InsaneJournal

Tweak says, ""You should have been there.""

Ciel Phantomhive (_dissimulation) wrote in snapthread,
@ 2019-06-30 22:43:00

Entry tags:

ciel phantomhive, john constantine (vertigo)

[Open]
WHO: Ciel Phantomhive & YOU
WHAT: Another newbie has arrived
WHERE: Town Square
WHEN: Sunday
RATING: G?

The boy turned the phone over in his hand, his thoughts racing. First of all, he had no idea where he was. In his manor one second, about to head down for dinner. Stepping through a door, and then he was here. Strange town, small town, from the looks of it, and seemingly abandoned. It seemed unnatural, it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and it didn't sit well with him at all. This strange device though... It was laid out with others like it, and any fool leaving things out in the open like this were begging for them to be stolen, right? So, he helped himself to one. Maybe he'd figure out how it worked later. Or, he'd ask Sebastian.

Where was he anyway?

"Sebastian! Answer me!"

Nothing.

That was stranger than everything else. He couldn't feel his presence anywhere. The thirteen year old looked around with his one eye, as his right eye was covered by an eye-patch. If not Sebastian, someone else should be around. Right? This place couldn't be completely abandoned, could it? Unless it was an illusion of some sort?

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_constantine_
2019-06-30 10:34 pm UTC (link)

It wasn't as if an illusion was impossible. There were at least a few folks around who were relatively good at them, in fact. John Constantine was one of those people, actually.

But his illusions weren't just for shits and giggles, and they certainly done at his own detriment. No. This was real, a real place in the middle of a nowhere that quite possibly hadn't been real before the first person showed up. It was strange. And after a while, strangely boring.

This was new though. John stopped in front of the kid, cigarette hanging from his mouth and hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket (even though it was far too hot out for a jacket to be a good idea). He hadn't seen anyone quite so young show up here before, and didn't much like the idea of it now that it was presented to him. "You new?" He asked with a squint, even though it was obvious that the child was.

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_dissimulation
2019-06-30 10:42 pm UTC (link)

"That much should be obvious, or are you quite daft?" Ciel crossed his arms, the only show of the surprise he felt that someone actually approached him being a small widening of his eye and raised eyebrows. The man looked rugged, hardly of high standards, and the way he addressed him came off as more than a little rude, so nothing said he had to be polite in return.

"Are you someone of importance? You don't look it. Take me to someone who is." Just then, his stomach decided to growl. He had been on his way to dinner after all... Typical.

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_constantine_
2019-06-30 10:48 pm UTC (link)

John smiled behind his cigarette, but it was sharp and not wholly amused. He plucked it from his mouth and exhaled, flicking the ashes from the tip as he went. The kid had some bratty spark to him. Not the kind that was endearing, however. Not that John tended to think any kids were endearing, unless they were related to him. And, actually, sometimes not even then (future apologies to Gemma, and all, but she'd turned into a little shit).

But maybe he could give the kid some slack, seeing how he was dressed in a manner that said he was either the antagonist ghost from a horror film, or maybe just from a time when people were even more shitty than they were today. Not too much slack though; too many more wrong words in his direction and he'd be very fine with suggesting the kid try functioning without that second eye, too. "The mayor's busy," he said with a lift of his shoulder -- even if he didn't really know what Stark was up to this second. "'Fraid you'll have to deal with me or no one. S'a shame, I know."

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_dissimulation
2019-06-30 10:53 pm UTC (link)

The boy clicked his tongue against his teeth, turned on his heel and started to walk away from the town square, the phone safely pocketed. The high heels of his boots sounded against the pavement. "Indeed. Well. Hurry it up, then. Show me around. And, bring me to an establishment where I can find refreshments." As he said this, he didn't stop to look over his shoulder at John, he simply kept walking.

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_constantine_
2019-06-30 11:02 pm UTC (link)

Adorable. Really just -- cute.

Except, whatever the opposite of that was, obviously.

John did no such thing as follow. Instead he flicked his cigarette butt away from himself (and it landed nowhere, because he wasn't going to be the first asshole to litter in this place, if he could disappear things instead) and then moved to light a new one.

"Show yourself around," he offered cheerfully. "And good luck finding food and lemonade, kiddo. Probably, it'll be harder than however you found the little bit of Hell you've got on you." It wasn't so hard to spot out, not by someone like Constantine, who lived almost exclusively in that world.

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_dissimulation
2019-06-30 11:08 pm UTC (link)

"I prefer wine. And, also. I have a name." Well, he hadn't introduced himself, so... Either way, Ciel came to a halt, and now he did look back at the man. Was that a new cigarette? What about the old one? ...Well, no matter. He couldn't be bothered with anything minor as that.

"...But what do you mean?" Unconsciously, Ciel's hand cupped the eye covered by the eye patch. Maybe something about this man was worth his time after all. If anything else, that comment had piqued his curiosity. He lowered his hand again and walked back on over to John, stopping a few paces away. Any closer and the man would tower over him and he wasn't going to put himself in that unflattering position thank you very much.

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_constantine_
2019-07-02 02:08 am UTC (link)

Wine! This kid was -- what? Five? Well, not like John could really judge there, he'd busted into the liquor cabinet pretty young, himself. Anyway, he had plenty of other things to judge this kid by. Mostly how much of a little prick he seemed to be.

John took another drag from his cigarette and tilted his head slightly to the side, squinting at the boy when he turned back around to face him. That he touched his covered eye was a pretty big tell, if there ever was one. "You know what I mean," he countered, because this kid seemed like he had plenty negative going for him, but stupid probably wasn't on that list. "It's all over you. What is it? Artifact? A deal?" An artifact probably would have been more obvious, more noticeable. John was leaning on a deal.

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_dissimulation
2019-07-02 11:10 am UTC (link)

"Deal. Contract." Ciel lowered his hand and studied the man in silence for a moment. So, he knew about demons, did he? Did he abide to a contract himself? Or was he something other than human? There were demons, death gods, walking dead... He certainly wasn't the latter, that much Ciel could dare to guess. "I do not know if the contract is void now or not, as it seems that he isn't here, but the fact that it still remains..." He shrugged.

"Either way, seems like you're experienced with this sort of thing, so my next question is... How wary should I be around you, sir?" As much as he hated to admit it, he did need help with the basics here - he needed to find a place to stay for the time being while he figured out exactly what was going on here after all, and there was just so much he could do on his own. Which meant, he should try to smooth over... Some of his comments at the very least. Some. He wasn't about to bow his head completely to some lowly peasant after all.

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_constantine_
2019-07-02 04:10 pm UTC (link)

Yeah. He'd thought so. John was momentarily sympathetic for the kid, because demons were a tricky thing, and there weren't a lot of people who made it out on top when the dealing started, and the fine details were missed. "They never really go away," he admitted, a little rueful, because pity wasn't something he offered to anyone. "But maybe it's on pause."

He flicked at the end of his cigarette, thoughtful over the question that the kid was smart enough to ask. Or stupid enough. It wasn't as if John's answer should have mattered about that. The truth was he should be very wary around John. But not because John himself was planning to do any harm, or would even want to. More because he was a magnet for trouble, and being around him -- anyone being around him - got people dead. Even if it hadn't happened since he'd arrived here, that didn't mean it wasn't still possible. "Me?" He answered instead with an amused smile. "Oh. I'm practically harmless, me. I just know a thing or two, is all. John Constantine, by the way." Introductions might as well happen, while the kid wasn't being an absolute bag of dicks.

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_dissimulation
2019-07-02 04:25 pm UTC (link)

"Ciel Phantomhive." He wasn't really looking at John as he introduced himself, as he was busy thinking. So... Sebastian was on 'pause'? Was that even possible? A quick thought came to him - if Sebastian wasn't here, would that mean his soul was safe? That shouldn't even matter, because the pressing thing was, if Sebastian wasn't here, then what would happen to his revenge? Ciel pushed the thoughts away, it wasn't something he should focus on at the moment.

So, John simply knew a thing or two, did he? Hardly by chance. Well, whatever he was caught up in was of no interest of Ciel, as long as he didn't end up in trouble because of it. This place seemed idyllic enough, but he wasn't about to lower his guard; he knew full well that first impressions weren't much to base an educated opinion on.

"Well then, do you know what I'm supposed to do? I'm still hungry, and from the looks of it, I might be in need of a place to stay."

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_constantine_
2019-07-04 12:55 am UTC (link)

The kid was holding his own emotionally, Constantine thought -- which was pretty impressive because he was a kid. And a demon was involved somewhere at least on top of him just having appeared here with zero warning. He wouldn't give any verbal props over this, but John was tucking the information away in the back of his head for future use, if necessary.

"Brill," he said in acknowledgement before huffing out a sigh and looking over the kid and toward the rest of the town. The not very large town. "Best bet for food and drinks right now is going to be Pancho's," he said, pointing to the bar in question. Both Pete and Carol would take pity on a kid showing up hungry, no doubt. "As for a place...basically you just pick whatever one is empty. Think they've got things mapped out and recorded in the library?" He pointed to that building next.

Probably a kid shouldn't be living on his own, but John didn't really have any other suggestions about that one, yet.

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	_dissimulation 2019-07-04 06:18 pm UTC (link)
	"I see... Thank you." What about currency? Well, maybe he could ask about that at... Pancho's? Was that the name? Oh well, he had heard worse. He should head there before going to the library, because he couldn't function properly on an empty stomach - and besides, he hated going hungry. "And..." He held out the phone. "What kind of contraption is this?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

_constantine_
2019-07-05 02:11 am UTC (link)

Well, no one liked going hungry -- at least no one that was in their right mind, anyway. So John was happy enough to help in that regard. He tilted his head in acknowledgement to the thanks, because he wasn't one to make a big deal of these sorts of things.

"Ah," he said of the phone. Because, well, that made sense that he didn't know, didn't it? This kid wasn't exactly dressed like he was from this century. "It's a cellphone. You turn it on with the button on the side -- and can read the menus to find what you're looking for. Use it to talk to people. Play around with it enough and it's self explanatory."

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