Description: You would think this has anything to do with badness. You would think so. And you're RIGHT, but which side is the bad? Who is the greater evil? And is Go Fish far beyond the power of blackjack or poker? You be the judge.
Southtown Village is almost a suburb type area in the city, a place where the middle class can huddle together and live comfortably. Nearby is Taiyo High, a school known for it's exuberant and excitable students who have more team spirit than just about any others in the world. It's not the type of place at all that crime runs rampant. Maybe over by Gedo Street 'seedy' dealings are more common than not, but here in the heart of the clean and comfortable Village they're nearly nonexistent.
Nearly. Not completely because in an alleyway, not far in at all, near the school is a man out to make a quick buck. Gambling attracts all sorts, and young naive kids are the perfect targets for gambling 'scams'. No, this isn't a wholesome brawl contest that can be found anywhere in this fine city, but instead little more than a set of chairs, a table, a deck of cards, and a slick dressed Italian. "Busted? That's too bad, but I should be back tomorrow! Remember, I'm always good for double or nothin'!" Its almost too easy.
And when you get right down to it, there's nothing truly dishonest about what Sergio is doing. The games are blackjack and poker, and he knows how to count cards. It's all a simple matter of probabilities, and though he's not smart enough to understand the math behind it he has enough experience that he knows all the best times to lay down the big bucks and take these kids for all their shopping money. And todays youth has a good amount. But hell, he's doing it as much for the thrill and the kick of it as the cash- he can make way more in a simple exhibition fight than he could doing this for a week. But maybe the kids will learn something. "Hey kid, tell her not to let it bug her- she was close!" Suckers
Sneaky sneaky sneaky. Sneaky sneak sneak! Sneak sneak sneaky!
Mignon may not know Southtown completely, but you'd be surprised at how many times you can see Mignon sneaking around, trying to find things, and trying to HELP people. Just a few weeks ago she found a VAMPIRE. But Sergio isn't a vampire, or bit people! .. Perhaps he can actually be talked to.
If Mignon were not stuck on the super hero business. THAT IS.
And with Sergio down there, Mignon, currently on the roof of a building, looking down in the alleyway, has EVERYTHING against what he is doing! "HEY!" She yells out, "THAT'S BAD! You shouldn't be doing that, MIGNON KNOWS THAT GAMBLING IS ILLEGAL! Mignon knows because the police told her! And they wouldn't lie to Mignon!" And that's when the pink haired terror drops down, almost almost... "AND ANOTHe---Woah too high TOO HI-" And Mignon crashes into a few garbage bags. For a few seconds, there is no activity, before Mignon leaps out, pointing. "-R THING!" She points to the student. "I'm teeeellinnng~!"
It's really what he gets for setting up around the school that's known for taking a hard stance against crime. But this sort of thing was expected. Sergio doesn't seem too bothered by Mignon's shout, looking up and- Oh hey, how could he forget someone that looks like that? The students he was taking advantage of seem to have a much different reaction however. At first they follow Sergio's lead in not careing, but actually laugh outright at Mignon when she falls into the trash. But then? When she says she's telling on them... they scatter. You can almost see little smoke trails behind them as they pale and escape out of the ally. They recognize her too- maybe if they leave quick enough she won't recognize them!
"The police? Hah! The police won't care about me. Not only do they have bigger problems to deal with, but allow me to let you in on a little secret: They've been bribed. If they cared that much I'd already be gone." The man gives a shrug and a bit of a grin to the pink teenager. "An besides, what's wrong with helping people have a bit of fun? You wouldn't be complaining if you tried it."
"Here, why don't I show you? Comon, sit down." He waves his hand at the now empty seat. "Why not play a hand or two- and no money, I know you wouldnt want to do a bad thing like gambling, right?" He drums his fingers on the table for a moment and then states as if it's already decided, "I know, why don't we play with these?" He puts his hand into his pocket and pulls out a small handful of buttons. Shiny buttons. Where did he get those? And more importantly, why is he carrying worthless buttons?
Look if you can see straight after falling into some smelly trash from a roof by mistake then you're a better .. person than Mignon. Wait, does that necessarily make them better? Mignon ponders that, but ultimately lacks an answer. Because.. well because Sergio is speaking, not because Mignon never would really have an idea like that.
"Huh? Mignon doesn't believe it!" She cries, pointing at Sergio, the other hand on her hip like she really really means business. There's a cupcake/muffin holder on her head too. One of those colored paper things around the bottom. It's just sitting there. "Mignon doesn't think this is really fun to have your stuff taken and being robbed!"
Wait are those BUTTONS? "Mignon .. doesn't know how to play cardsbutthat DOESN'T MATTER!" She pipes up, walking forwards, and looking over. "Because Mignon is really sure, she's so sure she's sure that you cannot do thi-why do you have those beautiful buttons mister?" Mignon asks, tilting her head.
"Oh no!" Mignon cries, turning around. "What ever will Mignon do .. she must stop this no goodnic from corrupting any other students.. but Mignon reeeeeeeeeally likes buttons..." She thinks, oh no!
... Well, apparently he confused Mignon. Pretty effortlessly at least.. so FAR. Her hands are on her cheeks as she thinks, a bit away.
"If they didn't like it they wouldn't play. People get excited by risk, and betting money on a game is just how they make it more exciting. It's not like I'm tryin' to rook some poor old guy into betting the deed to his house or something, eh?" But that's probably a bad tack to take with someone like Mignon. 'Not as bad' still falls under 'bad'. To someone who sees in black and white the lesser of two evils is still EVIL.
So he'll stick to his original plan of introducing Mignon to how very fun playing cards can be. "These? Got 'em at an art supply store. They were 90% off, can you believe it? Check it out." He holds one up to his silk shirt and... ye gods, it matches. Most of them are different colors, though. "You don't know how to play though? Black Jack would probably be easier, but... here, I'll show you how to play poker. Kids at school probably play that together all the time."
He sets the deck of cards out on the table and spreads them out- oh look at that, they're al in order. "The basic idea is to try to get certain combinations of cards. Say you have two cards that have a four on them. That's called a pair. A pair of fives is higher than a pair of fours. Face cards are higher than number cards and go in the order Jack, Queen, King. One cards are called Aces, and are the highest of all. If you have two pairs that's better than just one pair, and three of the same number is better than two pair. Next up is a straight; five cards in a row. Like, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. A flush is even better- all the cards having the same suit, those symbols on the cards. A full house is three of one kind and two of another. Four cards of the same number is the second best, and the best hand is when you have a straight and a flush. Got it?"
He gives her a grin and takes twenty buttons and pushes them to the other side of the table, keeping the same number on his. "You just try to bet on how good you think your hand is compared to mine. That's all there is to it."
BAD. He's bad. He's making money off poor people who can't control themselves it's SO SAD. Mignon would cry if she wasn't a bit busy being stuck between logic! And when she finally unlodges herself, turning back around. "No no no! Mignon really doesn't think they're good that way!" She never will, either. NEVER WILL.
What, her head may just be full of cotton candy. And Mignon looks at the button. "Oooooh... Mignon thinks it looks pretty and nice!" Now that's different, Mignon doesn't think she can take things from strangers, but no one ever talked about playing games with them. Oh this is a tizzy, but certainly, games are anything but bad. "Uhhh.. Mignon will have to stop you if it ever gets bad! But she guesses she could play a bit." She notes as she pi-pi-piku's her way to sit down and look at the cards, watching them be put out like that.
"Huh? Oh! Uhhhhhhhhh." Mignon thinks over what she heard, and then ... she has buttons. Buttons she is betting with.
Well it's not money uh.. right? Just totally a game prop like monopoly! "Hmmm uh okay!" And Mignon smiles, pushing a single button forwards without even drawing any cards. "There! Mignon has a good feeling!"
It's the button she doesn't like the most.
Sergio lets out a laugh, "Get's bad? Don't worry, there's really nothing bad about playing a game of cards. Glad you can appreciate a good sense of fashion when you see one, though." Especially with nothing more than buttons. One button? Seems she already knows how to ante up! He tosses a button into the center at random and then shuffles the cards. "I'm going to give you five cards and me five cards, all right? Then if you want to bet more because you think you'll win you can. After that we both can throw away cards we don't want by putting them in the table and I'll deal different ones. After that? We can bet again if we want and then lay down the cards and see who wins. You can also fold- give up, if you want. Usually because someone bets more than you're willing to." He deals the cards skillfully, so that they soar through the air and slide to a stop in front of her on the table, simply setting the alternating ones in front of himself.
"Hmm." He picks up his cards and gives them a quik look. "Remember, you're trying to get those specific card combinations. You can still win if no one has any but you have the highest card, but it's not a very good idea to stand on a high card, even if it's an ace."
It's bad and Mignon KNOWS IT. But what happens then is that Mignon knows how the CRIME works. It just happens like that! And as she's given cards, Mignon thinks about all these rules. They're circling around in her head! AIiiie! Whatever will she do.. wing it, apparently, and Mignon looks at the cards herself, staring at them. "Oooookay." She nods. "Mignon thinks she understands now." She notes, but then looks at her cards longer. Looking at her cards, Mignon still glances across them, looking back and forth. "Okay, I got it!" And she picks out a card, putting it to the front of them!
It's important, because Mignon picked the card that was the highest in her hands, and put it down!
She also totally keeps her single button in the front.
"Okay!"
A card is tossed out immediately when she sets it down. Sergio takes three, and thinks for a moment. "Well, I don't think I'm going to bet any more on this. How about you?" The bad, awful man simply waits for Mignon to make her decision, wondering what it is she has if she only wanted one card. He's betting almost nothing- it'd be pretty crazy luck for someone to such a good hand on their first game. A student pops around the corner, having heard there was a game going on, and Sergio silently waves them off. At the moment he's closed for business due to the pink menace.
Mignon, tilting her head, shakes it afterwards. "Nah.. Mignon's happy enough to keep this! And she's certain... oh wait!" And picking out two more cards, from the top of her 'hand', Mignon puts them down, face down nearby. "Yaaay! Mignon's certain she totally has this game figured out!" And by the by, she's certain she does..
She's rocking a bit as she goes, as well, humming to herself.
Sergio blinks a little as the other two cards are put down? "You want two more? You're supposed to throw out all the cards the first time. There's not a second round of draws." He rubs his chin for a moment. "Eh, it's your first time. I'll let it slide." He gives her two more cards with a shrug. "Okay! Time to see who's won." He then lays his cards down face up. And would you look at that: "Pair of fives." Awe inspiring, isn't it? He'd take all the kids money with hands like those! "Let's see what you've got!"
Mignon blinks back, completely not understand how it goes. Oh, second round of draws? Mignon's fine enough anyways, but as she's given too more cards, Mignon nods, taking them. Hoooray! "Hooray!" It's like stereo in her MIND. But once he lays his cards down, Mignon looks at hers. "Ooh.. ah... lemme see.." She notes, flipping her hand over. Well, the ones she put out there!
It looks like .. a 2 ... and a 5.. and a 7 .. what? Wait what? "AHA! Mignon's three highest cards in her hand, in order!" She cheerfully explains, nodding.
"See, told you Mignon had a good hand!"
As the man stares dumbfounded at Mignons 'hand', a single thought occurs in his mind. How did she make it to high school. HE didn't make it to highschool (dropout!), and he at least can figure a game of cards out. "Uh... Oh god, where do I start?" He puts his hand on his face and shakes his head. "Those are the cards you threw out, not the ones you kept. They don't count. And I hate to break it to you, but two, five, and seven don't make anything. That's just seven high." But wait a second- a two? "...how did you get below a two? Are you hiding four aces or something?" Mignon has confused Sergio. CONFUSED him. "Comon, flip your -real- hand. You trying to play me?" he asks with a good natured grin.
As Mignon happily sits on her side of the table, Mignon tilts her head. "Uh. What? OH! Mignon KNEW she had a good hand! So Mignon's sorry if she went a bit ha- Huh? No Mignon -Oh .. well... Huh...... What.. Mignon doe-DOESN'T UNDERSTAND!" She finally cries out. "Mignon put down the cards she had that were the highest! She knew that because they went up farther in her hand! So Mignon put them out honestly Mignon isn't trying to play anything except the game!"
She's not stupid! .. Okay MAYBE but she's more along the lines of short-sighted and blind in this instance.
"Oh what will Mignon do now!?"
"Wha-? Up farther?" Sergio, at this point, is ready to give up. He was doing nothing more than trying to show Mignon how very fun card games can be, but she clearly isn't understanding the rules. She didn't pay any attention at all to the actual cards, but their physical position in her hand. At this point poker is completely out of the question, he realizes. And so is blackjack. "Uh, hey. Don't worry about it." He starts scooping up the cards and reshuffling them. "There has to be something that will actually work. How about, uh..." ...oh dear... "Go Fish?"
Mignon isn't very good at these games, okay, and Mignon watches the cards be put back! And she lets them too. As Sergio goes on to ask about Go Fish though, Mignon brightens up, smiling wide! "Oh! Mignon knows about that game it's EASY and fun too, Mignon likes fishies, because they do this!" And holding her hands at the side of her head, she goes bloop bloop bloop!
"Buuut Mignon also knows the card game! She used to play it with her grammy!"
Clearly, this is at least a good sign.
"Great! Alright, just forget the buttons then, because I don't think there's any betting in Go Fish. You can keep 'em if you want." At some point as he's dealing out the cards, Sergio remembers that his goal was simply to show her that playing card games can be fun and that there's no reason to consider them bad and awful because of that. He even wanted to show her how betting can be fun; namely by losing on purpose and giving her shiny buttons.
Instead he somehow found himself preparing to play Go Fish with her. Is he really that desperate for her acceptance? It's not like cops aren't actually bought off, he has nothing to fear! What is it about the girls in this city that makes him act like he's on his best behavior, even when he's just covering his ass? It's not like he could even date them, the giant pile of jailbait they are. If Mignon were a -woman- he wouldn't question himself at all, smoothtalker that he is, but this...
His head hangs and he shakes it for a moment, feling sorry for his lost masculinity. He's been reduced to playing a childrens card game, and he really doesn't even have anything to prove anymore. He deals the cards out, resigned to his face. "...got any fours?"
Mignon is happily sitting there, and she .. gets to keep the buttons? "YAAAAAAAAAAAY! Mignon got some really pretty buttons!" dweedle-ee-deee~! You can almost hear as she happily takes the buttons and pins a few on her showy outfit already. "Oooh Mignon really likes these." She already said that. "But she's very happy to get them, thank you!"
And then that's when Sergio asks her if she has any fours, what with the cards.
She doesn't really get the head hanging. "Ooh. Must be tired! Mignon thinks nappys are great to keep yourself fresh and ready to go!" But she's the kind of girl you think does it at a 5pm afternoon because she feels like it. She does, too.
"Hmm.. YEP! Mignon does! YAY!" And she hands it over to Sergio. "What about a Joker? Mignon likes clowns! Do you have any?"
"Eh, you're welcome. I've got enough to last me a while." While he was wise cracking and ready earlier he really is acting like he's run down and tired. That's not the case, in reality, but it's easily mistaken. He should have just challenged her to a fight and started punching her or something. It wouldn't be like he was just punching a random girl too, since he actually fought her before. "Yeah, tired. That's it."
He looks up and takes the four, placing another one down with it as a pair. He then blinks, "What? I left the jokers in? Well, that figures. No, I don't have any jokers. Go fish." He settles back into his chair and continues to reflect on the situation. Well, he did at least get Mignon to play cards, though not the kind he intended. He almost snerks at the thought that now she's 'corrupted'. Corrupted by Go Fish.
Hmm hmm hmmm~ Mignon hums as they keep going on, and is rather happy. "ALlllright!" She adds, and then looks.. "Oooh I'm holding it the wrong way .. hey it's a five!" She adds, grinning. And then picks up a card in the middle, holding it up. "Ahhh. That's too bad. Mignon really wanted a joker." She adds, and leans back in the chair, carefully arranging her cards now.
"Yyyour turn! Mignon's got nothin' she can ask about anyways. Totally forget!" Laughing once more, the girl is happy enough. Corrupted .. by gold fish? NO WAY JOSE!
She's a pure .. pink haired freak.
At this point Sergio doesn't even make a weird face when Mignon realizes that her joker is a five, and that she was holding the card wrong. Never mind that cards are the same either way. He's not even going to let it get to him. This, he decides, is karma. He was doing a bad thing and now Mignon has come along to punish him. Punish him not with jailtime and fines. Not with getting smacked around by witchly powers. But to punish him with her very presence, and the fact that his attempt to have her partake in the very thing she had a problem with has resulted in his racket turning into something ridiculously tame.
"Ok. Got any eights?" It could be worse. Really it could.
Hmm hmmh mm~. Mignon continues to happily play the game. You see, Mignon is like some sort of tame-ing thing. Her MAGICAL charm and her AURA of happiness clearly cause everything else to follow! Or not. Maybe she just eventually drags the people around her into a whirlwind of torment and pain, to the point that they either ACCEPT her presence or remove her from it. Perhaps this is truly what it is to have someone you cannot stand!
But Mignon happily ignores all of that, nodding. "Yep! Mignon has an eight! Wow you're good at this!" She calls out, grinning, and sliding over the eight. "And Mister takes the lead, and keeps it strong.. but will Mignon catch up!? Uh .. Do you have a seven?"
Dee diddly deee~
Sergio will continue to play. He will play this game until it is over if only to prove to himself that he can endure the punishment brought down upon himself by cruel fate. It would be too simple a thing to just stand up and walk away, offering no excuse or reason for doing so. He will endure. Besides, having a complacent Mignon playing a card game is probably better than an indignant one pointing at you and exclaiming your wrong-doings.
"Luck," He comments. "Skill doesn't matter this early in the game." He then pulls a seven from his hand and hands it over to Mignon. "I bet this is going to be a close one," he comments dryly. "Any queens?"
Hmm? Luck? "Ooooh.. well I guess, but Mignon really likes the idea, anyhow! It's a fun game, and I'm sure there's some planning to it! Mignon doesn't care though, yaaaay!" And taking the card, she happily moves the two to the side, her voice happy, as she is. "Hmm.. Queens? Noooope. Mignon doesn't have any! Go fiiiishy!" She calls out, smiling.
And then, of course, she looks through her own. "AH .. what about .. a nine? Mignon's sure there's a few nines in the deck!" Well, yes, four exactly. She doesn't know that.
The man reaches for the deck and pulls up a card, having failed to secure a second queen to go along with the first. "Nines?" He asks, glances at his deck, and frowns. "Well I do now!" He states, not even bothering to get all his cards together with the new one and handing it right over as soon as he got it. A lot of good it did him! "Alright, lets see. I bet you've got... a two." He starts to let his mind wander, wander to what he'll do after this game is over. "Hmm. I bet there has to be a good club opening up soon. None of the bars around here are really great, but maybe a club..." He ponders a second and then looks at Mignon skeptically. "Hey, you hear about any good raves?" It's a long shot, but
Mignon cheers happily and takes the card. And she hands the other one over! Hmm. "Mignon doesn't know .. oh yeah Mignon has a two!" She goes on to say, but then as Sergio keeps going on, Mignon blinks. "Raves? .. Huuh.. Mignon doesn't know about any raves..... OHMIGOSH!" Mignon cries, bolting upright. "Mignon can't play any longer because Mignon is missing something VERY IMPORTANT oh no oh no Mignon was supposed to be done with this and homework is due today and SHE FORGOOOOOT ABOUT IT!" She panics, nearly running in place.
"Mignon is SO SORRY really Mignon is sorry!" She keeps going on and on about.
Blink. "Homework?" Normally he might say something about how it's not a big deal. Now he says: "You're right. You'd better get right on that or you might get a failing grade for turning nothing in and then what would everyone think of you?" He cuts himself off before he starts off into a sarcastic rant. "Looks like this one's a tie then." Tomorrow he is going to have to relocate. "And, uh, don't mention it. I'm sure I'll find something else to do." The Italian stands up and shoves the cards into his pocket, not bothering to deal with the table and chairs. He can do all that... later. Not now. Because he's lazy.
As Mignon does think of that, Sergio's point that she REALLY SHOULD TAKE CARE OF IT NOW, GO GO GO, is agreed with, and Mignon, running in place, hands at her hair, nods twice to Sergio. "Yes! Mignon will go right now, and thank you again, Mignon has to be off because she doesn't want to be a failure and flip burgers and all of that stuff MIGNON CAN'T LET THAT HAPPEN!
And so she starts running. Far away from Sergio.
Because the gods had favor on him, and his suffering, this day.
Log created on 14:48:12 09/16/2008 by Mignon, and last modified on 18:36:46 09/16/2008.