kore_logs | the party don't start till i walk in

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the party don't start till i walk in

Who: Bruce Banner, Lydia Martin, Mina Barrett, Castiel.
When: Afternoon of Day 11.
What: Box opening party!
Where: Bringing the party to the box.

The excitement he'd felt over figuring this puzzle out has faded to an ever-increasing sense of dread. He doesn't think this is a good idea at all anymore, but he still hasn't decided if it's a bad idea yet or not. He doesn't know who they might be letting out, or what, or why, and he just hopes that whoever or whatever it is at least explains everything before it kills everyone. Optimism is not Bruce's forte.

At least he'll have good company, other than Mr. Frosty, who he doesn't really know that well at all. Mina and Lydia are some of his favorite people so far, though, and he's glad they're going to help out; he could use the moral support. Hopefully this doesn't lead to their gruesome deaths.

Maybe he should stop thinking.

He adjusts his glasses and examines the tree design on the box, trying to mitigate some of his nerves. After a few seconds of careful observation, he straightens and slowly half-turns to the others.

"Maybe it's a giant Jack in the Box." It's possible.

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"Then it's going to be a pretty big Jack." Possible, yes. Probable? Not very. Lydia stands a few feet away from the box and as close to her former rescuer as possible. With her arms crossed over her chest and her head tilted slightly, she tries to take in the big picture. It made sense once Bruce explained it. Well... it made sense in a very science fiction sort of way. Abstract thinking and knowledge of mythology had been the key, and now it was time to put the theory into practice.

"I'm sure that if we are letting something out, it'll be grateful." She looks to Bruce, gaze unsure and looking for approval before continuing, "It screams. Out here has to be better than in there. Right?"

Being smart in a room full of high school students is one thing. Being smart among other geniuses is hit or miss. It's hard to maintain her ego around people like Bruce.

Castiel appears right behind Lydia without even a pinch of warning. "The last time I let something out, it didn't end very well for anyone involved." Or anyone else, really. He wasn't going to tell them about it, but he felt a warning was in order.

"Hello, Mina." He nods to her before approaching the box with a curious look on his face. He hasn't paid much attention to it. He's been busy looking for any clue about Sam.

He has a jug of water in one hand. "What do you need me to do?"

When Castiel appeared, Mina's pistols came out, lightning fast. But it was just Castiel, her demented, naked friend, so she tucked them back into the pockets of her trousers. "Hello, darling. Glad you could join us."

Wearing pants.

Mina herself had come ready to work, her tie loose, the sleeves of her button-down rolled up to reveal the P-shaped scar on her arm. Of course, she had no idea what to expect. And she was still halfway convinced that this was all just some sort of elaborate prank orchestrated by Pendragon. But there was simply no way to know. And human or not, she suffered from curiosity on occasion.

"Eight of the nine worlds of the Norse cosmology is presented on this box," she told Castiel, not sure how much someone who claimed to be an angel would know about other religions. "We believe the missing one is Jotunheim, which is an ice realm." She stepped forward, pointing to the different stones. "The going theory is that each material represents the nature of the world. Jotunheim, however, is a world of ice. So it stands to reason that ice would complete the pattern and, if this is anything like those adventure books, open the box."

Bruce gives Lydia a small smile for her reasonable suggestion, but he's not so sure this thing, whatever it is, will be obliged to be grateful. That'd be nice, but.

Castiel appearing out of nowhere doesn't startle him as much as Mina pulling out guns. He's past the day and age where a shock would send him reaching for his LifeAlert, but he still doesn't appreciate them, and he eyes both Mina and Castiel warily until he rallies himself.

"There are grooves in the top of the box, and we think if you pour the water in the top and freeze it, that'll force the box open." It makes sense as a theory anyway; water expands as it freezes, and so it'd make a good mechanism for unlocking something. Not that he thinks this whole thing is operating according to normal science. He nods at Mina and then touches Lydia lightly on the shoulder, just the tips of his fingers.

"I think we should back up. And you..." He isn't sure if he should frown or smirk at Castiel. What a mystery. "You might want to back up once it starts to open." Or disappear, he guesses.

Castiel's appearance doesn't scare her as much as the guns aimed in her general direction. She warily eyes the weapons even after they've been put away. His warning wasn't inspiring warm fuzzies either, but knowing was better than not knowing. She hated not knowing.

Lydia smiles at the touch, looking less like a deer caught in headlights. Backing up sounds like a very good idea. As does hovering close behind Bruce now that this is actually about to happen. Both of these things at the same time seem pretty safe, so long as she can still see.

"Death by wolves or death by horrible mystery contents. I can hardly choose which one sounds more fun."

Guns don't phase Castiel in the least. Normal guns and even many abnormal ones can't hurt him in any really, damaging way. It's not as if he hasn't been shot before. When he first met Dean, Dean shot everything he could at Castiel.

He places the jug of water on the box and reaches to pull himself up. Where in times prior he would have simply appeared atop it, he now finds himself doing more and more physically.

Once on top of the box, he leans his ear against it, listening for the supposed screams. It's not a sound he recognizes and he stands up on the box, straightening.

"You're sure you want me to do this?" He eyes them all, but he gives Mina the longest look. The other two are humans. They might not even understand what could be out there.

Mina stepped over, placing herself strategically behind Bruce and Lydia. She caught the look that Castiel gave her and very subtly reached into her pocket, pulling out a small knife, holding it out just far enough for him to see. She had a spell in mind, should whatever was in the box need to be held at bay. It wasn't the most powerful of Cruac rituals, but if could hold the goddam Bellweather Beast at bay, it would certainly buy the humans some time.

"Never could wait until Christmas to open my presents," she said, slipping the knife back out of sight. "Besides, apart from some puppies here and there, this place has been dreadfully dull."

Bruce is never sure how much comfort he should draw from the suspicion that the other guy won't ever really let him die. He's prepared to let him out, too, if people need protecting, if it's necessary, even though he's still getting used to the idea of the other guy doing good. He thinks this would qualify. He doesn't have the luxury to worry about whether Lydia would still want him to be her mentor after she finds out what he can do, either.

He nods at Castiel and puts his glasses in his pocket.

"Go for it. The suspense will kill me if you don't, so I'm dead either way."

Lydia almost pipes in with a 'what's the worst that could happen?' but thinks better of it and chooses to remain silent. She pulls her sweater most tightly around her and takes a deep breath, smiling and nodding her assent as well. Everyone was in agreement. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner she could be back home.

... And when she thought of home, the only place she thought of now was the house across from the fountain.

"Way to think positive, Dr. Banner."

Castiel nods. If they all think it's what he should do, he'll do it. The glint of Mina's knife is oddly reassuring. If the worst happens, they can take the humans and get them out of harm's way and then he can get Dean and admit that he's made another mistake that he simply can't fix.

He pours the water from the jug and places it out of the way on top of the box, then he places his hand close to the water and begins to drop the temperature, reassuring himself that freezing some water can't possible be as bad as opening a door to purgatory. Surely nothing too powerful can be let out by ice.

First, the water gets cold, then it begins to solidify slowly. It's faster than normal freezing, but only by so much.

Mina cut her eyes to Bruce, a bit of a mischievous smirk playing on her lips. "Tell me," she said, "which did you bribe this one with? Sex or sugar?"

Her bravado, her sarcasm...she needed them right now. It was sometimes overwhelming to think that she'd gotten herself into this situation. It had been over the top, gaining a Fae title, dealing with the mess in Chicago, but it had been within the reality of Mina's world. And time travel too, that she could tolerate.

But people from other worlds? Norse gods? Angels? Her comfort level was dropping dramatically.

She missed being at the top of the food chain.

Sarcasm is an escape for him too, and he snorts, glancing sideways at her. "I don't bribe and tell."

It's hard to tell when distractions are useful and when they're... well, distracting. He's nervous, it's true, and watching the water start to freeze is nervewracking. His pulse is increasing, and he checks the heart rate monitor -- a feature of his communicator, not that he's realized it's only in his. His heart rate isn't such a black and white indicator of... greenness, but it's a good barometer, a suggestion of a point of no return.

They're still safe. He hopes it'll stay that way.

"I'm also an eternal optimist, Lydia. I'm a gas at parties."

It's probably better not to ask why the sword-wielding, teleportation guy can freeze water. Frankly, Lydia doesn't really need or want to know. She's mildly curious, yes, but there is enough crazy stuff going on right now that she'll just let that one go.

Lydia takes a step forward and lightly holds onto Bruce's arm with both hands. "I'm holding you to that. If we survive this, I'm throwing a little celebration and you get to be my date."

You know... providing none of them die a horrible death before then.

"I have no interest in either of those things." Yes, he can hear them and while he understands their unease, he doesn't understand their joking any more than he ever understands Dean's.

He's acutely aware of the fact that this could be a terrible idea, but with all of his fruitless searching for Sam, Castiel needs something tangible that he can do. He can't help Dean find Sam, but he can help with this. He can't help but feel as if he's failed Dean again as he watches the water slowly solidify into ice.

((ooc: one more round and then we can wait for the box-open-y stuff that should go up tonight or tomorrow.))

Mina raised an eyebrow, marking Lydia's body language with vague interest. The future was an interesting place.

She turned her attention back to Castiel. "Yes, well, I hate to bruise your ego, darling, but you were the second opportunity we had to open the box. We thought we might need to whore poor Bruce out to Pendragon in order to get the bloody thing open."

Tipping her hat back just slightly, she flashed Banner a savage little grin.

He returns it, glad for the surprise because it cuts through his nerves and lets him blow off a little of that tension in a healthier way.

"Thank God we didn't have to do that. It would've made a celebration party really awkward if he turned up." He smiles down at Lydia and nudges her lightly with his shoulder.

"People in the future rather like that world," Mina murmured. "Awkward. You use it too many times and it'll lose all meaning, darling."

The small talk and banter was delightful. It had a way of soothing nerves. At least, from Mina's point of view. It also helped to slip her hand into her pocket, pressing her fingertip against the blade of her knife. Just enough to feel a pinch, but not hard enough to draw blood.

Not yet, anyway.

Rigor mortis served her well. It was a spell she knew, a spell she practiced often, unlike the ritual she'd tried with Castiel. And quietly, under her breath, she began to recite the words.

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the party don't start till i walk in

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