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

[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."

[lightbearinglord]

"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.

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

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

[futaille]

"Absolutely true. You have not."

[lightbearinglord]

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

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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.

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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.

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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."

[lightbearinglord]

"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?"

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

"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."

[futaille]

"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.

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

"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."

[futaille]

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?"

[lightbearinglord]

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

[futaille]

"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.

[lightbearinglord]

"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.