August 20, 2021 – 11:24 PM
Rosamund Bones — Played by MJ
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Rosamund said brightly enough, her nerves not having had quite long enough to settle in her stomach and upset the eagerness. Besides, she had no illusions about having the skill to win this chess competition – no doubt she would not even come close – so her expectations would be exceeded if she didn’t come off too badly in this one game.
“Though I have been practising, I warn you,” she said, quirking a smile and offering a self-conscious chuckle that betrayed she did not trust it to make any difference at all. Rommy knew little enough about her opponent – did he work at the library, perhaps? she recognised his face more than she did his name – to judge the opponent he would be.
Nor was she especially sure how he would take her attempt at competitive banter, but it was worth a try. If it proved a failure, at least chess gave everyone the option of sitting in studious silence.
August 31, 2021 – 1:57 AM
Timothy chuckled good-naturedly as the young lady warned him that she had been practicing. He was glad that his first match was against someone who didn't take themselves too seriously. At least not so much that they couldn't make for a pleasurable game. Timothy might have been a tad competitive but he saw no reason to be a knob about it.
"Then let us see if your practice has paid off, shall we?" He offered in return as he made his move.
September 8, 2021 – 10:20 PM
Rosamund Bones — Played by MJ
“Oh, I doubt it has,” Rosamund replied with a smile, choosing her pawn and her opening strategy. Nothing to reinvent the wheel – or the game of chess, as it was – but she did have a few moves up her sleeve.
When it was her opponent’s turn, she lifted her gaze from the board to study him with much the same intentness.
“Do you get to play very much?” she asked next – half as a distraction technique, and half out of pure interest.
October 2, 2021 – 12:34 AM
Timothy did his next move which Kit wasn't going to bother trying to describe as Timothy knew a lot more about chess than his writer could ever hope to know.
"[b]I play rather regularly. About once a week, I would say. It's my favorite game to play." It was also one of his sources of socialization since he tended to forget about that aspect of life.
October 13, 2021 – 6:59 PM
Rosamund Bones — Played by MJ
“Oh, does the library run a chess club, by any chance?” Rommy inquired brightly, supposing it was quite a likely place to meet – and a little taken by the idea of having other people to hone her skills against, to boot; her practise at home had been mostly against herself, or a very reluctant Vesta – but as she said it, she realised she had assumed he was someone from the library. “That is – I mean – you do work at the library, don’t you?” She flushed slightly. It would be terribly awkward if she was wrong, and had mistaken Mr. Ainsworth for some other gentleman; unnecessarily awkward, when she could just have kept her mouth shut instead.
Hastily, she moved another piece on the board, feeling a little like she was walking into a trap.
November 4, 2021 – 5:22 AM
"We do not but that is a good idea," Timothy said. Not that he would approve of people playing games amongst the books, especially in the higher levels. But perhaps within the first floor somewhere which was where most of the general public tended to mill about and lounge with their books. They could section off an area... It might be worth looking into.
"That I do. I am Head Librarian at the Crowdy Memorial Library," he replied when she asked. He moved his next piece.
December 1, 2021 – 12:13 AM
Rosamund Bones — Played by MJ
Oh, thank goodness, Rommy breathed internally, when he confirmed it. Better to seem nosy and knowledgeable than to have mixed him up with someone else, she decided – if only by a small margin.
She took one of his knights off the board, too distracted to notice she’d put her queen in danger by it until it was too late. Oh dear. “Well, maybe I could use a little more practice at chess, if you do,” she admitted, sure he’d already seen her mistake too. (While not a game-ending move, losing a queen would be fairly lethal to her strategy. Ah, well.)
Now more focused on the conversation, Rosamund propped up her chin in her hand and glanced up at him while it was his move. “It does sound like a dream of a job, to be honest,” she offered – and she loved the hospital, of course, but the library seemed like an oasis of a place – “but is it as perfect as it sounds?” He might think nothing of his work, for all she knew. The novelty of libraries might wear off if one spent every day working in one.
December 2, 2021 – 4:01 AM
"It would be a fine way to meet others and form a bit of social connections," Timothy mused as he calculated his next move. Timothy made his next move, indeed claiming her Queen. His eyes reassessed the board and calculated his next steps to claim her king for himself.
"It is for me though it has its moments. As can be said for any job, I'm sure."
December 17, 2021 – 4:52 PM
Rosamund Bones — Played by MJ
“I would certainly attend,” Rosamund offered, with a touch of sheepishness as he took her queen without ceremony. She really ought to concentrate on putting up a defence for her king, now – she paused to try and work out how best to, and moved a rook to that potential end – while he spoke of his job having its moments.
She was not so focused upon the game not to be able to laugh lightly at that. “Oh, I’m sure,” she agreed knowingly; the library might only have been a paradise if no one else were in it, and one did not inevitable have to bow to administration or to the general public’s stupidity. “I could say the same of mine,” Rommy added, vaguely. “Indeed, most of the chessboards I tend to come across have been hexed in some way.”
December 31, 2021 – 8:42 AM
Timothy made his next move which would insure his victory in just a couple of moves. His mind was already also beginning to think of the logistics of a Chess club of sorts. It would surely be a good pass time for when people didn't feel like plodding all the way to Padmore Park. Especially if they lived in London.
"Hexed chessboards? What manner of curse do they put upon the victim?" Timothy couldn't help but ask curiously.
January 5, 2022 – 7:28 PM
Rosamund Bones — Played by MJ
Rommy paused again for longer this time, furrowing her brow and peering down in consternation to try and find a way out of the trap he had laid. She moved her king, because there was little else to do to avoid the check, but she felt sure he would soon have her at checkmate.
“Oh, all sorts, you wouldn’t believe the sort of hexes people put on things,” Rommy said, blowing out a breath and becoming more candid in conversation the less she was focused on it. “There was once a board that made its players start walking in chess moves, after they’d used it – like a knight, two steps forwards and one to the side.” She did not understand why, but if there was anything she had learnt from working at the hospital, it was that humanity was often incomprehensibly stupid. “Books are worse culprits for putting curses on people, though, usually,” she teased – not that Mr. Ainsworth would have experience of those sort, necessarily, at the library.
February 5, 2022 – 11:17 PM
Timothy made his next move as he listened her speak. "That... would be a little amusing to witness though I suppose not so much to experience." It sounded more like some people just pranked others which had been a hobby for some people for eons. "Oh, that I can see. Much too easy to conceal a curse in a book."
