[Flashback] A Die in the hand's worth two on the table (Bob)

[Tessa Poe]

Timestamp - 6th Winter 510 AV Early Evening

Location - The Spinning Coin

Tessa was settled comfortably at one of the many tables that were scattered throughout the old converted warehouse, happily a gold miza up and it was her turn to bid again. One of the house's leather dice cups was held loosely in her grip as she leant back in her chair before tilting the cup forwards to glance at the dice beneath it, just to be sure she remembered them. The dice still showed a pair of threes, a pair of fours and a six. Not exactly ideal given the bidding was up to six fives now. Nor was having to check them either, it might give the impression she was worried. If they called her now... but that was half the fun wasn't it?

"Come on luv, we've not all day." One of the men at the table with her half grunted, and Tessa simply smiled over at him. He looked nervous, and more than a little down on his luck, unshaven as he was with clothes that didn't quite fit. She'd been tempted to call his last bid, but she couldn't be sure just yet. Especially when there were five silver riding on each round. It was a higher stakes game than she was used to, mostly she played for coppers and the joy of the game, but her purse was comfortably heavy after her last job and she'd wanted to have a little fun, and what better way to do it than this?

She held his gaze for a moment, grinning ever so slightly as she made him wait a touch longer just to annoy him before saying "nine fives," and nodding to the next one round the table, the one she'd not quite managed to get a read on just yet. He'd not lost so far, and his eyes didn't seem to give away a thing either. He looked like a merc maybe, his clothes were certainly better than most in here and he had the muscle tone of someone who was used to scrap. The two rounds he'd been challenged on had revealed the dice he'd claimed were on the table, though that last one had been more luck than anything else. Well maybe it was luck, or just a decent gamble. Regardless he was the one Tessa was worried about. He flicked a glance at her and she found her smile easily sitting on her lips still, it always did whenever she had a dice cup in her hand, there was something comforting about it all really, though she had no idea why. No matter where she was or who she was with it felt like a weight just vanished off her when she played. Maybe it was just the fact that it was all so simple, you had the odds, you had the dice and after that it was down to being careful with when you took a risk. There wasn't any need for much conversation, and you didn't have to worry about what the others at the table thought of you. You were just another miza dispenser to them, nothing more.

Apparently her smile was enough to cause him to hesitate in calling her out as he drawled his bid, "Two sixes," so he was probably in a similar situation to her, and Tessa's attention switched to the man sitting opposite her. This one was a wreck, he'd be best off going home soon. He'd been called out four times so far and each time he'd been unlucky, and made two of his own calls wrong. It wasn't a cheap game to be in and it looked like he was determined to win some of his losses back. Even Tessa knew that was a bad idea, sometimes you had to just take the hit and walk away. "Thr-three sixes," he stumbled over his words, jowled cheeks quivering. It wasn't that risky a bid though, not with twenty five dice on the table. Honestly some people just had no stomach for the game.

The last player in the game sighed and leant forwards, showing off the low neckline of her dress, again, and automatically drawing the eyes of everyone else round the table aside from Tessa and the possible merc. It almost didn't matter what she said, it wasn't like half the table was listening, entranced as they were by her cleavage. "five sixes," her voice was practically a purr as she leant back and stretched her arms over her head, all smiles and fluttering eyelashes and Tessa had to struggle not to laugh at her. Guess we all use what we've got, right? she mentally shrugged as she went back to carefully watching the grunter as he checked under his cup. Seemed the round would end soon, and that's when it was the most fun.

[Bob Barton]

Ahhhhh the Spinning Soin. One of Bob's favourite spots. All the gambling, the money flying around, the adrenaline from winning and the sorrow from losing. Did I mention it was one of Bob's favourite spots in Syliras? Of course on his trip from Ravok he would stop by. Where else can he get his seasonal dose of excitement besides from trying to find some trouble on the road?

There was one group in particular which caught Bob's eye. Of all the games going on in the warehouse, this particular one was playing dice. The expressions on the player's faces were intense, or resigned to their loss. There would be quite a number of good players there once the worthless ones got kicked out. Then Bob would show himself and make his appearance. After all if they haven't heard of a Barton yet they should have the privilege to now. And look at the mizas riding on the game? Bob could see the gold coin glinting on one of the woman's hand like some sort of pretty jewellery. Not too much, and not too little either. A safe game it seems to Bob anyway.

So Bob stayed in the shadows for a while watching the group. Studying everything about them he could. How their face looked, how their body moved and what they said when they are lying...or not. After a while he identified those more, interesting ones. The women at the table especially, his eyes went all over them. No, it was not because they were attractive in their own way. Ok part of the reason might be just that but what got Bob's attention more is how calm and collected they seemed to be playing while the rest of the group looked like they might have a nervous breakdown sooner or later except for the other calm looking man. Those are the more dangerous ones he normally looked out for... Bob isn't interested in men to begin with so that one gets less.

After all those long rounds of studying and waiting for one of the players to leave Bob would take his seat at the table, taking out the mizas for the required bet. "Gentlemen..." placed the mizas on the table with a little "Clink!" to get their attention. "Ladies..." and nodded at each and every one of the women on the table with a little grin on his face. "I hope you don't mind..." taking up his cup and dice to get started.

[Tessa Poe]

The grunter made his bid of six sixes and Tessa knew he was lying through his teeth, he didn't have a single one in front of him she was sure of it. He’d slightly pursed his lips before making his bid, he was nervous, he wasn’t sure he’d get away with this and she couldn’t make a higher bid herself without risking being called, so she made the call. The merc had had the same idea it seemed as he joined her and the cups were flipped. Sure enough the grunter didn't have a six showing, and there were only four on the table including Tessa's. Since Tessa was next in the play order she reached over and claimed her winnings, stacking the silver next to her as the merc gave her a nod and the grunter grumbled and cursed under his breath.

Well that’s three games I can afford to lose now.

The nervous one opposite her with the jowely cheeks finally stood up from the table and walked off without saying a word, seemed he'd realised today wasn't his day. She had to admit she was kind of glad to see him go, seeing someone beggar themselves always made the game a little less fun. She threw her winnings back into the pot to start the next round, and that's when a really quite short man took the chair opposite her, his leering greeting doing nothing to impress her. He did seem to be missing a couple of fingers as far as she could tell, how’d that happened? Best not to ask, it might make him start talking some more and she’d really rather avoid that. The strumpet though smiled prettily and leant forwards to give him a generous eyeful, ”Why of course we don’t mind handsome, more the merrier right?” Tessa just managed to resist snorting in derision, seems the strumpet had her game plan and was going to be sticking to it.
“It’s a free table.” Tessa replied, keeping her voice carefully neutral. She still didn’t want to encourage this one to talk any more than he had done already as another man joined the table with a lopsided grin. She could smell the spirits on him from where she sat.
“Thash good then, I don’t wanna pay to play, iff you knows what I mean.” He laughed at little too loudly and staggered a bit as he pulled his chair out before fumbling for his dice cup. Gods alone knew how on earth he was still standing before he half collapsed into his chair. Tessa sighed and rolled her eyes a little, giving her own cup a vigorous shake, as ever loving the sound of the dice bouncing around and off of each other before dropping it to the table and glancing under it. A pair of twos, a four, a five and a one, not the best of starts. Everyone else followed suit. As the winner of the last round it was her turn to start the bidding.
“Seven twos,” She made her bid, deciding to start high this time, give the leering newcomer something to think about and the drunk too hopefully. If the game went too fast they might think better of it and leave the table, though that would rely on the drunk being able to think at all. The merc looked at her for a moment or two, trying to work out her game before bidding three threes and the drunk followed suit by going with four threes leaving play in the little one’s hands. Tessa watched him carefully over the table, first bids could tell you a lot about a person after all.

[Bob Barton]

Bob moved his arse a little getting comfortable on his chair. Fingering one of his dice as he waited for his acceptance into the group, he released some res from the finger and thumb which crawled onto the die. Once the colourless liquid reaches it, he will choose for it to settle on the best number...1 whenever he should.

The strumpet seemed like a little cat which was happy with a new toy. Eyeing and luring him in like the little minx she was. But of course the one which was indifferent to Bob just made herself more attractive to him. He loved working for his prize whether it be gambling or women. To the minx he smiled "Of course beautiful, I'll make you as merry as you like" and to the woman opposite him "No, its costing me five silvers but worth it just to watch you" making the smile bigger. When the disgusting drunk got in and said his piece, Bob made a very obvious motion of leaning on to the side away from him. "No, I don't think I do." Bob said cheekily hoping to rouse him a little. A gambling drunk is just going to be a pain to read but an angry gambler is just going to be easy.

Now with the res on that die he put it in with the rest on the table and started rolling. 'Clink! Clank!" the dice went at the hit against the cup until its time to put it on the table. Covering over the bottom of the cup with his arm Bob slightly lifted it to peer at his dice seeing some very good numbers(18:29:23) ChatBot: Bob_Barton rolls 5d6 and gets 5,4,1,1,1.. But not wanting to let the cat out of the bag he kept looking at everyone while they called their numbers. However when it reached his, he purposely looked downwards away as though he cannot bring himself to look at them and said "Five fours?" in a way which was more a question than statement.

[Tessa Poe]

Tessa had come to the conclusion, after all of a chime or so near him, that she didn't like the short one who'd joined the game. He seemed to be trying impress everyone else around the table, going along with the strumpet, who seemed particularly pleased by that, joining in with the drunk's apparent joke that she didn't get while making it clear through his posture that he didn't approve of the reek of spirits. She couldn't quite put her finger on where this dislike came from though, he was trying to join in, trying to be nice to everyone, where was the problem in that? She was probably just overreacting or something. He was a strange one though, as far as the game went, pushing the bid higher than she'd been expecting on the first round but sounding worried about doing so. What did that mean? More importantly what had he meant before?

He's what? Paying to watch me? What am I, the entertainment? Who does he think he is?

Tessa's face fell slack as she looked blankly at a point somewhere over his shoulder, trying to work out exactly what he'd meant by 'paying to watch you'. She could vaguely hear the drunk guffawing as he made his point entirely clear to his fellow newcomer, and despite herself Tessa found herself flushing as he went into more graphic detail, complete with a clumsy mime to which the strumpet seemed to playing up to. It seemed her nice quiet table was getting a little too loud.

"Hey luv, we're waiting on you again." the grunter broke into her thoughts and Tessa looked over and blinked at him, trying to remember if she'd heard the last bid or not.
"Oh, oh so...sorry, what are we on?"
"Eight fours, come on, some of us have gotta get home soon."
Tessa checked under her cup quickly, finding the same pips as before and really not sure what to do.
"Ermm... three fives?" There was a note of hesitancy in her voice, the calm poise that she'd seemed to possess before was shaking as she looked back over at the little one again. He'd pushed the bidding high, and quickly too, either he'd a decent set of dice in front of him or... Gods knew what. She'd just have to do her best to ignore him and get on with the game, that's all there was for it really. She glanced back over at the merc, trying to keep her head on straight as he made his bid of four fives, the drunk managing to slur something that might have five fives, leaving play back with the little one again.

Wonder what he'll do this time?

[Bob Barton]

Bob pretended to breathe out in relief when his bid passed putting on a little smile on his face as it went on to the next player. The woman opposite him seemed out of it the whole time as though her mind was on something else other than the game. "Dangerous..." he thought to himself. Not about her but that it is dangerous to play in that state of mind. Of course he would put more thought on her but the drunk, that insufferable man was telling him all sorts of things. Bob wanted him out of the game as soon as possible. He had better things to do than entertain a drunk but he will play along for now. Bob just smiled and nodded at the man as he had his stupid little drunken show of what he will be doing tonight.

He will lay off the woman first and take out the drunk. After all any self respecting man would take his sweet time with the ladies to make the most of it. After the woman said her bid he said his "Three fives? Uhhhhh how about three sixes then?" Bob said like it was his first time playing and he was also at a loss. Showing that his attention is only being on the woman opposite of him. He is not going to let that one get away in the end.

Then he looked at the drunk, masking his stare of disdain with a little playfulness. "Which se-ix is not what you are getting in the game or tonight" and ended that with a haughty chuckle, the sound of his voice carried a little djed which will rise up the anger in the man as soon as he heard it. And after, while he was staring into the drunk's eyes, he send a suggestion through his djed. Both djed worked hard, working and waddling through the mess that the drunk called a mind until it was able to deliver the message to his brain. The midget is being an uppity liar at his expense to look good in front of the women. Hopefully the combination of anger, drunkenness and playacting Bob had done will make the drunk rash enough to act on the suggestion. Whether the way he wanted to or not is up to chance, another gamble in the game which Bob hopes would work in his favour.

[Tessa Poe]

Tessa watched as the little one made his bid, and then turned his attention to the drunk. Her cheeks were still a little flushed from the drunk's antics, the fact that even more attention was being called to them really wasn't helping with that. The drunk though just sat there for a moment, looking puzzled for a moment, as if trying to work out what the little one had meant, and then it seemed to click.
"Yous thhhink I can't get a ssex? Sssix, Ah've already got two unner here, and there's plenty of girlss who wanna come home with me! Girlss wanna come wiff me alla time!" The drunk's voice was getting louder as he went along, his eyes growing wider, as Tessa slowly shuffled her chair back from the table, wanting some distance from the pair of them since it seemed the little one had struck a nerve.
"Maybe you've had too much? Call it a night or something?" She found herself calling to drunk across the table, hoping that he'd calm down and just leave it, but he didn't seem to hear her.
"Yous fink you're sssoo funny, dontcha? Wiff your funny little jokes. Well I don't fink you're funny, you're too small to be funny, or gets some ssex of your own, and now, now I'm gonna show you what I fink's funny!"

The drunk finished his little slurred ramble by lurching forwards, trying to throw the half empty ale in his hand at the little one with a snarl of anger, his other arm drawing back with a tight clenched fist at the end of it, and Tessa knew she had to do something. The others were just sitting there, watching it play out, and the owner, she couldn't remember his name, would probably sort it out but not until after the little one had taken a beating, and while she might not like him particularly she wasn't about to sit back and watch that happen. Besides this was all getting in the way of her game, and she'd been doing so well too!

She found herself on her feet, her chair thudding to the ground behind her as she moved quickly round the table, hands reaching out to grab hold of the arm of the drunk's shirt before he could throw his punch, leaning her weight back and gripping it tightly to stop it from happening at all. Still with the force he tried to put behind the blow he dragged her a step forwards before she could dig her heels in. Why the hell was she doing this again? And why did her nice game of dice have to turn into this mess? It wasn't fair!
"Would you stop it!?" The exasperation and irritation clear in her voice as she kept pulling, the drunk turning to face her with a snarl on his face... and Tessa realised this might not have been the best of ideas, at all.

[Bob Barton]

Alright so things worked out...in the beginning. Apparently the drunk had a hard time going through the mess in his mind too, taking some time to process Bob little insult. Bob let out a little chuckle at the drunk at both his statements. First for the one where he let out the fact that he already had two sixes which Bob will definitely be using for the game and two, where he tried to assert that plenty of girls want to go home with him. To the second, Bob chuckled again as he said "Is that before or after they get as drunk as you?" trying to push the man more.

Then the drunk man started going forward to Bob and Bob thinks he went maybe a wee bit too far. Bob narrowly dodged the ale which was thrown at him, leaning over to the side of the table but because he had put too much distance, both Bob and the chair fell to the ground "BANG!" Bob staggered to stand up and still putting on a brave face. With his mind a little scrambled he found himself rubbing on it and blurting out "I always found falling down to have a comedic effect on people. Of course I am funny."

The woman opposite him was far. From that far a distance she was able to move all the way to his side and grab on to the drunk. Yes, Bob had that effect on the ladies. Everyone knows women loves cute things like puppies, kittens and midgets like Bob. Bob started to smile mockingly at the man as soon as the woman tried to stop the drunk as though he was already proving a point.

Butttttt, hell. The drunk's attention was no longer on Bob and it will be the woman who tried to save him from his wrath. With a little sigh of the knowledge that the woman was getting into trouble just for him and that he does not like people taking shit meant for him Bob reached out for the cane beside him. Lifting it upwards to the side with both hands Bob aimed for the back of the drunk's knee. A pretty small target, and moving too but Bob has found himself is harder situations before and got past those too. Bob sent the tip of the cane rushing right at the drunk's knee and without waiting switched the position of his hands after so that he would be holding it like a bat or a stick. Using the force already there he sent the cane across to the other side of him. With whatever which was left in him for this physical attack, Bob swept the cane across again. This time aiming the body of the cane at the drunk's head to hopefully let him call it a night like the woman suggested..

[Tessa Poe]

There were shouts coming from behind her, someone calling to clear the way and by the sounds of it bodily shifting those who didn't listen out of the way. But that wasn't what was occupying Tessa's attention particularly, no it was the drunk, and his other big meaty hand swinging round towards her head. She let go, trying to back away to avoid it, but she wasn't quite fast enough. The back of his hand came whistling around and caught her hard across her face, sending her reeling off to one side with a yell of pain as she tripped over her own and collapsed to the floor, landing in a somewhat ungainly heap. She found herself with her hand automatically pressed against her cheek as she tried to turn, to see if he was coming after her and get ready to do something about it. She tried to untangle herself, cursing the fact that her daggers were still in her coat, and that was still on the back of her chair, well out of reach now.

As her eyes came up she was expecting to see the drunk coming for her, her body tensed and ready for the blows she expected to come... but instead what she saw was the little one coming off the floor that he must've fallen to when she wasn't looking. He whipped out a cane and struck the drunk cleanly in the back of the knee as he rose from his seat, before bringing a second blow rattling against the back of the drunk's head as he half collapsed. Bow of the blows came with a sharp crack, and the second brought him crashing down facedown on the floor with a loud thud. It was at that moment that Gene arrived. Now she remembered his name, and he looked... angry. Her head was still ringing as she looked at him, his almost dead eyes looking straight through her as they flicked over the scene. He reached down to grab hold of the drunk by the scruff of his neck and dragged him off with a nod to the little one, and from him that was about as much as you were ever likely to get. Tessa really didn't want to think of what lay in store for the big drunk, even if he had slapped her across the face.

Tessa carefully put a hand beneath her to help herself to her feet, not entirely sure how steady she'd be on them with the stinging heat of the slap still lingering as it was. She looked over at the little one, anger mixing with gratitude on her face and perfectly reflecting just how she felt about him at the moment. If he hadn't needled the drunk he would've gotten bored with the game and wandered off, but no, he had to be clever and show off, and now... wait, was one of her teeth loose? She probed it gently with her tongue, wincing a little with the pain in her cheek, before she satisfied herself that it was still in place. "I suppose I should thank you for keeping him off me... so... thank you, for stopping him..." Her voice was still shaky as she made her way slowly back to the table and her chair, saying quietly for the little one’s ears alone “My name’s Tessa by the way,” and then louder for the rest of them playing “shall we keep playing? Now… that that’s out of the way.” She forced a smile onto her face, feeling it pull at her still sore cheek as she bit down on her tongue, trying to stay focused on not just standing there and shaking, though she couldn't stop the shudder that ran through her. If it hadn't have been for the little one she'd... have an awful lot worse than a sore face. The rest nodded with varying levels of shock on their faces fading as they settled back into their seats. The strumpet was gushing at the little one, something about how brave he was, while the grunter made his bid of four sixes, leaving the bidding with Tessa once again. “Five sixes, and let’s have his stake in the pot for this round shall we?” She didn’t feel the need to tell them which he she meant, it really should have been obvious. There were various nods round the table as Tessa reached down to right her chair, checking her coat briefly before relaxing back, eyes flicking to the merc as he made his bid of seven sixes. Someone’s had a good roll then… did he let me off the call because... well because of what happened? At least something good came out of it then I guess.

[Bob Barton]

Bob saw that his blows was effective but was a little bit disappointed that the drunk did not play a little more before he blew up. On the bright side he would not have to put up with his uncouth stories and alcoholic odor either. Bob made way for Gene and nodded in acknowledgement. When they carted the drunk away he made his way over to the woman on the floor to help her up. Only to find that when he extended his hand she already did it herself. Bob looked away sheepishly in guilt when Tessa thanked him, knowing that he should be thanking her. As she walked off to her seat, Bob said "I should be thanking you instead Tessa, I'm Bob." and went back to his own seat.

Eventhough he was in the middle of a game Bob was enjoying the attention and praise the strumpet was giving him about his "bravery". Well he has already hooked Tessa so why not the seductress as well. He can just reel them in later once he has had enough. Bob leaned over to the strumpet and whispered to her softly "You know what women like to say about brave men..." and winked at her. Leaving the statement open to her own interpretation, whatever she may want it to be.

The more money in the pot was better and he turned his attention back to the game, nodding in agreement along with the others. Bob peered into his cup again. At most he had three sixes. That along with the drunk was five on the table. And the bid would now have to be eight sixes for Bob. Assuming that the other three players had a six each then Bob would be safe. But what would be the odds of that? Even so its gambling and if you don't take a risk every now and then there would be no point. Now that there is no longer a point to have a ruse any longer, Bob just put the cup back down and looked around to each of the other players on the table. "...nine sixes."