Hidden rules

Queenside Citadel, Russia, 2014... 

Time ticked on, possibly into hours. All Miyako had on that front was her own gut, which was too rattled to precisely keep track of time. Not like she was ever good at keeping track of time even in a normal state. In terms of priorities, she was trying to initiate a game of chess against someone, for she feared that if she didn't, a harsh punishment awaited.

"She's still sitting at that chessboard. Kinda makes you want to play her just so she doesn't cry," Imono grinned.

"Shit's probably a trap. I bet if we start playing, it'll trigger something, so best avoid it like it's shit," Lowri grumbled.

"D- Did you find anything?" Miyako trembled.

"We-"

"Search yourself! We're not gonna spoonfeed you or your sister," Arina scoffed.

"My sister? But I'm an only child."

"Um, on the bunk? Black hair, just like you?"

Everyone stared at Arina in disbelief.

"Um, girl, you're not saying you assumed those two to be sisters just cuz they both have black hair, right?" Lowri frowned.

"They look similar, they're related."

"... Lowri, let's bunk!" Imono grinned as she rushed towards one of the two unoccupied cells.

"Wait, are you saying I'll have to be stuck with that American idiot!? Never!" Arina shouted as she began chasing after Imono.

"Guess that means I get to room with you. I call top!" Lowri grinned as she rushed for the last open cell.

Milady didn't seem to care as she followed after her, meaning Miyako was stuck rooming with the black-haired woman.

"Your cell assignments have been finalized... This decision will be permanent. Now, the hour of rest is upon you. All must be behind bars. There are chess sets in the cell though," Vasily's voice crackled through the loudspeaker.

Seeing guards coming her way, Miyako had little choice but to head towards the cell on her own, lest she be subject to being physically assaulted once more. The guards then locked all the cells before leaving and dimming the lights.

"Um, are you awake?" Miyako nervously asked her cellmate.

"Still worried about the chess? Fine, I'll play you. However, I get Black, and we draw," the black-haired woman grumbled as she leapt down and retrieved the chessboard.

"Draw?"

"Neither side wins. See the knight? The horse? Move it to the square right in front of the pawn in front of the bishop on the light square."

Miyako nodded and did that as the woman decided to mirror her with her own knight.

"Now move the knight back."

Miyako did that as did the woman.

"Now repeat."

Miyako complied and continued to repeat the moves with the woman until the board lit up. "Threefold repetition detected. Drawn match," a voice stated.

"Now go to sleep," the woman snarled as she put the board away and crawled back into the top bunk.

"S- Sure," Miyako mumbled as she wrapped herself in the covers.

...

The next morning? Vasily's voice roused all from their slumber. "Good morning. The results from yesterday... were interesting."

Guards began marching towards the cells, yet completely avoided Miyako's cell.

"Ah, this isn't your scheduled release, but rather... punishments for those who failed.

"Those who-"

"AAAAAAAHHHHH! UNHAND ME! UNHAND ME!" Arina cried as she was dragged out.

"So I'm a bad girl too, huh?" Lowri grinned as she too was dragged out.

"And these are the two that failed, so watch closely, everyone. I'm going to educate you as to why you shouldn't disregard my words should you wish to survive," Vasily chuckled.

The two were then strapped into chairs with Arina resisting with all her might, and Lowri deciding to just go with the flow.

"YOU FUCKERS! YOU CAN'T-"

Bzz!

That sound alone made Arina go silent with fear. Turning her head in the direction of the sound, she began to hyperventilate as her fears were confirmed.

"No... Please... No, not that... ANYTHING BUT THAT!" Arina cried as the guard dangled a pair of hair clippers before her. "No, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING WRONG! I WAS FOLLOWING EVERYONE ELSE AND DID NOTHING WRONG!"

"Oh, but you did fail. You WERE supposed to play a game of chess. You refused to, and thus forfeited by default. See I was going to reveal this today, as I expected you all to ignore the chess, but it seems some of you were smart and played, albeit, some of you drew. I'll applaud that as should you have lost the game, you'd be up here too about to be shorn," Vasily's voice crackled.

"YOU NEVER SAID WE HAD TO PLAY!" Arina shouted.

"And? I am the law here, and I wanted you all to play chess, but you didn't. So, a punishment will be delivered. Men, bring a mirror forth so they may see their beauty shorn."

The guards nodded and placed two large mirrors before Arina and Lowri, but just off to the side enough that the those in the cell could still get a full view of the two.

"Now, start with our national treasure, Arina."

The guard firmly grabbed Arina by the chin and tilted her head back, all while she screamed and cried as hard as she could.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH! NO! STOP! STOP! AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" Arina screamed as her hair plummeted to the floor.

Thanks to her hair already being tightly wrapped up in a bun, shearing it all off was effortless, and finished in seconds.

"HAHAHAHA! You're screaming like you're being hacked to bits with a chainsaw, but it's just your hair!" Vasily laughed.

Arina's stream of tears was so plentiful, she was unable to properly see her new shorn reflection in the mirror. Thus, Vasily ordered the guards to wipe away her tears and force her to see herself.

"Look! Is that Arina? Hmm, she doesn't look as different as I thought she would. Why don't we continue," Vasily sneered as a guard began smearing shaving cream all over Arina's head and eyebrows.

"No... No, PLEASE NO! PLEASE- MMPH!" Arina cried as the guard clamped his hand over her mouth and began shaving her smooth.

"Do try not to struggle, we wouldn't want a gaping scar on that prized skin of yours, would we?"

Save for the scraping of the razor against Arina's skin along with her muffled screams, all was silent in the room with all prisoners staring at the sight before them, some more intently than others.

When Arina's shaving was done, her mouth was released, yet not a sound came out of it aside from heavy, heavy breathing as she stared at her bald browless reflection. Her words and screams quickly began to choke up in her throat, prompting the guard to slap her across the face hard, blooding her, but also pausing her hyperventilating with shock.

"Now... wax her, starting with the eyelashes..."

A guard nodded and approached with some wax, smearing it over Arina's eyes. He then waited a few seconds before ripping it off, causing Arina to scream at the top of her lungs.

"Hmm, seems there's still some left... Again..."

"NO! NOT AGAIN! IT HURT! IT HURT!" Arina cried as her eyes were covered in wax once more.

"Why, you should know that in our history, some men were sentenced to have all their hairs plucked out one by one for their offenses. Our modern advances have reduced the time it take to rid your body of hair, so rejoice that the process is so quick," Vasily sneered as Arina screamed again as she was waxed. "Hmm, seems like we got them all... Do her whole head now."

Arina's eyes bulged as the guards viciously began encasing her head and face in wax, leaving just her eyes uncovered.

"Hmm, why not do her ears and nose too for the full package."

This was where things really got bad for Arina, as once the wax sticks were shoved into her nostrils, she began struggling to breath.

"MMMPH! NGH! MMPH!" Arina cried as she violently struggled to break free.

"HAHAHA! Her eyes are starting to bulge. Cover them up."

Now encased in wax and unable to breath, Arina was in complete hell until finally, air began flowing into her nostrils again.

"You relaxed when they were yanked out. I thought you would scream more," Vasily chuckled as Arina was unwaxed, delivering him the pained scream he craved.

"YOU MONSTER! I WAS SUFFOCATING! WHAT KIND OF- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Arina screamed as she saw her reflection in the mirror.

"HAHAHAHA! Look at our "national treasure". We'll have to make up a convenient excuse to explain your permanent hair loss should you ever leave," Vasily laughed as a guard held a bottle of depilatory cream before Arina's face. "This will ensure you remain hairless for the rest of your life. Ah, but I feel I've made my point clear today. Your punishment is over, but should you find yourself in last place again, we'll make the bald permanent, and cover your prized skin in vulgar tattoos. Ah, but I'm afraid you'll need to be kept shaved like that daily, so each morning, the guards shall shave you," he stated as Arina was released from the chair.

As she slowly trudged back to her cell, a flood of emotions overcame Arina. None were able to dominate her mind though until it was Lowri's turn to be shaved.

"So all you're gonna do is shave our heads? Whack, man. I've wanted to do this for years, and it's in a creepy prison setting? My drenaline be pumpin," Lowri grinned as the guard began shearing her.

Arina's eyes twitched as she spun around, her eyes bloodshot with rage and zeroed in on Lowri.

"Girl, why you lookin' like you bout to smash a car window like Taylor Spearz?" Lowri snickered as the last of her hair was buzzed off. "Wait, you still hung up on beauty? Girl, it 2014, women be getting stronger, strong enough to rock a bald head with pride. Can't have men gawkin' at your hair if you don't got none to gawk at," she laughed as her head and eyebrows were lathered with shaving cream.

Arina's hyperventilating resumed, this time out of rage.

"Yeah, yeah. Weak women cry, when they cut their hair, but strong women grin as they shave their heads. Beauty standards shattered like glass, cuz hair's nothing but a tangled mess," Lowri gleefully sang as she was shaved smooth.

"I'LL KILL YOU, YOU FUCKING WHORE!" Arina shouted as she charged for Lowri.

The guards naturally intercepted her and slugged her hard in the gut, rendering her unconscious. She was then tossed back into her cell while Lowri began to ease up on the provocations, silently smiling as her eyelashes were lathered in wax.

"Oh! Ya know, they same eyelashes define women, but that thinking's backwards. Women's true beauty is bald. Bald without any sign she ever had hair," Lowri grinned.

"Not a squeal of pain?" Vasily scoffed as the guards began encasing Lowri's entire head and face in wax.

"Ngh [Nope]!" Lowri laughed as she flipped everyone off and went silent as her eyes, nostrils, and ears were covered with wax.

Unlike with Arina, Lowri was given freedom to breath again rather quickly, with the sticks being yanked out of her nostrils mere seconds after they were inserted. Lowri also kept her cool as she was unwaxed, maintaining her grin as she gazed at herself in the mirror.

"I dig it. Hey, smear the whole bottle of that stuff on my head so I don't have to worry about shaving each day," Lowri called out.

"We'd still shave you daily regardless," Vasily stated.

"The woman consents."

And thus, Lowri was smothered in the hair removal solution, with visible steam emitting from her skin as it made contact. "Ahhhh, my hair... Jk, fuck hair and the societal expectations that come with it!" Lowri laughed.

A few seconds later, Lowri was released, and strutted back to her cell with pride.

"You're a grandslammer for team woman," Milady smiled as she hi-fived and hugged Lowri upon her return.

"Yeah, you took it like a champ, unlike comrade cue ball up in here," Imono snickered as she glanced over at Arina.

The black-haired woman didn't seem to care about things one way or the other, but Miyako was completely terrified.

"They... They were going to do that to me, all of us, if we didn't play. But wait... Why did Imono and-"

"Now, ladies, it's time to do away with the honeymoon and adjust to the marriage. Allow me to explain the house rules of the citadel, which shall determine your ultimate fate," Vasily declared.

"When you first came here, I alluded to the fact that chess would dictate all. Now allow me to further explain. The 6 of you are in Cell Block D, one of 8 cell blocks part of this experiment. The ultimate goal is to produce the next world chess champion, thus, only the strongest player of you all shall be able to leave. For the blocks, we'll first have the 6 of you compete in round-robin play, then single elimination until only one champion is left. Pairings shall be assigned after the wake-up call, though you'll have all day to play your match. Forfeits won't be tolerated, so don't think you can just ignore the summons; we WILL make you play. And naturally, those who perform poorly will be punished. That is all. The first pairings shall appear shortly."

A screen then lit up in the main area, showcasing the pairings. Rather than names, pictures of the 6 girls were shown, with Lowri's and Arina's updated to match their new bald looks.

"Wow, yours is crying, mine smiling, really shows the type of women we are, huh," Lowri snickered as Arina slowly picked herself up off the ground, trembling with fury.

The cells were then opened, allowing everyone to step out, some willingly, others not so.

"My body's moving on its own! No, I don't want to play her, not right now!" Miyako thought as she approached Arina.

"What are you smiling for?" Arina glared.

Internally, Miyako began to panic as her jaw began to mouth out the words, "Ugly rat."

Arina furiously charged for Miyako, only to be restrained by the guards. She was then dragged over to a table with two chairs and strapped down into one of the chairs, with Miyako finding herself walking over to the other chair. Unlike Arina, she was not restrained to her seat, though still found herself unable to control her body.

"Now, you both know how the pieces move, yes? Your allotted time is the standard 90 minutes, 30 second increment. An additional 60 minutes will be added to your clock should you reach the 40th move. Draws by agreement can be offered after the 20th move, with resignations applicable any time. You may now begin," Vasily's voice crackled through the loudspeaker.

The full game: 

White: Miyako Suwabe Black: Black-haired woman 

1. Nf3 Nf6 

2. Ng1 Ng8 

3. Nf3 Nf6 

4. Ng1 Ng8 (Game drawn due to threefold repetition)