Night 56: The Grand Ballroom

[witchdetective]

[ from here ]That feeling of vertigo that came with using the ring seemed to be getting worse with each trip, Erika thought, as she saw the world spin around her and felt that tugging sensation pulling all three of them. Well prepared this time, Erika braced herself as she felt wind roaring in her ears and saw the surroundings change into that

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[falseblack]

A brother breaking and sneaking around already tipped the scale of today's events toward bad. Discovering a familiar sword and an equally recognizable sash at dinner pushed it to worse. By the time Nigredo collapsed on his bed in a fit of stressed-induced stupor, he predicted he would die sooner than expected. Promise or otherwise, the loss of an affecting individual and Albedo's hurt were telling details, and the boy simply knew things would become worse than they would get better. He probably wouldn't exist at some point if this deterioration kept

[ran_on_empty]

"What the hell did I say

[witchdetective]

The detective was only happy to ignore Sync's whining, though she scowled when she saw him helping himself to her things without asking. It was a shame she needed to keep her trump card a secret for now, otherwise she would be busy threatening Sync herself. After gathering her things, she returned her attention to the irate boy who just woke up and only smiled smugly herself. She didn't know if that boy knew where he was, but she hoped to make it clear that staying with them was going to be the best choice for him

[falseblack]

A more volatile individual might have slipped into fury, threw out his waveform in the method most damaging to humans, and ideally stalked back to his room. Nigredo, however, was a more discerning individual and thus, saw all of the flaws to that plan, especially when he caught the glint from the objects each carried. They had weapons. He did not. Furthermore, his abilities proved themselves to be faulty at best, and although the hypnosis had worked admirably in past situations, the child had felt the limitations. Risk powers? Be shot in the arm. Run? ...Likely be shot in the arm. If only that girl didn't have that firearm, he could risk an escape. As Nigredo existed, not a chance

[sasuke_of_sound]

[[from here]]

Sasuke had thought that it might be easier to get used to the ring's effects, but they didn't seem to be abating over time -- or perhaps they were growing worse, and tolerance made it seem the same? Still, at least there was nothing as dire as Aidou had suspected in store. In the short term, which was of the main concern for their particular mission. Letting go of Sai's hand, Sasuke redistributed the weapons in his hand and took his bearings.

If Sasuke recalled correctly, he'd bled just enough from that scrape last night to set the ring again, and indeed he sensed that particular underground smell as soon as his senses cleared from the ring. From the foot of the stairs to the doors across the room, where Landel had been gloating about whatever trick or trap he'd left -- a brief trip, and one he'd already explained to those who needed it.

"Sakura, the shield," he said as soon as they'd reached the other side, hefting the sword that had been won so long ago at the same time.

[blood_and_pocky]

The noble kept his mouth shut rather than voice thoughts that would, likely, fly over the heads of the other four. That Sakura had also had her things returned to her would have to wait, too. The ring and its potential abilities was enough to focus on at the moment, though apparently the tall, ill-fitting one was acting as no more than a warm body on the trip.

He watched Sasuke display the ring, expression hard. Some shortcut. There were powers that only a small handful deserved to wield--like purebloods.

… But on the surface, a shortcut was what the ring provided.

Aidou wasn’t a stranger to travelling great distance by special means, but in this case finding himself in the ballroom a floor below was accompanied by physical discomfort, a kind shared in part by the others, by the looks of things. He made a dour face at the woozy sensation and slipped his hand out of the girl’s. Unsurprising that his body reacted poorly, he supposed. But the ring had done what Landel said it would. Would they always, though? Surely their creator

[see_my_back]

The trip was a dizzying one, and Sakura had to move quickly not to be left behind. If Brook's stuttered outburst was anything to judge by, she wasn't the only one. The sudden change in scenery was enough to put her on her guard, but just as before, they all ended up in the large room in the basement. She'd heard little about the ring that was able to do such a thing and she had her reservations about using a tool left them by their enemy, but now that things had changed, maybe it mattered less? Who knew

[bodhiandspirit]

[from here]

When she emerged from the dark stairwell, Rita had to wince as her eyes adjusted to the brightness of what appeared to be an elegant ballroom. The marble floor, the fountains, the chandelier... It was like being inside a palace.

"What is this place?" she wondered, her eyes wide in awe. How did they build a place like this beneath the institute? And why? It didn't seem to serve any purpose other than to show off how much money and resources their captors had. Did they have no sense of practicality

[ninelivesonce]

The room was beautiful. It wasn't unusual to find this kind of thing lurking in the basements of those with more money than sense, from what she knew, but she hadn't put Martin Landel in those ranks. Power, yes, but the kind that delighted in cruelty, not beauty. Very few liked both, she found. Fewer still were men (or women, or herms) that were successful at gaining them. Of course, whether or not Landel would retake his House was an interesting question.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Let's take a look, yeah?" The closest set of doors were plain, like bulkhead doors. They didn't quite fit with the rest of the room, though if you didn't look too closely they could just be a wall. "I wonder which side is the other sideAnother group of patients had just disappeared down the far hallway -- and there were two more sets of doors. She started jogging towards the eastern set. "I was told that you needed three people to get anywhere down here, but I never found out exactly why." It wasn't like there were signs posted, after

[bodhiandspirit]

When Taura approached the eastern doors, Rita followed, looking around the room as she did. It was uncertain whether the doors mentioned by the Head Doctor were the ones those patients had just disappeared behind, or perhaps the ones behind the stairs. In any case, they needed to investigate things for themselves

[ninelivesonce]

"I thought there'd be a crowd down here, after that radio broadcast. Maybe we just got lucky." Sometimes you had to count on luck, when everything else failed. It was better than despair. She cheated the odds by waking up and breathing every day; it wasn't always as easy to be optimistic, but she tried.

"That or they're pulling something else." They rebuilt damaged doors every morning; who said they couldn't do it in the middle of the night. Split people up, isolate all of them further. That wasn't a friendly thought.

"Find anything?" She was thinking along the same lines as Rita, and came and stood by her. If it was weight, she massed enough for two, at least when they were Rita's size.