#4 - clinch (369w, set sometime between Risk’s Phantom Pains and Victor’s Laurels arcs but not really related to either)
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“Why?! I was winning! Why did you turn those cards, and also those cards? Aoife Mahsa, explain!”
Alaq’it jabbed a finger into several parts of the Triple Triad board, and her opponent moved frantically to keep it on the table.
“Kid, I’ve explained Combo three times.” Aoife rubbed the bridge of her nose. “And you can’t just stab my property when you’re losing.”
“I was not stabbing! And I was winning! And, you are bad at teaching.” Alaq’it frowned down at the board. They weren’t playing for keeps, which was good, because her own collection of cards was very small. But Alaq’it had refused to allow Spookeasy’s house rules to be toned down for her benefit, which was bad, because this rule kept taking all of her victories.
Aoife set the board up again, but after a few turns, a catastrophic sound came from the downstairs apartment.
“Azeyma’s arse--”
Alaq’it watched her host retreat to investigate the doings of her calamitous cat; she then turned to inspect the game. Without an opponent staring her down, she was able to see the pattern of cards that the Combo rule could inevitably flip. The path of her possible destruction.
She took the currently-played cards from the board and skewered them carefully on the knife from her hip, and then she tossed the knife into the air. She wasn’t aiming at anything in particular, but rather trusting the presence she could feel in the seams of the house, which seemed to enjoy antagonizing its mistress.
This was how Aoife came back upstairs to find the board empty, and this was how a knife run through several cards flew into the wall an inch from her face. She gave Alaq’it a plaintive stare, and the younger girl responded without a shred of remorse:
“You said I could not stab your property when I was losing, but I was not yet losing, you see.”
Aoife gave the knife several tugs, but it was stuck firm, and she knew the house would hold it fast until Alaq’it left. They wouldn’t be playing anymore, that was for certain.
“New lesson, Alaq’it. Whenever you go back home, ask Ashe to tell you what a ‘pyrrhic victory’ is.”
