Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

[Dymm Crowley]

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Dymm sat and shuffled his cards at the small table next to his bed. Habit always had him start off going slow and pick up the pace until he shuffled with dizzying speed. He followed the same pattern tonight. It would’ve been pretty to watch the cards in their dance… hypnotic even – but no one was watching. Dymm laid the cards out on the table in many rows facedown: setting up a game of solitaire. He flipped over each card at the end of a row. He found it slightly amusing that one was the ace of spades. He smiled and placed it above the other cards – good start so far, he thought.

He found the king of diamonds soon after, revealed from under two other cards. He filled a blank row with this card and thought on it for a bit. Dymm had asked Locke to hit Ultima (the king of diamonds, of course.) It wasn’t that Dymm hadn’t felt up to it, but Locke seemed he could use the work. Although dangerous, Dymm had watched the hit from behind a nearby tree. His broker had explained that it shouldn’t be too difficult, but even Dymm had been surprised by the speed and efficiency at which Locke had knocked off the mayor of Moonglow with. Now that the contract was done, though, Dymm felt no connection with either Ultima or the card that lay before him.

Dymm had played solitaire a lot in his life and he had become moderately proficient at it. He couldn’t say that he never made a mistake, but he was mostly good. Right now, he could see where the game was going: on his way to a quick win. Two aces: spades and now clubs were on the table, along with several cards atop the ace of clubs. He was pleased when he found an ace of hearts from the draw pile, and placed that near the others.

Just last night, Dymm had felt about as young as when he still ran with Arlin in the Black Dog Company, back when he lived for gold, infamy, and women. Although he hadn’t lived for exactly those standards last night, he lived for the same basic principle: for himself. He never was very introspective, though, and would’ve never thought about that. All he remembered now was how he had told Phyrra he had fallen in love with her and gotten the right response. He had been vaguely aware that there were others in the room, maybe even his broker Ra’ja, and he had been terribly aware that there was no alcohol to loosen him up for it, but it felt right. For one night, at least, he had thrown caution to the wind, as he had done so much in his younger years. If it was right, though, Dymm wondered, why was life still an endlessly bumpy road?

Dymm continued playing solitaire, but was getting less and less aware of the game. His mind drifted elsewhere while his hands moved the cards. Dymm expected it to happen all at once. He thought he would be naturally swept over by an air of relief. It hadn’t occurred to him that some things might take time. All he felt now was frustration and fatigue. He pulled himself momentarily away from these thoughts, though, and looked back to his game.

Upon analyzing the cards on the table more closely, his first emotional response was confusion. He was losing and couldn’t understand how. It seemed like just a minute ago he was on his way toward winning the game once again. After overcoming his original confusion, though, he realized his mistake – a rookie’s mistake… Not even a rookie’s, but an insane man’s mistake. The four winning piles all had cards atop them, except for the ace of spades, which remained by itself. How could all the others be nearly done and that one pile have made no advancement?

It wasn’t the game, though: it was he. There was a red two sitting right in front of him, free for the taking. A black three, after that, too. And looking closely at the cards, he saw he had missed not only a few, but lots. How could he miss something so clearly right in front of him? His confusion passed and became sudden anger. He stood up and knocked the cards fiercely from the table with a violent sweeping motion of his arm. He kicked the table, knocking it askew and stormed away.

He sat in his office for a while, then, thinking.

Finally, he retreated back upstairs and picked up the cards and fell asleep.