Cheeky poker night [Mission/solo]

Mission:

It was a pleasant late afternoon in the village hidden in the sand, and Ray had found himself suddenly flush with heaps of cash thanks to the shady gentleman he'd met the other day. He still felt incredibly guilty and had promised himself that if anything more came of that shady guy, like something exploding, he'd come forward and inform the authorities of what he'd seen. He wasn't sure how they'd react to information like that in this village but, hopefully, they wouldn't execute him for obstruction of justice or anything. In fact, Ray wasn't even sure if Sunagakure had any laws or rules. He took a second to chastise himself for being stupid and doing more research on the village before heading off on to the day's plans.

In the tavern he had been staying at for the past day, Ray had found out that they were going to be hosting a poker tournament with quite a sizable prize pool. Now, Ray was no expert in poker - or any sort of gambling game, really - but he'd ended up playing a fair share of games with Sarah back in the Rice Village during quiet nights. A small sad smile found its way on his face at the memory. Sarah was... His only friend, really. It'd been about two weeks since he'd said goodbye to her and he still felt a small pit form in his stomach every time he thought about her having to run the clinic by herself. She was much better at him at medical care, but they still ended up with a lot of work shoved on their lap. Would she be okay funding everything? They spent a lot of money on supplies, would she be able to afford it all? Maybe he should send over some of the money he'd acquired...

No, she'd told him everything was going to be okay and to not worry about her. She'd somehow knew that he'd end up falling into this exact rut of being a total worrywart. She had this. He knew she did.

Ray exited his room and went downstairs into the tavern proper where the beginnings of the poker table were beginning to form. He grabbed a nearby chair and slid it underneath the table and sat down, eyeing up his competition. There were a few... Unsavoury looking people sat opposite him that he took heed of, making note to keep an eye on them in case they cheated.

"Boy, you're joining us?" The dealer asked, clearly taken aback by the young teenager joining them.

"I am," Ray said, getting himself more comfortably situated in his seat. He offered a hand to the dealer, "The name's Ray."

The dealer took his hands and, although slight, his eyes widened as he took note of the strength of Ray's grip. "Peter. You sure you can afford the buy-in?"

Ray released the man's hand and took a handful of the crumpled ryo he'd left in his bag the other day. The others on the table reacted with shock as the teenager emptied his ryo straight out onto the table. He sensed they all suddenly began to think of him as a semi-threat just then. He dragged the ryo back closer to his section of the table and eyed the rest of the competitors cautiosly.

"That's the table at maximum capacity. Good luck, gentlemen." The dealer said. And with that, the game was on.

WC: 572
Claims:
E Rank mission completed
1100 Ryo
5 AP
5 stats (Into vigor)
500 words into Paper Release to complete it. Other words from here and here.

Approved