If Nathan were to have his way that night he and his relatives would be spending some quality time in the luxurious Arabian Nights room at Signature, that is, playing wizard's poker on a flying rug--he was sure it would make Adon proud. As it were, his dear brother curbed any sense of fun he could have and got a normal luxurioius VIP room to play cards in, but Nathan assumed that was big brothers were for: telling him no.

"What'll you wager, Kurby?" the younger Whitman brother said as he dragged his friend to the card game, "Money, drinks, or--" Nathan put a heavy hand on his scruffy companion's shoulder as he narrowed his gaze onto a very curious woman at the bar, "a flirtatious encounter with that Veela over there giving you the eye, hmm?"

Kurby hadn't been particularly social lately, but Nathan thought it would be a good idea to take him out and try and tempt him into a good mood with his usual hobbies, or just play poker if he couldn't manage any of the former, "Nothing like a good gamble, yeah?" he jested with a wide boyish smile.

Oscar Whitman stepped up to his brother and cousin, just in time to overhear Nathan's comments. Or enticements. Oz smirked. "He'll wager nothing with that sad excuse for a paycheck of his." His comment was mostly in jest, because they all worked for the Ministry in some way and thus in all likelihood, were paid similarly. But Oz still liked to think that his position on the Wizengamot held the most prestige.

Prestige aside, Oz carried three tumblers full of their favorite drinks to toast. Though the Whitman brood didn't always see eye-to-eye on everything, once they were sufficiently intoxicated, anything in life seemed to get better.

Sipping his own drink, Oz declared, "It's a good thing we're all single. Imagine if we had wives and children tying us down?" Indirectly, Oz was referencing another of their cousins, Joshua Whitman, who fit both descriptors and rarely came out any more, despite being in their age group. Oz clapped his brother on the shoulder. "And to think baby brother here was on the same route not too long ago...." Oz made a sweeping motion with his hand and joked, "Just keep saying to yourself, Nate....'Free at last! Free at last!"

The werewolf hunter eyed his older cousin with considerable dislike as he grabbed a chair.  No one could say that they got along fine with Oscar Whitman; the Whitman branch of their extended family was sometimes hard to tolerate, although the fact that he wasn't Alberic Grimm gave Oz quite a few points by default.  But if the night was going to turn into another one of Oz's sermons on the failings of marriage, then his cousin had damned well be planning on buying him more than one drink. 

"Yeah, because that's what I'm here to talk about," he grumbled, immediately grabbing for the beer.  Although he wouldn't admit it out loud, he was still sore about the failure of Nate's relationship.  He had liked Myrni.

The veela-like woman at the bar was definitely eyeing them.  Kurby eyed her in return, and then very pointedly turned his attention back toward his beer.  Tonight wasn't about what came next; it was about getting as physically intoxicated as he possibly could, and then dealing with the next day in the morning.

"Whitman.  Get the cards out and deal."  The instructions to Nathaniel came out like a barked order.  Kurby grunted, eyeing Oz across the table.  "Otherwise we'll have to listen to him prattlin' on all night," he said sourly.  "Don't you ever have anything else to talk about, Oz?"

If Nathan had a tail, he'd most certainly be adjusting his jaw and avoiding any painful tooth-grinding that Oz's comment had provoked. Luckily, Kurby was there, and handled the situation with enough of his usual grumpiness that Nathan felt justified enough to hold back any negative comments and managed a halfway-happy response.

"Yes, let's not bother. I haven't yet gotten to my proper mourning and withdrawal stage to arrive at the whole 'winning-her-back' fiasco that tires me out to have such an elderly view on relationships."

Nathan felt it was much better to pick on Oz's age rather than draw too much attention to his distaste towards relationships, resulting from a failed marriage with Aileen. Nathan knew better than to think that Oz wouldn't try it again if Aileen wanted him again, if only either had any inkling as to what it meant to be wrong.

The younger Whitman whipped out a deck of cards as Kurby turned to heckling Oz, and as long as it made his cousin feel better, Nathan didn't care if he did it the rest of the night. Oscar would survive, his little brother was sure of that.

"Oh of course he does," Nathan chirped happily as he rolled and bent the cards into a mixed deck, "tonight he can tell us all about the horrible hands we deal him," Nathan smiled cheekily, before curiously adding, "Or the pretty one he's been keeping in his back pocket lately." Suddenly the younger brother forcefully closed his eyes, like a moronic seer, before popping his bright eyes open and slyly narrowing them at Oscar, "Blonde, I wager?"

Whether or not his brother actually had any female-interest in his life was not something Nathan was particularly aware of, but he knew that if Oscar had found a girl recently, then more often than not, she was probably blonde.

Oz clapped Kurby on the shoulder before settling into his seat and smirked as his cousin oogled the veela woman. If he wanted to be a slave to said woman's charms, then who was he to stand in the way?

"Anything else to talk about? Well, yeah, of course I do," Oz responded to the irritable Kurby. "But I didn't know the two of you were interested in politics or wanted to talk about work." He paused and flipped his eyes to Nathan for a second. "But...if you don't wish to talk about women and relationships tonight, that's fine by me."

Oz sipped at hsi drink and eagerly watched his brother's reaction to his previous comments. Oh the joys of being an older brother and knowing just what to say to annoy your sibling. Oz bit his tongue when Nathan mentioned possibly winning Myrni back. The purist in Oz wanted to hurl at the thought of his brother doing such a thing.

At the mention of his age, Oz flinched and sent a scowl in his brother's direction. "I'm still plenty young and dashing," he protested lightly. "I could certainly be married again if I wanted it." He shrugged. "I just haven't found a quality woman yet..." He eyed the cards and chuckled when his brother mentioned hsi women of choice being blonde. Perhaps it was an aftereffect of being with Aileen that he gravitated towards women with lighter hair. But no matter how it had become a preference, Oz wasn't going to hide it. "Just one? There are plenty waiting in the wings." Grinning he added, "But for now, the only blonde I'm thinking about is the Queen of Hearts....and how she's going to make me a winner tonight."