on the path unwinding
Series Metadata
Listing Series
Pages Navigation
-
Tags
Summary
The two of them walk to the nearest subway station together. Out of nowhere, Freddie asks, “have you ever been to Chicago?”
She blinks at him, trying and failing to make sense of the question in her head. “No. Why?”
He doesn’t look at her, instead preferring to track the streetlights they walk under. “Do you wanna go with me?”
Series
- Part 1 of on the path unwinding
- Part 5 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
Very soon, if Anatoly continues to progress at the rate he has been, Molokov is likely to find himself with a permanent charge, and Anatoly will be on the narrow path to the top of the top. It will be a heavy burden to bear.
But right now, Anatoly isn’t quite there yet. Right now, he’s 16, and he wants to go sightseeing.
Series
- Part 2 of on the path unwinding
- Part 4 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
practicing the art of the possible by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
28 Aug 2021
Tags
Summary
“Chess,” Walter says contemplatively. He hasn’t played since he was a child—he always found it rather boring. He tries to look at it from Molokov’s perspective, to see what the draw might be. “I can’t say I envy the thought of waiting on some genius chess player hand and foot. Doesn’t sound very lucrative, either.”
“Perhaps not for you,” Molokov agrees. “We should play next time we meet. I’m very rusty.”
“You’d still kick my ass,” Walter says.
Series
- Part 3 of on the path unwinding
- Part 2 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
“How are you feeling? Are you resting?” Anatoly asks, unable to squash his natural tendency to worry.
“I have rested plenty,” Svetlana assures him. She sounds tired. “Actually, Anatoly… Is there anyone else around?”
Anatoly looks around his empty hotel room. “No one,” he says. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing is wrong, I promise,” she says. “But, Tolya… the baby was already born. I’m calling you from the hospital.”
Series
- Part 4 of on the path unwinding
- Part 9 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
Leonid doesn’t know Svetlana well, but he knows that none of this is her fault. He does, however, know Molokov. There’s an empty seat next to Svetlana. There is no way of knowing what the next few weeks have in store for her, but the last thing she needs is to be bothered on the journey.
“May I sit here?” he asks her once he reaches her row. She looks up at him, a little startled, and he feels bad about it, but her face smooths out quickly.
“Yes, of course,” she says, sitting up straighter.
Series
- Part 5 of on the path unwinding
- Part 16 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
not the same this time around by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
12 Sep 2021
Tags
Summary
“Whatever happened to Jameson? You remember him, right, from Portland?” Freddie asks.
“Oh, he quit chess a few years ago,” Florence says. Her laugh is a lot lighter now that she has a couple drinks in her—she’s more relaxed. “He joined a band. Last I heard, they were on tour.”
“Maybe that’s what I should do,” he says. “Everyone always says I’m only in this for money and attention, maybe I should just go on tour. I’d probably get tons of money and attention then.”
“You already tried that, remember? You tried to convince me to let you rent a car and go across the country playing 100 simuls.”
“Oh yeah,” Freddie grins. “I remember you wouldn’t let me.”
Series
- Part 6 of on the path unwinding
- Part 25 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
“I don’t want to be too isolated anyway. Somewhere with a bus would be good," Svetlana says. "I’m not sure I will ever be able to drive on the other side of the road.”
Florence chuckles and squeezes Svetlana’s hand. She’d felt the same way when she moved to America. “That’s alright. I’ll be your personal chauffeur,” she says. “I’ll take you anywhere you need to go.”
Svetlana looks back at her, a smile on her face that hasn’t yet failed to make Florence’s heart stutter in her chest. “I’m sure the new world chess champion has better things to do with her time than drive me around,” she says.
“That’s where you would be wrong,” Florence says.
Series
- Part 7 of on the path unwinding
- Part 29 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
casting shadows on the walls by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
07 Oct 2021
Tags
Summary
Freddie holds the queen piece out to her, between his thumb and forefinger. “Hey, what’s this from?” he asks.
Her eyes grow wide when she registers what it is, and she grabs it from him, squeezing it in her palm. “It’s nothing,” she says.
Freddie frowns up at her from the floor. “Okay,” he says flatly.
Florence looks away, then sighs and sinks down onto the mattress. She opens her palm to look at the queen piece. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you,” she says. “It’s from my father. He gave it to me right before I left Budapest.”
Series
- Part 8 of on the path unwinding
- Part 7 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
some kind of shift in a star by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
02 Dec 2021
Tags
Summary
They still have the flat, and they’re both still being paid. Their children haven’t gone hungry. And hopefully, it will never come to that. “I don’t want you to worry about us. We’re fine.”
“For now,” Florence says, taking Svetlana’s hand. She just doesn’t seem to be able to help herself. “If Anatoly loses here…”
Svetlana shakes her head sharply, squeezing Florence’s hand back. “You can’t think like that,” she says. “You worked so hard to get here, Florence. You deserve to win.”
“No one deserves to win,” Florence sighs. “It’s just a game, in the end.”
Series
- Part 9 of on the path unwinding
- Part 26 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
Frederick Trumper remembers exactly where he was when he found out Fischer wasn’t playing.
Series
- Part 10 of on the path unwinding
- Part 6 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
not the man you should have been by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
02 Jan 2022
Tags
Summary
When it looks like one of the camera crew is coming to shoo him out of his chair, he walks over to Freddie and clears his throat.
Freddie looks surprised to still see him there. “Yeah?” he asks, like he’s bracing himself for something.
Now that Anatoly is here, he doesn’t know what to say. “I…” he starts, then breathes and tries again. “I just wanted to say… it’s good to see you again.”
Series
- Part 11 of on the path unwinding
- Part 20 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
Svetlana doesn’t understand how Anatoly can sleep through it. The crib is right there, just a meter away from their bed, and yet he only stirs when she makes contact with his shoulder and squeezes. He grunts to wakefulness, and Svetlana doesn’t say anything, just curls up in the blankets. He rolls out of bed to check on their child.
Series
- Part 12 of on the path unwinding
- Part 10 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
Svetlana shakes her head and lays down her next card. “You need to know how to play more than one game. It is an important part of learning how to be interesting.”
Frederick scoffs, mock-affronted. “Are you saying I’m boring?”
“I am saying this game was created by peasants,” she says, smiling enigmatically. “If they can understand it, so can you.”
Series
- Part 13 of on the path unwinding
- Part 31 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
“Have you ever kissed a woman before?” Florence asks cautiously. Freddie shifts just so he can peek through his fingers, just enough to glare at her. The answer is obvious, but it’s more of a rhetorical question anyway. “Well, I have.”
His head jerks up, and he stares at her, eyes wide and mouth agape. “Huh?”
Series
- Part 14 of on the path unwinding
- Part 8 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
Florence agonizes over it, day after day. And yet, when she finds herself at home, sitting at her desk with a blank piece of paper in front of her and a pen in her hand, she finds herself frozen. She spent years studying the written word, and used to have such an easy time expressing herself in writing—one more casualty to chess, it seems.
Series
- Part 15 of on the path unwinding
- Part 18 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
Except now, on top of Freddie's certainty that every move he makes and word he says and maybe thought he thinks is being tracked, he’s also really keyed into absolutely everything Anatoly does. And what does Anatoly do?
He meets Freddie at the airport.
Series
- Part 16 of on the path unwinding
- Part 23 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
Gregor reaches for the globe on the kitchen counter. “See? Here’s us again, Hungary. Here is Austria. And here is England. You’re going to get on an airplane in Austria, and when you get off, you’ll be in England.”
“It’s too small,” she says, very seriously.
“It only looks small here. It will be much bigger when you get there, I promise,” he smiles.
Series
- Part 17 of on the path unwinding
- Part 1 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
stranger in a land of strangers by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
05 May 2022
Tags
Summary
“What do they need asylum for?” Tim asks wearily as he follows Rich down the hall and back toward the offices.
Rich shrugs. “They’re Russian,” he says.
“Russian? How’d they get to Malaga?” Tim asks. “Did I ever tell you about the Russian bloke that applied for asylum when I was working in Italy? World chess champion, he was. Completely ungrateful, too, he went back home the next year.”
Series
- Part 18 of on the path unwinding
- Part 27 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
It is more than Florence ever thought it could be. She has a home here with Anatoly. They take care of one another.
It isn’t perfect. There are still moments.
Series
- Part 19 of on the path unwinding
- Part 15 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
-
Tags
Summary
Walter smiles brightly, folding his hands easily behind his back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says. “Congratulations on the win, by the way. Freddie’s been taking it very hard, he’s hardly let me out of his sight for the last two days.”
Molokov takes three steps forward, placing him firmly inside Walter’s personal space, but maybe eastern Europeans have a different sense of that sort of thing. Walter stands his ground, relaxed.
“Not much of a win for me, I’m afraid,” Molokov says coolly.
Series
- Part 20 of on the path unwinding
- Part 12 of on the path unwinding (chronological)