3567/Poker Face

Poker Face
Date of Scene:	05 January 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Lar uses his abilities to cheat at a card game, leading to a fight. Kara intervenes.
Cast of Characters:	Mon-El, Supergirl

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Mon-El has posed:
    It's late in the evening in downtown New Troy, at a sort of middle-class level casino. Not too many piles of junk in this part of town, anyway. This is the prime time of the night for all the typical forms of adult recreation, such as drinking and strip clubs and of course at this particular joint, gambling. Slot machines, roulette, and card tables abound.

    Suddenly, a loud shout comes from one of the roundabout style card table booths, along with the thump of someone slamming the table pretty hard.

    "That's it! You're a CHEAT!" A middle-aged looking man in a leather jacket is standing up and pointing at a younger man, who is definitely Lar Gand.
    Lar stares incredulously. "How am I -cheating-?! Did you -see- me peering at anyone's cards?"
    "No...I don't know, but I also don't know how you could possibly be winning -every- single round -all- damn night long!"
    A smirk and a shrug. "Well maybe I'm just lucky."
    "Lucky my ass! Whatever you're doing, you're a dirty cheat, now give me my money back!"
    "Prove it and I'll give it back to you."
    At this, the man just becomes even more infuriated than he was before. And so do two of his friends at the same table. "You're gonna wipe that smug little grin off of your face, boy. Or so help me we'll do it for you." he says threateningly through a clenched jaw.

Supergirl has posed:
High in the sky, Supergirl is on patrol. Her eyes are closed as she filters through the noise of the city. She tilts her head, sorting out raised voices, trying to pick out the tell tale signs of trouble. Her skirt flutters about her legs in the wind, cape fanned behind her. It takes her a moment to sort out a familiar voice, listening a little closer to the angry voices associated with it.

Mon-El has posed:
    Yep, that's definitely Lar's voice all right. The one defending himself, that is. And he's still just smirking at them. He shrugs, not appearing intimidated at all by their threats, despite them being significantly larger than him.

    He gets up and starts to leave the table. "Welp, guess I'm done for the night then. It was nice playing with y--"

    CRASH.

    Suddenly, the man who had been threatening him changed--he wasn't really a man any more, but some kind of massive rock creature that seems to ball up into a sphere and come rolling towards Lar. The Daxamite's eyes widen as he turns around and throws an arm up to block it, which ends up knocking the thing in half. Despite this, it keeps rolling, the pieces smashing into slot machines and other tables and people before they reunite back into one piece. -Now- there are definitely screams of fear and distress as people start to make a mad dash for the exits.

Supergirl has posed:
That sounds like trouble. Kara drops, letting herself fall a ways before shooting off in the direction of the casino. Landing outside it, she shakes her blond locks off her shoulders and starts wading in through the crowd, looking around to figure out where the fight is happening and moving carefully so she doesn't hurt the panicked humans fleeing the casino. "Lar?" She calls out and looks around for him, coming to the edge of the crowd.

Mon-El has posed:
    Once Kara gets in closer, it's pretty clear where the fight is. And even more clear when what looks like a massive boulder crashes through a window and out onto the street where it rolls over a few parked cars, crushing them. But it doesn't seem to be moving as if it were just following the natural laws of physics. It...stops rolling and starts to change shape again, now it looks more like a rock -man-.

    And not long after that, Lar himself comes shooting out of the broken window, determined to give this guy a little--

    Then he hears Kara calling his name. Oh, grife! Of course this would get her attention! He hesitates. "K-kara!" he responds upon spotting her. "I--uh--little busy here, sorry!" A big piece of the ground suddenly seems to pull itself up and in front of the rock elemental dude, flying straight at the temporarily distracted Daxamite.

Supergirl has posed:
Rushing forward, Kara catches the flying rubble and drops it, her blue eyes sharp as she looks between Lar and Rock man. "Why on Earth is that...rock...guy?" She looks at Lar and shakes her head. "Why is he attacking you?" She asks and looks to Rock Guy, walking out to stand between the two men, holding up her hands. "Ok, ok, fellas."

Mon-El has posed:
    The flying rock is caught and thrown to the ground, smashing to bits. The two of them were able to launch another attack on each other when Kara suddenly intervenes, getting between them. The strange elemental man finally shifts back into the human form he'd been using earlier, though he still looks livid, pointing at Lar. "Supergirl! H-he cheated me out of practically three thousand dollars!!" the man exclaims, his voice shaking slightly with anger. "And then he was just going to walk off like it was nothing! I -know- he cheated, he had that stupid troll smirk on face!"

    Lar rolls his eyes and folds his arms as he floats in the air. "You can't prove it! Everyone was watching me, I didn't peek at anyone's hand!" he gestures at the now very wrecked casino. "I mean you probably just caused several times that amount of money in property damage starting a fight with me."

Supergirl has posed:
Looking between them, Kara just gaps her mouth a little in shock. "You started all this over cheating at cards?" She gasps and shakes her head. She's disappointed in all parties involved. "You-you came to a casino-of course you're going to lose money." She looks to Lar, pointing at him now. "And you-you barely know this planet-what are you doing trying to gamble in a casino?" She asks and looks to them both. "I fully expect you to help repair the damage you've caused. Someone could have been seriously hurt in the panic you started." She scolds, doing her best disappointed Superman routine. "We have these wonderful abilities to be better people-good examples. Help fix the damage caused here-be a good example." She encourages now, switching to a warmer voice, imploring them.

Mon-El has posed:
    "Hmph!" The angry man doesn't argue the point that she's making about having caused all this damage and potential injury to innocent bystanders over a -card game-. But he's also not ready to let his ego take that much damage, either. "Yeah, everyone loses -some- money, but not to a filthy little cheat like -him-!" he finishes, pointing an accusing finger Lar. "And like hell I'm helping clean this up, when it's -his- damn fault for cheating all night long in the FIRST place!" With that, he shifts back into a round boulder and rolls off down the street, disappearing into the night.

    "But--but--I just...wanted to have some fun, I guess." Lar starts to protest at Kara's scolding. Still, he has that guilty face that says he -knows- he did spy on every one else's cards just not in a way that anyone else at the table could witness.

    "...you know what? You're right. This was stupid." he admits with a sigh, setting back down on the ground and slumping against a lamppost.

Supergirl has posed:
Kara watches him and props her hands on her hips. "It was pretty reckless." She agrees and looks around. It seems people are starting to gather now that the fighting is done. She offers Lar a hand. "We should probably clear out-let the casino put those winnings on repairs here hmm?" She suggests and looks skyward before looking back at Lar. "Seems like a good time for another lesson about Earth."

Mon-El has posed:
    "I--didn't know he was..." Lar starts, then gestures toward all the damage. "you know." Another sigh, and he takes the hand to stand back up. "..."

    "I um..." he starts again. "I mean, thanks for helping me out. Even though this -was- kind of my fault. It was--it was funny, before I realized he could do -that-." Eyes light up a bit at the mention of giving the money to the casino. "Oh, of course! That's--that's a great idea. I was totally going to say that right before you were, yeah!" -Not really-. He hurries over to the owner, and after a quick conversation, he has handed the 3k over to them to pay for the repairs.

    Then comes the mention of another Earth lesson. "Oh, yeah. Right. Another lesson. That would be good, Ms. Zor-El."

Supergirl has posed:
Beaming, Kara grabs his hand. "Then come on-your highness! Before someone robs a bank and I have to get back to work." She says as she tows Lar into the sky. "So-" She looks down, conversational. "Using your abilities to cheat at cards. Doesn't sound like the Lar I talked to the other day. What's up?" She asks, bringing them to a height just under plane traffic. Her blue eyes fix on the man expectantly.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar lets Kara grab his hand and take him up above the clouds. When they arrive at the desired altitude, he comes up to her level, floating alongside her.

    A sigh escapes him again and he looks down at the clouds and bustling city below. "Well, I--um...I wasn't -planning- on cheating, I promise! I just...it kept showing involuntarily, and I-I--thought it was funny." A faint smirk comes through. He looks back up at her, shrugging. "I mean, seriously you should have seen their faces. And I figured, if any of them got mad enough to punch me I'd just let them and then they'd back off. I really...wasn't going to stay that long. I swear."

    Excuses, of course. But then the smirk fades and he stares back down below again. "Right, I know. It was still stupid."

Supergirl has posed:
"Well, it is technically cheating-which can get you arrested Lar." Kara looks at him with concern. "It gets sort of boring on Earth doesn't it? All this power and we only use it to fight." She observes and watches the city. The wind ruffles around her and she turns her face into it. "I think that's why so few heroes quit, it's probably all they can do to keep from exploding with energy."

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar nods. "Yeah...yeah it was cheating. I get it. I admit it. I just...I couldn't help myself." His eyes widened at the mention of actually getting arrested for it. "Grife, it's actually illegal to cheat at casino games here?" he shakes his head. "Didn't know that part."

    He listens to the bit about Earth being boring. "Well, no, it's not boring, far from boring it's just--" he sighs again, pausing for a moment. "Kara, remember what I told you before, about my life before the amnesia? Do you know who I was? If I read the Legion's logs right, I basically founded the United Planets, saved countless worlds from destruction, even saved the entire -universe- on multiple occasions. And now I'm just a spoiled prince from a planet full of elitists, because I don't remember any of it. It's like that was a -different- person. All the messes that follow me wherever I go is just proof it--proof that I'll never live up to that. But I guess it's done already, so maybe I deserve to just--" he shakes his head.

    "I don't know any more. I don't even know why I'm opening up to you so much. I practically just met you." he says, laughing at himself a bit.

Supergirl has posed:
"Oh?" Kara looks at Lar curiously. "I didn't. They've been trying to keep me out of the heroing game. Finally wore them down.' She smiles a bit and bumps Lar. "So you don't remember. That's ok. It's alot to live up to some one else's shadow, let alone your own." Kara's voice warm as she gives Lar a smile. "You'll get there-or you'll do something new-and that's ok too." She tells him before looking back down at the city with a breath. "Right. So-cheating at a casino-illegal, not stopping at red lights-illegal, um, oh! Crossing a road in the middle and not at a corner where there's a cross walk. That's j-walking, and also illegal. Humans have a lot of rules...come to think of it. Some cultures even have rules about meats you can and can't eat, and when." She shakes her head and lets out a breath.

Mon-El has posed:
    "But it's not -actually- living up to someone else's shadow," Lar starts to say. "It's actually living up to my own." The last part is almost perfectly in sync with her 'your own'. He sighs again. "Look, people keep saying that. 'You'll get there'. But I keep getting a whole lot of nowhere. I guess I just felt like giving up on it tonight."

    He frowns pensively at the description of various rules. "So, everyone always has to stop in front of red lights? For how long? Does laser vision count? Heh...not that Daxam didn't have a lot of rules. Which consisted mostly of variations of 'don't piss off the royal family or the Council, or anyone with political power'."

Supergirl has posed:
"Well, did you actually try tonight? Why don't you hang out with me tonight, it's my turn-Kal, Karen, and I sort of rotate since three Kryptonians is sort of over kill. Watch, pitch in if you like, but-don't worry about who or what you worry. Trust your instincts." Kara smiles, looking at him as the wind ruffles around them again. "I bet you'll even enjoy yourself a little."

Mon-El has posed:
    "..." Lar looks shocked yet elated at this offer. "I--really? After all the trouble I've caused you...? I-I...I was kind of waiting for you to tell me you needed to get back to patrolling, to be honest..."

    And, his face is totally red. No, it's definitely not exceptionally warm up here, not that it's even likely to affect him in that way even if it were.

Supergirl has posed:
"Why not? I like patrolling with a friend, and who knows? Maybe you'll like how we Krpytonians roll and you can use it with your group." She suggests cheerfully. She links her fingers behind her back and glances at the city thoughtfully. "Lets see...there's bound to be some sort of trouble soon." She murmurs and relaxes, sitting crosslegged in the sky.

Mon-El has posed:
    "I...well--well because I'm a nuisance? All I do is make messes and cause trouble?" Lar answers. He quiets down as she starts to concentrate and relax, and tries emulating her floating cross-legged position.

Supergirl has posed:
Listening again, Kara filters through all the city noise. "This is sort of my favorite bit really, just hearing people live normal lives. It

Supergirl has posed:
"It's almost like being home." She tells Lar and glances at him when he copies her with a smile. "I don't think you're a nuisance. And you won't make a mess with me along." She says brightly. It's a little while before she hears sirens, but then she's off like a shot, Lar in tow.

Mon-El has posed:
    Lar is just...shocked speechless at her reply. So he just follows her down as soon as the sirens are heard, although they are more in the back of his mind than anything else.