In-betweens

[Adder]

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]

“I—” but Elizabeth already cut her off and yanked her down on neighboring chair. Shisa snatched her hand back with tense eyes. Her lips parted, but the words remained stuck in her throat.

A red brow furrowed, and darkness fell upon green orbs.

“I don’t wanna lose any money,” she replied after a beat, staring at the cards like they’d bite off her fingers if she tried to touch them. “Might be relaxing for you, Liz, but I… I’d rather be racin’ through the lower levels of Shaddaa than playing this— this Sabacc.”

:: Player seven. Shifting phase ::

“Ugh.”

The enforcer rolled her eyes skyward and grabbed her cards off the table. “Fine. One game.”

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

Elizabeth gave Shisa a tiny smirk.

It wasn't like she was great at Sabaac or anything, but they also weren't short on money. Both she and Shisa had quite good income now, mostly from Circuit. Of course all of that cash was supposed to go back into the club itself, operations and living and all of that good stuff, but they had more than enough to play a few games.

That was how she afforded all these new clothes too. "You'll be fine."

The young Jedi Master said with a light tap on her friends shoulder.

The Dealer of course gave no reaction, being a droid, but the three other players at the table eyed the two women. One of them was a hard faced Rodian, his expression plain, the other two were humanoids of some sort though where they were from Elizabeth couldn't have guessed. One of them was practically leering at her, though the other had his eyes completely fixed on Shisa. Elizabeth cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing as the game began.

"Watch." She whispered. "And learn."

The words came as the first hand was dealt.

 

[Adder]

[member="Elizabeth Castille"]

So Shisa sat stiff as a Senator in her chair, staring at her hand with a mixture of annoyance and confusion. Lord, but she hated gambling. Betting on racers? Totally different – there, you could evaluate the skill of the pilot and the quality of the vehicle and the impact of the course and the karking weather if you wanted – but this? Barely anything but luck involved.

With a furrow in her brow, the enforcer lost another round. The pile of virtual chips in front of her kept dwindling.

“I’m watching,” she hissed, green eyes darting up to Elizabeth. “And I ain’t learnin’ shet.”

A beat.

“Sure you don’t wanna learn to race instead?”

Maybe there was a note of desperation to her voice.

Maybe.

 

[Aela Talith]

[member="Shisa Thalvi"]

"We've been over that." Elizabeth said as she pushed her blind into the pot.

The first round of bidding was of course always the easiest. Rarely did anyone drop out until the third or fourth card was actually dealt. Sabaac was a came that required a good amount of patients and calm, one had to wait for the right moment and see when they actually needed to take it. Of course it also required that you could keep a straight face.

She could already see the others watching her.

"I'm a terrible driver." Elizabeth stated with a small smile touching her lips, catching a waitress walking towards them in the corner of her eye. "I think you'd be rather upset with the end result of trying to teach me."

A horrid fireball of a crash she was sure. "Excuse me!"

Elizabeth called out as the Waitress stepped by her, catching her attention with a wild wave of her hand.