(no subject)

[balancingminds]

Earlier today, Charles was reading some more modern journals about social norms and how they're changing and not. Its left him feeling thoughtful and slightly depressed to see how some issues have altered but not all of them. His hope in humanity is why he is constantly moving forward and he will see a better world for mutants.

He's set up the chess board to reflect a chess problem in a newspaper that he's working his way through. Chess has always been a form of meditation for him, because he can take his time following all the possible options to find the best one. The game combined with the steady music of Milliways' minds has him feeling relaxed as he sips his scotch.

(OOC: Charles is listening passively as most of his concentration is on the chess game. Please include character thoughts in your narration or a reason that Charles wouldn't be able to hear their thoughts. Mun is also not as good a chess player as Charles, so there will be handwaving. Thank you.)

Comments

[closesecond]

A familiar presence - or unpresence, as the case may be - enters the mindscape around Charles. A brick wall, blocking off a powerful mind. Kane keeps it up almost constantly while he's in the Bar. His plans are at a critical stage - he cannot afford to compromise them. And as before, this interdimensional nexus would play a major role in them.

He looks up from his wrist-mounted EVA display, showing him the latest data his codebreakers have been able to gather from the Scrin sphere. He smiles as he notices a familiar face.

It is not a comforting smile.

"Doctor Xavier," Kane says. "A pleasure to see you again."

[balancingminds]

Its a distinct shield and Charles looks up and notices the display which is an interesting tool,

"You as well. How goes your work?"

[closesecond]

"It's taken some interesting turns of late," Kane says. "Some of them unexpected. Yourself?"

[balancingminds]

"Nothing terribly new to report, just working away to improve what I can."

[closesecond]

"It's all any of us can ever do," Kane says. "Though when you're baffled, that's often a good sign. My team doesn't know quite what to make of some of what we've found."

It's getting annoying, to be honest. But a mere mortal would be excited, and so that is what he must be.

[balancingminds]

"May I ask what you've found?" He doesn't expect anything to be shared but he always asks.

[closesecond]

"You may ask," Kane says. "Though that's no guarantee that I'll answer."

He smiles slightly and continues.

"I can tell you little, other than the fact that it comes from another world. Part of this is because it's a secret, and part of it is that we're not quite certain what it is."

Well, they're not sure. Kane has a pretty good idea.

[scots_wolf]

Urquhart comes to look at the chess board, quietly contemplating the possible moves until he remembers what Charles can do.

"Sorry if I'm disturbing," he says.

[balancingminds]

Charles raises an eyebrow at Urquhart,

"I wouldn't be playing here if I didn't expect people to stop and comment."

Urquhart seems to go between being almost too apologetic and then not realizing when he's pushing. It reminds Charles that Urquhart is not terribly self aware and that he needs to adjust his reactions.

[scots_wolf]

"It doesn't stop some people from doing things out here that they can be quite abrasive about when you ask," Urquhart says.

Beat.

"But as you're not one of those, I will say that I'd try moving that rook."

[balancingminds]

"As with many things, it depends upon the situation, which is constantly changing here. I've considered that move but I'm not certain of the wisdom of it,"

Since just because he isn't rude that doesn't mean he might not be disturbed, he simply prefers to be honest. This is a distinction though he doesn't feel like getting into at the moment as with chess he doesn't mind.

[scots_wolf]

"It depends on what your opponent does, of course," Urquahrt says. "If I were the opponent, I would..."

And he shows him.

[balancingminds]

Charles watches the move and takes a sip of his scotch before answering, "Yes and by doing that, that move wouldn't do much good, because its an offensive move against offensive. This is what I would do."

He moves the pieces back and instead moves a pawn, which sets up a longer strategy.

[guppy_sandhu]

Guppy nods to Charles in greeting as he goes past with Coral, but doesn't disturb him right away. Fry pauses and looks at the board.

Checkers... lumpy checkers.

[balancingminds]

"Its called chess, which is a little more complicated than checkers. Do you know how to play, Fry? Hello,"

He gestures to some seats near the chess board.

[guppy_sandhu]

"Hello." Fry says, looking at the board and not noticing the gesture.

"Hey Charles. We haven't tried chess yet." Guppy says. "We've been learning checkers so he can try and play with other kids."

Fry picks up a pawn and runs his finger across its shiny head.

"Oh Fry, Charles was playing, you should put that back." Guppy says.

[balancingminds]

"No, its fine. I'm working on a problem from a paper, so its not as if I can reconstruct it if I need to. Do you like checkers, Fry?"

[guppy_sandhu]

"Yes, I won eight games today." Fry says, turning the piece in his hands. "Then Lucy trod on my board."

He scowls. Kids are so careless.

"Fry's good at checkers, when he can find an opponant." Guppy says.

Coral comes around, climbs up on the chair, and gives Charles a hug.

[balancingminds]

Charles hugs her back and makes a space for her to sit with him if she would like to,

"Was the board on the floor?"

[herr_bookman]

So there's a boy at the bar, taking detailed genealogical notes on a 17th century German census.

Apparently he's blasting the second movement of Beethoven's 9th in his head at full volume.

While he stretches, the chessboard catches his eye. Ignoring Charles, he moves six different pieces around mentally, simultaneously--then resets them for another try.

Good luck, mind-reader!

[balancingminds]

The Beethoven is attention grabbing and Charles focuses to filter it out to follow the chess moves.

He considers them on the board and nods to the young man when he looks to the board, "Do you play?"

[herr_bookman]

Well! Now that he’s got your attention… Autor has a million and one thoughts which range from an infuriating otter man to homemade grenades to child labor laws to a cute girl in red to the intersection of meta-narratives between opera and Prinz und Rabe.

He raises a brow, assessing Charles' threat level along these lines: unknown, probably not physical. Not a menial laborer, likely no weapon training? Highly educated, healthy. Requires further observation.

"Ocassionally," Autor says, but never with other people. He crosses to the board. After a second, he smiles, thinking of Lohengrin, and opens by pushing the Knight forward in an offensive maneuver.

[OOC: Mun is uh, two cards short of a full deck when it comes to chess, so handwaving ahoy!]

[balancingminds]

(OOC: Handwaving works for me. I know how to play but can't play on Charles' level.)

The cacophony of thoughts reminds him a little of Fry who has the same sort of organized but busy mind.

When Autor moves a piece, Charles raises an eyebrow as the board was still set for the chess problem in the paper, "Would you prefer a new game?"

[herr_bookman]

Indifference. Competition. Finally, intrigue in the problem issued.

Autor shrugs, then sits. "If I did, I wouldn't have moved this piece. But do as you will."

He places an order for tea with a nearby waitrat. "Did you want to play the chessboard straight, or complicate with the the addition of Tic-Tac-Toe? Whenever your opponent captures a piece, they add an X or O to the secondary game."

[balancingminds]

"I see and no, I'll stick with one game for now,"

Autor's thoughts are more than enough distraction on top of the game and Charles moves his bishop in response. The brashness of the conservation reminds him of Oxford, where being smart is seen as a replacement for manners for many people.