Free Night at the Casino

[fieldtrip]

Who: OPEN to all / mingle log
Where: Queens (the casino!)
What: Wow July sure was a month! Time to take a breather and have a night out, courtesy of Toph and Mitsuru!
Warnings: N/A

FREE NIGHT AT THE CASINO

GAMBLING

Feeling down after that space infestation made you murder some friends? Getting tempted to bury yourself in the sand at the beach so no one can ever perceive you again?

Time for a tone shift! It's a free night at the casino. For tonight only, chips mean nothing -- which means everyone gets a rack of chips when they walk in and can let loose! Entertainment, food, and drink are also free within reason. (Abuse the privilege and find out who works security here the hard way!)

Welcome to Queens, the formerly shady but now revamped and reimagined casino in the entertainment district of Aldrip. Classy and minimalist but not gaudy, it's run, staffed, and heavily patronized by Chosen. Maybe you know someone who works there, maybe someone dragged you in to lighten up for once, maybe you're just stopping by for some fun.

Appropriately, the most popular game of the night is Queen's Blood, with tables set aside purely for teaching. There's also the standard casino games available in spades -- poker, slots, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, and so forth.

AT THE CLUB

It wouldn't be a casino without alcohol, music, and dancing. There's a low-key bar for those looking to have a conversation where they can hear one another over the pleasant live jazz, and a much livelier dance floor set off to the side in a different part of the casino with a DJ playing dance music.

FIGHTING TOURNAMENT

Beneath the casino is a massive underground cavern converted into a fighting arena.

It's a bit hard to find, intentionally -- either you were personally invited by someone or you stumbled across the covert speakeasy-style entrance in a corner of the main floor, possibly from the people jostling to go in and out. The stairs go down and down until they suddenly open out into the huge room, lined in walkways to view the fight.

There's three circuits to the fighting tournament: a bracket for fighting with powers, a bracket for fighting without powers (hand-to-hand and weapons only), and a shooting competition. Toph (fieldtrip) serves as referee for all of the above and is prepared to break up anything that goes too far. This is just for fun, folks!

Sign up in the comment below and maybe you'll even win something! Toph promises a super cool prize to the winner of each circuit!

FORTUNE TELLING

Get a free tarot reading!

It does seem like some of the glitching in Aldrip has made it maybe a little more accurate than usual lately... or maybe that's inaccurate? Feel free to have the cards have a real effect on them with a glitch!

DOG THERAPY

In one peaceful corner away from the din and bustle is a dog petting station. All manner of adorable and highly trained dogs are available for cuddles and play time.

Some of them are even up for adoption if you want to take one home!

Kakashi (battlefieldbrat) runs and operates this station with the kind supervision of Koromaru, our local good boy.

Code by 10billionghosts.

Comments

[laserguy]

Yeah, you know.

[......Oh wait, Levi probably doesn't, huh?] Finding things that you can enjoy. Stuff like that.

[Scott doesn't want to say it out loud, how Levi also deserves to be happy, because it feels too sappy even for him. Yeah, sure, he isn't aware of all the things Levi might've done in the past, but he doesn't deserve to be miserable and everything. He hates hearing that sort of thing. Besides, what was it that Dazai said long ago? What's most important is people trying now.]

[solitarysoul]

Oh...well, I have a job and I do some other things. I, um, I guess I do?

[Why was Scott saying this though???]

[laserguy]

[He almost rolls his eyes behind his shades. Yeah, guess he should've expected an answer like this. He's almost as bad as Minato. Maybe worse in some ways. Although, thinking about his friend dregs up some uncomfortable feelings, enough where Scott flinches, but he tries to shove everything down.]

Just... [Okay, he still doesn't want to say the super mushy thing, but there's still another angle to go with.]

You don't deserve to be miserable all the time, got it?

[solitarysoul]

...

[Levi sighs, his gaze falling to the floor. He still believed the depressing things he'd said, but he didn't want to admit to them. Other people wouldn't understand and it really wasn't fair to burden them with his issues.]

...I'm okay. You don't have to worry about me.

[laserguy]

[.......]

You really don't get it, huh? You can't just simply tell people to stop worrying about you. [Scott isn't sure how he's become the friendship guy in Aldrip, but he feels like it. Maybe a year ago, he would've related more to what Levi is saying, just telling others to leave him alone and everything, but that didn't work out for him.

So, he's putting Levi through the same thing.]

It doesn't work on me at least.

[solitarysoul]

[He sighs. Things would be so much easier if it did.]

I-I am fine, though. I died but it didn't shake me up much. I'm just glad things are getting back to normal.

[He is not fine. But he does think he is, if that counts.]

[laserguy]

...You died?

[Scott's entire posture tenses. He... he didn't know that Levi was killed during the whole gnosia incident. But guess he doesn't know a lot of things, huh? He's been on the recovery himself, spending most of his time with Kotone because he lost her too and he just didn't have the capacity to really deal with anything else. He's only out here to begin with because of her.

But hearing that Levi died too... it's hard.

He swallows, not entirely sure he has a good grasp on his emotions right now.]

You can't just be fine after that because no one is. Don't bullshit me.

[solitarysoul]

I'm...I-it was a shock. But I'm back, and I might have died before I got here anyway, so its not that bad. I'm more annoyed that it happened, really.

[Sure, he's not entirely gotten over it but he's doing his best to not think about it. He is weirdly okay with the whole thing.]

[laserguy]

[He feels... tired upon hearing that someone else might be dead back home.

There's a part of him that just doesn't want to care anymore. It feels like everyone he talks to doesn't have a future back home; they only exist in this singular moment only to just be met with nothing when they return. So, why does this matter? Maybe it would just be easier to isolate himself from others again, be how he used to be.

But there's another part of him, one that's much larger and louder, that says it's bullshit. What happens here still matters, the relationships he's formed matters. As he takes one glance at Kotone, the way she's working and smiling at others, he knows for certain that he can't ever stop.]

Levi. [He breathes out. Somehow, getting upset about this has brought some of his normal energy back. Of course Levi is another one of those that really isn't unaffected by his own death.] It still sucks that it happened, okay?

[solitarysoul]

I-I didn't say it didn't suck. I just...things have sucked more.

[laserguy]

[Great. He barely stops himself from sarcastically asking what could suck more than actually dying, but he knows that he'd get an actual response and he doesn't need that. So, he focuses on that calming breath, letting it run through him once more, before focusing on Levi and pushing a conveniently placed glass of alcohol to the counter next to him.

As in, come and sit and drink, Levi.]

Did you want to talk about it? [...] Or just talk about anything at all, I guess. Whatever that will still lead me to tell you that you deserve to be happy.

[He thought he wasn't going to say it, but past Scott can just be quiet.]

[solitarysoul]

[He does, in fact, have many actual responses to that, so its probably best Scott didn't ask. He looks at the drink, then to Scott, then back to the drink and after a moment he takes a seat.]

No. Its better to move past it.

[laserguy]

[Maybe he should be the one talking about his own experience, what he went through, but he doesn't need to burden Levi with his own crap. It's clear that he's dealing with dying in his own way, not to mention what other trauma is running through his mind, so Scott returns his attention to his own glass in front of him.]

Easier said than done. [...] Just don't forget what I said, got it?

[solitarysoul]

Y-yeah...

[He takes a drink. Chemical assistance was the best way he knew how to move past things like that.]

I just need to try to focus on what's happening now, not what happened last month.

...I won't.

[He'll remember, but if he's not likely to actually listen.]