The Experiment (Attack on Titan // LeviHan) (Part 1)

A Gamble

Getting access to high-stake gambling events in the underground was quite a challenge. With the Military Police going after the better known establishments because the conservative forces in the central government demanded an eradication of sinful temptation, locations had to change frequently, access had to be tightly regulated, and runners dispatched to spread the word mere hours before the doors opened.

It was all part of the excitement of course.

Rich, bored people were all the same, Levi thought, as he swept his eyes over the gathering. Not giving the slightest fuck about the fate of those who struggled with failing crops and threat of starvation, they came here to lose half a fortune without a second thought, saturating the air with their nauseating perfumes, spoiling their valuable silk clothes with sweat.

Tonight's venue wasn't large, but all the more crowded. The air was thick with the smoke from the pipes, making your head swim even if you didn't partake in inhaling the vapor directly. Small red lamps hung from the ceiling at irregular intervals, bathing the room in a dim, ominous light interlaced with shadows that held the promise of exhilarating debauchery.

A selection of card and dice games beckoned. There were only ten tables, but the stakes were dizzyingly high. The only women in the room were Renzo's lures. Annika, who had gotten first pick, had settled for Chemmy.

A good scammer knew how to draw out the inevitable. How to let their prey win, to boost their confidence and then, when they were getting too excited or too confident, how to pluck them slowly, feather by feather or, depending on character, plunge them straight into the pit of doom.

Annika was one of the best. She did nothing by half measures - and when she gambled, it was like she lived for every card she drew, for every dice she rolled alone. She was simply dazzling, the very air around her seemed to caress and covet her. But one thing she had never done was sold her body for money. Even when her breasts had barely started to grow, drooling men had queued up for a favor. Every single bawd in the underground city had tried to force her into the horizontal trade. Levi had sent each and every one of them packing until they had stopped coming.

Everybody who came here knew Annika was not for sale. It was part of her appeal. Hope kept them trying, failure only made them come back for more. Half the men at the table were so smitten with her they paid no attention to him. The other half was trying so hard to impress her they were just as oblivious to anything he did. Good, because his skills were rusty. Had he not hated all of them with a vengeance, Levi could have felt sorry for them. What besotted fools.

Their target - a vain, grey man past his prime who thought it wise to wear expensive rings on his fat fingers when coming to the underground city - was seated on a chair opposite of Annika so that he had full view of her low decolletage. He was winning. His face shone with sweat and excitement and the way he licked his lips suggested he was not only thinking of cards. Annika was down to a few chips, giving them a forlorn stroke from time to time, making the men around the table shudder with desire.

"I'm out of luck tonight," she intoned tearfully, her voice vibrating with a special timber that seemed to drive her admirers nuts.

"I can lend you some money," an eager man with a thick mustache offered. "With no interest! As long as you can continue playing..."

"Me too!" the thin man to his right intoned. "I'll lend you some as well!"

But Annika shook her head slowly to those and other assurances, her large eyes moist with unshed tears. "Maybe another round of drinks to say goodbye?"

Another few digits were added to the men's tabs, because Annika only deserved the best of the best, and more bubbly alcohol flowed down their throats. Everyone looked red in the face now. Levi dealt the cards.