“Two pairs.” An older man said as he lay down his cards. He had a pair of fours, a pair of sevens, and a ten. The brawny Dimuran’s lips curled into a smile as he loosened his grip and lay his cards down face up as well.

He didn’t say anything, but the cards spoke for themselves. He had three of a kind, fives. They both looked to Adrianna, who shook her head a little and placed her cards face down on the table, folding for the table. She didn’t have anything decent this hand. The Dimuran took the pot, a few cooper pieces, and then tossed another into the pile.

“Can’t we up the ante a little?” The older man asked.

Adrianna had set the ante, keeping it low. Her reason was that they were trapped on a boat, and if someone lost too much money, there would be a lot of tension in a very small space. Lots of things made people angry, but one of the biggest instigators of conflict was money. The last thing she wanted to deal with was someone feeling like they had been cheated out of their life-savings…not to mention the fact that she was pretty confident she couldn’t take the Dimuran in a fight if it came to.

“The kid set it.” The Dimuran said, gesturing to Adrianna.

“I know, but come on, let’s make this a bit more fun.” The older Muran replied. 

Adrianna opened her mouth to explain her reason for keeping the ante low. Before she could, however, the Dimuran spoke up once more. “This is probably all the kid has. Don’t try to con him out of his savings, Lago.” 

“Yea, yea…” Lago readied the cards for the next hand. They seemed to accept the reasoning given by the Dimuran, and Adrianna wasn’t going to argue with them. It was plausible that she, a young lad, didn’t have enough money on her person to bet more than a few copper each hand. Besides, Adrianna won the next hand and had won a few earlier as well. She could be very good at cards, but she didn’t want to be [i]too[/i] good. 

“So what brings you to Galloway?” The old man asked, trying to make conversation, or possible distract the Dimuran from noticing his tells. Of course, the Dimuran wasn’t terribly interested in making small talk, and he grunted as he stared intently at his cards.

“Looking for work.” Answered Adrianna a few moments later. It was plausible, and it wasn’t even entirely a lie. She was looking for new work, but she didn’t plan on staying in such a busy port city. In truth, she had been considering getting work on a vessel, and had spent a while watching the crew swab the deck and tie knots and such. This little trip was a bit of a test run, and assurance that she absolutely did not want to get work on a boat. There was absolutely no privacy, and given her…condition, the tight quarters just weren’t feasible. On the plus side, at least she knew one thing she [i]didn’t[/i] want to do.

“What kind of work? Do you have any skills?” He asked.

“A few.” Adrianna said. “Why, are you hiring?” 

“No, no…Just making conversation.”

“What are you going to be doing in Galloway?” Adrianna asked in return.

“Meeting family. My son’s wife just had another baby, and I’m coming to visit em.”

“Sounds nice. Enjoy yourself.” They continued to make small talk through the next few hands, though the Dimuran mostly kept his thoughts to himself. Lago pressed him a bit, but Adrianna didn’t pry. She understood that some people preferred to keep their privacy.