{OPEN}

[absolute_npc]

Who: Everyone/Anyone!
What: Exploring the Casino, Take 1
Where: The Entertainment District
When: after this and this

Comments

[purpletaint]

[ Despite the fall, Albedo took it well enough, landing with knees bent, feet angled to take the weight on the balls of his feet. Fun, that. About as much fun as a familiar scent--like coming home--the scent of bodies long decayed and left, blood coagulating into the stone to make of it a new mortar in truth; stickly sweet and rancid, something permanent and ever fleeting.

This slipped through him before he had a chance to logistically analyze--a reaction born of blood more than training. He straightened, eyes edging wide to take it all in. Now wasn't this... perfectly charming to its own end?

The three separated loosely, both others prying bits and pieces from still corpses, and Albedo only wandered in something close to wonder. He was quiet, and that was possibly a warning in itself.

But nothing happened yet, and the boy only crouched by a corpse a bit further than the rest. Blood trailed from the dead man's fingers, a line streaking off and smudging the ground. If he squinted that was possibly....

Albedo's eyes moved to Heine when he spoke, responding languidly after Max. ] Depends on where you need to go.

[blonde_neophyte]

[She'd been slow making the reconnection, and now she was just a little bit irritated. She was used to being the one making the exploration and Tseng being the one who was getting the information second hand. She'd never really appreciated how nervewracking being blind and deaf to the situation inside could actually be.]

Hello? Did something happen? C'mon guys, I've been blank for the last few minutes. Can someone send me a live feed of your surroundings?

[nebenmond]

[He sighs, opening up a channel to respond, even as he slowly gets to his feet to start slowly moving around the area, kicking bones and flesh as if disturbing them might reveal something worthwhile.]

I really don't think you want a live feed of what we're looking at.

[lolwhatfuture]

[She finished flipping through the journal with a shake of her head and huffed.]

I don't get it. They knew people were disappearing, but no one's stumbled across this room before we did? [Turning to Heine even as he wandered, she tossed the journal to him with a quick 'Heads up'.] It took us, what, ten seconds? Look at those dates.

[Max ignored her own communicator for the moment. If he wasn't going to show Elena this awful sight, she sure wasn't going to. Instead she turned to Albedo, who was unusually minimal in his speech.] Find anything creepy? Besides the obvious.

[purpletaint]

[ He tilted his head at Max's words, frowning now. ]

The time frame is wrong.

[ He's silent, and for a moment it seemed as if he would stay that way. Instead he does what she said, and walked over to peer at the journal's dates. Yes. It is wrong. ]

With a period of time like that, the bodies should be down to bone or worse. Pages should have deteriorated further, and blood should have faded more. [ He moved a hand idly at the corpses impaled against the wall. ] Those should have fallen.

Either the dates are wrong, or this place was in a suspended state until we broke into it.

[absolute_npc]

[You know what? Albedo is right. (Which theory is right, however, waits to be seen.)

It's about this time that the abnormal silence (save for the torches crackling) is cut through by what sounds to be a snort, a low growl following. The floor seems to even shake for a few seconds, the sound of hoofsteps heavy and very noticeable.

And just as fast as it came, the sound is gone, leaving the three again in the same silence as before.

That's not suspicious at all. And considering there's only one path to take, anything else down here would have to come from there, right?

Nothing comes, however, even after several minutes. Maybe it was just the city screwing with the three of them, or at the very least, the casino. Hell, it could have been anything (or anyone) trying to spook them if they really thought about it hard enough.

Perhaps they'd fallen right smack into a game and there were other players wandering about?

Or, you know, perhaps not.]

[nebenmond]

Sure seems that way. [He replied to Max as he caught the book, flipping through it with a sense of disinterest. He did stop at the last page, however, eyes narrowing slightly.] Mentions the Magisters, though. Wonder what the chances are that they all already knew about this and didn't bother to tell us.

[His retort was dry and unsurprised. Getting fucked over by the natives? Seemed to fit the necessary solving equation for a lot of things that happened in Nuadoria on a regular basis.

This was just one more suspicious piece of to the grand puzzle of Nuadoria. He handed the book off to Albedo when he approached to get a better look at the dates.

Although he was going to say something else to Elena concerning the journal that was being passed around between the three, Heine froze when he heard the sudden sound. The alarm bells in his head struck a very strong and very high chord. It was enough to give him a headache. In a second he'd drawn one of two guns, although not quite yet ready to commit to them being needed at all.

Nevertheless, he slid over to that open passageway and peer down it only to see...

...well, nothing.

(Then again, he wasn't not even sure if the sound came from that direction in the first place. But the rest of the room was all wall other than the smaller room they entered here from.)

A hallucination? Heine doubted it. Not the way his nerves were on end, not the way the hair at the back of his neck stiffened. And certainly not the way his fight or flight response was suddenly kicked into gear, heightened senses searching for the original source of noise.

The dog inside stirred, rattling its cage to be let out.

(Time to call Elena back.)]

[lolwhatfuture]

[Before she could really say much of anything there came that menacing sound, and her insides clenched in response GOOD JOB ALBEDO YOU PISSED IT OFF. Her wings, which had thus far been hidden under her clothes, jerked out from the slits in her coat and spread slightly for balance. The feathers twitched and shivered with the desire to take flight, but Max only warily watched the ceiling, perhaps waiting for death to fall upon them.

When it stopped, she let go of a breath held in and completely shed her jacket so that flight would be less inhibited were it to come to that. It seemed that things were about to pick up and take a turn for the dangerous.]

I'm guessing that's our cue to get our butts moving. [Not unlike Heine, she was ready to book it as much as attack the first thing that moved. It was that unfortunate part of an animal's instinct underneath, wasn't it, predators and prey alike, all tense and acquiver and hyper aware of the threat. Though she was less likely to go ballistic with it.

When she speaks again, her tone has turned falsely chipper, and she gave them both a bitter smile.]

So who's up for another game of Jump Into the Dark Passage and Probably Die?

[purpletaint]

[ The sound came, deep and resounding in his chest, and Albedo only thought of dragons. His eyes peered into the dark, blank and unfathomable, and briefly wondered what other ghosts existed in the dark.

His attention moved back to the book given to him. So it did. Mention the Magisters. Albedo instantly thought of Dai, but expected nothing. If Albedo had needed to know about this place, he would have. It benefited them both this way. Still, as Heine connected to the woman on the communicator, Albedo became curious. He looked at Heine, birdlike in expression. ]

What do you expect to gain from them?

[ It was clear they would give only what was necessary and barely that, whether from Dai or Caim, or any other. The "visitors" to this world were little more than playthings, and Albedo knew the concept well. Far too well, and as if to punctuate that thought, Max spoke.

Albedo smiled at her, near charmingly. ] I think you know I have no problem with that.

[ He trod forward, eyes lighting florescent as the dark overtook his frame. ]

[nebenmond]

Honestly? Not a whole hell of a lot.

[He'd been here long enough to know that the Magisters weren't exactly always helpful as they were simply expectant that the foreigners would figure things out in due time.

As far as Heine was concerned, however, he also knew asking them a direct question proved more useful concerning information rather than expecting them to give the information that should have been told to them from the beginning.

Heine waited for Max and Albedo to leave first, giving one last (highly suspicious, tensed) look around the area before stepping back and proceeding to follow the other two.]

[lolwhatfuture]

[She nodded at Albedo, perfectly familiar with just how little of a problem he'd have, but said nothing much about the matter because she didn't want to remember in detail how well she knew.]

Good. [So she followed closely behind Albedo into the darkness, which was almost like walking into a well-lit hallway of a regular old house to her eyes, and glanced back over her shoulder to make sure Heine took up the end. He was looking pretty unsettled, and she had to bite back the suggestion that he not accidentally shoot her in the back of the head. Running into a hoofed monster with a spear would be troubling enough.]

[cryptdeify]

[Another one of her games. It pissed Lawfer off to no end, the way she played around with everyone-foreigner or no (but most of all, them)-and expected him to accomplish an impossible task with an impossible time limit. It pissed him off that he couldn't do anything about it (she had given him next to no time for a counter, both verbal and physical), and the fact that he didn't know how to go about this mess.

What he did know was where he was, and he didn't like it one bit. He was armed-a shotgun, a handgun, and two knives-but it wasn't enough.

But you know, Lawfer didn't have the luxury of time to be spooked out by mere location.

Somewhere far, far away from where Max, Albedo, and Heine was wandering, he made quiet steps through the maze, careful not to catch the attention of anyone else possibly in the area, lips pressed into a thin line and with silenced breathing. It was a good thing Lawfer wasn't as completely stupid as he made himself out to be, and his memory and instinct better than most. How else would he have survived so far with such a huge handicap?

You foreigners best do the same. Maybe not. Chances are, you've already been marked.]

[purpletaint]

[ It was enough of an answer for him to accept. The man wasn't stupid, despite his inclinations.

The boy moved further in the dark, aware of the girl behind him more than anything. His senses allowed more freedom of movement than a normal human, and still it was hard to know what was before him.

In truth, it was good Albedo had went first. If he was attacked or torn to shreds, he would regenerate. He wasn't sure if he could say the same for the others.

...Ironic, that. That he even thought of that fact. The boy chuckled in the dark, and started humming softly. ]

[nebenmond]

[Something wasn't sitting right with the albino. No matter how empty the place seemed to be as he followed the two (listening intently with heightened senses for a sound only a dog would hear). The flicker of torches crackling and popping every so often was the only noise to break the silence besides Albedo's hum.

Logically, his mind told him to be cautious, but not anxious. There was nothing to warrant it.

The dog in him, however, was still growling, still rattling its cage and Heine couldn't help but find himself more and more (with each passing second) agreeing with that side.

Something wasn't right, obviously (they'd just been in a room of death), but something really wasn't right even as they wandered along this passage.

Heine only wished he could place what it exactly was.

(Or, maybe it was just all in his head, slowly fabricating into the point of hallucination.)]

[lolwhatfuture]

[It was interesting, the situation, and the lineup: the villain-to-be, the hero, and the anti-hero, leading one another on a dangerous expedition as companions. Or it would have been interesting if she really knew anything about Heine and Albedo besides what was obvious by their actions. Between the minor problem of not knowing them intimately and the potential miscommunications that might cause in a confrontation with whatever lurked in the shadows, as well as the unrelenting pressure of feeling watched and the jumpy anxiety that stemmed from wandering around in the wrongness that was this basement, Max could only assess so much of them both.

And she couldn't tell if what she did expect was promising or absolutely bleak.

So Heine was silent, and Albedo hummed, and altogether it had become a horror flick, and she had to keep herself from thumping Albedo to get him to stop. Max sucked in a breath and lightly massaged her temples as if doing so would rub away the worry.]

timeskipping a bit, let me know if this is a problem!

[cryptdeify]

[After the trio had wandered around the maze for a good amount of time, it's almost as if time stops. The smell of blood on metal, and something more foul-something not human-isn't so far off from where Max, Albedo, and Heine are wandering about. It's anxiety, pressure, and everything in between clumped into one festering sensation, as trembling footsteps not so far off begin to shake the very foundations of the walls surrounding them.

(Is this how the victims felt before their messy demise?)

Whatever it is, Lawfer's staying far away from it... except as much as he'd love to do that, it'd be a stupid move on his part.

What will you do, foreigners?]