Following the pair through the crowds, she thought she heard Mani say something but it got lost amongst the furore. She never considered that it might be the last time she heard his voice. Had she known, she may have dwelt a little longer on it, but instead she found herself completely focussed on the brunette and his enigmatic companion. She considered briefly the lockdown and realised that she didn’t have anything even remotely constituting a plan. The knowledge made her uneasy to say the least. 
As she approached the table, she drew up alongside Sky. Sparing the blonde little more than a sideway glance, she let her gaze settle on the unfolding card game. She watched Ruce buy-in a sit down. 

[color=98AFC7] “You think your boy has enough brain cells left to walk away from this one with his pride or wallet intact?”[/color] She asked Sky. Mani’s generously provided cigar still smouldered between her lips and she took a long drag. As she exhaled the thick, aromatic smoke whispered from her lips. She formed a ring with her mouth and blew a single smoke ring that whirled away from her, slowly expanding and dissipating as it went. [color=98AFC7]“Military man over there probably wipes his arse on 20,000 credits but for the farmer boy and your drunken mate…that’s a small fortune.”[/color] She added. [color=98AFC7]“Unless you know something I don’t?”[/color] She pulled once more on the cigar.

She had to commend the dealer’s dexterity as he expertly shuffled and dealt the cards across the crisp green felt rolled out on the tabletop. The man had done this before, his skill would not have looked out of place at one of the large corporate casinos, dealing hands to CEOs. Maybe he had? If so, what sequence of events lead to him ending up dealing hands to louts at the Down and Out? 

She watched each player look at their cards, watching the faces of each one, trying to read something in the movements of their eyes, twitches in the sides of their mouths. She was no novice but it’s not as though she had 20,000 credits lying around to buy-in.