{YOTB 5} - Half and Half

There was always something to look at in the Wonderland Casino; this definitely wasn’t a place that Shibani frequented often, but even he could admit that it might be fun to come around every now and then for some fun. Oh, but nevermind that… he couldn’t play around too much now, he had a job to do. After making their way to the casino, he and Dagasho had split up… and Shibani was here to look for Angora for any tips on “luxury ingredients” she may have. She had enough money to make this HUGE casino, so she’d definitely know what’s good… right? Shibani hadn’t talked to Angora nearly as much as he’d talked to Hops, but… for some reason, he felt like he couldn’t let Dagasho take this one. Sho’s already in debt half the time and he gets angry easier than Dan, plus Shibani got his allowance from Dan the other day and has extra spending money just in case… he could take this, right?!

With a quivering tail, Shibani marched forward… Dan told him not to keep his wallet out in public, but he couldn’t help but clutch it in his pocket as he stayed on the lookout for… oh, there she was! Surprisingly, she wasn’t in her private booth this time around; this was one of the public high roller tables, and —

“AAAH! NOT AGAIN!”
“That’s another round for me, fellas!”

Miss Angora was a winner once more. From the sidelines Shibani watched as some of the other buns sitting at the poker table threw their cards up in frustration as Angora swept her winnings to her side. There was a general grumbling coming from the other players as they dispersed to smoke cigars or go to other areas… but Angora didn’t seem to mind as she counted the chips and sorted them into little piles. Ooh… there were so many chips, even Shibani had to try counting them all. One… ten… hundred…

“Little fella, do you need something?”

Without even intending to, Shibani had garnered Angora’s attention with his intent staring. Oops.

“Oh! Uh… I’m sorry, Miss Angora. I was just so surprised by how many you got.”
“No harm done, li’l fella. For your information, there’s a good couple thousand chips here, and each one’s worth a good handful of carats.” Angora waved Shibani over; once Shibani complied, she showed him one of the bigger chips… How many zeroes was that?!
“You could buy so much mochi with this… ah wait, ah right! Miss Angora, may I ask you a question?”
“Mmm… oh, you’re the li’l cutie that pops up around the Rabbit Hole every now and then. Hops talks about you on occasion… so if you can be quick about it, I’ll entertain an answer for ya.” As she spoke, Angora neatly tidied away all those chip stacks and motioned for Shibani to take a seat before speaking… which he did.
“Yeah, yeah! Hops is my friend… but uh! Hops has told me before that you, ma’am, have an eye for… all the expensive stuff in life. You may have heard that I’m helping Dan make mochi, and I was wondering… if you knew of any expensive ingredients that’d be good to add, maybe as a flavor? I can, uh…”

Now was the time, Shibani! Your allowance! He patted his hands around his pockets and drew out his wallet. And when he opened it… ah. Oh right. Dan made him go put his money in the bank when he got it… so all he had on him right now was fifteen carats. Fifteen whole smackaroos… just enough to buy snacks! But probably not enough to buy anything super expensive.

“Hmm… oh my, oh my. Looks like you’re short a li’l bit, darlin’. I don’t mind giving recommendations, but I don’t think you’ll be gettin’ any quality brands with… fifteen carats.”
“Oh… I’m sorry…” Looking quite crestfallen, Shibani tucked his wallet away and was about to slide off the chair when Angora’s firm hand pushed him back into the chair proper.
“Now now now, dear li’l Shibani. Let’s not be hasty here; you’re a frequent customer and you bring so much joy to my baby Hops, it’d only be right to at least offer a trade as thanks for your patronage to The Rabbit Hole. Call it… a favor, why don'tcha.” She winked, and Shibani could feel his face heat up ever so slightly.
“Oh! Um… thank you?”
“Though… I’m not the type of lady to just give things for free. That’s not good business, y’know. How about… ah.”

With a snap of her fingers, a scantily-clad casino worker appeared at Angora’s side carrying a tray stacked high with all sorts of bowls, cups, and other containers. Angora plucked an ornate looking bowl off the top and set it down on the poker table, sliding the lid off for Shibani to see what was inside. Matcha powder… and it looked SUPER expensive. Was it shining? Maybe that was the lighting… or maybe it actually was shining. Shibani looked from it, to Angora, and back to the powder.

“That’s my favorite matcha. The price… ya probably wouldn’t wanna know. Here’s my proposition: play me in a game. We can play any game you’d like, no restrictions… and don’t worry about gettin’ game pieces or anythin’ like that, my employees got it handled. You win, you get the matcha, bowl and all; I win, you work for me… not forever, just for tomorrow’s Mochi Moon event. How’s about it?”

Oh man. Oh man. Shibani stared with wide eyes as Angora slid the matcha closer… that was the perfect ingredient, but Dagasho and Dan were waiting for him… if he got roped into working (while it would be fun to work with Hops…) he wouldn’t be able to help anymore. But the matcha! Um… well, Angora did say ANY game… so maybe he could just pick an easy game. What’s easy… uh… uh…

In a moment of panic, Shibani quickly snatched up one of Angora’s chips. “How about we bet on a coin flip? Uhh… heads I win, tails you win?” And that’s exactly what Hops and Dan told him not to do… However, Shibani’s spur of the moment decision seemed to rouse a chuckle out of Angora.
“Sure, doll. Go ahead and give that coin a flip; don’t back out, now.”

She crossed her legs, propped her chin on a hand, and stared onward with ravenous eyes… so with a gulp, Shibani closed his eyes and flipped the chip…

…

On a bench outside of the Casino, Dagasho sat and stared up, out towards Burrowgatory proper. Man, he wanted to eat another strawberry… but if he kept eating them, there’d be none left to use. Like a good lad he’d put the lid on and was abstaining… but man, if Shibani was gonna take this long he’d need another snack. But all the snacks in the Casino were expensive… and they didn’t sell those off-brand corn chips that he liked. So all he could do was sit here and twiddle his thumbs until—

BWAM. The Casino’s main doors flew open, and there was Shibani, all red in the face. Instantly upon seeing him Dagasho called out, waving his hands to get Shibani’s attention.

“SHIBANI! Over here! Geez, you look outta breath — c’mon, take a seat…”
“Haah… haah… Sho… I got the… the matcha…” Almost collapsing onto the bench, Shibani placed the bowl of matcha on top of Dagasho’s tub. “Oh… you got… strawberries too! Cool…”
“Yeah that’s good and all—two nice ingredients—but what happened?!”
“Did… did a coin flip… for the matcha. I won! But… Miss Angora… she was like, ‘double or nothing honey?’… and I was like ‘nah’… but then the other guys she played earlier… were all like… ‘hey, give that to me, we have to make up lost money’ and… and I barely got outta there!” Shibani took deep breaths as Dagasho wiped the sweat off his forehead.
“Wow… what a crowd. Did ya get far enough away, actually? If they’re still coming…”
“Miss Angora helped… distract… said I owed her…”
“Oooh. Oh noooh. Well… uh. Can’t really help ya much there, so… good luck when she decides to call on that.” Oh, Dagasho knew that pain too well, Shibani.

“Uh… anyways, we oughta just… sit here for a bit and let ya catch yer breath. You said it before, but I got strawberries from Hops, so we’re pretty good on these ingredients… uhhh… I dunno, wanna hear a story?”
“Oooh… yeah! Just a little rest… storytime rest… that’s good.”

Well, everything’s better after hard work, right?