Caprice found herself surprised to finally stumble on detention and the administrative offices together in one place. "My my, there's keeping your friends close and your enemies closer, but this seems like a bit much." Caprice peered around a corner and into the dual role area. Before shrugging and simply walking in with a clack of her heels against the hard polished floor. "If the president, Iona, or a hound yet unmet lies in wait, it's unlikely I'll evade them, so, pardon me, I'm coming in." Stealth did not seem high on her priorities. Either the games had drawn the eyes of authority elsewhere, or Caprice was just going to deal with them head on.
Her heist was so perfect that there weren't even any guards left to hear either criminal in their moments of triumph. In the case of an adventurous bluenette she was finally able to lay eyes upon her target, out in the open and undefended. Naturaly she assumed this was a decoy, but if it was or wasn't, she was still going to be destroying documentation even if she had to submerge the entire room,freeze it, and rupture the entire architecture of the building- The bluenette blinked, wondering why she had the sudden urge for mass destrouction and feeling vaguely envious of her Serei, only to put said thoughts aside and approach the table. As exciting as her goal was, their drab manilla exterior made the picture of a vague nun all the more striking above it. Was it irony that had them guard the diplomas for future degenerates and reprobates with the image of a holy woman?
"Hmm, nah, not my problem." Kanbaru shrugged carelessly and snatched up the first diploma folder. Water immediately saturated the covering, soaking deep to ruin any chances of reading it's now smeared contents.
The painting stared at Kanbaru serenly, though odd enough, the sound of trickling pittered in its wake. Where once Kanbaru snatched the first of her prizes, seeking water through the paper, so too did water flow from the painting. Long, streaks of it trickled from somewhere behind the painting, tracing down the wall with the same viscosity of her own waters. It threatened to pool along the desk as if leaving clear evidence someone was tampering with the diplomas.
"Ah, greetings." Caprice would nod to Kanbaru as she entered and spotted her. She didn't see any reason to interefere with Kanbaru's goals, and continued about the room heedless of Kanbaru or the painting, looking to see if she could find anyone currently 'in detention', which was probably something extreme if it was used as the stick against the Umbral Games' carrot for delinquents.
"Oh, hey, you." She replied, turning around to check it was indeed the group's resident magician and not some voice stealing guard demon about to shank her in the kidneys. After confirming reality wasn't stranger then fiction, she came back around to find the nun was peeing herself.
At least, it was a very well hydrated nun painting as it looked crystal clear. And it was forming a vaguely human shape as it trailed down in an almost threatening manner. "Hey, you any good with booby traps? Cause this painting is one shade of red away from crying blood."
"I wouldn't call it my area of expertise." Caprice glanced down at the water.
The painting was blank; at least, to Caprice's eyes. Where once there was a nun, only a large dark spot was in place, as if there used to be an object or person occupying the space. The water of course remained, seeping with a thickness that almost made it akin to blood by now, or perhaps motor oil. However, whereas Caprice would see nothing but a blank painting, the visage of a nun still stared at Kanbaru, a shape only seen by her eyes.
"It doesn't seem too bad to me." Caprice continued her search heedless of the potential danger.
"You're kidding me right? There's a nun of blood looking at me right now. I'm not even catholic and this is creeping me out!" The bluenette shuddered and hugged herself, overcome with a sudden heavy sense of Irish guilt, in spite of no such heritage. It passed and she raised a hand, freezing the space in front of the bloody visage like the glass over the same portrait. "I think we should just wreck this table and get on out. Like, quickly."
"I don't share your fear of nuns, nor your desire to commit destruction. You may come or go as you please, but I haven't satisfied my curiosity yet." Caprice simply stepped around the water and continued looking around. Perhaps what she sought was behind the painting.
A translucent sheen of ice coated over the painting, stopping short any more leakage from its source. But when Kanbaru looked upon it again, the painting shifted. There was still a nun only she could see, but where once was a smile was now turned upside down. A discouraging frown stared back at the blunette through her ice as if judging the petulent actions of a child. No such activity was given to Caprice; in fact, the dark magician of sorts would find the drawers and cabinets unlocked wherever she glanced. Whether the academy's staff had little care for security or they expected such crimes to take place in their own abdoes during the Umbral Games was unclear. Were Rose present, she might have raided the placed whole without temptation. All the same, the painting stared down Kanbaru with a flash of searing pain suddenly shooting through her head.
"Are you blind? This is genuine horror material here! It's some kind of trap and it's giving me the stink e-Aaagh!" Like an ice pick driven from on high, sharp pain drove her hard down to one knee, both hands grasping at her hair as her minded pounded under the most merciless of migraines. She nausus and dizzy all at once and looked through bleary eyes at the nun and the unaffected state of Caprice. "The room's cursed! Don't touch anything!"
Caprice continued to ignore Kanbaru and let the cabinets and drawers mostly untouched other than a cursory glance. She had been looking for the detention area and if there was anyone with the will to defy the Student President, but that seemed too well hidden for her. It seemed Caprice had little sympathy for Kanbaru's plight nor heed to her warnings.
Another glance to the painting would show two points of red under the nun's veil, bright enough to contrast with the dark of the painting. No sooner did it lock gazes with Kanbaru did a horrid screech fill her mind as the creature inside, whatever it was, lunged forward. Bursting through the ice like shards of confetti, the screaming nun barreled into Kanbaru. However, there was little damage or even sign of a scuffle. That was because, as soon as the blunette regained her bearings, the painting was back to normal. The nun remained, smiling as it once did and the sheen of ice gone from its surface. However, its position was changed entirely, an arm pointed to its right over to where Caprice was searching without caution or care. Just next to the dark magician was a large book case that appeared almost too worn down and topical. Yet the nun remained pointing, an invisible sense drawing Kanbaru to a dark tome in its corner.
Kanbaru felt genuine helplessness as the specter of the nun took shape, smashing through the ice to the tune of a shriek Kanbaru knew she was one providing. It barreled into her with the bluenette unable to muster a defense, yet in a flicker of inconceivable motion, the room was back to normal. The Nun was a picture once more, only now she had direction that had her turning towards her treacherous cohort. If it was asking her to kill her team mates then she'd have felt oddly enthusiastic, but a sense compelled her to rise and cross the room, coming upon a curious black book. Without thinking she plucked it out by the spine and cracked open the cover.
"Mmm?" Caprice paused not at the shriek, but at Kanbaru coming over. "If you are frightened, you may leave whenever you like, but if you do wish to keep looking around, I'd appreciate it with less screaming." Caprice was a bit curious as to why when Kanbaru had previously been freaking out, and then suddenly came over to check a particular book.
There was hardly anything of worth in the black tome, contents going on about spells and whatnot, methods to summon creatures from other worlds. No, what was perhaps more fascinating was the book shelf moving on its own. A shuddering sound inhibited by wearing age accompanied the wood sliding away in a most trite fashion, a dark corridor revealed before the two girls. The lack of light didn't do much to illuminate the fact it was in fact a stair well that led down into...something. No one mentioned the academy had a basement after all, let alone one kept hidden.
"I'd love to see how you handle cursed jump scare nuns," the bluenette growled, though the words lacked heat as her eyes widened with wonder to see a classic sliding staircase. There were many reasons to have hidden compartments and areas, but most of them involved hiding away some prized treasure, and that Kanbaru could move beyond all rational fear with a greedy glimmer in her eye. "First dibs on the treasure!"
With those parting words she bolted down the stairs, eager to see what non-nun related loot was to be found.
"Ah, delightful, a classic." Caprice could not help but smile at the sight of the turning bookcase. She followed Kanbaru at a measured pase, in no hurry to compete with the girl's lust for treasure. "It's all yours." Caprice kept her hand on the wall to keep herself steady as she stepped down the stairs.
Fetzen
BrokenPromise
Elite Minor
Damycles
Quasi
Villamvihar
ERode
LuckyBlackCat