Sonja Late-March Catch-All

[confirmationbias]

Characters: Sonja, Gene, Valdis & OPEN
Date: March 24-30
Location: The Midnight Hotel, The Welcome Center, and around the various sectors of Keeliai
Situation: People meeting with Sonja. She doesn't bite... with her teeth
Warnings/Rating: none


A: Harmless Plotting - The Midnight Hotel (Closed to Gene)

Sonja had left a message with Anton to request Gene join her in her room on the third floor when he saw him. While Sonja occasionally went down to the commons, especially to eat, it was generally tiring and she was often glad to retreat back to her room. 

So while she waited for Gene, she was holed up in her room, listening to the radio on her phone and scribbling out some math on printing costs. 


B: TableTop - The Welcome Center (Valdis & OPEN)

Sonja came to the hotel center late in the month with a stuffed satchel. She dropped it onto a table near the center of the main room and started pulling things out - wooden boxes, parchment rolls, a few sacks, and some loose-leaf paper. 

She rearranged some space on the bookcase and started to neatly stack the various materials. When she was done, she took one of the loose leaf papers, scribbled a few characters on it (some of them using some reference) and then hung it from the shelf, becoming a sign that said, in several languages including Japanese, Chinese, and Kedan - "Games."

During lulls at the center when Sonja wasn't tooling around on the consoles and crashing people's Network posts, she would take a game off the shelf and start trying to write up rules in different languages, or just for kicks, play herself. 


C: Making Rounds - Around Keeliai (OPEN)

Sonja is still making her way through the sectors, following Wan's plan of trying different combinations to solve the console message. She was getting pretty bored of that whole thing, and the only thing keeping her going was that she'd committed to it. 

It's not like she didn't like walking around Keeliai anyway. It was good exercise, and it was a good opportunity to meet people, get recognized, see new things, new people. Walking through town was her 'on' mode, and she looked a lot less likely to say 'bug off' if you approached her than normal. 

Sonja was a prodigious documentarian, and could be seen frequently taking pictures, or scribbling notes, or making person memos into her phone as she wandered around. She was also loose with her money, frequently stopping in shops and throwing a juulan or two around. 

Comments

B.

[12goingon113]

I don't think I've ever seen any of these before," Aang says to no one in particular while perusing the games being offered on the shelf of games.

[confirmationbias]

Oh, this is that 'Avatar' that Sokka was talking about, right? Can't be too many little bald kids with arrows on their heads walking around, could there?

Sonja logged off the console and acknowledged the newcomer.

"Some of them are just games that I found at different shops, some of Kedan origin, some of Foreigner origin, I assume. Others I've had commissioned, based on games back in my own world."

She was pretty hazy on some of the Kedan ones. Most Kedan didn't have a lot of patience to explain the rules to the game they learned as children to foreigners.

"You could probably assemble most games from the pieces available, as long as you can explain the rules."

[12goingon113]

Aang's a little less little now than he used to be, but...still scrawny by anyone's definition.

He sheepishly turns towards the voice, shoulders slouching slightly as he does so. Seems he didn't know you were right there when you were...er...right there.

"Woah, you must really like games."

[confirmationbias]

"They are fun. And useful."

[“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ― Plato]

"Interested in playing one?"

[12goingon113]

He looks from her, to the numerous games on hand, and then back to her.

"Sure. Okay. What'd you have in mind?"

[confirmationbias]

"Why don't we try Backgammon? It's a race game."

She set up the board and pieces.

"You roll dice and use the results to move your pieces. The object is to move your pieces around the board and move them off the level before your opponent does."

[12goingon113]

"I like race games," he says almost automatically.

Aang's head tilts to one side slightly as he considers the board.

"This looks almost like a shuanglu board."

[confirmationbias]

"I'm not familiar with that one, but it's not surprising."

She grabbed a cup and dropped the dice inside, shook it up and then dropped the cup, revealing a five and a three. After contemplating for a moment, she moved one bit 3 spaces and another five.

[12goingon113]

He cocks his head to one side as she rolls, and then watches closely as she moves.

"And then, I go this way right?" He picks up the dice and gestures towards the path on the board that moves opposite how she just moved.

[confirmationbias]

"Yep, just like that. You have to watch out where you put your pieces though-"

She rolls again and smiles. She moves one of her pieces so it lands on Aang's piece. She picks it up and puts it on the bar.

"Single pieces can be captured if your opponent lands on them. That piece has to start on my end of the board now."

[12goingon113]

His eyes continue to dart around the board, as slowly the rules of the game surface from somewhere deep in his shared memories.

"But where he goes depends on what I roll next, right? And I have to move that guy first?"

[confirmationbias]

"Yeah, that's right. It's kind of funny how often these games have such similar rules."

[12goingon113]

"Especially since this isn't even a game I've ever played before."

He rolls the dice, and moves.