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Who: Aankin and OPEN (plus a part for Obi-Wan)
What: Anakin is at the park, playing chess
When: Saturday, today
Where: The park
Rating/Warnings: Probably low, maybe swearing

It was Saturday, the day was crisp, but sunny, which was really the best you could hope for in New York in the middle of winter.

Anakin had the rest of the day to do as he pleased and he had too much on his mind to spend the day in his apartment. He loaded up his backpack with snacks, his phone (which was his music), his chess set, he threw on hat and a glove (the one hand didn’t need it), his coat, and then grabbed a bus to his favorite park.

He found an empty table – the table and the benches were made out of cement and the tabletop had white and black cement squares inlaid to make a chess board.

Anakin pulled the battered, wooden box out of his backpack and started setting up the metal pieces. He put the black pieces on his side, to be generous to whoever decided to play with him.

For Obi-Wan
Around early afternoon, Anakin sent Obi-Wan some texts:

>> at the park
>> want to take* about memories

He was curious if Obi-Wan was going through the same thing he was – the memory repeating over and over ad nauseam until it felt like it was burned more firmly in his brain than any memory he’d gained naturally over the years. He was sure he wasn’t alone but just wanted to check.

*OOC: unintentional typo, but let's go with it.

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Anakin paused in moving his next piece, because now he was confused (and he was also concerned because he didn't quite like the 'feelings' that came with the memory). "Are you saying you want a hippy for father?" Anakin asked.

"No." He was definitely not saying that. "Just that the feelings were familiar." Like feeling threatened, rejected, inferior, irrelevant, and hurt while trying to be polite.

"Huh," Anakin said, not realizing the extent to what Obi-Wan was feeling.

"I don't have a dad so I guess I don't have anything to make that comparison." Maybe that's why he wasn't picking up that kind emotion about the older man in their memory. He sure felt things - excitement and lingering rush of adrenaline. Which was weird, because they were all kind of crouched on the floor in the memory...

"Not having a dad might complicate it but I don't think parental feelings are particularly delineated by gender of the parent."

That was an assumption (that Anakin had someone parental - or had) and he realized it late and winced.

Anakin didn't want to talk about the one parent he'd had, so he didn't let the conversation turn that way.

"So... then why is your 'dad' introducing us?" he could only us one hand for air quotes. On top of the irritation of the memory, his right arm hurt that day and wanted to avoid moving it as much as possible.

He didn't expect Obi-Wan to have the answer, but it's the one that popped into his mind again and again.

"I don't know. I wish I did. Maybe with time." Was he happy with that? No. Was he going to be flailing against the irritating blank walls that refused to turn into doors he could walk through to find answers? Also no. "Meanwhile I would settle for uninterrupted sleep."

The first thing Anakin thought was that waiting to learn more was so unsatisfying. He wanted to know now. If the memory was going to attack him, essentially, every night, he felt he deserved more information.

"No dreams would better than the the same one." He moved his piece. "Anything else weird?"

"Not really." He made his own move immediately, which meant he was going to lose, but whatever. "I've talked to a few more people. I think they're all suspicious to various degrees. I also realized that we may be able to use the place I work, after hours, for our own meetings if those need a location."

"An ice rink?" Anakin asked, dubious. He needed to know before he made his move.

"...There's an ice rink in the arena. I thought we might use a meeting room or board room, though I suppose we could gather on the ice itself...."

In short no, he's not quite that far gone.

"You have those at the ice rink?" Anakin knew so little about these things.

"It's a really, really big sporting arena and facility. They host all sorts of things. There's even an attached food court." HE wasn't upset at all, just explaining.

"Huh... I'm sure they have them in Arizona. I've just never been to one." Maybe that was odd? Of all the things he had experienced, never going to an ice rink was a wholesome absence in his life.

"But that could work for a place to meet."

"They're not very useful in most circumstances, unless you happen to skate." He quirked a slight smile. "In this case we've got an alternative use. It's a big space so if people keep turning up we have room, without crowding into anyone's dining room."