Vincent and Jamie and Catarina: When Freshiedency Reaches Its End

El Nido Night 2: Mahjongg

Jamie and Vincent were quiet for the whole day after that incident, not talking to each other nor to anyone else. When they spoke, they simply whispered to either Clotho, Ceejay, Cee, Jay, Ridan, Isabella, or Philomella but not to each other. 

Inside the room of the three siblings who were now in their pyjamas , Ceejay pushed a table from outside inside the room and placed it in front of the bed. Cee then placed everything on it gently on the couch, and finally, Jay headed for the cabinets and took from it a leather-bound case with a steel handle, and she set it down in the center of the table, which was actually wide enough and high enough for them to play  their nightly cycle of mahjongg which will determine which sibling gets what position in sleeping tonight. 

"Alright guys," Jay said, "Does anyone remember the rules of this game?" She opened the leather case, and intricately designed mahjongg tiles showed their beauty from their boxes. What was currently being displayed were the sticks and stones (or dots, or balls, whatever you call them), and in the middle were placed eight dice and fifty different coins of red yellow and green. 

"We do," Ceejay replied, "but it's been so long since we had a fourth player who is not our cousin nor our parents." 

"I agree," Cee replied, "Although it is fun playing with them, we want some different competition."

"Truly," Ceejay added, nodding his head while taking a box of 36 tiles. He toppled it over and set it on the table such that most of the tiles were face down. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" Cee replied, and rushed towards the said door. He then opened it, and lo and behold, it was both Vincent and Jamie also in their jammies. 

"Vincent! Jamie!" Cee exclaimed happily, "How nice to see you two!"

"We're just visiting," Jamie replied, "So what's the haps?"

"It's our nightly mahjongg cycle," Jay replied, mixing up the now face down tiles noisily, "We always do this to determine who gets the bed and who  gets the mattresses back home. Maybe you'd like to come and join us."

"We would love to," Vincent replied, "but we don't know how."

"EZ!" Ceejay exclaimed, "We'll teach you!"

...

Vincent and Jamie followed whatever the three siblings demonstrated or asked them to do. They started by putting 16 tiles in stacks of 2 in front of a line of 20 tiles, as if they were preparing war strategies using the said tiles. Then Vincent got two stacks each from everyone's right hand side, unfolding the tiles so that both the human and his breeder friend knew what they were dealing with.

Next, Jay guided them in the use of flowers and melds. Every flower each of the four players got was revealed, and the player who owns it gets the tile neatly placed above two tiles at one end of the "line" of eighty tiles, and the next tile took it's place.

"Mahjong has several combinations of tiles called melds," she explained, "There's a three of a kind meld, a three in sequence meld, and a very rare four of a kind meld. The last one grants you a tile from the stacked end --- the one where you get tiles if you have flowers. Also one coin from each of your opponents."

"How do you win this game?" Vincent asked them.

"Get some melds and a pair," Cee replied.

"Oh, I see," the young lad replied, nodding his head, "What now?"

"Okay," Cee answered, "Since I am the east wind, I'll go first and play continued anticlockwise. I first get a tile from this end." He demonstrated it, picking the tile from the flat end of the line, the end opposite the "flower" end.

"Then, two things may happen. Either I discard it because I don't need it, or I keep it and discard something else. Because I need it, I'll keep it and discard something else," Cee continued, shuffling his set around while thinking of something to discard. In less than a jiffy, he immediately threw out a tile displaying a Chinese character, proclaiming, "West wind!"

"Pong!" Jay exclaimed and grabbed the tile. She then placed it with two other tiles and revealed her meld, which held three identical "West winds". She then threw out another tile, which showed two concentric circles, one red and the other green, proclaiming, "One stone!"

When Cee reached in for the tile by the end, Jamie exclaimed, "Wait! We haven't had our turn!"

"It's alright, you two," Ceejay replied, patting Jamie on the back, "If someone makes a meld from the most recent discard, play starts from him or her and continues on." He then got a tile from the flat end, mixed it with his current set, and then discarded a tile with the picture of a bird, proclaiming, "One stick!"

"Do we need it?" Vincent asked his partner.

Jamie curled her insect legs under her thorax and moved a bit, while her mind worked its gears. In their set were two conveniently placed tiles: one which showed two icons of bamboo sticks and another which showed three icons. Then, she quickly grabbed the tile, revealed her meld and threw out a tile which held a thinly drawn rectangle.

The three of them said, "There! That's the spirit!", and play continued on. Sometimes one of the three would stop and assist the pair, and then play resumed as normal.

...

Five minutes later, Cee said nothing as he took a tile from the line. Suddenly, he put all but two tiles face down, took one of the two tiles and said no word. The other four looked at the tile, and then, Jay whispered, "Nine sticks." Cee put on a straight face through all this action. Even as Ceejay had his turn, he said nothing, yet his eyes were focused on the tiles.

Vincent got a tile from the line, and he showed it to Jamie.

"It's a two sticks," he whispered to her.

"We have a three and a four, we definitely need that." the young breeder replied.

"Actually, I'm setting my eyes on five sticks, so I don't think we need that," Vincent whispered back, "We should throw it."

"But we need it!" Jamie retorted softly, "We don't know if one of them is going to win."

"Your call," Vincent replied, and kept it, setting it beside the three-stick tile.
However, he had thrown out the tile that had two Chinese characters which, when translated, read 90k.

Cee smiled, took the tile, and then revealed his entire set. He had won, much to the surprise of his siblings and to the steaming anger of Jamie.

"Why the gods-damned **** did you throw that tile?" Jamie shouted at Vincent. On the bed, she raised herself to her full height.

"Jamie, relax!" Vincent retorted, "We did not need it, and we never know who wins or not!"

"It's a game of chance, Jamie," Jay replied, with a smile, "Sit and play."

"I wish we would," Vincent replied, "but I really need to take this thick-faced loudmouth of a breeder back to our room." Instantly, Jamie slapped him on the cheek, and then they stood, headed out the door, and slammed it.

"Good night," Ceejay greeted, but no one replied.

"You two take the bed, I'll take the couch," Cee told his siblings.