[un: constantine | text]

[keepgodwaiting]

For the love of god someone tell me there's dry cleaning around here

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[keepgodwaiting]

[ Fucking shitting Christ. ]

Right. Sorry about that. Guess this happens sometimes.

Thing is, elsewhere, it's not. I'm Johanna Constantine. I've met you before, and we have a mutual friend.

[ How do you subtly indicate "I know about the immortality thing" without spooking someone who might have some reasonable paranoia about his secret, and about her family name, specifically? ]

I'm nothing like great-grandmother Constantine, though, never fear

[ ... sure, lying is one way to do it! ]

[100more]

[ Elsewhere? Hob already gets a sense of what that means and who their mutual friend is. Luckily, a lot was already explained to him.

He only gets a moment to think about the name before Johanna seems to read his mind. Back then, Dream said he had some business with Constantine. Guess he continues to work with the family, though he never mentioned it. ]

The place called the City, right? I don't know that place, but I was told I was there.

[keepgodwaiting]

That's the one. Did you get told anything else?

[100more]

Even if you are who you say you are, I'm not just telling you everything over a text message.

[keepgodwaiting]

Calm down, I'm not asking for your life story

If you'd rather get a cup of tea at the cafe and talk it over there, though, fair enough

[100more]

I suppose we could do that.

-> action

[keepgodwaiting]

Well, see you there in half an hour, then?

[ "I suppose we could do that." Non-committal, but she lives in hope.

Thirty(-five) minutes later she can be found sauntering into the cafe, looking around for either an open table or an immortal Londoner. ]

[100more]

Yes. I'll see you there.

[ Hob isn't the type to ghost a woman. The immortal man is already at the cafe when she arrives and is nursing a cup of coffee.

As soon as he sees her face, his eyes go a bit wide because my God, she does look like her ancestor. Hob also stands as she approaches. ]

Hello.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ Oh, good, she's late. May as well start as she intends to go on: setting low expectations.

The expression on his face makes her grin, crooked and cocky, as she comes up to his table. ]

Bit trippy, innit?

[ Offering a handshake: ] How d'you do, Hob Gadling?

[100more]

[ They didn't appoint an exact time, so he doesn't consider her late. He's more preoccupied by the familiar countenance than anything. Trippy, indeed.

Hob accepts the handshake and nods. ]

Honestly, I'm not sure these days, Miss Constantine.

[ Things have been more than a little surprising since his arrival. It's a lot to adjust to. ]

[keepgodwaiting]

[ A soft snort. ] That's the truth.

[ She takes a seat, and when a bot comes over, she orders tea -- then changes her mind and asks for coffee instead, glancing at Hob's cup. The bot bustles off; Johanna leans back in her chair, studiedly casual. ]

So it's your first time being kidnapped to another universe, right? You should count yourself lucky, this one's practically inhabited.

[100more]

The first time that I know of. Apparantly it's happened before.

[ According to Dream, at least. Hob just doesn't remember any City. ]

It's not your first time?

[keepgodwaiting]

[ She holds up two fingers. ]

Counting the City. Suppose that one's on the edge, since it's a simulation. [ A shrug. ] I remember it like I was really there, though. So.

[100more]

[ A surprised blink. ]

A simulation? The City wasn't real?

[keepgodwaiting]

That didn't come up?

[100more]

No, actually.

Dream seemed more concerned about my lack of memories of it.

[ A vague shrug. ]

I guess real or not does not make as much of a difference to someone like him.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ Johanna presses her lips together. No, it wouldn't, would it? To someone whose realm is unreality, what would it matter if the universe you found yourself in was more or less physical? Can a creature of dreams even grasp the horror of not knowing yourself? Of doubting your perceptions? ]

I'd've thought he'd have some opinions about the people who stole us and put our brains in a box, at any rate. But there you are, he's an enigma beyond our mortal ken -- well, my mortal ken, excusing yourself. All that bollocks.

What did he tell you?

[100more]

[ Hob is momentarily surprised. She knows about his immortality? Well, if they were friends in the City, and she's also Dream's friend, it makes sense. Hob is just not used to people knowing. ]

That I was there but don't remember it, and it's where he met Vanessa. She allowed me to stay with them at her home when I arrived here.

[keepgodwaiting]

Oh, for fuck's sake, that's nothing. Well, did Ives tell you anything useful?

[100more]

That I should not get too comfortable here. It was kind of ominous.

[ She was a bit intimidating. ]

[keepgodwaiting]

Well, the two of them are certainly true to their brands.

[100more]

Indeed. [ He can't help but look amused. ] I guess that makes them a good match, though it was a bit surprising to see.

Back home, I only saw him again recently after many years.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ "Back home." London. She hasn't seen London in -- almost a year? Is that really right? She doesn't like to think of herself as sentimental, but the thought of London and her flat and all the little things that make the place home sends a thread of painful nostalgia through her.

The bot returns with her coffee, and she uses that to distract her, bring herself back to the conversation at hand. ]

I thought you two knew each other pretty well. Why so long?

[ She has at some points thought that they're probably a little in love with each other, too. Probably not the thing to bring up here, though. Morpheus does seem pretty dedicated to Ives. And maybe this Hob is different, the way Loki isn't quite the same. ]

[100more]

As well as I can know someone without knowing them.

[ He smiles a little. ]

I didn't even know his name until I came here. We would meet every one hundred years, and those meetings were often breif. Still, he was the only constant in my life.

[ A shrug. Maybe Hob just thought he knew him? But he doesn't think he was wrong when he told Dream he was lonely, and Dream has forgiven him for that since then.

Is Hob a little in love with him? Maybe. Probably. Not that it makes any difference, and he wouldn't think Dream harbored such feelings about him. Hob is just glad to be able to call Dream his friend. ]

[keepgodwaiting]

That must be nice, for people like you. Everything else around you must seem ... fleeting.