Poem: "Flight Square"
Mar. 19th, 2016 03:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis is the freebie for the March ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
crowdfunding Creative Jam, inspired by shiori_makiba.
"Flight Square"
Rudolph was fairly sure that
his father Donner never meant
to be abusive, and that the other fawns
didn't mean to be bullies, but their actions
still matched that list of stuff to watch out
for, like if you were hitched to the sleigh
and heard people yelling or saw the daddy
throw the Christmas tree across the room.
So Rudolph started avoiding them.
He knew how; he'd had lessons in hiding
from the Abominable Snow Monster.
Rudolph had long since lost interest
in the Reindeer Games, as much because
he wasn't good at them and they made
his body ache for days as because
nobody wanted to play with him.
But there were other kinds of games,
the kind that went into Santa's sack
for the good little boys and girls.
Rudolph had seen those too,
flat boards that folded out and
pieces the moved around on top.
There were rules for them, but
he couldn't read those, so he had
to make up his own from whatever
he could overhear of things that
the older reindeer had seen.
Then Rudolph met Hermey,
who was an elf but not a toymaker,
as much an outcast as Rudolph
with his very shiny nose.
Rudolph could fly quite well,
so they ran away together, and
after a few adventures they found
the Island of Misfit Toys.
Rudolph didn't care about
the strange place or all of
the funny-looking toys.
He only cared that King Moonracer
had that game with the board made
of black-and-white squares and
the pieces that lined up in rows.
"Do you play chess?"
asked King Moonracer.
"I've always wanted to,"
Rudolph said, "but I don't
know how it's played, so I
had to make up my own rules."
The winged lion gave his booming laugh.
"My dear fellow, this is the Island of Misfit Toys,"
he said. "Here we have Fairy Chess, and
that is precisely how it is played."
"I want to learn too," said Hermey.
"I want to stay here forever," said Rudolph.
So they did.
* * *
Notes:
flight square
A square to which a piece can move, which allows it to escape attack. Also called escape square. See also luft.
-- Glossary of Chess
Read about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Know how to identify abuse and bullying.
Fairy Chess relies on making new pieces and movements. Some people also use this term for all modifications of chess even if they're keeping the standard pieces/movements and only changing other parts of the rules -- like Warp Chess where pieces can travel off one edge of the board and onto another -- but those are more often called variations.
crowdfunding Creative Jam, inspired by shiori_makiba. "Flight Square"
Rudolph was fairly sure that
his father Donner never meant
to be abusive, and that the other fawns
didn't mean to be bullies, but their actions
still matched that list of stuff to watch out
for, like if you were hitched to the sleigh
and heard people yelling or saw the daddy
throw the Christmas tree across the room.
So Rudolph started avoiding them.
He knew how; he'd had lessons in hiding
from the Abominable Snow Monster.
Rudolph had long since lost interest
in the Reindeer Games, as much because
he wasn't good at them and they made
his body ache for days as because
nobody wanted to play with him.
But there were other kinds of games,
the kind that went into Santa's sack
for the good little boys and girls.
Rudolph had seen those too,
flat boards that folded out and
pieces the moved around on top.
There were rules for them, but
he couldn't read those, so he had
to make up his own from whatever
he could overhear of things that
the older reindeer had seen.
Then Rudolph met Hermey,
who was an elf but not a toymaker,
as much an outcast as Rudolph
with his very shiny nose.
Rudolph could fly quite well,
so they ran away together, and
after a few adventures they found
the Island of Misfit Toys.
Rudolph didn't care about
the strange place or all of
the funny-looking toys.
He only cared that King Moonracer
had that game with the board made
of black-and-white squares and
the pieces that lined up in rows.
"Do you play chess?"
asked King Moonracer.
"I've always wanted to,"
Rudolph said, "but I don't
know how it's played, so I
had to make up my own rules."
The winged lion gave his booming laugh.
"My dear fellow, this is the Island of Misfit Toys,"
he said. "Here we have Fairy Chess, and
that is precisely how it is played."
"I want to learn too," said Hermey.
"I want to stay here forever," said Rudolph.
So they did.
* * *
Notes:
flight square
A square to which a piece can move, which allows it to escape attack. Also called escape square. See also luft.
-- Glossary of Chess
Read about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Know how to identify abuse and bullying.
Fairy Chess relies on making new pieces and movements. Some people also use this term for all modifications of chess even if they're keeping the standard pieces/movements and only changing other parts of the rules -- like Warp Chess where pieces can travel off one edge of the board and onto another -- but those are more often called variations.
(no subject)
Date: 2016-03-20 01:01 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2016-03-20 01:23 am (UTC)YES! In twenty foot tall letters!
Date: 2016-03-20 06:47 am (UTC)The internet has made bullying easier, and we hear that in the news a lot... but there are better ESCAPES from bullies, too, the simplest of which is to walk away from the computer for awhile.
The BEST escape, though, is to have people you can turn to. People who have interesting ideas, who aren't angling for something from you when they say "nice" things -- like when the other reindeer needed Rudolph's help.
Even staying forever, not every day on the Island will be perfect, and that's part of learning what makes a good place versus a bad one; a good place has people who want to work out problems TOGETHER, rather than ignoring them, or blaming one person --something else Rudolph had too much experience with already.
I want them to have great lives, good friends, and families of choice... and I like this about a thousand times more than the original movie.
Re: YES! In twenty foot tall letters!
Date: 2016-03-20 07:02 am (UTC)Sooth. I'm glad you liked the poem!
>>The internet has made bullying easier, and we hear that in the news a lot... but there are better ESCAPES from bullies, too, the simplest of which is to walk away from the computer for awhile. <<
Exactly. Nobody's going to put you in the hospital by saying mean things online. Mr. Delete Key is your friend! If people are awful in one place, go somewhere else. Any place that allows people to bully each other is a bad place to be, even if you're not the current target. A good place will promptly squelch the bullying, or other misbehavior.
>>The BEST escape, though, is to have people you can turn to. People who have interesting ideas,<<
Agreed.
>> who aren't angling for something from you when they say "nice" things -- like when the other reindeer needed Rudolph's help. <<
Yeah, that's one reason why Rudolph is such a complicated character for people with superpowers. Because that happens to everyone with a useful skill. Nobody wanted me around -- until they needed help with their homework. Which I gave if and only if they had something I wanted.
>> Even staying forever, not every day on the Island will be perfect, and that's part of learning what makes a good place versus a bad one; a good place has people who want to work out problems TOGETHER, rather than ignoring them, or blaming one person --something else Rudolph had too much experience with already.<<
Yes, exactly. A place where it's safe to be different is usually a place where it's safe to disagree.
>> I want them to have great lives, good friends, and families of choice... <<
I hope so too.
>> and I like this about a thousand times more than the original movie. <<
:D Aww, shucks.
Re: YES! In twenty foot tall letters!
Date: 2016-03-20 06:44 pm (UTC)YES THIS
Re: YES! In twenty foot tall letters!
Date: 2016-03-20 07:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2016-04-03 07:28 am (UTC)• made his body ache for days as because nobody wanted to play with him.
> "as because" ??
(no subject)
Date: 2016-10-13 09:30 am (UTC)Well...
Date: 2016-10-13 09:50 am (UTC)On the other hoof, I've also talked about these motifs in the context of Polychrome Heroics and Love Is For Children. They're favorites. :D