Winter festival at the Bodice

"Yes," Christie chuckled, picking up on the subtext. "She's like a bounty hunter, too, only she targets specific types of bounties. No need to go into detail," she said, her dancing eyes watching Velatha shuffle with some fascination.

"As far as games of chance, I'm not sure a standard game of strip poker will suit my fancy. It tends to go a bit... slowly. It's warm enough in here... perhaps while Niniane gets comfortable I'll contemplate a more... exciting, and more quickly... gratifying... game," she said distantly, taking a long, sexy drag on her pipe and exhaling a thick plume of blue grey smoke in another unnatural spiraling path upwards.

No one was exactly seeing double or too dizzy to stand, but it was clear the smokiness in the room, delicate as the scent was, was having a sliiight effect on Christie's new friends. A lack of inhibition that made laughing easier and bodies feel more relaxed was setting in slowly...

"Well," said Niniane, "if you've been here on a busy night, you've likely seen me. I came here from somewhere far away that I'd rather not discuss, but now, I work here and if anyone messes with the girls, I'll toss them out or put them in their place. I also occasionally do odd jobs." She took a big swig of the ale in front of her, and looked toward the rest of the bar, as if watching for trouble, before turning to contemplate Velatha.

Velatha let out a chuckle that sounded dangerously close to a giggle, her hands continuing to shuffle the cards as she spoke.

"If you're really so eager to lose your clothes, I'm all for whatever game you've got in mind." the elf said with an air of cockiness. "I think you'll find Lady Luck is a good friend of mine. No hard feelings when I win, okay girls?"

"Hey..." Tracer murmured. "I don't really..."

She hesitated. Risking her clothes in her favorite bar was just asking for trouble. And with Tracer's luck, she'd be the loser in no time flat. That was absolutely not something that she could live down. The stares she'd had to deal with all her life would be ten thousand times worse if they saw what a canine girl like her reallylooked like.

But on the other hand, this beer. This. Beer.

She bit her lip and stared at her mug.

Christie smirked, still amused.

"I took you for a bit bolder of a person," she said with a faint air of disappointment. "It's just is girls here after all," she mused and gestured to the curtain guarding the room. It promptly fell fully into place.

Tracer sighed, ears flat to her head. She was sure she was about to be made fun of, or just used to satisfy some curiosity. Sure, it was just girls there, but it had always been girls who'd mocked her the worst.

Still, Christie did seem to like her company. She couldn't just leave. And at least there was some privacy...

"I'll play a few circles. Ovals. Rounds." Tracer said. She convinced herself that at least if her luck didn't change, she could leave whenever she wanted. Probably.

Tracer noticed her mug didn't seem to get any more empty, despite how much she drank the delightful artisan liquid. Christie was still grinning a tricksy grin and occasionally sipping her wine, which also never seemed to diminish.

"Well, my first thought is only one round of any given game. Every time someone loses..." She paused for dramatic effect. "They get completely naked."

((Posting from work, lol, so I'll have to keep posts short if I even have time at all to do so. I hope to be on tonight but kind of doubt I'll be able to ))

"That is bold and potentially incredibly stupid..." Velatha mused, her hands ceasing their shuffling. "...I love it. I'll be able to strip the lot of you without having to take off a single thing!"

"Whoa. I, whoa. Uh. Whoa."

Tracer bit her lip again. Naked? Was this really what beautiful, magical beer ladies did for fun? If so, she'd have to be more careful who she accepted drinks from.

She took a pull from her mug. Everyone else looked ready. If she wanted to match up with them, she had to throw down too.

Sort of.

"I'm in. But only for two rounds." She smiled at her clever dodge. If this was really a game of chance, then there was only a 50% chance she could lose.

"I really shouldn't," Niniane sighed. "But I guess I'm in..."

I hate to force my way into something, but is it too late for me to join?

((The more the merrier. Wouldn't exactly be in the holiday spirit to say no, would it?? Only thing we'll have to be considerate of is moving the pace along where we can, the more people involved. That includes me, haha... This scene belongs to all of us now, so we'll just have to be flexible.))

"Ooh! Ooh! Count me in, too!" Caterina exclaimed, forcing her way through the curtain at the last possible moment. "I'm always ready to see some naked women."

"For those of you who don't know me, my name is Caterina, and I'm an assassin," the assassin explained surprisingly cheerfully. "Don't worry, though; I never hold a grudge over games of chance."

Christie's eyebrows raised slightly at the new arrival. There were a lot of interesting people in the Bodice tonight, it seemed. Her grin widened a practiced touch as she gestured to a fresh drink that appeared on the table in front of her. Whatever it was, it was exactly what the assassin wanted.

"You're an eager one. And no one need be alarmed at her profession: I'll vouch for her... Everyone in this parlor has my... Protection," she said weightily, looking at them all as her expression relaxed.

"Plus, you really want to see her naked, if you haven't already."

Velatha looked the new arrival up and down, eventually giving a nod of approval. "Like the Witch says, you certainly seem eager. The more the merrier, I say."

With that, the elf gave the cards one last flashy shuffle before setting the deck down on the table. Sitting back, she returned to her drink, pleasantly surprised to find it returned to its full capacity. There were certainly advantages to having a skilled magic user around, it seemed.

"So, poker is out? High stakes games that can be quickly played... any ideas?"

Tracer bared her teeth at Caterina. Christie's vouching for her did little. Tracer's drunkenness and Caterina not having a bounty on her head, however, did a lot.

At the call for suggestions, Tracer racked her hazy brain for ideas. She needed a game she could win at. She couldn't handle losing, not in front of four other people.

Suddenly, the idea came to her. "I know! I know! Screw your neighbor!"

Tracer glowed in satisfaction. Most of table looked at her as if she were crazy.

"It's a little early in the night for that, pup," said one woman.

"Hold on," said another. "It's a card game... and it might work."

As the other women had the rules explained to them, Tracer tried to keep the grin off her face. If they picked this game, she was sure to win. The lowest card- the one that would strip whoever ended up with it in their hand- would doubtlessly have the most players' scents on it as the passed it again and again and again. All she'd have to do is pass the smelliest card and she'd win.

___________________________

Click here for rules.. I propose we play without "life counters" and simply have the loser strip.

"Oh, that one... I know it as 'moogle'," the witch said. "If someone ends up with an ace in their final hand, I say we make them do a dare, maybe a little dance or something like that?" she giggled playfully.

"It's been a while since I've played that, but it should go quickly enough..."

((I kinda feel like every character needs to be cheating now somehow in some fashion. It's Christies deck, Velatha shuffles, Tracer has her sense of smell, lol...
But never mind that -- how do we actually play this out? We could roll or somehow draw cards, but that's leaving it up to everyone to use the honor system
Thoughts?))

((We could each secretly get a card from random.org or something similar, then PM each other in the case of a switch. It is based on the honor system, but so is the rest of this forum. No matter which character loses, we all win.))

((I'm all for the simple guessing a number solution. Doesn't require any outside programs and allows the minutiae of the game to be glossed over easily enough.

If the general consensus is to go ahead with that plan, let me go ahead and pick the number.... 15.))

28  ((Sorry for short posts lately; visiting family and it's hard to get away.  Going home tomorrow.))

"Anyone hungry?" Niniane asked, producing a large cream pie from her satchel. Anyone looking on would wonder how such a large, still slightly warm pastry could fit in a bag somewhat smaller than it. "I'm starving," she added, dipping a finger in the cream for a taste, then sliding the pie toward the middle of the table to share.

((I suppose I'll choose 1. It ought to give me the best chance.))

((Hmmkay, you want me to pick a number between 1 and 100? How about, so that I can effectively be in one the game too, I'll pick a number, then roll a d100 so that the number is more random..?
I'll pick the number 100, and wait to reveal the dice result when we've all picked..?))

((That works for me, and certainly seems fair. Pretty much leaves the result of the game completely up to fate, which I'm fine with.))

((Looks like we've all picked.))