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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"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.

Vlad looked at the score sheet, considering. At least Kaiji had calmed down, although now he seemed to be in a bit of a funk. Really, he was quite an emotional sort, wasn't he? But not too unpleasant company, despite that. The game had been enjoyable enough, and the man was neither openly threatening nor unbearably stupid in Vlad's judgment thus far. Considering some of the people he'd met, Kaiji's presence was quite bearable.

"Yes... it does seem that way, doesn't it? It's rather frustrating for me, as well." To switch metaphors to a game he understood a bit better, chess was fine, but he wasn't used to being one of the pieces... or worse, not being able to see the board at all. "I can't deny that. Do you have many friends here? It helps to at least have a few contacts, I find." Vlad hadn't found any such thing, but he imagined it was likely, and Daniel at least qualified as a contact if not a friend. "I mean, friends from your own home, or individuals you've become close to here. Considering the circumstances, I've taken up the philosophy that one can never have too many friends among those patients who aren't dangerously psychotic."

He nodded at the cards. "Let's switch. Otherwise, if I understand the scoring correctly, the outcome is already determined. Besides, I haven't tried the other deck, I'm curious."

One thing Kaiji had to count against Vlad was that he seemed to have a special talent for (probably unintentionally) asking painful-to-answer questions. He shook his head without saying anything, obviously holding in another highly emotional outburst: he didn't have friends. Well, he had, but every time that happened, either something unspeakably horrible happened to them or they did something unspeakably horrible to him. It was a pretty black and white state of affairs that was attributed to his talent for working effectively in desperate situations as well as his unfortunate bouts of altruism, which meant that he had many hastily formed but meaningful connections at various points.

This was part of why Kaiji was so reluctant to consider himself in any way fond of anyone here or anywhere, since he knew all too well how easily it could end in heartbreak. His unattractive appearance and equally if not even more unattractive personality should have been enough to drive most people away, but an overwhelming amount of people were strangely tolerant of and sometimes even attracted to both.

The denial of having people who he held in high regard wasn't entirely true: Kaiji respected his first acquaintance here, Sora, as well as a small handful of others. Surely there were plenty of respectable people who had been pulled from wherever they were from and brought here, but Kaiji was still fairly new and always sort of antisocial unless the alternative was absolutely necessary.

"Sure." Kaiji listlessly separated the 'E' card from the others and sent it over to Vlad with a push of his finger, figuring that it would be a sufficient switch since the only difference between the two sets were the 'S' and 'E.' It would have been easier to cheat or be suspected of doing so, after all, if the cards were shuffled around between them and handled too much.

No strong connections, it seemed, even though Kaiji hadn't answered his question directly. That was helpful to know as well, since it meant both that Kaiji might find himself in need of assistance or more inclined to assist someone he only knew on slightly-friendly terms, and that if Vlad needed to he could get rid of Kaiji without risking a small army of good friends or allies coming for revenge. Vlad took the Emperor card and gave the Slave card back in return, glancing down at the unassuming E on the more powerful card in the game.

Well, more powerful if one had slightly better timing or was slightly better at a game face than his new good friend here. His lack of control of emotion seemed to be a benefit even if by accident, however, and Vlad resolved to try not to alter his mood from the melancholy during this last hand. Instead...

"It's so nice that you've found something fun to play, but it's time for dinner." The nurse's approach from behind actually made Vlad jump in surprise, which resulted in an extremely sour expression that didn't seem to bother her one bit. As if by cue, the intercom cut in then, so the cheery voice of the doctor could give them some extra details. Wonderful, doubtlessly overcooked cheap steak.

"We've actually only got one more round to play, so if you don't mind..." If he won this round, then he'd have won cleanly, absolutely even. Two of three games, six to one in points. This was too close to a tie, and besides, he still wanted to at least try his hand at the new deck.

Which would be harder as the nurse actually took the improvised cards from him. Rather than protest or take them back, he just sighed, and massaged his forehead a little. Well, he'd won by points, that was something, wasn't it? "Thank you for the game, Kaiji. It was nice meeting you. We'll probably see each other again sometime, hm? Maybe we can continue then." Managing a passable smile at his game companion, Vlad stood to allow himself to be led off.

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Day 36: Arts & Crafts Room

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