madimpossibledreamer

Like, okay, can we talk for a minute about Constantine and Yashiki? They’re kind of opposites in terms of personality (though Yashiki’s inner voice—Kujou?—can snark with the best of them) but so much about their background is really really similar (it’s the outfit that got me thinking about this, so much later because they wear it so differently).
*the outfit. Loose tie, white shirt, tan trenchcoat, messy hair, the stubble. Yashiki has glasses & dark hair, but looks-wise they’re pretty similar.
*she’s not really mentioned in the NBC series, but in the comics John’s sister was pretty much one of the only things keeping him sane, protected, and out of trouble growing up. Same with Saya & Masaharu.
*Otherwise, it being a really terrible/abusive environment. Yeah, probably.
*Cursed. The Laughing Magician & the Kujou family have the same ‘Lone Wolf’ kind of curse—they’ll probably make it through just fine, but anyone that gets in contact with them for more than five minutes is in serious danger. Unlike Lone Wolf, there’s a definite danger where if they mess up they seriously might die.
*Loner. Because of this both of them try often, even in situations where it doesn’t make sense, to try to do it on their own. Which often ends up with themselves wounded & the ones that love them kind of annoyed. Even though how they go about this and how much they show other people they care is very different.
*Self-loathing. They cover it up differently. Yashiki is endlessly polite, inoffensive, and humble. Constantine is much more ‘in your face’ (like Mashita), keeping people at arm’s length by being rude, smoking in their faces, getting punched in the face. Both of them simultaneously have good survival instincts and no sense of self-preservation, trying to outrun their past and regrets while being chained to them.
*Magpie of magic. Yashiki almost literally is. They’ve both got high spiritual senses, but Yashiki’s directly involves having the sense of what junk will be useful. As befits a street magician Constantine can also do magic from random stuff he’s picked off the street, but in his case it tends to be a little more metaphorical, referring to his magic rather than his trinkets.
*Belief in humanity. Despite everything that they’ve seen and experienced, both have this unshakeable belief in humanity as a whole, if not individuals. (And though Yashiki tends to give everyone a little more benefit of the doubt, he’s still seen absolutely horrible people enough to at least be slightly careful about it—but it doesn’t break his faith, either.)

         Buffy sits up with a sudden panic, because as enlightening as that conversation had been, she suddenly put something together. Giles is beginning to stir next to her. “Xander, what did you mean by me talking to the Primal you?”
         When she glances over, though, he just looks a little confused, thinking back through what he remembers to try to extract meaning from that. “Did I say that?”
         “But you’re the one that let me actually talk to Sineya, right?” she clarifies, and he nods and doesn’t ask her who Sineya is, because he’d learned her name somehow, and unfortunately, her bringing it up in the first place might have been the exact wrong thing to do, because he looks really thoughtful.
         Fortunately, Willow speaks up. It’s not meant as a distraction, because she has no idea what’s going on here, but it works well enough. “What’s with the cheese?” She even sounds a little scandalized.
         Hopefully, if they’re lucky, he won’t think about it too much and get too close to things he shouldn’t. (They’re not lucky, ever, and Xander’s always overthinking everything, but at least she has hope.)

It’s really ironic that I came across the confession from an anti that if respawning existed they’d absolutely brutalize and murder a person when I’m in between posting my chapters in The Secret Histories about that. Log Horizon actually has a really good arc on the subject, showing that while killing NPCs who don’t respawn is worse, killing (especially repeatedly) a PC who will is also a crime. If someone murders Captain Jack Harkness or Chas Chandler (from the TV show, not movie), does that mean it wasn’t a murder? Nope, still murder, just didn’t end with the death. If anything, it’s more akin to “non-con” which they absolutely hate: you’re giving someone trauma, fear, pain, presumably non-consensually (and if it is consensual, guess what, that’s closer to BDSM, which I’ve heard they also hate) that they’re going to be dealing with for the rest of their lives. Desmond correctly identifies this as f’d up.

intro actually was a dream. And then there were two more, only I forgot the middle one. Think it’s writing the Laughing Magician that does it, because I’ve written other incarnations of Constantine who aren’t riding the Synchronicity Wave and this didn’t happen.
I’m really happy with the work my subconscious put in (that, or it’s the Hellblazer, in which case, a cautious thanks?)
The second sentence is a reference to one of the real life (?!) encounters one of the Hellblazer writers, Alan Moore, had with Constantine: "I'll tell you the ultimate secret of magic. Any cunt could do it."
Canopic jars hold some of the organs of the deceased and are guarded by the four sons of Horus: Hapy (lungs), Imsety (liver), Duamutef (stomach), and Qebehsenuef (intestines). The heart was thought to hold the ba, the spirit of the deceased, and was left intact in the mummy. The brain was thought to be entirely unimportant and was thus extracted from the mummy without much care (watch the scene from the Mummy if you’re not too squeamish; it’s really well done). Thus, a “heart” canopic jar (and one with anything other than the depicted head of the son of Horus) is inauthentic, but the ‘it doesn’t fit; this is a trap’ is probably just as much part of the message. What is depicted, though, is the ba, which looks like a human-headed bird.
The first one could 100% be a Hellblazer story, but while it’s got some similarities to one of the American tour ones, I don’t think it’s a direct reference, which is fascinating.
Also contains a reference to the NBC show, which did him dirty (it needed to go on longer & have more of the gritty reality of him). I loved it, but they set it up to fail. Matt Ryan is great, though.

( I got my friends and we ain't leaving )

( paths not taken )

        “Why are you still like this?” Buffy asks, and he smiles, leaning back casually.
        “I decided the easiest way to deal with my own problems was to summon bigger and badder mental demons that would gobble them all up.”
        “Xander,” Giles’ voice scolds from the direction of his office.  “There’s also the matter that he’s already broken at least one prophecy, a characteristic of the Laughing Magician.  One of the most basic rules of magic is ‘like calls to like’.”