DAY 35: CROSSROADER'S BAR & CASINO

[k4t4str0ph4l.livejournal.com]

[From here.]

It was fortunate that Schuldig had spent most of the last trip wandering aimlessly and had discovered this place; a bar he certainly would have anticipated, but the presence of a casino in such a small town wouldn't have occurred to him if he hadn't stumbled upon it. And it was terribly convenient; if one wanted to make money legitimately or at least, if not legitimately, in a hurry, there were few other options. And, frankly, some things just weren't convenient to steal.

Now, all he needed to do was procure some chips for free. Not the easiest of tasks, even in a backwater casino, but a man whose fingers could move nearly as fast as his tongue could generally make his own luck one way or another.

Comments

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

Farfarello's arrival left Yohji a little on edge, although he wasn't about to say anything. He could tell that the other man was less than pleased about his presence and that was probably never going to be a safe position to be in. Not that being around Farfarello was ever going to be safe in his opinion.

He let Schuldig go into the casino first and then followed a couple of minutes later, not wanting to make it seem like they were too close. That would just make his plan more difficult to pull off. He took a good look around himself, making himself look as inconspicuous as possible while he waited for the telepath to begin.

[jei.livejournal.com]

Farfarello would never be inconspicuous, outside of sneaking up on people to slit their throats from behind--the eyepatch and facial scars did tend to make him stand out, especially in "normal" society. So, he worked with that fact instead of trying to fight it; when he made his entrance a little while after Schuldig and Yohji, Farfarello set to pacing by the few slot machines and muttering to himself loudly about the machines trying to steal his thoughts. For now, he would be the distraction more than anything, since the lighting was dim enough that his limited vision was not ideal for sneaking looks at cards.

[k4t4str0ph4l.livejournal.com]

Schuldig, meanwhile, was already busy, although he kept track of his companions mentally - not difficult, as they were the only two whose minds were open for him to read within the bar. As it turned out, stealing enough chips for an opening bid wasn't even necessary; some simple psychology was more than sufficient to ensure his success. He'd simply sidled up to a man who was clearly on a winning streak who had a woman on his arm, offering up a wistful story about how he'd loved to play cards before his breakdown, how he missed it and the simple human interaction, and could he borrow just enough to get into a game...in short, something that probably neither the man nor the woman would fall for. But the story wasn't what was important, it was the intended audience; when Schuldig walked away, it was with a handful of chips - chips that the man had given him in order to make himself look good in front of his girl, while the girl murmured something approving to likewise demonstrate her own compassion.

Really, sometimes people were so transparent, so easily manipulated, that telepathy seemed almost superfluous.

Blackjack was the only game where knowing the hands of other people could do him any sort of good in a casino setting(he'd have preferred an informal game of poker where he could fleece all the other players, but he had no choice but to work within the set parameters), so he gravitated towards that immediately, making sure that Yohji had observed him doing so. Once the assassin was wandering lazily around in the correct area, Schuldig settled in to play.

Even while cheating, blackjack did have some element of luck, but there were just enough fellow players to make card-counting at least more reliable than pure chance. So while Schuldig couldn't manage a perfect winning streak - not that he would have, even if he were playing an easily manipulated game; far too obvious - between Yohji's casual reconnaissance and Farfarello's unsettling everyone nearby, he was able to gradually build up more than he lost and to drink in the surprised respect of the men around him who'd probably never expected an asylum patient to be able to win any decent amount of money...or, perhaps, even to remember to put pants on before coming out in public. Clearly functioning psychotics like Farfarello were beyond their ken.

Fifty dollars seemed a safe amount; Schuldig was estimating in the high-end range, simply to ensure he could cover whatever tax there might be. American money, too; he wondered if that meant anything in regards to their location, but dismissed it. The one thing they could reliably count on was that things didn't necessarily have to make sense in or even around the institute.

Regardless, there was no time to waste; it had taken him more time to accrue a reasonable amount than he'd counted on, and he wanted to catch Artemis before he got back on the bus. One of the drawbacks to being so naturally suspicious meant that he was almost guaranteed to be searched particularly thoroughly before they boarded the buses again... So, after cashing out, he absentmindedly glanced at his partners before sauntering out the door, expecting them to follow at their own pace.

[never-learns.livejournal.com]

That was the huge advantage of working with a telepath, Yohji supposed. Even if the staff checked the security cameras and suspected them of foul play, all they'd see was Yohji sitting much too far away from Schuldig to be giving any hand signs or other signals. Hell, he wasn't even making eye contact with Schuldig. And Schuldig had lost just enough times to make it look natural. He stuck around for a short while after Schuldig left, keeping an eye on the room until he finally made a pretense of getting bored and slipped out of the building after Schuldig.

He saw Schuldig still loitering outside and smiled at him for a moment before heading off in the opposite direction. There was no sense making it too easy for the casino staff to come after them if they did suspect something after all.

[Just assume he's wandered off!]

[jei.livejournal.com]

Farfarello's gaze snapped to Yohji as the blond left the casino, eye narrowed suspiciously. He stopped his pacing and turned to follow, snarling to himself about how that guy was clearly in league with the machines, and needed to be dealt with. Wouldn't do to leave on a less crazy note than he'd come in on, now would it?

Once he left, though, it was Schuldig that Farfarello followed, rather than Yohji. In actuality, of course, Farfarello had exactly zero interest in what the Weiss kitten was doing when it didn't involve Schwarz.

[following Schu to the electronics store and lurking around outside]