Bum Odds

Armando and his relationship with Andross over the years.

Chapter Eleven: Bricks and Walls

April 4th, 2004

Armando paced, hands behind his back and face down. Something had been bothering him the last few months, and he finally placed a paw on what it was. Kajuking. Letting him join was a mistake. So far, the yellow duck had been nothing but trouble. Not the good, mischief kind of trouble.. but the darker kind. The "dark trouble" that stirred up and provoked fights. Exactly what he's been doing, Armando thought gravely. Kajuking had turned out to be a duck with a decent personality after all. He was calm and easygoing. On the outside. But while he had been a CCG member, Armando had every right to watch what he did all the time. As a leader, it's my job to watch the members. He told himself for the millionth time. A pang of guilt still settled inside of him, as if saying "you shouldn't have even thought about it this hard". Armando knew perfectly well what Kajuking had been doing. He looks kind and sweet. And sounds that way too.. But not when it comes to fights. It didn't take a fool to see that Kajuking was a bitch when it came to fights. "Bitch" as in a damn pussy. He provoked the fights, shooting insults here and there but never carried through. Kajuking would always leave the other party fighting with someone other than him.

"I've got to do something about that," Armando muttered lowly, only to himself. He had been wearing out the floor in his room for the last hour with all his pacing, and the air was thick with thoughts; Unfinished thoughts about what to do. The weather outside was not helping in the least. Thunder storms had been sweeping through all week, and tonight was another one. And hopefully the last. I wonder how many toons will even show up for gambling tonight. It sucks to not be in CCG. Which was true, tonight anyway. CCG had the shortest walk to the shed, and they certainly made use of that. GV2 was the most unlikely to appear this evening. Union had, again, been giving them shit, for reasons Armando didn't understand. It was something about Kajuking's temporary stay with them, but now that he was with CCG, Armando didn't pick up on why it mattered. If it mattered. Union will fight about anything. He concluded with an exhausted sigh.

Before he completed his thoughts, a sharp rap was heard on the door, "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, door's unlocked," Armando replied, recognizing the voice as Lily Mizzenpop's, "You need something?" Thanks for interrupting my thoughts, Lily.

"Are you almost ready to go?" Lily sounding like she was trying hard to be patient, "Gambling night, you know."

Of course I know. "Yeah, we should probably get going." Armando agreed, thinking it would be for the better if he didn't bicker with his members.

Lily squealed like a small child, "I'll go tell everyone downstairs. They're all huddled to keep out of the rain."

Beautiful.. So she's basically saying there's a crowd downstairs? Of all the people who risk getting wet for what.. gambling? Damn. Sometimes they puzzle me. ..Please don't let Kajuking be one of them. He pleaded silently, after Lily had left him. Armando slowly trailed behind her, attempting to look as pleasant as possible. Until he saw Kajuking, waiting with the rest of them. God, no. Why did he have to go? He's only going to start fights that he can't finish. Armando let a small, inaudible groan escape.

"Let's get going," He called, making his way out the door and into the drizzling darkness. This is going to be a charming walk. Just charming. Everyone stayed quiet, excluding a few stray whispers every now and then from the toons in the back. They knew better than to be chatty and happy tonight. Their leader was clearly in a negative mood, and they didn't want to be the first one to get yelled at; Especially when they got to the gambling area.

"Welcome to hell," Armando muttered, holding the broken-down door open as all his members piled inside, looking relieved as they got out of the rain. It's just a goddamn drizzle, He was about to say aloud, but then remembered his sour response to the rain when he first realized he'd be walking through it.

Andross was waiting for him inside, with Kajuking at his heels, talking a mile a minute. They were sitting close to each other, both in their normal chairs. As Armando strained to make out the conversation, he heard Decoy whispering something about Kajuking. He tried to casually lean in to get a better idea of what they were talking about, when Andross waved him over. I give up. I'll figure it out later.

"Hey," Armando dipped his head slightly, greeting Andross. The royal blue duck looked nice tonight.. Much nicer than Armando would have ever dressed to go gambling.

Andross smirked, "Going to stand there all night, or are you planning to take a seat?"

"Oh you know me, I like to stand here. All fucking night." Armando snorted.

Andross watched as Armando took a seat, "Thought so."

Armando grinned as Andross was passed a deck from a nearby toon, then began shuffling. He just watched in a daze as his boyfriend dealt out the cards. "You wanna play?" Andross said, turning to him.

"No, count me out of this one. I'd like to watch tonight," Armando responded coolly, looking at who was all in for this one. If I did get myself dealt in, I'd be against.. Let's see... Andross, Kajuking, hmm... Dark Cloud, Little Fancy, and Chilly. Not exactly my crowd. He watched as the toons started to apply their poker faces and went about playing Deuces Wild. Even though Armando knew very well that was his favorite game, he had sat out only because Kajuking was in. Not to mention going against Andross almost guaranteed Armando would be the one losing. Andross is too good at these games. He sighed. Maybe tonight will be okay. Kajuking will hopefully not attempt to pick a fight, and Andross won't take his side on everything tonight. Armando leaned back in his chair, "Maybe this will be alright after all." He murmured to himself.

-x-x-x-x-x-

"You dirty cheater!" Kajuking shrieked, as Dark Cloud won for the seventh time,consecutively That certainly did prove something, but it could either be she's lucky as hell, or she is cheating. This could also prove something else – Kajuking was picking a fight. Armando groaned, Why me? Why do I have to deal with him? No wonder the GV2 was anxious to be rid of the bastard.

The fight raged on. Kajuking wouldn't back down, and Dark Cloud wouldn't either. No one stopped them, and it didn't look like anyone was about to. Armando tuned back in.

"I did not cheat, you asshole." Dark Cloud retorted, "If I did cheat, you wouldn't have known." Armando tried not to snicker at Dark Cloud's comment. Her expression appeared utterly dangerous. Something Armando hadn't seen in a long time, but reassured himself that if he had to, he could take her.

"Yes, you did!" Kajuking glared, probably desperately praying she wouldn't back down, "Either that or the dealer was trying to set you up."

Chilly had dealt this round of cards. He sat with his face in his paws, like he was trying to block out the fight... and the world, to be honest. The blue bear didn't say much. In fact, he didn't say anything when he didn't have to.

Dark Cloud was still furious at Kajuking. Lovely. Black cat versus yellow duck. This ought to end well. But of course, if things got rough, the toons expected Armando to step in and break it up. His members were his responsibility; Dark Cloud and Kajuking were both his members.

Kajuking still claimed it was the dealer who set her up to this, and she started to turn on Chilly. "You son of a bitch!" She spat at him, "You think I'd cheat for you?" Chilly was trying desperately to pretend he hadn't heard that.

"I didn't set you up," He finally shot back, and it seemed if things got bad enough, the blue bear was ready to fight.

Dark Cloud didn't look convinced, "Hell yeah you did."

At that point, Armando leaned over to his second in command, Lollipop, and whispered urgently, "I need to go outside. If Dark Cloud and Chilly get violent, pull Dark Cloud away. Chilly is none of our concern."

She nodded briskly as Armando leaned the other way to whisper to Andross, "Meet me outside." He growled.

"And as for you," Armando snapped at Kajuking, "Come with me." He pulled Kajuking right out the door by his shirt, with Andross following behind them. Once outside, he noticed the rain had ceased. Thank god. I didn't want to be standing out in the rain doing this.

"You started that fight," He accused Kajuking, "And you know it." Armando set a heavy glare on Kajuking, as if daring him to object. You know it's true. Now give it up.

"No," Kajuking almost whined, trying to appear as pathetic and helpless as possible, "I didn't mean it, Armando." He almost whimpered.

"Damn it, Armando," Andross snarled, "It's damn obvious he didn't try to start that fight."

Armando swung around to face Andross, "That's bullshit. You saw him do it. And he's been doing that for the last 5 months. Open your goddamned eyes, Andross. If he wants to do that to my members, fine. I can deal with that, and they can handle themselves. But he sure as hell won't be one of them, then."

Kajuking looked shocked, and Andross just had this expression of full-out anger. As if he was truly not in the least concerned about where he was going, Kajuking whipped around and stalked off.

And then, Armando was ready for the worst of it. Andross exploded on him, "You ain't got a damn scrap of decency left in you!" He yelled.

Armando stared, keeping his face emotionless, "Kajuking is not ever welcomed back. He's bad news."

"To who?" Andross challenged sharply.

"I have to assume that you're telling me you didn't have a fucking clue what that fight was about. Or how it even got started. You either trust my judgment or you don't, Andross."

Andross spat, "I don't. You're a bastard! A cold hearted, bastard."

"You know what? You're dumber than a damn brick." Armando shook his head.

"...You're right, I am." Andross said, his expression unreadable.

Armando was dumbfounded, but was clear not to show it. What the hell did he just say?

"I thought this-" Andross pointed to both of them, "Mattered to you."

"Andross-" Armando began, but was cut short.

"You're absolutely right; I'm stupid as a fucking wall. Thank you for setting me straight. I won't make that mistake again." He whirled around, and started to head back towards GV2 territory.

Armando did a facepaw. Oh for the love of god. He ran to catch up with Andross, "This isn't about us! It's about Kajuking!"

Andross whipped around to face him, "It's always been about us, Armando. And if you didn't know that, I guess you're stupider than I am."

Armando stood, and watched as Andross basically sprinted back to his home. This.. has been a fucking disaster. He knew he couldn't face his members any more tonight, and started for the CCG lodging house.