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 Posted: Tue Feb 28, 2012 11:11 pm
 
This is a PRP between Van (Kurama no Koishi) and Kiran (Kazu-chan).
Setting:
What's a Noble doing on this side of town?
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Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 12:05 am
Van wrinkled her nose, resisting the urge to wave away the smoke that wafted her way when she entered the tavern. It wasn’t the Ichi-Koi Bar, that was for sure—this place was one of the seedier bars in the city, nestled deep in a primarily Legionnaire neighborhood. And it wasn’t just a pub; it was notorious for the excessive gambling and exchange of contraband during the late hours. The captain, dressed down so she wouldn’t attract too much attention (they stared anyway), was not here because she wanted to be; the bar was much too low-class for her tastes. Although there wasn’t much information for her to gain from listening to fellow compatriots, it was always good to at least gauge the opinions of the common populace to report back to the Generals later.
She accepted one of the drinks sent her way, hardly sparing the generous Lunarian a glance as she scanned the dark room, seeing nothing but people drinking, playing cards, and perhaps an illegal exchange or two. She passed them by, as she wasn’t here to bust anyone. What did catch her eye, however, was a familiar shock of blue hair at one of the round tables off to the side of the room.
There was no way it could be—it was. Van found herself raising both eyebrows at the presence of the Noble. What was he doing in the neighborhood at this hour, and in a shady bar, no less? She’d never pegged him as the type to voluntarily come here, just as she wouldn’t, so he must have had ulterior motives. Van might not hear anything new frequenting these places, but it was a prime listening spot for any Noble who didn’t get caught.
Dragging a chair up to the table, Van seated herself next to the fighter, placing a handful of coins on the table and motioning casually at the dealer. Her amethyst eyes watched the cards as they were dealt to her, instead of lifting to the man sitting next to her. “Kiran. Fancy seeing you here.”
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Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 11:50 am
Kiran drank a healthy gulp at the bitter alcohol in the dirty glass that one of the employees had dropped off on the table in front of him. He resisted the urge to make a face, wondering why people enjoyed drinking something that burned their throats and didn't taste any better than watered down urine. This bar was one of the seedier ones in the Legion territory and wasn't exactly known for providing high quality alcohol. But Kiran drank the foul substance to keep from drawing suspicion upon him. Everyone else at the bar was drinking heartily, like this was the best tasting alcohol in all the land. Kiran could only assume that they were all too drunk to care what poor swill they poured into their mouths or their taste buds were so deaden that they couldn't tell the difference.
"You really stink at this game, boy," said the Legionnaire across the table in a gravelly voice. He snickered as he dragged the coins from the pot in the middle of the table toward him after winning yet another game.
Kiran could hardly argue with the man. He was still trying to familiarize himself with the rules of the card game. Losing a bit of coin didn't concern him much if he managed to overhear something useful to report back to the Generals. He had a reasonable amount of money set aside from his wages to use in gambling, and he made sure not to use up more than that amount.
"I'm just warming up, old man," Kiran taunted back with a cocky smirk. The one good thing about losing was that it seemed to make these Legionnaires like him more, at least until his money ran out. "But lady luck is as fickle as any lady. She'll shine on me soon enough." He toyed with his coins, picking up a stack and letting them drop back onto the table one coin at a time, as he watched the dealer passing out the cards for the next hand.
His attention was distracted the moment a new player took her seat. He glanced to the new player sitting next to him and froze. What was Van doing here? Would she out him as a Noble to all the Legionnaires present in the bar? Kiran swallowed thickly. He would be in big trouble if she let slip his identity in a place like this. "Van." He put on a smile as he picked up his cards to look at his hand. "I didn't think this would be you're kind of place."
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Posted: Wed Feb 29, 2012 4:45 pm
Van fanned the cards out in her hand, her eyes surveying them disinterestedly as she waited for the others to place their bets. The captain had never been particularly good at gambling—she’d always been rather tight-fisted when there was the possibility that she would not win. And in gambling, there was always that possibility. Her losses were small, as were her wins, but at least it meant she usually broke just even. It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to calculate her chances and judge the potential for winning, when she had it—she did—she just preferred for them to be more tangible.
Tossing some coins forward, Van turned her cards over onto the table, looking neither pleased nor distraught. Peering over at Kiran, who was quite possibly the only Noble in the house, she cracked a smile, though her eyes were not particularly amused. “Neither yours, Kiran,” she pointed out. Even spies were hard pressed to be found here, so unsavory were the alcohol and company. That the fighter was so out in the open (well, as far as he could be in the dim room) was odd, and his alliance made him just that much more suspicious. “What brings you out here?” she inquired cordially, her tone light.
Of course, it was entirely possible that Kiran actually was here for his own amusement, which would shed a lot of light on what made him tick, but somehow Van found herself unwilling to believe that this was actually the case. Though he wasn’t doing anything strange except for existing—and losing, she noted now with some amusement—Van decided that it was probably a better idea to keep an eye on him, just in case something went awry.
Until then, she was perfectly fine with acting as if they were on the beach again, instead of in some shady bar. “So, how is lady luck treating you tonight?” she teased, an obvious reference to the last couple of conversations they’d had on the subject.
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Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:44 pm
Kiran looked at his cards, studying them for a time. Then he folded them into a neat stack and tapped their length upon the table twice as he debated his hand. He caught the man across the table staring at him, a grin twisted upon his scruffy face that made Kiran seriously wonder if the man had someone looking over his shoulder at all times and secretly telling him what cards were in Kiran's hand. Already, the man looked like victory was his, and the game had only begun. Kiran picked up a few of his coins and tossed them into the center like everyone else that had decided to join in on this hand.
"I would say the drink," Kiran replied in a low whisper so that only Van heard their conversation, "but it's far from being worthy enough to come all the way here just for that." He grinned teasingly, knowing Van would never buy it if he did try to claim that the alcohol here was his only reason for paying a visit to the bar. "Is it so odd that enjoy gambling from time to time?" He glanced around the table, looking for any tell on the players' faces that might give away whether their hands were bad or good.
He leaned closer to Van and nodded at the man across the table. "I'd keep an eye on that one with the smug smirk. I have quite caught him at it, but I'm pretty sure he's cheating somehow." Kiran didn't doubt that Van would notice it, probably sooner rather than later, but he believed it best to be friendly. So far, no one had questioned his allegiance, which had allowed him several visits to the bar without trouble. He didn't want to ruin that. But now that Van knew he came to Legion bars, Kiran would have to find another way to eavesdrop on loose Legion talk about their plans.
His gaze wandered to one corner of the bar where a Legionnaire with a scar down one side of his face talked in hush tones with the fellows at his table. "Well," he said with a laugh as he returned his attention to Van. "I hoped having a beautiful lady at might side might change my luck. But this hand is looking to be a bust." He tapped his cards on the table again and noted the smug Legionnaire tossing in some more coins. He felt a growing desire to beat the Legionnaire at his own game and wipe the smirk from his face.
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Posted: Fri Mar 02, 2012 3:43 pm
Van lowered her gaze, peering surreptitiously from under her lashes at the other men at the table for signs of their tells. She might have been keeping an eye on the Noble sitting next to her, but she was also playing a game in which her money was at stake. On hearing Kiran’s response, the corners of her lips jerked up in a gesture of disbelief. The alcohol in this place was watered down at best, and practically poisonous at worst. There was a reason the drink she’d had in her hand earlier sat untouched next to her now. “I suppose not,” she murmured out of one side of her mouth so only Kiran could hear, “You won’t find any high-rollers here, though.”
Nobles were generally the only ones with enough wealth at their fingertips to risk the gamble, after all. Van rolled a coin between her fingers as she considered her hand, and the existing bets on the table already. Noting the smug look on the Legionnaire’s face as Kiran pointed it out, she had to admit that he did have a point. The captain allowed herself a small nod, indicating that she had heard him. Finally, she stacked two coins together and pushed them in front of her, a conservative bet.
Looking to the blue-haired man now as he continued, Van smiled, her eyes glittering with some kind of secret amusement. “Beautiful women only help your luck if they’re not playing against you, Kiran,” she replied, a lightly teasing tone evident in her voice. It was an underhanded reminder of the fact that they were on different sides, both in this game and in the war. The difference here was that she was willing to work with the fighter to uncover the cheating Legionnaire they were both up against.
“I think I see what you’re talking about, though,” she mumbled when the round was over, frowning a bit as she watched the man sitting across from them rake in the pile of coins in the middle with large hands, smirking as if he’d known it all along. “Another round, darling?” She leveled a thinly-veiled challenge at the man, not waiting for the response to her sugared words. Van was already reaching into the pouch at her waist to replenish her funds.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 3:29 pm
Kiran's gaze drifted around the table. Some players put their cards down, folding out of the game, obviously having nothing in their hands. His attention lingered mostly on the smug man across the table from them. Kiran didn't mind losing a little money here and there in a game. It would be worth it if he left with something to report back to the Generals. But losing his money to that Lunarian smirking at him from the other side of the table was grating on his last nerve. He took his eyes off the man and turned to Van. "I would dare to risk going up against any high-rollers," he told her with a smile. "I have no intention of losing every coin I've earned."
He liked the game and the strategy behind it of knowing when to bet big or hole off or fold. He was learning to better read people through their expressions and little ticks that told him if they had a good hand or were bluffing. He was only having trouble with that one Lunarian. How exactly was he cheating? Kiran checked his cards again, debating it for some time before he picked up two coins and added them to the rest of the bets.
"Ah, now that is disappointing," he said like the comment had stung. "Would the beautiful woman help change my luck if we were to work together against a common enemy?" he wondered in a soft tone. "Perhaps teach a cheater a lesson?" His eyes darted to Van as he wondered if she would be willing to help him turn the tables on the cheating Lunarian. They were on different sides of the war. Would that prevent them from siding together on this?
Kiran nodded, tossing his cards to the dealer to shuffle them into the deck. The cheater's pile of money looked three times as big as when Kiran first took a seat at the table. He could spot frustrated looks around the table as many of them watched the cheater gather up his winnings. His own pile of money was starting to dwindle to its last coin. "I think I can manage another hand or two." If he was careful with his betting. He had been a bit wasteful on some of his earlier bets.
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Posted: Sun Mar 11, 2012 8:58 pm
Van had only been around for two rounds, and though gambling was not exactly her forte she was still capable of feeling annoyed at the other Legionnaire’s obnoxious self-assurance. She was a Legion captain, sure, but this hardly meant that she sided with the Legion on all counts—no, it was more that she was against the Nobles, unified with her faction through common hatred rather than common doctrine. All of this aside, it wasn’t as if she was on the job right now. She could temporarily forgive the Noble fighter Kiran for trespassing deep into Legion territory, at least for a moment. Van actually did like Kiran, sometimes, and the cheating Legionnaire they sat across from certainly hadn’t earned her affections.
“Neither do I,” Van agreed when Kiran told her he wasn’t planning on losing everything, even as she raised her bet significantly the next time it’d come to her turn. Her hand wasn’t good, not particularly, but the expression on her face was confident for the act of bluffing. The higher they raised the stakes, the more of a chance they’d have to catch the cheater in action.
If a captain and a fighter couldn’t figure out how a civilian was cheating, no matter how good his poker face was, what did that say about their abilities? Van watched the faces of their opponents carefully, noting that the Lunarian had only seemed to become more smug as the bets increased. Obviously she wasn’t alone in the endeavor to unmask the cheater.
“You’re cheeky, my dear, suggesting we have a common enemy,” the captain said out of the corner of her mouth, so only Kiran could hear. She hadn’t forgotten that he was the likely the only Noble in the entire bar, but the mysterious smile that had appeared on her face as she glanced sideways at him was indicative enough of her agreement. They would work together, at least for this round. As soon as the night was over, they’d be back to their respective factions—she’d make sure of it.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 8:18 pm
Kiran took a quick glance around at those passing by their table, wondering which, if any, of them might be working with the smug Legionnaire. The bar was packed with Lunarians, and it was hard to spot anyone giving a subtle signal to the cheater. But with all the noise, Kiran could hardly hear the Legionnaire in the back corner on which he was supposed to be keeping tabs. He hadn't been able to hear much of the Legionnaire's conversation since he arrived at the bar, and from looks of it, the Legionnaire was here to have a good time rather than to discuss any plans in the war. It seemed unlikely that he would have anything to report back to his generals, but his attention was distracted with the cheater now.
Kiran grinned at her as he lifted his cards only a little to take a quick peek at what he had been dealt. It was another poor hand with almost nothing of worth but a low pair. Perhaps the dealer was in on the cheating, making sure to deal poor hands to everyone but the cheater. How he managed that, Kiran couldn't determine yet. "The way you bartered with the weapons shop owner, I figured you for more of a penny pincher. Not one to throw money away in a bet. Do you often come gambling?"
It wasn't a bad thing to be conservative with one's money, and Kiran, in fact, believed he could learn something from Van in that department. The yurt that he had found for her had to be far more expensive than his tiny apartment space, which was evidence enough that Van was very smart with her money. For that reason, he found it puzzling that he would meet her here in a bar where gamblers gathered.
He placed his bet as he watched the Legionnaire across the table, looking smug as ever. The Legionnaire shuffled the cards in his hand as he waited for people around the table to make their bets. Could he be slipping in hidden cards that way? Hearing Van's comment, Kiran laughed. How strange it was for two people on opposite sides of the war to band together for any reason! "Cheeky, but can you deny that you want to wipe that smug look off his face?" Having a second pair of eyes would help greatly in uncovering how this cheater was operating.
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Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 10:24 pm
Van folded her hands, crossing her fingers in between each other as she scanned the faces of the Lunarians at the table. They were all fairly uniform—impassive or disgruntled—save for the one that had Van and Kiran convinced he was cheating in some manner, who was still grinning at his cards. She lifted her head slightly at Kiran’s response, inclining her head to one side so she could hear him. Covering her smile with one hand, she merely raised her bet, tossing a few gold coins forward despite what he’d said.
She was efficient with her money; it was something she’d learned from being dependent on her parents, and from her fighter’s salary back in the day. This didn’t mean that she ever had extra money lying around, even with the generous raise she’d received with her promotion. She simply knew how to use it to get what she wanted. It was no wonder, then, that Van wasn’t particularly skilled at gambling, and she wouldn’t have been found here on her own volition. Of course, she couldn’t admit that aloud.
“It’s not gambling if you’re getting what you want out of it,” she murmured, her lips curling up again, “Then, it’s simply another purchase. So no, I don’t gamble.” By all accounts, she’d been successful tonight, both in distracting the one Noble in the tavern and in amusing herself during an otherwise dry assignment. If that was what her hard-earned gold had bought the Legion, she could rest well tonight.
The mood at the table changed suddenly, and it took a moment for Van to figure out what had happened and why there were cards and drink all over the table. Someone, a drunk patron most likely, had bumped into the smug Legionnaire sitting at the table, spilling his drink everywhere and causing the older man to drop his cards. All of them, including the ones that had been concealed in his sleeves. Before the captain could react, the men sitting next to her had overturned the table in an attempt to get to the cheating man, and a fight had begun.
“HEY.” Was it possible for her to command them to stop? No one really knew who she was here, and before she could try, an errant flying cup had hit her in the face. Oh, it was on.
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Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2012 6:36 pm
"Oh? I never would have thought of it like that," Kiran said as he played with the remaining few coins in his pile. He picked up a stack and slowly let them fall onto the table again one by one. It was like those times when he would sign without really being conscious of what his hands were doing. While waiting for the outcome of each round, he kept playing with the coins whether his hand was good or bad. He tried to his expression completely neutral so that the other players wouldn't be able to read what kind of hand he held.
His gaze slid toward Van as a grin slipped onto his face. "And what are you getting out of being here?" He couldn't deny his curiosity in learning Van's reason for being in such a seedy bar, especially after she admitted that she didn't gamble. At least, it didn't seem like she was here to out him as a Noble, not yet anyway.
Kiran checked his hand again before tossing in enough coins to match the current bet. The nervous tension that had welled up in him like a trapped animal at Van's arrival had slowly melted away as they fell into their private conversation. He enjoyed the back and forth chatter, all the while keeping some of his focus on certain people in the bar. He could almost have forgotten that he was in a bar full of Legionnaires, and he being the only Noble.
Lady luck, it seemed, was no friend of his that night. His attention pulled away from Van as he caught movement. There was a brief moment when his breath caught in his throat, seeing the drink spill across the table and cards, seen and hidden, scatter out to reveal the cheater for what he was. His thieving instincts always present, Kiran barely snatched up half the pile in the center of the table before it was overturned with a loud crush. He suspected no one noticed as all their attentions were directed at the cheating Legionnaire.
People mad with rage at the cheater or simply in the mood for a drunken brawl threw wild punches, and drinks and chairs soared through the bar. With a look back, Kiran noticed the Legionnaire that he had meant to keep an eye on was sneaking out the back way. He would have followed but Van's shouted made him swivel around to face her in time to catch the flight of the cup that hit her. Seeking the thrower of the cup, Kiran punched at the nearest man in the face. The man hit the ground covering his face with one hand. In the next moment, another Legionnaire rammed into Kiran, who in turn slammed into Van.
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