“Another one, Jack!” Kaya shouted at the bartender who promptly gave her a scowl in return before fixing her drink. “For the fourth time tonight, my name’s not Jack, it’s Lewis,” he muttered under his breath, knowing it was pointless to even try and correct her at this point — she was already long gone. Swaying precariously on the barstool she was perched on, Kaya let out an impatient sigh as she watched the man mix rye, bitters, and some vermouth. Frankly, though, Kaya wouldn’t even have noticed if he omitted the last two ingredients, as long as she tasted the spicy bitterness that the whiskey brought with it then she’d be none the wiser.

From an outsider’s point of view, she looked like a woman who was really going through something, someone who had a problem in which its answer can only be found in the bottom of an empty glass. However, for the few people who had the (mis)fortune of truly knowing Kaya, they’d be well aware this was just another Friday night to her. Sure, maybe she had a few more cocktails than usual tonight, but it all ends the same way anyway — Kaya doing things she knew she'd regret and Hosico having to nurse her back to health then clean up her mess the day after. She was a professional businesswoman most days but Friday nights… Friday nights were when she had her fun; her little routine to keep her sane.

Squealing as Jack or Lewis or whatever set down a fresh Manhattan in front of her, she clapped her hands before picking it up and taking a big gulp. She had always found solace in getting plastered by herself because that way no one can stop her from making bad decisions, but she was in a particular mood tonight… was it a longing for company? Perhaps even loneliness? She can’t very well make her right-hand woman drink alcohol because she was a cat, and her left-hand man was too old that a single drink might kill him on the spot. Kaya surveyed the bar in hopes of finding a familiar face but to no avail, so she slumped in her seat as she swirled the drink in her hand absentmindedly, feeling her mood being put a damper on ever so slightly.

Runa Katte knew she was a long way off from being the kind of asset that Jack Mezzo and Nick Scarfo would really respect. She was useless in a fight, was barely pulling in much money compared to the big shots, and was still learning the ropes in many ways. Still, she had some skills; an ability to blend in, whether it was in the crowd or the shadows, went a long way. And tonight, she'd managed to look just like many of the other women at the bar to work on a new skill she was developing: the art of the pickpocket. 

One of Jack's bodyguards had helped introduce her to the basics, and tonight she was putting those skills to the test. She'd already gotten three wallets and a purse as she had visited the other bars in the area, but she'd saved this one for last. 

Grinning, she slid onto a stool and placed her purse on the bartop. Her brown jacket and slacks had been swapped out for a maroon dress that fell just below her knee. Growing up in a fishing village with just her dad, Runa could have counted on one hand the number of times she'd worn a dress in her life before coming to America, but the nineteen year old had upgraded her wardrobe accordingly to blend in.

With a flirtatious smile, she ordered a glass of pinot noir from a bartender whose nametag clearly identified him as Lewis. Sipping it, she glanced around the bar. 

There were a few interesting people: a couple women who looked like they might have had some money, some guys with suits cut more expensive than the rest, but most interesting to Runa was the woman who looked three sheets to the wind at the bar. 

Runa shifted next to the stranger, who seemed wealthier than anyone else in the joint. Run would keep her drinking, then pick her pocket when she wasn't looking. Easy as pie- especially for someone who'd grown up in a bar.

"Manhattan, huh? You'd probably like something I just tried out- called a Boulevardier. Ever heard of it?"

"A what?" Kaya asked as she scratched her head, perhaps a bit too loudly. A few heads turned towards the pair followed by a series of murmurs which she chose to ignore as she sized up the stranger in front of her. She was young and had a vibrant energy to her, but something about the other woman seemed... off. Nothing too bad or noticeable, just the occasional annoyed look flashing over her face and awkward shifting of her dress but hey, Kaya wasn't about to complain. The girl was a welcome distraction from the dark thoughts which were threatening to settle in so she decided to bite and make conversation. "Darling, I can't even pronounce that drink you just said but sure, I'd be willing to try it out as long as it's got alcohol in it."

"Jack, my dear, can you get us each one of those, uh, can you say that again?" Kaya asked her newfound drinking buddy before realizing she still had a drink in hand. "And you really must up your pace if you want to drink with me. As you may have noticed, you have a lot of catching up to do," she said with a humorless laugh, finding her situation a tad bit sad now that she really thought about it.

Shaking away yet another slew of terrible thoughts, she laid her cheek on her palm and looked at the other woman curiously. "I'm Kaya, by the way." She looked down at her crumpled black dress and stilettos which were abandoned on the floor as her bare feet swung over the edge of the stool and cleared her throat. "I may not look like it, but I promise I'm not a complete mess on regular days. Just unwinding tonight, is all."

"And how about you? Why are you alone on this exciting Friday night?" Kaya asked as she once again looked around the bar, finding herself a bit envious of the crowds and couples that littered the room. "Bunch of socially-dependent suckers..." Kaya murmured under her breath.

Runa shot the bartender a wink and walked around the bar; the flustered young man simply stepped out of her way.

"This is a tricky one, Lewis- just let me slide back here a minute and- why thank ya."

Runa took a couple glasses, then mixed the whiskey, sweet vermouth, and Campari. It was strong drink, but it went down smooth when it was balanced properly. She thanked the bartender, then returned to the other side of the bar where she placed the drinks in front of Kaya.

"Well, I'll have to work on picking up my pace, then." 

She raised her glass and clinked it against Kaya's, then took a sip. As she let the drink's flavor and kick hit her, she sighed contentedly, but her drinking companion didn't seem to be nearly as happy. 

"Nice to meet you, Kaya."

Why did that name sound familiar? She must have heard it somewhere.

"I'm Runa. Just out for a night on the town, ya know? Sounds like you're unwinding from a lot. What's up?"

She used that moment of concern to slide onto the stool next to Kaya and look around for the woman's purse or wallet.

Kaya took a sip of the drink set in front of her and nodded appreciatively -- even though her tastebuds were already absolutely singed by the copious amounts of alcohol she'd had tonight, she could still recognize a fine drink when she tasted one. "This is actually quite good, Runa," Kaya said, letting both the taste of the drink and the stranger's name play on her tongue. Peculiar name... was it Scandanavian? She sure had the looks to be from that area of the world, but other than that, the woman seemed to be a mystery.

Her nose involuntarily crinkled at the mention of what was bothering her. What wasn't? "Just a lot of busy weeks is all. Tough being a grownup. It's like all I did was blink and suddenly, I'm an old lady and all my friends are too mature for my dumbassery." Kaya said with a slight chuckle. While no one really knew how old she was, the fine lines starting to form around her eyes when she smiled usually gave away that she was well into her 30s. She took another sip of her drink before reaching into her clutch sat on the barstool next to her for her lipstick and a pocket mirror. She may be drunk, but she at least still had to make sure she looked presentable.

Putting her things away, she then looked back at Runa and smiled. "I can go on about not wasting your youth in dodgy bars as I did, but it seems it's a bit too late for that anyway. So what do you do for a living? Let me guess... bartender? Cocktail extraordinaire?" Kaya joked as she took another sip of the Boulevardier and rounding out her Manhattan while she was at it.

Runa grinned at @Kaya, who obviously enjoyed the drink she'd made. 

"Well, I can empathize with being too busy. I feel like I've barely had a moment to rest since I stepped foot in this country. But hey, if you need someone immature to spend some time with, I'm game."

Her eyes dropped to Kaya's clutch, then quickly returned to her drink. A few more drinks and her companion would be under the table- and Runa would be into her wallet.

"And you got me; I'm a bartender. I've been making drinks since before I could read."

She grinned, about to launch into a story when the two women were approached by a tall man in a dark blue suit, with a light blue dress shirt open to the throat. He had dark brown hair and a five o'clock shadow, and Kaya caught Runa eyeing the man's muscular build.

"Good evening, ladies. Perhaps one of you would be interested in a little game?"

Runa leaned against the bar and smiled, batting her eyelashes. "What sort of game?" she asked.

"Oh, a friendly game of dice," said the man. His voice practically purred. "My name's Chambers."

"Runa."

Before Kaya could react, Runa had jumped at the chance to play. The man produced a pair of sapphire dice from his pocket and let Runa inspect them and look them over.

The wagers started small, with Runa winning frequently in the early going. She continued to drink and increase the amount of her bets, and Kaya could only watch as the young woman hit a bad stretch and lost several big bets in a row. Then she dug into her wallet, including three other wallets, and bet everything she had. It was over in an instant, with Chambers wandering off in search of new prey and Runa staring, dumbstruck at the bar.

"Holy fuck. I lost everything."

The young woman seemed practically catatonic.

Kaya gulped as she stared at the way the light bounced off the pair of blue dice -- she had sworn off gambling for a few months after losing her life savings in one fell swoop... but here it was, seemingly following and taunting her wherever she went. Before she could even make a bad decision, Runa made one in her stead -- Kaya could only watch with her mouth agape as her newfound friend lost bet after bet after bet. One would think those dice might be rigged by the way Runa kept losing, but it seems she just had a stroke of bad luck as the next person who Chambers approached roared in laughter and cheers as they won big money.

Silently gesturing to the bartender for another round, Kaya awkwardly patted Runa's head and made sure not to have any pity on her face. She'd been in the other woman's position before and the thing she hated most about it was the look people gave her after she lost a lot. "Hey, don't worry about it. Just... er... just imagine you spent it all on alcohol and a fun night?" Kaya suggested even though she sounded quite unsure herself. "I can't say I haven't been there before, and I know it sucks but if it makes you feel better, we can rob Chambers blind and get back your money."

Kaya said it as a joke but soon started seriously considering it. "I mean... I'm sure we can do it -- you're a thief, after all, right?" Kaya slowly took a sip of her drink, unable to make eye contact with Runa, as she chose her next words carefully. "Why else would a woman like you have, what, four or five wallets in her purse? With pictures of someone who clearly isn't you inside, by the way."

Runa was knocked out of her stunned silence by Kaya speaking to her, dragging her back to reality.

"That would have been more alcohol than I could drink in a month... but you're right, I guess."

When Kaya mentioned robbing Chambers, Runa's eyes took on a predatory look.

The House always wins... but even though "Chambers" was a sort of synonym for "house"... well, maybe this would be a chance for a little revenge. 

She was so busy daydreaming that she had a delayed reaction to Kaya's comments. Runa's mouth opened as she planned on spinning a story that would fool Kaya... but it was at that moment that she put the pieces of the puzzle together. Her eyes widened.

"O shit. You're fuc- are you that Kaya? Bella Vista Kaya?"

Godmother Kaya? She dropped her voice.

"... I'm, uh, really glad I didn't make a play for your wallet. Sorry, I was just trying to practice my pick-"

Runa kept her voice low.

"Do you have an idea of how you'd want to hit Chambers? I'll defer to you here, of course."

With a blank look on her face, Kaya nodded and waved her hand in front of her face as she spoke. "Yes, yes, also known as Dice Degenerate Kaya and Manic Pixie UWU Girl Kaya. I assume you're not a bartender and are instead entangled in the busy underworld of Philadelphia?" A slight change in her demeanor could be noticed, as if a wall was going up. Kaya very much enjoyed being a nobody in a bar and having someone recognize her from the mafia made her not only trust Runa less but also made her feel as if she had to keep up appearances and meet expectations now. She never was the best at that.

Although she had half a mind to keep her distance from Runa, the prospect of robbing Chambers filled Kaya with a certain type of schadenfreude that was too strong to resist. "Well, a man like that only has one weakness..." Kaya purred softly, looking over at Chambers sly smile as he was conning someone new out of their cash. "Money. And even though I would love to add some brute force into the mix, seeing as we're in too public of a place at the moment, we'd probably need to rely on our sleight of hand for this one."

"Gonna be tricky seeing how tightly he's clutching onto that little bag full of cash of his but I've got an idea." Whipping around to see Chambers heading for the door, she called out to him in an exaggerated show of her drunkenness. "Hey Chambers, what's a girl gotta do to get a dice bet going around here?"

In between hiccups, she looked at Runa with a sly smile and winked as Chambers made his way over to them. However, she raised both her hands when he immediately started rolling the dice. "Woah woah woah! I don't even know how this game is played... is it similar to Monopoly that if I roll double sixes three times in a row, I go to jail?"

Chambers tried giving Kaya a quick briefer but she pouted and vigorously shook her head no. "Slower, please! I'm not understanding anything!" It took three more explanations before Chambers seemingly gave up and was packing his stuff -- that was when Kaya pulled out the big guns.

"Wait! If you don't let me play, how will I double all of this cash?" Pulling out a fat wad of money from her wallet, she smirked slightly as she saw Chambers' eyes widen at the sight. Clearing his throat, seemingly with a renewed sense of patience, he leaned against the bar -- virtually ignoring Runa's presence at this point -- before putting down his belongings to use both hands to explain to Kaya how dice worked. Hook line and sinker.

Runa's spine straightened immediately, like a trainee under inspection from a drill sergeant. 

"Yes, ma'm. I work with Mr. Jack Mezzo."

But Kaya seemed bored by the formality- or put off by it. Maybe it was worth the risk to be more informal? What was the worst that could happen? Well maybe getting shot, but Runa was willing to risk it. She knew people much better than she knew dice- and maybe Kaya needed a friend more than a subordinate. They weren't in the same crew, at least.

Runa's posture relaxed again, and she flashed a crooked grin at Kaya.

"Well... I'll make you a deal, Kaya. If you wanted to be here incognito, I won't mention it to anyone. We can just be a couple dice degenerates tonight, huh?"

As Kaya walked off, Runa trailed after her, hissing, "Wait! What the hell is an uwu?!"

But Kaya was already in action, so Runa just followed in her wake. Runa had used Kaya's distraction to move in the crowd around to the far side, between Chambers and the door. If Kaya managed to win, then great. But either way, Runa was in a great position to pick the man's pockets- and split her gains with Kaya. Runa moved closer, manipulating the crowd that had gathered around them to bump into Chambers regularly. Once he was used to getting bumped, her hand could find his wallet without him thinking twice about it.

A sly grin crept back up on Kaya's face as she met Runa's gaze. "I am always a dice degenerate, Runa. And also always more than happy to have someone be a degenerate with me." As she turned around, she let out a small sigh of relief -- no need to keep up pretenses anymore. God knows how hard that is -- even harder when she was inebriated.

As she turned to face Chambers with a determined look on her face, she could see Runa working her magic in the corner of her eye. The ruckus the two of them have caused garnered a small crowd of people around them -- which was good news for them. She could see Chambers get antsy because of the sheer number of people around them so Kaya then took his hand which contained the dice and brought it to her lips. "Just kissing it for good luck," she murmured with a wink, making Chambers blush ever-so-slightly and throw him off his game.

Chambers threw first. He rolled a 3, which elicited a grimace from him and a cheer from Kaya. Even though she wasn't really playing to win anything here as they've got their eye on a bigger pot, she still loved winning. Chambers then handed Kaya the dice with a huff and confidently, she blew on it before rolling it. There was no way she was losing. No. Way.

"What the hell?!" She shouted, watching as the two dice fell and showed a grand total of 2. Chambers roared with laughter and Kaya balled her hands into fists, demanding a rematch. She felt Runa's eyes bore into her, gesturing for Kaya to leave the table already and fight the urge to chase her losses. Sighing, she fished a few bills out of her wallet and shoved it into Chambers' hands, before quickly hopping off the stool and following Runa out of the bar.

After a few quick beats, she heard Chambers shouting from behind them. "Where's my wallet? Did you take it, punk?" Snickering as she turned around to find the man scrambling around the bar to find his wallet, she draped an arm over Runa's shoulder as she felt the cold night air hit her face -- they were home free, and they won big.