alderwitch

Jack felt more than heard Taylor's soft sigh of dissapointment as he pulled away to watch the sun flicker out. In the darkness, she cuddled closer to him and pulled the edge of her cloak up over her legs. The sun faded slowly from a brilliant ball of fire, to more of a slowly cooling ember as if everything in it was slowly ceasing to burn. It was a scientific impossiblity under the normal laws of physics but the entire universe was flickering out, more with one last rattling breath than any great bang.

"That's hard," Alex agreed readily, scuffing her boots through the occasional leaf pile and watching them resettle. She took as much genuine glee as someone half her age in crunching and stomping the leaves but she never lost the thread of the conversation in her meanderings next to him. "Although, on a philisophical level, I disagree with your assessment. Take a look at Sophie's choice for example. In an absolute sense, it's terrible to think that any woman could chose between her children, but is that a judgement on her character or on the people who forced her to that crossroads? I'm not saying there's no personal responsibility but in an extreme situation - which I have to say hell qualifies as - can you really blame a person for the choices they make? There were plans to turn me into a weapon for the army discussed as a possibility in my records at the institute. If they had brainwashed me to that line of thinking, how responsible would I be in an absolute sense?" Alex's tone was introspective and almost musing as she jumped with both feet onto the next pile of leaves and watched them puff up on the wind. "Its certainly something philosophers have debated over the years and will continue to. On a personal level, its something only you can really come to terms with, however you do that. I reccomend against alchohol."

Taylor's husky chuckle bubbled up at that and she turned to give him a mock-serious look, "I'm pretty sure that's not what super heroing is about. I could be wrong. I'll have to dig out my super-hero handbook and see if that's in here." She twisted and twined her arms around him, snuggling into his side, "Besides, you already have me. Any ceremony is just to celebrate that but ring, or no ring, you're already stuck with me, I'm afraid."

"Then we might as well be comfortable," Taylor opinioned as she reached up to her necklace. Like a magician pulling a scarf from their sleeve, Taylor pulled the cloak out from where ever she kept it while she wasn't wearing it and spread it over the ground. Once she had tugged Jack down to join her and settled into his shoulder, she answered his question. "Honestly the coward in me thinks we should head to Vegas and just tell everyone after the fact, but I really do want my family there. They'll be happy once they get over the shock of how fast it is. My parents think I just turned twenty one. I don't even graduate until this summer."

Taylor laughed despite herself and tipped her head back to look at him, her expression amused as she said dryly, "Considering the amount of talk about or sex life, I'd be worried about where, exactly, he thought you put those demons." She shook her head and pulled a small and very technical looking device out of her pocket. Taylor hoped there weren't any buttons that she'd have to press. She had made it very clear that any sort of monitoring device she carried over would have to be idiot proof. Tech was not her thing. Deciding that the blinking lights were a good enough sign, she nodded up above them. "We're going to lose the last of our light here in a bit. Did you want to stay or go? If I'm right, it should be quite a lightshow when the new universe replaces it."

"Oh, Jack," It came out in a soft sigh. Taylor relaxed back against him, her eyes closing as the tension started to leech out of her shoulders finally. She reached up and splayed her fingertips over his arms, the new engagement ring winking like a promise in the dying starlight. Taylor was silent for several long moments, before her quiet voice broke the silence, "Is it always going to be like this do you think? Escaping off to the end of the universe after a knock down drag out fight? For a moment or two I thought it would all come to blows."

"Jack, I don't hold your actions before we met against you. Even before Scarab's mental download, I knew about it. I already had the blow-by-blow details from Stesha, remember? When a goddess tells you that she still wants you and would like to have you back in her bed, it does make me insecure. How could it not?" Taylor shook her head at him and tilted her face up into the darkening night sky. "Its not a matter of holding what you've done against you, honey. Its more about being very shaken about what I could lose. I don't know how to explain it any better than that."

"Try to see it from my perspective, Jack. How happy would you be if I'd been the one who had an ex-godling popping up out of the woodwork and saying he'd be up for round two?" Taylor retorted in exasperation but she didn't pull away from the touch on her shoulder. If anything, she leaned into the comfort that implied, "I can't imagine you'd feel terribly secure. Especially not after having the highlights reel from Scarab stuffed into your brain. Personally, I feel the fact that I haven't burst into tears again or blasted anyone is a moral victory." After that tart speech, Taylor paused and then added, "And the nudge I gave Moira totally doesn't count."

"I'll never do that." She replied solemnly even as she reached up to touch his cheek with a hand that for once was as cool as his skin. Although alive, in the void space her fingertips held onto none of their usual warmth. "Even if that goddess does manage to steal you away, I'm not going to rip you from your world." Taylor's lips twisted downward and she pulled her hand away to let it fall listlessly to her side, "Far more likely I'd leave in that case anyways."

Taylor followed his gaze upwards and sighed, which was a little odd in the vacum. Jack felt her shoulders lift but there was no sound of inhalation or exhalation. "Alien technology gone wrong. Its contained to this dimension, I assure you. Worlds collapse and new ones form. This one is of particular interest to a few scholars on Prime so I've been ferrying back information as it collapses. The earth below is still toxic and already marked as a dead planet on League records." Taylor slanted a look up at his face and added with a note of apology, "We're not in any danger, Jack, don't worry. I really can take you someplace else. I just wanted to be away from the Lair and, well, for me I can run to the end of the Cosmic Coil if I wanted to. This takes no more effort than walking out the door."

Taylor started at his exclamation before smiling despite herself at his awestruck wonder. Sometimes she forgot that with all that Jack had seen, some of her day-to-day activities were still unusual to say the least. The glow faded from her eyes and she looked her mundane self again, still wearing the sweater and jeans she had been on earth. Taylor shrugged and leaned her head on his shoulder, "I don't remember the scientific designation off the top of my head. Its a near-earth dimension but its dying. I've been keeping an eye on it. Its always possible that there will be an eleventh hour pull out, but its more likely the dimension will just blink out. The stars are already winking out if you look up. We're on the moon as its the furthest I can get and still be on a planetoid. Sorry, I can take us elsewhere, if you'd rather."

IIRC, a week after the invasion wrapped up but Moira's the one to ask as its her characters re-entry. Last I heard she was planning on it being a week before Thansgiving and a week after the invasion.

Right after abra kadabra.

Taylor and Jack blinked back into reality and she released her death grip on his belt to step away. The shaky breath she drew was habit as there was no air to fill their lungs with. She'd deposited them on the surface of the moon, or at least a moon, from all evidence provided. The ground was gray and dusty with distinctly less gravity then they had on earth. The earth hanging full in the sky didn't look quite like any national geographic picture. The seas were more dingy than blue and the clouds wrapping the plant were a sickly yellow. It was a dimension Taylor had been keeping an eye on lately, so it had been in her thoughts when she'd jumped them out of Scarab's Lair. Leaving Jack to adjust to the surroundings, Taylor took a few steps away from him and hugged her midsection as she briefly scanned the dimension out of habit.

"I appreciate the apology, Dark Star." Taylor responded soberly, "And I am equally sorry for the strife this has caused both you and Stesha." She turned her face up at Jack's murmur and nodded her assent. Tucked up against his side, Jack could feel the tension she radiated. Taylor glanced back at Scarab, Ace and Moira. "Thank you. You know where to find us if you need us." Taylor's gaze sliped to Moira and and she added quietly, "I would very much appreciate it if you could explain to Stesha. I'm not sure she'll ever talk to me again either way but it would at least help me." Taylor closed her eyes, the gem at her throat sparkling with its dark light as she and Jack vanished from the room with a faint pop.

"Thank you," Alex said with a blushing smile. She shouldered her backpack once again, clutching her book to her chest. She reached out to give him a pat on the arm, "Of course you'll carry that guilt. Like I said, a little guilt is not a bad thing. It keeps us from making mistakes the same way twice. The important thing is to not assume that we share your opinions of yourself. We're all going to respond in various ways and its much, much easier to deal with that when you aren't struggling under preconcieved notions. I'm not mad, James. I don't blame you and we're still friends." She beamed at him, "How's that?"

Alex sighed, obviously impatient with him before she shook her head at him. "James, if you want to talk about ethics and boundaries, I'm your girl. I've been able to read minds since I was a toddler, earlier even. Right now, I can see your emotions as easily as I can tell you what color your shirt is. I wasn't asking you to use that ability unless it was what you wanted to use to answer my question. You don't need it to know what my burdens are. You're my friend, that's really enough. Any metaphysical tools are one more ability to use to help. Its no different than being extrodinarily perceptive in a way. What matters is your intent." She spread her hands a little wider, "I'll answer the question for you. I act like a child because I realize that this is the one time in my life that its acceptable, but its a concious choice. My parents always said that I was six going on sixty and its true. It is so very hard not to just fix you all and make you happy. For me, its like watching a child bark their knees over and over and over again and sitting on my hands. Sometimes it causes me physical pain to watch the suffering around me and constantly weigh what I can do with what I should do, and when I realize I've made the wrong choice, it eats at me." Letting them fall to her side, she looked up and was obviously not discomfited by this outpouring of sharing. Her expression was fixed into determination, "But the idea that that is something none of you can help me with is a fallacy. You haven't had exactly the same experiences, but you have enough frame of reference to both understand them and lighten them. And you will help me with them where you can, because you're my friend. That makes it bearable when its hard."

"Everyone's here and whole-ish." Alex confirmed wearily from where she sat with her fingertips pressed to her temples, lines of strain creasing her face, "I kinda hurt my brain but I'll be fine."

"Why not just the Midnighters? That's what it'll get shortened to anyway," Taylor suggested, flashing a quick smile over in Jack's direction before she replied to James, "Its not so much a secret base as a home. Our home, actually." Taylor gestured between Jack and herself before she added, her expression solemn as she made the overture of trust, "And we'd like to open it to the three of you. I can promise we'll have chairs, even for Atlas." She smiled over at the giant with that.

Taylor ducked her head down and took thelead as she was sure Derrick would be far too nice to get them good seats. So, taking advantage of her small size, Taylor slipped through ahead of him to pick out a pair of good seats in the center. She had no qualms about dropping into one and setting her bag and jacket on until Derrick caught up. Taylor grinned gamely back at Stesha and gave her a tiny wave.

Taylor turned her face into Jack's shoulder, cheeks flagged with color. It was very tempting to let the floor swallow her up. Unfortunately, despite being irked with Jack she didn't really want to leave him with either Moira or Dark Star. For very different reasons. When she felt like she could meet anyone's eyes without bursting into flames, Taylor picked up the thread of explanation. "You say 'vampire' like they're one uniform creature with one uniform set of behavior. They aren't, no more than werewolves, mummies, or ghosts. Or aliens. Their abilities vary, their morals vary and their loyalties vary." Taylor said, finding refuge in her usual role as mystic advisor but she had a stranglehold on the back of Jack's belt. "If you see a vampire committing a crime, I don't think any of us expect you to do anything but what you feel is right. With all due respect, Dark Star, you are no more equipped to take on the supernatural underworld than I am to undertake a quest against an alien armada. While I have the power to do so, I lack the knowlege. If you have decided you no longer trust those you know with mystical acumen, I suggest that you make other allies who do have that knowledge if a personal crusade is something you feel you must do." A muscle flexed in Taylor's jaw and she took a steadying breath. Listening to the rounds of accusations was very, very hard. Her voice was measured and quiet, "I thought that you at least knew me better than that. I have never - would never - silently condone that sort of activity on Jack's part, or any of the rest of you for that matter. I summoned Moira as a favor, out of friendship with you all. Not once in your outrage with Jack - who you will stop to question - has one of you thought of me. I am clearly either an idiot dupe or a spineless accomplice. It is a very sobering thought and one that will bother me for quite some time, I assure you. Now, is there any other questions we can answer?" Taylor's shoulders had squared during her impromptu speeach but when she asked the question it was devoid of humor. At this point, she was relatively certain that nothing worse could come bubbling up.

Phantom dropped the threads to begin charging a bolt of eldritch force between her fingertips. The shadow magics were just to control the zombies. At the moment the zombies really were on there side. "We need to focus on the stitched horror first." Phantom opinioned in a clear and carrying voice as she directed the bolt high over Atlas' head at the monster's brain hoping to slow it down. The lightning sizzled and cracked past his ear to thud into the monster. She cased a baleful glance back on the cultist, "Don't you even think about it. You've all gotten yourselves in quite enough trouble as is."

(1d20:12+11=23) Ranged Stun, DC21 will save and it takes my full round action

Taylor eyed Moria uneasily as she approached and settled herself in. Briefly, she wondered if this is want snakes felt like when they were charmed by the music. Moira presented everything so reasonabally, so simply. It all made perfect sense. At least until she got to the part about stil wanting Jack. It was like a pin breaking a soap bubble. Taylor's eyes narrowed into deadly slits before the pupils vanished into a white glow. Taylor raised her hand up between the two of them and shoved at Moira with a bolt of eldritch force even as she retreated, ghosting back automatically. She didn't want to hurt Moira, but she wanted - needed - the distance. "Quite enough," Taylor replied tightly, her voice echoing with that supernaturally hollow ambience that said just how close she was to vanishing into her cloak and possibally from this dimension entirely.

"Let's not ever call me that again," Phantom said dryly, not looking up from the strands she held in her hands, "And, no. At least, not as long as you kill the creature before it eats the idiots who thought they could control this monster. Their dark gods have seen fit to provide them with zombies, not so much on wrangling said fell beast."