A Seedling Emerges

**Date Started**: April 15th, 2023
**Date Completed**: Ongoing
**Previous Role-Play**:
**Next Role-Play**:
**Location**: Unnamed Island (South Blue)
**Timeline**: March 18th, 1567
**Users Involved**: User:Skipper78, User:Bombers12345
**Characters Involved**: Carmelia Jade, Don Mario

## Purple Poker Chips

The bar was loud and crowded and smelt of beer. Laughter and shouting filled the air with a dynamic cacophony. The froth of the alcohol flew about the place, like the white water of a wave, bathing the chaos in the smell of fresh-baked sweet bread. Huge men covered in scars clapped each other on the back, the thunderous strikes adding to the din of the tavern. Cards and poker chips covered the marked tables. Empty plates flew from the tables and full plates replaced them. They nestled between abandoned cards and huge mugs of beer as the clientele roared and ate and drank and dealt cards.

The door swung open, the madness of the bar revealing itself to the outside world for a brief moment. There was a brief pause in the festivities as the auburn glow of the street lights bathed the interior of the tavern in a golden light. The light wasn't the cause of the cessation, though, it was the slight silhouette that had made itself visible.

The bar erupted into cheers. The bar-goers exclaimed to each other "She's 'ere!" and "Ya think she'll play one last game?"

The sound had become deafening, people clamored to get a better look at the person who had just come in. A few of them even tried to touch the strange figure, but it weaved away before any of them could get close. The hooded profile slid into a seat in the middle of the bar, before knocking twice on the bar top. The biggest mug of beer in the whole establishment slid neatly in front of the figure. A slender hand reached up from under the bar to throw back the hood.

A striking young woman was revealed. She shook her head, letting the dim light of the bar refract against her radiant tiger orange hair. She grinned, flashing a perfectly straight and white row of teeth. Picking up the mug she slammed it against the bar top before raising it to her lips. Before she began to drink she let out a wild yell, joining in on the havoc.

"Who's ready for one last night!"

Don Mario was dead. Not literally of course, but he might of well have been. Don wasn't exactly the most talented Mafia Boss. In fact, he wasn't talented at all. This lack of talent wasn't due to his own skill or reputation, it was because of his indisputably bad luck. The luck was so bad it had garnered him the epithet of Don Unluck and somehow made him owe massive gambling debts to his own mafia. The latter eventually annoyed his Mafia so much that they began to mob against him and starting to hunt them across the island.

**Kerrplash**!

Don plummeted into a puddle after tripping over seemingly nothing. Another stroke of his unlucky it appeared, exceptionally unfortunate given that the mob had almost caught up with him. He quickly got himself back up and began intensely scanning his surroundings. The island was simple with simple buildings, simple floors, simple food, simple everything. Not much to hide in and not much to climb on-top of. Don then started running, hoping to find something to protect him from his angry group of followers.

Eventually Don stumbled upon the only building that seemed empty. It had lights on but despite that, it didn't seem that lively and he was frankly desperate given his situation. He quickly swung open the doors, breathing heavily on the other side as he heard the cluster of foot-steps near. After calming down he looked up to be met with.. the bar party. The bar in reality had a great sound-muffling system and could block out almost all noise from inside, a technological marvel for the street to not be annoyed with the gatherings but unlucky for Don himself.

Oh, thats right, Don almost forgot. Unlucky is the entirety of his being, what did he expect?

The entire bar turned to look at the newcomer. The large men drank in his appearance, their dark eyes glinting with a dangerous hunger. The young woman turned back and looked him up and down. "Who's this? A challenger?" Her bright green eyes shined with ferocious excitement. "You like to play cards, old man?" She let the last two words roll off her tongue with a distinct spite, as if trying to get a rise out of the stranger.

"Old man? Oh, oh, OH! Thats funny, exceedingly actually. Run them up, cow-girl." He spoke like he was reprimanding her, like a stern Italian uncle. While he didn't care that much about his image, he did care a great deal about getting insulted. In fact, he would kill over it. Despite that he casually strolled over and sat down, just enough to edge the girl on and not enough to make it seem like he was trying to start trouble. The bar-people continued to watch but Mario loved it, enthralled it. He wanted them to watch him dominate this game.

The woman let out a laugh. "Cow-girl! I'm glad to see they've started letting comedians back into the bar. I've missed the wit." Throwing her tankard across the bar she jumped to her feet. Although her quick movements insinuated violence, her posture was relaxed and she had a big smile.

"Lovebird!" She called out. A big man with a pink heart tattooed under his eye stood up and reached behind the bar to procure a polished oak box. Throwing off her cloak, the woman revealed a bright green dress made of live mosses and lichens. She reached out and grabbed the box.

"What do ya say we get this party started? I can deal." The last words had a coy bite to them as she showed off her white teeth with a smug smirk.