Chapter Text
Amy was a special Nandroid. Not like the others you had met, but she could still do everything you needed around the house. She just...has her moments...but that’s what makes her special! Like the time she brought you an old pack of playing cards she found while cleaning some forgotten corner of a closet.
“What’s this?” You’re caught a bit off-guard, certainly Sterling would have trained their housemaids in traditional American pastimes? But it is Amy so...
“They’re playing cards Amy,” you say after a quick glance.
“How do they play?” Oh Amy. Sweet, special Amy.
“...You use them to play games.” You choose your words carefully, hoping to avoid more confusion.
“Ohhhh, I want to play!” She opens the pack and slides the cards out, fanning them wide to get a good look at all the faces, leaving you to wonder if she truly has never seen a deck of cards or if she was just having one of her moments and has simply forgotten what they are. “How do you play cards?” she asks again, giving you a broad smile.
“Well there’s lots of different games…” You sigh. You really don’t have time for this right now.
“Will you teach me one?” Her big blues eyes are locked expectantly on you and your resolve fails in an instant. You can’t just tell her no, you have to teach her to play something. It’ll be easy, just start with the classic.
“Sure, let’s play Blackjack.” You take the cards from her and begin mixing them up before placing them on the table as she excitedly hangs on your every word.
“I’ll deal two cards to each of us, you add the value of the cards together and try to beat my number without going over 21. Ready?” She nods enthusiastically, scooting even closer. You deal the hands, yourself showing an 8 with a 10 as the hole card, and Amy with a 10 and a 3.
“I win! I win!” she shouts, startling you.
“No Amy, the game is still going. We now can take more cards to try and get as close to 21 as we can. Do you want another card?” She stares at her own cards, deep in thought before reaching down, attempting to flip over your other card. You reach up and stop her just in time, patting her hand softly.
“No wait, I’m the dealer, you can’t see my other card until you finish taking cards. You have to try and guess what I have and if taking a card is worth it or not.”
“Ohhh.” She says, drawing out the thought as she leans back and begins to think again. Weren’t Nandroids supposed to be really good at math or something? You swear you’ve heard her tell you that before. But she sure is taking her time looking at the cards. Doing...advanced calculations? Maybe she’s forgotten the rules already…
After a bit she replies, “Give me two cards.”
“How about one and you tell me if you want another after that?” You offer instead, hoping to lead by example.
“OK.” She nods approvingly. You deal a 6, giving her 19 total and jump right in to the explanation.
“Now I wouldn’t take another card, you’re really close to 21 and most of the cards in the deck will make you lose if you take another.” Content with your explanation she stands and you flip your own card, showing 18, and announce Amy as the winner, much to her delight. Another shout, that you’re prepared for this time, and you can’t help but smile with her. She does have such infectious enthusiasm. And of course she wants to play more, so you deal the next hand.
“I got a K!” She exclaims in suprise, as if she hadn’t just been looking at the faces of the cards.
“That counts as a 10, Amy. You’ve got 20: a 10 and a king.” You can’t help but smile at the entire scenario.
“No more cards,” she says matter of factly, extending her hand like a traffic cop, as if to stop you physically from dealing anything to her. You yourself had a 17, so stand, netting Amy another victory. She can’t get enough of this game at this point. You deal the next hand and place a queen down first for Amy, causing her to gasp.
“A q...,” she whispers, as though it’s some well kept secret. “Is that worth more than 10?”
“No Amy, it’s a 10.”
“I thought kings were 10?” She huffs. Maybe you should have explained the rules fully before jumping in like this.
“Both are 10s. All the face cards are 10: jack, queen, king, all 10s,” you square away with her. She glares for just a moment, unsure if you’re trying to trick her to give yourself a better chance at winning, but accepts your explanation and with such a good hand, gets another win. You deal the next hand, finding a strange enjoyment from just seeing how excited Amy can get from such a simple game.
“I got two As, that’s 20!” Her excitement over getting aces is apparently much stronger than the ability she had to keep her queen a secret and she shouts again.
“No Amy, the ace is worth 1 or 11, you can choose.”
“Can I pick 21?”
“Amy…” Sweet, sweet, special Amy...but you can’t do it. What’s it matter if she doesn’t know how to play Blackjack fully? She’s had so much fun and you can’t help but protect that enjoyment.
“Sure Amy, it can be a 21 for you,” you say, defeated by a little special Nandroid.
“Oh I just love blackjack!” She smiles with glee. You spend the next half hour playing Amy’s Blackjack, which seems to always involves letting her win, but that’s just fine with you.