04-04-2018, 12:35 AM
JACOB W. corleone
✯ — he'll be the best of us
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Jacob could remember how it'd happened. The cards on the street. The allowance he was given but was told to never bother with such games, they were a scam and a disgrace. Still, the little boy was intrigued by the bright colors and trying to see where the lady would land. She was never where you expected and always where they didn't look. He didn't spent any money but he watched. Then one day he found it. He was so excited, he'd gone and told his Babbo but he didn't believe him. Jacob begged him to let him spend the money and he said if he wanted to throw his week's allowance into the sewer then he had a right to do it. Jacob swore he'd come back with double of what he'd left with.
He went out to the table and approached for the first time. He'd given his usual awkward smile. None of it was an act or a trick. Jacob genuinely felt uncomfortable and nervous. He wasn't much of a liar or an actor but he didn't need to be, not for this. He remembered watching the cards move back and forth, as they always did in the same old patterns. Then moments before it'd stop, he fell forward and slammed one of his paws on the table. No one ever paid any attention to where his other paw went. When told to select a card, the man began to flip it over with a smug grin but the lady waited on the other side and Jacob was given double of what he'd bet. Some called it cheating but he called it fixing broken rules. The man moving the cards was unfair so Jacob leveled the situation.
When he brought the money back to his Babbo, the man had been both surprised and confused. From that day on, he took Jacob into his meetings and suddenly all became clear to him. Patterns. Every single movement, whether intentional or not, had a destination and it could be predicted through a series of questions and probabilities. It wasn't a certainty but he could guess what was most and least likely and act accordingly. It was more than just cards, too. What started as a game pulled the boy into a string of activities he wouldn't partake in now that he knew the true nature of them but at the time he'd only seen it as helping the family business. When he started hanging around Jersey and the older boy found out about his talents, they used more than a few tricks to get some extra cash. Jacob wasn't proud of it and he wished he hadn't been so malleable when he was young but he couldn't change it. All he could do now was use the skills he'd picked up.
That was what he was doing. He wandered the territory every single day. Everyone had to see them and one purpose was clear enough, that being to stretch his damaged leg but there was another reason no one thought of because they didn't need to. When he was out, he saw the way prey scurried about. Jacob wasn't stupid, he knew he wasn't fast enough to catch up to any of it, not with his leg. No, instead he'd set up traps. He'd never built any before but after his failed hunting excursion days ago he hoped this'd be more successful. First, though, he needed the pattern and he needed to know where to put them. So, he'd taken some paper and drawn out a map. It was a simple, rough sketch of a border and a few different landmarks. It was nothing particularly prominent but there were certain things like large rocks or a collection of dead plant-life that caught his attention while on a walk.
All of it was laid out before him and there were dotted lines trailing all over the paper, seemingly in a random fashion. He'd seen the usual routes prey took, he'd let his eyes wander to every single crevice he could find and this was all he'd collected. The boy chewed on his cheek in thought while making markings every once in awhile. He'd been working on his little project for the better part of the day but he was sure he was getting close now. He'd gathered about three weeks of data at this point so he thought it was enough to start trying to place and create traps. Thankfully, this was just identifying the pattern and he wouldn't have to distract anyone or switch anything. In a place like Snowbound, prey was more important than any kind of currency and he intended to make sure no one starved during their first few months here. The clan was new and they needed systems that worked. He was convinced this could be one of them.
He went out to the table and approached for the first time. He'd given his usual awkward smile. None of it was an act or a trick. Jacob genuinely felt uncomfortable and nervous. He wasn't much of a liar or an actor but he didn't need to be, not for this. He remembered watching the cards move back and forth, as they always did in the same old patterns. Then moments before it'd stop, he fell forward and slammed one of his paws on the table. No one ever paid any attention to where his other paw went. When told to select a card, the man began to flip it over with a smug grin but the lady waited on the other side and Jacob was given double of what he'd bet. Some called it cheating but he called it fixing broken rules. The man moving the cards was unfair so Jacob leveled the situation.
When he brought the money back to his Babbo, the man had been both surprised and confused. From that day on, he took Jacob into his meetings and suddenly all became clear to him. Patterns. Every single movement, whether intentional or not, had a destination and it could be predicted through a series of questions and probabilities. It wasn't a certainty but he could guess what was most and least likely and act accordingly. It was more than just cards, too. What started as a game pulled the boy into a string of activities he wouldn't partake in now that he knew the true nature of them but at the time he'd only seen it as helping the family business. When he started hanging around Jersey and the older boy found out about his talents, they used more than a few tricks to get some extra cash. Jacob wasn't proud of it and he wished he hadn't been so malleable when he was young but he couldn't change it. All he could do now was use the skills he'd picked up.
That was what he was doing. He wandered the territory every single day. Everyone had to see them and one purpose was clear enough, that being to stretch his damaged leg but there was another reason no one thought of because they didn't need to. When he was out, he saw the way prey scurried about. Jacob wasn't stupid, he knew he wasn't fast enough to catch up to any of it, not with his leg. No, instead he'd set up traps. He'd never built any before but after his failed hunting excursion days ago he hoped this'd be more successful. First, though, he needed the pattern and he needed to know where to put them. So, he'd taken some paper and drawn out a map. It was a simple, rough sketch of a border and a few different landmarks. It was nothing particularly prominent but there were certain things like large rocks or a collection of dead plant-life that caught his attention while on a walk.
All of it was laid out before him and there were dotted lines trailing all over the paper, seemingly in a random fashion. He'd seen the usual routes prey took, he'd let his eyes wander to every single crevice he could find and this was all he'd collected. The boy chewed on his cheek in thought while making markings every once in awhile. He'd been working on his little project for the better part of the day but he was sure he was getting close now. He'd gathered about three weeks of data at this point so he thought it was enough to start trying to place and create traps. Thankfully, this was just identifying the pattern and he wouldn't have to distract anyone or switch anything. In a place like Snowbound, prey was more important than any kind of currency and he intended to make sure no one starved during their first few months here. The clan was new and they needed systems that worked. He was convinced this could be one of them.
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[glow=black,2,300]a beauty calm and clear[/glow]
☆ snowbound & 14 moons & dealer &@ vellichor