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[toonurturing]

When; Wednesday, the 25th, all day
Rating; various
Characters; OPEN
Summary;
Day 2: Clubs clubs clubs! They want you to join! Honor societies, sororities, fraternities, geek campaigns, magic circles, everyone's got something to offer and they want you to join their ranks...if you're good enough anyway

Comments

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[The table and scrawled sign--"WESTERBERG HIGH CHESS CLUB"--hardly constitute a booth. There is a sign-up sheet and a chess set on the table. Behind the table is Justin, hunched over a book and making no effort whatsoever to encourage people to join.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

[Thanks to the book and the fact that Rudy actually has a knack for being rather stealthy when he wants to be, Justin may not notice his favourite antagonist's approach to the booth. Or at least, not until one of the white pawns is shifted forward in a classic opening move, making a soft click against the wood of the board as it comes to rest in its new square.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[Well-played, Mr. Miller. Justin glances up at the sound of pawn against wood, hurriedly removing his reading glasses. Great. Just who he wanted to see.]

Rudy.

[Okay, so that wasn't the scathingly clever opening remark he wanted to make. Maybe next time.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

[Rudy is as impassive as ever, but he does greet Justin's attention with a slight nod.]

Harold.

[He gestures politely toward the chessboard.]

Your move?

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

Justin, not Harold.

[He pretends it doesn't irritate him. That's only fair, since Rudy is only pretending to not know his name.]

No. Thank you.

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

How disappointing.

[Undaunted, Rudy reaches over and moves one of the black pawns into its opening move, then switches back to white; it's the game itself that he's after, and if Harold Justin may doesn't want to play him, then he'll play himself instead.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[After a few more turns, Justin can't ignore the challenge any longer. He'll show Rudy disappointing. Rudy might have a car, a girlfriend, a social life, athletic schools running after him, amazing hair, and everything else an arrogant junior doesn't deserve, but Justin has chess. He's good at it. He doesn't make a habit of losing.

He castles. Black pieces.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

Feeling defensive?

[Which is, of course, a perfectly innocent reference to the castling, even if Justin may not take it as such. However, repartee is a part of chess--friendly chess, at least, but this isn't a tournament setting, anyway--and Rudy has more important things on his mind than how Justin chooses to interpret his comments. Like acquiring an advantageous board position.

He brings out one of his knights.]

After you.

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

I believe in caution.

[Mixed with strategic aggression when it comes to chess. The queen comes out, in no position to capture or be captured for the moment.]

Why do you want to be in chess club?

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

[Sigh. Always the queen. Rudy's played enough chess to know that you can tell a lot about a guy by the pieces he tends to favour, and relying too heavily on the queen is an amateur way to play--chess, to Rudy, requires finesse, not power.

He appraises the board with a critical eye, then sends one of his bishops into dangerous territory.]

I need a motive outside of wanting to play chess?

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

You don't need one.

[Justin undoubtedly makes a clever chess move (but not as clever as the subsequent moves that Rudy will make). He's playing more aggressively than usual. It's Rudy's fault, no doubt.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

[Frankly, Rudy approves much more of aggressive players than of meek ones, even if the aggression sometimes bleeds over into outright recklessness. It almost always guarantees a better game, and there is no joy in matching wits against a timid opponent.

He shifts another piece, unfazed at the loss of the bishop, and apparently playing fairly aimlessly for the moment. But deep down, he has a strategy in mind, and he is slowly but surely shaping the board into its image.]

Then why ask?

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[The bishop doesn't matter. Justin has his own strategy... although he would prefer to play without banter. Particularly when that banter is with Rudy.]

Because it makes no sense. You hate me. Why would you willingly join a club that would force you to be in the same room as me?

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

It only makes no sense when you operate under the misguided assumption that the world revolves around you. Frankly, you have as much chance of influencing my decision in the matter as you do of winning this chess game.

[And strangely enough, there's no real challenge or arrogance in that statement--on the contrary, Rudy says it as blandly as if he were reciting facts from an encyclopedia. Which, perhaps, is an even greater insult, in itself.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

Please stop talking.

[Justin is sufficiently insulted, but he's just as capable of maintaining a blank facade. Rudy's calling him self-centered? ...Okay, that might be true in this matter, but chess club is his. He's the president (and that's only because neither of the other two members would, but it counts). Rudy can't waltz in and nonchalantly usurp him. It's bad enough there's a new--and more popular--science tutor. Leave chess alone.

This year looks grim.

Thus occupied with his thoughts, Justin makes a rather sloppy move.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

Ah. Your question was rhetorical, then.

[At least Harold--Justin--has the decency to keep a straight face, Rudy muses, surveying the board for his next move. He really cares nothing for the politics of chess club, nor does he have any particular aspirations toward it other than merely wanting to play chess. If he is better than everyone else in the club, then so be it; he's not about to start throwing games for the sake of preserving other peoples' feelings, which would be not only insulting but downright dishonourable as well.

He's almost finished laying the groundwork of his strategy. But Justin will be much more likely to notice it if he doesn't take that blatant sacrifice Justin just threw at him, so Rudy mentally adjusts his plans and slides his knight into place, taking Justin's piece.]

After you, Harold.