Bet your life [Birb]

Olympia wasn't always a gambler. Granted, she found the act of giving away your money to chance as intriguing as the next person, but she was no gambler. And that's why she entered the Sobbing Maiden, a casino, because she was no gambler.

The place was full of men. Most of them being on the heavier side and biting a big cigar. The entire place smelled of tobacco and sweat, with the occasional scent of flowers or fruit. Olympia could tell that the place was trying it's best to draw in different people. The workers there seemed like they were forced into a living hell with the pigs, but they must have known what they were signing up for.

At the moment, Olympia was looking to play some Blackjack, a simple game completely based on luck. Luckily, there was an empty table way in the back that was empty, so she made a beeline straight for the table. The attendant locked eyes with Olympia for a second before preparing their cards.

He tried to make small talk as he began to set up. "So, you new around here? I think I would have remember if a woman as pretty as you has been here before." And empty compliment, Olympia could tell. Men who start off a conversation like that obviously wanted to be more than just friends.

"Yup. I've walked pass her a few times before and was curious to see how you guys do business." He slapped the deck on the table, not dealing the cards. "Waiting for more?" He nods in response.

"This is like the third time this week..." Kurai grumbled to himself with his hands in his coat pockets, and lit cigarette hanging from the side of his mouth, the smoke coming from it drifting into the air. Kurai's eyes wandered from left to right, observing this icy covered land he found himself on. It seems to have its fair share of shady looking individuals such as himself. Minus the irritatingly cold climate, Kurai could easily call this place home....if he intended on coming here in the first place.

~A few moments ago~

Two men in fishing attire stood behind their docked ship. They both looked down at it with puzzled expressions while one rubbed the back of their head. "....I-I don't remember catching this kind of fish...." one of them said as the other quietly nodded before picking up a stick that was on the ground. Much to the surprise of the two fisherman, they found a guy sleeping on the back of their boat, snoring loudly. The guy being....Kurai.

The moment one of the fisherman were about to poke the sleeping cook's cheek with the stick, the man opened his eyes slowly, glancing up at the two quietly. The fisherman returned the look for a few seconds before one of them decided to poke the the red head anyway.....

A few seconds later, and the two were sent flying, catching some nearby people's attention!

Kurai simply walked off of the boat afterwards, and rubbed the top of his head, looking around before lighting a cigarette. After taking a few steps, he stopped, and finally realized....

"WHERE THE HELL AM I!?"

~Present~

"Yeah....definitely the third time this week...Shahah..." he repeated, laughing lightly to himself. Kurai did have a habit of stowing away on ships by mistake, only looking to take a little nap that ends up turning into a deep sleep....followed by a long voyage. It didn't seem like his little "brother", Joey has tagged along this time. Possibly back on Lvneel Kurai would think to himself. Looks like he'll just have to find someone to bring him back, but there was one problem....

Kurai found himself lost in the middle of this island at this point...Why he didn't just stay at the docks to catch a ride was beyond him.

A bit annoyed, Kurai shook his head before continuing on. Soon, he'd find himself wandering to some casino called...

"WELCOME TO THE SOBBING MAIDEN!" a woman working at this place exclaimed as soon as Kurai entered, causing him to pause quickly. He stared at the peppy looking woman as a comical sweat drop, rain down the side of his face before just walking past her.

"Okay...."

As Kurai looked around, he found himself getting a rush of nostalgia. His mother use to gamble, and go to casinos, sometimes bringing Kurai along with her when he was a child. Everything about this place, from the people, the random fights breaking out, and even the smell felt very familiar to him despite never having stepped foot in this particular casino.

Now that he has thought about it, the red haired chef has never tried gambling himself. Might as well try a little something while he is lost here. So with a shrug, Kurai started to walk further in, and found a Blackjack area where there were only two. A man who appeared to work here too, and a woman who seems to be waiting to play. The golden eyed man made his way over, and took a seat beside the woman.

"Alright...now how does this crap work...?"

"Well first, you need to pay up."Olympia dug into her pockets to look for something of worth. Her hand came back up with about 50 jewels, in which she ended up dumping onto the table in front of her. The dealer wrapped his arm around the money and dragged it into the middle of the table. "Can't really gamble if you don't actually put something up." She shot the man a look. He seemed new around here, most of the common people don't remind her of him so there was something different that she couldn't exactly put her tongue on. "The game is blackjack; first to 21 no more and no less. The closest wins if nobody actually hits it." She paused, waiting to see if he got the gist of it. "When it comes to stakes, anything goes. Most of the time people put up money, though i think last week i ended up putting my body in....? Man, last week was fuzzy." She finished off with a weak laugh, noticing a weird glance from the dealer, half judging and half interested.

"Anyways, I think introductions are in order. I think we might be together a while. I am Olympia of the Olympus Pirates. Oh, and don't worry, the casinos on this island are a safe zones. Everyone just comes to have fun."

The moment the purple looking woman spoke up, Kurai glanced over in her direction. The expression on his face was pretty plain, not too interested, but not too bored neither. He watched as she placed some money on the table, and glanced at it for a bit. "Hmm..." Kurai placed both hands into both of his coat pockets, fishing around for money only to end up pulling the insides of his pockets out. He growled lowly in disappointment before now going into his pant pockets. He may end up absent minded at times, but there is no way he forgot to bring any money.

Finally after cracking a small smirk, Kurai pulled out some money, counting it to make sure it was same amount as the woman's before throwing it onto the pile.

"First to twenty-one huh?" the red head commented, looking back at the woman before looking forward again. He leaned his chair back some, before stuffing his hands back into his pockets. "Seems simple enough." he replied with a bit of interest in his tone. It did seem pretty straightforward in Kurai's eyes. No wonder his mother was able to get into this gambling stuff so easily. Despite his mother's...bad habits, she didn't wish Kurai to grow up to be like her. The idea of how disappointed she'd possibly be seeing him here now caused Kurai to crack a small smirk. After that, Kurai removed what was left of his cigarette from his mouth, digging it into an ashtray. At the same time, the woman started to speak again, saying some rather....interesting things about what she did last week.

Still with his hand on the cigarette in the ashtray Kurai looked over to her in a mixture of surprise, and well...curiosity, bascially the same as the dealer, blinking a few times in the process. "Wh-You're an...interesting one."

After that she introduced herself. To Kurai, her name seemed pretty exotic, but what really caught his attention is what she said next. "A pirate?" the cook removed his black coat, placing it behind his chair since it didn't seem all that cold in here despite how ice covered this damn island was. Under it is his white short-sleeved shirt with a black necklace around his neck.

"Bet you live one hell of a life." he looked over to her, now with a small grin. Pirates are the type of people Kurai would love to party with. Dodging the law, getting into scraps. That right there is an okay life if one were to ask him. "Hmm, "safe zone"? Not really my style, but okay." he shrugged before continuing. At least he wouldn't end up having to pay for breaking anything....or anyone on anything. "Just call me Kurai. Just a simple cook not from around here, Shaha..." he chuckled lightly before shaking

"A cook? I've always been interested in cooking, though I've never really had the time to sit down and learn how to. What do you like to cook?" She had turned her chair towards Kurai so she could get a better look at him. She was told growing up that if you don't make eye contact with a person when you're talking to them it's rude. And what she said earlier was true: she had always wanted to cook. Ever since she was young, Olympia has wanted to learn how to make the prettiest of dishes and the most exotic of flavors, but alas, she didn't have anyone to teach her. Fast forward to now and she's just a hopeless swordsman aspiring to be the pirate king- er, queen.

The dealer had finished shuffling the cards by now, having started when the two had begun their conversation. He set the deck down with a light slam, enough to take Olympia's attention away from Kurai and back to the game. He tossed her a card faced down and a card face up. The card on the top was a 9, while the one under it was a Jack, a 10. 19. That should be enough to get her the win, right? Unless this lucky bastard pulled a twenty.

"I'll stay." She watched as the dealer gave Kurai his two cards. "How bout you, cook?"

So a fellow lover of cooking it seems? Kurai wasn't surprised however since who doesn't like food!? A lot of people learn how to cook because they love, or want to. Kurai is no different, but he also had to pick up this talent in order for him, and his "brother" Joey to survive, so it was more of an extra push for him to get good at this. "Well there are a lot of things I like to cook....and some that I'm not too fond of, but still ended up learning...." mainly referring to anything that smelt bad. Food like that still tasted good, but boy was it bad on the breathe.

"I guess what comes close to being my favorite is..." he paused as he glanced over to Olympia, just now noticing how she was watching him. He wasn't really sure what to make of it because he wasn't really...use to this. He scratched the side of his cheek as he looked back towards the table. "Ermm, is there something on m face?" he asked, not really as a taunt, or anything like that, but genuinely thought that's why she was staring. After the guy set the deck down, Kurai eyed it as well, waiting to see how this blackjack thing goes.

The purple pirate captain was given two cards, and after that said something about staying. Finally, Kurai was given his two cards which were just an eight, and a five. Kurai's eyes beamed at the two cards while he scratched his head. This was a pretty simple game, but of course to an amateur like Kurai, it all turned into rocket science. He thought back at the times he accompanied his mom to a casino, trying to see if he remembers anything. Vaguely he remembers his mother playing something that involved the words hit, and stay, presumably this blackjack stuff.

"Hit me." he finally said after a few minutes. The guy gave the cook another card which was unfortunately a King, putting the poor Kurai over twenty-one and onto twenty-three.

"Ehh....So, what is it that you do? Besides the whole Pirate Captain thing?" he asked, almost as if he were trying to distract her from his screw up while rubbing the back of his head.