14173/How to pull the Devil out of this particular hat

How to pull the Devil out of this particular hat
Date of Scene:	08 March 2022
Location:	River of Lava, Mount Erebus - Antarctica
Synopsis:	After having sucked the Devil into the fire realm when banishing a spirit snake from the Gotham docks, John Constantine and Sinister travel to the magma core of mount Erebus to pull him back through a dimensional rift.
Cast of Characters:	Sinister, Constantine, Lucifer

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Sinister has posed:
The last couple of days have been spent doing the following things:

Not sleeping at all.
Preparing a variety of gadgets to make them lava proof.
Practicing repeatedly on a submersible simulator, because the pilot with the most practice with the damned thing is on the OTHER side of the rift.
Doing endless calculations.
Figuring out the way to essentially put a chest splitter device into a rift the size of a rabbithole, so that one can make the plughole syphoning from Fire Dimension to Material plane large enough for something bigger than a rat.

Prepared as he was going to be and knowing that some things may require mystical intervention, Sinister made sure to gather resources and allies. Ally. Singular. He doesn't really have many Allies... in order to return to Antarctica and mount Erebus. The way that they KNOW how to get to the rift's location is through the savage lands, with dinosaurs aplenty and potential international eyeballs picking up on the unwelcome presence of Essex Corp. So, the first half of this was incognito and radar-scrambling gear, as well as running wild on the back of a Gallimumus. Again. And now, by the submersible dock in the flaming core of Erebus' daughter, last minute calculations before they plunge down the CRAZY river of lava to where the rift is housed, buy precious minutes to rethink life choices.

Constantine has posed:
"Irish coffee, Natty. Gotta keep your spirits up," John says, offering Sinister his thermos. There's no milk in there. "I also grabbed some dinojerky, for the trip." He gives a good look at everything, probably seeking something to do to feel less useless. "I mean, he'll be hungry when we find him... right?" Do celestials need to drink and eat? If they don't, Lucifer is indulging a lot. "I've brought charms to let us be in the fire unharmed, if need be. Just be careful: if you leave the fire, you'll flop like a fish out of water and suffocate." John doesn't ask for permission, he puts the trinket in one of Nathaniel's pockets: a sizeable scale, black with bronzed accents of red moving in the depth of what seems to be chitin, held on a thick string of hemp.

A long moment passes. "Are we there yet?"

Sinister has posed:
It's a rather tight fit for the scale. "He'll be both hungry and thirsty, though it won't be essential. Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Pause. "Salamander? Looks like salamander, in the traditional sense, rather than the actual small amphibian sense." Sin's got a body suit on, which is also thermally treated to allow for protection from flame. Normally speaking, he isn't actually fire proof, only fire retardant. The whiskey though, got a shoot from the flask, heedless of germs. Alcohol takes care of most of that anyway. "It takes about twenty minutes and you might want to spend most of it staring at your feet, or imagining your in space mountain, because the truth will make you sweat a lot. Hop in."

Assuming that this is a suggestion that's actually taken up on, the pre-submersion checks are made, the sub is sealed and it's powered up, submerging into molten lava with a shimmer of some kind of magnetic barrier surrounding the little vessel. But it has about as much climate control as a mercedes on the surface of the sun. Aka: It gets hot inside pretty quick. Uncomfortable, but not cooking. ANd then there's the view outside, which is of not a lot but red-white hot rock. Which they're piloting through, by means of navigating by psychic intuition and GPS map that indicates here the solid rock is, turns and potential drops. Of which there are a few.

In other words, by the time they arrive in the magma chamber that houses the rift to the fire plane, they're dangerously close to a /waterfall of lava/ and life choices should probably be re-evaluated /again/. "Attempting to patch a signal trough is going to be pointless at this juncture... though you may wish to begin any mojo to stabilize a rift about now, John..." <<Lucifer? Is there any chance you're conveniently on the other side of this incoveniently small hole? If so, stand by. We need to make a bit of room.>>

Constantine has posed:
"Genuine dragon, actually. I'm going to want it back." Hop in, John does. Twenty-twenty-more minutes to go, John wants to be sedated. He doesn't though look at his feet. He uses that downtime to read from a small wood bound book. The fingers of his free hand move as he reads, a choreography of magical gestures as he is making adaptations.

John grunts as he sees the lavafall. "This place is no picnic and I've seen the pools of molten lead... you-know-where."

While he usually restrains from using magic, John appreciates having something to do at last to break the tedium. First, he works the spell he just made. Little green circles of light form up at both Nathaniel and John's mouths and earholes. //This carries the voice through. I know you can do telepathy but I can't.//

Opening a rift is not a matter of distance but the similarity of this place with the fire plane helps immensely. John spreads his arms and a blue aura surrounds him as he levitates. That does nothing to help his lack of hairdo either, locks going haywire. A circle starts forming in the lavafall. If it wasn't for the blue outline, the opening would be hard to make. //I can hold this up only for so long... fire eats up magic.//

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer is on the other side of the hole. When he hears that voice in his head, it's nothing but a sort of excited 'oh finally!' moment. <<Yes! I'm here! About bloody time you got here... I'm bored. It's boring in here. Get me out!>>

Then he spies the blue outline. <<Oh hey! I see that! Wait.. I think.. I think I can... GERONIMO!!>> And through the small rift wiggles and wraggles and jiggles a Lucifer until he's on the other side, dripping lava and looking between the two men. "The hell took y'all so long??"

Sinister has posed:
During the magical opening and widening, an energy beam is discharged from the front of the sub, essentially augmenting the natural rift and the widening of it by blue energy, kind of just a battery feed to stop the fire consuming the magic quite as quickly. It crackles and shuts off with an audible vacuum pop once the Lucifer's emerged. Into Lava. And then out of Lava, thank Him himself, for being flameproof.

"He says. Having gotten himself stuck in there in the first place! I had to learn how to navigate the route -you- were supposed to be taking, without you! And we had to work out how to make the hole bigger. Patience is a virtue the bored don't get a lot of, eh?" Sinister calls, watching his words boom out like a megaphone once Lucifer is free, owing to the green circles infront of his mouth and ears. "You're covered in pummice, you might want to shake yourself off, before getting into the sub. ANd you may want to be small and snakeshaped, as this thing is only made for two. C'mon, before the rest of us melt."

Constantine has posed:
John lands gracefully as the gate closes with a hissing sound not unlike meat being seared. When the blue halo dims to nothingness around him, he remains dishevelled... more than usual. "Welcome back, Lucifer." For good measure, he lobs his flask of gin at the archangel. Small comforts. "There could be some sort of time dilation too. Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey, mate." People do say they have 'an hour to burn'. "I'm sorry about this little accident, Luci. I didn't mean to, you know, displace you." Urged by Nathaniel, he gets back in the vehicle, cursing the handrail for being 'so damned fucking hot'.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer looks himself over and then gives a small 'huh' of a sound. "So I am..." He then proceeds to slough off all the pummice, fire juice, and makes himself all clean and dry. Right after, he catches the tossed flask nimbly and takes a drink of it before tossing it back. "No worries, John. Not really all your fault. I missed the timing on jumping off the serpent... by a lot... so really it's my fault." This much as he moves towards where Sinister has been sort of chiding him and gives his lover a wide grin. "Love you, too, Nathaniel."

One hand reaches to touch the railing, but instead of stepping onto the submarine, he shifts to turn into a serpent and coils around the railing before slithering over so he can reach Nathaniel and coils around his arm for a moment, squeezing his snake-body against that arm and moving his head to look at Nathaniel again. Tongue flick.

Sinister has posed:
"Yes. Damn it, I do," Sinister snorts, but it's with a fond twist of lips, reaching above his head once Samael has become Serpent, to close the roof of the sub down on them all. Briefly, he lifts the snake up to kiss him on the snoot and allow for him to become a scaley neck tie, doing the little pre-checks. "Hold your breath..." he requests, before flooding the inside of the sub fleetingly with freon gas, which is swiftly vented and air jetted in its wake. Climate controlled, though don't breathe that in, it's rather toxic.

"Hold onto your jollies, the journey back is against the flow, which will make it more turbulent." Swinging around, it's more hair-raising, more exciting, generally more of a thrill ride to get back to the docking port in Erebus' Daughter. And for those that need to breathe and suffer from heat exhaustion, the opening of the roof is a mixed blessing, measured out with Sin looking up at the vaulted crater of the Savage land's ring of fire. "We had best get the hell out of here, they've picked up my signals. I don't really feel like having a showdown with the locals."

Constantine has posed:
John seems miserable in this heat. He has a pack of Silk Cuts in hand, his flask in the other. The cigarettes are at the ready for the exact moment they leave this hellbox and the alcohol... well. It help with nerves, boredom and cooling off, perhaps. That doesn't stop him from sweating abudantly. Incidentally, that fixes his hair problem because they go flat from the dampness of his scalp. He makes no 'are we there yet' comment either after he's reminded of possible indigenous attack.

Lucifer has posed:
The journey back will at least get the submarine back to where it's supposed to be for the next time they need to journey through the lava. Which hopefully isn't anytime soon. Then, once they all disembark - and before anyone can light up a cigarette - Lucifer uncoils himself from Sinister to become man again. That man grabs the others by their arms and in a flourish of smoke and a bit of brimstone and sulfur, they arrive back at the Penthouse proper. "Here we are. Home sweet home."

Sinister has posed:
Cue: full body shudder and wriggle. "John, there's a rainfall shower and spare towels in the closet in the bathroom. You might want to avail yourself. I just smell of brimstone, which... might not be so bad for some noses." The coolness of the penthouse by comparison is an absolute BLESSING and yes, who cares if the devil's associated with it. The skinsuit he's got on does nothing for the imagination, which might be why they're so popular with the PR crowd of superhero groups, but he doesn't seem to care. SO what if it's not the height of expensive fashion? It still is monstrously expensive and now smells of volcano farts! "I think I probably need to get this dry cleaned," is observed of himself, before he's ignoring all PDA protocols and flinging arms around Lucifer in a very, very tight hug. FWWWWWWIP--fwoosh. Wings, also hugging.

Constantine has posed:
John's mostly wool outfit looks damp through and through, slowing him down quite a bit. That doesn't prevent him from lighthing up even before he gets offered a shower. "Right-" And then there's this touching reunion happening. "Huh... I'll be in the shower." John leaves, followed by the comforting smell of tobacco. Somehow, it mixes well with brimstone, probably because it's associated with matches.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer is about to say something when he's suddenly glomped by a Nathaniel and wings. He hugs back, holding for a moment. "I fell in and couldn't get out... and then I feared that maybe you couldn't get to any point. I had to have several weird conversations with a skirt or several before finally finding that point of entry where you found me." He offers this even as he holds, even as he gives a slight wave to a fleeing Constantine. "I must have looked for that point for days before finally getting there. I guess my other fear was that you had already checked there, before I could figure out where it was. There's not a lot of points of entry between the realms. Which I guess is a good thing. Just annoying."

Sinister has posed:
"We'll be here," SInister's voice is muffled. And damn, that shower is fiiiiiiine. Because when one lives in a penthouse that has every commodity and convenience one could want, for the ludicrously rich and prone to creature comforts, your rainfall shower has a 'torrential storm' setting. No really. It even has lightning flashes through the lighting system and thunder sounds if you want them. But it gets the job done, has good shower gels and soaps and shampoos and ablution products and yeah, just anything you could think of with an expensive label. And REALLY BIG towels.

"I would've found you anyway, if I'd got there ahead of you, you'd have heard my mind calling out until you found it. I am a determined bastard. However, now? I am officially cracking the -good- whiskey and the cigarettes. No arguing I'm sure." Another squeeze, back slapping and a reluctant disengage and he does just that, hopping to glide over to the wall-to-ceiling bar to levitate the top shelf stuff down and arrange three glasses on the bar top.

Constantine has posed:
From the shower room, besides the expected rain and thunder sounds comes the voice of John. He's singing an off-key, off-beat version of 'Homecoming Queen'. Many lyrics are hummed and not sung, though.

Lucifer has posed:
"Maybe it just felt like it was longer than it was.." Lucifer comments gently before giving a chuckle. "I know. We keep telling each other, no matter where, we will find the other. This proves those words." This much more and then he feels Nathaniel pull away. "The good whiskey and cigarettes? I won't argue this time, no. It's a special occassion after all. To some degree. The homecoming of me.." He laughs softly and follows Nathaniel towards the bar. Though, he looks back towards where the shower is, and flings his hand to the entry of the hallway. Sound barrier. Keep those drenched cat noises away from his ears, please.

Sinister has posed:
"Two days was long enough. A year was hell. I'm going to guess that time worked a little differently in the realm of fire, but you're not feral and diving at all things material, so..." Sinister smiles from the other side of the bar, pours three whiskies and sets the good BOX of smokes on the table. The ones from the small humidor, with a set of king sized matches, because some things you light with a lucifer, not with a Lucifer.

So that will be ready once John emerges, all innocent of his catawaul barrier. They may have had a glass already by the time he's found the white fluffy bathrobes and guest slippers. After all his clothes and coat need a bit of time to dry, or have a good 'quik-dri' spell applied to them. "Wherever you are, no matter where that is. Always."

Constantine has posed:
Talk of the Devil's friend and John appears. Where he found a terry bathrobe he won't tell. Not that it changes him much from when he's keeping his trench coat indoors. Really, he must be dropping his guard around Nathaniel and Luci. "I sent my clothes back home... must be washed ritually." He scratches the back of his still wet head on his way to the bar. "Huh... Luci? While you were gone, I sort of hmm. Performed downstairs. The crowd didn't like. I wanted you to know before you learned from elsewhere." He gives them both a congenial smile and lights up one of the good death sticks.

"...wow. This is..." John takes another drag and gives the cigarette an appreciative look.

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer sips the whiskey and takes up one of those good cigarettes, actually lighting it with a match rather than the hellfire. He smiles at Nathaniel and gives a nod at those last words he uses. A drag off that cigarette and he glances towards an approaching Constantine. "Uh huh. Apparently it caused quite the mess my staff had to clean up. Shall I send you the bill for the overtime?" He grins, smokes, and drinks before streeeetching just a bit. "Well, at least I'm home. All in all... a good day. Well accomplished."

Sinister has posed:
"I also got a few sensor and camera readings from the main magma chamber, which I can look over later." Make a rescue have some added worthwhile elements to pore over, right? "Is that what I was hearing last night? I -had- been wondering. And aren't these fantastic?" He drags on his own smoke, satisfied with the smooooooooooothness. "Plantation in cuba. They make these out of what I can only describe as tobacco tips. From the plants destined for cigars, but new shoots. There's something to be said for a satisfying smoke... and good whiskey." He lifts his glass to that, sipping it with eyes closing.

Caught up: "Ritually washed?"

Constantine has posed:
Now John washes the taste of tobacco tip cigarette with the good whiskey. The /right/ whiskey. For a moment, he stares through the world speechless. He smacks his lips and return to the conversation. "I already restocked your shelves with some reserves from my mansion. Added some rare wines to your collection too," he says with a lopsided smile.

After blowing out some very symetrical smoke rings, he addresses Nathaniel: "If you machine wash your clothes, they forget where they've been. Same with using utility magic."

Lucifer has posed:
Lucifer looks the cigarette over and gives an appreciative nod. "They're nice. We should keep these in stock." He offers this to Nathaniel then before giving Constantine the side eye. "Well. I suppose that will suffice. Why don't you leave the talent show for those who...actually have talent next time, hmm?" He grins before knocking back the rest of the good whiskey. "Also, I appreciate you helping Nathaniel get me out of that dimension. It was fun...for the first few minutes. But for now, I'm going to have to kindly ask you to vacate my penthouse. I'd rather no one else but Nathaniel be here for the...carnage that might be forthcoming."

And with that, and John's leave, the carnage will ensue. In all the possible and somehow impossible ways a Devil can ravage his Geneticist.