The Temple of Artemis(Pre-Event/Intro Thread)

[Ada Wong]

Wizard person responded a little better than Crowley had anticipated, to say the least. At least he hadn’t been stabbed or filleted like a fish by some arbitrary concealed blade— that was always a plus. Maybe he’d rambled a little too much and frayed everyone’s nerves, but other than that, it was a stellar performance. Top marks in the communication department, that was him.

“A triumvirate. Snakes. Right.” Crowley shrugged and dug his hands into his pockets as the guy stormed off, feeling very much alone even with the Adorned Armor standing right next to him.

Well, wasn’t this a hairy situation— the wizard guy was clearly the self-serving type, maybe a little deranged even, but it wasn’t like they knew each other all that well, at least not to the point that Crowley knew his life story inside and out. It might have been best to exercise caution, in any case.

This is what you get for going out on a limb, Crowley, he thought sullenly, chancing a brief glance at Koren. Better the devil you know, right?

“Might as well.” the demon replied to the former pointy-ended weapon when asked if they could be all in this together, nodding his head off to the side and taking a good look at the temple for what seemed to be the umpteenth time. But hey, it was what everyone else was doing, too, talking and squinting around a whole lot as if this were all just some crazy, ludicrous dream. If it was, Crowley was sure he would have one sucker of a headache when he finally woke up.

There was very little to do now, though. He would have to suffer through this nightmarish dream until the bitter end. At least Koren was there, to share in his sorrows and be a balm for all of his reservations, a shoulder to lean on and—

Wait, no. He was gone. Crowley frowned at the empty space where the Adorned Armor had stood only a few moments before, now vacant. Okay.

After a few seconds of internal panicking, Crowley saw Koren standing a few long strides from where he had originally been, flexing his shoulders and inspecting his armor in any reflective surface available. It was probably a novelty, being able to see yourself for the first time or maybe the second, dependent upon whether the former Bejeweled Blade had undergone a transformation such as this before.

With a sigh, Crowley wandered over towards him and stood a healthy distance away, trying his best to seem like a team player rather than a cheerleader in the face of such impressively glittering armor. Meanwhile, differing conversations slipped crossways between the marble columns and over the smooth floors, ranging from what sounded like buzzing white noise to someone fiddling around with the dials of a radio.

"O.K.," Crowley muttered, observing as the mage decided to stop somewhere and sulk all on his lonesome. "This is fine. Who needs that doom and gloom guy, anyway? We'd best just stick together, Koren, unless you're seriously considering this trio-whatever."

He paused in his speech, voice rolling around like that of someone who was prone to ramble and ramble often. The hero Teucer drifted around several others in the the temple, keeping mostly to himself and to all appearances wallowing in his imprisonment. A faint blue sheen manifested upon the floor below him, like some strange inverted shadow.

Nodding in the sorrowful spirit's direction after situating himself easily within Koren's line of sight, Crowley asked, "You know that hero guy, huh? How's that?"