Kingdom Hearts (Xemnas/Xigbar/Xaldin/Luxord/Marluxia)
“Kings over Aces,” Luxord declared smoothly, broad sleeves whispering as he swept up the cards strewn across the polished table. “Xaldin wins.”
“Well played,” Xemnas murmured, amber eyes calm as Xaldin collected the winnings and added them to his already substantial pile of chips.
Xaldin shrugged. “Lucky last flop.”
“I didn’t think you believed in luck,” Marluxia commented with an unpleasant smile, manicured nails tapping absently on the table edge.
Xaldin returned the smile with interest. “Only in poker.”
“Lady Luck is certainly with you today then,” noted Luxord, dealing a new hand with quick, neat flicks of his wrist. “As you’ve done most of the winning thus far.”
“Indeed.” Marluxia tilted his head coyly towards the blond Nobody. “Although as far as I recall, you’re supposed to be the lucky one, Luxord.”
“Indeed,” Luxord purred back, slanting his eyes lazily around the table. “But that’s why I’m dealing in the first place, isn’t it darling?” A biting little smirk flicked across his face. “Unless you believe Lord Luck is playing favourites?”
An elegantly arched eyebrow. “Now really, Luxord, you can’t expect me to…”
A warning shudder rippled through the air, shifting the pull of the Darkness around them as its languid curls sharpened and pooled into a Gate at the far end of the room.
“Sorry I’m late,” Xigbar breezed, wisps of darkness twining thickly around his ankles as he strolled casually out of the Darkness. “But you know how it is.”
“You know,” Marluxia said thoughtfully. “I don’t think I do. Would you care to enlighten us?”
Xigbar ignored the comment entirely, taking his seat on Xemnas’ left. He shot a rakish grin at Luxord. “Deal me in?”
Another set of cards slid neatly across the table, stopping a scant inch from his scarred hands. Xigbar picked them up with a nod of thanks that Luxord gravely returned.
Luxord looked over at Xemnas. “You in?”
Xemnas glanced briefly at his hand. “Yes.”
“Cozy table tonight,” Xigbar observed as Xemnas placed a pair of chips tidily into the pot. “By invite only?”
“To a certain extent,” Xaldin answered from Xemnas’ right, tossing his own chips onto the pile. “Although some of the invitees appear to be otherwise engaged at present.”
Xigbar grinned. “I’ll take that to mean Zexion has locked himself in the lab again.” He flicked his own chips in absently as the ante came around the table. “And Lexaeus is ‘assisting’ him?”
Luxord dealt out the flop to start the betting. “Naturally.”
“Although, knowing Zexion, you can probably use the literal meaning of the word.” Marluxia raised the bid with a desultory wave. “He always takes his work far too seriously.”
Xemnas flicked an inscrutable glance over the tops of his cards. “Not necessarily a bad thing. I call.”
“Yeah, but there’s always room for taking things too far,” Xigbar argued, taking a considering look at his cards before matching the bet. “You’d think he’d have figured out by now that science can only do so much.”
Luxord shrugged elegantly, dealing out the next card. “Perhaps he finds it easier to trust in what he knows.”
Xigbar snorted. “He’s going to get himself in trouble,” he predicted. “Lexaeus too. Call.”
Marluxia matched the bet and Xigbar cursed creatively when the final flop came up a diamond nine. “Useless,” he declared in disgust, flinging his hand to the table. “Completely and utterly.”
Xaldin shot him an amused glance. “Well it is a nine,” he observed slyly. “You can’t really expect much.”
“Mmm,” Marluxia agreed, a smug little flicker in pale eyes. “Ours seems to do nothing but get in the way.”
“On the contrary,” Xemnas corrected, tilting his hand to show off a diamond flush. “If you know how to use them, even faceless cards can be of value.”
“Which, I presume, is why Demyx is busy getting lost in the Underworld right now?” asked Luxord, as clinical as if he was commenting on the results of the hand.
Xemnas shrugged. “Perhaps,” he granted, gathering up the pot as Luxord dealt a new hand.
“Well,” Xigbar observed pragmatically. “I’m just glad it’s not me.” He looked around the table as he picked up his cards. “Anyone have a clue where Vexen’s got to?”
Marluxia shrugged, sparing only the briefest glance at his cards before anteing up. “None whatsoever. He’s always been difficult to keep tabs on.”
“Oh?” Xaldin asked with affected surprise as he laid down his bet. “I wasn’t aware you’d been here long enough to know that.”
“Better late than never,” Marluxia shot back blandly. Sharp eyes flicked over the table with cautious malice. “I raise two hundred.”
Xigbar arched his eyebrow. “That’s an unusually brash move for you, Marluxia.”
“What can I say?” shrugged Marluxia, a pantomime of artful innocence. “I like to be unpredictable.”
“Funny,” Xigbar said. “Me too. Alright then boyo, I’ll meet your two hundred and raise another three.” The chips clunked down loudly on the table in the momentary silence following his words.
“Hmm,” Xemnas mused, examining his cards. “I believe I’ll excuse myself from this hand.”
Marluxia raised an eyebrow teasingly. “What? And leave us unsupervised?”
Xemnas’ expression couldn’t really be called a smile. “That’s probably when you have to worry the most.”
There was nothing even remotely soft in Marluxia’s face. “I’ll do my best to remember that, sir.”
Xigbar smirked at the exchange, then tilted his head archly at Xaldin. “What about you III? Backing out?”
The glare Xaldin threw at him could have flayed a man alive. “Hardly. I’ve seen what happens if you let loose cannons out from under your thumb. I call.”
“Saïx isn’t going to be happy to know you think he’s a loose cannon,” Xigbar admonished lightly.
Xaldin’s expression didn’t change. “Who said I was talking about Saïx?”
“Now boys.” The clinking of clay chips joining the pot distracted them from their staring contest. Marluxia smirked at them coyly from underneath his lashes as he withdrew his hand. “You really ought to play nicely - we’re all on the same team here after all.”
“Indeed,” Xemnas murmured, gold eyes not nearly as lazy as the rest of him.
Luxord made a considering sound as he looked at the table. “2300 in the pot,” he told them, hand lingering over the deck. He flicked a rakish grin towards Marluxia. “Let’s see how well your trust in volatile elements serves you, hmm?”
A flick of his hand and it was the Jack of Spades grinning up at them from the polished table. “Wrong one?” Luxord asked solicitously, grin widening at the suddenly tight set of Marluxia’s mouth. “That’s a real shame, darling. The Jack’s a tricky character - you ought to watch out for him.”
Xaldin made a sound that was not quite a sigh. “Indeed,” he observed, dropping his hand negligently. “That ability to throw the best of plans into confusion rather reminds me of our own resident wild card.”
“I dunno,” Xigbar said thoughtfully, spreading his own hand with a triumphant flourish. “That worked out pretty well for me - maybe he just doesn’t like you?”
Marluxia rolled his eyes. “Why do you insist on being nonsensical?” he demanded, flinging his losing cards down petulantly. “In case you’ve forgotten, neither the card nor our resident hothead have the capacity to ‘like’ anything.”
“Maybe not,” Xigbar shrugged. “But Axel’s getting pretty good at deceiving himself on that score - at least where the kid’s concerned.”
“A strange affectation,” agreed Xemnas. “Though it may prove useful to us in the end.”
Xaldin was still staring narrowly at Xigbar’s cards. “You called that on nothing whatsoever,” he accused.
Xigbar shrugged again. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“One of the joys of taking risks,” observed Luxord, reshuffling the cards. “Sometimes it actually pays off.” He flashed a shark’s smile. “Although I must admit that I prefer more calculated risks myself.”
“Which, again, is why you’re dealing.” Marluxia picked up his new hand with the air of someone who has something to prove. “Who’s in?”
They were about halfway through the hand when the Darkness pulsed again, Larxene striding out of a portal towards them with an attitude even more forbidding than usual.
“And the Queen of Hearts makes an appearance,” drawled Xaldin, staring pointedly at their new arrival rather than the unsmiling queen on the table.
Larxene sneered at him, then turned her attention to Xemnas. “Sir,” she said, almost blandly enough to hide the malicious non-concern in her voice. “We have a problem.”
“Do we now?” Xemnas gave his hand a considering glance. “I call.”
“XIII is missing,” Larxene said bluntly as the rest of the table cast their bets. “Axel went to look for him in the city but hasn’t come back yet.”
Luxord flipped the last flop, a club, and Xemnas sighed regretfully. “A bold attempt,” he said of his own cards, spreading them on the table to reveal a hand full of hearts. “But a royal flush is nothing at all without the Ace.” He stood and looked authoritatively around the table. “We’re done for today. Drag the rest of the Organization out and get to work bringing him back. Time to nip this little rebellion in the bud before it gets costly.”
The players nodded and gained their feet, departing with their winnings and leaving Luxord to gather up the cards dashed across the table.
“Well now,” he observed to the empty room. “This is quite the turn of events. I fear our Lord Superior is about to fall prey to the illusion of being the dealer.” Blue eyes glittered with private amusement as he flipped the next card on the deck to smile at the elusive Ace of Hearts. “After all, there’s a fine difference between holding all the cards and only thinking you do.”
~owari
“Well played,” Xemnas murmured, amber eyes calm as Xaldin collected the winnings and added them to his already substantial pile of chips.
Xaldin shrugged. “Lucky last flop.”
“I didn’t think you believed in luck,” Marluxia commented with an unpleasant smile, manicured nails tapping absently on the table edge.
Xaldin returned the smile with interest. “Only in poker.”
“Lady Luck is certainly with you today then,” noted Luxord, dealing a new hand with quick, neat flicks of his wrist. “As you’ve done most of the winning thus far.”
“Indeed.” Marluxia tilted his head coyly towards the blond Nobody. “Although as far as I recall, you’re supposed to be the lucky one, Luxord.”
“Indeed,” Luxord purred back, slanting his eyes lazily around the table. “But that’s why I’m dealing in the first place, isn’t it darling?” A biting little smirk flicked across his face. “Unless you believe Lord Luck is playing favourites?”
An elegantly arched eyebrow. “Now really, Luxord, you can’t expect me to…”
A warning shudder rippled through the air, shifting the pull of the Darkness around them as its languid curls sharpened and pooled into a Gate at the far end of the room.
“Sorry I’m late,” Xigbar breezed, wisps of darkness twining thickly around his ankles as he strolled casually out of the Darkness. “But you know how it is.”
“You know,” Marluxia said thoughtfully. “I don’t think I do. Would you care to enlighten us?”
Xigbar ignored the comment entirely, taking his seat on Xemnas’ left. He shot a rakish grin at Luxord. “Deal me in?”
Another set of cards slid neatly across the table, stopping a scant inch from his scarred hands. Xigbar picked them up with a nod of thanks that Luxord gravely returned.
Luxord looked over at Xemnas. “You in?”
Xemnas glanced briefly at his hand. “Yes.”
“Cozy table tonight,” Xigbar observed as Xemnas placed a pair of chips tidily into the pot. “By invite only?”
“To a certain extent,” Xaldin answered from Xemnas’ right, tossing his own chips onto the pile. “Although some of the invitees appear to be otherwise engaged at present.”
Xigbar grinned. “I’ll take that to mean Zexion has locked himself in the lab again.” He flicked his own chips in absently as the ante came around the table. “And Lexaeus is ‘assisting’ him?”
Luxord dealt out the flop to start the betting. “Naturally.”
“Although, knowing Zexion, you can probably use the literal meaning of the word.” Marluxia raised the bid with a desultory wave. “He always takes his work far too seriously.”
Xemnas flicked an inscrutable glance over the tops of his cards. “Not necessarily a bad thing. I call.”
“Yeah, but there’s always room for taking things too far,” Xigbar argued, taking a considering look at his cards before matching the bet. “You’d think he’d have figured out by now that science can only do so much.”
Luxord shrugged elegantly, dealing out the next card. “Perhaps he finds it easier to trust in what he knows.”
Xigbar snorted. “He’s going to get himself in trouble,” he predicted. “Lexaeus too. Call.”
Marluxia matched the bet and Xigbar cursed creatively when the final flop came up a diamond nine. “Useless,” he declared in disgust, flinging his hand to the table. “Completely and utterly.”
Xaldin shot him an amused glance. “Well it is a nine,” he observed slyly. “You can’t really expect much.”
“Mmm,” Marluxia agreed, a smug little flicker in pale eyes. “Ours seems to do nothing but get in the way.”
“On the contrary,” Xemnas corrected, tilting his hand to show off a diamond flush. “If you know how to use them, even faceless cards can be of value.”
“Which, I presume, is why Demyx is busy getting lost in the Underworld right now?” asked Luxord, as clinical as if he was commenting on the results of the hand.
Xemnas shrugged. “Perhaps,” he granted, gathering up the pot as Luxord dealt a new hand.
“Well,” Xigbar observed pragmatically. “I’m just glad it’s not me.” He looked around the table as he picked up his cards. “Anyone have a clue where Vexen’s got to?”
Marluxia shrugged, sparing only the briefest glance at his cards before anteing up. “None whatsoever. He’s always been difficult to keep tabs on.”
“Oh?” Xaldin asked with affected surprise as he laid down his bet. “I wasn’t aware you’d been here long enough to know that.”
“Better late than never,” Marluxia shot back blandly. Sharp eyes flicked over the table with cautious malice. “I raise two hundred.”
Xigbar arched his eyebrow. “That’s an unusually brash move for you, Marluxia.”
“What can I say?” shrugged Marluxia, a pantomime of artful innocence. “I like to be unpredictable.”
“Funny,” Xigbar said. “Me too. Alright then boyo, I’ll meet your two hundred and raise another three.” The chips clunked down loudly on the table in the momentary silence following his words.
“Hmm,” Xemnas mused, examining his cards. “I believe I’ll excuse myself from this hand.”
Marluxia raised an eyebrow teasingly. “What? And leave us unsupervised?”
Xemnas’ expression couldn’t really be called a smile. “That’s probably when you have to worry the most.”
There was nothing even remotely soft in Marluxia’s face. “I’ll do my best to remember that, sir.”
Xigbar smirked at the exchange, then tilted his head archly at Xaldin. “What about you III? Backing out?”
The glare Xaldin threw at him could have flayed a man alive. “Hardly. I’ve seen what happens if you let loose cannons out from under your thumb. I call.”
“Saïx isn’t going to be happy to know you think he’s a loose cannon,” Xigbar admonished lightly.
Xaldin’s expression didn’t change. “Who said I was talking about Saïx?”
“Now boys.” The clinking of clay chips joining the pot distracted them from their staring contest. Marluxia smirked at them coyly from underneath his lashes as he withdrew his hand. “You really ought to play nicely - we’re all on the same team here after all.”
“Indeed,” Xemnas murmured, gold eyes not nearly as lazy as the rest of him.
Luxord made a considering sound as he looked at the table. “2300 in the pot,” he told them, hand lingering over the deck. He flicked a rakish grin towards Marluxia. “Let’s see how well your trust in volatile elements serves you, hmm?”
A flick of his hand and it was the Jack of Spades grinning up at them from the polished table. “Wrong one?” Luxord asked solicitously, grin widening at the suddenly tight set of Marluxia’s mouth. “That’s a real shame, darling. The Jack’s a tricky character - you ought to watch out for him.”
Xaldin made a sound that was not quite a sigh. “Indeed,” he observed, dropping his hand negligently. “That ability to throw the best of plans into confusion rather reminds me of our own resident wild card.”
“I dunno,” Xigbar said thoughtfully, spreading his own hand with a triumphant flourish. “That worked out pretty well for me - maybe he just doesn’t like you?”
Marluxia rolled his eyes. “Why do you insist on being nonsensical?” he demanded, flinging his losing cards down petulantly. “In case you’ve forgotten, neither the card nor our resident hothead have the capacity to ‘like’ anything.”
“Maybe not,” Xigbar shrugged. “But Axel’s getting pretty good at deceiving himself on that score - at least where the kid’s concerned.”
“A strange affectation,” agreed Xemnas. “Though it may prove useful to us in the end.”
Xaldin was still staring narrowly at Xigbar’s cards. “You called that on nothing whatsoever,” he accused.
Xigbar shrugged again. “Yeah, pretty much.”
“One of the joys of taking risks,” observed Luxord, reshuffling the cards. “Sometimes it actually pays off.” He flashed a shark’s smile. “Although I must admit that I prefer more calculated risks myself.”
“Which, again, is why you’re dealing.” Marluxia picked up his new hand with the air of someone who has something to prove. “Who’s in?”
They were about halfway through the hand when the Darkness pulsed again, Larxene striding out of a portal towards them with an attitude even more forbidding than usual.
“And the Queen of Hearts makes an appearance,” drawled Xaldin, staring pointedly at their new arrival rather than the unsmiling queen on the table.
Larxene sneered at him, then turned her attention to Xemnas. “Sir,” she said, almost blandly enough to hide the malicious non-concern in her voice. “We have a problem.”
“Do we now?” Xemnas gave his hand a considering glance. “I call.”
“XIII is missing,” Larxene said bluntly as the rest of the table cast their bets. “Axel went to look for him in the city but hasn’t come back yet.”
Luxord flipped the last flop, a club, and Xemnas sighed regretfully. “A bold attempt,” he said of his own cards, spreading them on the table to reveal a hand full of hearts. “But a royal flush is nothing at all without the Ace.” He stood and looked authoritatively around the table. “We’re done for today. Drag the rest of the Organization out and get to work bringing him back. Time to nip this little rebellion in the bud before it gets costly.”
The players nodded and gained their feet, departing with their winnings and leaving Luxord to gather up the cards dashed across the table.
“Well now,” he observed to the empty room. “This is quite the turn of events. I fear our Lord Superior is about to fall prey to the illusion of being the dealer.” Blue eyes glittered with private amusement as he flipped the next card on the deck to smile at the elusive Ace of Hearts. “After all, there’s a fine difference between holding all the cards and only thinking you do.”
~owari