Chance Encounter [Gabe-Magician/Gabe-Strength]

Strolling down the backlight district, one of the things that Gabe liked to do was take a look at what the other shops had to offer. He was a bit of a community head when it came to the other stores of the backlight district and liked to support them by giving them, his business. There was never a known factor of what needed more help than others, but those who treated themselves and entrepreneur always seemed to get a little more respect from Gabe than others. But those who did have that spirit were really good at hiding the problems that they faced, and it was a bit of a wheres waldo scenario for Gabriel.

He liked problem-solving, he also likes it when he could make it into something that can benefit himself as a whole.

"Hmm..."

He continued to walk the streets of the backlight district, hoping to run into something interesting.

"Get the finest damned coffee you can find in this part of Endymion!"

Gabriel called out to the passerby around, sometimes violently shoving his leaflet into their faces to get their attention. He had to get rid of his stack by the end of the day and he'd refuse to fail on the first day of his new job. His adoptive father had taught him better than that. Although he did have some issues with his assigned task; he'd never even been to the shop he was advertised! How was he supposed to provide an accurate yet appealing description of the place if he had no idea what they were even like! Lying was naturally out of the question so all he had left were the vague generalisations that he could gather from the leaflet itself. Some kind of cafe or something.

The hours soon began to disappear alongside his piles and Gabriel found himself getting into the groove of things. His cries became slightly more specific, detailing various items on the leaflet, and he found that most people were too afraid to refuse when he confronted them personally. He was finally on the last leg of his fliers after all and was quite proud after a session of hard work.

"Hey you, come and help out the local community by grabbing some cake that's bound to be the best god damned thing you've ever eaten."

That one line came out rather nicely if he said so himself.

Before Gabe even knew it, he was already hearing the cries of the streets. There were plenty of people offering their whares, inviting others to come in and browse in order to bolster themselves and get the best promotion that not even money can buy. Anyone can buy adds and fliers, but free publicity through the word of mouth and good experiences is something that not many people.

"Maybe i'll take my chances......"

Gabe finally decided to try one of these shops himself. If there were cakes that rivaled the bryce bakery or even seemed a little better than them, he wanted to see it himself/.

"You there, where is this cake place you just spoke about. "

"W-what?"

The purple haired man's question took Gabriel by surprise, he was actually the first person to actually want to learn about the stupid cafe all day. The problem was that Gabriel hadn't ever actually planned to respond back to a passerby. He quickly racked his brain for a response but he realised that he didn't actually know the way around the Blacklight yet. This realisation surfaced as a scowl on his face, who the hell does this guy think he is asking a question like that?

"How am I supposed to know that? You've got eyes, read it yourself. I'm just here to tell you that their cakes are delicious and that you'd be a downright idiot to pass it up."

He growled back, shoving a flyer into the man's hands. Although he had to make a mental note to look around the district once he was finished. He was used to not being able to answer questions but the humiliation of it stung deeper each and every time. By his next shift he'll have the whole bloody area memorised with each of their specialties included. That'll teach his boss to try and hit him in a blind spot again.

"The backlight district is a different breed of shops and people, sticking out your neck like this in order to give out flyers means you have an invested interest to succeed. People will engage you, ask you questions, part of the job, or should I say.... your job...."

Gabe then turned around.

"Is the unwritten rule of knowing exactly where the shop is and using your own experiences about the place to fuel your presentation and confidence in the place to invite other people to go as well. "

His attitude was a "work in progress", but those that come from different strokes just need a little push at times.

"How about a little gamble? Get's find out just how good these cakes are, no? If you are right, i'll show you a little trick..maybe.."

Just what kind of asshole did Gabriel have to meet on his first shift? One that didn't care to hold him up apparently.

"Thanks for the history lesson, doesn't mean shit to me though. I'll do my job the way I want, that sound good enough for ya?."

Gabriel proceeded to step up to the man, shoving his face up-close with a scowl. While he might not have the height advantage, albeit  marginally, he could probably beat down the pompous bastard. Four-eyed geeks go down quick and easy once their glasses are smashed. Sure it might cost him his job but the satisfaction would definitely be worth it.

"What exactly do you mean gamble? I'm already 100% certain in the quality of these cakes. You way as well hand your money over to me now to save us the time and effort."

The mention of a trick however, did manage to catch Gabriel's attention.

"So you're a magician then? Why didn't you say so earlier? Fine I'm game then, but if it turns out to be some sort of shitty ploy then I'm going to knock your lights out, got it? Naturally, you'll be leading the way though."

Although the pile of leaflets had almost completely disappeared by this point, Gabriel decided to grab them to continue passing them along once this encounter was over.

The man stepping to Gabe actually made the 22-year-old chuckle just a little bit. He would have been a good character to write about for his manga, maybe Gabe should probe more and get some usable material out of this guy?

"Ahh, the younger tough guy phase..... it'll pass when you get older I hope. I mean, once you see the world for what it truly is and what you'll have to do in order to continue to be a part of it. It doesn't always work you know, the use and display of force I mean. "

Some woman seemed to like the whole "rough around the edges personality", but as long as there was a lack of balance, there would also be a lack of patience. More effort would have to be put in on both sides, Gabe was determined to make this man work for his recommendation.

"I have a few street performances around my belt, I would like to call myself quite the magician. But i'm still not sure why I'm leading the way. It's you who's going to lead the way, you are supposed to woo me, convince me, show me that you know what you are talking about... heck.. testing the directions on the pamphlet you are handing out to others. What if I get lost? Even if cell phones are still used in today's day and age , there are still people who appreciate the old school way of doing things."

Gabriel was rather surprised at the small laugh that escaped the man's mouth, it seems that his intimidation didn't quite entirely go through. He liked that, it meant that this guy had guts and those types of characters usually made the best opponents. He might just have to re-evaluate his initial assumptions about him.

"You might be right about that, but when that day comes I'll be kicking and clawing to get my way. And these arms of mine haven't failed me yet."

But what Gabriel didn't expect was to be told to lead instead. The various tongue-in-cheek excuses did little to amend his rising panic, but his desire to prove that he knows what he's "talking about" quickly pushed them aside. How hard could reading directions be after all? Not too hard if everyone else could do it.

'Why I oughta... Fine then! I'll do this old school and shut you up. Not even your mother could bake cakes this good I bet!"'

Gabriel motioned for the man to follow behind him as he pulled out a leaflet only to find that he could read it for fuck all. All it said was that it was between some restaurant and goods store. What the hell is this useless piece of shit! Gabriel quickly began looking left and right for any hope of finding it. Why couldn't this massive mall include road signs or something.

"Ah, I like your spirit. A refined temperament could turn you into a great leader. I'm sure you heard that before my overzealous friend."

Gabe was happy that the man decided to take the gamble, he was rather curious to see if the directions were correct. At the very least, this was how Gabe lived at a time. One of the best ways to truly understand another person was to put yourself in their shoes. Right now, they were in the shoes of someone who just received the pamphlet and are trying to find the place that was mentioned.

"You are doing well, you are embodying the same ordeals that someone else might have trying to look for this place. At this point, you are probably feeling that something is wrong? What is it? The cross streets? The directions? Feel free to use your cellphone at this time if this is too tedious for you."

The man's various prods at Gabriel as he made turn after turn jabbed into his sides like a cold needle. If there was one thing that he would learn from this it would be that frustration is a really good motivator towards learning.

"I swear if you keep on yapping I'll sew that whole mouth of yours shut! I'll definitely take you to this shop so shut up and prepare to lose your little gamble!"

At this point conceding to any of the man's points would feel like a loss more than anything else. So Gabriel grit his teeth and turned his eyes into overdrive, reading off all of the signs in front of him in hopes for something, anything that could lead him to where he needed to be. The man behind him felt like he was getting smugger by the second.

Gabriel lost track of all the twists and turns he had to make during his trek, often going in circles and finding himself back at a previous junction, but after a seemingly endless journey he finally came across the store in question. He quickly dashed off towards its entrance and turned back around to face the man, triumphant in his discovery.

"Hah! See? It was easy as pie! Nobody needs some stupid map or phone to tell them where to go! This was a task that even a toddler could accomplish! With their eyes closed too!"

"Well look at you, good job. How about I treat you to some of this delicious cake you were boasting about as a reward? I've been craving sweets recently and it just might be a stroke of good luck that I ran into you mentioning it."

Gabe took a step forward and took charge of the situation, wondering if the young man knew what he was doing next.

"Now is the time to see if what you are boasting about really lives up to it's name. There can be no disappointment like realizing that the cake you were mentioning isn't as good as you said it was, so let's try it ourselves. No need to put your neck on the line for something you can't vouch for. "

As soon as he entered, Gabe started to look at the cakes, immediately knowing what he wanted.

"Can I have the cake with the white frosting and pineapple filling? Make that two...."

Gabriel then went to sit down at the table to wait for the cakes to be delivered, gesturing his had and the available seat across from him.

Gabriel's pride over finding the cafe let him temporarily overlook the man's condescending words of praise, and he followed after him into the cafe with renewed confidence. Inside, he notices the various foodstuffs that were advertised on the flyer looking just as tasty as he expected them to be.

"Did you actually expect any less from such a store? I'll vouch for whatever I damn well please and you can be assured of its quality!"

Sweets weren't exactly Gabriel's forte, he actually preferred meat in general, but how badly could things possibly be? Sugar is all that you really need for things to be considered sweet, so all they have to do is put a lot of it over the top right? The man's strange order of... pineapples in cake? baffled Gabriel for a bit but he shook it off as he took the seat facing the man.

"So how do you want to do this? Want to show me the trick early so we can leave after eating and I go back to finishing my job?"

"I figured I was helping you with your job, showing you of the new approach that you can take towards it. These places that you advertise, what do you know about them? What do you know about the products? The people that are supposed to be running these places or own them? Building these relationships, or at the very least knowing that much before you advertise, is a path to success that no one else is using. It makes you stand out..."

After that, Gabe brought out a deck of cards through the flick of his fingers that went in and out of his coat pocket. It was his 52 pickup soulbound weapon, but he also used it for conventional uses like this. After making a showing of shuffling with his sleight of hand, Gabe placed the deck on the table.

"Fortune telling, all you have to do is pick up the top card. "


Strength

Spoiler:

Rand rules

Spoiler:

Gabriel grit his teeth hard enough to almost crack them. He usually didn't allow someone to run their mouth for as long as they wanted without getting a subsequent beating. However, the man in front of him had a strange uniqueness with his words that, while infuriating, did cause him to think back on his actions. He had almost no retort towards the barrage of questions and the tone they were presented in had it come across as genuine advice more than anything else.

Following his usual pattern of aggression and pride clearly wouldn't work in this situation. Instead, all it had done was repeatedly humiliate him. Of course, he could always leap up and attack the man, but that wouldn't be a show of strength, that would simply be a child throwing a tantrum. Instead of facing his lack of knowledge he would only hide away from the truth. And this acknowledgement of his failure irritated Gabriel more than anything else.

The "path of success" resonated particularly well with Gabriel. Was blindly sprouting meaningless and empty words what he wanted? Was it strength to take the easy route out? It appeared that the man knew more than Gabriel had initially given him credit for, and that he would need to consider much more than what he had thought was required.

"Tsk. Fine I'll admit it. You have somewhat of a point. I went into this blind and that was my mistake."

He reached forward and slid the top card off of the deck.

Random number (1,52) :

5

"Which is why when i said that I saw potential in you, I didn't mince my words. I, Gabriel Gatsby, take great pride in discovering unpolished diamonds and making sure that they can truly live their lives to the fullest extent while living up to their potential. It's my own form of self fulfillment, no one was around to give me that "push" , but I truly believe for it to be an invaluable commodity for someone to believe in you, even if it was someone you just met."

After taking a look at the card, gabe snatched it from Gabe and seemingly spun the card on the tip of his finger and flipped it in the air before placing it down on the table. It was a combination of his own control over his soulbound weapon and the expertise of handling cards. He also wanted to give a little bit of a show to his younger companion.

"Ahh, the 5 of hearts! Jealousy; some ill-will from people around you. Tsk Tsk, keep your wits about you, my friend, there might be some people who feel threatened by your continuous display of machismo. "

Strength

Spoiler: