Malus Story 7. Win Equals Fun

  Many years ago.

  After a few days, Vionte was still doing her routine of reading a novel during the recess, giggling whenever she found a funny passage. However, today things were different. In fact, she was soon disturbed by Timotea, who approached her. The cat-girl's tail was waving fast from happiness.

  "Hey, what are you reading?"

  Vionte replied without removing her eyes from the book.

  "I'm reading 'How to steal from the till and set up scapegoats to ensure a comfortable life and no repercussions whatsoever'. It's funny."

  The cat-girl was curious about the novel, so she put herself behind Vionte and read the book.

  'After putting the fake accounting documents in his boss' desk, Pierre-Ferdinand ughed maniacally as he twirled his thin moustaches: "That witch has it coming now. She'll regret making an hand-off comment about my toupé.'

  Timotea was perplexed.

  "How can you like a guy who wants to send his boss in jail because she talked about his toupé? He's taking things too far!"

  Vionte blinked.

  "Well... It's funny! It's the same as burning the supermarket down because an employee refuses to give you the change... Isn't it funny?"

  The catgirl shook her head.

  "It's not! It's disturbing actually! Are you going to burn down a supermarket if the cashier doesn't give you the change?"

  Vionte was not able to find the logic in Timotea's words.

  "It's a story! Some things are funnier in stories than in real life..."

  The catgirl crossed her arms.

  "Such things are not funny even in stories... There's no way sending someone in jail is going to be funny."

  Vionte shrugged, as she returned reading her book.

  "That's your problem."

  The cat-girl walked away for a moment.

  'I thought she was a fine girl, instead she likes disturbing things... But maybe she's right... Maybe she enjoys such things only in fiction.'

  The cat-girl looked at the other girl again, still engrossed in her book.

  'She's not going to continue the discussion, isn't she?'

  Timotea sat in front of Vionte, quietly observing her friend while she read and giggled as she thought how to change her approach. She thought for a moment before she had an idea.

  "Hey... Do you want to py a game with me?"

  Vionte closed her book and put it on her desk. Her attention was caught.

  "A game, huh? I'm inclined to py but... What kind of games do you propose?"

  The cat-girl was caught unprepared.

  "Huh... I don't know..."

  She wandered around the cssroom in search of something, panicking a bit. Meanwhile Vionte smirked as she was holding a pencil.

  "Can you py tic tac toe?"

  The cat-girl turned towards the young demoness. She was perplexed.

  "Well... Who doesn't?"

  Timotea returned to Vionte's desk, and then they pyed tic-tac-toe. Timotea, however, soon felt overwhelmed as her cssmate was soon winning round after round. The half-succubus was giggling as the cat-girl lost repeatedly.

  "Who doesn't know how to py tic tac toe... These were your words..."

  Timotea pouted.

  "I meant i know the rules! How do you always win!"

  "if i tell you i'm not going to win anymore... And where's the fun in that?"

  Timotea rolled her eyes, then she looked at the other girl with determination.

  "Then i'll find how to win on my own."

  The girls pyed together for a couple of minutes. In this time the cat-girl found out how to counter Vionte's moves. She smirked as she showed her progress. Vionte frowned. After a couple more games, Vionte stopped pying.

  "The game is not fun anymore! Let's change it!"

  Timotea was not happy about that statement.

  "Do you want to change games because you're not winning anymore?"

  "Yes."

  Timotea looked at Vionte with a disappointed expression. The bell then rang, signaling the end of the recess. Timotea waved her hand at her schoolmate.

  "See you next time Vi!"

  She then left the css, leaving Vionte confused.

  "Vi?"

  ---

  That afternoon.

  Vionte was on a swing swinging herself rather fast. She was minding her own business, thinking about demented things.

  'If i ever become the president of a business i'm going to have my subordinates call me "Your majestic highness" while bowing before me.'

  As she was thinking that with a smile on her face, Timotea approached her again.

  "Hi Vi!"

  "Hi..."

  The cat-girl sat on the other swing and started swinging herself. She soon matched Vionte's pace and then she was even going a bit faster. Vionte didn't like that.

  "That's not fun. I want to be the fastest one!"

  Timotea didn't like the other girl's reaction.

  "Then just go faster."

  Vionte frowned

  "I'm not going faster. It's scary."

  Timotea was confused.

  "Then why do you want to be the fastest?"

  "There's no reason. I just want to."

  The cat-girl was a bit annoyed.

  "You don't make any sense!"

  The half-succubus didn't reply. After a bit of time in which there was an awkward, Timotea asked Vionte a question.

  "Why do you want to be always the first? You wanted to win at tic-tac-toe and now you want to be the fastest. Why?"

  Vionte didn't even think about it.

  "Because being the best is fun! People start treating you like you're better than them. And they praise you. Being the best is a form of power. And power is always something that is better to have than not to have."

  The cat-girl was not impressed.

  "You're talking funny! Being the best don't give you any power. You should read less books like the ones you're reading."

  The half-succubus was irritated by the comment.

  "Mine's a fact. Take for example the guy... Well... How is he called? The presenter of "Morning Talk Show"... He's a slimy prick, but since he's good at his job people let it slide and are subservient to him. Also, you can't tell me what to read or not."

  The atmosphere was tense, but the girls, still swinging, just ignored each other. After a couple of minutes, Timotea resumed talking, albeit with an indecisive tone.

  "Are you angry?"

  "... No. I'm not."

  Timotea rexed a bit.

  "So... I don't think that presenter is a prick though... I find him very likable."

  Vionte gred at the other girl.

  "He's faking it. He's a slimeball. He pys the goody-two-shoes but i've not bought his act."

  The cat-girl rolled her eyes, not convinced by the other kid's argument. She changed topic.

  "Ok... So... Do you want to py together?"

  "Sure!"

  The two girls stopped swinging and stepped down from the swing. Vionte then guided Timotea back to her cssroom. She then searched around. Timotea was confused by her actions.

  "What are you searching for?"

  "I'm searching for a chessboard. We're going to py chess."

  Vionte found the chessboard and the pieces inside. She then put the chessboard on her desk and prepared the pieces. Timotea wasn't thrilled though.

  "Chess is difficult to py. I don't think i'm going to have any fun pying it."

  Vionte smirked.

  "It's funnier than it looks. And the bases are simple to learn and hard to master. Which means that while i teach you i'm going to easily win against you."

  The cat-girl relented.

  "Fine... I'll try pying with you."

  Before they started pying, Vionte took some time to expin the basics to Timotea.

  "Do you know how to py?"

  "No, i don't."

  "Ok then..."

  Vionte was smiling. She took a pawn and showed it to her schoolmate.

  "This is a pawn. It only moves forward by a single space. But the first time it moves it can moves up to two spaces. It also only capture one space in front in diagonal."

  Timotea nodded. The half-succubus then took the other pieces one by one, starting by the rook.

  "This is the rook. It moves vertically and horizontally and captures the same way. Then there's the knight, that moves two spaces in a direction and a third space in a second direction or vice versa, as long as it moves of 3 spaces and there's a turn, and captures the same way. It can also jump over other pieces, and it's the only piece it can do so. Then there's the bishop, that moves on the diagonal and captures the same way. And finally there are the queen that can move vertically, horizontally and on the diagonals and captures the same way, and the king, that moves and captures like the queen but it's limited at one space. The king is the guy you have to protect if you don't want to lose and the opponent's guy you have to trap if you want to win. You win when you trap the opponent's king, something called checkmate. And when i say trap, i mean there's a direct threat on it and it can't flee from it, as simply trapping him may lead to a draw. Have you understood"

  Timotea heard her expnation attentively.

  "I think so."

  The kids then pyed together. Unsurprisingly, every single round didn't st long and Vionte won every single time. The cat-girl was bored.

  "i give up! It's not funny. Let's do something else."

  Vionte pouted.

  "But i was having fun though..."

  Then the bell rang. Timotea waved her hand at the half-succubus.

  "Bye, see you next time."

  "Bye..."

  The cat-girl left the room.