Gambling with Jealousy

“I'm not even that impressed.” Rollnaldo crossed his arms as he scorned the elaborate white parthenon-like building that stood before him.

“They must have built this fairly recently because this wasn't here a year ago.” Eight observed.

“Geez they must be raking in the dough.” I added.

The three of us were waiting in a long line that stretched all the way around the block. This Twine ball must have been something if it was pulling in a crowd of this size.

“Tch. Matthew could easily have a place like this, but he chooses to live humbly in Dice Town because he likes his peace and quiet.” Rollnaldo continued performing mental gymnastics, refusing to acknowledge reality. “Honestly, I actually like Matthew’s brick house better than some cold soulless mausoleum.”

“Didn’t I accidentally destroy that?” I reminded him.

“Yeah well even when it's damaged, it's way better than this place.” He retorted.

As the line filed forward, we were eventually met by a cyan colored dice man, holding a tray, while he walked up and down the line. “Get your officially licensed Marcus souvenir cups!”

“You.” Rollnaldo gestured the merchant over. “Let me see one of those.” He picked up one of the cups, which had an image of the twine ball printed onto its ceramic surface, and inspected it. “Nice coating… and it's sturdy too. Where'd you get this merch from?”

The merchant shrugged. “I’m just a parttimer, man. The MTEBTB Corporation procures and owns the rights to all Marcus branded products.”

“So, this whole operation is run by a corporation… and they got lackeys to do all the crap work. Pip, they're good.” Rollnaldo muttered to himself.

He handed the cup back to the merchant, who moved on to the people behind us in line.

“I have to say, for the line being as long as it is, we're moving pretty fast, we're already almost to the entrance.” I pointed out.

“It looks like that's because they have employees managing the queue to get in.” Eight noticed.

“Yeah, well…Matthew has…” Rollnaldo trailed off, not able to think of anything.

Soon, we finally made it through the entrance of the Parthenon. Entering into a large open corridor, we were ushered by some employees to stand behind a set of velvet ropes.

“Alright, where's this twine ball? I highly doubt it's bigger than Mat-...” Pausing mid-sentence, Rollnaldo's eyes became wide, as a large Shadow was cast over him. “Mother pipper!”

In the center of the room, sitting on a golden pedestal was what was obviously Marcus, who without a doubt lived up to his title of ‘bigger and better’. Matthew would be completely dwarfed beside this twine ball which was easily twice the size at one hundred feet in diameter.

Leaning up against the velvet rope, Eight stared in awe. “Holy muck, that's a big ball of twine!”

“I know, it's actually pretty impressive.” I couldn’t help but gawk at the twine ball as well.

Turning his back to Marcus, Rollnaldo hung his head/torso in despair. “Let's get out of here. I'm starting to get claustrophobic.”

Just as the three of us were about to make our leave, a voice rang out. “Rollnaldo, is that you?”

As he turned back around, Rollnaldo's face looked as though it had seen a ghost. “...Cousin Betssi?”

A red dice person whose face shared an uncanny resemblance to Rollando’s approached us. “I can't believe it, it's you!”

There would have been no way to tell Rollando and this dice apart if it wasn't for one ‘tiny’ detail… This dice man was basically a cube that had been shoved into a short and stubby, but absolutely jacked body.

The muscles in his body builder-like arms throbbed as he wrapped them around Rollnaldo, embracing him. “I know we didn't leave off on a great note the last time we saw each other, but we're family and I hope we can leave that in the past.”

“...” Rollnaldo avoided answering him.

“Is this a relative of yours?” I asked.

“Yeah, this is my cousin Betssi. Betssi this is Lucky and Eight, my gamblord companions.” He introduced us in an unenthusiastic tone. “What the pip are you doing here in Derbyton?”

“After I left dice town last year, I came here and started this business.” Manifesting a business card from the waistband of his black speedo, Betssi handed it to Rollnaldo. “Believe it or not, I created Marcus and am the CEO of the Marcus the Even Bigger and Better Twine Ball Corporation.”

Snatching the card from his cousin's hand, Rollnaldo didn't even bother to look it over. “You're telling me that this whole operation is yours!?”

“I know, it's crazy. I just opened this attraction six months ago and the business has already grown ten times.” Betssi nodded proudly. “I thought that the merchandise cart parked out front looked familiar. How are things going with your business?”

“Couldn't be better…My business has been growing lately too. I just hired these two gamblords to work for me. We're been traveling all over the Kasino Kingdom selling Matthew merch.”

“I'm really glad to hear that. For a while, I was a bit worried about you, especially after how things ended up when I left dice town.”

“Would you look at the time?” Rollnaldo looked down at his wrist, as if he was wearing an imaginary watch. “It was great catching up with you, Betssi, but we really should get going.” Hastily, he attempted to end the conversation with his cousin.

“Rollnaldo, wait.” Betssi halted us. “What hotel are you staying at while you're here in town?”

“Oh… uh, we’re still deciding on which one we're going to stay at.”

Considering we had barely any money, since Eight spent pretty much all of it on bombs, it was more likely that we'd be sleeping on the streets tonight. He was obviously lying again to save face in front of his cousin.

“If you'd like you can stay at my place while you're in town.” Betssi graciously offered. “No, actually in fact, I insist you do. I'll have my cook put together a feast for you and your friends.”

“I don't want to im-.”

“Sure, we'd love to.” I made the decision for him. Whatever the relationship between him and his cousin was like, I could care less. I was sick of sleeping on the streets like a hobo and as soon as Betssi said the word ‘feast’, that sealed the deal. There was no way I was about to let Rollnaldo turn down free food.

“Fantastic! Come with me, I have a carriage waiting out front. I can have my driver hitch your cart to the back.” Flexing his muscles, he simultaneously pointed toward the exit.

In the carriage, Rollnaldo sat with an annoyed look on his face, not saying a word. I knew Rollnaldo had his issues with his cousin, but so far, Betssi seemed like a genuinely nice guy…