thought much of it, wondering if maybe one of his friends was playing a weird prank. At the office, nobody seemed to know about the newspaper, not even Bill. He loves pranks, but he knows when to admit to them, and he swore he didn't know anything about it.

Edmund had sighed and gone to his cubicle to work, hoping spreadsheets would be able to numb his worries about maybe having a stalker. When lunch rolled around, he decided to get some air instead of eating in the office, a choice which made him feel a lot better as he sat at an outside table of a local sandwich shop, enjoying a roast beef and swiss.

His eyes wandered, idly watching the people pass by, before his blood suddenly ran cold. That kid. The skateboard. The phone. The traffic light changing color. The little details in that grainy photo in the newspaper suddenly seemed to line up in reality.

Without thinking, he ran, sandwich hitting the sidewalk in his haste. He managed to grab the kid by the hood, earning a shout and an insult that was cut off by the roar of an engine and the snapping of the skateboard as a car barreled through where the kid would have been. Edmund doesn't think the driver even noticed, but at least the kid was able to mumble a thanks at being saved.

It was difficult to focus on numbers after that. At least none of his work was urgent, so he could stare at his computer and try to think. By the end of work, he had mostly managed to rationalize it as a coincidence. The paper was just a prank, and the kid was just lucky he was there.

But this morning, he got another newspaper. He called in sick, not worried about spending a bit of paid time off to try to figure this out. One would be a prank, but two? There's something going on, but he has no idea what. At least he doesn't have to worry about needing to save someone today. He's already done the headline, though he can't imagine why this would qualify as news.

Just like in the picture on the second newspaper, he sits on his couch, coffee in hand, staring at both archaic examples of information. Could he be a super? He's heard some of their powers are... out there, but this has to take the cake, right? What would he even do with this? Even if the paper says he could punch out Grandmaster, there's just no way.

"You'd better not send me on anything crazy," he warns the paper, which continues to simply sit on his coffee table. He groans and facepalms at himself, knowing he should probably try to ignore this, just as he knows he won't. Who doesn't dream of having powers? How can he turn it down when it comes sliding in through his mail slit? What, should he get a bird and use the paper to line the bottom?

He snorts at himself and shakes his head. No... he's actually going to do this, isn't he? He nods to himself and stands, heading to the kitchen for breakfast and to try to think about what he's going to do. Like everyone else, he's imagined what he might do as a super, but like almost everyone, he never expected to have a chance to actually do it.

He needs an alias.

Some people go without, but even the ones open with their identity get a special name anyway. If you don't, the internet will do it for you, and you don't want to be the guy who can summon steel girders and get saddled with the name I-Beam. Make a name yourself, or suffer the gentle mercy of the internet and puns.

Edmund eyes the papers as he makes some eggs, wondering if his choice of alias is already made for him with those headlines.

Local Man Saves Kid!

Local Man Faces Decision!