Casino Night!

[broken_brushes]

When I'd first come up with the idea of Casino Night, I wasn't sure if it was even possible on the island. In retrospect, that might have been naive of me, because if there was anything I'd learned in over four years on Tabula Rasa, it was that its residents were capable of doing just about anything save getting home

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[knowthyexits]

If there's one thing that Sarah is good at, it's keeping on a blank face while the whole world crumbles around you and machines take over. She can cope with disaster. She finds emotions harder, but that's not what poker is about. She's been playing steadily for a while, now, her attention fixated on the cards and on awkwardly rubbing her heels against the back of her calves to try and adjust them.

Hours have passed before Sarah thinks she needs a break, taking her chips with her and searching for the nearest waiter with a drink tray. The chips start to slip to the ground and she's on her knees picking them up before she can find someone with a drink.

It has the result of doubling her resolve to find one.

[motherfuckaa]

Hank almost didn't recognize her in the dress; neither had he imagined her as a hands and knees kinda gal, but apparently he was destined to be proved wrong.

He quirked an eyebrow as he peered at her. "You looking for some other guy's teeth down there?" A valid question he thought, since she seemed to have a penchant for violence. Hank was just lucky he'd kept all his teeth last week.

[knowthyexits]

Sarah peers up from where she is, a sheepish smile on her face that's covering her immense relief that she can lie again. She slowly gets to her feet, getting the last of her chips together and smirking at him. "I only found some chips. Should I be looking for teeth, too? I think I kept my cool all night."

[motherfuckaa]

"I don't buy the innocent act," Hank mused, openly contemplating her. "Maybe you were fighting robots under there," he decided, tilting his head at her and smiling provocatively.

[wingerguarantee]

"Oh, come on, really?" he said to the dealer as the chips he had down were taken away. That had to be the fourth time now he lost everything he won at this point.

Jeff had gone into the casino assuming he was going to clean the place dry. He hadn't been a stranger to Las Vegas back when he had a steadier paycheck, and never did too badly for himself. Here, though? Here, it was different. Here, apparently all luck had left him, because he'd been playing for an hour now and had next to nothing to show for it. It wasn't like he really needed the chips, but it was getting kind of pathetic.

"Go ahead," he grumbled to whoever was behind him as calls for bets on the roulette table he was standing by, stepping aside to give room. "This is a stupid game anyway."

[fakejaded]

"Aww, are you being a sore loser?" Britta cooed, lashes fluttering in mock sympathy. "Don't worry, I'm sure you won't fail quite as hard at the next table. Drink?" She held out the tray she was carrying as part of her waitressing duties, grinning. She loved Jeff, she did (and not in the way she'd once said, okay, but he was a friend, people loved their friends, even the weird, annoying ones), but it could be fun to see him in a situation he couldn't just talk his way out of.

[wingerguarantee]

It hadn't even registered at first that it was Britta standing next to him. The outfit she had on (though a different color) reminded him of the one she'd worn to that Valentine's Day dance. It got the same unexpected head-turning reaction out of him, anyway, and it was as unexpected as it'd been the first time.

He might've even complimented her if she hadn't just made his sour mood even worse.

"Roulette is chance, not skill. You can't fail at it," he corrected, eyes narrowing. He took the offered drink anyway, having a feeling he was going to need it with how his luck was going. "What bet did you lose that you ended up being a waiter?"

[fakejaded]

Britta almost pointed out he was doing a good job of failing anyway, but she just shrugged instead. "I volunteered," she said. Admittedly, it had been in a fit of guilt, but even on the island where it was basically everyone's status quo, that word, 'volunteered', still sounded pretty good. "You know, I always end up just standing around at these things, at least this way I'm doing something."

Actually, it was kind of galling, because parties on the island never seemed to work out for her the way they had before the island, but she didn't like to think about that. It wasn't her fault everyone in this place was hot. Even Jeff was looking good tonight, but she wasn't going to tell him what she was sure he already knew five times over.

[giftless]

Edmund wasn't much of a gambler. He knew the odds were against him, regardless of how things looked, and that luck did not exist so much as magic did, and that magic always worked against them here. That did not stop him from enjoying himself however, what with the company and the show. It didn't even stop him from winning a bit. (That mah-jongg game was a jolly bit of fun.) It was, on the whole, quite fun, and he did not sulk once through the whole of it.

(This does not mean of course that he was never once unhappy, but these things become easier to bear and winning, only the slightest bit at someone else's expense, makes one feel very good.)

[straightupbitch]

Although not the sort of person who strolls endlessly along the bright side of things and never gives in to anger, rage, or even small annoyances - she is in fact quite the opposite - every now and then, the opportunity to let loose and simply enjoy oneself comes along. Far be it from Santana to pass up her first island party, even if it is themed and half the guests are twice her age. There's free booze and no one's carding, meaning she's free to get plastered without having to worry about untagging herself from an album's worth of embarrassing Facebook photos next morning. From the looks of it, enjoying herself won't be a problem. As if to toast the very thought, she raises the drink in hand and tosses it back. Wince, refill, and repeat.

[cpt_invincible]

"Now you've definitely got the right idea," Nathan says, once he spots the girl tossing back her drink. She's hopefully well on her way to being both drunk and impressionable, plus she's not bad to look at, so of course he's going to talk to her.

He takes a big swig of his own drink in response.

[straightupbitch]

Still far from tipsy, let alone drunk, it worries her when she can't seem to understand what's being said to her. Briefly, she stares down at the glass in hand, having heard but not quite believed that some island product is far more potent than she might be used to. Still, she's not feeling any of the other (far more pleasant) effects. This guy, though, he could easily be wasted the way he's slurring and wearing that massive, shit-eating grin. "Looks like you had it first, buddy," she says minutes later, hoping she's deciphered correctly.

[floozyfacade]

Olive hasn't seen much of Santana since her arrival, and while she's not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, it doesn't much matter; she's been busy anyway, distracted. Now, though, she isn't going to miss a chance to check in and see how the other girl has been settling in. By the looks of it now, she's definitely doing well tonight. "Having fun?"

[a_royal_bastard]

There'd been a handful of card games Alistair had learned while growing up. It was frowned upon of course - most things that didn't involve the Chant were - but regardless, none of those card games seemed to be present here. That left Alistair at a bit of a loss of what to do. He was certainly not going to shy away, however - he had these things called 'chips' and he wanted to at least try - so he approached the nearest table.

"What's this game?" he asked the person next to him. Perhaps they'd understand it more than he did.

[hylianqueen]

"Not anything we have in Hyrule," Zelda admitted ruefully, staring at the card game going on before them. "I am woefully unprepared for these island events, I find, because my culture is so different from that of Earth's. Did they have this game in Ferelden?"

She smoothed down her dress and gave Alistair a little smile. "You look handsome, by the way."

[a_royal_bastard]

"Never. Apparently it has to do with spinning that device, however," he said, motioning to it. He didn't even know what it was called. More importantly, his attention went right to her, and his smile softened, and he placed a small, quick kiss against the top of her head. He still wasn't quite sure how affectionate he ought to be, and that seemed not too much, not too little. "And yet I pale in comparison to your beauty."

[hylianqueen]

"Flatterer," Zelda said fondly, tipping her head up to look in his eyes. "You know, I believe this is the first party we've actually gone to together as opposed to running into one another once we've gotten here. It feels a bit different."