B-Uno: Rated E for Everyone

The feelings around the table were tense. In a game of B-uno, nobody was safe. Alliances were short lived and the chance to win was a skip or a plus two away. At this point in the game, the wealth was spread evenly and it could be anyone's game. Some hands though, were better equipped than other. Arrie was next, and she looked down at her cards with a longing to take her opponents down a peg. 

"I'll play a skip. Sorry Jo-jo." Arrie teased Jousah as she placed down the green card. Jousah throwing his hands up in exasperation for the unfortunate play on him. Silently, Icarus played a reverse. Causing Arrie to now throw her hands up. "Seriously?"

Jousah's lips stretched into a devious grin. "Oh you don't like it when you get hit with la chancla?" He throws down a green plus two, then a second yellow plus two. "How about you run it back for me niña." Arrie begrudgingly drew the cards before Irvyll set down three sixes, ending on red. His eyes were locked on Jousah

"You know. I think we should keep things interesting. I'll play my wild blank, and we can swap hands in play order." Darlet sets down the card. Passing his hand to Icarus, who then passes their hand to Jousah, who passes his hand to Arrie, who passes her hand to Irvyll. Finally, Darlet is presented with his new hand, brandishing only two cards. "Let's go with, yellow.” 

Icarus, who now was stuck with a hand containing exactly zero yellow cards, went to the draw pile. Holding the first card in their hand, they turned to eye Darlet for a moment. Then they played a yellow plus two. Jousah played a plus two of his own in response. Arrie, left with the hand Jousah had previously excavated of any plus twos to counter this play, groaned in pain as she drew another four cards. 

"You know. It isn't polite to bully your only healer. Do none of you play Burrows and Demons?" Irvyll pulls out a reverse, changing the order back to Arrie. "Please. Play your cards dear." She smirks at Jousah, placing down a skip. Jousah sighs, and all eyes turn to Icarus. 

"You ain't got nothing in that hand that can hurt me. I would know, I made it myself." Darlet teased, and Icarus grabbed from the top of the deck once more. Hesitantly, they looked Darlet in the eyes. "You're bluffing." Icarus plays a yellow two. Followed by 6 more twos alternating between red and blue. Darlet's jaw dropped as the hand full of cards he got stuck with since the beginning of the game not only emptied Icarus' card count down to a tie, but also locked him out of using the two cards in his hand. 

"A cunning rouge will betray his allies. Especially a cocky bard like yourself." Irvyll interjected as Darlet pulled from the pile. Nothing of use ending up in his hand as he passed the turn to Irvyll. "I'm sorry, but did I say you were done?" He played another reverse. Sending the order back to Darlet, who begrudgingly drew another card he couldn't use.

Icarus played a blue nine. "B-uno! Draw two." Arrie interjected, causing Darlet to instantly snap to her, giving her a look of disdain. Jousah sucked his teeth in response and looked away without saying anything. "What. You gotta say it otherwise you draw?" She folded her arms. 

Irvyll put a hand on Arrie's shoulder. "I think it's a little unfair to use that ruling on the one who doesn't speak." Arrie looked confused for only a moment before she realized her mistake. Quickly turning to apologize to Icarus, but noticing that they drew the cards anyway. "Ah. It seems no matter. What's done is done." Arrie shrunk in on herself for a moment before Jousah played a card. Then another. Then another.

Triple sevens. "I just won la lotería. B-uno baby." Jousah jested. Arrie kept quiet, playing a red four. Irvyll played a blue four. Darlet once again had no blue cards, and drew again. Luck being on his side for once, he played his top deck. A swap hands wild. He pointed at Jousah expectantly. "It's green. If any of you want to win, get it to any other colour." He tossed the one card haphazardly over to Darlet, who gently slid his hand to the other. 

"Oh yeah. The colour is green." Darlet said with a smug smirk, only to have his face wiped clean in only a few seconds. Icarus set down all three of their cards. A green one and two red ones. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Irvyll and Jousah began clapping, and Arrie looked almost relieved that they still won after all of that. 

Icarus dug into their pocket, sifting through the note cards for one that shared colours with Darlet's horns. Handing it over to him, he couldn't help but smirk at his own crude handwriting. The card only had two words. 

Fuck you.