Owner	Pose
Sinister	Awakening took place in a fantasy of furs, in old world Riche with snow falling outside. The movie was entertaining in the background, at least. Dawn isn't even fully over the horizon, yet the fire has been fed and sat in a regency chair nearby, with his feet up on a footstool, laptop on lap and hands simply resting atop of it, Sinister is looking through files. The smell of coffee is rich, the warmth is just perfect and there's even the smell of bacon, eggs and mushrooms to be smelled, courtesy of having asked for them to be brought. "I've had an idea. I do not know if it's a workable idea, or whether it won't go down like a lead baloon, but I've had it anyway." Nathaniel informs. "I've also sent for our wizard."
Lucifer	Lucifer opens his eyes to the slowly cooling emptiness that was where Nathaniel had been tangled up with him under blankets of fur and cotton. The scent of coffee draws him to sitting up and he glances over to where Nathaniel sits, offering the man a smile even as he listens to what is offered. Using the power of levitation, he makes himself a cup of early morning fuel, bringing it over to himself to take hold of the saucer the cup rests upon. A gentle blow for the sake of it and then he lifts cup to lips for that first sip of wonderous eye opening liquid. "Oh? Are you going to share this idea or keep it to yourself for now?" He teases with a grin and then tlts his head. "You called for John so soon?"
Sinister	"Yes, I called for him so soon, because I have to ask him something. Or suggest something very strongly as being a wise idea," Sinister lifts his palm to lips, blows a kiss toward Lucifer and just watches the pile of fur and cotton with a grin, looking back at the computer. He glances to the side, then back, not even focusing as the ozon ring materializes and deposits a bio-locked chest with two biomechanical tentacles lowering it rather carefully. "We are facing the fact that Constantine has the problem of human frailty. I =think= I can actually circumvent that, but I'm arguing with my inner critic right now," he replies, glancing at the chest, then up at Lucifer with a smile, reaching for his own coffee and taking a large swallow. "I can do amazing things with my gadgets and gizmos. If he can resist radiation poisoning, we won't have to try and rush things."
Constantine	Bjjjjjt. That's the sound a Constatine makes when being pulled through a portal by a robot arm. He stand there immobile for a moment, then carefuly looks at his hands, wiggles his fingers and to finish, grabs his crotch gently. Nothing amiss. "Good moring." He scans the place and spots the coffee source, homes on it in brisk small steps. "Can I?" And he totally can. He pours himself a half a cup, topping it up with whatever is in his own flask. No milk, no sugar. "I must say, this portal was way more comfortable than the transmogrification. What have you guys found on this spiky ball? And do we know if this lost clone was working alone?"
Lucifer	"So soon as in... why did you summon him at pre-dawn? I am not awake enough to deal with him just yet..." Lucifer laments a little, downs his coffee, and then levitates the cup back to the counter. They're in Ukraine, in a very luxurious suite within a well hidden gem so that only the ones who know of it can come here. The air is warm from the fire, and Lucifer rests in the couch-bed where he was abandoned by a plotting Nathaniel some time before waking. As John makes his entrance, Lucifer gives a huff and dives back under the covers. No. Too early. Come back later.
Sinister	"Spikey ball is still being examined. Some of that was research I'd conducted myself, but my faux self perfected something ahead of my game, which I have to say is /extremely/ annoying." Sinister glances up from his computer at the arrival, nods to himself and shuts the laptop. "Moment, please..." heading to the pile of blankets and furs, he lifts one up and ducks underneath it. The bulge of sheet/blanket/fur pile shifts a bit beneath, then Nathaniel emerges again, perching on the arm of this fold-out couch bed, looking over. "Probably more comfortable than hellfire devil transport, too. It just sometimes leaves you looking as if you've been touching a tesla coil. Yes, the clone was working alone. I tend to, except for setting things to menial tasks, but I never share everything with my underlings in the first place. It's part of being Sinister and making sure they are all Sinister also..." He inhales, lips pressed. "But that's why we're here also. He's me, only not, but thinking like myself and looking at where I would go if I wanted to make the most of a water rift that summons helpful elementals to do what I want them to do... I came to a rather dark conclusion. We're in Kyiv. We're going to take a transport soon after dawn and breakfast, out to Chernobyl. I'm sure you know of it." He tilts his head. "But I wanted you here early, John, because unless you can magically shield yourself from Radiation exposure, you're going to get very hot. Or... you're going to let me radiation proof you."
Constantine	Lucifer's early morning reaction boggles the magician, who frowns. "Was. Was you. Hopefully." Constantine takes a sip of what he'd call breakfast. He likes. "You're one scientific jock, Nathaniel, so I bet you have predictions or projections about when you'd be done with the spike ball project, right? How faster would you be done if you had shared the project with other yous? I'm only asking because if the numbers track, your bad brother could have cloned himself or recruited others for help. Or... Hell forbids.... he outsourced to another group and the secret is out." He sips again. "I can't stop radiations, not short of an invulnerability spell. They're elementary particles. Demons are immune though. I could... shapeshift maybe. I'd rather not, this can go very wrong. I'll take the science way, this time." John lights up, chasing the first puff with more strong strong breakfast coffee. At least in Kyiv, he'll blend in smell-wise.
Lucifer	Lucifer gives a chuffed grunt of a playful sort to Nathaniel as the man temporarily shifts beneath the sheets to speak to him. It's another moment or few once Nathaniel departs before he pushes the sheets off of him and sits up once more. "Why do I get the feeling that you're naturally pessimistic, John?" He asks this as he shifts from under the covers, wearing boxers at least, and then stands and pads towards the kitchen area to serve himself up a bit of actual breakfast. For the moment, he remains otherwise quiet, since this is all Nathaniel's show and he is just a watcher. For now.
Sinister	"There's bacon, eggs and mushrooms to be had. I recommend loading up on it, it'll be cold where we're going. I'll also be giving you a proper russian winter coat," Sinister observes, but gestures to a seat, opening the bio-lock on his chest with his thumb and extracting what looks like a steam-punk post modern phlebotomy kit, only with a contraption in the middle of it that looks like some kind of hybrid capacitor -- lots of paired tubes with anode-cathodes on each set. He rolls up his own sleeve, tournequette's his left arm and finds a vein, sliding in a three way tap with another gadget that looks like it's a filtration... bullet? Yes, bullet, its that kind of shape - connected to the tubing. He nods to Constantine's sleeve also. "Left to left, just turn the chair sideways. Unless you're left handed, of course." Finding vein, all very efficient, as is powering up the devices, before he connects both himself and John to the kit and switches it on. Blood soon fills the cannister from his side, then through that hybrid capacitor where everything except the serum is pumped back into his own cannister. The serum, which seems to be sparkling by the time it extrudes into the middle, passes across the membranes and whatnots and down toward Constantine's blood, into which it mixes, all sparkles and yellowishness. "It's probably going to feel quite strange. Don't worry. And if you find your mind going to strange places, that might just be a side-effect. Don't worry too much though, this is temporary."
Constantine	John makes himself comfortable across that steampunkish contraption. The prick from the needle leaves him non-plussed. "Thank you for trusting me with this. You know, blood magic right? In the wrong hands that'd mean you'd be owned, for good. From voodoo dolls to dopplegangers to... whatever, really. It's not my area though. It's a very blunt instrument and most of it you can never take back. Just imagine someone going through what you are and changing you bit by bit from a safe distance." He gives Sinister a sideways look. "I hope for both our sakes this is not going to change me too much. On most days I barely keep my head straight." He grins. He turns his head to where Lucifer is foraging. "It's okay, I'll make my own. I don't want to impose, Lucifer."
Lucifer	Lucifer rolls his eyes. "See. Pessimistic. You can't even appreciate the value of what's going on here without bringing up shit that isn't even going to happen unless YOU make it happen." Qupping this much before giving a sigh and shaking his head. He isn't even going to point out the irony of what John says about changing a person bit by bit is precisely what Sinister has been doing to himself for centuries now. Though everything goes blank when John assures that he won't impose, which just makes Lucifer even more...something. "You know. I need to go talk to Sergei about a few things, so I'll just let you two get on with this and be the one who isn't imposing on anything." Turning then to walk out the door without another word.
Sinister	Adjusting the three way tap on JOhn's side, the blood starts cycling back to him. Only the odd thing is, the more that goes in, the more a layer of yellow but not so sparkly liquid is left at the bottom of his side of the kit. Sinister glances at it as it forms and adjusts his own tap, watching as THAT liquid goes against gravity and the push of the machine and slithers back toward his arm and his side. "The energizing and specific design activates the same gene in your make-up. But occasionally personality oddness happens, just because I am who I am. I'd apologize but I'm not really sorry about it." In fact, his serum is back in him before all of John's blood is back in HIS arm and he's taking the needle out negligently, leaving the other englishman hooked up as he gets himself a plate of good and hearty, AND fatty breakfast food. He also heads to look in the wardrobes for spare coats. One looks as if it's made of a grey fur with black-frosted guardhairs and he sniffs it to see how bad it smells. "Dry clean fresh. That will do," brought over, draped over the couch nearest to John and then he's back to perching beside Lucifer to eat his own vittles. "So... reactor number four is the one that went into critical meltdown. There's a lot of ground water beneath the reactor there, which was formerly used to cool the plant. But the Pripyat river passes through the exclusion zone as do other tributaries and the entire area is vast. Our problem is, that the Fex are very hard to see. They're essentially fishy elementals made of water, that are transparent and fast moving. We do not know precisely where they might be, if they're in the area, but we need a place to start and one that's significant. THis is why I suspect it is close to the original reactor, where the rift generator has been stashed. But if it's already active, we are going to have to play fishermen to nearly undetectable and quick moving elementals that will otherwise spread plutonium into potentially... all of Europe." He gestures at Lucifer. "Lucifer had a good idea though. Involving the sprites that are lurking around the lighthouse..." except that Lucifer's marching on out. "..." a long exhale through the nose is given, a glance sidelong at John then he's pinching at the bridge of his nose. "...The sprites are attracted to rift energy, in a different way than the other elementals. We observed that when you closed the lighthouse. New rift energy ought to attract them like moths to a flame, which is a positive thing. We just have to catch a few of them to help. They can also survive in water. Bubbles. Fex-seeking sprite bubbles."
Constantine	"You're right, Lucifer, I'm a pessimist. Never tried to hide it," John says to Lucifer's back as the prince of all Hell leaves for whoever Sergei is. When Nathaniel unhooks himself, John gives it another minute before he does the same, meanwhile enjoying another cigarette and a free monologue or two. "You know, there was this fellow of mine, back in the eighties. Ernest Vine." John rises to head for the kitchen. He doesn't mind reusing the same greasy pan with all the remnants of the previous cooking in it. Whatever he wants, he throws in. Mushrooms he breaks with his fingers in chunks, not bothering with slicing them. He mixes everything up, too, at high temperature. "Where's your tobasco?" Of course, there's no tobasco in Kiev. He finds some soy sauce, which he adds. "So my buddy Ernest, he came in these parts to study the effects of radiations on spirits. High spirits, spirits of places and species, they take after the history of their counterparts. Well, Ernest never made it back." He mixes the whole omelette furiously, agitating the salt shaker above. "Have you considered using a net? No, it's fine. Lucifer's idea is actually quite astute. Do you expect another spike ball?" He flops the whole meal into a plate. It looks... sloppy. As in slop. "Yeah, Ernest... what a loss. he fell in love with a go-go girl, got married, moved to Bali."
Lucifer	Lucifer is currently putting in a special order with Sergei and will be gone for another moment or few longer.
Sinister	Sinister stares at this cooking process, looks slowly around at the palatial suite where room service was provided and breakfast was abundant and back at John, mixing it up because he can and pilfering the spy kitchens. He rubs his third eye, or rather the diamond on his forehead with the pad of his thumb, watching the english wizard beneath his brows with a controlled expression of extreme patience, hugging his torso with his other arm. "Fish made of water. Net probably pointless. Trap, yes. Net, not so much. Also, need to find them before catching them is even... no, I'm just not going to indulge this. I'll end up banging my head against a wall." Deep sigh, but then in a quieter tone "...Yes, although I doubt there will be spikes, I fully expect another rift generator. The spikes were anchorage into the geological formations. Magnified the signals into rock, acted like a sound box for it, to the elemental earth plane. Water is likely to be smooth, owing to the fact that it needs no sound board -- water conducts sound and wave energies better than solid or air."
Constantine	Omnomnomnom. Food goes in. It's not a pretty process, like watching a marine forking in food expect this is not the smooth puree they serve on the base. This is chunky and greasy, half cooked in places and too cooked in others. "So, we follow Lucifer's plan... *munch*munch* ... and if anything goes weird we'll fix it. This is why you got me here, right?" After a coffee chaser, John shoves more food up his mouth. "I feel great! *munch*munch* Like I could tackle the world! *munch*munch* So Ernest found out that high spirits do mutate and much faster than actual animals. For once, the magic people was ahead of the world, in a sense. Study a high spirit for a while and you can guess at what's coming. Maybe we ought to commune with some from the Savage Lands, you know? Just throwing an idea in the hat." Just like that, John is done with actual breakfast. He reclines and lighs up for the delight of after meal cigarette. "I guess that once we find the Fex and they lead us to the nexus, we should save the Fex like we did with the worms. Shouldn't be too hard, water can be pumped, funneled. I mean, as long as they're no bigger than a tuna..."
Lucifer	Lucifer may have used conventional means to 'storm out' of the room, but he'll use his other methods of transportation to come back. That is to say, one moment Lucifer is not present, and the next he is. Standing next to Nathaniel and he proffers over a couple of tickets. "One entry to the Yule Light Festival and one ticket for a ride on a one horse open sleigh." He offers, then leans in to press a kiss to Nathaniel's cheek. His gaze then goes to John as the man offers up some more ideas about the Fex and such. "If nothing else, I will do with the Fex what I did with the Luki. You keep making mountains out of mole hills and trying to put what isn't there there. These are simply elemental sprites that have been taken from their own plane - which is where no one should be able to go - and brought here to cause elemental chaos. We're trying to fix that. You, being who and what you are, have been brought here to seal the rifts so they do not keep coming. We return what's been taken and ta-da. The world is saved from imminent destruction again." There's a certain annoyance to Lucifer's tone, but he glazes it with a grin and lights up his own cigarette.
Sinister	"You will have to explain High Spirits to a leyman at a later date, when we've not go something else on the agenda, but I would welcome a new and interesting way to study mutation," Sinister is gracious enough to incline his head to that, then when Lucifer pops back into existence with his usual panache, he eyes what's handed over with a puzzled look until he recogizes them. "Ah! Oh, lovely. I'll put those in the safe..." which he does, then is all about finding his coat to be how he wants it; all black fur and ermine trim and tails with a large hood. He also collects a lantern that's air-tight... a diver's lantern in fact, but it's unscrewable at the top. "Love, if you would pop back to the light house and luminate a couple of the sprites into this, we'll meet you just shy of the checkpoint outside of the exclusion zone. We won't want to be arguing with the Ukrainian military police and army about access rights. Just find my mind. I'm going to triangulate and teleport there, but I do not know if I will be able to do the same coming out. Radiation interferes with some technology." He kisses Lucifer's cheek, beckons in the air to summon the circle of electricity and gestures at Constantine's loaner coat. "Put it on, you're going to need it. And take a bottle of whiskey. You'll need that too." Not mentioning the vodka here. Nope.
Constantine	This time Lucifer's quip hit home: John is shutting up, at least for a bit. The only noise coming out of him as he inspect and adjust the winter coat is a short sigh in and out of his nose. Turns out the coat has too little pockets. Nevertheless, John would never leave his trenchcoat behind so the coat goes over his own. Somehow, it fits but won't zip all the way up. This is why the magician conjures a twelve foot long scarf, knitted in squares of primary colors in succession. There, that should keep his neck and chest cozy - as well as hide the trenchcoat's collar. Did someone say whiskey? Yoink. Vodka? Yoink too.
Lucifer	The $7.5 million dollar bottle of vodka that is only missing two shots from it's entirety is in a place none but Lucifer can touch. He can trust Sinister and Sergei but some times even the elite get a little sticky finger - hell some of them are elite BECAUSE of their sticky fingers. Lucifer is NOT letting a bottle of vodka with such a price tag go missing. No sir. There is probably a cheaper bottle that can be yoinked - maybe - except Lucifer and Sinister are whiskey and cognac drinkers so it's highly unlikely. Ha! As he's given a task by Sinister to go fetch whispy elementals from where they float about so that they can be used for another task he smiles and nods. "I will come to you once I'm done." He offers, leaning in for a tender kiss and nose rub. "You both be safe, and keep warm. I will rejoin you shortly. And Nathaniel?" A pause and a grin. "I love you." Then, in a splash of hellfire, Lucifer disappears.
Sinister	The kiss and nose rub returned, the parting words are shared "I love you, too." And then the metallic tentacles descend through the ring of electricity, scooping up Sinister and Constantine and the doctor's kit bag and the ring inverts after a brief interlude through a sterile looking laboratory, to cutting cold, snow and heavily laden trees on a very flat, very straight road. Because of how flat that road is, the checkpoint station can be seen several miles down the way, as snowflakes accumulate on Constantine's scarf and the fur of Sinister's coat, the latter wastes no time getting off of that surface and through the not-compact at all drifts at the side of the causeway. Walking through it though is no trouble, as he simply parts it infront of himself and leads the way at a brisk pace -- breathe comes like smoke from a boiler, it's that cold in a soviet winter. And shortly after, the distant shape of buildings can be made out. It is a thing to see any city in winter, but stranger to see it frozen in time and frozen in place. No heat is given off, no light, no warmth, only that which has managed to accumulate so far with the scant sun. Playgrounds, with bicycles still there, leaned against walls, cars abandoned where they were, doors open and the contents of the buildings there, but in disarray... And more surreal, is that there's fractal frost over everything, for there's nothing to melt it off, growing in the lea of the most prevaling winds. Not a soul to be seen anywhere. In the distance an amusement park can be seen, its colours still bright, but faded, eerie in its absolute silence. A ferris wheel creaks slightly with the winds, a couple of the chair buckets moving with the blow. This is why you come first thing, because by the time the sun goes down, that's it, you'll be in the dark in the hot zone. In the lea of an abandoned hospital, Sinister pauses, lights another smoke and thinks on FM.
Constantine	Constantine lights a cigarette as well. Smoke 'em if you got 'em. "This place is a haunted. No ifs. Nothing bad though, for sure. It's not a murder site or a battleground. Nothing to fear. It's just very still and very sad." Still, he has this bottle of vodka in hand and pours it, saying a short prayer in Russian. If it's John Constantine emptying a bottle at the ground it's sure not a waste, right? He sits the empty bottle against the hospital wall, adding his own touch to the ghost town's disarray. Somehow, the snow melts before it lands on his head, leaving him dry. He seems to be giving out more heat than he naturally should, perhaps.
Lucifer	Lucifer is going to take a little longer than likely expected to go whisp hunting. The sprites are proving to be just a little more devious than anticipated. At least he and Sinister are linked in the minds so while he's not saying much... he's thinking plenty...and so Sinister is well aware that Lucifer is having a slightly difficult time.
Sinister	Sinister nods faintly, watching the vodka poured as the irish would do for the Dead. "I know. I can practically feel the psychometry of the place. I don't get those feelings often, it isn't a talent I managed to cultivate with any accuracy, but there's a few places that sing. Or in this case, sigh..." he frowns a little, then talks to thin air "...Sweetheart, try staying still with the lantern in between your feet and shining. They're attracted to it. Ahhh.... we'll be here. Right here." And that shared, he sits down on thin air, the thick and luxuriously warm black fur coat hanging down over an invisible chair of air, to just above the snowline. A gesture made and a reddish dome forms over both himself and Constantine, within which is quite warm. Like an igloo made of nothing but TK force. "He might be a while. Whisps are unfortunately being what they are." Another glance is given toward the distant fun fair and he sucks upon his cheeks in thought. "How did you get into the business that you're in anyway? I imagine you must have always been touched by magic, but... it seems like your destiny was to slide down all the rougher roads."
Constantine	"Lucifer?" John asks Nathaniel about the half conversation. He nods, must be Lucifer. The sudden question about his origins has his him freeze in place and his eyes glaze with that distinctive thousand yards stare. "It's in my blood. Laughing Magicians, that's my line. I never was home at home, you know? Dad was an asshole through and through. Rotten. So I left. Then I toured the occult groups, rolled around with the band, met Zatanna... that was a real hell of time. The real kicker was this little girl..." If previous memories were a roller coaster of good and bad, this one is all at once. Bam, the feelings train just entered the station. He looks pained and old and smaller, hunching a little. "...let's just say it led me to Hell and back, over and over. The rest is just like climbing stairs, one thing leading to the next. I lost many friends and gained many enemies. So yeah, now you see why I can't hang up my hat and wand. Once you choose a path, you become the path."
Sinister	"Yes," just that, it's Lucifer. The Devil's considerably more than five hundred miles away, but Sinister established a dilation of power with the Devil, so it doesn't matter where he is. He knows where he is, can reach, can speak to. It's reassuring, to him. To most everyone else in existence, they might not quite be on the same page. But this is a unique pairing and one that has had some peculiarly beneficial side-effects, unbeknownst to most of the multiverse. "I feel at this juncture, I should note: Have you -met- me? Methinks the minister is preaching to the choir here, so to speak. Although, I was hardly born to the path, but set myself upon it, or surrendered to it, by degrees." He pauses, considers a moment, then with a chuckle shrugs. "I made myself who I am, by the by. I don't recollect if that had been shared with you. I used to be just like everyone else on the planet that wasn't touched by a god, sparked by magic, mutated by some happy or unhappy accident. I've come to learn quite a bit about the human condition, which I sometimes feel people have overlooked."
Constantine	John lightens up as Nathaniel opens up and shares. He makes eye contact, if briefly. "I don't think it matters where power comes from, in the end. It's just, you know, an amplifier. Makes everything larger. Drama is blown up, deeds become legendary, that's the shell around you and I. But inside... inside we still have to learn, to grow up. That's the hard part, you know? Because growing up hurts and it's easy to use the power to push everything under a rug." He breaks out the whiskey bottle, uncaps it, takes a swig, offers it. "Have you noticed how so very little heros and villains over fifty are messing up with the world out there? I'm not saying they're not, you know, blasting their way or bending wills. They sure do but they don't fuck up as much. Only the really small ones, the ones without maturity or sanity, do. What I'm trying to say..." and he pauses for a breath or two, weighing up his words, "...there's more value in being with humanity than being without. Don't come asking me about free will though, that's Lucifer's turf."
Sinister	"Hmm. I would suppose," snow is accumulating on the top of the dome, but just as quickly as a small pile is made, the wind blows it off. But it's still comfortable inside of here, for however long this takes. Nathaniel's eyes narrow into thoughtful slits, scratching at his cheek and beard, smoothing the edge with a finger pad. He does not twirl his moustache though, that would be too obviously villainous. "I don't think I ever messed up spectacularly, to be fair. I've always been a thoughtful type of person, reckless only in being audacious. It was terribly frustrating at times, trying to be patient enough for the rest of society to catch up to where I was two hundred years ago. They're still not there." Kicking back in his invisible chair, he waves the beard-stroking hand in a dismissal to the air. "I have had that debate with Lucifer a time or two, he gets stuck in a loop of lack of determination. I have my own theory regarding his fate and long and terribly lonely journey from the beginning to the now, but I've actually not shared it with him. He'd give me a peculiar look, or would end up in a weird state of mind for a while, I fear. Determinism denies free will, but free will is an important factor /of/ determinism, at least in that philosophy, one must choose to do as you were destined to, for it to count by that Theocratic perspective. Paradoxical, really. Anyway, all of us have to face our own mistakes. It's how you deal with them and learn from them that makes the difference. Growing up? Underrated in some respects. It turns the mind rigid. Maturity and keeping the mind sharp and nimble? That is unbeatable."
Constantine	There's a faint smile haunting John's lips. "Believe it or not, I never hated Lucifer. He got a bad deal, when you think of it, and he didn't choose, not really. None of us chose who we were born like. Humans are only begining to own what they are, as a whole: mortal, vulnerable, precious and completly farty. Everybody farts, few admit it." Now he's left to wonder if Celestials farts but he won't voice that question aloud, not to Sinister. That's too... private? He chases this thought with an ample swig of alcohol. "So you're way older than I am? I suspected so but now I know. There's part of me that wants to keep on living, another that's just saying 'let it go, man'. And then, one day there's a spikey ball that's about to flood the whole world or Galactus a-knocking..." He shakes his head slowly. "Yeah, Lucifer's got it right, it's all so very loopy thinking." He resumes nursing the bottle, his back at the wall but never the whiskey is out of range from Nathaniel's grasp. For the time being, John lets his mind roam over the cosmos of his own fate.
Sinister	-<*>-SOME TIME LATER, after some IMPORTANT THINGS LIKE SPRITE CATCHING ET AL-<*>- We are back to our bubble within the abandoned streets of Chernobyl, in the harsh light of Ukrainian winter. Thick fur coats aplenty and a multicoloured scarf to hold things together. The lantern was delivered, left for a short while for the Sprites to get acclimated and calm the flock down, but now... "So, I had a radical notion regarding keeping track of these little guys and brought in some ultraviolet spectacles. I have a feeling that they show up differently under different light, being air elementals." UV goggles are handed out, which also do help with the snow-blinding effect and it does make the world even more surreal.
Constantine	Constantine turns the goggles in his hands, inspecting them through various angles. "Can you spot a polar bear in a storm with these?" he asks as he puts them on. The first thing he does is conjure a flame at the tip of his thumb and look at it. "Hmm." This is all he shares of his experiment with the others. "So what is our next step? How do we get to the water table?" He takes a sip of whiskey and offers the bottle around.
Lucifer	"We release the air sprites into the water and see if they can locate the fex." Lucifer offers, taking the glasses, but he doesn't put them on just yet. The whisps are floating, bobbing up and down, in a dome covered display case of sorts. For a while they seemed angry, and were almost violently thrashing around. Now, they just sort of calmly flitter about, almost serent in nature. "If my research proves correct, they will be drawn to each other and thus will sort of pool together in the same spot. If the fex are in this water source...we will find them. If not... it's just a trial and error until we do find them."
Sinister	"They'll also actually help us locate the rift energy and a way /down/ to the water. So, for a while, we're just going to... follow them. Hence making it easier to do that, because you know how hard they were to spot without assistance in the lighthouse," Sinister adds, looking to Lucifer and giving his shoulder a friendly thump and squeeze for the effort of well... sprite wrangling that he did. He also beams an absolutely radiant smile for no particular reason, which makes his face a lot less severe looking. Heck, the man has dimples in both cheeks! "So, lets keep eyes on them, whilst they're doing their job. I don't entirely trust that this will be easy, or even quazi easy, because things never go completely to plan."
Constantine	John taps with a finger on the sprites' housing, at the risk of Lucifer chiding him. "Let's get this show on the road, then. We only have so much day light to work with, right?" He readjusts his colourful scarf, lights up a cigarette and takes another swig of booze. Imagine that in an action movie pre-mission montage. "Arrangers, don't tremble!" he chants, doing his best American accent and giving it a lot of emphasis. "...I always wanted to do that."
Lucifer	"Don't spook them..." Lucifer does, indeed, chide John - but it's a gentle thing. Nothing like the attitude he gave the man a couple days ago. In fact, there is something just a liiiiiittle bit different about our Lucifer today. He's glowing, and not because he's the Lightbringer. There's a genuine radiating happiness coming from him and he smiles to Nathaniel at that shoulder bump. "You plan on smoking under water, John?" He asks as he turns and walks to the beginning of where the water meets dry land, beginning to wade into the pool of radioactive deliciousness. "Alright. Easy does this..."
Sinister	"Oh, gawds," there's a wry chuckle from Sinister at the parody of the Avengers and he gives an amused eyeroll John's way. Then with a rub of his hands together, he follows Lucifer to the edge of the water, glancing into the frigid, radioactive river. "There's tunnels that fed the cooling system of the power plant. I am going to bet, we may end up slipping into one of those. Several of them in fact. But let me slip into something more functional. I've been practicing this one." Bringing his legs together, he exhales and the black ermine trim fur coat is absorbed into himself, ending up painting him in a black and white theme as his lower half lengthens, fingers become webbed and his entire lower body becomes a long, muscular tail with fins along the side and flukes along his spine. Black and white scales abound. He resembles nothing so much as Mer-naga as he slithers into the water. "I added the spines for ease of holding on. Flexible is key, the tunnels can be tricky. However, you're going to find that you may want to make a bubble over your head, John, or trust me to do it." Nagah. With UV goggles.
Constantine	Now that's a sight that gives Constantine pause. He bites his lower lip in an attempt to quiet whatever would reflexively come out of his mouth. After one last and very generous intake of alcohol, he places the bottle against the wall, followed by his cigarette pack and his spare cigarette pack. He says goodbye to his cigarette with one last, dragging kiss before giving it a flip. It tumbles and hits the snow where it dies happily. "I've got magic for water breathing and the like, mates. I'll be fine. Something tells me you'll want to only worry about yourself down there, Nathaniel. Call it a hunch." That said, he places one of his hand on top of the other and summons fire between them, speaks occult words that make no sense outside of those in the know and forms a ball with the fire. Just like packing snow. He then puts that ball in his mouth and swallows it. Smoke come out of his nostrils forcibly in two jets. John coughs. "~all good~" he croaks. He joins Lucifer by the water, unable to force himself close to the Nathagah. "I feel like Jack Burton, no lies."
Lucifer	Lucifer doesn't change much about himself except he hyas gills on the sides of his neck. Letting everyone do their thing to make it so they can breathe underwater, though he's already steps within the water, opening that dome so the whisps can begin to float about. They bob this way and that, swim around each other. Like they're being playful even in the water. Then they break into clusters, three clusters to be precise, and each of them go a different way. One to the left, one right, and one straight ahead. Lucifer gives pause, tilts his head and then smirks. "Well. Who wants to follow which?"
Sinister	"Well, that's good to know," Sinister slithers down until he's up to his waist. "Some of the Pripyat is frozen over, remember that. Don't panic." That mostly to well, thin air, he looks over at Lucifer. "I'll go left," because of course. And submerging, he does just that. <<Telepath communication. If you find something, or something finds you, please squeak at high volume.>> The mental chuckle fades to a hiss, just because he's being an ass. But that shape is very good for vanishing into the water, that's for sure. That leaves right and center. And the water, is very, very cold.
Constantine	John watches the others slip in the icy cold water with inhuman courrage. "I really really don't want to do this..." he mumbles, pacing a couple steps back and forth to delay the inevitable. "John luv, get a grip you lousy tosser." He gives his stash of legal substances one last longing glance. He sheds the winter coat, letting it slip to the ground where he stands. "One, two, three..." and he advances, one foot before the other until he is submerged and his buyancy forces him to swim. Which way? Instinctively, he looks to where he believes Lucifer went, then he scans for Nathaniel, the water monster incarnate. A slight glow emanates from John, a warm aura that seems to originate from deep within. Furiously he paddles to catch up with Nathaniel. Leaving the extra coat behind was a great idea.
Lucifer	The water is freezing, chunks of broken ice float on the surface of this radioactive cesspool of unknown wonders as our trio traverse the depths. At least the spectacles do allow for anyone wearing them to follow the dimly purple floaty bits that are the whisps as they bob and weave through the waters like they haven't a care in the world. John Constantine goes down the center pipe line it's a bit of a trial and error to follow the cluster of five whisps as they go this way and that. Through waters that only tend to get more and more dark as one swims deeper into the tunnels. Up ahead, however, perhaps about ten or so feet away, something lurks in the shadows. It's black and it's...undistinguishable in the lack light. One will have to likely get closer to figure out what it is...or was. Sinister has a little more luck on his side. Likely because he can change his eyes to see in different varients of light and dark - if he chooses to do so. The whisps, bright purple and dancing away, all tend to spread out for a moment before they gather again only this time, in the center of their choir, is something that darts around and is a pale green color thru the spectacles. It's Lucifer who strikes gold - figuratively speaking. Following his purple floaty friends until they begin to whirl around a whole school of pale green fishies. <<The fex are pale green, and tiny things...I think...I'll have to catch them and see if we're right...>> He sends off telepathically while slowly edging forward to try and capture the lot back into the dome.
Sinister	Green fishie thing, in dark, dark waters. But indeed, Sinister can alter his eyes. To someone gifted with this power that hadn't actually bothered learning about the various forms of life on earth, it would be a cool parlour trick; to a man that studied zoology, it becomes a lot more versatile. Seeing in all spectrums of light, is very helpful, thanks to the mantis shrimp, you would be happy not to see his eyeballs right now though. Telepathically, there are nudges to his particular green hued fish <<Go. Go. Find your friends. Be with the school...>> planning on following it and the faintly purple Sprites also. He fleetingly passes the center tunnel, could be up it in a rush if he had to be, but his focus -is- on the Fex, for now. <<I have one of them.>> he broadcasts to the two <<...I've encouraged it to congregate with its school.>>
Constantine	John can't find any way to relax in this very hostile environment. His jaws hurt from him clenching his teeth so hard. Even though he's warm and can breathe and also see in this relative darkness, he's that close to reach out and open that door that leads home. He slows down at the sight of that dark form ahead. Could be... anything. Another Sea-nister. A trap. A bear. A trap left by a Sinister clone who grew an underwater bear. With a laser on its back. The current is pushing John closer to it anyway and his years of non-swimming punk rocker are way behind him. He raises a hand and summons a ball of Hellfire to light up ahead - and maybe use it. Where the Hellfire touches water, it burns green and produces a plume of water bubbles.
Lucifer	Nathaniel will find that guiding the single fex and the whisps is not a hard thing to do. They flit about, swirl, and then begin to go back from where they came. Yes, little ones, flit about back to where this all began. Good little elementals! As John creates that ball of hellfire, illuminating the space around him, and has gotten closer to the unknown object it is almost right in front of his face. A woman, eyes wide open, mouth agape as if trying to scream, body half burned and melted from radiation but it was the water she dived into that ultimately killed her. She's dead, John, and right in front of your face looking like she's screaming at you. Lucifer has managed to catch all of his prey in the dome and slowly heads back to ground zero. <<...This seems like it was a little...too easy...>>
Sinister	<<I would love things to be easy, for once>> Sinister's thoughts slip out, a soft kind of sigh happening, even as poor John is having a very bad day. He follows the mass of fex and following sprites, colliding with Lucifer at the end of the feeder tunnel. The thing is, in Russian and Ukrainian folklore, a drowned woman has a very good chance if she died in trauma which she certainly did... of becoming a Rusalka. It might be advisable to swim carefully right now, just in case suddenly those milky eyes focus and that mouth starts to scream for real. <<Winter in the former USSR actually did us a favour to a degree. I suspect he wanted to get this rolling, but that it would take time to get going. We still have to find the rift generator, so we will need to follow the sprites on a much more circitous path, to where he planted it. Remember the lighthouse? THey were flocking back in to the rift energy, the air elementals are sensitive to that kind of power.>>
Constantine	John squeaks at maximum strength. He's seen his lot of dead and ghosts and other horrible things and yet this morbid sight clenched at his soul. The telephatic chatter is not quite helping him keep his cool at the moment. He throws a glance at where he last saw his school of sprites and for sure he lost them. Fighting against his dread, he grabs the dead woman by the sleeve for anchor. That gives him just enough time to dispel the fire and reach out to close her eyes... big mistake. The dead woman clasps her boney fingers around John's wrist, squeezing hard. She lets out a screech of pain and anger that strikes at John's inner ear, making him lose focus. The drowned undead's head lunges forward and snap! Closes her rotten teeth on John's other hand. John squeaks at maximum power again.
Lucifer	Lucifer is leading the majority of the fex and whisps, joining up with Nathaniel when those squeaks come from the tunnel John went down. Lucifer looks that way and then back to Nathaniel. <Let me take the elementals and get them ready for re-homing. I don't want to risk losing any of them. Can you see what's wrong with John?> He asks mentally to Nathaniel while mentally preparing for another round of miracle working.
Sinister	<<Indeed,>> And Sin is designed to move quickly in the water, a black undulating mass of scales and sinew only without all of the magic and mysticism attached to it -- he is swift to find the tunnel, wending his way down it, likely just in time for the horror of John's predicament to have fully latched onto the poor man's mind. <<My word, well...>> -- even HE seems surprised by the sight. A reddish blast of concussive energy is shot from the center of his forehead, that third eye can be quite vicious when it wants to be.
Constantine	After the initial shock, pain triggers the transformation of fear to anger in John. His whole face frowns, grins with indignation and malice. Pain also sharpens his senses and he sees the aquatic form of Nathaniel appear from the corner of his eye. Reflexively, he rotates himself and the grappling undead to put her between himself and... the optic blast. The raw power of Nathaniel punches a hole the size of a fist through her skull just between the eyes, luckily missing John's hand in her mouth. The drowned zombie opens her mouth to scream but nothing comes out. At least, John's hand is free. The river currents washes away the messy bits. John wrestle to free himself from the dead woman's grip, to no avail. In the end, he has to push with a foot until the emaciated fingers give. She to washes away, slowly spining and once bumping against the pipe before vanishing around the bend. < Thank you, Nathaniel. I fear I have lost my school though.>
Lucifer	John didn't have a school of fex down his tunnel, and the whisps that he was following sort of banded together on the opposite side of the tunnel but did not go any further. So they're all still there, waiting to be led out of the tunnel where Lucifer is waiting. And while he waits, Lucifer is diligently separating the fex and the whisps he currently has in his possession. It's a delicate process because they kinda want to stick together but they also know that they need to go back to their own elemental homes. Eventually. We'll get there. No miracle yet - Lucifer needs the last of the whisps back before he does anything with the elementals.
Sinister	<<Understandable. Head back down the tunnel, go right,>> an odd little mental map appears in John's mind, superimposed by the nagah-Nate. <<We have to get the fex back, then hopefully the sprites also, once we've gotten one or two to lead us to the rift generator. Lucifer is waiting...>> Slithering past, Sin stares at the remaining whisps that're bobbing about all in a cluster and -attempts- to cajole them back. This takes a bit. THey've a flighty energy but eventually, he emerges behind the bibble of bubbles, kind of nosing them in the right direction and giving them little telepathic nudges. That-a-way. Go on, float!
Constantine	John helps the best he can with the wrangling, waving his hands like a goalie and moving in the way of strays. <We make a good team but they're stubborn fuckers. Let's go.> He swims that way, in the direction he last felt Lucifer and all according to the mental map. This will take a bit, the Hellblazer is not a Bronze Cross certified lifeguard after all.
Lucifer	Lucifer is just about done with the separating when Nathaniel and finally John come back to the group. He has further set three fex into a bubble of their own. The 'rift finders' if one would. "I can either take them all back after we've found the rift, or I can start taking the fex and the whisps back and then once you're done with the three fex who should be able to lead you to the rift... I can send them back then." Yes, Lucifer has appointed himself sprite sitter, since it's John who can close the rift, and likely Nathaniel who can help the fex help them find the rift that needs closing. Simple right? ...Right?
Sinister	<<Well...>> Nathaniel attempts to wrap his head around the plan aside of the plan as it currently stands. <<My love, you would be sending two separate groups of elementals into two seperate elemental planes. That would be a tricky miracle to pull off, I would think? You only had to miracle the last time, because well... patience wasn't a virtue that lasted out that time. Surely it would be more economic of your energy to see if we can't take the fex back through the rift that already exists, then send the Whisps on their way?>> Tilting his head at the question he posed in mind, Sin nevertheless looks at Constantine and back to the devil. <<You passed out the last time.>>
Constantine	Constantine is many things but he never was a team player or a couple councelor. He will though wait for his turn to voice his opinion. <One thing at a time. First we take care of this rift and its elementals, then we worry about the rest. I want a cigarette, for crying out loud.> While he could conjure an air bubble that would let him smoke underwater, he doesn't. <And I passed out too. We're almost done here, right?> ...right?
Lucifer	Lucifer blinks at John and then motions behind him. "Your cigarettes are just over there where you left them. Have a smoke. Take a break. It's no bother to me... I'm just making sure the elementals are happy." Then his attention turns to Nathaniel and he gives a bit of a face. "Well I know but... mmmn... you're right... but the whisps need to go back. The fex we can send thru the rift.. so..." So, perhaps that's what he'll do. Take the whisps back while Nathaniel and John have a breathr and then he'll come back in time to go where the fex take them next. So, he doesn't grump so much, but he does concede to reason.
Sinister	Sinister hauls himself out of the water then, as it seems there's a brief respite to be had, in the drainage culvert that feeds into the Pripyat. Concentration takes him and soon, the shape of serpent-fish merman is sloughed and he dusts his arms off, shaking a leg each side. A cigarette is lit and he smokes contentedly, with eyes narrowing on the steps and corridors, basement level area of the nuclear reactor up above their heads. He walks off a distance, conjouring a 'threatened' concussive blast on one hand, to provide a little light that he might look at the walls. "I suppose I should not be surprised that there's graffiti on the walls beneath Chernobyl, but I still have to wonder..." he wanders off a little further, the red light vanishing as he rounds a corner, his footfalls still sounding in the tunnel system though. "Aha. Stairs. But I do not think we need stairs. One does not summon water elementals out of their element. So it's not -this- way. I suspect it will be in the coolant lake."
Constantine	John joins Nathaniel, although his exit is several notches less spectacular. Lifting himself out of the water takes some effort and a couple tries. "Hey, free estate is free. Junkies with no future, they'll just shoot up and crash anywhere. Have you heard of crocodile? They lace it with other hard drugs, makes them more addictive but also poison the junkies faster. Ugly bizzness, I tell you. Once you know you're a month from dead, Chernobyl? It means more pocket money for dragon chasing." That said, he lights up a cigarette of his own. He follows Nathaniel in the search of the right way. As they come back from the stairwell, winds pick up, roughing up John's hair. Not that it makes a huge difference from his usual. "So we're going for the glo in the dark water..." Not a question, not a complaint, only concern. He drops his cigarette and the snow claims it, ember and butt.
Lucifer	Lucifer comes back from taking the whisps home and he's found sitting next to the water's entry where the fex flit about in their school. He's enjoying his own cigarette right there too - because he can. Waiting for the two to re-join him and then they can continue their work.
Sinister	"Yes, I feel that that's likely," Sinister replies, looking to the water culverts. He does not get back into the water though, as they come upon Lucifer once again. Instead, he eyes the fex and blinks his eyes a few times, until they end up as truly beautiful looking, but incredibly eerie multifacets that seem to be rainbow hued, with a blue vertical 8 in their depths. They're almost like those of a praying mantis. Crouching, he looks over the fish-like creatures that are next to invisible. "Use the goggles. Set them to green and infra red spectrum, they show up better that way..." he observes as he straightens and follows the culvert of water with those eerie eyes. A mental nudge sends a couple of the fex to dancing about, then he comments. "Let them loose... John, this way, I think..." he follows the canal, ignores the stairs, follows around the side of the nuclear reactor closest to the water, until the loading dock is viewable, along with the rusted chains and security barriers, with their radioactive signs and 'exclusion zone' warnings decking them all. He stops by a manhole cover, gestures and rips it from the ground, peering down inside it. "Won't know if this is the right one, until we see if they're heading this way, but..." -- looking over the dock area, he yanks another pit-access cover off and flies silently over there to stare down.
Constantine	When the fex start their color posturing, John takes an interest, inching closer. "Stay calm. Do not bite," he chides them. Goggles are in place and John is ready to go. Infragreen, got it. "There you are... aren't you a lovely bugger... Are you coming with us, Lucifer?" Perhaps John is not exactly up to speed with that part of the plan... or what part Lucifer plans on taking. Nevertheless, he follows Nathaniel around the reactor and next to the water. While Nathaniel is playing spot-a-fish with the manholes, Constantine searches his coat pockets for something... a pendulum. Holding its chain in the pinch of his thumb and pointers, he watches the back and forths of the weight for a moment. "This way." Decisively, he walks to another manhole cover. "This one." Lazy conjurer! He won't even try to lift the cover.
Lucifer	Lucifer watches as Nathaniel begins to move above ground and then hears John's question about joining them but he doesn't say anything. Instead, he releases the fex from their bubble cage and once they begin to swim in a particular direction, he will actually join the fex in the water. Someone has to make sure none of them try to go too far astray while also making sure they continue to find the opening that the three of them are looking for.
Sinister	Which for Lucifer, leads him to a grate. This isn't a problem for a man that can teleport, because the fishies can swim through the bars. And he can pass through them by a blip and a poof of hellfire. A gesture has the indicated manhole cover being flipped up and away, tossed aside like it's a tupperware lid and sure enough... fishies pass underneath; but there's a rung down there and a walkway and a dim... glow. Sinister doesn't waste time flying down into the hole, heels landing on the rather disgusting side-walk. The resevoire is in a spillway, fed by the pripyat and no doubt down into the groundwater. The fex have to do the salmon thing to leap up into there, but that isn't so much of an issue for them. From the holding tank/resevoire is where the dim glow comes. It's green. Yes, radioactive green.
Constantine	John raises a hand directed at Lucifer. "Good luck." He looks down the aperture and already Nathaniel is at the bottom. "No fair. I swear..." With a sigh he proceeds to climb down the regular, normal mundane way, letting out an echoing grunt here and there. "So this is the smell of glow in the dark," he idly comments. He hurries after Nathaniel, his goggles providing him low light vision. "Do you mind if I keep these?" He switches settings by pressing the side of the lense and he gets warned this was a bad idea to switch-and-run when he stumbles. Work now, play later?
Lucifer	Lucifer passes through the grate with but a thought that he wants to be on the other side. Blip and done. Then he follows along with the fex still as they continue to swim, then do their salmon jumping to climb and further lead to where green glows dim. Once he can, Lucifer climbs out of the water and onto the walkway to join Nathaniel and John. He's dry as a bone seconds after climbing out of the pool and walks along to where the elementals are leading them. "I must say, smart move to call them from here. No one would know unless they knew what they're looking for...and I doubt anyone searches this deep because it'd be a hazard to most mortals."
Sinister	"Indeed," muses Nathaniel, looking at Lucifer sidelong and with a warmth in the eye, then to John with a nod, "Feel free, I have plenty." The glow actually comes from the depths of the resevoire, on the bottom. So much for not getting wet again, but perhaps it can be floated out. However, something is very odd about this rift. Having encountered two active ones now, which seemed stable, this one feels like it's fluctuating, not like a pulse, but like a current. Perhaps even a raging one. The surface of the water distorts when its looked upon, seemingly liquescent as water ought to be, but at the same time oily, then almost like it's not there... a vacant hole into a place else from here.
Constantine	"Hmmm," John says with lots of concern. He invokes words of powers, conjuring a lense in mid-air like he did on a previous occasion. The ripples of dimensional disturbance seen through the magic window are coloured by strenght, allowing to see what is going on as it happens. "This is more dangerous than I thought. There's no way to know exactly if the machine is on our side of the regio. Could be at the bottom of the water too. If we cross those waves, we risk being disassembled, split between different phases if you will. Or you could get cancer, the very bad kind. I could go have a look in astral form though, since we share a mental anchor."
Lucifer	Lucifer blinks, then blinks again before giving a shrug of his shoulders. If John can astral form thru the rift then so be it. Personally, Lucifer's not going to get ripped asunder or wind up with cancer no matter what. Perks of celestial immortality and all that. Not to mention, Hell is in a different plane altogether so it's not like he's not familiar with rift hopping. But he also won't get cancer or any radioactive sickness diving into the water to see if the machine they're looking for is down there. "I'll dive down. None of what concerns you, John, concerns me. I'm kinda built for this stuff I guess."
Sinister	"Lucifer, be careful... sometimes things go wonky, even for you..." Sinister says this softly, reaching despite himself to the devil's shoulder. The touch stays a moment, with him looking at his hand like it just got possessed, which in a way it did, then releases it. An inhale is taken, then a nod. "Please." He proffers that last rather pointedly and takes steps back from the edge of the water, glancing sidelong to John. "You and I can both Astral. I have some command over it, so if it's all torrential or whirlpoolish, that may help." He suggests this, as he rises into the air a foot or two, hands out to his sides and wreathed in red energy, which slowly flickers to white around the edges. Similarly, his eyes glow, getting luminous at their cores. At the bottom of the man-made lake, it is ... surreal. The realm of water allows for floating, but it does not know what air is. Yet here, there is air and rock and shape and form, which seems to make the energies below the waters want to expand beyond what they can physically do in this realm. It means that that energy is flooded into any 'space' that it can reach. Meanwhile the physical dimension of the space beneath is both smaller than and greater than the limits of the resevoire itself. It would be so easy to suck into that vortex and it is literally swarming with Fex on the other side; they trouble is, these creatures are a shoal elemental and when panicked in a situation where it feels like there's danger, they go every which way. Thus, only a few have come through so far, but... with each dart of fish elemental, the rift energy gets closer to releasing the flood of panicked fish into a radioactive escape route.
Sinister	But at the bottom, both on this side and the other, floating about a foot above the sediment and cracked concrete, is another sphere. This one is not anchored. But it's also not always 'here'.
Constantine	"There, I see it." John doesn't bother pointing at it though: if he can see it, they too can. "Look at it, it's sitting right on top of the nexus... fuck my loife." It is and not is. Also it's rotating around, being pushed and pulled by the unstable whirlpool on a complex orbit. This upsets John enough that his accents thickens. He paces left, he paces right, eyes looking down. "It's gonna be a teamwork effort. I can force it to be on our side, at least for a minute or two. That's when Nathaniel sould try to shut it down mentally, right? But we may be too late so as a last resort, we'll need all the Hellfire you can spare, Lucifer. There's no time to discuss or vote, it's about to blow." John raises a hand and snap his fingers. "May ali." A single spark of white hangs there, like a little star. He snaps his fingers again and again as we moves about, lighting up the space with a constellation. Then he lets out another word in whispers, something like 'shepak'. The little stars of power repeat the word each in turn. John adds another whispered word, another. He's sweating and his hands are shaking from maintening that many spells. "Go," he says, pointing both arms at the center of the water and the many lights rush to the bottom. Their constant murmur comes out weird, warped through the water. "Please hurry."
Lucifer	Lucifer just waits for the result of Schrodinger's Sphere, to see if it becomes whole on their side and if so, Nathaniel has first crack at trying to shut it off. If that doesn't work, he'll just maybe blow it up? Though isn't that a bad idea? He's not entirely sure what he's meant to be doing at this point so he just waits to see if his help here is really needed or not.
Sinister	Sinister's eyes go all the way to white. <<Holy shite, it is all about the fish on this side. Lucifer... can you persuade the fex on this side to rejoin the shoal?>> The mind can reach where the voice cannot, but more is required <<And it's like an amoeba. If I shut off the orb, I don't know whether it will stabilize the shape or not. Can you in any way grab the edges of the tear in reality and try to pull it together whilst I deactivate? John's holding the orb steady.... MmmmmNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!>> This as the astral plane floods with a lot of aquatic energy. A gargantuan thing, entirely made of water, pops into this reality for a moment, looking a hell of a lot like a giant squid, flitting THROUGH the wall and vanishing again through the rift's energies, scattering fex here and there and everywhere. Sinister reaches out for the sphere, control coming with difficulty owing to it being in phase. Teeth are gritted and monumental effort is being exerted.
Constantine	All of John is a pillar of concentration and sweat. The telepathic grunt of metal effort from Nathaniel has him cringe, showing yellowed ivory through a grin that stretches his lips back fully. Something is about to pop, either way. "Rrrrramanogre!" the Hellblazer rumbles and his eyes light up white, the same white of the constellation of echoing whispers he summoned. In the fathom of the whirlpool, the stars of power double in size and brilliance. John joins his hands in a clap, a clap that echoes and echoes and echoes... and he smiles. Which is creepy with his mouth so wide. The dots of light home onto the squid, zipping from every direction to it and sticking to its rubbery skin. The magician hums the first riffs of a song, simple notes. The lights go clap, clap, clap. He hums again. The lights answer. He hums again and lets out a WOOO! And there they go, his spells, singing and playing "Should I Stay or Should I Go" by the Clash. All that was unsure is held in place through the power of punk... at least for now.
Lucifer	The fex with Lucifer seem to join together when they feel all the energies between this plane and the next. Somehow, Lucifer does manage to get all of them to swim their little selves through the rift opening to join their others. He then draws a symbol in the air while muttering beneath his breath. The symbol glows with hellfire and reaks of sulphur and brimstone - but it has a purpose. Lucifer uses the magick and pushes against the tears in reality - slowly joining them together. There has to be a crescendo that's reached and then all of a sudden it'll drop and there will be perpetual silence. If it all goes according to plan and actually works.
Sinister	Beneath the water, a flash of blue energy joins the white of the stars that chant 'should I stay or should I go' as things are done to the sphere. The power of the hellfire glow and the stabilization spell -- a seven point triangulation in space and dimension via the use of chanting stars -- reach a kind of apex with a cascade of the radioactive water out in a wash, as if the sphere in the midst of it all was dropped from a great height. It's cracked open and Sinister is hissing through his teeth, hands in the reddish-white glow a rictus as if he were in some kind of spasm. Then the dynamo in its core can be seen, the rotating, perpetual motion device with a tiny cube of blue energy in the middle of it, which seems to power its endless and rapidly increasing gyrations. That is all of a sudden ripped free and sails toward John as the rift spontaneously expands out like a splash then collapses into nothing. At the last moment though, there's a mental yell as tentacles dart out with the speed of a kraken on the hunt and Sinister vanishes with the rift! Oh, balls.
Constantine	All of the lights, the singing lights, rush together toward John, following that shiny blue shape that is headed his way. As the telepathic link with Nathaniel is ripped from John's mind - and Lucifer as well - John loses all concentration. W-w-w-wWAWMP! Big white! Complete darkness View returns to be blue-ish. Everything is because the place is bathed by the light coming from the blue shimmering cube hovering over John, who fell on his butt. A tesseract. A halo of white surrounds it, keeps it where it is. "Fuck..." John raises a hand to whipe the sweat from his forhead, or facepalm, or both. "It''s always tease, tease, tease... you're happy when I'm on my knees..." the immovable hypercube sings, the voice coming out bad like out of an old wax cylinder gramophone and no music, just the voice. "Fuuuuuuuuuck..."
Lucifer	See boys and girls? This is why mortals cannot have nice things, and why evil people should not be able to get their hands on such things either. There's an evil person being torn apart again and again in a plane of Hell near you. We'll likely get to them in a moment or few - or maybe the next episode. For now...the crescendo comes, it crashes, and it falls. Leaving Lucifer very much still attached to the roots of the rift. Whatever core of device is lingering on John's side of reality is going to have to be collected and held onto. Lucifer watched Nathaniel get taken as the rift closed. Lucifer does not like the fact that his Nathaniel was taken when the rift closed. So, Lucifer follows Nathaniel thru the rift, well - suppose it's better to say that Lucifer follows the kraken what grabbed Nathaniel thru the rift and it takes little time at all for Lucifer to go from prim and dapper to wings flared archangel and zip to come face to tentacle with the creature what grabbed his betrothed. "You will have one chance - One. Single. Chance. - To let. Him. Go."
Sinister	On the other side of this rift: SIlence. Oh, no, not silence. 'If I go there will be trouble, if I stay it will be double...' warped as all get out, sounding like some malefic chorus from a tiny cube of monstrous power, hovering right over John Constantine. If he moves, it should be slow. On the other side, it's all fishes and water forever and the aquatic Behemoth about to have a bad day. Sinister is in no way lacking in the ability to fight back and flashes of red concussive energy, waves of pain and telekinetic disruption are being levied at tentacles aplenty, plus now there's an infuriated Archangel to contend with also. It wouldn't be a far stretch of the imagination to see severed aqua tentacles and a sudden and irritated inking as the monster flees angry flashes of energy and too much trouble for its liking. The main issue is that for all he has a great deal of power on Earth, Sinister can't plane-step and would've otherwise been very stuck. 'So come on and let me know... should I stay, or should I go' Alone, in a nuclear wasteland.
Constantine	Indeed, this is a conundrum for the pinned down Hellblazer. What happens if he moves? Will he be blasted by energy from the cube? "If I leave, you glowy signing bastard is left here for grabs by the first junkie..." he says, thinking aloud. The cursed tesseracts answer with another line of the song. Pick one, doesn't matter, it's going to repeat the whole song to infinity in over several dimensions, forever. "Okay, one good thing did come out of this: I didn't pick 'Hey Jude'." Not that makes Constantine laugh. He's alone. "Alright, they need my help soooo... alarm spell first." One of the first spells he learns, a little something that warns him if something happens in an area, wherever he can be. Easy. "There goes nothing. Friends, here I come." He lays down and closes his eyes. He begins floating. As he looks behind himself, he can see his own body, unconscious and the cord that links his astral form to it. "So, you should still be tuned to where they went. Stay put," he says to the cube. He reaches for it and instantly, John-ghost crosses over.
Lucifer	In the water, staring down the kraken that is apparently NOT going to let Nathaniel go, only fuels the Angel with more rage. No one likes to see an angry Archangel - has anyone actually seen one? He begins to draw more signs in front of him, cutting through the water with his hellfire because it's just that magical. Once the symbol is complete, he thrusts his arm through the center and pulls out a flaming sword. This sword is a legendary one, but in this moment Lucifer isn't caring of the specifics. Instead he flares his wings and rockets through the water with a fluidity that not many can afford. His sword held over high and then thrust downward - aiming for the top of the kraken's head and intent on slicing right through the creature. Clean halves.
Sinister	Tentacles. THey're a strong thing, usually in the world that we know of. But they're also vulnerable to being sliced and diced - octopus and squid are essentially big meaty meals for anything that has teeth and they know it. So, although in their element they are potent because things...drown... ...They're bugger all good against celestial steel. Underwater flaming celestial steel. Tis probably an eye opener for astral John, as generally speaking, Angels going to war isn't something commonly seen and Archangels doing so is liable to be a once-in-a-lifetime thing to witness. The lightbringer really does glow when he's got his Celestial on and it's awesome and terrific, in that it inspires awestruck moments of paralysis to witness and terrific in that it can definitely inspire terror. Sinister also isn't easy to hold onto when he doesn't want to be held. COncussive blasts and melting into a semi-liquid ooze-like state, means that the Kraken has nothing to hold onto, even as SWISH; Bifurcated.
Constantine	"Holy ...!" John says, coming in just in time to see the murder of the squid. Octopus. Thing. "I gotta get me one of those... Are you guys alright?" He takes a moment to light up a cigarette. It's not a real one, of course, but it provides some sort of comfort and completes his appearance. "I'm stuck under a tesseract. I'll do what I can to help like this but if we could hurry a little before a junkie shows up and touches it - or steals my boots - that'd be swell." John's astral image gets blackened by a mix of sea monster blood and ink for a second. "Ech."
Lucifer	Having dealt with the kraken, Lucifer swims over to where Nathaniel liquified himself to check and make sure the man is okay. <<Stuck under a tesseract? We'll get back there in just a moment, but I don't know how much Nathaniel has suffered..>> Being pulled into a rift is one thing. Being squeezed by tentacle barbs is another. Now he has to gather Nathaniel and bring him back through the rift, but he stays in his Archangel form because that's how he rift travels anyway. It is an amazing sight to see how that his sword is gone and he works on getting back to the other side.
Sinister	Sinister's reforming is slower than it ought to be, that's certain. Both Lucifer and John can see when he reforms that where the barbs went in, the wounds close over, but soon become pink. <<We'll be there in a moment...>> agreeing, he holds onto Lucifer's waist tightly to travel the rift. The true face of Lucifer is quite something else, when you're accustomed to the imagery that has been painted of him over the millenia, or are used to his mortal guise. In the dark, he definitely glows, like a deep sea bioluminescent entity. And indeed, there's John on the ground, beneath a tesseract that's a melty tape of 'Should I stay or should I go' singing those distorted lines in a loop.
Constantine	The true face of Lucifer, John's seen it more often than he had met Lucifer in person, in his nightmares. The disturbing thing is, you can't never really get used to it. Water is no obstacle, nor gravity, to astral displacement. He simple... slide wherever he wishes to be. The dark is no issue either since he's mentally tethered to Sinister. "I can guide you, all I have to do is retrace my steps and that should be the exact point of transferance, friends." He takes the lead, following his Golden Cord.
Lucifer	However it's done, Lucifer appears on the other side with a wounded Nathaniel in tow. He keeps hold of Nathaniel for the moment while waiting for John to come back into his own again as well. "What can I do to help you and get this place taken care of?" Asking this, while looking around, and then wonders if they brought any emergency blankets with them so he can use one to wrap Nathaniel up in.
Sinister	There IS a spaceblanket in the kit bag that Sin brought with, because this is a concern when you're travelling with a human, even if a mystically enhanced human. Hypothermia in Ukraine in mid winter, is a very real thing. Testing his legs, Nathaniel seems to find them accomodating to keeping him upright, but a check of his chest and a frown has him grimacing at the wounds that impaled him. They might even be a bit red, right now. He looks over toward the singing Tesseract and grimaces again, concentrating until the small ring of electricity appears nearby and a bio-mech tentacle reaches in to try and remove it. That might be slightly harder than he was anticipating, as its momentum toward impact had been arrested by magic. "I hasten to say I don't feel so good at the moment, I appear to be running a fever which I'm heartly unaccustomed to," he says in a mild tone. "Might I recommend one of your doors and some decontamination, John and... ah... Lucifer and I shall catch up with you later?"
Constantine	John's eyes flutter open. He remembers to stay still. He also remembers the astral cigarette, now gone, and his fingers twitch as a reflex to catch a falling cigarette that isn't there. "Hnng." Behold the waking up of the Hellblazer. "How is Nathaniel doing?" he asks, having missed the previous status report. Then he sees the mechanical arm trying to pull at the Punk Tesseract. "At least that means I can move..." he says, resigned. He rolls to the side, rolls again then stands up, clear from hitting the transdimensional power construct. "How did you... I mean the clone... find so many?" He scratches his head, watching the hypercube. The floating lens is summoned once more to assist the looking at something strange and dangerous. John has it shift in hue and colour several times. "Only something of incredible mystical force can break so many echo spells but I have no idea how the Tesseract will react. There's no saying how much power it could throw back." He gives Lucifer a sidways glance full of apprehension. "If only I had some universal solvent with me."
Lucifer	Lucifer watches the tugging match that being had with the small tesseract cube before moving over to the kit bag and pulls out the space blanket. Unwrapping and unfolding it, he places it around Nathaniel's shoulders. "We need to get you somewhere so you can dry off and warm up, and quick like." He offers his lover and then looks to the machine with the tesseract inside it again. "Do we need that to come out?"
Sinister	"Eventually," Sinister replies with a shiver, leaning into Lucifer a bit more than he might like. He isn't sweating, nor is his pallor anything to guage by but his mind definitely is. The links established temporarily are wavering with some whacky brain feelings. "Can't just leave a tesseract hanging around, the energy signature when it's exposed is very traceable. If it ended up in the wrong hands, they've the power of the sun in the palm of thier hands. If they know how to harness it. Luci... I'm about..." To pass out. This will have to wait until another time to fix, or another day to remove.