tampered | (no subject)

When; May 22, 8 pm
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Axel

flameofviii, Renji

shedyourstripes, Roy

snapofmyfingers, Reno

elevatorwarrior, and Cloud

cloudsinstrife
Summery; Poker night!

Poker nights were odd between a former terrorist and a Turk. There were many things they didn't talk about, like industrial secrets and planned reactor explosions. Even talking about women could get them into trouble because - well, Cissnei and Tifa have both shown up at their games. But being in the city has helped their conversations, from strange curses to whatever plan they had to get involved with next.

Tonight was no different. Reno showed up to talk about the chocobo racing idea, and they just gravitated to the downstairs and the poker table. Reno decided they needed a game, so Cloud just shrugged in agreement and fetched all the booze he had on hand. Cider, beer, whiskey, scotch, and any other bottle that made his nose twitch when he took a sniff of it. Dragging it all downstairs and then fetching snacks and ordered a pizza. Then that done, he grabbed a chair and took a seat.

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Reno was already seated at the table, carefully shuffling the cards, making a big deal about it as if he didn't know how to do a proper shuffle right. It was a sort of tradition he did at every game, it made him feel better- let others underestimate him if they saw fit.

"Seven card?" He asked, sticking a cigarette between his lips. It seems he had taken up the habit again after many years of cold turkey... well, in times of stress, one does what one must. With a smooth twist of the wrist, he tossed the pack at Cloud, not really expecting the other man to take one, but, who knew. Poker was a game where it felt right.

Axel's no stranger to card games. Being in the Castle that Never Was with a certain 'Gambler of Fate' certainly brought many games to the table that Axel had never considered before. Rummy, Poker, hell, even Go Fish seemed to be a big deal to Luxord, and he seemed to take on all comers.

VIII learned his lesson after the first time to never say "Yes" when Luxord offered a 'friendly' game to the rest of the Organization. Some Nobodies didn't learn and kept coming back to defeat him, but all Axel needed was one time before he realized it wasn't worth the frustration.

Within a few seconds, an inky portal appears in what Axel considered to be Cloud's living room, all colors of blue and green swirling within the blackness before Axel stepped out. He was dressed as normal, hooded black cloak over pants and knee-high boots, and he rested one hand on his hip as he glanced around the room.

"I hope you didn't get started without us," he said, smirking at the assembled table in front of him, stepping out of the Darkness in order to allow Renji to follow.

Nevermind the card game, Axel's damned portals still managed to unsettle him more than a little. He'd prefer simply using shunpo, but hadn't felt like arguing over what was a simple matter, and so appeared looking a little more than disgruntled behind Axel.

At the very least, he'd had his fair share of nights of drinking and games. Card games weren't exactly foreign to him, either. It wasn't really his goal to win at that point, but just to have some fun.

Too bad it seemed like it was turning into a competition, just for the sake of showing up Axel.

"There wouldn't be any point if they did," he sighed, rolling his eyes, but finally grinned. Approaching the table without any preamble, before sitting.

The map he had been given, Roy mused, really wasn't that good, and it had become apparent to Roy as he had tried to pawn off his paperwork on Reno, that Reno was a bit too much like him. Still, after perhaps longer than he had intended, the man had managed to find the place. More prone to playing games like chess, for that truly was a metaphor of Roy's life (although the city had taken away his queen, and had never brought any of his other 'pieces') he still had learned to play poker. With a foster mother like Madame 'Christmas' it wasn't really that surprising, and before Maes had settled down and had his kid, there had been many a night when they had done such things as this.

"Your map skills are as good as your secretary skills," was what Roy stated as he entered. Gone was the usual blue military outfit that he always wore, and in it's place was what some might consider 'outdated' clothing; a simple white shirt, black slacks and his coat. The others, it seemed, had arrived before him. Outside of Reno, Roy knew none of them. A tip of his head as he introduced himself, "Roy Mustang."

Catching the pack, Cloud shuffled the cards again, leaning back on his chair. He shrugged, looking over at the portal and nodding once at the newcomers.

"We didn't," Cloud said, flipping a card over, sticking it in the middle of the deck and tapping the deck. He cut it and slid the two halves over to Reno, the ace of diamonds facing up.

"Food's coming, so grab your poison," he said, reaching for the cider. It was one of the few drinks that he could stomach without ending up face in a toilet the next day. He just started pouring himself a glass when Roy came in and introduced himself.

"I'm Cloud." He recognized the name from Reno's rants about work. "We haven't gotten started yet."

Collecting the cards, Reno reshuffled with practiced ease this time, leaving behind the pretense of amateur. "Have a seat, chief." He mumbled around the cigarette, not bothering to light it just yet. "Guess we'll go straight poker then. Better have your money on you, gentlemen. We'll go an easy game tonight, nothing over Green." He'd sized the group up in his head, thinking it was better to go light on the money until another time. Competition was fun, but it was Cloud's place they were using.

Five cards went out on the table, five choices to make.

Axel took a quick look around at the gathered crowd, allowing an eyebrow to quirk. He took a seat next to Reno, leaning back in the chair and propping one arm up on the back of his seat, a slight smirk on his lips as he addressed the police chief.

"The name's Axel," he purred, his voice eerily similar to Reno's. Maybe even moreso now that the two of them were in the same place and Axel loved nothing more than pushing other people's buttons to see how they reacted. "Commit it to memory."

As for picking his poison, Axel figured that was best left to the expert, Renji, as the Shinigami seemed quiet intent on getting the Nobody drunk. So instead he tapped the table as he watched those cards go out, a lazy smirk on his lips.

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as;lfaf;lasfj; /TERRIBLE PERSON I'm so sorry.

/MORE TERRIBLE APPARENTLY BGKDBG

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oh god I know nothing of poker

fff i need to keep a tab open with this, LJ is NOT sending me notifs