Night 57: Sphinx's Chamber

[falseblack]

[From here.]Technically, he should have offered the full explanation before opening the door, but here, the task was remarkably straightforward. It couldn't get as simple as this: a riddle or a battle. In addition, the creature at the center of the room would likely detail the logistics for him. Provided, of course, that it wasn't in a foul mood.

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[witchdetective]

Much to Erika's surprise and delight, she immediately recognized the creature sitting in the middle of the room. If she wasn't mistaken, and she wasn't, then that was a Sphinx sitting in the middle of the room. It's mere presence alone was enough for Erika to reach into her knowledge of ancient myths from old times and reason that they were going to have to go through a logical challenge, and that was perfectly fine with her. Wonderful, even!

"Finally, a chance for me to have some fun," Erika practically sang, eyeing the Sphinx with a look that was equal parts arrogant and gleeful. If she recalled the legend right, it was something about answering this beast's riddles right, or getting eaten. Unfortunately, the legend said nothing about the Sphinx's appetite, though she didn't worry about getting any riddle this creature threw at her wrong. As far as the detective was concerned, the chances of this happening was a definite zero

[affictitious]

Blood was important. Good to know. Also: numbers. He was totally going to catch onto all of this, once he figured out what the hell all of it was for. Sure, he'd agreed to come along on the few vague hints Japanese Kathy Bates had given him, but otherwise he wasn't exactly too clear on any certain details -

Like the existence of sphinxes, for instance. That was certainly a new one for him. If only he could account it to Landel having his hands on some new-age robotics. Jurassic Park style, if you will.

But, you know what? Fine. Gabriel lifted his shoulders in his most sincere acquiescing gesture. He was just so humbled by being bossed around by thirteen year olds, it was hard to argue. Besides, unless he was mistaken (which he wasn't), sphinxes weren't really known for their whole grasp on the concept of mercy.

"Right. Good luck and all that, then."

[falseblack]

The girl's reaction was telling, and Nigredo wondered if he was missing something about the Sphinx when both she and his sibling had more or less bubbled over its presence. Maybe after his sanity snapped, he, too, could see the excitement of conversing with a giant hybrid creature from Lost Jerusalem mythology. He wished he was being facetious with the thought.

Fortunately, the adult appeared to share Nigredo's sentiments, allowing the latter to find some respite from overenthusiastic people. Furthermore, the girl demanded the work go entirely to her. He was perfectly fine with that.

"Go ahead," he said, shrugging both his shoulders and the tapestry sitting on top.

[damned_monsters]

Without any prelude, a group traipsed in, traipsing on the sphinx's gilded cage without a care otherwise. And really, why should they? For it was but a means to an end in this place, and was otherwise discarded. The recent upheaval had done nothing to truly change that, other than the unlocking of a great and terrible door. To which the sphinx would never see while he remained in this room

[witchdetective]

Thankfully, before Erika could get impatient, the Sphinx finally spoke to them... After raising its paw to its face. What was that supposed to be? The detective had half a mind to start an argument with the damn thing, but they were on limited time and she didn't want to leave Sync alone for too long, lest he get the wrong idea and try to abandon them. That was why the five minute time limit was actually welcome news to the detective

[damned_monsters]

...How charming. This one deluded herself as being something clever, didn't she? There was the brief desire to merely shirk the responsibilities afforded to it and bring its paw down on the female instead, but there were aspects in place even it could not touch. Instead its eyes narrowed, tedium showing. "I'm afraid you have me confused with another for I am certainly still alive," it replied dryly. There was also the fact that it was decidedly not female, but that would be alloting the human girl more cleverness than she needed to have.

It sighed again lightly, wanting the night to come to an end. "Though your riddle is this:

"If you break me, I do not stop working. If you touch me, I may be snared. If you lose me, nothing will matter. What am I?"

That said, it settled further into its dias, paws recrossing. "Four minutes, fifty eight seconds remaining."

[affictitious]

Jeez, you couldn't even muster up some excitement from the architecture. Talk about a depressing basement. Of course, that helped him decide he liked this thing, for whatever reason. What kind of life could it be, taking shit from pre-teens and asking stupid riddles?

Okay, so he'd had an ounce of hope that stupid riddles was underestimating it. Games, and all that. That was Gabriel's life. Welcome to Jeopardy, please answer in the form of a question or a comment about Trebek's mother. Riddles were a little passé, if you knew what he meant, but testing a human's capability? Why, he and giant stone lion were riding the same train into condescension city.

And that reply? Brilliant. This thing was talking how he felt

[witchdetective]

"I guess you have no sense of humor," Erika sighed, shrugging her shoulders as the Sphinx took her remark a little too literally. Then again, it seemed like a boring existence, being locked up and having to dole out riddles to stupid humans, but she didn't feel much sympathy for it. In that case, it should be thanking her for making this session go quickly and easily. And it was going to go quickly, because Erika had heard this riddle before; just something in a book she read, and the reason why it stood out in her mind because the answer was incredibly stupid. One could even say she hated this riddle. At least it didn't ask her the one about the raven and the writing desk

[damned_monsters]

A remark, of course, and it was starting to sense more similarities that it didn't want to see. Its eyes closed to wait out the time ticking away in its head when a series of noise broke out, one after the other--enough to have it open its eyes back, only to stare at the happenings

[witchdetective]

Of course, Erika didn't flinch in the slightest when the Sphinx not-so-subtly threatened her life, because she knew if the creature wanted to kill her, it would have done so already. That was just the way those creatures worked or something, so she hardly cared that it disliked her. What she did care about was the fact that it not only refused to give her another riddle, but... What, she had to say 'please'?

It was very obvious that the Sphinx meant her, by the way it was staring, but Erika couldn't help but shoot Noah the nastiest look she could muster.

"Why do I have to apologize when he was the one who interrupted me in the first place?!" She grumbled, but they needed that shield and they needed it quickly. But it just wasn't fair! Noah took her precious intellectual moment and defiled it, soiled it even! And she was the one who was supposed to apologize for that? Erika truly looked like someone had kicked her puppy, then skinned it and put it on the fire to roast, then served it to her and while she was enjoying the feeling of

[affictitious]

Ahh, the sweet smell of ruining a kid's day. If anyone had invented the phrase licking the red off a lollipop, it had been Gabriel. Sometimes they deserved it, all right? It didn't take a lot of time to figure out this girl was pretty full of herself. He wasn't exactly sure why that was, considering she seemed to be at the age of pimples and the beginning of sex ed.

In any case, her attempts at pushing him over were laughable. Which was cute. After cruising around with a bunch of humans who were a head or two taller and felt like it made a difference in the long run, it was real cute. It just reminded him of how much stock they wasted on physical stature.

"You tell her, guy. It's a group effort, getting these kids in line. A whole village and all that, I'm sure you know." He gave a reassuring finger-wiggle. Supernatural entities had to stick together, you know, when they weren't going around eating people. It was a trickster thing. "Or don't, maybe. I guess you don't get out much. Or ever. Them's the drags." Okay, it was great the

[falseblack]

For all intents and purposes, Nigredo stayed the impassive observer. With the girl serving as their spokesperson to a beast that could easily mistake her for a light dinner (or an evening snack), the boy found himself with little to do. The splendor tied to the Sphinx's chamber had long since passed, and though he supposed he could always explore the nooks and crannies of the place, he didn't believe the creature would approve of such curiosity. Furthermore, without his sibling as an aggravating factor, he found himself bored out of his skull. Nigredo didn't even bother to question the risks involved with the riddle; he figured the female was at least competent enough to answer without mucking it up.

Therefore, he watched as the Sphinx offered its challenge and the girl move to accept the task. Move, that is, until she was intercepted by the lone adult in the party. Before she could give the solution (And wouldn't Albedo find that ironic?) the man shoved a hand into her face and spoke for her. What transpired in the aftermath was a

[damned_monsters]

The man began to speak, and soon after, the female starting raising a fuss--almost enough that the sphinx regretted shifting the scenario. Its eyes trailed away from her, ready to ignore it all and continue on along the allotted path, when she paused. And in the silence, she apologized. Its eyes returned to her, close to surprised. Hm. She hadn't seemed the type

[witchdetective]

Between Noah being a complete fuckup and stealing her moment of glory, the Sphinx's own humiliating request and the boy howling with laughter, Erika looked like she was about to kill everyone in this room, or at least thinking about it. Instead, she grabbed at their prize (a sort of shield-like emblem) and quickly made her way out of the room, not even barking out an order to the other two to leave with her. They could hang out with the Sphinx if they wanted to, and she quite hoped that the creature would be feeling irritated to reanimate itself and eat them. That's what it got for denying her a chance to solve one of its riddles and going along with Noah's answer. So what if it was right?! He should have been devoured on the spot for speaking out of turn!

The little girl was so mad that she probably would have woken the creature again with the force of her trying to slam the doors open as she stomped outside, immediately turning for the exit.

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