[TASK] Gerrymandering.

[Bebop]

“Front stand, operative. Bringing in the green.” Luckily no one was looking at the disguised Kinetic. His whispering and fidgeting with his ear piece would’ve normally got some curious glances. Nonetheless, in the middle of this happy-go-lucky fair, nothing seemed wicked.

The titan of entertainment and lodging known as Cernoi City held its annual spring fair. To the members of Kinetic, this was a funny way of saying “oodles of cash to made and pokemon to steal”. Liam made his effort to set up a small ring toss stand, to blend in with the crowd. He was ordered by an unknown superior to bring in some hard cash. Perhaps, this was too simple of a method, but they actually supported this idea. The boy was expecting an assigned cohort for this task. Liam awaited his arrival, inquisitively. Wut? He heard a sound, an eerie, distant groaning. As the noise returned, he knew exactly who was making it.

<Missssssssss. Misssssss.>
The boy clumsily looked around for his ghost pokemon, which was being a total creep right now. Muma, Liam’s Misdreavus, had a knack for haunting things for fun. The last thing he wanted was people fearful of his stand, or even a Kinetic member seeing how scarce of clients it was. Spotting an flickering glimpse of the near-translucent mon, he took out its dusk ball and returned it immediately. Phew, that was close. Now, where’s my partner in crime? He amusingly posed the question, resting his head in his hands. It was early morning, but literally ten minutes after the time he was supposed to be here. Weird.

["GUEST"]

The day was not anything of silence at all, in fact it was quite an eccentric day among the people of Cernoi. The fair was in town and everyone was so excited about all of the things happening with the fair that Dono himself did not care about at all. Earlier today Dono had made the observation that with his organization being low on money it would be benificial to come on down to the fair with a fellow recruit and make some money. However, the recruit in which he notified did not know whom was going to be helping him, nor did Dono know if the recruit would get along good with him. Of course, Dono was very hard to get along with so their was very little chances of actually having fun today. But whatever, it was worth a try.Dono was wearing an odd outfit for the occasion, jeans and a black hoodie in order to darken his face and make it harder to see. Actually, the hoodie was almost pulled completely shut. It was a wonder Dono was actually capable of seeing as he made his way through the fair. He had already purchased his ticket, so he could do just about anything he wanted. However, it was his goal to find a man by the name of Liam. He already knew where he was supposed to be, a post of sorts where he was waiting. Dono knew he was a few minutes late, however he found himself never wanting to wake up in the mornings anymore. Inside the hood Dono wore his usual mask (picture in meh profile) that symbolized that he now took the place of GUEST. Thus far no one in his organization knew that Dono's true name was Dono, and few knew what he looked like beneath the mask.

GUEST reached the stall and let himself in through the side, he looked upon the man in which stood at the stall next to him. He was waiting, obviously. And then there was a ring toss set up. GUEST looked upon the ring toss questionably, it really was a simple game. GUEST's red-brown eyes were visible through the mask as they looked over the bottles. GUEST then spook quietly, "I'm GUEST, I'm sorta your boss here sir." GUEST bent down and put the coke bottles very closely together, until they were all scrunched together.

GUEST then reached into his pocket, pulling out 6 rings. They were silver and were actually quite huge. In fact, they were big enough that they could probably get 3 coke bottles rang up at one time. And, the rings were heavy. GUEST had weighted the rings slightly, made them heavy, and made sure they were big. However, each of the rings differed slightly in weight, and the focus of their weight was in different areas of each ring. GUEST had done adequate research on this game and found out that the way people won other than sheer luck was to get all the flick in your wrist possible and to simple, try until you knew the rings decent enough to get the flick right. The idea was to make it impossible for someone, in 6 or more tries, to get used to GUEST's rings and flick their wrists perfectly. The other idea was that if they rang around say, 2 coke bottles somehow, GUEST would deny them of their prize due to the fact that they would have gotten 2 coke bottles instead of 1. GUEST knocked on the counter of the stall, "Come one come all, Ring Toss Extravaganza set up up by my bud... Takashi." GUEST made up a fake name for Liam. So what? "Its easy, you get 6 silver rings of decent size to throw at these bottles... and all ya gotta do is get a ring on 1 coke battle. Easy 'nuff?" Lets not take note on the fact that he credited Liam for this nearly impossible game. GUEST turned to Liam and whispered, "Think of a prize and profits. Somethin' creative kid."

(Kinda jumped right into the game... sorta wanna have fun with the contestants xD)

[Bebop]

Out of the slapdash energy of the streets came a figure that definitely carried an aura of value, despite his casual dressing. His arrival brought feelings of both relief and anxiety to Liam. The Kinetic agent worried if this was actually the right guy, but once the hooded man spoke, he was assured. Boss, that’s a word that’s used too damn much. It definitely was, in his case. Such was the life of being a fresh recruit to the cause. Liam flashed his eyes to the ring toss setup, peering at the man’s actions and movements. This stranger Kinetic named Guest appeared to be previously acquainted with such carnival games, rearranging the system. The agent kept his mouth shut. If anything, this new guy was going to be running the program and not him. However, his inquiring eyes caught the sight of 6 rings. Brought to the table by this Guest character, they were probably important somehow. Liam wondered why the man stopped fidgeting with the stand, until he rose to speak. At that moment, the boy jumped back to hear his words and play along.

Takashi? Did someone not tell him my name? A natural inclination for high opinion blinded him from the fact that they were criminals; they probably didn’t want anyone to know their actual names. He sighed, listening to the instructions. They seemed quite simple, but Liam’s sharp eyes impulsively compared the width of the rings to the range of a normal bottle. Could this be a scam booth? A ridiculous smirk flared on his expression; everything made sense to him. He started playing out scenarios in his head until the Guest individual spoke to him. His job: think a prize and profits. Luckily, he had already organized that stuff before the fair. ¥2 Yen to enter. 3-6 Successful tries would be a large stuffed Mudkip. 1-2 would be a small Teddyursa doll. But considering the man’s alteration with the game, Liam now expected no winners. This whole situation made him wonder if they were the only people doing this.

“Right here, sir.” Liam spoke proudly, pointing towards a cost sign in front of several prizes. Immediately, Liam took a moment to finish setting up with stand with those items, and he spotted a few potential customers coming their way. The first group was a middle-aged mother and her two, rowdy boy toddlers. “Alright, boss. First triers here!” He actually spoke with a bit of contempt. Liam was being compliant, and often took kindly to authority. The awkward thing was, he had no idea how important the man standing next to him was.

["GUEST"]

Taking another short look around, GUEST could see that there were a few mudkips around that were of course, stuffed. They were little toys that would tempt all the little children to yell at their dads, "I WANT IT!!" and all of the teen women to tell their boyfriends how much they would love it if they got that stupid toy. GUEST found himself hating the pure fact that so many people of so many ages and descents all prioritized such stupid things such as a stuffed mudkip. It didn't have any effect on GUEST at all that all these people whom wanted this toy wouldn't get it unless they found a way to cheat or get around GUEST's system with pure luck. Of course, GUEST was unsure as to if luck would even do it here. GUEST didn't care though, it was time to bring in the money.

GUEST turned to the man, being met with a ridiculous smirk of sorts. He looked... odd to say the least. Perhaps he realized that this was not going to work out for the contestants. Or he was just an ignorant child. There was a sign showing prizes, and GUEST thought that they were easy enough. The price was modest to say the least, however the game in itself made up for the modesty. The man that stood next to him was just a lower ranked member of Kinetic, GUEST knew. However, GUEST was looking for signs that would help him govern his usage through Kinetic. GUEST had made up an exam that all members were given to ensure their alliance with Kinetic. However, GUEST was unsure about this man's allegiance.

GUEST looked at the customers approaching now. GUEST's dark eyes peered through his mask, looking at the woman. She was normal, and nothing about her seemed to be different from many others around. However, she did have two seemingly rowdy toddlers with her. GUEST leaned onto the counter, looking at the woman. "Good morning miss, enjoying the fair, yes?" GUEST ignored his better judgment of the woman probably being married. Its not like it mattered, GUEST just wanted her money and she wouldn't be TOO offended by being called miss, no? "Welcome to our stand, a classic ring toss. The kids would love our prizes, no?" GUEST spoke with yeses and noes at the end of a lot of his sentences, it was to his belief it added, "Social flare". " I'm sure a lady like you might enjoy a good ol' carnival game, as well." GUEST laid out the rings on the counter.

[Bebop]

“Oh my my, what a young gentleman! Yes, we are.” The state of being married with children was perfectly apparent on her face. It was a mixture of bliss and downright frustration. She wouldn’t let anyone in public see that though, which would probably give her a stress tumor or something in the long run. She finished her sentence by pulling in her rambunctious boys in close, near her bosom (felt the craving to use that word), and plastered a smile on her face for the polite stand worker. His mask didn’t seem to upset her at all; she just assumed it was just a carnival thing. The kids still struggled out her grasp, reaching for the stuffed prizes that hung from the stand ceiling. This brought a proud smile to Liam’s face, even though he didn’t expect them to win it now.

“Har-har, looks like my boys are ready. I’m a bit too old for these games.” She chatted with a melodic tone, while spelunking into her pocketbook. As if it said ”Ahah! There it is”, her face lit up when she pulled a handful of cash out the bag. She placed it on the table to exchange it with the masked man, and then handed the rings to her boys. Not being tall enough to get a good view, they literally climbed the woman and weighted the ring in their hand. In twin fashion, they both launched two separate rings at different sides of the game. One boy’s attempt clanged in between two bottles entirely, which was the worst kind of failure. The other boy actually succeeded…somewhat. His ring had just slightly captured two different bottles. Liam blinked, not yet knowing if the boy had gotten a point. He looked questioningly to his partner, Guest, wondering his thoughts.

["GUEST"]

GUEST didn't really appreciate the term young gentleman. Being dubbed as a gentleman only made it more strange when he denied her children of their prizes. Then again, his remarks were indeed sort of kind towards the lady. Honestly, he was trying to get her to play the game. But it would appear it was working as she went into her purse and searched for money. It actually wasn't too bad at all for a first customer, GUEST just hoped that they didn't get close to winning. GUEST knew he was capable of letting a parent go without a prize, even if they were angry, but it would be easier if they just missed completely. “Har-har, looks like my boys are ready. I’m a bit too old for these games. She said. GUEST had observed Liam's smile. GUEST had credited Liam with this game, if there was a problem in the ruling according to one of the contestants, GUEST would just blame Liam.

But would that be right? Liam was new and all and GUEST got pleasure from picking on the new kids, yet he wasn't sure if pushing it to the point where he might make Liam mad would be correct. However, Liam had yet to see GUEST in person. He could have very well not of known whom he was looking at. GUEST's eyes shifted away from Liam. On the bottles, a ring fell hopelessly between two bottles. GUEST's face seemed to have some sort of surprised look. The other toddler managed to get a ring around not one but two bottles of coke. GUEST laughed gently. Looking at the woman he peered through the evil looking mask. He tried to read her face swiftly, however was unable to detect how she would initially react. She was far too happy, and the smile on her face was forced, probably in hopes that it would make things happy.

Perhaps the kids tired her, and just smiling through her days were just a way of pushing out of the way embarrassment and trying to look at the minuscule good things. GUEST saw it as a misfortune he had to be the one to point this out. GUEST spoke silently, his eyes drifting to the counter. "Your son has succeeded in capturing two bottles of coke in one attempt, and for that I applaud him on his sheer luck. However, I must point out the simplistic rule that it requires you must only ring around 1 coke bottle rather than two. But it doesn't matter, your children would simple bore themselves with our prizes. Rowdy children typically lose interest in toys in a very short amount of time. Your best bet to keeping them entertained here is to just play the games, you might as well join in too. Maybe your smile will turn into something real, no?" GUEST's hopes were to remain passive, however it was against his nature to do so in the face of someone like this. He also thought it might give Liam insight on how the person he was working with truthfully was.