After suffering many hardships, brief moments of jubilous joy, but mostly dark dark moments K_W had been pondering about this idea for a very long time. To share his experiences, coping mechanisms and tips and tricks with his peers. The gambling addicts, whether their vices are small or big, on black jack, dice or slots, all kinds of gamblers who cannot find the block gambling button are welcome.

After looking for a venue, a small basement far away from the casinos, underground poker cellars, he finds a small meeting room in the German district within the South Side of Chicago. Knowing this is the right place, for Germans were hardworking and risk averse he knew this would be a safe place as well as anonymous enough for low amount of organized crime personnel dwelled in this neighborhood of the district.

After a short period of getting enough seating, preparing some topics that could be discussed and finding a coffee maker with a hidden panel for essential "secret punch ingredients" for the coffees served at the meetings K_W decided to make some flyers that could be shared to trusted peers who he had seen in the casinos he frequented oftenly. He could see their faces with his eyes closed -Telkin-, Karmen, Hate, Ameliagato, Missniki, and more he could think of 

But he knew he would also need strong men and women, men or women whom have either always resisted the temptation or have learned to control their addiction, he thinks of people who could be sponsors, people like Borya, @Gentlemenjackdiamond, Insight, Skadi. They would help us hopeless souls from dicing away our retirement money, our money for the rest of our meals of the month.

As he made the invitations for the next meeting he could not help but think if he would hit the casino now, how would he fare. But no no, he had to be strong, set the example for all his peers to join him for the discussion groups. Maybe he should check if he could find a sponsor already before the meetings even started.

Karmen was sitting at her desk, rifling through mail, when she spotted an invitation of sorts. She picked it up between two fingers, holding it close to her face. Her eyes weren't seeing very well lately and she thought to herself that she definitely needed to get her eyes checked. 

After reading it completely, she realized it was an invitation to a Gambler's Anonymous meeting from K_W. She laughed to herself and then remembered that she had just lost a ton of cash the previous evening at Dice, then thought that maybe the meeting wasn't such a bad idea. She did need to start saving her cash anyways.

She started to get ready to head to the first meeting, putting her light jacket over her shoulders, when she thought maybe she could invite a couple of Black Bottom's finest to come with her. She headed down the hall to TurkeyBear's office, knocking twice before pushing open the door. She threw the invite on TB's desk, laughed and said, "I think you're more addicted to gambling than I am! Perhaps this would be useful for you too! I'm gonna contact Loosen as well and see if he'll want to tag along. We sure do have a lot of gamblers in Black Bottom.."

She turned to walk back to her office where she had a phone on the wall that she could use to call Loosen. She dialed his number, and when he picked up she said, "Hey! It's Karmen. I'm getting ready to head to this Gambler's Anonymous meeting. It's just a short flight away in South Side, Chicago, so maybe we could save some time or money or whatever and all travel together? You gamble quite a bit and I thought maybe you could use this meeting! I already showed TurkeyBear the invite, so.. What do you say?"

It was raining hard on Chicago tonight. Onikage hurries along the dark dimly lit city street while trying to avoid ruining his tailored white leather shoes in one of the many puddles on his route.  Without warning he stops, turns and throws his umbrella well across the street and continues this rage with a barrage of kicks to a nearby automobile door leaving an enormous dent in its metal work, "Fuck, fuck, fuck, FUUUUUCK!" yells Onikage in anger giving the door one last boot "35,000,000 and all my fucking credits...what a stupid C@*T! I am IAM FUCKING RUINED!! AHHHHHHHH! I hate that fucking DICE game".

Letting out a huge sigh Oni clasps closed his long jacket in an attempt to keep out some of the damp drizzle descending from the heavens and observes the damage done to the car. He sighs again "Ah fuck! It's damaged now soooo...Fuck it!" The gangster shrugs his shoulders, deftly elbows the window in,  unlocks the door from within and jumps into the automobile shuffling into the drivers seat. 

Onikage was glad to be out of the rain and decided to use this opportunity to hoke through the wallets he had pick pocketed this afternoon. Smiling he pulls around 5K each from the first two and about half that from inside a third one, the fourth and final was empty apart from a stupid letter which Onikage reads just for amusement after stuffing all of his hard earned cash into his jacket pockets.

Taking his time he ponders on the letter.  It was letter of invite to a Gambler's Anonymous meeting from K_W. It was addressed to an unknown gangster as the ink had smudged terribly in the damp and the recipients name now unrecognisable.  Leaning back in the automobile Onikage finishes his smoke thinking about his gambling life and the letter.

Within minutes the decision was made.  The finished cigarette was flicked out the window, the automobile hotwired and traveling quickly the short distance to the German district of the town.  Soon he arrives, parks nearby and has one last cigarette before heading into the venue nervously. 

As K_W was preparing the coffee and cookies for the upcoming meeting that evening he heard a scuffle in front of the door, someone was muttering to himself and then he heard the creak of the doorknob moving and to his amazement a person walked in. He was not expecting people this early, but he was more than happy people found the invitation appealing enough to arrive. As he observed the person, looking rather gloom he decided to leave his preparations for later and walk up to the man.

Hello there, my name is K_W how are you doing?

Hmm sorry to hear about the losses, i know the feeling, the feeling of embarrassment but one cannot be too hard on themselves, sometimes greater forces are guiding our actions instead of making us be more in control.

What's your name good sir??

Onikage, ahh nice to meet you sir, I'm just preparing for the group session tonight, hopefully some more people will come. In the mean time please take a seat over there or in case you feel up for it you can help me with the coffee and the cookies and later we need to prepare some tea as well

After talking on the phone with Loosen for awhile, she had finally convinced him to go to the meeting with her and TurkeyBear. She had asked Loosen if he could get a flight to South Side, Chicago ready for them, to which he eagerly agreed. He was always so willing to help whenever it was needed, and it was always appreciated.

When she hung up the phone and turned towards her office door to exit the room, she saw TurkeyBear there waiting with a rather perturbed look on his face. He had a jacket hanging over his left arm and a pistol holstered on his right hip. She figured that was just precautionary, and she checked to make sure her gun was holstered at her hip as well, which it was. They carried their guns with them everywhere they went, just in case someone tried to burst through their bodyguards and get violent.

She said, "Well, ready to go Boss? Loosen will have the flight prepared for us and we'll be in Chicago in just a few short hours. You still sure you wanna' go?"

He nodded slowly and she laughed, saying, "Alright. Don't act so excited! It's scary."

She walked a few feet behind him as they exited the Headquarters, getting into the vehicle that was waiting outside. She assumed TB had arranged the ride ahead of time, and she was glad they wouldn't have to drive themselves.

~~~

A short time later, they arrived at the airport to see Loosen standing next to a plane waiting for them. She smiled and waved as they approached, and gave him a quick hug when she was in front of him.

She said, "Okay so.. The plan is, the meeting is in about... Four hours give or take.. So we should make it there with plenty of time, if the weather stays calm like it is. I hope this meeting really helps all of us. I'm sure we could all use a little extra money, you know?"

She smiled at the two men as they turned towards the stairs of the plane, making their way inside to take their seats just before the plane ascended into the air on the way to South Side, Chicago.

Unicorn in passing conversation received an invitation from Don K_W. Granted she wasn't an addict but apparently..she checked her notes..she was a sponsor of some sort. 

As she walked in she was warmly greeted by Don K_W and she smiled graciously. To Don K_W's delight she brought in a box of pastries some warm homemade banana bread whose smell invaded the room.

She walked over to the circular folded chairs to find Onikage with a furious expression on his face. She decided to sit across from him. 

After a few calls around to get the flight ready. He had them well prepared to get everyone to the meeting on time. He looks at the sky and says

"Weather is very good,we will surely be on time for the meeting!" As he signals the pilot to start the engine. The loud noise of it had meant that they were on their way to South Side, Chicago. He looks around and finds a bottle Dalmore 64 Trinitas that he had stashed away.

"Let us have a few drinks and we will arrive in Chicago in no time!" While pouring glasses around for TurkeyBear and Karmen. After a few minutes,the pilot signaled that we are about to take off and to relax. 

The pilot said, "We will land in Chicago in approximately 4 hours,enjoy the ride!"

While Loosen was pouring up the drinks, Karmen looked towards the front of the plane as the pilot peaked back saying they'd land in approximately four hours. She was a bit nervous about going to a meeting and talking about her problems but.. She figured it was best to get it all out there in the open. She knew that there would be sponsors there, and she knew who a couple of them were, but the others were mostly just names she had heard in passing. She also knew that there would be probably quite a few other gamblers just like herself, Loosen and TurkeyBear there, sharing their own stories of the highs and lows of gambling.

She accepted the glass of alcohol from Loosen, and they clinked their glasses together in a silent cheers before tipping back their shots. It tasted smoother than she originally thought it would and she instantly decided she wanted more of it. She wondered if K_W would be annoyed if they showed up at the meeting competely hammered drunk, and then giggled at the thought.

She said, "Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm kinda' excited about this meeting. I'm really hoping it helps me get over the urge to lose all my money at the dice table.. Do you think there will be a lot of people there? Or just a small crowd?"

As he sips his drink,he ponders at the question that Karmen had brought up and starts thinking.

"I believe there will be a fair amount of people at the meeting. Many of us has lost much at dice and i believe that this meeting K_W has brought up will help a lot of us folks out there that has the urge to gamble everything away."

Loosen takes another sip from his glass and could not help but feel very excited about the meeting. He is looking forward to meet the people who shares the similar problem he has been having. He suddenly hears the pilot calling out to him.

The pilot said, "We will be landing very shortly,hold on to your seats everyone."

As K_W continued preparing the meeting arrangements, going through the materials he collected and prepared as well as the refreshments he glimpses at onikage who decided to already take a seat in the circle of chairs that were set up for the meeting. He was hoping the man wouldn't be too bored waiting for the rest to show up. 

As he went on he heard a phone ring, it was his bodyguard Stuart who had been sent to the airport to meet with Karmen, Loosen and Turkeybear for they had sent notice they'd be all joining. The plane was scheduled to arrive in time, meaning they could land any minute now. Thinking that these were very influential and powerful people K_W was thinking he should make sure security was tight. So he ask an errand boy to bring a message to the Asgard HQ detailing a few more personnel next to K_W's own security detail.

As he finished writing the note, gave the boy a nickel to ensure speedy delivery he heard the door open again.

Hello there, miss Unicorn so glad you could make it tonight. That smells wonderful i'm sure it'll be the hit of the night that mighty fine looking and smelling banana bread, did you prepare it yourself?? Please feel free to wonder around the place, coffee should be ready in no time and I heard the delegation from black bottom, Detroit will be with us shortly.

K_W goes back to the paper stack with the agenda and exercise he thought could be use tonight. He also went through the step program again that he discussed with his own mentor the well known Don @Gentlemenjackdiamond who himself was very strict in staying away from the casino's and bailed him out numerous times when he got kicked out for losing all his credits at the dice tables again. Maybe he should just make a phone call to see if the Don might be able to squeeze in a guest appearance for the first meeting, since many high esteemed persons would be attending

Karmen watched as Loosen only sipped on his drink. She felt a bit embarassed for taking it as a shot but.. Oh well. What's done was done and maybe she wanted to be buzzed by the time they descended! She did like that feeling. It was rather nice.

She looked towards the pilot as he said they'd be landing soon, and she braced for the terrible feeling of landing. Karmen had never really been a fan of planes but.. To do the work she did, she kind of had to learn to tolerate flying. It was a huge fear of hers that the plane would go falling out of the sky at super fast speeds and crash into the ground, bursting into a huge ball of flames..

She shook the thought from her head and said, "Loosen, you're probably right. I think it will help everyone involved! Or at least we can hope!"

A few moments later, when the landing process was done and the plane had come to rest, she gathered up her purse and jacket from the seat next to her, getting up on shaky legs and making her way out of the plane. She was glad she lived to see another day and didn't die in a mass of flames, and she was even more glad to see a group of guards standing close to the plane, and a car that she could only assume would be driving herself, Loosen and TurkeyBear to the meeting in South Side.

She shook the hand of the man who appeared to be in charge, then got inside the car. She moved to the opposite side of the car so that Loosen and TB could sit as well, then when the door was shut, they were on their way.

~~~

They arrived a short time later and exited the car. Then they were led to a side door of a rather homely-looking building. She could only assume the meeting was in a basement of sorts, and she just hoped it wasn't one of the creepy ones. She was surprised when she walked in and saw the well-lit room, decorated nicely with food and drinks set out on a few tables.

She immediately spotted K_W and smiled, making her way over to him to give him a hug. 

"Thanks for the invite!" She said to him. "I'm just glad we were able to make the flight here. I think this will really help a lot of people! Hopefully you don't mind that I brought a couple extra people though!"

When she was done talking to K_W, she looked around the room again and saw a man that looked sort of familiar. She had seen him somewhere but at the moment couldn't quite think of where. And then she saw Unicorn, a good friend of hers. She was glad Unicorn was there, and thought she must be one of the sponsors at the meeting because she had never known her to be a gambler.

She took the empty seat next to Unicorn after asking if it was reserved for anyone, then said, "So, you're a sponsor, correct? Do you think this meeting will actually help anyone? Or do you think people are too stuck in their ways?"

Unicorn gently hugged Karmen as she sat next to her and whispered back,

"Yes I think I am a sponsor here." She eyed over to Onikage as he shifted angrily with a panic stricken look on his face. 

Unicorn got up and grabbed a small plate of banana bread and coffee, offering it to Karmen.

"How are you? How was your flight?" As she sat back down, the door swung open as more finely dressed high profile men came in, changing the mood to what would similarly be that of a poker game. But this was no poker game, she realized. The folding chairs in a circle were almost humbling, and the sounds of laughter between Karmen and Unicorn echoed as they sat in their well tailored beautiful skirts and jewels chatting up stories of their art gallery and truck heist adventures. 

 "So, you're a sponsor, correct? Do you think this meeting will actually help anyone? Or do you think people are too stuck in their ways?"

"I'm fairly optimistic about it, I think the fact we took the time and measure to come here is a start. As a sponsor I try to not even think of myself as one, we all have our addictions. It may not be gambling for me, but it's other things. " She trailed off, a rare moment of her private life slightly hinting, then quickly hiding. 

She continued to chat with Karmen, while waiting for others to join in. 

Karmen looked over to the well-dressed but panic-stricken man and said, "Who is that over there? He looks familiar. I just can't recall his name. He looks like he saw a ghost right before this or something."

She gave a sigh when Unicorn told her it was Onikage. She knew she had heard his name. She just had a blonde moment and forgot it. 

Turning to Unicorn just as she offered banana bread and coffee, she took the plate and cup, sitting the cup by her foot, and the plate on her lap, then saying, "Thank you for this. It looks really good! And, I'm glad you're here. Makes the environment a little more bright and cheery!"

She turned to watch the newest additions come into the room; two she didn't really recognize but knew were probably well known by others. Before this trip, she hadn't really gotten out much to actually meet new people and have actual conversations that didn't involve when the next load of Cocaine would be coming in.. So she didn't know very many people outside of her business contacts and family, and the few friends that called her everyday. For the most part she stayed cooped up in her office pouring over paperwork, so this trip away from Detroit for something other than work was much needed.

She remembered Unicorns questions and replied, "Oh, I'm doing well, thank you. The flight was really good. We had some good drinks and stuff on the flight, had a good buzz going by the time we landed. It didn't seem like it took very long at all! Which is good, because I absolutely hate planes.. And also, I completely agree with you. Everyone does have their addictions, whether it be food, or alcohol, or gambling, or drugs or.. other things. Just glad you're here and optimistic and willing to try to help other people overcome their demons!""

Karmen smiled and said, "How about you? How have you been? Did you fly here or were you already here on business?

As K_W witnessed the Detroit delegation enter the room, followed by a very friendly Karmen, he could somehow smell some booze on her breath, so unlike her he thought to himself. He gave firm handshakes with the 2 men she was with Loosen and Turkeybear showing them the respect their status would require he showed them where the refreshments were (seeing Karmen would definitely benefit from some coffee in her system) he left to see if his secretary had any more news on the invited persons whom he was still expecting.

As he heard another creak of the door he saw it was none other than ameliagato, and best of all she was bringing with her a basket full of cupcakes. He smiled as she remembered his addiction (yet another one) to these nice sweet pastries. As he chitchatted with her a bit before she moved to join the circle as well he was anxious and getting very nervous, all the people had come for this meeting and he was unsure whether he could make it worthwhile enough. 

He decided to make another inquiry to @Gentlemenjackdiamond and Hate to see if his close associates would join the meeting as well knowing they would be there to support him no matter how much he would fuck up. Also he remembered that GJD told him he might take with him another esteemed figure from the Chicago leadership, the one and only roboakheart.

He decided to drink a coffee as well to calm his nerves and prepare to open the meeting within the next 15 minutes, he knew many of the people in attendence were rather busy men and women and would not take it kindly to have their time wasted on waiting too much

Karmen was seated, talking to Unicorn, when a person walked in with a mask over their face, pointed a gun at Unicorn and shot her, point blank, before running back out of the building the way he, or she, came in. Karmen couldn't believe her eyes, that someone would do that.. In front of so many people. She thought it was probably with good reason but.. That was definitely not what she expected to happen at the Gamblers Anonymous meeting..

Her hands were shaking, and then she noticed splotches of blood on her clothes, on her arms, on her shoes, a pool of blood close to her foot.. She backed away from the still body, slowly, and made her way towards K_W and said, "So.. That happened.. I mean.. I have blood splatter on my clothes.. It's all over the floor there.. I don't know what to do.. Should this be postponed? I am in shock I think.. Pretty sure someone will be here soon to collect the body.. This is a sad day.."

Before K_W could reply, she walked over to the refreshments table to grab herself a cup and fill it with something liquidy. She didn't care what but she needed to occupy her shaking hands. Unicorn was always so nice and friendly.. She'd be missed for sure.. While taking a sip of her drink, which turned out to be sugarless tea (ew), she took a look around at the other people in the room who happened to be maintaining composure ten times better than she was at that current moment. But then, those people weren't sitting in the chair next to her in the middle of a conversation..

With her cup of tea, Karmen stood to the side to stay out of the way of the police and the other people that would surely be there soon, waiting to find out what was going to happen.