Memory's Vault (The Repository) - 31st Jygust, TT

Moderators: Meridiuz, Grey Wolf, Graves, Mods

Post Reply
Gabriel Summers
Civus
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:53 pm
Location: Citadel

Memory's Vault (The Repository) - 31st Jygust, TT

Post by Gabriel Summers »

Hidden almost in the shadows of the Bardic College of the Patrician's Ring of the Citadel is a humble two-story residence with a simple shop-front on the first floor. A rooftop porch of some sort can be seen from the street.

The border of the shop window is decorated with the letters of the alphabet mixed in with numbers and mathematical symbols. All are painted blue-on-white. A sign over the door declares: "The Repository: Books and Lessons, The Citadel's Finest Scribes".

Within, the front parlor is spacious and welcoming. There are chairs and a table or two set up for patrons or students to sit and read. A magnificent antique kemn board adorns on of the tables. It is currently in use by two people: a blond haired adhiel woman, wearing a dress of velvet the color of burnt gold, and a tall silver-haired human man dressed in a fancy dark blue doublet with silver embroidery at the sleeves and neck. A long wooden counter top bar the way to further exploration of the shop. There are several books lying open on the counter. Behind it is a slate board listing schedules for "tutorials" and "lectures" on several subjects.


The present circumstances ought to have plunged our hapless hero into the depths of despair; homeless and jobless, and torn from the one career which brought him pleasure, Gabriel had little direction and less enthusiasm for the bright and brittle world outside of his father's funeral parlour. He was not accustomed to the throngs of people nor the bustling life of the city; and shortly found his aimless wandering of the streets brought on a mild headache (possibly from the stress of it all, for Gabe was entirely out of his element). At this point he had considered it wise to withdraw to a place of sanctuary; and to him, this meant anywhere with plenty of books.

The Repository was one of the more obscure bolt holes in the Citadel, but being a man very much enamoured of books, Gabriel had long ago discovered its various pleasures and the shop held a special place in his heart. It was the ideal antidote to the oncoming tides of despair that threatened him; and while it would not offer direction, it would at least put off the inevitable pleasantly enough.

Pausing in the doorway, Gabe laced his long fingers together - an unconscious display of slight social anxiety - and then endeavoured to lose himself among the bookshelves as quickly as possible.
[size=92][i]At Highgate by salubrious air, had thriven butchers, bakers;
But since a doctor settled there, none thrive but undertakers.[/i][/size]
Meridiuz
The Webmaster & Game Designer
Posts: 2145
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 10:46 am
Location: Citadel
Contact:

Post by Meridiuz »

OOC: altered the description of the repository to change the female playing the kemn game.

As Gabe walked into the Repository, the blond haired adhiel woman just made a bold move in their kemn game. She positioned her pawn and then yelled out to her opponent, the tall silver-haired human. "Ha! Take that. Try to think your way out of this one, Amchi!" The man bowed over the board, scratching his chin. "Mmmmm....quite the interesting move, Tabeann." He said as he looked at his pawns and pondered his next move.

Meanwhile Stanis, the employee at the Repository was at his usual place at the front desk whittling away at a quill with a small knife, not paying too much attention to the two playing the game, nor to Gabe walking in.
[i]Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger[/i] ~ Daft Punk
Gabriel Summers
Civus
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:53 pm
Location: Citadel

Post by Gabriel Summers »

While he had not played a great deal of kemn, Gabriel understood the principle of the game very well. His father had had a kemn set in his study which, sadly, seemed to be primarily ornamental in nature as it was extremely beautiful, and it almost never saw use. If one were feeling unkind, one might suggest that George Summers kept the set entirely for appearances sake, because he wished others to imagine he was a man of breeding and refinement. Gabriel had eventually come to think that it might be more accurate to measure one's refinement by how much one played kemn, not by how much you implied you might play... but, all in all, that measuring refinement by kemn was probably a silly idea.

Regardless, after discovering the set at age twelve, Gabe had taken it upon himself to learn as much as he could about the game (primarily from books), and then had even attempted to play once or twice against his younger brother, Theodore. Being eight yahren old at the time, Theo had not made a particularly challenging opponent, feeling instead that the pieces would make excellent makeshift toy soldiers... and shortly after that, Gabriel's kemn-playing days were abruptly cut short when the patriach of the family had discovered the white king in the grate of the fireplace, ruined beyond repair, and blamed the older of the two boys entirely. (Thankfully, what Gabe had already learned of mortuary cosmetics allowed him to hide the bruises remarkably well, and the incident was not spoken of again.)

This sorry turn of events hadn't entirely quashed Gabe's attraction to the game, however; though it had made practice in the intervening years almost impossible. So, when one of the two strangers declared the other's move to be interesting, the undertaker's son could not help but be interested himself. He turned to glance at the board, sidelong, and then quickly turned his attention back to the bookshelf; shyness plagued him, and he did not want to be thought rude and obtrusive.

For a moment, he studied the spine of the book before him. 101 Herbal Remedies for Common Complaints. A dry and uninteresting tome - but in truth, Gabriel did not particularly notice it at all - for his mind was on the game, and on the fact that he was not invited to watch. And on how he might remedy that, given that he was incurably introverted, and not good at making conversation even if he should manage to actually summon the courage. Biting his lip, he turned back to risk another glance, at the precise moment when Amchi's hand hovered over a particular piece as if to make a move.

Gabriel, despite himself, could not help but make a sound of hesitation - the sound of indrawn breath through teeth - clearly indicating he thought the move a bad one. And immediately he realised he had done this he felt hideously embarrassed, turning away as the colour rose into his pale cheeks. Gabe pulled a random book from the shelf and pretended to be utterly absorbed in it, praying to no particular god that neither of the players had noticed him, and failing that, that the ground might open and swallow him up.
Last edited by Gabriel Summers on Tue Jan 06, 2009 2:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
[size=92][i]At Highgate by salubrious air, had thriven butchers, bakers;
But since a doctor settled there, none thrive but undertakers.[/i][/size]
Meridiuz
The Webmaster & Game Designer
Posts: 2145
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2002 10:46 am
Location: Citadel
Contact:

Post by Meridiuz »

Amchi was thinking quite long and hard about his move. He was an experienced kemn player, but so was his opponent. Tabeann was amazingly smart and she could think very fast. She mocked him because of his slowness in making his next move, just the thing that would start to get on his nerves and would make him make his move before he thought them through well enough. Of course that always meant his demise. He had lost many a game because if it. But he was learning...he wasn't going to let that happen this time.

With his keen eye he was checking out his possible moves when he suddenly heard the newcomer make a sound. He had saw the young man walk in, but hadn't paid much attention to him. But now..noticing that the young man had an interest in the game an clearly had his own opinion on what Amchi's next move would be, now the man had an interest. For a flicker Gabriel felt a very faint tingle in the back of his mind and then it was gone again, letting Gabriel wonder if he had actually felt anything at all. Amchi smiled and moved his hand to another pawn. Gabriel saw that it was the pawn that he had had in mind. "Ahh...you were thinking about this move, weren't you, young man?" Amchi said without moving his eyes off the board. "It's a nice try...but I'm afraid she would beat me with that in six moves."

Tabeann giggled and looked up from the boards to the young man. It took her merely a flicker before she added her own thoughts. "Five actually." She gestured to the free chair that stood on the other side of the table, in between herself and Amchi. "Please, sit down. You can watch the game if you'd like." She giggled again. "You can watch me beat Amchi here. As usual." Amchi laughed as he finally made his next move. "In your dreams,lady, in your dreams."
[i]Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger[/i] ~ Daft Punk
Gabriel Summers
Civus
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 11:53 pm
Location: Citadel

Post by Gabriel Summers »

"Uhm. I..." Gabriel began quietly, meeting Amchi's gaze for less than a flicker and then swallowing in an embarrassed sort of way, "I don't wish to impose..." Despite his reluctant words, before he had hit the end of his sentence his grey eyes had already wandered to the board, where they seemed to focus rather intently, flicking between the pieces. "...or interrupt..." He added, closing the book he'd been hiding behind and taking a step closer to the board. "I... haven't has as much practice as I might have liked, I'm afraid. I'd make for... poor company..." At this point he was already beside the board, still clinging to the book as if it were a lifeline, and it was clear his mind was no longer much upon what he was saying.

"Oh, I see." The undertaker's son murmured after a moment, mainly to himself. Lack of active practice made him slower on the update than either of the players, of course, but at least in principle his knowledge of tactics was sound. "Surely the most effective strategy, then, would be to arrange a skewer between white's forward knight and king, forcing white to move the king and lose the knight... it could be achieved simply by moving the righthand black knight... after which a... fairly solid check could be arranged in... oh. Four moves, I think." This was all said softly and to nobody in particular, as if he'd forgotten entirely there were two other people involved in the game and become utterly absorbed in the puzzle of it. Which was not far from the truth.

Abruptly, Gabriel became aware of the players once again and looked between them both quickly and shyly. (It helped his social anxiety not at all that the lady was strikingly handsome, and that both of them were clearly brilliant.) "Ah. I apologise. I should have at least introduced myself..." He cleared his throat, smiling in a way that implied he did not do so very often, and wasn't very good at it. "Gabriel Summers. I'm afraid I am not practised at kemn, so I'm... certain my unsolicited opinions are... worth very little."
[size=92][i]At Highgate by salubrious air, had thriven butchers, bakers;
But since a doctor settled there, none thrive but undertakers.[/i][/size]
Post Reply

Return to “Patrician & Citadel Ring”