[un: constantine | text]

[keepgodwaiting]

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

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[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.

[100more]

[ People like you. He's not offended, it's just a little funny to hear it said. ]

It was nice. I mean, it is, but now we're here and his life has taken a turn.

[ A seriously romantic one, from the looks of it. ]

Anyway, my life is my own, here or otherwise.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ Her eyebrows go up. ]

Sure. It bloody well better be.

I don't know yet if this place has the same number of immortals that the last place did, but you might find a few more people with shared life experience than normal.

[100more]

[ Hob hesitates at that. ]

Your probably right. Though, I still find it hard to mention it. Old habits, I guess.

[ A faint smile. ]

God, we only just met but it feels familiar talking to you. Strange.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ Johanna chuckles, soft and wry. ]

Yeah, well. I've seen your guts, you've yelled at me like you're my dad. You met my ancestor, I met -- you. Evens out to a bit of familiarity.

[100more]

Right.

[ But it all feels familiar to him, as well, even if it shouldn't. ]

So the City was a simulation? Is there anything else about it I should know?

[keepgodwaiting]

[ It's an interesting question. Does she mention Loki? Go into detail about the werewolf? ]

I'm not sure, [ slowly, thoughtfully. ] I start telling you about what that other you did, I'm not sure your life will still be totally your own.

Let me ask you this. What do you make of this place? The "saving the universe" bit?

[100more]

[ Johanna makes a good point. ]

I guess I don't really want to know too much about the other me.

[ Hob might start second guessing himself and who he really is based on the other's actions. ]

I'm not sure I believe the whole 'universe ending' thing, or that some need to die so others can live. I don't trust the ones holding us here.

[keepgodwaiting]

[ She nods, her lips pressing into a line. ]

Nor should you, I'd say. People who pick you out to do their dirty work without asking aren't very trustworthy.

Far as we could tell, that's what happened in the City. I still don't know how they got hold of us from all over the different planes of existence, and I don't know where we actually were -- our bodies -- but I know they thought picking us up and dropping us into their scenarios without so much as a by-your-leave would solve their problems. And now here we are again.

[100more]

Can we be sure this isn't a simulation, as well? Does it feel any different to you?

[ If this were something like that, it would easily explain how everything can change so suddenly in this world. ]

[keepgodwaiting]

There you have it.

[ A shrug. ]

I can do proper magic, here. There it was like trying to suck a golf ball through a garden hose.

[ jo pls is that the simile you want to commit to ffs ]

[100more]

[ Hob nods slowly, figuring that must mean something. And yet, both her magic and Dream's isn't enough to escape this place. ]

Then maybe it isn't. Still, it's a lot to adjust to.

[ One can lump the new world, the mission, and everything he's learned about Dream and the City into that one remark. It's a lot. ]