Closed RP in the Little Green Apple
Jun. 23rd, 2008 06:44 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png)
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It was possible that when he finally turned mortal, John Amsterdam would drop dead from centuries of smoking.
Smoking had been a recreational activity well before the European settlers had arrived, and it had spread through the colonies like wildfire. John had picked up the habit at fourteen, right off the boat. He had tried to give it up like drinking, but had only succeeded in cutting back. Besides, a guy as great as him needed a few bad habits. So he indulged in his habit now, trying not to think of anything besides the smoke curling over his head.
Smoking had been a recreational activity well before the European settlers had arrived, and it had spread through the colonies like wildfire. John had picked up the habit at fourteen, right off the boat. He had tried to give it up like drinking, but had only succeeded in cutting back. Besides, a guy as great as him needed a few bad habits. So he indulged in his habit now, trying not to think of anything besides the smoke curling over his head.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 02:15 am (UTC)It was also nice to be in a smoky bar again. The shift away from smoking in public places was one that would never sit well with him - who, after all, would want to know what a London pub really smelled like underneath all the cigarettes, cigars and pipes' smoke?
Reilly turned at the bar to survey the room, and noticed a familiar face settled in comfortably with a hookah, looking up at the tendril of smoke floating toward the ceiling.
He ambled over and set his drink down on the table beside John Amsterdam. "Is that tobacco, or something that lets you see the mysteries of the universe in that smoke?"
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Date: 2008-06-24 02:20 am (UTC)"Besides, mysteries I've got plenty of. It's answers that I need."
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Date: 2008-06-24 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 02:52 am (UTC)The light presented a problem. "Sorry," he said. "Fresh out. Unless you really want to have an inexperienced wizard try and light your cigarette with a brand new wand. I'm almost as good at Incendio as I am at Aguamenti. You can guess which one I've had more practice with."
no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 03:02 am (UTC)He drew his own wand from an inside jacket pocket. "Incendio. There. See?" He lit his cigarette off the small flame at the wand's tip, then muttered a quick extinguishing spell. The wand instantly became just a wand again.
"I can't imagine everyday magic like that would have any steeper a learning curve than learning modern technology," he said after a drag on his cigarette. "I'm still having trouble keeping all the little handheld computer things straight, much less how to use them. Cell phones, PDAs, GPS..."
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Date: 2008-06-24 03:11 am (UTC)"Don't feel bad," he said. "Twenty years ago, this would have been impossible. You certainly aren't the only person who doesn't get them. My friend Omar, he's sixty-five, and he still needs help with his phone."
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Date: 2008-06-24 03:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 03:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 03:59 am (UTC)"I did a stint with the FBI - a short one, the Fifth Column was sunk in too deep there for me to do much good - but the CIA's after my time. I'm trying to catch up by reading, but, well, they keep redacting all the good parts. What did you get up to for them?"
no subject
Date: 2008-06-24 04:27 am (UTC)"Tell you what. I'll trade you, story for a story."
no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-26 03:55 am (UTC)He took another puff from the hookah. "So you're read up on the Cold War, right? What I was supposed to be doing was helping spy on the Russians. I'd get pages and pages of documents, raw info that had to be boiled down so that people could use it. What I was actually doing was spying on my superiors. With a brand-new agency like this, every country wanted an in. So I kept tabs on my boss."
Another puff. "Now, I don't think the perfect spy is supposed to turn around and blackmail the person they're watching, instead of being a good citizen and handing over the information to the higher-ups. But I'd hint just enough that maybe I'd turn him in, and he'd pay me under the table. Then I'd tell the boss' boss that he was doing something suspicious, but not enough to be sure."
John shrugged. "It was a lucrative ten years, I'll say that."
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Date: 2008-06-26 04:09 am (UTC)He took a drag on his cigarette, exhaled. "It seemed the harder I tried to get the Bureau to fight the Bolsheviks, the more roadblocks my superiors put in front of me. It wasn't long before I went home, to put a stick in their spokes my own way."
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Date: 2008-06-26 04:33 am (UTC)John hesitated, then added, "I was terrible at it, too. After a job like that, I wasn't really cut out for humor."
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Date: 2008-06-26 04:59 am (UTC)He puffed on his cigarette again, tipped the ashes into a silver ashtray. "Take my trip to Paris in '04. Officially I was there chasing my wayward wife. Unofficially I was there to weasel oil concessions out of the Australian land baron D'Arcy, under the noses of the Rothschilds, who were wooing him intensely. Which I did, quite dashingly if I say so myself - I got on board the Rothschild's yacht by disguising myself as a priest. The deception couldn't last, of course, but I'd managed to drive a substantial wedge between D'Arcy and the Rothschilds' plans before I got tossed out, and he came to us. From there it was simply a matter of getting the papers signed and delivered before they could catch up to us."
Reilly gazed into middle distance. "Even more unofficially, I was in Paris to see my sister Anna. For years I'd let her believe me dead; it was how I made my escape from home as a boy. It was undoubtedly not wise, but - can you imagine what that was like, having the chance to see someone I had loved in another life again?"
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Date: 2008-07-01 04:53 am (UTC)"I haven't tried being a priest yet," John said. "Being celibate would be a serious detriment to my goals in life." Although some of the nuns he'd met looked pretty good, even in a habit. It probably wasn't worth spending his afterlife in Hell, though.
He waggled the end of his hookah back and forth. "You know, not that long ago, I ran into a woman I used to date. She was a painter. She did some of the most beautiful murals you'll ever see in New York. And let me tell you, she had one hell of a face, too. Beautiful girl. When I saw her last, she was in her eighties. It's a good thing I went by Charlie back then, or it would have been awkward."
John frowned. "But I get the feeling that your meeting was intentional. Mine usually aren't."
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Date: 2008-07-10 12:41 am (UTC)Reilly shrugged. "Up to a certain point it was - my plan was to watch her from afar, make sure she was well and happy, and got spotted. Accidentally? Accidentally on purpose? Who knows. It happened, and we just - went from there." He sipped his drink. "I agree the celibate life would be a waste of perfectly good virility. Can't see how it would interfere with a life goal, though, unless you've a burning desire to found your very own nation-state?"
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Date: 2008-08-18 04:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-18 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-22 05:54 am (UTC)John took a swig of his water. "So now it's your turn. Story time."