[Red Diamond Tavern] Seeing the Sleight (Naya)

[Stitch]

70th of Winter, 510 A.V. A single man sat at a single table in the middle of the Tavern. He was a shady looking fellow, an extremely thin man with large buck-teeth that overlapped his lower lip. Dark and wispy strands of black hair fell in front of beady eyes, and his overly thin face combined with all of his other features to remind an onlooker of one thing. A rat. Even whenever the man let out a chuckle, it came out as something of an amused squeaking sound. The way he hunched over the wooden table that he alone occupied, the way he managed manipulate things with his long and spindly fingers... It was all enough to remind someone of a sly pesty rodent. There was a single chair across from him. That was where the players of his little "Game" sat. The Game was rather simple. In front of the man was three cups. Under one of the cups, the man would put a shiny gold Miza. He would quickly move the cups all about, and then when he stopped their movements, he indicated for the player to choose the cup the Miza was under. If they chose right, they won their bet back, plus a few Mizas. If they guessed wrong, then they simply lost their bet. There was also one other option, and because of the addictive nature of the Game, it was a popular option. You could opt to continue on. Continuing on involved simply moving on to a harder version of the Game, one that had a higher payout. He simply added another cup, and moved the containers a little faster. You could continue on as long as you wanted, to a maximum of ten cups. Magically, even at that number of cups, the man was able to move them at near impossible speeds. He was truly talented. Perhaps a little too talented. A member of the Icewatch was in a nearby corner of the tavern, and by request of the owner, was trying to keep a close eye on the Game. Quite a few patrons had lost a good number of Mizas to the Game, and quite a few of the patrons had swore that they had chosen the right cup. He refused to lift the cups to reveal which one held the coin, too. He said it was a trade secret, but the Icewatch Guard was betting that there was some kind of Sleight of Hand involved. With the speed that he moved those cups, it would be easy for him to somehow slip the coin up his sleeve or something. It was proving hard to catch the skilled con artist though, if that was indeed what he was. There were four losers gathered around the table at this point, and they were also keeping an eye on the man, angry about their losses. None of them were managing to catch his trick, though. Until a stranger sat down. A tall and rather young-looking man, a somewhat peaceful smile on his face, his handsome features shining brightly at the rat-like human across the table. The con stared back, his eyes wide with disbelief, the other four Vantha also staring with a dumb-founded look on their faces. The Icewatch member stared too, blinking. A blind man had just sat down at that table. The whole tavern was watching now. What was this? The man was obviously blind. He had white medical bandages wrapped around his head, keeping his eyes hidden from view. What else where they there for, but to protect damaged eyes? The whole entire tavern was quiet, but the con gathered himself first, letting out a little chuckle. "Feeling lucky, friend?" The blind man merely nodded, that same smile still on his face. The con snorted, and held out his hand. The blind man reached into his wool cloak, and pulled out a large sack, one that had to contain at least a hundred Mizas. He dropped it on the table, once more rendering the con silent. This was crazy. A rich blind man was betting that much gold on a single tavern game? the con chuckled again, but this time, there was a tone of disbelief to it. "I am impressed by your bravery, but I don't think I can match such a hi-" The blind man interrupted, his voice soft and friendly. "You don't have to. Go straight to ten cups. If you win, you get the gold. If this one wins, you repay the lost gold that you cheated these fine gentleman out of." The room gasped a bit, a few of the patrons shocked at the sudden accusation. The Icewatch Guard simply watched, not so sure what to do now. He wanted to stop the blind man, but he didn't want to give away the fact that he was here, and watching. The con hadn't noticed him yet. The con snorted, anger flashing across his features. A nasty grin snaked across his face, and he dealt out the ten cups, flashing the gold coin he was using before he place it under one of the mugs. "Fine, blind man. Have it your way." Like lightning, he was off, his hands flickering the cups all around each other. The dizzying display was hard to see, practically impossible to follow. The blind man simply sat there, cocking his head to the side, raising an eyebrow at the proceedings. A moment passed, and the cups stopped, the con leaning back with a smirk to his brow. Standing, he bowed, mockingly offering his hand out toward the cups. "Please, choose. Ovek be with-" The blind man interrupted, tilting his head up to aim his face in the direction of the risen con. "Your hand. The left wrist. The one you are extending. You hid the coin under that sleeve. The same sleeve you have been slipping it under all afternoon." The con blinked, his words interrupted, a bright flush flooding to his cheeks. "How dare-" Suddenly, the blind man moved, interrupting again, snapping a hand out faster than anyone could track. He caught a hold of the extended wrist of the con, and quickly twisted, slamming the wrist in one direction, then the other. At the same time, a sweep of his other hand knocked all the mugs aside, revealing nothing to be under them. The golden coin fell from paralyzed fingers, the con letting out a yelp of pain. The crowd gasped again, unbelieving. Magic had to be at play here. The Icewatch member was the only one who was able to move. He jumped forward quickly, grabbing the con, who stood there, dumbfounded. The Icewatch member searched him quickly, and found his winnings, tossing the bag at the four losers still sitting there. Admist the silence, and among the stares, the blind man rose, and went back to his table in the corner. There he sat, a meek look on his features, his face blazing a sudden red as he realized that all of the attention of the taven was now on him. He ducked his head, and sipped from his mug of water, curling up as if to hide.

[Naya]

OOC : You forgot to timestamp it! <33 Naya had come to the Red Diamond Tavern tonight with the sole intention of telling a good story. Recently, whenever she had attempted to do so, she had been completely and utterly thwarted. The most famous of which was probably Naya's attempt to tell a grandiose story which have resulted in a fist fight with two other Vantha, and Naya's complete and utter defeat. She touched her nose ruefully, rubbing it as she pushed open the door to the tavern. She headed straight for the bar, sitting down. Ordering an ale, she cracked her knuckles as she looked around the Tavern, eyeing out the crowd for the night. Not a bad turn out, though all the attention was not focused on her - not yet. Taking her ale in hand as she picked it up, she wandered over towards the group, hoping to figure out exactly why everyone's attention was directed this way. What she saw astounded her. A seedy, dark looking man - the type of man you make the typical villain in a story, the man who garners immediate distrust and dislike - was sitting at a table with ten cups before him on the table. He was whisking them around in a strange pattern, seeming to follow no order or reason. Naya had seen this game before, though never played so fast or with so many cups. What was more shocking however, was that it was an obviously blind man versing the character. A large sack lay on the table, evidently holding a significant amount - the blind man was betting on the game? Surely that was not a good idea! From the glares of the crowd around the two individuals, they had already lost, and they had the use of two good eyes. The cups stopped, and Naya held her breath - as did everyone around them. They could not hope to suppose he knew which cup the coin was under, though they all prayed to the Gods that he would win by chance. Naya gasped, as did the rest of them, when he declared the coin was up the man's sleeve. The man was not really blind, it seemed. He could see perfectly well, if he spotted the shady trickster cheating as his own game in such a way. Naya burst into giggles as the man snatched out, grabbing the character's wrist and watching the coin fall to the table with a clank. He had won - she had no idea how, though he did it well. In all the commotion following the Icewatch searching the con and the angry patrons gaining their money back, she almost missed the young man slinking away to the corner, quietly, trying to be as small as possible. He sat down at his table, alone. Never one to miss an opportunity, Naya marched right up to the man. She looked down and smiled. "May I sit here? Thanks." Without waiting for a response, she immediately pulled out one of the chairs and placed her ale on the table. Sitting down, she leaned forward, elbows resting on the wood. Naya did not waste any time in getting straight to the point. "You're not really blind, are you? You can see, secretly. That's how you knew where the coin was."

[Stitch]

Stitch could feel the woman approaching, and silently cursed his luck. He was well aware that such an antic would attract attention, but he had been allowed to hope. It looked as if most were going to ignore him, perhaps too weirded out by his odd show. What were you supposed to say to a blind man who could apparently see better than anyone else in the room? He was either a totally alien being, or was using magic. Neither one was something that anyone would really want to encounter. Stitch was fine with that. He usually stayed within the Icewatch Barracks, and hadn't really socialized with most of the townspeople. He didn't want to get attached, like he had with Syliras. But then, there was this girl. She was one of those headstrong types, one of those that had a question, and would do whatever was required to get it answered. He was already sighing as she sat down, raising his head to point his covered eyes in her direction. Her question (which was more of a statement) caused him to sigh again, and he absentmindedly pulled his mug of water up to take a sip, just to prolong the answer. After a few moments of stalling, he realized that she wasn't going to go away. Her Aura was bright with curiousity, and held quite the dark streak of stubborness. Perhaps more stubborness than he had ever seen in anyone but the youngest of children. "This one is obviously blind, milady." He offered her the smart answer, giving her a tight-lipped smile, not quite ready to share yet. Instead, he took the opportunity to pause yet again, and give her a close study. Focusing just a little bit, he dipped into his pool of Djed and attempted to dive into her Aura. He barely had to expend any magic before a lot of her revealed itself to him, causing him to cock his head a bit in surprise. The woman was completely transparent. She wanted people to know who she was. Her Aura was bright and alive with dozens upon dozens of colors, dancing and swirling around each other in an intricate show. Her Aura was literally putting on a performance for him, and begging him to pay attention to it, to admire it. He couldn't help but do so. It was pretty. Eventually, he smiled, the slight tension in the air suddenly breaking. In those moments of silence, apparently the blind man had eased up a bit. Daring to match her spunk and straight-forward attitude with one of his own, he suddenly spoke up, answering quickly and directly. "This one is blind, but this one has magic. Auristics, they call it. This one uses sorcery to see, in a way. It is a bit hard to explain. this one has no desire to bore you." There, he had said it. He hoped it wouldn't spread. He had found out much too late that the world didn't have a tolerance for magic. Syliras didn't, at least. Now, the ball was in her court. Had he just opened up the floodgates for a heavy wave of questioning?

[Naya]

The man evidently had something wrong, with the amount he sighed. She tapped her foot, waiting 'patiently' for an answer as he expelled what was seemingly a LOT of excess air from his lungs and took a sip of his ale - or was it water? Why on Earth was he drinking water in a tavern? That was just sad. "Drink ale in a tavern, not water," she said, as she waited for the man to stop the damn sighing and answer her question. She hailed over a barmaid and made a gesture for another tankard of ale. She felt ridiculous, buying a man she had never met ale. Oh well, it was not the first time it had happened. Taking the ale from the barmaid, she placed it in front of the man, muttering "drink up!" as she herself took a sip of the warming drink. She cocked her head confused, as the man began to speak of himself in thired person. But, it was not obvious that he was blind. It was obvious that he could see. How else would he know that the coin had disappeared up the sleeve, when no one else had noticed? Evidently, he could see better than the rest of them. Perhaps the cloth around his eyes had some magnifying properties which allowed his eyes to sharpen? So many questions. But he could see. That she was certain of. Or, it seemed she was wrong. Woops. She was slightly shocked when the man seemed to burst from his shell, sitting straight up and speaking rapidly and openly. Magic then! Naya suspected that... well, she hadn't, but she felt much less stupid if she said that she had. Auristics? It rung a bell, though no immediate realisations sprung to mind. Something about people and emotions or something? Hayere had told her one day, she seemed to remember. She also remembered not listening. "By all means, bore me," she smiled at the man - though she wondered if he could see it. How much did Auristics show? "Auristics sounds interesting, to say the least. Feel free to shed some light on it."

[Stitch]

Stitch wasn't remotely interested in revealing too much of his magic quite yet. It had gotten him in trouble in Syliras, and he would be lucky if people didn't start getting a bit leery here in Avanthal. With this in mind, and the fact that he had already shown a little too much... he declined the young girl's offer. She was straightforward, and he enjoyed that... but it wasn't enough to change his mind. He wanted to keep a low profile, and going into detail about how magic worked, especially with some random stranger... it wasn't the way to go about it. Stitch quickly shot down the curiosity of the young woman, finished his water, and went on his way.

[Cheshire]

. Character: Stitch Experience: Negotiation +1, Brawling +1, Gambling +1, Auristics +1 Lore: Winning Back Losses Additional Note: Great start! This looks like it would have been a great thread. PM me with concerns.