Night 26: Basement, Grand Ballroom

[budgetordie]

[ From here.]The fall was not a pleasant one indeed; Tatsumi hadn't even had enough time to blush at the kiss before the floor gave beneath them, sending Rangiku and him down into completely unknown territory. And though it seemed to happen in slow motion, time caught up quick enough as Tatsumi landed with a hard thud

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[fuyunohanabi]

Rangiku barely had time to react to either the kiss or the words, before the floor was breaking away from under her, sending her pitching into darkness. She hit the floor heavily, leaving her winded and unable to move for several moments while plaster and stone rained down around her.

Finally she managed to move, pushing herself up onto her knees and looking around the blackness. She heard Tatsumi calling, his voice echoing strangely in the darkness, suggesting that they were in a large room. "I'm here, Tatsumi-san" she called out. "Shoddy building," she added underneath her breath.

[budgetordie]

Holding his flashlight in his uninjured left hand, Tatsumi headed towards the sound of Rangiku's voice--or at least, where he thought it might be coming from. It was difficult to tell with the disconcerting echo that came with every spoken word, the woman's voice seeming to come from everywhere at once.

The light made things a bit easier, though as his eyes adjusted, Tatsumi realized there was much more than what came from his flashlight. A chandelier and torches illuminated the space around him, and with no lack of surprise, the secretary looked around in awe.

"Well. This room is quite different." Deciding not to mention his injury for now, Tatsumi moved to Rangiku's side carefully, not wanting to make things worse by tripping over the debris. "I suppose this is the basement that the Head Doctor and the Radio mentioned."

[fuyunohanabi]

Now that her eyes were adjusted to the gloom and she grew used to flickering light cast by the torches and chandelier, Rangiku looked around herself in awe. The room was huge, the ceiling high above both their heads and large enough to hold a great multitude of people. It seemed a madness to think that something of this scale could be concealed beneath the dark medical halls of the Institute.

She nodded, pushing herself to her feet with infinite care, wary of her wounds and hurts. "It must be," she said, a little trace of awe in her voice. "I'm amazed that they could hide something of this size beneath the place. It's huge!"

Rangiku turned to look at him carefully, checking for any outward sign of grave injury. "I should apologise," she said, a little sadly. "I hadn't expected him to use a binding kidou. Are you hurt badly?"

[budgetordie]

"It's not your apology to make, Rangiku-san." Tatsumi smiled slightly, keeping his injured wrist straight for fear the woman would feel compelled to try and heal it and weaken herself further. "But since we are down here, we should take advantage of the opportunity, I think. Unless you are too injured to walk."

Tatsumi turned off his flashlight, sparing the battery for the moment since they could see well enough without it. With Rangiku on her feet, he began to look around more carefully. He pulled the notebook from his waistband, a pen still safely tucked into the spiral, and began to take notes of what he could see.