Aeria knew deep down that this was in all likelihood a really bad idea. But she had little choice in the matter. To her knowledge there were only two real places in this school to get her hands on things that would pass for weapons. The labs, which would require her swimming two miles to get to the off site laboratory and then would require her to effectively walk around blind. She had no idea what the place looked like on the inside or what she would encounter in there. So that lead to the second place where weapons could be found. The Basement. The dark, dingy underground torture chamber for the more sadistic of the schools 'guests' to prey on unsuspecting students. Yeah, definitely a bad idea. Only two things in her mind made this any better than the labs and raised its likelihood of success from impossible to infinitesimally small. She was not an unsuspecting student, she expected what lay in wait down here, at least she thought she did, and she had a map courtesy of Elise which pointed her towards a monster with a rather sizable hoard apparently. Being forced to walk naked and beaten away from such a creature apparently gave one a rather keen memory on how to get back there.

Aeria held in her hand a fistful of small pebbles, swiped from outside before she had begun her trek down here. Each few steps she let one of them drop to the ground. While she had every intention of trusting Elise's map, she didn't want to have to peer at it while making a run for it if the worst happened and she was seen. She could be very stealthy if she had the mind to be, today opting to wear all black. Pants, a long sleeved shirt and soft soled shoes. Besides her face and hands she was rather fitted to blending in with the shadows. She breathed easily and as quietly as she could, slipping along and giving the map a glance every time she reached a turn. At last she reached the door the map seemed to indicate. Taking a breath she slowly pressed open the heavy door, remembering Elise had said that the creature lived in the boiler room or something like that. All that meant to her was that it was likely to be very bright and very hot within the room. Speed would be her friend. Once the door was open she peered around its edge and inside. Speed may be her friend, but if the creature was visibly within the room she may have to make a hasty retreat and return another day. She wasn't entirely stupid.

((Sorry this took so long :/ Blasted winter business))

Within, the furnace room was a massive dome set in an ever-remade wall of bricks, flagstones, concrete, and what appeared to be living rock. The center was marked with an enormous furnace that began searing Aeria as soon as she stepped inside. Nothing in the vast room stirred aside from a few drops of boiling water that fell to the floor from an expansive and erratic network of copper pipes expanding into the ceiling like a delta. Everything in the room spoke of heat. The walls were lined with metal hooks, upon which hung blacksmithing tools and safety gear, crude iron restraints that had turned an off-red shade from the heat and moisture, and Aeria's objective, scattered implements used to stoke the flames or punish delinquents. Some of the sharper items seemed tinged at their tips with flecks of dried blood, and a couple of the pokers had small bits of burnt skin clinging to their crevices. The furnace had an inset that was obviously of more recent construction, apparently designed to act as a simple forge built on the roaring flames. Beside it was an anvil, a heavy smith's hammer, a pair of tinted goggles, and a small, silvery blade with a heavy tang and, at present, no handle.

Around the walls, where there were no hooks holding prizes, there were doors and alcoves and nooks containing an intensely random assortment of items. The one furthest from Aeria held what looked like a cracked cocoon large enough to hold a small person or an immensely large butterfly. The cocoon was surrounded in cobwebs and dust, though the prints of bare feet were obvious in the filth leading away from the fires. A small nook to the left was stacked to the brim with crude metal pieces. One to the right housed leather of innumerable types, from simple cow to what looked to be a massive swath of metallic blue snakeskin. A larger alcove beside the skins had a leatherworking bench and tools and a few pieces of finished work, mostly restraints connected with hefty bits of chain. On the left was another large alcove, this one stuffed haphazardly with random scraps of fabric. The majority of the torn clothing was in the colors of the school uniforms. It dawned on Aeria that the rent uniforms were stuffed together in a sort of nest when she noted a single massive egg, sapphire blue in color, peeking out from under half a vest.

(Tis perfectly ok. Winter is quite the busy season for me as well)

Aeria's eyes widened at the room's hellish insides. Hellish... a fitting description. Nothing but heat, fire and pain in this room. Though it seemed to be her lucky day, nothing living seemed to be present within the room except maybe for that oddly large egg... But eggs didn't have eyes, nor did they pose a threat to her. Sucking in a breath and burst into the room, wrapping the front of her long sleeved shirt around her palm to protect her skin as she began collecting whatever instruments in the room seemed particularly sharp or pointy. She wasn't here to browse, this was an In and Get the Fuck Out run. In her haste her hand acquired a fair share of small cuts, but she ignored the pain from the hardly noticeable injuries, filling the school handbag she had brought along with her with the devices. Once she had around ten knives she turned and burst back for the door, swearing to herself that if Lucifer in the flesh was on the other side of that door she wouldn't stop.

Of course in her haste she paid her curiosity little mind, being rather narrow minded in her search. But that held the negative aspect of her paying little attention to her surroundings. She would likely have missed any subtle movement.

The door burst out with a hard clang. Lucifer himself wouldn't have looked so confused as the gray woman standing there, looking for the life of her like she had never seen a human before. Yellow-green eyes danced across the figure before her.

The gray woman was tired. Well, as tired as she got, but it showed in her lazy eyes and her slumped shoulders. Zinc was still upstairs tormenting a delinquent, but the insane young woman apparently had a fetish for spiders. A fetish for spiders! Miss Steel's plans had fallen in half at the point she found one of her little mechanical contraptions receiving a loving kiss and an invitation to do the kinds of things that normally gave other students nightmares for years. Thankfully, that attraction didn't extend to serpents, but the whole new level of insanity had left the gray woman shaken badly enough that she needed a tea break before going back upstairs to her assist her assistant. But now even that plan was wrenched hard.

Before Aeria could find the shortest path around the gray-skinned barrier that had appeared, chains erupted from the walls - or was it from behind the gray woman and into the concrete - with a horrible rattling and crash, sealing that pathway to anything larger than a sewer rat.

"Knives. Kinky. If you wanted pervertables, it's easier to filch from the arts department," Steel said, a playful grin creasing her lips. "This is new, though, so, fuck it. Entertain me. What, exactly, are you doing down here, stealing from me?"

This was shaping up much better than tea.

Well... shit. Admittedly Aeria had not been fully prepared to actually see the gray skinned woman. Her timing was gods awful. Had she arrived a minute before she would be home free with her prizes, a minute later and she would have at least had a chance to notice and run from the monster. But her arrival had been the perfect point between those two that lead her to be trapped in the uncomfortably hot room with her. Her gray eyes were locked on the chains that blocked her only escape, her lip caught between her teeth and her momentum slowed to that of wary sidesteps while keeping her distance from the remarkably human-in-appearance creature. She chose not to respond to Steel's words, her mind running over what little Elise had told her about the creature. Eying the chains once more she let her right hand dart into the bag, drawing forth one of the daggers and charged the woman. Hopefully she could get past her and then... well she had to pray her own abilities could snap steel. She had never tested them on metal before, usually limiting how far she pushed herself due to the pain involved. But she really didn't have a choice in this case. Elise had made one thing clear; she DID NOT want to become a victim of this one's tender mercies.

The gray woman just smiled and stood. This was definitely going to be better than tea and trying to calm down. Panic had this wonderful little odor that reminded Steel of aged pu-erh over-steeped in urine. Which reminded her that she hadn't brewed any of that up in a while. Her smile turned thoughtful, and she nodded slightly.

The knife sank deep, deep into the gray woman's flesh. Yellow blood gushed from the wound, pouring hot over Aeria's hands and running down to the floor. It steamed slightly as it dripped. The smile faded from the gray lips, and groan loud enough to quake in Aeria's lungs resonated from within Miss Steel. As the gray woman slumped back against the wall, giving the intruder a clear escape, Steel moaned again, this time blatantly in masochistic lust. A sultry look glazed gray features as they fixed happily on Aeria's.

"Oh my. This is the best robbery ever. Hurt me moooore," the gray woman pleaded, lidded eyes begging the dark-haired woman.

Military trained combined with directed fear made the blow land firm and true in the gray skinned woman's center of mass. She let the knife go, having plenty remaining and retrieving it would slow her momentum. The woman's blood was an odd feeling on her hand, but not one she paid much attention to in her flight. Nearing the chains she grit her teeth, willing her mind to shoot forth a 'blade' of her will rather than a 'blast' of it. An experiment run under the worst circumstances but one she felt necessary. She needed to focus the greatest amount of energy into the smallest space to have any hope of damaging those chains at all. The woman's lustful moans caused by the dagger in her chest were also quite the motivational factors to succeed.

She let loose the pent up energy, an invisible wave of force blasted from her body towards the chain, held in a much tighter space than she usually let it out. Sadly she lacked both the focus and experience to maximize the potential of her ability and it was only effective in shearing maybe a millimeter or two into the metal. An impressive accomplishment, but not enough to break the chains. She plowed into the 'web' at nearly a full sprint, the chains giving just enough to keep herself from true harm, but sending her to the floor with the breath knocked out of her and in a decent amount of pain. She'd feel that tomorrow. A second later the backlash of her ability hit her. A small migraine came out of nowhere, her senses blurred and she found it difficult to get back to her feet. Her mind was screaming for her to move yet the signals it sent were too unfocused and her body was not responding very effectively to them.

The knife in Steel's sternum fell to the floor unceremoniously. Through the haze, Aeria caught a glimpse of the gray woman standing over her. The wound was healed as if nothing had happened.

"Are you sure you're Soviet? I thought they were known for better engineering than this," the gray woman mocked, a playful grin on her face. "And I'd think you'd know to take something more exciting than the knives. Or are they for a girlfriend? If that's the case, I really must warn you that some of those are far too sharp to be used for play."

Before she can recover, Aeria found herself hauled halfway to her feet and dragged back into the furnace. A thin chain whipped from the gray woman's back to pick up the bag and bring it along. Aeria and the knives were dumped on the hot floor, and the door flung itself closed and latched without a single finger touching it.

"Now, let's see, my current theory is that you're into knives, so I think I'll just cut on you a bit until you give me a better reason for you to be down here filching through my belongings," Steel said as she bent to pick up a particularly long blade with a razor's edge.

Aeria slumped to the floor unceremoniously where Steel dropped her, the small shock of impact and the heat of the floor on her face doing much to snap her out of the mental haze that plagued her system after using her abilities. That and a nice cocktail of adrenaline and endorphins that was the body's 'I am so screwed' response. She looked up towards the gray woman with quickly clearing eyes and clenched lips, the main emotion on her face showing as rage. She was terrified, and rightly so, but she was no timid little girl who cringed and begged for mercy.

As Steel drew the knife Aeria let loose another blast of kinetic force at the woman's hand, trying to knock the blade free, punctuating this action with a gruff "I don't play with knives you freak." Even a kitten cornered by a wolf would at least paw at it in some sort of defense. She refused to wince as the corresponding twinge of agony shot through her system. She needed an escape and she didn't exactly see one. Her mind was frantically running through an ever shortening list of possible actions while she bode her time, forcing herself to try and rise to her feet so she wasn't prone at the woman's feet, saying as firmly as with as little shaking possible "And we Soviets are best for simple and effective plans. And improvisation."

The psychic blow knocked the knife twirling high into the air, its sides blinking as it flew. The gray woman grinned and gave Aeria a bit of space, enjoying the harshness of this new bit of prey. There was something intensely rewarding about the cricket that fought and struggled so viciously when caught in the spider's web despite the hungry creature waiting just aside for its prey to wear itself down.

"Alright, so you're not kinky with your knives. What are they for, then?" Miss Steel asked, cracking her knuckles. "And before you think it, you can't beat me in a fight and I'm faster than you, so you're not running out of here. The only way out is for me to let you leave." She took a small step to the side, barely shifting her feet really, and held out a hand to catch the flung blade with a small flourish. Yellow-green eyes remained locked on Aeria's throughout the performance, their edges still playful despite the student's continued disobedience.

"Or would you rather talk about that nifty little trick of yours? I have some tea that I think would help with your headaches, and any time you want to actually stretch your legs I can give you free reign, so long as you use it to hurt me," Steel added, her smirk turning hungry.

'So long as you use it to hurt me'. Disturbing words indeed coming from the creature before her. And despite her best efforts she could not think of a way out of this place. Steel was without a doubt faster than her, stronger than her, regenerated from even lethal injuries at a speed which was disturbing and didn't seem to feel pain. Add that to the fact it seemed she could manipulate metal or something along those lines and Aeria was quickly finding her mental plots all coming to the same stone wall of impossibility.

She took in a small breath, trying to calm the wave of panic that was threatening to take her over and responded "There's a creature that... well I want to kill him. Those instruments were going to be a means to accomplish that end. And some tea would be lovely." She kept her gray eyes locked on the reptilian eyes of the other woman, refusing to give in to the temptation of breaking down and begging for her mercy. She would not give her that satisfaction and she inferred that begging would have the opposite effect on this woman. Her best bet was to hope that she would bore the creature into letting her go. It was a weak plan, but of all of them it had the greatest potential for success in her mind.

The gray woman lead Aeria over to a small wrought-iron table with matching chairs, offering her one. Steel continued on to the furnace, moving a pitch-black kettle closer to the flames, and turned back to Aeria. With a dismissive wave, Steel summoned a set of cups and a pot to the table in a Japanese style, their sides painted with black and yellow spiders. one hand dipped into her vest and shuffled about for a bit, then came out with a small bag of herbs, which she carefully measured into the small pot.

"This is a good root for psychic ailments. You really should try and find a way to not hurt yourself so much. You won't protect, or, for that matter, kill anyone if you only get one blow," the gray woman chided. She walked back to the furnace and picked up the kettle, which was already boiling from the intense heat. She poured water into the pot and smiled at the bittersweet aroma. The water turned black almost instantly, swirling about with its Brownian motion until the bottom of the white pot was completely blocked from view.

"But tell me about this creature you want to kill. How has he slighted you? I'm sure it's something more egregious than the usual tag and bag routine my kind seems to partake in."

Aeria sat in the offered chair slowly, almost as if she expected it to come alive and grab her. Truthfully she was terrified at this point and though she managed to keep it from her face her body was showing the tell tale signs of it. Her reactions had a jerky twinge to them, her heart was hammering in her chest and this rendition of a civil conversation and tea time was doing to little to assuage her fears. Steel's words managed to snap her mind out of analysis into a mode capable to making a verbal response and she responded slowly, her words measured, both trying to not offend the 'woman' and to keep the fear from her tone "Haven't discovered a way to do that yet. The repercussions inhibit practice." Had the effects of her using her ability been so outwardly obvious? She took one of the spider printed glasses, looking between it, the dark tea and Steel a few times before letting out a small sigh and blowing across it, bringing the borderline scalding liquid to her lips and taking a sip. She doubted the woman would poison her or something like that. She lowered the glass, a small face given at the temperature of the water alone, tasting not so wonderfully either, and she answered in a clipped tone "I don't take kindly to being tagged or bagged. Beaten, used, chased or raped. So if that is common in this place then I am going to definitely need a few sharp objects. As the body count is going to be high." Of course with so many regenerating, immortal and cross dimensional creatures in this place her claim was something almost impossible to fulfill. But she didn't know that and it truly was pure bravado at this point anyways.

In the span of Aeria's short description, the gray woman managed to finish her entire cup of tea. Just the small sip, though, seemed to ease the ache in Aeria's mind and refresh her power ever so slightly. The gray woman seemed to have a thought, and her hand slid the bag closer to Aeria.

"You can have those for free. It's important that the divide between your kind and mine not be too vast. It would be so boring if it was. But, yes, I'm afraid your experience with that one is going to be repeated many, many times over, and trying to kill all of them is going to be a lesson in futility. You should pick out the more egregious offenders, and the ones easier to destroy, to focus your ire towards. That's what Father does," Steel said, pouring herself a second cup of the strong herbal infusion.

"Now, those knives. You surely can't leave with them until you earn them somehow, and I don't think they're the best choice for inflicting harm on your enemies anyway. Let me think, then, of what would be appropriate, though I'm open to suggestions," the gray woman added, tapping her chin thoughtfully.

Aeria blinked in surprise at just how effective the tea was in lessening her headache. In just a small sip she found relief from it and that alone was amazing. Not even some heavy duty prescription meds could end her headaches with any great degree of success. Pragmatism overriding the bitter taste to the tea, she took another tentative sip of it. Gray eyes slid to Steel as she spoke, wincing slightly at her mentioning of 'earning' the weapons. Gods knew what that would entitle. But the rest was both informative in a way and more than that it held some other tidbits that were interesting.

"Your Father?" was her first question, mostly delivered aloud as her mind tried to concept the 'father' of such a being. She let it hang in hopes for an answer for half a second and barring a response would continue "I did come to that conclusion myself... but this place doesn't strike me as one that has several guns just lying about. And knives are better than fists. And my ability hinders me too greatly to be used in all but the most dire of circumstances... which thank you for the tea by the way... it helps out a lot... what is in this?" Perhaps she didn't want to know actually... still it was out there and voiced.