taxonomites | [Location: Sanctuary Square] Part the Fifth: Second Attempt at a Game

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[Location: Sanctuary Square] Part the Fifth: Second Attempt at a Game

Nazca is mostly over seeing Locke (as much as she can be, since she's still adamant that it was a trick, but some small part of her can't believe that it was). She's still uneasy from the setting, and the mind control, and waking up this morning on a mint. (She broke it up to experiment with at the bar, but her hair still smells like it. She supposes there are worse things.)

Caritas seems to cater more to the taste of the city than her own tavern; to be fair, however, the inhabitants of this city don't cater much to the taste of The Last Mistake, either. If she's going to do anything with it other than live there, she'll need a new strategy. She also doesn't think most of the city would be interested in her proposals about the economy: not yet, at least. Tony Stark, maybe, but she hasn't spoken with him in a bit, and one person hardly makes up a city. Helping Ax has given her something to do, but it's his project really, not hers.

This afternoon, she's sitting at a small table she set up in Sanctuary Square - in the shade - shuffling a Camorri deck of cards idly. A small hand-painted sign says, "Learn a game/teach a game."

There have to be people out there as interested in some weekend diversion as she is. And if not, well, perhaps she'll see someone she knows.

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B'Elanna was tired of finding different ways to kill time. She spent most her time working on the Delta Flyer - checking and double checking the ship's systems - and a lot of time searching for a way to contact Voyager, but, at a certain point, you had to step back and take a break.

As she crossed Sanctuary Square, the engineer found herself missing an entirely unexpected member of the crew. The separation from Tom and Chakotay constantly ate away at her, but Neelix was rarely at the front of her mind. Though if anywhere needed a morale officer, it was Taxon.

She paused when she spotted Nazca, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"What sort of game?"

"Well, that's sort of up to you." Nazca smiled a bit. "I doubt you know any of the ones I do, so I could teach you. Or if you know a game using a deck of cards like this, you could teach me. I'm up for either."

B'Elanna's appearance doesn't seem to especially shock her; then again, she's spent the last week working with Ax.

"I'm going to guess that you don't know Fizzbin," B'Elanna said wryly, taking a step closer but not sitting down. She didn't know many card games. She'd learned a few basic games during her childhood and picked up others - from a variety of planets and cultures - during her time with the Maquis and her time on Voyager. Klingons, for their part, had preferred games that involved displays of physical strength. "I always like learning something new."

Although she didn't remark on the fact that Nazca took her appearance in her stride, the fact that she did came as something of a relief to someone who had been called a demon since arriving in the city.

Nazca spread the deck of cards, face up. They look hand painted, and quite aesthetic in their way. "I don't, but then, I don't know that many games from anywhere but Camorr. Poker is it." She considers. "I could teach you Rich-Man, Beggar-Man, Solider-Man, Duke. It works better with more people, but you'd get the basic idea, at least."

"Camorr?" B'Elanna repeated. The name was clearly unfamiliar to her, but she took that in her stride. "Your home planet?"

At last, she sat down. Nazca seemed harmless enough. Friendly, even. B'Elanna knew that she could defend herself if she had to, even if she was on unfamiliar territory at the moment.

"Sounds good to me," she added, "Next time, we can rope more people in to the game."

"No - Camorr's the country. I've been calling the world Therin - we always just called it 'the world' at home." Ah, the joys of pre-space travel.

She shuffled the deck. "Do you mind me asking where you're from?"

Her opinion of Nazca shifted subtly when she realised that her new acquaintance came from a world - or a time, at least - without space travel or warp technology. She was impressed that she'd adapted so well to life in a clearly alien city.

"No," said B'Elanna. Not here and now, anyway. "Although I don't know if the names will mean anything to you. My father was from a planet called Earth and my mother was born in the Klingon Empire. I ... grew up between the two."

Which meant that she didn't really come from anywhere. Except Voyager.

"I know of Earth - most of the people I've met here are from there, and I'm told the city is somewhat modeled on it. At least in the number of heavenly bodies and architecture."

She offered B'Elanna the cards. "I've not heard of the Klingon Empire, though."

"This city could be modelled on any city in the Federation," said B'Elanna dismissively. The people who had designed Taxon had drawn on structures and shapes that were found throughout the quadrant. "Our captors might be twisted, but they're definitely not original."

She picked up and scanned her cards carefully.

"It's a collection of planets, that's all."

B'Elanna continued to struggle with her Klingon heritage.

"Are you familiar with the suits?" They're close to European earth's four suits, though not precisely the same.

"A Federation and an Empire - are they at odds? Or do the dates not match well enough for that."

"We called them diamonds, hearts, clubs and spades," she said, "I'm going to guess that you use different names."

That was the nature of parallel universes, after all. Outwardly the same, but different when it got down to the details.

"They were," she said, after a moment of hesitation. Nazca wasn't from her world. She wasn't from a world close to her world. It couldn't hurt. "But things are getting better."

Nazca nods. "That's what Casey said, when he taught me poker. We can use those names - I remember them easily enough."

She took the cards back, reshuffling them.

"I'm glad. Wartime isn't good for anyone but politicians."

"And I'm guessing that you aren't a politician either."

There was something curious about Nazca. She was the most secretive person that B'Elanna had met in Taxon, despite being the first person she'd actually sat down and relaxed with. It was an interesting mix.

"No, not quite." She smiles a little. "I have a tavern, here, but I'm not very good at it yet. There aren't really enough of us to support it in addition to Caritas."

Nazca was selective with the truth without thought; it was simply smart policy, she found. Besides, she had seen what happened to those who didn't make an effort to get along with their fellow captives.

"I'll have to take a look," she said, "Caritas is a bit too ... noisy for me."

That wasn't strictly true. Although karaoke wasn't her idea of fun, it was the reactions of the other customers that put her off. The people who frequented Caritas - including the 'vampire' who had greeted her after she'd arrived in the city - took one look at her forehead and thought she was some sort of demon.

Nazca looks thoughtful. She'd never have described the Mistake as quiet at home, but perhaps she could market that here.

"It's usually very empty; I don't let Extras in."

"Good," said B'Elanna, fervently. "They're unnerving. I thought they might be holograms at first, but I haven't been able to find a projector. And they're not robotic. They're flesh and blood without any sort of consciousness."

Nazca shakes her head.

"Back home, a particularly nasty stripe of noblemen had a process they called 'gentling.' They'd do it to break horses, sometimes pet dogs. It removes all personality, all spirit from the creature. The Extras aren't quite the same, but they remind me of it."

And she's always found gentling repellent. If the Extras ever were people, what they are now is worse than dead.

That description was both unpleasant and accurate.

"I wish I knew what they were for," she said, "Unless these 'hamsters' think they'll make the rest of the prisoners feel more at home."

She wasn't entirely convinced that they were hamsters, either. They just appeared as them, which wasn't the same thing.

Tony was beginning to feel restless, after having spent the last week or so in one workshop or another. He was never an outdoors-man, but now he was feeling a distinct need for some fresh air and change of scenery.

So he found himself in Sanctuary Square, just taking a long walk around and mentally running over formulas, equations, and other things related to chemistry and elemental properties. He didn't notice Nazca until he was almost directly in front of her, and then all the complicated jumble rolling around in his mind was temporarily pushed to the backburner.

"Hey, Nazca."

She smiles a crooked smile. "Hey yourself. What've you been up to?"

Though she isn't certain he'll actually tell her, it can't hurt to ask.

"Oh, you know me. Tests. Experiments. Explosions. And a sizable dose of chaos." And as odd as it was, that was a remarkably succinct summary of what Tony was doing. He just left out the part that all of his tests and experiments were failing.

Hopefully his plan to get others in Taxon involved wouldn't backfire as well. Of course, Nazca didn't need to know any of this. So he just grinned back at her, and asked, "So what's all this?" This being the sign, the table, and the cards. "Learn a game or teach a game, huh?"

"Well, I tried to get people to come and gamble a few months back, but credits aren't coins. Besides, I felt I should meet more people, as it doesn't seem I'm going anywhere any time soon."

She notices that he's the smallest bit preoccupied, but that was his right, if he liked. "And as no one knows the same games I know, I thought I might learn some. Casey taught me the basics of poker, but that's the only Earth game I know."

"Huh. I guess you could use the hatches to get poker chips or something. Wouldn't mind some gambling myself." It felt like a long time since Tony had been in a casino. Of course, using poker chips instead of real money was like a cop-out, but Tony didn't point that part out. "But meeting people's not always a bad thing. It helps pass the time."

"It does. And I used matchsticks, when I learned to play poker, which is fine for keeping score, but it does take the life out of a game of betting, doesn't it? You have to bet for something worth betting over."

She shuffles the cards idly while they talk.

"You used matchsticks?" Tony raises an eyebrow at Nazca, trying to keep the amusement from his voice. "You'll never learn the nuances of poker if all you have are matchsticks. I'll have to see if I can't conjure up something more suitable." He makes a mental note to see if the hatches can provide something better to use.

"So, how about you teach me something? Poker's a good way to pass the time, but not with matchsticks."

"It was rather improvised on the fly. I would have hatched some chips, or had someone show me how, if it became a prevalent pasttime."

She shuffles the deck once more, then hands it to him. "Cut. It's a shame I don't have the setup for Carousel Hazard. I think it would amuse you."

Connor's out and about, avoiding going back to the apartment where he'll have to deal with the rather...intense glitched Faith and spending time at the hotel where he may or may not be forced to apologize for taking his father's own glitch too personally when he knew it wasn't the man's fault and holding it against him once he was himself again. Wandering is better than dealing with his issues and though his first instinct is to walk in the direction of the castle, his feet carry him in the opposite direction when his nerves get the better of him.

...he's going to avoid speaking to anyone about those nerves, too. For now, at least.

He makes his way over to the table once he spots Nazca's familiar face after he comes into the square. "What game?"

"Up to you." She smiles at him a little. "I can teach you one from home, or you can teach me something, if you'd rather. I doubt we already know any of the same ones."

Given the circumstances under which she saw him last, her gaze is a little bit of an evaluation, but she is truly glad to see him.

"I'm not really good at card games outside of Solitaire," he admits with a shrug. "I remember some others, but the memories aren't really...real, so the knowledge is a bit of a cheat and limited to kid games like Go Fish and Old Maid, anyway."

"Not real? How so?"

She gestures for him to sit, and starts dealing out the cards into the configuration for a game not entirely unlike a bastard child of whist and euchre.

"I sort of have two sets of memories floating around in my head," he gestures at his temple with one hand. "One sets real, the other's not. It's a long story, but my knowledge of cards comes from the fake set. Guess the guy who constructed them felt I needed to know how to play a game or two of a few of them, at least."

He eyes the spread of cards, not recognizing the layout at all. "Apparently this one wasn't included in the need-to-know package."

"Well, unless your fake memories included Tal Verrar, I'm not surprised." She turned a few up. "Here we are. I'll walk you through a hand or two."

As she made sure the setup was correct, she said, "I'd be interested in the long version, sometime. I've never heard of someone with two sets of memories."

Connor shakes his head to indicate that no, his fake memories don't include Tal Verrar - a place he's never heard of before she spoke of it. "It's a long story and kind of messy. My original set of memories - the real ones - were replaced for a reason. I was pretty messed up, before."

"How can that even be done?" It sounds unnerving, to her, the idea that a set of memories can be replaced.

"Magic," he answers. "Powerful magic and the backing of some higher powers. Put those two together and you can make just about anything happen."

"Magic. Perelandro, I'd no idea it could do that much. We don't get much of it you see; the bondsmagi are prohibitively expensive, and they make sure no one else does any."

She starts showing him a few turns of the cards. "It's mainly a game of matching; you want to get all four of a certain kind, if you can, four from the same suit, if not."

"Did it help? Replacing your memories."

"Anyone can do magic with the right ingredients and incantations, it seems." Connor, himself, has yet to try. He's been on the receiving end of magic this and magic that far too much for him even consider picking up one of those books. Best to leave that to those who already know what they're doing.

He eyes the cards, watching her turn them while simultaneously absorbing the rules.

"Yeah, it did. Giving me a taste of normal, even a false kind of normal, gave me a sort of balance I was lacking before."

"I see that. Belief can be important, regardless of the truth, in some ways."

She looks thoughtful, then says, "Do you ever do magic?"

Connor shakes his head. "God, no. I'm more muscle, less mystical. I'd probably end up mispronouncing the words and opening a portal to a dimension full of shrimp or something."

Edited 2010-08-28 06:35 (UTC)

Nazca laughs. "Fair enough. Speaking of, if you ever want to spar when you aren't hopelessly angry, do let me know, hm?"

"I'll keep that in mind and will probably be taking you up on that."

He looks back down at the cards. "So, how does this start?"

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[Location: Sanctuary Square] Part the Fifth: Second Attempt at a Game

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[location: Sanctuary Square] / I have no idea where this thread went, SORRY

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[ location: sanctuary square ]

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