A closer look at the trio revealed that all of them had some variation of a tophat tattoo on their personage, an image very similar to one graffiti'd on the wall of the alleyway the group had found themselves on. Though Bryce had been far from naked, no tattoos had been visible where his custodial uniform had revealed skin.
Looking around, Rani did not see magical circles on the foreheads of any of the people around them, not the other customers, not the woman who looked suspiciously like Christina Provost guarding the alleyway -- though in a beat cop's uniform rather than that of a lieutenant's. Not even the rabbit-man Shiro had had one. And while there were a few more odd people hurrying for shelter from the rain -- a woman dressed in medieval armor as well as a man who seemed to be turning the rain into steam as soon as it touched him -- the mark seemed to remain exclusive to the three monster hunters.
Whistling cheerily, the Hatter who had been pocketing cash sauntered up to his companions to settle their argument. "Pineapple, no pineapple, who cares? Get'em both! After all, Hatters eat free here. Least they can do seeing as we takes such good care of 'em." He gave the waitress a less-than-nice smile as he flopped into a seat and propped his dirty shoes up on the chair across from him. The waitress gave a quick nod, pointedly avoiding looking at the furniture she would no doubt have to wipe down later as she hurried off to put their order in. "Oh, and bring us some beers while you're at it!" he called at her retreating back.
"Whatever the mark is, it seems to be unique to us - I guess it marks us out as being from...elsewhere?" She watched the Hatters for a moment. "Can we do something about them? I hate people who abuse service workers." Focusing on others helped her forget the whole 'I'm dead and cut off from magic' issue.
Oscar nods at Rani and moves to confirm that his gun is still in his holster in case for when things turn messy, only to remember that the version of Oscar Hallward he inhabits now, doesn't carry a gun. He picks up and examines the cane that he's been carrying around instead. He tugs at the knobbed end in his hand, and (as he expected) finds that he is holding the handle of a sword still mostly sheathed inside the rest of the cane.
"So eccentric," he mutters to Rani and Ahmad as if they heard his thoughts. He puts his domino mask and his top hat back on and moves to address the gangers, walking forward as he talks.
"Hello! It seems to me that if you are actual defenders of this pizzeria, you have a counter-productive way of going about it."
To make sure he has their attention, Oscar swiftly pulls the chair supporting the feet of the last Hatter to sit down away, sets it aside, and stands in its place.
The shift as all attention in the place moves to Oscar was practically palpable. "Who are you? One of the Hearts?" The woman scowled.
The man whose feet had been so rudely disturbed squinted up at Oscar, responding for him. "Nah, Boss said she straightened out with them whose territory this is. So what? You some grandpa tryin' ta show his kiddies he's still relevant even with his bum knee?" He kicked at the cane Oscar was holding for emphasis as his two cronies chuckled.
"Well, gramps I suggest you try to find something a bit softer to chew yer gums on." He lifted the front on his shirt slightly to show off the pistol he had tucked into his waistband. As if on cue, the two others drew their own handguns. They weren't pointing them at anyone and from their cocky grins, it was obvious they assumed this show of power would be enough to get Oscar and any other would-be heroes to back down.
"Firing your weapons seems awfully foolish considering the city's finest are right across the street. I wonder what they're investigating? Perhaps they'll wonder if any trouble right across the street is related? It's interesting to think about."
Oscar rests the cane that the ganger kicked at against his shoulder as he talks. He tries to focus on the situation in front of him, but he also wonders at the stray thought that's noticed how his speech pattern is wildly different than when he was back "home."
The momentary flash of fear that Rani felt when saw the guns was brief and weak, a pulse of old emotion that her new body simply didn't share. There was nothing for a bullet to hit if she couldn't eat pizza. "Look, no one's impressed your waving a gun around. And honestly, you shouldn't be either. Do you want to be respected, or do you want the piece to be respected?"
The trio gave Oscar a blank look before bursting out laughing. "Oh man, you really are wet behind the ears, ain't ya?"
"Yeah, you really think those pigs are gonna risk a turf war with us over some nobodies? Hell, it was already probably one of ours that one in."
"Or if it ain't, the Boss'll be wanting to know who was operating on her territory without her say so."
As Rani put in her two cents, the male cronie's face flashed annoyance. "Maybe I give you a closer look at my piece, eh? Then you show me some respect."
The woman shook her head at him and stood up, smiling. "Or maybe we tell those cops over there it was you who killed that stiff. Hand you in. Maybe get a nice reward. I mean, we all saw you rush over here right before the pigs showed up, right?" She looked at the table next to them, who gave her a puzzled look. She rolled her eyes and turned to point her gun meaningfully at them. "Right?" They quickly started nodding. The group had arrived before this trio of thugs had shown up, so it was unclear if the woman knew her words were technically true. What was clear was that she didn't much care one way or the other about the truth of the matter.
The leader stood up. "Now, are you going to be nice little boys and girls and apologize? Or are we going to have to do this the hard way?"
The one remaining gang member quickly stood up as well, cracking his neck. "Please choose the hard way. I could use the exercise."
Ignoring the leader, Oscar looks over at the people the next table over.
"I hope you're enjoying your meal. It's getting late; perhaps you should get a to-go box?"
Ahmad sighs, stands up, calmly walks to a wall with a light switch, and then stares at the Hatter who cracked his neck.
“You can skip the exercise, it won’t really help stopping that bullet coming right through your left eye in two days. I am sorry, but your partner will move on and live a better life than if you had remained alive.” He turns the lights off and yells to the other people inside: “if you run away now they won’t really remember your faces. If one of you stays behind they’ll use you as human shields.”
Rani sighed as the gun was pointed at her face, or at least the general area where a human face would be. She really, really wanted to be nice about this, but there was a little nugget in the back of her mind about how to make these jokers sit up and take note. "I have had a very bad night. You would not belief how rough if I even had time and energy to tell you, so let me explain this quickly - there are scarier things than a gun here." Rani leaned in, long black hair masking her face from her allies view, and the restaurant at large. She felt...something...happen to her face, something the three thugs could see all too well. "Would you like to explain some more?" Her voice sounded hollow, cold to her own ears.
"I hope you're enjoying your meal. It's getting late; perhaps you should get a to-go box?"
Your target can choose either to take the status or...
"Yeah, it's called our boss." The thug Rani was talking to sneered. But despite the bravado he put into his voice, his eyes kept darting around from his tats to exit to the civilians, or rather witnesses in the pizza joint. The guy was starting to get spooked, but given Rani had made sure only they had seen that thing, which had clearly just been a trick of the dim light, it would look pretty bad if three armed gang members backed down to some unarmed civilians. Especially bad if word got back to the gang's leader. If Rani wanted the gang to leave, most likely she and her companions would have to make a show of backing down first so they could save face.
As the trio seemed momentarily distracted, the bystanders started edging away.
On a 7-9, choose 1:
- You take cover or secure a superior position. If you don’t choose this, they can impose a status on you. If they are a PC, its tier=their Power.
- You get them good or get many of them (+1 tier).
- You control the collateral damage.
- You hold the target’s attention, if possible.
- You gain the upper hand. Take 1 Juice.
"Your boss?" Rani asked curiously, and smiled. "Think worse. Far worse." Well, the expression involved her mouth's corners quirking up and her teeth being visible, at least.