Summary:
July 31 2014: Jericho runs into Paul at a police bar while he's getting ready to do some bartending. Illyana arrives shortly thereafter. Will they work out their trust issues? Probably not.
O'Halloran's
A classic police bar, looking like a place time forgot in the 50's.
Characters
NPCs
- None
Mood Music:
[* None]
It's been another fun day for Jericho. Barton tracked him down in Central Park around noon for a 'chat.' Yay. He loves 'chats'. Anyway, a work contact of his had called to see if he could fill in bartend for a few hours. Good money, under the table, they were just a little understaffed and it wouldn't even be for the whole evening. This being how Jericho makes a lot of his food money - alongside a host of other odd job talents - he'd said yes. The one catch was he had to arrive a bit early to set the place up. So now here he is at O'Halloran's getting the bar ready in the early afternoon, a few hours before the place is slated to open. Not bad as things go, for a catch.
Except there was one he didn't know about. This is a police bar.
*
As Trent is setting up the bar, Paul walks in from the hallways leading back to the office. Actually, he backs in since he's saying "No, that's fine. You go pick up your daughter and I'll wait here drinking your whiskey." There's a muffled response and he laughs at whatever's said. He finally succumbed to the offer of free drinks and bad bar food in exchange for the story of his coming back from the dead now that all the paperwork has been finished, the investigation into the demons trying to destroy the world has hit a bit of a lull and no more precincts have been blown up thanks to…
"You." he says as he turns around, the glass in his hand momentarily forgotten. "What the hell are you doing here?" On the bright side, he no longer thinks Trent is working for SHIELD to keep an eye on him.
*
Jericho freezes as he hears the voice. Maybe it isn't- it is. Ugh. And here he is setting up for work. "You've got to be kidding me." Is what he mutters. As he jerks his head to someone or something out of Paul's line of sight. Seriously K'nert. Go hide. I don't want to explain to Illyana why Paul killed you.
"Detective Manning. I could ask you the same. I'm just getting the place set up." That said as mildly as he can. Of course, he's also stinking the place up with that whiff of the demonic Paul usually gets around him. Is it- why, yes. It is stronger now. A bit. Not like the jump last time.
*
Two sets of stinks, not that stink is accurate since it's not a smell. More like beacons. "It's a police bar." he points out quietly. "One of the last places I'd think you'd be comfortable, all things considered. Right next to churches." He reaches up to rub the bridge of his nose as if he suddenly has a headache then downs what's in his glass. Stepping over to sit at the bar, he puts the glass down.
"Jamesons. Just leave the bottle."
*
K'nert remembers Paul. Why is it that he gets stuck with this awful job? Why can't he just sit back with popcorn and watch the human get eaten? Mmmm. Popcorn. Maybe he can get the human to make that later. Then there would be the delicious irony of thinking about the human dying miserably while having made the snacks to go with it!
The little demon ducks out, and it's not long before he returns. With backup in the form of his mistress. Illyana teleports into the dark hallway that leads back to the storage and the bathrooms. She lingers in those shadows, leaning a shoulder against the wall with arms crossed and one leg over the other.
Of course, it's likely that Paul will sense her almost immediately. And if not her, the portal from Limbo that she opended up to get here.
*
"It's a closed police bar." Oy. Yay. Had to be a police bar. He is uncomfortable around those mostly because too many cops have tried to kill them. Granted most of them thought they had perfectly good reasons for that. He's not worried about that so much as the few who know exactly what the reason is. Well… it's only for a few hours right. Jericho gets the requested bottle and slides it over to Paul, staying quite warily across the bar and well out of arms reach. Once bitten and all that.
"I'm not unclean for goodness sake. Not like I melt in daylight or recoil before crucifixes."
*
"Mickey's a friend." And one thing Paul never turns down is free food and booze. He takes the bottle and fills his glass with several fingers worth but then jumps off the stool and spins to face the hallway. He obviously reaches for his gun automatically even though he's not carrying. Damn it. Both Illyana and the portal where there most definitely was not a portal before practically hit him over the head.
"Come out."
*
K'nert has slipped into the shadows again, so when Illyana pushes away from the wall and walks out it's just her. Twenty-something blonde in jeans and a faded Black Sabbath shirt with heavy boots, the soles of which sound with dull thuds as she walks out in a slow sort of saunter. Cool blue eyes stay set on Paul, her face an expressionless mask as she comes out into the room and then stops. She doesn't say anything yet. Just waits.
*
Jericho is carrying and tenses up a half a second after Paul does. Mostly because Paul. See multiple previous notes about being paranoid. He relaxes a bit when Paul doesn't a) draw a gun or b) otherwise fly off the handle. What would make him - ah. Illyana. The blonde gets a nod from Jeri but he doesn't say her name because he's not at all sure this is the kind of situation in which she'd appreciate it being known.
Hell, there are some days he kind of wishes Paul didn't know his.
*
As Paul studies Illyana, he takes a couple steps away from the bar and flicks a quick glance at Trent just to make sure he's staying where he is. Not a demon. Exactly. Stinks a lot worse than Trent and almost completely overshadows the actual demon by her. "Aren't you going to introduce us?" he says without looking away from the new arrival.
*
Illyana gives Paul a slight smirk. "He introduces me to his friends. I don't think you're one of his friends." Not an enemy per se, but their mannerisms definitely aren't 'friends'. Illyana takes a slow few steps foward, each step a sort of exaggerated thing, closing the distance in a fairly non-threatening way.
"So. Want to tell me why you're putting off the whole 'Danger, Will Robinson!' vibes to his watchdog?"
*
Jericho would not really call Paul a friend. The guy hasn't done him any harm. Per se. But there are mutual trust issues all around. So no. No introductions beyond, "Yeah sure. This is Paul. He dislikes my aroma, I think."
Jericho has moved around the bar. He's deliberately not putting himself in a threatening position. He really doesn't want to escalate anything that doesn't have to get escalated. However the very faint harmonic hum from his traces signals that they are charging if he needs them. No light show, though.
*
"Beyond the whole demon taint and his demon companion, you mean?" Paul answers. "Oh, wait. That's more than enough all things considered. Though given you're more damned than he is, I doubt you'll agree. But just in case you're unaware, demons and evil, Bad. That's with a capital B. And who are you?"
*
Illyana leans a hip against one of the tables, head tilting to the side a bit as she watches Paul. He clearly really wants to know who she is, and so it's tempting to keep stringing him along just to get a rise out of him.
"In general, I tend to agree." Illyana admits with a bit of that smirk again. "But you'll find making a blanket assumption about anything touched by one of the Hell realms is… rather narrow minded. And thank you, ever so much, for reminding that I'm damned." Sarcasm just drips from her words. "Somehow it keeps slipping my mind."
Her tone slides towards flat. "My name is Illyana. I rule Limbo. His 'companion' is my creature. Jericho tends to get into trouble. I like to make sure he's got a way out."
*
Well that cat's out of the bag. Jericho folds his arms and watches from the end of the bar. No need to say anything more just yet. Though he's sure the questions are coming. Ordinarily he'd be extremely disinclined to answer them partly because it's a lot of trouble for not a lot of reward unless he's talking to Nancy and partly because Illyana's secrets are her own and he doesn't like spilling them.
He does sigh a bit though. He does get in trouble rather a lot, doesn't he?
*
A half nod, half bow of Paul's head, equally sarcastic, implies a 'You're welcome.' without him needing to say it. "And yet blanket assumptions do simplify matters. After all, the lesser of evils still is." Limbo, yes, Trent's mentioned it before. He still has no idea what exactly it is though he can tell the portal that lead there. Or rather, what differentiates it from all the other hells. And why there's multiples to begin with.
"That's an understatement." he replies in regards to Jericho. "Makes it worse for himself too."
*
Illyana glances over to Jericho and flashes him a quick, feral grin before she moves towards the bar, still keeping an easy pace so as not to excite the potentially trigger-happy Paul. If he had a trigger to pull, of course.
"Vodka?" She says to Jericho as she takes a seat and then looks over to Paul, almost expectantly.
"If you try to live in a black-and-white world, you're gonna have a really hard time of it." Illyana notes. She doesn't appear to be carrying any weapons. No knives, no guns.
"So. Is this going to be a problem?"
*
Jericho shrugs and lays a couple bills on the counter near the register. There might be a lot less of this bottle left when they're done. The Grey Goose comes off the shelf and two tumblers because, oy, Jeri's gonna need one too. Jericho then comes around the front of the bar, past Paul and over to Illyana. He pours one for him and one for Illy and half leans, half sits on the booth table opposite her.
"Thanks Paul." He says flatly. Oy. The trouble he gets for sticking his neck out has made him wonder recently if it's all that worth it. "So nice to know you think of me fondly."
*
"But it is a black and white world." Paul answers and sits back down as Illyana walks over. The initial tensing made it clear his first impulse was to back away but hey, he's a guy. "There are the ones who want to make the world a better place, the ones who only care about themselves and don't give a damn about the world, and the ones who just use up oxygen." Technically they might be considered grey but really, they barely exist. "Demons are not the first category." At Trent's comment, he just shrugs.
"And haven't you? It all started when you stole the tech implanted in you and falsified your papers. Would you care to say whether or not you were really discharged or if you just deserted? I was going to ask May but she had to run out before I could ask. You realize that you've pretty much convinced Hill you're a menace." And Hill's not the only one.
*
"And so am I automatically in the second? Because if you're being black-and-white I'm sure I qualify as 'demon'." Illyana says, picking up her glass and taking a drink, all the while keeping her eyes on Paul. Being 3/5 demonnic, that puts the majority in Hell's favor.
"And if so, I guessed I missed the memo that I automatically must be evil and just in things to watch the world burn. Instead of working, and sacrificing, to make sure that primal forces of evil don't run rampant on the world." Her tone has gone from slightly mocking and light, to hard-edged in one of those slow slides of mannerism. Her gaze too, has gone hard and cold as glaciers.
When Paul makes his accusations Jericho's way she gives a soft huff of amusement. "You were there and know all the answers, do you?" She lets Jericho decide what to say himself though.
*
Jericho's eyes narrow himself. "Hill can go die in a fire." He's thought about that a lot. She really can.
"And as for you…" Jericho would tell Paul to go to Hell… but maybe it's a bit soon, given what he's heard. "You're making an awful lot of assumptions and are wrong about every single one of them is wrong. And really, I don't know why. I mean I get sure I operate not above board. I get I don't inspire trust. But people trying to kill me aside - which I can't control - I've been nothing but helpful to you and yours."
Jericho is clearly just… tired of this. "But I get it. Yeah, you know, clearly my service record is falsified and I'm sure you know how and why I managed to steal classified equipment without a full on manhunt, lay low for three years in a normal civilian job with a normal life and then cleverly get Hydra on my case, upend my life and get chased across the country." His gaze goes flat. "You. Don't. Know. Anything. About. Me."
*
"That is a demon." Paul states and points to K'nert. "You're more powerful than it but you're not a demon any more than he is." He jerks his head at Trent. "A demon summoner, obviously. But not yet completely corrupt if I'm reading it right."
Which he knows he might not be given it's all so new. "Feel free to enlighten me as to what the hell you're talking about." And then he adds to Trent "And that goes for you too. WHich is exactly my point. You're so busy assuming everyone is out to get you, you make it a self fulfilling prophecy. You did a decent job on that mission and from then on, everything you've done that I"m aware of is self serving. Hydra is out to kill you so helping SHIELD hunt Hydra is for your benefit as is weeding out dirty cops in the NYPD. A thief will always assume everyone is out to steal from him. Someone who can't be trusted will assume no one can be."
*
Illyana slides to her feet and steps over towards Paul, anger flaring in her eyes. She somehow manages to do a very good imitation of staring *down* at him despite the fact he's got more than a foot on her and the sharp angle makes it decidedly pronounced unless he backs away from her. "You assume that everyone owes you answers and you're talking yourself into a corner." Illyana says, her words sharp-edged.
"If Jericho didn't trust anyone, believe me, I wouldn't be here. And you're using the old line that in the end, everyone is self-serving. Getting something out of the most benevolent thing they do. And yet you're somehow exempt." She sneers a bit at him.
"Yes. I'm corrupt. Because when you want power there are a few good ways to get it. For demon sorcerers? They like stealing pieces of little girls souls and letting their dark masters fill up the space left behind. I've dealt with evil and demons since I was six years old. How long have you been studying them?" She asks, with eyes narrowed to blue slits.
*
Jericho rubs his temples and drinks some vodka. "Ai ya. Paul, I have the magical aptitude of a house plant."
"Do you know what I've gotten out of everything I've done for SHIELD and you and Sara in the last couple months? Gunshot wounds, feedback burns and suspicion." This guy, Hill and now recently, Barton. This is shaping up to be his least favorite group of people.
"Illyana's been a better human being to me than most of your folks and she's got to work a lot harder at it. And as she says, I do trust people. I trust her. I trust May. I trust a couple other good friends." He just doesn't trust Paul.
*
"Oh bullshit." Paul spits out and slips off of his own stool. "He moans about not being trusted but thinks we should just take him at his word when ninety percent of everything about him says we shouldn't. That is what demands answers. If he refuses to give any, he shouldn't expect blind trust."
The rest of what Illyana says gets him to pause. "You were a Hollow?" he asks and steps back to get a better look at her. "But not emptied completely?" At this point, Trent is almost a side issue. "You were getting those before I ever showed up." he tells him while still studying Illyana.
"And probably SHIELD too so don't even try to lay the blame on us. I just find it very suspicious that you're suddenly associating with demons and are becoming more and more tainted every time I see you the /moment/ I show back up with an artifact every demon would kill for." That's no secret to any demon or, he assumes, demon summoner so it's note like he's spilling anything.
*
That Paul knows what a Hollow is has her gaze shifting back and forth on him a bit. "No. A Hollow is a walking invitation for possession. I had pieces of my soul removed to power a magical ritual and the rest filled in with demonic power." Which is the demon equivilent to a soul, she supposes. Just tethered to her still (mostly) human body.
"As for your artifact? Which, yes, I can sense. I don't want. Not if I can help it. I have enough bloody magical things to keep out of the wrong hands as it is. Hopefully you're not completely inept at keeping it safe." The bit about Jericho being more tainted, she gives a sigh and stalks over towards Jericho and jerks at his shirt to expose his skin before putting her hand, fingers splayed over it so Paul can watch her light up his traces. "It's /me/ you're picking up."
*
"Oh I give up," Jericho murmurs in exasperation. "I don't know why I'm bothering. But my traces started absorbing magic before you got dead, I'm pretty sure." He's not quite sure when that happened to Paul, he'd only heard Sara mention it after the fact. However he does know that this has been going on for a while now. "And has less to do with you than you seem to think." Which is to say, absolutely nothing at all.
When Illyana puts her hand on his bare skin, his traces do light up and start to glow red, the glow slowly spreading out from her hand to light up… well, everything if her hand stays there long enough. The by now the familiar, but still unreadable demonic text begins to bleed into his HUD.
*
"I hope so too." Paul answers dryly. "The alternative wouldn't be pleasant." Not for him and not for humanity. At Illyana's display, he nods after a moment. "Okay, that's one answer." And a little bit of distrust fades. See how that works? Though it does lead to the question "Why's it do that? And why would you want to?"
*
"You know, that's a very good question!" Illyana looks over at Jericho with mock-surprise. "Why didn't we think to ask that question??" When she looks back over at Paul her glare is the sort that makes most people's spines shiver.
"Oh. That's right. The stuff is experimental and someone decided to use him as a guinea pig and kept it in there and now it's doing weird shit."
Her lips thin and she takes a slow, deep breath to regain some of her temper. No one wants to see her angry. Most especially the bar owner. "My theory is that it's the metals they used to make the stuff. Some of them are highly… sensitive to magic. So it's reacting to and soaking up my ambient nature. Which is why more than you deserve to know, by the by. I'm being nice." The last word is accented, with a quick flash of teeth.
"Now. You want to let me know what's burning like a sun on you, or you going to make me find out the hard way?" Illyana asks, arching a brow. That would be the artifact, of course.
*
Ilyana's more or less got the right of it. And by that we mean that she knows a lot more about this than Jericho. "What she said. See previous note about magical aptitude of a house plant. It absorbs what I assume is magic, mostly by touch or exposure to spells and I've got absolutely no control over it. Ordinarily I'd probably object in general but I trust Illyana."
"The traces themselves are made out of rare metals. Synthesized somehow and no, I don't know how. I'm just the operator. I know how to maintain them. Kind of. Not how they tick. Silver's one of them and Illyana thinks that may be one of the things pulling the magic in."
Maybe. He's not sure, nor is he really sure of the exact composition of the traces. It's just a theory. But it's what they've got.
*
"I can tell. I had I had a sergeant at the Academy who like to be just as nice as you." Paul notes oh so blandly. Translation: bitch. Now he turns to look at Trent, even leaning in close to get a better look.
"Is it confined to just his circuitry or is it actually tainting his…" Trailing off, he just shrugs. He's not prepared to admit the existence of a soul as per the religious definition. "I can't tell." The circuitry is too extensive. Running his fingers through his hair, he reaches for his whiskey and downs half of it. "It's called the Rapture. It lets whoever has it get in or out of Hell at will. Every portal will open, every guard will let you pass." Not every resident will but the security will. "You can see why it's in high demand."
*
"No. It's not corrupting his soul." Illyana says with a casual sort of surety. "It takes a fairly strong, dark, directed sort of magic to do that. And you almost always have to accept that corruption into you." Almost. Illyana's taken her hand away, letting Jericho put down his shirt and stop glowing quite so strongly.
The information about what he's holding makes Illyana blink. And then she snickers. And then she laughs. She turns away a bit, leaning forward as her hand reaches out to catch hold of something before she stumbles just a bit, snickering the whole time. Oh. Too funny.
*
The Rapture, whatever the hell that's supposed to be, nearly caused Paul to try ripping Jericho's throat open, so he doesn't find it quite so amusing. Though now he kind of wonders what joke he isn't in on.
"Illyana?" One brow quirks as he glances from Paul to Illyana and back again. Yeaaaaah. He's missing something here, though he's starting to get used to that being the case. The light on his traces begins to slowly die without magic feeding it, going down to guttering embers of red in about thirty seconds.
*
Paul just frowns at Illyana's reacton and looks to Trent to see if he has any idea what's so funny. "And this is amusing, why?"
*
Illyana does manage to get herself under control, but she's still snickering a bit. "You think…" She says, sucking in a breath. "That I might be gunning for your toy so I can what… Get in and out of wherever I want?"
*
Now/ Jericho sees what's so funny. Ah yes. He snickers a bit but keeps it under control. "Paul… Limbo isn't wherever it is you ended up, I'm thinking. Illyana can do that without any help. As can a lot of the residents. In fact she's the one who keeps them all there for the most part." He understands that sometimes they still get out on their own whether on purpose or not, though the mechanics and frequency elude him. And aren't all that important.
*
"Oh, of course." Paul answers with a roll of his eyes. "What else would I think since I never knew you existed until ten minutes ago. Or that Limbo existed until Trent mentioned it in passing at some point but never bothered to explain. Whereas if he was in thrall to a real demon like Etrigan, you can be sure he'd kill anything or anyone in his path to get his hands on it since he came so close the first time."
*
Illyana is finally down to her usual smirk, leaning her hip against Jericho's stool as she crosses her arms. "And that's why you need to come down off your high horse a bit. I rule Limbo. I control the stepping disks. That means that I can pretty much go anywhere and anywhen I want. It all touches Limbo. I'm not really *keen* on visiting the different Hells because, hello, Hell. But I can see where others would want it. I'm sure I could even find some uses for it."
Because some things *are* warded too well for her to just open portals there. But by and large… Darkchilde goes where she pleases. "So slow down, shut up, and listen once in a while. Instead of going off half-cocked. If you don't like Jericho, that's fine. But dislike him for the right reasons. Not assumptions and the actions of other people."
*
"Paul, if I'd wanted to kill you for the artifact, don't you think I might have, you know, tried at some point? Screwed with traffic lights to get you in an accident? Overloaded the power grid near you? Dropped a satellite on your bedroom? Seriously, I don't like to talk about it but I do have lots of options for that kind of thing." And instead Jericho's been avoiding the guy as much as humanly possible. Which yes… has seemed a bit like a joke recently.
"But really I don't wish harm on you. Er, often. Hill can still die in a fire." Between the two of them they've managed to get him pretty worked up recently. Been a bad week or so for that.
*
"First of all, what you want would be irrelevant." Paul points out to Trent. "It would be what your demon master wanted that counts. And second, it wouldn't be me dead it would be the Rapture. Dropping a satellite on my head would just mean someone else would get it." Illyana he just ignores.
*
Illyana elbows Jericho a bit, smirking at him. "Now I'm your demon master." She informs him, seeming to be amused as hell about that.
*
Jericho shakes his head. Nope. He gives up. The point he'd hoped to convey is that he hasn't done any of those things, regardless of whether or not they'd have worked. But seriously, never mind. Instead he just smirks back at Illyana.
"I guess you are. Want me to drop a satellite on bedroom?" He's clearly teasing at this point. Both Illy and Paul. Because his default response to fear and frustration alike is snark. And he's got nothing left at this point.
*
"The details of your relationship aren't relevant since you're not a demon." Paul simply notes. But it's obvious who the master is. "So what is Limbo if it's not one of the Hells? Because I know where the gates to it are."
*
Illyana continues to lean on Jericho in an easy manner. "Limbo is everywhere and nowhere. The largest stable part of it has been held by demon lords long enough to make it something of a minor hell-realm but no souls end up there. Not like the others." Which is part of what makes her demons cranky. Nothing to play with.
When he mentions that he knows where the gates to it are she notes, "Move fast. They don't tend to stay put." Stepping disks open and close all over Earth in random places.
*
Jericho chuckles. "She commands them, some demons can get in and out of them but even if there's one nearby you may be in for a bit of a hike." He's specifically remembers a rather long walk to get into Limbo the last time he headed out there to do some gardening.
"It's also got other qualities but… none that are really relevant to the present conversation."
It's still a conversation right? He's not sure anymore. Ai ya. At least he's only got a few hours to wwork in tonight.
*
"I wasn't planning on going sight seeing." Paul assures Illyana. if he never sets foot in Hell again, or a minor Hell realm, or whatever, it'll be too soon. He finishes his drink and pours the glass full again. "Shouldn't you be working?" he asks, spotting a couple employees of Mickey's peering out a door. The promptly disappear but will undoubtedly have some interesting gossip to spread.
*
Illyana chuckles and nudges Jericho to go on back to his job. Since she's already here, she takes the seat he'll be vacating and pushes her glass over to be refilled.
"Probably for the best." She agrees with Paul. "So are you done? With the 'demon taint' freak-out?" She sips her vodka while watching Paul over the top of the tumbler.
*
Jericho really should actually get the bar set up. That takes a bit of time, though thankfully still less time than he has. With a nod to Illyana and a very slight one to Paul he levers himself to his feet and goes back behind the bar, leaving the Grey Goose. He paid for it, after all. Soon there's the clink of glasses getting set up, spirits and flavorants being organized and so forth. Jeri's still listening, though.
"I hope." He murmurs to Illyana's question. One less thing to worry about now that he's got Barton potentially added to the list of people who can get told what to do with themselves.
*
"I'm satisfied he's not the pawn of a demon." Paul decides, eyeing Illyana. Of a demon mistress is another matter. But a less worrisome possibility. Nor does it answer any other issue but those don't concern demons.
*
"Good. I'm assuming that you're planning on keeping hold of your bauble, and aren't looking for somewhere to stick it instead. I've run into a lot of dangerous artifacts lately. I'm going to be busy making sure they can be secured." Illyana says with a small sigh of annoyance.
*
That gets Jericho's attention a bit, though it's still kind of over his head. Odd, dangerous things happening not related to Hydra? Those happen? Hrm, interesting.
"You going to stick around, Illyana?" He asks as he goes through the list of things he's likely to need until the late night bartender shows up. Lemon… juices… various herbage…
*
"Etrigan found it once where it was hidden." Paul answers. "He can find it again. Best it be with someone who can fight those trying to get it. Or run, as the case may be." He knows better than to try to fight Etrigan again. At least without Sara and the Witchblade. And the Spear. And he's not even the worst of the demons. "You haven't come across any pages of a book lately, have you?"
*
Illyana's mouth presses into a thin line. She heard Etrigan's name earlier, and it's familiar but she's not going to ask right now. She'll check on him later.
The mention of pages? That gets a bit of a scowl. "Darkhold?" She says with a slight growl, not sounding too pleased. That damned thing.
*
Darkhold? Illyana gets a questioning look but Jericho doesn't interrupt. She'll explain later if it comes up he's sure. By the way she's talking about it, it's bad news.
Darkhold. Book. Well, it'll be something else for him to rather futilely try to run down later. Or maybe not so futilely. There may be one or two places he can ask some questions if he has to. Though it's hard to tell if the answers he gets are useful.
*
"Darkhold?" Paul repeats with a puzzled tone. "I don't think so. Book of Sins?" That's what Constantine called it right? He should have taken notes but was a little preoccupied. Too many demons issues. "Pages from a book that was scattered all over the planet but are now being collected and used to summon demons. If they ever get all collected the Elder Gods will be freed." Or something like that. Thrown into the deep end, he was.
*
"Sounds a lot like the Darkhold. Could be another name for it. Even pieces of the pages can corrupt those who touch it." Illyana looks over at Jericho, pointing at him with a finger as she holds her glass.
"YOU stay far, far away. I don't want to see what it does to your cyber." Looking over at Paul, she nods. "The Elder Gods have a lot of ways they're trying to get out." Illyana's intimately familiar with one of them.
*
"I'm not eager to see what lots of things do to it, but so noted." Like Partisan. Or Angelo. Or hell, Paul or Sara. He's not sure if the latter two qualify as sufficiently magical or if it's just their trinkets but either way, he's really, really not eager to find out. For one thing, he doesn't need any more nonexistent languages to add to the database of things he doesn't understand. Three is quite enough.
*
Paul looks over at Trent but it only takes a moment to get what Illyana is implying. "Oh. That would probably be very bad. Something that powerful might not need informed consent."
*
Illyana glances over at Paul and shakes her head. "No. It doesn't." There's no 'might' about it. "And I don't want to gamble at whether I can remove that kind of corruption or not." Which would imply that she can in some cases. The Pages also aren't likely to recognize Illyana's claim on Jericho.
*
Jeri arches and eyebrow nods at the pair. At least it's a bit less tense now. "Keep away from evil books. Got it. I'll do my best." Though really, knowing Jericho's luck…
Well, something has to work out for him at some point, right?
"In any case, if you're gonna be staying let me get freshen up your drinks…"
*
Just then, there's a below from the back. "Hey Paul!" Sounds like Mickey's back and he slips off his stool. "Right, we can continue this another day but for now, you should get going. Coming!" he calls back and takes his drink. Last thing he needs is Mickey to start gossiping to the other cops about the company Paul keeps.
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