she always thought the casino of a sad place. of course, most people do. or at least, they were aware of the systematic enablement of addiction, to extract money out of people who could not spare the change. and that was the least of their transgressions; she was well aware of their less legal operations, ones that involved vulnerable girls and weapons and so on. she did not like being here.

but in a way, she also felt a strange sense of nostalgia for its golden opulence; the grand display of wealth and full of powerful people. it reminded her of past days, for the people who decided on the models and the jobs were the same people who would sit at this very table. at times, they would even take her down these gilded halls, to shows and lavish parties and the like. it was a liminal space, one that connected to other grand places. these resorts were not just for gambling after all.

and now a player at the table, cassidy thought that perhaps this place wasn't so bad after all. she had always been attuned to numbers, and she was good at card games. of course, it did help that she was using a 'rare' technique called counting cards, or to put it simply: cheating.

she tracks the cards with eyes, lacquered nails tapping the table as she made her bet; hit, it means. another card, another push closer to the fabled number that was twenty-one. everyone flips, and look at that; she was just shy of the limit.

another win.

but cassidy has no time to celebrate her victory, because rainy is already shrieking in her ears, telling her that she was too obvious. it was so loud that she thought that the player next to her could hear; but they were none the wiser, their faces just as blank as hers, only perhaps slightly unhappy at their loss.

she knows she's been winning perhaps a little too much. but she could not help it. card counting was too easy, and she hated to lose. the stack of chips in front of her had quickly grown, gathered from the pastures of the poor players.

"perhaps i am just lucky today." she says, in response to both her win, and rainy's awful yelling. she stacks the chips, one by one with deft fingers, gold bangles jangling on her wrists. she would always love luxury so, and she never had many chances to wear jewelry. it was nice to be able to enjoy herself. must rainy yell at her for every single thing?

behind her, a security guard was approaching.

rainy huynh