+ We are Under Attack! +

[vitaelamorte]

Who: EVERYONE
Where: EVERYWHERE
When: 9/14 - 9/21
Rating: PG-13, warn if going higher.
Summary: The Jabberwock is loose, and seemingly unstoppable, and her Majesty the Red Queen is nowhere to be found! Will you take up arms against the monster? Will you rush to the aid of others? Or will you need that aid yourself, as something much more powerful has also escaped?
The Story:

The Jabberwocky’s roar can be heard all across Wonderland, and the Red Queen is nowhere to be found.

However! Wonderland has scattered help across the mansion! Hidden in various places are duplicates of the Vorpal Weapons, ready to aid anyone who finds them in staying alive and uneaten as long as possible.

The mirror boundaries have shattered, leaving glass scattered everywhere, and Mirrors able to cross over as they like. But something else has crossed over with them - the entire contents of the Core are slinking around, waiting to snatch the memories of someone unfortunate enough to open up its hiding place.

Looking for more details, or have some questions? The OOC post is right over here!

Comments

OTA

[onlyredroses]

Three days into the battle, a new contender arrives. Or, more accurately, an old contender.

Her usually meticulous hair is wild, and there's fire in her eyes. Everything about her is tense, and she looks as though she's fought a battle already - as though she climbed from the depths of hell itself to stand where she is now.

She has her armor, but no weapon when she first appears. Nearby, a Vorpal Sword is sticking out of a large decorative pot, and Her Majesty narrows her eyes.

"...I suppose it will do," she says to no one.

The Queen of Hearts takes the Vorpal Copy, and while her arm is not quote complete again (it is not her sword, after all), it is enough to put up a fight.

"JABBERWOCK! SHOW YOURSELF AT ONCE, YOU COWARDLY SERPENT! REPULSIVE REPTILE! I'LL BURY THIS SWORD HILT DEEP IN YOUR HEART!"

It does not answer, of course. She sheaths her temporary sword. If the Jabberwocky will not come to her, she will go to it.

She can be found all across the mansion, sword by her side, either looking for the beast or putting up a fight against it until it escapes the battle.

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun isn't really one for close combat when he can avoid it. Sure, he likes poking zombies with sticks, but this is a completely different story, and if he has to deal with the Jabberwocky, he'd rather do it at a distance.

With a bazooka.

And maybe he should find someplace safe and hunker down, like a lot of others are doing, but... this is news. News is what he does. It's even his kind of news. So instead, he's moving around Wonderland with a vorpal blade, and honestly hoping he doesn't run into the thing at close range. If it were a vorpal gun, or a vorpal crossbow there would be no problem, but a sword isn't exactly his weapon of choice, no matter how cool it might look.

...It does look kind of cool.

He rounds a corner and stops in his tracks, frowning when he sees... the Queen of Hearts?

"What are you doing here?"

He is v. respectful.

[onlyredroses]

The Queen of Hearts looks offended by his tone. Who is he to talk to her in such a way?

"My job, obviously," she says. "No one else has managed to slay the Jabberwock thus far, so a professional is stepping in."

None of this acknowledges the fact that she seems to have crawled out of the depths of Wonderhell somehow. Clearly he should have been expecting her.

[adaptiveimmunities]

"Uh huh." Shaun doesn't sound entirely convinced, but then the Queen of Hearts has acted a lot more like a spoiled kid than a professional monster-slayer in his experience here in Wonderland. "Last thing we all knew, you were dead. How do I know you're not that thing in disguise?" His hand goes to the vorpal blade he's carrying.

Also? She stabbed his sister.

[onlyredroses]

That is indeed one of the many things she's done.

"I suppose that's fair," she says, reaching for her own blade as well. "But if I were the Jabberwocky, why would I spend so much effort to slay the Jabberwocky? I'd only be killing myself, and I just got back. There'd be no point."

[adaptiveimmunities]

Shaun shrugs a shoulder, spreading his free hand in a "what are you gonna do" gesture. "Hey, I just got here. I haven't seen you fight anything. You could be the Jabberwock pretending to be ready to throw down and really just lulling us into a false sense of security before swallowing Wonderland whole."

[onlyredroses]

"I could be. Or I could be the one who's going to save you all, and you could be an incredibly ungrateful amateur swordsman," she says. "That seems more likely to me with a stance like that."

Then, she shrugs right back at him in the same way. "Most weren't meant to wield the Vorpal Sword, because most aren't me."

[adaptiveimmunities]

If she were commenting on his ability with one of his chosen weapons, he'd be ready to throw down about it, but as it is...

"Well, it's my first time. I'd be happy to take any pointers. If you're the real Queen of Hearts and not a filthy impostor, that is."

[agemofchange]

Steven had just unearthed a Vorpal Shield duplicate. He was leaning against a wall in a hall of the mansion and looked into it as he tried to figure out what to do next.

But his attention was quickly seized as he saw a certain familiar face storming by. There's no mistaking the Queen of Hearts. Steven might not have talked to her personally, but he'll never forget the sight of her being sucked up into the earth. It was a depressing fate, even for a bad person. And now she's back, as if nothing ever happened. Steven tries to process what he's looking at.

An eyebrow raised, he just looks right at her and responds with a surprised, and confused, "Yourrrr Majesty?"

[onlyredroses]

And she looks back at him, confused as to why anyone would be confused about her presence here. The Jabberwock battlefield is where she's always belonged, in the end. For a moment they stand there staring at each other, but then she simply cannot take it a second longer.

"Yes? What is it?" she asks, quick and agitated. "Spit it out - or has the Cheshire Cat got your tongue?"

[agemofchange]

"Nope, my tongue's still here and not catnapped!" he responds meekly. "It's just... um... I'm surprised to see you so suddenly. Y'know, it's been a good long while since... well, since you disappeared?"

[onlyredroses]

It has been a good long while, and a far too long one.

"Yes, well," she says with a huff. "It took an absurdly long time for Wonderland to remember it needs me here. I had to fight my way out tooth and nail, and this is my reward."

She vaguely gestures at all of this, meaning the Jabberwock attack. It's not a very good reward.

[agemofchange]

He frets as he glances around, hearing the calamity echoing through the mansion. Steven grips the shield protectively.

"Well I'm glad you escaped from - from whatever happened to you." The Queen of Hearts may not be a good person, but Steven still wouldn't wish something horrible on her. "...You're going to fight it?"

[onlyredroses]

The concern genuinely surprises her. It might be the first time anyone has ever been concerned about her. What an unusual feeling it stirs.

"...Of course," she says, recovering from her hesitation. "I've been fighting the Jabberwocky continuously since before any of you were born. I was always going to fight it. I always have, and always will."

[agemofchange]

"Whoa." His eyes widen in surprise. "For that long?!"

It sounds like it's comparable to the length of a gem war... maybe even longer, especially with the implication that it's never ending. Steven frowns.

"...I... I never even knew. I can't imagine what it must be like to fight something for so long. ...You must be tired."

[eatsyourscience]

Souji has also found a Vorpal Sword. Wandering the Mansion with it reminds him a lot of being inside the TV and it's both grim and...oddly comforting, actually.

He's on his way upstairs from the clinic when he sees the Queen of Hearts and stops in surprise.

"You're alive."

[onlyredroses]

"So are you," she says. "Frankly, given your track record, that's the more surprising thing happening here."

It's said dryly. Huh. Somehow, he hasn't been eaten by the Jabberwocky. What a shock.

[eatsyourscience]

"I'm not that bad at it."

Come on, four times in eight years? That's not--

Okay, never mind, dying at all is pretty bad.

"How did you come back?"

[onlyredroses]

"The same way I always do," she says, not really answering.

This isn't her first time forcibly clawing her way out of the depths of Wonderland, after all.

"Have you come out to die again?" She gestures at the sword in his hand.

[eatsyourscience]

He looks at the sword, then at her. "It's not my plan."

But it is a possibility, sadly.

"Although this sword won't do much against it."

[onlyredroses]

Her attitude abruptly changes, as if struck.

"Show some respect! It will do more than any other sword would!"

It may be a copy, but it's still a copy of her sword. Don't be rude, Souji.

[thereporter]

Having spent the day doing her best--and failing--to find one of the hidden Vorpal objects, Julia is digging through the music room in search of anything that might be of help. She's definitely avoiding the Jabberwock as much as she can, but she's not doing a good job of avoiding other less savory Wonderland residents when she pokes her head out of the room.

"Oh, fuck." Is this any way to speak to a Queen? Hardly. But now it's exactly the time for regal niceties. "So all it takes is a Jabberwocky to get you walking around with the rest of us mortals, huh?"

[onlyredroses]

It's no way to speak to a Queen at all, and she is terribly offended.

"You should be glad I'm here," she says. "I'm the most qualified to slay the Jabberwock - I've done it more times than you could ever count!"

Even more times that she could ever count. They all began to blur together after a while.

[thereporter]

"I'd have a little more faith in your qualifications if you could keep it dead."

How much does being able to kill it count when it keeps coming back?

"Where did you come from, anyway? I'm pretty sure we all thought you were gone for good."

[onlyredroses]

"Have you tried to keep anything dead around here?" She huffs. "Very few things stay that way and the Jabberwock is no exception."

As for the other question, she doesn't seem terribly concerned.

"Well, I'm clearly not. I came from where I was and now I'm where I am, because Wonderland is in need of an exterminator again."