bakerstreet | Denny's

[The coffee isn't either, the absolute epitome of truck stop coffee, but he doesn't mind the bitterness of it, and appreciates that it's hot and strong as he takes another drink.

He laughs, shaking his head. It's not the first time he's heard of pranksters out tricking the local cultivators; he's pretty sure his brother has been behind a few of those, in his time, along with those dumb friends of his.] Ah, well, at least you got it all handled.

[A quiet snort.] We chased this rat yao halfway across the city before we caught up to it. Nie Zonghui got splattered.

Oh, dear. Is he alright at least? [ getting splattered by yao is a bad time for anyone, but that does explain why mingjue still had some goo on his cheek... ]

There's a braveness to Eddie that Billy doesn't see often. A lot of the shitheads in the school were wanna be tough guys that puffed up in their jackets to make themselves look big around Billy. Unlike them though, the Californian wasn't afraid to throw punches to put people back in their place. Wasn't afraid to shove people like Princess Harrington around on the court. He had cocky attitude to throw around like weight, he was going to use it to his advantage.

But Eddie was different. Instead of puffing up to be blown off like a dandelion, he slithered in with a sort of eloquence that didn't offer up a challenge. It draws Billy's attention away from the lingering sting in his cheek where Neil had reprimanded him for talking back to Susan.

Ah, that's what he was after. Blue holds black as their gazes hit. Something buzzes through his system, but Billy ignores it for now. "I've got some time to spare. What samples are you offering, Munson." His voice is low, thinking he knows what Eddie might be offering. Part of his mind worries about Neil finding out if he drinks or does drugs, but the other part (the stronger part) simply asked 'what more can he do?'

[ perhaps that's exactly what she wishes to ask, but she won't.

evasively: ]

...That's not it. And it doesn't matter, forget that I asked.

[ she slides back against the seat again, the misstep she's just made sitting like a rock in her stomach as she berates herself for letting something so foolish slip. she covers it, as she always does, with talking shop. ]

What else could be more pressing than Hell plotting against you?

That is... a lot of questions. [It gave him a moment's pause to try and figure out how best to go about answering her. What he felt comfortable to share and say, what could even be put into the confines of words.] Defiant dreams do not happen often, no. [That he blamed mostly on his having been captured and not around to oversee his realm. The sting of that lingered, both the blow to his pride as well as the guilt over the seeming abandonment. A part of him couldn't help but feel he shouldn't have gotten caught, and that he should have found a way out faster.] I wouldn't presume I know you better than everyone in existence. There are many powerful beings that exist in this world and beyond, after all. [Possibly Destiny was the most powerful with regards to knowledge, at least of the Endless, but it all really was a matter of perspective. Certainly Death had humbly shown Morpheus that he could do better with getting to know the people whom he served.] Should I need to find someone, I have ways. If you're worried I'm fixating on where everyone wakes up in the mornings, I assure you I am not.

[Though he was trying to understand people during their waking lives better. He knew what they brought into the dreaming with them, but it was another thing to witness and experience their waking lives firsthand. Hob had creaked open the door to such exploration for him, but he was treading a touch further.]

I would have known you anyway when looking at you. You quite resemble your ancestor. [He leaned forward a little.] I believe it’s my turn to ask a question now.

I'm a damn curious creature. [She said with an almost apologetic look on her face. The words not really apology, but also a bit of one. She didn't expect him to answer it all.]

[What he did answer though was interesting, and she took each of these things carefully in her thoughts.] Good to know. [About all of it, really. About the dreams and how much he knows of everyone, or her, and such. She can't imagine just knowing everything or being everywhere when you wanted. That had to make life boring, right? Where is the mystery?]

[But he mentioned her ancestry and asked about his own question, and she chuckled faintly. She too leaned forward, just a bit, matching his motion.] Oh now, this should be good. Fair is fair though. Ask away.

[ he is not going to be forgetting that she asked at anytime soon. he just stares at her without blinking, trying to gauge exactly what she'd meant by that before he sits back and looks away. ]

Family matters.

[ he knows that desire, for better or worse, wasn't going to just let their meeting be the end of it. his brother had gone to great lengths to try and get under his skin and take him down.

it won't end with this. ]

Sibling rivalry. Just...messy business. I'm sure I'll be dealing with that too.

I would hope so! Unless you aren't the type to exercise!

[ now it's her turn to blink quizzically — perplexed not only from drawing on her recollection of his family, but the fact that there's dissent, discord, among his kind.

...fuck, that doesn't bode well for anyone, she imagines, since she knows from the stories her gran had shared that not all endless considered humanity's best interests worth protecting at all costs.

not like this one seated in the booth across from her does, despite the fact that he may still harbor some resentment for his captivity. ]

...You're feuding, with other Endless? — Why?

[Was he turning the tables in part to get the focus off himself? Perhaps. No, most certainly. Yet there was an element of genuine curiosity, too. Not about the mechanics of what she did, he'd met exorcists and demon hunters in the past. He'd met demons and ghosts who had been exorcised as well, knowing the situation from the other side. No, it wasn't her job that held fascination for him. It was something else.]

You asked if I know humanity best, if I have infinite knowledge of them. I would ask in turn, do you think anyone can know all there is about a person? Are people nothing more than their encyclopedic pasts and current thoughts?

I know I'd get a very different answer depending on whom I asked. For now though I am curious where you stand on it. Figuratively. [Given they were both seated.]

I don't know if I'd call it a feud, exactly. But, we're like other siblings, sometimes we don't get along. And Desire has some kind of issue with me.

[ why, he can't really explain but it exists and it's apparently existed for quite some time. ]

But, I would like to hope that he knows better than to not move against me again. I let it happen before, I won't be so kind to him. Then again, he is...him so I'm sure he'll do something.

[ they bickered like siblings but it wasn't over things like using each other's items or not showing up for holidays. no, it was like creating dream vortexes and having children with mortals. normal stuff. ]

Ha-ha, Barnes. You're a riot. [He sits back with the coffee and just tries to let his muscles relax. Getting older kinda sucks.] Tracksuit mafia's been stirring up some shit since their boss left.

It's been a busy week. You? Sam keeping you busy?

What relationship drama?

"You know him unprofessionally?" Bucky asks casually. He's not meaning to bring up 'relationship drama' between them either. He's just curious about what the persistent lawyer might be like with different company. Sam would definitely tell Harvey something a lot different about Bucky than Matt. Or Steve.

Bucky's not as much of a stonewalling asshole as he purportedly is, for starters. It just takes too long for people to grow on him enough to scale those walls.

"It's New York. Everyone's got a negative opinion. And everyone's got an agenda. Even unassuming blind lawyers." And almost-mugged visitors from Gotham.

I've got it covered. [It's okay. Tony's used to people poking him to get a reaction- and he would know, too, because he also does that. A lot. He's a brat. He and Loki might find they have that in common when Tony doesn't have to be the ringleader and they settle around each other.]

You can always count on Denny's for mediocre food, bland coffee, and ridiculous hours. One of earth's finest establishments. Great place to go when you want to be left alone and nurse a hangover.

[ like siblings, he says. but the irony is that, unlike most human siblings, these beings are bequeathed with excessive amounts of power.

the lord of dreams may or may not be the strongest, among them — she's only met him and not his myriad of brothers and sisters, such as death, destruction, or desire — but if morpheus alone is powerful enough to combat lucifer in a test of magic, a former angel reputed to be second in strength only to god, there's no telling how strong the entirety of the endless are.

for good reason, overpowered siblings having a row with one another sounds rather ominous to her ears. johanna leans forward again, elbows on the table in front of her plate. ]

What did he do? You said he'd moved against you, and you seem convinced he's not done doing so.

Honestly, Eddie has no idea if Billy would bite or not. It's hard to get a read on him: Maybe his body is a temple, or maybe it's a brothel. You don't know until you ask, though.

Eddie gnaws on the edge of his thumbnail and waits for the all telling reply. Blue light flickers in the corner of his vision, an electric buzz as a fly falls foul of trap on the wall near the counter. Briefly, Eddie wonders how many little black carcasses are sitting at the bottom of that disgusting thing.

"What do you fancy?" He speaks around his thumb, angling his head to the side a little to get the last of the hangnail. How can the pain of pulling out that tiny bit of skin be so painful? It's sharp, but fade quickly, leaving him to admire the drop of blood that fills at the edge of his nail, before wiping it away with his finger. "Do you want to get mellow or high?"

A waitress approaches before he has the chance to gauge Billy's reaction. She's old and tired, a reminder of how this shitty town swallows you up and never really spits you out again, but she smiles at both of the boys as if any meeting in a diner booth at 3am can be nothing but innocent. Eddie orders the pancakes with blueberries and a Dr Pepper.

Edited 2022-08-24 19:32 (UTC)

Now that may have come out wrong. Maybe he does have a concussion after all.

"We went to law school together. Formative years, I suppose, for avocados to be." Harv was never the best friend, that spot was always Foggy's. But the Gothamite was good for late night study sessions, cheap take-away, and the occasional benefit thrown into their friendship.

"He's not like that." Mild indignation at the insinuation Matt might be just another New Yorker. This shithole doesn't deserve him. "He cares about people, about you, even if he has a funny way of showing it sometimes." Like dragging innocent bystanders in.

"I guess I can talk to someone at the DA's office but it might come back and bite you in the ass later on, depending on what you're involved in."

Hm.

[ he's definitely not convinced it's the end. desire wouldn't just let things lie especially after how dream had left things. he shrugs a shoulder. ]

You don't sleep much so I don't know if you would have noticed the dreaming and the waking world...experiencing some issues a little while ago.

[ maybe fortunate on her part. but, if she had started sleeping and experienced something vivid and real, well, he hopes that she avoided it. ]

[ her sleep has been fitful and minimal as of late, and she considers how he knows that — only to realize, it's most likely the absence of her presence in the dreaming realm.

been looking for me then, morpheus? she wonders.

but her curiosity about that is short-lived, when he goes on to mention conflict between the waking and dreaming worlds, and her confusion deepens a bit. ]

Gran said Desire is the manifestation of humanity's wants, cravings; no direct power over dreams, though — only suggestion. What does Desire have to do with disruptions between the Dreaming and the physical realms?

Edited 2022-08-24 21:29 (UTC)

He's fine, things just got messy. [He brushes it off, taking another sip of his coffee. It's bracing, after a long night hunting across the city.] Are you headed anywhere else after we eat?

Good.

[ he shakes his head, hands still cupping his mug though he isn't drinking much. ] No, I'll just be on my way home after this. How about you?

Like this, in a Denny's at three in the morning with only a small idea of what kind of day Billy's had, yeah. It's difficult to read him.

He takes another long draw from his cigarette, with the red embers reflected in his eye for a moment as they burn hotter from the moment. The ash gets flicked on the table while he huffs out a small plume of smoke from his throat.

Billy watches the Freak sitting across from him, weighing how he wants to answer. Instead, the waitress causes a distraction by coming to take Eddie's order for the moment. More ashes get flicked onto the table, some landing on his own meal but he doesn't care. It wasn't about eating anyways.

The answer doesn't come until after the waitress leaves. And even then, it's not really an answer. "What even makes you think I want to partake in what you smoke?" Though it had been Billy who asked what Eddie was offering. Down to last of it, the cigarette gets snuffed out in the otherwise ignored ashtray. But maybe either offer could take his mind off of home.

Wouldn't that be something.

That's not incorrect.

[ her grandmother was a smart woman and knew what she was speaking of when it came to the endless. ]

But Desire decided that it would be prudent to have a child with a woman who was supposed to be a dream vortex in the hopes that the vortex would pass down to her descendent. And it did and she nearly destroyed everything.

[ it was only through unity's sacrifice that he hadn't had to kill rose walker, instead sending her off to be with her brother. an ending she deserved. ]

Ouch. If Eddie didn't think the dramatics would go down like a lead balloon, he'd act all wounded by that comment. Billy's not in a position to judge, as far as Eddie's concerned; blowing smoke over the table at him, like some dragon. Some weirdly pretty when pissed off dragon...

"If smoking offends you," clearly not, "I have some pills. They're not in the free sample offer, though."

He watches as the butt-end gets stubbed out against the ashtray. Fixated, for a moment, on Billy's fingers and the way they move to grind the last ashy embers of tobacco and filter into the green tinted glass. A wisp of smoke attempts to escape, but gets swatted into nothing by those fingers without Billy even paying attention.

"I..." Eddie's voice stalls, the single letter pronoun sounding a bit like verbal static, "can go, eat up elsewhere, leave you alone." He gestures with his thumb over his shoulder and mimes starting to get up, though he doesn't actually go through with it. Instead, he turns his head to look at Billy expectantly.

Billy's tempted to light up another stick, but keeps from doing so for now. There's enough smoke gathered around his head his angelic curls like a halo. Everyone knew he was the exact opposite of how he looked though. All aggression and rage ready to snap like a switch.

Those bright baby blues watch Eddie's hand swat away the lingering smoke from the ashtray and he sits back in the booth. Munson was harmless. Weird, yeah, but harmless. Unless you were part of his Hellfire Club, he mostly left everyone else alone, like the rest of the set the background music for him in whispered rumors.

"No," he breathes out, the stench of smoke lingering on his breath. Billy stares for a long moment, out the window, before shifting his gaze to the Freak. "Stay."

A strip of bacon is plucked up to be devoured in one chomp. The stinging is there in his cheek each time his jaw moves and that chiseled line will probably have a lingering mark when the sun peeks back out. Rumors will probably start up that he got into another fight, but Billy will take that over people knowing what really happened. "Mellow is fine."

Denny's

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I miss those silly boys...

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always happy to revisit <3

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