the forever sleep

It was Nilou's turn to roll the dice. She scooped them all up in her left palm, cupping them in two hands so she could scramble them. Then she let go letting the dice spill out of her hands and clatter onto the floor, all different element symbols facing up with a colorful glow.

She picked out a few electro and cryo dice to reroll, only to not get any luckier on her second try. "Oh man. This is so unfair." She pouted.

Cyno laughed evilly, head thrown back, as he reached out to snatch the dice away from her. He was much luckier with his rolls getting nearly all of them electro. Which worked for him considering his character deck consisted of Fischl, an electro cicin mage, and himself. The vainness of it was nearly palpable.

Collei was next, her roll ended up being the worst of the bunch, but was greatly improved after her reroll.

Meanwhile, Layla was fast asleep in the corner, she had lost TCG a while earlier, being too tired to really focus on the match. It worked well in her favor though giving her time to catch up on much-needed shut eye, judging from the bags under her eyes. Poor girl. Surely there was a plant or mushroom out there to help with fatigue? I'd read up on it later.

I too had lost pretty early on in the game, so I pulled myself into the background to spectate the three remaining players. I had some suspicions Cyno had rigged the game or cheated somehow because there was just no believable way for someone to be so lucky. He might claim the game is strategy-based, and while there is truth in that, there is also truth in saying it's a luck-based game. It's not purely one or the other.

But just as quickly as my theory of Cyno cheating had come to, it was disproved. Somehow Collei had come out on top and managed to get rid of two of his cards with one move. Then it was Nilous' turn to attack and she wiped out his final card.

The other theory I had about Cyno being a sore loser, was also proven wrong. He took his loss with grace, he even made a small bow to Nilou. Which made her smile sweetly in turn.

Cyno left the two girls to finish their match, joining me in the shadows. Which Cyno couldn't help but comment on, "It's getting pretty dark in here isn't it?"

The reason for that was because instead of using electro-powered lighting like they used in Sumeru city, the valuka shuna preferred sunlight through wide open windows. It worked for heating too. Nice in the day, not so nice during the cold rainy nights that happened so often in Sumeru rainforests.

"It is. That's why I propose that after this card game is finished we all go outside to catch the sunset."

"It's that late already?" But before I could answer that awful look made its way onto his face, the one he always made when trying to stifle a laugh before he cracked a joke. "You know... I was going to search for my missing watch earlier, but I couldn't find the time!"

"Cyno, you don't wear a watch." I groaned, putting my face in my hands.

"Don't you get it? That was part of the joke. It's funny because time flew by so fast and I didn't notice without my watch that I wanted to look for but couldn-"

I cut him off right there. It was an even worse habit of his to explain the joke after telling it. "Find the time. Yes, Cyno, I understood that just fine."

"Tough crowd, I suppose." Cyno smirked, turning his attention to Nilou and Collei who were still engrossed in their game. "Almost done? Whose winning?" He asked the two girls.

"I'm winning." Collei informed us before immediately winning. "And we're done."

"Aw, unlucky." Nilou said, extending her hand for Collei to shake.