Klaus let out a low confident chuckle, cracking his knuckles.
Back on Earth, he had spent more than his fair share of late nights sitting around rickety tables playing high-stakes card games with coworkers at his part time job…
He knew how to read faces, he knew how to manage a betting pool, and he knew how to hold a flat deadpan expression when he was sitting on garbage.
"Alright," Klaus said, pulling a pile of small unrefined mana crystals from his supply bag and piling them between his boots. "Deal me in. Let's see how good the local game really is."
Anya smoothly retrieved the deck from Mirela, her tiny hands shuffling the bone tiles with precision before dealing three five-card hands face-down onto the stone.
Sparky immediately fluttered off Klaus's shoulder, dropping down to hover an inch above his cards so she could inspect his opening draw.
She took one look at his hand, buzzed her wings in intense disapproval, and pointed a tiny finger at a rank-two Iron tile.
