Chance is the only game I play with, baby

[foxsays]

WHO: Araceli Bonaventura, Korrin Ataash, Anders, Fenris, Schrödinger's Teren
WHAT: The wooing of Capitán Gloriana Valdez by the Inquisition
WHEN: While everyone's adrift
WHERE: Llomerryn
NOTES: ooc post + full plot details

Gathering everyone together is the first bit of the easiest step of the plan. Settling them all at a table marginally more difficult considering who the company are (a Warden, two mages, a warrior, a rogue, not everyone best suited to liking one another but needs must) with less friendly, more curious eyes than Kirkwall on them as Araceli makes sure to keep herself between Korrin and Anders at the table when she comes back with drinks.

"Each captain is master - or aims to be - of their own destiny and of their ship but like everything it's about who you influence; is it your ship, is it a few ships, a small fleet, or is your word law?" Araceli leans close over her rum (watered, insultingly watered because she's a stranger and she hasn't earned the rights to the good stuff no matter how like them she looks without the hand or what she knows of a ship) with a smile as if she's telling a great story. That's what friends do in taverns. The people at the next table go back to their cards and Llomerryn Red. "I know the woman: Capitán Gloriana Valdez. A woman of reputation, three ships to her name, ties to the Felicissima Armada.

"Now," she pauses to take a drink, "what I'm proposing is that we go to her local - the Maker's Mark, what a name for a tavern, here of all places, "we need to woo her. So drink up, if you don't know the way we can all go, we look suitably roguish or fearsome or interesting to get in the door, some of us have faces befitting of reputation, no?" As plans go, it's a nice simple plan. Locate captain, woo captain, rewards. But she expects questions because you know, fearsome pirate captain, how does one woo a pirate captain, has anyone else heard tale of this dreaded woman and so on but it's a start at least.

(If anyone says what can go wrong she might try to sell you for kraken bait.)

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

He grins back. They're so very close to Antiva which means she might mean more than just birds, and he doesn't know her take on the Crows, new or old. It's best to play it safe when they need an ally.

"I'd tell you the whole story but I doubt you'd beaklieve me." The last joke had gone over well. He'd even gotten a groan from Araceli, something he considered to be a great win. If he can actually help with wordplay this might be one of the best days of his life. Or at least one of the most fun ones. "I'm a very talonted man."

His eyes go back to the table as he tries to follow where all the coins are going. Some to Fenris, some being paid out on the side. Bets on Fenris? Bets on something else? She's a pirate, and Isabela always had a dozen things going at once. He leans forward on the back of an empty chair, returning his gaze and smile to her. His heart is taken. That doesn't mean he's forgotten how to smile at someone attractive.

The man at the head of the table is dealing again, and Anders wonders if he should be trying to distract her so Fenris has a better chance of winning or not. Maybe not. She'd probably figure it out. But he will provide commentary and jokes; it could get them what they want.

[foxsays]

You don't get to where Gloriana is without having a face that rivals a bard or a Chantry mother's in holding it all in - another reason why she's so comfortable placing bets on a stranger, she recognises a good face, a sound way to play a hand - when you might wish to do otherwise. There's not a flicker on her face even when someone close crumples. Goes down hard in a heap snorting and wheezing, red-faced.

"I know a murder of them," since they're talking of crows, "who would pluck out an eye and your tongue for speaking such slander."

(Yet the crowd are relaxed, no one seems to think it's a reason to be offended, no darting eyes or attempt to sober themselves up in the presence of the ascendant captain commanding not only the fortune of her ship but many others.)

At the table, the woman by Fenris raises her bet since there's suddenly more at stake but her brow furrows when she looks into her cards as if they're about to start talking to her. Diamondback after all is the dwarven game, brought up to the surface with the ones that get cast out or seek their fortunes. Fortune isn't going to be finding her tonight, lady luck walked away and took the woman's dignity with her into the bargain.

[lyriumcarved]

"I'll be sure not to disappoint," he responds evenly, knowing that he's got quite the game ahead of him, if he wants to keep this winning streak going. There's a great deal of luck involved alongside the skill that's needed, and he seriously hopes the cards are with him. But now the pirate captain's attention is right where they want it, so that part is at least happening. So far, so good?

He starts in on the next round. If there's anything he has going for him, it's his innate ability to keep a serious expression. He doesn't give much of anything away as he draws, discards, meets the current bet one round, raises it in the next.

Still keeping aware of his surroundings, Fenris also hears bits here and there from the conversations going on around him... including Anders' continued puns. He groans inwardly, but he has to admit, it seems to still be working, given the reactions happening all around. He's pretty sure they'd find out fast if it ever stops working.

He keeps most of his focus on his opponent, studying her closely as he meets her bet. She's definitely got some obvious tells... he thinks back to what he'd learned from those countless games with Varric and Donnic. She's getting overconfident right now. He can use that.

Another round its through, and once more, they're revealing cards. As Fenris shows off his deck, there's an eruption of cheers from those who'd placed their bets on him... and some disappointed sounds from those who'd bet otherwise. He's got this one too.

[foxsays]

It's after that hand that someone leaves, looking somewhere between disappointed and relieved to rise from the table. Gloriana smiles at Anders who's free to follow if he wishes for a good vantage point as she takes the vacant seat across from Fenris quite comfortably.

"Ladies, gentleman," she greets with a heavy Antivan accent. The wave of her hand asks for her to be dealt into the game and so she is quickly as she fans out the cards before her, looking over them at Fenris. Rivaini Dalish pass through Llomerryn now and then, bolder and more likely to trade than their kin elsewhere, and she's had dealings elsewhere since it's easier to procure a lawless passage than a lawful one for you, your landships, and all your halla, but those markings...no. Not Dalish or she'll cut up her best boots and eat them before her rivals.

"Not many people play Diamondback, and most of those that do are shorter than you by a good head or so. Everyone with Wicked Grace, the suits, the pretty cards," a sigh is heaved, dramatic enough to toss her hair to, "but none of the true skill and grit of Diamondback. If you have the courage to play against me."

Her opening gambit is a bold one but she can do no less than that being who she is.

[lyriumcarved]

It had been a dwarf who'd introduced him to the game in the first place, but definitely not a very conventional one at all. Still, maybe having learned from Varric is what's given him a bit of an edge here. He'd learned a lot of bluffs and tricks from him that he might not have caught on to otherwise.

As Gloriana approaches and takes a spot at the table, Fenris knows that now is really the time to start getting even more serious about this. He's been doing that anyway, but this is where he needs to be both cautious and impressive, to show off a bit. He's got a few tricks he can pull out, anyway, things he'd picked up during all those countless games. He just has to hope that luck is also on his side, because he's definitely learned from a few losing evenings that luck can be as important as skill. A little of both will be needed here for sure.

"I enjoy both, but I've always found Diamondback to be more exciting. As you say, there's a lot more skill involved, less reliance on chance." He likes the strategizing it often takes to pull off a win. The cards are getting dealt, though he doesn't look at them just yet. "And I'm looking forward to this... I'd say I'm up for meeting your challenge," he says almost slyly, as he looks at his hand now, and starts out with an opening bet.