Whist Vs. Massie Block
Whist looked for his opponent amid the sea of spectators that had formed a half-circle around him where he sat on a blue plastic bench, arms crossed and his scowl focused hard on their midst. After all the fiery explosions and impossible feats of mutation from the previous round, Whist was vaguely surprised that the man who had simply gotten someone bull-dozered by a roller coaster had attracted the largest crowd, but he had learned a long time ago of the strange ways human humor worked, and merely rolled his eyes at it.
"Start the fight!" someone bellowed, and Whist cocked an eyebrow.
"My opponent isn't here yet." He replied icily.
His haggler shut his mouth and shuffled further back into the crowd, but a brunette girl who had been standing smack in the front took another step forward, her stiletto heels clicking loudly.
"Um, I've been here for, like, a while now…" She said, putting her weight on one foot so her hip popped.
Blink grumbled a noise of curiosity, and Whist stood up slowly, eyeing her. "You're my opponent?"
"Well…yeah…apparently…"
"And, may I ask, what exactly is it you do that got you here?"
Her eyes lit up a little. "Shopping!"
Whist paused and a look of shock twisted the skin-dye on his face. "…Seriously?"
"Yeah, there's nothing I do better or love more! You better watch yourself, cause I am totally great at what I do."
The was another pause, as Blink and his master stared at her incredulously, and though she did fairly well keeping her composure Whist didn't miss the heavy swallow and fidgeting with the hem of her hoodie. She was nervous, obviously unsure what to do next. She thought she was making a good show of confidence, but she really was just a teenage girl of no particular note-worthiness. Whist was a little insulted. He realized now that the crowd had chosen this battle not for the entertainment, but for the safety.
"Fuck this, let's just get it over with." He grumbled, reaching for a shuriken.
"Wait!" Massie squeaked, holding up her well-manicured hands. "Don't you like…want more of a challenge? I mean, you could obviously knock me flat on my ass in like, two seconds, so wouldn't you rather beat me at something that we're evenly matched in and really earn the victory?"
"No, not really." Whist replied unhooking the blade-disk and twirling it in his fingers. "Here's the deal girlie; I'm only here for one thing, and that's to get through and out of this god-damn tournament and the quicker the better. You're outta luck."
He raised his hand and Massie's eyes widened, her knees bending to spring and run away, but her ankles wobbling on the four-inch heels. She was done for. Just as he was about to launch, however, his arm was stayed, and a tail whupped against his legs, demanding attention. With a sigh Whist turned towards his dog, slowly retracting his forearm from the beast's maw and raising his eyebrows at him. One moment of thought later, Whist turned back to the quaking girl and said;
"Fine. We'll do it your way. Name your game." He folded his arms.
Massie was so relieved she could hardly think, she tried to grasp an idea that would take full advantage of her new life-line but Whist's impatient stare was making her nervous again. Finally she decided it was best to leave it to luck and blurted out; "Poker."
Whist nodded slowly, he had encountered the game once or twice in his travels, or at least variations of it, it would do fine.
"All right, you pick the place, I'll get the cards. We'll meet in an hour."
"The rose garden in the left wing?" She offered, remembering seeing it and thinking it was a really cute, calming sort of place.
Without further acknowledgment Whist turned away and headed out to find a card shop, Massie could only assume that meant he accepted.
- - -
Massie sat at the small stone table, fiddling with the straps of her Prada purse, and tapping her right foot against the flag-stone walk. The garden was small, and hardly of note in a mall with so many huge attractions, but Massie thought it was nice, and honestly it made it harder for the spectators to find them, leading to a smaller, quieter crowd, something that would help her nerves exponentially. It was simple too, with four flagstone walkways with gentle curves that met in the center as a broken wall of stone imported from some roman ruins and the table where she now sat. In the corners between paths roses grew in well-trimmed bushes and along trellises in all colors, coordinated to create spiraling patterns that entranced the eye from all angles.
Massie sighed, and leaned back, pursing her lips as she considered her opponent. The guys here so far had been way creepy, making her uncertain of how to handle herself, but now that she had been given time to actually give thought to her opponent she had steeled in her mind that one man could not be so different from another, and had pumped up her sex appeal by taking off her Abercrombie hoodie to reveal the low-cut tank underneath, the one that hugged her curves just right, down to her belly button, underneath which was an inch or so of bare skin which slipped under the tight edge of her favorite denim mini. With an extra dab of lip-gloss and a few well-chosen accessories she would have him so distracted the game would be in the bag. Plus, she had been really lucky so far, she had faith her luck would hold.
Whist approached after another half-hour, and Massie cocked an eyebrow as she saw she wasn't the only one to make a wardrobe change. Whist now wore a long navy-blue jacket with a fringed collar and black embroidery down the sides which was in no way fashionable, but she did have to acknowledge the dramatic flare it added as it cracked in the wake of his crisp walk. She gave him her best critical look, the one that sent the sad little freshmen running to the bathroom to cry first period away, but he only continued on his way to the bench across from her.
'Ehmagawd,' she thought while looking him up and down as he sat across from her and giving her a quick un-concerned glance. 'He is just one big mess. I mean come on, rainbow hair? He is in for one hell of a shock when that little punk get-up doesn't do a damn thing against me.'
Whist took a sealed deck out of his pocket and placed it in the middle of the table.
"Care to get us started?" He asked.
Massie nodded. "Totally. What's your game?"
"A single round of five-card draw."
"You bet."
She opened the deck and began shuffling, leaning against the table and tilting her face so her little pout was accentuated.
"You wanna deal?" She asked, with a little smile.
He didn't look up. "Go ahead."
With a shrug she passed out the cards and put the pile in the middle. The two of them took a moment to examine their hands.
"So, I have got to ask, what's up with all that…you know…stuff?" Massie asked, eyeing his hair, tattoos and jacket.
He moved one card to the left. "I don't know what you mean."
"Well, are you, like, trying to get attention or what?"
Whist raised an eyebrow at her, finally looking up. "Now, really, do I seem like the kind of guy who gives a rat's ass about who's checking me out?
"So, what, you want people to get a false impression?"
"I always give exactly the impression I intend to."
Massie pouted a little more, this time really out of frustration, and looked back at her hand; she had a pair of jacks, a queen, a five and a seven. She looked up and watched as Whist took three cards out of his hand and placed them next to the deck.
"You know, I feel I should warn you," he said, drawing a card. "I'm obscenely lucky."
Massie raised her eyebrows. "Really? I don't know if you've realized this, but I'm the chick who beat a freaking ninja in my first fight, like, ever. I think I'm the lucky one here."
"Ah, but you see, girlie, that's just one instance of a little luck." He drew another card. "Why don't you try living your life moment to moment, every second walking the edge between life and death? When the slightest change in your environment can push you one way or the other, when you have to trust that your blade will strike just a little straighter than the other guy's…that, my dear little girl, is what being lucky is all about." Very slowly, he drew his final card, glanced at his new hand and then looked back to her. "Go ahead, try your luck."
Massie knitted her forehead as she stared at Whist, trying not to let the cool, un-wavering stare he was giving her get under her skin. She put her two number cards in the discard pile.
"Well, you know what," she said, trying to keep the mood light. "At least I look good doing it."
Whist snickered as she drew her two new cards, and Massie couldn't hold her poker face as she saw another jack and a ten.
"You ready?" She asked.
"Certainly, go ahead and show."
She slapped down her hand. "Ha! And there you have it, rainbow-head."
Whist looked down at the cards, his expression dead-pan. Massie waited for some reaction to come onto his face, feeling her nerves slowly re-building in her stomach and finally he took a deep breath and sat back.
"You know what I find really amusing?" He said. "The fact that you are just so stupid." Massie straightened, glaring at him. "You think you're so much better than everyone else because you wear expensive things and have an attitude. You think the world is at your feet and if you flash a little cleavage no one will know anything else exists. I've been traveling with the most beautiful woman in the fucking world for almost half a year now, trust me, your little jail-bait ass does nothing for me."
Massie was appalled, but her retort was jumbled in with another cry of shock as Whist laid down his hand to reveal a full house of aces full of nines. She looked, gawking, from the cards to Whist's smirking face.
"I told you kid," Whist said quietly under Death-by-Chocolate's declaration of his victory. "I'm one lucky son-of-a-bitch."
"How?" Massie wailed. "That's not fair!"
Whist stood and stretched his shoulders, then looked back at the fuming teenager. "No, it's not. Nothing is ever fair; I learned that a long time ago. You wanna know how I've always stayed so lucky?" He leaned onto the table, so he was a few inches from Massie's face, staring her down. "It's all home-made." And he flicked the rest of his extra aces out of his sleeves.
"EHMAGAWD!! You cheated!" Massie cried. "Ref! This guy's a cheat!"
Death by Chocolate gave her an incredulous look. "And?"
She was taken aback by his apathy, she looked around for support from one of the spectators but found none. "So he should be disqualified!"
"Did you read your contract, kid?" Whist asked.
"Well duh I'm not stupid."
"Did it say anywhere that cheating wasn't allowed?"
Massie opened her mouth, but her argument seemed weak. She looked at Death by Chocolate again, her expression imploring. "That can't be right! I mean, that rule is just a given isn't it?"
Death by Chocolate shook his head. "No, it certainly is not."
Whist walked around the table, stopping to lean over her. "See, little girl? If you really wanna make it anywhere in life you have to know what the real rules are."
"Gawd, stop being so condescending!" Massie snapped, standing up sharply and turning to glare at Whist. "I know about real life, ok?"
"Do you? Do you really?" Whist took a step forward, so they were very nearly pressed against each other but with the faintest sliver of space between them.
"Yeah." Massie said, keeping the strength in her voice but unable to keep her hands from shaking. "Yeah I do."
Whist chuckled. "You are such a fool. You think you'll always be the boss? That everyone will always look to you as some kind of goddess? That for as long as you live, you will be the most gorgeous girl in the room and everyone will want to be like you, because you are something above and beyond them? Is that it?"
"…No…no I—" She tried to step back but Whist grabbed her arm, Death by Chocolate took a step forward, ready to intervene if a fresh fight broke out.
"Would you like to know what you are?" Whist said through his teeth. "What you really, truly are? What anyone of worth will see you as?" Massie was trembling throughout her body now, looking up at Whist in shock. "Ugly." Whist said, making the word as sharp and cold as he could. "Ugly in the worst way. Ugly right down in whatever sort of soul you have. Because of the way you treat people, because of the way you look at the world." He let Massie sink to the ground, but kept his hold on her, kneeling with her and leaning in so he was whispering right beside her ear. "So you see, Massie, for all your haughtiness and superiority, you are just like me."
Whist released her and let her slump, then, with one last scornful look he turned on his heel and stalked out of the garden. Blink watched him for a moment, a soft whimper in his throat, and then followed sadly, unsure what this sudden change in his master meant.
A/N: Okeeday, then. I had the idea for this story in my mind pretty well but it just, didn't want to be written. I hope it came out ok in the end. Massie was blessedly easy to characterize, and I liked making my own spot in the mall. Hope ya'll liked it too!