Detective Hall's Office

I snapped awake, yanking my head off my desk and looking around. Nothing seemed to be out of place. I sighed a brief breath of relief before scolding myself, making note not to fall asleep again and to remember to get coffee to prevent it. I gathered up the papers on my desk and got back to it, cracking down on the slew of things taking up my focus.

Meow_(ˇωˇ」∠)_

I peered over my desk, spotting a... cat laying on the floor. I opened a drawer on my desk and dug around in it before grabbing out a kitty treat and tossing it to the cat. "Eat up. Dunno how you found your way in here, but you deserve the treat for doing so."

A weird rift with eyes that blink appear somewhat at the door of an office(?), and what seems to be eyes blink in it

(Sorry for the intrusion)

(don't apologize, happy to have you :>

I cocked my brow as a rift tore open towards the door of my office, prompting me to reach inside my coat and wrap my hand around the grip of a pistol slotted into a shoulder holster hidden under said jacket. I slowly drew it out, keeping my eyes trained on the rift in case anything decided to leap out. "What in the fresh hell is that..?"

A blonde and seemingly pale man steps through the gap, dressed in a dark violet suit and a white shirt

“Ah, another place- Oh, dear me~”

“Did I happen to intrude on something, sir?” The man asks, an air of both elegance and death dance around this person. But there wasn’t really a need to fight this person.

I squinted at the man who just stepped through god-knows-what onto the floor of my office, gripping my pistol a bit tighter before exhaling and sliding the pistol back under my jacket. "Nothing important." I continued to stare at the man before pointing at the place he just stepped from. "What's the whole deal with.. that? This some Half-Life bullshit?"

“Oh my- Sorry, just something I can do~” I say in a whimsical tone, before pulling out a frilly umbrella.* “Don’t feel like explaining it much but it’s my ability to manipulate boundaries~”

“Ah, I haven’t introduced myself! I’m Kaio Yakumo~. But please just call me Kaio~.”

“Might I get your name, sir~? Would be rude of me to not know who I’m speaking to~.”

"Right.." I slowly stood from my chair, leaning forward over the desk a bit and sticking out my hand to the man. "Detective Reagan Hall. Any reason why you've specifically chosen my office to rip your way through 'boundaries' to get into?"

“Oh, I’m just wandering about right now~ No particular reason. But I’ll keep it in mind that you’re a detective.”

“Like doing this roulette of places, it’s quite exciting.”

"You find almost getting shot exciting?" I shook my head, retracting my hand after failing to receive a handshake and sitting myself back down into my chair. "Whatever floats your boat, I suppose."

“I’ve faced more… dangerous things before~. Especially a knife to my neck~.”

I clap my hands, my eyes sparkling a bit as I took a chair. “Would you like some tea and a nice chat~?”

"Tea, eh?" I tapped a finger to my chin for a moment. "You got any coffee? Could use a spot of that at the moment. Besides, I'm not much of a tea-drinker."

“I do have some coffee, but it’s instant and Oreo-flavored.”

Snapping my fingers, I pull out a cup of coffee that smelled like caramel and a cup of coffee that smelled like oreo.

Well, pull it out of a rift from the snap.

“Which flavor? Caramel or Oreo?”

I eyed the cups as he slipped them out of another one of his rifts, wondering if I should be even the least bit careful about drinking the coffee that came from it. I shrugged it off and pointed to the one that smelled like caramel. "That one."

Placing the caramel coffee in front of Reagan, I cross my legs as I sipped on my Oreo coffee, crumbs of the cookie floating in the hot coffee.

“So, detective, may I ask how many clients or cases you get~?”

I held the cup up to my nose, taking a small sniff before bringing it to my lips and taking a sip of my own. "I get plenty. Finishing up some paperwork for the last few I've done while making strides in a big one I've got currently."

“Oh? A big case, I hear?” I’m intrigued in this big case of this person. My eyes sparkle a bit at the last comment.

“Don’t worry about the coffee, it’s not dangerous or poisoned~.”

I giggled as you sniffed the cup.

"Can never be too careful, eh? Especially when taking coffee from a flamboyantly dressed stranger who just came out of thin air." I took another sip of the coffee before pointing a thumb back over my shoulder at the wall-mounted pinboard behind me. "Take a look for yourself. Bunch of disappearances that all turn up dead after exactly three days. Autopsies show they were all killed the same way."

*I place my coffee on the chair, and walked over to the board. “How exactly were they killed, if I may ask?”

Analyzing the board closely, inspecting every detail as I awaited my answer from the detective.

"Clean cuts through the cartoid arteries. Bodies turn up three days later missing organs." I spun around in my chair to watch him as he looked over the board, making sure he didn't rearrange anything. "What makes you so curious about it?"

“I just like learning about humans. But that does seem quite a deadly way. I don’t know what they’d exactly do with those missing organs from the corpses.”

"Sell them." I sighed, taking another sip from the cup and setting it down on my desk as I stood to take my place next to him. "Any organized thing like this is done usually in the pursuit of money. Either that or the person or people we're dealing with here just have a thing for body-snatching."

“Hmmm… I suppose. I just thought it was for building a Jiang-shi or something like that.”

I go back to my coffee, pouring a bit of milk into it.

"Nope. Just some sickos trying to make some money in the least conventional way possible." I sat back down in my chair, spinning around to grab my cup and taking another sip from it. "Funny thing is, they front as drug dealers to get their marks. Pick out the people who haven't done drugs before, target them since their systems are nice and clean. You'd figure they should just sell the drugs and be done with it if they've got the capability to be this organized."

“Hmmm… I suppose so.”

“Kind of want to put an end to it. Just violates the laws of the dead.”

"Who wouldn't want this to stop? That's why I've taken it up. It's sick stuff that I don't approve of." I leaned back in my seat, finishing up my coffee and setting the cup down on my desk again. "After I get some things sorted I'm planning to go back out again. Hopefully wrap this up sooner rather than later."

“Mind I could help then? Sooner it’s done, the better the dead can rest.”

"How do you suppose you'd go about doing that? Helping, I mean." I crossed my arms over each other, raising my brow as I started to stare at the man again. "Genuine question. What help can you offer?"

“Well now… My ability of manipulation is more than what I tell, since I can use it to spy. Those eyes you saw in those rifts, I can see through them. My ability can be quite creative or destructive. Depends on my whim~.”

“And everything has a boundary. Even humans like you~.”

“And I find you to be quite handsome, detective, so I’d like to help you.”

"We're in no need of spying capability as it stands, I can do that just fine. Destructive isn't anything we need by a long shot, getting messy makes things complicated." I cleared my throat as he spoke about humans having a boundary, not all too sure what exactly that meant. "Humans have a boundary? You mean, you can tear people in two like you did to the air when you first got here? Yeah, no thanks. Like I said, messy isn't what we want." I squinted a little as the man made a remark about me being 'handsome', unsure if he meant it or if he was trying way too hard to get on this investigative detail. "Hm... tell you what-" I pointed back towards the pinboard towards a marked-up map with three distinct red circles on separate alleyways in the city. "If you can watch all three of those spots at once for the next few days or so and get back to me if you find anything worthwhile, I'll let you stick around. If not, then they've played me for a fool and there won't be anything you can help with."

"Sound good?"

“Alright then. That’s just easy for me.”

Pulling out a phone with a ying-yang orb charm hanging off the edge, texting to someone there.

“My lil shikigami have it under lock now~.”

"Good. Now we wait." I turned my attention back to the assortment of papers placed over my desk, rearranging them and getting to work on a select few.

“Mmm… alright then~.” I continue sipping my now lukewarm coffee.

I make a hammock out of a rift, and rock a bit.

"Huh." I watched the man sway in his 'hammock' for a moment before going back to dealing with paperwork. "I thought you'd skip over to the next place by now."

“Mmmm, kind of like it here~.”

“And besides, I would’ve just gone home now, but I’m a bit tired to travel right now.”

"Too tired to take a step through one of your portals into your bedroom?" I chuckled, giving a little shrug. "Makes sense, I suppose.."

“I’ve been performing with those gaps this whole time now~ Wouldn’t I be a little tired right now~?”

Giggling as I finished my little tease and sit comfortably.

"No clue. Seems pretty effortless from where I'm sat." I scratched at my chin before pointing at the 'hammock'. "You've just made that out of one of your rifts too, and you're sustaining it. Isn't that more tiring than just using one to get back home and letting it close up again?"

“Eh~ Who knows~? Certainly not you~.” I say as I make another one where I basically split my body in half, reaching down and boop your nose.

I looked at him after he tapped me on my nose, my eyebrow raised again. "Getting a little touchy now, are we?"

“Hehe~ Maybe so.”

I take some cookies and try to hand you some. “Would you like one as you work?”

I reached out to take one of the cookies, bringing it to my nose and sniffing it as I had with the coffee. I broke the cookie in half, looking at the inside of it before giving a tiny nod and scarfing down one of the cookie halves. "..Not bad."

“You like my baking, oh wow~”

"What, do people usually hate it?" I looked at the remaining half of the cookie, then up at the man. "Is there a reason I shouldn't like this?"

“No no, just my first time baking~”

"Ah, gotcha." I proceeded to wolf down the other half, taking up a few of the crumbs that the cookie left and eating those as well before wiping off my papers and returning to working on them. "You should keep baking."

“Maybe I’ll bake more for you then since you like it so much.”

"In that case, make a pineapple upside-down cake next. Now that.." I leaned back, patting my stomach jokingly. "..would hit the spot."

I laugh a bit as you ask “At least provide me the recipe, first~.”

"I dunno man, look one up." I pointed at myself before gesturing my arms out wide. "C'mon, you think I bake? The only cooking I do is filling cup noodles with water and throwing them in the microwave on the off-days I don't get takeout."

“God, I wonder what hell would be unleashed if you’re left in a kitchen just from what you said.”

“Well then, I’ll learn it some time and bake it then.”

I gaze at you, kicking my feet back and forth from the hammock, humming along to Ranka to Brand New Peach.

"I could probably make spaghetti, but that's pushing it." I chewed on the pencil I was using for a moment, the pencil already having plenty of little bite marks from the many previous times I've chewed it down between my teeth. "Besides, I don't ever have the time to cook. Any time spent at home is spent either working some more, or sleeping. A smoke or two scattered in between that."

“How about I just make you meals instead? Maybe, just to help a bit.” Said a bit distantly, gazing off into the ceiling as I speak.

"What, like some live-in cook? Or did you mean more along the lines of packing me a lunch like you're my mom?" I snickered a little before crossing one of my legs over the other in my seat. "Go for it if you feel like it. I can't see why you would."

“I just like helping others, so that wouldn’t be too bad. Hungry though?” I make a rift appear a bit above your head and in front, a box dropping down on the desk.

“I pack too much food for myself, so best to give what I got.”

Inside the box, an array of rice, chicken, eggs, and some roasted carrots and potatoes on side lay there.

I opened the box, slowly nodding before closing it up again and taking it off of my desk to put into a mini-fridge below the desk. "I'll save this for when I'm not full off of coffee and cookies." I kicked the fridge door closed before clearing my throat and nodding at the man. "..Thank you, then. Looks good."

“No problem, least I could do.” I lay in the hammock still, now humming to some song.

"You this nice to every guy you meet portal-hopping? Or am I a special case?"

“Which answer would you like to hear?”

"All of 'em."

“Kidding a bit, but yes and no. I just give food to anybody, but you

you’re kind of a special case since I don’t get to regularly speak with each person.”

"Fair enough, I suppose. Always knew I was a little bit special." I snickered a bit before shoving aside the paperwork and leaning back in my chair, reaching into my coat pocket and sliding out a pack of smokes.

“Hmmm… smoking…”

“I never really liked since it’s reminds me of my one of shikigami’s tanuki girlfriend.”

“Don’t get me wrong, her girlfriend is a real good jokester but damn, it always smells like smoke when she transforms.”

"You're welcome to leave the room then. I'm not keen on giving it up just because you're sat there." I slipped out an ornate flip lighter from my other coat pocket, flicking it open and striking the flame up to hold it under the end of the cigarette. I flipped the lighter closed after I burnt the end of the cigarette, stuffing it back into my pocket as I placed the cigarette between my lips.

“Hmmm… I’ll still persist. Oh, that lighter of your’s.”

“Mind if I see it?”

I eyed the man before reluctantly taking the lighter back out and sliding it over to the other side of the desk. "Don't break it." The lighter was made of a dull silver, the entire thing engraved with intricate designs that all tied together on the center plate to form an eye.

I gap the lighter into my hand, eyeing and analyzing the lighter. “Hmm… such a very unique design, where did you acquire such a thing?”

"Can't remember. Just know that I've had it since before I fell in with the law."

“Oh, what a pretty thing. Here, hold out your hand.”

I again gave the man a cautious look before doing as he said, holding my hand out flat.

I drop the lighter into a gap, and it lands back into Reagan’s hand, this time, a yellow ying-yang ball now accompanying it as well.

I cocked a brow at the ball, pocketing the lighter but leaving the ball out on the desk for now. "And that is..?"

“Just a little charm from me, as a gift.”

"Right..." I held the charm up between my fingers, looking it over before putting it into the same pocket as my lighter. I took a drag on the cigarette dangling from my mouth, letting the smoke fall out of my mouth before blowing it all out towards the ceiling. I placed the cigarette back between my lips, letting it rest there for a moment.

“You have a window in this room, right?”

"Ceiling vents. Smoke goes up through them, gets blown out somewhere else."

“Not for the smoke.”

“Does your building got a rooftop I can be on?”

"Of course it does. Why?"

“I’ll be out looking at the sky then, if you’d like to join me.”

"Another day, maybe. Still have stuff to do in here. Not really a day for looking at the sky."

“Hmmm, alright then, I’ll be there then.”

"Have fun, I guess." I took another drag from the cigarette, giving the man a little wave before blowing out another long puff of smoke and placing the cigarette between my lips again.

I took another series of puffs on the cigarette, smoking the cig until it had burned down to the tips of my fingers. I let out a final puff of smoke as I snubbed the cigarette out in a cheap-looking ashtray sat on the corner of my desk, a little trail of smoke wisping up from the cigarette butt for a minute afterwards. I glanced back at the pinboard tacked up behind me, spinning around in my chair and standing up to look it over again.

"Hm..." I picked apart a few of the papers I had tacked up there previously, moving them out of the way to get a better look at some of the things that were covered up by them. "I've gotta tidy this deal up sometime."

I continued to pick through the papers on the board before something caught my eye. I dug through the documents before plucking the thing in particular off of the board to get a better look at it. It was a picture of some rather harmless looking street graffiti, detailing a skull wearing a broken crown. "Isn't this..?" I pulled another few bits off the pinboard, still-frames from CCTV footage. Each one had been taken from some of the more junky areas of the city. They were comparatively low quality to other images of interest I had tacked up, but I kept seeing the same graffiti in each image. One on the outside of some defunct warehouse. Another right on the wall of some crappy apartment building. Even one on a wall inside an alleyway... one of the same alleyways a body just so happened to turn up. There was no variation between each instance of the graffiti either, each individual mark being a perfect copy of the last.

"...They're marking their hotspots." As soon as the words quietly left my mouth, I grabbed an empty file folder and began compiling the new findings together. I didn't bother to keep everything straightened out or neat, just throwing everything that related to it into the folder and pinning it closed. I gripped the folder tight in my hand as I quickly made my way to the door of my office, yanking it open and rushing out to make my way to the parking lot. It was time to get moving.