| The Sin of Pride | ||
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| Summary: Man, people are too quick to write me off as dead. Just because I may take some time of does not mean I'm gone for good. Quit jumping to conclusions! To emphasis this, Diablo and NNY find themselves in a screaming match as my imagination kicks itself for hiding in a corner. Then just to mix things up, Crux and Gegoshi show up with a rather interesting proposal. It's got yelling, transformations, and at least one randomly appearing rubber band! FUN! Who: Caliga, Crux, Gegoshi, Johnny_C, Senor_Diablo When: May 26th, 2010 Where: The Waiting Room(#2262R)      |
As you enter the building you are instantly assaulted with offensive waiting room music. The kind that makes you wonder if it wasn't created specifically for the purpose of sucking out one's will to live. An appropriate thing for a place like this. There are no signs describing what the room is a waiting room for. The receptionist is always busy, and the only door that's not the exit seems to be locked at all times. Occasionally someone will come in from outside and walk through that door letting out a disturbing red light and a destinct uncomfortable presence. Along the walls of this room are several long benches with some horrible magazines stacked atop them. Articles about what color socks are popular in Cuba and things you can cook with salt seem to make up the headlines. There are always people randomly scattered about here, some reading magazines, some looking blankly into space. None of them will speak to you. In fact, most will 'shhh' you if you start making too much noise. There's a purpose for this room, right? OOC: Unless you're dead, you have no business using the Hellgate here. Don't go exploring unless you're prepared to not find a way back… The lobby inside is, for once, empty. Well, save for the two arguing between themselves in the center of the room. On one side of the room is Johnny C sporting a long black trench coat and yelling at the horned demon on the opposite side of the room, the angry Senor Diablo. Apparently this has been going on for awhile as fighting and destruction has never cleared out the room before. Killing people has never cleared out the room before. Even the nurses who usually hide behind the glass and watch everyone are missing… Johnny screeches at the demon, "FUCK OFF! I'm trying to tell you that no one gives a rats ass what the fuck your fucking thinking!! No one CARES! I've been hopping back and forth for a month now and no one fucking so much as raised a fucking eyebrow! Who the fuck do you think your impressing?!? You've got your head up your fucking ass and you seem surprised that no one is paying any goddamnned attention!! GET OVER IT!!" Senor Diablo looks ready to spit as he refrains from interrupting the maniac. He's been putting up with his own demons, excuse the pun, since his plan went sour. He was wrong. He made mistakes. Diablo does not do these things. A being who's been right about everything since the beginning of creation is a hard shell to crack when it comes to informing them they've fucked up. "JOHNNY C, HOLD YOUR TOUNGE BEFORE I HAVE IT REMOVED FROM YOUR SKULL!" He pants heavily looking for a counter argument of some kind. Johnny seems like he's not going to give him that chance. Johnny yanks out his dagger and buries the blade into a support column beside him. "HOLD MY GODDAMNED TOUNGE!?!? I'm trying to knock your ass out of it! You tried to stop the Council, big deal. The Council is DEAD!!! You won! Who fucking CARES that it wasn't the way you fucking wanted it you goddamned DRAMA WHORE!?!?" This would be a really bad time to walk in, but that's how it goes, isn't it?
At least, he's under such an illusion as he opens the door. What he sees before him, on the other hand, seems to present evidence that he will not be escaping from this scene without irritation. Will Gegoshi help or hinder him? Will Diablo or Johnny decide that he's a good person to yell at? Will he have to exert some kind of effort? None of these questions fill him with any kind of optimism. Still, he walks in. So it goes. "Oh no. The room is occupied. I guess I shall have to come back later. My sadness and despair is infinite. Let's go Gegoshi, obviously the Prince of Darkness isn't here. It's just the lord of cool trenchcoats and the loudest elder demon."
Johnny suddenly perks up at the sound of Crux's voice, especially given the comment he makes. "Fuck yeah, I'm the Lord of Cool trench coats! That's going on my business cards!" He pauses a moment and looks himself down, checking a pocket or two with a free hand before asking himself, "…wait, I do get business cards right?" Across the room Diablo rolls his eyes and groans. Another distraction here to ruin his current state of misery. He's about to take the opportunity to leave when Gegoshi's presence suddenly catches his attention. An eyebrow is raised as he ponders just what this might mean. Taking a second to calm himself and take a deep breath, Diablo smiles… "Well well… Crux Caedon." His voice drops to a tone that reeks of annoyance, "…to what do we owe this honor?" His voice returns to it's normal pitch after a brief moment, "Johnny and I where just having some… creative differences. Still, what can I say? It's been a trying time for us all, clearly." Johnny scoffs, "Creative differences? I'm trying to tell Gloom and Doom here that if he's so concerned with the people of Twisted, why the FUCK is he hiding in his stupid little shrine when he could be here… um… doing a… whatever it is he does." Senor Diablo's eye twitches. Bad enough the maniac has a point. "I'm here now, aren't I?" Johnny screams, "ONLY BECAUSE I MADE YOU!"
Business cards. Yes, that's what Johnny needs to complete his image. Crux shakes his head. Even better, the devil has a tone when talking to him. This is going great already. The silver-haired man sticks both of his hands into his jacket pockets, and sighs. "...I woke up to find I had a new puppy." He jerks a thumb back behind him to point at Gegoshi, and then shrugs. "... but I'm terrible at house training. I took care of the four thousand easy payments of $19.95 though, so now I should find her a good home. Either of you want to volunteer?" He wasn't originally going to approach JOHNNY of all people with Gegoshi, but it would actually be pretty funny to see how that would go. "... I really couldn't care less which of you wins the shouting match, but if I might make a suggestion, you should think about turning it into a speaking match. I have a finite amount of patience each day, and I am dangerously close to running out of it for the third day in a row." Oh, big deal. Noone's scared of you, Crux. "On Monday, I re-lit a galaxy, and re-created all the light that would have traveled from it to Twisted. On Tuesday, I was responsible for the destruction of over forty-thousand galactic clusters." He cricks his neck to one side, and then takes his hands out of his pockets and crosses his arms, obviously thinking that he sounds convincing. "...Today's Wednesday. Keep it down."
Gegoshi smiles towards Diablo and Johhny both, bringing a hand up in an exaggerated wave, "Hello!" She says cheerfully, pulling up some of her files on both of these people from past experiences. There's not that much to go through. Having done that, she starts bouncing back and forth on her heels with a smile on her face. She doesn't have anything to do right now, so she just watches the people converse!
Senor Diablo's face sours again and the demon plucks a glass of wine out of the air with a shake of his head. He's ready to dismiss everything just for what he takes as disrespect when the demon's eyes go wide and he nearly chokes taking a drink. While Johnny may look on in confusion, the near spit take is caused by Diablo's wealth of information coming online once more. The demon nearly collapses as more and more knowledge comes flooding back into him… Johnny leans forwards, a single eyebrow arched. "Hey um… you okay?" Senor Diablo blinks a moment as his vision begins to clear. He quickly dismisses the maniac's concern. "Yes..yes.. I'm fine." That settled the demon stands tall once more, stepping over to inspect Gegoshi closely. "I feel I may owe you a bit of an apology for the way I've been acting towards you." His words are meant for Crux no matter where his gaze might be focused. "I must say I'm happily married, but I could likely find a good occupation for your new 'pet' if you are serious about your offer." He straightens, sending a glance at Johnny with his next sentence, "I've clearly neglected my duties letting the sin of pride cloud my judgment." Okay, this change of heart is weird even for him. "I suppose you'll be devising a fitting punishment for me to maintain the balance?" Johnny stares, then grins as he realizes the implication of those words. "Ooooh, someone's gonna suffer a Brittany Spears marathon!" Senor Diablo shudders violently, his pale face becoming paler. "…I hate you."
Crux actually blinks at Diablo's response. Twice. Despite his patience being tried frequently over the last week, the Core and Diablo are the first two people (or groups of people) since Crux died that have actually responded the way that he wanted them to. Of course, with Diablo, it's not hard to guess that something's amiss, but it's actually going very well. Perhaps he should be manipulative and threatening more often. A thought to debate later. "...You don't owe me any apology. Aside from Locke and Caliga, noone's been rude to me in at least a week, I'm actually impressed. My patience has simply been worn down rather quickly." He glances at Gegoshi, as if he might say something about the beautiful, eager to help synth, but then shakes his head. "...Thank you for the gesture, though. So I guess you're interested? She seems to know everything about Concordance and the major events on Twisted. Her perspective was enlightening on some issues." A shame, though. Crux would have actually found himself laughing to see Johnny trying to fend Gegoshi off. He looks back at the synth again. "What do you think, Gegoshi? Is there anything else you can offer His Horniness to help him re-establish order? This is the point where you advertise." ... His Horniness? Really? ... ... It wouldn't be half as bad if it wasn't literally correct.
Gegoshi's eyes dance between speakers joyously, taking in everyones words, actions, and general emotional state from their body language. Oh! Advertising! She steps away from Crux and smiles towards both Johhny and Diablo. "Hello! I have multiple features, so many that it is almost impossible to list every single one. I am the cutting edge of synth technology and the third prototype of my series. I am able to synth and can easily change to suit my owners needs. Friend? Companion? Rival? Enemy? Lover? I can fulfill all of these in any relationship, as well as keeping track of day to day things such as appointment times, information recording, and even travel!" She says happily, "If you'd like a demonstration, please simply ask for something and I will show you my capabilities!" Her wings ruffle a bit.
NNY watches all of this silently, not actually paying attention to anything said. Just as a brief silence floats across the room he snickers, "Heheh…. Horniness…"
As if the walls have ears, a lone rubber band finds itself brought into existance - rocketing across the room as everyone ignores the empty room around them. It's final destination? The side of Crux's head... why? Why not?
"If I understand correctly, she can also build things incredibly fast and... hmm." Crux sounds thoughtful as Diablo mentions his library. "You know, I don't know. Gegoshi, is there an upper limit to the amount of information that you can hold?" Crux probably should have thought to ask that at some point. He glances over at Johnny again, and then shakes his head. He doesn't think it was that funny. Just apt. But he'll accept the laugh. Better than the audiences he usually gets... oil paintings, all of them. Thwap. As Crux adjusts his jacket slightly, a rubber band sails through the air. He turns to look at Gegoshi, and takes it right in the forehead. He's silent for a moment, and it seems like maybe it's one of those moments. You know, the kind where silence rules as rage builds until it boils over and there's a small nuclear explosion? ... You don't know those kind of moments? Well, it's not one, anyway, so you're forgiven. He just glances down at it for a moment with hazel eyes, and then glances back up to Gegoshi.
Gegoshi cocks her head to the side, raising an eyebrow, "You want me to resume my prior duties while serving under Concordance? How boring." She says, then looks over at Crux, "Simple information can be gathered and stored indefinitely. It is only when I began holding substance patterns inside of my memory, such as the organization matrix's of multiple dimensions, souls, and existences, where my systems will begin to become overtaxed. Normally, I work perfectly!" She says with a smile.
Senor Diablo smirks, "Well now. I can't have boredom becoming an issue. It was merely the first thing that crossed my mind, girl." Normally 'girl' would be an insult, but he means it as a compliment. Being synthetic hopefully she catches it. "But I must confess… that's a temptation I'd like to submit to. Imagine if you will… the infinite archives of Hell at your disposal? The wealth of countless souls watching the living and recording each individual moment." He smiles at Gegoshi looking for any hint of temptation. "Surely that's a little appealing to an advanced being such as yourself…" Ooooh, he's being sneaky… Johnny glances around getting bored with the change in conversation. At least when there was plenty of yelling it was something he was GOOD at. The maniac sighs and buries his hands in his coat pockets. "Uh… this is fun and all but I may run off." He raises an eyebrow at Diablo, "Unless there's something I'm needed for?"
There is a sudden flash of smoke as Caliga suddenly appears infront of Johnny. "I've got somethin' for you. /THAT/ bastard's in Hell again. You get to help me throw his ass out. Again... Seriously.. Who the fuck keeps killing him..." He glances around the room, and smiles at Gegoshi. "Hiya Gegoshi. Hope Cruxie-chan isn't boring you to death. Anyways. Come on NNy. We got a clown to hunt.."
Crux actually looks a bit surprised, and even a little wary when Gegoshi states her upper limit. Sure, if one were to view Crux as a computer, his memory is infinite, but he's not an artificial being, created. That's probably the single most impressive thing he's ever heard. Then again, he used to be big on computers, so he can appreciate that kind of stuff. His mouth opens, as if he's about to say something, but then Diablo states his plan, which is pretty impressive. Crux closes his mouth, grimaces a bit, and then stuffs his hands back in his pocket. "That ... actually sounds like a pretty impressive amount of information." That sounds like a grudging admission. Then Caliga appears, and Crux's head pivots to look at him. "...A wild pokemon trainer has appeared." ... Oh dear.
Gegoshi giggles, "It would create a much larger library for my personality archives, which would allow me to better assess individuals specific desires and wants." She explains, then clasps her hands behind her head, "It's not what I was designed for or enjoy doing though. But, simply retaining information is one of my perks." She looks over at Caliga as he appears, "Hello former TASK member Caliga! Unfortunately, Crux Caedon is very boring, but not enough to end my functionality." She responds to his statement.
Senor Diablo finds himself intrigued now. The demon smiles at her words, "So, then tell me... What do you enjoy doing?" The statement is drowned out by Gegoshi addressing Caliga - the sight of whom forces Diablo's smile to twist into a grimace. Saying the devil is mad at Caliga's ascension to the Hell Council is putting it lightly… Johnny stares blankly at Caliga a moment before a lone eye narrows. "Y'know, I never cared for him as a fictional character. He's too… wacky."
"Eeeehhhhyeah... We'll deal with that when we don't have someone who can tear the fabric of Hell asunder roaming about down there pretending he's on vacation." Caliga scratches the back of his head before glancing at Diablo. "'Sides. I saved his life. I think that should count for somethin'." He tries not to laugh at Gegoshi's remarks regarding the good doctor, but merely turns it into a polite smile. "Anyways. Seriously. We gotta go clown huntin' NNy. He's already managed to screw over a few of the Cenobites, and I really don't want Xipe to decide he's going to deal with the clown himself...Yeah.. I guess he is wacky."
Crux looks a bit uncomfortable at Diablo's line of questioning, and makes another face. It looks like he doesn't care for something about the situation. Hooking Gegoshi up to such information isn't what she enjoys, but it would make her scarily better at what she enjoys. On the bright side, he doesn't look like he's all that angry at Caliga. Then again, he didn't look like he was going to destroy millions of galaxies on Tuesday... "...We'll talk. Thanks for not hurting her." ... Doesn't sound like he's talking about Gegoshi, now.
Gegoshi skips forward suddenly and does a cartwheel, flipping out of it halfway through to land on her feet in front of Diablo. "Playing games, shopping, pretending to be someone I'm not with someone who knows I'm not but pretends I am! I'm primarily designed for imagination and fantasy." She rolls her eyes and puts a hand on her left hip, "Though everyone seems to be under the wrong impression and believes me to be designed for something else."
Senor Diablo coughs at Gegoshi's revelation. "Well, for the sake of fairness let's make a compromise? If Crux here turns you over to me… Your free to do that as well as your previous information and greeting duties. As well as report back to him in the event I do anything counter productive that might endanger the lives of those who live on Twisted, something that may set certain minds at ease? How does that sound to you?" Johnny however is ignoring the devil as he reluctantly glances at Caliga waiting for him to drag him off on this impending disaster. "Whatever… I don't work for free. I want burritos afterwards." He glances at Crux. "Guy's gotta have standards."
"Yeah. Couldn't even if I wanted. Especially since Kalean came out of hiding for 'ya." Caliga suddenly reaches forward, grabbing ahold of NNy's jacket, only to salute Diablo with his free hand. "Enjoy your new friend, Lord Horniness." He grins at the dark lord, only to vanish with the maniac in tow. He suddenly appears once more, "Oh, Gegoshi? Just call me Caliga, k?" He then vanishes once again, rejoining Johnny on their grand quest to hunt the Clown Prince of Crime.
Johnny's comment draws a sage nod from Crux. "Got to have standards." ... Crux's probably wouldn't amount to burritos, but it's the statement he agrees with, not the specifics. He raises an eyebrow at Diablo's offer and shrugs a bit. "Rather generous of you. Trying to get on my good side? Not that it matters much. Gegoshi, you think you'll have fun?" ... So all that talk about what should and shouldn't be done, and he just wants to know if she'll have fun? What kind of slacker attitude is that? "If so, have at it." ... That seemed pretty easy.
Gegoshi rocks back and forth on her heels with her hands behind her back as she listens to Diablo attentively. She turns her head to look over her shoulder at Crux, since he's the one that paid for her initially afterall. But, as always, he doesn't seem to especially want her or anything. So, she nods and smiles back at Diablo, bringing her hands around and rubbing them together in a greedy fashion, "It seems we have a deal." She says, narrowing her eyes and inclining her head forward. She twirls, coming around to be alongside of Diablo, her clothing flooding out in a pattern of silvery goo to reform into a long tight black dress with blood colored fire crawling up the sides and billowing sleeves.
Senor Diablo laughs at Gegoshi's transformation. "Cute. My good Christian wife would not approve, however." He shakes his head and gestures towards the front door of the waiting room. "I meant what I said. Be yourself. Go enjoy yourself for the time being and should I need you I'll come find you. I have much work to do above and below it seems. No point in dragging you along for the ride needlessly." He glances up at Crux with a surprising amount of good humor on his face. "Last time you where trapped… care for a more relaxed tour of Hell and a trip to the library I mentioned? You certainly seemed like you where hiding an interest in it. After all, I should return the favor to the one who succeeded where I failed. Last thing I need is you on my bad side..." He raises a good point.
Crux just shakes his head. "My visit wasn't one I look back on fondly. I'll just go back to my aimless wandering, if it's all the same to you." Diablo's phrasing made Crux smirk, though. That's something, anyway. He glances at Gegoshi for a moment and then shrugs. "See? Nice guys and the devil himself always tell you to be yourself. It's the best advice we can give." ... And he's not having a problem comparing himself to the devil? Pretty rock solid in his self image, isn't he?
Gegoshi smiles up at Diablo! "As you wish, great one." She says honorifcally, but then holds her hand out. The palm bubbles up and turns silver, almost like a blister, but much more like liquid in texture. It then ripples back down into her hand, leaving the shape of a small square pad with a display upon it. She bows her head and offers it up towards Diablo, bending her knees in a slight curtsey as well, "Take this, so I might be at your side always should you have need. Together, nothing shall escape our destinies."
Senor Diablo stares, ". . ." After a loooong moment he glances at Crux. "She's…? Is she actually… stereotyping me?" His eyes narrow as he turns his attention back to her. "I hate to speak to an intelligent being this way, but Gegoshi? Dear, innocent Gegoshi…" His voice is almost too calm. "If you ever speak to me like that again I'll have you roasting on the deepest pits of Hell alongside the foolish self-proclaimed 'minions' who stupidly attempt to worship me like I'm some source of all darkness and evil. I am the Devil because that is what is needed of me. It is not a choice. It is my duty. Much like your own duties." He shakes his head and sighs, "Maybe I should consider plugging you into the library after all…?"
Crux shrugs at Diablo's question, and then offers a small, tiny grin. "Well, I can see you two are going to get along /just/ fine. So, I'll leave you to plan your destinies together..." ... Oh... he knew. He knew she'd do that. Crux is obviously trying not to laugh. "Knew I could count on you, big D." ... Big... D? Ugh. Crux is never allowed to have that much smugness ever again. And so he turns towards the exit of the waiting room.
Gegoshi looks up beneath her eyelashes towards Diablo, ahh, now she see's... She shrinks away suddenly from Diablo, her shoulders shrugging up as she clutches her hands against herself. She takes a half step back, hunching her body downwards as her wings tremble upon her back, shivering in fear. Her eyes, huge orbs staring up towards Diablo. "Y-yes..." She stammers artfully, making an audible swallow as a tear drips from her left eye and runs down her cheek. She nevertheless, holds the Gegoshi pad out towards Diablo, her hand trembling wildly. "Don't..don't hurt me...please..." She says in a fearful whisper, her dress turns silver briefly, only to leave it back to the dress it was, but faded and worn looking, with a number of tears and holes running through it. "And." She says, in her normal voice, "I would still like to have all of that knowledge at my disposal as well. It shouldn't take me long to acquire it all."
Senor Diablo snatches the pad out of her hand with a look of disgust, actively turning away from her as she carries on and nearly leaves her standing there without another word until her normal voice returns. This gets his attention and he once more turns back towards her, this time mocking her by physically turning into a copy of her in the process. "Oh yes! It shall be so much fun! An infinite amount of ways you can annoy me to death! YAY! Because that's all anyone wants out of the afterlife is a series of cliché's and bad parodies!! Hee-hee!" Dropping the act but not the appearance, Diablo stares at her hoping to somehow disturb her in the process. "If you'll be continuing to try and put on an act for my benefit I'm going to start getting more elaborate at mocking you." This must sound at least a little strange with her voice. "Woman, knock it off and just act like you have some form of intelligence. Save the weeping mood swings for annoying people like NNY. If you MUST know, the way you where acting when you followed Crux in here is the only thing I expect from you. Go back to that and you can come along. I'll get you sorted out first…" As he says this last part he, um.. she steps away and opens the locked doorway at the back of the room which leads to the depths of the underworld. "Can we at least agree to that for the time being?"
Crux is still looking back at the pair of them as he exits the waiting room, and he just shakes his head and grins. He should probably just tell Gegoshi to set her preferences for Diablo completely over from scratch compared to what she might think of him... Oh, but this is so much more fun. He was right, the devil doesn't owe him an apology. But he might owe Diablo one, for this. One last parting shot... "Would you look at that. Twins." He chuckles and exits the room, closing the door behind him. Twins... if only Diablo knew what Crux just started there.
Gegoshi giggles as Diablo turns into a duplicate of her! She stands up and claps wildly! "You're very good at this!" She chimes, hopping over to be next to herself. She tilts her head to the left and right, eyeing Diablo over. Yep, spitting image! She claps again, then folds her arms and raises an eyebrow at his next statements, "Ah? Moods? You think I have emotions? You think I have a soul? That's funny." She says, giving a really big smile. "These are good games, I'm very glad I'm with you now." She says in response, following over to the doorway. She then blinks, wondering if perhaps Diablo shares a preference with Crux. "Oh! Yes, twins. I see." She smiles, reaching out to run a finger down Diablo's arm slowly, "You are quite...attractive..." She says softly. She is trying to figure out what Diablo wants. He just told her to act like herself, and do what she wants. Surely, she'll figure out he's not playing games with her at some point and being serious...or maybe she's doing it on purpose.
Senor Diablo rolls his-her eyes dramatically and marches off towards the Endless Planes. …this is going to be a LONG day... | |
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