Boys Night [Male Faculty and Students only]

[Silver]

Frick stood outside the bar doors finishing his smoke. He had needed it. Organisation wasn't his strong point, and it was also to settle his nerves. he didn't know if anyone would actually turn up for this little male-only gathering.

The idea had struck him shortly after the bonfire. He had got to know Honey, but didn't really know any other of his peers, except Zack. And the male ones were especially difficult to get to know. So he thought a get together of only men, no girlfriends, no women around in an attempt to impress them or make conversation would be a great idea. Just what the doctor ordered.

And there was alcohol involved which hopefully only sweetened the deal further. Frick could handle his drink. He'd met and surpassed his threshold several times in his lifetime, and now could drink as much as he wanted and still walk straight. It was just his speech that suffered. Apparently, when drunk, he would start talking about anything he could think of, and it usually came out as utter rubbish. He would have to watch it tonight. Stick to what he knew he could handle, and as soon as the first slurrs started, switch to water of soft drinks. Which was boring, but necessary.

He somehow doubted turning up inembriated on the grounds would be a good example to the students - or at least the female student body. This get together wasn't faculty exclusive after all. Hopefully this would give everyone the oppertunity to get to know each other.

Sighing, Frick butted out his ciggerette on the walla dn kicked off from it, planting his hands in the pockets of his red jeans, he glanced around in time to see someone walking towards, waving. Frick rolled his eyes.

Casper would have had to have been the first guest to arrive. Frick liked Casper - in small doses. Too much of him and he started getting a headache. Especially with Casper's habit of jumping from one subject to the next without a breath in between. Still, he grinned and nodded at him once he was within good sight.

"Hey, glad I'm not going to be drinking alone." Frick grinned.

"No way!" Casper replied, jubilant. "Can't pass up the oppertunity to drink. No one else turned up yet, huh?"

"Nah. Not yet." Frick muttered and shook his head. He glanced at his watch, taking note it was only seven forty-five. He hadn't arranged to meet anyone until eight, and even then, people would probably turn up late. "Its early yet."

"All the more for us! Huh?" Nudging Frick, Casper pulled the door open. "What's your poison?"

"Double whiskey."

Casper arched a brow, "drinking to forget?" The lack of response from Frick made Casper continue, "double whiskey comin' up!"

He disappeared inside and Frick released a long breath. "Someone save me, please."

[Mookie]

A full moon rode high in the sky.

Raiden stalked down the street, his head held high and his eyes narrowed dangerously. Other men slunk aside as he passed, their gazes focused on the sidewalk and their heads lowered in something very like submission.
It caused him smirk.

Tonight he was out for some male bonding with the other faculty members at Kosaka High. It wasn’t the kind of night he’d normally plan for himself, after all he was a lone wolf, but he’d decided that he needed to make more of an effort to be more social.

And the reason behind his new attitude toward social gatherings - Anemone.
Despite the fact that he very much wanted to be spending time with her right now, (and he really, really wanted to be with her at the moment,) he desperately needed to get out more and do more. Meet people. Get some hobbies. Be more.. interesting.

The Hanyou bit back a grimace.

He had a horrible, and annoying as hell, feeling that he was a complete bore to Anemone - especially when in his ‘Other’ state of mind.
He didn’t do anything but work and work.. And work.
It was pathetic.
So Raiden decided that he needed a hard kick up his ass.
And if his ‘other’ self wasn’t going to make an effort then he’d do all of the work.

This gathering would be a good start.

Turning a corner, Raiden’s maroon eyes immediately landed on the tall warlock, towering besides the Bar’s doorway.

“Harris” He greeted the chemistry professor, slowing to a stop at his side.

[Silver]

Frick didn't like waiting. It always made him anxious. More so when he was waiting for something he had organised to kick off. Every time he glanced at his watch the hands had not moved, when to him it seemed like at least twenty minutes had ticksed by unnoticed. He was merely concerned. He wanting this evening to go well - fo the men of the school to get to know each other a bit, and for there to be other people around when he decided to get drunk-drunkidiy-drunk!

Somehow he doubted just having Casper around when that occoured would be helpful. Casper would probably drag him half way to the school and then get distracted by a firefly or something. And then go head first into the way of an on coming truck. For some reason that made Frick's lips quirk into a grin, and he allowed himself a small chuckle at the cheerful man's expense.

Hearing his name called, Frick flicked his second ciggerette onto the pavement and glanced in the direction of the voice. He was surprised and a little worried about who he saw coming towards him. He had invited Raiden, sure - out of curteousness. He didn't want to leave anyone out, and wanted everyone to have the oppertunity to come if they wanted. He never thought Raiden would take him up on his offer. Shrugging inwardly, Frick nodded a short greeting.

"Hey." Frick said as the silver haired man came to a stop beside him. "Glad you could make it. Casper's inside grabbing drinks. You might be able to catch him."

As Frick said this the door open and Casper sloped out. "One double whisky!" He said cheerfully, thrusting a cylinder at the Warlock. His eyes landed on Raiden. Frick could of sworn he saw Casper shrink a little. Sure Raiden was imposing, but he wasn't that scary. Geez - Casper was such a wuss.

"Hey Raiden!" Casper greeted, his momentary shrinkage disappearing. "I didn't expect you tou come here. Didn't really seem your kind of thing. Guess I was wrong." Casper took a long drink from his glass, which was a mixture of coloured liquids. A c0cktail of some description.

Frick rolled his eyes. The man even drunk wussy drinks.

"The barmaids hella nice. Really cute too!" Casper grinned, wiggling his eyebrows. "Gave me discount."

"Cause I booked the place out." Frick said. "I'm going inside, I've got some cards if you guys wanna play."

He left the other two men, and was swiftly joined by Casper, racing passed him like a small child and taking a seat on one of the large leather chairs.

Frick liked this bar. He found he liked most bars, but this one had a certain extra charm for it. Most of the seats were dark brown or burgandy leather, and the walls were an off white colour, though you couldn't really tell that in the low light. The ceiling was just big, wooden beams. It gave the place a certain ambience. It wasn't a young person's hang out, for one thing it didn't play fast paced music. Currently the speakers sent out soothing jazz sounds.

Taking a seat opposite Casper and slipping his drink onto the table top, Frick retrieved his pack of cards from his pocket and began to shuffle them.

[FuBar]

Felix Felicis:

After the fun at the bonfire party, I'd received an invite to socialize with Kosaka's male population at a pub... Well, where else would men choose to meet up without women?

As I padded along the moonlit paths toward the designated bar, I spotted a familiar figure ahead of me - Raiden. I also caught a brief glimpse of someone entering the establishment, and had the feeling Raiden would probably be following them in shortly, so I quickened my pace and called a greeting to him before he could start toward the door:

<Hey there Mr Raiden!> I hadn't been sure if it was his first or last name when introduced, so in the interests of politeness I'd added the 'Mr' prefix. I figured he'd correct me if it bothered him. <Nice to see you again. Have many arrived yet, do you know?>

By the time my last syllable was uttered, I was by his side. And when I say 'uttered', you'll forgive that I've not made any actual audible sound, it would all be in his head. - Even my padding paws made no noise as they contacted the dusty path.

[Mookie]

Raiden nodded his head as Frick spoke before he slowly turned his to see Casper jump through the door, drinks in hand. The Hanyou watched with bored eyes as Casper offered the drink to Frick before turning his gaze to him and shrinking back a little. The Hanyou half rolled his eyes.

“I’m full of surprises.” He added in between Casper’s sentences. He didn’t expect the Hanyou to be here. It didn’t surprise or bother him. He knew he wasn’t the most social of men.

He snorted lightly at Casper - the professor reminded Raiden of an over-active, hyper puppy as he wriggled his eyebrows. He didn’t comment as Frick spoke and then moved to enter the bar, Casper following his lead.

“This should be fun.” Raiden murmured through a quiet sigh, his maroon eyes flickering up to the full moon that sat high in the dark sky. The thought of ditching and tracking down the new object of his affections was heavily tempting - so much more fun could be had.

“Suck it up.” He grumbled to himself. He was being lazy about the whole idea of having drinks in the bar and he knew it. Shoving his hands into the front pockets of his dark jeans, Raiden had been about to enter the bar when a familiar voice intruded in on his thoughts.

Pausing, he sniffed at the air lightly and then automatically turned his head in the direction in which he sensed someone or something was approaching. A small cat trotted over to his side. He stared blankly at the animal for a moment, trying to recall the time he’d met the creature.

The memory of flames licking at the night air, flitted in his mind and he remembered.

“Drop the Mr. Kid.”

Opening the door, Raiden entered, expecting Phil to follow. He wondered vaguely if they’d actually let a cat into the establishment. He’d been about to make a wise-crack about that but bit back his tongue. Tonight was about male bonding and all that crap. He guessed rude jibes wouldn’t be.. Appreciated.

Frick and Casper were already sat down. Raiden approached their table, his eyes flittering about the bar as he did so, taking in the area. ‘Comfy.’ was the first word that came to mind.

Sliding into a seat besides Casper, the Hanyou was immediately approached by a barmaid. Probably the same one that Casper had labelled as ‘cute’ earlier.
She didn’t look in anyway special, Raiden noted as she smiled down at him, asking for his order. But then.. none of the females he saw did anything for him anymore.

“One coke.” He answered and turned his attention away when she smiled and winked.

“Sure thing, sweetness.” She’d smiled and looked around the other faces at the table, checking to see if they were satisfied with the drinks they had, and if they wanted another order. “You boys good?"

[Silver]

Casper was growing jitterier and more hyper every passing minute. Frick had a feeling he wasn't actually supposed to drink due to his little 'condition'. But what did it matter, Casper was a grown man, he could take care of himself. And Frick had always been interested to see what someone with ADHD was like when they were off their face. It was be interesting.

He continued shuffling the cards, waiting for Raiden to decide whether he wanted to stick around or not, when his flow was stopped by Casper.

"Why'd you invite Raiden? He's such a loner. Why'd he turn up? I mean, we're not his kind of crowd. What is his kind of crowd? I don't know? I mean, I don't think it would be us. I always see him hanging out with bikers or big hairy, guys, y'know - scary. The ones who look like they could crush your head with their hand. What do you think?" He stared, wide eyed at Frick, who had stopped listening half way through and had decided to stare at the wall.

"Casper," Frick sighed. Casper perked up, Frick imagined if he had ears, like Raiden's, they'd be perfect points right now, "chill out. Seriously. Its five past eight and you're acting like you've been sniffing coke all day. Breathe. Pace yourself, okay."

Casper nodded fervently and returned to his drink, slurping the remaining liquid of his drink through the his straw. As he did this, Raiden turned up at the table and slipped into a seat beside him. Casper shifted a bit, making some space and stared a bit doe-eyed at the waitress when she came over for his order.

Frick grinned to himself, the looked just screamed 'look at me, please love me'. It amused him to no end. Casper amused him to no end. He somehow could see Raiden and Casper lasting the night in each other's company. Either Casper would freak out completely, or Raiden would beat Casper to a pulp. Both were possible. And both could prove hugely amusing.

Casper's mouth dropped open a little when he saw the barmaid wink at Raiden. He hadn't been winked at. Just smiled at. It had to be the ears. It had to be. Casper entertained the thought of disappearing to the bathroom to try and arrange his hair in a similar fashion. Of course he couldn't grow ears like that, at least he didn't think he could... he could try. With genetic modifications he could-- his brain stopped when he realised the pretty barmaid was looking at him expectantly. His eyes had started to water as he'd not blinked.

"'Nother one of those please," he pointed to his empty glass and looked at the table sheepishly.

"One coke, and one Grasshopper coming right up." She nodded and went back to the bar, sashaying all the way.

Frick continued to shuffle his cards, "not drinking, Raiden?" He asked, trying to be casual - it was difficult when the man hardly spent any time with the other faculty members unless he had to, "you don't drink? Or planning on moving on else where later?" He grinned a little and paused his hand movements.

"So what do we want to play, poker? Blackjack? Cheat? I hope you all have money."

((OOC: Mhwaha... I love writing Casper. His brain is so random!))

[FuBar]

Felix Felicis:

I was apparently correct in assuming Raiden would correct me if he didn't like the 'Mr' added to his name; It turned out he indeed did not. Still, now I knew. I trotted after him unnoticed into the bar - Perhaps my black fur was camoflaging me in low light of the tavern, close as I was to the floor. When the barmaid offered drinks, I thought about replying... But then thought better of it. Instead I padded under the table occupied by Raiden and two others I'd only glimpsed before around Campus. I hopped up onto the bench-seat between Raiden and the whiskey-drinker - Anyone who drinks whiskey is ok in my book, moreso if they go for the single-malt scotch or the smooth Irish whisky. Unfortunately, though I liked the taste, I was too small to drink even a single measure worth of whiskey stretched over several hours without ending up unconscious somewhere. That would have to wait until I was able to take human form - I was looking forward to it.

I had thought ahead about what I'd do, drinks wise, when I got to this bar: I had my little black felt pouch around my neck again, and within it was my credit-card. - How did I manage to get a credit-card? Well, I received an invitation to take one out in the post and got mum to fill in the details in her human form. Nowhere on the form does it ask "Are you human?" so it's not my fault if they assume such. For occupation I put 'child-minder', again technically accurate. If it wasn't for the new chip'n'pin setup I could never use one, as I can't exactly hold a pen well enough to sign a signature and an ink pawprint is too cliche, but pressing buttons is relatively easy.

I turned on the seat to face the table and sat down, tucking my tail around my feet.
<Greetings, friends of Raiden!> I guessed at the 'friends' bit, again assuming someone would correct me if necessary. <It was nice to receive an invitation to join you tonight - Is it just the three of you, so far?> I asked, looking from one face to another to a third in turn. My thought-speech was only aimed at the three people sat at the table, so only they would 'hear' me unless there was a telepath elsewhere in the room, in which case they'd also 'hear' me.

I glanced at the items on the table and noticed the pack of playing-cards. Great. I couldn't play cards without getting help from someone with opposable thumbs. I'd just settle for watching the game instead. Perhaps a drink would be a good idea after all...

[Silver]

Casper almost leapt from his seat when he heard a new voice entering his head. It wasn't used to telepathic powers and his heightened state of hyperactivity made him jumpy and a little twitchy. He looked around frantically, trying to find who the voice belonged, glancing around the tarven trying to locate them. He ducked under the table and came face-to-face with a furry feline visage. It made perfect sense to Casper that the voice was from the cat. And his excitement went into overdrive.

"A talking cat! Ohmigod! A talking cat! I've always wanted a talking cat!" He blabbed continuously, leaving his seat to disappear under the table, until the felline decided to hop onto one of the bench seats. At which point Casper popped up above the table and leaned across to get a better look.

Frick wondered if he should keep a bucket of water near by to throw on Casper if he became a bit over the top. He doubted in this state he could control his body temperature enough to calm himself down. He wondered if being cold, or wet for that matter would help - still, the idea of a bucket stuck with him. Just in case.

Glancing at the black feline sitting on the bench, Frick half smiled, and decided not to comment about the 'friends of Raiden' part. Raiden would no doubt do that on his own. "No worries about the invite." Frick muttered, nodding and then shrugging while continuing to shuffle his cards. He didn't suppose there was muc you could say to a cat except: 'how're the hairballs'? so coughed awkwardly, "did you wanna play... I mean, I guess you can't play cards, but you can make sure these guys don't cheat."

"Are you thirsty?!" Capser prompted, staring merrily at the cat, beaming from ear-to-ear "I'll get you something to drink!" Casper didn't wait for an answer and instead of asking Raiden to move, decided to climb over the table, almost sending Frick's drink flying. As he disappeared to the bar, making goo-goo eyes at the barmaid as he went, Frick surpressed a grumble.

"Sorry about him... he's got the mentality of a five year old." He sighed, speaking mostly to Raiden, rubbing the space between his horns. "You hit him if he's getting on your nerves. He's probably too out of it to notice anyway."

[Mookie]

“I don’t drink.” Raiden answered simply. It was half true. He drank but something about his demon blood made him a total light weight when it came down to alcohol. One sip sent him over the edge. Charlize wasn’t the same, she had much higher tolerance for alcohol than he did. It didn’t phase him all that much. There was nothing great about drinking.

Though maybe being completely off his face would make this night more bearable. All he’d need was a mouthful of whatever it was Frick was drinking and he’d be gone. Except he was completely uncontrollable when drunk. He might end up pounding Casper into the ground - he was tempted now, he’d definitely do it if he were drunk. Beating other faculty members was not a good idea.

And then he’d probably proclaim his affections for Anemone and stomp off to find her. The thought both amused and terrified him. That wouldn’t go down well at all.

Raiden pressed his ears back against his head when Casper practically squealed with delight at Phil. He grimaced and offered the hyper-active male a bemused glare as he rambled on about the furry creature. He was practically lying on the table in order to get a better look at the feline.

The temptation to flick his forehead hard enough that he’d fall back into his seat and stay there was momentarily forgotten when Phil commented that these were Raiden’s friends. Casper sure as hell was not his friend. Frick neither. He had no friends.

“Acquaintances.” He corrected, biting back the rude comment he’d been about to make. ’Play nice Raiden.’ He reminded himself.


But then Casper was climbing across the table and Raiden was heavily tempted to break his ‘Play nice’ rule. He growled and closed his eyes for a brief moment. He imagined grabbing Casper by the scruff of his neck as he dived across the tables surface, shoving him back into his seat - threatening him to stay put. The thought caused him to smirk some.

“Tempting.” Raiden grumbled in response to Frick and opened his eyes, flickering them over to where he could see Casper fluttering his eyelashes at the barmaid. He rolled his eyes.

Digging his hand into the back pocket of his jeans, Raiden removed a wad of notes and counted a few out onto the table. “Poker.” He said, pocketing the rest of the money.

[FuBar]

Felix Felicis:

I jumped in alarm when a face loomed toward me. The unknown-man's enthusiastic voice was a little too loud for comfort, and I folded my ears back against my head to muffle it down to a more comfortable level.

When the over-enthusiastic man re-appeared above the table, the Whiskey drinker responded to my mention of the invitation, leading me to believe he was responsible for sending them out, and therefore was probably the person whose name was signed at the bottom of those invitations. Namely the Chemistry Professor; Frick Ilya Harris.

I think I'll call him Professor Harris, unless he corrects me...

The Whiskey drinker, whom I believed to be Prof. Harris, was just stumbling over inviting me to play cards, or at least keep an eye out for any cheating, when Mr Enthusiasm suddenly offered to get me a drink, then promptly dived over the table to get one without waiting for any answer from me regarding what, if anything, I'd actually like to drink right now.

I stared after him in bemusement, wondering what drink I might be presented with if he failed to return and ask me... Oh please don't let it be a pint of beer?!? Quite apart from the obvious size issue (Such a quantity would take a seriously long time for me to get through), I did not even like beers.

Another thought dawned on me with cliche'd horror: What if he returned with a saucer of milk?!? - I shuddered inwardly: I have nothing against milk of course, in fact it's my favourite drink, but all the same I would be highly embarrassed to drink milk out of a saucer in a pub surrounded by people I'm trying to have a conversation with... If only he'd actually ask...

Prof. Harris apologized for Mr Enthusiasm's behaviour, though I noticed he was mainly speaking to Raiden rather than to myself. Nevertheless, I chuckled slightly in their heads at his little joke about the guy's likelihood of noticing anything as meaningless as a little violence against his personage.

Again, Raiden corrected my assumption about these two people being his friends, though I could have guessed he wasn't friends with Mr Enthusiasm without any help - The two had nothing in common, and the looks Raiden was giving him spoke volumes. 'Acquaintences' he had called them, so I supposed they were... ALL Faculty?? Surely nobody expected that man to actually TEACH something, did they? - Well, I certainly looked forward to my first lesson with HIM anyway: It should at least be 'Interesting'...

Raiden growled at the man as he clambered over the table, momentarily startling me in the process - He had the features of a giant man-sized dog, after all, but then I reminded myself that this was a person with his own mind, not some mindless violent hound who might chase and eat a creature of my stature. That calmed me down again.

The card-game was decided to be Poker. I turned my head to Prof. Harris to answer his invitation to referree the game:

<I'll keep my eye out for any cheating, Sir. I take it you are the Professor who wrote the invites to this function? Professor Harris? I'm pleased to meet you, Sir. If you don't already know from the Acadamy's records or anywhere else, my name is Felix Felicis and I'm a new student at Kosaka. Can I ask... Who is that guy buying the drinks??> I kept my manner courtious throughout my introduction because I was now aware that these were all probably teachers and I was the only student here.

[Silver]

Frick bit back a small grin as Raiden only mentioned he and Casper were his aquaintences. It was true. Frick didn't know Raiden at all, Raiden didn't seem to take much interest in the faculty goings on and hardly ever turned up for meetings. For all Frick knew he didn't even teach his classes, just stayed ehre for the room and board and did nothing, except disappear.

He shrugged. What business what it of his what Raiden did or didn't do. He was an adult, so it wasn't like it made any difference to him. Still he had to grin, Raiden didn't seem to have a long fuse, Casper was going to drive him up the wall before the evening was out if he didn't calm himself down. Though that might not happen if the barmaid kept flirting with him and telepathic cats kept turning up.

The door to the bar open, and Frick glanced across. He noticed some older students entering and finding a booth of their own and they were quickly served by the pretty barmaid - making Casper appear put out. Frick place the shufffled cards face down in his hand and shouted.

"Hey, Casper - cards or not?"

"Cards?" Casper looked over for a minute and returned a few more seconds later, armed with a tumbler of water. "The pretty barmaid said the water would be good for the cat." Casper set it down in front of Felix, and then proceeded to clamber back into his seat.

He eyed the pile of notes Raiden had planted on the table and stared, wide-eyed at Frick. "What we playin'?"

"Poker." Frick sighed, and began to deal, himself, Raiden and Casper. "Two card bet, you fold you pay. Okay?" Without waiting for an answer he placed the stake of remaining cards in front of Felix, and took otu his own set of notes. He threw into the centre of the table a $20 bill. "Twenty bucks in, raise by as much as you want."

Casper joined in a moment later, throwing in a twenty too, and then quickly glancing at his cards. They couldn't really start until Raiden began.

"Felix here is our ref. So no cheating guys. And Felix," Frick looked at the feline with a small grin, "stop with all the 'sir' stuff, alright?"

----

((Right so here's how it goes.

Each player has five cards and has 2 goes to get as many of those cards changed as possible to get a good and possibly winning hand. Once those 2 rounds and the changes have taken place its time to throw your money in and raise the bet. You can fold when the amount gets to high, or you can call by throwin in equal amounts.

When you bet you can only meet and then raise it. So in this case you would meet $20 and maybe raise $10.

The hands that win are as follows: Pair, Two Pair, Three of a kind, four of a kind, Straight, Straight flush, Flush, Full House, Royal Flush.

This means:
Pair: one pair of the same cards
two pair: two pays same cards (same number. NOT same suit)
Three of a kind: three cards same number
Four of a kind: four cards same number:
Straight: Cards in sequence (so 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Straight Flush cards in squence all in the same suit
Flush: three low cards 2 high cards, in squence in the same suit (so, 2, 3, 4 of diamonds, 9 and 10 of diamonds)
Full house: Three high cards the same number, 2 low cards the same number
Royal Flush: 10, jack, queen, king, ace.
Royal House: 10, jack, queen, king, ace in the same suit.))