#venclis

Dave had just laid down his last hand, earning a groan from his challengers and a booming laugh from those watching. The boy had won yet again. To make sure he wasn’t cheating they had inspected his sleeves, his hands even his hat but found nothing to indicate he was tricking them.

Though they grumbled with their own cards as King Dice approached, Dave turning his stool around so he could see the manager. It was only polite he reach out and shake his hand.

The Devil knocks on King’s door to his office, jiggling the handle as it’s obviously locked. He only sighs and knocks again.

“Dice, what do you think you’re doing? The casino is a big mess, it looks like Wheezy torched the place, now open the door!”

Wait, isn't that-

-”Well, well, well. If it ain’t Mr. King cheat himself.”

Wally moved a bit closer to him, now eying down the dice-headed toon.

-”Yer a long way from the casino, ain'tcha.”

The fun has ended for the kid. 

He was going to defeat the Devil, and he was so close. Perhaps resting for a bit would have been better, fighting King Dice and his lackeys were really challenging. However, he reckless went to the Devil instead. They fight and fight…Until it was over. He was thrown into a cell, with a familiar face. At first, Cuphead didn’t notice that it was Dice, he was distracted by the feeling of defeat. He lost, but there’s a second chance, right? There has to be! 

The injured cup slowly moved his head to see the dice, he felt a bit surprised to see him but he wished he didn’t see him. Not right now anyway. 

“Oh...Well look it is, the King, himself…What the Hell are ya e-even doin’ here?”

“He what?!” Black Hat, it seemed, had not been aware of this particular venture. He was honestly trying to look after the children, but it seemed that even he could lose track of them - and well, perhaps that wasn’t surprising, considering both their history of sneaking away from people and his inexperience with kids.

He had recently become aware of this particular casino, and of certain more pressing penalties for a lost bet - an awareness that fuelled his concern. He could not allow the small ones under his aegis to fall to a fate like that, not after- No, no, better keep his thoughts anchored in the present, and to follow the trail from Dave’s tracking device.