A soft chirping washed through the room, signaling the rise of the sun in the absence of any natural light. It was just loud enough to stir one from slumber, but not as jarring or startling as a rooster's cry. Another of the many wonderful features of the party's room at the Cosmic Casino. Namei murmured sleepily and rolled over,  still wrapped in the thick, soft blankets and not wishing to rouse herself just yet. The rest of the party was similarly sleepily, even Esiar standing motionless despite their core of light having flickered on already. They stayed in that comfortable state of languor for quite some time, until Paloma finally broke the silence by softly exiting her bed. Namei quietly murmured her protests. "Mmmmrnrnnnmmm... Gettin' up so soon...?" Paloma laughed softly as she donned her white feathered cloak. "I feel rested enough. This room is a much better place to sleep than anywhere down in that cave!" Namei sighed sleepily. "Myeahhh, and that's why we should sleep in... Experience the comfy comfiness for once..." Paloma giggled. "Well, you can sleep as much as you want, but I want to see more of the casino! I barely got to see anything last night! I'm excited to see all the different games they have!" Namei sat up, suddenly feeling much more energetic. "Oh yeahhhhh~ Me too~" Paloma glanced over at her. "Just remember, you have a limit of how m-" "Yeah yeah I remember.  Not that it'll matter once my winnings are big enough~" Paloma teasingly rolled her eyes, but said nothing. 

The rest stirred to wakefulness as Namei hastily went about her daily preparations in a manner not exactly befitting of the stealthiness of her profession. Maideen yawned. "Up so soon...?" Namei grinned. "Yep! Need to start my new winning streak as early as I can to make sure I get the most out of it~" Maideen nodded sleepily. "Yeah... Good idea..." Paloma looked over at her. "What are your plans for today, Maideen? Going to check out the forest on the outskirts of the city?" Maideen shook her head. "No... I think I'll stay at the casino..." Paloma raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought you hated crowded buildings like this!" Maideen shrugged, her voice still sleepy. "This place is nice..  It's quiet... Has fun stuff to do... Wouldn't mind staying for a while..." Namei grinned. "Nor would I~ Now out of my way, it's time to earn another hoard~!" She wove past Paloma, skillfully palming the pouch with her allowance, and headed to the card table, ready to win it big!

Namei swiftly wove through the crowds of other early morning gamblers over to the card tables. A round was just about the start, so she tossed in her coin and sat down. The dealer swiftly and elegantly dealt the first round, and Namei suppressed a cheer as she got her hand. It was absolutely, well, atrocious, but she could tell from the glances of the other players that her subtle display had unnerved them. The guy next to her had seemed quite happy with his own hand, but as it came to him he folded, not wanting to risk it just yet. She smirked inwardly while keeping her face completely unreadable. It was so easy to trick dumb gamblers like that.

The rounds started passing quickly, and Namei soon had quite a nice winning streak going again. Her outward expressions and mannerisms were perfectly precise and calculated, while inside she was giggling like a schoolgirl. There was nothing she loved more in the world than being on a winning streak! And of course, for someone like her it happened quite a lot. Adventuring was fun, sure, but it couldn't compare to the rush she got while gambling. It was always so disappointing when the places they stayed weren't developed enough to have a casino, and sometimes there were inns that straight up banned gambling! But luckily, this large city had a very very nice casino, and so all was right in the world. Even her teammates, who didn't seem to get why gambling was so great for some reason, were enjoying themselves! Paloma had all the pretty women to talk to and plenty of delicacies to eat, Maideen for once looked like she enjoyed being in a public place thanks to the enchantments making things quiet, and seemed to enjoy that stage hypnotist show despite how ridiculous she'd looked under the spell, and Esiar... Well, it was hard to tell if they were enjoying anything due to the whole lack of face and voice, but they were probably having fun too! Not as much as Namei was, but that was pretty much impossible to be fair.

As the day went on and Namei's winnings grew, she started to feel a bit bored of this game and went to find another. And, well, MAYBE the cyclops glaring hellfire at her from across the table after she bluffed him into folding his straight flush was influencing that decision a bit... She'd rather not have to spend her day in a temple getting resurrected. As she looked around for what to do next, she noticed Maideen sitting nearby. "Hey, Maideen! Surprising seeing you around such loud, chaotic games~ Didn't know you'd decided to take up gambling too~" Maideen smiled. "No, I'm not here to gamble... I was just... Looking for a nice, quiet place to sit." Namei snorted. "And you chose the most populated area of the building? Really?" Maideen smiled sheepishly. "I spent a while trying to look for somewhere quiet... I didn't want to come over here, but... Then it hit me... Where else would they want to keep the noise down than near the game tables? It'd make sense for them to ensure you can hear the players and dealer, or ensure the dealer can hear the players... So I figured I could count on silence over here..." Namei began to roll her eyes, but she did notice how surprisingly quiet it was where they were standing. "Huh. Never would have thought about it that way. That's pretty clever." Maideen nodded. "Yeah..." They stood in silence for a bit, Maideen absently scratching the plush on her chair, before Namei's eyes were drawn to a certain table nearby. "Alright, have fun sitting in silence, Maideen! I'm gonna go win us a dragon's hoard~" Maideen waved goodbye as Namei headed over to her favorite game; Blackjack. 

Namei smoothly sat down just as a new round was starting, tossing in a sizable bet to start. The dealer smiled at her and swiftly dealt her in. Namei was slightly taken aback as she looked at her cards. She'd never seen these kinds of suits before. She had the 2 of... Rabbits, and the 5 of... Eyes?, versus the Dealer's 9 of Rabbits. Very odd choices for suits, although the art on the cards was wonderfully done. And regardless, suits didn't really matter in Blackjack. What did matter was the numbers, and her own hand had plenty of room to grow. She scratched the table, signaling, "Hit me." The dealer nodded and slid another card over. The 3 of Eyes. Perfect. She scratched again. "Hit me!" The dealer slid over another card, and Namei found herself staring at the art. A white gloved hand held a golden pocketwatch in the center of the card, hands pointing to 2 and 1. There was an odd shiny texture in the background, and as she looked at the card, it almost made it seem like the watch was moving... She didn't even realize what she'd been given until the dealer said, "21! Congratulations~" Ah. So that was an Ace of... Something... Hard to tell. But that didn’t matter, because she was already winning! Her winning streak continued, as per usual~

The next round was dealt out, and Namei made sure to keep track of all the cards around the table, keeping a running count of low versus high in her head. All low cards so far, even hers. 5 of... Spirals, she guessed, and 6 of... Ah, Clocks. Or, Pocketwatches maybe. Neither really made sense, but whatever. The numbers were the important part. And the numbers said... She pushed in more coins and pointed. "Double Down!" The dealer passed her one more card, and she eagerly looked at it. It... Was certainly a face card, though of what suit she wasn't sure. It depicted a lovely rabbitgirl on a spiraling background coated in that same strange glimmer. It was oddly disorienting to look at, though not exactly in a bad way. Maybe that's why they didn't use them for the other table, because it'd make it difficult to focus... Suddenly she realized how long she'd been staring at it. The next round was about to start! She quickly gave a surreptitious glance around at all the cards, hastily updating the count in her head. Hopefully she hadn't lost the proper count while distracted by the art... Perhaps that's why they used it here... Well, it wouldn't stop her! She was far too attentive to be tricked by little things like that.

Namei's winnings grew quickly and steadily. She was quite skilled at Blackjack... So much so that she tended to get banned for it. Which was totally unfair, because she wasn't cheating, she was just... Using her brain! She wasn't palming cards or lying about signals, so it was a valid strategy as far as she was concerned! It was just watching the cards as they came out until they were shuffled back in, and it's not like she was cheating by having a good memory and sharp mind! Although... Her mind felt a bit fuzzier here, thanks to that lovely, shiny art. It was hard to keep track of the count when her eyes kept getting drawn to the shimmering cards, moving and swinging and swirling and dancing as they slid across the table. Her attention was pulled to the lovely lady on the cards, the same every time... She looked familiar... Wasn't she the hypnotist they'd seen last night...? Why was she on all the card art? Well, she was beautiful, to be sure... It was very pleasant to look at her... And she wasn't complaining about some eyecandy, of course... Besides, she didn't really need to focus on the game as long as she kept watching the cards... Her strategy was simple and effective, she could practically do it without thinking at all... So she could admire the art all she liked... The pretty Rabbit with the pretty Eyes, swinging a pretty Watch on a background of pretty Spirals...

The game went on, and Namei continued counting every card as they slid past. She lost a few hands, but that was expected, that didn't matter, she won far more, even without having to focus at all... Hopefully the casino wasn't getting suspicious of her... She didn't want to leave yet... She wanted to stay, and play, and stare at the cards... The casino clearly wanted her to stare at the cards, clearly wanted her to lose count, and so staring at it was the best way not to get caught... They'd think she was too dazzled by the art, too mesmerized by the shimmering, too hypnotized by the hypnotist... So she couldn't be card counting, of course... She was blending in... She failed to stifle a yawn as the dealer shuffled the deck. She felt so tired all of a sudden... Maybe she should have stayed in bed longer... No, no, foolish thought, she had earned so much money when she would have been sleeping... And she didn't need to be alert here, so this was the best way she could have gone about it... She heard the dealer saying something, but it wasn't about the game... Glancing up, she saw another dealer ready to switch in, just after this next hand. Namei made sure the watch the dealer's hands as she dealt out every card... Elegantly sliding each card into place, the art shimmering in the dim light of the casino... One by one, everyone received their hand... And Namei watched closely as she was dealt her... The Queen of Rabbits, and... The Ace of Spirals... It was swirling more than usual, wasn't it...? So beautiful... "Blackjack! Congratulations~..." Blackjack... Wonderful... So wonderful... "Remember to collect your winnings, everyone~" She absentmindedly scooped up her winnings, unable to take her gaze off her cards... The Queen of Rabbits was so beautiful... So elegant... So powerful... She heard a soft scratching noise and looked up. The dealer was standing up, absently scratching the table as she did. It looked like nothing to the others, but... It hit Namei. She wanted her to follow. So she did.

The dealer led Namei through the casino, past tables of gamblers that never even noticed her passage, into a small door near the back. The dealer sat Namei down in a familiar looking soft, plush chair, before standing up straight, her eyes glazed over. Namei sat in confused silence for a while, until the sound of footsteps snapped her out of it. She looked up to see the hypnotist walking towards her with a smug grin on her face. "It appears someone was counting cards, weren't you sweetie~?" Namei's first instinct was, as usual, to deny the accusation. And her second instinct... Was to bow to her Queen, to let herself be won. She fought both of these instincts, attempting to appear calm and confident. "...Lovely place you have here. Honored to be brought back here, really." The Hypnotist grinned. "You should be, little rogue~ Only the most observant of gamblers truly falls for that trick of mine~" Namei gave a cheeky grin. "So, you aren't going to ban me then, right~? I mean, why punish skill~?" The Hypnotist laughed, an alluring menace to her tone. "Ban you~? Of course not~ You'll get to stay in the casino as long as you want~" An uneasy feeling crept over Namei's spine. "...Really?" The Hypnotist grinned mischievously. "Of course~ You'll be ever so useful here~" Before Namei could protest, the Hypnotist pulled out a card and tossed it at her. Namei's eyes immediately locked onto the motion, and she caught it without thinking. She flipped it over, and...

Her mind stopped, pulled Deep Down into the swirling depths of the card. It was blank, but as she stared at it, she could almost see her own face staring back... Because she was the face card, of course... Not a high ranking one, though... She was just a lowly Knave... And before her stood the Queen of Rabbits, her Eyes piercing through her mind, the lovely polished Pocketwatch swinging in her gloved hand, and Spirals swirling all around her... Namei's body went limp... Her count had reached 0... 

Lucia smiled proudly down at the hypnotized rogue. Another adventurer in her complete and utter control, and she had hardly needed to lift a finger. They'd practically hypnotized themselves with her little trap~ All she'd needed to do was ensure her new pet led them right to it~ The rest may be a bit more complex to capture... But she had plenty of time~ And with half of them already under her thrall, there was no way they were escaping her power~ In fact, she already knew what to do next~...