When The Chips are Down

Magna

The Casino is quiet. The day has died down and there is leftover food and cigarette buds on the machines and roulette tables. Even when all the customers have left, it's still as loud as it was at around 6 o'clock , happy hour. Charlie liked cleaning up the tables after the casino closed, because that meant no one had to look at him with weird eyes. He remembered the first time someone like that made a strange face like that to him. It was his best friend, Quackity of Las Nevadas. But Quackity was in his office right now, he was talking to someone named Sam. Sam never made the weird eyes to Charlie, in fact he did this weird thing with his mouth stones whenever Charlie tried to talk to him, but Charlie liked that, so he started doing it as well. He liked the way the other him would copy him when he looked in the mirror, so he kept smiling when he could, even if it took him a while to understand what smiling even was.

There was a crash in Quackity's office, Charlie knew what that meant, so he decided to move a bit faster with the cleaning. There was this weird thing that humans did with their voice that scared Charlie, he didn't know why they did it because he could hear them just fine. But he just kept smiling and cleaning up the half empty plates of food. When he got all the trash he decided to rummage through some of the food to find some pork chops, they were his favorite after all. His favorite part was when he finished taking all the meat off with his mouth, there was always a bone to come out. Charlie kept them, usually keeping them in the chest. He remembered when Quackity taught him about what humans keep inside their bodies, and how they need to keep them safe. He hoped one day that with using all the money he kept, he could be like Quackity, a human.

There was a bang at the door. "Sam, I need to know who was in and out today, it's not hard!" It was Quackity, he seemed upset, so Charlie decided to try to get next to Quackity. "Q, I'm sorry, but it's hard when Foolish isn't even here to help me with his own job-!" Sam was following after Quackity, but Charlie stayed persistent. "Foolish said he couldn't come, and I told you he couldn't be here." "You never told me anything!" "Well, I shouldn't have to tell you, you should take initiative to know when people aren't able to show up!" Quackity's voice got louder and louder each time he and Sam went back and forth. "Sam, I need you to step it up, it's going to get a lot harder from here on out!" "I am trying, Quackity, you just gave me a workload that's impossible to deal with!" Louder and louder, what was wrong? Charlie wanted to make it better but they wouldn't stop arguing. Charlie chimed in, hoping to calm the two, "Quackity from Las Nevadas! I won more money today!" There was a pause in Quackity's step. "Charlie... what did I say about spending more money." Charlie didn't know why he was upset, he made more money, just like how Quackity told all the customers to try and do. "Those diamonds, are precious, and I can't let you just act a fool in front of my clients?" He got louder and louder, Charlie tried to step back, but Quackity was right on him. "I am trying to be nice, but you never listen do you?" It was too loud, too loud. All he could think to do was try to move back into the ground, that would make it go quiet again, but he couldn't that would make his best friend even more mad. He made the money like he said, why was it so loud, he won't stop yelling, why won't he stop yelling?

"HEY." Charlie didn't want to look up, but he did open his eyes. No one was in front of him, he could tell that Quackity moved away, but even then, he didn't want to move from the crouched position he had on the floor. He felt a hand on him, but it wasn't Quackity's. "It's ok Charlie, we're done arguing." It was Sam, Charlie recognized the voice; he looked up to find Sam crouched in front of Charlie. "I'm sorry we got upset, we should have handled the whole thing differently, I know how upset you get when are voices get loud." Charlie nodded, "I don't understand why Quackity from Las Nevadas is upset." There was a silence among the group of three, you could only hear the ringing of the slot machines and the neon signs around the casino. "I just want you to be able to use the money you earn, because I don't want you to lose it." Again, a silence. I don't want you to lose it, that's something Quackity said a lot, every time Quackity gave Charlie his diamonds for the day. "You don't want me to lose?" "Of course not Charlie, because when you win, you make me smile, I like to see you win, but when you spend so much time gambling, you don't get a lot of time to see me or Sam, or Foolish even."

Foolish, that's another name Charlie recognized. He had known about Foolish for a long time, even before meeting Quackity from Las Nevadas. He remembered how other slimes would come back from the surface to warn the others of the God of Death and Seas, and how Charlie would fear him and the stories of his wrath. But when Charlie did see him again, more recently, he looked older, and happier, nicer even. He liked Foolish's smile, next to his own, it was his favorites because he smiled a lot.  Foolish coming to Las Nevadas was a nice reminder for Charlie that there is good in everyone. 

"Charlie? You feeling better bud?" Sam's voice drew Charlie back from his memory. He was able to get up from the sloped position he was in on the floor and Sam helped him regain his balance. "Yes, I'm ok now," he breathed "Good," muttered Quackity, walking up to Charlie's side, "C'mon lets go to bed, it's really late."  It was late, Charlie remembered seeing the moon going down by the time he started picking up the plates in the casino. Charlie asked if the casino was clean enough for the next day, Quackity said it was fine just the way he did it and that they could finish cleaning before opening tomorrow. Sam left the casino to go sleep in the big building with many windows, Charlie didn't know what it was called, but he liked that he could see himself in the big mirrors near the street on the building. Quackity let Charlie into the space needle where they both slept. "Goodnight Charlie, sorry about everything earlier, you're still my best friend." "I know you are sorry, Quackity from Las Nevadas, and I accept your apology, and of course! You will always be my best friend." Quackity sighed and Charlie gave him a smile. They played down in their separate beds, and slowly closed their eyes with the sunrise seeping into the windows, signifying the start of a new day.