//------------------------------// // Cardgame Of Feelings // Story: Time and death intertwined // by SilverHoof1 //------------------------------// Here I was being dragged off by both Inum and Byron as they headed for a game store a couple miles away. It seemed like both of them had shared a look, said some kind of color like “green” or “black” then smiled. Then here was me suddenly getting pulled by my arms towards the door blinking in surprise. Morrow had sat down and watched us with a small smile as we left, and I could only wonder what I had coming. Inum, who had been leading us, apparently had a terrible sense of direction. She first accidently brought us to the grocery store, then a hair salon and even a berry stall. The funny part was every time she seemed so confused and always checked around the area to make sure she wasn’t just a bit off. It took us till evening to finally find the proper store, and I personally was starving. I wasn’t exhausted, since personifications had much higher endurance and just natural senses, but we can still feel hungry. The game store’s name seemed to be a play off of the well known role playing game DND, representing a dragonborn shooting a flaming arrow into the red neon sign, saying “Dragon’s Lair”. I personally didn’t know too much about it and hung back as Inum seemed to geek over it a bit, Byron right next to her. Then a realization hit me and I poked Byron, frowning a bit. “Hey you live in the forest, how do you know what any of this is?” I questioned, poking him in the ribs. He smiled and gestured to the building, then the forest he had lived in being close behind. “I usually come here on fridays, it's how I got news and learned how to play,” “Play what?” “Well, magic,” he said simply, then waved me in as I frowned and followed behind. Inum was already inside, seeming to almost be bouncing around like a kid in a candy shop. It made some sense since she could finally play whatever this “Magic” was, instead of only watching. The casuals sitting around watched her with different measures of surprise, before she went over to the counter and motioned for me to come over as well, and I noticed Byron snap and make a swath of vines appear from his hands in a box shape, before fading away to leave him with a pile of sleeved cards which he started to shuffle. It seemed like most of the people there were staying at his display, Inum expertly picking out cards with a skull symbol at the top right, seeming to put them together to form a simple deck of cards, which she then paid for. I wonder how much money Inum just spent from Morrow’s wallet… The cashier cleared his throat, and I noticed his hair was tinted with blue as he smiled and motioned me over. After a second I came over, looking around at all the boxes behind him. “Hello there, here for magic?” He asked in a friendly tone, giving me a carefree smile before motioning to the spots that held so many cards. “Uhm… I guess so, those two kind of dragged me in and i don’t know what magic is,” I mumbled, motioning with a thumb at Inum and Byron as the two of them began to play a game. He nodded, seeming thoughtful, before grabbing a box and handing it to me. He motioned to the two, then smiling simply told me to learn from them. The cards were as they said, and as I watched my soon-to-be-boyfriend and Inum play I noticed the cards seem to cast small holographic images above the cards, attacking in a small simple battlefield in the middle. They turned cards depicting land in the background sideways, Byron doing it to forests while Inum swamps. Inum as if trying to fit what she represented seemed to play a lot of things that killed off Byron’s creatures or created zombies, while Byron played creatures of the forest, and by the end he somehow managed to win with a swarm of squirrels. I looked at the highlighted symbol on my box and noticed it was red, and after a moment I sat down then turned to Inum asking, “Hey can we do a game? I think I understand how to do it,” “Mm… sure, say if you need any help,” she replied moving a seat over so we were facing each other before I pulled out the, what I guessed to be, premade deck. As I shuffled and drew I noticed the small green lines on my hand seeming to wave back and forth, and each seemed to tint a bit red. I stared for a second, then shrugged and looked to my hand. I thought it was about average, and after deciding turn order we started. I didn’t do to well at first, although that was mostly because I wasn’t used to it. I made what Byron called “rookie mistakes” such all lands or getting turn order confused. It only took around 10 minutes before I was overwhelmed by the small amount of zombies hording my hands, and after a second I sighed, feeling righteous and asked for a rematch. She nodded, then the two of us went back at it. This time it went a lot better. The green lines flickered like flames, and I heard Byron talk about the color I was using, red. It was the color of passion and emotion, and releasing this I tried to do something. I remembered the green prominent on that flying man, and focused all my emotion, my thirst for victory, passion for Byron, and even the enjoyment for the game. Suddenly the tinted red exploded across my hand from the green stripe, and as I drew my next card it was exactly what I needed. The next five rounds went perfectly for me, it was almost like I was onfire as I put out multiple small, but fast wolves, each doing damage before Inum’s slower deck could respond. She was low by the time she cast her first spell, and it only took a fire spell to finish her. She seemed surprised at the outcome, then Byron smiling stepped in, popping his fingers all at once and settling into a confident stance. Even with fast creatures he put out a couple of wall based creatures that my own couldn’t go through, and that left him to build mana as I drew more spells. Before long he played a bit, scary creature but before it could see the end of his turn it got torched so bad it went down immediately. Finally a massive burn spell came out, and I played it with a flourish, causing all his medium walls to fizzle and burn. Next came the wolves, and by the time he had another big creature out he was so full of holes he didn’t have a chance of winning. He blinked, surprised and I smiled tiredly at him, the red on my hand fading back to its normal green. It seemed by pumping emotions into the green of my hand I could play red with very increased luck. The downside to this was how much energy it took to keep it up, and knowing how luck bites the second I would let up on the pressure it would most likely have me miss one of the most important spells in the deck. Byron, seeming impressed leaned over and kissed my forehead gently, and while I sat surprised a small thrill went through my body and I felt partially re-invigorated. After saying our goodbyes to the owner of the store we headed out, walking down the street in search of a good place to eat. It was times like this I wish we had Morrow who could just teleport us to restaurants, but instead we had to search and walk. At the very least it didn’t take too long though, and an hour later we were seated at a pizzeria, and to my surprise Morrow sat with Inum with a mischievous smile. “I’ve been epecting you,” he intoned darkly before Inum lightly punched his arm, smiling at him while rolling her eyes. “Oh shush you, your paying for dinner tonight~” “Nope, I think I already paid enough today,” he said simply, and while Inum’s face took a look like that of a caught puppy’s he gently pulled his wallet out of her coat pocket and put it in his own. Inum seemed to order light as if trying to lighten the bill that would fall on her head. Morrow as if trying to compensate ordered a bigger meal, and Inum’s response was to shoot him a pouting look before he slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her onto his lap, which seemed to cheer her up a fair amount. I myself leaned against Byron a bit as we waited for our drinks, smiling a bit from the gentle warmth coming off his body. “So what were you up to while we were gone Morrow?” Inum asked, her head leaning backwards into the crook of his neck. He shrugged before stating simply, “Nothing too much, mostly just slept and figured out where you guys were most likely to eat,” “My sleepy boy~” Inum teased softly, and he shushed her with a kiss while Byron and I simply talked about the game. He questioned how I had gotten such good look, and I told him showing him by focusing my emotions into the green line on my hand. He watched, entranced before focusing on his own hand, then after 30 seconds of intense staring subsided with a sigh. “I think it works with me because I represent an emotion, which means I can channel it,” I offered, making the stripe go back to normal. He nodded slowly, as if thinking it over in his head, then slowly took a drink from his water and looked at the roof. Another hour later the four of us finished our meal and Inum begrudgingly paid the bill, although she didn’t seem too upset about it. I had a feeling that had something to do with whatever Morrow had whispered into her ear, but knowing her it was probably just promises of shirts. Byron had one arm put around me, and I leaned back into his grip, simply letting my body completely relax. We sat for a bit, the four of us taking a break from talking and just enjoying the silence, before getting up and heading for the front door. Then, slowly a girl with long purple hair got up, walked over and past. She was covered in a black dress and it seemed as if her tail was like a scorpions minus the bared tip, and the end of it slowly traced against Byron’s body. I felt his body immediately heat up and his face flushed, but she kept walking like nothing happened. I turned to look at him, confused and he shook his head nodding towards the door. I felt… confused and worried, worried because of the effect she had on him and confused about how. Then once we got outside he started panting, clutching his chest and casting a dark look towards the restaurant. “That woman is not normal… that's a personification,” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lust couldn’t help but laugh at the look the cute tiger cast at the window where she had just been watching them, and with a flick of her tail she walked to her booth and relaxed slowly on a random man’s lap. He flustered sooo easily, it could almost be considered adorable. She slowly licked her lips as she reclined on the man’s chest, and plotted on how she could get that tiger away from the pink girl. He didn’t seem smart and already interested, so that should be very easy. She couldn’t help but wonder how he would… taste. And while she so casually planned how she would get her next victim the man she laid upon freaked out, face flushed and body sweaty as his girlfriend looked at him worriedly. He asked to excuse himself, and promptly got up and left for the bathroom as she was left too look after him, concern and confusion written on her face. But first, Lust needed to satisfy herself for the night. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amelia gently rubbed Byron’s shoulder’s as he breathed heavily, as if he had been choked and she gently checked the red thread running between them. It was still strong, sturdy and untouched, and as she did Byron gently hugged her to his chest. She went with his hands, looking up at him as he relaxed and did his best to explain what had happened. “Her touch was like… electricity, it made every part of my body scream ‘ go get her’, but then I saw you and the mental temptation went away, leaving only my body flustered,” he said quickly, as if trying to explain himself. I smiled and slowly kissed his chin, then turned back to the restaurant as the four of us stared. It seemed the red thread relationship had saved the two of us, but what could that woman do to most? WHat had she already done?...