(Private) Two Nickels

[Star]

Careful. Your face might freeze that way.

He laughed good-naturedly. Sounded similar to his version of 're-allocation of assets'. Yikes. He could still feel that grip on his forearm.

"Well. I'll tell you a secret. Usually, it's more about tricking someone into picking a certain card than finding it. Locks, agreed. Fun stuff. Picks aren't that hard to make. If you want, I'll help you out. I also used to collect puzzle boxes, but I've been traveling a little light for that," he rambled slightly, finding common ground. And, because.

He leaned forward and reached back to touch the wallet in his rear pocket.

"OK. Just checking," he grinned.

"So. Actual, real proposition. To keep us both sharp." The hand traversed to his front pocket, and he pulled a card out. A six of clubs. He held it up, showing it to her.

"Ongoing game of Who's Got It? Ground rules: Accessible outer pocket, and not mixed up with other stuff or encased in anything."

[Avis]

"Wait, so for the rest of the night we just try and take the card from each other?" she asked incredulously. She wasn't adverse to the idea but whoa. There was actually a pickpocket game? Was that what magicians did at conferences or was this some kind of Colorado street thing? That could be a lot of fun. Definitely more fun than keeping up your skills in the schoolroom of hard knocks. Cause that was where she'd learned. Someone noticed you and you got beat down. Or sedated. Depended on the location. Sometimes both.

[Star]

"Oh, no."

Cut grin blossomed into full blown delight.

"Ongoing. Until, whenever. Then, say, every two weeks -- the first and fifteenth of the month -- whoever has the card in their possession 'wins'."

The card rolled lazily over and through his fingers like a coin, taunting her.

"I'm thinking... winner gets to ask the loser for something. Anything. The loser can either pay up, or forfeit. Forfeit means something minor, like, we'll pick a stupid propeller hat the other person has to wear for that day. Something like that. No one has to know why."

"You in?"

[Avis]

She thought about it for a second. Just a second.

"Sure. I'm in. I can't wait to see you in that propeller hat," she said, forcing a joke. Thankfully it took less effort, her mind already running off with ideas about how to secure the card, or how to get the card. Oh, there were fun options. She couldn't help but imagine how Asp would play the game. Now that really made her smile.

Avis held out her hand. "How about I start with the card? That way you can show me how the game works. Ya know, as some who's played it before. Which makes me wonder, who did you usually play it with?"

[Star]

"OK, wait," he laughed. "Extra rule? Can't cover up the hat with your hood, if the propeller hat's the forfeit."

The card rolled to a stop, and he held it up to show her it was still the same card. Honestly? It would have been hilarious to palm off a different card and claim the first win the easy way. He dropped the card in her hand.

"You got it. Since that's such a reasonable request."

Tricky, tricky.

"Oh, you know," he shrugged. "I don't even know. You'd be amazed at the stupid stuff that goes on backstage with opening acts, or auditions, or whatever. Lots of time to kill."

The grin crept out again.

"Besides, who says I'll be wearing the hat? I may just pay up instead of taking the forfeit. We'll just have to see which I consider the lesser of evils, right?"

[Avis]

Avis rolled her eyes. "Yeah, 'cause that would be sooo comfortable hiding it under a hood. And the propeller hat should be the forfeit. That way we know what we have to fall back on. That's the whole point of the forfeit, right? You have a secure thing that you can put up with in case the other person dares you to slap Asp or something."

Not that Cut would dare her to do that. She on the other hand...Well, she'd have to think of something more creative.

Her fingers closed on the card and her hands disappeared under the table again. The the card switched hands under the table and she crossed her arms, briefly tucking both hands into her pockets so hopefully he would have a harder time seeing which pocket the card was in. Card deposited she leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table.

  1 success to hide the card :(

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2014-06-16 08:11:42		Avis rolls 6 to hide da card (dex+larc) (10 Again)		3, 3, 6, 7, 2, 8		1 success

[Star]

"Slap..."

The words trailed off into widened eyes. Girl was hard, yo.

"Yeaaaaaaah," he laughed. "A forfeit is definitely a good thing. The hat works."

He'd left it open for options. Mickey Mouse ears. A strange headband. The hat? He could live with -- and just might, if that was any indication of the the casual ideas that Avis had for winning.

He made a show of watching her hands closely.

"You didn't fool me. It's under the menu!" he declared, pointing at her laminated poster of food.

"Speaking of... so you said I was close? How close? And... close enough to make any recommendations?"

He twitched slightly as his phone buzzed in his pocket.

[Avis]

"Um, yeah," Avis replied, smiling more casually now. She picked up her menu and started flipping through it. Yeah, it would be a good idea to figure out what to eat. Her body was running low on fuel, not that she'd noticed it much, and it wanted something new to burn. Also, she was looking forward to tasting some cajun cooking again. It had been a long time and most people who claimed to use 'cajun' spices probably hadn't even visited Louisiana.

"Well, my family moved to Chicago when I was like 11, so I guess that kinda makes me from Illinois, too. And I don't know. What can you handle? I don't know what the food's like in Colorado. Don't you eat a lot of goat or something?"

[Star]

Eleven? That was a while to keep an accent, wasn't it? Or was it. He had no idea. He picked up his own menu and started skimming.

"Colo... ?"

oh

"I'm... not from Colorado. It was just a convenient way to say 'Eyes'? I've bounced around there, though. And... do they really eat a lot of goat? I mostly did lounge acts, so it was usually leftover resort buffets." It started with a laugh and ended with a grimace. That was a lot less great than it sounded. Cold, congealed, greasy buffet fare.

ewwww

"I'm down for anything. I usually go for habanero sauce on wings if a place has it, so..."

He wasn't bragging. He just wanted to put it out there that he actually knew what hot meant.

"Chicago. Da Bears."

Had to be said. Was she a fan?

[Avis]

"I'm more of a Fire, or Red Stars fan. Don't like football much. Er, American Football," Avis said without looking up from her menu. Really she wasn't a fan of any sport. They seemed kind of pointless to her. Well, except soccer. She had a fond love of soccer. She wouldn't play it, though.

"So where did you grow up then? Or what state did you spend the most time in?" She looked up when she asked. She actually cared about the answer, it wasn't the usual ice-breaker crap most people threw around. She hoped it would give her some clue into what made Cut, Cut.