004 // [video]

[frankengambler]

[The normally tidy table is strewn with discarded cans of cheap beer and overflowing ash trays. Kaiji himself doesn’t look much better- he’s not quite focusing and his words are slurred like he’s had one too many. Two, three, four too many. He’ll regret it the next morning when he has to drag himself out of bed for work when what he really wants to

Comments

[Video]

[tapdancinskelly]

You don't look so good friend. Money getting you down too much? What kind of money problems are you running into? Not enough for food, housing, hookers? Yohohoho!

[video forever]

[frankengambler]

[Kaiji gawps at him blankly, apparently not taking in a word he's saying. He glances briefly at the can of beer in his hand, back at the video and then back at the can.]

... what the hell is in this stuff...?

[He shakes his head, trying to clear a little of the boozy haze.]

Don't you call me friend. Last skeleton I saw was a goddamn son of a bitch. Anyway, I'm not takin' money advice from a guy with no eyes.

[tapdancinskelly]

... Well that's rather rude don't you think? Here I was trying to be friendly, and you want to be prejudice against me just because I've got no eyes in my sockets.

1/2

[frankengambler]

Ah-! That's-! I- I didn't-

[madeinoblivion]

What's always about munny?

...are you having trouble finding a job?

[video forever]

[frankengambler]

Don't you start on me- I got a job, okay?! Not that it means anything when the pay is fuckin' bullshit.

Everything is about the money. Everyone is about the money. It's always like that-!

Re: [video forever]

[madeinoblivion]

Hey, hey don't get mad at me!

[frankengambler]

Then don't assume I'm some kind of NEET loser-!

voice;

[rudolphofvamps]

Simple. Dosh makes the world go round.

[video forever]

[frankengambler]

[He snorts.]

Damn right. And it's not fair. D'you know why?

video too;

[rudolphofvamps]

[lifts an eyebrow.] Please, enlighten me.

[frankengambler]

Because the world is fucked up.

[In all honesty, he's forgotten the point he wanted to make. It's still a reasonable explanation to him though.]

[video forever]

[frankengambler]

["Whining". That really gets under his skin. If he wasn't so far gone, he'd probably be able to control it- in fact, a sober Kaiji would see the truth in his words. Unfortunately, he's not here right now.]

I'm not whining-! If you're such a genius, you tell me what to do! The fact is that people like me are never gonna get anywhere because the ones with money- the ones with the power- want to fuck us over!

[frankengambler]

I'm... I...

[Kaiji trails off, brow creasing. All the bluster seems to leave him as he struggles to think of what he actually wants to do other than being very wealthy- and that's nothing to do with the alcohol. He genuinely doesn't know.

He shakes his head.]

I-It doesn't matter what I'm aiming for! The point is what you just said. You can't get anywhere without giving into them. Without money. Bastards.

[video]

[12second_orz]

[This was, he decides, almost inevitable, though Tonegawa had hoped that he'd been beaten by a better man. The look he fixes Kaiji with is falls somewhere into the no man's land between pity, disgust and reluctance to acknowledge the totally fucking obvious.]

... Kaiji.

[He sighs, rubbing his forehead a little as though it hurts, and in a way it does. This guy's just one headache after another.]

You're a damn idiot.

[video foreverrr]

[frankengambler]

[Urgh. Just who he wanted to see. His scowls at him and draws deeply on his cigarette.]

Oh. Fucking wonderful. Got a speech ready for me, huh, Tonegawa? Any words of wisdom to bestow on me from on high?

[12second_orz]

[The look turns faintly withering, and Tonegawa takes a packet of cigarettes from his top pocket, deftly flicking one out between his lips and then lighting it.]

You don't deserve my speech.

[frankengambler]

Whatever.

[Kaiji glowers at him, pride silently wounded by the fact that he isn't even worth patronising anymore- he really must be out of it.]

Not like it matters. I know all of them off by heart I've heard them so many goddamn times from you. You're like a broken record.