Chicken Of the Sea... [Flashback](Bob)

[Mortemor Thane II]

Mortemor stopped in mid stride, the little man's offer was very tempting. Although she was fully prepared to undertake this little adventure by herself. Bob had offered a game of chance which yielded interesting prizes for either party.

"Alright then..." The rosy cheeked devil glanced at him sidelong. With an aloof air she wandered over to an empty chair that still had yet to be tossed or broken, and settled into it "... you name the game." The pint sized mistress folded her arms over her chest and narrowed her eyes at Bob; staring at him pointedly as though they were about to duel. Regardless of the outcomes, Mortemor would have a partner in crime by the end of the night; she worried little about what was to be his prize if he won. She was a child, so who actually expected her to hold up her end of the bargain. She could just act like the spoiled rotten child her mother was turning her into and just.... skip out later.

OOCDon't worry, she may skip out at first! but she'll come back with something I think will help Bob out in the future ^.^ l

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[Bob Barton]

Those were the words that Bob was looking for and the game was his choice. He will start with something simple then since he did not want to waste so much time explaining to this girl what to do. She did not seem patient at all especially seeing what she did to her father. Bob would have liked to have dice of his own, it will make it a lot easier to...put the game in his favor. But the sailor's dice would have to do and a little bit of his own ingenuity.

"Its very simple princess" Bob said as he held out the dice in front of her. "Just say if the dice turns out odd or even" an equal chance for both and all about luck, except it was not "when I roll it we will know" throwing it on the table to show her an example. Yes Mortemor, its a very simple game even you could understand and its determined by a "best two out of three as I said earlier." Once Bob gets his two wins, he will get "something nice for my prize" as they have agreed and on the unlikely chance that she won, "I'll help you if you win" Well, Bob could not do anything to a little girl if she did skip out on him but "those bullies might come back for you and I won't be able to protect you next time if you can't protect your own promise right?" Just a little something to pressure her into fulfilling her end of the bargain. The best part was that she had nothing on Bob to do the same.

They started out with an even chance. Always even, which was why that was the only thing Bob would be calling throughout this game. No point in Bob pulling every trick he had on a little girl from the start but he did set the base for it first. Holding on to the die firmly, Bob took his time in choosing a cup to make a grab at which was "the one you can't see through. You'll know why soon..." The res had an easy time coming out and getting itself all over the die which was pressing on to his skin. As much as possible until he had to throw the die into the cup. Then with all he had he kept thinking of how the res would stick to it while he shook it around. When he revealed it, Mortemor would see a three. Her win...first...

If she did notice the glimmering liquid on the dice, Bob would just say "you know those sailors. Get them a little bit drunk and everything gets wet." Bob himself did not know what he meant but he hoped that Mortemor would not care much enough to question it. For the second time, Bob did the same. While most of his res came out already from all that shaking about, a lot of them were able to stick on like he wanted. All the same he added to it after squeezing it in his hands. "You know what I am going to call, what about you?" The evenly spread out res did not interfere with the die, thank Ovek because it came out with a four. "Didn't I tell you princess?"

Now it was time for Bob to win this and he knew what he wanted. An even and why not the most greatest one. There was enough res on the die for Bob to do what he wanted. Shaking his finger tauntingly, Bob told Mortemor "I'll give you a chance. Mine will be even, and it will be a six." what it meant for her after Bob counted it right was that the "games results would be three chances for you to win, two chances for it to be a draw and one chance for me to win." Sounded good. The odds were in her favor since it was a "five out of six chance for you to get what you want" and a three out of six chance for Bob to get something. What did she think? "A draw won't get us anything?"

"Here goes..." he said as he prepared to put in the die. Before he did he started changing the form of the res on all faces except the six which was changed from liquid to a heavy solid into air and fly away. Magically loaded dice, a trick only those crazy enough to think of and get an initiation in reimancy would do. Then he gave it one last roll to reveal a six. "What did I tell you princess? It looks like I win!" and with that one victory it was time for Bob to destroy the evidence. In his excitement, the res, part of him picked up on it and transmuted into water leaving a little trail on the table. Something Bob would admit as "sweat. The game really had me worked up for a moment there."

[Mortemor Thane II]

Princess… Mortemor thought being called princess would be more enjoyable, but for some reason each time Bob said it; it just sounded like an insult. The tiny girl listened intently to her companion’s conditions and how the game would be played, and watched his little demonstration.


“Sounds fair…” Mortemor managed to steel her expression. She could already tell the little man was underestimating her abilities. Unfortunately for him, he had no idea he was sitting in the presence of the spawn of a master thief; who, himself, was napping in a chair no more than a few feet away. Bob was right about one thing. Looks were very… very deceiving. The youngest Thane had keen inartan eyes, a whiplash wit and the upbringing of an expert rogue. On top of that the girl had lived all of her life in the Zeltivan ports, where games were never known to be fair. So she was already expecting the short rogue to try something that wasn’t exactly rule abiding. Even if Bob was going to play fair, Mortemor would scrutinize every single motion the little trickster made. She would just have to watch closely and see how good this green-horned ‘gambler’ actually was.


Bob held the die in hand, so that Mortemor was able to see it. Of course she did notice the way he held it so intently. ’Is he trying to place it into the cup in a certain way?’ Morty swayed only slightly as she tried to get a better look when the young man snatched up an opaque cup and placed the dice inside. She hadn’t seen anything strange going into the cup with the die, but just because she couldn’t see anything, it didn’t mean she couldn’t hear it. As Barton shook his cup, Morte concentrated on the object in the short man’s hands; drowning out all the surrounding noise like her father had shown her during her lock and tumblers training, which also took a lot of concentration. Right away, Morte noted how the clack of the die against the cup was slightly muffled, as if the inside of the cup or the die itself was damp or sticky. Her malachite eyes narrowed at him; he was definitely up to something.


‘hah…! do you think your stubby little hands are faster than my father’s?? He must have rubbed something on the die… but how would that help?’ She wondered exactly how Bob intended to pull off his trick. When he revealed it to her, the number came up a 3. A turn in her favor, to raise her hopes up falsely of course. Morte was all too aware of how cons worked; making the victim think they have a fighting chance, before you rip the victory right from under their feet.


As she had suspect, bright emerald eyes caught the faintest shimmer of liquid on the die face. Mortemor stared at Bob with scrutinizing eyes, but the fellow was all too ready with an answer. The “game” went on.


Mortemor watch him repeat the process; tossing the die in and shaking it up. All the time the question gnawed at her mind; ‘--is he really controlling the die? And how with liquid? It must have something to do with making the die sticky…’ The next number came up 4, in his favor of course. The last roll was coming up and Mortemor was about to be bamboozled and she still hadn’t figured out his technique.

This time the little man was bold enough to make a specific call, naming 6 as the next number to appear. Mortemor frowned but bit her lip. If that number did come up, then it would prove that he was cheating. Again, Bob held the die in a strangely intent way, and Morte watched his fingers. She could see them doing nothing out of the ordinary, but she knew something strange was probably going on beneath those finger tips. Into the cup the die went, it was shook, and tossed.


The result… a 6. A peculiar trail of water was left behind the die, and before Morte could touch it, Bob had already swiped it all away.


"You cheating little bovine…" Morty hissed. She couldn’t tell how but she knew he had just pulled the wool over her eyes.

"I don't know how, but there's no way you could have called that last number! You cheated! I'm not giving you one rusty miza..." Mortemor narrowed scornful eyes at Bob; waiting for the next excuse the man probably already had at the tip of his tongue.

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[Bob Barton]

Cheating little bovine? Bob? "That's quite an accusation princess and rude too. Is this an excuse to try and back out of your deal and right after I've helped you so much too" he said trying to appeal to her sense of honor if she had any. Sometimes, people should just have the decency to overlook a little bit of cheating especially after "saving your life from those bullies earlier." If Bob was a cheating little bovine then Mortemor would be a "spoilt little princess" who thinks that she can do anything she wanted to.

And what was she going to do to Bob now? She was only a little girl. Bob did not want it to come to this what with her father nearby and all but what would he do? Stagger around the bar drunk and vomit in a corner somewhere? Haha he was nearly a grown man, and against a little girl. He could strongarm her into giving him what she owed. It was only fair. As fair as it could be after Bob pulled that unfair move. But only he knew the trick to it.

So as for Mortemor, "are you accusing me of something? Do you have any proof? Or you just in a demanding mood because you lost princess?" he said trying to pressure her more. "If you don't have anything solid, just lose graciously and admit you lost" he said. And as always of she talked about the reimancy and the res Bob will stick to his stories. That it was from the dirty sailors or it was because of sweat from the intense game.