cutieblood | (no subject)

[ Fuck.

Th'ancred Nunh had been captured, as he lingered in the East Shroud. Why had he been there? Rumours it's where Urianger has been killed. If he could find why, then he could... help more.

In Carbuncle form, he had slipped towards the Wall... and gotten knocked out. He had no idea where he awoke, except that he was in a cage, other animals around him. Blood was dried in his fur, and a magic disrupter had been chained to his leg. (Of course, he'd be able to be teleported away... but nobody would do that without warning.)

He was still in Carbuncle form - and there was an armoured man near him. A scent almost familiar came from the armour, but he wasn't thinking of it. No, he was letting out a soft whine, as the armoured man talked to the... other man. Draped in clothes more befitting a performer then any man of Garlemald, he shrugged and pointed to the cage.

It opened, and Th'ancred tried to make himself small and flat against the cage. The armoured man - Prastha - was offered a carrier by the other man - Amon - but all Th'ancred could think was that he had to do something. Anything. ]

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Hey, back home, Mabari could become war heroes. Of course, they were smart dogs.

But he'd make a good Dus, huh? [ see, she's memorized the titles! A little. ] And Dusty sounds like a good name. Uh, unless you had a name for him.

… Well, he's a smart Carbuncle. It's fair enough, I'm sure.

Dus…? [That's… hm, bodyguarding? And- well, he doesn't have a better name that won't set off bells, so…] That would fit, I think. And Dusty is nice and inconspicuous.

...We gotta teach him to play cards.

Eh- cards, really?

…what games? [Th'ancred knows Triple Triad, probably, he's pretty sure?]

Hah, my old Mabari could play poker, for starters. Dog was a good dog.

[ th'ancred is still sweating internally, but his tails are beginning to twitch. a little... relaxed? ]

But there's gotta be some fun Eorzean games, right?

Oh- could he? That's pretty impressive- I'm sorry I can't see that…

[he pats! this is okay- weird, but hey. they can totally pass him off as an expert card-playing Carbuncle!]

Well- I hear the most popular card game right now is Triple Triad.

[ th'ancred is liking this he's getting more and more into this. she's nuts, but... aren't they all? in one way or another. ]

Triple Triad? Never heard of it. Are those the weird-ass numbered cards which keep showing up?

[well- they are. And this doesn't seem so bad, comparatively!]

Those would be the cards, yes. Have you kept any of them? We could start with those.

Yeah, there's quite a few guys 'n gals who keep gettin' them. Something about they just keep appearing?

[ She's moving to one of her draws as she talks, gesturing a little for Prastha to find a seat. ]

...Reminds me a little of home.

Huh… Interesting. They must be appearing from somewhere, surely?

[He takes a seat, loosening his hold on Th'ancred- how does he want to sit?]

Hm- the cards appearing?

When Fenris made money... he didn't make it out of nothing. When people'd sell us stuff, they'd just keep giving us more and more money.

[ he's gonna flop like a lap cat, sort of. on his side. burn up against his brother. ]

As though they… didn't remember, and had bottomless pockets? Huh.

[this sounds weird. but that kind of makes sense, right?

…please help his brother is too adorable (if hurt), and he reaches to touch gently.]

[ awww yis good scratches. But Hawke seems to look more serious, as she gets out of the cards. ]

It's funny. Some people seem to have really bad short-term memory. 'specially shopkeepers. He'd call them dead, but... they're alive as you or me, right?

[good, and Prastha relaxes a little in turn- a little concerned, though, as he turns his attention towards Hawke again.]

That sounds like rather a problem… I'd certainly have thought so, yes.

...Here they are.

[ Hawke says, though, as she quietly murmurs - loud enough for Prastha to hear. ] I'll need to wipe out those who keep duplicating things. Can't have it happen again. [ But she places the cards on the table - quite a few, more then enough to make several decks. Even if a lot of them were duplicates. ]

Very nice. [He reaches out to look through the cards- ears flicking, a little uneasily.]

That kind of duplication is definitely a problem… But if it's made the ordinary way, it should be fine, shouldn't it?

Which cards did you want to use?

It looks natural - everything that happened does. 'course, that's far less freaky then seeing one of your friends freeze in place like a natural statue. [ h-hawke.

But she seems to close her eyes a little. ] Well. How about these ones?

[ she has chosen magitek death claw, magitek colossus, magitek vanguard, magitek gunship, and ultima weapon. ]

'Course, you can choose your own. Long as you don't cheat, y'know? Not that I'd know.

Yes. I- ah, but you don't mean petrification, do you…?

Those look good. [he chuffs a little.] Well, this ought to make it fun.

[and a random pull gives- Livia sas Junius, Magitek Death Claw, Magitek Vanguard, Nero tol Scaeva, and Nael van Darnus. …good times. He's half-surprised a couple of these turn up, but well.]

Should we flip a coin for turns?

Nah. It's like... sometimes when one of my guard friends would fight, she'd get ready... and she'd then stop moving. Usually, she'd keep moving - but that wasn't helpful when we had to kill a crazy Templar, am I right?

[ She's so very quiet, before looking to the cards. ] Nah, I'll let you lead. Gotta teach me, right?

Not at all. Better than if she'd managed to get in the way, but all the same…

All right. [He takes Livia, and considers the board for a few moments, before setting the card in the left column, central position.] The basic idea is to try to have more cards than your opponent. You do this by capturing them- playing another card with a higher value on the side of the card you're playing. The numbers run from one to nine, and A trumps them all. There are rules that change this- but we can introduce those later.

[ Hawke moves to place her Ultima Weapon in the left column, above his - so that she's claimed one card. Smirking, she stretches backwards a little. ] Seems like a fun little game - I guess this realm isn't all bad. [ hawke ; w ; ]

My friend sometimes did freeze up and blocked doors, but if I went around the other way, she'd move again. Weird, huh?

It's a good game! I must confess to rather liking the realm myself, I feel. [he smiles, glad to hear that. And- oh, damn, Ultima's pretty defensive on its right- even if he'd been hoping to bait something out…

Hm. Magitek Death Claw in the bottom row of that same column, then- let's see how this turns out.]

Very strange. She didn't like particular paths, perhaps…? But that doesn't make much sense.