You Gotta Know When to Hold 'em

by **Shai** on January 18th, 2012, 11:05 pm

“Mud… Sunberth, same difference.” She commented quickly before turning to locate the source of the overpowering stench.

She had to give the midget his dues; he knew how to make an entrance. The moment she had completed her explanation of him, Bob had appeared reeking almost as bad as ‘Berthian urchin. The spider snorted as she was referred to as ‘that woman’ and quickly supplied the name he lacked, “Shai is the woman in question.” Grace and manners wouldn’t last long in this night now that Bob had arrived. The slimy little dwarf always managed to make her forget eloquence in any attempt to dissuade his attentions.

Regarding the Dra’s question about Ravok though, Shai couldn’t say. She had strong suspicions it was near Sunberth considering she had never heard of the city until she moved into the filthy city. Even then though, the Symenestra only knew hear say nothing so concrete as a actual location. Hopping off the stool she followed after the young man, called Victor, to greet her acquaintance. “Bob, you have made me wait. What could possibly have taken so long?” Shai let out a sigh, the actual story didn’t matter he was here now. “I do hope you brought your cards? Otherwise this gambling lesson might not be very effective.”

She mused for a moment, recalling a game she had encountered at Tall Johnny’s in the Fall, “Do you know Blind Man’s Bet? I believe that is what it is called.” She would have bent to pat Jinsen but the creature seemed to reek just as much, if not more, than Bob himself. Instead she took a seat across the dwarf only now recalling that at some juncture her drink had been misplaced. The only location she was certain that her wine was not in, was the last place she left it. A quick glance ascertained that Victor’s rear was most definitely mug free.

by **Bob Barton** on January 19th, 2012, 5:25 am

One of the people who was with Shai suddenly cane towards Bob with his hands outstretched talking to himself. "I told you not to get excited" he whispered to Jinsen already anticipating the trouble to come. None of the Sunberth taverns even got to throwing him out this fast. The years made Victor seem a lot more mature and the man who crouched down seemed like a complete stranger to Bob. Bob did not like complete strangers commenting about his height. In an ideal world people should not be judging others from their appearance..or smell. He was trying to recover from the unexpected shaking when he gave the blameworthy reply that "you're the one who got taller...ermmm..."

Who are you again? Was the next set of words what Bob wanted to ask but luckily he was saved the trouble because he had to go to the defense of Jinsen. "Alright, I'll remember that for next time but I think maybe today you can make an exception. I've trained him myself so he is more Jinsen than dog." It is going to be a waste of time to navigate through that mess of Alvadas streets to get Jinsen back into the room and then find the Sun & Stars all over again. Because Bob could not recognize Victor, he took the opportunity to answer the question that "of course he knows me, why don't you let him fill you in?" so that he would be able to give the bird a chance to sing the right song "while I meet my friend? We can catch up later, I promise" as soon as Bob could actually remember who he is catching up with.

Bob was a human, not a spider so he would not know the language. Even if Victor is a common-Common name, when spoken together with it, Bob could not be bothered listening closely enough to pick it up. Instead he went to Shai who he was supposed to be meeting leaving the other two to their discussion to give the excuse he already had prepared while he took out his cards that "I never leave without them." There was always the opportunity to make a quick miza here and there when he needed some as long as he was prepared. "Lesson?" Bob asked with a sly grin. "I thought we were having a friendly game?" An expensive lesson or a lovely present at the end were both things Bob would be happy with so the technicalities were not too important.

The best part about Blind Man's Bet? It was that one unknown card that Bob could rely on for cheating however he wanted and since it was so simple "lets have more people join us?" More people meant more mizas and Bob really could use those after all that travelling at least until he found an easy job with a good pay in Alvadas or at least good benefits. More people would have Bob calling out to Victor since someone who knew him would also know or have joined him in his interests "just like old times?" showing to one of the other seats at the table. "You can introduce your friend to me while we play. You already met Shai and" not forgetting another one of Bob's important companions, "Jinsen?"

by **Victor Lark** on January 25th, 2012, 1:55 am

“She’s not from Ravok,” he laughed, ears drawn to the gleaming lilt of the Lhavitian’s curiosity. Shrugging towards the dwarf, Victor added, “Neither is he.”

He swiveled towards the white faces behind him and approached the bar again, snaking his hand between clumsy white fingers. He explained, “She would die in a day, and he doesn’t know Rhysol from his lover!” There he took a smirking beat, glanced at Seven, and answered the questions before it was asked, “He told me so. He visited once, without knowing a thing about the place.” Though his words skill reached for his friend, the Ravokian turned to Bob to give him a wink. He did not mind so much how the man smelled, but he was mildly wary as to what brought him to Alvadas, what inspired him to cavort with symenestra. He only hated him as much as one hates a good friend with a taste for competition. “I’m surprised he’s still alive.”

The last of his fellow’s questions hung on the air like torn web-silk; Victor finally caught it and shredded its mystery with a few Symenos syllables of his own. “This is Bob,” he explained, then looked towards the stinking newcomer and his dog. “Bob, Seven. Shai...” He had forgotten the words she would have known, and was forced to bend his attentions back to Common. “It’s a pleasure.”

Nodding a bow at the woman, Victor produced a deck of cards from his back pocket: Ravokian suits, soft at the edges but not without a good snap in the shuffle. They were possibly older than the four of them combined, or maybe newer than the youngest. Breaking from Seven to sit at the nearest empty table, he slapped them onto the bar’s scratched patina and met Shai’s gaze, then Bob’s.

“We’ll use mine,” he insisted, outwardly suspicious. “The House deals.”

And then the mumbling bar lighted with the brief ring of cards as he separated them into four hands, forgetting about Bob’s pet and his suggestion to include the other patrons. Victor did not want too many faces to distract him from the fresh ones around him. Shoving an elbow at Seven’s, he eyed the mop and bucket behind the bar, then disguised the glance with a teasing pretense. “Let the dog stay,” he said. “Seems the little man is rather attached to it.”

by **Seven Xu** on February 4th, 2012, 11:29 pm

Seven’s gaze skirted between the dwarf and his dog. “Well met. The dog can stay; I’ve smelled worse.”

The moon became a black hole in the ceiling-tiled sky as thick clouds swarmed and muted its hoary face. Seven hooked his fingers around the back of one chair and slid it from its berth with a whining creak, before taking a seat at Victor’s side. Straight-backed, hands gripping his thighs, he examined the faces that had been named. One belonged to Bob, the dwarf, who smelled of garbage and dead things and wet dog; the other, Shai, the face of a woman that could very well have been his mother, in another lifetime, at least, if he had known what that face looked like.

Her eyes were violet, apparent even beneath a dark ceiling. He decided then, that if the jewel-toned irises of the Widow race were so limited, he preferred the crimson his estranged halfblooded mother had given him. A smile curled the corners of his lips, and that prideful vermillion dipped into the crooks of his almond-shaped lids, intent not to linger on the woman.

“Working from home tonight, are we?” The question was thrown at Victor, wrapped in a laughing grin and dripping rhetorical. “I’ll get us all new mugs.”

The chair had barely been warmed when Seven’s backside left it, in favor of crossing a hardwood floor in bare feet to fill mugs with frothing ale. “If not Ravok, where are you two from? Somewhere closer, I’d wager.” The thought of the stunted man struggling through Kalinor made Seven blurt a candid laugh, “The north, maybe?”

by **Shai** on February 26th, 2012, 4:24 am

Shai scoffed at Victor’s remark regarding her inevitable end in Ravok, but she refrained from commenting. Though she had no useful knowledge regarding the city, it would be difficult to convince the spider that any human settlement could guarantee her demise. Turning suspicions onto the human’s deck instead, momentarily she floundered. With Bob’s card she knew what to expect, cheating. He was from Sunberth, or at least that is where she had met him, and anything to get an edge was fair. Would the human cheat? More importantly, having only ever played with Sunberth suits, Shai had no way of knowing which values to assign to the cards. It was an obvious disadvantage and she couldn’t agree to it, even if this was only a lesson. Listening quietly to the Dra’s small additions, her nerves slightly lessened as the room slid into a darker shade. “Very well, house may deal.” She conceded as she eyed the cards dealt her. “But only if Bob and I may first inspect the cards. That is fair I believe.” Adding the amendment she shifted to regard Bob, to ascertain her request wasn’t unreasonable. He surely knew gambling far better than her. If the dwarfish associate contradicted her although, Shai would relent and play this hand blind; the mystery would only last a few hands. The humans had best put their advantage to good use.

Idly clicking her nails against the wood, Shai’s mind wondered. Bob was exempt from her infamously sticky fingers, but the other two? Hardly more than strangers and if they tried to swindle the ‘Berthers, they would learn just how much of a bad idea it could be. No serious harm, of course. Not in a city with government. But they may just find their purses lighter than they would like if they didn’t play their cards right, or even too right for that matter.

Answering Seven’s inquiry was another matter; it was a question she had already answered. “I am from precisely where you would think, it is although not where I last resided. That question I have hinted at already.” She’d spoken matter-of-factly, carefully holding back even a hint of scorn. It wasn’t time to offend the two young men; not so early in the night. Keeping her attentions centered on the group she waited to hear what Bob might say. The little man was a mystery and any further information was welcome.

by **Bob Barton** on March 5th, 2012, 3:51 am

Was that an insult? From the tone Bob could tell that it was an insult. Where did Victor get off with insults the first thing after years? That's right, with the city being mentioned all over by the two and the reminder that Bob visited without knowing anything could only mean one person. The first person that he actually met and talked to in Ravok. "Lark" but that would not excuse him from the insults and Bob had a few of his own like when he laughed saying that "I didn't know that your mother was Rhysol?!" In Ravok he would not have dared to say something like this but now he was not so there was no harm in saying it. It was his prudence that he exercised when it came to subjects like this which now allowed him to ask "why wouldn't I be alive? We both know that Kelwyn likes me better than you" and that was actually no boast when it came from the mouth of the dwarf.

Yes they did so why "don't you trust me?" to not cheat was a question that Bob asked Victor with a grin though he already knew the answer to that. Everyone on the table except the person that was named after a number would know that but Bob was not going to express his concerns of why he could not use a better number. However for the cards that Shai was concerned about Bob only waved them away that he would not have to inspect them himself because "I on the other hand trust you Vic." Did he really? Bob did not really care actually because he did not need his own cards to cheat, they were nothing special to begin with. No all he wanted to do was play around with Victor a little bit. Trying to see what the man makes of their friendship after all these years. Maybe even use it to his advantage during the game itself.

"I'll make sure that Jinsen smells better the next time I visit" which was another way of Bob telling the number that he would not go dumpster diving if he could. Hearing the roundabout way that Shai gave the answer, Bob took the cue to mention that "there is nothing north of Ravok" as far as he knew or did he mean Alvadas? Bob would not be able to answer that because he has only been in the Sylira region but "try a little south where you can see the sun rising at the berth" he said trying to be poetic about it. That was where they started off from before coming to Alvadas so it would not be much of a lie though Victor should already know Bob's real hometown if he bothered to remember it. Remember that or the fact that Bob has been gambling for a very long time but if he did not then this would be a nice reminder for him when Bob agreed that "the house deals."

by **Shijara** on July 16th, 2014, 8:59 pm

Shai Nerium

The Good Stuff :

Victor Lark

The Good Stuff :

Seven Xu

The Good Stuff :

Bob Barton

The Good Stuff :

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and I'll be happy to discuss it with you. Keep writing!

Skill	XP
Socialization	+3
Observation	+3
Intelligence	+1