Sera sat on her stiff bed, sifting through her papers. She had very quickly signed the form stating her awareness of the fact that, in short, if she told any external source about her work, she should expect to be imprisoned immediately. Apparently, the governor was taking precautions.
She stood, the springs of the bed rasping as she gathered her notebook and, though there was a perfectly competent watch strapped to her wrist, she didn't so much as glance at it. It didn't matter if she was early or late. Not in here. Sherrinford, affectionately titled as the literal and physical hell on Earth, seemed to have no regard for minutes and hours, for it was a world inside of a world: the most dangerous time capsule created.
The governor had said that she should begin her evaluations as soon as possible... What was he had said? No time like the present. She shut the door behind her, the lock clicking into place automatically. Sera walked down the hall, florescent lights staining the back of her eyelids, leaving traces of violet images to overlap her vision.
She passed through the main room, swiping her newly acquired card in a slot beside the elevator. The light flashed green and the doors slid open. She stepped in, her dark heels clicking against the metal. As her view out into the main room was reduced to a splinter, pushed to fit between the steadily closing entrance, Sera had the uneasy feeling that the next time she passed through that room, it wouldn't be with the same eyes. Ever the dramatic.
A bizarre sense of anticipation, however, quickly injected itself into the hollowness that had ironically begun to weigh down her mind.
The doors slid open to unveil a view starkly contrasting the main room: the end of the well-lit hallway branched into an open recess. Two guards adorned the sides of a formidable looking door. This place seemed to have an obsession with the pairing of guards: she had yet to see a flock of three, not a solitary watchdog to be found.
Sera stopped just before the door, the echo of her heels dying quickly, leaving a void of silence. She stood in the center of the space as a body scanner moved over her. The room flashed green and one of the guards jerked her head towards the door in silent affirmation.
As Sera neared the door, tendrils of sound, notes, curled themselves around her brain. It was a violin. The door hissed as it opened for her, and the young woman might have laughed at the drama of it all if she hadn't been so caught up in it herself.
She was greeted with silence as she entered, the music that had since ceased, hanging heavily in the air.
Sera took another step and the song resumed as if the pause had never occurred. Separated by a wall of glass, a woman dressed in stark white stood facing away: her inky black hair was a shocking contrast to the uniform. Her violin, a Stradivarius, was cradled against her neck as her finger danced and flashed across the humming strings. Sera had the strange impression that this violin was alive, capable of clawing at emotions and thoughts: an physical extension of its owner. A strange and ridiculous concept, but Sera's instincts had a tendency to be correct.
"Eurus, the east wind... bearer of bad luck," Sera mused, moving closer to the glass.
The violin music became low and sultry.
"Three time's the charm isn't it," the voice didn't match the body that turned to face Sera. Eurus Holmes' eyes were intent, unwavering, but her voice seemed to drift out of her lungs: it was distant.
Eurus placed the violin on the pristine bed before stepping up to the glass. The woman's frame was small, fragile, and if it hadn't been for what the governor had warned, Sera might have made the disastrous mistake of underestimating her.
"The human race has fabricated an emotional attachment to number three, to resemble the perfect number. Come closer to the glass."
Sera didn't move. The word's flowing from Eurus Homes' tongue reminded her of a performance, and yet, it was a performance with no audience. It was contradictory and maybe that was why Sera loved it so much.
Eurus watched the woman standing before her. A bored genius. The world was full of them. Filled with self-proclaimed, bored geniuses.
"You should be flattered. The other two before you were already talking at this point. Stay silent long enough, and people will act on their subconscious urge to fill it. Isn't it terrible? All these people filling up the world with their empty, empty words: saying everything except what matters. Step closer to the glass."
"And what is it that matters?" Sera asked, her voice taking on a passive edge in an attempt to bury the gleam in her eye.
"Hm. B+ question, David's getting better at picking the right people. Moving on. Come closer to the glass," her voice peaking at her last word.
This time, Sera did so: the fascination was weaving itself tightly around her. Yes, Eurus decided, this vessel of humanity would certainly provide her with a branch of satisfactory answers, but data is always incomplete without a range of sources. Sera Baine, she mused to herself, wouldn't be the last.
"You get the honors of being the first. Come closer... that's it." The sounds the woman made were disconnected, but Sera was no longer paying attention to those trivialities. She was no longer performing the psychiatric evaluation, it was being performed on her. And doing so completely inverted her instinctual tendencies and manners, but she couldn't help but let herself be drowned it the intoxicating effect.
Eurus moved her head to the side, her eyes still unnervingly pinpointing every movement of the woman before her. She brought her hand to her lips, kissing her fingertips and pressing them against the cold glass.
It felt strange to move, like her mind had been divided from her body, but Sera mirrored her. Her hand, which she hadn't until now noticed was trembling, came into contact with the surface of the pane.
"Look at that," Eurus said softly, something that looked suspiciously like wonder seeping into her expression, but Sera knew better. "Record timing... I think it's safe to say you're my second favorite."
