game of cards
In an oversized carriage in the world of Venuru, Vinny asks Kander to play a game of cards. [Campaign canon-compliant.]
A new dimension. I’ve never been to any other dimension before; Apelpisia is all I know. I wonder what it would be like to sail the seas here.
Durzahvur is talking with the man who brought us here. Kander, Maddy, and myself are all inside the carriage. We’re mostly keeping to ourselves. Kander is over looking out one of the windows. Maddy and I are on opposite ends of a sofa. He keeps staring at me and I can’t look at him, so I pull a deck of cards out from my things and shuffle them on the coffee table.
“Kander––” I call. She turns her head to me–– “Care to join me for a game?”
Kander smiles and nods, then comes over to the sofa and sits between Maddy and I while I deal us both a hand. “What game?” she asks.
“Hmm…” I only know a few. “How about…waarrr?” The word turns my tongue and face sour. Kander squeezes my arm.
“Sure. Will Maddy play too?”
Maddy and I both look at Kander, who's eyeing Maddy expectantly. “Um––” He looks at me helplessly. All I do is scowl–– “I don’t––I don’t need to play. You two go ahead.”
Kander frowns. “Okay. Just you and me then, Vinny?”
I nod, my eyes trailing Maddy as he stands and walks to the other end of the carriage, sitting away from us and pulling out his hairbrush.
Our game starts, and continues for a while. Every so often I catch a glance of Maddy brushing through his hair, tugging at it harshly when he reaches particularly tangled patches. I think about how he used to brush my hair; he was always more gentle with me.
Kander wins in the end. I claim I was distracted––but I don’t tell her that. That would require explaining I was too busy watching Maddy to focus on our card game.