InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Shh! Can you hear them?"

Willa Harper (thinblooded) wrote in entrywaythreads,
@ 2021-02-27 20:21:00

Entry tags:

john constantine, willa harper

Who: John Constantine and Willa Harper
When: Late Tuesday, 3/2
Where: John's Apartment
What: Round 2
Ratings/Warnings: Language, references to: torture, attempted murder and cults

Getting into Constantine's room was supposed to be a sort of accomplishment, but it didn't feel like much of one. A lame back-alley wizard or no, the guy always had something up his sleeve. And handy equipment. Equipment she was pretty sure she could put to better use. Or maybe she just wanted to tweak his nose a bit after all the shit he put her through. For once it was legitimately hard to say, even if she tended to lean toward spite. In her own defense she hadn't go out looking for the man once she heard he was stuck in purgatory as well.

It had all been chance.

She spotted him while she was out one night. She'd been after some choleric resonance at the time, looking for it in others but seeing him had caused her own to nearly bubble over. She'd nearly acted on it then, though knowing how foolish that would have been was what stopped her. Instead she hadn't been able to resist following him the rest of that evening, finding herself keeping close watch on what he did, who he spoke to and what he bought. It was surprisingly informative but it didn't give her a complete picture of what he was up to, something that seemed more and more important the more she thought of him and how they had been breaths away from killing one another before. Not only did she want whatever handy things he had hidden about the place but she also needed to know exactly what he was up to.

That meant breaking into his place.

It didn't take her long to find his place and unsettlingly it took her less time to get his door unlocked. That should have been a sign that something was up but she was so pleased with herself that she didn't realize what was going on until she felt the magic shift around her and it was far too late for her to try to get clear. Gravity trap, it had to be, nothing else would have her floating in the air and she let out a stream of pretty vile curses. It didn't have to slow her down much, she wasn't nearly as accomplished as Constantine but she was clever too and had some tricks up her sleeve, she could figure this all out, but that didn't help with the feeling of disgust and disappointment she felt. She should have known better, she should have paid better attention, she should have paid somebody to shoot him in the head. Those thoughts were all very hard to get past.

Of course, she'd seemingly gotten past a few of them by the time Constantine came back. She was still there, floating in the air with some of his more interesting magical bits and bobs lazily orbiting around her. At some point she'd gotten her pack of clove cigarettes out of her tight, ripped jeans and lit up as she perused an older-looking book with a barely phased expression, not even looking up when John came in. "You've got that haunted as fuck library that you could raid and maybe discover some actual important magic and instead you're here bothering with this basic-ass bullshit. Figured you already knew all about illusions, must be growing forgetful in your old age."

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thinblooded
2021-02-28 06:24 am UTC (link)

"No, I came to steal your useful books, but my telekinesis is based on sight and so far I could only see your shit ones." She closed the book she had been reading and finally looked at him. The way she was floating there, she looked as if she was perfectly comfortable. Like she wouldn't have been out of place or off balance if a chair suddenly materialized under her. It was all bluff on her part, John was probably aware of that given he likely knew what it felt like to be caught in a trap like that but she would be damned if she was going to make him smug in any way.

"Now," she said, the book floating from her hands to where she was directing it back to the pile of John's things. She could have kept it but instead she would take her own advice and raid the library at some point. They would have better texts on alchemy anyway. Once the book was back to where she had taken it from she tapped her cigarette and took a quick drag before speaking again. "You gonna let me down, old man? Or am I gonna have to do it?"

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satanicmajesty
2021-03-01 12:59 am UTC (link)

John had quite a number of books up on shelves in his living room. His apartment was small and fairly cramped so he couldn't afford the luxuries of having a study. At least for the time being. He was working on something though. The flat would be a good ruse at the very least. Just like his current bookshelves were. Just like most of his flat was. It was small, it was messy, it didn't have much in it really save for booze, cigarettes, books and ritual items. Oh, and of course the Englishmans clothes thrown over chairs and laid out crumpled on the floor.

John looked like he was thinking about it for a moment. He wasn't. He placed the cigarette between his lips and looked up at her. He paused... Waited, toying with her before replying, "I hadn't planned on it and I don't see you getting down by yourself either" he added confidently.

"So how about you stop being a spoilt little toerag, apologise for breaking into my apartment, and maybe I'll let you down" he said, plucking the cigarette from his lips. He took a quick drag as he did so, that playful smile reappearing.

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thinblooded
2021-03-01 05:27 pm UTC (link)

"Toerag? The fuck? What does that even mean? Why can't the English learn to speak, in-fucking-deed." She sighed, wishing she could be more upright but knowing she was pretty much stuck as she was unless she wanted to flip over and face the floor. "And that shit, the do this and maybe I'll let you down, that is probably why so many people have tried to kill you. Asshole."

Was she sore about John surviving her attack? It was hard to say. She still hated him, always hated what he had done to her, and couldn't begin to express how angry she was about how her suffering had been largely not been about her but some feud he had with an archangel and a deal he'd made with the Dark Mother. She wanted him dead, sure. But killing him herself, that was something else. She'd been sick after stabbing him, both literally and emotionally. Maybe it was because he was a person and most of her killing had been done to monsters of various sorts, the guy she'd killed after arriving in Gehenna just vanished and apparently woke up in the hospital so that hadn't bothered her at all.

Maybe it was because he thought he was trying to help her? No. Fuck that.

"This trap," she said, pinching out her cigarette and then rolling it between her fingers before flicking it at him. "Do you have to have mass for it to work?" She reached under her leather jacket and pulled out three vials of red and black liquid.

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satanicmajesty
2021-03-03 06:08 am UTC (link)

At least she was kind enough to put the cigarette out before she flicked it at him. That was oddly considerate in a strange way... She really didn't have much of a heart for hurting even the people she didn't like, did she? Or at least it seemed that way. She was softer than she let on.

John had been perfectly content to let her hang around. The protesting didn't bother him too much. He was used to it from her. The moment she produced the three vials of liquid, he had to hesitate. What the hell did she have planned? What was that going to do? Something to disrupt the gravity trap somehow? Something else? Was she bluffing?

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" he asked, staring up at her. "What exactly are you planning on doing?"

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thinblooded
2021-03-03 05:31 pm UTC (link)

"You've seen me be mist before." She said, slipping one of the vials back under her jacket before shaking the other two. That night, the night he'd seen some of her alchemy-given power, they'd gone after three centaurs. Not together, of course. Constantine was doing his save the world from the supernatural routine and she'd been there to harvest what she could off them. She'd used her knife, her strength and her alchemy, he'd used his magic but really she'd been the one to kill the three of them. It had been a pretty good fight. Good until she'd decided to save his life. Sometimes she still chastised herself for not letting him die when she thought of it, pretty sure that and her efforts to save him from her hunger when he offered to help with her injury had been what caused his opinion of her to change.

He'd made her human a month later, likely because his opinion of her had changed. Things were better now though. She was undead again and this time she wasn't so much the lost babe in the woods.

"Found the right resonance to mix with some of the formulae I already have. So now I'm not just obscured or just controlling the mist, I actually will be the mist. You ought to give it a try sometime, takes you ages to pick locks on your own, old man." She finally stopped shaking the vials and unscrewed the caps, clearly intending to down them both.

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satanicmajesty
2021-03-04 05:51 am UTC (link)

John watched her. He did not want to find out what that mixture really did. "Put the caps back on..." he said, hoping his tone would speak more volumes than his words. He was going to release her from the trap. Sighing, he waited a moment before he deactivated the trap. Slamming his door shut, he walked into the room properly. He was not happy at all. Not just at having his home broken into but seeing Willa again...

"So what were you planning on running off with then? Take it you didn't find anything in the end?" he asked, his tones irate and tired. "Just what the bloody hell do you think you're doing showing up here? I take it you were following me around then?" he asked. Normally he would have played it cool but he was tired. He was confused. He sensed something about Willa that he could not place... And then it clicked. The use of alchemy.

All that anger, all that confusion faded away. He took a drag from the cigarette and relaxed back to normal. "You just had to go back to the way things were... Course you did..." he said, smirking and shaking his head. "You must love this place, eh? No sunshine to worry about. Likely no hunters to deal with. No need to have pretend parents either"

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thinblooded
2021-03-04 06:28 am UTC (link)

She'd gotten the caps back on, deciding it was more important to make sure that they didn't spill than saving herself from the indignity of dropping out of the air and landing on her ass. Around her the things she'd picked out gently drifted to the floor, nothing precious or even remotely sentimental, all magical ingredients that were so basic and common that they could have been gotten anywhere. Nothing he would have missed but enough that he would have noticed had gone missing. She left them on the floor for the time being, grunting a little as she hopped up to her feet.

"I'm gonna remind you that while the universe continues to get on its knees for you and offer you a free pint every time you get even a little thirsty, the rest of us aren't so lucky. The rest of us don't get to have any say in what it does to us. I haven't been allowed much in the way of choice, if you'll remember. So I didn't ask for this, but I'm not upset about it either. I like being strong and I was a shit human, you know?" She shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Look who I'm talking to."

And then he had to say something about the Burnhams, didn't he? She forgot how irritating he could be. Bringing them up was low, especially as she'd mostly been able to push them out of her head. She hated that she missed them and she hated even more that John could needle her with them. "Is this what we're doing? Cool. How's Chas? How's the baby? You're still living in a shit hole with Goodwill rejects, does that mean you're on the outs with your girlfriend?"

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satanicmajesty
2021-03-04 07:01 am UTC (link)

John looked at the items on the floor. Nothing of any particular value. He wasn't sure if she had anything on her or everything she had tried to take was down there on the floor, but he was sure he'd find out before she left. There were things he did not want falling into other peoples hands, and things he really didn't want her getting a hold of.

It was clear he had hit a sore spot. John knew exactly what he was doing when he brought up her adopted parents. He hadn't done anything to toy with them or try to change their mind about her, but he knew they would be on her mind. A nagging guilt in the back of her mind that would cling and claw. He knew she would be missing them and it was cruel of him to mention but he could always be a proper bastard when he wanted to be. And as it turned out, so could she.

John shifted his head to the side slightly as if trying to get a crick out of his neck, exhaling smoke sharply through his nose. He missed Chas, of course he did but he was never going to admit it was he? And he didn't care about his living arrangement. He had lived in worse. Him and Dite were fine, at least as far as he was aware. But what was she on about? A baby?

"Nice try. You almost had me there. Almost" he said, pressing his thumb and pointer finger close, leaving a slight gap to show her how close she had gotten. "Piss off, I don't have a baby" he scoffed, putting out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray. Next, he took his jacket off and threw it over the back of a nearby couch. He leaned over to pick up the bottle of whiskey from the coffee table and took the lid off, along with a quick swig.

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thinblooded
2021-03-04 07:20 am UTC (link)

At first her brow furrowed, trying to figure out what he meant. She didn't remember anything happening to his kid. He'd been all 'I'm going to try to improve my life before the kid comes' and failed like a lot of men seemed to, but that had been his doing. The baby had been fine the last time she heard. Maybe something happened after? Maybe he was playing with purgatory and trying to hide the kid's existence? But it was hard to say, John was an asshole most of the time. Eventually her brows lifted in amusement, deciding it was best to laugh at him if she could see the humor.

"Whatever, man." She said. "I'm not the fucking census, you say whatever you want. You do you because nobody with taste will." She'd never seen the appeal, and she'd been predisposed to like older British men given how she had been raised. Her taste clearly didn't apply to everybody because she knew the man was rarely lonely. She didn't get it but she wasn't about to try emulating him when it came to picking people up. No one really wanted to be hated, save maybe the archangel.

Willa shoved her hands into her pockets and tilted her head, looking down over what she had planned to take with a disinterested expression. "This was a waste of time, I'm gonna go."

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satanicmajesty
2021-03-04 07:46 am UTC (link)

Why did she mention a baby? Was she just fucking with him? John didn't have any children. Heck, he didn't have any children for a variety of reasons. He knew that having a child would be dangerous. For his partner, for the child. People around John ended up dead sooner than they were meant to be, and that's the way things always were. He had let Dite into his life because she was a Goddess. She wasn't so easily put to rest. Well, that and he did love her, of course.

John held an arm out in front of her, his sleeve half rolled up his arm but a bit looser than usual.
"Oi... not so fast" he said. "Sure you're not holding anything else of mine?" he asked, staring a hole through her head. "Whatever you think you want, whatever you think you might find interesting here, it's not for you, all right? So give it back..."

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thinblooded
2021-03-04 08:06 am UTC (link)

"I didn't take anything. You didn't have anything worth while so I was going to take ingredients, just enough for you to notice going missing and be paranoid about." She said, staring back at him. He didn't believe her and he seemed rattled. Was it the baby comment? Everything else had been pretty typical so far, that was the only thing that seemed out of the ordinary.

Something was up. Something was up and it didn't seem to be going his way. For a brief moment a smile of sadistic glee crossed her face. She hoped it fucked his whole day, whatever it was.

"You don't believe me, fine." She lifted her black Des Rocs tee shirt a little to show that she could fit nothing else in her tight jeans save for the pack of clove cigarettes in her back pocket. Once he had a good look there she opened up her leather jacket to him, showing him that she had a row of seven vials, her knife, her phone and a set of lock picks inside the jacket and nothing else. "Happy?"

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satanicmajesty
2021-03-06 04:50 am UTC (link)

John saw that smile on her face. He didn't like it. At all. She was enjoying his irritation more than usual. She had rattled him a bit, not that he would admit it. It wasn't her breaking in, or that she was a vampire again although that was part of it. It was that she seemed to think he had a child. Why would she think something like that? Maybe she had met another John somewhere. That had to be it... Right?

John checked her over, spying the various things she revealed on her person. "Happy" he replied back with a mocking smile. "You might want to get a better set of lockpicks. At least one of those is on its way out..." he said, nodding to her before moving back. He lowered his arm and went back to drinking, taking a much longer swig from the bottle than he had intended, but once he started it was hard to stop.

"Now piss off..." he said, putting the bottle down and lighting another cigarette. He turned his back to her and walked towards the bedroom door.

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thinblooded
2021-03-08 02:40 am UTC (link)

"Good seeing you too, Constantine." She chuckled to herself, stepping over the things she had pulled off the shelves that now littered the floor. Maybe she didn't come away with anything but that was okay. She'd rattled him with her words and that was worth more than anything he could have had hidden in his shitty apartment. After so long it felt good to leave him as the one upset and full of questions.

He had put her through so much, it was his turn and she had been the one to do it. This had been a very good evening, she had no idea how she was going to be able to top it. Even stabbing him hadn't felt that good.

"Don't worry, I'll be around for a good long while." She called as she reached the door, showing herself out.

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