endgames | 029 -- [Action || Video]

[The afternoon finds Shikamaru bundled up against the cold and out and about in parts of the village he won't normally be in. Wandering, it might look like; he drifts in and out of high-traffic areas like the bar and the item shop to places less visited. The coffee shop he'll be at for sure, and his final stop will be the building that was once Azzip's Pizza.

This will do.]

[Video]

[Later in the afternoon, with dark still far off, the journal feed will click on to see Shikamaru surrounded by various colorful boxes among other things. He folds his hands over a table.]

It's come to my attention over the last few months that some of you have never heard of boardgames, or have otherwise never played. As a reasonable guy, I can let a lot of things go, but that... just seems sad.

[He shakes his head here. With woe, even. And then he gestures to the board games from various worlds strewn in the background. Close inspection will find a shogi set, a chess board, Go, Pai Sho, Plateau, Candy Land, Mouse Trap, ~~Jumanji~~ and so on. You can pretty much make up any family-friendly board game you want here and he will have it somehow. Go for it, actually. He hasn't played all of them.]

I'm here to tell you why they're awesome. [...] And possibly to petition for a partner. It's troublesome, but you'd be surprised how hard that is to accomplish here...

Katara. [Hint, hint.] Kotomi-chan. [Who he can't tease as well, so he'd best clarify:] If you're still up for that.

[He shakes himself with a grin, saluting at the journal with his left hand. He picks up the nearest game.] Anyways, let's get started. It goes like this...

[And from here he'll be giving the abridged rules of the games he knows to start. Feel free to interrupt him, or call him out on any games he skips.]

[/end Voice]

[Action || Locked to Konan]

[Much later in the night, after he's seen to everything he needs to, Shikamaru takes a box out of a drawer and goes outside. From it, he withdraws an origami hummingbird, and contemplates it slowly for a few quiet minutes.

When he's done, he holds it up at eye level and speaks seriously.]

It's about time we spoke again. Don't you think?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I wouldn't be adverse.

And card games.

Do you have a favorite game or is it just all of them?

[He nods affirmatively to that - card games are also good. He's named after one, technically.]

Shogi.

[Nods his head.]

Also a good one. Know a few players of that here?

Law plays me, sometimes.

[And Itachi, once or twice. It's been a while.]

[Grins.] Somehow that doesn't surprise me.

Maybe I'll have to blackbird you both into a couple of games, eh.

Hey, I wouldn't be opposed. That may have been the subtle point to all of this.

[So subtle.]

Excellent. Shogi is actually one I'm not terrible at. Just don't ask me to play chess. My father always kicked my ass at it.

My old man whoops my butt at shogi too. [Even if he's the only one so far. Shikamaru's gotten a win once in a blue moon.] That's funny though. I only learned chess in Luceti.

Heh, really? I was starting to think it was a pretty universal game at this point.

It's a little limiting though. I get the idea of rooks, queens, and bishops only being able to move in certain directions, but I like that in Go it's a lot more about numbers and positioning, even though it's harder. That's why I like Shogi best though, eh? It's like the best of both games really.

That and then some. What makes it better than any other game for me is the dropping system.

Same for me, actually. [It makes him feel even more like a phoenix and reminds him of well... exactly what the Whitebeard pirates do with a lot of the enemy pirates they face. They covert them, basically. They're not as strong as the main crew, but still, anyone would be an idiot to think Doma was weak just because he wasn't a Whitebeard commander.]

Got a specific reason why it's your favorite aspect though? [Or is that too obvious a ploy to figure out strategies?]

[Yes, yes it is. So he'll be confusing.]

Metaphor for real life.

Same here.

You'd be amazed how big your army can get like in real life, eh?

Aa. But you're not limited to a set number of pieces there.

Aye. But you're also not limited on foes either.

Maybe. But that's why you focus on your own army.

How lucky that such a thing is even possible in shogi, eh?

There's a reason it was used as a teaching tool, in the early days.

Was it really?

Interesting. I always heard that Sengoku, the head of the marines in my world, was a master chess player. Part of the reason I could never beat my Pops, eh. Pops always had to be the best.

Wouldn't trust a leader who wasn't.

[Except Naruto.]

[Grins at that.]

Likewise.

[At least Luffy is the best... if not at chess.]