"So what'll it be for you gentlemen?" You slurred out, leaning over the table where three men, seemingly impatient, where sitting.
Waiting wasn't actually your job at the Devil's Casino, yet you often found yourself carrying out those duties anyway, despite the managers actual disapproval. When you saw the Chaos apparent in the Casino, orders being missed, tables being unattended too, you knew you just had to chuck on a tightly fitted purple vest and get the job done yourself. But you enjoyed working the floors- the hustle and bustle of working orders, teasing and flirting with the customers- The ACT of it, there was no way you would actually have an interest in any of these freaks- the danger and thrill of the Casino floor, fighting of perverts, preventing the escape of debtors. You loved it. There was no place in Inkwell Isle quite like this Casino. Everywhere else had become almost boring. The day to day communal life of the people, living in constant harmony was nice… but you got no thrill from it anymore. You had lived happily once amongst the people of Inkwell Isle for a while, just living as a simple singer in the small bar, until a new Establishment had opened. Shortly after the Casino opened, a dapper dice-headed man, in a purple tailcoat had approached you, offering you a position as a Casino singer. You accepted immediately, and now, after working here for some time, you knew you could never go back.
"I wouldn't mind having you sweetheart~" One of the men slyly replied, you giving him a teasing grin in response.
"Maybe later Honey, but you're gonna need to order some drinks first," You shot back at him, all three of them placing their orders, drooling over you as you left, rolling your eyes when your face was no longer visible to them. You enjoyed teasing, but teasing was as far as you were willing to go. You started making rounds to other tables, serving other, less responsive guests, and some sleazier guests that couldn't stop eyeing you up and down. As you busied yourself collecting drinks from the bar, you suddenly felt a large gloved hand on your shoulder, which spun you around to bring you face to face with your favourite of the two bosses.
"Darlin', don't ya have better things to be doing with ya time?" the deep voice drawled out, his eyes wondering from your face to your body, "You know how I feel about you working the floors, although that uniform does look mighty fine on ya…" he began to trail of a bit, before you quickly interjected.
"The big boss has no problem with me assisting in these duties. I know what time I have to be on stage and aren't you the one with better things to do? Such as running the craps table that I think you abandoned?" Your eyes darted between Dice's face and the table where people were currently playing, that wasn't being supervised. Dice looked less than impressed.
"Come on Doll. You can do as you please, but you're above this work," He told you before hastily returning to his table, a large grin on his face, immediately putting up his charming, betting man personality for the patrons to see.
Dice's eyes followed you while you continued to spread your charm around the casino floor. Every time he had caught you doing this extra work he would scold you and 'politely' recommend you not continue, for your own protection. Many of the girls who did work the floors did end up getting harassed in one way or another, since the Patron's of hell weren't exactly the most courteous and respectful customers you could get, and he didn't really want to see you get yourself into a sticky situation. In response you would often remind him that you were perfectly capable of defending yourself. King Dice didn't doubt it. In fact, he knew if any girl here could, it would be you. In fact the actual reason for him hating seeing you on the floor was the absolute jealousy he felt watching you batting eyes at these pathetic idiots, charming them with your sweet words. Of course, you on stage was not much better: he didn't appreciate the men's ogling gaze on your body, but your performances brought in plenty of fresh souls and he knew the Devil would never let you stop performing- that would just be poor business. But at the very least when you were on stage, he too was able to enjoy the full extent of your act.
You made your way back to the original three men you served, collecting their now empty glasses onto a tray, still treating them to your sweet charm. That is until you turned away and felt a pair of hands on your waist pulling you towards one of them men.
"Come on sweetheart, don't go just yet." He sniggered into your ear, "Me and the lads wanna play around with you for a bit~" His voice was dark and shady, dripping with ill-intentions. You yourself were more irritated than nervous, as the other two customers, started to circle you.
"Sir, I have a performance that I'm set to do in less than half the hour. I have no time to 'play' right now." You said to them, lips slightly pursued, but still remaining courteous. You wouldn't be courteous for much longer if this continued. The men instead circled you, and the one holding you from behind pressed something sharp and metal to your throat and it didn't take a genius to figure out what that was.
"Perhaps you misunderstood, girl, that wasn't a request." His voice came out as a growl, as the knife was pressed further into your skin, deep enough that you could feel something hot trickling down your throat seconds later. To hell with courtesy.
You swung the tray that was in your hand, three glasses dropping to the floor and shattering to pieces at the man holding you, spinning from his grasp and hitting him to the floor. You crouched in order to get another good swing at him when one of the other men grabbed at your arm in an attempt to pull you to your feet and towards him.
"You bitch!" He hissed, you quickly grabbing a shard of broken glass from the floor, lashing at him as the third man attempted to grab you from behind. You felt just a tad outmatched, 3 against 1 hardly seeming fair, but despite this you continued to give your best effort against your attackers, jabbing your elbow into the third mans stomach. Temporarily away from the three men's prying hands, you started to edge backwards slowly, a fiery haze in your eye as you stared them down, one man half dazed on the floor, the other clutching his arm that was bleeding heavily the third eying you back, but not daring to make a move on you, much to your surprise and confusion.
A confusion that continued to fill you until you found your back pressed against what felt like soft fur.
"Well, well, well… what do we have here?" their was a sinister air to the snarl that was spoken directly into your ear which caused a shiver to run up your spine. You stood your ground though, maintaining your dignity and class, refusing to show too much fear of the Devil.
"Deepest apologies boss," You said, turning your head slightly to find yourself face to face with him, less than an inch apart, a large grin spread across his face. You swear you could feel his tail brushing against your calf, starting to curl around it. "But I don't take kindly to being touched." You dropped the bloodied shard of glass, turning your attention back to the three men in front of you, two already having their backs to you in an attempt to run away, the other scrambling to get to his feet.
A deep, throaty sound came from the devil, resembling that of a laugh, as he signalled to some men to catch the three men attempting to escape, each of them pleading and begging as they were dragged away. "No. And I would be a bad boss if I didn't punish these fiends for their trespasses on your body," The Devil slurred, His hand moving to cup your chin so that you were looking him in the eye again. "Perhaps you should decide the punishment… I'm sure that wrath brimming inside you can think of something positively… creative," He snickered, pulling his hand away from you as King Dice rushed to your side.
"Darlin, baby doll…" Dice huffed, pulling out a handkerchief from his coat pocket, "Goodness… are you alright?" He wiped the blood that you had forgotten was running down your throat away. "This is what I was tryin to avoid with you on the floors." He added a bit more sternly, yet, being no less gentle in his inspection to check if you had been hurt.
"I'm fine Sir, really," You told him, with a small smile, your voice reassuring and coaxing. You had a feeling Dice was more perturbed by the attack than you were, one hand working to quench your bleeding, the other gently holding your waist, an act that seemed more instinctual to you than something that Dice was doing intentionally.
"I shoulda never let them lay a hand on ya," Dice sighed, anger seeming to swell in his voice against the attackers and against himself, yet his eyes still maintained a soft look as he looked into your own.
"If you stopped them Dice," The devil drawled out, his voice heavy and lazy, "We never would have gotten to see this display of (Y/N)'s wrath." The Devil was still grinning at you, his eyes sparkling with excitement, "I certainly wouldn't mind seeing it again," he said almost suggestively, his eyes wondering around to room, "Although speaking of display's and performances… you should be on stage any minute now (Y/N)," he reminded you.
"Boss, considering the circumstances…" Dice started before the Devil cut him off.
"Don't make excuses for her Dice, she has a job to do." The devil stated, giving you one last smirk before he turned on his heels, stalking away. "You have 15 minutes (Y/N)," you heard his voice ring as he walked away.
"Will you be alright to perform Darlin?" Dice asked, concern still lacing his voice. "If you missed it just this once I sure I could convince the B…" You sighed with a slight laugh, cutting Dice of by gently placing your finger to his lips.
"I'll be ok Dice," You said, almost affectionately, "It's my fault it happened anyway- for not listening to your warning anyway~" You teased, as you turned to head back stage to get ready. His hand slid down your arm as you walked curling around your wrist, stopping you in your tracks temporarily. You raised your eyebrows at him, still with a that teasing smirk on your face, silently encouraging him to explain his actions.
"Don't you ever say this was your fault, got it baby doll?" He said, his voice hinging on becoming stern again, his grip on your wrist tight. You nodded in response, almost speechless.
"Alright… thank you Sir." Your voice was soft, and for a moment you both stared into each other's eyes in silence. That was until dice nodded his head, releasing your wrist, his signature grin returning to his face.
"Knock 'em dead darling," he said turning back to his craps table, where he would get a good view of your performance, as you headed backstage, a proud smile on your face, trying to hide your growing blush.