Coffee and Card Tricks [Closedish?]

Reynard sat at a table on the veranda of a cafe, his neglected drink sitting on the table as he idly shuffled a deck of cards. In keeping with his usual M.O., the cafe was neither the most popular nor so rundown to be worth mentioning, but it did have a spot right on the main stretch of the city, which made it an absolutely ideal spot to keep an eye on things. While Reynard was incredibly practiced in the art of blending in, he did sometimes get bored -- which led him to suddenly begin building a house of cards on the table, slowly building around around his cup of coffee.

Yuuka sighed and sat down at a table nearby Reynard (Though of course she paid him no attention, aside from a very brief glance at the house of cards he was forming) with a cup of hot coffee. It had been another long week and she was happy to get the chance to sit down with a hot drink and just relax for once, instead of spending the whole day working.

She took a sip - and cringed as the heat burned her. Oops.

Reynard briefly glanced up from his quickly growing house of cards to the individual who had sat down, then briefly glanced back up the street, before back to the person. It seemed like he might be sitting here for a while longer yet.. might as well entertain himself, for a few minutes at any rate.

"Now that look like it hurt," he said, flicking a finger to begin his house of cards toppling, before quickly grabbing the deck from the table with the same hand, while using a card from his other hand to deftly scoop them all back up into the deck. "I'd wager I can read your mind right about now. You're thinking to yourself that you did that because you weren't thinking, but I'd put money down on the notion that it's more. You wanted to take a drink without thinking about it because you're a little greedy. Your mind was elsewhere, but you had to have a sip," he said, beginning to shuffle the cards once more. "But greed isn't all bad," he said, pausing his shuffle to cut the cards and dovetail them back together. "I could tell you a little story about one way greed is good. It comes with a free magic trick, and may help you take your mind off that sip of too-hot coffee," he offered, though he sounded neither interested or disinterested in the proposition. He had simply said it, almost without a thought.

Yuuka stared at the man with a blank look on her face, rendered speechless by his words. Letting out a small laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all, she shook her head, "No. Not even remotely close. You might as well be saying I'm a dragon with twelve heads that can swim in space." She said, still finding herself smiling, having gotten a good laugh out of his words. Greedy? Her? Greedy to help people, maybe.

She shrugged though - she had nothing better to do and a story sounded nice, "But sure, go ahead with your story. Might be interesting."

Reynard shuffled his cards backwards and forwards, then stopped, spreading the deck out in his hands and pulling out three cards -- the Ace of Hearts, the Ace of Diamonds, and then Queen of Spades. He placed all three cards face up on his table in a row with the Queen in the middle, and set the deck off to the side. "The story comes with a trick, don't forget. Well, less of a trick at first, and more of a game," he said, motioning to the three face-up cards.

"A very long time ago a very bored person decided he needed something interesting to do, but all he had was a deck of cards," he said, flipping the Ace of Hearts face-down. "He wasn't a particularly clever man, but he had a great abundance of time," he continued, flipping the Ace of Diamonds face down. "And after many, many years he had come up with what he felt was a neat little game," he said, flipping the Queen of Spades face-down as well.

Reynard began to switch the positions of the three cards, sliding them around on the table while always returning them to the neat, spaced row they had originally been in. As he slid them around he would sometimes pick up the pace, or move a card immediately back to where it came from. He continued this for several seconds, until all three cards had been thoroughly mixed. "So, before I can continue the story," he said, folding his hands and leaning forward. "Which of these three cards is the Queen?"

To be honest, Yuuka hadn't really been following along with what the man was saying - the coffee was really good and she had kind of drifted off. He looked to be at least somewhat serious about the little game though, so she smiled and nodded along to what he said, despite having no idea what he was talking about. Sipping her now acceptably warm coffee, she realised he was asking her a question. She hadn't even noticed the cards were being shuffled around!

"The middle one." She said with a calm smile, despite the fact that she didn't deserve to be allowed to be so calm. It felt like she was insulting his game... But oh well, hopefully he wouldn't notice. Or maybe that was the trick! Maybe, by not paying any attention whatsoever she had prevented herself from being distracted, and thus had won the game!

Reynard flipped the middle card, and sure enough the guess had been correct. There sat the Queen, in all her glory. "That's a good eye," he said, flipping the Queen face down once more. "It was an eye like that started to cause problems with the fellow's game, all those years ago," he said, once again beginning to shuffle the three cards around.

"People started to get very good at the game, and if the person you're playing with constantly wins, well, it isn't very fun for you, is it? And so the man who had spent all that time inventing the game eventually stopped playing it, and moved on to other pursuits. But by the time he'd moved on he had played the game with many, many people, and they had played it with even more. And this is where things get good," he said, pausing his shuffling for a fraction of a second. "A greedy man thought that, if only he could improve the odds of someone guessing incorrectly he might be able to make some money off the game," he said, beginning to shuffle the cards around the table again.

"And so he thought, and thought, but he was very clever, and he found a way to stack the deck in his favor, so to speak." He stopped shuffling again and resumed his previous posture; leaning forward, hands folded. "So where's the Queen this time?"

Blinking as she realised once again she had drifted off, and thus had no idea which card would be the Queen. Once again though, she decided she would use her extensive knowledge of card games (She had a lot of friends in low places who liked to play) and also card tricks (Said friends would also enjoy sleight of hand tricks and other tricky trick tricks) to make a somewhat educated guess. She moved her coffee to her mouth to sip again, but surprisingly found it empty. How fast had she been drinking it?!

"Well... I can't give you the exact location, but the Queen is not on the table at the very least." She said confidently, nodding to herself.

Reynard grinned faintly, and flipped the three cards on the table. Two aces, and a six. "You would be right, and you'd be the sort of person the greedy man might hate. The greedy man realized if he removed the Queen from the table somehow, he could win all the money he played for. The greedy man, with some practice, invented sleight of hand, and learned how to palm a card," he explained.

"And while his intentions weren't good, it was greed that drove him to inventing sleight of hand, and in the process making the card game that much more interesting. I would wager that iced coffee was invented by someone, like you, who wanted to drink their coffee too quickly and got a nasty burn." Reynard turned over his arm and produced a card, tucked into his bracer. He casually tossed it face-up on the table, showing off the missing.. Eight of Clubs?

"Most people look at abstract things like greed.. or envy in black and white. But if greed can push a person to invent something interesting, or if envy can force a person to strive to be better, can they really be as bad as people immediately think?" Reynard let his arms drop to his sides, frowning (for effect) at the cards on the table.

"A greedy man gives greed a bad name because he thinks he's clever, and an envious man isn't clever enough to look at the bigger picture. But a clever man? A clever man can read an audience, for example, and if he's clever enough to take away the right lessons that the greedy man and the envious man couldn't see he might pick up the skills to make small miracles happen," he said, lifting up a hand and waving it vaguely towards the girl's table.

"Have a peek under your cup's coaster," he said, leaning his arm on the table and propping his head up in his hand, seeming as blase as he had through the entire story.

Actually listening to the man this time, Yuuka nodded thoughtfully - she had never thought of things like that, she had always thought of greed as a purely bad thing. Now though, she could see it was bad, but potentially helpful in inspiring people to technological advancement. Kind of. It was a thought provoking argument to say the least.

Looking under the cup's coaster, she raised her eyebrow in surprise and with a bit of awe - there was the Queen, right there, "Wow, that's impressive. I didn't even see you sneaking it under there..." She said with a smile, "That's brings up the question though, if your sleight of hand is that good, does that make you a greedy man as well? Or did you just learn it for fun?" She asked curiously.

Reynard looked thoughtful at the question, then offered a simple shrug in response. "Plenty of ways to be greedy," he responded, scooping up his cards and beginning to methodically shuffle them. "I wouldn't call myself a greedy man, but I've certainly done some things strictly for personal gain in my life," he mused, his shuffling slowing slightly.

"I'd call myself a bored man, I suppose. It takes a certain kind of boredom to acquire the odd assortment of skills I have. Most people get very, very good at one thing, but I'm only sort of good at a number of things," he explained, his eyes flickering to scan up the street for a brief second. "I do a little of this for a while, and then I get bored and go do something new. Get bored of that and find something else interesting to keep my attention. I travel. Sometimes I pay for my passage, but sometimes I might stowaway," he said, setting his cards down again.

"No, I don't think I'd call myself a greedy man," he said quietly, slowly shaking his head. "But what about you?" he asked, suddenly sounding more engaged than before. "What kind of person do you think you are?"

Yuuka shrugged dismissively, not really seeing any need to think about the question - she knew what kind of person she was pretty well, or at least she thought she did. Which, essentially, was what the man was asking, "I'm just someone looking to make the world better, in whatever small way I can, I guess. I work for the gain of others and humanity, not for personal gain, so I suppose I'm not greedy?" She said, once again moving to take a sip of her coffee but once again realising she had a lack of the nice, hot drink.

Excusing herself for a moment, she stood back up and went to get another drink, this time returning with a steaming hot cup of hot chocolate, having decided that a second cup of coffee would probably be a bad idea.

Figuring it would polite to give a brief story of her own life as the man had, she took a sip as she sat down, this time blowing on the drink first to cool it down to a more acceptable level.

"In one aspect I'm similar to you I guess. I've been travelling for a while as well - drifting throughout the kingdoms, never really finding somewhere to settle down or stick around for for more than a week at the very most." She said casually.

Reynard glanced at his cup of coffee, before pushing it away slightly. Lukewarm coffee was almost always unpleasant. "Oh, you're a traveler as well, huh? I'm a little surprised we've never crossed paths before now," he said, scratching at his chin in thought. "Though we very well might have. That reaction you had when you first sat down, I tend to have that effect on most people. There's a very real chance we might have been standing side by side somewhere before, and neither of us noticed," he said with a shrug.

"So, you're like a travelling good guy, huh? I'd say freelancer, but you don't sound the type who accepts payment for services rendered. You seem like the type who needs something.. big. Something exciting, and filled to the brim with possibilities to help. Am I right?"

"Hmm, we very well might have met before, no offense but you don't exactly look like one that would stand out in a crowd. It's a pretty big world though," Yuuka said offhandedly, thoroughly enjoying her drink now. She had pulled out her scroll and was casually reviewing some files. She stopped as she heard the man's next words though.

"Surprisingly, yes." She said, now interested, putting away the Scroll, "How did you know that?" She asked, although she didn't think he actually knew what she was doing - it was most likely just an educated guess.

Reynard waved a hand dismissively. "Just a guess, just a guess. You don't get very far in the kind of life I have without being able to read people," he said. "Information can be as valuable as Dust, you know." Looking down the street again, he seemed mildly irritated for a brief second.

"For example, I happen to know about a trio of not-very-bright fellows planning on robbing a shop, just up there. I don't know which shop, mind you, but I do know they aren't very bright because I've been sitting here, waiting, and I haven't seen any of them even clumsily trying to case any of the shops. As far as I can tell they're just going to blunder in, commit their crime, and try and get out of there feeling like they're on top of the world."

Reynard shook his head and began shuffling his cards methodically, despite still being short the Queen. "It was valuable knowledge because there were so many choices," he continued blandly. "But whoever the ringleader of this little gang is can't be terribly bright either, which is a shame. So that narrows the options down considerably. Best to hand the information off to someone else, or to the police and wash my hands of it."

Yuuka perked up slightly upon hearing the man's claim. Normally she would've just dismissed something like that, unless the person saying it had some sort of actual proof, but given the accuracy he'd shown in his prediction just before... Perhaps it did have an element of truth to it. And truth to be told, after all the work she'd done, a little bit of fighting might be relaxing. Although solving it peacefully would still be the preferred choice. If she went around letting loose her stress on anyone just because she was tired...

"A few amateur thieves you say? Normally I wouldn't bother with something small like that - you're right, better to just let the police handle it... But your ability to read people so well intrigues me... if you know the area and time, tell me and I think I'll drop in on their fun." She said with an interested expression, "Although if they really are as dumb as you say, they probably wouldn't listen to reason... And I don't want to get these clothes dirty..." She pondered.

"Well, I'd put good money on you having time to grab a change of clothes," he said, still looking down the street. "I'd even risk a bet on having until it was properly nighttime. You can't pull those kinds of crimes in broad daylight. Too much risk of being seen," he said, flipping the top card of his deck up, glancing at it, then beginning to shuffle again. "I can't give you any specifics, though," he said, frowning ever slightly again.

"I had hoped to catch them casing the place. I was going to just walk up and listen in for all the juicy bits," he explained, pausing his shuffling to flip the top card again. "Like you said earlier, I don't exactly stand out in a crowd. People don't notice me unless I want them to. I had planned to get the details, wait for them to go for it, and, eh, you know. Decide what to do from there," he said, finally looking away from the street.

"How about another trick? I've got nothing but time and it seems you suddenly have an abundance to kill as well."

Yuuka nodded thoughtfully - it seemed she had been a bit hasty. Of course no one, no matter how stupid, would try to rob a store in daylight. Well, unless that was their plan, but such a risky plan like that would take a very coordinated effort, and a trio that allowed anyone to hear their plans were obviously not co-ordinated in the slightest.

Shrugging, she figured she might as well. She really did have nothing else to do, except maybe train some more, though training didn't appeal to her so much after her years of travelling - experience had proved to be far more useful, "Sure, whatcha got up your sleeve this time?" She asked.

Reynard used his foot to push out one of the chairs at his table a bit, motioning towards it. "This one'll need you sitting over here, so you can pick a card. And I'll need my Queen back. I guess I could do the trick without it, but I always try and play with at least a full deck," he said, still shuffling the cards methodically. Reynard didn't often do card tricks for people -- at least, not unless he was planning on picking their pockets. But since his plans had gone sideways for the day, and since he did have a somewhat attentive audience, he thought he might as well try to amaze and astound his volunteer.

Yuuka passed the Queen back over to the man - she had completely forgotten that she had still been holding onto it, actually. Intrigued by the idea of more card tricks, she waited intently, sipping her drink slowly. It was running low again, unfortunately, and would have to be replaced. Maybe just water this time though...

Reynard shuffled the Queen back into the deck, then got up from his table and moved over to the table the woman was sitting at. Shuffling the cards a bit more, he placed the deck down on the table and spreads the cards out in a line. "This one's a pretty neat trick," he said, gesturing to the cards. "Pick a card, any card. Take a look at it, but don't show it to me. You can check the deck to make sure it's a proper deck, if you'd like."

After a card (the 2 of Hearts) had been chosen, Reynard cut the deck into three piles and directed her to place the card on whichever pile she felt like. Once the card had been placed, he picked up each of the piles and began shuffling the deck. "Alright, so, I could do a bunch of theatrics here," he said, grinning. "But I'll just do the basic trick instead. So your card is somewhere in this deck, and what I'm going to do is make a bunch of piles, face up, so you can see that it isn't a trick deck in any way. And then the deck will reveal your card to me," he said, beginning dealing the cards face-up onto the table, occasionally moving and beginning a new pile. As he passed the 2 of hearts, he dealt another card on top of it and moved to a new pile without pause, dealing 10 cards into a pile, then dealing one more pile until the rest of the cards were gone.

"So, as you can see all the cards are in there. No doubles or anything," he said, picking up the piles of the deck and then placing the deck back on the table. "So, what was your card?" Once he knew it was the 2 of Hearts, he picked the deck up once again. "So, the Two of Hearts. Now the deck will magically spell out your card," he said, and began dealing cards face-down on the table, one for each letter in 'two of hearts'. Finally, he flipped the next card, revealing the 2 of Hearts. "Ta daaa," he said, with a small flourish.

Yuuka stared blankly for a few moments, unable to believe the trick. Surely it was just that - a trick, despite what the man said. Obviously just a trick, nothing more. Pretty impressive trick though... How had he done it? Optical illusion? Faked deck? Sleight of hand? Math? The possibilities were endless. Kind of.

"...Wow! That's really amazing!" She said, snapping out of her daze, "Are you some kind of professional magician or something?" She added with a teasing smile, knowing that the man almost certainly wasn't. Hopefully he would be easy to tease.

Just to make sure, she looked at the other cards in the pile, still not able to fully believe that there wasn't some sort of part of the trick that was rigged.

Reynard grinned, leaning back in his chair. He was apparently satisfied the trick had gone off without a hitch. "I said it before. I'm often bored which tends to have me learning all sorts of interesting things," he responded, looking at the cards with a somewhat unreadable expression. "The trick there wasn't that I somehow knew which card was yours, but that I knew which card was mine. I made sure your card was sitting next to mine, so when I dealt the deck out face up I figured out which one was yours," he explained. "After that it was just a little trickery to make the deck spell out your card."

"My way of living tends to have me collecting hobbies fairly frequently, so I manage to stay interested. What about you? Something must occupy your time in between all that travelling."