(no subject)

[wildnobility]

I'm not cheating, you're just losing.

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[jyu_ho]

Sakamae isn't much of one for casual gambling, but she does like to puzzle out the tricks and often pauses to watch games like these. She positions herself behind the losing player, the better to see if the cheating (if any) is at all visible. When he loses his fourth round in a row, she can't help but cut a glance towards the victor, hiding a smile behind her hand.

[wildnobility]

A petite lass seems to be playing shadow to the poor bastard emptying out the last of his pockets onto the table -- Alastair's eyes shift from the winnings to her face, realizing the direct gaze shining on him. There are a few others about, spectating, some even having a laugh at the game playing out before them. It's like the Seahawks/Broncos all over again.

The man is angrily muttering at Alastair, it's something, whatever. He isn't listening as he drags the money across the table, returning the woman's smile.

"What d'you suppose, m'lady? You think me a dishonest man?" He picks up the dice, almost as if to make his point. Don't feel too on the spot, especially since no one here seems quite eager to lynch him. So far.

[bigtreble]

"Mmmmm?" You think so, stranger? Tall dark and mysterious stranger who'd been winning at poker all night when such streaks are statistical impossibilities? Not cheating?

Sadie smiles, though. Or grins - a baring of teeth. They're meticulously white. "I'm sure you wouldn't lie to me, since you wouldn't risk being dishonorable, now would you?" It's a bit of a coo. A bit of a flash of one hand as she plays coy with her curls and the opposite hand, holding her cards, flicks them like a fan - and serves as the somatic component she'd needed. The cards cover her mouth for a brief enough moment for a swift spell.

She doesn't need her cards to be permanently changed to a surely-winning royal flush - she just needs them to look the part til the hand's done and the deck's re-shuffled.

"Well...I can't say no to trustworthy faces like that." Doubling down, here we go. Just another silly girl putting too much trust in strangers, don't mind her.

[wildnobility]

Double, huh? "Dishonorable, me? Never," Alastair confirms in a haughty tone, squinting down at his hand. He has learned how to win and not be too inconspicuous with it: don't pull something like a royal flush every game, learn to lose when you can afford the loss, and win it all back the next round. Fine details in the tapestry Alastair weaves and drapes over the eyes of any who play with him.

Four of a kind -- high up enough to win that it doesn't seem too impossible, though he does run the risk of legitimately losing... That said, just look at this lady: her visage is much too flimsy, and she had a whole two pair on their last game. There's no way that she's beating a four of a kind this time.

"Many can't," he pops back, twitching a smirk at Sadie as he adds to the pile. "All right then, ladies first."

[bigtreble]

"Well, if you insist." You know what works even better for quick ruses than a calculated long game of ebbing and flowing your wins and losses? Sweeping through as a hustle, laying out a terrible hand by hook or crook and being so incompetent they add on too much money. Too much ease of letting you win, and then - snatch and go.

She's not in it for a long haul tonight. She just needs enough money for a room, something she's lacking after her last botched partnership. He'd made off with all their earnings and her drumsticks, most likely as a parting 'fuck you' in exchange for her tendency to hide his glasses.

Screw redheads. Always trouble.

Her cards are laid out and she giggles, as if surprised. "Yours?" Come on then, get ready to hand over her sleeping-indoors-tonight money.

[jyu_ho]

"Oh, me?" Her surprise is entirely feigned; there aren't many other 'ladies' among the onlookers, and there's no mistaking eye-contact. Appealing to the small woman--an interesting ploy, and one that's sure to defuse some of the lingering tension! Whether he meant it that way or not, Mae approves of the tactic. It's unlikely any one of the chortling men will take anything she has to say very seriously, and her input boosts the suggestion that this is all in good fun.

Well, and why not? She has yet to determine just how he's managing to work the dice; the loser's thrown them without any such luck, and she hadn't noticed the smiling winner swapping them out between turns. She'd rather he not get thrown out before she gets a clearer picture.

Mae drops her hand to the base of her throat, fingers curling innocuously around the chain of her necklace. "I don't know that anyone here could be considered a sterling example of honesty," Her eyes go almost comically wide, drawing appreciative laughter from the other spectators, "But I think you must be fairly quick."

On the uptake, with his hands, or maybe even of wit. Some combination of the above are usually required from a competent shark.

[wildnobility]

Dark brows spring in surprise at the woman's initial reply; what barbed wit that she wields! Incredibly impressed, his grin spreads wide against his face. Perfect.

"Such biting honesty is something t' be admired; s' a shame that not many possess it." A compliment to you, miss.

The man has finally shuffled away from the small table, grumbling some kind of commentary concerning the exchange -- but even he knows that no one is listening to him by this point.

So now an open seat sits before Alastair, and he shakes the dice in his hand gently, deliberately. "D'you think honesty has any influence over pure luck, or even skill? If everyone is guilty of some deception in their lives, per'aps it all comes down to who's the better manipulator."

Alastair is too proud to not do something as stupid as use loaded dice, because that's the thing: if you're going to cheat, cheat with skill, not tools. You're still only as good as your results, just like any honest man.

[wildnobility]

Be warned ye who scorn this bard: Alastair is not a gracious loser. At best, his attitude flares unforgivingly. At worst, well...

Don't worry about it, because while Alastair is not happy about this outcome, he isn't quite to the point of flipping tables and smashing bottles. "Rhaich!" He cries in distress, slapping his hands on the table. How? How did she manage that?

A sigh melds into a soft groan as Alastair leans back in defeat. There might even be a small pout swelling on his lower lip. Yes, that's a Royal Flush all right.

"Don't get all smug now, darling," he snipes, slapping his cards down beside the winning hand and crossing his arms petulantly. He's frowning at his cards, four aces -- four Judases who so intimately betrayed him...

Wait.

Blink.

His frown twitches from angry to confused as something sinister occurs to him. While Sadie's hands sweep the winnings to her end of the table, Alastair's bring both hands of cards closer to his corner.

"I'm impressed at you -- really, I am," he coos as he looks the cards over, pulling his set back into his hand, "it's a very interesting tactic; I s'ppose no matter what, I couldn't possibly have won against a Royal Flush, 'specially with four aces."

He has arranged Sadie's hand on the table, and aid for his own hand's display when he presents to her his own cards. See anything interesting, love?

[jyu_ho]

For anyone to describe a kitsune as 'honest' is more complimentary than the speaker might guess; since everyone knows foxes are not to be trusted, it means she's playing the role of a human woman well. Sakamae flashes her dimples in double-steeped thanks and claims the seat, tucking her skirt to avoid wrinkles.

(She probably should have demurred a while longer, kept up the amusing pretense that she couldn't possibly know much about something so crass as cheating or gambling, but it's a wobbly leg to be standing on in a place like this anyway. And the chair was on offer. These aren't her most comfortable shoes.)

"A game with a side of philosophy! Very novel," she chuckles and makes a show of tapping a finger to her cheek, "A dishonest man may easily be as lucky as an honest man, but both can be tripped up by hubris, yes?"

And isn't that the role of trickster races, to deliver the consequences of hubris? Of course, that does necessitate being the slyest and most untouchable of manipulators, but she's found humans to be excellent instructors. Such innovative folk.

"In either case, it helps to have a dash of...ah..." Mae honestly flounders for a moment, fishing for the appropriate translation, "Miryoku. Appeal? The ability to charm. To fascinate." All the better to manipulate or, say, distract an onlooker from a dice trick! Is it in the wrist?

[bigtreble]

Yup, no way he was going to beat her. Sadie beams down on their mixed hands and how she's proudly displayed as the winner, even if her cheat was unforgivably flashy. She doesn't need to be subtle or clever about it, and it's not an impossible hand so she can just crawl off somewhere warm to drink herself to sleep...

Or. Not usually impossible. Sadie's bubbly gaze slowly hardens, her grin still firmly in place but the eyes above it fading for an inward glance. They've got-- but surely she would have noticed if the other aces had all been in play and what she was attempting was impossible, surely the odds are stacked against the hands so much that barring an act of the gods this couldn't have happened.

There's the briefest of moments where she thinks she's caught. Where she's not so much alarmed as resigned and wondering what tact to play so she can just slide on out having lost and not get a black eye in a bar brawl over a cheater.

But-- that man had seemed so sure. And now he's so relieved, so confident, so immediately realizing she's cheated and Sadie can smell it on him. It's written all over his bejeweled fingers and throat and those stupid ribbons in his hair and belt. They're two of a kind, no matter what hands they both just played.

She leans slowly onto the table, hands cupped the opposite elbows, as if to inspect. "Hmm." Both eyebrows raise up at him, face tilted down, eyelashes flashing as she looks up. "Especially when two of your aces are hearts?"

Honey. Oh honey. She wouldn't have even noticed it if he hadn't just brought her attention - and the attention of their entire audience - to it.

An audience that is loudly hissing and cheering about, clearly more amused at the turn of events than concerned with taking sides.

bluff vs. sense motive? truly there has never been more legendary a battle of skill checks

[inquisitive_nature]

Aldmor wasn't normally this kind of individual. It had taken much cajoling, a little mockery, and just a slight bit of cherry-red wine of questionable vintage to get him involved in this little game of cards. He wasn't concerned about losing the money; he was more than good for it, really. The games were legal, the people jovial enough, it was just...

It was so against his normal stuffier nature. Even so, here he was and now he was pretty sure he was being played as much as he was playing. An eyebrow rose incredulously, his glance shifting back down at the table for a moment. "I am almost certain I saw you palming cards, friend," he commented wryly. It only afterwards occurred to him that making such an accusation in any tavern is the fast road to some level of violence he'd really rather avoid.