Tales of a Ninja Magician: Of Games of Body and Soul

The Practice Weiner

"So what did you have in mind exactly as the game of choice?" Mana raised an eyebrow. "Surely you didn't come here for "dismemberment poker"?"

"No, we'll be playing the Weiner." Jagaimo declared. "Are you familiar with the rules?"

"I am not," Mana admitted. "What kind of game is it?"

"It's the bread and butter of the Kirigakure slums, really. The slums used to have its streets, nooks and crannies flood crimson all the time. It may not have been a good or a bad time, but it was a bloody time. After other Countries started their intervention, it soon became too dangerous and too much of a hassle to settle differences by stabbing people, at least it began requiring an actual artist to do it right, do it unseen. The Weiner was adopted as the card game that settled differences instead." Jagaimo appeared pretty excited, his voice had that certain melodic tune to it, a pinch of tension when he spoke, his eyes and large frontal teeth shined with pearl white as he spoke.

"Hmph. Surely you would not belittle yourself by playing a game of his choosing, the rules of which you do not even know, with this hoodlum." The watchful Kumogakure ninja exclaimed.

"No, let's do it. I like this game already, even if I do not know much about it. Anything that substitutes violence is a treasured thing in my handbook." Mana smiled.

"Excellent, the rules of the game are pretty simple, I'm sure you'll catch on immediately, let's just play a game for warm-up, after it is done, you'll be asking for more." Jagaimo grinned while he worked the split cards.

He was transparent like wet paper. The Kirigakure ninja was luring Mana in, he would intentionally lose this game to make her believe she was good, he would refrain from cheating and even hold back, then he'd introduce the desired stakes. Granted, Mana was not entirely sure as of yet what these stakes were but just as she would have drawn a profile of a fighter by just exchanging a few blows, she had learned to draw profiles of people she met and she did not like the way Jagaimo's sketch was shaping out to be.

"I assume that the game only uses high cards? That is why you split the deck into two stacks of high and low cards?" Mana showed the surprised Kirigakure street rat that she was aware of his every move and that he would be unable to hide anything shady from her. It was meant as a little shine of light at a dark corner, no dark business may have transpired there now, but if the wicked knew better, they would not attempt to bring their business to that as of now enlightened alley.

"Y-Yeah..." Jagaimo fumbled as he dealt the entirety of the high deck out, splitting the cards between the two. "It would be a bit better if K played with us, the game is more fun with more people..."

Mana's face covered with a smile. She knew instantly what the Voice of Kirigakure was doing. It was so clear that the magician felt almost a bit scared to focus on that thought, out of fear that it was exactly what she was being led to believe. As if it was a feint of some sort. Jagaimo did not want to play the Weiner one-on-one because he knew Mana would be able to count the cards. That meant that any unexpected appearances of aces would be instantly recognized, the magician deserved that respectful fear from the street rat's side.

"Not a chance..." Tokui objected. "I am not sitting by the same table as a delinquent such as yourself."

"You're gonna repeatedly use a synonym one of these days and I'll be there to point it out." Jagaimo raised his thumb up. It was a rather lovely way to downplay the hard to like attitude that Tokui had taken toward the Kirigakure native.

"Could we return to the rules now?" the magician yawned. It was a fake yawn but it was better if Jagaimo genuinely thought her tired and believed that she was in no mood for plenty Weiner sets.