The Eleventh Trial

[catcophonous]

Who: everyone
When: Day 23, evening
Where: The Trial Zone

[Just as twilight darkens the clearing, you hear the train's customary shift, the sign of a Trial.

Outside in the clearing, a brick building has appeared. It's shabby, paint peeling from the heavy door, but the windows are full of neon signs advertising various brands of liquor. From inside you can hear the thumping of bass, and the faint sounds of a rowdy rock song.

A voice chimes in, lazy but amused.]

You all know what this is. I'm not "come hither"ing you. Just get in here.

Comments

[bad_crowmance]

[ The point is cashing them when you're back to normal! ]

I.O.U.s! Besides, I don't actually know if you'd have much in the way of sparks yet.

[awakenerd]

Okay, but they can only be on the level of normal day to day things.

[bad_crowmance]

[ Crow nods, accepting that. ]

Deal!

[ They can work their way up to more interesting I.O.U.s. ]

[awakenerd]

[They can work up to it! For now Rean is pretty detached so his competitive fire isn't there, but on the other hand his poker face is a lot better.]

[bad_crowmance]

[ On the other hand, Crow's got enough competitive fire to carry him-- though the stronger poker face on Rean means Crow ends up having to change strategies a couple of times if he wants to keep up. ]

[awakenerd]

[It's fun though, well, Rean isn't totally numb it's just kind of a distant detached enjoyment]

[bad_crowmance]

[ If Crow's perfectly honest with himself (and he usually is), he liked it better when Rean was just as competitive as he was. But this is nice too, and he is still having fun. ]

[awakenerd]

[It's definitely more calculated and calm and less heated and dynamic, so that's a big change.]

[bad_crowmance]

[ It's a big change! But Crow really doesn't have a lot of experience with Rean to compare it to, not that he remembers anyway.

In the end, they probably both earn a few I.O.U.s before Crow calls it quits, shuffling his deck one more time before he puts it away. ]

I really should pick up a couple of Blade decks, too.

[awakenerd]

It feels like a long long time since I played Blade.

[bad_crowmance]

Yeah, I bet getting called as an immortal spirit doesn't leave you a whole lot of time for card games.

[awakenerd]

Probably not, but I'm sure there's got to be some downtime.

[bad_crowmance]

Man, I'd really hope so. Doing nothing but fighting every few hundred years or whatever sounds like a pretty miserable existence.

[awakenerd]

[Hahah I have some news for you buddy no he doesn't remember.]

Exhausting, probably, at least.

[bad_crowmance]

[ AMNESIA! ]

No kidding. Well, at least you've got some time to relax while you're here.

[awakenerd]

Yeah. I don't want to take that for granted.

[bad_crowmance]

Good. It's an opportunity that's too valuable to squander away.

[awakenerd]

You sound like an old man telling me not to waste my youth.

[bad_crowmance]

Hey, you take that back! And here I'm trying to be all cool and give you advice.

[ The outraged tone might be more believable if his eyes weren't twinkling with amusement. ]

[awakenerd]

Somehow advice from one amnesiac to another lacks some weight.

[Also amused.]

[bad_crowmance]

Yeah yeah, I'm working on it.

[ Also he already knows he's---

Well. There's no point in dwelling on that. Best if no one finds out he knows for now, anyway. ]

[awakenerd]

...That's an expression.

[bad_crowmance]

Yeah, I have lots of those.

[awakenerd]

I won't press if you don't want me to.

[bad_crowmance]

[ He reaches over to ruffle Rean's hair again, briefly. ]

Don't worry about it. I'm just grumpy about losing 'em in the first place.

[ It's not even a lie, it's just not the whole truth. ]