Storm [Open]

[John Constantine]

It had been a slow few months for Mr Constantine. His rent from June didn't get paid until the 5th of July, and it looked like it would be the same this week. His only job had been the previous week when he went down to Coast City to investigate a country singer's possibly haunted house.

It hadn't been.

The client hadn't been pleased with that answer, and was even more disgruntled when John suggested he lay off the drink and get some good exercise and sleep, and see if that didn't help things better than an exorcism. He'd gotten travel expenses plus an hour's pay and gone away thinking he had done the honest, righteous and impractical thing. He read later that the singer had hired a shyster psychic to come in and perform a ceremony with a lot of incense and black lights. Some people.

All he could do was wait for the next case to come in. His office stank of cigarette smoke, even with all the windows open. He took another drag of his cigarette, having nothing better to do.

[Alice Challen]

Alice eagerly knocked on the door but was too excited to wait for a proper invitation. She yanked open the door and delightfully twirled inside. "Are you by chance John Constantine?" she asked, still spinning. "If so I have a job for you if you're willing," she added hyperly continuing to twirl in a circle. Such childish behavior made her appear even younger than she looked. In actuality she was 21 years old. She looked much younger, perhaps 17. And when she conducted her affairs in such a light and carefree manner she could be mistaken for someone younger still.

[John Constantine]

John took one look at the potential customer, and already he had judged her. This person was a child. She seemed too young to even know what an occultist was, let alone know where to find one. Still, she had a job for him, and he was definitely willing. "That's right." he said, putting out the cigarette. Didn't want her picking up his bad habits, after all. "I hope this job's a good one."

[Alice Challen]

Alice continued to spin in a circle. "Well I can't say for certain it's a good job. I came to you because weird things are happening at my new home and I honestly don't know what's going on." She finally stopped twirling and looked back at the man. "I must admit that I know very little about what is natural behavior for houses but these things seem odd."

She stretched out her hands. "Okay, first of all, you should know my new home is in Gotham city. I will of course pay for travel expenses regardless of your findings." She stared directly at Mr. Constantine. "I chose you because you don't seem to be a scam artist. I heard that if you don't think a place is haunted you logically explain what causes the disturbances."

"Again, I can't say for sure that what's going on can't be rationally explained. I just don't know. But...strange occurrences."

She took a deep breath. "Okay so I rented this house because it was really cheap. I mean really, really cheap. And it's a lovely place with a nice yard and stuff."

"Anyway...Where to begin...On its own the stuff wasn't too strange. Just odd. But added up.." She shook her head. "I have no knowledge of ghosts or demons or the like. Just...weird. But anyway..I had a pet rabbit. She was always really timid and well behaved. I've almost never known her to be jittery. She wouldn't stop running around and making a racket as soon as I moved in. She never tried to escape her cage before either. But the morning after I moved in I found her dead outside." She stared at her black shoes, fighting tears. She had been very close to Elanor.

"But that wasn't too odd. I ignored it. Then...There was this pretty doll that had been left in the house. I thought about buying her new dresses and stuff. But her angle kept moving. I have a vivid imagination. I thought I was just imagining it. But one day she switched rooms and sometimes her facial expression would change. But I didn't pay too much attention to it. So what if a doll was behaving weirdly? It wasn't bothering anyone."

"And the pigeons...I mean..It wasn't that weird. Just..every few days I'd find a dead pigeon right outside the house. But I mean..Normal enough. Still they did add up."

"Sometimes I'd wake up and smell something dreadful, like rotting flesh or something. I figured it was just something that died outside but then...I'd wake up and feel like something was watching me. Several times I swore that something was standing right behind my door. But I'd turn on the light and open the door nothing would be there."

"Sometimes I'd feel like something was tugging my legs when I tried to sleep but that shouldn't be possible. I lived alone. And then once...I really swore I saw something behind the door. And I thought I heard it whisper it would kill me. But you know...Imagination.."

"And the clocks...It was really weird. Every night at 3:13 the clocks would just stop working. I rewound them one million times but.." She shrugged. "They'd be dead again the next day."

"I had some pictures of my parents hung up. They kept being knocked down. Every night at 3:13. I eventually stopped putting them back up."

"I'd been toying with the idea of hiring a supernatural investigator for a bit. I mean...not seriously...Nothing was too suspicious. But I poked around a bit, found your name. And then last night...There's a piano in the basement. I heard it playing. I went downstairs to investigate. As soon as I was inside the door slammed shut. It was locked. I couldn't open it. I went down to see if anyone was there and I didn't see anyone. No one but the doll. The doll had moved again. She was sitting at the piano. Then the light bulb blew out and it was completely dark. Someone whispered come play with me. And I was really scared so I ran back up the steps and fumbled with the door again. I eventually managed to knock it down and run out." She had to be decently strong to effectively wield her estoc. And the adrenaline had been rushing.

"I swear to you...I knocked the door down. But in the morning the door was back. No dent. No damage. Nothing. It was like I had never touched it. Oh yes and speaking of doors...They seem to move on their own. Open when I don't touch them."

She began spinning again. "I hope you don't think I'm mad. You're a supernatural investigator so I hope you'll be open minded. I don't claim for certain that the house is haunted or anything. I don't know but I was really scared yesterday so I figured it was wroth looking into."

[John Constantine]

"I do tend to keep an open mind, miss, as you can see." John pointed to the endless bookshelves of books on occult practices, and the symbols he had carved himself around the doorway. He considered her descriptions in his mind and scrawled some words on a piece of paper.

"That doesn't sound like most conventional hauntings." he said aloud, rising from his desk and consulting a book titled "Ghost in the Home: A Guide to Modern Haunts". He rifled through the pages, finally finding what he was looking for.

"Well, miss, if you feel this is of a sensitive nature, I'll take a look around your house and see if I can find anything unusual about it." he replaced the book and sat down again. "I should warn you, my rates aren't cheap."

[Alice Challen]

Well he at least pretended to keep an open mind. Alice liked to consider herself open minded. She didn't claim to have a firm opinion one way or the other when it came to ghosts or demons and the like. She had no knowledge of them, claimed no prior experience; but, if something as mysterious and wondrous as Wonderland could exist who was she to say what else could be real?

She stopped spinning only to skip around the office. "Oh I know you aren't cheap. I wouldn't have bothered to travel here without looking up your rates." True his rates were rather expensive and due to her situation she tried to be as frugal as possible; but, she was the sole heir of her parents' wealth. She could sustain herself for many more years yet, especially considering her miserly behavior. The only thing she really splurged on were dressed and in this case an investigation.

"I don't know if it's of a sensitive nature or not," she admitted. "That's why I came to you. If you think it isn't worth your time I'll just go home. I mean after all I haven't technically been harmed. Things are weird but..." She shrugged. "As you can see I'm perfectly fine."

She stopped skipping long enough to make eye contact. "I only have one condition. You let me watch everything you do. I'm really curious about ghosts and things! I'd like to learn from the experience!"

[John Constantine]

"My services are $50 per hour plus travel and accommodation expenses, where they apply." John had a feeling she already knew that, but it was worth going over it again. "I'll write up an itemized list of what I do for you, so you have a good idea about what I'm working on. A retainer is customary in this line of work. I can't guarantee that I'll work on this case alone. I need to treat my other customers" Hah. What other customers? "with respect and courtesy, so I can't put any of them before another." he rattled off protocol like a machine.

She wanted to watch him work. Great, that was just what he needed. Another Chaz Kramer. Chaz was useful, though. "Fine." he consented. "But you stay back and let me handle anything. Clear?"

[Alice Challen]

"Good. The rates haven't changed," she said happily. She had been a bit nervous that he would increase them due to inflation or something. You couldn't completely rely on websites. She bobbed he head up and down. "Right. A retainer." She dug into her blue backpack and extracted her wallet. She placed 10 twenty dollar bills on the table in front of him.

"Will $200 cover it?" she asked sweetly. She resumed spinning. "Yes, I promise to stay back." She stopped twirling for a moment. "What if you get hurt, though? Will it be my fault? What am I supposed to do then?" she asked concerned.

[John Constantine]

Ka-ching. That would definitely cover the rest of last month's rent, and a good portion of this month's. "That'll do it." he said, picking up the bills and examining them under the dim lamp light.

"It'll probably be my own fault for not paying attention." he leaned back in his seat, desperate for a cigarette. "If that happens, call an ambulance or something. They're quite familiar with me."

[Alice Challen]

That'll do? She wondered if she hadn't given him enough. She had no idea how many hours this would take so she was uncertain of what was a proper retainer. She knew for legal fees the retainer was usually around there but maybe it was different for investigators. But he said that would do and she was trying to be frugal. Still..She didn't want to short change the investigator.

"If it's not enough I can give you more," she said nervously. She wasn't really great at relating to others but she didn't want to come off as rude if she could help it.

"I'll be sure to call an ambulance right away," she said without hesitation. She really hoped it wouldn't come to that. She was trying to keep a low profile. Of course they wouldn't need her name just Mr. Constantine's. At least she hoped that was how it would work.

"And of course I understand that you have other clients. You can deal with my case last. As you know I haven't been physically injured so it's not very serious at the moment." She had been scared witless last night but in the end she had made it out okay. There were probably others who needed his help far worse than she.

[John Constantine]

"This is fine for now." John stuck the notes in his wallet. "Next chance I get, I'll get on my way to Gotham and take a look around the house." he stood up and extended his hand. "Thanks for doing business with me."

[Alice Challen]

She sighed in relief. Good. Her retainer hadn't been rude after all. She shook his hand. "Thank you very much!" she said gratefully. She dug through her wallet and pulled out the card she had printed off for him. "This has my address and phone number. Please contact me before traveling to Gotham. I need to make sure I'm home to let you in," she said sweetly.

[John Constantine]

"I'll be sure to do that." John nodded, passing her a sheet of paper, upon which was written a list. "You'll need this. It's the itemized list I told you about." Then he got up and showed her to the door. "It's been a pleasure, miss."

[Alice Challen]

Alice excited grabbed the list and began to look it over. "Thank you very much!" she chirped before skipping out of the room.

[John Constantine]

John saw her out, and closed the door behind her. He sat behind his desks, looking somewhat surly. Occultists were masters of brooding. He lit another cigarette, going over the details of the case in his head. He picked up the phone and ordered a cab. He needed to be in Gotham as soon as he could, within reason.

(Shall we skip to Gotham?)