Place Your Bets, Ladies! (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

"I've spoken with the Blue Rogue myself," clarified Fusion. "She remembered me from previous encounters with Takashi, and knew I have the most experience dealing with him in the US." She made a small hissing noise, her tentacles under the table twitching with suppressed anger. "That poor kid. It wasn't easy fighting Takashi fair, the next time we ran into each other." At Grimalkin's words, she said sympathetically, "I'm sorry, kid. He sounds like a good man, and it's a crying shame how our society treats people with mechanical assets. As for the Yakuza, they're the worst kind of crooks. I hope you caught the guys who did it and made them pay." She hesitated a moment, then turned to Wisp. "Hey kid, you gonna ante?"

[Azuth65]

Wisp looked at her cards, a faint frown crossing her face as she listened to the conversation playing around her. At Fusion's addressing of her, her head snapped up. "Sorry. I haven't run into much AI-based weirdness," she said, tossing in her own $5 chip. "Closest I've come to dealing with robots in my time has been the Geth in the Mass Effect video games."

"Still, sounds like this Doc Otaku guy needs a swift kick in the junk. Or to have to watch an Uwe Boll movie, they're about equally painful," she added discarding two cards and waited patiently for replacements.

[Gizmo]

Jill quirked an eyebrow slightly as she tossed a trio of card from her hand into the discard pile with confident laissez-faire. Fusion was a odd mix of overbearing maternal disposition and ill concealed anger, but the teenager appreciated the tentacled heroine's distain for mincing words. Wisp on the other hand was trying a little too hard with a constant stream of pop culture references, but that was only natural being the most novice of the women assembled at the table. "Well, there's Victory, he's a cyborg," she offered in response to the former's mention of mechanical assets. "And they're making him a total poster boy."

[Aoiroo]

The conversation took a bit of an awkward turn, but the recovery from it was pretty good by the time Sil had thought of a reply,

"Well I'll be honest, if I was part of a weapons and military facility that equipmented a soldier to be fast enough and powerful enough to plow villians into the side of mountians at mach 10, I'd give it a good bit of fan fare as well. Anyway, the advancements like on Victory could be seen as a great leap in the development in prostectics. The whole robot thing, really it's the application that matters, same as just about everything else about hero society."

Taking a finger she passed it over the table,

"After all, every single one of you are potiential horrors beyond horrors, myself included on some level, but I'm rather low powered in that regard which is quite a bit comforting."

[Fox]

Dragonfly frowned at her cards for a moment, glad she hadn't taken the conversation anywhere too awkward or disrupting. "True," she noted, not looking too concerned as she placed two cards into the pile, a $5 chip close on their heels to join the pot. "Problems tend to be less potential for misuse, and more how common misuse is. Robotics in general sees too much abuse. Try not to let the actions of a few reflect too badly on the Japanese, however, personally. Some...less tasteful applications of engineering, certainly more than most countries, but they also...mmh. Come close to dominating the industry. Doc Otaku, yes, but also small companies pushing the science and getting no recognition because they don't make it....creepy. Victory...mmh." She shook her head. "Suspect he gets so...advertised to help maintain funding. Can't blame them. Apparently do very good work."

[Gizmo]

"Well sure," Jill agreed in a light deadpan. "I mean, the cost of jet fuel and turtle wax alone." Considering her new hand for a moment, she placed the cards face down on the table and used her freed hand to brush a few unruly bangs out of her eyes. At Silhouette's assessment of the other players potential for horror, she drawled, "Lemme guess, Ninjanice, your power is super-sensitivity to other people's self-image issues. Smooth."

[Aoiroo]

Sil snorted at the nickname,

"Haven't heard that one before, have heard some variants mind you but I don't bother remembering them because most crooks are terribly uncreative."

Setting down her cards she reached for another chip,

"My power isn't really anything that useful, in fact, it's sort of plain, but I have had it for a good long while so I have found lots of applications for it. As for horrors, it's just common sense that anybody with considerable power would consider the concequences of using it certian ways and it's not just superpowers. Information, wealth, influence, even certian words can have power if you know how to use them. It's a blessing really that the general concensus for our current society is that such things should be used carefully and sparingly if possible, though it doesn't stop some I.E. the idiots we have to smack down every so often."

[April]

--Some of us don't like being reminded of this,-- the telepath said, her soft mental soprano laced with a sense of discomfort and melancholy. --There is already a certain stigma associated with what I do. I would appreciate it if I wasn't reminded of it every five minutes for the remainder of the evening.--

[Avenger Assembled]

Fusion was silent for a few moments as she studied her cards, listening to the interplay among the teenagers around her. She really wanted to get up and throttle Silhouette when she pontificated on about how horrible everyone was and how lucky she was to be so underpowered. It was a palpable image, tentacles around the girl's throat and her head bouncing off the ceiling like a coconut, and one that was satisfying enough to actually restrain the impulse. She wasn't going to start a fight in front of kids. Of course, Silhouette was a woman, _not_ a child. Instead she stood up, towering over the other women at the table, sinous tentacles writhing around her body, making liquid, organic noises as she glared at the other woman. "If you have nothing worthwhile to say, keep it to yourself." And with that, she said, still standing, "All in? If so, I think it's time we show our hand." She turned over her cards, revealing two kings, a queen, a 10 and a six.

[Aoiroo]

Sil frowned and was about to apologize to the mute mindreader when she felt the shadow of the looming figure that was Fusion over her. Her eyes narrowed as some more defensive reflexes pulled her mouth into a scowl as the woman looked at her menancingly before letting out a sigh, it wasn't worth getting into a fight over,

"It's sort of hard to tell what may be considered worth while, but that was a bit of a page from the peanut gallery wasn't it. I'm rather cynical, so I tend to remind myself arbitrarily about such things, so I am sorry for ruining our good time with my innate pessimism."

Taking a bit out of another chip, she placed her hand on the pile and waited for Grim's turn before she mucked her hand.

[Heritage]

Feeling the general vibe in the game room heading from genial to toxic, Grim stood up and spread her hands.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! This is supposed to be a friendly game, ladies; there is no need for hostile words or the flexing of tentacles! As my dad likes to say, 'We're all bozos on this bus', which means...well, I think it means none of us is any better than the others. As crimefighters or whatever we want to call ourselves, we're all a bit on the odd side, I guess, and by that yardstick we all pretty much measure up the same."

Then her brow furrowed in thought.

"Of course, my dad is a total pothead, so maybe he was talking about something else."

She turned to address Fusion and Sage in turn.

"I hear you guys, and you've got reason to be upset; some poorly-chosen words were said." And then she turned to face Sil. "And I'm sure you didn't mean to get under anyone's skin with that 'horrors' line, but, y'know, think it through a bit more next time, alright?"

And then she addressed the entire group.

"So can we please keep the tone a bit lighter, continue to enjoy ourselves and do our best not to piss each other off? For at least, like, the next ten minutes? I seriously do not want to scrub blood out of the floor; I've got better things to do with my weekend."

[Fox]

Dragonfly frowned, glancing around the table as drama erupted. Grimalkin got an awfully grateful glance as she played mediator; the engineer was immensely glad someone had stepped in, because for a moment there it looked like this was going to become the sort of meeting where she finds a quiet corner and tries to stay out of the way while everyone goes for each others' throats. She just shook her head, and took advantage of the pause after Grim's speech to lay down her cards - two aces, a queen, a four, and a two.

[April]

Shooting their host a faint smile, the telepath scooped her cards together and tossed them back to the dealer, face down. --I fold,-- Sage said pushing her chair back from the table to go fetch a drink, --I was dealt a bum hand; full of almosts and maybes but lacking true value.--

[Azuth65]

Shooting their host a faint smile, the telepath scooped her cards together and tossed them back to the dealer, face down. --I fold,-- Sage said pushing her chair back from the table to go fetch a drink, --I was dealt a bum hand; full of almosts and maybes but lacking true value.--

Wisp folded her cards and tossed them into the muck pile as well. "Tell me about it Sage." With a sigh she reached inward and teleported from her seat over to the drinks. Passing Sage a fresh cup she gave the telepath a small smile.

"Look, I owe you an apology for my comment earlier. I was trying for a funny, jokey comment and struck a nerve," she said in a low voice. "I didn't think before I spoke and I'm sorry."

[Aoiroo]

Sil wanted to say something more, probably another apology, but it seemed pretty useless now with the subject already past so instead she flipped her hand. Pushing it forward she showed an Ace of clubs, jack of diamonds, jack of clubs, five of hearts and five of diamonds.

"Two pair, ace high, anyone got anything better?"

She glanced around waiting to see who else had yet to flip there cards.

[Gizmo]

A faint green light seemed to flicker about Jill's hand as she irritably drummed her fingers on the table, but allowed cooler heads to prevail when Grim made her plea for civility. Observing Silhouette's hand, however, she let out a flat noise. "Oh, for...!" Sighing in resignation, she tossed her cards face up in front of her, revealing the black fives, the Jacks of Spades and Hearts respectively and the last remaining ace, and identical hand to that of the older woman.

[Avenger Assembled]

The argument cast a pall over the table for Joan, even after Fusion sat back down. Ugh. So much for being the adult voice of reason. When she thought about it, though, she decided she'd done the right thing. Look at these kids. Those two girls have Bea Arthur's hair, the one's got real black eyes, Grimalkin's some sort of pixie, those two are lesbians and the one's got a speech impediment...they need to know that there are people out there who don't judge them for how they look and what they are. And that's not okay for them to judge each other. Joan was emotional enough to mourn the sight of women fighting with each other, for all that she was practical enough to know that it happened all the time. When it was time to deal again, that's what she did.

[Heritage]

Grim tossed her useless set of number cards down on the table. "Whole lotta nada here. Okay, new hand and a fresh start, alright? Out with the bad vibes, in with the good."

As she waited for her hand to be dealt, she surveyed the other players around the table, truly a motley crew; the one thing they shared in common (other than Fusion) was their relative youth. Desperately wanting to take the energy in a new direction, she considered various topics of conversation that might get them started. Sadly, 'work' would be the most obvious choice.

"So, uh, not to be a drag or anything, but has anyone faced any new threats in the city? Like a new gang or some costumed loser? I know shop talk can be boring, but..." She finally shrugged in defeat.

[Aoiroo]

Picking up her hand she shrugged her shoulders as she set them onto the table,

"Well, last night me, Nick Cimitere, Dead Head, and two new heroes Scholar and Crow beat the heck out of a bunch of fake werewolves and apparently some werewolf goddess who has some sort of relation to Baron Samedi. Ohh, and a pack of real werewolves showed up to help too lead by a guy named Lukos. They pretty much took out all the fake werewolf who were possessed by this weird red energy that the goddess gave them while we went to knock her on her mummified butt. Is it just me, or are we having way too many out of realm visitors lately?"

[Fox]

Dragonfly shook her head, pushing her last hand closer to the dealer. not likely she needs it - tentacles seem to have long reach - still - polite? - not sure what acceptable standards are for card games - look it up later "Nobody new worth noting. Weapons dealers....not remarkable. Been busy, but only with existing threats....S.H.A.D.O.W., established gangs. Werewolves?" She frowned, tilting her head. "Suppose if they were being helpful...have met Cimitere, Dead Head. Good heroes. Effective."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I've run into a few lycanthropes myself. So-called kitsune, people with an inherited condition that gave them visual illusions, an animalistic appearance, pyrokinesis..." Fusion shook her head. "Their ancestors had set up shop in dimensional pockets over half of Japan, telling themselves and everyone else they were magical to explain things that they didn't understand. Until we showed up, half of them didn't even know there was an outside world. The other half were still trapped in the same old-fashioned feudal paradigm that their ancestors had established. We set most of them right." As she dealt, she went on, "I've helped out with Atlantis recently. It was a difficult visit, but a lovely city. Have you ladies ever been?"

[Gizmo]

Palming her cards one at a time as Fusion dealt them, Jill raised an eyebrow above her crimson bandana mask. "Y'know Legs, if it looks like a magic duck, swims like a magic duck, and quacks like a magic duck..." the teenage metamagi drawled, using her fingers to pin the backs of the cards to the table while she lifted the side closer to her with her thumb. She might have been a scientist at heart, but she'd seen enough world-class spell-slinging to accept that sometimes the immutable laws of the universe could be encouraged to look the other way. "Aw, I like Dead Head, he's a sweetheart. Y'know, in a rotting, putrid organs kinda way."

[Heritage]

"I've run into a few lycanthropes myself. So-called kitsune, people with an inherited condition that gave them visual illusions, an animalistic appearance, pyrokinesis..."

At the mention of the Japanese shapeshifters, Grim sat up a little straighter. "I actually kissed a kitsune once...though when I say it out loud, it sounds like a Katy Perry song. I wonder if he was part of the group you met, Fusion, or something else altogether? He helped me find a portal back into Avalon a few years ago, but I haven't seen him since..."

Feeling somewhat wistful, she studied her cards absent-mindedly.

"Never been to Atlantis; is it nice?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Joan knew she had to be careful here. There was no use getting into another shouting match with people about their religion; that was not a problem she'd ever solve over poker and chips. "Magic is just a word our ancestors made up to explain things they didn't understand. Someone like Captain Thunder, or most of us, for that matter, would have been branded some sort of god or wizard a few centuries ago. Because they can analyze the electrical energy stored in Ray Gardener's cells, or the, ah, non-human DNA in mine, we know better. A few more years, maybe we'll know more about how Siren's metahuman powers work. Or Grimalkin, for that matter," she added with a nod the pixie's way. "I don't know about you kids, but I'm looking forward to that day. The more we know about the world, the better it is for all of us."

[Fox]

Dragonfly frowned, peeking at her cards. "Not certain I agree. Much as I'd like to. Seems more like a fundamental force that can override reality. Seems to obey some rules...sometimes...but otherwise seems chaotic, and manipulatable by...odd means. Special words, actions, otherwise normal items, innate talents...." She shook her head. "Also, semantics. If it was...don't know. Scientifically-analyzable energy field that could be altered to great effect by human minds, would still be 'magic'. Just understood 'magic'. Gravity is gravity, if you know how it works or not."