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  1. #1
    Viator Mundi

    EXP: 155,108, Level: 17
    Level completed: 18%, EXP required for next Level: 14,892
    Level completed: 18%,
    EXP required for next Level: 14,892


    Shinsou Vaan Osiris's Avatar

    GP
    7,753

    Name
    Shinsou Vaan Osiris
    Age
    34
    Race
    Telgradian
    Gender
    Male
    Location
    Corone

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    I am what I am, and I do what I do [Closed to Camille]

    Rated Drunk. Take that as you want.
    Shinsou Vaan Osiris loved two things in life. He loved his work, despite the dangers and the drama it brought him, and he loved distractions. Distractions made him forget about some of the choices he had made recently. They washed away a little bit of the loneliness, tempered the edge that leadership of the country's most hated revolutionary band had given him. They made him feel more human, when his day to day business dealt mostly in trying to make him less so.

    One of his favourite distractions was cards, when he could find a tavern friendly enough towards him to allow it. His closest friend, a certain electromancer and self-proclaimed connoisseur of whisky and women alike, had taught the Telgradian how to play on their travels. Of course, he had been careful not to teach Shinsou every trick in the book, for self preservation, but the wily Osiris had watched Storm Veritas play long enough to pick up his best habits whilst having the nounce required to avoid his worst ones.

    It was Saturday evening in Whitevale's favourite watering hole, the Silver Wolf inn. Though now mostly pro-Brotherhood, so good was the home crafted ale and so comfortable and clean the board that the tavern tended to lend itself as a rest stop to travellers and traders who journeyed the route between Radasanth and Tylmerande. More importantly, it was one of a handful of taverns who hadn't bought into the guff surrounding the Brotherhood after the siege of Radasanth, presumably because the inn was situated smack bang in the centre of Brotherhood stomping grounds and could do without the trouble. Tonight, it was the venue for a hastily called brag tournament.

    There were five players, including the infamous Shinsou Vaan Osiris, seated around the table. The Telgradian had been following them carefully with those hawkish eyes and predatory instincts, but it was clear that each person had experience in either the game or deception in general. Some of them simply stared down at their hands, consciously giving nothing away, not even a twitch of the fingers or a fluttering of the eyes. Storm Veritas would usually have been seated to the Telgradian’s left, but as the wizard had more carnal matters to attend to upstairs with one of the waitresses, the position was instead filled by a rather charming blonde woman this evening, curiously. She smiled at him before calmly gazing down at the cards in her hand, and as he sipped his honey malt whiskey in the deliberately confident way he always did, Shinsou contemplated his next move.

    His hand, this time, was strong. A straight, but of mixed suite. Unfortunately, his pot was weaker than normal, and the woman to his left had just raised two hundred gold in an instant. The inevitable round of folds followed until the onus was on Shinsou to respond.

    "You've put me in a bit of an awkward position here, my dear," Osiris glanced casually at the mound of silver the curvaceous lady had just pushed to the centre of the table, and then to his own, slightly more anaemic pile. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you a question. Do you have better than a straight?"

    Nonchalantly, the woman, her baby blues set firmly on her cards, folded her arms after taking another sip of her drink from behind her own sizeable portion of the coins. "Who knows? Why don't you take a chance and find out. Maybe you'll get lucky tonight."

    Background chatter mixed with the thumping of footsteps pounding the floor. Those seated around the table exchanged glances behind their discarded cards as a few more patrons gathered to spectate and speculate on what Shinsou would do next. His ever calm expression never wavered for a moment as he decided to he throw in his lot, pushing his silver towards the pile to match her ludicrous raise.

    “Two hundred. I'll take my chances with these.”

    Shinsou tapped his cards, upending them to reveal the straight. It was almost the strongest hand in the game.

    Almost.

    The woman, unfazed, flicked a strand of blonde hair from her face and flashed him a smile as she laid her parting shot to him out in sequence. A royal flush, suited.

    "Looks like your luck's just a little short this time, Mr. Osiris.”

    “Yeah, that seems to be a bit of a theme at the moment.” Shinsou started, folding his cards inside his palm before sliding them towards the grinning woman. "Thanks for the game. Enjoy the winnings - keep them warm for me."

    It was then he got up from the table, folding his somewhat depleted coin sack into his pocket, and unfolded a note between his finger and thumb. It was a treasury bill from the Brotherhood's vault, one that he carried with him to such events in the unlikely situation that he got cleaned out. Though tonight his purse may have been emptied at the table, the man was not short of coin by any stretch and the paper at the very least guaranteed his meals, board and drinks for the weekend, if he needed it.

    Money, however, wasn't the be all and end all of his life. As he leaned on the bar and ordered another honey whisky, Shinsou felt just a little bit of that social isolation creeping back in. He turned to look back at the table he had left, watching as the woman who had beaten him entertained a new player in his place. For the few hours he had been there, it had been home for him. A warm, familiar place that he could be himself in, if only for a short while. Now, even just stood a few feet away, it was like a door had been closed.

    Shinsou sighed, turning back around to the bar, and sat. He didn't want to go back to headquarters today; not to that depressing, militant place, and especially not whilst they were still trying to extract Drexel's carcass from the wall. For now, he was content to sit and drink until he couldn't feel his thumbs anymore.

    Or anything else, for that matter.

  2. #2
    Adventurer

    EXP: 5,465, Level: 3
    Level completed: 12%, EXP required for next Level: 3,535
    Level completed: 12%,
    EXP required for next Level: 3,535


    darkest.desires.'s Avatar

    GP
    1,520

    Name
    Camille Arianna Dark
    Location
    Corone
    Camille had come out from her solitary confinement of a room at the inn to join the card game. Many times she gambled with the last of her coins that allowed her to stay indoors, have food in her belly and spice wine to keep her feeling whimsical. This time the pay off was greater then the consequences, she had beaten the infamous Shinsou Vaan Osiris and the pride in her made her chest swell. She watched as the Telgradian left the table, a frown pulled at the edges of her lips for a moment before the cards were set before her. The tip of her tongue wet her lips as her fingers shuffled the cards, dispensing them out to the card players. The look on her face was calm and pleasant, the first brute tossing a few coins into the center of the table, the others following suit. They all turned to look towards her, most tried to portray nothing but the eyes told their own story.

    "Fifty into the pot off the bat," another card player gawked.

    Her slender eyebrow arched at the wizard that seemed a bit concerned. "Worried about your hand, Alistare?" She grinned, the predator within her could smell the scent of anxiousness.

    His lips formed a tight line as he tossed in a few coins, a look of frustration on his face. "I am folding," the dwarf next to her knocked on the table, the other two echoed in response.

    Could this card game be over so soon? She thought coyly.

    She discarded two and drew from the deck, glancing down at her hand now. The beast within her growled with approval at the hand that she had. Glancing up towards the already frustrated wizard. He mumbled under his breath before discarding himself, grabbing another, his brow drawn together with determination.

    "One hundred gold coins," she said. Shoving more of her coins into the pot.

    The bearded mage all but spontaneously combust with frustration at her spontaneity. His fist slammed down on the table, the coins jumped from the impact. "Bullshit, you are trying to muck your hand!" He spat the words at her with disgust. The chatter around them seeming to die down quickly from the sudden outburst. The elf that sat closest to him placed a calming hand on his shoulders, the wizard grunted shaking it off. "This bitch has been playing us all night!" A few patrons let out a gasp.

    Camille slowly rose from the table, her hands firmly planted on it. She leaned forward, her bright gaze narrowed. "Put your money where your mouth is and flip your cards, I will do the same." Her voice was low and she could feel the feral beast within her scratch the surface.

    Begrudgingly he shoved his coins into the center of the table, Cammy nodded slowly and flipped her cards over at the same moment that the brute did. A grin pulled at her lips as he had a pair and she a straight flush. She picked up one coin and flicked it at the misogynistic man, "keep that coin and remember that someone with a pair of tits beat you."

    Swiping the rest of her lute in a now bulging coin purse she nodded towards the other players. "Gentle men, a pleasure."

    Turning on her heels she moved towards the bar, the weight of many eyes bore down on her as she sat on a stool. A calm look on her face as she crossed her legs over one another before the regular bar keep came over, an amused look on her face. "Indira," Camille greeted her with a kind smile.

    "Cammy, usual?" She nodded towards the spiced wine.

    "Please," she sighed as the bar maiden scurried to retrieve her bottle and a glass.
    Last edited by darkest.desires.; 11-18-2019 at 07:06 PM.
    * Gnarloc & Camille* Winner of Best Althanas Couple.

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