( open post. ) RETIRED

[oldhound]

RETIRED OPEN POST.

Comments

ota

[oldhound]

1. If you don't hear from me by 9 then I've gone and gotten lucky. If it goes past 12 and still no word, send help. His boyfriend probably found us out.

2. You think it'd mean something that I said I'd make them both a good breakfast.

3. Were you seriously humming the Mission Impossible theme song while taking a piss?

4. Text him!

2

[deniedthesight]

it didn't?

[oldhound]

Not even a little. Lots of yelling. I made myself scarce pretty quickly after. I'm not one to stick around for domestics.

i

[killadelphia]

dude, you have got to start banging people that aren't already taken

[oldhound]

Living dangerously should only apply to the day job then? Sounds like a lousy deal to me. Where's the fun in it?

1

[bitchofawitch]

if this is what you said you'd teach me, I'll pass

[oldhound]

So you'd rather stay bound as you are and stew in the consequences of your own bad decisions? If that's what gets you going I'm not really one to judge. Let me know when you're done with the stupid in spades trophy though, love.

I'd like it back. It's usually on my mantle.

[bitchofawitch]

do you ALWAYS act like this when you don't get your way?

fine. fine. f i i i i n e. i will look for you after midnight.

[oldhound]

Says the girl throwing a fit.

My ears would be bleeding if that were anything but text.

[bitchofawitch]

you'd know if i was throwing a fit.

do you have any other instructions?

[oldhound]

Now I'm just interested to see. Bet it looks like a regular old possession. If it happened to spoiled little girls with attitude problems all the time.

Not as of yet but you do as I say or this doesn't work. If I can't trust you to do what you're told it goes nowhere and we're done. You turn into a threat? You deal with me.

[bitchofawitch]

Keep it up, old man. One of these days, we'll see.

I'm asking because I want to know, okay? Seeing as this is the agreement, accord---whatever.

[oldhound]

I'll live a bit longer than you with the amount of magic you're using up. There's a cost to it. To everything.

You don't just have to want it. You have to understand the price.

For now, take a load off with all the heavy usage. Dial it back. I need to see the damage that's already been done.

[bitchofawitch]

Ok. Whatever.

[She's two seconds from texting I don't care except she does. Drifting like a black cloud ready to storm over without a rhyme or reason. That's not exactly a crafted way or purpose driven life. It's what has worked. No coven will have her. So here she is with an ornery, old limey magician.]

So like. Fly your rainbow flag. It's cool. Why don't you make the hottie fall in love with you and ditch the boyfriend? Wouldn't that be easier?

[oldhound]

That's exactly the kind of thinking I'd expect from a second rate magic user who thought she could like you.

[ Text it, see if John bothers. He's cocked things up plenty of times and eventually, he'll have to answer for it. Whatever made him think it was a good idea to wade in to all this is beyond him. Going soft, old boy. ]

It's just a little thing called, I don't know, free will. Say what you will about where it comes from it's still important. Part of nature and when you mess with the way things are supposed to go it messes right back.

4.

[fightlikehell]

hey. i know it's been a bit. i've been meaning to text you back. work has been crazy.

[Work in the night chiefly. And maybe there was quite a long deliberation on the cost benefit of this contact. So close and yet so far. It isn't like the differences between them will melt away with enough talking.]

[oldhound]

No worries, you know I never take offense at life getting in the way of things. Is that necklace I left still working for you?

[ He doesn't need to have Chas make a side trip to New York City does he? He is surprised at the text, though. Things get dicey when the two of them cross paths. It isn't just the work.

It's the whole bloody belief system. ]

[fightlikehell]

No rest for the wicked.

[He can't even type it without the irony.]

so far i haven't been incinerated when I step into chapel. I don't even know what it's meant to do...

[oldhound]

Well if I'm in town with you I'm prepared to lose a little sleep.

[ John did laugh though. The line after maybe might have been a touch too far. ]

It's a protection charm over the jewel attached. Came from a set of crown jewels that were blessed by an old Celtic mage. That piece there was one of four that were part of a Carolingian cross. Said he never lost a battle the king wore it in.

Least that's the rumor.

[fightlikehell]

how likely is that if?

[And fuck if that doesn't make him get more interested. How long has it been since John has been around anyway?]

That's--John. It should be in a museum.

[It's a more reasonable protest than completely refuting that Murdock isn't battling. What a mess. He reaches for the cross more than the charm. It's heavy, it hums the way neon does in a charged bulb. Though instead of radiating light or warmth.... it's something.]

[oldhound]

Depends on how quick I can hit the daily double this time. My capromancy isn't as precise as I'd like it to be, Chas'll make me pay for gas.

[ Too long. It's an itch neither of them should really be scratching. Yet here they are, flirting with danger as it were. ]

Ta for that Indiana. It's not as if I knicked it from one. I save that for special occasions. An old friend of mine had one tucked away at his. I'm just reappropriating it to better hands. Wasn't doing any good sitting on a dusty old shelf.

[fightlikehell]

Wait, I thought you said that you were working. Which would mean people gave you money for your services.

[Services. Expertise. It's still a transaction. English law, let alone law in Europe is not always as straightforward as American labor law. God, is he just going by verbal contracts?

Someday Matthew will befriend and entangle himself with a person that will not give him as many reasons to shake them and embrace them.]

With so much history in it, it should be in a place where it can be appreciated. I don't want to entertain the idea that you'd think that I would want you to liberate or re-appropriate anything.

For the record, don't ever steal anything on my behalf. You're better than that.

[oldhound]

It's not that kind of work, mate.

[ But please, tell him if there's a tax write-off or something he can use that involve petty dabbling and exorcisms. Sounds like a legal nightmare, all that.

And no, it isn't verbal contracts. It's magical ones. They're a little more binding than the regular old human kind. ]

History that's been buried and retold until only a handful know the full story of it. It is in the perfect spot to be appreciated and that is right around your lovely neck.

You didn't entertain it and I didn't steal it. My friend left it to me. I'm giving it to you. Balance and the like, figured that'd be right up your alley. Scales of Justice and all.

[ There goes Matt believing the best in everyone. He really isn't better than all that. ]

I think one of us is confused as to who among us is the upstanding citizen.

[fightlikehell]

Unconventional, sure. You're entitled to compensation if you do something for someone. At least equal pay for travel? Food? Are you living off of lottery money??

[If John could work the system the way he works magic, everything would be wine and roses. Tax write-offs can work if it all comes back to employment in a logical way.]

If nothing else at all it makes me think of you.

[That same charged feeling without the smell of cigarettes, gruff laugh and sly playfulness.]

Your moral compass might be a bit broken, north is north.

[oldhound]

That's a nice way of putting it. Besides, pretty sure the church isn't hiring nor would they bother with the likes of me.

My smoke reading isn't as bad as that. I do just fine. Most days.

[ The kind of compensation he'd want isn't the kind he's liable to get. He damned a little girl's soul to hell and that's what's waiting for him. No amount of upstanding work of any kind is going to erase that kind of a blemish.

It's not so bad as far as work goes though. Sending every bastard demon he can find back into the pit. ]

Certainly hope that's not the only thing that makes you think of me.

[ John is a man of action in all senses of the word and while he has lots of back and forth with many members of both sexes, there's something to be said about a good, steady partner sometimes. He knows Matt doesn't tell him everything, but his body speaks in ways the lawyer doesn't. Telling, if one can read it right. John is well-versed in a lot of things. ]

Not all the time. I ran into a creature once that could trick navigational equipment. Used it to secure his food.