on the path unwinding (chronological)
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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)
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practicing the art of the possible by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
28 Aug 2021
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“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)
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the fire in your head and feet by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
17 Dec 2025
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Freddie's mother takes a deep, angry breath, blowing it out of her nose as she turns onto the highway at last—taking them out of Pittsburgh and to the east.
“I don’t know, dear,” she says, her tone cold and biting, at odds with her words. “Frankly, there are more important things in life than chess.”
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- Part 30 of on the path unwinding
- Part 3 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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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.
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- Part 2 of on the path unwinding
- Part 4 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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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?”
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- Part 1 of on the path unwinding
- Part 5 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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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)
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casting shadows on the walls by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
07 Oct 2021
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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.”
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- Part 8 of on the path unwinding
- Part 7 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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“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)
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“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.”
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- Part 4 of on the path unwinding
- Part 9 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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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.
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- Part 12 of on the path unwinding
- Part 10 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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A running list of things in Freddie’s life that are going wrong.
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- Part 21 of on the path unwinding
- Part 11 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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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.
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- Part 20 of on the path unwinding
- Part 12 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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Walter takes a deep breath, and very deliberately does not reach for the nearest heavy object capable of inflicting blunt force trauma.
“They’re filming a documentary special. You’re going to watch them work and learn the process,” he says.
“About wrestling! This has nothing to do with chess,” Freddie huffs.
Series
- Part 32 of on the path unwinding
- Part 13 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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put my faith and trust in something new by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
07 Apr 2023
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Now… Anatoly is out. He takes his first steps out of the airport, out into his new home, and it’s… a little bit anticlimactic. It’s a cool night. The stars are barely visible. All he owns is on his back or in his suitcase. He takes a few moments to take it all in.
Florence steps up next to him and smiles. “Ready?”
Series
- Part 25 of on the path unwinding
- Part 14 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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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.
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- Part 19 of on the path unwinding
- Part 15 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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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.
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- Part 5 of on the path unwinding
- Part 16 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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“I don’t know how to fix this,” he admits to Svetlana late one night, just before she retreats to bed. He has the spare room, now. The mattress isn’t comfortable, but he can’t find it in himself to replace it. “They don’t ask me for anything. They don’t like it when I try to join their conversations, or offer to play with them,” he says.
“Anatoly, you didn’t play with them before,” Svetlana says.
Series
- Part 29 of on the path unwinding
- Part 17 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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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)
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you know the rules, you know the game by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
31 Mar 2023
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Florence isn’t back the next year.
Series
- Part 24 of on the path unwinding
- Part 19 of on the path unwinding (chronological)
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not the man you should have been by ruggedindividual
Fandoms: Chess - Rice/Ulvaeus/Andersson
02 Jan 2022
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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)