Well that sure happened

[notbymyside]

[Ango truthfully isn't much of a cook, relying mostly on takeout food to keep himself fed. But takeout isn't an option here, and after that...colorful trial, he doesn't have it in him to trust food that he isn't preparing himself.

It's not bad, really. Just rather plain. There is also a noticeable lack of meat among everything he's prepared too. And it all goes well with the liquid diet he's supplying, courtesy of the jazz bar. Plenty of booze bottles and glasses can be found for your drinking needs. He's sure he's not the only one who wants to forget that whole cursed trial.]

Food and drinks are in the opera house. Be sure to drink responsibly.

-Ango

[There are also no decorations, beyond the mess left behind from earlier.]

Comments

[psychophant]

[...Well, good to see he hasn't been missing much with these afterparties. Iago actually shows up to this one, though he's not eating or drinking. Instead, he's brought one of those games from the hotel's lounge - he's got a chessboard set up and is just waiting to play with anyone unlucky enough to catch his eye.]

Join me. A distraction would be nice right now.

[Unsurprisingly, this is a game Iago is very good at. But hey, maybe he'll be nice and take it easy— hahahaha jk it's Iago, he has literally zero chill and wants to win. Feel free to approach him to... not play chess as well, that is definitely an option too.]

[drydrown]

[how about we...not...with the chess maybe???]

That seems like a terrible idea, actually. The game.

[psychophant]

Does it?

[But fine, fine, he's pretty sure Cumore won't actually be a challenge to crush anyway!! He waves a hand as if to dismiss it.]

I certainly won't force you to play. You're welcome to my company regardless.

[Don't worry, it's clearly a joke.]

[drydrown]

Clearly, a high honor.

[He'll join you, though, all right.]

I went through his portraits earlier. I assume you've no interest in yours?

[psychophant]

[He glances up from the chess pieces at that, carefully considering.]

...I don't particularly care what happens to it, but how does it look?

[#priorities]

[drydrown]

...Shin was rather talented. I kept mine, at any rate.

[psychophant]

I hadn't really paid much attention to his work.

[Partially because he's not really the artsy type, partially because prior to a certain someone, he hasn't cared about anyone who has died.]

I suppose I'll go examine them at some point.

[bawcock]

[ Wow, he never thought this guy would invite anyone to do anything?? Like, he has dastardly villain written all over him. From his mask to his feathers to his shoes...

Know what? "All over him" suffices, tbh.

Anyway, anyway, if he's being friendly, might as well be friendly back. Even if ha, ha, ha, him playing chess. In other words, a sucker approaches!! ] I'm more of a checkers fan myself, but why not? It's all the same in theory anyhow.

[psychophant]

[you're not wrong but also rude???? you can totally have a villain aesthetic without being a villain!!!! it just so happens that he is also a villain but that's not important.

Anyway, hi, Erik! You... sure do sound like you're going to be easy to crush, so how fun!!]

I would argue that there are different strategies for both games, but I'm curious to see how you'll do.

[we are so going to handwave this game of chess, look at all this chess-playing happening here, wow so strategic!!! how's erik going to be doing, btw?]

[bawcock]

[ hes a scallywag hes allowed to be rude!! but ok he will super buy that, iago has been nothing but helpful here!!

and... he sure is easy to crush?? like, he doesn't even like reading books so this was a disaster in waiting. please be impressed that he mostly remembered how the pieces moved! ]

Oh come on! How are you supposed to figure any of this out? Some of these moves barely even make sense!

[psychophant]

[oh my god erik, you are doing your best and you do not deserve to be crushed this mercilessly, rip erik]

Well, I do have years of experience to draw on and I am a tactician. It's only natural that I won.

[he really shouldn't be this proud of himself.........]

[bawcock]

[ he really shouldn't but he is. it's Charming..................??? to somebody out there, somebody who did not get walloped straight into tuesday

also something something he only moved the pieces with his left hand while keeping the other under the table, whatever ]

A tactician? Jeez, no wonder you beat me so easily! I think I'll be feeling that one for a whole week!

[p_q]

... A cerebral distraction for a cerebral problem, I see.

[No, he didn't make a pun, I don't know what you're talking about. Sometimes wordplay just happens and nobody is responsible for the convergence of ridiculousness and lexicon. But also: I hope nobody was expecting him to be charitable and accept the distraction for what it is instead of probing it like an alien with a new specimen because that's also probably an apt metaphor for this interaction.

Anyway: the point is that Ulquiorra isn't bothering to stick around the afterparty itself -- the food part in particular -- but he does take a moment to peruse the board in front of him.]

I suppose it's more useful than simply drowning in liquor.

[He's either doxxing no one or everyone, whatever, it's fine.]

[psychophant]

[hey no, stop that!! no puns coming from you, that's weird!!!!

Anyway, hi Ulquiorra... Iago's not exactly pleased with this given a certain incident with a certain food who is now very dead, but! It's fine, he's not mad enough to rescind his offer and instead gestures to the board.]

Well? Are you joining me or aren't you?

[Agreed on that though, chess > drinking in public.]

[p_q]

[Blame it on the fact that you decided to play chess on the day that everyone used their brains a little too much and quite possibly made the Lady a little too happy. Too much ambient happiness drives creatures of the night a bit batty, you know.

It really is a good thing they never crossed paths in the immediate aftermath; hostilities might have been a bit more open season then. As it is, Ulquiorra has mostly left the incident itself by the wayside as a disappointing footnote in his clash with his fellow Hollow -- he's not particularly concerned with where the Food Soul's loyalties lie or vice versa.

For one, the web is much too wide and much too tangled to be of use.]

Are you having trouble finding players, or simply having trouble finding opponents?

[psychophant]

[Very fair, as long as the topic of food doesn't come up, we can probably remain.......... civil might be a stretch, but you know what, maybe half an attempt is being made. Sort of.]

A bit of both. I won't complain about an easy victory, but it's certainly no way to keep my skills sharp.

[there's no challenge in crushing erik!!!!]

[p_q]

[To be perfectly fair, his standards for civil vs. hostile are a crapshoot in the first place -- nobody's being eviscerated and nobody has been yeeted into a parallel prison dimension (discounting this one), so we're good.

That being said, to say that Ulquiorra is trying to be civil is a stretch. But perhaps he's less dissatisfied with the outcome of the trial than he might have been, and that would account for the slightly mollified state of resting bitchiness.]

I wouldn't call this the most common game where I come from.

[That and half the Espada couldn't sit still in front of a chess game if you actually paid them. Still, he'll seat himself for the time being.]

Why do you play?

[promittere]

[Chess, huh... Ignis is no slouch at chest, so he'll gladly settle down across from Iago.]

Oh? You don't want to talk about what's on your mind?

[Is he...being serious or not.]

[psychophant]

Very funny.

[That's obviously a joke, right...

anyway this is going to be the most handwaved game of chess, wow look at them go!!]

You're very good. I imagine you've had quite a lot of practice?

[It's a question rather than an assumption.]

[promittere]

I thought so.

[Wow look at that strategy and skill!]

You could say that - though most of my opponents haven't been quite as good as you.

[Noctis did not care much for chess, and neither did Regis or Gladio.]

[psychophant]

It's an enjoyable game; I was fond of it even before I became a tactician.

[look at them go, this is surely the most intense game of chess that has ever been played in krakow!!]

Did you play it with your king?

[promittere]

I did.

[All this needs is some dramatic zooms and camera pans...!!]

Though I went easy on him. Did you play it much with yours?

[baitless]

[...you know, Seteth thinks about it for a few seconds before going ahead and sitting down.]

It’s been a while since I played, but this will probably work better for me than the alcohol, at least.

[Besides, he’s actually pretty good at tactics, if maybe a bit more prone to cautious strategies than aggressive ones.]

[psychophant]

Oh, are you unable to feel the effects of it?

[Don't worry, he won't press you too hard about being a dragon today. So here we have an absolutely beautiful handwaved game of chess going on in the background!!]

[baitless]

Not particularly, no. I wouldn't say it has no effect on me, but it has very little.

[whoop whoop handwaved chess!]