Old Ballroom

The Ballroom

Settled deep in the artistic portion of Eether City is a grand ballroom where the rich once went to dance and make merry until their lives would wither away with the night. It has long since been abandoned, having once been the scene of several atrocious murders. If one should enter the ballroom today, the deep crimson stains remain on the velvet drapes and golden marble floor. High glass windows decorate all four walls of the old ballroom, some modest and fully covered by their scarlet attire, and others wanton with drapes flung open wide to the moonlight. Directly opposite the large oaken doors guarding the entrance is a wide marble staircase, curving around a long dry fountain, and leading up to the balcony floor, supported by grand pillars intricately carved. A few metal chairs and tables are pushed to the wall, remnants of banquets in ages past, a few of them having been overturned or stolen by thieves—their spots are still marked by a significantly thinner layer of dust. The centerpiece to the ballroom, ironically off center right to the grand staircase, is a polished baby grand piano. Perfectly in tune, it still plays a perfectly good melody, but it has yet to be removed, and, being far too heavy for thieves to remove, shall still remain.
© Zero for the description

From without the old ballroom, various passerby--few that there were--could here a lovely, mournful measure being played skillfully on a piano. The melancholic sound emanated from the old ballroom, lilting slowly through the chill night air.


Within the ballroom, illuminated by a shaft of indifferent moonlight, was a young woman sitting at the old piano, her slender hands all but dancing over the ivory keys. She was dressed in a simple blue dress with black boots which matched her jacket and tights. Her skin was pale under the cold glow which pooled out over the scene, and her hair seemed to glitter all shades of silver and ice blue. She had pulled her long tresses back into a ponytail with a simple navy and black ribbon, a few wisps of bangs curling across her fine features.
With her eyes closed, she played, absorbed in the soft tones of her music. Vague emotions would flicker across her face in the lines of her forehead, the occasional smile or pout sashaying across her rose petal lips. Her slender shoulders would sway her gentle frame to the beat, rising but once or twice in the physical manifestation of a sigh.

*appears behind her, listening to her play until the music fades to silence*
You're quite the pianist, Miss.

Upon hearing the male's voice, she opened her wintry blue eyes and smiled calmly.
"Da, spasibo," she laughed quietly, "And you're quite the sneak, if you can get past me."

*does a mock curtsey*
I get that a lot.
*tilts his head*
Who taught you to play?

Without turning to face him, she brushed her fingers across the smooth ivory keys, gossamer shadows of her slender fingers dancing amongst the physical. Her calm, inane smile remained in her mild complacency, even as she glanced over her shoulder to grin at the masked young man behind her.
"Would you call me a liar if I said I couldn't remember? Or if I said that it was merely the silence?"

*shrugs*
Silence is as good a teacher as many.
*absentmindedly taps out the rhythm of her previous song on the side of his leg*
What else do you play?

"In terms of music, or musical instruments?" she asked, turning to fully face him. "As far as instruments go, i'm a fairly quick learner with a poor attention span. I can only play the piano fluently. And yourself?"
At her last comment, she gestures at his hand as he taps out the rhythm, leaning her cheek into her palm as she watches him curiously.

*thinks a moment, before answering, somewhat vaguely*
A little bit of everything.
An eternity is plenty enough time to practise...
*notices her gesture, and stifles the tapping with his other hand*

Her interest piqued as he stifled the tapping, the corners of her mouth twitching in amusement. Pushing her mischievious impulses aside for the time being, she occupied herself for the time being by lightly swinging her legs back and forth as she sat on the piano bench.
"Do you enjoy music, then~?" she asked casually, her gaze focused on his mask without fear.

*nods*
Music is like a companion to me.
*begins the tapping again*
People come and go. But music... music is always with me.

People come and go...
She nodded absentmindedly to the truth he spoke, her eyes straying again to his tapping fingers. Her left hand strayed to her right, as if it were a restraining belt to keep her in her seat, and for a moment her smile is strained.
Ah-ah Catty...Mustn't touch.
"Da," she finally said, "People are transient, but music is...eternal. We seem to think alike, in that respect."

*tilts his head and disappears, reappearing beside her on the bench*
You wouldn't be thinking of drawing a weapon on me, would you be, Miss?

Offering him naught but a coy smile, she laughed softly, almost purring.
"Would it be a problem if I was?"
I just want to play~
"You seem like the type who could easily counter any move I made."

*shrugs*
T'would be a problem if you dislike losing.
*disappears, and reappears back where he first stood*
We'll have to see, won't we?

She stood as he went back to where he first stood, and sauntered close to him, enough to satisfy her curiosity, but within good reason. Her smile was again relaxed and morally ambiguous.
"It depends on who I'm fighting--I merely like to play. And if we're going to see, then does that mean we're going to fight?" She paused, then giggled, a hint of electricity jumping between her hands as she folded them behind her back. "I hope so."

Sure.
*jumps a ways back from Cat*
Come at me whenever you're ready.

Her eyes lit up in excitement, the faintest glow of blue electricity dancing across her pupils. A delighted mew slipped out of her lips as a black tail uncurled from her backside and velvety ears of the same color sprung up from the top of her head.
"What an interesting man, so ready to fight~" she murmurs.
As she speaks, she stretches, flicking her wrist as if it were merely part of her normal routine. Nearly invisible in the moonlight, her wire--attached to the knife up her sleeve--soars out towards her opponent, and she waits for the light projectile to make contact with him.

*closes his eyes, and deftly catches the blade before removing it's metallic components*
There's more to seeing, than looking with your eyes, Miss.
*tosses up a rock behind her, detonating it with a concentrated wave of sound, and flings a block of rubidium in front of her, in an attempt to blind her.

As he caught a hold of the blade, she grasped the remaining synthetic core of the wire and brought herself closer to him, nimbly avoiding the rubidium and the rock.
"Then why immediately try to take that sense out?" she asked, delicately snatching her blade back from him with one hand while laying the other innocently on his chest.
As she touched his chest, a moderately powerful charge of electricity jolts through him. Though her demeanor was childish and lighthearted, a frown darted across her lips for just a second.
That was...unusually difficult.

*dissolves into dust as his mask falls to the floor*
That wasn't very nice.
*steps out of the shadows in a nearby alcove, his face still eclipsed by darkness*
Too bad that wasn't me.
*walks over and scoops up his mask, again placing it upon his face*
*two copies of Kain leap up from the earth and grab Cat's arms, holding her in place, while a third appears behind her, out of her vision*
Lightning is quite an interesting ability, hm?
*the 3rd copy materializes a stone javelin, and throws it at her exposed back*

She squirmed for a bit as the copies held onto her arms, her eyes curiously following his movements before her mind returned to her precarious situation. With a twist and two painful snaps, she contorted her body in the way felines are oh so famous for, arching her back and pushing off the floor so that she twisted up at just the right moment, the stone javelin barely brushing her back. Though without the desired effect of freeing herself, she found herself barely scraped by the stone, and suffering only two dislocated shoulders.
"As is your ability~" she admitted, shrugging her shoulders into place to heal.

*catches the stone javelin and effortlessly tosses it back at Cat*
Catch.
*the othe copies form javelins, and mime his motion*

Unable to move due to her pinned position, she blinked, finding herself impaled from four sides by solid stone. Blood trickled from her wounds, and she coughed, looking at the blood which dribbled to the floor as if she were surprised it was there.
"Rather hard to catch with your arms pinned," she remarked, her knees half buckling and slipping amidst a growing puddle of blood.
The only think which kept her up was the network of spines now holding her to the spot. As she stood, her body inert, but miraculously intact, she lifted her head with that simple, mischevious grin, and smiled at him.
"What now?"
Always getting ourselves into situations we can't get out of, aren't we?

*dissipates all the clones but one, and has stride over to Cat, and commence pulling the spears out, one by one*
Do you often get this injured?