(Untitled)

[black_hawke]

Who: Hawke and YOU
What: THE RETURN OF BOARD GAEMS
When: June 18th-June 21st, afternoons.
Where: Der common room.
Warnings: INTENSE MONOPOLY ACTION

Comments

[things_go_boom]

"Hey little birdy."

The wunderkind sat on the chair opposite to him, putting her arms on the sides and looking over at his game. He seemed to be on his way to winning so there was no need to comment on his lack of skill like she loved to tease him about.

"Figured if I didn't find you in your room, you'd be either in the cafeteria or here." She crossed her legs. "Hey! You wanna play a game with me? I haven't had a good game of chess since a while!"

[black_hawke]

Oh yes. Hawke was totally showing this deck of cards who was boss, and was just about to clear the board. If only he'd been playing on the computer, all the cards would bounce at him on the screen forever and it would be the most glorious thing.

He supposed one could reproduce a similar effect in real life, but he honestly didn't feel like picking cards up off the floor.

When Lash joined him, he looked up and immediately began pushing the cards together. No sense in Solitaire when there were two people. He reached for the chessboard instead.

"Of course. It has been a long time, hasn't it."

[things_go_boom]

"It has! And you're find me to be a much tougher opponent this time around," she warned, helping him set up the pieces. "I've been practicing a lot lately. I figured I could ask you for a game eventually, but you're like my ultimate opponent! If I beat you today then I know I'll really be ready! At least, the chess part."

[black_hawke]

The very faintest traces of a smile crossed his lips as he began putting pawns in place, making sure that all the rows of pieces were straight before pushing the board into the middle of the table.

"Since you seem so confident in your abilities, I'll let you choose. White or black?"

[things_go_boom]

"Welllll, considering everything that has happened lately, I'm gonna pick white." She spun the board slightly so that the proper chess pieces were on her side, uncrossing her legs and leaning in more forward to ponder her move. They weren't playing with a standard timer, but she wanted to be fast enough anyway.

"You know, it's kinda interesting when you think about it." She pushed one of her center white rooks forward, looking around to make sure no one else was there. "The chess pieces are white and black too. White Dwarf, Black Hole...and it was one of the only games available back home. It's also a game about conquering your opponent and capturing their king too."

[black_hawke]

"White it is." He said, already contemplating a strategy. It had been a very long time since they'd played chess together, and Hawke had a feeling that she was going to surprise him. He'd have to surprise her right back.

He watched her first move carefully and sent forth one of his pawns. "Admittedly, the cards were to distract myself from that very thing."

[things_go_boom]

"Oh." He probably had been working a lot about that while she was busy on her own side, Lash realized. She pushed another of her pawn forward before speaking again. "You want me to change the subject? We could talk about lots of other different things. Like how much cyanide I could get to perfect a few bombs I've been building. Or how about the fact that Zapdos is coming back?"

She beamed.

"He asked me to name him!" Someone looked immensely proud of herself.

[black_hawke]

He raised his eyebrows at that, making his next move.

"Zapdos is coming back?" True, the Pokemon's departure had been sudden but not unnoticeable, and he wasn't sure how to feel about the inevitable return of the noisy student.

"And what did you name him?"

[things_go_boom]

Lash moved one of her knights. There. First chess formation was secured. She just had to keep this up.

"He is! We talked a bit and I think he just needed a bit of time out. Old enough to be part of the RAs too! As for the name..." she offhandedly pointed to one of the game systems in the back. "It comes from this game called Makanikki Kingdom. You play Overlord Zebba and his main rival is this loud mouthed guy named Alexander." Could you see the irony in there? Lash certainly did. "He gets nicknamed Alex a lot in the game and he's the god of thunder! I found it fitting." She crossed her arms again.

"And Zapdos...err Alex didn't protest. It does also means powerful king or something."

Naming your Pokemon after video game characters. This wasn't a video game, Lash.

[black_hawke]

Yes, leave it to Lash to name her Pokemon after video game characters. Well, if Zapdos liked it then Hawke guessed it was a win-win for everyone.

He folded his hands and rested his chin on them, contemplating his next move.

"You and Raiden," he said, "and your video games."

[things_go_boom]

"There is nothing wrong with video games!" she protested, watching him ponder his next move with a keen interest, doing her best not to tap her fingers too loudly. "There a lot you could learn from them. Heck imagine if we could train soldiers to use weapons properly just by having them use virtual AI! That could save sooo much money!"

[black_hawke]

"All right. There's nothing wrong with video games," he conceded, moving his next piece.

"Check."