A/N: Yes, I apologize profusely for not updating sooner…and once again…based on a true story like all the ones in this series are going to be…this time I'm Maria…and my cousin Joey gets to be Fayt and Frankie is still Albel.

Disclaimer: I do not own star ocean and neither did I create the game of strip poker….I'm perverted, but not that perverted.

Albel was beginning to get extremely bored. The thing he hated the most about being stuck in space was that there were no enemies to fight. And for some reason, Fayt believed that attempting to kill Sophia was a bad thing. Fayt would also not let Albel break things. He had said something meaningless about how the ship wouldn't function without control panels. Albel hadn't really been paying attention. But now he was very bored. He absently tapped his feet against the floor and scowled as he slouched into his chair.

Maria walked into the room to pick up a few weapons from the metal crate near the table Albel was sitting at, temporarily distracting him. "Would you like to play a game, worm?" Albel asked, a cruel gleam in his eyes.

"What kind of game?" Maria asked warily.

"Oh, I believe you maggots call it poker."

Maria did not like the look on Albel's face at all. She frowned and put a hand on her hip. "You want to play strip poker, don't you?"

"Of course not," Albel said innocently. "I will not strip you against your will. That won't make the game very fun."

Maria scowled. "Albel, I don't want to play with you. You're going to find some way to cheat just so you can get me naked and laugh at my expense."

Albel glared at her. "What kind of a person do you think I am? I don't need to cheat."

Maria sighed and tapped her foot indecisively. "Look, Albel. I really don't want to look at you naked or have you look at me naked. Can we just stop at undergarments and not go all the way?"

Albel sighed and rolled his eyes. "But that would be cheating because women wear more undergarments than men."

"Not all women," Maria said indignantly.

"Okay, not all women, but most. You would have underwear and a bra while I would only have underwear."

"I don't wear a bra," Maria informed him.

Albel stared at her in awe. "Well, I think you can play then."

Maria sighed. "Fine, I'll play with you. Give me a second and I'll go change into some other clothes."

Maria returned a few minutes later, wearing at least three shirts and two skirts over a pair of shorts and a pair of pants.

Albel rolled his eyes. "This is going to be a very long game."

Fayt walked into the room, following Maria. "She invited me to…" His gaze fell onto Maria's layers. "Sweet! I'm going to go do that too!"

"No more than five layers!" Albel roared after him. "You guys will make this game take forever."

Fayt and Maria sat down calmly facing Albel. Albel scowled. "I hate you all. Why did I ever decide to play with you?"

"Umm, because you're bored?" Fayt offered.

Albel banged his head on the table. "Yes, and I'm becoming more bored by the second. Someone deal the card before I fall asleep."

The three played for several rounds. Fayt did not really know how to play poker, but he had incredible luck. Fayt normally had the best hand, but since he was too embarrassed to pick anyone to strip, they had decided that the person with the lowest cards would have to.

Albel also seemed to have good luck. Maria suspected he was cheating, but she said nothing. Albel was only wearing one layer of clothes, but he did not lose the game. Maria was the first person to lose.

With a heavy sigh, Maria removed her shirt. Fayt made a strangled noise and pulled his shirt up to just below his eyes. "Albel, I though you said we weren't stripping all the way!"

Albel kicked Fayt hard in the shins. "Idiot! She isn't wearing a bra. Didn't you notice she had nothing under her shirt?"

"Oh," said Fayt sheepishly.

Maria sighed again. "Well, guys, it looks like I lost. I'm going to go now and get something from the other room." Maria disappeared down the hall with her clothes tucked under her arm.

"Too bad," Fayt murmured, rising from his position on the floor.

Albel grabbed onto Fayt's shirt. "Where do you think you're going, fool?"

"The game's over, isn't it?"

"No, it's not. And now that Maria's gone, we're going to go further." Albel grinned wickedly.

Fayt looked shocked. "Further?"

"Yes. We're going to go all the way."

"But-I didn't agree to this!"

"Shut up, fool or I'll cut off your balls."

Fayt fell silent and Albel grinned. "Good. Deal the cards, fool."

Fayt sighed. "This is going to be a long game."