alderwitch

Taylor had to adjust her stance slightly as she was used to trying this on people larger than Stesha for practice. It was rare that she was wrestling someone closer to her weight class. And how bad a sign is that? She mused as she twisted at the waist and tossed Stesha over her shoulder, trying to follow Ace's actual instructions rather than throw in a similar move.

Alex blushed at the compliment and then darker red at the idea of being Mark's girl. It was true, but, still a little weird to hear pointed out. She laughed and touched the back of Mark's hand as it was his turn to blush, "I'm really proud of being able to fly. I'm not really fast, or anything, but it was something I had to work at. The other mental stuff was all a lot more natural." She tilted her head up to smile at Mark's mom, "It doesn't bother me at all. It's a nice change. We never talk about super-hero things at my house."

Taylor landed solidly on the map and blinked up at them before rolling to her feet, "A little bit. I wasn't trying not to be thrown. Was I supposed to be trying not to be thrown?"

"The police should be on their way, shortly. I'll take care of the winged ape." Phantom caught the hostage before she could crack her skull against the wall and lowered her to the ground before she took off after the winged ape with a vengance. I'm not even going to drop you in a nice part of your planet this time. I'm going to find somewhere that's filled with fleas. Hot and filled with fleas. Despite her internal grumblings, she was cautious as she followed the ape as she'd been shot enough while insubstantial lately.

"I have already dismissed my magic, nor have I committed any acts of agression against you," Phantom said cooly. It was certainly a better spin than 'I didn't hit you from behind, which I'm currently regretting, what more could you ask?'. As for the 'compliment', Phantom moved right along past that. It was really better to not encourage any of that line of thinking. "I am not any simple guardian, given to patrol one gate or one world. I am Heshem's own Chosen. The keeper of paths to every world, every dimension and every door. My word is enough for the gods themselves. It is enough for you!" She thundered the statement, eyes flashing beneath her cowl.

"You just want to watch us grab each other," Taylor responded dryly as she stepped up to take Ace's place with a slightly dubious look. At least Stesha wasn't THAT much taller than she was. Trying to grab Ace like this would have just looked silly. "And I wouldn't have phased if you'd just punched me. I was expecting that." Once she managed the 'ha-ha' got you now! pose, she added in. "Well, if you're grabbed by a very small villian, your flowers won't be right in his face at least."

"I can't go and see them in the theater anymore so I've amassed a collection. I mean, you've seen what happens when something startles me." She tucked in against his side, throw pillow hugged to her chest and her body curved into his side. Clearly the tea that Stesha had poured down her throat had done its work as she had lost that stiffness to her posture. Taylor rested her chin on the pillow as she watched the movie silently for a moment, her eyes on the screen before she spoke up, quietly. "The first time I couldn't sleep because of what I'd seen - what I'd done - that's what I did. I didn't have anyone I could talk to, so I had to find some way to burn the rest of the night. I sleep more on my couch than I do in a bed."

Alex collected a hamburger and plenty of fixings for it. The amount of food didn't really phase her as she'd had plenty of meals with the Harrises. Mike alone could eat an astounding amount of food. She licked the ketchup off one finger as she listened to yet another of Rick Lucas's exploits and wondered if her mother had half the stories to tell. It was a little surreal certainly, but she could start to see really why Mark was the way he was. "My grandpa is tinkering with one at the moment. He says that the teleporter at the manor is a persnickity device but worth its weight in gold when it feels like working," Alex affirmed. Her grandfather's turn of phrase was a bit more colorful, actually, but the meaning was the same, really. "I haven't really given a great deal of study to interdimensional particle physics, personally, as I'm lucky enough to be a flier."

Alex floated up to hover in mid air where she had a good eye on Erin as well as the rest of the fight. Fortunately, all she really need to be able to do was see her targets. She smiled reassuringly at Erin and simply nodded. "Don't worry, Erin. I've got you. Everything's going to be okay." After centering herself, Erin felt the vaguely familiar sensation of emotions flowing off of Alex. Unlike the last time, however, this was a very deliberate sharing of what seemed to be an endless ocean of calming emotions. Alex went a little further this time, as Erin had quite deliberately asked for this help, and she focused the emotion just at Erin, taking over the regulation of her flight or fight responses and dialing them back to something more manageable.

Emotion Control: Calm on Wander: 1d20+7=16. Burned my HP so thats a 26

And now the angry giant ape had a hostage. Perfect. This is what came of hanging out with Dark Star. Silently resolving to blast the monkey the next time she saw him rather than give him the chance to surrender, Phantom growled, "Don't make this harder than it has to be. If you hurt her, I'll hurt you and you'll still end up back on the world you belong on." Silently, Phantom weighed her options, glancing quickly from side to side to see what was available. She could get the woman away before he killed her, of that she had little doubt. Before he hurt the woman badly was more of a question. There were too many innocent bystanders with left her with very few options. Phantom slid her glance to the ape and uncurled her fingertips regretfully as she banished the eldritch lighnting, "If you are so great, so mighty, you have no need for hostages. I will even give you the chance to prove your superiority. Your strength against my magic above the skies of Freedom City."

"Oh, colors!" Alex enthused from the backseat. "Do you think they'll have two-tones? Oo! Or maybe pinstriping!" Alex scrunched up her face as if trying to decide what Erin would look best driving and then pronounced, "Pumpkin! You should see if it comes in pumpkin."

"Yes, sir," Alex said politely to Mark's father, clasping her hands behind her back. She smiled up at him cheerily, "The second Scarab is mentoring me. It's really quite an honor. We're really very lucky to have a venue to exercise our abilities and learn from experienced individuals." She fell silent and blinkled at the older man's exploits. Not so much from the mention of fighting gods, so much as adjusting to a household in which the super-hero antics were openly discussed. By mutual agreement in the Albright household, Alex's extra curriculars were only discussed when her mother was in a shouting mood. Her hazel eyes flicked from Mark to his father and back thoughtfully before she smiled again and added, "My grandpa says that swinging on any sort of line is for the under-forty set. After that, one should invest in a teleportor." Of course, the contact that Alex had opend up with her mother's father was also not something she had enlightened her mother on. It really wasn't worth the fight.

Woo, HP!

It was nice when deathtraps took care of themselves neatly, without managing to hurt anyone. Of course, it usually took a great deal of help. Phantom glided out of the empty space that the building had occupied and down to Jack and Stesha in Dark Star's much faster wake. She took in Jack's expression and distinctive lack of mask, with a worried expression not entirely concealed by her shadowed hood. "Those of us not wanting to chat with the police should probably leave. Jack, shall I take you home?" She asked quietly before glancing over to Stesha and Dark Star. "I imagine that Dark Star will want a few words with them. Stesha - Fluer - do you want to stay with him and help with the statements"

"I don't have a flight instinct." Taylor admitted honestly, "I imagine I did before I became Phantom, but it's certainly gone now. I suppose it's from the training I have had." She gave a little shrug of her shoulders and folded her arms against her chest, "I know I won't ever be able to hold my own without my powers, however. Even if I did have the time to devote to training, I've got no more physical prowess than any other woman of my size and lifestyle."

Once is chance, twice is coincidence. Three times is conspiracy. One more bank robbery while she was conducting perfectly normal business and Taylor was really going to start to write a strongly worded letter to the fates. Fortunately, rather than waiting in the long and rather exposed line, she was in a side office going over the somewhat hopeless prospects of a first time home loan. While the less-than-helpful clerk had stepped out to see what the conflict was about, Taylor had taken the chance to dive through the wall. In the chaos, she doubted that the woman would even notice she'd gone missing and it gave her a chance to transform into her alter ego. Ephemeral, Phantom ghosted through the floor and rose up behind the extra-dimensional monkey as her cloak billowed out dramatically. "As far as megalomaniacal plans go, I have certainly heard better." She raised her hands, filling them with eldritch power, "If you surrender now, I'll allow you to return to your world concious."

"I think, rather than the chance to see winners, it's more likely the chance to see something. Criminals, too, have their own misguided fans. I would say that the popularity more comes from drafting one's own wants and desires onto a fantasy. The powers we have, terrible or wonderful, allow others to live out their fantasies vicariously. Not everyone worships a hero, after all. There are many who would rather root for a charismatic villian." Alex interjected thoughtfully in the wake of the good doctor's speech.

"Fleur can teleport herself out. Avenger's on his way out the door." Taylor said as she pushed herself up and picked up her cloak. She turned insubstantial as she stood and swirled it over her shoulders once more. Thanks to Fluer, she could even see straight again. "Don't worry about me. If any of these machines tearing free causes problems, I might be able to help. You'll be busy holding that portal open."

I would like to point out that for the PP, instead of Insubstantial 4, you could have Impervious 10. I wouldn't buy interpose on my insubstantial character because I do think its silly. But if Phantom is standing in front of someone and they fire at her, her insubstantial lets her ignore it and then the ref decides that the bullet hits the person behind her, I do think that would be a setback. Its basically attacking two people for the price of one. Insubstantial is really not overpowered for cost and how freaking common affects insubstantial crops up. Especially since if you want to use any of your powers from insubstantial, you have to add an extra to each one. I really like it for the theme of my character and thats why she has it but it isn't broken the way it works already.

If someone is shooting Phantom and she's insubstantial, I'd say both she and the person getting hit by the bullet should get an HP for that. That's definately a setback. Insubstantial is a costly power and most of the time if you run an insub character, you will be fighting something with affect insubstantial or whatever your weakness is. Unless you're pvping. Interpose doesn't just mean 'I stand between you and the bad guy'. It could mean 'I make myself a much bigger threat' or even 'I shove the person out of the way'. Saying the bullet goes through you and hits that guy over there is certainly valid but I think its really unfair not to hand out an HP for that.

"Its always good to have other options." Taylor said firmly, stepping away from Ace. "We can't rely on powers to always work. Its careless. Besides, its not like we can't use this sorts of skills in conjunction with our powers."

"Yeah, it's all practice, practice, practice. Mostly I work with a special advisor on the high end power stuff. I'm sure that they'll test me in there eventually though. It sounds like it happens to everyone. I know Seven's been in there for, like, solo stuff. I'm not really eager, honestly. I don't really like fighting." As committed as she was to this carreer choice, it was true. Alex would be much happier if there was never a need for her to be in a super hero battle again. She was simply pragmatic enough to know that was probably never going to happen, "But, good luck with your training. I'll let you know when I'm going to use the lab."

"Let me see if I can just port in there. It might be a bit of a squeeze." Rather than risk the cloak getting caught in the field, Taylor dumped it off to the side before she floated close enough to the field as she dared without scorching herself. Stealing herself for what might be a painful journey, Taylor phased out and then blinked in the field right next to Dark Star. So far so good. Of course, to pick up Dark Star and take him out, she had to solidify. The onslaught of gravtic forces once she materialzed was almost enough to send her to her knees. It was a new and truly agonizing sensation to stand inside a field that was trying to draw out energy that she simply did not possess. Taylor staggered, but managed to wrap her arms around Dark Star's waist. Gritting her back teeth against the onslaught, Taylor yanked them both back through the void. The stark absence of sensation was even more disorienting than usual. The landing was no where near her usual grace as they ended up in a bit of a heap on the ground but Dark Star was out of the machine, at least.

(21:38:55) FreedomBot: alderwitch rolls 1d20 and gets 19. (21:39:02) FreedomBot: alderwitch rolls 1d20 and gets 12. 19+8= 27 Will Save 12+3= 15 Fort Save