Blood Ties

Part 2: People Change

April 23, 1937
Gerti tells Tommy that she needs a disguise - she has to be dead for a while so the weird shit mobsters don't kill her. She synopsizes the gist of the plot. Tommy is unclear if Charlie is okay with the "Gerti gets killed" part for a while, but is eventually enlightened. Next, Gerti calls Dr. Schreber to ask about getting a death certificates.
"What is the occasion of your death?" - Dr. Schreber
"Well, Charlie needs to kill me..." - Gerti
"I'm somewhat at a loss here." - Dr. Schreber
"Oh. Well, does someone else at Arkham handle death certificates?" - Gerti
Eventually the matter is cleared up, though not really to Dr. Schreber's complete satisfaction (Dr. Schreber is stunned speechless at the mention of a drunken fling - Sheila foists some tea on him). Gerti describes the scars along the sides of the face, which Dr. Schreber recognizes as found among priests and practitioners of voodoo. He suggests salt, and putting the target's blood on a bullet to break through any magical protections.

Eddie turns up and disguises are discussed. Charlie drops the word to several buddies that Juliana is back in town, to see if any Giottis go after them.

Gerti calls Esme about finding somewhere to stay.

"Are you having trouble with Charlie? You can stay here..." - Esme
"People are hunting us." - Gerti
"Oh, not here, then." - Esme
Sheila mentions to Dr. Schreber that Roderick called, and said he had to run out of town - can Dr. Schreber take care of Percival? Dr. Schreber is a bit dubious about this. Sheila says all right, she can take care of it. Everyone else thinks this is a terrible idea, but they're not there (and don't know about Percival).

Eddie gets disguises ready for Gerti and Junior as strawberry blondes. Poking around the city turns up no obvious signs of Ficorellies. He looks in some five-years-ago mob hangouts, but a lot of them are out of business.

Gerti finds a large (fish?) scale under the bed. Junior finds some more. This is interpreted to be some sort of clue left by fish detectives, I think.

April 24
Junior wakes up in the morning to hunt for more scales. Putting one in his mouth, he decides that he needs more of them. Dr. Schreber has a dream:

An old black man comes out of a jazz bar and begins to walk along the street. He passes through a shadow and when he emerges, he is a large white guy with a gun. He passes through another shadow and is now woman in a mink wrap. The woman walks to Gerti & Charlie's house, where she begins to grow larger and curl around the house, until she is a giant snake, circling the house several times.
Dr. Schreber tells Gerti about the dream. She is serene. Sheila mentions to Dr. Schreber that Junior needs his nails trimmed. Dr. Schreber eventually mentions this to Gerti, who does so.

Gerti and Junior head to the house of Esme's friend Madeleine - her husband is out of town and she could use a little help looking after her five-year-old, so it works out okay. The implication is that Gerti and Junior are on the run from their mean husband.

Meanwhile, Vincenzio stops by to talk to Charlie. Charlie says it's being taken care of, and then follows Vincenzio to his hotel. He goes in, and up to the seventh floor. Later, a fortyish black guy with similar scars comes out.

Later that night, Tommy, Eddie, and Dr. Schreber go clubbing, mostly to try to spot the jazz club in Dr. Schreber's dream. They spot Esme, out with a friend - Tommy is a bit embarassed, and drags them away again. At a different jazz bar, Dr. Schreber sees the old guy from the dream. He gives Dr. Schreber something of an odd look. As Eddie, Tommy, and Dr. Schreber spread out around the bar, the guy taps his cigarette ash into a triangle, and then smears a thumbprint of blood in the center and flicks a bit at Dr. Schreber. People get nervous. Dr. Schreber thinks it's an I'm-watching-you sort of thing, not an I-curse-you sort of thing, but he's not sure.

(Charlie is out drinking, but the clubbers don't get to him).

April 25
Eddie calls the Walkers. Nobody is home. He leaves a note. Sheila notes that Dr. Schreber has a blood creature - she squishes it between her fingernails. Dr. Schreber thinks Sheila is breaking some unwritten meta barrier and is creeped out. Not that he's not normally creeped out by Sheila.

Charlie calls in sick, goes home, and finds some notes. He checks in with the Tommy (Eddie isn't back yet), and then heads out again.

"Where can he [Eddie] find you?" - Tommy
"Around" - Charlie
<losing temper> "This is serious! Where can he find you?" -Tommy
"On your couch." - Charlie
In the morning, Junior is very unhappy, having scratched his face up some. He has had a dream where he was trying to make a snake-mask from the scales, but he had to get whatever was on his face off first. Luckily, his nails are trimmed and not much damage is done, but Gerti's serenity is possibly a very slight bit jangled. Gerti calls Esme, who calls Tommy and then Dr. Schreber to talk to Junior. She fails to find Charlie, though, as he's on Tommy's couch.

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