05 | aiden - war, not games

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track #01 in aiden rhys langston

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track #01 in aiden rhys langston

rosé // on the ground


THE SEVEN of us gather together in the game room, form a circle, and stare at the towering shelves stacked with every single game you could imagine; board games, video games, physical games and so on.

We've had game day every Saturday of every week for almost five years, and we take turns choosing games – I wonder when we will run out of our almost never-ending collection; we've seldom repeated games up till now, apart from Mario Kart and Overcooked, which we all love. Last time was my turn to choose to pick the game, so today, it's Tris' time to decide – his second time since he moved in.

"I'll do a random pick," Tristan shrugs, smiling, and covers his eyes with his right hand. Walking slowly towards the shelves, he pulls a large cardboard box from behind the video game selection.

"The Battles of Warship," he reads aloud, his eyes flickering open, while opening the lid. We look over his shoulder to find a game card, two VR headsets, two controllers, and two pairs of gloves in the box.

"I haven't seen this before," Kunboss mumbles, frowning. "Did anyone buy this?"

When everyone shakes their heads, I shrug. "It doesn't matter. It must have come with, but we didn't notice. Let's check it out anyway."


We all settle on the couch together as Tristan walks to the console and inserts the game card into it with a click. "It's a two player game, who wants to play first?" he asks and we start yelling for him to try out the game since he picked it. "Fair enough, but who'll play against me as my opponent?"

The rest of us smirk and gather in a circle, debating on who would have the highest chance of victory when playing against Tris. Zoey and Eunice quickly back out, which leaves me, Cadence, Gwyneth and Kunboss.

"Tristan is really strong, so if we want a somewhat fair match, we'll either need someone who's agile and has good reflexes, or someone who's just as strong as Tristan is." Cadence says, her mind put to work. "Aiden or Kun? Do you wanna try?"

We stare back at her and Cadence's face twists into confusion. "What?"

"You were the one known for having agility and quick reflexes in the Games." Kunboss replies blankly. "You can play against Tris."

Cadence stays silent, possibly weighing her chances of emerging victorious, but the emptiness in her eyes shows nothing but sadness. I resist the urge to walk closer and ask her what's up – she has always been good at hiding her emotions, but I see right through the facade she's playing. The hollowness in her eyes don't match the smiling mask she's always wearing.

"I'm okay with playing. It's just a game after all," says Gwyneth. "But you playing against Tristan would be fun to watch."


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