Closed Come Out Swinging(Senghor)

[Dieter Hauer]

Winter 13, 514 Tall Johnny's Casino and Cage Fights The place was packed, lots of people sitting at different tables gambling their money away. You could hear many people cursing and many fewer being happy, along with the sounds of fighting coming from the cage. Dieter was working his shift at Tall Johnny’s, it had only been three days since he started working there and he was still pretty excited about it. Dieter spent most of his time there standing and watching the tables to be sure that nothing was going wrong and to keep the rowdy people at bay. Most people were respectfully fearful of the guards and didn’t tend to cause issues. Dieter then began to walk through the tables, looking at the people at the tables and the others milling about. It was about then that he heard a yell from one of the women that ran a table. Dieter turned and saw a man swiping a bunch of Mizas off the table and into a bag and quickly walked over to see what was going on. When asked the woman said that the man had not won, but instead lost and was taking the money anyways. The man was short and rather thin and clearly intoxicated. Seemed like he had had a bit too much to drink and when Dieter reached over and asked the man what was happening, he managed to stutter out “This woman cheate’ me ou’ a my money. I’m jus’ takin’ back what’s mine.” Dieter responded “Clearly this isn’t your money, if you lost your money while drunk that’s your fault. Give the money back.” Putting his hand out expecting to be handed the bag, the man refused to turn over the bag. Dieter reached over to grab the bag but the man pulled it away at the last second and threw a clumsy left hook at Dieter which happened to catch dieter on the jaw, but there was no real power behind it and only managed stun Dieter for a moment before the punch came back at the drunk with much more force than the first strike. Dieter’s strike opened a cut on the drunken man’s eyebrow and next to his eye, the drunk crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Dieter picked up and handed the bag of Mizas to the girl working the table and picked the guy up and carried him out to the alleyway next to Tall Johnny’s and sat him down on a wall. Dieter walked back to the door and opened it walking halfway in before turning around, going back to the man and fishing through his pockets grabbing the few small items in the man’s pockets. Dieter then returned to standing by the wall of the room keeping an eye on what was going on in the casino. Once again Dieter was waiting for something to happen. The frequency of things happening like had just occurred was low. Most of the time people knew that things like this would happen and avoided causing any trouble. When these things did occur it easily made the other patrons think twice about what they were doing to avoid the same fate as the people they saw being carried out, a typically unwanted fate; one that mostly led to being robbed, by people on the streets or by the guards themselves. It was truly an unfortunate fate.

[Senghor Vilhjalmr]

'Yea, I's saw one guy who look lik' who you lookin' fo' said a man who Senghor had sat at the table with. The desert skinned mercenary was out for blood before the trail ran cold and he was thankful that he had picked up word at the Pig's Foot on where to go next - Tall Johnny's. He sat at a drinking table in the casino for the sake of it and surveyed the area, looking for the most drunken and talkative figures in the gambling den. He was lucky that a drunkard was willing to speak but it seemed that the man was just as unless as most of those he was questioning. His eyes turned to a rowdy bunch in his earshot, he narrowed his gaze and looked at the people causing the noise. A woman and a man -- probably debating something stupid and not worth much of his attention -- but than, as he looked over the rowdy bunch he stole a glance to the table beside the rowdy pair. He grit his teeth and looked for his sword, he hadn't brought it and Tall Johnny's rarely allowed for weapons in the den. He spat to himself and the man he shared a table with; the drunkard chuckled to himself when he saw the tall man swear. 'Shit... Think Senghor, think.' he whispered to himself when he turned back to man. The table was one of the lucky ones depending on perspective on whoever was winning and whoever was dealing. Between the players there was a man, a fairly imposing figure with a hearty laughter to him. His was dropping coin with such eager pose that it seemed like the man didn't care he was losing. When Seng heard the laugh of the drunkard beside him, a plan formulated and he turned back to him. 'Hey, how would you like making a few bits of coin?' 'Coin!, I'do anything fo' coin!' the eager drunkard beamed with a toothy grin, slamming his palm on the table and looking over the tall man before him. 'Well here's what I want you to do...'

[Dieter Hauer]

It didn’t take long once Dieter had returned to his place to watch the floor that he saw a man, who had a certain air of carelessness and mirth about him. He was throwing coins away at the table regardless of his losing; the loss of money seemed to be of no issue to him what so ever. He did not seem to be intoxicated either; he instead seemed simply to have a lot of money to spend and not a care in the world. With a bit of looking he also spotted a man sat at one of the drinking tables watching the man intently and chatting with a drunken man at his table.

It appeared that the man had made the drunken man a deal for a small amount of coin as the drunken man got up and seemed to wander off, as though looking for a way to do something. This behavior was at the least suspicious, a thing that Dieter wanted to investigate too see that nothing was about to go wrong for the patrons of the establishment. It was his job to ensure the safety, first of the people running the tables, second the profit of the casino, and third the people spending the money; and seeing as the other two were safe he might as well put himself to work on the last thing he was supposed to do.

Dieter slowly made his way through the floor towards the table where the almost panicked looking man was sitting, still keeping an eye on the tall man who was still dropping coin like he wouldn’t live to see the next day. Dieter recognized the table as the one next to where he had just recently had to handle a disruptive patron a few minutes ago. When Dieter arrived at the table he calmly asked, “Is everything alright?” to the man, who was very tall and muscular, with skin of an almost caramel colour, and waited for a response. All the while Dieter was still keeping an eye on the man at the table dropping coin, and losing it, at a rapid pace.