My Words | Your Words | My Thoughts
"In that case, I guess I'll go first." The desks around them were littered with books stacked high like mountains. Most of them were history; famous battles and journals from older knights speaking of their experiences. Sheets of loose paper, probably the last remaining pieces of some of the books older still than the few hundreds of years many of these torn leather-bound tomes had survived, showed old battle tactics from back in the days of the first forming of the Syliran Knights. The writing was practically illegible and the illustrations were faded to a point almost completely beyond understanding. At least Arch wasn't the one who had to worry about them though, no. On any other day, he'd require express permission to even see the covers of some of these books.
Ser Turna, a stewart knight if the three swords on his breast was any indication, sat down on the seat opposite and cleared a small space in the maelstrom of papers until there was just enough room to set down the gnarled wooden chess set. "Do you want me to move the pieces for you?" Archailist couldn't be sure whether the man was actually being serious or not, which irked him slightly. For all the scowls he'd become accustomed to on a daily basis courtesy of Ser Iros, he'd never had so much trouble trying to gauge a person as with the stewart knight who gave off about as much outward personality as a boulder.
"I'll manage." The largest pieces brushed his hip when he stepped onto the black-and-white battlefield. Funny.. being so close to the board almost made him feel like a piece, rather than the player. A cough brought him back to the real world, though. "It's a nice set you've got here." The wood of both the pieces and the board were scratched all over, with paint peeling away in his fingers every time he touched a piece. Still, it was obvious that there was a lot of meticulous care put into the dimensions - each pawn looked identical, the squares were immaculately formed. He felt jealous. "Makes me want to invest in one myself, when I have a little more weight to my pockets." No payment for his services made luxury items all but dreams until he could start earning his own keep. Then again, stewart knights.. ahh, he could remember their wages but he could imagine they'd be rather substantial.
Soon the pieces were all laid out. "Alright, you know the drill. Make your move and choose carefully." Ser Turna was hunched over, hands clasped under his chin, watching carefully with his dark eyes. Archailist hovered between the pieces and, after a few ticks of concentration, moved the first piece. Knight, to C3.
