~ The Race Official unlocked the door at the end of the hallway and held it open for them.
"Alright, you're set to go."
Nodding her thanks to the man, Takyle stepped into the live-sim room with Andrew on her heels. Jaden looked back over his shoulder. The hallway was deserted, the other ROs and Team 5 having already made their exit. He turned back to the door in front of him and shot the RO a smile.
"Thank you." The RO nodded once.
"No problem. Good luck." Jaden stepped through and was standing in what appeared to be an ornate, wood paneled front hall. Paintings and tapestries hung the walls, the vaulted ceiling illuminated by a chandelier that seemed to be holding hundreds of real candles. A tall, very straight man with graying hair entered from a door on the right of the hall. He was dressed in an impeccably black suit.
"Good afternoon madam, gentlemen. The lady of the house will see you shortly, if you would be so kind as to follow me?" He turned on his heel and started down the hall. Without further prompt Takyle fell into step behind him, Jaden and Andrew trailing her after a second's hesitation. The butler, or at least Jaden assumed the man was the butler, escorted them to the drawing room before taking a small bow and slipping out. At least Jaden assumed that it was the drawing room. Not that he had a lot of experience in that area, but it looked like a drawing room. Takyle went immediately to a couple of easy chairs bunched around a huge fireplace and sat down. Andrew and Jaden stood in the center of the large room, looking perplexed.
The room was lined with shelves, many of which held leather bound books, the rest, covered with glass doors, contained various knick knacks, running the gamut from a large glass orb set on golden claws to a piece of a clay cone with cuneiform writing on it. Upon closer inspection, Jaden found that a good number of the objects seemed to be artifacts of some description.
"Takyle...What is this place?" asked Andrew.
"I don't know. Based on appearances, I'd say the home of a rich person. The likes of whom we'll be meeting soon according to the butler."
"What are all these things doing here?" Jaden asked, leaning down to look at a piece of red and black Greek pottery on a low shelf.
"Again, I don't know, though it has always been a habit of the rich to collect various bits and pieces of artifacts, it's just not as easy anymore."
"So, expensive kitsch," Andrew stated bluntly. Takyle gave him a sarcastic look.
"You might say that...If you had no taste at all whatsoever." She turned back to Jaden. "Many of the things in this room are probably invaluable and might have been in this family for generations."
"You talk like this is a real place..." mused Jaden aloud.
"Well we're really supposed to treat it as if it is, aren't we? And besides, it's not a reach; I've been in homes very similar to this."
"I haven't," Andrew muttered to Jaden.
"Nor I," agreed Jaden.
"That's because we're poor," Andrew stage whispered. ~
No comments:
Post a Comment