[SE] when rome's in ruins

i'm a lost cause, do it the way I want

Having lost track of time—like his dear old dad Vesper was coming to appreciate the moments he could be truly alone—dusk was already beginning to stretch greedy fingers across the sky as the young demigod peeled himself out of the Miana Pool. Having lingered long enough for his fingers to grow more than a little wrinkled, rather than simply grabbing his towel and drying himself off, instead, Vesper sat on one of the large nearby rocks which was still holding onto a fair amount of heat from that day's sun. 

Reaching into his nearby bag for a deck of cards and a toothpick, the demigod jabbed the latter between his teeth while gently fishing the former out of their box. Content to let the seabreezes dry his hair and body, Vesper began riffling through the cards in order to pull out three of the four queens. Setting the deck aside he shifted on the stone to give himself a flat surface before placing the three in a line and considering them thoughtfully for a moment before picking each card in turn and smoothly alternating their positions upon the stone.

RONIN

THE WHITE KNIGHT

To say that a lot has happened in the past few days is an understatement, one that has Ronin fit to burst with pent-up energy. Not wanting to give it the opportunity to erupt out of him in frustration or anger, the very afternoon they arrive back from Halo (with Sunjata cured and a whole host of new problems guaranteed to rear their ugly heads in time, he bets), the Knight takes himself off onto the beach for a run.

It's been hours since then, granted, but he's determined not to stop until he feels tired, tired enough that returning to the Northaven will herald little more than quiet conversation and gentle touches and sleep. And he's just about there now, he thinks; Vesper will feel his thoughts ripple along the shoreline like skin rubbed raw, Ronin's steps slowing just as he reaches the Miana Pool. Shaking out his hands and knowing better than to stop entirely in case he throws up, the Knight rakes his dark hair out of his face and pants for breath, continuing to approach the pool on feet that scuff the sand beneath them.

Leaning down at last to splash his face with the cool saltwater, only as he glances up does he spot the young man on the rock, offering him a nod of greeting.

now don’t you lose hope

I swear I never dream that we’re alone

I swear I still believe but I don’t know

i'm a lost cause, do it the way I want

The thoughts that tug Vesper's attention away from his cards have the young demigod scowling as he looks up in time to see Ronin's steps slow before the Knight is leaning down beside the Miana Pool. Raising his dark brows, it takes only a cursory sweep of the other man's thoughts to know that his mind is not the sort of place that Vesper likes to find himself, and were it not for the brief flashes of a name well-acquainted with his father rumbling around the Knight's head, Vesper might very well have waved hello to the other man and nothing more.

"Can't imagine salt on your lips tastes great right about now." He comments, sitting up slightly and offering Ronin a lazy smile. "Got some fresh water if you prefer. Might not be the coldest anymore, but it's yours if you want it." So saying he reaches into his bag, offering out a waterskin that Nova had picked up from the market for him. Adorned with glitter and his name in an obnoxious bubble font across the front, the demigod shrugged at it as he held it out for Ronin.

RONIN

THE WHITE KNIGHT

"It doesn't," Ronin admits with a rough laugh, "but it beats nothing." Shaking his wet hair out of his face and straightening up, he raises his eyebrows at the offer, his thoughts turning soft with surprise and gratitude, and he nods readily. "If you don't mind, I'd really appreciate it." Slogging around the pool until he's beside the rock the boy is seated upon, Ronin accepts the waterskin - glitter and bubble font and all - and takes a sip of the fresh water.

"Nice to meet you - Vesper?" He guesses from the name, tipping a small amount of water into his hand to splash his face anew, before capping it and handing it back. "Ronin," he supplies for his own name. "Thanks again. Are you playing a game or doing magic?" A gentle quip, the Knight nods at the cards spread before him.

now don’t you lose hope

I swear I never dream that we’re alone

I swear I still believe but I don’t know

i'm a lost cause, do it the way I want

It occurs to Vesper then just how easy it would be to poison a man like Ronin Taliesin. Was he always so naive when it came to accepting drinks from strangers, or was that just a side effect of his heightened tolerance?

"You introduce yourself just to be polite?" Raising his brows, the youth chuckles under his breath. "Ain't no one in Torchline who doesn't know who you are." He points out before glancing back at the cards on the stone before him. "Who says it can't be both?" Picking up one card and using it to flip the others, Vesper reveals one red queen amidst the two black ones. "It's just something I like to do to keep my hands business." The youth explains with a lazy shrug. Had he known it'd be Ronin who happened upon him he might have swapped to kings, alas..

"It's an easy enough game. I just do this..." Flipping the cards back over with the red queen clearly in the center, Vesper begins to slowly alternate their positions until the queen has made her way to the right side. "Now, if I were to ask you where she'd gone, you'd say..."

RONIN

THE WHITE KNIGHT

Funnily enough, no one has ever offered Ronin a drink from a (glittery, personalised) waterskin and then promptly poisoned him, so perhaps he is naive in that respect. Already feeling miles better for the fresh water on his face, he scoffs at the boy's dry remark. "It's a knee-jerk reaction to introduce yourself to a stranger," he says sheepishly. "One I never grew out of, apparently." And nor does he plan to, preferring to be this rather than a don't you know who I am!? type of man.

Watching the dexterity with which Vesper flips the cards and arranges them has Ronin rapt with attention, the Knight slipping his hands into his pockets and allowing the boy to walk him visually along the path the red queen takes. He has a feeling he knows where this is going - he lives in Torchline, after all - but dutifully, as he's asked, he gestures to the card on the far right. "Here, of course," he says, smirking.

now don’t you lose hope

I swear I never dream that we’re alone

I swear I still believe but I don’t know

i'm a lost cause, do it the way I want

"Well if anyone could figure out a polite way of sayin' I'd introduce myself but you already know who I am, I bet'd be you." Ronin's charm was probably even more well-known than his name, which in turn probably just automatically softened the edges of anything he was to say, should it come out somewhat rude.

There was a lot Vesper could learn from a man like that.

Grinning, Vesper flips the card over with a flick of his wrist revealing the red queen. "Exactly." Flipping her back over, the demigod continues the game, his hands moving a shade faster as if to make it all seem more difficult when in fact any idiot would be able to track where the queen was. Of course Ronin wasn't any idiot, but nor was Vesper a charlatan looking to make a quick dollar.

"Now where is she?"

With many more queens hidden in his pocket, when Ronin was watching the movement of Vesper's hands, the demigod had reached for his shadows, tugging one such queen free and sliding her along the sand. Only when it was out of Ronin's eye line did Vesper allow his shadows to lift, tucking her into the Knight's back pocket the second he went to move to point out her location.

RONIN

THE WHITE KNIGHT

"Well, usually I just introduce myself back and that's the end of it." Smiling lopsidedly, as if to say until you, Ronin is nonetheless drawn in by the card game and the more-than-overdue break from running. Standing closer as Vesper reveals the queen, he tilts his head and dutifully watches the young man's hands work the cards with quick, fluid movements. If he notices the shadows (he doesn't) or the queen suddenly in his back pocket (again, doesn't), there's nothing on his face or in his thoughts to suggest it.

"I would have to guess that she is here," he says, reaching out to gesture with a hand to where he thinks Vesper has chased the queen. "Though it's getting dark, so I might be mistaken." He's got a feeling he is, somehow, though at least he can combat the darkness. A few thoughts about the past few days is all it takes, in fact, to have a warm glow suffusing his skin, casting a light over the game.

now don’t you lose hope

I swear I never dream that we’re alone

I swear I still believe but I don’t know

i'm a lost cause, do it the way I want

"And you'd be correct." So saying, Vesper flips the card over. He could have palmed her just before the reveal such that Ronin's skepticism was justified, but already the demigod was learning that deception worked much better on the heels of surprise. "This is where you get all confident and we go double or nothin'. But this here's just for fun. Even so, humour me?" Bouncing his eyebrows, this time as Vesper turns the queen over, he moves her only once. That his long fingers easily palm her is no great surprise, but it's a bold move given that there is sure to be trickery afoot if she isn't exactly where she seems to be.

Even so, Vesper smiles sunnily up at Ronin. "Last time. Where is she?"

RONIN

THE WHITE KNIGHT

Inclining his head with satisfaction as the queen is revealed, Ronin can't help but laugh at Vesper's remarks. "Alright, alright," he says, clearing his throat and declaring, "double or nothing," as he gestures at the cards and tilts his head to see the queen only 'moved' once. Now obviously the Knight has been around the block a few times, and before he was in Caido, he'd been a cad in his own right in the taverns of Northwind and Northaven.

"If I were a more suspicious individual I'd be tempted to say she's in your hand," he says on the basis of all of this, amusement written plain across his face. "But I'm not, as it happens. So I think she's there." He taps the position the queen has apparently moved to, the picture of trusting innocence.

now don’t you lose hope

I swear I never dream that we’re alone

I swear I still believe but I don’t know

i'm a lost cause, do it the way I want

"What a good man you are." The demigod drawls, looking lazily smug as Ronin chooses to play along. Standing, Vesper places his hands on the small of his back (depositing the queen in his palm into his back pocket of course), before leaning back and releasing a satisfying crK.

"You asked before it was a game or magic? Well.." Grinning, Vesper mimes rolling up the sleeves he isn't wearing, before waggling his fingers which gasp are free of cards. "You've seen the game. Now's the time for the magic. I'm gonna disappear, and you're gonna find that lovely old queen in your back pocket. Y'ready?"

Bouncing his eyebrows, Vesper fans his fingers in front of his face and then disappears.

Or, well teleports 15ft away, but doing so behind a rather large bush has basically the same effect. And yes, if Ronin checks his back pocket, indeed the queen will be there.

Boom. Roasted.

~FIN