Queen of Diamonds (x Chishiya)

Chapter 8 - Musical Chairs

A/N: I'm going to be honest, I need some game ideas. I like the one I made for this chapter, but I'll need a few more. I'll credit you don't worry ;)

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Karma's POV

"Ace! Ace! Ace! Ace!"

I'm loving this.

As much as they seem to love me, I'm sure I've already made some enemies here.

Be it out of envy, fear, not being able to rape me, resentment, the list goes on. You can never truly know what people are thinking.

I meet eyes with someone in the back of the crowd, leaning against a wall and waving at me. I don't get to make out their features, but they have big hair.

With the raise of Hatter's hand, the crowd goes silent, and the person I connected with disappears.

The mood turns serious.

"Everyone please give our Ace a warm welcome today and treat her with respect for her sacrifice. Remember rule number three."

"Thank you." He closes his hand and drops it, signaling everyone that they are dismissed. The Beach residents scatter and the executives walk off.

I start towards the stairs and feel a hand wrap around my wrist, pulling me backwards to the side.

"You need to establish yourself here, Karma. Don't let the cheers deceive you. There will be people out to get you. Snakes are everywhere."

"I know." I don't look to see who's talking near my right ear, but I know It's Chishiya from his voice. He stands behind me and let's go of my wrist.

"Go do some PR. It's better to earn the majority. You have a lot to learn about this place." I then turn around to respond and see he's already walking off.

I was going to say that I was already doing so, but guess not. I'm not going to let his 'helpful tips' deceive me either. He has an ulterior motive and I've yet to find out what it is.

He's useful, but I already know he's going to try and use me too. I'm okay with that, as long as it's controlled.

We'll see who's using who in the end.

I go downstairs and receive good responses from most. Many people greet and welcome me, some offer me drinks, and some are bold enough to flirt with me.

I'm off to a great start.

After long enough of interacting with these people I come to the conclusion that I need to create a persona. Kind of like a character.

I know that Hatter's name isn't actually Hatter and I doubt that his whole personality and philosophy is what he presents to everyone.

I'm going to do that, except to the best of my advantage. I am going to make people love me, but fear me at the same time.

Manipulation is a game that I specialize in. Courtesy of my criminal law college major. I may not act well, but I'm damn good at manipulating situations to be in my favor.

My name here is already established as Ace, and people call me by that name anyways. I've already presented myself as sly and playful, so I'm going to maintain that. People respond the best to it, and respond poorly when I'm being myself, which is now sharp and calm.