The day was beautiful; Allen and General Cross had returned to Liverpool, and it was fall. The cool weather was normal to Allen since he had been raised in England, but the weather being cool was all the more reason to stay inside...

Allen sat at the kitchen table playing with a deck of cards; his arm and hand were so close to being paralysis-free, he went to the table and cards as soon as he got up, and didn't leave except for specific reasons, like food, or his Master telling him to go to bed. His progress over the last ten months or so was so surprising; his arm had gone from stiff as a board to almost as agile as his other arm during that time, and life was so much easier.

So here he sat playing with the cards. While he played with the cards regardless, he had gotten bored with looking at the pictures on the cards; they had symbols on them too, and Allen, still mostly illiterate, could only identify some of them as numbers, and those he could identify, he didn't understand. His Master had tried teaching him letters and words, but Allen was still struggling with learning.

Allen hadn't noticed that Cross had sat beside him at the table, and he jumped when he did. His Master had stolen all of the deck except the few Allen held. He smiled slightly at Allen as if to say 'Can I have the rest of the cards?', but it was the smile that scared Allen; his Master never smiled at him, or almost never...

Allen gave him the cards, scared that his Master would get angry if he didn't. He buried his head in his arms and realized he was tired. It wasn't an exhausted tired, but it was enough to make him want to take a nap or go to bed early.

He felt something land on his back and shoulders; Tim couldn't pass up an opportunity to lay on or around Allen, who didn't really mind since Tim was surprisingly light. Tim had a fondness for his future master and, while it was just as deep as Cross', he would show it much more readily than Cross would.

Allen dozed while at the table; when he woke, there was a plate of food in front of him, and he happily began eating.
Cross and Mother were arguing over something Allen didn't care about and Baba was trying to mediate the argument; this was a typical dinner when they returned to Mother's.

After dinner, Cross pulled the cards out of his pocket, and began setting up a card game. Allen had heard the three of them stay up for a while after he went to bed before, and as he looked at the clock, he realized it was the time that his Master usually told him to go to bed. Well, he wouldn't pass on staying up if his Master forgot to tell him to go to bed. He noticed that his Master had set out four places instead of three, and one was in front of him. Allen picked up a card with his left hand successfully and grinned as he looked at it.

Cross explained the game a few times to Allen, then the four of them played. It took a few tries for Allen to understand, but once he did, he played the other three players like fools.

But little did Cross, Mother, and Baba know, Allen had learned he could put the cards up his sleeves...

'Royal Straight Flush!'

And thus, Allen the Card Shark was born.

Haha, Allen is a card shark... So, Cross taught him how to gamble, but he didn't end up teaching him to cheat XD I really do write short stories, I rarely go over 700 words... :3

I'll write the Christmas chapters now XD I think I have one of them done, actually (I'll have to check that :3 )... If it is, I'll post it in about a week :3 yay! XD