Street Corners are now Casinos, for some reason. [Open, ask][dated]

[Contemplative Muse]

Dec. 5, Year 4, 13:00

Today was a day very familiar to Muse; like any other day, she had awoken in her somewhat expensive house in the Western Residential District, assembled her instrument of choice, the clarinet, went outside and tuned by-ear, and promptly hiked with her saddlebags and case to a street corner of the relatively bustling street corner on the somewhat dreary day, being there were clouds covering the sun, like usual to Muse. On said street corner, she performed, performing for the masses for hours on end, playing her heart out from a collection of songs she knew and some that were merely on-the-spot improvisation. It was with these things that she drew her flock, gathering to watch some of the only music in the city, a bit or so thrown into her case and bags on occasion. A particularly hefty sum had collected in her saddlebags at this point, with about ten or so bits in her saddlebag remaining as she continued to play for the passing crowds of griffon, pony, and zebra alike.

[Roulette]

Disguised as her very close friend, Etulia, Roulette cantered her way down the sidewalk. She needed to be disguised while out and about, or else she'd risk getting lynched by those who didn't understand her kind. Stopping after a moment, her ear twitched; the sound of a beautiful clarinet reached her.

Seeing a crowd after not too long, she pushed her way through the group, being careful with the briefcase in her mouth. Not saying a word for the time being, so simply listened to the music while spying all the money made by the musician.

[Pike Vanguard]

Pike strolled at a leisurely pace toward Xarith's shop. He had to run an errand to his sewer office in the Eastern District. On his way back he noticed a musician playing on the sidewalk, a clarinetist to be precise. He never had much of an interest in music, didn't devote any time to listening or playing, but he found something peculiar about this musician. Pike had seen this mare earlier that day strolling along with her case. Coincidences of this kind weren't rare but what was peculiar was that he saw her while going to a client's in the Western District. She was on the other side of the road but he thought that a street musician would not be the type to come from a well-off neighborhood.

He didn't know of any musical families willing to let their members perform on the streets, so his curiosity piqued. He approached the clarinetist but stood at the back of the crowd. He distanced himself because of his smell, he was on his way to clean himself up at Xarith's, but also Pike didn't know if the musician would recognize him. He hoped not.

[°๖ۣۜXarith]

Shifting his bags around just a bit, Xarith kept his hood up as he stood amongst the others in the crowd. Normally, he would be using his board to get around the city, but today called for a bit less dramatic mode of transportation for the contents of his bag were a bit more volatile than most. Nevertheless, the alchemist was always careful and kept his belongings close to him and safely stored within the depths of his satchel.

Though, it wasn't too long before he spied on some more familiar faces around him. Xarith, however, just pulled his hood over his head just a tad more, not wishing to bring more attention to himself, or the people he knew. For now, he would just listen to the music in the air and pass the time in a rare moment of relaxation.

[Contemplative Muse]

As per her tradition, Muse kept her eyes closed whilst performing for the ever-growing crowd that she was unaware of; she still played for a full three minutes after most of the crowd had joined, with her performance seeming to lack key, meter, and tempo, but sounded beautiful all the same. As her song ended in one long, sweet tone in her upper register, she ceased playing, the tone cut off sharply as she brought her instrument to be perpendicular to the ground in one swift movement, her eyes opening in the same instant to see the crowd.

Taken aback by the crowd, she gave a sheepish grin, glancing to her case to find that a few passers-by had placed a few more bits within said case; with glee, she transferred the bits from her case into her saddlebags, which were filling unusually quickly today. With that, she glanced back to the crowd, not speaking, nor addressing them, but simply glancing between them, not playing once more quite yet.

[Roulette]

Roulette smirked slightly as the song ended, keeping a quiet observation on the bits transferring between the case and the mare's saddlebag. Taking a step forward towards the musician, she set her briefcase down.

"That sounded beautiful, miss. You really earned those bits." She stated, tossing two more into the mare's bag for the performance. The disguised 'ling kept her expression neutral. "Speaking of which, dear... How would you like to play a quick game? Anypony else interested can join in too, of course."

[Pike Vanguard]

Brow furrowed and eyes narrow, Pike looked at the mare who approached the instrumentalist. There was something familiar about the pony that he couldn't put his hoof on. The way that she announced a game and threw in her bits. There was something suspicious happening and Pike was nothing but attentive to it. Everything happening was too uncannily familiar, the mare, the musician...

Pike watched with intent at the scene unfolding before him.

[Contemplative Muse]

Muse regarded the pony before her, giving a terse nod at her compliment whilst retaining an air of professionalism and seriousness about her; that is, her expression never lost it's gross obesity. As she added to her growing pile of bits, she inhaled for one moment as they were thrown, and exhaled as they clinked against the other bits within her bag. The pony before her, before an ever-growing crowd, proposed that she play a game, a gambling game. In a perfect sense, uncertainty perplexed Muse; she could not resist as she responded with an affirmative notion:

"One game, and one game only. I'm not going to match anything upwards of thirty," she said in an accent reminiscent of high society from ages past, well ingrained into her mind from the countless hours of hearing others of her class speak in it. She took some comfort in that accent, assuring herself that her parents' bloodline had not ended with her, but would instead pass on in the future, if she found a mate worthy of, well, someone such as herself.

[Roulette]

Roulette smirked when her challenge was accepted, tossing down a sack containing thirty bits in front of her. "Thirty it is then, my little joker." She said simply, face returning to its neutral expression after a moment. The disguised changeling didn't give any mind to the crowd as she kept her eyes focused on her mark, thoughts of just how easy the score was going to be swirling through her head like a this mist.

Setting her hooves onto the briefcase she had set in front of her, she flicked the latches to allow the bottom to drop free and reveal the plethora of gambling equipment inside. Cards, dice, chips, even a miniature wheel bearing the same name as she all resting inside in their own compartments meant just for them, several mats of some sort filling the large pouch on the lid of the case.

"Since you seem to be in a rush. How about a simple dice game, hm?"

[Contemplative Muse]

Muse took a moment, pondering her choices. She eyed the dice, her keen gray eyes dissecting them like a surgeon's scalpel, one of which she kept on her person for self defence. No, too easy to cheat with. She looked to the cards, realizing the potential of how difficult it would be for her to influence that outcome. Then, her eyes drifted to the roulette wheel. "No," she simply stated toward the mare before her. "A spin of roulette, instead. It is too easy for you to rig those dice," she concluded, her voice never losing it's tone of superiority.

[Roulette]

Roulette nodded her head, slowly and carefully taking the wheel out of the case with one of the small white balls for it. Closing up the case, she took a seat on the ground and set the wheel down onto the leather-covered briefcase.

"As you wish." She replied, knowing she had every game rigged in her favor in one way or another. "Take a seat then miss, and we shall get started."

The 'ling simply held the ball in her hoof while hiding a smirk that wanted to come into view. "Red? Black? Even? Odd? Any of the fifty-fifties should be fine."

[Pike Vanguard]

Pike began to understand the situation. His eyes narrowed and he stroked his chin with his left fore-hoof. The mare speaking to the musician was certainly skilled with gambling, owing to the briefcase and her preparedness. If the clarinetist had not mentioned the game "roulette", Pike would not have put two and two together and realize that this was the changeling of the same name he had agreed to work with not too long ago.

The tan earth pony gave a wide smirk at this, almost as if he were ready to burst out laughing. He had a feeling the 'ling was a clever hustler but he hadn't seen her in action yet. His smile was one of anticipation. He didn't know too much about gambling but enough to follow what was going on. His ignorance aside, he was entranced by the 'ling's professionalism. Almost envious of it.

The musician on the other hoof was clearly upper class, and from the sound of her accent she might actually be from Manehattan or possibly Canterlot. He recalled times when he was surrounded by "true" royal guards in Canterlot, all of them making fun of his Filly accent. Picking at him for making the word, "water" sound like "wooder." Thinking this made him secretly wish that Roulette would hustle all of the musician's earnings.

[Contemplative Muse]

She thought for a moment, noting that there was no formal betting table for her to bet upon. So, she simply announced her bet after taking her time in thought: "Fifteen on fourteen-fifteen-sixteen-seventeen," she said, her bet made in a way that it was easy for her to cheat and win, in her mind.

She had it all planned out: bet on a square, and slow the ball down so it drops into a square. Of course, she had the feeling that the mare before her would also try and cheat her out of her bits; what walking casino wouldn't do that? In any case, her horn was ready, though not visibly, to cheat this mare, who she suspected, before they even started, was a cheater.

[Roulette]

Roulette gave a nod, her expression unchanging through many years of practiced poker faces. "Alright, let's get this started." She stated simply, spinning the wheel before getting the ball rolling in the opposite direction it.

Keeping her eye on the ball, she waited for her chance to manipulate the object with her unseen horn. The disguised 'ling didn't say a word as the moments ticked by and the two items began to slow down and get closer to their soon to come result. "Risky bet, don't you think, joker?"

[Contemplative Muse]

Muse watched the small ball spin about the wheel waiting for it to move toward one of her square; her intense watching was to designate the time to strike, to telekinetically manipulate the ball and force it to stop on one of her numbers. As the question was levied, her focus never wavered as she replied. "Definitely not. If any, I think it's a well-placed bet," she said with a half-smirk, waiting for her chance to win all of that extra cash.

[Roulette]

Roulette kept her eyes focused right on the ball as it slowed down further, keeping her face perfectly straight as she began to slowly nudge the ball towards one of the losing slots on the wheel with her unseen horn. "I don't know about you, but I'm feeling lucky today..."

[Contemplative Muse]

"That is funny," were the words that came from Muse's mouth in a somewhat focused voice filled with subtle contempt as her horn barely came to life, a near invisible telekinetic nimbus surrounding the game piece and nudging it toward a winning slot, except.. no movement was gained. Muse kept her perplexment to herself, not wishing to reveal that she was cheating to her foe in this battle of wits, skill, and luck.

[Roulette]

Roulette fell silent as she noticed the pause in the movement she was making in the ball. Holding back her urge to speak up to avoid revealing her own cheating, the 'ling hardened her expression to simply focus on what was happening in front of her. She wasn't going to lose these bits she would normally have won very easily.

[Contemplative Muse]

Staring into the ball, and perplexed by it's normal movement, Muse almost let herself slip and reveal that she was cheating through strong-field telekinesis; however, as she realized she was slipping, she maintained the weak-field... but something was off. There was resistance. A lot of resistance. The ball moved normally, and thus two opposing fields must have been working on it, and... Oh no, she thought as the resistance kept growing and growing, until full backlash finally hit her, sending her onto her haunches with a burning sensation at the base of her horn.

[Roulette]

Roulette kept curious watch on the ball as well, puzzled by the strange lack of change in its movement. Keeping quiet about her own cheating, she tried her best to focus on the object...until a strange resistance began to come to her. Never having felt anything like it before, she simply continued on with her magic.

The 'ling's eyes suddenly shot open as she brought her front hooves up to her forehead, the burning feeling in her own horn causing her transformation to break and returning her to her normal insectoid form while trying to cope with the strange sensation.

[Contemplative Muse]

Huffing as she tried to not scream out of pain, Muse closed her eyes and held her hooves over her horn whilst the crowd gasped at the changeling, surprised by it's appearance. One of the crowd panicked and ran off; the other seven or so simply stared dumbfounded at the creature. All the while, the ball kept rolling about.... and eventually, while nobody noticed, it landed in a winning slot. Nobody cheered. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife.

Muse, all the while, was trying to recover; she was especially sensitive to backlash, giving her extra pain as well as near total sensory deprivation for a few moments. After a few minutes, the pain ebbed away as Muse regained most of her senses in full, prompting her to, while still panting and resting a hoof against her horn, open her eyes... and gasp once she saw the changeling before her.

[Roulette]

Roulette kept her hooves on her forehead while the pain at the base of her horn radiated out into the rest of her head for quite some time. Not not as rough of shape as the pony in front of her, she soon began to recover and gain her senses. She was unaware of her broken transformation despite the gasps around her.

"What are you staring at?" The 'ling asked in an annoyed tone of voice while narrowing her eyes towards her gambling opponent. "Didn't your mother ever teach you it's rude to stare?"

[Contemplative Muse]

Muse simply stared at the changeling, dumbfounded that it was oblivious to its transformation. Promptly composing herself, Muse stood as she looked down toward the changeling: "You've deceived us, changeling," she said in a somewhat calm tone, not quite knowing if said changeling was friend or foe quite yet.

[Roulette]

Roulette raised a brow, looking herself over before simply letting a chuckle loose. "It seems that little backlash messed with more of my magic than I thought." She replied in a calm tone while rising up to her hooves to get on level with the unicorn mare in front of her.

"Deceived? I did nothing of the sort, joker." She replied bluntly, taking a step forward to make her stare into her opponent's eyes that much stronger. "I never once said I was the pony I disguised myself as, now did I? Besides, what would all of these ponies here done if they had seen me approaching them? Still as biased as ever, I see."

[Contemplative Muse]

"I'm not going to call the guards out of fear; I cannot guarantee the same for the small gathering and one 'blind-eye' guard on post here. I'm sure these ponies would have panicked if they saw a foreign sight such as you, since we all fear the unknown. However, while you may have never claimed to actually be the pony you disguised yourself as, the mere act of disguising yourself gives the impression that you are someone that is not yourself; therefore, deception," she said with a sigh, not backing away as the changeling stared her down in a tone equally as strong as its.

[Roulette]

Roulette held her ground as well, seemingly unfazed by the comment offered to her. "I guess you are right there, but it doesn't really matter now, does it? I'm simply trying to entertain myself with my favorite past time, as anyone else would." She replied calmly, a fanged smirk appearing across her face. "This is all beside the point. I believe we were in the middle of a game. My being disguised has no bearing on that fact."

[Contemplative Muse]

"That's true. Let's see if I've won," she said, looking down toward the roulette wheel to find that the ball had landed in one of the winning slots. "Hm. Interesting. I'll just take my money back, I suppose. No reason to accept whatever multiplier betting on four at once is."

[Roulette]

Roulette looked down at the wheel herself, giving a small chuckle at the mare's luck. "Can't win them all, I suppose." She replied, using her magic to pack up her things back into the briefcase they had started in.

Offering a nod once everything was safe and away, the 'ling used her magic to float the sack of bits from before over to the winner. "See you around, joker." She stated simply, voice showing no disappointment towards her lost funds...if Muse checked the bag, she'd find twenty wooden coins under a layer of real bits.

[Contemplative Muse]

Muse did in fact bother to check the bags, but didn't really mind; she had kept the amount of bits she started with, so that's all she cared about. Instead of going into outrage, she simply went on playing a sweet song for the crowd before her.

[Roulette]

Roulette slipped away into a nearby alleyway, a flash of neon red magic signaling that the 'ling had taken another form to keep prying eyes off of her. Continuing on her way, she began to plot out how she'd get what she lost back from some other poor sap.

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