Was Lumen sorry that she had just set off a trap that effectively put them all in even more danger than they already were? No -- it was an accident, an honest one, even if it could have been avoided by showing a little caution. More than anything, she was agitated that the large metal cylinders were obstructing their path away from the cannibals. With the vampire blood coursing through her veins, everything seemed to move in half-time. She watched the cylinders release, then caught Darklis throwing herself up against the wall to avoid getting crushed -- so much for small favors -- and then Dalila came to her side to help her up. As she pressed herself up against the wall and began to shimmy her way along the trap, being ever mindful of timing (Why did she suddenly feel like she was trapped in a videogame? A horrible videogame), she couldn’t decide what overwhelmed her more: the fact that she was further wallowing in the stench that surrounded them or the ringing of the chimes in her ears. Her senses felt like they were spinning out of control and she made a mental note to never consume vampire blood again. As if there would ever be another reason to. Lumen was seriously going to start being a lot more discerning when it came to leaving the house.
“How much longer until they end?” Her question was punctuated by the whoosh and slam of a cylinder against the wall between her and Dalila. The second it moved, she took a step forward and pressed herself closer to her friend. The answer came soon enough: eventually the cylinders ended and she was able to step down a slight slope deeper into the sewer line. Once they were in the clear -- for the moment at least -- Lumen took the time to comment on her ‘mishap’. “At least we’ve got an obstacle between us and them now. They’ve got to go around those things too, right?” That was, of course, assuming that they didn’t know a way to avoid them; then again, assuming that they would have created a trap that wouldn’t hurt them just as easily might be giving them credit for more intelligence than they actually had. “So I guess you’re taking the lead now, huh,” she asked Darklis, the slightest bit of contempt in her voice. Obviously, she wasn’t a good leader, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to take charge. The argument could be made that Lumen would have been fine following someone -- snarky comments notwithstanding -- who was not the vampire or the teacher with them. Dalila certainly wasn’t in a position to take her traditional dominant position, so who did that leave? “What’s our strategy? Careful, but quickly? Full-steam ahead with the brakes on?” She was starting to sound antagonistic, as though she was daring someone to berate her for setting off the trap. It sounded that way because she was.