Gamblers are never nervous. Nervous is something you absolutely do not want your fellow players to notice about you, and it is a habit you should absolutely divest yourself of. Unless you’re playing a friendly game with me, in which case by all means carry on with your tells. You don’t think you have a tell? A gentleman such as myself would never point out another person’s moment of… opportune fortune.
(James is a professional gambler, in which he professes to trying to make his living gambling, or professes to gambling instead of holding down a steady job. Your choice to interpret that as you see best. Also, he’s one of the cast of the Also-Rans, and is an adventurer to boot.)
“Here’s the honest truth about luck: Sooner or later, you are going to be on its bad side. You know how that song goes, ‘Luck be a Lady Tonight?’ Well, I reckon the singer was hoping fortune would stay by his side, as a polite yank of the “well I brought you here, so you’re mine tonight” chain, perhaps? Putting demands on a lady is a surefire way to get her to act hostile to your inclinations, I have discovered, but that is besides my point. No, I bring this up because it is quite clear to me that Lady Luck can be downright judgemental about a person, and decide at her own whim whether or not she will even favor you with a curt glare before doing you harm.”
“Is there an upshot to this, dare I say, inevitable screw job we all partake in when we chance things? Well, yes! Knowing that you’re eventually going to going to be worked over, either by the cards or some well dressed slabs of beef who crack their knuckles before a hearty handshake begins on your kneecaps, takes the stress out of it. Why worry about something that might happen when, in fact, you know it will happen? See? Put like that, and why, there’s nothing to be nervous about, is there?”
“So what do you normally do when you know with certainty that there will be tough times ahead of you? Well, you know that other song they sing about gambling, and yeah, you gotta know when to walk away and know when to run. The point is, no matter what speed you are heading to the exits in, you first have to locate the exits and plan to be as gracious as possible as you make for said exit. Put like that, you now only have one thing to focus on, and none of them are the thing that you were supposed to be nervous about.”
“Now, shall we place a friendly wager on whether or not my words reach a bigger audience than my companion? Mr. Jaxon‘s done blown up, and with his star power, I can only but hope to compete in my own little way, but try I must. Reputations require it, after all!”
The Also-Rans 
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