Holiday Fic Post #7
This is the last post! Keep an eye out for the final holiday ficlet and my SLS fic. I'm going to write them tomorrow (I hope - that's the last writing day I have).
For americnxidiot - she requested board games/competitiveness and Leslie and Ben. This turned into nerdy LAN network games.
Now that she was living with Ben, Leslie had a much better sense of how he spent his time. Sure, he worked on his job hunt and read and watched television, but one of his hobbies was surprising.
Ben loved playing some computer game called Civilization.
Leslie looked up the game on Wikipedia and came to the following conclusions:
• There were multiple versions of Civilization.
• It involved world leaders.
• There were tons of ways to win.
• It was sort of like Risk, but it sounded more complex.
Even though Leslie was a pacifist, there was nothing wrong with playing war games on the computer. Chess was technically a war game. And she loved kicking Ben’s ass at chess. Ben rarely beat her at anything (except faux Model UN debates), but that didn’t stop him from trying. However, he did admit that Leslie’s drive to win frequently made him exhausted.
On Christmas Day, Leslie opened a copy of Civilization from Santa Claus (also known as herself). She had always been the game-master. This new game would test her mettle.
The next day, she installed it on her laptop and challenged Ben to a game.
If only she had known what would happen next.
**
“Okay, the first thing you have to do is pick your country,” Ben said.
They had set up their computers at the kitchen table. Ben sat across from her so she couldn’t see his screen.
Leslie was perplexed. There were so many choices and each country had a special trait.
“Well, I want to be Hillary Clinton. Why are there so few ladies in this game?” Leslie asked. She hadn’t started playing yet and she was already disappointed. How could Ben love something that didn’t feature women leaders on equal footing?
“Well, you could pick a leader and change their name to Hillary,” Ben countered. “The game has a historical focus, which is inherently patriarchal.”
“I love your insight on mass market computer games. Forget that I challenged you. Let’s forget about this and do something else.” Leslie waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“No, Knope. Since you issued a challenge, we must joust. You’re going down.”
Ben’s eyes were deadly serious.
**
Leslie opted to change George Washington’s name to Hillary Clinton of the Clintonites.
Her two units started next to the water, deep in the jungle.
“Great, it says my people are starving! How do I fix this?”
“You need to build a worker unit and tear down the trees,” Ben replied.
“I don’t see your units. Where are you?”
“You’ll find out when we exchange formal diplomatic relations for the first time.”
Leslie knew that wasn’t a sexy sentence, but she still thought it was sexy anyway.
**
Thirty minutes later, Leslie’s civilization of Clintonites was not doing well. Barbarians were invading their territory and Montezuma of the Aztecs was being openly hostile.
“Okay, what country are you?” Leslie rubbed her foot against Ben’s leg. Maybe by resorting to nontraditional tactics, she could gain some intelligence that would enhance her gameplay.
Ben gulped; he was clearly taking the bait. “I’m playing as Sejong of the Koreans. I think I’m on the other side of the world. I’d tell you more, but Alexander the Great keeps threatening me.”
He cursed under his breath. “Damnit, now I’m at war with the Greeks.”
“I’d help but I don’t know where to find you. Oh wait, I wouldn’t help because I want to win.” Leslie doubled over with laughter.
Ben didn’t look up from his computer screen. “I’m going ignore your future subterfuge attempts.”
**
Several hours later, the game was nearing an end. Several of the computer-controlled civilizations had been wiped out. Leslie didn’t understand the point of playing a game that went on for hours. She could have done so many other things today, like making New Years cookies; New Years and Christmas always required separate cookies.
Granted, it was fun to ally with the smaller independent cities and build the United Nations. In a few more turns, the nations would vote and Hillary Clinton would be the diplomatic victor. Ben had gone to war with several countries and they wouldn’t vote for him in a million years.
She was feeling pretty good about her chances until Ben’s country launched a spaceship, winning a space victory.
“This is dumb. How does winning the space race trump diplomacy, robust trade, and kindness?” Leslie whined.
“Because science is important,” Ben gloated.
“Tomorrow, we’re going to play a normal game. You can have this - this can be your thing.” Leslie threw her hands up in defeat.
“Remember, the winner of today’s game gets to pick the next game." He paused for a moment. "In other words, I get to pick.” Ben gave her a smug look.
Leslie stared him down. “You had better pick something I know how to play. Otherwise, it’s not a fair match.”
Ben extended his hand and they shook on it. “I’m always up for a fair challenge. This clearly was not an even battle.”
**
Leslie won the Game of Life, Chess, and Chutes and Ladders. Her winning streak was back with a vengeance. She loved winning.
And as long as she kept winning, Ben would never get to pick the next game.
That was the best prize Leslie could imagine.
For americnxidiot - she requested board games/competitiveness and Leslie and Ben. This turned into nerdy LAN network games.
Now that she was living with Ben, Leslie had a much better sense of how he spent his time. Sure, he worked on his job hunt and read and watched television, but one of his hobbies was surprising.
Ben loved playing some computer game called Civilization.
Leslie looked up the game on Wikipedia and came to the following conclusions:
• There were multiple versions of Civilization.
• It involved world leaders.
• There were tons of ways to win.
• It was sort of like Risk, but it sounded more complex.
Even though Leslie was a pacifist, there was nothing wrong with playing war games on the computer. Chess was technically a war game. And she loved kicking Ben’s ass at chess. Ben rarely beat her at anything (except faux Model UN debates), but that didn’t stop him from trying. However, he did admit that Leslie’s drive to win frequently made him exhausted.
On Christmas Day, Leslie opened a copy of Civilization from Santa Claus (also known as herself). She had always been the game-master. This new game would test her mettle.
The next day, she installed it on her laptop and challenged Ben to a game.
If only she had known what would happen next.
**
“Okay, the first thing you have to do is pick your country,” Ben said.
They had set up their computers at the kitchen table. Ben sat across from her so she couldn’t see his screen.
Leslie was perplexed. There were so many choices and each country had a special trait.
“Well, I want to be Hillary Clinton. Why are there so few ladies in this game?” Leslie asked. She hadn’t started playing yet and she was already disappointed. How could Ben love something that didn’t feature women leaders on equal footing?
“Well, you could pick a leader and change their name to Hillary,” Ben countered. “The game has a historical focus, which is inherently patriarchal.”
“I love your insight on mass market computer games. Forget that I challenged you. Let’s forget about this and do something else.” Leslie waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
“No, Knope. Since you issued a challenge, we must joust. You’re going down.”
Ben’s eyes were deadly serious.
**
Leslie opted to change George Washington’s name to Hillary Clinton of the Clintonites.
Her two units started next to the water, deep in the jungle.
“Great, it says my people are starving! How do I fix this?”
“You need to build a worker unit and tear down the trees,” Ben replied.
“I don’t see your units. Where are you?”
“You’ll find out when we exchange formal diplomatic relations for the first time.”
Leslie knew that wasn’t a sexy sentence, but she still thought it was sexy anyway.
**
Thirty minutes later, Leslie’s civilization of Clintonites was not doing well. Barbarians were invading their territory and Montezuma of the Aztecs was being openly hostile.
“Okay, what country are you?” Leslie rubbed her foot against Ben’s leg. Maybe by resorting to nontraditional tactics, she could gain some intelligence that would enhance her gameplay.
Ben gulped; he was clearly taking the bait. “I’m playing as Sejong of the Koreans. I think I’m on the other side of the world. I’d tell you more, but Alexander the Great keeps threatening me.”
He cursed under his breath. “Damnit, now I’m at war with the Greeks.”
“I’d help but I don’t know where to find you. Oh wait, I wouldn’t help because I want to win.” Leslie doubled over with laughter.
Ben didn’t look up from his computer screen. “I’m going ignore your future subterfuge attempts.”
**
Several hours later, the game was nearing an end. Several of the computer-controlled civilizations had been wiped out. Leslie didn’t understand the point of playing a game that went on for hours. She could have done so many other things today, like making New Years cookies; New Years and Christmas always required separate cookies.
Granted, it was fun to ally with the smaller independent cities and build the United Nations. In a few more turns, the nations would vote and Hillary Clinton would be the diplomatic victor. Ben had gone to war with several countries and they wouldn’t vote for him in a million years.
She was feeling pretty good about her chances until Ben’s country launched a spaceship, winning a space victory.
“This is dumb. How does winning the space race trump diplomacy, robust trade, and kindness?” Leslie whined.
“Because science is important,” Ben gloated.
“Tomorrow, we’re going to play a normal game. You can have this - this can be your thing.” Leslie threw her hands up in defeat.
“Remember, the winner of today’s game gets to pick the next game." He paused for a moment. "In other words, I get to pick.” Ben gave her a smug look.
Leslie stared him down. “You had better pick something I know how to play. Otherwise, it’s not a fair match.”
Ben extended his hand and they shook on it. “I’m always up for a fair challenge. This clearly was not an even battle.”
**
Leslie won the Game of Life, Chess, and Chutes and Ladders. Her winning streak was back with a vengeance. She loved winning.
And as long as she kept winning, Ben would never get to pick the next game.
That was the best prize Leslie could imagine.