Lucy Heartifillia, ex-heiress, mage, and writer extraordinaire was not quite sure how she had been roped into this. It wasn't the craziest thing Lucy had been roped into. It didn't even make the top twenty. She still remembered the time Natsu had managed to convince her to blanket sled down the guild stairs and out to the streets while wearing Erza's armor. (It hadn't ended well, and rent had been the least of her problems that month.)
But if they were playing poker, well, Lucy was going to take advantage. She hadn't played in a while but there were some things you never forgot how to do. (Like blanket sledding.) And her rent was coming up.
"Fold."
She had lured her guild mates into a false sense of security. It was ridiculously easy. It took a bit of giggling at her cards and fake ignorance and a bad play or two while she took the time to study her friends' skills.
Erza had great strategy and a rotten poker face. Natsu, surprisingly, or perhaps not, was incredibly difficult to read. However, his grasp of the game was fleeting at best.
"Not bad, Lucy." This was Cana. She was probably one of the best players when she felt like it. Her grin hinted not at her cards but at Lucy's joke. They had played together before, and the game had been long and fierce. This one, however, had more of a relaxed air. Cana was barely trying.
Poker face secure, Lucy winked, feigning a blush. "Beginners luck?" she offered, voice sugary sweet and flavored with feigned innocence. They should have known.
"You'll get it eventually," Gray promised. His face was a mix of pity for his teammate and excitement at getting Lucy back for the time she had replaced his shampoo with a mixture of glue and bleach. (It had taken forever to get out and the color still wasn't quite the same.) It wasn't her fault that he had used her shower without asking.
Again.
Cana snorted in amusement, her drink shooting up her nose and sending her into a wheezing fit. Lucy handed her a tissue, patting her back.
"Beginner's luck," turned into "potential," which turned into "raw talent" which soon became "what the hell did we get ourselves into?" Loke, who had joined the game when Lucy had, was rendered broke first, Natsu and Erza two rounds later. Laxus had joined, as well as Gajeel, Levy, and Lily, thought the latter two didn't last very long. They were rendered moneyless within three rounds of their entry.
Cana had pulled out, simply to watch.
It would have been better if the others had dropped out while they still could. But Fairy Tail was nothing if not competitive. And Lucy was playing toe to toe with the most competitive of them all.
And winning.
She was in the thick of it, in her element and it showed. Stacks of coins piled up around her, along with the carious odds and ends the others had bet when they were out of pocket change and betting money. There was no fake innocence on her face at this point. Just the emotionless mask of a skilled poker player, cold, calculating, and blank.
After all, what was politics other than a game of chance with twice the risk? Lucy's entire life had been a game of manipulation and luck. While she no longer wore her poker face daily, a little trickery had never hurt anyone in the thick of a battle. She could calculate and out bluff any mage opponent with her life on the line.
Cards were a breeze.