2890/Log 2890

Log 2890
Date of Scene:	18 October 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Deadwatch, Wu, Shatterpoint

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Deadwatch has posed:
Another sorta-late Gotham Night. Thats night /without/ a K. Thats a good thing because Nolan STILL has evaded the attention of a certain nutjob in leather and latex. Good for him, right?

Not that he is doing anything to GARNER said attention tonight. The thirty-something crippled 'detective' limps down the street, a paper bag held in the crook of the arm that isn't leaning on the forearm cane-crutch he uses. "5 bucks for coke.. Geezus, what the hell is this city coming to..." he mutters and then frowns and eyes teh empty space beside him. "Yes, five dollars... No no, please, go on and tell me how you could go to a movie and get popcorn and a soda for fifteen cents.. I LOVE hearing about how terrible the economy is now compared to a time when dudes were flinging themselves out of windows on Wall Street.... Yeah, thats what I thought."

Wu has posed:
    Alice is prowling restlessly, eyes peering in every nook, every cranny, as she paces down the street, right hand clutched around a pendant suspended around her neck, left hand in her vest pocket. A few places get a frown and another once-over--a twice-over, so to speak--before narrowed eyes and a shrug write it off and she continues her prowl. The blank space next to Nolan gets a similar frown before her eyes land on Nolan himself and she relaxes. She makes an approach from the opposite side, out of courtesy.
    "Mr. Voight," she says upon showing up next to him. "I see you're still accompanying your friends around the town."

Shatterpoint has posed:
    Caroline Ramsey is something of a stark sight on the streets. Not difficult to ignore, though. Dressed in a meager sweater over what looks like business casual, she strolls down the street with little regard, seemingly, for what's going on around her. Yet, there is a pause in her step- a man seemingly talking to himself. Her eyes flit over, and she pauses, leaning herself up against the building. Another person approaches, and her brow raises. They seem to know each other.

    She's not conspicuous- sort of leaning there, like any other seeming vagrant. The pair are... Intriguing, if nothing else.

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight stiffens as he hears himself addressed and stares accusingly at that empty space beside him. "What the hell do I pay you for, dude...?" he asks the emptyness, then sighs and musters up a smile and turns to face Alice. "Ahh, Detective Wu.. So nice to see you once again? What brings you down to the 27th block of South Hinkley?" he asks. "And I like to think my friends, or possibly hallucinations, are accompanying /me/.. I'm sort of egotistical like that." he quips...

HE hasn't noticed the vagrant.. Not yet... But there is this strnage feeling.. He frowns and looks around with those mismatched eyes that see more than one world at once.. always. The world of the living and the one JUST beyond..The Dark, that layer where the ghosts that haven't passed over, the echoes of the dead, of other spirits and entities that walk alongside humanity unseen to most others. "Huh... Something isn't quite... right." he murmurs..

Wu has posed:
    "Gulliver," Alice corrects. "Detective Gulliver. HKP and GCPD," she adds for no particular reason, sounding more like a verbal tic than anything. She releases the hold on her amulet and gestures to the empty space. "Who are we with today?" she asks curiously.
    The question of what brings her to the block is left open as Nolan starts looking around with his second sight.
    "Trouble?" she asks quietly. "Backup needed?" she adds. "Or is this the kind of trouble that I'd amplify for you?"

Shatterpoint has posed:
    Is almost certainly incredibly upsetting to the various spirits surrounding Nolan. Maybe even Nolan himself- and that's just because of what she is.

    Her attention lingers on their conversation for a time. She almost intends to leave, before their conversation shifts. When it becomes about trouble, she is now intent on lingering. She has no idea that she might just be the matter of conversation, of course- because Caroline considers herself a force for good rather than trouble- but that just means there's probably a surprise in her near future.

    Plus, there's someone here apparently from the GCPD, which... Sincerely interests her, to a point. It's not as if she can ask what's happened in 50 years of being gone.

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight frowns a bit, trying tho focus his sight, and other senses, on the.. ripple? "I'm not sure... Maybe it's nothing. It's just.. familiar, some how..." he says, then shakes his head andlooks back to Alice. "Detective /Gulliver/." he amends. "And today's guest is, if you believe in such things, the repetant soul of a 1930's gangster. Jimmy the Fish, meet Detective Alice Gulliver, an exchange officer from Hong Kong. Detective, Meet Jimmy the..." he frowns now and stares at the empty spot. "Dude, you can't use language like that... Because it's not acceptable. It's both Rascist AND sexist... No I don't use the same language... Okay then, I don't talk like that with someone who carries a gun... That was Only ONCE!" he looks exhasperated... then frowns again as he gets that feeling and looks around again.

"There it is again..." he says... "It's... " his eyes narrow to a vaguely feminine form down the street. "Coming from her...? It's like.. Death?" he slowly turns on the sturrup of his legbrace and slowly limps towards the young looking woman but then frowns and looks at the empty spot. "Whats wrong with you? Where are you... Wait, come back..." he calls out, though not to Alice but the unseen Jimmy. He frowns some more and looks around. "Detective.. The rest of the ghosts.. They are falling back..."

Wu has posed:
    "Oh."
    One word. Succinct. To the point. Loaded with caution. Alice's fist goes around her jade amulet of Guanyin again and she looks in the direction appointed. Her eyes find the woman that has been eavesdropping and lock on her.
    "Yes. That's ..." Pause. "Time for some backup," she says, releasing the amulet. From her right pocket she pulls a leather thong with what looks like an off-yellow coloured block of plastic with a relief carving in dark brown on it of a fanciful human figure. (OOC: ) This she also puts around her neck, briefly kissing the back of the block beforehand.
    "I'm ready if someone's going to bring the ruckus," she adds quietly. "Unless I need my special rounds."

Shatterpoint has posed:
    Now the attention's on her, and goodness, it's from two people who have a rather fantastic amount of extrasensory perception. While reality itself isn't necessarily bending around her, just -looking- at her isn't entirely... Fun. For those that have been around a while, it's like looking at a playing VHS tape with its tracking slightly off. Like the universe can't handle the breadth of what she is and is trying, somewhat futilely, to expel her.

    Sadly, Caroline is only slightly aware of this. She hasn't been... Briefed, really. When the two get apprehensive, she just figures it's because a suspicious figure that they don't know is nearby. To this, she responds. Slipping off of the wall, she begins to approach, and once she's within proper earshot, she speaks.

    "I tend to handle trouble very well. If you are threatened, I can help."

    That is incredibly unsettling. She is... She doesn't speak quite right. The voice is like a rattle, the sound of a woman dying twisted into words and sentences, hitching on the sound of certain letters and syllables.

    In other words, were it not for the sincere -tone,- it'd be the single -least- friendly voice in all the world.

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight winces a bit, as if he saw a bright light in The Dark that emanates from the amulet and then absorbs itself into Alice. "Nice to see someone is prepared.." he quips lowly and dryly. "But don't get /too/ prepared. When I say Death I mean... unnatural yet Natural. Not /killing/ but Death as a natural force... So lets not borrow trouble. At least not yet.." he says as he gets closer to the young woman..

While Carlines.. status.. may make her hard or uncomfortable to look at by normal people and even many of those of mystic origin, the effect is different for NOlan. Reality doesn't warp because he literally exists, and senses, on BOTH sides at once. Yes, her 'aura' for lack of a better term is very odd.. the resonance different, yet he can see it on both planes.. two grainy/partial 'images' that together actually build a better picture.. a sort of spiritual interferometry. But just because he can see her in ways others can't, how she is being both pulled into and out of The Dark at once.. well that doesn't mean it isn't a new thing for him.

"Well damn..." he whispers, surprised. "I knew I shouldn't have given up drinking.. for the day at least.." He stops a few feet a way. "I think you're a bit mixed up, Babe..." he says to her slowly, his voice taking on a strange duotone, both on the plane of the living and the plane of the dead. "What the hell are you?"

Wu has posed:
    Alice, for her part, seems to also not react quite like most would. The strangeness of the voice and person is noted, briefly analyzed, then cautiously accepted, almost as if she's now trying to categorize what Caroline actually is.
    "What my companion is trying to say is," Alice translates into "socially aware" English, "that while we appreciate the offer of assistance, we would like perhaps to learn more about who is offering it."
    The guns remain firmly in their holsters.
    Her left hand, however, pulls out a sheaf of square papers, roughly 5cm per side, which she idly flips through, reading the characters on it as if she's glancing over a comic book or something.
    She stops flipping at a certain page, leaving her finger inside as she closes over it.
    Just in case.

Shatterpoint has posed:
    Caroline's attention remains somewhat squarely on Nolan.

    "That is the million dollar question." she states, dating herself by insinuating that a million dollars is an extravagant sum of money. "I don't have anywhere near the time, and it is a bit... Need to know." Not that Caroline even -really- knows too well, herself. "It's enough to say that I'm here to help."

    Categorizing her is difficult. There's really... Nothing else like it. You'd need hours of research, or to be some sort of lofty Wizard Wondrous- or some other alliterative title- to know at a glance, or even a long look. She's a walking nightmare, every moment a mild confrontation with death. Unnerving, really, for anyone not accustomed to the idea. Thankfully, both of them probably are.

    "But if you don't need it, I can go." It's a bit of hardball, but it's pretty effective... For people who are actually in trouble. Which the pair don't consitute. Which Caroline doesn't know.

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight has to rolls his eyes and look back at Alice. "Really? I think I said what I meant very well, thank you very much." he tells her, then looks back at Caroline and shrugs. "Don't mind her.. I get the idea she thinks I can't interact with people all that well, which is ridiculous. I deal with people all the time and rarely get punched in the face..." he stops, like he was interuppted, and then looks down the street... "I did say /rarely/!!!" he yells at nothing and then pauses a moment... "You know what? I don't need comments from the peanut gallery, especially a peanut gallery full of COWARDS!" he then shakes his head.

He sighs and leans a bit more heavily on his cane like crutch as his bad hand slips into the paper bag and pulls out a can of coke. "Again, sorry..." he mutters. "And I don't have a million bucks to pay for an answer..." *POP*, he opens the can with a bit of difficulty and takes a sip before motioning to Caroline. "And I think we need to know. These are /our/ streets, after all.." he points out.. He actually included Alice. "And you are disrupting the flow of things.. Well.. disrupting them more than they already are.. Gotham is pretty chaotic, I admit." he says with a sigh.. ANother sip... He hold sout teh bag to the two women.. "Want one?" he asks.. then continues as he waits for them to act on the offer, or not.

"You taste of Death, babe. I mean Death with capitol D. You taste like some sort of undead, but not one I am familiar with. It's like you're a possessed shell, but posessed by your own spirit. And That /bothers/ me. I don't /like/ posession without consent but.. How can one possess themself? So it's confusing. So if we did need help.. and it was help from /you/... yet it was maybe help AGAINST you as well.. that would be paradoxical. So we just wanna know.. Are you a threat?" he motions to Alice. "Because if not, cool. But if so, well.. She's got these awsome guns..." He then notes Alice is holding a peice of paper and sighs.. "And... a sticky note padd too, apparently."

Wu has posed:
    "The pages only stick if I lick them," Alice corrects gently. "And I don't always have to do that; it depends on what's on the paper."
    She regards Caroline with frank curiosity. "You are unusual," she admits begrudgingly. "Not any kind of entity I'm familiar with from the Americas or from my homeland. You don't fit anything in my grimoires about Europe either. Siberian? African? South American?" Death -- with or without a capital -- doesn't seem to be getting through to her with its message.
    "But again, what my companion is saying is true. You have characteristics that would ordinarily mark you as an abomination to be dispelled ... yet you don't have them all. This leaves me a little bit confused about what to do with you."

Shatterpoint has posed:
    There's a rather pointed silence, as she's pressed by the pair. She doesn't take any drink or anything to eat, or the like. Her answers are always simple, and Nolan knows more than he should- or, rather, more than Caroline was told anyone would know, that she'd meet. Fact is, though, she's some sort of weird enigma-monstrosity. She's not undead, but she's not dead, and she's not really living, either. If they're watching, she breathes almost superfluously, and the ambient temperature is lowering slowly with each passing moment, though it's not freezing water -yet.- She isn't really a possession, but it almost looks like it is.

    Frankly, what it looks like is something impossible. Like she died, but didn't -leave.- This isn't necessarily impossible in the normal vernacular, either. It's impossible in the magical sense. Whatever -created- her, if it can be termed that- and if it can't, there's simply no term for it- was beyond beyond powerful. Like force of nature powerful.

    "I can't say." she finally states, "But what I can say is that if you need protection against me, you do not deserve it. If you need protection from me, I'm almost always in the narrows. I am not hard to find." There's a silence, then, as her attention rotates to Alice. "Ethnicity is not important. I am certain I fit the category, but I do not think that is possible, and I would not invite you to try."

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight knows quite a bit about a lot of things.. like where to find the best grave dirt, or which Locus spirits to talk to or which hot dog cart has the BEST dirty water dogs in Gotham... But it is a knowledge built of bits and peices over his life, from experiences and from deductions which aren't always correct... he doesn't have the libraries of a sorcerer surpreme, after all. He just has an intuitive... thing.. about The Dead. and even that isn't encyclopedic.. So he doesn't know what she is and is just winging it mostly. Doesn't mean he can't get some things right... Some...

But he knows it isn't /impossible/... Because she is standing there thus it must be possible. LOGIC! So whatever the hell she is.. is just something he has never encountered.

"I don't think you get to decide what we deserve or don't deserve." he says, though in a.. well.. friendly manner. "No offence and all. But if you aren't looking for trouble then we aren't either. We're just making sure you understand that we won't start it.. We'll just end it. So if you are hanging in the Narrows, don't screw around. Or else." Okay, maybe that is a bit cocky.. especially for a cripple... who lies a lot. Well, bends the truth. Sometimes. But he was BORN in The Narrows and as much as he avoids it when he can.. it's where he came from.

He looks to Alice. "One, do you read a lot of books? I mean, a LOT of them? Or is there some Magipedia I don't know about. And Two.. You LICK those things? That paper has to be what, five hundred years old! Thats disgusting.."

Wu has posed:
    "I made the paper last week," Alice says mildly. "From mulberry bark. And yes, I read a lot of books. Come visit me sometime and I'll share the less harmful ones with you."
    She turns her attention to Caroline. "I think some kind of introduction is in order. I'm Detective Alice Gulliver of the Hong Kong Police on assignment with, and deputized by, the Gotham City Police Department."
    Each named force is illustrated by a batch flipped from a lapel of her vest, right and left respectively. The Gotham badge is silver, not gold.
    "That's my day job, so to speak. My calling and official title otherwise is..."
    A *very* pained expression crosses her face.
    "The August Wu of the Coral Island. I'm sworn to and trained to protect humanity from the forces of the underworld."
    A bit of iron enters her voice.
    "You do not refer to me by that full title. If you must refer to my calling, it is The Wu. Nothing more."
    Her jaw clenches a moment.
    "And really, you must understand, that with both of us sworn to (or falling into) defending humanity, we get a little edgy when something dangerous arrives that we're not sure of. Please forgive our hasty and perhaps ... aggressive wording."

Shatterpoint has posed:
    "Words have not bothered me in over fifty years." she says, looking between the two. At no point has her voice become more palatable, and at no point has it been anything other than utterly gravelike. She watches the flipped badges, listens to Nolan's statements, and merely offers an acknowledging nod.

    "That's all fine." is the best she has to offer. Caroline has no real titles, anymore. She does what she does, and maybe one day someone will acknowledge it, though whether it'll be something she cares for is another thing entirely. Either way, she has sort of determined that the conversation is a little circular. She doesn't seem willing to introduce herself, though whether that's some feigned or aggressive quality of mystery, or just because Caroline introducing herself is not necessarily worth -anyone's- time, is unknown.

    As she starts to walk away, she speaks up. "You'll want to be aware of the local gangs. They are arming up. I am correcting that."

Deadwatch has posed:
Nolan Voight blinks at Alice a moment. "You.. made your own paper." he says, very slowly, as if trying to wrap his head around that. "You made... You know what, forget I asked. You need way better hobbies.." he says. "But I will take you up on the books.. And before you ask, no they don't need to be full of pictures." Because he is sure she probably thinks he is illiterate.. Which he isn't.

He looks back to Caroline, sips his coke.. then swallows and nods. "Right, So.. She's 'The Wu'. I know I know, the whole title sounds much more impressive but eh, it's her choice."

"So I guess while we're being polite... I'm Nolan. Nolan Voight. And thats about all you need from me. I ain't got no fancy titles." He does have one, actually, but thats sort of a secret which he doesn't share.. An identity he rarely dons, at least not for a year now, since the last swath of dissapearances of gotham gang members.

"You really aren't a lady of many words.. 'Thats all fine'? Thats it. No introductions? I mean, I know we came off a bit harshly but we DID try to make up for it.. a bit anyways." he bites his lower lip. "Fifty years... thats a bit of change, innit? I mean, you look good.. well.. You don't look fifty.. or older.."

He then frowns more as she just turns and starts walking away. "Wait.. what? No no no! Don't /do/ that. Don't get involved with norms! You'll bring The damned Flying Mouse down on us! Let him handle the gangbangers!"

He gahs as she continues walking and looks to Alice. "I don't think she's listening! She's rude and ignoring us and we need to find out what the HELL she is and she's going to do something stupid like attack normal people, even if they deserve it and are criminals, and then The Bat will get involved and..."

Wu has posed:
    "...and then the GCPD will come in and cart off the bodies without risking their own members," Alice finishes. "I don't see the problem, personally." Considering the empathy he's seen her show to ghosts in the past, her harshness here when dealing with the living is ... different.
    "Goodbye, Miss," she calls out after Caroline. "Enjoy the hunt."
    She turns her attention back to Nolan. "Hobbies? I have no hobbies. I hold two jobs, both of them 24-hour ones." Something resembling mischief sparks in her eyes. "Thankfully I have worked out the whole four simultaneous days in one revolution of the cubic Earth thing or I would be dead by now."
    The right hand almost sprouts a single card. This is not her police cards like the last time.
    "That's my address, if you're serious about the books. Call in advance. It's not always safe to enter."