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Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
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Taylor followed quietly, hugging herself as she stepped through the portal. She tilted her face up to Jack as she passed him, pointing out, "This really isn't neccessary." Despite her protest, she stepped into the teleporter room and followed along to the throne room itself, her boots ringing hollowly on the stone floor. It was weird to be in the Lair out of costume. Taylor halfway reached up to the Eye at her throat before she put her hand down. It wasn't like this was a costume sort of meeting. Although being Phantom right now would have been a welcome break from feeling emotionally raw and battered. About halfway there, Taylor tucked her hand into Jack's, lacing their fingers tightly together, "I don't need Elena to verify anything about you, Jack."
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"I think maybe we should just elope," Taylor said, half seriously as she gave Ace a sad smile, her eyes very old in her youthful face. She shrugged and twisted the engagement ring on her hand as she continued talking, "I know it isn't going to be easy. Nothing is easy for people 'like us'. Jack's condition, my job, that's just things to add to the list. I can deal with a hard road, its why I was chosen in the first place. I believe in Jack. No one else may believe he could love me, but I do, and in my opinion is all that really matters."
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Taylor sucked in a breath like she'd been punched in the gut, her mouth opening soundlessly as Stesha teleported out. It was really nice to know that while Stesha believed everything Moira said, Taylor wasn't even afforded the opportunity to explain herself. Gritting her teeth, she waited as the bickering continued, her hand fisting in the back of Jack's shirt. "Stesha's gone home," Taylor said tightly, glaring at Moira's self righteous attitude. She could still see the faint shimmer of magic in the air, and Taylor glanced up at Jack. She'd really like to have a few words with Stesha, but she wasn't sure if 'angry and upset' was the best frame of mind to pursue Stesha in. Plus, she might cry again and that would be beyond humiliating. "I imagine Derrick would be willing to open a gate. I think we can pretty much call lunch done."
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Phantom assumed that meant they didn't have any further questions and, once she'd collected the last objects, teleported away silently.
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"No one else here is a vampire," Taylor affirmed, glancing around Jack to respond to Moira. "Ace is immortal, Dark Star is cosmically embued, I'm a dimensional guardian, Stesha's powered by magical plant energy, sort of like a neo-dryad, and you know you're a goddess." Taylor rested one shaky hand on the small of Jack's back and turned to glance at the table and sigh at Ace, "Please, try not to inflame everyone into worse tempers, Ace? While you can pay for remodels, I'm certain, I would consider it a personal favor if you could use your powers for good instead of needling."
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Taylor laughed at the sulky expression on the little bat-child's face. She didn't mean to, he just looked adorably bedraggled as he flopped through the water towards Jack. In halfway apology for her laughter, Taylor lifted her hand, floating the creature up with a burst of magic from her fingertips. "Wings aren't really made for swimming, are they, little guy?" Three baby chubby heads swivvled towards Dark Star at his approach. They were indeed baby 'somethings'. Time with the humans had altered their physiology to echo back their current caretakers. A rather hefty toddler sized creature floated in an intertube. He looked much like a human baby, although far more heavily muscled than any normal human baby would be. His skin was faintly reddish in hue and the intertube strained under his weight. His sister was gliding through the water, light blue in color and gracefully seal-like in movement. The chubby hands she spread up were slightly webbed and she blinked golden yellow eyes that seemed to have a second inner eyelid before she gave Dark Star a toothless smile. The most unhappy of the group was a dark skinned, bat winged sibling that Taylor was helping back up onto Jack's shoulder. The bat-child's eyes were a deep red and his rounded face was pinched in a scowl. They spoke in chatters and chirrups, occasionally trying to parrot one of the adults but it was clear that their mouth structure was somehow wrong for English. Their chitters were a juevinile version of a language Dark Star had heard before, in his many intergalactic travels. It belonged to a peaceful race of adaptive beings, light years away from this little blue planet. How the children got here was anyone's guess. Although intelligent, the species was backwards by most intergalactic standards. They'd never bothered with space travel or even most basic tech as their world provided everything they could need in abundance and their own adaptive physiology made their needs few.
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"Jack's been a vampire longer than he's been Avenger," Taylor had spun around at the threat, spreading out her hands as if she could somehow shield Jack. It would have looked a little rediculous, as Taylor didn't come up quite to Jack's shoulder except for the eldritch fire at her fingertips. She banished the energy with a gesture, lowering her hands but she didn't step aside. "He's still the same person, flaws and merits, and all. He's just something else too." Although her eyes were still a little red, Taylor lifted her chin defiantly, her hands curling into fists at her sides.
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"I wasn't ever really into them either. I didn't even dream of being a super-hero as a kid. My brother was a huge fan, but I was always happier in the background," Taylor replied with amusement at the way the world turned out. She stopped at a display of lesser known heroes and picked up a rather brooding picture of Avenger. The gritty street hero was mixed in a bunch of older heroes from around the registration act and there were definately a lot of shadows added to the picture that seemed improbable if not downright unlikely. Taylor plucked the picture from the group, thinking Jack would get a kick out of it, especially since he didn't show up in pictures anymore. She paid for it, tucking it into the goodie bag, and strolled out of the room with Derrick. It was just about time to get herded in for the main event and she didn't want to miss Stesha's big debut. "I still prefer being in the background, actually."
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Taylor looked at from one to the other of them, her smooth expression crumpling in dismay. She lifted her chin defiantly, her eyes glittering with tears she refused to shed. Taylor swallowed and said with tight control. What Moira said sounded so believable but Taylor knew that Jack wouldn't utilize his abilities like that. She couldn't believe that of him. Clinging to both her convicition in Jack and the shreds of her dignity, "I don't think you're here to help me at all. If you wanted to hurt me, you've succeeded. Excuse me." Before she let the tears fall in front of them, Taylor vanished through the wall behind her and hurried back to the table with the men. Angrily she wiped the tears from her cheeks as quickly as they fell. She had the advantage of taking the most direct route as she simply ghosted through any obstacle in her way, including one very startled waiter. As Jack stood at her approach, Taylor didn't even hesitate as she solidified and hid in his embrace. Muffled against his chest, Taylor's words were a little garbled between that and her palpable distress, "They keep saying you took advantage of Moira and I just don't understand. There was all these details that I don't even want to know. You wouldn't do that! You wouldn't!" Her tone rose at the last, audible even against his shirt somewhere between outraged and hysterical and very clogged with tears that she was trying desperately not to shed.
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Phantom cut the power lines with a quick gesture, turning the glowing lines on the floor into simple paint once more with an off hand gesture, her expression impassive and a little remote. Her heart actually went out to both parties, but this was one of those things that time could only heal and comfort would be best offered by Mark's friends. "I would say, yes, that Mark's father was both very wanted and very loved," Phantom opinioned as she cleaned up the remains of the ritual, "Do you have any questions before I go?"
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1d20=1 I'll just hang out here at the bottom of the init order. Is cool.
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Taylor steadied the raft with one hand, heading out into the deep end to do so with ease. Flight had its many and varied uses, not the least of which was easy mobility in water. "Nope, I filed a complaint about his handsy ways with his boss and turned in my resignation the same day. It was very satisfying all around." She ducked under the raft itself and came up on the other side, slicking her hair back out of her face with one hand to the happy shrieks of the little caveman in the inner tube who thought that was a great game. Taylor spat out water and continued. "Well, I'm hoping we can get them settled down with some food and I'll sneak into my library and see if I can do a bit of research. I've been wracking my brain but I can't come up with any plane they might be from. They shift too slowly to be true Changelings and they've got no magic to speak of. I checked. So the change must be some sort of physiological condition and I can't think of any parallel earth that has anything like that. I've got a few more esoteric tombs to - ack!" Taylor sputtered as Clingy came up and spat out a stream of water at everyone, smiling at her clever, clever trick.
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Oh no. Oh, hell no. Taylor didn't want to sit here and listen to this goddess talk about the night of wild sex she'd had with Jack. She was willing to put up with this little intervention, as she knew that it was motiviated by concern for her, at least on Stesha's part. Heshem only knew what Moira's motivation was out of all of this. She quickly stepped away from Moira's grip, phasing to do so as she crossed to the wall and turned back to face them. "Look, I've already heard as much as I really want to hear about that night. Jack told me it was consensual, and I believe him. Yes, he was a jerk for the entire situation. Even Jack admits that." She set her shoulders back against the wall, turning solid enough to do so and folded her arms up under her breasts, "So, I'd really prefer we skip the details and get straight to the point."
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Taylor slipped deeper into the water, catching up Bitey - who at least wasn't snapping at everything now - and struck out for the intertube that she plopped him into. He squalled and squeaked for a few minutes before he realized it evened the odds between the happily swimming Clingy and he could splash at her with impunity. Now just as long as he didn't suddenly decide to bite the ring, everything would be okay. "I didn't even know we had pool toys," Taylor commented, raising a hand to protect her face from the escalating splashing that was going on next to her. "The Fed-ex guy finds us just fine. I'm always getting packages for work through them." She paused and flashed a quick smile at Stesha, cheek dimpling, "I quit working at the library, and I'm doing freelance translations. It's great, I can work from home and the pay is way better. It was very satisfying to tell off my jerk boss when I quit." Jack and Wingey found themselves in the ever growing splash zone, which wasn't too bad for Jack but Wingey chittered his outrage at his siblings and mantled his wings in tiny bat-boy outrage. He patted Jack's face dry with those sharp fingers, still grumbling and shaking his wings out.
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"He aided your father's conception, utilizing magics at his disposal. Not, ah, the old fashioned way," Phantom interjected quickly, before this could all devolve. She didn't know if it was true, but it was a reasonable guess. Knowing the sort of magic involved, that really didn't make Mark Lucas' father any less half-outsider if it was true, but she imagined it made a great deal of difference to the teenager. "With the sort of cosmic power that Azim-al-Aziz has access to, it's a far simpler spell than turning a legion of Nazis into geese."
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Taylor shifted into her Phantom costume before shrugging out of the cloak, boots and gloves. It was an entertaining dance and shimmy to watch as she would put Bitey down, peel of an article of clothing, grab him from getting into something. Rinse, repeat. Finally, she'd wriggled down to just the leotard, muttering, "For once, I'm glad this costume doesn't involve pants." Clingy made a soft eep-cheeping noise, delicately batting at the water with chubby hands before she chortled and happily launched herself from Steshas arms and glided into the water with all the grace of a baby seal. She bounced back to the surface with remarkable boyancy and spat out a stream of water before she settled into some happy splashing. Bitey was unphased by the water, although unlike his sister, he sank like a stone. As Taylor wasn't positive that their adaption would extend to breathing water, so everytime he sank like a rock, she hauled him back up to the surface again to splash at Clingy. The female clearly had the advantage in the water, and she blew some taunting rasberries at him to express her disdain. As for the bat-winged gargoyle on Jack's head, he was the only one to express some reservations about the water. He latched sharp little fingertips into the fabric of Jack's shirt, crooning worriedly at him. Big, rather lambent, yellow eyes blinked at Jack as the creature leaned over to look at his face as if to say, 'I'm really not so sure this is a good idea'. Of course, that was beyond his vocalizations, so instead he clutched at Jack and made several questioning trills.
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Taylor nodded her head quickly, agreeing with both of their suggestions, "Also, if we take too long, I'm afraid he'll rabbit. They've got to know that I'll be coming like a wave of fury. Since the last time we met, I left him in hell, I know he's got quite the grudge. Fortunately, and I say that very loosely, they can't kill Jackson in hell. Just make him wish they had." Her mouth twisted down as she wrestled a fresh wash of anger down. She actually welcomed the fury. Taylor didn't lose her head in her temper, it just provided a much needed burst of adrenaline. She'd rather be angry than frightened, and there was a good deal to be frightened about. "Wrath is, or was, a trickster spirt. If we can grab him, I know just what I intend to do to him." The last was said with cold finality.
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By an act of sheer will, Taylor kept herself solid as Moira moved around behind her and began her massage. Her shoulders remained tense under Moira's fingertips, a mixture of reaction to feeling surrounded and being touched by a virtual stranger, no matter how charming that stranger might be. Taylor had never been a very hands-on person herself. Still, she didn't want to be rude, so she settled for bracing her feet apart and forcing her arms down to her sides, trying to keep the palms open and relaxed. One hand strayed up to the amulet at her throat and began to fiddle with the black gem. "In costume. We met in costume, the day the explosion happened in Riverside," A smile briefly flickered accross Taylor's face at the rather embarrassing memory of herding cats, "I had to ask him for a favor, out of costume, and things just sort of happened from there. I moved in with him, oh, after that whole mess with the zealot."
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"I'm not sure, I don't know which hell-shard they've taken him too," It was Taylor's voice behind Phantom's mask. It lacked the boom and echo that she generally used whenever in costume, and sounded both tense and weary. She gave James a shadow of a smile for his encouragement, and reached to tug her hood up. As the cloth settled around her face, she started to sound a little bit more like her old self. "Some realms move at different speeds but they're probably not going to take him to one of those. My guess is he's in a pocket realm near the lower levels, which shouldn't cause any of us any physical problems. I assume Hellion is immune to the blistering heat of the lower circles of hell."
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"Since August," Taylor confirmed quietly, her arms folded up against her chest. "I moved into his apartment a month or two ago. It's been an eventful few months." She lifted her shoulder in an uncomfortable shrug, although her expression remained smooth. "Believe me, I'm aware of the rather large list of difficulties to deal with, but he really does love me, and I really do love him. I'd kick myself forever if I didn't fight for any chance we might have at this."
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"As long as we do not anger the djiinn, we have little to fear. I would be more concerned if we were travelling to the city but here, think of him as a guest that must observe certain rules of decorum." Phantom struck a match and lit a brazier before she began a low and liquid entrety on Mark's behalf to the prince. There was surprisingly little pomp and cirucumstance to the ritual but in a summoning, being the Chosen of Heshem held a certain degree of clout and too much false praise would be just as insulting as not enough. Princes, of any sort, were a tricky group to please.
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"We do indeed have a pool. It's both heated and private," Taylor ducked her head down to collect Bitey and scooped him up along with his prize. She'd rather he gnaw on that than her fingers anyways. Taylor was glad the gesture hid her blush. She only hoped they had swimsuits somewhere in the house. "It's certainly more sturdy than the living room," she agreed, as she turned with the squirming toddler held against one shoulder. There was a brief skirmish at the door to her study but Taylor was determined not tohave one of her priceless books demolished so she focused on the Herculean task of trying to hold onto a squirmy baby and shut the door at the same time. "Do we have anything for Stesha to wear?" Taylor asked the question with studied innocence once she'd shut the door to the library to angry squaks of protest.
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The happy light in Taylor's eyes dimmed briefly as she glanced from Stesha's tight expression to Moira's startled one. Taylor blinked slowly and her hand unconciously tightened on Jack. It was clearly not going to be a happy sort of girl talk but Taylor squared her shoulders and slipped out to follow the women. She leaned down to kiss his cheek and murmur, "If I'm gone too long, send a rescue party." She straightened and allowed herself to be hustled off to the restroom, her head held subbornly high. Once she reached the restroom, Taylor took one of the corners, putting her back into it with her hip resting against the sink. She arched a black brow at the two women and waited for the outrage.
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Taylor's eyes went round as Jack went down on one knee. She was a very bright lady, of course, and knew what he was about to do the moment he knelt. She just hadn't expected anything so formal. The original proposal had been in the middle of the battlefield, after all. Her lips moved soundlessly for a moment before she flashed him a smile as fully dazzling as the diamond ring he offered and threw her arms around his neck in an unusual public display. Sometimes, the moment really did outweigh any bout of shyness. Taylor pulled back, still smiling and suspiciously misty eyed and nodded before she trusted her voice to come out steady, "Of course!"
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Taylor shrugged, glancing at the now human Derrick and held her hands out, palms up, "I'll 'drive'." Without giving anyone much of a chance to voice their protests, Taylor hisked them through the inky black of the void to deposit them neatly in the private room that Ace had arranged. Taylor dropped the contact with the others, but left her fingers threaded through Jacks's as they made their way to the table, letting the others fill the air with conversation.