#chess drama

[thestormlightnetwork]

ohhhh wylan and kaz are massive chess nerds. they went to a chess club in second grade together and they're up to date with all of the chess world drama (nina is also into the drama, but wylan and kaz have to explain to her a LOT of chess terms (and when she doesn't understand it she says that kaz is mansplaining her))

wylan and the other crows

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

Chess of the Wind (Mohammad Reza Aslani, 1976)

[disgruntleddemon]

unironically i think post cannon fiddauthor works pretty well with the tone of tbe show, cause they work well as a mix of sincere and comedic.

Like, they have all their messed up history together of course. But also, Ford comes across as a put together guy (even if he's not rly) with some moments of goofiness or weirdness, meanwhile McGucket's still very much old man McGucket, even if he's recovered a lot.

I can absolutely Ford walking around town with Fiddleford just chilling out on him backpack style. Or maybe McGucket says something incomprehensible and Ford's just like "you are so right"

Idk, they're just silly and fun to me

[xinyuehui]

“宫、商、角、徵、羽” Gōng Shāng Jué Zhǐ Yǔ · The pentatonic scale in Chinese music

"Gong Shang Jue Zhi Yu" was first documented in the Spring and Autumn Period more than 2600 years ago. The five tones are the basic scales of Chinese ancient music. Compared to the seven-tone scale of Western music - minus the semitone ascending "fa" and "si", Gong is roughly equivalent to 1 (Do), Shang is roughly equivalent to 2 (Re), Jue is roughly equivalent to 3 (Mi), Zhi is roughly equivalent to 5 (So), and Yu is roughly equivalent to 6 (La). In the Tang Dynasty, “合、四、乙、尺、工” "Hé Sì Yǐ Chǐ Gōng" were used.

云之羽 My Journey To You · 2023

[otomehonyaku]

DIABOLIK LOVERS Chaos Lineage ☽ Ebten WonderGOO Tokuten Drama CD ☽ The Vampire’s Everyday: Board Game Edition (Ruki, Azusa, Kino)

Original title: DIABOLIK LOVERS CHAOS LINEAGE ebten・WonderGOO特典ドラマCD「ヴァンパイア達の日常ボードゲーム編 ─ルキVSアズサVSキノ─ 」 Voiced by Sakurai Takahiro (Ruki), Kishio Daisuke (Azusa), Maeno Tomoaki (Kino) English translation by @otomehonyaku Click here for the audio (thank you to @karleksmumskladdkaka for providing the audio!)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Please do not reuse or repost my translations elsewhere or translate my work into other languages without my permission.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Bet you didn't think we'd get to work on these so quickly! I want to give a HUGE thank you to @karleksmumskladdkaka for acquiring all of these rare CDs and sharing the audio with me for translation (づ>/////<)づ♡ This tokuten was hilarious and the bits where Ruki is trying to catch the Golden Bunny is just... his tactics might not have worked on the bunny (my own pet bunny would be equally unfazed) but I would've jumped straight into his arms. As always, enjoy listening and reading along! (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

[The scene starts with Kino aggressively tapping on his smartphone as he’s playing a game.]

00:00 Kino: And… I’ve cleared it! Ah, I’ve gotten tired of this game too… I should look for a new one to play.

[Kino searches the app store.]

K: Hm? What’s this? Huh? An app based on a board game? I’m not really into board games, but it’s been newly released, so I should download it just to check it out. Alright! It’s finished downloading. I’m gonna start it right away.

[Kino boots up the game.]

K: Oh! What an interesting opening to the game.

[The world starts swirling around Kino.]

K: Huh? What’s happening?! Why did such a strong wind start blowing all of a sudden? My body is being pulled into my smartphone by an incredibly powerful force. Ah… I can’t hold on… Ah!

[Kino disappears into his smartphone.] 01:13 [The scene shifts to Ruki reading in his room in the Mukami mansion.]

Ruki: Ah… 

[There’s a knock on the door.]

R: Azusa? What’s up?

Azusa: How did you know… it was me?

R: Because Kou and Yuma are both out today. You’re the only one here.

A: Ah… I see. Hey, Ruki. I’m sorry for… interrupting your reading, but…

R: What’s wrong? Is that a smartphone in your hand?

A: Yeah, it is… Kou told me to check out a smartphone game earlier… This game… was released recently… I thought we could play it, but… I don’t know… how to start the app…

R: I see. So that’s what you came to ask.

A: Yeah. Kou isn’t here either, so… Do you… know how to do it, Ruki?

R: Of course. I know that much. Give me the smartphone. So you just want me to download the game that’s on the screen right now?

A: Yeah, I think so…

[Ruki downloads the game.]

R: Hm. This should do it. It downloaded successfully. Now you just have to tap this button to start the game.

A: I got it. So I should tap here… right? Like this…

[Azusa boots up the app and the world starts swirling around him.]

A: Huh? What’s with… this strong wind? Is this… part of the game? Ah… 

R: No, that can’t be it… What’s going on? It’s like I’m being sucked into the smartphone…!

A: It’s happening to me too… Ah!

[Azusa disappears into the smartphone.]

R: Hey, Azusa…! …Shit!

[Ruki disappears along with him.]

03:55 K: Ugh… Ow… That really caught me off-guard. Hey… How long was I out? And where am I? It’s so dark that I can barely see what’s around me. Huh? There’s someone else on the ground, though. There’s two of them… Mukami Ruki and Azusa? Why are they here too?

[Kino tries to shake the Mukami brothers awake.]

K: Come on, wake up, you two. Hey, I’m telling you to wake up, damn it!

[Ruki stirs to life.]

R: Ugh…

K: Damn, you’re slow. Are you finally awake? And how about your brother?

R: Hey, Azusa. Wake up. Open your eyes.

[Azusa stirs to life as well.]

A: Ugh… Where are we? And why is… Kino here?

[Azusa sits up.]

R: Hey, Kino. Where are we?

And why are we here?

K: I don’t know either. When I woke up, I just kinda found myself here.

A: Earlier, we were… trying to play a game, though… What were you doing… before you got here, Kino…?

K: Me? I was just trying to play a game, but I was suddenly sucked into my smartphone. Before I knew it, I found myself in this strange place.

A: I see… So we were doing the exact same thing… The game you were trying to play… was it a… ‘game-of-life’ kind of game?

K: Oh, yes, that was it! You had to spin a roulette wheel. It was kinda like sugoroku (1).

R: I see… So that means that new game is likely the cause of all this. Besides, I’ve been wondering about that thing over there. Look.

A: Oh…? A gigantic… roulette wheel?

[Kino walks over to the roulette wheel.]

K: Oh! Look, look! If you look closely, there are squares (2) on the ground. 

R: Judging from those square spaces, we really do seem to be inside that game. I don’t know what caused all of this, exactly, but that seems to be the most likely explanation. Anyway, let’s stay put until we know more.

07:10 [Kino is already spinning the roulette wheel.]

K: Huh? D’ya say something?

R: Hey…! Why did you spin that wheel?

K: Why? Because I felt like it, of course.

R: I just told you to stay put!

K: Oh, it’s alright! You’ll overexert yourself if you get pissed off at me for such small things.

R: If that’s what you think, aren’t you better off not doing those things? Don’t put this on me!

A: You two… now’s not the time to fight…

[A countdown signal goes off.]

K: What’s that sound?

A: It sounds like… something has started.

R: Be careful. It sounds like something’s coming towards us.

[A very large spider comes towards the boys.]

K: Ah! What’s up with that giant spider?! It’s gross!

A: It’s huge…

R: Damn… We’ve been hauled into this unknown place and now we’re being attacked by a gigantic spider? These are some strange things happening… Kino. This is your fault. You take down the spider.

K: What? Why me? Get off your high horse and stop ordering me around. I’m not your little brother.

R: We’re in this situation because you were careless enough to spin that roulette wheel. This is your responsibility, so you should do something about it…

[Ruki and Kino’s bickering fades to the background as Azusa tries to appeal to the spider.]

A: Those two…

[The spider roars.]

R: [In the background] So, that means that you’re under my watch now.

A: [To the spider] I’m sorry… They ended up ignoring you.

K: [In the background] Ha, I get it! You’re just a little weakling, then! That’s why you always order people around!

A: [To the spider] They just kind of… started bickering, and… 

R: [In the background] Heh! 

[The spider roars again.]

A: What should I do…? What can I even do…?

[Azusa walks around.]

A: Ah! 

09:00R: Speak for yourself! You’re looking for excuses because you’re actually not confident that you can defeat that spider!

K: What? D’you think you can just make fun of me?

[The spider roars again.]

K: [To the spider] Hey, shut the fuck up! Take this!

[Kino attacks the spider.]

R: You should stay quiet while people are talking. Good grief, you have no manners.

[Ruki attacks the spider, killing it. Ruki walks over to it.]

R: Finally, you’ve gone quiet.

A: Ah… so you’ve defeated the spider.

R: Yeah, well, this clearly isn’t a place for leisuring. We should look around for clues so we can get out of here as fast as possible.

A: Ah, about that… Look at this. The spot that the roulette wheel landed on… it reads… “a large volume of spiders will show up,” “dispose of them rather than complaining”...

K: A large volume of spiders? So that’s what that spider was just now?

R: I see. So in this realm, whatever is written on the spaces will become reality.

K: Wow, that’s cool! So that means we’re playing a sort of sensory experience game here?

A: What’s written on the spaces… will actually materialise… But this space… doesn’t say anything about one gigantic spider… But we haven’t seen more spiders, either…

K: Aren’t they just talking about bugs? It’s a common occurrence in newly released games. And we’re inside the game right now, so that could explain it.

R: I see. Whatever the case, we should not stick around much longer. We’re getting out of here. Now.

11:05 A: But… how?

R: I have an idea.

K: Well, it doesn’t take a genius to come up with an escape plan. If we’re inside a game, we’ll just have to end the game, won’t we?

A: So, that means…

K: Yep, we just have to clear the game.

R: However, whatever is written on the square spaces seems to actually occur inside this game. Clearing it is not going to be easy.

A: Ah… actually, when you two were fighting earlier… I found something. Look. Come over here.

[Azusa leads them to a different spot.]

A: Look at this space. 

K: Huh? What’s this?

R: It says “Find the Golden Bunny for good luck. You may proceed to the goal immediately.”

K: Well, then, we can clear the game if we find that Golden Bunny, right?

R: I suppose so. Well done, Azusa.

A: Yeah.

R: However, I don’t think we’ll be able to find that bunny so easily…

[Lo and behold, a bunny hops by.]

K: Huh? Was that…?

R: The Golden… Bunny.

[The Golden Bunny happily hops away.]

K: Oh! Stop standing around. Let’s catch it! Come on, you two!

A: Ah… alright.

R: Kino, let’s work together. I’ll lend you a hand this time so we can get out of here.

K: Heh, get off your high horse. But, well, alright. I’ll join forces with you to escape this place. Don’t stand in my way, though.

A: Yes! Let’s all work together, then.

R: Great. We’re going after that bunny!

[The three run after the bunny.]

13:15 A: Haa… haa… Yes! We’ve caught up with it! Hehe. [To the bunny] Hey… you look… pretty tasty. Come on… don’t be scared. I’ll do you a favour… and catch you!

[Azusa tries to catch the bunny but it gets away and Azusa falls.]

A: Oh. Ow…

K: Jeez, don’t just try to grab it like that! Cornering it will only scare it away. You’ll never catch the bunny that way!

A: Sorry… Ah, Ruki… It’s coming your way!

[The bunny hops over to Ruki. Ruki and the bunny have a staredown.]

R: Well. Hey, you! Bunny. Come here. I’ll be nice to you. Now, jump into my arms! 

[The bunny—unlike the translator—is unfazed by Ruki’s tactics and it runs off.]

R: That’s strange… Why didn’t it jump into my arms?

K: What?! Did you seriously expect that to work? Oh, the two of you are completely useless.

R: Hey, Kino! It’s heading your way! Don’t waste this chance. Catch it!

K: What? It’s easy for you to order me around! Did you forget your own failure so easily? This pisses me off. I might be stubborn, but I’m going to fucking catch you!

[The bunny hops by Kino.]

K: Take this!

[Kino throws himself on top of the bunny. Ruki and Azusa run over to him.]

A: Kino!

R: Kino! Hey, did you catch it?

[Kino holds up the bunny.]

K: I did it… I caught it! I did it!

A: What a relief… Now we’ll be able to go home… We were able to catch it… because we all worked together.

R: Yeah, we did. It’s not so bad to help each other out.

K: Whoa, now. It’s thanks to my efforts that we’ve got the bunny. The two of you didn’t even do anything. Stop that sappy talk.

15:18A: This bunny… is pretty docile… and fluffy… 

K: It really is. It’s pretty cute with its little twitching nose.

A: Yeah… how cute. Hey, Ruki. Can’t we keep a bunny at home?

R: That’s not a good idea. I’d be the one constantly looking after it in the end.

A: It’s okay. I’ll take good care of it. So… please, Ruki?

K: Do you two always have such dull conversations? A Golden Bunny, though… They’re pretty rare. It would be nice if there were more of them.

[Something starts rumbling in the distance.]

A: Hey… Do you guys… hear something?

[An army of bunnies appears and heads for the boys.]

K: Are those… Why is there a horde of Golden Bunnies?! And why are they all coming our way?

R: Kino, you fool… Because of your careless remark—

K: Ah! Did I do that?!

A: Is this… also a bug? Hehe. There are so many bunnies…

K: Why do you look so happy about it? This is bad!

A: [In the background] Hehe… So many…

K: Agh! I can’t—The bunnies are trampling over me—

R: Fuck! How did it come to—Agh!

[The boys are buried under all the bunnies.]

17:11[Kino shoots upright in his bed.]

K: Ah! I thought I was going to suffocate. But… Huh? I’m in my own bed. Does that mean that wave of bunnies was… only a dream? Well… Of course it was. I wonder why those Mukami brothers were in my dream, though. It felt awfully real. Hmm…

[Ruki and Azusa also wake up in cold sweat.]

R: Ah… The bunnies?! They’re gone…

A: We’re in… your room, Ruki.

R: Apparently, we just fell asleep in my room somehow…

A: Yeah, but… I had a… strange dream.

R: Me too. A bad dream. I saw a giant spider and gold-coloured bunnies. It all sounds like a wicked joke, I’m sure.

A: Same for me… I also saw golden bunnies… Come to think of it… For some reason, Kino was also there…

R: I see. So you saw him too, Azusa… It seems a little too strange to be a coincidence for the two of us to have the same dream.

A: It does… But it was a really strange dream…

R: It was. It felt strangely realistic, too, but it was only a dream, after all.

A: So the giant spider… appeared in your dream too…

R: It did. It was a pretty rude one, at that, because it kept trying to interrupt our conversation.

A: Yeah… but, Ruki…

[The conversation trails off…]

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

双六（すごろく）: Sugoroku is a Japanese board game kind of similar to backgammon and snakes and ladders, where you have to move all of your pieces to the other side of the board as quickly as you can. Sugoroku often incorporates elements from real life—like religion, politics, etc.—into this ‘race’ for storytelling purposes and more exciting play. You could liken it to the Game of Life too, in my opinion.

マス目 （ますめ）：Squares; square-shaped spaces like the spaces you see on the board of a board game.

[pharawee]

—This must be MaiGus for sure! I'm going to be a middleman again. You can count on me!

[ominus-potato]

OKAY BUT HEAR ME OUT!! Kinger x The black chess King.

I’m calling him Kingston in my AU and the way I imagine them is that Kingston was Kinger’s first crush. But when he confessed, Kingston made fun of him and started bullying Kinger.

Now they hate eachother.

Years later, Kinger stole Kingston’s wife 😌

[rosebathe]

The Queen's Gambit (2020) dir. Scott Frank

[wishmaker-astra]

Full offense to Sidon, but it really does seem like there isn't too many adults on here compared to teens and tweens. Which is... kinda odd. Granted, social media is a shithole in general right now, so I suppose here makes just as much sense as anywhere else.

[academiclover]

The Queen's Gambit (2020)

[clonerightsagenda]

Shay giggled. "I knew it. That's why you've been so nervous. You want to be here, but you also wish you were somewhere else. With someone else. And before you went away, you left directions, a copy of my note, in case your new heartthrob wants to join us. Am I right or am I right?" Tally bit her lip. Shay's face glowed in the moonlight, obviously thrilled with herself for figuring out Tally's big secret. "Uh, you're partly right." "Oh, Tally." Shay grabbed both her shoulders. "Don't you see that it's ok? I mean, I did the same thing."

rolling up to this book ready to carefully collect evidence to make my TallyShay toxic yuri case and she just says it

[night-lie]

𝔻𝔼𝔸𝕋ℍ ℕ𝕆𝕋𝔼-tober Day 28: Chess

[pynkhues]

“I guess there’s a kind of a plot about the fact that Louis blows up parts of life when he’s bored”

Could you elaborate a bit on the idea 👀 (as Louis’ characterization, not as a spoiler!)

(x)

Jacob's actually talked about it a few times in interviews (and in classic me form, I can't find where now, haha), but Louis as a character needs friction. He needs conflict, he needs a challenge, he needs passion, and I think it's a really vital part of the texture of him.

Louis' a character who, in his human life, was both oppressed and repressed, and I think that actually sort of dovetails inside of him. On the one hand, I think it's absolutely soaked him in shame about his own identity and leaves him restricting himself in order to find something he feels might be good and true and holy in himself, but on the other hand, I think it's given him a drive and a hunger to not just prove himself, but win. He doesn't just want to survive the circumstances he finds himself in, he wants to thrive in them. We see that over and over again, from The Azaelia, to the way he flaunts his new wealth and family (in that order) in front of his sister after feeling she's rejected him, to the way if he can't be good at photography, he doesn't want to do it at all, to leveraging power through Armand over the Coven.

Louis doesn't so much want to control situations in the way Armand does, Louis wants to be challenged by them and he wants to beat them. It's why when he does win, when he has all the things that he wants, he gets bored. (And also, perhaps, leaves all the guilt and shame to swallow him up) Hell, it's why he invites Daniel over for the interview two times over - the first to bait drama and conflict back into his life by trying to goad Lestat out of hiding, and the second by being the drama and conflict himself by lobbing a journalist-shaped grenade into his own marriage.

Louis' an intelligent, passionate character, and I think that manifests in his ambition, but also his choice of partner. He chooses people who are different from him, I think, because he wants the conflict, which is why Armand moulding his personality around Louis' was never going to work. And if Louis can't find the conflcit in a person, he's going to make the conflict! Which he does! Over and over! He will be the drama he wants to see in the world if he has to be, haha, he just usually relies on Lestat to bring it to him instead.

[lae-zels]

arcane should be called blame jayce bc everything going wrong in this show ultimately circles back to him

[silviakundera]

a snippet of the droll Duke Su from the source novel of The Double, to show how well the drama is capturing his vibes. (Spoilers obviously)

Seeing such a thrilling examination, [Kong Liu] felt it was more tiring than the usual practice drill. However, he was still happy. He spoke to Ji Heng, “Did you see? Jiang second miss was so powerful. Today was really an eye opened for everyone, this would let her be in the limelight. I suppose she’s very happy.”

“I think she is a little disappointed,” Ji Heng said.

“Disappointed?” Kong Liu doubted, “Why disappointed? She got first place. These damn six arts competitions are over, she’s number one in each and every one of them. What is to be disappointed about?”

“Unable to borrow a knife to kill somebody, naturally one is disappointed.” Ji Heng laughed lightly and stood up: “Today’s drama is also not bad, just there’s no blood, a bit simpler, let’s see another day.”

Then he walked away.

“Truly a pervert.” Kong Liu muttered. He thought of something and said, “You still haven’t judged!”

[positive-total-drama-takez]

ive never met another fan of this ship but uh here we go

i am a HUGE zoey x the entire mike system fan (platonically w/ chester bc yknow old man)

i love the idea of zoey dating all of them (except for chester) n they all kinda fight for her not rlly tho

i love this ship so so much that ive written 150 pages of it

i neeed to find ppl who love this ship too bc ive only read like 2 other fics of it on ao3

.