2020-07-28 - Blackjack Table Talk

Byron and Lilith met Timothy Pickler and his dumb girlfriend (they can't remember her name) back in fall while on a mini-vacation. Byron had the tech-start-up young millionaire on dial to either impress or invest, so tonight they're seated with the guy during his visit into town to the casino as a business-lite getaway. The couple is prepared to entertain, of course, and schmooze as needed, as the semi-awkward genius is a nice contact to have ($$$). While the local pair might favor roulette on private principle (memories!), they're at the blackjack table now, drinking champagne and laying gambling stakes or standing to watch, depending.

Pickler has a new girlfriend, twice as blonde, twice as dumb, and drinking besides. Lilith is telling a story about the time she went charter boat fishing off of the Miami coast. Apparently, a man caught a small hammerhead shark, tried to take it off the hook himself, and succinctly got latched onto by rows of shark teeth and started screaming and flailing. In a state of panic, he fell over the rail where the small shark loosed itself to swim away once they were in the water. The man had to be pulled up with ropes and a buoy.

"... oh my god! How did they get all the shark teeth out of his arm?! They lose their teeth when they bite people and they have five rows, I saw it on shark week!"

Mmhmm, that's the female voice of the blonde woman, which makes Lilith stare at the woman, then at Byron, then at Pickler in turns. Pickler himself seems immune to dumb questions and mythical animal suppositions, go figure. He clearly is not with these women for their brains, he was no doubt a nerd before getting rich and is compensating with the hot chick factor now that he's rich. Lilith supposes it will get old for him, one day, but the guy is pretty young for a millionaire and still awkward about being a VIP lifestyle person, therefore doubling down in the compensation department to fit in with gorgeous, rich society. She kind of likes Pickler, actually. But lordy, this woman is making her want to drink.

So after Lilith recovers from holding in what she must want to say as a reply, she simply grins and lifts her glass up to look aside at Byron, "Tweezers, I think? They're like salamanders, those sharks. Lose all their rows of teeth, just grow some new ones, eh? Nature's wild, isn't it..." Leaning forward, then, she shows him ample cleavage while placing her bet for the next hand, definitely a silent you're-lucky-I-love-you kind of exchange there with the pose and eyes at partial jest.

The (acting) Chief of Police occasionally stops by the Casino, just to pay his respects and put in some face time. It's not an official part of the job title, but it's one of those things Thatchery did, and it's one of those things he's expected to do. And so he does it. Grudgingly. Very, very grudgingly. A grey silk shirt tucked into black, snug-fitting jeans, heeled black boots and a tailored black jacket help elevate his usual I just rolled out of bed style to something a little more suitable for mingling with the high rollers. He has a glass of something sparkling in one hand as he moves between the light crowds, and isn't hard to spot on his intercept course with the blackjack tables.

Byron's known a few women like Pickler's new fling when he was living in L.A. Some of the wealthy socialites acted in a similar fashion despite being sent to some of the best schools. He's sure that for a few of those women, it was all an act. It's the women who you sometimes run into in clubs, dressed in their skimpy attire and botox filled lips that were the true airheads. Either way, Byron doesn't seem to mind or take actual notice of the bubbly blonde's response to Lilith's story. That doesn't mean that he's not listening, he's just very good at looking as if he's completely and utterly focused on the game at hand.

Hey, if Lilith is showing some cleavage off, Thorne's not going to complain about that either. Once his cards are set before him, it doesn't take him long to extend a hand to tap fingertips onto surface next to the pair of cards. Hit me. That's when he finally settles comfortably into his seat, nursing a glass of whiskey when his gaze lifts to the millionaire nerd, "I guess it's a good time to cancel that flight out to Miami" It's a wry, idle comment tossed out all in fun. Pickler probably doesn't have a flight or even a cruise booked for the sunshine state.

"Madison, right?" He's talking to the blonde. "Is this your first time in a quaint little town such as Gray Harbor?" It's at that time when he notices Ruiz's presence as the Interim Chief makes his way through the various tables of sin. Dressed casino snazzy himself, though in a suit more than a tux, those dark eyes watch Ruiz's approach. "Interim Chief de la Vega," He calls out, while practically announcing the man's name to their guests, "Care to join us for a hand or two?"

Lilith is at a blackjack table in a little fitted black dress and heels suited for high-roller eye-candy, but there's too much savvy about her to look like the kind of arm-candy the out of town investor has in a similar silver dress. She's clearly blonde and vapid and made for about one thing by the look of it, tall and spray-tanned. The awkward young guy beside her keeps fussing with his tie when Byron talks to him, like he's trying to get good presentation marks and is nervous about it. He gives a sober nod to the nearby chief when Byron addresses him with the invite, attention on his hand with a mumble of, "Less sunburn and exposure to real life Florida memes, isn't it?"

The guy doesn't talk very loud, but it's conversationally witty enough. His girlfriend on the other hand talks loud enough for both of them, "Madison, uh huh! I'm from Iowa, all the towns are small! But I'm not a small kind of girl, no sir!" Her implants especially say just that, which Lilith side-eyes before straightening and waving at the approaching Captain once she's made her hit gesture on the cards. While Lilith is looked away, the blonde makes a show of leaning for Byron too, since Pickler isn't looking, which luckily she doesn't much notice with company to talk to. She pipes in to Byron's invite before the hands are fully dealt and the dealer's hand is shown, "El Capitan, come throw some dinero around with us gringos, mm?"

Madison is slid some serious sideeye from the captain, like he's wondering how in the Sam hell she and her even more vapid boyfriend wound up playing blackjack with the likes of Byron and Lilith. But before he's tempted to get out a shovel for that spray tan of hers, he turns to greet the tastefully dressed businessman and striking brunette in accompaniment with him. The latter first, with a disarming wink that teases out a dimple in his cheek and almost makes up for that non sequitur the last time they crossed paths here. And Thorne, with his hand offered to shake in greeting. "I'm not much of a gambler, so I think I'll just watch. And Captain's fine. I don't expect this Chief business to last long, anyway, yeah?" A chuckle, and a sip of his drink as he ambles in closer to see how the game's going.

If the guy has to bring up memes, he really was a nerd. Byron just chuckles to that retort with a shake of his head. Curiously, his brows lift, eyes on Madison now when she corrects him on where she's from. Whether he didn't know that she was small town, like he was or not, he feigns surprise, "Really? I would never have known. Iowa, huh?" Look, if the blonde chick is going to lean over and expose her cleavage to him as well, Thorne is not going to complain.

His attention is drawn back to his cards though when the next one is dealt. A quick hand taps on the table again before he decides to stay. He wasn't completely comfortable with the Eighteen, but he wasn't super reckless either. When Ruiz does decide to join them in some capacity, he rises to stand, giving the other man a firm handshake. "Like there's anyone else who can do the job." Byron says with a teasing smile to the Acting Chief, but he gestures towards one of the seats, "No need to stand, have a seat." What's the dealer gonna do? Kick Ruiz out while one of the casino owners was present?

"This is Timothy Pickler and Madison. Business associates of mine." Well, Pickler is. "And this is the current Interim Chief of Police, Javier de la Vega." Introductions are made.

At that same time, however, Pickler unfortunately busts during that introduction and the House wins. "I think you're here to jinx us all, de la Vega."

Lilith makes a little 'c'mon' gesture of rolling hand from the wrist to Ruiz after Byron's invitation, and there's a pretty shiny new diamond solitaire from Tiffany's on her ring finger that catches all the flashing lights in that little beat of moving time. Then with a glance, she's noticed the blonde woman not looking at Pickler while leaned like that to 'see the cards', nor is she looking at the cards, but at Byron. It doesn't last once Lilith has eyes on the woman to make sure she didn't just imagine it. After a little click of her tongue, she turns her attention back to de la Vega, "Come at least play a hand or two, rub something good off on the table instead of standing like the Grim Reaper waiting to behead some cards."

Then Lilith takes a HUGE drink as Madison starts talking the second Pickler extends a polite shake across to Ruiz as well and the next hand is dealt.

"Oh my god, you're the chief of ALL the police in this town?" It's a small town, but okay, accomplishment enough... then Madison keeps going, "Oh! Oh! I'll give you luck if you play!" She adjusts herself in her dress, like the assets are the lucky charm, preparing to change her stand between chairs, "How many people have you had to shoot? Do you REALLY shoot to kill? How come you can't just hit them in the leg?"

Pickler's game isn't the only thing that's unfortunate; his name makes de la Vega stifle a smirk. But only barely. His drink's swapped to the left hand, and he offers his right to shake. Firm, brisk; a single pump before it's released, and then he simply has to snag the tips of Lilith's fingers and get a load of that rock she's sporting. "You've got to be fucking shitting me. Congratulations, you two." A look's cut to Byron, and he cracks the man a grin. Then leans in to give Lilith a bold little peck on the cheek, if she permits.

"No, you seriously don't want me fucking gambling with you two. I'm shit at it." He does, however, start to sit. And pause halfway as Madison starts prattling at him about shooting people, and.. what is she doing with her tits? He can't not look. "Uh." He finishes sitting down. "Not that many." He clears his throat, tries to smile. It doesn't really work on him. He's doing an admirable job, though, of not looking at her tits.

"This is Black Jack." Byron says with amusement, "I wouldn't exactly call it gambling. Even if a fool and his chips are still soon parted." His dark eyes shift between the babbling Madison to Ruiz, keeping contact with the Acting Chief when he says wearing a mischievous grin, "C'mon, de la Vega. Looks like lady luck's on your side right about now."

His next two cards dealt, it doesn't take Byron long to make a decision. There's not much else that one would do with a Nine. He taps the table for a Hit. "And thanks. I swept Lilith off to France and we returned engaged. Must be something in the water over there." His eyes on Lilith now, gracing her with a smile, he then states, "She's worth every penny that I spent planning that whole thing."

He then asides to Madison, still a-grin, "Don't listen to him. That one? He's a real killer. A wolf."

"Byron's a poker player, if anything at all when it comes to gambling, really. Blackjack is my bag. But... I think we're into roulette too, recently, hmmm babe?" Lilith recrosses her legs and adjusts her seating to nudge one of her heel-clad feet in up and down brush against Byron's near calf, then raps her fingers on the tabletop to indicate hit. Her other hand is put out for examination of the ring by Ruiz. It's an oval solitaire diamond set in platinum, elegantly sizeable without being too grossly gaudy, but... still no doubt a pretty penny. The way the diamond sparkles is nothing compared to the way the woman herself dazzles with a sudden smile.

Tipping her cheek into the congratulatory kiss, Lilith speaks her thanks and pretends like she doesn't feel the envy coming off of the blonde woman when attention turns to the ring instead of her offer of good-charm assets, "Thank you, thank you. I'm delighted, as you can tell, and I didn't even know I had the gene for wanting to squeal every time someone looks at my ring and makes the face you just did." The brunette breathes out an exasperated sigh that's entirely fake over Byron's direction, "I think he's drugging me. But it's alright. I'm very into whatever he's dosing me with."

Lilith reaches to pull Byron down by the tie briefly for a kiss after speaking, and Madison jumps at the dead air space to take over, "Do you have a police dog? Does it sniff out bombs? I have a cockapoo and her name is Sprinkles and she can smell--"

"Madison, you have lipstick on your teeth." Lilith announces this quite matter of factly while drawing back from Byron to see what the dealer has. Naturally, this sends the blonde in scurry toward the bathroom with 'oh!' and even Pickler himself looks a little relieved for the timeout that the brunette has suddenly given them.

The cop, meanwhile, is saved by his phone going off. And judging by the number that comes up, "I've got to take this," in a brusque tone that suggests he's probably actually not fucking around. Given the givens, it may be something serious. "Buena suerte," he tells the pair, shooting their friends a bemused, but mostly polite twinge of a smile. Then the Mexican pushes back to his feet, phone brought to his ear, and speaks low into it as he wanders back toward the elevators.

"You can bullshit your way into a win in poker. Whether you have a hand or not." Byron says leaning casually back against his seat just as he takes a sip from his glass. That is, before his eyes turn towards Lilith when she brings up roulette, giving her this lightly amused smile, brows furrowed softly, "Roulette is even worse than Black Jack and yet, I find myself going all in on a crazy whim sometimes." He says this while maintaining eye contact with the Winslow girl.

Perhaps sensing some of that envy coming from Madison, if not Pickler, Byron makes a quick 'innocent' comment at the pair, "Maybe one day we'll be popping champagne and offering congratulations to the both of you? In fact, I might have just the bottle. Picked a few good ones up in Champagne." The place! Turning to Lilith, he adds in to her mention of his drugging her, "She just can't resist my small town boyish charm." His tie is then tugged, drawing him into a kiss just as he was about to lean to do the same.

Only once the kiss is broken does he notice the card added to his collection, idly making another Hit motion before busting out of the game. "This game, I swear.." He says with a shake of his head, "Can't bullshit your way out of any of this."

Pickler makes an uncomfortable chuckling noise at the question while Madison lets out a titter and leans her implants against the awkward man's back on the way off to the bathroom. She answers for them with the most brash and surefire answer, "... my snugglebunny is just shy about asking, that's all. I just have to wait until he gets brave! We're beyond things like... tch, pre-nups, aren't we lover?" She leaves a big lipstick smear on the side of the man's face he has to rub away before she flits to the bathroom.

Maybe that woman is only half stupid, she clearly has a plan to try and work Pickler into an arrangement that doesn't include lawyers for his own protection. Lilith kind of narrows her eyes after the woman once she's said her farewells to the departing Chief, but then the chips are paid and the next hand is dealt.

"You certainly cannot bullshit the Jack. You just have to see which way the universe wants to fall for you in the moment. I suppose I could try to count cards, but..." Lilith looks at the dealer with a grin, tacking on then to the casino owner and those adored dark eyes like she wouldn't dare, "That's frowned upon, I've seen it get people's legs broken in movies. Don't break my legs. You can do other things with them, though. I also suppose we should lawyer up a pre-nup, I didn't think of that until she said the word. But that's a little less sexy."

While she's placing the bet, though, to seal her place in the next round, she points the chip at Pickler before toss down, "I liked your other one better, she was much more complimentary and less competitive. Couldn't give her the Nobel Prize or anything, but I'm also not sure she had mean bones like this one does." The man kind of looks at Lilith like he knows exactly what she means, but hell, the woman must be doing something right because he's here with her. That or he just doesn't know HOW to tell her NO, given this guy, it's possible too. He doesn't say a lot about it, but he does provide the name of the last blonde they just could not remember the name of, "... Paige."

Snugglebunny

"Not as bad as cuddlemuffin." Byron murmurs in his despair of both lost chips and remembering the playful nickname that Lilith had teased him about in front of their friends. When Pickler asks, "What?" Thorne is quick to say, "Oh, nothing." All the while he just look between the blonde and the nerd with a smile, handing the man a napkin to wipe his cheek with once Madison slinks over to the powder room. "That's quite some catch you got there."

Lifting his glass to his lips for a deep drink, watching Lilith from over its rim, he then asks as he sets the glass down, "What's the fun of card counting? That destroys the spirit of the game." He can say that about gambling, but he's not above those tactics when it came to business. He always thought it was too bad that he'd forgotten that he had his powers when he was still hustling and making a name for himself. Humored somewhat, he scoots his chair back as if to get a better look at her legs, "I like them the way they are now anyway." Scooting his chair back in, he frowns at the card dealt. A Thirteen. "We can discuss that whenever you like." He's talking about the prenup, before his eyes look over to the dealer, "Now, you're just messing with me aren't you?" Not happy about it, he raps his knuckles against the table for a reluctant Hit, shaking his head as he does so.

When the Seven is placed before him, the casino owner's gaze drifts from the new card, back to the dealer. "Better. Stay."

"Paige?" He continues with the conversation. "I liked her too. I mean, Madison's not all bad, but I know you can do better than that." Reaching out to pat Pickler on the shoulder, he says with a grin, "Just lookin' out for your best interest." Turning to cast his gaze on his fiancée. "Maybe find your Lilith."

Lilith was pretty ignorant of the cuddlemuffin complaint, especially in lieu of what's just turned up in the cards for her. Twenty-one! But it's not blackjack, she's not quite safe to win, but mostly safe to win. Also, she's worried about posing her legs and body just so right after when Byron angles back to get a good look at her gams. After a quick fluttering bat of her lashes at him, she opens her mouth as if to say something very specific about her favorite way to have her legs, he just knows something like that is coming given the sudden heated look in her eyes that tends to steal her filter. Plus Pickler is sometimes like furniture, you just forget he's there now and again, it's probably a bit of a bane for the man, socially.

But her mouth closes suddenly as Pickler curses with his bust and looks around toward the bathroom area in the high rollers portion of the casino, where Madison has started talking with some salt-and-pepper haired fellow in a suit, all bubbles and smiles. It's about the time the dealer draws BLACKJACK and steals her thunder with the only thing the cards possibly could have showed to block her win. Then she curses under her breath and keeps it together just barely, because that's irritating on principle, to get twenty one and still not win! Then she follows Pickler's eyes and after shooting a glance at Byron, she pretends she doesn't see.

But she does do a favor, maybe for the lot of them given the hour and limits she suddenly has for this new woman of Pickler's. Rising up after the bust for them all with that dealer draw, she leans over to lay a kiss on Byron's mouth and plucks the drink out of his hand to put on the table with her abandoned one, "Fortuately, there's only one me in this world. But you can certainly get close enough." She then glances back at the young tech-money man, "In the meantime, I think... your girl is getting a migraine, I saw the signs at the table while she was here, she might be trying to fight one off..." Still leaned forward, she presses another kiss on Byron's mouth while speaking, "And we need to pick up something out of the Thorne office here on the premises before taking off for the night. Breakfast before you jet off tomorrow?"

There are no documents to pick up in Byron's office, he knows from the way her voice is slightly purring while she's leaned over him with doting kisses, she means to do other things in that office with him during the great blackjack table escape. There is also no sign of migraine on Madison from initial glance where she's flirting, but... suddenly her hand goes to her head at the brow like she has ringing pain and the lights are bothering her. Then she excuses herself back to Pickler right about the time Lilith has confirmed breakfast and gotten Byron's hands in hers to goad him into stand.

Migraine, indeed.

Byron knew Lilith had it in the bag this round, but he figured his Twenty was good enough to give him that win. Unfortunately, that is not to be and this would be... how many hands he's lost in a row? "Unfreakin'believable." He outwardly gripes, throwing his hands up and snatching up his glass to drain it of his content, needing this drink very much after the upset. His narrow-eyed gaze lifts to the Dealer's nametag, "Martin. Don't ever do that again." Is that a poor sport threat against an employee of his fine establishment? Still looking non-plussed he tacks on, the edge of his glass hovering near his lips, "And keep up the good work." The more that the House plays hands like that, the more that the casino benefits after all!

He doesn't even notice Madison and the wealthy older gent as he's working to down everything in his glass now. It's a good thing that Lilith is there for distraction because he's still feeling a little sore. Lifting his chin to meet with the woman's playful kisses, he relinquishes his near empty glass to her, letting both of his hands settle in firmly against the curves of her hips. Drawn so close, their mouths brushing against each other, his eyes staring up deeply into hers. There's no need to further explain. Licking at his lips now, he slowly turns back to their guest, who may be uncomfortably observing the pair if he's not annoyed by Madison's infidelity as it is. "Thanks for stopping by. It was nice meeting up with you again." Lilith can feel the shifting of his hands on her as he starts to rise from his seat, his lips still brushing against hers as he speaks.

Taking Lilith's hand, his other reaches for the remaining chips, pushing a few near where he was just seated. "I'm placing a bet on your behalf." And it's a sizeable amount of chips, "Let's hope Lady Luck doesn't screw you over the way she did me tonight." Though now his gaze has resettled on Lilith again, "Though, I'm think I'm ready for round two."