This was the sound accompanying John Allerdyce's exploration of his new living space in Nightvale, the town that apparently could suck you right out of the middle of fucking nowhere and crash-land you into a total mind fuck of epic proportions, as he toyed with his ever present loyal zippo lighter.
He used to have gauntlets, but he'd lost those a very long time ago so it was back to basics for John and ultimately he had a flame and that was all he needed. Everything else was dependent on him and his imagination, which for the record was vast and vivid, so he could take one tiny flame and turn it into a monster if he so desired.
Not that was on the list of things to do but it was good to have that option.
Eventually his dark booted feet carried him to a nearby door which when pushed open led outside and John stepped out, digging into the pocket of his jacket to latch into the crumpled pack of smokes tucked away in one of the inner pockets. He slipped one between his lips, flicked open the lighter and with a snap of index finger and thumb he caused the flame to leap the distance between hand and cigarette.
Short inhale in and the cigarette began to smoke.
There were worse places a person could be.
Molly could think of several off the top of his head. Namely the place he'd left behind. Or rather, the place he was fairly certain he'd left behind, judging by the rather brutal scar that split the center of his chest. He didn't regret it - not when it had likely kept Beau alive - but he wished his second life hadn't been so short.
Still, it seemed he had a third in him, and he even remembered himself this time. That just solidified the thought that Lucien, whoever he'd been in his life, had been a real piece of shit. So much so that his body hadn't even wanted to remember him. But Molly was here and Molly got to stay, and he was grateful for that.
He wished he could have been with the others for this third life, but this was certainly better than nothing. And Night Vale was certainly a fascinating place. It was weird, but then so was he. And he found that he rather liked it here.
Still, it didn't stop the pang of - something, from going through his chest at the sight of someone who reminded him all too much of Caleb, which only intensified as fire seemed to shoot from his hand. His feet were moving before he could even think, crossing over to where the man was.
"Got one of those to spare, friend?" he asked, figuring it was as good an opening as any.
John inhaled a mouthful of smoke and held onto it as he lifted his gaze to regard the purple horned stranger that had approached him before he let it out of the corner of his mouth. He was fortunate he supposed that he came from a world where mutation was a normal fact of life and came in all shapes or sizes and as a result he was nonplussed by the other's unique appearance. In fact, he had adopted Magneto's regard of things as in the weirder the better and more beautiful especially if the person owned everything that they were and were not in any way ashamed or trying to hide who they were.
"You're in luck," he drawled, voice touched by smoke, and lips settled into a smirk as he presented the open packet to the stranger. "I got enough to go around."
He lifted his cigarette to his lips and took a further drag, the end flickering with reds and ambers. "You need a light?"
Oh, that was nice. Molly’s entire persona, piercings and tattoos and bright colors - not to mention the horns and tail of all - was a sort of test. He tended to judge people based on how they reacted to it. The ones who got mean or spiteful or hateful at the sight of him probably weren’t worth his time. And he’d certainly seen his share of those in his years. Tieflings weren’t always well-regarded in the empire. Especially not ones who were as in your face about it as he was. But this one, yeah, he could tell this one was a good sort.
“Thank you kindly,” he said with a grin that showed a hint of sharp fangs, reaching a clawed hand out to delicately take a cigarette from the man’s pack.
“If you don’t mind,” he said, settling down next to his new friend. “I’m Mollymauk Tealeaf, by the by. Molly to my friends. And I’d like to think we could be friends.”
“I can see why Molly might be a helluvalot easier to say than…” John waved, vaguely. “I won’t even insult you by trying to pronounce it so I’ll stick with Molly. My name’s John because my parents won all the creative naming of their kid awards.”
He plucked his own cigarette out from where it was held between his lips and focused his attention on the end for literally a second and sure enough a trickle of a flame crept along the “cancer stick” as somebody had once called them, caught the edge of his hand, found its way to his middle finger before with a flick of his thumb against the tip the flame was quite literally flicked over to catch and light Molly’s cigarette.
“So, what makes you think we’d make friends aside from the fact we both share the same dirty habit?”
Molly laughed. His name wasn’t all that hard, but he could see how the shorter version would be easier. “I appreciate that,” he said. “Though if you wanted to mangle it, I wouldn’t judge. Good to meet you, John. You’re right. It’s not a very exciting name. But you do well enough with it.”
That was a delightful little trick. He watched with amusement as the flame flicked about, taking a drag from the cigarette before commenting. And that tasted rather different than what he was used to. Not as pleasant. But the taste wasn’t really the point. “That looks useful,” he said, making a little nod at his now lit cigarette. He couldn’t exactly return the favor. The majority of his tricks were a bit more combat oriented. Maybe another time.
“Oh, you know,” he said. “I’ve learned to spot a fellow weirdo.” It wasn’t said with any disdain. He was quite proud to be weird. “So, how are you liking all of this?
“Hmm, maybe,” John murmured with a considering lift of his eyebrow before simply taking a further drag. “I also went by Pyro, for obvious reasons, but John’s fine.”
He smirked and nodded. “It has and I mean if you’ve got something going for you then you damn well put the time into making it the best thing you have.” It wasn’t like he had a lot more but nobody needed to know his sob story.
John’s head tipped and he gave Molly a ’really?’ kind of expression though he let out a husky chuckle. “You got me there.” He was in fact a weirdo, loner too, and generally ill-suited to the majority of society. “This is not the weirdest thing to have ever happened to me so I’m rolling with the punches. You?
“Pyro,” Molly said with a grin and another flash of fangs. It was a bit on the nose, wasn’t it. Rather like Caleb electing to go by Fire Bolt or something. The idea was an amusing one. “If you prefer Pyro, I can work with that. Just let me know what you like.” And if those words had an edge of flirtation, well...Molly liked pretty people. And John here was certainly pretty.
“I like to be sure everyone knows what I’ve got going for me,” Molly shot back in a teasing tone. And that certainly had any number of meanings. The whole tiefling of it. The swords at his waist and general swagger. The fact that he’d never worn his shirt closed a day in his - admittedly short - life. It covered all manner of sins.
Molly laughed. “I came from the circus,” he said. “This doesn’t even crack my top five.” And that wasn’t counting his time with the Nein. He missed them. He really did. He’d have liked to have had more time with them - Yasha especially. But mostly he was just glad to still be himself. That he hadn’t faded away to leave space for someone else the way Lucien had. He took a long pull from the cigarette, then fished his cards out from the pouch on his belt, fiddling with them. “Tell your fortune? I’m told it can be illuminating.”
John arched an eyebrow at what sounded like a flirtatious comment from Molly but he was pretty dense when it came to these things. Maybe it was from a lack of interest given how he’d gotten close to just one other person and if you’d pardon the pun been burned to the point where he’d basically shut himself off from feeling much of anything or maybe it was because of his own issues that he didn’t exactly see himself the same way the rest of the world did.
“I can see that,” John replied, sweeping his gaze over Molly’s appearance. It was definitely unique but not unattractive, just different. And different wasn’t bad, in fact it was probably better than ordinary or “normal”.
A curious look was given to the cards fished out of Molly’s pouch and wondered how much of it was actually true and how much was real live bullshit. Sceptical? Oh fuck yeah. But honestly, what did he have to lose?
He dropped what was left of his cigarette to the ground and crushed it beneath the sole of his boot. “Fuck it, why not? What do you need me to do, Molly?”
Molly was a flirt. He just couldn’t help it. He saw someone attractive or unique or interesting, and he just couldn’t help but flirt. And with this guy calling Caleb to mind so strongly, there was an added something. Not that Molly wouldn’t have flirted with him anyway. John was handsome and interesting and clearly unapologetically himself, no matter what other people thought. That in and of itself was a very attractive quality. Too many people lacked that ability to just not give a fuck.
He grinned unrepentantly at the once over. “Yeah, you can,” he agreed . “And do you like what you see?” No harm in asking. If he was too forward, he trusted John to tell him. He didn’t push where he wasn’t wanted, but when he was, that made everything more fun.
The grin got brighter as John agreed to let him read his fortune. It was always better when people humored his bullshit. Jester had been great for that. Gods, she’d probably cried when she found out what happened to him. If they’d even gotten her back. Her. Fjord. Yasha.
No. No thinking about that. He was enjoying the company of a handsome man. Not getting maudlin.
Normally he’d have laid his coat out for this, using it as a sort of show piece. But he was still working on repairing the damage getting impaled on a glaive had done to it. It would take a bit more time. Instead, he just took a seat and began shuffling his cards, making it flashy enough to be interesting. “Now,” he said, “think of what you want the cards to tell you, and focus on that.”
The thing about John was that he didn’t reveal his cards especially those he held close to his chest and so he just tipped his head, let his gaze wander over Molly again before he merely hitched a shoulder up towards his ear.
“Fuck,” he grumbled as he tried to think about what he wanted the cards to tell him, he wasn’t entirely sure and it was definitely a spur of a moment decision to agree to let his fate be read by Molly’s cards. “Uh, okay, okay,” he shifted to better face Molly, shoulder braced against the wall.
His thumb scratched over his eyebrow idly as he focused his attention on the question of whether or not anybody else from his reality would ever join him and if they did would he be happy about it.
“Anything else you need me to do?”
Well, then. John didn’t need to answer his question. He was still looking, and that told Molly all he needed to know. John was, if not exactly openly interested, at least intrigued by him. And Molly had done more with less. He could work with this. And, in any case, even if John wasn’t interested, friendship was good too.
“Just stand there and look pretty,” he said with a teasing edge to the words and that sharp smile.
He shuffled the cards, then spread them out, studying John as he did so.
“Now,” he said, “we’re doing a simple three card spread here. Past, present and future. Who you were, who you are, and what might await you. There are more complicated ways of doing it, but this usually does well enough.”
He drew the first card and laid it out. “So, that’s the anvil in reverse. The anvil speaks to forging a destiny. To power and a path. The reverse means that you’ve struggled with the idea of power and what that means for you. You’ve made mistakes in your search for power and destiny and tied your identity into that.”
A second card flipped.
“The hermit,” he said. “This card is about introspection and self-discovery. You’re figuring out who you are and what that means for you, and critically examining yourself. There’s an element of isolation to the hermit. You’ve withdrawn from the world as you see it in order to figure yourself out and decide what you want your life to be.”
One last card. And maybe he’d slipped this one in on purpose.
“Clasped hands,” he said. “This card can mean a lot of things. Friends. A lover. It’s about connection. Relationships. Bonds. You’ve isolated yourself but that doesn’t always have to be the case. You can forge new relationships and build new bonds.”
He gave John a smile. “So, what do you think?”
John snorted softly. “Nobody’s ever accused me of being pretty before.” Still, he did as he was told, he stood there and watched. Warily, suspiciously and with more than a little reservation.
Of course the more the cards were pulled and the more of his past, present and future was revealed the more John began to feel like Molly had to have some sort of power because it was that accurate it was kind of frightening to be honest.
“Not bad,” he offered to Molly with a lopsided smile. “The past and the present I can definitely get behind but-” His voice trailed off as he reached for the clasped hands card and took a closer look at this. “This one? Well, it’s complicated. Let’s just say I’ve not had the best experience with friends or lovers for that matter.” Where he came from he had thought he had something really fucking special only to be discarded like yesterday’s news when somebody better came along, a woman at that. That wasn’t the first time either, his parents were a real piece of fucking work and everything after that had been John pushing back and finding out just how far people could be pushed before they stopped trying.
Molly raised an eyebrow at John’s comment, pausing to look up at him and give him a slow and obvious once over. This wasn’t a moment for subtlety. “Pity you’ve only ever hung around people without eyes or sense,” he said. “You’re very pretty.”
He had a knack for this kind of thing. Looking at people and seeing what drove them. A kind of insight into what made them tick. It had always served them well, the ability to tell them not only what they wanted to hear, but what they needed to. There was no magic to it. John had powers, but he also had the look of someone who had made mistakes and wanted to leave them behind. The rest was simple to put together.
“I try my best,” he said. He wasn’t terribly surprised that John doubted the last card. And yes, that had been a bit of flirtation. He wouldn’t deny that. But judging by what John had said about his own appearance, it made sense that he would question it. “As I said, that card has a number of meanings. It can mean lovers, sure, but it’s really just about connections. You’re in a new place with a fresh start and I think it’s encouraging you to reach out and not push people away. You could have friends here if you want. You just have to have a bit of faith in yourself. I think you’re maybe a little too used to disappointment and you’re hesitant to take chances as a result. But this is an opportunity. I wouldn’t waste it if I were you.”
“Hm,” John murmured thoughtfully even as his hand reached for another cigarette as some habits died hard and trying to smoke himself into an early grave was apparently one of those. “Those your words of wisdom, Molly?” He asked, slipping the cigarette between his lips and catching the tip of it with his lighter before inhaling and exhaling after having held onto the smoke for a period of time. The cigarette was offered to Molly a moment later. “And I mean, I let you read my cards and I’m sharing my smokes with you so I figure that’s a good start, right?”
He didn’t so much smile as he did smirk, the edge of his mouth catching.
“It helps that you’re interesting,” he added, a gentle nudge of his elbow to Molly’s side. “If you were boring you never would have got this far.”
“That you should let yourself have a fresh start here, or that you’re pretty?” Molly said. “Because that second one is hardly words of wisdom. It’s just honesty and having eyes.” He took the cigarette when it was offered, taking a drag before passing it back. “As to the first, we can’t change where we’ve been. That is what it is. But we can decide where we’re going.”
He couldn’t help but smile. “And you have done that,” he agreed. “I’ve certainly appreciated this start.” There were so many things he could say, good and bad. Some were probably the wrong choice. He didn’t want to scare off Johnny boy, but it never hurt to make your intentions clear.
“Interesting is a good word for me,” he agreed. “I’ve been called plenty of worse things, that’s for sure.” He flashed another sharp-toothed smile. “You know, if you want to get to know me better, you could always come back to my flat.” He winked. “I’ve found you really get to know someone when you get them out of their clothes.”
John snorted softly and regarded Molly with a bemused expression. “How easy do you think I am?” He smirked and pushed away from the wall, exhaling smoke to one side. “You have to buy me dinner first at the very least.”
He raked his fingers through his hair and bared his own teeth, not anywhere near as sharp as Molly’s but no less roguish.