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Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Aurel glanced at Geralt as he spoke.

"Akane's attempted her hand at it, but her pokerface is a little worse than mine." He commented, causing the kitsune's ears to twitch and smile sheepishly in their direction. If Aurel was obvious, Akane was on a whole other level. The motions of her ears and tails were usually what gave her away. Lucien was really the only one who was good at it, but Aurel didn't have the need to state that their ringleader had a good pokerface. Illy was also a good contender, but there were some games she didn't want to play with them because of unfairness. At his offer to play Ivory, the man simply looked to Ivory, leaving the decision up to her.

Even though the dhampir was not particularly inclined to play Geralt, she knew this would probably be a good learning experience for him. Lucien did not really have as much free time to help her teach him. She simply shrugged in acceptance, and began to shuffle the cards again, giving the man his two cards before taking her own.

The three cards placed in the middle of the table were the Ace of Clovers, The Three of Spades, and the Five of Hearts. Ivory glanced down at her cards, though this time she had only lifted them just enough to see them. She could not help the twitch of her brow this time around, a sign of brief irritation, before her expression neutralized again.

Akane was quick to rise from her chair, glad that Illyana had accepted their help, before reaching for Cora's hand and leading her up to the sink so they could begin to help out with the dishes.

It was around this time that Lucien finished taking inventory, and then gave the table a brief glance. So Geralt was playing Ivory? That was certainly.. interesting. He hoped no sparks would fly while he was gone, though knowing how much Ivory wanted to teach Aurel to get better, he figured it would go alright. He walked to Illy and handed her the clipboard.

"It's done." He said. "Shall we go?"

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien couldn't help but laugh at Faolan's words. "It's not often I see you get competitive, forgive me for wanting to see a bit more." He said with a small grin, though he didn't tear his gaze away from the Irishman.

"I won't, promise." He said with confidence. While he wasn't sure whether it would be true, he kept in mind that his body had always been pretty resilient. That made him believe that he had the potential to last a lot longer than the average person when it came to this. It was also one of the things he had been curious to find out for sure. He reached for the bottle, and poured the same amount as before into both glasses, before sliding Faolan's glass back in his direction.

"But if it does happen, you can just carry me back. Since you'll probably be okay." He said jokingly as he raised his glass, and then drank it in the same way as the previous time. Now that he wasn't caught by surprise by the strong taste, it was a little easier to down this time around. He couldn't deny the warmth this drink brought on, but he still felt relatively clear headed.

"That time wasn't so bad." He commented, his voice less hoarse this time around.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

At the mention of his tongue, Aurel's cheeks became a little red, and he instinctively covered his mouth. He hadn't even noticed that he did that when he was focused, because it simply came natural to him, he couldn't help but feel that this would make him feel more self-conscious about it, even if Geralt was telling him to make it subconscious. This was quite.. complicated.

"I understand.. Es hört sich einfach schwierig an." He said, despite his words though, his tone wasn't defeated. He did want to learn, he knew just it would take some effort.

"Relaxing a little will probably help, you're too tense." Ivory commented. Despite her annoyance with Geralt's presence, she wasn't going to deny his words when it came to helping Aurel, she also wanted the man to improve. As she spoke, she passed out the cards again, receiving the Ten of Hearts and Eight of Diamonds.

Aurel on the other hand, received the Queen and Jack of clovers, and as Ivory set down the three cards in the middle, he could not help the excitement that shined in his eyes, even if he made an attempt in controlling the motion of his eyebrows. It was the Five and Ten of Clovers, and the Ace of Spades, which Ivory had placed down a little more aggressively than she had intended. If he could just get a King, then it would mean his victory.

It was easy for Ivory to recognize that look in Aurel's eyes, especially after the three cards had been set. The next card was a Nine of Clovers, and his expression didn't change, because his odds were still good. Clearly his hand was too good for her to beat.

"I fold." She said, mostly to prove a point, his expression had given it away again.

Despite being happy with his victory, he felt like he had lost, because he still hadn't been very good at keeping his expression neutral.

"Practice makes perfect, Aurel." She attempted to encourage.

Akane glanced up at Illy as she came to take their plates away. "Thank you, Illy! Should I help you dry?" She asked, smiling up at the girl.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Lucien could not deny that he was impressed that Faolan had managed to drink this without even batting an eye, but he supposed he shouldn't be surprised. It was definitely a much more impactful taste than his wine, but he couldn't say that he didn't still prefer it.

"It depends on what you mean by that. These drinks are intended for different purposes." He said with a small chuckle. After all one didn't just chug down wine, it was meant to be something you took your time with, that much he was well aware of. Whiskey was definitely not something he'd wanted to do that with. He'd rather just get it down as fast as possible. He could tell it affected him differently too, he felt much... warmer now.

"Are we having another? Or is one glass enough for you?" He said with a small smirk, raising his eyebrows slightly. In all honesty he was enjoying this quite a bit, considering he didn't get to see the Irishman like this often. He was definitely smiling a lot more too, so did that mean he was warming up to being here?

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Aurel glanced at Geralt and simply nodded. "If you say so.." He said, before glancing back at the cards as Ivory placed another card on the table. The three of clovers. His eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly, since that card was not useful to him. By then he knew that even if he had high cards, the likelihood of him being able to do anything with them were quite low. He normally would have folded, but just decided to see what the next card would be.

Ivory's expression was blank as she placed the three on the table, it was useless to her, but it was easy to not show it. She turned slightly, glancing over her shoulder. For a moment it had felt like something had been watching her. Had she been imagining it? She shook it off, and placed her attention back on the game. She could tell that this card didn't work for Aurel either as he motioned for her to put in another card, which she did. Eight of Diamonds. She already had an eight, but at least it had been nice to have a pair as a backup. It was then that they revealed their cards.

"You win." Aurel said, gathering the cards to shuffle this time.

"Remember what I said yesterday about your eyebrows?" She said with a small chuckle. It was really something he had to work on.

"I know, I just kind of forget in the moment.." He muttered before dealing the next set of cards. This time he got a Jack of Diamonds and a Nine of Spades, while Ivory got the Jack of Hearts and the Ten of Spades. The three cards he placed on the table were the Two of hearts, Seven and Queen of Diamonds. This round could really go either way, but Aurel seemed unsure.

He set another card down, the King of Spades, and the last one was the Four of Clovers. Neither of them could do much with those cards, but it ended up being Ivory's win because she held the Queen.

If Lucien had to guess, whatever Illy had to talk to him about was probably related to Geralt. "Then we can talk after I finish this. Since everyone seems busy at the moment." Perhaps the game of cards would keep Geralt distracted for a while.

"I'm aware, but there's a fine line between what some would consider light reading. Be sure to get proper rest tonight. You need all the energy you can get." He said, despite the fact he was technically scolding her, he tried to keep his tone light. He just knew how Illyana was.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

As Faolan agreed, Lucien's expression immediately brightened. He didn't feel that bad about convincing him, after all if Faolan had really been completely against it, he would have said no to this little endeavor. There was something about the smirk Faolan had on his face that made him almost tempted to bring out his competitive side more often. He watched as the bartender returned to hand them their bottle of whiskey. It seemed like he expected them to get through it one way or another. At the Irishman's challenging tone, he simply smiled.

"I'm quite alright, I said I was having what you were having." He said, before lifting his glass in Faolan's direction.

"Sláinte." He said in Irish, waiting for Faolan to drink it first to see how it was supposed to be done. He knew not all alcoholic beverages were drank the same way, that was something working in a bar in the past had told him. Seeing him chug the drink, Lucien then did the same, though he couldn't help but scrunch up his face as the liquid almost burned his throat. It was a completely different feeling than wine, that was for sure.

"That's.. certainly something.." He said almost a little hoarsely, letting out a few coughs. "But I can take it." He added, clearing his throat afterwards. It would definitely take some getting used to, though.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

It seemed that his words had gotten to Faolan. It hadn't really been his intention, since he had really just wanted to know if it was true, but it seemed to be enough to get a rise out of the Irishman. It wasn't really what he had been aiming for but, it seemed this might have made Faolan more willing to drink with him. He didn't take any offense to Faolan's words, after all of all people, Lucien was an incredibly hard man to offend, and considering the Irishman's way with words, he knew better than to take offense to anything he said to him.

The bit of competitiveness in the man's tone made Lucien smile. This was definitely not a side of Faolan he often got to see, but it made him want to see a bit more of it. Quickly, he finished the remaining of his wine, and turned to Faolan.

"Well, if you are not a lightweight then a drink or two shouldn't affect you at all right?" He asked with a slightly raised brow.

"Pick a drink for me. I can be considered having 'graduated' to something stronger, and then you'll be able have a drink with me right? I'll have whatever it is you're having since.. wine is seemingly not enough." He said, a bit of a smirk tugging at his lips. Now his words were intentional. It was not often that they go to have exchanges like this, and he definitely wanted to take advantage of it. Lucien rather enjoyed seeing new sides of Faolan, and this new slightly competitive side of him was rather amusing.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Akane nodded in agreement. "He's right! Just enjoy your food, that's really what matters." She told her with a smile.

Aurel almost tensed as he felt Geralt's hand on his shoulder, but managed to stay relaxed since it had only been brief contact. He wasn't really used to strangers touching him, and he wasn't a big fan of it, but it hadn't been enough to fully make him uncomfortable.

"Sure.. if you want.." He said, not really seeing the harm in it, though he was sure Ivory would much rather be without his company, still, if he was here watching them play cards, then it meant he wasn't somewhere they couldn't keep an eye on him. "I'm not sure what you could learn from us but.. the reason why I'm not very good is because my pokerface is quite bad." He told him, figuring he might as well get that out there now.

Ivory did not look at Geralt as he spoke, despite her silence and seemingly lack of interest in everything that came out of her mouth, she could tell that he was very particular about the way he spoke to people. The transition was so smooth that it would probably be hard for the others to notice if they weren't paying attention, but every word was chosen with intention, it made it hard to trust anything that came out of his mouth, not that she had any intention to. She knew his game.

"Poker. Without betting, that would not be fair since he's still learning." She said, before she began to deal Aurel his two cards and took her own, glancing at them briefly. A nine and eight of clovers. Not a bad start for herself.

Aurel raised his eyebrows slightly as he picked up his cards. A Queen of Hearts and a King of Spades. That was definitely a high start for him, one of his luckier draws, if he could get the cards to work in his favor. Still.. that usually was not the case. They skipped the betting phase, and Ivory went straight to placing the three cards up on the table, the six of hearts, the Queen of diamonds, and the seven of clovers. Now that was something Ivory could work with. Based on Aurel's expression when he glanced at his cards, she could tell that he had probably gotten high cards. She'd keep that in mind.

Lucien glanced down at Illy as she spoke, marking off some more of the things on the list. "Indeed.. though he seems like a man who likes a challenge.." That much was obvious simply based on the interactions they had seen.

"Of course, just let me know when you wish to speak with me." He said, pausing for a moment before looking back down at the girl. "Did you stay up again? Make sure to get proper rest this time, no staying up." He lightly scolded her, though he was unsure of how much his words would be heeded.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Again Lucien chuckled. "Well, I won't deny that." He said a little amusingly as he continued to drink. It was then clear by the way Faolan spoke that he was in no way fond of wine.

"You're breaking my heart, Faolan. It's the drink of my people." He said, though his tone was light, he was clearly not offended by it. He understood everyone had different tastes.

"Well, you don't have to drink wine, it can be anything else. I understand wanting to keep your sense of awareness, but would one drink really do that to you?" He asked, looking at him curiously.

"Are you that much of a.. What's it called?" He paused, trying to remember the word. "Lightweight?" His tone wasn't taunting in any way, in fact he wasn't trying to trick him into drinking, but he was just genuinely curious, since this topic of alcohol didn't come up often. It was his chance to learn a lot more about the Irishman.

Cirque D'étoiles (1x1, FxM, MxM, FxF)

Akane smiled brightly at Cora in response before she began to eat. Occasionally she would glance over at the mermaid as she ate her food, and would pick up a napkin and turn toward her.

"You got a little something here." She said, before she wiped a big of the remnants of food from the side of her lips in an attempt to help. There was something about watching Cora eat that was very.. bright, perhaps in the way that she thoroughly enjoyed her food, despite the occasional mess.

Ivory held back in rolling her eyes at Geralt's words. "Of course you are." She said, though she didn't look in his direction, now more focused in removing the cards and shuffling them. She didn't see a point in turning him down, since he'd probably stick around anyway, and knowing Aurel, he probably wouldn't say no to him anyway.

Aurel glanced at Geralt as he spoke, just as he had finished the sausage he had been given. He would make sure not to save the best piece of food for last anymore, in case something like this happened again.

"Ah.. sure, if you want." He told him. "I'm not sure how interesting it will be though.. ich bin ziemlich schrecklich.." He was not sure how fun it would be to watch his one-sided losses, but it's not like he minded, he tried to learn from his failures, and Ivory was good about telling him what he could have done better. In the end it came down to luck and how terrible his pokerface was.