[[some <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?...18>music</a>;, while we're at it.]]

The old fellow drags the upturned bath over and sits on it to join Jake at the trunk he's currently using for a table. Everything else seems very quiet at the moment - including, Jake realises, the buzz in his head.

"Hit," the stranger says, rain glittering and running down the brim of his hat.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:04, Wed 18 Mar 2015.

10:12, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the 5 cards: 5C, QS, 3C, 9C, 9S using a deck of 52 cards. 1-2 for me and 1-2-3 for you.

---

"Sure thing," Jake said and flipped another card in a smooth, practice motion.

[[I think either he just won or he Stands and Jake does something? Someone did try to show me American blackjack once, but I was 11 at the time]]

The stranger sets down his deal beside the new nine, watching Jake, then reaches down beside the 'table' to bring up a bottle of bourbon. He takes a swig that sets light rolling in the amber like foxfire and offers it across to Bitter Waters.

"Hard up for luck of late, Jake?" he asks.

05:27, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the single card: 6C using a deck of 52 cards. Card for the dealer.

---

He waved off the offering of booze. "Dealer has 15, will hit..." Jake said as turned over another card for himself. "Not sure, just been rough since I got here. Would've been better if I'd headed back when I saw the tin man was up and moving already."

[[insert appropriate action for a 21 here]]

The stranger shrugs easily and sets the bottle down, leaning back a little. "Could be. You seem to be having trouble with the local wildlife - want some help with that? Before you get suspicious, I'll add that if you take me up, you can pay me what you want...help given in kindness is all very well, but there's an expectation, isn't there? Hanging over you. That, or the nagging sense that what is given free is surely worthless. This is not." His steady voice is like a firm massage against the soul.

Jake gathered the cards and shuffled quietly as the other man talked. He listened to the stranger with the bottle, his mind processing the words as his fingers worked the cards. Jake wasn't much of a gambler but wartime camp fires tended to teach a fella a thing or two about cards. "Help me huh ... just like that? I'd understand if you and I had been in a fight together or perhaps you and the snake have a beef ... but this is sort of out of the blue."
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:40, Tue 07 Apr 2015.

"Just like that," the man says simply, and steeples his fingers in thought, leaning back a little. "I have, in fact, been present at a lot of battles...but what's troubling you, is the nature of my...game." Pale teeth flash in a grin under the shadow of his hat.

"Suffice to say, I think, that it currently serves my purposes to free you from the influence of a certain serpent, and you don't have to get involved any more than you desire."

"I appreciate the offer ... but ... " Jake said as he flipped a pair of cards to himself and the other man. "I don't think I'll be taking it. I can sort this snake business out myself."

OOC: 16:28, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the 4 cards: 7D, JD, AS, 8C using a deck of 54 cards. 1-2 for me and 1-2 for you.

The other shrugs, amused. "Doesn't hurt to have a little extra insurance against dying, though, right? Hmm...hit," he says, ridiculously confident.

"We all die ... rarely at a time or place of our choice. Pretty sure I can't do much more about where I'm going any how." He rubbed his right thumb and forefinger together as though working a rosary which wasn't there.

Jake flipped over a card. "Looks like you've won this one, who made the soft seventeen rule anyways?"

OOC:
10:28, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the single card: 2S using a deck of 52 cards. 1 for Lou.

[[heh. <a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waXUxhDCg3U>If you're gonna do wrong, buddy...</a>]]

"The repentant man was never true to himself in the first instance," the stranger agrees, sweeping the cards back to Jake. "Never had a fire in his belly...his soul having the quality of tissue paper. You're not like that, I can tell."

"Not everyone dies, Jake," he says, resting his palms on the table briefly before going for the whiskey again - left-handed, Jake notes. "But if you're set on it, why not experience as much as possible first? I can lend you the power to fly in the air or swim through the earth, to see into the aether or turn invisible. I can give you the understanding of all the tongues of Man, or dominion over small and crawling things. A pocketful of everything you need, or the ability to curse the very breath from your enemies' throats...and if you think it's not worth a cent or a souvenir, you needn't pay me. Why not?"

The easy smile is back again, though in the shadow of his hat his eyes are as bright and cold as stars.

Jake took the cards back and began to shuffle them. He listened as he worked the cards over and over again. The steady sound of the shuffling seemed to echo in the house. The tired man tossed out a quartet of cards, "Pretty sure if I wanted to I could manage most of that right now." He glanced at his pair of cards and pondered for a moment. "Eventually death comes for us all ... men, women, animals, gods, ideas. All die, some just take longer than others."

OOC:
09:51, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the 4 cards: 3C, JS, JD, 5S using a deck of 52 cards. 1-2 for Lou and 1-2 for me.

"At a cost," the stranger replies mildly, then grins, the wet glitter of teeth as sudden as a slashed throat. "I take it you don't want money, fame, fortune, wine, women or songs, either," he offers for the hell of it, sounding extremely amused. "One more card."

OOC: 15:14, Today: Jake Lawrence drew the single card: JD using a deck of 52 cards. Lou's card.

---

Jake smiled a sad sort of smile. It was the smile of someone who had a memory that kept creeping back into their mind. "I've had almost all of those and can't say most of 'em ended well." Another card dealt and Jake shook his head, "Player busts, house wins."

"I'm not here for power or glory or even to die. nor do I have real ties to anyone here. Came here for the content of a crate. Currently said content is currently running around tellin' folks to repent and seems to have the mental capacity of a five year old. Couldn't really tell ya why I'm still here. Probably shoulda left town after I found the box empty ... maybe I stayed hoping the thing would come along after a while. Seems pretty obvious now that events happening here have made the thing more important here than it ever could be in New Orleans." He gathered the cards up and put them away.

"Figure I'll leave this place now, ain't nothing here for me. Good luck with your offer of power, sure someone round here will be more than willin' to take you up on it."

"Fair enough," the stranger says, rising with his bottle. He takes a buisness card from his waistcoat and throws it amongst the hearts and aces Jake's putting away. "I'd offer you the angel's name, but I'm less than keen to have that lot down here. Stay safe, Jake - you have my card if you need me." He nods down at the same, a very ordinary scrap of pasteboard.

"I'll be around." He takes a drink. "-and I am going to live forever," he says, with a certainty that has seen centuries. Millennia. Maybe more than one world.


He wanders off down the stairs, completely ignored by Evans though their shoulders almost brush as the Marshal comes up. "Ah, there you are - would you by any chance consider riding along with the posse setting out to rescue Father O'Rourke and the missing nun? We could probably use as much...extra-normative talent as we can get."

Jake smiled, "Sure Marshal, whatever I can do to help."