Checkmate (Open)

Clear days, quiet days, were in short supply; it was thought best to make the most of them. Some of the residents had erected a small recreational area near the Caldera's wall, not far from one of the entrances leading into the complex. A large awning provided shades for the tables and benches. One of the teachers had even ground chalk into dust and outlined hopscotch squares nearby for the children. The afternoon was sweet, and the wind was cooperating; the squares remained, ready for the class that was bound to emerge once their studies were done.

Occupying one of the smaller tables was Geneva. She had her chin propped in one hand, elbow braced against the table. Before her was a rough-edged chessboard; its pieces were obviously crafted by inexpert hands but they served their purpose well enough. A game was in process, both sides being played by the woman herself, although she had the red-eyed look of someone who'd rather be in bed.

The medic reached out and shuffled a bishop along a diagonal. "I should be in bed," she informed her imaginary opponent, once the move was made. "If I caught up on my sleep, I bet I'd be able to win."

Silence fell then, as Gen considered her next move.

Gonneth had been walking outside for...a good part of the day, he thought. He'd lost track of time; all he knew was that he had needed to get outside or he thought he might burst. Even if he did like being able to hide in the shadows, being outside was enjoyable. The fresh air, nature...and the fact that it was far easier to avoid people if he wanted to.

But today he was walking past the recreational area that had been put up by other residents of Caldera, just to see what was there. Hopscotch, he saw...nothing too fun about that. Tables and benches set out under an awning. The pattern they were in was easily discernible.

Chess.

Gonneth stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the board. It looked home-made, with similarly-designed pieces. A young woman was sitting at one end of the chess board, apparently playing the game against herself despite her tired eyes. She was watching the board, the white pieces facing her.

Black was losing.

Gonneth barely noticed himself walking over to the chess board. Black wasn't losing by much, but it was, and moves flowed through the young man's head. He started watching strategies unfold, move after move after move of several strategies flying through his head simultaneously, and yet he was keeping track of all of it and which ones would work best and why. It was all there, in his head. He saw black winning and losing, both by slim margins and massive gaps. It was all still possible, and he could see every outcome as he stared at the board.

It took a moment, perhaps two, for Geneva to realize that someone had approached. It took another for her to muster the interest to look up at whomever that someone might be. When she squinted at him, a fine web of lines creased at the corners of her green eyes, the early onset of age or stress setting its mark on her.

She regarded him quietly for a time, possibly expecting that the young man would speak. Or, maybe, award her with a glance. When neither seemed forthcoming, Gen straightened in her chair and delicately cleared her throat.

"The pieces don't move themselves, you know."

The chair opposite the woman slid away from the table, pushed by her foot against the seat's edge. She gestured at it in invitation before lowering her chin to her palm again and fixing broody attention upon the board. "Unless you're about to criticize my whittling technique. If you are, I'd rather not hear it."

Gonneth barely heard the woman speak, but the moment he realized she had spoken he leaped about half a foot in the air. What had she said? Something about the pieces not moving themselves? He noticed the chair opposite her was now further from the table...had she pushed it there?

"Unless you're about to criticize my whittling technique. If you are, I'd rather not hear it." She said, sounding rather stern. Her exhaustion seemed to show through, but it did nothing to help Gonneth's inability to speak.

"Oh! Uhh...I-I'm sorry...I was...uhh...I-I-I was just...just watching...watching the game...d-d-do you...d-do y-you mind...i-if I, uhh..." he gestured hopelessly at the chair, hoping that she would at least partially understand what he was trying to ask.

Without moving her head, Geneva looked up at him again. One brow arched, and the other soon joined it. Was he making fun? No... he was too earnestly flustered. The set of her expression softened and she waited until the last stammered syllable was finished, without interruption, before saying, "Take over, please. You're bound to do a better job of it than I have."

Gen relaxed in her chair again, consciously trying to appear less grim. Her shoulders dipped a little and her gaze dropped. But she continued the conversation, taking care to modulate her tone into something a little kinder.

"I've seen you around the candidates' quarters, haven't I? You keep to yourself." A faint smile touched her lips. "I'm Geneva. I keep to myself too."

"Take over, please. You're bound to do a better job of it than I have."

Gonneth mentally sighed with relief, sliding into the chair and placing his first move. "T-Th-Thank you," he stuttered, his concentration remaining mostly on the board.

"I've seen you around the candidates' quarters, haven't I? You keep to yourself."

The comment knocked Gonneth off guard, and his cheeks flushed. He glanced up at her face, her lips just barely curling into a smile. "I'm Geneva. I keep to myself too." she added.

Gonneth grinned a little sheepishly, before replying, "I-I'm...Gonneth. Gonneth...C-Connelly. Y-yeah, I...I do keep...keep to myself...usually." He studied the board again, watching his moved piece and wondering where the game would go from here.

"I-I'm...Gonneth. Gonneth...C-Connelly. Y-yeah, I...I do keep...keep to myself...usually." That he said this with a grin was reassuring to Geneva, proof that she hadn't entirely soiled her reputation with accusations of gruffness.

"Nice to meet you, Gonneth." She nodded to the young man in seeming approval, as much as her chin being in her hand would allow, and followed his lead by turning attention to the board. A deep line appeared between her eyebrows while she concentrated on where to move next.

"I think you're a better player than I am," she said eventually. Only then did Geneva reach out and move a piece from one square to another. "Do you do that trick where you can think ahead several moves? Predict what the other player will do? My Da could do that, but I never found the way of it."

Her move made, the woman leaned back in her chair and laced her fingers over her belly. From the way she squinted at the board, it was clear she was trying to think ahead, but not having much success with it.

"N-n-nice to...to meet you...too." he said slowly, never taking his attention from the board. The pieces were animating themselves again, showing all possible strategies and moves, the outcomes of everything he did...

"I think you're a better player than I am. Do you do that trick where you can think ahead several moves? Predict what the other player will do? My Da could do that, but I never found the way of it."

When Geneva first spoke was when Gonneth jumped, suddenly pulled back to the real world. When she finished, he glanced down at the chess board. She had made her move, but other than that the other pieces remained where they were before, unmoving.

"Umm...well...s-s-sort of...it's..." and suddenly he relaxed, and it was as though his speech impediments weren't there, except that he was talking far faster than he ever had before. "It's like the chess board comes alive, and I can see every move playing out turns ahead of time, and I can see several different strategies and outcomes at once, all in my head, and decide what's best to do and moves to avoid. It's like watching the pieces come to life and show me how to win based on different things you could do." When he finished, he realized he had started raising his voice, getting louder as the explanation went on, and he looked away, his cheeks tingling with heat. "I-I-I'm sorry," he murmured quietly. "I-I don't mean...I don't mean to...to carry on....like that...b-b-but that's...th-th-that's what it's like...to me, at...at least. And...and to be honest...I've never...I've never spoken...spoken to someone...like...like that...before."

With a glance at the board, he made his next move, taking one of her remaining pawns. "I...I've just...a-a-always been...been able to...to see strategies...like that. Come up with...with my own...come up with my own...if need be. I think...I think that's why...why they...made me...made me a...a c-c-c-candidate."

Throughout his explanation, so clearly given, Geneva listed in silence. Her forehead creased when she lifted her eyebrows to indicate her surprise. But she maintained that respectful quiet until he was finished, both with the explanation and the stammered apology.

Then she cracked a somewhat lopsided grin.

"You wouldn't be the first to shoot off at the mouth without meaning to," Gen said, waving the apology away. "It makes sense they'd want you in with the candidates, if those eggs do end up hatching. Not everyone can do what you do, if it's like you say."

Silence then again, to give Gonneth time to settle as well as to contemplate how best to counter the loss of her pawn. Eventually a knight was selected, set forward to threaten one of the opposing bishops.

Geneva piped up again then, continuing the thread of casual conversation. "Your stutter goes away, you know."

"You wouldn't be the first to shoot off at the mouth without meaning to." The response threw Gonneth off his guard, but it was better than he had thought it might be.

"It makes sense they'd want you in with the candidates, if those eggs do end up hatching. Not everyone can do what you do, if it's like you say."

Gonneth felt his face flush, and started to turn away when he saw her move. A knight was placed forward, placing one of his bishops in jeopardy. Immediately it began again, the sensation of the board coming alive, the pieces gliding silently around to three or four places at once, showing every move, every possibility, every piece he could take, every piece he could lose, with his next selection and several more into the game. He began to reach for a Rook when she said, "Your stutter goes away, you know."

Gonneth stopped and looked up at her. "I-It...it does?" His voice echoed the incredulity that was bouncing around in his head. "W-w-when? How?"

Absentmindedly he glanced at the board for a split second before deciding. His bishop was protected by the Queen, so if it was taken the Queen would replace her Knight. Gonneth slid his Rook towards Geneva, placed in a small open area between her pieces. "Check," he said, the corners of his mouth stretching into a slight smile.

"I-It...it does? W-w-when? How?"

Geneva opened her mouth to answer but didn't have time before he placed her king in threat. Her brows knit down over her eyes, making her once again appear grumpy, though that was tempered by the purse of her lips; the woman was thinking, not glowering.

"You'd have been better against my Da," she finally said with a sigh. There were only a few places available to her king, and she shifted the piece away to take it out of danger. Then she gestured at him with that rescuing hand, and brought the topic back to the matter of his stammering.

"When you were describing the way you see ahead. Strategy. You stopped stuttering entirely, even though you were talking faster."

Geneva paused, considered and then added, "Like you'd forgotten you were supposed to stammer."

Geneva sighed before saying, "You'd have been better against my Da." her brow furrowed in concentration, she finally placed her king in safety...for the time being, Gonneth thought to himself.

"When you were describing the way you see ahead. Strategy. You stopped stuttering entirely, even though you were talking faster." It took Gonneth a moment to realize that she was talking about that, and then she added, "Like you'd forgotten you were supposed to stammer."

At that, Gonneth couldn't help chuckling a little bit. "I...I like that...f-f-forgotten....to...to stammer. Hehe." He reached out and slid is bishop past the knight that threatened it, overtaking another pawn.

Geneva pursed her lips again as she watched Gonneth make his move. It was nice that he'd relaxed enough to display amusement in front of her but she couldn't claim to like how the tide of the game had turned against her. And in just a few moves, too! A smile lurked around her eyes, sign that she found how quickly he'd advanced amusing.

"We all have our tics," she said without looking up at him. The woman was too occupied with studying the board to glance up, but she did absently flex her left hand. The nails were short but neatly trimmed. "I used to be a horrible nail-biter, until I ended up too busy and forgot to do it."

Seeing an opportunity, she reached out to move her queen forward. It might have been wiser to transfer her king to a more easily defended position, but if the young man didn't react to it, she'd be able to call check too on her next turn.

"We all have our tics. I used to be a horrible nail-biter, until I ended up too busy and forgot to do it."

Gonneth watched her move her queen forward, and quickly found the best course of action. "I-I-I don't know...if...if I can...if I can forget to stutter...but...but it...it might just...go away...in time, at-at least." He carefully moved a pawn forward, obstructing the best choice of moves the queen had. "I-I just...I just make do....with...with the cards....I was dealt. M-m-make lemonade....wh-wh-when g-given...l-l-lemons, you know?" he chuckled a little bit, then fell silent and resumed watching the board animate itself in front of him.

With her attempt at distraction successfully foiled, Geneva couldn't resist a rueful smile. Her chair squeaked as she leaned forward to scrutinize the options left to her. There were very few, and she gave the young man seated across from her a narrow look. "Remind me not to play you again."

It was only a matter of time before he'd maneuver her into an indefensible position. Geneva weighed her options and then took her first step towards the inevitable; she almost gently slid the king one square to the right. It was a postponing of the defeat to come.

"It probably will go away," she then said on the matter of stuttering. Perhaps she hoped to distract Gonneth, provoke a mistake that might let her squeak out a victory. "Unless the cause is genetic. Does it run in your family?"

Gonneth chuckled when she gave him a funny look and said, "Remind me not to play you again." He had had many people respond that way before, some more kindly than others, and he'd gotten quite used to it.
"Y-yeah...I-I-I get that...I get that a lot..." was his response. He slid his rook sideways over almost half the board, securing his position further.

"It probably will go away...unless the cause is genetic. Does it run in your family?"

Gonneth, not expecting the question, tried to think. After a long moment, he said, "...No....n-n-not that I...kn-kn-know of, at...at least..."

"Y-yeah...I-I-I get that...I get that a lot..." he said before effectively pinning her forces in a corner. Geneva pulled a face but it was a good-natured expression. She knew she'd already lost.

Therefore, less attention was paid to making her next move than was paid to studying the fellow across from her. Geneva looked up at him, marking the way he bent his head over the board, his eyes shifting to follow pieces that appeared stationary to her own.

"...No....n-n-not that I...kn-kn-know of, at...at least..."

"Then you're likely to either grow out of it or eventually figure out what causes it, and control them." She made it sound so easy, but then... to her, it was that easy. It wasn't as if they were dealing with an aortic tear, or a brain tumour. Probably not a brain tumour, at least. "So that's a bit of a relief, huh?"

Diagnosis accomplished, she reached out and deliberately placed her king out in the line of fire. There was no sense in drawing out a crushing defeat.

"I-I guess it is, yeah..." Gonneth said, grinning a little bit at her move. "Y-Y-You knew...you saw it." He moved his next piece.

"Checkmate."

He looked up and said, "I-I hope...I hope this...this comes...out right....b-b-but...since....since you were....able to see...as much...as much as...as you did...ummm....you could get...you could get a-a-a lot....a lot better, I...I think..."

"Checkmate."

He looked up and said, "I-I hope...I hope this...this comes...out right....b-b-but...since....since you were....able to see...as much...as much as...as you did...ummm....you could get...you could get a-a-a lot....a lot better, I...I think..."

Geneva settled back in her chair, letting her spine assume a comfortable slouch and lacing her fingers over her belly again. She chuckled and shook her head at the young man.

"I'm operating on about three hours of sleep in the last twenty-four hours. I'm not horrible at chess. But I can't see as far ahead as you can, either. Practice would help though, I guess." She glanced out at the caldera and squinted against the sunshine. "Not right now though. I should get to my cot, they have me scheduled to work again tonight. If I get five hours now, and hopefully a nap, later..."

Geneva knuckled her eyes as she pushed her chair back to stand up. "Thank for the game, Gonneth. Next time I have a chance for some practice, I'll have to keep an eye out for you."

Gonneth's jaw dropped. Three hours of sleep for the last day? "I-I'm sorry...you should...y-you should get...more sleep...more sleep...when you have the chance. That's...Th-Th-That's not healthy...I think. Y-You're...welcome, for...for the game, though. I...I'll do the...I'll do the same...k-k-keep an...an eye out...that-that is." He also made to stand up, carefully eying Geneva in case she needed any help.

"I-I'm sorry...you should...y-you should get...more sleep...more sleep...when you have the chance. That's...Th-Th-That's not healthy...I think. Y-You're...welcome, for...for the game, though. I...I'll do the...I'll do the same...k-k-keep an...an eye out...that-that is."

Geneva put her hands to the small of her back and stretched while Gonneth rose from his chair. By the time he'd finished standing, she'd finished the stretch and covered the resulting yawn with one hand. "Oh, I will. I'll get four days off, after tonight's shift. It's just that we're a little short-handed at the moment."

She tipped the young man a slight smile and added, "I'll look for you after I catch up on my sleep, we'll see how easy I am to beat then. Take care, Gonneth. Thanks again for the game."

Then Gen flipped her hand at him in a wave that was friendly enough and set off towards the nearest entrance with long-limbed strides.

Gonneth caught himself waving after her, even with a half-mumbled, half-called, "Bye, then" in the direction she was heading in.

He'd managed to make a friend...he thought. Even if he thought it, that was a monumentous achievement for himself, and he strode off again, his head held a little higher than normal.