"Of all the things you could ever hope to buy here, you want one of those?" Bracken glanced over at Min Ti with an excited grin.

"Oh, come on, Min Ti! You can't say you don't wanna know how it works!" The engineer's enthusiasm was met with a sigh from the dogfolk behind the counter.

"I'm sorry, but Master Pugnacious demanded any and all dice from that time be removed from circulation and destroyed. You won't find one anywhere in Goldpaw." The cashier explained in as kind a manner as possible. Bracken's expression dropped a little.

"Are you sure? I mean, it's not like I'm gonna use it!" She heard Min Ti sigh in exasperation behind her.

"I'm sorry, Auntie Tzu. I didn't expect her to be a bother." Bracken turned sharply to the hunter, not having expected that kind of response. Auntie Tzu just chuckled and shook her head.

"Oh, not to worry. I've had many customers come by for a trick dice, so it's nothing unusual." The engineer glanced between the two.

"Auntie Tzu?" She finally settled on a question. Were these two related? They didn't look similar…

"No. We're not related." Min Ti clarified almost immediately as she crossed her arms and glanced away at some passers-by. It was a little odd how many people were just casually walking around one of the darker alleyways of Goldpaw like this…

But then, there's always worse places. The Lucky Lotus Emporium wouldn't be here if it was a shady alleyway, would it? Shaking the thought from her head, she glanced back over at the cashier.

"Auntie Tzu is just the name I go by." The engineer nodded in understanding. It made sense, these two didn't seem to have anything in common like she thought family members often did. But what would she know about that?

"So, what else you got?" She asked curiously as she spied all the different merchandise on sale. She wasn't a collector by a long shot but a few mementos from days gone by never hurt anyone. Auntie Tzu seemed to think for a minute.

"How about this?" The woman offered after a good long look at Bracken. The cashier then took an interesting looking sculpture from below the counter. "We've just got these in from a new supplier so they aren't on display yet, but I do so think they are funny little things." Said sculpture appeared to be of a cute interpretation of Longfang, sat on a base styled like a roulette wheel. In its jaws, was a tiny replica of what she could guess was the Grand High Roller, Pugnacious' staff over which they had formed a bond. Blue eyes watched curiously as the shopkeeper turned a small handle, shaped like one of LongFang's many tails at the back of the sculpture.

Bracken stared, mesmorized by the trinket as the inner section of the roulette wheel base began to spin slowly, and the dice of the staff LongFang held span gently to the soft melody it played. The kingmaker's folded wings then gradually spread outwards and upwards in a grand display of craftsmanship. The melody itself sounded almost unpredictable, as if it were as random as Lady Luck herself, yet still calming and well-orchestrated.

"Well? What do you think?" Auntie Tzu pressed optimistically for an answer, snapping the engineer's attention back to her.

"How much is it, first?" Min Ti quickly interrupted Bracken's imminent praise with a slightly urgent step forward.

"Oh, for you and your friend Min Ti? Hmm… I'd say… eight-hundred gil?" Bracken smiled as she nodded a little frantically. This thing was way too cool. Min Ti just seemed to shake her head as the engineer gladly paid for the trinket and took the now boxed up memento from the counter, with a big grin on her face. She snickered almost evilly before turning to the hunter.

"Bet Lofty'll want one of these when he sees it!" The engineer grinned before thanking the cashier and leading the way further down the alleyway. A few moments later, she realised Min Ti wasn't following her. "Min Ti?" She called curiously as she turned around to see the hunter receiving something from Auntie Tzu. Said woman, nodded before turning back to Bracken, heading towards her with a bag in her hand.

"Everything okay?" Bracken asked casually before turning confused as Min Ti handed her the bag. "What's this for?"

"The music box." The hunter responded as if it were common knowledge. The engineer glanced inside the bag, only to find nothing before realising what had just been said.

"Oh! Okay." Min Ti just rolled her eyes at the lapse in memory as she carefully slid the box into the carrier. "Thanks." Bracken smiled gratefully, to which her guard just nodded in acknowledgement before taking the lead again. "Where to next?" A thought occurred to her and she gasped a little in anticipation. "Can we go to the casino?"

"No." Came the immediate response.

"Aw, come on! Just a few safe games between us? No stakes, remember?" Bracken tried with a hopeful tone. At the hunter's hesitance, she spoke again. "You did say we could earlier…" She trailed with the most persuasive tone she could muster.

"… I did say that, didn't I?" Min Ti trailed as if to think about it before nodding in defeat. "Alright. Casino, it is." Optimism surged through her like a shot of electricity and the engineer cheered a little at the victory.

"So, which way is it?" Bracken asked as she walked beside the hunter. Crossing the wooden bridge, she couldn't help but marvel some more at the unique décor.

"This way." The hunter lead the way past the Dreaming Camomile Inn, towards a set of uneven stone stairs. Glancing around, one couldn't help but wonder what exactly was in all the pots that littered the street edges.

"Hey, what's that?" Bracken pointed at the building with the two guardian-like statues on either side of the pathway.

"That's the library. It's one of the best ways to find out about the history of the world since everything is engraved in stone tablets." At that explanation, she suddenly wanted to investigate. The urge weakened a little as she could remember Tani not being too comfortable talking about the librarian. In any case, Boddly did not sound fun.

"So, Min Ti… You gamble much yourself?" Bracken asked curiously as they neared a large wooden pathway that almost acted as a bridge.

"Of course not." The engineer jumped at the sheer intensity of that claim.

"Well, what did you do all day when you lived here?" Quickly shifting the conversation away from that seemed the best choice to be making right now.

"I'd hunt." A long pause as Bracken waited for her to continue. "And train." The hunter seemed to add as an afterthought.

"Train for what?" She could already guess the answer but chose to ask instead.

"Hunting." This time it was Bracken's turn to roll her eyes.

"Really…" Shaking her head, the minister turned her attention back to Min Ti. "What exactly do you do for fun?" She tried.

"Hmm… Reading can be fun, I suppose." That answer made it sound as if she didn't know herself. Wait, did Min Ti, ever relax?

"Sounds like you're the life of the party." The minister attempted to joke light-heartedly but the hunter didn't pay her any mind. Dark eyes were turned to the path ahead with an intensity that didn't feel reasonable, her hands were now alternating between open and closed fists, stirring a hint of worry in the Broadleafer. A light suddenly seemed to reach her from the path they'd been taking, redirecting her attention.

Bracken's eyes widened in excitement as she took in the sight of the building that had enough lights to put any festival or fireworks display to shame. Another guardian like sculpture sat over the entrance, the sign in its claws reading, 'Lucky Stars Casino' in neon lights. Giant dice styled lamps stood at either side of both the entrance and the guardian above the door, almost beckoning anyone with a gambler's spirit to draw near. The sheer amount of colour assaulted her gaze, shining almost as bright as fire, warding off any who can't handle such ferocity. A hand on her shoulder, snapped her out of her daze.

"Let's get this over with." Min Ti's ears had shifted back slightly, almost unnoticeably as she led the way through the doors of the casino.

The interior may not have been filled to the brim with strings of bright lights but the clamour of people as they went about their gambling hobbies more than made up for the loss. Min Ti silently led her to a table in the quietest corner of the first room before one of the dealers headed over to them.

"Here to play, or here to watch?" The tall dogfolk asked professionally.

"Both. May we have some dice?" The hunter requested before indicating to Bracken. "She's new to the games." That seemed to be all the information he needed as the dealer nodded and handed them three dice from his pocket.

"Enjoy the games." He nodded politely to each of them before disappearing back into the crowd. Bracken smiled in anticipation as she leaned forwards in her seat, her hands leaning on the table between them.

"So, how do we play?" She asked, taking note of how her companion's ears had slid back a little further.

"Red and Black is the easiest to understand. I roll two dice, you will have to guess what the third die will make the total add up to. If you think it'll be more than eleven, you say 'Red', if less then you say, 'Black'." Min Ti paused to let that sink in. "However, when three ones are rolled or three sixes, then the answer becomes the opposite. Do you understand?" Bracken nodded in thought. "Ready?" Another nod, this time in affirmation. The hunter rolled two dice…

A three and a five.

"Hm… Red?" The engineer guessed before Min Ti rolled the die.

A four.

"Twelve. You lose." The hunter said simply as Bracken frowned a little.

"How do people get so obsessed? It's literally three numbers." The minister's confused look was met with what could only be a subconscious snarl from her companion.

"I don't have a clue." Bracken frowned a little deeper before shrugging it off.

"Let's see if I can win this time…" The odds were against her, but maybe she could do it.

Maybe…


Author's Note:

Hey! I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. I was updating on Ao3 and forgot to come back here and continue posting. I wouldn't recommend going there for the extra chapters though. I'm rewriting everything that comes after this, and a portion of this has been edited to work better as well. All in all, you guys are getting the second draft whilst the Ao3 audience only got the first. I'll update Ao3 with the new stuff once I'm happy with it but for now, its going here first.

On the subject of the chapter itself, the music box is going to be relevant at some point, I promise. I left a lot of clues here as to what I'm going to do with Bracken's character and where Min Ti's is heading very soon.

I hope you're enjoying this so far and if you have any fun things for these two to get up to, just let me know. I've had some serious writers block recently so any and all ideas would be welcomed with open arms.