The young man made his way casually over to their table. "I haven't got the faintest idea where I am, but I'm guessing you're the guy in charge." he said as he came to a halt in front of Jack.

"Jack Harkness." he said, shaking the newcomer's hand. "I run the place, at least as much as anyone can claim to run it. Welcome to World's End."

"World's End? Heh. And here I thought I already knew every bar between here and Hell." His gaze shifted to Elizabeth, who had been watching in mild bewilderment as he'd made his entrance. "Now you're a sight for sore eyes! What's your name, gorgeous?"

"I'm Elizabeth." she said, still looking at him quizzically.

"Well Miss Elizabeth," he said as he bowed low before her. "You can call me...Dante." As he announced his name, he whipped out a luscious rose and placed it delicately in her lap. She smiled in delight, but Booker rolled his eyes. "Hey hotshot, you mind? That's my daughter you're hittin' on."

The young man looked between them with a sardonic grin. "Oh yeah, the family resemblance is uncanny! Pull the other one, ya big galoot."

"Okay! How's about I go get us some drinks, huh?" Jack said loudly as Booker leaned forward, all calm on the surface.

"None for me." Asura muttered. He'd barely touched his.

"I'll have what she's having." Dante said, sitting down emphatically beside her. Booker frowned. If he so much as touches her...

Jack went back to the bar, but not before murmuring "Down boy" in Booker's ear and patting him on the shoulder reassuringly. Dante unholstered his sword and tossed it casually to the ground. "What's with tall dark and ugly over there?" he asked.

"Deicide is hard work." Elizabeth said. She seemed to enjoy Dante's flippant manner.

"Whoa, little lady! I'm just a simple demon-slayer. You'll have to be a little less fancy when you talk."

"All talk and no brains." Booker commented to Asura, who nodded in agreement.

"Don't be rude, dad." Elizabeth scolded him. Dante just waved a hand airily.

"He killed a god, huh? I didn't even know those existed." he said, staring curiously at Asura.

"Maybe in your world they don't." she said. "But out there, who knows?"

"Sure as hell weren't any gods where we came from." Booker said. "If there were, why'd they let Comstock get away with all the things he did?"

"Just because they're a god doesn't make them above us." Asura said. "Perhaps they were on his side."

"Okay, why didn't they strike me down when I got too close to his precious Lamb?"

"Hey look, booze!" Dante interrupted. Jack Harkness was on his way back with a tray of drinks. "Nothin' like an unrestricted flow of alcohol to dull the sensibilities and put an end to boring religious debates!"

"Figured I'd try and spice things up a bit before the rush." Jack said. He handed Booker and Elizabeth a new blue drink which bubbled thickly at them. "Blueberry syrup with a little something extra" was all he'd say when pressed. Dante accepted his without hesitation and raised it in a cheery salute. "Here's looking up your old ad-dress!" he said. Booker raised his reluctantly, but Elizabeth clinked glasses with the demon hunter. She seemed determined to outdo him and downed the whole glass in one swig. Booker approached his in an only slightly more sensible manner, drinking half in his first sip. They soon regretted it; not only was it sweet, it was almost lethally so. Elizabeth burst into a fit of coughing, but waved away offers of help. "That's...ugh, that's a bit too much!" she complained, wiping tears from her eyes.

"What'd you do, pour a barrel of sugar in it?" Booker agreed with a wheeze.

Dante looked at them almost pityingly. "Some people just don't know their limits." he sighed, lifting his glass to his lips and extending his pinky as he did.

The front door opened and a group of people stumbled in. They were all adorned with garish hats, scarves, boots, fancy dress uniforms... Even the strange gas-masked figure had a disturbing blonde wig atop its head, complete with a fake brown mustache and monocle on the mask itself. Jack excused himself and went off to try and help them. "Do we even want to know what that's about?" Dante wondered aloud.

"Only thing that bothers me is the toy Songbird on the one in the back." Booker said. "'Side from that, well, fashion is fashion."

Elizabeth scrambled to her feet to get a better look. "That's Songbird all right..." she said. "Where did he get it?"

"What's a Songbird?" Asura asked. Booker winced inwardly as his daughter's face fell.

"Closest thing she had to a friend." he said. "Trouble was, he worked for Comstock, who, as I think I said, was a real son of a bitch." As he said it, he saw a strange look in Elizabeth's eyes, the kind of look she had in the lighthouses...

"All you ever said to me was that he had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow." Dante said. "So who was he?"

"Where to start?" Elizabeth asked. "He locked me in a tower, tried to groom me to take over the world..."

"I find the best place to start is at the beginning." Asura offered.

"There's the beginning and then there's the beginning." Booker said by way of explanation. "But if you want the story as I saw it, well... It started in a tiny little dinghy off the coast of Maine..."

"I'm not nearly drunk enough for this." Dante complained, but he listened anyway.