19centconstable | Case #53: Video

Entry tags:

sad walking away song

Case #53: Video

[George is in the infirmary. He looks slightly green around the gills (not that he has gills), but otherwise well.]

That was quite unpleasant. I don't believe I like myself when I am angry.

And I hope I didn't put anyone out too much, particularly you, Captain Angua. And Dick: I do of course trust you completely with any of my bodily fluids.

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Not really.

...Trolls are smaller.

[She shrugs sheepishly and takes a seat, eyeing him over with a concern that she will swear is professional. It's different, over the network and in person... She remembers that from her death toll, too.] Seriously, you're..?

[He glances down at himself. Seriously, he is.]

Oh. Yes. I really do feel fine. Just a bit tired. As if I've just gotten over a chest cold.

You're getting over it better than I did, then. [All right, she might be a bit jealous about that. When she died, it wiped her out for what felt like ages. Bloody Satsuki.] Maybe it's not as bad when it's natural causes, do you think?

[He purses his lips thoughtfully.]

You may have something there, Captain. Also, there wasn't any part of me that needed repair, necessarily.

[Captain -- he's better at this than she is, still with the titles, she thinks. Which is good, really. It's easier to think that way.]

Just a good bout of recovery, Constable. You've earned your R&R with Hoffman, anyway. [She pulls over a rolling medicine stand and starts to lay the cards out, as if proving her point.]

[Part of it is that he's so secretly (or not so) thrilled at the idea of a lady Captain. But it's also possible that he may someday call his wife 'Mrs. Crabtree'.]

I'd certainly hope so. I'm very proud of him for remaining on as a warden.

You should be. Gods know, with Satsuki... [...that it will be a miracle if she even graduates ever, much less wardens.] Well, good job, anyway.

[She puts five cards facedown in front of him, and ten for herself.] All right, take a look at those, throw out up to four. [The cards are numbered like Earth cards, but the suits are completely different: staves, swords, cups, coins, octograms, elephants, terrapins and crowns.]

It does get disheartening sometimes, but you've just got to keep on not giving up.

[George glances down at his cards.]

Throw...out? For what reason?

As in discard, George. For better cards, hopefully. [She tugs the corners of her own ten up enough to glance at them, raises a brow, and sets them back down.]

Have you met her?

Yes, but what's better?

[He shakes his head.]

I don't believe so. What is it that's troubling you?

Higher numbers, generally. Things that add up to 21 are good, picture cards are good, aces are good, and sixes, sevens, and eights are good.

[She waits, drumming her fingers against the little table with a frown.] Nothing, exactly. She's just... moving slowly. A bit glacially, actually. It's hard to know if I'm doing anything.

[He hesitates for a moment, then reaches across the table to place his hand over hers.]

I'm sure that you are. And that she's very lucky to have you.

Oh.

[Later on, she's going to really, truly hate herself for the look that she knows is on her face at this exact moment. And she already hates herself for every second that she doesn't pull her hand away... But she keeps not doing it anyway.]

...Well.

[He leaves his hand there for what he knows is a bit too long, then shoots her a crooked grin and returns to his cards.]

Alright. I will discard three. And now?

[George, that was a power move, and she does not like it. Or the fact that it worked. She squints at him, frowns, then clears her throat and goes back to dealing without another word, handing over three more cards, then laying out five, face-up.]

So as I said, you want things that add up to twenty-one. The five, nine, and seven here, that's good. That's a three-card Onion.

[Angua is not actually a very repressed person -- but boy, can she fake it when need be.]

[Was it? George isn't sure what those are: it had just been nice to hold her hand for a moment. And perhaps dream, just a little bit.]

A three-card...Onion?

[Let her have her cynicism, George. It makes her life easier.]

Because they add up, you see? If it had been an ace and a ten, that would be a two-card Onion, and so forth. Groups of any three numbers are good, as are groups of suits. You know, ten terrapins, say.

[She's moving her hands a great deal, now, keeping them busy on the cards, even though it's not really necessary.]

[Let him have his optimism, Angua. It's adorable.]

So why does one cripple him?

Because that's how you win. I suppose it's a slightly mean-spirited game, at that.

I do sometimes wonder about the things come up with by or for children...

I've seen the sort of things they come up with on their own. [And that could not be said more darkly.] This is Where's My Cow? compared to some of the stuff that goes on in the Shades.

Right, so what have you got? Really, you're supposed to look for yourself and figure it out, but this is the tutorial round, so... just turn them over, I suppose.

[George spreads his cards obediantly to her, and looks at her hopefully.]

All right, so you've got... that three-card Onion and a four-card flush, with the 3-4-6-7 of coins, there.

[She turns over her own cards, showing them to him.] And I've got a Royal -- these three sevens -- and a Double Onion with these two aces and the Jack and the King. So I win this round, George, I'm sorry to say. What are you going to give me? We forgot to bet.

[He grins crookedly.]

Well, what would you like?

[Damn you, Crabtree.]

... I'll think on that.

[And she's just going to deal again quickly la la la.]

Case #53: Video

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