#his name is Rook like the chess piece like all my game characters. First name Adam nickname Rook in a fruity way. transgender style

[luckycl0ve]

I feel sun through the ashes in the sky

dragon age brainrot remains undefeated

[felassan]

this post is under a cut in case anyone would consider it to be DA:D spoilers, as the things it mentions came from the leak a year ago (spoiler warning for link) that included screenshots and a gif of the game. (the things this post mentions are therefore not new information and this does not reference a new leak)

I'm just thinking again about Rook (which seems to be the PC's name or title) and the imagery conjured by the name. ◕‿◕ this post is just speculation and overanalyzing for fun. also this post is a now-finished draft from my draft section from a while back.

I think it would work as a surname (like "Hawke") or a codename (think Leliana's spies and contacts such as "Butler", "Farrier", "Butcher", "Charter", etc although these are all professions that end in "-er" or "or" iirc). it could also be a title (like Warden, Hero, Champion, Inquisitor, Herald) or a nickname - like maybe it's short for "Rookie", it's a Varric-assigned nickname and it references how the DA:D PC is the newest member of the team after he recruits them?

I think it sounds catchy, and cool - it's snappy and short, Hawke-like in this way. and it sounds like the kind of name a spy or secret agent might have in a fantasy, superhero or sci-fi-type setting.

a rook is a black bird, Corvus frugilegus, a member of the corvid family. rooks have been perceived as vermin and nuisances by people in the past, and persecuted due to this. they bear a resemblance to their crow and raven relatives, both birds which have a large cultural footprint and lots of symbolism in areas such as folklore and art. Hawke obviously also had a bird motif going on from their surname and associated art pieces. corvids also bring to mind the Antivan Crows (assassins, thieves, & spies), reminding of the stuff about how in this game the PC may be trying to operate under the radar, and the reporting on a previous iteration of DA:D which had the game concept as being focused on spies and heists. rook plumage is inky black, bringing to mind darkness and shadow.

from the bird angle, a "rook" sounds neat opposite a "wolf" imo. wolves are obviously another animal that have large footprints in culture, myth and folklore. in the natural world there is symbiosis sometimes between wolves and corvids when hunting/feeding. there are lots of photos of wolves and corvids together.

a colony of rooks is called a rookery. of course, the fortress of Skyhold has a rookery. it's from there that Inquisition Spymaster Leliana operates (operated) sending her black birds on missions with letters and messages to her many agents and spies throughout Thedas. what if Rook is one of Leliana's... "rooks"? a spy or agent of the remnants of the Inquisition.

A rook is also defined as "A cheat or swindler; someone who betrays" [noun], "mist, fog" [noun] and "to cheat or swindle" [verb]. it's also a type of trick-taking card game. these sorts of things bring to mind a rogueish, stealthy aspect, and the shady, shadowy dealings and card-game played in Minrathous Shadows.

a rook is also a chess piece. they're castle-like (since "rook" can also mean a castle or fortification) and usually have their top in the shape of a battlement. they can move in any direction along a rank or file on a chessboard on which they stand (horizontal/vertical, not diagonal). they can also do the "castling" move. in history, rooks have also been called towers, castles, rectors and marquesses. in chess, each player starts the game with two rooks at opposite ends of the first rank. chess itself is a game of strategy and tactics. "the chessmaster" as a trope is a character type who manipulates events, tugging on strings and moving 'pieces' into place on a metaphorical chessboard. [Solas' DA:I dialogue about his past, like the one he has with Sera about cells of spies/agents, hark to this]

in the castling move,

"Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king two squares toward a rook on the same rank and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king nor the rook has previously moved; the squares between the king and the rook are vacant; and the king does not leave, cross over, or finish on a square attacked by an enemy piece. Castling is the only move in chess in which two pieces are moved at once."

castling rules often cause confusion, even occasionally among high-level players. historically the move has its roots in the "king's leap", of which there were two forms and which arose in part it seems due to increasing importance of king safety as other pieces were given increased powers through time as the game developed. "the king would move once like a knight, or the king would move two squares on its first move. The knight move might be used early in the game to get the king to safety or later in the game to escape a threat." basically it moves the king away to safety and the rook to a more active position. there is also kingside castling and queenside castling. I wonder, symbolically.. is Rook more the king's rook, or the queen's rook? (reminds me of the Left Hand and Right Hands of the Divine hh). who or what is the king in this hypothetical analogy? the World of Thedas itself? as a castle or fortress.. Rook is the bulwark against what's to come? [over-thinking ik ik, tis just for fun hh].

by now we're all familiar with the chess game Solas plays in banter dialogue with Iron Bull during DA:I. in the in-world chess game, rooks are called towers. Solas moves his right-hand tower once. at a later point in the game, Iron Bull's "Arishok" piece takes Solas' left-hand tower, getting a check and leaving him feeling triumphant. Bull asks Solas wth he is doing as Bull takes Solas' remaining tower. "Your last tower, by the way". Bull, a spy and liar himself, bears down on Solas' pieces "with his full army", thinking a win is in sight. Undeterred, Solas executes a few moves in a sneaky plan and entraps Bull in a checkmate, winning the game after sacrificing various pieces to enact his plan.

rook also brings to mind the Tower tarot card and its meanings. it's associated with sudden, disruptive revelation and potentially destructive change. it connotes danger, crisis, sudden change, destruction, higher learning, and liberation, as well as adversity, calamity, deception, ruin and unforeseen catastrophe. reversed, it connotes things such as negligence, carelessness, apathy and vanity (vanity.. pride). in this depiction of the Tower tarot, lightning strikes from the sky, striking a crown (hubris) off the top of a tower and setting it alight as people fall from the tower to their doom. this imagery and the upright meanings of the card bring to mind the sudden massive change Solas seeks to bring about (destroying the Veil), the revelations and liberation for some that it might bring, his identity as Fen'Harel Lord of Tricksters (deception) as well as the destruction he seems to think the Veil destroying action will cause ("as the world burns in the raw chaos"...). the 'Tower scene' has also already played out once before in Thedosian history, when Solas created the Veil and sealed the Evanuris away, leading to the fall of Arlathan and its wonders. in modern Thedas, Morrigan and Flemeth (as well as possibly some side 'prophecy' type things) both allude to a big change coming to the world.

in DA:I, the Tower tarot card is ofc none other than Solas' ending card, if he is not romanced. in the DA:I version of the card, we see Solas, cloaked in a dark robe and holding a mage staff under a half-moon or eclipse. darkness seeps from his shadow, stark against the orange sky, and blends with the giant black Dread Wolf, looming ominously and open-mouthed above him with its many eyes. (the Tower tarot card Solas scene is later referenced in DA:D promotional art and DA:D-era in-world murals). it makes sense to have assigned this to Solas given the above discussed meanings of the Tower tarot card, but it's a verrry inchresting choice imo to then give "Rook" as a name/title for the DA:D PC.

and most inchrestingly, there's the symbol from the front of Mark Darrah's mysterious Red Book. this mysterious red book shows "a flaming rook" on the cover. the book was an internal guide for developer and publisher eyes only that summarized the vision for DA:D, in its Joplin iteration. we know that the Joplin project has since been revised to an extent that it was the newly codenamed Morrison instead, but the red book is known to still contain plenty of ideas likely to appear in DA:D. most pages of the book remain highly classified. it's the symbol on the front that's of most interest to us though for the purposes of this post. there is a castle, tower, or rook, like a fortress or the chess piece. above the tower, a fire burns, reminding us of the burning tower from the Tower tarot card imagery and what that symbolizes, as well as Solas' "world burning in the raw chaos" line from Trespasser. inside the fire is a wolf, the Dread Wolf, in a now very-familiar and repeated motif in DA:D art, merch, murals, teasers etc. whatever else "rook" may connote, it feels like it's not an accident at all that the PC's name is apparently "Rook", given this depiction of a fiery rook and the Dread Wolf together.

what do you think? ^^

[rambles-on-dragon-age]

Varric doesn't give you the nickname Rook, your whole faction calls you Rook. It makes no sense to give you a faction specific last name and then your faction doesn't even use it, but yeah.

Hi hi!

This will be a bit of a ramble, sorry.

Varric, as a character, gives nicknames to those he's around for any length of time. (Solas is Chuckles, Merrill is Daisy, Vivi is Iron Lady, etc. Very few people in close contact with him will escape earning a moniker. I can go on about how I think it's one of his ways of telling people he sees them, but I digress.) The player character has been traveling with him for a year/the better part of a year. Varric would have definitely given them a nickname in that time. (Honestly it shocks me Harding doesn't have one by now but maybe he tried and she shut that down like Aveline once did lol) When you're putting out your things in the Lighthouse one of them is his shaving mirror and you have a moment of reflection about what he said when he hands it to you. There's also the whole time where he's giving you advice and guides you (IYKYK) and it's clear he means a lot to a Rook and they're close.

That is to say, no matter what faction you were with, you left in disgrace. You broke some code the higher ups held dear, messed up well laid plan, ignored orders to save people, etc. You didn't "fit the bill" for your faction and were summarily "adopted" by Varric to help in his hunt for Solas. Those things that made you a bad fit for your original faction? Made you perfect for what he's doing. A good person that doesn't let the potential costs stop them; they see what needs to happen to help people and will run head first into it and manage to figure a way through the most fucked up situations possible.

When you first meet Neve, you're introduced as Rook. "Like the chess piece?" Yes! One of the most powerful pieces on the board, "but tends to think in straight lines". Which becomes evident in all our shenanigans as Rook through the game. Rook's ability to claw their way through the worst situations and be flexible and creative means that Solas wouldn't be able to predict them or what they'll do. Which turns out to be right; he doesn't expect you to drop a statue on him in the middle of a massive ritual. Rook saw only "this ritual needs to stop NOW" and found a way, no matter the consequences.

I didn't hear that dialogue my first game, though, because I did my first run as a Shadow Dragon. Neve doesn't comment on the naming convention because instead Varric says you both do work with the Shadow Dragons and she just skims past the naming convention to say "Oh, what a coincidence." You are still introduced as Rook at first; it's not until later when you're in the Lighthouse where you can have the conversation that you've heard of each other even though you've never worked together.

Because even if I've worked in the group beside you under the same boss for 20 years, if you're introduced to me as "Rook" instead of "_____ Mercar" I'm not going to know who you are. It's not until later, probably while you're unconscious and she has a chance to speak to Harding, that she says she knows who you are. (Based on what Bellara says when you find her in the forest, you've been out cold for two or three days. Can you imagine what our detective figured out in two or three days?)

All that to say, if "Rook" was given to you by the Shadow Dragons, Neve would have said "Oh! I heard of a Rook." instead of just "Oh! What a coincidence we're both Shadow Dragons." She doesn't comment on who you are and what you've done until later when you have a chance to talk to her in the Lighthouse.

And throughout the game, you continue to be introduced as Rook. Even if you started as another faction, if you're written a letter about "Rook" and not your real name, why would anyone know who Rook is until they meet and go "Oh this lil shit right here. I know this asshole."

[chibimui]

The Apothecary Diaries LN2 Thoughts - Ch20: Balsam and Woodsorrel

Volume 2: Prologue-ch5 - ch6-7 - ch8-9 - ch10-12 - ch13-15 - ch16-17 - ch18-19

I should've known I'd have a million and one things to say about this chapter given how much information it drops, but I still didn't expect I would end up using a whole post to do it, and yet here we are.

We finally get the full reveal about Lakan, Fengxian and even more than that, what Maomao thinks about her own past and upbringing as well. Let's jump into it!

(Warning: These thoughts may contain spoilers from later light novels all the way up until LN15.)

Chapter 20 - 鳳仙花と片喰 (housenka to katabami)

The alternative for this chapter title should basically be "Fengxian and Maomao". The kanji for housenka (balsam) uses the same kanji for Fengxian's name: 鳳仙. Meanwhile, the other name for woodsorrel is "cat's paw" - with Maomao's name being very literally, "cat cat" (猫猫).

So far I've talked about Fengxian and Lakan separately, but in this chapter we finally get to see their story together. It's certainly a tragic one. Overall the anime depicts what happened quite well, but there were still details in the novel that caught my eye.

The first one being this description of Lakan:

Is Lakan supposed to be ripped??? Was there a time when Lakan was actually really freakin' hot? Is he still ripped???? I feel like most descriptions of Lakan center on his face, not his body, and visual depictions of him make him pretty scrawny/ratty so this honestly took me by surprise. I mean, it makes sense given he was part of the military, but I just... I can't seem to comprehend this.

This paragraph in particular was really interesting. It dropped a lot of very specific details such as the specific connection between Lakan and blue roses, as well as goes into further depth about how Luomen influenced Lakan.

Apparently Luomen is a shogi-rook (hi / 飛), the kanji for "flight". The full name of the piece is 飛車 or "flying chariot". It moves exactly like a rook in Western chess, although there is only one "rook" piece on a shogi board. The shogi "rook" promotes into a "Dragon King" (ryuu-ou / 龍王) which has all the same movements, but can also move like a King piece (one space in any direction).

In the anime, as a xiangqi piece, Luomen is also depicted as a "rook" (ju / 車) or "chariot". The xiangqi rook operates pretty closely to a Western rook as well, both in terms of where it starts on the board and how it moves.

So, as the text says, Lakan truly sees Luomen as an accomplished individual indeed since the rook is typically a very powerful chess piece that is versatile and has many uses, defensively or offensively, although it's not necessarily seen as a "central" piece (such as the King or Queen in Western Chess). In this way we can understand that Lakan is seeing Luomen in terms of his skills, not simply the power he has due to his rank.

I am curious as to what Lakan finds unpleasant about Luomen though. From future novels we do see that Luomen can actually be quite strict with Lakan so I imagine the unpleasantness comes from the fact that Luomen is the one person smart enough to call Lakan out on his bullshit.

I also really love the entire section that describes Lakan's first game of go and shogi with Fengxian.

It's so powerful and really conveys how awed Lakan was at losing, and at Fengxian's disposition towards him. I also love how in just a few lines we get so much information about Fengxian's character, but also leaves just enough room for readers to also form their own conclusions based off of what we know about Maomao.

Fengxian is described so viscerally: she "cuts" Lakan down to size, she "resented" him, she's "lofty" and yet... it's hard not to think about Maomao mirrored in these descriptions.

The thing is these are not words we would use to describe the Maomao we know and have come to love in the novel, but on some level, it's also not hard to see a version of Maomao that could be like this. Then we get this paragraph:

Oof. Oof. This is one of those paragraphs where I feel like no line is wasted. Every sentence carries with it an extra weight of something else. How balsam and cat's paw share a characteristic where if you touch the seed pods they burst--how Maomao and Fengxian both seem so cold to love and affection, but the first person they both fall for, who is able to get through to them, they fall so hard. They burst.

How Lakan muses about trying to touch one of the balsam flowers next time immediately followed by Fengxian asking him when he will come next--which will eventually lead to her becoming pregnant with his child.

I won't go so far as to say I "ship" Lakan and Fengxian, but I recognize the tragedy in their story. Their story also serves as an example of the "bad ending" if Maomao never grows, similarly to how the Emperor's treatment of Ah-Duo serves as the "bad ending" should Jinshi never grow.

For Maomao, it's how pride, and the inability to discuss what she wants with the person she wants can lead to her own suffering. While Maomao's tragedy would never involve seducing and secretly carrying Jinshi's baby (oh my god, can you imagine though?), her unwillingness to accept her feelings and swallow her pride as "just" an apothecary, "just" a commoner (much like Fengxian has her pride as a courtesan") could eventually lead to an ending where she ends up missing out on opportunities for the life she actually wants for herself--opportunities provided by Jinshi.

Thankfully, both Maomao and Jinshi are able to avoid their birth parents mistakes--and a lot of that comes from both helping the other to grow. I will talk about Jinshi's side of things when we learn about The Emperor and Ah-Duo's relationship which... unfortunately isn't going to come until much, much, much later.

In this chapter we also get to learn about how Lakan actually finds out who Maomao is and why he probably never tried too hard to straight up kidnap her from their clutches--because he knew Luomen was looking after her. We also learn that over the years, Lakan actually had been paying the Verdigris House back--which actually answers a previous question I had: how did he convince the Madam.

Well, it seems he convinced her by essentially paying off the massive debt the Madam believed he owed her. I guess that makes sense. Again, there are basically entire pages that I want to share, but I picked out the significant ones:

The last one I saved because... oh boy Jinshi. He really dodged a bullet since Lakan was able to get distracted with Fengxian. Maomao isn't even aware of how much she saved her man's this man's life!

On a more serious note, the paragraph about Lakan being tired of his life and just wanting to be near Maomao is quite sad. Lakan isn't perfect, but this is what I meant when I said I think his care for Maomao is, at the end of the day, quite pure. He also isn't stupid--he is clearly very aware of how he comes off to others, but he also, unfortunately, is unable to truly develop the skills to help him actually connect and bond with those around him. Not going to lie, I can kind of relate to Lakan on this piece so, despite how annoying his efforts are to Maomao, I can't fault Lakan for at least wanting to try.

Thankfully, Lakan and Fengxian do get somewhat of a happy ending together thanks to the efforts of Meimei. I'm not a "bad ending" sort of person, so I'm glad that Natsu-sensei generally tends to try to end everything positively. Is it unrealistic? Sure, but I'm reading fiction for a reason and it sure as heck isn't for the realism!

Moving along we get Maomao and Basen and a small hint into what is to come for future volumes. I do find it kind of funny that at this point Maomao and Basen's relationship s so bad that she actually reflects on how sometimes some people just don't get along with each other.

I will talk more about Basen and his overall character growth at a later point though. For now, we get to learn about Maomao's side of how she understands her parents, as well as how she feels about her role in the fallout of their story.

(Maomao please, you are speaking to a delicate Prince-ling).

The conversations that ensures up until the end of the chapter serves not just as a way to give Maomao space to talk about herself, but again shows how comfortable Maomao is becoming with Jinshi. That he is the one she ends up talking to about all of this. I am quite sure if Maomao had told Jinshi this was none of his business, he would've backed off, but instead she answers his questions about her feelings towards Lakan sincerely and willingly shares even more details without further prompting.

With how much Maomao shares, the therapist part of me couldn't help but go a little bit crazy trying to analyse, not just Maomao's feelings, but the specific words she was using to explain and justify things.

Exhibit #1 being this:

The assignation of blame that Maomao puts onto herself as she explicitly thinks she is "the reason" the Verdigris House goes under. It's sad to read honestly. Maomao had no choice in being born or any control of what happened after, but as a way to cope with the misfortune she witnessed around her, she blames herself.

It's actually very natural for children to adopt this mindset because it gives a false sense of control, the sense that "if I can change something about myself than maybe the pain will go away"--but ultimately it's an illogical conclusion because again... babies have no choice in whether they are born and what happens after--but it's never any less saddening to see.

Then we get this line.

The fact that Maomao feels as though Lakan is trying to displace Luomen as her father is super interesting to me. That's a very specific way of seeing things. After all, acknowledging or even accepting Lakan as her father doesn't need to discount how much Luomen has also been, and will continue to be, a father to her, but it's interesting to see that this is how Maomao views it. It's very all-or-nothing.

And finally this:

The fact that she explicitly says she has no memories of her mother, just a "terrifying demon" is also a pretty heavy. It's an understandable one given the knowledge that Fengxian a) cut off Maomao's finger and b) constantly screamed her out of the room. As sympathetic as we might be to Lakan and Fengxian's story, that doesn't take away from how Fengxian's choices resulted in incredible hardship for the daughter she ended up bearing.

I can also see why Maomao doesn't necessarily resent Lakan - because she acknowledges the choice and agency her mother had in what happened. Lakan was a fool who didn't know better, but her mother did (or should have).

As Maomao also mentions though, there is one other person even more than Maomao who would hold resentment and has had no hesitation in showing it - The Madam of the Verdigris House.

I personally always waffle back and forth between how I feel about the Madam refusing to let Lakan know that Fengxian was alive. The emotional side of me can't help but think, that's so unfair (like a petulant child)--Lakan shows clear remorse and probably would've tried to provide a good life for both Fengxian and Maomao. However, the logical side of me can also see why the Madam would want to keep Lakan away given he doesn't exactly scream "responsible". It's all part and parcel of a true tragedy I guess - at the end of the day... given the characters involved, I don't think any other outcome could have ever been possible.

Jumping back to Maomao again though, her jealousy towards him is also something that had my therapist hat beeping like crazy.

Given everything Maomao has just shared in regards to her thoughts about Lakan and the circumstances of her birth, about how she hates him but doesn't resent him and in some ways is grateful to him being responsible for her birth... I can't help but wonder if the jealousy is just a front which allows her to keep distance from Lakan.

It's easier for Maomao to be jealous of Lakan than to simply just be angry at him because at least her jealousy has a "logical" reason, whereas in many ways Maomao can't seem to truly justify her anger. She can't justify it because she knows that at the end of the day, what happened wasn't really Lakan's fault. She highlights this multiple times in her thoughts.

And if she isn't really able to be angry at him than that opens the door for her to potentially be open to becoming closer to him, and she can't allow herself that because that would mean "displacing" Luomen. So she needs to feel something else--something like jealousy, that will allow her to maintain distance, even when her anger begins to fade (and it does--by later novels Maomao is mostly annoyed at Lakan moreso than outright angry).

It's not that I think Maomao's jealousy is completely "fake" necessarily. Maomao has certainly shown that she does desire Luomen's approval and praise, but otherwise Maomao doesn't typically compare herself to others so her being jealous of Lakan kind of stands out to me as... just a bit odd. Just a bit too much like an excuse to stay mad at Lakan just so she can be mad at him.

Anyway, you just got a front row seat into the areas I would've picked at if Maomao was one of my therapy clients. Do I think she'd appreciate it? Nope. And I can definitely see her walking out and never talking to me again :')

Finally the chapter ends on this bit:

I don't know why, but this moment from Gaoshun has always stood out to me even in the anime. I don't really have any specific thoughts about it... but, I guess it adds a bit to the sadness of the revelations we've just had.

No father wants to be reviled. Lakan is trying his best--has tried his best--and it's just not enough. It will probably never be enough. Because Maomao has no need for another father, and on top of that has already decided that this man will never be her father.

Do I think Lakan deserves to be her father? Honestly, no. Again, I can see why Maomao feels this way, but I still also feel bad for Lakan nonetheless.

---

And there you have it! My massive amount of thoughts for chapter 20 where you get a bad Japanese/kanji lesson, a bad chess lesson and a brief look into how I operate as a therapist.

So as not to make this post too long I have also separated my thoughts on the epilogue and overall thoughts on the novel into a separate post which you can find here:

[epilogue + final thoughts]

[mrs-gauche]

While I know it’s generally bad for leaks to happen (unless they are intentionally encouraged by the developer, and yes this seems to be a thing, as Mark Darrah himself even mentioned in the past), and there’s no real point in overanalyzing something that is pre-Alpha footage from over a year ago (!!)... I’m just glad it didn’t contain some major spoilers story wise, because I wouldn’t know how to avoid them until whenever this game actually releases. 😂 I’d like to know as little as possible about the story and the characters going into it.......

........That being said.. I’m a hypocrite, I couldn’t resist and took a tiny little peek 😂(and if you don’t wanna know anything until there’s something official, I completely understand, just don’t read any further now!), so all I want to say is

HOLY SHIT GUYS This seems legit and we are probably looking at the very first glimpse of REAL (pre-Alpha) DA4 gameplay footage after EIGHT flippin years, which means this game is REAL, it’s actually happening, it’s a real game that’s playable and everything and ahhhh!!! Weisshaupt?? Davrin?? A dragon?? Darkspawn?? Purple stuff??? DID YOU SEE THAT HAIR ANIMATION THOUGH??

Ahem. Okay, so with the first wave of euphoria out of the way now, how are we feeling about THIS

Hmmmmm 👀👀👀

HMMMMM

OHHHHHHH

Seems like the spirit of Joplin lives on after all?? 👀👀👀

I’ve already seen plenty of people speculating and while we should take everything with a grain of salt here of course, there was a comment on a reddit post by another (supposed) playtester that confirmed “Rook” to be indeed the protagonist’s name/title! 👀 And while this could be of course just a placeholder name for whatever it’ll actually end up being, there could be a lot to derive from this!

- As people have pointed out, “Rook” does sound a lot like a code/spy name, much like Charter, Butler, Farrier or any of Leliana’s spies

- Rook being also a type of crow, fitting in perfectly with the bird themed names like Hawke

- In slang, it’s ALSO another word for “swindler” or “deceiver”, which also reminds me a lot of how there was a Lord of Fortune in Tevinter Nights who used the name “Hollix” as part of their disguise during a mission (which btw was actually the name of Dorian’s mother’s pet nug lol)

So all of this considered, and assuming that the leaked footage might have been part of the very beginning of the game (and how the leaker seemed to suggest that Grey Warden is just one of multiple factions you can choose from!), can I just say that my speculation about how DA4 might start off with an infiltration mission of one of four factions (Grey Warden/Antivan Crow/”Veil Jumper”/Tevinter.. something), while playing as a “spy” (/Lord of Fortune?? 👀) under the alias “Rook”, might actually turn out to be true after all??? (°ロ°)

I mean.. it could just end up being a simple “choose your class/faction” at the start and that’s it 😂, but either way, if we get something resembling different “origin stories”, like depending on which faction you choose, the game starts off with a different mission (similar to what Cyberpunk did?), I think that would be an awesome concept! (Not setting any expectations here though! 😌 The game might start off at Weisshaupt no matter which faction you choose!)

But back to topic, the rook being of course also a piece in a game of chess, which was depicted on the cover of Mark Darrah’s red “Joplin” book first seen in 2016!

Which in turn also of course immediately takes us back to the amazing mind chess game between Solas and Iron Bull, referencing a real game that happened in 1851 known as “The Immortal Game”. While people have been taking Solas sacrificing most of his pieces as well as his queen (Flemythal) only to then strike the final blow and win by moving the bishop (mage) as foreshadowing and also a perfect respresentation of how both Solas and Iron Bull think and strategize, what’s interesting to note, is that it’s the turn in which Bull takes Solas’ rook that ultimately seals Solas’ win in the end. 

Now, this could mean absolutely nothing of course, but with this new information from the leaks, maybe there’s more to it than we think. 👀

Then there’s also the link to Solas’ final Tower tarot card of course...

Other than that, I just think it’ll be really cool to have a chess themed aesthetic for DA4 following the tarot card theme of DAI! Or just the idea of having a “game of minds” like the Immortal Game rather than just relying on “brute force” with an antagonist like Solas, that requires a certain level of strategic thinking and consideration from us in how we act/make decisions to outwit him, would make a lot of sense to me!

(Or we might as well reference that one Simpsons episode with the “human chess board” and cover both brute force AND strategic thinking lmaoo)

Or, even better, let us do something like the flippin “logic chess” mechanic from that glorious Ace Attorney spin off game lmaooo

Let’s bombard Solas with some hard hitting arguments. lmao

I will say though that, if “Rook” does actually end up being the title/name of our next protagonist, I’m once again very curious how the hell they’re gonna make this work in the localized versions, if they do attempt to translate the name literally. Let us pray that they’ll just stick to English for this one, or else the multiple meanings of the term will be completely lost in translation. lol Can’t wait to play as flippin “Turm” in German or “Tour” in French. 😂

[luci-j]

Character Headcannons/Breakdown - Rook Raccoon

Okay, I'll be the first to admit this gets a little sad in some parts. I was going through it when I wrote this, what can I say?

* Her first name is supposed to invoke the chess piece. It's because she's basically used like little more than a game piece by Pyko and Gideon.

* Her last name is an homage to my dad's last name. He died unexpectedly while I was writing "Stand By Me", so I made her last name sound like his. Her taking Rocket’s last name at the end was a quiet way of me saying goodbye to him.

* She represents "found family" gone toxic. Each of the stories I do in this series is about love. "Flowers" is romantic love. "Star-Man" is the love that comes with loss. "Stand By Me" is about love and family. The Guardians are one of the best examples of found family that's done well in MCU, so I wanted to show what the inverse of that was.

* The school she goes to, Gideon university, is based off predatory colleges that were rampant during my college years. I had a friend over 150k in debt to a game design school with these practices.

* She's a sharklike alien because I really like sharks, you guys. Also I love Guillermo del Toro films, like most self-respecting weirdos and oddballs, and I think "The Shape of Water" is one of the finest love stories I've ever seen.... The more I examine my interests the less shocked I am that I ended up where I did.

* She's aro ace! The more I realized "oh. This isn't a one-off fanfic, this is going to be a personality trait of mine now" the more I wanted to be mindful of different representations. I also have a very longtime friend who is aro ace, and she keeps me really in touch with the fact there isn't a lot of rep out there. So it's a love letter to her as well.

* She's a professional V-tuber who goes under the name "Catfish".

* She's more of the software side of tech, whereas Rocket seems to favor hardware. I figured this would differentiate her skillset just enough that she'd be able to stand out as a unique character without too much overlapping skillsets from existing characters. This is something I try to be mindful of as well when creating OCs.

* Groot is one of her best friends and they do a lot of gaming together.

* Rocket DMs a game with them and a few of the other Guardians in it.

* She loves going all-in for holidays because her parents never really did.

* Her culture as a whole is very cold and very "get it yourself" from a VERY young age. Eggs take five years total to hatch and if the hatchlings struggle to get out of the egg, it's considered a sign that they aren't strong enough to survive in the outside world.

* There's a time where this would have been very relevant on their world, but modern progress has made this point moot. The harsh conditions of Icathia no longer exist, but the world has been slow to change from its harhness. Needing to rely on others is still seen as a moral failing.

* A lot of this culture comes from me remembering stories about friends getting kicked out at eighteen and being very, very angry that I was also eighteen at the time and couldn't do much to help them. Rook was my little way of being like "I'm sorry I couldn't do more to protect you. I was a kid too." I also saw a "fun craft idea" that was a "countdown" to when a kid turned 18 and would get kicked out of the house and if that didn't give me the BIGGEST anxiety attack to look at.

* Meti's first time going to jail was for Rook. He and Rocket were both arrested for brawling with her biological parents. <3

* Mara, her daughter, struggled to break out of her egg. Rook didn't think twice about helping her break out of it. She was going to break the cycle she came from

* It took her a LONG time to realize her parents and family loved her unconditionally. When she became a mother, it helped things really click for her

* She has Caldon's equivalent of a Masters in software engineering.

* Some of her favorite Earth music are things like City Pop and Future Funk. Also a huge Vocaloid fan

* Loves the beach and the water. If she isn't working she can be found hanging out by one of the ponds at the nature preserve

* She still struggles with her anxiety a LOT, but she's working towards getting better. She still didn't sleep for three days when Mara started school.

* She loves hanging out with Skye and helping her with some of her creative pursuits. This can include things like wiring LED lighting for costumes Skye makes.

* She lives in the apartment next door to Rocket and Meti. She makes enough for her own place, but she just loves being close to her family

* She's still puzzled/fascinated by mammals as a whole.

* She's always up for board game night

[duckymcdoorknob]

Helloooo Ducky! May I please make an order for a small espresso with no ice? I'd love some sea salt and caster sugar with that! The names on the order are Bakugou and another of your choice! Thank you very much good fellow😍/p

Oh bestie I’m gonna RIP YOUR HEART OUT 😭😭😭

OOH LORDY

Ohhhhh my lord it’s sad as fuck

This one is gonna be a long one!!

POV: ducky doesn’t know shit about chess.

Cross-posted to AO3

CW BELOW THE CUT: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH. DO NOT READ IF THIS IS A SENSITIVE TOPIC FOR YOU!! There is also presence of blood and illness symptoms.

♫ -ᥕᥲі𝗍ᥱr, ᥕᥲі𝗍ᥱr, ⍴ᥱrᥴ᥆ᥣᥲ𝗍᥆r- ☕️

Izuku took a few deep breaths in preparation. Why was he so scared? Bakugo is his best friend. Wait. That’s it. Bakugo is his best friend. His best friend of ten years, who he cherished dearly, who he would do anything for.

Bakugo is his best friend. He may not act like it, but he’s always be willing to help!

The green-haired boy sighed as his hand came up to rap at the blonde’s dorm room door. “Hey, Kacchan? It’s me.”

Low grumblings were heard from the other side of the door, and it opened shortly after. “What is it, nerd?”

“I need a favor.”

The explosive boy sighed harshly. “Come on in.”

Just like he had done many times in the past, Izuku smiled as he took a seat on Bakugo’s bed. “So I need your help with this. All-Might said that I haven’t been myself lately, and I can’t deny what he’s saying.”

The One-For-All user sucked in an anxious breath as he handed his best friend a piece of paper. The blonde took it in confusion and scanned over the contents of the page.

“He told me to set twenty goals for myself. Some things that I’ve always wanted to do, things that always make me happy, things I haven’t done in a while. I was hoping that you would help me complete them.”

Bakugo’s gaze lingered on the final item on the list, but he nonetheless couldn’t help the gentle, upward quirk of his lips. “Sure thing, let’s get to work.”

The two boys set off to complete the list. The first thing they decided to do was learn how to play chess. Izuku had never picked up on how to properly play, so they consulted Sero.

“It’s actually pretty easy. These tiny pieces here…” the brown-haired male chimed, toying the tiny pawn between his thumb and forefinger, “are called the pawns. You have lots of these little guys, but they can’t do much movement.”

The explosive hero-in-training picked up rather quickly, but it took Izuku a bit to catch on.

Bakugo was uncharacteristically quiet and peaceful, explaining each piece in a gentle-toned voice. “This one here is called the rook. It’s like the Hawks of chess pieces, only the queen is stronger.”

“Number Five: learn to play chess.”

Izuku listened intently, but couldn’t help the tears that sprang to his eyes suddenly. He hastily gasped and brought his arms up to wipe his leaking eyes.

“This one here is called the- Deku?” Bakugo furrowed his brows, “What’s on your mind?”

“Mm! N-Nothing. Sorry, I don’t know where that came from.” The green-haired boy chirped in reply as he sniffled a little bit, “I think I’m just really glad that I’m feeling better.”

“Well, good. I can’t beat you if you aren’t at your best.” The blonde replied with a menacing grin.

“Yep! I’ll feel better soon, and then we can race to be number one!” The boy chimed, re-engrossing himself in the chess game.

The day went by without a hitch, with each item easily being crossed off. As the tasks were complete, Izuku’s mood did seem to be improving, but it also seemed to be dropping at the same time.

They were down to the last three items on the list. The first task to tackle was meeting Izuku’s hero. He had already met All-Might, so he opted to meet the hero that saved him and his best friend just a mere year ago.

Kamui Woods.

The two young heroes found a meet and greet that was being held at a nearby bookstore. It would mean standing in line for quite a while, but the two were training heroes, it was nothing that they couldn’t handle.

The two were near the front of the line when Izuku suddenly started coughing harshly. The greenette fell to his knees, clutching his chest as he wheezed for a decent breath.

Bakugo gasped and immediately knelt down. “Deku? What the hell is wrong? Are you okay?”

“N-Nothing! I just need a hug. That’s all, just a hug please.” Tears once again flowed into the choking boy’s eyes, “Please, Kacchan. Just give me a hug, please, please, please.”

The explosive hero obliged without hesitation, wrapping his arms around the One-For-All user. The green-haired boy clawed desperately at his best friend’s back to hug him tightly, coughing painfully into his hand shortly after.

Kamui Woods looked up from his table to see the crumbling heroes. He recognized them instantly: they’re Aizawa’s boys. He rushed to their sides, holding his phone up to his ear to call the aforementioned teacher.

“Eraser, it’s me- Yes I’m fine, it’s one of your kids- Yes, one of yours- I’m taking him to the hospital- yes, him- I’m not sure of his name, he has green hair- Midoriya?” The hero looked at the panicking blonde, who nodded quickly, “Yes, that’s his name- Yes, please bring All-Might- see you soon.”

“Deku? Are you still with me? Hey!” Bakugo yelped, shaking the boy in his arms.

“I’m fine just… just please don’t let go… just hold onto me a little while longer…” the One-For-All user slurred sleepily. Within the next moment, he was out cold on Bakugo’s shoulder.

“Number Twenty: Get a big hug from Kacchan.”

“We need to go. Come with me.” The pro hero demanded, taking off toward the hospital.

—

Three pro heroes and two training heroes sat cramped in the tiny hospital room. There was an uncomfortable silence between them, tension thick enough to cut.

“You wanna tell me what’s going on here, problem child?” Aizawa’s voice was stern, his gaze deadly.

“Number Nineteen: See Mister Aizawa again.”

“I’m not sure. I was just in line to meet Kamui Woods and-“ the boy stopped dead in his tracks, noticing that his hero was in his room, “Oh! Um… hi, sir. Im Izuku, a big fan of yours.”

The hero smiled, “it’s great to meet you, Izuku. You gave me and your friend quite a scare back there.”

“Number Eighteen: Meet my hero.”

“Right, yeah… sorry about that, everyone.”

“Stupid Deku, nearly gave me a freaking heart attack.” Bakugo grumbled, standing up to flick the greenette’s forehead, “You must really love being in this damn hospital, huh?”

Izuku chuckled. “I guess so. Hey, on the bright side, we completed the list!”

Bakugo smiled as he turned to All-Might. “I guess this list idea of yours wasn’t so bad after all. We actually had a lot of fun.”

“What do you mean?” All-Might’s brows were furrowed, “I never-“

“Kacchan.” Izuku called, “Come here. I need another favor.”

Before he could question the older man, the blonde turned his attention to a smiling Deku, who was holding up his thumb.

“Do what I do.” The boy bit the skin on this thumb, drawing a tad bit of blood. He held his thumb up in the air. “Just trust me.”

Bakugo mirrored the action, and stood confused as his friend pushed their bleeding thumbs together.

“Katsuki Bakugo… You are strong enough to inherit my quirk. My power is called One-For-All, and I am passing it down to continue with you. Use it responsibly for the greater good.”

“What are you-” The explosive blonde jumped back as the power began to course through his veins.

“Young Midoriya!-“

“Midoriya!-“

“Izuku!-“

The greenette began to grow paler and colder by the second, feeling the absence of power hit harder than expected. “Kacchan…” the boy trailed off with a sleepy smile, “It’s going to be okay.”

All-Might turned away from the scene, not being able to bear the sight of his most beloved pupil suffering. Aizawa rested a hand on his coworker’s shoulder to show his solidarity.

“Why did you do that?! What the hell is wrong with you?!” Bakugo cried. “I don’t understand- what are you hiding from me?!”

“Kacchan… I’m dying.”

There it was. The cat had been let out of the bag, and all Izuku could do was wait to see his lifelong best friend’s reaction.

“What…? No you’re not.” The blonde shook his head as his features grew angry, “Stop lying, this shit isn’t funny.”

“Do you remember when I told you about how if I overused my quirk too much…” the boy trailed off. “I’ve over-exerted myself… There’s nothing I can do about it, it’s too late to go back… I’m going to die today, I‘ve had a feeling since this morning.”

“But we made sure that you were being more careful! This can’t be happening…” Bakugo couldn’t begin to process the news. “D-Dammit, Deku. Why? Why didn’t you tell anyone? Tell me?” The blonde asked in exasperation, gripping one of the handles on the side of the bed.

“All-Might is the only one who understands. I didn’t want to scare you or make you try to find a cure. I made sure to pass on my quirk to someone important to me. I’m not scared of dying anymore, I’ve come to terms with it.”

“You knew?” Bakugo hissed, whipping his body around to lunge at the ex hero. He couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “After all this time, and you two kept another secret from me? What the hell?!”

Kamui Woods stopped the boy before he could attack his teacher. “Stop. Now is not the time to hold grudges. Go be with your friend, he needs you.”

The explosive blonde retreated to the bed where his best friend took his hands. “I won’t really be leaving, you know that. All of the spirits of the past wielders will come to you.”

“Izuku!” The blonde yelled, voice breaking. “Don’t talk like that! If you knew you were going to die, why would you have us do that stupid list?! It doesn’t make any-”

“Kacchan… “Izuku sighed, dropping Bakugo’s hands, “that was my bucket list.”

Bakugo staggered backwards, breath catching in his throat. The tears he had been trying so desperately to hide came rolling down his cheeks, pattering onto the floor below. He stood dumbfounded, not daring to move or breathe. He stuttered out a few words, his voice exiting his lips in a cracking whisper.

“A-Are you damn serious…? Y-You mean to- to tell me T-that we just spent the entire day-“

“Kacchan…” Izuku’s face fell into a sympathetic look. He patted his lap as a beckon to his childhood friend. He held the boy in his arms to try and comfort him.

“This can’t be real…” Bakugo whimpered.

“You’re going to be a great hero, Kacchan. It’s going to be hard at first, but you’re super strong. Don’t work yourself too hard… please. More importantly, don’t ever give up. I promise I’ll be back by your side very soon.” The green-haired boy murmured as he carded his fingers through his friend’s hair.

The explosive blonde was uncharacteristically quiet, albeit his constant sniffling. The three pro heroes quietly chatted amongst themselves, leaving the room just quiet enough for only Bakugo hear one more uttered gratitude.

“Thank you, Katsuki.”

The explosive hero gasped, shooting upward. “No, no, no, no, no- Izuku! This isn’t- this isn’t goodbye! Please!”

“Take care of him for me… okay?” Izuku’s voice was mousy and strained.

The monitor flatlined.

Bakugo screamed.

—————♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎—————

[raayllum]

Partially inspired by there being roughly 8-9 falling stars in the new S4 intro as well as this quote (the closest thing we have to a current season synopsis) enclosed down below:

After more than a millennium of careful planning, moving and manipulating generations of humans and elves like pieces on some cosmic chess board, the machinations of the Midnight Star known as Aaravos are finally coming to bear. But where did this enigmatic Startouch elf come from? What does he want? And what price will our heroes have to pay to stop him?

Anyway let’s talk about TDP and Chess Symbolism.

Now, I’ve talked in a fluffier, more fun way about TDP and chess (namely headcanon wise / prompts for a possible oneshot) before, and I’ve written a fic alongside my co-writer all about the five kiddos paired with all sorts of chess symbolism. It has been one of my great loves ever since I was a kid, and I am accordingly biased. I am also going to do my best to break down my thoughts / the pieces in a way that is clear and understandable, but I am also not an expert on chess or its symbolism, I could get things wrong. So consider that my official disclaimer, feel free to add your own thoughts and ideas, and that this is just a theory like any other.

The reason why all of this is relevant, you may ask, is because chess has sixteen pieces — eight pawns, who are pretty interchangeable, and eight more defined pieces: two rooks, two knights, two bishops, a queen, and the king. There are also eight pieces, one for each of the main cast, in the Dragon Prince game, Battlecharged (and TDP has alluded to this relationship before, with Aaravos being the DM in the Zoom Into Xadia’s DND skit back in 2020).

All of this is a long winded to say each of the main cast may match up with a star (particularly if the one that illuminates Aaravos’ name is his star), indicating that he will be all of their downfalls at one time or another, and that each of the characters may have a little chess symbolism woven in going forward. This is also supported by some of the similarities TDP’s magic has with tarot cards associations (death as literal transformation, lightning strike tower like the tower in 1x03 and lightning/thunder as peril, etc) so they’re not beyond bringing in other associations.

[ Because this is somewhat research and definitively speculation heavy, everywhere I’m getting my information is linked because we love questioning and checking for verifiable sources. ]

And with that let’s dig in, overseeing the main eight characters from Battlecharged and in TDP in general: Viren, Ezran, Claudia, Callum, Rayla, Soren, Amaya, and Janai. (Other one offs might also factor in, like Opeli or Corvus, as possibilities). Starting from the end of the row and working our way in, let’s start by talking about

The Rooks

The rook, typically portrayed now as a castle, is a very straightforward piece. It can move up and down or left and right, and move any number of squares, black or white, in a play. It cannot move diagonally.

Rooks are often the most powerful near the end of a game, where they can more easily move unencumbered by a landmine of pawns. They are not great at removing enemy pawns from advancing. Symbolically, the Rook is seen as a Fortress and is there to protect members of the royal family, specifically the bishops, king, and queen. 

It is for these reasons that I believe Janai and Amaya are both rooks, now just on the same team rather than being opposed the way they were in S2. Even with the way they are not able to protect Lux Aurea from Viren, but end up arguably playing the biggest role in defeating his army in S3.

It speaks to all the parallels between them: sisters to the queen, respected and feared rival generals, etc. They were in charge of defending either side of the Breach, fought over outposts (a fortress), and Amaya kept the throne safe from corruption from within. The first time they engage in something as a team is to try to protect Lux Aurea from Viren, as Janai was her sister’s sworn defender (and why I don’t think she’s a knight, I’ll get to in a minute). They both have a very hands on, “I’ll tackle you outright and smash into things” fighting style.

One of the reasons I have also paired them together is because they are very much two halves of a single, complementary warrior of sword and shield, and Janai’s fortress in Lux Aurea has notably fallen in S3. Trying to restore it will be her (and presumably Amaya’s) main plot line in S4, even now that Janai is queen.

The Knights

The Knight is an interesting piece, as it hops one square up — either up or down, or side to side — and then must also move diagonally as well. 

Due to this ability to leap over pieces, it means that they are the only piece capable of starting a game other than a pawn. Additionally, this unconventional way of movement makes it a pro at sneaking behind enemy lines and staging interesting attacks. It is also one of the more famous chess pieces with clear ties to Medieval history (even if Chess originated in India centuries before it made its way to India) which TDP takes plenty of inspiration for.

Historical knights were almost always highborn sons and lords who wanted to improve their standing further / enjoyed a bit of swagger, even if they were also the first line of real defense in specifically protecting the king. It is for all of these reasons that I am placing Viren and Soren as the knights.

Soren is obvious just from everything about him, his place as a crownguard, his loyalty to Harrow and his deep bond with Ezran. He is also the only member to do active work behind enemy lines, seeking out the elves first hand in 1x01, protecting Callum and Harrow in 1x03, freeing Ezran in 3x05, orchestrating to get the other members of the council out safely, and defecting with crucial information.

Viren, likewise, does work behind enemy lines - first in trying to get the throne through dishonest means, then through manipulating Amaya and Gren, sneaking into Lux Aurea, using the other soldiers (literal pawns) as a distraction. His actions also ultimately serve a force greater than himself. For many years, he was seen as Harrow’s first line of defense, as Marcos runs to him first after being attacked by Rayla, and Viren is the one who notified Harrow. Now, Viren (knowingly or unknowingly) serves Aaravos’ will. 

A symbol of stealth, strength, and following orders, Viren and Soren safely feel as the knights to me, even as they exchange places and Viren falls further (and further) from ‘grace.’ 

Honourary knight mention / addition: good boy Corvus. Love him!

The Bishops

The Bishop is an interesting piece. There’s all the religious symbolism (hi Opeli) wrapped up into it and the political history of it as well, particularly in Europe 600s-1700s. The Bishop is also the only piece that can never move onto a square that’s a different colour than the one it originated on, as it moves diagonally. Thus, there is a black square bishop and a white square bishop. 

Maybe unsurprisingly, if you’ve been following me long enough, I think that Ezran and Claudia are the bishops (although Opeli could definitely constitute a substitute, for example). 

The bishop is representation of the royal court. While Ezran holds office as a literal king, engaging in court politics is his mainstay, even over leading armies into battle. The bishop also serves as a close advisor and member of the royal family, which we can see in Claudia’s devotion to her father. 

Because of the bishops limited movements, they can both be deadly and easily backed into corners, and are particularly susceptible to pawns (Councilman Saleer), as pawns can only capture players diagonally to begin with. 

Claudia and Ezran’s shared sense of duty and devotion even in the face of great deterrence or loss — leaving their brothers or letting their brothers leave for example; Claudia being self sacrificial with dark magic and Ezran with the crown; their differing but steadfast view of elves and magical creatures — and thus, they don’t evolve the same way other characters on the board / in the show do. Their circumstances change, and Ezran definitely matures, but largely they just become more of who they already were, rather than someone utterly new. 

Additionally, unlike all other pieces, which can move between black-white squares at will, the bishops being trapped to their singular colour means that they, more than other pieces, are a matched set, at their most effective when played together. Make of that what you will. 

The Queen

You probably know what’s coming — although truthfully, much of this was speculated as I went along. I considered Ezran for king, of course; debated Janai as a knight, and Rayla too, for their senses of duty — but ultimately, at least in how I’m interpreting the pieces, the symbolism I could find, and the likeliest season four plot lines moving ahead... 

Rayla is the Queen, for a number of reasons. The first is that the queen is the Powerhouse piece on the board, able to move up or down or diagonally at will, combining alone the skills of the rook and the bishop into one piece. Just like the Queen, Rayla is a powerhouse fighter, able to hold off multiple opponents at once and who can attack almost anyone and typically hold her own. She also has a great amount of freedom and agility in how she moves and fights. 

The Queen’s movement style is also reflected in Rayla’s early S1 arc, as she starts off largely as a pawn — and then, once she reaches the other side of the board (Katolis) she is transformed to be a much more powerful, important player in protecting future kings and current princes. This is reminiscent of how, in most matches, if you manage to get a pawn to the other side of the board, you will exchange it for one of your lost pieces, and will always pick your Queen if you have already lost her. 

The Queen’s aggression and flexibility make her a strong piece, able to move all over the board, and this is reflected in how Rayla can go back and forth between Xadia and the Pentarchy. Since she now lives in exile from the Silvergrove and from her temporary home in Katolis, she can go wherever the action takes her with little fuss. 

However, the queen’s tendency to go far from home and the safety of other pieces also means she is susceptible to being captured (or having her ‘light’ stolen in Rayla’s case) and it is a mighty blow if you lose your queen. Many players will sacrifice anything (myself included) in order to keep it. Yet again, make of that what you will. 

Also, I couldn’t find anything else that aided this turn of phrase, but one source did use it and I would be remiss not to include it because it made me holler at 2am, so there: The Queen may be the ‘Moon’. 

The King

Like I said, I considered many different characters for king. Ezran and Rayla were both options for me, due to their literal and metaphorical importance, even Zym or Avizandum (or Harrow) as well. I also considered Callum for Queen, due to the way he will likely master all primal sources in the future, similar to how the Queen can move in many different ways. But ultimately, for all the reasons:

Last but not least, Callum is the King. 

While he has no concrete crown the way Ezran does, or the flexibility to move the way Rayla does, Callum is arguably the most important character going forward due to the ramifications his magic has for the rest of the world. After all, if humans can access / create their own arcanums, if Callum can teach them how, they will be able to give up dark magic and pave another path forward, for good. Additionally, Callum’s ‘crown’ in some way is the Key of Aaravos. It is clearly going to be important and is the only object other than the mirror prison that is connected to Aaravos in some manner. 

The King is a piece of limited means, only able to move on square at a time — but in any direction, a unique quality it shares with the queen. Perhaps this can be a reflection of Callum’s currently limited but powerful arsenal of spells, or the way he will get more arcanums steadily, one at a time. It may also refer to the way Callum’s hands are tied in S4 if he goes after Rayla (and if his queen is captured). Callum and Rayla’s bond, with the way she often directly advises him (1x04, 2x04) and seeks to protect him above herself — the way every piece prioritizes protecting the king above all else — also factored into this decision.

Our mage is a very special boy.

Conclusion

So this meta has taken its time (I got terminated twice while writing it) but we have finally reached the end, which is where I turn things over to you. Do you agree with my chess assessment? Do you think my speculation has grounds, or do you think a different character should be a different piece? Let me know in my askbox and/or in the replies!

As a final note, I will leave this quote from a paper I came across in my research phase (published in 1969): 

“‘by calculations based on the chess-board, the march of time and the cycles, the superior influences which are exerted on this world, and the bonds which attach them to the human soul ...’ The cyclical symbolism of the chess-board was known to King Alphonsus the Wise [...] At each stage of the game, the player is free to choose between several possibilities, but each movement will entail a series of unavoidable consequences, so that necessity increasingly limits free choice, the end of the game being seen, not as the fruit of hazard, but as the result of rigorous laws. It is here that we see not only the relationship between will and fate, but likewise between liberty and knowledge; except in the case of in-advertence on the part of his opponent, the player will only safeguard his liberty of action when his decisions correspond with the nature of the game, that is to say with the possibilities that the game implies. In other words, freedom of action is here in complete solidarity with foresight and knowledge of the possibilities; contrariwise, blind impulse, however free and spontaneous it may appear at first sight, is revealed in the final outcome as a non-liberty.”

[enthusiasticharry]

𝐅𝐈𝐂 𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐓  |  𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 : 13.3k 

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞 : ahh, it is finally here! i honestly can’t explain how excited i am for you all to read the first part of checkmate, it truly is one of my lil’ baby. a few things before i shut up and let you read, the chess maybe confusing to some of you (me too at some points) but you only need to take not on whether she wins or not really. this is enemies to lovers, so harry is a bit of a *ahem* dick but what do we expect? this is just the first part and a brief introduction (brief? 13k words? okay hannah, ahah) but i truly do hope you enjoy :) 

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 : explicit language, main characters being horrid to each other and the ol’ banger of sexism in chess (the background on this is insane) 

𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐥𝐞𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝐈 here

Upon entering the village hall, YN realised a few things. The first thing she realised was that after casting her eyes around the large room she was in, she certainly didn’t feel as though she fit in. The second thing she realised was that the clock was ticking and if she didn’t speed up, she was probably going to miss the slot to put her name down for the tournament. Taking a few steps forward, thoughts fluttered around her head about whether or not this was the best idea. She hadn’t played the game in a few years with other people, and here she was, about to put her name down to play the biggest tournament closest to her, in one of the neighbouring towns.  

After a few seconds, she knew that she would be not only letting herself down, but also her grandmother and if she wasn’t doing this for herself, then she was certainly doing this for her grandmother. 

A desk had been set up at the front of the hall, and two men wearing crisp beige shirts sat behind it. Why they were wearing beige of all colours? YN would never know. They certainly didn’t look like the most inviting people to greet her. She peered behind them for a few seconds, her eyes widening ever so slightly at the sight of the rows upon rows of square tables with green and white chessboards sat on top of them. She hadn’t seen this many chessboards in one room for a long time, and a part of it made her feel quite comfortable. The people that were already there were all stood in a group around what she presumed was a chessboard — she was just making a wild guess that it was that, but she had a slight suspicion that was the case. It was at this point she noticed the ‘SIGN UP HERE’ sign that was placed in front of one of the men, and that was who she walked up to. 

He obviously noticed that she was there, but he never lifted his eyes up from table in front of him, “Name?” 

YN was taken aback by how gruff his voice sounded, and more so by the way he spoke to her without even lifting his eyes, “YN YLN.” 

It was at this point that he did look up, and so did the person sat next to him. It was at this point she, also, started to feel a little more out of place than before, as though the eyes upon her were ridiculing her for just being stood there. If her name hadn’t tumbled from her lips, being the way that it is, would they have even looked up at her? She would never know. 

“The dance class has been rearranged for another night.” The man is quick to say, dropping his eyes back to the desk in front of him. 

“I’m not here for the dance class.” She says, lifting her hand to tuck a piece of hair behind her ear, “This is the chess tournament, is it not?” 

YN watched as the men turned to look at each other briefly, the one who hadn’t spoken to her shrugging his shoulders before they turn back to look at her again, “Do you own a clock?” 

She shakes her head, “I don’t.” 

The men, yet again, turn to look at each other. She wasn’t quite sure why she needed to own a clock, but if it was the first question they asked after her name, she was sure that it must have some significance in the games she was about to play. Would she have to invest in a clock of all things with her non-existent money? 

“There’s a clock-sharing system here.” He says, “If you don’t have one, you’ll have to share with your opponent and if they don’t have one, come back to us and we’ll borrow you one.” 

“Thank you.” She nodded her head.

When YN was younger, and she learnt how to play chess, she was never taught about clocks. Her grandfather had taught her by giving her endless amounts of books that he had stored away in the back of the bookshop that he owned that had nobody wanted, or ones that he already had. At first, YN didn’t want them either. At the time she was gifted them, she didn’t do much with her days apart from stare out of the window of her small attic bedroom, watching the clouds as they floated past in all their different shapes. She’d often try and see if she could spot any shapes within the white, but she could hardly bring herself to do so most days. It had taken her three days to finally pick up the books that her grandfather had left for her, and even then she only stared at them. She suspects that a part of her just wasn’t ready to read the books yet, and she was okay with that. 

When she did open the books, YN fell in love with them, and more importantly she fell in love with the game of chess. Learning about different experts and grandmasters and analysing their games so much that she could remember every move they made, and even critique them if they made a mistake that she had spotted. She remembers the first ever passage she read about chess even to this day, in the book that rested upon the top of the pile her grandfather gave her: ‘Chess for beginners: a guide to the game.’

What is Chess? 

Chess is a two player game, that requires skill and patience. Each player starts with sixteen pieces played on a square board, made of 64 smaller squares. The sixteen pieces include: eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, one queen and one king. The goal is for each player to try and checkmate their opponents king. Checkmate is a threat to the opposing king which no move can stop, therefore ending the game. 

The game is taken in turns, each player moving their pieces to different squares on the board. One player (playing “white”) and the other (playing “black”), must move the pieces sticking to the rule of how they move, they can’t just go rogue! White will always start the game, and the player playing white will be lucky to be doing so, because they always have an advantage! 

That was the passage that first introduced her to chess, and if it wasn’t for that passage, she doesn’t believe she’d love the game as much as she does. It was a passage that gave her the basics, and also intrigued her to know all about the rest of it.  

“I forgot to ask.” The man starts speaking again, “What is your rating?” 

“I don’t. . .” She starts, shaking her head, “I don’t have a rating.” 

“Listen, sweetheart.” The man says, and she has to stop herself from physically shuddering at the name he gives her, “Are you sure you want to do this?” 

“I am.” 

He shakes his head, letting out a long sigh as he does so, “We don’t have a women’s section.” 

She tries her hardest to not let it show that the words that he says don’t sit with her in the right way, “That shouldn’t be a problem.” 

“I’ll put you in the beginners section, then.” He says, jotting something down again, “You’ll be comfortable there.” 

“I’m no beginner.” She says, “And I don’t want to be comfortable.” 

The thing that annoyed YN the most wasn’t the words that he said to her, even though those did annoy her more than she could explain, it was the way that they looked at her. They looked at her as though she wasn’t good enough to play, as though she shouldn’t be putting her name down for  chess competition and she should have been looking for the dance class instead. If they actually knew her (she didn’t want them too) they would know that dancing certainly wasn’t for her, she had two left feet at most. 

A few years ago, back when she played chess regularly, she wouldn’t have even cast an eye in their direction, never mind allow it to effect her in the way that it is. The first time she played someone that wasn’t her grandfather, it had been the top player from the local chess team he played for. If she remembers correctly, the game was over in all of thirty-two moves, and she didn’t even break a sweat. Her opponent, however, definitely had broken a sweat and she could tell that by the way he kept rubbing his forehead and by the way his leg bounced up and down. It was quite annoying, and it was probably why it took YN thirty-two moves and not her average of twenty-six, but it was still very impressive of the young girl. The thing that she had when she was younger, though, was no care for what other people thought of her as young girl playing chess, because it was a game that tested your skill and not your gender. 

“You’re an unrated player.” He shrugged, “I’ll have to put you in beginners, with players that have ratings under 600.” 

YN hadn’t taken much notice of ratings in Chess Weekly, the magazine that she got the majority of her chess knowledge, and the thing that had lead her to find out about the tournament in the first place, but she had picked up that ratings only start to become important when you become an expert, and that’s when the rating is over 2000. 

“Do beginners still get a prize?” She asks. 

“Yeah.” He says, “But it’s only fifty.” 

She was doing this for the money, and she knew that fifty wouldn’t be enough for her to continue on the way that she was. She needed more, and the prize that Chess Weekly had listed was more than fifty pounds, and that was what she was going for. 

“And the other section? What is the prize for that?” 

He took a second to answer. 

“Two-fifty.” 

That was the prize that she had seen in the magazine, and that was the one that she had set her hopes on winning, the one that she had every belief that she would win if she entered. She needed the money. Her grandmother needed the money. It was hard after her grandfather died, hard for them to conjure up the money to not only pay the bills for the house, but also pay for new stock in the bookshop. No matter how many times YN had tried to convince her grandmother that the best thing to do was to sell the bookshop, and give them some money to make them feel a little more comfortable, her grandmother always refused. The bookshop was her husbands livelihood, and YN grew to understand that and grew to know that was why she wouldn’t give up the shop, no matter how much they needed the money. It was the reason why YN was here, trying to win the grand prize that would help them a little more with their struggles. 

“Can I go into that section?” She asks, and the man’s lips part slightly. 

“Well—“ He clears his throat, casting his eyes to the man next to him, “There isn’t a rule to say that you can’t.” 

“Then put me in that section.” She says, ignoring the looks she receives from both of the men, “Please.” 

He nods his head, “That’ll be five pounds please.” She drops the note upon the table, which he immediately takes and places in the small tin he has with him, “Thank you. Play starts in Twenty minutes.” 

“Thank you.” 

The man passed her a card to fill out and a pencil, “All the luck to you, sweetheart. There’s two players in there with ratings over 1600, and there’s also an expert!” 

“Is the expert playing?” She asks.

He shakes his head, “He isn’t.” 

“Then I don’t have anything to worry about.” She offers him a small smile, “Thank you, again.” 

She walked away from the table, taking a few steps until she wasn’t in earshot of the two men. The entire conversation rested heavily on YN’s mind, but at least she made it out of the other side relatively unharmed. She looked down at the card she had been given, with her last name scribbled on the top line and a space for her to put her rating. She uses the small pencil she had also been given to draw a large zero in the box, sighing with happiness after she’d done so. There was still a large group of people stood around a board, and it was at this time that she decided to make her way over to the large group. 

What she was about to walk into, she wasn’t quite sure, but she couldn’t help but be curious about what it was. She found a nice position by an opening, where she could see two men sat at a table, with a round of chess already on the go. 

“Who are they?” She whispers to the man next to her, without even an ounce of hesitation in her voice. 

“That’s Harry Styles. He’s an expert.”  He immediately whispers back, “And that’s Mitch Rowland, he’s a tournament win away from becoming an expert too.” 

She thinks that Harry Styles is the one to the left of her. The way he sits with his elbows either side of the board, his face stern as he moves the pieces in front of him. They were moving them very quickly and she presumed that they were playing skittles, or on simpler terms: speed chess. YN wasn’t the biggest fan of speed chess, but from the way the man kept picking up piece upon piece without so much of hesitation, she guessed that not only was he the expert, but he must also a skilled speed chess player. She had a talent for spotting the best players out of a bunch, even if there weren’t the best to start with. 

“And over.” 

Her lips part slightly as she hears the northern drawl slip out of his lips, in a deep voice that she certainly hadn’t expected. He looked a tad older than she was, but that was a given, seeing as though everyone in this room looked older than she was. He looked to possible be in his late twenties, and apart from his curly brown hair that peaks her attention at first glance, the chunky rings that sit on quite a few of his fingers or the brown knitted jumper he has upon his torso also do so. It certainly wasn’t a conventional look upon the majority of chess players that she had met before, even though the number was limited. She wondered whether it was the slight roll at the neck, or the green detailing on the arms that drew her attention in more than his fluffy brown curls. 

“You’ve done it again, H.” 

The man who you were guessing to be Mitch replies, extending his hand out to shake his opponents hand. From the shortened use of his name, she wondered whether or not they knew each other. If they didn’t, then it certainly wasn’t the most conventional way to greet a stranger having just lost to him. The two of them stood up, and that was when she noticed the high-waisted lime-green trousers that he also wore, pairing them with a pair of vans of all things. He looked more put together than the rest of the men in the room, which wasn’t too hard to do given the rest of the outfits within the room. The group disperses soon after, and its at this point she noticed the bulletin board being put up. 

YN tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, and makes her way over to the board. Once she sees a man stood there, finishing pinning the last through names up, she can’t help the words that slip out of her lips, “How do they arrange the pairings?” 

“Usually by rating first round.” He says, closing the plastic covering that maintains the board to be in the way he had put it, “Then winners play winners, losers play losers.”

He walks off after that, and that’s when she finally spots her name: 

‘YLN - Unr - White’ and it was next to, ‘Jones - Unr - Black’ 

She was at first shocked to be playing white, and second shocked that she was playing someone else who was unrated. The men at the table must have really been giving her a hard time if someone else who was unrated was playing in the main section. It just proves that the two of them were really out to make it so she wasn’t supposed to play in the game because she was unrated, but she knew it was really because she was a woman and she knew that. 

It said that she was playing on board twenty and after flicking her eyes around the rest of the boards, she realised that it was the last board. It was just another thing that she knew was because she was an unrated woman. She just hoped that whoever her opponent was wouldn’t mind that she was a woman. Chess, as much as it was a sport played by both women and men, it was a sport that still held the misogyny that women shouldn’t play in tournaments against men, because they didn’t have the skill that men did, even though the majority of women had the same skill, or were more skilled, they just never had the opportunity to show it. YN swore that if she did manage to play chess, she wouldn’t allow the watchful eyes of judging men to put her off. 

So far, she wasn’t doing a good job of doing that. 

When she walked over to board twenty, she was shocked to find a women sat at the opposite side of the table from where she was about to about to sit. 

“Hello.” The girl says, standing up and holding her hand out for YN to shake, which she does, “I’m Sarah Jones.” 

“YN YLN.” She replies, sitting down across from her, “Um, do you have a clock? I don’t have one and I was told to ask.” 

“Oh!” The girl immediately picks up her bag that was rested upon the floor and lifted a large wooden rectangular block out of it, one with two clock faces on it and two small buttons on the top, “I do.” 

As awkward as YN felt, she knew that if she was to understand the concept of clocks, then she would have to open her mouth and ask, “Can you explain to me how they work?” 

“Sure!” Sarah smiles as though she can’t contain her excitement to explain what YN didn’t understand, “The clock nearest to you is yours. We both have ninety minutes each to play the game, if you’re still playing by the time the little red flag comes down then you’ve lost. Once you move, you click the little button on the top of your clock and that starts your opponents time.” 

“Thank you.” She smiles, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. 

“Don’t worry about it.” Sarah smiles back, and suddenly YN feels at ease in the girls presence, “I wish I had somebody to tell me these things when I first started. I did learn, slowly, but it would’ve been nice to have a little more help when I first started.” 

“I’ve been playing for years.” YN’s quick to say, just to make sure that the girl knows that she isn’t a complete imbecile when it comes to the game, “This is just my first tournament.” 

“How exciting!” She gushes, “This is my third. I’m waiting for my rating to come through. They aren’t as quick with women’s ratings as they are with mens.” 

“Why am I not surprised?” YN says, a hint of humour within her voice. Sarah chuckles and YN can’t help the little smile that falls over her cheeks, “I’ve been here less than an hour and they’ve already tried to make me feel smaller than I am because I’m a woman.” 

“Get used to that.” Sarah offers her a small smile, “Your turn first.” YN’s about to pick up a piece when Sarah moves to say something else, “Another thing I’ve forgotten to mention! Games in tournaments are touch move.” 

“What does that mean?” 

“If you touch a piece, you have to move it.” YN nods her head and looks back down at the board, taking in the board briefly before she made her decision.

 “Do you press your button to start my time?” YN asks. 

“Yes.” Sarah smiles sheepishly, reaching forward to press the small button, “Sorry about that.” 

Without hesitation, YN reached out and firmly moved her queen bishop’s pawn to its fourth square. The Sicilian Defence was the first chess opening she had ever read about, in one of the more advanced chess books her grandfather had given her, and it consequently became her favourite. It was the one that she found worked more effectively than any of the other openings she had learnt about, and was certainly the one that she used more often than others. 

Without really thinking, once she’d placed her piece down, she pressed the small button that stopped her time and started Sarah’s and placed her elbows upon the table, resting her hands upon her hands just as she had seen lime-green trousers do earlier. She was unsure whether people would notice, but it added a sense of confidence to the girl once she’d done it. When she played with her grandfather, she only ever let her hands rest upon her lap once she’d made her move, and after a few seconds of resting the way that she did, she starting to like this way of resting in between her moves. 

She allowed Sarah to make her moves, which she reciprocated with hers and it wasn’t until she was around her seventh move that she began to attack with them. Sometimes she waits longer to make her attacking moves, and other times she makes them earlier. It all depended on how she was feeling and how she suspected the game to go with each of the different moves. On the eleventh move of the game, she captured one of Sarah’s bishops, and then a few moves after on her nineteenth — her queen. 

She looked up slightly at Sarah, and saw the way she furrowed her eyebrows slightly at the board before dropping all of the worry that glazed over her features. What surprised YN even more was when she reached forward and knocked her king over, even though it shouldn’t have. There wasn’t anywhere else she could have. 

“Wow.” Sarah says, almost sounding flabbergasted about what she had just witnessed, “That was, well, quick.” 

“I’m sorry.” YN’s quick to say but Sarah shakes her head. 

“Don’t be.” She smiles, “I think you’re one of the best players I’ve ever played. Make sure to take your card back, and circle that you’ve won!” 

With that, Sarah was up and walking away from the table. YN picked up the small pencil that she had been given earlier and wrote the game down with Sarah and herself, recording that she had won. She made her way back towards the desk where she had signed up, ignoring the shocked faces of the two men that sat behind the desk once she’d placed her card in the winner’s basket. It was the first card back she noticed, in both the winners and the losers side. It was at this point she noticed the man in the lime-green trousers stood against the side wall looking directly at her. She wasn’t too sure, but it didn’t look as if he was watching her every move. She tried her hardest to not make it too obvious that he had seen her staring and made her way around the room, looking at all of the different games that had started to be played. 

She made her way past board number five, the one lime-green trousers had been stood near, only to see it being the man that he had played a game of speed chess with earlier. It was absolutely certain to YN now that they did know each other, it would be a little odd if they didn’t, maybe even a little bit stalker-ish. What else she was quite surprised at was seeing Sarah stood watching over the same board. YN offered her a smile and went to stand next to her. 

Looking over the board slightly, YN noticed straight away that the man who was playing Black, not the man who was playing speed chess but his opponent, had a chance to win a rook after moving his bishop, but he instead exchanged his pawns. In her mind, she knew that he had just placed himself in a position that a good player would know how to immediately win him over. 

“One of them has a rating of 1450, and the other has a rating of 1689.” Sarah whispers to her, “They’re two of the headliners to win.” 

“Well one of them just made a mistake.” YN immediately whispers back. 

“Who?” Sarah’s eyebrows furrow as she says the words, a little two loudly because all of the eyes around them flutter in their direction. 

“Black.” YN whispers discretely back, “He should’ve moved his bishop, winning white’s rook but instead he exchanged pawns, leaving him wide open.” 

“My god.” She says, dropping her mouth open in shock as she looked at the girl, “You’re insane. How did you notice that.” 

She shrugs, “I just observe games well, I suppose.” 

“You’re telling me.” 

The two of them look back at the game in front of them, and just as she had suspected, the man playing white managed to take black’s rook, and then the queen that was conveniently left wide open, leaving his opponent no other option but to topple his king over. The shake hands and the winner immediately turns around, smiling as lime-green trousers claps him on the back and wraps his arms around his shoulders. They make their way over to the desk, presumably dropping their cards into the baskets. 

“What is their deal?” YN asks Sarah, feeling comfortable enough with the girl to do so. 

“Harry and Mitch?” She nods at Sarah’s words, “They’re best friends, met a few years ago when they drew at a tournament. Harry’s already an expert after winning a game a couple of towns over but Mitch is yet to do so. Harry’s just here to offer moral support to his friend.” 

“I’m sure making him loose at speed chess beforehand is great moral support.” YN’s mutters.

She laughs, “You’d be surprised. They’re forever psyching each other out with games of skittles. They drive me absolutely insane with it.” 

“You know them?” YN is quite baffled at his revelation. 

Sarah nods, tucking her bottom lip between her teeth, “Mitch is my boyfriend. The person who taught me chess, actually.” 

YN’s lips part slightly but she immediately shuts them, “Wow.” 

“I know.” She laughs, scratching her forehead sightly, “They’re pretentious twats when it comes to their chess but when you get to know them, they’re alright.” 

YN casts her eyes to them for a second, watching as they look at the board, obviously trying to pinpoint their competition, “I’ll take your word for it.” 

YN next game started twenty minutes later, once everyone else had finished their games, returned their complete cards and paired everyone up for their next games, she made her back over to the board to see who her next opponent was. She was at board ten, which she was pleasantly shocked about, seeing as though the last board she played at was board twenty

‘Scott - 332 - White’ which sat next to, ‘YLN - Unr - Black’ 

She was playing black, which meant that she had to work a little bit harder to make sure that she would start just as strong as she would if she were playing white. She weaved her way through the abundance of people either lingering or making their way to their boards ever so slowly because they don’t want to be seen going to their looser game. She smiles at that thought, they should embrace it, their opponent may just have been better, and they’d have to work from that. Once she made it to table ten, she was surprised to see a man who looked around his mid-thirties, maybe earlier-forties sat waiting for her with a grimace upon his face. Chess players aren’t the nicest of people ever, so YN really isn’t surprised when he doesn’t even respond to her hello, instead just looks down at the board. She doesn’t even hesitate when she leans forward and presses the little button above the clock by the side of them, starting his time. 

He made his opening move, which she followed by moving pawn to queen’s four and pressed his time again. He moved again straight after her movement, instantly with pawn to his queen’s four as well. She quickly noticed that he never looked at her, and instead kept his eyes darting around the room whenever he wasn’t studying the board. She just sat with her elbows placed neatly each side of the board and rested her chin on her hands, staring at both him and the board in intervals. 

He played fast, but she could play even faster and she was beginning to see a little impatience in the man, as though he wanting to play even faster and have the game to be over faster. It had taken them roughly five or six minutes to both develop their pieces, ready to start attacking the other. He started attacking her queen first, which she wasn’t too surprised about because if the shoe was on the other foot she probably would have done the same thing — in a more skilful way, if she may add. 

Ignoring his attack, she starts to advance her knight. He responded by pushing a pawn up, and she was surprised that him doing so meant that she couldn’t take it without being on the responding end of a nasty double attack. She raised her eyebrow, knowing that she could so without him noticing that she was doing so, because his eyes were still fluttering around the room.

He was obviously a very skilled player, and he had to be with the impressive rating of 332. He was better than her grandfather, which pained her to say, but her grandfather always used to say that he was only ever playing the game for fun, and never professionally. As a small child, hearing the word ‘professional’ tricked her mind into thinking that she may actually be able to get a career out of this, but from this experience right now she wondered whether that would be the case or not. 

He surprised her with his next move, picking up his queen bishop and taking one of the pawns next to her king with it, checking her as he did so and sacrificing the piece. To say it threw her off guard for a second would be an understatement, and she did have to go through every option she could before she made her decision. 

She moved her king over in that direction, but didn’t take the bishop. 

He brought his knight down, and she traded the pawns on the other side, meaning she opened the file for her rook. He kept chipping away at her king with complicated moves, but none that she could see had any real danger to her. She brought her rook out, and doubled it with her queen. It was an arrangement that she didn’t quite mind, and she felt ready to fire at any second with whatever she had left in her. 

It only took her three moves to fire and he seemed too entranced by his complicated moves to truly pick up on what she was doing. He was only focusing on chipping away at her king, not paying any attention to the full board, meaning he was missing out on the moves she was making. If he hadn’t been so focused on trying to checkmate her, he would have had her by the fourth move he made, after the first check with the bishop. She had him with her third move, and she saw an opportunity to fire her rook. She moved her queen to the last rank, and captured the white rook, one that still start there unmoved. He was a very messy player, even if a skilled one. 

She looked up at him, and for the first time this entire game he looked up at her. It was almost as though he knew he was over, but he was determined as he reached out and took her queen with his rook.

Looking down, she almost didn’t want to look at him as she tried to hide her smile. She leaned her hand forward, picked her bishop up and moved it one square and muttered the single word of, “Check.” 

YN was surprised when he leant forward, picking up his king before he hesitated. He had finally noticed what what she had done. If he made the move that he had wanted, he was going to loose his queen and the rook that he had just captured. He looked at her and without hesitating said, “Draw?” 

“No.” She hook her head. 

“Okay.” He held out his hand, “I resign.” 

She has to bite her lip to hold in her smile, one that was only there because she had taken her time and actually thought about what she was doing. 

“You play a good game, kid.” He says, and with that he leaves the table. She can’t even contain her excitement when she writes the game down on her card, circling her name to say that she had won. Placing it in the basket, and seeing the two men looking at her again with shocked expressions on their faces, she couldn’t contain her smile. 

To say she had just beaten the first person she had played who actually had a rating that she had to watch out for, she was happy to say the least. The idea of her possibly winning this whole tournament starting itching closer and closer, and to say that she was happy was an understatement. She goes to stand by the back wall, watching over as people around her still played their games, using their own tactics to hopefully win. She didn’t really have a lot of tactics, she just had moves that worked for her and a strategy of whizzing through all of the best options in her head before she played them, making sure that she wasn’t leaving herself open like Sarah had done and then Scott afterwards. 

The clearing of a throat and the feeling of a presence near her was the thing that snapped her out of her winner’s gloat and back into the real world of being in a room with snobby chess players. Lime-green trousers was now stood directly next to her, seeming to be the snobbiest of them all from first impressions, but she certainly isn’t one to pre-judge. 

“It seems to me that you’re getting a little too big for your boots, aren’t you?” 

She definitely should pre-judge, certainly more so when it comes to snobby chess players and especially ones that wear vans she has noticed. 

“Big for my boots?” She raises her eyebrow at him slightly, “You mean winning?” 

“For an unrated player, yes.” He responds, “You’re just on a streak of luck. I’ll be happy once I see you loose next game.” 

This man. YN couldn’t believe that he had the audacity to say those things to her, more so that once she’d looked at him she was absolutely disgusted. He stood there, next to her with one hand tucked within the pocket of his trousers, smirking at her as though she should laugh with him at the words he had just said. 

She cannot at all say that she cared very much about this man, in fact, the questions she had about him were only because she wanted to know why he felt like he ran the place. To have him, someone who she had never met before, say so openly that he was waiting for her to fail sparked something within her, anger to be honest. To anybody else they might have allowed it to get into their head, but YN didn’t have the opportunity to do that — she needed to do well in this tournament and she wasn’t going to allow some snobbish expert to say something of that sort to her ruin it. 

She cleared her throat, dropping her eyes down to floor, “If I recall correctly, you aren’t even playing in this tournament Mr. Styles.” 

“Mr. Styles?” He chuckles, raising his eyebrows at her once she’d said it, “You’ve heard of me?” 

“Not before today, no.” She shakes her head, allowing a little smile to grace over her lips as his falters slightly, “In fact, I had no idea who you were. I had to ask somebody.” 

“And yet you know that I’m not playing.” He takes his bottom lip between his teeth and shrugs his shoulders. 

“And yet again, I asked someone.” She tilts her head, “I only asked your name, they felt the need to give me all the information they knew about you.” 

“Which was?” 

“You think you’re semi-decent at chess and feel the need to make sure everyone knows.” 

It was a low blow, and she certainly knew that but she can’t lie and say that it didn’t feel good to see his face falter at her words. Whether it be snobbish boys at school, or snobbish chess players like this Harry Styles himself, she knew it was always the most fun to hit them right where it hurts. For normal members of the male species specifically, they hated when people attacked their masculinity, as though it was fragile and if someone flicked it too harsh it may explode and they might be nice to others for one (Shock! Horror!). For chess players, they already had people keeping their masculinity in check by them playing a predominately male-played game, so, if she just hit that stabbed and twisted that specifically, reminding them that she was also a female at the same time, well it killed two birds with one stone.

So what if she was an unrated player? It just meant that she didn’t have the experience of other. She presumes that people like him forget that at one point he too didn’t have a rating, and had to start off from the beginning. She wondered if someone had plagued him then, meaning that he felt the need to also do it to her. She knew that wouldn’t have been the case, and she was sure if she searched his name up, she’d find thousands of articles that labelled him as a ‘child-prodigy’, which she had also been called in her youth but not by anybody of real power.

That title was tossed around in chess a little too much for her liking. 

“Semi-decent?” His voice is laced with venom and she can tell straight away, “I’m an expert, love, not some wannabe that doesn’t know the difference between skill and sheer luck.” 

For a few seconds, she thought about whether or not she had done something horrid in her past life that meant she had to meet this man. Sheer luck was something that you’d get if you knew how to play chess, but thought you were better than you actually were. YN knew that she was good, the hours she spent studying over different senior master’s games to make sure she knew every trick in the book meant that she was good. Skill came in many different forms, but the main thing that all skilled people of this sport knew was that it took time. She’s sure Harry’s familiar with that himself, but he has too much of a precious ego to ever let anyone know such a thing. 

Even if he did have a precious ego that he felt he needed to protect, there were other ways to do it then degrading herself. 

YN turned to look at him, making sure that the message her eyes sent let him know that he wasn’t to make a peep, “I may be unrated, but if you forget, sunshine, at some point you were too.” She sighs, “To me, sheer luck between us is the idea that you’ve managed to finesse your way so far up this games arse that nobody has realised what an absolute monstrosity of a person you actually are.” 

Lime-green trousers, as she was now going to call him forever, threw her a look that she knew would kill her if they were able too, “Monstrosity? Have you heard yourself, love?” 

“At least I’m not trying to hide the fact that I’m actually horrid, which I’m certainly not, by using the excuse of being a fantastic chess player, as you like to boast that you are.” 

“Have you seen any of my games?” He raises his eyebrows, “Seen how good I actually am?” 

She laughs and shakes her head, seeing that he’s fallen directly into her trap, “I’ve never once said that you weren’t a good player, in fact, I would never say something like that.” 

“But you’ve —”

“If you recall, Mr. Styles, I never said anything about your chess other than you think you’re semi-decent, which isn’t an insult at all.” She says, leaning back on your heel slightly, “I never insulted your chess, only your personality. You decide which one you cherish the most.” 

“What if I take semi-decent as an insult?” 

She shrugs, “Then you’re even shallower than I thought. Think back to what you said about my chess, which I quote was that I played with ‘sheer luck’ and that ‘you’ll be happy to see me loose my next game’.” 

YN feels proud of herself that she’d managed to stick up for herself in front of the shell of a man, not allowing his shitty behaviour and rudeness to bring her down from her high. She had won her first two games in the tournament for christ’s sake, and it meant she was a hell of a lot closer to maybe winning this thing. 

“Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get home.” She says, “Need to get some rest, have a full day tomorrow of winning on sheer luck. I have some praying to do, I suppose.” 

With that, YN turns and walks away from him, leaving him in a stunned silence in the corner of the room at the words that she had said to him. She wasn’t going to let that man do what she supposes he has done to many other people to her. She didn’t deserve that. 

As she left the village hall after the first day of the tournament she realised that if she was going to make it amongst these chess players, she was going to have to learn that she wasn’t some push over, and she deserved the respect that other players received. 

She was going to prove to lime-green trousers that she was a good player, one with skill and show him that the ‘sheer luck’ nonsense he was going on about was something that he had just made up in her case. 

To do this, the first thing YN had to do was search up this man, and learn the tricks of his trade. She was going to beat him at his own game, whether or not he was playing. 

The next day YN walked into the village hall with a spring in her step. When she had returned home, she had immediately bolted upstairs and locked herself within her room, sat on her bed with her chessboard in front of her, running through all of her games to see if there were any weaknesses in her play. There weren’t, and that made her smile. Her grandfather had always said that she was a wonder, someone who was so young but knew more then him about the game that he had taught her how to play. YN truly couldn’t understand how she was better than her grandfather at chess, but she thinks it has something to do with the hours upon hours she spent as a child when she should’ve been doing schoolwork going over games and moves until she had them memorised. 

The next thing she did was open her laptop up and search up, ‘Harry Styles’. She couldn’t stop herself from doing so, and just as she had thought, the man was some sort of child prodigy. Reading one of the articles on the Chess Weekly website, he had won his first tournament at aged eight, and ever since, he had just excelled. It said if he wins the next regional championships he will be on his way to being national master, and if he wins the next national championships he will be senior master. YN had no idea that there were so many different championships and tournaments to play in chess. 

She had read through all of his games that were publish on the Chess Weekly website and she wasn’t surprised that she couldn’t find any fault in his game. She played them out on her board as she read them, and tried her very hardest to find errors where she would’ve done differently but she couldn’t. He had the title of expert for something, and the skill he had certainly was the thing that gave him that. 

YN also found out that he had won another tournament close by to the one that she was playing, and he already had an invitation to the regional championships that were taking place in Manchester in three months so he didn’t have to play. It was at this point she learnt that if she was to win this tournament, she wouldn’t just win the prize money but also an invitation to play at regional’s with all of the other winners. It certainly gave her something to look forward to which she hadn’t had before. 

That morning, she had dressed in an outfit that was smart, yet also casual. She had paired some high-waisted black trousers with a black turtle-neck and added a chunky-knit tan cardigan with large black pin-stripes on it. The belt she added hugged in her waist and made her feel as though she could do anything. She couldn’t lie and say that she wasn’t doing this as an ode to lime-green trousers, wearing something similar to what he was wearing just to spite him that even though they were of different genders, they were both playing the same sport as people. 

The village hall looked exactly the same as it did yesterday, and the people that were there were also the same as yesterday, YN noticed. She offered a closed-lipped smile to the men that were sat at the table, the same two as yesterday. They looked at her with a shocked look upon their features, as though they couldn’t believe that she was actually still playing. She made her way over to the notice board, skimming her eyes over to find that she was on board eight, and that she was actually the only unrated player still left in the tournament. A grin threatened to cross her features but she didn’t allow it. She had to look tough. 

“YN YLN.” She said, holding her hand out to shake his hand. 

“James Wortley.” 

The board had told her that his rating was 1065, meaning that he would be the best player she had played all weekend, but that certainly didn’t mean that he would beat her. He wasn’t going to beat her, she wouldn’t allow it. YN was playing white, giving her the advantage that she was going to start the game. She played pawn to king four, hoping that he’d play the Sicilian, the one move she knew better than any other. 

He didn’t. 

Wortley copied and played pawn to king four, and then moved his king’s bishop so it was in the corner, above his castled king. She hadn’t seen anything like this before, and she wondered whether he had made it up. It seemed to be one of those moves that people make up to try and hurt their opponents brain. 

It hadn’t worked then, but during the middle of the game it started to get a little more complex, and YN started to make decisions without actually thinking them through. Without thinking everything through, she made the decision to retreat her bishop, lifting it up slightly off the board. It was at this point she noticed that she had a better move of pawn to queen four. She dropped it back down to the board. 

“Touch move.” Wortley interrupted. She looked up at him and wanted nothing more than to smack the smile that had crossed his lips off him “You have to move your bishop.” 

She tried to not make her mistake obvious and moved her bishop to bishop four. It was the first time in any of her chess games that she had played previously. Even when she played with only her grandfather, her moves were all clean and precise and she hardly made any mistakes. When she was learning, she made mistakes, but one needs that to become good at whatever they are doing. After the first period or so of learning, when she could say that she wasn’t a beginner, the mistakes started to become less and less until she could proudly say that she made none. 

Wortley had a grin on his face that she knew was because he had noticed her little tumble. He moved his queen’s pawn to the fifth square, tapping his clock button smugly and leaning back in his chair as if to psych her out. She wasn’t going to let him know that it was working. 

If she didn’t think about this, he was going to capture one of her bishops, and she wasn’t about to let him do that and leave her in a vulnerable position. It took her ten minutes of studying the board over and over again until she found a move that meant that he wasn’t going to do that. He took her bishop, thinking he had actually done something, but then she advanced the queen rook pawn over on the opposite side of the board. She saw his face drop for a moment, but his next move was quick as he pushed the queen pawn forward again. 

He wasn’t as good a player as she thought, because he fell delicately into her trap that she had laid out for him. She moved her knight, attacking his rook. Doing so, she knew that he would move the rook to the square that she had thought he would, and that allowed her to bring her queen out to bishop five, right above where he had left his castled king. She could feel the anger bubbling within his body as she lifted her queen, and took the pawn directly under the king, sacrificing her queen. 

He took the queen, there was nothing else he could do. 

She brought her bishop out for another check, and he halted her pawn, just as she reckoned he would, “You’ll be checkmate in two.” 

Wortley had a sour look upon his face, lifting his eye to look at her calm ones, “What?” 

“The rook will come over, mate.” She tilts her head as she watches him play out her words as he stares at the board, “Then the knight mates afterwards.” 

“But my queen—”

“Will be pinned after I move my king.” 

YN quite liked watching him crumble before her, spitting out a, “Fuck!” as he knew she was right. Just as the snobby chess player he was, he stood up without turning his king or shaking her hand and stormed away from the table, leaving her with a small smile upon her lips. She enjoyed writing her game down on the card and circling her name. As she stood up, she tucked her chair underneath the table, she was shocked to see lime-green trousers stood directly behind her, this time wearing blue flared jeans and an orange jumper. She was still going to call him lime-green trousers in her head. 

He had his arms crossed and a stern look upon his face, one that she supposed came from just watching her game. She hoped he had enjoyed himself. 

“Still sheer luck?” She asked, with a playful smile and the tilt of her head. 

“You made a mistake.” 

“But I got myself out of it.” 

“You still made it.” 

YN shook her head, knowing that nothing would be good enough for this man. He thrived on making players like her feel like shit because they made one mistake. Some people would crumble from the move that she made — but she didn’t, and she won. 

“Are you genuinely telling me that you’ve never made a mistake playing before?” 

If he said no, she certainly wouldn’t believe him. She hadn’t before today, but she hadn’t played in professional tournaments before today also. 

“I’ve never made a mistake playing in an important game, no.” 

“I don’t believe you.” 

“Well you better believe it, rookie.” 

“I think I’ve proven that I’m no rookie.” She purses her features for emphasis. 

He chuckles, “You’ll prove that you’re no rookie if you win this whole thing. But I can’t say that I have belief that you will.” 

With that he’s walking past her, brushing her shoulder with his so hard that it almost sends her off balance. He was one of the people that YN found hard to not get angry with all of the time. It was his taunting and his teasing and the fact that he has virtually no belief that she’s good enough to win this thing. If he had watched her game, which she was guessing he had, then he would certainly know that she was a skilled player. She would’ve liked to see him play that game as well as she did, making the mistake and all. 

Her next game was an hour or so later, and when she checked the notice board she was on board four. She was playing someone called Reid, and they had a rating of 1602. She was shocked to know that this person was one of the two people with ratings over 1600 that she had been told about when she joined yesterday. She wasn’t going to let intimidate her. 

She shook his hand and sat down across from him. She wasn’t going to lie, he looked like he had just walked out of a movie set, with blonde waves and a nice smile. She was surprised that once he sat down, he didn’t stop smiling at her. She returned it, only for it to drop once she saw who was sat behind him. Lime-green trousers, with a smirk on his face as his eyes never left her. This was the last game she had to play, she noticed. There was only one other board in use at board one. She hadn’t even realised that had been the case. He was trying to psych her out, and she noticed this because his friend was the other player sat on the other board. 

It was a low blow, even for him. If lime-green trousers believed that she was a threat to his friend, then he should have more faith in his friend. It was one thing to stalk out your opponents and try to get into their heads, but Harry wasn’t even playing her. His friend, who is called Mitch if she remembers correctly, hadn’t even batted an eyelid in her direction, and if he didn’t care about her then she was unsure why his friend cared so much. It wasn’t even as though he was doing a good job of it either. Did he think that standing there with his arms crossed and eyebrows furrowed was going to distract her? It certainly wasn’t. 

“Are you ready?” Stopping the rant in her head, she flutters her eyes down to movie-star and offers him a smile. 

She wasn’t going to let him distract her after this point, “Ready.” 

YN was playing black, meaning he had the advantage but it wasn’t going to be something that she worried herself over. Reid played pawn to king four and then pressed his clock. She could feel not only his eyes staring at her, but lime-green trousers as well. This was going to be a long game, and she could already feel that.

She played pawn to queen bishop four. By the time the middle of the game came around, after every move she made she was looking up at lime-green trousers, who still had his eyes on her. She wondered whether she did so to spite him that he was trying to get under her skin or she did so because she found herself being drawn to him. He was one of the only people that had ever been to do so to her whilst she was playing the game. 

There were no weaknesses on either side of their play, and it was just a case of waiting and finding the best squares for her knights and bishops. It started to become like a routine, and she really was starting to get bored. Harry’s stern face had grown now into a smirk that she knew would be etched into her brain for hours to come, reminding her that he thinks she’s not going to win at all. 

Reid brought a knight to queen five, and it caused a frown to cross YN’s face because she knew she wouldn’t be able to dis-lodge it. She didn’t look up at lime-green trousers after her next movement because she knew that his smirk would have grown to cover the entirety of his face. Reid had finally started to creep up on her, but the only thing that YN could actually think was that it was about time. 

YN had her elbows on the table, her head rested upon her fists as she looked over the board with a keen eye. She decided it was time to fight back, pushing her pawn up so that it opened up her bishop, meaning that the bishop’s power had tripled. She hoped that lime-green trousers would have noticed that she had done this, and that the smirk he had upon his face had left. 

Reid kept bringing his pieces up and he knew that there were limits to what he could do to her. YN focused on the left-hand corner of the board where his queen was. Strategically, she moved her bishop down in the middle of his clustered pieces and set it on his knight two square. If he decided to capture it, he would be in trouble. She looked up at him and she could tell that he was starting to get nervous, and his clock was certainly ticking. 

Fifteen minutes later he made his move, taking the bishop with his rook. It was as though he couldn’t see that moving the rook of the back rank was a foolish move. He was supposed to be one of the top players of this competition and he hadn’t spotted this. She was shocked. Checking that it was right, she brought out her queen. 

He didn’t notice it until after his next move, and that was when his game fell apart. Six moves later when she got her queen’s pawn passed to the sixth rank, he brought his rook under the pawn. She attacked it with her bishop. He studied the board for a few seconds and she tried her hardest to not allow a winning smile to cross her lips. 

He lifted his hand up and set his king on the side, “I resign. You win.” 

He held his hand out which she shook, and the applause was defining. She stands up and sees that lime-green trousers had already disappeared, walking towards his friend that had also finished his game. She did smile at that. She was one step closer to winning the tournament and proving that she was actually a good player, and she hoped that she would be able to rub it in his face.

“YN!” It’s Sarah who calls her name after she had moved away from the board. The girl walks over and wraps her arms around YN, who does stiffen for a few a seconds before relaxing in her touch, “That was amazing!” 

YN tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear, “Thank you.” 

They moved away from the board and out into the open, “The way you tricked him was insane! I’ve never seen anything like that before. ” 

YN wasn’t used to receiving compliments, and especially not about her chess. She hadn’t received compliments about her chess in a long time, and certainly not in situations like this one. Her grandfather always complimented the way she played, but he sort of had to because of their relations and all. Maybe this tournament would start more people complimenting her chess. 

As they walked, Sarah slipped her arm through YN’s, “Are you sure you’re not rated?” 

“I haven’t played in years.” YN shook her head, “There’s no way that I am.” 

She had played with herself over the past years but nobody else, and that’s how she knew for certain that there would be no way that she had a rating. 

“Years?” Sarah’s tone is shocked, “You haven’t played in years and you’re that good? I don’t play for a few days and I’ve completely forgotten everything.” 

YN chuckles at her words lightly, “I played with myself.” 

“Yourself?” She smiled, “You must have had some rivalries with yourself.” 

“I played other people’s games.” She clarified, “I played through games that were in Chess Weekly  and tried to find any faults in it.” 

“Did you find any?” She asks.

“A few.” YN shrugs, “Mainly people missing things that are directly in front of them.” 

“Like Reid?” Sarah questioned and YN nodded. 

“They focus on something too much and miss what their opponents are doing.” 

Sarah turned to the side slightly to look at her, “You’re right. I’ll have to check to see if I do that.” 

“You did in our game.” YN teases. 

“I know I did.” Sarah bumps her shoulder slightly, “And now I have the Queen of chess as a friend who can teach me the tricks of the trade.” 

YN didn’t have many friends, so it was nice to hear that she had a friend coming from somebodies lips. 

YN nodded her head at Sarah, “I can do that.” 

“I’m counting on it.” 

When YN returned the next day, it was to play the final game, the one that if she wins she would win the prize money of two hundred and fifty pounds — something that would help her and her grandmother out dearly. Yesterday, she had wiped out her opponent Harris in under forty moves, thirty-six to be exact. She arrived and saw a group of people already stood around board one, where she knew she would be playing the game. Boards two and three were ready to start again, playing to find who would be in the places third, fourth, fifth and sixth. 

Mitch Rowland was the man she was playing, with a rating of 1689, and she knew that rating could be exactly how good he was or be hiding the truth, just like it had been with movie-star. When he sat down and she looked around the room, she could see Sarah sat there, cheering on her boyfriend obviously whilst he played his final game.

“YN YLN.” The words slip out of his lips easily, “I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Mitch Rowland.” 

She smiles and shakes the hand he holds out, “I can say the same about you.” 

YN was playing white, and the second he had punched her clock, she moved pawn to king four and punched his clock. He immediately responded by moving his king pawn to the third square, punching her clock smugly. The French Defence. She had read about it in one of her books before, but she had never played it. She hesitated for a second on what was the best move to make, and after steady contemplation of all of the different outcomes, she played her pawn to queen four. She couldn’t help but wonder whether she had made a mistake or not. 

Rowland hastily picked up his queen pawn and put it on queen four, and pressed the button of his clock. The opening had thrown her off, and she wondered whether Mitch had noticed that. He had to have. Deciding to bring out one of her knights, she decided to struggle in the centre squares. He was moving fast, and captured one of her pawns and she saw that she couldn’t do the same with it. 

He had an advantage and she tried her very best to shrug it off. He was certainly the first player that she’d played that matched his rating, that was the truth. 

Taking the pieces of the back rank, she castles and looks up at Mitch. He looked completely calm, as though he knew exactly what he was doing and wasn’t worried about the consequences of it. For the first time, she started to feel uncomfortable in her seat, and moves slightly within it. She found herself pushing her fingers into her chin as they rested in the new position she had found herself liking. She wondered if lime-green trousers was here, and if he knew that she had seen the way he rested within his game and tried to copy that, if he had, it would be another thing to be teased on.

Looking down at the board, there was a cluster of pieces and pawns on the board that seemed to have no real sense of why they were there. She knew her clock was ticking, and looking at it, she saw that she had used twenty-three minutes of it. Mitch had only used twenty minutes of his. He was leant back in his chair, clearing enjoying that she had no idea what she was she was going to do. 

After a few more minutes of staring at the board, she found what she thought would be a good square for her knight, and she reached out her hand but then stopped. If she had done that, it wouldn’t have been good for her at all. She needed to do something about his queen before he had it on the rook file and ready to threaten. She needed to find someway to protect it, but no matter how much she stared at them, she couldn’t see a possible move. 

Eventually she did find a sensible move and quickly made it, bringing a knight back near the king which protected it from Rowland’s queen. She could see that it had shocked him, because his features dropped for a second before he took a pawn on the other side of the board. That opened up his bishop, which was aimed at the knight that she had brought back, and now she was down by another pawn. He now had a small smile by his face, and she knew that if she didn’t do something quickly, it would be all over for her. The king would have been taken in four or five moves. 

It took her a few minutes but she found her move and made it, punching her clock. Rowland studied the board for a minute before taking her knight with his bishop, like she had hoped that he would. She didn’t retake the move, and instead brought a bishop over to attack one of his rooks. He moved the rook out of the line of fire, like he had too. She brought her queen from the back to the centre and that now threatened to take the rook, pinning the king’s knight pawn so she could take the bishop with a check. It was now Mitch’s turn to study the board, and now his clock was ticking. 

Fifteen minutes later he found the rook move that she had thought of earlier. It allowed her rook to come over her queen and from the deep breath he took, she knew she had got him. Ten more minutes later he moved his queen into a defensive position, but it certainly wouldn’t work. She reached out and advanced her pawn, attacking his queen. He stared at the pawn for a moment as though it was something that would hurt him if he touched it. If he moved his queen, YN would be able to attack him in an abundance of ways. 

“Fucking hell.” He shock his head, trying to figure out what to do until he had ten minutes left on his clock. She had forty five, but she wasn’t one to brag. 

There was only one move he could make, even though it would be the end of the game for him. She brought up a bishop behind her queen, threatening checkmate that he had to parry with his queen. She ignored it and pushed her rook to the third rank, where it could move either left or right. She would get either his queen or a checkmate, whatever he did. 

“Fucking hell.” He repeated again, shaking his head and placing his hand upon his forehead. 

“You can’t get out of it.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“I can.” He says, “I will.” 

She shrugged, “If you say so.” 

With four minutes on the clock, he stared and stared at the board as though it was going to jump out and tell him what to do. Thirty seconds to go he picked up his queen and slammed it in front of the rook, offering to sacrifice it for the rook. He pressed the button, letting out a deep breath. 

“I told you it doesn’t work.” She said, “There’s other options but the queen.” 

“Make your move.” He said sourly. 

“I can check you—”

“Just move.” He sounded as though she was giving up. 

Nodding, she checked with the bishop and he retorted by moving his king away and pressing the button. Without a hesitation, she brought her queen down next to the king which sacrificed it. He could hardly believe that he had done it and snatched up her queen and stopped the clock. She pushed her bishop from the back rank to the middle and said, “Check. Mate next move.” 

He looked at it, and shook his head, “Fucking hell.” 

She wondered whether or not that was his favourite phrase. 

“The rook will mate.” She responds to him, “I was trying to tell you that.” 

“Fucking hell.” He shakes his head and holds his hand out for YN to shake, which she does, “They told me you were good.” 

She couldn’t believe it. 

People cheered around the room, clapping for her of all people. She was shocked to say the least.  People who she didn’t even know congratulated her for her win, and it was something that she knew that she could get used to. She was given a cheque for two hundred and fifty pounds, and although it wasn’t a lot, it would certainly help her and her grandmother slightly. 

YN couldn’t wait to get home and tell her grandmother the good news. The bus had been ten minutes late, and she spent the entire time with the cheque laying heavy in her pocket. She allowed her mind to wonder, but not too much. The thing that she thought of the most was how she hadn’t seen lime-green trousers there for the final. She would’ve thought that if anybody was there for the final, it would’ve been him, but he was no where to be seen. YN knew that it was probably really petty to want to rub it in his face that she had won, but she felt as though she deserved to do so with the shit he had said to her. 

YN couldn’t contain her excitement as she finally burst her way into the house, immediately kicking her shoes off and placing her jacket over the banister. 

“Grandma?” She called out, “Where are you?” 

“In the kitchen!” She called back, which YN certainly wasn’t surprised at. 

YN had realised from a young age that when her grandmother was nervous, she found herself always cooking or baking. They don’t have a lot of money but they always had things to make sweet treats with. Her grandmother was an excellent baker and she would choose her grandmothers sweets any day but her grandmother never had the confidence to believe that was the case. 

When YN walks in the kitchen, she’s immediately met by all of the different aromas of what her grandmother had been cooking and baking throughout the day whilst she had been playing the tournament. 

“It smells nice in here.” YN says, walking over to the counter and leaning down upon it, beaming up at her grandmother. 

“It should do.” She responds, stirring the stew that was in the crock pot, probably having been in the majority of the day, “I’ve been slaving around all day in this kitchen.” 

“For me?” YN smiles, placing a hand upon her chest, “You shouldn’t have.” 

“I should.” She nods, taking two plates out of the cupboard so she could serve up, “We had to have something that was as celebratory as it was a pick me up.” 

YN smiled, unable to hide her love for her grandmother. Her grandmother had always been a loving person and a person that always thought about other people rather than herself. YN had always aspired to be like her grandmother, and she hoped that she would be, even though it could be hard at times to do so. 

“Anyways.” She wipes her hand upon a teacloth that she did have over her shoulder, “How did it go?” 

“How did what go?” YN teases, walking over to sit down at the dining table that she had set out. 

The next thing YN feels is the teacloth that her grandmother did have over her shoulder, hitting her on the head. 

“What was that for?” She exclaimed.

“You know exactly what that was for!” YN chuckles at her grandmothers response, “Now tell me. What happened?” 

“Oh, you know. I played some chess.” 

Her grandmother rolls her eyes, “I gathered that.” 

“And. . .” YN takes the cheque out of her pocket and holds it up for her grandmother, “I won this.” 

“YN!” She exclaims, clapping her hand to her mouth, immediately walking over to where her granddaughter was stood to lift the cheque out of her hand, “You won! I can’t believe it!” 

“Well then.” YN chuckles, “It’s nice to know you had faith in me grandma.” 

“Oh shut it with you.” She places the cheque back down, “I’m the first person to admit that you’re crazy good at chess, but, you haven’t played another person in how many years?” 

“Uh.” YN thinks for a second, “Four, maybe five.” 

“That’s a long time, YN.” 

It was a long time, she was right. Apart from playing her grandfather, YN had only ever played people who were on her grandfather’s chess team. They were all older than her, and more experienced, but she always managed to win. Her grandfather always said that she was a wonder. Chess wasn’t popular within her age group, and she wasn’t one to really put herself out there so she spent her days locked up within her room playing through other peoples games rather than her own. It probably wasn’t the best way to learn chess but it certainly had some benefits. 

“I know.” She nods, “It was odd. They all had ratings to be impressed of but made silly mistakes. They concentrated on other things rather than what I was doing.” 

“Maybe you were just too good of a player for them to handle.” 

YN chuckled, “I highly doubt that.” 

“No. That’s what I believe.” 

YN, for one, had a good memory. To be able to learn to play chess the way that she did, playing through games over and over again until she had them memorised hinted at that. YN wasn’t really a fan of school, and even though she passed with okay grades she knew that after that she was finished with learning. Instead, she started to work in her grandfather’s bookshop, and it meant that she could read all the chess books she wanted whilst she was on the job, even though she probably wasn’t supposed to. 

“They just made silly mistakes.” 

“I’m sure.” 

“I even made some.” 

“We’re all human.” Her grandma says, “That still doesn’t take away from the fact that you have real skill, YN. Skill that could take you places.” 

Not knowing how to handle the compliment she had just been given, YN looks down at the table, running her finger along the edge of it. 

“I could do.” She says, shrugging her shoulders slightly, “Take it somewhere.” 

“How do you mean?” 

“All the winners of the tournaments get invited to play in the Regional Championships.” 

“That’s amazing!” 

YN tucks her bottom lip between her teeth and nods, “It’s in three months. In Manchester. The prize money is double, maybe triple what the tournaments was. I don’t know yet.” 

“Wow.” Her grandmother shakes her head, “He always knew that you’d go somewhere with chess. Always told me that you would.” 

He hadn’t even told YN that he thought she would be able to play chess professionally, only ever briefly mentioning that people can play it professionally if they want, but knowing that he had told her grandmother about it was something that caused butterflies to flutter within her stomach as well as a heart-wrenching twist. 

A part of her wished he was still around to tell her that to her face. 

“I’d have to really practice to win.” 

“I’m sure you’ll do it.” 

YN had already orchestrated a plan of what she was going to do to prepare for the championships. She was sure that she could find a list of all of the winners of the different tournaments, probably on Chess Weekly the more she thought of it, and she would learn each and everyone of their more important games. It mean that whoever she played, she would’ve been able to familiarise herself with their strategies and make sure she knew what they preferred to play out of everything. It would be tough, but it wasn’t like she had anything else to do. 

“You know, YN.” She says, reaching out and placing her hand on YN’s, “He’d be so very proud of everything you’ve achieved. Even if it had been a little delayed.” 

YN chuckles at her grandmothers words. It had actually taken her a while to psych herself up to play the tournament because she knew that it would be hard to do so without her grandfather, but at the same time she knew that she had to do it for him because he wasn’t here. 

“I know.” She grips her grandmother’s hand just as tightly back, “I’m doing it all for him.” 

𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 : @havethetimeofyourstyles  @stylesfics-xx  @ill-be-your-honey-bri  @millennial-teenybopper  @burberryharold  @heartbreakweatherharry  @ucancallmechlo  @hipslikejagger  @kylos-empress  @itsbuckysworld  @afire-hes  @lolapuffs  @cutemint  @the-tumbl-r-of-my-youth @njpic @caprisunstyles

[elkonigin]

F, I, P, and S

Hello, @eowynwise! Thanks so much for the ask!

F: Share a snippet from one of your favourite dialogue scenes you've written and explain why you're proud of it.

This one is from chapter 4 of "Til Death Do Us Part".

“My brother lacks the ability to plan. He is too short-tempered.” “Hey! How about you say that to my face!” “I rest my case.” Kagome giggled as Inuyasha growled and mumbled beside her. “He’s terrible at chess,” Kagura added. “He takes five minutes to move one little piece! I can do the same thing in a second. Two if I take a drink first!” “It’s hilarious,” Kagura noted. “He has lost every game.” “I don’t lose; I forfeit, because I don’t want to die of old age waiting for you to ‘strategize’ your little rooks and bishops.” “At least you remembered the names this time.” “Castles and funny hats, right?” Kagome asked, and Inuyasha made a gesture as if that proved his point. “And the knights are the horseys, right?” Sesshomaru default look was a deadpan, but even Kagome could see the light go out behind his eyes a little more as Kagura stifled a laugh behind her hand. A smug grin covered Inuyasha’s face. “The knights are horseys,” Inuyasha repeated, agreeing with her statement. Rin gasped. “You have a game with horses? I wanna play!” Sesshomaru’s glower felt like it would incinerated a lesser man, but Inuyasha just grinned, looking almost feral, as Sesshomaru tried, and failed, to convince his daughter that she would not enjoy the ‘horsey’ game. Sesshomaru shot his wife a glance, but even Kagome could read the plea for help. “Oh, don’t look at me. I’m not the one who bragged about his solid marble horsey game.” Rin continued to beg to play the game, and Kagura only watched. “Very well. I will teach you how to play the game when we return home, now quietly eat your dinner.” He looked back at Kagura. “You are of no help.”

Again, I just really like the by play in this. There's so many dynamics happening with this scene. You have the married couple with a daughter, the brother, and the girl who has no clue how this family functions. But I really like how all these different things are shown through their reactions to each other.

I: Do you have a guilty pleasure in fic (reading or writing)?

I'm a sucker for angst and hurt/comfort. I mean, a good whump just scratches the right itch, you know? But I need to have that connection to the characters and a happy ending, which is why I tend to seek it out in fanfics (regular fiction not so much). I need to know that despite everything, they're going to have a happy ending at the end of it.

P: Are you what George R. R. Martin would call an "architect" or a "gardener"? (How much do you plan in advance, versus letting the story unfold as you go?)

Well, for the most part, I know where I want to go and where I want the story to end up, but how I get there is always up for interpretation. I am notoriously bad at sticking to my outlines. I think I've scrapped more outlines than I've actually stuck to. So I'm an 'architect' in that I have a grand plan, but I also know when to let the story go and do it's own thing.

S: Any fandom tropes you can't resist?

Uh, hurt/comfort and angst are my big ones, which is probably pretty obvious in my writing. Mostly I just want the after-cuddling later. Blood first, then cuddles. To me, I like to use the whump to progress their relationship and using it to give them a reason to lean into it (and each other). Otherwise, it tends to feel somewhat stilted to me.

I hope that answers everything!!

From Fandom Asks Game

[theweasleysredhair]

Checkmate [R.W.]

Character: Ron Weasley

Word Count: 1004

Requested?: Yes/No

Summary: Ron teaches his best friend and crush to play wizard’s chess late one night in their common room.

Disclaimer: Gif isn't mine, credit to whoever made it

A/n: I really like writing for Ron

~*~

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST MY WORK! REBLOGS ARE ABSOLUTELY FINE! <3

+ + + + +

It was late one Friday night, the majority of students had already headed off to bed. The Gryffindor common room was quite dark, the only source of light was the roaring fire, which was casting a glow over the wooden table in front of it, beside which you and Ron were sat, a game of wizard’s chess between you.

“Basically the aim is to hit the other person’s king, in a move called checkmate,” Ron explained, pointing to the small king sat on his side of the board.

Your eyes drifted over the board, noting how Ron had easily set up the pieces and wondering how he remembered where each one went, “Ahh okay. Um... how do I do that?”

“Right well there are different pieces, so here you have a rook, a knight... And that one’s a bishop.... There’s the king and queen,” the ginger boy gestured to each piece in kind, “Both the king and queen can move in any direction, however the king can only be moved one space at a time, but the queen can move as far as the board allows as long as it’s a straight line.”

“Ahhh I love that. Queens are definitely more powerful in real life so I’m glad that transcends into the game,” you grinned, “Can I give mine a name?”

Ron looked up at you and chuckled at your enthusiasm, “Um, sure, why not.”

“Queen Y/n,” you said immediately, making Ron laugh and shake his head.

“What are you going to call your king?” He asked nonchalantly, glancing down at the table where the game was resting.

‘Ron’ your mind supplied, and the thought made your cheeks burn - something you hoped would be hidden by the low light in the room.

“Oh um... I’m not sure yet, I’ll have to have a think,” you said instead, picking up a pawn that had fallen on its side.

“What are those ones again? Rokes?” You asked, pointing at the piece one of the corners of the board.

“Rooks,” Ron corrected with an amused grin, “Rooks can move horizontally or vertically, as many spaces as you like. These ones, the bishops, go diagonally. Knights are a bit tricky, they can move in ‘L’ shapes. So across 2 spaces and up 1 or across 1 and up 2.”

You nodded, pointing at each piece and reciting what he had said in your head, “Right I think I got you. And what are these little guys?” You picked up one of the smaller playing pieces.

“Those are called pawns. They can only move forward 1 or 2 spaces but can take an opponent’s piece 1 diagonal space too.”

You nodded again.

“Ready to try a game?” Ron asked.

“Let’s give it a go!” You shifted from your knees to instead sit with your legs crossed as you focused intently on the board. Ron let you move first, choosing a random pawn to push forward.

A few moves each later, your eyebrows were furrowed, confusion written all over your face as your eyes darted across the board. Ron couldn’t help the soft smile on his face as he looked at you, taking in the way the light of the fire illuminated your features - your lashes casting a shadow on your cheeks, the way your hair shone in the light, the pout of your lips as you tried to think of your next move.

He noticed immediately that if you moved your knight a certain way, it would put his king in check. “If you move your knight,” he prompted.

He watched you nod. “Is that the horse one?” You asked, pointing at one of your knights. Ron nodded, “Yep that’s the one. Try moving the other one.”

“Oh okay! D4 to... D4... D4 to...” you felt your cheeks heating up again as you realised you had no idea where to move the knight to.

“D4 to E6,” Ron supplied easily, and watched as the knight sliced away his bishop.

“Oh! Thank you!” You grinned, “How did you see that?”

“Practise,” he replied easily.

Ron studied the board. He realised in two moves he could have you in checkmate but... if he moved his rook a certain way, you’d be able to move your bishop to checkmate him.

He glanced up at you, at your focus on the board and the decision was easy. “A7 to A3,” he spoke, watching as his rook moved into an empty space.

That’s when you saw it - finally you saw a way to win!

“F6 to D8!” You exclaimed excitedly, jumping up on your feet as the bishop hit the king out of the way.

“I did it! Ron I did it! Oh Merlin!” Your grin was wide, your excitement evident and Ron couldn’t help but fall for you more in that moment.

“Natural talent I guess,” he said with a shrug as he began to collect up his board pieces.

He was interrupted by you wrapping your arms around him excitedly. “Thank you so much for teaching me! I’ve always wanted to play and now I can!”

You pulled away and grinned up at him when you suddenly realised how close you were to him. Before you could convince yourself otherwise, you reached up and pressed your lips to his, wrapping your arms around his neck as he immediately dropped the pawn he was holding onto to grip your waist and kiss back.

He couldn’t believe what was happening.

Too soon for his liking, you pulled away, a huge grin on your face as you bit your lip and giggled at his shocked - yet happy - expression.

You leaned down to where your king and queen pieces were stood and held the king up to Ron, “Guess I have a name for him now! Queen Y/n and King Ronald... sounds pretty good, right?”

Bloody hell. Ron felt his face redden so much so he assumed it had blended in with his hair, “Definitely. I like the sound of that.”

[mariamermaid]

The Queens Gambit

Ron Weasley x fem reader

Summary: Ron had been waiting for weeks for the upcoming chess tournament in London, but what if his title is endangered by a rookie…

Words: 4k

A/N: I think it´s pretty obvious where I got the inspo from, but in case you haven´t watched the show; I can highly recommend it! (That doesn´t mean you have to watch the show before reading though) I decided to add a few more characters from the HP fandom to make the story a little more entertaining. It´s basically like a little alternate universe story (but not really??)

  “Do you have a clock?”

You shook your head as you filled out the form with your name and other information. It was your first tournament and as much as you were excited on the inside, you kept a cool exterior. In reality, your heart was pounding against your chest. You had counted the days to this precious Saturday midmorning.

“If you´re opponent doesn´t have one, we´ll loan you one. Play starts in 20 minutes”, the boy in front of you nonchalantly explained. He was tall, but his slack figure was loosely positioned on the wooden chair. His teeth were a little crooked and he barely looked up to eye you any further. “What´s your rating?”

You glanced up from the paper in your hand, furrowing your brows. “My rating? I don´t have a rating.”

“Have you ever played in a tournament before?”

“No.” Your voice was steady, but a slight annoyance grew as the rules of the tournament seemed to have decided to play against you.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Starring directly at the boy, merely a man, in front of you, you nodded. Then you handed the paper back to him. “I´m sure.”

“Then I put you in beginners”, he sighed and shrugged.

“I´m not a beginner”, you argued, but apparently, that didn´t change anything. “Doesn´t matter, if you´re an unrated player, you go in beginners and people with ratings under 1600.”

A pause fell from your lips, clearly Merlin didn´t want you playing against actual contenders.

“Is it against any rule for me to play in the Open?” The boy with dark short hair seemed taken back by your sudden and quick answers, and he stuttered when answering. Maybe it was your confidence that startled him, maybe it was the pure attendance of a female.

“Not… Not exactly.”

“Then put me in the open.”

“There are three guys with over 1800 and Weasley might show up, you have no chance.”

You didn´t answer, leaving him sitting behind the desk. You weren´t sure, if he meant to spare you with good will, or simply feared that an irascible woman could ruin the tournament.

Neville Longbottom, looked at the paper handed to him and read out the name. “Y/n Y/L/N.”

When entering the hall, that was used for all kinds of events when booked, very few decorations fell into your eye. A few flags with symbols of schools or teams and a few goblets. Pieces of sports equipment were pushed to the sides for space. The tables, all fairly small with enough space for the chessboards, were placed induvial throughout the room. Boys, mostly around your age and older were talking to each other, while other´s sat down to study their strategies. At the back was a partitioning, that’s where the big players gamed.

 Another boy, he seemed to be around your age with dark hair and round glasses joined you in eyeing the scene.

“Are the matches played random?”, you asked him quietly without looking away from the tables. You hoped for no unwanted attention, which was easier said than done. Especially giving the fact, that you were one out of two girls.

“No, they match it by ratings on their first round. After that winner play winners and losers play losers.” The boy answered. He seemed calm about his presence as well as his answer. He had clearly played before in tournaments. You nodded understanding, before walking to the first table assigned to you.

The second girl other than you, was sitting to your opposite.

You starred at the clock at the side of the chess board, you had never played with a clock. It annoyed you deeply that it made you look like a beginner. You were good and you were planning to win. The girl, black shoulder length hair and almond shaped eyes, noticed your look and offered you a polite smile.

“I´m Cho Chang. Each player has 90 minutes, after you move, you press the button closest to you. Then it´s your opponent’s turn.”

You didn´t want to talk much, you were there to play, but you appreciated her explanation. Then your eyes traveled through the room, just to find Cho´s again.

“Why do they put the girls together?”

“They´re not supposed to, but if you win, they´ll move you up. Have you ever played in a tournament?”

You shook your head slightly. “No.”

But she simply shrugged. “I´m sure you´ll do fine.”

“What about Ron Weasley, is he coming today?” Oh, the king of chess, at least currently.

You had read about him, his matches from his first years at Hogwarts. Even Dumbledore himself had praised him and the daily prophet had written multiple articles about him. You had studied his games, over and over. It was him, who you wanted to play.

“Yeah, he has to defend his title.”

 After 20 minutes, Neville heard light steps approaching. Only seconds after, he found you standing in front of him again. “What do I do with this?” You hold up the paper from your match. It took every bit of effort to hide your happiness, the first game had taken a lot of weight off your shoulders. After beating Cho, you were more determined than ever.

“Is your match already over?”

“Yes, I won”, you shrugged.

“That was fast, circle your name and drop in the basket”, he muttered and you did as said. Neville starred at the spot where you had previously stood; something tingled in his senses. Maybe you would actually get a chance to prove yourself to the higher players.

 You snuck through the rows of players still starring at their boards until reaching the dividers. Clearly, you were fast, faster than most of them, which gave you time to study the room further. But the interesting part was happening behind the dividers. You paused for second, before deciding to enter. Around the table was a group of people watching, within the crowd, the boy from before with the round glasses. It was your turn to join his side and watch the two seated players. By the red hair, you could easily make out Ronald Weasley himself. His green eyes were pierced on the board as he chewed on his lips. You had seen several pictures of him in the newspaper, but seeing him in person? It was a new excitement rushing through your veins.

“Is he a Grandmaster?”, you asked the dark-haired boy to your left. Curiosity had always been in your nature, it even more so, got you into trouble.

“He´s working on it, it takes time. You have to play a grandmaster to become one.”

“How much time?”

“Do you mind?”, Ron turned from the game, eyeing you with caginess. His green eyes pierced right through yours and you pressed your lips to a thin line, looking to the floor with guilt. Internally, you cursed at yourself, but the smallest part showed a weird reaction; Ron Weasley had taken notice of you. Not in the way you wanted, but maybe he´d remember you. Slowly, they all focused back on the game.

Weasley´s opponent, Blaise Zabini, had his arms crossed in front of the board. “Draw?”

Ron shook his head, he wasn´t cruel. However, the victory was too close and too easy for him. “No.”

Zabini sighed, watching as Ron´s Queen moved on the board to shatter his king. The art of wizard chess remained aggressively; how queens and rooks smashed and destroyed kings and pawns. It was fascinating to you.

Weasley clapped at his own win, just like the crowd, a smirk back on his lips. “Yes!”

The group around you echoed in further applause and you couldn´t help but feel a smile. The two of them shook hands, before Zabini took off in defeat. He tried his best not to show his disappointment and anger. Ron watched his tall figure leave through the crowd, until his eyes landed back on you. You felt a blush rushing into your cheeks. Did you said he´d remember you? He probably despised you already.

Avoiding his glance again, knowing you had already attracted unwanted attention, you swallowed. Ron on the other hand just realized the pretty girl, who had watched him…

 The minutes and hours took by and one after one player was defeated by you. Oh, how you loved winning. Some might decline it as a weakness, but it was the drive that kept you going.

“That´s check”, you explained after successfully beating another man. He adjusted his hair, feeling clearly uncomfortable. You on the other hand, had found your safe zone.

“I know what it is”, he then replaced his Queen, which rose from her throne, before making her way to the newly assigned field. But you had already figured out his move and even more so, your own win.

“Draw?” He asked, nervously tapping with his pencil. You had placed your head on top of your hands, watching him closely. You shook your head.

“I resign”, he admitted.

 “Dinner break, then three more rounds. Final round on Sunday 11a.m.”; Neville explained, while the players had gathered outside the hall to either chitchat or look at the charts of the past games. You eyed the chart; you had won four games already. Two games were listed above you, the next one was against Harry Potter. You furrowed your brows. “You said there were three people with ratings higher than 1800!”

Neville, the boy of drossy posture and crocked teeth, looked up from the papers. He had already guessed that you would complain. “Yes, that´s right.”

“I thought I´d be playing one of them.” Neville sighed, his love for chess, organization of tournaments and the clear instructed rules, were a little thwarted by you. “You don´t have a rating, consider yourself lucky.”

“How do I get a rating?”

“You play 30 games in the USCF tournaments and then wait four months.”

“But that’s too long! I want to play Weasley”, you exclaimed. The calculations in your head were fast and no matter how you turned it, time was your enemy. “If you win your next three games and if he does the same…”

“I will.”

 Annoyed, you stepped back into the hall. You were ambitious to win. It was all you had and the potential price money lurked you even more. At home, nothing but your mother waited for you. Money had always been a big concern, she wasn´t even able to afford for you to go to Hogwarts. Everything you knew about magic; she had taught you.  She worked two jobs to make enough money for food and rent and while she cleaned motel rooms, one of the guests that often stayed at the motel, taught you to play wizard chess; Mr. Lupin was an amazing teacher…

 At the table of your next tournament, you found the dark-haired boy with round glasses. He awaited you and smiled as you finally sat down. “I´m Harry, Harry Potter.”

Besides your prior encounter, you had seen him talking to Ron Weasley and a small wave of exhilaration rose inside you. He and Weasley seemed close friends. “Y/n, Y/L/N.”

The game started with innocent moves from pawns. In between, Harry glanced up to you, checking. But you were sure of what you were doing. Minutes passed into the game and Harry started realizing that you were better than him, he didn´t show it yet, but he was well aware. Nevertheless, he was enjoying an exquisite game of chess.

You took his queen nonchalantly, which fell off the board in debris, and nervously licking his lips, he wrote down new notes on his notepad, before making his move. Your turn again, the rook.

Harry folded his hands, starring at the game. He pondered how to get out. After more minutes passing, a few people even started to watch you. They stood in the background, far enough to not make it conspicuous, but close enough for you to notice.

You moved your king and Harry sighed. “Merlin, Y/n, you´re humiliating my rook.”

“You won´t have to suffer much longer.”

Yes, you had it all played out in your head. Your win was safe and secure.

A smile was on your lips. Two further moves, and it was done.

He stretched out his hand in defeat and you took it. “Good game, you´re very talented.”

You shrugged as if it didn´t matter, but it did. To you it did. “You really are something.”

Saturday came to an end; you had won every single game. With your head tilted high, you stepped out the building. Fresh air flowed through your lunges and you took a deep breath. Suddenly voices echoed from your right; a few steps away Harry was talking to Ron Weasley. They chuckled in ease as they continued to make conversation. Ron´s back was turned into your direction, but Harry quickly noticed you.

“Hey Y/N! You played well today; do you want to grab a butterbeer with us?”

A bitter taste spread on your mouth; you had never even tried butterbeer. But all your savings had gone into the fee of the tournament and you already expected a long lecture when coming home. You shook your head with a polite smile on your lips. “Sorry, I have to get home.”

The two boys watched as you left, silence between them.

“She´s good, better than all the other girl´s I´ve seen”, Harry added and his friend rolled his eyes.

“Come on, Harry, just because she beat you, doesn´t mean she´s some kind of unknown genius. She doesn’t even have a rating.”

Harry shrugged innocently. “Whatever you say, but be careful, maybe she´ll even beat you.”

Ron echoed in laughter as he playfully punched his friend’s shoulder. “As if!”

 Sunday came, Ronald Weasley was late.

“Mom, have you seen my shoes?”

“Ronald, if you just once tidied up you might find them at the right place!”

Ron wasn´t nervous, but as so often, he was running late. With the annual tournament of wizard chess, he was ready to defend his title as current state champion.

Finally, the shoes had been next to the dishwasher (probably Fred´s and George´s play), he threw over his jacket and made his way to the fire place. “Mom, I´m leaving.”

Molly Weasley, who always knew where every single one of her children was, came hurrying down the stairs. With swift motions she brushed away dirt from Ron´s jacket and then started fidgeting around with his red hair. “Mom!”, Ron instructed his mother to stop and hurried towards the fireplace. He took the floo powder and rolled his eyes as Molly started wiping away a tear.

“There goes my champion!”

 You sat at the table, the same table where Ron had previously won against Zabini, waiting and growing impatiently. People around you waited as well. You couldn´t help but feel a deeper reluctance towards the conceited champion. Finally, you flinched as the door opened.

“Sorry, took a butterbeer on the go”, Ron added and held his cup high to show his evidence. You wanted to let out a sigh and roll your eyes, but you resisted to do so.

He took another sip before stretching out his hand.

“Ron Weasley, what´s your name?” Quickly, you shook his hand. Ron knew your name, Harry had told him, but he asked nevertheless. It was a rude tactic to make you feel smaller against him. You on the other hand wanted to begin, not waste more time. “Y/N, Y/L/N.”

He nodded acknowledging and the game started.

Five minutes into the game, he yawned.

It drove you insane. Did he do it on purpose? To make you lose focus? Or was he as underwhelmingly annoying?

He played confidential, not even thinking he could lose. It didn´t even take seconds for him to plant his moves. It intimated you and no matter how hard you tried not to show, the second yawn as you moved the pawn, did bring you to a slight stumble. Neville as well as Harry stood in the audience watching.

You felt sweat forming on your neck and cleavage, and strain pushed against your temples.

“I´ll be right back.” You jumped off your seat and hurried into the bathroom, leaving behind their confused faces.

Cold water ran down your hands and you placed the refreshing cool on your cheeks and neck.

Your eyes were pinned in the mirror, starring angrily at yourself. Running away from the game felt like an embarrassment enough, you weren´t ready to lose.

“Come on, you can beat him.”

Slowly, your stare wandered towards the ceiling. The chess board appeared out of your imagination and the figures stood tall, just like you had left them behind. Then, they started moving and each time you found yourself in an inescapable path, they pulled back into their initial position. Until…

 As you sat down, you were steadier as before. It surprised Ron a little and he watched as you moved your knight to take out one of his pawns. His rook then took your knight and you followed by replacing your pawn. On and on. The game continued. You were dangerously calm and as you placed the bishop down, you watched his face closely.

Ever so slightly, Ron shook his head and the glint in his eyes vanished. Harry in the crowd had the smallest hint of a smile.

“For Merlin´s sake”, Ron muttered and his hand pushed back his ginger hair.

“I think that´s it.” Your tranquil voice didn´t help him at all, but it gave you the confirmation you had hoped for.

“No, I can get out of this.”

“I don´t think so.” Then you tilted your head to side, completely deserted. “Maybe, if you had gotten here on time.”

Ron´s green eyes pierced into yours, then back on the board. Oh, time could be a cruel opponent and right now, he was losing. He took another move, not wanting to admit it yet, but you sighed sounding bored and exhausted.

“It doesn´t work, I don´t have to use the Queen.”

It didn´t matter to him. This was now more and ever about his ego. “I´ll just cover it with the bishop and-“

“Move.” His voice was low and unlike his usual character, deadly serious. Harry had never seen his friend in such a situation and even though he found it alarming, what a terrible loser Ron was, he was happy for you. You deserved it.

You did as said, covering your queen, while his rook took one of your pawns. It didn´t help, all it was, was a desperate cry. Your rook moved right next to his King, which he placed further away, but then your queen came along.

“Do you see it now? Or should we finish this on the board?”

In disbelief, he shook his head once again. But this time, his eyes found yours in an amazing gaze. “For Merlin´s sake.”

The King was destroyed by the Queen. You had won.

The people around you echoed with applause and Ron clapped as well, gentle smiling.

It was useless denying it further, you had beaten him fair and square. Harry had been right, you were good and better than Ron.

He lifted himself off his seat and shook hands with you, a reassuring smile on his lips.

For the first time on this day, you could smile as well. All the worries and the lecture that lasted till late in the evening, had been worth it.

You defeated the state champion and you won the prize money.

 “Y/n?”

You had planned to go home, your mother would be enthusiastic about the money, but Ron´s voice held you back. You were outside in the hall, hand already on the railing to the staircase leading outside.

“Do you want to grab a butterbeer with me now?” He sensed your hesitation and quickly spoke up again. “Don´t worry, I´ll pay. I guess I owe it to you”, Ron shrugged and pushed his hands nervously deeper into the pockets of his brown pants. He looked different than when seated behind the chess board, taller but less comfortable as well.

“I´m not sure…”

“Come on, you can´t leave me hanging like this after taking my title.”

A small chuckle escaped your lips and Ron noticed how well it suited your face. While playing chess and debating over strategies, there wasn´t much time to give away polite smiles or studying your opponent’s traits.

You couldn´t help, but feel how the reluctance towards Ron disappeared. He sighed relieved as you nodded agreeing.

The bar was only a few streets away, a side alley and the entrance to the magical ambience was hidden. The door opened as the front side to a large dumpster and lead a few steps down into the pub. It was cozy and due to the early time on a Sunday afternoon, still fairly empty. The bartender nodded towards Ron, they seemed to know each other.

“Two butterbeers, Dean.”

Together you sat down in niche to the side, a few plants hung from the ceiling and blankets and pillows laid on the armchairs in between. Chill jazz music played in the background and a house elf washed up used glasses. You imagined how the room was filled with people in the evenings.

“So, you never played in a tournament before and yet you beat the state champion?”

Ron was curious, which was understandable and you blushed at his question.

“A friend of my mom taught me how to play chess.”

“Really? He must know a lot about it, I imagine.”

“Yeah, and he gave me many books about openings and strategies.”

“I never saw you playing in the school tournaments, when did you start?”

You avoided his glance, starring down at the butterbeer Dean just brought to your table. The yellowish, sweet smelling liquid with soft foam on top.

“I don´t play for a school team”, you admitted quietly. The topic was hard to avoid, but you didn´t have many friends anyways to talk to.

“Well, I think you should maybe start then. They often travel together to other tournaments and-“

“I´m actually not going to a public school, I´m home taught.” You voice was louder now, but still shaking enough for Ron to realize your indisposition. He maybe was a genius on the board, but construing social interactions? Not his strength. Awkwardly, he scratched the back of his neck.

“Oh.”

 An uncomfortable silence settled between the two of you and you decided to take your first sip to take off your mind. He watched carefully, how your face enlightened with joy. “It´s really good!”

Ron kept his assumption, that it was your first butterbeer, to himself and smiled nodding.

“Dean knows how to make one of the bests around here”, he paused before continuing.

“I admire you.”

“Excuse me?”

“Everything I know about wizard chess, I learned in school from my teammates. Actually, everything I know, I was taught in Hogwarts. But now you come along and beat me, you´re brilliant Y/N.”

“I always liked chess, it´s a whole world on a simple board. I´m not as good in other things, trust me.” You admitted, but his compliment spread warmth around your heart.

“If you want, I could teach you a few things about magic.”

Maybe Ron Weasley wasn´t the best teacher, but he truly wanted to see you again. Something about you was so charismatic and mesmerizing, he couldn´t help himself. To his luck, excitement was shown in your face. “That sounds amazing!”

When you had finished your beers and left the pub, Ron faced you again. The two of you had talked for over an hour and he was beginning to like you more with each minute.

The thought of Ron teaching you more about magic, made you enthusiastic. Maybe it was also the fact, that seeing him again, brought a tickle in your stomach.

“Well, I see you next week, Queen.”

You chuckled at his new nickname for you, it was a pleasant flattery.

“We will see how good your gambit is when it comes to dueling.”

[love-dreams]

pairing: hoshi x fem!reader

content: based off of the netflix show, the queen’s gambit, with different character names; drug abuse and overdose; lots of chess terms

wc: 3454

note: I FREAKING LOVE THIS NETFLIX SHOWWW!! this is a character study i’m trying to do to make my female y/ns less.. idk meek? wimpy? it’s such a writing pet peeve of mine and i absolutely loved beth harmon’s character so here it is :))

the queen’s gambit masterlist: 1 2

It was quiet in the orphanage basement. With the exception of the dull thumping of childrens’ feet on the basement’s ceiling. Pensive, and tense, the air felt pregnant with strain. 

Your eyes flitted back and forth, from black to white and then back again. They went over the ridges of the standing pieces, and down the curves until it met the checkered board. A criss-crossing maze full of infinite possibilities for strategy. 

Finally, your delicate, little fingers wrapped around the stem of your rook, pushing it so it slid all the way across the board. 

“Check,” came your raspy voice. 

The janitor’s bald forehead creased into more folds, and he raised up a finger to push up the frame of his glasses. “Not anymore.” His voice was rough, like gravel scraping against concrete.

The young girl’s brows furrowed, “Wait, how can you do that? You never taught me-”

The buff man stood up suddenly, interrupting her rhetoric. “That’ll be for next time. Clean up the board now and get to class.” 

“Wait-” you stuttered, feeling confused and cheated, but Mr. Lee's back was already turned on you, already moving in between the aisles of paint. You sighed, letting her gaze brush over the stationery pieces on the chess board once more, before sweeping all of them off into a velvet bag. 

The school bell rang shrilly.

Soonyoung liked to win. Even at the young age of five, he liked crushing his opponents with a gummy smile on his face and curved crescent eyes. 

They called him lots of names: the best chess player in the country since Yoon Jeonghan, the chess champion, etc. 

But he figured he liked the title “Innocent Tiger of the Chessboard.” Soonyoung thought it made him sound powerful and glorious. He used the name “Hoshi” a lot after the Times magazine coined him that way.

“You’re all a bunch of-”

A girl, whom you did not know, was getting dragged from the cafeteria. A teacher yanked her forward by her long, curly afro harshly. One hand held the girl’s hair, and the other hand, you barely noticed, was holding a yellow-tinted soap bar. 

You walked into the cafeteria, naturally standing at the back of a long line of orphaned girls. She moved forward, hesitantly, taking the spot in line from the previous girl. You looked up at the male vendor with large, unblinking eyes, expectantly. His eyes held a glint of remembrance, and slid a small, white paper cup toward you. 

Your fingers reached into the small cup and grabbed the object inside. Small, oval shaped pills rested at the bottom of the paper cup. 

“Ooh, those ones are best saved for the night. Don’t take ‘em all at once, either. Save ‘em.” You turned around. It was the black girl from before. “My name’s Ruth, by the way. You’re new here, right?” Ruth’s voice was sultry and teasing; her brown, chocolate eyes hid a twinkle of mischief that you could already tell made her a troublemaker. She had her own matching green pill in between her large hands. “You’ll see what I mean.”

Then, she walked right back into the cafeteria with the other girls. 

The room where you slept was also occupied by the dozens of other girls in the orphanage. It had large windows with thin curtains, and stone ceilings and floors. The beds were identical with small dressers on the side of them. 

Because the curtains were thin, they didn’t do much to keep the silver beams of moonlight from filtering into the room and onto the beds. 

Your eyes were wide open, staring at the green pill twirling in between your fingers. You debated yourself internally for a few moments, before swallowing it in one gulp. Your eyes felt heavy with sleep, but your mind was as light as feather, swirling and swirling with thoughts. You finally cemented on one event in her day, zeroing in and latching onto it with no mercy.

The chess game with the orphanage janitor. 

As the event seeped into the cracks of your skull, your eyelids slowly opened until you were faced with the dark, blank ceiling above you. 

A spot appeared. Then another right beside it.

Then two more around those, and then more and more and more. They were alternating spots, some dark and some light.

You gasped, pushing herself to a seated position.

It was a chessboard. 

The pieces slowly materialized on the ceiling. You could make out the distinct shapes of the king, the rook, and the many other pieces that she didn’t know the names of. You knew of the pawn, pieces with a rounded sphere as its head. Mr. Lee had taught you about them the first day she played chess with him. 

“The opening,” he had called it. “Openings are the first moves of the game. Learn some.”

The pieces flickered on the board, teleporting from place to place, mimicking a real chess game. 

You almost overslept for breakfast the next morning.

The teacher paused for a moment in her lecture, her hand moving automatically toward the chalk erasure. Her fingers brushed metal and her eyes saw an absent seat.

“Check.”

A piece moved. 

You let out a breath.

“Checkmate.” 

Mr. Lee leaned back in his chair, his arms crossing over his bloated stomach. He said nothing, instead pulling out a rectangular box from his back pocket. 

“I know all the pieces now.” You stood up, your arms bracing yourself against the table. “And how they move.”

Again, he refused to answer. His muscled, long fingers nimbly hooked under the latch on the cigarette box. You watched as Mr. Lee lit the cigarette and turned away. 

Your internal question remained unanswered.

“Tomorrow,” he finally replied. “Tomorrow, I’ll properly teach you how to play.” 

Your breath hitched in excitement, “Really? You’ll teach me-”

“You should learn the Sicilian Defense,” came his gruff voice. His back remained turned on her. You stood as well, seriousness filling the gap between the two of you. 

Mr. Lee finally turned. 

“To tell you the truth of it, child…” His lips curved upward. “You’re astounding.”

It was the national championship. Reporters and news outlets were crawling around everywhere, shoving their microphones into every chess player’s face. Soonyoung smirked in amusement, letting his gaze drop back down onto the chessboard in front of him.

“Oh, you moved already?”

Chan huffed, “It’s been two minutes, you’re gonna run out of time at this point.”

Soonyoung chuckled, sliding a piece away from him. His aura remained confident and unsettled by Chan’s warning. “I’d be more worried about yourself, brother.”

Chan’s eyebrows furrowed as he analyzed the board. At first glance, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary. All of his pieces were set in motion and Soonyoung- 

His eyes snapped open. Soonyoung was already one step ahead of him. Except this step was a mile in front and already at the finish line.

“H-how did you-” he stuttered in disbelief.

Soonyoung interrupted Chan, “Next move is Anderssen’s mate.” His eyes held a small twinkle of triumph, but anyone who had played Soonyoung before knew that he was never truly surprised about the outcomes of games he played. 

Chan let his head hang low in defeat. “Alright, then.” His hand reached up to knock over the long column of his King. “You win.”

A crooked grin spread across the face of the young champion. 

“Don’t worry!” He smirked. “You’ll always have next time.”

You had been falling behind in math class. You hardly ever paid attention when you were in class, and when you were out, math was hardly even at the back of your mind. Mr. Lee had gifted you a book to read called Modern Chess Openings. Soon enough, you had mastered not only all of the openings in the book, but also the art of hiding a book under your desk and reading.

One day, Mr. Lee had a visitor in the basement. Another man, leaner and taller than the janitor. He was dressed formally and wore a hat. 

“Beth,” Mr. Lee greeted her. “This is Mr. Choi. He’s a representative of the chess club I play at.”

You stared at the stranger, unmoving and unresponsive.

“Hello, (Y/N),” he said, smiling. Mr. Choi was a friendly looking man, youthful too. “Would you care for a game of chess?” He took the chair next to Mr. Lee, long fingers already moving the pieces to their correct positions. His poise was confident and his eyes were shrewd. A completely different player from Mr. Lee was in front of you. 

You won in three moves after the opening. Quick and precise, with no room for error. Mr. Lee looked on from the side of the table. His face showed neither surprise nor pride, but his eyebrows stayed furrowed. 

“Well,” Mr. Choi raised his gaze from the board, turning his head toward the elder janitor. “She’s exactly how you described, Jihoon. I’m certainly impressed.” You waited patiently, unaware of the relationship between the two men. He turned his attention to the young girl in front of him. “(Y/N), how old are you?”

You answered mechanically, without any hesitation. You remained unfazed, an almost bored tone in your voice. “Nine years old, sir.” 

Mr. Choi leaned back in his chair. “Nine years old, huh,” he echoed in disbelief. “That’s amazing. Say,” Mr. Choi reached down beside him. “(Y/N), would you be interested in competing against some other people?” He straightened himself, this time holding something in his hands. “I run a chess club at a high school near here, and I’d love to have you come play with us.” 

You stared at him, shock and curiosity filling your gaping mouth. “Me?”

Mr. Choi chuckled, finally bringing up the object in his hands for her to see. “You can think about it for awhile, I’ll also be in contact with your headmistress. In the meantime, here’s a prize for your win. Nine year old girls like dolls, right?” 

Your mouth refused to answer. You looked helplessly at Mr. Lee, but his gaze was fixated on the ending board pieces. 

“Well then,” Mr. Choi breathed. “I’ll be off.” 

You watched as he grabbed his leather briefcase and his hat, then strode straight in between the shelves and up the wooden, creaky stairs. Then, you turned your attention to the doll in front of you.

You hesitantly grabbed the plastic body, running your thumbs over the cheap polyester clothes. 

Then, you promptly threw it in the trash.

The next time you saw Mr. Choi was not in the cold basement, but instead, in the headmaster’s office. The headmaster was a bitter woman with strict ideals that were brittle and unbending. You had only met her once, and you had hoped that they would never come so close again.

“Well, Miss (Y/N). Is what Mr. Choi telling me true?” Her wintry voice chilled you down to the bone, leaving your head numb and you palms overheating. Without waiting for a response, Headmaster Kim turned her attention back to Mr. Choi. “Mr. Choi, we appreciate the offer and would love for the orphanage’s many talented students to compete with others, but going to a school by herself? I worry for the child.” 

Mr. Choi nods, compromising with a soft tone, “Of course, I will be with her at all times.”

“Hm,” the headmaster pondered. “I’d rather her go with another girl actually.”

He relented immediately. “Absolutely.”

The Headmaster stood up from her seat. “Well then, it’s decided. Young (Y/N) will be accompanied by a fellow student from the orphanage.”

Mr. Choi complied calmly, leaving without another comment. Quietly and rapidly just like the first time you had met him. Your nerves spread out like spindly branches of a tree, bumping against each other until it filled the entire room.

“(Y/N)?” 

It was only until the Headmaster called your name that you realized your gaze had dropped to the floor. 

“You’ve been playing chess in the basement, I hear.” There was a pause, and you quickly recognized that the woman expected a response. You dipped her head slightly into a nod of acknowledgement. “I must say, playing chess in the basement is highly irregular.” Your heart rate jerked upward. Would the Headmaster forbid you from playing chess? A sense of dread pricked her heart. “Ask Mr. Jun for a chess board from the game closet, I’m sure we have one or two. You can play out in the open from now on.” 

A wave of relief crashed over you. “Really?”

The Headmaster dismissed you, “It’s lunch time now. Hurry back to the cafeteria, Miss (Y/N).” 

You left without any refusal, your steps hurried and rushed as your shoes clicked against the cement floors.

The cafeteria had its usual vibrations of friendly chatter, and the line to the pill vendor was just as long as the day she arrived. Inching closer and closer to the vendor, you buzzed with anticipation for your daily collection of green pills.

The man slid the snow paper cup toward you, and habitually, you looked inside for the strange green pill among the scarlet ones. 

It wasn’t there.

“Where’s the green pill?” you asked, bewildered. 

The vendor sighed, clearly annoyed and frustrated with you. His voice was thin and gruff, an unattractive timbre. “New state laws, kid. No more tranquilizers. Now move on, more people waitin’ behind you.” 

You furrowed your brow, but moved aside regardless. 

That night, you counted the leftover tranquilizers you had saved up. There were only five left. You’d have to ration them and not take them frivolously. 

The ceiling remained a blank canvas without its usual checkered illusion projected.  

“Chess is getting kind of boring,” Soonyoung noted one day. He was 18 at the time.

Chan glared at him from his peripheral vision. “God damn it, Kwon. Maybe you need to get a life or something.”

He laughed, sweeping the plastic chess pieces off the wooden board. “Are you suggesting a get laid, or that I go on a date? Because both are well within reach.”

Chan grinned cruelly, “Like hell they are. The only thing you’ll ever love more than yourself is chess. As if a girl could even compare.”

Soonyoung rubbed at his nape sheepishly. “Maybe if she was a girl who played chess..”

“Well then you’d just see her as another bad player who couldn’t beat you.”

“Jesus, Chan. Way to make a guy feel motivated,” he sighed. “I guess I’ll just have a steamy date with my chess books instead.”

Chan huffed in annoyance and turned his attention away from the other male.

The drugs didn’t last you until the chess match and you began to feel the effects of it. Or rather, the effects of not having them. You mind would wander during class and you felt sluggish and tired. Ruth noticed. 

“What’s going on, cracker? You don’t look so slick.” 

It was true. Your hair was unkempt, your eyes were sunken and bruised from insomnia, and you no longer had the energy to hold up a conversation. Ruth sighed and moved closer so that your elbows were brushed up against each other. “It’s because of those green pills, ain’t it?” When you didn’t respond, Ruth huffed. “Alright then, I was gonna help you out with that by sharin’ some of mine, but if you’re gonna be so rude, then I guess I won’t!”

Your head snapped up. “You still have some?” you whispered. 

Ruth smirked, her large lips parting to reveal bright white teeth. “Sure I do! Started savin’ these babies up a long time before you did.”

“Can I have some?” you hesitantly asked, your voice was low and soft. It was only a day before the chess game with the high school team and you were slowly going psychotic without the tranquilizers’ help. 

Ruth denied you a verbal cue and instead, moved closer to slip two pills into your dress’s pocket. 

It was your first time leaving the orphanage ever since you entered through the black, metal gates. Thus, when you, accompanied by Jamie Park, ambled through the high school halls, along with Mr. Choi, you were noticeably a little startled. It was noisy, crowded and ever so chaotic. Kids of all sizes were ravaging the school, lockers were haphazardly open and some closed, there was no sense of the eerie order at the Methuen Home orphanage. 

You found that you didn’t mind the disarray much after all. 

Mr. Choi led the duo into an empty classroom filled with desks that had been arranged into a circle. Only a few kids lingered in the room. You could count the amount of girls with your fingers. He directed you and Jamie toward the edge of the room. 

The pair watched as student after student filed into the room in a steady stream of people, like tap water flowing out until only the last few drops fell. 

Mr. Choi stood in the middle of the classroom and spread his arms dramatically. “Welcome, everyone! Today we have a very special guest,” he announced. Mr. Choi motioned toward you. Feeling compelled, you shyly stood and walked forward. “This is Miss (Y/N). You all will be playing a simultaneous against her!” He paused. “Please take your places.”

The students shuffled amongst themselves, the sound of feet thundering crescendo-ed until all of the seats were filled. You looked around at all of the male students seated in front of chess boards, a somber expression pasted on each of their faces. Some even had smirks. You looked up at Mr. Choi, who had a smile on his face. 

“Mr. Choi?” you questioned. 

He nodded, ushering toward the first board from clockwise motion. 

You stepped forward in front of the first board and looked down at the colored pieces in front of her. You took a deep breath, then moved the first piece. 

It took only eighty minutes to win every single board, even the high school’s best chess player.

When you returned to Methuen, you first celebrated with Mr. Lee. The janitor had prepared a small treat for you when you returned. To the normal eye, Mr. Lee looked neutral and maybe even a little irritated, but to you, the pride in his eyes were as clear as the squares on the chessboard.

“Honestly, I was most surprised about how bad they are. I mean, they made the most basic mistakes.” You paused to swallow a lump of dark chocolate. “Doubled pawns, queen trades, all of that. It was honestly kinda embarrassing to play against them.”

Mr. Lee didn’t interject your rant, watching as brown spread across your lips to your cheeks. He handed you a napkin and stayed quiet. 

“Well,” you stood up, straightening our your skirt. “I’m off now.” The janitor nodded, eyes fixated on the chess pieces on the board as if they were moving by themselves. You looked down at the board and a question naturally floated to the top of her mind. “When’re you going to teach me end game, Mr. Lee?”

Mr. Lee looked up at the nine year old. 

“Soon.” 

Soonyoung was only 10 when he won his state championship. He won the country’s championship when he was 14. 

He lost it when he was 23. 

You ran out of the green pills in a day after the chess tournament. Once again, your body was thrown into withdrawal. It felt like a constant yearning for water. Every single day your gaze would linger on the glass jugs of pills behind the windowed divider. It became tantalizing. Each night you would salivate at the thought of breaking in and shoveling those pills into your mouth. It was a heavenly dream that nudged you closer and closer to reality.

It was during class that you found herself passing the open door of the cafeteria. The cafeteria room was a desert and the oasis was straight in front of your very own eyes. Self-control was a feeble wall that disintegrated under the wave of pent up yearning. 

Your fingers trembled as you undid the lock, yanking it off and sliding over the divider. It was too easy. 

Your heart pounded against the confines of her chest. The adrenaline rushed through your veins and your vision quickly became dizzy. 

The second your fingers reached the pills, you were gone.

All those nights of dreams finally came true. You couldn’t even stop her hands from shoveling those pills into your mouth. 

You couldn’t even stop as your fingers twitched on the ground, your body pressed against the cold tile floor.

“Rumor has it you were drunk while playing Minghao.”

“It wouldn’t have mattered if I was sober anyway.”

next part: here

tag list: @haotheheckk​ @svtantalizing​

[soclonely]

Strategy

I just had this little story in my head about giving Palpatine some sort of humanity. While he was an evil man, this small story just makes it all the more cruel in my head. The name Zuri means pure, innocent, just like the character caught in the middle of this giant game of chess Palpatine was playing with himself. Not the greatest, and my first attempt at doing something like this. But you get the idea. Thanks! “Every chess master was once a beginner.” – Irving Chernev “And who is this brave young lady?” Chancellor Palpatine asks cheerfully. “Oh that is my new padawan, Zuri.” The Jedi smiles down at the child encouragingly. “I promised to show her the Senate building today and didn’t expect to see you chancellor. Forgive me, we will be on our wa-” “Nonsense!,” Palpatine interjects. “It has come to my attention that I have a few minutes of free time anyways. Tell me Zuri, do you like games?” The girl nods shyly. “How about chess then? It’s a delightful game of strategy. I am rather good at it, if I do say so myself.” He says, taking the board out from its bin under the table. She works up the courage to reply. “N-no. But… I could learn!” She looks over at her master. “Oh please! I want to learn! You always tell me I need to work on strategy.” Her teacher smiles, “Well.. Why not?” Zuri scurries to sits excitedly in front of the Chancellor. “Now, the first thing you need to know is the pieces! See these ones here?” He holds up the biggest. “These are the kings and queens. And these-” He gestures to some of the other pieces on the boards. “Nights, bishops, and rooks. So the key is to-” “Wait!.” Zuri interrupts, “What about these ones?” She points to the smallest ones in the front. “There are an awful lot of these pieces. They must be really important!” “Mmm not really,” Palpatine says distractedly, setting up his own side. “They are just pawns, nothing more.” He leans back and smiles. “Now, how about a game of chess?” A year has passed, along with many weekly chess games between the chancellor and Jedi padawan Zuri “Room for improvement.” Palpatine tsked, smiling as he put away the chess pieces. “You are getting better though I must say. That was the longest game we have had yet!” He looks at the clock. “I am nearly late for my meeting with the Banking Clan representative. Dreadfully boring I’m afraid.” He looks over at Zuri, noting her pout. “Is something bothering you my dear?” Zuri just stares out the window. “This game. I’m ju-just terrible at it! I understand how to play and the pieces, the objective... But I still don’t get it. I don’t understand the strategy!”  She waves at the empty board in front of her, defeated. She looks up remembering who she was sitting with and quickly adds. “I-I mean I do enjoy the games Chancellor, really It’s just-” She turns a slight shade of red. Palpatine just chuckles. “Dear child, Its not the game you need to know. Its me.” he says with a mysterious glimmer in his eye. “You need to know my strategy to defeat me.” He stands up and Zuri follows, walking with him toward the door. “You will never defeat your opponent unless you know your opponent.” Zuri sighs. “You would think that after playing for as long as we have, I would know how to beat you Chancellor.” “Ah ha! But you see, that is what makes me such a good chess player. You don’t know me, or my strategy. The key is to keep it hidden until the right moment. Then strike!” He opens the door leading them toward the hall. “That is how you claim victory. Now run along, and find your Master. And I will see you next week for the next battle in our great chess war… Unless of course you seriously want to end it now.” Zuri takes a few steps then stops. “Sir!” She turns, catching the Chancellors attention. “You know, I bet with more practice, I could win.” She nods her head and smiles, more determined then a few seconds prior. “I will win! See you next week!” She waves and sprints down the corridor. Chancellor Palpatine just shakes his head and chuckles. “Spoken like a true Jedi.” A few days later, Order 66 was executed. The galaxy is in chaos and confused. Palpatine is in his office. “I am not to be disturbed for the next hour. Do you understand?” The deformed cloaked figure said to the Guard. “Y-es my Lord.” The men responded, headed toward the door in uniformed fashion. “Send the girl in would you? It’s about that time and I don’t want to keep her waiting.” He adds, heading toward a table on the side of his office, opening a draw with chess pieces. Girl?.... The guards look at each other confused before realizing. Zuri.. The young padawan… The room is quiet for a moment. Mas Amedda clears his throat, breaking the tension. “My Lord… Zuri will not be coming to play today. Or any day after you see.. She was-.” He stops, noticing Darth Sidious’s composure hardening. The room is once again as still. Seconds go by at an agonizing pace.  Click! The drawer shuts. “Oh thats right. And what a pity. A few more lessons and the Jedi could have won.”

[chessdaze]

OKAY SO TODAY-

I’m going to ramble about chess symbolism - specifically with the Savanaclaw trio but also a couple of other characters (mostly pomefiore characters in detail but I list some others out aswell) I made the mistake of mentioning it on twitter and it got attention so now I’m posting it here because it’s way too long to post in a twitter thread.

It’s also going under readmore for that reason too:

For those unaware, the black and white on the chessboard have a meaning as well. Not so much ‘good’ and ‘evil’, though that’s one interpretation - White is normally associated with good and Black with evil. And that’s a valid conclusion! But another symbolism having to do with the board is the war between the inner and outer self. Between Ego and Values. Pretty much the chessboard can represent any kind of eternal struggle. A struggle that continues and doesn’t particularly have an ‘ending’ as chess is a game that can be played more than once, the struggle will always come back eventually.

Relating this to Night Raven in general- of course the struggle with overblot can be related to chess as well. Because it’s a constant struggle, one that most aren’t even aware of as there’s clearly ways to prevent it (resting, de-stressing, etc), but still a constant problem people of this world have to face.

Now moving onto the characters I want to speak about. Starting with Ruggie cause he’s my favorite.

Ruggie: The Bishop

The Bishop traditionally represents the church and religion, and in Medieval Europe the bishop was second in line to the king and queen. Now going back to how the chessboard could represent an internal struggle - the bishop can also represent a belief structure of some kind. The morals, the thought process. This is said to be why the bishop starts and stays on the same colored square (white for white and black for black), moving diagonally but never cross over another color. They move as far as they want, under the limits of their ‘belief’. They must rely on others to protect them or stay out of anything that could threaten them on the board.

NOW WILL SMITH ARMS TO ALL OF THAT ????

Ruggie doesn’t have ‘good’ morals. He only thinks about survival of the fittest, he believes that a strategy that you can win is worth it no matter the methods, he doesn’t pick fights he can’t win –

BUT his morals and methods align with Leona’s, who’s objectively the ‘king’ in this situation. He stands next to the ‘king’, (Like the bishop is next to the royalty on the chessboard) Leona, he moves according to his wishes but doesn’t sacrifice his own beliefs and methods in the process. He relies on Leona for protection and guidance, but will run away if he feels like he must (the chase scene with ace and deuce comes to mind. they didn’t have any proof but to keep himself safe 100% he left anyways).

Not to mention ‘second in line to the king and queen’ - Ruggie is the vice leader of Savanaclaw - Leona’s own little ‘kingdom’ as it were, so he already fills the role of second in command in canon.

He also could be considered an ‘overseer’. He watches over the dorm, does basic chores and errands for Leona, is someone leona trusts to carry out certain jobs - not to mention a good spy in general.  

I suppose one could argue that Ruggie is a pawn aswell. Besides the obvious ‘oh he’s considered a pawn to leona lol’, people forget that the pawn is the only piece who can turn into a Queen - aka the most powerful piece on the board. And Ruggie had that quote during the commercials that ‘even a hyena can become king at this school’. But that’s just it - he specifically says King. The Bishop is second in line to the throne behind the king / queen. So, if anything happened to Leona then he would be the dorm leader / the king. I just feel as if Ruggie doesn’t fit the Queen symbolism at all.

Not that I doubt Ruggie’s abilities or anything. His powerful will to survive above all else, his magical ability, and his sly nature definitely make him a powerful force - but I still don’t think it fits.

I also like the idea of Ruggie being a kind of ‘adviser’ to Leona. Hear me out. In Leona’s SSR he’s the one to stop Leona from going all out during the fight against his own dorm leaders, he offers legitimate advice to Leona at some parts of the main story and the SSR, and is able to sway his decisions and offer legitimate solutions to problems (for example, convincing Leona to let the MC and Grim stay at the dorm during Episode 3 - it wasn’t a solution they liked but it was still one they could all agree on).

Ruggie to me just embodies the bishop so perfectly.

Leona: The King

OBVIOUSLY so I still want to go into this even tho the King is probably the most obvious choice for Leona.

Going back to the chessboard as a whole- the white king is meant to represent a person’s being while the black king can represent the ‘beast’ within us all. The beast is said to represent the intelligence hidden inside of all of us. Now willsmith arms to Leona. This guy is smart, it’s almost scary. Scar was practically considered a tactician and Leona is the same. He comes off as lazy and uncaring but he has a deep understanding of how things work and uses the smallest of details to work things to his advantage. 90% of the time, Leona is the smartest guy in the room - but you wouldn’t think he is at first.

Now, the king is often referred to as the weakest piece- if only for the poor movement of it being that of a pawn (and even then the pawn can move two spaces on its first turn - giving it advantage over the king in that sense). But it’s also the most important piece. The one that the entire game is fought for. The king can make or break the game - but it barely moves.

Even a real king isn’t seen much by their subjects. They stay stay and wait for something to become important enough for them to leave their kingdom - and until then a king relies on those around him (in this case, the other pieces on the board) to fulfill his orders. He’s far too important and that’s why he barely moves from the back row on the chessboard. 

If you think about it - Leona doesn’t do much for his own plan in chapter 2. He relies on the magift team (mostly Ruggie) to execute the plan. The only time he really had a hand in what was going on was during the dorm leader meeting when he convinced the headmaster to keep Malleus on the field because it was essential to the plan with Ruggie causing the stampede- Malleus needed to be there to get caught up in it all. But that was something only he could have done, no one else could have filled that role for him. So again - the King doesn’t step out of the back row unless absolutely necessary.

Before anyone argues about Leona’s SSR and him stepping in then - I’ll take more of that into account during Jack’s section. But keep in mind he also mostly did that to have Jack indebted to him so my point still stands that the king doesn’t move unless he needs to.

And no, despite his power level I don’t believe he’s ‘queen’ material. If only because he holds himself back so much (with his laziness, lack of ambition, etc). It’s his lack of drive but also his reliance on others that has him leaning more towards the King rather than the Queen.

Jack: The Rook

Onto Jack - I struggled for a bit nailing down if he was the knight or the rook, if I am honest. His morals of fair fights and not owing people could definitely fall in line with a knight - but in the end I decided to go with Rook. For a number of reasons.

In Leona’s SSR story, he specifically calls Jack a ‘pup who charges ahead without thinking’ - similar to how a Rook can only move forward or to the side. It can go until something stops it - much like Jack was willing to keep fighting in the SSR story until Leona physically stopped him and stepped in himself.

Now the rook is also called the tower or the castle - and it traditionally represents the castle walls - the things that protect royalty and others. The rook is supposed to protect those on the inside of the board (as it is placed on both edges of the board) and protect those instead. The rook could also represent observation - watching the whole board and taking the best course of action to protect those it can. There are two kinds of observation, if we relate it back to the chessboard representing the inside and outside self. These are self reflection, orientated towards the interior / when the rook moves further into the board or side ways, and then moving forward as a kind of outward observation. Now Leona SPECIFICALLY mentions that Jack seems like he’s good at self reflection - that’s what really had me start thinking of Jack as the rook.

Jack is reckless and stands up for what he believes in no matter what, but also knows when he can’t handle a situation. He is good at observing a situation and making an honest call - even if it makes him sound blunt and rude. He knows exactly what he’s capable of, likely after a lot of his own self reflection, and is able to observe other’s skills in a similar fashion (as he calls out his seniors during leona’s ssr as being lesser magift players, clearly stating he’s superior than them when it comes to the game).

The rook is also the only one who can preform a move with the king called ‘castling’ - meaning the rook can switch places with the king in order to help the king move further away from danger or just to get more space into a move. This is also a type of observation where the rook is moving inwards and switching places with the overall being, the ultimate self reflection and cooperation with oneself.

^^^ THIS is the part I mentioned in Leona’s section. The king and rook are the only pieces that can preform the castling move. This is EXACTLY what happened in Leona’s SSR. He switched places with Jack. While in chess this is normally done to move the king out of danger - this is an exception considering Leona is....Leona. But I can see this as a way for their relationship to grow over the course of the story. Jack still obviously has an admiration for Leona even after the events of Chapter 2. And Jack definitely has the means to help Leona when it comes to fights, and in other capacities, so he is becoming very much a ‘castle’ around savanaclaw. Someone who can be trusted to observe, to protect, to fight.

He’s quick to protect others - as he is protective of ruggie during the main story and even his own SSR. He struggles a lot trying to win Ruggie and Leona over during his personal SSR and goes through ALOT of trouble to help Ruggie stay out of trouble with Leona. He didn’t have to do this, but he saw it as beneficial to the greater good, to help one of high standing, to protect him from a possible rage from their ‘king’.

Now for some reason i really thought into pomefiore too so here’s there analysis-

Rook: The knight

I definitely didn’t want to fall into the trap of thinking he was the rook just because of his name. But thinking on it, he definitely fits a knight - at least from what we know of him so far.

For overall Knight symbolism: The knight represents the professional soldier of medieval times whose job it was to protect persons of rank, and there are two of them per each side in a game of chess. Knights in a game of chess are more important than pawns, but less important than bishops, kings, or queens. Their purpose in the game of chess is to protect the more important pieces, and they can be sacrificed to save those pieces just as pawns can.

The Knight might not be the most powerful or most willing to follow his leader around, but its skillset makes it unique. Their eccentricities allow them to succeed, often passing over much more talented Bishops.

The knight can also represent Divine Law, which everyone has to take in account for their actions.

NOW WILL SMITH ARMS TO ROOK HIMSELF.

I can definitely see him as being a knightly figure not just because of how he acts on his own but how he acts with Vil specifically. He’s not an adviser of any kind like Ruggie, Vil even states in Jade’s SSR that Rook could be a better Vice Leader. But he’s also not like Jack and rushes ahead without thinking. out of the three pieces in the back row that aren’t the royalty, he fits the knight the best.

Not to mention I feel like the ‘protect the more important pieces’ fits Rook aswell as he proves to be very loyal to Vil and very proud of being a pomefiore dorm member - he would do anything for this dorm.

The knights of society are also people who are only really good at one thing - and Rook has a specialty for hunting. Even to the point of kind of being stalkerish, as seen in his Lab Coat SR and Jade’s PE uniform R. Also “ Their eccentricities allow them to succeed, often passing over much more talented Bishops. “ Him getting the jump on Ruggie a lot of the time would like literally translate to this and I didn’t mean for that to happen but it did.

When it comes to ‘divine law’ I’m just kind of connecting that to Rook being a hunter aswell. He knows the boundaries / laws of hunting and while he sometimes pushes those boundaries (like with Malleus and insulting him during Rooks PE uniform story) he doesn’t cross them because he knows the chain of command / circle of life if you will - laugh track -

With the above point, the knight’s overall moveset is fitting to Rook as well. The knight moves in an L shaped patter and is able to easily skip over lines of defense / offense to get where it needs to go. The knight is the ONLY PIECE that can actually jump over other pieces.

Rook is good at figuring out strategies, getting around rules and just barely touching the lines of being too invasive. Rook is a hunter, clever and patient, and with a knight’s moveset he can go back and forth between enemy lines and not - planning an angle and slipping in when he sees an opportunity.

Vil: The Queen

AGAIN ANOTHER OBVIOUS ONE- and this one will be kind of short as we don’t know a lot on Vil just yet (or at least I don’t, I haven’t read much of his card stories).

Vil obviously has status and power. The way he’s able to get the monstro lounge tons of customers without even knowing it - all by posting one picture with a hashtag? He becomes ambassadors for certain fashion brands, he keeps up with being a dorm leader, and giving practically his entire dorm etiquette lessons? Like shit this dude never slows down.

The Queens of society are often the closest to being in command, and arguably work the hardest. Considering Pomefiore was specifically advertised as a dorm that’s very foundation is ‘hard work’, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that Vil is the queen in this situation.

and cracks knuckles theory time - if Vil overblots it’s gonna be BAD cause i mean - what happens when you lose your queen in a chess match?? You lose the most powerful piece on the board and a lot of your other pieces are sitting ducks. So yeah Vil overblotting is gonna be TERRIFYING that’s all I can say.

Epel: The pawn

Another small blurb but I just wanna say that being the pawn isn’t a bad thing!!

The pawn can represent a few different things - from everyday workers and laborers to simply how we are everyday - our attitudes and how we present ourselves. Both of these things are present within Epel, him coming from the countryside and mentioning farming and not to mention that he puts on a bit of a mask infront of everyone else.

The pawn has the ability to become another piece on the board and I think that there’s that kind of potential for Epel too. He is struggling a bit with self image (which could be represented by the board itself as well - inner and outer self), but I think he has room to grow and I’m honestly pretty excited to see what the pomefiore chapter does with his character tbh.

OKAY I’LL STOP WITH THE EXPLANATIONS THERE BUT HERE’S A LIST OF WHAT CHARACTERS FROM OTHER DORMS I THINK FIT WHAT PIECE AND IF SOMEONE WANTS ME TO GO INTO DETAIL ON THEM I CAN LATER-

Heartslabyul:

Riddle: Queen / King kind of a toss up Trey: Bishop Cater: Knight Deuce: Rook Ace: Pawn

Ocatvinelle:

Azul: King Jade: Knight or Bishop Floyd: Rook

Scarabia:

Kalim: King Jamil: Knight

Ignihyde:

Idia: King Ortho: Pawn

Diasomnia:

Mal: Queen / King toss up again Lilia: Leaning towards Knight Silver: Pawn or Knight Sebek: Rook

[easilydistractedbyfanfic]

You think Shiedheda will go after Raven to hurt Murphy in the near future?

Hi! Happy prequel day! I know not everybody is excited about this ep but mannnn I cannot resist the LORE behind this show! So I am looking forward to tonight! I hope you are too!

Been trying to think about this situation a little more, but ultimately - YES.

Last week, right after the ep, I posted some immediate thoughts that you can read here if you missed it. In it, I said that the chess game between Sheidheda and Murphy seemed to really be foreshadowing what could happen. Murphy plays very early with a move called the Queen’s Gambit (same as the ep title), and it’s a risky choice, putting his queen in danger - which we know was literally happening in the ep as well, because Em0ri was in danger because Murphy made the choice to play chess to begin with instead of going to her party. Of course, he didn’t KNOW this was Sheidheda’s goal and he was absolutely manipulated right into doing exactly what Sheidheda wanted.

During the game, we don’t know it at the time and neither does Murphy, but Sheidheda is deliberately drawing the game out. There is a move Sheidheda makes that isn’t especially aggressive and Murphy says “You could have taken my castle.” Sheidheda then replies “Oh, I’ll get it soon enough.” and I don’t know, maybe some of you heard me scream at that line! LOL!

Because “castle” is an older chess name for the ROOK piece. And rooks are also a name for ravens/crows. Castles=rooks=ravens=Raven. There’s already been a lot of chess speculation in fandom that Raven as a character may represent the rook piece anyway, but now IMHO, it’s pretty much a given for me based on these few lines.

In addition, there is a helluva lot of subtext happening during this game. Kudos to JR & Richard for this scene, seriously. Sheidheda TELLS Murphy something bad is about to happen from his (Murphy’s) perspective, and insinuates that Sanctum’s queen (clearly Em0ri) is enjoying the role of being on a pedestal - enjoying being WORSHIPPED. We’ve already seen hints of this in both this ep and previous eps and Sheidheda’s comment tells the audience that he is not only aware of what Em0ri has been doing/saying, but he knows it’s a comment that will get to Murphy. And it does, because Murphy then tries to put the focus on Sheidheda instead.

Listen - y’all know I’m not interested in Memoraven. I’m just NOT. There’s been no evidence whatsoever in any season that Raven & Em0ri are attracted to each other or want anything beyond friendship, and anyway, I think Raven deserves to be picked first and I don’t like the idea of her coming into something that’s been established for years. I will never think that’s fair to her. However - I can absolutely see how Memoraven fans could take this conversation from Sheidheda as foreshadowing too - like... uhhhhh, wow, dilf demon (stole this term off a lovely twitter and now it’s how I think of Russheda in my head oops) really did tell Murphy that he knows it must be hard to settle for one woman when he could really have as many as he wanted as a god. And note that Murphy does NOT say he’s not interested in that - he says “you don’t know Em0ri” like the only reason he doesn’t have more than one partner (girl OR guy, IMHO) is because that’s her choice, not his. The insinuation here, good lordt.

Sheidheda wants Murphy’s queen and his castle aka he’s going after Em0ri and Raven - this is ESTABLISHED in the chess game as far as I’m concerned. Sheidheda takes Murphy’s queen piece in another move on the board AND we know that Em0ri is captured in the ep as well. Sheidheda also says to Murphy that how he will respond to the LOSS of his queen will tell him (dilf demon) whether Murphy is a leader or a follower. Murphy objects, saying he’s neither, and Sheidheda immediately scoffs & labels him as a REBEL. Then there’s all kinds of more subtext about Murphy’s motivations and Murphy makes another move and takes dilf demon’s piece and Sheidheda comments that its an avenging move and predictable, and how chess is about strategy and choices blah blah. Anyway I recommend watching it all again, it’s hot. LOL.

Also, I know there has been a great gifset done of that last awesome transition (yay Lindsey) by @wolfheartgirl where she shows how Em0ri the person is placed on the chess board and what ramifications this position has based on Murphy & Sheidheda’s other pieces. I will reblog that gifset after I post this.

But in my VERY typical VERY wordy way - oh heck yeah, I think Sheidheda is holding a grudge against Raven. Don’t forget that scene in s5 where Murphy, Abby, Raven, Em0ri, Jackson, Miller, Gaia and Madi are all locked in the Sanctum jail and Raven’s putting some puzzle pieces together about the commanders in Madi’s head and Sheidheda is literally saying to Madi don’t tell HER anything. He KNOWS Raven is a threat to him, and it’s Raven who takes out the Flame. I don’t know if Sheidheda knows all the details but Raven has been closely linked to Becca throughout the series and I think there have been some hints in canon that Becca in the Flame was one of the things that could have been holding Sheidheda back before now. We know the Flame has been degrading over time. Lots of spec on that but I don’t think it’s out of line for Sheidheda to want Raven specifically OUT of the game.

IMHO I hope Raven gets back to Sanctum in 7x09 for this to start unraveling!

Thanks for the ask, friend! What do YOU think??