ArchivedLogs:Chess Match

Chess Match
Dramatis Personae Heather and Paige
In Absentia	2017-03-16 Also known as that time when Paige was woken up and challenged to a chess match over who would get to use the bed for an hour without knowing the stakes.
Location <NYC> {Teamhaus} - Harbor Commons - Lower East Side
The right side opens up to a modern kitchen with cherry wood cabinets and steel countertops forming a corner against the close and right walls. This cooking area is fitted with modern appliances, among them being an over-the-counter microwave, a dishwasher, an electric stove, a refrigerator, and an oven. Opposite the kitchen is the dining room, accessed by a pair of narrow French doors. Walls of frosted glass panes, framed by stained wood and a diagonal slat slanting downwards towards the doors, separate the area from the rest of the unit. Long, vertical wooden boards stained dark comprise the rest of the walls in the unit. A small hallways leads from the entrance towards the back with a closet on the left and a bathroom on the right. Although the rest of the unit has beautiful hardwood flooring, the bathroom floor is tiled. It has the usual porcelain fixtures - a sink, a bathtub, a toilet - but also contains a separate shower stall made of steel and glass. On the left of the hallway is a closet containing a decent amount of storage space along with a washing machine and dryer. The hallway ends as it began, opening up into the same layout as the entrance, though flipped. To the right is the bedroom, concealed by the same frosted glass walls as the dining room with a single door of the same fashion as the walls. The left side holds a living room. Curtained windows along the back wall allow light to stream into the area. It is early evening, and Heather is just returning from her latest trip to the thrift store. She turns up the volume on her recorder and lifts it above her head for better projection: "Paige. Paige.I need you. Come to me." She puts the recorder down on the table and then starts rummaging through her bags, removing the clothing that are contained within before her fingers find their way to a magnetic checkers and chess set. This is put down on the table right next to her recorder. With that all being done with, she quickly checks around for evidence of her roommate, not having bothered to so much as glance around prior. There's a grumble, then a thud, before the door to the bedroom nearly bursts open and Paige stumbles out of it. "I'm awake!" She looks a little disheveled and somewhat groggy as she blinks a few times while looking down the hallway towards her roommate. "I didn't mean to fall asleep -- I just -- the bed was so warm and I was up late and the sheets and I just fell asleep. I'm sorry -- what do you need? Do you need me to cook something? Just give me a minute to ... wake up." As she makes her way towards Heather, the horned girl eyes the bags and the chess set with a curious glance as her ears twitch. "Games?" "Good morning then. I still have a sandwich for eating. If you don't wish to cook." Heather nods rapidly at Paige's question. "It is very good value. On this side you can play chess or checkers." She opens it to dump out the pieces on the table, flipping it to the other side, "But also backgammon. Great value. It is like I bought three sets but I only bought one. Thrifty." Once she is done congratulating herself, she sets up both sides with blurry hands, setting all the checker stand-ins in place. While she does this, the recorder continues: "Do you want to play checkers or chess?" The goat girl's ears flick up as she pauses in a reach to open a cabinet. "Oh. That--that's good. I wasn't sure what to cook. What time is it anyways?" She directs her gaze to the digital display on the microwave. "Oh. Only a -few- hours then. I guess -- I guess that's better than sleeping all day." This conversation appears to be mainly between Paige and herself. Turning to face Heather again, she nods in agreement. "Very thrifty. I suppose --" at this point, she rubs at the inner corners of her eyes "--chess would be best. Checkers sounds a bit boring and I'm not--not awake enough for backgammon." "Yes. Not sleeping all day is recommended. If you sleep all day you will be awake for none of it," plays Heather, sounding like she's considering herself quite reasonable for saying so. She re-arranged the board, placing down the chess pieces in the correct place, and then turning the board so that both players are looking down the folded crease, the pieces to the left and right hand side of the magnetic toy. "You can choose if you are white or black. And I will be black or white. Do you know chess?" Although she has been sharing the unit with Heather for some time now, Paige still has a mystified look of awe on her face as she watches the fast girl arrange the pieces so quickly and nods along with her words of wisdom. "I know chess. I mean, I've -played- chess before, you know? Like as a kid." The horned girl gives an exaggerated blink, screwing her eyes shut for a moment before opening them again and shaking her head slightly. "Like five years ago or something? It's been a while. I usually played with my mom and dad more than my brother. I'm--I'm afraid I won't be much of a challenge, but I'll be...black." Paige sits herself down on one of the chairs taken from their friend's old apartment. "Who goes first?" "White makes the first move. But you do not always have to follow the rules of chess," says Heather, nodding a few times, "But we are agreeing to. So we are going to follow them. So I go first." She advances the queen's pawn. "I sometimes played chess with my parents. We had a giant chess board. I like games like chess. There is no chance. You can imagine all the possibilities. If you have that much imagination. I do not have quite that much imagination." Paige's eyes flick to Heather's face at the mention of the other girl's parents. She bites her lip as her roommate opens and her gaze quickly darts back down to the board. She picks up her knight on the left side, rolling it around in one hand as the other clenches at her side. She seems to be lost in thought for a small moment before she places the piece down, jumping over her pawns. Once Paige's focus returns to the topics at hand, the corners of her mouth rise to form a small grin. "I don't think I have that much -brainspace- all together. I doubt my imagination could ever hope to cover that many possibilities." "Not a lot of people have so much brainspace. I think it takes a mutant brain to have all that space," plays Heather as she makes her move in reply, advancing another pawn. She gestures towards her head and says, "I'm good at thinking things through. I got better at some games than my dad. He did not like that very much." While her recorder still plays, she looks down to her phone screen, answering a few texts with rapid taps. Again, Paige's eyes study Heather's face when she speaks about her parents, though it is unclear what she expects to see with her roommate's rapid expressions. "Why...why didn't he like that?" she asks, venturing hesitantly before looking down at the board to advance a pawn on the other side of her pieces. Her ears give a flick at the tapping and her brow furrows a bit. "Is your phone keeping you busy?" It's not accusative or said with any negative tone, more poorly-concealed curiosity than anything else. With Heather's goggles on over her eyes, it's difficult to make out even the flickers of expression that she does make. "He likes being the smartest. And the strongest. And the best. He does not like when he is not. Or when other people are." She puts her phone on the table once she reviews the audio and shakes her head. "Just some texts from clients. Quick questions. Sometimes they have them. I have quick answers." "Well, I don't mind if you're better than me...or stronger or smarter," Paige comments as she takes a brief moment to consider her next move and then moving another one of her pieces, idle hand continuing to clench by her waist. "And I'm sure your answers are the quickest," she adds with a wry smile, looking up again. "Probably quicker than their questions, too. I'm sorry that...I'm sorry that your dad sounds like an asshole...and I'm glad you didn't turn out the same." "I am not very strong. So I do not think that is a worry," plays Heather, pursing her lips a bit at Paige's comment. "You do not get along with your parents either. I am probably a lot like my dad. And then not like in other ways." She makes her move almost immediately when Paige does, making a capture. "He has a lot of imagination. Like me but different." Ears wilting and shoulder slumping at the mention of her own parents, the horned girl gives a sigh. This is then followed by a slightly different sigh when her pawn is captured - apparently she did not see that coming. She appears to spend a little more time reviewing the board and her choices while speaking. "My parents. Mai told me to pretend they were dead. She said it would be easier for me that way. I--I'm not sure that she was wrong. It's...it's almost been six months, did you know?" The question is asked when the goat girl looks up at Heather again, a pained expression on her face. "Six months with them not knowing where I went. Six months without seeing or talking to them or getting to say I love you." As she picks up one of her pieces to move it, her face is quite red beneath the fur. "Six months." This last part comes out somewhat choked. "Six months," repeats Heather, thoughtfully. "I did not know. Six months can be a long long time. Many things happen in that much time. My sympathies. It is hard when you love and hate your parents." She reaches into her messenger bag to produce the sandwich that she talked about earlier, glancing up to move one of the pieces before unwrapping. "They do not know where you are at all?" "Yeah, and six months my time is two and a half years your time," Paige remarks with a hint of annoyance and bitterness, perhaps directed at herself, as her ears press back. She eyes the pieces on the board, opening and clenching both hands before letting out a sigh while some of the tension eases out of her body. "But thank you." Moving one of the black chess figures, she continues. "And, no, they don't know where I am. At least I don't think they do. I mean, I guess I really hope they don’t. I think that'd for the best, you know? They wouldn't -- they wouldn't have to see how -- they wouldn't have to see what a failure I am. So it's good. It's a good thing. They'd hate the ears and the horns anyways. And the fur and the hooves. It's better this way, right? I just--I just miss them. My mom's birthday is in two days and this will be the first year I'm missing it. It just perfectly coincides -- -coincided- with my school's spring break. It's just...I can't even send her a card, you know? I don't know what Ryan told them. Maybe I don't want to know." The fingers on her left hand pick at the thumb. "But it's okay. I'm dealing with it. How is...how is living here? From what you've told me, I'm guessing you might not miss home all that much?" “It is okay to miss them. Even if it is also not a good feeling. And that they make you feel bad now,” offers Heather in the way of comfort. She replies to Paige’s move with her own, leaving a piece apparently vulnerable. But it is a trap! “Living here is okay. It feels more like home than most other places I have been. It feels like more than half a year for me. I feel respected. Maybe not understood all the time. But that is okay. I miss home some. My original home. I think because I liked how things moved like me. I took it for granted. I do not take it for granted anymore.” She taps the side of her head a couple of times lightly. “It is something that I learned. To not take good things that seem not to matter for granted.” While the longer message plays, she devours her sandwich and answers a couple other texts, only pausing at the moment she was tapping on her head. Paige seems rather fidgety as Heather's recording plays, moving to capture Heather's piece, likely not recognizing the set-up as a trap. As she takes the piece off the board, she begins worrying it in her hand as she stares at it with an entranced gaze. A few moments pass before she appears to snap out, eyes darting up to Heather as she brings her hands together, still holding the captured enemy. Offering a soft smile to her roommate, she says, "I am glad it feels like home here. It is--it is difficult to get used to, but I am doing my best." Here she bows her head to the other mutant. "Much better than where I was before. Thank you. I used to take so much for granted and I guess there is still so much that I do." The goat girl spares a glance back down at her hands prior to looking up again. "I ... I am sorry that you do not feel understood. That---is there anything I can do better to make you feel more understood? “Taking things for granted is easier than not,” plays Heather, “To be thankful for something is an action. I am thankful I have a physical body. But most take it for granted.” She offers a bit of a shrug before making her counter-attack on the board, taking the knight and announcing, “Check.” She taps her fingers lightly against the table, peering down at them through the tinted lenses of her goggles. “I think it would be hard to feel understood. I like the people here. We found and adopted a great art face. I like you. I like not being on my own. I do not know if I understand other people though. So I do not know how to feel understood.” Paige furrows her brow as Heather captures her knight, momentarily holding the white piece she took earlier in a single hand as she moves a piece to block the check. Her ears flick up, then back at her roommate’s words. "I, uh, like you too. But what...great...art...face?" However, her confused look soon fades into realization. "Oh! You mean your boat! The one you found by the, uh, river. Right." This last bit is confirmed with a small, sharp nod and her hands come together again. "We could, you know, work on that understanding other people part." The goat girl offers a shrug. "I don't know, you seem to be pretty good with me and you've got all those people you're tutoring. I guess it's kind of impossible to really feel one-hundred percent understood all of the time, but we could give it a shot? You like writing, right? Maybe we could, I don't know, like share stories or something? Just don't expect any masterpieces from me or anything." "Yes. I mean the boat. It is perfect. It's not my boat though," plays Heather, considering the board for a few moments. She makes her move, trying to press her advantage. She shrugs and says, "If you want to read my writing you can. I am sure that one of my notebooks is around. You can pick it up and read the words in it." She idly undoes some hair tangles and shrugs slightly, "If you do not like writing stories then reading your stories will not help understand you. The people I tutor are easy because I just need to explain true things to them." "That's because you like the colors, right?" Paige replies with a small chuckle to Heather's recording. Ears flick up and return to an idling position as she takes in the changed board. "I thought your notebooks would be private. I don't -- I don't really go around snooping in other peoples' stuff so thanks for letting me know, I guess. It'd be nice to have something to read what with the weather outside and being a mutant and all," she states, grinning as she looks her roommate in the goggles. "And, no, I'm pretty rubbish at writing stories, you know? Like making up characters and plots? I'm shit at it. But I thought I'd offer. Just trying to figure out if there's anything I can do like I said." With this, the goat girl's eyes return to the playing field, advancing a pawn to threaten one of Heather's pieces. "I like the colours. And I like the look. I like that someone made it. I wonder what the person who made it was thinking. I sometimes write 'private' on the cover of books. Or I keep things that are secret with me," explains Heather once she reviews her recording. She squints slightly at the board, making a move that threatens one of Paige's more valuable pieces, but doesn't put her own out of harm's way. "I write a lot of text so if you look through my notebooks on the bookshelf you will have a lot of material. I will try to keep in mind that I have an audience to consider in future installments." The goat girl hesitates, eyeing the board, and then moves to capture Heather's piece with her pawn. She rolls this one around in her fingers for a few moments before placing it down next to the chess set. Her ears twitch as she continues to listen to the recording while she looks down at the enemy she had first taken while she worries it in her hand. "I will, uh -- Thank you. I will try my best not to, you know...uh" Paige's brows furrow slightly as if she is dealing with an unusual thought. "...eat your...notebooks. It's just...very tempting at times. To eat things. Not just your notebooks. Thank you." After another couple of seconds pass, she manages to tear her eyes off the object she's holding. "We could, uh, try making things? Like that boat. You say that you like that someone made it. Would you like making something like that yourself?" "Yes. Do not eat my notebooks. They are precious to me. If you feel inclined to chew them I would ask you to put them down. If you must, the last few pages I leave blank." While this plays, Heather studies the board and then makes the capture that she was threatening to. She taps her fingers a few times on the table again and then continues, "My hands break things easily. I have to be very careful to pet animals. Or to do delicate work. I am not suited for that." "I mean if it's something you're interested in, we could work on it together. You could do the more...bigger stuff and I could do the delicate parts - I don't know," Paige offers with a shrug as she advances her pawn further towards the enemy lines. "Just a thought, you know? And yeah...I just--it's, well, it can get really frustrating. My brain fucking around with me, that is, but it's dealable." The furred mutant's brows furrow and the expression on her face looks a bit tired. "I'm sorry about your hands, though. That--that's rough. Do we need to get more heavy-duty stuff? Like kitchen utensils or glassware or shit? I don't know. I guess that's a stupid question since you've never really broken anything. Sorry. Just thoughts." "I used the plastic cups. I am not strong. It is just momentum problems. So if I clasp my hand too fast it is like a fast squeeze," plays Heather, offering a little bit of a shrug. "I am usually careful though. But with fine work. It is hard to be so careful." Another move, with the identical "Check" message played. "Heavy duty is better though. That is why I use a heavy duty recorder. And a ruggedized phone case. Anyways. It is fine. Have you talked to anyone about your mind?" Even while frowning at Heather's move, the wince on Paige's face is visible and her ears wilt. "N-No. I've been -- I've been thinking about it. I mean, I -intend- to talk to someone, but also, like, it's my mind?" The inflection at the end of this statement makes her words sound quite uncertain. "I just...don't know. Sometimes I think I don't need the help, right? But other times it's really tough." She glances down to the piece still in her hands and finally places it on the table, her hand stiffly, reluctantly releasing it. Her right ear gives a twitch as she moves her king out of the way. "I guess I'm still scared to talk about it. Help could be useful, but I -- I don't always like telepathy, you know? It's just..." The blonde girl trails off, working her jaw a bit. Heather looks at the board, spending awhile longer contemplating than before, then she plays, "Mate in two." She gives a small and quick shrug of her shoulders in response to Paige and says, "I do not like telepathy. It hurts my mind. But I do not mind if it is not hurting. When Hive made feelings it was fine. But words are hard. Like for a moment the words become me." She shakes her head and then says, "But needing help is okay. Sometimes I need help. And sometimes you need help. And sometimes we are not the right ones to help each other. In particular circumstances." "Wait, what do you mean 'mate in two'?" Paige asks, ears flicking up and sounding rather surprised at this piece of information as she scans the board. It takes less than a minute before she lets out a sigh, apparently admitting defeat. "I wouldn't expect us to be able to help each other with everything, especially with what I'm dealing with. And I know I can't help you with everything since I'm usually asleep for more than an entire day of yours. It’s just…-telepaths-.” She pauses for a moment to rub at her temples. “But just let me know if you ever need help with something, alright? I figure being you must be pretty difficult, you know? So just let me know," the horned mutant concludes with a shrug. "Mate in two means that the end is inevitable," plays Heather in explanation, "And being me is fine. There is nobody else to be so I may as well be me. Sometimes I need help is all." She stands up and zips towards the cupboard to get a cup of water, seeming impatient while the water falls into the container. "I am going to sleep for an hour. Please wake me up if I am not back out in an hour and fifteen. I will let you know if I require anything." With the cup of water in hand, she zips back to the sleeping space, placing her cup on the end table. Paige gives a small grumble once she is told the game is essentially over. "I think you're the only one who -could- be you," she replies with a slightly amused tone. She glances towards the clock on the microwave after Heather speeds off and then turns her attention back to the terminated chess match. A minute passes while she stares intently at the plastic figurines on before her hands clench tightly. Hastily, she picks up as many as she can a time and returns them to their box along with the folded board. The goat girl stands up from her place at the table, heading off towards the living room.