expiationlogs | MINGLE LOG: AUGUST

Entry tags:

MINGLE LOG: AUGUST

IT'S CASINO

What have the five NPCs that split off to work on their special project been doing all this time? Well, they’re ready to unveil it. The new NPCs as well as the locals hand out small pamphlets to invite the Chosen to a Great Unveiling that’s going to be done in the evening on the 21st of August. They encourage them to dress their best, and miraculously, Rin's tailor shop has new clothes for sale! When the time comes and the Chosen have begun to gather, the workers who have prepared this building so diligently cuts a bow up in front as the building flickers to life behind them.

It’s a casino! (Who knows where they got that idea.) Or rather, a new event hall. But right now, it looks like a pretty flashy casino.

Come on in!

ANTE UP!

I. DON'T BET THE HOUSE

Chosen who decide to meander past a grumpy man and into the casino itself are met with an opulent scene before them.

There's a large main hall, full of tables with games run by a surprising combination of fairies and local citizens from Aldrip. Further in, there's a massive space to lounge, socialize, and eat. Here you'll find couches for cozy conversation, tables for dining, and a cash bar on the side.

Rooms in the back offer more serious games--you may find a table of fairies playing poker, for example--but...some attendants may close the door to bar your entry, at least for now. These tables are for only the highest rollers, folks.

The sound of music may lead you further back, where you'll find a stage and musicians playing a plethora of music from different worlds that have gathered here, and a space to dance as well. For those who aren't the gambling sort, it seems as if there are still plenty of things to do.

Party away!

II. PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT

There is a grumpy-looking man in a small, dark room off the main hall of the Casino. He’s drumming his fingers on the table, and, if approached, is rather rude about it. He’ll try to chase onlookers out of the room, and then start groaning about how someone is “taking too long” and “not respecting his valuable time, for goodness sake!”

Shortly, some of the NPCs from the desert approach the room with giant sacks and lots of apologies. The tinkerer pulls tablets and cords out of the bags (some half-fixed thanks to industrious Chosen), throws his tools onto the table, and gets to work. He has tools to fix cracked screens and inner parts of the tablet to make them…work? Interesting.

For now, this tinkerer is not interactive, but he has some choice remarks for those brave–or brazen–enough to try socializing with him. Don’t just stand there! Hand me that screwdriver! or take this out to the dumpster around back, will ya? or even the occasional grab me a drink! It’s stuffier than an armpit in summer back here...though if you’re planning to run errands for him, be aware that his tab is not in good standing. If he wants you to run errands for him, you’re probably going to have to pick up the tab, either with coin or with work.

If someone were to look over his shoulder as he's doing his tinkering, they might see the words CYCLE 15 on the loading screen. Otherwise, it's just a lot of blue and black maintenance screens as he's essentially having to do a system restore of the tablets.

LUCK OF THE DRAW

The tables in the main room are where the more adventurous Chosen may go to gamble. Currently, NPCs are running the roulette and blackjack tables, but if someone wants to be the one to run these games, they won’t say no! There’s also slot machines from the sounds of the bells in the distance, so there’s plenty of ways to test your luck. Just be aware that there may be… consequences, whether your character does well or poorly at the games.

Below, there will be a comment section for players who may want the mod team to choose their luck for them. There are three options that you may choose:

You comment with a heads or tails, and we’ll roll the dice for the corresponding “good” or “bad” scenarios.

You comment with whether you want “good luck” or “bad luck” to happen to your character, and then we’ll roll for their consequences.

If you want to put your character's fate in our hands, you can just comment that you want us to rng it all!

SPOILERS: if you want bad effects to be a surprise, don't peek!

The “bad effects” are as follows: memory loss, temporarily loss of taste, can’t speak certain words for a couple of days, feel compelled to follow orders to the person they lost to (kind of like a King's Game), forced honesty, bad luck (which is entirely up to you, the player, on how to interpret this), and temporarily losing one ability of your choice for the next event.

If you want to participate and there’s something you’re not cool with us landing on for the bad effects, just let us know which ones you’re not comfortable with and we’ll leave it out of the rng pool!

A Note: The “good” and “bad” effects won here may have some mild influences on your character for the next event. Nothing life threatening or incapacitating, but just keep in mind if you want us to roll for your bad effects. If you want to just say you had shit luck in the slots and you don’t want your character to have any effects at all, this is fine. It’s not mandatory to have either effect happen to your character to have a good time playing in the casino.

WILDCARD

Go wild! This is a casino after all, and there’s supplies to play pretty much any gambling or card game laying around. If you can’t easily find it, an NPC would be more than happy to help a Chosen find the items they need to play the game they want. Want to play Go Fish while you drink your cocktail? That’s fine too. Anything goes!

A Note: This casino is going to be available in full capabilities until the end of the month. After that, the mod team will explain what’s going to become of it then and in the future!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Ange so isn't here to gamble.

Sure, one might wonder what she's doing over here in the casino then anyway, especially since she did dress up for the occasion. But Ange is ever desperate to find out more about this place, and god knows she'd feel like an idiot later if she missed some clue by not checking out this place, even if it's not her style at all.

So far she doesn't seem to really have found much of anything though. Not much more than people uselessly getting drunk and gambling.

See, exhibit A: Jinx.

Not that Ange is particularly surprised to see this girl involved in all of this, mind you. Jinx does seem to have a.. spirit for adventre, let's call it that. For better or worse. Ange definitely thinks it's for the worst here, since she has her pokerface on as she just dryly remarks: ]

Are you sure this is such a good idea?

[ Because Ange clearly doesn't, judging by her tone. ]

No, it's the best idea...! ( she says, correcting her before waving her over some more. her eyes dart very quickly at the other girl's dress -- wiggling her eyebrows in a slight (and drunk) tease. )

Lookin' smoking there, Grets. — Any guys I gotta put a bullet in for ya?

( is she joking or serious? it's really hard to say when jinx is all about kidding around, but can also be rather lethal. the man in charge of the game exchange glances between the two girls, annoyed yet waiting for jinx to stop yapping so the game will start. )

Edited 2023-08-25 03:54 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure he looks like he's about to put a bullet in you for stalling the game with flirting.

[ Ange sees you, guy-in-charge-of-the-game.

Not that she really cares about his impatience or his entire operation here, since Ange still feels like the entire thing is one big scam - but then again, it's not like she has any real reason to stop Jinx. It's impossible to stop Jinx, anyway. Maybe she's just the type of person you need to let run face-first into a wall to let her realise she's made a mistake.

Which is what Ange is doing here. She doesn't say anything more to try and persuade the other girl to not play. Instead she sits down - not betting herself, but ready to watch this go down. ]

And I'm sure you'd love to start a fight [ judging.. by the stuff Jinx said before, she'd probably find it hilarious to have some casino shoot-out with the owners.. ] but then you wouldn't be able to gamble anymore.

I'll let him watch while I sweep you off your feet.

( don't listen to her, ange. don't follow a certain kimono girl who only cares to make other people happy and not herself footsteps. still with a wink, she turns her attention back to the game and the impatient players. )

— Fighting is a way to let out your emotions. It's pretty healthy, y'know...!

( jinx places her bet on number twelve because that's a good number, right? it's even and rounded. )

Edited 2023-09-02 05:04 (UTC)

[ Don't worry, Ange certainly doesn't look lovestruck or anything, despite what Jinx is saying here. Though with the way the redhead seems so constantly pokerfaced, it's hard to tell at all what's going on in her head, especially as she silently seems to listen to what Jinx is saying, and just as silently watches the other girl finally start to put in her bet, making the guy running the game look a little less annoyed.

Ange watches some other latecomers rush to get in their bets too, before her gaze slowly drifts back to Jinx. ]

And gambling then?

[ Jinx is doing that right now too, after all. ]

Are you doing that too because it's a way to let out your emotions, or whatever?

Nope! I'm doin' it 'cuz I like games. Don't tell me you don't like to play games sometimes.

( because if she doesn't then it just means it'll be her duty to get her into one. maybe if ange wins something, she'll crack a damn smile for once! swinging her legs underneath the game table in anticipation, the game finally starts and the game host spins the number dial thing (idk what its called) before dropping the marble. )

[ With absolutely zero hesitation: ]

A game killed my family.

[ .. It's hard to even know if Ange is being serious here, or if she's joking. She says it with such a flat, deadpan tone, and not a single muscle in her pokerface twitches as she says it.

It's a good thing the other people at the table are probably way too invested in watching the ball roll to really pay attention to what's going on with the two circus clowns at the table over here. ]

( that comment catches her attention and jinx darts over a quizzable look to ange. and then her eyes squint with her lips puckering as if she is trying to find some sort of tell or a twitch to see if she's bluffing or... )

Are you pullin' my leg right now, Grets? 'Cuz if a game really did kill your folks then I wanna hear how.

( and if it sounds made-up, jinx will definitely call her out on the bullshit. )

I mean, you didn't believe me last time.

[ Not that Ange sounds offended about that. She knows her story sounds ridiculous, even when she's completely telling the truth.

It's more just a disclaimer - like she doesn't really expect Jinx to believe her this time either. ]

Like I told you, my brother was trapped by a witch. To be more specific about that this time, he was trapped into playing a game with her where she would kill my family over and over again, and he was the only one who could stop her from doing so.

[ Yes, Ange is just.. completely casually saying this in the middle of a casino. In the middle of a game. Why not?

It might even distract some of the other people at the table, if Jinx wants to cheat and try to move that small ball. ]

Huh.

( and that's all she says about that. because quite frankly, if she roped caitlyn or any enforcer into some twisted game -- she'd probably do something similar. to have them attempt to save their family but failing miserably every single chance that they got. it'd be an eye for an eye. they ruined her family, so it only makes sense to ruin theirs. )

Well, in this game no one dies unless I say so.

[ At least Ange seems to move on as easily from what she just said as Jinx did. She doesn't even do as much as blink.

At most, there's just a little bit of deadpan that drops into her tone. ]

Is that really all that much more reassuring? [ She glances at the game, rather than directly at Jinx, as she speaks. ] Who says you wouldn't say that I have to die?

[ Granted, it's not really her having that little faith in Jinx personally.. It's more just Ange having that little faith in people as a whole that makes her say that. ]

Who says you wouldn't say I would say that you have to die?

( she sticks out tongue in a goofy and cutesy (attempting to be anyway) manner before bumping the girl shoulder to shoulder. jinx should really pay attention to the game, however when she finally does, it seems she didn't win this round as it goes to the player to the right of them. )

... That's alright! I'll get the next one, for sure.

That's karma.

[ Granted, if Ange really wanted to have this sort of statement to have a little more effect, she should probably put some actual malice into her tone..

Because as-is, it just sounds flat and deadpan, like everything else she says. Really lessens the impact of what she's trying to say about Jinx's loss here, and how it's clearly since she's playing word games with Ange!! ]

Before you know it, you'll be betting the clothes right off your back, since it'll be the only thing you'll have left to bet.

[ For the record, Jinx, that is NOT a suggestion!! Absolutely not!! ]

Sheesh with your energy, I'll definitely lose. C'mon, have some faith in me, will ya?

( she throws in another stack (smaller this time) on another random number. jinx bats an eye towards the girl before playfully raising her eyebrows at her direction. )

How about when I win, I'll treat you something good. Whatever you want. You'll be the lady of the hour!

[ She raises an eyebrow right back at the other - though a moment later, when Jinx actually says that last part. ]

Whatever I want?

[ A slight pause, and then she adds: ]

Anything at all? [ Dangerous promises there, Jinx!! ]

Whatever that black hole thing you call a heart desires.

( it is a dangerous promises because she could ask her to buzz off for the rest of the night or simply forever. ange could request her something that's impossible. but what's life without taking risks? what's living without flinging yourself into harm's way once in a while? it keeps the mind sharp and the blood boiling, and the girl thrives on these rushes. )

Edited 2023-09-25 14:28 (UTC)

.. wow, that's cold.

[ And yet nothing about Ange sounds particularly hurt as she's saying that. Nor does she sound offended in a less hurtful way. It's just taken the way she seems to take everything once more - just flat, devoid of emotion.

Besides, it's not the important part here. Ange sees what she's being offered here, and she'd be a fool if she were to throw away an opportunity like this. So.. ]

Got it, though. You have a deal. Let's see if this ends up in your favour.

Oh, it will. 'Cause you don't wanna admit it out loud, but I know you like me.

( does she though? so far ange has shown nothing but being annoyed with her, and jinx is full on aware of that. but the girl also believes if you dislike someone, they wouldn't continuously bump into them to have a little chat. so the girl feels somewhere deep, deep, deep down, ange enjoys the company. she just needs to work harder to bring it out of her to admit it. )

[ Ange exhales.

Then - when a waiter passes by - she just grabs a drink off the tray. It's just water, but maybe she just needs something to sip on for a moment, and she did already tell herself she sure wasn't going to drink alcohol in a situation where she can't afford to let her guard down.

Call her paranoid, but she still doesn't trust this casino one bit. ]

What makes you think that? [ She then asks, looking at Jinx. ]

Why else are you sitting here with me? It can't be just over my charms.

( why yes, she does believe she is hot shit. so much so that she is believing one hundred percent she will win this next round.

and to her somewhat luck, she does! that should be enough, right? maybe any normal person would scoop their winnings and move on away from the table. but jinx stays put as she ranks the chips over to her and ange. )

[ Usually Ange would tell someone to stop at this point, to be smart about it all.

.. but given what Jinx had dangled over her head before, she's instead staying quiet about it all, even as Jinx looks like she's about to put those chips right back into another gamble. ]

It's definitely not your charms.

[ HARSH, ANGE..

And yet her tone isn't malicious. Maybe it's because it's so flat - it makes it really hard to read the words being mean as much as they just seem.. well, indifferent. ]

I'm just here because you promised me something. I'm just here to see if I'm going to get it. Especially since I'm still pretty sure this is going to work out in my favour.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

MINGLE LOG: AUGUST

play your cards right - b1, cool with it eventually leading into b2!

okiii

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject