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]

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

[futaille]

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.

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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."

[lightbearinglord]

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."

[futaille]

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'.

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

"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."

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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."

[lightbearinglord]

"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.

[futaille]

"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."

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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."

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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."

[lightbearinglord]

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.

[futaille]

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."

[lightbearinglord]

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."

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

"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.

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

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

[futaille]

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

[lightbearinglord]

"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.