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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[Fifteen minutes later, Grune still isn't done watering her plants--largely because she got distracted and started trimming some of them instead. When she hears his knock, she sets down the pruners (and promptly forgets about them) and heads to the door.]

Oh, hello, Firo! Come in!

Hi.

[He gives her a little wave and steps inside. As he takes the cards out of his pocket, he glances around to survey the house.]

Thanks! Your place looks pretty nice.

[Hoping she hasn't forgotten about what they were planning to do, he slips the cards out of their box and holds the deck up at eye-level.]

Are you ready to play?

[And said eyes immediately light up.]

Oh, yes, I can't wait! Why don't we go into the kitchen to play?

[She starts heading in that direction.]

Sounds good.

[He follows her into the kitchen.]

You said poker, right? We should probably go through all the hands before we try anything.

The hands?

[She totally doesn't stop and look down at hers. Nope.]

[Trying not to laugh, he shakes his head.]

No, no, not hands like that. In card games, a hand is the combination a' cards you have. In poker, you win or lose dependin' on your hand.

Oh, I see. [Probably.]

What kinds of cards are good cards?

Depends on your whole hand. Gettin' an ace as your high card means nothin' if the other guy has a straight--even if it's just twos or threes.

The best hand is a royal flush, when you get five cards in order of the same suite startin' with the ace.

[He flips through the cards, plucking out the ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of spades as he does so. He holds them out face up to Grune.]

Like this.

Oh, there are all the pretty cards. [She smiles.] Hello!

...Yeah, the pretty cards.

So that's the best hand, but it's pretty hard to get it. Unless you cheat, but that's probably not an issue with you.

[He can imagine her cheating to give her opponent good cards to be nice, but nothing beyond that.]

Oh, of course not. [She looks surprised by the very idea.] Cheating is wrong. Why would anyone do that?

[He's not trying to explain this again, so he shrugs.]

I have no idea why. Crazy, isn't it?

Anyway, it'll be mostly luck what cards you get, so the betting is where real skill is involved. ...But we don't hafta do that.

Don't we? But it sounds like fun.

[From her vague idea of what betting constitutes, anyway.]

...Have you ever gambled before?

[She really doesn't seem like the type.]

Hmm.... I wonder.

[And no one was surprised by her answer.]

...That's really somethin' you should pay attention to.

[He runs a hand through his hair. Well, it shouldn't be too bad to have a gambling safety lesson...]

How about we just go over when you should and shouldn't bet?

Okay! That sounds good, Firo!

[She beams at him again. This is going to go well.]

All right.

There's only one of each card in a deck, right? So you gotta try and keep an eye on what your opponents have, too. If they got a card you need for a certain hand, then you know you can't get it and you might not wanna bet too high.

[And here he realizes this might be a problem since this game requires a lot of memory.]

Do you... do you get that?

Oh, yes. I get it.

[Look at that face, Firo. Is that the face of someone who gets it, do you think?]

[...Not really :(]

Okay, so say if we were on the last round and you knew my hand was probably better than yours. If you had 10 dollars left and you had to bet at least 1, how much would you put in?

[Please don't say 10.]

[Headtilt.]

Well, how much do you want?

...What do you mean? It's not about what your opponent wants!

It isn't?

[Oh boy.]

Yeah, you're supposed to play to win. And if you can't, then you do your best to make sure your opponent doesn't get all you have.

But that's not very nice.

[If she can't win, shouldn't she help her friend?]

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