#also i will keep in mind the cards but artair just assumes he shuffled them back in so he's probably not going to think anything of it lol

[townofcadence]

"So basically modulus 10 of whatever cards you draw, and highest hand number wins. You just bet on which hand you think that is." Artair comments as the rules are explained, but for the most part he watches Jonas play with the cards like a kid might play like they're a waterbender in a pool; it's far more impressive given the solidity. He's definitely dextrous.

He raises a brow at being shown a set of cards, but doesn't think much of it when they disappear into the deck. It was interesting how he knew just where to flip, to show him the cards he wanted to, which was inherently impressive. But it also filters the thought in his hand that someone with so much sleight of hand with cards and control of where they're going might just be very good at setting up a difficult game if he played his cards right.

He shakes the thought away with a minor twitch of his head. Did it matter? The point was to help this guy and pass the time. It wasn't like they were betting real money and he has something to lose.

He finally moves to seat himself across from Jonas. It'd be easier to play this way. Once seated, he looks at both decks with a indecisive hum.

He didn't have much reason to pick any of the options in particular, when there wasn't much logic that he could apply. It was like blackjack-- Eevie taught him to play that at least, so it was the best equivalent he could think of. That game was also all up to chance, but with a little more control because you knew what you had. This was akin to--- watching two people play blackjack without seeing the cards, and guessing who had higher. Risky, but there could be fun to trying to predict the answer. And if later rounds weren't shuffled in, then maybe some skill could come into play as well.

Finally, after a few moments of deliberation, he shrugs. "Mmm. I guess I'll bet Banker."

Jonas made a self-dismissive little noise but it was clear he appreciated the compliment. " Eh. Thanks. That's a nice thing to say. Anyhows. Baccarat's a casino game but it's pretty straight forward. Here's the basics."

He turned the cards over in his palm and snaked them smoothly out across the bench. With a delicate turn of his fingers, he rippled the row of cards over on their sides to reveal the four suits all in a row and ordering from 2 to 9. " That's what you call a ribbon spread with a turnover, flashy huh? Anyways. Cards two through nine are worth their face value in all the suits. "

He gathered up the cards, shuffled them and did the ribbon spread again, this time revealing the 10, jack, king and queen all in their suits when he turned then over. " These all have a face value of zero. " Again the cards vanished in a flurry of shuffling and then were flipped quickly between his fingers. He held up a card that spread into a fan of four right in front of Artair's eyes, all the aces in their suits. " Aces have a value of one. " A little snap and the joker peered out from behind the aces. " And you don't use the joker at all. " He plucked it out and laid it to the side as the cards snapped back into one pile. He began doing a very complicated looking cut as he continued talking, the cards flipping through his fingers, pivoting acrobatically over each other's edges. " Also the highest possible combination of cards you can get would be nine. Because say you draw a 6 and a 7..."

The 6 of hearts and the 7 of spades appeared in front of Artair's eyes. " That's 13 right? Clearly over nine. So in that case you just punt the 1 and leave the 3. So 10 becomes 0, 16 becomes 6 and so on. "

He went back to that complicated looking flurry of card movement he had been doing earlier. " This is called the Sybil cut by the way. " he remarked. " It's one of my favorites along with the Five Faces of Sybil. "

With a little flourish the cards unfolded in his hand so that Artair could easily see the faces of all five cards

Queen of Spades. Ten of Clubs. King of Hearts. Seven of Hearts. Ace of Spades.

And just like that he had folded the cards away again and pointed to himself. " Anyways for the sake of simplicity...banker. " He pointed at Artair. " Player. " He patted the space between them on the bench. " Tie. So! A quick practice round. "

He dealt two cards to himself and two cards to Artair, all face down. " You wanna bet on the player, the banker or a tie? "