Cloudsea - The Chronicle of Alice Van Vaugen

"Yeah, what the hell do you know anyway? Bag of air. Talking shit about my books. . ."

"Uh, Earl? Did you have another episode just now?"

"What? Episode of what? I haven't written anything new lately. I raise."

"We have not even started the round yet, you weird little man."

Earl was sitting at a table, playing cards. To his left was that avelle. Her name was something like Kh'tak'ak'ha'ta'tch or something. It was all bird song to him. Pretty enough. She responded to Katie. Avaracious, that one was. Not in a bad way though. Earl respected a woman who knew exactly what she wanted, and knew exactly how to cheat to get it. That's why she was always sat next to Earl and the next person. The next person would toss her across the room if they caught her cheating, and Earl was considered crazy, and a distraction. Hmph.

Next to Katie was Jude. Or Judith, if you were a cute lady, an adorable child, or were paying for her drinks that night. Big lady. Strong lady. Comes from some. . . Engineer's Commune? An airship- an Air. . . Land? Too big to properly be called a ship, but one enormous city that flew under it's own power. A very few people claim to have actually ever seen it- because it flies around in the CloudSea? Whatever. Too wild for Earl. So. Jude. Her people were kinda weird. They made prosthesis. . . But for themselves? Not like- for losing a limb. They'd just cut the damn thing off! How about that?! But only after they had properly assembled the thing. It was like a spirit quest for them.

Earl didn't particularly know why Jude was here. Didn't generally care. Not for a lack of caring. She was nice. She's only broken his arm twice. But he didn't care because she didn't show up in one of his books. The short of it? She was an 'airship-tribal', her right arm was a very well made mechanical prosthetic that did it's best to resemble a human arm, her left arm resembled her right arm through very intricate tattoo work- and the rest of her body was the same. Don't ask how he knows that. He almost stopped smoking that day. Oh right. He'd refer to her as 'Intense'.

Then there was Ken. And Vizz. They were alright, for kids. The tall one was some form of demon, kinda red-skinned even. Although, that's because their skin was sorta see through. It made Earl a little uneasy. Not used to seeing demons unless he was really deep into a personal vacation. Also, those perfect jet-black spheres. Earl wasn't sure if that one ever blinked. Vizz on the other hand, blinked a lot. Cute little lizard. Drake. Dragon. Whatever. He hadn't really figured out what their deal was. That's why there were back here, playing cards.

Oh, and before her forgot, the other one on his right. Sebastian. Odd duck, this one. Probably the only one he really got along well with, most days. Some sort of nobility in the Imperial Sphere, he spent all his time 'rubbing elbows' with the 'lessers'. . . His guardian's words. Not his, of course. Sebastian was alright. He was honest. To a fault. That was a good word for him. He was 'Honest'. He figured being honest with everyone, including oneself was a good way to get popularity with the people. So he serves drinks in a bar, had a portion of his hair dyed a ridiculously bright color, and had a bunch of pieces of metal inserted into his face. Earl remembers being young and rebellious. Ah. Those were the day-

". . .Earl? You have been staring into space for like, five minutes. You're making the newbies nervous, and you're starting to tick me off. What the fuck?"

"Huh? What? Shut up, Seb. I was just narrating for our lovely viewers. I guess while Alissa or whatever takes a nap, her ghosts are peeking over my shoulder. I was introducing you all. Be grateful. It'll save us time later when we have to decide who is the new favorite. My money is on me."

"Your money is about to be fed to you. Are you in or out?"

"Oh. What are we playing?"

"CARDS! Ditch your trash and bet or fold already! Some of us like to be able to spend our winnings while we're young, you know?!"

Oh. Sorry about all that. They can be like that. If you want any more information, just ask. Earl reserves the right to drown you out with drugs and alcohol though. Just forewarning. He just absentmindedly tosses his bet into the center of the table and picks up his cards.

King of Clubs,
Jack of Clubs,
Six of Spades,
Four of Spades,
Two of Spades.

SpoilerShow

Wow! What a completely garbage hand he just went in on! What cards should he keep, if any?

Earl checks the information. This is a modified poker they play here. Starting with the first player (Katie in this case) and going clockwise, each player either folds, or tosses in the set bet, and any number of cards, face up.

Each player afterwards gets that information to formulate what they're going to discard. Afterwards, all discards are shuffled back into the deck, and each person is dealt back to five cards. Then another round of betting. Simple, huh?

It helps that Earl also cheats by [reading] his opponents like a book.

Katie threw out a Nine of Diamonds and a Five of Hearts.
Katie is trying for a Flush.

Jude threw out a Eight of Spades and a Ten of Hearts .
Jude is trying for a Straight.

Ken threw out a Ace of Spades, a Jack of Hearts, and a Nine of Hearts.
Ken is trying for either a Straight OR a Flush. Interesting.

Vizz threw out a King of Spades and a Nine of Spades.
. . . Earl can't read Vizz's thought process. More Interesting.

Finally, Seb threw out a Two of Hearts and an Ace of Hearts.
Seb is also trying for either a Straight OR a Flush.

( ) Choose 0-5 cards to discard.