Fingers had run through soft, tousled hair; the man gently biting onto his lower lip as a small stack of black chips was taken away by a croupier. His expression read annoyance, defeat, regret, and the remnants of amber liquid in the glass he held spoke of a night ruled by mistakes. His suit didn’t fit all that well, as if it hadn’t been made for him but bought at a sale. His tie was crooked, as were the glasses that framed his face.
[break][break]
He looked a mess.
[break][break]
He looks like a casino’s favourite prey.
[break][break]
As such, he blends in with the miserable and the desperate – with those who see fickle fortune as their saving grace. They think him a man ready to throw away every dollar to his name, and with the little restrictions existing at the gambling scene in Slateport, no one bothers to see if this is actually the case. His identity does not matter, what matters is he has money to spend…
[break][break]
It’s not a difficult role to play.
[break][break]
When he sees her, the man shows no reaction to the familiarity of her face, instead being more preoccupied with asking for another drink from a nearby waitress. Five black chips are pushed forward as a starting bet, and when his cards are dealt, he pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment, adjusting his glasses. A deep breath.
[break][break]
”Whatever… Might as well, huh?” His hopeless words are coated in an accent that would easily match that of most of Slateport City, unlike what is usual for the unquestionable foreigner that is Mr. Del Mar. He makes a beckoning motion. ”Hit me.”

[BREAK][BREAK]

+ katja weiss (Man's out here aiming for the Oscar LOL)

it's strange seeing her boss play a drunken fool. katja wonders if he's drawing inspiration from personal experience, or if the façade is pilfered from something he saw in a movie. regardless, his next drop-in at the bank will be interesting. she deals his cards with the same impartial-yet-friendly act she has had to pick up for this mission. while she doesn't have the confidence in her acting chops to do what he's doing, she can certainly dial up her accountant-working-with-a-very-rich-client customer service voice. 
[break][break]
the signal is communicated seamlessly. with a rigged deck, she doesn't have to worry too much about his hand. she deals each player their cards in turn, taking a cursory glance at each total as she does. "what would you gentlemen like to do?" she asks the players who hit, sinking back into that comfortable-looking lean. she gazes at the first man expectantly, her right thumb taps against the edge of the table again. 
[break][break]
watching a drunken del mar somehow manage to hit his way to a win will surely embolden the more sober characters at this table.
[break][break]

+ space does not really know card games but she will fake it til she makes it in rigged gacha rolls 4 Martín del Mar

The dealer’s second card remains facing down, a mystery to all seven players. Some will eye it; curious, cautious, knowing it can make or break the game depending on its value. Some, wary of the young and beautiful woman’s luck, will assume it could easily be a card worth ten points, and they will give up, thinking that there’s no way they can win against those odds.
[break][break]
The drunken man sitting to the dealer’s left is not one to think about things like those. He looks at the card, swaying slightly in his seat, but it’s as if he’s raising a silent prayer in hope that it’s something he may be able to beat. He himself has three cards now, and they add up to a nice total of nineteen. A dangerous total of nineteen. One most would have been satisfied with; one they wouldn’t have thought to raise, for if one kept the odds in mind, asking for another hit was as if suicide with a hand like this. It could be said that only two types of people would try for a Blackjack when already having a nineteen: those who have some sort of strategy in mind and may have even been keeping track of what was already dealt, and those who foolishly left it all up to luck and fate.
[break][break]
He pretends to be the latter.
[break][break]
He calls for a hit.
[break][break]
And, when the perfect twenty-one comes, he exhales in relief – as if he has been holding his breath from the very beginning. He looks almost as if he’s about to cry. No tears come, but it’s convincing enough, especially when he reaches for the necklace around his neck and kisses what hangs from it as if a pendant – a wedding band, an amulet. The gesture may be part of the act, but the ring itself is not. It’s a remnant of his past life, his secret life, one he would never speak of.
[break][break]
”HA! Damn, I must be lucky tonight! If I win this one I may as well just bet it all, huh?” He laughs loudly, downing most of the drink that has recently been placed before him. These words are a lure: meant to entice the others into believing that they can make it to the end of these games with all of the money that will be lost by this fool. He knows they look at his high stack of chips, and that their greed makes them want to take it all away from him. ”Hey, you know what? I think I’ll buy some more!”

[BREAK][BREAK]

+ katja weiss

katja deals del mar his card. with a fluid motion, she flips it face up in her grasp and places it down in front of him. the card brings his total up to a perfect twenty-one. her eyebrows raise in performative disbelief as the rest of the table erupts in grumbling and loud curses at this drunkard that has laid claim to all the chips they had put up for bet. her boss seems to live and breathe this role, kissing the ring hanging from his neck with a look on his face like he might burst into relieved tears.
[break][break]

as a croupier, as a team rocket member, she can't entertain his histrionics, but she can entertain his drunken request for more chips. she asks how much he wants and gives him the chips. everyone else stays glued to the table, their eyes darting toward the tall stack of chips del mar has accrued. several demand more chips, which she obliges with a smile. 
[break][break]
katja takes a glance at del mar's near-empty glass and hopes he can handle his drink. she passes out cards and reveals one of her own — an ace. casino rules call it an eleven, which have some of the men at the table tugging at their collars. she hardly needs to signal for him to hit — of course a drunk man with nothing (and everything) to lose would test his fool's luck again.
[break][break]

+ space does not really know card games but she will fake it til she makes it in rigged gacha rolls 4 Martín del Mar

This is where the game truly begins.
[break][break]
Honestly, at this point, he feels a bit lightheaded from all the drinks consumed throughout the evening, but it’s nothing he can’t handle – not after so many years of parties, ragers, and wine bottles emptied in the middle of the night just to pass the time. If anything, it makes the act all that more convincing – the swaying itself is no longer entirely faked either.
[break][break]
The woman… the croupier… the dealer… Katja pulls an ace for her own hand.
[break][break]
Eleven and a mystery card.
[break][break]
”HA!” He exclaims, as if there’s something hilarious about that. As if this drunk fool truly believes that his luck will win over such cards. ”FUCK IT.” With an exaggerated gesture, he asks for a hit, at the same time sliding over about half his chips as a wager. One of the piles falls over, spilling all over the table. This is intentional.
[break][break]
Encouraged by his boldness, it’s as if some of the other men also begin putting more trust in luck. As if they truly believe that maybe, just maybe, the odds will be with them and one of them will be the one to take home this incredible prize. They place their bets, because surely the drunk fool won’t be the one to beat the odds one more time, right? Surely there is no way his cards will be better than the dealer’s. Surely someone else has to win this time.
[break][break]
He wins with a twenty.
[break][break]
It takes two more games for him to clear every single chip owned by the other men and then some. He had encouraged them to buy even more, to bet even more, and it worked like a charm. Too well, maybe, since outrage overtakes the table, and he ends up finding himself being escorted away by security for his own safety. This is fine. He too acts outraged, he makes excuses, he demands his money, and then he waits outside – in his pocket now a cheque for an exorbitant amount.
[break][break]
Easy enough.


[BREAK][BREAK]

+ katja weiss

security manifests itself at her table several games deep as the men sitting before her grow increasingly agitated by their losses. katja puts a muzzle over her relief as her boss is taken from the table and escorted out of view. she signals for another croupier to take her place. a bathroom break, she tells them as she breezes past, her fingers picking at the knot in her bowtie.
[break][break]
 finally. in the bathroom stall, she relieves herself of her stuffy croupier outfit. no more overt pleasantries teetering on the line of flirting, no more bearing the whites of her teeth at drunken men so they'll stay at the table. flat-faced and dressed in more casual clothing, katja walks out of the casino a completely different person. 
[break][break]
"excellent work today, sir." she looks him over. he's standing on two feet now, the belligerent drunkenness gone like a puff of smoke. turning toward the street, she crosses her arms and fixes her attention on a blinking sign in the distance. "security wasn't too rough with you, were they?"
[break][break]

+ no more cards pog rigged gacha rolls 4 Martín del Mar

Shoulders roll as he straightens his back, and even though this is such a simple gesture, it fills him with relief, for all the intentional slouching was starting to bring a certain strain upon him. Men like Martín del Mar don’t slouch. Nor do they wear poorly fitting clothes, but there’s not much he can do about that part for now…
[break][break][break]
He smooths down the suit jacket, he fixes up the glasses, and as fingers run through soft brunette hair, it’s as if he’s a completely different person despite looking exactly the same as he had back at the Blackjack table. Confident, proud, a man who owes nothing to the world around him.
[break][break]
”Katja! Fabulous work back there.” His words come with a radiant grin upon seeing his employee, and although he knows better than to be too loud and call to anyone’s attention, there’s something that’s too cheerful about his demeanor, and that something is probably the fault of all the liquor. He may not be as drunk as he pretended to be, but not even Mars is immune to having one too many glasses of whiskey.
[break][break]
”Yeah, yeah, I’m fine! We should get going, though.”
[break][break]
They really should, before anyone gets too suspicious.

[BREAK][BREAK]

+ katja weiss

katja blinks at his greeting, taken aback by the cheerful lilt in his voice. whether it's the drinks or the heavy weight of the check in his pocket, she isn't sure, but it isn't unwelcome. she smiles in return, a small, slightly bashful curve of her lips. "thank you." it's hard not to press the point that he did most of the work in there, she just dealt the cards. she isn't here to argue flattery with her boss, of all people. 
[break][break]
his urgency to leave is well met by her. she wants nothing more than to toss her casino outfit into her dragon's flames and delete her search history of card tricks like a tired college student closing all their tabs after completing a research paper. [break][break]"right," she pats her pockets, assures herself she has everything accounted for. "let's go, then."
[break][break]

+ POG katja gets her first infamy after ur post rigged gacha rolls 4 Martín del Mar

One of the many perks of being someone like Mars is having employees that can be relied upon to perform overly specific tasks without a question. katja weiss could be considered one of them, although in truth her actions at the casino tonight were mostly the result of Team Rocket’s influence and nothing more – they’re the ones who gave the assignment, after all.
[break][break]
His personal assistant showing up in an inconspicuous unmarked vehicle no more than five minutes after a text message is sent, though? That’s all Mars, because of course he had their “escape ride” ready and waiting for them. He is a careful man, after all. One meticulous and who likes considering every detail.
[break][break]
And so, they go, Team Rocket’s wealth now increased by a surprising amount – all thanks to a simple con.
[BREAK][BREAK]

9xlX6V0Q

[BREAK][BREAK]

+ katja weiss