04-12-2009, 10:48 PM
“Wow, I’m full,” Piper commented as she opened the door to leave.
“Tell me about it,” Kaden yawned with a slight stretch as he exited the restaurant with the rest of his group. “I feel like I just gave birth to an alien.”
He laughed nervously as he turned his head to look at Sophia, who had a confused look on her face. “You know…alien…coming out of stomach…God, we have to show you some movies when we get out of this.”
The healer smiled at him, though the possibility of her not surviving this game was still painfully present in the back of her mind. She supposed, however, that it was intentional on the part of the courier to assume that everyone present would survive the rest of the game. After all, it helped knowing that all of these people, her new friends as it were, would be there to help her through this. The thought of any one of them dying pained her more than the prospect of her own death did. An audible hiccup averted Sophia’s thoughts and caused the healer to turn around and meet her gaze.
“I’m awfully hot,” the blue haired girl blurted out. “No, I’m cold.”
“…which are you? Hot or cold?” Piper tilted her head a bit, her voice sounding with mild impatience.
“Hot. Definitely cold,” her speech was slower than usual, which was saying something. “I know! I’ll go back inside and get ‘nother apple juice.”
“No!” the rest of the group shouted simultaneously as the healer promptly grabbed the hybrid by the wrist and swung her back around. When she had suddenly realized the full extent of what had happened, Sophia shot a stern look at Ashe, who quickly looked away and began to whistle innocently.
“Hm…we should probably get you to a hotel, then,” Kaden scratched his head.
“Why?” Sophia turned Sage’s head towards the courier after she shot the question at her. Shaking her head, she repeated the question to Kaden.
“’cause…uh…” the courier sighed, noticeably sorry that he spoke up. “Too much apple juice can make people tired.”
“Really? I’ve never felt tired before…” she put a finger to her chin in thought.
“Have you ever had that much before?” Sophia asked.
“Pretty!”
Sage spun around and walked towards a building with bright lights, much to the chagrin of her comrades. Sophia slapped her forehead lightly and shook her head, motioning for her friends to go back to the hotel while she collected the tipsy girl who had unwittingly walked into a casino. As the group split ways, Sophia could only hope that Sage hadn’t already caused any measurable amount of damage just by walking inside. Hearing the girl’s screams over the beeping and buzzing sounds from the outside didn’t do much to quell her fears, and she ran inside.
The lights inside were bright; the sounds were ear-piercing, and Sophia was the sober. She would have only had to imagine how Sage would react if she weren’t doing so right in front of her—quite loudly, at that. They weren’t screams in fear like the healer had initially feared, however; more like elated screams of joy as she took everything in. This was probably the first time that Sage had even been inside a casino, unlike Sophia, who fell into the cliché of religious figureheads often visiting gambling establishments. The ex-priestess had been overwhelmed the first time she entered a casino such as this; the alcohol content inside of her blood stream probably just amplified those feelings.
The blue haired giggled as she ran to a slot machine, staring at it until Sophia took a spot beside her. Frowning, she pointed at the lever curiously, practically asking “Is this the one?” with her eyes.
Sophia sighed. “Yeah, you pull that, but you need to put money in it first.”
Sage had already pulled it before the healer had even finished her sentence, and to Sophia’s surprise, the slots starting rolling. The hybrid merely looked on with audible fascination, her somewhat dilated pupils trying to follow the pictures as they passed. Finally, the images started to slow down until they stopped with a “BAR,” a seven, and a plum. Sage chuckled and clapped her hands briefly before reaching up to tug on the lever again. However, it didn’t move. The blue haired girl groaned. “Aww. Why aren’t the pictures going?”
“I told you, these things need money,” Sophia suddenly felt like a parent. “Maybe the last person to use this machine left money in it. I have a feeling that the first try was on Kai, though.”
She looked up at the camera as she mentioned Kai, grimacing as she imagined that psychopath watching their every movement. Shaking her head, she looked back down to tell Sage that they had to leave, but the girl was bent over collecting something. Glancing past her friend, the man at the machine adjacent from theirs had won a sizeable amount of quarters to the point that they began to spill over onto the floor. As he was on a knee with his back turned to them collecting his winnings, Sage had bent over and grabbed a handful of them without his noticing.
“H-hey! You can’t do that!” Sophia protested, lowering her voice as she explained. “That’s…that’s stealing.”
“But he looks so happy,” she stole a glance at the man, who was still cheering about his victory. Before Sophia could point out the fallacy of that statement, Sage slid a quarter into the slot and pulled the lever, giggling giddily as the images flew past once more. To the great surprise of Sophia, who had lost more than her fair share of money to these things, the pictures stopped on all seven’s. A buzzer sounded and quarters shot out of the slot, spilling out onto the floor like the machine next to them.
“Ahh!” Sage screamed, jumping up and hiding behind Sophia. “It’s firing at me! Hel-l-p!”
“It’s okay, Sage,” the healer laughed. “It’s giving you money. It’s a nice slot machine.”
“N-no, I don’t like this place anymore!” she shook her head furiously and took a step backwards, crashing into a hostess who was carrying two glasses of champagne. The alcohol spilled onto the hybrid’s shirt as she turned around, drenching her and directing the attention of every man inside the building towards her. Sage merely chuckled. “Hey, more juice! Thanks! Oh, but I got it on my kimono…oh well, I can get it out by pouring more juice,” she grabbed the other glass and dumped its contents onto herself, garnering a cheer from the men around them.
The blood drained from Sophia’s face as she realized that a group of men began drawing nearer to the pair of girls. One man grinned and put a hand on Sage’s shoulder—his breath showed Sophia pretty quickly that he was in the same boat as her friend. He began to laugh. “Hey, babe. Want to see this awesome room in the back? It has plenty more ‘juice’ there.”
“More juice? Okay!” she happily agreed, shifting her weight to begin moving with the man.
“No!” she forcibly separated the two, desperately trying to get Sage away from them. “Look, she’s obviously drunk. Just let me get her out of here.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to have a good time, lady,” he brushed her hand off of his shoulder and put his around Sage, who had resorted to flicking around poker chips on the table next to them in her obliviousness. “Why don’t you just back off?”
“C-come on, Sage,” Sophia sighed, trying to think of a way to get her to come along of her own free will. “They…they have juice at the hotel.”
“Okay…”
“I don’t think you understood me,” the man cracked his knuckle. “I don’t care if you’re one of those game show contestants. Don’t even care that you’re a woman.”
Sophia clenched a fist and turned around, decking him right across the face. The drunken man gasped and stumbled backwards and onto his backside. One of his friends, obviously wasted as well, frowned at his downed comrade and turned to another member of his entourage. “Hey, did that girl just punch Oscar?”
“I don’t know,” the other shook his head. “I was too busy checking out that hostess.”
“Hey, back off, man! She’s mine!”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah!”
The two immediately started fighting. Sophia took the opportunity, however, to escape from the casino before any of them could notice. A bar fight was the last thing she wanted, and from the looks of it, Sage was starting to get tired. Chuckling a bit, the healer grabbed the girl by the arm and led her to the hotel, where the rest of the group had already met.
“There you two are,” Ashe smirked. “I was wondering what kind of mischief you happened to get yourselves into. Did you like the casino, Sage?”
“I…I don’t want to talk about,” the blue haired girl looked at the ground, suddenly less optimistic. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Yeah…apple juice’ll do that,” Kaden commented. “Better get her to a bed. Our rooms are already set up.”
“I’ll do it,” Sophia volunteered. “Already tracked her down. I might as well go all the way.”
Sage immediately plopped down on the bed when they entered the room. “Hey, uh…Sophia?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you…think we’ll be okay?”
Sophia turned her gaze back to the outside. “I really don’t know how to answer that. Kai seems like the kind of guy who saves his best tricks for last. It could literally be anything. But we’ve made it out okay so far, right?”
She turned back to look at Sage, who had already passed out into a peaceful sleep. Sophia smiled. “Yeah…rest, kiddo. You’ll probably need it.”
“Tell me about it,” Kaden yawned with a slight stretch as he exited the restaurant with the rest of his group. “I feel like I just gave birth to an alien.”
He laughed nervously as he turned his head to look at Sophia, who had a confused look on her face. “You know…alien…coming out of stomach…God, we have to show you some movies when we get out of this.”
The healer smiled at him, though the possibility of her not surviving this game was still painfully present in the back of her mind. She supposed, however, that it was intentional on the part of the courier to assume that everyone present would survive the rest of the game. After all, it helped knowing that all of these people, her new friends as it were, would be there to help her through this. The thought of any one of them dying pained her more than the prospect of her own death did. An audible hiccup averted Sophia’s thoughts and caused the healer to turn around and meet her gaze.
“I’m awfully hot,” the blue haired girl blurted out. “No, I’m cold.”
“…which are you? Hot or cold?” Piper tilted her head a bit, her voice sounding with mild impatience.
“Hot. Definitely cold,” her speech was slower than usual, which was saying something. “I know! I’ll go back inside and get ‘nother apple juice.”
“No!” the rest of the group shouted simultaneously as the healer promptly grabbed the hybrid by the wrist and swung her back around. When she had suddenly realized the full extent of what had happened, Sophia shot a stern look at Ashe, who quickly looked away and began to whistle innocently.
“Hm…we should probably get you to a hotel, then,” Kaden scratched his head.
“Why?” Sophia turned Sage’s head towards the courier after she shot the question at her. Shaking her head, she repeated the question to Kaden.
“’cause…uh…” the courier sighed, noticeably sorry that he spoke up. “Too much apple juice can make people tired.”
“Really? I’ve never felt tired before…” she put a finger to her chin in thought.
“Have you ever had that much before?” Sophia asked.
“Pretty!”
Sage spun around and walked towards a building with bright lights, much to the chagrin of her comrades. Sophia slapped her forehead lightly and shook her head, motioning for her friends to go back to the hotel while she collected the tipsy girl who had unwittingly walked into a casino. As the group split ways, Sophia could only hope that Sage hadn’t already caused any measurable amount of damage just by walking inside. Hearing the girl’s screams over the beeping and buzzing sounds from the outside didn’t do much to quell her fears, and she ran inside.
The lights inside were bright; the sounds were ear-piercing, and Sophia was the sober. She would have only had to imagine how Sage would react if she weren’t doing so right in front of her—quite loudly, at that. They weren’t screams in fear like the healer had initially feared, however; more like elated screams of joy as she took everything in. This was probably the first time that Sage had even been inside a casino, unlike Sophia, who fell into the cliché of religious figureheads often visiting gambling establishments. The ex-priestess had been overwhelmed the first time she entered a casino such as this; the alcohol content inside of her blood stream probably just amplified those feelings.
The blue haired giggled as she ran to a slot machine, staring at it until Sophia took a spot beside her. Frowning, she pointed at the lever curiously, practically asking “Is this the one?” with her eyes.
Sophia sighed. “Yeah, you pull that, but you need to put money in it first.”
Sage had already pulled it before the healer had even finished her sentence, and to Sophia’s surprise, the slots starting rolling. The hybrid merely looked on with audible fascination, her somewhat dilated pupils trying to follow the pictures as they passed. Finally, the images started to slow down until they stopped with a “BAR,” a seven, and a plum. Sage chuckled and clapped her hands briefly before reaching up to tug on the lever again. However, it didn’t move. The blue haired girl groaned. “Aww. Why aren’t the pictures going?”
“I told you, these things need money,” Sophia suddenly felt like a parent. “Maybe the last person to use this machine left money in it. I have a feeling that the first try was on Kai, though.”
She looked up at the camera as she mentioned Kai, grimacing as she imagined that psychopath watching their every movement. Shaking her head, she looked back down to tell Sage that they had to leave, but the girl was bent over collecting something. Glancing past her friend, the man at the machine adjacent from theirs had won a sizeable amount of quarters to the point that they began to spill over onto the floor. As he was on a knee with his back turned to them collecting his winnings, Sage had bent over and grabbed a handful of them without his noticing.
“H-hey! You can’t do that!” Sophia protested, lowering her voice as she explained. “That’s…that’s stealing.”
“But he looks so happy,” she stole a glance at the man, who was still cheering about his victory. Before Sophia could point out the fallacy of that statement, Sage slid a quarter into the slot and pulled the lever, giggling giddily as the images flew past once more. To the great surprise of Sophia, who had lost more than her fair share of money to these things, the pictures stopped on all seven’s. A buzzer sounded and quarters shot out of the slot, spilling out onto the floor like the machine next to them.
“Ahh!” Sage screamed, jumping up and hiding behind Sophia. “It’s firing at me! Hel-l-p!”
“It’s okay, Sage,” the healer laughed. “It’s giving you money. It’s a nice slot machine.”
“N-no, I don’t like this place anymore!” she shook her head furiously and took a step backwards, crashing into a hostess who was carrying two glasses of champagne. The alcohol spilled onto the hybrid’s shirt as she turned around, drenching her and directing the attention of every man inside the building towards her. Sage merely chuckled. “Hey, more juice! Thanks! Oh, but I got it on my kimono…oh well, I can get it out by pouring more juice,” she grabbed the other glass and dumped its contents onto herself, garnering a cheer from the men around them.
The blood drained from Sophia’s face as she realized that a group of men began drawing nearer to the pair of girls. One man grinned and put a hand on Sage’s shoulder—his breath showed Sophia pretty quickly that he was in the same boat as her friend. He began to laugh. “Hey, babe. Want to see this awesome room in the back? It has plenty more ‘juice’ there.”
“More juice? Okay!” she happily agreed, shifting her weight to begin moving with the man.
“No!” she forcibly separated the two, desperately trying to get Sage away from them. “Look, she’s obviously drunk. Just let me get her out of here.”
“Hey, I’m just trying to have a good time, lady,” he brushed her hand off of his shoulder and put his around Sage, who had resorted to flicking around poker chips on the table next to them in her obliviousness. “Why don’t you just back off?”
“C-come on, Sage,” Sophia sighed, trying to think of a way to get her to come along of her own free will. “They…they have juice at the hotel.”
“Okay…”
“I don’t think you understood me,” the man cracked his knuckle. “I don’t care if you’re one of those game show contestants. Don’t even care that you’re a woman.”
Sophia clenched a fist and turned around, decking him right across the face. The drunken man gasped and stumbled backwards and onto his backside. One of his friends, obviously wasted as well, frowned at his downed comrade and turned to another member of his entourage. “Hey, did that girl just punch Oscar?”
“I don’t know,” the other shook his head. “I was too busy checking out that hostess.”
“Hey, back off, man! She’s mine!”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah!”
The two immediately started fighting. Sophia took the opportunity, however, to escape from the casino before any of them could notice. A bar fight was the last thing she wanted, and from the looks of it, Sage was starting to get tired. Chuckling a bit, the healer grabbed the girl by the arm and led her to the hotel, where the rest of the group had already met.
“There you two are,” Ashe smirked. “I was wondering what kind of mischief you happened to get yourselves into. Did you like the casino, Sage?”
“I…I don’t want to talk about,” the blue haired girl looked at the ground, suddenly less optimistic. “I don’t feel so good.”
“Yeah…apple juice’ll do that,” Kaden commented. “Better get her to a bed. Our rooms are already set up.”
“I’ll do it,” Sophia volunteered. “Already tracked her down. I might as well go all the way.”
Sage immediately plopped down on the bed when they entered the room. “Hey, uh…Sophia?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you…think we’ll be okay?”
Sophia turned her gaze back to the outside. “I really don’t know how to answer that. Kai seems like the kind of guy who saves his best tricks for last. It could literally be anything. But we’ve made it out okay so far, right?”
She turned back to look at Sage, who had already passed out into a peaceful sleep. Sophia smiled. “Yeah…rest, kiddo. You’ll probably need it.”