Primetime on the casino floor is nigh! While it's not as crowded as the Vegas casinos, the Sands is still busy tonight, filled with locals and tourists alike. And what an atmosphere, with the slot machines chiming in the background, garish neon lights flashing all sorts of colors, and a cloud of bluish nicotine-cloud coating everything. Sasha is but one of the people present, standing near one of the poker tables behind and between two of the players, one of whom just thrown down his cursed cards in disgust.
Morgan walks into the casino, sunglasses on, sound deadening earbuds in her ears. Is it possible that there are people who don't actually LIKE a casino atmosphere? Who might be moving through it, as if it's simply something in their way from place A to place B?
Possible, but unlikely! At least, not in Sasha's mind. As the next player in line seems to have beaten the house, there is a small round of applause at the table. Instead of joining in the celebration, Sasha turns and leaves the table, and only when she's well away that she starts squealing quietly to herself. "Ohmigod, it's like Christmas..." As she is so excited with... well, something, the blonde (tonight) Sasha doesn't realize until the last moment that she's almost run into the woman with the sunglasses!
Morgan comes to an abrupt halt, her eyebrows rising over the top of the sunglasses. She stands and looks at Sasha, waiting to see what the woman is going to do next - and where she's planning (planning?) to walk.
Instead of stepping aside, Sasha squints and peers. "Gillian Anderson?" Uh, what? "You're that FBI chick from the X-Files, aren'tcha?" Quickly lowering her voice, she shifty-eyes from side to side. "It's alright, I won't blow your cover. I dig how celebrities always wears shades out at night and stuff. I totally get that anonymity thing. Your secret's safe."
Morgan blinks in surprise - though the blinking itself is probably not visible, the surprised expression would be. She takes the sunglasses off for a moment, wincing in the bright neon flashing nightmare that is the casino, and stares at Sasha. "Actually, I'm not."
"Oh." Sasha sounds almost disappointed at the Big Reveal (tm). "Sorry, the..." She lifts a hand and gestures vaguely at her eyes. "...shades kinda threw me. Ha ha, don't mind me then. You have a..." The blonde girl starts to step aside, but she seems to notice something, or someone in the crowd behind Morgan, before her gaze returns to the redhead. "...actually, this is your lucky day! You play poker?" Smiling boardly, she takes a step closer and tries to loop an arm in Morgan's, all friendly-like.
Kingston has arrived from the direction of Rhythm.
Kingston has arrived.
Kingston emerges from the Rhytm Nightclub. He looks somewhat lost in thought but still vaguely aware of his surroundings.
Morgan is near a poker table, facing in the direction of the Rhythm Nightclub. She looks like she's heading that way - but has been intercepted by Sasha. Who is trying to loop her arm in Morgan's, and talk her into playing poker. Morgan has sunglasses, sound-dampening earbuds, and her shoulders are rounded as if the environment of the casino is cringeworthy: in fact, she seems to have no significant trouble hearing Sasha despite the earbuds.
Morgan looks at Sasha, flipping the shades back down. "I just don't like all the .. " She waves her free hand. "Lights and noise and everything. It's overwhelming." She doesn't exactly prevent Sasha from taking her arm, but doesn't make it particularly easy for her. "Not in an environment like this. It'd be impossible to concentrate."
Kingston arches an eyebrow when he hears the familiar voice of Morgan in the casino and looks in her direction and ultimately heads that way. He smiles and says, "Being led into temptation?"
Sasha is persistent enough that, since Morgan isn't actively avoiding her, eventually she manages to loop her arm in the redhead's in a strangely familiar manner. "Oh trust me, it's a piece of cake. Let me show you how to beat the odds..." She's starting to lead Morgan off down a different direction, before the duo is intercepted by Kingston. Sasha blinks at the stranger, and steals a quick backwards glance before turning back to Kingston. "Hey. You two friends or something?"
Morgan smiles at Kingston, and nods. "Apparently so." She offers him her other arm. "Kingston, this is the Morrigan. Morrigan, Kingston." She looks at Sasha for a moment, then smiles. "Or if you'd prefer a different mileau, you can be Lilith. Or Sigyn."
Kingston accepts the offered arm and says, "I like to think so." he then watches the exchange between the two and he adds, "Things always take a mythic turn when I end up hanging out with you, Morgan."
"Lilith sounds good." Sasha is all smiles again, even though she takes another backwards glance first. "Kingston." She points over to the man, registering his name, then shifts her pointy finger at the redhead. "Morgan? Got it. Well! I hope you're a gambler, K-ster, cuz you and Morgan are about to get very, very lucky."
Morgan smiles at Kingston. "I can't help it, it's my nature." She then looks at Sasha, chuckles softly, and shakes her head to herself.
Kingston offers Morgan a 'what-have-I-gotten-myself-into' sort of a look but he seems to be going along with it good naturedly. "Absolutely abysmal gambler but what the hell it could be a lark."
"My mother always said, a winner brings home bread, a loser's always in the red." Sasha notes sagely, and starts dragging Morgan along by the arm, and by extension Kingston. Weaving through the crowd, she finds an empty poker table with a bored-looking, scrawny and bespectacled dealer, who perks up as the trio approaches. "Heyyy, wake up Louis." Releasing Morgan's arm, Sasha immediately takes one of the chairs and folds her arms on the table, reaching out to rap on the tabletop. "There's three of us, let's play some poker and strip you down, baby!"
Morgan looks across to Kingston. "At a guess, this particular scam is the one where they let us win until we're feeling foolish enough to place large bets, then they bring in another player who cleans us out. Or they just start playing at their real level of skill, instead of playing to lose." She grins at Sasha, pointedly not sitting down. "I /did/ tell you I wasn't interested, you know."
Kingston smiles as he takes a seat at the table and says, "There's to be stripping? I may end up kicking myself for not taking this game up sooner. " with a wry grin. "So the trick is to never get comfortable and start placing large bets."
The dealer looks a little bewildered, and notes that "My name is James. And there is no stripping." with a tap on the name-tab on his shirt. Still, he gathers up the cards currently on the table, and starts to shuffle it. "Is it going to be two or three of you?"
Sasha turns to regard both Morgan and Kingston, then returns her attention to the dealer. "Guess it'll just be two, Louis." Reaching inside her jacket, she fishes around before developing a fiver, which she slaps on the table. "Honey, you don't know what you're missing." She deadpans to Morgan. "This is a gold mine!"
Kingston slips his wallet from his jacket and puts down a five for himself and one for Morgan. "I'll cover your first bet, Morgan. Doesn't seem right that I usurp your gambling expidition."
Morgan sighs. "I was going to the club, Kingston." She looks at Sasha. "I never had a gambling expedition except in her mind."
The dealer's bored look is more pronounced now, waiting for the trio to sort out what's going on instead of shuffling his cards. Meanwhile, Sasha is (once again) looking backwards, leaning over a bit to peer past Morgan into the distance. What /is/ she looking at, anyway? "Oh c'mon, Morgan, don't be a buzzkill. You might even have some -fun-."
Kingston smiles and broadens the topic a bit in order to not try to sway Morgan one way or another. "So how do you two know each other?"
Morgan turns to try to find out what Sasha is looking at, and then answers Kingston. "We don't."
The place is too crowded to tell exactly who or what Sasha keeps peeking at: there are at least six tables along her line of sight and a whole whack of people, equal mix of tourists and locals, and a security guy in uniform patrolling the aisle, who is just moving off out of sight. Meanwhile, the dealer heaves a sigh. "So what are we doing?"
Sasha turns back to the dealer and grabs her fiver from the table. "Hey, we are customers here. Don't give us lip, Louis." She points a warning finger at the dealer, and abruptly gets up from her chair. "Well guys, that was fun. We so need to do this again soon." The girl's all grins to both Morgan and Kingston, despite Morgan's refusal to take part in the promised poker game.
Kingston seems about to speak but then falls silent as the exchange between Sasha and the dealer gets a tad heated. He arches an eyebrow as she gets up as though to go and says, "Ah...well..yes, we'll have to." and then gives Morgan a very confused look.
Morgan shrugs at Kingston. "Don't ask me. I told her I wasn't interested, right when she asked if I play." She looks at Sasha, then Kingston. "if you two want to, go ahead."
The dealer is clearly taken aback, but Sasha is no longer paying him any attention. "Oh, nonononono." She shakes her head, at the same time sliding her fiver back inside her jacket. "I wouldn't dream of depriving you of your time in the nightclub. Take the lady for a dance, whydon'tcha, K-ster?" She pauses to peer down the aisle again, and starts to scoot away. "Have fun, you kids! Kthxbai." Yes, she actually said 'Kthxbai'. And with that she hurries away, quickly disappearing into the crowd.
Kingston offers a somewhat belated wave as the odd woman "kthxbai"s them and scurries off into the crowd. He takes a moment and then turns his head slowly to Morgan and says in an utterly perfect British deadpan. "What the hell just happened?"
Morgan jerks her head in the direction of the nightclub, and starts to explain. "I was trying to get to the club. That woman - whoever she is - stopped right in front of me, and started talking to me.
Morgan says, "She seemed to want to get me to play poker with her - I'm *not* interested, this place is just ... " She shudders. "... but she wouldn't take 'no'. I'd just told her I wasn't interested when you showed up."
You head out to the street.
<<OOC: Sasha is a pickpocket. She's been working the casino tonight and already collected a few wallets. She noticed a couple of security guards starting to poke around the floor, and quickly decided Morgan (and subsequently Kingston) would make a perfect way to deflect attention by the guards.>>