A Desperate Affair

[Avenger Assembled]

"You okay, baby?" Jack asked automatically. When she hesitated a bit before responding, Jack almost got up to follow her before ultimately choosing to keep his seat. "She's got a lot on her plate, if you'll pardon the pun," he said with the smile of a boyfriend excusing his girlfriend's antics. "Between her commitments at school and everything else, we don't get to see as much of each other as I'd like. She's quite a woman." He picked up the wine glass before him and pretended to drink, looking around at the Chun family curiously. "Everything okay on the home front for you guys? Taylor and I didn't have a lot of time to talk family business this week."

[alderwitch]

Taylor replied after a moment's hesitation, unsure how to comunicate 'there is some sort of magical thing happening. I have to lock myself in the bathroom so I can cast a scrying spell', so she went with, "Fine."

Clearly they were going to have to come up with some sort of hand signal of some kind. Or maybe, Jack was right and she should find some way to tell them what she really did with the bulk of her time. First, though, to the bathroom.

As Taylor locked the door on the restroom, she had the urge to laugh hysterically. As a child she thought this would be a much more exciting, much less filled with hiding in the bathrooms, career choice. Stifling down the emotion, she gestured to search for the object or person causing the mystic signature.

----------------------

Out in the dining room, there was small talk.

"Oh, I've been busy with the business," Savannah, the sister-in-law bubbled at him, putting a casual hand on his arm and leaning in, "Inport-export. Now that the boys are old enough, I'm focusing on my career!"

She got an odd look from Taylor's father, who was starting to pick up on the overly effusive attitude of his daughter in law, but clearly she was already known as the flakey one. "Everything's been fine. We've been worried about Taylor. I keep telling her to get a cell phone so its easier to get a hold of her, but... Well, dating Taylor, you're probably aware of the whole money thing. Always has to pay her way. Stubborn. She gets it from her mother."

The last he added in a conspiritorial tone with an affectionate glance at his wife. Meanwhile Savannah was starting to distractedly pat Jack's arm.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Taylor and I look for the cheapest dates possible," Jack admitted with a rueful laugh, giving Savannah a careful glance. "I don't make a lot of money at the casino, and of course she doesn't pull down a lot at school. You know how it is when you're in academia." Jack himself had dropped out after his freshman year to make it easier to get high, but who needed to talk about that.

"Import-export?" he asked Savannah. "What do you specialize in?"

[alderwitch]

She continued to pat his arm even as she looked up at him with a sunny smile, "It's a curio shop. Lots of little odds and ends. Like this bracelet!"

Savannah jingled it at him. It had several large beads with odd looking writing on them. They appeared to be made of glass or ceramic, it was hard to say. Unfortunately, it brought her husband's attention to the hand on Jack's arm. He glanced at Jack, taking in his appeareance and began to glower at him.

Taylor walked back into the room and slid in next to Jack with a murmered apology for everyone. It had taken a few seconds for her eyes to stop glowing but she was fairly certain what she was looking for if not where the object was. She tilted her face up to him, trying to figure out how to work in what was going on. What she would have given for Scarab's telepathy at this particular moment, "I'm sorry about that."

[Avenger Assembled]

"That's a very pretty bracelet," said Jack warmly, gently moving his arm out from under Savannah's hand. "I'm something of a collector myself; we've got a few actual Atlantean artifacts at the casino. May I have a look?" he asked her with a big, warm smile, practically batting his eyes at Savannah. He was concerned by what he'd seen on that bracelet. That couldn't be a good thing.

[alderwitch]

Savannah beamed at him, turning into his smile with a bubbly, "Sure!"

She tugged the bracelet off her hand and slipped it into his palm, pointing at the markings on the beads. As it came in contact with his skin, Jack could feel the pressure of the bracelet on his senses but it was no match for his supernatural nature. "Its a really unusual piece. I just found myself drawn to its vibes."

Taylor glanced from the bracelet to Jack and then to her brother. It didn't take a genius to see that her brother was aggravated and knowing what the bracelet did, it was probably best to distract him while Jack worked... whatever magic he was going to work. No one could say that Taylor was slow on the uptake at least. She turned to her oldest brother and with a smile did the one thing that was sure to get his attention. She started asking for advice on her life.

"So, I'm trying to decide what I should minor in. What do you think of Pre and Early Modern Lit?" Taylor said with a curious look, as if she didn't know what her brother would think of that idea. He was voting for biology, which he did so. Loudly. She slanted a glance at Jack, then supplied, "Art History?"

Taylor was pretty sure that she could keep him distracted for days this way.

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack picked up the bracelet and looked it over carefully, peering at it with an interested look on his face while Taylor and her brother talked academia. I have no idea what this is, he thought to himself. "This is lovely. It reminds me of some of the artifacts we have at the casino." Thinking for a moment, he turned to Taylor during a pause in the conversation and handed the bracelet to her. "What do you think about this, honey?"

[alderwitch]

"Hmm?" Taylor turned towards him with a questioning look on her face that in no way made it to her eyes. Her gaze was very intent on the bracelet and she took it with fingertips. Jack could see her brace for the physical contact but no one else at the table seemed to notice. "I think you maybe right."

She flipped it over on her palm, running delicate fingertips over the beads writing, "Savannah, can I take this to a professor at school to look at? I think it might be worth quite a bit actually. It's very old. This is an obscure sanskrit dialect. I've seen pictures but never any actual pieces."

Taylor flicked glance to Jack's face, silently asking his help in convincing her sister-in-law to part with the piece. Already, Savannah was starting to look a little on edge without the contact. "Oh, I don't know... It can't be that valuable."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Oh, you'd be surprised," said Jack with a ready smile. "I once had a customer who lost a necklace, a little silver and jade thing? Turned out to be worth three hundred grand." He nodded, wide-eyed. "It came from Romania originally, and it dated back to ancient Rome. And the other day, I was watching Antiques Roadshow and this lady had a vase collection that was worth over a million dollars. Antiques are really going for a lot these days, especially in this economy. Like my dad always said, you can't work too hard to provide for your family."

[alderwitch]

"Well... okay." Savannah stared at Jack's face, her pretty features still clouded but she was sold. "I trust you with it."

Even Taylor had to shake her head to remind herself about the nasty little bracelet in her hand. Really need to stop staring at Avenger like a nitwit. Focus. Evil braclet, remember?

She glanced down at the bracelet in question, while Savannah was distracted and weighed her options. Taylor slipped a knife off the table and quickly snapped the strand holding the beads together, hoping that she'd translated the inscription correctly as she deftly resorted the beads and strung them back together under the table cloth. There was a soft pop, like a change in pressure, and Savannah blinked once at Jack as if coming out of a fog.

"Good catch, Jack. Thanks." She said softly, slipping the bracelet into her pocket.

[Avenger Assembled]

"You know me, I keep my eyes open." He smiled. Jack took a few moments to savor the victory. He wasn't entirely sure what had just happened, but he was savvy enough to tell that he'd just rescued Taylor's sister-in-law from a dangerous magical artifact. That was a good thing, but now there was absolutely no way to avoid the fact that he hadn't touched the food and wasn't going to be able to touch the food during the meal. He scooped up a single bite and put it in his mouth, smiling, and held it there for a long second before spitting it out into his napkin. "Oh...oh, there's garlic in this, isn't there?" With a look of quiet horror on his face, he bolted from the table and made a beeline for the bathroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

[alderwitch]

Taylor looked as surprised as everyone else in Jack's wake, and her expression of concern was genuine. There was an awkward pause before conversation resumed, with a vengence. Mostly in Cantonese and mostly about Jack. The family was by and large in favor of him, although they wanted to know a great deal more information about him from Tayler. That was her cue.

"Excuse me, I should go check on him." She stood up and set her napkin down, quickly leaving the room. Not only did she want to not answer questions, she was concerned about this allergy thing. Walking over to the bathroom where she knocked on the door quietly, "You okay?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack knelt down in front of the toilet and made truly piteous retching sounds, putting his very heart and soul into the act. He debated between the truth and a lie briefly for Taylor before calling weakly, "Stupid of me. It's Chinese food; I should have asked. Good thing I had my pen. But I'm still gonna be here for a while. You guys have another bathroom, right?"

[alderwitch]

"Of course we have another bathroom. Don't even worry about that," she said, concern sharpening her tone. Taylor was the daughter of two doctors, she knew about Epi-pens and food allergies, "Do you need me to take you to the hospital? I can get one of my folks if you'd like."

She leaned against the doorframe, wincing at the truly wretched sounds coming from within. Taylor was going to owe him forever and ever at this rate. "Can I get you anything?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"I'm OK. I'm not really bad at it..." Jack felt kind of bad at the worry he could overhear in his friend's voice, so instead he sat back on his heels and coughed. "I don't go into shock like some people do; I just get frickin' sick." He coughed again and flushed the toilet. "I just, uh, just need a minute. So what was up with that necklace, anyway?"

[alderwitch]

"It's haitian, not sanskrit, and it isn't writing, they're invocations to inflame emotions. Pictograms." She explained, leaning back against the wall next to the door. She tucked her hands behind her back and crossed her ankles, "Give one to your enemy and watch them destroy each other over petty things. Not very strong but insidious. It's hard to notice because it builds slowly over time along with an emotional addiction that makes the user not want to take it off. Savannah must have gotten it this week."

She tilted her head back, closing her eyes, "I'll go take a look at her store this week and make sure this is the only weird thing in there."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Sounds familiar..." When Jack opened the door, his face was bone pale and he was wiping his mouth with a bit of paper towel. "I...don't think I have a lot of eating in me this afternoon," he said apologetically. "I'm still good for the party, though. I'll just go and lie down on the living room couch or something." He gave her a wan little smile. "Some guest I am, huh?"

[alderwitch]

She stepped away from the wall and in to look up at him with concern, reaching up to touch her fingertips to his forehead. She brushed his bangs back and searched his face with serious brown eyes. He did look dreadfully pale. "We can go. Everyone will completely understand. Between rescuing my sister-in-law and braving my mom's cooking, I've say you made good on the favor and then some."

Taylor's lips quirked in a small smile. "Why don't you go sit down and I'll say quick good-byes for us both."

[Avenger Assembled]

"If that's what you'd like to do," said Jack agreeably. He took a seat, feeling a twist of pain inside. Can't even do this. Can't even have one evening with a friend... He leaned back and closed his eyes, rubbing his temples in imaginary pain as he listened to Taylor go back in and join her family. At least I accomplished that much, he thought to himself. I came here to help a friend, and that's exactly what we did together.

[alderwitch]

Taylor reappeared in record time after extracting them from the concerned Chuns although her parents did follow her back to Jack to check on him, and offer sincere regrets about his allergy. Her mother hovered, holding some tupperware of a few of the dishes without garlic while her father shook Jack's hand and said they looked forward to seeing him in the future.

"Here, next time we'll do a smaller thing," Mrs. Chun said as she handed him the tupperware. "Its nice having the family all together but you can't even hear yourself think sometimes. You should have seen it when they were all kids. I don't know what we were thinking having five children under the age of ten."

Mr. Chun smiled fondly at his wife while Taylor glanced down at the ground. There wasn't a family life in her future, she knew that, but sometimes duty was a cold substitute for the warmth she'd taken for granted as a child. She quietly hugged each parent in turn, and promised to call when they reached her apartment safely.

[Avenger Assembled]

Pale and a little clammy, Jack shook hands and made weak apologies for his sudden allergic reaction. "First, uh, came on me about four years ago at dinner. Not as bad as it was before, but still pretty rough. Nothing to do with the food itself. It was a pleasure coming here. You guys are everything I'd hope to have in a family," he confessed, the words perhaps a more emotional than he'd meant them to be. "A girlfriend's family, anyway." He smiled faintly.

Jack was conscious of how unhappy Taylor was as they left, and felt more than a little guilty as he slumped into the passenger seat next to her. He set the food on the back seat, knowing it would just go to waste if it went home with him. "Taylor. This is unsolicited advice. Feel free to tune me out." He stared at the windshield as they headed away. "Tell your family. Their ignorance isn't a shield for them; it's a sword pointed at them." His hands flexed on his lap. "Take it from me."

[alderwitch]

Her lips flattened a little, not so much at Jack's sentance but at the options she was presented with. After a long moment, she spoke slowly, "I don't know what to do about it. I can be honest enough to admit that I'm afraid just how much they'll change the way they see me. Phantom's not exactly the most popular super-hero on the block. I mean, I don't rescue little old ladies. I bounce interdimensional transients, most of whom hate me. I'm not even close to any other superheroes because sometimes my responsibilities clash with their ethics. I don't have friends, really. Taylor doesn't have the time and Phantom..."

She lifted her chin slightly, "I do what I have to, and I don't regret the choice I made, but my family shouldn't have to live with the consequences. If they don't know anything, they can't have it pulled out of their minds by a psychic. Its easier to keep a secret for one person than fourteen and, God, what if they tried to help? They would, bless them. I can see my mom trying to hit some demon with her car."

She slanted a glance at him, "Anyway I slice it, I've put them in danger. The safest thing I could do would be to cut the ties with them and tell them I'm going abroad to study at some dig site, but I don't want to lose out on the time I do have. I'll have an eternity after I've outlived them. So what do I do, Jack?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Love them while you can, Taylor. And trust them with everything you think you can." He couldn't quite look at her, his own memories flooding back sharply. "I...I'm sorry, Taylor, I shouldn't project my problems onto you." He rubbed his eyes, a tired look on his face, then finally did look over at her. "For what it's worth, Taylor, I admire the work you do. I can't imagine what it's like to deal with the threats you deal with, day after day, to have the whole universe as your beat." He gave her a small smile. "And I think your family would admire you too, given time. But that's the last thing I'll say about that, I promise. So, uh, I guess you're taking me back to my apartment?"

[alderwitch]

Her expression softened at that and she gave him a quiet smile, deeply touched at the sentiment. It wasn't often that she had anyone really appreciate her work. She told herself, often, that the reward was in the job itself but to hear that, from one of her peers even... It meant more than words could have expressed. And heavens knew she wasn't good at words.

"Thanks," she said simply, instead before she glanced over at him, "I suppose that's up to you. I can take you anywhere you'd like. Literally."

At that, her humor returned and she grinned at him as she gave him a rare offer, "You're the one that doesn't feel well, so if you'd like me to drop you off at home I'd be happy to. Or we could go someplace else. I certainly owe you for tonight. What do you say, Jack, want to see my world?"

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack knew the sensible thing would be to feign illness, go home, and never speak of this night again. But his emotions had been touched by the events of that evening as much as Taylor's had, and the temptation to follow her along was too great to pass up. "All right," he said carefully, "I'm open." He smiled. "Just as long as we stay away from any dimensions with lots of spinning lights or Greek cooking, I should be fine." He adjusted himself in his seat, tugging at his seatbelt.