Things Jyn is not here for? This, all of this. But it's better than prison so she is willing to submit to MI-6 and M is compelling with her arguments before she shoves Jyn into an outfit she is clearly uncomfortable in and shoves her on a luxury shuttle with a suitcase of other carefully chosen ensembles and all the paperwork for her alias. She is meant to wait for her Alliance contact and he will escort her to the casino -- thankfully not the same casino she was arrested at -- and buy her into the high stakes card game that her father is meant to be at.
Her father.
The fancy shuttle is meant to disguise the fact that they're Alliance, of course, and the tiny rebellious criminal they plucked out of prison. And she has noticed that they don't yet trust her enough to leave her alone because she's noticed the rebel she hit with a shovel lingering on the other end of the car until they make one of the planet side stops. When he disappears, Jyn can only assume her Alliance babysitter is about to come on board. In the time alone she orders herself some alcohol and more food than she has been able to afford in her entire life.
Cassian slides into the seat across from Jyn Erso without any real introduction and settles a datapad on the table between them. He hasn't been sold on this mission since it was pitched to him, but Mon Mothma persuaded him, and Draven has his backup plans. Jyn is good at what she does save for the arrest, but she's still very much a wildcard, and he doesn't like feeling out of control. Especially for the stakes. But they need Galen Erso.
His shirt is business class and fine tailored, and while it's not his preferred style, he looks natural and easy without a trace of discomfort. "You're not going to get yourself arrested this time around, are you?"
Not the best way to break the ice, but maybe he's testing to see how irritated she gets when thrown a potentially belligerent question. High stakes and all that.
Jyn bristles immediately, eyes flashing with anger. She is not a good liar, she has never been a good liar, everything she feels is beyond apparent, but that isn't the point of her skill.
She leans back in her luxurious seat, mad at herself for not napping in it before he'd arrived but Jyn's never been able to sleep surrounded by people so she wouldn't have managed anything very restful anyway. The whole thing is a lost cause. They forced her into this job and now they're forcing her into working with this rude man.
"The Empire set me up," she corrects, voice calm enough but tinged with irritation.
The flare up of anger is easy for him to read; the glint in her eyes, the sudden tension in her shoulders, the harsh calm of her tone. There's no sign of his own reaction, but it's not like he has much of one beyond observation. He has no idea how she manages to game any sort of gambling system when she doesn't seem inclined towards restraint. Maybe it works in her favor.
"The Alliance won't do that. We both want the same thing." The thing being her father. He turns the datapad on and waits for it to start loading, still sizing her up. "How confident are you that you will win?"
She breathes out, packing away her anger for a composed expression that only comes from years of practice, and only offers further explanation simply because he wasn't there when she'd yelled all this at Draven to make a point. "Galen Erso is one of the smartest minds in the entire galaxy and he taught me everything I know before he abandoned me for the Empire. Pitting me against him is pointless, no one can beat him. I know they think he'll let me win but that seems incredibly unlikely, now doesn't it?"
Because he abandoned her for the Empire in the first place.
She gets a very flat look when she says she's not, and Cassian can feel the hesitation about the mission trying to fight to the forefront. He bites the side of his cheek to wait, to keep quiet and see if she continues before telling her off. He's here with her throughout the rest of the trip, through the casino. He can't be picking fights.
"He may be surprised enough to see you to allow an opening of some kind. He might not let you win, but you will still have some kind of effect on him." The datapad turns on, and Cassian slides through some of the screens. "We know you are good, or you would not be here. Everyone at the table has a hand in the Empire, save for you. You can shake it up."
"If you think so," Jyn says carefully, not bothering to argue. Her father had abandoned her for the Empire, left her to be raised by Saw and became the Empire's poster child for science, he'd remained best friends with the man that murdered her mother.
Jyn doesn't expect to have any effect on her father but she isn't going to argue.
The waiter brings her drinks, water and something fruity, leaving the pitcher of fresh, clear water at the table at her request. She tries not to gulp it down like a greedy, feral child, but she finishes in the glass in a matter of seconds before she refills it.
He doesn't say anything stupid like 'I do think so' because it's monotonous and unnecessary and he already knows Jyn doesn't agree. He doesn't need her to agree to do her job, even if it's a job he himself isn't particularly keen on.
Which is probably why he has some of his own contingency plans just like Draven does.
Cassian watches her without being obvious about it, a perfected skill. He only pours himself a glass of water once she's done with her first one. She is thirsty and probably starving and she was just in prison, so he's not surprised. It's better for her to eat like a toddler now than in the middle of a fancy casino.
"Do you know how to hold a glass properly?"
IT'S A GENUINE QUESTION. His tone is utterly neutral.
"I was in prison, I wasn't raised with Hutts." Her mouth settles into a scowl. Even if he hadn't meant any offense by it, Jyn is taking it upon herself to be offended. Her hand settles around the goblet of bright pink liquid like it's any regular glass, however, grasp a little too sturdy instead of the delicate touch the stem really deserves.
The last time she'd been in fancy dress we wasn't attending the party and she's never lived anywhere that was fancy enough to even have stemware available, much less flutes and goblets made of glass instead of sturdy metal or some incredibly cheap factory made material.
"Are you always this nice to people you just meet?" Jyn 'Hypocrite' Erso.
He doesn't bother responding verbally, just reaches out to slip his hand over hers and adjust her grip on the glass into something a little more casual. "These Imperials are precise. You don't want unnecessary attention on that front."
Cassian pulls back and takes his own glass again, allowing himself a sip and letting her question hang in the air. He doesn't seem nearly as offended as she was, looking far more collected and casual and careless about being accused of rudeness. "I could ask the same of you."
She hates that he's professional and polite and has good table manners and probably had access to a toothbrush for the last six months and his own bed and water from a glass he actually knows how to hold and fuck this whole endeavor and his warm, sure hands.
"Yes, I am." She's this rude, ahem, nice, to everyone.
He is not leaving the best impression right now, but he is not feeling very confident in her poker face either. Still, he keeps his calm demeanor because this is a mission after all, and in the end, he knows that's what matters most. Not him or what people think of him.
"I would try not to be this nice when you're in the game. They're more likely to shoot you on sight."
"If they shoot me, they won't get my credits. They'll wait until I've lost everything at the table at least." So she has that going for her, a brief timeline in which she will survive.
She sets the glass down briefly, knotting her fingers together and cracking her knuckles. All of them. Shaking out her hands, she tries again, plucking up the glass gracefully exactly the way Cassian had demonstrated.
Jyn isn't cosmopolitan, by even a loose translation of the word, but she still manages to keep the majority of her awe under wraps when the disembark the transport ship to the casino. It's another ship, as it turns out, massive and sleek, all highly polished white stone and glistening reddish-brown accents that mimic, she is told by the bell boy escorting them to the sprawling central staircase, the wood that the ancestors of human kind built. Wood meant to come from the massive trees in the middle of the concourse, bracketed presumably by a double staircase on the other side. There is a pool, they're told, in the center of the woods, but... he doesn't want to spoil the surprise so they'll have to see for themselves.
The doors to their suite open up to rooms so large and opulent Jyn is sure the entire Lah'mu homestead could fit inside and once their bags are tucked inside, the bell boy leaves with a smile. He's sweet, Jyn decides, and would not survive any violence. Hopefully he isn't caught in what she assumes will be eventual crossfire. Nothing goes well for her, this probably won't be any different.
Her fingers slide across the polished faux wood of the sideboard, stepping out of her heels to let her bare feet sink into the plush carpet. There is a table of food waiting for them in what looks to be the sitting room, and even though they just ate, Jyn's stomach rumbles at the sight. She'll get to it in a moment, first:
Cassian has blueprints of the entire ship. A traveling casino allows them to bypass laws within systems or planets, making it the perfect location for any sort of shady dealings. He has to admit that seeing it up close catches him a little off guard, just from how huge it is. As their bellboy takes them through, everything they pass is exactly as described in the layout, but Cassian takes note regardless and watches the faces of the people they walk by.
Their rooms are as expected. Much larger than he's stayed in before and much larger than he's used to. There are two bedrooms, though one is clearly the master, and the bathroom is enormous, with a claw foot tub and a very large glass door shower. The closets are piled with a variety of clothes for both of them, as though their bags hadn't already contained enough.
He cases the room, despite knowing the Alliance already has, but Jyn's voice has his attention turning back to her. "Lilacs. But there is a simulated sea breeze, so probably a little bit of ocean too."
She wants to hate it because these people are living in such splendor and she knows there are billions of people living in squalor -- herself included -- but she loves it. She loves the lilacs and the refreshing breeze, she loves the soft carpeting under her sore feet, she loves how smooth the simulated wood is, she loves the colors and the trees and the little potted plants and bouquets of gorgeous flowers dotting their suite.
Moving further inside, she crouches next to the food, plucking up one of the mauve colored balls and holding it delicately between her fingers before she takes a tentative bite. It melts in her mouth, the broken shell showing the inside is full of some sparkling jelly that is crackling across her tongue.
"Kriff, this is good." She gestures idly at Cassian without turning to look at him. "Try this."
Sometimes it's a very nice break from whatever harsh realities are out there, regardless of how much it seems like squander and waste. It's far more lavish than Cassian is usually even comfortable in, but he can pretend.
He reaches for the treat without thinking after she gestures, against all his instincts otherwise. In his defense, he does look it over, picking out a blue one. "This is one of their features. A style of food they are quite famous for. The treats are all over. Some are free, some you pay for."
He takes a bite and allows himself a moment to savor it, because yeah okay, they live up the reputation. He eats the rest but then pauses while the taste rolls around his mouth. There was something else about the aforementioned reputation he should remember, but it's so good? It can't have been bad. He moves over to thoughtfully look over the rest of the box. No labels, just neatly organized in a variety of colors and presumably flavors.
Jyn is already working on her third when he finishes the first, ready to select her fourth, pale pink and dusted with shimmers that make her fingers smell like the starblossoms from her childhood. "Are we paying for these?" she asks as if the answer will change the way she is devouring them. Maybe it will, she is going to eat them regardless, the Alliance can bill her, but maybe she will savor them. She seems to be debating it with this one.
Or maybe she will share. She takes a bite, barely catching the deep violet juices that spill out, quickly licking her lips and the inside of her wrist to catch it before it can slip down her arm, holding the remainder out to Cassian with the ghost of a giggle. "Try this one."
Did she just giggle? It throws him off for about three seconds, because nothing in their time together so far gave him the impression she was a giggler.
"All the guests are treated to some for free, as a token, when they first arrive." He takes the one she offers him and refuses to even so much as glance the way of her tongue. "They are usually specialized, given what management knows of the client. Could you have spared more than just two?"
This is unfair! He pops the whole thing in his mouth, because he refuses to make as much of a mess as her, though his efforts fail when some of the bright red juice spills out and down his chin. "They're so messy," he mumbles.
"No, you wouldn't even have this cushy assignment without me. You're welcome for sharing." Even as she is refusing to admit that she maybe hogged some of the treats, she reaches up to wipe the juice off his chin with her thumb, that she immediately licks clean lest he try to share that too.
"Can we buy more? We can tell them it's my birthday, maybe they'll give us more?" That seems reasonable! But since she's used up all these ones and licking her fingers clean is not doing the trick to make her feel any more satisfied with her small snack, she turns and saunters off to investigate the rest of the room, touching everything.
He rolls his eyes, but any sort of sarcastic remark is cut off when she literally wipes and licks the juice from his chin. She turns and flaunts off like nothing at all happened, and Cassian is left wondering if that's actually the case.
He finds his voice after he swallows the last of his, telling himself that's what took so long. "We can buy as many as we like, in theory, but we are not using all of our credits on just these treats." The Alliance isn't that wealthy!
"Other parts of the casino offer them up like free samples. They want people to get addicted and keep buying them, just like they want everyone to keep splurging and gambling on their machines."
He frowns, peering at the empty box while she's getting handsy with the room.
She gets to the fresher and lets out a small squeak of surprise when she presses one of the buttons and a pile of huge, fluffy lavender soap bubbles spills into her hands, smelling like petrichor and the warm smell of blaster oil. It's a strangely specific combination of smells and normally Jyn doesn't think she could differentiate between the scents but there is something about it that makes her feel warm and... fluttery.
It's strange and strangely not unwanted.
She shakes the soap bubbles into the shower, using one of the obscenely fluffy towels to wipe her arms off before she continues her perusal of the bathroom, fiddling with all the tiny soaps that she recognizes as soap so she doesn't eat those, thankfully, and turning on all the sink taps. The water is so clear and cool and they're on a ship... it must be so expensive. She's opening the small closets in the bathroom when she makes a more horrified squeal, leaning out of the bathroom and holding a hanger with a beautiful dress, aubergine and silky with a very low, lacy back and no straps she can see and Jyn doesn't even know how that is possible.
He still can't quite put his finger on why the sweets won't get out of his head, but it's pointless to just stare at the box. He sighs and starts investigating the rest of the room in a similar manner. It's one thing to know the layout, it's another to actually see it and take it all in.
His feet carry him after her without realizing, poking around in the bedroom connected to the bathroom and listening to her rustle around. The running water and soap gives off the faintest hint of roses, and he has to wonder if the whole ship is just going to smell like flowers. It pulls at him and he wanders closer to the bathroom, lulled by the rose water and a whiff of something like... cold. Like home? He reaches the door just as Jyn pops out, utterly offended by the dress in her hands.
"A dress." Obviously. He reaches out to touch the fabric. It's very soft and silky and he tries very hard not to imagine Jyn in it, even though she is probably going to be in it. "The fabric is much more flexible than you might think."
"That's not what I'm worried about," Jyn mutters, mouth curving down in a frown as she peers at the dress. First of all, how is she supposed to hide a weapon in that, second of all, it's far too long, she'll be tripping all over it. Oh god, high heels.
Kill her.
"There's nothing to it, how am I meant to have a weapon under this?" It's so flimsy and thin, it would show every bump and curve of anything tucked underneath, including her. "What are you wearing?"
He considers very carefully how to answer this without coming across as any level of creepy. "It's more loose at the bottom. But you could strap something to your thigh. In the right place, it would not be seen."
It is one of the more flimsy dresses, but the casino does have a dress code that most people seem to adhere to. They'll stand out less if they fancy it up.
She's not going to like his answer. "Some sort of suit, I imagine."
♦ it’s a dove, an attractive girl, a winning card in poker, take your pick. you’re my pigeon.
Her father.
The fancy shuttle is meant to disguise the fact that they're Alliance, of course, and the tiny rebellious criminal they plucked out of prison. And she has noticed that they don't yet trust her enough to leave her alone because she's noticed the rebel she hit with a shovel lingering on the other end of the car until they make one of the planet side stops. When he disappears, Jyn can only assume her Alliance babysitter is about to come on board. In the time alone she orders herself some alcohol and more food than she has been able to afford in her entire life.
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His shirt is business class and fine tailored, and while it's not his preferred style, he looks natural and easy without a trace of discomfort. "You're not going to get yourself arrested this time around, are you?"
Not the best way to break the ice, but maybe he's testing to see how irritated she gets when thrown a potentially belligerent question. High stakes and all that.
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She leans back in her luxurious seat, mad at herself for not napping in it before he'd arrived but Jyn's never been able to sleep surrounded by people so she wouldn't have managed anything very restful anyway. The whole thing is a lost cause. They forced her into this job and now they're forcing her into working with this rude man.
"The Empire set me up," she corrects, voice calm enough but tinged with irritation.
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"The Alliance won't do that. We both want the same thing." The thing being her father. He turns the datapad on and waits for it to start loading, still sizing her up. "How confident are you that you will win?"
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Well, there is some honesty.
She breathes out, packing away her anger for a composed expression that only comes from years of practice, and only offers further explanation simply because he wasn't there when she'd yelled all this at Draven to make a point. "Galen Erso is one of the smartest minds in the entire galaxy and he taught me everything I know before he abandoned me for the Empire. Pitting me against him is pointless, no one can beat him. I know they think he'll let me win but that seems incredibly unlikely, now doesn't it?"
Because he abandoned her for the Empire in the first place.
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"He may be surprised enough to see you to allow an opening of some kind. He might not let you win, but you will still have some kind of effect on him." The datapad turns on, and Cassian slides through some of the screens. "We know you are good, or you would not be here. Everyone at the table has a hand in the Empire, save for you. You can shake it up."
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Jyn doesn't expect to have any effect on her father but she isn't going to argue.
The waiter brings her drinks, water and something fruity, leaving the pitcher of fresh, clear water at the table at her request. She tries not to gulp it down like a greedy, feral child, but she finishes in the glass in a matter of seconds before she refills it.
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Which is probably why he has some of his own contingency plans just like Draven does.
Cassian watches her without being obvious about it, a perfected skill. He only pours himself a glass of water once she's done with her first one. She is thirsty and probably starving and she was just in prison, so he's not surprised. It's better for her to eat like a toddler now than in the middle of a fancy casino.
"Do you know how to hold a glass properly?"
IT'S A GENUINE QUESTION. His tone is utterly neutral.
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The last time she'd been in fancy dress we wasn't attending the party and she's never lived anywhere that was fancy enough to even have stemware available, much less flutes and goblets made of glass instead of sturdy metal or some incredibly cheap factory made material.
"Are you always this nice to people you just meet?" Jyn 'Hypocrite' Erso.
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Cassian pulls back and takes his own glass again, allowing himself a sip and letting her question hang in the air. He doesn't seem nearly as offended as she was, looking far more collected and casual and careless about being accused of rudeness. "I could ask the same of you."
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She hates him.
She hates that he's professional and polite and has good table manners and probably had access to a toothbrush for the last six months and his own bed and water from a glass he actually knows how to hold and fuck this whole endeavor and his warm, sure hands.
"Yes, I am." She's this rude, ahem, nice, to everyone.
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"I would try not to be this nice when you're in the game. They're more likely to shoot you on sight."
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She sets the glass down briefly, knotting her fingers together and cracking her knuckles. All of them. Shaking out her hands, she tries again, plucking up the glass gracefully exactly the way Cassian had demonstrated.
"Happy?"
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we have created a manic world nauseous with the pursuit of material wealth.
The doors to their suite open up to rooms so large and opulent Jyn is sure the entire Lah'mu homestead could fit inside and once their bags are tucked inside, the bell boy leaves with a smile. He's sweet, Jyn decides, and would not survive any violence. Hopefully he isn't caught in what she assumes will be eventual crossfire. Nothing goes well for her, this probably won't be any different.
Her fingers slide across the polished faux wood of the sideboard, stepping out of her heels to let her bare feet sink into the plush carpet. There is a table of food waiting for them in what looks to be the sitting room, and even though they just ate, Jyn's stomach rumbles at the sight. She'll get to it in a moment, first:
"Do you smell that?"
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Their rooms are as expected. Much larger than he's stayed in before and much larger than he's used to. There are two bedrooms, though one is clearly the master, and the bathroom is enormous, with a claw foot tub and a very large glass door shower. The closets are piled with a variety of clothes for both of them, as though their bags hadn't already contained enough.
He cases the room, despite knowing the Alliance already has, but Jyn's voice has his attention turning back to her. "Lilacs. But there is a simulated sea breeze, so probably a little bit of ocean too."
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She wants to hate it because these people are living in such splendor and she knows there are billions of people living in squalor -- herself included -- but she loves it. She loves the lilacs and the refreshing breeze, she loves the soft carpeting under her sore feet, she loves how smooth the simulated wood is, she loves the colors and the trees and the little potted plants and bouquets of gorgeous flowers dotting their suite.
Moving further inside, she crouches next to the food, plucking up one of the mauve colored balls and holding it delicately between her fingers before she takes a tentative bite. It melts in her mouth, the broken shell showing the inside is full of some sparkling jelly that is crackling across her tongue.
"Kriff, this is good." She gestures idly at Cassian without turning to look at him. "Try this."
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He reaches for the treat without thinking after she gestures, against all his instincts otherwise. In his defense, he does look it over, picking out a blue one. "This is one of their features. A style of food they are quite famous for. The treats are all over. Some are free, some you pay for."
He takes a bite and allows himself a moment to savor it, because yeah okay, they live up the reputation. He eats the rest but then pauses while the taste rolls around his mouth. There was something else about the aforementioned reputation he should remember, but it's so good? It can't have been bad. He moves over to thoughtfully look over the rest of the box. No labels, just neatly organized in a variety of colors and presumably flavors.
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Or maybe she will share. She takes a bite, barely catching the deep violet juices that spill out, quickly licking her lips and the inside of her wrist to catch it before it can slip down her arm, holding the remainder out to Cassian with the ghost of a giggle. "Try this one."
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"All the guests are treated to some for free, as a token, when they first arrive." He takes the one she offers him and refuses to even so much as glance the way of her tongue. "They are usually specialized, given what management knows of the client. Could you have spared more than just two?"
This is unfair! He pops the whole thing in his mouth, because he refuses to make as much of a mess as her, though his efforts fail when some of the bright red juice spills out and down his chin. "They're so messy," he mumbles.
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"Can we buy more? We can tell them it's my birthday, maybe they'll give us more?" That seems reasonable! But since she's used up all these ones and licking her fingers clean is not doing the trick to make her feel any more satisfied with her small snack, she turns and saunters off to investigate the rest of the room, touching everything.
She's curious.
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He finds his voice after he swallows the last of his, telling himself that's what took so long. "We can buy as many as we like, in theory, but we are not using all of our credits on just these treats." The Alliance isn't that wealthy!
"Other parts of the casino offer them up like free samples. They want people to get addicted and keep buying them, just like they want everyone to keep splurging and gambling on their machines."
He frowns, peering at the empty box while she's getting handsy with the room.
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It's strange and strangely not unwanted.
She shakes the soap bubbles into the shower, using one of the obscenely fluffy towels to wipe her arms off before she continues her perusal of the bathroom, fiddling with all the tiny soaps that she recognizes as soap so she doesn't eat those, thankfully, and turning on all the sink taps. The water is so clear and cool and they're on a ship... it must be so expensive. She's opening the small closets in the bathroom when she makes a more horrified squeal, leaning out of the bathroom and holding a hanger with a beautiful dress, aubergine and silky with a very low, lacy back and no straps she can see and Jyn doesn't even know how that is possible.
"Is this a dress or torture?"
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His feet carry him after her without realizing, poking around in the bedroom connected to the bathroom and listening to her rustle around. The running water and soap gives off the faintest hint of roses, and he has to wonder if the whole ship is just going to smell like flowers. It pulls at him and he wanders closer to the bathroom, lulled by the rose water and a whiff of something like... cold. Like home? He reaches the door just as Jyn pops out, utterly offended by the dress in her hands.
"A dress." Obviously. He reaches out to touch the fabric. It's very soft and silky and he tries very hard not to imagine Jyn in it, even though she is probably going to be in it. "The fabric is much more flexible than you might think."
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Kill her.
"There's nothing to it, how am I meant to have a weapon under this?" It's so flimsy and thin, it would show every bump and curve of anything tucked underneath, including her. "What are you wearing?"
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It is one of the more flimsy dresses, but the casino does have a dress code that most people seem to adhere to. They'll stand out less if they fancy it up.
She's not going to like his answer. "Some sort of suit, I imagine."
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