Night 57: Grand Ballroom

[ninelivesonce]

Taura jogged down the stairs, and looked around. The room seemed far too large to belong down here. More benefits of being at the bottom of a gravity well -- space was cheap, and air was free. The fountains wouldn't be out of place in a fancy hotel lobby, though the rest of the decor was a little macabre

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[witchdetective]

[ from here ]

By now, Erika had gotten used to that rush of wind and vertigo that swallowed her up every time Sync used that ring, but she could never really prepare herself for the drop afterwords. It was like riding a roller coaster or a broken elevator, she supposed, and the human body never really appreciated having the floor give way from under you and gravity taking it's hold. However, she had used the ring enough times to figure out how she was going to land without hurting herself. Erika made sure to pivot her body so that her landing would be cushioned and let her mouth twist into a satisfied sneer when her calculations met their mark and Sync's body conveniently cushioned her fall.

It was almost as if she could somehow read his disparaging thoughts about her...

Erika was not psychic, but she was feeling a little vengeful tonight and this seemed like a good opportunity to sneak in some payback. After lifting herself off from the ground, the detective patted her skirt down and took a quick look around the Grand Ballroom. So far, so good. She looked over her shoulder to make sure that the other two had made it in one piece, since she already knew that Sync had made it here. She did use him as a cushion, after all.

And then, after she was able to confirm that... It was best they repaired the ring as soon as possible. Erika didn't know what was waiting for them inside of the other door, but if it took all night like the last challenge, she was going to be extremely irritated. Perhaps it was best if she only took the minimum amount of people and left someone else here to wait until they returned.

In that case, she already knew who that person was going to be.

[falseblack]

Increase in bodies seemed to mean a more disorienting ride, like the loss of artificial gravity in the dead of space. When he compared ring usage and past experience, Nigredo predicted the greater fall, and when everything came to a sudden drop, he released his hand and pushed away from the group. The last thing the child wanted was to land on his legs and burst open his stitches, and without room to maneuver, he would do exactly that. Would break his promise to Albedo to keep from further harm.

The most cushioned part of his body happened to be his bottom, but the firearm strapped to his back might complicate matters if he landed incorrectly. Therefore, he opted to bend his knees, tuck in his arms, and try for a rolling landing. It worked marvelously. Stitches remained intact, leaving Nigredo to stand without the loss of blood.

Although, that changed the instant he regained his footing. Teeth came down hard against the tip of his tongue, until a blood vessel broke and the boy tasted metal. With his back turned to the group, he allowed the blood to collect at the tip of his tongue and then brought the ring to touch.

That should satisfy tomorrow's explorations without breaking today's promises.

[affictitious]

There were two things about this newest ride that were, on and off, disheartening.

1. They hadn't landed in a lake. It was much worse than that. At least lakes were relative. You knew where you were with a lake. There were big, geographical markers to give you enough information to make a reasonable assumption about being in the same general area. Ballrooms? Vague. Vague as hell.

2. He was apparently the only one who lacked the grace (harr harr, angel humor) to pull off a gymnastic move in order to avoid landing on his face. You would have normally thought that landing on both feet after being sucked into a portal would've been impressive, but noo. All those years of flying didn't involve round-offs or cartwheels or whatever the kids were doing these days.

Whatever. He could shrug off vertigo rather expertly. What kind of angel would he be if he got motion sickness?

At the very least, he'd learned a few interesting tidbits. Even if it was all getting a little Lord of the Flies for him, it was easier to hang back and notice things.

Of course, Gabriel still couldn't keep his mouth shut. Even death hadn't really changed that little quirk.

"Well," he said, brushing his jacket off in a very customary, Indiana Jones-type fashion, "that was fun."

[ran_on_empty]

The fact that he was often the host that transported whoever accompanied him, Sync knew that that his fate would often reside on the bottom of the body pile. The rush of vertigo came and went, which gave him a few precious seconds to brace himself for the fall. Yet before he could pull in his own show of acrobatics, the God-General was stopped when he felt someone above him crash down on top of him, stumbling forward as soon as he landed before falling over.

Pain immediately crawled up his back, and his glare had the potency to kill if that were even possible. He could almost feel the smirk of satisfaction on Erika's face for her minute accomplishment. She was lucky; if he was injured then she really would be on her own with her bag of garbage.

Sync wasn't above hurting girls, so he made sure to 'accidentally' pull at Erika's hair as she moved away before quickly following suit. The 'damage' wasn't all that serious, which was enough for him to tend to what took priority whenever they arrived here. Pressing the corner of his thumb into his mouth, Sync bit down hard and ignored the sharp pinch of pain as his skin broke away. He squeezed the digit until he got what he wanted, letting the blood drip into the crevice of the broken jewel and watched it reform.

"You've got a strange definition for fun." Offering a slight smirk, he turned his attention to the next important topic.

"I hope you actually bothered to explain what we're going to do," The God-General began, glancing over at Erika. "Or if not, I'm sure you wouldn't mind giving a run down on the way."

[witchdetective]

"Ow." Perhaps it was the fact that Erika knew that Sync knew that her landing on him wasn't accidental this time that kept her from saying anymore, though the annoyed look on her face as she rubbed her head was probably enough for the time being, but at least Sync didn't waste time. After he reformed the jewel, Erika took into account where Boy #1 and Noah were, and clapped her hands together to get everyone's attention once she saw no one was limping or suffered a concussion.

"Alright, everyone, here is the plan! We only need three people to go through the next door, so you get to have a break tonight, Sync. Just relax here and wait for us to come back."

To be honest, it did seem strange to leave Sync behind, but he was the only person who could be trusted to mostly remain in place. It'd be strange of him to waste so much time on this mission if he felt like he could leave at any time, and seeing as how Boy #1 was here very much against his will, he couldn't stay. And Erika had to put Noah through a test to see if he was going to be dead weight on the group or not when they entered the final challenge.

It was also entirely possible that Erika didn't want to see Sync's face for awhile.

"What do you think, everyone? We should get going, I don't want to take all night like last time." Erika started to wave the other two towards the other door this time, determined to get finished tonight. In fact, she didn't even stop to listen to anyone's questions or concerns, but she was sure they could complain to her while walking. They were capable of multi-tasking, right?

[ to here ]

{ ooc: SO UH, here is the plan... I'm gonna move them, Sync will be staying behind since Brenda is on hiatus and stuff, and the posting order will be like Erika -> Nigredo -> Gabe (unless y'all don't like that order, then you can change it LOL). Just wanted to make sure we're all on the same page LOL. And lemme know if I'm being a godmodding douche atm or something. }