futaille | Closed Post: The only way to learn is by playing

Lan Wangji has not forgotten about his agreement with Grantaire. He rarely forgets anything¹. More pressing matters, however, have prevented him from seeking its fulfillment. Magnus is well enough now, but Lan Wangji has yet to discover any explanation for the attack that nearly took his life. Dark grinds onward, and the mood of the mansion is not a lighthearted one. He finds himself plagued by deeper and deeper unease, as if there is some threat he is missing, as if he could simply turn the right corner at the right moment and come up against some unseen enemy.

That uncharacteristic restlessness has him in the game room this evening. He meant only to glance inside -- its most frequent occupant is Shen Yuan, and they have nothing to say to one another. He stops, though, when he sees Grantaire. They have not spoken since this season began. Lan Wangji would like to be certain he is well.

He steps closer, watching Grantaire's activity with interest and curiosity. It is loud, fast, and distracting enough that he neglects to say anything, and only stands a pace behind him, observing.

¹Cue a laugh-track groan at this blatant abuse of the lever.

For the moment, he's too focused on the game to notice he's not actually alone in the room anymore. He's making a decent run of it and improving on his paddle timing even though he knows he's not where he's going to need to be yet. It's a start, at least.

When he finally loses his last ball, he huffs out a breath and starts to take a step back before he gets the sense of someone else being there, so he halts and turns in place instead.

"Oh! Lan Wangji!" For multiple reasons, the urge to laugh comes upon him for a moment, but he manages to channel it into a bright grin for the time being. "Hello! How long have you been here?"

At least Grantaire appears to be in good spirits. Now that he has been noticed, Lan Wangji drops into a polite bow, and as he straightens, says, "Young master. I believe I witnessed the majority of the game you just lost."

It is indeed fortunate that he's found things to keep his spirits up in light of a downturn in the amount of, well, spirits. At least there are enough of those to get by. "Ah. Well, at least I didn't have a terrible run at it with a witness, then." He shrugs. "The practice must be useful. But yes, this is pinball."

With a little additional surprise, Lan Wangji glances at the machine, his eyebrows lifting infinitesimally. "This is the game you wanted to teach me." Clearly, it is not what he expected.

Grantaire grins. "I do believe I mentioned the bells and flashes, at least."

"You did," Lan Wangji acknowledges. It constitutes a failure of imagination on his part. Having watched Grantaire play fills in several of the blank places in his understanding of what the game entails, but still: "Can you teach me now?"

He nods and steps to the side of the machine. "Of course. It's not very complicated, so I'm not sure how much teaching you'll actually need, but I'm certainly willing to impart all of my limited knowledge."

"Mn." With that second acknowledgment, Lan Wangji takes another moment to eye the pinball machine. As Grantaire says, the game does not appear overly complicated, and the goal of preventing the ball from falling seems clear enough. From his draping sleeve, he pulls two lengths of blue silk; these, he uses to bind up both sleeves, brisk about it. With that, he steps closer and presses the button labeled start.

"If you were watching, you know how it works, basically. You get three tries to build up points, and if you build up enough, you can add yourself to the high score list." He gestures to the display where there are still thankfully some Rs left on the list. "I have a suspicion the high score list is going to be entirely Magnus before long, though."

Lan Wangji's face betrays a flicker of pleasure and pride at the mention of Magnus, and the new information that Magnus is apparently skilled at this game. He nods crisply at Grantaire, however, before pulling back on the plunger and releasing the first ball.

Grantaire turns his attention to the playing surface to watch Lan Wangji play, on the narrow possibility he might actually have any hints or advice to offer after he finishes with his first ball.

Actually, the activity is instantly an appealing one. There is one goal: to prevent the ball from falling. There are only two buttons by which to achieve that goal. Lan Wangji narrows his focus, puts his hands at either side of the machine, and plays.

The first ball is lost quickly enough, because he is still acclimating to the way that the flippers move and to the layout of the bumpers, ramps, and other features of the machine. The second, though, he meets with more readiness, calm and assured as he continually sends the ball flying away from those flippers.

Grantaire had had an inkling that Lan Wangji would be good at pinball, but he wasn't expecting that to evidence itself quite as quickly as it is. There really is something impressive about watching someone do something well. "You're a natural."

"No," Lan Wangji answers without looking away from the cabinet. He catches the ball on a flipper and leaves that button depressed so it sits there as he looks at Grantaire. "I have trained extensively in several other pursuits that lend themselves to this one."

"Well, yes, in the interest of strict accuracy, that's a valid enough explanation, and it's why I thought you might take to the game well enough, but it's still not a guarantee, so I'm going to stand by my entirely frivolous statement regardless."

Lan Wangji's mouth twitches almost undetectably, the most distant threat of a smile. It is easy to see why Claudius loves Grantaire, although he wonders -- with a spike of pure fondness -- how the two of them ever get around to anything but talking at interminable length. "Mn," he says, solemn witness to the frivolity of said statement, as he turns back to the game and launches the ball again.

"And another advantage of introducing you to this game occurs to me now. Since your concentration is unassailable, there is no real issue with me talking to excess as you're playing and you won't accuse me of attempting to distract you to gain a competitive advantage, as I already know that is a lost cause."

In fact, Lan Wangji would only consider it a detriment to his own abilities if he allowed one talkative companion to destroy whatever advantage he may have. He darts one more amused glance at Grantaire as the ball ricochets off a bumper. It is essentially an invitation to continue talking, if he so desires.

Edited 2024-04-07 03:45 (UTC)

"I am very much looking forward to witnessing your first multiball, which is certainly an inevitability, but the sight will certainly be nearly akin to a ballet, which you are probably utterly unfamiliar with, now that I think on it, but I assure you it is a valid comparison."

"I have read of ballet." This he says without looking away from the machine, as the ball is beginning to slip slightly out of his control. He loses it, and frowns down at the cabinet as he considers how best to utilize the last ball of the game.

"That's fortunate enough, then... that you've read of ballet, I mean to say, not that you lost the ball, which is of course quite unfortunate."

"I will recover," Lan Wangji says dryly. Again, he pulls back the plunger and, now with a more calculated level of force as he has come to understand the mechanics of the game better, releases a ball. His gaze remains affixed to the machine as he speaks next. "After the dance Claudius hosted, I researched the history of dance in the western world."

He laughs a little. "In that case, you certainly know more than I do in some respects, as I've not looked into much of what became of dance after my time. Although now I'm beginning to wonder if I should, just for curiosity's sake. Perhaps at some point. After all, it's hardly as if there's a particularly limited amount of time available."

"Mn. I read of the classical mythology you mentioned to me as well." Considering that this is, literally, Lan Wangji's first ever game of pinball, a high score is not within his reach, but he mounts all his focus again for the third ball of the game. It became clear quickly enough that precise use of the buttons was of greater importance than any particular force, so each time he taps one, it is quick and decisive but without excessive pressure.

"Ah, see, and there I am on more even footing as it is exceedingly unlikely that more classical mythology has been created since my unceremonious departure from Paris."

"Mn," Lan Wangji says again. Even if he were inclined to say more, all of that aforementioned concentration is now directed elsewhere. He is still listening, though, even as he's continuing to accumulate a respectable number of points. This time around, he feels a much greater sense of control over the ball, its direction, and its speed.

He continues to watch with interest even though he continues to speak on nothing remotely related. "Although now I'm trying to envision what it would be like if more classical mythology had been created after the fact, and upon contemplation, I think it would be terrible. Those stories with the sensibilities of my time would just be abysmal."

If he were not dedicated to watching the game, Lan Wangji might make one of those subtle expressions of his that indicates interest, and that, again, invites Grantaire to continue. Unfortunately, he is indeed very focused, his eyes darting around the cabinet to follow the motions of the ball, but he is still more than happy to listen if Grantaire would like to elaborate.

"On the one hand, at least France isn't England, so it could be worse on that score. On the other, though, I suppose modern classical mythology should probably be left to the Greeks, should they so choose to explore it."

"Perhaps the god Dionysus could contribute," Lan Wangji notes. There is a very small frown somewhere in the vicinity of his eyebrows, beneath his forehead ribbon, as he continues to concentrate on the game. He is beginning, more and more, to utilize the trick of trapping the ball with one flipper, letting it settle, and then relaunching it at a precise and deliberate angle.

He pauses. "Huh. You're right. He's writing more just by virtue of being here, I suppose. That's fascinating." He watches a few of Lan Wangji's trap cycles. "Oh. Magnus taught me something the other day. You can bump the table a little to adjust the path of the ball. Helps save it sometimes if it's going to be lost. Just not too much."

Faintly surprised, Lan Wangji shoots one short-lived glance toward Grantaire, not one lengthy enough to disrupt his game. "That is within the rules?"

"Oh yes! He very specifically said it was part of the game. And since there are actual consequences for doing too much, I believe him." Yes, he may or may not have discovered the tilt after learning of this strategy.

"Thank you," Lan Wangji tells him, then, solemn. Naturally this would be one of the many topics about which Magnus is knowledgeable. He returns to the game, intent and seeking an opportunity to deploy this technique. He can see the value; there are times when a minor redirection would be incredibly helpful.

As the ball threatens to spiral into one of the gutters, he taps the side of the cabinet briskly with one palm. Unfortunately, the entire machine stutters to one side in answer, and a tilt warning begins flashing on the display.

"I should probably point out that that would count as a bit too much," he says wryly.

Lan Wangji levels a flat look at Grantaire. The efficacy is slightly undercut by how quickly he needs to look back at the machine to prevent himself from losing the ball entirely. "Thank you," he says, very dryly.

He only just manages not to burst into laughter. "You're welcome. I do try to be as helpful as I can."

"I do not believe that was the upper limit of your abilities." Lan Wangji is back to lightly frowning down at the pinball machine with his hands at the buttons. It is obvious that he will need to master the technique Grantaire described.

He does laugh now. "It warns you like that when it's close. If you do go too far, the flippers turn off and you lose the ball."

Edited 2024-04-08 01:29 (UTC)

"Mn." That would be an undesirable outcome, of course. Lan Wangji refocuses, all of his attention on the game; the frown disappears, leaving his face smooth and calm as he plays. After a stretch of easy saves, he again taps the side of the cabinet. The machine does not move quite so obviously this time, but it still tips slightly. The display informs him that he has accumulated another tilt warning. He pauses, balancing the ball on a flipper, and says, a bit darkly, "It is too sensitive."

He shrugs easily. "I don't think it's quite calibrated for cultivators. Just relative weaklings like myself."

Lan Wangji indulges briefly in the amusing thought of introducing this game to the Cloud Recesses. Most Lan cultivators have, at the least, above-average arm strength. He can picture his uncle's outrage at the distraction of it all. Lan Jingyi's education would become unsalvageable. "The handstands are to blame," he says as he sends the ball flying again.

"The clear and obvious lesson to take from this, then, is that I need to do more handstands."

"I have been teaching Magnus." Once more, his attention is trained on the cabinet and on honing the timing of the flippers. There will be nothing close to a high score from this game, but he would like to glean as much from the learning experience as possible.

"And I am sure that Magnus is a very diligent student."

If there is the slightest upward twitch at the corners of Lan Wangji's mouth in answer to that, Grantaire will never be able to prove it. "You would not be?"

He can't help but laugh a little. "I think the next person to call me diligent would be the first."

"Then you do not want my instruction in the art of handstands." As he says this, Lan Wangji finally loses the last ball of the game. He takes it in stride without any visible disappointment.

"I think I can manage well enough without those particular lessons. That said, that was impressive for a first game."

Lan Wangji, who has no particular metric for what constitutes an impressive game of pinball, merely watches the high scores scroll past, mildly dubious. "It is impossible to win, then? One must play until the inevitable loss."

He shrugs. "Like life, in a way."

Lan Wangji considers this, serious but unperturbed. Grantaire has a point. Then again, he thinks for the second time of his recent conversation with Claudius in the kitchen. There is an inevitable loss, but then one begins again. With that in mind, he presses start again. "To second chances."

He grins and turns again to watch. "To second chances."

It most likely comes as no surprise that Lan Wangji performs somewhat more admirably from the beginning this time around. He descends into unimpeachable concentration, perfectly still aside from the flicker of his fingers on the buttons. He manages, regrettably, to accumulate one more tilt warning in his efforts to redirect the ball -- but then, at last, he pulls off an appropriately-calibrated nudge the next time he tries. The machine truly is unreasonably sensitive, but at least now he knows how to coax it without aggravating it.

Grantaire watches with interest, unable to stop smiling. "I am absolutely going to credit this to my unimpeachable coaching."

"I would have performed much more poorly if I had not observed you before I began," Lan Wangji says. It's essentially an agreement. He has locked two balls now, and although he isn't entirely certain what the outcome will be when he locks a third, the goal is obvious enough that he is pursuing it singlemindedly.

"Exactly." He then notices what Lan Wangji is up to. "Oh, this is going to be good."

Rather than responding to Grantaire's comment, Lan Wangji returns the entirety of his attention to the game. He catches the ball on a flipper, bounces it at a precise angle such that it returns, and then rockets it directly into the final locking position. There is only the very slightest look of surprise on his face, a minute widening of his eyes, as the multiball begins, largely because there is no time to be surprised when he must contend with the consequences of what he has wrought.

"And behold! Multiball! Unequivocally my favorite part."

Again, Lan Wangji does not answer. The reason for this should be clear: he is occupied. It would be foolish, at this point, to try and track each ball's movement around the cabinet. That would lead only to distraction. It is like the second siege of the Burial Mounds. When one is beset by an unreasonable number of foes, it is possible only to react to each one as it approaches. He fixes his gaze on the flippers and sends each approaching ball flying crisply away.

"You know, I had a sneaking suspicion you would be good at this when it came up. I'm pleased to know my oracular skills remain unabated."

"I am not the only cultivator here." The challenge of this multiball is proving enjoyable, actually. Lan Wangji will inevitably begin losing these balls eventually, but not quite yet.

"True," he says easily, "but you're the only one I've seen playing pinball, so clearly it's my gift of prophecy."

With enough amusement that Grantaire may actually be able to detect it, Lan Wangji says, "You took fate into your own hands." He would absolutely not be touching this machine if not for Grantaire.

He laughs. "Well, that's certainly not an uncommon trait in prophecy."

"Thank you for the instruction," Lan Wangji says, meaning it. He was sincere when he said that he would have been much worse off without observing most of Grantaire's game when he entered the room. He frowns a little down at the cabinet again, as one of his balls slips down into a gutter before he can stop it.

"Ah, yes, I am a most exacting professor," Grantaire replies, not meaning it in the least. He makes a sympathetic sound, though, at the lost ball. "Hard luck. At least you still have the others."

Lan Wangji nods, still quite serious. He returns to the game with haste, so that no further balls will be lost.

"It's a little bit like juggling, only with somewhat more erratic timing. Not that I speak from a place of great personal experience when it comes to juggling, but the analogy still seems appropriate enough."

Indeed, it is as difficult to picture Grantaire juggling as it is to picture him performing a handstand. "This is a paltry number of balls for a juggler," Lan Wangji says. "Xiong Yiliao juggled nine to defeat the Song troops."

He blinks. "How do you defeat troops by juggling? I mean, yes, that is truly a prodigious amount of balls for it, but it doesn't seem like the most martial of hobbies. Had I known that was a possibility, the barricades might have ended very differently."

"The troops were enthralled by the display. While they were distracted, the Chu army launched a surprise attack." He delivers this with total impassivity as he continues to play.

"Excellent distraction, then. Although I'm not sure it would be broadly applicable, sadly enough."

"Xiong Yiliao was also a great warrior," Lan Wangji allows. And, perhaps, he would have been better at pinball than either of them, given his juggling prowess. He is down, again, to the single pinball -- although he accumulated a respectable number of points during his time with several in play.

"Well, that would certainly make a difference, yes." He continues to follow the track of the remaining ball. "Excellent multiballing."

The compliment earns Grantaire one barely-there warm glance, just a flicker before Lan Wangji hones in on the pinball machine again. He can go, now, for long stretches of easily keeping the ball aloft, his whole face perfectly still aside from the movement of his eyes as he follows it around the cabinet. When he does lose a ball, it is down to some truly unpredictable trick of the game's layout, the ball careening off a bumper at some startling angle or catching awkwardly on the tip of a flipper before he can save it. Moreover, he is, he finds, enjoying himself immensely. It comes as a faint but distinct surprise. Uncle would deride this as a waste of time and a frivolous indulgence. Wei Ying would love it. For better or for worse, Lan Wangji knows whose opinion he prefers to give weight.

"You know, it is a delight to provide an introduction to something entertaining that someone proves to be very good at. Even if it is, I suspect, yet another mark against my ever again so much as sniffing the high score list before very long. I shall have to account for that in my own pursuits."

Lan Wangji, now intent on making the most of his final ball of the game, confines his reaction to a single entertained little huff of an exhale. "Magnus is a demigod. I do not anticipate outstripping his abilities."

"Magnus was under the impression that he was not very good at the game. He was shocked at having to input his name for the high score."

"Magnus does not always see himself clearly." It is fond, as far as critiques go. He taps the side of the machine, very lightly, to save the ball from slipping into the gutter.

"Well, that is not an uncommon affliction for people to have," he says easily, utterly free of that affliction himself, of course.

Edited (i can havs cheezburger?) 2024-04-11 02:08 (UTC)

Lan Wangji, in the meantime, has the correlative affliction, of consistently finding himself caring deeply for the people who have the very worst, most incurable cases of that first affliction. "Mn." The single syllable constitutes a wry agreement.

"Yes, you are clearly an astute observer, I knew you would hardly need to be convinced of the fact."

Thirty-eight years of silent watchfulness have aided Lan Wangji in becoming a reasonable student of human nature, as Grantaire supposes. He suspects this game is nearly at an end, but as an exceptionally stubborn man, he draws a slow and even breath and applies himself to meditative focus for the remainder. Saving the ball narrowly from slipping out of his control is quite satisfying every time.

"Observer of both humanity and small metal balls, it seems."

"Among other things." It is not long after this that, at last, Lan Wangji loses his second game, a near-miss that rolls frustratingly just off the tip of the leftmost flipper. He looks soberly down at the cabinet for an extended moment, then back up to watch as the display scrolls through the high scores.

"It's Magnus at the top, and then I have the rest of them for the time being. Undoubtedly to be supplanted soon enough."

"I will endeavor to give you something to worry about," Lan Wangji says lightly. He steps away from the machine at last, rotating his wrists.

"Oh, the terror is already overtaking me, I assure you."

He keeps his expression entirely unreadable as he looks at Grantaire. "I have not even begun teaching you weiqi yet."

"Absolutely true. You have not."

"I will now, if you have the time."

"Of course! One nice thing about this place is a relatively clear schedule."

Surely, in a room designed for playing games, there is some table suitable for people to sit across from one another for that purpose. Lan Wangji nods toward said table, then. "Wait there." On the presumption that Grantaire will do as he's asked, he turns to head for his quarters to retrieve the game pieces.

Of course there is. He's played dominoes at that table. He does, of course, promptly sit at it to wait, although he does find himself wishing he had a book or something to keep himself occupied with in the meantime.

On the bright side, Lan Wangji generally moves efficiently, although he doesn't rush. On the slightly less bright side, he does take the time to kiss Wei Ying thoroughly upon finding him seated at his worktable in their bedchamber; thoroughly, by his standards, is the work of at least half an incense time. Once he is satisfied with himself, and satisfied that Wei Ying will remember to feed the rabbits, he gathers up the weiqi board and stones and returns downstairs with them in hand.

By the time Lan Wangji makes it back to the game room, Grantaire has taken up balancing his chair on the back legs while he studies the ceiling. Over fifteen minutes is an interminably long time when you just have to wait there, so he's actually started to consider a mural on the ceiling, possibly a game-focused parody of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Lan Wangji takes in this sight with silent amusement. It is exactly something Wei Ying would have done when they were younger, if they had had this style of chair at the Cloud Recesses. Come to think of it, it is exactly something Wei Ying would do now.

Without a word, he sets the weiqi board in the middle of the table, giving Grantaire the black stones and himself the white, and then takes his own seat.

And with that he plonks his chair heavily back down on all four legs. "Welcome back. I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten entirely."

"I would not have," Lan Wangji says, unruffled. Wei Ying did whine a little about it, but frankly, Lan Wangji does not expect this to last terribly long. He will return before too long. "You know nothing of this game?"

"Only what you already told me. So not much."

"You will begin, with the black stones," he explains, his voice embodying the calm and even cadence of a teacher in this moment. "The aim is to capture more of the board than I can capture with my white stones. Place a stone where you will, upon an intersection of the board's lines, and I will show you how it might be captured."

"Sure." He picks up a stone and looks at the board, deciding he doesn't know nearly enough about strategy to think it over too much, so he puts it down nearish but not quite at the center.

Lan Wangji gives him a small nod of approval. To demonstrate, he picks up four white stones and places them around Grantaire's black stone, just the way he did for Claudius. "In this instance, your stone would be captured. Each potential escape for your stone is known as a breath. Without breath, it is surrendered to me." He plucks those stones back into his palm.

"All right, so you basically want to suffocate the stones."

"In essence," Lan Wangji says, without any trace of amusement at the analogy. He contemplates the board before making his first proper move as he places a white stone a distance from Grantaire's. "The game ends when it is obvious that one of us has captured more of the board than the other. No positions can be repeated."

He puts another stone down about the same distance from his first as Lan Wangji's, although on the other side. "How obvious is obvious?"

Lan Wangji considers the board at length before placing his next stone. Only then does he answer. "If you are paying attention, obvious enough."

"I assume more experience makes it more obvious too. Like how very good chess players know who's won well before having to play it out." He places another piece.

Edited 2024-04-12 14:22 (UTC)

"Mn. Some strategies are more difficult to predict than others." Like Wei Ying's, much of the time, but Lan Wangji doesn't mind losing to him.

"That makes sense. It's a big board, so a lot of opportunities to make strange choices."

"There are smaller boards. I prefer not to go easy on beginners."

"How convenient. I prefer no one go easy on me."

Lan Wangji lets that pass with nothing more than one mild glance. Whether it is of approval or disapproval is impossible to determine. He's silent as he considers the board, but admittedly it is not difficult to keep playing against Grantaire, who has no concept of the overarching strategy just yet. He sets another stone in place.

Grantaire places another piece of his own. "I imagine this is the kind of game that could take a while to play, at least with evenly matched players. Such a large board with so many options to think through when you actually know what you're doing."

"My brother and I often played for several shichen at a time," Lan Wangji agrees. The two of them are almost perfectly matched as weiqi players, as they are in many things.

He doesn't have exact context but gathers easily enough that that's a reasonable amount of time. "Makes sense."

With apologies to Grantaire, Lan Wangji retreats into silence again. He's entirely still, contemplating the board before he makes his next move. As he said, he has no interest in going easy on beginners. Grantaire's skill level will rise to meet his, in time -- or not, depending on his diligence.

Grantaire absently plays with the stones in his bowl as he looks at the board himself. So early into the game, there are still so many options, and he has only a very basic understanding of the game, obviously, so while he's also thinking over moves, he's first contemplating places aesthetically before then going back to consider whether maybe it the spot in question might actually be strategically decent.

Edited 2024-04-14 03:09 (UTC)

After a protracted pause, Lan Wangji does in fact make a move. He notes the restless fiddling of Grantaire's hand as he does so. He lets another small pause pass, then begins to speak, both in a genuine effort to teach and so that Grantaire will have something on which to hang his attention. "It is wise to construct a defense by grouping your stones together. When they are connected, more breaths are available to them."

"Ah, safety in numbers, then." He sets his next stone down next to his first.

"Mn." Lan Wangji follows the motion of Grantaire's move with his eyes, remaining still otherwise. "Do not be too enamored of safety, however. The edges of the board may seem tempting, but they also reduce the number of breaths your stones have."

"That makes sense. Being cornered while under attack certainly is an effective way to remove the amount of breaths you have."

"Best not to be fighting with one's back to the river unless it is unavoidable," Lan Wangji agrees. He stays poised for a thoughtful stretch with a stone between his fingers before placing it at last.

Edited 2024-04-15 03:51 (UTC)

"Such as when the river is teeming with crocodiles. Very difficult to ford that way. I'm sure it's terrible for the horses. At least if there's cavalry involved. Even worse for the infantry, though. Maybe that is the ideal time to actually use elephants." He picks up one of his stones and absently rolls it in his fingers for a bit before placing it down near one of his others, shading towards the center.

Lan Wangji, who has now identified the general shape of the defense he would like to construct, is much quicker to deploy his next stone, in concert with the others. "In this game, you will need to persevere without elephants," he says dryly.

"Honestly, elephants where there shouldn't be and none where they would actually be useful. What a turn of events." He places his next stone.

There is obviously some story he is missing here. Lan Wangji says nothing, but he glances up, awaiting the explanation -- or, at least, the continuation -- that he presumes is forthcoming.

"I think I alluded to it at the meeting, but there was a well-regarded general of antiquity who decided to lead war elephants over mountains as part of an invasion force. It ended about as well for the elephants as one might expect."

"Mn." Lan Wangji recalls that, in fact. He did listen to everything Grantaire said, even the parts that made very little sense to him. "My apologies for the absence of elephants in weiqi."

"Apology accepted, but I'll withhold any actual complaint for the long-ago inventor of the game."

"That inventor's name is lost to history." Lan Wangji does appear faintly amused, however, if one knows how and where to look for the evidence of that.

"Yes, well, they know what they did."

Grantaire is so terribly lucky that Lan Wangji did not meet him earlier in life. Up until recently, he wouldn't have been half so capable of meeting this nonsense with a silent glance of indulgence. Grantaire does not appear to require significant input from him, so Lan Wangji returns to quiet contemplation of the weiqi board.

He has in fact never required significant input to continue speaking. "Although it would be interesting to teach an elephant to play the game. It's said that they're rather intelligent creatures. Although you would probably need to scale the board and stones up significantly to compensate for their size... It would be quite the spectacle."

Lan Wangji sets a stone in place, then, again, looks up. He is curious whether Grantaire will realize that it is his turn.

"And they could pick up the stones with their trunks and place them quite easily. Now, if they were playing against a human, it would probably be logistically a bit more difficult for the human to navigate, even if it were ultimately doable. So clearly the answer is to teach two elephants to play."

He does, however, pick up another stone and play it.

"I can think of only one elephant who might be available to us," Lan Wangji says. Assured that Grantaire has not forgotten what they are doing entirely, he makes his own move.

"Wait wait. We have an elephant here? How did I miss an elephant?"

Lan Wangji keeps a perfectly calm, immovable expression in place. "Alex. Magnus' companion. She can change her shape."

"Oh. That... It clearly means I'm used to this place, that someone who can turn into an elephant somehow makes more sense than an actual elephant to me."

"An elephant would find it difficult to fit inside the mansion," Lan Wangji agrees placidly.

"That seems likely. Although Temeraire apparently shrunk upon arrival, so maybe an elephant would too. I have to admit, seeing a half-sized elephant wandering through the hallways would be magnificent."

"Mn." One can hardly argue with that. Again, further speech on Lan Wangji's part seems wholly unnecessary.

"I would suggest a baby elephant toddling through the halls, but that would imply the existence of a mother elephant missing her young one or worse and that doesn't sit well at all."

Grantaire remains impressively endearing. Lan Wangji waits, again, to see if he will remember what they are doing or if the tragedy of the hypothetical motherless elephant will prove too distracting.

Hypothetical motherless elephants are important, okay. "I'd say perhaps the mother can come for a visit too, but that returns us to the logistics of an elephant in the mansion. Besides, then the baby would have its mother but they'd both be missing their herd, and if one elephant here would be unwieldy, an entire herd of them would be completely impossible."

A hypothetical travesty indeed. Lan Wangji puts on a perfectly neutral listening face and continues to wait.

"So perhaps if elephants do learn to-- oh, shit." He places another stone somewhat sheepishly.

"If elephants do learn to play, it probably won't be here."

That little profanity makes Lan Wangji's mouth twitch the slightest amount. "It is impossible to say whether elephants in other worlds are proficient at weiqi."

Grantaire's eyes widen fractionally and he immediately looks to the ceiling. "Mansion spirits, if you know of a world with weiqi-playing elephants, please let me visit for a day. Or even an hour. Just to see it."

Edited 2024-04-18 00:39 (UTC)

After a considering silence, one that he allows to shade toward potential disapproval entirely on purpose, Lan Wangji says, quite gravely, "Let me visit as well." He sets a stone down.

He grins. "It would be an excellent trip. Perfect for a monthly event, I would say."

"Better than the rest." The agreement comes with a touch more sincere emphasis than most of what he says.

"Well, I did temporarily get to be a dragon, but I do understand that I was unusually fortunate that day, so I won't disagree with you."

"Lung Tien Xiang?" Lan Wangji inquires with interest. Somehow, he had not imagined the dragon would be forced into these routine humiliations along with the rest of them.

He nods. "Temeraire, yes. Woke up in his pavilion that morning and realized I was lying on the floor before I realized that I was also... a dragon."

Truly, no one was spared. Lan Wangji is unsure whether he would have preferred to awaken in the form of a dragon, but it might at least have been distracting. "Then there was also a dragon in the form of a man that day."

"A dragon with very interesting taste in clothing, yes."

Lan Wangji allows the barest upward quirk of his eyebrows to convey the follow-up question for him.

"When I woke up as myself the next day, I was wearing a silken robe. Very unlike anything that had been in my closet." He pauses. "... I wonder if after Dark is over, the mansion could be prevailed upon to make a similar one that's actually sized for a dragon."

"Interesting?" Lan Wangji echoes, again fairly dry about it as he glances down at his own clothing. As always, he is dressed in several layers of crisp white robes.

His eyes widen. "Oh, no, no, not in a bad way, just in the sense of never personally having worn anything similar." A pause. "I don't think christening gowns count, as I was certainly too young to remember that, in any case."

Not that Lan Wangji was actually offended, but the hasty explanation serves to amuse him a little regardless. "Christening gowns?"

"Oh, right, you wouldn't... it's a long white gown for a baby to wear for their baptism. And that's a ceremony which is the first step to induct someone into the Church. Dipped in water three times, and since you're an infant, your parents make the vows in your stead, and it's basically a promise to raise you properly in the faith."

The ceremony itself doesn't sound inherently objectionable, but Lan Wangji would like to be certain he is directing his skepticism appropriately. As such, he asks, "This is the faith with the cruel god who punished humankind for seeking knowledge?"

He can't help but laugh. "That's one way to put it."

"Mn." The expression on Lan Wangji's face barely changes, but his disdain is obvious enough in that deliberate stillness.

"There are nuggets of goodness there, of course, but give anything to man for long enough and they'll certainly do their best to ruin those."

Lan Wangji tries not to take such a grim view of human nature, but given his own mood and the mood of the mansion as a whole recently, he also feels he is not in a position to argue the point. He nods, a little rueful.

"One wonders what justifications some men take for their actions after hearing 'love your neighbor as yourself'. But justifications are easy enough to make, so it's hardly surprising."

"Justifications are easy." Out of respect for the minor experiment he is conducting regarding whether Grantaire will ever remember to take a turn, Lan Wangji does not allow his gaze to stray to the board or to Grantaire's bowl of stones. "Doing what is right is less so."

Grantaire is an excellent experimental subject. "You won't get much disagreement from me on that score, but as an inveterate contrarian, I'll put forward that sometimes people put forward a great deal of effort to avoid doing what is right."

"Because true righteousness requires sacrifice," Lan Wangji counters. "The effort of avoiding it outweighs the effort of grasping for justification."

"And yet doing that usually sacrifices things much more valuable than anything they're reaching for."

"Mn." It's a quieter agreement, one more pointedly solemn. He can think of too many for whom that is true.

"I suppose it all comes down to what someone values, which often isn't what they claim to."

It would be impossible not to recall Jiang Wanyin's cold and angry face in answer to that, the fury in his posture as he ordered Wei Ying out of the Jiang family shrine, his equal fury anytime it becomes obvious that Wei Ying is lost to him. He claims to love him, yet every action he takes to keep his shixiong does nothing but drive him further away. "True enough."

"Granted, I'm not immune to that particular affliction, although I also certainly never claimed virtuousness."

In Lan Wangji's experience, those who claim virtue the most loudly are the least likely to deserve that claim. He doesn't argue this point directly, though; he only looks impassively at Grantaire, skeptical but subtle about it.

"Another reason to visit the land of the elephants. I have a suspicion that they're nowhere near as hypocritical."

Now they are truly straying off their intended path. "Young master," Lan Wangji says, gentle enough but perfectly level and steely about it, "focus."

"--oh." He turns a bit red, shifting in his seat not entirely unlike a child caught in the middle of some mischief. He swallows. "Right. Yes. Of course. Sorry."

He fishes a stone out of his bowl and plays it near one of his others.

That was a satisfyingly prompt response. Lan Wangji watches Grantaire's reaction with some bemusement. That was by far one of the mildest chastisements he is capable of giving. He considers his options, then deploys his own white stone, now beginning the task of encroaching on Grantaire's territory.

Edited 2024-04-19 17:33 (UTC)

Grantaire, although bouncing one heel against one of the legs of his chair, still manages to actually study the board to the best of his admittedly limited ability and places a stone at the approximate midpoint between two of his small stone clusters.

One of those clusters is vulnerable, whether Grantaire has noticed it or not. Lan Wangji calmly makes his next move.

Of course he hasn't. Well, not that one in particular, as he's fairly certain every stone he's played is likely fairly vulnerable. Still, he's doing his best. He plays again, which actually does a reasonable job of shoring up an entirely different cluster.

Lan Wangji is quiet for a prolonged moment. The twin silence from Grantaire is disorienting. He has not played with such a quiet weiqi partner since the last time he played with his brother, and that was years ago now. After that moment, he neatly captures a cluster of Grantaire's stones.

At least unlike Lan Xichen, Grantaire can't be silent for that long, all told. "I probably should have seen that coming. Although in fairness, I suspected it might be coming, if not exactly there and then. But I think that's only attributed to the fact that I recognize that I really only barely know what I'm doing, so it was more or less a given."

It is actually something of a relief to hear Grantaire speaking again. Lan Wangji was beginning to feel concern that he had broken one of Claudius' lovers, which would have been a difficult error to explain to one's best friend. "It is not an easy game," he allows. "You will not do well this time."

Human beings do tend to lack instruction manuals, and that can complicate things¹, but no long-term damage this time. "Oh, doing miserably was a given. I'd guess it's somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty games before someone starts doing slightly less miserably." He places a stone.

¹If Grantaire did have an instruction manual, the troubleshooting section probably would have just said 'toss him in a room with Enjolras for ten minutes, he'll be fine'.

Edited 2024-04-20 03:32 (UTC)

Lan Wangji weighs this figure in his mind. "Claudius is beginning to improve," he says, "and we have played fewer than fifty games. But he has yet to defeat me." As if to punctuate that, he sets another stone in place himself.

"Ah, so probably closer to a hundred before I start getting hints of respectability." He sets a stone. "... In the game. I am in no way actually respectable."

Grantaire's hasty claim of disreputability has an endearing quality to it, like a street cat boasting of being a tiger. "Mn," Lan Wangji says, neutrally indulgent.

Tigers are not in wide supply in Paris. One does what one can. "Actually, no, probably more than a hundred. At least a game for each spot on the board. Which although numbers are hardly my strongest suit, I am fairly sure it more than outstrips a mere hundred."

"Three hundred and sixty-one," Lan Wangji supplies promptly. In the meantime, he is making inroads on the goal of setting up a trap for another group of Grantaire's stones.

"So if I played a game every day for a year, I'd marginally understand what I'm doing by the end of it." He ponders that. "Actually, the years are longer here. So it would not take a year." He does get the vague sense that that group of stones is in danger but doesn't have the slightest idea how to actually ward it off so places another stone in the general vicinity of it, at least. "... That makes me wonder, though. Are we all younger now, given that years are longer? We wouldn't have lived as many of them, total."

With, again, apologies to Grantaire, Lan Wangji does not appear particularly impressed by this bit of rhetoric. "Would you prefer to be younger?" he asks as he continues to neatly deploy his stones.

Oh come on, it's a lovely bit of rhetoric. And at least he's actually consistently remembering to play on his turns now."That depends on the circumstances, I think. Younger because of a trick of numbers, though? No, not in the least."

Lan Wangji takes note of that renewed consistency, of course. If he had known that that was all it took to coax his opponent into paying attention to the game, he would have done it much earlier. "You are hardly wizened as it is," he points out.

It's unlikely to last indefinitely, but it's certainly notable. "I don't know," he answers with a wry tinge to his voice. "It seems like I should have died months ago."

Lan Wangji doesn't answer that aloud, but perhaps unsurprisingly, he also doesn't find it particularly funny. He gives Grantaire a single sharp look as he sets his next stone in place.

Okay, so that one didn't land. Fair enough. He shrugs. "It's true enough. I'm hardly old. No need to be shaving time off, it's just interesting to think about. Odd that the days would be as long but the years so different."

The idea of the days being equally altered is actually quite unsettling. A look of perturbation passes fleetingly across Lan Wangji's features. "I am glad it is only the years and months."

"Oh, so am I. It makes things strange, but not intolerably strange."

"Mn," he agrees. There is no reason to tell Grantaire how regimented most of his days have been throughout his life, but it does lend some additional weight to his agreement. At that moment, he manages the place the final stone to capture another collection of Grantaire's.

He laughs. "I am serving up stones on a platter for you, aren't I?"

"It is quite considerate of you." As always, Lan Wangji manages to deliver this with a perfectly straight face and demeanor.

"Oh yes, that's me. Always ever so generous." He has no straight face or demeanor whatsoever.

"Thank you, then." It is fairly obvious that Grantaire is going to lose this game, but they may as well play to a more inevitable end. He will learn more that way.

"Oh, it's nothing."

In that case, Lan Wangji subsides into methodical attention to the game once more. He does, after all, have a husband to return to, and that husband will be more petulant the longer it takes him to return. Some petulance is desired -- but it's a matter of striking the correct balance.

There's clearly an attention quota for the game, as Grantaire's lapses a bit more frequently as the game goes on. (He does at one point manage to actually capture some stones, though! ... It's only two, but it's the principle of the thing!)

It is a start, and better than nothing. In time, Lan Wangji glances coolly at the board, a stone between his fingers, and then replaces it in the bowl from whence it came. He doesn't need it. "I win," he says, perfectly neutral about that fact. "You performed adequately for a beginner."

"Well, that is truly better than the verdict I was expecting, so thank you. And congratulations on the win, as inevitable as it was."

"Thank you," Lan Wangji says, meaning for all of it: for the exchange of knowledge, the company during this dreadful season, and for that congratulations. He takes the time to put his hands together for a little seated bow. Only then does he set to the task of gathering the stones back to their proper places.

Well, he's certainly not going to leave Lan Wangji to do all the cleanup himself, so he works in turn on collecting those stones of his that actually managed to stay on the board so he can put them back in their bowl.

The assistance earns him one approving glance, although it may be difficult to identify it as such. Once everything is tidied, Lan Wangji stands. "If you like, we can play again later."

"Certainly. Can't play hundreds of games to learn what I'm doing if I don't play two."

"Naturally." The weiqi board slips into his sleeve; the bowls, he balances in his hands. With a thoughtful glance at the pinball machine, Lan Wangji nods to Grantaire and then turns to go.

Closed Post: The only way to learn is by playing

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject