Game night 2

Posted on Thu Jun 4th, 2020 @ 12:43am by Lieutenant Aurelius Davis & Lieutenant Samantha Leyton & Ensign Victoria Jemison & Ensign Alexandra 'Lexi' O'Connery

Mission: Mission 3 - 100
Location: Deck E - Mess Hall
Timeline: Day 30, Month 2, Year 0 12:00
1556 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Aurelius hadn't considered the first game a total loss despite Sovar missing the point entirely. He was Vulcan though and they were just odd, mostly harmless but odd. Aurelius moved over to the next table and sat down without asking. "Evening ladies. Any idea what you'd like to play? There are cards and we could always do a question game or . . . . if you have ideas," He glanced at both of them in turn.

A grin came across Samantha's face. "Not much for poker?" she asked, amused.

"Nah, I never learned. But if you'll take pity one me I'll try it." Aurelius said seriously, considering this an invitation to sit down.

"Have a seat," Samantha gestured. "So, what card games *do* you know?"

Lexi chuckled herself not at all sure what had brought her to the games night as it was not exactly her thing but there she was actually enjoying it. "I am not a big fan of poker myself." She assured hoping poker was not going to be a thing suddenly otherwise she might have to go off and play a game of solitaire by herself or something.

"Hmmm . . . well my mom always played this game with me when I was a kid. I could show you if you like. It's all about guessing the number or tricks you are going to take before you play the round. Kinda fun, used to get us laughing anyway. It's called Wizard."

The Communication Officer raised an eyebrow as she tried to remember if she knew that card game but she was coming up blank. Maybe she should escape while she could. "Never heard of it. Have you?" Lexi asked looking at the other people sat on the table.

"Ok, you have me," Samantha said. "I've never heard of this game. So, how do you play?"

Giving a confused look, Victoria asked, "Wizard? And I thought I knew every card game, but you have me there." She sat forward in her seat as she asked, "What is it?"

"It's a game similar to spades, it's about taking tricks. More specifically you are dealt a hand of cards and you have to guess from what you have in your hand, how man tricks you are going to take. There are four wizard cards that will take the hand, no matter what is played but in general you just follow suit and try to take the hand, or not depending on what you bid in the beginning of the game. Does that make sense so far? We can play a practice round." Aurelius said, looking at them all.

Lexi shook her head. She was lost but she was sure that with a practice round she might get it. "Let us do a practice round just to be sure as I am a little lost from the explanation." She admitted with a small grimace at admitting she was not sure what was napping.

"The game starts with only one card each. And it's okay for this if we see each other's cards. It's just so everyone understands." He dealt each of them a card after shuffling with some difficulty without asking for help. "Okay, so Aces are high," he flipped over the top card in the deck. "Diamonds are trump which means they are higher than any other suit and if played during a round of hearts for example they will take the hand or the trick as it's called. And we start playing. Sam is to my left so she plays first since I dealt. Go ahead toss your card out there."

Samantha was a bit at a loss on the game as she lightly bit the corner of her lip in thought. Looking at her hand, she finally let put a sigh and tossed her card--a 6 of hearts out onto the table. "Ok, now what?"

Running a hand through her hair in a bit of confusion, Victoria looked at her 10 of diamonds. "I have this," she stated almost as a question as she laid down her card. "Is that good?"

"I do not know." Lexi looked at her card and put down a four of spades. Was that good? Was that bad? It made no sense to her but it did make her smile that everyone else seemed to be in the same boat literally as her.

Aurelius chuckled. He placed his own card down, the six of clubs. " So . . . since diamonds are trump and no one played a wizard card Victoria takes the hand. Had she bet one at the very beginning of the game, it would have been a very good thing. Let's just keep playing rounds so you understand. Next time we will try betting. But are you starting to see? It's basically a game of how many hands am I going to take and taking them if you can. You can try to sabotage other people, you can try never to bet anything and just get rid of all the cards in your hand without taking a trick. There are lots of strategies to play it."

"Ooh, I get it!" Victoria almost exclaimed as she thought she was getting it. But, it was probably more of an after effect of her winning the hand. "Let's bet."

"Eager to lose all of your money?" Samantha asked, grinning. Gambling was a subject she loved but had often gotten her into trouble. However, she wondered about the economics of being lost. Their credits would be worthless to anyone out here, meaning they would only be able to trade and the Atlantis couldn't afford to lose anything.

"Well I mean bet as in guess how many hands you are going to take. I don't know if the Captain would like us actually betting belongings or stuff like that. I guess if it's just small stuff that's okay. Anyway, it's Sam's turn to deal so . . . deal everyone two cards please." He passed the deck of cards to her.

"Yeah really not sure that she would like that at the moment. Maybe for future events, we can make some fake chips or something?" Lexi wondered looking at Aurelius thoughtfully of how to make the event better. This was certainly a boost for her that evening and she could hear a lot more animated conversation that she had heard in weeks.

"Party poopers," Samantha jested with a grin. For the first time since arriving here, she felt more relaxed.

"Make them and bring them back for next game night. Deal," Aurelius poked Sam and then pulled away in jest as if she were going to hit him.

Lexi smiled at the man and nodded. Would be easy enough to get engineering to do it for them. They always wanted something fun to do for a few minutes and it would be a boost to morale so allowed.

"You're lucky I'm in a good mood," she teased with a grin, pointing at Aurelius. She then shuffled the cards and dealt each person two cards each. "Ok, what you got?" she asked Lexi as she sat immediately left of Samantha.

Aurelius grinned back, he hadn't had this much fun in a long time. "It's your turn to bet Lexi. " he flipped over the top card. "Trump is spades."

The comms operator smiled that he called her Lexi. Everyone was slowly calling her that, it was becoming less and less likely anyone who knew her as Alexandra would see her again. It was not necessarily a bad thing as it would allow her a new start but it was different. Lexi looked at her cards confused and put down an ace and looked at everyone hoping they would know if she had won or lost. It was a very confusing game and potentially why she stuck to solitare and snap.

"Okay," Aurelius said patiently. "But first, before we play we bet. Take a look at your hand and tell me how many tricks you think you're going to take? If you have a lot of high cards especially in trump then you might take a lot of hands. I know it's hard to figure out, but you have to just estimate. And I would estimate on the lower side just in case someone has a wizard card and things don't go your way."

"Two?" Lexi wondered looked around the table. It felt like a safe number to guess. She was going to have to run and hide after this round. She had no idea what was going on at all.

"I'll take three," Samntha replied, studying her cards.

"And we begin again," Aurelius grinned. There were only two cards in this hand so it wasn't going to take long and eventually they would all get the hang of the game. But, for right now it was so nice to see them teasing each other and playing together. Did his heart good that no one was worrying about what tomorrow would bring.

"I'll go with two," replied Victoria. She was still a bit lost in the game, but tonight was going to be fun.

OFF::

Ensign Alexandra 'Lexi' O'Connery
Comms Operator
NX Atlantis
(PNPC Leroux)

Lieutenant Aurelius Davis
Morale Officer
NX Atlantis

Ensign Victoria Jemison
Engineering Officer
NX Atlantis

Lieutenant JG Samantha Leyton
Chief Helm Officer
NX Atlantis