Hell and Heaven as locations, where souls went after death, was fairly new. For millions of years, there had been no such thing as an afterlife. Animals were in no need of it. They lived in the now. They had no knowledge of the future and they only cared about the past, in what their experiences taught them when it came to staying alive. That was, what life had been for millions of years. Survive and reproduce. Billions of creatures had never made it past infancy. With such a high death toll, nobody had a need for Hell or Heaven. Just as the animals never had a need for God.
They had seen the primortal forces once every while. But unlike humans, they had never stopped in reverance and awe. Sure, they had sometimes ducked and skittered away in fright, but they had not really put them on a pedestral. They had just let them do what they did and reacted as their instincts dictated them to do. An allosaurus does not thank God in Heaven when it makes a successful kill. It is too busy, eating the biggest chunks of meat, before somebody else comes by and challenges it for the carcass.
Hell had come to be after Nick had been cast down from Heaven. Having been buried six feet underground, he proceeded to change the world to fit his liking. It became a horrific blend of all the past aons of Earth. Of the times, where he understood the world. And he enjoyed torturing humans, simply by forcing them to exist in a world not made for them. Causing them to drop like flies or become mad and deranged as time went on. The idea that the devil tailored his punishment towards your sins only came to him much later, when human belief had gotten more complicated.
But even then, he was not really that often in Hell. Only ever around the new and full moon, which made him spent roughly a week in Hell per month. However because the time in Hell worked differently then the world above, this one week could easily be a decade. It all depended on how much Nick had to discipline and check on. Given how Hell ran mostly without him being present, it could always happen that somebody did not follow the rules or that there was a conflict of interests. Normally Nick had to then decide what was to be done. He also had to decide what to do with the newly arrived death. Especially the ones, Beelzebub had not yet put into a specific location.
“Pint of cider, please”, Nick said and gave Constantine a questioning look, “As well as an apple pie.” Once the bartender had both their drinking orders, he began to fill their glasses. For the apple cider, he held the glass underneath a tap and flooded it with the golden liquid. Placing the two glasses with their alcoholic beverages down, he stated the price as well as the fact that the apple pie would be delivered to their table.
Nick and Constantine counted the bills onto the desk, until they both had payed for the drinks and food with their shared money. The devil gave a polite nod, before he took the glasses and carried them through the room. Stepping by the table near the billiard desk, he put the glasses down and took a seat. Nick rose his glass in a toast. “Cheers, mate.”
Nick placed the glass against his lips and took a sip. The apple cider was strong. Sour in its flavour, it held barely any sweetness of the apples. The alcohol gave it a burning quality as it ran down his throat. Nick smacked his lips against each other and smiled contently. He said: “I noticed you eyed the billiard table since we came in. What do you say? Fancy a little game of billiard? It could be fun. Or is it you are trying to get money out of it, hmm? How about this? If you want to get money out of this, I’ll arrange a situation, where you can really scam pockets. You’re friends with the devil. Might as well get a bit of his luck.”
Heaven and Hell were kind of a funny conversation. It was what led them here though. They hadn’t been having the best of luck when it came to just having a chat. Not that he was really going to say much. He understood the whole daddy issues thing didn’t he? Getting pissed about it didn’t have the same result. But he could get it. There wasn’t the whole Heaven and Hell aspect to things either. Which he was going to say he probably wouldn’t mind being able to throw at the bastard. When he was still alive. He knew where he was now. So John couldn’t be too upset. He might be on the way there but at least he knew his dad was there first.
There wasn’t as much difference between them that people liked to say. Least not in his experience. At least one side was a little more up front about it. John knew well enough how the whole Heaven and Hell thing worked. Didn’t always feel like the way people made it sound.
He didn’t really see how one was any better than the other. Both of the ones running it weren’t exactly the nicest bloke when you pissed them off. Which probably explained John’s whole fucking life. Didn’t seem that true with Nick but it was pretty damn clear with the big man. Though John was sure most of his problems came from the rest of Hell. He knew he pissed them off so much. He was basically on most of their shit lists. Had been for a long time. It was starting to become a game for him really.
He walked towards the bar of course he had looked towards the table. Figured he could have a good time while they were going to be here. John had been expecting the apple order. Cider and pie? Alright wasn’t like he wouldn’t enjoy the drink. Something to eat wouldn’t be too bad either. He just couldn’t say that he was expecting it.
Grinning, seeing that it seemed that this place was doing pretty good for Nick’s mood. Least he didn’t think they were going to have to worry about a flood here? Which was of course going to be a good start to the date getting back on track. So yeah this seemed like a better setting then.
Nodding at the cheers before clicking his glass against Nick’s before looking back at the mentioned pool table. He had been eyeing the game. First to see what kind of layers were around. Anyone that would be considered good? Well ones that just didn’t think they were good. He knew that Nick had caught that. Seemed like he was interested in having a bit of fun with the game.
Though that didn’t mean that John wasn’t interested in seeing Nick play. He was sure there had to be something there right? What were the chances of John being able to beat him. He was pretty sure they would both use a little something extra in a game.
Taking a drink out of his glass before he answered. “I wouldn’t mind seein’ wha’ kinda shite you’d manage to do when money’s on the table.” He was sure seeing that they were all going to have a good time in that game. At least John gets the chance to get a bit of fun out of this.
“Though don’t think I wouldn’t want to take you up on a game.” Because again he was bound to find that to be pretty fun. If for no other reason if they weren’t playing for a bit of cash there wouldn’t be anything to lose. Unless they decided to add a bet. Knowing how either one of them were? John didn’t think for a second they couldn’t find something.
Still he wants to see what Nick would come up with playing a game like that against him. Just for a bit of fun he was sure they would both find a reason to cheat. Just to see which could do it better. John was thinking if he really wanted to he might be able to top his shit. He was after all the devil. The fact that John was sure he’d try could be kind of funny.
