"How convenient, then, that there are two of us." 

And here's a black-and-white chess board with red and white pieces. They all have the same glowing red outlines as the cards. 

How… weird.

"Usually you get to pick which colour you want to play – white moves first."

"I shall play red, I think." 

With a sweeping, elegant motion, she spins the board so that the white pieces are on the side nearest Dante. 

Dante tries not to look too – flapped, or whatever the verb unflappable relates to, flap sounds wrong – but he's meant to be playing chess so that's not useful to dwell on.

He moves his left-most pawn forward two spaces.

She considers, perhaps trying to recall how pawns move and capture, before mirroring him.

They proceed to play a fairly slow game of chess, with Marcella occasionally needing to refresh her memory of the rules, but mostly managing to move her pieces correctly if not optimally. She loses, but does not seem too displeased by this. 

"I believe I have enough understanding of the gameplay to attempt a little strategy," she says, waving a hand over the board to reset the pieces. "Shall we?"

"– I'd be happy to," he says, "but might be a bit tired after this."

"Of course," the Queen says.

"It grows late. I shall have a room made ready for you." 

She waves a hand and the Ace leaves the room, without a word passing between them. 

She has such control over her subjects aaaaaah.

But chess. Another match.

He offers her the choice of colour again.

"White, I think, this time."

She duplicates his opening move from the previous match. 

… Hm.

He doesn't duplicate her previous moves, but he does seem to try to employ some strategy.

Each individual move goes faster, this time, but the game is a little more drawn out.

Marcella wins, but it's close. The board is almost empty of pieces by the time she manages to trap Dante's king. 

Partway through the game, a servant - the Seven of Spades - appears at the door and, when prompted by his queen, informs them that a room has been prepared for her guest. 

Dante does, in fact, look quite tired by this point.

He does however ask what to do about clothing. Since he's going to be staying here for an unspecified period of time.

"I will arrange for clothing to be procured by the time you wake," the Queen assures him. "Do not worry. My staff are very efficient."

She shepherds him gracefully into the custody of the waiting servant, so subtly he might not even notice it wasn't his own idea. "Sleep well," she says warmly. 

"Thank you, Your Majesty," he says, and then he turns around to follow the servant.

Dante is led up a long flight of stairs to a sumptuous bedroom.

It has a four-poster bed, an attached water closet, a window looking out onto a long drop, and a guard discreetly posted at the door. 

How wonderful.

He looks for some sort of supplies with which to brush his teeth et cetera et cetera.

A washcloth has been provided, along with a selection of other items he doesn't recognise. 

There's a nightshirt on the bed, which looks like it'll be clownishly baggy on him but at least that means it's fairly long as well.

...something taps at the window.

Dante looks up from his perusal of the items and in the direction of the window.

… He goes over to it and peers out.

A large black bird is perched on the sill, tapping at the window with its beak. 

It looks right at Dante.

"Well? Are you going to let me in?" it croaks, in a surprisingly feminine voice. 

Um. "What're you."

Sigh.

"A messenger from - an interested party. And, yes, a talking raven." 

He pauses.

"Well. Uh." He goes to open the window. "Okay."

"Thank you."

She flies in and perches on the back of a chair.

"I predict you have questions about Wonderland. Would you prefer to ask those, or for me to talk more generally about the things you need to know?"

"… Please don't tell me it's in grave danger and needs an innocent mortal to save it." Pause. "Or something."

She laughs, but it's not a cheerful sound. 

"Innocence is not among the required criteria, although mortality might be. Wonderland is in danger - and so are you," she says seriously.

"We were concerned when you failed to meet with our contact in the court, and he sent me to talk to you instead."