[agodr] A Game of High Card

Jackal was obvious. Like, really obvious. It was hard to miss a guy who was seven feet tall, with a massive insectoid tail. The markings. The clothes. He was a pretty distinct guy.

The fact that he was carrying around a tiny, maybe five year old girl only served to make him that much more obvious. She was small, with purple hair and a sour expression, and she was riding atop Jackal's shoulders, leaning against to his head and protesting as he walked.

"We should just go home," she protested. "I don't want to just be out here all the time."

"We're trying to find regalia!" Jackal protested. "How are we going to win this sweet tournament if you won't even fight?"

The little girl seemed to squish down, pouting as she did.

It was at that point that a young woman approached him at the side, seeming to recognize him, probably from the add he'd put out.

"Oh shit," he said, swinging around as the Regalia on his shoulders protested. "Nice. Yeah, first match. Mal wants them, but everyone's probably too intimidated to actually fight her. Me, on the other hand? Less scary."

He grinned at her with his too-sharp teeth.

"So, you down?"

Jackal had literally kicked Malara's ass on their first ever meeting, so he was very firmly not intimidated by her. They were friends, more than anything.

"Just Jackal's fine," he insisted, tilting his head up. "So, going to answer the lady's question?" He'd just been calling them by their full title when he was having to use a name at all.

The regalia seemed to curl up a bit, her voice going quiet. She said something, but it was so quiet that there's no way anyone but Jackal might have heard.

"May," he clarified. "That's her name. Don't mind her. She's a bit shy."

The little girl swatted at Jackal's head, scowling as she did.

"I'm not shy," she said, her voice still quiet. "I just think this tournament is boring."

Jackal moved on just the same.

"Nah, that's fine. I'm keeping May around either way. I wouldn't want to give her up to someone and then have them be mean to her. I just want the tournament stuff for the bragging rights."

Jackal opened his mouth to suggest some things--nothing too physical, because the girls in front of him looked kind of frail--when May spoke up.

"Cards," she said. "I don't want to be out here forever. So just play cards."

Jackal tilted his head back.

"Huh? Just cards? Don't you want something more exciting?"

"No," May protested, pouting into Jackal's hair. "Cards. So it's over quickly."

He shrugged his massive shoulders, glancing back to Liliana as he did.

"So, cards good with you?"

May shyly ducked behind Jackal's head, and he rolled his eyes, emptying his pocket (keys, wallet, a bunch of napkins) before finally pulling out a well worn deck of cards and starting to shuffle.

"Pretty sure I got all the cards," he admitted. "I played some go fish with her. She got bored though."

"Go fish is too long," May protested. "Just whoever gets the higher card wins."

Jackal was more or less of the opinion that it was kind of a cheat for what was supposed to be an epic combat tournament, but it wasn't like he was going to drag it out if neither of the Regalia really wanted it.

"Okay," Jackal said. "High card. Best two out of three?" He was already shuffling, and after a moment he fanned the deck out, offering it to her. "Grab a card. I'll grab a card after and we'll compare."

Jackal was pretty pleased with his ten of clubs... right up until they flipped the cards around, revealing that his almost-couldn't-be-beaten was actually very much beaten. He huffed, very much like a child himself, and then took the cards back, reshuffling them into his deck.

"For the record," Jackal said. "Aces high. We're going by poker hands. You sure we can't just play poker?"

May made a huff of her own, playing with Jackal's hair absentmindedly.

"Fair," he admitted. "Alright. Lets do this."

He pulled a card first, wincing obviously at the two of hearts in his hand.

Over before it started, apparently.