[In the early hours of the 25th, there's a soft knock at his door. Clara knows he'll be awake. She leaves a small wrapped gift for him there outside his door, hurrying off so he won't see her.
Inside the box is a handful of sweets Clara made herself, and a hand painted teacup. Pressed inside the teacup is Clara's current favorite tea, pulled from her personal stash she keeps hidden away.
There's also a single chess piece. The white bishop. Below everything, there's a simple note.
Thought you could do with something sweet and a bit of my favorite tea. There's also an open invitation for you to join me for tea and chess whenever you like. If you've never played before, you're in for a treat.
๏ผ he does not respond for several days. he is... unaccustomed to receiving gifts, and does not quite have the emotional fortitude to accept them readily — his instinct is to politely return them, and he recognizes that is something best fought among these people, who will likely insist.
the tea is useful, and he adds it to his own supply, currently consisting of sencha from sabriel, kocha of his own request and this new blend from clara. it is odd to be amassing so much of it that it feels like this little room with its four square walls could resemble something of a home. the sweets are... savoured.
the cup is studied in detail. he runs his fingers over the barely perceptible edges of the paint on delicate porcelain. she seems to have favoured reds in her design — a sweetly bitter irony.
but it is the bishop that is perhaps the most surprising. he has studied the rules of chess but has never played — though he is quite familiar with shogi. he and kisame would sometimes idly pass away unhurried days with games in old parlours, though his partner tended to perhaps be a little heavy-handed on the attack. itachi won most of their games, but not all. however, since he was a boy he has always found such games to be an agreeable way to pass the time, and he was curious and intrigued by the promise of a new set of stratagems to master.
perhaps that is why he responds to her a few days later — not via text, but with a handwritten note. her earpiece should be able to translate his incredibly precise katakana and hiragana: ๏ผ
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special delivery
Inside the box is a handful of sweets Clara made herself, and a hand painted teacup. Pressed inside the teacup is Clara's current favorite tea, pulled from her personal stash she keeps hidden away.
There's also a single chess piece. The white bishop. Below everything, there's a simple note.
Thought you could do with something sweet and a bit of my favorite tea. There's also an open invitation for you to join me for tea and chess whenever you like. If you've never played before, you're in for a treat.
- Clara
hover for translation!
the tea is useful, and he adds it to his own supply, currently consisting of sencha from sabriel, kocha of his own request and this new blend from clara. it is odd to be amassing so much of it that it feels like this little room with its four square walls could resemble something of a home. the sweets are... savoured.
the cup is studied in detail. he runs his fingers over the barely perceptible edges of the paint on delicate porcelain. she seems to have favoured reds in her design — a sweetly bitter irony.
but it is the bishop that is perhaps the most surprising. he has studied the rules of chess but has never played — though he is quite familiar with shogi. he and kisame would sometimes idly pass away unhurried days with games in old parlours, though his partner tended to perhaps be a little heavy-handed on the attack. itachi won most of their games, but not all. however, since he was a boy he has always found such games to be an agreeable way to pass the time, and he was curious and intrigued by the promise of a new set of stratagems to master.
perhaps that is why he responds to her a few days later — not via text, but with a handwritten note. her earpiece should be able to translate his incredibly precise katakana and hiragana: ๏ผ
ใฏใฉใฉใใ
็ฅใฃใฆใใ ใใใๆฐๆใกใ ใใงๅๅใงใ
๏ผ and then, in unerringly faultless english: ๏ผ
I would be honoured to be your opponent in a game of chess. Please state a time and place you wish to play.
๏ผ when you have magic ninja eyes that give you perfect recall, it turns out that learning how to write in another language is perhaps too easy. ๏ผ