Dance

[Team successfully temporarily disbanded. Liner {Kim Jaehyun} will rejoin your Team from the Sixth Floor onwards.]

This very Blank opened up right in front of Felix's eyes, blinding him with its green brightness. He let out a small "Ugh." and shoved it away, speaking as he did, "These things are getting more and more annoying by the second... Did you also get one—"

When looking back, Felix noticed he wasn't in the busy lobby anymore, and his loud surroundings were replaced by an eerie silence – except for the ringing in his ears, which started acting up again out of nowhere. Other than that, he was completely alone, in a big room laced with thousands of pieces of clothing that hanged from walls, closets, and everything in-between. Felix finished his sentence, growing annoyed and confused, "—Kim? Ah... Shit... Already?"

Not long after, another Blank opened up somewhere to his side – [Please dress up nicely for the ball and make a good impression on the Queen.] – yet Felix was already on it, scouring the closest closet for a suitable outfit. He was throwing stuff over his shoulder and to the side like they were just mere pieces of filthy cloth, not caring about them or who they belonged to. Would it really matter what he was gonna wear to this stupid ball, anyways?

"Maybe I shouldn't have lived my life only wearing hoodies and jeans... Well, not like my salary gave me many options, anyways. Stupid fuckin' job..."

As Felix threw yet another tie to the ground, and sent a suit flying over his shoulder, he saw it – hanging high above in one of the many closets of this room, hidden away from everyone... but not from Felix. He reached out his right hand towards the suit high above, and couldn't help but mutter as he did, "That one..."

The next second, the suit seemed to melt from the hanger it was on and quickly spread over to his hand and then onto him fully, covering Felix in it and finalizing his look in mere seconds. Felix couldn't help but look down at himself, shocked, as he chuckled slightly to himself, turning his body over on all sides as he admired his sleek figure. He couldn't help but let out a "Woah..." as he watched the black suit with a green hint and a red tie sit on his body idly, yet looking good as it did.

"What is this, Ven—? Uh, never mind, actually."

As he fixed his tie and sleeves, he noticed something... weird. His suit only had one glove on his right hand, while the left one wasn't anywhere to be seen. Nevertheless, his eyes wandered to the exit of this humongous room he was in – a big door, standing at a proud ten feet tall. Its frame was black and thick, and the wood it was made of seemed more than just sturdy. As Felix stepped closer to it, he could only feel himself getting shorter and shorter compared to the colossal door standing in front of him. But, even through all of that, Felix pushed through – literally – as he put his hands against the hard wood and pushed the door open, although with a bit of struggle, which was weird given his current stats.

The door opened with a slight creak, revealing a familiar sight – the same lobby he and Kim were just in, except this time, much more empty. Nobody was there, save Felix, and he could feel the breeze coming through rom the other side of it just because of the size of the lobby. Felix just kind of shrugged it off and started walking forwards, looking around as he did. The walls were high, the ceiling was looking fancy, and the tapestry looked expensive – just what you'd expect from a royal palace. There were some pieces of art on the walls, from paintings to small sculptures, and Felix couldn't help but silently judge them as an artist. He murmured stuff to himself as he walked, stuff like "The perspective on that one's off..." and "That head is way too big, isn't it...?"

Before he even realized it, Felix was at the end of the empty lobby. There, he was met with yet another fancy, big door – although this time it was a double door. The two doors looked similar enough to the one from before, yet somewhat different. Felix shrugged his shoulders once again and placed his palms against the black edges as he started pushing. Before he was even halfway done, Felix was blinded by bright light – blinded by the chandeliers on the ceiling, by the jewelry on the guests, and by the candles lighting the scenery. Felix couldn't help but let out a surprised "Wha...?!" at the sight of such riches, and instinctively threw his hand in front of his eyes because of the light.

After finally getting accustomed to it, Felix slowly lowered his hand and glanced around at the huge room he happened to find himself in. He could clearly and easily see dozens upon dozens of people – if not more. Some were dancing, some talking, and some were even coming out of big doors just like him and looking all confused... Liners. He wasn't quite used to seeing monsters in suits, especially not a werewolf wearing a bowtie, but it was slowly growing on him. After sighing slightly, Felix started walking forwards while examining the people around. He didn't care much for other Liners, he only looked at the actual guests. Well, he was looking for one specific Liner too – his one and only partner in crime – but he wasn't anywhere nearby, or at least not somewhere where Felix could see him. As he glanced confused at a woman wearing jewelry twice as big as herself, a Blank opened up right in front of his face.

[Plot - Find The Queen!

Requirements - Everyone will be looking for the Queen, who is hiding amongst the guests. Find her before anyone else. You have two hours. Godspeed!

Punishment Upon Failure - ???]

Felix clicked his tongue as he read through the window, and when another one opened up in his peripheral vision, acting as a timer, he couldn't help but sigh and facepalm. He was also annoyed that this stupid Blank of his that usually mouth feeds him didn't give him anything to work with this time around. Oh, no, this time... he was gonna have to clear this by his own merit. No saving grace in the form of very convenient hints, no ultra powerful war-machine Kim... Just him and his skills. As he rubs the bridge of his nose in annoyance, he shoves the Blank away and starts looking around – looking for the most luxurious people he could see. He didn't have much luck, though – every single woman there was basically dressed the same, just in different colors, and he had absolutely nothing to go on. Felix was, quite ironically, royally fucked.

He fights the urge to punch a random wall with all his might, surprisingly wins, and starts walking around the huge ball room aimlessly, trying to listen in to any possible conversations that he happened to be nearby – maybe that way, he could've gotten a clue of how the Queen looks, at least. Unfortunately for Felix, all the guests there were much more interested in talking about business and their own personal looks rather than the main focus of this ball, so while he knew that Maryl from Avelend was going to form a peace treaty with Olyver from Qeelen, he still had no clue how the Queen looked.

Felix's only hint was that cousin of hers he and Kim got the invitation from. Maybe they looked alike since they're related, right? So, judging by the man's hair color, the Queen should also... have... uhh...

["...What was the dude's hair color?! How'd I forget?!"]

Felix almost fell to the ground on his knees in pure agony and suffering as he couldn't, for the life of him, recall the man's hair color... or name. Or anything, for that matter, except for the fact he was a wuss. Felix was more lost than when he first started, and as he glanced hopelessly at the ticking timer which now read [01:21] he couldn't help but let out a heavy, loud sigh. While he was once again consulting his inner self on if he should punch a hole in a wall or not, a voice from behind him chuckled slightly, which quickly turned into a full on laugh. Felix turned around, annoyed, expecting to see a Liner – only to be met by a normal woman instead. She wore a long, orange and red dress, and had even longer fluffy, purple hair. Felix quickly closed his mouth, not wanting to insult a guest of the Queen, and just sighed once again. He soon spoke up, although not entirely in a friendly tone, "Can I help you?"

"Oh, my apologies. Your situation just seems... amusing, is all."

"Please don't go laughing at others' pain. People will think you're a piece of s— work. Piece of work."

"Did I hear an 's' in there for a second?"

"You sure didn't."

The woman laughed again, covering up her mouth with her hand, which was bearing a small, black glove, that her other hand didn't seem to have. Felix raised an eyebrow in confusion – more at the laugh rather than the one, single glove – and asked annoyed, "Can you please enlighten me on what's so funny, miss?"

The woman, through waves of laughter responded, "Oh, please, I haven't been a 'miss' for a while now."

Still, the strange woman stopped laughing soon afterwards, bearing a joyful and playful smirk on her face. She extended out her hand – the one with the glove on – to Felix, and kept it in the air for a bit. Felix was quite visibly confused at this as he raised an eyebrow at her gesture, until she clarified, "Join me for a dance, would you?"

Felix, although a bit reluctant at first, took the woman's hand and followed her to the center of the ball room, where some classical music was playing quietly and other people were dancing. The woman led Felix to the very middle of it, and then slowly started moving from left to right. Felix mimicked her movements, and even if he wasn't too proud nor willing to admit it, he did take some dancing lessons back on Earth. And thus, he couldn't help but notice... she was terrible. Her movements were sloppy, her rhythm was off, and her overall posture wasn't the greatest, yet she didn't mess him up once. It was almost like she was messing with him on purpose, but it'd take actual skill to be this bad on purpose – skill that Felix wasn't sure could even be achieved.

As the two were sliding across the floor from left to right, and the woman stepped at one point on Felix's foot, he couldn't help but chuckle and say "Ouch. You're not very good at this, are you?" as he spun her around, and she barely stopped herself on time – saving her from a fall. She responded soon, "Hmm, it's not really my expertise." then once again stepped on his foot, although this time a bit gentler – on purpose, even.

"Okay, I deserved that one. But you're still not very good at this."

The woman simply chuckled again and continued dancing, and before the two could even notice, the center of the ball room was quickly getting filled to the brim as more and more people started coming to dance for whatever reasons. Felix was soon slowly but surely getting pushed around, until at one point the two let go of each other in all the mess. Felix finds himself at the mercy of another woman, one looking way more fancier than the one he was just with. The two say no words to each other, and they simply start dancing – and Felix had to admit, she was a way better dancer than the woman with purple hair. But something felt off.

Felix let go and moved to another free woman in the crowd, who was looking just as fancy as the other one. After dancing with her for a bit too, Felix noticed she was a good dancer too, a great one even... but something still felt off – it felt... not any way it should've. He couldn't put his finger on what, though, so he just let go and switched partners again, dancing with yet another woman. Again, didn't feel right – so he moved to another. And another, and yet another, and so on and so forth until Felix thought he'd throw up from all the spinning and slow dancing. As his hazy, brown eyes glanced up at the timer, which read [0:20] by now, Felix couldn't help but let out another heavy sigh. He was gonna fail this Plot, because of this stupid Blank and its indecisiveness...

He shoved the timer away from his face, as it was uncomfortably close for his liking, and he couldn't help but see a familiar sight – fuzzy, purple hair. The woman from an hour ago. He looked at her for just a few seconds, but ultimately decided it didn't matter. He was here to find the Queen, not make friends. Felix let out yet another sigh as he facepalmed, but as his right hand hit his forehead, he couldn't help but notice it was feeling... rubbery. And not his forehead, but rather, his hand was the one feeling off. As he looked down, he remembered his right hand had a glove his left didn't... A small, black glove.

His eyes basically threw themselves upwards at the timer at high speeds – speeds Felix didn't think were possible. It was ticking down, way faster than Felix expected, as it was now sitting at an alarming [0:06] which seemed like a pretty big jump from twenty seconds. Felix started violently making his way through the crowd, pushing nobles away like they were mere cattle and stepping on too many toes to count. Finally, as he reached the fluffy purple hair, he immediately pushed away the other man dancing with the woman with a hurried "Sorry mate, I'm borrowing her for a second."

The woman, obviously quite shocked, let out a "What the...?" but never got the chance to finish her sentence. Immediately, Felix raised his right hand – covered in black, rubbery fabric– out towards her as he spoke in a hushed, whispered tone, "Care to join me for another dance, your Majesty?"

The Queen remained confused and quiet for another second, before lighting up and chuckling as her left hand, also covered in a black glove, reached out to his and took it, speaking as she did, "It'd be my pleasure, Felix Fox." and the timer hitting [0:00] the moment their hands touched. Immediately, a Blank opened up somewhere to Felix's side, reading [Congratulations on finding the Queen. You've successfully completed the Plot.]

Felix tightened his fist in a celebratory manner, only for the Queen to exclaim, "Hey, careful, my hand!"

"Ah, sorry, I kinda forgot you were there..."