"I want you to give my boyfriend his money back."

As the raccoon girl kept scanning the crowd for faces, her brow had gradually become more furrowed, and her mouth had slipped open, un-self-consciously. The carnival field was quite dark, even with the electric lights beaming all around, so it was hard to see long-distance. She didn't even realise she had been squinting until she saw some of the stares she'd been getting.
Rose's emotional state had metamorphosed from confusion, to concern, to annoyance, to full-blown anxiety. Socks was not the kind of person to stand someone up on a date… especially not his girlfriend! She called his phone, bouncing on the balls of her footpaws to dissipate some of those pesky anxieties.
It rang once… then twice….
"This is Socks, sorry I can't take your call, leave me a message!"
Rose didn't even bother with a message. Had he seriously sent her to voicemail? It would have taken way longer for the phone to ring out normally…
She shoved her phone back into her purse and breathed slowly.
"Nngh…. it's fine, it's fine, there's probably a reason for that, he's gonna call me back…"
Another few minutes of waiting. The anxiety sublimated back into annoyance, a stronger one than before in fact.

Then… at last, she spotted him, framed, of all things, by a lovestruck pair of snow leopards. She saw them between their bodies as they held hands and gazed into each other's eyes… good for them, but they were in the way!
Socks, the bat-opossum hybrid was stumbling out of a tent. The tent was covered in stars and planets, glittering from the light catching off its shining surfaces.

Socks stopped for a moment to turn over his shoulder and look at the tent one last time, before he faced front and began to stagger again… His movements looked sluggish. Maybe even drunk?
That couldn't have been right. He didn't drink. He told her as much.
…Anxiety crept in, asking her dark, evil questions. Was he lying? What else had he lied about? Why hadn't he answered his phone?
She powered towards him, slithering around the snow leopard couple. Her tail was angled a little too high, and she heard a loud sneeze behind her. She shouted out "Sorry" over her shoulder before she continued on.
She expected him to at least notice her as she approached. But his head was still sort of lolling to and fro, his eyes looking at nothing in particular.
A sharp wave got him to notice her at last. The dopey smile hadn't left his face, and it didn't even grow when he saw her…

"Socks!" she said, trying to contain her frustration with him. "What're you doing here? I was waiting for ages…"
"Oh, I was looking for you," he said, his voice soft and dreamlike - Rose had to really prick her ears just to hear him. "Must've gone to the wrong place…"
… Did she mean he went to the wrong place, or she did? Rose wasn't going to chase that train of thought any further. She didn't want to make the argument worse. She kept her annoyance at bay.
"It's fine… what was going on in there, though? Is that a fortune teller?"
"Kiiinda?" Socks' head bobbed up and down. "She's a priestess… she did a tarot reading and then we talked about… so many things."
…A paranoid jealousy slipped into the back of Rose's head. Had he fallen for this 'priestess'?
No, stupid thought. Rose banished it.
"She helped me realise I was carrying too much with me, and I needed to get rid of my worldly desires…"
"That's… nice? So, uh, how do you feel now…?"
"So nice… especially since she helped me get rid of my useless money…"
"…What's that mean?" Rose frowned. Socks just sort of swayed. "Socks, what does that mean?"
"I gave her a hundred dollars," Socks said, proudly.

"You what?!" Rose couldn't stop herself from snapping and raising her voice. "What were you thinking?!Why would you just give someone that much money because they told you to?!"
"I feel so much lighter, though…" Socks said. This was not like him at all. "That hundred dollars was weighing me down…"
"What, a few banknotes were…?"
Socks was shaking his head with the same sluggishness as his nod.
"No, I did it on the app…"

Okay, this was not like him at all. She smelled something on him - it didn't smell like weed, and she didn't smell alcohol on his breath… it was just incense. But there was still something very obviously wrong going on.
"She's so amazing, hon, you should see for yourself…" Socks murmured.
"I think I might," Rose snarled, shoving right past him and straight into the incense-scented darkness of the tent.

Rose was surprised by how piercing the fox's blue eyes were. Almost as surprised as the fox was to see her barge in. The fox stuffed her phone back underneath her long fortune teller's robes. She brought her paws forward to either side of the crystal ball on the table between her 'customer' and her.
"Ah… welcome, my friend, come in, please… I can see something's troubling you, please come in."
"I want you to give my boyfriend his money back," Rose said. She approached the round table and slammed her hands down on it, bending forward and looming over the charlatan. "I don't know what you did to him, or how, but you scammed him and I'm not going to let that slide!"

The fortune teller smiled coolly back. "I can sense your anger, child. And I can empathise. I can understand the attachment to worldly possessions can bring poisonous emotions upon us…"
"Oh wow, very perceptive!" Rose tutted. "Yeah, when people get scammed, their loved ones get angry! Incredible observation, you're really good at reading-"
"Sit."

Rose's rump was plopped down on the stool in an instant.
The command wasn't a sharp one. But it had slid into her head like a dagger between the ribs, catching her off guard and making her body comply unthinkingly. And since she'd sat down, standing up felt like an awkward thing to try…
"Now, let's see about dealing with that anger," the fox said. "I will purge it from your system. And I'm sure you'll soon feel just as serene and unburdened as your boyfriend out there. And I'll even let you have this one for free…"
"Hmph." Rose crossed her arms defiantly. There was a slight shift in the fox's tone, a more casual one. Interesting. "Alright, hit me."
There was going to be some cheap parlour trick here, she was sure of it. There'd be some sleight of hand, some cold reading, educated guesses that would wow some people, but certainly not her.
"I want you to set that anger you're feeling right now in your mind," the fox said. "Breathe into it. There is nothing wrong with feeling anger and frustration. Send me your energies, and I will channel it into this reading… though I suggest you relax your jaw."
…Oh.
Rose was holding her jaw tightly, her teeth were grinding together…
She relaxed it, and almost instantly, she noticed-
"Your shoulders are relaxing too, that's good. See already what that does? How it makes it easier to handle that swell of emotion… now, let us see what other tools we can use."
"Hnh, okay…" Rose nodded. She peered over the crystal ball, at the movements of the fox's paws. Three cards glided off the top of the deck with just a slight touch, alighting on the mat like flowers.
The fox flipped over the first - a figure lying down, with four swords resting above their head.
"The Four of Swords. Rest, relaxation, yes, yes… this is the theme of the reading. Keep the idea of releasing that anger in the back of your mind…"
Her claws traced along the swords on the card, back and forth. Rose kept her eyes on the hands. Making sure there was no funny business, no extra cards…

The next card was a throbbing heart, pierced with three more blades. Rose winced.
"The Three of Swords, reversed, but don't worry," "You were heartbroken in the past, but now you're very happy with your partner, yes. It can also mean forgiveness… you can forgive his folly."
The fox's claw traced along the swords, inwards towards the heart at the card's centre.
They were nicely manicured, not to mention painted a bright white colour.
…Rose was still keeping a close eye.
The paw shifted to the next card, and so did Rose's stare.
A blindfolded raccoon faced her, holding a sword in each hand, crossed upwards like an upturned pair of garden shears. And… why did the raccoon look like her-?

"The Two of Swords. You're at an impasse, you're stubborn, perhaps, you don't want to allow yourself to relax because you're afraid of what it might bring perhaps… Maybe we need another card."

Rose nodded. She agreed. This was all a little confusing to follow, if she was being honest. She needed to know more. Her mind was having a lot of trouble settling on one detail or another, so maybe the next card would clarify further…

A gleaming, disembodied paw clutched a glittering sword pointed towards the heavens, with a crown floating at its tip like a halo.
What did that mean…
"The Ace of Swords. You're confused, your thoughts are full, and you just need to allow that mind to clear… clear it for me… one more, yes, just one more…?"

"Nhn…" Rose nodded. Her mind was clearing. Just one more. Yes, just one more. Then it would all make sense.
Rose's eyes were already almost closed…
She was faintly aware that she was leaning forward now, almost draped over the crystal ball between them…
The final card was turned over. It depicted raccoon mid-dance, wearing a dress that spiralled holographically with rainbow shades, dazzling Rose, making her blink, and grunt, and…
"The Fool."
The card was snapped onto the table. The fox's other paw cradled Rose's face.
This card represents blankness. Quiet. Sleep. So sleep, poor fool... And rest."

Rose felt her throat press against the glass ball, her body slumped forward onto it, with very little distance to travel.. Her eyelids butterflied shut.
"There, I've convinced you, haven't I?" The fox chuckled. Her tone had shifted, sharpened, but Rose was too relaxed to care. She was convinced. So relaxed. Why had she even been angry in the first place?

"This was free, of course, but I do hope you'll… what's that, you'd like to offer me payment?"
Rose didn't remember saying that. But if the fox said it was true, and the fox was right about everything else… she didn't see any reason not to follow along.
She took out her wallet, and took out banknote after banknote, as bidden.
"That's it. As much as you feel comfortable giving out, as much as you feel I'm worth. But worth doesn't matter, does it… money doesn't matter. It doesn't nourish your mind, it keeps you leashed to the world. So give it over, all of it…"

Rose was already doing so. She emptied her wallet leaf by leaf, placing each new note on the table in a growing, neat little stack.
Each note she removed felt like a weight being lifted, like those little sheets of paper were made of steel.
"There we are…" the fortune teller said. "Now, feel the lightness remaining within you even as you leave…"
The slight inflection on the fox's final word brought Rose to her feet. She glided out of the tent, smiling serenely, only faintly remembering to take her wallet with her and slip it back into her nearly discarded bag.
Socks was waiting for her outside, and he looked just as content and relaxed as he did when she left. The smile widened slightly when he saw her…
"She was really nice…" Rose remarked as she embraced him.
"Told you…" he giggled.
The lovers staggered through the carnival together, moving in tandem like they were in a three legged race, or two drunkards seeking out a taxi….
Though if people looked close, they'd see the stars in their eyes, the tell tale scent of madame's perfume… all the other carnies knew they'd been cleaned out by the fortune teller.
Sela picked up her winnings from the table and counted them, taking her time to leaf through.
"Another 70 dollars… nice."
She grinned. This would cover another few week's worth of botanicals and herbs for her potion brewing hustle. A few more marks like those two, and she'd be set for the next quarter-year.
She settled back with a smile, and waited. If she put out feelers into the 'universe', another mark - no, another lost soul would come to her before long.