tsuntrader | Appointments Post

[This is like talking to Shino. He rolls his eyes and explains.]

This is the Silver General. There's two, actually. [He turns the piece over in his hand, and looks down at the second one.] If shogi tokens were real soldiers... Iiii would say that a Silver General is one of mellower ones in the group. An effective thinker that isn't as aggressive as the Gold General.

[...That's actually pretty accurate. Stupid shogi pieces...]

[He pulls out a Gold General now too, putting them both in the middle of the board where he can explain how they move together.]

These guys have complimentary movesets. Both can move one space forward in any direction. [Here he starts touching the spaces on the board with his fingers, following this arrangement.] And the Gold can move to these three spots, while the Silver goes in these directions.

Edited 2012-07-20 02:26 (UTC)

[Nod. He looks down at the board again to start to imagine the possibilities. ...And not the fact that there are two complimentary pieces called Gold and Silver generals.]

[Shikamaru goes on to explain the final pieces, then how promoting works (every piece but the King, Rook, and Bishop can promote to a Gold General once in the enemy's zone). The next part gains some extra enthusiasm: dropping.]

Dropping is the coolest part of shogi. Say I take your Rook here. [He picks it up, and puts it on the drop tray at his left shoulder.] He comes over here, but whenever I want, I can put him back into play for my army.

[Shikamaru sticks the Rook back on the board, but turned around to point at Silver's army. He sticks it back into it's rightful place a moment later.]

The reverse is also true for you, with my pieces.

[...Whoa. That adds an entire new element to the game. He could call out the loyalty implications of the game, but he'll pass.

There's an unspoken "can I try it yet?" somewhere on his face, but he's patiently listening regardless.]

[Shikamaru takes the board off the turn table now, sliding that under the bed.

Traditionally Black goes first, but since Silver is a beginner he'll extend the first play to him. He gestures at the board: your move.]

[And then they began to play Shogi. Instead of making a million beginner mistakes, Silver pays attention and takes his sweet time making moves. It doesn't leave him error free, but it definitely makes for a better learning experience.]

[Games that end too quickly are boring, anyways. It's more interesting when the other person really thinks their moves over.

Plus Shikamaru like the sound of the slow clicking tiles, himself. Between that and the rain outside...

He looks out the window, his room being one of the few in the building that has one.]

It's really coming down out there.

...It's not that bad. [It's not the storm from a month ago, anyway.] Besides, it's nice to hear.

Heh. [He wasn't complaining, for once. Shikamaru leans backwards on his hands to get a better view of the window.]

[You're gonna need those hands to play, you know. Or at least one of them.]

[Gosh, the way you take forever on your moves it could be a while.]

[Well there I just moved, okay? Rude.]

[And he responds to that by leaning back forward and making his move five seconds later, scratching his stomach near the scar.]

[...Don't stare at it. Don't ask. Don't stare at it, don't ask.]

What happened to you? [This time it only takes him about twenty seconds to decide on a next move.]

Huh?

[He's just going to take this moment to point at the big scar, okay.]

Edited 2012-07-24 01:12 (UTC)

Aa. [He makes a move with his Rook, and continues on in the same tone he used to speak about the weather before.] I got shot on a mission. Back in March, I think? The end of it.

[...He got shot. Let's not touch on that and just stick to the mission part.]

What kinda mission?

It was a one-time thing. There was a flesh-like entity that had consumed an abandoned rogue faction facility of the Malnosso's, and threatened to breach the containment field they had around it.

They kept losing the men they sent in, so they called for some Luceti residents to handle it.

[...Sounds gross. Silver keeps quiet, but his face says enough.]

Yeah, that was about our faces too.

[And with good reason. Ugh.]

But it ended better than I anticipated.

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