Electra

Stesha opened her eyes and nodded, a little wistfully. "I suppose you're right," she said with a slightly rueful smile. The shoes were starting to make her feet hurt, and the combo looked like they were about to take a break anyway. Not to mention she didn't know if Derrick needed sleep when he wasn't an energy being. He might be getting tired. She thought about suggesting that she could take them home the way they came, with a surreptitious transit into the little park down the block, but decided not to. She was just traditional enough to want to be dropped off at her door. How a man handled that could tell a woman a lot about him. "It's been a lovely evening, but it's later than I thought."

Erin opted just to shrug at the first question, figuring anything she had to say would sound self-pitying or worse. She concentrated on maneuvering them out the door to the relative peace outside the mall, reflexively pushing the electric door open instead of waiting for it. The door whined, but complied. "Let's go to McDonalds," she suggested. "They bake the french fries at school, and it's really not the same." She was very glad to escape the mall, but also a little proud of herself. She'd helped out a friend and braved a normal activity that she'd once really enjoyed. It had been a pretty good day.

"You see him every day," Erin pointed out with a short laugh. "You can get to know him any time. "Half the point of going out is just to go out and do something, whatever it is. But you'll probably like the museum better, because you can memorize all the displays. And you won't be just sitting in the dark, so all this shopping won't go to waste." She had half her attention on the conversation and half on the store and the crowd around them. The dinner-hour crowd was pretty thick, and it was more difficult to keep an eye on everything going on in the immediate area. "Is there anything else you need to get?"

"We don't exactly have a secret lair," Erin pointed out, setting aside her notebook and reaching for some pizza. She'd spent most of the meeting trying to take longhand notes for a book report on Cry, The Beloved Country. It wasn't going well, partially because it had taken her the better part of two chapters to even figure out who was talking most of the time, but it was rapidly coming due and had to be finished. "At least we get the money for pizza." She took a large slice and folded it in half, starting in on it while wondering if it was fair game to use up words complaining about text with no quotation marks. "It's not a bad gig," she told Hope in an aside. "It's just another extracurricular, really, but you get access to more training stuff, and a club budget. There's weekly training you have to go to, but that's about it."

She listened to the description with interest as she ate, trying to imagine that. "It sounds really neat," she agreed. "It would be a good bedroom nightlight, and a heck of a conversation piece. I think she'd like that a lot. Is it something that occurs in nature, or do they actually make them on a planet you've visited? It sounds like something that would be nice to put in a little kid's room or something like that." Leaning back, she sipped her wine and closed her eyes briefly, enjoying the music and the moment.

Erin will want to help someone else with a crappy alternate dimension.

"He's good practice," Erin said again. She took the fluted bottle with the jewels and sprayed some onto a tester strip, then folded the strip into her pocket. "I don't think he's going to laugh at you if you do something wrong, and he's got an easy way with people. It can't hurt to get some more experience with guys, and with being out in public. And the dress is great."

Erin sniffed the tester strip. "It's better than Kool-aid," she decided with a small smile. "It seems fine, not too strong. Sort of fruity, I guess, so that's good for summer. You nervous?" she asked suddenly. "I know you were thinking about whether or not to go out with him at all."

Erin unfolded herself from her bus seat and disembarked, blinking into the bright summer sun as she got her bearings. She stretched, then pulled the park map she'd printed off out of her pocket. The place looked a lot different when it was operational. A lot more inviting, certainly. Map in hand, she made her way over to James. "Happy birthday," she told him, "and thanks for the trip. What's the best thing to go on here?"

Erin shrugged. "I guess I can't get too worked up about it. It's just hell. It's something we can stave off, or fight if we have to. You don't want it to come here, and it sounds like you're an important part of the plan, so helping you is smart." She paused for a minute, thinking about how that might sound. "It's not that I don't think it's a scary situation, or that you're in a tough place. But none of it has happened yet, so it's not too late to stop it. It's worse when something comes out of nowhere and there's nothing you can do." She pushed herself off the wall, looking over at him. "And it's not running away if you can find a place to sleep where he can't get you. It's thumbing your nose. You're here, and he's not, and there's nothing he can do about it, and now he can't even get you when you sleep. I bet it would piss him off."

Stesha considered that. "Yes, I think she would like that. Some kind of souvenir from one of your trips off-planet. Sort of unique and thoughtful. Though I've got to say, I don't think that chocolates ever really go amiss as a gift," she added with a grin. "Especially since I really doubt that she has to worry much about her weight." She thought about suggesting that he give Moira a tour of one of those really exciting places he'd talked about, but decided not to. It wasn't that she didn't believe Moira when she said that the thing with Jack had been a one time aberration, a result of too much liquor... but why take chances? She took another bite of cheesecake instead. "And you know, a moon rock in thanks for a night at the Starlight Room, I think she'll appreciate the symmetry."

"You don't have to wear them, but they make your legs look more tan," Erin said with a shrug. Since her skin was nearly as fair as Alex's, she could understand some of the associated problems. "The museum will probably be cool inside." She led the way back into the cosmetics department, walking with the somewhat intimidating air of someone who did not want to be squirted by anyone with a perfume bottle. The attitude, or the fact that Alex already had a store shopping bag, or some combination of both kept them unmolested as they made their way to a large tray of samples. Erin started picking up bottles and sniffing them in no particular order. "Some of these are for older women," she decided, setting aside a couple. "My mom likes that one," she said, pointing to a fluted bottle with fake jewels on it. "I used to like this one in the rainbow bottle, but not really anymore. And that one has really annoying commercials." She shrugged. "I guess you just pick the one that smells best to you."

"Cat's cradle?" Erin shrugged. "Sure, it's easy. I learned it at summer camp when I was twelve or something. You can do more designs if you have two people. I'll show you next time we're sitting around for a few minutes." She shoved the string into her pocket and rose from her chair. "Do you want to get anything else while we're here? You got shoes, nylons, jewelry, makeup, good razor, all that stuff already?"

Something had apparently gone wrong in Erin's game, since she was picking a knot out of the string loop when Alex made her appearance. Erin studied her friend for a minute, motioning her to turn around. "I really like that one," she finally said. "It's sort of your style, but all the colors match. And it's really flattering. If you put a necklace with it and some low heels, it'll probably look perfect. Do you like it?"

Erin grimaced as she absorbed the situation. "So he can't touch you, except when you sleep, but then, you go down to him. Because he's a lord of hell... at least around here." She stared down at the floor for a minute, tugging on the ends of her hair. "Have you ever been to Quark's lab?" she asked suddenly. "It's in another dimension. Things are different between dimensions, and things can't always reach across. Maybe if you could go there to sleep, you might be safe. I think there are some dimensions without God or heaven or hell. It wouldn't work forever, but if you can find one, maybe you could at least get a break."

"You look like one of those Barbie cakes melted," Erin agreed with a grin. She'd turned the piece of string into a rectangle full of interlocking diamonds this time, involving all her fingers. "Maybe something in kind of a stronger color. And a stronger fabric," she added. "It's going to be hot and probably humid tomorrow, you don't want the dress going all..." Her hands were occupied, so she gestured with her elbows, "pftht."

Stesha rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Are you kidding? I think she's getting even more of a kick out of it than we are. She really got into all this planning and maneuvering stuff. I don't know if you've seen much musical theatre, but I think she enjoys the Hello Dolly style matchmaking role. Not that there's anything wrong with that, I guess, as long as you're good at it." She chuckled, tasting her own cheesecake, and forbore to mention the little bit of guilt that might have gone into Moira's efforts. "Mmmm, this is perfect. Maybe if you really want to, you could get her candy or a nice card or something like that. I'd say flowers, but that's more my department," she teased. "I half-expected her to show up at some point during the evening, to keep an eye on things."

Erin's brow furrowed. "Well then, I guess the church isn't an option, not if you're just gonna burst into flames..." She raised a hand and rubbed her face. "Sorry. I was sort of having a religious crisis before all this, and I have a feeling it's not going to get any better. But that's what you meant about destiny, isn't it?" she asked, putting her hand down and looking at him. "If your father is big in hell, maybe he wants you following in his footsteps. So why the torture, then? Why does he keep hurting you?"

They wove their way back to the table, through the dancing couples and the white-coated waiters. Stesha decided she rather liked the way he kept his hand on her back, a warmth she could feel through the fabric of her dress. Dessert this evening was wedges of cheesecake with fresh raspberries, paired with a sweet wine. Stesha laughed as she sat down. "Moira definitely picked this out," she explained. "Usually when I go to her with problems, she feeds me cheesecake to make it better. And really, is there anything that cheesecake doesn't make a little bit better?" There was a discreet little leather book on the table, but it merely contained a note saying that their bill was settled in advance.

Her eyes widened at that, a kind of horrified empathy. "Your dreams are real," she murmured, wrapping her arms around herself. At least she had that much comfort, the things she saw in her head at night were just memories or mind games, gone when she woke. "How can hell summon you?" she demanded. "What right does anyone have to do that? Cant you get, like, a church involved? Or the pope, or something? Summers probably has some kind of a connection there."

Stesha chuckled. "Well, if I go, I'll be sure to bring a jacket along," she told him. "I guess you could beat the Space Shuttle pretty handily in a footrace, as fast as you must fly. My mind is a little boggled at the idea of actually flying across the galaxy. Your address book must look really funny." It was certainly easier to think of the humorous aspect rather than the actual mind-boggling part. What sort of entity did one have to be to travel faster than light through space and not even feel cold? She decided not to think about that part too hard. "I think they've set another course down at our table, she told him, peeking around his shoulder. "Might be dessert. Want to investigate?"

"Just because your family are "good guys," that doesn't mean they're right," Erin pointed out. She was still staying out of arm's reach for the moment, but had relaxed enough to lean against the wall. "I know for sure that superheroes and super-science don't have all the answers, but they sure have some of them. If it's your own powers that do it, maybe someone at the Freedom League could rig up a suppressant for when you sleep." She jerked a shoulder in a shrug. "They can do it for criminals, why not for you?" She knew what it was like to not bother people with one's odd sleeping habits; sleeping in the library was the least strange thing about this whole situation.

Erin was playing a solitaire game of Cat's Cradle when Alex came out, using a piece of string she'd found on the floor. She'd caught the string in her teeth to stretch the top point of the Eiffel Tower, but dropped it back into the shape of a teacup when Alex came out. "It looks good," she decided. "I think I like that color better than red. But maybe it's a little too, I dunno, rigid in the skirt. It looks like something you wear to work in an office." She cocked her head, trying to offer informed comments. "How does it feel?"

"I hear it's a little empty up there," she agreed, looking out over all the people. "Quiet, I suppose, if you don't mind the cold. I don't think I could go for more than a visit, though. I'd miss the sun and all the people here." His hand was warm on hers as they turned and swayed to the music, not the skin of someone she'd expect to be flying through the depths of space. But he was an entirely different creature up there, she supposed. "What do you do to pass the time out there, while you're flying?"

Stesha looked up at him and smiled as his face went red, raising her eyebrows a little. She was no fool, even if she was a little inexperienced, and it was nice to see that, whatever he spent most of his time as, Derrick as a man wasn't entirely immune to a little flirting. Taking pity on them, she gently steered their course over towards the big windows, which offered the promised starlit sky, as well as a view down over the theatre district. "It's a gorgeous night out tonight," she commented, looking down at the crowds of party-goers. "You don't see enough of those in the middle of summer, especially in the city."