Dealer's turnover

{if Opponent: Flowers = True}{if Robin's Pile = 3}"Ooooh, what's it gonna be? If you get better cards than I do, I'm gonna be jealous! And when I get jealous, I get a little trigger happy with my flamethrower, ha ha ha ha! I'll bet those cards would burn real nice, along with that fancy suit of yours!"

"Please try not to threaten the dealer, it's bad etiquette," Robin responded, trying to keep a polite smile on.

"What? It was a compliment! I said they'd burn nice!"{elseif Robin's Pile = 2}"Let's see some bad cards! Show me the pair that makes her show her pair!" Flowers cheered, drumming her hands up and down on the card table.

"A pair of tens wouldn't be so bad, you know?" Robin laughed.

"I'll bet your pair's a perfect ten, he he he he he..."{elseif Robin's Pile = 1}"It's so cloooose! I wanna just flip every card left, one after another, until we get those panties off of you! The anticipation's driving me crazy!" Flowers cried, grabbing at the ends of her hair and tugging it outward despite the danger of burning her own hands.

"We're not playing 52 card pick up..."

"Well maybe we should be! Ever think of that?!"{endif}{elseif Opponent: Bugs = True}{if Robin's Pile = 3}"Earlier was me going on the offense and this is you going on the defense, eh? It's frustrating, watching somebody else turn over cards and knowing it makes or breaks my own match. Maybe it's just the waiting I can't stand, heh heh... I'm the same way when it's time for a meal," Bugs half-grumbled, half-laughed, pushing another dangling string of drool from her lips.

"And I'll bet it frustrates you watching someone else eat when you've already eaten all you have, ha ha ha!" Robin added as she flipped a card over.

Bugs didn't laugh and her expression didn't change, which Robin found somehow scarier than if she'd taken offense. "I eat till I'm full, mate. And woe be unto whoever's fingers are holding onto what I want. So don't give yourself a perfect 21 unless you wanna get your fingers bit off."

"Ha ha ha... Th-That's a joke, right?" Robin asked. When no answer came back, she held her fingers down on the card a bit longer and gulped. "Right?" Bugs remained silent like a gargoyle, watching and waiting-- there was nothing left for Robin to do but flip the card.{elseif Robin's Pile = 2}"Heh heh heh. You're the real deal, eh, Redd? You can calmly hand out cards, even when you're standin' there in your skivvies. You must know the eyes of every merc in the camp are on you. We don't see a lotta high class gals around here," Bugs taunted her opponent, grinning ear to ear. She licked her lips afterward, making it clear the others weren't the only ones paying close attention to how she fit her bra and panties.

"High class? Me? I just like to dress well, ha ha ha," Robin laughed awkwardly, wondering what they'd think if they could see the apartment she lived in. If she was really that rich, she'd never have been at the Hard Luck.

"Hmmm... An opponent who likes to dress well is gonna be all the more fun, peelin' it all off you like a juicy red apple. Heh heh..."{elseif Robin's Pile = 1}The low sun caused Bugs's massive frame to cast a dark shadow across the table, nearly eclipsing Robin. The tension in the air was thick as Robin put her hand back atop her deck, hesitating to flip the next card. "Oi, Redd? You ought not be so tense. A card game is never gonna be like a battlefield, not exactly. There ain't no reason to act like your life is endin' if you lose this hand," she advised.

Robin couldn't help it; her heart was beating a mile a minute and without even a bra for coverage, she felt like every merc could see it beating. "I just have a tendency to get heavily invested in a game, ha ha. Don't let it bother you," Robin advised, smiling as calmly as she could manage in the circumstances.

"In fact, why fret if you lose, anyway? I'm gonna teach you how to feel things you ain't never felt before, City Girl. Heh heh heh heh..."

Robin felt the opposite of encouraged by that idea...{endif}{elseif Opponent: Fortuna = True}{if Robin's Pile = 3}Robin's focus drifted from the card she was about to flip to Fortuna's whip. Everything up to this point was a dangerous gamble. Was she really willing to keep risking it? If she dealt herself a hand that could beat Fortuna's, would she have the courage to keep poking the tiger-- or leopard, more like-- and go through with it?

"Hey, don't get nervous now, Robbie-Baby! You made it through that pyromaniac and that pitbull. There's no need to get nervous about this one, right? She's all bark and no bite!" Betty reassured Robin from her perch upon the woman's right shoulder.

"Tis true! You have the powers of God and Heaven on your side!" Colline added.

"Don't you mean God and Satan? Or Hell and Heaven?" Betty grumbled.

"... I just think that those powers are rather insignificant next to God and Heaven."

Robin tried to ignore the two fighting and focus on her hand.{if Opponent's Pile < 3}

"How are you still in your full outfit anyway?! You've got to be cheating! I won't allow it! How are you cheating?!" Fortuna ranted. Robin tried to drown that out too.{endif}{elseif Robin's Pile = 2}Robin was feeling now just how little her pile to play with was compared to her opponent's. One loss was all it took to get her down to her underwear.

"I hope she isn't planning to use that whip if she wins..." Colline questioned. "Do not worry! If she does, I will give you God's strength to bear it!"

"What does God know about getting whipped? Kind of devilish purview, heh heh," Betty joked.

"J-Jesus Christ knows quite a lot about being whipped, if you've forgotten the story! Tis noble, tis not a kinky fetish thing like you're putting it!"

"Well, I'll bet you know plenty about it, anyway."

"Yes, I know quite a lot about Jesus... wait, you were implying I like the feeling of a whip!? I do not!"

Robin tried once again to focus on the cards and drown out her increasingly annoying shoulder guardians. It wasn't easy.{elseif Robin's Pile = 1}For all her bravado up to this point, Robin was shockingly close now to landing herself a defeat against the worst possible opponent in the Soldiers of Fortune. Flowers and Bugs might be scary in their own ways, but they didn't have the burning desire for vengeance the same way Fortuna did. This woman didn't want to get her naked-- she wanted to punish her so hard she'd make an example out of her, a warning to anyone else who'd think of crossing the boss.

"I-I wouldn't be too worried. I mean, the woman doesn't seem like she's bloodied her hands too terribly," Colline remarked.

"Then what's with that huge karmic counter, huh, Stupid? I'm sure what she's got planned is not gonna be a walk in the park."

"Pay no attention to Ms. Betty. Relax, Ms. Redd! I'll give you a soothing shoulder massage."

"And I'll give you some nice and soothing aloe for your ass after that merc chick whips all the skin off! Come on, don't lose this, Robbie-Baby!"

Robin gulped, preparing to flip her final card.{if Opponent's Pile < 3} She was so close to victory at this point, she couldn't fumble it here at the finish line! A loss here would mean Fortuna could go back to her usual self, with no one realizing she almost wet her leopard-print undies at the thought of failure.{endif}{endif}{elseif Opponent: Smith = True}{if Robin's Pile = 3}Smith watched Robin handle the cards with a fair degree of suspicion, her beady eyes narrowing to slits with the pupils swinging back and forth, scanning for signs of mischief. She was so used to being screwed over, she had to suspect her dealer was planning something underhanded.

"It makes me nervous if you stare so hard!" Robin giggled. "Well, I suppose I tend to stare as well, when I'm playing against a pretty girl. I've been lucky to face a lot of top shelf opponents lately!"

"... Are you calling yourself pretty right now?" Smith questioned.

"Why? You don't think I am?" Robin asked, giving a teasing smile.

"Fish for compliments out of some other hole in the ground, weirdo," Smith answered, finally averting her eyes a bit as she suddenly became very interested in the ashes collecting in her ashtray. "How long does it take to flip over a damn card?"{elseif Robin's Pile = 2}Smith's eyes went down to her cards, narrowed, then traveled back to Robin's cherry red, satin-smooth undergarments not so discretely. As her focus remained mostly taken by the dealer's tits, she didn't realize that her cigarette had burned down to almost nothing. It was dropping ashes onto the table and missing the ashtray entirely.

"It's flattering that you're so interested, but if we're going to be this inappropriate in the workplace, let's at least remember our fire safety!" Robin joked. "There's a reason people stopped smoking indoors. Well... besides the second-hand smoke." She fought the urge to use her hand to flap away the plumes of smoke drifting across the table. It might be considered bad manners for a dealer to actively complain about the customer's smoking habit, after all.

"Huh?" Smith grumbled back, half-listening as her eyes remained on Robin's bra.

"I said you need to watch your cigarette or you'll set the place on fire!" she complained.

"Oh, don't bother, cupcake," Lyra sighed, shaking her head with a smile still plastered onto her face. "Everything's in one ear and out the other with her! That's why she's still an intern!"

"I'm pretty sure you denying ever request for a promotion or a transfer to another department while constantly undermining me is why people still think I'm an intern," Smith grumbled.{elseif Robin's Pile = 1}With Robin now down to just her panties, Smith was wide-eyed from more than just her coffee. She wasn't just happy that a half-naked hottie playing cards with her was offering a nice change of pace from her usual workload. Rather, she was most excited that it seemed like blessedly, finally, she might actually win something for the first time in years. "You know, the fucked up thing is that I don't actually necessarily want to win... If I win, all that happens after I make you do whatever I want is I go back to working. Doesn't really shake up the status quo," she muttered, giving a sour look over at Lyra.

"If you don't want to win, I'm happy if you look the other way while I deal myself a blackjack!" Robin giggled, but she was sweating a bit as her eyes traveled over to Lyra as well. With the bad-natured head of the newsroom watching over the game, there was little to no chance she'd escape this without a harsh punishment, even if Smith had a conscience about it.

"Listen, Redd. Sometimes we lock ourselves into fucked up contracts that crush our souls and twist our spirits till we snap. I'm not saying that you're necessarily in that kind of situation, but... well, if anybody knows about them, it's me, right?" she explained. "All I'm saying is, if I were you, I'd try real hard to win this next hand or else you might end up trapped here at BIT like I am, one way or another."

Robin gulped. "It's really more luck than it is how hard I try, ha ha ha ha..." That said, it might not be such a bad idea to use some angel or devil power if she happened to have some of either handy, she reasoned.{endif}

{else@}Robin turns over a card for the dealer's side.{endif}

The dealer has turned over: {if Dealer Card = 13}King!{elseif Dealer Card = 12}Queen!{elseif Dealer Card = 11}Jack!{elseif@ Dealer Card > 1}{Dealer Card}!{elseif Dealer Card = 1}Ace!{endif}