InsaneJournal

parker succeeds by stealing the success of others (inafivepoundbag) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2010-09-03 00:51:00

Entry tags:

parker, robert bishop

WHO: Robert Bishop and Parker
WHAT: Bob's gambling. Parker's confused.
WHEN: Before the blackout. [Backdated to earlier that evening.]
WHERE: Crowley's casino.
RATING: TBD
STATUS: In Progress

Parker's job was a simple one. Find people who were cheating and, somehow, steal the money back from them. For the most part, it was a simple job too. The locals weren't exactly smart in their efforts to cheat the casino and, no matter how many times she and Eliot managed to catch them at it, they kept coming back and trying again. And again. And again. It really was a continuous flow of money, of which Parker had precisely zero complaints.

Then there were the off-worlders. People like her and Eliot. People who had yet to cheat (or at least get caught doing it) yet still came into the casino to blow off steam and possibly hit the jackpot. They were the ones that Parker had the hardest time getting a read on, if she was being honest. After all they were the ones who couldn't be 'shut down' with just a simple comment about where they were, or how they'd got there, or why they were present. They were normal people, or normal in their own ways at least, and tended to be trickier to both read as well as con.

Especially this one.

Robert Bishop. The only reason Parker knew his name was because she had taken the time to go through the message board and find his entries. He was apparently the father of Elle Bishop, the grandfather of Noah Gray and the young, born-in-Colligo 'Maddie' Gray. He was someone who seemed to be very intelligent, if not necessarily well liked by most people he knew, and as far as Parker was concerned, he was a virtual unknown. He had also been sitting at the Roulette wheel for the past few hours and, while he was down nearly fifty thousand dollars, he didn't seem to care in the slightest.

To Parker, that was just plain wrong. The guy should be upset, she figured. He should be bemoaning his losses. Possibly walking away, even. He should be accusing the House of cheating like most other patrons who lost large amounts of money. He should be doing a lot of things, really, but sitting there, calmly gambling even more and not seeming at all bothered by how much he'd lost thus far? That was not one of the things he should be doing. It didn't make any sense, it didn't add up, and Parker didn't like it. He should be angry, she decided. He should be upset, or at least sweating. Something to indicate that he was bothered by the large loss of cash. Yet the more she watched him, the less likely it seemed that he was going to react at all like someone in his position should. In fact, he was acting as though he had all of the money in the world and plenty of time to spend it all. It was a strange thought for the blonde thief to have and one she really didn't want sticking around inside of her head if she could help it.

Deciding that it was time she stopped watching and started interacting, in the vague hope of getting to the bottom of the mystery she'd discovered, Parker made her way to the Roulette table. It wasn't her favorite even by a long shot. There was far too much luck and not enough strategy for her taste. However, as she sat down at the seat beside the man she was studying, none of that was obvious. Sophie's lessons managed to kick in at the last possible second and Parker remembered to keep her true feelings masked behind a persona that wasn't her and, while not nearly as well thought out as Sophie's tended to be, wasn't shabby either. She had an identity in mind, had a personality worked out, had all of it, really.

She just had to remember to stay in character. To which, the first part was easy enough. A simple smile at the man in question, a nod of her head, and a softly spoken, "Hello." That's all she offered, waiting to see if Bob would take the bait or keep right on focusing on his losing streak. Either way, she had an in. It was just a question of which route he chose to take.

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pushalittle
2010-09-03 06:36 am UTC (link)

Robert normally wouldn't pay much mind to anyone that sat down next to him. Sometimes he lost just to throw them off, not that that was ever an issue with Roulette. It was a spin of the wheel and a matter of chance. Your were betting the odds, not the strategy, and tonight, the odds hadn't bee in his favor. But as the girl sat down next to him, Bob spared her a glance. He'd been working with Angela for enough years that he could spot a good game when it was coming. But he didn't see any reason to say that. Instead, he just offered her a slight, welcoming smile. Better to figure out exactly what she wanted. Only a sorry girl sat down and tried to pick up a man several thousand in the hole.

"Evening," Simple enough greeting. Simple enough to leave her guessing as well as leave her an opening for whatever else she wanted to fill it with.

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inafivepoundbag
2010-09-03 07:37 am UTC (link)

And that, unfortunately, is where Parker's experience at being a grifter came to a screeching, crashing halt. At Robert's simply replied 'Evening', she was at a loss. Of course, he could have replied with just about anything and she still would have been at a loss because the fact of the matter was, without Sophie there to guide her, Parker was well and truly lost in situations like these. Meaning, situations where Sophie would be better equipped to work her magic and Parker would normally be able to sit back, relax, and just steal stuff when told to do so.

Unfortunately, Sophie wasn't there, neither to grift nor to coach, and Parker... well, Parker really stood absolutely no chance at convincing anyone she was anything more than what she really was, without the other woman's help. So she didn't even bother to try. She simply flashed the man a semi-smirk, turned her gaze to the Roulette wheel, waited for it to land on a number he hadn't chosen, then turned to face him once more.

"Okay," she said flatly as she slapped her palms against the tabletop. "I don't get it. I thought I might get it, if I looked close enough, but I don't. So I'm just going to ask. Because I'm not Sophie and I'm not Nate. I'm just me and even if you're running some kind of con, you're not getting out of this casino with your winnings once you're busted." She paused, shot the employee running the table a dark look to make him take a few steps back, then met Bob's gaze.

"You're fifty-two thousand, four hundred and seventy-three dollars in the hole and it doesn't seem to bother you. Why?"

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pushalittle
2010-09-03 07:45 am UTC (link)

Well, the upfront approach wasn't what Bob had been expecting, but it did make this a great deal easier. Shrugging, as he pushed forward the last few chips that he had in front of him onto black, he looked over at Parker with a slight quirk of a grin, "It's just money," He said before turning his attention back to the wheel and waiting to see exactly how Parker reacted to that. People who worked in these places hardly took the statement 'it's just money' in any positive way.

As the wheel turned around, hitting 22 Red, Bob stood, smiling as he adjusted his jacket and looked over at Parker, "Well, I think I've been here quite long enough. I do hope your employer appreciate my contribution," He said, tipping his head to Parker before turning to leave.

He didn't expect to get far, granted, but Bob knew how to play his hand almost as well as the master manipulator.

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inafivepoundbag
2010-09-03 08:15 am UTC (link)

Parker's jaw dropped slightly as the man started to walk away. He'd just blown almost sixty thousand dollars and he wasn't even phased. Which meant, as far as she was concerned at least, he was either really rich. Or he was insane. Personally, she thought the latter was far more likely. Rich people, despite the belief to the contrary, rarely thought 'it's just money'. If they'd thought that way, they never would have gotten rich in the first place. Besides, no one in their right mind thought of money as something that was just there. That just wasn't normal, to think that way.

Still sitting, the thief considered her options. She could let him go - which wasn't something she wanted to do at all. She could have him followed - which was tempting but still not really what she was aiming for. Which meant she had to take matters into her own hands. Easy enough, of course, but at the same time something that Parker was dreading. She couldn't read a person like Sophie could. She didn't know how someone's brain worked like Nate did. Yet if she wanted some answers, she was going to have to get them herself. She didn't know how, but she was willing to give it her best shot. Out of her seat in a flash, she caught up with him easily and began matching him step for step through the casino.

"It's not just money, you know," she said with a rather severe frown. "It's your money, that you just lost, and you don't even care. I might not be normal myself but I know that's not normal either. So... spill."

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pushalittle
2010-09-03 09:04 am UTC (link)

Normal. There were a lot of things about him that weren't normal, and he hadn't been able to claim that he was normal since his early teens. So Bob just smiled lazily as he pulled back his coat and drew a pen out of his pocket, handing it to Parker. Gold, solid and pure, and certainly something that he likely only carried around for show as it was definitely worth its weight.

"Like I said, it's just money," Bob said, looking over at her and nodding his head. "You can keep that. I've got plenty of them."

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inafivepoundbag
2010-09-03 09:18 am UTC (link)

There were only a few things that Parker could honestly pride herself on. Her ability to steal anything that was, or wasn't, nailed down, was one of them. Her knack for squeezing in and out of tight spaces was another. And her well-honed skill at knowing when money was real or not was another. Sometimes it fooled her. Money was tricky, after all. But gold? Gold was easy. Gold was something she could identify in her sleep, practically.

And the pen he had just given her was solid gold.

Eyes wide, Parker stared from the pen in her hand to the man who had given it to her. The only reason her jaw wasn't hanging halfway to the floor was due to the constant opening and closing of her mouth as she tried to form something resembling words. She managed a soft grunt and a few sounds from the back of her throat, but that was about it. She couldn't seem to shake herself out of her stupor long enough to even respond. Struggling against her own surprise, the thief finally managed to speak, although it came out quite rushed and laced with no small amount of curiosity.

"That's not spilling. That's giving me a really nice pen that's worth more than most of the scores I'll get tonight, and I guess that's nice or something but it doesn't tell me what I want to know."

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pushalittle
2010-09-03 09:24 am UTC (link)

Bob smiled, thankful that she hadn't called attention to themselves and as they nearly reached the door, Bob snagged a chip rake from where it was standing propped up against one of the pillars, turning it between his fingers as the long rod slowly shifted from wood to gold and he handed it off to Parker. "Go ahead and triple that take," He said grabbed his coat and shrugged it on, smiling as he waited for her reaction. They were close enough to the exit that he was sure she was the only one who had saw him much less the only one bothering to pay attention to a man in his fifties who had just had a bad streak of luck. "I'm sure you can find a smelter around here somewhere."

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inafivepoundbag
2010-09-03 10:52 am UTC (link)

By the time the rake had turned from wood to gold, Parker's eyes were so wide that it was a wonder they hadn't fallen right out of her head. However unlike most people who might find what Bob could do to be interesting or even neat, once the shock had passed at least, Parker's expression instead shifted into one that could almost border on adoration. She knew about abilities, thanks to her time spent with Noah. She'd seen Claire heal right before her eyes. She'd been invisible with Claude. She knew the sorts of things Peter could do. She was hardly unaware that there were many other abilities out there, too.

She had not, however, ever considered that what she'd just seen happen was possible. And for a professional thief who cherished money above everything else, it was very much akin to a dream come true. The man could turn things to gold with a touch. Distantly, she knew she'd heard a story about that somewhere. She couldn't place it though, not at the moment at least, so she shrugged the thought from her mind and instead focused on the here and now.

"That," she said finally, looking down at the rake. "Was." She looked back up at Bob with a positively giddy grin on her face. "Awesome!"

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pushalittle
2010-09-17 12:21 am UTC (link)

Awesome was the last word that Bob ever would have expected someone to use to describe his ability. Useful, practical, resourceful, lucky that he could turn it on and off at will (god, did he know that much), but never awesome. Momentarily staggered, the surprise flashed across Bob's features for a split second before he was able to collect himself enough to smile back.

"And that's why it's just money," Bob said, turning down his lapels. "There's always more where it comes from. A scrap of paper, a rock, a box of paperclips, whatever's on hand can become cash in three simple steps. One here since they know that I'm always more than good for it."

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