Vanetti's Eleven [Isabella/Saisei]

Interesting, that his outlook on this game changed so much from the flop. The history on profile for Saisei, in Isabella's eyes, suggested more than meets the eye, but perhaps he really was just the type of man that, for better or worse, in all manners, wore his heart on his sleeve. Or, in this case, on his face. Or maybe he was just that committed to a certain persona.

"Call."

She matched his bet, and the next card flipped over. Seven of Hearts.

His raised confidence gave Isabella the impression that this game would continue, but maybe he was really just banking on the potential of the board. Maybe this seven crushed his dreams. She'd have to see his face first to really tell; if it was anything indicating that he was still in it, Isabella would toss in two tenners. If he seemed crushed, Isabella would hold.

Okay, not bad. Even if he wore a face of defeat, his hands were diamond and his balls were brass. She could respect that much. If he committed that much to the idea of staying in, surely he wouldn't turn on his word, right?

The dealer turned the river card, and for better or worse Saisei simply had to understand that this game was doomed from the start. Ace of Hearts. More importantly, on the face of the card, a barely opaque message was written.

back room, 12 steps east

Isabella pushed her whole pile of chips forward and looked over to Saisei with a smirk.

"Win or lose, right?"

Realistically, it was only win or win for Isabella. Considering the dealer was the one to give her the information on where to go next, it went without saying that they were in her pocket from the get-go. Even if the board didn't have any good matches, it seemed Isabella won.

She flipped her cards over: pocket aces.

"It was a good try. Thanks for playing, Saisei."

Isabella stood up herself, finished her drink, and started walking off towards the hallway and around the corner, expecting Saisei to follow after her.

On the other side, the hallway continued onward. Just around the bend was a door, and furthest down the hall opened up to the left. Isabella opened the door and went inside. It was a storage room, a few shelves and boxes on top, fairly well lit at the top and generally unassuming. In the centre of the small room was a square table, and two uniforms neatly folded up.

"Get dressed quickly, now we're on a bit of a timer."

Curiously, when they walked towards the hall and into the room, it was at just the timing where no employees were walking through. More curiously, although she urged Saisei to be hasty, Isabella went at her own pace and took her time. She removed her jewelry one at a time, placing them in her purse. When she got to her actual clothes, Isabella didn't seem shy about it at all, either. She stripped down to her underwear--a matching black set of cheeky cut cotton panties and triangle bra--and folded her clothes it into the peculiarly spacious purse.

Just the perfect size. The ride side of her blouse had a particular stitching to it, a code that would read an ID. All employees wore uniforms assigned to them, specially made for them, with their identifications attached to it to assure the correct person is wearing it. The uniforms themselves are never to leave the building, either. They were expensive, to be fair.

"We needa get things like this for the Vanetti. They're damn expensive, but they have reishi-resistant fibres to it, real good stuff for how light-weight and casual they seem. Also, they're kind of cute?"

Isabella took the time to look around herself, pleased with how it looked on her and the colours of the uniform. A thin lapis blue blouse, opened a bit at the collar. A waist-tight blazer wrapped around her, a complementary brown with thin white accents on the outlines. In a similar brown shade, her pant suits were fitted straight down, surprisingly flexible, and extended slightly beyond her ankles. Her black round toe pumps didn't quite match to her tastes for the outfit, but it was mostly fine.

"Done yet?"

Isabella tied her hair up into a loose bun, in the meantime taking the time to appreciate the view. Surprisingly, Saisei was well built. So much so that the uniform she had her insider prepare for him had the wrong dimensions. It looked awkward on him, excessively tight--and not in a flattering way. His resignation to wearing it and general displeasure was more than amusing to her, however. Maybe she'd force him to wear it around the estate after all.

"The main idea is for us to not have to wear them for too long, anyways. Chin up, Saisei, you've endured worse before."

She beckoned him behind her while keeping her eyes on her wrist watch. Isabella tapped her foot in a consistent cadence, and on one last tap she opened the door to look around. With the area clear, she walked on forward and as usual assumed the lackey followed close behind. She reached the far end of the hallway and turned to the left, only to take a small step back.



"Uhh... So, I know we gotta go through here, but... I'm not really sure what I'm looking at."

The red walls of the casino jarringly transitioned into a wide space of yellow walls, various lighting fixtures, and a series of seemingly pointless walls that obscured the path forward.

Saisei was right--Vanetti work had him taking his shirt off quite often. But was that really indicative of the tastes of the sisters, or was that more reflective of Saisei's easily inclined nature to take off his shirt? The duality of man.

To the matter at hand, Isabella had no issues allowing Saisei to take the lead here. As confusing as it was for him, at least the man had his spiritual senses to guide him. Isabella, on the other hand, was totally lost and consumed by the visual confusion. It even instilled a sense of openness, abyssal vastness, and simultaneously claustrophobia. It even started bubbling up into sensations of nausea, though she kept that part to herself.

"Just move forward and we'll get to where we need to be soon enough."

And just as she said that, he already started talking about how telling him that wasn't going to work. Huh. This puppy had a decent head on him. Fair enough.

"This is a Frangipani casino. Gambling used to be illegal a long time ago in Italy, but they were eventually legalised in the past century or something. This one, though, is still illegal. People come here and use untracked money, just to gamble with sometimes, other times to just move the stuff around. Take the stuff off their hands.

Now, this may be the first you heard of it, but the Frangipani are something of a, uh, rival? Not really. Vanetti has no equals--they sure do think they're equals, though, and they got a lot more ins with the federale than us. That's why they're able to run this big of an establishment so soon after the war."

Just mentioning the war left a bad taste in her mouth. Still, she trecked onward, even pushing Saisei forward, though she kept her hand on his shoulder for some balance.

"I feel like I'm gonna throw up, so I'll need you to be patient enough to get the rest of your answers at the end."