open to all;

[swordboning]

Who: Archer swordboning and YOU. (Maybe Athena too)
When: December 15th and on
Where: Right here where you need him. At least in the streets.
What: Golden Archers is sadly open. Come get your top tier food of choice.
Rating/Warning: Nah.


[Archer was fully cringing at the emblem Athena made and the fact that it was pasted on his apron. Well, inwardly at least. Athena got to have her way with the things went around here since she was the one who put in the money and most of the work. That meant her lame idea of what was great ended up plastering almost anything that had the surface for it.

But for a food stall, there was a serious lack of menu. Archer, though, intentionally wanted that. Restricting himself would only be admitting that he couldn't make things that people wanted outside of said menu. Obviously, there were some restrictions because supplies of some things were exceedingly rare or impossible to find. Which meant that rich people places had to be visited for that. But here were reasonable prices for fresh cooked food.]

Before you ask, there's no menu. So just tell me what you want.

[Customer service needed a little bit of work, however. And no, Saber, you weren't getting any free food.]

Comments

[carptricks]

Hey! For all you know, I could earn a living that way.

[stuffs another piece of takoyaki into his mouth]

[swordboning]

I get the feeling you'd have better success as a poet.

[carptricks]

Or an artist?

[he says with raised eyebrows]

[swordboning]

I haven't seen your art so I'm sticking with what I know.

[Terrible.]

[carptricks]

[a snort; not at all offended, just amused]

Sounds like you should drop by the CERES Game Center sometime! I managed to pick up a job as a performer there.

[while he chews on his third piece of takoyaki, he flicks his wrist and produces a deck of cards from thin air (MAGIC), which he proceeds to spread across the food cart counter. all of them are face down]

[swordboning]

....I know you're trying to impress me but I can pull something better out of my sleeve.

[Quite a large shrug comes out of this.]

But what do you want me to do here?

[carptricks]

It's not about what you or I can pull out of our sleeves.

[he slips his fingers underneath one card at the end of the line and flips it over, which in turn flips over the rest of the cards until they're all face up. all different cards! seems like a pretty standard deck]

For now, all I need you to do is watch closely.

[swordboning]

I hope this is real magic and not going to be a slight of hand trick.

[He looks but doesn't really focus. Part of the joys of being an Archer class.]

[carptricks]

Sleight-of-hand magic is just as real as spellcasting magic.

[which is all he says as he scoops the cards up and starts to shuffle them]

So it looked like a normal deck, right? No doubles, no marked cards, no anything. . . although the first four cards on the top of this deck are pretty unique.

[he stops shuffling and flips the first four cards over-- they're all jacks, and each one is of a different suit]

[swordboning]

[Sighing.]

Right. What are you going to do with those?

[carptricks]

Nothing. They've got a mind of their own and a tendency to jump to any place of the deck they wanna jump.

[flips the jacks over so they're face down again]

Far be it from me to stop them from doing whatever it is they wanna do.

[swordboning]

Or you they could stay on the top. Not doing something is the same as having the choice of doing something.

[carptricks]

And I choose not to take away their free will.

[drops the stack of cards on top of the first overturned jack, so it's technically at the bottom of the deck]

This one tends to prefer it up top, anyway.

[. . . and then he flips over the first card on the stack, which is-- GASP-- the jack that should have been at the bottom]

[swordboning]

[He is essentially the king of not impressed. Of course, nothing impresses him so he just smirks.]

Is there anything else left to this other than moving cards?

[carptricks]

[kaito's used to dealing with skeptics; his stride isn't broken]

You don't believe me when I say they have a mind of their own?

[takes the second down turned jack, flips it over to show archer (it's the jack of clubs) and then slips it into the center of his deck]

[A PAUSE]

If you're that skeptical, you might wanna check your apron pockets.

[swordboning]

I'm not a skeptic. It's the complete opposite. I come from a world where, among certain people, magic is extremely common. Even I know a couple spells.

[Reaching into his pocket either way.]

[carptricks]

[somehow that jack of clubs meandered its way into that apron pocket. SURPRISE ARCHER]

So? Anyone can learn how to recite an incantation and perform a spell. It takes true skill to do what I do without any of the supernatural stuff attached.

[a cheeky grin]

-- and I told you the cards were adventurous.

[swordboning]

I'll have to argue with you on that. But...

[He holds up the card and slides his fingers, so a second one looking exactly the same slides out behind it.]

...on this level, it is fairly simple. When it comes to creating swords lost to time, it's a completely different story.

[carptricks]

[leans back a bit and scoops up his cards to re-shuffle them into the deck]

Don't be a showoff, now. You already made your point with the takoyaki.

Which was pretty good, by the way.

[. . . o right he should pay]

[swordboning]

My Master will appreciate your show a little more than I did. She might even ask to learn something, who knows.

[Don't ask. Or do.]

You're welcome.

[carptricks]

Magicians only pass their secrets on to those who are truly interested in picking up the trade.

[eyebrow quirk]

. . . what kinda master are we talking about here?

[he asked]

[swordboning]

I'm a magical being. So I need someone to supply me with magical energy so I can exist. That kind of Master.

[carptricks]

Magical being?

[but what does that mean!1]

[like any sane person, kaito reaches over the counter to poke archer's shoulder, just to make sure he still feels like a normal person.]

[swordboning]

[It's just armor there. Though he could technically just vanish if he wanted to. But that would be a waste.]

....satisfied?

[carptricks]

. . . pretty satisfied!

[withdraws]

What kind of magical creature are you?