[meme] test drive

[citycouncil]

Tag into this post with characters you're thinking of apping to the game (characters who are not currently in-game or currently reserved by someone else). It can be just a tag, a brief EP, whatever you want. You can be new to the game, or simply want to test out a fresh pup. Tag each other with these characters or those already in game, and have fun.

Also, please include the name of their canon somewhere in or on the comment or on their profile page.

Comments

[intherealworld]

The schizophrenic part. [ she rolls her eyes, her voice flat, but there's just a hint of something genuine under it. ] I don't meet a lot of other people like me.

[freddietrumper]

[What, is this just common knowledge now? He'd hoped there was some privacy left to him but it seems not.]

Yeah well, I'm not looking for a support group, thanks. Having one thing in common doesn't make us alike.

[He's one of a kind, dontcha know?]

[intherealworld]

If I wanted a support group, I'd find one instead of hanging around here. Wherever here is. I just saw it said-- Whatever.

So what's the whole former chess... thing about?

[freddietrumper]

[What's with the weird questions, jeez.]

It means I play chess and I'm very good at it. [He catches himself with a wry face.]

Sorry, past tense. Played chess. Present tense for the other one, I'm still very good.

[intherealworld]

But you stopped anyway. Past tense.

I don't know if I'd be any good. I never tried.

[freddietrumper]

Yeah, well. [He's not about to explain. Long story why he stopped. Long private story, involving breakups and breakdowns and far more interaction with both the CIA and the KGB than he'd ever care to have.]

Anyway, I started when I was nine, so it probably depends what your scoring rubric for "good" is.

...You've really never played chess? [Considering how much 75% of his life has revolved around it, it's difficult to even imagine what that would be like.]

[intherealworld]

Nope. Never learned how.

Anyway, if you were a world champion, that's probably pretty fucking impressive. Past tense or not.

[freddietrumper]

Yeah, it is pretty fucking impressive. [He's warming up a little bit now, or at least a bit less defensive. Look at him having a normal conversation with someone.]

Do you... want to learn?

[intherealworld]

[ it's kind of nice, being treated like she's normal, or at least not fucking broken. she'd almost forgotten what that felt like. maybe he seems like kind of an asshole, but better that than just being written off as crazy. ]

Yeah, why not? Not like I have anything else to be doing around here, right?

[freddietrumper]

[Well, let's not make this a support group, but Freddie knows a thing or two about being called crazy. Usually very publicly, like in major newspapers. Also, having it be taken advantage of.]

[And yes, of course this fucker has a portable pocket chess set with him. He doesn't even need it, it's just as easy to imagine the board, and he doesn't always carry it around with him. But sometimes it's just easier to have something physical to focus on. Especially when focusing it particularly tricky.]

So, how much do you know about it? Do you know how the pieces move? [He sits down and starts setting up the tiny board, with its magnetised pieces, suddenly that much more at ease.]

[intherealworld]

[ he seems to relax a little, and so, in turn, does Zoe. she's been on edge lately, even more so than usual, and she knows it. for once, it's with a serious reason, too, not because of her own paranoia. if he'd been too friendly, she doubts she'd still be hanging around here at all. ]

Wow, you really came prepared, huh? [ she smiles, and it's actually genuine. ] Not very much. I know what some of the pieces are? Those are pawns, right, and that's the queen?

[freddietrumper]

Yup. Alright, kick me if I'm too condescending. [He's just gonna explain this as if to a child. He's not used to covering the basics.]

Most importantly, this is your king. He's pretty much useless, but you lose him, you lose the game, so protect him. The queen's the most powerful, but she's also obvious, lacks subtlety. [He goes on to describe the different pieces and moves, without being too much of an asshole about it, shockingly.] So, white or black?

[intherealworld]

It's alright, I'm used to condescending. I can handle it.

[ she flashes a quick smile, but it's true. she's not sure Alice ever knew how to be anything else. even after she — well, changed, that was true, and Zoe's far more inclined not to mind it from a stranger teaching her chess than her own goddamn sister. besides, as far as she can tell, he doesn't seem to be too much so, at least for the moment. ]

I'll take... white. And I'm probably going to fuck up at some point, but I think I've got the gist.

[freddietrumper]

That's good, always choose white. The best you can usually hope for playing black is a draw. [He turns the board so the white pieces face her.]

The rules of the game are fairly simple, it's the strategies that are interesting. Your goal as white is to gain the upper hand. My goal is to level the playing field and defend against your threats.

[intherealworld]

I think right now my goal is also probably to try to embarrass myself as little as possible, right?

So. Don't fuck up too badly, gain the upper hand. And pawns move first — do you go, or me?

[freddietrumper]

[Freddie grins, for the first time this conversation. That's probably a more accurate goal, true.]

You go first. You can start with a knight too, but starting with a pawn is most common.

[intherealworld]

Yeah, I should probably go with that, then.

[ she grins in turn — it's just a little hesitant, but increasingly at ease. just for a moment, everything doesn't have to be completely fucked. she doesn't have to think about where she just was, or what was happening, or the chance that it will have followed her here.

carefully, almost curiously, she pushes one pawn forward one square. ]

So how long do you think it'll take for you to kick my ass? Five moves? Ten?

[freddietrumper]

Well, the shortest possible checkmate is two moves -- the Fool's Mate. But for that you'd have to move G and H pawns, so you've avoided that at least. Anyway, beating you that quickly might be educational, but it's not necessarily that fun.

[Freddie moves one of his own pawns forward two squares, then taps the pawn she moved.]

Remember, you can move a pawn two squares when it's in its starting position.

[intherealworld]

I think I'd like to make it at least more than two. Not aiming too high — you are, what, a world champion, right? — but, you know, something just a little better than that.

[ her fingers hover over the next of her pawns, expression thoughtful. ]

Is it better to move it forward two, or is it, like, a pros and cons sort of thing?