[ closed ] poker night

[braveoff]

Who: Drake Holloway, Terrence Ephemera, Lup Taaco, Kyna Midha
What: poker, awkward friendship gestures, helping Lup break in her new body
Where: Spire four, apartment 801
When: November 9th
Warnings: ...language? I will update if anything else pops up.

For the first time in awhile, Drake's feeling optimistic. About this, anyway -- everything else might be a mess but he's confident he can handle moderating this gathering, keep Kyna and Ephemera from fighting and Lup from getting too drunk in her new body. If it all goes well he'll have one less thing to stress about. And it should be fun. They could all use a break.

He's brought over a few bars of chocolate to bet with (since he's pretty sure Kyna won't agree to strip poker like they'd originally planned) and a bottle of whiskey he liberated from the Speakeasy awhile ago. Lup said she'd bring food and she's a better cook than him so he's left her to it. Right now he and Ephemera are finishing tidying the place up, Drake folding dropcloths while his friend puts paints away. It's just about the time they said they'd start.

"You ready for this?" Kyna wasn't part of the original plan and he knows she's gonna be a stressful addition.

Comments

[requiemshark]

It's been a while since Ephemera's played poker with more than one person, but he remembers enjoying it. And this could be good. Aside from Kyna, he likes everyone who's coming. And sometimes he even likes Kyna.

He's fairly sure the feeling isn't mutual.

Ephemera nods, gathering up the last of his paintbrushes and putting them away. So long as they don't argue, it should be fine. They'll probably argue anyway, but he's going to try to keep it civil. For Drake and the others. This is supposed to be nice.

"Just poker."

And between Drake and Lup, that should be enough to keep the fighting down.

"Sorry my place is such a mess," he adds.

[braveoff]

"It's not so bad," he says agreeably, folding the last dropcloth and grabbing the pile to put them in the bedroom for now, out of the way. "I love the new mural in the hall, by the way. It's pretty close to home."

[requiemshark]

Ephemera brightens at that. He worked hard on that one, trying to get it just right. It was different from the stuff he usually does. A challenge. "Yeah? Good. I don't usually paint stuff I haven't seen. But I like this one."

Sometimes he wonders about Earth. Drake's world.

He shakes his head a little.

"Think we've got enough chocolate and stuff?"

[braveoff]

"I think so? If not, we can get creative."

Drake lingers in the hall, touching the painting. He misses home -- wishes Ephemera could get to see it, but odds are neither of them ever will again.

"You have to help me watch how much Lup's drinking, I bet her tolerance is back to zero."

[requiemshark]

Ephemera nods, expression serious. He doesn't intend to babysit Lup, exactly, but he'll keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't get too fucked up. There's a difference between having a good time and spending the morning puking your guts out, something he's unfortunately discovered more than once. And recently, as Drake knows.

That's done, at least.

"Yeah. Between all of us, it should be all right. Let's just have a good time."

[braveoff]

Yeah, neither of them are planning to babysit, which is why it'll have to be a team effort. Drake finally steps out of the hallway and over to Ephemera, gripping his shoulder encouragingly. It's gonna be fine, his expression says, all of it.

Then there's the heavy thunk as Lup walks straight into the door...

"Guess they're here."

[restinglichface]

In the middle of the two boys catching up, there's a sudden loud thud of something slamming hard against Ephemera's front door.

A moment later, the door opens to reveal Lup and Kyna, the former rubbing a hand over her forehead and grumbling, but looking far more alive than either of the boys had seen her in well over a month. "Fuck, that fucking hurt--"

[evocation]

Kyna follows along behind carrying two trays, one piled high with cookies. It's pretty clear she's already eaten at least three of them, and she's laughing at Lup. "Holy shit, Lup. I thought you were cool."

[restinglichface]

Don't think she doesn't know you've been snacking this whole time, girl! The older elf turns to her friend and shoots her a glare, though it's a little less effective when there's more than one bruise running up and down her arms from the various other falls and walking into walls she's done the last few days.

"I am cool! The coolest! I'm still getting used to this having a body thing, okay? It takes time."

[braveoff]

Drake comes out from the hallway to hear Lup asserting her coolness, and it's the first time he's seen her with a body since she disappeared.

"What'd you do, try to drift through the door?"

He steps forward and reaches out -- he's getting that hug whether she likes it or not.

[evocation]

Kyna is just fine with Drake, and she just grins at Lup. But then, of course, she spots Ephemera, and her expression closes off almost instantly. Awkward.

[requiemshark]

"Hey, Lup."

Ephemera hangs back a little, watching Kyna. It's fine. Don't act like a psychopath and it'll be fine.

"Back in the flesh with us, huh?"

He is happy to see Lup, regardless of the situation.

[restinglichface]

Lup should probably feel more bad about Kyna going all silent around Ephemera, but she's just grateful for the teasing to (momentarily) be put on hold. She rolls her eyes when Drake holds out his arms, but goes to him anyway with only the softest of faked grumbles, letting him hug her.

She leans into his touch, letting him carry her skinny weight for the moment. Lup hasn't quite managed balance yet. And because emotions are so surprisingly strong with a body to really feel them, her cheeks go a little pink at the affection shared there. "Maybe a little.... Shit's hard. Don't know why I wanted a body back in the first place."

But once Drake's had his fill, whether Ephemera wants it or not, Lup's moving to him next, dropping her head on his chest. "Yep. It's cha'girl, back at it. Give me like, a few more days and I'll be back kicking butt and taking names."

[braveoff]

As Lup goes to Ephemera, Drake unburdens Kyna of the trays, setting them on the kitchen counter. He nods his head towards the other two, and grins at Lup's distinct lack of grumbling about that contact.

"See that? She loves him more than me."

[evocation]

Kyna steps back as the hellos happen, feeling uncomfortably like she shouldn't be here. She doesn't do well with this stuff normally, but it's worse when there are two guys here that she barely knows having an emotional moment with her friend. Then Drake steps forward, and she manages to force an awkward little smile. "Yeah, I guess so. Or maybe she's just letting him off the hook this time."

[requiemshark]

Ephemera wraps his arm around Lup, bumping his head against hers. It's good to see her like this, back in the flesh, and he holds her close. "Goddamn, Lup."

This is crazy. But she's here, and that's enough.

He draws back a little, expression serious.

"You gotta help me, Lup. Drake is really good at poker. I can't lose every round this time. My manly pride can't take it."

[restinglichface]

Still pressed against the larger man’s chest, Lup turns her head just enough to stick a tongue out at Drake for that, before she’s laughing, feeling lighter than she has in well over a decade. This is nice. She’s spent the last few days attached to her twin’s hip, and now that she’s finally feeling up to socializing, these are exactly the three she wants to be around. Ephemera gets an affectionate brush of her fingers against his cheek when he bumps heads with her, before they are pulling away and Lup’s shooting her usual too-cocky grin around the room.

“Good thing I’m practically a pro by now. We teaming up for this? What’re we throwing down as bets? Back rubs?”

[braveoff]

"I'd play for that. If I do lose you're all lucky, Henry taught me some new tricks." He glances again at Kyna, trying to read her. "We've got plenty of food to bet with, though. Since I figured you wouldn't be up for strip poker."

[evocation]

Kyna is easy to read as always, toying with her pendant. "Wait, you were gonna play strip poker? Are you fucking with me?"

[requiemshark]

"Which we're not doing," Ephemera points out, louder. "I got some chocolate we can break up."

[restinglichface]

"And here I was ready to show off this hot new bod Hope gave me," Lup teases, finally following after Drake to help set out the food properly. If he can carry, she can at least do that.

"I'm down with whatevs, though. Let's just get this game started."

[braveoff]

"Let's start with chocolate as poker chips for now, then we can start betting favors, okay? Back rubs are in there, keep thinking of stuff you could bet. Like losers have to tell an embarrassing story."

Drake's got the food set out now and pulls down plates for all of them, letting Lup set those on the table as he fetches the chocolate and cards.

"We ready to go?"

[evocation]

"Are we doing like... teams, or what?" She's not sure if teams are a thing in poker, but she's self-aware enough to know that she's totally screwed if they're all playing on their own.

[requiemshark]

"We can, if you want."

Generally it's everyone for themselves, in poker. Ephemera glances at Lup. She knows Kyna better.

[restinglichface]

If Lup took the time to make the food, she's damn sure gonna make sure it's presented well, even if these chucklefucks probably don't care what her spread looks like. But once she's set everything out properly, Lup returns to her friends and raises an arched brow in their direction.

"Don't look at me. I'm gonna cream whoever I'm up against, so if you wanna get in on this, we can do teams. Girls versus boys? Or fire-starters versus goody-goodies?"