(Untitled)

[laughing_mage]

There hadn't been much talking after a while at Zee's, just taking of comfort and waiting for her to sleep. He knew she was aware he'd probably leave when she slept so she had stayed awake for some time, just stroking his back and hair, trying in a wordless way to say she knew how he felt

Comments

[doctorfatejsa]

Sometimes the shadows swallow you whole.

Sometimes the light breaks through the darkness.

"John," says Hector Hall, leaning against a tree outside Shadowcrest. There had been a brief flash of light, but it passed quickly. Hector looks a little tired. He doesn't look like he came for a fight.

[laughing_mage]

"If you have t'do this now you could at least buy me a drink." he looks just as tired and his face is set in stubborn lines.

[doctorfatejsa]

Hector nods.

"Not a problem."

He turns to walk away, and crooks his neck for John to follow. As he does, the world peels away and they're in the Black Dragon. The bar is thinly populated, but no one blinks at their appearance.

"What are you drinking."

[laughing_mage]

"Have a whiskey an a pint please." he looks around and remembers the last time he an Fate were here and a shadow of a smile crosses his face. They really had made the mystic world piss their pants.

[doctorfatejsa]

Hector walks up to the bar and comes back with two pints and a whiskey. He sets John's order in front of him.

"Gemma seems to be doing ... OK. She also seems to have taken to my iPod."

[laughing_mage]

He picks up the whiskey glass and drains it before answering.

"Good. Watch her she'll nick your best albums to if you give her the chance."

[doctorfatejsa]

"Well at least she has taste," says Hector, taking a sip.

"So, now that I'm not about to bring Hell crashing down upon itself at the moment, care to tell me what happened?"

[laughing_mage]

"Not much t'tell. You saw most of it." yes, he might actually make Hector force him to tell.

[doctorfatejsa]

Hector seems composed still. He doesn't want to make this a confrontation.

"Fine," he says. "So Chantinelle won herself a kingdom -- which, by the way, I'm still entitled to destroy at a time of my choosing by their own rules -- and your sister's soul is still ... in question?"

He fidgets a bit at that.

"I've sealed the bodies in a tesseract. Time's not moving there until I say so. I wasn't sure where things stood. Didn't want to risk making a mistake if you've got a game on."

[laughing_mage]

"Leave her be Hector." the mention of Cheryl makes him rub a hand through his hair and sigh.

"The First made her bargain t'stay. Her prat of a husband's there an she won't leave him. Ellie's my key to at least makin' her torment less."

He takes a long drink of the pint before answering the last bit.

"Thank you."

[doctorfatejsa]

"No problem," he says. "And I'll leave Chantinelle be -- not really interested in her, unless she does something stupid like sending an army of demons to attack my town again."

Hector's going through his beer much slower. Someone's put Willie Nelson's "I'm Gonna Get Drunk" on the jukebox, which makes Hector smirk, a little.

"So," here's the deal. "I can keep the authorities out of it, but if the mess is done, Gemma's parents should get a proper burial, and Gemma should get to say goodbye at a proper ceremony. That happens on your say so, because it's not my palce."

[laughing_mage]

"It's not over yet. Not sure how long it will take though." and his first stop might be back in hell.

"No savin' Tony but Cheryl'd want t'be buried with the prat even though he murdered her."

He gave Fate a considering look.

"She asked you t'teach her didn't she?"

[doctorfatejsa]

"She did," says Hector, taking another sip. "And I think I'm going to."

[laughing_mage]

"She's not Daniel you know." he knew that was a low blow but that's the mood he was in.

"I wouldn't teach her, she doesn't understand learnin' from me isn't about magic. That's not my gift."

[doctorfatejsa]

He flinches at Daniel's name.

"I know she's not, and yes, I'd bet some residual guilt is seeping in here, but ..."

The radio's changed to Pattie Smith's "Free Money."

"Look. I can't see into your destiny. It's a closed book to me. And I can only see into hers a little, but enough to know that if someone doesn't step in at this point, she's going to go off and learn magic on her own. And you of all people know where that will lead. So it's either this or ship her off to the White School."

[laughing_mage]

"She's the real mystic of the family. I can't teach her, she needs t'stay out of what I do, get out of the whole fucked up Constantine curse." He sighs.

"Not the White School, my luck she'd be shaggin' Hunter and I'd have t'hurt him."

He points at Hector, serious, "I never thought I'd keep her out of magic, but I ain't teachin' her my way, I'm not a soddin mystic I'm a trick artist an a liar. She's got actual talent."