Disclaimer: Shall I spell it out for you? I. D. O. N. O. T. O.W. N. T. I. N. M. A. N.

Author's Note: Today in the adventures of animegus farmus I got to be chased in the metro. Much not fun was had, personal space was invaded and train leap frog was performed. I was not impressed and unfortunately my judgement regarding my temporary stalker led me to conclude that physical confrontation was out because it would make me look like the bad guy. Oh well, at least he continued to follow me and not my friends because I figure if the shit hit the fan, I had the best chances of defending myself. And I did manage to lose him eventually.

PS This ficlet looked a lot better in the Word document where I am allowed subscripts and I am a little bitter...

PPS If anyone knows how to get subscripts on this here thingummy, I demand you tell me. The aesthetics is driving QC and me nuts.

...

Cain wasn't exactly a big fan of the word games. Not that he had any trouble with words – he could use them just fine, he'd even been known (when absolutely necessary) to produce a (short) motivational speech or two. It was just that he'd always been more of a man of action, and preferred, whenever possible, to let his actions speak for themselves.

Or at least he'd used to. Given how the 'action' games had been going recently the Tin Man had decided to play it S1 A1 F4 E1 (with double letter and double word score, 16 pts). This was a nice game, a quiet game, no sadistic Consorts, inappropriate, ah, contact, or-

"T1 E1 N1 S1 I1 O1 N1…"

-awkwardness.

"…with a double word score and tacked onto the end of prince like that," DG continued smugly, "that'll be 25 pts."

He could learn to like this game, Cain thought, it was restful. No need to make conversation or eye contact or invade personal space, everyone had their own side of the table and were free to think about a-

"P3 R1 I1 N1 C3 E1 S1 S1," said Azkadellia, "12 pts, and all I had to do to get it was add a little S."

-bsolutely nothing. The Tin Man liked to think about nothing. DG had told him this was a very Zen thing to do, but he doubted it. Not that he had any idea what Zen was, but it sounded like an Otherside thing, and Cain didn't think about Otherside things. He certainly didn't think about their games, with their twisting…or twining…or places you couldn't touch. Nor did he contemplate how she kept convincing him to play. Nope, all that was out of sight out of mind the second the games were over, never to disturb his thoughts, because Wyatt Cain was in complete-

"D2 E1 N1 I1 A1 L1," Raw spelled out, "triple word score, 21 pts, denial."