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

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.

[fmalchemist160]

Ed watches Victor whisper to her hedgehog, frowns, then gives her a small smile and a wink when he puts together what she's doing. He then takes his flamingo and gives his hedgehog a somewhat gentler whack than he has been previously using. The hedgehog, fortunately, obeys Victor's directives and runs through the 'hoop', even after it starts moving.

Dante looks positively furious. "What?!" She whirls to Ed. "What did you do?!"

Ed gives her a toothy smile. "Me? Absolutely nothing."

[slayers_desire]

I hope you are right April does want to make a difference in her world. She wants it to be safe for her child, other people's children and future generations.

The one thing she is glad for is that she doesn't have to do it alone.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

I know I'm right. He refuses to believe that April would be the Key, but have little to contribute. That wouldn't make any sense at all.

[victormakesart]

Victor looks innocent as can be, standing there with April and Clark, and she reaches out and takes April's hand, and whispers, "Fireworks are about to start, my lady."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed stands there facing Dante with a devious little smile on his face as his hedgehog runs through the rest of the hoops. "Turnabout is fair play, Dante," he says. "You decided to get creative with the rules, so we did exactly the same." He's not going to call it cheating, no. That's not what it was.

The rage is evident on Dante's face; she's even trembling a bit.

"No homunculi to fight your battles for you this time," Ed notes. "Only Wrath, Envy, and Gluttony are still alive; you took away Gluttony's ability to reason, so he's not going to be able to help you... Oh, and Wrath can't transmute his own body anymore, since you took my arm and leg away from him... And Envy? He's stuck on Earth trying to get to Dad, and that's assuming Dad hasn't already destroyed him. The card-soldiers you have here aren't a threat either; even if they were real, I could kick their asses back to the stone age any day."

Dante lets out a roar and presses her palms together, a spike of earth lances towards Ed in a burst of blue static. Ed claps his hands together in response and bitch-slaps the spike with his right arm, completely disintegrating it before it can hit him. He doesn't retaliate, though, choosing only to defend himself and not to attack.

"Let me guess," Ed says. "'Off with my head', right?"

[slayers_desire]

This moment does seem important to Ed. Seeing him stand up to Dante is a very nice thing. And April nods to Victor. "I am glad you helped him reach this moment."

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark isn't sure if they should really worry about Dante being a threat. He experienced their pain through the memories of the previous test, but can she actually hurt Ed here? Either way, he tenses up a bit, watching the confrontation.

[victormakesart]

"Don't be sure that you can't help," she says, nodding to the hookah, to Clark's pocket watch.

She pulls a match from the brim of her hat, lights it on her shoe, and ignites the bowl. "When you blow the smoke onto anything, it'll become what it's supposed to be. You can dismantle the world this way."

"And you can create rabbit holes, wherever you'd like, just by touching your watch to the ground. Not regular rabbit holes, mind, Wonderland rabbit holes, and they'll lead where you want them to go."

[fmalchemist160]

Ed, meanwhile, has rooted the card soldiers in place with transmuted stone shackles, while Dante is advancing steadily towards him. He takes a few steps back, but never takes his eyes off her. "Okay, guys," he hisses under his breath to the others, "next part of the plan? I don't want this to come to a fight; you pit two Alchemists against each other and there's not going to be much left of your surroundings."

[slayers_desire]

Only when Victor tells April and Clark that their objects have power, will they suddenly have power. They were just objects before she created them into something different.

So taking in account that Ed doesn't want a fight, and that she can make anything what it should be... April blows smoke onto Dante herself.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark raises an eyebrow and takes the pocketwatch in hand, watching to see what April's smoke will do before he acts. "We don't have to worry about property damage here."

[victormakesart]

"Not at all." She's nervous; she's not sure if she's winning the game or breaking it, but Dante should dissolve into nothing if she played her, um, cards right, and is it just her or is she seeing a corner of the white room, as the smoke floats on?

[fmalchemist160]

Well, what Dante should be... is dead. So as the smoke envelopes her, she lets out a scream of both rage and fear and, as Victor had hoped, dissolves away to nothing. They might even be able to hear a child-like, gleeful giggle and a ripping and smacking noise as she does—after all... she died when she was eaten by one of her own creations.

Ed lets out a small sigh of relief. "Okay... can I get back into my regular clothes now? Dante was right about one thing: blue is not my colour."

[slayers_desire]

April will blow smoke on Ed next, with his request. The Wonderland story is starting to disappear, quite rapidly after Victor imagines seeing a corner of the white room.

When there is nothing left to Wonderland, Victor will still be wearing the Hatter's hat. And has a hedgehog on her shoulder.

A gem floats in front of her, glowing swirly purple and with creativity.

[kalel_ofkrypton]

Clark didn't get to use his pocketwatch, but that's all right, he doesn't mind. And he's mostly relieved that the bunny ears are gone. "Which gem do we have now?" he asks Victor.


((So sorry for the delay, folks, I stopped getting comment notifications))

[victormakesart]

She reaches up and touches the hat, relieved that it's still there, and plucks the gem out of the air. "I dunno, the gem of awesomeness, maybe. I just wanna go make stuff now."

[fmalchemist160]

Ah, finally, back in the red and black again! Ed adjusts the collar of his coat briefly, gives April a grin and a nod of thanks, then says, "So, three tests down... guess it's your turn now, April. You're the only one of us who hasn't had one yet."