Card games in SR1 again! Or at least I try to see if I can get them to navigate through them. This is fairly early in the missions, so I apologize if the ordering is starting to get messy. The general chronological order of the stories is in Ch. 1 if any of you would ever like to check!

The pity beer she had scored off of the bartender was three-quarters of the way empty, and she wished she'd had enough cash to get another. It had been her third time at Tee'N'Ay since Troy had extended the invite weeks ago, and she was doing shittier than ever.

Everything that she had saved for this week's game after grabbing new clothes and ammunition had slipped through her fingers, and she kicked at the chair sitting next to her as the guys said their goodbyes and scattered throughout the club. Dee had tried to slip her a twenty on her way out, but V had shoved it back. She wasn't in dire straights, so she wasn't about to bum money off of her friends, especially after her piss-poor performance in front of them.

Troy pulled out the seat to her right, and she gave him the same gloomy expression she'd been wearing for the past five minutes. "Still feeling it?" he asked.

"I'll be feeling it until tomorrow. There's losing, there's sucking, and then there's the bottom of the fucking barrel. I feel like I've tunneled a good five feet below that."

"Bit harsh there, kid."

"Bad is bad. No point in arguing degrees." He sighed and V put her head on her arms. If she was going to wallow, she was going to wallow. "I'm a lost cause."

"Cut the melodrama, you're fine. In fact, I was wondering if you wanted to get in another game or two."

"Troy, I'm broke," she told him, sitting up. "The only things I can put up for a bet are my clothes, and unless you're looking for a real short game of strip poker, I'm going to be naked before I learn anything useful-"

"I don't give a shit about betting, V," he said, cutting her off fast. "I'm just asking if you want to play. You keep on coming by, so I thought maybe I could give you a tip or two. Keep you from losing fifty to Stu's shitty hands. Or hell, that one that Johnny pulled last week."

The smug smile Gat had given her after she fell for his trick had made her livid. "Just when I'd forgotten about that. Lovely. Sure you even want to waste your time here?"

"You're not bad," he said, shuffling the deck. "You're just spending too much time thinking about your own hand. You've got to watch the others, because even if you do have a winner, there's always a chance that someone else can trump it. Nail that down, know when they're on the ropes, and you'll clean them out every time. Johnny's no different. Doesn't hurt that he also plays like he fights. Brute force can only carry you so far in a game built for the opposite."

She watched him continue to shuffle as he kept his eyes on her instead of the cards, and was curious. Getting the chance to make Johnny pay was pretty tempting as well. "Okay. Maybe I wouldn't mind that. The game's not the same without betting, though."

"Yeah, about that." He put the cards down and checked his cigarette before putting it out. "Could always put up pennies, but there's no real incentive to win pocket change."

"So what were you thinking then?"

He lit a new one and pushed the pack towards her. "Could trade facts. You win, I tell you something. I win, you tell me something. Doesn't have to be important shit, either."

"So, I could totally give you my shoe size and it'd count?"

"It's a fact, so why would I call bullshit?"

She was torn. When she'd joined the Saints they hadn't cared who she was or where she'd come from. There had been no pressure to share anything, so she hadn't bothered to. On the flip side, she knew next to nothing about the people she was working with, and none of them had ever tried to pry.

Troy's attempts here and there hadn't been too bad, but this was an invitation. She could turn him down, and it wouldn't affect anything. If she accepted, he'd be free game as well, and she wasn't sure if she wanted to give that chance up.

She grinned and took the pack. "That is probably the strangest way someone's asked to get to know me better."

"Up for it then?" he asked, exhaling.

V reached over and grabbed the cards once her own cigarette was lit. "Only if you are."

Troy smiled and gestured for her to deal. Her competitive streak kept her confident through the first read of her cards, and when she replaced two, she actually ended the turn feeling pretty good.

Then he put his cards down. She had to bite her tongue to keep from swearing. "You would get the first hand." She dropped the cards and tapped her fingers on the table. "My favorite color's red."

"I hadn't noticed," he replied flatly.

She shrugged, and definitely gave him a coy look. "Hey, you said anything, right?"

"I did." He dealt them out this time, and spared his hand a glance before he shifted his attention to his cigarette. He gave up one card, and she racked her brain as to what it could mean. She was still trying to do so when they showed their hands again, and he kicked her ass.

She groaned. "I went to school."

"High school only, or...?"

"College. Tried it, but it wasn't for me. It helps if what you're there for is what you're interested in."

Her cards went into the discard pile and he threw his in after. "You got distracted."

V felt her jaw clench. "What?"

"This last turn you spent too much time thinking about how I was shifting around. It threw you off."

"I'm only keeping an eye on one other person, so..." Troy quirked his mouth and she aimed her eyes down. "Fuck. I'll work on it."

They began their next turn and she put everything on lockdown. He kept his eyes on his cards, and she did the same, studying them closely. Things looked pretty good on her end again, and she tried to steal a glance at him from under the brim of her hat.

He raised his eyebrows at her and she frowned. Then she put her cards face up on the table.

"Shit," he said, grinning. "Got one." His cards went to the side and he held his cigarette between his fingers as he thought it over. "I've got a couple of siblings."

"Oldest?"

"Nah, older brother, younger sister. Don't really hear much from them anymore, but...they're all right."

V shuffled the cards and nodded. "That's good. Can't exactly phone home about this, eh?"

"That would be a fun call, wouldn't it? Probably give my mother a heart attack while we're at it. How about you? Any brothers or sisters?"

"No, I'm...an only child." It was technically true. Not being related to your siblings did let her have a bit of leeway there. "Probably for the best."

He took a drag and she tried to ignore the way he was looking at her. Before she knew it the next turn went to him, and she puffed away at her cigarette as she mulled it over. "Shit. Um, give me a second."

"Where'd you get your hat from?"

She coughed on the smoke she was inhaling, and held up a hand when he tried to touch her shoulder. The beer she definitely did take when he offered it, and she took a large drink of it when the itching in her throat stopped. "It's from my mother. You're one nosy motherfucker, you know that?"

His hands paused as they flipped through his cards, and she almost missed it. "So I'm told."

"She-" The words wanted to come out. V watched him look up, and she took another sip of the beer before handing it back to him. "I didn't see her often, so it's pretty much all I have. The damn thing should've fallen apart by now, but it's tough. ...Don't know what I'd do without it."

He tapped the stack of cards against the table. "You want to stop?"

"No," she replied, and she meant it. "I've only won once. I've got to get at least one more detail out of you before I throw in the towel."

The empty bottle went to the side as he finished it, and she noticed the almost sedate way he was passing the cards out. She finished her cigarette while she considered the cards sitting in front of her, but he didn't push her to hurry. Instead he handed her another cigarette and lit it while she conveniently forgot about the lighter resting by her elbow. The way she leaned towards him was something she decided to ignore as well.

"I don't like this one," she eventually said, blowing smoke out of the corner of her mouth. "Might just fold."

"You sure?"

She smirked. "Hell no. That's why I'm thinking out loud. It's a nervous habit."

"That's a tell." Troy rubbed his lips as he examined his own cards, and she tried not to glare at him. He held up his cig. "This is one of mine. Sure you've noticed something by now."

"Bits and pieces here and there. It's only one of your defining characteristics."

"Old habit. ...And honestly not the best one to have." He held his cards up and she went for it, sick of staring at their backs. It wasn't much of a contest and she grinned wide. "That's two for you."

"So..."

"So..." he said in return, imitating her.

"Why the Saints?"

"Fuck." He actually looked mildly surprised. "Payback, eh?"

"Kind of. Just curious, you know? Everyone obviously wants to help Julius, but there's always something else to it. You're not Dex, and you're sure as hell not Johnny. Wouldn't even pin you as a banger most days, but that's just due to the way you handle yourself. Dex is the same, to be honest."

Something in him tensed at her comment, but he wasn't mad or irritated. "Not exactly the poster child for urban crime?"

"I'd figure you more for those old smoking ads. It's so fucking tough not to light up around you."

He chuckled and she was glad to see him relax. "Blame me for that, but it goes both ways." Troy tapped the ashes off of his cigarette into their ashtray and shrugged. "You ever see a problem, but wonder if anything's being done about it? People talk, they say that the issue's under control, but you still see the exact same shit going down day after day. People are hurt, drugs are being slung openly on street corners down from schools, and a drive by is just another two second comment on the afternoon news. It's rough, and no one wants to give a shit, or say how much of a problem it really is."

"Are you from the Row?"

"No, but it's still part of Stilwater," he said, meeting her eye. "This is our city. Shouldn't we be working hard to see that all areas are doing fine? That's what Julius told me after his initial pitch about cleaning up the Row. You start there, why stop there?"

"That's...pretty fucking admirable."

He shook his head. "Don't."

"What?" she asked, frowning.

"You're making a big deal of it, and it's not."

"It is."

"We're cleaning up our home. Maybe even trying to be decent human beings while we're at it. Sure, it could be noble, but gunning down bangers and their dealers seven days a week shouldn't qualify."

"Well, doing that saved me, so maybe I might find that worth admiring. Just a little."

V saw him pause, something unfamiliar crossing his face. Then he tilted his head to the side, and she wasn't sure what to think of the look he was aiming at her.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she pushed her chair back to get up. "Good game. Catch you tomorrow?"

Her feet carried her past him, and she just kept on walking.