Private Tales Money Won is Twice Sweet as Money Earned

[Everleigh Ebersol]

“Mission well done now let’s go have some fun,” Everleigh said, looking over her shoulder at Draven. They were both covered in blood and gristle, dozens upon dozens of men slaughtered around them. Everleigh rubbed at her eyes, smearing more crimson blood along her brow, her purple bangs sticking to her face and drying into hard, messy, little pikes. She knelt down, unceremoniously looting through the dead’s pockets, finding a coin purse on two and loose change on the others. She married the coins together, a rather large grin growing on her face.

“Yep. Should be enough for us to get a bath, a room, and to have some fun for the night. Pretty cool that we don’t have a proctor with us on this one.” Everleigh said easily, knowing full well that the reason why a proctor wasn’t shadowing them was because this mission was seen as incredibly easy. And it was. Everleigh fully agreed that bringing down a group of men who had somehow escaped their sentence from Vel Anir.

Draven and Everleigh had tracked them down to Alliria, or rather, the outskirts of the city. And slaughtered them like they were just merely stepping on a group of ants.

Everleigh skipped up over to Draven. “You ever been inside Alliria before? It’s crazy. Whore houses next to government buildings and taverns all over. Inns next to marketplaces and there’s theses sections that are supposed to bring some form of uniformity but like I mentioned… you have the wealthiest living right next to a five-story whorehouse. Nothing like Vel Anir.” Everleigh chirped as she began walking to where the walls were.

---

[art cred]
They were clean now. For the most part. Everleigh wanted a good soak, and she was determined to get one in after, after she made a few more coin for her and Draven. She had led him into one of the themed casinos that littered Alliria much like the whorehouses and taverns did and didn’t care if she was dragging him along with her.

“It’s fun I promise you. I’m great at this sort of stuff.” She persisted to the serious initiate. Sheesh, she kept going on all the missions with the serious ones. How boring. It was so much better to have someone more fun-loving and least likely to tattle on her. However, Draven didn’t seem like the type to open his mouth to the proctors, and really, it was more fun to have a gamble-buddy than to not have one. Especially if the rumors about this place were true. She had wanted to check it out with Liliana Lorel but of course they had gotten up to other things.

“And I can quadruple our coin in half an hour, watch.” Everleigh said cheekily.

 

[Draven Helmer]

Draven wiped his face and then shook his hand in a single violent motion, blood flicking onto the ground. He watched as Everleigh looted the bodies of the dead men, he didn't care about the looting of the dead they didn't need their things but he didn't partake of it himself, the killing was enough for him. "No, I can't say I have," he replied as prattle she continued to prattle on about the city as she led way to the city walls.

It was nice being clean especially after their long trip to find those convicts and then their butchering of them, but Everleigh was still determined to make a bit more coin, Draven was no stranger to gambling, though his games tended to be one of skill, knife throwing, five finger fillet since these allowed the use of his magic to his advantage, someone would call that cheating but's it's only cheating if you get caught.

"Well isn't my money, so you're free to do whatever you want with it, so maybe I'll get involved." he didn't believe her she was good at these games of chance, they were designed to make money for the casino so the odds are skewed in their favour.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everleigh shrugged her shoulders at Draven’s comment. Sure, it technically wasn’t his money, but the last thing she needed was the moment they entered the academy was someone asking her for coin and insinuating that she hadn’t been fair. Or for Draven to even spread around that she had procured a decent bit of coin and to have others tell on her. If Titus found out he’d run to Proctor Palahniuk faster than a old philander at a whore house.

“You should get involved,” Everleigh said with a charming smile before looking around the establishment. She went straight to the cashier, pulled ten copper coins out from the purse to place securely into one of her many pockets and then placed the coin purse onto the countertop. “However much this can get us.” She said sweetly enough.

The cashier regarded the two of them with a moment of skepticism but opened the coin purse without saying another word. The counted money was a good amount, but when the Cashier reached to dish out chips that were on the lower scale, Everleigh stopped him.

“Larger chips, please,” Everleigh said, causing the cashier to raise a brow.

“Then you’ll have less to bet with, Miss.” Everleigh nodded her head.

“I don’t want a chip worth less than a hundred.”

“As you wish,” the cashier said slowly, and taking the coins, they then gave Everleigh a total of ten chips, nine green worth a hundred, and only one red was worth five hundred

“Thanks, now, Draven,” Everleigh said, collecting the chips and walking to the center of the establishment. She pointed at the stairs. “We can’t go there yet but we need to gather enough so we can play with the big dogs. Are you good at anything?” She said, handing over four of the green chips.

Draven Helmer

 

[Draven Helmer]

Draven took the chips into his hand feeling the painted wood in his fingers. as his eyes scanned the room to see what games were available, "the games I gamble with are ones of skill but I doubt they let people play those in here, too much chance for them to lose." When he had finished his words he had spotted a game he could win at. Roulette, he watched the dealer the metal ball bearing as he turned the wheel, with his magic he could 'tip' the odds in his favour.

"I'm going to try my hand at Roulette," he spoke with agrin "what about you? what do you intend to play?" he didn't know how her magic might help her or maybe she intended to play fair, he didn't know but he was interested in how to find out.

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Everleigh nodded her head. She leaned in close to Draven to whisper something in his ear.

“The ones that are rigged, that’s where I like to go.” Everleigh said, her voice filled with mischievous mirth, a impish gleam in her violet eyes. “Certain games make it easier to not get caught cheating. I think down here, there’s not many like that.” The bets would be lower with a limit on how high one could go, so whatever money was lost wasn’t such a fatal blow. “I can’t wait to go upstairs.” She said with glee. She then moved away from Draven, stepping past him.

“But I always have such a soft spot for three card poker!” The poison eater informed, heading straight to one of those tables. She gave him a little wave goodbye, for now at least. Both initiates would probably sense a pair of eyes on them, watching them. Everleigh shrugged it off. She’d play things fair now, get the suspicion off her early.

Draven Helmer

 

[Draven Helmer]

"May the odds be in your favour." He would say before their parting to separate tables, Draven would bring himself up alongside the roulette table, he felt eyes on him but he would ignore the feeling. he would play with chips in his hand, picking them up and letting them drop individually onto his palm over and over again, watching everything happening on the table.

He would place a chip on red before the dealer called last bets, he wouldn't use magic for this first round to see where luck would take him. The dealer spun the wheel and introduced the ball, he would watch with a blank expression but his eyes were watching the ball with sharp intent as it circled ever closer to the wheel until it settled on red. he was now already up another green chip, He wondered how Everleigh was doing.

Everleigh Ebersol

 

[Everleigh Ebersol]

Thrilling. This was always so thrilling. Losing was a thrill. Winning was a thrill. Every time she could feel it, like she was on the cusp of a sublime calling. Really, she couldn’t trust herself when gambling called her name, beckoning to her with dulcet promises of fun and excitement.

Sitting down at the table, the joy could be felt radiating from Everleigh’s being. Cards were passed around and she looked at her hand with a huge grin. Her hand was shit, so she would fold— even if it meant she would lose two green chips. Nothing to fret about. She’d win big soon enough.

---

Everleigh was right of course. True to her word, she had quadrupled their original amount she had given to the teller from just five green chips. Her table had gotten rather boisterous because of it, claiming things such as beginners luck or even cheating. But the dealer, who was cheating almost the entire time as Everleigh easily figured out, could do nothing.

And really, Everleigh hadn’t cheated. She just figured out how it was rigged. Swiping up her chips, she traded them so she could have all red chips. So far so good. But she needed more most likely to go upstairs. Taking hold of her bounty she went over to see how Draven was doing.

Draven Helmer

 

[Draven Helmer]

Now that he had taken a chance on lady luck and she had rewarded him, it was time to put luck in his hands. now armed with five chips, he placed all of them on green zero, it was a 35:1 chance. it was a good thing he wasn't leaving it to chance. The dealer once again called last bets before putting the wheel and ball in motion.

Focusing on the ball and the wheel was a strenuous exercise with him also factoring in he had to make look natural, but one only improved by pushing one's own limits, that was something the dreadlords were right about. His plan worked of course the steel ball final made its mark on the green zero, and now he had to act surprised.

He blinked a few times to show his disbelief, "Holy shit, holy shit! I won, I won! ahaha." he grabbed the shoulder of the man next to him as he rocked back and for in his false excitement, maybe in a different life or world he would have a been actor. whatever the case he was now loaded with chips about 175 greens to be exact, the dealer would have traded them up because he didn't have them at the table, but now Draven had a stack of chips as he saw Everleigh approach him out of the corner of his eye.

"How did your game go, lady luck? because I think I have more than enough chips to get us upstairs." he held a smug smirk at the edge of his lips, to say he was competitive was a bit of an understatement. He surely had enough chips to warrant being able to go upstairs, if not might wise cash out now but he too was curious about what was up there.