2001/Log 2001

Log 2001
Date of Scene:	15 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Deadwatch, Stardust, Wu

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Deadwatch has posed:
When people think Gotham, they tend to think of rundown streets, badly lit and overrun by gangs dressed as Clowns... which is sometimes a fair assesment. But Gotham is more diverse than that. There are bad parts of the city, not so bad parts, good parts.

West Chelsea is one of the better districts. Well lit for the most part, in good repair, home to many fine institutions and businesses that acater to the upper middle class and the financially secure. Even on a Monday in summer, in the evenings, people mill around listening to live music, eating from food trucks, and the like.

Nolan finds the place strange. Probably because it is quite outside his own world, yet barely a few neighbourhoods away from where he was born and grew up. As a kid he looked at West Chelsea with a sort of jelousy, a place of haves and plenty when he was a street-kid have nots and nothing. Even today, years later, the crippled private detective (unliscenced) has reservations about the place.

He limps along the edge of one of the park spaces, where people are showing off artwork and playing music under strung lamps. He stops beside a food truck leaning heavily on his cane-crutch, and shakes is head. "Freakin Hipsters." he grumbles, then frowns and looks at an empty spave a few feet away. "I said /Hipsters/, dude.. Not Hippies... Whats /your/ problem? They warned you not to take the Brown acid.... Well then it was your OWN fault, wasn't it!?!" he says to, well, no one.

Which makes some passers-bye look at him strangly, more then one maybe thinking of using their cellphone to call authorities... But then they shrug. They /are/ Gothamites.. and even the more 'normal' ones are used to /some/ weirdness.

Stardust has posed:
Amongst the hipsters Nolan so vociferously dislikes, a young woman, Colette, watches the performances, wandering through the park on her own. Dressed in jeans, a baggy t-shirt and basketball boots, blonde hair tied back in a ponytail, there would be nothing to separate her from the other folks doing the same. She seems to be interested in the musicians in the main - passing from group to group, listening a while, nodding her head, or shaking it occasionally, as if passing judgement as she goes.

If there's such a crowd of young hip folks around, why would this particular one stand out? Well not for the usual reasons, but something about her seems... blurry. Nobody else is particularly looking her way (well maybe one guy checking her ass, but that doesn't really count). But most people don't have Nolan's Darksight.

  The blurry young woman doesn't click as being anything obviously supernatural, but it's almost as if there was something shadowing her, standing in all the same spots she does. What? It's not obviously spectral, not obviously demonic, just... something. Something that seems to tickle the edges of the supernatural realms.

Wu has posed:
    Alice's reputation as a too-serious, fun-free individual is, to be honest, often well-deserved, but even a foreign cop buried up to her gills in cross-Pacific paperwork, not to mention her (inflicted) sideline of defending humanity from the dark forces that plague it, has to blow off steam once in a while. Which for Alice means ... well ... pausing in a moderately festive atmosphere and standing off to one side to watch people being what she appears constitutionally incapable of being: happy.
    Her face hardens to warn off a passer-by who seems to want to irritate her by actually engaging with her, but then softens upon seeing Nolan. She wends her way through the crowd to approach him, hand reflexively clutching her amulet of Guanyin, pausing, and then standing on the other side of where she was originally planning on standing.
    "We meet again," she says with an attempt at a smile. "How have you bee...?" Her question is cut off as she spots Colette. Her hand clenches tighter around her amulet.
    "Are you seeing that?" she asks quietly, gesturing toward the young woman.

Deadwatch has posed:
The borders between Supernatural, Mystical, and even Psychic are, in and of themselves, blurry ones. Sometimes one or two are aligned, then a different pairing are in opposition. Sometimes all three blend with each other.. And sometimes they are seperate.

So while Nolan is there for reasons completely unrelated to young women housing alien intellects and power, that doesn't mean /he/ doesn't notice her. His abilities, mirrored by his mismatched eyes, allow him to see more than one world at once. Okay, allow is not the right term. He has no CHOICE but to have a sort of double vision. Sometimes he can ignore it. SOmetimes he requires, uhm, some self medication to hep him ignore it. OR sometimes he forgoes said 'medication' and just lives with it.. Like he is now.. Peering through the crowd.. Literally THROUGH the crowd. Among the normal people, unseen to most everyone but him and people like him (of which there are way too few) he sees figures of shadow and light and all manifestations in between. The lost souls of people not crossed over, meandering through the throng, trying to get people to notice them or just replaying their lives like echoes. The whisps and shaoes of spirits, abstract entities born of concepts and beliefs and emotions, empowered by unconcious belief..

And a strange young woman who does not fit any of those 'normal' parameters. HE frowns, narrowing his eyes on the woman apparently 'possessed' by.. well.. something. Something not human nor born of humanity. Even spirits, mostly, are born of SOMETHING human.. This thing isn't.. Which definately gets his attention.

"Nope.. That ain't right..." he murmurs and is about to walk in Colette's Direction when he hears a familiar voice. He turns slightly and looks directly at Detective Gulliver. "Huh... So yeah, I guess we do." he says with a chuckle.. Then look where she is gesturing. "Oh, so I'm not the only one who sees that.. Haven't seen anything like that before.." He says, completely not pretending he didnt because she knows he sees 'beyond' so might as well not deny it. "Not a local, thats for sure.." Local having /so/ many meanings.

Stardust has posed:
As far as Colette is concerned, she's as right as rain, thanks. Of course she's not seeing a strange shadowy smudge blurring out of her body, so maybe she's wrong about that.

As she continues to make her way through the crowd, incidentally getting closer to where the two sensitives are, there's nothing in any way coming into focus, apart perhaps from how normal she seems to be outside that particular weirdness. Not far from where they stand, she stops at a stall selling a variety of strange, hipsterish foodstuffs, mostly made from tofu. Judging by the brief sneer that passes of her face, she's a meat eater. Nevertheless hunger wins out, and she comes away with a tofu-dog, and continues her walk.

  For someone leaking some kind of psuedo-supernatural something, she seems remarkably oblivious to the fact.

Wu has posed:
    "Let me ... back you up on this," Alice says quietly. "Hold a second while I prep a few items."
    From out her pocket she pulls a sheaf of rice paper squares, each covered in assorted characters of Chinese calligraphy. She flips through the sheathe and takes out three sheets. One she crumples and swallows, making a face.
    "Need to get better-tasting inks," she mutters.
    The second she also crumples, palming it for the moment. The third she keeps in a front pocket of her best while she restores the sheaf back to her left-hand side pocket.
    Each crumpled sheaf flashes briefly as it's crumpled, visible to those able to see through to the mystic world.
    One hand, the one without the ball of rice paper in it, then dives into her vest to rest on the butt of one of her guns.
    "OK, let's look into this, shall we?"

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight raises a brow, noticing the young woman moving closer to their position.. checking out teh food truck as any normal person would, then looks back at Alice and raises a brow. "Back me up?" he asks, slowly, then smirks a bit. "One.. I'm not a cop. You can't back me up since I am not official, Detective. Two. I am here for a /completely/ different reason. Three. SHe can't be all that bad. I mean look a her.."

He motions to the girl again, making a face at the food selections. "No one evil can have that much distaste for Tofu...."

He winces as he sees the flash of energy in the etheric from her spells, whatever they are going to do. Then shakes is head. "I understand this may be how you think americans act.. you know.. running into every situations guns ablaze but.. We can't judge her or whatever she is until she actually /does/ something bad.." he then pauses, and looks to the empty spot beside him. "What do you mean 'Who replaced me with a clone'?" he asks. "I'm learning to be less.. impulsive. Look, go back to huffing pathcoolie or something.." he then looks back at Alice. "Sorry.. Self Righteous Hippy ghosts are the worst..." He then motions for her to indeed follow him as he limps as casually as he can towards Colette.

Stardust has posed:
Using the Nolan scale of Evil, Colette obviously comes somewhere just short of the angels. She takes a bite of the tofu dog, makes a face, looks around, grimaces, chews a few times, swallows with an obvious struggle, then immediately tosses the rest in the trash.

  She comes to a halt at the next musical group, a pair of guitarists who are dueting on aging Queen hits. They've got a bit of energy, but they're not all that good at the actual playing part. Colette glances around surreptitiously, and when she thinks nobody is looking... she sticks her tongue out and wipes it on the back of her hand.

  She obviously really did not like that Tofu-dog. Surely a good sign.

Unless of course it's a Blessed Tofu Dog, in which case it would be a bad sign, but what are the chances of that? Is such a thing even possible?

Notably, even though it could possibly be put down to the distraction of the nasty hipster snack food, the magical preparations that are going on close by don't seem to have attracted her attention. For someone leaking bits of supernatural oddity, she's not showing signs she's sensitive to it herself.

Wu has posed:
    "I'm not planning to rush in with guns blazing," Alice retorts, a little annoyed. "I'm prepared for when, not if, things turn pear-shaped. If they don't, my preparations don't matter. If they do, I'd rather not spend time rustling around with bits of paper, thank you very much."
    She falls in behind him as he progresses toward the girl. Her eyes flick around looking for anybody else who might be getting (or who already are) involved.
    "What's wrong with tofu?" she asks incidentally along the way. "I rather enjoy it myself, although I must confess I tend toward the side of Guizhou-style stinky tofu."
    Stinky. Tofu. Two words that really should never be spoken in English.

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight will be the first to say that there is no such thing as a Blessed Tofu Dog. But he wans't asked.. So he can't say it, can he.

"Things don't /always/ go pear shaped." he murmurs.. then frowns. "Okay, They don't /usually/..." he stops again as if he was again interrupted, and grimaces.. "Dude, shut up!" he whispers harshly to the empty space, then sighs.

"Stinky and Tofy.. Two words that should NEVER grace the page of any sensible menu..." he murmurs. "Now just play it cool, okay?" he asks as he rounds the edge of the Food truck and "accidently" trips, and tumbles into Colette.."

Stardust has posed:
"Hey! Watch where you're walking!" Colette's response to the collision seems more automatic than aggrieved, just standing up for herself on principle more than anything else. She must be a New Yorker. Of course she might be a bit more aggrieved if she'd been knocked over, but hey, Nolan isn't exactly the most solid person around. More solid than she is though... an observant person might just note that Nolan did kind of bounce off.

Despite the opening complaint, Colette's actions are more gentle than her words. She immediately puts out a steadying hand for him, making sure he doesn't end up on the ground. Her eyes flicker rapidly across him, stopping for a moment on his mismatched eyes before scanning down and picking out the crutch. Her grip firms up a little, just in case he needs the extra support. "You okay there? She asks, frowning slightly.

Colette's roving eyes don't linger on Nolan, flickering quickly to the woman close behind him. They fall almost instantly on the holsters Alice wears over her shoulders, and Colette's frown deepens. Still half-turned towards Alice, she returns to her solicitous concern for Nolan. "It's a bit crowded here, isn't it? That crutch is probably a pain in the ass. You feeling upright? Not gonna take a tumble?"

Wu has posed:
    "Are you alright, Nolan?" Alice asks smoothly, stepping up beside him, shying away from the side with his hippy friend, adding a supporting hand. "I'm sorry, miss. We were talking and I guess I was distracting him too much with my description of food-based horror."
    Noting Colette's glance at her holsters, she raises an eyebrow and feigns some shock. "Oh, don't be alarmed." The hand that was inside her vest, apparently fishing for the package of Trident she pulls out, flips over the lapel of her vest to reveal the "G.C.P.D." badge in ... silver, not gold. "Detective Gulliver, on assignment with the GCPD. The guns are legit."
    That's added with a wink and an attempt at a friendly smile that almost works. It's the hard, suspicious eyes that are still looking over the girl that undermine it.
    "Are you alright?" she asks solicitously.

Deadwatch has posed:
For the breifest moment, while bouncing off the surpsingly firm young woman (wow, he probably shouldn't think that) there is momentary press of his hand on her arm.. contact... and the world dissapears in a haze around him.. time stopping..

FLashes.. Fragments of memories.. emotions.. He tastes words and smells images.. Two trains of thought, one human and one.. definately not.. Worlds beyond... languages never spoken by a human toungue... UNABLE to be spoken by a human toungue.. Stars...

And just as fast as it came, it is gone and he is shakily picking himself up... allowing her to help of course. "Sorry, Miss.." he says, his voice a bit hoarse.. scarred fingers clenched around the handle of his crane-cutch as he tries to get footing on his legbrace.

"No no, I'll be find. Just.. maybe not over that three margarita lunch.. or was it five.. I can never remember.." he tells her, then looks at Alice.

"Oh I'm fine... Alice." he says, then thinks a moment. "You mean her, don't you..."

Stardust has posed:
Colette does take the time to get a decent look at Alice's badge, before giving the woman a brief nod of her head. "Uh-huh. Food-based horror, hmm? I didn't know the GCPD had a gourmet division. Is it illegal to sell really disgusting overpriced tofu-dogs?" she asks. "Because if it is, you may need to call for back-up."

Whether she buys Nolan's margarita excuse, or just puts it down to the leg brace, his shaky reaction to the psychometric visions just encourage her to make very sure he's firmly on his feet before letting go. "You need to sit down a while maybe? Could have been a nasty fall. There's a bench just over there if you need it. You good? I got a shoulder right here if you need something to lean on."

Obviously at least as unclear on who was the target of Alice's "Are you alright" as Nolan, it's only after he suggests that it was aimed at her that she responds. "Me? Oh... yeah, fine," she replies slightly nonplussed. "Uh... he didn't bump me very hard or anything. And I'm not on a crutch. No problems."

Wu has posed:
    "I meant both of you," Alice says chidingly, glancing over at Nolan from her hard-eyed appraisal of Colette. "That's why I said it twice: once with your name while I caught you. Once while looking at the young lady."
    The eyes are back.
    "So are you alright, Miss?" she asks again, lips curled into a smile, true, but eyes hard like black diamonds. "I mean Mr. Voight isn't exactly a heavy man, but that cane of his..."
    Beat.
    "What is the problem you Americans have with tofu?" she wonders aloud, breaking character as Bad Cop over Colette's dismissal of the tofu dog. "And ... why would you use tofu to make dogs? I mean, really, I thought that was *our* reputation, not Americans'.

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight really is shaky... So yeah, that does help him sell it that he may be a bit drunk. of course, he was also sipping form a flask of bourbon earlier so... ahem.. TOTALLY SELLING IT.

"No no, sitting down is a pain in the ass. Better to walkit off.. well.. limp it off." he says as he straightens up and winces in pain, but then again he is always in pain so... He then smirks as the byplay between Colette and Alice. "Heh.. Gourmet Division.. Good one.." he chuckles. "And yeah, it should be illegal. They give /real/ hot dogs shit for being snouts and anuses but it's perfectly okay for them to be made out of fermented bean paste.. Weirdos.."

He then fixes Alice with a look. "One. She is /okay/. And so am I." he says, making sure she catches his emphasis on the she part. Because of of everything he /didn't/ get from his his psychic touch, he /did/ get that she wasn't a danger to anyone here.. "Me and my cane are not that heavey. And Two. They make Tofu hot dogs o appease sopme kind of liberal guilt at the slaughter of animals.. which is dumb since they deforest vast tracts of land, depriving animals of home, to GROW tofu beans.."

Stardust has posed:
"Hey, who said I was American?" Colette responds quickly. Her accent does of course, but that doesn't always paint the entire picture. "Tofu is what happens when people want to pretend that there's an alternative to meat. It's a lie made out of soya beans. People should not use tofu to make dogs. That's /my/ point here, Miss Gourmet Cop. Why aren't you arresting them?"

Although her attention is focussed on Alice, Nolan's wince somehow makes it past the filter of her culinary ire, and she shoots out a hand to his elbow to steady him. "Yeah," she agrees with Nolan. "He's not that heavy, and anyway his cane didn't catch me, I think. No problem. Besides, did anyone think to ask the animals their opinion on this? I mean it's not like the alternative is to put them up in five-star hotels for life. Maybe they'd prefer to get the chance of a short life than no life at all. And if we all ate tofu, where would leather come from? You wanna try holstering your firearms in a tofu skin? Because... you don't wanna try holstering your firearms in a tofu skin. That would be a terrible idea."

Wu has posed:
    "Are we talking about the same thing here? There's no huge tracts of soy farms deforesting my homeland," Alice says peevishly. "And, oh, yes, if you use tofu as a substitute for meat, barring some very specific temple canteens, you're headed for disappointment." She looks at the direction Colette pointed to. "So yes, imitation *HOT* dogs..." She stresses the missing word that caused her confusion. "...are an abomination. Use ingredients for what they are, not what you want them to be like."
    A quick shake of the head. She's looking at Colette again, but the diamond hardness is gone.
    "I'm not from the Gourmet Division. That's all domestic cops. I'm a Hong Kong cop on attachment to the Major Crimes division here." An impish grin flashes over her face before being suppressed. "I'd tell you what I really do, but then I'd have to kill you," she says jocularly.

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight hehs and leans back against the food truck, looking back and forth between the women.. It is like a game of tofu tennis.. Two words he never thought he would put together. "It is good to see that food has the ability to make us all friends here." he says, to them both.. "And since we are being so friendly. So you don't like Tofu, miss. Thats a good thing. At least to me it is.. You will have to forgive the Detective here.. As she said, she's an exchange officer.. Yeah, imagine my surprise when I discovered those actually exist. So I guess she is culturally sensitive regarding Tofu, being from Hong Kong and all.. Huh.. A Hong Kong Cop and a ginger.. Guess that gives a whole new meaning to Red Heat.." he says with a grin.

He then looks to Collete. "And yeah, you're not american are ya?" he asks, though makes no effort to move.. just relaxing. "The question is.. where ya from? I mean, technically Alice here could ask for your green card or passport with visa.. But I gotta feeling that wherever you are from, they don't give ya one of those.." he then holds up a hand. "And don't deny it, please. I am just tryin to make sure you, or your inner friend there, ain't gonna cause trouble. Thats it. You prove that, we won't bug ya any longer.."

Stardust has posed:
Colette raises a skeptical eyebrow to Alice. "Have to kill me?" she echoes. "People say that when they're trying to hide something really mundane. Traffic then? Don't tell me. You screwed up a major parking violations investigation in Kowloon and got dumped with some unpopular exchange deal with Gotham. Can't go home until you've issued a hundred speeding notices. Still. Bust the tofu-dog guys, that's my advice. You'll be upgraded to Gourmet division in no time. Probably give you a medal."

While Colette's response sounds at least as impish as Alice's, her delivery comes with remarkable conviction. It's almost as if she's forgotten that she made up the existence of a Gourmet division and actually believes what she's saying.

"Not that the snouts and asses thing is any better," she continues, hopping topics with barely a pause for breath. "Americans don't understand that you're meant to use actual meat. Frankfurters are basically sausages gone wrong. And yes, I am American," Colette segues confusingly. "No green card necessary. I'm also French though. Born there. Lived here more though. So what is this, an immigration shakedown? Worried I'm here to take your jobs?" She quirks her head towards Nolan, looking at him a little more suspiciously. "I thought /she/ was the cop?"

Wu has posed:
    The face loses its impishness and its smile.
    "I believe, Miss, that Nolan is referring to your passenger. I can't ... quite make out what it is, but just be aware that everybody on this side of the conversation is aware of it."
    Beat.
    "You *do* understand that you're carrying around a passenger, right?" she asks pointedly. "It would be very embarrassing if it were only two of the three of us knowing what the topic is."
    That rice paper square that she'd shoved in her breast pocket is being pulled out.
    "Now Mr. Voight here? He isn't a cop. He's an alcoholic drifter." Ouch! "Who passes himself off as an investigator." Double ouch! "But who actually, for this, has some very useful skills. I, on the other hand, *am* a cop. But like Nolan here ... well, let's just say I can see your passenger when I look for it and leave it at this."
    The smile returns, but it's a very frosty one now. "In general, certain people's opinions aside..." The edge in her voice seems directed at Nolan. "...I prefer to keep things peaceable, but ... please, let's just put our cards on the table shall we?"
    She frowns.
    "That came across as threatening, didn't it? I'm terrible at communicating here. It's the language. So bloody complicated and so many damned words!"

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight blinks at Alice, and feigns an expression of hurt. "Really? /REALLY/??" he asks. "I am NOT a drifter, thank you very much. I actually /own/ a place to live in, thank you very much Miss Probably-Living-In-Hotels-At-The-Tax-Payers-Expense. And I do not /pass/ myself off as a private investigator. There is no law against NOT having a licence."

He then sighs.sighs.. "Right.. Useful skills. You are all compliments, aren't ya.." he grumbles, then points to an empty spot. "You.. don't say a freakin word! No.. I said no!" he gripes at nothing, then looks back to Collete. "Ookay, then. Just to show we are serious.. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this.." he says as he tugs at his cuffs... "She is right... She /is/ an /official/ cop." he says.. "Me? I'm... not. But I am unnoficially /officialy/ one of this city's protectors.. Don't ask how that works, I didnt ask for the job.. " He makes a few gestures and speaks lowly. "//Ciuj Rigardas La Alian Vojon//"

The effect is quite immediate.. It is like all the colors, all the light, around them mutes.. becomeing washed out and greyish.. except for the three of them, of course. They are still in full color. Everyone else beyond their small circle are pastel and dim and blurred.. and move blurily like they are in mollasses.

"That is what people would call magic." he says. "But thats neither here nor there. Like The detective pointed out, you aren't /fully/ human. Now that isn't autmatically a bad thing or a crime, officially or unofficially. A lot of my friends aren't human. But I.. sorry.. /WE/ don't know you.. And this town gets a bad rap with strangness. And since you got something 'strange' lingering about inside of you, I.. sorry.. /We/ just want to make sure you really don't mean any harm. You don't even hafta tell us WHAT you are. Just that you don't mean anyone here harm. And believe me, I will know if you are lying.."

He then motions to Alice. "And if you are, She will probably shoot you, of course. We would rather it didn't come to that. You dont like Tofu and thats a plus in my book."

Stardust has posed:
When talk of "passengers" starts up, Colette's initial reaction is confusion, but that quite rapidly fades and turns into a narrowing of the eyes as she looks from one to the other. If Colette has a poker face, she left it at home today.

"Maybe you should ask him yourself, if you can see him?" she replies, matching Alice's frostiness. She blinks a couple of times before the frostiness gives way to a look of mild embarrassment. "Uh actually, that's probably not actually a great idea. He's kind of a dick. However, he's also dead, so I don't see how it's got anything to do with immigra..."

At which point the world goes blurry, which rates at least a few moments surprised silence from Colette. She nods her head to Nolan, acknowledging his claims of magic, because hey, good evidence there. "Neat trick," she says. "What was that? Tsee-ooj regardez... is that Esperanto or something? I thought it was all done in Latin. Do you do the rabbit out of a hat thing? 'Cos lame." She crosses her arms and stares at the two of them.

  "Okay," she says slowly. "So I am fully human. But yes I do have a passenger. Which I believe as you say, ain't a crime. I do realize that as a non-homeless DRIFTER..." she says the word with snarky emphasis, " you maybe aren't an actual lawyer, but I'm pretty sure you're right on that one. So how about cutting out the threats, hmm? I'm not the one who isn't being entirely peaceable."

"Besides which," she continues, "I could probably snap your handcuffs, and I've been shot before, no big deal. As to whether I mean anyone here any harm, well that depends, doesn't it? 'cos /I/ don't know /YOU/, and you're all up in my face with the threats and spells." She raises her hands, palms out. "Not saying you are, but how do I know /you/ aren't the bad guys? 'Cos if you are, I'll probably have to punch you through a wall or something. I would rather it didn't come to that, and yay on the tofu thing." She actually gives Nolan a thumbs up with the Tofu comment, which rather undermines any threats she was making, though to be fair nothing in her voice suggested she was taking it too seriously either.

Wu has posed:
    As the magic flows up around the trio, Alice nods appreciatively, pursing her lips.
    "Very nice, Mr. Voight," she begrudgingly admits. "Flashier than I usually like, but very effective as a demonstration." Her eyes swivel to Colette. "And while I'm an official cop--in Hong Kong--I'm also an official protector. Of Hong Kong." She shrugs and runs her hand -- the one not holding a rice paper square -- through her hair ruefully. "It gets complicated."
    At the "snapping handcuffs" mention she grins. Or, rather, bares her teeth. The hand with the rice paper goes up and the rice paper is dropped... to hang suspended in midair, its main calligraphic character in the middle upright, the smaller ones around it in all orientations. The paper begins to spin in midair, although the character itself stays upright throughout. As it spins it rapidly increases in size and decrease in visible substance until there's an almost-fully transparent wall between Nolan and Alice with a single character still written clearly on it.
    "That is my Zhi Qiang," she says with a small private chuckle. "Please feel free to break it. Given the talk now of punching and breaking and snapping, I think it may be best if we leave that there for just a moment."
    She eyes Colette appraisingly.
    "Truth be told, Miss, I don't think you're a threat. I'm just being cautious. Why don't we both ratchet down the posturing a bit and see if we can ... communicate harmoniously."

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight hehs.. and then hehs again, turning it into a chuckle. "Wow, you're a spicy one, ain't ya." he tells Collete because, really. "And I think your 'Rider's' assholeness is rubbing off on you. That happens after a while, ya know, if you're not careful. I mean, look at me. I hang out with Ghosts and Spirits all day and they haven't rubbed off on me..." he stops, again like he is being interuppted and shoots a glance at what is probably by now considered a delusion, or he is actually speaking to someone not there. "You don't get to make the jokes!" he says i exhasperation. "I swear, when we get home..." he bahs and waves 'it' off, whatever (or whoever) it is. "Sorry, getting distracted. Anyways..."

He takes a dep breath and eyes Alice. "Flashy? I ain't flashy. Did you see a flash of light? I just wove a perception filter around us. It is the OPPOSITE of flashy! NOW THAT!" he points to HER bit of Magic. "THAT is flashy! Which my NON-FLASHY magic is currently keeping EVERYONE BUT US from seeing!" he hrumphs and gives COlette an apologetic look.

"Sorry.. Distracted.. Again. Look, do you think there are any /official/ badges for what people like us can do? We ain't The Avengers, or the Justice League. We're the guys, and gals, on the street who keep the REAL shit from hitting the fan, okay. Stuff that the big guys think is low-key, only because we take care of it before it grows out of control. Now your friend there.." he makes overall gesture at her.. "Your asshole friend.. And by the way being an asshole is not a terrible thing, I mean look at Alice here, she's been treating me like I'm worthless since we started talking to you, when I totally ain't.. But you don't see me hating her.. He just makes us wary.."

"Look, like she says, we don't REALLY think you are a threat.. But there is such think as Due Diligence, right? You are in a town that has to deal with gangs dressed like rejects from an Insane Clown Posse concert, wind up exploding toy penguins, and a guy who dresses in a black leather bat costume and jumps from roof top to roof top with young boys in primary colours and innapropruate ages in tow.. So think WHY us citizens, or a visitor in her case.." he points to Alice, ".. With special gifts and responsibilities and who have to deal with the ramifications of such shit may just want to, for once, make sure such shit isn't happening BEFORE it happens.. ya get us?"

Stardust has posed:
"Harmonious suits me," Colette replies to Alice. "I'm not the one who started posturing, remember?" Then she... sticks her tongue out at Alice and breaks into a grin. Yep, Alice just got out-impished.

Colette reaches out a fist towards the paper wall and... knocks on it, as if it's a door. "Neat. Hey, I can do magic too, watch!" She turns her back on the pair of them, puts her feet together, and rises a few inches up into the air. Only you can totally see that she's standing on the toes of her further foot. Might be a neat trick if she'd got the angle right to keep that out of the line of sight. Or if she was showing it to someone who couldn't do actual magic. "Neat huh? A friend taught me this. It's called the uh... Bala...someone Italian or something... levitation trick." She hops back downwards and turns back to the pair of them.

"So, basically you got spooked, huh?" she asks, with a slight shrug of her shoulder. "Hmm. Fair enough I guess, you should have seen how I reacted when some dead Australian guy started talking in my head. Thought I was going crazy." She arches an eyebrow at Nolan, giving him a knowing expression. "I'm guessing you've gone through something similar?" she asks. "'Cos I recognize the signs. The whole trying to get him to shut the hell up sometimes thing. Not to mention finding yourself talking to... yourself. Only it isn't. And hoping nobody notices, 'cos they don't know it... OH!"

Colette interrupts herself with a facepalm, then shakes her head. "I know! Better version of that levitation trick," she says, levitating slightly, then dropping back to the ground. "Not used to this yet," she explains with a sheepish grin towards both of them.

"Aaaanyway. Fair enough I guess, but next time don't be so pushy, huh? I mean... yeah you're right, due diligence. Turns out we're on the same side though, so... start over? My name's... uh... well, Stardust. But I didn't come up with that. Don't blame me. So Colette." She offers her hand to shake, then stares at the faint magical wall. "Uh. Wall?"

Wu has posed:
    Alice smirks, lids her eyes briefly, and then says, slathering as much smarm as she can, "Just reach through the barrier child, like this."
    She reaches through the barrier, her fingers literally tearing the ghostly vestiges of paper as the spinning barrier disintegrates, hand out for a handshake.
    "Nothing could be simpler."
    It was hard, yes, when Colette knocked on it beforehand.
    "But yes, that's an adequate summary. I get spooked when I see the supernatural, especially in a form I don't recognize. *MOST* supernaturals are just fine. They have, in my opinion, as much right to live ... or unlive ..." She darts a glance over in the direction of Nolan's companion space. "... as we do. Provided they don't do this by preying upon others."
    She tries again from the beginning.
    "I'm Detective Alice Gulliver of the Hong Kong Police, on attachment to the Gotham City Police Department, and sworn mystic defender of Hong Kong."
    Beat."I won't give you the title. I refuse. It's too pretentious."

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight sighs and massages the bridge of his nose a bit, shaking his head. "Babe, I don't care what the detective thinks for herself, /I/ don't get 'spooked'. Trust me, I seen shit that would make your hair turn white. And I wish that were bragging." he says, and weirdly, he seems to mean it, then drops his hand. "And no, you don't know the signs. You really don't. You think you're the first person imbued with an echo or a spirit or whatever the hell that is? You've been bonded, what, a few months? A year tops?" he asks. "Imagine seeing people no one else can see every day of your life. Hearing them. Feeling them. People that tell you every terrible detail of what happened to them, making you relive their final moments over and over. Imagine seeing the terrible things that the collective human unconciousness, the mess that it is, spews out of it's roiling mess of beliefs and emotions. Then take that and add in the 'real' world, and I say that loosely, all mashed together.. Thats me... Oh, and I can let them channel through me too.. because that is ttally fun and nthing bad can come of it." he says smarmily as he reaches into his jacket and pulls out a flask.. unscrews it.. then takes a long swig.... Then sighs.

"Sorry.. Didn't mean to go off on you like that. I was just trying to say I am not spooked.. I was /wary/. And trying to nip shit off in the bud, something the other defender types seem to be unable to do. But I think yer clean. If I'm wrong, well, not like I never got played before.. And I got enough of a 'taste' of you know that if you ever do cause trouble.. I WILL find you.."

Is he telling the truth.. Is he bluffing? Is it somewhat a mixture between the two? It doesn't come off as a threat, though.. The tone more.. resigned than anything.

"It's not a title, Detective.. It's the name of a freakin David Bowie Album. Stardust? Really?" he asks... then ughs. "Well I'm Nolan. Thats all ya need to know.. And I am hungry.. Maybe I can find a hot dog truck that uses the PRIME snouts and anuses.. Keep yer nose clean! Trust me, I will know!" he calls out over his shoudler as he limps away, then stops. "No Really.. I will. You think you're ever ALONE? Ghost are everywhere and are COMPLETE gossips!" he winks and then limps off. Lie or Truth? Who knows? And as he steps beyond thatveil he cast, the colours and sounds snap back to normal

Stardust has posed:
Colette takes Alice's hand with a laugh. "Too pretentious?" she asks. "I like your attitude. People always take themselves far too seriously. So that makes you Magic Patrol then, not Traffic? Well those tofu-dog guys were committing a crime against flavor, but I didn't smell sulfur, so you probably don't need to bust them. Unnatural, but not supernatural. Nice to meet you, Alice."

  "I told you it wasn't my idea!" she calls out after Nolan. "Don't you Bowie me, you don't think I've been through that with him a hundred times? Gah! And any of your ghost buddies think of not leaving me alone in the shower, I will punch them so hard they become corporeal." She looks back to Alice with a roll of the eyes and a shake of the head. "Maybe you should go after him before he trips over someone else or gets into an argument about meat production methods with the wandering specter of Abraham Lincoln?"

Wu has posed:
    "Mr. Voight can take care of himself," Alice says as she watch's Nolan's departure. "His infirmity is an act. So is his insanity. Well, mostly the insanity."
    She turns to face Colette again. "I'm glad you understand about the title. I inherited it. I don't like it. I can't fathom how my mother could say it with a straight face. I won't use it, even though that decision did upset a few."
    She does an odd little half-bow. "I'm sorry for the tenseness of our initial meeting, but since coming to this city I've been injured rather severely three times already. And met some deities. It's not conducive to low-stress first meetings."
    She turns away, then pauses, turns back. Two business cards are in her hand.
    "In case you need to get in touch. One is my GCPD line, the other is my personal one."