alderwitch

Taylor laughed and folded her arms accross her chest, "Well, any good teacher would startle us. I have bad habits when startled. I go intangible. It can be difficult to explain. We could hire someone very discreet, I suppose." She pursed her lips, thinking, "There are actually two more people that I can think of that do hand to hand. One's Arrowhawk who I don't know very well. Then, there's Ace. While wrestling with Ace might be a great deal of fun, I've spent a good deal of time trying to get him to tone down the flirting."

That hadn't been quite what she'd meant, but Taylor was too distracted by the rest of his statement to correct him. She narrowed her eyes, recalling his statement about the murder of their queen. "What exactly are you to the rest of the vampires?"

I have to say I really don't like the idea of a pool of power gained from commiting crimes. Its an additional and kinda wonky thing to keep track of. Especially accross multiple threads.

"I didn't know you then. However, any man who sticks around in the middle of a burning building to rescue over a dozen angry cats has to be some kind of hero," Taylor's smile this time reached her eyes and dimpled both cheeks. She laced her fingers through his and tugged him closer as she leaned over the comics. Her eyes appeared dark in her pale face, "Its the actions you take that define you, Jack. I doubt you'll be a petty anything ever again. What you make of yourself, in the end, is up to you. I don't think, however, the hockey mask is really working to keep people away any longer.

Taylor glanced at the glossy covers and wrapped her arms around her waist. She'd gotten very quiet during his impassioned speech. It was more than her usual habitual weighing of words. Taylor stuggled for a moment before she reluctantly uncoiled and leaned forward, lacing her fingers together. "It takes a very rare human that can look at an eternity of existance and not buckle at the knees. We're meant to live a finite existance. One life, filled with family and friends, laughter and love. Joy and sorrow. Then at the end of it all, there's a time to rest." Taylor pressed her steepled fingers against her lips, her eyes veiled as she glanced down. The subject was a difficult one, one that bordered on very closely held personal pain. "Eventually, for those of us unnaturally immortal, we lose everything. Family. Friends. Some go mad. Some indulge in a thousand shallow pleasures in an effort to find something - anything - to hold onto," Taylor gestured at the image of Ace. "Vampires, by and large, are monsters," Taylor met his gaze unflinchingly. "It is very, very hard to hold on against the ebb of time. Most people are not good at 'hard' in my experience."

It was more than a little weird to hear Avenger's voice come out of Jack's mouth. His capability for deception was also daunting. To fool that many people, that much of the time... Taylor blinked and thoughtlessly cupped his hand between her warmer ones. "The best laid plans... I can't imagine that Scarab didn't figure it out. She has a way of finding things that no one wants to face. It's as admirable as it is aggravating." Her voice was dry, making her hesitation over the Lair earlier clearer. "Even with my habit of avoiding Elena whenever I'm not in a mood to talk, I still find myself in reluctant heart to heart chats. I've resigned myself to having to hide off world if I ever am going to actually be succesful in avoiding any issue and that just feels downright cowardly." Taylor shook her head, dismissing the matter as she realized she was starting to ramble on about their team-mates. "You said 'up until recently'?"

Taylor glanced down at the long hand and flipped her palm up to mirror it. The last of the bruises and abrasions had faded. She had a scholar's hand, fingertips more suited to holding a pen than curling into a fist. After a moment of examination, Taylor closed her fingers around his hand, one thumb feathering lightly across his knuckles. "Brave, but very dangerous. You really have taken the double life to a new extreme," Taylor smile softened her expression, chasing away some of the shadows that lurked in her eyes. Her posture relaxed as she twisted to better face him, "How do you manage that all? Its layers of secrets wrapped in an illusion. I would go mad."

"He's a wackjob," Taylor agreed wholeheartedly as she tipped her chair back on its two back legs and thought, "We need a better teacher. One that's good enough to teach us what we need to know but isn't going to ask a lot of questions about why. A fellow super hero would be the best but I don't know that many. I can only think of two hand to hand types that I know." One of those was right out for Stesha. Taylor didn't think that a training session with both Stesha and Jack would make anyone happy. "While the chance to pound Jack might prove cathartic, I'm not sure there would be a whole lot of training involved. Unfortunately, I don't know the other person at all well."

Sorry, Cy, I didn't realize you hadn't seen the post the first time you asked for the IC response. She ESP'd over in the first post on the top of pg 11.

I think some of the problems with the villians and their play time sometimes is the hard line between heroes and villians. Unless the two are engaged in a throw down slug fest, they don't interact. There are no Magneto-Prof X chess matches or even Spiderman's relationship with the Osborne's alter egos. I actually really like Malice's new take on Dark Star, to illustrate that point. There's no question that Malice is a certifiable nut job and bad guy but his delusions about DS open a lot of possible interactions other than "Two men enter, one man leave" scenarios.

She let out a little breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Taylor had meant every word of that. It would be very difficult to walk away but she would do just that if she had to. The ramifications of not walking away, however, was a little too much for her shocky brain to work the details out right now. Taylor made a mental note to brush up on the vampires of Freedom City and specifically, Jack's blood line. Taylor would rather not have any more sudden and startling relevations. "I'll hold you to that. I'm still tempted to knock you through a wall or two," Taylor informed him with a not-entirely-mollified expression on her face. "You haven't even appologized. You really can be a bit of a jerk, Jack. She went to run a hand through her hair. Her face scrunched in distaste at the still drying strands. After this, she'd definately want to steal some shower time. Taylor shifted to make certain she wasn't leaning against the couch and martialed the thoughts chasing around her head. "So, you became Avenger afterwards, clearly."

Taylor shrugged and gave the matter some thought, "We all get scared, but you just learn to act through the fear. Kinda like any emergency worker. Fireman know better that anyone how dangerous fire can be but they still head into the building anyways." She finished the dregs of her ice cream cone and tossed it into a small can. "Being a hero just means you held back your fear a little longer than everyone else. Honestly, for those of you that have the choice to walk away, I think you lot are braver than I'll ever be. You could chose to have a normal life but instead you're out having slugfests with nutcases in bee suits."

Taylor's fingers curled into tight fists and she considered a good deal of physical violence before she managed to reign her temper in and under something like control. "If you ever do something like that to me, again, we're done," she said flatly as she forced her hands to unclench, "I'm not talking about the biting part. I get that's something that's part of it all for you. Now, at least. I'm talking about the fact that you did something to me. Something that I wasn't aware of and didn't agree to." She tilted her chin up so she could watch his face as she spoke once she was certain that she wouldn't commit an act of violence. "I have to be able to trust you, Jack."

That actually startled a laugh out of her and, after a moment, explained ruefully and with a thread of self deprication, "It's difficult to believe, but I actually do know about vampires. All evidence to the contrary, that actually was covered in my studies." Taylor looked down at her linked hands and watched the rope marks fade from her wrists one at a time. She should have recognized what he was, hell, no wonder he made her sixth sense tingle. Fortunately, Taylor had already had time to call herself ten kinds of idiot over that on the car ride over. It had helped blunt her anger at Jack, in a way. She still felt indignant over the fact that he hadn't told her, but - really - how does someone bring that into a conversation? 'Baby, I have something to tell you' didn't even begin to cover it. "I've seen you out during twilight, so you're of a different ancestry than most of Freedom City's nightlife. Am I right?" Her voice was remarkabally steady, although the face she tipped up to him had a somber cast. The next wasn't a question but it was a subject that had to be covered. Knowing that he was indeed a vampire, and knowing what they had done together, it wasn't a difficult leap to make, "And you've bitten me."

"Things can affect us," In this, Taylor was actually a good person to ask questions of as she too spent a good deal of her time insubstantial. Of course, her transition back and forth was much quicker, "It just has to be out of synch the same way we are. I actually pass through Dark Star as he's energy and I'm out of phase with this dimension." Science aside, she got back to her story with a little grin, "I fired off a blast that knocked both of the guys back and dove after him. I include that as my only moment of heroism because, really, everything else was Dark Star in the fight. So I found him recovering in a water pipe below ground and we teamed up to hit them at once. Focusing on the guy who stabbed Dark Star of course. I teleported above him and Dark Star came up right below him and we hit him with all that we had." Her spoon twirled in her fingertips and she made a stabbing motion as she finished the rest of the story, "Dark Star and big ugly took each other out in this absolute explosion of energy. Star fell down again. I didn't know if he'd get better on his own, or solidify, or what so I went after him again. By the time I'd scooped him out of the earth, the bad guys fled and we had some very thankful cops. That's how I met Dark Star."

Taylor scrubbed one hand over her face, aware that she wasn't in the best mental state to have this conversation if any part of her brain thought that was a good idea and she looked up at him to say as much, "Let's talk about any further plans to deal with him after I feel like a person again. I've never felt helpless before, and apparently, I don't handle it with any real grace." When Jack stopped the car, she unfastened her seat belt and reluctantly uncocooned herself from the blanket. She stood up with a wince and slipped out of the car, straightening slowly. Definately best not to talk about the zealot until after she'd healed up. She walked stiffly but Taylor knew the movement would help. Stiff bruises were worse than regular bruises, after all. Unfortunately, with that conversational topic gone, she'd have to stop ignoring the other one. When they got in the elevator she turned to face him, her chin lifting up. "So.. How long?" She gestured with one hand towards him. It wasn't hard to mistake the meaning but she added, "We can wait, until we're upstairs. I've got a few questions."

"He's insane, repressed and dangerous." Taylor said flatly, her hand tightening on the pendant until it almost hurt, "He's a sociopath with a deadly mixture of violent and sexual tendancies-" She bit off the end of that statement and forced herself to release the necklace before she yanked it right off. When she was certain that she had her voice back under control, Taylor managed, "I hope he learns the lesson, and, if I'm being entirely honest, I'm glad it hurt."

Taylor sucked an ice cream drop off of the side of her finger before she set down the cup and thought about the best way to start it. "There were these two guys thrashing one of the precinct houses." Taylor explained, her hands raised and flattened out to gesture as she tried to tell the story. For some reason, she had a hard time talking about blasting someone without making the appropriate hand gesture, "Captain Knieval - I'm sure you heard about him on the news - and this bellowing wacko who was all head to foot in armor. Kneival was too fast for me to hit and couldn't do a blessed thing to me, so that part of the story is kinda uninteresting. Dark Star and this other guy, however, went at it. He had this black death-sword that could actually slice up Star's energy form. Dark Star threw some serious bolts at the guy but he was wearing some sort of hell-forged plate. Then the guy just stabbed Dark Star through the chest, and he fell down below the street. He stays ephemeral even unconcious. Not like me, you know. If I'm ever out, I'll pop right back into the closest dimension. Usually, it's this one."

She searched his face for a long moment, her eyes very dark in her face and her expression pensive. Taylor's fingertips slid over the surface of the amulet at her throat, and then closed around it's comforting weight. 'Either you trust someone, or you don't. It's still that simple in the end, the choice itself is just more complex.' "I believe you," she said finally, her guarded expression easing. Taylor remained silent for another long moment, before she returned the faint smile at last, her cheek dimpling, "I am glad you pounded his face into the floor. It would only have been more satisfying if I'd been able to do it myself."

Sense Motive: 20 Last HP: Sense Motive: 26

Taylor looked at her curiously as she finished the rest of her ice cream. She could sense that Stesha was picking her words carefully but she had no idea why, of course. It wasn't in Taylor's nature to press other people on their secrets. Considering the amount of emotional space she frequently demanded, it would hardly be fair to do so. "He's an amazing person. One of the best I've met." Taylor said finally, wiping her mouth, "He was actually the first Knight, I fought along side... Do you want to hear the story?" Maybe the story where Dark Star was stabbed in the chest and almost fell to the core of the earth wasn't the best story to tell his girlfriend, but Stesha might be curious about his Knightly exploits, and it was a curiosity that Taylor was happy to indulge.

Her gaze flicked up to the mirror. This time, at least, it was less of a shock. Still, how could she have missed this? Taylor didn't have a lot of false pride, but she was one of the most accomplished mystics in the city. Did he do such a good job hiding this? Or did I not want to look? Although she'd never pried into his secrets, she hadn't dreamed that it would end up being anything quite like this. She examined his profile in the light. It was a decidedly odd sensation, to know someone so intimately, and still know so very little. "Tell me," she invited, letting her cheek rest against the head rest. Her features were still drawn and too pale, but her eyes were curious if still guarded, "Am I really that special to you?"

She listened to his explanation. At least, she had long ago given up on Jack getting along with most of her friends. Her family thought highly of him and the Knights did but outside those circles, any meeting seemed rife with conflict. "Green in judgement, cold in blood," she mused aloud with a grin that dimpled her cheeks. Taylor stepped gracefully into the circle of his arms as she explained in a husky voice, "Shakespeare's Cleopatra. It's where the phrase came from originally. A little after most of the moldy texts I study, though, and thus I don't know the rest of the stanza." She'd never win a competition, but she followed his lead with a decent amount of grace. Taylor certainly never stepped on his toes, or had to count the steps aloud, but she didn't have the polish that came from classes like many of the teenagers here had obviously had.

Taylor slanted him a glance. She reached up to peel her mask off. It came free with a wet squelching sound as the skintight cloth finally peeled away and she winced. Taylor flipped the mirror down out of some sort of morbid curiosity. In addition to the laceration from the barbs of the whip, the other side of her face was coloring up nicely. That alone told her that her body was working over time to deal with the damage. "You have a way in that we won't be seen? I don't think that everything's going to heal up before we get there." She reached out to him, resting her hand on his leg in a soothing gesture, "It's okay, Jack. I'm okay. I'm bruised and I'm battered, yes. I'll heal. How would you have known?" She turned towards him, snapping the mirror shut with a soft click. Her eyes darkened as she remembered the other threats that had been made. "You got there before," she hesitated a moment over word choice, "Before he could do anything truly awful. Or permanant."

"That is my official wrestling finisher, I'll have you know," Taylor tossed her cell phone into the void with a distracted gesture and threaded her arm through Stesha's as they strolled to the brightly lit ice cream store. With most people still watching the spectacle of the martial arts class, the store was blessedly empty so not only were they able to grab ice cream, but they also snagged one of the better tables just out side. Perfect for people watching. Taylor stuck one spoon in her Love It' size of mint and brownie ice cream and cocked a brow at Stesha, "So! There I was..." She proceeded to tell an outlandish version of her vanquishing of Drew. There were chasms, and explosions. Even a car chase or two, before she mimed swinging her elbow back up, "-and, crack-pow! He was out like a light. I was going to use the double-axe handle, but that only works if you're Captain of the Enterprise." After a moment or two after her story, she set in on her rapidly melting ice cream and asked curiously, "So, you and Dark Star?"