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[sub][color=dimgray][b][color=a0410d]Location | [/color][/b] Red Rock
[b][color=a0410d]Los Angeles Time |  [/color][/b] 8:41 PM     /[b]     [color=a0410d]London Time |  [/color][/b] 4:41 AM     /[b]     [color=a0410d]Moscow Time |[/color][/b] 6:41 AM
[b][color=a0410d]Interacting with |[/color][/b] blackjack and hookers    /   pink starburst [/color][/sub]
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Las Vegas. How quaint.

Aleks had spent many of his formative years in London, a city as refined and stuffy as the collars of its monarchs; any gambling would have been done from the safety of a laptop, numbers punched into a keyboard where only the computer screen glowed. Las Vegas, the mythic neon city on the hill, sang of vices untold - as a child who would toss pounds away casually while learning the ropes of blackjack, he dreamed of a city where everything from the buildings to the asphalt of the streets glowed radioactive with neon and promise. Throwing in his lot with Yessi upon his arrival in California meant that every break from school was practically a roulette (ha, ha) - a [color=F08080]"Papi, where are we going?"[/color] and a curt [color=a0410d]"It's your jet."[/color] in reply. One of the only destinations Aleks had suggested over four years of misadventure was Las Vegas. Yessi's roots ran deep there, and her father owned a casino and hotel that Yessi promised could be their playground.

If it was a playground, then Aleks was the kid who found joy in trying to climb up the slide backwards, while Yessi was the girl who rose too high while on the swing and flew off, eating shit in the sandbox. If they wanted to watch boxing? Fine. Yessi just had to make off with one of his favorite pairs of sunglasses in order to afford the best seats. He would never see their like again. If they wanted to gamble while underage? It was no problem; her father wrote the rules. But the longer Aleks sat at the tables or machines, tap dancing on the tightrope of his good luck, the more bored Yessi grew sitting and watching him. The blackjack and poker hungered for his chips, but Yessi hungered for his attention. They spent fourteen nights and thirteen days rolling dice by day and rolling around a king-sized bed by night - and the windows were tinted the bronze-and-gold of Yessi's tan, so it was impossible to tell which was day and which was night unless they walked outside. By the time their plane touched down in LA again, the suspicion that there was more to do in the City of Sin was gnawing away at him. 

Perhaps a larger group meant it would be easier for him to slip off and burn some money. 

That was the best that could be said of the exponential growth of their travel group, sadly. Aleks had no real problem with any of the motley crew they had rescued from the RV, and a few of them he even liked - Val was ten feet of best friend wedged into a three foot tall body, and he and Jules shared similar temperament and tastes - but overall they had proven sullen about the loss of their road trip, and their rabid attitude towards AJ hadn't helped matters. Aleks and Yessi had managed to soothe the trust fund kid; Yessi had done so with words and Aleks by pushing Starburst into AJ's mouth with a long, dextrous index finger, pinks and reds, all the colors of Communism. But the truce that fell over the trenches was a Christmas truce, clearly temporary. Before long, the tempers would flare again. [color=a0410d][i]Or the tears.[/i][/color] The blonde girl, Emilia, had broken into several crying fits; they made his heart hurt almost as much as they made the space behind his eyes ache. 

Perhaps Vegas would be good for everybody. At least until every one of these misfits had cleaned out their savings accounts to try and buy a newer, shittier Winnebago and were reliant on the Gearheads for rides the rest of the way. Fuck, they should have just gone straight to Thailand. But they were long miles away from any airport, and the thought of Vegas was enough to keep Aleks patient and polite - it would be everyone else that was the problem.

He was biding the time by playing with a deck of cards he had brought along, practicing cutting the deck and various flashy ways of shuffling the cards. Yessi didn't have the patience to learn trick shuffling, or card or coin tricks, but Aleks preferred to keep his skills sharp - and keeping his attention on the deck to avoid an impromptu game of 52 Pickup was easier than paying attention to the fraying dynamics between the Gearheads and the Misfits. 

[color=a0410d][i]frrrrrrrrrrip[/i]

[i]shuffle shuffle shuffle[/i][/color]

And at least he had plenty of Starburst left. For himself and for AJ. Would that Aleks had decided to be a mechanic.