Post by Kazuki Akimoto on Dec 31, 2006 0:28:13 GMT 1
Dulling the engine with a slow, controlled turn into one of the parking spots at the lot near the large boat nearby, and with a slight smile he leaned back in his seat and reached up to the sun visor, lowering it down and fishing the thick envelope from underneath it. Untucking the unsealed leaf, he glanced inside a moment and ran the tip of his thumb over the bills below and quickly made a count...With the fact that every single one were twenties and fifties, he was confident he would be able to make it through the night without busting himself....
As he opened the drivers side door and shifted to step out, he plucked a pair of dark glasses he had bought a few days ago upon arrival to the city from the visors edge, slipping them into the breast pocket of his shirt and stepping out, pacing toward the boat with the envelope in his coats inner pocket, his thumbs hooked into the lining of the outer ones. When he skimmed his eyes over the outer body of the ship, he smirked when he spotted the name on the side of the hull as he approached the gangway onto the deck....
'The Halen, hm....? Clearly has a good taste in music.....'
Stopping as a large man eyed him almost suspiciously, he gave a quick nod as if to bid him good evening, asking when the ship would be setting sail...With the response of roughly thirty minutes, he thanked the man and continued past, stepping up the ramp and onto the main deck of the ship. Looking around, a few other people were doing as he was, wandering around the main floor and getting a feel for the place, not to mention the slight oddness of being on a boat....Before long, however, he found himself a spot against the guard-rails near the stern of the ship, looking back down onto the dockside as the others began to board. Clearing his throat slowly, he reached to his pocket, aiming to pull out a cigarette from his pack he had brought with him before a hand lightly tapped his shoulder...Turning with a raised eyebrow, he was faced with what could only be an employee of the ship...
"Sir, the boat will be setting sail in five minutes, if you would care to step inside to the main lounge....?"
He nodded curtly, "Thank you...", beginning to walk away. Without turning, he called back to the gentleman with an idle, but pressing question...."Tell me, who actually runs the boat..?"
"A gentleman called Mr. Warhen, sir....You may well be able to be introduced tonight..."
His body stopped in its tracks as he thought back to Varron, and the young Swede. Shamino....In San Francisco....What the hell kind of coincidence was this....? Shaking his head quickly, he nodded, raising an arm lightly to wave off the mans remarks and made his way inside.
-Shortly Later-
The dry air around him lingered as he sat at the table with four other people, three gentlemen and a slightly older female who clearly seemed to be the dominant player, funnily enough, at this table...She had been playing aggressively and bleeding the other three dry of chips for a good thirty minutes, their own brashness failing them as they threw down quick, unthought raises....He had played quietly for now however, watching the entire scene unfold behind his glasses as two of the men gradually grew more and more distressed....They'd easily lost six thousand dollars between them to her already, money they'd simply thrown away without even thinking to consider the plays they were making. The other gentleman was somewhat less irked, his chip stack dramatically down but apparently keeping his cool. He would probably be the sort of guy to walk away from here tonight with but a tiny dent in his financial reservoir...
As for Taiku, however, he still had a fair abundance of his chips, betting lightly to see flops and turns, folding early often enough to simply watch and read the other players....When the cards were dealt this round, he had a feeling about them, despite the deal....With the very unimpressive five-two unsuited combo he had been dealt, he would normally have folded, but he had not looked at his cards right away. Instead, he had watched the other players, starting with the woman sitting a little aways from him...Her normally demure face seemed to shift just a fraction, as if she either had something very, very good, or something terrible and intended to bluff her way through this hand...The other guys were easy to read, a pair of exaggerated rolled eyes from one and raised eyebrows from the other, the third just tossing his back in straight away in a quick fold....
"Mr. Akimoto, if you'd care to begin the betting please...?"
With a stony expression, unchanging throughout the entire match, he picked up a reasonable amount, $200, and threw them in. Intent on baiting out the other players, he would see how things progressed...The two gentlemen quickly saw his raise, throwing down equal chips to his before the woman raised another $200, smirking at him in the progress...She was growing cocky in her ambitions, playing to see if he would finally enter the frey for a kill. Flicking two more $100 chips toward the centre of the table, he linked his fingers together as she watched him, trying to find some tell in his expression....
She would find none...
As one of the men dropped out, the other one matched and the dealer quickly turned over the flop for them...Two clubs and a heart, three, king and ace. The cards set in his favour from what he would see. He only needed a four to land himself a straight, and that feeling still lingered for him...Nodding, he slid forward another $300, pausing before tossing in another hundred as an afterthought. The action specifically to twist the others perceptions of his play. An uneventful round of betting continued, the woman calling him and checking the round afterward, as did the other male, and the turn card was dealt....an eight of spades. Nothing there he could use, but he wouldn't be put off by it...Even if he lost this hand, it would hardly be a dent into his chip supplies. He had plenty more money with him, and a credit card should he need it....
Playing out a firm raise, he steeled himself in the moment, his eyes calm even behind the dark glasses as he slid forward the $300 and let it come to rest in the rapidly growing pile in front of him, the man to his left shook his head, groaning something about the pot being too much to risk folding on and matching the bet before the older woman not only quickly saw him, but threw down another four hundred dollars...She was playing desperately now, trying to bait him out and make him panic at her high raise...She certainly had the chips to do the turn without being too severely harmed, but she was neglecting the fact that he did as well, focusing solely on his conservative play and aiming to scare him out...It failed miserably.
Matching her bet and sitting calmly, she simply growled at him, the burning glare simply making him smirk as he saw the final card turn over...Four of spades. He'd landed his straight draw and knew it would take something impressive to beat him now...Choosing to instead simply check the hand, she reciprocated along with the other man, and when cards were turned, he was affirmed of his victory...The best she had managed was two pairs, Kings and Aces, the other man had simply bluffed it through with a pair of Queens, hoping for something desperately, it would seem....
"Winner, Mr. Akimoto with a Five-high straight...." the dealer droned out calmly as he reached over, scooping the chips to himself...He had lost count a while back about how much was in the pot, but it was easily a few thousand dollars. Pocket change in the long run for him, but for this hand it was suitably high. Sitting back, he waited calmly for the next deal as he sipped the short glass of rum before him....The night could get very interesting, especially with spaces free at the table for new players to approach now....
As he opened the drivers side door and shifted to step out, he plucked a pair of dark glasses he had bought a few days ago upon arrival to the city from the visors edge, slipping them into the breast pocket of his shirt and stepping out, pacing toward the boat with the envelope in his coats inner pocket, his thumbs hooked into the lining of the outer ones. When he skimmed his eyes over the outer body of the ship, he smirked when he spotted the name on the side of the hull as he approached the gangway onto the deck....
'The Halen, hm....? Clearly has a good taste in music.....'
Stopping as a large man eyed him almost suspiciously, he gave a quick nod as if to bid him good evening, asking when the ship would be setting sail...With the response of roughly thirty minutes, he thanked the man and continued past, stepping up the ramp and onto the main deck of the ship. Looking around, a few other people were doing as he was, wandering around the main floor and getting a feel for the place, not to mention the slight oddness of being on a boat....Before long, however, he found himself a spot against the guard-rails near the stern of the ship, looking back down onto the dockside as the others began to board. Clearing his throat slowly, he reached to his pocket, aiming to pull out a cigarette from his pack he had brought with him before a hand lightly tapped his shoulder...Turning with a raised eyebrow, he was faced with what could only be an employee of the ship...
"Sir, the boat will be setting sail in five minutes, if you would care to step inside to the main lounge....?"
He nodded curtly, "Thank you...", beginning to walk away. Without turning, he called back to the gentleman with an idle, but pressing question...."Tell me, who actually runs the boat..?"
"A gentleman called Mr. Warhen, sir....You may well be able to be introduced tonight..."
His body stopped in its tracks as he thought back to Varron, and the young Swede. Shamino....In San Francisco....What the hell kind of coincidence was this....? Shaking his head quickly, he nodded, raising an arm lightly to wave off the mans remarks and made his way inside.
-Shortly Later-
The dry air around him lingered as he sat at the table with four other people, three gentlemen and a slightly older female who clearly seemed to be the dominant player, funnily enough, at this table...She had been playing aggressively and bleeding the other three dry of chips for a good thirty minutes, their own brashness failing them as they threw down quick, unthought raises....He had played quietly for now however, watching the entire scene unfold behind his glasses as two of the men gradually grew more and more distressed....They'd easily lost six thousand dollars between them to her already, money they'd simply thrown away without even thinking to consider the plays they were making. The other gentleman was somewhat less irked, his chip stack dramatically down but apparently keeping his cool. He would probably be the sort of guy to walk away from here tonight with but a tiny dent in his financial reservoir...
As for Taiku, however, he still had a fair abundance of his chips, betting lightly to see flops and turns, folding early often enough to simply watch and read the other players....When the cards were dealt this round, he had a feeling about them, despite the deal....With the very unimpressive five-two unsuited combo he had been dealt, he would normally have folded, but he had not looked at his cards right away. Instead, he had watched the other players, starting with the woman sitting a little aways from him...Her normally demure face seemed to shift just a fraction, as if she either had something very, very good, or something terrible and intended to bluff her way through this hand...The other guys were easy to read, a pair of exaggerated rolled eyes from one and raised eyebrows from the other, the third just tossing his back in straight away in a quick fold....
"Mr. Akimoto, if you'd care to begin the betting please...?"
With a stony expression, unchanging throughout the entire match, he picked up a reasonable amount, $200, and threw them in. Intent on baiting out the other players, he would see how things progressed...The two gentlemen quickly saw his raise, throwing down equal chips to his before the woman raised another $200, smirking at him in the progress...She was growing cocky in her ambitions, playing to see if he would finally enter the frey for a kill. Flicking two more $100 chips toward the centre of the table, he linked his fingers together as she watched him, trying to find some tell in his expression....
She would find none...
As one of the men dropped out, the other one matched and the dealer quickly turned over the flop for them...Two clubs and a heart, three, king and ace. The cards set in his favour from what he would see. He only needed a four to land himself a straight, and that feeling still lingered for him...Nodding, he slid forward another $300, pausing before tossing in another hundred as an afterthought. The action specifically to twist the others perceptions of his play. An uneventful round of betting continued, the woman calling him and checking the round afterward, as did the other male, and the turn card was dealt....an eight of spades. Nothing there he could use, but he wouldn't be put off by it...Even if he lost this hand, it would hardly be a dent into his chip supplies. He had plenty more money with him, and a credit card should he need it....
Playing out a firm raise, he steeled himself in the moment, his eyes calm even behind the dark glasses as he slid forward the $300 and let it come to rest in the rapidly growing pile in front of him, the man to his left shook his head, groaning something about the pot being too much to risk folding on and matching the bet before the older woman not only quickly saw him, but threw down another four hundred dollars...She was playing desperately now, trying to bait him out and make him panic at her high raise...She certainly had the chips to do the turn without being too severely harmed, but she was neglecting the fact that he did as well, focusing solely on his conservative play and aiming to scare him out...It failed miserably.
Matching her bet and sitting calmly, she simply growled at him, the burning glare simply making him smirk as he saw the final card turn over...Four of spades. He'd landed his straight draw and knew it would take something impressive to beat him now...Choosing to instead simply check the hand, she reciprocated along with the other man, and when cards were turned, he was affirmed of his victory...The best she had managed was two pairs, Kings and Aces, the other man had simply bluffed it through with a pair of Queens, hoping for something desperately, it would seem....
"Winner, Mr. Akimoto with a Five-high straight...." the dealer droned out calmly as he reached over, scooping the chips to himself...He had lost count a while back about how much was in the pot, but it was easily a few thousand dollars. Pocket change in the long run for him, but for this hand it was suitably high. Sitting back, he waited calmly for the next deal as he sipped the short glass of rum before him....The night could get very interesting, especially with spaces free at the table for new players to approach now....
