#* that folks is either ( or both ) a sign of respect or another manipulation tactic on her end rlly do we ever know

[absensia-archived]

i’ve mentioned it before,  briefly,  in a post about charlotte and different kinds of games/sports,  but charlotte,  surprisingly or not,  enjoys the playing and studying chess.  charlotte first learned about chess from various people and clubs who would meet and play in public parks.  at first,  it was simply an excuse for her mingle among strangers and have conversations with people,  all the while allowing the general dis-ease that radiates from her presence to unfurl.  incidentally she began to learn how to play the game and what pushed her to become invested in it was seeing how emotional and focused people would get about the game.  she noticed how people’s minds and emotions could go to strangely intense places during something as simply as a board game and realized that in the moment of play,  the person sitting across from her could become quite vulnerable right before her,  even if they were technically stronger on the chessboard.

playing in a leisurely setting like the park,  charlotte enjoyed playing a game that allowed for a little bit of chatting,  a little bit of banter,  a little bit of wandering around as she made her move and waited for her opponent to make theirs.  she realized that she could directly see the consequence of her influence on their mind in the way they played and she liked it.  she also realized that playing and studying chess helped her clear her own mind and build better thinking habits,  leading to her becoming less confused and losing less of her memories.

that being said,  a lot of what charlotte likes about chess comes from the face-to-face aspect of it.  she dislikes playing chess on the computer and even more so,  playing against bots.  she’s only ever played against herself if she was deliberately following a game sheet of an old game,  so it feels less like she’s playing herself and instead, playing and studying with an imaginary opponent.  seeing as she’s never played in a formal tournament or online,  she doesn’t know what her rating is,  although her gameplay betrays an approximately 1450 and 1650 elo rating.  the range is somewhat large because charlotte,  being the busy agent of chaos she is,  goes through lulls where she doesn’t touch the chessboard for a while.  she also likely won’t get much higher than the 1650 ( the cusp of the advanced level rating ) rating because she simply doesn’t put in enough time for training and practicing.

apart from being a somewhat tangential look into one of charlotte’s hobbies,  looking at char as a chess player does reveal somethings about how she plays her “games” and how she strategizes her criminal schemes:   according to CHESS PERSONALITY,

charlotte is a barbarian.    barbarians do not mess around. they hunt the opponent's king from the beginning to the end of the game. they are attacking players who are willing to accept lots of risk, calculating complications and dangers that make their opponents squirm. barbarians put their heart into the game - a typical barbarian might get upset if something goes wrong in a tournament and have a disaster, or, on the other hand, ride an unstoppable wave of success when things go right. barbarians aren't usually the type to offer draws, and their main goal is to create unusual and complicated situations on the board in which they can out-calculate their opponent.   (  she’s calculating,  focusing her play on attacks rather than positioning;  she plays aggressively and with emotion.  )

#* i am unabashedly projecting my distraction of choice ( chess ) on charlotte here #* and in case anyone is wondering - yes - charlotte has and still does hustle chess #* it was a quick and relatively harmless (?) way for her to make some cash in the very early years as she truly did downplay her skills #* but grew to be something she could use to win information and favours rather than money later on #* that or she just does it to create some trouble and chaos :') #* also - charlotte almost NEVER resigns #* if she knows she's lost she will still let the game play out and get checkmated bc #* one - just as in combat - she'd rather die standing #* and two - other people get v susceptible to persuasion when fresh off the high of a win #* therefore! if you're playing her and you absolutely destroy her and she /does/ resign? #* that folks is either ( or both ) a sign of respect or another manipulation tactic on her end rlly do we ever know #* also also - charlotte likes to play gambits bc / of course she does / #* ALSO ALSO ALSO IF YOU REALLY READ ALL THIS THANK U I LOVE U SM <3