Ch 2.68: Blind

Despite the glow coming from the crystal center, strapping on the bracelet was like being shoved into darkness, the sensation immediate. Elaina had only had it for a few weeks, but losing the sixth sense that came with her aspect was more dramatic than she could’ve imagined. She hadn’t even noticed the little ways she was aware of those around her really, the straps of a dress, the buckle of a belt, the button on a coat. Her awareness of them all was ripped from her the moment the bracelet strapped onto her wrist.

And the damn woman just smiled. “First time?” she asked.

“Get this off me,” Elaina said, undoing the latch and ripping it off. The feeling returned, everything coming back into focus, the strap of her bra, the clip of Carly’s handbag, the lock on the door behind them. “What the hell was that?”

Shein grinned, holding up her own arm. The mass of bracelets fell down her arm, leaving only one atop her wrist, a matching piece to the one Elaina was now holding in her hand. “They’re required for all patrons and staff. You get them either when you enter here, or when you purchase chips for the front room. They restrict aspects completely to prevent cheating. They’re easily removable as you just demonstrated, but doing so is grounds for immediate removal from the premises. I’ll let that incident just now slide, provided you put it back on immediately.”

“No way,” Tira said, stepping forward. “You’ve already tried to kill us once.”

Shein shrugged. “Different locale, my dear. I can’t have anyone being murdered here, for multiple reasons. Bad publicity both for customers and law enforcement.”

Elaina frowned, looking down at the piece of jewelry, at the crystal jewel in the middle that had gone dark as soon as she took it off. Shein was glowing in the same way hers had, but she still had her doubts. “How do we know you’re not cheating? Yours could be fake for all we know..”

Shein shrugged, taking hers off and offering it out to Elaina. “We can trade if you want. I don’t even have an aspect myself, but I wear it for appearances. Again, I think you’re underestimating how seriously I run this establishment. The game rules already favor the house; I don’t have to cheat beyond that.”

Elaina cautiously swapped bracelets with the woman, watching Shein put hers on her wrist, clip it together, dim crystal light shining. Elaina did the same after bracing herself for the dulled sense, wincing as it happened once more. “Hers is real too,” she said to the friends behind her.

Shein rolled her eyes. “It actually offends me you’d think otherwise. If it was fake, I just wouldn’t have offered to trade. Now, the rest of you follow suit, and I’ll leave you to finding your match.”

Elaina turned around, nodding to her party. Each hesitated, and each winced when they did the latch. “Damnit,” Flora said. For a moment Elaina wasn’t really sure what for, but then she noticed Flora’s hair, how it was growing just a little less neat, the curls becoming slightly less perfect, the whole thing slightly more frizzy.

“You actually use your aspect to do your hair?” Tira asked, trying to stifle a laugh.

“Shut up!” Flora said, blushing, the first time Elaina had ever seen her blush. “It’s straight up not possible to manage it otherwise.”

“Focus, you two,” Elaina said. Scolding her two seniors? That felt strange. “Are we good to play?” she asked Shein.

“Oh, of course,” the woman said with a flourish, gesturing to the room beyond. “And like I said, I recommend finding a table quickly for the best odds. I hear the speed you qualify may affect your odds in the second round.”

“She said, after wasting a ton of our time,” Tira added, walking off. “Come on, let’s go.”

Elaina and the others followed. They weren’t headed to a table though, Elaina knew, not with this new information. “We’re fucked,” she said once they got to a corner.

“Not fucked,” Tira said, though she looked less confident than her voice suggested. “We just have to play fair. We can’t count on Carly’s plan without Elaina’s aspect.”

“That’s as good as fucked,” Flora said as she tried to straighten out her hair with her fingers.

Carly shook her head. “No, not yet anyway. With four people we should be able to get through round one still, at least one of us, hopefully two. And we don’t know what round two is at all other than it’s still ‘poker’ and that the rules will be different. For all we know, it could be poker with the bracelets off, anything goes.”

“So what do we do,” Elaina said, staring at her wrist. It actually looked nice, which was kind of annoying. The first time in her life wearing gold jewelry, and it may as well have been a chain.

“Same plan, I think…” Carly said. “Elaina and me proceed on. I still know the math the best, and we’re the best two to be playing on the off chance we can actually use our aspects in round two.”

“Okay,” Tira said. “Let’s go find our marks, I guess.”

“Right,” Elaina said, gazing out over the room. She needed to project confidence. Even without Carly’s plan in play, even with Tira’s natural authority, they still looked to her as some sort of leader, and she’d have to play the part. Even if that meant ignoring how being without [Restraint] somehow made her feel more naked than the fact that she was walking around in lingerie.