trans_9 | He's a Gambling Man

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He's a Gambling Man - [OPEN]

Jr. had no particular destination in mind before he entered the city. He figured when he got there he would decide whether or not he was more in the mood for a stop by the Drunken Dragon or the Tea House - there were sure to be people in either one of them. Little did the red-head know, however, that he was in for quite a big surprise as he made his way through. He remembered hearing about how these other structures showed up in the city. Seemingly out of nowhere, as if the places were simply cut away from their own universes. Just like his mecha, the E.S. Asher had simply been there, waiting for him in the hangar. Weapons like that he could understand, but why would the ship take buildings? Temples and parks?

A flash of blue caught his eye, and he turned to a building he hadn't noticed before. Or maybe he had noticed it, but it had simply been empty and easily dismissible. It certainly didn't look that way now, and for a moment Jr. just ... stared. Completely baffled by the small, but familiar blue sign next to the entrance. In a bright cyan color read the words "GAME ROOM." Just like...

Just like on the Durandal... There was a moment-- a short, short moment when he figured year right, this place can't be here. But just as quickly, he remembered how many other places showed up out of nowhere. Jr. walked up to the entrance - it felt like such a long time since he saw that sign - it was a strange, bittersweet feeling. Of all the places to show up... And then he opened the door to step inside, and it felt just like home again. This was one of his favorite places to pass the time on his foundation's enormous red (and appropriately named) flagship.

The walls were a light and happy blue, the area itself rather techy and futuristic-looking. Lined along one wall were a few slot machines, and up a small staircase to the right was an oh so familiar rounded poker table. In another corner stood what appeared to be a game. The screen flashing "A.G.W.S. Battle," Jr. recognized it as the 3D versus mecha game he remembered from home. Pretty fun, he thought, and a good way for anybody bored to pass the time if they weren't much into the luck and gambling side of things. Every once in a while a small flicker of light could be seen in the air, like that of a firefly. Environmental Bugs - tiny little nanomachines whose job it was to keep the room in shape.

Jr. walked over to sit in one of the chairs set around the poker table. It felt a little lonely in the silence without any of the troops walking around - so many of them loved coming in here to pass the time with him. And without the 100-Series, who he had taught and had been teaching how to play, they were getting so much better at it, too. He reached down to grab his omnicomm, fingers tapping away as he typed out a quick message. A place like this deserved to feel lively, just like he was used to it being.

[] OOC: Here's a reference post. o/ []

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The sniper poked his head in the door, taking a quick survey of the place - and its lone occupant. "I heard something about poker?" He offered with a breezy smile.

"Oh, hey!" Jr. remembered this guy. By now, the Quarter was pretty well known, but he remembered when the thing first appeared -- it had been something from his world, hadn't it? This somehow came full circle.

"Commander ... um..." Did he ever get his name? If he had, Jr. blanked on it completely.

"Blanc," he said, reaching up to adjust his glasses. "I'm not on duty. Call me Michael."

"Is this place yours? It's pretty stocked."

A nod. "Got'cha. Michael, then. I forget if I gave you my name the last time we met. Gaignun Kukai Jr.! And..."

He looked around the room thoughtfully, his voice calming somewhat. "Yeah. I guess this place is mine." Not that it wasn't technically 'his' back home, since his battleship, the Durandal as a whole was under his command. It was just strange to think about it like this. "It's from home, anyway. And nobody else is awake yet."

The sniper arched an eyebrow as he entered the building, letting the door close behind him. "That's a mouthful. So, you go by 'Gaignun' normally?"

He slowly looked around with an experienced eye as though taking inventory before looking back at the shorter boy. "All by yourself, huh? I know the feeling."

"Always nice to have a little piece of home like this."

"Just Jr.'s fine! That's what most people stick to." Save for a good number of people from home on the Foundation. He admitted it more than once - he missed them. But he also kept up hope, and at Michael's next remark, he smiled, giving a half shrug and waving a hand.

"Sucks sometimes, doesn't it? But the others'll be out of there, eventually." He said it before, right? The last thing he remembered before waking up on Stacy was being with Shion and the others. If it picked him up, it had to have taken the rest of them along. Stacy'd be pretty stupid to look for those capable of saving the multiverse and passing them up.

"Especially since we've gotta get this room filled up with more people, now. I didn't expect it to just show up like this! I know that was pretty standard fare for things like our units and our battleships. But you're right ... it does feel pretty nice to sit in here again."

"Had a few people from home here before," he shrugged casually. "They're all taking the big sleep in the caverns now. Funny how it works out."

Michael canted his head to the side. "It's a game room. You'd think that people would just flock here for the hell of it."

"Hey, at least it's good to know they're down there, even if they are sleeping. Stacy's really gotta pick up the pace with that!"

Jr. glanced over to one of the slot machines. He remembered one soldier who always used to be at it - ironically tossing money into the same place's system that paid him. "Hopefully more people'll be showing up soon. Hasn't been too long since I announced it on the omnicomm. Plus! The Drunken Dragon's a pretty cool hang out spot, but all drinks and no fun is ... well. No fun."

Allenby looked around the room, eyebrows raised. She'd been expecting something a little more flashy from a casino-arcade... the ones she'd visited on Earth were all made of flashing lights and loud music. But even if it was small and quiet, it was still worth looking around.

"Heya!" she said cheerfully to the redheaded boy at the table. "So this is the place with the arcade, huh?"

He turned to greet the newcomer with a smile. "Hi! You mean the A.G.W.S. Battle game?" Jr. jerked a thumb behind him to the game with the flashing screen set in the corner.

"Pretty funny that it would turn up with the rest of this stuff. But it is a pretty fun game."

Allenby grinned and headed for the game. Oh, yeah. Looked like a mobile suit fighting game--not as fun as a full combat simulator, but those weren't easy to find anyway. She began toggling with the controls. "Sure looks it. So hey, does it have a two-player mode?"

Oh, right. "I'm Allenby, by the way. What's your name, kid?"

"It does!" Jr.'s smile then turned into a smirk. "But I should warn you, I've got some experience playing it."

He followed Allenby over to the game. "I'm Jr.-- Gaignun Jr."

"Perfect! I wouldn't want it to be too easy," said Allenby with a cocky grin. She shifted to the side so Jr.'d have enough room to step up. "Nice to meet ya, Jr. Show me what you got!"

"I should be saying that to you!" he retorted cheerfully.

Toggling through the different mechs and armament choices, most of them Jr. was already familiarized with, even if he hadn't actually piloted an A.G.W.S. in quite some time. Not when the E.S.s were a lot bigger and powerful. So Jr.'s choice of machine and equipment went fast.

"Yeah? Well, we'll see." Allenby had never played this particular game before, but she'd hit every arcade she found while traveling Earth, so she figured she had a good shot anyway.

She took more time than Jr. in customizing hers, picking a build that was swift and powerful. "Okay! Ya ready, Jr.?" she said once she was done.

"Let's do this!"

Three, two, one, Begin! And when the game started, Jr.'s A.G.W.S. veered off to the left behind a small pile of debris. Instead of stopping there, however, it kept moving, passing it and heading around some trees.

Allenby sent her A.G.W.S. after that clump of trees, firing into it in an attempt to drive Jr.'s mech out into the open. Good tactic, but she much preferred an open fight to sneaking around.

A couple of light-distanced hits, but in Jr.'s case worth it in the hopeful long run. The A.G.W.S. disappeared behind the nearby building -- whether it kept on moving or not beyond that Allenby was going to have to see for herself. One thing Jr. had an advantage with was knowing the game well enough to sneak around to get in some surprises.

Allenby tried an experimental jump or two with her unit, but it wasn't enough to clear the building. Too bad these weren't Gundams. Well, fine then. She ran around the corner of the building, guns blazing--subtlety? Who needed that?

But Jr.'s A.G.W.S, by that time, was nowhere to be seen around the corner. It was currently swerving in and about the alleyways between the building and other structures.

"You're pretty sneaky, aint'cha?" Allenby said as she dove into the alleyways, seeking Jr.'s unit. "But instead of showin' me how well you can hide, why not lemme see if you can fight?"

Baiting him? Why yes, yes she was.

Zouichi wandered on in, looking around at the interior as if a little unsure this were the right place. When he spotted Jr., however, he gave the boy a wave, walking over to the poker table. "So is this some kind of... casino? Somehow, it looks a little different than I was expecting."

"Slightly smaller scale," he admitted. "It's something we had set up on the Durandal - our ship. You know, something in the Residential Area for the soldiers and crew to pass some time in. Plus, I happen to be a poker guy myself!"

"You had a casino set up on your ship?" How curious. "I thought people usually looked down on their soldiers gambling."

He hesitated a little. "Poker? I've heard of it, but I've never actually played..."

"Eh? Really? We've got no big problems with it..." he trailed off. As long as they didn't let it get in the way of the more important things. "I think it's a good thing to let them have some fun while we pass the time on missions. Less stress that way." Plus, he and Gaignun enjoyed playing, too, so maybe that was in part why Jr. was more than open-minded about it.

"Do you wanna learn how? I wouldn't mind teaching you! I've taught a lot of my own crew how to play already."

"Hmm. Well, I guess I never really got much free time."

Understatement of the year.

Zouichi considered Jr.'s offer briefly, before nodding. "Sure. I've got some time on my hands. Er, can I just sit down anywhere?"

"All right!" With that, Jr. leaned over in the seat he was in, reaching for a deck of cards that were stored underneath the table. "You can sit right over here," he motioned to the seat straight across the table from him.

Zouichi slid into the chair, watching Jr. handle the cards. Not that he knew much of anything about cards, but his motions looked practiced and fluid.

And as Jr. shuffled, fanning the cards between each other every now and then, he spoke.

"We'll go with the super basics, first. First, ranking the cards from lowest to highest, it's two through ten, then Jacks, Queens, Kings, Aces. Players are dealt five cards, and decide if they wanna call, raise, or fold -- basically put in the same bet as the bet before you, raise the bet, or drop out. After the first round, players can choose if they want to keep the hand they have, or discard a number of cards - can be anywhere from one to all five. But sometimes depending on rules that number changes. Second round of betting, and then any remaining players show their hands to see who wins. Keeping up with me so far?"

Pretty smooth shuffle, Jr.!

Zouichi nodded. It sounded simple enough. "I think so. What type of hands have value?"

"Okay, this is where it might get a little more difficult to remember all at once. We'll go from lowest to highest again. One pair, two pair, three of a kind-- oh yeah. If both players have, say, two pair, the player with the pair of the better ranking cards wins. After that comes a straight, which is any number of cards in order. Like five, six, seven, eight, nine. Aces count as both ones and higher than a King. So you can have Ace, two, three, four, five or ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace."

Jr. sure did get excited and happy when he talked about this-- it felt just like back back on the Durandal teaching the 100-Series how to play.

"Next up is a flush." He paused shuffling to pull a random card out (a ten of hearts), pointing to its suit. "If all of your cards have the same suit-- one of these, that's a flush. Whatever the highest card in the hand is, is what the flush is called. So if I had a hand of all hearts, and ten was my highest card, it'd be called a ten-high flush. Again, same rule applies if two players get the same thing. Whichever highest card of each hand is higher wins."

He let out a lighthearted whew after speaking. "We're not there yet, but how is it sounding so far?"

"I... uh, okay, I think? The only hands I knew about were the full house and royal straight flush. This game is certainly more complicated than appearances might suggest."

He hadn't even known there were normal flushes!

Yeaaaaah, Zouichi was going down like a ton of bricks.

Jr. couldn't help but let out a laugh at that. "And this isn't even going into all of the different variations and rules that exist out there! But, good, you know Full House and Royal Straight Flush? We can wrap this up, then!

"Full house was actually next up after flush. After that comes Four of a kind. Which is pretty self explanatory, buuuut. In this case, if two players both get four of a kind, whoever has the highest card that isn't the four of a kind one is the winner. After that is a straight flush - which is basically a flush, same suit, only the numbers have to be consecutive, hence the straight flush.

"Finally comes the royal flush. Which is a straight flush, but it has to be ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace."

What? Why were the rules for four of a kind different? ~~WAT DO~~

Zouichi nodded slowly. "I think I understand." He could remember the hands, anyway.

"So, what are we betting with?"

Because poker is apparently for people who like putting a lot of time and dedication into something, that's why.

Jr. paused. "Uh. Well there are a lot of chips that showed up along with this place. But they don't do much beyond that since this ship isn't really that big on currency and exchanges and all that."

"That's true. I suppose they wouldn't have any intrinsic value anyway, with so many resources provided free of charge." He glanced at the table. "Chips? oh, those plastic discs?"

"Yup!" He reached back down under the table, rustling though a few things and pulling out a few stacks of differently colored chips.

Hmm. He pulled out a stack of approximately the same number. "Alright. Let's do this. You're dealing, right?"

With a nod, the dealing he did. "Just got a great idea, though. I think I'll make up a rules and how-tos list to keep on the omnicomms for anybody else who might wander by and be interested in learning. It'll save a lot of talk!"

"Sounds like a plan. Although I'm sure you'd get people down here even without posted rules. People like having something to do." Zouichi looked at his cards. 9, 7, 3, 7, A. Hmm.

"I will bet... five chips?" It sounded more like a question than a statement. He had no idea how many chips he should be betting.

While they were at it, Zouichi's unsure-sounding tone reminded Jr. of something else, so he decided to toss in a surprise lesson. As luck would have it, Jr.'s draw wasn't actually very good. He only had a pair of 4s.

"I'll raise that to twenty," he said, with an air of sounding quite sure of himself and the cards he held.

Twenty? Wait, what? Did that mean Junior was sure he'd win? Or had he merely bet the wrong initial amount? He looked back at Junior's face. Hmm. No clues there.

Well, in any case, his strategy would have to be the same, wouldn't it? He'd just have to wait and see.

"...I will take three cards," he said, putting the 3, 9, and ace back down. The odds of receiving another 7 seemed higher than attempting any other hand.

"Not gonna draw any, I'll keep what I got!" he continued with that sure-sounding tone.

Zouichi frowned. He was going to keep what he had? Which meant Jr. had an excellent hand? He supposed it wasn't statistically impossible to receive a winning hand on a single draw, but it seemed very unlikely.

His cards gave him a 6, 2, and another 7. So he had three of the same number now. Which was not a bad hand, but not a spectacular one, either. Hmm.

He glanced at Jr. -- still no help -- then back at the cards. Jr. was an experienced player, who would likely know when to fold and when to continue playing. It might very well be that he had cards that were of more value than his own. If Zouichi continued playing and Jr. ended up raising the bet as he had before, he might very well lose most of his chips.

However, taking no cards at all? That would mean Jr. had a perfect hand.

"I will call," he said. He might lose, but he'd rather lose by being stubborn and standing his ground than by being unwilling to take a chance.

"Alright," he said, taking a quick glance at his own hand, and then down to the chips that had been bet so far. "Hmm, my first bet was pretty comfortable for me. So I'll call."

And at that, having reached the end, Jr.'s general expression during the game changed into an impish grin. "Got a little nervous there?"

~~MAYBE A LITTLE~~

He glanced back at Jr., frowning once more. "...you were trying to make me nervous? I thought this was just a card game."

"Hey, hey, it is! But remember, you can go pretty high stakes with this game, sometimes! If it were real money, or a lot of real money, you've gotta be really careful!"

With that, Jr. tossed his hand face-up onto the table. "See? I had a pretty crappy hand, but what I did was called bluffing. Trying to make the other guy back off and fold so I'd still win with it. It's all in the expressions and action-- since I didn't wind up drawing any new cards, it seemed like I didn't have to since what I had was great enough."

"Hmm. I see. So deceiving the other player about the true value of your cards is... part of the game? It isn't considered poor sportsmanship?" How strange.

"....you know, I never really considered the idea 'bluffing' before. Can we play another hand?"

"Well, it's not like you're allowed to start laughing and saying 'oh man, what a great hand I have!'. Some people give it away in their face-- or try to give a certain impression in their face. What I did was a little exaggerated, but in real games it's a lot more subtle and harder to pinpoint. And in the case of raising, all's fair because it's your own stuff you're taking the chance with.

"We can play as much as you want!" Jr. added with a smile as he pushed the pile of chips in Zouichi's direction - poker was one thing he could go at for a while. Collecting the cards, he started shuffling them quickly to begin some more hands.

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He's a Gambling Man - [OPEN]

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sorry for the laaaate ._.;;

It's all good! o>

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PLEASE FLEECE THE SYNTHETIC HUMAN AT CARDS

>:D

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/good place to wrap thread?

Okay! o>