Binary Sunset | SW Oneshots

Snow and Small Talk

first oneshot of 2022, and it's young obitine in the cabin au again :) 

spoiler: there is no small talk (or very much snow, either), sorry for the clickbait-y title. i couldn't come up with anything better and the idea for this oneshot changed a billion times, while the title did not

also i'm not very good at chess so forgive me if none of the chess stuff makes sense (i'm also not very good at writing, so yay poor writing!) 

--

The cabin was warm. It was much nicer than the freezing cold that came with the snow outside, which Satine decided she was not a fan of. No matter how clear the air became when it seemed frozen to the touch, she still preferred the warmth. Although, that didn't mean she preferred being too hot to too cold.

"Can someone turn the fire down? I think I'm burning alive," She looked up and complained to no one in particular. Obi-Wan was too intensely focused on the chess board to respond with much other than a hum. The fire crackled nonchalantly in its place in the wall beside her. She would have moved the board, with or without Obi-Wan's permission, but it was actually quite heavy. Even the pieces were weighted. 

"You can always sit further away," Qui-Gon suggested, not looking up from his book. He sat in his big cushiony recliner across the room.

"Hm, that's a good idea."

She looked pointedly at Obi-Wan.

He didn't move.

Satine sighed, leaned over the board and moved one of his pieces for him. "Hey!" He said, almost instantly glaring up at her.

"There, you've made your move. Can we move the board a bit further back from the fireplace?"

He muttered something to himself before conceding and saying "Alright."

So, they scooted the chess board and their empty hot chocolate mugs along the carpet until they were just far enough away from the fireplace for Satine to be happy.

"You know, it's not that heavy," Obi-Wan pointed out. When he saw that she did not appreciate his feedback, he wilted. "Just saying." 

"Better?" Qui-Gon asked.

"Yes. I think the heat was affecting my ability to focus," Satine proclaimed.

Obi-Wan's eyes were again fixed on the chess board. "Interesting. Is that your excuse?"

Satine glared at him. She saw how he pretended not to notice.

Instead, he leaned over his criss-crossed legs and scanned the board some more. He finally seemed to come to a conclusion, and leaned back, a grin growing on his face. "Hey, that was actually a good move."

It was? She hadn't really been thinking about where she moved his piece. She was just trying to get his attention. She actually considered herself quite poor at chess. "Are you just giving me the benefit of the doubt?"

He looked up at her. "No," He said, animatedly pointing at the board, "Now I can't move there or there without your pawn or rook getting me, and I can't move there or your queen will take my bishop. That was a good move. Probably would be a stupid one on my behalf, too."

She watched him incredulously. He was just giving her the benefit of the doubt, in a way; That was quite a stupid move for him, after all. "So you're just going to leave it?"

He scoffed and nodded. "Of course! I'm still going to win, anyways."

The way he said that like it was certain just didn't sound right to her. She narrowed her eyes. "Is that so?"

Twenty minutes later, he had her cornered. All of her pawns were gone, her queen, her bishops, and her rooks. Only her knights remained. All she could do was run.

"Check," Obi-Wan said, calmly setting his queen two spaces beside her king.

She moved forward.

He followed her. "Check," He said again.

She moved forward once more, just in line with his bishop. He didn't move it. Instead, he moved his queen forward again. "Check."

She was starting to get annoyed now. She moved her king forward once again, right next to his bishop.

Obi-Wan sighed and placed his queen beside her king. "Checkmate," He declared.

She glowered at the chess board. Then, resisting the urge to knock all the pieces off and stomp into her room, she groaned and laid back. "I hate this stupid game!"

Obi-Wan offered a hesitant hand to her across the board, a lopsided smile on his face. "Rematch?"

"No."

Qui-Gon laughed at them. They both looked over at him with a unified glare – Well, maybe most of the glare was coming from Satine. "Would you like me to make you some more hot chocolate?" He offered, being the saint that he was.

"Yes, please and thank you," Satine said.

"Obi-Wan?"

"Yes, please."

Qui-Gon chuckled, closed his book. He stood up to grab their mugs from the carpet and walked into the kitchen. In the other room, the light turned on.

Satine sat up and looked across the chess board at Obi-Wan. His attention was elsewhere; Focused on the window over the sofa across the room, on the snow falling gently outside. She followed his gaze. Outside, the frosted tops of trees and the dimming cloudy sky could be seen. 

Winter looked quite nice, now that she thought about it.