Nick Gautier felt an urge to be anywhere but in New Orleans. He'd even called Otto Carvaletti and asked him if he could come to Seattle to visit. Otto said that it was a bad time and offered Nick a chance to visit in a few weeks. Nick thanked the other man and declined. No, he needed to get out of town right now. It wasn't a bad feeling he had, just a strange urge. Besides, it's not like there was anything in town keeping him here. His mother was gone, he had no job and no commitments, and he certainly had enough money saved from being Kyrian's squire.
Making up his mind he booted up his computer and started looking for someplace fun to go. After about ten minutes of looking at pictures of hotels and attractions he'd booked himself a room and flight to Las Vegas. He'd never had a change to go there before so there seemed like no better time. And Vegas was definitely a town that he could forget his troubles in.
OoOoOo
Simi and Xirena appeared in Sin's hotel room and found he and Kat locked in a very compromising position much to Simi's disgust. After the couple had detangled themselves they all settled around the bar to discuss their plan of attack. Sin was very skeptical that the two female demons could be much of an asset but Kat reassured him several times that they were a lot more powerful than he imagined. As if to illustrate her point yet another demon appeared in the middle of the room and both of the girls bristled and crouched to attack before they determined that the newcomer was Xiovar in his human form and not a gallu or other threat.
"Great, now I've got three demons. We might last for five whole minutes." Sin groused.
Xiovar curled his lip in disgust, "If he is going to act like this, then let him get eaten."
Kat hadn't met this new Charonte and she questioned Simi quietly. Simi however, did not feel a need to be quiet and happily told Kat that Xiovar belonged to his akra. "And who would his akra be Sim?" Kat asked eyeing Xiovar warily, remembering what Apollymi had recently said of her own Charonte.
"I am bound to Phaedryn," he said with a bow to Kat. "You are the cursed god's daughter yes?"
Sin looked terribly confused by all of this and he tapped Kat on the shoulder looking for an explanation. "Yes Xiovar, I am Acheron's daughter. Sin, it's all right, Xiovar belongs to my step mother."
"Your what?" the surprise in his voice was nearly comical.
Kat rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm motioning for the Charontes to follow her, "Never mind, let's go kick some ass."
OoOoOo
Nick's plane landed in the middle of the afternoon and he was immediately assaulted by the massing crowds in the airport. Being an old pro at Mardi Gras, he shifted and moved with the crowd on the way to the baggage pick up. Once he'd retrieved his suitcase he shuffled off to the long line of people waiting for transport to the Strip. As he moved forward he studied the people around him, finding a great deal of amusement at the various types of characters he saw. He'd barely made it to the front of the line when he was shoved into a cab and whisked off towards the strip. He paid the driver at the lush drop off area of the Luxor and he worked his way into the lobby.
He was astounded by the massive stone archway and Egyptian themed statues in front of him, and he reveled in the sheer audacity of the hotel. A steady roar of noise came at him from ahead, obviously that was where the casino was located. He worked his way over to the front desk of the hotel and waited patiently for his turn, watching the people wander by and studying the sights of the hotel. He could see that there was a second floor open above the main entrance where there were restaurants and other places to spend the money you'd just won in the casino. What impressed him even more was that he could see all the way to the top of the hotel through the inside of the pyramid.
Eventually he got his room key and made his way towards the elevators, no, they were called 'inclinators' for some crazy reason. There was a line to get on one and he let a group of blue haired retired ladies with matching t-shirts get on one before him. Eventually he got into a car and was amused when it began going upwards at an angle. He had enough presence of mind to shift his weight to one side to keep from toppling over but the woman next to him didn't and she leaned sharply to her side nearly bowling him over.
"Oh! I'm so sorry." She smiled at him as she righted herself.
"No problem." Nick grinned back as he helped her lean back upright. A few seconds later the 'inclinator' stopped and let some other people off. Once more it lurched sideways and the young woman crashed into him again.
They both laughed as she righted herself again. "Three or four more stops and I'll get the hang of it."
Nick chuckled, "Yeah, but I'll be black and blue by then. Pretend you're surfing." She blinked at him and glanced down at his feet. "Okay, not a surfer. Put your weight on the foot that's downhill."
She shifted her weight and nodded at him, "Yup, that's the trick. Sorry I bruised you."
Nick shrugged and looked to see what floor they were near, "Not a problem, I've gotten a lot worse." He shot a quick glance at the young woman and saw that she was quite attractive, not painfully skinny like most women wanted to be, but rather natural and sensual. Her hair was a rich auburn color that picked up the light in the elevator and made it glow like a ruby. He ran his gaze appreciatively down her chest and saw a generous amount of cleavage under the ripped neckline of her t-shirt. Unfortunately that was the exact moment that she happened to catch him looking. He shot his gaze back up to her face and she actually blushed which delighted him. "Oh, sorry…" he sputtered. "I was just noticing your t-shirt."
She took the feeble excuse and turned to face him holding out the bottom hem of her shirt. "Like it?"
He nodded dumbly, "Yeah, but I have no idea what that means. Stiff kittens?"
Her laugh was musical and infectious, "Not a Blaqk Audio fan then huh?" When he didn't respond either way she elaborated. "It's a band. Stiff Kittens is their song."
"Oh, I see." Nick nodded and grinned. "No…no I don't see. What're they like?"
"Hmm, well…think like Depeche Mode with some punk added in."
"Interesting. I'll have to check them out sometime." He was still grinning dumbly at her when the elevator stopped and he realized it was his floor. Apparently it was her floor too because they both tried to squeeze out of the door at the same time. "Oh well, so much for my feeble attempt at not being a dork."
She stopped in her tracks and looked up at him with shock, "Not possible. You very obviously do not possess the dork gene."
They continued walking down the short hallway that the elevators were in and he rolled his eyes at her, "You may be surprised. It's a recessive gene after all and it hides well."
When they got to the main hallway the stopped again and she studied the signs indicating what rooms were where. "Well, I'm that way," she said pointing.
Nick glanced at the sign and smiled, "Seems we're in it for the long haul. So what brings you to Vegas?"
"Here for a wedding," she said without thinking. "Oh, not me. My friends are getting married here. What are you in town for?"
"Never been here, thought I'd give it a whirl." The walked along the long hallway that was open to the casino below and marveled at the sights in the hotel. There was a huge mock up of an obelisk and Egyptian city on top of the platform that was raised up over the casino and there were hundreds of people milling about. Nick stopped and leaned over the railing looking down at the lobby floor below and grinning, "Quite a view from up here."
The girl leaned over a little but didn't go much farther than where she stood on the inside of the walkway, "No thank you. Afraid of heights."
"Ah, good thing you're not staying in the Stratosphere then huh?"
"Yup, I planned ahead. Oh, this is me here. Well, you enjoy yourself."
Nick hesitated a moment and then thought better of it. If she didn't want to give him her name or any more information then she obviously wasn't interested in him so he just nodded and walked down the hallway to his own room.