Work Text:
Sampo had recieved a letter.
Not just any letter, but one from his pal Giovanni. To be completely fair, he called a lot of people his pal so you can decide what that means.
He usually didn't get any letters, what did you need them for when all communication went through phones or holograms. Not counting the Fools scripts of course, those were still printed out.
Giovanni had asked to cash in a favor Sampo owed to him. Honestly better now than later, considering his plans.
Sampo knew exactly where to find the man he was looking for. Going through a few side doors in the Tavern, avoid drunken fools, slide past the barrels, and there he found the door.
"Heya Giovanni, it's me!" He opened the door cheerfully. "I got your letter." As spoke as he sat down at the table across Giovanni, placing his top hat on the table. "So what did you need good old Sampo for?"
Giovanni sat with a small box in his hand. It looked like a box Sampo sorted his cards in.
Giovanni sounded the same as ever, like he saw a good friend again after years. "Good afternoon Joker. Glad to see my invitation reached you."
Sampo amusingly rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Giovanni, I told you you can just call me Sampo. Everyone does nowadays."
Giovanni let out a small laugh. "Joker did suit you more, if you ask me."
Sampo leaned forward with a smirk. "Enough of that, what you got there?" He pointed to the box in Giovanni's hand. "Cause that looks like a box for poker cards."
"Ah, it sort of is actually." He laid the cards on the table. They came in four different colors and with numbers written on them. "It is a much simpler version of it I designed for childeren, Poker has so many complicated rules."
Sampo blinked.
"Giovanni."
"Yes?"
"You called me here to play a kids version of poker?"
"I did."
Sampo's mouth basically fell open in disbelief. "That's what you want to cash in the favor for?"
Giovanni gave a nod in response.
"You're aware of my status." He threw his arms up. "You could've asked for basically anything within reason of the favor."
"You know my stance on the matter Sampo." He starter shuffling the cards carefully. "I prefer elation to take it's natural course and end in a natural conclusion."
The cards hit the table fast as he was dealing them. Sampo may be the one with cool shuffling tricks up his sleeve, but Giovanni was the fastest dealer in the Tavern.
"So if I find out if the game has been worked out to near perfection, isn't that elating enough?"
Sampo lowered his arms as he rested them on the table. "Fair point." He picked up his stack of cards "What the games name?"
"I have not decided on that yet." He brushed him off. "Shall we do 5 rounds?"
And so they started playing. Giovanni explained the rules to Sampo as they played their first test round, the rules were slightly different to make it easier to understand. It seemed rather easy if you asked him. Easiest favor repayment ever.
As they were playing their 3rd round, they started chatting. "So why a child's version of the game?"
The tone in Giovanni's voice shifted to a more disappointing tone. Sampo would argue it leaned more toward sadness but who is he to judge. "I have noticed an increase in childeren arriving at the Tavern with Masks."
Oh.
Masks were given to Fools at their lowest point. That was like the main thing of becoming a Fool in the first place.
That was concerning.
"Some of them are really young." He placed down a card. "I believe I needn't say more."
Card games were a big deal in the Tavern, the most popular game to play at the table for fun. It was sweet Giovanni wanted the new members to join in on that fun if possible.
"That is, quite nice of you Giovanni." He held a bit of hesitation in his voice. "Was not expecting you to-"
"You need to grab 4 cards Sampo."
"What-" He looked down at the stack of cards in the middle with a hint of suprise. A +4 card was placed on top by Giovanni. Sampo just knew there was shit eating grin under that mask of his, he just couldn't prove it.
"Well played," He reached for the deck in his hand. "But can you beat this!" Sampo placed a 4+ card on top of the other with a smirk.
"That is against the rules."
"Wha- since when?!" He shot back
"Since I told you that we only allow that with +2 cards."
Sampo took the card back with a dramatic defeated expression. "But what if the kids want to do that, it's rather confusion Gio."
"They can change the rules as they please, that is the fun of the game." Sampo wanted to say something but Giovanni held up his finger. "However we play by the base rules at this moment, grab 4 cards Sampo."
Sampo, defeated by logic, obliged. "Changing the color to blue."
"Excellent."
They played in silence for a couple more minutes. Giovanni won the 3rd round and so they moved on to the 4th.
"So," Giovanni spoke up. "Jarilo-VI?"
Sampo's eyes shot up in suprise again. He quickly regained his composure again.
He made plans that was true, but no one should know about it. It was supposed to be a quiet journey of self discovery mixed with fun, and maybe a script. He doubted that though, Jarilo-VI was cut off from the whole universe, no script should be able to reach him regardless. Unless given by Aha THEMSELVES of course, however that rarely happened in general.
He laughed nervously. "Jarilo who?"
Giovanni let out a sigh. "You do not have to play a Fool with me, I have seen the storage logs."
Sampo narrowed his eyes. "Aren't those private?"
"Not for an inventory keeper."
"Ah shit, you got the short end of the stick again? You might as well take the job permanently with that horrible luck." Giovanni in the meantime shuffled the cards again, preparing the decks for round 5.
"Sadly yes, however that's when I noticed you actually rented a space for a change." He dealt the cards in a graceful matter. "You left your check list and map in the storage box you rented, what were you expecting really?"
He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck. "I was going to pick that up later."
"So what's the reason for your trip? No current script has even mentioned this Jarilo-VI." Giovanni looked at Sampo, even if Sampo couldn't see his eyes he could still feel the glare on him.
He couldn't read what Giovanni was feeling, that honestly by itself was scary but clever.
"You never rent a storage unit and you plan to go somewhere off radar. Can I not be a little concerned?"
Sampo scoffed in amusement. The game on the table long forgotten as they hadn't even started the round yet. "Concerned? No one is concerned for Sampo Koski."
"A shame you think that, really."
Sampo put down his cards a little too forceful. A troubled expression mixed with his happy persona plastered over his face. "Look it may sound stupid but I got some...funny advice. Decided to see what was up with it, that's all. I won't need my mask for it so I'm leaving it behind." His last words came out with a hint of hesitation. "For when I need it back."
Giovanni had now put down his cards as well. "And is The Laughter in agreement with that?"
Sampo just gave him a deadpan look.
He did have a weird gut feeling thinking about the whole thing but that could easily just be the nerves. Surely Aha would find this entertaining and would not kick his ass for it, right?
"Thought so." Giovanni leaned forward. "Whatever you are planning, I suggest entrusting your mask to someone until you return. Leaving it in a storage unit may not be the best idea."
"How so?"
His voice came out a little harsh. "Because I and the whole Tavern would rather not have an Emanators mask come to live if you discard it so easily." Giovanni leaned back. "You wouldn't want to end up like that one girl with a thousand faces. Discarding her masks left and right."
"Absolutely not." He smiled. "One of me is more than enough."
"I suggest we stop the game here." Giovanni started collecting the cards from the table. "Consider the favor returned. We are even now." Once all cards were stacked neatly in the box, he put them in his suits pocket.
Sampo grabbed his hat from the table, not putting it on just yet. "I will figure the whole mask part out. And since I don't wanna owe you one again so soon, I'll look for other options."
Giovanni laughed hard. "A wise choice my friend."
"Thanks for the advice by the way." He put the hat on his head. With a bitter but hopeful feeling in his stomach, he walked towards the door to leave.
"Perhaps you don't need it," Giovanni called out. "but good luck out there."
Sampo bowed as per his usual way with his signature smile.
He gave a nod to Giovanni.
And walked out of the door.
To a new stage.
To a new fun adventure.