Mischievous Function

Snow-Bored

Saw and Gaty looked at each other for a moment before Gaty nodded. "I think I understand. So, only checkmate wins because it's harder to do and requires more skill, right?"

"Right. On a related note, putting your own king in check is also illegal because if it was legal, you'd lose on the next move—or, even worse, your opponent wouldn't catch it and you'd continue as normal. Making those kinds of moves legal would lead to much shorter, much more crude games. Experienced players would take advantage of newbies far too much, and chess theory wouldn't be nearly as developed or as artful as it is today. But I digress."

"I still don't get it," Saw admitted. "I think that in today's evolving times, we should reward players who paralyze and incapacit-EIGHT! their opponents as quickly and as efficiently as possible with victory. And since you said a winning position in which stalem-EIGHT! is possible is also a position in which checkm-EIGHT! is possible, stalem-EIGHT! just ends the loser's suffering faster."

Tennis Ball shrugged. "Well, although I see your point, I'd still have to disagree with you. But I respect your opinion and your argument."

"Me, too," Saw replied. "Although I have dissenting feelings toward your reasoning, you've given us valuable insight as to why you support your argument. Even though neither of us may have changed our opinions, we've still learned from each other."

"Yeah," Gaty added. "And even though Tennis Ball's logic convinced me, I understand your point of view, Saw, and I'm okay with you thinking like that. In the end, we all came out of the discussion more enlightened."

They nodded in agreement and sat in silence for a few seconds before Tennis Ball spoke up. "...Why did we just describe the logic of a totally normal debate?" he asked out loud.

"You know, I don't really know," Gaty admitted. "I mean, it's not like any self-respecting humans would have any other kind of discussion than a civil, rational one."

Saw chuckled. "Yeah. Imagine if people walked away from well-intentioned discussions because they were bored or something, or if they refused to listen to—or at least respect—well-founded arguments based on rational logic. Better yet, imagine if people let their emotions get the best of them during civilized deb-EIGHT!-s!"

Tennis Ball shook his head but chuckled as well. "Ah, Saw, you always had a crazy imagination. Although the thought's amusing, no self-respecting human would ever do that. I doubt any individual would ever do that, actually, and the thought of that being normalized in an entire society—you know what, that's so inconceivable that there's no point entertaining the thought."

The door to the lobby opened, and students started walking into the hotel. An exhausted Golf Ball found Tennis Ball and dragged herself over to his couch before stumbling over the armrest and letting herself faceplant into his lap. "Ughhhhhhhhhh..."

Tennis Ball ran one hand through Golf Ball's hair and caressed her cheek with the other. "Still tired from idol training?"

"Yeah, my legs still ache," she grunted as she flipped herself around to look up at him. "I wanna take a nap."

"You can nap on me on the bus," he offered. "Did everyone finish putting their ski and snowboard stuff in the trailer?"

Golf Ball nodded. "Yeah. Everyone that's going, that is."

Just then, Two teleported into the lobby and clapped his hands twice. "All right, everyone!" he called out. "Is everyone who's going skiing and snowboarding here?"

"Yeah," everyone in the lobby replied.

"Okay, roll check. Saw?" "Here." "Gaty?" "Here." "Fries?" "Here." "Puffball?" "Here." "Cloudy?" "Here." "Balloony?" "Here." "Remote?" "Here." "Balloon?" "Here." "Dora?" "Estoy aquí." "David?" "NO!" "Tennis Ball?" "Here." "Cheesy?" "Here." "Pickle?" "Here." "Bomb?" "H-h-h-h-h-here." "Match?" "Like, here." "Pencil?" "Here." "Golf Ball?" "Here." "Suitcase?"

A few seconds passed before Two called her name out again. "Suitcase?"

Everyone looked around the lobby for Suitcase. Balloon got up and walked over to the hallways, peering down each one to see if she was there.

"Here!" a faint voice suddenly shouted from above.

Confused, Balloon stepped into the back half of the lobby before turning and looking up. Rather than being fully walled, each floor's hallway had a safety railing in place of where the wall facing the tall open lobby would be so that people on each floor could see down to the lobby floor. Balloon found Suitcase waving down at him from one of these railings—specifically, from the one on the tenth floor.

"Suitcase!" he called out to her, waving back. "Hurry up! We're about to leave!"

"Hold on a second!" she called back. Balloon saw her disappear back into the hallway for a few seconds before she came back to the railing with a plunger in her hand. "Okay, I'm coming!" she yelled.

Balloon saw her climb onto the railing and his eyes widened. "What is she...w-wait! Suitcase, are—are you gonna jump?!" he cried out. "What are you doing?!"

But it was too late. Suitcase hopped off the railing and plunged toward the lobby floor. Balloon froze for a moment before screaming, shutting his eyes, and turning away from her, unable to bear the thought of her going splat on the floor.

He braced himself and grimaced just as he thought Suitcase was about to hit the floor. Instead, he heard indescribable sounds from above him and, after a few seconds of nothing happening, opened his eyes and looked up. Sure enough, Suitcase was hanging from the part of the wall just underneath the second-floor railing by the plunger.

"Wh...how did you do that?" he asked incredulously. "And what were those noises?"

"You've never heard a plunger stick to something before?" she asked flatly.

He shook his head. "No, I've—"

"EEK!"

The plunger peeled off the wall, causing Suitcase to start falling again. Balloon rushed over to where she was about to land and caught her in his arms. They both locked eyes and blushed for a moment before Two clapped his hands twice, motioning toward the group of students already walking out the door. "Suitcase! Balloon! Let's go!"

"C-coming!" they both responded as Suitcase quickly jumped out of his arms and they both ran toward the lobby door.

——————————

Later, on the bus...

Balloony looked out the window and sighed as he watched the snowfall. A large clearing lay on either side of the road they were driving on, so he wasn't watching much, but the window of the bus felt too hard and cold for him to sleep on comfortably.

"What are you looking at?" Cloudy asked as he peeked past him.

He yawned and leaned back in his seat, looking up at the ceiling of the bus. "Not much," he replied. "Nothing but snow and sky out there. Man, you know, I...I feel a bit tired, now that I think about it."

"Oh." Cloudy grinned. "You know, if you want to use a homie's shoulder as a pillow, all you gotta do is ask."

Balloony let out a quiet snicker before shaking his head. "No, not sleepy tired. Kinda like...lethargic tired."

"How you mean?"

"Well..." Balloony paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "I...I don't really know how to explain it. It's like...it's like I've been sleeping for two years and I'm just waking up. Or like...I've been doing nothing and just lying dormant for that long. If that makes sense."

"Doing nothing for two years?" Cloudy smirked and shook Balloony's shoulder. "Our latest forest thing was less than a month ago."

"I know, but..." Balloony ran a hand through his hair and shut his eyes, laying his head back on the seat cushion. "...Man, I-I don't know how to put it into words. Maybe...I don't know, maybe it's just me."

Cloudy shrugged and went back to attempting to take a nap. Balloony looked out the window again and rested the side of his head on the glass.