scene xxv

[encored]

ACTION;
A) [In the morning, Charles can be found living up to his actual age, being an old man and setting up a chessboard in the park! Someone save him before he starts feeding pigeons and wearing sweater vests. He doesn't seem to have a partner to play with. Not until you walk by, that is, at which point he smiles and gestures to the other side of the table.]

Why don't you take a seat? Let's have a match. [SUSPICIOUS... No, he's just that bored and in a rare social mood.]

B) [Or maybe you catch him a little later on, after he's packed away his chess set and is out walking his, uh... Horace. The giant beast actually seems pretty tame, all things considered, only stopping to sniff moving things (like you, whoops!) and occasionally making gross growling noises and drooling on the ground. So majestic.

For the unfortunate citizens, these two losers can also be found in much less docile situations - Charles trying to shoo his droolbeast away from a drone it's attempting to gnaw on, or perhaps Horace lolloping down the road with a few geese in its mouth.]

PHONE;
[And carrying on with the trend of being utterly unruffled by everything that happened over the weekend, Charles will pick up his phone in the early evening with a question for the masses.]

I'd like to know your opinion on concerts. Proper orchestral performances, I mean. Who here enjoys them? If something with that sort of music happened to be available in the city, would you attend? [His little fancy cultured self is starting to feel more deprived than usual okay... Having at least one other star performer now, all that's left is to gauge the interest of a potential audience.]

Comments

[encored]

[oh cain..... starting to set up his own side of the board!

and fakes a look of great offense!! which winds up looking super realistic since that's one of the expressions he has the most practise with...]

Me? Foul tempered? Why, there's hardly a soul left in this town who has good reason to say that. I've been in a perfectly pleasant mood for months. [sad part is, this is mostly true]

so slow ))): but i am moved now and READY TO BE TAGGING BEAST AGAIN

[kinship]

[Alas, he actually believes that to a certain extent, but this is practically singing in joy for Charles, so it's notable.]

It's as baffling to me as I'm sure it is to you, we both know that you're one of the most amenable people to be around.

[Without making it look like he's mirroring Charles because he doesn't know how to set his board up, he copies the shotapire to place his pieces in hopefully the right formation...]

no worries! ;u; hope you get settled easily!

[encored]

[charles doesn't notice that anything's off just yet!! and he'll be starting the game off by putting a pawn into play.]

It's a mystery, I'm afraid. A perpetual mystery. I do hope to solve it one day, but I'll just have to live without fully understanding the perception gap between myself and others.

thank youuu <33

[kinship]

[He has no idea how to play this game, so lets see how long he can bluff for... He's just mirroring Charles' move, taking one of his tiny knobbly ones and shifting it forwards two spaces.]

Those of us who do see your true nature are growing in number, don't be disheartened. You at least have us as your friends... forever.

[He accompanies that with a bright and cheery smile, just the hint of laughter under that. He really means it... Charles will never be rid of him.]

[encored]

Ah, forever. [he does the best impression of a nostalgic old man sometimes...] That's a terribly long time. I fear I may grow bored with one or all of you by that point, so you must accept my apologies in advance.

[scooting a second pawn forward!]

[kinship]

Nonsense, nobody could ever grow tired of such a witty and sparkling personality as mine.

[This is an easy game, apparently. He'll move another pawn too.]

[encored]

If you're witty and sparkling, I'm the kindest and most pious soul in Mayfield.

[and he'll be capturing that pawn diagonally with one of the ones he had moved]

[kinship]

Which we've already established that you are, just two minutes ago.

[Oh. What just happened there? Why did his little piece get taken by Charles' little piece? He's going to try and move another of his diagonally five spaces to try and catch one of Charles'.]

[encored]

I suppose that would make you exactly as you say, then. [CAIN... he just quietly stares at the board for a moment in mild confusion before looking back to his loser partner with a look that clearly says 'if this is some kind of bizarre joke idgi!']

Did you intend to do that?

[kinship]

[Uh oh, he's about to be rumbled, his impressive chess skills are all falling apart at the seams. The look in his eyes should clearly say he has no idea what he's doing, before he shrugs.]

Of course, aren't you familiar with the rules of chess?

[encored]

[cain gets some bonus points for that nice save....]

Such as the rule that forbids one from moving their pawn more than one space at a time unless they're at the starting mark, in which case it's only two?

[kinship]

...You can't be serious?

[He's thinking on his feet, eyebrow raised in surprise. He can't admit his ignorance, he would rather try and lie his way through.]

Those rules went out of date decades ago.

[encored]

[don't mind him then, he's just going to prop his elbows on the table and rest his chin against laced fingers because he has a feeling that this is going to be good...]

Is that so? How strange for the rules to be rendered obsolete over the course of a few decades when they went largely unchanged from the fifteenth to twenty-first century. Pray tell, what have they been altered to in the future?

[kinship]

[Darn it, why does he do this to himself? He is doing a remarkably good job of looking relaxed and like he's knowledgeable about all of this.]

It's quite a complex game, are you sure you have the time to want to learn it today?

[encored]

I've been playing chess longer than you've been alive. I think I can handle a quick run-down of a new rule set. [why is he even playing along with this why are they both such hopeless losers...

he really is curious to see if Cain will mention any of the actual chess rules as he knows them, though.]

[kinship]

Then I'd be more than happy to show you.

[Of course not, he has no idea how to play chess.]

These pieces... [The pawns.] ...are called the doorknobs, and can only move diagonally.

[encored]

[he's caught between wanting to slam his face into his hands and wanting to burst out laughing...]

I see, I see. What of these? [holding up a rook]

[kinship]

[Noooo, his genius reputation is ruined in one afternoon. RUINED.]

Clearly they're the forks.

[encored]

[HE TRIED SO HARD... holding up a knight...]

And this?

[kinship]

[It's a true tragedy, he should cut his losses before it gets too bad, but...]

The Prancing Pony.

[encored]

[he can't cut his losses now, charles is finding this way too amusing...

he places the knight back to its original spot and holds up the king and queen pieces.]

These two should have remained the same, at the very least. Is that the case?

[kinship]

[That must mean that they are the most important pieces, and they must come as a matched set if Charles is holding them both up at once. His mind is immediately running through the pairs of whatever they could be. In the end, he strikes lucky because of the tiny crown shape on the king's head.]

Of course, the king and queen.

[Please be right.]

[encored]

I'm surprised! You actually managed to get that one right. You ought to be able to come up with the proper names for most of the other pieces now that you know that much, yes?

[yeah the whole prancing ponies and doorknobs thing didn't fool him for a fraction of a second, but Cain will be awarded points for trying so hard...]

[kinship]

[Oh no, he's been rumbled! He totally never saw it coming at all, it's such a surprise... He has the gall to look indignant as he folds his arms.]

Just because you don't know the current rules, Just Charles, there's no need to lash out so childishly.

[encored]

[cain why... but he is so amused by the descriptions he can't even work himself up into irritation over it just yet. putting the king and queen pieces back into their rightful spots, he rests a finger on the crown of the king.]

What is the point of this game in the future, then? The end goal? The meaning behind it? The current rules have surely preserved that much, yes?