10779/Merriment on Monacus

Merriment on Monacus
Date of Scene:	18 January 2020
Location:	Monacus
Synopsis:	Jazz and Jessica Cruz gamble on Monacus
Cast of Characters:	Jazz, Green Lantern (Cruz)

---

Jazz has posed:
Monacus was great. It was one of the few places that a Cybertronian could go without fear of somebody trying to run you off the planet. It helped that Monacus was technically an asteroid with an atmosphere and not a planet.

Sheol, the capital of Monacus, was run by Lord Gyconi, who operated it largely as an anything goes casino strip, like Vegas before it got gentrified. Jazz had some here to relax and enjoy stretching out for a while, not having to hide in his alternate mode.

He was currently seated at a table, one that was built to accommodate guests of varying size, as a card game was being played with chips. With his deco, largely white with some black accents, he looked kind of like he was wearing a white tuxedo.

Green Lantern (Cruz) has posed:
Jessica Cruz was sitting back a bit, observing the game. Trying to get the rules. She is NOT in her Green Lantern outfit - places like this seldomly like law enforcement and the Green Lanterns are basically space cops. So she's just wearing her usual gray blouse and skirt as she sits next to but behind Jazz, observing to get a feel for the rules. It's kinda like poker, but... not really.

Jazz has posed:
This game used different card suits, bells, clubs, coins, cups, shields, and swords, though each had 13 types, so it was quite similar to human poker, just with an extra two types of suits. Some things were fairly universal. Jazz had started out with limited resources, but had already built up quite the pile of chips. Having seen Jessica earlier, Jazz whispered to her, "getting a feel for the game yet?"

Green Lantern (Cruz) has posed:
Jessica Cruz nods. "Yes. It seems to make sense except the game I'm used to only has four suits. I'm not much of a gambler though." She ponders. "I hope they'll take my money," she states as she heads over to the moneychanger and shows her credit chip. She gets a disgusted look for the Lantern logo on it (yes, the GUardians really suck sometimes) and comes back with a small stack of chips.

Jazz has posed:
People, or whatever they happened to be, were able to come and leave the table between hands, so long as they weren't the big or little blind, and there was a seat available. There was one for Jessica after the next hand, which Jazz lost, but he was still doing very well given the pile of chips in front of him. "Welcome back, pull up a chair." The fun thing about the seating here was that it would change, morphing to suit the person, sometimes with a hole opening up in the floor, as it had with Jazz, so that the people could remain at eye level to each other, or at least in that vicinity.

Green Lantern (Cruz) has posed:
Jessica Cruz nods as she hops up on the chair, nodding slowly. "Interesting," she muses, looking at how Jazz is put way down. She waits for the cards to be dealt the next hand and buys in with a small bet, getting the hang of it. She didn't take much - the Guardians aren't very fond of gambling, but a small withdrawal isn't an issue. She hopes she does well, but doesn't have much of a poker face.

Jazz has posed:
Jazz is kind of the ideal poker player. Not only is he incredibly smart, look calm and collected no matter the situation, but he's also great at reading people. There's a certain amount of chance in any game like this, but with intelligent, a good poker face, and an ability to read your opponent, you can tip the odds. He was also counting the cards that had been visible during each hand, trying to better calculate his odds.

Green Lantern (Cruz) has posed:
Jessica Cruz nods as she tries to get a feel. It's obvious she's new to the game, and is trying to bet small, and as far as she can tell, her first hand is rather rough, but she is trying to stay with it. She is trying to play honestly for now, but can use the ring to help count cards too - but she wants to be a good person and thus has realized that this is a losing hand so folds before more damage is done to her small pile.

Jazz has posed:
The casino was noisy, with conversation in the background, waitresses taking orders, delivering drinks, and some background music being played at a low volume. Despite all this, Jazz began to break out into song. It didn't start that way, just seeming random conversation, but Jessica probably knew it, "You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, and know when to run. You never count your money, when you're sittin' at the table, there'll be enough time for countin', when the dealin's done."

Green Lantern (Cruz) has posed:
Jessica Cruz raises an eyebrow. "A Kenny Rogers song? Where did you hear _that_?" she asks. "I guess you really have been to my neck of the woods before." She sits out the next hand to get a better feel of the game after her initial foray that didn't go well.

Jazz has posed:
Jazz wins the next hand, so it was good that Jessica sat it out, especially as he began to quietly sing Poker Face by Lady Gaga during the next one, until one of the aliens at the table asked him to stop, so he did. "I know 'em all, from Blind Willie Johnson to Ariana Grande."

Green Lantern (Cruz) has posed:
Jessica Cruz shrugs. "I couldnt' carry a tune in a bucket so I won't try to as well." She ponders as she buys into this hand and has a good feeling about it. She tries making some shrewd plays with what she had and hopes that she can win a hand.

Jazz has posed:
And as luck would have it, Jessica wins the next one, a sizeable pot too, with Jazz folding rather than showing his cards. "I thought all humans sang in the shower. Did the world wide web lie to me?"

Green Lantern (Cruz) has posed:
Jessica Cruz shrugs. "Of course. But I wouldn't inflict that on anyone else," she notes. "I know how bad my singing is. I was more of an outdoors type and a hunter.... but I don't want to go into details about my history in the presence of strangers. No offense, guys!" she coooos as she tries her luck again.... this hand didn't go well and she lost some of her winnings but managed to mitigate the loss. "I don't have the advantage of a synthetic voicebox that can make all kinds of voices."

Jazz has posed:
Jazz nodded his head, not wanting to pry. He thought about mentioning Caritas as a great place to try karaoke if she could ever work up the nerve, but decided to hold that off until later, when there weren't so many other beings, who knew nothing of Earth, around. "It's not about the voicebox, it's about the passion."

Green Lantern (Cruz) has posed:
Jessica Cruz nods. "Yeah... looks like you've done pretty well. Want to cash out?" she asks quietly so hopefully nobody else would hear as she tries another hand, hoping for good luck this time. She has good cards this time but has a feeling that someone's going to win, but figured she can try to bluff her way to victory.

Jazz has posed:
She wins the next hand, and Jazz ends up needing to play one more because of the big and little blind issues, before he can cash out, but eventually he does, collecting his chips, and getting up from the chair. He was now towering over many, but not all of the beings here. It was a good thing that the ceilings were so high. But species in the galaxy came in all shapes and sizes, not just human height.

Green Lantern (Cruz) has posed:
Jessica Cruz nods as she gets her chips and cashes out too - a modest sum compared to Jazz's but still more than she started wtih. She ponders. "The reputation of your kind doesnt' seem to bother anyone here," she muses.

Jazz has posed:
Jazz explains as they walk, "most governments have issue with us because of the war. But Monacus doesn't really have one. They're more anything goes. Like Knowhere and Sakaar. You cause problems here and you might get shot, no questions asked, no trial, and no due process. Other times they'll make an example out of you, but it's more of a show trial than anything else. Besides, a few Cybertronians," like Swindle, "do a lot of business here." They would continue to talk as they disappeared into the crowd, going from one subject to the next. You had to be careful on Monacus, but if you did it right, it could be a lot of fun.