Mallory

“Wait, we’re going right into a challenge?” Michael said. “How does that team switch affect it?”

“For this one, it doesn’t.” Ruby said. “You are still playing as individuals. The game is poker.”

“I hate poker.” Sarah complained. “Buncha douchebags in hats and glasses staring at nothing.”

“We hope this will be a little more to your liking.” Ruby added. “Considering your ass is on the line, literally. Ask your newest teammate.” The venom in that last part made Mallory shudder. Ruby whipped a loose deck of cards face up onto the table, and they spread out across its surface. “The rules are simple. Because no one wants to see you sitting around ‘in a hat and glasses staring at nothing.’ Instead of playing a hand of cards, you will be the cards.” Ruby waved her hands and the symbols and numbers began to peel from the page and swirl around the room.

“What the-” Mallory reached out to pluck at one of the whizzing symbols, and a diamond jabbed her in the palm. “OWWW, son of a bitch!”

“Daughter of, more like.” Al said. The diamond bounced off her hand and flew straight at Mallory’s forehead and sticking there, being joined by a red J immediately after. Mallory rubbed at it, but it wouldn’t come off.

“Hehe, Jack. On her face.” Al mumbled to himself. He elbowed Ruby in a ‘get it?’ gesture, but she just sidestepped out of his reach.

“For example purposes, Mallory here has become the Jack of Diamonds. And now for the rest of you-” Ruby splayed her fingers, and the vortex began spitting out suits and ranks in all directions, sticking to all the girls like a pack of angry hornets.

“There MUST be a better way to do that.” Vivian rubbed her forehead, which had been smacked by a 9 and a Club.

When all seven had been “marked,” Ruby continued. “We will make the best hand available from the seven girls. The five girls in the hand will receive points, the two girls out of the hands will lose points, and the one at the bottom gets a strike. Or worse.” Ruby glared at Vivian again.

“What if there’s a tie?” Danica asked.

“Ties are broken by suit rank. Spades highest, then Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs. Looking at this example, the seven of you would be ranked as such.” An image appeared on the screen for the benefit of the viewing audience.

“So I’m just fucked then?” Luciana said. “How am I supposed to make a 3 of Diamonds better?”

“We’re getting there, don’t be impatient.” Al said. “First off, this ain’t your opening hand, it’s an example. It also shows how your lucky power won’t work here, but it also lets us explain the game.” He held out his hand and closed his fist, and the numbers and symbols peeled off each girl and flew back to the cards. “After the opening draw, there’s two rounds. Each of ya decides what you want to do, and you reveal it at the same time. Then we go around the table in order. You got four choices.”

He held up his stubby fingers to count them off. “One, you can hold your current card. Two, You can agree to trade cards with another girl. Easy peasy.

“Three, you can drop your card and draw a new card. No one else gotta agree with you, but if ya do that, you’ll get an extra transformation on the voting round. So you’d better hope that card is good.

“Or Four, you can steal a card from another girl. The good news is that you’ll get one less transformation if you do that, but you gotta get at least one. The fans like it. Sorry, babes.”

“Encouraging cutthroat play…” Vivian said, nodding almost appreciatively.

“So someone could have just taken my Ace?” Janet asked.

“Moves are entered at the same time but revealed in reverse order of the hand, lowest card first. So if you traded the Ace with Mommy Danica over there first and Mallory tried to steal it, Danica would be holding the Ace and you’d have the 5 when the thief took the card. She’d get the 5 of Hearts. And you’d get a new card from the deck, Janet. Maybe it’s better, maybe its worse. Maybe you could take Danica in the back and convince her to swap your Ace right back to you, lookin’ her over I think she’s in a dealing mood.” Al winked.

“Do I play in this game?” Michael asked. “You gave me a chair.”

“Right-o, Mikey, you get the most fun part.” Al reached his fat finger down onto the table and speared a single card, which he then slid in front of Michael. “That’s the Joker. You can play that at any time, including after the final round. Give it to a girl and it replaces hers with the best card possible - she’d jump straight to numero uno.”

“So I can just pick the winner?”

“Don’t forget, Mikey, you’d also be picking the loser. You push one girl into the hand, and you pull one out. You save a girl from seventh place, and the girl in sixth takes her place. Look around at all the fine asses in the room and decide which would look better with an X on it.” He grinned at Michael.

“It’s a lot of power, Michael.” Ruby said. Maybe even life or ****. Mallory thought. “Use it wisely. Or not at all. That’s your choice as Master.” Ruby finished.

“Fan-fucking-tastic.” He said, looking down at the card as if it might bite him.

“Excellent, well now that everyone is all up to speed, let’s deal and play!” Ruby clapped and began to distribute the first seven cards…

[AN: For this challenge, the readers will be voting before the game to determine who wins. Follow the vote link below to choose the five women who should be in the winning hand. I will then use the vote count to influence a random draw that determines the final order (got to mix it up somehow!)

Additionally, please Vote on whether Michael should use the Joker.

If you have any questions, hit me up in the comments but please do so before you vote.]

Current standings:

The Vote is Closed, thank you all!