Lose to Win {Dark XII}

[starseeker]

(I won't be done with this for a bit, but it seems most of my team members don't get on often, soooo...)
(Edit: Sorry I poofed suddenly. I won't be adding anything major, mind you~)

---

It wasn't as if anyone would notice, he seemed to be the first one here. Ruold, in the twists and turns of Wonderland, had managed to exit it in the wrong place. However, he was in the Bizarre Room, and wouldn't raise much alarm.... at least, he hoped he wouldn't.

He caught many scents from the surrounding areas; however, as there were so many, he couldn't distinguish who was who. In the meantime, he waited for the rest of his team to rendezvous with him; hopefully they were proficient in Scent-detecting too.

[Rook]

((I'll be sure to get a staffer on board to help move the thread along. If you need to do it yourself, so be it. The prize for completion will be all yours to your lonesome!))

[Charme]

Ienzo found himself once again in Wonderland. The dark-haired umbramancer pulled himself from the Darkness and into the hallway that led to the Bizarre Room. The silver-eyed menace brushed the black oil from his dark jacket and sighed as Wonderland's messed up reality played with his eyes. Clocks' gazes followed his path as he made his way towards the Room, ignoring all of the impossible creations of whatever hellish place that stalked him.

As he entered the room he met a familiar face. Ruold. Ienzo's stature relaxed around a comrade and he sat down in one of the chairs. His steely eyes locked with his friend's. "So I'm guessing you've got a plan?"

In truth, Ienzo had it all laid out in his mind. His sculpted features would make it quite easy to appeal to the Lady's nature and basic psychology would make it simple to be on her side. By putting a scapegoat up to the task of distracting her, he could move in as her advisor quite easily, replacing that small white piece of lunchmeat that normally blew the bugel. Hopefully, Ruold's plans could be integrated with his own...

Not that Ruold would know what his true intentions were.

[Ellie who has 0%]

The Doorknob

Eyes were shut in a lovely slumber, since no one had bothered him for hours, so UTTERLY EQUISITE! Generally a door such like himself can hardly have peace of mind or rest, since everyone would either knock to wake him up for passive, shove a key down his throat, grab and twist his nose, then walk right through him.

It seems the Queen of Hearts was keeping the White Rabbit busy, so it will be a long while before he treaded back in the house and disturb the doorknob from his luxurious sleep.

His knobby nose wiggled while he fluttered in his dreams not knowing that he had visitors in the room. A few steps had caused his eyes to flutters, but they closed soon after as if it was all imagined.

[starseeker]

A quaint little nuance, that.

A tiny door, knob and all! It was rather cute. Ruold curiously looked down at the thing, before noticing the ebb and flow of its knob. "It's.... snoring? Ienzo, would you mind taking a look at this?" Now, Ruold had been to Wonderland before, but he always took the given, no-questions-asked route. He had never noticed this, a living, breathing-- snoring -- doorknob, at that!

However, he took care not to suddenly wake it; he didn't want to be in its bad books. In addition, a motion to his precedent signaled this. After awhile, he lost interest, and went to find the "Drink Me" bottle. All the planning in the world wouldn't help them if they couldn't get to the Red Queen. Surprisingly, it wasn't on the round center table, nor on any of the other flat surfaces. It puzzled the Walker why it was so misplaced as under a book; however, having found it, he paid it no mind and proceeded to wait.

[Charme]

Ienzo paid no attention to the doorknob. His data proved well enough to inform him of even the smallest presence in this World. Relatively, of course, since size and form tended to change rather often. The Heartless walked past the furniture, a chill down his spine telling him that this room was very sentient, and it knew exactly who and what he was. He made his way to his accomplice and crossed his arms.

"Let's just get this over with. The Queen, we must sway her to our side." The Heartless smiled, his silver eyes closing behind long lashed. "Shouldn't be hard... Her pride will be our greatest asset in this mission."

With that, Ienzo took the drink and downed part of it. He closed his eyes to avoid the vertigo and opened them to find the table in the distance, towering above them. The doorway was now easily in view, and Ienzo realized that they would need a different way in... The doorknob itself tended to hate company. So that left only the hole in the wall, which ironically landed them pretty close to where they needed to go.

Therefore Ienzo grunted to his companion and made his way towards the hole in the wall, once hidden behind a strange moving clock, and the Rose Garden edged into view.

[starseeker]

It would seem that Ienzo was intent on getting the mission finished A.S.A.P.; Ruold decided to follow his lead.

A small sip of 'Drink Me!', and he was on his merry way to the Queen's Courtyard. Ienzo, he hadn't realized, was quite the chilly type. Even Arlene threatened to be nicer than he, at first glance. Pushing those thoughts aside, he shifted into what total focus he could say he had.

Along his little stroll through the gardens, he was formulating what he would say to the Red Queen; it would seem, though, that Ienzo had everything mapped out, ready to go. He would just have to listen and play along to Six's tune. However... what would happen if all went to naught? How would they piece it back together---

Ruold shook his head, clearing himself of such doubt. Surely, even without Lumaria, they could coerce Her Majesty into signing the accord. As he made his way through the Garden, a large gate-like heart shrub came into view. "Well, now. Put on your game face, Ienzo..."

[Charme]

((Are we waiting for a mod?))

((EDIT: Yeah, no worries man. x.x I have finals here. I was just making sure it wasn't my turn.))

[Shun]

((Apologies, I'll write a post as soon as I can. Final semester tests are kicking the crap out of me))

[starseeker]

((I empathize, believe me.))

[Shun]

Q U E E N O F H E A R T S
"THE QUEEN OF HEARTS, SHE MADE SOME TARTS ALL ON A SUMMER'S DAY"

"SOMEONE HAS STOLEN THREE OF MY TARTS!"

The Queen spoke, her voice loud and full of anger. The court members winced as they struggled to keep themselves from covering their ears; the cacophony echoed throughout the castle and beyond, temporary deafening many of the people within. These "diplomats" had probably learned enough by now: the Queen of Hearts was extremely furious, and beating around the bush with her wouldn't do the Heartless any good; the woman would simply utter her four little choice words and dismiss them from her castle... and life itself as well.

"Did you steal them?!"

"No, your majesty."

She continued to pace the floor, glaring at her toad servants as she questioned every single one of them. The female was certainly irascible, and having all of them play innocent did nothing more than feed the growing fires within her. Someone was being executed that day, and the Queen wouldn't stop until she found out who... or beheaded all of them.

"Did you?!"

"No, your majesty."

And suddenly, she found that needle in the haystack. A small, childish smirk graced her features as her eyes laid on the culprit. There was no escape now and he knew it. The toad's little eyes trembled as they attempted to focus on anything but the Queen's penetrating gaze.

He gulped.

"Did you steal my tarts?" She whispered, her voice calm and soothing as she inquired for the last time. The woman already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from his lips.

"N-no... y-your majesty."

Bad choice.

Raising her hand, the Queen gently caressed the frog's lips, collecting the precious purple liquid before tasting it herself. The poor creature couldn't do anything more than look in despair as she outed him without a single care.

"Squimberry juice."

Bam.

"I was so hungry! I didn't mean t-"

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

"Please! I have little ones to look after! No!"

She simply smiled, ignoring the servant's pleas as the guards proceeded to take him down to the dungeon. How could she tolerate such a crime? He had stolen her tarts... her precious tasty tarts. The Queen would certainly enjoy watching his execution. "Go to his house and collect the little ones. You know how I love tadpoles on toast; almost as much as caviar."

However, as soon as she had spun around to head back to the throne room, another voice reached her ears. Now, what else could be going on? Couldn't she just go back to her chambers and wait for her servants to come back with breakfast?

"Your majesty, we have spotted two strangers heading toward the castle. They have just reached the g-"

"Well, what are you waiting for?! GO AND HANDLE THEM YOU IDIOT! ...On second thought, go and take Stayne with you. He'll know what to do."

God, cards these days.

Q U E E N O F H E A R T S
"THE KNAVE OF HEARTS, HE STOLE THE TARTS AND TOOK THEM CLEAN AWAY"

[starseeker]

It wasn't long after they had approached the Queen's marvelous residence that Ruold had heard yelling. A lot of yelling.

"Great. She's in a bad mood. So how do we, uh, woo her?"

A couple minutes later, the shouting subsided, and a new vociferation emerged, along with a couple soldiers, human and card. Well, this won't be good, he thought. They merely approach her general direction, and she goes off on them; how were they supposed to negotiate with her without being beheaded!? Supposedly they were best suited for the job, but the Queen was nearly impossible to work with... this was going to be a toughie.

[Charme]

Death was especially common in this part of the World. It seemed that the Red Queen herself had a kill ratio higher than even the Heartless hordes here. It was easy enough to guess her location via her fiery yells, and as the two Dark members walked through the gardens, Ienzo prepared for a debate of sorts.

Instead of finding the Red Queen, Ilosovic Stayne stood before them with his own personal guard. The man with the eyepatch... known around the court as the One-Eyed Jack. He was a personal assassin, data that Ienzo had picked up during his ventures in the shadows. Stayne was an exceptional swordsman and quite dangerous in a game of strategy.

Which meant that they needed his approval before they set foot in the castle. This was working better than expected.

Ienzo stood at attention in military fashion, his hair for once pulled out of his eyes and behind his ears. As he met Stayne's eyes, he bowed slightly in a show of respect.

"Long live the Red Queen."

[Ellie who has 0%]

Meandering with the court, Stayne was disturbed by the familiar yet still irritating sound of clanking metal. He wasn't surprised to see armored cards; all in all he was expecting them, which led to the question, "What in bloody hell do you want now?"

It seemed whenever there's trouble afoot they called Stayne.

"Her Majesty wants you to interrogate strangers who are approaching the castle as we speak."

"You don't say." His one cold eye turned towards the gate, "let's not make them wait shall we come, come."

Within minutes, the clanking of the cards continued with the galloping thuds of a war horse. His steed slowed to a trot once meeting up with the fellows the cards had picked out and surrounded.

"Her highness, The Queen of Hearts, would be flattered, but it doesn't answer the question of WHY you are here and precisely WHO are you? You are definitely not amongst her majesty's court." The Knave interrogated, while the soldier cards surrounded the uninvited guests, who can easily be rewritten as invaders to prisoners and dead weight.

His good eye scanned them over with a narrowing scowl observing each of the gentlemen carefully.

[Ellie who has 0%]

(Okay people post! This plot needs to get wrapped up and if that means leaving someone behind then so be it)