Chapter 1: Card Game
Seifer | April 9
"Seifer! I had a feeling you'd be here."
Seifer looked up to find Quistis facing him, arms akimbo and glasses perched on her nose with subdued yet tasteful charm. Even on a Saturday morning donning workout attire, she somehow managed to give off that Instructor-like vibe, despite the fact that she had chosen not to return to her teaching endeavors.
"What trouble did I get into this time?"
"No trouble," said Quistis brightly, taking a seat at his table. "Just boredom."
He shut his copy of Weapons Monthly and grinned at her. "Boredom is also known as a precursor to trouble."
"Not my boredom," she clarified. "Selphie's."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "What's she up to?"
"She and Irvine are coming any minute now. They want to play a game of cards. Hope you don't mind that I'm including you."
"Sounds like a rousing time," he commented dryly. Then again, playing cards would probably beat spending the weekend napping himself into oblivion. It was true that the world—and by extension Garden—was experiencing an unprecedented era of peace following the vanquishment of Sorceress Ultimecia, to the extent that there wasn't much for the gang to actively defend these days. At least not anything involving political strife, extreme peril, and constant explosions (though that was a pity; Seifer did have a thing for explosions).
Quistis suddenly smiled and waved at someone behind him. Seifer craned his neck to see Xu and Nida approaching them. It appeared that the two, like Quistis, had just completed a morning jog around the quad.
"Hi! Do you want to join us in a game of cards?" asked Quistis.
Seifer and Nida exchanged a friendly fist bump.
"Triple Triad against you? That's a battle I'd rather not fight," said Xu resignedly, taking a sip from her water canteen.
Quistis shook her head. "Not Triple Triad. I can't remember what the game is called, but Selphie mentioned it's played with a regular set of cards."
As if on cue, Selphie bounced over to them as Irvine trailed lazily behind her.
"Hey! Are all of you gonna play?" said Selphie eagerly. "The more participants we have, the more fun this will be!"
"I'm down to play," said Nida. "Whatever it is, you sound enthusiastic about it."
"I'll be content with watching," declined Xu politely.
Seifer dragged a couple chairs over from a vacant table.
"Alright! Listen up folks," said Irvine. He took out a pack of cards from the inner pocket of his jacket and started shuffling them with nimble hands. "This highly addictive game is called Trabian Grat Screw, and the aim is to get all of the cards into your hands."
Seifer predictably snorted at the mention of the name. Xu looked thoroughly unconvinced that this game would bring about Selphie's promised fun.
"Keep your cards face down. You can't look at 'em at any point. Consider this a practice round." Irvine dealt an even number of cards to Selphie, Nida, Quistis, and Seifer.
"Starting to my left and going clockwise, draw the top card of your deck and place it in the center, like so." He had Selphie demonstrate for the group. Her first card was an Ace.
"Whenever a player draws a face card, the next player must also draw a face card. If a player draws an Ace, the next player gets four chances to draw a face card. King, three chances. Queen, two. Jack, one. If Nida fails to draw a face card within the allotted number of tries, Sefie here gets to take the pile for herself."
Nida went next. 7, 4, 10, Jack.
Irvine nodded approvingly. "Successfully accomplished in four tries. Quisty, you now have one attempt to produce another face card in response to Nida's Jack."
Quistis flipped over her card. 8.
Nida happily claimed the pile.
"The good news," continued Irvine, "is that there are 'slap rules' that can override the face card rules. Using a slap rule is another way of winning the pile for yourself. There are quite a few of these, but let's just focus on the simplest ones for now: Double, Sandwich, and Marriage."
"Slapping?" said Seifer. A wicked grin crossed his lips. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about."
Irvine grinned back at him. "This game ain't designed for those with low pain tolerance. Don't say I didn't warn ya."
"You know what would make this game even more fun?" said Seifer.
"What?"
"High stakes."
"What do you have in mind?"
"I don't have any gil on me," said Nida, shrugging.
Selphie raised her hand. "How about the winner gets to claim something from each of the losers?"
Irvine turned to the rest of the group. "Okay with y'all?"
The others echoed their agreement.
It was Seifer's turn. 2.
"Pause for a moment," said Irvine. "If Sefie draws another 2, that's considered a Double. Whoever is the first to slap the pile, earns the pile—regardless of whose turn it is."
Selphie. 7.
Nida. 2.
Irvine pointed to the pile. "2, 7, 2. That's a Sandwich. It doesn't matter what's in the middle, as long as the bookends match."
Seifer's hand flew to the pile.
"Nice, Seifer," he praised. "If multiple slaps occur, the person whose hand is on the bottom gets to keep the pile. Oh, and the final slap rule is called a Marriage. Keep your eyes open for a King-Queen or Queen-King combo."
Quistis scooted closer to the table. "What happens if we run out of cards?" she inquired.
"You're officially out of the game, but you can always get back in using the slap rules," explained Irvine. He eyed each of the players in turn. "Keep in mind that if you incorrectly slap, the penalty is to contribute two of your cards to the bottom of the pile."
Nida cracked his knuckles in preparation. Xu patted him on the back encouragingly.
"Last but not least, hovering your hand near the pile isn't allowed! And don't forget to remove all jewelry."
Selphie wiggled off her ring and tucked it away into her dress pocket.
"Any more questions?" said Irvine.
"Nah," said Seifer. "Let's play."
They stumbled through the practice round at a somewhat bumpy pace, and Quistis conquered the game in a matter of minutes.
"Didn't I tell you all?" exclaimed Xu. "Quistis is a natural, no matter what card game it is."
"I wouldn't be too confident about the outcome, Xu," retorted Seifer. A competitive glint sparkled in his eyes. "The game's only just begun."
As they moved into the first official round, the four players shouted, screeched, and shrilled their way through the game, eliciting startled looks from students passing by. A few of the curious ones came over to watch them play.
Seifer swore under his breath at a mistaken slap. "Hey! Playing dirty, are we? I saw you move your hand toward the pile." He glared at Selphie as he gave up two of his cards.
She blinked at him with exaggerated innocence. "Irvy, is there a rule against feinting?"
Irvine stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You mean pretending you're gonna slap the pile to deliberately confuse the other players? Not that I'm aware of, babe."
"This is war," declared Seifer, gritting his teeth.
Throughout the game Quistis remained poised, though she would let out occasional squeals of frustration that amused Seifer to no end. "Seifer, what's so funny?" she demanded repeatedly, to which he would simply crack up all over again.
"Argh!" said Nida. "All of us just missed an opportunity to slap."
"That's because Quisty is putting down her cards so fast," complained Selphie.
"This is turning into a surprisingly long round," observed Irvine. "Or are we already on the next one…?"
"I've lost track," admitted Nida. He swept up the pile, scoring a chorus of cheers from the huddle of students crowded around their table.
"Me too," said Selphie. Her eyes were glued to the center pile with fierce concentration. "Also, is it just me or are you guys getting kinda hungry?"
"I'll be right back with snacks!" yelped Xu. She bolted out of her chair, clearly reluctant to miss a second of the heated gameplay.
4.
5.
4.
SLAP!
Queen.
9.
10.
10.
SLAP-SLAP-SLAP! ("Ow!")
On and on it went, the game escalating to a feverish crescendo of hoarse voices and battered hands.
"Getting tired, Quistis?" taunted Seifer as he triumphantly collected the pile.
"Not a chance, Seifer," she countered coolly. Xu extended a piece of butter croissant to Quistis. She quickly swallowed it with minimal chewing.
"I'd appreciate getting fed too," said Seifer pointedly.
"Sorry Seifer, but I can't root for everyone. This girl here is my star player." Xu threw a cheeky smile his way as she tore off another hunk of the croissant for Quistis.
Xu had taken the longest amount of time to accept Seifer as one of their own. It was only thanks to Quistis, who had invested a significant amount of effort to smooth out the rough edges between the two, that he was even able to enjoy these bantering conversations with Xu—usually biting, but never without a healthy sense of respect for the other.
Seifer grinned to himself as he felt Quistis stealthily passing her bread to him underneath the table. Once…twice…thrice.
The next slap imploded in a tangled mess of fingers.
"Hold up!" shouted Irvine, obviously enjoying his role as referee. "Everyone slowly peel back your fingers, starting from the top. Let's see who has the most fingers touching the pile."
Selphie won by a digit.
"Okay Sefie, it's all yours."
She pumped an arm into the air.
Eventually Seifer and Quistis faced off in what appeared to be the final round of the game. Each protected a lone card in their hands. The entire quad was hushed with anticipation.
With as much grace as she could summon, Quistis relinquished her last card. It was a Queen.
Seifer revealed his. It was a King.
Selphie's hand zeroed in on the pile, causing the table to quake with the enormous force of her slap. Several of the cards went flying into the surrounding shrubbery.
"BOOYAKA! I WIN!"
"Wait," said Nida. "What just happened?"
The group stared uncomprehendingly at each other.
"That," said Irvine, "was a Marriage." He beamed at his girl. "Queen and King."
There was a collective sigh of realization from the group. Some of their observers applauded lightly.
Not a single Marriage had cropped up in their game until Selphie's coup de grâce, so the possibility of this combination hadn't even been on Seifer's radar. "Well played, Selphie," he acknowledged.
"Good game," agreed Nida.
Quistis gave Selphie a thumbs-up. "That was quite the death blow."
The crowd around them began to dissipate.
"So what's the punishment?" said Xu.
"'Punishment' is such a strong word," objected Quistis.
"Quisty's right. This isn't a punishment. Instead, think of this as contributing your spectacular talents for this year's Garden Festival!" said Selphie, presenting her most winning smile to the group.
Seifer groaned. "Of course you would rope us into participating." Then, with a hint of suspicion: "Are you sure you didn't con us?"
"How were we conned?" said Quistis.
"Selphie was holding back till the end," grumbled Seifer.
Irvine chortled. "And who was it that wanted a 'high stakes' game?"
Seifer shot Selphie an accusing look. "She's the one who suggested the prize!"
"Sure, Seifer," laughed Quistis. "This whole thing was just a ploy to get us all to volunteer for the Garden Festival."
"Game or no game, wouldn't we have helped out with the Festival anyway?" said Nida.
"No," said Seifer and Xu in unison.
Selphie did a little happy dance. "Thank you in advance for your time and effort! I'll catch up with each of you individually to let you know your assigned role for the Festival. See you all later!"
The six friends returned to Garden's main ring and parted ways.
Seifer turned to Quistis. "Thanks for having my back."
"I couldn't let you go hungry! That was nowhere near enough food, though."
"Yeah, I'm starving." He looked at her closely. "Hey, are your hands okay?"
Her eyes widened, as if surprised by his astute observation.
"You looked like you were in a little bit of pain earlier."
"I'm slightly achy, but I'll be fine. It was all in the name of fun."
"I'll grab you an ice pack from the infirmary." He pointed in the direction of the cafeteria. "Go grab some food and wait for me there."
"Okay." Quistis smiled gratefully at him. "Thanks, Seifer."
Author's Notes: In real life, Trabian Grat Screw is Egyptian Rat Screw. Same game, same rules. I only tweaked the name. :)
