rakuen | Angst and chess

Entry tags:

Angst and chess

Characters: Lelouch vi Britannia, Suzaku Kururugi, AND YOU
Format: Starting prose, but tag how you like
This log is: semi-open
Location: Coffee shop
Summary: Lelouch and Suzaku have some things to sort out. But if you want to tag him, go ahead, it can happen before Lelouch meets with Suzaku

Suzaku had been a bit strange lately. He had thought it was time for a conversation to clear the air. So he'd sent him a message telling him to meet him in the cafe. He arrived early, and went back to his usual thing of working through some chess problems.

When Suzaku had been due to arrive, he picked up a cup of tea for him to be waiting for him.

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Though it was completely impossible to avoid someone you were linked to in this city Suzaku had been trying his hardest to avoid Lelouch. For a few weeks now, they had never fully cleared things up after Lelouch had shot him, and after what Britannia had said...

Suzaku had still fought for him, because he was still his knight even if Lelouch didn't remember, even if he didn't wish Suzaku to be such here. But he couldn't call them friends, thanks to Britannia he couldn't be sure they ever where friends to begin with...

Still he went to the cafe when he got the message and found Lelouch easily. "Lelouch..." He nodded politely.

Lelouch gestured mildly to the chair at the table with him. "I have some tea for you as well."

He gave Suzaku a moment to get comfortable. If something changed in Conquest that he's not aware of, he thought he should know, for Nunnally's sake at the very least. "Did you regain any memories recently?" A simple enough question to start with. He really wasn't much good with some of these very close emotional issues. But he couldn't let this go on.

Suzaku sat and nodded, "Thank you," he took the tea, it was already cool enough to drink so he took a sip. The question made him frown though, "No, not since... the last time we regained memories."

After FLEIJA and then the knowledge that Lelouch was Zero, his best friend and his worst enemy were one and the same person, he had come to the conclusion that whatever else he had forgotten he probably didn't want to know.

He considered Suzaku another moment before altering his posture a bit. The board on the table went ignored for the interim. Though black seemed to have an exceptional disadvantage in the particular problem he was working on.

"I had hoped we had moved forward from the events as they occurred in the dungeon," he continued. It wasn't an apology, and this location was a bit too public to allow him to speak much more frankly about it. At the same time, it wasn't his proudest moment. He supposed there was a way of addressing this directly without conceding much. "Is there still something you'd like to address?"

He knew that Suzaku wasn't a traitor to him. Not truly. He hadn't had any choice but to detonate FLEIJA. The Geass had made sure of that. He'd been prepared to sacrifice himself for Lelouch's sake when they were reunited the day he'd been given his power, and several times after that. Despite the rage that white Knightmare had thrown him into during their battles. It was still Suzaku that he had been able to call upon to protect Nunnally. Even now, she was still his highest priority. He felt a twinge of a headache, and moved away from that train of thought. He pushed away the anger that knowing his memories of Nunnally had been altered conjured up in him.

Only Lelouch could think they could move on from that, it had been painful enough the first time that he had learned that Lelouch was Zero, knowing that he had been the one to kill Euphemia, to use Geass on her. Knowing that Lelouch was his enemy the one he had sworn to kill.

But then to forget and believe Lelouch was his friend... Then Britannia's words...

"I don't know what is real, if this place could take away such important memories what else has it taken? Where we ever even friends to begin with..." It sounded so stupid and childish to put it into words.

"Are my memories real or was Britannia right..."

His face didn't really change, he was as unflappable as ever. "What did she tell you?" But despite his even look, a spike of anger shot through him. What did that woman do now? She seemed to excel at making his life difficult. He didn't like the implication that the earlier statement gave.

Suzaku tried to keep his voice calm, "She just... reminded me that those in power rarely have need for friends, and that even as a child I was just a tool to be used, befriending the son of the man holding you hostage... I don't blame you, keeping Nunnally safe... I just hoped..." he looked away. He didn't want to believe it but it made so much sense. And really, he had always wondered why after all this time Lelouch was still his friend, despite all the hurt on both sides.

This made too much sense, even if Suzaku didn't want to believe it.

He sighed, and some of his rigidity faded further. He would have to thank Britannia for this later. "I shouldn't be so surprised. Looking back, that would be a very easy way to do it. But you should know better than to listen to that woman." He may as well admit to it. "Those days at your family's shrine made us happy in ways we didn't think we could be anymore. We'd been cut off from Euphemia, Cornelia, and Clovis. They were the family we loved most and played together with the most.

"You will always be someone I will trust my back and Nunnally's safety to. If you choose to use my back to put a knife in, then that is your decision. No one has earned that right more than you have."

Suzaku did know better than to listen to Britannia, the only problem was the things Britannia said always made sense.

But so did Lelouch's words, if only because they matched his own memories. He had been happy to have friends, he had missed them in those years after Britannia had invaded, he had been overjoyed to see Lelouch again. Before things had gone wrong...

He shook his head, "I believe I have already done that..." Even if not literally.

"Then there is no reason for us to drag it through any further. We will continue on as we always have. Unless you have some other grudge?" He was glad that seemed to have addressed the problem. Until his next conversation with Britannia.

"No... I do not, I should not have... bore a grudge about this either..." He felt a little foolish, but was glad that Britannia had been wrong.

Arthur walks into the coffee shop completely mystified. He has no idea what this shop is for and it's so ~~magical~~ modern that nothing makes sense to him. He doesn't like being unsure of himself, and everything about this place makes him unsure. In fact, the only time he had felt confident was when he was fighting, even with unknown weapons, and then he had lost and he had, well, gotten lost again.

Why he walked into this shop he doesn't know, but he hovers in the entrance way looking at the menus without really seeing it and just wonders what he's doing here.

He recognized this guy from the platform earlier. Arthur Pendragon, supposedly. He thought it was a good opening to pry at this guy to see what he had to offer. "You look a bit confused," he said, rising from his seat.

The scoff that comes is an automatic reaction, but he at least stops himself from calling this stranger Merlin and telling him what an idiot he is for thinking such a thing. Even if it's true. But he's Arthur Pendragon and because of that he is never confused, it comes with the name.

"Everything about this place is unfamiliar. Your technology," he pauses, the word is so unfamiliar to him, "is far beyond anything I have ever seen." Arthur takes a moment to look around the shop, "What is the purpose of this shop?"

He nodded patiently. "That is a common issue among some people that get brought here. But to answer your question, this is a coffee shop. They deal in coffee drinks mixed with milk, sugar, and other flavors. It's usually a nice place to sit and relax." He gestures back to the table and the chess board.

Knowing that it's a common occurrence does nothing to make Arthur feel any better about the situation. In fact, maybe it makes it worse. Who in their right mind takes people from a perfectly good (non-technological) world and places them into this unnecessary place and believes it to be a good idea? His first instinct is to mutter about the evils of magic, but he's not sure he should do that anymore, lest he wish to further alienate the one person here he knows.

He looks over at the displayed menu again, "Coffee" he says finally and nods approvingly even if he has no idea what it is, "What would you recommend?"

If he looked amused at all about Arthur's predicament, or the whole situation, it was hidden under an appropriately pleasant smile. Fortunately for Arthur, Lelouch saw fit to be on his best behavior. "A standard drip coffee might be best to start with. You can add milk or sugar to your taste afterward. A word of warning, though. Caffeine can have quite an unexpected effect on someone that's not used to it."

Arthur suspects nothing. To be honest, Arthur needs to stop trusting people with dark hair and light eyes, they're always nothing but trouble and most of them (perhaps all minus Merlin) have tried to harm and/or kill him at one point. But no, this is Arthur and why not.

He orders a 'standard drip,' whatever that is, and takes a sip. After his first sip he tries not to make a face, it's a bit bitter but not horrible, so he moves towards the milk and sugar. He knows what they taste like, so where can he go wrong? Arthur adds a dash of milk and a bit of sugar, takes another sip and, huh, it's not so bad. He could drink this.

Looking back at the table Lelouch has motioned towards before, "Is that a type of game?" he asks before pausing, "Forgive me, I have been rude, I am Arthur Pendragon."

Lelouch led him over to the table he'd been occupying. "Lelouch, Fortitude Prefect. Yes, I know who you are. Your reputation precedes you." And he sat back at his chair. "Yes, it is. The goal is to eliminate your opponent's defenses and capture their king. The pieces move across the board in specific ways. It's a game of strategy, rather than force."

Arthur sits across from him, a bit proud that he already has some type of reputation here, no one else seemed to bat an eyelash at his name or title, and it was getting a bit old. Or very old. But he knows that by 'Prefect' Lelouch means that he has more power here, king or not, Arthur is just a regular person here with little effect on the on goings of the town.

"A game of strategy," he repeats while studying the board. It's like preparing for a military invasion, he decides. Arthur looks up at him, "How do the pieces move?"

He began to reset the pieces to their standard positions. "To begin, the pawns can only move one space forward, save for when they move off from the front line. Much like the King, but he may only move one space in any direction." He demonstrated each movement with his own black pieces as he explained. "The rook may only move vertically or horizontally, but it has no limit to the number of spaces. The queen, on the other hand, may move any direction in a straight line, all the way across the board if she must. She is the most powerful piece on the board. The knight must always move three spaces in one direction, and one perpendicular to that, but not necessarily in that order. The bishop may only move on diagonals, and you may notice there is one on a white square, and another on black."

He put all the pieces back where they belonged. "A fairly simple series of actions, but they come together to create a nearly infinite number of combinations and strategies."

Arthur nods along with Lelouch's instructions, trying to commit the moves to memory, it didn't seem too complicated but as Lelouch said there are many combinations and strategies that could prove difficult to learn.

"It's like commanding troops, each division has it's strengths and you play to those strengths to create the best combinations against your opponents."

He nodded. "Yes, that's it. I'm afraid I won't have the time to go through a game with you, because I will be meeting with someone soon. But if you'd like some lessons, I think I could find the time, especially for a legendary king such as yourself."

"Forgive me, I did not mean to keep you from your prior engagements," Arthur makes to stand up but is genuinely startled by what he said, "Legendary? I have hardly been king long enough to be legendary."

He made a bit of a sheepish look. It was a feeling he didn't really mean, but that was irrelevant. "Sorry, I guess I come from significantly in your future. But you carve out quite a name for yourself, to say the least."

He looks rather smug at that, "Really? What do I do?"

He shrugged. "I'm not too sure which tales are true and which are simply legends. However, the collected stories should be available in the library or the bookstore."

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Angst and chess

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Somehow Arthur on a caffeine buzz is a terrifying mental image... mostly for Merlin

yes, mostly for Merlin

Re: yes, mostly for Merlin

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