“Night kids,” Ethan said before he bent down and gave Shade a kiss on the forehead.
“Night dad,” Shade and Ash answered, they’d long ago learned not to protest their 9oclock bedtime.
Ethan smiled as he closed the door with a light bump. It had been a month since he’d gotten out of Drek’s hellhole and if there was one thing that he’d missed the most it was being able to kiss his children good night. Well, Ethan reflected as he saw that the door to his wife’s office was cracked open a bit, maybe not the most missed thing.
He walked in to find Cassie where she almost always was. Sitting behind her desk, typing away at her keyboard and talking quietly with Yes Man as her eyes danced from monitor to monitor. She glanced up at him, immediately detecting the door being opened, and smiled before getting back to work. Ethan waved and let out a small sigh, it looked like he was on his own for the evening.
Again.
The man squashed the resentful thought and shook his head. Casandra was busy running the city... she didn’t have an unlimited amount of time to devote to him and the time she did was spent lovingly... but still, a man could get bored with nothing to do in a giant casino turned military stronghold.
Ethan let out a sigh and made his way over to one of the round poker tables that he’d brought up from the main floor and began to do what he’d become accustomed to do, namely, playing solitaire by himself for entertainment.
“Hit rock bottom in the terms of boredom I see,” a soothing female voice spoke across from him.
Ethan looked up in surprise to see a familiar bipedal red fox sitting in a chair across from him, casually shuffling a deck of Lucky 38 cards.
“Lucy!” Ethan exclaimed with a delighted grin. “I haven’t seen you in a month!”
“Indeed,” the vixen replied with a nod. “Not since my Knight saved you in that tournament you were stuck in.”
“Yep,” the man said with a shake of his head. “Thanks by the way, another second and my luck would have run out,” Ethan said, winking at her.
Lucy chuckled lightly in amusement. “Oh, I wouldn’t know about that; still, it was my pleasure to help you again.”
Ethan suddenly grinned. “Hey, didn’t I say that I owed you a kiss for all your help?” he asked her with a raised eyebrow. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Drawn back by my raw animal magnetism eh?” he asked her, chuckling lightly.
The vixen chuckled some more. “Not really, but I am here about that kiss,” she replied as her hand work on shuffling the cards in fancy ways. “You see, I’m willing to allow you to do that, if you can win a simple game of poker.”
The man looked at her for a second, and then burst out laughing. “Lucy, you’d creame me, blindfolded.”
“True,” Lucy replied with a small smile. “But I always play fair. No powers, no add of increasing my chance, or tampering the cards. Your probabilities of winning are just the same as mine.”
“Strangely, I don’t believe that,” the man said, holding up a hand to stop her protests. “Not that I’m calling you dishonest Lucy, but you’re literally Lady Luck, if nothing else you’re way better at the game than I am,” Ethan said with a small shrug. “So... I think the reward should be more than a kiss if I win.”
“Hmm... fair enough,” Lucy replied with a small nod of her head. “If you win, you may sleep with me.”
“Wow, really?” Ethan asked with a surprised look. “I was bluffing... but you already knew that... which means you want to.”
The vixen chuckled graciously. “I just give the proper reward for the proper game, Ethan. Like you said, the pot should have more meaning to it for player gambling for it.”
Ethan smiled and nodded his head. “Alright, you’re fine with Cassie joining if I win right? We’ve got a deal about this kind of stuff.”
“Only if she joins in the game,” Lucy answered.
“Hmm, be right back,” Ethan said, rising from his seat. “Don’t disappear on me, eh Lucy?”
“I won’t,” she assured him with a smile.
Ethan walked back down the hallway and entered into Cassandra’s office, as luck would have it, his wife was just finishing up her work.
“Oh, hello dear,” Cassie said with a smile as she walked up and gave the man a kiss. “Didn’t expect to see you up and about, thought you’d be busy ‘playing’ by yourself,” she added with a slightly amused smile.
“Well you know what they say, playing with yourself gets boring,” Ethan replied, chuckling at his own joke. “So... you remember that fox lady who controls luck I told you about?”
“Mhm,” Cassie mused with a nod. “Wh-” she began to asked before cutting herself off. “She’s right outside the door isn’t she,” the courier stated flatly.
“Mhm,” Ethan answered with a grin.
“And why is she here?” Cassandra inquired, raising an eyebrow.
“Well... I promised her a kiss... and that turned into a poker game... and that turned into a challenge to see if I can beat her and get some Divine sex,” Ethan explained. Cassandra looked at him for a long moment, then smiled and shook her head.
“Fine,” she said. “After all, our night with Twilight and Celestia was fun, I’m interested to see what a kind of fun a full Divine can get up too,” Cassie continued with a small grin. Ethan gave her a kiss, and they walked back to the table, seeing it was all set up for a game of poker for three players.
Lucy sat at one end of the table, shuffling a deck of cards as two other sets with a stack of poker chips waited for Ethan and Cassie. “So, ready to get the game started?” she asked the two.
“No introductions?” Cassandra asked her with a raised eyebrow.
“There is no need since we all know each other,” Lucy replied. “In a way of course.”
Cassandra smirked and sat down across from the vixen. “I suppose not, thanks for the help with Benny... and the Madre... and the Divide... and Vegas too,” the woman said.
“You’re welcome,” the vixen replied with small bow of her head. “Though to be honest, most of your own success was through your own set of skills.”
“Why thank you,” Cassandra said as she took up her cards. “Even breaking every casino from here to Primm?”
“Maybe,” Lucy replied slyly.
Ethan took his cards too. “Alright... let’s get this started.” The man glanced down at his cards, seeing at the moment he had a pair of queens.
“Agreed,” Cassandra said with a smile as she looked over her cards, she had three threes.
“So, the starting bid is five dollars,” Lucy said, picking up a blue chip and tossing it to the center. “Whoever wins the most money at the end, wins the game.”
Ethan and Cassandra both threw in five dollars worth of chips. “Can Ethan and I pool our money?” Cassandra inquired. “After all, we’re together in the prize so...”
“So, what do you think?” Lucy asked with a shrewd smile.
“I think the answer is yes,” Ethan replied, flashing her a sharp grin of his own.
“Mhm,” the vixen hummed out with a nod of her head. “So, how much do you want to bid?” she asked, turning to the man.
“Twenty five,” Ethan said with a slight shrug as he pulled out a couple of chips and put them in the center.
“Sounds about right to me,” Cassandra agreed, tossing out twenty five dollars worth of chips.
Lucy nodded her head and toss in the same amount of chips into the small pile. “Alright, which cards would you like to replace?” she asked as she pull out and discarded two cards before pulling two new ones from deck.
Ethan and Cassandra both did the same, with Cassandra only getting rid of two while Ethan did three. Cassandra’s face remained fixed with the same passive smile she’d worn the rest of the game even though neither of her cards didn’t help improve her hand. Ethan for his part just looked at his opponent furry, he’d gained another queen and an ace.
“I’ll bet... hmm... a hundred,” Ethan said as he threw down the chips. “So, how’ve you been Lucy?”
“I’ve been doing quite well, thank you,” the vixen replied with a small smile.
“So, what do you do?” Cassandra asked her curiously as she put in a hundred of her own, fairly confident in her hand. “If you don’t mind me asking of course.”
“No, I don’t,” Lucy replied as she added in her chips. “I simply go around the multiverse, helping the odds in whenever I can or if called in from another local Divine to help their ‘champions’.”
“That must keep you busy,” Cassandra mused as she and Ethan showed their cards.
“It can at times, but...” Lucy showed her hand, showing a straight. “I always have time to stop and play a game or two,” she said as she reached over and pulled the pile of chips towards her. Ethan would have sighed, but he hadn’t been expecting anything different.
“Well then thanks for stopping by and playing with us,” he told her with a smile. “Last I checked we weren’t your champions... nor are we anyone elses’ that I know of... so it means a lot.”
“You’re very welcome,” Lucy said as she gathered up all the cards and gave the deck to Cassie to shuffle which she did expertly without looking at the cards. “I enjoy playing cards games, and while the poker games with Omega and his friend as still enjoyable; having a wider variety of challenge keeps things interesting.”
“Makes sense,” Cassandra said as she dealt out the cards. “Also, I just thought of something.” She turned to Lucy who was looking at the woman with a raised eyebrow. “Well, we’re in Vegas, and we’re quite literally in my house, which also happens to be a casino... so shouldn’t I win?” she asked, giving Lucy a small coy smirk.
The vixen smiled illusively as a light chuckled rolled past her muzzle. “You’ll just have to play the game to find out,” she stated shrewdly.
Ethan smiled at the banter. “Man, I can’t wait to have you both all to myself,” he said, giving Lucy a playful smile. “Should be a fun night, especially with you getting along so well already.”
Cassie rolled her eyes slightly, but chuckled softly. “Yes, I’m looking forward to it as well,” she agreed before looking over at Lucy. “Just remember that I exist too.”
“Oh I will,” Lucy replied as she glanced down at her cards and tossed in the starting bid.
“And if she doesn’t, then you’ll always have me,” Ethan added with a smirk.
Cassie shot him a tender glance and then shook her head. “Yeah, I kind of doubt you’ll remember. Didn’t you say the same thing when we had that thing with Twilight and Celestia?” she asked him, throwing in the same bet.
“That was different,” the man said with a small shrug. “I blame hormones... bloody things were still singing in both of our heads,” he added. “Besides, Celestia took good care of you.” He also threw in the bet.
“I see the two of of you still have some ‘bugs’ to fix in having sex with more than yourselves,” Lucy commented as she study her hand a bit before throwing in fifteen dollars into the pot.
“Just little things,” Cassandra said, raising the bet a little. “We usually get them worked out by the next night, or we work them out,” she added, shrugging a little.
“Yeah,” Ethan agreed, keeping the bet the same. “We both know that we love each other more than anyone else in all the multiverse so we don’t worry about the bigger things.”
“That’s good to know,” Lucy said, tossing in the chips required to stay in. “So, why do you still participate with others then?” she asked, giving Cassandra three cards to be replaced.
"Because life’s too short to limit yourself like that,” Cassandra answered. “This is still the Wasteland and there’s still every chance that I could die every day of my life. I’d like to live the most I can while I’m able to.”
“That, and it’s more fun,” Ethan agreed, leaning over to kiss Cassandra. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Cassie dearly, but every once and a while we need to shake things up... and I’m not really into ‘toys’.”
“He’s a baby,” Cassandra mock whispered to Lucy as both she and Ethan replaced some of their cards.
Lucy chuckled lightly as she placed a thirty dollar bet. “Well then, hopefully I will be able to ‘spice’ things up.”
“I certainly hope so,” Ethan said, looking over her with an appreciative eye. “Your fur looks amazingly soft and silky...” he stated with a dreamy smile.
Cassandra raised an eyebrow at him, but couldn’t help a small chuckle. “He’s got me there, it really does,” she said, placing Lucy’s bet and raising it twenty.
“Well, I do my best to keep it soft and fluffy,” Lucy said with a small smile. as she placed in twenty chips with another ten. “I don’t even use magic to make it look like this,” she stated proudly.
“That’s all natural?” Ethan asked her with a raised eyebrow, Cassandra batted him on the back of the head gently. “I mean... Of course, I suspected as much!” he quickly corrected himself as he place the sixty chips and raised it another sixty.
Lucy raised an eyebrow, but she chuckled lightly. “It’s alright, I get that reaction a lot, even from other Divines,” she said as she placed the sixty. “I call.”
Cassandra shook her head and placed her bet, the same as Ethan’s. “Sorry, he’s kind of tactless sometimes,” she said causing Ethan to roll his eyes a little, but a light smile was on his face the whole time.
“I tend to notice that,” Lucy said as she show full house to the two. Both Ethan and Cassandra frown at the vixen’s hand and tossed their cards down since none of them had hands that could beat that.
Ethan shook his head as he saw the outcome and accepted the cards from Cassandra, beginning to shuffle, paying more attention to his actions then Cassandra had.
“Hey, I managed to have the entire galactic audience of Drek’s arena eating out of the palm of my hand, I wouldn’t say that I’m ‘tactless’ Cassie,” the man pointed out.
“You just insulted her hair,” Cassandra pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
“Fur,” Ethan protested.
“Same difference,” his wife replied, sticking up for her fellow woman. “And it’s the worst thing you can do.”
“I thought that the worst thing I could do was-” Ethan began with a smirk but he was cut off.
“Don’t you dare,” Cassandra interrupted him. “We vowed never to speak of that again!”
“Oh did we?” he asked with a small frown. “Hmm... what was it, it was on the tip of my tongue just a second ago...”
Lucy was giggling lightly at the two’s little ‘fight’ and shook her head. The pair looked up from each other’s faces and blushed.
“Well, now you know how we are when we’re together,” Ethan said with a small chuckle. “Think you can handle being stuck between us, Lucy?”
“Only one way to find out,” the vixen said with a sly smile. “So are you going to deal the deck or shuffle it forever?”
“What-oh,” Ethan said, looking down at the deck still in his hands, he facepalmed with his free hand and began to deal it out. “See what you do to me?” he added, looking at Cassandra.
“That’s not the best thing,” she replied with a soft purr.
“True,” the man agreed smiling before he looked down at the cards he’d given himself. “So, foxy lady, why aren’t you and Omega a thing? I’d think that being foxes and all...”
“Because Omega’s heart was drawn to another and he’s my Champion,” Lucy replied, placing in the starting bet.
“Ah, gotcha,” the man said as Cassie put in the starting bet. “How close are you and Fausty by the way?” he added, placing down a bet of his own.
“We are... good friends,” Lucy answered, for the first time of the day sounding a bit hesitant to replied.
“Why the hesitance?” Cassandra asked, picking up on it.
“We had a small... falling out between the two of us,” the vixen replied slowly.
“Oh... I’m sorry to hear that,” Ethan said with a compassionate smile. “I... hope you patched things up.”
“We have... it just took a lot of… a lot of time,” Lucy replied before shaking her head. “Anyways, now who has the first bet?” she asked, glancing down at her cards.
“Two hundred,” Ethan said, putting in two hundred chips.
“Right,” Lucy said, putting in the chips.
“I’ll raise,” Cassandra said, putting in another hundred chips, bringing the bets up to three hundred. Ethan and Lucy both called, and all three began to replace their unless cards.
Lucy looked at her new hand and surprisingly, she folded. Ethan grinned as he reached out and took the pot, Cassandra let him, seeing no point in stopping it if they were going to share the reward anyways.
“So... you mentioned champions, what are those?” Cassandra asked Lucy as the fox began to shuffle.
“They’re beings Divines choose to act as their force on the world they are watching over,” Lucy replied, her hands making quick work on shuffling the deck. “The Champions are the extension of the Divine’s powers on the world and normally have more range of freedom than they do.”
“How does that work?” Cassandra asked in confusion. “Wouldn’t the ‘Divine’ have more power than the Champion?”
“Yes, but like I said, Champions have more range of freedom to do deeds than Divine can do, if they are limited. Or even sometimes, add them,” Lucy said. “Like for me... my magic is not only limited on bringing luck to others, but can cause almost anything to happen. However, I myself cannot will it to happen, so Omega does with special deck of cards of his. I supply the power, he supplies the ability to use it.”
“Ah, that explains how he took down that big fucking dragon,” Ethan said with a small frown and turned to Cassie. “I swear, the Glare didn’t even scuff the thing’s paint.”
Cassandra let out a low whistle. “Damn... I think I need to upgrade my beauty... maybe the Brains can help,” she said with a small frown.
“Yes, that’s one explanation of Omega’s skills,” Lucy said, dealing out the cards.
Ethan looked down at his cards, as did Cassandra, a mix look crossed between the two.
“I fold,” Ethan said, setting down his awful cards, and so did Cassandra.
Lucy raised an eyebrow and looked down on her hand. “Oh... sorry, I guess my powers must’ve slipped in by accident,” she said. “Happens when I get... distracted,” she explained, gathering up the cards and handing them to Cassandra.
“It’s fine,” the man said. “I’m just glad that you let us win one hand.”
The vixen chuckled with small amusement. “I guess I did... well, that just means I will have to win my money back, fairly of course.”
“Or, because our money is counting as the same, we could just call the game here and declare ourselves the winners,” Cassandra pointed out with a small sly smile.
“Au contraire, the night is still young,” the fox pointed out. “And we’ve only been at this for twenty minutes, we need to play for at least for an hour.”
“I was joking anyways,” Cassandra replied with a smirk as they continued to play.
About half way through the game, they heard a noise behind them and Ethan turned back to see a drowzy looking Shade walk out of the room she shared with her brother. She paused for a second as she looked over the three and then walked into the kitchen, returning with a bottle of purified water.
“Hiya foxy lady,” she said tiredly in an offhand way before she walked back into the bedroom and shut the door behind her.
“Our daughter,” Ethan said with an amused shake of his head.
“Unphasable as ever,” Cassandra agreed.
“She’s soo cute,” Lucy commented with a smile. “She takes a lot from her mother.”
“That she does,” Cassandra agreed, smiling back at the vixen. “Though she has Ethan’s attitude.”
Lady Luck chuckled a bit before her eyes glanced downward, her mind apparently drifting off somewhere.
“You okay Lucy?” Ethan asked her in concern.
“Just... thinking of someone else who had the chance of a family like this but... she chose her path,” the fox replied before shaking her head. “Anywho, where were we?”
“We were up by four hundred dollars,” Ethan answered.
“Right,” she said looking down at her cards. “I answer your four hundred and raised it by another hundred,” she said, putting in almost all of her chips save for a single stack.
Ethan grinned. “Well, how about that,” he said, meeting the raise. “Think ya can beat my hand Lucy?”
“There’s only one way to see,” the fox with a challenging smile.
Ethan lay down his hand, revealing a full house. Lucy looked down at the cards and nodded approvingly, before she showed her four of a kind.
“Well, fuck me sideways,” the man said in an astonished tone. “Or... I guess don’t, in your case.”
Lucy chuckled in amusement as she slide the chips over to her side. “No, I guess not.”
“You always could if you wanted to,” he added with a small smile. “I won’t hold it against you if you go back on your word in this case.”
“Oh... then what kind of reputation would I make if I don’t hold all of my deals?” the fox asked slyly with a smile. “Beside, I do it now, there’s really no reason to have another game of poker.”
“I guess not,” Ethan said as he pushed the rest of his money over to her. “You win Lucy, it’s getting late anyways.”
“Okay then, same time next month?” Lucy asked as she got up.
“Sure,” Ethan said as he too got to his feet as did Cassie.
“Thanks for coming Lucy, this has been fun,” Cassandra said, pausing for a moment before she stepped forwards and gave the Divine a quick hug. “Wow, it’s just as soft as I thought it was,” she added as she stepped back. Then the woman blushed. “Sorry...”
Lucy only chuckled with a smile. “It’s okay, though now,” she glanced over at Ethan, “it would be a bit unfair if Ethan didn’t have a chance to feel it.”
The man grinned and stepped forward to embrace the foxy vixen, her soft fur brushing against his face. “Thanks,” he whispered in her ear.
Lucy nodded but then reached her head over and landed a single kiss on the man’s cheek. Ethan‘s eyebrows raised in surprise. “Think of it as an... incentive until our next game,” she whispered back to the man.
“I think I’ll do that,” he purred back before he let go of her and smiled at her as he pulled Cassandra to him and gave her a deep kiss on the lips. “And consider that as an incentive to let us win,” he told her, raising an eyebrow at the fox.
Lucy smiled alluringly. “I think I will,” she said before giving a small bow at the time. “Till next time,” she said before disappearing in a flash of light.
Ethan and Cassandra exchanged a glance.
“So, that was fun,” the man said with a smile.
“Indeed it was,” Cassandra agreed.
“Want to go to bed?” he asked her.
“If that means fuck your brains out, then yes,” she replied with a wicked smirk.
“God I love you.”