Silmeria's Game (Open RP)

[rebelvalkyrie]

Silmeria sat in the Great Hall, arms crossed and frowning at a chessboard in the midst of a game. Several minutes passed before finally moving a piece and then turning the board around to play continue playing the other side.  Ever since learning about the game, she had spent time practicing with the set she asked a house elf to bring to her

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[blond_bondshell]

Bond remembered Silmeria from her sorting, and was pleased to see her again. She seemed to be doing much better. The Valkyrie had a chess board out, but no opponent. After a minute of watching he soon saw why.

"Who's winning?" he asked her with a small smile and a friendly look.

[rebelvalkyrie]

Here was a familiar face.

"It is not a true match," she said, moving a piece and giving the board a turn. "But the practice can yield a victory later. Hello, Sir James."

[blond_bondshell]

It would be rude to laugh at the 'Sir,' so he shrugged it off. To each their own customs. "Have you been playing long, then?" he asked. "Would you like to practice with someone whose moves you can't predict?"

He was a good chess player, but nothing out of the ordinary. Bond was skilled at long-term strategy, but he simply never spent much time playing. Unlike cards, nobody talked about sitting down for a quick game of chess.

[rebelvalkyrie]

"I had not known of this game until a few weeks ago. It is nothing like a real battle. It is calming, for one."

It had been difficult to gauge her progress since picking up the game, playing only against herself. She grew familiar with it quickly and applied what strategies she could, but as she said, it was nothing like a real battle.

"I would appreciate that. Do you play this often?"

[blond_bondshell]

Now he couldn't stop himself from snorting softly about Silmeria's comparison between chess and battle. "There is that," he said, "and if you lose, you can just put the pieces back when you're done."

Bond took the seat across from her and helped her re-arrange the pieces. "I don't play often enough," he replied. "I'm afraid I might be quite rusty."

[rebelvalkyrie]

"An example of its many advantages over the actual occurrence. I have spent too much time in the latter to think of much outside of it," she said, finished assembling her miniature army. "It is a shortcoming I wish to remedy here."

[blond_bondshell]

Bond was quiet. He knew too well that certain type of tunnel vision. It was a price of the job, a price he paid to be very good at it. The question was what it really cost.

"Have you had any luck?" he asked. "Your move."

[rebelvalkyrie]

"I have certainly experienced more than would have been permitted during my duties."

A rather wide range: Chess, divination, Secret Santas and sex. She began with her usual pawn.

"There is still more I would like to do."

[blond_bondshell]

Poor Silmeria. To Bond that would have sounded like just any old Tuesday, minus the divination. He moved his pawn.

"Would you mind if I asked you about your duties?" he said. "How do you know which souls to take?"

[rebelvalkyrie]

"Valkyries must select warriors who show the most promise in fighting the final battle against the Vanir. Often Freya would give us assignments as to what kind of warrior she wished be brought to Valhalla, but it is left to our discretion which warriors would agree to join the Aesir and be able to serve them loyally."

She fell silent for a moment, recalling when her orders went beyond what it should have been. Forcibly taking a king's soul, before he had died, had changed everything she had previously accepted from the superior gods.

She moved a second pawn.

[blond_bondshell]

Whatever was going unsaid wasn't his business. Bond moved his piece on the board. "Thank you," he said. She'd answered his question. "Besides chess, what else do you want to do here?"

[rebelvalkyrie]

"I need to expand my knowledge outside of combat. Not just for my own curiosity, but also for protecting students from less savory individuals," she said, successfully taking James' pawn with her own. "The school has its magic guarding them from death, but I cannot rely on it to protect them from all forms of harm. So I will learn anything I can here."

Of course, taking a class like divination fell into the "Because I want to" category. Most of what she has learned so far did, simply because she could never have pursued such interests serving the hated Odin. But just because there has not yet been an occasion to defend an innocent student (not since Maddie, anyway) does not mean she would let her guard drop.

"Do you have a goal you wish to accomplish here?"

[blond_bondshell]

The school has its magic guarding them from death...In the four months he had been at Hogwarts, nobody had mentioned the no-kill spell to him. Then again, he hadn't advertised his position as a state-sanctioned hit man, which usually prompted the conversation in the first place. Bond didn't know what Silmeria was talking about, but it raised a sense of foreboding

[rebelvalkyrie]

Silmeria contemplated the board, deciding to use her queen for the pursuit of his king.

"Their souls are mortal like any other human. But the very walls of this castle radiate an extremely powerful energy. I have been informed that part of this energy is devoted to protecting the students from all forms of fatality."

She had not seen this magic in action, but she trusted her source. And she could not very well test it by striking down hapless students either.

"It is a useful spell, though it also serves to guard those who do not deserve the protection," she said darkly.

[blond_bondshell]

((I deleted the notification! I'm sorry!))

That was not good news. It meant that four months worth of work might have just gone down the drain, or at the very least it would make life difficult down the road. He hadn't been carrying his gun around just for the familiar weight at his side. The idea that it was also protecting him from death didn't matter, since Bond had never been too concerned about how or when he was going to die.

It was the bishop to the rescue of the king. He couldn't take her piece now, but she'd lose that queen if she kept going that way.

"I take it you've met a fair number of them," he said. "Have anyone in particular in mind?" Inquiring spies want to know.

[rebelvalkyrie]

((Likewise. This semester sucks.))

"Yes. But he has been relatively well behaved, with the exception of minor, aggravating crimes."

Actually, just one. Its level of aggravation elevated it to count as several crimes.

Pushing that aside, she recognized her failed attempted and pulled her queen back to its original position.

"Have you not encountered any enemies here, Sir James?" Either newly formed or brought to the sorting room, it would be an enviable position to be without them.