First stop - Royal tour|Rivenway, Ronduin

[aivea]

Epselen places out a jack which means the current trick is a tie at the moment. "Think you can untie this, gorgeous?" she asks.

Bel looks away from the other girl, seeming just to be trying to decide what drink to grab. She didn't want to ruin River's fun by telling Epselen to stop but she doesn't want him to be taken away either. For the moment, Bel tries to think of a way to be diplomatic about this.

[adris]

River shrugged, he could easily untie it, he tossed his remaining King, which would end this in his favor no matter what. With two tricks under his belt he would have three of nine, with five more to play. If he can pick up an odd one or some tricks split after he used his queen he should win the game. He also has to hope that the two other kings aren't sitting in one ladies hand or another. He takes another sip of his ale to find out that it is empty, lying down the cup he reviews the cards.

[aivea]

"Nice job!" Epselen says with a wink and clears the table for the next round.

"You're certainly on a roll!" comments Bel with a smile. "I thought you said you'd never played before."

Meanwhile, a passing waiter refills River's drink. It's the Leader's turn and, unknown to the others, Epselen had deliberately delt the hands so that River would win no matter what cards the others received.

[adris]

River looked at Bel and shrugged. He hadn't expected to do this well either, but he suspected with all the prodding the dealer had been giving that perhaps this was no coincidence. He has never been spoken to like this before, especially not a woman as pretty as Epselen, but he wasn't about to ruin it.

"What can I say, for some reason the cards fell into my hand Bel, but just enjoy yourself my friend, I am having a great time and must thank you for talking me into this."

He then gave a smile to the dealer herself, a certain gleam in his eye. He had to be sure to thank her after the game itself was over. With that he threw his queen, seeing if he can pick up the winning trick, he would be four of nine with four tricks to go, the only one that could beat him is Bel.

[aivea]

Bel smiles and says to River, "I'm glad you're enjoying this."

Noticing the gleam, Epselen smiles back at him and says lightly, "Yes, enjoy yourself. Isn't the entire point of lovely nights like this to be spent on games and laughter?"

The dealer places out a ten and Bel places out an eight. Once the table is clear, it's River's turn and it seems there is almost no way he can lose this hand.

[adris]

River needs just one more trick or for Epselen to pick up a trick and he wins. The only way he could lose is if Bel wins out, not something he really minded though. He did have one more face card though, a Jack, and decided that since the fishing earlier didn't have better results he could win it now, so threw it to the table to see what happens. The only card that matters is Bel's, whether or not she can beat his. He gives another sly smile to the dealer though, maybe he can take her to the side after the game.

[aivea]

The trick is won by River and Epselen gives the Leader a wink. "Do you want to keep going? Usually the game ends when one player wins enough tricks that they will win no matter what but we can keep going if you like..." the dealer says.

Bel frowns slightly, she doesn't like losing.

[adris]

River frowns and tries to reconcile her. He pushes his winnings from this round to her, trying to make her smile again. To see her depression did make him pull back to her slightly, but he didn't want to pass up his chance to catch Epselen.

"We can end it here, but I was wondering when you had some time away from the tables. Prehaps we could discuss other buisiness."

He smiles, hoping for that buisiness to be fruitful as well. He only thought of Bel and Gale as friends, they were cute but he was surprisingly inept outside of his little world. All the genious in Naruta couldn't save him from no common sense.

[aivea]

"I'm fine; I just don't like losing," Bel replies, shaking her head and managing a smile before pushing the coins back toward River.

Epselen looks around, pretending to be judging how busy the bar is before saying, "I could leave now if I wanted. Do you want to go for a walk first before discussing business so maybe somewhere quieter can be found?"

[adris]

River deposits the winnings in his coin bag and then gives her the entire thing. He smiles and gives her a soft rub on her closer shoulder with his hand. He knows the feeling of not wanting to lose, it is why he dosn't gamble very often.

"Well then let loose and have fun my good friend, use that however you want, my thanks for coming with me on this trip."

He didn't just want to leave Bel abruptly, and thought that maybe now she knows he still cares. He just has, other thoughts, that he wishes to attend to now. He now walks over to Epselen and grins mischieviously.

"If we could go somewhere that is more quiet that would be great. I think you might like what I have to talk with you about. Shall we then?"

[aivea]

Bel nods and smiles in thanks before standing up and moving to one of the other tables to try again with cards. "Have fun," she says mildly but she has a bad feeling about Epselen which she can't quite shake.

"Oh really?" Epselen replies. "Off we go, then."

The dealer gives a little wave to the patrons of the bar before leading River outside of the tavern toward a small, slightly secluded house by the water. "Want to go inside or should we sit out on the porch?"

[adris]

River looked at the water and pulled a face, he still never believed the water would get so bad. He hadn't seen it at all when he spent time here, maybe he was just lucky or something. Either way position didn't matter too much to him.

"The waves are large but the sky is enchanting tonight, so I guess wherever you feel most comfortable. As long as we are for the most part alone."

He looked her over again, something he didn't take the time to do at the bar for fear of pushing her away. She has invited him now though so he felt it all right to soak her in, she was a very well formed girl. Maybe he found yet another travelling companion, one that would stick around for longer. He didn't see what element she was but if all goes well his hormone filled mind deduced he would figure it out by nights end.

[aivea]

(I don't plan on this going any farther than Eps doing a little feeling on while she has her aura on and waits for what she thinks would be a reasonable amount to time for River to being under her control. At the present time, she still thinks he has at most two signs since he's not mentioned being a leader and she can't see his signs. Move to the other if you feel the scene should be, I'm not sure.)

"How about inside then? I have a small sitting room with a window," Epselen suggests before opening the door and holding the door open for River. "We could have some coffee and look out the window at the sky without having to worry about the waves."

"Just need a little more proof his guard is slipping and that he's fallen for it... Then I'll give him a little taste of my aura. If he thinks that I'm going to sleep with him, this one has quite the surprise coming. But I guess a little touchy-feely would distract him so I'll put up with a little pawing if he starts doing that. Foolish men, they're all the same. Pretend to want them and they'll walk right into slavery."

[adris]

(OOC: don't do anything out of character, the alcohol has taken the last bit of humility River had out of him is all. So he will talk like he is invincible)

"That would be nice thank you much, especially the coffee right now."

He had a majority of his defences down, his mind wasn't as active as it usually is. But for the reason of being to able to better approach Epselen he keeps a lot of his still strong attention focused on her. Although admittedly not the parts of her he should be paying attention to.

[aivea]

(Ok. The IC thing would be to keep him distracted by talking in anyway he seems to respond to and trying in any way that seemed to work if talking didn't seem to work. I started getting worried that I should take off the second part.)

Epselen leads the way inside, satisified that he seems unguarded. After fetching some coffee and placing the cups on the table, she switches on her aura and asks, "So, where are you from? I can tell by your accent you're not from here."

Lightly, she takes hold of one of his hands before guiding his hand to the handle of the mug and letting go. She'd heard somewhere that even a few seconds contact is supposed to speed up ensnarement; though Epselen questions the truth of that rumer, it couldn't hurt to try.

"Oh, by the way, what is it that you want to talk to me about? I almost forgot you mentioned that," she adds rather suddenly, like it really had slipped her mind.