Reunion, or How to Justify Repeating the Same Plot a Second Time

Reunion, or How to Justify Repeating the Same Plot a Second Time

“So, which card’s that one again?” Bacchae was already half in the bag, nearly sprawled across the surface of one of the Smiling Goat’s larger tables. One hand was swirling a glass of whiskey, and the other was keeping his head propped up as he watched the cards intently.

Tommy was really having his patience tested here, but he sighed and explained it again. “This is the Fool. It represents new beginnings, the start of things. Naivete sometimes.”

“That one looks pretty beat up,” Bacchae commented, tipping his head back as he drained his glass.

“Yeah, it comes up a lot when I use this deck, for whatever reason. It’s the deck my dad gave me, so I always try to listen to it.”

“So if they tell ya to wear your plaid boxers next Tuesday you listen to ‘em?” Jack chuckled from behind Bacchae, only half-paying attention.

Tommy knew he was just being an ass, but he played along anyway. “Well, you don’t usually get answers that specific. You kind of have to see what you get and figure out what they mean for you in the moment.”

“Ah, so you’re just using ‘em to bully your sub-conscious into telling you what you already know,” Jack grinned toothily.

“Ya did what in your cup?” Bacchae blinked a few times.

Tommy had to admit it was a little odd seeing the two of them thick as thieves like this. The last time he saw them together they’d been total strangers, and now it was like they’d known each other half their lives. Well, he guessed he’d never really seen them together at all, but that part was still really confusing for him, so he tried not to think about it.

A second later, Flora wandered over with a refill for Bacchae and beers for her and Kuro. As she set the glass down in front of him, Bacchae groaned. “For christ’s sake, woman, just bring the bottle!”

“No way,” she shook her head, hands on her hips. “I will not have you drinking me out of house and home again. You get one more and then I’m cutting you off.”

“I’ve got your boss on speed-dial, you know,” Bacchae’s eyes narrowed to match hers.

“And he would say the exact same thing.”

They glared at each other for a few seconds, before Kuro sighed. “Should we get started then? So we’ll be done before he starts to sober up.”

“Can’t yet,” Bacchae flopped back in his chair. “We’re still waiting on someone.”

“Always gotta be ‘fashionable late,’ that one,” Jack scoffed.

“That’s not true,” came a new voice from the door. “I always show up exactly when I plan on it.”

Tommy paused, his drink halfway to his mouth. The voice was different, a little lower-pitched than it had ever been before, but he knew it alright. He didn’t know why he bothered to turn around, because of course he didn’t recognize the red-haired woman in the doorway, but she certainly recognized him.

“They didn’t say who was going to be here,” she muttered, turning abruptly away from him, all bravado vanished.

Bacchae and Jack both swiveled between them, looking very confused. “You two know each other?”

“We’ve got… some history,” Tommy admitted, running a hand through his hair, feeling awkward.

She just sighed. “Well, I’m already here, so I might as well play.” She sat down on the other side of the table, on Jack’s far side. “Is there anyway a girl could get a drink around here? I think I’m gonna need it.”

Flora ran off to get her requested peach martini, while Kuro got the cups and dice and passed them around. “There’s six today,” he commented. “That’s thirty dice. It’s gonna be a long game…” He turned to Kei, and it seemed Tommy wasn’t the only one feeling a little awkward by her presence. Neither Flora nor Kuro seemed to really know how to act around her. “Do you know how to play, Ms. Kei?” he asked.

Bacchae and Jack immediately broke into laughter, and Kei rolled her eyes at them. “Please, just ‘Kei’ is fine. And I’ve lived here on and off for the past thirty years, so I hope I know how to play Liar’s Dice by now.”

“Let’s start, then,” Flora sat down, and grabbed her cup.

Tommy glanced around and noted where everyone was. He was between Bacchae and Flora. Being next to Bacchae wasn’t great, as even if he was shit-faced Tommy was sure he shouldn’t underestimate him. But it could definitely be worse. He could be where Kei was sitting. Maybe he should warn her. “Good luck,” he called to her, and his heart broke a little as she eyed him carefully.

“What do you mean by that?”

He shrugged. “You’re gonna need it, sitting next to him.”

Kei turned, only to see Jack grinning and waving at her. “Aw, shit.”

Tommy shook his cup vigorously, then placed it down on the table and peeked underneath. Two threes, a four, and two fives. Not a bad hand. That gave him a couple of possibilities.

“I’ll start,” Flora said. “I think there are five threes.”

“Going for a long round…” Tommy muttered.

“I wanna see what everyone does,” she smiled.

That made sense. Of the players at this table, she’d only played with Tommy once, not for years with Bacchae, and never with Kei. She didn’t really know what half the table was going to do. And with her more conservative play style, that information was paramount.

“Hmm,” Kuro thought for a second. “Fine then. I’ll say five fours.”

“Ugh, you guys are so lame!” Bacchae complained.

“Oh good, then I will continue to be ‘lame,’” Kei full-on grinned at him, even if it was tinged with sarcasm. Tommy was surprised. He hadn’t seen her make a face like that in a long time. “Five sixes.”

“Sixes, eh?” Jack narrowed his eyes, sizing her up. “Gotta lotta those, do ya?”

“Who’s to say?”

“Me, I think,” he grinned. “If no one else is gonna get this shit started, then I will. Seven sixes.”

“Ooo, ballsy!” Bacchae grinned. It was that particular one that sent shivers down Tommy’s spine. “Let’s up the ante. Nine sixes!”

The rest of the table tensed. Tommy felt bad for the poor bastard who was next. Oh, wait. Shit, that was him. He didn’t have any sixes at all, but if Kei, Jack, and Bacchae all did… oh who was he kidding? Jack never had any real strategy and Kei could lie with the best of them. Either one of them could have literally anything.

But hopefully, the rest of the table wasn’t thinking too hard about that. And hopefully it wouldn’t come back around to him again at all. Tommy forced his shoulders to relax and leaned back in his chair. “Ten sixes.”

Flora’s eyes narrowed, sizing all of them up. “I think someone’s a fucking liar. Eleven threes.”

“Twelve fours,” Kuro immediately chimed in. He must have been pretty confident in that number, as they were rapidly narrowing in on half the dice.

“You should go with the flow more,” Kei commented. “Thirteen sixes.”

Jack just laughed. “Should I do it?” he turned to Bacchae.

“Oh I definitely think so,” Bacchae nodded vigorously, only to immediately regret it and nearly pass out.

“Alright! Sixteen sixes!” He slammed his drink down on the table. Looked like Bacchae wasn’t the only one who was sloshed.

Speaking of, Bacchae’s expression shifted then, as Jack grinned over at him. “Bullshit,” he said, and the smile rapidly dropped off Jack’s face.

“You goaded me, you fucking prick.”

“Flip em and we’ll see.”

Surprisingly, they were closer to that number than Tommy assumed. Kuro had a one, Kei had a whopping three sixes, and Jack and Bacchae… well, somehow they both managed to have the exact same hand: three ones and two sixes. This amused them so much that Bacchae’s betrayal was immediately forgotten. Even as Jack gave up the first die of the game.

A few rounds passed. Usually Jack’s rather chaotic play-style dominated the early game. Unfortunately for him, he was stuck between Kei and Bacchae, who both had more than enough experience dealing with his bullshit. Neither of them had emerged unscathed, but it seemed that for the safety of their own dice pools, they were putting in a concerted effort to take him out. After only five rounds, Jack had a paltry two dice remaining to him. Not that this was dampening his enthusiasm in the slightest. In fact, quite the contrary.

While the civil war on the other side of the table raged, Tommy was trying his best to hold onto his dice. He was also gunning to get someone out, but he had an entirely different target in mind.

Jack started this round, having just been relieved of his third die, and it seemed he was going for the Hail Mary. “Eight threes,” he slurred. With twenty-five dice remaining, that was already a pretty large sum.

“Hmm, I like threes,” Kei nodded, “threes are good.”

Actually, looking down at his own dice, threes were probably not good. Tommy only had one. Unless there were a lot more of them that he didn’t know about, that wasn’t a safe bet. And for his plan to work out…

“Kei,” he stared directly at her, across the table, “Fours are a much safer bet.”

“And just why do you say that?” she narrowed her eyes.

“I don’t know. But do you think I’m lying?”

They held each other’s gaze for a few seconds. Then Kei’s mouth tightened, but she sighed and said: “Nine fours.”

“Ten. Ten fours,” Kuro added immediately. Looks like Tommy had been right.

“Horseshit!” Flora interjected. “Tommy’s the biggest liar there is. I bet he doesn’t even have any.”

Yet when they turned over their cups, there were exactly ten fours. Interestingly, there were only eight threes. If Kei had upped that bit, Kuro could have called bullshit. But instead she’d chosen to listen to him. A look passed between the two of them. Tommy’s plan was going off without a hitch. He and Kei seemed to have a tacit understanding and Flora had already lost one die.

His plan continued to work. Kei’s target quickly switched to Flora as well. They couldn’t let her get the dice advantage at all costs. As soon as she lost one, she became a little flustered and quickly lost more. Now, with only nineteen dice left at the table, she had only two, which made her tied with Jack for first loser.

It was time to do something ballsy. It would be worth potentially losing a die to throw her entirely off her game. He was just waiting for the right round.

“Three fours,” Bacchae started, and Tommy knew his time had come.

“Four threes,” Jack responded. He’d been playing a bit more conservatively, if only to make it to the halfway point.

Kei paused for just a second. She was about to lie. Tommy couldn’t always tell, but at times like this, when she had her guard slightly down, she tended to cock her eyebrow just a bit. “Four fives.”

So she had no fives, and Tommy only had one. Between the two of them they had over a third of the dice.

“Nope, it’s fours,” Kuro shook his head. “Five fours.”

That was exactly the move Tommy wanted him to make. Now to see what Flora would do.

She looked under her cup for a moment, frowning. “Six fives.”

Tommy couldn’t contain his giddiness. “Bullshit,” he said, and laughed as the whole table expressed its disbelief.

“There’s still nineteen dice!” Kuro almost stood up, and Kei put her face in her hands. Bacchae and Jack were practically falling into each other they were laughing so hard.

Flora looked pretty steamed. “If you’re right,” she said. “I’ll leave the table. I’ll be done. There’s just—”

“—No way,” the rest of the table chorused back to her.

“Well, I guess we’ll see, huh?” Tommy leaned forward, trying to do his best impression of Jack or Bacchae. It helped his nerves inside, just a bit.

They counted out the fives, and after an incredulous second of silence, laughter erupted as Flora threw both her dice into the center. “This is so stupid!” She scowled. “I need another drink. Anyone want a refill?”

The entire table raised their hands.

After that, Jack dropped out pretty quickly as well, and with the two most dominating play-styles gone, the game became much more perilous. Usually Kuro got pushed around by the more gutsy players, but with Kei and Tommy as his main competition, his logical number-crunching was actually working in his favor. The two of them could bullshit all they wanted, but if he just ignored them and trusted the numbers, he was wrong less often than they were.

Tommy was honestly starting to get a little nervous. Both he and Kei had three dice each to Kuro’s four, and Bacchae, the only trouble-maker left, was down to just one.

Luckily, his hand this round was excellent. A one and two sixes. He’d maybe fuck around a bit with another number if given the chance, but he could confidently say that he could bet pretty high on sixes. He also had something else to rely on. He could pretty consistently tell what Kei had. That probably went both ways, but they seemed to have come to a tacit, unspoken agreement to not hide their tells.

Kei was also quite happy about her hand, it seemed, because her shoulders tensed and she let out a little sigh. She always got stressed when she had something good, like she was afraid she’d waste it.

It was her turn to start the round. She inhaled deeply and said: “Four threes.” Kei probably did not have any threes.

“Five sixes,” Bacchae kicked back in his chair. With only one die, at this point he was just fucking around.

Any other time, Tommy would have called him, but this actually put him in a bad position. If Bacchae actually had a six, or a one, then there was a very good chance there were five sixes at the table. Tommy’s best bet was to up to six sixes. Kuro would probably call him out, but with a little luck he’d be right.

“Tommy…” Kei interrupted. “Don’t go with sixes. Go fours. I have all fours.”

The rest of the room blinked at her skeptically. Had she just revealed her hand?

“Is she allowed to do that?” Flora asked.

“Nothing in the rules against it,” Jack shrugged. “Besides, she’s probably lyin’, anyway.”

Tommy stared at her for a good solid minute, and she stared back. Kei lied about everything, it was true. It was kind of her thing. But something about her steady gaze told him to trust her.

“Six fours,” he said finally, and Kuro shook his head.

“You fell right into her trap, and I’m calling you.”

But when they revealed their dice, Bacchae had a one, Tommy had a one, Kuro had a four, and Kei… Kei had three fours, just like she’d said. She glanced sideways at him, the smallest smirk on her face, and Tommy knew exactly what they were about to do.

They spent the next few rounds confusing the shit out of both Bacchae and Kuro. They simply just started telling each other what they had. Of course, they both threw in some bullshit ones, but only the other knew when they were lying.

Since he was already drunk off his ass, their strategy worked very well on Bacchae, who lost his last dice almost immediately. But Kuro wasn’t so easily fooled. He kept to his strategy of simply tuning them out and was relying almost entirely on his own dice and probability at large.

Ultimately, he was proving too much for them. After a few rounds Kei was down to two dice and Tommy just one, while Kuro still had three. Tommy wanted to wipe that damn saintly calm off his face, but it didn’t look like that was in the cards, err, dice for him today. He’d just rolled a four.

“Welp, Kei. We’re fucked,” he said.

“And why’s that?” she asked.

“I’ve got a fucking four.”

“Yeah, wow, we really are screwed. I’ve got two fives.” Based on the way her eyes moved back and forth, calculating something, Kei had at least one four, but probably only one. They might have a shot, but not a big one.

“My go, right?” Tommy asked, and Kuro nodded, his face pure stone. “Alright, one four it is, then.”

“I wanna see what Kuro does,” Kei smirked. “Two fours.”

The corner of Kuro’s mouth rose, just a fraction. “Ultimately, what the two of you have doesn’t matter in the slightest. Three twos.”

Oh. Shit. Either Kuro had gotten a really good hand, or he had suddenly decided to play ballsy. Tommy was kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. He could keep at the fours, and hope Kuro had a lot of ones, but if he did that and was right, Kei would definitely lose this round.

“Tommy, call fours,” she said quietly.

But that wasn’t really his style. Besides, she had a better chance of winning than he did, anyway. “Sorry, Kei,” he smiled. “Good luck. Bullshit, Kuro.”

“I am very sorry to say that that was definitely not bullshit,” Kuro lifted his cup to reveal a one and two twos.

Tommy calmly placed his die in the center and got up from the table. Then he placed two hands on Kei’s shoulders—she tensed but didn’t pull away—and said: “Kill him for me, will ya?”

She chuckled. “I’ll try my best.”

Her best, however, might not have been good enough. At least not with her infamously abysmal luck. Two rounds later, she was down to one die, though she had managed to cut Kuro down to two. This could potentially be the last round, and the tension was rather stew-like in its consistency.

From over her shoulder, Tommy glanced under her cup as she did, and saw one six. Not great. But he’d see what she’d do.

Alas, it was Kuro’s turn first, and he was cool as a cucumber as he shook his wings out a little and said: “two sixes.” That was the worst thing he could have said, because it put Kei in an extremely perilous situation, even more than he knew. Even if he was lying and he only had one six, with Kei’s that would still make two.

Which meant it would be better for her to raise the bet. Kuro didn’t often lie. He was probably trying to get her to call him.

Tommy’s mind started going in circles, but Kei’s didn’t. Either that or her brain just worked a lot faster than his did. “Three sixes.”

If he wasn’t lying, she had it. “I guess we’ll see,” he chuckled. But as he revealed his dice, everyone gasped. Because Kuro had no sixes at all.

The table broke into madness, and it took a long time for everyone to calm down. Kuro was brought another drink, and he certainly looked proud of himself. However, it wasn’t long before the end of the game devolved into recounting exploits and drunken ramblings. At one point Cowell came back from whatever he’d been doing and joined them, and it looked like the party wouldn’t be ending any time soon.

Kei seemed a little distant from the fun, however, and Bacchae made fun of her for being a sore loser, but just a few minutes later, her eyes met Tommy’s and he knew what was up. He made his excuses, went out for a second to get some air, and waited.

It didn’t take long for Kei to join him.

They stood in silence for a minute, staring up at the green and purple sky, before Tommy broke it. “Your new body,” he said, still not quite sure how to act about it. “It looks good. Feels… more like you than the last one.”

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

“Nothing, I just… didn’t like that Kei very much.”

He was half-expecting her to correct him, tell him that he was being ridiculous, and that Kei was just as much Kei as this current one was, but she just let out a big puff of air and shook her head. “Look. About what happened the last time we met…”

“You mean you murdering a teenager in cold blood and trying to become an evil overlord?”

“I’m not going to apologize for what I did,” her face tightened. “Because I’m not sorry. But… the way I treated you… wasn’t fair.”

“It wasn’t. But, in your defense, I was the one who called you a stranger.”

“I’m…” she really had to struggle to get the words out. “I’m sorry.”

“I am too…”

That hung in the air for a minute, and it felt like just a bit of the tension was gone.

“And I know that things can’t just… go back to the way they were between us, but… you did promise to show me the cosmos, you know…”

Tommy felt his own face light up. “You mean you’ll—”

“Ah, ah, ah,” she shook her finger at him. “I’m not running away with you. I’ve got a job, you know. But I don’t think the city’s gonna fall apart if I take a vacation.”

Kei was still so different now than when he’d known her. There would be a lot to get used to. Yet just a little bit, he saw the old her peaking through.

“Alright,” he said. “It’s a deal.”

She smiled back. “You know how much I love those...”