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

[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.]

[brynwieldr]

[....Eh, Leo won't troll Hijikata with a "that you know of". He's not that mean.]

I assume Souji has none either. He doesn't seem the type to take many lovers.

[koukai_kirai]

[That gets a small laugh out of Hijikata. He sips at his drink, considering the game board idly.]

Souji? He was never really interested in that sort of thing.

[You know, except for with Hijikata.]

[brynwieldr]

Except for with you, I presume.

[Leo waits for Hijikata's move. He's pretty sure Hijikata has him beat but. Maybe?]

I honestly do think you'd both be better for confessing, Hijikata. Souji likely knows he's important to you already, given how obvious your pining is. I fail to see how it would hurt him to admit it.

/5 years late with Starbucks

[koukai_kirai]

[He shrugs in acknowledgement of that first point, as he scans the board and deliberates with himself about the next move. He's got a few options, and honestly, he's considering how much of a fighting chance to give Leo at this point, which move would teach him more about the strategy of this game.]

I'm sure he does know he's important. It's just... difficult to discuss the matter without bringing our history into it. Feels like it's more sensible to focus on now, if we're both largely happy this way.

[brynwieldr]

Fair enough, though I will still suggest you try to put it out there simply because as your friend? It's painful watching you pine for a man who's right there.

[koukai_kirai]

It's that bad?

[He's gotten softer than he realized, he guesses.]

[He can hardly even blame himself, after all the months he spent watching Souji's life slip away from them both.]

[He fidgets with the piece in his hand, still dithering about where to put it down.]

[brynwieldr]

I'm extremely observant. I doubt most other people see it as readily as I do.