27 October 2016

I have nothing to say to redeem myself since everybody knows that I am struggling with a lack of inspiration for this.

Meow (Guest): Thanks for the review with four too many science-science words. (lol)

42: Playing

a chess of the natural environment.

"Your turn."

"Wait, really? I wasn't paying attention! What did you move?"

"This one. From here to here."

"...Oh! Oh. Is that a checkmate? ...No, it isn't. Righty. Okay. Then, I'll… er… maybe… nah." Rustle. "Okay, there! Is that a checkmate yet?"

"No." Crunch.

"...Hey, you win—Hey, you cheated!" Kirby jumped up from his position of butt-squashing the grass—otherwise known as sitting down—and folded his stubs as much as he could with a cross (?) expression.

Across the grid—that was simply dirt that had been divided up into squares with a nearby, sharp twig—Meta Knight heaved a sigh for the hundred-and-twenty-sixth time that hour. "How, pray tell, did I cheat, when you were watching me the entire time?"

"I don't know, that's what I want to ask you. How did you cheat when I was watching you the entire time?!"

...Amazing. Meta Knight knew Kirby was keeping up the childish facade for several different unimportant-and-important and significant-and-insignificant and major-and-minor reasons, but it was honestly… very tiring. Not that he could do anything about it if he didn't want Halberd intestines strewn halfway across the galaxy and further.

Gently scooping up the dried leaves that made a cracking protest when he prodded them, Meta Knight rolled his eyes (although no one could see that because rolling-of-eyes was an invisible action for puffballs.) "I did not cheat, but—"

"Kirby!" a high voice rang out, accompanied with the clanking of metal and another unfamiliar material. Head peeping out over the edge of the hill, a blue bandana was shadowed by the looming Sun. "Er—I brought food, like you asked, but there wasn't any pre-made dishes in the kitchen, and we ran out of canned food, so I had to cook some—yeah, that's why I'm so late—"

"Band-Aid!" Shrieking like a delighted child, Kirby had shot across the distance between his seat and in front of Bandana Dee before any blinks could be compared to. "Food! Did you get tomatoes? Did you get curry? Did you get tomatoes?"

"Both—I got both—" Bandana Dee's mouth (?) clamped shut when he saw Meta Knight. "You didn't tell me he was coming."

"Who? Meta Knight? Did that really matter?" Swiping a dangling metal lunchbox from Bandana Dee's grip, Kirby lifted the lid and peeked at its contents. "Anyways, he eats candy, and I told you to bring candy. So, if you did bring it, then he'll eat."

Bandana Dee frowned, rubbing a plastic box unconsciously. "I did bring a few… not a lot… are you sure he eats..?"

"Believe, Bandana Dee." Kirby nodded wisely, skipping back to his spot opposite Meta Knight by the naturally-made chessboard.

"If you believe all his mounds of lies, that is pathetic," Meta Knight said sharply, but did not outright deny his pathetic preference of… candies.

Ignoring Meta Knight (which was doing said knight a favour, since he probably didn't want a humble dee staring at the not-so-humble action of chowing down candy), Bandana Dee tottered over to have a glance at what Kirby and Meta Knight were engaging in moments before. After acknowledging it once, he proceeded to move on—wait a moment.

Before firing his question, Bandana Dee peeked over to look at Kirby. He was stuffing his face with the Delights of the World. Good time to ask, then. (Bandana Dee had manners.) "What's… What's this, Kirby?"

"If you wanted to know, you could've asked me as well," Meta Knight muttered, a forced grudging tone behind his voice. Bandana Dee hadn't realised Meta Knight had wanted to make friends that much.

"It's," Kirby chirped, "chess."

Scratching the dirt and throwing fallen leaves all over it could be called chess? Okay, the leaves were all each situated on a different panel, but… "Oh, okay." Things like those were a normal with Kirby. "But they all look the same. How do you tell the difference between black and white?"

Immediately, Kirby puffed his chest out in a false arrogant manner. "The leaves that are winning are mine!"

"No, we are both outstanding at memorisation. It's one similarity that I, unfortunately, cannot avoid."

"Having a similarity in common with the great I—that's a privilege."

If Bandana Dee had to compare them to something, it would probably be arguing children. "Oh. Well. Er… How do you tell the pieces apart, then? Unless it's great memory again."

"No," Meta Knight said flatly, "the queen has the most number of veins and the pawn the least."

Nodding vehemently in agreement, Kirby added, "Simple Mathematics."

Bandana Dee blinked over the makeshift chess set on ce more and scooted a little away from it.