<div class="floatleft">(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6b/c8/c4/6bc8c424fca89a5f794ddde16f9ae2e3.jpg)</div><br/><strong>Character: White Bear (Robert)<br/><br/>Location: Lola's Saloon<br/><br/>Time of day: Sunset/Evening<br/><br/>Tagging: Rose, Desmond, open<br/></strong><br/><br/>The moment that Rose suggested a rabbit stew with sliced vegetables as a possible meal for Robert, the half-Shoshone man's eyes lit up. As much as he despised most of his earlier life living with his former tribe, he still held a small soft spot for the food of the people that raised him, and it had been ages since he had partaken in roast rabbit of any kind. And if the meal was prepared by Rose...well, how could he refuse such a generous offer?<br/><br/>"That sounds perfect, thank you," he said with an eager smile on his lips, and he watched quietly as the young Shoshone woman headed off to fulfill his order. With a bit of time to kill before Rose returned, Robert returned his gaze towards his boss, who was still playing cards with the fellas at the table. Or rather, it looked like Mr. King was finished with the table and was now instead interested in a young saloon woman wearing a green garment. He watched as his boss led this woman up the stairs to the second floor of the saloon, offering a very heavy suggestion of what Desmond was planning on enjoying.<br/><br/>Robert started to wonder if Rose might be similarly available for such activities, but his pondering was interrupted when Desmond's eyes turned to look at his. His muscles stiffening, Robert recognized that his boss wanted his attention, and he watched as Mr. King, using only his eyes, pointed to someone sitting at the table where Desmond had played cards earlier. That could only mean one thing, and Robert knew he had a job to do, a job he had done many times over the years to people who cheated at cards. All he needed was a signal on how to deal with him...<br/><br/>...and he got it. Desmond slapped the railing once before continuing on with his green-clad saloon girl. Robert smiled softly before turning his attention to the alleged cheater. This man was lucky; Desmond had only slapped the railing once. Two slaps, and Robert would've been instructed to kill this man. As it was, Robert was only asked to have a nice "talk" with the fella.<br/><br/>Recognizing he had some time before Rose returned with the roast rabbit, Robert calmly stood up from his seat and approached the table where the three gentlemen were still playing cards. The larger man that Desmond had identified as a cheater was smiling and laughing, while the other two looked bewildered and irritated at their streak of rotten luck. Robert waited for the current round of cards to finish before he stepped forward and placed a hand upon the alleged cheater's shoulder.<br/><br/>The man turned around and looked up at Robert, who was staring down at him with an unreadable expression. "Can I help you, young man?" the larger gentleman asked.<br/><br/>"You may indeed," Robert answered before addressing the rest of the table. "My apologies, gents, I need to borrow this man for a few minutes. I promise he'll come right back. Now if you'll follow me for a moment, sir..."<br/><br/>Before the larger gentleman could protest, Robert grabbed the man by the his coat and pulled him to his feet, then dragged him a short distance across the saloon floor to a relatively isolated part of the area. There they stopped so Robert could face the man, who looked flustered and on the verge of anger. "What is the meaning of this, young man? How dare you treat me so rudely and..."<br/><br/>Robert interrupted by reaching out and grabbing the man's right arm, just below his wrist. The large man immediately fell silent, because he saw the glimmer in Robert's eyes at recognizing what lay beneath that coat sleeve against his wrist. Robert knew what to look for when it came to amateur card cheaters, and this man was too predictable: not only did he have a coat sleeve pocket with a metallic card clip to keep cards from slipping out, but he could feel several cards already stashed inside. The man tried to yank his arm away, but Robert's iron grip kept him from doing so, and the half-Shoshone smiled at the man.<br/><br/>"I think we both know what you have inside your sleeve, don't we?""<br/><br/>The man nodded his head, his face growing pale.<br/><br/>"And I don't have to tell you that if I were to relay this information to those two gentlemen sitting at your table, they will not hesitate to take out some frustration on that fat face of yours, do I?"<br/><br/>Shaking his head, the cheater asked, "What...what do you want from me?"<br/><br/>"Oh, nothing...just half of your winnings," Robert answered. "The gentleman you played with earlier, Mr. Desmond King...he doesn't approve of being cheated out of his hard-earned money, good sir. You're lucky he caught you in a good mood, or else we'd be having this conversation outside somewhere near an unmarked grave that will be filled by your portly carcass. But if you were to...'donate' half of your winnings, I could be persuaded to overlook this little incident. Are we in agreement?"<br/><br/>As he spoke, Robert made sure to squeeze the man's wrist incredibly hard, making clear his strength and how much he could hold himself in a proper fight. Robert didn't have any guns on him, but he had his fists and a knife, and in close-quarters like this, they were far deadlier than any firearm. The large man winced loudly at the squeezing of his wrist, and recognizing that he had no other way out of this situation without being exposed, he quickly acquiesced.<br/><br/>"Okay, okay...half of my winnings...just don't tell anyone about this, please..."<br/><br/>Robert laughed softly. "My lips are sealed, good sir...so long as you never show you face in front of Mr. King ever again. And I have a good memory, so don't test me."<br/><br/>"I won't, I won't. But, ah...how shall I explain me giving away half my winnings to you? The others at the table won't like it..."<br/><br/>"Think of something," Robert answered simply.<br/><br/>With that, Robert finally let go of the man, who was shaking visibly as he rubbed his hand where Robert had grabbed him. The card clip and the cards had been bent due to the force of the grip, so they were no longer useful. Trying to calm himself down, the large man made his way back to the table, where the other two participants were impatiently awaiting his return. They tried asking the large man what he had talked to Robert about, but he didn't answer immediately; instead, he reached for his chips and counted out an amount equally to half of his win total, then gave that pile of chips to Robert, who graciously pocketed them inside his coat.<br/><br/>As Robert walked away, the other two men loudly protested to the larger man, who tried stammering out an excuse about wanting to donate to the poor, unfortunate Native who wanted to help out his downtrodden tribe. Robert had to roll his eyes at that story - if only the man knew how much White Bear<em>hated</em>his former tribe - but he stopped listening as he returned to his table. With any luck, Rose would be out soon with the roasted rabbit, if she wasn't already.