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[eloquencejones]

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Jillian Holtzmann | Ghostbusters 2016

[newtoys]

[allyofmidgard]

Ghostbusters

The relatively discreet sign allowed Thor to know this was were he was supposed to be. He was unsure if these Midgardian 'ghostbusters' were a legitmate authority on the supernatural, but with Loki on the run again and the Avengers seemingly out of contact, he had to resort to other methods.

He pulled open the door and entered.

[newtoys]

"One second!" Holtzmann called when the door opened, in the middle of some very fiddly soldering. As soon as she had a chance her eyes flicked up to check who had just walked in.

"Oh, about time, did you get my coffee?" she asked a she looked down again. There was a bit and her head slowly lifted.

"Uh...wow, okay, that's... that's an interesting look."

[allyofmidgard]

A woman - Thor could only assume, and if he was wrong may the person so correct him - was working on some machinery. From what he could tell, it was quite complex in an almost simple way. He could think of artisans on Asgard who would be very interested in inspecting this gear, and made note to mention as such should this go well.

Then this person asked for coffee.

"I... Is this the establishment of the Midgaridan Order known as the Ghostbusters?" he asked, wondering on her tone regarding his 'look'.

[newtoys]

Holtzmann gave him a bemused smile, taking a moment to try and process what he was saying. Was this another of his attempts to sound smart?

"Yea, Kevin you're making even less sense than usual. Good try though."

[allyofmidgard]

That was when Thor gave a very confused look.

"I am afraid you are mistaken," he said, with a great deal of patient that most would not think him capable of. "I am Thor, of Asgard, not this... Kevin, of whom you speak. I seek the help of the Ghostbusters in locating supernatural phenomena."

[newtoys]

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she stepped up close, inspecting him before spinning back to her workbench. She grabbed a PKE meter and waved it at him, staring at the display and then up at him and back again.

"...Are you possessing Kevin?" she finally asked.

[beaten_metal]

For once, it's not actually Kevin's fault. The person who's waiting with the magazine wasn't there and suddenly he was, like he's been settled in place for hours, perhaps, like he belongs there. It's not a terribly impressive magazine, though he's seen plenty of them before about how to look your best for your man and what to wear this fall if you're really a winter.

He loves his wife, he really truly does, and he takes every opportunity to try and understand what she does with the same scrutiny she gives to his artisan works. But today, he's looking at the magazine for something to do as opposed to anything else, and he's here to see a certain someone who has been in Manhattan for far too long without stopping by to his shop to visit.

[newtoys]

Holtzmann doesn't pay too much attention to the waiting room, she doesn't actually pay attention to the rest of the building when she's really caught up in her work, as is the case now, so it's a little while before she even realises there's anybody else in the room. It's not actually until she's walking by in search of coffee that she spots Hephaestus sitting there.

"Kevin, who is-" she glanced around for their missing receptionist before her brain caught up with her eyes and her head spun back round again.

"Hey! Dad!"

[beaten_metal]

That got a smile out of him as he pulled his cane into his hands and pushed himself up from his chair. Now that he was standing, his size became a little bit clearer; tall, with a pair of shoulders that seemed to go for miles, built like he could punch his way straight through a car. One foot, turned unnaturally, made it clear why he needs the cane, but he moved well enough as he made his way over to her and carefully wrapped a single arm around her shoulders. She got a warm squeeze. All of his hugs were warm, of course, but this one was special.

As he pulled back, he tipped his head towards floor where most of her workshop was situated with a thoughtful frown. Does she have time to spend with him? A glance around the building. And are her coworkers here? He would like to meet them at some point. Abby'd been over for Thanksgiving the one year, which had gone... interestingly. But he liked her, quite a lot really, so it would be nice to say hello to the rest.

[newtoys]

"What are you doing here?" she asked cheerfully, leaning into the hug "Hey, come see what I'm working on, you're gonna love it," she half danced over to the work bench, waving for him to follow her.

"I've been making some mods to these little beauties," she lifted her pistols, holding them out for him to see. She has the same pride in her work around the others of course, but they only appreciate what they can do, she knows someone like her father would be able to appreciate the artistry and work that went into the creation of them.

[beaten_metal]

He could indeed and he took a moment as she pointed them out to take them and give them a proper once over. He was, after all, an artisan who made all manner of wonders and filled all sorts of needs. Innovation was his stock and trade, but he would always have a special reverence for a clever weapon. That's why his eyes were as obsidian and the flames of Etna as he used his true senses before the strangeness faded away and he smiled over at her. One finger slid in a distinct shape across the handle and a mark burned there in bright red before fading away invisibly. He handed it back.

...it was his little girl. And the work was certainly worthy of his blessing.

[newtoys]

Holtzmann did a little dance when he blessed the pistols, she'd been kind of hoping he would but it was always a mark of pride when he chose to, it let her know she was right to have confidence in the things she built, because daughter or not, she knew Hephaestus would never bestow a blessing on something sub-standard.

"It's really good to see you. How are you doing? How's mom? Can I get you anything? Oh! Come check this out," chattering away happily, she bounced over to the bear trap and started charging it up.

[borrowyourcoat]

The highways of America (and everywhere else, for that matter) are haunted. Tales of white ladies who seek rides only as cover for the brutal revenge they seek on those who abandoned them. The "homecomers" who only want to go home to one that no longer exists.

And then, there are the hitchers. The ghosts who can live for a day in a borrowed coat, who long only for a ride, the feeling of wind in their hair, and some greasy diner food. A small taste of the life they lost on the road, longing to have seen more, done more.

Some have their own stories. Some have many, many stories, with a grain of truth hidden under layers of sleepover ghost-stories and campfire tales.

Like the Girl in the Diner. The Phantom Prom Date. The Girl in the Green Dress. Professor Laura Moorehead has written a lot about this particular urban legend, one that seems to transcend the little township of Buckley, Michigan where Professor Moorehead has traced the most likely living name for the story. Rose Marshall, who was run off the road in 1953 at the age of 16, on the night of her prom.

-

Tonight finds Rose in a diner and truck stop at the outskirts of the boroughs, a little place at that boundary where the arteries that are highways and interstates feed into the smaller veins of streets, bringing in all the things a city needs to live that it can't produce itself.

She has a jacket, but there are only a few hours left until dawn. She'll either get herself a ride, or fall into the Twilight, the spirit realm, for lack of a better descriptor. One way or another, she won't be here too long.

Now. If she could just get someone to buy her a burger.

[newtoys]

There had been reports of ghostly activity all along the highway, nothing particularly dangerous it seemed, but they'd wanted to check it out just to be on the safe side. Holtzmann had volunteered to drive out and see what was what, wanting to stretch her legs and get out of the lab (read: she'd made some new playthings and wanted to be the one who got the chance to test them out if things turned south).

It took longer to get out of here than expected, and she'd spent half the night investigating without really finding anything. She was about to head out and use the last few hours of darkness to search some more, but who could ghostbust on an empty stomach? And there was a diner right there, it was almost fate.

She'd made herself comfortable at the counter and slapped her hand down on the surface.

"Your best burger, please, good sir, and quickly!"

and now that I've seen the movie, I can try to patch some... thing together.

[borrowyourcoat]

That portal in New York had torn the Twilight and Midnight Americas right apart. The ghost roads were still in the process of rebuilding themselves out of the sediment of history that was New York City. It was still difficult for even the benign types like Rose to resist the tide-like push-and-pull that everyone from the Twilight down could still feel.

Rose sure as hell knew she wasn't dropping down this close to the city.

"Uh, hey," she said, approaching the woman at the counter. She didn't get rides from women very often, but sometimes they were more generous with food. And even the ones who might be interested didn't try to bargain with her for backseat quickies. "The guy I was riding with kinda... stole all the cash I had on me. Any chance I could talk you in to doubling that order?"

She did her best to look underfed while not coming off like a junkie. "And maybe a ride out of the city? As far as you're going is fine, you can let me off at a rest stop or... anything." Lipbite. Doe eyes.

Rose doesn't see much TV. So there's absolutely no gleam of recognition in her eyes. Just a teenage girl running away from New York instead of to it for once.

And this woman doesn't carry that ashes-and-lilies or sugary rosemary that would signify an accident. Just the fading ash and ozone that everyone coming out of the city had these days. A little stronger on her, maybe, but it did seem to vary.

Re: and now that I've seen the movie, I can try to patch some... thing together.

[newtoys]

"Hey" Holtzmann turned to face the young woman who had approached her, leaning against the counter with distinctly flirtatious bodly language "Sure I can, no problem at all. And I'm not really going...anywhere... so wherever you want to go is fine." she shrugged.

"Make it two," she told the waitress, turning back to Rose and motioning for her to take the seat. "So," she said, a mischievous twinkle in her eye "What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

[borrowyourcoat]

Funny question for someone so often just called The Girl In The Diner.

"Mostly trying to get out of town. Really not much of a city girl. I've been here for hours trying to talk someone into a ride," she says. "I even fixed this one lady's car for her- well, okay, not so much fixed as... kludged a fix to get her as far as she needed to go," she said. She still had some engine grease under her nails, visible thanks to very chipped nail polish. The grease brought the air of authenticity to what would otherwise be a Brooklyn hipster's uniform, right down to a 50's-style (possibly actual vintage) men's mechanic uniform shirt. Gary, said the name tag. "She bought me a slice of pie, but wouldn't even take me to the next rest stop."
That woman had smelled of ashes and rosemary, until the car was fixed. One death on the road averted. Rose had saved her life, and gotten what she was pretty sure was reheated frozen pie in return.

"By the way, skip the pie here. There's a place half an hour north that still makes theirs from scratch."

[newtoys]

"Well, Gary," Holtzmann leaned in, grinning slightly "I like a girl who knows how to get her hands dirty. Stick with me and we'll go places, kid."

Ok so those 'places' were just a little further along the highway, but Holtzmann was in a good mood, it would be nice to have a bit of company while she ate, and while she drove, plus there was no way the girl wouldn't have questions when she saw the car, and Holtzmann loved explaining the tech.

[and_patty]

"Okay, now I know I said you couldn't go and claim a whole floor, but even I can say I like what you've done with the place." Not that she knew half of what Holtzmann's inventions or setup was even for, but it was very definitely Holtzmann's space and that was what was important.

"I mean, it kind of looks like Rube Goldberg and Jules Verne had a fight and got their plans mixed up, but it works for you."

[newtoys]

"'Course it works for me, the whole space is a Holtzmann original," She flung her arms out in a little 'ta-da' gesture, obviously proud of her work. It was a mess already, of course, but that was just who she was.

"How about I give you the grand tour?" she couldn't promise the tour wouldn't consist of 90% technobabble, but of course she wouldn't see that as a problem.

[and_patty]

Technobabble was fine with Patty, she was actually starting to understand what some of it meant, even. It helped that she knew they felt the same when she started spooling off dates and historical figures and even just notable landmarks they came across on an almost daily basis.

Which was why she just grinned, "Yeah, lay it on me, let me know what all this is." She said with an equally expansive hand gesture, one that somehow managed to encompass most of the room.

[newtoys]

"Excellent!" Holtzmann beamed, waving for Patty to follow her as she marched around the room, explaining in her very best tour guide impression such delights as "And if you look to your left you will see our very special containment unit, please keep your hands and arms inside the cart at all times and don't stray to close to the radiation." and "On your right we can see a fine example of early 21st century ghost entrapment technology, your new improved ghost trap includes faster reaction times and a much snazzier outer covering." interspersed with overly excitable descriptions of all the little additions she'd made to equipment Patty had already seen.

over all, the tour took about twenty minutes, despite it only being the one room.

[and_patty]

It didn't surprise her, really, just how much Holtzmann had crammed into the room, nor did it really surprise her that it actually had some kind of organizational system to it. Mostly because it hadn't taken her long to see the patterns in Holtzmann's clutter, what bits and pieces got stored or stacked with what other pieces and parts.

These were the kinds of things she took into account about people, she'd wanted to be a librarian when she was younger, and some of those habits hadn't ever gone away completely.

She nodded when the tour was over, "You know, we could do this, put up some kind of hold-back fence, a 'don't feed the engineer' sign, lead tours. You know people are going to want to see what it is we do when we're not out on the job."

[newtoys]

"Excellent," Holtzmann nodded "Get in some extra cash, let kids come see the equipment, maybe try it out." Yes Holtz, let kids play with the dangerous nuclear lasers, that's a wonderful idea.

"Why not feed the engineer though? You trying to say I'm getting fat?" she asked playfully, nudging Patty with her shoulder. It was obvious she wasn't remotely offended, even if she had thought Patty was actually trying to say anything of the sort.