Valencia Square king in check

It was never quiet out at the chess tables in the good weather. It hadn't exactly been perfect, but it had been warm, and that meant plenty of older folk out keeping their minds agile while filling their lungs with fresh air. Or as fresh as it could get in the middle of a sprawling urban landscape. Giant chess was good exercise for the oldies. Decent for getting young ones into the game, because who doesn't love to walk huge castles across a huge set of squares?

Dominic didn't usually play big chess unless he was cheerleading for a more frail oldie and moving pieces as they saw fit. So as the sun began to dip below the horizon and the lamps overhead buzzed to life, the young man sat at a table staring down at the precarious position he'd put himself in. A bishop on one side waiting to claim the king. A rook on the other. It wasn't quite checkmate, but he couldn't quite see a clean way to get out of it, and nor did his opponent have the luxury of escaping his queen or his bishop. Stalemate, then?

There was no one in the seat across.

It had been a few hours since someone had last played him. He had lost and been gracious about it, got up to walk around for a bit, then sat back down at the table to start afresh, playing only himself and hoping he had enough brain cells to make lone chess worth trying.

Only now he was stuck and too stubborn to look up strategies and too indecisive to make a move.

Was kind of beginning to feel like life in general lately. How did he end up here?

Waylin was antsy with the full moon right around the corner.

It wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that Vass was in his dead sleep, which left the shifter going out alone to stretch his legs. Valencia Square was only a short walk from his condo, and it was nice outside which meant he needed to take advantage before the fox decided they were too good to be people-ing. He was wearing a pair of black bootcut jeans that were torn at the knees, a black and white plaid button-up revealing a red heather undershirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a smartwatch on his left wrist.

It would be alright.

He's been outside countless times during the week of the full moon, and at least this time there were no fireworks to startle the animal out.

Waylin hummed, enjoying the sun on him while he meandered through the plaza when he spotted a lone person playing chess. He wasn't the greatest at it, but he knew enough to play and simply have fun. It was odd how sociable he felt currently, blaming it on Vass' charismatic personality on him. He'd need to let the vampire know that if there's anything he needed to do, he was free to do so - didn't want Vass to be cooped up for his territorial fox's sake.

"Knight to E5."

The quote slipped from Waylin's mouth before he realized he had stopped to look over the stranger's shoulder.

Damn, Harry Potter references especially when there is clearly no knight on the board.

"Uh... ignore that... you look like you're at a stalemate."

Knight to E5.

Dominic missed the reference but looked up at the stranger, blinking as if he might be able to extract some chess related wisdom from a very illegal move when all knights were currently out of play.

Stalemate.

Yep.

Sure was at one of those.

For months.

On his last inhale he paused. Holding his breath as if breathing was getting in the way of thinking, staring off past the guy who'd come to spectate the psychic's game against himself.

Knight to E5.

A long exhale, less a wispy sigh and more a tuneless whistle.

"Yeah, man."

He didn't look at the colour of the piece he brought back into play. Knight to E5.

It didn't offer anything interesting for at least another two turns, maybe.

"...I can just set up if you're looking to play."

Would it be smart to play a game of chess?

He did interrupt the poor fellow's stalemate of a game with his movie quote that clearly went over his head. It wasn't that bad of a day, and he had nothing more to do other than stretch his legs and hope for the best. The shifter shrugged, and moved to the opposite side of the chessboard.

"I'll be honest with you; it has been quite some time since I've played chess. I may not be that good at it."

Dude was joining him so even as he was insisting he probably wouldn't even be good at the game, Dom was already resetting the board, returning all the pieces to their starting points. Didn't get better unless you played, even against people who weren't that good.

Dom was alright at it.

"It'll probably start coming back to you, like riding a bike, right?" he offered, smiling lopsidedly. "You want black or white? White's supposed to start first because tradition or whatever but we can just flip a coin for it." Names, Dom. Introductions?

Nope, just play.

"Probably. Won't know unless we play."

Waylin straightened his back, spinning the board so black pieces were in his direction. He would let the other occupant go first, while a coin flip would be fine, he wasn't afraid to go secondary. With a hum, he helped straighten out the pieces on his side and picked up the knight. He rotated the horse piece between two fingers, feeling the shape and grooves while briefly going down memory lane to when his dad wood carved.

"Did you know the Persians called the knight 'asp' as well as the Arabs calling it 'faras' which both mean horse? It didn't become known as 'The Knight' until the game arrived in Europe turning into a game of royalty rather than battle. Then, because knights rode horses, the horse became known as 'The Knight' and it has stuck ever since."

The shifter set the piece back down on the board, leaning forward to indicate he was ready to play.

"You go first."

The stranger spun the board, giving himself the black pieces. Worked fine for Dom; he had no preference, especially if they were just going to flip for it. Straightening his pieces out to the pawns weren't sitting forward and drifting into their neighbouring squares, he let his gaze flicker between the task and the stranger, who was giving trivia about the knight. Honestly, Dom didn't really understand the trivia being described to him. Old civilisations called the pieces "horse", and then Europeans called it "knight", because something something royalty versus battle, but like. It was still a battle game, right? Monarchs versus monarchs? Dominic didn't really care what the pieces were called. For all he cared the king could be called the mallard and he would still play it the same. Still. Dude seemed pretty smart. Dom wasn't, and he knew he wasn't.

Given the gracious go-ahead to move first, Dominic shrugged. White first. Slight chance of a win just by the advantage of going first. More than possible to still have his ass handed to him by a dude who knew a lot about the pieces.

Dom didn't do anything weird or complicated. Classic opening move: king's pawn to E4.

"Nah, I didn't know that whole knight thing," he admitted, ignoring the timer at the side. They didn't need to do timed shit; easygoing chess game under the flickering streetlamps. "You like a historian or something?"

"Not a historian."

Waylin moved his queen's pawn to D5.

A simple move in retaliation to a starting move.

"I simply like facts."

Yes, Waylin may have a bachelor's degree and a master's in regard to criminal justice, but that didn't stop the shifter from studying everything else he could absorb. When one does a bunch of odd jobs to get cash, it helps to have an array of knowledge at one's disposal.

"I'm an investigator. You?"

Seemed a clumsy retaliation move to a novice, which Dominic wasn't, but he was pretty rusty of late. It was stupid to take the pawn practically offered to him and leave the king exposed, though.

Dude liked facts. Okay. Facts were... factual. Dom could get behind that. Being an investigator seemed to answer the unasked question of 'why', and the obvious follow up of 'well what DO you do?' as Dom opted to send the bishop's pawn to F3.

"Crochet. I have an online shop."

And other stuff, but that was the bit that brought in money, aside from being a dumb little sugar baby to a really cool vampire scholar.

"What do you investigate?"

"I investigate missing persons mainly, try to find closure for friends and families. However, I've done other odd jobs over the years like spying on other people that are willing to pay the prices. I don't put myself in situations I don't plan to be compensated for, nor do I turn down many jobs."

Waylin opted to move his King's pawn to E5.

"I could never crochet...I don't have the attention span for it. Kudos to those that do, and those that make it for profit."

While the shifter could easily sit for hours researching a case or a topic of interest, he couldn't pick up interests that don't stimulate the mind. He knew crafts weren't easy, but they were never his thing - it's also part of the reason he doesn't cook so much these days.

With a few uncertain blinks, Dom moved his pawn from E4 to D5, taking the first of his opponent's pawns.

Setting it to the side, he barely looked up from the board.

In a way they were kinda similar, only the detective-historian did his do-gooder biz for cold hard cash. One of those blunt straightforward types. Do what you're good at for the money. That kinda stuff. Too early to know for sure if he really vibed with that, but he seemed decent enough.

"Thanks, man," he murmured to the vague compliment offered, resting both arms on the edge of the chess table. "I could show you my shop if you want."

Did they even offer names yet?

"I'm Dom, by the way."

Nailed it.

"Sure! Never hurts to look at supporting small businesses."

Waylin accepted, not exactly knowing what he would do with crochet products...maybe pick something up for Byx or even Vass.

The shifter hadn't played in ages and here he was moving his Queen to take Dom's pawn that had just taken his own. He rolled the pawn in his hand, feeling the grooves before setting it to the side of the board, briefly glancing up at the man, "I'm Waylin. A pleasure to meet you."

Was it a pleasure?

He wasn't quite sure just yet, but he was enjoying the idea of completing a game of chess with someone who knew how to play.

Yeah, he should have seen the Queen coming into play.

Could be dangerous for a rusty player.

Devastating for a beginner who didn't know how to counter.

Dom looked over every one of his pieces in turn, trying to anticipate who he now knew to be Waylin's next move, wondering which he could sacrifice easy to gain the upper hand.

With uncertainty, he took the knight from G1 and moved it in front of his King at E2.

"You too, Waylin. Any kind of product or theme you're real interested in? I've made a lot of themed blankets."

Knights were in play.

He could do the same and took his Knight from B8 to C6 in front of his bishop's pawn.

"Mmm...foxes, perhaps...more specifically a cross fox plushie? Or, since you mentioned blankets, something that a ferret would like to curl up in. I have friends who keep pets that are always looking for things to spoil them with and ferrets tend to like to drag around nice fabrics."

Not necessarily a lie, but Waylin wasn't about to be talking about getting a vampire a plush of his fox form or a marten blanket to feel secure to some stranger. People, these days, are always buying stuff for their animals even items that make someone stop and wonder 'why?'. He doubted it would matter much for Dom since he'd be making money one way or another.

Well, that's what Waylin would like to believe anyway.

Almost every move he could make now felt weak. Like he might as well hand the game over - both Waylin's bishops were able to become mobile, so it was hard to think of pushing any more pawns out just yet.

Knight from B1 to C3 then.

"Oh yeah, dude; I've got lots of fox shit. Plenty of blankets with foxes, plushie foxes, keyrings, hats... I do commission but foxes are big money, dude. I got a bunch of shit ready to go I can show you."

Foxes were one of the most popular animals. He could crochet them in his sleep.

Waylin decided to take a step back by moving his Queen from D5 to D6.

Now, back to the concept of foxes being hot money made the shifter laugh. He knew they could be big, and tended to be in the red fox or fennec fox variety, but hearing talk about how much money they bring him had him grinning. His fox in his mind seemed to chitter in delight although Waylin doubted it understood what the guy was even talking about.

"I'd be happy to look through some of your things, I'm interested in Cross Fox patterns specifically...they tend to be a favorite of mine. Something about the marbling that differs from the standard red fox makes them more unique to encounter. Have you ever met a fox before?"

The pawn at A2 moved to A3.

It had been a bad move to keep all the pawns too close to home.

Cross fox. Edgy looking lil bitches, requested by edgy folks who wore a lot of black, usually. But like, whatever makes you happy, right?

"Yeah, they're pretty cool. I dunno if I have any cross fox stuff in inventory but I can show you commissions," he offered before realising the question he'd been asked, the bit he was supposed to be talking about. Huh. Met a fox? "Uh. I've... seen foxes." Red foxes.

"I'll take a look at your commissions, and think about what may be some ideal gifts with the holidays around the corner."

Seen, not met.

That really was pertinent to the matter at hand. Waylin was just curious, but with no alarm bells ringing in his ears at the moment, the game could continue.

Mmm...a small move forward from Dom, and the shifter decided to move a bishop into play.

Bishop from C8 to E6.

Another gutless move from Dom as he immediately placed the pawn at H2 to H3.

The fox thing seemed to be dropped.

"Cool."

But maybe Dominic didn't want to drop it.

"Why foxes?"

Obvious question, Dom.

F8 bishop moved to E7, settling right behind his other bishop.

"They make you money...so, why not foxes?"

Waylin countered the question with one of his own.

Foxes were adorable, but he was biased and the guy didn't need to know the truth behind them.

Why not foxes?

Well, yeah, why not foxes?

But like also.

Why foxes?

"Yeah but, what do you like about 'em?" he asked, moving his rook from A1 to B1.

Waylin sat for a moment studying his pieces.

The pieces between his King and Rook A were open, with both chess pieces remaining in their original squares. He knew there was a trick his dad had shown him when he was younger when a setup like this was available. His brows furrowed in thought trying to remember the move, while simultaneously mulling over Dom's question.

The memory wouldn't come, so Waylin opted for a move that he figured would work next.

Knight on G8 was moved to F6.

"Everyone has a favorite animal, mine happen to be foxes. They are adaptable, curious, and best of all mischievous."

Waylin was looking intently at the rook. Or the king? Or like both. Maybe he was gonna castle. Castling was a real good option. Dom should have moved less restrictively because now he was kind of only delaying the inevitable.

A sad single square, sending the pawn at H3 to H4.

"Best of all?" he asked, folding his arms again on the edge of the table. "You get up to a lot of mischief?" Not that he was accusing him of being a fox. But people seemed to like the animals they related most to.

Waylin watched the pawn move forward, but that inkling that he was missing something still nagged at him as he studied his pieces.

It's right there, and he could recall the first time he watched his dad make the move - he had thought it be illegal! Ah, the young minds of kids playing games and being shown the delight of rules that are followed. Chess could be a complicated game for the mind, and it took some time to learn, but he always found the time spent to be insightful.

"I'm a detective. It's my job to get mischievous, especially at the will of the client. You'd be surprised how often one gets asked to follow their cheating spouse or a sneaking co-worker that someone wants dirt on them. I may primarily work with missing persons to bring closure, but if no one in the area is missing...a job is a job in order to keep lights on and food in the stomach."

Then, it clicked.

'It's not cheating...this is called castling, Luka. But as with everything else, rules must be followed in order for it to work.'

His dad's gruff Russian accent filled his ears as he found himself deciding on his next move. The memory fond and he couldn't help a gentle smile on his lips as he moved his King from E8 to C8, and

The shifter moved his King from E8 to C8 and the A8 rook to D8, effectively guarding his king further.

"However, I don't do jobs that would bring physical harm to someone else, or if they end up being undeserving."

He felt he should have clarified, not wanting to be seen as someone that does violent jobs for shits and giggles. He isn't out here to give himself a mean wrap, and he's turn down jobs that don't fit his morals.

Yeah, Waylin castled to place his King behind a fortress of other pieces. That could be a problem if he wasn't careful.

His Queen's pawn moved forward one space to D3.

Compelling argument that a detective ought to be mischievous. Professional mischief? Wasn't mischief a legal term though? Like a bad one?

Dom didn't really know. It did kinda sound like following a spouse or a random dude with a workplace grudge was work he would never feel comfortable doing, and maybe his lips pressed together a little tightly at the thought. Yeah it put food on the table but man, how did it not taste bitter?

"Nice move, man; haven't seen that in a while," he said, finger still on his piece as though he was considering moving it back. Nope, what was done was done. He lifted his hand away. "How do you know if a job is a dud before you start it?"

"Thanks. It took me a minute to remember the move, but my dad would be proud,"Waylin remarked wistfully.

Another small step forward for White's team.

Waylin fidgeted with the spinner ring on his left hand while he debated on what to move next. There wasn't anything compelling just yet, and he knew chess games could go on for quite some time but he wasn't in a rush for once. He ultimately decided to move his knight from C6 to D4, standing in front of the recently moved white pawn.

"You can usually tell by the details that someone is willing to offer. Just with normal police detectives, there are certain questions that can be asked to figure out if the job is worth taking or not. If they are too vague or unreliable on what they want to talk about then most of the time it isn't worth my time. When I first started on my own, it took a while to determine the good with the bad, but one just has to follow their intuition"

Or, in his case, the fox's instinct.

Man, who'd taught Dom to play chess? Definitely not his dad. It was cool that Waylin had that experience though. Something to bond him to his family, right? And hell yeah his dad would be proud of him for remembering that neat little trick. Sometimes though, Dom wondered if chess had started out with these tricks, or if people just started adding them to get out of obvious trouble, and the community just rolled with it.

Why was it hard to listen and think at the same time, though, man?

He nodded along to Waylin's explanation, the stuff about rfiguring out what jobs are worth moving ahead with, but really he was drinking in the board, all the positions and pitfalls of each move forward. He'd fucked it. For sure.

"I guess kinda like deciding not to work with a commission-client," he said like those were one word instead of two he mashed together. "Like someone giving weird requests or impossible tasks or trying to cut a deal that won't work."

With the gentle huff of self-doubt, Dom moved the rook from H1 to H2, hoping to spread his pieces out a bit more in the following turns, assuming he hadn't entirely set himself up for failure.

He was pretty sure he had.

"Yeah, exactly like that," Waylin agreed as he watched the man move another piece.

The shifter took a moment to lean back in his chair, closing his eyes to give them a bit of a respite as he had been adamantly staring at the board. He envisioned the fox pacing, chittering the longer they sat in one spot and talked. A shiver rolled down his back, but he was fine with rolling his shoulders and getting back into the game. There was little risk in the moment of being anything other than 'human' and he was apparently on a path to win by the way his opponent kept moving his pieces.

While Dom moved to spread out his pieces, Waylin went defensive by moving his Knight from D4 to F5.

So they had a bit more understanding between them, clients were clients were clients.

People were always going to ask for more than they could pay for, or lie to get a better deal, or be dishonest the whole way through and fuck shit up for everyone.

But not everyone was like that. Most clients Dom dealt with were pretty cool people with creative visions they just needed help realising.

Didn't really translate across to people who needed a detective, did it?

But they kinda understood each other. Sorta.

Dom was silent while he thought on it, looking down at the board.

With a huff he moved his pawn from G2 to G3.

"Working on much right now?"

"Nah. My boyfriend's over for the week so I'm taking time to spend with him rather than work,"the shifter shrugged as he briefly glanced at the other. He had no reason to work nonstop now that he had something (more someone) to occupy his free time. It was nice having Vass over, and when it all inevitably ended he knew it would suck. On the bright side, he'll take all the time he can get as he is still under the euphoria of having someone who cares in his life again.

"You?"

Waylin moved his queen from D6 to C6, lining her up to take a pawn on the next turn if it was still available.

Boyfriend staying for a week. Huh. Birthday? Long distance? Fucky work schedules?

It was time to get the bishops out from under all the other pieces, Dom decided, moving one from F1 to H3.

"Run up to Halloween, man; I got a lot of commissions to sort through," he murmured, wondering if that was the right move after all. But the odds seemed stacked against him because of his unwillingness to move his pieces too far out, playing too close to home.

Maybe there was something poetic in that.

"Your boyfriend live out of state?"

Waylin opted to move his queen from C6 to F3, taking another piece.

The upcoming full moon, was starting to do wonders on his mood, and he didn't give a fox at the moment but still he tried to keep himself composed.

"Oh, right. I didn't think about that in terms of crafts,"he admitted. This guy would be swamped as he seemed to be a one-man business but if he was out here playing chess with a stranger, well, at least he had a moment to catch his breath. Then the topic shifted back towards him, and he shook his head,"Nope, just lives a bit away from here and it sucks to travel back and forth all the time."

Of course, the other didn't need to know the real reason behind Vass' staying.

"Not much on gas, just tedious, ya know?"

The psychic blinked slowly at the queen sitting just above his king. Dangerous for Dom but if Waylin made the wrong moves here, the Queen could be taken out of play pretty quickly.

Afraid of making too many rash moves with the fox in amongst the chickens, Dom moved his pawn from B2 to B4, perhaps focusing too much on the position of the queen.

The reasoning for moving his Queen like that was maybe-questionable, but the reasoning behind boyfriend-sleepovers was pretty... reasonable.

"Yeah, I get that," he hummed, folding his arms against the table and looking for weaknesses in Waylin's positions. "My boyfriend is out in Lauderhill so I usually go there."

"Mine's in Reinhart."

Long drive, but worth it.

Waylin moved his Knight from F5 to G3, nabbing another pawn in the process.

"Do you live here in Valencia, then?"

He hadn't seen the man before today, but then again it wasn't like the shifter was keeping tabs on everyone in the city.

"Yeah man, just up that way."

A vague point in the direction off behind Waylin, but his attention was still firmly on the board. It really felt like he's cornered himself here with no chance of escape.

He placed two fingers on a pawn, blinking at the squares ahead.

And then his phone rang, breaking the tense silence he'd created.

Jaime. Seemed important, especially if he was calling.

"Fuck. Uhhh. Shit, dude; I gotta run," he said, toppling the pawn onto its side as he stood up to literally run out of the park. "Maybe see you round here again, alright?"

Did Waylin even hear him as he zoomed off to call Jaime back? Probably not. Maybe it would count as a positive experience and a good victory for the fox-loving detective. Besides, they could catch up over the commission.