John Constantine (OU) Posthumans App
App for posthumans.
Player Name: Julia
Personal LJ: prettyarbitrary
E-mail: prettyarbitrary@yahoo.com
AIM: Imabluesrat2
Other characters currently in-game: none
Character Name: John Constantine
Canon source: Hellblazer, DC/Vertigo Comics
Personality:
John Constantine is a liar and a magician, and if you ask him, he'll tell you that they're the same thing. He's a man made of contradictions: both petty and selfless, pathetic and magnificent, gentle and monstrous, passionate and apathetic, a stunningly dangerous fool. He is a charming, cynical, manipulative, boozing, smoking, wheeling-and-dealing, foul-mouthed blue-collar magical con-man. In short, everything people believe of him is true. He's also an addict, and therein lies his problem.
Once upon a time in 1980s England, John was an anti-authoritarian punk rocker who thought he was destined to save to the world with free love and magic. As it turned out, all he was destined to do was fuck up himself and everyone around him, but he can't stop because he's addicted to the magical life. As a result, John has seen and done and suffered and lost immensely. He has more dead friends than living ones, and it's mostly his fault (this is not misplaced guilt; he got most of them killed, and occasionally staked them out himself like sacrificial lambs). The ideals and optimism are long gone, but he's still got the rage, a deep distrust of authority, and a pathological aversion to doing what he's told. If he could have one thing to make up for all the grief, it would be to tear down all the Powers That Be--gods, demons, angels, politicians and robber barons--and let people take control of their own lives.
He's pretty sure they'd screw it up immediately, but at least it'd be a fate of their own making.
John holds idealists and self-proclaimed "heroes" (i.e. superheroes, though this also goes for philanthropists, well-meaning scientists and other blokes out to save the world from their armchairs) in contempt, feeling that they're at best naive about the problems and concerns of normal people, and at worst are prostitutes exploiting their powers for fame and fortune. (He makes an exception for people like the Batman, who he figures are just plain psycho). Nevertheless, he has worked with superheroes (and villains) on occasion and even considers a few of them friends. And though he ridicules the "apocalypse of the week" phenomenon, he has averted a few himself--though frankly his way usually leaves something to be desired. Moreoever, despite his personal opinions, John is willing to do business with just about anybody who won't murder him on sight. Yes, he's also a hypocrite, and perhaps even a touch jealous. On his good days, he might even admit it. Still, he flatters himself that he's something of a voice of the people when he hobnobs with the rarified crowd.
The bottom line is that deep down, John wants to do good, but in the process he's prone to doing horrible things that undermine his goals and get people hurt. Some of this is because by the time a situation gets bad enough for Constantine to take a hand, it's often too bad for anything except low-down dirty tactics to work. He has bribed and blackmailed his way through much of the supernatural world back home, and for that matter he's developed quite a reputation among the mortal underworld as well. But he can't escape culpability; it's frequently his own flaws--addiction, selfishness, staggering arrogance, sedimentary layers of guilt, a misguided urge to help--that get in the way. John is definitely a self-saboteur. At his best, he is capable of remarkable selflessness. At his worst, he's nearly sociopathic.
And yet, he's capable of achieving the impossible. When the chips are all spent, when the world has gone black and your last best hope has already failed, that's when you call in John Constantine. He'll get the job done, all right, but the price may be more than you can bear to pay.
History: JUST A LINK SUFFICES!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Constantine
I'm pulling John from right after the Empathy is the Enemy/Red Right Hand storyline, when he has recently failed to save his sister's soul from Hell and went on to inadvertently play a role in the destruction of Glasgow.
Strengths:
Magic: Despite his reputation (largely irrelevant here, of course), John in fact seldom uses magic, and when he does, he favors ritual magic, notably summonings, bindings, wardings, and banishings. He seems to feel that throwing spells around when not necessary is wasteful (another interpretation is that he's actually very poor at magic and gets by mostly on trickery, but I prefer to think he's got some oomph and seldom uses it, for fear of what it'll cost him). It's also worth noting that John's magic has never been shown to even approach the league of someone like Zatanna or Dr. Strange, though his perception and knowledge are equal to anyone's. When John works big magic, it's through cutting deals with Powers.
He has, however, displayed the following spells and abilities:
Other skills and abilities:
"The Synchronicity Freeway": John has impossible, stupid good luck. When he wants them to, things just fall in line for him. There's not a bookie in London'll take a bet from John these days (well, not his London, anyway; haha, brave new world!). On the other hand, this has equally impressive downsides (see "weaknesses"). This seems to be a pseudo-magical ability--perhaps a natural talent?--but nobody's ever managed to turn it off, so maybe God just likes to screw with him.
Demon Blood: John once got a blood transfusion from a demon lord which seems to subtly boost his constitution. It's shown no sign of transcending normal human capabilities, but his health and stamina are impressive for a man of his age and lifestyle. He's in his mid-50s but you'd think he was at least a decade younger. It increases his physical endurance, though not to superhuman levels (then again, considering he's still alive after some of the ass-kickings he's been handed...well, we'll just go with "resilient"), and he heals well and quickly. It may also amplify his less pleasant qualities. He can utilize the demon blood for ritual and mystical purposes. It does show up in medical tests, as an inexplicable component of his blood. He once used a transfusion of his own blood to magically heal someone else, but nobody would thank him for putting demon blood in their veins.
A talent for lying and manipulation of legendary proportion.
An encyclopedic understanding of The Rules. Most notably, the rules of the occult and supernatural, and the "rules" by which people operate. When you know the rules, you can figure out how to manipulate them.
Stage magic skills (Zatanna's father taught him): sleight-of-hand, escapology, hypnosis.
Weaknesses:
When John's not out looking for trouble, it comes to find him. (John/Trouble, OTP!)
Addiction: casual alcoholism. Compared to his other addictions, this one's just a hobby, but he does drink too much.
Addiction: cigarettes. He embraces his two-pack-per-day habit like a lover. He wouldn't even quit after he got lung cancer!
Addiction: magic/the weird. Even more intense than the cigarettes. Magic'll do far worse than kill him one day, but he'll never stop.
Years of accreted guilt over the consequences of his own selfishness and arrogance. (In this timeline, he most recently failed to rescue his sister's soul from Hell after someone murdered her to hurt him.)
Haunted by...the tally may be up to 10 ghosts? A lot of dead friends. Mostly they just follow him around and stare accusingly at him. They often show up as an omen (a harbinger of his own stupidity, if you will).
Can't brawl worth a damn. Forget superheroes, John can't even take down a drunk construction worker without cheating.
Going to Hell when he dies. He's sold his soul repeatedly and always got it back, but somebody said it's the intent that counts? Particularly distressing since the Devil HAAATES HIM.
So, er, when it comes to dying, he vacillates between cowardice and recklessness.
The downside of that astonishing luck: what's lucky for John frequently results in people around him getting hurt. Also? when his luck turns bad, it's apocalyptically bad. Like, "Hey, mods, if you ever need to fuck with a PC for plot purposes or hell, if you just get bored, you hereby have my permission to target John!" bad.
Preferred drop-in point: The mods reserve the right to place you if we have too many in one spot. Manhattan
What are some of your plans for this character in their new environment?
Initially, I'm hoping to get in touch with Loki's mun. They're both inveterate tricksters, and while I don't necessarily see them getting along, whatever happens should be fun.
Longer term, I see him as an information broker since he loves coming off like a mysterious know-it-all. John will try to play down his interdimensional immigrant status to blend in with regular society so he can cultivate contacts, gain information from the locals, make a (not wholly legal) living from gambling, selling information, and odd jobs. He's more comfortable with average joes than with the spandex set anyway. He's not in a tremendous hurry to get back. He doesn't want to stay here forever, but he fucked up big-time in his home universe, and he doesn't mind not having to go back and face that again immediately.
Ah, speaking of which. John is familiar with the concept of multiple universes, even having heard something about some black-haired AU copy of himself who lives in LA (swear to God, it's in a book!). At some point, he might offer his services on figuring out those freaking capsule things, on grounds that maybe there's more than technology involved.
When events happen, he may become something of a behind-the-scenes-manipulator. When he thinks he needs to intervene, this is his preferred method: dropping a word in the right ear, that kind of thing.Sooner or later, he will definitely start poking around and trying to figure out what's really going on here, since his first reactions will be incandescent rage at being chipped and suspicion verging on conviction that dome very ugly things are goin on beneath the surface. I want to explore John's resentment of power in a setting that both equalizes and emphasizes the status of superhumans. In some ways, this is the world John wished for, but in others it reeks of corruption and dystopia--the kind of world he's comfortable in. I like the prospect of playing a character who sort of has a foot in each camp but belongs wholly in neither (a typical position for John, always the outsider). In fact, in terms of comics, I'm not sure there's any other character who could align quite so well with the native mindset--and he will try to blend in, to cultivate information, make a (not wholly legal) living and because he's more comfortable there than with the spandex set anyway. But is it really better, after all, a world without heroes? With only the normal people and the cattle-drivers?
First Person Journal Sample:
[VOICE]
[The man doesn't bother introducing himself, but he has a smoker's voice and a low-class English accent.]
"Seein's how I've just been stripped, molested, chipped like a monkey and tossed into council housing in the span of an hour, I need a bleedin' drink and a fag before I go spare."
[He heaves a hopeless sigh.]
"I don't suppose there's a place 'round here that serves aught but American beer?"
In the interests of full disclosure, I feel I should also preview the more vulgar side...
[John doesn't seem to realize he's activated his phone, and it's doubtful whether he'd care. He's ranting but not shouting, his tone savage and thick with a scrubby English accent that fellow Brits can place as about two parts South London to one part Liverpool.]
"Well, isn't this just fucking pretty? Serial numbers for the 21st century. What miracles technology has wrought us. Pisslickers must be patting themselves on the backs for inventing the ghetto-inna-box! So much easier to pretend they're not living next to a gob-swallowing internment camp when the walls're invisible, innit."
[Audibly choking on his rage, he snarls, and then comes the repeated sound of wood splintering incrementally under abuse; he just slammed a chair off the floor till it broke. A couple of pants and a deep ragged breath later, he's back in control, and muttering to himself in a less ugly accent.]
"Better get out of here before they make me pay for that. Now where the fuck do I get a cigarette 'round here? I'd murder for a Silk Cut."
Third Person Sample:
After clumping up the stairs and locates the faded numerals to his assigned flat, John stops in the doorway to take a look around his new home. It's...well. It's a dosshouse. He's slept in worse. Judging by the rumpled sheets, only one bed isn't taken, so that settles that. Dropping his extra change of clothes on his bed feels satisfying, like claiming the space for his own. Primal urge, mark your territory; he can't help but smile at himself. "We're really going back to basics, aren't we, old son?"
Frankly, he doubts he should leave the clothes there. This place looks like anything not nailed down is likely to grow legs, but what the hell. It's hardly a loss, and if they find their way to somebody they actually fit, then so much the better. "Sod it, whole place's full of superheroes. Maybe they're perfectly safe right where they are." He leaves them on the bed, making a wager with himself whether they're still there when he gets back. Odds: 3-1. He gets to feel smug if he wins.
Back out the building onto the street, where he notices this part of the east side has really gone to the dogs. Looks like it did when he came through here in '83 with Lottie, back before it got gentrified and the decent people got driven out in favor of the plastic ones. Only instead of Puerto Ricans and gays, now it's full of metahumans. In his experience, they're poorer company.
First order of business: smokes. The bloody tossers took his smokes when he fell out of that tube (not to mention his coat, and he'll find a way to make them pay for that; he loved that old thing). No fucking way he'll find Silk Cuts in this town. It'll have to be American brands. For a horrible second, the thought flits through his head that maybe people in this dimension don't smoke--the tight-arsed little buggers could've gotten those anti-tobacco laws locked down--but he suppresses that thought viciously. Best to deal with that if it comes to it, and not go begging trouble. In the meantime, while he walks he keeps an eye out for decent bars. He could use a drink, sure, but Americans don't know what beer actually is, and liquor's a bit pricey when he's only got a few bills to his name. More to the point, useful people hang out in bars--people who talk, and who know things. And before the day is out, John damn well means to have some answers.
It's already clear that "immigrants" don't exactly get the red carpet treatment 'round here. If he wants to blend in, he'll need better clothes, but that's simple. This is frigging Manhatten. Alternate universe or not, only so much can change. He's been through enough times to know how to dumpster dive for a decent set of rags.
And when he's done with that, he needs to find a bookie. In a world that's never heard of any bloke by the name of John Constantine. The predator's grin slides across his face. Maybe this'll be some fun after all.
Player Name: Julia
Personal LJ: prettyarbitrary
E-mail: prettyarbitrary@yahoo.com
AIM: Imabluesrat2
Other characters currently in-game: none
Character Name: John Constantine
Canon source: Hellblazer, DC/Vertigo Comics
Personality:
John Constantine is a liar and a magician, and if you ask him, he'll tell you that they're the same thing. He's a man made of contradictions: both petty and selfless, pathetic and magnificent, gentle and monstrous, passionate and apathetic, a stunningly dangerous fool. He is a charming, cynical, manipulative, boozing, smoking, wheeling-and-dealing, foul-mouthed blue-collar magical con-man. In short, everything people believe of him is true. He's also an addict, and therein lies his problem.
Once upon a time in 1980s England, John was an anti-authoritarian punk rocker who thought he was destined to save to the world with free love and magic. As it turned out, all he was destined to do was fuck up himself and everyone around him, but he can't stop because he's addicted to the magical life. As a result, John has seen and done and suffered and lost immensely. He has more dead friends than living ones, and it's mostly his fault (this is not misplaced guilt; he got most of them killed, and occasionally staked them out himself like sacrificial lambs). The ideals and optimism are long gone, but he's still got the rage, a deep distrust of authority, and a pathological aversion to doing what he's told. If he could have one thing to make up for all the grief, it would be to tear down all the Powers That Be--gods, demons, angels, politicians and robber barons--and let people take control of their own lives.
He's pretty sure they'd screw it up immediately, but at least it'd be a fate of their own making.
John holds idealists and self-proclaimed "heroes" (i.e. superheroes, though this also goes for philanthropists, well-meaning scientists and other blokes out to save the world from their armchairs) in contempt, feeling that they're at best naive about the problems and concerns of normal people, and at worst are prostitutes exploiting their powers for fame and fortune. (He makes an exception for people like the Batman, who he figures are just plain psycho). Nevertheless, he has worked with superheroes (and villains) on occasion and even considers a few of them friends. And though he ridicules the "apocalypse of the week" phenomenon, he has averted a few himself--though frankly his way usually leaves something to be desired. Moreoever, despite his personal opinions, John is willing to do business with just about anybody who won't murder him on sight. Yes, he's also a hypocrite, and perhaps even a touch jealous. On his good days, he might even admit it. Still, he flatters himself that he's something of a voice of the people when he hobnobs with the rarified crowd.
The bottom line is that deep down, John wants to do good, but in the process he's prone to doing horrible things that undermine his goals and get people hurt. Some of this is because by the time a situation gets bad enough for Constantine to take a hand, it's often too bad for anything except low-down dirty tactics to work. He has bribed and blackmailed his way through much of the supernatural world back home, and for that matter he's developed quite a reputation among the mortal underworld as well. But he can't escape culpability; it's frequently his own flaws--addiction, selfishness, staggering arrogance, sedimentary layers of guilt, a misguided urge to help--that get in the way. John is definitely a self-saboteur. At his best, he is capable of remarkable selflessness. At his worst, he's nearly sociopathic.
And yet, he's capable of achieving the impossible. When the chips are all spent, when the world has gone black and your last best hope has already failed, that's when you call in John Constantine. He'll get the job done, all right, but the price may be more than you can bear to pay.
History: JUST A LINK SUFFICES!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Constantine
I'm pulling John from right after the Empathy is the Enemy/Red Right Hand storyline, when he has recently failed to save his sister's soul from Hell and went on to inadvertently play a role in the destruction of Glasgow.
Strengths:
Magic: Despite his reputation (largely irrelevant here, of course), John in fact seldom uses magic, and when he does, he favors ritual magic, notably summonings, bindings, wardings, and banishings. He seems to feel that throwing spells around when not necessary is wasteful (another interpretation is that he's actually very poor at magic and gets by mostly on trickery, but I prefer to think he's got some oomph and seldom uses it, for fear of what it'll cost him). It's also worth noting that John's magic has never been shown to even approach the league of someone like Zatanna or Dr. Strange, though his perception and knowledge are equal to anyone's. When John works big magic, it's through cutting deals with Powers.
He has, however, displayed the following spells and abilities:
- Mind control (or perhaps just a strong form of hypnosis; I doubt this could stand up to a strong will or a state of excitement)
- Psychometry
- "Reading" people--using both magic and cold reading, a favorite trick of his to intimidate and impress is to reference some traumatic early memory that he seemingly couldn't possibly have knowledge of. Sometimes it really is magic, sometimes it's a result of a few free rounds at the bar.
- Divination
- Mental Wards--he mentions in the later part of the series that he always keeps his wards up these days.
- Sympathetic Magic--voodoo dolls, spells cast on a lock of someone's hair, that sort of thing.
- Illusion--another of his specialities, John's expert in making people see what he wants them to.
- Curses/Hexes
- Necromancy--his most common application is to raise ghosts or zombies so they can find peace by terrorizing their killers.
- Medium/Spirit Channeling
Other skills and abilities:
"The Synchronicity Freeway": John has impossible, stupid good luck. When he wants them to, things just fall in line for him. There's not a bookie in London'll take a bet from John these days (well, not his London, anyway; haha, brave new world!). On the other hand, this has equally impressive downsides (see "weaknesses"). This seems to be a pseudo-magical ability--perhaps a natural talent?--but nobody's ever managed to turn it off, so maybe God just likes to screw with him.
Demon Blood: John once got a blood transfusion from a demon lord which seems to subtly boost his constitution. It's shown no sign of transcending normal human capabilities, but his health and stamina are impressive for a man of his age and lifestyle. He's in his mid-50s but you'd think he was at least a decade younger. It increases his physical endurance, though not to superhuman levels (then again, considering he's still alive after some of the ass-kickings he's been handed...well, we'll just go with "resilient"), and he heals well and quickly. It may also amplify his less pleasant qualities. He can utilize the demon blood for ritual and mystical purposes. It does show up in medical tests, as an inexplicable component of his blood. He once used a transfusion of his own blood to magically heal someone else, but nobody would thank him for putting demon blood in their veins.
A talent for lying and manipulation of legendary proportion.
An encyclopedic understanding of The Rules. Most notably, the rules of the occult and supernatural, and the "rules" by which people operate. When you know the rules, you can figure out how to manipulate them.
Stage magic skills (Zatanna's father taught him): sleight-of-hand, escapology, hypnosis.
Weaknesses:
When John's not out looking for trouble, it comes to find him. (John/Trouble, OTP!)
Addiction: casual alcoholism. Compared to his other addictions, this one's just a hobby, but he does drink too much.
Addiction: cigarettes. He embraces his two-pack-per-day habit like a lover. He wouldn't even quit after he got lung cancer!
Addiction: magic/the weird. Even more intense than the cigarettes. Magic'll do far worse than kill him one day, but he'll never stop.
Years of accreted guilt over the consequences of his own selfishness and arrogance. (In this timeline, he most recently failed to rescue his sister's soul from Hell after someone murdered her to hurt him.)
Haunted by...the tally may be up to 10 ghosts? A lot of dead friends. Mostly they just follow him around and stare accusingly at him. They often show up as an omen (a harbinger of his own stupidity, if you will).
Can't brawl worth a damn. Forget superheroes, John can't even take down a drunk construction worker without cheating.
Going to Hell when he dies. He's sold his soul repeatedly and always got it back, but somebody said it's the intent that counts? Particularly distressing since the Devil HAAATES HIM.
So, er, when it comes to dying, he vacillates between cowardice and recklessness.
The downside of that astonishing luck: what's lucky for John frequently results in people around him getting hurt. Also? when his luck turns bad, it's apocalyptically bad. Like, "Hey, mods, if you ever need to fuck with a PC for plot purposes or hell, if you just get bored, you hereby have my permission to target John!" bad.
Preferred drop-in point: The mods reserve the right to place you if we have too many in one spot. Manhattan
What are some of your plans for this character in their new environment?
Initially, I'm hoping to get in touch with Loki's mun. They're both inveterate tricksters, and while I don't necessarily see them getting along, whatever happens should be fun.
Longer term, I see him as an information broker since he loves coming off like a mysterious know-it-all. John will try to play down his interdimensional immigrant status to blend in with regular society so he can cultivate contacts, gain information from the locals, make a (not wholly legal) living from gambling, selling information, and odd jobs. He's more comfortable with average joes than with the spandex set anyway. He's not in a tremendous hurry to get back. He doesn't want to stay here forever, but he fucked up big-time in his home universe, and he doesn't mind not having to go back and face that again immediately.
Ah, speaking of which. John is familiar with the concept of multiple universes, even having heard something about some black-haired AU copy of himself who lives in LA (swear to God, it's in a book!). At some point, he might offer his services on figuring out those freaking capsule things, on grounds that maybe there's more than technology involved.
When events happen, he may become something of a behind-the-scenes-manipulator. When he thinks he needs to intervene, this is his preferred method: dropping a word in the right ear, that kind of thing.Sooner or later, he will definitely start poking around and trying to figure out what's really going on here, since his first reactions will be incandescent rage at being chipped and suspicion verging on conviction that dome very ugly things are goin on beneath the surface. I want to explore John's resentment of power in a setting that both equalizes and emphasizes the status of superhumans. In some ways, this is the world John wished for, but in others it reeks of corruption and dystopia--the kind of world he's comfortable in. I like the prospect of playing a character who sort of has a foot in each camp but belongs wholly in neither (a typical position for John, always the outsider). In fact, in terms of comics, I'm not sure there's any other character who could align quite so well with the native mindset--and he will try to blend in, to cultivate information, make a (not wholly legal) living and because he's more comfortable there than with the spandex set anyway. But is it really better, after all, a world without heroes? With only the normal people and the cattle-drivers?
First Person Journal Sample:
[VOICE]
[The man doesn't bother introducing himself, but he has a smoker's voice and a low-class English accent.]
"Seein's how I've just been stripped, molested, chipped like a monkey and tossed into council housing in the span of an hour, I need a bleedin' drink and a fag before I go spare."
[He heaves a hopeless sigh.]
"I don't suppose there's a place 'round here that serves aught but American beer?"
In the interests of full disclosure, I feel I should also preview the more vulgar side...
[John doesn't seem to realize he's activated his phone, and it's doubtful whether he'd care. He's ranting but not shouting, his tone savage and thick with a scrubby English accent that fellow Brits can place as about two parts South London to one part Liverpool.]
"Well, isn't this just fucking pretty? Serial numbers for the 21st century. What miracles technology has wrought us. Pisslickers must be patting themselves on the backs for inventing the ghetto-inna-box! So much easier to pretend they're not living next to a gob-swallowing internment camp when the walls're invisible, innit."
[Audibly choking on his rage, he snarls, and then comes the repeated sound of wood splintering incrementally under abuse; he just slammed a chair off the floor till it broke. A couple of pants and a deep ragged breath later, he's back in control, and muttering to himself in a less ugly accent.]
"Better get out of here before they make me pay for that. Now where the fuck do I get a cigarette 'round here? I'd murder for a Silk Cut."
Third Person Sample:
After clumping up the stairs and locates the faded numerals to his assigned flat, John stops in the doorway to take a look around his new home. It's...well. It's a dosshouse. He's slept in worse. Judging by the rumpled sheets, only one bed isn't taken, so that settles that. Dropping his extra change of clothes on his bed feels satisfying, like claiming the space for his own. Primal urge, mark your territory; he can't help but smile at himself. "We're really going back to basics, aren't we, old son?"
Frankly, he doubts he should leave the clothes there. This place looks like anything not nailed down is likely to grow legs, but what the hell. It's hardly a loss, and if they find their way to somebody they actually fit, then so much the better. "Sod it, whole place's full of superheroes. Maybe they're perfectly safe right where they are." He leaves them on the bed, making a wager with himself whether they're still there when he gets back. Odds: 3-1. He gets to feel smug if he wins.
Back out the building onto the street, where he notices this part of the east side has really gone to the dogs. Looks like it did when he came through here in '83 with Lottie, back before it got gentrified and the decent people got driven out in favor of the plastic ones. Only instead of Puerto Ricans and gays, now it's full of metahumans. In his experience, they're poorer company.
First order of business: smokes. The bloody tossers took his smokes when he fell out of that tube (not to mention his coat, and he'll find a way to make them pay for that; he loved that old thing). No fucking way he'll find Silk Cuts in this town. It'll have to be American brands. For a horrible second, the thought flits through his head that maybe people in this dimension don't smoke--the tight-arsed little buggers could've gotten those anti-tobacco laws locked down--but he suppresses that thought viciously. Best to deal with that if it comes to it, and not go begging trouble. In the meantime, while he walks he keeps an eye out for decent bars. He could use a drink, sure, but Americans don't know what beer actually is, and liquor's a bit pricey when he's only got a few bills to his name. More to the point, useful people hang out in bars--people who talk, and who know things. And before the day is out, John damn well means to have some answers.
It's already clear that "immigrants" don't exactly get the red carpet treatment 'round here. If he wants to blend in, he'll need better clothes, but that's simple. This is frigging Manhatten. Alternate universe or not, only so much can change. He's been through enough times to know how to dumpster dive for a decent set of rags.
And when he's done with that, he needs to find a bookie. In a world that's never heard of any bloke by the name of John Constantine. The predator's grin slides across his face. Maybe this'll be some fun after all.