To Blackjack88: Since you seem to have plans in regards to it, I'll leave the Nate/Kenya (Skylar?) plot thread to you.—tmw.
NOW, ON WITH OUR STORY...
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Back in Moon Lake, Evan Lawson was worried.
He had been in tough situations before. Life and death, without many options.
In the end, there were only two choices: do or die.
"Bishop takes Knight, check," he said, perhaps a bit more smugly than he should have.
Eric Anderson never flinched as he moved his piece. "Bishop takes Bishop, check mate!"
"WHAT? HOW?" Evan demanded to know.
"Even if your King takes the Bishop, my Rook is guarding him. And if instead you try to escape, being in the corner, my Queen and other Rook have your only escape routes covered," explained Eric, pointing to the arrangement of pieces on the chess board.
"DANG!" exclaimed Evan, looking at the board.
They had been playing chess for over two hours. The very first game had ended in a tie, with the pieces arranged in such a way that the next move for either side would have ended in disaster.
Their second game had ended in a classic stalemate, where the only two pieces left on the board were their respective Kings.
That was when Evan privately realized Eric was a tougher opponent than he first thought.
And now their third game...
"How did you get to be so good?" Evan asked his opponent, while resetting the board.
"I discovered chess when I was in elementary school, and my parents got me a video game of it for Christmas that year," said Eric. "Unfortunately, considering my awkward years, which was just about every day in Minnesota until we moved to Moon Lake, the computer was about my only real opponent, so I just kept getting better and better against it."
"Really?" asked his girlfriend Spencer, who had been watching the competition when not getting refreshments for the guys. "What else do you play?" for they hadn't had too many video game opportunities since they started seeing each other, between Bowers trying to kill Lawsons and Spencer's right arm still being in a sling at the moment.
"I prefer the more long term games like the Legend of Zelda series and some of the Mario quest games to your basic shoot everything that moves, although Plants versus Zombies is pretty cool," was Eric's opinion.
"I like some of the quests too, and there hasn't been a zombie yet that's survived me," bragged Spencer.
"That's all well and good, but did you want to play again?" asked her father.
"Sure. Did you want to be white and move first this time?" asked Eric in return.
"If you don't mind," replied Evan.
As the two men started their new game, Spencer announced that she had to answer another "call" and went upstairs to use the bathroom.
When they were alone, Evan Lawson looked at his daughter's boyfriend and said, "If I can ask, have you decided what kind of were you'd like to be Eric?"
"Yes," he admitted, looking up from the board to stare at him. "If it's at all possible, I'm leaning toward panther. That seems to be the most compatible with Spencer's hybrid nature, plus it has other advantages in regards to Washington's weather patterns and various terrains."
"I see," replied Evan, as he moved a pawn.
"The biggest problems are who, when, and how," said Eric, before taking his next turn. "The only werepanthress either Spencer or I know is Nate's new girlfriend Kenya, but it would be pretty awkward to even attempt approaching her on the subject."
"I agree," conceded her father, studying the board.
"Emotionally, I would still love for Spencer to be the one to... you know, because I really do love her. Otherwise, I wouldn't even be contemplating doing this to begin with, because you know becoming a were is a pretty BIG step for a normal."
"But none of us want to go that route because we don't know the outcome if a hybrid were of Spencer's nature initiated a normal," conceded Evan, moving his next chess piece.
Then his voice dropped a bit before Evan said, "Now, you have to understand that normally, I wouldn't do this kind of thing for anybody, and in truth, I don't even know if I can to begin with. But if, and I do stress that word, IF I was able to find a werepanthress who was willing to help, would you..."
"If that's what it takes, in a heartbeat," quickly replied Eric. "Spencer and I have been talking about the future. A LOT. You can have love without sex," said Eric, making his next move. "Your daughter and I are proof of that, but someday it would be nice to have both."
"Yes. Both are very nice," agreed Evan. "But without love, there isn't really much else in this world."
"True," said Eric with a smile, thinking about Spencer.
"Well, all I can do is keep my eyes and ears open, but I will. You're a good man Eric and great for my daughter. I would love to see you and Spencer continue for many years to come," admitted Evan Lawson, as he moved his next chess piece.
Both heard the flush of the upstairs hall toilet, indicating Spencer would be rejoining them soon as Evan added, "Sorry about your Queen. Your move Eric," as the young Anderson suitor looked at the chess board and saw one of his opponent's Knights sitting where his Queen was a moment ago.