2014.02.14 - Trenchcoat Brigade Begins

Both John Constantine and Daimon Hellstrom receive a text from Epiphany Greaves, <Kinda blew up the lab, so smells funny. I'm making the clown clean it up. So I'm bored, meet me at the bar down the street.>
There was a bar nearby, right near Crime Alley in fact! Nice place. Probably a fight every night, lots of seedy looking blokes there. Good times, at least as far as Piffy was concerned.
She was already at the back of the bar, looking through all of the music in the run-down looking jukebox, "Shit. Shit. More shit."
Today she was dressed in a black and white striped t-shirt and a pair of tight black pants, and studded boots.
For Daimon getting to Gotham from Long Island (where the man lived in a mansion with his succubus sister and gargoyle man-servant) was as easy as a quick drop into Hell and a quick reappearance in Gotham. Gotham especially was one of those cities that seemed so easy to get to from Hell. Funny that.
As he pushed open the door to the bar he smirked slightly, yeah seedy was one way to put it, another would be that if the GCPD did a raid they'd make there quota for the month in a single night. But that's the kind of bar that Daimon Hellstrom, Son of Satan liked. They were more interesting.
He waved to Piffy as he walked to her, dressed in a long black leather trench coat, closed up to hide the brand on his chest.
Dive bar? Check.
Night Bar Brawls? Check.
Run Down? Check.
Shitty Jukebox? Check.
John Constantine present? Double check.
This is exactly the kind of place where they would not only know John by name, but probably knows his usual. So it is the case when the Hellblazer enters that there is a mass of eyeolls, sighs, and at least one muttered "fuck."
John makes for the bar, collects his usual drink: Whatever shitty well whiskey is present in a questionably clean glass.
Drink in hand, he heads for the back of the bar, "So ya got the clown cleaning up your messes, eh? Nobbad, Piff. Nobbad at all."5r
"Like fucking hell, my blonde bimbo bodyguard did it herself. Said she wanted the potion to look pretty, so she put /glitter/ into it!" Epiphany rolled her eyes and took a swig of her beer, but there was a small little smirk coming out of the side of her mouth. Her dad hired a psycho, but she made her laugh.
She inclined her head towards Daimon, "So I thought I'd meet up with the Trenchcoat Brigade, John meet Daimon fucking Hellstrom, Daimon this is John Fucking Constantine. You gents will have to forgive, I don't own a trench."
When Daimon saw John Constantine he couldn't help but smirk. The two have never met, but Daimon knew John by reputation. Specifically the reputation that his father had shared with him.
After Piffy's so elegant introduction he held out his hand to the older gent, "I've heard a lot about you to be honest John. My father is...let's just say is he's not a big fan of you."
Constantine takes the hand and gives it a shake. "Likewise, well - except for the dad hatin' ya part. But I hear you're a pretty good egg." he smiles, "and no worries, parents tend to not care so much for me." he gives Piffy a knowing grin and takes a drink of his whiskey. He doesn't a see a no smoking sign around, but he also doesn't care in this kind of establishment. He fishes out a smoke for himself and offers to the other two, as he lights his own.
Wasn't the kind of bar that enforced the law, the barkeep himself was smoking a stogie. So Epiphany took the offered cigarette and lit it herself with her zippo, "Thanks."
She smirked back at John, her own father called the other day to make sure she hadn't run into John Constantine, he apparently heard he was running around in the colonies too. She had to explain for about an hour that Gotham itself was big, even if he was in the city. Parents.
She does chuckle at the 'good egg' comment and adds, "Good egg? He isn't an organic one, at the very least."
"Good egg is not the way I usually define myself. Good lay, yes. Good drinking buddy, yes. Good wing man.... okay no I'm not good at that. Usually steal them for myself," Daimon said with that devilish smirk of his as he takes the offered cigarette.
"I have to say though, John. I wish I knew how to piss my father off even half as badly as you have over the years. Hell, there's a rumor going round that I exist because he wanted his own version of the Hellblazer," he took a long hard drag of the cigarette. Being half demon meant he didn't mind the smoke in his lungs.
Constantine lazily exhales smoke through his nostrils, letting it hang out of the corner of his mouth. "True..but good egg in my book is usually vastly different than other people's." he listens to Daimon and cocks an eyebrow, "Really? I wouldn't put too much stock in that, mate. Hell, most people can't stand the original much less attempt a copy. Nice to meet another likeminded soul, though." he grins at Piffy, "You seem to attract just the right sort, love."
A quirk of Epiphany's brow, "I've got a type. What can I say?"
She pushed her way through a couple of fat blokes angrily playing a game of snooka to grab an empty booth. And thankfully there was no puke on it, bonus! She slid in, and tossed her purse to the side against the wall. Piffy looked about and took a long drag of her cigarette, "It's actually somewhat nice here tonight, at least in comparison."
Daimon laughed a bit at Constantine's comments, "Like I said it's a rumor. Something I heard once while passing through Hell."
As he inhaled another drag from his cigarette his phone began to play a ringtone.
o/` Johnny, rosin up your bow and play your fiddle hard....o/`
Daimon's smirk died down and his eyes rolled and he said, "Speak of the Devil. Literally."
He held up his finger to suggest he'd be back in a moment, "You know you lose in that one right?" He was soon a bit out of earshot speaking to whoever it was who was on the other side of that line.
Constantine chuckles. He shakes his head as Daimon speaks on the phone and looks to Epiphany, "Feh. Hell. Another place that doesn't have a John Constantine Appreciation Society. How's your potions coming out?"
Piffy rolled her eyes and slid over to make room, if John wanted to sit on her side of the booth. Perhaps the men would sit on their own side, get all buddy buddy and cuddle. "Not gunna find a society up here like that. I think the closest you'll get is a Facebook fanpage called 'Fuck Constantine'. Lot of likes."
Her eyes followed towards Daimon, not a lot of things made his perpetual smirk wipe off his face, at least nothing good. She took a long swig of her beer, "Same old. Hoping my place is left standing when I get back. The clown thought pixie dust was glitter. Shit's expensive too. How's your...the crazy shit you always get into?"
Daimon hung up his cellphone after a minute and got a new round of drinks for everyone. Wasn't hard to guess what everyone had been drinking.
As he handed out the drinks he looked at John and said, "My father wanted me to try to convince you to do some horrible thing that would either kill you or at least give your soul to him and just him. I told him to piss off and not to call again tonight."
He glanced back over at Piffy and smirked, "Parents, em'I'right"
Constantine shrugs at Piff, "I dunno..there might be a fan page or two for Mucous Membrane, but that's prolly wishful thinking." he takes a slug of his whiskey, then seeing Daimon ordering another round, drains it. He nods to Daimon, "That's damn decent of ya. 'Preciate it." he says, in his thick British accent.
Epiphany laughed at Daimon and took the drink, "Thanks. Somehow your dear old 'Da calls more then mine. We should switch phones one of these times, or better yet just let them talk to each other. He'll be going to hell one of these days."
What she didn't voice was that she hoped it was later rather then sooner. She smirked at John and bumped her shoulder lightly into his, "Yeah I downloaded a song after you mentioned them you guys were...something alright. Congrats on that."
Daimon got a confused look on his face at the mention of Mucous Membrane, "Wait your also -that- John Constantine. I thought that was just a concidence."
Throwing back some whiskey of his own he added, "About two years ago I had to ritualistically burn a bunch of old cassette tapes for an old punk band called Mucous Membrane. They'd been cursed to drive the listener homicidally insane."
He thinks a second and then grins, "I didn't think you guys sounded that bad. Better than screeching cats on a badly tuned piano. That's how I figured out they were cursed."
Constantine hmms softly as he drinks more whiskey, "Wonder if that was the same bloke that your clown was trying treat in Arkham," he says to Epiphany, looking between the two. He shakes his head, "We weren't all /that/ bad. Not as good as some, but better than others, I guess. Too bad most of the band's dead. Or crazy."
Epiphany snorted into her cigarette and coughed up a bit of smoke, "She aint no Doctor. Just another one of her weird fantasies."
With a grin she looked to Daimon, "Poor sod then, still listening to cassette tapes, cursed cassette tapes even. Hope I didn't just download any cursed mp3s. I'll be pissed."
At this point Daimon had realized he had apparently missed a few thing since he and Satana had had Epiphany over to there home for the night, "Actually that's a good point. Who's the clown that's apparently ruining your potions left and right?"
Constantine takes a drink, "Oh this right wingnut bird who's all sortsa wired into the Gotham crazies scene. Says she used to work at Arkham before they committed her." he snaps his fingers, "oh what's the fuck's her name? Hiley, Miley, Hamey.."
"Harley. Harley Quinn. And she's a riot, when she's not fucking up the place. My Da hired her as a bodyguard. Just need my gun and I'm fine."
She looked to Daimon and smiled, "And you still need to visit my Lab. I've had all sorts pop into my lair, becoming the go-to potion shop for you magic types."
"Harley Quinn? The poor girl is named Harlequin? I feel sorry for her already," Daimon said with a smirk finishing off his whiskey and lighting himself a new cigarette, "So if she's such a menace to both your work and your sanity. She must be hot, only way you'd put up with her Piffy."
After Piff told him about how business was going he added, "If I ever need a potion you know you're my first stop. That does remind me actually, ran into that Rowan guy you told me about. You know the one you said looked 'like what John Constantine would look like if he were hot.'
Constantine blinks, looking at Piff with mock indignation, "What, are you implying that I'm NOT hot?" he takes a drink of his whiskey and another long drag from his smoke, "Prettiest piece of flesh as any in Messina.." he mutters, before looking over to Daimon, "Yeah" he says thumb over to Eipiphany, "She's a regular boil boil toil and trouble type over here. Does a pretty decent job." he says with a nod.
Epiphany scrunched up her nose at Daimon and took a long chug to finish off the rest of her beer, and slid the one delivered by Daimon closer to her, "I said he was hot and naive, and should be nowhere near me. I'm a bad influence. But pretty decent?"
She leaned over and moved like she was going to kiss him on the cheek, but stopped just next only a millimeter away, "Why that's the nicest thing you've said to me."
Daimon looked at Piffy and then to Constantine and said, "Oh she thinks your a hottie beyond hottie's John. I'm surprised she didn't call your name out when she was over at my place. She's got a crush on you that's from her early teens."
Oh yes, it was time for Daimon to stir up the pot a little bit. He was the Son of Satan after all had to sir the pot a bit, "When she finally met you she texted me to go all crazy about how excited she was you stopped by."
Constantine smirks at Daimon, only taking the bait a little, "Why, Daimon my son," he says congenially, "If she weren't calling my name you weren't trying hard enough." but he laughs, barely able to say it with a straight face. He hears the last bit and looks over, "Is that true, Piffy, you were excited I am to visit?"
Wait is Epiphany blushing? No way maybe she just decided to wear blush that evening. You know, for reasons. But she suddenly looks really interested in her beer, "You both can fuck off."
So chugging it made everything better! After she finished there was a small smirk, "I don't have nearly enough booze in me to talk about that sort of thing. We need shots, lots."
"Now shots! Shots I can do." Daimon said and went to get the shots. He had more embarrassing things to say when he got back with the shots of vodka he returned with.
As he handed one to both John and Piffy he said, "Well the only reason she wasn't calling out your name John was because...."
He trialed off and then realized he may be about to take this too far. He did like Epiphany as a friend so to basically completely embarrass her infront of Constantine might not be wise, "Suffice to say she had other things to say. But her and my sister Satana got along rather well."
Constantine raises a hand to the waiter(tress) that isn't there and says, "Garcon! Shots!" and polishes off his drink. Thankfully Daimon has returned with shots, and thanks him before upending it and setting it down rim first in a "fuck the queen" gesture. He cocks an eyebrow, "Sister, hmm?" he looks over to Piffy and grins, "Couriouser and Curiouser."
"You know, only before she tried to eat me in the not sexy way." Shots were much needed at the moment and took hers down immediately. The Trenchcoat Brigade was going to be the death of her.
She rolled her eyes at John, "She's hot. The chick knows it a little /too/ much, yeah but still. Let's talk about embarrassing things about someone else."
And please oh dear god don't let the conversation return to Piffy and crushes, she thought over and over and over.
Daimon took his shot as well and got everyone set up for the next round. He then added, "Well my sister is a succubus that's what she does. She didn't have the same advantage as I did. I was raised on this plane of existence she was raised in hell. When you spend that much time in hell, well our dark souls tend to differentiate and specialize."
Daimon frowned as he took a second shot, he couldn't really get drunk to be honest, half-demon and all that, "If there was one thing I hate my father for more than what he did to my mother... it's what he did to my sister."
Constantine ahhs and nods. "Yeah, well nat'rally that explains everything." he drinks more whiskey and hmms. "What did he do to your sister, mate?" he asks, tone growing a bit serious.
OH THANK GOD. I mean woa sad stuff happened to Satana! She takes a long sip of her beer, breaths and then takes her second shot, "To be honest, from what you've mentioned it sounds like you got the best out of the lot, you know comparatively."
"Took her away," Daimon said rather seriously, "She was only six when he stole her away to Hell. Brainwashed her, made her think she was being groomed to take over for Father after he retired."
He chuckled and took a nice drag from his cigarette, "So she bought into it all while I was raised here on this plane of existence. I ended up being just a messed, boozing, womanizing, asshole who works as a part-time paranormal investigator and eliminator."
He took another shot, "She ended up coming back here to feed on the souls of people. If I didn't find her when I did."
He looked at John Constantine and said, "Hell If I didn't, you would have probably had to deal with her."
Constantine winces, "Jesus Christ, what a fucked up thing that all is. S'good you found her, though. Not sure if I could've done it." - he doesn't say what he's really thinking which is of course he could've done it but it would've been an ugly, brutal thing. Something he didn't care to much think about, so he didn't. He drained another whiskey and called for another in between drags of his cigarette. "How can you even deal with your ol' man after somethin' like that?"
"Fuck." She took a cigarette from her messenger bag and lit it, "I no longer have any reason to bitch about parent problems in front of you two, that ships sailed."
She took in a drag, and exhaled a ring of smoke into the light bulb hanging above the table, "Sorry hun, didn't know it was all that bad. Still, she's got you. Better then otherwise."
Daimon smirked, "Don't worry John, I know exactly how you'd have dealt with it. You have a reputation remember. Actually when I found her I wasn't even looking for her, I planned to do much the same thing to the succubus I was tracking until I recognized her."
As to the comment about his Father he decided to admit, "I don't like dealing with the asshole. If I could I'd march into Hell can kick him out of his damned throne and murder the fucker. Not strong enough for all that. The phone calls, I have to take... he sends them through magic. It'll ring forever if I don't check it."
He looked over to Piffy and said, "Yeah she has me, but you've seen how much control I actually have over me. And well, if she tried to feed on me... she'd make the situation worse."
He took another whiskey, then a shot of vodka, then a drag off his cigarette, "Alright I killed the mood of this room pretty damn quick didn't I."
Constantine shakes his head, waving a hand. "Nah, mate." he says, having another drink, "It's better than ya think it is. None of us have control over ourselves a hunnred percent of the time."
"Daimon you always make sure the room pays attention to you, in one way or the other. You picked the other tonight. Could be worse, you could already be in a fight with that guy over there."
She gestured towards a particularly mean looking guy, probably had a few goon jobs in his time. He's got a joker tattoo tattoo, and another Two-face one (but that one was crudely scratched out). She stole one more shot before chugging it, "But that's ok you gents can rest easy, I've always got my shit together even when you two don't."
Daimon looked at Piffy. Oh what a perfect window of oppritunity she left open for him. And oh how he was going to take it, "Always have your shit together? Is that why you were practically throwing your panties at my sister when I first caught you two together... in this actual bar now that I think of it."
Constantine stifles a laugh and chokes it down, looking questioningly at Piffy as he draws from his smoke and knocks back some more whiskey. He looks over at Daimon with a smirk before looking back to the woman at his side to see how she answers this one.
Epiphany grinned and shrugged, looking up innocently, "I was this Brit, alone in a strange new land and there was one girl who actually came out to talk to me and...nah. I was bored, she was hot. Stuff happened."
She pointed at the both of them, "I still have my shit more together then the both of you /combined/. 5 more shots and I'll be fine."
Of course Epiphany didn't notice previously that Daimon wasn't susceptible to booze.
Daimon chuckled, "Yeah stuff happened for the next eight hours if I recall correctly."
Daimon looked at the clock on the wall and said, "And as much as I'd love to stay and embarrass Piffy more. I'm afraid I've got a ritual to perform tonight so I'm going to have to head off."
Daimon Hellstrom
Paranormal Investigator and Eliminator
Contact Info
"More Fun then Doctor Strange"
"Give me a call some time we'll do an epic pub crawl, maybe trash some demons while we're at it."
Constantine doesn't mention that he's reached epic levels of alcoholic tolerance, so five more shots is five more shots to him. He takes the card from Daimon and looks at it. He chuckles and looks up, nodding. "Sounds like a good idea. I maybe have a mate or two I can bring with me and see how many cop calls we can pull of in the course of a night. Good luck with your ritual, Hellstrom." - he knows how that kind of thing can go pear shaped, very quickly.
Well then if the drinking contest actually happened Piffy was probably screwed then, the most she had was excellent hangover remedies. Damn magical types. "Then fuck it. Place is played out, and is starting to smell more then normal."
She gestures for John to move out of his side of the booth so she can slide out, Epiphany gives a quick hug to Daimon, "Tell this sis I said hi, tell her to stop by the shop. But if she tries to eat the clown I might shoot her. Give her the fair warning."
She looked to John and smirked, "I'm no lady, but would you care to walk me home? This neighborhood is so scary, and it's so cold, and other things that make men all protective or whatever."
Constantine smiles, shrugging a bit. "Sure, but I promise the only thing I'll be able to do is stab someone in the neck with a broke bottle.."
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