there's more to this brave adventure than you believe

[dou8letrou8le]

WHO: Vriska Serket & YOU
TONE: Pretty casual?
RATING: PG to PG-13
WHEN: Sunday afternoon.
WHERE: The Great Hall
WHAT: Vriska is playing a game of Wizard's Chess by herself. Come and join her!
STATUS: Open and on-going.

So it was a little difficult to play chess by herself, but after a few stalemate rounds she managed to get into the grove of battling herself for victory. She got the idea over winter break when there was literally nothing for her to do but knit scarves for her great aunt and feed Nicholas, her Greenbottle Blue tarantula. It was a very long break for her, unfortunately.

"Knight to E5." Her words were still heavily accented from her native tongue, but at least understandable. Earlier she had weakly justified this game as speech practice (although it really wasn't, but the idea that it was made her feel better about playing it over and over) and she would stick with that reason.

Comments

[grandhighwizard]

"Too many rules," the professor explained. "Too predictable. The outcomes can be all mapped out - chance doesn't play a part. And chess really is just a more complicated version of Gwyddbwyll or Tallfwrdd." Rhys pronounces the two Welsh games with a lilting, melodious accent.

"I prefer Bryncir or Tarok." The first, a 16th-century Welsh card game, the second one she might be familiar with - a trick taking Eastern European card game played with Tarot cards.

[dou8letrou8le]

She listened to him, blinking a little when he spoke of the first two games. They sounded like gobble-de-gook to her ears, but admittedly they sounded interesting.

Vriska perked a little at the familiar title. She had never played it herself, but at least she knew what that was. "Long list. Do you travel lots to learn new games?"

[grandhighwizard]

"Hardly a long list," he corrected her with a little snort. "But yes, sometimes I do travel. Or learn them from visiting wizards and witches here. What games do you know, little witch?"

[dou8letrou8le]

She shrugged, lips pressed together as her eyes darted back to the almost abandoned chess board.

"Is only a few to be played by myself." She never did well playing with other children her age so many of the games she knew (and preferred) were ones she could play by herself. "Others are not so much fun."

[grandhighwizard]

"Do you know Little Spider?" the professor asked, as he watched the way her eyes darted, took in her body language. Not a popular girl, this one, he could tell.

[dou8letrou8le]

Vriska shook her head, full attention to him now. Her poor chess board would have to wait as she easily ignored the irritated huffs coming from her chess pieces. "What is it?"

[grandhighwizard]

"A card game that one can play alone." The professor produced from his robes a pack of playing cards - apparently he carried them around with him all the time? Or he happened to be on his way to a game. Either way, he opened the pack, and started going through the cards, picking out the kings of diamonds and hearts, and then the aces of spades and clubs, laying them in a neat row, before starting to shuffle the rest of the cards.