An Open Invite

[alanwrotethis]

Niketas squints at Valentina, sipping his drink. He spills tea.

"Oh, bother, drat."

He crosses the room, drying his cup with his shirt sleeve. He cusses, sitting down briefly near a window as he refills his cup. He stands clumsily, moving the chair, nearly toppling a mirror as he does.

"Clumsy ass.."

He rights the furniture, relaxing as he sips.

A pause.

"Oh fuck."

He returns to the card table, blinking in confusion.

"Where were we?"

[L .]

Aurelia coughs lightly, and looks back to the table.

[Laurence]

“In terms of bets, I can offer this..” Laurence pulls a small battered tin from an inner pocket. “..it’s Native American war paint. Or I can offer my waistcoat if we follow Elder Aurelia’s suggestion.”

Laurence looks down at his card, his face impassive as someone who has played cards extensively.

“I’ll have another card if you please Sheriff Dukes.”

[Lucius Servius]

“I would prefer we follow my clanmates suggestion, let us bet with our clothes. I have no desire to win your tin.”

Lucius pores himself a properly diluted glass of wine. “Enough talk the stakes have been decided, unless the architect disagrees of cause. Come now kindred let us play. Sherif if you would provide me with a card?”

[L .]

But Aurelia jumped at the chance. "Laurence!" she delighted, in a thickly accented purr. "I will trade you your war paint for a Trivial Boon - don't gamble that. I want it. Call it a keepsake I have use for. I have been wanting something from the New World for a while now."

She bats her long lashes. "Neh, what do you say? Or you may keep my dress, at this end of this?" Soulful dark eyes crinkle in mirth.

"Otherwise yes," she waves idly to Lucius, in agreement "I will play this strip game. Let us begin. Envoy Audley, I have been wanting to know for some time whether you dress under as much as you dress up, or if it is all for show."

[Jean-Jacques]

Quietly sat, his cards, remaining on the table, Jean-Jacques notices Antons’s arrival but maintains his seat and features which are upon the table and avoiding the eyes of the other players.

As Dukes rises, adjusts the furniture, he considers a thought..

indeed the antics of a game played with more fire than the surface would exhibit, those evenings long past cards, talk, debate and...more...gone

His senses focus on Aurelia’s reaction to Duke’s commotion and whilst outwardly his gaze has returned to the table, the face that stares back at his mind is grinning like a Cheshire Cat.

He raises his head and nods at each of the players

“I’m in”

[Manacledairman]

Aldrich appears slightly confused and looks among the participants, apparently calculating... Something.

He smiles before pocketing the necklace

"So be it." He drinks again. "Although elder Aurelia my dear, you do seem to be at a disadvantage considering the number of articles to wager with. There must be a way to even the playing field out."

He looks around the table before chuckling to himself.

"A bit of a show for those who are not participating."

He shrugs seemingly just as confused as he was when he started betting masterwork items on a 4.

[Lady Grace]

Grace looks a little focused as she calculates clothing items she wears, then the rest of the table.
Then exactly how difficult sitting naked between Laurence and Aldrich was going to be, only equally by how little she wishes the other Elders to see her strip.

"If we must," she reclaims her knife.
I think I will venture another card."

[Manacledairman]

Aldrich turns with a start.

"Oh is that how this works we ask to see a second card in the hopes of making 21. Amazing. I'm with you. I presume I can choose to not have a second card and remove myself from this round?"

He smiles

"This 4 is not worth my tie."

[Valentina Audley]

Valentina, who has either not heard or is choosing not to react, to Anton's comment, is sewing calmly when Dukes looks at her and spills his tea. That movement catches her eye and she pauses in the act of setting a stitch to look up at him, her expression mildly horrified as she watches him drying the cup with his shirt sleeve.

To Aurelia's comments Valentina smiles angelically. "As I am not participating in the game Elder, I do not forsee my levels of attire changing very much." She pauses and smiles mischievously.

"Though I believe Sheriff Dukes may have the knowledge you seek." She laughs lightly. "Many of the Court of Aquae Sulis have that knowledge to be fair, from my younger and less restrained days. Now of course, I have been tasked to be less minded to such play. And thus I grow more proper with each night that passes."