Four of a Kind (A.C.E.S. and open)

[The Ace of Diamonds]

The door guards padded him down nonetheless.

"Can't just take a man at his word anymore, I guess."

"Sorry. Rules are rules."

The man in the suit sighed.

"Yeah, I gotcha. No worries."

They had every bit of cause to search him. If this was anything less than a social call, he'd be packing more heat than a mandalorian death squad. Today, his tools were under lock and key, in the old convertible. It was a bit of understanding in life. Business and pleasure were separate entities in their own right. Its little details like this that you always had to remember. A true cold blooded killer was a man apart from his passions. It was a perverted sense of Bushido that the hired assassin practiced.

The guards finished their business, finding no weapons on the suited man. He smiled to them.

"You two have a nice day."

Making his way into the B&G, Costello Jones found a seat at a vacated table, and was quickly greeted by a serving droid.

"What will you be having?"

"Hamburger...er...do you have any red meat substitute? No bantha."

It was an unusual request.

"How about a synth-burger?"

"Is it cholestorol free?"

"I think so."

"That sounds great..."

Costello looked to the droid's chest, where a name tag was attached.

"...Fran. That, and an orange soda."

[The Ace of Clubs]

The guards were now looking over another patron, newly arrived. What was unusual was that unlike most normal customers, she seemed overly eager to be frisked. The small figure looked back over her shoulder as she stood with hands spread against the wall, “Thorough, boys.”

As they patted her frame she made little giggles in all the right places, and feigned a jut-lipped pout when they declared she was clear to go (apparently disappointed that a strip was not necessary). Still painstakingly bubbly, however, she slipped away to join Costello with a bounce in her step and an impish smile on her face.

“Two sodas, and Teltiar noodles. Please.”

[The Ace of Diamonds]

"Two sodas? You're gonna be one hell of a hyperactive liability, Miss Club."

Costello leaned back in his seat as she arrived, pulling a folded newspaper from his jacket as he did so.

[The Ace of Clubs]

“What can I say, Mr Diamond? I’m thirsty.”

An expression vaguely childish curiosity spread over Keke’s face as the newspaper was unfolded.

“What’s going on in the world today?”

[The Ace of Diamonds]

"Oh, the usual crap. Sex, murder, and mayhem, in living color."

Costello thumbed past the drudgery of planetary news, and galactic news. He paused in the sports section.

"Coruscant Sabers beat Corellia in smashball. Thats's great."

A major fan of smash-ball and a little-league coach on the side, it was a particular point of interest for the man known in certain circles as Mr. Diamond.

"If I was so inclined, I could make a mint betting on spreads. Too bad I'm not a gambler."

He looked across the table at Keke.

"How was school today?"

[The Ace of Clubs]

“I learnt how to bake fairy cakes. Next week we’re learning how to make sponge cakes. I’ll save you a piece, if you like.”

Sports weren’t much of an interest to Keke, at least not the sports that Mr. Diamond was interested in. She played volleyball and netball, but beyond that, everything got so uninteresting.

“I got detention,” she confessed,

“For not having my math’s assignment. Oh-! Oh and I got asked to go to the winter solstice dance! That’s months from now, but the smashball team captain wants to take me.”

Keke beamed with pride, but her shoulders seemed to sag as an afterthought struck her.

“You’d like him. He doesn’t talk about anything except smashball.”

[The Ace of Spades]

"Do I have to return the favour?" asked Jimmy Trefani, waiting for the guard to finish checking him over. Getting the all clear, he then proceeded to enter the bar, heading for the two faces he knew.

It had been a hard day. The cab he drove through the streets of Coruscant had broken down halfway through a fare, and he had to limp back to the garage without collecting. All this, and his head hurt. Reaching the table, Jimmy sat down next to Clubs and picked up the menu on the table. Leafing through it quickly he put his finger on a simple Bantha steak and turned it so the incoming serving droid didn't have to ask.

[The Ace of Diamonds]

Originally posted by The Ace of Clubs
“I got detention,” she confessed,

“For not having my math’s assignment."

"Oh hell's bells, you oughta know better than that."

Costello frowned.

"Y'know I don't pry into your business cause I respect you...but you've got to hit the books, Miss Club. Spend some alone time in my library if you have to. Besides, aren't girls your age supposed to play hard to get anyway? Pretty damn hard to get in a library, if you ask me."

Out of the corner of his eye, Costello saw a squirrely-looking character enter. He smiled.

"Well....looks like you managed to roll the jalopy on over in time. I do believe in miracles, Mr. Spade."

Costello made a face, and leaned forward a bit.

"You're more tight-fisted than a Neimoidian, Spade. I don't get you. You make enough cheddar off part-time work to do cabbie work in a star yacht, yet you still roll in that decrepit old cab."

[The Ace of Hearts]

Bambi was late.

Which was nothing new. She was always late - had a knack for it even. It was like the world just wasn't right if she were to be on time. The trio sitting already at the table were used to it, and dealt with the irritance of it in varying degrees, depending on their personalities.

But what Bambi Maddox lacked in punctuality, she made up for in "presence". The woman loved to make an "entrance", and did so anywhere and anytime she could. And again, tonight was no different.

Pulling the shining black speeder helmet from her head and tossoulling her untidy blonde mane dramatically, she demanded to know if the door-security man really thought she could hide a weapon of any description in her form-fitting bike leathers.

One of her three companions looked up in her direction, and just as quickly looked back down again. "Bambi's here" Not like he needed to tell anyone.

The security check satisfying that Hearts really didn't carry a concealed weapon, stepped aside and wished her a pleasant meal.

A quick wink from her good eye and a greedy smile, Maddox had already forgotten him as she strode towards her friends.

Spinning a chair on one of its legs, she twisted it around backwards and sat on it cowboy-style. Sticking her head right into the conversation and plonking her speeder helmet on the table with a "clunk" she looked at them in turn.

"Whats up, chumps?"

[The Ace of Clubs]

“We’re having dinner, and Mr Diamond is dealing out his usual advice.”

Club shifted to the side a little in her seat, glancing at Spade for a moment. Despite having worked with him for a long time, she was still a little anxious around him. Diamond was an amiable fatherly guy and Heart - well, Heart was heart, but Spade had never sat too well with her. He was creepy.

“How was your day, Miss Heart?” Keke asked politely.

[The Ace of Hearts]

"Hey, kicker" she smiled, using her own endearment to greet Keke. "My day wasn't so bad."

Bambi had used the nickname for Keke the first time she had seen the pettite school girl put "the boots" into some poor scum so hard and so repeatedly, the guy had near coughed up a lung.

"Serving cocktails in a bunny outfit isn't exactly my dream job, ya know. That I get to do on my off hours." A happy grin that took in her companions.

Bambi loved the rough life she lead - thrived on it. But the day-to-day needed some routine to it too, and was why she'd taken up her current profession of waitressing at an exclusive club. Plus it was a good place to hear things, see things, one normally wouldn't out in the everday-land.

"You giving those professors hell?"