[complete]📷⚰️ˢᵉᵖʰᶜᵃʳˡ ᴼⁿᵉˢʰᵒᵗˢ⚰️📷

📷⚰️BlackJack

Everybody in the manor knew that their embalmer, Aesop Carl, was not one to initiate conversation with his peers. In fact, his close friends (Mike, Demi, Eli, Kurt, Vera, and William) were practically the only people he ever did speak to, which was only after weeks of them (mostly Eli and Vera, who then brought him into their friend group) working for his friendship. Mike always jokes that if Aesop ever spoke first, he was probably drinking under Demi's influence.

And Mike was sure Aesop had drank today.

They were playing this game everyday for a whole week. The host was getting them out of quick matches and pack hunter to create strength between the two factions. Maybe it was to prevent more vandalism in the park? That was mainly from Mike under Kreacher's influence. The latter had snuck some alcohol from Demi's bucket while she was on a rocket chair. He got punished afterwards, but he was probably plotting something again.

It was early morning, and all the manor residents were called for morning announcements. This was followed by the whole survivor wing meeting up with the hunter wing for a new game inspired by blackjack. For whatever reason, the host had chosen Jack himself to be in charge of the card dealing during the game. Maybe it was for a joke, but people were very against him actually playing.

So now with the survivors nominated to play in a total of two rounds today, they were searching for a hunter to team up with.

"Aesop!" Mike yelled from across the spacious room. He dashed so quickly that he hit his head when jumping onto the sofa. He grunted and rubbed the back of his head, but before he could say what he wanted to, William did it instead.

"Hey, 'Sop! You're abilities are amazing in this game mode!" He said while plopping next to Aesop's right on the sofa. "You can resurrect once EVERY round! That's too op!"

Aesop fumbled with the handle of the box on his lap. He felt like everybody in the room had moved their eyes to look at him. He found it quite ironic that his closest friends, were two of the loudest in the manor.

"You always do that!" Mike cried before tackling the forward. Nothing much happened though, considering their difference in muscle mass. It looked like a kitten fighting with a grown dog.

"I didn't even do anything," William smirked, which made Mike pout.

"I swear one of these days I'll be able to take you down!"

Aesop looked around the room. Across the room, he found a familiar blond man sitting by himself. He looked sad, and even though Aesop couldn't verify it, he knew the hunter was looking down at the ground.

On the first day of the week, Joseph had teamed up with the perfumer. By the end of the match, the two were bickering about the other's horrible skills in this game mode. Ever since then, Joseph had not been invited to play by any of the nominated survivors. To top it all off, Joseph was really excited to be invited to play a game other than a quick match. Who knew it only took one day for him to get so bummed.

Joseph couldn't leave the room since it was still a requirement to wait in the matching lobby. If he didn't have to he would probably be in the garden, Aesop thought.

The embalmer had probably stalked the photographer around the manor. I mean, there wasn't really anything else to do during downtime.

Aesop tried to gather his courage. He stood up, then sat back down to rethink his actions. The longer he waited, the sooner the current round of blackjack would end. He had to do this now.

Aesop stood up and placed his makeup box down, something he would rarely do in a crowded room. He felt like his footsteps were too loud in the room. The sounded like metal pots and pans clashing together in his ears.

Soon he found himself in front of the photographer, who was trying to occupy himself with tracing the details on the handle of his rapier. Joseph looked up at Aesop, giving him a gentle smile with a look of displeasure in his eyes.

"Hello, mon cheri," he said. Aesop felt like he could explode by the warmth of his face, which didn't go unnoticed by Joseph. Joseph had an amused look on his face when he did.

"Uhm.. well, I was won-wondering if you-- we could work together during b-blackjack.."

It seemed like Joseph's eyes lit up. He suddenly stood up and held his hand out to shake Aesop's.

"Thank you! I promise I won't let you down!"

Aesop's face got even brighter when Joseph leaned down to kiss his hand.

"Demi!" Somebody shouted, followed by the sudden hoot of an owl. "I thought we agreed that Aesop is still a child? I told you he isn't allowed to drink!"

The Manor's bartender was being cornered by the owl crazy man and the survivors' version of a clown. Poor Demi, she was being death stared while passed out.

--•--

[Word count: 864]
[Date completed: 10/11/19]