alderwitch

"I thought about motorcycles but they're dangerous. My mom'd flip. I'd love to try it sometime, though. Just to have driven it once." Alex agreed, cheerfully unconcerned about the logistics of carrying things with a scooter much less the coolness factor, "I can totally see you on a bike, though, James. It suits the whole you-mystique." She scuffed her foot against the floor of the car and glanced out the window, "When we're done with them, you could always donate it. There are lots of folks who'd love a car and can't afford it."

I think AA's got a point on the super-hero angle. Also, I'm not sure what AD has in mind for the thread but at the kinda party this looks to be, I'm not sure even if Breakdown was there how he'd be able to interact with the guests really if he came to work. I mean, I think that they'd frown on the party staff fraternizing with the guests.

Alex is using her ESP to sneak a quick peak ahead of time.

Taylor's expression as she glanced up at the house was coming perliously close to her inscrutable mystic demeanor. Really, it covered the bundle of nerves as she felt terribly out of place standing on the steps of a North Bay mansion. She missed the comforting weight of the Eye on her throat but even she knew that the piece would look out of place with the stiff collar of the cheongsam silk dress. Instead, she'd looped the thick chain around one wrist. The sparkling black jewel would be a little less noticible there and the color at least flattered the deep purple silk. Instead of more traditional designs, the silk was embroided with delicate white star patterns down the bodice and along the slitted skirt. She'd taken the time to sleek her dark hair back up into a braided knot. That alone had taken almost a half hour to remember how to do but the effect was worth it, at least. After all, how much more awkward would she feel if she were underdressed. The cool expression on her face faded as she glanced up at her date. "I didn't know Ace was going to be here," she commented in an aside.

Alex accepted the map, eyes widening at Mark's quick, and actually pretty efficient reprimand to Eddie. She glanced down at the map and said quietly, "Uhm, sure. Might take me a minute." She closed her eyes, her features smoothing out in concentration. "He's in some grody access tunnel. Lemme see if I can figure out where in location to us." James inched his way along the corrider, transitioning to a smaller passage that ended at a dead end with a trap door above his head. It didn't appear to have any noticible wires or other traditional booby-traps but it was hard to say what was above it. "This way," Alex's eyes snapped open and she led them around the back of the church, where a few smaller buildings sat.

"Oh, I know that about the test. I studied!" Alex announced as she slipped into the backseat without question. She sat and bounced slightly, seatbelted in as James started the car. Alex kept her gaze out the side window. "Convertibles are neat. Even if they're not the safest cars. I've always liked them. Although, if I could drive anything it'd be, like, a scooter!"

Alex watched it all with wide, curious eyes and an almost too observant look on her face. When JJ had finished his display, she smiled gently and said quite honestly, "I think that's the first time I've seen anyone with that power. How long have you had your gifts?" When they got to the car, Alex slipped into the backseat and into the middle seat with out protest. She was still the littlest one on the team so, taking the middle was only common sense. It wasn't so bad. It was actually kinda nice to be squeezed in next to Mark.

Full Round Mind Probe to see if she knows what we need. DC 20 Will Save (vs Power Check). Mind Reading is Subtle.

"I dunno. Headmaster Summers seems like he'd be kinda hard to freak out. Kids have probably done stuff during their course that I couldn't imagine coming up with." Alex said doubtfully. She fiddled with the hem of her shirt for a moment nervously before blurting out, "Can we practice with a convertable? Those have always looked so neat. Like in Thelma and Louise. Uhm, without the driving off a cliff part, though. And with more people."

"I'm pretty sure that I owe you more than a destraction. You won the bet after all," The flash of her smile dimpled both her cheeks as she traded him the handful of bloody rags for the jacket. She didn't bother to explain that the scent would draw the demon towards Jack, as that seemed self-evident. "I always pay my bets." "Time me," she teased in response as she slipped into his jacket and held the material closed over her breasts with one hand. She leaned up to press a firm kiss against his mouth before she teleported away. It was certainly an odd sensation to feel someone turn insubstantial against your skin. It took under ten seconds for Taylor to teleport to the garage and, as locks proved little barrier against her insubstantial hands, getting the bundle out of the trunk and into the void took little effort. Meanwhile, as Jack looked out over the golf course, the air above the bright pink miniature castle began to warp and bubble in odd and wholy unnatural ways. It was certainly less elegant than most dimensional travel that he'd been witness too. Apparently, it really was all in the conjugation of latin verbs.

"Want me to go get it? I can teleport out and back easily enough." Taylor offered, resisting the urge to try and pop her ears against the gathering energies. It wouldn't help, her sixth sense just manifested itself in certain ways. There wasn't any actual pressure on her eardrums but it certainly felt that way, as the veil between dimensions thinned for something big and ugly to cross over. She finished turning what had once been a very nice (and favorite) shirt into a handful of bloody rags and considered the question before giving a shake of her head, "I don't think its anything we can't handle. It's not a nemesis demon or one of the lords of hell."

Alex made a face at booth of them and protested laughingly, "Oh, come on. I'm not that short! I can see over the dash-board of most cars. Unless they're like tanks or something." She poked James in the arm once and pointed out, "Plus, even if I can't see. I can drive by ESP. Bird's eye view and everything! Just like in a video game."

Relieved to be back on her own feet again, Taylor set off towards the back of the course. She knew people would be streaming towards the front gate and the fence at the back should prove little problem to either of them. She wasn't running, but she moved quickly and with purpose against the flow of people, "It's a trap. The whole place is a trap, designed to be set off by the shedding of magic-tainted blood. Not designed for us, I imagine, but it wasn't that well written a spell. The conjugation was all wrong, to start with." Taylor reached the fence and nodded for Jack to go first while she stepped into the shadow of a few bushes, to start stripping her shirt off quickly. Under the smear of blood on her side, the skin was smooth and un-marked. Standing there in her bra, Taylor began to rip the shirt into smaller strips, knotting the first of them through the links of the fence. "I really liked this shirt, too," she sighed, before answering the rest of his questions, "I think it's another demon. Probably an enforcer. I'm not sure why the trap was laid here, of all places. How many supernaturals show up at the mini-golf course."

The sudden movement almost startled Taylor out of phase again. She watched the stone wall crack under the punch and blinked, giving Jack a sidelong look that was interrupted when she found herself scooped up abruptly. At least, in all of the chaos, they were going relatively unnoticed by the rather freaked out crowds. Automatically she put her arms around his neck for balance, and leaned in to him to quietly point out, "Let's hope it comes after me. There's way too many people here to deal with the collateral damage. Maybe there's some empty field we can lead it to? If we get out of here, I can teleport us."

She grinned at him, a flicker of expression not exactly in keeping with the current situation and reached out to touch his chest. Her voice was soft, and meant for his ears only, "I know. We both have." Taylor was going to try and reassure him further, but that insistant tingling at the nape of her neck drew her attention. There was no reason on earth that her sixth sense should be screaming at her, but it was. Taylor lifted one hand as if to rub her eyes but paused at the blood on her fingertips. She paled, with a look of dawning horror at her hand before she began to glance around for the source of her mystical agitation. Frankly, she never considered looking at Jack for it and eventually her gaze lit on the ivy hidden wall. "Jack, look," she said slowly, pulling away from his hand to shove the ivy away from the scratch marks. The lines of harsh script were slowly filling, far more than any such small amount should ever have managed to do so. Taylor didn't even bother casting her spells. She could recognize on sight that this was blood magic and it was calling something. Probably something ugly. She brushed her fingertips over the latin words, silently mouthing a few of them as she tried to make out the chicken scratch. "...Not good. I can't stop it."

Taylor winced at the crunch of bones and blood. Jack's violent side was terrifying to behold. She took a step forward, pulling her hand away from her side as she thought she might have to stop him. Fortunately, for them all, Jack pulled himself back from the brink. Taylor sagged with relief as he came striding back up, and the tips of her bloody fingertips brushed the stone wall next to her hand as she pushed away. "It wasn't a central enough shot to do any real damage. It's fine," Taylor assured him. "I'm quick to mend and it just knicked me." Unnoticed, as Taylor's back was to the wall, the smear of blood from her fingertips began trickling down in fresh grooves carved into the low walls surface, slowly painting malevolent sigils dark red.

"I couldn't make out much," Taylor admitted as she turned back to him with a dissaproving shake of her head. Whatever else Taylor had been about to say was cut off by three short popping noises that could have been mistaken for a backfiring car. Pain blossomed along Taylors ribs and she stumbled against Jack as the velocity of the bullet slamming into her side almost spun her around. I would manage to get shot at a game of miniature golf, her brain tried to rationalize as she over-rode the almost overpowering instinct to turn insubstantial at the threat. She'd been shot before. Enough to know that it was, all things considered, a minor enough injury and her supernatural nature would seal the wound up shortly. Taylor pressed a hand quickly to her side, glancing up at Jack, "I'm okay. The guy with the gun?" Behind them, people were starting to scatter away from the rival gang members, roughly four to one side and three on the other. The leader of the smaller group was the one waving a pistol but the others looked as if they might also be carrying some sort of weapon under their coats. No one else appeared to be injured as the boy had fired vaguely up in the air but he was still waving the gun and things were escalating.

Phantom: 10 Thugs (PL2, Core Book): 4 +1 HP to Phantom for the fiated injury.

Alex laughed and shook her head, giving his arm a little pat, "I'm not trying anything other than to express how much we'd love to drive your awesome car." She scooped up her book bag and slipped it over her shoulder as she fell into step, giving Erin a conspiratorial grin and fell into step with her friends. "So, if we prove that we wont crunch your car, maybe we can talk then. I'd like to get a chance to test drive a truck. I'm concerned about the sight lines."

"Hmm," Taylor glanced at the distance from the ball to the hole, and gave him a wicked grin. "Sure, I'll take that bet." Taylor lined up her shot and gave the ball a solid little tap. It glided smoothly towards the hole before a slight change in the fake turf caused it to wobble away from the cup at the last second. It stopped only an inch or two from the hole and a final tap sent it in. Taylor collected her ball and slipped one arm around his waist as they headed towards the rise that started the next hole. She tilted her face up at him, her expression amused, "Well, I'd say you won-" Taylor broke off her sentance, turning her head away and towards the second hole. It wasn't difficult to make out the slightly raised voices of two groups of teenagers that appeared to be bickering over who had arrived first.

Taylor let out a soft sigh and with a gesture summoned a towel to one hand which she used to dry her face off. It gave her time to phrase things before she spoke. In or out of costume, Taylor prefered to organize her thoughts before sharing them with her colleagues and friends. She dropped the towel to the side and rested her weight back on the palms of her hands. "It's the tip of the ice-burg, really. Divine's off with her parents in Olympus but she gave Stesha the impression she didn't want to go before she left. I agreed to help and look into what can be done to retrieve her." Each word was carefully chosen, although frustration seethed behind the composed words, "It was very difficult to explain the pact to everyone and that it's not so very simple as it might sound like to just 'get Moira back'. It's one of those intersections of my duty to the multiverse and my responsibilities to my friends. It doesn't help that my personal feelings aren't entirely neutral."

Taylor startled, phasing out as she twisted in place. It only took a second for her to solidify. Taylor's bare feet hit the mat softly. Irritation flickered across her face before she let it go with a sigh. She gestured with one hand that Scarab could release the bag and have a seat. Taylor dropped to the ground, folding her legs loosely as she started to unwrap her hands, "I didn't get any real physical abilities, so I have to keep up on that the hard way." She wiggled her fingers, watching the bruises on the knuckles vanish one at a time before she spoke up again, "Its nothing team-breaking and relationship wise, I'm happy. Which is more nerve wracking in some ways. It's Divine. Moira." That was true in more ways than one. The whole Stesha-Moira-Jack tangle would be easier if there was anything to punch. That would be straightforward. Taylor flexed her hands into fists as the last abrasions faded and then relaxed them flat again, "At least, that's one problem. And then there's demons. And juggling school and my family. Its complicated, but its just my life. Nothing team-threatening."

Her admiring glance slipped down his shoulders and back as he lined up to take his shot. Once the ball finished zipping around the green, Taylor came up behind him to take his place. "It would take more than failure at mini golf for me to think less of you." Taylor smiled, although she didn't look up as she lined her shot. Her ball sailed past the hole as well although it had much more to do with a poor aim than escessive strength. She flashed him a dimpled grin, "It does mean that I can save my back up strategy to distract you at key moments until later on."

Yay, HP!

Deep below the glittering towers on Wading Way, the silence in Scarab's Lair was only broken by the repetitive thump of flesh against leather and the faint rasp of breath. Bookish, quiet Taylor would have looked out of place working in the school gym. Especially as, while working the bag she didn't look like Taylor should look. In shorts and a halter top, her hair pulled back into a thick tail, the clothing would have passed but there was no mistaking the determination on her face or the smooth movement that hadn't faltered once in the twenty minutes since she'd started. Even more telling, Taylor wasn't flailing at the bag with any emotion. Instead her right fist thumped the bag with perfect follow through before she switched to her left. To anyone who knew anything about fighting, she was training muscle memory so that when startled or stressed, the smooth arc of fist to jaw wouldn't hesitate. The sweat slicking her skin was a silent testament to the time she'd been working the bag but she didn't seem to pause as she switched hands once one started to feel the ache of the bag. The physical repetition gave her mind a chance to focus on other things. The Divine situation. Jack. The damn demons. These days, Taylor found it easier to work a problem while her body was active but at the moment she was mentally spinning her wheels as her mind refused to settle on any one problem.