Robin Redd's Strip Blackjack for Karmic Debtors

The Robin Redd Casino was known the world over as an upscale resort and gambling floor where money was traded quickly, women flirted boldly, and the champagne flowed like water... This was where our protagonist gambled her fortune every day, wearing her heart on her sleeve as she served as dealer for the most interesting players of her generation!

In her dreams, that is. In reality, no such place ever existed.

Robin Redd had always dreamed of being the woman in charge of such a glitzy establishment in Vegas, but for now, she wasn't in charge, the place she worked wasn't glitzy, and hell, it wasn't even in Vegas. Despite her attempt to class the place up by dressing well with her trademark red suit and little black bow-tie, the Hard Luck Casino was a dive, pure and simple. It was a place where bored and uninterested dealers hosted half-cocked games against witless saps. Those marks were all convinced they'd be the next to win the unwinnable game, one in which it was understood by all that the house took a discrete, uninteresting average 1% profit off the games when they were doing well and 1% loss when they did poorly.

It was a stagnant and hopeless place that threatened to stifle Robin's spirit, but as a gambling addict herself with few options available to her, it was the only local place for her to practice her trade as a dealer. A dealer of cards, that is, not ****-- although, she knew some of that happened at the Hard Luck as well, despite her attempts to stamp it down.

Robin Redd had grit and staying power, even when dealt a bad hand, but she couldn't help but fantasize what her life could be like elsewhere. When she looked around at the Hard Luck, she just wished it had a little more pizzaz. A little less puke and cigarette smoke baked into the carpets. A little more red and a little less beige. A little more glitz and glamour... maybe even a little sex appeal to spice things up.

And God, she wanted some female players. She'd pretend-flirt with anybody to keep them at the table, but as a woman with eyes for women, she'd been going through a long dry spell full of skinny guys, fat guys, bald guys, hairy guys... but all guys. That fateful afternoon, she was serving one such player.

"Well, you may have lost your chips," Robin said to the man on the other side of the table, a gentleman who seemed like banter with a captive dealer was the only thing giving his life any joy at the moment, "but you've still got your looks! That's a beautiful head of hair, like a TV anchor's."

"This is a toupee..." he replied in a dull voice. Whatever joy he'd had left in the tank just up and quit.

"... Well then, you've still got something to put up as collateral! It looks like a very expensive toupee."

Her trademark, teasing charm seemed to flick a switch in him all of a sudden. The man's sunken eyes seemed to go bloodshot and his mouth hardened into a wide line under his bushy mustache. "You're heartless, aren't you? You scumbags working here are all the same. You just want to wring good guys like me dry. Well, congratulations. I'm all dried out." He pulled his empty pockets outward, illustrating his point to make the blame hurt worse.

She gave a soft sigh, regarding the man with pity in her red-brown eyes. All she could do was give this guy a fun time. She couldn't give handouts-- that was the most obvious of house rules. She thought to herself: "He's probably a good guy who's fallen in hard times, just like he said. Out of work. Unsupportive family. Lashing out like this is probably justified."

"Nope. Look again, sweetheart," the devil on her shoulder whispered in her ear.

A number was floating above the man's head: a 4, followed by a lot of 0s... and ticking upward as he continued to guilt trip a service industry worker half his age.

"That's called a karmic calculator. This jerk's bad karma is sky high, Robbie-Baby. You could take him for another couple thousand and he'd deserve it! Don't let me stop you."

That bit about the calculator was a revelation, but as for the apparently evil loser scowling across the table from her... he had just been bumped backward on the list for her attention, now dead last in her mind, no longer in the running for consideration. She was much more interested in the very sultry, out-of-place, feminine voice she'd just heard. "Um... excuse me, sir... I'm going on break. Good luck pawning your toupee!"

Robin ran away from the table with a bounce in her step and another in the generous bosom filling the starched white shirt beneath her dealer's jacket. Her heart was beating a mile a minute. Either she was going crazy or this was some kind of supernatural event, like a haunting!

No, none of that was right. She just had a communication receiver in her ear, like she always did for work, and it was even on the same side the voice had spoken from. Nothing particularly strange about it besides the gender. For some reason a woman was speaking to her over that, right? Had they gotten another lady employee? Now that would be lucky! She made a mental note to chat up her new gal pal and start tending to a hopefully fruitful relationship there...

... But when she finished pulling out the earpiece, staring at it in disbelief as it rested in the palm of one of her black, silk gloves, she still heard the voice just as loud as it had been a moment ago. This was made all the creepier by her decision to run out into the dark alley behind the Hard Luck, where she now pictured someone watching her from the shadows. She turned around with fear in her eyes, reaching for the scooter keys she kept in her pocket so that she'd have something to put between her knuckles...

The unseen woman continued, as jovial as ever. "Good idea! It's a lot quieter out here and we've got a lot to go over. Look to your right. I'm the devil on your shoulder."

Now Robin was sure she was hallucinating. Sure enough, when she turned her head with a swish of her bobbed hair, half-black and half-red, she saw a little woman standing up on one of the padded shoulders of her blazer. The woman was dressed in a black business suit with a super mini-skirt and a deeply unbuttoned blouse, straight out of someone's fantasy of a sexy business lady. Her legs, long relative to the total proportions of her small body, were clad in semi-transparent black hose, tucked into jet-black high heels. Her head was topped with two curving red horns, jutting out from her wavy black hair, and sprouting from her back were leathery bat wings. Her sly grin sported fangs as she adjusted her rectangle-framed glasses.

In short- ha ha- she was a miniature devil.

If she was just about ten-times the size, she'd also be the most gorgeous woman Robin had ever lay eyes upon, devil or not. Instead, the devil was like a little animated doll, like a moving version of the figurines she collected herself, the ones that depicted her favorite cartoon heroines in all manner of provocative poses and removable garments. This newcomer was a lot like a figure she'd purchased in the past, actually.

"Hey there. I'm the little voice in your ear you hear every time you look down the blouse of that cute coffee girl. The name's Lucky Betty, and yes, I'm the devil on your shoulder. You know how some people have a guardian angel? Well, you've got the opposite: a devil, here not to protect your life, but to make it spicier. Way better, if you ask me."

Robin shook her head, then blinked her eyes, then rubbed both eyes with her fists. Amazingly, no part of this routine caused the devil to disappear, no matter how many times she repeated the process.

Betty used her bat wings to fly herself into an easier position to speak with the dealer. "I've got an assignment for you, Robbie-Baby. Something to give your life meaning and help a lot of people... you'll have a lot of fun doing it too."

Robin noticed a tail flickering behind the pleasantly curvy hips of the woman's skirt. The tail was snake-like, with a pointed tip... and actually seemed to raise its tip and regard her, like a real snake would.

"You remember that bastard back there with the high karmic debt, right? He's living the life he's supposed to be living right now, the one he deserves. He's been a real shit-heel and thus my boss has his nasty hooks in him, dragging him down to where he belongs on the totem pole of life. In short, his karmic number matches the life he's living. But some people..."

She held up two hands, forming a net with her fingers, then squeezed her tail's pointed end through one of the gaps.

"... some people slip through, living great, glamorous lives despite all of the evil shit they get up to. That's when they assign me, the devil's debt collector, to make things right. I take those nice and shiny things they've hoarded. You're now my sole charge and together we're going to raise hell, winning back everything that's owed to the big man. It's gonna be wild. You like gambling, right? How about strip blackjack with a little hands-on karmic correction at the end as a pretty red cherry on top?"

Robin raised her eyebrows. She was taking this in stride, but that last part needed elaboration. "Wait a minute. If it's strip blackjack with 'the man of my dreams' or something like that, then I should warn you-"

"No, stupid. I've been hanging around you because you're a woman after my own heart. I'll pick our targets and I assure you, I prefer the fairer sex as much as you do."

"Oh, phew. Okay. I'm in!"

Now it was Betty's turn to be surprised. "Just like that? I haven't even told you what the hell we're going to be doing yet! Hm hm hm... I like that recklessness, befitting a gambler who'll go down in legends! You and I are going to go far. You and me against the world. You can turn in your resignation papers today... actually, don't bother. Who cares? Leave this shit-hole and that rinky-dink scooter of yours, too. We'll board the train to your first stop on hell's own wheels. I've already got the tickets."

"Woah woah, I've got to resign from my job? And I'll have you know, other girls think the scooter is cool! It's got game."

"Robbie-baby, we're covering all your living expenses and then some. An important part of strip blackjack is cleaning out the other party's wallet first. You'll get to hold on to a cut of that, so when it's over, you can afford to something with a little more horsepower anyway. What is there to complain about? Let's go go go! Quickly now!"

Robin had the vague feeling that Betty was trying to draw her attention away from something... common logic would dictate that when the devil on your shoulder gets too insistent, you ought to try listening to the angel on the other one.

Robin's intuition was one of her stronger features. Sure enough, as she listened closely, she heard some sort of muffled voice coming from the left shoulder and felt something squirming around there...

Betty grabbed Robin's cheeks in both hands, spinning her head back around to face forward. "Let's focus here! You're all in on my devilish deal, right?"

Robin was thankful to find that the simple action of turning her own head still trumped the miniature demon's grip strength. She wasn't terribly surprised at what she found upon her left shoulder: a little angel was seated there, just like Betty had been on the other one. Well, it might be more appropriate to say the angel was lying there. Her arms and legs had been bound with thick black chains and her mouth was gagged, seemingly with her teeth digging into someone's undergarments. Judging by the frilled, white cotton, Robin figured they probably belonged to the angel.

The angel was in many ways similar to Betty. Tiny, winged, with a golden halo like you might expect and a business-like white pant-suit that fit the curvature of her body quite well. Her round, large-framed glasses were slightly displaced upon her face from all the squirming she'd been doing. Her wings were less leathery, she had no tail, and her hair was bright, blond, and straight instead of black and wavy. Her skin was a pale, alabaster white color, as opposed to the other girl's red. She looked like a pretty ornament you might put atop a Christmas tree-- at least, she would, if she was dressed a bit more classically, including being freed from her uncomfortable new bracelets.

Robin shot Betty an accusatory glare before helping the little angel out of her gag and bindings. The chains might be hard for a person that size to break, but for her, it was no difficult feat.

"Ahem... thank you... Worry not, Lucky Betty. I shan't plan to make an incident out of your **** or bring anything into court," the angel said after she cleared her throat, seeming pleased to gasp back in air.

"You just know I'd beat the pants off of you," Betty said, rolling her eyes.

It seemed like these two had some history, Robin noted. She also wondered why the angel was being so forgiving, but perhaps that answer would come in time.

"Angels and devils are natural enemies in many ways, 'tis true. But on this occasion, in spite of your attempt to remove me from the picture, our goals are aligned. Should we not be sisters-in-arms this time around?"

"Sisters? Please. I don't even wanna be acquaintances," Betty spat back, sticking out her forked tongue to punctuate the sentiment.

"Alas, such a shame. Ah, but where are my manners? Hello, Ms. Redd. They call me Colline. I am an angel, as you probably surmised, a Debt Collector from heaven. I am tasked with a mission much the same as Lucky Betty here. That is, I am to visit the sinful who have lived lives in abundance of God's mercy and taken his gifts in vain. You see, God bestows blessings upon us all, but at times-"

"It's the exact same thing! I already gave Robin the whole speech!" Betty interrupted with a loud groan. "Only Colline sees it backwards, i.e. wrong. The truth is: this is the devil's job! Karmic balance is a devil thing! If a human gets too sinful, that's karmic debt and it's my job to drag them back down towards hell!"

"N-No, that's not quite right... Karmic debt is the purview of the Lord, you see. The number represents his blessings and if they are over the amount allotted-"

"You're reading it fucking wrong! It's their sins! The karmic counter is sins! Notice how it doesn't change if you take their blessings away?! That's because it's sins!"

"There is a very good book that would tell you otherwise, if you would only take the time to read! The karmic counter is a display of blessings that I must account for! It simply fails to update in real time as we repossess said blessings! I- ow! Stop!"

The devil and angel started rolling through the air as Betty plucked feathers out of Colline's wings. Colline wailed in protest, but otherwise turned the other cheek, as it were. Robin, for her part, was finishing an eager inspection of the tiny pair of panties she'd freed from the angel's mouth. She noted they were frilly and semi-transparent in a way that seemed too provocative for a servant of God. "Hey, you two. If you've got the same mission, can't you both just help me?"

The two stopped with Betty still holding Colline in a headlock. "Huh?"

"Um."

"Well."

"Yes..."

The two finally gave up, returning to their places on each of Robin's shoulders.

"You don't have a problem with the 'strip blackjack with a naked climax' Betty was talking about, do you?" Robin questioned. "That doesn't seem like something an angel would support."

"O-Oh, no, it's quite alright. My Lord will be pleased as long as the perpetrators are... humbled. I suppose that is one way of doing it. Do not fear. I, and most likely Betty as well, will each lend you our power when the time comes to push things in the right direction."

"It'll be up to you to pick who you want to do it, though. I'll be nice and rough with 'em, heh heh heh. If you like it wild and wet, I'm your gal. I can put the fear of the devil into a bitch. You'd actually be surprised how much I can fit inside most bitches."

"Or, I would be happy to lend my service when the time comes. I'll treat them gently, with love and affection, which we must agree is the humane choice. If you choose to grant them that small mercy, I'll be waiting in the wings, as they say. You can choose based on what you think suits the situation, but I do hope you'll make the choice our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ would approve of."

"Laaame."

"Tis not lame..."

"Neither one of you is lame," Robin said, her face brightening with a smile as she crossed her arms and stared forward into the darkness of the back alley behind the Hard Luck, which now seemed just a bit brighter. "You're both beautiful to me! Like a lucky pair! You're just what I needed to get out of this hell-hole!"

"Heh. If we're a lucky pair, then I'm the ace and Colline's the ten," Betty scoffed. "As long as I'm the higher number."

"You're so petty, Betty..." Colline sighed. "W-Wait, you think I'm a 'ten?' Oh my!" The angel blushed, holding her hands to her cheeks.

"Oh wait, one more thing. Other people can't see you two, can they?" Robin asked, wondering if she'd be explaining that aspect to players across the table for the rest of her life.

"No, no. We're quite discrete. That is to say, invisible, when we want to be. That is how we hid our presence from you up to this point, after all," Colline explained with a polite smile.

"We can also communicate telepathically with you so you aren't babbling out loud like a total nutjob during your games. Though, we'll try not to be too chatty. It'd make it hard to concentrate," Betty pitched in.

"And I pick the game, right? I've got a modified version of blackjack that's a bit simpler even than the usual. It ought to make our work go quickly," Robin said.

"That sounds perfectly fine," Colline agreed.

"Easier to program into a game on the internet, too," Betty added. "If somebody, you know, was trying to do that."

Robin didn't quite understand that last part, but she let it slide. Everything had been explained to her satisfaction except for just one final detail. "Well, uh... there was some kind of hell train that was going to take me to the first place, right? Do you have, like, a heaven version of that or something?" Robin asked her shoulder-angel.

"Oh, um... I er... forgot to arrange transportation... I-I could phone back home and arrange a carriage..."

"Too late! One hell train, coming right up!" Betty cackled. When she snapped her fingers, wearing a devilish grin on her face, the entire alleyway suddenly changed from a dark, bluish black to an intense red and orange.

Robin jumped from foot to foot as the ground began to give way underneath her, crumbling stone by stone until there was nothing left to stand on. She screamed into the night sky as she began to plummet down towards what she could only assume was the core of the earth, molten hot and glowing... until her downward momentum was halted with a loud smack. She landed straddling a miniature train engine with her own shapely caboose pointed up towards the entrance of the chasm where she'd fallen.

If the train had been real person sized, it might have been an impressive sight, jet-black with a skull motif on the front and steam firing off in all directions. Instead, it was like a kiddie ride, laughable in its attempt to look intimidating.

The devil and the angel each landed, perched upon her buttcheeks, as Robin cried out in protest.

"What the hell?! Why is the train so small?!"

Betty laughed. "They must have mixed up the order and thought I was asking for a train my own size, those morons. Anyway, it'll still get you where you need to go. Just, uh, don't jostle around too much and fall off, okay? You haven't got wings and you look a little heavy for me and Colline to handle."

Colline apologized. "I'm so sorry, Ms. Redd! If it makes you feel any better, I think the carriage would have been a tad undersized as well, so waiting wouldn't have helped."

"It doesn't make me feel any better at aaaall!" Robin screamed as the toy engine carrying her barreled forward under the crust of the earth, through the landscape of hell, towards some unknown location she could only imagine, far, far away from the Hard Luck where she'd worked all her adult life.

"Wait till you see the present I've got waiting for you. As if today could get any more exciting!" Betty cackled.

Robin Redd's luck was changing, just like she'd asked for... but who could yet say if for better or worse?

((This is a game-style story! Please activate game mode using the tab in the upper right. This will allow you to see variables, branches, and hidden text that corresponds to your choices. This will also be a test bed for my use of the random number generator that was added in 2025! I hope you enjoy!))