damned_institute | Day 36: Arts & Crafts Room

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Day 36: Arts & Crafts Room

The nurse had told Wash he could go anywhere he wanted and the thought Is home included in that? crossed his mind, but that sounded too pathetic to say aloud, even for him. So he silently eenie meenie minie moe'd through his options, ended up choosing the Sun Room, and then promptly decided the Arts and Crafts room would be more interesting. At least there might be stuff he could fiddle with and distract himself.

A part of him couldn't decide if he was relieved or not he didn't get a visitor. He didn't think it would've gone the way a proper visit was supposed to go, but...

He stepped into the room and sat down at an empty table, rifling through the materials absently. This place looked much too cheerful. Although maybe that was better than looking much too scary, but it was so cheerful it was almost scary and now he was starting to confuse even himself.

After a second, he picked up a pair of scissors (these weren't scissors, they were more like plastic chopsticks) and a sheet of construction paper and began cutting.

[hi Badou~]

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This was much better. A kind of sloppy, inorganic-looking sort of sphere shape was definitely preferable to something that looked like a horrifically afflicted someone or other who had just been beheaded. It might not have been as artistic or creative, but it was easier on the eyes and didn't make Kaiji worried that Vlad would potentially enjoy making him look like that some day.

"Free time," he grumbled scornfully under his breath. Why was Kaiji not surprised by any of that? Vlad certainly talked like the kind of person who would sit around reading a dictionary for fun or something equally ridiculous. He could hardly fault the nurses for trying to talk him into going out and doing something, anything else, although hanging out in here wasn't much of an improvement.

There was paper, there were means of cutting said paper, and there were means of writing on said paper. The possibilities were endless, if not totally ideal. "How about a gamble?" Kaiji smiled a bit as if the two had just traded expressions. Not only might he be able to get something out of this, but he could also try to get into Vlad's head this way even if he lost. Plus, it was something to do. Problems solved for everyone.

Vlad was a little surprised at the suggestion, and wondered if the man wouldn't have been happier in the game room instead. "A gamble? Well, I don't have anything here to wager. But I'm not precisely morally opposed to games of chance, either."

If Kaiji was hoping to get something out of Vlad, Vlad thought he'd be quite disappointed. Vlad was a fan of taking chances on things, but not pointlessly, and preferably not if he hadn't had a chance to stack the deck (metaphorically or not) somehow beforehand. It wasn't entirely greed; Vlad was firmly of the opinoin that he'd had a run of bad luck in his life, excepting the luck he'd made for himself.

His suspicions about the other man were not negative, even if he did imagine Kaiji probably had some reason to want to gamble. Looking for a particular kind of item without having to hunt it down at night, perhaps, or just someone who'd have a natural advantage somehow and who thought they might take use of it. Possibly being threatened with swindling was superior to possibly being threatened with murder, so Vlad's day was still improving, and besides, Vlad had to admit it was possible the question had been asked with no ulterior motives. "A friendly game of something wouldn't bother me, that is."

Edited 2008-10-23 01:21 (UTC)

Kaiji bit his tongue. Oh no, as long someone was still alive, there was always something to wager. Always something to lose and always something to gain. But he wasn't about to ask Vlad to let him yank out a fingernail or something equally horrible if he lost a randomly-suggested game. That would be creepy, that would be awful. "I don't have anything either," he chimed back even though it was a lie. Kaiji still had all of his body parts and they were mostly intact, but again, it was more relieving than anything that Vlad hadn't brought that possibility up. Favors were a more reasonable potential, but if the other party didn't want to take an actual chance at anything, he wouldn't force it: That would have made him no better than that damnable debt collector and that terrifying old man.

There actually was more to gain from this than what was verbally agreed upon so far, but Kaiji wasn't about to mention that this was a perfect way for them to try to get into each other's heads.

Snatching up some thick colored paper, a black marker, and some questionably useful scissors, Kaiji continued: "I know some uncommon games," he proclaimed casually, "that take special kinds of cards." Uncommon games that usually involved people dying or losing limbs or being sold into slavery if they lost. Experimentally, he made a thick spot on the paper with the marker and held it up to make sure that the ink wouldn't bleed through easily or that the paper wasn't too thin and able to be seen through. He continued experimentally fiddling with the paper with a very focused expression plastered to his face. This was a damn serious affair. "-Unless you have a favorite or something."

Vlad watched with curiosity. The other man seemed a bit subdued still, but perhaps that was just his nature, even without the statue. Instead, he leaned an arm casually on the table and watched. "Unusual games? Well, I do like learning new things. But I'm afraid you'll have to teach me the rules as well, if they're too unusual."

There was still a little bit of risk here, but nothing excessive. If the game became questionable or uncomfortable at any point, Vlad could always just stand up and leave, or get a nurse. This wasn't exactly a casino and he had no chips on the table, just a green ball of clay that Kaiji was welcome to.

Watching Kaiji work on the 'cards' was also interesting. He was obviously taing this quite seriously, wasn't he? Perhaps a gambler before, or simply someone who quite enjoyed a particular game, either for personal reasons or because his odds of winning were improved by playing it. Still, he left the door open to other games as a last note. "No, I'm not particular. And now I'm curious about this new game."

Considering Kaiji had one of his ears torn off over a game of this, it was really no wonder that he was taking the preparation for it so seriously. This was to be as honest as it could be, although if one side tried to rig it, it would certainly make a striking impression. "It's more like a story than a set of rules and there's not much to it," Kaiji explained as he furrowed his brow a bit at the mediocre-at-best cutting ability of a pair of scissors. He was putting an effort into being open with his preparation, making every movement in plain sight. "It's about people and money."

How would a fancy-sounding guy like Vlad Masters (No, seriously, what the hell kind of name was that?) respond to this? That was the first step in trying to figure out what kind of person he was, although there were some preconceptions in his head based on first impressions alone. Why not be sure?

With ten blank cards as uniformly cut out as he could possibly make them, Kaiji set three of them spaced out in front of Vlad and marked them 'C,' 'E,' and 'S.' "This is how it works. There are three kinds of cards."

There was a hint of resentment in Kaiji's voice as he poked the 'E' labeled card with the middle finger of his right hand. "That's the Emperor," he pointed out. It was taking a considerable amount of attention and self-control to continue without spouting a series of horrible things about said monarch, "because he's the Emperor, he's got all of the money. That's how he controls things, you know?" That was how things worked. The bastards with all of the money controlled everything.

Kaiji's speech softened a bit when he moved on to the second card, the one labeled 'C.' "That's a Citizen. A normal person needs money, which he gets from the Emperor. He can't go against the Emperor or he'll lose everything."

Finally, the 'S' labeled card. "And there's the Slave." Both the most powerful and the weakest card of the three. "He has nothing at all and is kept a slave by the Citizens. Because he has nothing, he has nothing to lose. In other words, the Emperor's got nothing on him."

That obviously wasn't everything that someone needed to know for this, but it laid down the basic rules. Kaiji was more interested in receiving a response and making sure that it all sunk in than continuing at the moment.

It felt weird explaining this to someone and not possibly losing any of his body parts or gaining a fortune over it. Could Kaiji really figure out how to read someone if he didn't absolutely have to? Well, there wasn't any turning back now unless Vlad lost interest.

"Got all of that?"

"I believe so." What an interesting little game. Vlad wasn't entirely sure he agreed with all of the philosophy attached to it, but for the game itself, he was paying full attention. "The Emperor is more powerful than the Citizen, but can be brought low by the Slave because the money-based power the Emperor has doesn't apply to the Slave's life. The Slave is used by the Citizen, but his low status is in a sense an advantage as it frees him from an obligation to maintain possessions. The Citizen must serve the Emperor, and in turn has the resources to control the Slave. Something like that?" A bit of rock-paper-scissors with social constructs, although he had the feeling the game was a bit more complex than that.

And somehow charmingly idealistic. If they took the story correctly, the Emperor's power over the citizen ought to be easy enough to wield against the Slave, and faith in the Slave's will and ability to act simply because he had nothing to lose seemed excessive, although saying the Emperor had power because he had money was also a bit idealistic. Money was a kind of power, but real power went beyond money--money had been the first thing he'd taken once he'd started to realize his powers. It was a first step to real power.

"So, how do we play?" Vlad asked gamely, curious and leaning slightly closer across the table. Simply mixing the cards and picking them rock-paper-scissors style seemed too easy, but then again, they wouldn't have time for any games that involved too many hours of effort to set up and play.

Kaiji listened intently as the little card-game social ladder was explained back to him, somehow in more detail than he remembered originally providing. It was sort of like rock-paper-scissors - the traditional kind, anyway, not the kind that he had played. The normal version had less backstabbing and rooms full of naked men. Yeah, definitely closer to that. But there were some fundamental differences. "Just like that," he answered, sounding slightly pleased, "And the Citizens all have equal authority, so they cancel each other out." While there wasn't really any noticeable emotional response either way, at least he wouldn't have to go explaining everything again or in more detail.

To Kaiji, money was the key to everything: his own inability to obtain and keep it made him feel hopeless and miserable on a regular basis, so the situation seemed plausible to him. Well, obviously - the game had been presented to him in the context of the ravings of a madman about his an unfortunate model of society that made all too much sense.

Taking the remaining seven cards, Kaiji labeled each with a 'C,' placing four of the 'C' cards in one stack which he then fanned out to show all of them, then followed suit with an identical stack. At the end of one fan of cards, he placed the 'E,' and at the end of the other, the 'S.'

"We both get five cards," he pointed out both stacks, "Four Citizens, and either the Slave or the Emperor." This was the part of the rules that seemed terribly unfair or tricky: the decks were unevenly matched. "That means the Emperor set has a really high chance of winning. If we were betting on this, winning with the Slave would be worth a lot more." Kaiji shrugged a little. It put a dent in the meaningfulness of the game to take away that actual reward aspect, but the psychological and statistical parts were still somewhat intact. This could really go either way.

"We both pick the card of our choice, set it face-down, and turn it over at the same time. It ends when someone decides to play the Slave or the Emperor." This was a pretty simple game, and even if the explanation wasn't completely clear it didn't take long to learn at all given a try or two. "It's that simple." That was a lie. It could be incredibly complicated, assuming that the two sides were both actually trying.

"So, as long as you get that," he finally dropped the all-important question, "Slave side or Emperor side?" It was pretty much automatically assumed that someone who wasn't familiar with the game, especially someone who had nothing to gain from it, would pick the Emperor. It never hurt to ask, though - maybe Vlad liked challenges.

Making things a bit wordier than needed was a talent Vlad possessed. There was nothing quite like twenty words where three would do just for adding a delightful air of pretension to any meeting. Then again, this didn't need much addition, considering how serious the whole thing seemed to have become. He looked over the stacks, nodding and considering. So it was really more like a set of rounds of rock-paper-scissors, with a twist as the odds of someone playing their 'special' card increased with each citizen played.

"I see. Well. My choice is obvious, isn't it? I have nothing to lose, so Slave it is." Vlad smiled widely at Kaiji. If he understood correctly, his only chance of winning would be to guess when Kaiji would play the Emperor card and to move accordingly; in fact, the odds of winning were quite low. But it was a card game between two players, and so the odds weren't precisely equal with their randomized equivalent--it would be up to any sign from Kaiji to determine when Vlad moved. Since there was nothing at stake, he could comfortably enjoy the psychological aspect of the game.

"Let's-" Wait, holy shit! Was this guy for real? Not only did Vlad make an unlikely decision right from the get-go, but he also fucking tied it in with the game's story. Wait, was that intentional or was he just saying it because it was true? Kaiji couldn't hide his shock at Vlad's decision. Was he dealing with a damn genius here? Was Vlad just trying to shock him? Did he think that Kaiji was trying to trick him? Whatever it was, it put him on edge right from the get-go.

Refusing to comment on Vlad's unconventional decision, he tried to start things up again by reaching for the 'E' and its entourage. He guessed that it was a little easier to take risks when one wasn't going to have a drill bore into their head if they lost. "Let's go, then, if you're ready. Oh, and we can keep score, too. It usually goes for twelve rounds." That was what Kaiji was subjected to, anyway, although that was probably more to do with the configuration of the device that was going to kill his left ear (or worse) than any actual rule.

Kaiji gave his little stack of cards a thorough shuffling. At the risk of the weaker fingers of his left hand failing him, he used only his right as much as possible: he held his cards fanned, memorized their order, placed the entire face-down, and pulled one from the group. Double-checking the solitary card and finding it satisfactory, he set it face-down by itself, a lone Citizen.

He was obviously a little nervous, but that was a side-effect of the still-fading surprise from Vlad's decision more than any anxiety regarding what card might be played in this round.

Oh, that had gotten a little reaction. Vlad kept up his smile as he took his own set of cards, shuffling cooperatively and watching Kaiji's moves. He didn't expect to keep track of Kaiji's hand through the shuffle, but wanted to see how Kaiji handled the deck anyway, curious. Was this game of some particular importance, where the other man was from? It didn't seem unlikely, at least, from the man's treatment of it.

He looked at his own hand before placing them on the table. The location of his most important card was easy enough to remember out of the deck. Twelve rounds? That seemed like a lot, and lowered his odds even more, but he wouldn't back out just because of a slight addition. It wouldn't be sportsmanlike, would it?

"Yes, let's go." Kaiji's obvious surprise had been entertaining, but Vlad could only hope and watch for changes to signify that Kaiji had made the decision to play the ending card. Although it seemed the other man lacked a very good 'poker' face, that was outside of this game and it wouldn't do to assume he'd be as obvious when it came to the cards themselves. Their first move at least was not particularly a challenge, as neither was likely to pick an end so quickly, but Vlad pulled out a Citizen and placed it face down on the table by Kaiji's card, then turned it over helpfully. He continued the smile, feeling somewhat shark-like. Unless Kaiji gave a sign, he'd already decided the next would probably be a Citizen as well.

Was Vlad mimicking him? It was weird to just set everything down like that, and the only reason Kaiji had done it was because he didn't want to accidentally drop any of the cards. Whatever, it was his choice even if it was a little strange.

Kaiji, mostly calmed now and very deliberately starting to smile back a bit, turned over his matching 'C' card and slid it off to one side. This was good, this was going the way it was supposed to go. The first set went the same way they tended to go pretty much all the time. It was a rare occasion that someone was bold enough to put down an ending card right at the start, although the reason for that wasn't totally clear. Maybe it was just too anticlimactic. The second set tended to be a good time to drop the Emperor, but Kaiji didn't want to pick a good time. He wanted to pick an unpredictable time.

Vouching to play it safe again, Kaiji placed a second Citizen down. Next round, the third, he decided already that he was going to bring out the Emperor. Right in the middle. It looked and sounded nice in his mind: he was already thinking ahead, trying to think of ways to throw the other man off later.

Lacking any prior experience in the game, Vlad simply imitated the actions of the person who actually knew how to play the game. It wasn't hard to remember which cards were which even with them down, at any rate.

Satisfyingly, the other man seemed to be entering the game as well, smiling back. Vlad had hoped this would be a bit tricky. Still, he kept watching the other man, only glancing down to see what would happen when he moved the card he'd already decided upon. A Citizen again, of course.

Now it would be interesting. The first two rounds were too early. The last round was anticlimactic. It would either be the third or fourth round... for this first game. Later, with so many games to tally up, it might mix up a bit. But for now, he remained fairly confident in those odds, fifty-fifty. "... it's getting rather exciting, isn't it? Do you play this game often, where you're from?"

This next, right in the center? Or would he wait, lure Vlad out? Perhaps he should have spoken to the man longer and tried to get to know him a bit better before playing. He was surprised by the choice, did he usually play from the weaker position?

It would depend on his face, his actions, just like playing something nice and traditional like poker. Vlad resolved not to decide until the other man started to move. Still too unclear. The fact that nothing was actually at stake had left his mind.

Another round of Citizens. If it kept going this way for too long, Vlad was going to have Kaiji cornered. Well, sort-of cornered. Maybe once he felt a little more daring and had a better feel for this, he might try to take that route. For now, the security of the middle rounds was too enticing for him to turn down.

"Hm..." Exciting. Yeah. That probably wasn't the word that he would have used for it, but it was undoubtedly suspenseful. "Only once before," Kaiji responded plainly. The way he spoke hardly gave any indication of why that was or in what context he had done so, but he was certainly not enthusiastic about it. Sure he had managed to win a fortune from it, but he only did so to lose it to his own stupidity a little while later. It was a sore spot, especially with all the trouble he had gone through to win.

Well, this was it. He had decided to play the Emperor card, and he wasn't going to back out of it. If he did, he would be waiting too long. There was still a two out of three chance that he could put down another Citizen, meaning that Vlad had a one in three chance of besting him. All things considered, the odds really were in Kaiji's favor.

Part of him was still reluctant to place down the Emperor, though, so as soon as he had the card in his hand confirmed its identity, he placed it down with more haste than he had the others, as if he was tempted to put it back in the pile and would do so if he hesitated. His hand lingered a little when the card hit the table as if deciding if it really wanted to let go, then pulled back normally. With that, the muscles of his face tensed and ever so slightly tugged the corners of his mouth into a more prominent smile as his eyebrows eased upward. There was a difference in his whole body, actually - he was leaning forward a little more than before. Would Vlad notice any of that? Kaiji sure as hell didn't.

"Really? Only once?" It was Vlad's turn to be surprised, although he restrained himself to just breaking his game face for a momentary wide-eyed expression. It must have been quite a game, for it to be the first thing to come to mind for his opponent when asked what to do with free time. "I take it the game was memorable. Well, I can see the appeal of it."

Particularly if there were actual stakes to wager. But it would have to be something quite worthwhile to wager in a game this chancy, especially if he didn't have his choice of the Emperor or Slave deck. At home, he could have a duplicate overtake Kaiji's will, or if the man's will was too strong, just look invisibly over the man's shoulder and give some sign. But they didn't play this game at home, and besides, most of the things Vlad wanted now weren't available either for purchase or as game prizes.

Without stakes, it could have been tension-free, and should have been, but Vlad had also neglected to consider how much he hated losing. As Kaiji reached for the next card, his demeanor changed. Not much... but there were other signs. The way he held the card, and placed it a little more firmly than the others. The way he leaned forward. Too many signs? It was this round or the next one--if Kaiji could lure Vlad out in this round, bluffing, then the game was over. Then again, was the other man the bluffing type? He'd been blunt throughout their conversation, short of speech, openly startled at Vlad's card choice...

It was easy to second-guess, and Vlad almost regretted it as soon as he had, but he put out the Slave card. Perhaps he was overthinking a friendly game and Kaiji was hinting to make the first round go easier on an amateur. Yet Kaiji had said he'd only played this once before, himself.

"It is an improvement over the sculpting," Vlad admitted in a tone that was almost grudging, then turned over the card he'd placed out. So long as there was no going back, there was no sense in hesitating either.

"You could say that." Oh, it was memorable alright. Kaiji would never let himself forget how that had gone. Even if he wanted to, the signs of it were literally right on his face.

When Vlad turned his card over and it was in fact the Slave, Kaiji squeezed his eyes shut and shakily turned the Emperor face-up. He reopened his eyes as if to confirm that the cards hadn't changed in the last few seconds, then closed them again. The way he responded wasn't the look of someone who had just lost a friendly game of something, but rather that of someone who knew that he was going to have something terrible happen to him in a matter of seconds.

When no piercing sound came, no tingling sensation was felt, no pain or anything was experienced, he seemed slightly confused but on the whole relieved. Kaiji continued to look flustered but no longer terrified and gave his stitched-on left ear a bit of a nervous scratch as if testing to see if it was still there and there was nothing on it. Well Vlad had won, Kaiji wasn't going to lose any body parts, and he had probably just made a total ass of himself.

How did Vlad figure that out so easily, anyway? Kaiji's opponent from the last time he did this listed some of the things that Kaiji did without noticing, maybe he had slipped back into those habits again. With a mixture of memories and the present effecting his performance, it was difficult to say how effectively he would handle a no-risk game like this.

It wasn't like the last time he had done this at all.

He needed to force himself to be more focused even if he wasn't going to pocket a fortune today.

The victory was satisfying, but that impression was overshadowed by Kaiji's odd reaction to it. For a moment, the other man seemed to be in a state of dread, before apparently remembering that the game had no stakes and relaxing a bit. To say Vlad felt guilty about the apparent reaction of the other man would be overly charitable, but he hadn't intended it and was at the least surprised. As Kaiji seemed to calm down again, Vlad commented in a mild tone, "I seem to be blessed with beginner's luck. But there are other rounds, aren't there?"

Later rounds would be much harder. This round, it was easy to narrow down a range for the Emperor to be played in. As the game went on, throwing the card out first thing or at any point before the absolute end would be increasingly likely. Vlad would have to depend on Kaiji and on his own luck, considering the odds would continue to be against his hand. Unless this round alone was enough to turn the other man off the game he'd suggested, considering his reaction to losing.

"Just out of curiosity, what sorts of wagers would be normal for a game like this in your home?" True, there was everything from penny-ante games to million dollar games for something like poker, but it didn't seem that Kaiji was used to the idea of this game having less than serious consequences.

"Y-yeah," Kaiji confirmed still nervously, pulling an extra blank paper and a marker to himself and drawing a makeshift scorecard. Under round 1, he marked a five for Vlad and a zero for himself. It was fine: he himself had started his experience with this game with a bit of a winning streak, although that was a matter of false security than legitimate victories on his part. Was Vlad really lucky, did Kaiji screw himself over, or was the other man just very cunning? It was only the first shot. Only the first shot.

The answer to Vlad's question didn't come easily. First off, he didn't have a home. But he ignored that and skipped to the numbers. "Millions," he said, not specifying millions of what, just millions. More money than he could have ever hoped to have made through legitimate work or anything other than the horrible gambles that he was put through, for that matter. Kaiji wasn't rich and he didn't want to give the impression that he was: he resented the wealthy. "Or..." Kaiji was reluctant to reveal the alternative even if it was obvious when one put all of the pieces together. Grimly and with an air of contained anger about him, he pushed back his long hair on the left side with the tips of his fingers and tilted his side a little toward Vlad: there was a clear seam where his ear had been completely ripped off and sewn back on. Surely the other man had noticed the four seamed fingers of his left hand as well?

None of those were the direct result of him losing that gamble in particular, but all of it was pretty much in the same vein and it got the point across. Kaiji didn't want or need to go into detail about it anyway. Just flashing his most obvious marks in response was about as much as Vlad was going to get and even that was just scratching the surface.

It was more detail than he had given anyone else, anyway.

"Hmm. Well, I don't think the nurses would approve if we tried to play that way." Millions of whatever unit of money Kaiji was accustomed to, Vlad supposed. He'd seen enough people missing body parts at Landel's Institute due to dangerous lives beforehand--the first patient he'd spoken to this morning had been missing an eye, after all. The poor healing indicated it hadn't happened and subsequently been repaired while in the Institute, but he hadn't connected it to the game until now.

What kind of idiot bets parts of his body in a game so dependent on chance? Vlad's initial reaction was one of haughty contempt, but he repressed that, instead making a somewhat sympathetic noise as he tried to decide on how to respond to that little revelation. Considering, he had to admit that risking his own life to get legendary items of value from the Ghost Zone really wasn't so different, only wagering the entire package instead of parts. Still, he could pick his odds more easily that way. Kaiji must have been rather desperate or perhaps just greedy, depending on what he'd intended had he won his previous game.

"That seems rather... brutal. What would someone else have to gain from cutting parts off another?" Vlad could think of specific individuals he might not mind removing parts from, but in general, the idea wasn't an interest of his. Others could accuse him of being a sociopath, but he wasn't an arbitrary sadist. And he could certainly do his best to pass himself off as caring. "If it's difficult to continue, there's no need. This was just meant to be an idle way to pass the time, not a reminder of unpleasant things."

"Probably not." The list of Kaiji's stupid risks went beyond just body parts: he wagered his overall life on multiple occasions as well as his own freedom. But again, that wasn't something that he would admit unless he had a damn good reason to. In this case, he didn't find it worth mentioning.

Vlad had exceeded Kaiji's expectations, though - he seemed to be more sympathetic than expected from someone with such a fancy name and a rich, dense way of talking. Was he really unexpectedly kind, though, or was he acting that way just to gain trust? Kaiji was superficial and petty enough that he wasn't so sure based almost solely on the fact that he hated the guy's name.

He started to gather his five cards and mix them up again.

"Sick bastards," Kaiji said in a low voice while leaning in to turn it down even more, "Like that Head Doctor guy. They're all the same. They can get away with it because they've got power, and they get off on using it on everyone who doesn't." He hadn't intended to get worked up over it, but without his notice Kaiji was talking through his teeth and very rapidly shuffling his cards by the time he hit that last statement. He could feel his pulse rising and his breaths growing subtly heavier as he had many simultaneous and negative thoughts of the people who had wronged not just him, but others who were equally desperate. He was one of the lucky ones even with the things that he had been put through, if only because he had lived to tell about it.

Kaiji firmly slapped a face-down 'C' card on the table, fired up by his thoughts. "One or two more." Adding up the numbers, it was impossible for him to technically win with only one or two rounds since a victory with the Emperor was only worth one-fifth of one with the Slave. Unless they switched card sets, the highest he could get was two assuming that they only went for three total sets and that was only if he could get the better of Vlad both times. Meanwhile, Vlad could rack up fifteen total assuming that he stuck with his cards.

Not that the points had any value or consequence, of course.

Kaiji just still didn't know what to think of this guy.

"Yes... I suppose there are people like that everywhere. Pity we find ourselves in the hands of such an individual now, but I must admit that's a recognizable drive where I'm from as well." The benefit of sadists was that they were at least predictable, as much as a drunkard or... a compulsive gambler. Vlad watched Kaiji's shuffling, having lowered his own voice in response to the near growl of the other man's tones.

Power applied so carelessly was childish, though. True, exploiting power against someone else was enjoyable when the opportunity arose, but power was like chocolate, the fact that it could be enjoyed didn't mean it was appropriate for everything. Used incorrectly, it was at best crude, at worst distasteful. It did suit the deck, though, didn't it? An 'Emperor' whose base was unsteady, a 'Slave' who could win because he could afford to throw everything to chance...

Shuffling his own deck a little more calmly, Vlad tried to return his mind to the game, though his attention wasn't entirely on it anymore. Kaiji's agitation might make him harder to read, and winning again might not go well anyway. The choice of a Citizen was only because again, he thought the first round would be too soon, and Kaiji was the one insisting on more games. After that, it would be reliance on chance. He wasn't aware of how exactly points were tallied and at any rate, had nothing to win off of Kaiji.

"It's rather morbid to think of, now." Vlad's incompletely human figure turned green spheroid waited patiently off to the side. "But if you're keen to continue, I'll not disagree." He turned his card over, wondering if there were a particular etiquette to which turned their card over first. Kaiji hadn't complained, at any rate.

Classic first-set Citizen tie. Kaiji pushed the first card off to the side after flipping it over.

Vlad was familiar with people like this too? This was getting interesting, although the fact that the other man could refer to all of it so calmly was a bit unsettling. "Doesn't it piss you off?"

Kaiji, as both a drunkard and a compulsive gambler, tended to be extremely predictable under most circumstances. Every so often, though, he had some flash of insight that would give him an edge - usually when backed into corners where he had no choice but to have a flash of insight. The fact that he was still alive was a testimony to that: there were several occasions when he would have been killed already had he not thought of something bizarre at the last minute. All gambles, all set up by the same people.

Landel's was something different, although he couldn't help but wonder if the two were somehow connected. The Head Doctor (at night, at least) sounded awfully familiar to him and the last thing Kaiji remembered before showing up here was being grabbed and chloroformed in the back of a shady loan shark's car. It wasn't impossible.

Vlad's offers to cease this were ignored. There was something of an honor system involved with things that Kaiji participated in: once he started, there was no turning back until someone either won or lost. Quitting wasn't something that came easy to him: that was why his hand had experienced an intimate meeting with a large knife a while ago.

"That's why we have to beat him at his own game," Kaiji hissed conspiratorially, "he'll kill us just to watch us die and you know it." He roughly set the Emperor card face-down as his low-volumed but venomous raving continued, "Pull everyone he can get his hands on apart until there's nothing left." It was fairly clear that Kaiji's desire for revenge against the one he felt wronged him was a significant factor in his apparently intense hatred for the Head Doctor. It ran deeper than that, but the similarities were definitely a good chunk of it.

Kaiji hardly even seemed to be paying attention to the game anymore, although his thoughts and words did fit perfectly with the theme of it. He did resent the 'Emperor,' after all.

"Well, I don't know that I'd put it in such words, but I'm not thrilled with being here, myself." Vlad answered a bit neutrally, looking over Kaiji's expression and then the new card on the table. The temper Kaiji was showing now wasn't helping Vlad's game at all--it was impossible to gage whether his actions were based on the card he'd played or his own impassioned words. For the moment, Vlad focused instead on the words.

"Leaving would be nice, and winning better still, but I'd prefer if I understood the game being played here a bit better." His explorations last night had been enlightening, but for every answer he seemed to only come up against new questions. The purpose for this huge, intricate ruse still eluded him. "But I agree that he'd probably orchestrate our deaths cheerfully if it suited him. Not a very comfortable position to be in." They were only alive now, Vlad believed, because the doctor had some use for them alive. And that was no guarantee, merely an excuse for not panicking over the situation.

"How to win..." Vlad muttered again, "Well, I suppose we'll need to find out the rules of the game and then how to cheat at it, yes?" Smiling a bit again, he put out a Citizen card. Barring any way of telling otherwise, he went with his own mood--neutral, civilized, not desperate yet. Not the Emperor, but not the Slave either.

"I don't get how everyone's always so goddamn calm about it," he grumbled quietly. Almost every single person he met so far was ridiculously casual about their situation here. He didn't get it. While Kaiji definitely enjoyed some aspects of dayshift, namely actually being fed decently and being housed, it wasn't enough to keep him from frequently moping around and snapping in anger if he felt like doing so. And breaking down and sobbing every so often. Kaiji was very much ruled by his emotions and he didn't really see it as a problem. It did seem to be an abnormality, though. Both here and elsewhere.

He was a reasonably honest person. Often a little too honest.

Kaiji was a failure of a cheater. Actually, he was a failure of most things, but especially of a cheater. The suggestion that they cheat the head of this operation caught his attention prominently. "No one's figured out the 'rules' yet?" Were there any rules to this? Well, obviously the daytime hours were structured and riddled with all kinds of rules and regulations, but overall? Nighttime seemed like a total free-for-all and the only thing Kaiji could figure constituted as 'cheating' in any way shape or form were those radio clues that he had been talked into finding. That couldn't have been the key to it, could it have been? The setup was far too convenient from what he had directly observed. It was suspicious.

He turned his card over, still irritable, letting the 'E' face up. He didn't comment on it. "Cheating..." he said thoughtfully. The last time Kaiji tried to cheat at something, he was caught and his opponent cheated right back. And he got his fingers chopped off.

Cheating, therefore, was typically not the best idea in Kaiji's book.

"Well, I've seen people get quite upset over it, but it's only resulted in sedation by daytime, or a lack of positive effort by night. So even if I'm angry, I do try to keep my temper about all of this. The people who post rants on the bulletin board or who make fights with other patients for no reason don't seem to accomplish much, but perhaps they simply enjoy the outbursts. It isn't my style." That was a bit of a biased view, but Vlad supposed what Kaiji didn't know about a certain Jack Fenton's effect on his temper wouldn't hurt either of them. Daniel had been exhibiting an increasing talent for being less an amusing diversion and more an open problem, even within the Institute, as well...

The game was Vlad's loss, which went without comment. The mood was calming, at least, which hopefully would help Vlad in the next round. He took his cards back, shuffling again, slow and idle hand movements. "But as for cheating... the rules here are created by the doctor, the 'game' we play is orchestrated by the doctor, and it seems that if there's any way of winning for us, it wouldn't be by playing within the doctor's rules. Then again, I suppose calling it cheating when the deck's already been stacked against us might be uncharitable. Finding a way around the rules and barriers, then."

Vlad's explanation seemed to do a fine job of putting Kaiji in his place. One of the last things he wanted was to get knocked out against his will again if it was avoidable, and he wanted even less to be shoved into the same category as the bleached bastard. He sank down a little, looking increasingly miserable with every addition. Having mostly come down from his rage, he was now steadily drifting to another extreme.

The description of the Head Doctor's game wasn't lightening Kaiji's mood any. Vlad was right, of course. "It sounds like things are always going his way," he whined. It was probably a bluff and Kaiji had only been here for a short while, but it seemed that every announcement that the Head Doctor made was absolutely perfect. Sure he had expressed some form of worry at a couple of points, but within a few hours everything was happy and wonderful in his horrifying little world again. "But I know what you mean." Even the creepy old man who had led Kaiji to so many deadly and frightening gambles had the courtesy of giving him the rules plainly and clearly before pulling him into things. And the rules were typically fair on some level, ranging from extremely simple to somewhat complicated to explain.

This was just... Who even knew?

Kaiji didn't seem to be at all satisfied by his victory, but he did remember to update his makeshift scorecard: Vlad still had a score of five, and now he himself had a score of one. He slid the sheet over to Vlad. "We can either switch cards and see where this goes, or we can leave it like this and just top it off." Had he forgotten to mention that it was possible for the Slave and the Emperor to switch places between sets? Either way, he didn't sound like he had any strong feelings about either option so it was completely up to Vlad.

Day 36: Arts & Crafts Room

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