entrancelogs | ( semi-open ) love is a many splendored thing

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( semi-open ) love is a many splendored thing

Who: Everyone who signed up for SHIPPING
Where: All around Wonderland! See below for specific locations.
When: Tuesday, September 9, evening
Rating: PG13 just to be safe, but if anything gets steamy (she hopes it does), I can up the rating.
Summary: Becky sets Wonderlanders up on blind dates. Also, will be image heavy.
The Story:

You receive a letter under your door sometime on the afternoon of Tuesday, September 9. This letter will be addressed to you in fancy script (Becky's best attempt at calligraphy) from a "secret admirer." You might be wondering, but it isn't February! What's with all the romantic nonsense? Well, my good friend, romance can be celebrated on more than just one day out of the year. That day happens to be today. The letter will ask you to meet your secret admirer at 6PM at a designated location. You'd best not be late! A night of romance (and perhaps even intimacy) awaits you! At least, she hopes so...

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[Sirius is silent for a while. He uses intense contemplation of the board to cover how much this is worrying him. Eventually, he moves a bishop and mutters:]

Hard to picture you being okay in hiding. You'd go stir crazy so fast.

[Was that the problem? Did James make a mistake?]

Edited 2014-11-03 02:52 (UTC)

[James shouldn't, but he can't help looking at Sirius when he says that, with a strange sort of sadness on his face. Sadness that's more for Sirius than himself His heart breaks hearing that, knowing that Sirius will have to suffer that too - knowing that Sirius will be forced back to Grimmauld Place one day and have to live in hiding himself.

But, they aren't there yet. It's going to get confusing if he skips around, so he forces up a smile and presses on.]

Yeah, I...I can't either. I assumed I'd be on the front lines in this war.

[Of course he would. There was never any question of it.]

Anyway, you know how it goes. We'll need a secret keeper. Naturally we'll go with you, the single most trustworthy person I know...but, at the last moment, you suggest a plan to change secret keepers, because anyone would guess it's you and come after you...I don't like it at all, but it sets you up as a decoy. The only ones who will know about it are you, me, Lily...and the new secret keeper.

[As that sinks in, James moves one of his knights to challenge Sirius' bishop. It's not a real challenge, since he would lose his knight immediately to a pawn, but it's meant to look intimidating.]

[Sirius isn't thinking about the game now. He thrusts a knight out as a request, as a demand for James to just tell him.]

Alright, then. I said you change it, so you change it. Who's the new secret keeper? Who else is there?

[Remus? James' parents? Dumbledore?]

[There's a split second of hesitation. But, since Sirius asked outright...]

...Peter. We'll switch it to Peter, since no one would think we'd pick him first for it.

[Rather than elaborate further, he slides a pawn forward, in the path of Sirius' other bishop.]

[Sirius' pulse picks up. Peter. They picked Peter. Poor, bumbling Peter. Nobody'd pick him, not as a first choice. He was brave enough for Gryffindor, sure, but he wasn't-- he just wasn't as...

Either way, it'd be his fault.

His jaw clenches. He shoves a pawn out.]

What happened?

[This is always the hardest part, and James is visibly nervous about it. It reflects in his playing as well - he retreats his knight and hides it between three pawns.]

It...It doesn't go well.

[That's not enough, and he knows it isn't enough, but it takes him a long time to find the words.]

On Halloween, 1981...You-Know-Who pays us a visit.

[Sirius moves a pawn quickly, not really concentrating. It's almost as if he hopes that moving the pieces faster will get James to tell the story faster.]

Not for tea, I'm guessing?

No. Not for tea.

[James sides his bishop forward and nestles it between two pawns. This is it. He can't avoid it any longer.]

He kills me and Lily. And since we're the only ones who know that you and Peter switched, you'll get blamed for it. You go looking for Peter and...and he causes an explosion. He gets away as a rat, but there are casualties and a street full of witnesses. ...You're framed for Peter's murder, the murder of a dozen muggles, and for betraying us to You-Know-Who.

[Then, much quieter:]

...They throw you in Azkaban, Sirius.

[Sirius' eyes are open, but they're unfocused. They're lost in the images James is bringing to mind. James and Lily dead. He knows Peter's to blame, knows he's the only one who stood between their friends and Voldemort and he didn't simply step aside he led the way and of course Sirius went after him he had to he had no choice because it was his fault even so, somehow it was all Sirius' fault.

He deserved to go to Azkaban. Deserves.

Sirius grabs a knight, his attention shifting to the other half of the board.]

But Harry survives. What happens to him?

[His knuckles are white when he places his piece.]

[James moves up a pawn to threaten Sirius' knight, but does not put much thought into it than that. He knows Sirius well, and he knows that pain on his face. He's seen some variant of that look every time they've had this conversation, and it shatters James' heart to pieces every time.

Contrary to Sirius' thoughts, James firmly believes he doesn't deserve any of this. He never has, and he never will. He's quiet when he speaks though, for this never really stops being an unpleasant story.]

Dumbledore has Hagrid bring him to Surrey, to live with his aunt and uncle - Lily's sister. Without us, they're the only family he'll have left.

[James is as delicate as he can be with that point. It means more than just Harry being alone. It means that within a few short years James' parents will be gone, and James knows they were...are precious to Sirius. It twists at James' insides to know they won't be around to see Harry grow up. He honestly doesn't know if either of them will ever see Harry at all.]

...Sirius, they're awful people. They're muggles, but they're the worst sort of muggles out there. They treat him like a house elf and make him live in the cupboard under their stairs while their own son has two bedrooms to himself. They never tell him who he is or what he is, and they blame him for any bits of accidental magic he uses. They hate him, just for being a wizard and for being Lily's son.

[Sirius ignores the danger to his knight and moves a pawn. Just as he ignores the way James pauses just long enough for the reality of Lily's sister being the only family Harry has left settle in. Because ignoring it is easier when there's so much else to take in.]

Dumbledore let Harry suffer? For years? Why wasn't the Ministry keeping an eye on him?

[James wastes a move on a pawn as well. Who cares. There's more important things to talk about.]

I dunno. It had something to do with...with how we died for him. There's some protection, but it only works with blood relatives. Supposedly, as long as as he could call it "home" it would keep him safe...which, of course, is absolute bollocks. It sounds like it's about as much of a home as your house.

[They've long moved past the point where James would have felt the need to clarify that he meant no offense. Sirius just ran away those horrible people to stay with James; any offense directed at the Blacks would be deserved at this point.]

[Sirius takes a deep breath and then lets it out. He's going to need some time to sort this out on his own, obviously, in ways that he can't with James watching him. So for now, he does his best to shift his attention back to the game, just to let his anxiety and anger abate. He can't blow up at James right now. He'll never get the whole story then.

Eventually, he moves his queen. As James ponders his next move, Sirius finally comes up with something to say that won't shut things down or start some fight:]

We can't let that happen. What do we do?

[James is actually sort of impressed. He was expecting him to lash out in fury, and to have to explain all of this in stages as he calms down. James knows better than to think that it isn't there though. That rage is quieter but it burns just as hot.]

...We need to figure out how to leave Wonderland. On our own, with all of our memories of this place in tact. If we can do that, we'll be able to change everything. We'll even be able to end the war for good, before any of this happens.

[Which sounds wonderful, but it isn't the real reason they would change things and they bother know it. With that, James nestles a knight between two of Sirius' pawns, threatening one of his bishops.]

[Sirius moves his king without thinking, eyes immediately raised back onto James' face.]

But you've been here for ages. If you haven't figured that out yet...and if we can't just leave...

[He wants to know they're putting their efforts in the right place. Because they don't know when one of them might just disappear for good.]

Sirius, I've been here for ages alone. Any time someone's turned up in the last few years, they've taken off. It's not their fault of course - they never remember and they haven't got a choice in it. A lot of time gets wasted re-explaining things to you lot when you turn up again, letting everyone adjust to the horrible news. Any time you or Remus turn up, you've only ever stayed for a few months.

[He glances down to the board, but he's not really looking at anything in particular when he does.]

For a while, I was wondering if telling people was making Wonderland send them home, because it always seemed to happen that way. You and Remus would learn all about it, want to help, and then you'd be gone a couple weeks later. I started thinking maybe Wonderland was shipping you off on purpose. ...But, that's dumb and superstitious of me, I think. I mean, it didn't happen to Lily when I told her, so.

[But it explains a lot of James' behavior. James has been in Wonderland more than three years, and he's only gotten to see Sirius a handful of times for very small intervals. He'll be here three months and then vanish for a year. There's no predicting it, but if something James has been doing has been causing it every time, it's no wonder he would wait a little longer. Perhaps it is a little selfish of him, but everyone has people they miss, that they need. What's been done has been done though, so all James can do is offer a shrug and a sheepish look - a silent apology in a language only they know.

He actually does spot a move while he's looking though, and a fairly good one. He smiles a bit, and then captures one of Sirius' knights with a pawn.]

I mean, I know I'm amazing and talented and all of that, but even I can't do this alone. We're the - [The word, what is the word?] - we're a team. I wouldn't wish this place on anyone, but the more of us we have here, the better our chances will be. We'll figure out how to keep our memories, and we'll figure out how to get out of here.

Edited 2015-01-26 06:23 (UTC)

[Sirius scowls at James' move and immediately takes revenge upon the pawn. He's distracted from this minor victory by James grasping for a word. He lifts his eyes, puzzled, but supplies it anyhow:] Marauders.

[And they are, after all. Even if Peter loses his mind later, or if he's already lost it. They're friends for a reason. Adding Lily to the mix, well, they'll just make their house proud, won't they? They were always meant for great things.

If they work together, maybe those things might not be the ones James has read about in those books.]

[James doesn't reply at first. He knows Sirius said it. He could see his mouth move and he's positive something was said, but the word is gone. It will be weirder if he calls attention to it, he thinks. If he says "Right! That!" without repeating the word himself, it will be obvious something's wrong. Though, that might be obvious now, since he hasn't said anything.]

...The longer we stay here, the more difficult it's going to be, I think. But I don't think it will be impossible.

[He's already forgotten some things, but he'd gladly forget half his vocabulary if it meant they could all live happy lives.

He's glad Sirius made that move though. Hoping to distract from the awkwardness of all this, he slides his Queen out of hiding and snatches Sirius' bishop with a sneaky grin. Not only does it take away one of his more powerful pieces, but it puts his knight in danger.]

Bollocks.

[Sirius is unhappy to see James bringing his queen out, and that unhappiness allows his mind to refocus on the game. Unfortunately, he's never been able to figure James' playing style out, so he takes a risk and moves a pawn, ignoring the danger his knight is in.

Move made he leans back, rubs his face.]

So do we set a timeline? Do we make specific goals or just...

[Sigh.]

I mean, where do we even start?

We start by getting you caught up. You and Peter have some books to read. We go through those, figure out the best way to change things, and then...then, we figure out how to remember when we go back.

[Not if. When. Even after all this time, James has to insist it's when they go back.]

We'll have to wait until we're all back - you're a good year behind me, so when we go back you'll know this all a full year before I do. It'll be hard, but if we do this all correctly, I'll just suddenly know about this one day, a year later. Remus will too before then, and then Lily, then Peter last. And if we don't...

[James glances at the board, looking for a good move to prove his point. He decides to have his castle capture Sirius' poor, innocent bishop.]

...if we don't, then I suppose we won't know any better.

[Sirius listens, leaning heavily on his hands. Then he reaches out and makes a move that mirrors James'.]

But we will. So we focus on knowing everything we might need to. Getting a plan together. And then we finish this once and for all.

[He glances from his stolen bishop back to James' face.]

Right, mate?

[It's so good to hear someone else saying that for a change. Even the tiniest spark of shared hope is enough to make him smile a bit.]

Right. Absolutely. If anyone can do it, it's us.

[James really, sincerely believes that too - with all his heart. He glances at board thoughtfully before sliding a pawn forward with a wider grin.]

Speaking of "mates", I'll have check next turn.

[It's not checkmate but it's the beginning of the end and James is seeing pieces he could capture everywhere. Really, the move that would cause check could have been made this turn, but he'd rather be an arse about it first. It makes the game just a bit more entertaining...for him, anyway.]

Wot?

[Sirius sputters and, finally, diverts his focus back to the game.

They have time to save the world later.]

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( semi-open ) love is a many splendored thing

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