Costa
(#76606587)
"Poker? I barely even know her!"
Familiar
Ashmane Chimera
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Energy: 0/50
This dragon’s natural inborn element is Earth.
Male Obelisk
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Personal Style
Apparel
Skin
Scene
Measurements
Length
14.17 m
Wingspan
13.05 m
Weight
6306.74 kg
Genetics
Obsidian
Iridescent
Iridescent
Obsidian
Shimmer
Shimmer
Midnight
Spines
Spines
Hatchday
Breed
Eye Type
Level 13 Obelisk
EXP: 800 / 45676
STR
8
AGI
6
DEF
6
QCK
6
INT
5
VIT
8
MND
6
Biography
..........dialogue 1
..........dialogue 2
..........dialogue 3
| ....................Costa, the Dealer |
Archive
Story by Brandysilverfire
..........“Good evening!” Costa booms out into the lobby as he pushes open the doorway with a wing. The groans that rise from the dragons lazily draped around the room are good-natured and he chortles as he hangs his hat up on the stand. “How are all my favorite dragons?”
..........“If we’re your favorites, I hate to think how you treat your enemies,” Roxy says teasingly, brushing their tails together in greeting as he walks past. “You finessed over a hundred gems out of us with a smile on your face last fortnight and you have the audacity to show your ugly maw here again?”
..........Costa winks at him as he moves to fill in the check-in paperwork. “Rule number twenty-three,” He hears Yuno tell one of the newcomers behind mock-gravely, “Don’t play anything- and I mean anything- with Costa. Blackjack, poker, clawspinner, cards- you name it, he’ll win it.”
..........“Not even higher-or-lower,” Reggi says bitterly, scowling at Costa as he flies up to the second floor to stash the week’s earnings in his lobby chest. “That overgrown Bullephant will just wipe the floor with you and then use the favor you owe him to get you into even more trouble.”
..........Costa guffaws, flying back down and resting an arm on Reggi’s antlers, ignoring the glare being sent his way- the Imperial’s not going to let go of that grudge anytime soon, it seems. “Ah, Reggi! A favor’s a favor, my dragon. Besides, all I made you do was hold a notebook!”
..........“A diary,” Reggi hisses up at him, clawing at his hand. “Finch’s diary, that you stole, and she nearly had my hide for-”
..........Costa ruffles his head with a laugh. “Well, you have to learn how to fly faster then, don’t you, my lad?” He smoothly removes his hand away from the incoming teeth. “But regardless- today I am not here for a game with any of you!”
..........He projects his voice loud enough for other dragons to look at him with amusement and he grins at the audience. “No. Today, I’ll be challenging the sweetest, fiercest and most… beautiful dragon in this Lair,” The whole room is looking at him now, and Costa lets his grin grow wider as he looks towards the main desk. “Would you humble this poor Obelisk by playing a game of poker with him, my dear Clan Leader?”
..........Lana’s hands pause on the glass she had been cleaning, glowing cyan eyes flicking upwards to meet Costa’s cunning brown. The lobby is dead silent- holding its breath in shock and horror, wondering if they were going to witness the ex-gangster’s murder right there in the main lobby for actually daring to flirt with the Innkeeper.
..........“Your dear Innkeeper,” Lana corrects finally, setting down the glass and walking over to the table, towering over everyone even as she elegantly folds her legs under her and takes her place in the nest opposite Costa. Her eyes glint behind the mask as she tilts her head. “What are the rules?”
..........Costa smiles.
~
..........Within minutes, the entire Inn has emptied out into the front lobby- from the recluses to the busybodies, all the dragons inside the residence have come down to watch the showdown between the Innkeeper and the region’s best card-player. A table has been cleared in the middle of the room, the opponents on either side staring each other down as Finch deals the cards out.
..........Costa breaks out into a grin. “So Lana,” He says, enjoying how all the whispers immediately cease at the sound of his voice. “Have you reconsidered my offer?”
..........Lana’s eyes flick up to him, amused and knowing. He wonders if he can get her to show her pretty face later- they’ve both been so busy lately that he hasn’t seen her without her mask in years now. “I haven’t, no. Just like all the thousand other times you’ve come begging for my attention.”
..........Costa guffaws, picking up his cards. He scans it quickly- hm, that Fang card wouldn’t do- and then shakes out his mane, leaning forward. “Ah, begging is a strong word we use in different contexts, my dear,” He grins. He can hear several dragons choking on the drinks that have been handed out, and a very scandalized, Is he insane? The Innkeeper is going to hang his hide up on the front door.
..........Well, they’re about to be even more scandalized. He picks the card out of his mane and replaces the Fang with a Wing even as he laughs casually. “We can work that out at a different time, if that’s what you want- but right now, I’m inquiring about my courtship request, pretty.”
..........“COURTSHIP?” Liam yells, falling forward onto Lana to make her face him. The turquoise smoke from her rings obscures her cards at the movement and Costa looks down sharply- but he can’t prove anything without being able to see it. “This criminal is out here trying to court you?”
..........Yukro laughs from the front desk, drawing everyone’s eyes. Costa takes the distraction to switch out one of the cards from the deck with his own- painted flawlessly to match the Inn’s deck and charmed to only return to his hand.
..........“Oh, these two have been having their little battle of wits longer than most of you have been alive,” Yukro grins. Costa has to remember to take that dragon out to drinks sometime soon- the three of them together, like old times. “Card games are where they get the most competitive- just you wait until Lana starts flirting back.”
..........Lana shakes with silent laughter as wide-eyed dragons swirl back around to stare at her. “I won’t need to this time, I think,” She says amusedly. “Considering how badly Costa will be losing this round.”
..........Costa keeps his face blank as he glances down at the spread placed on the table. He had a Wing and a Furcula- the only way she would be so confident about it would be if-
..........Gasps ring around the room as Lana drops her two Hearts with a smirk, a one in a million chance. Costa’s mouth drops too as chaos breaks out around the room, money changing hands quickly.
..........He gathers himself as quickly as he can, narrowing his eyes at Lana. She stares back with the slightest of smiles, poker face as ironclad as ever.
..........“Well then,” He says evenly, tossing his own hand down. Friend or not, he still has a reputation to maintain here. “Let’s get serious then, shall we? I’ll be playing for a favor, as always.”
..........“Mm,” Lana hums, searching Costa’s face, “And I’ll be playing for… you staying home for a month. Teaching the newer kids how to play.”
..........For a moment, Costa pauses- he can hear the thread of sincerity and pleading hidden in her voice, her eyes flickering with sadness. She lets the wayward souls who’ve found their way here leave as soon as they’ve found their way back- but he knows that it still hurts her to watch someone she loved so well disappear, he knows they miss him when he’s gone. And Costa misses her too- her and Yukro and the Inn- when he’s out in the open sky, always watching his back for people wanting to take revenge.
..........“Fine by me, sweetheart,” He says with a genuine smile. “Let’s begin!”
..........Hours later, the whole room is saturated in silence, the whoosh of the cards as they fall the only sound in the room. Dragons are stretched out on the couches around, nests and pillows and blankets dragged from all corners of the room to the gametable, the smaller ones perching in the rafters and Imperials and Ridgebacks peering down from the second floor.
..........Yukro shakes his head with a smile as he finishes cleaning the last of the dishes Lana had taken upon herself to finish. The two of them were laughing in between their insults now- more at ease than Yukro had seen them in ages. They really should make more time for each other.
..........“Are you going to join the rest of us?” Canary asks as she walks past, quiet so as to not disturb the game. “It would be fun.”
..........“No,” Yukro says, watching Lana slip a card into the deck and Costa draw it instead, both of them frowning in frustration. He grins, “I’ve got the best view of the game from right here.”
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Exalting Costa to the service of the Arcanist will remove them from your lair forever. They will leave behind a small sum of riches that they have accumulated. This action is irreversible.
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