Electra
-
Posts
11,284 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Freedom City Guidebook
Freedom City PBP: A How-To Guide
Gallery
Events
Everything posted by Electra
-
"They might not kill him, but he could still end up just as dead," Erin replied hollowly. "He doesn't want anything to do with what they've got planned for him. Just a second." She went over to James' desk and rummaged through it till she found a pen and spiral notebook. "Okay, tell us what we need to do."
-
"Sure, come on in. Just leave the door open so nobody gets snotty." Erin stuck her pencil in the textbook and closed it, then swiveled around in her chair. Mike was too tall to sit on the bunk beds, so Alex's chair was pretty much the only other seating option in the room. She figured she should probably say something chatty while he was sitting down, but nothing was exactly springing to mind. So, how's parenthood working out for you? was not an appropriate conversation starter, she was pretty sure. "It's getting cold out," she said instead, which was inane but at least polite.
-
Erin looked up from her work at the knock on the door, frankly grateful for any interruption. History wasn't her worst subject, and tutoring had gotten her mostly caught up over the summer, but it was still horribly boring. It was probably one of the other girls looking for Alex to borrow a hair tie or some paper or any of the million other things Alex always seemed to have handy somehow. Pushing herself back from the desk, she reached out and snagged the door handle from her seat, pulling it open. It was definitely a surprise to see Mike standing there. Erin hadn't been avoiding him, precisely, she'd just been very busy for the last little while. Very, very busy. She figured that probably worked better for both of them, but here he was. Probably looking for Alex, too. "Hey Mike," she said casually. "Alex is in class. You can probably catch her in another fifteen minutes or so before she heads to dinner."
-
Erin took the phone, staring helplessly at it for a minute before putting it to her ear. "Um, hi. James, Hellion, he told me that you were helping him learn to use his dimension hopping powers. But now he's gone, he disappeared tonight to go and fight his family, and I don't know where he might have gone to find them. We were wondering if he ever talked with you about the best place to go to fight demons, or maybe about how to dimension hop to hell. And maybe if you knew how to get there, in case that's where he's gone and we have to go after him. But he's in big trouble, he's not going to be able to fight without help, and he's probably going to get himself killed."
-
"Don't tempt me," Stesha laughed, "l'm sure Ace would set me up with one if I asked. But that would be juvenile. Anyway, I'm getting the plushie for myself, so Derrick doesn't have to worry about seeming vain." She stepped forward to the counter and paid for her new toy, then began looking at some of the other things. "Oh look," she told Taylor gleefully, "you'll love this little Phantom doll. It's posable, and the cloak is removable too!" She handed the toy to Taylor for inspection, then gave Derrick a quick kiss, and passed him the plush toy as well. "Okay, I gotta go. I'll see you in ten minutes or so, across the way." She hurried off towards the ladies room.
-
Stesha picked up the plush toy and examined it, then gave it a quick snuggle. "Oh, it's nice and soft. I'm going to get one for myself," she decided, laughing. "And then, when the rest of the plush toy line comes out, I can collect them all, and act out scenes from my favorite comic book adventures!" She moved the little Dark Star's legs, miming him walking through the air. "You could get one too," she suggested to Derrick, "and we could make them fight!" It was very odd to see a little plastic action figure of herself... or rather, a substantially longer-legged and skinnier plastic action figure version of Fleur de Joie, wearing her costume. "I better hurry, though, I have to get ready for my other engagement pretty quick."
-
"Hi, nice to meet you," Stesha said cheerfully, reaching out and giving Lynn's hand a friendly squeeze, if the other woman didn't seem too put off by the gesture. She continued ignoring Jack in favor of the action off the stage, splitting most of her attention between Taylor and Derrick. "Don't worry," she told Derrick, "we won't make you solo until you're ready. It helps if you have a few drinks in you first, warms up the vocal cords," she added with a teasing grin.
-
I will see that wager and raise you that if this thread begins, assuming close to equal sides, it will still be open by our son's first birthday in January of 2011. This is Halloween, after all, and you know how the threads go. ;-)
-
"I think it's only one a year here," Stesha replied helpfully, linking her fingers through Derrick's and looking over Taylor's shoulder at the book. "Let's look at the merchandise booths first, then the art. If they have a plush Dark Star, I'm gonna buy it." She chuckled, glancing over at Derrick. "Maybe I'll get you one for your birthday, too. Sort of a conversation piece." A lot of the small crowd seemed to have the same idea, so she followed the flow of people towards the sales booths.
-
"I guess that's one way to look at it," Erin agreed, laughing a little as they walked up the long hallway. "But if you can figure out how to get the people out of the way faster, that should be worth extra credit. It's such a pain to try and fight when they're just standing there and don't even move when you yell at them. I think Mike runs into the same problem." She trailed off after that. They'd pretty much left the subject of boys in general off the table for the last few days, since the thing with Mike and Mark on the quad. Erin still didn't know exactly how to feel about all of that, so it seemed better to just ignore the whole thing. That wasn't exactly easy when they were all living in each others' laps all the time
-
"Hey, watch it!" Stesha told "Vince" indignantly on Taylor's behalf. It took another few seconds for her to see behind the disguise. "Oh, it's you. Why are you wearing that outfit?" She looked around at the rest of their party, all of whom were wearing normal clothes. She wondered if maybe Jack had told Ace it was a costume party, just to make him feel silly. He looked silly, but it didn't look like he felt silly, at least. Turning back to the bar, she ran her fingertips fondly over Derrick's cheek and smiled at him. "It's fun," she promised, "you'll like it. You get to see your friends' hidden talents. And if everyone is drinking and singing, no one can be too embarrassed. The words are right up on the screen, so you don't even have to remember anything."
-
Stesha laughed, snapping the picture. "You've got to try and get into the spirit of it," she encouraged, handing the phone to Taylor. "Now take a picture of us, quick. I think they're about to start letting people in." She scooted over to Derrick and wrapped her arms around him, looking over to smile at the cameras. "Maybe you can pick up a replica of Siren's net and make a Halloween costume around it," she added, teasing cheerfully.
-
Erin hurried out of the Doom Room, glad to be finished with and away from another session with Archer. "Sorry about that," she told Alex. "He probably won't keep you very long on Saturday, he'll be too bored to hang around himself." She tucked her bat back into its holster, then tugged the band from her hair. "Could be worse, he could've sentenced us to another trip through on Saturday so he could kill us off in simulation. He loves that. Anyway, besides him, what did you think?"
-
"James mentioned last night that a hero named Phantom was helping him learn to use his teleportation," Erin explained, flipping through the phone. There was no entry for Phantom. "I don't know who else he might have told, or who might know where he's been practicing going. And if this Phantom is a teleporter, we might need their help." She looked down at the phone, snapped it shut. "He might have gone all the way to hell, and if he has, we'll need help to get there outside of the usual channels."
-
"Come on, because it's fun," Stesha replied in an undertone, chuckling. "It's almost Halloween, and they're too old to go trick-or-treating. Though I guess I could've worn my costume after all, and I'd have fit right in." Stesha's costume was substantially higher quality materials than most of what was on display, but it would take a close look to determine that. She pulled out her cell phone and snapped a few pictures of the more interesting costumes, then motioned Taylor and Derrick to move together. "Okay, get together now and smile for the camera, the HeroCon 2009 commemorative shot."
-
"Who's Vince?" Stesha asked blankly. She'd already ordered the second daiquiri, which was currently being blended by the affable-looking bartender. "I didn't even know Jack had a brother." The bartender came over and put the drink in front of Taylor. "It's her birthday," Stesha confided to him. "The big two-one." Obligingly, the bartender performed the ritual ID check, just to make it all official and legal. "I got you a present," Stesha told Taylor, "but I'll give it to you when you're ready to go home, so you don't have to lug it around."
-
"He's gone," Erin told him, just accepting that Mark would show up where and when he was needed. It was sort of his thing. And it never hurt to have a little more luck on their side, especially now. "He went off to fight something that's probably a lot bigger and more powerful than he's going to be able to handle. Alex is trying to find him now." She picked up James' phone, turned it over in her hands, then opened it up and started scrolling through the rolodex. "Do you know a hero in Freedom City named Phantom?"
-
Stesha, ever prompt, was already sitting at the bar, drinking something tall and frozen and shockingly pink, with what looked to be about three spears of fruit garnishing it. It wasn't the sort of drink that exactly fit the mood of the venue, but she seemed quite pleased with it. As soon as Taylor and Jack walked in, she hopped down from her stool and made her way over. Skirting well clear of Jack, who she didn't even favor with a glance, she gave Taylor a hug. "Happy birthday!" she said enthusiastically. "I'm so glad we were able to come and celebrate with you. And you don't look a day older, either," she added teasingly. "Let me buy you the first drink. The bartender here does a wonderful berry daiquiri, if you beg enough."
-
Erin rolled her eyes. It would probably be fruitless to try and explain to Alex that Archer didn't want help with the simulation or any helpful tips, he just wanted to prove that even though he was old and slow and weak, he could still hand down punishments. In her own case, the punishments were generally ineffective, just because she had so little time that wasn't already spent doing things for school, which really just made the teacher more aggravated. "We'll be there," she told Archer, her voice deliberately toneless. "Anything else?"
-
Erin had just had time to read through the letter before Alex and Mike arrived. She sat down on the edge of the bed, holding the paper tightly enough that the edges crumpled. "He's gone," she said, her voice hollow. "He went to fight his family. I should've known he would, when he wouldn't give me a straight answer, but I figured..." She shook her head and passed over the letter. "We have to find him now, tonight, before it's too late for us to help."
-
"The bystanders are stupid," Erin added, less helpfully. "Nobody's just going to stand there while a giant guy in armor is waving a telephone pole at them. Even at top speed, it took us forty-five seconds to get there from the time the simulation started, when he was already in action. Somebody would've been a jell-o puddle by then if it had been a real villain."
-
"Something's wrong," Erin said aloud as she picked up the envelope, figuring Alex was probably still listening in. "I think James has gone somewhere. He left his beacon behind. And his phone. You should come down here." Focusing on the letter, she ignored the instructions on the front and opened it anyway. It was undoubtedly November first in some time zone, which surely had to count. Besides, if James was doing something stupid, better to know now than later.
-
Erin stopped short, frowning as the instructor appeared. Apparently he'd just been biding his time. "We completed the mission according to your instructions," she said brusquely. "I don't think anyone could've saved that mailbox, but there was no more damage than that. What else were we supposed to do?" she demanded, already going on the defensive.
-
"You're fine," Stesha assured him with a smile, standing on tiptoe to give him a quick kiss. "I just got here a minute ago myself. I'm glad you guys could come with me today. It's going to be fun! I have another forty minutes before I'm supposed to be dressed up for a demonstration panel. We can go in and look around, see how busy it is." She dug into her knapsack and pulled out three generic visitor badges, handing one to Taylor and Derrick. She had a special one to wear later, but it wouldn't do her secret identity much good to wear a guest of honor badge in her civvies. "First one to find an action figure of themselves wins," she joked as they started walking towards the hall.
-
Since she'd decided to stash her costume in a plant until she was ready to put it on, Stesha blended in pretty well as she walked across the campus. It was a beautiful day to be outside, even if tonight was supposed to be bitter. She'd have to layer something under her costume if she wanted to go out tonight. Taking her time, she leisurely made her way over to the statue where she'd arranged to meet up with Derrick and Taylor before they went in to the convention.