@ostiinati said → " the dogs are gathered and the birds are chattering. " ( yun lin for mark ) ( src. / accepting. )
"What, like a cult? Like an animal cult? Or like—I dunno. I guess it could be a get-together. Not sure why my mind went to cult."
It's not necessarily the most unusual thing in the world—but with half their respective duos missing and Mark's individual search turning up a bunch of loose ends, going to some weird animal gathering in the middle of the city seems like it might be promising in some way. At best, it's at least more likely to come up as being something.
He's itching to get this solved. Yun Lin isn't bad company or anything, but Mark's never really paid much attention to him because his presence usually means Pamela is around, and Pamela's usually a more pressing problem. Kadir seems to think he's alright, but Mark would walk forwards into hell before taking anyone's word as personal judgement, even his.
Man, I wish Kadir were here.
It's a strange thought to have. But he can't dwell on it now, when Kadir and Pamela are probably both… Well, there's no telling where they are or whether they're alright, but nothing involving anyone like them ever turns out good. They're probably not having a luxury getaway, at the very least.
"Okay. I didn't find anything like that," and he'd have known fully well if there was anything an ordinary person might've missed, "so I'll come check out your animal cult or whatever. Might be there's something attracting 'em. Sometimes animals and sensitive people can be drawn to, like, sites that produce specters 'n other stuff. Kind of unusual for 'em to gather around it, but you never know with these things."
Though he gestures for Yun Lin to take the lead, he doesn't trail very far behind. The need to keep an eye out is a rough habit that's gotten him in more shit than it's probably worth, but it's something Mark just can't let go of. Straightforward sort of guy or not, the fact remains that Yun Lin had helped Pamela try to kill him the first time they'd met.
It's also true that he and Pamela are just pawns to some stronger person's ends. Mark's been both the pawn and the stronger person, though, and being the pawn didn't mean less danger for the pieces he wiped off the board. You really can't trust anyone who's even a small part of the game.
But Mark's not uncompromising, at least. So he offers something he probably should keep secret from the likes of Yun Lin, "I can see that stuff. Places where something's gonna pop up. Or already has. And all that magic shit in general. So if it's relevant, I'll know."