Strategy Games [close]

[brynwieldr]

Who: Leo and Hijikata
What: Shogi lessons, discussions of shinki, and Hijikata's Painfully Obvious Crush on Souji
When: June 20th, after Leo's shinki have basically ruined the week.
Where: Hachiman's temple
Summary: Saix is causing problems, Niles is staying at his boyfriend's, Leo needs some stress relief, and Takumi keeps kicking his ass at shogi. Time to find someone both not absolutely bonkers and can probably help Leo with shogi.

[Leo was going to refrain from hiding in Aymeric's wine cellar for now, despite really wanting to hide in Aymeric's wine cellar. What had he done to deserve this? True, he didn't expect anything different from Niles, but why did he have to have a berserker shinki and Niles?

He needed a break, but the next game he and Takumi were supposed to play was shogi and Leo was not in the mood to lose to Takumi again so he was out of the question.

So he went to Hijikata's. True, if the man was any good at shogi he'd likely kick Leo's ass but playing against someone who wasn't Takumi would give Leo a chance to learn more strategies, and anyway he hadn't seen the other man in a while. This was a good excuse for a visit.

Once at the temple, he begins looking for him and letting the quiet of the temple soothe his ravaged nerves]

Comments

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata hums a little bit, sipping at his drink as he considers his next move.]

I had a few years to be reluctant about that. Not much point, after this long.

[He reaches out at length, with another hard to decipher move.]

[brynwieldr]

Then why be so now? You are obviously in love with him, I'm fairly certain he's in love with you or at least close to it, and you're both here.

[He is so screwed, isn't he? His next move is completely random--and he tries to move one of the knights illegally, not really thinking.]

[koukai_kirai]

As long as he's happy, I'm content. I don't need to push this to be anything too particular. What's got you so concerned with it all of a sudden?

[He pauses, then adds:]

Can't move that there.

[brynwieldr]

Huh--oh. Wrong game.

[Leo adjusts his move]

Partially Niles apparently having someone he wants me to meet--which likely means he's found a boyfriend or a girlfriend and not just someone he sleeps with, knowing him--and partially a post the other day on the BBS that interested me.

[koukai_kirai]

[Hm. Not a bad move.]

Let me guess. The one from the shinki worried about being attracted to their god?

[He saw that one, too. He's quiet for a moment, then moves again, leaving a rather conspicuous weakness in his front line this time.]

[brynwieldr]

[Leo doesn't seem to notice the opening, instead making another move. He's planning to set it up so he can take the opening and create a second one]

Yes. I told them the same thing I've told you, just without my name attached since the older gods are bastards about that sort of thing and I don't enjoy being watched.

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata scoffs softly at the mention of the older gods. He likes a few of them well enough, but when it comes to their attitudes on things like this...]

They're too rigid about this kind of thing. It's a nuisance.

[And nothing more. Nothing he's going to let prevent him from holding on to one of the best things in his life.]

[brynwieldr]

They are. They don't want to accept that we're human and therefore can make our own decisions about what's right and what's wrong, and I see nothing wrong with a god and his shinki being in love.

[And then, jokingly:]

Maybe not get married. I think that may violate some master/retainer etiquette.

[koukai_kirai]

[He lets out a soft snort of laughter at that thought, because, well, it's absurd, isn't it?]

There might be a slight problem with that besides our ranks. Souji is a man, you know.

[brynwieldr]

Yes, and? That's a problem?

[koukai_kirai]

Not remotely. But it isn't as if I could marry him.

[Won't get any heirs that way. Marriage isn't really about love, after all. It's a political union on a small scale, and merged bloodlines are part and parcel of the whole thing.]

[brynwieldr]

Why not? It isn't as if you're a royal or anything...not that that's ever stopped anyone from marrying whoever they wanted and damn the rest of the world, to be honest. Records point to at least three former Nohrian rulers married to people of the same sex.

[koukai_kirai]

[Hijikata stares at him for a few long moments, not even sure what to say about that idea.]

[Then he shakes his head -- maybe he's just trying to throw off his focus? -- and moves a lance forward.]

You're joking.

[brynwieldr]

[Leo moves his king out of possible future check]

Not in the slightest. One ruler was particularly controversial, but mostly for her tax policies and how she handled criminals in her reign, not her wife.

[A pause]

Though her wife was also a problem because she went insane from messing with dark magic beyond her ken, but she wasn't the first person to do that.

[koukai_kirai]

Ridiculous.

[He rubs at his temple, still having trouble wrapping his mind around the very idea.]

How would they go about getting heirs?

[If someone were to do a thing like that in the first place.]

[brynwieldr]

In their case, the ruler's brother had several children and they simply adopted a couple as their heir and back up. In another, the king had a child by his original fiancée before he fell in love with his husband. The last was a regent who tried to become the real ruler, but was overthrown.

[koukai_kirai]

[He keeps expecting Leo to back down and admit he's putting him on about this, but it keeps... not happening? Something about that makes Hijikata sort of uncomfortable, almost nervous. He frowns, averting his eyes from the other man as he moves a pawn.]

...Not as if I'm really the marrying type, at any rate.

[brynwieldr]

Fair enough. I take it that marriages between two men or two women are unheard of, in your time?

[Leo attempts another illegal move]

[koukai_kirai]

Can't move there, either.

[He sips his drink, surveying the board while he waits for Leo to make a move that's actually legal.]

And yes, completely. It's not as if relationships of that sort are discouraged among men, but...

[He shrugs.]

Marriage is an obligation. Usually more to do with family ties and small-scale politics than with what anyone directly involved actually wants.

Sex and love are your own. Nothing to do with all of that mess.

[Never mind that Souji spent years happily teasing at the idea of being his "wife". Or that they started a family of sorts together. Nothing to do with it, alright?]

[brynwieldr]

Oh, dammit.

[He returns the piece and moves one he knows how to move]

There's a political aspect to most marriages, at least back home, but it's also perfectly acceptable for a Nohrian ruler to ignore everything for marrying the one they love. Of course, then you risk issues like my father had, countless concubines and children because he claimed to love any woman he slept with, but that's hardly unique.

[koukai_kirai]

The one they love... Letting that be a deciding factor honestly sounds rather novel.

Sounds like someone went a little overboard with it, though.

[He moves again, capturing a relatively unimportant piece from Leo's front line.]

[brynwieldr]

[Double dammit]

Yes, well, Father could never tell a woman "no", especially not if they carried his child.

[koukai_kirai]

That would complicate the matter of turning them away.

[He's lucky he didn't get anyone in trouble when he was younger... or at least not anyone willing to admit it was his fault.]

[brynwieldr]

Trust me, keeping all of us bastards didn't make things any easier either.

[koukai_kirai]

I can imagine. It's probably a good thing that Souji entered the picture before my luck ran out there.

[His luck at not having bastards, that is.]