expiationlogs | Free Night at the Casino

Entry tags:

Free Night at the Casino

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.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Comment here if you're entering in the fighting tournament. I'll RNG a winner on 8/7 and we can thread out the prize bestowing! Also feel free to respond to each other here to set up match ups!

Character: Toph
Circuit: Powers and no powers
Open to Match Ups? Y

1. Working

[ As one of the owners and head of security, Toph does spend a good part of the night working, not that it feels much like working to her. She genuinely enjoys walking around keeping an eye on things and interfering where it's needed, or offering hearty congratulations or mocking laughter as appropriate.

Small and barefoot as she is, it's easy to miss her until she suddenly pops up somewhere and starts yelling. Feel free to run into her just about anywhere while on the job -- or find her telling someone twice her height to knock it off. ]

You know what really pisses me off? People bothering my staff.

2. Fighting Tournament

[ She's thrilled to finally be launching this. Even at home she'd sincerely missed Earth Rumble, and since coming to Aldrip (how long has it been? yikes) it's just gotten worse. Toph has plenty of reasons to enjoy fighting and want to keep her skills sharp, but she doesn't think too deeply about it. The plain fact is that she does enjoy it, and she's good at it, and she likes sharing that with others.

The whole past month was a horrific trial. Even if she wasn't involved in any awful violence directly, some people she really cares about have some major things to work through, and what better way than a friendly beatdown?

Toph can be found signing people up, badgering people into participating if she knows them, and, of course, fighting in some bouts herself. She's far more capable in the circuit that allows powers, but in the no powers circuit she still holds her own decently well. Despite her ego, she takes losing well. She's motivated to get better and might bother whoever she lost to after the match into agreeing to practice with her more.

She's also prone to offering peanut gallery comments to anyone spectating on the matches she's not actively refereeing. ]

Geez, some people really just signed up to embarrass themselves in public.

[ Or maybe: ] That's awesome! Do you know them? Do you think they'd face me later?

3. Fortune Telling

[ She'd gone to the trouble of recruiting the fortune teller and setting this up, so she may as well partake herself. Except then Toph ends up scowling down at her reading.

Five of swords... Queen of swords... reversed Emperor.

It all sounds pretty okay until the fortune teller gets toward the end of the interpretation, and then starts explaining that reversed Emperor for the future spot means she'll end up in a position of great authority, but one she doesn't want. ]

Are you kidding me? I don't want anything more serious than running this place! That's crap.

4. Dog Therapy

[ However gruff and abrasive she can be, Toph isn't shy at all about showing affection when it's warranted, and she definitely counts it as warranted with friendly animals. Toph was already predisposed to like animals from her childhood lessons with the badger-moles, but after Appa and Momo, and now Kakashi hosting a whole dog kennel and rescue next door, she's all in.

So you can find her literally rolling around on the ground laughing as she play-wrestles with some of the dogs, disheveled and hair escaping her headband even more than usual. Just as she'd intended with this event, it's a relief to be reminded that there's something as simple and happy as this still left in the world.

Maybe she notices someone observing nearby, or maybe she knows you. Either way, Toph suddenly grins and gleefully tells the dogs around her: ]

Get 'em!

[ The whole pile of dogs mobilizes to lovingly tackle the newcomer. ]

WILD CARD ?

[ Go for it! ]

Edited 2024-08-01 15:20 (UTC)

Character: Morph
Circuit: Powers
Open to Match Ups? Y

Character: goro akechi
Circuit: powers! for non powers it'd be with swords or shooting
Open to Match Ups? yes

Character: Aether
Circuit: Powers and no powers
Open to Match Ups? Y

i. the bar association

[If it was just about anyone else, Vincent might not have bothered showing up to such an invitation. A loud, noisy area with people drinking and essentially partying is not Vincent's idea of a nice time, but he is extremely fond of Toph. Besides, he... supposes it won't hurt to distract himself from recent events, after a fashion. Even if a large group of people in a bright and colorful place is not what he particularly enjoys.

Nonetheless, Vincent is present, and even went out of his way to wear something a little different. Not that Toph will probably notice, but he's doing it. He's making an effort just for her.

Currently, being the antisocial moth that he is, Vincent is off by the bar getting a glass of wine filled. Because of course it's red wine, who in the Spirit Halloween do you think he is?]

ii. queen's blood

[All right, he wasn't expecting the Queen's Blood games. It honestly warms his heart a bit to see it being played despite it's history (don't worry about it). Heck, he even almost smiles. That's wild.

For his part, Vincent isn't playing exactly, but he does seem to carefully nudge his way into games for the newer players to give them hints and guidance.]

I suppose it'll be only a matter of time until someone comes up with a ranking system for this...

[Well, it's out of his hands.]

iii. wildcard

[you do you boo]

Character: Peter Quill
Circuit: Shooting
Open to Match Ups? Y

GAMBLING

[ Free night at the casino? count Peter in! He'll be enjoying some gambling -- in fact, he's happy to pick up any of the games at any of the tables. Is he winning or losing? Who cares! When the chips don't matter, there's no reason to hold back, right? Should you happen to catch Peter's eye, he'll wave you over to his table -- where a small stack of chips is laid out before him. He's not... doing great, but that's not what it's about, right? ]

Hey, sit on down! We'll deal you in!

[ He taps the seat next to him. Come on, you wanna play, right? ]

FIGHTING TOURNAMENT

[ Now, Peter's not gonna take part in this thing. Not the fights, anyway. He knows his limits, and that means he's sure not even gonna try. But he'll watch! Heck, he'll even cheer! The fights without powers are a little on the boring side, but with people sligning powers around, that's a show! ]

Yeah!! Get 'em! Whoo!

[ Does he even know anyone competing? Eh, doesn't matter. Peter cheers from the sidelines all the same. ]

Did you see that?

DOG THERAPY

[ You can find Peter later in the night, surrounded by soft dogs, smiling bright. He seems to have made especially good friends with a golden retriever, one that keeps licking his face while he rubs his fluffy little neck. ]

Who's a smart boy? Who's a smart boy? You are!

[ He laughs. He's having the time of his life, and the dog is too, judging by how quickly his tail is wagging. ]

Man, it's too bad you can't talk. And you're not psychic. But otherwise? You look just like Cosmo.

Character: Yuri Lowell
Circuit: Powers and no powers!
Open to Match Ups? Y

Character: Vash
Circuit: Shooting, No powers!
Open to Match Ups? Y

[there's a minor commotion at the front of the dog area as kakashi enters - he is technically the owner of all these dogs, after all, and they know him well. he wades through the crowd of them, arriving just in time to catch peter cooing at the golden retriever.]

He's free to a good home, you know.

[and as he never ASKED to be the owner of twenty odd dogs, he is always alert to the possibility of finding them new homes.]

A. Gambling + Fortune Telling
[Morph wasn't much of a gambler, but who were they to turn down free chips? They came here for a distraction, and there's plenty of that to go around. You can catch Morph pretty much just trying out every game, flitting between slot machines and stopping to try out the roulette wheel and a couple of card games. They're really not serious about winning, so their chips are going to run out pretty quickly.

As soon as they see the fortune telling table, well, they can't resist giving it a shot. It never hurt to try to get a little guidance. The Past card was actually pretty nice - though the Queen of Cups was maybe laying it on thick calling them independent and emotionally stable. The present card was the King of Wands, for leading and overcoming challenges. Not bad. The future card, though? That one was the Empress reversed.

Morph walks away from the tarot stand looking pretty peeved, grumbling to themself,] Relationship problems? Am I cursed or what?

B. Dance Floor
[Now this was more their speed. Drawn in by the music, Morph spends some time dancing, though they're not so easy to spot while they're out there. Every time they slip back onto the dance floor, they shift back into their relatively nondescript human appearance to blend in easier, enjoying the anonymity of being just another body in the crowd. Morph isn't terribly shy about who they dance with, either, though whether you'll recognize them is another matter.

But when they're not out there dancing, they're spending plenty of time nursing a drink while watching everyone else dance, though they don't seem to really be taking it in. Maybe Morph is more tired than they thought, or it could be that there's so much on their mind that being able to relax is taking some real effort.]

C. Fighting Tournament
[Morph would be the first to admit that (arguably) sleazy underground fighting wasn't their thing. But, honestly? The chance that the prize might involve cold, hard cash was something they couldn't pass up right now. And maybe it'd be a nice boost to their ego if they managed to get a few wins in during the whole thing.

While they're waiting for their Powers matches, you can find Morph with a soda, watching the ring intently. They are cheering on occasion, but really, they're taking in the whole thing like they're trying to commit the fighters to memory - which is exactly what they're doing. Being a shapeshifter meant needing to know exactly what they're copying, and there was no better way to get down a person's build and musculature than seeing them in action. If they had any special powers on display, well, that was just an added bonus.

Are they ever going to need to take the forms of any of their fellow Chosen? Maybe not, but at least now Morph would be prepared. And it never hurt to know who, or what, they might be up against the next time the whole city decided to freak out.]

Edited 2024-08-02 19:23 (UTC)

Character: Levi
Circuit: shooting only
Open to Match Ups? Y

[It's not too long ago that Kotone had died.

Lots of people had died during the spread of the Gnosia infection, though, and the looming prospect of her own death has never been something that stopped her from enjoying life in the past! Lots of other people suffered a lot during that horrible week, so it feels selfish to dwell in her own thoughts. Maybe she can help cheer some other folks up! That's why once Kotone finds out about the free event, she's making puppy-dog eyes at Scott until he agrees to go with her. Both Kotone and Scott are dressed to impress, because what is a night on the town if not a chance to dress up!]

1. And yet, (option to tag either Scott or Kotone individually, or a three-way thread with both!)

[Kotone simply can't leave well enough alone. She might have headed to the casino with every intent of just taking advantage of the free festivities, but the second it looks like the bar is falling behind on orders, she's instantly jumping behind the bar. Most of the time she's working her self-imposed "shift," Scott will be sitting near her, maybe looking a little put-out at their date night turning into "hanging out with the girlfriend while she's working," but that's kind of normal for them. Anyone who makes eye contact or lingers near the bar for too long is treated to a beaming smile from Kotone, as if nothing is wrong at all. Scott may even give an acknowledging nod or smile, looking a little better and something closer to normal. He's working on it.]

What can I get you? [It's not Lupin, but Kotone is still ready to take a drink order! While drinks may be on the house, it didn't take long for her to make sure a cheerful little tip jar was nearby. Don't forget to tip the service staff!!]

2. James Bond wannabe (three-way thread with Scott and Kotone!)

[Eventually, Scott manages to convince Kotone to leave the bar and instead actually relax, which has landed both of them around the various game tables. Not that Kotone herself is playing -- she might have Norn of the Fortune Arcana equipped, but it's way more fun to just let Scott do all the work of playing while she can just lean on his shoulder like so much arm candy. It's funny to her to pretend like they're in some cheesy, dramatic spy movie, blowing on his dice for luck and giggling before a throw or just giving him a quick kiss on the cheek after a good round of cards. Whether they win or lose doesn't really matter to her; all she cares about is that Scott is having a good time.

Judging by the ease Scott almost carries himself and the way he smiles at her, it's working.

Maybe you beat them at a game, maybe you just want to congratulate them on a game well-played -- either way, both of them are here, and if Kotone is hanging on Scott more than usual, well, maybe that can be excused.]

3. Wildcard!

[While Kotone and Scott will be together for most of the evening -- one could see them dancing, eating together, or just generally enjoying each other's company -- they can definitely be found on their own as well if anyone wants to chat with either of them! Neither of them will be spending time around the fighting ring, but most other places are fair game. Just let us know who you're looking for when tagging!]

[ Toph is also wearing something a little nicer than usual -- thanks Mitsuru, and thanks Sandry -- not that she's going to make a big deal out of it. That would imply she cared or something.

There's so many people here it takes some effort to pick out individuals; she doesn't notice Vincent right away, quiet and circumspect as he is, but eventually she realizes it's him and practically bounces over, effortlessly weaving between the crowd. She hops to a halt in front of him and un-self-consciously grabs onto his arm in hello. ]

Hey, you came!

[ Her initial greeting is cut short as she registers the texture of the fabric under her hands. ]

Hang on. Did you dress up, too? [ The rising sense of glee implies this is leading to mockery more than compliments. ]

You sure? [ she drawls. ] You're kinda embarrassing yourself.

[ Considering she wins exclusively by cheating, she probably shouldn't be harassing this guy about losing, but that's never stopped her. She also isn't trying to hide that she's an owner, but it just doesn't seem important to mention in a casual interaction. ]

Come on, I can't teach you this game, but there is one I can. If you're interested.

[ Want to learn Queen's Blood, Peter??? Toph can legitimately play that because Spock and Vincent had made sure there were decks with accessible cards she could 'read' with pseudo-braille. ]

You know I'm not actually paying you, right?

[ Toph probably would if asked, frankly -- Kotone is a friend of Mitsuru's -- but she's not gonna miss the chance to make fun of someone. She's short enough that she just barely clears the bar itself, so Kotone might only see the tips of some dark hair and her headband over the counter, concealing that she's dressed a little nicer than normal herself. Toph makes no effort to raise herself up to make eye contact, of course. ]

[ It's absolutely sleazy underground fighting, and that's what Toph loves about it. She makes it a point to make the rounds getting to know whoever shows up, so after her own no powers match she wanders around as the next proceeds without her. She'd lost, so she's out of this circuit, but she'd put on a good show using decisive, crisp martial arts. She's no slouch hand-to-hand but without using her earthbending for more than sensing her surrounding area she is, ultimately, a small girl. ]

Hey. You signed up for the powers bracket, right? Maybe we'll face each other.

Character: Vi
Circuit: no powers
Open to Match Ups? Y

POINTS AT EYES, POINTS AT U

[For whatever it's worth, internally Vincent does think she looks very nice in her clothes, but he doesn't say anything about it mostly because he's socially awkward as hell and their mutual love language is teasing so like. Hard.

Anyway, he doesn't mind the contact, then forms a faint smile.]

Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have bothered.

[But yeah he's expecting to get dunked on. Toph is allowed, though.]

omg can Vi be the person she loses to in the no powers circuit, that would be great

[ Toph much prefers not having attention drawn to her appearance, since she isn't sure how she feels about it herself yet. And sure enough, she immediately shoots back: ] Don't you usually wear a cape? Maybe this counts as dressing down.

[ She's pretty sure he wears a cape, but whatever her abilities, there's limitations to what Toph can get through her earth senses. It's pretty rare she asks for accommodation; usually she just deals with it and makes her best guess.

Now she takes a step back and raises her hands expectantly, palms out. ]

Can I "see"?

[It's not surprising that Kotone is out at the first sign of something cheery to mask over the upsetting reality they'd all just experienced, or that she'd thrown herself into work as soon as she perceived help being needed. They all cope in their own way, and hers is on full display as she rattles shakers and scoops ice and laughs with the customers taking a break from games or fights.

But that does leave Scott, seeming to just be waiting for her to be done like an obedient hip-attached boyfriend-- and Shinjiro's familiar enough with the casino that none of the games are too exciting for him, so he'll just walk up and sit next to the guy. Might as well keep one club leader occupied while the other is throwing herself bodily into every activity she can find.]

You her supervisor tonight? [it's dry when he says it, and maybe not obvious that it's a bad joke: picking fun at Scott's choice to sit here and look kind of mopey, rather than separate himself and do literally anything else on his own.]

Good to see you came out, though. [He says the words, but there's not a lot of feeling behind them. It's an observation. Like: yeah. good thing he isn't a hermit. Good thing Shinji isn't a hermit either. They're both probably messed up after the last month.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 18

Free Night at the Casino

Fighting Tournament Sign-Ups

no subject

Toph Beifong | Open

no subject

no subject

no subject

vincent valentine | ota

no subject

peter quill | OTA

no subject

no subject

dogs

Morph | ota!

no subject

Kotone Shiomi & Scott Summers | ota!

no subject

gambling!

1 - both please!

C

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

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