More Than One Gamble [Yaksha]

Wed Oct 25, 2017 10:51 am

As the sun beat down on the tall Russian, Semyon Leonti reflected on why he'd decided to torture himself by going anywhere near Las Vegas, Nevada. Word travels, and it travels far, if not necessarily fast. In this case, the word that had traveled to reach the wanderers ears in a couple places was that of a unique individual or individuals who frequented the city of Las Vegas. Nobody was sure what they were, but it was well known that they were both strong and mysterious. They could apparently pass for human at a glance, but rarely bothered with details, like, say, jawlines and teeth, and apparently had a penchant to responding to requests for his name with absolutely ancient pop culture references.

Anyone who enjoyed "Sympathy for the Devil" was at least a little alright in Semyon's books.

Oh, and let's not forget the rumor that finally cinched this little trip to the closest thing to Hell on Earth. This mysterious, powerful shapeshifter claims with regularity to be older than Jesus of Nazareth.

Any claim like that deserves a little looking into. It's possible that whatever this entity, who Semyon mentally dubbed "Old Scratch" after learning about the "Sympathy for the Devil" reference happening just so that he had a name to refer to the guy to, knew something that could be useful to the swordsman's training, and was willing to share, but that was a gamble.

Honestly, the only reason Semyon was there was that Scratch was a wild card, and the Russian was curious as to what would happen. Unfortunately, finding anyone in the sun-scorched urban hellscape of a desert city was easier said than done. For all his wanderings, Semyon was not a city rat at heart, preferring open spaces and silence. Both of these things were at a premium here, and he had spent from dawn until noon following the advice of locals until he realized the one truth of asking people for directions.

It doesn't matter if they know what you're looking for.

People will gladly give you directions anyway.

The swordsman ducked into a casino just off the main strip for one reason and one reason only. Air conditioning. It was just getting too damned hot out there. While he was inside, however, he figured he'd try his luck with a quarter he'd had thrown into his bag around 9:30, while he was sitting on a bench and resting.

Smartasses implying he's homeless or something.

He put the quarter into a slot machine, fully expecting to lose it to the whims of chance. Then the Infernal device started ringing and flashing and spitting out quarters at high velocity, scaring the Chi user halfway across the room in a paradoxically silent burst of speed before he realized he'd actually won and returned to try and pick up the quarters. "Damn thing almost gave me a heart attack."

Mon Oct 30, 2017 2:35 pm

Yaksha, The Anthropophagus

Yaksha

"Yes, that does tend to be what these machines do. It's what Vegas is all about, actually. It pushes your anticipation to the height of folly, and then the payoff is always disappointing. But that doesn't matter, because there was a payoff, in the end. That's all that matters. If you don't stop and do the math, you're always a winner in your own head."

The speaker's voice was rich, delighted, and had the faintly clipped tones of one who had been very well-educated. The words came out slowly, filled with a languid delight that made it seem almost like the speaker was reluctant to let each word escape his mouth. He seemed to savor the feel of every word in his mouth, filled with a pure and simple delight for the simple act of speech. As this was said, a hand reached over from behind Semyon, faintly unsettling in a way that was hard to describe. It pushed the knob back up into the resting position, and began to pluck coins one after another from the floor around them; a few had even gone shooting a good few feet away, under the stool, in various other places.

"Reality never lives up to the expectations, I find. Humans have an amazing capacity to convince themselves the mundane is significant, and vice-versa. I can tell you with absolute certainty the crucifixion of the Christ was...honestly a little underwhelming. It wasn't a day that anyone would remember after the fact. Downright routine. There was the...nasty little affair with the corpse, of course. But I think, at this point, we can all agree that it was probably some bored little ghost playing a prank on some small-minded peoples."

The hand began to gently rub a few coins together, fingers sliding smoothly over them, and all at once it clicked what was wrong; each and every finger was exactly the same length. The knuckles on them were ill-defined, with a strangely loose look to them that almost brought to mind wax that had been allowed to warm just slightly too much, but hadn't quite melted yet. And as the other hand slipped down, to turn Alex around, the man in front of him looked...well, to be frank, downright boring. He was tall, to be sure; he would've fit in on any basketball court, being only a hair below 7 feet tall, and he was quite pale. But the teeth that could be seen glinting just behind his smile were white, neat, and absolutely human in nature. His eyes twinkled with the sort of great mirth one expected from high-class magicians, as he canted his head ever so slightly to the side. There was a long swoop of hair down the middle that seemed almost stuck in place, likely with some kind of gel, that wobbled ever so slightly, but remained raised all the same, in a manner that almost brought to mind a peacock's crest.

"You're a long way from home. They say people in Hell want ice water. I'm a touch biased on the topic, but...well Vegas is demon territory these days, and to you it's probably as hot as Hell. I think, given the circumstances, we can at least find it in the kindness of our hearts to offer the high roller a drink."

Coding Altered From: [The Frost]

More Than One Gamble [Yaksha]

More Than One Gamble [Yaksha]

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