[ The Horizon provides endless fascination to Claude as well, what with all of the ways to see things he could never have imagined might exist even in his dreams of what might come to be someday in Fodlan if technology was allowed to expand. On this day in particular he's returning from roaming a new section he hasn't yet studied in depth and is lost in thought as he opens the doors to his own domain upon return, intent on jotting some notes down into a journal he's created for just that case. Something to occupy his mind while he's here, mostly; another habit of not being able to let go of always searching for information when and where he can find it.
The wyvern greets him with a noise he's come to recognize, and he reaches up to pat her taloned foot as he passes in acceptance of the alert. Even though her job is done, there's a telltale tiny rush of air behind him when she takes flight to follow him into the courtyard. And there Claude comes across a woman he doesn't know, at least not from not being able to see her face as she straightens up one of the games of chess sitting about waiting for a player or two. It's the sort of thing he'd hoped would happen by leaving the doors to his domain open for anyone to stop by, so curiosity draws him in to head her direction and hopefully not startle her in the process. ]
Have I arrived too late and already lost the game? That's unfortunate. For me, anyway.
[ A joke, kind of, regarding the chessboard being reset with the pieces all moved back into their places like after a successful (for one of them) game or so he's assuming from a distance. As Claude approaches though he can see that's not quite true, though she's made a very valiant effort to put each back where they belong. A slight hm escapes him since that's likely kinder than chuckling as he's tempted to do - and though the noise likely betrays his amusement all the same. ]
If you'd be interested in learning to play I'd be happy to teach you the ins and outs of it all. Not necessarily right now, of course, since it's supposed to be for fun but being put on the spot tends to be anything but.
And - [ with a short pause, to address what feels like the other obvious thing here - ] I don't believe we've met before, unless my memory's failed me?
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The wyvern greets him with a noise he's come to recognize, and he reaches up to pat her taloned foot as he passes in acceptance of the alert. Even though her job is done, there's a telltale tiny rush of air behind him when she takes flight to follow him into the courtyard. And there Claude comes across a woman he doesn't know, at least not from not being able to see her face as she straightens up one of the games of chess sitting about waiting for a player or two. It's the sort of thing he'd hoped would happen by leaving the doors to his domain open for anyone to stop by, so curiosity draws him in to head her direction and hopefully not startle her in the process. ]
Have I arrived too late and already lost the game? That's unfortunate. For me, anyway.
[ A joke, kind of, regarding the chessboard being reset with the pieces all moved back into their places like after a successful (for one of them) game or so he's assuming from a distance. As Claude approaches though he can see that's not quite true, though she's made a very valiant effort to put each back where they belong. A slight hm escapes him since that's likely kinder than chuckling as he's tempted to do - and though the noise likely betrays his amusement all the same. ]
If you'd be interested in learning to play I'd be happy to teach you the ins and outs of it all. Not necessarily right now, of course, since it's supposed to be for fun but being put on the spot tends to be anything but.
And - [ with a short pause, to address what feels like the other obvious thing here - ] I don't believe we've met before, unless my memory's failed me?