Cheating With Fate

[belfire]

Who: OPEN
Where: Aries Ward, near the Great Arena
When: During the tournament, any date'll do!
Summary: There is an upside to having the Goddess of Fate on your side. Time to cheat at gambling! Who wants to cash in as well - or bust his ass?
Warnings: Gambling and stuff.

Just outside of the Great Arena, Kazuya was standing before a great golden entity, Norn, with a brightly coloured pamphlet held up high above him, his scarlet eyes narrowed in intense thought. It was showing the current match happening that day, the fighters' profiles and stats written in exciting, flashy ways to draw the eye and stir excitement.

What was he doing? Well...

"Okay, so you're absolutely sure they'll win?"

"Our predictions always have a chance to occur, Our Lord," the topmost woman said, her voice echoing oddly as her lips didn't even move. How eerie. "Something may happen outside of our view..."

"Okay, so you're sure that they're most likely to win then?" Kazuya amended, lowering the pamphlet and looking quite pleased with himself. "These have higher odds against them too, so if I put in enough money, I could walk away from this a very rich man..."

Oh dear, it seemed like this one was cheating. If you overheard, you may wish to correct this amoral deed! Or ask to cash in on the same deal. Hey, Norn's the presider of Fate - her hunches have gotta be golden!

Comments

Let's go with the first day

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

"Whatcha doin'?"

Kaito should probably stop sneaking up people, but he'll be damned if it isn't funny as hell. until Saiduq does it to him, that is

[belfire]

Well darn. Kazuya had been so absorbed in his daydream of rolling in a pile of money that he didn't sense Kaito coming up behind him at all. He jumped, clutching the pamphlet close to his chest and spinning round to give Kaito a narrowed stare.

"...gee, Norn, thanks for telling me that someone was eavesdropping," he grumbled, shooting a glare at his demon over his shoulder. He coughed and straightened back up, looking back at the intruder.

"I'm not doing anything. Nothing. Just chillin' with a clock woman."

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

He blinked at the guy, then raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"You know, when you cheat at gambling, it's not really gambling anymore, is it?"

Normally he wouldn't say this or even care, but apparently this guy was either bad at lying or thought Kaito was stupid!

[belfire]

Ugh. Don't tell him this a goody two-shoes guy...

"Look, if you're gonna give me the whole 'cheaters never prosper' rubbish - save it, 'coz you'll just get a 'I told you so', when I'm rolling in money," Kazuya sniffed primly, tugging at the collar of his cape. The Demon King look was sort of ruined by the bright, baby blue turtleneck sweater beneath the cape, but he hated the snow, okay! It was to cold!! And Belial hated it.

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

"It's not that, I just don't see the point in it." He gave a shrug while trying not to snicker at this guy's cape.

"Like, the reason people gamble is for the adrenaline rush of not knowing if they're gonna win. So if people pick up that they're losing every time, no one's gonna bet anymore."

So, if Kazuya keeps doing this for all of the matches, both divisions included...

[belfire]

"...I just want money," Kazuya said flatly, "I get my adrenaline rushes from something a bit better than stuff like this. Besides, I can't even watch the matches."

Well, he could, if he found a television that wasn't claimed by a bubbly crowd of people. He was getting a bit better in handling his hunger when people's emotions skyrocketed, but he could only deal with a maximum of three people. Any more than that and... yeah.

[awww_yeeeeeaaaah]

"...You can't? How come?"

Maybe he just didn't like crowds or something...

[demifemme]

Shura wanted one of those pamphlets, but the first two distributors she saw were empty. Fortunately, there was this guy in a cape with his demons having the odds foretold to him...

"Are there good odds on me?"

[belfire]

Kazuya turned to the newcomer, his eyebrows scrunching together slightly at the sight of her. "Odds on- oh, you're one of the fighters," he muttered, partially to himself. He stuffed the pamphlet into his pocket, as if hiding the evidence, and looked away with a rather vapid expression.

"Odds? What're you talking about? I don't see any cheating going on here..."

[demifemme]

"Don't take me for a moron, I see you there with your demon. I don't care if you're cheating or not. I just wanna know the odds on me."

[belfire]

"Mmph..."

Kazuya linked his hands behind his head, his lips pressing together in a little pout, obviously more than a little disgruntled. "I can't tell you that. That would be messing with fate, and considering how finicky it can be, it could put my bets in danger."

He isn't gonna budge, Shura. Maybe ask the Norn directly?

[demifemme]

Shura raises an eyebrow at Kazuya, then turns to look at the demon. She didn't know her name, but perhaps even she had hear of the Hitoshura...

"I am the Hitoshura. Are the odds on me good?"

[belfire]

Norn's gaze was vacant - mostly because the topmost woman was a statue - but Shura would get the strangest feeling of being intensely focused on. The minute hand on the clock ticked forwards, but only briefly.

"You are a defier of Fate, Demi-Fiend," the Norn said, her voice echoing past unmoving lips, and holding a hint of laughter. "Or should I say, Fate is leaning heavily upon you. Such a blessed child..."

Kazuya interjected. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

"Do not be jealous, my King. You are blessed too," the Norn said gently.

[otakuro]

"Kazuya!"

That there is a voice that certainly sounds outraged. Atsuro has an arm outstretched in the classic stance of pointy-haired lawyers and professors in top hats.

OBJECTION

He approaches his best friend with a shake of his head.

"I can't believe this!"

[belfire]

"Gah!" Kazuya almost jumped about a foot into the air at the loud voice, spinning around to face his friend with a rather startled look. Immediately his expression became one of someone guilty trying vainly to look innocent, shuffling slightly as if to block Norn from view.

(Considering Norn's size, and the fact that she could float several feet off of the air, Kazuya's endeavour was futile, but no less admirable)

"Oh! Hey, Atsuro! Wh...What's up? Haha..."

[otakuro]

Now if only Kazuya could stretch himself to become a perfect circle...

Atsuro crosses his arms and shakes his head sadly once he's close enough to be able to speak without shouting.

"I never thought you'd do something like this... It's almost... a complete betrayal of our friendship, you know?"

Another totally unnecessary finger-thrust as Atsuro performs an about face and grins brightly.

"I'm fighting today, so you're going to bet everything you have on me, right?!"

[belfire]

"Uhhhh..."

Oh dear, a conflict of interests. Should he support his friend, or go for the big money prize? Of course, if these interests merged together, it'd be great, but so far...

"Well, of course! What, what kind of friend wouldn't? Certainly not one who would love a shit tonne of money, ha..."

[otakuro]

...
...
...

"Next birthday you're getting an IOU."

His own birthday having just passed, Atsuro was in a frame of mind to appreciate a thoughtful birthday gift.

"Joking aside, do you really care about this stuff enough to cheat with the goddess of fate?"

[belfire]

"Not really," Kazuya admitted, "But I'm bored, and I want to see if this actually works. If it doesn't, oh well. If it does, I get money to spend on stuff. Awesome stuff."

[bakegarasu]

There's a man watching from the shadows, just chuckling. He looks over at the demon, and approaches Kazuya, curious as to what this kid thinks he's doing.

"Aren't you a little young to be betting, kid?" He doesn't bother to hide his yakuza speech pattern. Not in a casino.

[belfire]

"Uh? Oi, hey, excuse me," Kazuya sniffed, crumpling the pamphlet up and turning to the new man with a dramatic swish of his cape. Yeah like he's scared of Yakuza! He could just teleport away if shit went down (and probably end up in a fountain knowing his luck but shh...)!

"I'm not a kid. It's none of your business what I'm doing anyway," Kazuya squinted suspiciously at him, "Were you watching me? Creep."

[bakegarasu]

You have a cape, he has a trenchcoat.

"Kinda hard not to watch you with a giant golden clock demon thing with you." And honestly he's a little interested in her, if only to wonder what the hell she is, but he knows better than to straight-out ask that.

[belfire]

...okay, Norn did stand out a lot, he'd give you that.

"You're a double creep then. Perving on three clock women, for shame," Kazuya huffed. That's right, focus on something entirely stupid. Ignore the fact that he was cheating.

[bakegarasu]

"I've got no interest in them like that, kid." He does smile slightly, though. He's got guts at least. "Though you might wanna not cheat so blatantly in front of people."

Anyone with ears can hear what you're doing.

[belfire]

Kazuya pouted, a low growling grumble building in his throat. "I'm not cheating. I'm just getting some advice on who to bet on on a woman's hunch. If I win it's just coz Lady Luck was smiling on me."