Finder or Crackler?

Belle reaches up and shuts her own mouth with her hand. (Come on...that's not something you see every day...even if you're us.)

Then, she goes back to keeping an eye out...after hearing "they" might be closing in is not the time to slack off.

Janet: "Are you sure we should be pulling kanji of that leg and stickin' it on us?"

Kaze: "There are limits--normally--to the number of Kanji a person can contain."

"Overestimating that number can be lethal."

Kaze appears outwardly calm, but her heart is racing. The extremely observant might pick up on it.

Voinovich mutters: "No sudden moves. Watch him, but don't draw his eyes."

Christine: "Mr. Rickter, your Power just SWITCHED. It was one way, and now it's all another way. You were a color between pink and green, and wispy, and now you're bright blue and sparkly, like clean glass. I don't think you picked up a new Power --- I think you also lost the one you had before."

Richter: "It's Rikh-ter, not Rickter ... you're right! I can't hear the spirits any more. Which means I can't compel the kanji to leave the leg and graft onto me. While I'll probably like being a Crackler, we're going to have a lot harder time finding the Inked Man without a Finder."

Christine: "Maybe I can help ... would you mind?"

Richter: "Stop right there. What are you suggesting?"

Christine: "I think I see where your old Power was. I could pull on it and see if you could have both at once."

Richter: "Huh. Well, that would be plenty useful. Sky, you're in charge in case I don't make it. There's a communication pattern in the next room to allow you to contact San Francisco for additional orders. Clear?"

"All right, Miss Tane. Proceed."

Christine Tane stretches out one arm, curls the fingers but not the thumb, and pulls, like ringing a bell rope.

Richter spasms once and sparks snap on the carpet. He smooths his standing-on-end hair back down, looking around at empty space.

"I have the spirits back ..." he says, "... but I don't have the Crackler Power any more. Did you do anything to my other Power?"

Christine: "I didn't touch it. When I pulled your Finder Power down, your Crackler power went right back up again, out of sight."

Richter: "Looks like it's one or the other, then. You'd be handy to have around, Miss Tane, if you decide to stick with us."

Christine: "I already said we're on the same side, didn't I? I'm in. If you want to switch back to Crackler, just say the word."

Richter: "Then we have some things to tell you about the Grimnoir. If you'd like to step into another room ..."

Voinovich: "Hey, I'm in too. I owe these Imperial goons a split scalp and a hell of a headache at the very least!"

Richter looks around at each Grimnoir knight's eyes, gauging what they think of letting Voinovich in on some of the Order's secrets. He also meets two sets of eyes that no one else can see.