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Carmen’s weekend was chock-full of studying, and not much else. Studying for the mission, that was. She didn’t get much done in the way of homework, which she would certainly pay the price for, but this was just so much more damn interesting! And important. Important too. For the next two days, she barely emerged from her room except to eat and go to the bathroom. She was too busy with her research. To the best of her ability, Carmen attempted to teach herself how to listen and speak in Cantonese over the weekend, although she didn’t make it too far. She also researched a fair bit about the general city of Macau, and then she tried her best to learn specifics about Mexican cartel dealings so she wouldn’t look like an idiot in her cover identity. All this left her little time to sleep. As was routine for Carmen, she pulled an all-nighter Saturday night. The only reason she did go to sleep Sunday night was a pesky agent named Bug. The girl had figured out she was still awake at midnight and had wasted no time in pulling embarrassing photos and texts off her phone and blackmailing her into hitting the hay. Carmen had complied, albeit begrudgingly. An extra 8 hours of studying was not worth her pictures being leaked to the rest of the squad. 

The next afternoon, Carmen was right on time for the briefing. Having to tell her teachers that she hadn’t done her homework [i]burned[/i], but she knew it’d be worth it. Despite her anxieties over the weekend, Carmen was excited. She could barely contain her grin. She stared bright-eyed at Nadia as she briefed them. Her grin slowly slid off her face. [color=b62b41][i]Oh.[/i][/color] This was a lot worse than she had anticipated. Carmen fidgeted a bit nervously. They were [i]assassinating[/i] someone? She wasn’t sure if she could assassinate someone… although it probably wouldn’t be her pulling the trigger. 

Carmen gulped her fears down as they walked over to Professor MacMahon. She ran her hand over some of the gadgets, ear peeled at his lecture. She winced at his simile. [color=b62b41][i]Gruesome.[/i][/color] Carmen never had much use for gadgets, being mostly the translator, but she did take a deck of listening cards, a discreet two-way earpiece, a nightstick that doubled as a selfie stick, brass knuckles disguised as rings, a gun (which she’d only use if she was REALLY in a bind), a makeup mirror that was also a camera, a lipstick knife, and a host of other knick-knacks she thought might come in handy. After Ollie, she stepped into the stalls and changed hurriedly. She emerged in a lovely red [url=https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/789324481825865811/804426796116082708/Screenshot_20210126-150601_Pinterest.jpg?width=298&height=612]dress[/url] and pointed thin black flats. Externally, she looked the part of María Elena Flores García, the American-educated daughter of an incredibly wealthy cartel leader and Mexican mob boss. 

Carmen gave Foxtrot and Tango a good scratch on the chins before steeling herself and stepping through the Worm. She [i]really[/i] didn’t like this thing. She would’ve clung to Ben’s arm if she had thought it’d make any difference, but it never did in the end. She emerged feeling a bit worse for war and looking a little green around the gills. 

Gosh, how did everyone else deal with this? She looked around the room. Yuto looked cool as a cucumber, as always, and Ben and Ollie looked like they were having the time of their lives. Meanwhile, Carmen was just trying not to vomit. It took a few moments of deep breaths to get it under control until she was normal again. Then, she looked around the room.

Her eyes widened. This place was [i]pretty[/i]. Certainly better than where they had stayed in Timbuktu. She went off to go poke her head into the girls’ bedroom when she heard her code name mentioned and perked up her head. Oh. It was just Yuto. She was glad he wasn’t actually addressing her- the older boy was notorious for being snappy to the younger agents. Her head snapped to Ollie as he spoke, too, and a raging blush swept across her cheeks. He couldn’t possibly intend for some of them to pretend to be [i]couples[/i]!

[color=b62b41]“I-”[/color] Carmen stammered for a moment, at a loss for words. As much as she hated to admit it, though, it wasn’t a bad idea. [color=b62b41]“It’s… a good idea. I guess. But I don’t like it.”[/color] A ding from her watch interrupted her from this travesty of a conversation, thankfully. 

Carmen’s eyebrows flew up into her hairline as she read “caramel”. Who did Ben think he was? But, thankfully, it was only a typo, and she let out a sigh of relief. That hadn’t been ground she had wanted to cover, today. He wanted to meet her in the hallway, apparently, and she grinned. Getting to do some recon could be fun!

[quote][color=b62b41]totes!!!! be down there in a few C:[/color][/quote] 

Carmen grabbed her bag, waved bye to some of the rest of the agents, and headed downstairs. True to her word, she met Ben in the hallway, on the patterned carpet of the casino. 

She stood stock-still, glancing around the place. [color=b62b41] “So? Where to? I don’t really know how to gamble beyond, like, blackjack or anything…”[/color] She trailed off. [color=b62b41] “We could go get a bite to eat at the bar or something? I haven’t really eaten since lunch. And I have the 11:30 AM lunch. My ID identifies me as 21, so we could get the lay of the land from there. We could try to walk around, too, catch some conversation. Drunk people talk, and I can listen and talk back more than you. I- I don’t know, though. You have more experience than me, obviously. I’m deflecting to you, of course.”[/color] She glanced at Ben shyly. All she really wanted was to do the right thing on this mission. If that meant listening to Ben, then it meant listening to Ben. Not that that was bad, not at all. Certainly better than listening to Binx.

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