Upstairs at Monty's - October (IC)

[quotemyname]

Colt chuckled, and gave Grim a reassuring smile. "Not ta worry, though I think yer a bit confused." Colt pulled a $20 bill out and put it on the table in front of him. "We're talkin' bout buyin' in, an' yer talkin' bout bettin'. Here's the difference: When ya buy in, that represents the max money ya c'n play with all game, unless you win more that is."

Colt rested his hand on the $20 bill. "That's this here, the $20."

"Now fer bettin." Colt continued still smiling patiently, hoping Grim could absorb all of this at once. "Ya split the twenty up, and everyone bets wit change. Every round there's a few a' us that have ta bet. Those bets're placed before they even see their cards, so their blind ta what they have. That's why they're called blinds."

"Almost done, promise. Blinds're small. Usually 'bout 20 cents're so. That also tells the min bet, an' y'all c'n raise from there. That's why I said the buy in c'n be big, long'as the blind're small."

[Eviscerus]

Jackie nods as Colt gives the rundown of the betting mechanics to Grim. "Also, whatever we set as the blinds determines the minimum bet. Most poker games say that minimum bet is the big blind. So say that we set the small blind at a quarter and the big blind at fifty cents, then the minimum bet would be fifty cents, darlin'." Jackie smiles at everyone at the table and pulls back his fat, diamond encrusted money clip and flips out a hundred dollar bill. "Since we're keepin' this game low buy in, anyone got change fer a hunnerd?"

[Heritage]

Grim listens very carefully, even making a few notes on a sheet of paper with a pencil.

“Okay, I think I’ve got it. And I swear, this is not some diabolical ‘poor little me’ girly psyche-out BS; this is me struggling with basic mathematical concepts, like I have my whole life.â€Â

She laughs self-consciously as she digs in the pocket of her tight jeans.

“I’ve always been, like, ‘money plus money equals I’m broke’, ever since I was little.â€Â

She fishes out a twenty and lays it on the felt. “So do we convert this into chips, then?â€Â

[Geez3r]

"Da I got enough." says Atlas as he thumbs out $100 in 20's, 10's and 5's for River Rat. Most of it being in the 10's and 5's. "...95, hundred. Pleasure doing business. Da don't you vorry. Ve ain't playing vith very high stakes. Most of us are cheap as dirt. I just dig good last veek. Construction is very good business in Freedom. Feeding ze workers is even better." adds Atlas with a sly grin as he continues to chow down.

[quotemyname]

"Well, yea." Colt responded to Grim, "We pool all the money an' put it off ta the side. Then everyone gets 20 in chips."

Colt stopped for a second, looking toward grim. "What's yer fav'rite color? We'll make them worth the most." Colt began counting out stacks of chips from those that were sitting in front of him.

[Eviscerus]

River Rat smiles and nods to Atlas. "Thanks, big man."

River Rat looks to be thinking for a second, before putting away his money clip. "Seein' as I've got to keep up my persona of nouveau riche with not enough to spend his money on, how's about I do this," Jackie throws the money clip, without the money attached into the pot. "If any of you fine folk manage to bust me, you can take that home with ya. Those are real diamons and that's 24 karat gold. It's a bit gaudy, I admit, but if it don't fit yer style you could always sell it or somethin'. If I don't go out, I'll take it back and bring it back as incentive to beat me next week."

[Angel]

"Well," Angel said pulling out a black leather wallet with a silver chain connected to her pocket, "I can float twenty." As she pulled the Jackson from the wallet, it happened. River Rat, Jackie, whoever he was dropped his wad on the table. It felt like she was being upstaged. He didn't know what he had done. It was taking every bit of constraint her patience had to not drop her own wad on the table. She sat there, staring at it like it was some marvel.

Angel gritted her teeth into a smile at River Rat, "We shall see." Handing the greenback to the dealer while keeping her eye on River Rat, she reluctantly let go of it. The poor bill would have screamed if she held it any tighter.

[Geez3r]

"Vell, I vould normally tell you zat you are vasting your time, but a trinket like zat could buy a lot of cat food. Somezing I seem to never have enough of at home apparently." says Atlas off hand has be organizes his stack of chips into columns. He does it weird though, they're not sorted by amount. In fact, they don't really seem to be sorted in any particular order. Or is there any evidence of method to his madness.

What it does remind you of however is a castle wall. Almost like he's defending his swath of territory from the invaders. Territory which you notice is pretty wide, seeing as how he takes up more room at the table than anyone else. He's broader than anyone here, and he's got his sandwich off to his left and his booze to his right.

[Heritage]

"What's yer fav'rite color? We'll make them worth the most."

“Uh, okay, how bout this: blue is five bucks, green is a dollar, black is fitty cents and red is a quarter? Do those denominations work for everyone?â€

Grim lines up her chips in neat rows and takes a peek at her two pocket cards; her face is pretty darn blank when she does so. However any attempt at a poker face is doomed once Rat lays out his big ol’ pimp clip :shock:

“Whoa! Well, there’s something I’m never gonna get.â€

The pretty young shapeshifter returns to lining up her chips

“So, anyone get stomped bad this week? I’m still a bit sore from dancing with some skinheads two nights ago.â€

[Geez3r]

"Sorry dear, but you are talking to ze wrong person for zat. I don't get zat beat up normally. And ven I do, I can heal very fast. Zough I admit goin punch for punch vith somevon named "Smash" is probably not ze best of ideas." says Atlas as he thoughtfully rubs his chin, recalling the events of the week. It had been rather slow in comparison to what he had done previously. Just the one brawl with Smash was the one truly noteworthy event. Many of the gangs that had used his section of the Fens as their stomping grounds had moved on to less hostile territory, so their conflicts tended to be much more few and far between than they had been.

[quotemyname]

"Ain't nobody been givin' me too much trouble these days." Colt started, "Reckon I brought in a few thugs here'n there. But the lot'a 'em couldn't get past my hail a' gunfire ta get anywhere near me."

"Really quite sad actually," Colt said as he evened up his chips, covering his cards with his other hand. "Folk where I come from tend ta be a mite tougher."

[Heritage]

After a few hours, the game had thinned out considerably, leaving just Colt, Atlas and Grim at the table; for her part, Grim was happy to have just won a few hands and still have some chips at this point in the game. Her mask had disappered about an hour ago, when she just felt silly for still wearing it. The alcohol felt good in her tummy, and Colt just kept looking cuter and cuter the more she looked at him; he also smelled delicious, in a musky and strictly non-canibalistic sort of way...:love:

The shapshifter rubs her eyes and drains the last of her glass. "Okay, I'm due for a refill." Grasping the back of her chair, she carefully lifts her body up until her legs and torso are pointed up at the ceiling, then arches her back and lands directly behind her chair without a sound. "Whoo! Anyone else while I'm up?"

[quotemyname]

Colt had been concentrating on his cards all night long. Which probably explained why he was the current chip leader. That and his strong background in Poker, (It being his dimension's national pass time so to speak) didn't help either.

But when Grim pulled her little acrobatic stunt, he would have to have been blind to not notice. "I... Wow...Sure. Long as yer pourin, little lady," He said with a wink as he leaned over the back of his chair.

[Geez3r]

Atlas had had the most erratic luck at the table. He'd been nearly knocked out 3 or 4 times, but had always pulled out some miracle hand whenever he went all it at the end. The only thing he went through faster than chips was food. He had to be on his 5th or 6th sandwich, and had drank enough to get a bit tipsy himself. "Yeah I'm about due for one myself." said Atlas as he set his drink down. The careful observer noting that it was full a moment ago. "And I zink zat you're ze only one of us left zat can pour straight."

[Heritage]

"And I zink zat you're ze only one of us left zat can pour straight."

"Zat remains to be seen, comrade!" Grim gives the Russian an exaggerated wink and goes about the business of fixing everyone's drink; saving her own drink for last, she bounces an ice cube off the inside of her elbow into a tumbler, then pours a rather strong rum and Coke for herself.

Balancing the three glasses on a conjured tray, she half-skips/half-dances back to the table and places each glass by its intended victim. "Here you go...and here...you go." Cradling her own glass, the shapeshifter climbs back into her seat, tucking her legs under herself as the discarded tray melts into mist.

After taking a long sip of her rum and Coke, Grim's head lolls back on her shoulders. "Oh man, that'll have to be my last drink for the night." She holds up her left hand, and her fingers seem to be dripping like hot pizza cheese. "You see that? I'm having a hard time holding myself together!"

[quotemyname]

"Reckon I been drinkin' too much." Colt hesitated as he watched Grim's fingers drip. "Er maybe I ain't been drinkin' enough..." He took another sip and concentrated on the cards in his hand. Then suddenly, he picked up a chip off his stack and stared at it. "Just makin' sure the rest'a the world ain't meltin'." he explained.

[Geez3r]

"In Soviet Russia, vorld melts you!" cackles Atlas. He takes one of the empty glasses around his side of the table, and places it under Grim's hand. "Zere we go. Easy clean up. Zough I go to admit. You got to take care of zat. If zat glass stays zere, not guarantee I von't drink it." says Atlas laughing, which does little to alleviate the heebie jeebies brought about by that statement.

[Heritage]

"Zere we go. Easy clean up. Zough I go to admit. You got to take care of zat. If zat glass stays zere, not guarantee I von't drink it."

The young shapeshifter giggles. "Nah, I'm just bein' silly; if I really wanted to freak you out, I'd pull a Wicked Witch of the West, like this-"

And with that, Grimalkin collapses into herself and literally oozes out of her chair and onto the floor, forming a black and midnight blue puddle :shock: It just sits there for a few seconds before reforming into the beautiful young woman, curled up on the floor like a cat.

"Mmm, this was a bad idea; I stay down here, I'll fall asleep."

With considerable effort, she more or less scales the back of her chair and drops back into her seat, eyes somewhat unfocused by sleepiness.

"Alright, I'm still good to go for a bit yet, but we might want to think of winding down sometime in the near future; I'm just sayin'."

[quotemyname]

Colt did his level best to not think about girls melting into puddles. Or girls melting in his arms for that matter...

"Reckon she's got'a point. Don't know 'bout y'all, but I reckon it's time I called ma twenty minutes*" Colt said, "Ain't too sure I'll last much longer'n that." said colt looking down at his stack of chips. Gotta quit while'm ahead.

---

*Twenty minute warning required before a player can cash out their chips (House Rule)

[Geez3r]

"You! Yes, you! You are dead!" shouts Atlas looking at Colt. He lets the threat hang in the air for a moment before he holds up his hand, looking through it at Colt. He then mock squishes Colt's head between his two fingers. Atlas repeats the motion a few times while chuckling.

He grabs the deck of cards and begins dealing out the next hand. Got to win some money back here... mused Atlas as he finished dealing.

[quotemyname]

It takes more than a few abrupt exclamations to make a cowboy jump out of his skin. Colt had certainly been through enough poker games that ended in bar fights...And then he realized that Atlas had been joking. He sighed audibly, "Reckon y'all shouldn't scare me like that. An' here I was gearin' up ta do somethin' drastic!" he said with a friendly grin as he received his next had... A bad hand... But his face didn't show it.

[Heritage]

"Reckon y'all shouldn't scare me like that. An' here I was gearin' up ta do somethin' drastic!"

Grim nods her head sagely as she has a peek at her pocket cards (meh).

"The cowboy does have a point, Atlas; you shouldn't startle a guy who carries guns for a living."

She has another sip of her drink, then tilts her head back and balances the glass on her forehead, ice cubes gently tinkling.

"So, do we wanna do this again next month? Do we consider this to be a success?"

[Geez3r]

"Bullets, my one veakness! How did you know?" said Atlas, clearly terrified of being shot. It's certainly never happened to him before. No sir.

"Oh yes. Zis vas quite fun. Ve should do zis as often as our vallets allow da?" Atlas's statement was influence a bit by the pair of kings he currently had. His first good hand in 15 minutes.

[quotemyname]

"I'll drink ta that, partner!" Colt replied. He raised his glass with one hand and took a swig while the other hand pushed a meager amount of chips to the center of the table. He decided to pay to see the flop, but was not happy when it didn't help his chances of winning.

Anyone else bets this hand, I'm foldin'." he thought.

[Heritage]

"I'll drink ta that, partner!"

Tired and holding a lousy hand, Grim considers folding, but then decides to try for one last hurrah. She goes into a lazy stretch, and activates what she likes to call 'Big Eyes'.

"Mmm, next time we oughta go in for strip poker; I, for one, wanna see if Atlas has little hammers and sickles on his boxers." :twisted:

She flashes Atlas a saucy wink and tosses a few chips on the table.