"Because Kathy left?" Vicky prompted.
"Yeah, partly," Sylvia said.
Vicky had brought up Kathy's name specifically to get a reaction, and she carefully watched both women. Sylvia looked a bit relieved when the former member was brought up, but Robin's body language was an interesting mix of anxiety, paranoia, and a slight hint of wistfulness. Clearly Robin's relationships with Kathy had been far more complicated than simply despising a domineering woman.
After arriving at the house and organizing her chips for the intro game, Vicky just people-watched, gathering more info on everyone but carefully avoiding attracting Vincent's attention again. Soon enough the two freshman were introduced.
Noelle's sponsored addition was a girl named Lucy Hong, and as much as she cringed at herself for the thought, Vicky's immediate reaction was that anyone would be hard pressed to find someone who more perfectly fit the American stereotypical image of an Asian girl; she was shorter even than Noelle, had the thin eyes and flatter face associated with many people of southeast Asian descent, and probably barely weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. Her jet black hair was flat and straight, cut even with her chin all the way around. Her jeans fit tight enough to show that she had the skinny, smaller curves many people associated with Asian women as well. Unlike Noelle's somewhat aloof personality, however, Lucy seemed energetic and bubbly, and Vicky saw a bit of raw excitement in her expression.
Personality-wise, Zach's friend Evan Gartner couldn't be more different. He wasn't dour or miserable, but where Lucy was bubbly energy, Evan was relaxed calm, taking in his surroundings without seeming overwhelmed, excited, or bothered by any of it, but still maintaining a pleasant expression. It was possible he was high or had drunk enough to give himself a mild buzz, but Vicky thought it more likely that was simply his default outlook. Physically, he had a polo shirt and slacks on over a body that seemed well built enough, but there were some folds on his face and a little bit of extra paunch there that suggested Evan was relying on the glories of a late teenage metabolism and mild exercise to offset whatever diet he had. If his seemingly carefree attitude extended to sexuality, Vicky guessed Robin had nothing to worry about concerning his preferences.
"First hand in fifteen minutes," Cyn announced.
* * * * *
A few hands into the game Vicky realized neither of the new players were anyone she had to worry about from a poker front.
Lucy either knew very little about poker beyond what she'd picked up at some casual games or she was intentionally playing badly; she seemed to be trying to set some sort of record by losing enough chips in the intro game to give someone a full set of grass chips, even though that was legitimately impossible until more of her gold chips made it into circulation through trades. Still, she avoided simply giving her chips away constantly just because of the realities of poker; if you threw a lot of chips out for a bet, people had to put in just as many chips to keep playing. Even if you literally told them you had a garbage hand (which, based on Lucy's body language, she was doing a lot, at least from Vicky's perspective), it didn't help the other players if they
also
had garbage hands; if they called it was pure gambling rather than poker, and many people more conscientious about their chips weren't willing to risk it. Despite that, after seven hands Vicky was sure someone had a full stack of Lucy's blue chips, and nearly everyone at the table could probably lay claim to whatever oral skills she possessed. Around hand six she saw Cyn quietly step over and whisper to the girl. Her attitude mellowed a bit from then on and her bets weren't quite as carefree, but she was hardly reserved.
Evan was at least a more all-around contribution to the atmosphere. He seemed to play with at least an awareness of general strategy and the realities of poker, even if he wouldn't immediately be slotted into the top tier of players. He also exerted more effort to maintain a "poker face" during the games. Vicky was still able to read a lot from him if she focused, like with most other people, but at least he wasn't blatantly broadcasting his positions. That was only during hands, though; he let his guard drop considerably between play and would jovially engage anyone nearby in conversation.
Vicky maintained her conservative play during the intro game, which Evan had declared to be five-card draw. She only went in on hands where she had at least a three of a kind unless a few specific opponents had already folded. She folded several decent hands just because she saw Vincent, Robin, or Ammad put up money, and she declined the risk of calling with two pair of threes and fives even though she'd only have been playing against Charles, Amy, and Zach. Despite her ultra-reserved approach, by the end she had won enough of Lucy's chips that she could pay the sit-out cost of the night game solely with them.
But she also knew she needed to start actually participating in the spa, or she was going to be dismissed by the people here just like she had been in Veretrum as a whole. It was the announced last hand of the game and she'd pulled up a mostly nondescript hand, but she also had the benefit of being the "dealer" for that game and betting last. Amy, seated next to her, was in by virtue of being the big blind, though she was in 90% of the time regardless. Evan and Zach had both put in chips, as had Lucy and Charles. Everyone else had folded out, meaning the spread of players in the hand was fairly weak. Vicky's hand had three hearts in it, two of them face cards. She knew Charles and Zach, at least, wouldn't have put in chips without an actual hand to show for it, but if she didn't at least try to make a move now she'd have to wait until the following morning. She matched the bet with some of her canaries and called for two cards.
Chance or probability were on her side that night as she pulled two more hearts into her hand, giving her a full flush. Now came the more interesting part. With five card draw, unlike Texas hold'em, no cards were on the table while in play; you generally had no insight into what cards people had, so it was purely down to a read of the other players. Vicky smirked to herself.
Scanning across the table, Amy still had nothing, though she had no hesitation in placing her twenty-chip bet. Evan called her while Zach bowed out. Charles was right behind him, but Lucy also ponied up the money. A quick scan of the other girls remaining in the game told Vicky they had nothing; they weren't even looking at their own cards, they were paying attention to her and Evan, probably wondering who would end up with their chips. Evan, meanwhile, had something but it clearly wasn't a hand he was totally confident of. Given that, when the bet got around to Vicky, she raised it to 30. Amy called, of course, but Evan had to think about it. Vicky secretly hoped he did call; she hadn't managed to snag any of his chips that game and while she wasn't repulsed by the idea of trading in a favor with one of the girls, her preference would be Evan; he was as new to the spa as she was and his attitude was unlikely to cause her problems.
Evan did eventually call, followed predictably by Lucy. Vicky displayed her flush to a chagrined Evan, who laid down his lowly three of a kind. As she surmised, Lucy and Amy both had mere pairs to their name at the end of the hand. Vicky gladly raked in the winnings, which were easily a hundred total chips. She also noted with a smile that about thirty of them were chips with Evan's name on them.
After the game wrapped and she had a quick consultation with Cyn (where she ignored the subtle knowing look on her friend's face as she negotiated her chips into appropriate denominations) she went in search of the new player. Most people were gathered around the evening buffet in the kitchen and she found her quarry there, though she also had to brush of a suggestive and eager set of expressions from Lucy.
"Evan?" she asked.
"Hi," he said, his muted enthusiasm slightly betrayed by a hint of nervousness.
"If it's not too much for you right now, I have these," Vicky said, showing a hand full of red chips with Evan's name on them.
"Um, right," he said, as if he suddenly remembered what one of the main activities at the spa was, "I guess we should go somewhere?"
"Probably," Vicky agreed, letting a friendly smile out. She appreciated the nervousness; it may just have been performance anxiety on his part, or the sudden realization that the whole thing about chips and favors
wasn't
just talk, but Vicky allowed herself to think it was because he was nervous about being with a pretty girl.
Vicky led him to the solarium where she'd hung out the previous weekend, relieved to find no one there.
"Um, I'm not the best at going down; I haven't had a lot of one on one with girls," Evan began, but Vicky cut him off.
