+ 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

[burntvideocassette]

[If you accept my surrender--]

[If I yield, you can make it quick, right?]

[She's lying. She has to be.]

[Jay recoils, holding the knife out in front of him.]

Accept? Like, if I say "It's okay, you can just--just leave," it'll be fine?

[It's snarled out, sarcastic. Like hell he's gonna just take her word on that.]

Or do I have to come over there?

[emotiveness]

[And then she can't help it. She rolls her eyes. For as far as she's come in trying to be the hero with Regina, something she and her Real have in common is they both have a fairly low tolerance for those who can't grasp the obvious.]

Obviously you have to come here. You're taking my square.

[Have you never played chess before? But as she steps back to the far corner of her square, she curtsies, like only a properly trained courtier can.]

But I concede.

[burntvideocassette]

[She steps back, giving him space to move into her square. The alarm bells are still blaring in his head, still warning him that she's close enough to pull a gun on him--a knife, too, if he's not fast enough. Maybe worse.]

[And then she curtsies, like something out of Junior Cotillion. Like a pageant girl.]

[Feels like she's mocking him.]

[He's been watching the game, though. He knows the rules. He literally can't lose, no matter what she does to him. The Queen's moving him. He's taking her square, no matter what.]

Fine.

[Antsy, shoulders hiked up, knife still drawn, he shuffles toward her square. Under his breath, he mutters:]

Let's just get this over with.

[emotiveness]

[As he crosses over onto her corner of the square, Drizella is true to her word. She raises from her curtsied position, and offers a small smile before she shimmers out of existence and off the board.]

Good luck.

[And with that, she's gone.]

[burntvideocassette]

[She doesn't move to strike, just raises out of her curtsy, and--]

[--And dissolves, right in front of his eyes.]

Wait--!

[He didn't think, did he? He didn't think about what would happen to her. Sure, he didn't put his hands around her throat, didn't gut her with the knife, but he just killed her. Same thing that happened to everyone else who left the board. Same as Tim, same as Clem, same as Shepard and Max and all the rest.]

[Fuck this game.]