Work Text:
I win.
•••
It was a little hard to be entertained while out at sea, but Jean DeLamer and his crew found ways to overcome boredom. One way was through card games. He had grown so used to be around people who knew how to play every card game that he was surprised when he found out that Wenona didn't know how to play any.
"I was never interested in it," was her explanation.
"That's not going to work," Jean replied. "I'll teach you how to play one!"
Wenona agreed more easily than he thought, but he wasn't complaining. With his old playing cards that had seen as much of the sea as he had, Jean decided that he was going to teach Wenona how to play the card game War.
"You want to win all the cards," he explained as he shuffled the cards. "We flip over the cards at the same time, and whoever has the highest keeps both. If they're the same, we both put another card face down and another card face-up. Whoever has the highest card takes all six cards."
"So there isn't actual skill involved," she said.
"Nay, it doesn't," he agreed, "but it's one of the most famous ones, so I thought it's a good one to start with."
"Why is it called 'War' anyway?"
"Because the players 'go to war' when they have the same cards."
"Huh..." He knew that whenever she had that tone, she thought something was stupid.
Jean also knew that when Wenona thought something was stupid, she warmed up to it if she was positively affected by it. So, he might have cheated, and the cards weren't actually random. She got most of the higher cards, but not all, in case that seemed too obvious. Once Wenona won, she would have that proud smile he loved, and he could then teach her more card games!