Oh, boy, it was vibrating.

“You need to understand, just saying, that people who give people money out of the graciousness of their own heart, is just mongering to the rich! You are essentially giving them an easy way to abuse the system, which you yourself have founded, with their direct involvement in mind,” Zep said.

Not too long a period of time after, the daring escapade between Troy and Francis had occurred, the group in its entirety began growing bored of the game. While nearly all the people did begin throwing around a much higher number of tokens, the adrenaline injection that the earlier suspense had give, did just not want to be topped by anything they tried. In just ten games, there were three separate instances of all-in's, where none wanted to participate. Sure, they wanted the game to be exhilarating, but they didn't want to lose quickly for it.

With that mindset set in stone, the game had reached a plateau. They could play more, to see who would end up winning, but nobody would get any enjoyment out of it. Certainly not Francis, who had been doing his own, little version of sulking in his chair.

So, the poker game had been abandoned, the tokens exchanged back into credits, and the group had gone over to a much more exciting part of every casino.

The extravagant bars. In such facilities, there usually was common ground between them all. That being the many alcoholic beverages at their behest. And, when alcohol was in sight, people followed the way of their ancestors beginning to rapidly consume.

Now, the question was; When a group of middle-aged people get slightly-drunk, in a bar, in a casino, what topic invariably gets brought up?

Any answer is correct. But, the most popular one is certainly politics.

“But, is the current system any better?” Charlie brought into question, with the upper-body sway of a highly… educated person. “Say this, to my face; private companies should be allowed to scam people into donating money, through the thin facade of helping the poor.”

In Troy's young and stupid opinion, discussing politics was pointless. In those discussions or just the future shouting matches, if one didn't want to be humble about it, each person would helplessly be trying to convince the other person that they were right and the other was wrong.

When all participants had this objective goal, they would all be doomed to fail in their efforts. Nobody wants to admit their own flawed view, because they don't see themselves as flawed. They see it as the right way to see the world.

Every person is unique. Every person had experienced different things, throughout their whole life. This means that through these experiences, their world view has been moulded into what it is today.

And, so, when others come about, spewing an opinion that is radically different to the one you currently believe, what will the sensible person think about it?

Will you leave behind everything you have learned, and follow this idea, with no background, other than the one the other person has told you about?

No, of course not! Going away from everything you have learned is doomed to fail. It is through failure, that we learn to succeed. Ignoring your failures is how you keep failing.

And, is this way of thinking limited to one person, in this whole political argument? No. That is how most people think.

“You're misunderstanding the whole purpose of the thing!”, Zep said. “Listen, if we focus on the economy, for now, we can eliminate the reasons for why the people in need ever came about.”

“People in need will always exist, in some form or another”, Charlie defended. “Please be realistic about this.”

“Oh, now we're talking about realism?” Zep slurred. “I thought we were still in the mindset of your perfect, little ideal world.”

“Keep the matter at hand, please”, Esme said from the side. “The people wish to be entertained, and not confused.”

That was something, coming from her. Currently, she stood second in minimal alcohol drinking. Troy was first, in that department, no matter how little he liked it. But, Adam had advised him not to, and Troy had long ago decided that his word was more reasonable, then whatever he himself had to say about it.

From his chair, Charlie abruptly leaned forward. Troy thought, that he was about to vomit a little early into the night, but it turned out Charlie just wanted one of the bottles in the middle.

Together, as a group, they had just gotten themselves a mishmash of bottles, a couple of drinking glasses, and a wide assortment of nuts. This group apparently didn't trust the bartenders, with their proportional dealing, so they wanted to do it all themselves.

But, as it turned out, Charlie had gotten the genius idea of simply forgoing the creation of fancy cocktails. He even forewent putting the liquid in his glass, and just drank straight from the bottle.

“Stop that!”, Zep said, in response to his actions. “Other people want that too, you know.”

“How large a shame, that must be”, Charlie responded. “Maybe, and just maybe, there should be a state-mandated sharing-policy. That's just an idea, of course. Nothing that anybody reasonable would agree with.”

“If you did, that would prove a point, it was disgusting”, Darlow pointed out, before grabbing his glass and handing it out in Charlie's direction. “Give me a good sip of it. The regular way, please.”

“Cant”, Charlie said, with an innocent shrug.

“Why?” Darlow asked.

“The bottle is empty.”

“If you just downed a whole flask-load of liquor, I am taking you to the bathroom, and making you throw up,” Darlow said.

“Oh, relax!”, Charlie stated, with his customary hand waving. “The bottle was much more than half empty. I think the bartender might've clipped us on it if I'm being honest.”

“Well, then just go up and complain about it,” Esme said. “And bring back some more, on the way.”

Charlie stood up, with the grace of an extremely sober man.

“Great idea”, Charlie said, throwing his shoulder back, and causing loud pops to emanate from them.

Charlie looked over at Troy.

“You want to come with me?” Charlie asked him.

Troy wasn't too sure about it. He was rather enjoying the chair. His mind was slowly relaxing itself, to the point where he could stare out into nothing, and enjoy it. Troy just needed a couple more-

'Accept it. Trust me, you'll want to talk personally with him.', Adam sent out, with his usual monotone voice.

Troy sighed, as he stood up.

“Let us go, I guess”, Troy stated, as he walked with Charlie. And, he had been so close to the right zone.

And off they went, in the legendary quest for more booze. Booze which Troy wouldn't be partaking in, yet still paying for. Well, he would be paying a sixth of the price, but still.

The two walked in relative silence. When Troy took a glance at Charlie, he looked to simply be enjoying the atmosphere around him. With the presumed level of alcohol in his system, that wasn't likely to be too far from the truth.

“You know…”, Charlie slowly began, which drew in Troy's attention. Charlie stopped when he saw this.

“Yes?” Troy said, with the hint of Charlie needing to get a move on, with those words of his.

“Did we specify, when we would be Bach?” Charlie asked, with a weird pronunciation at the end. He even laughed, at what he said, after a second. Troy put his presumed level up a notch.

“No, I don't think so”, Troy said, immediately knowing, where he was going with this. “But, that doesn't mean, that we shouldn't hurry.”

“Oh, I think the complete opposite”, Charlie stated, with a fluent tone that implied. “We would be terrible people if we didn't bring back the needed beverages. But, there are so many kinds to choose from! It will require deep thinking, and much time for us, to figure out which they would like for us to bring.”

“Or”, Troy began, with a tone that showed exactly, what he thought of Charlie's, stupid idea. “We could just go back, and ask them about it.”

“But, where would the fun be in that, exactly?” Charlie said, as he brought an arm around Troy's neck. “Troy, you need to understand this! A night with the group is for adventure! We need not simple reasoning, which we use for our jobs. We must let the mind run free here!”

Was Troy getting tired, or did sighing just become a regular thing for him?

“You just want to drink here, right?” Troy asked.

“Now we're on the same wavelength,” Charlie happily said, drawing his arm out from Troy's neck, and hastily moving over to the bar.

“That didn't mean that I said-”, Troy began, but he could already see, that he would be getting no response. Charlie was rapidly firing instructions on how he wanted two cocktails to be made while nodding in Troy's direction.

At least he was sober enough to do that, Troy reasoned with himself. He couldn't be blamed, if Charlie got a little, red stomach, from drinking too much.

With Charlie preoccupied in his cocktail scheming, Troy decided to make himself useful, and get a seat at the bar. He was fine with staying here for a little while. He wasn't fine, though, with just standing on his feet, while doing so.

Troy found himself a pair of high, leather stools. They looked fancy, so that was a check with Charlie, and they also looked comfortable, so that filled pretty much any requirement.

So, he sat down and looked over at Charlie. He was still in a heated discussion with the bartender and looking to be making size comparisons with his arms. Should Troy be worried about what Charlie was ordering? He hoped it wasn't too expensive. If he needed to, he would try to signal a sorry to Adam before drinking.

…

Speaking of Adam…

Troy looked around himself as if generally observing his surroundings. No human was in a radius of ten meters. Everyone was out of hearing distance. And, if he held his hand to his mouth, nobody would see him talking.

The plan was set.

Troy visibly sighed, with a good stretch to make people see his actions, before leaning forwards with elbows on the table. He sniffed a little, and wiped the top of his nose, with his right hand.

“Mind explaining, why I needed to go with Charlie?” Troy quietly murmured to Adam. With a hasty glance to his sides, he saw nobody having noticed his action.

'I cannot explain now.', Adam quickly answered.

“And why would that be?” Troy murmured, accompanied with another scratch to his nose.

'Your tactic of averting notice will backfire soon. Don't reply to what I say again, please. We can't risk more notice.', Adam advised.

What did he mean, with more notice?

“Is it really so boring, without me?” Charlie suddenly asked from behind him.

Troy nearly jumped in his seat but was able to restrict himself to a rather large flinch. When exactly did he get here?

“Why do you ask?” Troy questioned himself.

“Well, here I am, going over to my temporary drinking partner”, Charlie dramatically began, as he sat. He handed a rather large, vertically, oval-shaped glass, with a murky grey liquid inside it, to Troy, who took it automatically.

What was in this, that could make which could make it look so… disgusting?

“And, when I get near, I hear him muttering to himself”, he continued, with Troy being increasingly uncomfortable. Charlie shouldn't have been able to hear him. In fact, he should still have been at the bar. Did he run here? “That makes me think; does he miss me that much? To satisfy himself, without my presence around him, he has to act like he's talking to another person, just so he can feel something! Oh, how dreadful. I weep inside, for him.”

Throughout his little speech, Charlie's voice grew gradually louder. Not to the point that it deafened the other noises, but soon, if he didn't stay quieter, the attraction of the people around them would be gained.

Suddenly, Charlie moved forward, grabbing Troy by his shoulders. If he hadn't put the drink down on the table, it would have been spilt onto them both.

“Was I correct?” Charlie asked. “Are you talking to yourself?”

“Uhm… Yeah?” Troy said hesitantly. What was he supposed to answer with? No? This one at least implied the wrong thing.

Charlie released his hold, and went back to a normal sitting position, all the madness of the situation gone in but a moment.

“Well, that's just boring”, Charlie said, before taking a sip of his drink.

Troy decided to do the same. God knew he needed it. Adam would understand when he had time to explain. In every person's life, there was a good reason to pick up some liquor and take a good, long sip. Even if it was doing a-

“It would have been much better if you were talking to that friend of yours.”

A deep breath was taken, in response. While drinking strong alcohol. His lungs did not agree with him, for the next few seconds, with harsh coughs rained down upon him.

“I'm sorry”, Troy began, after getting an average control of his lungs. “I'm not sure that I heard you right. What did you say?”

“I thought that it would have been better if you were just talking to that friend of yours”, Charlie clarified, with a casual tone. He didn't even look at Troy, instead of trying to fish out something in his drink.

'This was the reason why you needed to go with him.', Adam helpfully supplied to Troy.