Hanako's darker tiles game

[Fallen Seraph]

I used to do this a lot and even in different modes (running, jumping, patron...) now I don't like to cross the lines between tiles with my right foot so I try to do it with my left foot.

[Raburesu]

Is that a subconscious desire for retribution I see? Y'know, the "darker ones" symbolizing the miscreants who hurt her with words all across her life? Stepping on them? We all know by the end of her route that she's somewhat of a closeted misanthropist. Which is probably my favourite part about her, curiously.

Moe example:

*step*

Hanako: T-take that...!

Ah, but that wasn't what I wanted to talk about at all.

Similar to this "game" Hanako created, when I was young, I found myself jumping from square to square on the tiled floor of our first apartment late at night when my Mom was asleep. The tiles were all the same colour, so there were no differences to restrict my movements, but the object of the game was to make it a point to have my feet land within the confines of the squares, and never touch the lines. I've went on the play this "game" all throughout my life, even in public places, such as stores, if they had tiled flooring. Or at least flooring segmented by stylistic design. Naturally, when I got to the point in Hanako's route with the game, I immediately thought of my own.

"I wonder; just how lonely does someone have to be to come up with a game like that?"

^ After I saw Hisao think this, an epiphany that I was indeed alone every time I played this "game" came upon me. Well, not in the public places, of course, but I was still shopping alone, so for all intents and purposes, I was alone regardless. While I'm no where near as isolated as Hanako, I am rather taciturn and introverted, and spend the majority of my time alone, and it was quite surprising to read about a person similar to myself forming an almost identical habit. Even if she is fictional.

So it got me curious: have any of you formed habits such as this that you think others might consider something only the lonely do?

... And, it should go without saying, but... please avoid the utterance of absurdities like "I masturbate and I cry."

[AnonymousOfNorway]

I think almost everyone have played this game at some point in childhood - stepping on the "right" tiles. Sort of like hopscotch. That she does it a lot - though not compulsively - shows that she's alone a lot.
Hisao joining her in doing the same thing, shows that he likes her; we tend to emulate the subtle actions of those we like.

I don't read anything into stepping on the dark ones, having particular meaning. It's like, the dark tiles are stepping stones, and the light tiles are the water or air.

But this would not be the time for it:
[shimmie]1202[/shimmie]

TMI zone: I used to do this sort of thing compulsively; touching all items in a room, not step on cracks. But I stopped on my own volition when I realized I was wasting time on it, and now I only do that sort of thing as a sort of meditative technique. If I hadn't been able to stop myself from that behavior, I would have had a genuine case of OCD. One of my best friends had that - he only got rid of it through counseling and practice.

[Daitengu]

yeah, I've done it when I was a kid to beyond highschool, and still notice I think about doing it from time to time at 30 yrs old lol. Be it no stepping on cracks, darks only, or knight move only, I remember. And yeah, I was a very lonely kid.

[AnonymousOfNorway]

knight move only

D'oh. Why didn't I realize it before. Hanako is the black bishop. Or pawn. Errr. She loves chess anyway.

Kenji is the king. He can only see one square at the time.
Emi is the knight - she's jumping ahead.

[toxicmaniac]

I did the same thing when i was a kid. I was like "awww cute hanako does the same thing" Then i saw Hisao saying that line.......Fuck you Hisao.

[Daitengu]

knight move only

D'oh. Why didn't I realize it before. Hanako is a bishop. Or pawn. Errr.

lol. It's probably why I had the most affinity towards Hanako.

Though I escaped to video games more, I tended to be better at chess or Tetris then say Street Fighter 2. I didn't lose my family to a fire, but years of parent fights, divorce, getting disowned, and being of mixed race in a southern state tended to give me similar experiences of being an outcast in school and having a hard time trusting anyone.

[Althamus]

I did a similar thing as well, avoiding the cracks in the tiles. Still find myself doing it occassionally subconsciously.

I thought it was a pretty common thing to do, although reading in the game, I was thinking "...maybe it's quite rare after all?"

Nah.

[Raburesu]

Huh. So I'm not alone. No wait, I still am, but. Well you get it, haha. With further consideration, the practice does seem to be the type of thing that only pitiably lonely children find on their own, when all the others are busy playing with their friends. Or acquaintances. The term friend is thrown around far too loosely these days.

I don't read anything into stepping on the dark ones, having particular meaning.

That's no surprise; I've become the type of person who reads too much into everything without really having any real conviction regarding any of it. Don't pay it any mind.

[Thrasher Thetic]

Jesus dude, careful when yer reaching like that, you'll throw your back out.

[AnonymousOfNorway]

Huh. So I'm not alone. No wait, I still am, but. Well you get it, haha. With further consideration, the practice does seem to be the type of thing that only pitiably lonely children find on their own, when all the others are busy playing with their friends.

Whether it's pitiable depends on context I think. If you did it when you were actually alone, then it's not pitiable at all. If you did it while others were nearby, to keep away from them because you never played with others, well then it's perhaps pitiable. Or maybe you were just philosophizing about stuff, got along well with others, and just enjoyed playing tiles from time to time.

If Hanako was otherwise well-adjusted it wouldn't mean anything. Hisao realizes that she does this due to loneliness though. Him subconsciously joining her is sweet.

That's no surprise; I've become the type of person who reads too much into everything without really having any real conviction regarding any of it. Don't pay it any mind.

Any writer risks having the reader read more into things than was intended. Sometimes this reveals something the writer didn't intend. But other times a cigar is just a cigar.

[scorptatious]

I sort of did something similar to what Hanako does. Except it didn't matter what color tile I stepped on so long as I didn't step on the lines.

[newnar]

I've been playin the same thing except I step on the lighter tiles.

[Tezzeret]

I think every kid's done something similar to this. I remember bouncing around on the furniture in my living room not trying to touch the ground at all.

[Terrathel]

done it.... up until.... well probably even in high school though not as much, clearest memory, jr high. The malls had a variety of colors, white were bad, red were neutral, brown was good, black was best XD

always had a tendency to like darker colors, may or may not be related. but it also went by rarity, the shiny black tiles were small and there weren't nearly as many of them. There was an alternate game, if they were all the same color, but had a directional pattern, I tried to step on the ones 'moving' the same direction I was. I'm long legged, so I might have managed to look less weird at it

Lonely? welll... kinda, I..... was very much like Rin up through high school, (until my first 'rewrite' which she calls destroying herself, or maybe technically the rebuild AFTER destroying... the similarity between us I found most intriguing) speech style and everything, so I was kinda alienated by choice, I enjoyed my books and computer games, and almost nobody saw what I saw in the world.... so I didn't really have a use for them.

it might be more an issue of overactive mind. Mental resources overlapping the amount you need to do whatever you're doing, so you invent minigames to stave off boredom, because trust me, I can be bored as a general life state, even when active doing something I don't mind doing or even enjoy