Author's note: Two chappies in one night! Yay!
Lina grinned at the man across from her; this was too easy. He'd been near one of the most famous people around for almost an hour, and he knew nothing; he hadn't even noticed the stares! But now to finally beat him and get down to the point of our encounter, she thinks, turning her attention to the grid; numbers again. She quickly stabs her finger at 2: Mental. It takes a moment longer for Zelgadis to decide, and he selects B: Tool. The secondary grid appears, different this time: across the top is 5: Separate, 6: Interactive, 7: Puzzle, 8: Cooperative, down the side, lit, are E: Board, F: Cards, G: Paper, H: General. She squints in thought; he might go for anything in this round. So she picks E: Board at seeming random; he has already selected 6: Interactive. The tertiary grid appears, game choices out to the side: dozens of varieties of chess, checkers, and backgammon, speckled with various obscure types of board games. Zelgadis gets first choice on the flip of a coin, and moves to make a selection: Classical Chess. Lina drops in checkers, receiving a snort from the other console.
"What's wrong with checkers?" She asks.
"A child's game, not involving much strategy." Zel replies contemptuously.
"So, you always lose at it, huh?" Lina snickers at him.
"I didn't say that."
"It's classic; chess masters can't play checkers. At least, I've never seen one."
"Hmph…" is the only reply. The placement goes on, Zel picking complex chess variants while Lina tries to stuff the board with Parcheesi, Reversi, and other simple games. After the final row and column selection, they come back to Classic Chess.
"Bah." Lina comments, half-ruefully.
"You won't draw this out to a stalemate like the last game." Zel says in his cool, self-assured/arrogant tone.
"Nope, I'll beat you!"
"Queen Bishop's pawn to bishop's four."
"Queen Bishop's pawn to bishop's three."
"Heh. Queen Knight's pawn to knight's three."
"Queen Knight's pawn to knight's four."
"Copycat. Queen's bishop to queen's rook three."
"Little minx. King's knight to king bishop three."
"Metal boy. Queen's knight to queen bishop three."
"Queen rook's pawn to queen rook four. Firebrand."
"Queen's knight to knight one. Stony."
"Queen knight's pawn to knight's five." Xellos sniggers at their insult trading, "Fruitcake."
After that, the chess game speeds up, the two gaining and losing ground and pieces evenly for the most part, both intent on their game.
"Shit head." Lina comments when he makes her choose which face-piece to lose.
"Neither the first time, nor the last I will be called that while playing chess." He smirks. Lina moves her rook out of the way, but instead of taking the most obvious route, Zel moves his bishop to mid-board, effectively trapping many of her pieces. Lina just stares at the arrangement, Zel smirking again. The game goes on, more intense than before. Various murmured curses can be heard in a constant stream. For most of the match, Zel seemed to be winning, but somehow he ended up with nothing but his king while Lina still had a bishop and a pawn free to run and be converted at the other end of the board.
"Okay, you've beaten me, I resign." He says, a bit piqued, and more than a little shocked.
"Told you I'd beat you!" Lina grins.
"Don't look now, but you have an audience." Xellos says quietly through the speakers. Naturally, they both look; some of the better chess players are clapping, standing off to the side a bit, and a red-clothed Citizen smiling at them.
"Uh-oh… daddy's here; my cover is blown." Lina says, though there isn't much despair in her voice. She gets up from her stool and runs to hug the citizen.
"Why don't you play like that when we play chess?" the Citizen asks ruefully.
"Play like what? That is how I play chess." Lina says with mock-anger.
"Errr… I think your friend is having some problems over there…" the citizen looks over at Zel, who is staring, both eyes twitching at random; the logic circuits in his brain are trying to connect, the tumblers of realization trying to fall into place; it is a physical strain on him, trying to connect the knowledge of who this girl is.
"Oops… I forgot to de-activate this…" Lina picks a small amulet off of one of her wrists, and it glows for a second. All the circuits suddenly connect, all tumblers fall into place: that Citizen is the old Red Adept. That would make Lina…
Oh shit… Zel thinks, staring at the two wide-eyed, What have I gotten myself into?
Author's note: I don't think anyone will be suprised, but Zel sure is! Next time!: The worst case of 'meet the parents' ever? or Snooty, Snoozy, and Sylphiel?