A New Day, a New Face, a New Con{OPEN}

She was cracking, he could see; there was guilt and uncertainty in her voice and eyes, and the she-cat's voice wavered as she repeated her request. Darn... But there's always an option 3. Eyes boring into hers, Moist slowly lifted his paw, feeling the tension build as he did so, and went to flip the card. It was off the cobble, and it wouldn't go. Frowning, he felt the lightbulb spark in his head. Was it still there...? Yes. The Lady was tied safely into the extended black fur on the back of his leg, by the paw. "[size=1]Darn card... Flip![/size]" He mumbled, brow deepening into the bemused expression. Just loud enough for her to hear; hesitant enough to be realistic, yet eager to prove his innocence.
He pulled the card towards him, building the tension with a slight change of mood; the scent would run through her and hopefully rub off.

The change was done in barely a second, and he flipped the Lady card over with an air of triumphant relief. Then Francios' face crumpled. "Oh... Madame... I h'am so sorry..." He carefully nosed over the final card - her second selection. Three black spades. He did nothing for a moment, letting his success sink in; he must not be too hasty to reclaim his reward. Though the greatest reward was the thrill; he had done it again.

Nari felt the growing tension in the air. La was smart, she had to admit it; she was onto a good thing, making him turn both cards like that. He attempted to do the fancy cobble-flick again on the card, and failed, which at least brought the faintest satisfaction to her icy heart. She felt her fur rise, claws preparing to unsheath with an excited apprehension of his betrayal - he had cheated, she knew it...
Slowly, he pulled it towards him, mumbling frustratedly, and then flipped it over. A Twoleg Lady sat regally on the card. She looked strange; the lines of her illustration were fine, and crimson colours swam together as her head lead into a neck, to a large chest and hands folded over a lap... Which lead into another large chest and a neck and an upside-down head. It was confusing, and her one green one blue eye were drawn into the Lady's impassive face...

The Lady.

No! She peeled back her lips, white fur bushing up and claws unsheathing. "He cheated!" She spat. "I don't know how he did it, but he cheated!"

Francios' brow softened and he smiled weakly. Moist smiled wickedly inside.

"Oh, never mind, Madame. Zimply a bad stroke of no luck for you - ze game is up, you haf not found ze Lady... Be not sorry, Madame; you had all right to be suspicious." He smiled dryly, revealing a mixture of forgiveness, with the faintest tint of hurt. But she mustn't feel too bad; making her doubly obliged would only increase the pressure on her, and he preferred clients to be relaxed. They were easier to swindle that way.
He reached carefully behind him, turning slowly though watching the white cat - he couldn't remember her name - out of the corner of his eye, and pulled the rest of the cards towards him in the deck; slotting the three in, and the fourth with a slight flick of the paw, he shuffled them once more, put them away, then pulled up the hedge-trimmers.
"It von't hurt," he promised quietly. Though of that he was far from sure...

Nari felt her fur rise further and further in alarm as the dog pulled up a huge pair of Hedge Trimmers - they glinted dully in the light, and her claws automatically unsheathed as he spoke. He sounded very certain that it wouldn't hurt La. Very certain. Too certain. If you were that sure that something so large and sharp wouldn't hurt, then you were either mad or lying. A lot of creatures were mad, but all that he may be, Francios was not mad. And she was certain - certain - that the card trick before had been a fluke... He was lying. He was going to chop poor La's tail right off, and there was nothing she could do about it...
But there was.
Since when have I ever thought there was nothing to do about something? Aaii-eeesh, I must be losing my touch. Violence is always a good defence - but it's better to get someone else to do it... But who is here? I'm certainly not taking on a very large dog with a trickster's glint in his eye and a very very large pair of over-sharpened scissors. Anyway, it'll do La good to get a taste of pain... Yes, that's more like me.

She smiled slightly to herself, then looked at the dog and nodded, once, decisively.

Francios raised his dog-brows back in return, then shrugged, laid out a cloth under La's tail with his teeth, put a paw into each of the large handles as the Hedge Trimmers lay flat on the uneven cobbles, and moved them, still on the ground, towards La.
Nari watched, almost eagerly, for the blood and the screams - they were getting a lot of stares from twoelgs now, and one of them actually seemed to be holding up a small grey brick and watching them; a red light flashed occasionally on the side. But there was no blood, and so far no screams. The first snip came, and a few inches of fine red hair floated to the ground.

Most of Moist's concentration was on keeping the Trimmers steady. Most of it. Because you didn't go this long in his profession without knowing how to multi-task - he was cataloging every detail; those twolegs were making him suspicious, he had to keep the tension out of his body and look as though he knew what he was doing, make sure the white she-cat was satisfied, and now Red was trying to start a conversation. But the con-artist took it all ready, and replied smoothly, "Wo-vorry not, Madame-" okay, so maybe a slight slip-up, but these things happened "-very few on zese shores haf their fur trimmed, unless of course zey are pets. I do vonder how you keep zat lovely fur so smooth... I myself employ a daily groom; ve'y hard to keep it flat, you see." Oh, no, here was his tongue, getting carried away again... Stop talking, stop talking, stop talking...
Concentrate on the cutting.

But even as he thought this he found his attention drawn to the twoleg holding the small silver brick...

Nari felt herself grow increasingly edgy. She felt pretty calm about the dog with the giant scissors, but their options of escape were running out - twolegs were starting to gather, and it was even more busy than it had been when they entered. "La, come on, we need to get out of here! They're gathering..." And even as she glanced around, the she-cat felt her white fur rise, the splash of grey on her side seeming to grow as she became evermore apprehensive. Her mismatched, one green, one blue eyes darted around, looking for every possible way out. "La. La! Stop chattering and let's go..." She glanced up at the dog. Nari had never been one for total manners, and she had done many bad things enough not to care about upsetting this 'Francios' or whatever his name was.

But he was a crook; she could see it in his eyes. It was too good, and La should have won. He had done something... And she had just given out La's real name. Now, to a large, potentially vicious dog who clearly didn't care about lying or cutting off cats' tail, they were liars, fakes and cowards. Gree-eatt.