Private ✪ Stokbon Stokbon Cinnamon Bun

[Juniper Lockton]

If there was an absolute picture of a newbie around Terra, the current poster child had to be Juniper. With this being her third login, she hadn't even made it too far from the starting area. She'd only made it to Stokbon, and just being around the city was a wealth of experiences for someone who was doubling up on living through new and exciting events. Being shorter than she was IRL, being seen as a girl, it was all new and scary considering what little she knew about actually being a girl just yet.

Still, she would learn. There was always going to be more time to learn and grow, painful as it would inevitably be.

Today had been a rough day at home for her IRL. So, she was just here to be here, no goals or plans as of yet. Perhaps something would happen that would change that. As it would happen, she found a stand where a few folks seemed to be playing some kind of game. Fresh to a big city like this, being from a small town in the real world, she didn't understand that she was better off not getting involved at all.

It was a scam.

A classic one, too, but not one that most bystanders or passersby would save her from. She approached with a bright smile, practically begging to be conned out of what little gold she had, and fell into the trap. But it was just beginning, would someone step in after all?

Anyone watching would see a girl with white or silver hair, depending on who you asked, dressed in robes fitting for a noob who hadn't gotten around to getting other clothes yet. She hadn't even started any kind of quests as of yet she was so green. Her red eyes flitted over the conman's hands as he shuffled around cups, sensitive ears trying to listen for the movement of the ball to pinpoint it but struggling thanks to the crowds. Her fox ears twitched, sensing something off about what she'd just heard in the rhythm but not seen.

She was getting to the resolution of it being a scam slowly, but wouldn't understand until she'd already lost once and bet again, blinking in confusion at how she'd lost. She'd always been good at these kinds of games, hadn't she?

 

[Zelrius]

Zelrius's lip curled and lifted as the old man handed him back the dark cloak. The work wasn't bad; it never was with this old man - that wasn't the issue. "Two.. hundred." He was told in a wheezy breath. The price being called up for all the threading and needle work to repair and clean it out after his return from the Astorean expedition. More expensive than when he had left, by nearly twice as much, as though the old man's demand for services had increased. Stokbon showed itself more and more to reflect his actual, real home of Boston with its soaring prices and cost of living.

The blonde felis's expression fell to a neutral flatness. he reached for his belt, snatching up a tied, small sack that was hanging there and opening it to count out the gold. Another day of adventuring, wiped out just to have good fashion. "My fault for having fine clothes." He joked with the tailor, paying and then waving the old man goodbye before turning out of the corner, New England style store building, walking back out onto the busy street of the city of Light, the capital of Falderen. He took a moment to look down the street, and up the hill, blue eyes resting on the towering palace that was perched above the surrounding city. D'vangelline was the Queen now, thanks to the assassination. He hadn't seen her since the coronation, closing in on five years ago now. How was she doing?

His eyes drifted down from the peaks of the castle to the street infront of him now. A foxgirl staring at an ankle-high table with a man crouched on the other side of, sliding the cups. The man approached slowly, watching the map slide the ball around from the backside of the cups, or dropping it through the table with Astramancy. A common scam in this city, one that Zelrius and Jin had managed to use for their own purposes during an investigation long ago.

He could use pyromancy or Dynamism and ruin the game, though that'd only draw negative attention to himself. Not to mention, it wasn't really his business how this man made a living. Though he'd admit, it'd be difficult to watch a cute foxgirl continuously get scammed like this. There was an easier solution to this. He stepped forward, swinging his coat around his shoulders with a dramatic flare and waving to the scammer and his patron. "How much have you won from her so far? Enough to by a house?" The golden haired felis joked with a grin toward the man, who didn't miss a beat and responded in kind. "She hasn't enough money for that, but I am getting close."

He placed the necessary bet on the table, looking to @Juniper Lockton to gauge her reaction to the interaction, before looking back to the scammer. "Make it interesting, and let us both bet. Either way, one of us loses." The felis reasoned with the gamesman, trying to convince him to allow a slight change in the rules, and expose that it was all a cheat. The cups shuffled and moved around, the ball rolling, though Zelrius's own hearing wasn't good enough to hear any deviations. And his eyes detected no change in the magical energy in the air. That meant it was a simple sleight of hand trick where he simply slipped the ball out and into a different cup. When it was done, the dark clothed Zelrius pointed to the one in the center, letting his playing partner choose another before the ball was revealed. A random guess based on no information, though he hoped that Juniper would have a more confident answer, and reveal the game for what it is.

 

[Juniper Lockton]

The idea that it was a scam continued to sink in as another man approached, saying something about winning money from her. She blinked and frowned a bit, looking over and up at him, then back to the con artist. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable continuing, hesitating to go forward with the game. But the money was already on the table. May as well try one more time with her new playing partner.

The cups moved quickly and interchanged all around before stopping. He picked first and picked the one in the middle, and so she picked the one on the left. The reveal showed that she was, in fact, correct, and she immediately thought of her grandfather and his lucky saying, 'Stay left and you're sure to be right.'

Winning most of her money back, the con artist seemed unhappy with the arrival of the new person and packed his stuff up and left, muttering that he had somewhere to be that he'd forgotten about. With that, she looked to her new friend,

"Thanks," Then stuck her hand out to shake, "You didn't have to step in, but you did. I realized too late I was getting scammed and your solution was really good. Since I'm apparently so willing to throw money away, can I buy you a drink?"

@Zelrius