Let The Chips Fall Where They May

by AliceSprings

ACT FOUR: A Proposition

It was a couple days later on one of Aria’s days off. Aria decided to go early to a shop she’d passed by many times before.

After Aria had came back to her flat, she was just playing the guitar to herself. But she was interrupted by her phone ringing, it was Micro.

“Hi Mike!” said Aria happily, “I’m so glad to hear you as well. I was just thinking of calling you, I was wondering if we could meet somewhere for coffee. I have something I need to talk to you about.”
“Funny,” said Micro, “that’s why I called. I’ve something I need to talk to you about.”
“Of course I’ll meet you,” said Aria, “where?”
“Great,” said Micro, “how about we meet at the Ponybucks near your café, say noon?”
“I’d love to do that, Mike!”
“I’ll see you then,” said Micro as the line went dead.

Aria thought, ‘this is it’. It was an opening that she was waiting for. She looked at the clock. A half hour until noon. She changed into her best clothing and put on a minor bit of makeup. Never had she done this for anyone in the past. When finished, she left the room and was soon on her way to meet her boyfriend.

Micro sat at an outdoor table. He’d ordered coffee for himself and the coffee he’d learned that Aria preferred. He saw Aria approaching and stood.
The two hugged and kissed a more than friendly kiss, then they sat.

Aria sat, took a drink of her coffee and then took Micro’s hand.
“So what’d you want to talk about?” asked Aria, and then slyly, “or just an excuse to see me?”
“Any excuse to see you is good. But I did want to talk to you about something in particular.”
“What’s that, Mike?”
“I decided that I wanted to try my Blackjack theory,” Micro paused, “at a casino.”
“That’s great,” said Aria, “good luck.”
“I want you to go with me.”
“Really? When?”
“Well,” said Micro, “this coming weekend. I wanted to try it out at the small casino that is a fund raiser for the local disabled veterans.”
“Why such a small venue?”
“Well,” said Micro, “I’ve 500 bits put aside. At the big casinos, that’d hardly go that far.”
Aria just smiled a strange smile.
“What?” said Micro.
“It’s why I said I wanted to talk to you,” answered the girlfriend.
Aria let go of Micro’s hand and lifted her purse. She pulled a large envelope out and put it in front of Micro.
“Do you think 10,000 bits would help?”

Micro looked pale, more than usual. His mouth hung open.

“Where…”
“My siren gem was worth a hell of a lot more than I thought, even fractured”
“Don’t you need it?”
“Yes, but no. This is an opportunity that may not come along again. Plus it’s putting the last remnant of Equestria behind me.”
Aria looked deep into Micro’s eyes.
“I think I have more incentive to stay in this world than go back to the old way of living. There I was always angry, sad, lonely and most of all hungry. In nature, predators are always on the edge of starvation. I know if I now were presented the chance to return to Equestria and live my old life, I’d refuse. A year ago I would have jumped at the chance. But you, Mike, have given me more happiness than I ever felt in the last 1,000 years here and Celestia knows how long over there combined.
Aria kissed Mike a deep and loving kiss. Micro had tears in his eyes.

“I’m so happy you feel that way. And I’m happy that it is I that has done that for you. But…”
“But what?”
"You can’t give me that much money! I won’t take it!”
“I’m not giving it to you,” said Aria, “call it an investment in your system, and maybe OUR future.”
“Our future?” said Micro amazed.
“You have a problem with that?” said Aria with her old smirk.
“No!” said Micro, “not at all!”

The two kissed again and got up to spend a day about the town just holding hands, kissing once in a while and mostly just being together.

Saturday came, the money she’d given Micro wasn’t all the money from the gem. Aria had enough to buy herself some nice clothing, shoes and a purse. Plus she’d paid all her past due bills.
She’d given her notice at the flat’s management office and at the Café. Aria told Alice she wouldn’t forget her and gave her phone number to the woman telling her that she wanted to remain friends. Alice was happy and hugged Aria deeply.
Aria was so sure of Micro’s system that she figured that her share of any winnings would allow her to get a decent place to live. And put that damned whorehouse behind her, literally and figuratively.

The cab stopped at the local casino. The bright lights and atmosphere were overwhelming. The couple strolled around just taking in the sights and getting a lay of the place. There were several shops for souvenirs so people could remember their visit, or at least have something so they weren’t going home empty handed.
One caught Aria’s eye and they walked to a large shop that sold expensive diamond and precious stone jewelry. Obviously a way for the casino to get back some of the money that the wealthy and lucky had won. Aria almost drooled over some very large and beautiful diamond rings.
After checking out these shops, they went to the buffet and ate heartily. They knew, or at least they hoped that they’d be up for a long time and would need their strength.

Finally, they were full of hope and food plus a couple of drinks. They made their way to the “High Rollers” room.

Micro was a little overwhelmed, it was all new to him. Whereas Aria had been in casinos many times, she’d never been around tables that had so many black, blue, gold and brown³ chips ever.
First thing they did was to find the lowest initial bet table. They found one that said:

8 DECK BLACKJACK
100.00 BIT MINIMUM BET

They stayed back with some other “spectators”. Some people did this when they were seriously card counting and could jump in when they were sure. Many professional gamblers thought this was tacky and a bit inappropriate. Micro was just waiting for them to bring out a fresh shoe⁴.
When a new shoe was loaded, Micro sat at an empty chair and handed the entire 10,000 bits to the dealer. She smiled as she counted out a variety of black and blue chips.

Micro was nervous as he placed a black chip on the table, his starting bet. As they were dealing out the cards, Aria’s siren senses could feel his unease. She put her hands on his shoulders and whispered in his ear.
“You’ve got this Mike. And no matter what happens, remember I love you.”
It was like a bolt of electricity through him. Without taking his eyes off the cards, his mind ran through all the time he’d spent with Aria so far. The time at the café, the little dates, walks, movies and extended kissing on his porch swing.
He knew in his heart it was true, but this was the first time that Aria had told him that she loved him! His confidence was at a higher rate than it ever had been. He turned quickly, kissed a small kiss and said it for the first time as well.
“I love you too, Aria.”
Aria smiled at this. Others had said this to her in the past, most of the time it was them trying to play an emotion card to get something (mostly in bed) from her. But this was the most honest declaration of love she’d ever received. She was now just as confident as Micro was as well.

The first hand, Micro lost. This wasn’t anything bad, at this point it was only luck. He did have to get into the flow of the numbers to get his system going. For the first half hour, Micro held his own and was even a little ahead.
But as the rhythm came, his stack of chips was mounting, so much so, the others at the table were starting to watch him with interest. After 3 hours, Micro gathered up all his chips, handed 5 blue chips to the dealer as a tip. Then he and Aria went to the table with the highest minimum bet limit. It took the two of them to carry all the chips. Luckily, Aria’s purse was mostly empty.
As before, as the new shoe was loaded, he sat and started to go through the same thing as he had started before.
This time as the first couple of hours went by, they had Micro exchange most of the pile of black and blue chips for gold and brown. In no time at all, the stack of chips was becoming more than impressive.
They were attracting a crowd. Each winning hand, the crowd would cheer. It was like a show. People would go silent as the cards were dealt. Some mumbles as Micro would ask to hit a hand that should have stayed. Or stay when they thought he should get another card. After a large success, Aria would throw a hug around Micro’s neck and kiss his cheek or lips. Unknown to them, they were attracting more attention than just the other patrons.
After a couple more hours, the dealer said he had to take a break and closed the table. Micro and Aria felt that they needed a break as well.
They were gathering up the chips. Three employees came and asked to help them. They put the chips in three large locking bags, for security they said.
But the two felt something was wrong when a very large man approached them and said that they needed to come with him. Aria noticed the bulge in the breast of the mans jacket, he was armed. Micro had noticed this as well. It was obvious, for the moment, they had no choice but to follow.

They, along with the other 3 employees with the bags of their winnings, rode a private elevator to the top, 5th, floor. There were several offices, but the one they were led to was the manager/owner’s office.

Author's Note:

3) Common chip values, in Bits:
1.00 = White, 2.50 = Pink (Blackjack only), 25.00 = Green, 100.00 = Black, 500.00 = Blue, 1,000.00 = Gold, 5,000.00 = Brown (some casinos use red-white-and-blue instead, which are known as “flags”)
Taken from: https://upswingpoker.com/poker-chip-values-colors/

4) A dealing shoe or dealer's shoe is a gaming device, mainly used in casinos, to hold multiple decks of playing cards. The shoe allows for more games to be played by reducing the time between shuffles and less chance of dealer cheating. It did make it harder for card counters.