Card Tricks (Open)

[Echtronis]

One of the doors along the wall suddenly opened from the other side, and into the tavern area stepped out one of the newer Shadow Wolves, Elric to those who kept track of them, who seemed to have been adjusting his clothing in the tiniest bit of hurries. When he saw the table full of big names, the young man looked incredibly embarrassed, and did his best to hurry off into the deeper parts of the Den, giving quick, bowing nods to any of the Wolves that made eye contact with him in his egress.

Just after the Shadow Wolf at the door's threshold, Bujari stepped up from the dimly lit darkness of his personal holding he had viciously fought for time and time again in his years in the Den. He had only been wearing just a large loincloth he seemed to be retying around his waist, and he was practically gleaming in a sheen of sweat over his hairless body. The bald giant (or at least, giant when Charon wasn't around) had a smirk on his face, and his dark eyes first looked across the room to the bar at the opposite wall. Bujari gave a nod to Alko with a mocking smooch of his lips.

He felt in a good mood; his healing session with the Shadow Wolf went rather well. The pup had gotten himself some sort of skin sickness from frequenting one of the brothels outside the wealthy district of Arca, and Bujari was more than happy to help explore those memories to purge the infection from him. It had worked, and as an added bonus, the intimacy of the catalyst memories riled both Bujari and Elric in the passion of it all, and thanks to the Spirit Wolf's expertise, ended up in good clean fun, though he was pretty sure Elric had never held desires for laying with anyone other than women. That probably explained his quick exit, Bujari considered, with a twisted grin. "Oah Alko, why you nevah get seek no moah, eh?!" He said with a cruel chuckle.

Alko said nothing, he knew better than to encourage Bujari by answering his question, nor did he want to discuss anything about their one rendezvous they shared years ago; once was certainly enough as far as he was concerned. Bujari was a brute. He did, however, cant his head to direct his attention to the table down the way.

Bujari's eyes followed the gesture to the card game, and a wide grin came to his face. With a final tight pull to snug the loincloth, he sauntered over to the table, taking in the players. He had missed Lilly's exit, though that was probably lucky for her; Bujari loved fresh meat. There was Rufus, looking cool headed like always; Bujari wondered when they'd play one of their knife games again, the man seemed far too relaxed lately, can't let him get soft with all this slow business lately. Vex, the runt... hiding behind illusions, as if people did not do enough of that without magic; Bujari made a special note to drag him out sometime from under his thin magic sheets and show him a thing or two about working with the illusions already here. Zeina... Oh Zeina, that sweet thing would rot his teeth, though it might be worth the taste. She ran a good ship, but Bujari often thought of scenarios that would rock that boat. He would have to spend some time for something clever, however. And finally there was...

Ah... of course.

As he neared the table, the scent of spices, sweat, and sex were unavoidable, but at least the spices weren't so bad this time. The tall, shameless Bujari made as much eye contact with Rufus as the clever Red Wolf would allow, on his way to stand between Zeina and Torak. Before he made any greetings to them, Bujari placed one of his massive hands to get a nice grip on the back of the chair the new Shadow Wolf had sat upon, enough to let the assassin know that his hand was definitely there. Then, crouching on the balls of his feet, He got his face uncomfortably close to Torak's, looking at his hand of cards. He gave a 'tsk', despite the cards he saw, and with a heavy breath spoke softly to him, as to not be too disruptive to the game. "You must be da new Torak, yeh? You be sittin' in mah chair, 'pup'. Ah t'ink ya have ta be standin' fer da rest ah'v yer hand, it'll be good fer ya, yeh?" The face he had for Torak was a toothy grin that looked like it would start leaking venom at any moment.

[Brisinger987]

Torak unfortunately smelt the man before he saw him. Originally, Torak had a mind to pay no attention to it, but, when he felt the heavy hand on his shoulder, Torak calmly looked up. Bujari, the Spirit Wolf. Another superior. Physically it seemed to be true as well.

"Of course Spirit Wolf, if you will it." He got up to let the lump of muscle they called a man sit down. He had to obey in front of Rufus.

[TheHighwayman]

Vex wrinkled his nose. Just great, it had to be him. Torak was clumsy in a lot of ways, but he wasn't nearly as bad as the Spirit Wolf as far as Vex was concerned. Bujari had always given the Omega the creeps, and he'd made it a point to avoid him whenever possible- but now he was even interfering with his card game? The illusionist shot the man a quick glare and looked back to his cards. "How are the recruits? Can't be that great, if they got caught, but what do you think of 'em? And hey, Al'! Can I get a drink over here?"

[zozee9]

Zeina nodded at Rufus's comment about the new girl. She didn't really care whether the girl was a human or a zombie, as long as she did her job. But many of the non human ones had rebellious streaks, thinking they were better than everyone else. The others were depressed, thinking they were worse than everyone else. It didn't hurt to keep tabs on the girl.

She glanced over at Bujari entered the room, but immediately returned her focus on the card game as if he didn't matter to her at all. They were friends, in a way, but Zeina loved acting cold to him—even more so than she did to most people. Plus, she knew that if she acted too nicely he might just pounce on the opportunity. As he got closer, she could smell his wretched scents.

As Bujari started talking to Torak, Zeina kept her uninterested outside appearance but was smirking on the inside. That man made everybody uneasy and he loved picking on the new kids. She wanted to see if Torak would hold out or not. He seemed to stay calm but let Bujari take his seat. Surprising, considering he was known for his lack of respect.

Although Zeina did manage to suppress laughing, she did let a smile escape her lips. "You can deal with the bloodthirsty Zahi but not our spiritual guider, Bujari?" she asked, a slight mocking tone in her voice. She was planning on testing how far that respect would take him before he started getting the attitude everyone said he had. Zeina did know that Zahi wasn't bloodthirsty and she hardly considered Bujari the typical kind of spiritual man, but the titles were necessary for the mocking.

[Echtronis]

'Well that was easy enough' Bujari thought as he took the chair, giving Torak a squinting grin. "T'anks, pup, got me groove in it, ya know?" After a wink to their newest Shadow Wolf, the large man leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and began cleaning his fingernails with a needle that slipped from out of his mouth into his fingers.

When his eyes caught Vex's glare, they paused on his for a moment, with a flash of a smirk to advertise that the message was recieved. His eyes then went back to his preening, though when he spoke in reply to Vex's inquiry about the recruits, it was Rufus he looked at. "Beh, recruits be always sheet when eet's slow business. Wolves will get hungy, but 'em pups jus' get lazeh." Another needle slipped out from between his lips, and he used the second to compare to the first. He looked carefully at the two, and, satisfied at whatever he was looking for, slipped both underneath his tongue. "Take dem dead Shadows. I jus' finished doin' what I could ta put d'er spirits ta rest; dey felt sloppeh when deat' became somet'in expected, ah felt it." Bujari wondered if Torak felt them to be sloppy, too.

He audibly laughed loudly at Zeina's comment, and took a look at Torak's cards he left on the table when he gave up the chair. "I'd cowah ta Omega eef Rufus beat me enough fer not!" He continued his laugh to a hearty chuckle, and shook his heads at Torak's cards. 'Very lucky indeed...'. He then grabbed the hand of cards, and shoved them back to Torak. "Ah onleh wanted da chair, pup, keep playin' wit' yer sups, dun' be rude." Bujari then scooted his chair over closer to Zeina, giving Torak enough room to wedge in. "Maybeh ye can start winnin', yeh? We be missin' dues now, killah." Bujari's voice didn't even sound all that nasty with the snide commentary, but rather with a pointed delivery, as there was a point to, in fact, deliver.  The yoreiq man felt it was his obligation to bring it up, but now that was done with, and it would just be bad luck to dwell on the dead while gambling. "Jul'ameeeee, Who be bettin' all dem gleents!?"

[Aeytrious]

Rufus kept his expression flat. If he could remain separated from Ryk when he was Rufus, he could surely keep a good poker face. The game was looking like it wouldn't be going for long, things were getting a bit messy. Rufus hated a messy game. He'd just fold out, even if he could read the edges of the cards and knew that he could have a full house if he took the draw when it was his turn. Knowing the cards that well, made the game less fun. Vex needed a new deck.

"Give the Shadow a break," Rufus said referring to Torak, "Even if he's the rude child everyone thinks, he's smart enough to know magic doesn't work around me. Without that advantage he'd have to take Boo in a straight up fight." He looked around at the assembled Wolves, "and we all know that only Charon or I could take him straight on. And only because I'd cheat," Rufus gave Boo, as he called Bujari, a wink. "As for the kids. One looked more like a fighter than a street kid, so I'll be tossing her to the bloods. She looks a bit young, but they'll toughen her up. I do want her to spend some time with you though Zeina," He looked straight into the Coyote's eyes, never afraid of that gift of hers. He was always in perfect control of his emotions. Except perhaps when Dylanna was involved. Oh, a little hiccup of angst, and desire there. Why was he thinking of her now. She'd been on his mind a lot lately. Damn that woman and the emotions she caused. He wouldn't admit to loving her. There was no room for that weakness in his life. This conversation with Zeina, and her ability to read emotions gave him a moment in which he explored his, but it was only a moment. Zeina would likely be confused by the swirl of colors, but he continued on none the less. "She sticks out too much. I need you to be hands on in teaching her to blend and go unnoticed. I don't want Eli anywhere near her until you're confident that she can crowd drift with the best of 'em." Still looking at Zeina, Rufus whipped out three daggers like lightning. One he stabbed into the table in front of him, another between the fingers of Bujari's hand, and the third he gently lobbed up for the Animus to catch.

"How about some Five Finger Filet after this game? I've been meaning to teach Vex to be faster with his hands," Rufus looked to the Omega then, "if you can get half as fast as I am with sleight of hand, your illusions will make you a thousand times better than me."

[TheHighwayman]

The Omega listened quietly as the boss described the rookie. Not someone of his style, by the sound of it, but even he had to admit that a bit of extra muscle could come in handy from time to time. Besides, if they weren't useful they wouldn't last long. Nothing he needed to worry about.

Vex nearly jumped out of his seat when Rufus started tossing knives around. "Yikes- don't startle me like that, boss. Normally when people start throwing knives around me, it's at me." He held a hand to his mouth and gave a fake cough while he regained his composure. At the compliment, he smirked. "If you say so. I don't think I'll get much faster than I am, but hey, you're the boss. Can't hurt, anyway."

[Brisinger987]

"Unfortunately it looks like the game fell apart. Feel free to keep my money everyone. I don't need it." Torak put the cards down face up. Five finger fillet was a lot more fun to watch.

"Besides, this is much more fun to watch. I'm useless at getting up to speed in games like this."

[Echtronis]

Bujari, with a composure to match his sledgehammer ego, barely flinched his fingers when the second knife sunk between his fingers, not that he had enough time to react anyway. He always held a respect for the Alpha's quickness in judging accuracy. When it came to his needles, Bujari never missed, and could punch the tiny slivers through remarkable barriers, but it took time, he had to watch, and absorb, and focus his body to deliver the sting. He had played filet with Rufus before, and lost, but he would never pass up the opportunity of the game with him. Especially if the Omega runt had something to learn from it, practice was the key to every thief's successful career, and as the Animus, it was his duty to encourage it.

The third knife was caught easily in the air, and Bujari, like liquid, turned the catch into a driving force to plunge the blade in the space between his fingers next to the other knife. With a pleased grin, he kicked back the chair and stood. He leaned forward over the table, grasping the handles of the knife with a playful, if devious, smile to Rufus, silently accepting his challenge before turning his head to his left to Vex. "All eet takes issa bit o' blood, 'Mega, ahn a practiced will ta shed less ahv eet each time." Bujari creepily hung there for a bit, turning his head to catch Zeina's eyes behind his shoulder to his right, and jokingly playing with her little trick he had gleaned from her, quickly dipped into his stores of memory for every dirty, vulgar, inappropriate act he has taken part of, to bring it to his surface thoughts, to make a quick, rude emotional gesture to the woman through the aura that she sees. "Right?" He rhetorically asked her with a cruel smile before ripping the knifes from the table and moved to go practice his hands on the next table.

[zozee9]

Zeina listened and watched Rufus as he spoke. He was sending her another blood wolf to help teach to blend in to society. Truthfully, she was surprised he didn't do that with Torak. But it wasn't a good time to question him, not in front of all the other wolves. He maintained eye contact with her as he always did—she assumed it was his way of showing that he didn't care if she read into his emotions—but this time his emotions didn't stay stable like they normally did. Instead, his aura briefly changed into a multitude of colors, as if he was feeling many things at once. That wasn't something that happened often... at least not to Rufus. But he continued talking as if nothing was wrong, and his aura returned to normal.

Slightly confused but deciding to think more about it later, Zeina watched the two knives fly towards Bujari and then kept her eyes on him. He was one of the more interesting wolves, and it made him fun to observe. But sometimes she wished she could block out those nasty colors from his aura. So when his aura turned that murky yellow color, Zeina put on a fake smile and said, "Thinking pleasant thoughts, Bujari?"

Her eyes immediately left him, however, when another figure walked into the room. Meisie was heading straight towards Zeina, the only person who she really talked much to other than the kids... though sometimes Meisie would spare a word or two towards Rufus. She made her way to the side of Zeina that Bujari was not on and nodded briefly at Rufus (like Zeina often did herself). Then she turned to Zeina and said, "Elijah is back. I figured you would want to know. He already brought his money to the treasury and should be back in the dorms."

Zeina smiled at Meisie and replied, "There was a girl who just left here. One of the new Scavengers... she has black, choppy hair and is wearing a poofy red skirt. If you wouldn't mind, would you catch up to her and bring her back to the dorms? I'll meet up with her soon enough." Meisie merely nodded at her and hurried out the door.

Zeina turned back towards Rufus and said, "I'm afraid I have to give the girl an introduction to the Scavengers. But perhaps I'll join the game afterwards?" While Zeina might have close to no skill in fighting—especially close combat—her nimble fingers were top notch. In fact, she was probably the only one at the table that could even compete with Rufus at the game.

[Aeytrious]

Rufus looked to Vex. "Well it looks like you made out kid. The game is dead in the water and nobody is claiming the money." Rufus grabbed up the glints and exchange them for the appropriate amount of gold. Fewer coins was always better and he could easily switch out the glints for himself later without incurring a fee that would be charged of Vex, or anyone else, if they wanted the same.

Rufus burned his marker in an oil lamp as he moved from one table to the next. He sat across from Bujari and readied his own blade. "I think I will go first. I'll start out slow to go easy on you Boo." He smirked then, genuinely, a rare sight for anyone to see.