❦ 13th Record
Valeth-san, Target-san - I'm fit for duty again. Hope nothing dire happened while I was [slight pause] unavailable.
Sniper, Youth, Smoke, Snake, [pause] Silvar [little ink blot] you guys ok?
Lea, Castor, Pollux - [long, long pause] thanks.
[[Yeah, he pretty much booked it out of the Spa as soon as he regained his sight, lol. Now somewhere on ( Read more... )
Sniper, Youth, Smoke, Snake, [pause] Silvar [little ink blot] you guys ok?
Lea, Castor, Pollux - [long, long pause] thanks.
[[Yeah, he pretty much booked it out of the Spa as soon as he regained his sight, lol. Now somewhere on ( Read more... )
After Cloud sat down, Lea shuffled the cards between his hands and lifted his eyes.]
So you've really never played cards before? [He clicked his tongue.] Shame, shame, it's a wonderful way to pass time. There's even a few card games you can play without another player, so they're really quite versatile. [He dealt two cards to each of them, then set the deck down.] We'll start with something simple, then. Blackjack. The quick rules go, you want your cards to add up to twenty-one. Cards with faces on them are worth ten, and the cards with only one emblem on them that say A are worth one, or eleven, that's up to you. [He points at the two cards in front of Cloud.] Have a look, and I'll give you some hints as we go.
[He lifts up the corners of his cards to peer at them. Hm, the Jack of Clubs and a four. Well, he had to hit again either way. He would wait for Cloud.]
So what's on your mind, by the way? [He had an idea, but it tended to be best to let these conversations go at the pace of the initiator.]
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[He glanced at Lea to see that the other man was being careful not to show Cloud the cards he dealt himself. Cloud raised his visible eyebrow slightly.] I... take it I should keep what cards I have to myself? [They just so happen to be a black number 9, with a symbol that looks something like a leaf, and a red number 5 with the symbol of a heart. He tilted his head to one side a little.] ...do the symbols mean anything?
[Cloud turned the cup in his fingers a little before he sipped from it again. Might as well jump right to the heart of why he'd come, then...] Hmmm... you saw my memory. I was wondering what you thought about it.
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Okay, this is actually a good example; see how yours add up to fourteen? Mine also add up to fourteen. So if we both played these hands, I would win, even though they're the same number, because I'm the dealer. That's one of the rules of a lot of card games, is that if it's a tie, the dealer wins. But! [He held up one finger.] Technically, I wouldn't be allowed to play this hand--if the dealer's hand is under seventeen, he has to take a hit. That is, another card.
Now, since fourteen is a pretty low hand on the way to twenty-one, I'd recommend you take another card, too. So at this point, you'd say to the dealer, 'hit,' or just tap your fingers on the table, and I'd deal you another card. [He demonstrated, both the fingertap and the dealing of the third card, though he didn't look at it. Then he dealt himself a third card--the five of diamonds.] So how do you add up now?
The symbols? Oh, those are just the card suites. Clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. They don't have any specific meanings, exactly, but in some card games certain suites are worth more points than others. Or here, if two people had the exact same hand, the suites would decide the winner. [He chuckled and showed Cloud the four in his hand, which happened to be a spade.] I hear spades are supposedly a symbol of death, actually. [Ironic.] But anyway.
[A pause, and Lea reflected back on the memory a moment, furrowing his brow a little.] What I thought? [He quirked his mouth.] I think somebody's got a cruel sense of humor, that's what I think. I doubt that anything so location-specific as your... mooshee? is to blame for what we're all doing here. But it's an amusing coincidence, I'd say. [A tilt of his head, and he regarded Cloud.] Why, what do you think about it?
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Oooh? [He grinned.] How morbid, putting them on something people play games with.
Mushi. [The correction of Lea's pronunciation was automatic. Cloud shook his head slowly.] No... it couldn't be a mushi, or at least not that one... besides, if it was, why am I the only one who's heard of creatures called that? [He fiddled with his cards a little, wondering if Lea would mind if he had a cigarette, but didn't actually reach for one just yet.] I think... I don't know enough, yet.
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Er... mushi, right. Ah... I don't put it past the Sphere to pull crap like that, make us think that this is all something we're familiar with, something we should know, something we should be able to figure out, but in the end if it was that easy someone would have figured it out by now.
[He went back to the cards in Cloud's hands.]
So, seventeen. That's kind of the make or break hand, really--only four more to twenty-one, and if you go over, you bust and lose the hand. The cards value from one to eleven, but there are more cards that are worth ten points than any other value--[He held up the Jack in his hand.]--because of these face cards. I'm at nineteen, so it would be pretty dumb for me not to stay. Since you know my hand beats yours at this point, why don't you go ahead and take your chances on another hit? [He grinned.] Nothin' to lose in a practice game, am I right?
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[He nodded, setting down the little bottle and picking up the cup.] This place seems to get a kick out of taunting us. [Slight hesitation, covered by taking a sip from the cup.] ...have you heard if Snake, Youth, or Smoke said anything about what they saw? [Sylvar had told him something about the memory she'd experienced over the journals already, and he'd talked to Sniper earlier in the day... it was a reasonable assumption that the other victims, for lack of a better word, had also seen a memory that night.]
Yeah, alright. [He smiled easily; Lea's obvious good mood was infectious. Setting his cup down again, he tapped his fingers on the table like Lea had showed him.] Might as well see if my luck's any good.
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It's the OTHER stuff about the heart that bothers him--like how it just keeps going without being told. Like how it knows what to do without thinking, without the person even being conscious. The heart is a muscle and nothing more, and yet it seems to have a mind all its own, and something about that is just kind of creepy.
Anyway... Moving along.
He shakes his head.] Mm, nope, can't say I have. I don't know Snake much--we've talked a few times, but he seems a little... odd. Youth might play the part of the obtuse loudmouth, but I think he keeps his cards closer than he's given credit for, if you'll pardon the analogy. [A crease of concern folds into his brow.] Smoke hasn't said anything, either, but it's not really my business. Memories are personal things--I ain't about to ask about it.
[Smoke was one of Lea's closest friends, which only made him LESS inclined to pry about these things. Lea was quick to take interest in people, but slow to really trust them--it took time, effort, and... something else he couldn't quite even define. Something Kagerou and Toushi and Smoke had managed. Something Kurayami and Nova and now Cloud were getting close to. In the end, though, once the trust was there, it was solid, and if Smoke wanted to talk about what he'd seen, Lea would listen... but as nosy and curious as Lea tended to be, he respected Smoke enough not to poke that nose where it wasn't wanted.
It was strangely reassuring to really think about.
Drawing himself back to the present, Lea drew another card for Cloud, laying it face up in front of him.]
Looks like it's your lucky night, my friend. [He grins, moving his hand away from the card so Cloud can see it.] Four of diamonds. I believe you just won this hand.
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He smirked, lazily, around the cup when Lea revealed the card.] Heh. Maybe my luck is taking a turn for the better.
What now, is that the end of the game?
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[He doesn't really wait for an answer, and deals out two cards to each of them, lifting the corners of his to have a look--the eight and Ace of hearts. There's something ironic about this, and he can't quite put his finger on it. Then he threads his fingers together and gives Cloud a sly look.]
So tell me something. You said it was an accident that you dropped the used crystal in the boiling water, right? [His eyebrows lifted a bit.] Do you usually keep your used crystals?
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When he received his cards he copied Lea, peeking at them without showing them... a two with a black symbol of three little balls--must be a club, that wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting it to look like--and one of the 'face' cards, with the symbol of a heart and a 'Q' in two of the corners. So that made twelve. Alright.]
Yeah, it was. [He didn't sound defensive; it was just a fact. It had been an accident.] I've only... found one other, but yeah. I held onto it. Why?
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I've kept mine, too. I've got three I've used so far. [And one he hasn't, but that's not the subject here.] Now... I'm not a man of science, personally, I find the rigidity of scientific method a bit too dull for my tastes, but I can't deny a certain curiosity on the whole topic. [He gives Cloud's cards a glance, inquiring silently if he plans to hit or stay.] If there's more to these crystals than obvious face value, then I think I'd like to know about it, wouldn't you? [A chuckle and a wave of one hand.] Well, perhaps with a little extra caution on the side in future endeavors...
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Oooh? [He tapped the table just in front of his cards in response to Lea's glance.] Playing around with the spent crystals will... probably be safer than messing with the live ones. [An eyebrow lift of inquiry--was that what Lea was getting at?--and Cloud grinned a little sheepishly.] I'm never putting another one anywhere near a pot of water, believe me.
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