+ The Time Has Come, the Time Is Now +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: Everyone in Wonderland!
Where: The chessboard hills
When: Monday, June 11, all day starting at 10:00 AM
Rating: R for (sometimes excessive) violence
Summary: The Queen of Hearts has declared war and the time for battle has come.
The Story:
♥ ICly, the Real Things who will act as pieces volunteered and are led by the Red Queen. The Mirrors were chosen by the Queen of Hearts without being given a choice. 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 pieces and requesting their assistance to protect their fellow Real Things. Characters were not ICly able to respond to this message.

♥ 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 summons 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). Likewise, any spectators who are not in or around the stands by 10:00 AM will find themselves transported there.

♥ Each player sports an armband, white for the Real Things and Black for the Mirrors, with the shape of their assigned chess piece embroidered in the opposite color. Royalty pieces wear crowns indicative of their status. Should a pawn be promoted to queen, a crown will appear on their head.

♥ 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 top-level under which to comment! It might be helpful to label your thread with which move/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 whose square they share. 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 waiting for a comment to officially announce them.

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

♥ For your convenience, here are links to the thread headers:

The Donation Box
Pre-Game
The Game - Moves 1-20
The Game - Moves 21-40
The Game - Moves 41-60
The Game - Moves 61-80
The Game - Moves 81-100
The Game - Moves 101-117
The Holding Area
The Stands

Have fun!

Comments

+ The Game - Moves 1-20 +

[vitaelamorte]

00. Initial board layout
01. White pawn (Max Caulfield) to D4
02. Black pawn (Mirror Regis) to A5
03. White pawn (Souji Seta) to E3
04. Black pawn (Mirror Snow White) to E5
05. White pawn (Clementine) to C3
06. Black knight (Mirror Mettaton) to C6
07. White knight (Commander Shepard) to F3
08. Black pawn (Mirror Regis) to A4
09. White pawn (Papyrus) to B3
10. Black pawn (Mirror Regis) to A3
11. White pawn (Papyrus) to B4
12. Black pawn (Mirror Starlight Glimmer) to D5
13. White pawn (Papyrus) to B5
14. Black knight (Mirror Mettaton) to A5
15. White knight (Commander Shepard) to E5 (Black pawn (Mirror Snow White) captured)
16. Black pawn (Mirror Cullen Rutherford) to F6
17. White pawn (Tim Drake) to F4
18. Black rook (Mirror Stan Pines) to A6
19. White knight (Daisy Johnson) to A3 (Black pawn (Mirror Regis) captured)
20. Black rook (Mirror Stan Pines) to E6

initial + move 05.

[rightcall]

( ooc: open to anyone who might travel nearby clementine who wants to say anything/commiserate with her).

( Clementine packs up what she needs and heads out when she gets the call without realizing what she's heading out for. She packs her shotgun and her pistol. She sheaths the katana that Michonne gave to her and trained her with. She puts away the tape recorder Georgia once gave her. She packs chocolate chip granola bars cause like Peggy Carter said, she should have good food on the way.

It's only when she gets there that she realizes where she is, what exactly she signed herself up for. There's this flat surface where anyone could be killed at a moment's notice without hesitation. She only recognizes it as chess because once when Wonderland turned to Hogwarts, she saw Klaus play it. And he's gone now, and she misses him like she misses Iris and Richie and a lot of people who aren't here anymore.

She sees Tim and Jay here too, and Jean, and Daisy, and she wants to scream. Because this is not what she wanted- this is not what she signed up to be. This is not being a soldier or a guardian or good. This is being a piece in a fucking game, and she hates it. )

Fuck. ( the word leaves her more shakily than she means it to. Her hand gripping to her shot gun. ) Fuck, fuck. Fuck. Are you kidding me? Why the fuck does signing up to protect my home mean I'm now your piece to do whatever the hell you want to with?

( When it's time for her to move, she resists it- she tries to resist it but she cannot. She's stuck. Some force is pushing her forward into a spot she doesn't want to be, because it puts her closer to danger she can't escape from. She doesn't get to choose.

She didn't know what she was signing up for, and she hates it. Her eyes burning as she pushes back against the unseen force only to find herself moved anyway, landing roughly on the square with her heart beating too fast. Her hands are fists. )

Initial

[mypartnerintime]

[Max hears what she can only describe as the correct response to this whole game. She looks over to her left, examining the girl that the expletives just spewed from. And what a girl- armed from head to toe, it looks like. Max's taser feels completely insufficient by comparison.

Not that she minds. She hates guns.

...Though that might end up getting her into trouble this time.]

Hey. You're Clem, right?

[Some of Max's friends have told her about Clem, and from the stories she sounds like a great person. The sentiment she just expressed (and the accompanying vulgarities) does nothing diminish that impression.]

[rightcall]

( Clementine lifts her head at the question toward the voice. Her mouth parts as she tilts her head to the side. She's seen Max around, she thinks. Her hand slides behind the back of her neck even as she nods in answer. )

Yeah.

Hey. Uh, kind of a shitty way to meet someone, huh? In the middle of a chess game where we're the pieces.

( the words leave her sharply, because this is- it is not what she signed up. she wants a choice. she wants to fight. she asked to.)

Initial + move 03

[eatsyourscience]

[Souji's been here before. Well not here here, because he was a bishop last time, but here on a chessboard in a chess match much like this one. He's not especially happy to be back here, but he figures it's better him than some other people he could think of.

Glancing around himself, he takes note of each of the people nearby. He recognizes them, even if he's never spoken to some of them. With only so many people in Wonderland, it's hard to go totally unnoticed.

He's especially keeping an eye out for people who look nervous or otherwise unsettled. Having done this before, he might be able to...well, he can't put them at ease, because this isn't going to be pretty for everyone, but maybe he can at least help people prepare themselves mentally.

He has to move before he's really ready to, but he doesn't go far and he stays there in E3 for quite some time, again, looking around for people to at least talk to while he keeps his eye on the action.]

[mrsarcastic003]

[Tim has never done this before. Well. He's played chess before, but never from this angle. He's usually a player, and not one of the pieces. He glances around at the others near him, and considers for a moment how ridiculous he would look if he started jumping to try to get a better view. There are glider wings built into his cape, but they're not going to go live him extra lift, really. Maybe someday.

He glances at Souji, who also seems to be paying attention to the action.]

Do you play?

[eatsyourscience]

I have before.

[Souji answers almost absently before blinking and looking over at Tim.]

Wait, do you mean the normal way or like this? [He nods at the field in front of them.]

Initial

[mypartnerintime]

[If Souji is looking for nervous and unsettled, then the square to his left is absolutely the right place. Max stands there, gripping what looks like a taser- the kind designed to scare people off more than actually harm them. Her expression is rather confused as she eyes the Mirrors across the board, shifting her weight uneasily from one foot to the other.

This is not what she had in mind when the Queens said "war". And she's not sure what to feel about it.

She's relieved. She's definitely relieved. But did she really have to be a central pawn in a chess game? That's probably like... the first piece to die, right?

So she's not that relieved.

Souji's glance draws her attention. She turns her head to face him, coupling a nervous smile with a shrug.]

[eatsyourscience]

[He smiles a little, trying to look reassuring. He's relieved to some degree as well that this isn't an all-out battle royale. He'd like to hope that things will go better than the last time he was in a game of chess, but he's not holding out a lot of hope for that, though. People are going to get hurt no matter how hard he's hoping otherwise. That's just the nature of this game.]

I don't think any of us were expecting this.

Move 20 - Black Rook to E6

[stantagonist]

[Stan's Mirror hasn't been around very long, comparatively speaking. Technically he used to exist - he was someone else back then, but he doesn't remember much about being that person. What he remembers is being Remade by the grace of Her Majesty, and being told that surely this version of Stanley Pines would not disappoint her.

Perhaps it was supposed to be a reassurance, but he knows it for what it was - a threat.

He knows The Rules, evidently better than he used to if the looks he's gotten from Mirrors who used to know him are anything to go by. Screwing up again won't be tolerated. He doesn't know what he did exactly, but he won't think about that part. She Remade him into someone who won't do it again.

That being said he's incredibly excited to be on the board, and honored to be given the chance. The Queen of Hearts picked him and she even made him an important piece that gets to move around a lot. She's giving him a chance to be more than just a pawn, and he won't let her down.

(Somewhere deep in his created subconscious, he thinks he used to care about this stupid game, used to know all the rules. But that was long ago in another lifetime that's only just barely his own, and it doesn't matter anyway. Her Majesty knows the game and she is the one calling the moves.)

He grins wickedly when his next move is called, sliding his way across more than half the board to stand directly in front of one of the Red Queen's knights. This has to be it. Next move is her capture. Her Majesty has probably been moving him specifically for the next move she makes. There's no way her next move won't be black rook to E5. He cracks his knuckles, making a big show of what he figures is obvious to everyone.]

Heh. One more move and you're a goner.

[normandysbest]

[She hates being stuck like this.

Shepard's more battered than she wanted to be after that last fight, and the fact that she's stuck here, now effectively surrounded by mirrors, isn't doing much for her morale. Especially when this guy saddles up, and she gives him a look, narrowing her eyes and pulling her lip up in something halfway to a sneer.]

You really want to fight me? Did you see what happened to your friend? Hasn't been going well for your side so far.

[stantagonist]

Please. None of these people are my friends.

[The technical reason is that he's too new for friends. Anyone who knew him doesn't know him and he's not really interested in those bleeding heart traitors anyway. Not when he knows what he was Remade for.]

Sucks to be them, but that's not going to be me. It's definitely going be you in about five minutes though, no matter what way you look at it.

General Board Threads + Move 16 || OTA

[squandered]

► General

[ The Knight-Commander's impatience grows with every move. He paces the small square as much as he can, and more than once slams into its boundaries. Growling he watches the moving pieces with envy, the fights' entertainment only a drop of water towards his thirst to participate.

Faintly strategies come to him, moves he might have suggested in the past. They are meaningless against the need to strike anything near, and he looks for the Queen of Hearts with a distorted growl in his voice. ]

Let me do it, let me at them all! Let me finish this for you, Your Majesty!

► Move 16

[ He laps up the command greedily, but in a split second sees that his path leads all but nowhere. The frustration leaves his throat a distorted roar, and his claw slams down into the board, breaking ground hard. ]

You're not giving me enough!

[ He leaves a mark of his move, a gash at his feet from one square to the other, and red crystals crackling in his wake. ]

move 15; capturing mirror snow

[normandysbest]

[Alright. When she thought she was signing up for a war, this kind of wasn't what she pictured. Souji had told her once there was a chess match for something like this, and she feels kind of stupid for being so nervous about this, but... oh well. She prepared as she could. And even if she truly dislikes being ordered around like this, it'll have to do.

At least she's being moved aggressively. Especially when she's the first piece to be asked to take another. She squares her shoulders, exhales, and steps forward, hands at her hip but not surrendering.]

We don't have to do this whole blowout, you know. I'll give you the chance to back down.

[evilsnow]

[ The fact that this is happening so quickly in the game is infuritating. If she were in charge of her own war, everyone would be dead already. And no, she's absolutely not going down without a fight.

A fireball erupts in her hand as she shakes her head. ]

If I'm going to be forced to die on behalf of another queen, I'm not going down without a fight.

[ And so, she first knocks Shepherd back with a flick of her wrist, almost out of her own square. ]

[normandysbest]

[Okay, so, we're doing this.

Shepard stumbles, but regains her footing quickly, grabbing her closest gun off her back, a subtley glowing piece that she clicks a trigger on, causing a ball of crackling energy to start gathering at the tip.]

Well, all right, you asked for it.

[She swings her arm up like a side punch and releases the ball at the arc, sending a fist-sized amount of electricity surging forward. She also uses the opportunity to drop into her tactical cloak, disappearing in the chaos to circle around and get a good shot.]

shepard | ota

[normandysbest]

[At the beginning, it's just worrying. She's in the back, they're facing down an enemy, and she can't goddamn move. She's shifting her weight from foot to foot, she's clenching and opening her hands, she's drumming her fingers on her leg. Even cutting the intimidating figure in her armor, she's uneasy, but might be up for conversation.

Later, for moves 16-20, she comes out of the fight with Snow more beaten than she'd like to be. She burns a medi-gel out of her suit to get her up and running again, but it's a mess across the board and she just has to stand there. So she flexes her hands, watches the field, and tries to look confident.

They're going to win. She knows that.

It's just the how that matters.]

[eatsyourscience]

[Before Shepard moves to Snow's square, around move 7, she ends up standing to Souji's right. He looks over at her and offers a wry smile.]

It's hard to be patient.

[normandysbest]

[She gives him a nod, a little too tight.]

I don't like this. I'd almost prefer an actual fight to just... standing here. Waiting for whatever the hell this is.

Move 19

[morethan084]

[Well. He's definitely different to a lot of the people she's seen around here. And also just a little intimidating. Not that she would ever let onto that, in fact, she's making jokes.]

Love the nails. You get them done just for this?

[What? She's about to take his ass down, hopefully, might as well piss him off a little first.]

[bloodfrenzies]

[Regis' Mirror counterpart, already irritated at being relegated to the position of a mere pawn, comes up against Daisy with the softest hiss of agitation at the words she chooses to greet him with. Said nails slide against one another, not with the click that one might expect of keratin but with a metallic scrape and small flash of sparks as the tips meet.]

Just for you, little girl. [He replies blithely, the words edging around a snarl.] One of us had to make the effort.

[morethan084]

[What was he? Discount Wolverine? A small sarcastic smile tugs at her lips when he calls her a little girl. Cute.]

You're definitely giving Lady Gaga a run for her money right now.

Move 14 - Papyrus meets Mirror Mettaton

[kingtrousele]

[Of course, Papyrus knows that everyone in the mansion has a mirror, but he didn't expect to see a mirror of one of his friends, also participating in this game! Wowie!!

Although, to be frank...Papyrus isn't quite sure what to make of Mettaton's mirror. The only experience he had with him...does it really count? During an event in the fall, Papyrus opened Mettaton's door to find apparently his mirror trying to restrain him? And that was somehow his friend's worst memory? Huh. Weird.

...well, maybe Mirror Mettaton isn't all that bad! At least, he should try and be friendly with him. First impressions are everything!]

A-HA!! YOU MUST BE METTATON'S MIRROR!!! SO GOOD TO FINALLY MEET YOU!!!!

[poetsdaffodil]

[Mirrorton has been doing his best to look dignified, refined, and put together as he moves across the board. After all, he knows he can garner great favor with the Queen if he does his job and does it well. That being said, there's a slight tremble to his legs as he moves. He's terrified but he's hiding it as best he can.

When Papyrus calls out to him he turns to look at the skeleton critically, wondering if he should respond or not. He gives a furtive look to the Queen of Hearts but she's preoccupied- directing her other pieces, no doubt. So he turns his attention back to Papyrus and responds.]

Mm. You are correct, I am his mirror. You're, what, the third Papyrus to be here? The fourth? Hm. I wonder how long you'll last.

[He looks away then, as if uninterested. But out of the corner of his eye he continues to watch him. Such a friendly greeting for him. Perhaps he doesn't have a poisonous opinion of him unlike his brother. He could use this.]

[kingtrousele]

[Well! Mirror Mettaton sure is...a guy! Not nearly as open and welcoming as his Real, that's for sure. That's not necessarily a bad thing, however! It's just different.

He tries to shrug off Mirrorton's off handed comment, but it's clear that Papyrus looks a little uncertain of himself right after he says that before going back to smiling wide at him.]

YOU'RE RIGHT!!! THIS IS THE THIRD TIME I'VE BEEN HERE!! AT LEAST, AS FAR AS I KNOW. AS FAR AS HOW LONG I'M STAYING...I'M PLANNING ON STAYING FOR A VERY LONG TIME!!!!

[He says this with the confidence that he actually has the power to control over how long he can stay. Sheer willpower is enough, right?!]