Poem: "Chances Old and New"
Dec. 8th, 2014 04:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem came out of the December 2, 2014 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from chordatesrock and redsixwing. It also fills the "opposite sides of the track" square in my 9-1-14 card for the ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ladiesbingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the series Path of the Paladins.
"Chances Old and New"
It had been raining for over a week
when Shahana and Ari stopped at a tavern
in a dilapidated village that had seen better days.
Ari had been grumbling about how
there was nothing to do because
the wet weather was bad for arms practice
and she was tired of memorizing hymns.
Shahana reminded herself that
teenagers were like that,
and prayed for patience.
When the two women went inside, they found
half a dozen mercenaries of Gorrein huddled
around a large table close to the hearth,
but they had taken off their armor and
most of their weapons, engaged instead
with bitching about bored they were.
"Just sit quietly and ignore them,"
Shahana advised, and Ari obeyed,
devouring the bowl of vegetable soup
and a mug of watered-down beer.
It was still raining, though,
and nowhere near time for bed.
The mercenaries had a Trine set,
flat wooden triangles divided into three spaces
that could be made into a game board on one side,
and marked with a suit and value on the other.
"I'm tired of playing the same old games,"
whined the youngest mercenary,
a brunette who looked near Ari's age.
"Well, that's all the games I know,
so you'll have to make do," said their leader,
her short silver hair marking her as
a contemporary of Shahana's.
Ari looked back and forth between
the mercenaries and her mentor.
"Can I borrow the Fates?" she whispered.
Shahana weighed the respective risks
between dealing with bored teenagers
and potentially starting a scuffle
in the only warm, dry place they had.
In the end, she handed over the pouch.
Ari walked over to the mercenaries
and said, "Hello. My name is Ari.
I have different games to play.
Maybe I could teach you mine,
or you could teach me yours,
or we could make up something new."
She emptied her pouch on the table,
revealing one die marked with six colors
and one marked with six shapes,
along with a dozen discs each of which had
a color on one side and a shape on the other.
"Or maybe we could play something very old,"
the leader murmured, sitting up straight.
She turned to holler at Shahana.
"Hey, you! Ever play Chances?"
"When I was a girl," said Shahana.
"I haven't played in decades, though.
Nobody I know has a Trine set,
and I haven't the money for fripperies."
The leader gave a low laugh.
"Where I come from, games aren't fripperies.
They're essential equipment for keeping
bored mercenaries from knifing each other
for entertainment," she said.
Shahana wondered if it was worth the risk,
as wretched as everything had grown --
but she remembered her girlhood,
gaming with the novices of Gorrein
in the taverns of the bright city
before the world was broken.
Slowly she moved to take a place
at the table, the younger mercenaries
scooting around to make room for her
to sit beside their leader, even as
Ari settled next to the young brunette.
"I'm Shahana," the paladin said.
"Thank you for inviting me to play."
"Tirayna," said old mercenary.
"The more, the merrier." She raised a hand.
"Barkeeper! Bring us a bowl of dried beans."
She was already arranging the Trine cards
to form an hourglass track of two triangles.
Shahana put all the discs color-side-up
and sorted them into two rows,
setting one die beside each row,
quietly explaining the rules as she did.
The barkeeper brought the marker beans.
"I'm Venore," said the brunette.
"I have mini-men, if we need them
for this game." She set out a handful
of round-headed wooden pegs.
"Not for Chances, but we would
for Drunkard's Path," said Shahana.
"No reason we couldn't play another game
after the first," Tirayna said, tilting her head
at the window slicked with gray water.
"I doubt that rain plans to quit any time soon."
It wasn't peace, really, just an afternoon truce
driven by boredom and bad weather,
but Shahana didn't care.
She waved a hand over the dice,
offering Tirayna the first throw.
Sometimes, you just had to take your Chances.
* * *
Notes:
Boredom increases risky behaviors. Know how to overcome it.
Trine is a game system consisting of 55 triangular cards, usually made from cardboard or wood. One side is divided into three spaces, so they can be laid out to make a game board. The other is marked with a suit (yellow stars, red knives, blue raindrops) and a number of pips (1-6). There are three complete sets of each suit, and the 55th card has all three suit symbols together. Other pieces may be added, such as six-sided dice or markers. The markers may include such things as chips or pawns, but are more often rocks or beans. A Trine deck can be used to play numerous different games. It is popular with many people, especially followers of Gorrein.
Fates is a game system consisting of two six-sided dice and twelve discs, usually made from bone or wood. One die has a different color on each face: red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple. The other die has a different shape on each face: circle, almond, triangle, square, star, hexagram. Each disc has a color on one side and a shape on the other. A Fates set can be used to play numerous different games. It is popular with many people, especially followers of Gailah.
A game system is a set of materials which can be used to play many different games. Dice, cards, the Piecepack, and Looney pyramids are some examples.
There are many benefits to playing games. Understand how to learn a new game yourself and how to teach someone to play a game.
chordatesrock and redsixwing. It also fills the "opposite sides of the track" square in my 9-1-14 card for the ladiesbingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony & Shirley Barrette. It belongs to the series Path of the Paladins."Chances Old and New"
It had been raining for over a week
when Shahana and Ari stopped at a tavern
in a dilapidated village that had seen better days.
Ari had been grumbling about how
there was nothing to do because
the wet weather was bad for arms practice
and she was tired of memorizing hymns.
Shahana reminded herself that
teenagers were like that,
and prayed for patience.
When the two women went inside, they found
half a dozen mercenaries of Gorrein huddled
around a large table close to the hearth,
but they had taken off their armor and
most of their weapons, engaged instead
with bitching about bored they were.
"Just sit quietly and ignore them,"
Shahana advised, and Ari obeyed,
devouring the bowl of vegetable soup
and a mug of watered-down beer.
It was still raining, though,
and nowhere near time for bed.
The mercenaries had a Trine set,
flat wooden triangles divided into three spaces
that could be made into a game board on one side,
and marked with a suit and value on the other.
"I'm tired of playing the same old games,"
whined the youngest mercenary,
a brunette who looked near Ari's age.
"Well, that's all the games I know,
so you'll have to make do," said their leader,
her short silver hair marking her as
a contemporary of Shahana's.
Ari looked back and forth between
the mercenaries and her mentor.
"Can I borrow the Fates?" she whispered.
Shahana weighed the respective risks
between dealing with bored teenagers
and potentially starting a scuffle
in the only warm, dry place they had.
In the end, she handed over the pouch.
Ari walked over to the mercenaries
and said, "Hello. My name is Ari.
I have different games to play.
Maybe I could teach you mine,
or you could teach me yours,
or we could make up something new."
She emptied her pouch on the table,
revealing one die marked with six colors
and one marked with six shapes,
along with a dozen discs each of which had
a color on one side and a shape on the other.
"Or maybe we could play something very old,"
the leader murmured, sitting up straight.
She turned to holler at Shahana.
"Hey, you! Ever play Chances?"
"When I was a girl," said Shahana.
"I haven't played in decades, though.
Nobody I know has a Trine set,
and I haven't the money for fripperies."
The leader gave a low laugh.
"Where I come from, games aren't fripperies.
They're essential equipment for keeping
bored mercenaries from knifing each other
for entertainment," she said.
Shahana wondered if it was worth the risk,
as wretched as everything had grown --
but she remembered her girlhood,
gaming with the novices of Gorrein
in the taverns of the bright city
before the world was broken.
Slowly she moved to take a place
at the table, the younger mercenaries
scooting around to make room for her
to sit beside their leader, even as
Ari settled next to the young brunette.
"I'm Shahana," the paladin said.
"Thank you for inviting me to play."
"Tirayna," said old mercenary.
"The more, the merrier." She raised a hand.
"Barkeeper! Bring us a bowl of dried beans."
She was already arranging the Trine cards
to form an hourglass track of two triangles.
Shahana put all the discs color-side-up
and sorted them into two rows,
setting one die beside each row,
quietly explaining the rules as she did.
The barkeeper brought the marker beans.
"I'm Venore," said the brunette.
"I have mini-men, if we need them
for this game." She set out a handful
of round-headed wooden pegs.
"Not for Chances, but we would
for Drunkard's Path," said Shahana.
"No reason we couldn't play another game
after the first," Tirayna said, tilting her head
at the window slicked with gray water.
"I doubt that rain plans to quit any time soon."
It wasn't peace, really, just an afternoon truce
driven by boredom and bad weather,
but Shahana didn't care.
She waved a hand over the dice,
offering Tirayna the first throw.
Sometimes, you just had to take your Chances.
* * *
Notes:
Boredom increases risky behaviors. Know how to overcome it.
Trine is a game system consisting of 55 triangular cards, usually made from cardboard or wood. One side is divided into three spaces, so they can be laid out to make a game board. The other is marked with a suit (yellow stars, red knives, blue raindrops) and a number of pips (1-6). There are three complete sets of each suit, and the 55th card has all three suit symbols together. Other pieces may be added, such as six-sided dice or markers. The markers may include such things as chips or pawns, but are more often rocks or beans. A Trine deck can be used to play numerous different games. It is popular with many people, especially followers of Gorrein.
Fates is a game system consisting of two six-sided dice and twelve discs, usually made from bone or wood. One die has a different color on each face: red, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple. The other die has a different shape on each face: circle, almond, triangle, square, star, hexagram. Each disc has a color on one side and a shape on the other. A Fates set can be used to play numerous different games. It is popular with many people, especially followers of Gailah.
A game system is a set of materials which can be used to play many different games. Dice, cards, the Piecepack, and Looney pyramids are some examples.
There are many benefits to playing games. Understand how to learn a new game yourself and how to teach someone to play a game.
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Botheration!
Date: 2014-12-08 11:46 pm (UTC)Stamps feet, glaring at our own lousy weather outside... It's a perfect distraction...
And now, back to sobriety: I like the measured, slow-testing attitude to see if something holds, because the same testing means they're /more/ likely to trust the others if they meet up again.
Baby steps.
Re: Botheration!
Date: 2014-12-09 01:52 am (UTC)Sorry about that. I only know portions of what they're doing with those game sets. Systems like those lend themselves to games of chance and of strategy, not my strong suits. It is much easier for me to describe the basics of a game like Kaverns & Krakens, or Save the City, which have a storytelling component. The card-based fluctuating games like Morff, Floosh, and Time Knights I could probably hack out too.
>> Stamps feet, glaring at our own lousy weather outside... It's a perfect distraction... <<
Well, I did give you the description of the game sets. They would be easy to make with a printer and cardstock, some poker chips, and a couple of six-sided dice. Then all you need is a bored mathematician to start fiddling around with rules.
Some things I do know that are done ...
Trine cards can be used to play matching games akin to Memory, Go Fish, or Old Maid. Flip some or all of them to make a board or track and you can play advancement or strategy games.
Fates is primarily a dice type system where the colors and shapes can be compared to each other or to numbers. So it could go:
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6
red - orange - yellow - green - blue - purple
circle - almond - triangle - square - star - hexagram
Or it could reverse the values of the colors or the shapes. The discs can be used to indicate a "wild" or "goal" color/shape.
Put the two sets together and they become much more powerful: board or track, cards, dice, and markers all together. However, they're different from most contemporary games, because you don't have to be literate to use either set. They have pips instead of numerals, use colors and symbols that are abstract instead of literary. For some games you need other skills like counting or memorization, but the simplest ones are high-side games that even small children could play.
I'm pretty sure these were toys that Gailah and Gorrein used as children.
>> And now, back to sobriety: I like the measured, slow-testing attitude to see if something holds, because the same testing means they're /more/ likely to trust the others if they meet up again.
Baby steps. <<
Sooth. Trustbuilding is a slow process, but it can actually be done in a war zone -- in fact you have to take steps to prevent it, in certain circumstances. Statistics and sociology do some fascinating things in trench/siege warfare.
Re: Botheration!
Date: 2014-12-09 03:53 am (UTC)Re: Botheration!
Date: 2014-12-09 04:08 am (UTC)Another is from WWII where the officers learned to cycle troops and not leave them stationed too long, or they'd fiddle the shelling to avoid actually killing anyone, because that way everyone on both sides was safer. But it kept happening because they didn't always have enough troops or transit to rotate them every couple of weeks, and it only takes about 3-4 weeks for that kind of accommodation to spring up.
Re: Botheration!
Date: 2015-04-17 12:39 am (UTC)Re: Botheration!
Date: 2015-04-17 01:10 am (UTC)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_and_let_live_(World_War_I)
Something similar underlies a lot of the toleration in Terramagne, which still has a high respect for neutral parties (such as medics, and often teleporters as well) and for their willingness to work on common interests even when they're on opposite sides of the cape.
Re: Botheration!
Date: 2015-04-17 01:29 am (UTC)Re: Botheration!
Date: 2015-04-17 02:32 am (UTC)Re: Botheration!
Date: 2014-12-09 08:59 am (UTC)… So to speak
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-09 05:09 am (UTC)Thank you!
Date: 2014-12-09 05:12 am (UTC)Hell yes bored Marines are dangerous. :D
(no subject)
Date: 2014-12-09 12:06 pm (UTC)My granddad has stories about what happened during WW2 when some base commander decided it was a good idea to lump both sets of Marines [British and American] together in the same barracks. Apparently the rest of the base used to quite look forward to the Germans turning up...
Wow!
Date: 2014-12-10 08:41 am (UTC)Who winds up wishing to be somewhere, anywhere, else and that's how this fool idea gets perpetuated.