It surely would be. [ The his laugh, low and dripping with honeyed amusement, isn't for those flirtatious words. It doesn't escape Lucius, the way embarrassment rises in the color of Eridanus' cheeks, or how the alien green of his eyes had widened so, or just how long it has been since any piece on the board has been touched. ] But is that not the nature of a wager? I wonder, Eridanus...

[ Lucius trails off, humming as if in thought. His fingers find his own glass, and as he lifts it to his lips, he makes a show of the slow and idle sip he drinks of it. Over the rim of that glass, Lucius' eyes roam with a scrutinizing gaze, studying every line drawn across Eridanus' face as if the contents of his heart were scrawled in the set of his mouth and the furrow of his brow.

Finally, though, the glass lowers, and Lucius cocks his head, the smile pulled across his lips a sly one. ] Whose turn is it again? It's been so long since you've touched the board that I've lost track.