That's a Bold Move, Let's See if it Pays Off

[Tim Tawfeek]

Sometimes Tim hated chess club. There were cool people here, to be sure. Well,  cool by Tim standards, which put them only slightly below average on the popularity scale as a whole (unlike his own percentages, which had to be tanking, hard, if his blog hits were any indication). Tim also liked chess, well, he liked it most of the time and all, since it was a brain based game and his brain usually did... okay. He was better at getting things out via computer, which is where he mostly honed his chess skills.

But times like this, they sucked. Times when he was playing what appeared to be a Freshman girl and losing. Not just losing by a little, which might have been at least close to okay or something. Oh no, Tim couldn't manage that. Instead, he was losing by a lot. A whole lot. A lot and then some. He had a couple of pawns, a bishop, a knight, and his king. So far he'd managed to take about that many pieces of hers, which meant that the stupid queen was busy moving all over his back row. So far the only impressive thing was that Tim managed to keep stalling.

He sighed, running his hand over his head and licking his lips. He looked up at the girl, again wishing that he'd just paired with someone else or something. But he hadn't remembered playing with her in a while, and he figured he might as well give it a shot. This was pretty much the worse that could've happened.

"So, uh, I don't suppose I can talk you out of not completely humiliating me?" he asked, half-joking, half-hopeful. Smiling. It was his move though, so he figured he might as well try something. And he shoved his bishop into the danger zone, hoping to lure out the queen and swing in with a knight. He sincerely doubted it would work though; she was way too good for something this stupid, no matter how "bold" it was.

[Kara Singer]

Kara smirked at his question. This is the best game of chess she's had in awhile. To be honest, she usually sucked. People would usually play against her to increase their average, because they knew they'd win. But every once in awhile, Kara has a good match. Like today, against this poor older boy who seemed to be a bit disheveled that he was losing to someone so young.

Perhaps if it wasn't for that fact that she loses all of the time, she would have considered letting him win. But, no; despite the fact that she always felt it was just a game to be played for fun, she knew she needed at least one more win under her belt. She needed everyone else to know that she has the ability to win, even if she always loses. It was almost an animal instinct, a desperate act. She had to win.

Playing with loose strings on her knit fingerless gloves, she watched him set himself up for disaster. He slid his bishop across the board. She knew what he was trying to get her to do. And she was pretty sure that he knew she knew as well. Bold move, she thought. Guess he didn't see my rook.

Kara slid her rook over to take out his bishop. She replaced his piece on the square, moving the fallen bishop off to the side of the board. It made a small sound as she placed it on the table. That poor, brave little bishop. If only she could say his sacrifice was not in vain.

Her blue-green eyes flicked up to meet his. "Check," she said so quietly it was almost inaudible. But, it wasn't a shy type of quiet. No, there was confidence behind it, mixed with almost a little bit of sass. She rested her chin in her hand, palm-up so that her fingers curled to touch the edge of her bottom lip. She tilted her mouth to the side and raised her left eyebrow. "Your move, Batman."

[Tim Tawfeek]

The rook moved out instead of the queen. How the heck had Tim not seen the rook? He could totally take it, which would be, like, a good move and stuff. He'd probably lose whatever piece he took it with though, and... "wait, check?" he repeated, bobbing his head to look around the board. He couldn't believe that he'd missed the check thing. His head was just not in this game, like, at all. He sighed, rubbing at his face, moving his glasses aside so he could get better access to the bridge of his nose. He massaged it.

"I don't suppose I could have a redo?" he asked, looking up at her. He sighed, moving his knight into position, taking the rook, though he knew it was all in vain. So very, very much in vain. He sighed and leaned back. "Man, you are too good at this thing. I don't think I was that good when I was your age. You're, like, what, twelve or something?" He rubbed at his face again, groaning. They were never going to let him live this down.

Ever.

[Kara Singer]

"Chess is a lot like life. Sometimes you take a lot of time to think things out before you make a decision, other times you just jump right in and go for it. And every choice you make has consequences. Sometimes good, sometimes bad. We're all just people with pieces and pawns that we use to try to get what we want. And in the end we all will lose because no one is immortal and death will eventually take us all. Anyway, my point is that like life, there are no re-dos in chess. So, no. No redo."

Kara stared down at the board, wondering what move she should make next. She tried to analyze all of her options, but she was sure that she missed some. There was probably a better move that she could make aside from the one that she was about to. But, she didn't see it, so she went for it anyway.

Her pawn took out his knight. A small sacrifice for the opportunity to get one step closer to ending the game. He could still make a turn around. Taking out his knight didn't do too much damage to him. And Kara's pawn couldn't do much. At least, not from where it was right now.

She sat back and watched the boys different facial expressions, trying to analyze him. She enjoyed watching people. She was generally pretty good at figuring out how people were feeling. Everyone has tells. Some are obvious, others discreet. "Fourteen, actually," she began. "Not that that makes this any less humiliating for you." She smirked and continued to watch the boy.

She considered offering to tell everyone that he had beaten her. They would certainly believe it considering her losing streak. But, if he had high moral standards he'd never go for it. She wasn't sure what type of moral code he followed, but she had a feeling he wouldn't feel right lying about it. So, she decided to let it go. "Thanks for the compliment, though."

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim stared at the girl as she spoke, seriously not believing that those words were coming out of her mouth. She was so little and young looking and junk! She should not be sitting there philosophizing and making Tim feel like an idiot (which was at least moderately hard, though apparently not with chess). She ended by stating that there are no redoes in chess. "Right, I got that," said Tim, blinking. Of course he didn't have the first clue what the girl was saying. Okay, he might have sort of, kind of known in a sort of abstract way. He did understand life to some degree, though mostly as it related to human rights and stuff.

"That's really deep," he offered, figuring that another compliment wouldn't hurt. "You're not secretly some kind of genius or something? Like, with an ability that is all about being stupidly good at chess, maybe?" he smiled, hoping that his compliment/guess would go over well. Kara moved to take more of his pieces, and Tim saw his chances go from "slight" to "abysmal."

She then gave him her age and pointed out just how humiliating this was. Tim winced, but he did so with a smile. It wasn't like he was some kind of chess genius or something. Then he'd be really disappointed in himself.

"You're welcome," he said, looking back at the pieces, "man, I am so gonna lose," he chuckled and moved a piece to sort of not really threaten the king, just in case he could actually manage it. His hopes were not high at this point though. Not. High. At. All.

[Kara Singer]

"Believe me, I'm far from a genius. My grade point average will back me up on that. Sometimes certain circumstances cause people to become wise beyond their years. Then again, maybe she's born with it. Maybe it's Maybelline."

Kara watched as he moved his piece. It would have been a 'check' if one of her pawns wasn't blocking it. Of course, he could take the pawn out. But she could easily just move her King.

Chess requires a lot of patience. The majority of the time, Kara had it. Perhaps because she knew that she was going to lose most of the time. But, knowing that she had a shot at winning was getting Kara a little bit excited, in an anxious sort of way. She just wanted it to be over so that she could finally say that she had won. So, her usual patience was wearing thin very quickly, as her anxiety began to sky-rocket.

Unlike 99% of people, Kara didn't really have visual tells to reveal her emotions. She learned fairly young how to mask how she felt. So, of course, this boy couldn't really know how she was feeling. Not by looking at her. If he was a mind-reader, though... Then it would become pretty obvious. She hoped he wasn't a mind-reader. How immature would she seem, wanting to win so badly?

Once again, Kara examined her options. She knew you almost always had to think three steps ahead to win. "I wouldn't say that, things could turn around..." she lied. She saw her opportunity and took it, moving a bishop towards his unguarded king. "Check." Depending on how he played his next few turns, she'd have this game in the bag.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim chuckled at Kara's wry comment. he could appreciate the humor of it and all. Plus he could appreciate that she wasn't lording her superior chess playing skillz over him. Tim could sometimes think a few turns ahead, though his strategies often relied on, well, bold moves and attempting stuff that would sometimes work out and sometimes leave him, well, with just a few pieces wondering why he kept losing to little girls.

But man, did this girl have a damn good poker place. Tim definitely wasn't actually playing poker with her, since he didn't think he could afford to continually lose his money. Losing chess to a fourteen year old girl was bad enough. Poker would be something else entirely. She continued her domination though, readying her piece.

"Wouldn't say that she says," mumbled Tim, though the corner of his mouth was twitching, "then che--ck. how the heck do you keep checking me when I don't even notice?" Tim moved about the board, bobbing and weaving without rising from his seat. Definitely in check, and he was running out of moves to make. He could throw a piece in the way, which would last all of a turn, then he'd be pinned by a bishop and a queen and it was just all over at that point, all over man.

"Well, guess we should go down fighting and all," he said, dragging his piece into the path, knowing that he'd managed to buy himself a whopping one turn. Yay.

[Kara Singer]

Kara smirked as he mocked her small attempt of comfort. She watched him examining the board, as he wondered how he missed what would inevitably be his defeat. He moved one of his few remaining pieces, releasing him from being in check.

It's time to end this, she thought. She leaned back in her chair, arms outstretched and fingers interlaced. She cracked her knuckles and then returned to sitting up straight. You could balance a book on her head. She tended to be very 'proper' when it came to more serious matters.

Her hand floated above her pieces as she contemplated which to play. He had bought himself a little time, but the game needed to come to it's end. She wiggled her fingers above her knight before picking it up and taking out one of the pawns that was guarding his king.

"Check." He was trapped by two of her pieces, but could still buy himself a bit more time before having to admit to his demise.

Still sitting perfectly straight, she reached up and removed the hair tie that held all of her hair in a tight and high pony tail. Her hair fell in a platinum blonde curtain down and around her shoulders. Kara rarely wore her hair up. She winced at the growing pain in the back of her head. Well, that's annoying.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Check, like Tim hadn't already seen that coming. "Check she says, like she's some kinda robot built to play chess. This isn't like your mutant power or something, right? People do get weird ones. I talk to bats. And I'm totally stalling," he said this last mostly to himself, sighing and looking back down at the board. He still had a few moves left, some that might actually work. What he needed to do was take some time and look at the board, figuring out not only his best next possible move, but the best next possible three or four moves.

Shame that he wasn't good at that.

Instead Tim pulled his king just out of position, moving almost like he'd trained himself to move directly where Kara wanted to go. His hand was off the piece before he could really think about it, though he tried to reach down and touch it again before just waving it off, leaning back and folding his arms. "Just so you know, when I talk to the bats about this later, you're going to be a super genius. And Russian." he informed her, smiling as he said it.

[Kara Singer]

"Things would be much easier if my power was simply that I excel at chess," she half smiled, sadly.

Talking to bats seemed like a pretty harmless power. Nothing for Kara to be too afraid of. It might actually be neat be able to talk to an animal. You can tell them whatever you want, and not have to worry about them telling another person. That, and they probably make better friends than humans. Or mutants.

"Just don't tell them that you gave up so easily," she attempted to say with a (really quite terrible) Russian accent.

She knew that she didn't even have to say 'checkmate' out loud. She simply picked up her piece, and tapped the top of his king with it to knock it onto it's side.

"Remind me to play against you more often," she smiled more sincerely than before. "And also, to never try a Russian accent again. That was awful."

Kara pushed her chair away from the table a little, not sure if she should get up, or stay and talk. She placed her hands on her knees and bit her bottom lip nervously. "Well, tell the bats that the Russian super genius says hello."

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Tell me about it," agreed Tim. Though he supposed talking to and imitating bats was pretty low key as far as powers went. He didn't have horns on his head, and the only person he was likely to kill anytime soon was himself, and let's face it, that only had so much to do with his actual power. No, all he got to do was hear bats' opinion on his love life and the environment, since that was pretty much all they talked about. He was tempted to share that bit with Kara, but he figured she probably didn't want to hear the details. Most people didn't really want to hear Tim prattle, as the hints on his sites indicated all too well.

Definitely no need to say checkmate. Tim groaned as she knocked over his piece, then raised his arms to bow a few times in Kara's direction. Well, at least he really hadn't given up. That accent though, that had him chuckling and shaking his head. "Don't worry; I'll make sure you have an awesome accent when I tell the story," he promised. He watched as she pushed the chair away, then look nervous and stuff. Tim raised his brows, wondering at the hesitation.

"Something up?" he asked, looking around. "Oh, yeah," he extended a hand, "good game and all. You're pretty badass. You know, for a Russian supergenius whose mutant power is chess and all,' he added with a wink and a smile. He just wasn't sure what else he should be doing there. Getting up? Suggesting they play another game? Most of the other people had gone around and were on their second partners or something by now, since Tim and Kara's game had taken so long. He looked around, noting that there were a few people milling about. Nobody "fun" though, which sadly happened in groups like this all too often.

[Kara Singer]

Kara smiled at Tim's comment as he winked at her. Despite Kara's lack of social skills, Tim seemed like someone she could get along with.

She looked around for a few moments, taking some time to watch the other people in the club. Then she looked up at the clock. "Well, we still have a little bit of time. Probably not enough for us to start another match with anyone," she finished, pulling herself and her chair back to the table.

She watched Tim, wondering what he was thinking about. She placed her elbow on the table, leaning forward to place her chin on her closed fist. "I think I'm going to call you 'Batman' from now on. Hopefully that doesn't bother you too much. If it does, well, you're going to have to suck it up, because I have already made my decision."

Kara stopped and smiled, still looking at him. "So, Batman... What do you and your little friends talk about?" She really was curious. Kara liked to learn things, and it would be very interesting to find out what bats thought about... Or, well, talked about. Did they think/talk about the same things as humans did? Or did they just think about primal things. Then again, humans seemed more and more primal these days.

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim grinned as he realized he'd talked the girl into at least sticking around. He motioned for her to take the chair and moved to set up the board, figuring that they'd play again. He paused as he saw her leaning over, wondering if he'd messed up or something. He wouldn't really mind just sitting there and talking to her for a while or anything. He just figured that, well, they had the chessboard there and everything. He'd froze up for a while, right up until she called him Batman, which made him chuckle.

"Would it matter if I pointed out that Batman's not black?" he asked, shaking his head. "Besides, I swear my parents named me after one of the Robins. Good thing my middle name's not Drake," though he doubted that Kara would be the sort to pick up that reference. Tim Drake was a moderately popular character, sure, but most people just equated Robin with Dick Grayson and left it at that.

Tim tapped the chess pieces, smirking a little as Kara asked what he talked to the bats about. "Mostly stuff that interests them, since they're kinda single-minded. You'd think they'd be all like, I dunno, brutish or something? Since they're animals and all? But they really pay attention to stuff that matters to them. It's kinda weird, because, like, it's not like I talk to them in English or anything. I gotta use their stuff and flap my arms and junk," Tim rolled his eyes. "It looks stupid, trust me. They mostly want to talk about the environment and flight patterns, sometimes mating rituals, though their advice for me usually isn't that helpful.

"What about you?" he asked, meeting Kara's eyes. He still hadn't moved his hand from the chess pieces. "Did you mention what you did? I totally spaced if you did, but i'm guessing it's cooler than talking to bats, because, like, yeah, my power's one of those weird ones."

[Kara Singer]

Kara picked up one of the chess pieces, a bishop, and rolled it back and forth between her fingers. "You never know," she started. "Batman could be black. He wears a mask. I know depending on which version you are reading or watching some skin might be showing on his face... But, hey... Maybe he uses makeup. Or maybe that's part of the mask. That would be an awesome way to throw off people from his true identity." She stopped, kicking herself. "Then again... Pretty sure Bruce Wayne is white. That kind of defeats that theory... It was a nice thought, though."

Kara smirked at Tim's comment about his middle name not being Drake. She knew exactly what he was talking about, but she was trying not to come off as too nerdy.

"Don't be down on yourself. Your ability actually sounds really interesting. It sure would be a sight to see," she let out a small laugh. "But, yours is unique. I'm sure there are plenty of people at the school who can do the same thing that I can do."

She continued to roll the chess piece back and forth between her fingers. She watched as small crystals of ice formed on the piece, and disappeared almost as quickly as it formed. The crystals were so small, she doubted Tim had seen them. She switched from rolling it between her fingertips, to grasping it in her palm.

The piece started to get cold in her hand. Of course, the cold didn't bother her, but she still had the capability of feeling it. She quickly set the piece back down on the table. "I can manipulate ice..." she said quietly.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Pretty sure Batman's always been a rich white guy," Tim said, laughing a little, "even though that theory does make a little sense. But they'd probably freak out about a rich black guy roaming the streets dressed like a freak. They only let, like, black guys wear armor in comics, or look like cyborgs. I guess there was the one Green Lantern..." Tim wasn't even going to touch on Power Man/Luke Cage and some of the other truly awful representations in comics. Kara was already past that point, now talking about his ability. Tim was tempted to just wave that off as what someone was just going to say to him to make him feel better.

Unique? Tim was about to point out that there were plenty of people who could talk to animals and stuff, but Kara had already started her demonstration. he fell silent, watching the ice form. Ice-kinesis then, of some kind or another. He smiled at that, raising his brows and nodding to the slightly frozen piece as Kara finished. "Yeah, I can see how you'd find that totally boring. Making ice? So normal. Not at all like talking to some random animal," he chuckled and leaned back, eventually rolling his head to the ceiling and blowing out his lips.

"You think maybe we're always gonna think our abilities are stupid? That someone else got something cooler or more special than us or something? That whole grass is greener stuff?" he asked. He rolled his eyes to look down, though he didn't shift his head in the slightest. He smirked.