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[toonurturing]

When; Wednesday, the 25th, all day
Rating; various
Characters; OPEN
Summary;
Day 2: Clubs clubs clubs! They want you to join! Honor societies, sororities, fraternities, geek campaigns, magic circles, everyone's got something to offer and they want you to join their ranks...if you're good enough anyway

Comments

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[The table and scrawled sign--"WESTERBERG HIGH CHESS CLUB"--hardly constitute a booth. There is a sign-up sheet and a chess set on the table. Behind the table is Justin, hunched over a book and making no effort whatsoever to encourage people to join.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[It didn't start out as a rhetorical question, but the elaboration was certainly unnecessary. As Rudy captures his piece and--yet again--calls him Harold, he has to work to maintain a neutral facial expression. This great exercise in self-control makes his eye twitch.

Justin surveys the board critically for a moment, regaining his concentration. He won't correct Rudy. He won't respond to Rudy. He'll just move.

And he does.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

[There. Setbacks handled, Rudy is free to resume his strategy and moves accordingly, shifting another piece into place. For all his aggression and hatred, Justin is admittedly a good player, and he is undoubtedly closing in on Rudy's board position. It's the sort of game that Rudy likes the best--the ones with pressure involved, where his opponent pushes back as hard as he pushes himself.

The trouble is always the follow-through. His opponent's strategy is sound, that much is obvious. And if the game were to go on long enough, he would stand an excellent chance of victory. Unfortunately, Rudy has no intention of letting it go on that long.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[Justin moves carefully, somewhat unnerved by Rudy's silence. It's welcome, of course, but it's unusual. It seems ominous.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

[You did ask him to please stop talking, y'know. He's only being sporting. ...For the moment.]

How many moves has it been?

[Despite the question, Rudy does not look up from the chessboard; his eyes flicker over the board, quietly calculating moves and countermoves several turns over. It's not as though the question really matters, since Rudy knows exactly how many it's been. He merely wants to see if Justin has been counting, too.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

Eighteen.

[Wait. He can't remember if he counted the moves Rudy made when he was playing solo.]

Something like that.

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

[He nods slightly; the number is accurate next to his own count, even if the confidence with which he says it makes a sharp contrast to Justin's added statement of uncertainty. Eighteen. That means this next move will be nineteen, which is sufficient enough. Twenty is a nice round number to beat.]

Eighteen. In that case...

[Swiftly, he reaches for his queen and strikes, making the one move he's just spent the past eighteen preparing for.]

Checkmate.

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[Justin stares, surprise shifting to denial and, quickly, to baffled dismay. That wasn't supposed to happen. He hadn't even seen it coming! And to be beaten by Rudy Miller, of all people...]

What did you do?

[Besides win, of course, because surely there was a trick. He was counting the moves! Did he have that move planned the whole time? Was he toying with Justin? He grabs his defeated black king, fist clenching around the piece angrily. More softly, but with an undercurrent of anger that he can't quite mask, Justin adds:]

What was that?

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

I put you in check, in such a way that you cannot prevent me from taking your king on my next move.

[He says this very patiently, not quite the way a parent would explain a difficult concept to a naive child, but with a similar sort of soothing tone.]

It's called checkmating the opponent. Hence why I said "Checkmate" after I did it.

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[That's it. Justin impulsively tosses the king aside and, with a speed that he can never manage to summon in gym class, punches Rudy squarely in the face.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

[It's the element of surprise, more than the actual blow, that sends Rudy reeling back from the table, his hands inadvertently coming up to cover his nose as an explosion of pain begins to radiate from beneath his skin. He manages to remain standing, at least--small consolation--but already he can feel the slick sensation of blood against his fingers.

How does one respond to a punch in the face? By all rights and social norms, he ought to be retaliating. But instead he fixes Justin with a withering look that could freeze molten steel, and readies himself in case of a second attack. Justin may have gotten one lucky hit in, but he won't be so fortunate the second time.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[Justin is just as surprised as Rudy, as he doesn't typically go about punching people. In fact, that was a first. And he thinks he may have done it wrong because that sort of hurt his hand.]

Sorry...

[He immediately backs down, retrieving the discarded king and setting the chess board back in order.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

Sorry.

[Rudy drops his hands from his face and regards the blood streaked across the palms with a look of pure contempt that only increases when he finally turns it to Justin.]

So it seems you're as pathetic at losing gracefully as you are at everything else. Good to know.

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[absinthe_eyed]

[The insult stings, but all of Justin's carefully stored energy and emotion was used up in that punch. He glances up at Rudy briefly--long enough to note, with no satisfaction, that the other boy has made a rare facial expression--and then returns his attention to the chessboard.]

Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[chessmastering]

[And that is Rudy's cue to go seek medical attention. Because ow. That was his face.]

Re: Open // Westerberg High // Chess Club Booth // Afternoon

[yesimagenius]

[Spencer approaches Justin at his table with a great deal of trepidation. He is small even for a 12 year old, has thick glasses and his hair is fairly unkempt--too long, a bit wavy.]

Do you actually play?