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Over the last few weeks, I worked with a friend of mine to develop a signature for this alias. I had a really solid idea, and with his help we turned it into something polished. A huge thanks to his manga typesetting skills in achieving the quality he did.
Of course, I then went and butchered it with my sloppy Photoshop skills. I'm not nearly happy with the way it mixed with my profile image, but it's at least close. I think this will work fine as a profile image for the time being.
A big thank you to anyone who interacts with my stories. Whether it's reading them, favoriting them, commenting, or sharing. Even if you want to leave harsh criticism, that's welcome!
I have bundles of ideas that I want to express, and I only recently have felt that my skills have improved to the point that I can accomplish them. So, please, browse, stick around, and let me know what you think.
Artwork credit to NukeRooster of DeviantArt, of their character Umbra. I don't have a personal character, but it was a nice painting of a deep black fox that I felt represented the enigmatic concept of this alias.
Summary: A technical-minded foxan tries out a new game, and a new attendee has a curious scent about her.
Foreword: Hello, dear readers. This is a Side B story, which means that it is an alternative retelling of a previous story but from a different perspective. Beta readers feel that this one works better if you have read the original story first, so go check out The Scent Bag and then drop back by for more.
Additionally, Side B is a denser and heavier read. However, to lighten the cognitive load, I've also uploaded a reference sheet that will aid in visualizing the custom card deck of Renaar, as well as including the seating chart of the participants during the various games. It also includes the Cargo hands for the gameplay, as some devices have display errors with the Unicode text.
As a quick aside, River Crossing is based strongly on The Gang, and Market Display is based strongly on Surfosaurus MAX. Roll the Bons is a generic dice-based push your luck crafted entirely for Renaar.
Pleasant reading!
Jeroba lounges in a metal chair, still cool to the touch from his fresh arrival. Around him, the other foxen1 congregate and chatter. Each happy to see each other again this week, to share in the small yet meaningful moments of each other's lives. Skyday2 at the Endsworth Community Center has played host to a board and card game event for months or longer, but he's only been attending for six weeks. He knows most of the regulars, but keeping up with their weekly socialization is still a bit challenging. He glances over at mister Rint, who is chatting with mother Misty by the door, while her two children dig through Rint's collection of games. His ears tilt to listen to the calmer of the two conversations.
"How are the two munchkins doing at school?" Rint enquires while keeping his ears trained behind him.
Misty glances in the direction of her pair of over-achievers. "Excelling, as usual. It's so hard to keep them satiated, so I really appreciate the community center, and you, for arranging this." Her scent is calmer than her tone of voice lets on. "I know I say that every time, but with the job and the chores and-"
"Misty, we've been over this," Rint cuts her off. "It's our pleasure to have them here, and no trouble at all. I can tell by how quickly they take to the games that they are quite the handful, but any time I give them a warning, they listen right away. That's all I ask for." His ears refocus on Misty.
Jeroba's attention shifts elsewhere. The clock on the wall reads 1:953, with the event officially starting soon. Most of the others chat about playing a heavy game, and are about to relocate to the second room. "Hey Jeroba," A snow breed a bit older than him takes a seat to his right. The stereotypical dark-colored warm weather coat of his is already salting with white as the Season of Harvest4 draws towards its conclusion.
"Hey, yourself, Menaal. Not joining the longer game?" Jeroba's ears flick and wander as he keeps tabs on the other goings-on, while maintaining eye contact with his snow breed peer.
"Nope, gotta take off early today. I've got a dinner date~." Menaal gives a big cheek-lifting grin, one that just barely opens his mouth while bordering on the edge of a snarl.
A long, slow sniff reinforces the excitement that Menaal is showing. Jeroba's first reaction is one of mild jealousy but he quickly catches himself before it permeates his own scent. "Nice, I hope it goes well. Have you known her long?"
Menaal's tail wags and thuds against the wall, then tucks under the chair and beats against the metal legs instead. "Long enough. I was being a dummy and it took a friend to point out how her scent would change around me. So~, it should be an easy basket catch5."
"Careful, you can still chase her away. Look at your tail going, you're over-eager with anticipation. There's more to a date than infatuation." Jeroba scolds his conversation partner, reminiscing on a past crush he fumbled with. Dating is never simple, he thinks to himself.
Their conversation shifts away from the date, towards work and food. Meanwhile, Misty has left to go back to her job, and the other regulars have stepped around the corner to the neighboring room for their ~4-hour game. Those that remain are Misty's children - Lance and Opal - and organizer Markin.
Lance and Opal are both field breeds, their pelts a mix of pale grey and rusty red. Lance tends to be the more chaotic of the two, his reactivity contrasting his sister's cunning. Jeroba tries for a moment to recall their age, either 7 or 8 years old. By far the youngest of those who come to the event, due mostly to the special accommodations that Rint Markin made with their school.
Rint himself is an older tod - over twice Jeroba's age - but despite his quiet demeanor, he's very easy to get along with. Jeroba was quick to find respect in Rint's leadership and knowledge, and often will closely watch how well he adapts in his interactions with the wide range of attendees to his event. He is on the shorter side, barely two tel6 tall, with his hair tied into a short ponytail between his two large ears. Crag breeds and sand breeds are fairly similar, but the black saddle on his muzzle makes it clear his ancestors were from the mountains.
"Looks like it's the five of us. Opal, Lance, come take a seat. We need to decide on a game." Rint sits calmly and quietly and lets the others guide the conversation.
"Mister Rint, I will need to leave before 4:00 PN if that's okay." Menaal takes a deferential tone towards the organizer, reminding Jeroba that Menaal usually goes off with the longer-games group. Rint nods, and waits for either Opal or Lance to inevitably speak up.
A small chuckle escapes Rint's muzzle, his extra bushy tail giving a gentle wag. "Fhuh'huh. So. Something short that's under two hours. Something cooperative. Something with cards. Would you believe that I have the perfect game?"
"There's cooperative card games?" Lance's face becomes adorned with the cutest look of surprise, mouth agape and ears stretching up, spreading his bangs.
The three adults in the room all give soft smiles, nostalgic for that level of exuberance. Rint pulls out a deck of square cards and sets it onto the metal table. Then, from another box he pulls out a cloth bag and pours out a collection of round discs. "Not too many, but you'll like this one. Are you familiar with a Unity7 deck?" He taps the pad of his index finger on the card box.
"Good, good," Rint continues. "But first tell me, do you know the history of the cards? How about their meanings?"
The pair quickly realize that they're getting a lesson, so they quiet down and focus on their mentor.
"In a Unity deck, you have five suits of thirteen cards. One through nine, and four society cards - Romance, Family, Community, and Grand Unity." He unboxes the deck and pulls out one of each of the society cards. He arranges them on the table in order of their ranking: 🞦 ❙ 🞭 ❙ 🞾 ❙ 🟊 "You might know them by their symbols; plus, cross, asterisk, and star. They are based on the four special days of respect during the new year's week."
"What about the days of culture?" Lance asks, visualizing the rest of the special week.
Seemingly anticipating this question, Rint immediately sets out a card of each suit: ⬤ ❙ ⯀ ❙ ✦ ❙ ▲ ❙ ⯊ "The five suits fill that role, as each one is based on one of the unified breeds. You have wood, the green circles," he gives a pointed nod towards Jeroba, "fields, the yellow squares," this time a gentle smile to the boisterous siblings, "snow, the blue diamonds," a polite smile towards Menaal, "and crags, or rather mountains, the brown triangles," with a finger pointing to himself. "In an era past, that's all a deck like this would have. However, in the year 300, when sand breeds officially joined Unity, they redesigned the deck to include a fifth suit, sands - represented with a red mound or half circle." He holds up the last card.
Menaal speaks up after a moment of quiet, looking confused by the explanation. "There's more to it than that, isn't there mister Rint?"
"Actually, yes, there is. Do you two know why the normal cards are numbered one through nine? The deck could have been crafted with one through ten, after all."
Rint gives a hearty approving chuckle, "Hoh hoh, why that's exactly right, daughter Misty. They chose nine to represent the months of the year. So this card here," he holds up a card with four triangles, "would be what?"
Jeroba starts to speak up, but bites down lightly on his tongue. It's a lesson for the kiddos, you dork.
"Four of mountains!" Lance replies quickly to try and beat his sister.
Rint gives the answer, "Mostly right, but we call it the Mountains of Kitsusha. This one with seven circles would be the Woods of Naria. And this one with the fancy art on it of a field breed family and a cross symbol is actually the Family of the Fields. Of course, many people will just call it the square cross."
"That's so cool!" Lance digs through the pile to find a specific card and holds it up to his sister, "Fields of Kolisa, that's us right now."
Jeroba stifles a small chuckle at the two field breeds, as it is indeed the eighth month. Simple pleasures.
"Okay, you two, put the cards back and I'll explain what we're going to be playing." He flips the cards face down and begins to shuffle them while he talks, "The game is called River Crossing. Our goal is to work together to cross a river by, and this is important," he leans in towards the two young ones, "silently determining who has the best hand of cards."
"That's the fun part, daughter Misty, you have to rely on your other senses. Though not entirely, as we will have these" - he spreads out the circular tokens from earlier into colored groups, each with pips from one to five - "to help us communicate how good we think our hand is. If I think my cards are really good, I would take the disc with five circles, or pips. But maybe Menaal also thinks his cards are really good, so he takes that disc from me. Well, then I have to second-guess myself against him. I can look at his body language, or read his scent, anything aside from talking or sharing the cards. Then, I can choose to take the five back, or maybe I take the four instead."
The two siblings both furrow their brows in confusion, trying to process the foreign way of communication.
Jeroba hasn't played this game, either, but he understands what's being asked of him, so he attempts to help out. "Lance, Opal, do you know how to tell which hands are better? It's more than just having higher values than everyone else."
Rint slides a reference card to each of them, easy side face up. They both start reading through it, bringing it close to their snouts.
Lance speaks first, "What's a skulk hand? What's a gathering?" Ears askew as he stares at the symbols next to it.
Jeroba replies, "A skulk hand is five cards of the same color. A gathering is a combination of three of one value card and two of a different value of card."
Rint adds in with more educational tidbits, "It's called a skulk based on old community structures dating back before Unity. The opposite type of hand is five cards of different colors, and it's called a unified hand. It's a harder variant and we won't be playing with that rule today, but it represents the unity between our races."
Menaal, who is smelling a small bit impatient - likely as he is unaccustomed to dealing with the simpler questions of the younger audience - pipes up. "High card's just when you don't have anything better. And whoever has the highest cards has the better hand."
"Menaal is right, though that applies to each type of hand. For example, a hand with two Romance cards is a higher pair than two fours, even if the person with the fours has a Grand Unity in their hand. Oh, and in case you two didn't know, a Romance is essentially a 10, a Family is an 11, a Community is a 12, and a Grand Unity is both a 13 and a 0. But it's only a zero if it's part of a straight." Rint speaks slowly, and gives a small scent check to make sure the two aren't too overwhelmed.
Jeroba offers a second phrasing, "As more people are added to the society cards, their value goes up. There's a lot more people in a community than in a family, right?" A sudden epiphany seems to wash over Lance, who was still struggling a little bit.
Rint then answers Opal's other question. "As for the numbers you see, that's the chances of getting that type of hand. How likely it is. You can see that a pair is quite likely, while a straight is unlikely - yet not nearly as rare as a skulk."
Jeroba looks over his reference card and then speaks up, "Alright, so I understand knowing who has the best hand, and I understand using the discs to indicate how good or bad I think my hand is, but how does it all fit together?"
Rint nods at Jeroba, indicating he plans to address that next. He waits a few moments more to make sure the siblings don't have any other questions and then he starts in on the core of the game. "The goal of River Crossing is to get everyone's cargo across the river without losing any of it, but we don't want to let the other merchants know what we have in our cargo." He places two cards in front of himself, face down. "This is our cargo - a set of two cards."
He continues to the next step, "In the middle, we have the river." He plays out three cards, face up. "The cards in the middle are part of everyone's hands. However, it wouldn't be very fun if we only had a fixed hand of five cards." He plays a fourth card to the middle. "This is the rapids," he plays out another card, "and this is the falls." At this point he turns his two cards face up. "After we reach this point, we will be determining who has the best hand. You do this by choosing the best five-card combination out of your seven total cards. Remember, you can't use other players' cargo, but it is important to note that you don't have to use any of your cargo to form your final hand."
Rint grabs the piles of colored discs. "Now, the last thing to mention is that we aren't just choosing a communication token once at the end. We are evaluating our hands at each step along the way with a confidence check. First, the brown discs with the white pips - we use these after we are dealt our cargo." He clinks the five tokens together into a single stack. "The discs we have chosen will stay in front of us the whole hand. We then deal the river, and choose from the blue discs. Then, we deal the rapids and choose from the white discs." He places one of each by his revealed hand as part of the example. "Then, after the falls is dealt to the middle, we make our final decisions using the green discs." His revealed cargo now has four differently colored tokens near it.
"Lastly, we reveal and see if we guessed the order correctly. If we did, the cargo makes it safely across the river. If we fail, then we lose the cargo and the round. Once we get used to the game, there are some event cards; hazards for when we succeed to make it more challenging or hired help for when we fail to make it easier." He indicates a small pile of cards he set off to the side with a different shape than the main deck of cards.
The siblings radiate bursts of confusion and excitement. They are both very quick to learn new games, but he worries something didn't quite connect. Rint has noticed the same and makes an offer, "How about we simulate a few practice hands. By doing that, we can talk about identifying what's in our hands, how to make good use of the communication tokens, and share some general strategy. It's a cooperative game, after all."
Menaal's scent changes to mild annoyance, eager to begin, but it's mild enough that the pair of young foxen don't take notice. Jeroba elbows Menaal and whispers, "Cut them some slack. Once they learn, they do great." Menaal relaxes a little more, and Rint deals out cards to each of them, face-up for demonstration purposes. Their little meeting of tactics begins.
Practice goes well enough, and after only a few hands, Lance and Opal both seem to have found their confidence. Jeroba addresses the patient pair of pipsqueaks, "Alright, you two, do you think you can follow the rules and keep quiet during the rounds? I'm sure we can talk all you want in-between, right mister Rint?" Rint gives him a nod.
With one final shuffle of the cards, and a restacking of the tokens, Rint glances at both Menaal and Jeroba. Jeroba dips his ears to show his readiness, and Rint starts to hand out the pair of cargo cards. "This time, make sure you keep them secret, okay?" Jeroba says, mostly to the two troublemakers sitting across from him.
Jeroba takes a peek at his two cards. 🞭✦ ❙ 🞭▲ His ears perk up reflexively, leaving him happy that this game doesn't require competitive secrecy. Straight away he has a pair of Family cards. Not only is it a pair, but it's a high value pair.
Around the table, each one looks at the cards they were dealt. Both Lance and Opal look excited, while Menaal and Rint are both contemplative. Rint then spreads out the brown discs in the middle of the table. His hand comes away holding the one with a single pip. "Remember that low pips are low confidence, and high pips are high confidence."
Lance grabs the five pip right after, smile beaming and tail wagging. Hmm, my hand is likely better than his, but if I take it right away, he might try to fight me for it.
Menaal grabs the three pip in a calm half-hearted manner.
Opal looks at her brother and decides she isn't as confident as he is, and so she grabs the four pip. Interesting, she must like her hand, too.
Jeroba is left with either taking the two pip, which would be absurd given his pair, or taking someone else's disc. He reaches across the table and grabs the five pip. Lance hangs his mouth open in shock. Skrrnff, a small amused snort is heard from the snow breed on his right, and Jeroba tries hard to not join his reaction.
Lance is now the only one without a token. He frowns and his scent swirls with frustration. He decides to reach back across and take the five pip back.
Calmly, letting his confidence seep out as much as he can, Jeroba takes it back to his side of the table.
Grrrnnff, Lance lets out a grumble and takes his sister's token.
Hmmm... Opal looks at the two pip and hesitates. Menaal pushes his three pip back to the middle of the table, indicating she should decide between the two. One of her ears dips to the side as she thinks, part of her hair shifting loosely onto it. She then smiles and takes the three pip.
Menaal takes the two pip and looks around at everyone else.
Rint narrates the next step of the game, "Nicely done. Alright, that's the cargo handled, now I'm going to deal out the river." He places three cards into the center of the table.
Two romance cards and the six diamonds. A flood of scents come all at once from all three adults, each one having a strong reaction to the reveal. Menaal's tail is thumping against his chair, Jeroba's muscles tense up with excitement, and even the calm Rint gets a big grin across his face that ruffles his cheek fur. Lance is excited enough to bounce in his chair. Of everyone, Opal seems to be the only one with a muted reaction.
Rint spreads the blue discs out near the river cards, and a small burst of chaos ensues.
Menaal and Jeroba collide their hands together as they both quickly reach for the five pip.
While that takes place, Lance snatches the four pip, and Rint tries to steer around the tangle of hands only to find what he was after is already gone.
Jeroba scowls playfully at Menaal and loudly clacks the five pip by his cargo. Menaal then checks his cargo again and decisively places a claw onto the disc and drags it over to his side. The two end up staring each other down.
Rint, meanwhile, decides that he's going to have to wait to make sense of all of this.
Opal lets out a small whimper, probably surprised by the adults showing such childlike exhuberance, and decides to take the one pip.
Jeroba is the first of the two to calm down. Alright, let me see the reference card a sec, pair on the table, then two pair is next highest, then three of a kind, then straight, then gathering... Menaal wasn't impressed with his hand before, but now he's really excited. Either he has two pair like I do, or three of a kind. Which is more likely? He gives a sniff, thinks a bit longer, then gives up on taking the five pip. Looking to the middle, there's a three and a two remaining.
Rint stands and reaches way across the table to Lance's four pip, taking it from him. Not with high energy, but in a calm and collected manner.
Rint, you too? Jeroba broadcasts confusion, and Rint looks back at him. He then pushes the four pip back to the middle of the table. Rint's other disc is a one pip, did his hand really improve that much? Jeroba thinks through what it could mean. If he got three of a kind, he would probably have been pushing for the five pip. If he had a pair before, he wouldn't have taken the one in the cargo check. If he only had the pair in the middle, he wouldn't be taking a high value disc at all. That means he has a six in his cargo! My second pair is better than his second pair, and that's what he is trying to ask me!
Jeroba's tail wags from the thrill of solving such a puzzle. He reaches for the four pip only to find that Lance had snuck it back to his side of the table again. Could Lance also have two pair? If he does, he likely still has lower values than mine. I should take it, with a polite firmness. He reaches across and makes eye contact with Lance. He places his index pad on the blue disc and slides it to his side yet again.
Haaah, Lance sighs, and then takes the three pip. Jeroba can tell he would love to be able to talk, but he's being a good kid and abiding by the rules.
Rint coughs with a small krhm; no annoyance, just the mature scent of a diplomatic adult, and moves the three pip back to the middle of the table signifying a challenge. Are you sure? he is asking of Lance.
Lance and Rint make eye contact for a moment, and Lance takes the disc back, slower this time. Rint then slowly, hesitantly takes the two pip.
"Okay, everyone, that's the river check. Here come the rapids." Rint places another card into the middle of the table.
Jeroba checks what it is; the nine mounds. No change for his own hand. After Rint spreads out the white discs, Menaal casually takes the five pip, while Opal frowns and takes the one pip. Jeroba watches and waits to see if either of the other two have had anything change for them.
Lance is fidgeting with his arm fur while staring at the discs, confusion and deep thought radiating from him. Rint looks at Lance and slowly reaches to the middle to take the three pip.
Seeing as how neither seems to have made any big motions, Jeroba considers again what Menaal might have in his hand. If he has three of a kind, his hand is more valuable than mine, but if he has two pair, there's a good chance that it's not as good as mine. Wait, no, his hand would be the same as Rint's in that case. If it's two pair, he's making a mistake. He issues one last challenge to Menaal and returns the five pip to the middle of the table.
Menaal gives him a tilted expression as he thinks through this action. A few moments later, he shakes his head and takes the five pip back.
Jeroba then takes the four pip, and goes back to watching and scenting the other two.
Lance stares at the two pip that remains in the center. He looks across at Rint. Rint places his three pip back to the middle, leaving the choice to Lance.
Lance starts to reach for the two pip, but then changes his mind at the last second and takes the three pip. Rint, with a cautious smell of low confidence, reaches to take the last disc. Jeroba can tell something feels off, but it's against the rules of the game to speak. He considers returning Lance's three pip, but he remembers one of the core gaming philosophies: It's never just about winning, it's about personal growth.
With all discs taken, Rint speaks again. "Last card, here's the falls." The fifth card is placed.
Three circles, neither a Romance card or a Family card, so no change yet again for Jeroba. Rint places the verdant green discs, and Menaal doesn't waste a blink, snatching the five pip with an almost overwhelming smugness. I guess someone had their hand improve, no sense challenging him for it again.
Jeroba looks around the rest of the table, and no one else has had a change in their energy. Slowly, one by one, they each claim the same numbered discs that they had taken on the previous round.
"Alright, everyone. That's the last confidence check, it's time to reveal our cargo. We will start from the bottom and work our way up. Opal, would you please reveal your cargo? After you reveal it, tell us the best hand you are able to make. Let's use the cards' proper names, as well." Rint adds the last bit as a bonus challenge for the siblings.
Opal reveals her cargo: 🞭⯊ ❙ ➆⯀ "I have a Family of the Sands, and a Fields of Naria." She pauses to gather her thoughts, "My hand is a pair of Romance."
Rint smiles at her, "That's correct, Opal. I would add that the three other cards in your hand are your Family of the Sands, the Fields of Naria, and the Sands of Alepex from the river. Alright, it's my turn now. Let's see if my hand is more valuable than yours."
Rint reveals his cargo: ➈⯀ ❙ ➅⯀ "I have a Fields of Alepex, and a Fields of Zorrde. My hand is two pair, Romance and Alepex. My last card can be either of the Zorrde cards." Jeroba notices Lance's ears dip forward, uh-oh. "Your turn to reveal, Lance."
Lance takes a deep breath and reveals his cargo: 🟊⯀ ❙ 🞾⯊ "I think I messed up, mister Rint..." His tone of voice is polite, but sad. "I have a... Grand Unity of the Fields, and a Community of the Sands. I remember you telling us in practice that it's one of the best cargos to have, so I took a high value disc, and..."
Rint reassures Lance, "That is indeed a very good cargo, son Blazer, you did quite fine! If anything, I should have been more assertive in my own hand. Now, can you tell us which five cards are your best?"
Opal reaches over and gives her brother a small loving squeeze, then yanks on his ears some until he swats her away and his frown reverses course.
"Okay, okay. I have a pair of Romance, and my other three cards are the Grand Unity of the Fields, the Community of the Sands, and..." Lance leans forward and looks at the river cards again, "the Sands of Alepex."
"Very good. Now, you are correct that your hand isn't valuable enough to match your disc, so the round will end in failure, but let's see if the other two were correct. Jeroba, you're next." Rint turns to face the adult's side of the table.
Jeroba reveals his cargo, siblings watching with curiosity: 🞭✦ ❙ 🞭▲ "I started with a pair of Families, of the Snow and Mountains, and my hand is two pair like Rint's, using the river's Romance cards and the Sands of Alepex."
Rint adds his commentary, "Your two pair are higher than my two pair. Good job with that, Jeroba." Rint turns to Menaal who has been waiting his turn with a bit less than perfect patience. "Okay, Menaal, was your hand better than Jeroba's?"
Menaal reveals his cargo: 🞦⯀ ❙ ➂⯀ At first glance, it appears mismatched and somewhat weak, but then again his brown disc was only a two pip so that makes sense. "I have a Romance of the Fields, and a three - errh, a Renala of the Fields. My hand is a gathering, with three Families and two Renalas." His ears flick a few times with pride towards his hand.
"That is quite the valuable hand, Menaal, and definitely worth the five pip discs you collected. It was a close round, with only one small mistake, but that's okay!"
"Sorry, Menaal, Jeroba. I thought I had a really good hand," Lance dips his ears, and Jeroba gives a short eyes-closed smile in return.
Menaal chats with Jeroba, turning in his chair and keeping an ear towards the antics of the kids. "I thought you might have had a three of a kind or maybe something better, and then I realized naaah, you started with something good, so you probably had two pair. I'm surprised Rint had two pairs, too."
Jeroba's turn to be prideful, "I actually figured out he had two pair when the six came out, but since mine was higher, I made sure to keep my disc. Actually, I almost stopped Lance, but I thought maybe he had a pair in his cargo like me."
"Noooo~, we could have had it!" Menaal whines jokingly, "You seem really good at this, teach me your skills." Menaal grabs Jeroba's hands and presses them together urgingly.
Jeroba pulls a hand free and flicks the tip of the snow breed's nose, "Use your snout more. There, lesson taught."
They share a laugh and shortly, Rint calls their attention to start the next round, and River Crossing continues with similar liveliness.
Menaal folds and stacks his chair over with the other spares, his mood markedly improved from earlier. "You know, you're right Jeroba, they do pick things up quick. I need to go get ready for my date, now." He starts to wag his tail, and then realizes what he's doing. "I'll try to keep my cool, yeah?"
After getting to know Menaal a bit better from the game, Jeroba adjusts his criticism. "It'll go fine, Menaal. Maybe your outward emotiveness is part of what she is attracted to."
"Oh. Oh, yeah, maybe! Use the nose, right?" Menaal gives a wiggle to his snout and then grins with a bit of teeth.
"Yep. Take care and have fun." Jeroba smacks him with his tail, and Menaal takes off down the hall. Jeroba then checks in with the other room, curious how their game is going. It doesn't take him long to realize that they're likely going to be at it all afternoon. He rejoins Rint and the siblings, the latter of which are still chatting about River Crossing.
"And those hazard cards are fun!" Lance gushes with his tail wagging.
Opal gets out of her seat and spreads out her hands in a tickle-threatening posture as she stalks closer to her brother, both trying to burn off a bit of their extra energy before the next game starts.
Jeroba fails to stifle a hearty laugh at their rapid-fire antics. They get along so well. I hope I can raise a pair like that in a few years. He leans against the wall and daydreams a bit, his mood brightening and his ears perking up.
Rint asks aloud, "Is everyone ready to pick a new game?"
Jeroba snaps out of his daze and responds, "Almost, Rint, let me go check around and see if there's anyone else who would like to play some games."
With a warm glow, Jeroba opens the door, turning to spot a wood breed of peer age. She has a deep red pelt, slightly darker than his own, with white gloving, and a bit of white on the tips of her ears. Her hair is a bit lighter red than her pelt, about shoulder length and pin-straight, possibly styled that way. His eyes lock with hers and he realizes she is searching aimlessly for something to do.
His mind races, the twinge of jealousy towards Menaal and his date spurring him on. His tail thunks lightly against the door frame and he calls out, "Hi there! Were you looking for something to do? We're between games, would you like to join us for the next one?"
She comes closer, her curiosity leading the way, and he steps back so she can take a look inside. She's quiet, and something seems a bit off, like she is visiting a foreign land. He scents the air. An overwhelming aroma of chemical tinted fruit is masking a nest of confusion, timidness, and anxiety. He looks closer at the vixen and spots a cloth pouch around her neck, resting against her blouse. A scent bag.
They are typically used to mitigate scent stimulation in large group situations, for those with better than average senses of smell, empathy sensitivity, or general social anxiety. However, Jeroba doesn't recall them smelling quite so strongly. Unsure of her reasons for wearing one, he reasons it's best to show confidence, to be welcoming, and an energetic smile is the easiest way to do that. A smile on the outside is a conduit for sharing happiness, he remembers someone once saying.
She looks over the group, and double checks the placard. "Alright, I'll join." Her words are quiet, but resolute.
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Of course, I then went and butchered it with my sloppy Photoshop skills. I'm not nearly happy with the way it mixed with my profile image, but it's at least close. I think this will work fine as a profile image for the time being.
A big thank you to anyone who interacts with my stories. Whether it's reading them, favoriting them, commenting, or sharing. Even if you want to leave harsh criticism, that's welcome!
I have bundles of ideas that I want to express, and I only recently have felt that my skills have improved to the point that I can accomplish them. So, please, browse, stick around, and let me know what you think.
Artwork credit to NukeRooster of DeviantArt, of their character Umbra. I don't have a personal character, but it was a nice painting of a deep black fox that I felt represented the enigmatic concept of this alias.
Summary: A technical-minded foxan tries out a new game, and a new attendee has a curious scent about her.
Foreword: Hello, dear readers. This is a Side B story, which means that it is an alternative retelling of a previous story but from a different perspective. Beta readers feel that this one works better if you have read the original story first, so go check out The Scent Bag and then drop back by for more.
Additionally, Side B is a denser and heavier read. However, to lighten the cognitive load, I've also uploaded a reference sheet that will aid in visualizing the custom card deck of Renaar, as well as including the seating chart of the participants during the various games. It also includes the Cargo hands for the gameplay, as some devices have display errors with the Unicode text.
As a quick aside, River Crossing is based strongly on The Gang, and Market Display is based strongly on Surfosaurus MAX. Roll the Bons is a generic dice-based push your luck crafted entirely for Renaar.
Pleasant reading!
|| Set in Renaar, the world of Snow Blossoms ||
Spring Snow [Snow Blossoms Prototype]
The Scent Bag
Spring Snow [Snow Blossoms Prototype]
The Scent Bag
The Scent Bag - Side B
Jeroba lounges in a metal chair, still cool to the touch from his fresh arrival. Around him, the other foxen1 congregate and chatter. Each happy to see each other again this week, to share in the small yet meaningful moments of each other's lives. Skyday2 at the Endsworth Community Center has played host to a board and card game event for months or longer, but he's only been attending for six weeks. He knows most of the regulars, but keeping up with their weekly socialization is still a bit challenging. He glances over at mister Rint, who is chatting with mother Misty by the door, while her two children dig through Rint's collection of games. His ears tilt to listen to the calmer of the two conversations.
1: Foxen are the natives of Renaar.
2: Skyday is the sixth day of the eight day week, and represents air, weather, scents, and stars."How are the two munchkins doing at school?" Rint enquires while keeping his ears trained behind him.
Misty glances in the direction of her pair of over-achievers. "Excelling, as usual. It's so hard to keep them satiated, so I really appreciate the community center, and you, for arranging this." Her scent is calmer than her tone of voice lets on. "I know I say that every time, but with the job and the chores and-"
"Misty, we've been over this," Rint cuts her off. "It's our pleasure to have them here, and no trouble at all. I can tell by how quickly they take to the games that they are quite the handful, but any time I give them a warning, they listen right away. That's all I ask for." His ears refocus on Misty.
Jeroba's attention shifts elsewhere. The clock on the wall reads 1:953, with the event officially starting soon. Most of the others chat about playing a heavy game, and are about to relocate to the second room. "Hey Jeroba," A snow breed a bit older than him takes a seat to his right. The stereotypical dark-colored warm weather coat of his is already salting with white as the Season of Harvest4 draws towards its conclusion.
3: On Renaar, days are 20 hours long, hours are 100 minutes long, minutes are 50 seconds long. A second on Renaar is nearly - but not exactly - the same as on Earth. (1:1.008) AN is After Newday and PN is Past Noon.
4: Renaar has three seasons each year. The Season of Reflection, the Season of Growth, and the Season of Harvest."Hey, yourself, Menaal. Not joining the longer game?" Jeroba's ears flick and wander as he keeps tabs on the other goings-on, while maintaining eye contact with his snow breed peer.
"Nope, gotta take off early today. I've got a dinner date~." Menaal gives a big cheek-lifting grin, one that just barely opens his mouth while bordering on the edge of a snarl.
A long, slow sniff reinforces the excitement that Menaal is showing. Jeroba's first reaction is one of mild jealousy but he quickly catches himself before it permeates his own scent. "Nice, I hope it goes well. Have you known her long?"
Menaal's tail wags and thuds against the wall, then tucks under the chair and beats against the metal legs instead. "Long enough. I was being a dummy and it took a friend to point out how her scent would change around me. So~, it should be an easy basket catch5."
5: A tail ball reference: Tail ball is a touch-contact sport played with a small basket strapped to the top of the tail in which the ball is carried across the court. The phrase signifies an easy collaborative effort."Careful, you can still chase her away. Look at your tail going, you're over-eager with anticipation. There's more to a date than infatuation." Jeroba scolds his conversation partner, reminiscing on a past crush he fumbled with. Dating is never simple, he thinks to himself.
Their conversation shifts away from the date, towards work and food. Meanwhile, Misty has left to go back to her job, and the other regulars have stepped around the corner to the neighboring room for their ~4-hour game. Those that remain are Misty's children - Lance and Opal - and organizer Markin.
Lance and Opal are both field breeds, their pelts a mix of pale grey and rusty red. Lance tends to be the more chaotic of the two, his reactivity contrasting his sister's cunning. Jeroba tries for a moment to recall their age, either 7 or 8 years old. By far the youngest of those who come to the event, due mostly to the special accommodations that Rint Markin made with their school.
Rint himself is an older tod - over twice Jeroba's age - but despite his quiet demeanor, he's very easy to get along with. Jeroba was quick to find respect in Rint's leadership and knowledge, and often will closely watch how well he adapts in his interactions with the wide range of attendees to his event. He is on the shorter side, barely two tel6 tall, with his hair tied into a short ponytail between his two large ears. Crag breeds and sand breeds are fairly similar, but the black saddle on his muzzle makes it clear his ancestors were from the mountains.
6: A tel is a medium unit of measurement. In modern times, twenty bon equals one tel. Its origin lies in the average length of a tail, and the twenty bones within it. One tel is equal to .7 Earth meters, and a bon is 3.5 centimeters."Looks like it's the five of us. Opal, Lance, come take a seat. We need to decide on a game." Rint sits calmly and quietly and lets the others guide the conversation.
"Mister Rint, I will need to leave before 4:00 PN if that's okay." Menaal takes a deferential tone towards the organizer, reminding Jeroba that Menaal usually goes off with the longer-games group. Rint nods, and waits for either Opal or Lance to inevitably speak up.
Sliding a chair to the table, across from Jeroba and Menaal, Opal speaks up first, "I want to play cooperative!""I want a card game!" Lance follows on her tail, noisily putting a chair next to his vixen sister.A small chuckle escapes Rint's muzzle, his extra bushy tail giving a gentle wag. "Fhuh'huh. So. Something short that's under two hours. Something cooperative. Something with cards. Would you believe that I have the perfect game?"
"There's cooperative card games?" Lance's face becomes adorned with the cutest look of surprise, mouth agape and ears stretching up, spreading his bangs.
The three adults in the room all give soft smiles, nostalgic for that level of exuberance. Rint pulls out a deck of square cards and sets it onto the metal table. Then, from another box he pulls out a cloth bag and pours out a collection of round discs. "Not too many, but you'll like this one. Are you familiar with a Unity7 deck?" He taps the pad of his index finger on the card box.
7: Unity is the central unified nation of the southern continent, founded over 350 years ago to bring together the knowledge of the various races and cultures.Opal smirks at her brother, who is currently distracted by the colored tokens. "We've played games with them at school, haven't we Lance?""Good, good," Rint continues. "But first tell me, do you know the history of the cards? How about their meanings?"
The pair quickly realize that they're getting a lesson, so they quiet down and focus on their mentor.
"In a Unity deck, you have five suits of thirteen cards. One through nine, and four society cards - Romance, Family, Community, and Grand Unity." He unboxes the deck and pulls out one of each of the society cards. He arranges them on the table in order of their ranking: 🞦 ❙ 🞭 ❙ 🞾 ❙ 🟊 "You might know them by their symbols; plus, cross, asterisk, and star. They are based on the four special days of respect during the new year's week."
"What about the days of culture?" Lance asks, visualizing the rest of the special week.
Seemingly anticipating this question, Rint immediately sets out a card of each suit: ⬤ ❙ ⯀ ❙ ✦ ❙ ▲ ❙ ⯊ "The five suits fill that role, as each one is based on one of the unified breeds. You have wood, the green circles," he gives a pointed nod towards Jeroba, "fields, the yellow squares," this time a gentle smile to the boisterous siblings, "snow, the blue diamonds," a polite smile towards Menaal, "and crags, or rather mountains, the brown triangles," with a finger pointing to himself. "In an era past, that's all a deck like this would have. However, in the year 300, when sand breeds officially joined Unity, they redesigned the deck to include a fifth suit, sands - represented with a red mound or half circle." He holds up the last card.
Menaal speaks up after a moment of quiet, looking confused by the explanation. "There's more to it than that, isn't there mister Rint?"
"Actually, yes, there is. Do you two know why the normal cards are numbered one through nine? The deck could have been crafted with one through ten, after all."
Opal is the one who responds, "Oh, I think I know! Is it because there's nine months?"Rint gives a hearty approving chuckle, "Hoh hoh, why that's exactly right, daughter Misty. They chose nine to represent the months of the year. So this card here," he holds up a card with four triangles, "would be what?"
Jeroba starts to speak up, but bites down lightly on his tongue. It's a lesson for the kiddos, you dork.
"Four of mountains!" Lance replies quickly to try and beat his sister.
Opal corrects him, "No, Lance, he's asking what the four means. What's the fourth month?"Lance frowns, his tail and ears sagging, "Oh. Uhh..." Jeroba notices him counting with his fingers. "Kitsusha mountains?"Rint gives the answer, "Mostly right, but we call it the Mountains of Kitsusha. This one with seven circles would be the Woods of Naria. And this one with the fancy art on it of a field breed family and a cross symbol is actually the Family of the Fields. Of course, many people will just call it the square cross."
"That's so cool!" Lance digs through the pile to find a specific card and holds it up to his sister, "Fields of Kolisa, that's us right now."
Jeroba stifles a small chuckle at the two field breeds, as it is indeed the eighth month. Simple pleasures.
"Okay, you two, put the cards back and I'll explain what we're going to be playing." He flips the cards face down and begins to shuffle them while he talks, "The game is called River Crossing. Our goal is to work together to cross a river by, and this is important," he leans in towards the two young ones, "silently determining who has the best hand of cards."
Right away, Opal voices her concern, "If we can't talk, how do we say what's in our hand?""That's the fun part, daughter Misty, you have to rely on your other senses. Though not entirely, as we will have these" - he spreads out the circular tokens from earlier into colored groups, each with pips from one to five - "to help us communicate how good we think our hand is. If I think my cards are really good, I would take the disc with five circles, or pips. But maybe Menaal also thinks his cards are really good, so he takes that disc from me. Well, then I have to second-guess myself against him. I can look at his body language, or read his scent, anything aside from talking or sharing the cards. Then, I can choose to take the five back, or maybe I take the four instead."
The two siblings both furrow their brows in confusion, trying to process the foreign way of communication.
Jeroba hasn't played this game, either, but he understands what's being asked of him, so he attempts to help out. "Lance, Opal, do you know how to tell which hands are better? It's more than just having higher values than everyone else."
"No~!" They speak in unison, full of energy.Rint slides a reference card to each of them, easy side face up. They both start reading through it, bringing it close to their snouts.
Lance speaks first, "What's a skulk hand? What's a gathering?" Ears askew as he stares at the symbols next to it.
Jeroba replies, "A skulk hand is five cards of the same color. A gathering is a combination of three of one value card and two of a different value of card."
Rint adds in with more educational tidbits, "It's called a skulk based on old community structures dating back before Unity. The opposite type of hand is five cards of different colors, and it's called a unified hand. It's a harder variant and we won't be playing with that rule today, but it represents the unity between our races."
Opal, "The best hand is five of a kind, and the worst is just the highest card? What does that mean? What about these numbers on the side?" She points at her reference card on the right edge.Menaal, who is smelling a small bit impatient - likely as he is unaccustomed to dealing with the simpler questions of the younger audience - pipes up. "High card's just when you don't have anything better. And whoever has the highest cards has the better hand."
"Menaal is right, though that applies to each type of hand. For example, a hand with two Romance cards is a higher pair than two fours, even if the person with the fours has a Grand Unity in their hand. Oh, and in case you two didn't know, a Romance is essentially a 10, a Family is an 11, a Community is a 12, and a Grand Unity is both a 13 and a 0. But it's only a zero if it's part of a straight." Rint speaks slowly, and gives a small scent check to make sure the two aren't too overwhelmed.
Jeroba offers a second phrasing, "As more people are added to the society cards, their value goes up. There's a lot more people in a community than in a family, right?" A sudden epiphany seems to wash over Lance, who was still struggling a little bit.
Rint then answers Opal's other question. "As for the numbers you see, that's the chances of getting that type of hand. How likely it is. You can see that a pair is quite likely, while a straight is unlikely - yet not nearly as rare as a skulk."
Jeroba looks over his reference card and then speaks up, "Alright, so I understand knowing who has the best hand, and I understand using the discs to indicate how good or bad I think my hand is, but how does it all fit together?"
Rint nods at Jeroba, indicating he plans to address that next. He waits a few moments more to make sure the siblings don't have any other questions and then he starts in on the core of the game. "The goal of River Crossing is to get everyone's cargo across the river without losing any of it, but we don't want to let the other merchants know what we have in our cargo." He places two cards in front of himself, face down. "This is our cargo - a set of two cards."
He continues to the next step, "In the middle, we have the river." He plays out three cards, face up. "The cards in the middle are part of everyone's hands. However, it wouldn't be very fun if we only had a fixed hand of five cards." He plays a fourth card to the middle. "This is the rapids," he plays out another card, "and this is the falls." At this point he turns his two cards face up. "After we reach this point, we will be determining who has the best hand. You do this by choosing the best five-card combination out of your seven total cards. Remember, you can't use other players' cargo, but it is important to note that you don't have to use any of your cargo to form your final hand."
Rint grabs the piles of colored discs. "Now, the last thing to mention is that we aren't just choosing a communication token once at the end. We are evaluating our hands at each step along the way with a confidence check. First, the brown discs with the white pips - we use these after we are dealt our cargo." He clinks the five tokens together into a single stack. "The discs we have chosen will stay in front of us the whole hand. We then deal the river, and choose from the blue discs. Then, we deal the rapids and choose from the white discs." He places one of each by his revealed hand as part of the example. "Then, after the falls is dealt to the middle, we make our final decisions using the green discs." His revealed cargo now has four differently colored tokens near it.
"Lastly, we reveal and see if we guessed the order correctly. If we did, the cargo makes it safely across the river. If we fail, then we lose the cargo and the round. Once we get used to the game, there are some event cards; hazards for when we succeed to make it more challenging or hired help for when we fail to make it easier." He indicates a small pile of cards he set off to the side with a different shape than the main deck of cards.
The siblings radiate bursts of confusion and excitement. They are both very quick to learn new games, but he worries something didn't quite connect. Rint has noticed the same and makes an offer, "How about we simulate a few practice hands. By doing that, we can talk about identifying what's in our hands, how to make good use of the communication tokens, and share some general strategy. It's a cooperative game, after all."
Menaal's scent changes to mild annoyance, eager to begin, but it's mild enough that the pair of young foxen don't take notice. Jeroba elbows Menaal and whispers, "Cut them some slack. Once they learn, they do great." Menaal relaxes a little more, and Rint deals out cards to each of them, face-up for demonstration purposes. Their little meeting of tactics begins.
Practice goes well enough, and after only a few hands, Lance and Opal both seem to have found their confidence. Jeroba addresses the patient pair of pipsqueaks, "Alright, you two, do you think you can follow the rules and keep quiet during the rounds? I'm sure we can talk all you want in-between, right mister Rint?" Rint gives him a nod.
"Yes, mister Jeroba," they respond together."We'll behave, promise," Opal adds.With one final shuffle of the cards, and a restacking of the tokens, Rint glances at both Menaal and Jeroba. Jeroba dips his ears to show his readiness, and Rint starts to hand out the pair of cargo cards. "This time, make sure you keep them secret, okay?" Jeroba says, mostly to the two troublemakers sitting across from him.
Jeroba takes a peek at his two cards. 🞭✦ ❙ 🞭▲ His ears perk up reflexively, leaving him happy that this game doesn't require competitive secrecy. Straight away he has a pair of Family cards. Not only is it a pair, but it's a high value pair.
Around the table, each one looks at the cards they were dealt. Both Lance and Opal look excited, while Menaal and Rint are both contemplative. Rint then spreads out the brown discs in the middle of the table. His hand comes away holding the one with a single pip. "Remember that low pips are low confidence, and high pips are high confidence."
Lance grabs the five pip right after, smile beaming and tail wagging. Hmm, my hand is likely better than his, but if I take it right away, he might try to fight me for it.
Menaal grabs the three pip in a calm half-hearted manner.
Opal looks at her brother and decides she isn't as confident as he is, and so she grabs the four pip. Interesting, she must like her hand, too.
Jeroba is left with either taking the two pip, which would be absurd given his pair, or taking someone else's disc. He reaches across the table and grabs the five pip. Lance hangs his mouth open in shock. Skrrnff, a small amused snort is heard from the snow breed on his right, and Jeroba tries hard to not join his reaction.
Lance is now the only one without a token. He frowns and his scent swirls with frustration. He decides to reach back across and take the five pip back.
Calmly, letting his confidence seep out as much as he can, Jeroba takes it back to his side of the table.
Grrrnnff, Lance lets out a grumble and takes his sister's token.
Hmmm... Opal looks at the two pip and hesitates. Menaal pushes his three pip back to the middle of the table, indicating she should decide between the two. One of her ears dips to the side as she thinks, part of her hair shifting loosely onto it. She then smiles and takes the three pip.
Menaal takes the two pip and looks around at everyone else.
Rint narrates the next step of the game, "Nicely done. Alright, that's the cargo handled, now I'm going to deal out the river." He places three cards into the center of the table.
🞦✦ ❙ 🞦⬤ ❙ ➅✦Two romance cards and the six diamonds. A flood of scents come all at once from all three adults, each one having a strong reaction to the reveal. Menaal's tail is thumping against his chair, Jeroba's muscles tense up with excitement, and even the calm Rint gets a big grin across his face that ruffles his cheek fur. Lance is excited enough to bounce in his chair. Of everyone, Opal seems to be the only one with a muted reaction.
Rint spreads the blue discs out near the river cards, and a small burst of chaos ensues.
Menaal and Jeroba collide their hands together as they both quickly reach for the five pip.
While that takes place, Lance snatches the four pip, and Rint tries to steer around the tangle of hands only to find what he was after is already gone.
Jeroba scowls playfully at Menaal and loudly clacks the five pip by his cargo. Menaal then checks his cargo again and decisively places a claw onto the disc and drags it over to his side. The two end up staring each other down.
Rint, meanwhile, decides that he's going to have to wait to make sense of all of this.
Opal lets out a small whimper, probably surprised by the adults showing such childlike exhuberance, and decides to take the one pip.
Jeroba is the first of the two to calm down. Alright, let me see the reference card a sec, pair on the table, then two pair is next highest, then three of a kind, then straight, then gathering... Menaal wasn't impressed with his hand before, but now he's really excited. Either he has two pair like I do, or three of a kind. Which is more likely? He gives a sniff, thinks a bit longer, then gives up on taking the five pip. Looking to the middle, there's a three and a two remaining.
Rint stands and reaches way across the table to Lance's four pip, taking it from him. Not with high energy, but in a calm and collected manner.
Rint, you too? Jeroba broadcasts confusion, and Rint looks back at him. He then pushes the four pip back to the middle of the table. Rint's other disc is a one pip, did his hand really improve that much? Jeroba thinks through what it could mean. If he got three of a kind, he would probably have been pushing for the five pip. If he had a pair before, he wouldn't have taken the one in the cargo check. If he only had the pair in the middle, he wouldn't be taking a high value disc at all. That means he has a six in his cargo! My second pair is better than his second pair, and that's what he is trying to ask me!
Jeroba's tail wags from the thrill of solving such a puzzle. He reaches for the four pip only to find that Lance had snuck it back to his side of the table again. Could Lance also have two pair? If he does, he likely still has lower values than mine. I should take it, with a polite firmness. He reaches across and makes eye contact with Lance. He places his index pad on the blue disc and slides it to his side yet again.
Haaah, Lance sighs, and then takes the three pip. Jeroba can tell he would love to be able to talk, but he's being a good kid and abiding by the rules.
Rint coughs with a small krhm; no annoyance, just the mature scent of a diplomatic adult, and moves the three pip back to the middle of the table signifying a challenge. Are you sure? he is asking of Lance.
Lance and Rint make eye contact for a moment, and Lance takes the disc back, slower this time. Rint then slowly, hesitantly takes the two pip.
"Okay, everyone, that's the river check. Here come the rapids." Rint places another card into the middle of the table.
🞦✦ ❙ 🞦⬤ ❙ ➅✦ ❙ ➈⯊Jeroba checks what it is; the nine mounds. No change for his own hand. After Rint spreads out the white discs, Menaal casually takes the five pip, while Opal frowns and takes the one pip. Jeroba watches and waits to see if either of the other two have had anything change for them.
Lance is fidgeting with his arm fur while staring at the discs, confusion and deep thought radiating from him. Rint looks at Lance and slowly reaches to the middle to take the three pip.
Seeing as how neither seems to have made any big motions, Jeroba considers again what Menaal might have in his hand. If he has three of a kind, his hand is more valuable than mine, but if he has two pair, there's a good chance that it's not as good as mine. Wait, no, his hand would be the same as Rint's in that case. If it's two pair, he's making a mistake. He issues one last challenge to Menaal and returns the five pip to the middle of the table.
Menaal gives him a tilted expression as he thinks through this action. A few moments later, he shakes his head and takes the five pip back.
Jeroba then takes the four pip, and goes back to watching and scenting the other two.
Lance stares at the two pip that remains in the center. He looks across at Rint. Rint places his three pip back to the middle, leaving the choice to Lance.
Lance starts to reach for the two pip, but then changes his mind at the last second and takes the three pip. Rint, with a cautious smell of low confidence, reaches to take the last disc. Jeroba can tell something feels off, but it's against the rules of the game to speak. He considers returning Lance's three pip, but he remembers one of the core gaming philosophies: It's never just about winning, it's about personal growth.
With all discs taken, Rint speaks again. "Last card, here's the falls." The fifth card is placed.
🞦✦ ❙ 🞦⬤ ❙ ➅✦ ❙ ➈⯊ ❙ ➂⬤Three circles, neither a Romance card or a Family card, so no change yet again for Jeroba. Rint places the verdant green discs, and Menaal doesn't waste a blink, snatching the five pip with an almost overwhelming smugness. I guess someone had their hand improve, no sense challenging him for it again.
Jeroba looks around the rest of the table, and no one else has had a change in their energy. Slowly, one by one, they each claim the same numbered discs that they had taken on the previous round.
"Alright, everyone. That's the last confidence check, it's time to reveal our cargo. We will start from the bottom and work our way up. Opal, would you please reveal your cargo? After you reveal it, tell us the best hand you are able to make. Let's use the cards' proper names, as well." Rint adds the last bit as a bonus challenge for the siblings.
Opal reveals her cargo: 🞭⯊ ❙ ➆⯀ "I have a Family of the Sands, and a Fields of Naria." She pauses to gather her thoughts, "My hand is a pair of Romance."
Rint smiles at her, "That's correct, Opal. I would add that the three other cards in your hand are your Family of the Sands, the Fields of Naria, and the Sands of Alepex from the river. Alright, it's my turn now. Let's see if my hand is more valuable than yours."
Rint reveals his cargo: ➈⯀ ❙ ➅⯀ "I have a Fields of Alepex, and a Fields of Zorrde. My hand is two pair, Romance and Alepex. My last card can be either of the Zorrde cards." Jeroba notices Lance's ears dip forward, uh-oh. "Your turn to reveal, Lance."
Lance takes a deep breath and reveals his cargo: 🟊⯀ ❙ 🞾⯊ "I think I messed up, mister Rint..." His tone of voice is polite, but sad. "I have a... Grand Unity of the Fields, and a Community of the Sands. I remember you telling us in practice that it's one of the best cargos to have, so I took a high value disc, and..."
Rint reassures Lance, "That is indeed a very good cargo, son Blazer, you did quite fine! If anything, I should have been more assertive in my own hand. Now, can you tell us which five cards are your best?"
Opal reaches over and gives her brother a small loving squeeze, then yanks on his ears some until he swats her away and his frown reverses course.
"Okay, okay. I have a pair of Romance, and my other three cards are the Grand Unity of the Fields, the Community of the Sands, and..." Lance leans forward and looks at the river cards again, "the Sands of Alepex."
"Very good. Now, you are correct that your hand isn't valuable enough to match your disc, so the round will end in failure, but let's see if the other two were correct. Jeroba, you're next." Rint turns to face the adult's side of the table.
Jeroba reveals his cargo, siblings watching with curiosity: 🞭✦ ❙ 🞭▲ "I started with a pair of Families, of the Snow and Mountains, and my hand is two pair like Rint's, using the river's Romance cards and the Sands of Alepex."
Rint adds his commentary, "Your two pair are higher than my two pair. Good job with that, Jeroba." Rint turns to Menaal who has been waiting his turn with a bit less than perfect patience. "Okay, Menaal, was your hand better than Jeroba's?"
Menaal reveals his cargo: 🞦⯀ ❙ ➂⯀ At first glance, it appears mismatched and somewhat weak, but then again his brown disc was only a two pip so that makes sense. "I have a Romance of the Fields, and a three - errh, a Renala of the Fields. My hand is a gathering, with three Families and two Renalas." His ears flick a few times with pride towards his hand.
"That is quite the valuable hand, Menaal, and definitely worth the five pip discs you collected. It was a close round, with only one small mistake, but that's okay!"
"Sorry, Menaal, Jeroba. I thought I had a really good hand," Lance dips his ears, and Jeroba gives a short eyes-closed smile in return.
Opal tries to cheer Lance up, "You had a way better hand than I did.""Yeah but you had it easy, no one else wanted the ones.""I guess, and it was fun to watch everyone taking each other's discs, hee hee~" Opal giggles briefly."Well, we'll see how you like it when it happens to you. It's confusing!"Menaal chats with Jeroba, turning in his chair and keeping an ear towards the antics of the kids. "I thought you might have had a three of a kind or maybe something better, and then I realized naaah, you started with something good, so you probably had two pair. I'm surprised Rint had two pairs, too."
Jeroba's turn to be prideful, "I actually figured out he had two pair when the six came out, but since mine was higher, I made sure to keep my disc. Actually, I almost stopped Lance, but I thought maybe he had a pair in his cargo like me."
"Noooo~, we could have had it!" Menaal whines jokingly, "You seem really good at this, teach me your skills." Menaal grabs Jeroba's hands and presses them together urgingly.
Jeroba pulls a hand free and flicks the tip of the snow breed's nose, "Use your snout more. There, lesson taught."
They share a laugh and shortly, Rint calls their attention to start the next round, and River Crossing continues with similar liveliness.
Menaal folds and stacks his chair over with the other spares, his mood markedly improved from earlier. "You know, you're right Jeroba, they do pick things up quick. I need to go get ready for my date, now." He starts to wag his tail, and then realizes what he's doing. "I'll try to keep my cool, yeah?"
After getting to know Menaal a bit better from the game, Jeroba adjusts his criticism. "It'll go fine, Menaal. Maybe your outward emotiveness is part of what she is attracted to."
"Oh. Oh, yeah, maybe! Use the nose, right?" Menaal gives a wiggle to his snout and then grins with a bit of teeth.
"Yep. Take care and have fun." Jeroba smacks him with his tail, and Menaal takes off down the hall. Jeroba then checks in with the other room, curious how their game is going. It doesn't take him long to realize that they're likely going to be at it all afternoon. He rejoins Rint and the siblings, the latter of which are still chatting about River Crossing.
"And those hazard cards are fun!" Lance gushes with his tail wagging.
Opal counters, "They're supposed to be penalties, you weirdo.""Yeah but one of them gave us another card, and some of them made it go faster." Lance gets up from his seat and runs back and forth a few times."You're gonna get yelled at, Lance.""I'm being careful!" He pivots and dashes to the back of Opal's chair where he gives a tug to her ears before darting to the opposite wall and sticking his tongue out."If you wanna be a spaz, I'll give you something to spaz about..."Opal gets out of her seat and spreads out her hands in a tickle-threatening posture as she stalks closer to her brother, both trying to burn off a bit of their extra energy before the next game starts.
Jeroba fails to stifle a hearty laugh at their rapid-fire antics. They get along so well. I hope I can raise a pair like that in a few years. He leans against the wall and daydreams a bit, his mood brightening and his ears perking up.
Rint asks aloud, "Is everyone ready to pick a new game?"
The siblings return to their seats, "Okay~!"Jeroba snaps out of his daze and responds, "Almost, Rint, let me go check around and see if there's anyone else who would like to play some games."
With a warm glow, Jeroba opens the door, turning to spot a wood breed of peer age. She has a deep red pelt, slightly darker than his own, with white gloving, and a bit of white on the tips of her ears. Her hair is a bit lighter red than her pelt, about shoulder length and pin-straight, possibly styled that way. His eyes lock with hers and he realizes she is searching aimlessly for something to do.
His mind races, the twinge of jealousy towards Menaal and his date spurring him on. His tail thunks lightly against the door frame and he calls out, "Hi there! Were you looking for something to do? We're between games, would you like to join us for the next one?"
She comes closer, her curiosity leading the way, and he steps back so she can take a look inside. She's quiet, and something seems a bit off, like she is visiting a foreign land. He scents the air. An overwhelming aroma of chemical tinted fruit is masking a nest of confusion, timidness, and anxiety. He looks closer at the vixen and spots a cloth pouch around her neck, resting against her blouse. A scent bag.
They are typically used to mitigate scent stimulation in large group situations, for those with better than average senses of smell, empathy sensitivity, or general social anxiety. However, Jeroba doesn't recall them smelling quite so strongly. Unsure of her reasons for wearing one, he reasons it's best to show confidence, to be welcoming, and an energetic smile is the easiest way to do that. A smile on the outside is a conduit for sharing happiness, he remembers someone once saying.
She looks over the group, and double checks the placard. "Alright, I'll join." Her words are quiet, but resolute.
The story continues on the next page...
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Category Artwork (Digital) / Portraits
Species Silver Fox
Size 900 x 450px
File Size 716.5 kB
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