Chapter Eighteen

[thebestseller]

Hey. Hey. Paradisa. It's the... second of the month, so you know what time it is? BETTING POOL TIME. I'll repeat the rules:

1. Bets are for the second castlewide incident that will happen during the month of January- since I was too drunk to get this up yesterday, and no cheating by retroactively guessing lots of alcohol everywhere.
2. I'll take bets for any amount from 1 to 100 Caisos.
3. Bets will be taken any time from now until the second event hits.
4. In the event that more than one person guesses correctly, the pot will be evenly split.
5. If nobody wins for the second event, I'll keep rolling the bets over til someone wins. If nobody wins, everyone gets their money back.

For the record, my money's going to be on a sudden burst of summer-like weather. If we can have Christmas in July, why not July in January, right?

... Also... Kate's still not herself. In case anyone was wondering.

Comments

[dog_eat_dog]

Kate not herself, huh? One wonders what that entails.

Anyway, I'll put fifty on some bullshit trip to some long-past era where I have to wear a lot of skirts.

[thebestseller]

Sounds like a pretty safe bet.

Well, uh- I'm pretty sure she's trapped inside a book cover on my nightstand.

[dog_eat_dog]

That's some relationship the two of you have.

[thebestseller]

I know, right? I didn't think it could get more complicated til we ended up here.

[dog_eat_dog]

So the stick up her ass isn't new? My condolences.

[thebestseller]

Wouldn't call it that, myself. But I love a challenge.

[dog_eat_dog]

It sounds like an aggravation.

[thebestseller]

Well, I won't deny that it's sometimes been rough. But it's so, so worth it.

[dog_eat_dog]

And what, exactly, do you see in her?

[thebestseller]

Lots. She's absolutely gorgeous, and tough, and a great role model for my kid... she's smart, and savvy... what's there not to like?

[dog_eat_dog]

And has your balls in a vice, I'm guessing.

[thebestseller]

Well. Some might put it that way.

[dog_eat_dog]

Sad.

[thebestseller]

Some have said that, too.

[dog_eat_dog]

Does it bug you?

[thebestseller]

Not in the slightest, to tell you the truth. I mean, I am dating her, right?

[dog_eat_dog]

To each their own, I guess.

I wouldn't put up with that shit, though.

[thebestseller]

She does have many awesome qualities to balance it out.

[dog_eat_dog]

Oh?

[thebestseller]

Mmmmmm. Some of them are too much information, of course.

[samson]

Alright, I'm gonna go the opposite way. Fifty on a blizzard -- like six feet of snow, icicles everywhere, et cetera.

[thebestseller]

Sometimes the most obvious guess is the best one. Cheers.

[samson]

Yeah, I keep waiting for the castle to give us the obvious thing, but it hasn't panned out yet. Maybe I'll get lucky this time.

[thebestseller]

Someone's gotta be right sometime- or the castle has to run out of creative ideas, one.

[samson]

So far, not yet. Ha -- maybe that can be a different pool altogether. 'What month is the castle gonna repeat itself in.' December and February notwithstanding.

[thebestseller]

And what's it going to repeat? We'd probably have better odds drawing things out of a hat.

[samson]

I dunno, anything? Castle's done a lot of shit over the years. Do you want a list or something?

[thebestseller]

That would be too big an undertaking, I think. Besides, it'll be a while before it runs out of ideas, now that I think about it.

[samson]

You probably just haven't been here long enough.

[thebestseller]

I'm approaching one year, but as I understand it, that's chump change compared to some of you all.

[samson]

Ha. Yeah, there's a couple old-timers here. Three and a half for me.

[thebestseller]

3 and a half, really? How do you stand it?

[samson]

You know, you keep busy. It helps that I'm from a place that's pretty jacked-up to begin with, so.

[thebestseller]

So, out of the frying pan into the fire, so to speak.

Well, it is pretty easy to keep busy here, at least.

[samson]

More like I just went to another frying pan... it's a different brand of weirdness, but they're both pretty stupid, I gotta say.

[thebestseller]

I imagine after three years this would get pretty old, yeah- especially since you were in the thick of it before.

[samson]

Yeah. It's been a real experience.

[thebestseller]

My life seems pretty boring by comparison.

[samson]

Well, you're here, right? Exciting enough.

[thebestseller]

And how. It's like a treasure trove of writing inspiration.