Her time with the hunter Yautja now in the past the shapely kitsune stood away from the ship as it took off leaving her stranded on this strange planet without a scrap of clothing or a cent to her name. But as she made her way into town avoiding the crowds to keep away from the many eyes and wandering hands that could be found in such a place she still thought that it could have been worse. Having almost attracted too much attention as she made her way towards the center of town she ducked an open doorway below a store sign and with a convincing act of playing the victim she was able to convince the young woman running the store to part with one of her best dresses, a tight black little thing that proudly displayed the inviting line of her cleavage and hardly reached below the shapely curve of her bottom. Promising to repay the favor somehow she walked out the door with a mischeivious smile on her face as she looked down the busy street towards a building obviously busier then the others and one that the money loving kitsune could smell that money changing hands a mile away.

Her tail swishing merrily behind her and another act coming forward she walked into the bar, a vacant grin on her face like someone who had more beauty then brains, and finally she walked over to the bartender and said "This place seems like fun. I'm here on vacation and could use a little entertainment. I heard you have some famous card players here?" She looked around the crowded room quickly, spotting an empty table, before adding at his silence "Well? Guess I will just have to find out then." Walking over to the table she jumped up on the table, yelling over the noise of the crowd, "Boys! If anyone here likes cards I've got a wager for you. I don't have any money right now so I lose without any the one who beats me gets me for a night!" With that she took a seat at the table she had claimed and waited for the tempted to start lining up for a chance at her...

Decent missions had given Rahs decent rewards, which with careful administration and imagination, he managed to convert to even more money for him. Of course, it was getting even more boring and annoying having to deal with the usual deal of tasks issued by most slavers, though he had served more civilized people for reasons other than killing off competition, acting as bodyguard, or even capturing more slaves. But he couldn't just vent his annoyance and anger at his clients, so he had to relax and enjoy the leisure he allowed himself to have every time he managed to gather a good amount of money. Besides satisfying his needs in the slave pens, there was another activity that Rahs enjoyed a lot, and that was playing card games.

There was a rumor in the places he frequented the most that he never had retired from a table owning less money than when he entered and the newest said that he has not lost a single game for three years. Of course, the rumor was spread carefully by himself to attract more players that wanted to see the syrictae in action or tried to beat him. No one ever knew how exactly he did it, but Rahs never lost to any of them. When asked the question, he would just answer that Lady Luck was on his side. The more experienced players could also recognize his cloak and his armor from a mile away and knew when the mercenary entered a casino or bar just from the sound of his boots.

And there he was, sitting on a table in the bar that Ayame just decided to enter. He had his back towards the door and was busy winning a match of egyptian war against a large, pink alien. When she decided to step on the table and announce her wager, Rahs had just acquired the last card of the deck and turned his head towards her. By then, her table was surrounded by male aliens and a few female ones, very eager to play with her. But the mercenary wearing just a few parts of his new, dark gray armor beneath his large cloak knew better than to rush into a confident opponent. He decided to see her play a bit and check if she used any tricks before approaching the table. She had a very fine body and Rahs wouldn't leave without owning it for a night.

The large crowd that quickly gathered around her table was exactly what the crafty kitsune wanted, although she didn't show it. From her seat at the head of the crowd she took a surprised tone as she said "Oh so many of you! Well you will all get a chance to try as long as I don't lose so hope your competitors lose and you will surely get a turn." And with that she picked the first five to start the game, five of the ugliest things ever to disgust this side of the galaxy, before pulling a deck of cards seemingly out of nowhere and said "Alright boys. Simple poker for the first game, best hand wins and all that."

Starting to deal the cards she thought to herself No need to take my chances against these. , and with a slight shift of her fingers she began to carefully deal herself a straight flush while making sure that anything the others would get had no chance to beat her. Turning to the beast to her right she said, "Well you all know my bet for this round so I believe the turn is yours."

It was no surprise the amount of aliens that surrounded her table. Not even the little time it took for them to get there was surprising, since such a wager like that on this part of the galaxy was guaranteed to have many beings very interested and eager to participate, specially with such a fine woman sitting on the chair. It was interesting, though, to see that she offered herself so carelessly. That was what bothered Rahs the most, and prevented him from winning the card games and getting the girl from the beginning. He had of course dealt with cheaters in his life, but many incidents and slit throats later, few were the ones left that tried to pull some tricks on him. Still, he had to be careful of those, it was in his nature to check what lied ahead before jumping in.

The five aliens moved part of the crowd aside with what could be called their most happy and sly faces. Not counting anyone that wasn't playing, there were 20 eyes looking at Ayame dealing the cards, and 18 of those didn't notice her delicate moves. After they all picked up their hands, Rahs could tell thanks to his experience that three of them were very frustrated, one was preoccupied, and the last one was openly smiling. His mouth curved above his one eye and it grinned disgustingly, but it seemed he was quite confident. Rahs didn't know if anyone else in the crowd noticed the weird movements of her hands, but no one complained and he was a bit far away to be a hundred percent sure, so he decided to wait.
"A thousand credits," one said. "500 and my cryshentum orb," said another one. At the end, they finished betting and were very anxious to finish the first game.

"Alright..." Ayame looked around the table at each of the five players in turn before adding "If everyone's satisified with your bets....Lets show our cards, boys!" With that said she laid her hand on the table, a high straight flush of spades, before scanning the players' faces and the crowds behind them for their reactions to her great hand. As her gaze passed over Rahs her look seemed to change, inviting him to come closer before saying anything to her players.

Even with her silent request to Rahs and the time she had taken to scan the crowd she had maken sure to judge the expressions of her players as they got their hands. Three were depressed, one was distracted, and one was outright happy. Happy.... she thought, inwardly smirking at him as she thought Sucks for him. There's no way I'm going to lose this hand.

The five aliens were glancing at each other but their gazes were mainly focused on the spirit fox. Their hands were trembling a bit when she said to show their hands and they put them on the table in different ways. The more depressed ones had nothing and a pair, other one had a pair too and was a bit sad to notice he lost, and the other two had three of a kind. They all of course had no chance against the straight flush, and few of them hit the table in frustration. By this point, Rahs had approached the table, though rather carefully.

When Ayame had seen him, she didn't mind to actually invite him to the table and play. If she had been interested in losing and being taken for a night then she wouldn't have thought in playing card games. That only left the possibility that she was behind the money that the players had, and the mercenary was satisfied to see that he was right to think so when he looked at her hand. The others did not even come close to beat her. I knew she was dealing weird... Rahs thought as his tall form stood near Ayame, next to other tall aliens that were watching how she gathered the money.

Looking at each of the hands she said "Oh, so sorry boys. Looks like you lose, now you five move away from the crowd so I can find new players to take your spot after I take a moment to count my winnings." With that she leaned over the table reaching out her arms to gather the money and all the while giving the losers an amazing shot of her barely hidden cleavage.

Seeing that the well muscled mercenary was standing close by and the first round of losers were taking their time to move away Ayame moved over to him motioning for him to kneel a bit as she stood on her tippy-toes a bit, causing her dress to slide upwards showing a portion of her perfect ass, before she quietly said "You noticed didn't you? I knew someone would. If you don't say anything I'll put you in the next round. No tricks I promise!"

Looking down momentarily she added with a mischievious smile, "I only did it to weed out the ugly ones. I mean would you want to sleep with a girl if she looked like some of those guys?"

Needless to say, almost everyone that was watching the table was left astonished when they looked at all of the hands. There were some groans of frustration from the players, along with some mumbling noises from the impressed crowd. The aliens that were gathered around looked at each other with surprise, the ones that lost their money looked at Ayame's amazing cleavage and it wasn't until she sat back down after gathering the winnings that they rose up and left the crowd, some towards the bar for a drink and others leaving the bar.

Rahs' bright blue eyes were on Ayame for a second before inspecting the crowd and knowing that everyone was oblivious to her trick. However, he saw her white hair moving towards him and looked down at her. He was crossing his arms while she walked, wondering what she was gonna tell him. After leaning down to hear her whisper her offer, Rahs made a small chuckle. She looked down for a second before adding her reason for cheating. The mercenary's hidden face moved close to her ear and whispered back, "I guess you have a point. Very clever. But I know better than to trust people like you, fox. I rather have someone from the crowd deal the cards."

"Alright then, did you have someone in mind to be the dealer then?" she responded at his condition to her offer. "It's not like I have much of a choice though...although I'm sure you have more to gain from me from not throwing me to the wolves." Handing her cards over to him she added as she walked back towards the waiting table "You can pick your competitors if you'd like too. I'm sure that you'll make sure I won't lose to anyone but you anyways."

As she did the portion of her round bottom that had slipped below the line of her dress wiggled seductively with each step and she did nothing to hide it, a perfect example of why anyone would be foolish to let someone like her go. Taking her seat she turned towards Rahs, waiting to see what he would decide to do in this interesting situation.

Looks like she doesn't mind the fun, or her confidence really is bigger than her curves. Rahs took the deck of cards as he saw Ayame turning around and heading towards her seat. He obviously looked at her perfectly round ass wiggling behind her and chuckled at her attitude. Her brains could save her from many things, but he wondered how did she manage to keep on living acting in such a way? Of course, he didn't know that Ayame was taking her first steps of freedom after being imprisoned for so long.

Rahs walked to the table, shuffling the cards lazily and then riffling them as he sat. He pointed randomly at other four aliens in the crowd and had to shut some others that were complaining that he was playing and choosing. One quick glare from him was enough to do the job. After that, the mercenary called the bartender to the table, and explained him that he wished that he dealt the cards to the players. Everyone got even more surprised to see this, knowing the rumors that followed the syrictae, and some were even fidgeting out of anticipation. "Call the game."

"Hmm... Let's see if your picks manage to change my luck a little. The game is Texas Hold 'em." she said in a loud voice so that those remaining in the crowd knew what was going on. With that said she smiled pleasantly at her competitors before putting a portion of her winnings towards the middle of the table "It's only fair for the host to post the first blind don't you think?" All of the aliens looking on from the table and the crowd nodded and obviously agreed likely thinking Oh yeah, the faster she loses that money the faster one of us wins her.

By the expressions on the crowds' faces it was obvious that her little act was fooling just about everyone in the bar, except Rahs of course. She knew from the way he had seen through her little scheme in the first round that he was obviously too smart to fall for such a simple ruse. And with the new game and dealer now she would actually have to really on what skill she had at the game to quite literally save her ass from these aliens.

Rahs chuckled. Ayame seemed extremely confident, almost too much for her own sake. Once she put her bet, the mercenary could only stare, first at the money, then at her, and back again at the money on the table. "If you called the game, respect the rules. First blind is the guy left to the dealer," snapped the mercenary. If the fox spirit made the first bet, everyone else would be forced to be the double, leaving her more money left to stay on the game if she lost a hand. The players and the crowd then stared and fell silent for a few seconds. No one said anything and the bartender just shrugged and motioned the alien to his left to place the bet.

After the first two blind bets, the rest, including Rahs and Ayame, were left free to play or not. Of course, the mercenary and the other players he chose played, paying the minimum bet and afterwards the players received their two cards. Covering his cards with his hands, Rahs peeked at them and they were two kings, one of hearts and the other of clubs. He then looked at the rest, that mask of his always protecting not only his identity but also his reactions.

She smiled as Rahs snapped at her for the preemptive bet and said with a veiled attempt at sarcasm, "Oops. I don't know what I was thinking. I hope all of you can forgive me." But even with no objections from anyone but the mercenary she knew it would be obvious to anyone with an I.Q above room temperature, not that there were too many of those among this group, that she knew exactly what she was doing.

Nonetheless, the bets continued unhindered around the table and soon after wards the six players each recieved their two cards. Covering her two cards with her hands she peeked at them for a moment, seeing two queens, one of diamonds and the other of hearts, before putting them back on the table. A fitting hand for me, but somehow I think he has better. she thought before looking over at Rahs as she waited for the turn to come back to her.

Her attempt foiled, the fox spirit smiled and tried to cover her mistake for the crowd with a sarcastic apology. It seemed that everyone had fallen to a silent realization and let the game flow as it was intended by the mercenary. He also noticed that Ayame looked at him, and as a reaction he looked back at her, only for a second as he then saw at the rest of the players, in a very relaxed fashion, or so it seemed. After the first round of bets was completed and everyone had their cards, the bartender proceeded to show the flop, three cards that were a seven of spades, a ten of diamonds and another seven of diamonds.
Upon seeing this, Rahs didn't feel that sure that he would certainly win the hand, but he wouldn't stop right then. He still had a pair and so, in the betting round, he decided to call the bet, still careful not to trust that much in the hand he had.

Ouch. she thought as she looked away from Rahs at his motion to the bartender to show the flop. She had her two queens and now the two sevens but if the next two cards stayed along these lines her hand would be quite easy to beat. Rahs' expression was impossible to read under his mask but some of the other players didn't look too happy at the flop.

Nonetheless, she had too much at risk to give up now so she called the bet as well and sent the turn along to the alien after her. Without a little luck this was going to be a rough hand for her and with the bartender as the dealer there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.