alderwitch

Ouch! 1d20=1 Let's hope Ace is right and they can't affect the insubstantial :P

Phantom nodded her agreement. She'd changed into her costume once she'd finished having to craw into Jack's trunk. Resolidifying in an enclosed space with that much cloak was never a good idea and she had to be solid to grab his costume. With a little toss, she strewn the rest of the bloody rags over this section of the bushes. "It'll follow the blood scent. You can expect that it will orient this way. It should fool the creature long enough to act." Once they attacked, of course, all bets were off. ----------------------- The pink castle would never be the same as reality disgorged a red and warty demon. From the cloven hoof that crushed in its turret to the leathery bat-like wings that lifted it aloft, even a layman would have been able to recognize the hellspawn for what it was. The horned head swung towards the back of the courses and it bellowed, "WHERE IS THE BOY?"

And the demon will be surprised this round. Because it is not expecting to get assaulted right out the gate.

Iniative: Avenger: 21 Phantom: 14 Enforcer Demon: 9 For reference, I bumped up the threat on the PL10 Enforcer Demon from Crooks a bit.

I'm pretty much ready. I haven't posted for Phantom since it would be the post to start combat :)

Taylor stared at Stesha with a moment of real concern, even as she managed to shake the fingers around her elbow off. She'd be the first to say Stesha was one of the nicest people that she knew but even Stesha wasn't that nice. Still, Taylor would be the first to say Drew had it coming. With a nimbleness born of long practice, Taylor scooted away from the hand coming perliously close to her backside and let Stesha interpose herself. It helped that Drew was thick enough to sense an incoming female that might actually be interested and gave Stesha another grin with the sleaze factor rocketed up a notch, "Oh, I'm over twenty-one. This is my last year here as an under-grad. So, Taylor has been talking about me? I always knew we'd thaw the ice princess eventually." He laughed at his own joke and Taylor gave him a flat look of acute dislike at the nick name. Sadly, it was ruined by the fact Drew was too focused on slipping his arm around Stesha to notice. She muttered, "Fat chance."

"Well, if probability says that, I'll just hang out with Mark some more. That should solve that problem!" Alex teased with a quick laugh. She peered out the window once more, trying to figure out where exactly James was driving. "As for mystique. Kinda. You're certainly the bad boy and there are things you don't talk about. That lends you a certain air. A little dangerous, a little mysterious, an a lot rich. It's pretty much a textbook recipe for school bad boy." Alex said pragmatically, with that rare air of maturity that seemed to pop out at random intervals, "It keeps the majority of people at a certain comfortable distance and lets you pick and choose who you let in. That makes you selective and makes getting to know you, well, the real you, a challenge. It's definately popular with the girls-- Oh, hey, a Foster's Freeze! Can we swing through?"

"I thought about it, but I'll probably do something more like kick-boxing. I think a lot of that stuff you have to start a lot younger than I am to actually be really good at it. Not that I don't have time," Taylor added dryly. She didn't bother trying to look over the crowd as there was little she'd be able to see without a milk crate. The answer to at least one of their questions - Why this was so popular? - was answered as a man took the stage to much cheering and applause. He had the sort of musculature that made one wonder if he would actually be able to fold his arms if he tried. The sort of build that only pro-bodybuilders or men with something to prove develop. A self-proclaimed mixed martial artist, he apparently had some sort of television show. Taylor rolled her eyes at Stesha and was tempted to suggest that they bail out for coffee when she felt a hand close around her elbow. Taylor gritted her teeth as the blonde man she'd pointed out to Stesha earlier pulled her up against his side and spoke up over the ambient noise, "Hey, Taylor. Didn't expect to see you at an actual honest-to-God social event. Turning over a new leaf? I approve, especially if you'll be running around in sports wear. So, who's your friend?" He crowded Taylor's personal space and she shifted subtly, trying to establish a bit more room but it was difficult in the crowd. Her expression was studiously neutral, but the flash of mutinous dislike had been clear to Stesha at Drew's approach. "Drew, this is Stesha - a friend I made over the summer. Stesha, my co-worker, Drew." "Hey, Stesha. It's a pleasure." His glance over her was a little to sleazy to be considered appreciative and the smile he gave her was more of a smirk than a grin.

"It was a housewarming gift from my folks. I'll keep on trying for a bit with it. If I can keep it from drooping, maybe someday I can upgrade to pets." Taylor smiled faintly and then pulled them both through the void to a small stairwell on campus. She waited politely for her passenger to recover from the usually disorienting experience and released Stesha's hand. "I think they're holding this thing over at the athletic facilities." Taylor explained. Her stride hitched briefly when she saw a larger crowd than she'd expected milling in front of the buildings. She picked out a few familiar faces and winced, "Looks like some of my co-workers are here. I didn't think this was their sort of thing. Let's try and avoid my boss. He's kinda... handsy." She gestured with a nod of her head at her supervisor. A slightly older student than Taylor, he was pleasantly attractive if a little bland looking overall. Average enough in height and build, with shaggy blonde hair and a scraggly goatee.

Taylor looked amused but didn't protest the attendence to the worn out ficus. Once Stesha had perked the plant up, Taylor scooped it off the ground and replaced it in its usual home in the corner on top of a bookshelf. "It might be kinder to let the poor thing expire. I'm not the best with plants, to say the least. Doesn't help that I vanish on it for days at a time." She collected her keys and slipped her sneakers on to knot them quickly. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be. I just hope this isn't one of those things where they teach you to say no, loudly and firmly." Taylor held out one hand to Stesha. Teleporting would be easier than driving at this time of day.

The tingle on the back of her neck alerted Taylor to the incoming presence and she took a step away from the living room. As the spartan apartment was home to a teleporter, the area she'd set the ficus in was blessidly clear of any clutter. The few furnishings were worn but comfortable and the only area with any clutter was one battered desk in the corner that was almost bowed under the stack of school books. Taylor leaned her hip against the island that seperated the kitchen from the room. She'd thrown on a pair of short running shorts and a loose tank top over a halter top. Her feet were still bare but for a pair of athletic socks and her sneakers sat by the door. She gave Stesha a welcoming grin and finished knotting her hair up into a thick tail. "Welcome to my apartment. Such as it is."

Alex always did enjoy a good round of 'guess what I'm thinking of'. This was the first time she'd been on this end of the game. Compared to the almost rudimentary skills she'd displayed with her telekinetic abilities, the petite teen's mental focus was another matter entirely. Here was where Alex showed her much vaunted potential, as the sphere her thoughts presented to the older psychic's mind was utterly smooth and without imperfection. The only oddity was that rather than a smooth silver, the color was a brilliant and rather vivid purple. For such a young woman, her mental control was masterful.

Phantom glanced around at the children and gave one sharp shake of her head at the idea of keeping them in the pocket although she didn't explain her reasons aloud. Instead she let the telepath pick her thoughts so as not to frighten the children. If anything happens to me in the fight, they would be trapped. Alone and frightened. I will take them someplace safe. "Scarab, if you'd step back, please. Magpie, I assume you'll be going with the children?" Phantom strode into the center of the children, solidifying so that she wouldn't frighten any of them by ghosting through them. Once there she scooped up a chubby little boy who was right on the edge of toddler hood. Phantom couldn't help but smile as sticky fingers reached for the glinting amulet at her throat. These were the moments that really did make it all worthwhile. "Now, if everyone could close their eyes. I'll see if I can find us somewhere sunny." Her cloak flared wide enough to cover the cluster of children within its dark folds. Phantom's voice faded out as she teleported out of the citidel and halfway around the world.

22 - Will save.

"We can summon her and that is part of the plan but research needs to be done first." Taylor shifted her weight to free one hand and begin ticking points off on slender fingers more suited to holding a pen than punching a leather bag. "By the tenants of the Pact, Moira should never have been allowed to walk the earth. She's a child of two gods. That means she should only be allowed on this world if called. I can think of two options, she was mortal born - placed here in utero - or she was stripped of her Godhead as an infant. Either of those options give us wiggle room on an arguement that they have to give her back. If, of course, she wants to be here in the first place." Taylor let out a sigh that puffed her hair out of her face. She reached up to tuck the errant strand out of her face, "I'm hoping that one of those is the case. The third option that she really doesn't belong here is more problematic. Dark Star, Stesha and Jack are set on retrieving her come hell or high water. I have a responsibility. As it is, I'm pushing the very limits of it already. The last thing I want is to be forced into a fight with them. Especially Jack. Stesha asked what kind of hero would condone kidnapping already. Explaining the delicate layers of the cosmic coil is like describing blue to the blind. For me its a fact, but to everyone else they're just empty words."

Taylor eyed the droopy ficus in the corner, thinking she may have neglected to water it again. "I've got a plant - a ficus. Sort of. It's just a little under the weather. I'll see you then!"

It took a woman made of sterner stuff than even Phantom to not react to Ace's charms and she blushed faintly at the brush of lips across her knuckles before she rescued her hand from the immortal adventurer. While Ace could fluster her, she wasn't fooled. Ace was up to something. One raven-black brow quirked in silent question at Ace's theatrics although she greeted him with a smile. "Good evening, Ace. We would have said hello earlier but you seemed quite busy."

Taylor glanced at her clock and wrinkled her nose, "You can meet me at my place, if you'd like and we can go over together that way. I'd give you directions but teleporting around the city has left me really bad at explaining where anything is." She gave her the address of the apartment and added, "We'll meet up around five-thirty and head over?"

"Tonight, actually," Taylor admitted with a tinge of guilt to her voice. She really had been dithering over the silly thing, "I've been debating whether or not to risk attending. It's kind of crossing the beams for me. My alter-ego really shouldn't know the first thing about self defense but I do, and its at my college. But I only have so much time in the day, not to mention resources, and it also happens to be free."

"I have abilities, but if they're stopped - and they can be stopped - I'm only as capable as I make myself. Back when," Taylor's words hitched and fumbled before she picked up the thread of conversation again. Her training wasn't something she'd spoken about, to anyone really, "When I was learning how to do all that I do, I had teachers of a more physical nature as well. I've let that lag a bit since I've gotten back." She continued to fray the threads from the jeans as she spoke, trying to neaten the hem in a truly fruitless quest, "I can't really learn anything from the others on the team. Those of them that are good at any sort of hand to hand would knock me halfway across the room on accident."

"There's a self defense class at my school. I was wondering if you wanted to go with me?" Taylor asked, flopping back onto her couch and stretching her legs out over one arm of the battered sofa. "I'm a little nervous about going alone, actually. I don't really have a lot of friends at the college and they're all more on the bookish end, anyways." She idly picked at the fraying hem of her jean shorts as she talked. It might be time to consign these cut-offs to the rag-bin.

"I wouldn't wreck a car!" Alex protested automatically, jerking back around to face the front seat with a little laugh, "I'm way too cautious a driver. I mean, not that I've driven but it's kinda given." As for the description of James, Alex wasn't touching that one with a ten foot pole. Not that he wasn't handsome or any of those things, but not only did Alex have a boyfriend, she knew that even if she was in the market, James was too much of a rebel for her. Some people were into the whole bad boy thing. Alex just wasn't.

Stesha and Taylor hit up a self-defense class.

Taylor flipped the flyer over on her table and eyed it once again. She was actually considering going to a college sponsered event for once. The flyer had been one of those pieces of paper she'd picked up with the rest of her fall-term paperwork. Unlike the other brightly colored pages, however, this one she'd kept around on her end table, gathering dust as she tried to make up her mind. Taylor didn't want to go alone to the class, however. Plus, it was exactly the sort of thing that might be good for someone else she'd know. After one last moment of hesitation, she pulled out her phone and dialed Stesha's number. She didn't even know if she'd take the call, actually. Last time, things had been... awkward.

"You're looking quite sharp yourself," She grinned back at him, and replied playfully, "Flatterer. I'm about as out of my element as I can get." Her heels clicked on the marble as they crossed the entry way. Not for the first time, Taylor hoped that this particular even would see nothing out of the ordinary. She might end up breaking an ankle if she had to run in the strappy heels. She might be able just to phase her feet out of them, Taylor supposed, but with the tiny buckles around her ankles they weren't the kind you could just kick off. Well, how likely was it that anything would happen other than some dancing and shmoozing? Pushing her thoughts away from the times that a fight had broken out on one of their dates, Taylor glanced around the room with a quiet curiosity. Other than Ace, she didn't see anyone she knew of course. There appeared to be the older crowd and then a great number of people her age or younger, "So, is there someone we're looking for or is this just a see and be seen type of event?"