Note: This one arose through an argument I had with Lady Saendie in Email over who was smarter, Rowen or White Blaze. Ryo and Sage broke out the chess set and declared the winner of the game was the smartest member of the Ronin Warriors team. I, of course, immediately let my imagination out of its thick-barred cage.
Sage and Ryo both wandered off before the game was halfway finished. Chess was boring, they felt, unless one were playing. Even then, in Ryo's opinion, there were far better things to do. They checked back every so often.
"So how's it going, Ro?" Sage asked.
Rowen stared at the empty board before him. "I lost," he said, disbelievign. "Not only that, I lost all my pieces!"
"That makes sense," Ryo noted.
"No, no, you don't understand," Rowen insisted. "I lost the pieces."
"And?" Sage said, gesturing with one hand. "This is unexpected when you lose?"
"No, I mean it! They don't exist anymore!" Ryo and Sage exchanged a look. "White Blaze ate them!" Rowen said indignantly. Ryo and Sage stared at the tiger, who looked back at them. His expression clearly said, 'What? They were good!' "I mean, it's bad enough that I lost to a cat, but he ate my favorite chess set!" Rowen glared. White Blaze yawned.
"Well, I guess we know who's the smartest one," Ryo joked. Sage grinned.
"Yeah, me!" Rowen shouted, shooting to his feet. Only having his intelligence challenged could get him so furious. "I demand a rematch!" he snarled at White Blaze. "Stupid tiger!"
White Blaze stared back for a long moment. Then, he grabbed up the chessboard in his mouth and raced out of the room. With a muffled oath, Rowen tore after him. Sage and Ryo started to howl.
Miya appeared in the doorway and blinked after the fleeing pair. She looked at Sage and Ryo. "Um, excuse me," she said, and turned to leave.
"Hey, where you going, Miya?" Ryo called.
"To hide my antique chess set," she replied. "Just in case White Blaze gets any ideas."