The Violet Hour [Xaiden]

[Dahlia Ravana]

Chess is, despite the common image of it, a rather simple game. The hardest part is perhaps remembering the ways each piece moves. The part of chess that people see, the part that everyone speculates about, the strategy and planning ahead, well, that just came with knowing. If you could determine the way each person thought from looking at them, then you could become a chess master easily. If you couldn't correctly predict their thinking pattern, then you were the one to fall. Dahlia had spent years learning people's breaking points, and she could tell someone's mindset as well as she could tell what kind of breaking method they needed.

Dahlia had spent the majority of the day out in the park, playing chess (with herself and others). Today was a 'work day', but she had elected Chinese water torture for their most recent captive. She was stubborn, arrogant and confident she could survive anything; Dahlia felt it best if her own mind was the reason for her demise. The only real problem with this particular method is it could take some time- hours, days, weeks. And, let's be honest here, watching a drop of water drip on someone's head over and over is almost as bad as having it done to yourself.

The sun was starting to truly dip in the sky, and it cast an orange glow across everything as it hid behind the mountains. It was around six-thirty in the evening, and Dahlia started to bore out here. She decided to play one more game of chess, against herself this time. There didn't seem to be very many people in the park; most of them were heading home to watch Jeopardy or to make dinner. Dahlia let out a sigh of boredom, and moved the first white pawn.

[Xaiden Roche]

Sunset was probably Xaiden's favorite time to visit the park. He finds it breathtaking when the sun shines across the horizon in such a way to make the trees look like crisp-cut silhouettes. That, and it's at that bare threshold between when the kids start leaving and when the drug dealers and stupid teenagers come in, so there's no-one around to bug him on the rare occasion he'd prefer peace to company.

At the moment, however, it was still at least an hour and a half yet until the sun truly began to set. The sun was on a downward slope, but it was still pretty bright outside. People were beginning to thin out, though, getting ready to head home for dinner or for prime-time TV, or what have you. Xaiden couldn't tell—he didn't really watch the single TV he and his roommate shared. The only person who really seemed intent on staying was a young woman in one of the tables often occupied by elderly people who liked to feed the pidgeons or read newspapers or play chess. She herself was playing a game of chess, though her partner seemed to be missing—not that it seemed to matter to her. She just moved the pieces around as she pleased. Xaiden never was a chess kind of guy, but he was pretty curious.

Instead of approaching her outright, however, he decided on walking around the park a couple times, as per his usual suppertime routine. The park itself was nice and large for a play-structure kind of park, nearly mile around the field, the basketball and tennis courts, and the playground itself. By the time he returned on his second go-around, the woman was well on her way through the game without awaiting the return of her partner. At this point, he was pretty sure she was one of those people who played themselves, though he had always thought those kinds of people only existed in movies.

Rather than asking to stay, he kind of settled on a nearby bench and attempted to covertly watched her play. At most, he only learned how the pieces moved, so it was an interesting watch. She seemed so into the game, putting more concentration into that alone than he did on most anything else, save for his job.

[Dahlia Ravana]

The park got quieter and quieter, like the silence in Dahlia's mind had decided to spread across. Despite looking like she was heavily concentrating, Dahlia was really only half-paying attention to her game, breathing in the quiet escalating over the park. The better part of an hour passed, and there were various types still there, even as the sun began to go down. Pondering over her next few moves, Dahlia noticed something about her game. No matter the move she would make, she had reached a stalemate with herself. There was no possible way that she could move without giving her king away. Ah, well, game over.

Dahlia rose, her black sundress moving with the breeze. She reached up and stretched, her hands reaching towards the sun. Dahlia paused a moment, pondering on whether or not to head back. Perhaps the girl had cracked by now; she'd have eyes wide open and full of tears, bruises and red marks where she had struggled against the chains, shallow breathing and desperation filling the air. The image brought a smile to Dahlia's face, and she inhaled deeply.

Out of no where, Dahlia's eye caught a strange individual staring at her. He was very odd at a first glance, and with a second, one could only note more oddities. From his many facial piercings to the large flower petals on his shaved head. Despite his outlandish appearance, Dahlia didn't sense anything truly off about him. He was one of those humans who chose to out their oddities, to express 'who they were' by punching holes and needles into their skin.

Still smiling, Dahlia gave a small wave.

[Xaiden Roche]

She was lovely when she smiled, Xaiden noticed. Despite the few pieces left on the board, she decided she was finished, and set everything neatly aside. It was when she got up to stretch that she finally noticed him watching curiously. His first instinct was to be embarrassed, having watched her play so shamelessly, but she only smiled and waved. Xaiden took that as a good enough reason to strike up conversation.

“I'd ask if you came here to play often, but I haven't seen you around much. Or at all, I don't think,” he said, grinning cheerfully. “I hope you didn't mind my watching. I'd have asked you for a game if I didn't suck at it, haha.” Though he tried his best to sound nonchalant, he really was pretty curious. Most people never really thought much of him at first glance—usually, their first instinct was to run the hell away. The dog walkers and the joggers have gotten used to his morning-and-evening jogs, but besides the regulars, he was an odd fish. He wouldn't put it past this lady to just turn around and walk away, though he did hope she would stay for a bit. At least to chat civilly. The fact that she waved at him was was enough to get his hopes up.

Sometimes, he wished he preferred a more 'normal' style, at least to make a few more friends that didn't have inks and piercings (or to stop scaring away the people who didn't have tats and holes). To be honest, however, the 'normal' suburban household ideal bored the bejeebers out of him. Sure, people were pretty wary of him, but once he got to know them, they got to being pretty awesome.

((bleh, kind of a crappy post, haha. Sorry about that :/))

[Dahlia Ravana]

For a reason she wasn't quite sure of, Dahlia decided to act a bit normally for once. She continued smiling at this very strange man; he seemed fairly amiable. He intrigued Dahlia, for so far, he seemed quite the opposite of the way he looked. His voice was also quite pleasant to listen to, and she wanted to hear more of it. "Well, if you would like to know, I'm usually fairly busy during the day. I figured some chess in the park seemed like an interesting prospect." Dahlia spoke in a dulcet tone, resonant and smooth. "After all, the only way to get better at something is to do it, right?" She grinned, teasing the man a bit.

Dahlia decided to sit next to the man, smoothing her dress as she sat on the bench. "You seem like quite an interesting man. I must admit, I'm a bit curious. Shall we start out with names?" Dahlia settled into her seat, looking up at the far taller man next to her. "My name is Dahlia, in case you're as curious as I am." She winked and smiled as she introduced herself, then turned her eyes to the setting sun. Her hair rippled in the breeze, stopped by the back of the bench; a ray of sun glanced over Dahlia's ruby eyes and encased them in a dazzling glow every Mary Sue worth her weight in salt would be quite jealous of. Dahlia continued to watch the sun as it went down, her mind (for once) far away from the thoughts of other human beings suffering miserably in the depths of despair.

Oops, getting a bit carried away, must remember, there's someone next to you, Dahlia.

[Whell uhm. Your totally not crappy post gets met with mine. I'll let you describe it.

For the record, I just get flattered and excited when someone replies to me period. I mean, the idea that someone went to the trouble of taking letters and words and sentences and making paragraphs for me (at least partially) utterly delights me.]

[Xaiden Roche]

How exciting! Maybe he'll make a new friend today? It wasn't often that people willingly approached him, and even rarer still that it was someone who had yet to see him around. Either this lady was absolutely fearless, or she just didn't care. Either way, Xaiden couldn't help but admire her. If he were her, he'd have probably turned and walked away as soon as he could. Needless to say, however, the fact that she even regarded him as a person worth talking to and not a potential threat to herself and/or her hypothetical children put him in a pretty good mood.

In turn for her introduction, Xaiden grinned, and offered her his hand to shake. “Nice to meet you. I'm Xaiden,” he answered. “With an X, not a Z, should you ever feel the desire to write my name,” he added. “I come here around this time just about every night. What about you? Do you come here often? In the day I guess. Like, during your lunchbreak, or something. If not, you probably should—the trees are amazing here in the fall,” he grinned, taking a moment to scan the scenery around them.

Yep, definitely a nice place. He was glad to have found it, and so close to where he worked. Sure, the playground was often defaced by hooligans (what kind of play structure wasn't?) and at the darker hours of night, more unsavory characters emerged, but during the daytime, it was an honestly pretty friggin' awesome place, especially for joggers and walkers like himself.

The sun was starting to get pretty low in the sky, at that point where it sparkled off the big fountain-type thing near the entrance of the play area and made everything shine. He was half-worried that Dahlia wouldn't be able to stay to have a nice, civil conversation with him, but it's happened before. Such was the way of life—and anyways, perhaps he'd see her some other time, if she couldn't stay this time.

((Sorry for the wait! Also, hehe, you shouldn't be so flattered, silly x3
There's a reason why people take the trouble to write for you--they like it when you write for them back! x3)0

[Dahlia Ravana]

The torture business wasn't exactly the best place to make friends. 'Clients' all ended up dead, comatose, or hating your guts, and all of Dahlia's coworkers were quite terrified of her. Even the random members of Heaven's Gate didn't seem to enjoy her company too much. Dahlia didn't mind; she had had plenty of friends growing up, and somewhat enjoyed the solitude she had attained now. Still, she figured it would be nice to have a friend or two, and this Xaiden seemed like quite an interesting man to talk to. Once glance could reveal that he certainly had many stories to tell. He was odd, sure, but Dahlia figured his eccentricity to be quite the plus.

It was quite charming how Xaiden (with an X) started to ramble on when he spoke; Dahlia seemed to find herself liking this man more and more. Granted, she had only really spoken to him for a few minutes. "Mmm, I do enjoy coming to the park; most of the time, however I am here at night, enjoying the park's mysteries. Perhaps I should come here in the daytime more often, though. Right now, it certainly is lovely."

Dahlia absentmindedly ran a finger over the red stone that lay in her great-grandfather's ring. It was the only ring she wore today; the silver band that normally adorned her left hand's ring finger was back in her room. Dahlia couldn't recall a particular reason for leaving it off, but it was just as well. After feeling the stone's cold, smooth surface, she stopped fidgeting and stood up, stretching. The sun was truly down now, the final sliver of orange sun. There was still light in the sky, but it was quickly fading. Dahlia's smile broadened as a thought crossed her mind.

"Well, Xaiden with an X, would you like to perhaps play a game of chess in the twilight?"

[I imagine her ring looks something like this.]

[Xaiden Roche]

Offhandedly, Xaiden couldn't help but worry a little, if she came around at night. After all, with any park, sometimes drug dealers and stupid teenagers and drunkards and scary homeless people came around and messed around with the area. That generally was around midnight, but he couldn't help but worry. After all, a pretty lady like Dahlia could get attacked! Her murder would be put on the news and everything, and—oh look, there goes his imagination. He brightened up when she suggested that perhaps maybe she'd have liked to come around the park earlier. Perhaps the potential murder-by-druggies would be avoided!

She fidgeted with her ring for a bit, as if she were considering something. The ring wasn't on her left ring finger, so he couldn't help but notice that she wasn't married. Which was weird, because somehow, he'd gotten this idea in his head that she had been married to someone already. He was quickly distracted from her observations when she invited him to a friendly game.

Xaiden ears turned red with embarrassment, when she called him “Xaiden with an X”, because, to be frank, it made him sound like a kid. He remembered his old science teacher (god bless his soul) calling him that all the time, because he'd corrected the man when he'd written his name wrong. Trying his damndest to keep the whine out of his voice, he politely asked her to just call him Xai. So much easier, without having to deal with the the off chance that she'd call him “Xaiden with an X” out of playful spite. He didn't think her the type, but you know what they say about assuming.

“Are you sure you wanna play with me, though? I barely know the rules. I'm barely a challenge, haha. Plus, it's getting pretty dark,” he admitted, looking around. There was a streetlight nearby, but it didn't cast direct light on the chessboard, and Xaiden although he could make out the specific shapes of the pieces, he couldn't see the little details etched into each piece.

[Dahlia Ravana]

It wasn't often someone intrigued Dahlia as much as this Xaiden character did. He was much more complex than one would have thought; he looked like a thug, a shady, dirty person who did things dark alleyways late at night (then again, that was a flower tattooed on his head). Yet he seemed fairly kind and simple, unlike most of the people Dahlia currently associated herself with. He went out of his way to point out the 'X' in his name, yet when Dahlia played upon that, he became quite embarrassed and asked Dahlia to call him a simple one-syllable word. Xaiden's complexities were both refreshingly unexpected and intriguing. Dahlia continued to enjoy every minute she spent with him. It mildly confused her- after all, she hadn't felt much past idle wonderings of what would happen should she try various forms of torture* on the people she usually associated with.

"Well, Xai, then." Dahlia's always-there-smile was more genuine, more sincere than normal. "Somehow I don't think I'd come to the park to play chess if I were seeking a challenge. I can teach you anything you need to know... Of course, if you would rather talk a walk, that's fine, too." Dahlia clasped her hands behind her back, waiting for an answer. "Maybe you could simply tell me stories... Your appearance certainly implies you having some!"

*Speaking of torture, Xaiden would probably have to undergo psychological torture to crack; surely with all of those piercings and the tattoos, he'd have some kind of pain tolerance... Maybe a mock execution... no one can really stand digging their own grave... NO, DAHLIA, HE HAS NO INFORMATION FOR YOU, YOU ARE TRYING TO BE HIS FRIEND.

[Xaiden Roche]

Xaiden smiled, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck as he regarded her. “Maybe we should just take a walk. Like I said, I, uh. I'm hardly the type for chess-playing,” he admitted, crossing over to stand by her side. He paused for a moment, before taking the initiative and taking the first step towards wherever the hell they were going for this so-called walk. “As for stories, well... Not too many to tell you. Despite the dangerous and absolutely thrilling life you believe me to have, I'm actually a pretty boring guy,” he shrugged. “No crazy drug dealing or insane car chases or anything. Closest thing to a car chase I've ever been through was this one time, where a cop pulled me over because he thought I was a suspected kidnapper. No joke, seriously! I mean, do I look like the kidnapping type to you?” he asked, grinning.

“Wait a sec. Don't answer that question,” he laughed, putting his hands up to stop her. “I think they caught the guy some time afterwards though, so everything was a-okay.” With that, he shut up and let her put a few words into the conversation, deciding instead to shove his hands into his pockets. Casually, he glanced over at her, hoping she was having a good time, too. Even if they hadn't known each other for more than maybe half an hour, he didn't want her to try and sit through a walk with him if she really didn't want to. Thankfully, she seemed at least somewhat engaged, here. Her smile was finally starting to reach her eyes. Before, it had been the usual polite smile that most everyone gave him—the kind of smile that was mostly used as a line of defense and a subconscious attempt at diplomacy before deciding whether to fight or flee. Now, she looked like she was starting to warm up to him a little. He was glad for that.