RP: Poker Night

[damien_j]

Date: December 2, 2011
Characters: Soledad Navarro, Damien Jackson, Jasper Woods, Ezra Loy, Miranda Jackson, Ariel Crabtree, Gigi Campbell
Location: Damien and Soli's apartment
Status: Private
Summary: Just a way to get some friends together and relax.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[ezra_loy]

Ezra chuckle and let Ariel pull her and away, momentarily contemplating keeping the game going as he replied. "Are you sure of that?" He asked with a teasing smirk while he took a step backwards, attempting to be nonchalant as he weighed the option of going for her hand again or not. "Though you're supposed to be winning my money back tonight, so I should let you keep both your hands." Ezra commented with a laugh, though a part of him would have liked to keep the game up.

Ezra nodded and echoed Ariel's own 'thanks' to Damien as the other guy excused himself. He could tell Ariel seemed to be relaxing more, and maybe he'd ask her about her earlier behavior at some point. Curiosity really did have him wondering what had made her go so tense, though he had a feeling it probably had something to do with Damien. "Honestly, I don't know who's coming." Ezra replied, "Didn't really ask for a guest list. Though I think another friend of mine is coming, at least she made it sound that way when we talked." He wouldn't fault Miranda if she didn't come though. "So yeah, probably a question best left up to Damien to answer."

[ariel_crabtree]

“Yupyup, so unless you want to help me hold my cards or something, I should probably keep it,” she replied lightly, wiggling her fingers teasingly at him. Perhaps it came off as flirting, perhaps not, she was just being her normal self. “So unless you plan on being attached to me all night, might be for the best.”

She still stuck a hair close to his side as they went further in to join everyone. There was, at least, no chance of anyone else she had ever slept with being here-she hoped, at least. If Zeke or Josh were here, she was fleeing. “Who’s your other friend?” she asked curiously, figuring it couldn’t hurt to ask.

[ezra_loy]

"I don't know, the payoff might be worth trying to figure out how to juggle your cards and mine." The words were really out of his mouth before he thought about what he was saying. He laughed as she wiggled her fingers at him, and with reflexes he was still surprised he had after over a year of being out of the service, Ezra managed to reach out and snag her hand. "I don't know being attached to you all night doesn't sound all that bad."

He noticed how she was still closer to him than he thought she would have normally have been, and he really had to admit he didn't mind that at all. When Ariel asked who his other friend was, Ezra realized he probably should have named Miranda earlier. "Oh, Miranda? I met her over the summer at a barbecue that was hosted by a friend of my sister's. She's his sister in law, or ex-sister in law, actually." After he finished talking he kind of realized that didn't exactly explain Miranda well at all. "She and I kept running into each other randomly, so I kind of figured we should try and be friends."

[ariel_crabtree]

Ariel shrieked very quietly when he grabbed her hand. “Wouldn’t it be?” she said, tugging her fingers futilely. Laughing, she turned the tables on him by shifting her hand in his so they were holding hands more than he was holding onto her hand. “Might just be a little too close for you, sweetie. I can get awful bothersome.” She giggled up at him, nudging her shoulder against his arm.

“So a rather tangled way of knowin’ someone, but I get it,” she said with a nod. “Y’get relationships like that back home, only they usually involve more of being related to each other and dating someone related to them by marriage or extended cousinship,” she said, wrinkling her nose and grinning. “Sounds like a good reason to be friends, though.”

[ezra_loy]

Ezra paused for only a beat before he realized that her shriek had been playful, and nothing to worry about. "I think the payoff would be worth it." He answered, tightening the hold on her hand as she tried to tug her hand away. Chuckling slightly, he opened his mouth to make another remark, though promptly closed it as Ariel turned her hand so that he was no longer simply holding onto her hand while she struggled to get it back. Glancing down at their hands, Ezra had the distinct thought that he should let go of her hand now, and yet as so often with Ariel lately, his brain and his body were not communicating well. "Too close? I highly doubt that. You don't seem all that bothersome to me." He grinned as he peered down at her, and again in that moment he was struck by how attractive she was, and this time he wasn't even shocked that he'd thought that.

"You could say that." He agreed with a nod. "Never really had a 'back home' to compare that to. Didn't think it would be so common to run into a person repeatedly in such a large city, but apparently it can happen." Ezra laughed, he couldn't argue that it was a good reason to make friends. "Well it's not a bad reason, no."

[ariel_crabtree]

"Would it be, now?" she said, wondering what the payoff would be for him. She smirked faintly when he was rendered temporarily speechless by her turning things just a bit on him, though why it worked for more than a second she wasn't sure. A lot of people were put off when you simply held their hands, though.

Her lips quirked up. "You do realize, hon, that if I'm gonna play cards like this, you're gonna have to be my chair?" she said teasingly, bumping her hip lightly against the side of his. She was a girl used to being pulled into random guy's laps, so it wasn't a problem for her most times. It didn't mean too much in the grand scheme of things.

"It happens everywhere, I guess. Take it as the person is put in your path for a reason, then," she said. She didn't say anything about God, as she never knew how people would take that these days.

[ezra_loy]

"It would. I mean the way I see it, if I continue to hold your hand you'll be forced to keep my company all night, and I kind of enjoy your company." Ezra answered with a grin. He wasn't going to look closer at it than that, or at least he wasn't going to elaborate, especially not when he was still trying to figure things out in his own head.

He laughed. "Have to say I didn't realize that, no. I would imagine it's not like I'd really notice, you are after all tiny." Ezra's reply was honest. That thought hadn't exactly crossed his mind, though now that Ariel had brought it up, he couldn't exactly get the image out of his thoughts. "Wouldn't be the first time I was used as a chair." There, that didn't give away what he actually thought about it her point, and it was the truth. It wouldn't be the first time, and it likely wouldn't be the last time either.

"Fate, right?" He was well aware of the whole 'it's fate' thing. A lot of people brought it up to him after his accident, trying to ease his otherwise dismal thoughts. A couple people had even said it was God's plan, though Ezra had never been particularly religious, he could respect other viewpoints.

[ariel_crabtree]

"Well, for that all you have to do is ask," she told him honestly, squeezing his hand slightly. Ezra was a good friend, she thought. Different than what she had with Harley and Thad, to be certain, but good. It was nice to finally have a couple of people she could rely on in her life.

"Mm, I'm sure I could still make your leg fall asleep," she mused quietly. She was tiny, but approximately a hundred pounds, give or take ten at any given time, was still a hefty enough amount. "I'm sure it's not, but I'm also sure it's probably your nieces usually, and they're all still smaller than me, I think." Though she hadn't really met them yet, so she couldn't say for sure. She didn't mention that it had also been his boyfriend--if she remembered it right, the first time she'd met him, Kyle had been in his lap.

"Fate, God," she said with a slight shrug. "But it is something of a sign, I think, when you keep running into the same person all the time. Makes you think a little, at least. There's only so much coincidence in this world."

[ezra_loy]

"Where's the fun in that?" He asked with a smirk, although he stopped himself before he said something about how asking would eliminate the possibility of holding her hand like this, 'cause yeah, he could stick his foot in his mouth, but even he knew saying that would make things awkward.

"I don't doubt that." He agreed, aware that although she was tiny, she would still have the ability to do that. "It usually is my nieces, yes. And Kyle used to do it, also." Ezra had to figure they were both thinking about that fact, since he could remember the first time he'd met Ariel and the fact that Kyle had pretty much been glued to him that night, no point it acting like he didn't have a past. "So guess you could say I'm used to it. You're bigger than my nieces, but smaller than him." And he had to wonder if it was awkward to talk about his ex with Ariel, though probably not as she wasn't aware of how he felt about her, or how he thought he might feel about her.

"Right, God." he said with a nod. "So you believe in a higher power, then?" It wasn't a judgmental question really, just curious. "Yeah? Probably is, and anyway Miranda's a fairly nice girl, so I don't mind running into her. "True, so someone has to have a hand in things, right?"

[ariel_crabtree]

"Mm, you have a point, I suppose," Ariel mused, nodding. She supposed it woudl rather steal the fun out of the process, though it was true, all he had to do was ask anytime.

Ariel nodded. "Thought I remembered that," she said, lifting a shoulder. Kyle had been bigger than her, it was true. She hadn't much been near him, though, so she didn't know much about him in general. She hadn't been around him but the one time. "Used to it is good, I suppose. I'm used to being put in a lap, so it equals out, then, doesn't it?" she said, not bothered by the mention of his ex.

"I grew up in church," she replied with a slight shrug. "So yeah, God and all that. Jesus, heaven, hell." She glanced sidewise up at him, knowing it wasn't that common with some anymore, though it wasn't like she was devout or even judgmental. "Yup, that exactly."

[ezra_loy]

"Or I'm just complicating a simple thing like asking for your company." Ezra countered, grinning slightly. The teasing was fun, and liked holding onto her hand more than he thought he should, but maybe just simply asking her would be better over all.

Ezra shrugged a shoulder and nodded. "Good memory." He said, realizing that his ex had been fairly clingy, so it wasn't surprising that Ariel would remember that about their first meeting, as it hadn't been an uncommon thing. "Think it probably does, guess it's fate." he answered with a grin, and he was definitely thinking about this too much.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, though he wasn't particularly surprised. "Didn't spent a lot of time in churches growing up, you could say we're the 'we go on holidays' sort of family." And even that had been sporadic at best. "So you really think someone has your entire life mapped out?" Ezra's tone was curious, he really did wonder what Ariel's thoughts about that were.

[ariel_crabtree]

"Well, I don't mind either way." She enjoyed the banter they usually shared, though she knew that sometimes it bordered on silly. She had had precious little silliness in her life the last several years, and it seemed sometimes like she was making up for lost time, even though she'd be twenty-three soon.

"First time I met y'all. I remember faces," she said, shrugging slightly. It had been a fun night for her, and she had only had a couple of beers. She had no problems with couples sharing a lap, she'd done it a lot in her life, as she enjoyed the closeness, but she had specifically remembered because she wasn't used to being around gay couples. It had been weird though she hadn't minded it.

"I'm a bit like that these days," she admitted almost wistfully. "I only went on the holidays the last few years." And it made her sad. She really should be a better Christian. She shook her head. "No. God gave us freewill, but He is there to give us guidance. Or so I was taught. It's up to us to make the right decisions."

[ezra_loy]

Ezra knew he could be goofy and silly, but life was often times hard enough, why make it worse by being serious all the time. He enjoyed their banter, even if sometimes it was redundant and silly. "Well, I'll keep that in mind, then." And he was definitely not thinking about doing this more often, well, not only thinking about that.

"Is it strange to admit that feels like a lifetime ago?" He asked. Hadn't even been a year, and yet Ezra already felt like an entirely different person again, which was a common feeling he'd been having since the accident.

He just nodded, not uncomfortable talking about God, but definitely no used to it. "Guess you could say I missed that memo. I didn't really grow up identifying with any one religion." He wasn't even entirely sure if his parents were Christians or not. "The concept of someone you can't see giving you guidance just seems kind of odd to me...." Ezra kind of hoped he wasn't offending Ariel right now. "Not that it's bad or anything, that's just placing a lot of trust is someone you can't see, y'know?"

[ariel_crabtree]

"Not too strange really," Ariel said. "Seems like a long time ago I moved down here, and it's barely been a year, so." She shrugged. She felt lik ean almost completely different person, even though she knew deep down she was the same as she had been in many ways. Only she was better at taking care of himself, a bit. And maybe a little braver than before.

"Well, Ezra, that's why they call it faith," Ariel said simply, looking up at him with large, serious eyes. "I might not go very often, but there's still faith there." She pushed her hair back and smiled slightly. "Perhaps it's odd, but I guess to me if you don't have faith in anything, then you don't look for anything good." She'd always been told that she looked for the good too much. She rarely saw the bad in people until it was shoved up under her nose.

[ezra_loy]

Ezra nodded, relieved that Ariel understood what he was trying to say. It'd been over a year since his accident, and the subsequent change in his life. "Life before my injury seems like another person lived it." He definitely didn't feel like the person he'd been before his accident, and he knew he'd done a lot of changing in the time since. Was still changing actually, still figuring things out.

"Right, it's where the saying 'blind faith' came from, right?" Or at least that's what Ezra had always thought, since most people who believed in God did so without knowing if he truly existed. "Do you have to have religion to have faith, though?" He wasn't being judgmental at all, he was just curious about someone else's take on things.

[ariel_crabtree]

"Sometimes I feel like that. And sometimes I think I'm always gonna be that girl from back home," Ariel said softly, shoulders lifting and falling again. She tugged on her ponytail, resettling it slightly. Sometimes she really did think she'd always be that girl.

"Pretty much, I think," she said with a nod. She hmmmed in thought. "I dunnos. I don't think so, after all, atheists have faith in other people and things all the time, right? But I'd like to think there's some greater power, at least, out there. Someone to watch over us."