Tourney Spectator Lounge

Sadly, Rose realized that she apparently couldn't pass for a college student, despite being so incredibly close. Either that, or the young man she was playing against was a very accurate age guesser.

"You're right, I'm not in college." she said, as she moved a pawn absentmindedly forward, from G3 to G4.

"I'm not actually sure I'll go into journalism as a real career. I could. " She said, smiling. "I mean, can't you just see me appearing on your TV every night at 5 PM?" she joked. "But yeah, I've looked at a few schools. Haven't really gotten down and dirty with any applying or anything yet, but surface glances at some. I'm not sold on a major yet, though, so that's a pretty big deal."

Rose looked back at the board after saying this, and the moderate horror she experienced was very evident on her face. But she had already placed her piece, and realized it was too late. "Damn damn damn damn damn damn. . ." she repeated in her head as she awaited her opponents move, hoping he wouldn't know the next best move to make, but knowing he'd outplayed her thus far so it was going to happen.

Tact didn't come to mind as Aelieth played out his moves. It probably would have been better if he had. He probably would've come off as nicer or more sociable or something. But, at the moment, he wasn't thinking of these possible perks of not moving his Queen from G5 to H4, which is why he did just that.

"Well, I'm sure you've heard this before, but probably the best advice I can give is to do what you love doing. After all, what you learn in school will hopefully have some bearing on what you do for a living, and it's a lot better to enjoy what you do every day rather than drudging it out at some dead-end job. Check, by the way." The last statement was almost an afterthought.

"Check?" she replied, as she looked back at the board. "I swear this should be checkmate. I mean, he only can move into her line and-" she realized her folly with a sense of relief. "Oh, nevermind." she said quickly, as she made the forced move from E1 to D2.

"And thanks, but you're right, I've heard it all before." She said with a smile. "It's crazy how often people want to talk about what I plan to do with myself, especially family members." she said.

"How long have you been studying Navi design? Your navi looks pretty good for an amateur job." she said, more emphasis on the fact that it was good than calling him an amateur.

"Let's see..." he counted time in his head. "About two years. I already had some programming experience; My original major was Computer Engineering with a focus on Network Maintenance, which required some program knowledge. And thanks, I'm sure if Holo were in his PET he'd appreciate... it..." Aelieth's eyes widened as he realized that he had left his Navi jacked into a network filled with viruses with no support. He quickly reached for his PET and slid two chips in, hoping that he wasn't too late, before returning to the game.

He looked at the board before deciding on running a gambit. Sure, it'll hurt him later, but for now, it'll help him start cleaning up the board. He moved his Knight from F6 to E4.

"Nice." She said. And then watched with interest as he worriedly slotted in two chips to his PeT.

On the field, however, Rose couldn't figure out what he was doing. Unless..."You forgot to say check." She commented, as she took the bait and moved her pawn from F3 to E4, taking the knight.

"And I think I just made my first kill this game." She said with a smile.

She passed control to her opponent once more.

"Congratulations." He said, smiling back. Starting his plan, he slid a pawn from D5 to E4.

"So, is..." he glanced over at the tournament bracket. "... Summonerman your first Net Navi?"

"No." Rose said, somewhat plainly. "Well, of course, as a kid I had a generic navi like most. Up until a while ago I had another navi, a custom one, but there was something wrong with his make and the company recalled him for fatal errors." She paused for a bit as she made her next move, stepping her now unblocked pawn forward from D4 to D5.

"I got SummonerMan right after that. He was a gift from the company, since they claimed responsibility for the error." She said it all very matter-of-factly, lacking very much emotion. The control of the board passed to Aelieth.

"Ah. Well, at least they didn't leave you high and dry after recalling him." Aelieth commented, commanding his pawn to press the attack, sliding it from E4 to E3.

"Check." He once again casually threw out.

Rose was slightly unhappy with the new developement, but rolled with it anyway.

She moved her king from D2 to E3, taking the enemy pawn. "Un-check". she said, as she passed control back to her opponent. "Is Holo your first real Navi?" she asked.

She couldn't imagine he was, but she asked anyway.

Aelieth took a while to answer. "Pretty much. Until Holoß was created, I've had to work with normal Navis lent to me by whatever school I was in at the time."

His queen moved from H4 to G5. "Check."

"I swear Anyis, couldn't you have decided on an easier area to warm up?" groaned Mill as his Navi finished her transfer back to her PET. She hadn't taken any damage during the virus fights, but it was still pretty nerve-wracking at times.

"Hey, it paid off pretty well, right?" replied Anyis rather forcefully, taking note of the Shadow and Skully chips they had found in the process.

"Well, yeah... New chips don't really help us against MachMan, though." sighed Mill as he felt even worse about the upcoming match than he did before he jacked in. He knew full-well that Anyis was outgunned this time, and it'd probably nothing but a stroke of luck that they would be able to win. It didn't help that his Navi didn't seem to care...

"Look, just relax for a while. The match is going to happen regardless of what you think, so just sit back and let things work themselves out. Alright?" said Anyis, trying to ease her Operator's nerves. "Go talk to some of the other people here. Maybe that will keep your mind off the match long enough for you to chill."

"Yeah, yeah..." muttered Mill, annoyed that he was getting a lecture from his own Navi. He took a look around the room to see who had arrived in the last while and what he found... was chess? Mill didn't remember a chess board being in the lounge before, making him wonder where it came from, or rather, how many weird looks whoever brought it in got on the way. While he pondered that, it clicked in Mill's mind that he recognized one of the players, causing him to get up off his seat and walk over and watch the game.

... Well, what was left of it. "Hey Rose." said Mill nonchalantly as he arrived at the table, taking note of how royally screwed Rose was.

"Alright." She said, as she watched the scene on the board playing out. She moved her king into a leftward retreat, transferring him from E3 to D3.

"Once this king is safe, I really need to start working on my board position. It's looking bad right now." She thought warily, as board control passed once more to her opponent. "What's he up to right now, anyway?" Rose inquired.

At this point she noticed Mill walk over, and say hi to her. "Hello Mill." Rose responded. "How's everything going for you?" She knew full well that Mill was still battling, and was in the next round, but asking him for his feelings on everything else too would never hurt. "Come to watch our miniature crusade?"

"Fine, fine." answered Mill curtly. "I tried unwinding with some virus busting, but that only made me more nervous for the next match." He sighed at this point, trying to loosen up before continuing. "So, yeah, I thought it'd be easier to just watch you fight with little figurines than with viruses."

He turned his head in recognition that Rose in fact playing someone, prompting Mill to say, "You're HoloBeta's Operator, right? I'm Mill. Congrats on making it this far."

"Thanks. I'm Aelieth." He responded, standing to greet the newcomer after moving the Queen from G5 to D5. "It's nice to meet you." Aelieth said, offering a handshake.

"We're lucky to have gotten this far... But since Holo didn't actually get to fight last time, he wanted to unwind. He's busting... somewhere... I'm not really sure where." Aelieth grinned lightheartedly, trying to both answer Rose's question and respond to Mill. All of this interaction was doing wonders with helping him come out of his shell.

"Oh, check." He added, once again as an afterthought.

"Hmm..." Rose murmured, as she retreated some more. Her king slid from D3 to C2. it looked to her like her king was moving into cornered territory.

Rose noted the response from Mill, and got an almost rude feeling emanating from it. At the very least he was feeling impatient or nervously energetic, if not rude.

As the other two began speaking she decided not to interrupt or start a new topic, fearing coming off as rude or pushy herself.

"Yeah, my last win was pretty much a fluke..." sighed Mill as he accepted Aelith's handshake, realizing Anyis's victory against Voulge really shouldn't have happened the way it did. "But I still managed to avenge SummonerMan for you, Rose." he said turning to the would-be reported that had turned quiet all of a sudden.

"Hey! What's this 'I' crap?! I did all the work!" shouted Anyis in a muffled voice from the PET in Mill's pocket.

Mill shook his leg hastily as a "zip it" to Anyis, and, while it ticked her off to a good degree, it worked. "Hmph... Have fun hitting on a minor..." Anyis mumbled in an inaudible voice before laying down on her PET's floor for a rest.

"Anyway..." said Mill, trying to move on from that, "Did I interrupt something?" He asked that question after realizing that the two other Operators were in fact talking before he came by.

"No, no." Aelieth said, retaking his seat as he resumed the game. "Just having a nice conversation."

He continued to push with his powerhouse, moving the queen out of harms way from D5 to E4. "Check."

"You're more than welcome to join in..." He addressed Mill, looking at Rose for confirmation.

"Yeah, we were just chatting in general." Rose said with a shrug. She shoved her queen in a somewhat reckless defense, placing her directly in the path of the enemy queen in order to defend her king. "It's risky but I may need to make this move." She thought, as the white queen was moved from D1 to D3.

"Uncheck." She said to Aelieth. "And feel free to join in, I agree." She added, looking up at Mill.

"And uh, thanks for the vengeance.You know, you have to win the tournament now so SummonerMan can come in third by proxy." She said with a smile, directed at Mill and her Navi. "So no pressure, but I'm expecting a victory out of you."

"Well, I'll try. Anyis is definitely an underdog from here on out, but miracles can happen." replied Mill with a weak laugh, knowing how impossible that was. "I haven't actually had Anyis for more than two weeks. The first round of the tournament was just my second time using her, so I'm honestly feeling pretty lucky that I got this far..."

Mill pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose to get a better view of the queen Rose moved out, appreciating the bold move. Victory didn't come to those who hid in corners, he figured. Changing thought patterns, Mill asked to both Aelith and Rose, "I take it you've both been using your Navis a little longer than I have? It'd be kind of creepy if everyone walked in here in the same situation as me." He chuckled a little as he talked, in that sad kind of laugh as he recalled all the crazy stuff that landed him with Anyis in the first place.

"Well... I guess it's slightly more creepy, then..." Aelieth chuckled, amazed by the coincidence. "Holo's still got that new-code-smell," came the slightly dorky follow-up.

And now to for some regicide... he thought, moving the Knight from C6 to B4.

He turned board control over to Rose, waiting silently to allow her to respond, but not without an informant "Check."