Gambling Away

[Gillian Rel]

Cantonica - Canto Bight​

They had finished the job they had come to do. Gil had traveled with one of his associates, Tagal to the desert world to seal the deal on a deal with a new supplier of raw materials that their factories used to turn into weapons.

They had been playing hardball, but when pressed the caved pretty quickly. BiT was becoming a large force in the market and that gave them leverage.

"It'd be a shame to come all this way and not gamble..." he said to Saxon. "What do you say, wanna piss away some of that money the company pays us?" he asked with a chuckle. If anything they could get drunk and relax for a bit before returning to work.

Regardless of Tagal tagged along or not, he was going. Gil was a sucker for gambling, he had always loved the thrill of it even during the parts of his life where losing meant going without food for a bit.

They would make their way downstairs to the casino. "What's your game?" he asked the other man as they entered the large game floor.

@Nefieslab

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Canto Bight was an interesting place for someone like Tagal. On one hand it was a monument to excess and he found it clashed with his minimalist tastes... and on the other hand, the drinks were tasty, the women were pretty and the lights were bright. In the end he decided he rather liked the place, if only because the atmosphere actually managed to put him at ease somewhat. He actually relaxed enough that he was beginning to regret that they were about to leave.

There was much of Canto Bight that neither he nor his ally Gillian had actually managed to get a taste of.

So when Gillian suggested that they should gamble? Well he didn't really need to do much to convince Tagal to stick around and play some games of chance. Instead of protesting he just grinned.

"Well the company DOES pay us rather a lot these days." he joked, referencing their recent promotions as he signaled for one of the waiters to come and take a drinks order, "I'm ordering some cocktails I've never heard of and seeing which ones are actually good. Ever heard of a Lemon Lothal Leeway?"

It was, it turned out, not lemon-y at all. The 'Triple L' was actually a rather minty affair and Tagal had to say that he kind of liked it, even if he had literally no idea why it was called that.

"Sabaac normally." he admitted, "But I usually play Spacer Rules - you bet your fingers there if you run out of credits."

@Raydo

 

[Gillian Rel]

He laughed when Tagal brought up how much they made these days. Gil had to admit it was a lot, and he had money coming in on the sides. He had always been like that. Blackwell had started out as a side gig of sorts for him. It never hurt to have a black up plan.

"I am sure people have thrown away more credits than me and you will make in our lifetimes." he said eyeing a creature with a monocle off to their left with an absolutely ridiculous amount of chips on the table in front of him.

He nodded at the mention of drinks. Tagal seemed to get tonight's exercise. "I can't say that I have. It sounds terrible, order three." he said. Gil ordered a beer. A beer he paid way too much for. He could afford it but there was a part of him that still ached at the price. He had been poor for far too long to be erased by his recent successes.

Sabaac it is." he said as he pointed at the man. "But I am going to need to alot more to drink before I start gambling digits. he siad.

They made their way to a table and took the last two open seats. He waited for the next game to begin but took the time to study their opponents. There was a woman to Tagal's right that seemed entirely too disinterested in the game for it to be real. Next to her was a younger looking man who seemed far more interested in getting in the first woman's dress than actually playing. To Gil's left was two identical looking twins who both had a substantial amount of credits and seemed to be playing pretty heavy-handedly. The last was an overweight, balding man.

Gil could tell the last man was having a piss poor night. His brow glistened with sweat as he looked down at his quickly dwindling credit pile. Everyone had to lose, apparently, this was his night. Though no one seemed to know they should just get up, instead they always tried to dig themselves out until it was too late.

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Sabaac was a great game.

Tagal himself had been playing it on and off since he was about eleven but he would be the first to admit that his tactics basically boiled down to not needing a poker face due to 'Resting Mandalorian Face', which made it look like he was angry even when he wasn't. It really threw people off when they were playing some games against him.

As far as his skills at the game itself went? He was a dab hand but nothing too incredible. He was able to reasonably say that he was probably able to run rings around the rather large man who seemed to be on a bit of a losing streak.

Sitting down at the table, Tagal sipped at his incredibly bright drink with a firm scowl of a Mandalorian etched onto his face. If anyone thought it was funny (it kind of was), no one spoke up about it. Likely due to the fact that he looked like he was about ready to rip someone's head off if they tried it.

Tagal sipped on his drink noisily through the straw before placing his most recent hand down, losing almost the last of the credits he had set down on the table. He had more in his pocket so he wasn't really out but he wanted to appear that way. He hummed as he bought into the next hand with the last of the credits on the table.

"... how about we make this interesting eh?"

Tagal's hand was... good to say the least.

"We're all running a bit low on chips here so how about we play for more than chips?"

There was a lot of nervous muttering around the table at that and it would depend on Gillian if they actually went for it or not. The man was another voice to throw his weight behind the idea and ideas like this tended to take off when more people spoke up to agree to it.

@Raydo

 

[Gillian Rel]

Gil sat and stretched lazily. He felt at home in places like this. He wasn't sure if he could say the same for his companion. Everyone seemed to lean away from the Mandalorian as he scowled at the table. He leaned over to man "I don't know, maybe try not to look like the dealer just personally sold your parents into slavery." he said jokingly. The man looked like if he was wound any tighter his head would pop off.

The cards are dealt and they all won and loss and won and loss. It was a good time, drinks flowed and credits dwindled. Some of them were hit harder than others. Gil hadn't down terribly, but he wasn't about to retire just yet.

Gil noticed the man in the corner, sweating as his pile grew smaller and smaller. The heavyset man had taken some pretty big risks, and some of them had paid off letting him stay in the game but he was on the ropes again, desperate to dig himself out.

Gil's smile widened as Tagal brought up making it interesting. Now, this was his type of game. "I'm in." he said with a relaxed shrug. Two of the people decided to run with the credits they had left. "What we betting? Ships, Properties? Empires? he said leaning forward he was still relaxed but he could feel the adrenaline start to flow. This was the feeling he was always chasing when he sat down at the card table.

Besides Gil and Tagal, the old man stayed as well as the woman to Tagal's side.

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Raising an eyebrow, Tagal accepted a whiskey tumbler from a passing waitress. It might not have been his actual whiskey order but the woman didn't bat an eye and no one seemed to be inclined to argue with him. Frowning severely, Tagal went to take a sip of his drink and used it to cover his mouth as he responded quietly so only Gillian could hear him.

"And miss out on their faces?" he joked with just a ghost of a smirk, "I think if I growl one more time the woman to the left if going to cream herself and the sweaty man might have a heart attack. Don't know about you, Gil, but I'm having fun."

He probably needed to get out more if his definition of fun was intimidating people to see how they reacted but he was a Mandalorian and a businessman - it was expected of him to get some kind of kick out of putting the screws to people. Tagal took a more serious drink when the park about stakes was brought up.

Humming a little bit, Tagal tapped his fingertip against the table in time with a beat before pausing.

"I put up four fighters, their pilots, a Galleon and it's crew." he bet with a scowl, "Who here actually has something to put against a pot like that, eh?"

@Raydo

 

[Gillian Rel]

He shook his head slightly at the man. "And here I always thought people were lying when they said all Mandalorians were savages.." he said, smiling into his glass as he took another drink.

He listened as Tagal laid out what he was betting and nodded. Not a bad pot to start with. "I'm out." the woman said as she rolled her eyes and gathered what remained of her chips. It was a smart decision. One they probably all should have made, but tonight wasn't about being smart, it was about taking a risk.

"I'll put up the deed to a strip club on Nar Shaddaa." he said taking another drink. He shrugged "I'm guessing the girls there are prettier than your crew." he said glancing over at the Mandalorian.

"Whatcha got, friend?" he said glancing over to the only remaining man. Gil would have poked fun at the man who looked like he was about to be sick, but he didn't want to man just off and running.

Uh...I got...something...Hold on...uhh" he stammered trying to buy time. "Aww kriff it. I'll put up an old factory on Ord Cantrell." he said.

Gil nodded. That could be useful, no matter what the factory was. "Let's deal them cards then."

 

[Tagal Saxon]

Savages eh?

Well... he supposed they were in a way. Mandalorians didn't like to beat around the bush because they knew exactly what they wanted and how to get it. If 'how to get it' included playing up some stereotypes then so be it. Wasn't like the stereotype of the 'growing Mandalorian' was unfounded either - a lot of what a Mandalorian could find himself wanting could best be taken by force and when you were employing force?

All the better for the enemy to fear you a beast.

"... you have a strip club?"

He raised an eyebrow at Gillian.

"The hell are we doing here when you've got your own bloody strip club?"

Of course the offer on the table of a factory? Well now that got Tagal's attention. He was a Smith and a producer of product these days after all - factories were always good. He grinned a little bit and took a drink as the cards were dealt out between them. Checking his hand, Tagal hummed a little bit.

Not the best hand possible but a damned strong one - only a full house could beat what he had right now. When it came down to showing their cards, he laid his hand down and smiled at the sweaty man's pair. His hand was awful and he had lost everything. Time to see who out of Tagal and Gillian had won a factory.

@Raydo