7063/A Bunch of Weird Folks Walk Into Bar...

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A Bunch of Weird Folks Walk Into Bar...
Date of Scene: 28 March 2019
Location: McAnally's, Bludhaven
Synopsis: Magik, Hellboy, Willow, and John Constantine all head to McAnally's introductions are made, drinks are had, and more is sure to come of it all.
Cast of Characters: Constantine, Willow Rosenberg, Magik, Hellboy




Constantine has posed:
The battle for Supes was over and the Justice League had won, at least for now. And though knackered and drained John had decided it was time for a drink and threw the offer out ot the rest before he buttonholed his apprentice and dragged her along whether she wanted to come or not.

Stepping through the door and down the stairs at McAnally's John made his way through the bars mostly magical patrons to get to the bar. "Couple of beers Mac," John says to the bald headed barman. "And don't hastle me about carding, kid tangled with the Enchantress tonight."

The barman grunted with a tilt of his head and he slid the beer towards Willow and another to John.

"Want something to eat too?" John asked. "I'm famished."

John leans on the bar eyeing the patrons. Mac's might be neutral ground for the spooky sort but it was always good to check if there's anyone he owed money too or double-crossed. It wasn't the night for that.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
While it wasn't Willow's first time in a bar, having been to at least one (okay, it was only one) on campus pub, she still couldn't help the wide-eyed looking around, as though expecting not only to be carded any moment, but that somehow the morality police were going to jump out and demand to know what she thought she was doing.

It had been a long, hard evening, and like John, she was feeling drained, and really not totally like herself.

"Food? Huh, oh.. uh.." There's a small hesitation from the girl as she gives John a semi-apologetic smile, "You're paying, right? I mean I have.." Wait. That was in her other jacket. Willow had bus fare. That's it. Bus fare.

Semi-apologetic turns to apologetic, "Payday isn't till next week, and I've been missing shifts." While chasing down, well, things like this. "Can you pay?"

She hikes herself up onto a stool at the bar beside him, her legs dangling, reaching nowhere near the rungs meant to rest your feet upon.

Magik has posed:
At table number thirteen sat a young blonde woman. She was getting a bit of attention from some of the patrons. If they were stupid enough to approach, they were soon retreating back to cry in their beers as she was obviously not interested.

Illyana Rasputin had heard of McAnally's Pub through reputation alone. She had a meeting a little earlier in the evening and the other party had chosen this for neutral ground. She still didn't have an answer but at least she had another lead to follow.

She had a chilled glass of vodka on the table in front of her. Straight. She sipped idly as she glanced to the newcomers entering the bar.

Hellboy has posed:
    John was looking over her shoulder, and Willow had a nervous energy, but Hellboy trudged in without a care in the world. For him, he didn't care if Blackheart or fifty Star Cultists were right around the corner. He had claw marks across his face that were still healing from a Parademon that had gotten a lucky shot in, and though they'd be decontaminated when they got back from an actual other planet, Hellboy could still feel the grime and the oppressive weight of that dying world filled with psychos and freaks. The barman looked at Hellboy, his head nodding up in a silent question. In response, HB just grunted and held up his stone right hand, where the first two fingers were held up. Barman nodded and went to work getting him what he ordered: Two pitchers of beer, bottle of bourbon and a burger.

    "Kid, don't worry about the tab, I got you covered, SHIELD's got its perks. You two were really good back there...thank you for having our backs."

Constantine has posed:
"No worries, after what we've been through, I've got you covered," John says to Willow. "Steak sandwich work? The ones here are tops..."

Though before he can finish, Red's made an offer of his own. "Never mind then, let's put this one on the government. Cheers, Big Man," John says lifting his beer to Hellboy.

As John checks out the bar, he takes note of Ilyanna and he doesn't need his Sight to see she's trouble. Trying to catch her eye, he raises his beer to her, because of course John would.

"Any of you lot know the bird at table thirteen?" he asks the others after having done his best to be seen. Not the best move perhaps. "The one sending those lads crying in their beers." He sounds impressed.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow has not one, but *two* people offering to pay for her. This is a red letter day, even if she feels more than a tiny bit lousy that broke and relying on the mercy of others for things like this is really becoming more than habit, and something of a lifestyle.

Hellboy is given a beaming smile. "You really are a lot nicer than you look, you know?" And John told, "Uhm. do they sell anything vegetarian here?" Because, well, you know...

John's question pulling her attention away from all that, over to where the 'bird' in question sits. "Oh, you mean a girl. She's kinda pretty in a Gothy dark way." Willow blinking back at John, "You aren't going to try and pick her up, are you?"

Magik has posed:
As the trio at the bar take a glance her direction, Illyana raises her own glass in response to the toast. Why? Because she is quite certain that one is not hitting on her. He doesn't have that 'feel' about him.

At that moment, her steak dinner is delivered to her table and she gives a nod to the barkeep. She does take a moment to ask him a question. The response is a grunt and a jerk of the chin toward Constantine. She looks back at the three, giving Hellboy a long once over, then motions to the table and arches a brow in question. Would they like to join her?

Hellboy has posed:
    When Willow paid him that compliment, the stony impassive visage looked down at her with that familiar slack-jawed 'dull surprise' sort of look. That was probably in part thanks to the glowing yellow eyes, without any pupils it was difficult to gauge just what the man was feeling by looking at his face. After a moment he gave a smooth response that managed to even sound 'nice', maybe? Or perhaps he just sounded like he normally sounded.

    "Yeah, I get that a lot about my face, you're very diplomatic. Tito, give the kid something without any meat in it."

    Even as he spoke, he reached down his belt pouch to pull out a pack of smokes. At the moment he was dressed only in his black spandex shorts, a form-fitting black shirt and that familiar belt of his, with his SHIELD badge front and center just in case. His guns, most of his charms and his coat itself was taken back to SHIELD directly, since he didn't want to bring a magnum revolver and a couple of grenades into a bar to have a drink with friends and coworkers.

    When they all started talking about the blonde woman, HB turned his attention to her directly. He regarded her a moment, before speaking over to Constantine without looking at him.

    "Yeah, I don't think that's gonna work out for ya."

Constantine has posed:
"No clue, luv, never asked," John says, given his diet of beer, whiskey, smokes and more illicit substances he wasn't the vegitarian sort. He looks to Mac, the man nods, "Looks like it." Not that Mac volunteered what it was. He was a man of few words.

John gives a little shrug, "Nah," John says as he smiles across the bar. "Just checking her out, she's got a bit of a vibe to her, like I should know who she is."

Though when the offer is extended, John says, "Though I guess we'll find out. C'mon you lot," Then with a look tossed to Mac. "We'll be at lucky thirteen."

Then John makes his way to the table, pausing by one of the men who he caught making an attempt, he pats his shoulder, "Better luck next time squire," he says with a wink, then heads over to the table.

"Hullo, thanks for the invite," he says sinking into a chair across from Illyanna.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow is all brightly pleased when Hellboy goes from stony visage to the other, noting she's touched him somehow. It's all good until he pulls out the cigarettes, because how she's got not one, but *two* companions smoking, and when John announces they're all moving shop over to the strange woman's table, there's a moment of consideration (would there be three?) where the young woman crinkles both nose and forehead.

"I guess..." she murmurs haltingly, considering the most dignified way to hop off of her chair.

However, the offer of something sans meat makes up for any variety of cheap-smokes ills, or John's quite likely a lie about not trying to pick the other woman up given he's moving the lot of them over there.

Bonus: He's not likely to launch into The Talk (tm) with strange company. Right?

She hops (undignified) from her chair and follows John over, not unlike a lost puppy, and takes a seat. Bonus: Her feet are much closer to the floor on the bench seat. Still dangling, but closer to having a place to rest. Oh, the trials of being short.

Magik has posed:
"Please, have a seat," Illyana responds to the group, waving to the table and letting them choose who ends up where. When she speaks, she has an obvious Russian accent. "I am not one to believe in fate but that becomes questionable when the very person I was just told to seek out for information walks in the front door."

She looks pointedly at John. "Would you like me to get more glasses for the vodka? Oh! My manners. Introductions first, yes?" She gives a nod to them all. "I go by the name Magik."

Hellboy has posed:
    He didn't typically like to sit, his legs were built to stand and stand almost forever. But in this situation, it wouldn't hurt to be polite at least for a moment. HB took the sturdiest looking chair that was available, stealing it from a different table so that he could sit and be relatively comfortable. Interesting to note, he was actually a bit away from the table so that his legs could stretch out to mimic a recliner.

    When his beers came, he immediately went to work on one of the first pitchers, holding it the way a normal person might hold a glass.

    "Magic is pretty specific as far as nicknames go. So I'm guessing you shoot lasers out your ears, or can talk to all ducks or something."

Constantine has posed:
John settles, in his seat and gives a nod of his head to Magik. "Who'd you want to talk to? Me?" he asks her. Then when it comes to introductions, his eyes widen a little with recognition of the name. "Heard of you," he says. "An' if I'm not the one you're looking for, then, I'm John," he says before putting one of his buiness cards down on the table. It reads:

John Constantine
Exorcist, Demonologist, and Master of the Dark Arts
201-555-7182

"My friends here well, they'll handle their own introductions," names being power and all of that. "An' not my usual poison but wouldn't say no to vodka." especially when offered by the ruler of Limbo.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
John's clarification of who Illyana is goes further than the woman's own introduction, leaving Willow in the awkward position of having to decide on what side of the fence Magik lies: good or bad. Even if Limbo is a word exactly defining the middle. Still, she's in decent.. er.. mostly safe company between John and Hellboy, so she supposes if things go badly, she'll be okay, right?

"I'm Willow," she tells the other. "Willow Rosenburg. That's really my name." She hasn't a nickname to offer, and really isn't sure about vodka, given her misgivings about the beer John insisted she was going to have. Luckily, it seems the offer is to John alone. She does turn to wait for Hellboy to introduce himself.

Magik has posed:
When John agrees to the vodka, Illyana raises a hand to the barkeep, holding up two fingers and a thumb. A moment later and there are three more chilled glasses along with a bottle of top shelf vodka. Then he's gone and Illyana turns her glacier blue eyes on Hellboy.

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy didn't look his best at the moment, with scratches across his face that at the very least aren't bleeding anymore, and looking somewhat shabby, slumped in a chair with a beer in hand. But when Illyana looked over he met hers for a while, never moving his eyes as he tilted his head back to drink a bit more. Finally, when his food was finally made and brought to the table, he finally broke the awkward silence and spoke.

    "Name's Hellboy, you probably knew that already. Some days I'm the bouncer, some days I'm the janitor, all depends on the dumbass I'm dealing with. And how far they wanna push their luck."

Constantine has posed:
There's a slight flinch from John when Willow offers Magik her full name. His own fault for not warning her who she was dealing with.

A look is given to Magik to see how she takes things.

He does pause however to grab the bottle and offer to pour for the table however.

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
John's wince is well deserved. Totally so. She actually knows better, but it's been an evening. A weird and wild evening. And she's not only still feeling the drain of the thing, but there's that niggle that's settled firmly in the back of her head that she's yet to fully banish, that woman's voice beckoning her to just reach out and say yes..

Oh, how she'd wanted to.

At the moment, though, she's not aware of her faux pas, and the danger it could lead to. Which is likely just as well, she's got vodka to ponder. It's clear and colourless, though - how bad can it actually be?

Magik has posed:
Taking the card, Illyana tucks it into her pocket. "I was told that John Constantine would be able to help me locate the source of a cursed object I came into possession of. But we will talk business later. By the look of things," she pauses as she looks them all over, Hellboy getting the greatest scrutiny. "You have had enough business for one night."

As John pours the rounds, she lets him top off her glass. She glances to WIllow and there is a dark smile. She is probably about the same age as the redhead. "You should get a codename. Little Red Riding Hood perhaps? Since you seem a bit lost in the woods surrounded by wolves."

Illyana's eyes go solid yellow for a moment, much like Hellboy's. "Seems they may have gotten close to you tonight." She turns her head, the only way it is obvius she's looking at Hellboy. "I presume that is where you got the cut."

Hellboy has posed:
    "Yeah, they do that every once and a while. But, y'know...you should see the other guy."

    His first beer was drained and finished, even as his stone right hand took burger duty. It looked big on the plate, but now inbetween fingers like those, it was more like an appetizer. Inbetween bites, he watched the blonde, and when she spoke to Willow, he'd interject while leaning back in his seat.

    Those are some great big eyes you have. Careful you don't go ticking off any woodsmen."

    The line was cool, and only a little diminished by a bit of mustard and a bit of extreme hotsauce spilling from the burger and unto his shirt.

    "Crap."

Constantine has posed:
Nodding John says, "I think I can help you there," John says. "Give me a ring on that number and I'll be happy to have a look, standard rates apply," he says meaning favours, which was the real currency of their world.

There's a heh, for the suggestion of a codename for Willow. "This one's got teeth too though," John warns meaning Willow, even if Willow didn't quite realize it yet. "But she's not wrong about codenames, you might want to pick one for yourself." John says mildly amused at the prospect of what she might pick.

He tosses a glance to Hellboy, "I'd say Red, but Big Man here's got that one sewn up."

Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"Red Riding Hood?" Willow blinks at that, and gives a semi-confused smile. "Didn't she get eaten? And the original story isn't really.." She stops herself, quite certain something has been lost in translation, and equally certain it's been at her expense but she's not sure how. "I do like Red, though."

It matches her hair, after all.

She does nod, however, and agree, "It was a long evening. People got hurt." Which has her distracted enough to reach for the vodka John has poured, and actually sipping it, before making a wincing face, shaking her head. "Ew. This is yuck."

Magik has posed:
"This is one of the best vodkas in the world," Illyana corrects automatically although she has a hint of a smile on her face. "Many thing you must pay more for better quality but it is not so." Her eyes go back to normal, the pale blue returning and she looks like a normal human once more.

"Perhaps Big Red and Little Red? Then there is no confusion." She sips her vodka as she considers the tidbits of information she's getting. Nothing extreme. Was quite a fight. Must have been magical in nature as Willow and John are not generally the fisticuffs types. Hellboy? Him she could see getting into a physical fight which may be why he is the only one with a wound. "I have heard things about you, Hellboy. It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I think we are very much alike, in some ways."

Hellboy has posed:
    Hellboy was being a bit more antagonistic than he wanted to be, but there was something about the girl he didn't quite trust. Inwardly, the big man was worried that they were saying too much in front of the girl, she didn't need to know the situation with Superman, and she didn't need to know what Apokolips was(though truth be told, even Hellboy himself only had a vague idea). When she spoke, he couldn't help himself from responding.

    "Y'know usually when creatures say that to me, it's followed by them trying to talk me into eating babies, or not tipping my waitress. Then that's usually followed by me having to wash them off of my hand."

    Hellboy moved the wrist of his right hand in a circular motion to demonstrate helpfully, and faintly the sound of stone rolling scraping against stone could be heard at the table. Moments later, he went on. The tone was different...perhaps he was trying not to be 'as mean as he looked'.

    "You know, I went up to Xavier's school a while back. Nice looking place."

Constantine has posed:
John takes a sip of the vodka. "She's not wrong," he says to Willow about it's quality. "I'll take yours if you want."

Though before the conversation goes much further he spots one of those people he'd been looking for walk into the bar.

"Well, guess I've got to see a man about a dog, but give me a ring eh?" he says to Illyanna before saying to Hellboy. "An' keep an eye on this one yeah? I'll be right back."

With that John gets up to go talk to his visitor.

Hellboy has posed:
    John left, and it was just Magik, Willow and Hellboy. Hellboy remained there until he noticed the sauce was hitting Willow perhaps a bit harder than she was anticipating, and that was when it was time to clear out and end the party. Magik got a curt nod, before the big man was leaving with his arm around Willow's shoulder to make sure she didn't sprawl out into the world. For his part he was barely buzzed, and would finish the job to get wasted after dropping Willow off at her home, and going to his little rathole in Gotham.

    In the dark, so he wouldn't have to see how mean he looked. Yeah, it was gonna be one of those nights.