User blog:Promestein/Starcross - SOLSTICE and Ceres Play Chess

“I’ll take the white side!” Ceres says, and Alice narrows her eyes. Is she trying for first-move advantage? Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I’ll crush her either way. Ceres positions herself comfortably in the seat across from Alice, turning around the chess so that the white side faces her. A pawn on Alice’s side falls over, knocking a few other pieces over, and Alice sets them back up.

“Fine,” she says, straightening up in her seat and crossing her arms. “We’ll alternate after this, though.” The Solar Drive is burning with anticipation, adrenaline flooding through her veins. She taps her foot against the ground, looking at Ceres with as much of a poker face as she can manage. How will she start? Where will she go? Alice is already forming counter strategies for every possible movement, even the most unlikely.

The anticipation is making this more and more unbearable - the hotter the Solar Drive burns, the more her perception speeds up, until she feels Ceres move micrometre by fucking micrometre. Every movement feels like a fucking century. Alice forces herself to calm down, slowing down her perception to something more like Ceres’.

Ceres lifts her arm, and calmly moves a pawn forwards one square.

f3.

What? That was far from the best way to start a game. In fact, this was pretty abysmal. Ceres had just given up her first-turn advantage. This was a waste of a turn, really. And Ceres had done it with such deliberate confidence. Alice looks at her, carefully, chewing on her tongue, before back down at the gameboard. Of course, this was but one possibility she had accounted for, but - she had never thought that Ceres would be this impossibly stupid.

That’s because she’s not this impossibly stupid.

Maybe she wasn’t the best when it came to strategy, or maybe she didn’t know that much about chess, but she’s not stupid. It’s very unlikely that this was anything but completely deliberate. Heat builds up in Alice’s chest, more excitement spilling out. Is she deliberately playing bad to try and confuse her? Or is she - the thought makes Alice’s stomach churn - deliberately throwing the game? It’d be easy, from here, to move into a turn two checkmate.

But how does she respond? She could move towards that two-turn checkmate, but - if it’s deliberate, where’s the satisfaction there? Then again, it doesn’t matter. If Ceres is throwing the game she’ll play awfully the entire time, and all of Alice’s carefully considered movements will mean jackshit against someone who wants to lose. And winning is winning, right? If it isn’t deliberate… well, the best move is the same regardless.

Alice is just about to move her piece when Ceres speaks up. “Taking an awful long time there, SOLSTICE. Is my impeccable strategy throwing you off?” Alice closes her eyes and takes a breath as energy flares through her body, rage trickling into her thoughts. She manages to keep her mouth shut and not respond, and then she moves her pawn forwards.

e5. This would free up her queen and kingside bishop. From there, she could move into a position to checkmate if possible. And, if not, well, this wasn’t the most awful thing to do anyways. There are ways to move that aren’t garbage from here on both ends, even if this start may as well be the equivalent of tripping and breaking your knee at the start of a dance recital. For Ceres, of course. Not for Alice.

Ceres immediately makes her move and it takes all of Alice’s self-control not to snap the board in half and tear her head from her shoulders.

''Are you fucking kidding me? G fucking four?''

This had been a possibility from the start, of course, and Alice had briefly considered it among everything else. As it had become more possible, she had given it more thought, but for it to actually happen was - this was inconceivable. Ceres had, in two moves, with the utmost confidence, thrown away any chance for victory.

This was the two-turn fucking checkmate.

It’d be easy. All she has to do is move her queen to h4. And then, Ceres would lose. But what the fuck is this!? This is most definitely deliberate. All Alice has to do to verify that is look at Ceres’ stupid fucking face, to see an absolutely awful shit-eating grin.

This is an insult. Alice had been looking forward to this, the chance to be challenged by someone truly intelligent without any chance for bloodshed, but - Ceres ruined everything. Her perception is slowing again. This time, she’s grateful, because it gives her the chance to stand up and throw her chair at the wall with a scream. Ceres won’t know, it’s happening in a timeframe too small for her to perceive.

Stupid fucking - Alice kicks a hole in the wall, clawing at her scalp and growling insults under her breath. It doesn’t make her feel any better. When she puts the chair and the wall back into one piece and lets herself fall back into her chair, she’s just left with the question of what the fuck do I do now? She grinds her thumbnail between her front teeth and scowls at the board.

The obvious answer is win.

Ceres may be spitting in her face, but a victory is a victory. Even if she can take no satisfaction in it. And if she prolongs the game, Ceres will only continue to insult her like this. So, really, that’s the only answer. Alice sighs, and moves her queen into position without any enthusiasm.

As soon as the queen is in place, Ceres raises her arms and fucking claps. “Congratulations, SOLSTICE,” she says, voice dry and devoid of any legitimate emotion, “You’ve proven your genius. You really are the superior intellect.” Alice clenches her fists, accidentally crushing the top of the queen in the process. She puts it back together before Ceres can perceive it, and grunts in response as she begins putting away her chess set.

Ceres doesn’t say anything.

She just sits there and smirks.

I hate you so fucking much.