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Post by Mini on Jan 5, 2014 22:48:44 GMT -4
It's sorta kinda loosely related to Sailor Moon...
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Post by Nayr on Jan 5, 2014 23:01:32 GMT -4
Gahagga reached out with his mind and stopped the flow of time. Sending his spirit to a sort of chessmaster lounge that existed slightly removed from the space and time that housed any game created with the power, he prepared to issue his orders. The realm was featureless,
holding only a chessboard imbued with an inherent connection to the battle at hand. He looked at this board now, looking for certain pieces in particular. Whenever his eyes rested on a piece, he could sense that piece's identity, position, relative health, and current purpose. He focused on each piece in turn, delivering mentally new orders for each.
King's Knight takes Queen. Queen's Rook takes Knight's pawn. All available pawns to the courtyard.
He allowed himself another moment to look at the cluster of pieces that represented the battle in which he was currently taking part. On this board, there were three white pieces (the Queen and two Knights) and two black ones (the King and a pawn).
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Post by Mini on Jan 6, 2014 0:04:01 GMT -4
There was mass confusion and chaos going on all around Rini on the battlefield. Ishazi's eyes were glowing like some sort of malevolent creature out of the one of the bedtime stories he used to tell her, Falcon was shooting flaming arrows at everyone around him, Kiana was using ancient summoning magicks to summon forth all sorts of beautiful and terrifying creatures, a whole collection of big, burly looking soldiers were going at it with whomever they were closest to, and there in the middle of everything stood Korrino.
No. Not Korrino. There was that stupid wolf mask. Korrino had somewhat explained the mystery of how that thing worked, but as far as she understood it, when he wore the mask, he was no longer Korrino. He turned someone who was very cold, cruel, and malicious. He was exactly the kind of fellow who would be out here waging war for no reason at all. There he stood, having just dodged a fire arrow from Falcon, with quite the mysterious glow around him. Nobody else seemed able to see it, though.
Rini scrunched up her nose and squinted her eyes together ever so slightly in concentration as she focused on trying to locate the source of the strange shimmer wrapped all around him.
"Gahagga!" she called out, her voice ringing out over the void where just a second ago had been the palace courtyard. "What are you-- Whoa. What in the?... What just happened?" she asked, whirling around to look at the nothingness that was now all around her, save for where Gahagga stood next to a rather ordinary looking chessboard.
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Post by Nayr on Jan 6, 2014 0:16:40 GMT -4
Gahagga looked up, noticing that Rini had come.
"Oh. Welcome to the lounge. It's sort of a partially nonexistent thinking space. This board is our battle, as you know."
With that, he looked back down at the board, not dismissively but hardly warmly.
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Post by Mini on Jan 6, 2014 0:23:19 GMT -4
Rini just stared at Gahagga as if he had turned bright purple and sprouted giant dragon wings.
"Lounge?" she repeated, tilting her head to the side. "What do you mean, 'lounge?' And what do you mean by nonexistent? If we're both here, wherever here even is, then it exists, right?" she asked, walking over towards him and the chessboard.
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Post by Nayr on Jan 6, 2014 0:35:37 GMT -4
Gahagga looked back up at her, the mask hiding his expression.
"No one's quite bothered to figure out where exactly it is, but most people just figure it's a mental construct for when a chessmaster stops time. It's informally called the lounge because it doesn't seem to be in my head or your head or anyone else's head and we can all access it. So strictly speaking it both does and doesn't exist. Make sense?"
He then looked back down at the board and continued thinking.
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Post by Mini on Jan 6, 2014 0:46:19 GMT -4
Rini bit her lip to keep from yelling some very unladylike things at Gahagga as he gave her an explanation that didn't really make much sense. From the way he spoke to her, it seemed he had better things to do than to talk to her. Her hands curled up into fists as she took a deep breath to calm herself down.
"No, but whatever. What's even going on? Why is everyone fighting out in the courtyard? And why are you here?" she asked, leaving him to decide the exact meaning of her last question for himself.
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Post by Nayr on Jan 6, 2014 2:26:47 GMT -4
Gahagga stood up from the board this time, walking around it to face Rini directly. He leaned against the board and crossed his arms.
"What's going on is that one of Korrino's pet nobles betrayed him and released your friends from the dungeon, whereupon they traded on Falcon Windknight's astonishing knowledge of the castle's layout to secret themselves to your chambers. Once there, they abducted you from your bed and took a passage to the courtyard. They would have gotten farther had they not encountered a member of your guard first. That encounter sounded an ancient alarm which caused the castle guard to spring into action to rescue you. Knowing that there was no longer a way to control the situation, the King let me off the leash. The court doesn't know me, but they do know that the throne has always had a shadow that occasionally got sent out to resolve delicate matters. What's going on in the courtyard is exactly the kind of battle Korrino wanted to prevent, pitting Ushanian against Etheran likely to the death. I'm here because I needed a moment to think, to plan, and to issue my orders without having to waste time and lives unfolding my plan. Believe it or not, Princess, I am trying to prevent casualties to either side. Call it a challenge if it makes you feel better. Korrino knew when he set me loose that any deaths on the Etheran side would push you away and any on the Ushanian side would force his hand and cause the war he's trying so desperately to avert. I think it's pathetic, honestly, but Korrino is still the King whereas I am simply the mask he wears in the silent worlds where he dares not tread."
He stopped, biting off the flippant remark that was about to spill forth. He took a breath and continued.
"I came here to think and plan, and also to coordinate my forces. Your gift allowed you to follow despite the fact that you weren't ever properly taught, and that's commendable. My question is did you come here for answers, or does another purpose guide your steps?"
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Post by Mini on Jan 6, 2014 18:26:41 GMT -4
Rini felt rather inclined to take a step back away from Gahagga, but she held her ground. Despite his very intimidating appearance, she knew that Korrino was somewhere in there... at least, she thought he was. She still wasn't quite sure how the mask worked, but she did know that when he took it off, he was Korrino. She held her tongue as he spoke, holding in quite a few flippant remarks of her own as she listened to what he told her, and what Gahagga told her made her sick to her stomach. As if she wasn't all ready having a bad enough day. She tried her best to keep an emotionless look on her face, but she had never been any good at that. It was probably very easy to spot the fear that had taken hold of her.
"You mean, this fight is about me?" she whispered, staring up into the mask. Oh, how she wished he would take it off. She wanted Korrino so badly right now it wasn't even funny. "But... But that's... That's just stupid! There's absolutely no reason to be fighting. None. Korrino is right - a fight is only going to result in someone getting hurt, or... or..." She couldn't bring herself to say the alternative.
Rini forced herself to take a very deep breath in the hopes that it would help to calm her down. It didn't. "Please, you have to stop them."
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Post by Nayr on Jan 6, 2014 21:30:14 GMT -4
Gahagga's mask, as always, showed no emotion. His voice, however, bore tones of stress and very mild annoyance.
"I beg to differ, highness. I think there's an extremely good reason for everyone to fight. The Etherans are fighting to rescue their Princess, kidnapped by the Ushanians, and the Ushanians are fighting to rescue their Queen, recently abducted by the Etherans. You are very precious to both groups, and we can't both have you. Korrino was searching for a diplomatic solution to all this, but he ran out of time. Hence why I'm here. I stole you in the first place, and I can act as I please while not having to worry about besmirching the honor of the throne of Ushan. Korrino gets plausible deniability in case things go poorly while still acting against the threat. As I said, I'm going to try to keep casualties to a minimum, but your friends aren't playing around. If you can think of something that will make highly annoyed magic users stand down, I'm all ears. Beyond that, all I can do is fight as best I can."
He stayed where he was, genuinely interested now in what she would do next.
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Post by Mini on Jan 6, 2014 22:31:17 GMT -4
In a move of surprising calmness, Rini crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Gahagga.
"As a matter of fact, I can think of something," she said calmly. The young Chessmaster paused for a moment before she threw her arms out to her sides and started yelling at the top of her lungs. "You're the King, aren't you?! Just stop the fighting! Tell them to stop! Command them to stop! Call for a cease fire! Halt their actions! Suspend the fighting! Yell for an armistice! Do something! Anything! Surely you can do something to get them to stop!!"
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Post by Nayr on Jan 6, 2014 23:47:55 GMT -4
Gahagga chuckled at the assertion.
"You're new to this game, so it's understandable that you'd think that. Kings cannot do as they please. You think he wouldn't have thought of just running up a flag of truce and explaining the situation? The odds of any of them believing such an explanation are quite low, I assure you. In any case, they're not all that keen on listening anymore as it is."
Gahagga stood.
"The only way to get through to them now is through combat, unless you think you can make them listen to you. Korrino knew that if they did anything precipitous he'd have to respond or lose standing with his court. They expect things of their sovereign, you know. If he were to simply let such an insult slide, his fitness to rule would be called into question, and that in turn would be more trouble than anyone wants. No, all that remained to him was to settle things in battle. As such, here I am."
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Post by Mini on Jan 7, 2014 0:46:45 GMT -4
Rini was starting to become gripped by panic. All she could think about were her friends on both sides getting seriously injured - or worse - all because of her. How had things come to this?
"So what if the odds are low? If Korrino and I both just talk to them, then maybe they'll..."
Her voice trailed off as Gahagga stood up and started talking about why they needed to fight. She bit down hard on her bottom lip and shook her head.
"No! No, that's not good enough! Isn't being a good King about NOT fighting when it's stupid and pointless to fight? About making the right decision even in a tough situation like this one? Isn't it a sovereign's sworn duty to protect his people? And if the answer to that is yes, which I know that it is, then how is it a good idea to let them go running off into a pointless battle that is going to achieve absolutely nothing? Shouldn't it be a King's top priority to prevent the needless bloodshed of his citizens? To save the lives of his people? Especially his friends? If this fight happens, a fight that is completely pointless, then something terrible is going to happen. I just know it!" she yelled, her voice cracking just a little bit as she fought back the urge to start crying. Hot tears were all ready starting to well up in her eyes, but she forced them back. She wasn't going to cry. Not here. Not in front of Gahagga. Her hands curled up into fists so tight that her nails dug tiny crescents into the palms of her hand. When she next spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper.
"Korrino, I know that you're in there somewhere, hiding behind that stupid mask. Take it off. Take it off and talk to me. This whole thing is stupid. We can stop this. We need to stop this."
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Post by Nayr on Jan 7, 2014 1:07:03 GMT -4
Gahagga's voice took on a much more annoyed cast. He pointed directly at her face and spoke forcefully.
"Don't you dare tell me what it takes to rule a kingdom. Don't say to me that a good king must avoid battle and save lives whenever possible until your child kills your love in front of your eyes. When you face an impossible choice between your crown and your heart, then you can talk to me about being a good ruler."
He dropped his hand, as if deflated.
"No, this fight can't simply be stopped because we're all doing as we must. All of us have duties to uphold, and those duties lead us to this battle. No matter the cost, we are all of us sworn to rescue you. It seems someone has gotten you to safety, so now my duty is to detain your friends fire their crimes against the crown of Ushan."
He took a breath to steady himself before explaining.
"Power isn't a trinket you hold, it's a shadow cast against a wall. While people accept your shadow, all goes as it should. Once they start to question your ability to live up to your shadow, then you're in trouble. If I just let slide that someone walked in and stole my queen, then I look weak. If there's one thing that a ruler can't allow, it's appearing weak. That's just how the game is played. I can't let them get away with what they've done, and they can't let me get away with what I've done. If you have a solution in mind, I'm all ears. If you insist on remaining blind to the realities of politics and war, then you're not helping anyone."
With that, he walked back around and looked at the board again. In walking around, he avoided turning his back to her so as to invite her to continue talking if she wanted to.
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Post by Mini on Jan 7, 2014 1:38:12 GMT -4
Rini took a startled step backwards as Gahagga pointed at her face and came very close to what she could consider to be yelling. Her eyes widened in shock and dismay as he mentioned something his child killing his love. What was that even about? She recalled Korrino mentioning that his former Queen had passed away some time ago, but that was all he had ever really said on the matter. In any case, he had never mentioned a single word about a child. Thousands of questions filled her mind, but she had to force them all elsewhere for now.
The young Queen once again folded her arms across her chest as she watched Gahagga return to the chessboard. She finally glanced over it at, noting the White Queen and the two White Knights for the first time.
"I am not blind to the realities of politics and war," she finally said softly, remaining firmly rooted where she was. "But it may serve you to remember that I've been shielded from such things for most of my life. Let me also remind you that you are not the only one stuck with making impossible choices between your crown and your heart."
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