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 Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 9:44 am
The Rec Room was never really empty, a mix of varied schedules and more varied personalities meant that at any given time there was always some company to be had.
Sam kind of loved that. At times it just wasn't practical to get off base with the threat of missions looming, and she really saw no point to hiding in her dorm. One could clean only so much and there wasn't much point in cleaning without something to really clean, and well, that lead to a vicious cycle of making a mess just to clean it.
There were better ways to entertain yourself, after all.
That particular line of reasoning found Sam once again in the Rec, seated at a table with a few of her fellow grunts, cards spread on the table top between them. Fanning her cards in a deliberate motion, she grinned, the tip of her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth, as though in deep thought.
"Play the damn hand," one of them muttered. Sam only grinned wider, as the other grunt groaned, as she gleefully revealed four eights. The first one tossed his cards on the table, and stood.
"That's it, we're done." He tugged at his partner's sleeve. "I'm tired of losing, and we've got our shift anyways."
Sam called out after them "Any time boys, any time! Remember, poker night, next Friday!" Gathering the cards, and shuffling them she let her eyes roam the room. "Anybody else want to try?" The grin had yet to leave her face.
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 1:04 pm
Rec rooms were beautiful havens, sanctuaries for the boredest of minds. They offered a welcome release from things such as duties and missions, a veritable hidey-hole from the outside world. And such an array they harbored! Video games, pool, checkers - all were readily available, waiting for the touch of a bored hand to divulge their entertaining properties. Lucas had such a hand, accompanied by the burning desire for something to do, and so the swinging door of the rec room greeted him into its midst. He caught the tail end of what appeared to have been a game of cards: a couple of men shuffling away from the table in a huff and the young woman who trounced them calling for challengers.
It was fated timing, was it not? Well, that's what Lucas told himself as he approached the table, anyway.
"Sure, I'll give it a go," he said with a grin as he pulled out the chair. "What's the game?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 2:03 pm
Sam's grinned turned into a broad smile of welcome and she nodded to him in acknowledgement. The prospect of challenging an unknown person was exciting. "Always happy to see a new face," she began, looking him over while still shuffling the cards with an ease indicative of intense familiarity. "Sam Hawkins, at your service. We were playing poker, five card draw. No betting, that's usually saved for actual poker nights. This is just to pass the time."
Finishing her shuffling, she set the deck between the two of them, an offer for him to cut the deck. "I'm up for any game, really. Even 'Go Corphish' if you're so inclined." Her lips quirked at some private joke. "Any thing to chase away monotony at this point."
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 2:24 pm
"Lucas Bristow," he introduced, accepting her invitation to cut the deck. "A pleasure to meet ya, ma'am.
"Five-card draw, eh? Sounds good to me. Used to play all the time with my buddy back in, uhh..." He scratched at his head, searching for the best way to phrase it. "Back when we were younger."
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:10 pm
Sam nodded, not commenting on his re-phrasing. A lot of people didn't want to talk about what or who they were before (or even after) joining Team Rocket. His younger comment made her wonder though. He did seem a bit older than the average, but Sam had never been good at guessing ages. Was he an agent, or Arceus forbid, an Elite? Agents didn't usually mingle much with lower ranks.
But hey, everybody got bored sometimes.
Reclaiming the deck, she began to deal. One for him, one for her. "I did a summer on one of those cruises ships, the kind that aimlessly wander the Orange islands. Poker was just one of the things I learned there." Two for him, two for her. She blinked as she continued to flick cards. Three-three. Four-four. "Actually I ended up playing there for much the same reason: something to do to pass the slow hours."
With a flourish, she dealt the final card for each of their hands. Setting the deck aside, she picked up her cards, and fell silent, examining and plotting, and rearranging a card here and there as she thought.
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 3:41 pm
Lucas gathered his hand and studied it as he considered the girl's words. "It's a pretty good skill to have, I think. Especially in a place like this where takers abound," a wave of his hand indicated the mentioned takers that dappled the rec room. Good-natured folks willing to bet their entire paycheck were what had afforded Lucas his guitar, most of his wardrobe, and replacement glasses. Of course, he had lost his entire paycheck just as often, but he preferred not to think about those incidents.
He sorted his cards in his hand by suit, then by value, then by suit and value. There was some sort of popular song about poker, wasn't there? A really catchy one, at that. Lucas beat back his instinct to start humming.
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:18 pm
A self-satisfied smirk spread across her features. She could guess what experience he'd had with that, probably similar to her own. "Yeah... not too shabby." although Sam was more in it for the thrill, but hey, no complaints when it came to the times she did win a nice chunk of change. Major bonus, that. "If you like to ante up, you should join us for poker night. Always happy to have more people. Keeps things interesting." She fidgeted with her cards once more, then continued. "It's usually Thursday night, but this week it's on Friday 'cause of mission schedules."
Squinting at her cards a bit longer, she finally selected three cards, and discarded them next to the deck. "Dealer takes three." She arched an eyebrow at Lucas in an unvoiced question. How many cards did he want?
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Posted: Mon Oct 11, 2010 5:37 pm
"I might just take you up on that," he thought aloud. Lucas could think of few other ways to make friends - or enemies - more quickly than through gambling. It was an odd sort of bonding experience, he had found. He had nothing to argue about something interesting to do, either. The mention of the mission schedule prompted the mental note to check his own assignments on returning to his quarters that evening. He felt like he might have read something earlier in the day, but it was always so difficult to remember anything related to missions.
"I'll take one," he said, removing the card he would exchange. He fanned out his remaining four a little further to compensate for the momentary extra space.
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 4:49 pm
"It'll shake up the standard dynamics, if nothing else." Sam fumbled with her free hand, putting her rocketdex on the table. "After this hand, gimme your info," she explained with a gesture to the 'dex. "I'll add you to the mailing list."
That said, she delt him the one card he requested, then delt three to herself. She resisted the urge to make a face, and rearranged her hand, a bit. Lucas probably had a strong hand, only wanting one card and all. If there had been more people playing (and betting), she might've tried to bluff. Instead, she simply laid out her hand.
"Pair of deuces," she said, giving into her earlier urge to make a face.
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:14 pm
Lucas grinned at the invitation. It sounded like he'd have something to on Thursdays from then on. That would keep Friday drinking nights open as well, to his pleasure.
"Flush," he said as he laid out the five clubs. It seemed a shame to use up all his luck on a game with no bets, but he'd learn to revel in small victories when he could. "Sure is nice to play again. Seems like it's been ages since I last had the chance. I suppose I had ought to be thanking you for that, huh?" Through his nostalgia he managed to dig out his own Rocketdex, sifting through the contents in search of the e-mail address he had been assigned.
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 5:55 pm
Sam laughed appreciatively as Lucas revealed his hand. Luck or skill, she still had to admire it and give credit where credit was due. Still smiling, she gathered the all the cards back into the deck and offered it to him with a raised brow, the unspoken question: if he wanted to deal. This was just a friendly game, so if he didn't want to pass dealing duty back and forth, she was fine with that.
"Yeah. I love card games. Strategy counts for a lot, but there's still enough randomness in it to keep things interesting." She waved a hand at the talk of thanks though. "Like I said, always glad to have someone else to play with. Lotta time in between missions seems to be of the 'hurry up and wait' variety. At least people were interested in a poker night. I tried a lot of different things, after I got bored with the pokefight club: board games, pool, hell, even tried to get a bridge tournament going." Her expression grew thoughtful. "I think it was the lack of betting. People do love the chance to win big."
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 6:18 pm
An inward shrug accompanied his reaching hand as he accepted the offer, more for curiosity if his hands still remembered to shuffle properly than anything else. He wasn't as quick as he had been in the past, but he was able to do a passable job. The cards, at the very least, were sufficiently shuffled when they were set in front of Sam, returning her early invitation to cut the deck.
"Must be it," Lucas said with a laugh. "Bring money into the picture and suddenly people are all over ya. Especially in a place like this where we don't have rent or bills to worry about." A thought struck him at random, "I don't believe I've introduced myself, have I?" He extended an amiable hand in delayed introduction. "Name's Lucas Bristow. A pleasure."
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 6:58 pm
Little slips of the mind happened all the time, but Sam was certain they had exchanged these pleasantries earlier. But he was just so polite about it that Sam couldn't bring herself to be annoyed by it. She extended her own hand to give his a firm shake. "You did, actually, but I'll take the offer in the spirit it was intended. And so far, it is indeed a pleasure."
That settled, she cut the deck, and settled back for the next hand.
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Posted: Wed Oct 13, 2010 7:06 pm
Lucas stared disbelievingly for a moment before raising a hand to his forehead with an awkward laugh. "Did I really? Damn." His voice lowered a murmur, an unidentifiable emotion flashing across his face, "Seems like this sort of thing happens more and more often." He was back to his former cheery self almost immediately, as though a phantom had uttered the words. "Don't ever get old, if you can help it!" he joked as he dealt out the cards, setting down the deck and taking arranging his hand between his fingers and thumb to evaluate his lot.
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 7:37 pm
Sam shot him a discreet look over her cards, as she fanned them out. He wasn't that old, was he? "Well," she began with only the slightest hesitation, "if I do figure that secret out, we can share, and bottle the rest. It'd be a good business, if nothing else." Who knew, after all. They were in an organization that was cloning legendary pokemon. Maybe a fountain of youth, or at least a fountain of no-longer-aging would be in the future. It was a fun, if idle, thought.
However, there was a game at hand. She needed to think on this hand, and shifted cards around accordingly.
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