notfaking_it | (no subject)

The gala had been a bit of a bore.

Lily was used to it, mingling with investors, the people who essentially paid for her to be a dancer, and she was usually good at it. Even tonight, she doubted anyone noticed that she was bored, but it had gone on long and all the champagne in the world couldn't make it end any quicker. She passed by Nina several times, pausing long enough to talk to her, to laugh about something that had been said, but she knew it was encouraged for them to be as social as possible and so she moved on after a few minutes.

It was something she was good at, even at her worst, and Lily smiled and laughed as she knew she was supposed to.

Between conversations, she set down her champagne flute and slipped toward the bathroom, her purse in hand. Raising her hand as she passed Nina, she grinned, then slipped through the bathroom door, glancing down into her purse for her compact as she crossed toward the mirror. Her heels clicked against the tile floor and when she glanced up, at first it seemed that nothing was wrong.

But the bathroom was gone.

Beyond the mirror she had glanced into stretched a long, golden hall and Lily shifted, moving away from the mirror to stare at what had appeared. She blinked, then turned back toward the bathroom door only to find it gone, replaced with a beautiful hall, the walls adorned with art she'd never seen before, rich looking and lush.

"What the hell?" she murmured.

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"I know. All of a sudden." He held onto her and felt anchored, even though he was freshly reminded of how much smaller than him she still was. All that time, who had really been holding on to who?

Did it matter?

"Are you all right? Are you hurt at all?"

"I'm not hurt, I was just... frightened." My voice got softer as I admitted that. I can wander anywhere in Darrow now, feeling safe and secure, but place me somewhere I do not know and leave me alone and I fall apart without you. I don't know what it says about me.

"Where are we? This isn't Rapture and it isn't Darrow, so where are we?"

"I don't know. It looks so different." He could have asked people, he realized. But he had been focused, he realized, on finding Eleanor. Before he had even known for sure that she was there.

"Come on. Let's see if we can find out. And maybe there are other people we know here as well."

"But how did we get here? I was just on my way to work." I take your hand as I start to look about. I'm sure that together we will find our way, as we always seem to. It's just... I've never seen a place like this. It's beautiful, really.

"I was doing some dishes. One moment I was standing there, and the next I was standing here." He shook his head, still bewildered. "The only thing I can think of it like it is... coming to Darrow in the first place."

And of course there had been the darkness and the ash. But he wasn't going to think about that. Not now.

No one was looking at them with any particular interest, but as a woman passed, her long brown hair pulled back into a golden net, he raised a hand and she stopped, looking at them curiously.

"Excuse me," he said. "I'm sorry to stop you, but... what is this place?"

The woman's expression turned from curious to puzzled. "I don't understand. How can you have come to the city and not know its name?"

"We're from... far away." Which is the truth, isn't it? I don't know what else to say so I find myself looking up at you for some idea on how to proceed. Truth be told, I want to be anywhere but here, finding a safe place, a place we can defend.

Isn't it scary how easily the habits of Rapture return.

"Ah." The woman brightened. "Yes, many come to see the wonders of Atlantis. I bid you welcome."

She gestured to two pillars beyond which lay a huge plaza. "There is a festival tonight, and many parties. You should be sure to attend." She smiled at Eleanor then, and there was something in that smile that Delta didn't at all care for. Something... speculative. "You especially, my dear. You're quite lovely. But you must find something else to wear."

"Um..." I look down at what I'm wearing, a red skirt, bright yellow top, just the normal things I wear for work. I guess that's not allowed here? I've never been somewhere with a required dress code. "What... what should I wear? I don't... we don't have much money with us."

And I get the feeling, Father, that even if we did, it wouldn't apply to this place.