Cuphead in: The Porcelain Doll

Chapter 15

Elder Kettle and the boys settled in Dice's apartment. Dice offered the boys to work with him at the shop while Porsha did the same. The Cup brothers chose to help with the library, since it would be more beneficial, as they could get to it easier. Porsha would take them every morning and they would all meet for meals afterword. Dice would clean the dishes as Porsha helped the boys with their homework. Elder Kettle was happy that he could finally be at ease, knowing that the boys were safe here. 

"Alright!" Porsha said to Mugman in excitement. "You are done with your homework and now can go and play."

"Yes! C'mon Cups!" Mugman exclaimed as he rushed to his puzzle.

"Cuphead?" Porsha noticed he had only done one problem on the math portion. "Do you need help?"

"N-no, maybe?" Cuphead says as he scratched his head while he pointed to the problem.

"0 = 4x + 52." Porsha said allowed and the numbers caught dice's attention

"That would equal thirteen." Dice recalled walking over to them.

"How so?" Porsha asked him, raising one eyebrow.

"You minus the 52. Get it over to the left-hand side, like this. Then, in order to solve for X, you divide the 52 and four. After that, you get X = 13." Dice explained to Cuphead as he wrote out everything. "It's like cards."

"Cards?" Cuphead questioned his statement.

"Yes, like a deck of cards." He pulled out his deck from his pocket. "Don't shoot me now. I am explaining with visuals." He whipped the cards in the air and put them up in the order of the problem. Dice explained again to Cuphead and then put the cards back in his pocket when he finished.

"Wow, I didn't know you needed math for gambling and taking people's money." Cuphead replied as he understood the problem.

"Cuphead, that's not nice!" Mugman scolded his sibling and Dice laughed.

"No-no, he has every right to run his mouth. Especially when it's true." He sighed, realizing where he is now. "There are some things that need to be said. Even if they are bad, they need to be spoken sometimes if it hurts others. The truth can be more beneficial than creating a mountain of lies."

"What was it like at the casino, anyway?" Cuphead asked him and Mugman sighed.

"Chaotic probably. He was running around when we stumbled in it." 

"Mugs is right on that part." Dice started to explain to them what it was like. "It may seem strange, but the Devil himself took me in as a kid. I have grown up in that place ever since and soon became the manager. With managing such a big establishment, I was in charge of payroll, schedules, keeping stock, entertainment, and many other things. I hired and fired many people who were hard and not so good workers. The casino was a big thing to manage at the time, but I had others to help me along. Along with those people gambling and drinking their lives away they had a choice to say no when the Devil asked for a wager. The people had a say when we told 'em it was not a wise choice or too much to handle for them...but people do what they want and it took two brothers to change that." 

"Why did you do it?" Mugman asked him.

"It was the only place I could call home. I didn't have any kin after I lost my parents and sibling, so, the casino was my home. I was fed, accounted, and sheltered. That was enough for a young boy like me to feel safe, so I stayed." Dice answered as Porsha chimed in.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but could one of you boys turn that radio up?"

"Sure." Dice turned the dial of the radio beside him.