alderwitch

"This is quite impressive, Lynn," Taylor stood back by Grim's side as her son was drawn into the magical wonders, her hands clasped in front of her with a faintly indulgent smile. The gaze she cast over the books held a lambent white glow as she, too, checked over things with a mystical bent although for her that required no gesture or arcane words - merely a thoughtful look. Whatever her senses revealed to her, Taylor kept her mouth closed on the matter as mystics are wont to do. She glanced down briefly at Huang's purchase selection thoughtfully. Her lips pursed before she gave a slight nod. "Or do you want another after school employee?" She suggested to Grim in the wake of Huang's odd statement about what she might wish in return, apparently still on with her internal crusade to normalize his life to the more mundane. "Huang could help you and Gretchen with the inventorying if you like. He's really very skilled in matters arcane for his age." She tucked her hands in her pockets, turning her head to examine one of the more garish stage props with some interest of her own. Taylor reached out to run a fingertip over the old chest in question. "Heh. The locked-chest trick. That's a classic."

Nighthawk Robin Chevalier

Taylor was both relieved at the easing tension and that the hug was initiated without her having to continue to guess whether it was hugging time at not. The tension went out of her shoulders at last and she slumped a bit in place. "Coffee sounds great." Not that she needed to eat OR drink but the habit was comforting, especially as it gave her something to do. She leaned her hips back against the counter and watched with mingled fascination and uncertainty about this particular bout of kitchen wizardry. "I've expanded my cooking skills a bit as the kids are still eating - and eating a ton, I might add - but this is a bit beyond me. It really works?" Taylor moved to ease herself back onto the stool then, settling in for a more.... unfiltered chat since Amaryllis was napping. "Actually, Jack has too but its a bit harder, I think, as he can't taste what he's trying to make. His first go at cookies was really something to see..." With that, Taylor launched into one of the lighter-hearted stories of the time she had been away. Bridges had begun to be mended and more delicate subjects could wait for another day.

Phantom, although she heard the other young women, the bulk of her attention was fixed on Aquaria. She was startled, that clearly flickered across her features - visible despite the mask obscuring her face. Her dark gaze traveled over Aquaria's features and then down to the lines and markings of that tattoo that she could see, as she attempted to discern the meaning. Phantom's lips moved, although no sound came out, muttering Lemurian words under her breath before she caught herself and snapped her mouth shut. As her head tipped to the side, her expression remained remote, almost impassive as she considered potential ramifications before she gave one small, reassuring shake - dismissing any potential threat from an orphaned Deep One. Especially since this particular Deep One seemed primarily worried about those she called friend. Phantom was many things, but xenophobic had never really been on the list, "There are many creatures the layman would call 'monster' but it is, by and large, an uninformed position. No, I don't think there's any additional metaphysical concern due to your friendship." She paused then for a moment before adding, very briefly, "I am sorry for your losses." That, really, was an educated guess but from the gap in the runes and the commentary about surfacer opinions - not to mention the Invasion - it was not hard to imagine that there were few of the girl's kin left. She turned then, giving the other two her attention, "I imagine that 'normal' and 'strange' are a little bit difficult to parse but... if you do notice that there is more 'odd' than usual - and you find you need help - you're welcome to call."

Phantom: Immortals, Fall Out Boy Psyche: Bring Me to Life, Evanescence Nighthawk: Headstrong, Trapt Bombshell: Voulez-Vous, ABBA

Taylor offered a hesitant smile in return, her lips curving up and some of the tension easing from the stiff set of her shoulders. Laughing was good. It was better than crying by a significant stretch. She rocked on her sneakered feet once more, her hands lifting as if she wasn't sure if now was the hugging time or not. Hugs, by and large, were like a game of double dutch that Taylor could never fully remember the rules for. Outside her very small family, she just wasn't that demonstrative and so she stood there uncertain about the whole timing of the 'we're good' hug. "I'm glad we're okay," she said somberly, "It's also if fully okay takes a while to get to. I have time." She smiled then, the expression easing the lines of tension on her face. "I've always found that throwing things helps me feel better but I am, perhaps, not the best role model. It's a trait I've really had to reign in with a teenager in the household. They are fearsome things, teenagers." Taylor paused then, "...are you making coffee popcorn?"

"I'm sorry," Taylor said again, a little helplessly and certainly uncomfortable as she winced away from the stab of guilt. Taylor's capability to handle other people's emotions was never the best, per say, but out of deference for how very badly she'd screwed up, she soldiered on with her hands hovering like she wasn't sure if she ought to hug or pat Stesha and couldn't decide on either. Her hands fluttered in the air, hesitant as she stood there next to Stesha, uncertain how to help but determined to try. She owed Stesha that much. "I know that doesn't help but I really am sorry that I hurt you. I honestly didn't consider that you'd blame yourself. I didn't consider much at all." "You've never been a crappy friend in your life, Stesha. Not once," Taylor sighed then and let her hands fall finally to her side limply. "I have been and I'm sorry. I won't make the same mistake a second time but I understand that it'll take time to believe that." "Do... you want to throw something at me? Or yell maybe?" Taylor said after a long moment as she rocked back and forth on her feet. She doubted it - Stesha had never been the sort to tend towards bursts of violence - but as Taylor generally retreated to anger first and foremost as her safe emotion, she was taking a shot in the dark. "I could stay solid for it, I'm pretty sure. If there was something I could do to show you how sorry I am, Stesha, I'd do it in a heartbeat."

Phantom's expression at the realization that these, too, might end up on the internets, could only described as dismay. Clearly, she was desperately out of practice from having a secret identity if within her first few weeks back she was going to appear out of uniform on a super-hero's twitter feed. A-plus superheroing there. She brought up her free hand to shield her features from what she could and tried to turn her attention back to the pair of goddesses. "I don't do pilates," Phantom demurred, absently glancing down towards her bare legs in the direction of where Set's gaze had gone. "I kickbox. And run. I don't get any natural physicality from what Heshem bestows so I have to keep those skills up on my own. They are surprisingly useful skills in my line of work. I used to train but it's hard to find someone that's in the community and not way over my weight class, so to speak." Phantom averted her face from another little knot of giggling teens, "Do you think we could do this a bit more... incognito, maybe? I would really rather this..." She gestured towards her body and face with her free hand, "Not get tied to super-heroes in general. It's not you, but I have a family that I'd rather not drag into the limelight. For their safety. Please?"

Taylor gave her son's smile a dubious look. If there was one thing living with the Farretti men had taught her, it was that their smile was often just a socially acceptable way to show off those nice, white teeth of theirs. She, too, however took the card with a smile, pulling her gaze away from Huang to look back at Lynn and her sidekick. "He's certainly got traits from both of us but in the magic department, he's taken a bit more after my side of the family." Of course, that was probably helped along by the fact that Taylor nudged his studies away from the necromantic. There was plenty of time for that later when he was less impulsive. You know, less like a reckless teenager. "That would be nice, dinner, movie... beating up thugs," That was said with a white smile of her own. "If I can coax Jack to come be sociable, I'll let you know. He keeps pretty busy these days, really. JJ, however, is easier to produce upon request." Still chuckling, she turned her gaze back to Huang then and the questions of 'real magic' for a long moment before offering, "If he can afford the books, he knows enough - or should - to get into the more esoteric without trouble. I don't mind him buying books but if I could trouble you to let me know what he's purchased?" Kids these days, it was better if they got their magic books from a reputable source. Taylor knew her son, he was resourceful and she'd rather that he went looking for magic at a trusted bookstore rather than down some back alley with potential charlatans. It was just like having safe search on the internet, right? Right!

Taylor had opened her mouth to reply, only to snap it shut when Huang began to intone hollowly, his chin snapped up in the spitting image of Jack - when her spouse was at his most affronted. The non-plussed look on Taylor's face was one she rarely wore, her lips pursed and her gaze thoughtful. It was always so blasted hard to tell if she ought to try and reign him in or if these things were better ignored. Not for the first time, she wished there was a way to figure out exactly how she and Jack had been parenting their erstwhile teen before he'd sent himself back through time. "Hrmm..." his mother temporized for a moment as she watched Huang through hooded eyes at his dramatic speech, "He has a natural knack for it - unsurprisingly - but he's going to be going to Claremont this year to get a more rounded education that Jack and I can give him through homeschooling. You're only sixteen once... theoretically, at least. Being sixteen should involve friends and school clubs, not almost getting eaten by a magic-eater or touring the sixth circle while getting lessons on demonic hierarchies. That's what the weekends are for." Taylor did not, exactly, appear to be joking about that last part. "As to laundry, raining or not, it's really never been my ideal Sunday," Taylor admitted, this time with a small smile. There was, after all, a reason why their house had laundry ghosts. "A nice book and a rainy afternoon though... It's always nice to have a quiet day now and again."

"He's trouble already. My kid is precocious, what can I say," Taylor said with mingled pride and exasperation in her erstwhile offspring. She fixed Huang with a penetrating stare when he rounded the corner in Gretchen's wake. Not for the first time, Taylor was somewhat grateful that the brunt of the vampiric half of Huang's bloodlines had been somewhat repressed. "It's very nice to meet you, Gretchen. I hear you're keeping Lynn grounded. That's quite the task." Taylor's voice was low and a little husky naturally and dimples flexed in her cheeks when she talked or smiled. Standing shorter than Lynn, she looked about as imposing as a fly but, in their business, having a mild mannered alter ego could often be an advantage. "It's always hard adjusting when you've switched between worlds. It'll take a bit. Sure, you'll never be the same - but you wouldn't want to be. Eventually you'll find a new rhythm for life in Freedom City and while it won't be what it was like before, it'll become the new normal." Taylor finally offered her words of advice to Lynn. Her smile flashed then, brief and bright, "Or at least that's what I tell myself."

This conversation was quickly getting away from Phantom and HOW that kept happening to her was most frustrating. The slurping noise startled her and although Taylor generally considered herself to both have a sturdy stomach and be considerate of those with 'alternative dietary practice', the look she cast Aquaria was very briefly both startled and a little grossed out before she managed to recover her stoic, blank expression once more. "Magical detective is not... entirely inaccurate," Phantom agreed as she'd long ago given up on trying to explain the nuances of what she did and did not do. "It's close enough but although my son is magic, I did not get him from being a 'magic detective'." Clearing her throat, she forced her voice to soften for the palpable unease she was causing, "An anomaly isn't good or bad, it just means that Jessie is unlike most people in that her origins are unique and outside of this plane of existence. As the sole survivor of her reality, she's a dimensional anomaly. That's all that means." She turned back to Jessie then, her eyes glowing white for a moment as she examined the girl, "I know. I'm not here to send you home, Jessie. I just wanted to make sure that you weren't attracting anything... problematic. For you or anyone else. Have you noticed anything strange lately?" She was utterly serious as she asked the question, looking from Jessie, to Aquaria and her lobster-meal, before turning her gaze towards Indira. 'Strange' was really a moving target in Freedom City.

"I have good judgement..." Phantom agreed with Sekhmet as she was towed along between the two statuesque gods-made-flesh, her words slightly distracted as yet another photograph was snapped. The first had startled her but she'd assumed it was a tourist taking a picture of one of those 'weird Freedom City' things. When it kept happening, however, Phantom's posture grew more and more tense. "...Why is everyone taking your pictures?" It was a testament to her self control that the occasional flash did not turn her arm ghostly under Set's grip, but she did bring her other arm up to block her features with her forearm. She cleared her throat and added to Sekhmet, "Phantom. Most people call me Phantom in this world. Corn dogs are just hot dogs dipped in batter and fried. The funnel cakes at least have powdered sugar which is something at least. But I haven't eaten amusement park food in, uhm..." Well, before she was Phantom, that was for certain but trying to ratchet up together all the years in various dimensions and differing speeds and even her math wasn't entirely up to the task. Eventually she settled on, "...Ten years?"

"Hrmmm...." This time, it was definitely a full on Phantom noise that echoed out of Taylor's throat as she paused at that, pulling back from where she'd been standing as her fingertips went up to the Eye at her throat. Twisting the dark jewel on its ancient chain, Taylor went quiet for a long, almost uncomfortable pause as she considered Stesha's worries. Even if Stesha hadn't spent the last few years in the major leagues, Taylor would have given her words weight. With all that she'd seen and done. "Hmmm." "I'll look into it," Taylor promised after she weighed the possibilities. Her fingertips still moved over the gem at her throat like it was more worry stone than necklace, "And you might be right. It is not... outside the bounds for my patron to have shaken me out if She thought that there was great need rapidly approaching. Heshem can be... heavy handed at times." To say the least. "Even if I don't end up on your team - or any team - I'll come if you have need for my particular skills," she offered then, finally letting the stone drop to its familiar place around her throat. "If you need me, I'll be there." Taylor paused for a moment and then amended, "This time."

"I think most of the techniques I've mastered for coaxing vampires are, perhaps, situationally specific," Taylor said, her voice dry and laughter lurking in her tone. Her cheeks dimpled with amusement as she added, "And likely to cause arguments if I attempt them on other stray vampires. Have you tried hitting him with a small end table from across the room?" With low laughter, she slid off her stool to walk over and offer her help in cleaning up the few plates that had been dirtied, carrying them over to Stesha. "I liked working with the Midnighters. We were more compatible in general but I'm not sure I'm League material." Her voice was dubious, her fingers tightening once on the plate before she released it to Stesha with a small shake of her head, "I don't know. Maybe? I'm not sure how well I'd mesh. Or how reliable I could be, with all the other demands on my time. What I do has always cropped up in the past as a problem for teamwork in the past. As to mentoring, I think Huang would be a small puddle of teenage humiliation if I show up at Claremont."

Phantom (76)* A Picture of Sophisticated Grace (8) Community Gatekeeper (14) Hard to Be Cool (In a Minivan) (4) Mea Culpa (20) Nighttime Wanderings (10) Silberman's Books: Reprise (10) Suburban Horror (10) Psyche (27)* The Golden Chain (18) Like Riding a Bike (9) And I have contributed art to the site: Alder's Art Thread If that could go to Psyche since she is behind in the posts, that'd be awesome. Thanks!

Taylor, for her part, was sitting more or less where she'd been when Stesha had left, not moving or even breathing. With her eyes closed, she could have been an incredibly lifelike statue perched on Stesha's kitchen stool. When her eyes opened at Stesha's voice, the color had bled away, leaving a white glow that faded as she refocused on Stesha's features. Taylor took a breath that was audible, animating her body once more as she let her brief scan of the surrounding area and any potential weaknesses fall away. Never one to be idle, Taylor had made use of the time she'd had to do at least a cursory scan. From the relaxed expression on her features, she'd found nothing of great concern. "I don't fully know. Pick up where I left off before, I guess," her voice was dubious and she didn't try to hide it, "The apprentices I've trained are off doing their own thing and I think most of the heroes I knew well are gone or absent from Freedom City. Not to mention, my history with working on teams is not... spectacular." She gave a little shrug of her shoulders then, the gesture uncomfortable, "Go back to solo work, I imagine. Check up on the entities who might be of concern and ferret out any new ones. There's no shortage of problems in our line of work so I'll keep busy. I've never had a problem keeping busy."

Taylor nodded thoughtfully, her legs crossed at the ankles as she pivoted to look at the little girl. She scooted off of her seat and bent to give Amaryllis her full attention, her eyes crinkling at the corners in amusement as she agreed solemnly, "I promise. Why don't you think of what you want to play after your nap and when you get up, we'll play. Maybe we'll even see if we can get my son to come join us. You might not remember him but you used to play together when you were little." JJ, at least, had learned that the ladies of Stesha's family were not good for biting early on and these days he was much, much better behaved. She straightened as the girl was collected by her doting mother and leaned back against the cozy kitchen counter as she fiddled the dark amulet at her throat between her fingertips absently, "You're right about that. Besides, one never knows what the future brings." At least Taylor hadn't lost her knack for sliding cryptic mystic commentary in like it was normal conversation. "Have a good nap, Ammy."

Taylor's smile demonstrated both dimples, perhaps a little abashed, "In my defense, JJ has forsaken naps - much to our dismay - and I don't often have friends over the the manor. I think I may have become something of a recluse of late. A fact which the teenager is quick to point out the hypocrisy of when I am lauding the benefits of a social life." She gave a little roll of her eyes, tossing both hands up in the universal expression of parental dismay in moody teenagers. Her exasperation with Huang was utterly apparent in her body language before she forced her shoulders to relax. At the question of wine, Taylor gave a small shake of her head, declining the offer. "I don't mind taking a quick look around to double check. It's not so much that they'd be lurking - Sanctuary wouldn't be a high priority target - but the more strain, the weaker the barrier until..." Taylor gave a twist of her fingertips then. "On the bright side, the more people who become dimensional natives, the stronger the barrier so it's just a balancing act. I don't think you have anything to worry about, truly." As the topic of more somber things faded, a small, almost wistful smile curved Taylor's lips, "Oh, Stesha, you've always been indispensable. It's just more people share that sentiment these days. Though, I understand what you mean. It's hard not to miss simpler times."