onlyeverdoubted | In the Night Inbox

...How do the odds work out?

[Children's game? Maybe, if you play it wrong. Bodhi Rook knows gambling when he sees it. The fact that he has nothing to bet and no reason to worry about finances isn't enough to dull his card sharp's instincts.]

[Yes, okay, technically it is gambling. But playing for chocolate coins makes it a children's game. The Soldier shrugs, but they recognize interest when they see it, and aren't above capitalizing on that for a little socializing.]

I can show you how to play, if you want.

I mean, it looks like a pretty limited set of outcomes if they're all the same...

[He just likes to know these things going in! All his successes come of math. All his failures come of getting carried away and thinking he's gotten ahead of the numbers.]

[The Soldier smiles a bit.]

I'll show you how to play. You can tell me what you think of the odds.

[They nod at the door, and Bodhi still in it. Out of the way, pal, so they can come in without blinding themselves.]

[Bodhi does what he's told, because that's always his first instinct, and tries not to show any particular hesitation. He's still not over the people you care about thing. His instinct it to pull back and disengage. He's already tried to disappear and sink into the background, and for whatever reason that hasn't worked. He doesn't know what else to do to demonstrate that being friends with him is a stupid idea.]

Sure. I, um...

[There's not really anything to offer. The house looks just the same as it did when he found it. He doesn't cook. All he keeps around is a little bit of very plain, well...]

Want me to put the kettle on?

[The Soldier doubts they'll be here all that long, but eh, having something to do will probably make Bodhi feel better. So:]

Sure. Do you have some of that tea here? Or you can try out the cocoa.

Just a plain black tea, if that's alright? It's boring, but...

[He's definitely a little agitated at having a guest, his prey animal energy shifting from the quiet, guarded cringing of a rabbit to something more birdlike and active.]

[The manic, nervous energy only results in the Soldier moving more slowly and carefully, telegraphing each motion clearly so as not to startle, and finding somewhere to settle to get their head lower than Bodhi's, and their positioning less potentially threatening. At the table, for the dreidel game, or the floor if there is no handy table.]

Whatever you have is fine. I'll stay long enough for a cup and a few games, to show you how.

[The table is a little dusty, which he's embarrassed when he realizes it. Hopefully the low light will make it hard to tell. The evidence of bad housekeeping and disuse gives him something to focus on, and sadly is more helpful than Soldat's attempts to be non-threatening. He has to move the second chair over from its usual spot by the sink.]

Simple enough to explain while the water's boiling?

[The game really did pique his interest, but he doesn't quite know what to do with the thought. His gambling was always at least ostensibly about money, which is pointless here. And the person who would have had fun betting over a silly game with friends feels like a stranger viewed through dirty glass.]

Each side has a symbol, a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Nun which stands for nothing, which means you don't lose or win anything. Gimmel which stands for everything, which means you take everything in the current betting pool. Hey which stands for half, which means you take half of the current betting pool. And shin which stands for putting something in, which means you add to the betting pool.

[They set their own dreidel on the table, ignoring the dust, turning it idly without actually spinning it.]

Mostly no one here is playing it with a betting pool. Just whoever gets the better symbol wins the spin, and gets the prize, and whoever gets the lesser symbol gets a consequence.

[He'd much prefer the betting pool, except there's nothing to bet with, and calculating the odds to himself is pretty meaningless when there's no salary to draw on or mortgage to pay. Just habit. Someone else's habit in someone else's life.]

Conseq--like the, uh... Blindness thing?

[Given his feelings about that, well...]

Not as extreme. Or long-lasting. But yes, a little like. Apparently glowing is one consequence of losing, and only lasts an hour or two. The rewards last longer, like the chocolate or gold pieces, or the warm stones.

[They sure do hope the handful of red gems sticks around, those make a really nice hand-warmer. Plus they're kind of pretty.]

[Nothing to get excited about, then. Bodhi briefly stands to handle the kettle when it starts to whistle, and perhaps a little rudely doesn't say anything as he handles the brief bustle of tea brewing before he returns.]

So pretty easy. I guess, um, we should be grateful for the minor issues.

Still worth it to try and play?

[That might be half a tease, as the Soldier accepts their tea. Their tolerance for rudeness is pretty extensive, and rudeness that comes mostly from awkwardness is certainly acceptable.]

[Having just established he doesn't see any downside, saying no would be sort of rude. It's his own problem how alien and clumsy it feels to try to do something silly for fun.]

Sure. Does someone go first or, uh, same time?

If you want to play it right, first we need something to bet with.

[They retrieve the handful of warm red stones (they're rubies, if Bodhi would recognize those, and they're warm to the touch) from a pocket and split them between themselves and Bodhi, sliding four of them to the middle of the table for Bodhi to take, so they don't have to get close enough to get dazzled again.]

Leave one in the middle. Then we each spin. I can go first.

[To show Bodhi how the spin works, in case he's not even tried that much. The Soldier's gotten pretty good at spinning, with practice, and gets the dreidel going in a rapid spin that takes long enough for them both to sip their tea before it finally loses energy and clatters over to one side, showing the symbol:]

Hey. That means half, and I get half of what's in the middle. Your turn.

[Bodhi's put enough energy into gambling and its forms to be at least a little impressed. That kind of flair doesn't usually effect the game, but it does take at least a little effort to learn and can add a little confusion to a table. Not that Soldat strikes him as the card sharp type.]

Hard to get half of one, but I'll assume this is the trial round?

[Which is fine, when he rolls a nun. It is not nearly so good a spin. More of a flop.]

[The Soldier tucks one of their rubies into the pot in the middle. Since they'd been supposed to do that from the start, both of them with something in the pot.]

Trial run, unless the spirit magic decides we need a prize and a consequence. You aren't glowing, at least, and I don't see that I got anything. Let's do it for real this time.

[They spin again, and this time their dreidel lands on "shin". They puff out a little sigh and add a second ruby to the pot, upping the number to three. Go on, Bodhi. Let's see if they get a consequence and prize this time. So long as Bodhi doesn't roll a "shin", he's won this round.]

Normally, someone would win when the whole betting pool is gone. Mostly it seems like people are winning based on individual rolls.

[Bodhi's beginning to be slightly soothed despite himself. If he just doesn't think too hard about spirit interference or the empty, strange house, or anything that's happened to him in... a long time? This is normal, and not just normal in the sense of survival.

He spins, a bit less clumsily, and lands heh.]

You're right, yeah, easy.

[His shoulders are relaxed when he sips his tea. A small shift, but distinctive.]

So now you get one of the stones.

[No consequences or prizes yet. Apparently when you play it right, the magic waits for the actual end of the game. Nice. The Soldier puts a new one of their rubies in, points for Bodhi to do the same, and now the pot has three rubies in it.]

Your turn, go ahead and spin.

[Bodhi places his stone with... awareness. It's not real gambling, but this is how his brain works, Stake placed. He spins--another flop on that one--and lands gimmel.]

Oh, so that's... it, yeah?

[The Soldier spins, getting hey, which is still less than Bodhi's, and with nothing currently in the pot to take, pretty worthless.]

Not quite. Still have these.

[Two more rubies left to add to the pot, on their side. They push one over with a finger.]

Betting pool includes what we have left to add. So unless you keep takin' my stuff, we've got a little while longer.

[Bodhi spins first and pays for his luck with a shin. He manages a sheepish little smile as he adds a stone as well.

Don't want to keep you, but this might be a bit.

I got nowhere else in particular to be. And. I like playing this. I keep hoping....

[They shake their head, and spin, and get hey again. Two rubies back to them, one back in.]

Hoping that maybe that playing will bring back a real memory. Of doing this when I was a kid.

[Bodhi'd half forgotten that conversation. Missing memories. It's just surreal that it's a problem he shares with anybody. It can't be--he hopes it can't be for the same reason. He's a little afraid to ask even the vaguest question. How could anybody talk about... But Soldat brought it up, and ignoring that seems just as bad.]

D-does that happen?

I don't know what brings memories back. Except familiarity. I've never been able to do it on purpose. Mostly it just happens when I least expect it to.

[At least they don't sound like they're uncomfortable talking about it.]

All I have right now is the knowledge of how to play. The knowledge that one year we had to use buttons because we couldn't afford the chocolate coins or spare change. Kinda want the actual memories, though. At least one.

[The next spin is "nun", nothing for them, in more ways than one.]

[The worst thing is the description doesn't sound totally alien. Only he doesn't have much hope of getting things back. There are just empty places he can identify and the ones he doesn't know to look for because the signposts are lost, too.

Realizing he's been neglecting the game, Bodhi spins quickly and lands another shin. The bad luck is a very mild punishment for not doing the one thing that's apparently helpful.]

Well, uh, if it's helping, I... don't have anything else planned.

[Talking isn't neglecting anything. It's probably good for Bodhi, even. The Soldier pushes their last ruby into the pot, spins... gimmel!

Which, it seems, will end this round of the game, since that's the last of Bodhi's rubies, and nothing left in the middle. Their prize "appears" when they lift the metal hand from the rubies to find the amount in the pile magically doubled. What consequence for Bodhi, hmm?]

[Bodhi sniffles suddenly, which is not among the afflictions he's prone to. He doesn't exactly take good care of himself; it's just that colds aren't the usual consequence. He doesn't quite connect the two, since it seems distinctly unmagical and isn't at all on the scale of his last price to pay.]

Well. Fun while it lasted.

[No memories, but it was nice to see Bodhi do something friend-like and not-nervous. The Soldier indicates their larger pile of rubies, now.]

Got a lot more betting pieces now. And more tea. If you want to play again.

[While the sense that he must be infringing on Soldat's time remains, he gives in without any further prodding.]

Yeah, let me get the kettle on again. I'll make a pot.

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