Zero-Sum Game:
A game in which the sum of the winnings by all the players is zero. In a zero-sum game, a gain by one player must be matched by a loss by another player. Poker is a zero-sum game if the house does not take a cut as a charge for playing.
"Deal."
Hushed murmuring, the clink of coins, quick gleeful smiles hidden in the crowd as jackets brushed against coats and bodies shifted around them. Distant sounds of the market, a couple of streets down, away from this secluded alleyway of dark bluestones and cigar smoke. Occasional small shifts in winds bought a faint concoction of ripe fruits and fresh vegetables mixed with damp dirt and hot foods wafting through the alleyway.
The dealer smirked at the new contestant, a cigar dangling from his mouth as he accepted his hefty bet. No exchange of words, just the stacking of cards in his cigarette stained fingers, the other grubby hand clutching a wad of notes – spoils from the previous sucker. Paper sliding across paper as cards were placed onto a small wooden crate, a makeshift table of sorts. Three cards, face down, the middle deftly flipped and revealed to be the queen of hearts before just as quickly turned over and the shuffling began. Moved left then right then over and rearranged more, sliding the last card in line as he stopped shuffling.
"Where's the Lady?"
Too easy.
Twisted Fate smirked, his grin hidden by the brim of his hat as he tilted his head, pointing to the middle card.
The dealer flipped it over, showing the queen of hearts. There was surprised and awed chattering around him. Guess the previous string of fools had all been parted from their gold.
"Ya got good luck there." he hid his mild dissatisfaction behind a wide grin, collecting the cards and shuffling them once again.
The pattering sound of cards being shuffled and cut and stacked, such a familiar and nostalgic noise – almost music to his ears. It'd been a while since he'd indulged in this and whilst - now that he was a champion - it was forbidden, he figured just a little for old times sake.
He had planned to head to the bar by the city outskirts after his daily summoning, maybe bump into a few champions there - females preferably of course - and exchange some conversation and pleasantries. Probably also knock off a few bottles of Sunshine Whiskey and call it a night after say three or four am. Taking a shortcut through this alleyway and seeing such a familiar scene though – a group of onlookers around a shifty stand, it just brought back that old itch again. Those stiff summoners probably wouldn't find out about this and it was just too hard to resist.
Surely it wouldn't be such a bad thing - to con a conman, would it?
"Again eh? See if you can find the lucky lady this time." He lined the cards up again after rearranging them.
Reasonably new set of cards to match the reasonably new-to-conning conman but poorly taken care of and very weathered, looking very much like an old deck, the edges worn and surface grubby from use. Such carelessness, cards should never be maintained so deplorably. You need to work with the cards, keep them clean cut and neat; cards that are well taken care of will listen to you better.
His attention brought back to the neatly aligned trio of cards again, Twisted Fate smiled to himself.
Interesting. Not bad skill for a common street scammer, that had been quite a practiced and swift change of cards, just before dealing down the cards. Guess he'd been practicing that move a lot. Of course most people wouldn't have noticed it. Then again, most people weren't Twisted Fate. A classic but relatively fail proof mechanism nevertheless; choosing between placing down the top card or the bottom card at the start of the game. He shows you the card, you think you're following the queen, but you end up following the lowly jack. Simple and sweet. Just like how he preferred his women. Twisted Fated chuckled quietly to himself at that.
"Right one."
A flash of anger passed across his face as he hesitated before flipping up the card, revealing the queen of hearts again. The people crowded around him murmured, surprised at him finding the queen again but there were also some edgy whisperings flittering about.
The dealer grit his teeth but again, plastered on a pleased face of congratulatory cheerfulness.
"Ya sure one lucky guy, what say another one? Make it more fun, up the stakes yea?" he dealt them down and began rearranging before Twisted Fate even had a chance to reply.
Truly a greedy one here, a bad trait in this line of work. Not that Twisted Fate would declined another round now, far from it.
"A little harder this time, lucky guy" he was rearranging them faster "and double the stakes eh?" the dealer glanced up at him.
"Make it triple." He tossed a large bag of gold on the table. "And all your winnings too."
The dealer paused for a second, considering his wager, before grinned widely and reaching to chuck his own bag of gold on the table.
"You're in."
Greed, one of the main and oldest downfalls of mankind, especially here. There is a fine line between luck and avarice. He knew all too well how temperamental Lady Luck could be, she'd stack the odds all in your favour only to leave you hung up and dry. Sometimes if it looks too good, you just have to get out.
Yet here he was betting a hefty sum knowing full well that greed was always the downfall for anyone in these games. Of course, there were exceptions to that – Lady Luck was always on Twisted Fate's side. Well most of the time. Granted betting his whole week's salary on a simple street game was perhaps a little overkill but hey, he didn't have anything to lose. Or to be correct, couldn't have anything to lose.
Twisted Fate eyed the dealer, noting his rather scruffy shirt and tan jacket with a dark smudge on the side. This guy had probably been doing this for maybe a year or less - hardly much of an old hand and even less of a challenge, what with the few tricks he would probably know and the large group of shills aiding him.
Oh yes, these were hardly interested passer-bys – out of all of them only two were genuine onlookers. The rest were all his accomplices; there to tip off if authorities came, assist in seducing a passer-by to play or just to help with the conning itself. No casual observer would've been able to tell who were the shills and who were actual onlookers but Twisted Fate could recognise them all too well – heck he used to be one himself. There were always signs, little tell-tale signs. Sometimes it was an over interest in the game, sometimes it was being too enthusiastic or optimistic and sometimes it all came down to a single glance.
Round and round the cards went, only three but the speed sure made it look like there were more – almost hypnotising in itself. As they slowed down to a halt, the dealer slid the last card in place before placing his hands either side of the cards.
"Which one?" he gestured in a small sweeping motion across the cards.
Twisted Fate paused as if pondering which card to choose; scratching his chin and musing before deciding to place a finger on the middle one. Oh he knew where the queen was all right.
Too bad the she was under none of them.
He had seen him change her out on the fifth shift over from the middle, no doubt for another jack or some other card. A nifty little move and to an average observer nothing would've changed at all but these things don't escape Twisted Fate's eyes - they never do. Surprising for him to have that trick up his sleeve, it was a hard move to pull of well and one that takes much practice. He had removed the queen with a neat flick of his wrist, placing another card in its place in the same instant - one that looked almost exactly like the removed queen, even down to the imperceptible bent corner. Then again, most of the cards looked the same from the back anyways, only those who understood the cards would be able to hear what they really said.
A smirk flashed across the dealer's face before he quickly composed his face again, trying to maintain a neutral composure. Twisted Fate could almost feel the glee and greed seething out of him, such a foul mixture.
"Ya sure buddy? No changing your mind now."
Twisted Fate nodded.
The deal smugly reached over to flip up the card but Twisted Fate kept his finger on it. He looked at him slightly confused.
It was Twisted Fate's turn to grin now. Fool.
"Well…" He reached his other hand to the two cards either side.
"Since this isn't the queen..." he flipped up one - a jack
"...and this one isn't either..." he flipped the other card - another jack
"...then this one must be the queen." he tapped the middle card.
"So." He reached out to grab both bags of gold.
"I'll be taking this thank you."
"Hey!" The dealer slammed the table, getting up. The crowd of people around him tightened a little.
"That's not fair!" He reached out to snatch his loot back but grappled at thin air as Twisted Fate evaded his outstretched arm, retaliating by grabbing his hand by the wrist and standing up.
"Neither is this." As he pulled a card from the top of the sleeve, holding it up to him between his fingers. The Queen.
"So if you will…" red wisps started smouldering from the card. "I'll be taking my leave."
Out cheated at his own game. Poor fool.
Twisted Fate flung out the card, the red queen impacting into the dealer's chest at point blank range, knocking the breath out of him as he stumbled a step back. Quick as a flash, he ducked as someone leapt at him from the side, trading spots with them to stand outside the mob, jacket flaring out behind him as he turned to run.
"Get him!" yelled the dealer, standing up again rather clumsily and knocking over the crate, cards scattering everywhere.
Humph so that was why he needed so many accomplices.
With a flick of his hand, Twisted Fate drew out the cards from across the ground, swirling them around him in a ready circle. He flung a few out towards the nearest ones lunging at him, knocking them back and stunning them as wisps of yellow drifted off from the cards. But more were coming behind and as he turned a corner he was faced with a dead end, the mob hot on his heels. Guess there really wasn't any choice now, he didn't want have to resort to this.
There was the familiar shift in the air as his surroundings disappeared, swirling in a blur as the colours blended and reformed. Gating was a rather last-resort option for him at all times. Not only was it hard to control in the first place, it was always very taxing on his body although he was starting to build up practice for it in the League. He hadn't had a chance to decide where exactly to gate to though – escaping a mob of shills trying to tackle him down was just a slightly distracting thing. Hopefully he didn't end up in the Shurima Dessert or the Howling Marsh or the Shadow Isles. Or - god forbid - Fiora's bathroom. That had been a right nightmare last time.
His feet landed on solid ground and a little relief swept through him – at least he was on dry land.
His relief was very short lived.
As soon as the surroundings solidified, something barrelled into him like a ton of bricks, almost knocking him over and making him wonder for a second if it would've been better to face the bunch of angry thugs instead of being run over by a bulldozer. Spinning around trying to regain balance, Twisted Fate barely registered what had crashed into him - a brute of a man with thick muscle-clad arms and a square jaw stumbling and bolting off around the corner - before an acute, heavy pain pierced through his shoulder as another, different sort of blow knocked into him. His hat tumbled off, flipping in the air as he fell over from the momentum of the shot.
The last thing he remembered was a painful wet warmth spreading through the pain in his shoulder, the clacking of approaching heels and crimson red hair.
Twisted Fate's head hit the concrete pavement with a loud, resounding crack.
Another side fic while I try to find inspiration for my main fic atm (Caitlyn x Thresh). Seem to have a bad habit of starting something without being able to finish it. Do tell me if you would like to see more of this, feedback is much appreciated.
References to gethTECH's "Sunshine Whiskey", Kievan09's "Fish in a Barrel" and Vincent Roechester's "Cold Stare x Hot Glare" ^^