Fizzbin

"Fizzbin" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Stonegit Elmiss: The journey home and the bussiness or royal duty related stops had left the king and his guard greatly interested in rest and laid back recovery time.
Stonegit eased himself off the dragon. He snatched a report note pinned to a post for him by one of the other guards, and nodded in satisfaction as he tucked it away, and grabbed the door to the safehouse.
“Looks like all was well in our absence. Which is more than I can say about my old arse, I’m using a sattle next time.”
Egil Haddock: “Not on my dragons you don’t,” Egil said with a smirk. He slid off Svadi with little difficulty. His movements were slightly stiff, though, belying their long travel.
He walked up to the Changewing, rubbed it under the chin, and said affectionately, “Like, you don’t want any saddles, is that right?” 
The dragon crooned.
He turned to look at the town of the safehouse. He stared at it with great interest for a short moment, and then started up the road the wrong way. 
Seeming to intuit his own error, he paused, laughed, and turned to Stonegit. “I’m not sure I know this place well enough still. Couldja take us back, eh?”
Stonegit: “Yeah we’re just over here.” Stonegit as he opened the door he was grasping, and then paused as he frowned at the old storage shed he was looking into. He swiftly closed it and looked back at Egil.
His eyes shifted for a moment. Maybe I did a little ‘too’ well with this house’s placement.
“I think its behind here…” he said with a tilt of his head, and bid Egil to follow him down an alley.
Egil: “You think,” Egil mocked Stonegit lightly. “What do I have you hired for again?”
They did, however, see signs they were going the right direction. They passed Jonas, casually mingling in the street nearby. Jonas seemed puzzled when Egil passed.
“Thought you’d just gone,” he remarked. 
“Well, I’m back,” Egil responded.
Stonegit: “You never hired me. But I am hired to protect, not be directionally savvy.” Stonegit quipped back as he waved a hand at him. He stopped as he saw Jonas and smiled. “Hey, sorry that took a bit.”
Egil: “I dunno. Directionally savvy and good protection go hand-in-hand,” Egil pointed out. “Pretty sure that going left to dodge an enemy, and going right to get impaled by the sword, is a big difference. Directions are important.”
Stonegit: “So are reflexes.” Stonegit replied with a pointed finger. “And I hope yours are on point if you keep this up.”
Egil: “Threatening me? Pretty sure that’s treason! Maybe I didn’t hire you, but I could fire ya for that!”
Egil opened the safehouse door and walked inside. Not many family members were inside; he didn’t see Mera, Avara, or the girls. There was Sindri, though, who had more or less begged to hide with everyone else… and then packed so many books that Egil had threatened to leave him behind anyway. 
He was reading one of those books now, but wasn’t so engrossed with it that he didn’t notice his brother’s entrance.
“Oh. Egil. Back already?” Sindri blinked. “I thought you’d just left.”
“Nope. Back,” said Egil. “And Stonegit is too.” He pointed behind him.
Stonegit: “So’s clobbering the king, but I’ll keep on the table of option never the less.” Stonegit grumbled as he stuffed his hands in his pockets. But there was an undeniable lightness to his shoulders and step. 
He then regarded Sindri and Jonas. “We’ve been gone an excess of two weeks. And I doubt being mostly contained here helped the passage of time…” He stopped and glanced at the calendar on the wall before facing Egil. “We were gone two weeks at least right? Or did I imagine the duration of that flight?”
Egil: “Yeah, Stonegit’s been gone that long,” said Egil dismissively. Sindri frowned, but Egil waved his brother off. 
“So what sort of magic-ass cryptic shit have you been up to now?” Egil asked his brother instead.
Sindri bristled. “It’s alchemy, not magic. Well, not - not entire - not entirely magic. Mostly alchemy. I’m an alchemist.”
“Then what’s that book?” Egil asked dryly.
It was a book of spells opened to a page about casting illusions long-distance.
“Recreational scientific curiosity,” Sindri sniffed.
“Uh-huh. Sure.” Egil sat down, then picked up a pack of cards setting beside Sindri. He began to shuffle the cards. “These aren’t like, cursed or nothing, are they?”
“They’re cards. Just cards.”
Egil held up the deck in Stonegit’s direction. “Hey. Still grumpy at me for criticizing all your ineptitudes?” He winked. “Wanna beat my ass at cards instead of like, you know, my actual ass?”
Stonegit: “All you say? Short list.” Stonegit snorted, and then motioned with his hand as he made his way the table. “Yet you offer me a legal way to beat your ass, so I can’t help but accept. Besides, it’ll be a good way to unwind after that trip.”
He paused as he passed Sindri and took note of his books and comments. Alchemist…I have my theory, but he…he could have the actual means… He rested a hand on his shoulder as he went by. “Mind if we talk after cards. I’m interested in what you’ve got there.” 
Egil: Sindri jerked up as though he’d been caught doing something wrong. He ran a hand through his long, straight blond hair. Then he relaxed once he processed Stonegit’s request. “Oh. Oh yeah. Yeah! Yeah, we can - we can talk after that.”
Egil was shuffling the cards, and he paused before he started dealing. “Hey bro, you want in?”
Sindri shrugged, and while it was a noncommittal motion, Egil took it as an invitation to deal a hand to his brother.
“Alright then. The name of the game is Fizzbin,” Egil said with an impish smile.
Stonegit: “Fizzbin huh…” Stonegit mused as he observed the cards. He had always watched Egil as the man had sought out games that always seemed to require chance, and yet somehow displayed skill while doing so.
He had never been one to join in on family game session much, although it had happened here and there. But as of a few months ago…the guard had found himself wanting to learn how to play more than he had anticipated. 
“Alright so how do I start?”
Egil: “It’s not too difficult,” Egil said casually. He was continuing to deal the cards, and as he caught Sindri’s eye, his brother gave a RATHER stern glare. The glare was the non-tactile equivalent of shredding someone’s face off. But Egil’s grin merely broadened at the sight.
“So now. Each player gets six cards. ’Cept the one on the right, who gets seven.”
“Uh-huh. On the right,” said Sindri skeptically, at the same time Egil accidentally dealt the person to his left the extra card.
“The right,” said Egil, making the appropriate adjustment.
Stonegit: “Hey did that fall under ineptitude or directional impaired?” Stonegit asked as he took his cards. “Just curious.”  
Egil: Egil smashed the card into Stonegit’s face. “Don’t know, it’s your job. Looks like someone just failed his REFLEXES.”
Sindri groaned. “It’s going to be like this all game, isn’t it?” It looked like he was beginning to regret not fleeing the room the second Egil appeared.
Stonegit: “Loki!” Stonegit sputtered as he swatted his hand. “You’ll put my only half good eye out! He sniffed once and then nodded in Sindri’s direction, and took on a more diplomatic tone. “Right, right, sorry Sindri. Egil…please continue.”
Egil: “If I put your good eye out, I’d be putting your eye out of its misery,” Egil quipped, and then because Sindri’s grumpy prodding, returned to the task at hand. “Right. The rules. So. Everyone, check out your cards.”
Sindri picked up his cards, though he didn’t seem too interested in learning what they were. He seemed more interested in glaring at Egil over the cards.
Egil pointed to the large card stack in the middle of the table. “Now. Next. The second card is turned up. ’Cept on Tuesdays. Does anyone know? Is today a Tuesday?”
Stonegit: Stonegit had to concede to Egil’s last remark. It was witty, didn’t leave a lot of room for a smart come back, and the game was in need of getting on with. So instead he shifted in his seat to look for the calendar. “I think…its…Thursday actually…” 
Odd rule….
Egil: Egil continued without missing a beat, “Now you’ve got to compare the turned-up card with what you have in your hand.” He grabbed Stonegit’s hand to look at the guard’s cards before he could protest. “Well. Wouldja lookit that. Two jacks. You’ve got a whole half fizzbin already.”
Stonegit: Stonegit’s eyes went from Egil’s snatching hand, to his own hand, and then back to Egil. “O-oh really? I’m guessing that’s good?”
His gaze momentarily flickered towards the candles providing the low light in the room. Gods curse it all, two ‘jacks!’ I thought one of them was a queen…
“Very good,” said Egil. “Now you just need a king and a deuce, and you’ve got a whole Fizzbin. Alternately, you could try to get a wheep or a strob. A wheep is two jacks, a five, and a four, while a strob is two face cards - that’d include your jacks - and two aces.”
Egil turned to Sindri now, and began to peep at Sindri’s cards, but his brother muttered, “Don’t,” so Egil didn’t.
“Go through your cards, discard the one you like least, we’ll put it at the bottom of the pile, and we’ll start the next round,” Egil instructed.
Stonegit: Stonegit began to raise the digits of his one hand as if counting with fingers, his eyes squinted as he went over the combinations again in his mind. He muttered under his breath “A Fizzbin is two jacks, a king and a deuce. Ok…wheep is the same only with a five and four. Strob is two faces and two aces…” He looked up. “So I actually have half a Fizzbin, wheep, and strob…but…” He turned to his hand again. “I have to discard one”
He bit his lip, and then offered up one of his cards that wasn’t a jack. A ten.
Egil: “Good choice,” said Egil, without any helpful explanation at all. He dealt out the next round of cards. 
“So, whatdja get now?”
Sindri muttered under his breath, “A headache.”
Egil ignored him and looked to Stonegit for an answer.
Stonegit: “Uh…hold up just a moment before I show you.” Stonegit paused. “Double checking, why was that a good choice?”
Egil: “Well, I toldja, you’re looking at getting either a fizzbin, a strob, or a wheep, and none of ’em got tens, yeah?” He paused, and then said cryptically, with a carefully neutral face, “Now, like, if that’d been a nine, that woulda been a different story.”
Sindri by this point had picked up his book again, and was reading it while Egil hashed out the rules to Stonegit. He was pointedly turning pages, as though the rate of page turns was a time indicator showing just how much time Egil was wasting with this game.
Stonegit: Stonegit’s eyes slid over towards Sindri, and then back towards Egil. He slowly leaned back in his seat. “You’re fucking with me…” He said, the words half statement, half question.
Egil: “Come now,” said Egil. “This is a popular game along the eastern border. How haven’t you heard of it? Now, next what we gotta do is…” He looked over at Sindri and sighed. “None of you are taking my game seriously, is that it?”
Stonegit: Stonegit didnt want to spoil Egil’s mood if the man were acting honestly. At the same time, he’d rather not be teased for the fool for not being at least a little suspicious. “No, no go ahead.” He bid. “I just suspect you may be pulling a fast one on me, which you can’t blame me for thinking so. But go on, Sindri, let’s see how this hand goes, I’m curious.”
Just then Blunt poked his head around into the room. “Ey! Sweetbutt. You’re back. Wait…yo are you guys playing Fizzbin?”
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Events
Category:Act I
Category:Stonegit Brotchurn Elmiss
Category:Egil Ander Haddock
Category:Sindri Stonegit Haddock
Category:Blunt Donz