ic Community Gatekeeper

[alderwitch]

"Its why I wear the costume," Phantom agreed with Sekhmet's assessment with a heartfelt sigh. Sometimes she wondered if her job wouldn't be significantly easier if she was better at the 'scary'. Oh, the dramatics certainly helped as she'd cultivated the aesthetic but Phantom was well aware that she was fighting an uphill battle. "Although I wish it had pants."

Phantom followed along, squinting at the menu as Set ordered. She made for a much more relaxed companion now that she was safe in the rather extreme disguise. She'd worn less before. Admittedly, not often and usually to go swimming, but she'd make do. Absently, she went to put her hands in pockets that weren't there before folding her arms up instead as Set's gesture of pulling the cash out caught her attention, "Ah, so that's how you make do without pockets."

Phantom accepted the plate of fried dough with careful hands and offered, "It's hot but its better when you burn your mouth than when they get cold. Cold funnel cake tastes awful." 

That was said with some growing confidence as she glanced around the amusement park and then pointed with her chin towards some of the rides, "What did you come to see at the amusement park? Did you have a 'must visit' list or are you just taking in the sites of Freedom City?"

[Gizmo]

"Pants be terrible," Set insisted, dumping her own funnel cake onto Sekhmet's mostly emptied paper plate. "Nothing good has ever happened to me while wearing pants. A scourge on the age! Truly, hiding those away seems borderline unethical, Auntie," she opined, waving a plastic fork in the direction of Taylor's thighs before tossing it in a nearby receptacle. Preening a bit and lifting her thick, brick red dreadlocks off of her shoulders she continued to chatter away as they walked. "And there be far better alternatives, aye! Now, I hardly be one to boast about my figure, but since you mention--"

"She cheats," Sekhmet interjected around a mouthful of funnel cake, folding the second confection in half and eating it indelicately with her hands. Continuing to eat she explained flatly, "Shapeshifting. She could not conceal a cat's whisker in there otherwise."

Bronze cheeks colouring with red, Set folded her arms protectively over her chest. "S-Sekhmet! You cannot just say such things aloud!"

Sekhmet patted the shorter goddess on the head, getting powdered sugar in her hair while she licked her other hand clean in a particularly feline gesture. "There there. At least thy did not have to come of age next to Hathor." Turning to Taylor, she shrugged her bare shoulders. "What would thee suggested, Lady Phantom? The funneled cakes were excellent, as thee predicted."

[alderwitch]

Phantom shrugged slightly, taking longer to pick apart her funnel cake. She watched Set discard hers without comment although she offered a brief, quizzical look at the exchange. While the two goddesses bickered slightly, Phantom finished the last of her funnel cake and sent the plate floating towards a trash can with a small flick of power. 

"Every one has something they're insecure about," she offered, rather than directly comment about the quality or quantity of Set's attributes. Phantom brushed the powdered sugar from her fingertips. "Even the most sculpted looking people have something they'd rather change. If changing your form makes you happy - and you can do it trivially - it would be silly not to."

She offered a faint smile to Set, her cheek dimpling, "If I could have shape-shifted when I was eighteen, I'd have looked a whole lot different."

Phantom turned her head then, glancing around the park, "Well, rides are usually the best part of the park but if you want me to go on them, we'll have to pick one that I won't get startled by and end up phasing through the back end of the ride. It's a thing that happens. There's the fun house. Its a mirror maze which can be fun to work through? Or one of the coasters?"

[Gizmo]

Still red in the face, Set muttered something indistinct under her breath and refused to meet Phantom's eyes. Sekhmet pursed her lips and glanced between the two shorter women before sighing in resignation. Slipping lithely forward, her body rippled for a split second and was replaced with a tawny furred lioness with a distinctive streak of black fur above her eyes. Stalking gracefully forward a step she butted her head between the godling's knees before abruptly straightening back up into human form lifting a startled and vocally protesting Set up onto her shoulders. The redhead's hands and feet briefly became long, black furred claws as she flailed about but Sekhmet kept a firm grip on her shins, securing her in place. "Gyah, what are you--?!"

"Hush," Sekhmet commanded firmly, obviously brooking no discussion about the unexpected move even once Set had settled into place, one hand on the warrior goddess' head to stay balanced. Looking back to Taylor she nodded her chin in the direction of the largest roller coaster. "The large structure, from which come the screams of terror. Which be that?"

[alderwitch]

"The screaming?" Phantom turned her head from watching with faint bemusement at the shapeshifting and antics going on in front of her. She turned, cocking her head to the side before realizing it was the large roller coaster in question, "Oh, it's called 'The Viper'. It's a roller coaster."

She turned, falling into step with Sekhmet, directing her words to both goddesses, "It's been here a while but its still a good coaster as they go. It's people sitting in seats that zip along about as fast as cars do except..."

There was another scream as they got closer and rather than explain, Phantom pointed up towards the inverted track that looped up and around, "They zip along that. It's no Cliffhanger which always leaves me unable to walk straight - or it did. I wonder if I still get vertigo the same way now. Probably not."

She gave a little shake of her head and pointed towards the line helpfully, "We queue up over there if you want to ride it."

[Gizmo]

"I believe I can see our apartment from up here," Set drawled, having stopped trying to get down from Sekhmet's shoulders and was instead reigning from atop her new perch with as much dignity as she could muster. Unlikely as it seemed, their distinctively garbed group was garnering even greater attention which seemed to go a long way to smoothing things over for the shorter goddess. The look she gave the roller coaster she was being carried toward was somewhat less optimistic. "Eh... I have been endeavoring to avoid the serpentine theme holistically..."

Sekhmet snorted and maintained her confident pace toward the back of the line that Phantom had indicated, having been in Freedom City long enough and spent enough time in coffee shops thanks to her charge that she was familiar enough with the idea of needing to wait her turn, galling as it inherently was. "Methinks thee merely fear that thee lack the intestinal fortitude to meet the challenge."

Bristling, Set crossed her arms and kicked one of her heels into Sekhmet's side, a gesture the Eye of Ra ignored entirely. "Not all of us be guaranteed to land on our feet!"

[alderwitch]

Phantom canted her head to the side to better take in Set as she leaned back against the barrier that marked the line, "Barring attack of super-villains mid-ride, we are very unlikely to be catapulted out of our seats. Well, you all are at least. I'm giving myself even odds to manage to stay solid the entire time."

She didn't sound overly consternated about the idea of getting tossed from the car, but to be fair when one was unsubstantial, that became more embarrassment than massive blunt force trauma. "It's really rather safe. In a city where you can't through a rock without hitting a gadgeteer or super genius, these things have been checked and double checked. It's not like the 80's."

Phantom crossed her ankles, one over the other, her hips against the bar - straightening only when the line kept its slow shuffle towards the loading point. "I mean, I wasn't old enough to ride these rides until after they were retrofitted but I'm the youngest. I have plenty of older brothers willing to tell me horror stories of dubious veracity."

[Gizmo]

"Oh! Be you from a large family, then? What could be more human than that, eh?" Set piped up, her interest piqued by the mention of older brothers. Bracing herself on the top of a gumbling Sekhmet's head she leaned over to better address Phantom. "And something we share in common!" For someone who had made a career of being an outsider the reincarnated deity was cheerfully excited to have a point of shared experience to discuss.

Sekhmet snorted, reaching up and over to grab the strap of the godling's cross halter and pull her back into to more upright position, out of the goddess' immediate field of vision. "One hopes the Chosen One's family life was substantially less fraught with drama and violence."

The shorter woman gasped, all outrage and disbelief. "Surely you would not speak ill of the Ennead, oh She Who Mauls?!"

Sekhmet's spine went immediately rigid as though standing abruptly to attention as she sputtered, "N-nay! Of course n--" Her instances turned into a low growl as they were drowned out by Set's laughter.

[alderwitch]

"I'm the youngest of five. I have four older brothers," Phantom volunteered with a small smile. Glancing down to make sure that she'd not smudged up the skirt and draping that she was still getting used to, she brushed her hand against her hip to remove any stray dust. "But we get along in general. They know who I am - what I am - which is a story in and of itself but we try to do monthly dinner things together. It's harder now that almost everyone has kids."

Phantom sighed, the sound softer now that her voice wasn't echoing unnaturally, "Of course, its a little odd now as everyone else is, you know, mortal."

She didn't elaborate as it was doubtless clear from her demeanor that whatever youthful mien she might present, Phantom was fresh faced college student. Even as the youngest, pretty soon she was going to be assumed to be one of their nieces rather than their sister as time marched on. She gave a small shake of her head, "It's a balancing act as so many things are. Sometimes, I manage it better than others."

She cocked her head then, "Do you miss yours while, you know, down here?"

In the distance, under the sound of the crowd and somewhat lost amidst the rise and shriek of the roller coaster riders and the ambient noise that was an amusement park was a plaintive sort of crying - disconsolate and lost but not yet the shrill timbre of fear. 

[Gizmo]

With her superior hearing Sekhmet picked out the crying from the background noise first, cocking her head to one side, perturbed as her eyes darted back and forth. Set noticed shortly thereafter, distracted from her train of thought. "Ah, well, 'miss' may not be the term. Tis complica-- eh?" Clamoring off of Sekhmet's shoulders in a manner that perhaps not coincidentally involved placing the sole of a sandal directly in the solar goddess' face, Set dropped to the ground and wandered away from the line, navigating her way through the crowd. It didn't take long for her to find the source of the sound, a little girl of five or six with her hair tied into two round bunches on either side of her head, clutching a stuffed dragon that had obviously been a prize at one of the amusement park's games. "Hail, princess," Set greeted with a broad smile, crouching down to meet the child eye to eye. "What troubles you so?"

The girl huffed for breath, caught between the continued need to cry and trying to answer the question, tucking her chin into her overalls warily. She puckered her mouth stubbornly, knowing that she wasn't supposed to talk to strangers - especially ones dressed this strangely - but couldn't stop herself from objecting, "M'not a princ'ss."

Set looked taken aback by the statement, eyeing the child more carefully. "Be you certain? If you be no princess, then why..." The godling snapped her fingers and a glittering silver tiara appeared, balanced atop the girl's head. "...do you have a crown? Hm?" She placed her hands on her hips, challenging the mortal to refute that logic.

[alderwitch]

The little girl's mouth opened into a small 'O' of amazement as she reached up to touch with wary fingertips the silver crown balanced on top of her hair, still snuffling intermittently but for the moment distracted from the trauma of being lost, "Is it... are you magic?"

Phantom had turned at the sudden interest. Her hearing was no more acute than a normal human's but she was used to living with and working with those with more heightened senses. When Set took off, she ghosted forward, turning ephemeral to follow the goddess on a more direct path through the crowd that might have disconcerted one or two patrons when she floated through them. She landed behind Set and the little girl on sandaled feet, turning solid once more - an act that the child didn't notice as her attention was fixed on Set for the moment. 

Glancing around, it wasn't hard to put two and two together and Phantom straightened up to her slight height before floating up about a foot to try and get a look above the crowd for the frantic parent in question, "Aw, lost? Who's she looking for? Her mom?"

At the new voice, the little girl briefly glanced away from Set to see her floating and similarly dressed companion, "You ARE magic. It's my dad. I can't find my daddy!"

Her chin wobbled then as more tears threatened to spill down her red and splotchy cheeks once more. 

[Gizmo]

"Well, that will not do!" Set proclaimed animatedly, gesturing emphatically and distracting the child from her woes through sheer force of personality. "I'm sure we can remedy the situation quickly enough. Dear Sekhmet...?"

The taller goddess had followed behind Phantom when she'd begun phasing through the crowd, taking a similarly direct route although her method involved considerably more jostled shoulders. "Why does the tiny mortal weep?" she rumbled with a frown, looming over the girl and obviously uncomfortable with the signs of upset. Before anyone could explain, however, her nostrils flared delicately and with a grunt of understanding she dropped forward into her lioness form, all tawny fur and rippling muscle. "Separated from her pride, then. I shall hunt thy father down, child, wherever he may hide." Taking another sniff of the girl, Sekhmet paused long enough to butt her head into her little hand in as reassuring a gesture as she knew to make before setting off through the crowd, ignoring the surprised shouts that followed her.

[alderwitch]

Phantom turned to watch Sekhmet go. "One of these days animal control is going to get called. Even Freedom City gets nervous about lionesses running around in crowds." She commented idly, dropping back to the ground on sandaled feet. She offered one hand to the little girl who latched on to it, coaxed out of her fear with Set's force of personality and a child's natural wonder. 

"I have a little boy that's just about your age and his dad and I were so scared the first time that he vanished." Phantom commented as the lost child reached up to take Set's hand as well with her free hand. Her palm in Set's hand was the sort of nervous kind of sticky that small children tended towards when frightened, a combination of sweat, sugar and tears scrubbed from her cheeks. The little girl squeezed Set's hand tightly. 

Phantom, of course, meant vanish in the literal sense but she felt that the emotions were largely the same, "I'm sure he's looking everywhere. Sekhmet will find him in short order."

Her glance to Set over the little girl's head deferred following Sekhmet to her goddess companion.

Meanwhile, it was not difficulty for the lioness to find the scent that seemed familial overlaid by the scents of fear and panic that were uniquely related to the small, lost child. Even under the myriad of odors that made up the crush of humanity and fried foods that was an amusement park and beyond that the fainter smells of the sea. People were quick to get out of the way of a lion, after all, some more frightened and others clearly thinking that it was some part of an attraction. Her nose led her towards the glass and mirrors of the funhouse and as she wound that direction, Sekhment's ears would definitely pick up a male voice calling, "Rebecca!? REBECCA!"

[Gizmo]

"Aye! No fear, princess, She Who-- er," Set thought better of sharing any of his companion's more illustrative titles with the little girl at the last moment and smoothly recovered, "Sekhmet has yet to find the quarry that might elude her! And as our endearingly maternal Phantom points out I expect your father to be making no such attempts at evasion, eh? The matter be as good as resolved!" If the godling was put off by the child's sticky fingers she certainly didn't show it, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze in response and a broad grin of conspicuously perfect teeth.

Indeed, they'd only just started to discuss whether it was better to follow after Sekhmet or stay where they were more easily found when a commotion split the crowd in front of them. Back in her human form the warrior goddess strode purposefully toward them, ignoring the protests of the grown man she'd hauled off of his feet by his collar. His shouting and kicking stopped immediately as he caught sight of his daughter, replaced by profound relief. With a huff, Sekhmet dropped him back down the ground so that he might run over, then folded her arms for fear of appearing too soft.

[alderwitch]

"Daddy!!" The little girl shrieked, high pitched enough to make even those with normal range hearing wince, breaking away to pelt with the short-legged clumsy strides of an overstimulated five year old towards her father. Without pausing for breath, she pelted into her relieved parent's arms, all of her words tumbling out one over the other and only moderately intelligible. "DADDY! I was lost and then the magic ladies found me and now I'm a princess and I was so scared and WHEREWEREYOU?!"

"Rebecca, honey, I told you not to pull away in the fun house, remember? It's a maze and you could get lost?" The well deserved scolding was probably blunted by the tight hug Rebecca was scooped up in. As her father buried his face against Rebecca's hair, his relief was palpable. Nothing was quite like the unpleasant adrenaline rush when one's child went suddenly absent. He finally glanced up, a little baffled at the appearance of his daughter's erstwhile rescuers. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"All's well that ends well?" Phantom suggested to Set, a smile curving her features even as she copied Sekhmet's arms crossed posture. "Poor guy. That is one of the worst feelings. I have two of them and, frankly, if my husband's heart could stop I think they'd have managed it by now."

Phantom's voice had warmed, the last of her formal intonation dropping away and she turned her head to Set with a dimpled smile, "Do you know that the arcade games here are rigged, right, O goddess of chaos and outsiders? Personally, I always enjoy a bit of a challenge."

Was Phantom suggesting they go cheat at crappy arcade games? Perhaps!

Edited September 22, 2015 by alderwitch

[Gizmo]

Set's expression as she regarded the reunited father and daughter was difficult to read but Phantom's florid address seemed to snap her out of her melancholy, a broad grin splitting the godling's face. "Ah, arcades, how nostalgic! The original microtransactions, you know. And tis always greater fun to win when one knows the other party be already cheating!" Cracking her knuckles in an oddly dainty manner she called to her taller companions, "Come, Sekhmet, we shall need your exceptional reflexes and disproportionate sense to competition!" Catching the eye of the little girl as they began to walk off, Set offered a small wave and a wink before returning to idle chatter and grandiose gestures.