House On The Hill [IC]

[Avenger Assembled]

"You kids have a good time too," said Jack with a wink. Deciding that he didn't want to be one of those bosses, he added, "If anyone calls for us, just take a message. The people who should know where we are already know where we are. If the ghosts start giving you trouble, Erin can show you where the kitchen salt is. They're not harmful, really, they just want attention from the living. The ones covered in blood are just drama queens anyway..." He looked at his watch and shot a look at Taylor. "I think we'd better get out if we want to make the meeting. Bye, Jack Jr!" he said with a wave to his still avidly-drinking baby boy. "See you soon."

[alderwitch]

"I don't think anyone will call." Taylor said, more to Jack than the kids as they headed outside, she called over her shoulder, "But call if you need us, and if you really need to use the Back Door, there's a key to the library under the mat and the pass-phrase is 'Red red rose'. Have fun!"

Then, once they'd stepped outside, Taylor would offer her hand to Jack. The Faretti's rarely used cars.

[Electra]

Erin watched from the front window as the Farettis left, absently rocking from foot to foot to soothe the baby. JJ had already powered through a good percentage of the bottle, with his little fangs providing extra channels for milk to travel through. "That went okay," she decided. "Avenger is kind of weird, but he's okay if you can get him to respect you. I think he liked that thing about how you'd deal with unholy monsters and stuff. And he pays really well. He's the only person who's ever paid me for taking out a monster, that's for sure. You wanna go watch movies?" she suggested. "You've got to see the TV they've got. It's huge."

[Gizmo]

"Mmm," Trevor murmured softly next to her, watching the Faretti's leave, agreeing, "An... odd conversation." It was only a matter of time until he encountered Avenger in a more professional capacity; the young man wasn't sure how he expected that to go. He turned his gaze down to the tiny form in Erin's arms as she shifted her weight easily back and forth, his expression contemplative as he removed his sunglasses and tucked them away. "New side of you," he noted thoughtfully.

[Electra]

"They're kind of weird people," Erin told him with a wry smile, "but that's sort of par for the course with a lot of hero types." She looked down at JJ, adjusting the bottle so he could get every drop. "I like babysitting," she admitted. "Not just because it pays really well, but it's kind of fun to play with him and take care of him. I guess maybe I always want to protect people, but with JJ, it's actually my job and he always lets me." There was a rueful undercurrent there, and perhaps a tacit apology as well. Erin knew that Trevor didn't always appreciate being protected, but it wasn't easy to stop. She chuckled. "Look, he looks like he's about ready to fall asleep, but I can see his eyes on you. He's hoping you put your hand in reach."

[Gizmo]

"Good at it," Trevor told her mildly, though the subtext of her ruminations was not lost on him. Leaning over Erin's shoulder slightly, he addressed the fanged infant. "My blood is full of concentrated particulates kept under extreme pressure to be released through my pores as an aerosol, JJ," he solemnly informed the dhampir. Meeting the child's eye squarely with his own onyx and crimson orbs, he used exactly the same manner he would have when speaking to a adult. "It would be like drinking a lit cigarette."

[Electra]

"Yuck," Erin commented with a laugh, even as JJ gave up the pretense of sleep to regard Trevor with big red eyes, his little hands still locked around the bottle. "I'm not sure he believes you. Or that he knows what a cigarette is. Poor guy doesn't get out that much." She snuggled the baby against her chest, then headed towards the plush living room with its expansive entertainment center. "Phantom was talking about taking him to Gymboree or some baby class like that, but it seems like such a horrible idea to let him be around other babies. "But he's very sweet once he realizes he can't bite you. Aren't you?" she cooed to the baby, settling down on the gigantic sofa.

[Gizmo]

Trevor followed Erin into the next room unhurriedly, evidently indifferent to the luxurious decor and electronics. Sitting down on the couch and taking a moment to adjust to the surprising amount of give in the cushions, the lean youth raised an eyebrow slightly. "I have no idea what... 'gymboree' is," he admitted, "but caution seems wise." The appraising look he gave the baby was a balanced mixture of muted suspicion and dry amusement.

[Electra]

"It's like gymnastics classes for babies," Erin explained. "Basically I think it's just a big room with things to crawl over and under and those big bouncy balls and some trampolines. Mostly it's just a way for babies to socialize and get exercise. JJ would really like the playing part, but there's no way you'd be able to keep him off the other kids, especially the slow, fat babies." She gave JJ a look of amused tolerance, then settled in comfortably next to Trevor. "So where did you get your gymnastics training?" she asked Trevor. "Did your grandfather actually do all that with you, or did you have classes?"

[Gizmo]

Leaning back, Trevor placed his arm across Erin's shoulders as she shifted her weight against him, though he was careful to keep his hand out of the infant's limited reach. His expression suggested he was skeptical of the concept of babies performing gymnastics, but he refrained from comment. "Mostly my grandfather. He was limber enough to do some basic stuff with me when I was younger, then coach when I got older." He tilted his head slightly, recollecting. "Took lessons for the dancing, though, and joined a gym for a while since the Manor's not really set up for that kind of workout. More boxing and weightlifting equipment there."

[Electra]

Erin nodded at that. "Yeah, even if you're rich, it's probably hard to get everything you need into one building. Besides, it gets boring training alone all the time. When did you start dancing?" she asked then, comfortable enough to be easy in her questioning. "Did you have to do cotillion and stuff like that when you were in school? I read about that somewhere, like the PE unit in ballroom dance, except they take it seriously." She laughed. "It's kind of hard to imagine, when I think back on my gym classes in regular high school."

[Gizmo]

"A little," Trevor admitted with a subdued shrug. "Touched on a lot of formal dances. The swing was out of school, though." He paused briefly, considering. He wasn't sure if the reference to her life prior to coming to Earth-Prime was something he should comment on or not; ultimately he opted, as usual, for silence. "The slower dances are fairly dull without the right partner, frankly."

[Electra]

"What about with the right partner?" Erin asked, a hint of teasing in her tone. "I seem to remember that before the prom went all to hell, the dancing was pretty fun. Even the slow dances. The swing is more fun though." JJ interrupted her by finishing his bottle and noisily beginning to suck air through the new holes he'd created. She tugged the bottle away, then sat him up and started patting his back.

[Gizmo]

Trevor's stoic demeanor split slightly into a light grin. "Heh. Well, yes. The company does make all the difference." Deftly taking the empty bottle from her, he set it on a nearby table, reflexively making sure that it wasn't going to leave a ring on the glass. "How's he doing?" he asked Erin, observing the infant curiously. The young man wasn't particularly familiar with childcare as a rule, although his grandfather had made a point of teaching him the main points involved in delivering a baby, noting that it was simply one of those skill which inevitably proved itself useful.

[Electra]

"He's tired, for real this time," Erin told him, even as JJ let out a loud belch. "And he needs a new diaper. I'm just going to go up and put him to bed, it'll just take a few minutes. I hope." With a wry smile, Erin stood up and cuddled the baby against her shoulder, where he immediately latched onto her neck the way another baby might take to a pacifier. "No, JJ!" she said firmly, sticking a finger into the corner of his mouth to break the suction as they walked out of the room. A few moments later, the high end baby monitor on the end table began picking up movement and noise, letting Trevor listen in as Erin cooed to the baby and sang him a lullaby about cowboys on the range and moonlight ladies.

[Gizmo]

Trevor relaxed into the couch as he listened contemplatively to Erin's voice over the monitor, stifling a yawn. Rubbing his eyes, he did a few quick mental calculations, confirming that he was pushing even his impressive, caffeine-fueled youthful endurance. Shifting slightly from his seated position, the young man brought his knees up onto the cushions and placed a hand over his eyes, idly humming along to the lullaby in a soft, breathy murmur.

[Electra]

A soft couch and a soft lullaby were a potent combination, especially for someone who'd been running for much longer than his design specs called for. When Trevor woke up from his doze, Erin was back, sitting on the floor with her homework spread around her, and the air smelled like coffee. "Hey," she said, looking over as he stirred, "I didn't want to bug you, you looked pretty comfortable. The coffee's instant," she admitted with a grimace, gesturing to the mug on the table in front of him, "so I didn't know if you'd want it, but it's caffeinated."

[Gizmo]

Cracking his neck to one side, Trevor stood slowly to his feet and smiled, retrieving the mug. "Ha. Girlfriend coffee. Best," he managed semi-coherently between partially suppressed yawns as he sat down next to her on the floor, careful not to disturb her work as he gave her a brief kiss on the forehead. An experimental sip determined that the coffee was in fact genuinely horrible, but his sentiment remained unchanged. "Working on?" he murmured, taking a longer pull from the mug.

[Electra]

Erin sighed. "Chemistry," she told him, lifting her textbook to give him a glimpse of the cover. "And I'm really bad at it right now. I can't get these chemical equations to balance. They look right, but that's what I thought on the last quiz, and I got half of them wrong. The test is Monday, and I can't afford to fail it." She shoved her hair out of her face in frustration. "I don't know why I even have to learn this stuff. I'm never going to go into science or engineering."

[Gizmo]

"First," Trevor noted solemnly as he draped his free arm over Erin's shoulders, "not going to fail, because you're brilliant. Second, may not be my grandfather, but hopefully picked up something." Taking another sip from the mug, he set it aside with a barely suppressed wince and turned his attention back to the books. His personal inclinations weren't toward chemistry, but balancing the formulas was not dissimilar to the sort of engineering mathematics he was more familiar with, at least in theory.

[Electra]

"Yeah, tell that to Miss Harcourt," Erin groused, but she smiled a little at the encouragement. "You'd think after she shot us all to opposite-gender world, she'd owe me one, but no dice." She bent her head close to Trevor's as he looked over her work, which was mostly stuff he'd seen in his own chemistry class a year earlier. Though she made a game effort to pay attention to her work and absorb any advice, it was more entertaining to look over at Trevor out of the corner of her eye, watching him as he looked over the equations.

[Gizmo]

Furrowing his brow as he did his best to recall the previous year's classes, flipping through the textbook to refresh his memory, Trevor pointed out a couple of minor errors and recounted a mnemonic device he'd found helpful. Turning his head slightly, he was surprised to see how close Erin had moved while his attention was elsewhere, though he didn't flinch backward. "Seem... distracted..." he noted softly, unconsciously tracing the curve of her auburn hair with his eyes.

[Electra]

"Um, yeah, maybe," Erin admitted with a small smile, looking back at him. "Can't help it, chemistry is just boring. Especially when there's more interesting stuff around." She smiled bigger, the corers of her eyes crinkling. "Guess it's because I'm brilliant, right?" With some effort, she turned enough of her attention back to work long enough to jot down the mnemonic and correct the errors in her equations. "Anyway, it's only Friday. The test isn't till Monday."

[Gizmo]

"Radiant," Trevor agreed smoothly, a small smile pulling upward on the corner of his mouth as he leaned backward slightly, supporting himself with his hands. "Well. Monday. That's ages away." It might have been the brief doze or the instant coffee that was burning through his accumulated exhaustion, but the young man had to privately admit that there was probably another explanation for his second wind.

[Electra]

Erin shut the book with a satisfying smack, scattering a few loose papers. "If I study too much now, I'll be overstudied by then," she decided. "Nobody else does their homework on Friday night, it's practically sacrilegious or something." She leaned an elbow on the coffee table, turning to study Trevor instead. "So... that leaves me with more free time than I thought. What do you want to do? Besides, you know, watch Love Actually, because I've heard it's really confusing."