A Friendly Game of Poker

Writers: Ames, Devin, Chelle
Date Posted: 24th January 2011

Characters: Qorri, Talryne, Cookie
Description: Dragonpoker ladies' night in the kitchens.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 13, day 6 of Turn 5

Talryne

Talryne made her way downstairs, wiping her hands on her long skirt.
She wondered again if she should change to trousers, but she was
almost there now. She tried to calm down. It was just Qorri and her
friend. The Headwoman seemed nice enough, and Talryne had been around
more than two unfamiliar people during her weaver training. She could
handle a simple dragonpoker game.

She poked her head into the kitchens and glanced around.

The two women were sitting at a table in the corner. The stew was cooking
slowly, the bread was rising, and they had time to just do what they always did.
Qorri cackled as she threw her cards down. "I wasn't bluffing!" There was ale,
bread, and cheese to munch on.

"Um, hello?" Talryne said, taking a few tentative steps toward them.

Cookie was laughing at her friend when she heard the new voice. "Looks
like we have company Qorri," she inclined her head to where Talryne
stood. "And you _were_ bluffing! I knew it!" She added as she reached
for a cracker to munch. "Come join us. We won't bite, most of the
time!" Cookie laughed as she took a big bite from her cracker.

Talryne made her way over to the table, her shoulders tightening with
tension. She forced a small smile as she sat down. "I hope you don't
mind." She looked at Qorri. "You said I could come if I wanted."

"So I did. You're welcome here, Talryne. Grab some cheese and we'll deal
you in. Cookie, we're going to have to teach this one. You can read her face
too easy." Smiling, the Headwoman gathered up the cards and began to shuffle.

Cookie glanced over at the newcomer. "Pleased to have ya here,
Talryne. The more players, the more fun the game." She winked. "But we
can't have your face giving away all your secrets now, can we?" Cookie
pushed the plate of snacks towards Talryne with a friendly smile.
"Deal out the cards, Qorri. Let's see if you can bluff your way
through this hand now that I have some support." She chuckled
gleefully, looking over at Talryne with a smile.

Talryne took a few cubes of cheese and nibbled on one. "I used to be
good at this it's just ... been a while."

"Oh? Well practice makes better, I always say." After she shuffled, she dealt
out the cards, picked up her hand, and organized them. She took a drink of the
ale before waiting for the others.

Cookie chuckled as she looked at her cards. "Now that's the way to
deal!" She declared, trying to throw off her fellow players as she
stared at a hand that held nothing of value.

Practice. Maybe Qorri was right. It might come back to her in time.
Talryne looked at her cards, a little frown creasing her forehead.
"Two, please." She slid her unwanted cards across the table.

Quickly, she gave her two cards from the pile, then Qorri looked
toward the other woman. "How many this time, eh?"

"I'll take three," Cookie said, sliding her cards to Qorri with a
snort. Perhaps this time she would get lucky.

"Are we making bets?" Talryne asked as she studied her new hand of cards.

"Hadn't planned on it. Was going to give you a freebie while you practiced."
She handed Cookie her cards, then took two for herself. Qorri began to think,
leaning back in her chair. **Will this be good enough? What does she have?
She's smiling too much.**

"That's fine," Talryne said. "We can have bets for the next hand. Um,
what are we betting?"

"Usually? We just use nuts or beans." Qorri almost giggled at the
significance of that.

"Just for fun then?" Talryne shifted her cards around.

"It's never _just_ for fun!" Cookie giggled. "We like to lord it over
the loser the
next day!" She chuckled. "In fact, I should make the loser wash the pots after
supper tomorrow!" She reached for a handful of the nuts and popped a few in
her mouth. Cookie winked at Talryne, then whispered, "Qorri can _never_ beat
me!" She chuckled again, knowing such a boast was hardly true.

"She must be dreaming, saying silly things like that," the Headwoman declared,
looking at the both of them to lay down their hands since they weren't
really betting that round.

"So do we just lay down our hands?" At a nod from the other women,
Talryne put her cards down. "I have a pair."

Cookie placed her hand on the table. "Two pair," she announced, looking to Qorri
to see what her friend had.

"Ah well..." Qorri didn't smile or frown. She just laid down her cards
and waited for them to see the three fives she had been holding. "I do
believe it's your shuffle, Talryne."

Talryne gathered up the cards and started to shuffle. The tension in
her had started to ease and it felt nice to be here with these ladies.
It reminded her a little of the parties she'd gone to before. Well,
this was much tamer, but it was still nice. "We can place bets this
time. As long as you don't make me wash pots."

Last updated on the February 12th 2011

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A Friendly Game of Poker