"Oh, trust me," Gabe said, grinning as he accepted the glass and lifted it in a toast as thanks, "when it comes to gamblin', ain't no one better than me aside from my Daddy." As long as it was at cards, although Gabe had never done as badly in the casinos as he did when playing cards against his Master. "But you're right. Maybe another time you can test my mettle. Wouldn't want to be bad role-models for the kids."

He winked at Valkyrie and took an easy mouthful of the scotch. If he were blinded and unprepared as he had been in the Institute, or even human at all and thus subject to human physiological reactions, he might have choked. As it was, the Archangel only laughed after swallowing.

"It keeps things interestin'," he said, pretending obliviousness to the obvious implication, and turned to Skul. "If we were to go back to the crux of the argument, it'd be that someone's been a bad influence on Steph. Seein' as you've known her longer, and been trainin' her up to take out any creepy guy who might say somethin' wrong, logic says that's gotta be you."