written as rinc (for now)

[break]
it wasn’t a big deal when nikkari came around—mostly; but there was still a vague air of competition. people showed off just a little more than usual. most wanted to be on his good side. then there were others, who had been around for a little while longer, who didn’t care. they knew they had already earned their keep.[break][break]

they could be much more annoying.[break][break]

rinc slid into a chair at the table with them, smiling. that perpetually smug look on his face veiled bitterness to anyone perceptive, but he was never quite far enough out of line. as though he knew exactly how much he could push.[break][break]

here, he seemed to assume he had a spot in the game.[break][break]

”hey nikkari.” bills tapped on the table, folded over and thick. ”come on. you’re way too well-dressed to just play for fun.”

[attr="class","ooc"]nikkari hect [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-turtonator"]

this one is an asset and yet he's had to keep closer tabs on him the most. some men have an aura about them that exudes attention and demands loyalty. rinc is one such man; unchecked, he could move mountains. whether or not he knows it is unbeknownst to kari. 

besides, they're only his own observations, biased as they may be. though the urge to check the rest of the room for fiona tickles the back of his neck, he ignores it and smiles back. 

he reaches into his pocket, shifting to the side so he can tug his wallet out. glancing at the worn bills, he matches their worth with two bills of his own, tossing them haphazardly across the table. 

it's still a strange act, tossing money about so casually. he's watched people cross loved ones and devour each other for much less. his own mother has done what outsiders might call 'unspeakable actions' to get by. nikkari just knows this as survival.

"the game is spades. dealer," he starts, bridging the deck with practiced hands, "gets final bid." it's a game they've played before, though not a favorite of many and he thinks with confidence, that includes rinc.

"start at two or pass," he says as he finishes doling out the cards. he tilts his own just slightly off the table and then tucks them back down, looking to the man for his bid with one brow raised.

Lulu Flint

☉

rinc organized his cards in no hurry, but his eyes were soon raising over them—not at nikkari, but at the woman entering. deep mahogany hair burned around the edges like the end of the cigarette she’d just extinguished.[break][break]

on her way to the bar, she could feel rinc staring. he always stared, and at first, it had unnerved her. never in her life had someone seemed to feel so strongly about her. for better or worse, however, she had come to crave it.[break][break]

though she never looked over, her hips swayed just the tiniest bit more for the eyes that crawled up the backs of her legs. they were bare beneath the dark edge of her party dress, revealing the body of her dragon that wrapped around and disappeared upward, leaving one to wonder where the vicious head was.[break][break]

after a good look, rinc’s gaze slid back across to settle briefly on nikkari before returning to his cards.[break][break]

”two.”

[attr="class","ooc"]nikkari hect [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-turtonator"]

behind nikkari is the entrance to the bar. he'd placed himself in the seat he did so he wouldn't be tempted to do just what rinc is doing right now. his fingers tap against the backs of his playing cards, making a dull sound against the table, but it's lost to the raucous bar. 

his gaze is predatory and possessive. there is only one woman he looks at like that, and nikkari only sees it out of his periphery. he dare not turn his head, but leaves rinc to his less-than-private fantasies and listens intently to the conversation going on with his peers. but it's all for show, and he's not really listening, because as soon as rinc calls, nikkari taps a knuckle on the table to pass the bid. 

heather: pass

tomás: deliberates for a long while (he has a shit hand) and finally pass

to nikkari then. "dealer takes." he plucks his king of spades from his hand and tosses it to the table, glancing to the side casually as a shadow draws near. 

"ah, fiona. you're welcome to join the next hand if you'd like." an eyebrow quirks back at rinc. "this shouldn't take too long."

Lulu Flint

☉

a tequila slid into her hand, added onto the gang’s tab that had been running for far too long—but there was no question that they were good for it. profits had been high, as they’d fed off the desperation of kanto’s war.[break][break]

she turned back, just in time to see rinc’s smirk disappear behind his cards again. as she got closer, the joyful mischief etched on her face wilted a little at the edges of her own smile. she’d caught some passing look in his eye that she knew far too well.[break][break]

rinc had played a nine. the king stared up at him triumphantly, and he wasn’t happy about it, nor the quip to his girlfriend.[break][break]

she ignored it.[break][break]

”maybe.” she slid in next to him, and her smile fixed itself at nikkari, giving away the tiniest bit of amusement. ”i didn’t know you had eyes in the back of your head.”[break][break]

still somehow smug-faced despite his loss, rinc leaned back, waiting for nikkari’s next move while he slipped an arm around her.

[attr="class","ooc"]nikkari hect [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-turtonator"]

"contrary to popular belief, i don't," he says smoothly. heather and tomás toss garbage onto the hand, much like rinc's, but that doesn't mean there isn't more to come. it had been a bold move to start with the king, knowing full well his first trick would end up only making one pass. 

he draws the winning hand to his side of the table, raps the edges of the cards neatly together, and lays them in a short pile to his right. then he turns his head and pretends to deliberate; his eyes never once stray from his cards.

rather than fish for more spades, he smiles and tosses a nine of hearts, more for his own personal amusement than anything else.

Lulu Flint

☉

”just know me by my shadow then, do you?” she teased with a smile, and promptly felt a sharp pinch at the side of her thigh that derailed her attention. looking over at rinc, she was met with some parody of confusion in his lazy gaze, as though he didn’t know why she was suddenly looking at him.[break][break]

such was the nature of their relationship.[break][break]

heather didn’t have such a shit hand this time, so rinc put down his ten of spades. taking the trick, he looked at nikkari and then took several bills from their tight fold on the table and set them down as well.[break][break]

meanwhile, saoirse’s gaze drifted elsewhere around the room. she sipped her tequila, looking less amused than before.

[attr="class","ooc"]nikkari hect [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-turtonator"]

his lips twinge, but again, he dare not lift his gaze from his cards. too much can be found in the eyes and there are things he'd rather keep to himself than allow fiona to see swimming in liquid gold. it's not abnormal for him to play like so either. he's a focused individual. 

and like she said. he has eyes in the back of his head. 

the trick goes around. heather tosses some points into it and rinc snaps it up greedily. it circles back around to him. while he's sorely tempted to snap it up with the lovely little spade under his thumb, he instead sighs and drops the ten of hearts. 

he'd like to squeeze out a few more points before taking what he can from the man. especially now.

"mm, there's more to it than that. one just has to pay attention." he taps his cards again and fishes another bill, smiling pleasantly while he places it on top of rinc's worn money.

Lulu Flint

☉

she wondered what nikkari meant by that. how much attention did he pay, really? curiosity lingered in her eyes as they trailed back, but his gaze was on his cards. it was a little frustrating, actually.[break][break]

rinc’s hand was now trying to kneed away the sting he’d inflicted. however, as he dared further, brazen as ever, she threw his arm away, got up and grabbed her tequila to walk off—but not before whispering something sharp near his ear. it hit him hard, apparently, the way his face crumpled.[break][break]

”hey!” he called after her as she left for the bar. ”you drunk already?!”[break][break]

receiving no response, he then muttered, ”bitch.” and slouched in his chair again, attention falling back to the game. he took his second stack of cards, and that smugness from before returned. this would be easy now.[break][break]

he put down the king of hearts.

[attr="class","ooc"]nikkari hect [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-turtonator"]

there is satisfaction in waiting. there is satisfaction in doing nothing and biding your time and in waiting for the right moment to do everything perfectly. to watch the pieces fall where they may. he sits while heather and tomás exchange snickers at rinc's behest, his gold eyes unaffected. he rifles through his cards. 

in his periphery, he watches lulu's shadow go by him. 

and internally, he is thinking a dozen and one ways of how simple it would be to slit the man's jugular. he is marveling at the blood bubbling over his lips and of that hateful pleading in his eyes, a look he's seen before. but then, it's never been personal.

he gaze flickers and after it goes around the table, he lazily tosses the ace of spades onto the pile. he folds the rest of his cards; if his math is right, the game's been decided, no matter what else rinc can fork up onto the table.

he opens up a palm, brows raised, and goes to take his winnings. 

"bad luck, rinc. had a fairly stacked hand."

Lulu Flint

☉

rinc scowled at the card, and then at nikkari, before tossing the money closer on the table and getting up without a word—until he was almost out of earshot. some sharp, nasty insult muttered over his shoulder that faded into the noise of the bar.[break][break]

at the bar, fiona had finished her drink, and was ordering a shot. in fact, she was drunk already. it wasn’t always like this, but she’d started particularly early that day.[break][break]

as the shot was set down in front of her, it was promptly swiped away by rinc, suddenly leaning there on the bar at her side.[break][break]

”hey—“ ”i don’t think you need anymore.”[break][break]

she reached for it, and he snatched her wrist like a fly out the air, holding it tight. he stared into her eyes and took the shot himself.[break][break]

”what the hell, rinc?!” ripping her hand away, she then stormed back out of the bar, frantically reaching for another smoke.

[attr="class","ooc"]nikkari hect [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-turtonator"]

he gets his money, but there is an empty feeling to tucking the bills into the fold of his wallet. he keeps up smiles for posterity's sake, gaze flickering from rinc's departure and over to heather and co. someone else snorts and makes a comment, which gives nikkari an out to tilt his head and watch the going-ons at the bar. 

his teeth set together gently and that second of tension is released immediately after.

he watches fiona go. and then he sits there, gold eyes light with humour as he swaps stories with his companions. and after a bit, he stands, asking the others if they'd like a drink. he'd managed to polish off his beer and with a nod, saying he'll be back with another round, he slips away and out the door.

and searches tentatively for her.

Lulu Flint

☉

rinc had his back turned as nikkari made his way out the door, rather busy ordering another drink and barking something at someone else who he’d decided needed barking at.[break][break]

fiona wasn’t hiding. even when things weren’t going well between the couple, she remained fairly tethered to him in these social settings, never going far.[break][break]

seeing nikkari approach, she took a long drag off her cigarette. her eye contact had a drunken confidence to it, capable of a forwardness she wouldn’t usually present to him.[break][break]

”he doesn’t like you, y’know.”

[attr="class","ooc"]nikkari hect [break]

[attr="class","pkspr pkmn-turtonator"]