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[Santo - Resorts and Casinos]
[master post]
This is what Santo is known for.
The resorts are huge complexes, with the expected divisions and outlying areas: pools, rooms, a spa, theaters, courses for games (golf is still around, but it's not quite like it used to be), and others.
Those others include casinos.
Some are nicer than others. Some are glitzier than others. Some are more dangerous than others. None have an interest in letting any guests make any real money.
Still, they're worth a visit, if you're into that sort of thing.
This is what Santo is known for.
The resorts are huge complexes, with the expected divisions and outlying areas: pools, rooms, a spa, theaters, courses for games (golf is still around, but it's not quite like it used to be), and others.
Those others include casinos.
Some are nicer than others. Some are glitzier than others. Some are more dangerous than others. None have an interest in letting any guests make any real money.
Still, they're worth a visit, if you're into that sort of thing.
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"If that's your ball and chain, of course. Most folk just come here to blow off steam, spare parts and coin."
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She studied the places entrances.
"If my winnings aren't Earthen can I trade them in?"
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Toyed with it against her lips.
"Do you play?"
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Jo smiled wryly.
"It being another planet an' all."
She waved the cotton candy near her chest.
Her expression has shifted to pouting and confused.
But her eyes were wide and laughing.
"I am certain someone would help, little old, me to understand the rules."
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"You're goin' to be a troublemaker, and I'm stating right here and now I do not pay bail."
Nor does he look entirely unamused by the concept.
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It was follow by a sniff sound.
Then a wolfish grin.
"Don't worry your pretty little head about that, Mon Capitán."
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He's fairly convincing, even with Jo throwing Feminine Wiles at him.
"You're here 'cause I been told you weren't unmanagable amounts of trouble. Play nice.
"'Sides, what games you trying to learn, anyhow?"
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Better than the others that could.
"Something fast. And fun. They do still have card games in them, right?"
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"Same world as Dean and Sam."
She was still looking at the casino.
"How different?"
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No point in her going into the casino looking younger than she already does.
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The pink fluff was vanished into Jo's mouth.
The conquering would have made young children proud.
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"Alright, let's go in."
It's a little like the cutting-room floor of 'Blade Runner' meets the class and advanced architecture of 'Legends of the Hidden Temple'.
Mal doesn't gamble on Santo very often.
"Okay -- pick a game you recognize the most, and I'll try to tell you best as can how it might be different."
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"People still play poker? Or a derivation from it?
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"Fruit?"
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"Apples and the like?"
Mal's looking curious, more than confused. Maybe there's actually a rendition of Earth-that-Was where fruit was just as scarce as it is now.
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The image of Mal playing Memory might be behind her impish smile.
"We've got kid's card games with fruit back home."
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"This ain't a kids' game. Okay; here's a good table."
Good table, here, is describing a circular regulation poker table, with purple, white, and red hexagonal chips. The deck of cards is circular, and there appears to be something reminiscent of a Texas Hold-Em spread in the middle of the table itself.
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"Is different," she commented.
Then.
"Which bid amount goes to which color?"
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"Don't. Deal in. Yet."
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Taking a chair, she was looking over the people.
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That also seems to stop when Mal returns at Jo's side with a modest tray of chips.
"You owe me fifty credits in the bar if you tank this," Mal whispers. "I can't sit here with you, but go for it."
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"I can find you once I've given this all a go," she said easily.
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"Fine," Mal offers magnanimously. "Have fun."
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She had lost all fifty credits worth of his chips.
Then forty-eight credits worth of her own money.
Then twenty-four of the thirty credits of guy who staked her, miraculously, from her left side (who was either amused at her spectacularly obstinate tenacity in the face of epic failure or her fanning her chest with her cards) before she won a hand.
She didn't manage to card shark a table. It wouldn't be possible that day.
Or any other day remotely near it. That would take time and a Milliways deck.
The game went slow and steady, fast and heated, and she learned player tics even faster.
She managed to win back Mal's amount.
Then half of her own.
By this time, growing bored with the table and slightly worried about her possibly outstanding debt to her staker (whose debt still wasn't as important compared to the captain who controlled her ride home), she had joked to Uriel (her staker) that she could either continue playing to pay him back or he could have her company for dinner.
He took her up on the latter.
Dinner was a strange assortment of dishes which looked almost familiar and dishes that didn't look edible. Jo didn't let either show, just went for it after telling him it was her first time on Santo.
He was an entrepreneur from Persephone, who did something with knocking down and renovating houses. That part hadn’t been all that interesting. Even if she’d nodded and smiled a lot.
He was the kind of guy who laughed a bit too loud, drank a bit too much, wore just a tad too much in the way of ostentatious accessories.
He mentioned a name enough time she pegged it for a girl friend, and asked bluntly. It gave him cause to sweat until she pointed out she really could care less. Apparently she was pretty and they got on well, but she wasn’t vacation material.
Jo managed to escape after one very sloppy kiss and having her shoulder grubbily manhandled.
After reminding him she had said her ship was leaving not to long after the meal. Three times.
Five hours later, from when Mal left her, found Jo strolling out of the seedy casino.
Credits in her pockets after the chips had been switched out.
Grinning quietly and pulling down sunglasses she hadn't previously had.
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Mal'd stopped by the casino once an hour -- most of the guests from Milliways had been given a comm radio in dire emergencies, so he didn't feel the need to stick around.
He holds out his hand, first. Time to pay up. Reactions later.
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She cocked her head, slightly, before taking a step right.
(Mal's height versus Jo's just managed to block Uriel's retreating form.)
"I'm going to need more practice. Does anyone play in Milliways?"
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Mal leans inward, almost conspiratorially.
"I don't get faint over pretty lil' blonde girls."
With a tone that distinctly implies both amusement at the situation and the sizable hypocrisy of the comment. At least, hypocrisy at one point in his life.
"'Sides, I don't gamble to take other people's money."
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"What do you gamble to take then?"
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Mal extends his right arm, crooked, to Jo.
"Ready to head back?"
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Her lips curled at the edges, then she looked back with a nod slipping her arm into his.
"Yeah. I'm good for that."