Chapter Text
The saloon was mostly empty today. The metal fan on the ceiling squeaked as it sadly tried to spin. Cougar rolled his shoulders leaning back and lighting a cigar, his claws lightly tracing over a very old deck of cards. His good friend, Gila. The one who poured the drinks at this dingy saloon was wiping down the bar and occasionally an empty glass. Cougars gaze drifted back to the cards, with a small sigh he took a drag.
The door of the saloon swung open and a SkyWing strutted inside, his amber scales were dusty and chipped- and he looked annoyed about it, and annoyed about everything. Cougar lifted his head slowly tilting it to the side, cigar in his jaws. The SkyWing glared at Cougars curious gaze before looking down at the deck of cards. Cougar couldn't help but grin.
"You play Poker, SkyWing?" Cougars gruff voice broke through the silence of the saloon, Gila payed no attention to the SkyWing, knowing Cougars game to the newcomers in Tombstone. Smoke twirled out of the skywings nose and approached Cougar at the round table. "Of course I do." He hissed but Cougar caught a flash of uncertainty in his eyes.
Cougar dropped a small leather bag onto the wooden table, dumping out the chips, carved wooden circles with numbers printed on each one. Cougar looked back up at the SkyWing- a shadow casted over his face as he took another drag, the smoke floating over to the Skywings face, clouding his expression before it dissaperarded.
"I like to get to know the dragon I'm playing with." Cougar spoke calmly which for whatever reason annoyed the SkyWing.
"My name is Rust." He informed and Cougar smiled. "y'know...you look a bit nervous my friend. You sure your up for this?" He leaned back slightly, cigar in claws. "Well...not to brag but I'm the poker champion here in Tombstone" Gila snorted in amusement behind the bar. Which earned Cougar a glare from Rust. "I know what I'm doing." He replied through his teeth.
Cougar shurgged putting out his cigar and began to shuffle the cards. And made sure to take his sweet time doing it. Dividing the deck in half and slowly lacing the cards back together. And doing that again for another three times. Rust watched Cougar shuffle the deck in obvious agony on how long it was taking, glancing at a SandWing leaning against the bar and snoring softly.
The cards and chips were laid out neatly, patiently waiting for the game to start. Cougar lifted up his own two cards, glancing occasionally at the five community cards with a content sigh. Rust looking at his, lashed his tail. They started to play- going into the betting rounds and Cougar could tell Rust was playing with money he couldn't afford to lose with his uneasy glances. Cougar adjusted easily with how Rust played. Rust was sloppy and was letting his emotions take over him.
Rust played too many hands calling bets which costed him chips. Cougar caught on to his bad strategy quickly and chuckled to himself. Foolish SkyWing Rust was playing on tilt and making very bad decisions. After a while Cougar had the best five-card hand and won the pot. "Ah, there we go." Cougar had a cocky tone, purposely making Rust angry.
"You. No.." Rust said, dropping his cards and slamming his Claws onto the table with a snarl. "You...CHEATED!" He accused and Cougar couldn't help but bark a laugh, standing up and looming over Rust. "I never cheat." His laid back expression changed in a second, staring right into Rust's eyes, Rust glared back and growled. "If you want to take this little talk outside then be my guest." Cougar said, his voice almost as cold as frostbreath. Making Rust shrink back slightly and shook his head.
"Good." Cougar sat back down, his smile returning as Rust paid him and quickly ran out of the saloon and Cougar guessed back to the SkyWing Kingdom. Where he belongs. Cougar grabbed a glass from Gila who complimented his skills.
"I just don't know how you do it." Gila said shaking his head with a chuckle. "You scared that fellow right out of his scales!" Cougar shot his friend a grin. The SandWing sleeping at the bar named Boar, shot up suddenly. "How much did he bet?" Boar said with a slurred tone from drinking too much the night before and quickly rested his head back down right after. "All of his money. I could see it in his eyes. The worry." Cougar said calmly and took a swig of the liquid inside the glass and Gila jokingly shivered at his words.
"Cougar you are one scary dragon." He walked to a cabinet to set a clean glass inside, shutting it with a click. Cougar couldn't help but feel good about those words. Scary, frightening. He liked the term unsettling for himself. That's how he made his money. That was his place in Pyrriah, to be feared.
Cougar walked out of the saloon after a long day of drinking with Gila. The Moon shone down on Tombstone. He hadn't realized how much time had went by, well he didn't really care. His two sons could protect themselves...or at least one of them could. He made his way through Tombstone, the occainal resident passing by gave him a nod of respect.
Spotting his small cob house, he drunkenly stumbled inside and caught himself, claws digging into the clay. There, his youngest son Mustang had his nose in a scroll. Cougar quickly shielded his expression of amusement from the previous gambling and walked inside. Mustang looked up. "Hello pa." His voice cracked slightly but he quickly cleared it. Cougar made a hum in acknowledgement. "Where is your brother?" Cougar asked sliding his money in a secret hole in his house.
"Oh. Barbwire is with...HourGlass." Mustang said slowly, staying sitting down on the skinned animal hide on the floor. "They are practicing..." Mustang said slowly and Cougar turned around to face his son and looked down at him with obvious disappointment. "You need to decide what kind of dragon you're going to be here." Cougar snaps, making Mustang jump slightly. He's told his son this many times he could either toughen up and learn to protect himself in Tombstone or keep his nose in a scroll and get killed without even expecting it
"Pa...I'm not like Barbwire." Mustang starts and Cougar shushes him, he remembers his father having the same talk with him many times as a dragonet, and he repeated those words in his head until he learned to gamble. And learned to gamble good. "You should be." Cougars tone cut Mustang like a knife and he could see it on his sons face. But he needed to be tough he needed this.
Cougar turned around and looked through his window at his town, his son Barbwire and Hourglass were practicing throwing a blade. Two dragonets already preparing for the cruelty of this world.
And Cougar already knew which son would survive.