+ 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

[remibriggs]

So...you're friends then.

[ He'll be one to watch as often as she can. If she can use him to get to Jane somehow, it'll be worth it. ]

Does that mean you know about the things she's done?

[noreason]

[He nods again. She's one of his best friends, really.]

You mean the being a terrorist thing? Yeah. She told me about that.

[He sees no reason to deny it.]

[remibriggs]

[ God, it's so...weak. To surround yourself with people that way. To depend on anyone other than yourself. No one has ever done anything for Remi and she's never had anything that she didn't get for herself. ]

God, she probably thinks confessing it all like some bleeding heart makes her more sympathetic. Did it work? Did you absolve her of everything in your head because memory loss makes it all better somehow? Forgivable?

[noreason]

[He cants his head a bit to one side, his expression serious.]

If she hadn't told me, you'd probably be saying that she's a two-faced liar.

[remibriggs]

You didn't answer the question.

Is she forgiven?

[noreason]

I can't really forgive her for something she didn't do to me. But if you mean do I think what she did was okay, I'm not really in a position to say so.

[remibriggs]

She used to be strong. She used to be me. Then she drank the Kurt Weller punch and she's...a shadow of herself.

[ Not that Remi's bitter or anything. ]

What do you get out of it? Your friendship with her, what does it get you?

[noreason]

If she were you, you'd be someone else.

[Such is the life of being a Mirror, he thinks.]

What do I get out of it?

[He pauses, actually giving it some thought.]

I get to feel human.

[remibriggs]

[ Fair point, but. ]

If she were me, it'd mean she stayed on mission.

[ His answer makes her pause, studying him intently. ]

What are you?

[noreason]

It's better that she didn't. I doubt she'd be very happy.

[If Remi is any indication.

He shrugs. Regardless, it's in the past now, and can't be undone.]

I'm a demon. Sort of.

[remibriggs]

You're implying I'm not happy? That she wasn't before all of this?

[ Remi leans forward a little, a small smirk on her lips. ]

She ever tell you erasing her memory was her own idea?

[ Anyway. ]

A demon and a terrorist. Isn't that a combination.

[noreason]

[That gives him pause and he leans toward her as well.]

Why would she do that?

[remibriggs]

Because she knew how important our cause was. She had to infiltrate the FBI. Her tattoos? Unlocked cases that would get certain people in different organizations fired and put the people we wanted into place. But the FBI, CIA, NSA. They have a way of torturing people for information. If she didn't know, she couldn't tell.

[ Sometimes she's brilliant. Even if the plan did blow up spectacularly. No one could have bet on Cade going rogue. It's his fault, really, that everything went to shit. ]

[noreason]

Huh. That's a pretty good plan.

[He knows he wouldn't have thought of anything like that. Then again, his entire story is one of reaction rather than action, and he knows it.]

[remibriggs]

It was. And it was working. Until one of our own betrayed us.

[ She'd kill Cade if she could. She almost hopes the bastard comes here. ]

The entire plan was hers, and it was supposed to end with everyone she's now...best friends with dead. She was supposed to destroy Kurt Weller, not marry him.

[noreason]

[He's quiet for a moment, considering all of that.]

It makes sense that the you that you are now would think so. But she isn't that you anymore, she's her.

[Too many pronouns.]

[remibriggs]

[ Remi scowls at that. ]

I can still destroy her here. Might take time, but she doesn't deserve this. None of it. It doesn't belong to her.

[noreason]

Who does it belong to, then? Who does deserve it?

[Perhaps more importantly...]

How do you plan on destroying her?

[remibriggs]

The life she's trying to pretend she has, that perfect...utopia? It isn't real.

[ It's because of her, she did this. Jane just gets to ignore it and move on, never face any real and lasting consequences. ]

You're not really expecting me to tell you, right? It's enough that you have the chance to try and warn her now.

[noreason]

It's real for her.

[So Remi's view of it doesn't really matter.]

I just wanted to make sure you weren't going to do anything dumb.

[remibriggs]

[ Remi makes a face of actual disgust and shakes her head. God, her real version sucked. She screwed up the entire mission for what? Love? And apparently surrounded herself with people who think she's a saint. ]

I'm not stupid. But she has a weakness. That's her own fault.

[noreason]

You don't have one?

[He's not really sure if that's possible.]

[remibriggs]

No.

[ Her and Kurt's mirror, they're not completely like Jane and her husband. They have their moments, but they're far from believing one wouldn't sacrifice the other if they had to. At least, she thinks. ]

I was always willing to go as far as I needed to.

[noreason]

That doesn't mean you don't have a weakness.

[At home, Naoki would go pretty far himself when necessary. But even he wasn't completely unstoppable.

Then again, his weakness had always been similar to the Real Jane's--the people around him.]

[remibriggs]

[ She had a weakness, but Shepherd made sure her daughter was so far away and untraceable that Remi doesn't even think about her anymore.

Much.

In any case, her baby has lived an entire life without her biological mother, so it doesn't matter anyway. ]

When you find my weakness then we'll both know what it is, I guess.