[OPEN Mini-Log] After the Storm

[witheredpeonies]

Who: Annabel Lee (witheredpeonies) & You
What: Clearing her Mind
When: After the Gala
Where: Oak and Iron Tavern
Warning(s): None yet, threads will carry warnings in subject lines

The Gala had been eventful, and now Annabel Lee is tempted to close herself up like a fan. A dangerous thought, given she genuinely does need allies, given the danger represented by everyday life in Pumpkin Hollow. So she figures out a way to be out in public without feeling vulnerable: she brings her personal chess board to the Oak and Iron, sets it up, and begins playing openings for herself, while offering a mild smile to anyone who walks into the room.

Care for a game?

Note: Annabel Lee is a very good chess player; she's defeated every potential suitor for several years in a ruthless manner. While it's not impossible to beat her, many characters will not.

Comments

[somebodychildofanyone]

Here's River. Tired, and sore, forge closed for the day, dressed down but at least freshly washed. She came for coffee, but when she orders it it's to Annabel's table.

Deep breath in.

Out.

She sits, and studies the pieces. Her ears twitch when she sees the bishops.

It's awhile, before she speaks. Long enough for the pot to cool.

"...These here," a finger touches the king side bishop, "they move diagonally? Do the footmen cut each other down in passing too?"

[witheredpeonies]

"Bishops on the diagonals. Pawns move forward, and attack diagonally, one square only." She demonstrates a pawn's movement and its attack. "I told my father I'd only marry a man who could defeat me in chess. And then plowed through every suitor, first in London, then across the sea in New England."

[somebodychildofanyone]

Damn, London doesn't have en passat, fuckin' barbarians.

"I remember," River murmurs. "Though on my world these are ships, cutting diagonal across rivers. Whether or not the big bitch is a Queen or a Chosen depends on how close you are to a big temple though."

"...Care if I take white?"

[witheredpeonies]

"Be my guest." Annabel Lee sits straighter, draws herself up, and prepares to play. Her gaze is cold and heavy, chin resting on her hands.

I'm Not Doing Exact Moves I'm Worse At Chess Than River

[somebodychildofanyone]

River's style is aggressive, leaning hard on her rooks and ships. Every move is carefully considered, but if she gets the chance to take a piece, she seizes it, craves space to roam. As the board gets more tangled she stops to pour coffee, to mix it with her sugar.

She's precious with her queen, hesitant with her knights, unsure of how to see their movements.

And she's not saying anything else, not until Annabel does. She plays slumped in her chair, coffee in one hand, and gives the game her full focus.

[witheredpeonies]

Annabel responds to that aggression by setting traps and making forks. Forcing River to choose which of her pieces to sacrifice. Forcing trades. She plays carefully, taking advantage of that reliance on the queen and using her own knights freely, seeing that River can't calculate where they'll be in three or four turns' time.

Annabel plays like the game means everything to her.

[somebodychildofanyone]

It's a grinding loss, but a comprehensive one. River's momentum dries up, and the tide is so easily turned once that happens.

Her response to checkmate is a long, steady exhalation, followed by turning the board around so they can set up on opposite sides.

[witheredpeonies]

And Annabel does just that. Still not speaking. Her attention is on the pieces, rather than River herself. She's very good at paying attention to the board first.

[somebodychildofanyone]

Black is the more advantaged position, to the experienced player; the ability to react, to counter, is so precious.

River ignores that opportunity entirely in favor of trotting her knights out from behind the pawn line, seemingly intent on seeing how long she can go without breaking her front ranks.

Steady breathing. Steady hands.

[witheredpeonies]

The thing about playing like that is that it leaves the king boxed in, nowhere to go when you attack that front line, focusing on the pawn in front of the king's bishop. Bring everything to bear on it, and you have a blitzkrieg while River's playing with the ponies.

[somebodychildofanyone]

To River's credit, this trap she perceives quickly. Too late, but quickly.

Her little kingdom falls, with another exhale.

She orders a new pot of coffee, a plate of eggs, and then sets her hand on the corner of the board.

It could be turned around again. If she's welcome to play.

[witheredpeonies]

Annabel Lee's gaze lingers on River's hand on the board. "Who taught you to play?"

[somebodychildofanyone]

"...First? The priests of Red Troth, father of strife, god of victim and victor. They almost always travel with boards, and ministering soldiers over a game is traditional. But I only got into the habit after I was adopted. My sister, Brianna, plays a lot."

River's ears twitch, droop ever so slightly. Bri would have had such good advice...

[witheredpeonies]

"She's good, isn't she? The person you're used to holding yourself up against?" One finger taps against her lips a couple times gently.

"Set up the board again. We're going to talk through a game."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"Bri'd deny it to your face, but I get the feeling she's comparing herself to people even better."

River turns the board, and sets up patiently for white. She's not in a rush. "...Bri loves the game as a way to get to know people, to teach sometimes. When she's just playing-playing, just for fun, she's this little goblin about it, loves confusing board states where she can pounce on you out of nowhere. Bullies her poor husband endlessly that way."

Things River's said before, but it feels...important, to say them again now.

[witheredpeonies]

"I can't remember the last time I was able to play for fun." Annabel shakes her head, bouncing her curls. "Alright. So why was this the square I attacked? Why is it uniquely interesting?"

[somebodychildofanyone]

"...Hrmm." River frowns in deep thought, the solemnity of her expression ruined nearly entirely by the way her ears seem to be attempting flight. The problem, really, is that she sees the game like she would a battlefield, and while chess may be a simulation of war, this rectangle is not a square.

"...Troth's blood, yeah, no, I see it. I knew something was up when you were focusing it down but nobody else can come save the twink when I've got him boxed in like that. Once he's threatened he's gotta do his own murdering and then your backup takes him out. Check and mate."

[witheredpeonies]

"Mhm. So, how do you deal with that situation? Castling is one of the classic ways, but not the only one. Using your knights to defend that square can help. And, of course, pressing the attack so your opponent can't keep coming for your side of the board."

[somebodychildofanyone]

"...I don't castle much. Feels like I'm giving up momentum I could be using to seize better ground."

A pawn forward, to free her ship.

"...I hope you won't take this as poor sportsmanship but I wasn't trying to win that game very hard. I was hoping to get a handle on the knights so I don't end up behind the woodshed at their hands again."

[witheredpeonies]

"There's a path a knight can take, one move at a time, to travel the entire board. All sixty-four squares. Trace it out sometime. It's not an arcane sigil, but it does give you a feel for their motion."

She nudges a pawn forward as well.

[somebodychildofanyone]

The far pawn on the same side, the queen's, freeing River's rook.

"It's interesting to me, that you study a shadow of war, of all the games to let into your heart. I'm sure you noticed that battle isn't this polite."

[witheredpeonies]

"You're right. Battle isn't this polite. This...rhythmic. This calculated. I can't tell where an actual enemy will be in 'three turns', because turns are wholly meaningless on an actual battlefield."

More chess-playing happens here.

[somebodychildofanyone]

"There's no terrain, your troops always follow orders, nobody found the footmen hung over an hour before the fight..."

River grins. Her approach this game is...open. Not chaotic, not random, but favoring creating empty space.

[witheredpeonies]

"It's bloodless. It's abstracted."

Annabel Lee pauses, gesturing to show the choice she has in pieces to move, and which ones are going to cause River more problems.

[somebodychildofanyone]

River considers the offered information for a long time, doing nothing louder than drinking her coffee. Her eventual move is against Annabel's knight; deny the resource she doesn't understand, try to put the game on her terms.

Quietly, so quietly: "...We don't get the courtesy of abstraction much, do we?"