Feels very, very odd to come back here.

"I fold."

"What? We just started! Ugh." The man across throws the cards in his gloved paws on the table. Among the face-ups, two jacks stare up in disgust.

"Well, I'll start the next round." The cards, jacks in tow, are gathered up by the other companion at the table, hands pale as a corpse. It's a stark contrast when they reach for the card stack, with the first player's marred knuckles next to it, tanned from decades under the Shanghai sun. They sit proudly amidst the glove's leather, but unfortunately they belonged to a man so straightforward, so dense, that the sheer effort of a poker face would probably kill him outright. A giggle sneaks out, but what's a few laughs to a round of no-stakes poker?

Regardless of these thoughts, the cards are shuffled, cut, then dealt smoothly. The aforementioned man snatches up his share. "Ha! Good ol' Buddha is smiling upon me today!"

"Giving up altogether, Shen?"

"Can it! I know you have a good hand, I can smell it." Ew. Shen, or Shen Woo; the infamous Shanghai's God of War himself, barrels on, ignoring the wrinkle of nose from that last comment. "Come on! Let's duke it out, man to man!"

Another snicker. A set of beautifully painted nails lay on the table to rest, four different white insignias, on a layer of black. "Now, who can resist a challenge like that?" The nails coyly tap the wooden surface, once, twice. "Alright, I'm in."

"I raise." The other player, Duo Lon, opens his mouth. Unlike Shen, there's a true poker face on him, except for a mild look of concentration. Or not, Duo always looked like that.

Shen grins, all teeth and fangs. It's almost tragically obvious that the declaration barely registered to him at all. "Ha, bring it on!"

"Hold on, I raise too." While the declaration is mostly to cut the gangster off, it's just isn't in style to let someone so gloomy take the spotlight.

Duo Lon barely lifts an eyebrow in response. Even that's elegant, somehow. "I raise again, then."

A whistle. "Spicy! You must be feeling confident! Odd, coming from you." The last line comes out as a nice, long drawl. Not much of a pressure, considering the opponent, but still fun! "One more raise for me as well, then!"

"Hey! What are you trying to pull? I'm the one who challenged you, not that fucking stickman!" The Shanghai-local barges in swinging. The 'stickman' flashes a dry look, but keeps quiet. It's funny, but also eye-catching, with how the thick black stripes of Shen's tattoos ripple in outrage via the steely biceps beneath. It's admittedly, a little mesmerizing. No wonder Shen flaunts his breasts out all day. "What are you even raising anyway? This is a no-stake match!"

"True...What about dinner? Loser gets the check." Duo Lon nods, and there aren't any special words from Shen either. "I've been eyeing this pretty nice seafood restaurant 5 minutes away from here🎵 Or not, I hear they don't allow dogs to enter. Sorry, Shen, but we'll have to go without you."

You'd think the man was on fire by the steam spilling out from his ears. "You-I'll-Shut up! We're playing, right now!" Oh, he makes it so, so easy. Too easy, really. "Call!"

Shen's hand is definitely good. A flush of spades, two, four, nine, with a King and Queen. His grin and boast's immediately shut down though with the next hand. "A full house?!"

"You did say my hand was good!" Amidst the three 5's, the red joker agrees, its grin matching well with the paired 7. Ignoring the loud curses, the garish mask turns to the remaining player, who still has his cards under those corpse hands of his. "Come on, Duo Lon. The restaurant closes around 10, and I want to look nice before going!"

The swearing stops. "If you show up in a bowtie, I don't care if we're teammates. I'm going to stick you into the ocean myself."

"I don't know Shen, a dip in some water suits you far better. You did shower today, did you?"

"You-"

"Eight of Diamonds." They both turn their heads, but Duo Lon's tone is unchanging, low and impassive. The way he lays out the cards face up is the same, in his own pace. "Eight of Hearts. Two of Spades. Eight of Spades." Un, deux, trois of a kind. There's still a card left in those long fingers, but with how things are going, it can only be an Eight of Clubs. Or just maybe-

Maybe it's because the outcome is already clear, but by accident, the gaze on the cards slips, and lands on the opposing pair of eyes. Something flashes, in those red blood-like irises and ah. Of course. From the first raise, it'd become something beyond this trivial game of poker, but before that can be fully processed, the game's already decided.

"A second joker? What kind of crazy luck do you bastards have?" True to Shen's word, there it was; a second, glistening black joker on the table. It stares, conveying the exact same message that Duo Lon's eyes have. For a brief second, the thought of setting the card on fire along with the man seems enticing, but it's turned away with a snort and a stretch of the arms. "I swear, you two better not be cheating-"

"Oh lighten up, Shen. It's just dinner." The fun's all gone now, but defeat should be taken with grace. "Good match, Duo Lon🎵"

"It was close. Still, I must say..." The assassin brushes some of his bangs to the side, masking one eye. It's a mundane act, so when Duo's voice suddenly jumps up an octave, no one is prepared for it. "Don't play your trump card till the end...the very end!" Dropping the hair and falsetto, Duo Lon turns to them in the same calm expression as if nothing happened. "...So, how was my Ash impression?"

They stare at him for one, two, three seconds before Shen Woo starts howling, banging on the table and scattering cards as he barrels over himself in laughter. Not him though. There were a slew of reactions to choose from; from laughing it off, giving a scalding remark, to even puffing up his cheeks in a show of protest. None of them comes forth though, and he finds his lips pursing in a straight line.

"Well, Ash?" Even Duo Lon is smiling, à la a small thin curve. I want to figure you out.

Lips still pursed, Ash Crimson defiantly twirls the edge of his bang around his index finger, and remarks "terrible."