The Dropout

Misty sat in her fairly dark tent listening to the roar of the fair from outside. On the low table covered in thick black felt in front of her was a good sized synthetic crystal ball and a single silver candle holder, at least she thought it was silver so hard to tell these days, with a single dark wax candle. The sole illumination of the small canvas room.

People always expected a gloomy atmosphere if you were going to tell them their fortune though it really wouldn't make any difference if you laid out the cards on the bright plastic tables of a Taco Bell, but you weren't going to make any money trying that. She'd heard you could really make some good money fortune telling online these days but even the best accessibility programs didn't do much for her so that was a no go.

The current Ren Fair she was at had been going strong for three weeks now and she'd already made enough to move on but she didn't think this mine was tapped just yet. Giving people what they expected was a good way to relax them enough to make their tells clear, though she was good enough at reading people it didn't matter but then there was also the money.

A lot of people didn't actually care about their fortune, they came for the experience. For the atmosphere. And they paid well for the entertainment. To that end she always wore her simple black dress that showed plenty of cleavage and a thick black hooded robe worn open in front. Somehow leaving only part of her face exposed to the light heightened the mystery, especially when she leaned back so they could see her grey colorless eyes. That always got the punters going. Having her tits half out in this tight black dress didn't hurt either. It's also why she dyed her mousy brown hair black, well it was these days. Once upon a time it was because that's what all the cool kids were doing, back when Wicca was just a phase and not her livelihood. Back when her cards weren't just a wash of grey.

She moved the crystal ball aside so she could lay out a reading for herself. Which was just a silly affectation, she wasn't looking at her own tells to weave a story to entertain some idiot for money. Still it helped settle her nerves to handle her cards, cards that she had painted herself back when she still could.

The Tower, well change could be good or bad depending. The Lovers, ha! Hooking up at a Ren Fair was a good way to end up with more than you bargained for or lose everything you had. No thanks. ****. Something was wrong with her card, she knew every inch of the card she'd hand painted herself and **** was never a pale redhead with one hand outstretched. Something was very very wrong. She clutched her cards to her chest as everything went black.

.

The next figure stumbled up the path like she was having a hard time seeing, waving an arm with a familiar silver bracelet on it like she was trying to hone in on the direction she was supposed to go. Laura mused that so far only Susan had seemed to actually have been pulled along by it, perhaps the more you fought against the pull the stronger it got? No telling if the platinum one worked the same way though.

The third contestant was close enough now to see she was almost fully covered by a voluminous hooded robe with only her pale arm really visible. Shar walked out to meet her on the path and gently took her hand leading her back to the seats. As she neared the chairs her steps seemed more sure and she released Shar's hand with a simple "Thanks, a bit hard to see back there." which didn't make much sense to the others already seated as it wasn't very dark with all the stars in the sky.

Laura let her confusion go pretty quickly as she recognized that voice "Misty? Misty is that you? Are you okay?"

"Laura? Wow, small world. Where are we?"

"Let me answer that." Shar said, helping Misty get seated "You have been chosen to participate on the reality show Harem Hotel, Haunted Castle Edition!" Lightning flashed across the clear night sky and thunder boomed and Misty drew up as small as she could within her robe with a squeak. "There there, no physical harm will come to you here. As long as you wear your bracelets you are all protected."

"Only physical harm?! What kind of harm are we facing here?" Laura demanded.

"Now now I said questions later. Not nearly everyone is here yet, and Misty needs to introduce herself to the audience. So don't make me hush you like #1 here." She pointed at Susan who was still holding her throat "Doesn't look good to muzzle the master you know. Now Misty if you will."

In a calm clear voice she stated "My name is Misty Dawn, I am 26 years old and work as a fortune teller at Ren Fairs and carnivals, I am bisexual though I prefer women, Five foot tall, I wear a D cup bra but am probably closer to an E, and I know the master from University when we were roommates." "Whoa that was cool."

"A fortune teller?" Laura was aghast "You dropped out for that?"

"I didn't have much choice after I lost my scholarship." Misty said in a small voice crushed by her friends distain.

"I didn't know, I'm sorry. I was so busy with finals and then you were just gone."

"I know what happened." Gabriella said and reached over to grip the younger woman's hand "And you have my sympathies. All your teachers were told."

"What did happen?" Laura asked "How did you lose your scholarship? Your painting was amazing."

Misty flinched when her painting was mentioned and stayed silent, head bowed.

"Sudden Onset Achromatopsia." Stated Shar "Over the course of a week Misty lost all color vision." The short girl was openly crying now. "A rather severe case where even close primary shades can blur together at times, which is why she was having trouble with the path."

"You have magic" Gabriella stated "Can you help the girl, do what her doctors couldn't?"

"It is possible, but it will be in the hands of the audience. But please, more on that later we still have more people to introduce."