6/19 Instance: Down the Rabbit Hole

[Starfish]

Timeline: A few days after the fic "Dear Black Jack".


Jack: Jack climbed out of the cab, stretching and then realized his fly was open. After zipping up he leaned down to the driver's window and payed the guy who in turn replied, "No tip needed, you already payed that upfront, thanks." he chuckled afterwards, then tapped at the cab's security camera. Jack just shrugged and opened the door for Cassie before heading around back to get the luggage.

Cassie: Before climbing out of the car, Cassandra knelt on the bench in the back of the cab and leaned forward over the driver's seat to drape her discarded black bra over the rear view mirror. "But we insist," she said, flashing the man a grin.

Cassie: "You're all gentlebunny tonight," the girl said as she swung her legs out the open door and joined Jack on the sidewalk. "I could lend a hand, you know?" She shot him a crooked smile while wiping her dark lips.

Jack: Jack pulled out the black, small, lace umbrella they bought at the nice little shop where they bought a lot of Cassie's new wardrobe. He opened it up and held it up over Cassie's head as he pulled out the heavy luggage.

Jack: "Well I wouldn't mind if you grabbed one of your shopping bags." he insisted. "Sweety, you still have bit of... on your chin... you know what, nevermind, you're beautiful just like that."

Cassie: "I know." She flashed him a cocky grin, then had her tongue twist around her chin. "That's why you can't get enough of me. Here, let me help you." Black tendrils formed around Cassie's lower arm, the inky tentacles stretching into the trunk of the car to lift up the remaining bags.

Jack: The second the bags were out of the trunk, Jack closed it, then turn gave it a knock and a thumbs up at the driver who was looking through his rear view mirror. Jack turned towards the manor, walking up to the gates and pressed the little intercom button.

Jack: "Yes?" came the disembodied voice. "Hi, it's Jack O'Hare here to renew my membership." There were clicking and noises. "Ah,, yes, Black Jack, the bunny furry suit magician." The gates buzzed and opened. Jack just cringed at what the voice said. It was probably a new receptionist.

Jack: "Well at least I'm well known." he told Cassie as he held the gate open for her, gesturing her towards the entrance of the manor. The garden seemed rather dilapidated with shrubbery and all things able to grow overgrowing. Someone must have put the sprinkler system on automatic and just left out any kind of gardening completely.

Cassie: "Quaint," Cassandra commented as she entered the walled off estate. She looked over her shoulder to watch the cab pull away and disappear from view, making the two of them the only living humans to be seen out there. Mostly human, anyway.

Cassie: "This place doesn't look like has seen a lot of business lately." They followed the winding driveway towards the old manor house. There weren't many lights to light the path, but the raven-haired girl felt right at home in the darkness. "At least we're being expected. Well, you are, anyway."

Jack: "Oh don't worry about not being invited, that's expected. I'll just say you're my lovely assistant." Jack mentioned as they came up to the front doors. The second they were in arm's length the doors opened. Jack just kept going. "Wow, they cleaned up the place." he commented.

Jack: There was not one open surface in the whole foyer. Old books were stapled on top of each other either gathering dust or just more books on top of them. Papers and crystals and all manner of items were even hung from the heavy looking chandelier where a stuffed raven somehow found its way to perch on.

Jack: "Wow," came a voice from behind a pile of books and what could have been a desk were there any space left on it. "You're an actual bunny. I just thought you were wearing some kind of fursuit from your ID photo on file."

Cassie: "If his coat comes with a zipper, I haven't found it yet." Having attached herself to Jack's side, Cassie's fingers stroked through the mutant rabbit's long, black ears. "Believe me, I looked everywhere." She revealed her teeth with a grin.

Jack: "It's true. Sometimes I wake up feeling very violated. " Jack nodded. "So you want me to sign in or can I just head up now to a random room?" he asked. It woke the receptionist up who quickly hefted a large ledger towards Jack. "Sign here please." and Jack signed it with a flair that was matching with the rest of the abundantly stroked and circled signatures that came before his.

Jack: "Your room is upstairs to the right." the receptionist gestured. "Room 109, You'll have to use the stairs, the elevator's not working at the moment." Jack just nodded, "Doubt if it ever worked." he replied and picked up the luggage once more and made his way up the stairs.

Cassie: While Jack took care of formalities, his fiance had been captivated by the stacks of clutter filling the hall. Ever curious, she had to stand on the tips of her toes to reach the dusty old tome all the way on top.

Cassie: Following repeated thuds of things hitting the wooden floor, a girl-shaped shadow darted past the receptionist's table. "Wait for me, I'm coming!" Cassie shouted, trying to both catch up with the black bunny and to get away from whatever mess she had caused now.

Jack: Jack didn't even look back. "This way my dear." he just said and lead the way to their room as if he grew up in the place. "Oh, damn, can you get the door for me? It's the one behind the stack of boxes." he nodded towards the junk in the way of their room.

Cassie: "Whoever owns this place must have forgotten to pay their cleaning lady." Cassandra carefully stepped over an old, rolled up carpet that had been leaned against the wall sometime ago, but had slipped down to block the hallway along with all the other random stuff.

Cassie: "Or if they didn't, they're paying her way too much." She tried to move some of the wooden boxes that had been stacked up in their way, but they proved too heavy. "Hold on, let me get that." Once more, her shadowy limbs had to do the work and clear the path for them.

Jack: "Thanks Love," Jack said as the door creaked open. The place on the other side of the door seemed less cluttered, only because nobody had bothered to go in there to clutter it for a decade. "Dusty.... hehe," Jack chuckled, putting down the luggage and rubbing a surface with his palm. "Look, I'm a dust bunny."

Cassie: Cassie giggled, leaning close to blow at the dusty hand Jack held up. A cloud of dust formed between them, making them both sneeze. "Do you think it would be much use to call for the room service?" she asked, turning around to explore the room. "So, you used to live here?"

Jack: "No on the room service, yes on living here. Was practically raised by the old magicians that lived here when my dad had to go to work conning people out of their not so hard earned cash." Jack added. "Oh the things I learned. Good times."

Cassie: "Are you talking about your magic tricks, or your business sense?" Cassie asked, shooting Jack a wry smirk over her shoulder. She turned away from the tall window and stepped towards the bed. "Or other skills, perhaps?"

Jack: "You won't believe how many lovely assistants came through those doors." Jack replied with a giant grin. "Unfortunately none, had to sneak them in through here." he said, pushing at the one wall that gave way to a secret entrance. "Wanna explore?" he tempted her.

Cassie: "This place comes with actual hidden passages, and you have to ask if I want to explore?" Cassie was already by the secret door, peeking around the corner and into the darkness of the narrow passage that lay beyond. "Where does it lead to?" she asked, an excited grin on her lips.

Cassie: "Wait, don't tell me, I want it to be a surprise!" Her curiosity only allowed for that much patience, and the next moment she had already grabbed Jack by his furry hand and dragged him into the dark.

Jack: As they shuffled along the spiderwebbed darkness, Jack had to pull her back to slow her down, holding her close against a wall, then in the pitch blackness, his hand pushed something flat on the wall and a spyhole was shown.

Jack: "There's one for each room going down this hallway." he whispered, then pointed at the spyhole. On the other side it could be heard an older gentleman's snoring. "That's Mr Marveluos the Magician. He's one of the inner circle bigwigs around here."

Cassie: Cassie leaned close to the wall to take a peek through the small hole. "You're right, his wig really looks quite marvellous." The young girl snickered.

Jack: "Come on, gonna secretly introduce you to all my magical family members." He joked, and ushered her along, naming a few of the magicians who were in their rooms so Cassie could spy on them.

Jack: "There's a few who's probably deep in the bowels of the manor. There's a lovely dungeon in this place, you know. They mostly play cards there. That's actually a fantastic thing to see, magicians playing poker. It's all about who can't be caught cheating."

Cassie: "I'm not saying that doesn't sound fun, but I can think of more exciting things to do in a dungeon," Cassie commented, her suggestive smirk barely visible in the gloom of the secret passage. "Did they ever find out you were spying on them?"

Jack: "Not sure. I mean I know most of them have no clue about me spying on them, but the more higher up old farts... they're what you'd call an enigma wrapped in a riddle and smothered in a thick layer of don't give a crap."

Jack: "And you won't believe this, but the top guy isn't as old as the others. A bit of grey at the temples but that's it. He used to be this amazing magician, but he just completely went nutso and started going on this debunking rampage. Going after fake psychics and such." Jack explained as they went deeper down into the depths of the manor's secret passageways.

Cassie: "Maybe he was just sick of these guys giving you proper stage magicians a bad name?" Cassandra suggested, trailing close after Jack, their mutant senses allowing them to navigate the darkness securely.

Cassie: "My boss at the circus always got suspicious every time someone claimed to be the real deal, because he knew most of them were only interested in conning people out of their money, not giving them a good show."

Jack: "I do like the idea of people knowing I'm tricking with a magic trick, and they just enjoy it because they can't figure out how it's done. You know who's my biggest pain my fluffy tail? 'illusionists'" he said, making airquotes in the dark. "Those are the kind of people who also spelle magic with a K and vampire with a Y."

Jack: Jack lead Cassie down a spiral staircase until they got to the bottom, and pulled her along the more narrow corridor. He came to a stop and slid open another spyhole. "Welcome to the inner circle. Less people gets in here than in the hellfire club inner circle."

Cassie: "And I'm most likely the only girl who managed to sleep her way into both." The edge of her mouth revealed a smirk, then she turned away and leaned close to small hole in the solid rock in front of her. What she saw through the spyhole left even Cassie speechless.

Cassie: The circular room, bathed in dim light, was every bit as cluttered as the rest of the mansion. It wasn't the chaos that had silenced the girl, but rather what it was made of. Almost every available surface of the large room was covered in some kind of arcane symbol or mystical charm.

Cassie: A large pentagram dominated the floor in the centre. "And this is where those who reveal any their tricks get sacrificed to Satan," she said, still peeking through the hidden hole.

Jack: "Not really Satan per se. Actually they have some really weird rituals going on in here. Blood sacrifices would basically jsut be pricking a finger here and there. Frankly I think they're just doing it all to play secret club to feel special. And no, I didn't see any demons popping up from the floor."

Cassie: "If there's anything I have learned working for the Hellfire Club," Cassie replied without looking up, "it's that bored rich old people get off on the weirdest kinks." She leaned back from the hole and rubbed her eyes when they began to hurt from looking at the strange shapes.

Jack: "Yeah, get to you as well, huh?" Jack asked, smirking. "THink it's an optical illusion, like the repetitive pictures starts straining the eyes if you keep looking at them." he added, closing the spyhole, then reaching out and sliding a latch and pushing against the wall, opening the secret door into the secret dungeon lair.

Cassie: Cassie raised her eyebrows at Jack, but didn't move from the spot. "Are you sure we should be doing this?" she asked in a rare bout of responsibility.

Jack: "No... but I did it before and I'm going to do it now again anyway. Come on, don't be such a scaredy cat." Jack said, actually impressed that he was now the one doing something more dangerous than what Cassie would dare to do.

Cassie: "Hey!" Cassie protested. "I'm not a scaredy cat!" She stepped up to the hidden entrance. "I just don't want to overstay my welcome in the first night and sleep in a suitcase again."

Jack: "Nah, they wouldn't do that. Besides, people like me here. I'm the fuzzy bunny, I used to get away with a ton of stuff just being adorable." Jack said walking into the ritual room. "Then again, I was really young back then as well..."

Cassie: Cassandra poked her pretty head into the strange room, before strolling after the black rabbit. Her heeled boots clanked on the stone floor, echoing back from the tall, domed ceiling. Something about the chamber seemed off, and it weren't the eerie symbols or the fact it lay hidden underneath a creepy old manor.

Cassie: "Where does the light come from?" she asked upon realizing what it was that bothered her. There were no lamps or even old fashioned torches to be seen anywhere.

Jack: "I dunno, probably special effects or something." he replied realizing Cassie made a good point. He lifted his hand tried to figure something out. "Huh... can you see where my shadow actually falls? Wow, this place must be lined with hundreds or thousands of tiny dim lights to make such a weird eeriness." he added. "Ooh, what's that?" his attention immediately went over to some sort of trophy cabinet.

Cassie: "I've seen the magicians at the circus do absolutely mind-boggling stuff with nothing but mirrors, but these guys seem to be playing in an entirely different league." Cassie shot her furry friend a wry smirk. "I see why you'd love to figure out their secret tricks."

Cassie: She stopped poking some of the esoteric charms that hang suspended from the ceiling and joined Jack by the elaborately decorated cabinet. "Now what do we have here," the girl crooned. "Shinies."

Jack: "Ooh, a lovely old chalice," Jack said then read the little plaque beneath it. "Cup of Chthon." he read, "Did I pronounce that right? Is it che or keh?" he asked her. "Oooh, looook, pretty," he added oggling the book that was stored rather nondescript on its side. Jack tilted his head and could only read the name on it. "Oshtur"

Cassie: "I have no idea if you said that right, but I suggest you don't speak those names more than two times - just in case there are really mirrors nearby." Cassie was already exploring the depths of the cabinet, pulling herself up by a shelf to reach a small box hidden all the way in the back.

Cassie: "Anything hidden that well has to be interesting, right?" the raven-haired girl asked, carefully prying open the lid of the tiny wooden chest. "Oooh, look what I found!"

Jack: "Oooh, pretty and shiny." Jack commented, his fingers leaving the book's spine before he could take it out and instead joined Cassie in fondling the collection of red gemmed rings inside. "You think they're rubies? Can't be rubies. Who'd put a box full of ruby rings away like that?"

Cassie: "I'd say the same kind of people who'd hide their creepy dungeon underneath their spooky manor," Cassie suggested, already snatching one of the shiny trinkets out of the box. "All that means is that they won't be missing any if we take two of them."

Jack: "Ooh, one for me, one for you? Le Matching pair. Ooh la la, magnifique!" Jack joked taking one as well. "Or did you mean two for you and none for me?" he added.

Cassie: Holding up the ring between two fingers to admire its exquisite craftsmanship, Cassie glanced past the small red gem, which appeared to shine even in the dim light of dungeon.

Cassie: "I mean that we just saved a lot of money on wedding rings," she told Jack with an impish smile on her lips.

Jack: "Genius! I'm marrying a genius, and I didn't even know it. Actually I did know it, which si why I'm marrying you. For your brains. The body is just a bonus." Jack replied grinning.

Cassie: "Aren't you the sweetest charmer?" Cassandra chuckled, hopping back down from the cabinet after putting the box back where she had found it. "Don't worry, I wouldn't have any problem with you marrying me for my body alone."

Cassie: She stepped up to the black rabbit and put her arms over his shoulder, revealing her teeth in a wide grin. "It's my reason for marrying you, after all. In fact, it's only for a very specific part of your body."

Jack: "My ears. No wait, my tail, everyone loves the tail. Or is it the adorable twitching nose?" He asked, giving a sniff and a twitch of his nose right up against the nape of her neck to tickle her with his hairs.

Cassie: The edge of her mouth twisted into a suggestive smirk. "Why don't we sneak back to our room and I'll show you?"

Jack: "Then let us retreat to the darkness," he whispered to her and started walking backwards towards the secret passageway, pulling her along with him, and repeatedly giving her kisses along her shoulder and neck.

Cassie: Cassie couldn't stop giggling and wondered how they'd ever make it back unnoticed. "By the way, I was talking about your feet of course."

Jack: Jack couldn't help but snort a laugh against her skin where he was kissing. "Well you do like them big, don't you?" he asked, pausing their trek to the darkness for a second just to slide his big bunny foot up against her leg before continuing stepping backwards.

Cassie: "I do indeed." Cassie laughed, her hand in Jack's, as they stumbled and kissed their way back to their room. "And the best part is, they're not even the biggest part of you."