Scene #6371: P:WtWM - An Off-The-Books Talk

Owner	Pose
Janine Liberi	Alberichstadt Hospital is a pretty good one, but it absolutely ascribes to German brutalist aesthetic. The walls are stark white and bare, the lights are fluorescent (thankfully all fresh bulbs though) and the doctors and nurses would probably wear suits under their scrubs and coats if they could. The call August got (and presumably told others about), leads them to a room on the second floor. Someone is sitting outside it, jiggling his legs anxiously, someone who stands bolt upright when everyone arrives. "Hey! You actually came, damn. Thanks man." He grabs up August's hand in a shake, before looking at his companions. "Damn, does graduating from Drachenblatt come compliment with a couple of honies?" He shakes the hands of Rebecca and Kotone as well, before introducing himself. "Detective Iman Abdul Mantiq, glad to make your acquaintances," he says with a wink before waving them inside the room he was sitting outside. Inside lies Karl Vernunft, hooked up to a steadily beeping heartrate monitor and an IV drip. A nurse is tending to him, but Iman sidles up to her. "Hey beautiful. Mind giving me and my friends a few minutes with him? They came all the way over to see him in case he..." Crocodile tears well up, drawing a sympathetic smile from the nurse before she leaves the room and closes the door behind her. Iman is immediately all business, taking a seat and looking at the three. "What's going on? Why is my partner down and out with a sword wound? Why isn't he waking up? I always thought his batshit investigation of you and yours was just that Kohler. But too much weird stuff is happening around Alberichstadt lately. Either I'm going as crazy as he is, or he was making sense. Which is it?"
August Kohler	August did indeed tell others about the call. Backup is appreciated, after all. When he steps forward, he's in a winter jacket, sleeves covering his burn scars, unarmed because he's not an idiot, though there's a mirrored bracelet on his right wrist. As Iman makes a joke about the two girls, August just shrugs. "Drachenblatt did a lot for me, though you're a little bit off the mark." As they get led into the hospital room, and Iman tricks the nurse... August steps forward and glances over Karl, even with Iman's suspicions. Sword to the chest. August immediately realizes when and where it came from. But this is difficult. Iman is a mundane. He's just a cop, who might not be able to handle this all. But... He seems genuinely worried about his partner. And if August was in the same position, he knows he'd want to know too. So he sighs, and raps his knuckles against the mirrored bracelet. "You sure you want to know? You can't go back once I tell you." If/when he gets an affirmative or similar, August continues. For a moment, the twenty-year old's voice goes deathly serious, and he speaks as if he has the wisdom of someone either far older, or far more experienced than he has any right to be. "Your partner was shot with a sword by King Gilgamesh of Uruk, from another world, during the attack on Drachenblatt by superpowered gangbangers who had connections to our humanity's collective unconsciousness. These two lovely ladies are also from different worlds. I'm cutting straight to business because this is serious and I feel guilty. If you don't believe me, that's fine. But I can't say any more than I just did, without you accepting what I've already said." And then, August takes a step back. He's distancing himself from Iman in case he goes to do anything risky, or moves to arrest him for something.
Rebecca Chambers	Long time no see. At least that's what the regulars would say when they saw Rebecca here. But Rebecca's not in the mood for chatter or catching up. That's for another time and another place. Even though she's been out of action for a while, she's nonetheless just as active and ready as ever. She may have been gone for a while, but some things just don't change. With her hands at her sides, Rebecca walks alongside the others. She is glad that August told her about the call since she's always ready to assist in any way she can. She keeps her gaze forward and doesn't stop to look at anyone or anything until she reaches the second floor and is greeted by Detective Mantiq. She gives a slight smile as she shakes hands with the detective before introducing herself. "Officer Rebecca Chambers," Rebecca replies to the detective with a formal salute, before looking to get a look at Karl. She smiles a little, glad to see that he's being cared for quite well, but the smile fades when the crocodile tears are brought up, and she looks away to shake her head and roll her eyes. After that, she looks to August and listens as he explains what happened. Once August is done speaking, she notices him stepping back, and she bites her lip a little, wondering what might possibly happen next.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone had also been contacted as well and was a little surprised she was, still she was glad to help and she was dressed fairly subdued for the most part jut the jacket outfit she normally wears. She had been glad for the lack of metal detectors or that would have got some serious questions asked of her. She'll move to shake the hand of the officer. "Hello Officer, I'm Kotone Yamakawa." She doesn't flash her badge yet given the nature of this world, though this officer here has been poking about enough to know something is up. She also doesn't seem bothered by his words towards her either. The Panzer cat is out of the bag now, as her identity as an offworlder is revealed. She does not say more waiting on the answer of Detective Iman Abdul Mantiq., Though the revelation that Gilgamesh did this leaves her staring for a moment. She had mixed feelings on the King of Heroes for some time, and this is true is going to be one hell of a mess. Given what a golden boy Gil seemed to be she might be fighting uphill on this one. For now she needs to wait and see what the answer will be after all if the Dectrive chooses to turn away? It's his call and she will not rob him of that choice.
Janine Liberi	The answer is given, and predictably, Iman just stares hard at August with a blank look on his face. The air is pregnant for a long moment, but when August tries to back off, Iman lunges to snatch at August's wrist. He doesn't do anything, but keeps a thumb pressed against the vein for a long moment, giving the boy a cold look. "You were startled for a moment, but you settled back down quick. You're probably either crazy or telling the truth." He backs off again and crosses his arms. "I'll assume the latter for now. So why did King Gilgamesh stab my partner? And why are these outworlders even here? Is this an invasion?"
August Kohler	As August's vein is grabbed, August moves to pull away when he gets a chance, and Iman will feel startling strength for someone smaller and younger than him. August is holding back, even - he's stronger than a normal human now, though he doesn't let that off usually. "Why not both?" He says, dryly, in response. "The world's under masquerade. People don't know about the supernatural, or other worlds. Presumably, he thought that stopping a cop from witnessing it would help, though he's a huge asshole. I'm not interested in pursuing him for reasons, but needless to say, it's not an invasion. People usually travel between worlds. If our world wasn't 'special', we'd probably have plenty of them meeting with us, just visiting. But humanity is afraid of the unknown...and what we're afraid of is important." It's a little cryptic, and August is okay with that. He doesn't care if he comes off insane. "I work with a group of people, such as these two, to protect this world from monsters. Jungian monsters known as Shadows. Yes, Jung was right about almost everything, it's all literal. I can show you, right now, what I can do, if you don't believe me. It won't hurt anyone or threaten anyone. But I have a question for you, detective." August steps forward, again, and looks up at Iman. He wants to know. "How far are you willing to go to help your partner and protect this city you serve?"
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa had been at a loss for the moment about the revelation dealing with Gilgamesh's behaviour. The Detective makes his choice and she relaxes a bit. "It's not an invasion I stumbled into what was going on several years ago and I have been attempting to help Mr. Kohler ever since." Kotone pauses for a moment setting a hand on August's shoulder. She'll attempt to remote hack any cameras about where they are so this doesn't end up on file. Once she's done, she'll just give August a nod. "You can do it now." She looks to the Detective "It's true I have fought the shadows for some time now helping where I can. I'm part of an off-world organization known as the Paladins and as much as it might complicate things so is the King of Urk. I often do not see eye to eye with him on certain issues." Better she got /that/ shit out of the way even if it tanks things, better to keep it honest than build things on a lie or withhold information.
Rebecca Chambers	"Same," Rebecca replies to Kotone in a somewhat friendly tone, but the fact she's saying little means that she's more intent on focusing on business at the moment. She turns to face August and Iman, watching what goes on between the two of them with a slightly heightened sense of alertness. The moment Iman snatches at August's wrist, Rebecca instinctively reaches for her service weapon, but then she sees that August has everything under control, and she pauses before bringing her hands in front of her again, albeit with folded arms. Calling her an outworlder? Now that's a new one, but she's willing to brush it off. All Rebecca can do for the time being is stare with slightly narrowed eyes at Iman, starting to become a little wary of him after what just happened. Once August finishes speaking, Rebecca adds, "Calling then Jungian seems like an understatement, but that's just my personal opinion. Nevertheless, like the others here, I, too, fight these Shadows and I can say they are definitely very dangerous." When August asks just how far Imab will go to protect his partner and the city, Rebecca's eyes widen a little. She knows a lot about serving and protecting, but asking Iman a question like that could easily imply doing something extreme, or at least questionable. She looks at Iman, waiting to hear his answer.
Janine Liberi	Thankfully, the room itself has no cameras. Privacy and all that. Further, Iman doesn't have anything wireless on him, not even a phone. It seems he genuinely wanted to just know what's going on, and didn't set this up as a sting. Iman is visibly surprised when August breaks his grip so easily. He opens and closes his hand experimentally as August challenges him; how far is he willing to go to defend others. He glances at Rebecca and Kotone as they corroborate August; Shadows are dangerous. "Danger, huh?..." His thumb slips under his collar and tugs, producing a chain that has a couple of dog tags hanging from it. "I know about danger. Twitchy trigger fingers, a car in the street blowing up, insurgents trying to turn your town into their outpost. But I know the most important thing about it." He closes a fist around the tags and cracks a cocky smile. "Danger is everywhere, but you can't let it beat you. Confront it with a smile, and never let it get you down. That's the way I've lived, and I'm not about to stop. Count me in."
August Kohler	As Iman shows his dog tags and explains his past, August immediately decides not to tell him his Multiversal affiliation, as he glances confused at Rebecca's statements and nods to Kotone. "I'm not going to summon it. I need a mirror for something else." Looking around the room, his eyes move for the bathroom door, and August heads in that direction. "Follow me. You can trust me." When August gets in the bathroom... He steps over to the mirror, and lifts back one of his sleeves. His right arm is /heavily/ burn-scarred, but there's never been reports of this kid being involved in a fire. August takes off his glove, and moves to touch the mirror. And in the end...it ripples. The mirror turns into a portal, revealing a dark forest of glass trees, with yellow eyes on the treeline. August keeps the portal open as long as Iman needs to believe it. If he moves to touch it, well, his hand moves through the mirror, after all. "This is the Mirror Forest. It's a part of humanity's Collective Unconsciousness, and is where weird stuff happened." Closing the portal soon after..."If your partner was investigating me long-term, he must have had some clues, or at least a super good hunch. I fight in there. We all do. The time I was wanted was related to it. A lot of things were." Iman might sense distrust of him, sort of. Not because of him personally, but because he's a cop, as him talking about his warrant brings some problems out, emotionally.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa did find there were no cameras in the room. It was best to be on the safe side, she respects the need to keep the shadows and the like under wraps here. She just wouldn't go as far as Gil would. He seems to take thing well enough so far and he does make a point about danger. "Right, here we go." She'll fall in with the others as they head to the bathroom she knows he's likely off the mirror and she looks at August's burns she cringes a bit at it. Then she sees how August is showing Iman just what's up with the forest a really good way to do it. "Just don't fully go in, but you can see there it is. This is the Forest."
Rebecca Chambers	Iman had best not try anything again, as Rebecca's watching him with a stern look, although her hands are nowhere near her handgun. She narrows one eye slightly before looking to August and the others, watching as they head into the bathroom. It's only then that she realizes what they intend to do, and she steps in behind them as best as she can, watching as they show Iman what's truly going on. "That's just a sample of what's beyond there," Rebecca comments. "Trust me, you don't want to go in unprepared." She's been there many times to know what it's not exactly a friendly place.
Janine Liberi	Iman goes over to the bathroom immediately. Everyone has been straight with him thus far so he has no reason to assume it's a trick. He stares at August's charred arm as it comes out. "Trying to imitate Liberi are you?" he asks with a wry smile, only to flinch as said arm is plunged right through the mirror's glass to render it a portal. He puts his own arm through it, before trying to pry the mirror off the wall. Clearly testing to see if this is some kind of trick. But when his checks fail him, he just shrugs and clambers right on through. "So, this is what it looks like inside people's brains? Thought it'd be emptier!" He laughs at his own joke and puts his hands on his hips. "So how the hell did you find out about all this?"
August Kohler	"Don't go in too far, I don't know this area." August says (but doesn't discourage him too much) from clambering forward, ignoring him about the arm. If this is what the guy needs to understand...so be it. There's benefits to having a cop on their side, after all. August climbs in afterwards, pulling out his phone for light. "We should only remain here in a second. You know, aforementioned monsters." If Iman's fine with it, August will lead them back out shortly afterwards, while explaining. "The Persona Game, you've heard the rumors, Bloody Mary but without the ghosts, right?" August pockets his phone after checking some inconsequential text messages. "Well, before we made it stop, if you played it as per the rules, you'd get kidnapped, thrown into a death forest, and if you survived the big bad Pale Wolf, well, you got a Persona. Mine had fire powers, but also a weakness to fire." That's a sort-of explanation for the burns, off-handedly. And then, August gets grave again. "People have died in here. Any missing kids cases you have, they're linked to this forest. The weird kids who come home acting strange after being missing for a while? They're changelings. Fakes. Monsters in sheep's clothing. There's a monster of a woman named the Black Queen trying to destroy the world, and your partner would have probably stumbled upon more information sooner or later." Once they're finally out of the forest, whether the talk happened inside or outside, August moves to exit the bathroom, hopefully no nurse having walked in while they were in there, and say something. "We could get healers, but it'd bring too much attention. But I don't think he's going to die. He has too much willpower, and in my experience, that's all you need to survive." A pause. "You're taking this well, though. I knew it was a good idea to tell you."
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa watches as they head through and she follows right after the rest of the group as she does so. It doesn't take long before Kotone is looking far more alert and looking about to keep overwatch while August explains things to Iman. She seems to be on alert but not panicking she is used to this and she frowns at the truth of all the lives cut short by this place. "We might be able to sneak something in later to help him but we'd want something that might be slow acting rather than rapid." SHe notes as she keeps a lookout for shadows which might try to jump the gathering. "Do you have any other questions?"
Janine Liberi	Iman indeed does not hang around long, but he does stop to quickly snatch up a glass branch from the ground on his way back. "Persona Game huh..." he muses to himself as his feet touch the ground of the bathroom once more. "Well, I can't exactly call the case 'closed' on your word Kohler. If we had evidence to present to imply foul play, or preferably a body to return to their families, that would be good. But-" The heart rate monitor begins to spike. Iman is at Karl's side immediately. "Karl?! Hey, come on man!" Nurses begin to flood the room and try to usher every one out!
Rebecca Chambers	"To be honest," Rebecca comments with a slight frown, "It's a lot more than just a game." She sighs and shakes her head. "If this were a game, I can't imagine how much controversy it would be stirring. It'd make the controversy from Mortal Kombat seem trivial or something. I mean-" Just then the heart monitor begins to change, and Rebecca notices. "Oh, no!" Knowing that the nurses need to get in fast, Rebecca exits the room quickly before turning to look at the room with a look of desperation and fear in her eyes. It's true Rebecca is a field medic, but she's definitely not a nurse. All she can do is silently hope that the nurses can do the right thing.
August Kohler	August sighs. "Of course you can't." He seems to have expected that. When the heart rate monitor spikes, though, and they're ushered out, August leaves without a problem. He hopes he made the right decision tonight, but...who knows? He'll have to find out and live with the consequences.
Kotone Yamakawa	Kotone Yamakawa will find things went better than she hoped but when the heat rate of Iman's partner spikes and they are ushered out it's time to go. She thinks about thing for a moment and she will leave Iman with a contact number for her, in the event he has need to contact her.
Janine Liberi	Iman waves everyone off as the nurses tend to Karl before retaking his seat. It's an hour later before they emerge and explain what happened. "I've never seen anything like it. He just... had some kind of seizure, but once it stopped, he's awake. We ran some quick tests, no signs of brain damage, but we'll get him in the MRI machine to make sure. He wants to see you." Iman re-enters the room, and finds Karl gingerly nursing a glass of water. "Man... you spend a couple months asleep and then just wake up abruptly. Did your new patch finally install?" Iman asks. He's smiling, even though his eyes are watering a bit. "Shut up. August Kohler was here wasn't he?" Iman pauses, and rubs the back of his head. "Well... yeah. Did you hear him talking or something?" Karl stares at Iman for a long moment and replies. "I had a hunch. Tell me everything he told you."