Of Poker and Birdwatching

She reclined in the wooden chair with her feet propped up on the side of the table, carefully avoiding the cards and chips set out in the middle. After weeks trapped underwater and fighting naga, it felt nice to relax with her fellow guild members.

As soon as Elariia had returned from the underwater hell called Vashj'ir she had collapsed in the nearest available bed and slept for a year... Well it certainly felt like a year... After that she had washed all the saltwater from her body and hair, then decided to pay a visit to her guild's mead hall, which was where she was now.

"Oi. You in or are you out, kitty?"

Elariia glared at the dwarf sitting across from her. Dumli was a grouchy old paladin, to put it lightly. Too old to be out adventuring but he'd seen enough battles in his time to awe even her. Reaching over and lifting her cards off the table just enough, she worked at keeping her poker face.

Hmm. She had a pretty good hand, why not have a little fun with it?

Elariia grinned internally (she was playing poker, after all) and lowered her feet, the metal trinkets on her otherwise leather boots clanked together as they landed lightly on the ground. The night elf leaned forward on the table, both her arms crossed in front of her.

The other players looked intrigued by her sudden interest. Perfect.

"All in."

As she pushed her metal poker chips into the small pile already gathered in the middle of the table, Dumli looked at his cards before sighing, "Too rich fer my blood."

The other two were still in.. "What do you guys say we make this a little more interesting?"

Immediately Elleana, guild master and fellow druid, squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head vehemently, "Nuh uh. No way. Last time I fell for that, I ended up babysitting your dragon. Never again. I'm out."

Elariia rolled her eyes and looked towards the last player. Jakian. Another paladin, draenei this time. She lifted her leg again and kicked his metal covered shoulder, earning a small but satisfying wince.

"You up for it, Jak?"

He checked his cards and grinned, "You're on, Ria."

She smirked. He'd always been so hopelessly naive. "Great. Lets raise the stakes a bit."

"What did you have in mind?" He looked at her warily now.

"Nothing too extreme," Elariia assured him with as much innocence as she could muster, "Whoever loses has to... Follow the winner around for a week and carry anything she–"

"Or he!"

"–Or he..." She added with an eye roll. "Doesn't have room for. Basically be their pack mule."

Jakian raised an eyebrow, "That's it? Okay. Any boundaries?"

The druid shook her head, her white pigtails falling over her shoulders as she did so. "Nope. Loser has to follow winner anywhere on Azeroth."

"Even in the Outland?"

"Are you going to the Outland anytime soon?"

"...No."

"Then it's not that relevant, is it?"

The night elf and the draenei were so caught up in their bet they didn't notice Elleana and Dumli looking between the two of them in respective worry and amusement.

Elleana pinched the bridge of her nose, "I don't know why you bother, Jak. You know you should never to bet against Elariia."

"Kids gotta do somethin' in his free time, Elle. You remember what happened last time he was unsupervised, don't ya?" Dumli said, chuckling lightly.

"How could I forget? He nearly destroyed my bar with that hammer of his." She shuddered. "Oh, and when Ela almost blew up the entire hall when she overdosed in rage while in bear form?"

The dwarf barked out a laugh, "Now there was a sight ta see! Little ole' Ela as a rampaging bear!"

"I resent being called little by a dwarf." Elariia deadpanned, "And how many times have I told you not to call me that?!"

Jakian jumped back into the conversation, "You three done? I kind of have a poker game to win."

"In your dreams." Elariia was rarely cocky, not externally anyway. That should have at least tipped Jak off, but nope. Kid never learned.

"You really should know not to bet against me by now..." The druid murmured as she watched her paladin friend climb up a cliff face in Redridge. He had every one of her bags hanging off of him, besides her coin purse, and looked absolutely exhausted.

"Very helpful, Ria." He panted sarcastically. "Why are we even here? I hate Redridge."

Elariia put on a look of mock-surprise, "Are you kidding? The bird watching here is amazing now that all the gnolls and orcs are gone!"

Jakian glared at her as he pulled the rest of his body up onto the small plateau before collapsing on the ground. She had to stifle a surprised laugh as she noticed her lucky quilen cub clinging to his back.

"Since when do you bird watch?"

"Since I beat you at poker. Again. You draenei just never learn."

Jak took a step back (almost falling back down the cliff as he did so) and gasped theatrically. "Draenei are awesome. Better than elves!"

"Really?" Elariia snorted. "You're practically the love child of Davy Jones and a goat. Don't even get me started on the paladin thing."

"You probably shouldn't say that within a ten thousand mile radius of Dumli. Wouldn't want to generate threat and– hey! Like you can bash other classes when you picked the worst of them all."

The druid seemed unaffected, "At least I can get rid of my goat legs. You're stuck with yours."

Now this is what makes Elariia so frustrating, Jakian mused. No matter what kind of insults you threw at her she always stayed calm and collected. Save for a victorious smirk or disapproving glare, the only time she showed any true emotion was in battle. Jak had made it his personal mission to coax something from the reserved night elf, be it happiness or anger. Of course he never expected to enjoy their little battle of wits, much less become friends with the girl. And that's what they were, in his eyes. He trusted her with his life and hoped the feeling was mutual, despite how unrealistic a hope it was.

The paladin was jerked from his thoughts when he felt Elariia's boot nudge his side. "You were right. This is boring as hell. Let's go back down."

Elariia smirked when his groan of despair frightened all the birds away.

A/N

Completely pointless one-shot, a few less words and I'd call it a drabble. I just got bored last night. Hope you guys like it! And lore-wise... I'm sure there's a Davy Jones legend somewhere out there.. Constructive criticism is welcome!

Disclaimer: I don't own Blizzard or any of it's products! Deal with it.