[IRP] The Dead One Calls

[WyvernSlayer]

Satsume looked up amidst a cloud of smoke as Paige and Cecily returned.  Satsume mentally suppressed his disappointment that Cecily had chosen the most modest of the clothes she brought to wear.
 
"Hey," said Paige, "We're hoping the food is halfway decent. I don't think either of us had eaten all day. So, are the others waiting for us inside?"
 
“They better not have eaten everything,” added Cecily.
 
“Yeah, they’re still inside,” Satsume replied.  He watched as Cecily walked past him and peered into the window.  “And whatever you do, don’t order the local brew.”  Satsume scrunched his face in exaggerated disgust.  “Tastes like dirt.”
 
“Please tell me that they are having dinner in there,” said Cecily.  Satsume noted the subtle change in her tone.
 
“You can’t miss them,” Satsume replied.  “It’s the only occupied table.”  He turned to look toward the sun, which had sunk further behind the treeline.  He pulled one last hit from the pipe and tapped it against his boot to empty it before getting to his feet.
 
“I hear the pork is good, too,” he added, stepping in front of the girls to open the door.  “Ladies first!”
 

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Later that night…
 
Satsume suppressed a yawn as he laid down his hand.  “Fifteen two, fifteen four, and eight’s a dozen,” he said softly, as he reached to move the pegs.  It had been nearly a half-hour since Eli and Shad had ducked out of the inn and headed for the castle, which left Satsume to (as Shad put it) “protect the girls in case things went wrong.”  Satsume wasn’t entirely sure what harm could befall Paige and Cecily in the inn – which up to that point had felt like the safest place in town – but at least it had given him this small chance for recreation.
 
Cecily made a face and muttered something under her breath.
 
“I heard that, milady,”  Satsume teased.  “Maybe next time you’d like to cut the deck?”  He flipped over the small pile of face-down cards in front of him and counted up his score.
 
“Four more in the crib,” he said, moving the pegs again and pushing the cards over to Paige.  Satsume laced his fingers together and reclined in his chair.  The candles on the table flicked about, throwing a pale light on the walls across the room.  The common area of the inn was eerily quiet, save for the occasional shuffling of the innkeeper downstairs.  I wonder how he finds so much to do with it being so empty in here, Satsume thought.
 
He looked down at the table again – there was a new pile of cards in front of him.  “So how long do we wait for those two until fearing the worst?” he asked the girls.  He picked his cards up and fanned them out.  Four, six, eight, queen, ten.
 
“…And gods alive, who dealt this mess?!”