Sunday, December 18th, The Midnight Channel

[thepull_mods]

Who: The Port's Latest Shadow Televisions Stars! And Thousands of Home Viewers!
When: Midnight, Sunday, December 18th
Where: In front of your Television Sets or Streaming NV TV. (Digital Cable? You'll still get the analog effect.)
Summary: Full Plot Details Here
Warnings: Please Put 'em In the Subject Lines As Necessary, Kids?

Comments

[frankengambler]

[Even as the static clears, the picture retains a grimy, fuzzy look to it, the sound wavering in and out. Stark, gaudy lights and neon signs illuminate the main hall of a casino through a layer of sleaze and smoke. The picture is framed by red and black bars and in the corner is the word “TeiaiTV” in a big, black heart. A blurred phone number, with the invitation in swirling writing to “Place Your Bets, Ladies and Gentlemen~! Calls cost $300 per minute, plus your local rate” run along the bottom.

There is a lone figure at a roulette table, hunched over it and gripping the wooden edges like he’s in the midst of a storm, about to be swept away. A namecard pops up underneath: "Itou Kaiji, Human Trash".

His breathing is strange and ragged, hands clenched so tightly that the tendons seem like they’re about to burst through his skin. Dark, desperate eyes with bruise-like shadows underneath stare out from a sickly, pale face made shiny with sweat. He is constantly in motion- twitching, muttering, grinding his teeth, swallowing, tapping the table, but his eyes never leave the spinning wheel; he is spellbound.

The lighting flickers. The ball stops in a red slot. The word “LOSER!” flashes up as an unseen audience boos and cheers in equal measure.

Kaiji collapses against the table, gasping almost in pain as a shadowy croupier rakes away his chips. His shoulders shake with great, ugly sobs.]

… o-one more game. One more. Just… just one more and…

[Like two sides of a coin merging into one at the height of a coin toss, the cries seem to blur and blend into sudden, unnerving giggling. He drags himself from the floor, breathless with uncontrollable laughter. His face is twisted and darkened by a sneer.]

I deserve it! I deserve it more than anyone else! [his tosses his head proudly] Don’t I? I’m better than all this-!

[The crowds jeer. He slams another chip down on the table, grin manic and widening further as the croupier takes it away.]

“I’m a victim”! “I was used”! “It was the outcome of the gamble”! “I couldn’t do anything”!

It’s so much easier to play the victim, isn’t it? So much easier to let other things decide for you.

I’m owed it, after all. It’s a debt.

[The bars reappear around the image, the phone number back up. With a squeal the roulette wheel starts to spin again and the image is overwhelmed by static.]

[action]

[12second_orz]

[Tonegawa sits in stunned silence as the picture drowns in static and Kaiji's face vanishes behind the sea of dots and blips. The gin and tonic in his left hand has barely been touched, and now he's certain he doesn't need it; he all but slams it down onto the table next to him, glass rattling and nearly spilling its contents, and then he flips his NV open to slam in a contact number. His fingers drum impatiently on the arm of his chair as he waits, and he mutters under his breath.]

Come on, Itou, answer me.

[He's unsure of what to make of this, and perhaps that's why he's so on edge. Context will deliver him and provide an obvious reaction.]

[action]

[frankengambler]

[Tonegawa's position oddly mirrors Kaiji's own; the broadcast has stunned him into silence, leaving him staring at the leftover white noise with his mouth hanging open. He's not sure how he should react, a myriad of emotions swirling around his mind. It was taunting him. It-

The sound of an incoming call makes him start. Without thinking or even checking who it is, he accepts it.]

[numbly] What?

[action]

[12second_orz]

[He doesn't bother to reign himself in.] What the hell do you think? What the fuck was that? Was that a joke?

[action]

[frankengambler]

I... I don't know-! It's nothing to do with me, okay? You think I'd do something like that for a laugh?! You think I found that funny? [he sounds rattled, stumbling over his words.] That... that thing... it wasn't me-!

[action]

[12second_orz]

[That throws him: Kaiji's answer, the sheer earnest bewilderment that tumbles out with it. He's not lying. But that's- that's not possible.]

Then what are you proposing, exactly? That someone decided to play an elaborate hoax on you, using your precise image?

[action]

[frankengambler]

[furiously] Don't say it like that-! What else could it be, huh?! It's not me. Why would I go on the network and... and do that?!

"Precise image"... [an indignant snort] that man... he was nothing like me-!

[action]

[12second_orz]

How the hell should I know?

[He pauses, shaking his head- and then gives little laugh.] Nothing like you at all, hmm? I thought it was surprisingly accurate.

[action]

[frankengambler]

[He can't stop his initial reaction before it reaches his face. Mostly he looks furious but there's something wounded in there too that he couldn't quite hide. He struggles, and fails, to keep it out of his voice.]

Of course you would say that. [narrows eyes] You... you don't know anything about me. Not really. You just want to piss me off.

[action]

[12second_orz]

[He doesn't fight the sharpness in his tone] I know more about you than anyone else here, Itou- maybe even more than you do. [He laughs, without a trace of mirth.] It might do you good to listen to someone else's view on the matter, for a change.

[action]

[frankengambler]

If you're such a goddamn expert on me then you should know that it was complete bullshit.

I'm not that... pathetic. You think I enjoyed everything that happened?! That I get my kicks doing that shit?! [his voice cracks] Do you-?!

[action]

[12second_orz]

That's exactly what I think, Itou. I think you can't help yourself- in both senses of the phrase. Can you honestly prove otherwise?

[action]

[frankengambler]

Of... of course I can! [and before Tonegawa can comment on that hesitation and less than certain tone] What are you exactly? My life coach?! My mother? It's none of your business anyway!

[action]

[12second_orz]

[he gives a low, amused and decidedly barbed chuckle] I'm afraid the television has made it my business- and the business of everyone else in Siren's Port, as it happens. It's ironic that you're the only one who can't see it, don't you think?

[violins_rain]

[Rain certainly hadn’t expected to see this when he’d begun his late-night channel-surfing. Kaiji, or one of those lookalike things he’d heard about, was on tv, seemingly losing it completely and spiraling into raving. Human trash? Victim? There are so many questions going on through Rain’s head that he can’t make sense of. But at least one thing’s for sure. This isn’t something Kaiji would have wanted anyone to see. It’s just like the shared nightmares that had happened a while ago, when everyone’s darkest secrets were mercilessly laid bare and Rain had stumbled into Fai’s past without permission. Now it’s Kaiji.

What should he do? Should he pretend he never saw anything?

He hesitates, then drops the remote to pick up the NV and dial.]

[frankengambler]

[Kaiji doesn't pick up as quickly as he did with Tonegawa, leaving it ringing for a while. He's worked himself into more of a state- especially after the other man's condemning of him.

No. He was wrong. He's not like that, he's not so- so-]

Shut up-! Fucking annoying piece of- [he hits the receive call button agitatedly] What do you want-?!