Down the Rabbit Hole...

[Carliah Dakrone]

"As friendly as you want it to be provided you don't expect me to get friendly with one of those knives," Carliah purred, throwing the second one.

"Have you ever heard of a game called 301?," She asked as she stepped away from her line for a moment to retrieve a nearby datapad. She opened up a document and key in both their names, while she waited for his response. [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink grinned, putting down the knives, and looking at the datapad over Carliah's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, and purred softly.

"Your poor old kitty doesn't know about new games. You can teach me any game you want to play."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

"Okay so you see the board? Each section is worth a different number of points. You stand at the line and throw your knives, then go check the point values for each. Points range from 1-25, and the circle in the center is worth 50. The goal it to rack up exactly 301 points. If you hit say 299 and get a get a 3 you don't win. You have to keep trying until you get exactly 301. You also don't need to throw all five knives on your last turn. The game ends once someone hits 301. Do you understand?" Carliah asked, she planned to use the datapad to keep track of their scores. She hadn't had anyone to play with for a long time. [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink nodded, still not moving from behind Carliah. She wanted to play the game, and so did he. It sounded fun.

"It's like blackjack, except throwing knives at a dartboard. And one shot is always going to have to be bad, in order to win. It's a game that makes you unable to trust reflexive aim."


There was one thing he wanted, though, and he wasn't going to give up until she did it. He ran his hand over the red cloth that covered her empty eye sockets.

"First, though, I want to see the rest of your beautiful face. Right now, it's half covered in red lace."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah grinned and reached up to untie the red sash. She let it drop to the ground and slowly rose her head to meet Jink's gaze. The empty sockets where her eyes should be finally revealed. She bit her lip, wondering what his reaction would be. [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink grinned at Carliah, and moved in front of her so he could hold her better. He kissed one eye socket, and then the other, holding her close up to his chest.

"You thought perhaps I would scream and run? I've seen far stranger things before my time at the tower was done."

He took her hand, and winked as he placed it on his cheek.

"You can see my face, and look into my eyes, and tell me what I'm thinking. So what does it matter? I like being able to see your eyes, such as they are."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah blushed a bit as the cat placed her hand on his cheek. She leaned up and kissed him again before moving to the line. She smirked at she took her shot at the board, tossing three knives and crossing to see the number. She had gotten a 25, 1, 15, 2, and 7 making her current score 50. She collected her knives and returned to her datapad, marking her score on it and turning to face Jink.

"Your turn, kitty," she grinned as she watched him step up to the line. [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink winked at Carliah again, glad that he could see her whole facial reaction now. He stepped up to the line, and threw a 1, 10, 15, 5, and another 5, giving him 36.

"Ouch. Lowballing's not getting me anywhere, is it?"

He ran his finger down Carliah's nose, and purred.

"Maybe I should learn to distract better."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

"I'm very good at keeping my focus when I play games. I don't enjoy losing," The Red Queen smiled as she waited for him to collect his knives. She copied his score down on the datapad and stepped back up to the line. She threw all five in a very rapid, fluid motion hardly seeming to aim. She smirked at all five sailed into the board. One in the middle, and the rest scattered in various parts of the board, 50, 16, 4, 5, and 10. The Queen scores now rested at 135, clearly in the lead. She marked the score on the datapad and grinned at her cat.

"Good luck, kitty," She giggled, watching him throw. [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink wiggled his eyebrows at Carliah, and picked his knives up, grinning again.

"Meow."

With a different, sideways, motion, Jink managed to send two knives spinning in to hit for 25 each, and another to hit for 50, and the last two for ones. He cast a look at Carliah, his grin growing crooked.

"That close to losing... Maybe I'm drunk."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah totaled up his score and marked it on the datapad, 138. He was ahead now, but not for long if she had a say.

"Hmmm need an excuse for doing so poorly?" she teased, stepping up to the line. She had her back to the target this time and flicked the knives over her shoulder. She was being a bit of a show off now. She smiled as she heard each of them thud into the board and went to read the numbers.

"20, 5, 15, 16, and 4, I believe that places me at 195 now?" she grinned at him, setting her knives down to record her score before crossing to her kitty. She put one arm over his shoulder and leaned up to kiss him. "Maybe now you'll have better luck." [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink grinned as Carliah came up and kissed him. Her mouth tasted like the berries from the tart. He put down the knives for a moment, and held onto the Red Lady. He bent slightly to whisper in her ear.

"Luck, huh? Luck apparently tastes like berries, then. And I love it."

He stepped away slightly, and picked up the knives again. With his first three throws, he scored 15, 15, and 5. Bad throws. On the last two, though, he got two 25s. 233.

"Mmm... Your berry flavored luck does work. Maybe your stray cat can give some of it back."

So, he walked over and kissed Carliah quickly, before leaning on the table to watch her throw.

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

Carliah smiled and pulled him flush against her as they kissed. She giggled a bit when he pulled away, smiling still as she stepped up to throw. She smirked even more as she checked the board: 25, 25, 50, 5, and 1 that put her at exactly 301. She turned to Jink and smiled a mad smile.

"301, looks like I win," she said with a grin, walking over to where her cat was leaning and kissing him again. [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink grinned wildly back as Carliah came back to kiss him again. He held her close while he kept leaning against the table, and his tail twitched slightly, clinking against the table.

"Mmmm... I'm not all that disappointed. Now I'm the game, instead of the distraction."

He kissed her neck lightly, and purred.

"And practice makes perfect."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

The Mad Queen laughed at his antics. His tail brushed against her arm as she leaned over to set the set of knives down. She giggled a bit, feeling the fur tickle her arm. She turned to her new friend and smiled.

"What shall we do now kitty?" she questioned, leaning against him. [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink smiled back, happy with the weight of Carliah against him. He ran a finger down her nose, and smiled.

"We could stand here like this for a while, or maybe sit down and have another story. Just stay close and stare at each other."

Another story occurred to him, about the chains that were under his shirt, and he put Carliah's hand to his chest.

"There's another secret under my shirt. I always seem harmless to people, because they don't know. But I think you should know what your cat can do."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

"Stripping for me already? But we've only just met!" Carliah teased as she sat down on a couch facing Jink. She grinned up at him, gesturing for him to continue with his story. She was rather curious. She had felt something beneath the shirt that felt similar to a chain, but she couldn't be sure that was indeed what it was. [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink winked back at Carliah, pulling off his shirt to show the chains that rattled slightly. His one weapon, and the one thing of the Tower that was his, and his alone.

"You didn't think I was gonna put on more clothes, did you? Now you can see my weapon, and how it works. Saves a bit of explanation."

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]

 

[Carliah Dakrone]

"Chains? That's certainly interesting. Do you wield a pepper grinder as well?" Carliah teased, light-heartedly. SHe was eager to see how this strange weapon worked. She'd never heard of anyone using a chain for fighting before, unless there was some kind of blade on the end of it. She eyed him curiously, waiting to see what he would do. [member="Hijinks"]

 

[Hijinks]

Jink grinned at the pepper grinder comment, and held his arm out, away from Carliah.

"Only when I get hungry, and then I've got a pot and a hot plate, too."

He turned his left arm palm-up, and one chain began to move up over his chest, and away from it, flowing down his arm to coil like a snake about to strike. He looked for a safe target, something that wouldn't break under the single attack.

[member="Darth Vivaldi"]