Upon Vestia: Chapter Twelve

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"Yep, all alone on a desert planet with a weird bird." Ellie scowled, "False gods. So gross. I hope all immortals die soon." She paused, "Umm, well, I hope the immortals I like stick around for a while longer though."

Kay dug out a checker board and set it on the table. [Now now, we can't have you sad.] He smirked. [I think I can just about remember all the rules for this game.] He'd teach Asher a game from his homeworld, which was extremely simple in layout. 4 white checkers, 1 black.
The black checker was trying to make it from one side of the board to the other, the white side was trying to stop them. Only the black squares were used, pieces all moved diagonally. White could only move foward, black could move back and foward.

[Generally, you play twice. One game as black, one as white. ] He told Asher. [I think you'll be good at this.]

"Looks like fun," Asher said, smiling. "Who goes first?"

[Black. Which would you like to be first?] Kay held out a white and a black checker.

"This decision is too big," Asher said. He thought a bit. "I'll start with white."

Kay handed him the four white pieces and set the black in the corner of the board. The four white pieces went on the four black squares on the other side.

And so would start a very simple game of cat and mouse, where Kay tried to move his piece across the board and Asher did all he could to block him and pin his piece against one of the edges.

Asher quickly for the idea of the game, and set about trying to corner Kay's lone piece, which was a bit trickier a task than it at first seemed. He liked that this game had new rules, it was a nice change from the Terran games he had grown up with.

Kay was startlingly good at this, it was a game he'd played often. Simple games were often the best for passing time and relieving stress. However, he didn't have the advantage of a computer brain to think ahead multiple moves.
The two simple tasks of the game were deceptively so. Just as cornering the lone piece was surprisingly tricky, so too was making a path to the other side of the board.

Having so few pieces to keep track of meant that a computer's long term strategizing was less useful than usual, and Kay's large amount of experience meant that they were pretty equally matched in this game. Asher repeatedly tried to stop Kay, but his attempts were limited in their success. "This was a good game choice," he told Kay cheerfully.

Kay smiled. [This and Tablut were what we usually played on the station when we actually had some free time. They don't take long to play and don't need much setup. I can't find any 9x9 or 11x11 grid boards though, we might need to make one to teach you any other games.]
He eyed the position of the white pieces, and edged his single checker one space closer to the edge.

Asher nudged one of his own pieces to block Kay's path. "I'm sure we have some cardboard we could make a board from, or we could make a wooden or metal one if we're feeling fancy."

Kay looked amused. [Good use for the craft supplies.]
He pushed his piece back a square.

"Have the kids decorate it with glitter glue," Asher said. "It'll be the nicest board anyone's ever seen."
He scooted another piece to try and get it closer to Kay's.

Kay laughed silently at that. [Sounds extra fancy. ] He moved his piece again but Asher had done a pretty good job of penning him in. There wasn't much he could do.

Asher smiled, looking at the board. "The game is only half the fun. The other half is all the silly stuff that comes along with it." He moved a piece, "Checkmate?"

Kay smiled. [Yeah, you caught me. ] He reached out to take the white pieces. [Now we switch sides. If you win, you get to claim overall victory.] He smirked. [Will you be insufferably smug again or have you got a different prize in mind this time?]

Asher looked amused. "I have no idea. Maybe I'll pick something else this time, for variety." He chuckled, "If I win. What do we do if there's a tie though?"

[Then we play one final game. Usually we'd flip a coin or something to decide who played which side.] Kay shrugged and placed the counters down in their starting positions again. [Good luck.]

"Sounds good." Asher moved his piece. "If you win, may I recommend the highly annoying smugness prize? It's very amusing."

Kay smirked. [Will you throw wadded up paper at me too?]