The Bet

[selenias]

His reaction had been expected, though, she'd have been lying if she hadn't been hoping otherwise.

“...Ah ha... ha... yer... yer just pullin' my leg, Rita darlin'! T-that ain't nice at all...”

Eyes bugged out over a sip of coffee that evening, he had stared at her as if she had grown two heads and multiple limbs. And perhaps, she had—but it wasn't that much of an outlandish request, was it? So maybe it was a little bit... far reaching... and a little... different... but it was going to come up eventually. The fact that he had been so damn adamant about avoiding the topic for as long as he had made her resolve only grow. The fact that he'd squirmed out of the conversation was mere coincidence. And the fact that she was confronting him now was proof that he was still in denial about it all. Pick a bone with her? The Genius Mage? Nah, not at all...

With a sigh, he set the mug on the table, propped his lolling head up with a palm and picked his ear with the other. He peered at her closely, teal eyes narrowed and lips turned down. “You... you ARE jokin' with me, right? Am I right? Because this really ain't funny... you know how I feel about this sort of thing.”

“Old man, I am completely serious.”

“...Ever the pragmatist, then.”

He took another sip of his coffee as if it were about to be his last, eye twitching funnily at her. For all they both knew, something could have been grating on him. How easily, easily... He only had everything to lose and nothing to bet.

“So... how much ya want to run for?” he murmured, and inside, she was already gloating, because the finish line was in sight, and it wouldn't be long until she got what she wanted.

With a casual smirk, Rita flicked off a piece of invisible lint from her robes and peered at him. “...The usual,” she said slyly, just to make him squirm, and his face paled instantly in response. Maybe it was the coffee, or maybe it was a combination of her proximity, attire, and her lovely genius sitting across from him, but the only constant in that moment was the weariness that settled on his features like a death shroud.

Even a blind person would have been able to see his shoulders sink under the weight of it.

“THE usual, or... the 'other' usual...?”

“The first one.”

“Ah, hell,” he murmured again, and Rita smiled winningly, crossing her arms.

“I'll bet one-thousand gald that Yuri won't propose to Estelle before the year's over!”

“What?” Raven smacked the table with his fist, eyes flashing with something she didn't recognize. “Oh, come on! The boy isn't that dull, no matter what genius female intellect came up with that–”

“He's dull enough,” she quipped, and he looked like he wanted to bury himself a new grave at that. Raven groaned and ducked his head in his arms, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“Ya know, I... don't really have that kind of money, darlin', and I doubt you do either... Say, would ya bet something else, then?”

Rita's smile immediately vanished, and wearily, she leaned forward as if she could pick at his thoughts with her eyes. Brush the hair from his face and glare at him hard enough to make him confess his secrets. The curtain blocking the sunlight filtering through the window turned his face into a shadow, and she couldn't see a thing. “...Like what sort of 'something else' are we talking about here, exactly?”

“The sweet kind,” he said a little too quickly, and her eye twitched.

“You're an idiot if you think I'd fall for that,” she murmured, and his lips curled slightly.

“Oh-ho... Am I sensing a little bit of... panic, dearest?”

Rita uncrossed her arms and leaned back in her seat, pulling her knees up to her chest. “Not at all. I've already won this match,” she said coolly, but they both knew that he'd caught her, and his face said he was anything but convinced by her front.

“Heh... Well, think what ya'd like to believe darlin', but Ol' Raven's got a few tricks up his sleeves, yet...”

“...And just what the hell are you trying to get at, old man? Yuri won't do it. Judith and I both talked to him, and you I both know he's a chicken. Don't try to deny it.” Raven snorted and her discomfort level rose.

“Ya know, first impressions aren't always what they seem, dear.” He propped his head back up with a fist, scratched at his chin for a moment, and then casually gestured out the window with a nod of his head at the scene taking place below. Rita's face went white as a sheet, and she scrambled for words.

“B-but you don't mean... but I—here?!”

Raven pursed his lips and simply smiled charmingly at her.

“Darlin', I think yer gonna want ta be reconsiderin' that prop-o-sition of yeeers~” he sang, and Rita wondered why she had even wasted her time on a bet she knew she never even had a chance of winning. Of course Yuri would come through. ...Idiot.

“Oh, put a sock in it,” she snarled, but not out of rage. Glaring out the windows, everything seemed a little brighter.