#somethinguphissleeve

"And then he just kissed me. Like, smack dab on the lips and all. I mean, he said it was a dare by Coffee, but I don't know if that makes it much better, because it felt so sincere and if it was just a dare, that just makes it all the more confusing for me for some reason." Cocoa bit into her pancake. It was almost admirable how quickly she dug through these, thought Trick, pouring some maple syrup onto his own."Was it good?", he asked, grabbing the chocolate syrup to put that on top of the maple one."Huh?" She blushed as little as she looked up to him. Yeah, she'd probably understood him just fine."Is he a good kisser?", Trick repeated anyways, this time notably louder as if talking to an old woman. She blushed even more and tried to hide behind her pancake."...yeah I... I think so...", she replied quietly."Hm... Interesting. I have been wanting to check out his skills for aw-ow!" Trick grinned despite the pain in his shin. It was just too cute when Cocoa couldn't decide if she was flustered or offended or both and puffed up her cheeks with an adorable glare while she blushed.Even when she also kicked him under the table."No! Bad Trick! No smoochin the Nouncer!", she grumbled, taking another big bite of her breakfast."Why, are you jealous?" His grin got even wider. "Don't worry, I-"They both hadn't even noticed the sound of a key being turned around in the lock of the apartment door. The fact that Announcer had entered the place only occured to them when he suddenly stood in the doorframe to the kitchen, staring at them while being frozen in place.

Jason coughed and spit out another bloody tooth. He briefly wondered how many he'd already lost from the hard beating he was currently receiving, but his buzzing head made it difficult to remember and count, and eventually he decided that it didn't even matter anyways.

"Thank you, Bishop. I think that's enough for now." A low growl left the throat of the big man who was holding Jason as if he was a light little doll, and by opening one of his huge paws he just let the smaller guy fall down onto the hard cobblestone.The woman who'd commanded him closed in on Jason, studying his beaten and bloody face from behind big, dark shades. She was wearing a trenchcoat and a wide-brimmed hat, but she didn't really seem to expect either to be a good disguise. Much more useful in keeping her unrecognised on the streets was her posse, the giant who'd beaten up Jason just now and the slender blond man who was actually scaring him shitless even more than "Bishop" did. He was attractive, but his grin unnerving, even more so because he constantly gave off the vibe that he was undressing Jason with his eyes, but not stopping at the clothes when it came to removing layers from him.Nobody wanted to recognise a woman accompanied by these two.

"The money." It took Jason a moment to realise that she was still talking to him. "Where is it?"He gave a chuckle, but it quickly turned into a bloody cough."I told you...", he replied, still grinning despite the pain, because the money was safe and so was the person who'd received it. Finally safe. Finally out of this shithole of a town, even if he couldn't follow them. It was okay, as long as they were safe."I worked my magic on it. And made it disappear." Unafraid, he looked up to her, catching just the faintest squinting of her eyes while the Bishop seemed about to kick him again."YOU LITTLE-""No." It almost made Jason admire her a little for how easily she could stop this force of nature in his rampage with just a short word. The look that the Bishop gave her, confused, but not doubting, made him wonder what exactly gave her power over her lackeys."You really did make it disappear, mh?", she asked, kneeling down next to Jason, looking into his eyes as if it would suffice for him to think the answer and she would know it."Well. In that case, I suppose you should take responsibility and earn it back for us."What?"Pick him up, Bishop, we're taking this one with us. Butcher, I'm sure you can fetch us some actual stage magician gear to replace those sorry scraps with." Jasons eyes widened as the big man picked him up and threw him over his should, knocking some air out of him and making him feel even more dizzy. A small hand lifted his chin and he looked into the dark eyes of the unknown woman again."From now on, your name is 'Trick'.", she informed him matter-of-factly. "And you will work your magic for us." The blond man she'd called Butcher appeared for a moment in Jasons line of sight, with a wide grin and a raised fist, then everything went dark around him.

"So, want to get started on the wine now, Trick?" Announcers tone was somewhere between pushy and plain confused - after all, he'd never seen Trick sticking to nothing but orange juice for so long while sitting in a bar that had literally every wine conceivable ever.

But the magician, after seeming about to nod for a moment, exchanged a short glance with Cocoa and then shook his head."Another juice, if you don't mind." Announcer turned his head too slowly, when he looked at his best friend, she was already innocently sipping her hot chocolate with cream liqueur, and nothing about her face suggested that she had anything to do with Tricks unusual decision."Mph. Okay." Announcer picked up the empty glasses of himself and Trick and got up to get a refill from Bartender. The instant he left the table, Trick leaned forward, giving Cocoa a look as if he was going through some kind of inhumane medieval torture.

"Some more chicken soup?"

Trick nodded weakly. He could talk, easily even, but maybe he was feeling a tiny little bit sorry for himself, and maybe he enjoyed it a tiny little bit. So nonverbal signals it was.

Cocoa, of course, saw right through it. He read it in her smile when she picked up the tray with the empty bowl and carried it away, but she didn't comment on it. It made him smile in relief that she just accepted his sniveling behaviour without judging him for it, and even played along by nursing him back to health. Not that he wasn't really feeling awful - after Bartoff had eaten him, he'd gone to hell and back, and a vast amount of little and big injuries and the absence of his whole deck save for maybe one or two cards were evidence for this. But he had been able to drag himself all the way back to Cocoas place, and now he acted as if he could barely open his eyes anymore.

"Open wide~", he heard the magical girl say, and with a content smile, he complied. The warmth and nice flavour of the soup seemed to spread throughout his whole body, and with a happy sigh he enjoyed the feeling.He let her feed him until the bowl was as empty as he felt full, and only broke the weak semi-facade to take her hand as she was about to leave again with the tray."Hey, Cocoa..."She gave him a bit of a surprised look, but he smiled as wide as he could."Thank you."Now a smile spread on her lips as well, and she nodded."No problem. It's kind of fun to coddle you." With a wink, she got up and brought the tray back to the kitchen, while he settled back and gave another, content sigh.

"I don't know, I just..." - Trick sighed, taking another sip.

"It's okay, I'm listening." - Cocoa said worryingly.

((That's a great pairing, Anon! I like to call it "Shuffled Deck" 8D

Another picture that I'm probably not going to fully shade, but I at least put some shading in the places where it matters most, so it doesn't look all naked.

Trick is an asshole though. I mean just look at him, being all attractive and romantic. That bastard.

FUQ DA POLICE factors in this picture:

Randomnessmaker would probably never wear that but I wanted her looking like a typical pretty assistant

Tricks hand had a horrible accident, we don't talk about it

Tricks hat also usually should have a feather on it and stuff but I went for a card because I'M LIVING ON THE EDGE

I also don't know why it's a Four of Diamonds