Closed Post: The only way to learn is by playing

[futaille]

There has been a seismic shift in the pinball status quo and Grantaire unwittingly brought it just by mentioning the game at the wrong time. Or the right one, really. Watching Magnus play was honestly kind of amazing, but it also was a very fast shift in fortune, especially with tales of Alex even beyond that. And if Grantaire wanted any hope of keeping any Rs at all on the high score list long-term, he needed to refine his game. (Sometimes it's easier to be spurred on by someone clearly ahead of you than someone coming up behind.)

So he is, of course, in the game room one dark (and Dark) evening, working on improving. Of course, as always, his plans are fully subject to change when previous offers come back to the forefront.

Comments

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

"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.

[futaille]

"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."

[lightbearinglord]

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

[futaille]

"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."

[lightbearinglord]

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."

[futaille]

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."

[lightbearinglord]

"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.

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

"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.

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

"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."

[lightbearinglord]

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."

[futaille]

"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."

[lightbearinglord]

"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.

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

"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.

[futaille]

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