Second Floor Common Room, Monday.

[boneyard_girl]

"So, the thing about cheating at cards, is it's mostly misdirection," Ada was saying, as she laid out her deck. "You can mark them, sure, little cuts you can feel but not see, rough corners that could be explained away as heavy use, but you really don't want the other person looking at your cards, or theirs. Wearing short-sleeves helps because then they can't claim you have a card up your sleeve...but that doesn't mean you didn't have it hidden in the folds of your skirt or tucked in the leg of your shorts...and if they're busy looking at the naked ladies on the cards, they sure as hell ain't paying attention to what you're doing."

Ada Miller, ladies and gentlemen. Barker for the Miller Family Carnival, and terrible influence on Townies her roommate.

[OOC: OPEN POST! Come play cards, place bets on the girls, or just hang out]

Comments

[sciclone]

"Gotcha. When I do this for real, I'll absolutely pick clothes I can hide cards in," Cosima said. She hadn't ever put much thought into cheating at cards, but now that Ada mentioned it it seemed like a pretty good thing to know how to do. "... wait, are there really naked ladies on those, or is that just an example?"

[boneyard_girl]

Ada grinned and held up her deck. "Thank you, Mr. Barton and our Sex Ed field trip," she announced. "Isabela found them, so I bought one of each design, and then a second one of my favorite, so that I have extra cards."

"Took all my allowance I'd saved up over the past three months, but it was worth it."

[sciclone]

"Totally worth it," Cosima said admiringly. "God, now I wish I had taken sex ed. Those cards are gonna distract me, too."

[boneyard_girl]

"Maybe I'll give you a deck for Christmas," Ada teased. "--Tho I bet you could start showing up to class and Mr. Barton wouldn't care. There's already more girls than boys, what's one more?"

[sciclone]

"I could just get lost in the crowd, huh?" Cosima teased back. "Maybe. That would keep up my nerd cred. Y'know, most people cut class, so if I snuck into one instead..."

She trailed off, grinning.

[boneyard_girl]

"Bet you could get extra credit in our team-building class," Ada pointed out. "They seem to like sneaky."

Says the girl teaching her roommate card tricks.

[sciclone]

"They do," Cosima agreed. "Maybe I should do that. Just go to every class in the school for a week and see if anybody calls me on it."

[boneyard_girl]

"I'll do it if you do," Ada offered. "Team Infiltration, that's us. Boldly going where no one else does... to every single learning experience on campus."

[sciclone]

"Well, when you bring in the Space Journey I have to do it," Cosima said. "Deal. Week after Thanksgiving?"

Leave it to Cosima to agree to a prank that meant even more school.

[boneyard_girl]

"It's a deal," she said, offering her hand to shake on it. "It's not like I'm doing anything else totally urgent with my time."

[sciclone]

"Me either," Cosima said with a crooked smile as she returned the handshake. "And a girl can only fight with so many morons on the internet before she has to find something better to do."

She looked down at the table. "Like ... cheating at cards!"

[boneyard_girl]

"And you're smart enough that card counting should be easy for you," Ada offered cheerfully. "You should be able to clean up at Blackjack, and it'll help with poker, too."

[sciclone]

"What is counting cards, anyhow?" Cosima wondered. "I've heard it in movies but I don't actually know how it works. I mean, besides that it's not one-two-three."

[boneyard_girl]

"It's not memorizing everything that's been dealt, no matter what the movies say," Ada promised. "You just assign cards a number based on what they are, and use math to keep count of what your odds are of getting a card value you need."

[sciclone]

"But how do you know which cards are where?" Cosima asked, slightly skeptical. "Or does it work if you only know your hand?"

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante was back on his way up after class, trying to come up with something to do for the rest of the day, and--

"You playing poker?"

Hey, look, gambling. Probably the one vice he didn't have. Because he was terrible at it.

[boneyard_girl]

"Poker, Blackjack, find the Queen, whatever your fancy desires," Ada said cheerfully, shuffling her cards. "Go Fish, even, if that's more your speed."

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm not huge on card games," Dante said, shrugging a shoulder.

He promptly flopped down on the couch, though. "Hey, are those naked chicks?"

Reason #1 why he was terrible at gambling.

[boneyard_girl]

"They are. I'm a little dismayed I couldn't find any packs that were all naked boys, but these are fun too," Ada said, offering one for his inspection. "'Bela found them during our class trip to Dite's, so we bought out most of their stock."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante was happy to take it, holding it up so he could see the printing. "People are weirder about dicks," he said.

[boneyard_girl]

"I don't get why," Ada said. "Oooo... dangly bits. Eyes ain't gonna fall out of your head if you see 'em."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Hey, don't ask me," Dante said, shuffling the deck idly with all the grace of a particularly violent elephant. "Dangly bits are fine with me. So is this a carnie thing?"

[boneyard_girl]

"The cards, the cheating, the gambling, or the naked ladies?" Ada asked. "No, wait, let's just go with all of the above, and the answer is Yes."

"Seducing my fellow students to a life of dubious card skills?" She shrugged. "Pretty sure that's just me."

[rebelseekspizza]

"'Ada likes to share'," Dante mused, pulling out a card at random and eyeing it. "Better not be too loud about that."

He shot her a grin. (As per usual, it came with edges.) "You're good with these?"

[boneyard_girl]

"That's me, sharing and caring," Ada deadpanned, picking up a second deck and starting to shuffle; cards flowing between her hands, back-and-forth. "But I'm pretty good with these. Isabela's Wicked Grace game? That I'm still working on."

"But when it comes poker or blackjack or following the lady," this time it was Ada's grin that had a few edges. "The house always wins."

[rebelseekspizza]

"How d'you make that work?" Dante asked. "I've always wondered."

He stretched his legs out, sprawling over the couch.

[boneyard_girl]

"Natural charm, grace, and luck," Ada said, only mostly-lying. "And lots of practice."

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante flicked a card at her. "Sounds lucky," he said. "Guess you can't teach that."

[boneyard_girl]

"Who says you can't teach luck? It's just what you make of the hand you're dealt," Ada said, flipping over a Jack of Spades and waving it at him. "And when you don't have luck, there's lots of ways to cheat."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Cheating seems like more of a sure bet," Dante said. Though he'd probably be terrible at that, too; he was a STR over DEX kinda guy.

[giveherahand]

"Ooh, cards!" Mara said. "Are these the ones that don't change faces? Those are so quaint!"

[boneyard_girl]

"No changing faces on these," Ada agreed, offering Mara a deck with burlesque dancers to look at. "--but I'm pretty sure 'quaint' ain't how most people describe them."

Diiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiirty cards!

[giveherahand]

"Excellent leg extension," Mara said, looking at the first woman.

...not what most people were looking at, Mara.

[boneyard_girl]

"I know, right? I'm never going to be a dancer, but I can appreciate skill," Ada said. "There's one farther in the deck where she's just on the toes of one foot, and still managing to be coy with her fans."

[giveherahand]

"That's pretty impressive," Mara said, "and I am a dancer."

[boneyard_girl]

"Ever thought of putting on a recital?" Ada laughed. "I mean, I'm sure you could get some inspiration for routines by looking through these."

[giveherahand]

Mara burst out laughing. "Sure it won't get me thrown out of the school? Because I'll do it."

[boneyard_girl]

"Have you looked around these dorms?" Ada asked, flicking a card at Mara. "Ringo breaks physics, Frank has more alcohol than the bars, Isabela's a pirate, and none of us has gotten kicked out yet."

[giveherahand]

"Good point," Mara admitted. "We're in the common room with naked cards, after all."

[stacyexperiment]

Gwen feigned shock when she walked into the room. "Is this gambling? In schools? Tsk."

[boneyard_girl]

"Gambling, cheating, and dirty cards from last week's field trip," Ada confessed cheerfully, waving at Gwen. "But I ain't got no alcohol, so someone else is gonna have to bring some."

[stacyexperiment]

"We have Frank just existing in the dorms. Does that fit the requirement?" Gwen wondered.

[boneyard_girl]

"Good point," Ada agreed. "But he's not here and sharing, now is he? I think my feelings are hurt."

[stacyexperiment]

"I'm sure the word 'alcohol' drifted through the halls and straight into his ears to call him," Gwen said, and paused. "Not that I've ever seen him share."

[boneyard_girl]

"Now that just ain't neighborly," Ada sighed. "Isn't sharing with underage drinkers part of the high school experience? That's what the television tells me."

[stacyexperiment]

"Maybe? I mean, there's a bar that doesn't card so I don't know if that skews things," Gwen said. "TV never covered that."