2022-08-27 21:22:34 ¶ ●

# Bets and wagers

Written for @eliasbouchardweek

Day 7 - Favourite character dynamics

The results of the bets and wagers might seem to be suspiciously in Peter’s favour but it would be silly to suspect Elias might be the culprit. Why would he be cheating in favour of the other one?

.

.

.

One older man and one young man are sitting together playing cards in the older man’s office. The young man is having a surprisingly good time.

“Who would have guessed it is so easy to beat a servant of the Eye in cards. One more game?” Peter laughs, already putting cards back into the deck.

“You are really good at cards indeed.” James nods and struggles not to smile.

…

The older man could now be called simply old. The young man is still young even though his hair and beard are turning silver quite quickly.

“It seems I won the bet.” Peter laughs and collects his prize. Stock of papers with detailed information about people who encountered the Forsaken. As a member of Lukas family Peter who are so generously sponsoring the Magnus Institute, he would be entitled to get that information anyway. But who is James to ruin the fun.

“Hm, we should make another bet.”

“Sure. You really don’t like losing, do you?”

Of course, James doesn’t like losing. That is not what he is doing right now though…

…

One still quite a young man and one not so young man anymore meet to resolve the results of their latest bet again.

“For someone serving the Beholding you are terrible at predicting the future.” Peter collects his prize. At first look it is just a simple wedding ring. On closer look one who knows could notice that it is clearly a Lonely artefact.

“You do not have to rub it in.” Elias frowns. He is not really happy about giving up on any of his artefacts but how can the winning seem real if he is not willing to lose something he hates letting go?

“New body did not seem to improve your winning abilities.” Peter puts his trophy in his pocket. “So, what will we wager about this time?”

…

One middle aged man and one older man continue with their bets. The winner and loser are usually the same as always.

“Not your lucky day again, huh?” Peter takes stock of statements and documents talking about this new ridiculous obsession of his. The Extinction. Elias still doubts it is real. It was annoying putting it all together for him.

“Sometimes I doubt if you are not cheating,” he pouts and Peter rolls his eyes.

“One would expect you will learn how to lose by now.”

Soon. Soon Elias will collect the fruits of his labour.

…

Two older men meet again.

“One more victory and I will start believing you are letting me win.” Peter laughs but collects no prize as this time they forget to decide on a prize.

“Well, if you win the next bet, it might be the last one anyway.” Elias smiles.

“Oh? What do you mean?” Peter looks amused. He does not believe he could lose. Good.

“You will see as soon as I explain it all. Though I feel that this time I might be the one winning.”

“I doubt that. But very well let’s hear it then.”

Both of them are certain they know how this wager will end. Only one of them is correct.

…

One old man and one much older corpse are left alone in Panopticon.

“You would not believe how hard it sometimes was to arrange that you will win. You were always so terrible at gambling.” Elias’ sighs. He suspects he will not see his associate again. He will miss him a bit. He was the closest he had to a friend in these past years. Peter would hate to know that. Elias smiles but his smile is sad.