001 | Enter the (second) Serpent

[eyesofaserpent]

[He appears to be a young man in his twenties with black hair. His eyes are covered in sunglasses and he wears a stylish suit that seems to be tailored to him. Old habits die hard, after all. He is also flipping through a badly tattered book.]

No... This one isn't right.... Just decaying paper. Bloody hell, Angel. Why did you have to go and leave me?

[He closes the book gently, the delicate spine crumbling a bit as he does so. He finally looks up from the book and realizes he's... Well, nowhere from his world, that's for certain. He looks around.]

Well, this is a bloody positive change from rubble and blood.

[His senses heighten. If this is a new place, there might be other creatures here. He's been running for so long from not just angels, but his own kind, this sort of reaction is the only one he knows anymore.]

Is this some sort of trick to get my guard down? Maybe I'm hallucinating. I wouldn't be surprised if I've gone mad.

[However... If there was some alcohol around, maybe he could drown away his cares again.]

I wonder if there's some drink here. It's been far too bloody long since the last time I had a decent drink. Maybe I can forget the last thirty years.

Comments

[onehundredbeers]

[Nathan's trying to get back into the swing of being annoying welcoming crew just because it gives him something to do.]

You're not hallucinating. There's some fucking brochures like... that way. They'll explain some shit.


((idk if your Crowley can sense things, but if he can, Nathan probably pings as demonic or apocalyptic in some measure or something like that. Unexplained apocalyptic dudes, how do they work????))

[eyesofaserpent]

[Crowley looks at the strange man a moment and takes a tiny step away. An sensation in the back of his mind twinges.]

Brochures... Alright...

[onehundredbeers]

Mhm. And, oh, uh. The bar's like. That way. [He points in some direction.] There's fucking infinite booze.

[eyesofaserpent]

[He seems to perk up at the sound of unlimited alcohol.]

That sounds bloody marvelous.

[onehundredbeers]

Totally! I mean, I get infinite booze back home pretty much? But this is different because it isn't, you know, mine.

[eyesofaserpent]

I haven't had anything to drink in about thirty years.

[onehundredbeers]

Whoa. Okay, fuck the brochures. Those'll- those'll be there later. Come on.

[Nathan's innate ability to home in on the bar kicks in and he instinctively begins heading the right way.]

Seriously, thirty years? What the fuck, man.

[collector]

[What Crowley needs more of in his life is well-dressed gentlemen, pristine and be-suited. They could join a GQ club. He is self-possessed and half-amused in greeting a newcomer, as he always is.] There is the bar. [A pause as his eyes flicker to the book.] And a library.

[eyesofaserpent]

[In the interest of alcohol, Crowley gamely followed. Despite the nagging bit in the back of his mind, this fellow didn't seem too ready to attack.]

Well... After the war started all the alcohol was destroyed in some fashion or another.

[onehundredbeers]

War?

[He makes idle conversation while leading the way.]

What, did your universe actually have world war three or some shit like that?

[eyesofaserpent]

[Crowley looks the strange man over.]

The bar, I could do with. The library, not so much.

Unless it contains books of prophesy or misprinted bibles. [Something like the angel would have collected...]

[eyesofaserpent]

Of a sorts...


More like Armageddon.

[onehundredbeers]

Really? [He considers this for a moment as he approaches the bar, enters, and then hops over ...the bar itself.] That's... pretty badass. So. Is it like all that shit they rant about in the Bible? I, uh, can't remember really anything that happens but I'm pretty sure it talked about it somewhere.

[Nathan takes this so calmly, he is immune to the bizarre. Mostly.]

[eyesofaserpent]

[Crowley's actually happy to have someone to talk to for the first time since... Well... Since he lost his angel.]

Oceans of blood, all the hosts of heaven and hell fighting amongst themselves, the world destroyed... Yes.

[onehundredbeers]

Awesome.

[He searches around for something to drink. You're on your own, Crowley.]

I met the devil once. [A beat.] A devil. Like, the blues devil, I guess that's what I mean. He was an okay guy.

[eyesofaserpent]

[He leans over the bar and grabs the first bottle he can get his hands on. Bourbon. Awesome. Just so he isn't completely classless, he grabs a glass.]

Blues devil?

[onehundredbeers]

[Nathan has a thing of vodka. He doesn't bother with glasses. He just drinks straight from the bottle.]

Yeah. You know, like the music. We were supposed to sell our souls to him, but that didn't really work out.

[eyesofaserpent]

.... Huh...

[He pours the liquor into the glass and holds it up to his nose, savoring the smell.]

This smells bloody divine...

[onehundredbeers]

[Nathan sniffs disdainfully for a moment.]

It isn't. It's just... bourbon. Nothing divine about it.

[He swigs from his bottle.]

Then again, yeah, I guess if I hadn't drank anything for thirty fucking years, I'd have a boner for booze too.

[eyesofaserpent]

After thirty years living in a worse hell than Hell itself with no sort of alcoholic comforts, even Southern Comfort is a welcome prospect.

[He downs the glass in one fell swoop.]

[collector]

The bar is that way. [He points.] And the library would contain both. If it didn't, you could simply wander over to the religious sections and keep pulling out books until you came out with whatever you were looking for. Rather like trying to get Shakespeare out of monkeys, but it would happen eventually.

[eyesofaserpent]

I may go look at that after I get myself a drink.

[onehundredbeers]

[He nods a bit.]

I get it, yeah. I'd probably do the same thing if I were in your shoes. Fuck, it's why I brought you over here!

[Another swig from his vodka.]

So, uh. I'm Nathan. Nathan Explosion.

[eyesofaserpent]

Crowley. Just Crowley. [He'd long ago dropped the "Anthony J." part of his name. What was the point?]

[He pours another glass of bourbon.]

[onehundredbeers]

[He cocks an eyebrow for a second, contemplating the name, before shrugging.]

So, uh, Crowley. Are you from earth, or like, some other planet that isn't remotely related to it at all?