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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 2 of 2))
"And how, exactly, am I cheating?" said Germal. "You're dealing, aren't you? And it's your deck of cards, isn't it?"

Damian just grumbled at him.

Parson pulled up a chair. "Poker?"

"You want in?" said Damian.

"Sure, as long we can get some food, too." Parson waved the waitress over, and they placed their orders.

At the end of his very first hand, Parson found himself staring at a straight flush. He managed to get both of the other men to raise their bets twice that round before taking their money.

"You're cheating, too," said Damian.

Parson and Germal shared a laugh.

The reapers weren't talking much, likely because their reunion wasn't quite as momentous. Overra, Feromas, and Nerovoy had been in more regular contact with one another over the years. Those three were often the means through which the servants communicated with one another--and that was mostly due to their concerns over security. Letters and telegrams could be lost or intercepted, and the reapers still didn't fully trust telephones, despite the technology existing for over fifty years already.

Parson wanted to enjoy the company of his old friends a bit more before letting the conversation turn more serious, but as he was eating, he began to notice something.

"Germal," he said, eyeing the man more carefully this time. "Are you feeling alright?"

Germal returned another smile, as innocuous as the last, but he seemed even paler than usual and beads of sweat had been gathering at the edges of his face for a while now. "Heh. Yeah. I'm fine. Why do you ask?"

Overra answered for Parson. 'You look a bit ill.'

"Oh, it's just the nature of mutation," said Germal. "Nothing to worry about."

"You're sure?" said Parson. "I thought you had stopped struggling with your power decades ago."

"For the most part, yes. But it still acts up from time to time--often whenever I visit new places."