"C'mon. C'mon. Dangit."
Lucas slumped in his chair and rubbed his eyes. Why, he wasn't sure. The result was pretty much what he had been expecting.
When the blurriness disappeared from his vision, he looked up and saw just what he had seen before: bar, bar, seven.
"Shaymin," the Pokémon chirped in a vain attempt to comfort him.
Among its many attractions, Veilstone City was perhaps most famous for its shopping mall. That wasn't where they were at. With lights flashing all around them, repetitive sounds beeping from everywhere, and the faint smell of alcohol in the air, the team found it hard to forget that they were in Veilstone's Game Corner.
Neither of the three considered themselves tourists to the location; they had swung by this town more than several times during their journey. One, more so than the others, was getting a little too used to this particular location.
Dawn was sitting in a chair next to Lucas, also occasionally groaning. She didn't have the exact same ambitions as her partner does, as was proven today. The feel of the atmosphere, the chance of winning it all...Neither of those things particularly appealed to her. As far as she was concerned, this place did nothing but steal money, stay unclean, and house creepy people. It also provided shelter from the cold, but then again, so would that shopping mall across the street.
"Lucas..." the girl whined as the corner of her eye caught her friend dropping more coins into the machine. "Can't we go now?"
Shaymin was perched comfortably on the top of Lucas's hat. She turned briefly to look at Dawn, but went back to the machine when Lucas pulled the lever.
"Next one," he babbled, barely understanding the words he was saying. He seemed unfazed as another attempt at bringing in cash on the slots ended with spectacular failure. "Promise."
Dawn sighed. He had said that same thing before. Since then, he had gone back up to the counter to trade in cash for game coins. Twice.
With one more huff of air, Dawn stood up and began walking away. "I'm in charge of finances when we get married..."
"Sure, after we get married..." He pulled down on the lever again, then quickly jerked his head towards her with sudden interest. He saw only her backside. "Wait, what?"
Whether she hadn't heard him or just chose to ignore him, Lucas wasn't sure. It didn't seem to bother him nor Shaymin much as he dropped three more coins into the machine.
Dawn weaved through the crowd slowly. As far as casinos -especially in Veilstone- go, the place actually wasn't very busy. Not many more than half the seats of slot machines were taken up. She hopelessly turned her head to watch a stranger win ten whole tokens on a spin. "Wonder if that would satisfy Lucas," she thought to herself.
In her unguided attempt to pass time, she exited from the rows of that particular game and into a different area. This section had felt-lined boards and dice. Glancing up at the ceiling, she spotted a sign reading, "Pokémon Craps." She barely blocked a chuckle caused from the name, then watched some people playing it.
She was moderately good at understanding things after given some time to watch someone else do it; there was just a touch of irony in that she had beaten Maylene, the Veilstone Gym Leader, by figuring out how her Pokémon battled by studying them. The ability, however, failed her here. As she watched for three quarters of a minute, she didn't understand what the point of the game was.
Then again, she wasn't sure what the point of this building was.
She peeked back and spotted Lucas by the green and white thing that was on his head. He hadn't moved an inch. Another sigh, and she pressed on.
More tables. Dawn almost continued walking without paying attention to them, but the design of them caught her eye. Half a circle, almost like a broken moon. On the green felt that covered it was plenty of printed boxes and phrases she didn't even recognize, like "double down."
She was snapped out of her table-studying daze by a charming voice calling out to her. First, she realized that it was the operator of the table; then she realized that the charming voice belonged to a balding, fifty-something year-old man. He wore the standard outfit that everyone employed by this place seemed to have, but he wore a large grin even better. He was enjoying what he was doing, and Dawn had to give him that much.
"Ever play, Miss?"
Dawn only now noticed the table was devoid of other humans. He was probably delighted when she had walked up to his desk for the sake of having company. When his words registered as a question in her brain, Dawn fixed a few strands of hair behind her ear. "O-only a couple times," she stuttered, having not expected to talk to anyone in here.
"First one's on the house," he bribed. The elderly man grabbed a deck of cards and tossed them around into a pile, supposedly shuffling them.
It was good that it was free, since Dawn didn't have any coins on her. She decided to humor the guy. While she took a seat, the dealer expertly picked up and straightened all the cards at once.
He gave himself one card flipped face-down. He gave the next one to her facing up. Then he gave both of them one more face-up card.
Dawn counted eleven on her cards. It was a good total for this game, which made her even more suspicious if this round was set up to trick her into spending money. It was important to remember that, at the very least, this round was for fun. With that in mind, she muttered the questionable words, "Hit me," and waited.
The dealer pulled the top card off the deck and slammed it on the table next to Dawn's others. A six of hearts. Aesthetically pretty, but a poor card right now. She didn't want to risk going over the benchmark of twenty-one. "I'll stop."
Wordless but smiling, her opponent revealed both of his cards. They added up to fourteen; one quick draw after, and he was at eighteen.
"Better luck next time, eh?"
Before Dawn could make a response, she was held in her chair by a hand on her shoulder. When she glanced at it, she found it recognizable. It helped even more when the owner of the hand spoke. "You're playing something? And you didn't burst into flame?"
"Shut up..."
Lucas took a seat next to her, much to her disliking. "Give us a round," he stated, throwing enough coins across the table for both of them to play.
"Lucas, I don't-"
"How about a bet?"
Dawn blinked her eyes. She didn't pay much attention as the dealer hurled a card or two at her. "...What?"
"A bet. If I win, youuu..." he hummed, deciding on a reasonable wager. "have to buy me a milkshake."
The young woman came close to slapping him on the backside of the head and shouting, "No way!" Just moments before she did, she realized that this opportunity was a gift from above. She smirked and altered her choice of words. "And if I win, we have to leave." She paused for a moment, but one last idea came to her that she hastily voiced. "Oh, and I get a kiss."
Lucas broke their gaze to look at the cards he had been given. They amounted up to sixteen. "Hit me."
He was dealt a third card; a four of clubs. "Twent-" the dealer started to say.
"Hit me."
"But-"
"Hit me."
The older man took a quick glance at Dawn, who was too busy watching Lucas to notice it. He shrugged, then dealt him another card.
It was a seven, blowing his near-perfect hand over the limit. With an expression on his face that almost looked like relief, Lucas turned back to Dawn. "Do they have to be in that order?"
"Not necessarily," she answered quickly. Without looking at the dealer, she told him, "Um...I fold."
The man behind the table was beyond taken aback by now. His cheery emotion was replaced entirely by confusion. "Uhh, Miss, you can't fold in this game-"
Unfortunately, his words didn't leave his mouth fast enough. The boy planted his mouth on the girl's, bringing him to the conclusion that neither cared much about what he had to say.
Lucas's head inevitably tipped on its side; Shaymin had successfully predicted this and reacted to it. She took a gentle leap off of her Trainer's hat and landed on the soft table.
She shifted her head around to watch as her human companions deprived one another of oxygen. The event didn't do very much for her, convincing her to turn back and face the last person in the immediate area.
"Shay."
The dealer closed his eyes and shook his head; when he opened them back up, sure enough, the situation was still the same. The two had stopped kissing, however, and now only leaned their foreheads against one another. They still seemed absorbed in their own world, and that green hedgehog was still staring at him.
He shrugged and proceeded to deal Shaymin two face-up cards, all while trying to ignore the two teenagers. But, that was okay. They were ignoring him, too.