A Little Me Time [Open]

[SteelEagle]

“Good. Have fun with it,” she said with a smile. Soon she left the younger private eye to his pwn devices, pursuing her own leads on the case.

*******

At the The Tops, owned by Jackpot, things were going swimmingly. The casino wasn't te most active in all of Las Pegasus but Jackpot believed it had to have the highest customer and guest satisfaction rating in the city. How could it not? Every guest who got a room got a gambling credit and vouchers for free food and drink during a stay, and he had a long, long, long list of entertainers lined up. Every night was an awesome party for awesome ponies in his awesome casino. He didn't make anywhere near as much as other casinos as a side effect but ask anypony in Equestria where things were the most happening and you'd know the answer was The Tops.

And what was currently happening was the owner, Jackpot, a light brown unicorn young stallion, was bouncing on a ball near the entrance as the private detective made is entrance. “Welcome-” bounce “to-” bounce “my-” bounce “casino!” bounce, horn lit up in mid-air. “Almost got a personal record for most bounces without falling down! Cool, huh? Here, for today only, everypony who comes in gets a ten bit gambling credit on top of anything else!” he said excitedly. An aide hoofed over the chip. “Not much, but its a start for just walking through the door! So, what's your game, fella?” He said, resuming the bouncing on the ball.

[Switchback]

"I shall certainly try to look like I am at least." Lens says as he nods to the mare, making his way out the door and towards the casino, thinking through how he would deal with Jackpot; he had always been a strange case.

**********

Lens strolls into the bustling casino, he immediately gritted his teeth; it was not that he hated this one, quite the opposite, however one thing he did find hard to deal with was the endless optimism of the casino owner. Although at least he was usually quite simple to deal with, and today seemed to put him in a good mood; which was always a bonus, as well as the free credit. "Cheers for the cred, Jackers. But don't you remember me? Thought you never forgot a face." he grins, leaning against the wall with a sigh "Good to see somepony having fun in the wake of this fashion show preparation, can't stand all this clothing stuff myself; haven't even bought a new big piece of clothing in a while. What about you? Any new pieces that you were inspired to buy inspired to buy? We can discuss it over some Blackjack." he suggests with a smile, counting on both the happy, but also gambling central nature of this pony to get the information he needed, getting down to business quickly.

[SteelEagle]

Jackpot laughed. “Well, I actually forget lots of faces! I think its because I had a magician I had a crush on- you know, The Great and Powerful Trixie- perform here and one of the performances went somewhat awry and my head was squashed between some rocks and seats and fires and her, but hey, I think this may be a dream and if this is a dream it is an awesome dream! Yay!” he said, still bouncing. After a few more moments of awkward silence he jumped off. Leading Lens to the gaming area he made sure to stop off for a sip of a drink here and there, pleased to make sure the taste testing went smoothly. It did, as expected.

“Fashion? Well, I don't buy a lot of clothes or whatnot. Always seemed wasteful but I make exceptions for a few ponies. Like Rarity! Oh my gosh he is s pretty and her clothes are soooooo prettyful too. I ordered something from her recently. She should do well I that fashion thingie they have going on,” he offered happily, sitting down to play some blackjack. “Blackjack, my favorite game! You know I haven't won in over a week but its just so much fun and ponies love playing it too. So, whatcha been up to? I think I remember you being a private eye of some sort, right? Investigating a super crime currently?”

[Switchback]

He listens carefully, making sure the gritting of his teeth could be passed off as smiling "Oh I see, crushed by a magical crush magically. Always a tough one. Unrequited love, ah those were the days eh? Wandering along the streets of this city seemed so romantic when you are wearing a new jacket and looking up at the signs of all the performers. Shame really that eventually the threads of both the suit and reality fall away until only the rough part is left." he says, trying to remain as upbeat as he could, but his cynicism still bleeding through his words, in his own personal nightmare as of current.

"I see, quite the interesting fashionista to buy from, I must say. Quite exclusive designs aren't they? At least I've never seen anything that looks like a Rarity piece except for a Rarity piece." he comments, slyly trying to build up the tiny amount of rapport one needed to build with Jackpot "It is quite the game, aye. Simple and sweet. Me? Oh I've been doing a bit of here there and everywhere, can't discuss the nature of my work as I am sure you understand, my dear friend, but I can tell you I am currently on a case for a rather high profile individual, and my being here is far from coincidence." he sits down next to Jackpot "Don't suppose I could borrow the garment you ordered from Rarity for a couple of hours? It could prove my client's innocence, and you would have helped a rather stunning mare clear her name in the cold eyes of the law. Imagine the papers 'Hero Casino Owner Saves Helpless Mare'." he says with a grin, going quiet after.

[SteelEagle]

Jackpot didn't catch the cynicism. He was an optimistic realist- someone who took somepony else's words at face value and could only ever apply a more positive spin on it. “Well, I never had a problem with that. If I really thought a magician or a singer or dancer or performer or-” he threw a few more in there for good measure, always adding another or, “-firebreather, they'd try and hire them for a show or two. I mean it had to make SOME sort of financial sense, but then I got to meet them and get their autographs! Sometimes even a hug!” He said while clapping his hooves. The cards were being dealt. Life was good. It always as good for him, always would be good for him, and would be good for others if he had anything to say about it. Which he did, kinda sorta. Yay for everypony!

What was not yay for everypony was asking for the clothes he had just purchased from Miss Rarity. Why would anypony want that? Well, of course anypony would WANT something Rarity designed but why did he needed what Jackpot had purchased? He recoiled in momentary horror as he looked at his cards. The hand wasn't great either! And the Private Investigator wasn't all that interested in a social call, he was doing some investigations- PRIVATELY!
GASP
“But I just bought it! I haven't even had a chance to put it on yet,” he said sadly, crossing his arms like a colt having a temper tantrum. Then he sipped on a drink that had been delivered and cheered back up. “Yum! Rum!”
He looked at Lens. “Well, I mean, I want to help but it is so new...tell you what, lets play for it, right? I win, you, we all win regardless of who wins because games are fun! Yeah!”

[Switchback]

Lens grit his teeth and forced a smile while Jackbot blathered on about various things and whatnot, what it could have been was lost to Lens as halfway through he phased out, simply nodding and occasionally responding with a "Uh-huh." or a "Yeah." trying to at least feign some semblance of interest in the mind numbingly boring rants of Jackpot, and thinking about the floor of the building the other detective would be dangling him out of at this stage in the conversation. He was just so painfully childish all the time, it left Lens wondering quite how poor a foalhood one must have to decide to gather back the lost time long into adulthood. A pony who seemed to know no end of simple pleasures, and did not ever grasp the complex thoughts such as sadness, or urgency; one aspect that was really annoying Lens, but he still would not subject Rarity to this pony knowing she was here, or that he was working for her, that would only slow him down further.

And then things got worse, well at least for any other pony things would be getting worse, but for the tilted life of Lens, things were just naturally rolling down the hill towards the jump; the more complications that got in the way, the more natural it felt to him. But even for Lens' luck, this new step bothered him a bit, he had not counted for quite the childish outburst that Jackpot showed, hoping more for the blind trust of a child, he instead got the new toy tantrum of one. But luckily then came a welcome reprieve, a challenge to play for it, and knowing Jackpot's bad luck with gambling, and his expertise in the field, Lens hoped this may be the final push on the case. "Sure, let's play for it. Nothing wrong with a little friendly competition to decide the fate of a case that is down to the twelfth hour. Deal up!" he calls, getting ready for yet another impossible case to crack wide open, moments like this making him love his work.

[SteelEagle]

Jackpot wasn't good at the game. To be fair he wasn't good at any of the games. He didn't care though! He just cared about playing and he was in the perfect position for that now, wasn't he? For every game he won he lost another four. As long as everypony had a good time then he considered himself the real winner. And today he was going to play with a friend and that was always better than playing with strangers, which he did anyway even though his parents told him it was a bad idea and not to do so. Well, nopony could tell him to not play losing games at a casino now so that was exactly what he did.

 

And it started off as expected, with Jackpot getting cleaned out. Card after card conspired against him, their vile cardstock working with his opponent to see him ruined. Jackpot didn't really care tooooooo much because he just liked to play, though he wanted to win this time kinda sorta more than most other times. After all, it wasn't everyday he got Rarity to design something for him and he was unsure what the intent was. Regardless, he wanted to be the first to wear it because he had paid for it and that was the right darn thing! Still, it looked like his wants and desires were going to go the way of the do-do this particular day.

 

But then his luck turned. winning streak? heck yeah! In half the time it took for him to dig the hole he was in he had managed to ome back. Luck was truly fickle. And luck was a fan of delightful designs by Rarity! After a short while they were tied up. And, as luck would have it, the final cards were given out. He had a two up top- and hidden underneath, a nine. He looked at Lens. "This has been a good game! Having fun over there?"

[Switchback]

Meanwhile for Lens, the very opposite was true, he was very very good at these games, it was often thought that if he gave up the detective work, he could easily find work as a professional gambler, however the secret for him was that in reality, he could never work that job, as he loved his work only when things were down to the wire, with all stakes high, and you only got that once or twice in a game of cards. So instead he chose to set himself up in a city where he could demonstrate his skills as a pastime, and all too often, the end result of a case was based upon the flip of a card. And this time was no different.

And very much to his surprise and slight worry, this time seemed no different; he was getting winning hoof after winning hoof, and that caused him no end of trouble, after all he often came back from terrible situations with the win of all time, but it's not often things started off well, that normally led to things going wrong, and yet things were going well for him, this could be a massive issue for him; he needed to win this to get the piece back to the other detective for research on it to clear his client's name; the last thing he needed was a winning streak, after all, when there was a winning streak, something had to follow.

And as if by magic, something did; his luck turned, turned very bad very quick. Where before each card turned smiled to him, now they more looked to his neighbor. He breathed a sigh of relief as everything went wrong, it would infuriate most ponies, but Lens had this kind of luck so often, that things going wrong heralded success to him more than anything else, this was the part where everything hung in the balance. And then came along the last round, both sides tied up; it truly was in the balance at this stage, and that made him nervous and relieved. He peeked at his cards, a three and an eight. "Oh yes, as much fun as I can be." he lied somewhat, more keen to get this over with so he could help Rarity out, and not have to deal with the other detective again. He had been squeezed into too many tight spots both figuratively and literally in this case, and he just wanted it over.

[SteelEagle]

The dial struck and the final hand was dealt. Jackpot had kept the same goofy grin on the whole time. He was excited to just be playing. He loved his customers, each and every one of them, even this detective who wasn't a customer but could perhaps be a friend. Jackpot looked at his hand. “Oooh, a good one! I don't know there Lensy Wensy Poodum Pie, kissed the fillies and made them cry. My hand is pretty super awesome!” Jackpot said, cackling gleefully as he did so. It was true, no bluff: His hand was super duper legit. It had his favorite numbers 3, 7, and 10 in there! Wow! He giggled. “I like it when games are fun and close. Blowouts are boring, and no one really has fun. But close games? Close games are so much more fun!"

The cards kept on coming out. Another 3 and a 10 were the only cards that mattered. Cool, two pair! “Well, this is cool,” he said. He didn't think he would win but maybe, and that would be coolness. When all was said and done he looked over at his competitor for the day and smiled once more. “Wel, here we go. For all the marbles. Time to rock and roll, or something similar,” he said, laying his hand down. It was a two pair, 3's and 10's. “Welp, that's what I have. Whatcha got there my good friend Lensy Wensy?” He asked, excited no matter what the outcome.

[Switchback]

The novelty was starting to wear off for Lens; something felt different about this time, for once he had a bad feeling about a case. A feeling like something was going terribly wrong. He thought back to the other detective he let roam, suddenly becoming nervous about what she was spending this time doing; it could be that she was on a payroll, in which case winning this game was needed as if he didn't get his side done, she could easily fabricate proof that Rarity was guilty. He couldn't allow that to happen, so he decided that if this game didn't end so well, he may just have to cheat to win. "I'm sure the hand is good." he replies bluntly, keeping his cards hidden for now. "Oh yeah. Close games are so much fun to play when everything is on the line for one party." he says sarcastically as the final cards were dealt.

Lens looks at his hand, what was a three and an eight was now a three, four, five, six, seven, eight, and ten, meaning that he had a straight he could use. He lays down his hand onto the table "Straight. Beats your two pair. So I suppose that means I take the game." he says, standing up and brushing off his sleeve, not happy with all the time this endeavor wasted and the company he had to keep for it. He puts his sunglasses on "I'll take the prize and be on my way."

[SteelEagle]

Jackpot gave a hearty guffaw as Lens won, tapping his hooves together in excitement. “You sure did win! Pssh, no matter. I was gonna give you it anyway! I just really really really really wanted somepony to play with. Most customers don't want to play with the owner of a casino- they probably think I'd cheat- but you were fun to play with,” he laughed happily. He started to lead Lensy past the casino floor and towards the elevator. They entered. The attendant unicorn's horn lit up some gears were turned, and soon the elevator as moving on up. It didn't take long for them to reach the top, Jackpot humming a happy tune all the while.

They finally entered Jackpot's room, which oddly enough wasn't even the biggest suite in the hotel. Still, it was plenty big. “Give me a second while I fetch it for ya, Lensy!” he said, trotting into his personal room. It would take a minute, not a second, as he had to go through a lot of clothes he had yet to wear. His eye in the afternoon was certainly bigger than his desire to dress well when he woke up groggily in the morning. Still, after a little bit he came back out with the item in question. It was behind a thin sheen of magic plastic on a wooden hangar, straightened and flattened appropriately.

“All right, fair's fair! Here ya go,” he said, hoofing it over. “Just make sure you take super duper uber care of it and return it when you're done, yeah? I'd hate to have anything bad happen to it!”

[Switchback]

"Yeah I'm sure you were. However in my business there's no room for trust or friends unless they're on the payroll." he states matter of factly, still prepared for funny business to ensue. "I've played and won against some of the biggest cheats in the business, dirty play has never scared me when a job is on the line. Now let's hurry this up; I am still on the clock and no matter how appealing it would be, I can't justify paying by the hour if this goes on any longer." He quickly follows to the elevator, entering the space he keeps a careful eye on the attendant as the elevator rises to the top; he wasn't trusting of many ponies, and for good reason considering his line of work.

Once they got to the room, Lens only afforded himself a quick glance around for any traps or dangers; the place seemed clean, in both senses of the word. Not only that but he could probably fit two of his workspaces into this one room; made him reflect on this job he was doing and the value this could have to his business. While Jackpot was in his room, Lens investigated the room further, considering relieving him of a bottle of cider, before deciding against it for now, going back to stand near the elevator.

When Jackpot gave the garment to him, he took it using his magic, keeping the material levitating in front of him he shrugs "Yeah sure. No promises; if it comes to helping my client or costing you a trip to the laundry I know which one I'll be taking." he says, quickly going back to the elevator, keen to get out of this casino.

[SteelEagle]

Jackpot shrugged. His good friend Lens had won and was getting his prize but he wasn't going to pitch a fit about the condition. He might lose the suit and that was beyond tragic but he could always just get another. As much as his momentary panic played quickly across his face he knew deep down he could go ahead and solve it with bits. Many bits all the time forever. But that didn't mean he wouldn't despair momentarily at the thought of Lens destroying it in the path of his work. Such a beautiful piece! A tragedy of taste when it got damaged.

"Okay, well, your work, your methods, yay Lens! If there is anything left of it pretty pretty pretty please don't deliver it up front. I think the receptionist was jealous of it which is strange because I bought her a dress that was nice but she didn't respond the way I wanted to that for reasons I don't know," he said, then took a breath, "so maybe she'll take it to get back at me which I probably deserve but oh well. Go detective work!" Jackpot said, then reared up and gave an excited clap with his eyes closed. It was going to great because Lens was great!

"Well, I gotta go. I was actually supposed to meet the Mayor in the business center for a meeting. Boy, will she be upset that I'm late! It was worth it though. Thanks for playing with me! Wanna have dinner nex- aww, who am I kidding. You're busy! Have a good'n, Lensy Wensy!" He finished, waving his hoof and shutting his door gently. They would meet again, but not, now today, and not about this. When Lens got to the elevator the attendant nodded and got to work. Soon the elevator was on its way. Silence. More silence.

The attendant looked over plainly.

"Nice suit."

[Switchback]

He was finally on his way; at this point Lens finally allowed himself to start listening to things after tuning out so much of what Jackpot had said for so long; although it was lucky he tuned in at the end because of a minor detail that Jackpot mentioned; the receptionist's odd reaction to the ensemble. Lens knew that Jackpot had acquired this outfit recently from the fact that he had never worn it himself; however the pony was trusting of just about anypony and so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch that this receptionist may have had ulterior motives, after all it was as the other detective had said; this fabric had apparently just been owned by the rival society to Rarity's. It was at that moment his brain went into overdrive considering the possibilities here; whether they were right or not, he had to speak to this receptionist, get to the bottom of the situation.

Speaking of getting to the bottom, he was now in the elevator and ready to go down, when the attendant notices the suit; something he could use to his advantage here. "It is rather. Just won it in a game of cards. Hey, I'm just wondering, the receptionist here; what can you tell me about her? I'm curious about the mare." he asks, hoping to get some information before reaching the bottom, Lens was not one to enjoy wasting time, and so if he could get even one answer from this elevator ride it would be worth it.