[R] Trackside [Ellian/Gideon] FIN

[Indigo_Plateau]

“EchosSweet”

Takes place June 25

Ellian hadn’t ever really thought to come here before. He couldn’t say why for certain: it was an activity that a good sum of people got pretty excited over, and there was a respectable crowd during the summer months. But he was relatively new to the whole ‘gambling’ thing and had never really been in possession of enough pocket change that he could make a habit of throwing it away for nothing. If someone else invited him, he wouldn’t say no… And that’s what happened. A group of his classmates had decided to spend a Saturday at the races, and Ellian would never turn down having something to do, when the alternative was having nothing to do.

He ended up at the horse track with maybe a half dozen other college kids. He didn’t know anyone in the group super well, wouldn’t even classify them as ‘friends,’ but he knew a couple of their names, and they’d come to an arrangement that Ellian was relatively happy with.

“Got you a beer.” One of the older girls pressed a completely filled plastic cup of Coors Light into his hand, nearly sloshing half of it onto his thin black tee, before continuing, “And I texted you the list of bets. Did you get it?”

So, like, the system wasn’t perfect. Ellian wasn’t old enough to buy his own drink, despite being a legal adult and being ‘old enough’ to chuck bills away on a gamble. But some of his classmates were old enough to make alcoholic purchases, and so long as Ellian didn’t mind footing the bill for his own drinks and some of their bets, his peers didn’t mind sharing the privilege. Probably not the smartest use of his resources, but Ellian figured he didn’t mind participating for one day.

One bet was only like two dollars, anyway. The cost of the beer was much more egregious.

But he grinned, shrugged, said a quick ‘thank you,’ anyway, and made his way over to the betting counter to put in the horse selections for his lot. But admittedly, the longer he stayed, the more Ellian felt like this pastime wasn’t really for him. If he threw two dollars into the pool and lost, that was two dollars gone. Same as losing pretty much any gamble. But if he set two dollars on his best pick and won- it seemed like the payout was really frequently two dollars and a handful of change.

Like, either there was no money to actually be won here or he was doing something real wrong. Was this really fun for anyone? It must be fun enough for his friends, since he was walking away from the counter with half a dozen tickets for their bets in his hand.  

[EchosSweet]

Indigo_Plateau

Gideon had left his seat just for a quick stretch between races, and to do a quick scout of the track to see if he could lay eyes on the next set of competitors. Yeah, yeah, seeing them for himself probably wouldn’t make much difference to his horse selections, but who could say? Maybe he’d get a sense of something being off, or maybe it would be real obvious that a jockey was not on his game. Regardless of what exactly he found, he figured it couldn’t hurt, so why not? He stood at the railing that separated the nearest spectator seats from the track, legs crossed at the ankles as he leaned a bit forward on his cane, and-

It was hard to miss that eyeburner rainbow that flashed at him from the corner of his eye. Plenty of people had their more brightly-dressed kids running amok, so that color shock wasn’t particularly interesting on its own. But Gideon was surprised to see it attached to an actual ‘adult.’ Sort of.

Ellian. Nataniel’s little brother. With his rainbow hair and clothes taken off an ostentatious boyband- and a bit of a street hooker look too (honestly, lace stockings???). Carrying a cup of beer and peering down at a handful of bet tickets. Was he old enough to drink? Gideon perpetually had it in his head that this kid was like ten because the last time they’d spent any significant amount of time in each other’s vicinity, he’d been even younger than that... But that obviously wasn’t right, and it wasn’t even a fair thought to have, since Feldspar had seen Diesel throwing hands with other senshi before. Knew he worked with the Negaverse, knew he was in college, knew he was growing at the same rate as any other person.

It just didn’t sink in that well. It wasn’t like they crossed paths super often or anything. The guy wasn’t really on Gideon’s radar until he showed up in front of him, and honestly, there wasn’t much reason to change that.

Besides that his mouth just went ahead and called out to him of its own volition. “Uh, Ellian! Hey. What are you doing here?”  

[Indigo_Plateau]

EchosSweet

He glanced up sharply into the gathered crowd of track-goers. Literally none of them looked significant to him at all, and Ellian had no idea which of these strangers knew his name or how they’d gotten it- And then immediately next to the raceway, his gaze just happened to land on this short, scrawny little redhead looking at him, leaning against a cane and dressed in a whole-a** black suit? Ellian stared. He was sure he looked confused as all hell because- “Feld-?”

No. No way that was right. They were in public- real populated public, and Feldspar wouldn’t just be powered up out in the open, in the middle of the day? He definitely looked it, but Ellian decided to err on the side of that not being true.

It was just for the life of him, he could not remember this dude’s civilian name.

Like, yeah, they’d sort of known each other since Ellian was a small child, but it wasn’t like the guy was ever significant to him. Closer to his brother’s age, more Nat’s friend than his, and then he’d ******** off at some point because of some trauma or whatever, and Ellian had essentially forgotten he’d existed until they just happened to cross paths at Negaverse functions. …Those didn’t really involve hearing Red’s civilian name, though. So it had, y’know, been a while since he’d heard it…

“Uh, yeah, hey. I’m just out with some friends. You the social police or something? What’s it to you?”

And in case it wasn’t clear from the judging scrape of his gaze scouring over shorty’s frame, Ellian also asked, “And what’s with-“ A gesture with his hand not holding the beer. “-all this? You seem overdressed.”  

[EchosSweet]

Indigo_Plateau

’Feld-‘

Gideon’s eyes widened at what definitely sounded like the blatant use of his powered name right where anyone with ears could hear it. And even though Ellian stopped himself, he didn’t actually correct himself. But Gideon decided not to think terribly much of it. Probably just an accident, since they’d both been powered for their more recent run-ins.

And that was hardly the most glaring part of the conversation.

Because the energy here was borderline hostile for some reason, like Gideon had done something offensive just for acknowledging this boy’s presence, which was totally weird, since last he’d heard, Ellian really thrived on people noticing him. …He looked the part too. “Mm, it’s not really anything to me?” He admitted, giving a little shrug. “Just thought I’d say ‘hi’ since I’ve never seen you here before and didn’t know you’d hang out here, is all.”

Not that he knew everyone who came and went, but Gideon did come around reasonably often for the summer season, and he was pretty sure it wasn’t really Ellian’s scene, regardless of how populated it was, proven correct by Ellian’s lack of knowledge toward the various crowds that ran here.

Overdressed? “Nnnnno,” Gideon replied, lips sliding up into a smirk. “Formal wear is required at the Turf Club.” He nodded down the way toward a section of seating roped off from the rest of the stands. “I’d invite you to sit with me, but you’re dressed a bit like whore trash, so I’ll save you the embarrassment of getting kicked out.”  

[Indigo_Plateau]

EchosSweet

Yeah, Ellian still thought it was suspicious, and not for no reason, but he didn’t really trust any of Nataniel’s crew, and he was- unfortunately- kind of doing something he shouldn’t, that his ‘friends’ could get in some decent trouble for. He swazzled his beer around in its cup and took a slurp as he watched Red through skeptical eyes. “I don’t hang out here,” he grumbled. “Don’t really get the appeal of the chance of ‘winning’ thirty cents on a race.”

He followed the direction of the other man’s gaze, toward a whole snazzy set up that he could only really glimpse the interior of, which he was sure was by intention so that no one in all their race finery could be observed by the plebs.

“Snnnrr- What. You really shelled out to sit in some fancy trackside seats?” Ellian demanded with a snort. Talk about ridiculously pretentious. The whole lot of them must be.

He guessed Red kind of looked the part. Suit and smirk.

And snark.

“Whore. Trash.” Ellian wasn’t even offended by the wildly baseless accusation so much as just- shocked? Stunned? Like, no, he obviously wasn’t wearing a ******** suit in this ninety-five degree heat, but this was hardly the most risqué thing he could’ve worn. Y’know, Ellian didn’t know these acquaintances well enough to know what they’d find acceptable, and his green sleeveless coat and black shorts and the lace stockings had seemed… safe enough. And even if it wasn't, what did he have to hide? “Yeah, I’m not actually ashamed of what I’ve got going on here, to be honest, so call it whatever you want.”

He flicked the end of his long coat up, the heavy fabric making more of a flap than a flutter. “Up to you to imagine what pleases you, if ‘whore trash’ is the direction you wanna go.’  

[EchosSweet]

Indigo_Plateau

Gideon gave a light chuckle like he’d just heard a joke and was being polite about his reaction to it. Thirty cents? Yeah, it was definitely possible and pretty probable when placing the standard ‘win/place/show’ bets. And for someone who was new and didn’t come around often, that probably was the go-to gamble. But Ellian looked grumbly and unamused. “Oh, you’re serious. At least you don’t stand to lose much? But if you want, I can show you some of the more lucrative bets and give you some tips.”

Not to try and make a brag of it, but Gideon was here pretty often and did have the lay of the land. Though maybe that was obvious from the ‘suit for the Turf Club’ situation.

“I didn’t shell out anything. It’s what my grandparents get me for Christmas every year,” he explained. “It used to be kind of a family thing where we would come hang out and feel rich and fancy.” And teenage, underage Gideon would feel all mature and responsible making his grandpa’s race picks. “Like, I think you can buy discounted membership for a group, so it wasn’t a chore or anything to bring me too, but they’re pretty old now and don’t really come out anymore. They still get the membership for me, though. Nostalgia, I guess.”

And Gideon actually enjoyed it and used it, so there wasn’t any harm in it or anything.

The redhead’s brown eyes lit in something more like amusement than offense at the taunt. He’d definitely expected Ellian, who started the conversation with a hostile bite, wouldn’t be all that thrilled at the insult. It sent a weird thrum of warm anticipation through him, that Gideon wasn’t immediately snapped at for the admittedly unsavory comment.

“No, no, nor should you be. You fit right in.” Kind of a lie. Gideon wasn’t sure Ellian fit in anywhere. Or wanted to. He was all flash and flair. “It doesn’t look like I’ll be able to steal your thunder, so you probably wouldn’t mind me sitting with you? Come on.” He notched his head down to an empty row of seats close to the track. “I’ll show you how to play.”  

[Indigo_Plateau]

EchosSweet

Right. Grandparents. Because Red’s parents were dead, and that was the ‘trauma’ that had kept him from coming around more when he was younger. Ellian knew that. It just wasn’t information he kept at the forefront of his mind. It was a little unclear if he was supposed to? If that was something he was supposed to categorize as a defining trait of this man. There was physical evidence of whatever had happened on his person. The cane. The limp. Now that the information had triggered itself in Ellian’s thoughts, it was persistent, whether it was ‘supposed’ to be or whether he wanted it to be or not.

“Uh, that’s- nice. Of them.” Ellian could totally imagine that too. He’d seen that little redhead boy when he was younger. It was no stretch to imagine the poor, depressed thing, with aged grandparents trying to do their best to perk him up. They’d dress up and come here and watch horses and eat snacks, and maybe things wouldn’t seem so bad.

Just depressing to think about, though. Ellian scratched his nails through his hair, glancing away uncomfortably.

It’d be a fantastic idea to get out of this conversation ASAP. Shouldn’t be too difficult, since he wasn’t all that enamored about the idea of hanging out with the guy who’d just said he looked like ‘whore trash,’ anyway. “Oh, nah, I’ve gotta get back to my group. I’ve got all their tickets.” He gestured toward the stands, where he could see his scattering of acquaintances leaning in together for a group picture.

Without him.

His options weren’t really great right now.

So it was after just a few seconds of looking on, watching them carry on without him and not seeming too arsed about it- and weighing that against uncomfortable dead parents thoughts, that Ellian figured he’d rather hang around someone who asked him to than people who didn’t care if he was there. “Well, I guess I might have a few minutes before the next race starts. It wouldn’t hurt to see how you pick ‘em.” Since Red was apparently so versed in it.  

[EchosSweet]

Indigo_Plateau

None of the gathered people up in the stands necessarily looked like Ellian belonged in their ‘group,’ and there was enough of a crowd that just pointing up there didn’t mean much. But on a precursory glance, he didn’t see anyone staring expectantly down at them, like someone was waiting for Ellian to hurry up and rejoin them. Gideon gave a flap of his hand. “I’ll have you back before then, yeah? Looks like we still have twenty minutes or so.” And it really didn’t take that long to explain anything.

Gideon headed down to the seats near the track, taking a bit of care to select some that were in decent shape, so as not to muck up the suit he wore. It wasn’t too difficult to find any to fit the bill. These were out in the blistering summer sun. Even if the chairs weren’t radiant with absorbed heat, it was definitely uncomfortable to sit down here for long.

“Alright, I don’t wanna hang out forever,” he admitted as he plopped down into a chair, propping his cane beside him and slinging an arm over the back of the seat as he got settled.

“For starters, did you get one of these?” Gideon asked, flashing the little paper race program booklet. “They’re like two bucks at the entrance, so make sure to get one. It lists all the races and the horses participating. Also has a few extra things, like some of the details on the horses and jockeys- some of their win rates and if they excel on dirt or turf and how they do in various lengths of race. You can use that to pick out who seems the most likely to do well with the conditions for the current race.”

He tipped his head toward Ellian, brown eyes glinting knowingly. “I bet you pick pretty much at random, huh? Or maybe just for looks or a weird name or for odds you think are good?”  

[Indigo_Plateau]

EchosSweet

Well, he was probably lucky it took something significant to make Ellian overheat. With a last lingering glance back to the stands and his sorta-friends, Ellian followed after the other man to find a place to settle right in the midst of the sunshine. In the midst of the sun, but also pretty up-close to the starting gate for the horses. They had a pretty good view of everything getting set up.

“Uh. I just use the TVH app. Is it not the same?” Ellian asked as he took the program from the other’s hands. It didn’t look all that significant- literally a few folded-over pieces of printer paper, but why would he expect much more than that for two dollars?

His face scrunched up, and Ellian didn’t look especially enthusiastic about all the weird statistics suddenly coming into play. It felt vaguely like he was supposed to do some kind of research if he expected anything particularly good to come of his time here. Like, yeah, he could ignore that bit and just keep doing his own thing and enjoy just being out and about, but… He didn’t really enjoy losing. “You gotta look at all this stuff for every race? I usually just pick what my instincts tell me to pick.”

His ‘instincts’ usually vacillated between picking what the majority or his group picked so they could chatter about whatever aspect had called to them (the name, or how pretty the horse was or anything else that may have swayed the vote), or picking what no one else picked because Ellie was a special snowflake that followed his own path and didn’t need consensus to pick winners!

Neither of those tactics had been working out that well, admittedly.

“Don’t smirk at me like that, all knowingly and s**t.”  

[EchosSweet]

Indigo_Plateau

“Not exactly the same, no,” Gideon replied, peeling the paper back toward himself, though leaving it in Ellian’s hands as he pointed out little lines of info. “Use whatever makes you the happiest, cause it’s not a big deal about how many extra tidbits of information you have, but if you have the extra stuff in the program, you can use it. Lots of people don’t have it and do fine. I watch races at home on the tv often enough, if there’s a big one I’m interested in. Obviously I don’t have any extra papers for those. I just kinda think it’s part of the track experience, though.”

He wouldn’t call it a habit, but for especially exciting events that he couldn’t see in person, like any of the Triple Crown races, why wouldn’t he check them out on the television? Maybe next year, he’d have a barbecue or something and invite someone to come around and watch with him.

A little too late to do it this year, since the last leg of the races had happened two weeks prior.

“Anyway, this stuff is only important if you’re doing specific bets, but the situation with that is generally the more specific you are, the more you can win. You can do an Exacta to pick which horse will win and which one will place. You only get the payout if you’re right. But doing that is still just two dollars, and it raises the potential winnings by like, a bunch. So if you’re trying to make a profit out of the day, those are the kinds of bets you should be making. You’re just not likely to win them if you don’t check out all the information. And Trifectas and Superfectas are the same thing, just including who comes in third and fourth, so lots of opportunity to be wrong and lose. But that’s also getting into the possibility of winning hundreds. Grands for horses going off at low odds and winning.”

He didn’t really want to go deep into it, if Ellian wasn’t actually interested. And all the options and terminology would be in the betting app he was using, so if he wanted it, he could find it without Gideon’s help. But he thought this was a good intro. “So, you wanna take a practice run with me?” He offered. “I came out here to see the racing competition, anyway, and we’re in a good place for that.” The horses were a handful of yards away as they set up near the gate, still safely behind more than one set of fencing, but definitely visible to anyone wanting to see them.  

[Indigo_Plateau]

EchosSweet

Oh. He did this for fun regularly, if he watched races at home. Ellian crinkled up his nose at that because how could it possibly have any of the excitement of actually being at the track. Sitting alone in your living room, watching about a minute and a half of excitement every half hour. No concessions, no sunshine, no idle chatter, just… Yeah, Ellian couldn’t see himself being into it unless he was specifically here with friends.

Red seemed like he had a damn sad life, and doing the whole “dress up and go out” schtick was probably the highlight of his year.

It was hard not to feel bad for this guy.

“Well, what kind of bet do you usually make then?” Because it really seemed like he had no idea who’d come in first or second. His choices were essentially mostly random. Picking one at random and getting lucky seemed pretty possible. It worked out often enough so far. Picking more than one at random and getting lucky on both? Naaaah. Odds seemed bad.

And he didn’t really know what he was looking for. “I’ll sit for a round. Gimme some guidance.”

He sipped his beer, grunted a little in discontentment at the mouthful he got. They were out in the sun. His unreasonably expensive Coors Light was already warming up. It wouldn’t be bearable to even drink if it got up to the room temperature stage. So Ellian took another tentative gulp and thought it might be nice and also economical and save him from potential waste if he offered to share. “Sip?” He asked, tapping the bottom of the plastic cup against the other man’s arm. “I’ll look like some kind of p***y or something if I don’t finish it.”  

[EchosSweet]

Indigo_Plateau

Gideon stared out at the lineup meandering around the gate. He checked out his program, and eyed the odds up on the electronic board situated out in the middle of the track. He typically had an idea of what he was looking for from his picks, but that didn’t always align with what was available. “I guess I don’t have a ‘usual.’ I just do what feels comfortable? Sometimes that’s nothing if I don’t feel inspired.” But he wasn’t going to do nothing with Ellian there. “I’ll do a Trifecta Box for this one.”

Psh. Guidance. If Gideon didn’t know Ellian, it’d be a totally harmless request. But he expected it was more likely a set up for an excuse if things didn’t work out right. Gideon had ‘steered him wrong,’ and that was why he lost.

Whatever, so long as they weren’t losing hundreds, it probably didn’t matter.

He pointed out the race they were on in his pamphlet. “So there’s your options in terms of who you can pick, right? Nine horses this time around. Lickety Split scratched her last race, so that’s a little concerning, but she usually does well on dirt, has a lot of races where she Shows or better. And-“ He pointed up to the board. “Her odds are about mid, so you wouldn’t be making the minimum if you picked her and she made it in the top three. I like her in mine. Third Tango has the highest odds at three to five. The lower the number, the more people there are who are expecting this horse to win, so the payout is less. For real high numbers, twenty to one or something real off the board like ninety-nine plus to one, there’s not a lot of enthusiasm for a win. But we’re talking money if you call that bet and they pull it off.”

He shrugged and shot the other boy a smirk. “I like a little risk for a chance at a high reward, so I don’t mind throwing something with poor odds into my mix. Gingerwhiskey. So those are my three. I’m not expecting miracles, and I’m not throwing tons of dollars down. Just do what feels good and won’t leave you real upset if it doesn’t happen.”

He didn’t question it at all as his fingers curled around the rim of Ellian’s cup, and he took a sip for himself. Mhm. Vaguely warmed beer. This was why he didn’t come get concessions down here.  

[Indigo_Plateau]

EchosSweet

It sounded like if he just wanted to do something to make himself happy, Ellian should probably just stick with his regular, boring gamble and not worry about doing all this research and planning. Like, yeah it seemed like it came quick and easy to Red now, but he had practice and knew what he was doing. Ellian didn’t know what to do with most of this information, and he kind of didn’t care much about it.

But this poor, sad guy was so enthusiastic. It’d be cruel to offer no engagement when he was just trying to help. And it wasn’t like Ellian had to put up with it for much longer. “What’s a ‘Box?’” He asked.

Probably not all that important. Given all the options he’d already heard, Ellian didn’t figure he wanted to chance it on selecting a bunch of placements. He wasn’t a god damned fortune teller, and he’d be more interested in risk if it was just… Well, something like bodily injury or humiliation. He didn’t have fistfulls of money to lose, and he didn’t wanna get chewed out by his mother for making bad choices and wasting his cash, either. “I guess I’ll just pick the two?” He decided uncertainly, accepting his cup back from Gideon and taking another gulp.

“The two you like best. The, uh, Lickety Split and Third Tango.” He glanced back toward the inners of the stadium, where all the concessions and betting stands were. He’d already placed his one show bet, and he didn’t have much enthusiasm for going back in and getting in line again. And Red definitely didn’t have the… expediency to get there quick.

“Are you planning on going back in…?”  

[EchosSweet]

Indigo_Plateau

Gideon gave him a little smile. He liked the interest and didn’t mind fielding a bunch of questions about something he enjoyed doing. Even if Ellian only did it to humor him, it didn’t really bother Gideon too much. “A ‘Box’ just means I’m picking three horses but betting on every combination of those three coming in the top spots. It is technically six bets, so ‘a dollar’ is kind of a lie, and I am guaranteed to lose at least five of those six. But I expect the payout will make up for the losses. If there’s a payout at all. Because y’know, there still might not be.”

Gideon had his phone in his hand the next second, tapping away with his thumb as he pulled up the TVG app. Standing in line, placing bets with the bookie, accepting cash were all a bit a part of the experience of coming to the track. He enjoyed that as much as anyone could, and didn’t begrudge Ellian using those slightly more… archaic services. But since getting up and down and general movement was no skill of Gideon’s, he typically just did everything in the app.

The biggest downside of that was that he didn’t have physical money in his hand to monitor with his eyes how much he was actually spending. But honestly, no big deal.

“Pretty safe to just copy me. I thought you’d be a little more adventurous. You struck me as the ‘no holds barred’ type, but I’ve been wrong before.” And maybe there was something to be said for being able to blame someone else if Ellian didn’t get what he wanted. Not that he thought there’d be any big deal about it, but Gideon had a better grasp of what he was doing, and there was actual, real money involved, so… Playing it safe wasn’t a bad plan, until Ellie learned a little better.

“It’s weird you don’t do it on the app, though. If you’re trying to get rid of me, I can go get you another beer, since you were so gracious to share your backwash. But if you don’t mind not having cash in hand, I can spot you this one and just place both of them on my phone.” And then no one would have to get up. They probably didn’t really have the time, anyway. Race was about to start.  

[Indigo_Plateau]

EchosSweet

So ‘Box’ basically just meant ‘spend more money for more chances’ if you’re really confident with a certain selection of horses. Ellian was not really confident on any of this, so he figured it was probably best to leave the more complicated stuff to Red. Two was plenty for him, even if he was being jabbed for the ‘safe’ play-

Well, alright, maybe it did irk him enough that Ellian had to catch his tongue between his teeth to keep from responding with something snappy (because being out and about alone and finding time to tell teenagers they looked like ‘whore trash’ seemed deserving of a little snark). Because despite the multiple insults in the past few minutes, it just had to be Red’s sense of humor. As far as Ellian understood, they weren’t close personally, but he was a family friend, and maybe this was just how he spoke to Nat (doubt it) and Ellian by extension? He still seemed easy-going and companionly, and unless he was giving Ellie s**t advice about the track, there wasn’t really any harm in a few jabs.

So long as it didn’t escalate too much more.

“I do have the app, and I do use the app, it’s just that there’s a bunch of us here between me and my friends, so it’s easier to use cash to keep things with who they belong.” Even if Ellian was buying, his acquaintances would still want a payout in hand by the end of the night. Harder to give it from the app.

And then that confusion came back because it felt like backwash was another little poke at him, while still offering to buy him a drink and place his bet. “Yeah, I’m cool with you doing it here. I think all the betting stations shut down a few minutes before the race, anyway, aaand… it’s getting to be that time.”

He could see where the horses were getting packed into the gate down the way. Once they were set out, the whole race would barely be two minutes long.

Ellian glanced back up to the stands. He’d meant to head back up before the race started, but Red seemed like he was settled in, and Ellian didn’t want to bounce if it turned out he picked right this time around. His friends’ tickets would be good (or bad) whether he handed them out before the race or after, so… Might as well hang out for the extra few minutes.

Some horn sounded through the speaker, and Ellian pointed down the track to the gate. “Think they’re about to start. Did you get set?”