Yan Sun 's giggles being muffled by Jessica's hand just causes them to intensify as she turns her head this way and that to escape. As Jessica's gaze tracks the rising 'stars' however, her own follows. "I think... think we're gonna be grounded again soon..." she says between heavy breaths as she looks up at the glowing pinpricks accumulating above them on the ceiling. With more light gathering, it's starting to become apparent that the
#HourglassClub – August 16, 2026
circular ceiling looks a whole lot like the dance floor they left behind below. While the two of them are still floating, there seems to be the faintest tug pulling them slowly upwards. The clubgoers around them must feel it too. Most ignore it, continuing their zero-G escapades, be it twirling close with a partner, or making wide, arcing moves akin to a swimmer, or in a couple of cases, just watching their surroundings and taking it
Jessica continues to struggle with the aftermath of her fit of laughter, ear-to-ear smile that's only briefly interrupted with a scrunch of her nose when Yan Sun informs her that it seems to be coming to an end. Her gaze tracks a few of the people that shoot off towards the ceiling before returning to Yan Sun, grin ever-present even as she seems to finally recover. Her body twists, fighting against the lack of gravity in an attempt at
fully facing her partner. It's sloppy, but she seems to be getting the hang of this! Slowly but surely. She brings one hand to Yan Sun's side, using her to better anchor herself and orient before her other hand moves to her opposite side. It seems that she's planning on riding it out until gravity does its thing.
Yan Sun seems happy to linger for as long as they're able. Her hands cling to Jessica to keep the two of them steady in relation to each other, right arm still wrapped around her waist and left hand on Jessica's neck, thumb brushing over the coarse, scarred skin of her cheek. She falls silent, just watching the familiar face in front of her as her hair floats freely above her head. There's a lightness to her expression that's been absent
lately, painful, heavy emotions rendered as weightless as the two of them. A small smile comes easy to slightly smudged blue lips as she just... watches, the warm, captivated look in her mismatched eyes saying the same thing her words did on the cliffs of a distant world not long ago. Upside down they linger, floating, as all around them golden voxel stars and fellow clubgoers start to drift towards the ceiling (floor?) above
Jessica sways, entangled with Yan Sun, their forms drifting slowly to the music. That feeling in the pit of her stomach as the floor above tugs at them is far too familiar for her comfort. The same feeling she's had all day. It causes her grip on Yan Sun to tighten ever so slightly, worried that if she lets go she'll find herself right back in that free fall. The one she tricked herself into believing that she had escaped. The one Yan
Sun had rescued her from. But she doesn't have to confront those feelings up here. Not right now. They still have tonight together. Just have to make it last. So she holds on for dear life, even as those around her begin to drift past. She just studies the woman in her arms, unable to keep her smile from turning a touch somber.
Yan Sun 's eyebrows furrow ever so slightly, an almost imperceptible shift as she picks up on something in Jessica's smile, but as gravity slowly, slowly reasserts itself, pulling them towards the inverted dancefloor at the top of the Hourglass, her attention is diverted as she shifts her weight to ensure that they approach with feet first. They linger a while yet, the last grain of sand to fall, but fall they do. It's a strange feeling, the
slow, gentle curve of increasing gravity. A fall in slow motion, no impact to come, just a sinking feeling and an inexorable, inescapable pull. Yan Sun's har settles around her face as their upward descent continues - or in some cases, in front of her face, a disheveled mess after floating free. Their feet touch down a moment later, still lighter than the harsh grip of Earth's gravity would ever allow - and it's not the ground they
touch. This entire inverted dancefloor exists entirely in defiance of natural gravity. Around them at the edges, the walls have given way to another surrounding ring like the ones they left behind below, but this too is inverted, tables, chairs, and a whole bar mirroring what they saw as they entered, although sparsely populated, awaiting the arrival of the dancefloor's occupants.
Jessica's gaze remains fixed on Yan Sun, unconcerned with the approaching ground. It's not until their feet are finally on solid ground again that she exhales a breath. Only now does she seem to realize just how intently she was staring at the woman before her, causing her to clear her throat and finally loosen her grip on Yan Sun, reinforcing her smile into something a little more believable as she finally hazards a glance around to
Yan Sun reaches up to brush some hair out of her face and try to bring some semblance of order to the mess. Her other hand shifts to grasp Jessica's as they separate slightly, giving it a squeeze. "You okay?" she asks as her focus returns to her, searching her face with a slight pinch in her brow, misattributing her discomfort to their gravitic escapades.
Jessica furrows her brow in turn, a weak attempt at playing it off with feigned confusion, and offers a few nods. "Mm." she hums dismissively, shifting away slightly and tilting her head back to peer upwards towards where they just descended from. "I am just thinking that we could have a looot of fun with this if they are letting us to stay after everyone else is gone." she muses, giving a mischievous little wiggle of her eyebrows as
Yan Sun lets out a surprised giggle that's swallowed as the music intensifies with the return of gravity. She ducks her head, a slight blush painting her cheeks. "I have a hunch they wouldn't allow that!" she replies. Around them, some of the other clubgoers start to dance, encouraged to find their footing by the thumping shift of the music, but more leave via the stairs, making their way to the outer circle to recover from the zero-G
Jessica scoffs as the red creeps into Yan Sun's cheeks. "Do not pretend that you were not thinking about it, slut!" she accuses through her grin, giving Yan Sun a playful shove. She effortlessly begins to bounce a little to the music as it shifts towards something more danceable, though she lingers close.
Yan Sun scoffs. "I wasn't!" she's quick to defend - it's true, her thoughts had been far softer, but convincing Jessica of that is a losing battle, and instead her attention goes to the bar outside the dancefloor, she too too moving a little to the music, even if she's not quite dancing. "Come on, I need another drink!" she says, tugging Jessica's hand as she starts to move.
Jessica gives a tilt of her head, leveling a flat, unconvinced look on Yan Sun in response to her protests. But before she can respond she finds herself being tugged along once more. "Gah! Why you are al-..." she stammers as she follows, weaving around the people remaining on the dance floor and raising her voice a little to be better heard now that they're no longer facing one another, "...Why you are always pulllllllling me! I am
Yan Sun snickers and pulls Jessica up the stairs before stopping and turning, pressing close again. "Mm, I don't know, you do bite a lot..." she points out, lingering close enough to be heard despite not raising her voice. There's a mischievous grin of her own on her lips now, light and playful. Despite her best efforts her appearance remains messy, the sharp lines of her lipstick disrupted by their zero-G makeout, and her hair tousled and
haphazard. Only her outfit remains unaffected, although close like this her vest fizzles into a blurry blue suggestion of one, unable to project properly with Jessica's body blocking it.
Jessica bumps lightly into her guide when she comes to a stop, leaving her pressed up against Yan Sun. There's a certain raw intimacy to places like this, the crowd and the noise making personal space more of a suggestion than a rigid concept. You lean in to be heard. You bump into people as you weave through crowds to get where you're going. Not that Jessica has ever had issues with public displays of affection, but here nobody would
so much as bat an eyelash at the way her lips nearly brush against Yan Sun's ear as she leans over and clicks her teeth together in an exaggerated fashion in response to the accusation, the sound only audible due to the proximity. "You know you love it." she snaps back without hesitation.
Yan Sun lets out a puff of air against Jessica's neck, the silence that follows her half-hearted attempt at a deflective shrug as much of an admission as the implicating grin that's fighting to break free as she pulls back to meet her gaze, defying her attempts to bite down on it. She continues to move slightly to the music as she remains leaned up against her, her efforts to drag her along to the bar temporarily sidetracked.
Jessica's grin widens. As Yan Sun pulls back, her gaze drifts to the messy outline of her blue lips. Bringing a hand to her partner's chin, she urges Yan Sun to tilt her head back slightly and uses the edge of her oil-slick black thumbnail to carve away at some of the smudged lipstick. "Your shit is fucked!" she teases over the music. "How is mine...?" she continues, pursing her lips for effect. The state of the matte black pigment
coloring her lips is only visible when the shadows casted by the club's colorful lights hit just right, but it doesn't seem to have fared any better than Yan Sun's.
Yan Sun 's gaze fixes on Jessica as she cleans up her lipstick, stilling her movements and just allowing her head to be shifted. She swallows and forces her eyes to travel down to her lips and the smudged black there, bringing her own grin back. "Same!" she replies, left hand lifting, the glow of her cybernetics illuminating Jessica's face. There's a faint, tingling thrum to her own thumb as she brings it over the errant lipstick,
Jessica snorts as she feels the soft vibration trace the edge of her mouth, but remains silent, merely giving a fond roll of her eyes at the fancy tricks. Once Yan Sun has finished, she smacks her lips together and runs her tongue across the front of her teeth before giving a small lift of her brow, nodding ahead. "Drinks!" she reminds, using her whole body to bully Yan Sun into moving along by pressing heavier against her, displacing
Yan Sun snickers and gets moving as she's full-body nudged, once again seeking out Jessica's hand and leaning the way amid the clubgoers that have filed off the dancefloor to chatter about the experience or just reassure themselves with steady ground under their feet. "Definitely a varren!" she calls back over her shoulder before they make it to the bar, where a tall, gangly woman with bright green hair and the same bartender outfit as the
man below is serving drinks to the fresh wave of patrons. Yan Sun orders herself a cocktail before looking to Jessica.
Jessica doesn't seem to mind the designation despite her earlier protest, merely snickering. As they reach the bar, she lifts her hand that's holding Yan Sun's, bringing it around the front of her so she can take a position behind her without releasing her hand, effectively hugging her partner from behind with her own arm. Her grin is once again felt as she presses her lips against the side of Yan Sun's neck while she orders, a
distracted, "Mm?" escaping her when attention is finally directed her way. She quickly realizes it's her turn to order and gives Yan Sun a squeeze as she peers over her shoulder, gaze traveling across the collection of unfamiliar bottles on display. When in doubt, leave it in the bartender's hands. "Give me something strong!" she calls out to the woman behind the counter.
The bartender snorts and replies with a "Coming right up!" as she gets to work on their order, soon presenting Yan Sun with a bright blue, icy drink that compliments the glow of her outfit - and cybernetics, of course. Jessica's drink is dark - almost black - with specks of glowing gold that are sprinkled on the surface of the liquid, tumbling slowly down through the dark within the hourglass-shaped glass. The club's signature drink, made
Yan Sun pays and takes her drink, leading the way over to a table in one of the less crowded sections of the circle. Even with the new arrivals there's less people here than down below. Another difference that quickly becomes apparent when it comes to this inverted upper area is that the outer walls are lined with windows, giving a view of the cityscape outside. The upside down cityscape. The vertigo-inducing sight of skyscrapers hanging
from a concrete ceiling, and of the murky endless yellow of the sky below is eye-catching to say the least, an impossibility made real by the millennium-defining discovery that is the mass effect, its remarkable power turned to novelty and entertainment here in the heart of humanity's empire.
Jessica collects her drink and follows Yan Sun towards the tables. As they near the windows and the reality of their current situation begins to settle in, she lags behind, temporarily slowing to a stop as she stares out the window in astonishment. At the fact that she's currently standing on the ceiling. In a club. On Earth. With a drink in her hand. It's enough to make most people lose their lunch. Thankfully she has a pretty strong
stomach. It's not long before she realizes she's begun to fall behind and picks up her pace to keep up, shaking her head to herself. "This place is fucking crazy!" she shouts over the music.
Yan Sun snickers and slides into a seat at the empty booth by one of the windows, casting a look outside for a moment. "I know!" she calls back as she looks to Jessica, a big grin on her face. "I was pretty mindblown the first time I came here!" She leans forward to sip of her drink from a bright pink straw, elbows leaned on the table.