Current Energy: 7
Current Training: Lesser Magic Useage (7/10) - (9/10)
Monday, February 7th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
"Shapeshifting." Ozma quizzes as Taylor sits across the room, writing down notes while he does so.
"Fire for Change, Water for Fickleness - so they could change back and forth, mm... Earth for... Permanency?" Taylor responds carefully, frowning as she does so.
"Almost. Fire and Water are appropriate, Earth for Stability, not Permanency - unless you are try to trap someone as a rabbit or some such." Ozma answers easily, leaning back and laying your hands in your lap.
"Now. Healing?" He continues blandly.
"I don't really need to know that one though. I can already heal." Taylor points out.
"I was unaware that you felt that way. Tell me, did you also choose not to fully learn english, because you cannot actually speak a comma?" He asks dryly, causing your Master to blush slightly but otherwise not rise to his bait.
"...Water and Light and Earth?" She offers carefully.
"Yo, tiny. What's with the weird voice?" Mouse Protector jumps in, already fully dressed in the underlayer of her Costume as she walks down the stairs stretching.
"It would take entirely too long to explain the particulars. Would you perhaps like some hot chocolate?" Ozma answers, completely unperturbed by the rude form of address.
"Is there coffee? I could go for some coffee. Gonna make coffee." She says in response, walking past you and into the kitchen.
"Top shelf on the left!" Taylors calls after her.
"Where's blondie?" Mouse Protector yells back, causing Ozma to sigh and relinquish control of your body, having obviously determined that today's cram session is over.
"She left already. Dad took her to the PRT to register." Taylor answers neutrally. It's... partially true. In truth, Jess needed to talk to the PRT to prove she was alive again, and needed their help getting her an identity, since she legally didn't exist currently. She didn't even have citizenship in the country, which would make getting a job or having a life somewhat difficult, assuming she wanted to do that. Your Master offered to Gap her there, but as both of them had places to go afterwards, and your Master had school today, it would be easier to have a car with them when they were done.
"Huh. Didn't know she was in the business." Mouse muses as she walks out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee and a piece of toast.
"I found her the other day. Not sure she'll join up though. Where are you off to?" Taylor asks curiously, closing her notebook. Since the night before, she seems much more tolerant towards Mouse Protectors... Mouse Protectorness. Fond, even.
"Ah you know. See the sights. Mingle. Bring down the wrath of mouse and man on the corrupt degenerates of this mousetrap of a city." She says blithely, sipping on her coffee, taking a bite of her toast, and then setting both down to begin belting on her armor. Which is, to your surprise, not a prop or some fancy material. It's literal armor. No wonder the woman looks like a body builder under that suit. She does acrobatics in plate mail.
"Do you ever swear?" Taylor asks in amusement. "You seem like you're about to then you sort of side shift into the zany cartoon speeches."
"Gotta keep it PG. Plus, Ravvy hates it." Mouse says enthusiastically.
"Ravvy?" Taylor asks curiously.
"Ravager? We get along sometimes. Not always, but enough. Honestly, I just came to make sure she didn't get herself killed fighting the Butcher or something." Mouse says with a shrug that does nothing to hide the slight tension in her voice as she speaks - despite her obvious attempts not to let it show.
"Huh. You don't have problems being friends with a villain?" She asks hesitantly, as though not sure how offensive the question is.
"Eh, Ravvy isn't as bad as all that. She doesn't usually cause too much trouble." Mouse says, deflecting.
"Yeah but..." Taylor trails off, trying to find the right words.
"Anyway! Gotta go find her before she does something stupid! Have fun doing teenager things!" Mouse bursts out, having hurriedly finished strapping all of her equipment on before grabbing her toast and rushing out the door, leaving the majority of her coffee untouched.
"Emmy?" Taylor asks suddenly, staring after Mouse's fleeing form.
"Yes?" You answer attentively, shifting your attention back to her.
"Do you think I should it's okay to be friends with a villain?" She asks.
You hadn't thought about it until this point. You'd kick a puppy if your Master wanted you to, so it hasn't seemed relevant.
[ ] And by the same logic, she can be friends with whoever the hell she wants. Who's gonna stop her?
[ ] You don't think that's a very good idea. You've recently started to acquire a fledgling taste for this 'morality' thing, and you get the impression it would be frowned upon.
Hearing your answers, your Master nods once pensively at you, and then returns to her studies until school begins.
Monday, February 7th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
During lunch at school, it occurs to your Master that she probably should look into getting all of these people out of her house. You won't say the thought is entirely selfish in nature - she certainly feels bad about not accounting for the comfort of her friends and family until now - but you also won't say it's entirely unselfish either. Since the arrival of Jess and Mouse Protector, she's had to cut down on many of her usual morning antics. Training, messing with you... really just those two things honestly. Your Master probably needs a hobby.
Regardless, when lunch comes, she politely hands a stack of Talisman to the so called 'Panda Gang' leaders at her lunch table, and then excuses herself to take a quick jaunt to the Gap.
'What did you give them anyway?' You ask as she strides up a hallway towards her fathers office.
'Gaps mostly. Tear a tag and it'll spit you out in the empty outbuilding. I wanted to make sure they don't get murdered by some other Gang, but I don't want to give them anything they could hurt someone with.' She answers distractedly.
[There is still time to open a Huntsman Academy.] Ozma points out.
'...The old man want's me to remind you that you have a college sized building for hosting super school in.' You dryly pass on.
'Still haven't worked the kinks in the Oath out yet. It's either so strict as to make anyone who takes it useless, or so full of holes that it might as well not exist. Also I'm trying to work it down from 'break it and die' to some other, less permanent punishment.' She answers, perking up as she begins to delve into the details of her current magical side project.
'I- yeah 'instant death' definitely seems like an over reaction.' You choke out. You'd like to believe that no one in this world exists who would actually take an Oath with results like that, but you also know better than to think that belief is true.
Humans are stupid that way.
"I can't do it Jess." You hear Danny's voice say sternly from further ahead, his office door slightly ajar.
"Can't or won't? Please, I just need to talk to him. There has to be something-" Jess's voice rings out, the distress in her tone clear.
"Uh... knock knock?" Taylor says awkwardly, pulling the door open and firmly closing it as she steps in the room. Counter to the slightly desolate appearance it once had, Danny's office now has some actual soul to it. The desk looks relatively new, if not high end, there is a computer atop it along with a variety of other knicknacks and writing utensils, a filing cabinet in the corner, A large window at it's rear that opens onto the courtyard in the center of the castle, and a few pictures here and there along the walls, mostly newspaper clippings of Taylor's exploits.
Danny is sitting at his desk with one hand rubbing at his temple, and an annoyed expression on his face, while Jess stands over him, both hands holding the edge of the desk in a white knuckled grip as she stares thunderously down at him.
"Taylor! Shouldn't you be at school?" Danny asks worriedly, immediately turning towards his daughter as though Jess isn't in the room.
"I'm on lunch. Should I come back later...?" She asks hesitantly, looking back and forth between her father and the late New Wave cape.
"No, it's fine. What's going on?" Danny says quickly, shooting Jess a look when it looks like she might say the opposite. Taylor looks dubiously at the other woman for a second before soldiering on, obviously choosing to deal with it later.
"Well, you know how you said theres no furniture in this place? I figured that, since I'm rich now and all, I should look into applying some nepotism to the city. I know it's not glamorous, but if I opened my account up for you to hire all the Dockworkers to furnish and fix up the private parts of the castle, do you think they'd go for it?" Taylor asks, causing Danny's expression to brighten.
"I can definitely swing that. I thought about it a few times but I couldn't bring myself to use your money like that." Danny admits sheepishly.
"Dad. I'm fifteen. I hate fashion. I don't have a boyfriend. I don't need a car. I own a castle. I literally don't have anything else to spend my money on." Taylor answers flatly.
Danny blinks once, opens his mouth to say something, closes it, opens it again, then pauses.
"...Kiddo, do you think maybe you should get a hobby?" He blurts out. Taylor affects an affronted look as she responds.
"I have a hobby." She counters instantly.
'I don't think training counts as a hobby.' You chime in.
'Shut up. It totally does.' She responds quickly, her facial expression remaining unchanged by your words.
You leave the office not much later, having left Jess silently steaming in a corner the entire time. In a technical sense, your Master was very curious as to what was going on. On the other hand, if she was asking her Father for help and not Taylor herself, it was obviously because she felt that Danny could help - so it might be best to leave it alone for now. Especially if he was refusing to do whatever it was she was asking for. It wouldn't look good to go behind his back for something like that after all.
School that day ended relatively quickly, and, keeping in mind how distressed Jess obviously was today - your Master ends up making plans to find and talk to Vicky.
Monday, February 7th, 2011
Stansfield Mansion, Brockton Bay
Victoria, in her infinite wisdom, had skipped school that day in favour of hiding out at her boyfriend's house.
Dean was, as it turned out, spectacularly rich. Not personally, but his family. Which is why, when Vicky had accepted your Master's phonecall and provided directions to herself, your Master had ended up walking there instead of teleporting. She had literally never been to the 'rich' part of town. This had led her to feel increasingly annoyed as she passed nicer and nicer homes, homes that were seemingly free of any worry of criminal activity, that were in front of streets that were regularly patrolled by the police.
"Seriously, I knew you were well off but a mansion?" She groused to Dean when she had finally found and been led into his home.
"I... don't like to brag. I didn't actually earn any of it myself." He answers somewhat uncomfortably.
"Yeah but... you have a hedge maze. What the hell is even the point of a hedge maze?" Taylor continues to complain, her sensibilities as one of the nominally working poor deeply offended by the opulence on display. At this point, she had finally been led to a small side room in the mansion that - blessedly - looked a lot like a normal teenage boys bedroom, complete with slight mess and knickknacks strewn about. Vicky was inside on the - admittedly quite large - bed, surfing channels on the - admittedly quite large - television in the far wall as your Master entered.
"Taylor... you're a millionaire and you own a castle. I don't see what the problem is." Dean points out, causing your Master to miss a step and nearly fall over as she fully enters the room. You materialize and catch her, of course, but it's a near thing, and when she stands up fully again she has a far away look in her eyes, as though she has just been exposed to something psychologically damaging.
"Right. I- You know I forget sometimes." She says, tamping down on the slight sense of dismay in her heart. Your Master is many things, but she is - or was - proud of her upbringing. Despite her newfound wealth, she still chooses to live in her old home. She still goes to the poorest school. She still resents spending more than twenty dollars on a single article of clothing. She is, in essence, one of the common folk, and she considers herself as such. Not being that anymore, even a slightly, must be somewhat jarring for her, if not outright distressing.
"Never change Taylor." Vicky drawls weakly from her perch on the edge of the bed.
"Hey Vicky." Taylor responds to her instead of addressing the mild insult.
"Hey. Sorry you had to come out here." She answers, putting just a bit of a smile on her face, though not nearly one big enough to match her normal boisterous attitude.
"I feel like I should be insulted? I sort of live here?" Dean jokes, closing the door and walking over to sit next to Vicky. Your Master does likewise, pulling her legs up and sitting cross legged on nothing without even really thinking about it.
"Sorry Dean. So..." Taylor says, trailing off expectantly.
"My Mom is being difficult. Usually Aunt Sarah talks her down but they both seem to agree on this." She says sullenly.
"Difficult how?" Taylor asks curiously.
"They're treating her like she's some stranger!" Vicky barks out, finally letting her temper show.
"Mom was all like 'well we can get you some funds, then you're on your own', like she wasn't our problem or something!" She continues bitterly.
"Vicky, I know you miss your Aunt, but having a whole other adult to care for would be a little stressful." Dean says carefully, causing Vicky to narrow her eyes at him and lean slightly away from him, where she had originally been leaning into him quite a bit.
"They treated her like she was an embarrassing secret! Like she was Uncle Mike's mistress or something and they had to settle out of court with her so she'd go away!" Vicky rants.
"Did they actually tell your Uncle she was alive?" Taylor asks curiously.
"No! They wouldn't even let me give her his phone number!" She complains, getting up to float around the room angrily.
Your Master shares a look with Dean before turning back to Vicky.
"What about your cousins?" She asks.
"We all argued about it, but it's not like we have any say in things. We're just kids." Vicky says in disgust.
"And Amy?" Dean asks.
"She doesn't like to argue with Mom." Vicky continues, a touch less heated where her sister is concerned.
"Well, even if they don't want anything to do with her, can't you and your cousins just hang out with her anyway?" Taylor points out.
"That's not the point! It's not fair! She's back from the dead! When Aunt Jess died, that's when everything started to suck. Mom stopped doing patrols. Everyone did. Nothings been the same since, so why is everyone acting like her coming back is bad?!" She half screams in frustration.
Your Master looks like she's about to say something in response, but tenses suddenly, lunging from her position just in time for the glass of the window to Deans rear to shatter inward in an explosion of shards that scatter across the bed.
In her hand is a meter long piece of pointed rebar, its tip mere inches from stabbing into Deans back, through his heart, and back out the other side.
Your Master barely takes more than a second to respond, instantly whipping a hand out and throwing Dean bodily through the gap it creates, then pushing the entire gap forward across the room, sweeping Victoria up in it before she can charge outside herself. With lightning fast reflexes, she jumps backward towards the Gap herself, swiping another of the Butcher's ridiculously sized arrows out of the air just before closing the Gap, causing you to blink and reappear besides her in the Heap.
"My family is still there!" Dean yells, standing up quickly and whipping out his phone to begin dialing the PRT.
"I'll get them, Wreck, lets go!" Taylor yells through grit teeth, opening another Gap and plunging inside with you hot on her heels. You have no idea why the Butcher seems to be targeting Dean specifically - but you doubt leaving his family to her will improve the situation much.