alderwitch

"Not yet, but I do know its not just me they're after," Taylor said thoughtfully as she remembered her mini golf game. Shaking her head, she stood up, "No rest for the wicked, however. I should start my rounds. Need a ride home?"

Taylor shrugged and glanced away from Ace while she tried desperately not to blush. She should have expected that he'd leap at the opportunity to run around shirtless. Once she had her expression under control she slanted a look back at Ace and added dryly, "Of course he was an untrained college student that wasn't expecting to have to dodge my elbow. I'm good to go. I'm used to a cold start."

Taylor released him to do what Jack did best and blew him a kiss with a sparkle in her eyes that seemed reserved for 'I think people are about to shoot us' moments. "I'll meet you outside then. I'm making it a personal goal not to run in heels." They seperated once they reached the doors, and Taylor veered quickly to a small side room off the patio. It was for freshening up and that's exactly what Taylor did. Of course for her, that meant with a flash of light the silk dress vanished and Phantom's cloak and costume replaced it in a matter of seconds. Holding the billowing fabric, Phantom turned ephemeral and sank into the ground below to catch up with Jack. Scrying meant never sticking one's head up in the middle of a firefight after all.

Taylor looked around and simply marveled as she asked, "So, do you think he just keeps ladies clothing on hand or did he buy this all for the occasion?" She rifled through the racks and found something that was as close to her usual work out clothes possible. Like Stesha, she skipped over the martial arts outfits and settled on a pair of loose runners shorts and a halter top and knotted her hair back in a quick pony tail. The only thing she did do that was more than you might put on for a jog, was wrap her hands and feet while Stesha braided her hair.

Alex smiled and nodded cheerfully, "I'll wait for Mike and he'll fly us back. We'll be a little bit behind you but not much. Maybe two minutes or so."

After giving Jack a slight smile, Taylor frowned at Stesha, a dubious look on her face and said, "You don't look fine. Honestly, Stesha, if you're concerned, I really can come and make sure nothing shows up. I'd love the company, of course, while Jack's gone. You really don't have anything to worry about tonight. I'll be surprised if he can walk after the thrashing Jack gave him."

Taylor sighed at Ace and smoothed down her dress as she turned to answer Jack's question. She'd take his flirting more in stride if he wasn't so darn good at it. Blast Ace Danger anyways, now what was Jack saying? "The boy's a member of the Prophet family. I'd heard of them. They move in similar circles..." Taylor trailed off as she glanced over Jack's shoulder for the second time since she started talking to him and trailed off. Poking him once in the chest, she gestured for him to turn around, "Aren't a lot of those big guys heading outside? Quickly?"

20!

Alex bounced on the tips of her sneakers with ill concealed eagerness and reached out for Mike's arm. 'This is going to be soooo cool! She bubbled at him accross their link. After how hard she'd worked to be able to fly on her own power, there was little doubt that spaceflight was something that Alex had long dreamed of.

"Thanks," Taylor took it and it vanished between her fingertips like some sort of stage magician trick. Of course, with Taylor it was always real magic. "Well, all in all, I'd say we've had a quite successful evening. Punched my boss in the face, went over your love life a bit and my need for a new job. I think this is as close to a normal evening as I've had since become Phantom. And look" She waved her hands with a pleased expression, "No imps!"

Taylor glanced around and then obligingly began to fill in this story or that story. In addition to her own rather expansive historical studies, she appeared to have a rather encyclopediac knowledge of Ace's adventures. Before Stesha could question that, as Taylor hardly seemed to get along with the man half the time, she added "I grew up on my great uncle Huang's stories. He was one of the characters that the Jungle Patrol was based on. So this is all third hand knowledge, really."

"I'm safe here," Taylor said simply, turning to look at Stesha, "I don't see any reason to hop over to your place tonight, if that's okay? If you're nervous about the zealot, I can come keep you company, of course." She glanced up at Jack, a question in her eyes, "Or if you'd rather I be elsewhere?" Tomorrow, Taylor would feel much more confident of her responses but the last thing she wanted to do was break down in tears again. With her nerves still jangling, Taylor might just end up blurting out everything that was bothering her and however mixed her emotions might be about tonight, she didn't want to betray Jack's secrets.

"That's my point. I'd rather not have to explain why your hand was on my thigh," Taylor gritted through her teeth at Ace. She absolutely hated when Ace did things like this. Nothing quite like being socially manuevered into delivering someone else's insult. She gave Ace a look that wasn't at all difficult to interpert as 'I am strongly considering hexing you into the hemisphere' as he finished the dance and neatly slid her back to Jack. "You are exceptionally dangerous when bored," Taylor informed Ace. It was definately not a compliment. She turned her face up to Jack, "He did have an answer for me, however."

"I'm sure the ficus can use the love and attention. It's all droopy again." She said with another faint smile. "If it's alright with you, I can meet you at your place after classes tomorrow. I'm going to have to go plead my case to a few professors. They're always cranky if you miss time during the first week. And, really, I can doze on the couch just fine. Its where I usually catch my cat naps." And she had just worked her way out of academic grey areas. The new year was off to a bang. She glanced up at Jack, "Are you sure you don't mind stopping by my place?"

Taylor gave an equitable shrug and a nod of agreement. "Sure, why not. Especially if I can contact them in relative anonimity. Using magic, there really isn't anything I can't translate. Of course, people ask questions when I can do everything from Farsi to ancient Sumarian. I've even toyed with the idea of using Ace's political connections to get in as an interpreter."

"No, this my first trip to Danger Manor." Taylor admitted. Any offer to visit had been layden with enough innuendo that she'd demurred. Taylor glanced back over her shoulder, rolling the phrase over in her thoughts. The familiarity of that was going to bug her all day.

Alex's chin lifted at the challenge and with a flair worthy of a street racer, threw the car into drive and sent it zooming through the course. It handled smoothly and despite the pace, Alex only tapped a cone or two. When she stopped the car and got out to take a look as well as restore the cones. "No problem! Ish."

"The majority of the languages I know don't come through the immagration offices too often, though. I was going to go into academia. Translate the next dead sea scrolls." Her tone dissmissed the old dream even as she admitted to it. "I grew up in a bilingual household. My family mingles Cantonese and English interchangibally. I picked up Mandarin in high school when we were planning a trip to China to see the extended family. Found out I have knack and went into linguistics in college where I studied Arabic. Greek, Latin and Aramaic came from the people who trained me to be Phantom."

Taylor let Stesha draw her along and simply close her eyes so that her second sight wouldn't make her quite so sick to her stomach, "Of course Ace would extrapolate his little mind tricks to cover a North Bay mansion. Maybe its dakanan?" She mused aloud and gingerly opened one eye once the sound under her feet had changed from grasses to gravel.

"Of course!" Alex said blithely. "Practice makes perfect n' all. Now, lessee..." Assuming a look of intense concentration as she moved down what was very obviously a list of mental checks, Alex finally stepped on the gas and began zipping through the parking lot. As far as first time drivers went, it wasn't too shabby. Somewhat surprisingly, Alex errered on the side of more speed better. She drove it around a few times before bringing it to a stop in front of the parked cars.

Taylor made a face in refrence to her job. Heaven knew she needed a new one. "I should see if I can start working towards freelancing as a translator or interpretor. I know half a dozen languages. Sadly most companies want three to five years of experience and at least a college degree.."

Taylor looked between Jack and Stesha. The animosity still hovered below the surface there. She could just picture the two of them interacting on a regular basis. "I really don't want to bump you out of your bed, or cause trouble for you, Jack. I appreciate the offer, Stesha, and I'd be happy to stay for a few nights but I'm sure I can find something a bit more long term until I can find a new apartment. With my scheduale, I'd be a lousy roommate." She smiled ruefully and set the mug down on a coaster. "Thank you, Jack. I'd rather avoid my apartment for a little while at least."

Left with the option of making something of a scene, or getting drug onto the dance floor, Taylor chose the hopefully less attention drawing tact of getting sucked into the vortex of Ace Danger. "Ace, I don't even know how to tango. I'm supposed to get back to my date." Taylor pointed out with another futile frown at him. Fortunately, it was a dance that her temper worked well with and Ace's lead was easy to follow. Any time she jerked away from Ace's hands, it just seemed to be part of the push and pull of the tango. "Do mind your hands, Ace." Taylor frowned at him, suspicious of just how much was dance form and how much of it was Ace being Ace. Hoping she wouldn't break an ankle with the tricky steps, Taylor risked a glance around the room to find Jack on one of the more backbendy moves.

Alex sighed and finally opened that mental communication link for the first time since Zoe had errupted into their world, 'We're just kids with powers, here, Zoe. We don't know you, and we only know what you present to us. Look, you're hungry, and you're scared and you need help. We don't hate you. We don't know you.' Her thoughts were carefully focused into words but they carried emotions and images behind them with more layers of depth than words could ever hold, offering a bit more of a glimmer of Alex in that moment than words would have. "But, we would like to get know you. Now, have a seat. Please. And let's try this again. Hi, I'm Alexandra Albright. My friends call me Alex." She smiled and held out one slender and delicately boned hand - the same hand she'd smacked on the table - palm up.

Alex bounced out of the car and landed solidly on her sneakered feet, "I knew you could do it. Now you just need to figure out what I owe you! I think I want to try driving the mini. I'm not up for a truck yet. Too big." She smiled at her friends then hustled over to the car in question. It was a very Alex-sized car, really, and of course it came in array of cheery colors. One had to wonder if that was not part of its attraction for Alex.