Sunday, January 25, 2015

Page 964

Hector didn’t much care for the aberration’s enthusiasm. Even if it wasn’t carrying malicious intent, it still reminded him of Geoffrey.

Eventually, Ibai rounded on Hector and Dimas.

“So what are your names?” he asked. “You never did tell me. Mine’s Ibai, but I bet you knew that, eh?”

Hector didn’t feel like answering, and apparently, neither did Dimas.

Ibai’s smile lessened somewhat. “Mm. You don’t like me. I get it. Some of my own family members don’t like me very much, either. Fidel, for instance. I always beat him when we thumb wrestle. He hates that.”

Was that supposed to be a joke? Or did he actually think that way? Hector honestly couldn’t tell. Maybe it was a bit of both.

At their continued silence, Ibai shrugged. “You two don’t like to talk much, do you? I understand. And I don’t want you to worry, either! I thought this might happen, so I came prepared!” The man reached behind his seat and began pulling out several long, flat boxes.

They were all board games, Hector realized.

Hector didn’t need to refuse to talk anymore. He was genuinely speechless. This fucking guy had brought board games to play with the two people who would kill him if he did anything wrong.

“See?” said Ibai. “This way, you don’t have to talk. You can let the game speak for you!”

Hector couldn’t decide if this was one of the stupidest ideas he’d ever seen or one of the most brilliant.

“What should we play? Hmm, maybe not Monopoly. Probably shouldn’t have brought that one...”

What followed was, without a doubt in Hector’s mind, the most uncomfortable game of Snakes and Ladders that had ever been played on the face of Eleg.

The second game was slightly less tense. For the third, they switched to Parcheesi; and for the fourth, they played a game called Waterwall, which Hector had never even heard of. The objective was to trap all of one’s opponents by building dams and rerouting water, which moved every turn and was represented by a cluster of squiggly-lined pieces.

Ibai won every single game. It didn’t seem to matter whether the game was skill- or luck-based. Horatio almost beat him once, but every other time was a complete trouncing.

Hector kept Garovel apprised of everything that was happening--or not happening, rather--and by the time Hector and Dimas’ shift ended, Hector was even more confused than when they had started.

24 comments:

  1. What followed was, without a doubt in Hector’s mind, the most uncomfortable game of Snakes & Ladders that had ever been played on [the] face of Eleg.

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  2. Hector and Dimas should be bosom buddies...
    Hector: ...
    Dimas: ...
    Hector: ...?
    Dimas: ...!
    Garovel: OH MY GOD SAY SOMETHING!!!!

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  3. Hector should just... challenge him to a dance off!

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  4. Is it just me or are Hector and Dimas just being dicks? Ibai is doing everything short of bribery to break the ice and make the trip pleasant for everyone involved. Giving him the silent death glare is doing nothing but making things worse.

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  5. ... I can't speak to Dimas, but I don't think you can blame Hector given how his last experience with an abberation went. On top of that it is Hector. The same guy who sat in silence with Emiliana and Chergoa.

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  6. Other than the page where garovel wanted hector to make iron penises, this is my favorite!

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  7. Hector has the excuse of being Mr Uncomfotable With Words. ;)

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  8. Ibai: the anthropomorphic personification of Confusion Fu, ladies and gents.

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  9. This line.... oh god my sides. That was hilarious.

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  10. He can Teleport Spam and Confusion Fu at the same time. He's unstoppable.

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  11. I just keep picturing Hector, Dimas, Silvia, and Horatio on the floor, clearly exhausted, surrounded by board games, with Ibai standing above them looking triumphant.

    Hector: "....."

    Silvia: "Fucking shit!"

    Dimas: "....."

    Horatio: "He's too powerful."

    Ibai: (^_^)

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  12. I knew there was a trope for this but I couldn't remember what it was. Thank you!

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  13. This is probably also the only moment in Eleg's history that someone had played board games with the person they're going to kill.

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  14. In Geoffrey, the childlike qualities and complete lack of fear were terrifying. Ibai makes them absolutely adorable, and actually fairly appropriate. After all, the best thing to do when a hostage is to humanize yourself, and Ibai has to work triply hard to do that.

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  15. I think they just aren't talkative people at all. Also, one of them has a sense of humor worth .2 laughs per year and the other has a very good reason not be be friendly towards aberrations. I still sympathize with Ibai though, he actually hasn't done anything wrong and he's just trying to be friendly, and they both give him the cold shoulder because of a weird sort-of justified racism.

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  16. I can totally imagine that too, now that you mention it. I wonder if Ibai is just lucky and a grandmaster of every board game because he's had so little else to entertain him for so long, or if he actually has some supernatural luck on his side. If its the latter, I really hope it applies to bigger things like keeping on track when it comes to not consuming human souls.

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  17. Nah. Not to be even more pessimistic, but as far as I know, murder among family members is even more common than murdering complete strangers.

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  18. I just can't help but imagine the conversation between Hector and Ibai going something like:



    Hector:"... Hector .. "
    Ibai:"So, Hector, how did you get this duty?"
    Hector:"I volunteered."
    Ibai:"Really! Why would you do that? It's going to be so boring."
    Hector:"I wanted to see what you were like."
    Ibai:"Why?"
    Hector:"I had a bad experience with another abberation."
    Ibai:"Really! What happened?"
    Hector:"Well he took over my dad's body, and proceeded to kill my friends until I finally managed to impale and kill him with soul-empowered iron bars I materialized."
    Ibai:"Oh."


    I realize that Hector is highly unlikely to ever be able to get that last line out if he could get any of them out. I don't think Hector and Ibai can have any sort of decent conversation until Hector really believes Ibai is different and he doesn't yet and hasn't got a lot of reason to. I truly believe that Frost made the right call in their silence, and that if anything demonstrated their lack of hatred for Ibai by having them take part in his board games.

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  19. The above was more in reply to Steve, just got the wrong reply button

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  20. ... ... I spent so long on that reply, and I missed the timing :(. I hate when that happens.

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  21. So strong in games... Ibai is Campione material

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  22. very funny page. ironically, the silent duo of dimas and hector strike me as being very funny

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