[Tuco looks away from the shifting pattern and opens his mouth to reply, only for Niko to get there first. While he has no idea what 'tripping balls' is supposed to mean, the image it conjures up results in a cat-sneeze of a laugh, and he smirks despite himself.]
One time, I blew up a whole bridge. [It comes out as some kind of liquid slur.] Langstone. [With a little waggle of his fingers he adds a helpful:] Pchhhhhh!
[At some point between becoming a junior foley artist and falling silent again, he must have closed his eyes, because something bright streaks across the backs of his eyelids and he abruptly lurches sideways, dry-heaving. It's in the process of dragging his shirt cuff across his upper lip that he seems to notice Niko is done with the plates. Throat bobbing, he drops his arm and makes a small, questioning sound.
And then his face contorts into some grim mask of determination: there's absolutely no way he's going to let them open it up without him. That's his two hundred thousand.]
[Boone scoots out of the way when Tuco leans over to vomit, getting back to his feet once he sees that Niko is done with the plates. He doesn't approach the chest yet, though.]
Is it safe?
[He doesn't feel like going down the same way Tuco did. It looks like the holes are blocked off, but he doesn't know if the chest itself will turn out to be a trap. Better to be careful.]
I am sure the falling bridge was very impressive. [He says to Tuco and holds his shoulders as he retches. Once the gastric spasm are finished, he gives Tuco a clap on the back.
He glances at Niko and Boone with an expression of "I've got this covered" and helps Tuco stay upright.
Gestures of helpfulness and compassion often earn people's trust.]
[Boone squints at the chest contents- it's not something worth being poisoned for, that's for sure. For that, he almost feels bad for Tuco. He thinks he can see the corner of something that isn't meat, though. He reaches in to grab it, and pulls out what turns out to be a saddle.]
...Huh.
[He's not sure why there's a saddle with all this meat.]
[Belloq is nearly as disappointed as Tuco at the unimpressive find. He was hoping for a golden idol or a chest of gemstones, not a pile of flesh and an old saddle. Yes, they may be interesting from an anthropological standpoint: What is the meat for and why keep it in a temple? What is the symbolic significance of a saddle? But Belloq likes treasure and this certainly isn't that.
But he deals with his disappointment phlegmatically. It isn't the first time he's tracked down a "sacred treasure valued above all else" only to discover that it's nothing but a smashed terra cotta statue of a forgotten goddess, or similar misfortunes.]
Ah well. Perhaps better luck next time.
And less poisoning. [He claps Tuco on the shoulder.]
I don't know what this shit is. Maybe the museum can make heads or tails of it. [Though as they're inspecting the chest, Niko turns his torch and starts heading back towards the area he blocked off. But he stops when he sees that there's a green thing with a scowling face standing there at the partition. Thin, thin extendable rod, and it doesn't seem smart enough to find a way to go over it or under it. But it knows they're there, and it paces from side to side like it desperately wants to go directly at them.]
[Tuco is in the process of gesturing meaningfully between the saddle and himself when Belloq claps his shoulder. He jerks, glancing across to meet his eyes briefly, expression clouded, before turning his attention back to the chest.
When he eventually turns around again (possibly to question who or what Snažan is exactly) he appears to be holding a fistful of meat. From the way his jaw drops, it's clear he's spotted their new guest, and yet the following pause ends in a burst of staccato laughter.]
Hey! [Grinning, he waggles the flesh in the direction of the figure.] Almost, friend!
[Boone hands the saddle off to Tuco to hold, since he seems so interested in it. Maybe it'll keep him occupied for a while. He pulls out Maria when he spots the creeper, though. The poor lighting isn't doing it any favours- it looks more pissed off than usual.]
Yeah, maybe you should've.
[He could have brought his own beast along, but it's not as friendly as Niko's and would be more inclined to wander off on its own than stick around.]
We going back that way yet?
[He doesn't really want to risk attracting more creatures by shooting the creeper if he doesn't have to.]
[Belloq eyes the creeper, frowning right back at it.]
I hope not. If that thing explodes in here, even if we escape, it could damage the structural integrity of the temple, bring the whole building crashing down, a millennia-old work of art destroyed, just like that, and any treasure in here buried forever.
[Niko breaks open another torch, clearly showing Tuco, and then tosses it further down the corridor behind the creeper. There are a couple of others sort of lurking in the back, and when notice is drawn to them they wander forward to stand by the other.]
[And stare.]
[And pace a little.]
All it takes is three shots. But this just means we'll have to go slow. It also means probably less traps. These things are not setting them off or they would be dead.
[Ordinarily, the sight of the three shifting figures would have him reaching for his pistol before there was even talk of shooting anything. As it stands, though, he's busy eyeing them with a kind of distant, amused curiosity.]
You want us to shoot 'em? [His eyes flit over to Boone's gun, before he drops his chin to his chest, peering down at his own. Thankfully the lanyard stopped the Colt from clattering to the ground when the first dart struck his arm... but he's struggling to work out how exactly he's supposed to keep hold of the purported treasure and reach down at the same time. There's a sharp sniff. Lifting his shoulder, he attempts to swipe at the sweat collecting on his cheek, before slapping the meat on top of the saddle and awkwardly thrusting it towards Belloq.] Here.
[Well, it's either shoot the creepers himself or wait for Tuco to attempt it. In the state he's in, it's not a good idea.]
Hey- hold onto that, I gave it to you.
[He lifts Maria and fires at the creepers, at least glad they won't blow up so far away from them even if they're being shot at. After the last one falls and disintegrates, he waits for a few moments to see if anything else shows up.]
[In the time that they're firing, Niko juggles items in his hands, getting the gun into his right and more lit torches on his left, which he has to jam under his right arm, and then he moves forward once the creepers are dead to take the bar down.]
Okay, here goes nothing.
[He can already hear the sound of a spider somewhere down steps ahead. That's going to be fun. He starts ahead at a crawling pace.]
[For a guy wearing eyeglasses, Boone seems to be a surprisingly decent shot. And for what Belloq apparently lacks in that department, he more than makes up for it with how ridiculously amiable he is when he wants to be. Tuco catches himself grinning at him.]
Keep it safe, huh?
[He finishes mopping his face with his (now free) hand, and takes a few unsteady steps after Niko. His fingers are shaking slightly, but overall, he's beginning to feel a hell of a lot better. The nausea, for one, has been replaced by a pleasant drifting sensation.]
[Boone keeps his gun at the ready as he follows after Niko and Tuco, because he can hear the spider too. Or are there two? The sounds are coming fairly quickly. He moves in front of Tuco just incase, so that if there's more than one spider he and Niko can take care of them before they reach him. He doesn't think Tuco would fare well against anything dangerous right now, though to be fair the entire temple is dangerous.
Well, it's too late to lead him back outside now, and he doesn't think they could leave him on his own either. It's not like the desert is much safer. He glances behind him at Belloq and Tuco for a moment.]
Maybe we should keep some space between us. Just incase we have to back up from a creeper or something.
[If they start backing up suddenly and bump into each other, they'll all get blown to bits.]
I can say from experience- [He taps his right brow, where a scar notches down his eyebrow and then faintly, very faintly, trails around and under his eye.] -being too close to an explosion is not a fun thing.
[But then his attention is on the spiders, and as long as they aren't the poisonous sort they're easy to take care of. He turns a corner and two of them are higher up, on the wall, and it takes him a moment to adjust his aim before he shoots the first in the middle of it's attacking jump.]
[It turns out to be a good suggestion on Boone's part. As they draw upon the spiders, Tuco finds himself just far enough away that he can squint up at them myopically. He reaches for his gun anyway, (out of habit, maybe) but the gesture feels wrong and he falls short of doing anything more than lifting it awkwardly.
To outside eyes, it looks like maybe he's just deferring to the other two gunmen. In reality, he's been struck by a sudden thread of panic: the gun feels considerably heavier than it has any right to be. What's more, when he drops his head down to stare at it, he notices (with something like horror and awe admixed) that the barrel is actually curving.
It's with this realization that a rather dangerous train of thought begins to develop.]
[Boone takes the next one down, and glances back in time to see Tuco staring at his gun. He frowns at him, but he's not seeing what Tuco is seeing and besides that, he has no idea what he's going to do.]
Might wanna put that away.
[He could still hurt someone with it accidentally. The last thing they need to be doing is watching Tuco, too.]
[Belloq shifts cautiously. The last time he saw someone so beurré as Tuco draw a gun, it ended in three dead goats, a village fire, and being chased through the jungle by angry Zulu warriors.]
High guys make terrible shots. [He wishes he didn't know that as well as he did- he worked with enough of them.] But I would think he still needs to keep it out just in case.
Just ah... don't aim until we say so. So you can be sure. [Because it's better than letting him be bitten by a spider.]
[He tosses a torch down the stairs, and then walks behind them to put another one of those expandable barriers.]
[Tuco slowly glances between the three of them, frowning as if they're describing something abstract. He's not convinced, evidently, and yet (with an oddly strained expression) he eventually lets go of the gun anyway. It swings back down to his hip in a harmless little arc.]
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the_last_resort2014-09-22 09:43 pm
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One time, I blew up a whole bridge. [It comes out as some kind of liquid slur.] Langstone. [With a little waggle of his fingers he adds a helpful:] Pchhhhhh!
[At some point between becoming a junior foley artist and falling silent again, he must have closed his eyes, because something bright streaks across the backs of his eyelids and he abruptly lurches sideways, dry-heaving. It's in the process of dragging his shirt cuff across his upper lip that he seems to notice Niko is done with the plates. Throat bobbing, he drops his arm and makes a small, questioning sound.
And then his face contorts into some grim mask of determination: there's absolutely no way he's going to let them open it up without him. That's his two hundred thousand.]
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Is it safe?
[He doesn't feel like going down the same way Tuco did. It looks like the holes are blocked off, but he doesn't know if the chest itself will turn out to be a trap. Better to be careful.]
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He glances at Niko and Boone with an expression of "I've got this covered" and helps Tuco stay upright.
Gestures of helpfulness and compassion often earn people's trust.]
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[He opens it up to reveal the contents. Which, sadly, are not all that impressive.]
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¿Qué diablos es eso?
[Drawing his lip up, he flaps his free hand towards what can only really be described as 'mystery meat'.]
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...Huh.
[He's not sure why there's a saddle with all this meat.]
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But he deals with his disappointment phlegmatically. It isn't the first time he's tracked down a "sacred treasure valued above all else" only to discover that it's nothing but a smashed terra cotta statue of a forgotten goddess, or similar misfortunes.]
Ah well. Perhaps better luck next time.
And less poisoning. [He claps Tuco on the shoulder.]
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I should have brought Snažan. [The beast's name.]
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When he eventually turns around again (possibly to question who or what Snažan is exactly) he appears to be holding a fistful of meat. From the way his jaw drops, it's clear he's spotted their new guest, and yet the following pause ends in a burst of staccato laughter.]
Hey! [Grinning, he waggles the flesh in the direction of the figure.] Almost, friend!
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Yeah, maybe you should've.
[He could have brought his own beast along, but it's not as friendly as Niko's and would be more inclined to wander off on its own than stick around.]
We going back that way yet?
[He doesn't really want to risk attracting more creatures by shooting the creeper if he doesn't have to.]
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I hope not. If that thing explodes in here, even if we escape, it could damage the structural integrity of the temple, bring the whole building crashing down, a millennia-old work of art destroyed, just like that, and any treasure in here buried forever.
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[And stare.]
[And pace a little.]
All it takes is three shots. But this just means we'll have to go slow. It also means probably less traps. These things are not setting them off or they would be dead.
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[Ordinarily, the sight of the three shifting figures would have him reaching for his pistol before there was even talk of shooting anything. As it stands, though, he's busy eyeing them with a kind of distant, amused curiosity.]
You want us to shoot 'em? [His eyes flit over to Boone's gun, before he drops his chin to his chest, peering down at his own. Thankfully the lanyard stopped the Colt from clattering to the ground when the first dart struck his arm... but he's struggling to work out how exactly he's supposed to keep hold of the purported treasure and reach down at the same time. There's a sharp sniff. Lifting his shoulder, he attempts to swipe at the sweat collecting on his cheek, before slapping the meat on top of the saddle and awkwardly thrusting it towards Belloq.] Here.
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Hey- hold onto that, I gave it to you.
[He lifts Maria and fires at the creepers, at least glad they won't blow up so far away from them even if they're being shot at. After the last one falls and disintegrates, he waits for a few moments to see if anything else shows up.]
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As I am probably the least experienced gunman among us, a mere archaeologist that I am, it only makes sense that my hands be the burdened ones.
[And it's a practical excuse for him to continue to remain behind the others and let them be his human shields.]
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Okay, here goes nothing.
[He can already hear the sound of a spider somewhere down steps ahead. That's going to be fun. He starts ahead at a crawling pace.]
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Keep it safe, huh?
[He finishes mopping his face with his (now free) hand, and takes a few unsteady steps after Niko. His fingers are shaking slightly, but overall, he's beginning to feel a hell of a lot better. The nausea, for one, has been replaced by a pleasant drifting sensation.]
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Well, it's too late to lead him back outside now, and he doesn't think they could leave him on his own either. It's not like the desert is much safer. He glances behind him at Belloq and Tuco for a moment.]
Maybe we should keep some space between us. Just incase we have to back up from a creeper or something.
[If they start backing up suddenly and bump into each other, they'll all get blown to bits.]
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[The more distance between him and the people walking headlong towards the various dangers in here, the better.
And he matches action to words and slows his pace to open up a bit more space between them.]
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[But then his attention is on the spiders, and as long as they aren't the poisonous sort they're easy to take care of. He turns a corner and two of them are higher up, on the wall, and it takes him a moment to adjust his aim before he shoots the first in the middle of it's attacking jump.]
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To outside eyes, it looks like maybe he's just deferring to the other two gunmen. In reality, he's been struck by a sudden thread of panic: the gun feels considerably heavier than it has any right to be. What's more, when he drops his head down to stare at it, he notices (with something like horror and awe admixed) that the barrel is actually curving.
It's with this realization that a rather dangerous train of thought begins to develop.]
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Might wanna put that away.
[He could still hurt someone with it accidentally. The last thing they need to be doing is watching Tuco, too.]
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Just ah... don't aim until we say so. So you can be sure. [Because it's better than letting him be bitten by a spider.]
[He tosses a torch down the stairs, and then walks behind them to put another one of those expandable barriers.]
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and now for a prompt reply :V