((What Comes After A Storm?))

Chapter I

The brothers were sitting on the front porch, sighing as they looked accross the forest. Four week have passed since the boys defeated and banished the devil from inkwell isle and honestly, a lot has changed.  Elder Kettle passed away one week ago and the brothers were devastated. For the past week they'd sit down on the porch and share a silent moment together. And even though they didn't say a word, they felt much better knowing that they had each other.

It was also a waking call for the brothers to start working. They were now adults and they needed to learn how to fend for themselves. They tried landing a job but always ended up giving up mainly because the job didn't pay enough. So that was another reason for the two to get bummed out about.

-

It was quiet for the past hour, Cuphead would curl up and sit against the walls of the house while Mugman was sit on the stairs, playing with some pebbles he found not long ago. But the silence was soon broken by the sound of creaking wood as Cuphead made his way inside only to come out with a coat.

"I'm going for a walk. You want to join me?"

Mugman looked up and smiled, nodding his head as he went inside to get his own coat. It was autum after all, and it was only getting colder. Cuphead waited and tapped his foot before his brother walked out wearing a bright blue jacket with a white scarf wrapped around the base of his head. Cuphead took his brother by the hand and smiled as they made it down the forest trail and into the carnival city. They were greeted by Beppi along with one of his sour jokes. He seemed pretty energetic today and the cup brother couldn't help but snicker a bit at Beppi's goofy self. Surely enough, once they greeted everyone, they moved on into the city. They walked around the tall buildings, visiting the junkyard and then the docks. Then they went back through the city and stopped for a break.

As they were resting on one of the many benches this city had, Mugman spotted a flyer. Of course, out of curiosity, he grabbed it and pulled it close to his face for him to read. It was about the casino! It said that they needed employees and that they'll pay good money and ever offer housing if need be. Mugman chirped and hurried over to his brother to show him the paper.

"Brother look! Maybe we can get a job there!"

"The casino? I thought they closed it off after the Devil left this place. Do you think those at the casino still hate us?"

"I don't think so? I mean it wouldn't hurt to try!"

"Well it does sound tempting. Oh fine. It wouldn't hurt to give it a try. Come on, let's go"

And like that the brothers waltzed back over to the casino, praying they wouldn't get kicked out by a bunch of angry patrons.

-

Once they stepped foot into the dimmed lights of the cave, they looked up to see that the casino has been fixed up. The devil that once sat on top of the building was now gone, a white arch replacing it. The walls sermed to be painted over, giving them a clean glow and even the once rusty doors were fixed. Seems like they plan on reopening the place even after the incident. Wonder who is in charge now.

Cuphead hurried over to one of the windows and peeked in. His brother, not wanting to feel left out, joined him.

Inside you could see that there were a lot of customers. Now it was pretty clear why they needed new waiters. The brother got up from their hiding place and gathered up the courage to open the doors and walk in. It was almost as if the whole world stopped and turned to look at them. It was extremly bercewracking for the two, and even more so when the starting walking in, only to have the people's eyes follow them. They hurried over to the bosses office, away from all the stares of the clearly angry people, and knocked on the door ever so slightly.

"Come in"

A voice replied to the knock almost immediatly. It wasn't the devil. This person's voice was smoother and sounded a lot more clear than the devil's voice. Cuphead opened the door and walked in, his brothe shyly following behind him. Sitting at the desk was none other than King Dice. He had a thick cigar in his lips and an ashtray to his side as he signed papers. He had an empty glass of whiskey next to him as well. He looked up from his paper and was shocked to see the two mugs sittibng in front of him. His expression turned into his usual sleazy grin as he sat back in his chair and watched the two brothers waiting for a reaction.

"Well i'll be damned... i never thought i'd see you two again. What brings you here to my office today?"

Dice pulled two chairs, using his magic, to give the two a place to stay. He also poured a glass of whiskey for the two awhile they were talking.

"Well we've been having some trouble with money and we saw that you were hiring so we decided to give it a shot."

Cuphead said with a confident smile. Dice only chuckled abd rested his cigar on the ashtray as ge looked over the two.

"What makes ylu think I'll hire you two and not someone else?"

"Well we're pretty fast, meaning we can get orders fast to the tables. Mugman can play piano and I like doing tricks at the bar. If you're not going to hire us as waiters then we can at least be entertainers."

The Dice hummed and thought for a bit. After a minute his smile came back to his face and he reached over one of the drawers, taking out a paper.

"Alright. You convinced me. But if i find out that what you said was a lie you'll be out of here faster than you can say my name. You got that?"

"Yes sir!"

Cuphead gladly took the papers and he along with Mugman signed them before they were dissmissed. They returned to their home and called it a night so they could wake up early the next morning andstart their new job.

______________

A/N: This is a work in progress. I might change chapters later on so i can either rewrite it or correct mistakes.
I apologize for my vad grammar, english isn't my first language.
Hope you enjoyed my first chapter, more pages coming soon.