2015.03.02 - Rocking the Boat

Moon Knight is up on the roof of Lois' apartment building, sitting down with one shoulder resting against a chimney, trying to settle himself. He doesn't want to be too far from the vulnerable Loki, but for all he knows it may be dangerous for Loki to be too near the mask as well..he was sucked in it before. So Moon Knight has been going back and forth for lack of decision.
People seem to find it fairly easy to access roofs, or at least magical wry-wit types do. For once, John isn't smoking when he steps out of the shadows, but he at least seems to have smoothed out his hackles since the last time they parted company. "So, here you are."
Moon Knight turns, and if anything he seems rather subdued, form rippling slightly though it settles where it is. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon." he remarks. 
"Yeah, but you have all the foresight of a baked potato." John pulls a thin smile as he strolls closer. "Thought I'd find you here though. You seem to have a thing for empty rooftops looking down at the world, like. So what's new and interesting?"
Moon Knight answers, "What do you want?" not even mustering the bite from before.. he sounds vaguely drained.. "I have foresight enough to suspect you know more about what's going on right now than I do."
John waves a hand, laughing quietly and looking down himself on the city. Not so much activity at this hour. It's quieter than before. Not silent -- New York is never silent -- but comparatively peaceful. In the immediate vicinity, anyway. "What do I want? Well, you're owed a kick square in the jimmies, but I thought instead I'd see how you're faring. You realize you're basically master of your own destiny now, yeah?"
Moon Knight dignifies this only with a grunt. "So it's about that again, then." he says, looking out over the city as well. It's his to protect, at least at night.. at least it was. He feels disconnected and off balance now, and he doesn't like it. "Since when did you bother with what I do anyways? I remember you yelling at me for not letting Marc out enough; now you want me to take up knitting."
John *snorts*, and it turns into a chortle. "Take up whatever you want, mate! Thing is, you got the ability to decide what you're gonna do. You got the power. I'd fair wager you could heal Marc up too, if you took the notion. I'd take it soon, though. Loki's not going to stay a split person so long."
Moon Knight does turn to look at Constantine at this point. "This power isn't mine.. just as the power wasn't mine before." he shudders a bit. "Though..no one's told me what to do with it either." this last almost sounding like a child complaining that something is clearly and grossly unfair.
"'s not your power, sure. But you can *use* it now. And you don't need to ask anyone's permission." John leans closer, lowering his voice. "The world's your oyster. You can at least fix yourself so you're not such a hot mess. Next step: what the hell're you wearing."
Moon Knight expels a breath, leaning his cowled head back to bump against the chimney he's half leaning on. "..I don't know how. I've never...undoing things was never my job. If I even--" he turns to stare flatly at John at that. "..I don't know. This..isn't what Khonshu gave me.."
John pauses, looking Moon Knight over. Then he just lowers himself to sit in the hero's lap, smile thin and wide. Of course he knows he's being irreverent and utterly cheeky and probably weird, but that's the only way he's ever known to get through to the plural-minded hero. "'Bout time you tried thinking for yourself. Ye might get to like it. Fix Marc's eyes, eh?"
Moon Knight startles, "What--" and the clothing warps and flickers again-- some sort of visual indicator of who's in charge, perhaps? If that's the case one could possibly take that as Moon Knight considering hiding. He stabilizes though, looking away with a huff. "If that was what Khonshu had wanted, I'm not sure I would even exist." he says quietly. 
"Maybe not, but here we are." John replies.
Moon Knight doesn't answer at first, staring off into the distance..but then almost stubbornly he says, "..I'll try." It's possible the wisdom of sitting in the lap of an avatar who's even more unstable than usual might be questioned as green smoke and eddies of wind start to flare up around Moon Knight.
John doesn't show much sign of shifting from where he's sitting, but it is an awfully nice seat and he hasn't had an awfully nice time of it in the past few weeks, especially not last night. Oh well. He's pretty sure things won't go too horribly wrong.
Moon Knight tchs.. "I don't..think the mask wants Loki's magic to be used that way, but..." well, if Moon Knight is one thing, it's ridiculously stubborn. The smoke starts to writhe, and the light in general takes on a brighter distinctly green hue-- and to a magic user the clear 'ping' through the air when something happens, the wind and the smoke dissipating with it.
"Come now, the mask just isn't used to you, is all." John would take out a cigarette right now. He would. He's just fairly sure he's blowing through them too quickly of late. Understandably, but still. And then suddenly, something happens. John's brow lifts, and then a shiver runs down his back. "Whuughhlllgh."
Moon Knight says, "...What does that mean. Is that good?"
John shrugs his shoulders, once he gets that shudder out of his system. "Dunno. You tell me! You're the one did it, you're the one with Marc shuttered up inside you."
Moon Knight nods. That -is- the best way to find out. He pauses.. and then he hmphs, head turning a bit as if listening to something else.. "What's -that- supposed to mean? How bad could it--so what? I went to all that effort, and the least you could do--" he huffs abruptly, slamming his hands on the ground to either side, and all at once John is perched instead on a green-tinged grey-scale version of what could be a quintessential Noir PI. The lighting actually seems to get starker on him, and he all but radiates cool-- which makes the sudden sputtering all the more incongruous. "Moon Knight!" comes an irate protest.
John watches this, with only a mild curiosity at first, and then a bit of confusion mixed with amusement eventually. All the different voices clashing and seeming incoherent don't bother him that much, although the changes in clothes will take some getting used to. He glances at the lighting, then back at the man's face. "Wotcha."
Marc stares, glancing around.. and then clears his throat in a poor effort at nonchalance. "Looks like it worked." he proclaims. His eyes are still a violent green, though human now rather than the glowing slits Moon Knight tends to sport. And there's a strange lip around the edge of his face if one looks closely, but otherwise he looks like himself. ..If he was a stylized movie detective.
John leans closer, narrowing his eyes at Marc, looking right into the man's gaze...and then laughs pleasantly as he hops up to his feet. He steps aside and holds a hand down for Marc. "Come up and join the world. Thought that might do the trick. See? You know how to do more than you imagine. You *can* do your thing if you make your mind up."
Marc leans back when he's peered at, though with the chimney right behind him, there's limited range for this. With his entire self currently a greyish green it's hard to tell, but it's just possible he's flushing. He's clearly staring back though, so seems they're good to go on the blindness issue. 
Marc's mouth quirks a bit, and he accepts the offered hand to get to his own feet. "Good to be back, but. ..This isn't exactly the status quo here, you know." he notes quietly. "We're not.. supposed to be tied to Loki. This magic isn't something we usually have access to, everything's all mixed up and we can't feel Khonshu and Moon Knight's been.." he shakes his head expressively as if to say 'you do not even know' before raising an eyebrow at Constantine. "So.. what are you up to?"
"Yeah, I know." John's formerly thin smile has returned to the toothy grin he more often brings out with Marc. "Comfy lap ye got there, y'know? Must be nice. I'm not sure mine's much more than bony, but it gets me where I need to go." Of course, he's not really answering the question. But then, he rarely ever does.
Marc scoffs at Constantine continuing to be Constantine.. but what he says is, "Whatever it is, you shouldn't wind Moon Knight up like that. We all thought he was going to beat you senseless, and then the mask.." he pauses, shaking his head. "..And by the way, this is a huge mess."
John pushes his lips together in a kind of thoughtful expression, then just bounces his shoulders nonchalantly. "Yeah, no shit Sherlock. And anyway, a) not my fault; b) it's a lesson you need to learn; and c) maybe some good can come of this, like?"
Marc doesn't contest the first point, though at the second, he raises an eyebrow. "A lesson I need to learn?" he repeats. He turns his head slightly at the last.. "How do you figure?"
"You saw everything. Presumably." John only pauses momentarily between his thoughts there, although he's not entirely as sure as he presents himself to be. "You're too reliant on Khonshu, who doesn't give much a toss about the lot of you. And before you jump down my throat, being too reliant on him isn't going to help him *or* you. You're in an unhealthy relationship. Co-dependent, or whatsit."
Marc doesn't always know what happens when he's not in control..the more of them awake at once the more unstable things tend to be. But he was aware for the fight in the penthouse. He deflates a bit, and leans back against the chimney, perhaps just because of the way he looks right now making it some sort of imperative. Really the only thing he's lacking for the look is what John is; a cigarette. "..I'm not going to chew you out. Anyhow, your choice in phrasing aside, it's..basically true. I think it's been kind of tough to argue since we talked in the Oblivi--" he sighs, heavy. "Okay, tough for me; Moon Knight's ready to step up again, but I'd like to keep things civil this time if possible."
"We can keep things civil. Let's kiss and make up! Bet he kisses like a virgin. 's always good for a thrill." Oh, but John's grin is wicked now. It's just...Moon Knight and all of his personalities are so much fun to mess with like this. He gets some genuine enjoyment out of it. He may like Marc, but there's a kind of almost sadistic pleasure he gets out of awkward interactions with Moon Knight. Still, he's doing it for a good reason. Probably.
Marc Spector actually puts a hand to his head in a facepalm. "Did it ever occur to you he didn't even exist like five years ago?" he wonders dryly, though considering Moon Knight was arguably splintered off of Marc, he doubts it will do much.
John's expression changes slightly, but it's not exactly the kind of surprise that Marc might expect. It's just different altogether, though his reply indicates better as to its meaning. "Oh! Then he *does* kiss like a virgin! Maybe I shouldn't take his first kiss, like. Don't want to deflower the poor thing."
Marc Spector groans, but he's chuckling as he shakes his head. At least the mood is lightened. "You're incorrigible.."
John's mood seems to have lifted a little bit too. "Eh, I'm not so bad. Nor you. I mean, it's practically a rite of passage when one of my mates gets wound up enough to take a swing at me. Don't feel proper until it's happened." Speaking of which, there are a few bruises on him, and they're unquestionably from the incident earlier.
Marc Spector gives him an incredulous look. "..Constantine, you didn't just get a punch thrown at you." he frowns, looking over the visible bumps and bruises. "...If that's your idea of good friends, you probably need to raise your standards. Like I said..I'm not going to claim I'm not screwed up. I'm just saying Moon Knight's right about one thing; it is how it is. I've tried to divert things before.. it doesn't go over well. And I don't know what the hell this mess is going to lead to." Marc Spector 's expression suggests Khonshu isn't going to find it amusing in any case.. perhaps that's why he's not in a hurry to rock the boat too much just because it's temporarily off the moorings.
"Khonshu's not here now." John states it definitively, concretely...and a bit darkly, with regards to his countenance, his tone. "And I'd imagine he's probably pissing himself because he can't try to bully his pet puppet. Abusive relationships, mate. Needs a little redefining. This wasn't your fault or mine...but it's happened, and I'll be fucked ten ways to Sunday if I'm gonna let the opportunity pass."
Marc Spector breathes a laugh at that.. not at John really, just at the realization it's true.. the absurdity of it. Something that's been a 24/7 fact for years now, the defining force for all of them just...disrupted. Absent. He still feels keenly aware of Loki downstairs, he's still an avatar, Moon Knight is flailing nobly to try to adapt to it, but it doesn't make it any less true; Khonshu's not there.
Marc Spector glances to John, still wary, but willing to ask in a way he wasn't with that ever present eye over his shoulder, "What opportunity?"
"The opportunity to talk to you about some crucial revisions to a contract that you're not responsible for being breached. One that you didn't breach, in fact. There's been some serious neglect here, and some things that I'm a fair cert most people don't know. And that you *clearly* don't know. Khonshu's using your ignorance to his benefit. You can learn from Loki, cos he's shrewd. He's slick and perceptive. Trickster means 'smarter than you'. Cleverer than you. Whatever anyone claims, that's why they resent him. Cos he shows them for the fools they are."
Marc Spector feels he ought to note, "And because he killed a lot of people." ..though with the knowledge he's gained recently he adds, "..Or, the other one did. This one..he seems alright."
"The other one did," John repeats, waving a hand. "That's not this Loki. But this Loki is *still* clever. He's still smarter than you or me or anyone else here, and that's why they're so fucking scared, you remember that. What terrifies them the most isn't that he knows the truth, that he sees it easier than anyone. It's that he's willing to *tell* the truth, and you might not recognize it, but *they* will cos they know it's true."
Marc Spector notes, "'They'. You mean Khonshu." after all, Moon Knight had been tailing the young god on and off for days before...all -this- happened. It's pretty clear their illustrious patron was worried about something.
John pushes his hands through his hair again, leaving them folded on the top of his head. He takes a few breaths, slowly, gaze settled on Marc. At last he speaks his reply. "Yep."
And that answers that. And with the cementing of Khonshu as a possible threat to Loki, Moon Knight's wary irritation bubbling just under the surface recedes in confusion.. And when Marc meets Constantine's eye again, he's neither withdrawing or arguing. Something's settled in his gaze. ..And just maybe that boat is ready to be rocked a bit after all. 
Category:Log