Poker Face: Chapter 1
The room was crowded, the sounds of people chatting and the machines eating away at their wallets. The neon signs on the wall lit the room in a strange glow as the music in the background seemed to fit the scene all too well. The smell of cigarettes and alcohol coated the air making it slightly uncomfortable to breath. Of course no one paid any mind to it since they were focused on winning.
There was a lone woman at the card table, watching the dealer as he dealt her a hand. She was wearing a long form fitting dark blue dress with a slit going up one side of her dress, her shoulders exposed and her dark hair barely touching them. She smiled at him, batting her long lashes at him before taking a sip of drink.
“I heard there’s a man known as the King of Hearts around here. He’s supposed to be really good at playing cards right?” the woman asked casually as she placed her cup back down on the table before looking at her hand.
The dealer smirked at her before answering, “So you’ve heard of the King? Well he’s supposed to be so good at playing cards that he’s been kicked out of casinos for winning too much money. Of course I’ve also heard he’s called the King of Hearts because he’s pretty popular with the ladies.”
“Hmm that sounds like an interesting man, guess I’ve come to the right place,” the woman chuckled before turning her dark eyes up on the dealer.
She took one last sip of her drink before standing up and smiling at the dealer. She flipped her hand over before gracefully walking away as she called over her shoulder, “Straight flush~”
The dealer looked at her hand and saw that she had the King, Queen, Jack, 10, and 9 of hearts. He chuckled to himself before gathering the cards up, the woman already gone from the room.
~-~
“Nino are you working on another card trick?” a short man with short spiked hair asked as he walked up to a hunched figure.
Nino looked up from the deck in his hands, flashing a quick smile before answering, “Oh-chan! Actually I was, a magician can’t have the same old tricks forever.”
Ohno nodded his head before asking again, “Are you going to hit up another casino tonight?”
Nino smirked as he stood up and threw an arm around his friend’s shoulder, “My good fellow you know I do love a good gamble. I’m hoping I can find an interesting fellow to beat tonight at the table. Are you going to practice any for your act?”
“What more can I practice when I’m supposed to be a mind reader and your assistant in your show?” Ohno let out a sigh before taking Nino’s arm off his shoulder.
“And what a good assistant you are, all you have to do is look pretty and you do!” Nino joked as he ruffled Ohno’s hair.
Ohno couldn’t help but smile as he fixed his hair, “I can’t look good if you mess up my hair like that.”
“Jun thinks your hair down is pretty cute too,” Nino pointed out as the two of them walked together back to the three other men.
One of the taller ones was smiling big as he juggled several things in place. The other two watched him and occasionally threw a few random items around them to him to add into his juggling.
“Stop guys! Especially you Jun-kun! I see you eyeing that chainsaw!” the juggler whined.
Jun chuckled mischievously as he turned to the other man and joked, “Ne, Sho-chan, lift that crate over there and toss it to Masaki-kun.”
“Impossible!” Masaki immediately answered as he shook his head at Sho.
“It’s alright Masaki-kun, I know you can’t lift as much as I can since I am supposed to be the strong man here,” Sho chuckled as he reassured his friend.
Masaki laughed as he caught everything and tossed them into a nearby box. Nino and Ohno waved at them, high fiving them before they circled around.
“Alright, today is our day off so remember to not get into trouble. We may be a moving show, but I’m not looking to move us in such a hurry if one of us gets in trouble with the law,” Jun announced to them as he looked over at Nino.
Nino smiled innocently at him before answering, “I’ll bring Ohno with me if it makes you feel better Okaa-san.”
Jun rolled his eyes before letting out a sigh and replying, “That’s fine with me, you tend to get into less trouble when he’s with you. Ohno stay on your toes and get into his head so he can’t get a step ahead of you.”
Ohno nodded his head and saluted him jokingly which made the others laugh. With that the five of them split up to explore the town in their own ways.
~-~
Nino and Ohno were dressed in nice suits as they walked around the busy casino. Nino was smiling as he would catch the eyes of ladies as the two of them walked by them.
“Ah I love when I can walk into a room and I already know I can score. Now where can I find an interesting game?” Nino spoke casually to Ohno as they searched for a table.
Nino’s eye caught a lone table and a pair of lovely long legs sitting alone at it. Nino headed toward the table and took a seat next to the woman. She was leaning over slightly so her hair covered her face slightly, an aura of mystery surrounding her. Nino looked her up and down from the corner of his eye and could already tell that she was going to be interesting to play with. Ohno stood to the side of Nino, watching him and wondering what Nino would try with this woman.
“Alright, deal away sir,” Nino coolly said to the dealer before turning his head to the woman and smiling at her.
She turned her head to him and smiled back, her dark eyes giving off this warmth about them that seemed to suck him in. She pushed some of her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear as she leaned closer to him. Nino picked up the faint smell of sweetness coming off of her. Ohno felt something off about this woman and kept his eye on her while the dealer dealt them their hands.
“Hi there, you can call me Ace,” Nino tried to make conversation with her.
“Sounds like a nickname to me. You can call me Akira,” Akira smiled at him before pulling back to look at her cards.
Nino looked at his hand before replying, “It’s my stage name. I’m a magician.”
“Oh, a magician? I’ll have to visit your show then,” Akira sounded uninterested as she checked her hand again and thought about what move to make.
Nino couldn’t help but smile at her actions. He knew she was playing uninterested to make him work harder and he liked it.
Nino leaned in slightly to her and asked, “How about I give you ticket to my show, free of charge?”
Akira paid him no attention as she moved some of her cards around in her hand before exchanging a couple with the dealer, “Hmm…I might come. How about you beat me in this game? If you win I’ll come, if I win…I want you to tell me your real name.”
“Sounds good to me,” Nino smirked before the two of them showed their hands.
“Flush,” Akira announced as she laid down her cards and showing all hearts.
“Straight flush,” Nino announced before laying down his hand.
Akira hot her eyes up at him and lost her smile as Nino got up and patted her on her shoulder. He had this smug look on his face as he chuckled, “See you at my show tomorrow babe.”
Nino and Ohno walked away, but as soon as they were out of ear shot Ohno leaned over to Nino and warned him, “Be careful of her. I read her mind when you beat her and she wasn’t pleased at all especially when you called her babe.”
“No worries Oh-chan, I was only trying to fan her flames. You can’t forget the guy who pissed you off,” Nino explained before slinging his arm around his friend’s shoulder.
~-~
“Well ladies I think I found the King of Hearts tonight,” Akira paced around the hotel room as four other girls watched her.
The blonde woman crossed her legs in her short denim skirt and chuckled, “I haven’t seen you this pissed off in a long time. What he say to you?”
Another girl with long dark hair and dressed in black cocktail dress that reached her knees spoke up, “Yeah Rin’s right, did he not turn out what you expected?”
Akira turned to face them and answered, “Mizumi-chan, that man…let’s just say I can’t wait to take all of his money and show him the Queen of Hearts is number one.”
The two other girls were similar in looks, both dark haired, but one with shorter hair and one with longer hair. They were both dressed in waitress outfits to disguise themselves in the casinos. Akira turned to the two of them and pointed at them.
“Yori and Nori good job getting the information of which casino he’d show up at tonight. He sure was easy to lure in, and he was so full of himself that I could gag,” Akira fumed as she paced again.
Rin leaned over to Mizumi and whispered, “I sense this going to be fun.”
Mizumi giggled as she nodded her head and enjoyed seeing Akira fume over this man who caught their leader’s attention tonight.
What did you think? look forward to more XD