After bookmarking the page she was on, Sithandra closed and set the hardback novel down on the small table beside her and massaged her eyes. She'd been off in her own world, her own bubble, and now that she'd exited, everything looked a little fuzzy. She was startled by sudden commotion coming from the middle of the room where her teammates were doing a bit of friendly gambling. At least, it was supposed to be friendly.
"That's it!" Ludek Sven exclaimed, standing with such force that he knocked his chair back with a loud smack!
Here we go again...
Sithandra watched silently from her cot as Ludek waved an accusatory hand in Iktac's direction, exasperated.
"I mean, why are we even letting this guy deal? Look how he's holding the deck!"
Iktac Volryn exploded with laughter. It was clear he had been playing a whole different game entirely. Now that he was caught, he saw no sense in denial. The jig was up. He laid his cards down face up on the table, and the hand was so perfect he completely lost whatever composure he'd managed to hold on to. It was a royal flush.
Ludek jabbed a finger at Iktac, who by now was laughing like a maniac with an open mouth and wide eyes turned to the ceiling, and shouted, "You fucking snake!"
Alvin Roy shook his head and tossed his own cards onto the table, over it. Ludek on the other hand, looked as if he might actually start swinging at any second (he was always looking for a reason to spar and favored a devastating right hook that bent jawlines) but paused when Iktac stopped laughing. Temporarily. The Reptilian had to catch his breath, and did so with the same sort of inhaled yelling that one might do after holding their breath underwater for too long and finally coming up to the surface for air.
Lu's shocked expression morphed into a close-lipped grin that read I'll get you back. Sithandra knew he wouldn't though. Iktac was constantly trying to get one over on people, to manipulate or outsmart them. Not maliciously; he did these things simply because he was good at it. Ludek has a short fuse and such, is Iktac's favorite target, often at the cost of a black eye or several bruised granular scales or some sort of a combo deal involving both plus a little extra. Behavior which Sithandra referred to as 'literally playing with fire'.
Alvin on the other hand doesn't even bother with him. As far as he's concerned, at least when they're off the battlefield, everything coming out of Iktac's mouth is pure, uncut bullshit. Simple and plain. Sithandra herself tended to play it somewhere in the middle. Whenever Iktac would try to catch her up on the losing end of one of his backwards riddles, Sithandra would go along with it until she was able to flip it back on him.
One mustn't try to bullshit a bullshitter. Iktac may enjoy visiting, but logic puzzles and wordplay were her playgrounds. Sithandra leaned over and picked her book back up for another hour-long stint, desperately wanting to get a glass of water and to not have to get up at the same time. Maybe she could trick ol' Icky into getting it for her. She glanced back at the laughing maniac and decided against it. Sometimes Sithandra lost those mind games, and she could already see herself fluttering back in here with two glasses of water.
I'll pass.
Sithandra was nose deep in the pages moments later when Alvin received a sudden transmission from the team's handler, Director Brezzop. Everyone listened intently as he outlined to them what could only be described as the mother of all suicide missions.