video;

[strangelic]

I want to--Um...

I feel like life would be improved here if we all played more games, and... [ Kate, why are you making him do this? ] I-I wanted to ask if anyone else had any games that they could teach us. Party games, this time, not card games. Like Twister.

[ He glances off screen cautiously, then looks back, trying to seem more courageous on the subject than he is. ]

Kate thinks that life here would be much improved if we all played more together, and I have to agree with her. Play is important...for the well being of people, especially those who don't have anything else to occupy their time.

So...that is to say, if we could organize a...party, I suppose, everyone would be invited. We could hold it at the bar.

[ Yep, that's it. ]

Comments

audio

[outermirrors]

It's a game a group of people play where one is the king and everyone else picks numbered chopsticks at random. The king then selects one or two of the numbers to do something as a kind of dare. However the longer the game goes on the more outrageous the dares are supposed to become.

audio

[strangelic]

Oh--oh, that sounds interesting. It's a kind of anonymous game of dare. Hm. How do you choose the king? Do they select a chopstick as well?

audio

[outermirrors]

Yeah, there's a chopstick marked with a crown to help select the King for the round.

audio

[strangelic]

I'll have to make chopsticks, but that shouldn't be so difficult. Are there any more rules that I should know about? Will you help?

audio

[outermirrors]

Nope those are pretty much all of them. That's the nice part there aren't a lot of rules to remember as you play. I guess I could help that wouldn't be so bad.

audio

[strangelic]

It does sound like fun. I look forward to giving it a try.

Re: audio

[outermirrors]

Then I'll have to make sure that the game lives up to expectation.

audio

[strangelic]

Wonderful! I hope to see you there, then. I didn't catch your name?

audio

[outermirrors]

Oh sorry. Ebihara Ai. It's nice to meet you.

audio

[strangelic]

Nice to meet you as well. I'm Castiel.

butting in with video if that's cool

[truthvalue]

[Ai, why would you do this.]

It's not really the best game, actually. It can get ... kind of weird.

[strangelic]

Kind of weird?

[truthvalue]

[He nods, frowning slightly.]

I guess it depends on who you're playing it with. The dares are usually for things like sitting in the king's lap, riding on their shoulders ... kissing ...

[SHRUG.]

[outermirrors]

Seta-san you've played it? Who did you kiss?

[ This is such juicy information. Why haven't you told her about this yet? ]

[truthvalue]

Ah ... well, yes, you remember the school trip to Tatsumi Port Island? Some of us went to a club there ... I didn't kiss anyone.

[outermirrors]

You snuck off while the rest of us stayed in that creepy tryst hotel? What did you do while you played Kings Game?

[What new things she's learning about you today.]

[truthvalue]

It wasn't really sneaking ... um, mostly we just talked. Yosuke sat on my shoulders.

[outermirrors]

But you left the hotel. You rebel. And who was King for Hanamura-san to sit on your shoulders?

[truthvalue]

Um ... that was me. It seemed like the least embarrassing suggestion.

[strangelic]

There's nothing wrong with kissing.

[ Is there? It seems okay to him, in any case. ]

[truthvalue]

Well, no ... but it can make things awkward.

[strangelic]

Between friends?

Does it have to? Can't a kiss ever just be a kiss?

[truthvalue]

[He's visibly startled by the question, thinking first of the Jaunt in Melasurei and the demon he became while he was there, the way he used touch and feigned affection to manipulate lost souls into giving him what he wanted - power. Souji brushes the memory aside, fixing an apologetic smile on his face.]

I guess it could. But I'm not a very good person to ask.

[strangelic]

[ Castiel hesitates, briefly, at Souji's expression, and he falls a little quieter himself, considering. Obviously it wasn't so innocent a question as he thought. ]

Of course. Perhaps a question for another time, then.

[truthvalue]

[It's not a bad question, but it is one that suggests inexperience - he can recognize that. And it's nothing to feel bad about, either - that wasn't Souji's intent, so he quickly offers an explanation:]

What I meant is that you should probably ask someone with more experience. Or maybe better experiences.

[Again, he gives the camera an apologetic smile. He does have a couple of his own experiences - Mason, when they came back their real selves after Melasurei, and Wanda, in the Fleet. But neither of those instances were just kisses; both meant much more.]