Spring 65 507 AV, Sunset Quarters
Beams of yellow light pierced through the window and fell on Gad's face, waking him from his sleep. It was late in the day, he knew, because the window faced westerly. Weird he grumbled in his head as he staggered off of the hey sack that served as a bed. The old man usually gets me up before sunrise, but he has been acting weird lately. Gad was thinking of his father and mentor, Hazikayah. They weren't exactly on friendly terms but they usually ran their scams together and Hazikayah liked to start early in the day, to his son's chagrin. However, on this day he hadn't bothered to wake the boy, and he was nowhere to be found. Gad yawned as he rose shakily to his feet, and stretched the kinks out of his body. Mm musta gone to the market, set up the stall already. Bastard, probably won't share any of the coin either. The young wizard caught a glimpse of something that derailed his train of thought.
There, on Hazikayah's own hay mattress, was a note in the elder wizard's scrawl. Gad picked it up. Though the message was succinct Gad held to the note in his hand for a long while, doing double and triple takes, and scrutinizing it's content with a furrowed brow. It read:
"Leaving. Not coming back to Sunberth. You're ugly. -Father"
Above that there were three black bars where it looked as if his father had inked over his previous messages. Gad held the note up to the light to try and see what his father had tried to mark out but the black ink obscured any indication as to what the previous script was. Gad scoffed under his breath and tossed the note aside "Whatever." He said with feigned indifference to the empty room. He fell to his but, rested his head with his palms on either temple, and let out a long sigh. He'd suspected his father had been up to something, but this turn of events was quite unforeseen. Now Gad had a whole wealth of troubles he'd have to deal with. What's wrong with you? You've been wanting to be free of that geezer for years! He couldn't handle the streets? Fine, good riddance. But you? You need to get to work. Thus steeling his resolve, the young wizard Gad draped his green Benshiran shawl around his shoulders and over his head like a hood, and made his way out into the streets of Sunberth.
Once on the street, Gad stretched again in the afternoon sun. Taking in the rank air of his city. It was late in the day, but he was just begging. The street rat had to eat. The Benshira half breed marched his lanky legs in the direction of the Seaside market, where he and his father would normally set up shop. He arrived with out much fuss or hassle, and after waiting for the midday shopping rush to die down, was able to find a vacancy near the dockside. Gad withdrew his jade die from his jacket pocket and set them on the wooden stall, and began soliciting suckers. "Come one! Come all, to the Gambling Stall! Test your luck in a game of chance, see if Ovek favors you this day! He howled the the meandering passerbys, mostly sailors and merchants. Few looked interested, and the of the few that did many kept walking regardless, or they didn't actually have any coin to bet. "Come on come on! Test your luck!" No one bit. Gad frowned and let out a "Hmph". This scheme usually worked with a plant, a part played by Gad himself, and a con man who was Hazikayah.
Of course, that's how con artists worked. The con was short for "confidence", but without a plant in the crowd to earn that confidence, the trick wasn't nearly so effective. Though, it looked as if Gad's luck was changing as a sweaty rail of a man approached his setup. That's what it looked like at first, but as the man drew nearer, speed walking in a huff, Gad could tell he was going to be unpleasant. "'Hello good sir!" Gad said as pleasantly as he could muster. "Care to try your luck in a game of chance? There's coin in it for ya if you win!" The man's sourly expressed long face contorted in response.
"Noh, I dun wanna play yer damn game street rat. Why dontcha find another place to scam honest folks out of a living." The man said with vitriol.
"Oh, of course." Gad replied slyly, his emerald eyes narrowing in accord. "Just point me to where the honest folk of Sunberth reside and I'll be about my day."
"Har har, very funny boy. I seen yah around here before, you and that strange father of yours. Yer takin up space a real vendor could be usin'. Ye know, to sell a real product?"
"Why, since you asked, I am selling a real product." Gad's response was full of subtle snark. Well...not that subtle. The man, who Gad was guessing kept a stall somewhere in the area, cocked a suspicious brow in response.
"Oh yeah? An what might that be?"
"Confidence. And I throw self esteem in as a bonus. Look, so some people come by here, and test their luck, and find out 'hey, I'm not so lucky'. And yeah, I take their money. But every so often a fine gentleman like yourself, one down on his luck, finds his way to my stall. He's feeling real bad about himself cause his wife left him and his kids are brats, and he's got a long tab at the Pig's Foot, and Brega won't take his credit. And he comes here, and he tosses my dice, and he wins a little coin for his pocket. And now, he's a new man! He feels refreshed, he goes about his day, just ready to tackle anything! To take on the world! So yeah, at the end of the day, I'll quit when I'm ahead, once I've had more losers than winners, cause I gotta eat too ya know? But it's worth it for me, to see that one winner, the look on his face, to know I've got the power change his whole day around." Through out his little speech Gad's tone was sincere and emphatic, like he really believed what he said.
The aggrieved vendor stood there for a moment eyeing the fourteen-year-old con man in silence, and then released his response. "Oh bloody petch boy, your full of shyke aren't yah?"
"Heh, worth a try, no?" Gad tossed the gemstone dice in his hands rhythmically and then set them down. "Okay, fine. I'll leave. On one condition. You beat me in a roll -just one roll- I win I get to stay, you win, you go away."
"Ok-...wait a minute."
"Haha, I kid, I kid. But really though, whaddya say?"
"Fine, but I roll the dice, and I get to call winning shoot."
"Be my guest good sir, set the wining number at whatever you'd like, I'm sure I'll have no trouble getting closer than you."
"Cocky little petch aren't ya?"
"You've no idea." The wizard said coolly as he nodded towards the dice sitting on the table. "Here are the dice, you can even have your roll first. What'll it be?" The man took the dice and bounced them in his hand, knocking and tipping and rolling them around, feeling their weights to make sure they weren't rigged one way or another. Satisfied, he responded.
"Six." Gad nodded in compliance. His right had was resting neatly on his lap, unmoving. Since the moment he suggested they play the game he'd been unhinging his spiritual body from his physical one, and his projected hand was now in place to manipulate the odds of the game. The die were cast, and Gad's incorporeal fingers danced across their faces, settling them on a six and a five with ease. "Shyke!" The vendor cursed as he begrudgingly slide the green cubes over to Gad. "This one's your roll, boy." The man crossed his fingers in hope.
A duping smile couldn't help but bubble to the surface of Gads face as the vendor shook the dice around in his hand before he cast them. The little blocks flew from the man's hand across the wooden surface and tumbled about for a few rotations before Gad's mystical appendage began to alter their course. "Two twos." He said through a wry smirk as the game pieces settled to a stop. "There you have it. Four is closer to six than eleven. I win. Go away." As the man walked away, Gad's joy faded. It was unfounded really. All he'd won was the right to stay in a position where he hadn't gained anything of value at all. All around him, the vendors and proprietors of the Seaside market were turning a profit, and everyone here was just passing his stall by. Come on Gad think, you're a confidence man. Find a way to turn their expectations against them. Find a way to turn a profit. Gad pondered to himself in the afternoon light just how he'd manage to do this. |
by Gad on May 4th, 2013, 11:06 pm 
