High-Roller | 300 Exact

Angora was humored by Bahem, but also admittedly pitied him. She had seen him more often in the past, years before he had joined the Church of Sulfur. He was a fresh bun who had just arrived to Burrowgatory, and he had already ended up as a plaything of a local crime boss. He would come around and simply... be there to grab drinks for others while his boss played the slots. She had heard about what happened to him later too, after all, she was distinctly aware of any bun that ended up homeless or bankrupt. 

It was nice to see him again, not only because it lead to more money for her and a good bit of fun, but because it meant that Bahem was finally starting to get on his hooves again after what happened. Honestly, if Oleander and Mercy didn't already have their nails dug into Bahem, Angora would have tried to snatch him up for her own business by this point. But alas, even if she couldn't have the cute little priest for herself, she could enjoy the time she spent watching him go through the stages of grief after each round of poker. 

"Oh!!! Shoot Dangit!" Bahem yelped, passing some chips over to Angora. She giggled in amusement at the phrasing. "Bahem, you do know that swearing at the games is allowed at my establishment, yes?" The male sighed. "Yes, I'm aware. I apologize, it's just a habit I have when I get... really involved in a game." Angora nodded. She honestly thought it was rather cute, especially since most respectful buns had the exact opposite issues, starting to swear only when they started losing. "But, you're still at an even amount, you're allowed to continue being involved in the game as much as you like."

That was true, Bahem had been winning and losing in exactly equal amounts. He had walked in with about 300 carats to gamble away, but he had then won 200 more, only to lose that 200, and then he won 50, and then he lost it. The cycle continued in that manner up until this point, winning more than his original amount and then losing his winning while having nothing digging into his original budget. He could have walked away at this point, accepted it as a nice game night with Angora and go back to the church with his small personal wallet intact... but there was a thrill about seeing how far he could push it.

"I've an idea." Angora stated, pulling Bahem's attention to her. "We'll play for exactly one more hour. Whatever amount of carats you have at the end of that hour is your final amount of the night. I'm honestly quite curious if you can keep this equal streak of wins and losses going..." Bahem knew that it was a bad idea, gambling always was... but he had to admit that he was curious about the same thing. "I know this is a bad idea... but hey, why not try?"

Part of the woman's mind was thinking about how well this could go in her favor- maybe she could get a piece of this little obedient man for himself if he lost enough carats... but alas, that wasn't in her cards. With every game he continued to win, he lost again- but never for any more than he had already won. There was some point where Angora almost thought he was cheating- he had to be! There was no logical reason how someone could manage to win the exact amounts they lose without dipping into their wallets at all- but then she thought about who exactly she was playing against. 

The poor sap wouldn't be able to know how to cheat even if he was given explicit instructions. In fact, now that Angora looked at the way he played, she didn't even think the boy knew how to play Poker. After all, the last time he had ever seen it was years ago, and it wasn't exactly like he was respected enough to be given the rundown of how the game worked. She hummed- perhaps she would teach him another day, but now was time for a morbid fascination of how far this could go. 

Time clicked by, and Bahem felt his mind starting to turn to mush looking at the cards over and over again. His reactions became dulled as the games melded into one another, until eventually he barely reacted at all in the last five minutes of the collection of games.

The hour ended not with a bang, but with a whimper. Bahem had lost the small amount of Carats he had won the previous round over. His final carat amount? 300. Exactly the same amount that he had started with.  Angora gave a little hum, collecting the cards and putting them back together in proper deck order. "I have to say, I'm impressed. There had to be something guiding your hand... you played much better than anyone else I've met who doesn't know how to play Poker... there might just be a little card prodigy in you, Bahem."

"Uh... thank you?" He wasn't sure if he was supposed to take it as a compliment or not, but he assumed the best and took it as one. "I'm sorry that I didn't lose enough to get you any money, I suppose I sort of wasted your time..." For the love of money, he was apologizing for not losing enough! If Angora didn't feel enough pity and care for the pathetic little priest already, that pushed her over the edge. She liked draining wealthy elites and reckless commoners of their wealth, yes... but Bahem was a secret third thing- that being a man who barely even has commoner status, while still acting like he did when he was rolling with a known high-class criminal organization. 

Angora roughly handed Bahem a deck of cards, watching as he stumbled a bit from the force. "Take that with you. Consider it physical proof that you've done anything but waste my time. I got entertainment out of this that I'll come back to for years, Bahem. You're a greed bun! Try to act like it sometimes and not beat yourself up for... fuck, not going bankrupt. After all, if winning made people sad, I wouldn't have a fucking business."

Bahem supposed that Angora was right... And even if it was given to him with a bit of intensity, he did appreciate the deck of cards. Maybe he would end up learning how to play Poker eventually... or, more likely, he would learn how to do something else with the cards. Like build a card tower. Yeah, that seemed like fun.