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[gramarye1971]

Merriman (complete with appropriate icon) has the chess board out again, and a glass of port and the Times chess problem are close at hand.

It's a tricky one, but the remaining Red bishop is on the point of being captured.

Comments

[witchy-rebel.livejournal.com]

Morgan sits in the opposite chair with a cup of tea and sips as she watches.

[gramarye1971]

After a moment, he registers her presence...and glances up.

There is a long pause before he actually speaks.

'Do you play, my lady?'

[witchy-rebel.livejournal.com]

"I do not know how." She puts her tea down and picks up the Red queen, thoughtfully.

[gramarye1971]

He pauses in his play, casting a quick glance over the board to remember where the pieces are in case there is a need to alter their positions.

'It plays better with two, though the solitary game is enjoyable enough.'

[witchy-rebel.livejournal.com]

For a moment, the Red Queen looks like Morgan, then a woman who could be Guinevere, before going back to it's original form.

Delicately, she places it back.

"Would you care to teach me, Merlion?"

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Ace, who was on her way to the Bar for a fresh cup of tea, pauses at the sight of the chess board.

After a few moments, she grins to herself.

[gramarye1971]

A swift move, and the Red bishop is removed from the board. The Red queen is a promising target...but perhaps not yet.

Red to move, and Merriman slides a pawn forward one square.

[nitro-is-ace.livejournal.com]

Ace frowns, and bites her lip.

She's learned the hard way to not go around telling people the winning gambit.

[gramarye1971]

He's vaguely aware of someone else observing the game, and so without looking up from the board he addresses the unknown party:

'How would you play it from here?'

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

Coming in from the lakeside, Anne stops to watch the game, gray eyes wide and interested.

"You must be very good at strategy," she comments, softly.

[gramarye1971]

'It comes of long habit,' he replies gravely, as he removes the bishop from the board with a slow, deliberate gesture. 'But one's strategy is only as good as one's opponent allows it to be...which is why solitary chess is as much an examination of one's own strategies as it is of any other's.'

He looks up then, with a somewhat apologetic light in his gaze. 'But do forgive me for my impromptu lecture. That, also, is a force of habit.'

[avonlea-girl.livejournal.com]

"It's quite alright," she says, gray eyes smiling. "I've never been very good at chess, I'm afraid. Hiding my own intentions has never been a strength of mine."

She holds out a graceful hand. "I am sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. Let me intorduce myself...my name is Anne Shirley."

[gramarye1971]

'A pleasure, Miss Shirley,' he says as he stands, before taking her hand and bowing over it in a decidedly old-fashioned manner. 'Merriman Lyon -- professor of archaeology at Oxford University. And chess is not a game for everyone...it does take a rather devious sort of mind to be truly skilful at it.'

[blue_ajah]

As she glides into the room from upstairs, Moiraine inclines her head in a nod of greeting.

[gramarye1971]

Merriman, having looked up from the board, returns the nod with quiet courtesy.

'Madam,' he says, and sets his newspaper aside. 'You have been well, I trust?'

[blue_ajah]

"As may be expected, certainly," she tells him with a serene smile. "How are matters with you, Merriman?"

[gramarye1971]

'Quite well, thank you.' He gestures to the chess board. 'Well enough to have time for a bit of light recreation, after a fashion.'

[mogget_cat]

*Yrael wanders over to watch the game, interest on his face. He has one of the primary flight feathers of a hawk stuck in the brim of his hat.*

[gramarye1971]

The hawk feather does not escape Merriman's notice, but he calmly makes the next Red move before commenting on it.

'A gift? Or a souvenir?'

[mogget_cat]

*Yrael grins and tilts his hat a a rakish angle.*

You could call it a gift, perhaps, or a souvenir. The previous wearer had no further use of it, after all, and he certainly did not bother to stop me taking it.

It makes a sight better accent than those feathers used for Commodore hats, wouldn't you say?

[gramarye1971]

That prompts a sharp look and a dry, lazy half-smile.

'So long as you wear it well, I suppose the previous owner would have little retroactive cause for complaint. And as for the feathers used to adorn that particular hat...well, that comment is justified. Though it did "come with the job", as it were.'

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

It's impolite to stare.

So Anthy's just observing. Silently.

"Who are you playing against?"

[gramarye1971]

'The Times,' Merriman says, holding up the paper without looking up from the board. 'Or rather, the individual who delights in writing puzzles for others to solve.'

He glances up, with a wry light in his gaze. 'Sometimes it is easier to solve the problem that another has set than to craft a problem and a solution all at once.'

[anthy-rosebride.livejournal.com]

"Some people find it's easier to create problems than solve them."

She lifts her eyes from the chess board to study his face. "Do you play go?"

[gramarye1971]

'Not for a very long time, but I have played it before,' he says with a small chuckle. 'Another game that takes a short amount of time to learn and several lifetimes to master.'