Ω → five [video; open to action]

[oforder]

The villain enters stage left.

[ Wilhelm comments quietly, from what appears to be the third floor library. In front of him is his chessboard from before, but this time, there are only five pieces on the black side; two close together, the other three spread out over the far end of the board. The black pieces contain one of every special piece: a knight, a rook, a queen, a bishop, and the king. On the white side are all pawns, with one king. The ever-rotating Compass was perfectly visible behind him, however, one of its arms was rotating far more wildly than the other. In the background, coming from an off-screen phonograph, was a fairly appropriate musical piece, as Wilhelm carefully moved the black rook behind several of the white pawns, rendering them useless. The white king was now in check, but with the mess of pawns, had very few effective places to move. ]

The heroes are confused. Disoriented, impatient, and irrational. It is only to be expected, given the setting.

[ He doesn't move the white king. Instead, he turns to one of the other white pawns, which had managed to be only a few moves away from the far end of the board, where it could be exchanged for a superior piece. He doesn't move it; rather, he simply stares at it. ]

I wonder who will step up this time?

[ And with that, the feed ends. ]

Comments

[firstofthefallen]

As far as a call to action might be, I find this rather lacking.

text / anonymous

[kingofthetoybox]

[Chess wasn't a favorite of Porky's, but he appreciated it for what it was worth. He was enamored with the concept of the necessity behind sacrificing pieces to wipe out the enemy. In practice, that's what made a game truly exciting. The greater one's sacrifices are, the higher the stakes become while victory becomes swifter. It's all in good fun and it gave Porky pleasure to know that somebody considered what was happening in the Tower akin to a game of chess.

Porky sends a message response while deciding not yet to reveal himself.]

the pawns can only win if they decide to sacrifice themselves. and they will.

heroes are

adorably

stupid that way.

but that's if we concede that the world is just like the world on the chessboard. a chessboard doesn't have room for infinite surprises. not like the world.

anon text (i.e. Jay is a dick)

[nodeviations]

This is just a reminder, but the network is not typically a place for this. We actually prefer to use it for information exchange rather than dramatic, asinine little narratives.

In case you weren't already aware of that, now you know. Welcome to the tower. Enjoy your stay.

[Text]

[tohko_amano]

[Tohko, being more a fan of stories rather than chess, ignores the board for the moment and focuses on the words.]

However, eventually, the heroes get used to the setting and shake off their confusion! While the villain make take a few of them down, the heroes hold their ground and eventually take down this villain, not willing to give up without a fight, not willing to lose hope, and not willing to let their friends fall!

text

[ex_depaysement502]

You don't know if those pawns conceal the face of a rook, a bishop, a queen. Perhaps they remain as pawns for now to better survey the situation. Who steps up is a matter of confidence.

[oforder]

The last call to action someone attempted failed quite miserably.

text

[oforder]

Surprise is a sensation I have not felt in quite some time. It is a refreshing change of pace.

text

[oforder]

I have been. For quite some time, now. It is unfortunate that information must be gathered by such trivial and archaic means, but that is par for the course for humans, isn't it?

Can you truly not understand the 'narrative' I created?

[kingofthetoybox]

i'm not impressed just y e t

what happened just now was on the level of a few angry monkeys throwing around their fecal matter only to get shot at.

[Text]

[oforder]

This story hasn't even begun to reach its climax. You should know that better than anyone.

text

[oforder]

Then may you hope they choose quickly. A pawn does not make its way across the board without being noticed, unless the opponent is either blind or is allowing it to happen.

[oforder]

When under stress and facing despair, violence and irrationality are, tragically, the first resort. It is an incredibly human reaction, and the very reason for existence.

[Text]

[tohko_amano]

I know that. It feels like everything's still part of the rising action. We're still going up that slope. You forget-just because the heroes have taken down one villain doesn't mean that they've won. There may be more, or an issue that they forgot about or didn't see just yet. However, I'm sure that, in the end, it'll be alright. They'll have a happy ending, and the epilogue will be sweet as well.

[kingofthetoybox]

i get you on that

if humans can get together in thousands or millions, that's when all their rage can amount to something on a collective level

if alone, just like now, their emotions amount to less than nothing, inept by all definitions of the word

they'll never learn

[ex_depaysement502]

I could show you how there is a third option in that.

[warriorscribe]

*Sadly, Enoch doesn't know chess, so the analogy is mostly lost. At least the symbolism of black and white was clear.*

Human relations aren't defined so clearly, no matter how much we want them to be at times.

[firstofthefallen]

It did.

A good thing failure is one of the best ways to learn.

[Video]

[taintedwhite]

Heroes or villains... What matters is if they're worth a challenge~

[oforder]

I would have preferred if they had the foresight not to attempt it at all. However, I suppose that is too much to expect of them.

[oforder]

You are describing the 'mob mentality.' It is impossible to achieve such a goal while in a panicked frenzy.

[Text]

[oforder]

Are you sure, Tohko? This story has many, many plot twists. Including villains who cannot die any more than we can. Perhaps less so.

[firstofthefallen]

I suppose it is. Mankind isn't a species that tends to rely on foresight often. Nor need it. It's this lack of foresight that defies expectations and leads to innovation.

And no one, man or god or anything above or below, can tell what the results will be with utmost certainty.

[Text]

[tohko_amano]

Of course I'm sure! In the end, it'll turn out alright. Even though there may be a few sad and terrible plot twists, there will probably be quite a few nice ones as well. And maybe some of the villains will come over to our side, realizing that they were wrong. That's happened in quite a few stories before! Through reason, a fight, or a mixture of both, the heroes will win. They'll earn a happy ending, even though the earning part may be painful.

[oforder]

It is because of their lack of foresight that I was deemed necessary to exist by the collective subconscious. I do what they cannot.

[firstofthefallen]

And what is that?