All Hail the Chinese Cheese Biscuit! (OPEN!)

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

((Please see the Quelf plot in the plot pages section for information on joining this plot, and for rules of how the game they’re playing works. Please visit the thread in the bulletin board to sign your character up for this plot. Any character not playing the game is more than welcome to post as a bystander and watch the insanity unfold.))

It was about fifteen minutes before ten o’clock in the evening – the time which Christine Svenna Daaé had posted for the proposed game night to start. A few people had signed up in advance, and she could not help but to wonder whether or not anyone else would show up otherwise unexpectedly.

She’d been working to set up the evening of fun and already had a few snacks laid out for general consumption. She’d popped up a couple of bowls worth of popcorn and had some paper plates and cups set out for if anyone should need them. She also laid out a couple of two litre bottles of a delicious beverage called ‘coca-cola’ she’d first discovered in the village. It was bubbly, full of sugar, and caffeinated, just like she was generally.

She’d previously set up the game board so that everyone could sit around the board and choose their pieces so that they could begin. Under normal circumstance, she would have wanted to be the pink one, but since there was no pink, she figured that calling dibs on the purple one would have to do. There were eight different colored movers total, and so based on the number of people total that she had seen sign up, there should be no shortage.

Christine plopped down on a stool in a not-quite-lady-like fashion. Hopefully the others would begin to arrive soon, and when they did, they were in for quite a treat! The game – Quelf – she’d seen and hap purchased in the village a few weeks back. She thought that it looked like a great deal of fun, and wanted to play, but in order to do so, she needed at least two other people there to be able to play with her. This was where the organized ‘game night’ came in.

[Christine Daaé]

Christine had been rather hesitant when she’d first signed up for this ‘game night’ thing, and now she was just praying that she wouldn’t end up regretting it. After all, the hostess, while a friend of her husbands and of several other of her closer friends here within the manor, in her opinion was rater coarse and vulgar. The woman didn’t seem to have any appreciation for peoples personal boundaries and was rather obnoxious at times in her behavior.

The flier had said to bring a food item of some sort for everyone to snack on, and so Christine had brought with her a batch of that delicious ‘popcorn’ stuff she’d first tasted when she was with Monsieur Christophe de Chagny. She very much liked the stuff, and thought that it would be a good thing to share snack-wise while playing a game.

When she arrived in the dining room, she saw that no one was there other than herself and the hostess, Christine Svenna, and so she sat down at the table, setting down the bowl of popcorn.

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

Christine Svenna didn’t have to wait very long before the first of the people who had signed up arrived there in the dining room for the game night in question. It was Angie who came first. Svenna liked the woman, but she seemed so uptight all of the time.

“Hiya, Angie!” Svenna said, greeting her namesake with a bright and cheery smile. “Are you ready for some fun fun fun!?” Maybe a fun game night like this would help her to loosen up a little bit. After all, Christine Svenna wasn’t sure how anyone could remain serious while playing such a silly game as this one.

“Ooo! You brought popcorn! Set it over there,” she said, pointing to the end of the table where she had already set up several refreshments. There were some paper plates and cups, along with a couple two litre bottles of fizzy drinks there for everyone’s enjoyment. “Well, since you’re the only one here here right now, I guess I should let you pick your game piece. You can have any color you like—I have dibs on the purple one though!”

[Christine Daaé]

Christine winced a bit at the rather loud greeting she received from the hostess. “Hello to you as well, Mademoiselle Svenna… Yes, I brought some popcorn,” she said, setting the bowl off to the side where Christine Svenna had previously designated for food.

She said that she should choose her game piece, and so after some brief hesitation, she nodded. The different colored game pieces were lined up beside a brightly colored box with the word ‘Quelf’ printed on it. She looked over the colors there (there were 8 game pieces total), and selected a white mover for her game piece.

“So what exactly is this… Quelf game?” she asked Svenna, taking the little white mover in her hand… “Do you mind if I get a drink? I’m a bit thirsty.”

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

“Oh, not at all,” Svenna said when the other Christine asked if she could get herself a drink. “Help yourself! Right now we’re just waiting for more people to show up so that we can go ahead and start playing the game…”

And then, at her other question, the woman gave a cheeky little grin. “Oh, you’ll see what sort of game it is… I promise though that it is a lot of fun. Cross my heart. You’re going to love it!”

[Christine Daaé]

Christine swallowed rather uneasily. Not knowing what sort of game this was—particularly when Christine Svenna was involved—made her rather nervous. When she was a little girl, she would have most certainly have been more than ecstatic to try something unknown; it was like an adventure! Now though… now the years had caused her to become wary. She was still somewhat adventurous, and did rather enjoy games, which was why she had signed up in the first place, but still…

She gave a nervous grin followed by an uneasy chuckle and nodded in the other woman’s direction as she moved toward the beverage area and selected a bright red plastic cup (thy were all red and had the word ‘solo’ printed on the side of them). She then glanced over the beverages that were there at the moment, ad saw one with a picture of a lemon on it. She was rather fond of lemonade, and wondered if this were similar at all, and so with some effort, she opened the bottle and carefully poured herself a cup full before replacing the cap.

[Erik Carriere]

Erik, in a rush, had completely forgotten to bring any sort of food. He was nervous when he wasn't early for something he was expected to be at. If this had been something at the opera house, this would be completely different story. But here, he had come to be sociable and realize that being late was a highly impolite thing to do.

He came in his usual formal black and white clothes and white mask, though he was tempted to wear his mirror pieced glass mask just for the hopefully fun occasion. Erik came in and saw that only Svenna, whom he had given the bowl of fish to at the exchange event, and Christine whom he considered to be a close friend, along with Lenoir. He smiled friendlily and greeted them. "Good evening, I expect there is to be more coming, yes?" He asked, continuing to stand.

[Roselin A. Soulle]

Roselin almost contemplated not going, still mourning over her father's death. But Lenoir and Carlotta had told her that she should find things to keep her mind off of it and try and make herself happy. And that's why she didn't particularly think she should go, it was meant to be fun and her mood might ruin things.

She shuffled through the hallways, dressed in a long poofy silver shirt with two finger wide straps, black slacks, and her black fedora. Roselin had gone out and bought two big bags that had a variety of little bags of chips in them. She came into the room to see a certain masked man talking to the two Christines. Without interrupting, she put the two bags by the other assorted snacks and waved to the Christines with a sort of attempted smile.

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

Christine Svenna’s eyes lit up with excitement as she saw more participants in the game night begin to enter the room. She let out a squeal of delight and threw her arms around Roselin, pulling her into a quick hug to greet her there.

“Oooooooooh, more people! Ooo! Look! Chips. Yum.” She took the bags of chips from Roselin and arranged them on the table alongside the other snacks that were already there. Thanks so much for coming—both of you![/b]” she said, grinning at Roselin and at Erik Carrière. You’re just in time. I have the movers set out over there. I called dibs on the purple, and I think Angie already picked hers, but feel free to choose whatever color you want, otherwise![/b]”

[Erik Carriere]

Erik smiled and went over the game set up to look at it. Well, it definitely looked like it was going to be interesting. Especially since he never really played any games as a child... especially not with anyone else either. However, it seemed like it was going to be fun, in fact, he could be sure of that even though he had no idea what was to go on in the game.

Erik decided to go with the green mover then walked over to Madame de Chagny and greeted her. "Nice to see you here. I don't suppose you have ever played this game before, have you?" He asked her. Erik remembered that at the gift exchange some time ago he believed he had seen her receive board games that looked similar to this though he was unsure if this game was among them. It would be nice to either be not alone in not having a clue about the game or having someone who would be able to calmly explain it to him.

[Christine Daaé]

Christine winced a little at the high pitched squealing that came from Svenna. She breathed a little though, and forced a smile onto her face. It was nice though, to see that some of the other people whom she had seen sign up on the flier were starting to arrive there at the game night.

Her smile became more genuine when Monsieur Carrière came up to greet her. “It is good to see you as well, Monsieur.” She had not seen many of the other Manor residents recently, since she had really begun to show, and wasn't certain how many of them had actually seen the announcement which she had posted about the baby that she and Raoul were expecting.

Monsieur Carrière asked her if she knew what game it was that they were playing, a question to which Christine shook her head in the negative. “Unfortunately, no, I do not... I... assume it's some sort of a game where the goal is to be the first person to reach the end, judging from the movers... but I don't even know the name of the game... Please, won't you sit down? There is no point in standing while there are so very many chairs here.”

Christine looked up at Christine Svenna with an almost suspicious air. She wasn't quite certain what to make of all of this secrecy over the game, though she had this sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she would surely end up regretting signing up to play. “Perhaps our hostess would be so kind as to enlighten us?”

[Christine Svenna Daaé]

“Oh, it's fun, trust me!” Christine Svenna said with a wave of her hand, as if to dismiss the other woman's uncertainty over the entire situation. “I just want to make sure that everyone who is going to play is here before I explain everything, so that no one gets confused about how to play.”

It was true. If someone else came in partially through, it would only serve to cause mass chaos and confusion. This game could already be... chaotic enough without all off that thrown in there as well. “I will tell you the name though. The game is called 'Quelf.'”