Games and Noise (Otherwise Untitled)
#76 of Short Stories
A dragon and kobold discuss their views on a game of skill and chance.
~ With the shower of flashing lights and garishly rattling music, Jake stared intently at the trio of metal bottles some yards away on their platform. The dragon's knuckles flexed around the second of the three balls his payment had secured. The kobold next to him groaned aloud, barely audible amongst the tangle of flickering and sound, "This thing is rigged and you can't win, you know?"
~ A wry grin of determination slipped across the dragon's muzzle without comment.
~ The booth operator, in attendance of his sixth night of carnival so far in the week, stood by idly with the dull gaze of a husky waiting for the time to resume his barking. Randy leaned into the dragon's side with a sigh, "You don't have to win some doll to impress me, you know?"
~ Jake's grin softened into a smile, looking down at the kobold to reply, "It is courage to face the impossible without surrender." He leaned away to snap into what he recalled to be a proper pitching stance, yelling above the harshly omnipresent tones, "And for you, I wish to try!"