Closed: Wheel of Fortune II

[wolfish]

WHO: Byleth Eisner fishfearme, Gavial kinaesthesia, and Yuri Leclerc wolfish
WHAT: Three mercenaries challenge a casino.
WHEN: January (backdated)
WHERE: Kowloon: The Crown
WARNINGS: None, will update if needed.

Comments

[fishfearme]

[Byleth keenly watched the minor chaos unfolding at the table: Gavial's blatant cheating, Yuri's attempt to divert focus to the accuser, the other players' side-glances and squinting, as if wondering if their neighbour has also been swiping cards or slipping them out of their sleeves (yes and yes).

This would be the perfect opportunity to slip some favourable cards into his hand....... if he had any. As it was, he had a useless hand and some chaos he couldn't even take advantage of. Well, he still needed everyone to fold somehow...]

It seems our table is rife with dishonest players. [despite his words, his tone is thoroughly flat and apathetic] Maybe for the next round, we should play with our sleeves rolled up, to ensure fairness?

[Beat.]

Or shirtless.

[kinaesthesia]

[Oh, all this chaos is fun, and Gavial’s getting riled up. Which is great and all, but it does mean she’s getting a little too into defending her cheater's honor (???) and rather this would turn into a little bit of a brawl. Y’know, for some spice.

Which in the end does mean she’s sneering at the one who accused her after Yuri’s little sleight of hand shifts the suspicion right their way. And while the appearance of that ace certainly catches them by surprise, the taunts from Gavial only start to stir up an argument between the two of them—eventually leading to her getting fed up and abruptly standing up to plant a knee on the felt-lined tabletop, beginning to clamber right over and turn this into a fight.

At least, until Byleth chimes in with his own solution. There’s a beat of silence dropping on the chaotic scene in the wake of it, one broken by a stunned laugh from Gavial, who turns her attention his way.]

You want to turn this into strip poker? Didn’t figure you for that kinda guy.

[wolfish]

[ Yuri eyes Byleth curiously, then Gavial, then Byleth again. If nothing else, these two ensure that nothing about this venture is remotely dull. He yields little reaction to the proposal, internally debating just how that would work if it was even permitted, and not quite certain what Byleth's angle is.

It's possible he's hoping people will balk at the suggestion, and at least one person seems to be doing just that, but it would complicate things. ]

You think this place goes in for that kind of thing?

[ It's cue for him to make an exaggerated performance of looking around for anyone who might be playing a strip game, even if he knows full well there weren't any such tables coming in. ]

[fishfearme]

Yes.

[What's he saying 'yes' to? Gavial or Yuri? It doesn't matter! The fact is, Byleth seems to have decided to go all in on whatever bewildering scheme his mind had latched onto, and he actually started to... stand up?]

You see, it's something we did often, back in Jeralt's mercenary company. When you deal with a group of inebriated mercenaries who want to win at all costs, you need to take drastic measures to ensure honesty. As we're all arguing who's cheating, isn't this the perfect solution?

[He set his hand down, face down, on the table, and... hm.]

To show my earnestness, I'll go first.

[HE'S GONNA STRIP!?]

Unless... that's too much for everyone here?

[Oh, yeah. He's definitely trying to make people baulk and just straight up leave the table (him and Gavial are definitely going to get removed at this point...).]

[kinaesthesia]

[Gavial is now turning to sit more fully on the table to watch as Byleth gets into his antics, heedless of the way her tail upsets the pile of chips placed up for bet.]

Wow, guess you gotta show ‘em how it’s done—

[Oh, she is definitely here to egg him on, but she cuts herself off abruptly when she realizes that two of the people in charge of making sure no one gets up to trouble in here—well-dressed and stern-faced—have stepped up behind him.]

Hah, I guess the ones running this place aren’t too keen on the idea, Byleth.

[She nods her head towards those two… and a moment later realizes that one of them is giving her a pointed stare between the table she’s seated on and back up to her face.]

Wait, seriously? [She taps her palm against the tabletop.] C’mon, this is nothing. Standard fare for a card game where I’m from.

[Girl, this is a fancy place with rules…]

[wolfish]

[ And just like that, their little circus is getting its tent taken down before there's a show to be seen. Yuri can't say he's especially surprised. The three of them are mercenaries, accustomed to dealing with rough customers on a regular basis and any gambling is done with the same. He doubts a one of them has ever even been in a place like this.

Even in his tenure as a living accessory to Adrestian nobles, Yuri could safely say he'd not been trotted around this particular sort of establishment. ]

Hey now, no one's trying to start any trouble—

[ He begins, putting on a disarming smile, but the suits inform them there's a zero-tolerance policy on disruptive behavior. And on cheating, which heralds the arrival of another well-dressed figure behind the player Yuri had planted a card on. It would seem their game is left with only two players, one of which is him.

Yuri heaves a sigh, supposing it falls to him to win this. Fortunately, he is actually good at counting cards, and he suspects he knows how their hands compare already. ]

What a shame, I'd have liked to see how spicing it up worked out for us all. But I guess we'd best call it, hm?

[ His remaining competition agrees, and their hands go down... Revealing that Yuri had indeed put together a winning one. He puffs out a relieved sigh, then promptly turns to talk the suits out of doing anything too extreme about his friends just being used to different ways of play.

That's one win for the team. ]

dramatic re-enactment of this thread (gavial and byleth are sharing the jail cell)

[fishfearme]