The message is clear.  I pause in the door a moment and speak in a nonchalant hush.  "Guess this is what we've been lookin' for."  Then I take the lead through the door.  Somehow, entering a room full of likewise-gifted beings is more daunting than a den of water moccasins; maybe that's because, with a snake, you know where its heart lies.<br/><br/>As the door swings inward, and the reflection of the evening sun is cast like a prism across the papered walls.   I listen to the steady recitation of the barman over the squeak of the hinges, close the door softly as my gaze goes from one to the next with a casual acknowledgment.  Still a bit dusty from the trail, and with weapons bristling from my back, I make sure my gloved hands are visible.  I overhear the bartender's words.  I feel like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.<br/><br/>Everyone here feels different.  Maybe it's all in my mind, based on what Alex said.  But I can tell somehow.  I spy the fiery-haired girl at the bar about the time she spies me and somehow I think maybe this business about gods' chosen warriors might not be all bad... pretty thing, and I feel myself smile back a bit before tipping my hat out of habit.<br/><br/>Marshall, the one called Cross had just said.  Disputed territories, and the authorities were involved... I make a bit of a leap in my mind to assuming this will be a political move and, therefore, probably cause more harm than good.  But this one's got that immortal juju in him.<i>Fuckin' great.</i><br/><br/>I find myself breaching the confines of my better judgment and approaching the bar, anteing up when I ought to be letting the authority conduct his investigation so  can start my own.  Folks getting killed might be for any reason at all.  "I reckon they knowed each other, being from around here, kindly small town"  I say steadily, and as I speak I catch a glimpse of my eye-patch and girlish face, the wavy black hair spilling over my collar.  I lean onto the bar next to the Marshall's dispatch.  "So... was they feudin' with anybody, or maybe somebody got the wrong idea?"<br/><br/>I check Alex in my periphery, give her a look that's meant to be reassuring, but I'm glad, certainly, that she's here.