This world is inhabited by creatures that we call pokemon. People and pokemon live together by supporting each other, but now the scourge threatens the safety of the entire region. Kohaku has become a dangerous place, where children stay at home and only brave souls go adventuring.
Welcome to KOHAKU. Come for the nightmares. Stay for the tea and crumpets.
The season is SUMMER. It is easy for survivors to forage for food from the land, as there are entire abandoned farms ready for harvest. On the downside, you can smell the corpses.
swarms
GRAND OPENING !
Welcome to KOHAKU REGION's grand opening! If you're interested in joining, come check out our grand opening giveaway!
verte isn't a stranger to the casino, or to gambling. she'd grown up in a fairly well-off household, at least in sol city standards; anywhere else, her family'd be considered rich and elite. but in sol, they're just a common name in certain circles.
which verte herself doesn't really care about, but it did ensure one thing - that she knew how to play cards, and how to play well.
there's a decent pile of poker chips in front of her after a few hours, and she grins at her opponents over her cards. she hasn't had this much fun in a long while.
Cards were the ultimate game, when you think about it. A constant duel of prediction, bluffing, and wits, all supplemented by the luck of the draw. An incredible sport, and one that took a very specific kind of person to excel at.
Dan was not this kind of person. He was much more suited to, say, pulling levers. Or, rather, watching futilely as his crab did it for him.
"Okay, Ambrose. I think you had enough," he mentioned, exasperated, as his Krabby companion expectantly held out a hand. He raised another claw, as if asking for just one last spin. "You said that three spins ago!" he responded, the crab sighing and relenting.
Shame, too. He just knew the next spin would've been a big winner.
she grins and lays out her royal flush, and there are groans around the table as verte pushes half the won chips towards her pile. the other half had been one by a man across the table, and she shares a fleeting grin with him.
"she's cheating," she hears someone say, and verte turns toward the source of the grumble. it's coming from a rather large man who had thrown down his cards in disgust when she'd played hers.
"excuse me?" verte asks, loudly. the dealer is glaring at the man as well, but only because it's his job - accusations of cheating are quite hefty in the casino, even if nerio is the thief's den. "did you just call me a cheater?"
"and what if i said yes?" the man asks, leaning in. he ignores the dealer futily trying to get his attention. "because you're a cheating, lying, cowardly girl."
"then i'd have to ask you to stop being an ignorant, blundering fool."
there's a fight about to break out at this card table, but no one notices - everyone except for the poor dealer is sitting back in their chairs and grinning at the free show.
Oh great, another fight. Ambrose rolled his eyes: he was getting a nasty case of deja vu here. Or maybe a nasty case of hangover headache. The crab couldn't tell.
Dan, meanwhile, slowly got to his feet and looked over the slowly-gathering crowd. Just more of the scroungers that made up this little thieve's den of a town . . . and a familiar face. Was that the woman he met in the caves?
She seemed like an honest person. He figured he might as well ask around on her behalf.
"there is," the guy sneers. who is this to be such a hero? "this girl's cheating, i know she is. are you here to take her side too? shut up," he adds to the dealer. verte quietly pulls him back and murmurs for him to let it go, before glaring at the man.
Dan cocked an eyebrow at the news. "Is she, now?" he asked. "How'd you like an outside judge to put that to the test?" He trusted Verte much more than some random sleaze, of course. But it was always just so refreshing to put big egos in their place fair and square.
at the mention of evidence and an outside judge, the man straightens himself. he's opening his mouth to go off into what seems like a tirade of scathing insults when the card dealer steps up and glares at the man. "i'm sorry, sir, but i'm afraid we'll have to ask you to leave." when the man tries to protest, two security guards appear at the dealer's shoulders and flank him to escort him out.
the dealer does all this with a blandly pleasant smile on his face. he's like the casino's version of phil coulson, he's that bamf.
verte grins at the dealer, giving him a two-fingered salute, before raising an eyebrow at the ranger. huh. it's the same guy from di manes, apparently. "fancy meeting you here."
As the man was dragged off, Dan found himself having to shake a few certain, very recent memories. They refused to go down easily, but he still managed a bit of a smirk at the man getting his just desserts.
"Same to you. What brings you here?" he asked. Maybe a bit of time to converse and relax would get last afternoon off of his mind . . .
He tried to just nod and say yes. He really, really did. Instead he simply sighed. "Seen better days, really. Just need a bit of time to clear my head."
Bacchus was a ghost town. Nothing but Scourge and a path to the nexus of this hellhole, Lake Pax. Once he was out of there he'd be in the clear, but until then the road he walked was one demanding a careful approach.
Maybe the danger would at least take his mind off of it all.
"haven't we all?" the phrase is harsh, slightly bitter - old memories are still too new, even after a year. "but i'd take the time. it's better to go slowly than to end up dead."
verte glances back toward the card dealer who has started shuffling a deck with quick and easy precision. "you up for a game, or are you going back to the slots?"
"Never really played before, but I'd be up for a try." He sat down at the table, Ambrose scuttling over and climbing up to the ranger's shoulder. He'd be damned if he missed this!
"You've got a good point. And its not like Pax or Decima will be any changes of pace." Niero really was his only option, wasn't it? At least the Psychic Sign would allow him to get back to the city without having to trudge through a mountain of Scourge both ways. "You play often?"
"only when i'm bored and have the time." verte picks up her cards and smiles. her luck is always good when she's at the casino. "we're playing poker, i'm sure you'll be able to pick it up quickly." she nods towards the cards that the dealer has placed in front of dan. "go on."
she grins and lays out her royal flush, and there are groans around the table as verte pushes half the won chips towards her pile. the other half had been one by a man across the table, and she shares a fleeting grin with him.
