The Capital's Underworld/Crooked Roulette, Pt. 2

"Miss, I'm an honest businessman, you can either play or you can't but I maintain that I'm not a cheat.", he sounds slightly offended, though who knows, he could just be putting on airs. His hand is extended and soon enough the table is spinning fast, the ball thrown in shortly after just as he continues, "Please make a choice.", the various animals replicated twice in either red or black.

"It's worth a shot." The medic simply shrugs, eyeing the wheel for a few moments as she decides on where to place her bet. "Got one. Twenty-five on the red squall," she declares, pulling out a small stack of credits out of her pocket and pointing at the picture of a small, long-eared creature.

Tokoga has no doubts as to the man's sincerity, and doesn't hesitate to hand over the money once his companion comes to the same decision. "Twenty-five on the Keelkana," The Mon Calamari gestures toward the long, eel-like creature native to his own home after depositing the credits in the man's outstretched hand.

The wheel spins though gradually it is losing speed until the ball settles onto the red rabbit-like creature that the medic chose. "Lady comes out the winner.", and the Senator's bets are pushed into a pile before the medic only to be joined by a similar amount of credits from the dealer's own stack. "Choose again.", and again the wheel is spun, the ball released into it. "You may raise the stakes to a maximum of fifty credits on this hand.", and while the ball rolls the dealer himself reaches beneath the wheel, an opening on his side of the table apparently, several credit chips taken.

Myiari lets out an unusually girlish giggle, obviously excited about her win, though she's quick to regain her composure. "I think I'll keep my bets small," she reasons, setting down another stack of credits from the small pile she's already accumulated. No need to get greedy; this was little more than a bit of harmless fun for her. "Thirty this time on the black womprat."

Tokoga grins a little at Myiari's victory and her reaction to it. At least _someone_ is winning something. "Hmm..." Digging into one of the inner pockets of his robe, the Senator picks out the correct denomination of credit chips. "Twenty-five again, on the dewback," he says.

Again the house loses, though in this case, so does the medic, the dewback coming up and the Senator's luck changing just like that. "If you continue like this, I'll be forced to close down.", though perhaps it's to keep them here that he offers them some cans of alcoholic pop, the man's booth carrying nearly everything one might need of a casino save for the casino itself. "Red Dewback, for our Mon Calamari friend. What do you do good Sir, it could be that you're just the type to be able to raise your wager just a bit. You won't start seeing some real credits unless you up the ante. Right, Miss?", he even offers them a wide smile, though there is something...off about it.

Despite losing, Myiari takes it in stride; thirty credits wasn't all that much. She politely declines the drinks, but smiles brightly, still quite eager to play. "I guess so," the medic replies in response to the man's comment, raising one shoulder in a half-shrug. "You can't win big unless you're willing to risk a little. I think one more round wouldn't hurt..." If she lost again, she'd likely call it a day--no use burning through an entire week's pay on a game after she'd already bought something in the market. "Another thirty. On the rancor this time."

The Senator turns down the offer of the drink; he doesn't want to give the impression that he plans on staying any longer than he actually does. "I find the anticipation of watching a freshly cast die infinitely more enjoyable than a pile of credits," he answers, looking down once again at the table to pick out one of the figures. "Thirty, on the bantha," he eventually picks after a few moments of indecision.

The ball lands on neither bantha nor rancor, though it does come very close to settling on the latter before rolling away one spot just as it seemed to have set firmly in place. The man's eyes narrowed just before the ball moved, and only the most perceptive would pick up the twitch of his left arm, its hand concealed beneath the table. "Ah, tough luck.", and greedily he draws their wagers towards him. "Another round, you've each won one hand, why not see who comes out on top?"

Myiari hesitates a moment as she deliberates her decision, only mildly disappointed by the outcome of this round. "One more wouldn't hurt, but after that, I think I'll call it quits." She pushes forth another small stack from her pile and places her bet. "I'll go back to my original wager and see if it's lucky. Twenty-five on the squall again."

Tokoga nods in agreement with Myiari--a fun diversion is one thing, but he has no desire to invest in gambling. Adding five to his remaining twenty, the Senator looks over the board again before finally deciding on a red-colored Krayt Dragon. "Twenty-five on the Krayt Dragon, I suppose."

Again the house wins, and again it is accompanied by an unseen twitch of his right arm, whatever hand gesture he just made concealed by thet table. The ball began to slow down near the krayt only to bounce sideways once more with unnatural strength and begin to spin, eventually landing on a crimson rancor. "Ah, close but not quiet. How about this, I'll let you have another go and even advance you ten of those credits you just lost, ten for each mind. That way, if you lose, you haven't really lost anything, right?" And if they were to win, well they might just bet a few more times.

The medic offers a polite shake of her head, declining the offer to continue playing. "I'd love to, but I'm not exactly rolling in credits," she replies, beginning to scoop up what's left of her winnings. She'd had fun, that was for sure, but she wasn't about to develop a gambling addiction. A little was fine, but she had her limits. "It was fun, though, while it lasted. You can keep the money I lost; no shame in losing to a game of chance."

This time, the twitch doesn't pass beyond Tokoga's attention, and neither does the peculiar behavior of the ball immediately thereafter. "I'm afraid I'll also have to pass, but thank you for your time," the Senator answers, not having anything on the table left to pick up. "By the way...you ought to have that arm looked at," he says pointedly with a notably more grave, serious undertone, obviously onto the man's con, but taking the passive-agressive approach rather than calling him out on it.

The man, perhaps having accused of just this before, frowns instantly, his entire demeanour changing instantly from inviting and slightly greasy to utterly cold. "What do you mean by that, friend? You saw something wrong with my arm?", a slight growl to his voice, perhaps to have it carry a threatening undertone. Those who had begun to watch the game also look at the Mon Calamari and his companion, one man, a Human, speaks up. "Yeah, what you saying?", only to be answered by another among the watchers, "He's saying he cheated, I knew there was something wrong about this fellow!"

The sudden change in attitude of the man behind the roulette wheel at the accusation of rigging the game coupled with the growing crowd of observers is enough to quickly put the medic on edge. If things got ugly, drawing a blaster out here would be dangerous. "Easy, gentlemen," Myiari says cautiously, desperately trying to diffuse the situation. To the Mon Calamari, she asks, "Is it true, Senator?"

Tokoga's a bit surprised at the reaction of the man -- it doesn't make much sense for someone running fixed roulette game to call the attention of everyone in the area to it. "I certainly saw _something_ wrong," he answers both Myiari's question and the man's at the same time.

"No friend.", the man says before reaching beneath the table hosting the wheel, a veritable treature trove of bric-brac it seems, and a chip of some sort is placed on the table. It is larger than standard credit chips and it bears an elaborate insignia, a series of curving vertical lines connected by a few horizontal ones drawn on one side of it. "Trust me, this says that there you saw nothing wrong unless you want Mr. Bavon Nass to be called in.", the name alone was enough to disperse the watchers, even if they had not seen the emblem on the chip.

The name was one Myiari instantly recognized, but it didn't hold the same meaning as it did for the rest of the crowd. It held no meaning at all to her whatsoever, in fact. "Bavon Nass," she repeats dryly, rubbing at her temples beneath the fringe of blonde hair covering her forehead. "There's that name again. Just who is this guy? I'm not really impressed." Probably the leader of a gang of small-time thugs who thinks he's a great crime lord, she thought. It'd explain why people reacted the way they did to the name. But if he were really as bad as it seemed, wouldn't she have heard of him before?

"That name habitually reappears in the most unpleasant of contexts," Tokoga answers in a flat, dry, sarcastic tone. A criminal element was to be expected, especially on Ord, considering its colorful history in that particular niche of society, but the frequency that one name keeps appearing is starting to grate on his nerves. "It's owner had best scale down his the scope of his operations before someone else does it for him."

"I'll make sure to tell the boss that, MonCal, and then we'll see if you want to apologize.", not to him presumably, "But for now, you move along and I'll move along and don't even bother thinking about trying to get back the money.", already the man has it packed away, the wheel locked safely inside of the table it was on as well as the various instruments it required. "And Mr. Nass is someone you don't want to cross, girl, but you'll know soon enough."

Myiari simply shrugs. "Whatever you say..." she says in a rather bored tone. "I don't really care about the money; you can keep it." Despite the threat, the medic is unusually calm for someone like her in her situation. Granted, after all she'd been through, it wasn't surprising. She feared the Sith, and the more well-known crime lords and bounty hunters in the galaxy more than a local crime lord she had never even heard of. "Let's go, Senator," she adds, beginning to walk away.

"Ensure that you do," Tokoga answers the man, turning away from the man and walking away in the opposite direction. Though not unnerved by his own personal involvement in the situation, the Senator does find it unsettling that the name is familiar enough that the mere mention of it can drive the citizenry away, and yet, it seems to have gone completely unknown to the local intelligence services.