Soon the weeks turned into a month and by then King Dice had already grown accustomed to living in luxury at the Devil's Casino. It wasn't long before everyone in the Inkwell Isles knew the sleazy and conniving Dice now worked for the Devil. And Dice couldn't be happier… As a casino manager, King Dice was able to channel all his cunning and charisma and use it to lure any gamblers into trying their luck or inviting them to a game of Craps. Any unfortunate gambler that lost to King Dice paid for it dearly. But what made it even more interesting was whenever the Devil came to challenge players. Together they had fun conning gullible toons. King Dice would manipulate gamblers into being overconfident and then he would watch in smug satisfaction as they would foolishly fall prey to the Devil. It was like a fun game the two of them played…
Whenever they weren't deceiving casino patrons into giving up their money or their souls, the Devil and Dice had grown very close to each other. What started out as business was slowly turning into something more. During the work-hours, the Devil would often have Dice bring him a tray of Garden Salad, Vegetable Soup, and Ham & Cheese Sandwiches and then invite his manager to stay and have lunch with him. Sometimes the Devil had Dice organize his files and soul-contracts, or he'd sent Dice out to the Inkwell Isles to run errands for him, and even allowed Dice the privilege of attending his business meetings with important clients. Dice felt honored to be included
The Devil liked to hear King Dice's opinions; he also approved of the smart decisions Dice made for his casino, he'd come to respect Dice's competence and recognized his talents. And in return, Dice was devoted to the Devil and was always there to answer his beck and call. He admired the Devil's ambitions, he loved scheming with the Devil, he was proud to have earned the Devil's friendship, but most of all; he would do anything to please his demonic boss. Dice was still harboring a crush on Devil and whenever anyone questioned him about it, he would vehemently deny it. Although it wasn't easy because now Dice was having more dreams about embracing the Devil, cuddling him, kissing him…
It still embarrassed Dice whenever he thought about his infatuation for his boss. However the Devil did have very unpredictable behavior. The Devil could be so charming, polite and well-spoken on his better days, but sometimes the Devil wasn't in a sociable mood and preferred to be left alone to enjoy his own company, and then there were times when the Devil was in a frightfully bad mood and he became cruel and bad-tempered. Whenever the Devil was behaving malevolently, the casino staff was too scared to so much as go near their boss. Not King Dice… He didn't let Devil's ill-temper keep him away and he continued to serve his boss faithfully. The Devil always threw Dice dirty looks because of this but never did anything to discourage it. Truth be told, the Devil was glad that his ugly behavior didn't scare off his manager…
Whenever night-time arrived and the casino was less active, the Devil still liked to invite Dice to his chamber where the two of them spend time together doing regular things. The Devil got Dice into playing chess with him. Up til now, Dice used to think he was the only one who was an expert at the game but the Devil proved to be a sharp player too. Sometimes Devil and Dice would share glasses of red wine and talk and joke about all the schemes, evil plotting and misdeeds they've ever done in their lives. The Devil had a sense of humor and would even shift-shape his face into funny looks which Dice would crack up at. Devil still loved the sound of Dice's wicked laughter. Although after a while, Dice would get pretty inebriated and Devil being immune to drunkenness would have to send him to bed early.
However the Devil's favorite pastime was their training sessions. Ever since bestowing Dice with his own power, the Devil gave his young manager some pointers on how best to wield the magical cards in battle. Using the lesser demons and imps as practice, Dice listened carefully to the Devil's instructions while holding a fan of cards in both hands and flinging them at the attacking imps with perfect precision. Next the Devil taught Dice some defense moves by having his playing cards charge at their target, or teaching the cards to form a shield to block any and all attacks. Devil was pleased to see that Dice was a fast learner and a very cunning adversary. He was learning a lot of things about Dice. Until one day, the Devil came upon some new information about his protégé…
….
It was a pretty hectic time in the Devil's Casino. A large crowd gathered around the dining-area and was facing the stage where the entertainment was usually performed. The casino patrons were promised a live show of Jazz music but unfortunately the Jazz singer had apparently refused to show up. And now the band of skeletons awkwardly stood around with their instruments and wondered if they should just start playing anyway. King Dice and Pip & Dot tried going around and calming down the impatient audience while trying to figure out what to do about this evening's entertainment. The Devil was absolutely livid and was angrily arguing with someone over the phone.
"This is completely unacceptable! Where is the Jazz singer that promised to perform at my casino?" The Devil listened to the jabbering on the other end. "Whaddya mean he refuses to perform? What excuse did he give you?" The Devil took a moment to listen to the speaker jabber on the other end. "What? He refuses to sing at my casino because I'm the Devil?" he angrily slammed a fist on the wall. "I'm gonna get that backstabber if it's the last thing I do!"
With that, the Devil hung up the phone in anger and he was feeling positively scornful right now. Then he pulled out a glowing piece of parchment and he wrote down a name on it. "Welp, that's another enemy added to my list. Honestly, what is with people these days? Don't they know what a deal with the devil means anymore?" the Devil grumbled in frustration to himself.
Back at the dining-area, things were getting out of hand as customers complained and some of them were losing interest. Pip & Dot turned to King Dice. "What do we do, sir? We're losing em!" Pip said. "Yeah. It's already been forty-five minutes; we may have no choice but to cancel!" Dot said worriedly. "What? We can't do that!" Pip protested. "The Devil is furious about this whole thing. He'd planned it for weeks!"
King Dice looked uncertain for a moment but he had an idea on how to turn this evening around. Dare he do it? Could he do it? Frowning determinedly, King Dice turned away and Pip & Dot watched in surprise as he stepped up onto the stage. Soon this caught everyone's attention at once. Mr. Wheezy and Pirouletta stared at Dice from a nearby table, Chips Bettigan stacked himself higher to get a better look at the stage, Mangosteen stopped chatting and looked in Dice's direction, the Tipsy Troop stopped pouring people drinks to watch, Hopus Pocus was also watching curiously from his top-hat, Phear Lap sat lounging at the bar but tapped Mr. Chimes on the shoulder and pointed out King Dice on the stage.
King Dice looked around at the audience staring back at him and he smirked. Good, he had their attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the long wait," he spoke into the microphone. "You fine-lookin' people have paid good money to come here and listen to Jazz and so I'm gonna make sure you all get your money's worth!" There King Dice addressed the band of skeletons. "Okay boys; try to keep up with me. Eyes on me and follow my league!"
"Ya mean he's gonna sing?" Chips said in a hushed tone to Wheezy and Pirouletta.
"Heh, who woulda thought it?" Wheezy commented. "Never pegged him for a singer. Wonder how good he really is."
"Let's watch," Pirouletta hushed the other two. But once the music got started, King Dice got over his nervousness and began to sing which immediately captured his audience's full attention.
"The Hi-de-ho man, that's me! How'd you like to blow your top, Dig yourself some fine ree-bop. Hi-de-hi, he-de-he. Oh, the hi-de-ho man, that's me!"
It felt so good to sing. King Dice possessed a deep-sounding Louis Armstrong-esque that was surprisingly rich and harmonious. Nobody had been expecting this and everyone in the dining-area fell silent and listened in utter captivation as King Dice's voice cast everyone under a spell. He not only could sing and scat so well but he also had the smooth moves and dance-routine to back it up. And best of all, King Dice encouraged his audience to sing along with him.
"Hi-de, hi-de, hi-de hi (Hi-de, hi-de, hi-de-hi) Hey-de, hey-de, hey-de hey. (Hey-de, hey-de, hey-de hey) He-de, he-de, he-de he. (He-de, he-de, he-de he.) King Dice sang cheerfully and the crowd jovially sang back.
Meanwhile, the Devil had been in a rotten mood and was thinking of heading back to his office to enjoy a cigar to calm his nerves when he happened to hear all the singing and loud voices coming from the dining-area. Who was singing? Before he knew it, the Devil was hurrying towards the direction of the dining-area and when he arrived, he was in for a big shock. The singer was none other than his own manager. The Devil stood there and he couldn't take his eyes off of King Dice. But then he quickly stepped back and hid himself out of sight. He didn't want to reveal himself just yet…
"Say I hepped'em in London, I hepped'em in Holland, I hepped'em in gay Paris. Yes sirree, yes sirree! Oh the hi-de-ho man, that's me!" King Dice continued singing, unaware that his employer was hidden among the crowd of onlookers.
"Hi-de, hi-de, hi-de-hi (Hi-de, hi-de, hi-de-hi!) Hey-de, hey-de, hey-de-hey (Hey- hey!) He-de- he-de, he-de (He-de, he-de, he-de!) Hi-de, hi-de, hi-de-hi (Hi-de, hi-de, hi-de-hi!) Then King Dice leaped down from the stage to sing to his amazed listeners in the crowd.
"Say Chips, ain't you glad you dug my jive, Looky here, Pip hand me over that ripe, greasy five, Hi-de-ho, he-de-he. Oh the hi-de-ho man, that's me!" The Devil needed a better look so he yanked his head off and shift-shaped it into a spider where he was free to crawl up a nearby pole and spy on his manager from the roof rafters from above.
"Hi-de, hi-de, hi-de hi (Hi-de, hi-de-hi!" Hey-hey de hey-de (Hey-hey de hey-de) He-he-de, he-de-de (He-he-de, he-de-he) Hi-de, hi-de, hi-de-hi! (Hi-de, hi-de, hi-de-hi!)
"Say Wheezy, be solid and mellow, be a real groovy fella. And you're gonna be just as sharp as me. Yes sirree, yes sirree. Oh the hi-de-ho man, that's me!"
"Hi-de-hi! (Hi-de-hi!) Hey-de-hey. (Hey-de-hey!) Oh-ho-de-ho-de! ( Ho-de-ho-de) The hi-de-ho man, that's me!"
The applause was tumultuous as everyone clapped, whistled and cheered as King Dice took a formal bow while grinning proudly to himself. It'd been a while since he put on a show but even he had to admit… he still got it! Afterwards everyone in the casino was content to listen to some fine smooth Jazz from the skeleton band while returning to their gambling and King Dice was able to return to his duties. But now it seemed he's earned himself more admirers than ever before because lovely women were constantly hitting on him and even men found him very appealing. Despite all their flirting, compliments and high praises, King Dice wasn't the least bit interested in any of them. There was only one person King Dice had eyes for…
Speaking of which… King Dice was trying to escape from his army of admirers when suddenly he felt himself being grabbed by a lot of arms and being pulled out of sight. Hiding behind a lady palm plant, King Dice looked up to see the Devil leering down at him with his creepy spider-head and his six yellow eyes and his six arms fondling him possessively. The sight of the scary Devil would have terrified most people… But King Dice wasn't most people. Instead he smiled up at the fuzzy demon.
"What's shakin', boss? I take it you've seen my little performance? Good save, eh? Luckily I was able to turn this evening into a ring-a-ding-ding." Dice waited a minute while the Devil changed back into his usual form.
Now Devil peered down at Dice and he too was smiling proudly. "That was really something," he admitted. "How come you've never told me you were quite the swinger?"
Dice merely shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know… I've been listenin' to Jazz since I was a kid. I've always wanted to sing in the clubs around Inkwell Isles," he explained.
"So why didn't ya?" the Devil asked.
But suddenly Dice gave an almost sad smile. "Ain't it obvious? Nobody ever wants to listen to me sing," he said bitterly. "Everyone in Inkwell Isles sees me as nothin' but a villain. So I…I never get to sing." Dice stood there awkwardly for a moment while being aware that the Devil was eying him thoughtfully. "I'd better get back. I need to supervise three poker-games so far. Later, boss." The Devil watched his manager head back to the gaming floor, leaving him to think about what Dice just told him.
….
Later that night, Dice was glad for the chance to head for his own room and rest up for a while. Ever since putting on a show for the casino patrons, he'd been drinking, gambling and working with customers all day. And now he lay in his bed and was watching his playing cards play soccer with his two pink dies across the floor. Just when Dice was thinking of snoozing off, there came a knock at his door. Dice already knew who it must be and when he went to go answer it, it was a little imp telling him that his boss would like him to come to the chamber. Dice wasted no time and went to go see his demon…
Entering the chamber, Dice walked forward where he could see Devil patiently waiting for him at his throne-chair. As always the Devil was a night-owl. When Dice finally reached him, the Devil sat with his chin resting on his palm while holding his pitchfork in his left. He'd been studying Dice the whole time and spoke the second Dice stood before him. "Glad you came. I've been thinking about what you said to me earlier," the Devil told Dice. And then he went and asked Dice one question. "Do you like to sing?"
Dice thought about it before giving an honest answer. "Yes… Yes I do." He wondered what was on the Devil's mind.
The Devil continued to regard Dice before speaking again. "You told me that no one wants to listen to you sing. But that's not entirely true." There Dice saw the Devil grin warmly at him. "I" would like to listen to you sing. Would you like to sing a song for me now?" Dice grinned back, he was delighted. There Dice enthusiastically broke into song…
"Happy feet! I've got those hap-hap-happy feet! Give them a low-down beat and they begin dancing! I've got those ten little tip-tap-tapping toes, when they hear a tune; I can't control the dancing, dear, to save my soul! Those weary blues can't get into my shoes, because my shoes refuse to ever grow weary. I keep cheerful on an earful of music sweet; just got those hap-hap-happy feet!"
King Dice finished the last note with a gaudy flourish while earning applause from the little demons and imps gathered around the throne. The Devil couldn't stop grinning ear-to-ear and he was very impressed as well. "My, my, you sure are full of surprises, Dice." With that, the Devil rose up from his throne chair, walked over to Dice and put an arm around his shoulders. "You've done wonderful things for my casino. You've served me well, King Dice…"
Dice was so touched by the Devil's words of approval that he snuggled closer to the Devil's warm body and leaning his cube-head lovingly in the soft black fur. He didn't care how unprofessional it might be, Dice wanted this more than anything…to be close to his Devil. The Devil often noticed the affectionate gestures from his young manager and it still left him with a warm fuzzy feeling inside. So this was what it was like to connect with another being? The Devil had been unattached for centuries; he'd almost forgotten how to form a bond with someone. Before he knew it, his fork-tail was slipping around Dice's waist and he kept the die-headed man close to him.
"You sing magnificently," the Devil remarked. But then he scowled grumpily to himself and so happened to mention. "You sing way better than that snooty Magnetic Mike. How dare he not show his face today? He'll pay for standing me up!"
"Magnetic Mike?" Dice looked up at Devil, surprised by this revelation. "The Jazz singer that was supposed to perform today was Magnetic Mike?"
The Devil nodded his head. "Of course. Magnetic Mike isn't exactly a debtor but I did promise to pay him handsomely if he performed at my casino. I was actually hoping to trick him into signing a soul contract." The Devil growled bad-temperedly. "I don't like being made a fool of. Magnetic Mike won't get away with snubbing me! Arrgh! If only I knew where that fink-rat was hiding!"
But then the Devil saw Dice smile deviously. Devil knew that look… "So it's payback you want, eh boss? Well it just so happens that I know where Magnetic Mike hides out. Y'see, I'm not exactly a big fan of him either…"
….
Magnetic Mike took a final bow to the roaring applauding audience before stepping offstage and heading for his own personal dressing-room. After entering the solitude of his room, Magnetic Mike was proud to see all the flowers, gifts and fan letters from all his admirers and well-wishers. Just as Mike was picking up a jug and pouring himself a glass of water, he suddenly heard a loud commotion going on from outside. Looking up in alarm, Magnetic Mike put down his glass and walked over to his door to see what was going on out there. What he wasn't expecting was opening the door and finding Dice of all people standing there before him. Without warning, Magnetic Mike let out a cry of surprise as powerful objects went flying out from Dice's sleeves and ramming into him.
"What the blazes!" Magnetic Mike cried as he fell backwards and stumbled onto the floor. Now he looked up in horror to find himself surrounded by mean-looking playing cards. Then he saw Dice casually leaning against his doorway, tossing his pink dies into the air and catching them in one hand. "Dice? What is the meaning of this?" Magnetic Mike demanded. Then he shouted. "Security? Security!"
"Oh I wouldn't bother with security," Dice said coolly. He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at all the security guards that lay dazed and knocked out in the hallway. "Your goons put up a good fight but they were no match for me," Dice bragged with an unpleasant sneer.
Now that Magnetic Mike got a good look at Dice, he came to notice something different about the die-headed man. Dice was actually wearing decent clothes and was no longer dressed like a hobo. Then he felt real panic when Dice stepped into his room and Mike saw Dice bearing down on him with that sinister sneer. "Wha…what are y-y-you gonna to me? Magnetic Mike stuttered fearfully. "Dice?"
"I'm King Dice now. And I'm jus' here for a little revenge," Dice said, his wicked jade-green eyes lit up gleefully. "You always used to say I never amount up to anythin'. That I'd always be a loser and a gutter-rat. Well then…," Dice gestures to himself. "Whaddya think? I've become the manager at the Devil's Casino and I've turned the place into the hottest joint in Inkwell Isles. Doesn't that beat all?"
As Magnetic Mike stared up at him in open-mouthed shock upon this, Dice wasted no time in rearing back his fist and delivering a good punch to Magnetic Mike's cheek. "That's for all the times you've had me thrown into the dumpsters, Mikey. You ain't a bigshot anymore," Dice chuckled evilly while summoning his playing cards back up into his sleeves.
Rubbing his sore cheek from the punch, Magnetic Mike managed to climb to his feet and he was glaring furiously at Dice. "How dare you! You think you can just waltz in here and intimidate me like that?" he said angrily.
"Well actually…," Dice turned around and Mike was disturbed to see Dice's sneer become more sadistic. "I'm not the only one who's lookin' for some payback. I think you "owe" my boss somethin?'"With that, King Dice stepped aside to allow the hulking monstrous demon to enter the room and have his revenge too. Magnetic Mike screamed out in pure terror as the cackling Devil's large shadow loomed over him menacingly.
Whoa… A scary reminder that the Devil and King Dice aren't exactly good guys in the story. Also I'm really proud of how I wrote the lyrics to Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho Man. Dice will also sing more of Cab Calloway songs in later chapters since that's who he was based on. It's thanks to Cuphead that I've rediscovered my love of old cartoons, especially Silly Symphonies and Fleischer Cartoons. And admittedly a lot of my OC Cuphead characters come with their own inspirations from the cartoons. More new chapters will be forthcoming.
