(no subject)

[gramarye1971]

*Merriman has a chessboard before him once more, set to be played, though this time the board is turned so that both sides may be played evenly -- red at his left hand, white at his right. He also has two small stopwatches made of good Swiss steel, one held in the palm of each hand.*

*He studies the board, and then starts the timer on the watch in his right hand.*

-- click --

*And moves white, pawn to Queen 4, and clicks both watches. Starting one, stopping the other.*

-- click --

*And moves red, knight to King's Bishop 6.*

-- click --

*And continues to play in a series of swift, deliberate moves, clicking the watches after each turn.*


[OOC: Merriman plays speed chess against himself, which leads to a conversation with Lilly about stereotypes of evil advisors, meets Robert the frog (and Blaise Zabini), and also meets Blue, who attempts to nibble at one of the chess pieces.]

Comments

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly wanders past and stops to look at what he's doing.

"What up, sai? Nothing good on tv, huh?"

[gramarye1971]

-- click --

*And both watches are stopped, though Merriman does not look up from the board.*

*dryly* Considering that last I knew, there were only three television channels, it would not surprise me in the slightest.

*He looks up then, one eyebrow slightly raised.* I take it that that is not the case, in your time.

[awesome_lilly]

"Nope," Lilly replies cheerfully. "In my time, we had cable. We didn't have to play with ourselves for fun. Oh, I'm Lilly, by the way. DeadNeptuneCalifornia2005."

[gramarye1971]

*Her turn of phrase makes the eyebrow arch a fraction of an inch higher, but he sets the stopwatches down, and extends a hand to her.*

Merriman Lyon. *with a slight smile* Immortal, currently outside Time -- but late of Oxford, England, 1973.

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly shakes his hand firmly, then frowns a bit as the name sinks in.

"Merriman Lyon?"

She peers closely at him for a moment, then looks disappointed.

"Damn. I was sure you'd have a mustache."

[gramarye1971]

*Both eyebrows are now raised, unsurprisingly.*

*somewhat warily* Is there any particular reason why you would believe that I might have a moustache?

*A beard, he might be able to understand -- might. A moustache, not so much. And he's also fairly certain that he hasn't done himself a favour by asking for clarification.*

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly sighs.

"I wanted to see you twirl it, that's all. And maybe an evil laugh, too, but only if you felt like it."

[gramarye1971]

*He's run out of eyebrows to raise -- this is not a good sign.*

*quietly* I have a feeling that I will regret asking this: where did you happen to acquire the idea that I am prone to evil laughter and possess a moustache to...twirl?

*And even as he says it, he has a fairly good idea of the answer.*

[awesome_lilly]

Lilly smiles at him.

"My friend Mordred. Pale guy, dark hair, golden eyes and a penchant for saying 'excellent' like he was Mr. Burns. Do you know him?"

[is_a_boy.livejournal.com]

A frog hops over and watches the man play chess. The frog might be concentrating as much as Merriman is.

[gramarye1971]

-- click --

*Having just castled the red king and rook, Merriman is about to move for white when he notices the frog watching him.*

*Seeing that the frog is rather absorbed in the game, he restarts the watches and continues with the next move -- pawn to King's Bishop 4.*

-- click --

[is_a_boy.livejournal.com]

The frog watches him make his move. Staring at the pieces for a while, the frog then bumps against one.

[gramarye1971]

-- click --

*Merriman pauses, and glances at the frog.*

*politely* Do you play?

*In Milliways, it never hurts to ask.*

[is_a_boy.livejournal.com]

The frog looks up at Merriman and ribbits.

It might mean yes. It might mean no. It might mean 'I've never played before but I'm interested.'

[gramarye1971]

*Merriman nods at that -- and without warning, the chess board is reset.*

I happened to be playing against myself. Speed chess, you see. Slightly different to the usual version. Still a game of strategy, but the timing requires fast, deliberate moves without long pause for deliberation.

*He tilts his head slightly to one side.* Shall I demonstrate?

[is_a_boy.livejournal.com]

"Ribbit."

Which means yes.

[gramarye1971]

Very well. *He sets the watches down for a moment to flex his fingers, and then picks them up again.*

White first, then red. Click one watch to start with, and then for each successive move, click both at the same time to start one watch and stop the other -- and in doing so keep track of the time taken for each move. Like so.

-- click --

*He starts off simply: pawn to King 4, pawn to King 6, pawn to Queen 4, clicking the watches after every turn. Once he has moved the red pawn to Queen 5, he stops the watches and glances at the frog.*

Are you following so far?

[tame-wolf.livejournal.com]

A disconsolate coalblue dog seats herself attentively at Merriman's right hand, surveying the red pieces with thoughtful whiffles of her wet nose.

[gramarye1971]

-- click --

*Merriman stops both watches, then looks over at the dog -- or rather, wolf-dog -- seated close beside him.*

*politely, without setting down the watches* May I help you?

[tame-wolf.livejournal.com]

Blue cants her head to the left to engage Merriman's eyes with her own summery blue ones. She makes a soft, appeasing whine and thumps her tail twice on the floorboards.

[gramarye1971]

*He takes that as an invitation to hold out a hand for her to sniff.*

Merriman Lyon. *A quiet smile.* I don't believe we've met before.

[tame-wolf.livejournal.com]

She's a reserved, but distractable, sniffer.

Her nose roams the worn terrain of the gracious man's palm, before turning her attention to the nearest chess piece, a red rook. A small spot of condensation forms and disappears on the carved figure before her nose.

With a lick of her chops she looks back up at Merriman as though to say, Goodness, what's all this about?

[gramarye1971]

*Merriman follows her gaze, and chuckles.*

A game, known as chess. Used to teach strategy and promote critical thinking. And a fond pastime of old men with little else to occupy their days, though I rather hesitate to place myself too firmly in that category.

*He picks up the red king.* Each piece may move across the board differently, and the object is to arrange the pieces so that one or the other of the kings may not move with being 'captured' by the opponent's pieces. Do you follow so far?

[tame-wolf.livejournal.com]

Maybe. She follows his movements with some intelligent interest.

Wait. Maybe not.

Turning her head to execute fine operations with her blunt muzzle, Blue angles her teeth at the afore-sniffed rook, prepared to sieze it for what seem to be private reasons.

[gramarye1971]

*Merriman quickly removes the rook from its square before her teeth can get a purchase on it.*

Now then. *He shakes his head, but not in anger.* That is not very polite.