immamartillo | 7th Hat Flip [Voice/Action]

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7th Hat Flip [Voice/Action]

[Voice]

[After having a close friend return home a few weeks ago, Firo's been largely keeping to himself. He was aware of the danger of losing friends in Luceti, but it always seemed abstract and alien until it actually happened.

It's boredom that finally prompts him to address the network. That and the concern that if he doesn't keep using his skills he'll be near useless when he gets back home. Why not kill two birds with one stone?]

Does anybody here wanna play cards? Any kinda game is fine, or even if you just wanna learn. Most of 'em aren't that hard to pick up and I don't mind teachin' anyone.

[His tone suddenly becomes less light and takes a turn for the grouchier.]

But if you're gonna cheat, save it. I'll know.

[He wasn't put in charge of a Family casino for nothing.]

[Action]

[Soon after he makes his message, Firo will be rummaging through the item shop for a few packs of cards, carefully going through each one he finds to make sure they're complete. Then he'll linger a little while by the art supplies to pick up some markers.

...No, he is not going to be using them to mark the cards.]

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[He looks down at the cards in front of him, reaching out to pick up and look at his two facedown cards for a moment before he nods.]

Yeah, ready! [We'll totally find a way to win this time for sure!]

[Firo lifts one of his face down cards slightly, but watches Crow in his peripheral vision to see if he'll let something slip.]

Alright.

[He lets the card drop and deals them each another card.]

I'll bet first. Normally it'd be the person with the highest hand showin', but it doesn't exactly matter since we're just practicin'.

[He glances briefly at his new card, then pushes two of the screws into the middle of the table.]

Now you can call, raise, or fold.

[Well, let's see..."folding" would mean to quit, which we don't want to do. Raising means to add more to it, and calling means to offer the same amount, right?

He glances at his cards again before he pushes two of his screws forward. That should do, right?]

[Firo watches Crow deliberate and nods when he makes his move. He hands them each their next card, but makes no move beyond that.]

Do you wanna bet first this time?

[It's only fair to give him a chance to try it out since they're not playing formally.]

Yeah, alright! [Although to be honest he's not sure if he should be betting more based on the cards he currently has, but he pushes one more screw forward anyway. That's how the game is played, after all, right...]

[Firo's not sure if the bet is relatively conservative due to the small pool of screws, a beginner playing it safe, or just plain bad cards so he tries not to read too much into it. His hand isn't too bad, but nothing to write home about, so he puts in only one screw as well.]

Call.

[And then he hands them each a card.]

Think you're gettin' the hang a' this?

I think so... [This is kind of a convoluted game to be playing, but it's kind of fun...but Crow pauses as he looks at his cards once more and then at the screws on the table.]

Do you have to bet more each round? [You don't get dealt another card if you fold (which in Crow speak means "quitting" which he's not fond of), so he's not sure whether he should be adding another screw or what to keep the game going...]

Great. And no, you don't. Each round brings new cards out, right? So one minute you might think you've got enough to take your opponent down, but maybe they'll get a great card on the next turn and it's better to play it safe. You need to see how likely you are to win to decide your bet, and that can change with just a card.

[...Firo might be getting a bit too into this.]

Oh, but if you meant if you have to bet at all on any given round, if you're goin' first you can "check" and decide not to bet. If you go second and the person before you checks you can check too.

Wanna go first again?

[He's curious to see what Crow will do with that new information.]

Oh, I get it now. Alright, let me go first!

[He looks at his cards again--it's...a little better than his last hand? But still not "royal flush" material or anything like that to get extremely excited about. But part of the game is to make the opponent think that your hand is better than it actually is, right? So after a moment of thought he nods before he pushes one more screw forward.]

You seem to be doin' fine.

[Firo was sure that if Crow's hand was really bad, he'd take full advantage of being able to check, so he assumes the kid must have at least the promise of a good hand. Or maybe Crow doesn't and is just savvy enough to not to let that on. So far, Firo's pretty impressed with how Crow seems to be avoiding any tells.

He matches Crow's bet and gives them each their sixth card.]

[Hmm, hmm...]

Am I going first again? 'Cause if I am, I think I'll "check" for this round... [That's what it's called, right? Not because his hand is particularly awful now or anything, mostly because he thinks that's the best option to go with now.

...Or maybe he's just being random with whatever he wants to do, who knows.]

[Firo nods.]

I'll check too.

[He's pretending to be cautious in hopes that it wills make Crow think he has an edge; Firo finds that overconfidence can be quite profitable for the house. It's a very simple ruse, but it won't hurt to try even if Crow can see through it. And Firo is curious to see if Crow will be able to figure it out.

He hands them each their next card.]

You can keep goin' first for the rest of the game.

Okay!

[Yyyeah, we've got Firo on the edge! How many more cards are there? He's not sure if this or the next one is the last one, but he looks down at his cards and at the face up ones for a moment before he nods and, after perhaps only a second or two of hesitation, adds one more screw forward.]

[He sneaks a peak at his last card, then slides one screw forward. It never hurt anybody to play it safe, even if this isn't real money.]

Call.

Ready to see who won?

Yeah! And this time's definitely a better set of cards to have!

[And...it sort of is? Look at him glowing with excitement even though it's not OMG impressive and most of his cards are still kind of random, but at least three Jacks is better than his previous hand of only a pair of twos, right?]

Edited 2012-12-09 06:22 (UTC)

Certainly is. You got some high ones there.

[He flips over his hole cards to reveal his entire hand. By comparison, Firo's cards are low, and he's missing a straight by one card: he has a three of spades up to a six of hearts. The other three cards are eights, not enough to beat his opponent's. He sits back to wait and see if Crow will realize that the pot is all his and take it.]

[Crow looks between their two sets of cards, trying to remember what Firo said earlier about the types of hands there were.]

The cards with the faces are worth more than the numbered ones right? So... [...Did we win?]

Yeah. Except for aces.

[And Firo has none of those.

He's smiling faintly. He doesn't relish losing, but maybe this'll get him some brownie points with Crow.]

[Well Crow certainly seems to be in a much better mood than he was before when hanging around Firo, now that he's realized that he won. We rarely get to play games with other people that even give us a chance of "winning" the game, so to speak.]

So...that means I won, right? [Yatta!] Hahaha, we won!

[Fist pump in the air! We're the winner, it is us!]

Yeah, you did.

[He chuckles and nudges the screws they bet towards Crow.]

It's all yours. What'd you think?

[Winning tends to make a game more enjoyable.]

That was actually pretty cool. [Oh, right. He gathers the screws back together into a small pile.] I didn't know you could actually do games like that with cards.

What'd you think people did with cards, then?

[Uh...] I dunno, I usually just found them lying around in different places, like on tables and junk.

[It's a little hard to know what exactly they were for when there was nobody around playing them.]

Really? That's--

[Oh. That actually makes sense considering that little detail Seto mentioned about their world being largely empty.]

There's a lotta different games you can play with these. There're ones you can do by yourself, too.

[Good save--apocalypse world isn't exactly a pleasant topic of discussion, so he's distracted by the mention of more games.]

Really? Like what?

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