Owner	Pose
Ekaterina Vespucci	It is quite late at night and Ekaterina Vespucci is just finishing up the work that she has done at the soup kitchen she runs and volunteers at. It is close to midnight and she is making her way back to her car which is a fairly humble hatch back. She is wearing a very baggy set of winter wear and a beanie making it hard to get a bead on her figure. She is short standing at around 5"1 and fairly pretty with an angelic expressive face with large cornflower blue eyes. This demure even aggresively pretty little girl has a secret. She is supposedly a notorious Underworld figure. The Contessa some call her. Lady Artifice others do. And here she is no security detail fumbling with her keys.
Rorschach	Rorschach would be easy to miss in the alley. He has his hat pulled down and his face is masked, the latex clinging to his features and leaving them eerie and unformed, ink swimming on bone. He watches her go by and wonders. Wonders what a girl like that's doing in a place like this. He'd heard there was a dangerous woman here, some sort of crimelord. He'd hardly credit it, but the information seems solid. THe girl looks to him like a potential victim. "Dangerous streets," he says, his voice breathy and husky from the shadows.
Ekaterina Vespucci	"I can see you out there," the young woman says her back turned. "Why don't you come out of the shadows so we can talk." She turns around looking straight at Rorschach. This is despite the dark and his skills at concealment. Ekaterina or Kat as she is called is famous for her large alluring cornflower blue eyes. But they are not just for show. She has abilities realted to them and making out things in perfect darkness let alone these conditions is one of them.
Rorschach	Rorschach steps forward just a little bit, his hands thrust into the pockets of his trenchcoat. "Good eyes. Bad judgment. Some things in the dark you don't want to see," he says, scratchy and uneven in tone. "You know anything about the Contessa?" he asks, never imagining, even with her unexpected gifts, that she might be the woman in question.
Ekaterina Vespucci	"Sono la Contessa Ekaterina Vespucci," the young woman does a curtsey as she introduces herself. "I think I've also been called Lady Artifice. But just about every employee I have has taken to calling me Kat. Titles are an embarrassing anachronism no?" This cute little thing looks to be late teens or early twenties. "I believe you are Rorschach? What is it you want?" This is a crimelord? And she works at a charity soup kitchen? And drives a fairly rubbishy car?
Rorschach	Rorschach cocks his head, an eerie gesture to most although it might not affect the young woman so poised before him. "Yes," he says. "There are those who fear you. Serve you. I would know why. And I would know how deep into the muck you trail your skirts. These are dirty waters to swim in, Contessa. How much of the pollution is yours?"
Ekaterina Vespucci	Kat laughs, "Boy you are making alot of metaphors there - murky waters? Don't call me Contessa call me Kat if you call me anything. All I can say is don't believe everything you hear. How dangerous do I look? I haven't successfully competed a pushup in my life. I own a private security firm and I have clashed with a number of syndicates so comes the idea that I am this big bad crimeboss. I have done nothing to disabuse anyone of that notion because it keeps the wolves from my door. I guess that will all change if I get dragged into court. But for the moment the misconception is useful."
Rorschach	Rorschach shrugs softly, "Appearances can be deceiving. Learned that the hard way. Sometimes you have to peel back the skin to see what's underneath," he says. "You play the part of a criminal, then? For profit? And I don't care about courts. Corrupt. For sale. Degraded. Can't be trusted. Justice is pain and fear and repentance."
Ekaterina Vespucci	"Everyone's a damn criminal in this society Rorschach - have you seen the size of the tax code? Every taxpayer has violated it. It is impossible not to. Whether or not you go to jail depends on the whimsy of a mean spirited government employee. I just keep clear of human trafficking, drugs, extortion and fencing. Can't say I wont mess with firearms law. Not going to take a ordinance disadvantage against people who don't care about the rules just because Uncle Sam says so. If you doubt me come knock on the door of my compound some random day and I'll let you in. I already let Frank Castle in just so he'd stop surveilling me and go away." Kat makes her case. "And I lose money playing the part of the criminal. Mostly I just use my muscle to keep my legitimate businesses from being extorted. I own commercial galleries in just about every major city in the US and I have a club here in New York Aeterna which I mostly use as a channel to sell and display art. Selene Gallio was over there chewing me out about how it was nearly empty during a weeknight yeeesh." Selene Gallio was the notorious Black Queen of the Hellfire club. Kat thought Rorscach would surely know of her if he was avigilante worth his salt.
Rorschach	Rorschach wouldn't let it be known one way or the other if he had. "You talk a lot," he says at the end of her diatribe, then stares at her for a long moment before he speaks. "The Punisher is hard to appease. If you're still alive, you must have proved yourself to him. That or you're lying. That's always a possibility. The world teems with forked tongues. But, as you say...I don't have anything on you. And the things you mention - the trafficking, the drugs, the slavery - that's what I avenge."
Ekaterina Vespucci	"I'm not a fighter so I have to have something going for me. Talk is what I have. I speak alot of languages. I prefer diplomacy over violence. But I am no fool so I have my muscle. I just try and keep them out of the way of the likes of people like yourself and Castle. I actually kmow most of these guys families. I met them at our annual ofice picnic." Annual office picnics for a crimelord? "Anyway you do you. I'm not going to stop you stopping the trafficking, drugs and slavery so long as you let me sell my art."
Rorschach	Rorschach pauses, "Art?" he asks. The blobs of ink in his mask seem to squirm across his features, alive and eerie. He's stockstill, uncomfortably so. He has no particular use for diplomacy but the woman might speak the truth. If she lies, he'll find out soon enough. The truth always comes out, one way or another. Usually through violence. "Keeping your men out of way will be good for their health."
Ekaterina Vespucci	"I am an artist - I run galleries and sell art - like I said. I even teach Art History at the local community college." This is apart from running a security firm and a club etc etc. Kat was a busy girl. "You don't believe me come to my class." As for the implied threat, "Yes let's not tread on eachothers toes.
Rorschach	Rorschach pushes back slowly into the shadows again, "I don't tread. I stomp," he said. "Maybe see each other again. Maybe not." he says. He turns and goes to hunt for better prey. "Be good." he says simply.