Participants:
| Scene Title | The Doors Open |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | One of the local Bands - plus one extra - are there, when the Dark Hour chimes. |
Times Square is one of the most recognizable areas for both strangers and residents of New York City, if only for the marquee that circles around the 25-story Times building, after which the city was named. The New York Times is no longer here, but the moving sign remains, giving headlines, election results and other news. Once a dangerous place to be, the Square was redeveloped in the 1980s into what it is today. Times Square hosts the largest, oldest and best known New Year's Eve celebration in the world, marked by the 100-year-old tradition of lowering a ball atop One Times Square. Times Square welcomes millions of international visitors annually and is the home of many of the world's most respected communications and entertainment companies. The Times Square area boasts 150 restaurants and 39 Broadway theatres, among them the beautifully restored New Victory Theatre and Disney's New Amsterdam Theatre. The whole area has a feeling of /life/ about it, a vibrant atmosphere that pervades everything - morning, noon and night.
Off in the little mini Terra Incognita made by the power for the Dark Hour, Maia continues to maintain watch. To any mortal observers, Times Square is still just the same, though the crucifixes have mysteriously disappeared. They were probably taken down by the police or something afterall. Meanwhile, any godlings would be able to enter the new minirealm simply by accident..or is it fate?
As such, the young onmyoudo is practicing her violin right now. She's dressed in her snug fitting jeans, her Julliard hoodie and she's brought a music stand with her so she can at least do some regular things while patrolling the minirealm for anything that could possibly jump out and into the regular world…right now, she's playing Bach's Violin Partita in E.
Off in the little mini Terra Incognita made by the power for the Dark Hour, Maia continues to maintain watch. To any mortal observers, Times Square is still just the same, though the crucifixes have mysteriously disappeared. They were probably taken down by the police or something afterall. Meanwhile, any godlings would be able to enter the new minirealm simply by accident..or is it fate?
As such, the young onmyoudo is practicing her violin right now. She's dressed in her snug fitting jeans, her Julliard hoodie and she's brought a music stand with her so she can at least do some regular things while patrolling the minirealm for anything that could possibly jump out and into the regular world…right now, she's playing Bach's Violin Partita in E. (re)
It's only half accident, half fate - the rest is entirely up to the man that's just meandered into the newly-birthed land of darksome towers here in the beating heart of the Big Apple. The sound of the violin draws his attention from his own explorations, a notepad held in one hand flipped open and a pen in the other. He's been taking notes, making observations.
Gene brings the tip of the pen up to push the shades down the bridge of his nose slightly, a smile curving to his lips as he observes for a few moments before speaking - as she'll inevitably notice him sooner or later if he doesn't - in a casual tone, "Nice fiddle you've got there, beautiful."
And there's a slight yelp. Sometimes she just gets in the zone and she turns around looking back towards…waittaminute. He's not one of the corrupted Scions, at least not one of the one's she's met anyway. She puts her violin down in her case and picks up a few strips of paper, ofuda really and looks towards the older man.
"Um..thanks?" she says, blinking a little as she continues to watch him warily. "You didnt come from that..right?" she asks, pointing towards the tower. Like he's give an honest answer even if he did. So naive.
"Nope." The pen's tucked into the corner of Gene's mouth between his teeth as he flips through the small hand-pad to an empty page, asking around it in muffled tones, "Happen to know what it is? I was kinda hoping that somebody would." He takes the writing utensil in hand again, then, sketching the tower lightly with long, thin lines upon the paper, eying the ediface up and down, "I mean, I'm assuming it's not the Monolith. This ain't two-thousand one." A pause. "I suppose it could be late, though." He looks to her, one brow lifting, "Seen any monkeys spontaneously evolve recently?"
"There's David.." she says with a soft chuckle under her breath, making a direct crack at the Scion of Sun Wu Kong. But alas, he's not here and she just looks towards Gene, studying him intently. "According to what we found out last night when the big giant earthquake was hitting Times Square? Titanspawn reside in there, just waiting to come on out. Something about a D.." and she stops before looking towards him again.
"How did you get in here? You're…like us? Who is your mom? Or your dad? You know..the one that makes you…you.." And that had to be the worst line of questioning..ever.
"Well, that's promising," Gene mutters under his breath, giving the darksome tower the hairy eyeball, "I suppose we can't have that happening, although I have to wonder why they're just sitting around… really long game of Scrabble, perhaps?" He takes a note, then pauses, "Ah, sorry. I'm being rude. My card." A roguishly charming smile's flashed over to her as he tucks the pen back behind an ear, reaching into his coat and snapping out a business card to offer over to her. Of course, she'd have to step over close to him to take it, so it really depends on how wary she is.
And for once she wishes someone else were here. David or Haldor. Preferably Haldor, he'd probably beat this guy up with no questions asked, but for now she'll do it alone. Maia heads on over tentatively before she reaches for the card and looks towards it. "Gene Horkos.." she says softly looking towards the older man once more. "And I don't know what's going on in there, just know that we have a certain prerogative right now.."
It's really a shame she left her mother's mirror in her duffelbag cause right now it has Gene's reflection in it..
Gene Horkos, indeed says the business card. Associated Press, National Writer's Guild, Freelance Journalist. There's an email address. Faintly, the background of the card is a golden apple. Once the card's handed over, Gene looks back up to the tower again, scratching under his lower lip as he muses, "Anyone gone inside? And slash or come out again, in one piece or several? How do you know there's Titanspawn hanging out inside playing Dance Dance Revolution, or whatever it is they're up to?"
"No one's gone in yet. I tried opening it earlier, but it won't budge.." she admits ruefully, wrinkling her nose as she runs her fingers through her hair before she scoffs a little at his suggestion. "And I doubt the Titanspawn play Dee-Dee-Arr.." she says, looking over the card before putting it into her small pocket. "I'm Tsuchimikado Maia.." she says, finally introducing herself as she extends a hand out towards him.
"Are you sure? I'm sure some of them could be dance fanatics," replies Gene with a wicked-edged grin back at Maia, batting a wink at her over the edge of the lowered shades, "Titanspawn are people too. Well. Some of them. I suppose most of them are, like, giant worms and things. And you really have to stretch the definition of 'people' too, at that, but, in any case— " He reaches out to clasp her hand in a firm shake, "Maia. Good to meet you. Don't let me interrupt your fiddling, or anything."
"No, it's okay. I was just practicing cause I was bored, nothing else to do.." she admits ruefully before letting out a soft pshaw from under her breath as she meanders back over towards her music stand. However, it's what he says about Titanspawn being people too that makes her tense once more, her brows furrowing as she gives him a suspicious glance.
"Oh, don't look at me like that," Gene replies without missing a beat, looking up and over the tower again with a slight purse of his lips, "I don't have a very high opinion of people either."
Maia continues to glance at him suspiciously until she puts away somethings in her duffelbag and she gasps as she sees his reflection (though idealized in a Greek way). She blinks a little before looking towards him. The mirror is probably hunkier or something and she keeps on looking back and forth a bit. "No way.."
"Well, if you pick up a newspaper and— " He pauses, then, and glances over to the girl with a brow's arch, "— oh, you weren't talking about that. What? Is that the new Blackberry China? Did Carson Daly bring back Total Request Live, or something?"
"Come over here..I think the fates were right, the mirror does show people we need to find.." she whispers softly still looking towards the mirror. For he is hunky..and very Sparta esque. At least in this idealized Greek version of him.
At the beckoning, Gene ambles along over to take a look at the mirror. A brow quirks up, and he glances from the mirror to her and back again, musing, "Well, now that's an interesting little toy you've got there." A pause. "I don't think I've ever been in that good shape, though."
"Well, you're one of us, and if you're in that mirror then the others havent gotten to you.." she explains as she eases on down and flops on some leftover rubble from the massive destruction that took place the previous evening. "You're a journalist, so you probably want to know what's going on.."
"If you'd like to start from the beginning." The pen's retrieved from behind Gene's ear, and he clicks it alive once more, hand dropping back to rest against the pad as he gives her an expectant look, one brow lifting.
Maia just stares at him for a bit as he takes out the pen and the pad as she wrinkles her nose while staring towards the older man.
"You're not actually going to write a story about this and publish it, are you?""
"What? No, they'd think I was out of my mind," replies Gene in dry tones, looking back up to the tower with a thoughtful expression, pen tapping to the pad's edge, "No, I think I'll blame it on Islamic fundamentalists striking at the heart of New York City. Anti-Christianity could explain the crucifixions. It'll provide a lovely smokescreen of panic and racism to cover things up."
"No..that would be incredibly messed up. We don't need more xenophobia. But those three who were on the crosses..better known as the avatars of Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos..the Norns, the Moriae..in other words, the three fates themselves.." Maia says softly, running her fingers through her hair as she hrmms for a few moments. "So I guess I can start…it all happened about two weeks ago.."
Jolie has disconnected.
"They crucified the Fates?" A startled look over, Gene's eyes widening behind the shades. "Okay… two weeks ago, I'm listening."
"It all started then. A bunch of us..received notice from our parents. My mother is Amaterasu-omikami, goddess of the sun of the Amatsukami. I'm here at Julliard for schooling, and I ran into a Scion of Sun Wukong. Harpies..lots of harpies. Harpy attacks consistently happened..I'm sure you heard about it in the news..all the people mauled and missing? Nope..harpies.." she says with a soft sigh.
"'David', I presume?" The pen scribbles down a note, or two, Gene's brow furrowing a bit, "Harpies, I see. That does explain those stories I was hearing… what sort of notice did you recieve? A warning about the harpies?"
"We fought the harpies but we found three others in a warehouse. A fiery redhead named Mordred, a beautiful blonde named Helena and a wimpy ass necromancer by the name of Colm. They were bringing the harpy eggs and planting them around the city. We think they needed the news of nharpies killing people to spread so that they could accumulate power.." Maia says softly. She's sitting down on the rubble in the mini Terra Incognita. She's not alone, there's Gene sitting next to her and her duffel bag, with the mirror of Amaterasu open has his reflection in full I AM SPARTA regalia..much hunkier too.
The tip of the pen in Gene's hand twitches lightly in tight circles and lines as he takes notes in his small hand-sized pad, listening to Maia with a slight frown pursing his lips. "It makes tactical sense," he admits, "One legend is as good as another, after all… was it to do…" The pen gestures to the dark tower risen out of the earth, "…all of this?"
Rupert casually lights a cigarette from the roof of a building just outside Times Square. He ties a long, thick string to a pipe, and tosses the other end to the ground, where the rock it's attached to clatters loudly through a window on the first floow of the next building over. "Gotta use this trick on stage," he mutters before leaping deftly onto the line and running with inhuman grace down it, before dropping to the ground. He stalks into the Terra Incognitae and pauses to look around.
And there's yet another. Of course, Rupert should be recognized for the crazy famous rich death metal rock that he is. "And we ran into him as well.." she says pointing towards the Indian before shaking her head at the question. "I honestly don't know. I do know they captured me and I was found and saved by a Scion of Ares. We were in a Titan Realm as well, and I wouldnt be surprised if we were actually in /that/.." she says pointing towards the large castle like structure with the spires all rising from the ground.
"Others were attacked as well. Haldor, hunky drummer guy was attacked. I found him at a club. Some woman named Anne was found by the others as she was about to be taken as well. They wanted to sacrifice us to something, but I think that's where the fates came in. Their avatars were captured and sacrificed..that's what caused all this..they mentioned something called the Dark Hour.."
"Hmn. Ripper Patel, if I remember a face…" A note's taken on the pad, Gene's eyes regarding the man that's just scampered down the line to the ground level and into the mini-realm that's formed here about Times Square from over the edge of his lowered shades, "Huh. Interesting." Scribble, scribble, write. The fedora'd gentleman turns his attention to the spire, then, and he grunts, "The Dark Hour? Sounds like a good name for a band."
"Wow," Rupert says as he stalks toward Maia and the new guy. "Guess I really am needed, what with all the titanspawn about. Oh, no, that's just Maia picking up another bloke." He wags a finger at her. "Those dockworkers weren't enough?" He shakes his head and takes a long drag off his cigarette, looking at Gene with an assessing gaze. "Now, who're you? Keep in mind that anything starting with 'P' and ending in 'aparazi' is a bad answer."
"I'm not picking up a new guy!" Maia says with a huff as she reaches in and pulls out the mirror and shows off the hunkier more warrior idealized version of Gene for all to see..that is if they pose in. "He's one of the people we were meant to find..cept ya know..he found us.." she says with a bit of a furrow of her brows.
"I try not to wait around for things to happen," Gene replies with aplomb, "I get bored just sitting around the house all day. Another note's taken in the pad in his hand, and then he lifts his head to flash an ever so charming grin to Rupert's aggressive greeting, "Gene Horkos. Associated Press. And no, I cover real news. Or occasionally fabricated." A pause, a shrug, "You know how it goes."
Rupert looks at Maia, scandalized. "You're talking to reporters without me? That hurts, Sailor. That hurts." He turns back to Gene. "Right, so who's your daddy? Or mum. You take my meaning, because that fella in the mirror tells tales."
"It could be a mother you know. I mean Athena is a goddess of war..ish..kinda.." Maia says, wrinkling her nose as she puts the mirror back in her duffelbag and stretches her arms into the air. "And why are you back here, Rupee? Thought you werent doing the shift thing David suggested?"
"Athena?" A twitch of Gene's brows upwards over the edge of his shades, nearly to the fedora's darksome edge. Then he exhales a snort, sweeping the pen up to click it closed, "Perish the thought. Don't let her hear you say that, she'd probably… I don't know, plague you with owls." A smirk, "Or whatever she does. I'm a son of Eris, if you have to know, Ripper. And in fine company as such."
"Hmph," Rupert snorts at Maia. "Thought I'd better check in to make sure Monkey Boy hadn't gone psycho on anyone else. Man's twitchy. He could blow at any moment." He winks, and turns to Gene. "Eris? Goddess of … chaos, yeah? She's get on well with my mum."
"Kali is his mom.." Maia stage-whispers for a few moments as she looks back towards the spires once more, wrinkling her nose a little as she chews on her bottom lip. She stretches her arms into the air while looking around to see if anyone else is coming into the little Terra Incognita or if anything is coming out of the spires..
"Discord and strife," Gene corrects with a shrug of one shoulder and an easy smile, clearly not minding the difference enough to really exert himself in correcting the other man. "Monkey Boy?" Both brows lift, once more, as he regards Rupert with interest, wordless encouragement to continue.
"Yeah, his dad's a monkey. He jumps around a lot." Rupert shrugs and puffs his cigarette. "You'll get to know him, one way or another. Lot of scions in this city, and it seems we have to meet every bloody one."
"Technically, his daddy's the Monkey King from Chinese myth and legend… If you can call such things such anymore," remarks Haldor. The Viking emerges from behind a cluster of oily black spikes that have long since erupted from the ground. He glances around curiously for a moment or two before shrugging as he makes his way toward the others. "Something around here is dripping off-key. It's very annoying."
"The Great Sage Equal of Heaven, Sun Wu Kong.." Maia adds though she blinks as the Viking arrives with that bit of knowledge. She beams brightly. Oh if David could see him now. She runs her fingers through her hair as she wrinkles her nose and peers curiously towards Haldor for a few moments as she looks around once more.
And that's when it happens, the sounds of bells ringing can be heard. It's like that of a cathedral's bells, but it'sa bit more dissonant. Angry. Almost ominous in a way. The doors towards the large building start to open ever so slowly and anyone looking out of the little Terra Incognita would notice that every human outside has become a coffin once more. There's only inky darkness.
Maia cries out a plea to her mother. "Amaterasu! Protect us with your divine radiance!" she cries out as her body starts to illuminate the entire area once more as she looks over towards the opening doors. "Something wicked this way comes…"
Thump. The Monkey Prince, Wielder of the Qiang of Ao Guang, Asshole Extraordinaire, etc. etc., lands out of the sky next to Maia. "I leave you alone with the Spire for -twenty minutes- while I go take a shit and get something to eat," he comments, punctuating the statement with a growl, "And the world's ending again."
"This must be…" Gene checks his notes, "…Haldor, then?"
The words of the Erisian Scion are cut off by that deep, dissonant ringing, and he lifts his head to regard the great doors of the building. The man's lips purse in a frown, and he carefully reaches into his coat to tuck the pad away. Those fingers curl instead about the handle of an old, tarnished pistol, thumb pulling the hammer back with a creak like a tomb's door opening. "Well, well, well," he murmurs, "Avon calling, Children of the Titans."
Rupert groans and pulls out his bagh-nakh. "Not a-fuckin'-gain." He pushes his sunglasses back up and looks around, the pure blackness as clear as noon sunlight to him. "Well, let's get on with it, then."
"… Do I know you?" inquires Haldor of Gene. The Viking is automatically suspicious, if only because that is a very natural reaction to suddenly being called by name by someone you don't know. He sighs a bit as the bells start ringing and he slowly reaches into his hoody's pockets, wrapping his hands around his drumsticks.
And the doors continue to open until one can see inside. It's a foyer of sorts on the inside. Red and black the colors of choice inside the castle of doom, though nothing seems to be coming out.
"…."
Maia just stares for a few moments are the colors can be seen due to her illumination. She wrinkles her nose for a few moments as she scratches the back of her head before grabbing a bunch of her ofuda and stuffs them into her pockets.
"Or not.."
"I think we've been invited inside," Gene observes after a few moments of silence, slanting a look to the Band that's gathered about the dark spire's entranceway, "We could take their invitation, or, well, I've got a pack of cards in one've these pockets. We could pick up a game of Blackjack while we wait for the bad guys to get here." The pistol's dropped low when nothing immediately makes itself noticable, adding after a moment, "Poker, maybe? Go Fish might be more your speed?"
"Yeah. That's probably not a trap." David peers inward, then looks toward the companions. "One might almost think the Fates were setting us up, telling us we had to go in and shit. Or, y'know, that you might be setting us up, if one were -really- paranoid, Maia."
"Texas Hold 'Em's always playable," remarks Haldor. He continues to suspiciously eye the side of Gene's head, as if waiting for him to turn into Michael Clarke Duncan and murder them all.
Rupert just stretches and exhales a cloud of smoke. "We takin' the invitation or not? I've never been one to refuse a red carpet."
"I'm going in. David can be paranoid all he likes, but I want to know what the hell is going on.." Maia says firmly and resolutely. She flips the bird towards the monkey prince as she wrinkles her nose and grabs her duffelbag full of things before she starts heading towards the open door. "And /obviously/ it's a trap, meaning that it probably isnt.." she continues as she walks along at a decent pace towards the open door.
"Man, I was just about to come in for my shift!" Jolie swaggers up to the others, holding a baseball bat over her shoulders like a lazy batter. "Hello, hello, hello, hello…and a new guy, rock!" She beams at Gene, then says, "Uh, Maia's going in?"
"We're all going in," David says, quietly. "What we don't know is how many of us are coming out." And with that, the Monkey Prince begins forward. As he goes, he reaches up to retrieve that matchstick from behind his ear and lets it grow to six or so feet long, his leaf-bladed spear suited for close quarters.
"She's insane, you know that," Gene observes in general, looking about the gathering over the edge of lowered sunglasses, "Completely and utterly insane. I think I like her." As the caramel-skinned woman approaches with the baseball bat, he flashes her a roguish grin, hand raising to tip his hat, "Gene Horkos. Associated Press. We've been invited to a lovely ambush, would you care to join us?" That said, he starts towards the doors at a casual saunter, gesturing with the gun in his hand in further invitation.
"Apparently she is," replies Haldor, "Though personally I'd rather ignore the red carpet for once and just play some Texas Hold 'Em until the lights come back on."
The Viking keeps his hands in his hoody, wrapped around his drumsticks as he starts edging after Maia. Can't very well let her go in all alone after all… Or, more to the point, can't let her go in all alone with David. Haldor tightens his grip on his drumsticks, eyes shifting about uneasily.
Jolie grins at Gene. "I'm Jolie, J-O-L-I-E. Just wanted to make sure you spelled it right when you write your story. You /are/ going to write a story, ain'tcha?" Smirking, she follows the others in. Can't let David go in alone with Maia. "Let's do this thing."
Rupert throws his cigarette down and starts to head in with Maia and David. "And off into the inky maw the sons of gods, they walk," he mutters to himself.
And Maia continues though it seems that the others are going to follow. Oh it's going to be a fun affair at this point. As she finally enters the castle, it's revealed to be a large foyer. There's two spiral staircases one going in one going in the opposite as she wrinkles her nose and starts pointing towards each one.
"Eeny meeny meiny mo.." she says her fingers pointing from one towards the other before she looks at the now even larger group. "Um..we all going to go one direction or split up?" she asks curiously, wanting input from the rest. "I'm for the latter..gets more ground covered that way..we could always designate how long we're going to explore then meet back here?"
"Yeah, that couldn't -possibly- get you guys killed," David quips.
"I vote for not taking strategies from Scooby Doo cartoons, yeah?" Rupert remarks. "Doubt our monster will be a man in a mask."
"Rule Number One of surviving a slasher flick: Don't split the group," says Jolie.
"He would've gotten away with it, too," quips Gene, "If it wasn't for you meddling scions and your monkey."
That said, he looks about the foyer, adding, "I always knew the Titans had excellent interior decorators. Now I need to hunt down the people who run those terrible house makeover reality shows."
"Splitting up might cover more ground, but you heard what the Norns said last night. We're better together than we are alone."
Haldor glances around suspiciously some more, shifting uncomfortably as he studies the foyer. Quietly the Viking folds his arms across his chest, clutching his drumsticks tightly in his hands.
"Yeah, and most of you -really- suck in a fight," David adds. "If we split up, it'll be harder to protect some of you. And what if hungry ghosts try to eat my brain? I'm no good with the dead or the incorporeal or brain-eaters, that's the specialty of the fairer of our group."
"Siniter or dexter.."
Maia looks back towards the others as she hrmms for a few moments, wrinkling her nose for a few moments before she lets out a soft chuckle under her breath, grinning wryly.
"Sinister then is David, Jolie and newbie? Dexter is me, Haldor and Rupert? That seems the most balanced considering what we can accomplish..though I honestly have no idea what the newbie can do.." she admits ruefully.
"Or we could -not- split up," David insists, again. "Like the majority of the group thinks is the sane thing to do."
"Half a mo'," Rupert says. "I'm with monkey boy on this one." He looks at Maia. "And can you tone that down a bit? It's clear as day to me in here anyway."
Jolie snorts. "Maia, you're the /only/ one who wants to split up. You're not gonna get makeout time with Haldor."
"I'm forced to take the Devil's Advocate here," observes the 'newbie' of the gathering, Gene, "And note that if we only cover one of the two possible passages, we may well miss whatever comes out the way we don't go, at which point it pours out into the World and devours New York City while we wander about a maze of infinite recursion."
"… That's… Actually a good point, New Guy whose name I haven't yet caught," remarks Haldor. The Viking arches a red eyebrow as he looks to David, Rupert, and Jolie.
"His name is Gene, and considering his reflection was in the mirror, I dont think he's one of the bad guys, unless the fates really want to eff with us, which would totally mean. And he said it about as eloquently as anyone can. You guys want to figure out what's causing this mess right? The Fates themselves said the answer lies inside.." she says firmly and resolutely, slightly annoyed as she looks out over towards all of them.
"Jolie and I can handle any ghostly problems should any arise. Haldor and David would be most combat effective and then Rupert and Gene..well..I don't know exactly what they do.." Maia admits ruefully, scratching the top of her head with a soft and nervous chuckle under her breath. "No offense.."
A shrug. "Fine," the Monkey says, his spear growing enough that he can plant the butt on the floor and lean. "Anyone who wants to die, split off and go your own way, and the rest of us will attempt to survive your folly. Obviously, splitting our forces is the best of all possible ways. Let it be known that -my- vote was to not fucking come inside, but that was ignored, too. This is all incredibly stupid, and it was very nice knowing those of you who will die on this ill-advised sojourn into the Titanrealms, where we are all utterly out of our depths and likely to be surrounded and destroyed at the leisure of our enemies."
"He talks a good game when he's outside just lookin' at the thing, don't he?" Rupert remarks, smirking. "Anyway, since Maia is bound and determined to get us all killed, might as well roll with it. I die, I'll go right back into the cycle and get reborn, so it's not the biggest setback."
"Our -duty- is to protect the World, not lead an assault into the fucking Titanrealms. Fuck you, Rupert. You were our best hope for a leader. I hope we don't get the world destroyed because you made yourself completely unsuited for the task." And so, the party splits. "Newbie, Saturday, you're with me." David stalks up the stairs to the left, spiraling upward, moving quickly, purposefully.
"Don't look at me, I'm just the 'newbie'," Gene observes with an easy shrug of one shoulder, "Just playing Devil's Advocate, as I said. I'll go along with whatever your valiant Band has planned, don't mind me. I'll just stand back here and look pretty." The clip on his gun's pulled out, he doublechecks to make sure it's properly loaded, and he slaps it back in. After the outburst from David, he slants a look to Rupert, "I think I see what you mean."
Haldor rubs the bridge of his nose a bit as David starts yelling. The Viking pops his neck and back a little bit, "You over-react way too quickly, Kong. I was just saying Gene made a good point. I didn't say I was changing my vote to splitting up. I still think if we're going to be in here, we should stick together so we can play off of everyone's strengths and weaknesses, not just a handful of them."
"No. I dont want to deal with his bullshit." Maia says firmly and resolutely going in the other direction. "You can all follow him for all I care. I don't wanna deal with the pompous self righteous asshole.." Yes, the daughter of Amaterasu is holding a grudge again. But it runs in the family and she starts stalking off in the direction of the other staircase.
Rupert follows Maia. "I thought I had an attitude problem. Frankly, I was hoping he wouldn't show up." He shrugs and lights a cigarette. "But he's nice to have around in case you need to yell sic 'em." He rushes to get ahead of Maia. "Now, tone down your flashlight, princess. I'm going first since I can see better without you, and we don't want to fucking announce our presence if there's something there."
Gene looks after Maia, then back up and after David, and scratches under his chin for a moment. "Oh," he observes conversationally, and quite out loud, "They're in love. Well, now all this arguing makes sense." A shrug, and then he strolls along up after the Monkey Prince, whistling a little tune under his breath. It's 'You could be swingin' on a star'.
Haldor sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose for a few moments. Finally the Viking sprints after Maia and Rupert, casting only the most cursory of glances toward Gene as the reporter mentions love. With a shrug, Haldor springs the last few feet to land beside Maia.
