Open Check Mate

[Sybil St. James]

Sybil didn't really care for the park and it's playground full of screaming kids. She was also a kid but she was an older kid. She was about to head off to Hogwarts next year after. And despite her disinterest in the park her nanny always took her there in the hopes she would play some of the other kids. Instead she found herself sitting at one of the park tables with her chess set playing against herself, practicing for a tournament that weekend. This one was just a muggle tournament so the pieces wouldn't move on their own which she found annoying. Sometimes she'd forget and tell the pieces were to go, only to be met with confused looks. She usually won so she never really cared when she slipped up. Sybil sighed as she turned the chess board around to contemplate her next move. She wondered how long she'd have to pretend to be having a good time before her nanny would give up on trying to get her to socialize and take her home. She thought she got plenty of socializing in on the days she went to the daycare in Obsidian Harbour. All this felt unnecessary. At least she had a tutor lesson later this afternoon to look forward to.

 

[Ruth Thorne]

As the months dragged on, Ruth's anticipation to get to Hogwarts only grew stronger. Being at home with Cyrus away was lonely, not to mention it had the unfortunate side effect of her parents focusing more on her. Sure, Ruth liked attention as much as anyone, but the expectations? She could happily do without those. At least she'd worked out a happy medium. Do well, but not perfect. It seemed to serve her well for the moment - but honestly, the sooner she got to Hogwarts the better.

Her work ethic had served her well enough that she had her whole afternoon free, and as such she'd gone to the park to run around, see if she could meet some new and interesting people, and just generally be free of supervision (to an extent). Shoving her hands in her pockets, she hummed a song she'd heard on the wireless as she wandered, stopping only when she saw a girl sitting by herself playing chess. Ruth felt as though she'd seen the girl a couple of times before, she looked to be about the same age as her, but hadn't really had a good chance to say hello. Not having anything better to do, now seemed like an ample opportunity. "Oh, interesting gambit!" she said, peering at the board without getting close enough to be too much of a bother. It sounded like the type of thing Cyrus would say. "Which side are you hoping will win?"

 

[Lumos Cade]

Lumos had to admit the idea that he would be going to school so soon, after years spent lamenting the fact that he couldn't go, was increasingly becoming something of a daunting fact. It was almost as though it had all sort of creeped up on him, which, honestly, he should have expected. None of his siblings were exactly quiet about it and then there was the fact his and Nox's best friend Tori was also going and whilst that was amazing, it also meant they were probably going to have to watch out for her. Also, his dad was kind of a professor there, so... that meant he'd have to be on his best behaviour... but he didn't want to be on his best behaviour, because that was so boring.

Takarokaro park was the only place he could go where anything made sense, and the moment he got there he could see he clearly wasn't the only person who'd thought about this. Standing off to the side a little, he watched them interact, they didn't seem to know each other, which worked well for him, since people who were already friends were harder to break into as a general rule - not that he was breaking in, he was just looking for something to do in the moments before he ran into his dad or Nox. It did seem a bit pointless to be playing with ordinary chess. He didn't think he'd ever seen that before. Since he came from a strictly magical home. Both his parents being magical and former aurors. His Mum was a metamorphmagus and everything!

"Why are you playing boring chess? Wizarding chess is so much better." Though, he did kind of want to play.

@Sybil St. James @Ruth Thorne ​