Cobb's Event Catch All | Open

[heypartner]

WHO: Cobb Vanth & All
WHERE: Various locations across Coruscant.
WHAT: Adventures across the planet
WHEN: Event
WARNINGS: Cussing. Angst. Possible violence. Will update as necessary.



This was not how Cobb imagined his first time off Tatooine. Then again, with his history, maybe he should have expected his first trip in space and to a Core world would be against his will. These Agrii fellas needed to learn to ask for permission. He would've said yes if they had asked. Instead, there was a little bubble of resentment brewing towards their alien captors.

But that anger could wait. A lot of people here had no idea how to navigate any planet in the galaxy much less one like Coruscant. Stars, even Cobb was a little out of his element but at least he could read the writing and understand how things worked in general. The first thing he focused on was getting everyone else settled and comfortable to go around by themselves. It was a lot of explaining how credit worked and offering to help if anyone needed it.

It took a few days before Cobb disappeared on his own one morning. The credits provided by the Agrii and the few he had on him when he got taken were burning a hole in his pocket. He went to the market and found himself some pieces of durasteel armor and a padded armor suit to wear underneath. It was, without a doubt, the nicest thing Cobb had ever owned, gleaming a brass-gold color against the black padded suit and soft green cloak he also bought to hide the scars that peeked out from the suit.

Damn if he didn't feel guilty for the two-thousand credits he handed over to buy it.

He just couldn't help but think of all the necessary things he could buy for home or this group of people at that cost. Two thousand credits would never got that far on Tatooine where everything was so damn expensive but it could've done something good. But after putting it all on he looked like he belonged on a Core world instead of an outsider in ragged clothes. Clothes he kept because they were still good enough for home and no one wasted anything on Tatooine. The armor though... wearing it he felt... like someone important and wasn't that a heavy thing?

Not only did the armor protect him and help him blend in, now he could get into better bars and taverns where they played high stakes sabacc. Cobb had learned his numbers playing the card game and was damn good at it. Good enough to win games against rich fools who tossed credits around like they could be dug up from the sand. That real vindictive part of himself really enjoyed it.

And everything he won now went to what they'd need to survive and anyone else who needed a few spare credits.

After all, he could always win more.

Comments

[heypartner]

If Kaz didn't want to shake hands, well, that was just one of those things. He shrugged it off and let the kid get comfortable. Cobb had already guessed he wasn't from this galaxy from the clothes but that confirmed it.

"Pretty simple game on the surface. Gotta get a hand worth twenty-three points." He started to lay out the cards, reorganizing them into their proper suits. "There are seventy-six cards. Four suits, flasks, sabers, staves, and coins. They're valued one through eleven. Then you've got the face cards. Commander, twelve. Mistress, thirteen. Master, fourteen. And an Ace, fifteen."

As he talked Cobb pointed out the cards he meant. He also kept setting aside some special cards which he'd get to in a moment. "Ya with me?"

[demjiin]

Kaz watched as Cobb laid out the suits, memorizing the way each card looked as it was laid out. It was already a far cry from Three Man Bramble but Kaz had always been quick to pick up any game of chance, especially cards. He was curious about the cards being set aside but didn't interrupt Cobb's explanation.

"Yes."

[heypartner]

"Alright, now we've got the special cards." Cobb started to lay them out. There were two of each. "Balance, negative eleven. The Idiot, zero. Endurance, negative eight. Moderation, negative fourteen. The Evil One, negative fifteen. The Queen of Air and Darkness, negative two. Demise, negative thirteen. The Star, negative seventeen or negative ten depending on the rule set you're playing with."

The special cards all had unique art and were very distinct. They would be easy to pick out in a hand. "So, you still with me?"

Cobb had learned his numbers and how to do math with sabacc cards. The math of the game was etched into his brain, almost instinctive. "You give me a second to shuffle and we can play out a round."

[demjiin]

The addition of negative numbers for a card game was novel, but Kaz still understood the rules well enough.

"Please do. I would like to try it."

And he actually would. Sabacc was new and interesting in its newness. Little did Cobb know that Kaz was a master at sleight of hand and picked up on card games incredibly quickly.

[heypartner]

This would be an honest game on Cobb's part. He could cheat and had a few times while playing against real rich bastards but cheating wasn't kind when he was trying to teach someone to play.

"What kind of card games do you got where you're from?" he asked as he shuffled, cards moving smoothly between his fingers.

It's clear he's had a lot of practice with this and is very comfortable. He's no card shark but he's done a fair about of playing in his years.

I'm pulling this out of my butt because only the first is mentioned in canon

[demjiin]

Kaz wouldn't cheat at first, he would prefer to see an example of how the game worked. He was actually honestly interested at this point.

"Oh, simple ones; Three Man Bramble, Black Jack, Poker. There are other games of chance but only Three Card Monte actually uses playing cards."

He held his dealt cards in only one gloved hand.

"There are races that are bet on, and other games that involve dice. Those are more complicated, though."

*simplifies Sabacc rules* I feel ya.

[heypartner]

After the shuffle Cobb dealt one card to each of them, then a second. "Alright, we call our totals." Cobb rattled off his, paused for Kaz to say his and then continued. "Now, you can choose to draw one or more cards from the deck but if you do that you're gonna have to trade one that's in your hand to keep the deck card. Or stand."

He gestured at the big crate being used as a table. "If we were bettin', we'd toss down a bet now before the next round of dealin'. We do this four rounds, usually, before someone calls. If you get higher than twenty-three you bomb. Closest to twenty-three without goin' over wins."

"Oh racin' is big back home. Especially in Mos Espa. The Boonta Eve Classic just shuts the whole city down." Cobb nodded as he considered his hand and then drew to trade.

[demjiin]

After replying with his total, Kaz said nothing. It seemed fairly straightforward and with his current hand, he only had a -14. He traded out two cards and then had a neutral 4.

"It's only one part of Ketterdam, but that one part is pretty much a round-the-clock party."

Or as close to it as possible. Only in the early afternoon did it finally quiet down, only for the party to resume for the following evening and until just after the dawn of the next day.

[heypartner]

Cobb's hand was at a solid nineteen which he held for the time being. He didn't want to go over on the next deal. It was real easy to do.

"Sounds exhausting." He was too old for non-stop parties. He was pretty happy with his quiet desert town. "Alright, another round."

He dealt again and had to trade out some cards immediately to lower his total. He was damn close to bombing.

"What did you do? Party all night?" He didn't think Kaz was the type but it was fun to ask.

[demjiin]

With the next deal, Kaz traded out a few more cards until he had a neutral 10. Most likely it wouldn't be enough to win, but that wasn't the point this time. Kaz was here to learn. Thus far Sabacc was made more complex with the addition of negative numbers but Kaz was finding the strengths and weaknesses of the suites were only augmented by the special cards.

"Me? Oh no."

Kaz owned a gambling palace and lead one of the Ketterdam gangs, the Dregs. Kaz was also a con man, a thief, and a killer. But he'd had the canal dredged then built out the key and now ran 5th harbor along with his gang. That meant the Dregs had the first crack at the tourists that came from 5th harbor boats. This also meant that Kaz 'worked' at the same times the party did. More, actually, since Kaz had a very bad habit of forgoing sleep for days on end and instead used coffee far more liberally than others.

"That, of course, then begs the question of what you did in what sounds like a very small town?"

[heypartner]

Yeah, he figured that answer was coming. That leg and the voice, really didn't sound like someone who spent his life partying.

"I'm the Marshal. Have been for about five years now." But he had lived half his life in Mos Pelgo not doing that. A game of cards wasn't a great place to start talking about slavery. "Not the most peaceful place but it's home."

And in this galaxy very, very far away.

"How you doin'?" He asked with a nod towards Kaz' hand. "I mean about understanding the game. We don't need to call out the value of the hand anymore."

[demjiin]

A lawman? Kaz raised one eyebrow. He had no idea what laws might be enforced in that galaxy far far away, but he hadn't met a lawman who played cards yet.

"I think I understand how this game is played."

Well, how the rules dictated the game was played anyway.

[heypartner]

Lawman in the sense he had the title. No galactic government would actually recognize him as a marshal. They'd probably call him an outlaw. It was a little detail Cobb didn't feel like mentioning.

"That's good. First step to any game is to know the rules." Cobb chuckled, rather amused by the kid and his gravely voice. He was a serious one for being so young. A lot of kids on Tatooine were the same way.

"We'll play the round out. See how you do." Cobb figured Kaz would like a chance to win.

[demjiin]

A lot of kids in Ketterdam were as unlike Kaz as oil to water. It meant that Kaz was consistently underestimated, which suited him just fine. And winning or losing Kaz was interested, though it did seem a fairly straightforward game of numbers.

"Each round has four separate draws, yes?"

[heypartner]

"Yeah, that's it. High stakes sabaac will go until someone gets exactly twenty-three or the dealer runs out of cards. But most games you play go four draws, pay out the pot, and then start again." Cobb had spent the majority of his trip playing high stakes games. It had led to a few late nights. "I guess that's a round."

But, so far, he hadn't gotten his ass handed to him. He had more wins than losses and the credits kept getting spent on supplies. They'd have a nice cushion when they got back to Tembra.

[demjiin]

The next two rounds were as similarly uneventful as the first two. Kaz finished with a neutral 14 between both the positive and negative number cards.

"This is when a call or fold would happen, yes?

It was likely that Kaz would have a secret when they returned to Temba, but he couldn't say how long it would remain a secret.

/flips coin to see if Cobb wins

[heypartner]

"Most folds happen at the last round," he said with a little chuckle. "And it's last call. You either match what your opponents bet or you can raise if you're really feeling lucky."

Cobb had a low hand of a ten. Not great. He never did recover from the earlier low. But that was the way the cards went sometimes and it wasn't like they were betting.

"Here you go." He laid out his hand. "Ten's what I got."

[demjiin]

Kaz still held his cards in one gloved hand, and he used that same one hand to lay his cards out beside Cobb's.

"16. This means I would win this time?"

Indeed because they weren't betting, Kaz wanted to see Cobb win once so he could see how someone familiar with Sabacc won. That way Kaz could extrapolate more information from Cobb's loss this time and thus learn the game. Of course, by learning it more fully he could find ways to manipulate it or just cheat.

[heypartner]

"Yeah, that means you'd win the pot." Cobb was comfortable losing. It happened when you played a game. There was no reason to get upset about it. "Some games you play until someone gets exactly twenty-three and the pot just keeps going. That's real high stakes though."

Cobb took the cards back and shuffled them slowly. "You wanna play again? Try with a little bettin'?"

He had all the credits he needed at the moment. He could stand to lose a few.

[demjiin]

Kaz had stolen credits and because of that, he felt comfortable using them. But he quietly put them on the table as a small bet, and let Cobb deal again before speaking and still held his cards in one hand.

"So I don't know if the word means the same thing here as it does in Ketterdam, but I haven't met a lawman that plays cards before. Feels to me like a contradiction."

[heypartner]

"I wasn't a lawman most of my life," Cobb said as he met the bet and the dealt a round. "Spent my early years as a miner and a mechanic. Played a lot of cards then. Didn't see a reason to stop."

And there was no legal position of Marshal in Mos Pelgo. There was no Mos Pelgo according to authorities. He was a ghost marshal in a ghost town. That was the way he liked it.

Please ignore my penchant for run on sentences

[demjiin]

Kaz raised an eyebrow at Cobb.

"That's quite a career change. Should I ask what event brought it on?"

i like to liberally sprinkle commas and just see where they fall

[heypartner]

"Town elected me. I won't gonna say no."

And at the time he had the Mandalorian armor, just saved the town from slavers, and it felt natural he would be the Marshal and defacto Mayor after that. No one had run against him in five years.

"I was already a fair shot so, not too much of a change." It felt right to protect his people as well.

[demjiin]

"The town elected you."

Kaz traded out two cards.

"But what do you want?"

After all, it wasn't as if Cobb had said he wanted to be a babysitter to the whole town.

[heypartner]

"I got what I want."

Freedom. Cobb cared about that most of all. He wanted to protect those people too. They deserved freedom just as much as he did.

"And I like being Marshal. Makes me feel useful in my old age." Kaz was interesting and clearly good at cards but he wasn't going to spill all his secrets to the kid.