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Post by Rylux on Apr 27, 2015 18:28:26 GMT -5
With the casino returning to normal after the man’s disappearance the two could follow their plan without incident. The guards remained in the dark edges of the room looking around for more potential ‘winners‘ to take to their boss. After the man’s departure it didn’t take long for someone new to take his place and the card game at the table started anew. More people entered as frequently as they left to keep the number in attendance consistent. The only slight tell that something was amiss was how perfectly everything seemed to run.
The coins Stella put into the machine slid in perfectly and fell with a clink into more of its kind. A soft beep was the only indication given by the machine but it was there to let them know it was ready to spin and take their money from them. A cranking noise accompanied the lever being pulled until it reached the bottom with a heavy ding. Instantly it returned up and the machine came to life with flashing lights and a medley of dings and whistles. At first there was a moment of delay before the rolls that would decide of the team won or lost started to spin.
Slowly at first the rolls built up speed before becoming a blur of the different icons labelled on them. A whirring came from the machine as it spun the rolls but it quickly gained a clicking as one slowed down. Once the first came to a stop the next began to slow and the pattern continued for the last. When everything came to a stop the team were met with a pair of cherries, a bolded seven, and a gold coin. The machine responded by giving off a low buzz to notify them of the loss before returning to how it was before.
With one loss taken care of the machine waited for more coins to be put in and more money to take from the team. In a stroke of fortunate misfortune the machine would give the team a streak off losses, some that would end one rotation away from a win. In fulfilling its purpose the machine stopped short of any wins but close enough to give most players some false hope, incidentally assisting the team rid themselves of their money. Rigged for such a thing the machine would most likely continue to take any money that was given to it.
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Cecil Amier
Weapon
Demon Butterfly Swords
All the world's a stage, and I the leading actor
Posts: 46
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Post by Cecil Amier on May 7, 2015 21:43:03 GMT -5
Cecil was enjoying his snacks well enough. Or, at least, as much as he could whilst fretting about any slight hiccup, or possibility of a hiccup, in their plan. Stella figured out the slot machine easily enough. That was good. He was right to trust her. But each time she pulled the lever he felt a pit in his stomach at the thought of it being a jackpot. Logically, he knew there was no way for this place to actually give the patrons a winning chance. But that was the state of his mind at the moment.
The wary weapon took a final bite into his snack. He also logically knew that his current state of mind was not optimal. The boy didn't have a complete lack of self-awareness. But the stress of worrying about his stress was only stressful! He had to fixate on something and clear his mind.
There was so much noise and other sensory experiences surrounding him, though. And nothing to anchor himself with.
He'd have to rely on his musical training. He patted his hand against his thigh, lightly and in minimal movements to avoid attention. He was establishing a beat for himself. It steadied his breathing readily, and his heart rate followed suit.
So long as Stella kept losing money at the slots, he'd be level-headed enough to follow through with the plan by the time they were approached to meet the boss. That was a bet he was willing to make.
And a part of him figured Stella was ready herself. Or, so her nonchalance throughout the mission thus far had led him to believe.
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Post by Stella Riordan on May 18, 2015 20:15:42 GMT -5
Stella felt an ever-so-slight uneasiness as the slot machine did it’s job. She knew that winning was unlikely. Yes, it was easy to reassure herself of that fact. Sure, she had never done this kind of thing before, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think casinos would just give away free money. It wasn’t like she was ungodly sheltered either.
Even so, she couldn’t help but feel a bit relieved when the machine decided to not show the winning roll. Or, was it really relief? Stella purposefully seemed just a bit disappointed by the loss, just so she didn’t look suspicious or insane or something like that, but y’know... It would be pretty awesome to win the jackpot, huh? Okay, that probably was a horrid thing to say because that’d mean a lot of people would end up dying but...
This slot machine was a nifty way of losing money, though. No way she could win, AND she didn’t have to bother talking to people and possibly blowing her cover. What a lovely little money eater. Stella decided it would be a good idea to spend a fair bit of money here. Make it seem as though she wasn’t even sure where it had all gone, then act just a bit desperate at a different table. Blackjack probably, that one should be easy enough to lose.
And, unsurprisingly, Stella lost... and lost... and lost.
That was until she didn’t have all that much money left. A suitable amount to make it seem like she wasn’t a complete and utter moron. She could play a ditz, but if she lost all her money on a freaking slot machine... Well, she’d look more like an idiot than an airhead. Plus her losing all of her money too quickly might cause some concern. Hell, she didn’t even know if the kishin would see people who wasted their money in such a manner.
She quickly backed away from the machine. ”Looks like I lack the Midas Touch today.” Stella said, somewhat to herself, somewhat to Cecil, somewhat to anyone who might have their ear turned towards her. A soft whine seemed to lace her words.
Without saying another word, Stella turned herself to go to one of the card tables. She wasn’t quite sure which it was, but she wanted to go to the one with Blackjack being played. Not that looking at the tables mattered. She was just... observing. A lot of people were doing that, right? She’d see if anything more of interest happened, then attempt to go to the Blackjack table.
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Post by Rylux on May 21, 2015 22:13:02 GMT -5
During the time the slot machine was devouring the team’s money other patrons were busy gambling away their money at the card tables. Games were started and finished as quickly as people entered and left. So long as there was a seat open anyone could hop into a game until they left to save what remained of their wallets. The longer the night went on the more the quality of the players deteriorated. Alcohol slowly hindering the critical thinking skills of the player’s losses became more apparent and more frequent. Some capitalized on this and raked in the foolish bets of the intoxicated.
One last coin for the slot machine and one last pull of the lever. The familiar spinning leading to the familiar loss. With the money gone the machine waited for more to be fed to it while Stella moved away from it. The first step of losing their money was going well thanks to the slot machine, now they just had to lose the rest and get picked to see the boss. Stella’s plan to do so with Blackjack seemed to meet both those requirements. It seemed the only question was if they could do so before another was taken.
Looking at the Blackjack table Stella could see a game start up and the cards be dealt out. Everyone around the table looked at their down faced card and made their decisions. Some tapped the table and received a third card with the face looking up. Another tap and another card or a raised hand followed and the dealer moved onto the next person. The faces varied as much as the reactions as the dealer went around the table. Some grew dejected, upset, or simply walked away when the dealer was done with them and moved on. As the game came to an end the table had a few open seats for Stella to take and enter the next game that would start.
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Cecil Amier
Weapon
Demon Butterfly Swords
All the world's a stage, and I the leading actor
Posts: 46
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Post by Cecil Amier on Jun 2, 2015 22:37:08 GMT -5
Cecil was calming himself down as he hoped. The moment of truth was coming up shortly, as Stella seemed to think it was time to move on from the slot machines. That was well enough; it would be slightly suspicious for her to stick to it exclusively. Of course, it also came with a risk of being closer to more people. But it was fairly evident by this point that the patrons were all to enraptured by the gambling to care too much about the others around them.
The boy dutifully escorted his meister along to the blackjack table, concern about getting to the boss soon enough to save at least one more innocent soul helping to push his apprehensions down. He had to suppress some anxious tics such as a desire to tap his feet impatiently while they waited for seats to open up. He thought to give Stella some advice on how to lose at the game, but he kept his mouth firmly shut. Couldn't risk blowing their cover this far in. The patrons might not care, but he couldn't be certain someone, or something, wasn't listening and watching carefully.
He managed to distract himself by taking note of the people around the table. It was all he could think to do at the moment, short of causing a scene. The only lingering doubt he had was if the staff wouldn't have an issue with him escorting Stella once she was finally approached; it could jeopardize the mission if they insisted she went to see the boss by herself. Whether or not his doubts were well founded, Cecil would just have to see.
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Post by Stella Riordan on Jun 27, 2015 13:27:00 GMT -5
Stella was pretty sure Blackjack was super easy to lose. Well, she knew that. Just about everything was easy to lose if one was... y’know, trying to. However, it would also be exceedingly obvious that was the case. If Stella made it really obvious that she was here to lose money to see the boss, then surely the boss’d know what the hell she was doing there in the first place. Especially because she didn’t quite look old enough to be here in the first place. She was surprised no one had brought that up just yet.
There appeared to be seats open at the table. Excellent. A game was starting as well, which meant that she had good timing. If they’d let her in this game now, that’d be great. If not she could just look to see what the others were betting and stuff like that.
She picked a seat that was closest to her and available, though favoured the side that she had seen the first man go off to. She assumed that was the way to the boss’ room, though she couldn’t quite be sure. Stella hadn’t really payed attention enough if anyone else had gone that way. Regardless, she doubted the guy had more than one office, and also doubted that guy had been taken somewhere else.
He had also been taken alone, but hopefully the staff would have no problem with her taking her escort with her. What would she do if that wasn’t the case? Couldn’t really fight a kishin with her hands and sheer willpower. Oh. Perhaps she could hide his weapon form in her purse. Maybe. The question was where would she even do that. Eh. She’d cross that bridge when she got there.
Stella put all of her money on the table, then pushed about half of it forward. She placed down the glass on the table as well, still being super tempted to throw it at the kishin’s face. Hm. She didn’t have very much money left. A bit of hesitation, then she pushed the rest of the chips forward too. Screw it, she didn’t want to waste any more time anyway. Could get someone killed. Hopefully she had done that right and no one suspected a thing.
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Post by Rylux on Jul 28, 2015 21:20:58 GMT -5
When Stella took the seat all the others took one glance at her and then went back to waiting for the game to begin. In total there were eight players and the other seven saw Stella as just another person trying to take the money. Four of the others were noticeable intoxicated and the others were seriously looking to win the money. With no others joining the table the dealer took that as a sign and began to shuffle the cards. Everyone pushed forth their bets along with Stella but her pushing the rest of her money caught some attention.
Considering how little money she had to begin most took it as a confident bid on an attempt to reclaim what she had lost. The dealer had little of a reaction but made a slight tap against the deck after finished shuffling. The guards shifted their eyes toward the blackjack table to watch the game and scout out the potential target. Everything in place the dealer dealt out the cards to each of the players quickly. One face down followed by one face up so everyone had an idea of where the others stood.
All the cards out everyone checked what their face down card was. In front of Stella was a seven and her face down card was a nine. Leaving Stella with a sixteen the dealer started down the table and the other players and they choose to take a hit or to pass. In a mostly silent exchange the only sounds coming from the table were taps from players who wanted another card. Moving down the line it grew closer to Stella’s turn and the guards had their eyes on the table to see who would win or lose and more importantly how much.
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