Domino City had a way of using you up and tossing you out at a moment's notice.
Like a duel monster card, good for a singular moment in time. But ultimately, each one was discarded at one point. An unplayed card did no good remaining stagnant in one's hand, and once played? Gone. Useless.
But a skilled strategist would even consider the discarded cards, for, with the right plan, they could always make a comeback. Rise from the ashes as something greater.
Oh, Yami did think that life could be good within the glittering city, alight with rife nightlife. That what lay in the graveyard did not have to be a collection of past mistakes. That the hand he held was not entirely useless to him.
Night had fallen over the domino skyline, but it was untouched by the darkness. There was opulence in abundance, from the sea of skyscrapers lit up like advertiser-friendly Christmas trees, to the holographic monsters that illuminated the sky, drowning out the natural light of any stars that hung above them. Dragons roared in victory, and fuzzy beasts simply cooed, and gestured the tourists to the many casinos in the city, or various eateries and hotels… So that perchance they can regain their strength to try their hand again at the one of many Duel Monster themed casinos that lay at the core of Domino's tourism industry.
Duel Monsters was the name of the game. And duels projected onto every surface imaginable, from the small television sets depicted in storefronts and nestled in the corner of diners, to the screens that wrapped around every building that stretched up like glass spires towards the synthetic-light-bleached sky. And if one wished to feel the pulse of the city. one only needed to step out onto the streets of Domino, and mingle among those who now worshiped the newest craze. Whisper the name, show a single card, no matter how worthless, and the excitement was infectious. The electricity that ran through the people was just as much as the thousand and one screens and ever lingering, like the charge in a battery.
After all, the last tournament hadn't been too long ago. Less than a year. But it proved the staying power of the game. Dungeon Dice monsters was still played, but the patrons at the tables were slim pickings at the Black Crown casino, or even the most run down, back alley pop-up ones.
The newly popularized game was proving to be a true contender to the addicted gamblers of the world. Duel Monsters was relatively simple to master, its gameplay just like the city, where fate was weaved by the turn of a card.
Domino in and of itself was a tumultuous game. That when you invested a life within it, you stood a chance in hell of making it big, breaking even or losing it all. And like any good game of chance, one could be convinced that the deck was evenly balanced. That, when shuffled, everyone had an equal chance of being dealt a good or bad hand.
But for all games of chance, there was one golden rule.
The house always wins.
Five players stepped up to the table. A looming structure of steel and neon lights. A holographic white dragon soared overhead.
"Yeah, I can get us in." Blonde hair, blue eyes. She was the techie. The gadget and gizmo specialist. There was something wild in the way she assessed the building as if she saw ones and zeroes, and not steel and concrete walls that housed a casino that had placed Domino on the map.
"Getting in is easy. There's a front door for a reason." Brown hair, blue eyes. She was their dancer, their distracting femme fatale. Flexible, charming. There would be no resisting her once those baby blues were set upon you. Any man with a hetero bone in his body wouldn't pass up the opportunity to set their gaze on her, rather than keep them on their cards, or their wallets.
"And there's a backdoor for another." He was the shortest. But the most loyal. If ever he needed a partner in crime, he could imagine no one better than his own flesh and blood. Certainly, no one who could solve a puzzle quite like him-His hair was a testament to his patience.
"...Is that, like, a double entendre?" The blonde butchered the word, French was never supposed to be spoken by someone with such a thick Brooklyn accent. But where he lacked in intellectual linguistics, he made up for in brawn and razor-sharp reflexes. Any poor sap who found himself underneath his fist would soon question their life choices.
"For you, Jou, no." His own appearance was nothing notable, not when they had already seen his twin. Many had told him it was the timbre of his voice the most attractive feature of his person. And while he was inclined to agree, for compliment's sake, he knew the true value of his character lay in his brain.
How else would have cooked up such a harebrained scheme, and convinced four others to take the hands they had been dealt, play the cards, some face up-some face down, and wager that by the end of next week, their lives would be turned for the better?
And somewhere, maybe up there, maybe in the penthouse of the most notable building in Domino, with its flashing 'K.C'. initials, maybe even looking down upon them, was the unknowing, unwilling sixth player.
No hard feelings.
When one gambles, it's never the dealer the players are after.
It was just about money.