❝i am a passenger tonight; i watch the world from inside❞
Title: patience
Series: Axis Powers Hetalia
Words: 300~
Characters: China (mentions of Confucius, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.)
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Written for hetalia_contest’s week 026 prompt, “games.” Confucius tries to teach Yao patience through mahjong.
patience
an old man sits quietly at the table, thoughtfully stroking his beard as he mulls over the pale white tiles lying before him. he raises his hand as though to move one, but then draws back, and thinks again. across from him, a young boy lets out an indignant huff.
we’re going to be sitting here all day, aru, if you don’t just make a move, already!
patience, yao, patience. lack of patience, even on small issues, can ruin a sound plan. no patience on small matters can mess up a big job.
sometimes, qiū, i wish you weren’t so wise. or that i was wiser.
ah, yes. if you were, maybe you wouldn’t lose so often.
yao looks down at the table and sees the move that qiū has just made. he slaps one hand to his forehead and groans. he has lost yet again.
patience, qiū reminds him ruefully.
---
yao is standing by the same table many years later; an older man but in many ways unchanged. slowly, he picks up the white tiles and places them, one by one, in a small box. his task complete, he closes the lid and slides the box up onto a shelf. he has a feeling he won’t be playing that game for some time. it is alright, however; he has patience.
---
hyung-nim! hurry up! we want to start! he turns at the sound of young soo’s voice, and sees his family-kiku, yen, and young soo, still boisterously calling out-seated at the low table, beckoning him.
he takes his seat at the table slowly, as though his body is old enough to match his age. he gently passes his hand over the smooth white tiles, smiling softly. only a little while ago, he had opened the box and found them covered with dust. now, however, they are worn with use.
aniki, young soo groans, are you going to make a move, or what?
patience, aru. yao smiles softly and begins to move a tile. patience.
---
footnotes;;
* mahjong is a game for four players that originated in China. Mahjong involves skill, strategy, and calculation, as well as a certain degree of luck (depending on the variation played, luck can be anything from a minor to a dominant factor in winning). In Asia, mahjong is also popularly played as a gambling game. In the game, each player is dealt either thirteen or sixteen tiles in a hand, depending on the variation being played. On their turn, players draw a tile and discard one, with the goal of making four or five melds (also depending on the variation) and one pair, or "head". Winning comes "on the draw" by drawing a new or discarded tile that completes the hand. Thus, a winning hand actually contains fourteen (or seventeen) tiles.
* One of the myths of the origin of mahjong suggests that Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher, developed the game in about 500 BC. This assertion is likely to be apocryphal. According to this myth, the appearance of the game in the various Chinese states coincided with Confucius' travels at the time he was teaching his new doctrines. His actual name was 孔丘, Kǒng Qiū. Kǒng is a common family name in China. He was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese thought and life.
* Mahjong was banned by the government of People's Republic of China when the country was founded in 1949. The new Communist government forbade any gambling activities, which were regarded as symbols of capitalist corruption. After the Cultural Revolution, the game was revived, dissociated with gambling elements, and the prohibition was revoked in 1985. Today, it is a favorite pastime in China and other Chinese-speaking communities.
* My name for Vietnam is Yen.
Series: Axis Powers Hetalia
Words: 300~
Characters: China (mentions of Confucius, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.)
Rating: G
Warnings: n/a
Summary: Written for hetalia_contest’s week 026 prompt, “games.” Confucius tries to teach Yao patience through mahjong.
patience
an old man sits quietly at the table, thoughtfully stroking his beard as he mulls over the pale white tiles lying before him. he raises his hand as though to move one, but then draws back, and thinks again. across from him, a young boy lets out an indignant huff.
we’re going to be sitting here all day, aru, if you don’t just make a move, already!
patience, yao, patience. lack of patience, even on small issues, can ruin a sound plan. no patience on small matters can mess up a big job.
sometimes, qiū, i wish you weren’t so wise. or that i was wiser.
ah, yes. if you were, maybe you wouldn’t lose so often.
yao looks down at the table and sees the move that qiū has just made. he slaps one hand to his forehead and groans. he has lost yet again.
patience, qiū reminds him ruefully.
---
yao is standing by the same table many years later; an older man but in many ways unchanged. slowly, he picks up the white tiles and places them, one by one, in a small box. his task complete, he closes the lid and slides the box up onto a shelf. he has a feeling he won’t be playing that game for some time. it is alright, however; he has patience.
---
hyung-nim! hurry up! we want to start! he turns at the sound of young soo’s voice, and sees his family-kiku, yen, and young soo, still boisterously calling out-seated at the low table, beckoning him.
he takes his seat at the table slowly, as though his body is old enough to match his age. he gently passes his hand over the smooth white tiles, smiling softly. only a little while ago, he had opened the box and found them covered with dust. now, however, they are worn with use.
aniki, young soo groans, are you going to make a move, or what?
patience, aru. yao smiles softly and begins to move a tile. patience.
---
footnotes;;
* mahjong is a game for four players that originated in China. Mahjong involves skill, strategy, and calculation, as well as a certain degree of luck (depending on the variation played, luck can be anything from a minor to a dominant factor in winning). In Asia, mahjong is also popularly played as a gambling game. In the game, each player is dealt either thirteen or sixteen tiles in a hand, depending on the variation being played. On their turn, players draw a tile and discard one, with the goal of making four or five melds (also depending on the variation) and one pair, or "head". Winning comes "on the draw" by drawing a new or discarded tile that completes the hand. Thus, a winning hand actually contains fourteen (or seventeen) tiles.
* One of the myths of the origin of mahjong suggests that Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher, developed the game in about 500 BC. This assertion is likely to be apocryphal. According to this myth, the appearance of the game in the various Chinese states coincided with Confucius' travels at the time he was teaching his new doctrines. His actual name was 孔丘, Kǒng Qiū. Kǒng is a common family name in China. He was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher, whose teachings and philosophy have deeply influenced Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese thought and life.
* Mahjong was banned by the government of People's Republic of China when the country was founded in 1949. The new Communist government forbade any gambling activities, which were regarded as symbols of capitalist corruption. After the Cultural Revolution, the game was revived, dissociated with gambling elements, and the prohibition was revoked in 1985. Today, it is a favorite pastime in China and other Chinese-speaking communities.
* My name for Vietnam is Yen.