Free Night at the Casino

[fieldtrip]

Who: OPEN to all / mingle log
Where: Queens (the casino!)
What: Wow July sure was a month! Time to take a breather and have a night out, courtesy of Toph and Mitsuru!
Warnings: N/A

FREE NIGHT AT THE CASINO

GAMBLING

Feeling down after that space infestation made you murder some friends? Getting tempted to bury yourself in the sand at the beach so no one can ever perceive you again?

Time for a tone shift! It's a free night at the casino. For tonight only, chips mean nothing -- which means everyone gets a rack of chips when they walk in and can let loose! Entertainment, food, and drink are also free within reason. (Abuse the privilege and find out who works security here the hard way!)

Welcome to Queens, the formerly shady but now revamped and reimagined casino in the entertainment district of Aldrip. Classy and minimalist but not gaudy, it's run, staffed, and heavily patronized by Chosen. Maybe you know someone who works there, maybe someone dragged you in to lighten up for once, maybe you're just stopping by for some fun.

Appropriately, the most popular game of the night is Queen's Blood, with tables set aside purely for teaching. There's also the standard casino games available in spades -- poker, slots, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, and so forth.

AT THE CLUB

It wouldn't be a casino without alcohol, music, and dancing. There's a low-key bar for those looking to have a conversation where they can hear one another over the pleasant live jazz, and a much livelier dance floor set off to the side in a different part of the casino with a DJ playing dance music.

FIGHTING TOURNAMENT

Beneath the casino is a massive underground cavern converted into a fighting arena.

It's a bit hard to find, intentionally -- either you were personally invited by someone or you stumbled across the covert speakeasy-style entrance in a corner of the main floor, possibly from the people jostling to go in and out. The stairs go down and down until they suddenly open out into the huge room, lined in walkways to view the fight.

There's three circuits to the fighting tournament: a bracket for fighting with powers, a bracket for fighting without powers (hand-to-hand and weapons only), and a shooting competition. Toph (fieldtrip) serves as referee for all of the above and is prepared to break up anything that goes too far. This is just for fun, folks!

Sign up in the comment below and maybe you'll even win something! Toph promises a super cool prize to the winner of each circuit!

FORTUNE TELLING

Get a free tarot reading!

It does seem like some of the glitching in Aldrip has made it maybe a little more accurate than usual lately... or maybe that's inaccurate? Feel free to have the cards have a real effect on them with a glitch!

DOG THERAPY

In one peaceful corner away from the din and bustle is a dog petting station. All manner of adorable and highly trained dogs are available for cuddles and play time.

Some of them are even up for adoption if you want to take one home!

Kakashi (battlefieldbrat) runs and operates this station with the kind supervision of Koromaru, our local good boy.

Code by 10billionghosts.

Comments

3- Kotone! (But Scott is free to dip in as needed!)

[drugsnotclubs]

[Kotone dressed up for a fun night-- and to contrast that Shinjiro is pretty much dressed down because he's not actually at work tonight. No need to chat up patrons or join tables to try and encourage people to keep playing, keep buying. No need to listen to self-absorbed woes of lonely people who just want an ear to talk off. Instead he can be comfortable in a loose hoodie with his hair pulled back into some messy ponytail to keep it off his neck.

He catches her leaving one of the games tables, giving them finally a moment to actually chat. He hands out whatever overly-sugary bubble-tea he'd gotten from one of the bars for her.]

Hey. You look good.

[It's just the truth. It's a cute dress. More pointedly, he asks:]

You doing okay? [Because they'd both died yet again. And yet again they were both back here, as though it hadn't happened at all. Was that supposed to feel strange? It didn't. Should it? Who knows. But it's as good a time to touch base as any. And hey, if she wants to avoid the subject and assume he's asking about the games tonight? That's fine with him, too.]

[orphne]

Oh! Thanks, Shinji.

[She accepts the offered bubble tea with a bright smile and looks down at her dress as if to check -- yep, okay, still looks good. No stains or spilled anything on it! So she'll accept the compliment as well before glancing back up to meet his eyes. He looks comfortable, at least, comfortably dressed. Her smile doesn't exactly disappear, but it does fade into something smaller and more genuine the more she looks at him, the more she weighs all the possible responses to that question before finally settling on,]

Are you?

[A quiet, pointed return; if he wants to be the one to shift the focus, he can. For both of them, it's weird, this return-to-life they weren't supposed to have. Are things supposed to be different? Scott's taken it really hard, and she'd be lying if she said that his reaction isn't influencing her own feelings. Should she be letting that happen...?

She doesn't know. And maybe, after everything, it's okay to let Shinji see that about her.]

[drugsnotclubs]

[He really should have expected that: Kotone had gotten better and better at deflecting concerns, directly turning them around without a hint of shame, and leaving the tone and pace of the conversation directly in his hands instead. But at least that soft turn of her expression makes it feel more considerate than avoidant. A genuine query, testing waters.

And so he has to actually consider a moment. He doesn't feel that strange about his own second death here-- hell, at the time he'd been fucked up in the mind and happy to serve with it. And then he was back. It felt like nothing. But to everyone else, it had been a big deal-- and he's sure for Kotone, that feeling is even more magnified with how close people are to her. And Scott's issues with mortality...

And so he shakes his head. Not in a 'no', but in a sort of sigh.]

...I dunno. I feel like I am. But also like I shouldn't be. It's stupid.

[orphne]

[She gives him the time he needs to mull it over; they both know what they're each doing, and for as much as she's constantly on the move as if trying to cram as much life into every day as she can, she's never had a problem waiting for others to catch up. A little bit of tension she hadn't noticed in her shoulders eases at his sigh, and the corner of her lips quirk up into a smile that's more resigned than joyful.]

Yeah. Me, too.

[She reaches out and tugs at his sleeve, tilting her head a little to wordlessly as if they can sit down at a nearby table.]

It's like... everybody else is way more upset about it than we are, right?

[She doesn't say "Scott," but it's kind of obvious in the way she glances sideways, seeking her boyfriend in the throng of people before tugging Shinji's sleeve one more time to ask if they can sit together.]

[drugsnotclubs]

[She tugs his sleeve, and his head tilts slightly, before nodding. Yeah, definitely a sit and chill sort of conversation. He'll take the cue, and go over to the table.]

Yeah. It reminds me that most people aren't comfortable with the idea that it happens to everyone. [The 'Scott' doesn't need to be said: he gets it. At least most of the people close to Shinjiro had a more relaxed understanding-- after all, his own girlfriend had died before herself, and was now some sort of divinity. Death just didn't mean the same thing. But-- maybe it's more normal to be more affected by it.]

Makes me wonder if we're the weird ones. [That line is said half as a joke-- but he does wonder, sometimes. Even if they were back now and fine now, the hurt that had been inflicted with their death was real, and can't be wiped clean so easily. Once they're farther, at the table and clearly well out of an earshot, he'll ask more directly.]

...Your guy's been having a real hard time of it, huh.

[orphne]

I guess that's what makes SEES different, huh?

[Not only from most people, but from the other Persona users, too. Yu and Yosuke had described it as an acceptance of their true self. Akira and Goro had made it sound like it was some kind of will of rebellion. Meanwhile she and the other members of SEES have their own very visible reminder every time they summon a Persona -- death comes for everyone. It just comes for some of them sooner than others.

But she huffs a bit of a laugh at the joke, her nose crinkling a bit with the amusement, because it's true! She'd asked Minato that very same question once, and they'd both come to the conclusion that yeah. Yeah, they are the weird ones, probably.

The smile lingers at the mention of Scott, though, and she glances back toward him again as if to reassure herself that he can still see her from here. It'll help him, she's pretty sure; even if they're not together, as long as he can know she's there, he'll be okay, she thinks.]

Yeah, [she admits finally, plopping into her seat and resting her chin in her hand.] He said I was only gone for two days, but... he took it really hard. I dunno how to make that better for him.

[drugsnotclubs]

[He doesn't follow her gaze to Scott-- after all, that's personal for them. But he does let out a soft noise, considering, at her wondering out loud. That's the hard part for them, isn't it. There's no closure here. Death is mostly temporary and means nothing. people can disappear at any time. They can leave and come back. They can leave and come back different.]

I dunno. I don't know if it's up to you to make it better, either.

[Is it their responsibility to soothe their deaths for others? Obviously, Kotone has the extra layer of being romantically involved and just wanting for her boyfriend to feel better. But there's no way they can promise it won't happen again. It's not who they are, and it's not the sort of place Aldrip is.

...But maybe he's getting too nihilistic.]

All you can do is be here for him when you can. It sucks, but... it's not like we can control the future.

[orphne]

Isn't it?

[Her question is more rhetorical than anything as she takes a loud sip of bubble tea. That's always felt like part of her job -- making things better for people. Talking them through whatever situation they're in, helping them through it until they leave her life forever. (So maybe she shouldn't try to make things better for Scott if that's the case.)

Chewing on a few tapioca pearls, she adds more quietly,] We talked about it. What to do if either of us disappear. [If she "goes home" and dies for real.] I knew it would be hard for him, but...

[She hadn't seen anyone's reactions directly after her death. Even when she'd met Ken, he'd had two years to process what had happened. Seeing Scott's despondent slump in the two days after had hurt a lot. It's not right.

But all she can do is shrug, mustering up a smile for Shinji as she glances over at him.] What about you and Dara-san?