First entrance

[magic_by_accident]

Blimey.

This place has magic seeping out of its pores -- and despite the doors and windows, the furniture and walls, John Constantine would be hard-pressed to say this place isn't alive.

Only one thing to do when you find yourself in a new pub, yeah? John sits himself at the bar and lights a cigarette.



[OOC: A note about this incarnation of John.]

Comments

[manofbusiness]

Childermass glances up from a space or two further down the bar as the new arrival sits, and gives him a nod of greeting.

"First time in?"

[magic_by_accident]

John gives him a nod in return. "That it is, squire."

[manofbusiness]

He smiles crookedly.

"You're taking it well."

[magic_by_accident]

John shrugs, unconcerned. "It's not the strangest thing I've ever seen."

Hell dimensions, for instance. This place is paradise by comparison.

"Is a bit odd for a pub, though, seeing as how I found it on leaving my flat."

[manofbusiness]

"And the next time it finds you", Childermass tells him, "it may be somewhere else altogether. Never the same door twice, for me."

[magic_by_accident]

John studies the man, then shrugs again.

"Multi-dimensional movable pub, eh? Who constructed the portal?"

[manofbusiness]

"That no one knows", he says with a half-shrug in return. "I've heard talk of a Landlord, but if there is one, he is very much absent."

[have_no_mercy]

Tess scrunches up her nose.

"Do you mind?"

She nods to the cigarette, frowning.

[magic_by_accident]

John looks around for a "No Smoking" sign.

As there isn't one, he gives her his emptiest smile and says, "Yes, I do, pet."

And then has another long drag.

[have_no_mercy]

"I'm still breastfeeding my daughter."

'Cause things to do with kids tend to work faster.

"I don't really want the smoke in my system."

[magic_by_accident]

"Then what are you doing in a pub?"

A perfectly reasonable question, to his way of thinking.

[have_no_mercy]

"It's a little more than a pub."

In fact, Tess has never really viewed it that way.

"I come here to relax, not to be assaulted by deadly chemicals."

[magic_by_accident]

"I'm relaxing, too, sweetheart."

He snorts at "deadly chemicals." He ignores the surgeon general's warning, too.

[feminine_menace]

There aren't a lot of smokers in Milliways, so John catches YT's interest. He also looks like scruffy, hard-bitten trouble, which invites her sustained interest.

So there is a blond twenty-year-old Valley girl in a blue and orange coverall leaning on the Bar near him with studied casualness.

"'Sup. Are you new here? I'm sure I would have remembered seeing you around." Not like she's dissing him, but like he's too interesting for her to have overlooked.

[magic_by_accident]

John gives her a once-over. His smile is wry. "'Lo, and yes I am, luv."

[feminine_menace]

Ooh, New Guy has a sexy accent too. “Okay. In that case, welcome to Milliways.” YT gestures vaguely at everything. “I’m YT, your friendly neighborhood skate punk. What should I call you?”

Because she can’t just call him New Guy With Sexy Accent.

[magic_by_accident]

Sure she could, he might even answer to it.

But he says, "John Constantine, your grumpy international mage.

"Pleasure, YT."

[feminine_menace]

“Likewise,” YT says, and offers John Constantine a handshake. She doesn’t do this for just anyone: only people who make a good first impression on her.

[magic_by_accident]

He shakes her hand, not looking very grumpy at all.

"So what's your story, luv?"

[undead_radish_seller]

At the bar, there's a very pale young man in dark, slightly ragged robes and a frayed straw hat, with dark lines running out from under his clothes that look decidedly unhealthy, not to say spooky.

However, he is quite pleasantly munching his way through a basket of paradoxes.

He turns his head when Constantine lights his cigarette, but not disapprovingly but more like somebody who has no idea if this thing is being burned for medicinal, magical or aesthetic reasons. Moxibustion, some kind of herbal talisman, or perhaps a very, very odd kind of incense?

[magic_by_accident]

All of the above and more, John would tell him.

As it is, when he notices he's being watched, he salutes the lad with his cigarette and a wry smile.

[undead_radish_seller]

"Erm, what is that?" the young man says, curiosity getting the better of his initial shyness.

[magic_by_accident]

"This?" He regards the cig. "It's called a cigarette. Dried tobacco leaves rolled into very thin paper and smoked as a delivery system of various chemicals to make you feel better about life."

[undead_radish_seller]

"Make you feel better?" the fellow asks. "Like alcohol?"

[magic_by_accident]

John leans both elbows on the bar behind him. "They work best in tandem."