Only for the briefest moment after Ric responded did Merri suspect he might have said something wrong, but the smile the other man offered convinced Merri that it was perhaps some sort of inside joke he was not in on.
"I'll grab it," he said, standing. He asked where to find it -- he didn't feel right rummaging through Drake's bedroom after all -- and after Drake told him, he found it on the dresser exactly as Drake had told him. He returned and took the cards out of the box before offering them to Drake, happy that he'd offered to deal. The last time Merri tried to shuffle cards, he had made a mess everywhere. Though he still couldn't help but to offer: "If you start hurting, let me know and I'll shuffle for you." If Drake wanted to deal, of course he could, and Merri was thankful he'd brought some painkilling potions with him.
"I'll need a refresher on how to play this game," he added sheepishly to the rest. "It's been a while." And, he recalled too easily, he had been awful at poker, but hopefully this time he would fare better.