USER #030066

[passio]

Black-as-can-be cats arrive a-pair,
Up on a rooftop, a plaintive eve,
And on the tips of their pointed tails hung
A wispy crescent-moon, looking hazy.
'O-wah, good evening,'
'O-wah, good evening!'
'O-wah, o-wah, o-wah!'
'O-wah, the man of this household is bedridden.'

A poem by Sakutaro Hagiwara, that I heard once from a friend. It seems things have calmed down since #FFFFFF arrived, but I wonder if that's the end of it.

How is everyone's literary analysis? I think we should be prepared for more mysterious messages, and maybe there's a way to prevent it before it gets bad.

Comments

[passio]

[ the only thing that dextera gives away is that he’s enjoying himself—it is tense, but there’s a lightness in the way he moves that suggests he’s unburdened by anything, except for the desire to win.

and even if he doesn’t, it’ll have been fun. he just doesn’t like to lose. ]

...

[ guren has gotten better already, though. he can see that, and even if he notices some moves that he himself wouldn’t make, they’re not bad—just different. dextera is used to playing against himself.

they’re quite evenly matched, and guren can surely see something bright and excited in dextera’s gaze compared to when he first came over. ]

[passio]

[ he feels like he’s being teased........ ]

I don’t know. I don’t think they’re in heat.

That sounds like a very different poem.

[passio]

I agree with you, but I guess we’ll never know for sure. I’m pretty sure the author is dead.

[pursestrings]

ah shit really
that sucks
got u to agree instead of asking more questions though

[The real(???) goal, obviously.]

[passio]

Was that your plan?

[ is he asking another question to be sassy or is it sincere? who knows! (it’s sincere.) ]

[swordfucker]

[ It’s nice to see Dextera like this. Who knew he liked chess so much... or that he’d be so good at it. Guren is adapting well, making new moves, cutting off strategies— but it seems as though Dextera always has an answer. Now, he’s backed against the corner, and his own solutions don’t actually go with the rules of chest.

If this were a real battle, it could be easy. He has pieces in enough places for a perfect set up, and while his king could take the fall, the rest of his pieces could sweep in. But, of course, the king is all that matters here. He holds on to hope until there’s no other move than one that sets him up to officially lose, and after a lot of frowning, he moves the piece and then sighs heavily, leaning back on his palms. He looks annoyed by his expression, but his eyes are lit up just as much, and he’s looking across to Dex. ]

Shut up. [ IN ADVANCE... WITH HIS EYES!!! ] How the hell did you get so good at chess, anyway?

[passio]

[ guren played a good game, to his credit. dextera would tell him as much, if he could—or maybe he wouldn't, and he would let guren go on thinking that dextera is just an unstoppable monster at chess. realistically, however, guren will probably be able to beat him, soon. he's a quick learner with a tactical mind, and dextera is just a guy who has played a lot of chess.

he goes ahead and takes guren's king even though it isn't at all necessary, and smiles peacefully up at guren's demand. ]

Heh heh.

[ he pulls his computer into his lap, typing his answer and then turning it around so guren can see. ]

I think I played it a lot as a kid. I haven't forgotten it.

[ luckily for guren, it's a more sincere answer than it could have been if he were in the mood to trash-talk....... ]

[swordfucker]

[ Well, that explains it, and Guren is glad to hear that he has some memories, even if they’re kind of... muscle memory. He still looks unimpressed though, frowning like he’s bothered and staring down at the board. His fingers hover over the piece he’d moved that had been wrong, he’s sure of it, and then he looks back at Dextera. ]

Let’s play again. [ An extra frown ] And don’t give me that smug look, punk. I’m only on my third game with this one.

[ FIGHT HIM ]

[passio]

[ dextera sets aside his laptop again, and then touches guren's hand where he had been hovering over the piece. although dex is quite proud of himself, he's not too proud to deny help—he's a kind winner, here, and guren seems to be onto it anyway.

he walks the piece back to where it had been when guren miscalculated, and then taps out a short progression of moves that might have served him better. guren probably doesn't need his help at this point, but it's an admission on dextera's part: he might have lost, if guren had gone this way instead. ]

[messianic]

[He doesn't see it as any great kindness... the bigger tragedy is that Dextera hasn't gotten the chance to hear more music, so isn't Minato just lucky he can help fix that?

Definitely just that.]

I don't mind at all. Just let me know when you'd like to meet up.

[Preferably soonish since he really isn't sure at this point how long his battery will last, even with the mp3 player turned off 90% of the time.]

[parodeity]

absolutely not
im a regular teenage guy and we despise homework

[pursestrings]

yeah definitely
the whole time

[good_ideas]

there's a poem about cats in heat?

[And he knows it?]

#FF8080

[queenofminiskirts]

i didn't really do well in school...and i don't think i really know how to appreciate poetry.

i'm more of a fairy tale kind of girl.

[And well, gravure magazines, but she doesn't freely admit it to strangers anymore.]

[passio]

When are you free?

[ he doesn't want to miss his chance now that he's made the decision to check it out... he's ready for the 2009-era top 40. ]

[passio]

Then don't worry. It's really not homework. It's just a suggestion.

[passio]

I'm sorry to have hassled you with questions.

It's just interesting to get another opinion.

[passio]

No! At least, I don't think so.

[ she got an exclamation point out of him! ]

[passio]

Fairy tales are nice, too. They have a lot to say.

What's your favorite?

[swordfucker]

[For a second, it seems like Guren might react poorly to the gesture. But his scowl slowly fades as each move is tapped out, and his eyes show his mood much more clearly— he's interested, and he's absorbing it all.

It's an entirely different perspective. To be able to play like this, to think ahead and think both ways, Dextera is extremely is intelligent. Of course, Guren won't compliment him aloud out of nowhere.]

I didn't even think to go that way. In a real battle, it wouldn't make any sense... [But that doesn't matter here, of course, and getting his head in this different mindset is still a little difficult.]

[queenofminiskirts]

they do, don't they? and they usually have happy endings too.

ah, that's hard to pick! hmmmmmmm...i guess it's the nightingale and the rose, right now? but that could be because our class did a play of it in middle school! but i definitely prefer our version over the original.

[In other words: she's biased.]

[passio]

[ for all the mistakes dextera has made in his journeys, he's learned a lot as well—and although he can't remember much of his time before the blaze, he was a scholar, too. so people have told him. he has a mind that doesn't seem to suit his shrinking-violet persona. ]

Hmm.

[ dextera tilts his head in such a way that, without words or gestures, he seems to be acknowledging that this isn't a real battle. he can't speak to whether or not guren's move would be tactically sound in a war, but here? there are better ways.

guren will get his rematch, anyway, so try to put this knowledge to the test. ]

[passio]

I don't think I know that one. What's it about?

Whatever version you want to tell me is fine.

[ not even getting into the fact that things like "class plays" and "middle school" are so far beyond his realm of understanding... this is the most accessible. ]

[swordfucker]

[He insists that Dextera starts again as white, and he's just as focused as he was the last time, all without looking focused at all. He doesn't want to give away anything, so he'll hide it all from his face and his body language. That's pretty standard.

Eventually, though, he passes a look at Dextera that's analyzing in a softer way. He has fun playing this, huh... Well, Guren does, too. But his having fun seems less impressive in the long run. Dextera seems more like someone who's needed fun for a while.

When he realizes he's staring like a weirdo and taking too long on his turn, he glances back down at the board. Hmm, a set up. An attempt to make him move one piece and start a chain of events that ruin his whole side of the board, but should he sacrifice a piece to prevent it? Or try a more daring and bold move from the side? Something that looks like his own set up, all to be a bluff.

Eventually, he picks something and slides his piece over, and then immediately looks back over at Dextera to see if there's a reaction.]

she is a terrible human and I'm so sorry

[good_ideas]

[Poor guy... if she wasn't enjoying this way too much, she would have cut him some slack.]

awwwwwww
and there's no way for us to find out about it either