(no subject)
Weird idea + wanting to try Ryukishi's writing style and something creepy = whatever the hell this is.
Challenge: None
Prompt: Death, Game, Magic
Title: Perpetual Check
In her library, Lambdadelta had a chessboard.
It was very nice chessboard-- carved from marble with pieces made respectively from quartz and onyx. Before arriving on the island, the pieces didn't have names. Occasionally, as to not invite unwanted listening ears of her housemates, she would lock herself in that library. It was an automatic lock, because above all things, Lambdadelta loved irony. It's there that, though the island had put a little limiter on how broad she could expand her world, she tapped into those famed powers witches had of creating a new universe. A mirrored image, an illusion, and a perfect replica of Rokkenjima down to the last rose petal in the garden, a distortion of time and space with the rules firmly planted under her heels, all within that tiny library.
She watched imitation Twilights as they unfolded. Though she wasn't the Witch of Endless and cannot repeat time, everything and everyone in that little space was a mere replica, so she dismantled and recreated her little universe as many times as she pleased. Sometimes, she'd change things because she found them funny. Other times, she worked on a strategy even that useless Beatrice couldn't mess up. She went through October 4th and 5th over and over, and she changed the killers each time. Sometimes, there'd be more than one. Sometimes, it was everyone. To anyone else on the island, this might seem extravagant and unthinkable, but to the witch in pink, it was the equivalent of sitting in front of a chessboard and sliding the pieces along with no opponent.
The number of moves you can make in chess is 10^120. That's more than the atoms in the universe. So, naturally, Lambdadelta can play alone for all eternity.
One evening, she got an idea. Why play with sixteen single pieces when you can swap them out? Though she hadn't met everyone on the island, she certainly knew most. So occasionally, Kyrie would vanish from the game board, and in her place, a charming girl Lambdadelta has passed by at the inn would take her place. If Hideyoshi was too boring, then Lambdadelta would certainly swap him out for a duplicate of a charming young man she heard of from her party, one known for being violent and a little reckless. The number of her moves increased, and she had more than eternity to watch. Nagi had an irritating habit of surviving to the end of the game. Maka and Soul usually vanished during the second twilight. Loki always got far too close to solving the Epitaph.
In the end, Lambdadelta wasn't Beatrice. She wasn't content with idle repetition, and games are boring if you're watching them instead of playing them, or if you have no one real to play with.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
That was the reality of her fake game board.
The library returned to normal every time, though her pieces get scattered throughout the room. After a while, the richly-crafted pieces became chipped and beaten up, and though she could easily restore them, she found them more charming that way.
The witch decided firmly to invite Hyobu over next time she decided to play a game of chess.
Challenge: None
Prompt: Death, Game, Magic
Title: Perpetual Check
In her library, Lambdadelta had a chessboard.
It was very nice chessboard-- carved from marble with pieces made respectively from quartz and onyx. Before arriving on the island, the pieces didn't have names. Occasionally, as to not invite unwanted listening ears of her housemates, she would lock herself in that library. It was an automatic lock, because above all things, Lambdadelta loved irony. It's there that, though the island had put a little limiter on how broad she could expand her world, she tapped into those famed powers witches had of creating a new universe. A mirrored image, an illusion, and a perfect replica of Rokkenjima down to the last rose petal in the garden, a distortion of time and space with the rules firmly planted under her heels, all within that tiny library.
She watched imitation Twilights as they unfolded. Though she wasn't the Witch of Endless and cannot repeat time, everything and everyone in that little space was a mere replica, so she dismantled and recreated her little universe as many times as she pleased. Sometimes, she'd change things because she found them funny. Other times, she worked on a strategy even that useless Beatrice couldn't mess up. She went through October 4th and 5th over and over, and she changed the killers each time. Sometimes, there'd be more than one. Sometimes, it was everyone. To anyone else on the island, this might seem extravagant and unthinkable, but to the witch in pink, it was the equivalent of sitting in front of a chessboard and sliding the pieces along with no opponent.
The number of moves you can make in chess is 10^120. That's more than the atoms in the universe. So, naturally, Lambdadelta can play alone for all eternity.
One evening, she got an idea. Why play with sixteen single pieces when you can swap them out? Though she hadn't met everyone on the island, she certainly knew most. So occasionally, Kyrie would vanish from the game board, and in her place, a charming girl Lambdadelta has passed by at the inn would take her place. If Hideyoshi was too boring, then Lambdadelta would certainly swap him out for a duplicate of a charming young man she heard of from her party, one known for being violent and a little reckless. The number of her moves increased, and she had more than eternity to watch. Nagi had an irritating habit of surviving to the end of the game. Maka and Soul usually vanished during the second twilight. Loki always got far too close to solving the Epitaph.
In the end, Lambdadelta wasn't Beatrice. She wasn't content with idle repetition, and games are boring if you're watching them instead of playing them, or if you have no one real to play with.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
That was the reality of her fake game board.
The library returned to normal every time, though her pieces get scattered throughout the room. After a while, the richly-crafted pieces became chipped and beaten up, and though she could easily restore them, she found them more charming that way.
The witch decided firmly to invite Hyobu over next time she decided to play a game of chess.