Just a little Johanna Constantine meeting Hob in the New Inn after she comes looking for Morpheus. I’m writing a much longer story where Hob and Morpheus help each other through their traumas, and as much as this would be fun to include, it doesn’t quite fit with the overarching plot of the main story.
New Inn
Johanna looked around the pub. It was certainly not as upscale as she thought Morpheus would want to frequent, but it had its charm, she had to admit. She really needed Morpheus’s help and this was her last ditch effort to find him.
She also knew that calling him Morpheus was only going to get her blank stares. But she didn’t know what to call him.
“Oi!” she called out in the middle of the inn and all the patrons looked up at her in annoyance. “I’m looking for someone. I heard he comes here often. He’s a tall bloke, messy black hair, moody as fuck. Some times will have a raven with him.”
The patrons went back to their conversations, ignoring her completely.
“Hey!” she called again, but this time no one looked up. “All black clothes, pale as death. Come on, guys.”
Johanna looked at the bartender but he turned away to clean glasses. “What the hell?”
She felt a tap on her shoulder and voice saying, “They won’t tell you anything.”
She whirled around to come face to face with a handsome man with not quite shoulder length dark hair and piercing brown eyes who was smiling as if he knew something she didn’t and that pissed her off.
“Why’s that then?” she asked, but his eyes went wide when he saw her.
“Lady Johanna?” he asked breathless.
Johanna frowned and tilted her head. “I’m named after her. How did you know?”
The man jerked his head to the side. “Let’s take this outside where there are less prying eyes and wandering ears?”
Johanna looked around. “Well, as you say I’m not going to so much as drop of blood from this lot. Let’s go.”
The man’s shoulders sagged in relief when she agreed to go with him and she eyed him warily.
The man tugged on his ear nervously. “Before we continue, I have to know how much you know about the um...person you’re looking for?”
“How much do you know?” Johanna countered.
“Let’s do it this way. We both say his name together and then we can go from there.” he said with a grimace.
“Fair enough.”
“Lord Morpheus.”
“Morpheus.”
Hob blinked. “Lord Morpheus? So not friends then?”
Johanna sneered. “Like he has those. The closest he has is his raven, Matthew.”
The man smiled and gave a mocking bow. “Robert Gadling, at your service. Friend to your Lord Morpheus and have been for years.”
Johanna raised a questioning eyebrow. “Yeah and how long is years?”
Hob grinned. “Let’s just say I had the pleasure meeting your ancestor at the point of her dagger in 1789.”
“What did you do to earn that?” Johanna asked, shoving her hands into her coat pockets.
“She wanted my immortality. Something neither I nor Morpheus could give her, unfortunately,” Hob said wrinkling his nose.
“So you’ve been around the block a few times?” she asked.
“More then you will even understand,” Hob said softly. He cleared his throat. “So why are you looking for Morpheus?”
“I need his help with a job that’s coming up and I didn’t know how else to get a hold of him,” Johanna said with a shrug.
“Well, um...” Hob tugged at his ear again. “The thing is I don’t know how to get a hold of him either. At least not directly.”
“Well you’re useless.” She threw her hands in the air.
“I didn’t say I couldn’t get a hold of him, I just said I couldn’t do it directly,” Hob hedged.
“So how do you get a hold of him, then?” Johanna huffed in annoyance.
“It depends on the mood Matthew is in,” Hob said with a grin. “Matthew!”
The raven appeared in a flutter of black wings and landed neatly on Hob’s outstretched arm. “Hey, Robbie.”
“Hello, Matthew,” Hob replied with a smile.
“Huh,” Johanna said.
“Johanna?” Matthew asked turning to her for the first time.
“Taking care of Lord Morpheus like I asked?” she said with a grin.
“It’s hard work, but I try,” Matthew said flapping his wings in frustration.
“Johanna has a message she needs to get to Morpheus,” Hob explained.
“Oh yeah, sure,” Matthew said. “The boss is going to loovvvee this.”
Hob winked at Johanna and she laughed. “Yeah all right.” And she gave Matthew her message.
After the raven had taken off, Hob turned to her. “Care to grab a pint while we wait?”
“Yeah, sure.”
Once they were back in the inn Hob called out, “It’s all right, she’s been properly vetted.”
The patrons cheered out loud and then went back to drinks.
“You didn’t have to do that,” she said as she sat down with her beer.
“Everyone here cares for him, and if you’re someone like that, then you’re more then welcome at any time,” Hob said before taking a drink of his own beer.
It wasn’t long before a dark shadow cast over them. They both looked up to see Morpheus smiling at them.
Morpheus raised his eyebrows. “I believe you’re in my seat.”
Johanna looked him up and down, before raising an eyebrow of her own. “Yeah? You’ll just have to find another chair. I’m not moving.”
Hob cleared his throat. “You can sit next to me on the bench, if you’d like.”
Morpheus wagged his eyebrows and slid in next to him, causing the immortal to blush.
Johanna licked her lips and grinned. So that’s how it is then, she thought with a smirk. Then she leaned forward and launched into her story.
Hob and Morpheus, leaning into the touch of the other, listened.
