The Golden Cage

[Omi]

Charlotte took the offered door with only the barest trace of hesitation. Enma not going first was surprising, and just a tinge suspicious, but it seemed rather unlikely that the Maltese would have planned anything nasty for her here. No - this, at least, seemed to be on the level. A belated recognition of her status, and not one that could make up for what she'd already suffered, but she was more than happy to play along. After all, things were much better here than they had been on Valetta.

She took one step through and stopped almost dead in her tracks, her jaw dropping almost to the floor at the sight beyond. The dining room was not a large one, clearly only designed for small parties. The furniture was as opulent as the bedroom's had been, though of course none of it was hers this time. A mahogany table and cushioned chairs dominated the centre, arranged neatly atop an expensive-looking deep orange carpet. None of that was what caught her attention, though - it was the ceiling that left her almost spellbound. She didn't care how stupid she might look gawping. It was pleasure enough to look. At first glance, in fact there appeared to be no ceiling at all, but a metres-thick pane of perfectly polished glass separated them from the cold void beyond. Framed above it was a terrible, almost terrifying sight; a vaguely spherical, almost soul-sucking monster that almost made her soul tremble to look at. It was a black hole of seemingly stunning proportions, an enigmatic thing hard to catch a clear glimpse of as light shifted and bent around its invisible form. It was nature in its most awe-inspiring and primal of forms, a stark reminder of mankind's insignificance in the face of the universe.

After what felt like hours, Charlotte finally managed to tear her gaze away. It was an effort to do so even then, and it was clear the sight had affected her composure a little. That was, of course, the intended effect, but even knowing that didn't help. A shiver ran down her spine as she turned to watch Enma enter after her, the other woman taking the black hole framed above in her stride. Of course - how many times must she have seen it already? Charlotte couldn't even begin to guess.

"Inspiring," she muttered, crossing the rest of the room before Enma could pass comment. Without even waiting to be offered one or given permission, she pulled one of the chairs out from the table and sank into it, very deliberately trying not to look up. Now that she was sitting down directly under the thing, its effects seemed even more pronounced. The Maltese had definitely done well to frame it there, leaving it like hanging above her head like some kind of morbid reminder. Rather than dwell on it further, she studied the rest of the room in silence, scanning it from wall to wall silently as if the answers to her plight were hidden somewhere in the wallpaper.

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