http://clampfix.fanworks.net/x-overs/pokerface.txt </head><body><pre>This is in response to Anino's challenge (sorry if it took so long, I had other stuff on my mind). Anyway... Standard Disclaimers Apply Pokerface written by Shinri Ayase produced by her sister and part-time comedy musie Axrynn It was a very dark and very stormy night. Very dark. Very stormy. Very boring. Clow Reed yawned and stretched on his new favorite armchair. Lightning flashed briefly across his features. He was frowning. He wished he could have brought Cerberus and Yue or even Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon with him. But creatures such as themselves could never seem to pass through the gates that lead to the afterlife. Oh well. At least he had a new housemate. For those of you who don't know yet, there are housing projects in the afterlife, with all those previous souls getting sick of being reincarnated and all those new souls refusing to be recycled. There could be as many as twenty souls in an average afterlife flat. But what the famed magician got was a private manor, mainly because even the Earl of the Castle of Candles feared him. Anyway, back to the story. Clow Reed finally "convinced" Enma-daioh into giving him at least one housemate. And, just as he predicted, his housemate walked through the door exactly ten seconds after the aforementioned lightning struck. And exactly one second before the lights went out. It might be wise for me to point out at this point that the afterlife housing projects are suffering from a major cutback due to debts owed by one of Enma-daioh's special divisions. "Not again," a cool, silky voice sighed dramatically. There was the sound of a match being struck against rough wood, and the whole room was illuminated by the tiny flame. Sakurazuka Seishirou held the candle holder in one hand and blew out the still-lighted match. The candle's flame flickered. "I hate it when this happens," he muttered. Clow smiled. "Back in my day, we had no electricity." The Sakurazukamori rolled his matching set of golden eyes. "Good for you," he said dryly. Don't get him wrong. He liked living with the magician. Most of the time. It's just that Clow Reed smiles more often than Dr. Sakurazuka, the vet. The memory of being that person again once upon a life made Seishirou feel...uncomfortable? In any case, he can't see how the man could be so insanely calm when all they have for amusement in the midst of a blackout are a candle, a set of furniture, a deck of cards, and each other. In the previous blackouts, they amused themselves with long philosophical discussions about trees, magic, inheritance of titles and outrageous costumes designed by obsessive girls who persuade brothers and best friends to become walking barbie dolls. But now, they were running out of things to talk about. Another flash of lightning tore through the sky. After a few more moments of silence, Clow chuckled and picked up the deck of cards. "Want to play strip poker?" Seishirou raised his eyebrows. To him, the smiling magician didn't seem the type. Then again, he _was_ a mystery... "We could," he agreed. "But those are tarot cards, not playing cards." The much older spirit looked at them. "So they are. But playing cards are based on tarot cards, Sakurazuka-san. So long as we seperate the Major Arcana from the Minor Arcana, we can play a decent poker game." His eyes twinkled. "Are you in?" Seishirou snorted. "Strip poker - ha! It's been done. But I have another idea." He finally put down the candle holder and leaned against a dark mahogany quedenza. "You lose a round and you pick Truth or Dare. Doesn't that sound a little more interesting?" The great Clow Reed grinned. "Do we get to wreak havoc in the living world?" The dead Sakurazukamori's eyes glinted evilly. "You bet." ROUND 1: Seishirou Lost. "Would you tell me what my dare is, already?" the golden-eyed man hissed impatiently. The smiling magician took his sweet time thinking. "All right," he finally said. "Go back to the world of the living and give your remaining functioning eye to that cute little onmyouji you keep obsessing about. After the blackout, of course." "And how, pray tell, do I do that?" "I don't know. You decide." "Well I suppose Fuuma _does_ owe me for the last ice cream trip..." ROUND 2: Clow Lost "Truth." "Okay. Were you attracted to that Moon creature you created, that Yue?" "No." "So you never loved him?" "No." "Never that way?" "No. Never." "Not even lust?" "No..." stops to think. "But Cerberus could be quite kinky." "I get the feeling that I did _not_ need to hear that." "No. You didn't." ROUND 3: Seishirou Lost Again "Ask me the question already!" "Very well. I've been wondering about this...you said that the Sakurazukamori's most special will be the one who'd kill him or her." "Yes." "So who was it, really? The one who cast the spell or the one who ran his hand through your heart?" "Me." "I beg your pardon?" "My most special person is myself." He strikes a pose. "I tried to kill Subaru-kun, therefore triggering the spell and therefore getting myself killed. I'm my most special person." Clow sweatdrops. "Sou ka..." ROUND 4: Clow Lost Again "Let me see...which dare should I impose upon you...aha! Create a creature, right here, right now." "What kind of creature, pray tell?" "I don't know. You think of something." "Very well." There was a flash of bright magic, and an audible pop. A boy-creature stood before them, with bright green eyes and silver-gold hair. He has cute dragonfly wings on his back, and he was wearing nothing but a thong. Seishirou raised his eyebrows at Clow. Clow shrugged. The cute boy blinked with confusion. "Anou...who am I?" The magician looked pointedly at Seishirou. "He was your idea. You name him." The dead Sakurazukamori grinned. "All right." He faced the boy. "Hi. I'm Seishirou. That over there is Clow. We're your masters and you'll do what we tell you to do." The boy nodded obediently and asked, "What is my name, Master?" For a moment, Seishirou looked thoughtful. Finally he said, "Your name...is Uke..." Clow covered his face and stifled a snicker. Well they eventually forgot the game (the Uke-boy was quite distracting) and so they "played" instead. The tarot cards were quite useful here, but I'm quite sure no one wants to know in what way it was. And so we end where the lights finally come on, Seishirou performs his dare and lands Subaru in his new profession as a highly-respected botanist, and Clow Reed discovers the joys of "playing cards" with humanoid creatures with suggestive names. I guess it could be called a happy ending... Owari (I suppose)</pre><p><a href="./">Back</a></p><p><a href=http://www.dreamhost.com/donate.cgi?id=216><img border=0 alt="Donate towards our web hosting bill!" src=https://secure.newdream.net/donate1.gif></a></p></body></html>