[Lyric] Open

[atrb=width,475,true][bg=black] L y r i c Generally speaking, Lyric was pretty easy to get along with. That is, if you were willing to just shuttup and let her be right. Not saying the she wasn’t intelligent, Lyric was very bright, she just didn’t know how to shut her mouth and loose an argument. That being is why she didn’t choose to split off with her younger colt brother when the herd broke apart during the famine. Most of the horses left, generally bringing one or two partners for travel. Lyric couldn’t stand her brother’s inquisitive nature, and his equaling drive to win an argument. So the stocky young mare slipped away unnoticed during the bustle of urgent horses. She was off on her own now, the first time since birth. She knew her duty now: to find a wandering stallion and join his herd. Being a very attractive filly, she was aware it wasn’t going to be hard for her. However, she was smart enough to know what was good for herself and was not intent on whoring herself out to the first passing stallion, as so many young mares did. The fae elongated her stride, quickly eating up distance. Being in an unfamiliar terra made her rather uncomfortable. She floated along easily, stretching her long pillars in a fast extended trot. Her bay pelt was covered in a slick coat of sweat as she pranced nervously across the adobe. Lyric was surrounded by new horses- which was something different in of itself- and was on strange land. Being a herd animal by nature, she longed to go over and join the other horses, but was stopped by the fact that she was considered an intruder. The land of the Adobe itself was unattractive. The blue dome of sky offered no clouded protection against the harsh sun, and the tuffs of grass underfoot reeked of the consequences. Not a patch of green foliage was in sight. Heavily wooded mountains towered over each side of the flat stretch, providing some shade. But the woods were dark and offered little protection from predators. Lyric ignored this, and increased her stride to propel her up a steep hill. Making it safely up the unsteady terrain, she slowed her pace and stopped in the entrance of the dark trees. Being uphill of the strange horses made Lyric feel safer, and she relaxed. Dark mane swung gently in the light breeze as she arched her strong, delicately muscled neck, auds pricked. A sigh escaped from her maw, as she shifted position to provide relief for her aching pillars. Lyric had been traveling for about two days, stopping rarely. Though defiantly not a fearful mare by nature, she disliked traveling through all these unknown lands. Some of them were dark and menacing, dangerous to anyone who didn’t know their way around them. Others were like this place. Tainted Paradise seemed neutral enough and she knew she wasn’t in any immediate danger here. She dropped her finely carved head to lip at the dusty tuffs of grass. She took small bites, relishing the food even with its musty flavor. Lyric grazed contentedly, and was soon completely unaware of her surroundings. Words: 527 Muse: Horrible .. this post is very low quality, but it is my first post in forever, so I'm not going to push it.

[.:.Gambler.:.]

Gambler
Got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them;
know when to walk away, know when to run...

Things weren't much different than when I had first got here. Everything was still complete and utter chaos, hadn't really found anyone I really connected with just yet, and the world was still a strange and very completely and most unusually...unusual place. My mostly black pelt blended in with the fog of the surroundings; I was nothing more than a shadow save the dice on my behind.
No one had really seemed to want to play cards since I had gotten here; it was beginning to get rather lonely. Earl had been the one to teach me, and well, it had been forever since he was killed...Samantha needed much nurturing before she would be in a position to play cards again; there was torment in her eyes more than I had ever seen before. At least now though, we were back together-and the stallions of her last herd could not possibly think she was still alive. There was no way they would ever find her here behind this veil. We were finally safe.

I couldn't help but get a gnawing feeling at the back of my mind, that uncanny premonition of mine, that something was going to jeopardize our current happiness though. There was nothing to point toward it, except the stagnant air of the upcoming war. I had to find something to keep my mind off of it. Perhaps that was why I had wandered into the Abode that day; to perhaps find someone I could once again relate to. Someone I could talk to without fear of being laughed at, without fear of being ridiculed for existing. Someone smart enough to play cards with and not be too easy to beat.

There weren't very many other horses about, not very many other horses to speak with. It would be hard to find another living, breathing soul; much less one that would play cards with me. But, I knew that I would find someone, and so I trucked along.

It wasn't long before I spotted the mare, and a smile spread across my kissers. I arched my black nape and pranced toward her, whinnying softly to announce my presence as to not startle her. The beautiful faw seemed to be enjoying a quick meal. Sweat glistened on her shoulders; she must have been traveling for a while before coming here.
My words probably could have been better chosen...
"Hello madam! I be The Gambling Man, but most everyone just calls me Gambler. I am the King of Spit in the Ocean; would you fancy a game of cards?"
I snorted and tossed my head a little, the seaweed sling holding my deck of cards flopping against my chest. I hoped she'd say yes; I hadn't gotten to have much fun in this land yet.

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[atrb=width,475,true][bg=black] L y r i c "Hello madam! I be The Gambling Man, but most everyone just calls me Gambler. I am the King of Spit in the Ocean; would you fancy a game of cards?" I raised my cranine slowly, optics surveying the stranger before me. Arching my boa, I stretched to my full sixteen hand height and dipped my crown to the stranger. "Pardon?" I racked my brain for the term. Cards? I had never heard of such a thing. I felt utterly stupid, and my expression probably matched. I looked at the well built stallion again, eyeing him sideways. Damp tail flicked at my sweaty hide. Orbs traveled to his muscled chest, where a sling of green sea foliage securely fastened a deck of paper squares. I blinked curiously, nares inhailing softly. The stag looked comfortable in this terra. He has obviously been here before. His orbs sparkled brightly with intelligence, and it was clear a lot was shifting through the sands of his mind. "Hello Gambling Man, I'm Lyric. Though I'm pittied to admit I have never heard of the term 'Playing cards." I decided to play it safe, and flicked my tail at the hoard of persistent flies that clung to my bodice casually. Tawny pelt was stiffly dry now, and I fidgeted uncomfortably under the cruel miday sun. I stepped forward smoothly, and motioned my finely sculpted maw in the direction of his 'cards'. "Care to demonstrate? With all due respect, I quite enjoy occasional mind game. Do your worst." Words: 250 .. Muse: This was a really gross post. I apologize, and promise that as soon as the plot gets going I'll be cranking out a few good 700+ word posts ..

[.:.Gambler.:.]

OOC: NEVER AGAIN GAMBLER, NEVER AGAIN. I never realized how hard it is to explain cards...
Gambler

I tilted my head at the fae, she seemed perplexed by my words and unsure how to respond to them. I kept forgetting that most horses had never heard of cards or card games, and they would be hard pressed to imagine to what I was referring since cards-index cards, greeting cards, playing cards, card board, card box...and several other inventions that even I did not know, was something that the people invented. I was in a land of mostly wild horses; they would never know what a card was if they had never had interaction with those two legged creepers. And by two legged, I did not mean ostriches or flamingos-though those pink creatures were rather weird, I meant the type that smoke, drink things that are horrible for their body, and inject their skin with strange colors. Those creatures that use machines to shoot flaming rocks out of tubes and kill my friend, Earl the Squirrel.
Momentarily, my ears pinned back, thinking of the memories. But, she spoke again, and they bounced forward again, catching every word she spoke. Her name was Lyric, and her voice was very much like a melody to a song. Her parents named her well. Or, whoever it was that named her. For all I knew she could have named herself. Certainly something we could ponder upon if she decided to spend some time with me. And then she asked a question that always delighted me-if I would show her a game of cards.
The science of having a horse shuffle cards is a fascinating thing, as I have come to realize. Without answering her question, and plopped the deck of cards out of their sling and onto the ground, placed my hoof on one end of the box and pulled the cards out with my mouth. I blew on them once, for good luck, then began spinning them around and messing with their order as they were face down on the ground. They were tattered and torn, but the ground was hard enough that they did not collect much dust. I did not look up to her as I next spoke.
"Of course, of course madam I will teach you a game of cards. Since you've never heard of them, then we shall start easy, with a game of 'Go Fish.' Simply all you do, is once I am done shuffling the cards-messing up the order so neither of us know what they shall fall in, I will give you seven cards. Of those cards, there will be two colors; red and black. And there will be four different designs: a red heart, a red diamond shape, a black..."
I paused trying to figure out how to explain the spade shape to her. I couldn't call it a spade, because if she didn't know what cards were, she most certainly would not know what a spade was. Nor would she know what a shovel was. An idea struck me, and so I continued on. Still intent on my task of messing up the cards as I continued to explain.
"leaf shape, the technical term for the design being 'spade' and a black clover like shape, whose technical term is 'club.' There are fourteen cards for each of these designs, otherwise known as suits, and there are two unsuited cards in a full deck, which are called the jokers. The thirteen cards in a suit are Ace:which depending on the type of game you are playing; it does not matter in Go Fish; will either be low, equaling one, or high, equaling fourteen. Often this is marked with the letter 'A' instead of them writing out Ace. Then there are cards marked with the numbers two through ten. So, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten."
I paused again, taking my hoof off the pile of cards for a moment and looking up to her. If she had never seen people, she would not therefore know their numerical system, and therefore would not know which number was which. I looked around me and spotted a twig not to far off. I grinned to her a moment, and then trotted over and snatched up the twig in my mouth, trotting back.
"Nua, Ii wull shuw yuu de nummers."
I begin drawing the letter 'A', as she may be able to say the letter A, but probably did not know how to write it or read it. It was difficult as the twig was a small one and did not like the hard surface of the dirt, but I managed to scratch out a raggedy looking A.
"Dis es wut da Ace cards wull be murked wid."
I was talking funny because of the twig in my mouth, but, hopefully she could still understand what I meant. I scratched out the A and started drawing a one.
"Dis is wut de une cuurd wull be murked wid. Yuu cun ulso coont du nummer uf dusugn en du curd."
I scratched the one out and drew a two.
"Dis is wut de tuw es murked wid."
I continued scratching out the numbers and telling her what they were until I had gotten through 10. Then I gingerly laid my 'wand' as I was going to call the twig, and began shuffling through the cards again, continuing to explain.
"Now, above the ten card, there are three other cards. Equaling eleven is the Jack; with a design of a two headed person on it. There are very ugly creatures, but they designed the cards, therefore they put their pictures on them. He is the one without a mustache."
I picked up my wand and drew a J in the dirt for her, then laid the wand back down again.
"The Jack cards are marked with the letter J, that looks like that. Then there is the queen, which is a female card with a rounder face than the Jack, and it is marked with a Q."
Again, I picked up my wand and drew the Q in the sand. I figured she had gotten the pattern now, so I did not explain that it was a Q. I put the stick down, and began trying to organize the cards together in an organized pile. Having only one finger on each leg, it was rather difficult.
"Then there is the King, which is a man and has a beard. The king of hearts is called 'the suicidal king' because whoever designed the first deck of standard cards made the king of hearts have a dagger in his hand up to his head. You will understand when we pull out the card. Anyway, the King is marked with a K."
Again, I abandoned organizing and drew a K in the sand. She should get the picture by now. I went back to organizing the cards.
"The other card I mentioned was the Joker. It has a man with a giant smile on his face and something called a jester hat on. It has the word Joker across the top; it is the only card with more than one letter on it."
I paused then, and finished organizing the cards into a...organized pile. The trick was never getting them organized, it was getting them so perfectly organized that they fit into the box again...but, that was for after the game. I raised my head and looked up at her beautiful eyes, a small smile spreading across my face.
"Now, Go Fish is a simple game. I've no idea why it is called something so silly, but it is a game of matching and pairs. Since it's your first time; I'll make it easy on you. All you need to do is match two of the same number or 'face' card; as the ones marked with letters are called. That means that each card, except the joker, has three potential matches."
I shifted my hoof, and flicked her seven cards from off the top of the deck. All of them stayed face down as I flung them toward her, landing perfectly in a line at her feet. I had had much practice with this, and it often impressed them when I could use my hooves like that. I flicked seven cards off the pile toward me as well, all face down.
"You're not supposed to let the other player see your cards; so you should probably turn to the side and put them behind that tuft of grass so I don't see them...."
I scooped up my seven cards and turned to the other side then the tuft of grass I was directing her toward, hiding my cards behind my own tuft of grass. I flipped them over. I had a red diamond jack, a black spades jack, one of the jokers, a red diamond two, a black club four, a black spade two, and the queen of hearts.
"Now, as I said this is a game of matching. So, when you look at your card, see if any of the numbers or letters are the same. I have looked at my cards, and I have found..."
I paused, lowering my crown and scooping up the twos and the jacks with my tongue. I placed turned toward her and placed them down in front of me, the two jacks together and the two twos together.
"So, I have two pairs. One of jacks, and one of twos. Those are my 'starting pairs.' Now, once you look at your cards and pick out any pairs that you have, the game of Go Fish is simple. I'll let you go first. What you will do is look at your remaining unpaired cards and ask me if I have a match for it. For instance, say you had this two of diamonds. You would ask me 'Do you have a two?' And, if I did, for instance if I had the two of spades, then I would say 'yes' and hand over the card to you. You continue asking for cards until I could not supply you with one; for instance if you asked for a king and I did not have one in my cards; which are oddly enough named 'hands'...since we are horses we can call them hooves."
I chuckled at this; I had always enjoyed that joke.
"And in that case, instead of handing you a matching card, I would tell you 'go fish.' In which case you would take a card off the pile in the center. Now, if you get the match you were asking for, then you can go again; if not then it is my turn."
I grinned to her, I hoped she had understood!

OOC: So...I don't know about you but going through a whole game of go fish making up the cards they pick up seems a bit tedious. So, if you really want to play I can probably find an online version for us, or you can post and in my next post I'll skip the game. Gambler, because of his talent, would know what cards she has, so would most likely win anyway.
Though, the online version with a sort of quickplay roleplay in the chatbox of whatever site I find it on would be hilariously funny too, but we'd need to both be on the computer at the same time!

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