The Architect Codex

Inferno - Cards On the Table

He patted her leg reassuringly. "And I'm not about to start now. Kay, I promise; I will never abandon you." He cracked a smile. "Even when you eventually get sick of my bad jokes, the sad fact is that you're stuck with me. Okay?"

She nodded, and spoke again; but this time with a far warmer tone. "Thank you, Four. I ... needed to hear that."

He gave her a comforting nod, then checked the time via his wrist interface. "Oh, damn—I've got to meet up with Gates soon."

"No problem, Pilot," she said. "Go, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Thanks. See you tomorrow."

She nodded and turned towards one of the racks. He left her to her business, and made his way back towards his quarters.

...

"Huh. Roomier than I would have thought. This is all yours?"

Gates swiveled her head to look at the generous space that Tobias had introduced as his quarters. There were three other bunks prepped and ready for use, but she couldn't see anyone else's belongings in the room besides his own. He shrugged.

"Yeah. I guess these are usually meant to be shared, but there wasn't exactly a shortage on available quarters in the barracks." He quietly added, "That, and no one was keen on the idea of sleeping in the same room as an ex-IMC Pilot. Higher-ups thought this would be best."

Though he said it with a somewhat joking tone, she could detect a faint trace of bitterness in his voice. "What about Foxtrot-Three?"

"Vale said she'd start the paperwork to have me moved, but I don't know how long that will take." Again, he shrugged his shoulders with an air of indifference. "It's alright—I like the extra space."

But probably not the loneliness, she thought to herself. Shaking her head ever so slightly, she pulled out a chair from the table in the middle of the room, and sat down. She gestured to the seat opposite hers.

"You wanted to catch up, right? Well, I've got the perfect game to help us do so."

Raising an eyebrow, he looked skeptical of her claim—but he obliged and sat down.

"You ever play 'Crooks and Crowns'?"

He shook his head. "Can't say I have."

"Rules are pretty simple; each of us starts with two cards. You have to point to one card and say what it is; you can't lie about what kind of card you have, but you can lie about which card is which. The other one stays unknown."

She pulled out a deck from a pouch on her belt, pulling the cards out of the box and shuffling them quickly. "You can call me on it and say I'm bluffing, and vice versa—if I told you the truth about which card is which, you lose. If I lied, I lose. If neither of us calls, it goes to the hand."

Flicking the top two cards of the deck towards him, he grabbed them and took a good look while she continued. "We each have to steal a card from each other based on what we were told earlier. Then, using your original card, the one you robbed, and one of the three on the table, you try to get as close to twenty-five as possible. Aces are one or eleven, the royal cards are worth fifteen. It's okay to go over, just make sure you're closer than the other players. Winner is the Crown, and the loser is the Crook."

"What does the Crook lose?"

"Well, usually it depends on what you're playing for."

He furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, it could be any number of things. The two most common 'prizes' are money and ..." She coughed awkwardly. "Ahem, er, clothing."

His eyes widened, and she quickly waved her hands as though to ward off whatever thoughts he may be having. "That's not how we're gonna play! In our case, we'll just play for truths—Crown gets to ask the Crook a question. That way, we can catch up on what we've missed. Sound good?"