After her outing with Riley, Jean had a new outlook on life. She had met and slept with women in town and had been having the best time of her life. Feeling a bit more adventurous this time she made her way to the fortune tellers tent where she’d assumed Theo still was, ready to get down and dirty with Jean. She found her way in after a customer left and shut the draped behind her.
Who sat there was not Theo but the most gorgeous women she’d ever seen in her life. “Who..” she felt tongue tied and she could help but let her eyes wander all over her body. This woman was perfect and Jean might be jealous if she hadn’t been thinking about all the things she would do to her.
This wasn’t back alleys and saloons though, this was a woman she worked with and she hadn’t even begun to talk her through her internal monologue. “Hi, I’m Jean. I thought Theo still worked here.” She finally said which required way more effort than she had been anticipating.
Eyes would lift.
Even in the darkness shrouding them she couldn’t miss those features; large eyes, plump lips. Penny shifted some in her chair as if coming to attention in a way. Fingers would drift beneath her chin, gaze would fix upon the woman who so abruptly let herself into the small tent.
A smile teased the corner of full lips, the lids of her eyes would drop to sultry, nearly curious. “‘allo, Jean,” would come in greeting in a breath. Because of her accent she often forgot to use letters like h but once in a while she could remember.
“I am Madame Ophelia,” Penny offered, lifting a hand. A finger would crook in a come hither motion. Her hand would wave at the vacant seat. “If you’d please, let me read your fortune.”
She didn’t know a Theo. But this woman clearly was intriguing.
Why the hell not. Jean was curious and she had a little coin on her. “I’m the lion tamer but I’ll gladly pay for your services.” As a fortune teller of course though she heard some girls in the dancing show would sell their bodies on the side. She didn’t think this Madame Ophelia would ever do that though, she seemed more classy than that. She heard the French accent, just like that mechanic girl who’d come to see the lion.
“So what do I do?” She asked, was there a card reading of some sort or would she just be able to feel her future. Not that Jean probably had much of a future left. She tried to shift less but she had to do it during a full moon or she’d be stuck in bed for days.
“Ah,” Penny would purr in thought. Her elbow would rest upon the flat surface, chin settling into her palm. “For you, then, the reading shall be free. It is on me.”
Then her fingers would move from beneath her chin, reaching out for Jean’s hand. “Give me your hand, Cher. I will tell you good things.”
Already she was getting a glimmer. There was something lurking just beyond the haze for viewing. But this woman was not a patron that she would pry into the life of. “With your permission, of course,” Penny offered, Palm outstretched and waiting.
As far as she knew there was nothing dark in her future except for her inevitable death. “Permission granted.” She replied, putting her hand in the Madams. Her skin was soft like silk and a tingle ran down her spine as she felt the jolt of electricity it sent through her.
She was still coming to terms with the magic elements of this place. Before she came all she knew was shifters and now she’d been around telepaths and sorcerers and vampires. She was beginning to change her world view and she wondered what else was out there.
Far as she could tell everyone here had something magical about them, she just didn’t know them all yet.
Cradling Jean’s hand in her palm, Penny shifted slightly forward. Eyes would stay upon the other woman as the vision began to haze like a thick fog and show her a small clip of something. To her it felt like ages of being disconnected when in reality the duration of the vision was seconds.
Pupils dilated, her gaze dropped to peer at the palm in her hand upturned. A finger would lower and trace a line tenderly. Eyes would come back up to meet Jean’s “This is your lifeline,” Penny explained, voice soft. “It is inevitably short.” Which was a shame, honestly. Jean seemed like a nice person. Her own was dreadfully short, too.
“And this one,” her finger would trace other line nearby without needing to look at it, “is your love line. Also short, but perhaps that is because it correlates with your life. You will have prosperity in both places until the moment you take your last breath.”
Fingertip would trace the outline of a heart across Jean’s palm, “I also see a tiger in your future.”
She watched along as Madame Ophelia drew the lines along her hand. While she was hitting the head on its mark, none of this seemed really that impressive. “Well I train a tiger right now so must be the same tiger you’re seeing.” She doubted she’d ever see a different tiger unless something bad happened to Sheeba.
Maybe this woman didn’t have abilities like the rest of them, maybe she was just...ordinary. She was still beautiful and Jean had a hard time keeping her eyes off of her. She was porcelain and silk, milk and honey, a quiet summer storm. Jean couldn’t remember the last time she felt her stomach turn so many kick flips.
“With the tiger comes a change,” Penny remarked, shrugging a shoulder at Jean. She had no clue as to the abilities of the woman, if there were any at all. She only spoke of what she could see, no more and no less.
The contact between their hands was showing much - the tiger was the most prominent but then something else began to shimmer as the vision changed.
Eyes would widen a bit, her expression betraying the mask of calmness Penny usually wore. Ever so slightly would her head tilt as if she were thinking. Blank eyes would stare nearly through Jean before they filled with life again.
“I did not expect to see such a prominent figure in your life,” Penny confessed. She chewed at her plump bottom lip momentarily, touching at the love line again. “We will be close.”
Jean watched her expression curiously and didn’t quite understand what she was saying for a moment until she ran her finger over that love line again. Jean hadn’t had love since she was a girl but last couple of weeks she’d had plenty of it that might look like love on the outside. A smirk came to her lips and she leaned forward on her other palm. “Wishful thinking?” She teased, biting her own bottom lip in response.
“You know there’s easier ways to ask a girl if she’s interested.” Jean sat up again with a serious look on her face, like it was all going to be bad news from here on out. “The answer is yes of course but suppose we ought to get to know each other first, don’t you think?” Maybe Jean didn’t really believe her, that she could see her future but she didn’t mind the idea that she was going to be in it.
“You are so bold,” Penny would laugh, the end of her nose crinkling with amusement. “And yet so intriguing.” Few were as forward and open as Jean seemed to be and Penny found it a touch refreshing. Trying to hide who you were inside was challenging; no one had ever understood her or what she had going on, chalking it up to mental illness or insanity.
A wink would be offered.
“We are out of time for now, Cher, but if you would like another reading I do private sessions.”
Penny would let go of Jean’s hand, setting her own upon the tabletop. “And I could perhaps be persuaded but as you said we do not know each other. I have a feeling you will come up with a way to procure attention in a setting that is not so demanding.”
If there was a date in their future Penny would be interested to see what it would look like. And she didn’t go out with just anyone - most of the time she kept to herself out of fear of being misunderstood. But Jean seemed determined and a bit of creativity could be persuasive.
Her smile grew wider at the response. She was forward sure but not always this forward. One had to be careful not to show anyone your cards too soon lest they use them against you. But there was something about this girl that made her want to take risks.
“I will find somewhere away from prying eyes to take you out real nice.” The Montana girl in her never went away no matter how much she tried but the gorgeous French woman didn’t seem to mind her Midwest accent. “Tell me something ‘fore I go. What’s your real name? What should I call you outside this tent?”
“Penelope,” she offered brightly. “But you may call me Penny. I am very glad to have met you, Jean, and I hope you do not keep me waiting too long until I can see you again.” She didn’t want to end the session but time was money and there was a line outside of people waiting to hear their future and get their fortune told.
“There will be more time later to get to know each other,” came the promise. There was no doubt they’d see each other again - no misfortune was in the cards of this woman, at least not yet. The future was fluid though so things could change the instant Jean walked through the flap of the tent.
“You can come to my wagon to visit any time.”
“You got it. Night out on the town and then back to your wagon.” She teased with a wink. Of course she didn’t expect to be starting a relationship but it’d be trickier not to run into the woman she worked with. “I like Penny, it’s as gorgeous as the one whose name it is.” Ok maybe romance wasn’t out of the question but after Elizabeth, Jean was careful.
Careful, but bold still. “Ciao Bella.” She replied and while she hated the Italian language because of her mother, she knew it tended to charm the ladies so she’d pull out a phrase every once in a while.
A giggle would slip past her lips. This woman was like a breath of fresh air. She was intrigued and yet cautious too - what if she messed something up? There was always the fear in the back of her mind that once Jean figured her out completely then she would vanish or worse, try to fix her problem.
“You have quite a way with words.” She wasn’t looking for romance, at least she didn’t think she was.
“Au revoir,” Penny would breath, offering Jean a wave and a smile.