alderwitch

"Taylor. Taylor Chun. I've seen you in the papers, you're Ace Danger." She twisted to face him, her palm flat on the cashier's check on the counter. Despite her attempt to sound like Taylor imagined most people confronted with a celebrity would sound, it fell a little flat. It might have been the direct way she looked at him, her chin tilted up to meet his eyes under the faded brim of her hat. Or it might have been the amused quirk of her lips that telegraphed tha she was laughing at some internal joke. "No, I don't mind any help at all. Beggars can't be choosers. That said, once I make my fortune, there's no way it'll be stashed at this fine institution."

Well, I'm going to hold my post until things here are worked out on the off chance Avalon needs to edit his post :)

Taylor had a moment of deja vu as she tilted her head up to blink at Ace Danger as he meandered up to her side like he owned the place. Heshem's teeth, he probably does own this place. Although she reocognized him from the party, she doubted that he'd recognize her in her faded jeans and tanktop. Still, her hand stole up to fiddle with her amulet nervously even as she met his gaze with solemn eyes that seemed out of place in her young face. "Hello?" She said questioningly to the older hero before she gave the teller a flatly unimpressed stare.

OOC thread for Manic Monday

Date & Time: June 15, 2009. 10:00 AM Taylor was rapidly losing patience. Correction, Taylor had long lost her patience and was struggling to stay on the sunny side of homicidal rage. "What do you mean you can't cash a cashier's check? It's the same as cash for chrissakes!" Despite her best efforts to keep her tone even, her voice was sliping closer to Phantom's alto boom than her usually more husky civvie voice. Thanks to a snaffu of near epic proportions with her own bank, Taylor was wasting a beautiful Monday morning trying to get her mother's cashier check turned into cash to take to the university so as to hopefully remain in her summer classes. The night life of super heroing had taken its toll on her GPA and Taylor desperately needed the summer class to maintain her marks. "Look, I have a billion forms of ID. No, I don't want to open an account. I know that you'll put a hold on it and I need to pay my school fees today." The teller made noises about speaking to her manager and bustled off as Taylor tapped her fingertips on the counter and reminded herself that reaching through the glass to throttle the woman was the first step on a road of super villany.

Fire burns her insubstantial form because its opposed to the dark eldritch energy she uses. Her magic is very shadow-based. Heshem is all about brining a light to the darkness but Phantom's powers are entirely based on Heshem's darkness so the opposed light, in this case fire, burns her.

Alex frowned, her expression puzzled as she tried to explain, "Well, of course I've read about your work but it seemed rude to make assumptions about what to call you..." She trailed off as the adults began to talk among themselves. Alex didn't roll her eyes when Archevielle asked the winged lady her name but she did sigh slightly. Alex ducked her head and stepped inside the embassy to allow the adults to talk without being in their way. Once inside, she looked around with lively curiosity, her hands clasped behind her as she waited for the conversation to wrap up.

Taylor was studying in her cheap loft apartment when she felt her eardrums pop from the shockwave just as the power flickered out. She frowned and looked up at her now dark surroundings and strolled to the window to peer outside. Not only was the power out all over in this section of Riverside, she could see in the distance the flicker of fires burning not too far from her home. Her mouth firmed in a grimmace. Her one weakness. That didn't cause the diminutive heroine to hesitate as she fixed her gaze just above the destruction. With a crackle of fell energy, Taylor Chun dissapeared from her apartment and Phantom appeared in the skies of Riverside. Her expression was downright furious as she took in the crushed houses and structures. This was her home. She avoided the licking flames and picked the first collapsed structure she saw to begin phasing through, looking for survivors.

Alex was deeply involved in enthusiastically demonstrating algebraic principles, using the snacks she'd brought as physical representations when she stuttered mid sentance and tilted her head to one side, almost as if she was listening to something Erin couldn't hear. Her face turned toward the boys and she murmered, "Uh, oh."

"Excuse me," Phantom said quietly to Scarab as their quiet conversation was interrupted by the emotional manipulations in the room. It didn't take long for the insubstantial heroine to make her way accross the room, once she was willing to ghost through other guests. She materialized at the periphary of the group containing the party's host and the young teen gesturing with his weapons at the knot of teenagers. Phantom had a feeling most of the students would get a talking to before this was over. She stepped between the teen and his intended target and solidified "There's no need to escalate this."

Alex's smile lit up her whole face. She really wasn't beautiful but when Alex smiled, she did it with such enthusiastic, almost child-like joy, that it was hard not to smile back in repsonse. "I'm glad I could be there for you. I'm really glad you're my roommate, Erin. Mostly, I'm glad you're my friend." The redhead pushed herself up to her feet slowly, stretching as she did so, before she paused to brush off her pajama bottoms. Her hair had started to sneak free of her braids and her cheeks still had that reddened and chapped look. "And, honest, I'll let you know if I ever am struggling. I'll lengthen my evening meditations to try and keep from slipping over in the future. I don't project like that in my sleep often but let me know if you ever notice me leaking emotions or anything and I'll see if one of the professors can help me with my sheilding if that happens."

Nope I'm good!

"Tutoring time, indeed! And I brought lunch too." Alex said cheerfully as she flopped down onto a blanket under the tree. Swinging her pink and flowered backpack down from one shoulder, she began pulling out packaged sandwiches and canned drinks along with carefully wrapped treats. "A fed brain works better. Honest!" She wrinkled her nose playfully at Erin and began to unwrap one sandwich, glancing up occasionally at the boys as she asked her roommate, "What did you want to work on today?" Alex was an effective tutor in some ways. She was both knowledgable and able to explain complex ideas in an easy to digest manner. She, however, relied on her students to really push themselves on their studies rather than pressure them. Except for Mike, of course, Erin had already seen Alex nag the older teen multiple times but Erin was never treated to the pointed reminders she levelled at Mike now and again.

"Oh, no! I didn't mean erasing your memories or anything like that. I mean, we could but that'd be wrong to do. I meant there are techniques you can use to control your dreams so they don't become nightmares. Like, when you're having a bad dream, you stop yourself from feeding into it. Like, instead of fighting the zombie king, you walk away. Or think about him melting." Alex's face scrunched comicaly for a moment, her hands gesturing animatedly before she smiled gently. "You should always remember Megan an' your family but you should try to remember their lives, if you can, not so much the death. I dunno about God an' all that, but I think that the only real memorial for anyone are the memories they leave behind and under all the bad ones, there are a bunch of good ones lurking. Someday those'll come to you easier. Honest." Alex stood up and collected the now empty water glass, going back to her desk to replace it.

"I have to be able to handle it. I wanna be able to use my powers to find lost kids and help people that have trauma they struggle with. It means looking into the worst of humanity a lot of the time. I have to find a way to let things touch me without destroying me." Alex gave an uncomfortable little shrug at the uncharactaristically melodramaric statement. Her smile flashed again and she gave a nervous chuckle at her own dreams before turning her attention to Erin's story. "Nightmares are your brain's way of trying to deal with things your waking mind is avoiding. You've had a lot of trauma at a critical developmental stage. Having bad dreams is totally normal. What I said in there is true, though. You control your own mind. You can change the dreams. I can show you if you want."

Alex smiled and shook her head, looking a little sad and distant for a moment before she lifted her eyes to Erin, "Don't worry about it. Really. Yeah, its horrific. But its your nightmare, not mine." For a moment, Alex paused and Erin was able to see the usually verbose girl struggle to find the words before she finally started speaking again, "I can feel your pain, experience your memories but, its through you. I mean. I feel your hurt but it doesn't hurt independent of that and its not anything you can protect me from. I've relived Mike's nightmare of the boy he... hurt, prolly a thousand times now through our psychic link. There's a host of strangers whose pain I've accidentally evesdropped on and, honest, it all hurts the same. I don't mind at all. Especially, cuz sometimes I can buffer people from their own worries for a little bit and it costs me nothing in the end but a little empathy and a sleepless night or two."

Alex gave her an appologetic smile and stood for a moment. She retrieved a glass of water from her desk and brought it back to Erin, "It was a dream and I was really there. I'm so sorry, I haven't wandered into someone else's dreams in a few years. If I just jerk free, I might have hurt you without meaning to." She held out the glass of water for Erin as she slipped down to sit on the floor. Alex chattered on, her voice soft and shy as she tried to give Erin time to shake off the bad dream, "I've been telepathic since I was born. I used to get sucked in whenever I slept to the strongest emotions around me. It was more learning how to stay inside my own head rather than how to reach out.."

Above Erin, Alex came awake with a soft sigh of her breath. She blinked a few times and wiped the tears from her hot, sticky cheeks. Alex levered herself to a sitting position before she slipped off of her bunk and floated to the ground easily. Her bare feet landed on the carpet with a soft thump and she bent down to look at Erin worridly. "I'm sorry, are you okay? "

"I'm here because your thoughts reached out in terror and mine reached back. I'm here 'cause we're both lonely. Any number of reasons. Mostly, I'm here to help." Alex swung the shovel point down and buried the head in the earth, resting her folded arms on the wooden end easily. There was a faint sheen of sweat on her face and her clothes blurred once more to something suited to the setting, faded denim that had seen better days but still patched with what had been once colorful patches. "Reality is the sum of our perceptions. To paraphrase, things are real because we believe in 'em." Alex's smile dimpled one cheek quickly before fading as fast as it came. "So, I'm here because on some level, you want someone here. If you don't want company, you have the power to make me leave. The choice here is always yours... Wanna talk 'bout her?" Alex said it gently, her palm up and gesturing to the grave. She was sensative enough to say 'her' where most might have shied away from the mention of the little girl, but here Erin's pain was so keen, Alex couldn't help but feel it and her expressive face reflected the emotion back at Erin.

Alex flashed Eddie a sweet smile, "Its just nerves, I bet. I don't know if any of us will be Freedom Leaguers but I think its all about the desire to make a difference. If you're here, you've got the powers. As long as your hearts in the right place, everything will be fine." Alex kept her posture tilted towards the group but she reached out to squeeze Mike's arm supportively as she spoke, trying to shake him out of bad memories, "I bet you'll have summer stuff, Eddie. At least placements."

It was time to stop running. Alex felt the panic and knew Erin's heart was racing in time back in the real world. Alex planted her feet firmly and extended her conciousness more solidly into the dream as she began to project her centered calm to Erin, "You couldn't beat him before. You can now. You just have to take control. You're older, you're stronger and you're not alone. You have to remember, Erin." The edges of Alex's presence blurred for a moment before reforming, clean and in the pajamas she'd been wearing before bed, looking out of place in the dreamscape's carnage.

Alex peered around Erin's shoulder curiously and somewhat relieved. She'd personally prefer the dream end with a boss fight than reliving Megan's death. "The zombie's talking..." Alex pointed out with some trepidation. "Tho' I bet that means it has a brain." She added that for Erin's benefit even as she locked down her own flight or fight response ruthlessly. The last thing she needed was to accidentally fire of a mental blast from inside Erin's unshielded mind. Instead, she readied the more delicate powers of the mental manipulation that might be more useful. Physically, her dream form swung the bat up on her shoulder once again.

Alex's brow furrowed and her gaze flicked from Erin to Eddie and back again. "But they don't have super powers. Your analogy is flawed," Alex lifted up one shoulder in an uncomfortable shrug, "No one's gonna make you be a hero, but every kid in this school have powers that they need to be able to learn responsibally. Its easy to be tempted to use 'em but we all have to be aware of the harm that can come if we're not careful. Like, I could use my powers to know what someone's thinking, right? But normal people couldn't stop me. At what point is it a neccesary use and when does it violate someone's right to privacy? Sure, I could use my powers to do lots of great things. Or terrible things. An' in the end its up to me to make that choice."

Alex flinched reflexively at the spray of zombie brain. She reminded herself firmly that this wasn't really happening. That this was Erin's memories and sensations providing the backdrop. Unfortunately for Alex, the same mental conditioning that allowed her not to shriek and cry at the horror also recorded perfectly the sensation of something too viscus to be blood dripping down the side of her face. Alex's eyes teared at Erin's distress and for a moment she was terribly tempted to pop the dream like a sopa bubble. The reprecussions that might have on her friend's psyche stayed her hand. Alex gritted her teeth as she struck a batter's stance. Clearly Erin's subcocious was providing the response to her attacks based off of Erin's skills, not her own. When she swung, Alex felt the recoil reverberate up her shoulders and the sweat on her palms. Alex flinched again at the spray of zombie bits that looked too human for anything like comfort. She brought her makeshift bat in an overhead swing, grimacing at the wet cracking sound. Even with her help, Erin's mind was providing more enemies than they seemed to be defeating.

Alex blinked a few times, causing her to take in the carnage like it was happening under a strobe. She made a disgusted face at the gore splatter but refrained from letting out a truly girly squeal. Ew, ew, ew, EW!. She paused to fish around for a bandana that she pulled up around her mouth and nose and focused for a second on dulling the sensation of the smell. Thankfully, she had the training that had fortified her resolve or she'd likely be doing more than making an occasional gagging noise. "S'Okay. I actually did really well in biology class," Alex offered, her voice muffled from the cloth as she trailed along after Erin, hovering every now and again over the gore rather than step onto it to feel the squish under her tennis shoes. "You'll want an anesthetic of some kind. Like morphine, but I bet that's been raided. They use fentanyl as a painkiller in labor and delivery. I bet that we could find some stores of that. Doesn't have the same press cuz its not as addictive." Alex paused in her recitation as she floated along in Erin's wake when her roommate engaged another pair of zombies. This time, Alex focused on avoiding the likely blood spatter, ducking behind one of the medical cases that was tipped on its side. Doing her best to ignore the precise noise of the bounce of another zombie head down the hallway - splorch, splorch, splorch - she fished around in the pilfered supplies and took the best of what was available. A roll of bandages, some gauze and an unbroken hypodermic needle. She peered out at Erin, stuffing her treasures in a pouch, and blurted out, "Myxopyronin. Or just good, ol' amoxycilan. Any broad spectrum antibiotic."