(Open Log) You gotta know when to hold 'em

[bindlestifflost]

Who: George Milton, Nick Valentine, and anybody who shows up
When: April 22, starting around 6 PM until
Where: Apartment A-3
Summary: A night for playing cards, drinking beer or b.y.o.b. if harder, snacks and unwinding. Feel free to thread jack and jump all around, at least in my threads. This is just for some relaxed down time and catching up or introductions in a smaller, casual space.
Warnings: None expected. If your characters get to discussing anything triggery or get up to anything spicy, please CW in your individual threads.



Over the past week or so, hand printed signs drawn in sharpie on plain paper have shown up taped to walls around the apartment complex and on any easily accessible bulletin boards at ADI. A couple of them were also delivered to the flophouse with the request they be displayed somewhere the residents might see them.

They read:
Cards and Beer
Friday April 22 6 PM
Apartment A 3
George and Nick's place
You want more than beer
or chips and popcorn
bring your own.
Extra decks appreciated.

The night of, the door to A 3 is propped open. In addition to the dining table, a couple of card tables and cheap folding chairs are set up for games. Two bowls on the coffee table contain chips and popcorn respectively. There's a cooler on the floor in the kitchen filled with ice and cheap beer.

George or Nick will greet people as they come in and tell them to make themselves at home.

((OOC: Feel free to top level with your own character and make whatever prompts you like. George is generally easy-going, but if he catches anyone stealing, getting too hot and heavy in a bedroom, or otherwise being a general jerk about the apartment or the other guests, he will try to throw the offender out. If you want that kind of thread or want to succeed at something nefarious, let me know so we can work it out.))

Comments

[conning]

Neal watches Crowley at the tables for a while, occasionally playing him, mostly observing with interest. The guy is good. Really goddamn good, and when Neal sits down with intent to play seriously it's with well-hidden excitement.

Poker, of course, because even though I have no idea how to play Neal is super good at it RIP.

"Deal me in. Please."

[demonicmiracle]

Crowley has, by virtue of Aziraphale being a bit of a gossip, been updated on the handful of people he didn't recognize, including being informed that the man with the ridiculous cheekbones and good poker face is Malcolm's boyfriend. Which isn't especially relevant information, but it's always better to know as much as possible, in Crowley's opinion.

"If you're sure you're up for it." A little trash talk that's more playful than anything; he's not taking this seriously at all, which in some ways makes it easier for him to bullshit. He's not concerned about losing, so there's no worry to hide.

But he'll deal Neal in after a quick shuffle of the cards. Ideally, there'd be a designated dealer, but no one wants to get left out of the fun, so taking turns to play dealer seemed the best solution.

[conning]

"I'm sure I am," he says comfortably, his tone not smug, but there's confidence there.

Granted, he doesn't know exactly who he's up against, so there's also that, but. Details.

"You're good." He gathers up his cards, arranging them without particular pattern. "Have you played pro?"

[demonicmiracle]

Someone who's confident isn't half as easy to mess about with as someone who's smug, but Crowley isn't taking this whole thing seriously enough to worry too much about it.

He will worry about being asked if he's played professional poker, almost immediately wrinkling his nose with obvious distaste. "Please, I'm much too pretty for that sort of nonsense."

It would be more accurate to say that he doesn't have half the attention span for it. Or that Aziraphale would frown at him about the inevitable cheating that would occur. But the pretty thing works, too.

[conning]

Neal laughs. "There's good money in it. And a lot of egos that aren't sure what to do with good-looking men."

Not that he's ever used that to his advantage.

[demonicmiracle]

Oh, right, humans have to care about money. He really should remember that now that he has to worry about money, too, but old habits die hard. "That's just blokes most everywhere you go."

Not that he's specifically talking about himself — jokes about being pretty aside, he knows he doesn't exactly fall into the current human definition of 'good-looking' — he's just been around more than long enough to see it time and time again.

"Does make it sorta funny to flirt with 'em, though." They really get weird about that, and Crowley enjoys making people uncomfortable. And he wouldn't exactly be surprised if Neal had used a similar tactic before.

[conning]

Psh, money. As Neal once said in exasperation to a friend, Money is easy. I can get money.

Of course, it's harder when he's not going to just like... take it, but still, he's always been a bit cavalier when it comes to that kind of thing.

Neal grins like a shark. "The best reactions are when they start to worry you've awakened something in them."

He trades in a pair of cards, or however poker works, for other cards, or whatever it is you do. Then tosses a few chips into the pot with the relevant terminology because he knows the rules.