The House Always Wins [P, IO]

Approved

“You may call me Yukihime.” the woman said, a faint smile gracing her lips for but a fraction of a moment, Rin giving to woman a nod, "A pleasure to meet you miss Yukihime" she said politely before allowing her aura to leak out, a subtle yet entrancing force encompasing the pair as they took their seats across from her, Rin quietly marveling at the woman's height, she was no fool of course, she knew she was short in stature, balquis made that more than obvious whenever the two were in a room together, indeed the lack of height had been to her benefit in more than one occasion, having others underestimate her, and yet even compared to balquis who already towered over Rin, this woman was by all accounts a giant. Rin was unsure whether that was a good or a bad thing, certainly it made the woman more intimidating to those who judged strength based upon raw physical might, but they... or at least she and balquis, were shinobi physical size spoke little of ones strength compared to the caliber of one's skill and chakra. Still brooding on such things did her little good at this point in time, mentally shelving the thoughts for now she went back to dealing the cards, to the three of them, waiting till everyone had had a chance to look over their hand before asking for the opening wagers.

When the newcomer leaned across to her sister and whispered in what, she at least assumed, was a whisper quiet enough for Rin to hear, rin couldn't help but smile. The woman was whispering, and at least without using a technique Rin wasn't able to quite hear what she was saying, but she could read lips however. She watched with only the slightest quirk of her eyebrow showing any hint of her interest as she noted that the words being said were... at least to her knowledge, utter giberrish. Rin couldn't help but ponder that, balquis seemed to understand the womans words which meant they were not truly giberrish, and that left only a few options. It could be some sort of technique to mask the reading of lips, though why one would use such a specialist technique without any effort to hide ones lips in the first place was questionable, not to mention that there was a lack of any active techniques surrounding the woman, again not something impossible for a skilled infiltration or sensory specialist, but it seemed unlikely, the simplest answer was usually the correct answer after all. The next explanation would be that this was some other form of language, the pair were sisters, perhaps a childhood language akin to pig latin... but no again that seemed unlikely, the sounds and shapes being made by the woman's mouth didn't match the language they now spoke, to come up with a fully functional language that did not use their own language as a framework was beyond all but the most intensely specialised of child prodigies. Which left the possibility of a foreign language itself, the simplest answer, and... the most interesting.

Rin smiled patiently waiting for the two to finish their discussion when the woman specified chips and items as acceptable wagers Rin couldn't help but give a playful smirk, before with a casual flick of her wrist she tore open a rend in the fabric of space, a ethereal blue light flickering at the edge of a pitch black void as her will fought against the will of, not just the world, but of whatever forces permeated this casino, warping the fabric of reality even further than such actions normally would. "So tell me Yuki, its rare to find individuals who speak more than just the common tongue, where did you come across such a skill." She said casually reaching into the pitch black void and pulling out a case filled to the brim with chips even as she watched the woman with interest. Her words and actions were not happenstance, but rather a test, to see the woman's reaction to three things. Firstly, to test the waters with the use of a shortening of her name, the response she gave would be innately informative of the sort of person she was. Did she hold to tradition? Did she value propriety? Was she easily offended? All these questions would be informed by her response, and if she claimed offense it was no harm for Rin to offer a simple apology. The second test was to see her reaction to knowing her words had been, in some way, overheard, Rin had very carefully omitted to indicate if she knew the language in question, leaving just enough hints and implications that it would be up to the woman to infer that herself, and such an inference would in turn inform Rin of both her character and, depending on the reaction to that inference, the content of the brief discussion. The third test was to see the woman's reaction to an overt display of wealth and power.

Feeding her chakra into one of the hidden fuinjutsu locks, the case popped open with a faint click, almost lost in the noisy bustle of the casino floor, but what was not lost was the stacks upon stacks of chips the case held, more than enough to indicate a not insignificant amount of wealth at her disposal, would the woman focus on the money itself, or the more subtle implications of tearing open a hole in space as casually as one might turn a page in a book? That was the third test, though even that held a smaller hidden test within it.


Regardless of the women's reaction wager would eventually be placed, Rin hardly batted an eye at the five hundred chips the woman wagered, but when Balquis offered her own wager Rin's mind took a moment to catch up to her eyes. What she placed upon the table was one of those rare few rocks that had been found within the land of Saint Nick... It was to all traditional senses simply a rock, a pretty rock, but a rock all the same; and yet those who had the tact to experiment with it had found the rock itself had incredible transmutative properties... the question was did balquis know the value of the item and was so confident in her hand that she was trying to drive up the pot, or was she simply wagering a pretty rock as one might a gemstone or chunk of quartz... Well she could ponder that all night but it would do nothing but reveal her own hand so to speak. "Really Balquis, a rock? Certainly it's a pretty rock i will admit, but i'm not sure that constitutes enough make up the difference between your own wager and that of your sisters." She said, subtly probing to see if the woman would upsell the quality of the item, claiming it to be as valuable as... well as valuable as it was. Still Regardless of what she said Rin would nodd along, content to gather information at this point rather than truely argue over the value of the item.

Information gathered it was her turn to stake a wager, and she already knew the path she would take without even bothering to glance at her cards again, she slid across a thousand chips with a casual flick of her pristine white hand, a faint predatory smile on her face, albeit one that was faint enough one might question if they truly saw it before speaking. The rules are rather simple, we each take turns placing wagers into the pot, each round a card from the river will be revealed" She said, indicating the five cards laid out on the table before continuing "each round you may either raise - increasing the wager in the pot, check - deferring your decision until everyone else has had a chance to either wager or check themselves, call - matching the current highest wager, or fold - foregoing whatever you have already put into the pot and your ability to continue in the game until the hand has been played out. Whenever someone raises everyone else must either match that wager or fold before the round can continue. As more and more cards of the river are revealed you will find you have more information to inform your choices, sometimes you may believe you have a strong opening hand, wagering a decent sum only to find that the cards in the river do not favour you. I would advise you fold in such cases, though the choice is ultimately your own. Once all five cards have been revealed there is one last round of wagers before all remaining players reveal their hands, The player with the highest scoring hand wins the pot and everything in it.

As for how one determines the score of a hand the process is rather simple, your two cards may replace any two cards on the river to determine your hand. The scoring of hands themselves is slightly more complicated however so bare with me, perhaps one of our hosts can provide us with a scoring sheet" she said waving down one of the scantily dressed bunny girls and making such a request before continuing. "As i was saying the scores themselves are based upon gaining certain combinations of cards, the harder to acquire the combination the higher the hand's score. In order from lowest to highest the hands are as follows. Firstly if there are no combinations of cards to choose from you may opt to score your highest value individual card. A three beats a two, a ten beats a three, and so on, Aces are the highest individual card.

The second lowest scoring hand would be a pair, any combination of 2 matching numbers will beat an individual high card whilst draws are decided by the higher value of the pair, in the event you both tie with the same value pair the hand with the highest card wins, a draw after that is just a draw and the pot is split.

At third place so to speak you have a two pair, pretty self explanatory its the same rules as a pair except you have two of them, fourth lowest is a three of a kind, matching any 3 cards will trump a two pair and anything below it, high cards once again breaking ties. Next up you have what is called a straight, any five cards laid out in order but not matching the same suit would qualify, if they do match the same suit it's a higher scoring hand that we will cover shortly.

The next highest scoring hand is what we call a flush, any five cards all matching the same suit though again not in order fall under the banner of a flush, for example a two, six, seven, ten, and queen of spades would be considered a flush.

With that we come the the four highest scoring hands, the lowest of which is what we call a full house, a three of a kind and a pair, a pretty simple combination, but still quite a rare one. Now in third place we have a four of a kind, if you manage to assemble all four cards of a single number then your in a very strong position, though it is still trumped by two other possible hands.

The second highest scoring hand, and the only one your likely to see come up is a straight flush, if you manage to get both a straight and a flush at the same time, for example a two, three, four, five, and six of clubs you would have a straight flush, something that all but guarantees a win for you. Lastly the highest possible scoring hand is what we call a Royal straight flush, consisting exclusively of a ten, jack, queen, king, and ace all in a single matching suit." She said, waving her hand and using her genjutsu skills to create ad hoc illusions of the various example hands as she went through the possible scores.


WC: 2037

------

Rin's face betrayed a hint of something when she heard balquis's sister speak, it was not joy, nor mirth, no it was hard to put words to what exactly that faint flicker of emotion was, for someone who's day to day life consisted of ignoring their emotions for fear of the damage allowing herself to think and feel might do to both herself and quite possibly those around her, it was a tall order to expect even the smallest of understandings of her own self. When it came to the emotions and actions of others she easily found herself moving through the whirls and edies of social manipulations, but to apply that knowledge internally required a degree of healing that she quite simply had not yet aquired; if indeed that was something she ever would be capable of achieving.

Still she felt something as the woman's sister spoke, a twinge at the nickname for balquis, Zumi, the name itched at her mind, it was not a mere shortening of the somans name, nor a shortening of a popular term one might refer to the woman with, at least not one that Rin recognized, and so it was that the name drew her interest, another thing filed away in the ever growing cabinets within her mind space as she discovered more and more about strangers within the world.

When she finished her explanation of the game and the conversation turned back to the wager of the, surprisingly valuable, rock, Rin turned to the side, picking up a glass of champagne from one of the passing drinks trays and watching with interest as balquis withdrew the rock, though what she offered instead left Rin taking in a sharp intake of breath, one that left her coughing in surprise as she ahd utterly forgotten she had been sipping on a glass of champagne at that exact moment.  "That is quite an offer, and your willing to go along with this offer?" Rin asked, turning her head to the other woman, this yuki, and inclining in interest. If she recieved an assent she would of course happily agree before beginning the game. The cards had already been dealt and as the first card came up Rin allowed that same fake smile to dance at the edge of her face for a moment, a seven of hearts sat there on the table, not the worst opening card for her, though with such a miserable hand such things were hard to turn ones nose up at

WC: 420

[Mid-Thread Claims][TWC: 3509 ]

Mission Claims:

• + 227 AP (converting to Ryo at 1 AP = 50 Ryo, so + 11,350 Ryo)
  
• + 55 Chocolates
  
• + 4,500 Casino Chips
  
• + 55,500 Ryo
  

[Mid-Thread Claims][TWC: 2302]

Mission Claims:

• + 227 AP
  
• + 55 Chocolates
  
• + 4,500 Casino Chips
  
• + 55,500 Ryo
  

Approved for mid thread claims