[M] The Dragon, the Princess, and the Knight (Holey & lobo)

[lobo]

The princess listened to Gregor speak while she continued to feed coins into the little machine, finding it a bit odd that so many people would come to this place and risk many losses for a chance to win just one time. "That's rather fascinating. I suppose if I thought I could win a large amount of money then I would take the risks of playing... but only if the odds were actually in my favor," Amelia said, placing yet another coin into the slot machine. "Do people just play it endlessly? If there are times when you win a little, it just encourages more playing?" she asked, rather curious to hear more about the casino and 'gambling.'

The little guard next to Amelia was quite awed by the little machine, placing coins into it one after the next. "Tora won't go alone, she promises. She's heard stories about things that happen," she promised, blinking over at Gregor with a wide smile. She seemed to have a bit more fascination with the machine than the dragon princess did. She liked the flashes of the machine, and the tiny thrill when it spit some coins out out at her. "She's having fun," Amelia commented with a giggle, watching the guard for a moment before turning her attention back to her husband.

"The duel?" the princess asked, turning away from the machine to look at him now. "What's the duel?" she added, tilting her head curiously at him. She assumed from the name that it had something to do with battling, especially considering he was a knight, but she wondered if there was more to it than that.

[Holeypaladin]

Sliding his hands over the soft hair of the princess, Gregor shrugged. "Well, you already have plenty of money, being a dragon princess and all," he remarked. "Most of the people who play these games... don't. For them, it's an act of desperation to try and become rich, though some of them take it too far and go deep into poverty and debt to pay for a gambling addiction. I suppose different people have different play styles... some use spare change in hopes of striking it rich, while others just enjoy the game and don't mind the fact that they lose in the long run... and still others have an addiction that's quite problematic."

He nodded at the words of the guard, patting her head. "That's a good girl," he said to her, smiling a bit as she seemed to enjoy the flashy sounds made by the machine as she kept playing it. "She's definitely having fun," he said with a nod, watching over the guard as she kept playing... even though technically she was the one who was supposed to be watching over him, even though he didn't need it.

"Just as it sounds," the knight said with a shrug. "Two duelists fight each other, usually to first blood. Gamblers will bet on who they expect to win, and the number of people betting on each respective duelist determines the odds. Of course, the house gets its cut from the bets before they are paid out to the winning bets, but that more or less goes without question."

[lobo]

Amelia seemed to start to understand why so many people took part in the games of the casino after Gregor explained it more, realizing that it wasn't always necessarily a bad thing. It was good that people could come to a place and enjoy themselves, quite the same way as Tora currently was. The guard smiled at Gregor again as he gave her head a pat, leaning into the touch before her focus was returned to the slot machine. "Tora is paying attention to surroundings, too, Oniichan. She won't let anything happen to Oneechan," the guard promised, wanting to assure both the princess and the knight that she wasn't slacking on her job. She was just... taking the time to enjoy this new game.

The dragon princess then listened as Gregor explained the duel a bit more, humming a soft sound of thought. "Sounds dangerous," she finally decided, placing her last coin into the slot machine. She watched the flashes of the machine before she was rewarded with no more coins, signaling an end to her playing. "I have full confidence in your abilities and such..." she began, hopping off her stool to wrap her arms around the knight's waist and rest her chin on his chest so she could look up at him, "so I don't need proof that you'd win every time."

She took a moment to peek over at Tora, giggling softly as the guard finally seemed to run low on coins. "What next?" she asked, leaning up to press a soft kiss to her husband's lips. She remembered him mentioning the magic show, but she wasn't sure if they had wasted enough time for it to be starting.

[Holeypaladin]

Watching as the little guard continued to play, Gregor chuckled at how she insisted she was still paying attention. "I'm sure you are," he said to her, standing behind Amelia and caressing her soft hair a bit as she watched the dragon use up her last coin on the slot machine without any gains. "I'm not sure there has ever been a fatality, actually," he said with a shrug, figuring the duels weren't designed to actually kill people, rather to entertain the guests and earn money for the casino. "The Arena is much more dangerous, really."

As she stood up, he wrapped his arms around the princess as well, stroking her soft hair and giving her a tender kiss. "I'm glad you're so confident..." he said, stroking her softly and holding her close to him. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he waited until Tora was done playing, and said, "Well, we've killed a bit of time... so we can check out the magic show next."

He took Tora's little hand and walked her through the casino while holding Amelia close to him, heading towards the performance stage where the magic show was to be held. A cheerful bunny in red was selling admission tickets, and he nudged Tora to use what coins she had remaining from the slot machine to get the tickets for the three of them. "Enjoy the show, pyon!" the bunny said happily, waving to them as he led the girls in to the seating area in order to take their seats.

[lobo]

Upon hearing that the duel wasn't actually a battle to the death, the princess began to relax in her husbands hold now that she understood. "Ah, so it's not putting your life in danger," she murmured, resting her chin against his chest again. "That's good to know... We'll be avoiding The Arena, then," she chuckled, keeping her own arms wrapped around the man as they waited for the adorable guard to finish up with her game. Now that she was assured that the duel wasn't as dangerous as she had originally thought, she was a bit curious as to what it would be like to watch him partake in one of the games.

Her thoughts were interrupted as Tora approached them, signaling they could go see the magic show. The guard took hold of Gregor's hand and stuck close to him as they made their way through the casino, finally paying attention to their surroundings now that she was no longer distracted by the slot machine. As they reached the bunny girl, she handed over the coins leftover from the game so that the three could receive their tickets. "Thank you!" Amelia chirped to the bunny dressed in red, smiling to the adorable girl as she provided them with the tickets to get into the show.

Following the knight into the show room, Amelia took a seat on one side of Gregor while Tora chose a seat on the other. "Have you seen this show before?" the princess asked, keeping her fingers interlaced with her husbands as they waited for the show to begin. She had never seen a magic show before, and she was looking forward to watching the magician entertain them.

[Holeypaladin]

Stroking his wife's soft hair, the knight chuckled at her relief. "Well yes... first blood is very different from a fight to the death," he remarked. He was sure he had stated that the duels were fought to first blood, but it wasn't much of a surprise that the princess might be unfamiliar with the term, as she was not a duelist. "I think we'd do pretty well in the arena," he teased somewhat, as a dragon knight and dragon couple could be quite powerful, even though Amelia was rather young for a dragon.

As he led the girls to their seats, he shrugged somewhat at Amelia's question. "Apparently they change the show a lot, so who knows? The one thing that remains constant is that he always draws a bunny or ten from the hat at the end of the show... apparently it's the bunny summoning that caused him to meet these bunnies in the first place."

Motioning for Amelia to take her seat, he lifted the little Tora up into his wife's lap before taking his seat next to her and caressing her soft thigh. "We came a bit early in order to get good seats... but the show will be starting in a bit," he remarked, sliding his hand slowly up and down Amelia's thigh under her princess dress while pretending nothing was out of the ordinary.

[lobo]

Watching as Gregor moved Tora onto her lap, Amelia laughed softly at the new seating arrangement and happily wrapped her arms around the small guard. "Aww, bunnies from a hat!" Amelia repeated after Gregor spoke, already excited to see that part of the show. "Wait...are they bunny bunnies or the bunny girlies from outside?" the princess asked, wondering if it were even possible for the magician to pull the girls out of a hat. Although, if he could pull ten animal bunnies from the hat, why wouldn't he be able to pull a couple of bunny girls from the hat?

Laughing softly at the thought, the princess hugged little Tora close to her as the guard got settled on her lap, seeming pleased by the new arrangement. "I'm sure it was a good idea to come early... I would assume lots of people come to watch," Amelia responded to Gregor's words, and her gaze slowly peeked down towards his hand on her thigh. A blush slowly started to form on both of her cheeks, but she decided to allow his seemingly innocent strokes to continue.

"Will we play another game after the show has finished?" the princess asked, which caught Tora's attention and caused the guard to focus on them again. "Another game?" she repeated, clearly not opposed to the idea. "Or...will we be going back home?" Amelia added, feeling the blush on her cheeks burning brighter as she spoke.

[Holeypaladin]

Chuckling at the words of the dragon princess, the knight kept caressing her thigh softly. "Well, what do you think?" he asked somewhat teasingly, feeling a bit higher on her thigh and ignoring the fact that Tora was also positioned on her lap. "Usually there's quite a few people, but they don't necessarily come to watch the magic show itself." He gestured to the stage where the pre-show entertainment was beginning, as three bunnies dressed in black stepped on stage.

"I'm not really a fan of this one, but the good seats are typically taken by the time it begins, and empty spaces don't open by the time the magic show begins." As he said this, exotic music began to play, and the bunnies began to dance in rather suggestive ways. Though it was more theatric than the performances at some of the seedy succubus-owned clubs in town, when the leotard of one of the bunnies suddenly came off, it was clear what sort of show this was.

"You might want to cover her eyes," he suggested to the princess, figuring Tora might have been a bit too young to watch this sort of show.... although there were even younger looking girls in the audience, many of them having bunny ears of their own and studying the show with interest.

[lobo]

Feeling a blush start to warm her cheeks, the princess lowered her gaze to Gregor's hand on her thigh as a soft giggle left her lips. Despite the exchange between the dragon princess and her knight, little Tora remained completely oblivious as her focus had returned to the stage. The movements on stage also caught the princess' attention, especially as Gregor mentioned the entertainment before the show. "Oh...now I see why so many people come," Amelia laughed, and the color on her cheeks seemed to brighten even more as she watched the suggestive movements of the bunny girls.

The dragon princess was too distracted by her embarrassment to realize that Tora was watching intently as one of the bunny performers lost her leotard. "Oh my," Amelia squeaked, quickly lifting her hand as Gregor spoke to place it over Tora's eyes. The little guard started to laugh though, turning her head to hide it against Amelia's shoulder instead. "Now I really understand why so many people come to the pre-show performance..." the princess whispered, turning her gaze to Gregor rather than the girls on stage.

"Tora doesn't like the slutty bunnies, Oniichan," the guard in Amelia's lap murmured, peeking towards the knight while attempting not to look at the stage. "When will magic man be here instead?" she added, wanting to see the magic show rather than the bunny girls that kept losing their tops.

[Holeypaladin]

Continuing to caress the soft thigh of his wife, the knight smirked somewhat as Tora seemed oblivious to it. As clever as the young guard was, her intelligence was matched only by how naive she was, so it was difficult to determine whether she was truly oblivious or just acting like she was. "I suppose you could say that the girls who work here make this place quite appealing to young men. Everyone in the University is familiar with this show, both for the magic and for the... pre-show entertainment," he said, referencing the now-naked bunny girls on stage.

He chuckled at how the princess covered Tora's eyes, sliding his hand further up her dress now that the guard couldn't see and caressing her softly. "Exactly," he remarked with a smirk. He laughed somewhat at the slut-shaming words of the young guard, finding her to be quite adorable. "Soon," he assured the girl as he kept caressing the princess. "There will be a short break between shows, but very few people will leave their seats... which is why we have to sit through this one first."

Eventually the showgirls brought their performance to a conclusion, and many teens and young men stood and gave them quite the applause. Gregor himself remained sitting, which apparently attracted the attention of some of the younger bunnies in the audience... daughters of the performers, he supposed, who had noted the fact that the chair opposite him from Amelia's was empty. He saw three of them playing a game of rock paper scissors, two of which pouted when they lost while the third began making her way over to the seat next to him. However, he pretended not to notice, continuing to caress Amelia's soft thigh.