Oliver Seadown, District 4, Male, Age 14
"Well, little brother, it seems as though I am the winner of today's game." Ursula, my older sister by two years, stated smugly showing me her cards. In total they added up to twenty. I'm only one away from the maximum of twenty-one, we were in our family's ship, the cellar. Playing cards, more specifically blackjack.I smirked at her, getting ready to reveal my very own hand.
"Actually, Ursula, it seems as though I am the winner of today's game." I stated, practically even smugger than she previously had. Smirking at her, showing off my beautiful twenty-one. Leaning over the table to get a better look, I could see her face go from smug smile, to a pouty frown. "Seriously? Again?" She said, groaning as she slumped back into her chair. Throwing her cards, most fell onto the table, but I was fairly certain I saw a Kings of Hearts fall onto the ship's lower decks.
My best friend since forever, Casimir Kava, was also present. He started laughing as Ursula reluctantly started to pull out the ten dollars she had bet against me. Grumbling and groaning about, 'lucky cheating bastard'. Very amused I looked over at Casimir, who looked on the verge of near laughter. He in turn, had only bet two dollars against me, knowing fully well that I would beat him in the end. he smiled and winked at me, I grinned back. Before nudging my head in the direction of Ursula and making a a face. I heard another grumble, a female grumble. "How do you even win continuously at blackjack? It's a game; based entirely on luck!" Started Ursula, I simply sent her a smug smile before replying.
"Ah, but a magician never reveals his secrets." I said, flexing my fingers and doing a small trick using the cards I had previously been holding. Taking the money from her outstretched hand. Before looking as Casimir, who gave me a sheepish smile, ("Thought you might forget.") before pulling out two coins from his breast pocket. And tossing them over, I caught one, but the other fell off the small table we had been playing on. Dropping down to pick it up, I also managed to retrieve the King of Hearts we had dropped earlier. I take out my coin pouch from my pocket, and put both coins as well as the bills in to it.
"Here's the thing, Oliver, you're not a magician. You're just an insanely lucky boy who should really have entered his name into that draw to get those shirts eight years ago." Said Casimir as soon as my head popped back out from under the table. "Cas, are you seriously still hooked on that?" Said Ursula before I had even opened my mouth. I sent her a glare before setting down the card and turning to face Casimir. "Cas, like you said, that happened eight years ago. I was six." I state bluntly, giving him a clear, 'What the Hell is wrong with you?' Look. He merely shrugged before snatching his cards from the table. "One more round?" He asked hopefully.
Chuckling, I said, "No Cas, we all know I'm just gonna win, and you'll lose even more money before you eventually go broke and I become a millionaire." Rolling his eyes, he grabs both mine and Ursula's cards before shuffling them and handing them back to me. "You could've just said no, no need to be such an Ursula about it." He was smiling mischievously by the end of his sentence, staring at Ursula from the corner of his eye. An offended, "Hey!" Comes from the left side of the table. We both turn simultaneously to smirk at her. "What's that supposed to mean anyways? Such an 'Ursula'."
He gives he sly smile, "Not sur I want to tell you." She gives a cry of frustration before replying. "It's not like I care anyways." She grumbles mostly to herself as she slumps back into the back of her chair and slides down. She looked like me, I decide in that moment. Looking at her at, arguably, her worst. We both share the same sandy blonde hair, and ocean blue eyes. Yet her nose and lips are very different from my own. And her skin tone has always been slightly lighter. "Um... Earth to Oliver." Next thing I know, Casimir's hand is wave wildly in front of my face. Snapping me out of my thoughts.
When he finishes I make sure that all of the cards all the same direction. The cards may have been old and tattered, but they were still mine. I stuffed them into my back pocket, securing them using an elastic.
Smirking at my best friend and sister, I get up. I take out my coin pouch, jingle it, before speaking. "Wanna spend my winnings?" Ursula got up so quickly she nearly knocked over her chair. It was an old family antique, it was slightly broken, and it definitely did not need a hyperactive Ursula practically throwing it to the ground. I winced slightly at her excitement, "Um.. Is that even a question? Hell, yes." She stated, I shrugged, before turning to face Casimir. Whop merely nodded, a small smile plastered onto his face. I cocked an eyebrow in his direction, he just nudged his head towards Ursula. Who looked about as excited if someone had told her we were getting a puppy.
And Ursula liked dogs.
I started up the stairs, which lead to the upper deck of the ship. "Guess you owe Cassian five bucks, Urse." Cassian was our nine year old brother. Who spent most of his time helping our mom in the kitchen. Being to young to help with the nets like Ursula and I. Ursula glared at me. before letting out, quite possibly the loudest groan I had heard all night. "Damn, I totally forgot about that. Great, now even he'll have earned more money than me." She buried her face in her hands, sliding them down her face, before she finally started stalking her way to the stairs. She brushed past me, nudging me with her shoulder and sending me a look which consisted of her sticking her tongue out in my general direction. I heard Casimir snickered, before shutting up and sending me an amused smile once I turned around and glared at him.
"But, ah, what exactly did Ursula bet on?" Ursula sent him a look, over both mine and her shoulders. "Oliver." she said, her voice steady and threatening. I seen her an apologetic smile, which turned out to be more of a smirk and looked behind me to face Casimir.
"She bet that she'd win, at the least, five bucks." I hear him laugh. "She actually thought that you'd lose?" I nod, chuckling to myself slightly. I hear him laugh. He pushes in front of me and grabs her shoulder. "You actually thought he'd lose?" He asked incredulously. Shaking his head and biting his tongue. A trick he used to stop from bursting out laughing. I cocked my head in confusion, was the idea of her thinking of me losing actually that amusing? I shrugged, guessing so.
"Yeah, yeah. I get it, Oliver's a God at cards." She says, and although I can't see her face I'm fairly certain that she's rolling her eyes. She shrugs off Casimir's hand. And started walking just a tad faster, I wasn't sure if Casimir caught it, but I most certainly did. "Glad you finally admit it, big sis." You could practically hear the arrogance in my voice, even though it was mostly completely mock. I smiled, Cards were one of the only things I was actually good at. not just good, either, the best. I just wish i were old enough to properly gamble. so for now, I was stuck gambling with my friends and sister.
Soon thereafter, we reached the top of the ship. The sun was practically blinding when compared to the pale lighting of the ship's cellar. I squinted, before my eyes adjusted to the sudden light. "Is the sun trying to kill us?" Came Casimir's voice. I looked over at him, his blonde hair looking slightly windblown. Although from what, I wasn't exactly sure.
"Look, there's mom and dad." said Ursula, pointing across the deck of the ship, towards our parents. "Time to tell them we're going shopping, Olive." I rolled my eyes at the nickname, sighing quietly, before crossing my arms and craning my neck to look her in the eye. "I thought I told you not to call me that?" She shrugged. Before pointing once again towards our parents and sending me a look. "I don't get why you're not doing this, you're the older sibling if I can recall." I spoke up, before starting towards our parents. "because they're your winning, mister God of cards." I trudged forward, deciding not to answer. I felt Casimir nudge me, before putting a finger to his lips and pointing towards my parents. I looked, they seemed to be in an argument. I couldn't hear them, and evidently I don't think that they'd heard us. Our little brother Cassian. was no where to be seen.
Although I assumed he was somewhere in the captain's quarters. My thoughts only proven right when we saw the door open, and a little head poke out of it. Cassian had our family's common ocean blue eyes, but instead of having inherited our mother's sandy blonde hair, he instead was born with our father's bronze, brown color of hair. I waved to him, and he waved back, hes smiled his big goofy grin. It was missing a few of his baby teeth on the top, but it just seemed to add to his angelic and bay like face. before shutting the door once more and going back to most likely playing with his action figures or something of the sort.
I turned then, my attention back towards our parents inching closer. They were situated on the raised part of the ship, the captain's quarters situated under neath them, and where the wheel of the ship rested as well. We were under them, currently out of sight. "We hear so much from other sailors, Stephen, this could just be another one of those stupid tales." I heard my mother say, obviously trying to reassure my father on something. She sounded hopeful though as well. I craned hmy head slightly to hear better. "You think they would joke about something as horrific as this? Children will die, Thera." My eyes widened at that, I turned to Casimir and mouthed, 'What? Die?' to him. he merely replied with a troubled look and shrug.
"These Games, do you think, our Ursula or Oliver will be chosen?" She sounded scared, more scared than I had even heard her before. I suddenly became very worried. I turned to Ursula, why had our names been brought up? I was scared, worried, Ursula seemed to express the same. "Stephen-" Deciding there, that I didn't want to hear anymore, I made a big show of clobbering up the stairs. As though, I had just exited the basement. "Mom, dad, can me, Ursula and Casimir go to the market?" I had seen them both stop talking immediately, as soon as they heard footsteps. They both looked worried, my father's face seemed a little whiter than usual. "Sure, honey, anything. Here, take this." She threw me another little pouch of money, slightly confused, before I saw the sad look on her face. I decided not to mention anything.
Still confused, I walked back down to Ursula and Casimir. "What was that all about?" Came Ursula's steady voice. I shrugged, "Don't know." Casimir looked pale, "Can we just forget about it. Whatever it was, it wasn't good." I looked into his green eyes and softened, no matter how much I wanted to further pursue the subject. This was Casimir, for God's sake. my best friend since forever. "Sure, let's just go shopping. Forget it, if it's important we'll find out later." Said Ursula, before a word could even exit my mouth. She was looking at the waves, hitting the Seafire.
"Yeah, let's just go shopping." I concluded.
Oliver everyone.