Work Hazards (Tomomi/ Gabe)

Another day, another time at the job. Unlike before, however, it was not after the "parties", but before. Indeed, the life of a litter picker was if nothing else varied. The sun had only just crept over the horizon, and the day had begun only recently, yet here Tomomi was in the Backlight district, fully geared out in his standard trash collecting equipment. A standard early morning route is what it was supposed to be.

Instead, Tomomi found himself sat leaning against the wall with a big headache, and his bus money taken, holding his hand o his forehead as he sighed beneath his breath. His mask was gone, and at his side his litter picker and a couple bags of rubbish. There, Tomomi tucked himself up slightly, and just allowed himself a moment to curl up and allow his mop of hair to cover himself for a moment, jacket that was usually over one shoulder now over both as if a blanket. Today sucked.

Exiting the lucky clover, Gabe figured that it would be a good time to maybe get a small smoke in and observe the masses leaving a bit later than usual, or making sure that these people actually got home safe. Whenever closing time came around, Gabe liked to pace and walk around from the inside and outside of his establishment. He also liked to walk a few blocks over.

"hmm..."

Gabe personally disliked smoking, but something made him want to. He was stressed out and drinking in public could cause a fine. Even at this moment, he still couldn't find what bothered him, but he hoped that this would be treated as a one-time occurrence. But during his travels, he ended up seeing a familiar face.

"Tomomi... rough morning? Catching a cold or something?"

Gabe blew out smoke from his vape from the side of his mouth as he out it away breifly.

At the sound of footsteps, Tomomi looked up. The voice that came with was familiar, as was the sight. Slowly, Tomomi stood up, rubbing at his hair for a moment before speaking up, looking away from the smoke that flew from Gabe's mouth while trying to seem as respectful as possible about it. Then, with a light exhale, the boy answered. "Ah, h-hi mister Gabe... Um... S-something like that, yeah... Although um, don't know about the cold bit... Um... H-how is your morning?"

"Looks like I shook you up a bit, are you ok?"

Gabe just looked at him, he was a bit relaxed himself, but Tomomi looked a little on edge for some reason. He wondered what he could do to help if there was anything he could do for a moment to help out his acquaintance.

"one second..."

Walking off around a corner for a second, Gabe saw a small corner stall and bought a small coffee expresso drink with a straw. After returning back to where he found Tomomi, he would hand it over to Tomomi.

"I'm not too sure what kind of day you are having, but if you seem a little bit tired or stressed out, this coffee double shot has ginseng in it, so maybe it could keep you up and relaxed or something. Or alteast energized. I know you didn't ask for it, so it's ok to say no. "

As Gabe asked if Tomomi was okay, all the boy could do was give a mild laugh and shrug slightly, voice seeming apathetic through the dry laughter that did not last more than a minute second. A laughter that suggested more negative than positive. Before Tomomi could speak more however, Gabe declared one second, then walked off. There, Tomomi just kind of stood, head tilted and looking rather confused for a moment. Then, as Gabe returned with an expresso and a straw, Tomomi gave a light smile and gently held out his hands to accept the drink.

"A-ah, um, thank you very much... A-although I'm afraid I don't have money on me to pay you back for it right now..." The boy muttered, taking a sip from the straw. He wasn't much of a coffee drinker, but he wouldn't deny it right now. "A-and to answer your question... Um... I-it's been a long morning so far... Y-you?"

"That's fine, wasn't really about the money to me. What I noticed was that it seemed as if you were having a rough day and could use yourself a pick-me-up. We all need that at times, sometimes the methods differ than others, the way that we describe things as.....comforting and invigorating. If coffee works, all the same, you can just consider this a favor. "

With Gabe putting his hands in his pocket and leaning against the wall, he would look to Tomomi as he took his brief sips.

"Well, as usual, making sure the guests are well taken care of. A few went home, and i'm overseeing the cleanup until we open back up in the evening to do it all over again. But on a personal note, i'm trying to maintain a social life, go on dates possibly. "

Tomomi nodded slightly, listening as Gabe spoke. A favour? Tomomi felt like he already owed one to Gabe for the drink before, but that didn't matter. He'd given Gabe the offer of helping with litter work again before, so, that could still stand. Then, Gabe went on to speak about his day thus far. To Tomomi, it was borderline impressive and surprising. Dates, guests in the morning, and all of that.

So, after another sip of coffee, Tomomi spoke up, looking up at the casino man. "You... G-get guests at the casino this early in the morning? This may be my um... Lack of know how on that, but, aren't casino's at least radio typically a night time thing?" His expression was a mixture of curious and confused as once more, the boy took a small sip. "Also, um, c-congrats on possible dates? I imagine working a casino must be a lot of work, so, um, good job finding time for that?"

"We do close some sections periodically, and we are closed on some  Sundays and holidays if we don't have anything planned to do at the casino. I guess you can say that there are some well-deserved breaks for my employees. But in regards to being open in the mornings, some of our older guests tend to favor the slot machines and things of the sort.  If they can't stand to deal with the noise and excitement that the lucky clover casino has to offer, wouldn't it be fair to still manage to find a way to provide a great experience for them?"

However, Gabe simply laughed at the notion of dating itself even though he was the one who brought it up.

"Believe me when I say this, the casino can run itself with what's in place, I always the manage to find time. But speaking of which, what about you? Been hitting the dating scene?"

At Gabe's explanation about making the availability more, well, available for patrons, Tomomi nodded in agreement. It all made sense, and he found himself smiling slightly at the idea of being so caring about his customers, and people in general. But, at his question to Tomomi, with specific reference to going on dates, Tomomi nearly spat his coffee, coughing slightly as the young boy's face quickly flushed a bright red.

"W-w-w-well, I, I, um... N-not, um... Not really? I-I mean, I guess it is just, um, n-not, um, not my thing? I uh, well, uh..." Quickly finishing off his coffee, Tomomi proceeded to hide his face in his hands out of embarrassment. "Y-yeah, I um... N-not hitting the dating scene, um..."

"Hopefully I didn't strike a nerve. I would figure that the dating scene would smile on you quite kindly. I graduated from the seven stars academy myself and serve as alumni there, but for a while, I figured it was the best place to meet people. But I won't push it if you haven't met anyone special yet. These things take time, and with how different everyone is, the one you like might not even like you back. It gets like that sometimes."

Unfortunately, that was just the way it was. There were some things that were beyond their control at times.

"I might not look it, but i've been in a few to give good advice..if possible."

"U-um, w-well, um, th-thank you for the offer, but, the idea of um... D-d-d-dating never really c-crossed my mind, and I um, h-have no real interest in trying to, um, you know, look out for it, so, um, y-yeah, if it um, happens, then um, I g-guess it h-happens? B-but, um, o-oh geez..." For a moment, Tomomi just repeated mutterings, seemingly like a broken record. Then however, he finished off his coffee, swigging it to seemingly force himself to stop muttering, face scrunching up at the terrible idea of chugging coffee.

Then, Tomomi started coughing, before quickly snapping himself out of it. "A-anyways, so um... W-what are you doing out here? I-I mean, if you do casino stuff in the morning and evening, then surely, um, you should either be over there, or enjoying your time of yourself r-right?"

"Well, no need to be in a rush. Just as you say , if it happens it happens. But at the same time, waiting for it to happen, you could miss your chance. if there is a window of opportunity that comes around, you should go for it. It's a bit of gamble, but even with the roll of the dice, you can't live in this world with regrets."

Looking around, Gabe would reveal the vape pen once more and take a drag of it.

"Vaping, this is some strenuous work at times. When you are being counted on to be the pillar of everyone's strength to the face of an establishment, it can be rough when the shortcomings start to pour out it's ugly head and you are unable to get through them. I can't show weakness in front of the people that are counting on me, so...i'm trying to relax. "

Quickly, Tomomi began to get lost in what Gabe was saying. Strenuous? What did that word mean? If Tomomi had to guess, difficult? Or rough? That was all he could figure out. The entire first spiel regarding dating was completely lost on Tomomi, who gave a head tilt and just kind of looked at Gabe partially bewildered.

"Um... T-this'll sound really ignorant, but, is running a casino really something that means you need to show strength? I-I know that's um... R-really uninformed, and I'm uh, s-sorry if that offends, but, um, I thought casino's were where people gambled, so, aren't they focused on the games and stuff they play?"

Blowing out the rest of the smoke and inhaling from the vape pen a few times, Gabe would hake his head. As a matter of fact, he seemed a bit more somber. Gabe's poster became more and more relaxed at the thought, but he wanted to be careful on not to slip anything out.

"There is a lot of things about this business, the nature of this business, and those involved... that you don't know about. Things that I can't tell anyone... it's hard... and it's not even the only one of my worries. Have you ever thought about it? How places or people came to be? Even the ....heck the queen we have in endymion. "

Blowing out a little bit of smoke, Gabe put his vape away one more, even if temporarily.

"How do you think it happened? What comes with it? The rulings of a monarch that's shrouded in secrecy, i can only imagine what she had to do to get this far."

At the questions, Tomomi furrowed his brows in thought, scratching at his head and quickly growing muddled and confused. The thought of what had to go into things in order to get where they were... Tomomi had never thought about that, seeing the position of power and management as an unreachable height that people just start with. Indeed, for a moment Tomomi stared at Gabe in an almost bewildered manner. Then in an almost cartoonish way, the litter picker slapped his cheeks together and shook his heads, hair growing ever messier at the act.

"R-right. That's... That's a lot to think about that I'd never, well, um, thought about... I um... I'm sorry that I didn't understand the whole process enough that's... That's a really big thing now that I think about it... Wow..."

At this, Tomomi smiled up at Gabe. "In that case, it's very impressive that you managed to get as far and do as much as you have! So um, r-respect for that? Is that the right term?"