[Log] "An' why don't we like Sam?"

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Fortune's Favor, Santo
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The Fortune's Favor has no established theme, choosing to go with dirty and worn mediocrity over tattered and dusty frills and frippery. The machines are lined up in back to back rows, offering enough room in between for the passage of tourists and waitresses shuttling trays to and from the bar in the far corner. At the entrance there is a giant stone statue of a woman, similarly cracked and worn, an attached plaque reads simply "Lady Luck" A smiling waitress greets you at the door, taking drink orders and escorting you to the casino floor.
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Lucinda furrows her brow, trying to keep up with the story but clearly she isn't drunk enough. "Wait. Who's Sam." She looks to Aradia leaning closer. "Who's Sam, did she tell us who Sam is? We don't like Sam, right?" The scotch is lifted from the table, the doctor topping off a glass that hardly needs to be topped off.


"Was Sam a cat or a bird?" Aradia asks, looking to Lucinda as she shakes her head, "I don't think so." Taking another gulp from her glass, she says, "Never had no nuns at school. Knew a preacher though but he went 'n hung himself." Reaching for the bottle of fine scotch on the table, she tops up her glass and goes to do the same for the other two. "Sam was bad, right," she says slumping back in her chair at the table.


Brianna looks to the others, "....sam wassa dog! mongrel mutt!" She waves off a refill.. "He ate Clyde when he was out of his cage. But then Lucifer sat on 'im and..squish!" She giggles quietly. "Happiest minute 'a m' life. " She sits up and blinks once, looking more sober. "But that's it for my stories for now...I'm seein' close t' Ara's two point five.. and it's time for sleep." She stands up, pauses then nods. "I'll... see you back at the ship... thanks for the drinks Cap... next time I'll buy..." and then she slowly, attentively sees herself out.


"Sam who?" Saienne asks, repeating the question for the umpteenth time. "An' why don't we like Sam?" She negotiates both the waitresses and the people at the machines deftly for - so far - she is still entirely steady on her feet. Her large hat is held in one hand, and she strokes its long feather between her finger and thumb. Brianna's explanation causes her to 'ah' softly. "A dog. Sam was a dog. An' we did not like Sam one jot, no sir! But Lucifer? Quite a different bag of bones..." She raises a lazy salute to the newest member of Grace's family as she passes by, and then proceeds to the table to take up the seat that has just been made spare. "What we drinkin', then? Whiskey?" She picks up the bottle and peers at it in the semi-darkness.


Lucinda salutes Saienne with her glass. "Scotch! I think. Yes, scotch." She takes another sip, after her verbal confirmation. Getting the two out of order. "S'long as we don't end up like that one fellow. Did you hear about that guy? Drank himself to death on Persephone. What a way to go."


"Wait," Aradia calls after Brianna's back as she finally processes the story and comes to the realization that Brianna has gotten up and is leaving. "Who's Lucifer?" she calls, earning herself a few strange looks from nearby gamblers. "Oh bugger," she says, looking to Lucinda as she affects her best commanding-type tone, "Remember to ask who Lucifer is." Blinking she looks to Saienne and the bottle and says, "Ol' Shadow. You goin' to carry me home?"


Saienne wrinkles her nose, the crowsfeet at her eyes creasing deeply. "Old Shadow. Good gorram, but tomorrow mornin' ain't goin' to be pretty." She grins crookedly and pulls a glass towards herself. She pours a generous measure. "Is that so?" She asks Lucinda as she leans back in her seat and stretches her legs out under the table. Her hat is hooked onto her knee - which she has angled just for that purpose. She holds the glass of scotch away from her a little, touching it with just the tips of her fingers. "Drunk himself to death? Waste of good liquor, if you ask me. Ain't able to enjoy it none if you ain't breathin' no more."


Sujiko has been sitting for the last while, pooling over some more private type thoughts while the conversation went on about Clyde and Lucifer and whatever else came up during the group's general state of drunkenness. He's probably refilled once or twice, and is beginning to look a little on the weary side. He finally notices Saienne has arrived. "'eya Sai," he says with a smile that doesn't entirely reach his eyes. He takes yet another sip from his glass, finding it now half empty as he quietly ponders that thought. He yawns and stretches. "Love sucks," he decides matter-of-factly, setting his glass on the table and clasping his hands behind his head as he leans back.


Savannha appears at the table again, did anyone notice her leave? Probably not...even though her first sip of the drink sent her coughing and choking and gagging all the way to the restroom just in case. Pale-faced, she sits down at the table and pauses before sipping at her drink again - don't breath it in this time...as well as don't cough afterwards and make it splash up her nose and in the eyes. ...ah, much better this time, wowie. Now, what did she miss while she was gone?


Lucinda reaches out, snagging the bottle along the way, and tilts it towards Sujiko's glass. "Wouldn't know." She says in response to the Captain's words. "And yes, if drinking himself to death was the intent, he should have at least left a note indicating such. I'm sure medical efforts were wasted in an attempt to revive him."


"Don't it just," Saienne agrees, in a tone of vehemence, with Sujiko's proclamation. "But ain't it the greatest thing, an' all?" She adds, smiling right back at him - lop-sided but entirely genuine. "Sometimes the shinin' sparkle of it gets lost in the muck an' the grime is all." A thoughtful pause - she's clearly not as drunk as everyone else, but that shouldn't be a surprise as she's not so much as sniffed her scotch yet. "But if it really is love... well, the good'll be lurkin' there underneath waitin' for you - ain't it so?" Sermon ended, she finally picks up her glass with long, graceful fingers and knocks some of the amber liquid back. "Good gorram," she mutters, firmly, as it starts its warm burn. "Old Shadow. It'll be the death of us, you mark my words." She peers sideways at Savannha then. "You feelin' fine an' dandy, miss?"


Sujiko smirks at Sai. "Yeah, somethin' like that," he says, shifting his weight in his seat, his gaze fixed intently on the glass. "'ole Shadow?" he asks, scrunching his nose and looking up from his glass. "That some sort o' spacer myth I don' know bout? 'ole shadow haunts ships an' eats kids while they's sleepin' or somethin'?" he suggests, taking up his glass and giving it a swirl before taking another sip from it. Savannha gets a curious glance, but she's still breathing, so he just smirks and goes back to swirling the remaining beverge around in his glass.


Still breathing indeed, Savannha takes a larger breath before diving in again and drawing in another small sip. Was she supposed to enjoy this? "Mmm." she responds to Saienne, pretty sure that...yeah. She's perfectly fine. Down goes another gulp, she was a small person...and had never done this before, she felt a quick flush of mischievouseness at the thought that she was finally trying it out...How soon would she know that it kicked in?


Lucinda doesn't seem to know who this Shadow fellow is either, having drunk enough now that things still don't make sense but she doesn't seem to care. She is, however, distracted by one of the gambling machines where a lady just hit out a decent sized payout. Big silver disks, each representing a credit, start to plunk out. "Three double bars...I could do that..."


Saienne shakes her head in response to Sujiko. "Nah, nothin' of the sort. Nothin' quite so startlin'." She reaches for the bottle again, turning it label-side round to the captain. "Besides, I ain't been a spacer long enough to know such things, I reckon." She says, grinning. "Just this brand - Old Shadow - ain't exactly the got the sweetest of burns on it. Rough as..." A pause, and a very faint blush rises in the woman's cheeks. She looks down at the table and runs a finger along one of the lines that has been gouged there. "Sandpaper, I reckon. Rough as sandpaper."


Sujiko blinks a few times. "Ah, right," he says, shaking his head. "'course. Sorry, m' brain ain't workin' so well right at the now," he adds, draining the rest of his glass (which isn't much). "Think I'ma head back to th' ship now while I can still walk," he says. "I'll throw th' last half'a sheet to th' wind once I'm in a place ain't nobody gonna' get mad at me fer passin' out in," he says with a nod, pushing himself to his feet and taking a moment to gain his balance. "I'll see y'all later," he says. "Savannha..." he pauses, gathering his words for a moment. "Don't... pass out noplace where ain't nobody 'round t' haul y'er ass back to th' ship, yeah?"


Savannha nodded and raised an eyebrow; would this much really make her pass out? The little 'splash' Aradia gave her? damn...she still didn't feel a thing. How boring. "Actually, I think I'll come too..." and with that, she forced down the last of the glass - not too much left - and stood up to follow. Nope, didn't feel any weirder yet...whoa...wait a second. Did they have earthquakes on this world?


Lucinda drifts away from the table slightly, offering what seems to be a mumbled word or two of parting for Suji and Savannha's benefit. "Whadday think, Sai. Couldn't hurt to drop a few credits in the machines, huh? There so pretty..."


"An' then there were three," Saienne says, eyeing the doctor with suspicion, and sparing just a glance for Aradia. "Only one of us is significantly less inebriated than the other two, an' that just ain't no kind of fun." She heaves a sigh and knocks back the rest of her glass of scotch. She still has the bottle by the neck, and she raises it in a farewell gesture to Sujiko and Savannha. "Short an' sweet, but none the less pleasant for it. Reckon I'll see you folks in the mornin', then." A pause, and a crooked grin. "Or mayhap the mornin' after that, dependin' on whether I catch these two up." Lucinda's up and gone by the time Saienne's finished with the pleasantries. She pours herself another glass quickly and stands, taking a step after the doctor. "Pretty they may be," she says, staring at the flashing lights and blinking. "If you reckon on that bein' pretty." A faintly stern tone comes into her voice. "But they surely ain't called one-armed bandits for nothin'..."


Lucinda is reaching into her pockets, pulling out a small fold of money. "C'mon, Sai. I'm feeling lucky. -Someone- has to win, right? Why couldn't it be me?" She takes one more sip of her drink, before setting it down on the box that supports the machine.


"You do know," Saienne says, quite rationally, as she comes to lean up against the machine Lucinda has selected. "That you got the whole weight of the House stacked against you? An' that these machines only ever pay out a fraction of what they take?" She drinks a bit more of the scotch and watches Lucinda. "But hell... it ain't my money you're throwin' away, is it?"


Lucinda holds out the handful of credits at Sai. "I don't know. Do these look familiar to you?" She smirks, turning to feed the little device that sucks in the bills one by one. "But if no one ever won, then why would everyone always play? Its to be that lucky one. The one that wins the big jackpot." She bites her lip, pushing a few buttons before she reaches up for the handle. "Here goes nothing.."


Saienne rolls her eyes a little, glancing back helplessly to Aradia. "The human capacity for self-delusion never ceases to amaze me," she mutters, and then points out: "I wouldn't know why folk are so willin' an' eager to hand over their money to strangers. I ain't in the habit of gamblin'." She pauses, and shrugs, waiting for what she imagines to be the inevitable disappointment: "But good luck, an' all."


Lucinda holds her breath as she tugs on the lever, releasing it to click back into position of its own accord. Her eyes stay fixed on the digital holo display as the computer flashes images in a seemingly random order. Finally the first box stops on the image of a cherry. Then the second one clicks in place. A cherry. "C'mon c'mon.." The doctor mutters under her breath. The third flickers for a moment then....bar. The line pays zero credits. "Bugger."


"Well, there you are then," Saienne says, tapping at the holo display with her glass. "Ain't that these things all over? Don't waste your time, Doctor." So saying, she turns back to the table in search of the bottle and a little more liquid refreshment. "Come an' get merry the less financially ruinous way..."


Lucinda glowers at the machine, tapping her finger on the glass as if that could change the outcome. With a grumble, she heads back with Sai and plunks down at the table to polish off the rest of that really fine bottle of Scotch Ara provided.