"So tired..."
"Where am I?" Lorne rubbed his head and looked around at the emptiness surrounding him.
"You're awake?"
A faintly mocking voice suddenly came from behind him. Lorne spun around and saw a blurry, grayish-white figure floating in the void.
"You... who are you?"
"Uh..."
"..." Lorne propped a hand against his chin, feeling rather awkward.
"Hold on, it's coming back to me."
"Uh..."
"How about now?" The figure reached forward, pulled a monocle out of the void, and put it on.
"Oh..." Realization dawned on Lorne.
"You! You're that cheating Schemer!"
"..."
"What are you here for? I thought our card game was on hold."
"No, no, no." Schemer wagged his flickering finger. "I'm here to tell you the game is back on."
"In theory, I could refuse."
"But in practice, you can't," Schemer continued. "You don't have many chips left. Need me to lend you some?"
"Lend me some..." Lorne's expression grew strange. "You don't have many left yourself, do you? What could you possibly lend me?"
"You underestimate me."
A cold glint flashed across the monocle. "I have far more chips than you imagine..."
"You're conjuring cards out of thin air..." Lorne shook his head, unconvinced. "You and Narcissist already burned through your chips fighting each other..."
Those two were always undermining each other at the card table.
"Believe what you like, but you do need help, don't you?"
"Oh, give me a break!"
"How do I know this isn't another one of your setups? What if you team up with Narcissist, along with that old woman... what if all three of you set me up?"
"Heh..."
The figure suddenly burst into exaggerated laughter. "Ah, me? Team up with 'Narcissist'? Hahaha!" Genuine mockery filled his laughter. "Do you really think that's possible?"
"Trust me." His