The cheerful victory fanfare from Last Legend 7 blared from her cell phone, pulling Skye from a restless, haunted, stubborn slumber. There was no need to ask who was calling: that particular ring tone was reserved for only one person, and not answering meant getting a stream of messages and texts from an impatient Raccoon. Better to just get it over with, yeah?<br/><br/>Even if that meant taking a call at early o'clock when seriously fucking hung over. Just how much had she had to drink last night? Everything after the first couple of rounds at the poker table was a blur. A colorful, fruit-flavored, satisfaction-tinged blur. Although by the amount of sunlight flooding in past the curtains, it wasn't early o' anything.<br/><br/>"Good<em>morning</em>, sleeping beauty," came Dale's smooth contralto, touched as always with a deliberately flamboyant air. "Sorry to wake you, but I wanted to check in and make quite certain that you're doing okay after last night."<br/><br/>Ze laughed, low and slightly wicked.<br/><br/>"So, three things really quick. First, well done. You went off the plan, but it all worked out. Junior's pissed, but frankly he was born that way.  Second, I'm taking care of the other complication that came up, so don't worry. Third, let's do supper. How's Bendelli's sound?"<br/><br/>Plan? Casino? What? There was a card game, and she was supposed to lose. She remembered that much.<br/><br/>"Drink lots of water. Go easy on the kibble until you feel like you can keep it down. Now, before I let you go back to your misery, dear, do you need anything?"