(Thank you for the prompt! ^_^ Sorry for the delay, finals season hit and then I wanted to prioritize thread replies. Send A Number to Experience One of My Muse’s Memories.)
“Are you sure you didn’t rig this?” Azi questioned, peering suspiciously between Phosa, the deck, and his own hand of cards.
“Of course I’m sure!” Phosa snapped, bristling a bit. “Shouldn’t you be asking Piper? It’s Piper’s game.”
“Relax. Azi is joked,” Chip said. She smiled at Phosa when Phosa looked up at her, then looked back to her communication device, proofreading before confirming the next sentences now that she had Phosa’s attention and the time to do so. While she waited for Chip to finish, Phosa flipped over the next card, beginning her own turn. “Joking, I mean. Azi just means, you are doing well, and Azi has had bad luck. He is poking fun at the bad luck.”
“Okay.” Phosa relaxed, glancing at Azi’s character and snorting softly. “You are having some problems, aren’t you. Sorry.” She turned back to her own move, slowly reading the card and comparing it to her own hand. Thankfully, she was better at numbers than reading, so that part went quickly. “Okay. Unless anybody’s gonna throw something at me—”
“I backstab you,” Chip interrupted. Phosa stopped, sighed, and glared at the cat, who was snickering softly.
“You little fucker. I trusted you.”
“This game is strange,” Azi observed, as Phosa shoved playfully at Chip’s head before finishing her own turn. “And it goes on forever.”
“It’s an earth nerd classic!” Piper corrected archly. “…sort of. Okay, not really, there are plenty of critics. But I enjoy it, anyway, I had to make you guys play it at least once. Besides, it’s good reading practice for Phosa.”
“Sure. The missing words are especially helpful,” Phosa said, rolling her eyes. “Also all the, ah–cultural? The cultural things I don’t get.”
“This one might have been a miss, cultural ambassador,” Azi chuckled, patting Piper on the shoulder.
“…You’re just saying that because you’re losing.”
