IC INBOX

[cigsandbeer]

"Too bad; I'm busy with some shit. I'm only calling you back if you're a pretty woman ♥"

Comments

[deuceoftears]

"Uhhuhn, fuck me for giving you a choice, I guess. This ring track is the tutorial level so you can get a feel for the controls."

It's based on planetary rings: there's a clear path, but also gaps, moons, and twinkling lost treasures.

"The little swivel stick is for steering, and you tilt the whole controller for vertical altitude if you want to try to jump over something or dip below the track. Top button for acceleration, middle for stop, bottom one for grabbing and using the bonus items, they can do stuff like give you a boost or sabotage your opponents."

[cigsandbeer]

Fuck Jedao for giving Gojyo a choice, yes, very much. Gojyo never agreed to the easily-spooked feral dog treatment, so there.

"I don't need any tutorial level. Race me."

[deuceoftears]

"Don't be rude, good tutorials are hard to design," Jedao snips back. That's somebody's very hard work! Or a team of a hundred somebodies, probably, given the prestige of this series. "If you can get to the south pole of the lemon moon -" It's bluish-white, but very much shaped like a lemon - "That's where the level start trigger is."

[cigsandbeer]

"It ain't rude if it's true", Gojyo protests. But since he doesn't want to this to turn into a fight - especially not over something this stupid - he does start the tutorial level, albeit with some grumbling.

[deuceoftears]

"It's rude to the game designers to skip tutorials! It's like showing up late to a play or something," Jedao explains, though he's not terribly heated about it.

"Which is to say, you can skip the tutorial if it's badly designed, because then you're insulting their craft on purpose. But this one is pretty intuitive, I think."

How to be insulting in different cultures! They're learning about each other.

[cigsandbeer]

"People from your world really are weird about games", is Gojyo's conclusion. Who the hell puts any thought into the politics of playing-or-not-playing a freaking tutorial? Weirdos.

He does play through the entire tutorial, all the same. And, again: Gojyo has his weaknesses, but he picks up on the mechanics of the game impressively quickly. By the end of the tutorial, beginner-level though it may be, he's nailing the course. Once it's finished...

"Okay, now race me. Training wheels are off."

[deuceoftears]

"Yeah, that's fair," Jedao agrees, rather than bothering to quibble about the Shuos versus the rest of the Hexarchate. They are weird about it.

Jedao has been doing idle loop-de-loops while Gojyo navigates the tutorial, but the instant he triggers the level start, they're immediately dropped into the race; one of the functions of the tutorial is that if the group is all new players, whoever gets to the lemon moon first is rewarded for their quick learning with the advantage of cutting things short for their opponents. Jedao whoops happily as they start barreling down the space-themed track.

[cigsandbeer]

And this judgement is coming from a guy whose entire found family gets weird and thematically symbolical about games.

Gojyo throws himself into the race with his usual laizzes-faire entusiasm. He's good - impressively good for a complete beginner - but Jedao still likely has him beat in the end.

[deuceoftears]

It's not the kind of game Jedao plays all that often, so Gojyo isn't too far behind, but at least for the first few tracks, Jedao's greater familiarity with video games in general and knowledge of the classics have him comfortably ahead. But there are a lot of levels - all of them with interesting gimmicks and frankly gorgeous graphics - and a fair number of sabotage items meant to target the lead in a multi-player game and keep things interesting. So as they continue level to level, Jedao's lead starts to shrink.

[cigsandbeer]

The longer they play, the more intensively Gojyo's focus becomes. Eventually, several tracks in, he finally beats Jedao - with a slim margin and with help from the sabotage items - and cackles loudly over his victory. He won!!! In the moment, there's absolutely no consideration for the fact that being anything but a gracious winner could jeopardise the fragile peace they've achieved. Gojyo usually has plenty of emotional intelligence, but sometimes... he doesn't (at least it means he hasn't been overthinking this game battle at all).

[reformedsinner]

The smells of simmering broth and frying tempura have been slowly filling the air while Gojyo and Jedao battle it out; Gojyo's victory celebration is the cue for Hakkai to slip in front of both of them and set two bowls of steaming soba piled high with fried shrimp and vegetables on the coffee table.

"I thought we could eat here?" he offers. Yes, it's something he'd usually insist on taking to the proper mealtime table to eat, but the coffee table is just the right height. And both of them seem -- well, both of them seem to be actually comfortable. More or less.

He doesn't want to jinx it.

[deuceoftears]

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get you next time," Jedao promises, voice grumbly but smiling at Gojyo's enthusiasm as he pauses and saves the game before the next level starts.

"Thank you, Hakkai-shei."

[cigsandbeer]

Hakkai's entrance at least brings Gojyo back to the fact that, right, we're enjoying a very fragile truce here. Considering that, he calms down by several measures.

"Nah, I predict my winning streak will be unbroken going forward."

To Hakkai:

"That smells good. Fuck, I'm starving."

[reformedsinner]

"It is mid-afternoon," Hakkai observes. They've missed lunch by a few hours, so it's no wonder Gojyo's hungry.

He settles down cross-legged on the far side of the coffee table with his own bowl, giving them a careful little smile. It's also visibly hopeful: he can't help it, and so he's choosing to let it show.

[deuceoftears]

"To the victor, the spoils," Jedao says, wry and warm, raising his glass in a casual toast.

[cigsandbeer]

"What, it's for real that late?"

He must've totally lost track of the time. But after a moment, he raises his own glass to return the toast. Here's to a first interaction that didn't go horribly wrong or whatever.

[reformedsinner]

"I'm glad you liked the game," Hakkai teases gently, and lifts his glass in turn to -- a little superstitiously -- seal the toast.

Here's to an interaction where no one started a fight on purpose or started crying.

[deuceoftears]

"It's a classic for a reason," Jedao says, both truthfully and loyally.