alderwitch

"Oh, this is charming. I think you could make a mint with post cards or lovers retreats. If it wasn't so sunny, I might talk to you about a second honeymoon local." Taylor said with a contented smile as she set JJ down on the ground to show off his scooting and crawling skills. He was a fast little thing. Taylor pulled out a few of his toys from his pockets and set them down, sending the lit ball bouncing to keep him distracted. Raising a baby vampire seemed to be like a cross between an infant and a house cat. He seemed unimpressed with baby Mozart but give him a light up ball to chase around and he could be busy for hours. Taylor turned back to Stesha and nodded, "I'm still doing liquids, actually. The bottomless pit down there is still breastfeeding but my appetite for solids has returned to pre-pregnancy norms. Which is probably good, it's awkward when only one person in a family is on a solid diet. So, other than busy, how have you been?"

"You have to put it on! We made it for you!" Alex protested laughingly. She folded up her arms and looked stubbornly mutinous. "I'm not asking anyone anything until you put it on. And then, then I will ask Mark. But not until you try it on. Otherwise its wasteful. Besides, that way its not hanging over you with every round of truth or dare."

It wasn't so much luck as planned timing. Talya had been waiting for the opportunity to slip inside and she did so in the wake of Fulcrum's media frenzy. Besides, it had been a while since she'd had her face in the papers so she wasn't nearly so likely to stir the press frenzy as the more contemporary heroes. Once she'd reached the thresh-hold, Talya smiled and held over the invitation that she'd 'borrowed' from Elena's mail. After all, it wasn't like the Scarab was too likely to be making an appearance tonight. She'd never miss it. Well, she wouldn't miss it until there was a news clipping about Talya's presence at the party. With that in mind, she'd forwent the grand entrance. Once inside, she handed over her coat to be checked and descended to the party's floor as the rather confused doorman announced her as "Natalya Browing...?" from the card she'd handed him. The blonde was looking quite contemporary tonight, although her hair was still down in it's trade mark loose style, curving down to obscure one eye. The dress, however, was high necked and low backed and slit up to her hips. It pooled around her ankles as she slinked down the stairs on high heeled peep toes. She glanced around and then plucked a drink from a tray. Time to make some new 'friends'. Or cause trouble. Something to liven up a dull evening, at least.

Taylor beamed with a mother's pride and she slipped the bottle into his chubby hands. JJ latched on with an audible pop as his fangs tore into the nipple which always made Taylor wince. "He is clever. Jack says he gets that from me. He's got a lot of both of us... I have no idea where we'll take him for pre K. The more mobile he gets... The more important socialization gets. I was thinking of taking him to Gymboree but I never get free for the infant classes."

Hey! I put it out there. JoaB is a golden age fan. He could know the story!

It was for vocal performance. It's unlikely to be used. Her dancing is jack of all trades for a.plus 7

Knowledge tech or history to know where the guns are from.

"Well, let's just have a looksee, then. Better the enemy you know." Bombshell opinioned and, with Jack's help, would find one of the unmarked crates. "I don't think radiation poisoning is something we have to worry too much about. I could be wrong." Bombshell's banter died away as the crate creaked open. Inside, resting in custom shaped foam was several pieces of an odd alien weapon. "Ah, I haven't seen one of these since the war." Her tone and expression were reserved, no longer playful as she reached in carefully to begin snapping the pieces together with the calm practiced movements of a soldier. "Don't have the foggiest what powers these little blue powercells but Adolf's boys got their hands on five of these nasty little things. Took out fifteen bloody Cromwells before we took down the unit with just one of these blighters." Bombshell popped the powercell into place and compressed the bar and it whined as it charged, "And they're live. Lovely." Quickly she went to dismantle the gun, her expression sober and quite serious. "Sweetie, I think this might be where we call the cavalry. How many of these rifles are there?"

I was going to toss Bombshell aka Talya Browning into this if that's alright. Sadly Alex is underage :D

Alex sighed and looked at him for a moment, her expression creasing in frustration before it smoothed out to weary serenity once more. She turned and picked up a thin disc from her desk and tossed it to him, "One touch will take you to the HQ, the second will take you to the alley. Same thing to get home again." Alex glanced at the clock, standing to clear up the cups. "I'd hurry if you want to meet Erin at the end of her workout." It was however Alex's subtle way of signifying that topic was now closed.

JJ was succesfully distracted as he micro focused on the toy animal and went unnaturally still to target it, only his gleaming bright eyes moving to follow it. His mother took advantage to sneak off while he launched himself at the duck and sank his teeth into it with a hiss of satisfaction. It had very little grace, although JJ was above average on his reflexes, he was still an infant. Taylor was back in short order, bottle in hand. JJ was breastfed but even when home Taylor often used a bottle due to his unusual latch. Taylor wasn't sure how much blood he needed but she tried to keep his intake of that fluid low. "And, back as promised," For once. Taylor dropped down onto the couch to watch them play. "You're very good with him."

Alex shifted so she was straddling his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck. She beamed at him and Mike could feel her relax, the pressure she was exerting on him subtly let up as she stopped pushing quite so hard. Their relationship was a bit inverted since she was certainly the physical aggressor but really, it came from the fact that his mind whispered one thing at her while he refused to act on those desires. It was rare that Mike's mind and heart wanted two different things. Now, however, there was none of that discordance so Alex relaxed from trying to figure them out and just cuddled close to him. "You certainly were." Alex agreed, leaning into nuzzle along his jawline affectionately, "I mean, worth waiting for."

They shimmered back to the house and Taylor started to look around for the clock, "Why? What time is it?" She set JJ down on the carpet of the living room, moving to step away only to stop as the baby latched onto her leg with surprisingly strong little arms. "I'm just going to the kitchen. Here, play with Erin..." Taylor leaned down to try and unwrap the fingers from her pant leg. Of course, JJ couldn't understand that she wasn't stepping off for another long absence. To him, it was never a good sign when his mother set him down in the living room and went to leave. Taylor suppressed another guilty sigh and smoothed her hand over his fuzzy head.

Taylor stepped out of thin air, baby bundled up in her arms. The bundling was more for Taylor's preferences than any actual need on JJ's part. For the first time since JJ's birth, she looked relaxed and happy as she stepped onto the grass. Her dark hair was back in a simple braid and she had on a thick sweater and a casual pair of jeans. "Hey, Stesha," Taylor crossed over to her best friend with a few quick steps and offered her a quick one armed hug. "This place looks amazing. It's absolutely stunning. I hope you didn't go to any special effort for us."

"Oh, no. Mike can't pull off sparkles. He'd look silly," Alex informed them solemnly, reaching out to pat Mike's bare chest like it was a very tragic thing for him that he couldn't have pulled off a bedazzled shirt and jeans. "Mark... something like this." She focused, screwing up her face for a few minutes to create a wavery image of Mike that wasn't very clear. Which was good, because he was stark nude in Alex's projection. Then, like she was playing holographic dress up, she created a very punk-eighties-goes-futuristic look that would have fit in with Captain Eo. It was ripped jeans that were probably uncomfortably tight, ruffled up hair with the tips all the shades of his blue and gold costume, a t shirt (also tight) and a leather jacket that had several extra loops and buckles, all in different very primary colors. Alex beamed, "Just like that!"

"Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night?" Bombshell asked after watching his jazz hands for a moment, a smile playing about her lips, "Extra-sensory perceptions? Well, aren't you just full of surprises! Can you tell where it's coming from?" She slipped her mask over her face and blinked at him once from behind it as she adjusted before she started to slink through the boxes, her gaze flicking over the crates with renewed interest.

"Of course I do. With great power..." Alex smiled, before she turned her face up, her eyes slightly wide and unfocused as she stared past the roof, her senses expanding outward. "I see every day the heights and depths of people. People do wonderful things, and terrible cruel things. I have to believe in humanity, or I would never get out of bed. In Sri Lanka, a mother is going without food to take her sick child to a clinic. In the middle of Harlem, there's an elderly couple being robbed." Alex turned to look at Trevor, "My transporter could take me either of those places, or countless others all of which I could help in. Instead, I sit here sipping a soda, but I must be bold and brilliant and everything a hero should be. Not for all of those I save, but for all the rest who save themselves. Because I have to show them, that they can choose to be so much more."

As Jack peered around the gloom, he would notice the faintly discordant hum of ambient energy, entirely out of place with any art gallery. Focusing his preternatural senses would reveal several locuses for that signature scattered around them and hidden in crates, upwards of twenty five in total. The energy itself was not dissimilar to the cosmic power of Dark Star, although thankfully, smaller in scale. "Now that is funny," Bombshell walked those long, elegant fingertips over one old crate and lifted them up to examine, "A run down storage area with some very clean 'old' crates. As Alice once said, 'curiouser and curioser'." Bombshell reached for the belt of her trench coat, fingers working the buckle. She shrugged it off her shoulders to reveal the base of her costume. A few adjustments and she was black clad and ready for work. Bombshell went to pull up the hidden zipper in the front, "I really did love those shoes. Ah, the price of heroism."

"Hrmmm," Taylor agreed with a thoughtful noise. She held JJ out to Erin since she didn't want to try to keep the baby from snacking while stuffing the would be necromancer into the Void. Once her hands were free, she knelt down and put a hand on the man's pant leg and phased him into the realms beyond. "There, shall we all travel home together then?"

"Dare!" Alex announced with an air of satisfaction. "And half of us can still percieve you two. All of us know what's going on though. We're not playing seven minutes in heaven, guys." Alex laughed and set her empty glass on the rim, looking flushed and listing slightly in her movements.

"Where were folks like me when your friends stole him in the first place? No doubt busy with the other like minded individuals who decided that tampering with forces they did not understand was worth it for a moment's passing fancy." Phantom responded, her tone dry and unimpressed at the line of questioning. "There is but one of me and, hmm, how many mortals do you think were taken in the same year? In the same month? Not to mention the number of people crossing back and then all of the other realms of the multiverse. No matter the power I wield, I am ONE being and the transgressors are legion."

Taylor got to her feet to examine the man, shushing the baby who was always excited when they took down really anyone. Taylor sometimes worried about those predatory instincts as anyone looking over at the hissing infant would see sharp little fangs and glowing red eyes. He settled down with a few more chortles that sounded downright smugly gleeful when Taylor's sneaker nudged the man's thigh and he didn't move an inch. He was quite out. "It would be nice if they wanted to do anything so useful. No, I'm afraid it's just bragging rights for the young necromancer. Idiot. Now the question is, where do we put him... No, you have no idea where he's been." The last was to JJ who was making definite 'feed-me-now' noises. Ah, the care and raising of young dhampyr.

Phantom (29) Absent But Not Forgotten (16) Bindings and Contracts (4) Inside Out, Upside Down (6) A Doctor Who Makes House Calls (3) Psyche (18) Kill A Man (9) Shall We Dance (3) Braniac Bunch (2) Meet the Roommate (4) Bombshell (11) Red Rover (11) And a vignette for each!

"I know the book. He pulled it from my library. There's nothing that will help anyone in it." Phantom took the book and would carefully replace it into the extradimensional space that it had been in before Archeville had pulled it out. "He's still held in thrall because he's the one who started the spell in the first place. Once it has a hold, it won't let go until the person is broken or mad, and yes, there is a difference. The best thing to do, I think, is to boost his own mental powers to allow him to break free. Despite what the good doctor would like to believe, he is no ordinary mortal man. I fear you going into his mind to remove anything could have... unintended consequences." Phantom watched the doctor continue to mouth unspeakable things a second or two longer, "If you think you can bolster his humanity, do so, by all means. I'll help however you'd like. If you have concerns, I can cast the spell myself but you know what they say. Catch a man a fish... and it just might be a deep one."

Unconscious shadowy mook!!