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[@Krayzikk] [@Kaithas] [@NarayanK] [@Write][/center]

[color=8882be]"Ahhh, thank you, Cap! I will remember your strength, vitality, and rugged determination when I select my sperm donor!"[/color]

Laughing, Lauren cupped Ben's neck and drew him closer into her defined stomach for support. She arched backwards (an effort that strained her chest forward considerably against the already-tight maroon fabric of Ben's long-sleeved shirt [i]and[/i] atop Ben's head) and slipped one hand down under the drawer to pull it open without the use of the two handles. She switched hands to lay her left on the back of her best friend's neck, stretching her right backwards in order to comb through her underwear drawer--

[color=8882be][i]God damn, I'm a goddess.[/i][/color]

--and, unbeknownst to all present, even the no-doubt curious Cap she was currently striding atop of, the old switcheroo took place. 

Her hand had plucked the credit card safely from underneath Ben's collar where she'd left it, and she gave the sleeve of Ben's shirt an imperceptible shake to slide the black card from underneath her black palm and into her drawer full of black underwear. A few garments shuffled aside obscured it briefly; reaching underneath them and pulling the Palladium card out from the opposite side of the drawer she'd planted it was child's play for anyone who had spent two months in Windpath learning sleight-of-hand in her teens from a one-eyed blackjack dealer who went by the name Venti Veinte. 

But that was neither here nor--

[color=8882be][i]There.[/i][/color]

[color=8882be]"[i]Triomphe![/i]"[/color] she crowed in Mistralian with only a trace of the local accent, producing the metal-plated credit card so that it shone in the dorm's light before it was flicked across the room to Estelle. [color=8882be]"There you go, ma'am, one credit card! Your finder's fee for the commission on the sale of those legal goods you let me borrow? Already on there!"[/color]

And now to hit Estelle with a trick Lauren knew first-hand she was useless against - the ol' neuro-linguistic programming.

[color=8882be]"I'll see you in class sometime, eh, [i]sensei[/i]?"[/color] she asked playfully, closing the drawer behind her with a slam of her palm and tracing all her fingers through Ben's hair. [color=8882be]"I've got a funny story about the sale, actually, you'll really dig it. I'll tell it to you after my family leaves."[/color]

She jerked her head towards her Pops with a slight wink; her grin was sharp and proud.

[color=8882be][i]Nay, my dear Captain, my fair hooker, my hapless snake. This is not dark magic you see before you--this is merely the untapped science of charisma.[/i][/color]

And there was always a method to science.