"Life's a game. When the chips are down and nothing's goin' your way, you jus' gotta roll the dice and 'ope to God that Lady Luck's on your side." Luxord attempted to cheer her up by over-playing his natural accent to ridiculous proportions. She tossed him a glare, complete with an accompanying eye roll.
"Really? Like luck solves everything..." She muttered sarcastically. Paine didn't say it loudly, as it was taboo to "dis" Lady Luck in front of Luxord. As much as she usually enjoyed Luxord's presence, she wished he'd leave her alone for awhile to think.
"Something wrong?" He asked. "You normally don't sulk quite so much." There he went with his contradictory manner. A joking voice and a pair of concerned eyes. Luxord seemed a serious person at first glance, but he had a rather merry side to him that was more contagious than the common cold. Paine liked that about him.
They'd met some time back in Port Royal. She'd been in the middle of one of her famous brooding sessions and he'd made her feel considerably better. He'd joked and offered to play a game of cards with her. She'd declined, saying that silly card games were above her. He smiled at her, telling her that one had to get away from such a serious world once in awhile. He then handed her a card, not even looking at it. She'd given him back her card. Then, she'd sat back and watched, waiting to see what he'd do. He tossed all the cards over her. A quick wind blew over them. The cards flew off the hill, perhaps into the ocean. There was only one card left. It had been lying on her lap. The ace of hearts. Her card.
"What's wrong?" He questioned again.
"Nothing." Paine lied easily.
"Nothing?" Luxord questioned, grinning as if he'd just won one of those games he was always talking about. "Would that really be nothing? Is it me?"
Her heart skipped. Could he tell? She perked up, looking hopefully up at him. She was down because she'd heard a this weeks rumor from the town gossips. That Luxord was after a pretty blonde girl. She didn't have the heart to ask him if it was true, but she'd for some reason taken it to heart as though it was true. She mentally kicked herself. Since when did she care?! How could she get all worked up for nothing? She made a mental note to discuss this later with Rikku and Yuna. She could be sure to get a thorough and honest explanation of this from her two best friends. She gave Luxord another glance. He was looking away, paying her inner struggle no mind.
"I have to do something!" Luxord exclaimed surprisingly, running off. "Be back later!"
Paine sighed. She was back to the quiet solitude of loneliness. Her friends had often cheered her up with adventures of all sorts. They'd hunted down all sorts of baubles and novelties. But, that just couldn't complete someone. She wallowed in these thoughts for sometime. Thinking of adventures and friendship. Old times passed before her eyes, looking like a sort of vintage film.
"'Aye, Paine!" He was back much faster than she had suspected. She eyed him with faint curiosity, the movie fading from her vision.
"What are you up to?" Paine scrutinized him with care.
"Oh, nothing." A smile bubbled in his blue eyes. He placed a pair of dice in her hand and closed her fingers around them.
"What's this for?" She inquired in an irritated manner. Luxord really needed to learn that there were other ways to solve problems in life.
"Take a roll," he began, "And if you roll a perfect ten you get...a peck on the cheek an' these-" He pulled a bouquet of red and white roses from under his coat. He held them with a magician's flourish and a white grin.
Paine turned the dice over in her hand. She knew when it cames to games of chance, she wasn't very lucky. Each side had five grooves in it. "But..." She held them up. "Are you sure these are the right ones?"
Luxord nodded. "Sometimes Lady Luck misses. That's when you rig the dice. No chance of loss in sight."
She resisted the tiniest upward twitch that was leaping to her lips. Paine tossed the dice on the ground. Perfect ten. Not that wasn't already certain. She attempted to suppress the same smile that had previously tried to spread across her face. Despite her efforts, it crossed her mouth easily. Luxord slipped the flowers in her hand and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Can't leave just anything to chance?" Paine smiled.
"Everything is up to chance." Luxord gave a wink. Paine cast her eyes heavenward and wondered. She supposed she was a lot luckier than she'd thought.
Yay! I finished it! I don't think I did too well on this one.....Happy reading!