#uncanny sampo my beloved

[falling-star-cygnus]

it pains me greatly to refer to Sampo’s hair as dark blue

i didn't get Aventurine, even after playing through his entire banner, and i'm devastated. but at least now im guaranteed for Boothill

will it become angst? will it be fluffy friendship feels? who knows? -> you don't, i certainly don't

let's find out together! -> continuation of this post

This man was way too close for comfort.

Dark blue hair, closer to a violet if the light hit it and shadowed by white, hung in front a handsomely familiar face. But the seriousness of it didn't seem fitting of the playful green glimmer of his sleepy eyes.

And 'sleepy', in this case, didn't translate to 'oblivious' in the slightest.

Aventurine felt like prey.

Hm... if the blond took a step back- when there was room to step back- and squinted, maybe tilted his head a little to the right, he'd almost be reminded of a certain doctor. It's with that comparison that the gambler is able to find his voice.

"Something on my face?"

Aventurine forces a levity he doesn't feel into his tone, if only to mask the growing unease that made a home in his chest. It fluttered and jumped around like a bug, beat it's wings into the hollow of his throat, as he pressed his left wrist into the wall behind him.

The man straightens up from his intense staring.

It's almost impressively synthetic, how his sharp seriousness melts into lazy edges and swagger. Almost believable too, had the blond not been able to see the twin daggers sitting on his exposed hips. And if the man hadn't literally been cornering him against a wall not two seconds prior.

Who was this guy?

"I know my face is pretty, but surely you realize staring is bad manners."

And so is crowding them against walls, he doesn't say. They're long past the point of correction, after all...

A sleazy sort of cat-like smile curls over the man's face like it was always meant to be there, completing the illusion of friendliness and leaving Aventurine feeling vaguely wrong footed.

"My sincerest apologies! I'm afraid your familiar face got me all wrapped up in nostalgia. I was just trying to place where I'd seen such- striking- features before."

He talks like there's something thick in the back of his throat. It's not nasally but... honeyed. Tiptoeing the line of sarcasm and sincerity like he was born on it.

And apparently Aventurine wasn't the only one who felt that twinge of recognition either.

"Oh? What a coincidence, friend. Do you happen to have an unpaid debt?"

It was a long shot, but perhaps...

The man cringes back.

"Eugh.. so you are with the IPC then. And here I was hoping that Ms. Sparkle was lying again..."

Aventurine can feel his smile tighten.

Why did he know who Sparkle was? Wasn't this the man that Topaz had been chasing through that snowball of a planet? Did he guess wrong?

Syrupy words cut through the questions cramming into the blond's skull like a knife.

"After all, I find it hard to believe that a man like yourself would turn down an invitation for performative freedom, just to do the exact same thing with a collar."

He's smiling like a cat that caught the canary and Aventurine suddenly feels very cornered. There's nothing stopping him from leaving this conversation, not since the man had backed off his space, but now that felt vaguely like surrender...

"Hahah... what did you say your name was again?" "How could I be so rude? The name's Sampo Koski, a business man! Anything you need, I can get. For the right price."

A business man. Right... and Aventurine was a free man.

"I was there, you know."

The blond feels like he swallowed a brick of ice. 'Sampo Koski's' oppressive presence drowned out any possible thought Aventurine could hope to form, like an actor dazzling in the spotlight.

"There?" "When the invitation was extended, of course!"

Sampo snaps, as if having some bright realization, and his smile somehow gets even wider.

"That's where I've seen you before! Let's see, what name did it go out to again? K-A-... Kakav-" "Aventurine."

Maybe it's the sudden hardness of his voice, or the realization that maybe Sampo shouldn't be pressing someone that controls his debts, but the man backs off with deceptively innocent eyes.

Aventurine doesn't want to hear this stranger say his name.

"...Wow, I was way off. You work with Ms. Topaz then?"

The larger than life attitude Sampo had donned dissipates like smoke. His countenance had never changed from lazy swagger, but now it felt... skittish. Confident, but in a way that conveyed 'exiting stage left'. The gambler felt like he could breathe a little easier.

Yeesh, was this how Ratio felt talking to him? He might have some apologies to make...

"That's right. You work with Sparkle?" "Ugh, as little as possible!"

Despite the rather... tumultuous, circumstances that led to their meeting, Aventurine found himself chuckling. After all, he completely understood the distaste.

"What, not a fan?"

Sampo scoffs theatrically, crossing his muscled arms over his chest. He was pretty impressively built, now that the gambler could properly take in his features without feeling stuck in place. Not as muscular as Ratio was, of course, but- still.

Slender waist and fingers, broad shoulders, tall... Wow.

Maybe Aventurine had a type.

The two quickly found themselves in the throes of pleasant conversation, trading snippets of their experiences with the Fool like girls at a slumber party.

Sampo, of course, had a lot more to share than Aventurine did but that was to be expected. The blond almost found it endearing how cautiously the man talked about her, almost as if he couldn't bring himself to speak badly of a lady- no matter how much he disliked one.

It was an admirable trait for a Fool.

In the end, Sampo disappears in the same manner he had thrown himself into Aventurine's path.

Abruptly and with barely a trace.

The blond sends the selfie he had taken with the man to Ratio, trying to regain some sense of normalcy after that rollercoaster of a conversation.

Gambler: *sent one image* 12:15 found your discount twin today, doc ;) 12:15

*Doctor <3 is typing*

Doctor <3: . . . That looks nothing like me, gambler. 12:16 Zero points. 12:16