trying to make the pieces fit ((Buffyverse plot))

[slayers_desire]

There was a small gathering of people in the room, doing things that might seem normal. Drinking coffee. Reading a book. Checking sites on the computer. Talking with their neighbor.

But this wasn't a normal day. And despite appearances, these people were all preparing to help save their world.

Most of the 'Scoobies' were here... Xander, Connor, Wes, Lorne, Spike and even Willow had come down for the event. There were others there too... Victor Allen, Clark Kent and Edward Elric.

They were all here to figure out how to create a new Seed. They already had a few clues to go on... but there were still a lot to discuss.

The most recent revelation came after Illyria had deceived the group, and put Clark and April right into the heart of the White Room. Where their memories were taken from them. They had fought free... and now April was more determined than ever to find a way to save her world.

((posting order: April, Clark, Victor, Ed))

Comments

[victormakesart]

She repeats Red Queen Red Queen Red Queen over and over again in her head to keep herself from getting sidetracked. After all, maybe they'll have a little bit of time to play later.

Red Queen Red Queen Red Queen Red Queen Red Queen Red Queen Red Queen Red Queen and finally, they come to a clearing, or something like it.

Panicked cards are painting roses red, slopping paint all over their fronts. A hedgehog goes soaring past April's head.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed tenses up a little as they come to the clearing. Then he tenses up even more as he finally lays eyes on the Red Queen, freezing before taking a step back.

She's a woman of average height, with short, black, straight hair worn to her chin and violet eyes. She's wearing a wine-red dress with a white collar, and a locket with a blue gem. There's a cloying, sickly-sweet scent coming off of her... the same scent that used to come off of Ed's father, Hohenheim. Ed always hated that scent; it lingered in the Elric family home long after Hohenheim ran off.

"Oh no," Ed breathes out. "No, no, no, no. That's impossible."

The Red Queen simply smiles at him.

"You're dead!" Ed yells. "Gluttony ate you! You can't be here, Dante! It's impossible!" He seems to have momentarily forgotten that they're not exactly in reality anymore, and that the Conduit was manifesting itself as a dead woman before.

[slayers_desire]

"The Red Queen is fashioned after someone Ed knows... because he is Alice." April is not sure who Dante is. But she senses his distress.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark reaches over and puts his hand on Ed's shoulder. "Easy there, Ed. She's just a projection."

[victormakesart]

"Aw, geeze, Ed, I'm sorry," Victor says, chewing down on her lip.

She has no idea who that is, but apparently this person is not good news. Still... there's the game to think of.

She bows, removing her hat. "Your Red Queenliness, we're here to, I dunno, play croquet or something."

[fmalchemist160]

Dante rises from her seat and slowly starts to walk towards the group. She's mostly keeping her eyes on Ed. "Blue isn't your colour, Edward dear," she says. Her voice is mid-way between soprano and alto, velvety-smooth, and totally calm.

"Stop calling me that!" Ed snaps, taking another step back as she approaches them and bumping lightly into Clark. "Clark," he hisses, "she's an Alchemist. She's been alive for 400 years. She led the homunculi, and even created three of them, including Greed; she started wars just to create a Philosopher's Stone, which she wanted just so she could jump to a new body and extend her own life. She has the same mental shortcut that I do; even if she's just a projection, she is a major threat."

Dante stops and turns her attention to Victor for a moment. "Croquet..." she says, almost thoughtfully. "Yes, I suppose we do have a story to follow, don't we?"

[slayers_desire]

Victor had said earlier that Alice had to defeat the Red Queen and ended up replacing her, learning her true place in Wonderland. Is there potential here for you Ed to replace Dante? April sends out a mental conversation to her allies.

She is not sure how the story might evolve. But the caterpillar was often silent, but intelligent. Perhaps her powers will be useful, when they need to communicate silently.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"She's a threat, but she's still a projection." Nothing here is real, he relays to Ed through April. And if Victor believes you can defeat her, you can.

[victormakesart]

No, I don't think so. That might be how her universe is sorted, but it's not the way the books went. At the end of Through the Looking Glass, Alice loses her temper and shakes the Red Queen, which puts the Red King into checkmate; then she wakes up. At the end of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, she calls the Queen's warriors "nothing but a pack of cards" and then she wakes up. Both are final moments... she plays the game by the rules and she awakens, or she sees the illusion as reality and awakens.

And Victor wholeheartedly believes that Ed can defeat her, there's no question of it. She replaces her hat on her head, gently takes a flamingo by its legs. "A story, indeed. Though I'm afraid I'm not much of a sportsman."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed lets out a quiet little growl of a breath. She prefers not to fight herself. The last time I faced her she sicced Envy on me rather than take me on herself. The time before that, she sent me into the Gateway of Truth. That was an experience I'd prefer not to repeat. I could fight her; she's not as good at combat Alchemy as I am... but I'm pretty sure that's not how we're supposed to pass this test.

Dante smiles a little and picks up her own flamingo. "Not much of a sportsman? That shouldn't matter too much... Won't you join us, Edward, dear?"

Ed just glares at her.

[slayers_desire]

Alice did play the Queen in croquet April feels a little uncertain of herself now. She isn't sure how to help. Right now, this is Victor's time to shine. And she has cast Ed as the main character.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

At least she isn't alone. Clark isn't sure what to do either, although he guesses it might help Ed to know that there are some extra eyes watching the Queen.

[victormakesart]

"You can come play with us," she adds, shyly. "Make it an even five." Which means more people surrounding the queen, which means... something. Even if she doesn't know what yet.

[fmalchemist160]

Dante doesn't voice any objection to the idea of Clark and April joining the game, simply continuing to smile in that gentle, kind of creepy way that she does. Ed does another one of those quiet little exhalation-growls and picks up a flamingo too, not taking his eyes off Dante.

[slayers_desire]

It is a little awkward to attempt to hold the croquet stick and balance the hooka assigned to her as the caterpillar. But April is getting better at balancing many different things (motherhood helps with that).

[kalel_ofkrypton]

"I've never played croquet before," Clark admits as he picks up a flamingo. It flaps around a bit until he gives it a shake.

[victormakesart]

"Neither have I. I've always just thought of it as boring-er golf." For that, her flamingo nips at her ankle. "Hey!"

I don't know the rules of croquet... >.>

[fmalchemist160]

"I've.... never played either," Ed admits, pointedly not looking at Dante.

"Then I suppose you must be taught the rules," Dante says, apparently unbothered by this snag.

[slayers_desire]

"I don't really think the rules matter," April sighes. The game will be difficult since the balls are hedgehogs, and the croquet mallets are flamingos, and the balls don't like being hit nor do the croquet mallets like being used.

The Queen's soldiers are the arches, and they will move to ensure the Queen's balls make their mark. While the other players miss.

And each player will be taken out of the game... until it is just the Queen and 'Alice' left in the game. Just like in the book. April stands at the sidelines, watching again once she is unable to play any further.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark shoulders his flamingo as he moves to the sidelines, and it squawks unhappily at him, flapping around until he lets it go. "Looks like flamingo-taming is not one of my many talents," he mutters as an aside to April as they watch the game continue.

[victormakesart]

Victor saunters off the croquet... field, pitch, whatever, with a spring in her step and a hedgehog on her shoulder. She whips off her hat and tries to see if she can pull a rabbit out of it, which, of course, she can.

[fmalchemist160]

Which leaves Ed with Dante. He is looking distinctly out of his element, especially since Dante is eying him... ah, shall we say, appreciatively. "Just you and I now, Edward dear," she notes quietly, lifting a hand to touch his face.

Ed jerks away from her, stepping to the side. "Stop that." The flirting is really unnerving him, especially since he knows the main reason she's doing it is because he so strongly resembles his father—Dante and Hohenheim were an item, once upon a time, before Hohenheim met Ed's mother Trisha. This game is unwinnable, he notes to his friends. What do we do?

[slayers_desire]

Privately, to her husband, April softly admits. I am really glad that this part of the quest isn't like the others. And that Victor is having fun. But... I sort of feel left out of my own quest... Isn't that horrible?

She gets a little concerned when Dante starts flirting with Ed. She can see that he is unnerved. Find another way to defeat her.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

I wouldn't feel left out just yet... we've all had a 'turn' except for you. And I doubt that this will be the last part of this quest. He just hopes that whatever is yet to come is better than the first half of it.

[victormakesart]

How to win the unwinnable game.... In the book, Alice made her angry enough to make the queen want her head, then called the cards what they were, and then she woke up. I feel like this might be different, though. Perhaps, like the others, it's about finding some inner strength. Perhaps you need to change the game entirely.

She makes sure her hat is bunny-free, and replaces it on her head. Perhaps....

She whispers something to her hedgehog, and places it delicately on the ground. The hedgehog, in turn, runs to Ed's hedgehog. The message was, of course, to run through the loops, no matter what the proper trajectory is.