+ 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

[slapfight]

I don't have to answer that.

[She tries to pull herself up a bit more to get a better view, but she is a tiny green nerd who can't do a pull-up, so she ends up back on the ground, frustrated and embarassed.]

But if you must know, I don't want anyone to know I came here, so pretend like you haven't seen me!

[modore]

Everyone's going to know you're here. We literally can't go anywhere else.

[slapfight]

[there's a long

pointed

pause.]

...We can't?

[modore]

No. We have to stay out here. I guess for the whole game.

[slapfight]

I didn't know that.

[CRAPBASKETS.] Hnngh. Why is Wonderland so dumb?

[modore]

[He tilts his head, still half-lying on the bench and looking at her upside down.]

Why was it supposed to be a secret that you're here anyway?

[slapfight]

Lapis and I didn't want to indulge this nonsense... Or at least that's what I told Lapis, but... I had to see for myself what was going on so I sort of... sneaked out? Heh.

[So basically she lied to her best friend and she's hiding from her shame.]

[modore]

Well...you don't really have to sneak anymore. And it'd be easier to talk to you if you came out from under there.

[slapfight]

[She sighs and starts to pull herself up.

Or at least... tries. She's not very strong so she just ends up comically squirming and kicking to try and get herself up between the seats, making weird noises all the while.

She's doing her best...]

[modore]

[...

He watches her struggle for a minute.]

...You could just come around to the front side and come up the stairs.

[Like a normal person.]

[slapfight]

This is- hnngh- much faster.

[is it though?

well you have to admire her commitment to it...]

[modore]

...I really don't think it is.

[He watches her for a couple more seconds, but when it's apparent she's not going to do what he suggested, he slides off of the bench so he can help pull her up.]

[slapfight]

[With some tugging and kicking she finally comes free and flops down onto the bench looking like she has suffered much for what she thought was convenience.] Wow thanks.

[She inhales and exhales a few times and then assumes a sitting position like this went exactly as she planned.] See? Much faster.

[modore]

[He sits back up as well, watching her compose herself.]

Are you sure? Because it took a while. And you needed help.

[slapfight]

[She crosses her arms stubbornly over her chest.] We clearly have a much different concept of time. Now then... [Her eyes drift to the battlefield.]

Erm... Huh. [She leans a bit to the side to stage whisper at him:] Who's winning exactly?

[modore]

I think the Queen of Hearts is winning? At least, she has the most captured pieces... But I don't think that's really how you can tell who's winning in chess.

[He really has no clue. His knowledge of chess is rudimentary, and for something that happens so slowly, it's hard for him to remember what each player has been doing or predict what her gambit is.]

[slapfight]

If the Red Queen doesn't have any soldiers to fight, then clearly she loses. How would that not be the key to victory?

[This is another weird Earth thing, isn't it? She's a giant Earth stan, but their tactics are so messed up...] And neither of them appear to have chosen the best possible warriors to fight this war.

[modore]

Having fewer piece--people doesn't mean she'll lose. There are lots of strategies she can still use. I think.

[He squints at the field, taking in some of the people who are fighting.]

But I don't have an answer for that part. I have no idea why they chose those people.

[slapfight]

[She crosses her arms over her chest.] I'm more accepting of a lack of logic these days, but Wonderland continues to go beyond what's acceptable.

[modore]

That's not the only thing here that's unacceptable.

[There is so much wrong with Wonderland, in some ways.]

At least it seems like a lot of them know what they're doing...even if they aren't going it well.

[slapfight]

[She rubs her chin thoughtfully.] It does seem like the fights are pre-determined. Invading a square shouldn't assure a victory for the one who made the move. Especially not when the invading party is so much weaker.

I wonder what would happen if one of the other forces actually did successfully beat an attacker off their territory.

[modore]

Me and Kayo were talking about that. We were wondering what would have happened if one of us was there--because there's no way we could beat anyone, even if we were supposed to win.

[He looks thoughtful.]

I wonder if the person would just fall over unconscious or something.

[slapfight]

That would be so disappointing. How could you even call that a victory! Hnngh.

[She props her chin up on her hands with her elbows on her knees.] I feel like... we really don't need to be here for this.

[modore]

Why not?

[He looks over at her, frowning slightly.]

Shouldn't we be here for...moral support or just as witnesses or something?

[slapfight]

Wars don't have witnesses. They have soldiers! Just sitting back and observing a battle without doing anything feels... wrong.

[She screws up her face, uncertain how to verbalize her concern about this.] We're just sitting here and we can't do anything about any of it.