alderwitch

"First rule, Jack never-ever makes vampire jokes." Taylor said, looking up at Erik. Both brows arched up, "Or even oblique references if he can help it. He ate before we came because its complicated to cover for that in public. We also fed the baby and did a bunch of other completely normal things before we headed out of the house, too. None of them likely interesting or note worthy. Not everything is a joke or an attack." She sighed and reached for the glass of water by her plate, although she paused before picking it up, "And of course he knows that's upsetting. That's why we called. If he'd been wanting to upset you, he just would have shown up in a room when you turned around. That happens to me a lot too."

"He ate just before we left. I don't think he's hungry, just cranky." She managed to block as much of the sunlight as she could from his eyes and provided something to gnaw on. Not only did it at least momentarily placate the cross infant, it also helped hide the small sharp fangs. At least until the latest toy was destroyed by a multitude of tiny pin pricks. "Thank you! He's doing great. Its alright, he's too little to understand what you're saying just yet. Just don't call Jack names when he's old enough to repeat them. It undoes all the work I put in with my personal restraint," Taylor had agreed that this was necessary a hundred percent when Jack had first suggested the idea. She empathized still with the obviously disconcerted young man, "Why don't you join us?"

It was possible that Jack had called from that cafe, as they were already set up in the corner furthest from the windows when Erik arrived. They even had the baby with them, although he was awfully swaddled for such a nice summer morning to keep the sun from getting to him. Taylor was busy getting him out of the layers as she took the seat in the corner. Except for the glittering amulet at her throat, she looked like any mother trying to soothe a surly infant, in jeans and a tunic style top that was wrap belted at the waist. "I swear, he's the happiest baby until we try and go out," she muttered to Jack as she hid one hand under the table to search through the Void for the latest favorite teething toy to pop in his mouth. Of course, it was only when they went out during daylight that this little 'problem' cropped up.

Alex and Mark do some super-hero work.

It wasn't long after the chat in Alex and Erin's room that she stopped on by the boys room. She knew Mike would be out just as she knew Mark would be around. Alex knew lots of things, some of them more useful than others, and ESP was helpful to confirm that he was still in there as he had been when Mike had left. Dressed down in an older pair of jeans and a faded sweatshirt that had once been a much brighter shade of pink, Alex knocked on the door cheerfully. When Mark came to the door she greeted him with a bright smile and said simply, "Come on, we've got some work to do. You're going to need your shoes, though."

Alex gave him a sunny smile, an entirely genuine one. It lit up her whole face and went much better with the sparkly shoes than her too solemn eyes had. "I'm really, really hard to offend. I still like Breakdown and he's gotten way, way closer to my personal boundaries than you've managed to in a single conversation. You care about the city, so do I. Its very, very hard to get where I'm coming from for most people. I don't see things the way most people do and I don't mean it in a bragging sort of way. It makes it hard, I think, when I start talking about my plans. I kinda have to consciously change things around and I'm a little rattled." She said the last like it was a bit of a confession and she was apologizing, "I mean, I can see emotions. I don't mind the fruit but I can see just how scared of me they are. Just how much they hate me, painted across them like you'd say 'red' or 'blue' and when I'm stressed, I use lots of big words. That's what my roommate says. Usually I sound more 'normal'."

"Its a good idea, but hard to find babysitters equipped to deal with the sort of special needs that we have. And then they've got to be someone I feel comfortable leaving the baby with, not to mention someone Jack feels comfortable leaving the baby with. I'm not sure how happy he's going to be with me taking the baby out of the house. He's a little over protective but its understandable. The baby's just so tiny..." Taylor trailed off with a smile and refreshed her ice tea. She blinked at Moira and tilted her head to the side as she said dryly, "As long as I can put up with the occasional nipping. We go through a lot of teething toys. A lot. I'm considering buying stock."

Alex smiled with a little bit of pride, "I promise its worked out. I won't bore you with the details, but I'm pleased with the success we've enjoyed as a start up. I anticipated it, but its always nice to be proven right. Erin's shares will be a happy surprise when she cashes them out, although I don't think that she's aware of just how much I've increased the profit margin of her portfolio. But it's all above board! Its money she's earned. I know how important that is to her." She picked up the soda, sipping it as James talked and then nodded a little, inviting him to unburden himself a little, "You didn't but I have managed to infer several pieces of the puzzle, I think. Tell me what you'd like, however, its always nice to hear things first hand."

Psyche relaxed as she allowed her shield to disintegrate, her shoulders slumping. She hovered where she was in the air and sighed, "Oh, for... Technically I'm just the majority share holder. Yes, go ahead and put him through to my com-link. That way everyone can hear." "Phalanx, swing by me for a pick-up, please." She paused where she was and touched the comlink in her belt, her high and clear voice came across, "General, this is Alexandra Albright of AEON Enterprises, code name Psyche. You are clear to go on a secure channel.

"No, its not cold. Its honest." Alex repeated with a sigh. Her tone wasn't defensive, it was resigned. "No one would believe that I can empathize with their plight. No one ever believes that. Believe me, I understand the 'real people' thing better than you think I do. Better than most people can, but that's alright." She pulled her hand out of her pockets and gave a little wave of them, "But, sure, go for it. I always love seeing more of Freedom City."

"No one ever likes change and yet its the only universal constant. Really, the only thing you can rely in is that things are never going to remain static." Alex said pragmatically, turning back to face the young man, "And its what I represent to everyone. Change, at a genetic level. The energies of the Terminus are entropic, the great grinder at the end of the coil. A necessary function taken to an evil extreme." She gave a little shrug of her slim shoulders and sighed, "Its not going to be me that explains it, its going to be an empathic older woman who's from a similar socio economic background. I was just stopping by to take a look for myself. I like to, when I can, come and get a feel for the business. My information sources are good but not infallible but I'm only a majority shareholder, not the entire organization. Even I'm not that able to multi-task. I find the process runs more smoothly when people aren't directly faced with the sixteen year old genius that happens to be mutated by the terminus. It makes people jittery."

"Not really. Tho' I'm thinking of putting together like a junior prom for the kids. I've talked to some of the other wealthier students. I mean, I could bankroll the party myself but that just seems, I dunno, arrogant if that makes sense. A prom committee would be more fun and make sure that more interests get included than just mine." Alex shrugged and gave a little smile, "But I we've danced lots of times. Usually Mike flies us up to where we can see the sunset and we just sort of waltz around to whatever music we can tap into on the communicators. Its really nice. I'm not so good a dancer but it never really matters. We actually started taking some lessons in formal ballroom dancing because we were enjoying it so much and that's been real nice. Its something we can do together that's kinda, you know, normal."

As per the conversation, Psyche is down an HP from extra effort tether onto her create object briefly.

"A year can be a lot longer than three hundred and sixty five days sometimes. Especially for people like us." Alex said and joined him. In the corner the mini fridge opened and two sodas came floating out and over to the table. A year ago, floating a book had made Alex have to concentrate her full attention. Now, coasters danced across the table to protect it as the sodas dropped neatly into place and their tops opened with a quiet hiss-pop. Alex took the chair, crossing her legs at the ankles, her fingers knitted together in her lap. "I'm doing well. I've got a good staff now, so AEON takes much less of my time. There was a little bit of a hiccup when the television interview aired but I had prepared them for that. Now things are settling out. We get the occasional protest but nothing major. In time, I hope, it will all die down." She shrugged a little at that, "How about you, how are you doing?"

Bombshell looked between the two of them and with obvious reluctance stepped away from the ledge. This wasn't going to end well, she just knew it. Bombshell had heard speeches like this before. If she recalled correctly, the last one had also appealed to her better nature as well as hitting her right in the libido. She held one slim black gloved hand out for the Angel to talk, "Oh, alright. They were hacks anyway. Just remember this the next time I'm about to be arrested, alright?" At least it would liven up what had promised to be a boring afternoon, right?

Alex sighed softly and then gave him a tiny smile, "You don't have any idea how many times I've heard something along those lines. It will still be Tony's. However he'll get a better cut on whole sale because he'll be part of a larger purchasing block. He'll have access to the low interest loans that we've cut deals for to make some changes and upgrades to the store. All of the little code violations will be dealt with and the store will have a few superficial changes to make it more inviting to new customers. Like every business we purchase, he'll have a specific troubleshooter with expertise in his area assigned as a go-between." She rattled it off as she glanced through the window idly, her eyes unfocused for a few moments. "And any structural defects in the building will be corrected. If it needs it, the whole place will be retrofitted. There's just too many super villains that go crashing through Freedom City. Sure, Doc Metropolis can fix all the buildings after the fact but that doesn't do a lot of good for people trapped in the rubble. There's a power point presentation, if you'd like to see it."

"No, of course I'm not going to try and convince you of that. You're a bright girl, its obvious that some adjustments have to be made with the present situation being what it is," Alex said with the usual mingled pride and aggravation that Zoe generally caused her. She gave James one more fond hug and murmured, "You're welcome all the time, you know. Sometimes you simply need to make time." She nodded and reached up to loosen the button of her dress blouse and explained patiently, "Someone has to come out eventually as a non-threatening Terminus child. It was only theory that our mutation would be passed down genetically to any offspring. A very sound theory, but a theory none-the-less. Eventually someone is going to realize who you are, Zoe, and more importantly what. When it comes clear that not only are the original children possessed of strange powers, but with the capacity to breed more, the same sort of hysteria that allowed Mike and I to be placed in government care could rise up again. I'm not going to have you raised in government care or laws passed to prevent Terminus children from marrying or reproducing. The idea is obscene. Which means one must be proactive and the only Terminus child capable of handling the resultant emotional and psychological strain as a teenager, is me. It is a logical and necessary conclusion to reach and a step that I would have had to make at some point. Whether that's at sixteen or twenty-two, makes relatively little difference in the grand scheme of thing. I'm not having you have to go through that. Not at two or ten or sixteen. Not ever." Alex took a breath after that little and relatively impassioned speech before suggesting, "Shall we hit the mall then?"

Psyche's using her create object to try and block part of the beam.

Psyche's thoughts filtered into their thoughts about a second and a half after the request was asked, 'There's nothing at all up there. The beam just appears in space. There's no ship to stop or anything. It just appears and is moving along. I don't know what it is. Phalanx might be able to use his vision on it to get more information once he sets down that plane. Here's the basic pattern it looks to be heading but there's no telling without knowing what's causing it whether that's going to remain the case.' She floated out above the woods, watching the beam for another precious few seconds and then she turned her attention, 'Trees are on fire now. Hellion, you get that shut down for us? Psyche turned back to the beam and focused for a moment, creating one of her telekinetic disks and seeing if she could use it to break up the path of the beam at least briefly.

"Both fine, thank you. Jack's working and the baby is sleeping." Taylor said as she shut the door behind him and led the way into the kitchen. "I know how you feel. I've been picking back up but I won't share with you the gory details of being on an every three hour feeding schedule while trying to blip between dimensions and get my work done. It hasn't always been pretty, I can tell you that much." She fished around to pour him a drink and held it out, grabbing a bottle of water for herself from the 'human food' fridge. It was important not to mix up the two fridges in the Faretti household. "So tell me how its going for you? You holding up alright?"

Alex did indeed have a slightly different version of the Terminus energy than Mona did. For her, it ran through the air around her and through every single cell of her body, down to the last atom. It was as much a part of her as her eye color or her hair, hard coded into her very genetics. She was, indeed, a terminus mutant. Alex turned to follow his gaze, hands still in her pockets, "Yeahp, 'fraid so. Not right now or next month but the store's in the red with little chance to recover quickly enough to stop treading water. He's already laid off two employees and its simply not enough." She sighed, her expression crumpling with a worry that seem ill suited to the teenager. Too old by half but it cleared quickly and she walked over to the stoop in those sparkly sneakers. "But I think its salvageable. Its a good location, and its got a loyal customer base that will see it through a few changes. It just needs a little help to make those changes. We'll probably make an offer this week."

"Could have handled them, yes, certainly. Could have handled them without them thinking worse things about what I can do, that would be a more tricky problem. One I was contemplating at your timely arrival," Alex said with a faint smile as the last tomato scraped itself of the ground and reassembled into a nice ripe tomato in her palm. She dropped it in the box and pushed it over to a stoop with one sneakered toe. Her sneakers had bright pink laces and hearts on the side. "So, I think we can safely say you handily rescued me without any qualifiers." She chuckled a little and turned back, tucking her hands in her jean pockets. "And no, there would be no point. The locals hold no inherent energy nor would those energies -were they to exist in large quantities- do anything I'd want done to my 'big ol' brain'. Or any other portion of my anatomy. The hardware store here is failing and facing a foreclosure, that's all. If there's a chance we can turn it back into a lucrative business, we'll purchase it. It really is that simple. And my board of experts would quite cheerfully shake me for stating in so simple a terms."

There was a few more rumbles and grumbles, but under Erik's fired up gaze, they dutifully faded back into the city until he and Alex were by and large alone in the fading sunlight. There was a moment of silence as Alex glanced around at all the spattered fruit. Alex extended one hand and the fruit remnants slowly floated up one by one to knit back together until they were whole and fresh once more. As she finished telekinetically reconstructing each bit of vegetation, she sent them winging back over into a small crate. "Thank you. I appreciate the gesture. I'm Alexandra Albright." She offered her hand politely, the introduction perhaps unneeded but when someone came to your aid, good manners were the least you could provide. The fruit never paused in its dance as she glanced away from them and offered that hand and said somberly, "It really was a misunderstanding. That's not why AEON purchases local businesses."

It was about a half dozen people roughly and they drew back a little in the face of the angry youth. One of them was still riled to grumble, "She's coming round here to sniff out another company to buy! I saw her on TV, she got some giant freak brain! People ought be worried about someone with God-knows-what kinda power. Maybe she's buying up all the places that those portals opened. Anyone looked into that, hunh?" There was grumbling of agreement from the crowd although at least the fruit pelting stopped. A soft voice came from behind Erik, soft spoken and well-mannered, "Thank you, but I'm alright. It's just a miss understanding, really." She was petite, 5'4" at most and with a slender build that made her look smaller. It didn't help that her shoulders were tucked in tight to her sides and her hands jammed in her pockets. The translucent barrier fell as she spoke and the crowd took a few more steps back, wary of what might be next.

"You can stay for a drink, can't you?" Alex said, reaching out to take his arm with gentle fingertips and a deceptively fragile touch. She could bend buildings with her force of will but physically, she was barely able to do a pull up or two in PE. It was a little surreal. She was sixteen - seventeen in a few short weeks - and James wasn't much older but here they were standing in her office and both of them acting like adults far beyond their years. "You look like you can use it." Again she gestured to the couch with her free hand to invite him to sit down, "It won't take long. I know you're busy. I totally get that."