+ Chess is a Gentle-Queen's Game +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: Everyone in Wonderland!
Where: The chessboard hills
When: Monday, July 15, all day starting at 10:00 AM
Rating: PG-13 (probably)
Summary: The Red Queen has accepted a challenge from the Queen of Hearts.
The Story:
♥ ICly, characters who will act as pieces were chosen by either queen. The Queen of Hearts announced her choices to her Mirrors very directly, with an order to show up at 10:00 AM on the chessboard, ready to fight. The Red Queen announced her choices more politely, but just as firmly, with a text message sent out over the network listing her chosen pieces and requesting their assistance to protect their fellow Real things. Characters were not ICly able to respond to this message, but the Red Queen will be available after the event for questions/demands/angry rants.

♥ Those pieces who choose to obey the summons will have time to gather any items or weapons they might want to have with them, within reason. Those who don't heed the fliers will find themselves suddenly and instantly transported to their square on the chessboard when 10:00 AM rolls around. They will arrive with anything that was on their person at the time, as well as one weapon (whatever it would be normal for them to use).

♥ Each player sports an armband (since mirrors do tend to look so like their counterparts ♥), black for the Mirrors and white for the Real things, with the shape of their assigned chess piece printed in the opposite color.

♥ Pieces will find that they can't leave their assigned spots until they're told what square to move to by either the Queen of Hearts or the Red QUeen. And if they refuse to move, after a couple of moments, an unseen force will scoot them along to their new space.

♥ When threading moves on the board, please find the appropriate thread under which to comment! It might be helpful to label your thread with which moves/encounter you're playing out.

♥ Players on the board can not communicate with those in the stands and vice versa (other than by jumping around and flailing, I guess). However, players on the board can communicate directly with those in squares adjacent to them or with any challenger who enters their respective squares. Since some pieces have a lot of down time, feel free to have them chat with others on the board while they're waiting around.

♥ Directions from the Queens can be assumed. Go ahead and play out moves without them being officially announced.

♥ The plotting and info post for this log is here.

♥ For your convenience, here are links to the thread headers:
The Game - Moves 1-22
The Game - Moves 23-40
The Game - Moves 41-55
The Game - Moves 56-71
The Game - Moves 72-83
The Game - Moves 84-98
The Game - Moves 99-114
The Holding Area
The Stands

Have fun!

Comments

c-c-creeping

[elegance_guaranteed]

[Teatime recognizes Greed from their brief conversation previously. He hasn't gotten a very good read on the other man yet, but that is simple enough to fix.

He pulls himself behind Greed and focuses his attention on him. Ever since he'd installed a scrying stone in his skull, his presence unnerved people to a startling degree. How fast they noticed that something predatory was stalking them was generally a good indication of how in tune they were with their surroundings.]

wheeeee~

[appealingavarice]

[It is, unsurprisingly, Ling who gets uncomfortable first. By a considerable margin. Even after Greed feels it too...

...it really doesn't seem important. He's keeping an eye on people a lot more fragile than himself, after all. So there's actually quite a bit of delay between noticing and reacting, and the reaction is more cranky than anything else, as he turns to look over his shoulder and ask:]

Is there something you want?

[elegance_guaranteed]

[It was a disappointing reaction, but far from the worst he's experienced. Irritation when faced with a threatening force was either a sign of foolishness or confidence. ]

You seem upset. [It's an observation rather than an answer to the question, but then "To know your strengths and weaknesses so that I can kill you later" was a bit forward for the second date.] Friends on the board?

[appealingavarice]

Annoying jackass staring at me and asking stupid questions. [Hey, if the creepy guy doesn't have to give actual answers, neither does Greed.]

[elegance_guaranteed]

[Teatime cocks his head with an irritatingly chipper smile plastered across his face.]

Is that all? You're startlingly easy to upset.

[appealingavarice]

No, but don't underestimate just how irritating you are.

[And then Greed ostentatiously turns back to the game, though he can't hide a slight hesitation to do that- creepy one-eyed assholes should ideally be kept where he can see them. Not that he actually thinks this guy's anything like as dangerous as Wrath.]

[elegance_guaranteed]

[Without so much as a whisper of movement, Teatime is behind Greed. His impossibly sharp knife effortlessly cuts through layers of clothes to tickle that first layer of skin.]

Am I irritating? [His tone implies honest curiosity. Nobody ever had the ill-sense to insult him to his face at home, so he isn't sure.

[appealingavarice]

[Holy shit this guy is fast but, when the initial alarm dies down- seriously, shades of Wrath here- Greed realizes that it's just a knife, and that he hasn't even stabbed him with it. The tip grinds against carbon shielding as it replaces the soft flesh it had been touching, and though the faint sound is muffled by the clothing, the creepy guy will certainly feel it. Especially since Greed leans back into the knife, to make the point even more clearly.]

Yeah. And be careful how you play with that thing, you could put your eye out. Again.

[elegance_guaranteed]

[Teatime's delighted giggle sounds not unlike a bell falling down a flight of stairs. He has stabbed a lot of people and no one has ever done anything like that before. ]

How fun! [He stabs again, this time in the vicinity of the right kidney and with no intention of pulling the blade short. One didn't learn new things without testing things out, afterall.]

[appealingavarice]

[The knife connects with the Ultimate Shield again, to skid or stop or snap depending on how much force was behind it, but Greed is very much not finding this funny anymore. The Shield has spread to his hands, now, and he reaches for the creepy guy's knife hand.]

Cut it out, you little psycho. Poke any more holes in my clothes and I'm gonna start poking holes in you.

[elegance_guaranteed]

[Teatime blips in front of Greed and attempts to shove the knife in his eye.]

You think you can manage that?

[His conversational tone is rife with honest curiosity. If anyone was merely listening, they would have no clue that Teatime was stabbing anyone.]

[appealingavarice]

[If the creepy guy were a little bit less freakishly fast, Greed would be digging his claws into his hand at this point. He does twist his face away in time, not yet worried enough to Shield his head, and it leaves a bloody gash along his temple. Only for a moment, though. The wound vanishes, almost immediately, in a crackle of red light.] Yeah. What do you think you're gonna manage?

[Greed doesn't bother trying to grab him this time, just drives his other hand at the guy's gut as if it were a knife itself.]

[elegance_guaranteed]

[Teatime's eyes widen in a look that might have been described as 'childish wonder' if not for the sinister nature of his mismatched gaze. He pulls himself out of arm's reach and appears two rows down.]

That's amazing! [He claps in delight and beams like an overexcited child on Hogswatch morning.] Healing and that turning into stone trick. You're a puzzle!

[appealingavarice]

I already know how amazing I am. I don't need some whack job waving a knife at me to prove it. [He'll let "stone" pass without correction. Not lying doesn't mean you have to be stupid.] This how you always get to know people?

[elegance_guaranteed]

I've found that this way separates the dull people from the interesting ones.

[He had also found that he lacked the knack for more traditional greetings, but that was irrelevant.

The knife was put away for the moment, or at least, out of sight.]

Is person the right word for you, I wonder? Or are you something else? I'd hate to be saying it wrong.

[appealingavarice]

Yeah, dead people tend to be pretty boring. [Look at how impressed Greed isn't. As far as he's concerned, he's been killed by scarier people than you, who haven't even managed it once yet.] And why the hell wouldn't I be a person?

[elegance_guaranteed]

[Teatime sees the unimpressed look and raises it a creepy smile.]

Gods-- even lesser gods, don't generally refer to themselves as people. Neither do Anthropomorphic personifications. I'm sure there are others too. [He cocks his head a bit.] But I guess you can be a person and not be human.

[appealingavarice]

You been talking to a lot of gods?

[The prince wants him to stop talking to this guy, and it's not like Greed can't see his point. Edward had realized how to destroy his Shield just from the fact that his body was human. So maybe don't mention that, he figures, because even though this guy is clearly completely fucking nuts, he's also clearly dangerous.]

[elegance_guaranteed]

No. Not to my knowledge, anyway. [He leans forward and although there is about six feet between them, there's an eerie sense of closeness about the movement.] Have you?

[appealingavarice]

I don't think I'd be welcome in that kind of company. [Greed leans forward too, because creepy guy is trying to intimidate him and to hell with that.] Name's Greed.

[elegance_guaranteed]

I see. [Something about the way he manically tilts his head a quarter of an inch to the left implies that he does not, in fact, see. The gods of his world do not distinguish between good and evil and right and wrong quite so literally. He could not see Aniger, the Goddess of squashed animals caring about the greed of mortals-- but then, he never had been devout.

He rights his head abruptly and snaps his smile back into place to resume in the same chirpy tone he started the conversation in.]

My name is Teatime. Jonathan Teatime. [This is deliberately pronounced Teh-ah-tim-eh as if he is very used to people getting it wrong.]

[appealingavarice]

I don't care what your name is. What I want to know is what your problem is.

[elegance_guaranteed]

[His eyebrows scrunch just a bit.] I don't have one. Does it seem like I have one?

[appealingavarice]

Most people don't introduce themselves with knives, otherwise.

[And sure, Teatime doesn't quite seem to be most people, but neither is Greed and he doesn't introduce himself with violence unless he has a problem, either. Even most people who aren't most people don't do that.]

[elegance_guaranteed]

[He blinks.] I see! Thank you for telling me that. I would hate to give the wrong impression.