Third Floor Common Room | Thursday Evening | 1/6

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter Bishop was having a pretty good day. He had ordered a couple pizzas from the local pizzeria just to tempt people into the common room.

He was tempting people because he'd set up a Three Card Monte game on a table, and was practicing it. Just for fun, of course. But if anyone wanted to bet, well, he'd do it. With any non-telepath.

Technically he needed another person to work this fully, or so he'd read. But this was mainly just prestidigitation practice.

"Find the lady, find the lady," he said, practicing his patter.

[ooc: Open CR, open post!]

Comments

[dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com]

"What lady?" Ramona normally might have said hello, or otherwise greeted the boy, but when you walk in on someone chanting to themselves about finding a lady, you kind of had to run with it.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Peter stopped, smiled at the pretty girl with the technicolor hair, and held up the queen of hearts from his little game.

"This lady," he said. "I don't normally talk to myself. Just practicing some of the skills I hopefully will never need."

[dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com]

"Why would you need it at all?" she wondered, going to grab a soda from the fridge. "Aren't card games kind of a dying art?"

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Well for one thing, when I graduate I go back a few years in time," Peter said. "The other is just... wanting to know that I can do it, really."

Tricking people to prove his intelligence? Yeah, right up Peter's alley.

[dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com]

"It's a card trick," she pointed out. "Are you going back to, like, 1928?"

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, snarky. Peter happened to like that. He grinned and shook his head. "No such luck. 1997 to be exact, but you'd be surprised how many people will still throw away their money on this sort of thing."

[dabblinginbitch.livejournal.com]

"Mmm, I guess dumb people are sort of timeless that way," Ramona mused. "Stupidity springs eternal, and all that."

[mathletenomore.livejournal.com]

Lindsay wandered into the common room, immediately raising an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you're not talking about the lady from that story in Ethics?"

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Well, you can find that lady, too," Peter said. "But if you choose the wrong card, I promise you that a tiger isn't going to drop out of the ceiling on you."

He chuckled.

"At least, not unless the island really wants to mess with us."

[mathletenomore.livejournal.com]

"You never know around here." Lindsay glanced up at the ceiling. Not that she was expecting a tiger or anything. Really.

"So, planning on hustling fellow students?" she asked with an amused grin as her attention was back on the cards.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"That is exactly what I'm going to do," Peter said. "Assuming Emma or anyone like her doesn't show up. Those folks, definitely can't hustle."

He grinned. "And obviously, people who know it's a scam to begin with, probably not my best marks."

[mathletenomore.livejournal.com]

"I had a friend who tried this scam on me once." Lindsay told him. Daniel was always trying to cheat his way out of many situations. "Pretty sure he did it wrong."

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"That's because it takes skill and charm," Peter said. "And obviously, I have more of both than your other friend."

He put on his best charming smile.

"Not that I'm trying to scam you out of anything."

[stylin-wizard.livejournal.com]

Alex made her way down to the common room, the smell of pizza drawing her in. It seemed she was making a habit of spending time in the common room, if two days in a row counted as a habit.

"Any lady that I might know?" There was a hello in there somewhere, really.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Depends, you know the Queen of Hearts at all?" Peter asked, raising the card. "Honestly, it's like none of you have been hustled before."

He grinned.

[stylin-wizard.livejournal.com]

"We're acquaintances at best," Alex replied, smirking slightly. She took a moment to think about it. "I can't think of a time I have been, so I'm going with no."

... that could very well change in the future.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Well, obviously I'm going to have trouble having admitted it's a con," Peter said. "Consider this a public service, then. You can grab some pizza and I can show you how it works, if you like."

[stylin-wizard.livejournal.com]

"I'd love to learn, sure," Alex decided, somewhat excited about that. She took a seat and grabbed a slice of pizza. "I feel like I should be taking notes or something."

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Well, the basic rule is easy," Peter said. "The only way to win is not to play."

He kept moving the cards about. "Because the people in charge of the game cheat. And since it's a street game, there's no management to complain to."

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

"Forget the lady if she's going to eat the pizza," Dru said as she wandered in the room.

"You sharing?"

Food first. Then cons.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"The pizza's part of the bait," Peter greeted with a smile. "Have as much as you'd like. It's one of those baseball movie things. If you bring food, they will come. Or, well, almost like that movie."

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

Nodding, Dru snagged a slice of pizza and flopped onto the couch. "See I look on it as baiting the trap appropriately. What better way to lure some poor unsuspecting soul in?"

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"A litter of puppies?" Peter said. "That'd definitely get people to put their guards down. But possibly distract them so much they don't want to play."

He thought that one over as he moved the cards back and forth.

"Yeah, that's a no-go on the puppy idea."

[svetocha-blooms.livejournal.com]

"Awww, but that would fun. And cuddly." At least till they had to clean up the mess the puppies made.

"So do you do this often?" she asked with a nod towards the cards.

[theotherpeter.livejournal.com]

"Often, no," Peter said. "Coin tricks are more my speed, but this is more sort of an... experiment. Making sure I can do it, mainly. Just in case I need to hustle my way across Europe or something."

He stopped moving the cards.

"Which might actually be, pardon the expression, in the cards for me."