alderwitch

Talya smiled, for the offer was a kind one really. "Well, then, high time to rectify that situation, my friend," Talya said, the words easy, "Would it easy any tensions if you could have a smaller social gathering before the day itself or will having stalwart allies willing to see through the awkwardness be enough to suffice? I will see what I can do to help ease your lady-friend into the holiday. If nothing else, I am adroit at running social interference." She reached out and gave his arm a friendly pat, "Regardless, you have my support at Thanksgiving and I will see what I can do to buffer things so that your companion feels welcome at the holiday to the best of my not insignificant abilities."

Robin looked down at the much reduced pile of clothes and then with a long suffering sigh, went back to do as she was told. She was strategic enough to listen to the most experienced on a field of battle and if this wasn't her typical arena, the same concept applied. Muttering under her breath she went to go find a sales person and a replacement top in the supposedly appropriate sizes which she collected in short enough order. Intimidating a sales lady into helping her was easier than intimidating her friend into letting her show up in the jeans and worn shirt she was currently wearing. As she cared very little for the end result, Robin reappeared in short order wearing the requested tight leather pants and a handkerchief top in a high shine material. It was knotted around her neck and around her ribs. "There is no bra you can wear with this but apparently that's the point." The lack didn't really bother her since she'd never been overly endowed in that arena. "She says I can get away with it though. It didn't really sound exactly like a compliment." Robin added dryly as she went to lean against the dressing room door frame and wait for everyone else, her arms folded. With that much skin bare, the definition that was usually hidden under baggy clothes was clear. It wasn't any sort of classic beauty, but chiseled definition certainly appealed to some. If nothing else, it was impressive. Robin folded her arms up, her biceps flexing with the gesture. With that much skin exposed, the lighter marks of old scars against her darker skin were a lot more apparent. Across her back and shoulders were more than a few puckered lines or circles from where a knife or bullet had caught her skin. Below the hem of her shirt, the marks continued. Robin wasn't self conscious of them and they were old and faded enough to not draw a significant amount of attention in the club, most likely.

"That's Tindr," Alex said with a small sigh as she pulled back to look at him fully. She scrunched her nose at him, "Tumblr is where you go to look up funny things people post and maybe sometimes porn, but mostly just entertaining cat pictures. Tindr is where you swipe people's pictures if they're interested. Grindr is the one for gay men." Alex raised her hand to touch his cheek, smoothing her hand over his clean shaven skin. "Of course I don't. I want to do stuff but I want to do stuff with you. If I was interested just in experimenting with the things people can do together, I'd have let things go farther with Mark back when we were dating. I certainly wouldn't just find someone to do that with without telling you. Mike, even if we weren't, you know, sexually compatible, it wouldn't be just something I decided to take care of. We'd have discussions and figure out what we were both okay with, just like everything else." She frowned slightly at him, "You know, for two people with a psychic rapport, sometimes our communication skills can use work. Maybe because of it. I'm not going to do anything that's not genuinely okay with you for goodness sake, with you or with anyone else."

"Yes. Yes, I do," Alex said with a small, lopsided grin that Mike could hear if he couldn't see. "You know, when most people say that, they mean have sex while Netflix plays something in the background, right? That's the origin of that phrase. It's slang for teenagers hooking up. Don't you tumblr?" Alex teased as she leaned up to press a small kiss against his jawline before she turned her head away. Telekinetic ability meant not having to untangle herself from his lap as she lifted one hand to catch the remotes as they floated over. "It's okay. We can actually just watch Netflix and spend time together. I have a bunch of shows I've been waiting to start until we could watch them together." Pressing a few buttons brought the tv system to life as she tucked her head under his jaw once more companionably, "Do you like it?" She asked, not keeping the concern from her voice. "We can change things when you feel like you can, you know, move in here. Which you can, of course, whenever you want to. I made it for us, you know."

"If I ever go into a fight shirtless, you can be the one to swoon at that point," Talya's voice faded as the thief vanished into the crowd, literally as she let the odd chameleon like affect steal over her body to let her vanish as if she'd never been. Moving through the panicked crowd on catlike feet, Talya palmed the twin batons as she ghosted up behind the pair of criminals. Admittedly, she wasn't entirely sure of their capabilities but it seemed like a sound plan to take out the powerhouse. Not the least of which because Talya didn't fancy being tossed through a couple of walls before dinner time. Pausing, her baton against one shoulder as she snuck up behind Smash, she tipped her head to the side to enjoy the showmanship. And, let's be honest, the show. It was almost a pity to help put an end to it. Almost! Flipping the baton over in her hand, Talya let the handle drop into her palm as she put the full weight of her body behind it. She had surprise, so rather than her lighter flurry, this was more of a baseball swing. As she'd told Raina, it was all in the hips. The baton snapped out, landing with a solid crack right into the back of the powerhouse's knee. Talya's tone was cheerfully condescending, "I know, I know. He's impossibly distracting at the best of times. It's worked on a far higher caliber of criminals than you lot, if it helps."

Bombshell Free Action: Activate Concealment Move Action: Move behind Smash Standard Action: Power Attack with Bombshell's Batons And stealth is skill mastered at a 30 Attack: 1d20+9 = 10 (Because Orokos is a vengeful god...) HP for the re-roll: 1d20+9=23 DC26 on the Tou save if it hits. Concealment is broken by the attack.

"Ah. I'm not sure I want to go to the Interceptors Thanksgiving," Talya said, the words very dry as she fully recognized that her avoidance of Erik's mother would come to a firm end at any thing like a holiday gathering. It was not an experience she was particularly looking forward to. She liked Erik's mother - which, really, was the problem as she couldn't honestly imagine a scenario where the current arrangements would go over remotely well. She gave a small shake of her head, and uttered a full blown lie, "I'm sure it'll be a lovely day. Your girlfriend... is that Ms. Americana?" She'd heard the information and met the woman herself at the whole 'vanishing dumpster' incident but Talya had a hard time imagining a less likely pairing. "Is there a reason that she might not want to come to such an event? I'm sure that everyone would be most welcoming on this end." Talya wasn't at all certain that was true. There seemed some distinct tensions but she was fairly certain such things could be smoothed over with a modicum of effort. "I think you should invite her, yes."

Talya's nimble fingers had already begun to unfasten her heavy jacket as they turned in between the booths. She tilted her head towards the commotion and panic only to see one rubbery green arm shoot past. Disdain flickered across her elegant features, "Oh. These amateurs." The words could easily have been flippant but the genuine distaste made it clear the word was more stinging than any salty insult could have been. It wasn't about the amount they'd stolen, but the collateral damage in its wake. Her blue eyes narrowed on the people getting tossed aside like so much driftwood. Someone was going to get seriously hurt if they weren't already and that was so very not okay with the blond ex-thief. Shedding her overcoat with a shake of her shoulders and tossing it hopefully towards someplace it would end up with minimal dust and debris - hope sprang eternal - Talya said, her voice dry as she asked, "So, the plan is that you wrestle them both into submission and I watch and look suitably impressed? At what point do I swoon?"

Alrighty, there are two bounty hunters and their leader. The bounty hunters are going on 18 (D20+3) and their leader is going on 14 (D20+6) Initiative Frostbyte: 24 Woodsman: 20 Bounty Hunters (2): 18 Ouroboros: 17 Bounty Hunter Leader: 14 Reagent: 10 Merlin: 10 Sparkler: 9 Frostbyte is up.

Well, apparently I am getting some of my bad rolls out of the way early... D20+7 = 11

Robin gave a small shrug, her lips quirking up into a wry smile, "Clearly, I should start offering tours. Riley wants to come see my stomping grounds and two of the other girls followed me back one of the first weekends." Or perhaps her new friends were less cavalier about their buddy getting shot or stabbed than Robin was about her own safety. She reached up to tighten her headband, shoving the errant corkscrew curls back from her features with the gesture. "Are you going to be allowed to head off campus, do you think, or will we be smuggling you out. Actually, I think we're starting to get pretty good at slipping on and off campus without getting caught. Between all of us, I think we've got a good idea where the holes in the security are." That was said with no small amount of pride in the gang of ruffians that Robin was starting to call friends. "Okay, okay. You're a badass in your own right. I won't try to keep you swaddled up," Robin agreed with a warm grin, "Well, maybe just a little swaddled. I'd rather people made with the punching at my face instead of yours in general."

Taylor tossed the blanket at Huang, "Cover up," she said shortly and planted her hands on her hips, her eyes narrowed to thin slits. "I am your mother, Huang. Whether or not you like it, it's my job to try and keep you from careening off the deep end before you learn enough sense to manage on your own. Which you don't have yet, I might add. The first work done on the manor was the magic to hide it. There's nothing like that on Claremont. You can't just go yanking gates open willy-nilly. You of all people should know that. You also shouldn't be doing blood magic before you're getting, er, intimate with someone. Set may be a god but he's incarnated at the moment and biting him - which from what it looks like is really just a matter of time - and draining too far could hurt you both." She cut her hands up in sharp gestures, "You want to like each other? Fine. You want to date? Fine. This sneaking around crap, though, it's going to stop." She leveled one fingertip at her son's nose, "And don't get tetchy with Sekhmet. You won't like where it ends."

"I have that effect on people. Do you know what I used to do - other than grand theft, I mean," Talya asked as she trailed after him, clearly storing the information he'd shared away in her thoughts to calculate later. This whole 'sharing of information' business seemed to have a ripple effect that Talya had not entirely anticipated. She'd certainly worked with people in the last sixty or so years but never in anything like a formalized team format. If she were being entirely honest, Talya had avoided anything that seemed remotely like a team dynamic after her first, and last, rather disastrous attempt. It was hard enough to share with Min and Erik but she was aware enough to realize that working within a group meant disclosing at least in part her capabilities. Still, it was more than passing strange to point out, "Espionage. Well, infiltration, espionage and assassinations." Potentially treasonous, as well, if she thought about it as she was relatively certain some of that was still classified. Ah, well, what the crown didn't know couldn't hurt her. "I retain the knack for easing people into conversations about sensitive subjects. It's not something I can honestly turn on and off," Talya said, "I also have the advantage of edging out of a human lifespan. It doesn't take a tactical genius to recognize a wave attack pattern. Thirty years is long enough for the old guard to be old and the new guard to have no personal memory really of the wars that were. That, I think, contributes to the cycle of it all."

"Mmmm. I don't know Chris terribly well, but as for Erik, certainly there is a joy in the physicality of activity but I hesitate to say he finds even a just battle a true pleasure. Certainly, he puts on a confident, cavalier facade but few find the trepidation of their leader a comforting experience. He's well aware that his certainty becomes a touchstone for those who follow him," Talya pointed out, pivoting to face Steve when he turned. Her expression remained untroubled as she tipped her chin up to meet his disconcerted expression, "You are right. It builds to an inevitable crescendo. This world has long been an appealing target and I think that we'll see another full bore invasion in the next few years. Before the thirty years are up, I imagine. It is reasonable to find that troubling. Is there any particular sign that has you more concerned of late?"

"Don't go yet," Alex complained, her arms tightening around his shoulders and she pulled back to frown at him, "You only just got here. You haven't even had the ten cent tour or anything. I'm not all that tired." The slight circles under her eyes belied that statement but Mike had seen the stubborn set of her chin many times. She uncurled one arm to touch the frown lines between his brow as he continued to over think things, her index finger was warm against his brow, "You should stop fretting. Things will sort out in time. Not everything has to be made a big deal. If you want it to stop being a secret, you just stop treating it like a secret. There's no reason to have to issue a press release. Though, honestly, that's super easy to handle - AEON has a PR department after all." She relaxed back against him, her tone stubborn, "I don't want you to go. I'm tired of you being gone."

"How long a time?" Talya asked then, her expression thoughtful as she tried to follow the science and explanations, "The science makes sense as you've explained it - although I am certain it is a vast simplification for the layman at the table." That was said with a small gesture towards herself to excuse her lack of science as background. Her attention remained fixed on her dinner partner, her flirtatious smile firmly in place, "Does it remain matter for some set amount of time? Is there something that triggers the release of the light to energy once more? Or is it fixed and permanent in its new form once you've done your treatment to it?"

"Many other good qualities. The fact that you can't seem to go an afternoon without sacrificing a shirt is certainly high on my list," Talya murmured in response, not willing to allow a little thing like police sirens to ruin a perfectly good line. Her hand remained against his back, smoothing down over his sweater as she turned to scan the crowd herself. Her head tipped to the side as she rose up on the toes of her boots but well aware she probably wasn't going to get any better vantage point without resorting to antics. "I'd just like to point out before our afternoon devolves into chaos and blood-shed that it is clearly not my fault in the slightest. I have been here the entire time, doing nothing more nefarious than enjoying the cut of that pair of jeans." The cadence of her banter was relaxed but her accent had already grown more clipped, slipping towards the crisper tones she used behind the mask. Looking mournfully at the last of her cider, Talya dropped it into a trashcan near by. "I imagine its too much to hope that someone has run red light. Towards the trouble then?"

"Or you could, you know, use your super speed to read your books and do your homework," Alex pointed out as she wiggled once more on his lap to tuck her shoulder back against his chest. Her sigh was a soft, contented sound. With her long legs drawn up, Alex easily fit curled against his chest and she shifted automatically to pull her braids from where they would tickle against him. She yawned once, as her day had been long and Mike's presence there was soothing. Honestly, most of the time, she felt his absence keenly as a Mike shaped hole. The places she'd left in the apartment for his things a stark and constant reminder that he was absent. Having his large frame on the couch that she'd sized with her other half in mind was like finally having the last piece to an almost done puzzle. "As to AEON, its my company. If I have to adjust things around, I can adjust things around accordingly," Alex commented, "I like being busy but I tend to fill up my time as it's available to do so. It won't exactly run itself, but I can certainly juggle running things and super heroing. If one gets in the way of the other, I'll just set up contingency plans for that situation. I'm sure that emergencies I haven't thought of will eventually arise but we'll weather it alright. I mean, a well run company works not because of one lone beacon guiding the way, but because you reward people for working hard and you make sure they are properly compensated and aren't overworked, and you ensure your management team works well together and has the same ideals as you do in terms of work-life balance... Too much information?"

As he stood and stared silently, Talya remained outwardly relaxed and loose limbed, apparently content to wait until he was ready to talk further. Internal tensions rarely disturbed her features so her impatience didn't register on her face although she did let out a soft breath when he decided to talk again. Talya touched the tip of her tongue to her lip, repressing the initial instinct to point out that the way she'd spar with Erik to relieve tension was vastly different than anyone else on the team. It hadn't been hard to pick up that Steve was largely uncomfortable with that sort of banter so she adjusted accordingly, "Well, yes, they're different people with a rather different modus operandi than you have. I imagine that's not the way you let off steam, so to speak." Of course, it was hard to imagine how Steve ever did that. Talya wasn't entirely sure that relaxing was within Steve's operating parameters but she didn't venture onto the subject, "Well, of course war happens here. There is evil and there is stupid in any infinite number of forms. And sometimes there is stupid evil which makes for a truly obnoxious combination." Talya pointed out with a slight lift of one of her slender shoulders, "And when cruel, selfish or stupid people gain power, it leads to inevitable conflict. Where there is life, there's eventually going to be chaos."

"It looks good on you," Alex said as she gave his cheek a smile kiss and smiled as he took the hint to lift her fully into his lap. Her arms went around his broad shoulders and she beamed at him. "It's okay. You ramble in your head too. I'm used to it. It's just the way you process. Sometimes, though, you think too much. Often. You often think too much." Cuddling into him, Alex let her cheek rest against the arm on his shoulder, her face largely tucked against the side of his neck but she didn't make any effort to speak up. Frankly, Mike's hearing was good enough that he could pick up a whisper and even if he didn't, there was always the echo of her thoughts to use instead. "You're not awful at school, especially if you work at it, and you did just fine getting your AA. You didn't even need my help at all. You don't realize it but you compare the way you do things to me and that's not fair at all. There aren't many people as smart as I am on the planet," Alex stated that with no pride, just the inherent fact that it was. "But you're plenty smart. You can do college in between super hero work and see if its a good fit for you. If not, at least you've learned that much about what you want to do with your future. But in two years, you'd have a bachelors and could look at getting a teacher's license." Alex paused, her voice softening as she pointed out, "How different would it have been for you, if someone like you had been a teacher when we were tiny?" It wasn't intended to be a low blow, but eventually Mike would dredge up those old memories. Alex was just short cutting his process.

"Just because you don't need to worry about money doesn't mean you don't want to be busy - meaningfully busy," Alex agreed with a small smile. She tucked her cheek against his shoulder as he withdrew, half in his lap. "You were in low orbit weren't you? Your buttons are all warm from reentry." Alex added as an amused aside as she pressed her palm against his broad chest, feeling the lingering heat in the metal, "You know a button down shirt doesn't take a beating the same way as your old uniform did." She left her hand there, pressed over the steady beat of his heart, "I think you should go back to school and get a teaching degree," Alex volunteered, offering him her advice with a small smile, "Someday Claremont will need teachers - or Nicholson - and you'd be good at it. You'd find it rewarding. Most of the teachers they have are retired super heroes that don't really have an education background." Her voice softened as she added, "It isn't always catching planes and putting out fires. You always focus on your strength and how that defines you but whether or not you can lift an oil tanker isn't why I fell in love with you. It's in here." She tapped his breast bone with light fingertips. "And I think as long as what you do every day uses that, you'll be content."

"Couldn't is a very strong word. There's very little we can't make work one way or another but we both chose paths and neither was a bad one. Just divergent. It's okay that they've been separate. I miss you when you're not right here - of course I do. You're the other half of me," Alex said, scrunching her nose up at him as she played with his hand absent mindedly. "But I don't doubt they'll come back together in the end. What's between us isn't anything that really can be severed. You know that and I know that. I can be patient." Alex smiled up at him then, "I know you want to wait. I know that it's important to you even if you have trouble figuring out why, or what it is. That's okay. When you're ready, you'll be ready." Alex gave a little shrug, "I know what I am to you, Michael Harris. I knew it well before you did, I might add. When you want to do more than what we do right now, then it'll happen. Whenever it happens though, it's not going to be about being a finish line or anything else. It's just two people that are doing something special to them, together. Whether that's tomorrow or when we're fifty, it'll be the same thing, but only when you're ready for it." Alex patted his hand then, clearly dismissing the topic, "And of course I forgive you if you need to hear it. I just don't think there's anything to forgive."

"Mike, it's not selfish to want to try a normal life. There are lots of things I could tell you - and you'd probably believe me - but that's not really the same as learning them for yourself," Alex pointed out as she cuddled into his side on the large couch. The two story penthouse was comfortable despite the clear expense in its furnishings. Alex hadn't scrimped on the price tags of her decor, paying for quality but they had all been selected because of the inherent appeal to the owner rather than any desire to impress. Somewhat surprisingly, most of the furnishings were muted. The couch that Mike settled into was a soft dark grey but the throw pillows were a rainbow of bright colors. The coffee table was a solid light wood but the decorations on top were as chaotic as Alex's outfit. Reaching down, Alex captured one large hand between her smaller ones and threw her leg over Mike's with a comfortable sort of ease. "Although, Erin pointed out that not telling you is still kind of deciding for you. I mean, not really so much intentionally, but when we were kids, I knew that thanks to my brain I was a lot further along than you were and it would have been easy to accidentally influence you to the point that you couldn't make choices for yourself. I want you to be you. But I think I went too far the other direction. We're not kids anymore. You're a grown up and so am I and you are perfectly capable of disagreeing with me now." Alex offered him a small, gamine grin, "I mean, if you just went along with what I wanted all the time, we'd totally be having sex before the wedding. I'm sorry too."

"But I imagine that your new material will still have constraints? Just different ones than the other resources at your disposal?" Talya asked with curiosity, her bright gaze taking in his animation and the delight on his features. She made a self-deprecating gesture as she added, "I admit freely, that I am no scientist and the bulk of what you're describing is well above my own particular understanding of such matters but it seems a resource that's as malleable as what you're describing would have to have certain restraints. Certain limitations? Or perhaps I'm misunderstanding the depth of your discovery." Her gaze lit with curiosity as she tried to follow the science of it all and distill what the engineer had created during his time in prison. Say what you will, but a long stint in Freedom City's finest incarcerations did tend to lead to its inmates having all sorts of time for their hobbies and interests. It was rather nice to see that occasionally that could benefit humanity rather than seeing someone break out of prison with an all new death machine to try out. "Have you been able to suss out the limitations of what you can do or do you need to go into full scale production before yielding those sorts of answers?"

Talya's expression turned briefly amused, "Steve, you've become part of Erik's family. If you don't think the man would drop everything to follow you and ascertain why you've left - and then fix it - you have perhaps misjudged what that sentiment means to him. Regardless, as new a habit as it might be, I am trying not to willfully deceive my romantic partners especially in important matters." She gave a small, slow shake of her head, "Which is all moot point as I don't need you to leave the team for my sensibilities. You know, usually I'm on the other side of this conversation. Generally, I'm the questionable character in any given scenario," Talya offered Steve a small smile in the mirror, letting her humor fall away then, "You were a weapon in a war not of your choosing and carry the burden of those actions. I understand the sort of atrocities committed in the name of Omega and I understand the resultant destruction on your hands. It doesn't cause me any inherent distress to associate with you either socially or professionally. Does that help set your mind at ease?"