Blaze of Night

The Brood

"Watch your bishop."

Grillby looked at the board intently. His bishop? Oh, he could see it now. Gaster would be able to take the piece, and after that Grillby's queen in a few turns. Unless, of course, Grillby used his rook to intersect.

"You have a strange playstyle, you know that?" Grillby remarked offhand as he moved the rook.

Gaster smiled giving a non-committal half-shrug, rescuing his now threatened knight out of harm's way. "It's not just the victory, Grillby. It's the thrill of the chase."

"If you say so."

The chess set was just as beautiful as Gaster had said. The pieces swirled the colours of their respective planets, with accents of black and white to mark which side the pieces belonged to. The starry pattern of the board made the grid hard to see, but is was so nice to look at that Grillby didn't mind.

The first two games were played fairly normally, Grillby winning one and Gaster the other, with light conversation filling the air. After that Gaster changed gears. Instead of straightforward play, Gaster began to set up complicated traps. The matches became drawn out as Gaster toyed with Grillby's pieces, their symbolic armies dancing in little games of cat and mouse.

And to his surprise, Grillby kind of enjoyed it. No matter how intricate Gaster's ploys were, Grillby always found a small gap he could use to wriggle out of trouble. It was like an elaborate, ever evolving puzzle for him to figure out.

For instance, Grillby noticed that the complex offense Gaster had been setting up had left a stunning opening in his defences. "Check."

Gaster smirked. By the time Grillby noticed his mistake, Gaster had already moved his queen across the board.

"Checkmate."

With a small sigh of smoke, Grillby knocked his king over in defeat.

Gaster began to gather his pieces from the board. "Would you like a rematch to defend your honour?"

Grillby leaned back on the couch, rolling his shoulders loose from being hunched over the coffee table so long. "Nah. I think I'm pretty out-chessed for now."

"We could play something else, if you'd like", Gaster suggested as he packed the chess set away. "Hnefatafl is an interesting strategy game, and of course there is a plethora of board games available. Although those might not be all that fun with just two players. Unless..."

Gaster gazed up the stairs. "We could ask Sans and Papyrus if they'd like to join us."

Grillby tilted his head in consideration. He didn't quite feel like excusing himself yet, he was having a good time. A board game could be fun.

"Sure", he nodded.

"Excellent. Why don't you pick something, and I'll go get the boys."

Gaster disappeared up the stairs as Grillby knelt in front of the bookshelf. Maybe he should go for something less strategy-heavy and more luck-based, for the sake of a more even game for all four of them. Monopoly, maybe?

Loud stomping disrupted his musings.

"GAME NIGHT! GAME NIGHT!" Papyrus chanted as he ran down the stairs.

"Careful, Papyrus" Gaster chided as he descended after the boy, Sans in tow. "We wouldn't want you to trip and crack your skull, now would we?"

"yeah, don't get aheadof yourself", Sans said. "we wouldn't want you skulkingbecause you're hurt."

"BROTHER!" Papyrus groaned. "MUST YOU FLAUNT YOUR LAZIEST PUNS IN FRONT OF A GUEST!"

"i'm not gonna put out some fibulaversion of myself out there to impress someone. besides, Grillby seems like a chillguy", Sans retorted.