39

Chapter 39: Week 6, Part IIIChapter Text

You fire off a text to both Laserdream and Panacea about your houseguests, and that they shouldn't interact with them because they were being recorded. You don't get a response from Amy, as class is in session, but your college girlfriend seems exasperated with you having gotten into a fight without backup. Your response that they had to know you were there for it to be a fight doesn't calm her down any.

You're in your history class at the same time you're picking up Quinn from his office. "It's early enough that we're going to hop from here to the roof of a building near the DA's office so you get a feel for things first. I don't want you feeling anything less than confident about your landing."

Quinn, hair slicked back and his suit game on point, swallows nervously. "I'd appreciate it."

To distract him you ask about the NY PRT branch. "They'll be ready to receive them any time today."

"After lunch I'd think," you offer. "And I'm videoing them in the cells I created, but let's not mention that part if we don't have to."

"…do they know they're being recorded?"

"Yep," you show him the paper that you put on the outside of the glass. "I want to see if they accuse me of anything."

"It is generally a good idea not to give law enforcement anything more than the bare minimum they ask for and even then only grudgingly, but that's generally when you're on the other side, you know."

You shrug and hold out an arm. "Grab on and let's test this." You hit your lawyer with an anti-nausea and apparate as soon as he holds on tight enough.

Appearing about a block away from the high-rise that the DA operates out of, Quinn jerks and blinks. "That was unpleasant. Not as bad as you said, but unpleasant."

"Yeah, the first time is the most disorienting though. Now this time we're going to come out into smoke. We'll be facing the building, so we can just walk in all smooth. Ready?"

"Ready."

The second jump is as smooth as silk and Quinn doesn't miss a beat as you cross the courtyard into the offices. There are reporters around, but neither of you deign to give them a look. A gesture as you near the doors opens them for the both of you.

Security is pretty professional, they eye your costume as you walk up and obviously decide it isn't their job to try and stop you, so you're waved through the metal detector without any issues. For some reason, despite the otherwise busy morning, you have the elevator car all to yourselves, though.

Once in the conference room law and order is quickly established and the DA starts asking questions establishing how you know things about the Merchants. Browsing his mind finds him to not be on the take from anyone obvious and to be a decent person—a bit too religiously-leaning for your liking, fairly self-righteous but not quite to the extent it makes you want to punch him. More than once.

A question about how you knew the depot had been a depot has him following a thread of your Merchant stalking backwards slowly. Rather than slowly and tediously go through it, you decide to cut to the chase.

"Mr. Rosenthal, let me preempt the questions. I knew about the Commercial District location because I had attempted to find a man named 'Shaggy', who supposedly had control over a portion of the gang. I knew that name from a raid I had done on a Merchant-held location on Cooks Avenue something like two weeks before."

Before any follow up questions can be asked, one of the assistants leans forward and murmurs something softly. You turn to Quinn and flick your hand in a 'any idea?' gesture and get a small shake in response.

The assistant is the one who speaks up. "Were you assisting the Protectorate at that time?"

"No. I investigated the house and found two people. I was able to get information from one of them about other people in the gang, including this Shaggy character from a Randy something—Johansen, I believe. Once I was done with that I took some of the phones, called 911 with one, the PRT hotline with the the other, and had a third phone dictate a little speech about what I had found. Once I vacated I stuck around the area long enough to see Velocity come into the area and left."

"Do you happen to remember the contents of the speech to dispatch?"

It was something like, "This is a recorded message by an unnamed cape. I am on Cooks Ave, and there are two Merchants who I have apprehended. The front door is unlocked, it's like Motel Six in his joint, I'll leave the light on for ya." You hold up a hand, "I hadn't fully decided on the Warlock name at the time, I really wanted to go with Myrddin."

Dipping into her mind you see that Velocity had claimed the capture on those Merchants, but some of the details hadn't added up. Someone was gonna be in trouble….

Mr. Rosenthal takes back over, asking you if you have any video or pictures—'I didn't archive video like I increasingly do now, I would have to look.'—along with some follow up questions about what was in the building.

Over the course of the deposition, all of the attorneys become more… friendly, you suppose, when it becomes obvious you weren't going to play dumb word games and actually supply useful information. Yes, some of their questions are answered with 'it's powers related', and Quinn interjects and confers with you on particulars and how much detail you should give in some cases, but by the end there are satisfied looks all around, even on Quinn's face.

After a round of handshakes you're taken to the windows that overlook the courtyard. There's a number of additional news crews all set up, but security had set up a cordon so you won't be mobbed before you can open the doors at least. You spend a moment conferring with Quinn and making a request of the milling lawyers before you head for the elevator.

Back on the ground floor neither of you break stride as you power-walk out of the building and above the crowd on an elevated platform courtesy of yours truly. Setting down with a dry fountain as a backdrop, you create a by-now standard lectern, turn and address the group.

"Ladies and Gentlemen standing here, and party people everywhere, it's getting to be lunchtime and I'm not going to stand here and talk to you when I could instead be doing something enjoyable like eating. So this is going to be quick."

"Are you really Clockblocker's kid?!" gets shouted from the milling crowd.

You gasp audibly and hold your hand to your chest as if wounded. "That is privileged information and the only reason you would know that is if someone was spying on an intimate discussion between the lovely Panacea and myself. You should be ashamed of yourselves." Still holding your hand over your heart, you look off into the distance. "I will neither confirm nor deny the persistent rumors that that horrible man left myself, my older step-sister, and my poor mother Skidmark after fifteen years of glorious marriage for some hussy named Dragon, of all things.

"And furthermore—" you begin, but the rest is drowned out by a cacophony of honks that makes attempts to sound like 'Flight of the Bumblebee'. Fuck, they couldn't keep a goddamn tune, it's a good thing you're not paying them anything.

A sky-darkening amount of geese swarm above your heads, the mass swirling and undulating. A single flyer, strangely clock-patterned, dives towards you with a rabid-sounding hiss and you shoot sparks at it. It joins back with the group and they move with purpose, dipping their wings and looking to stoop down on you.

"No father! I shall use your own powers against your minions! Chronal Shield!"

A brilliant blue pulse shoots from your outstretched hand and with the sound of a million ticking clocks the geese are frozen, falling around you to the cries of the onlookers. Quinn, from behind your shoulder whispers 'holy shit' with a vehemence that tells you that his perfectly-coiffed hair is probably a bit mussed.

Seconds after the last honk sounds everyone stands and looks around at the geese embedded around them. All of the birds have landed beak-first in the ground and are shining white like marble. A soft tone sounds from your lawyer's phone.

"They got the picture."

"Excellent," you say, then project your voice again. "Once again, Brockton Bay is saved from the depredations of Clockblocker and his malicious minions!"

You clap and a mournful honk sounds from the statues and startles not a few screams from throats. Vanishing the lectern, you step back and make sure Quinn has a grip on your arm. "Brockton Bay, you've been a great audience. I'll be here all week, try the veal, tip your waitstaff. Thank you and goodnight!" The two of you disappear in a puff of smoke and confusion.

Back in his office, Quinn collapses to a chair and stares at the ceiling. "What in the fuck was that. I can't believe…"

Laughing, you check him with a diagnostic to make sure he isn't about to pass out. "Relax, I was in full control the entire time. So they took the picture?"

He fiddles with his phone and a moment later you have a handful of shots from the upper floors showing that the 'birds' landed in a way that just happens to spell out 'LOL' from above, with everyone stationed in the 'O'.

"Perfect. Go ahead and send that or leak it to whoever you think will appreciate it the most."

You have a nice lunch with Aelfie as you thank her for watching the captives and assisting with the goose prank. You have the local news turned on at your apartment as the station does a 'live on location' about the statues right around the time the conjuration timer runs out and they all disappear. The honest confusion is lovely.

-=-=-

(This will be inserted back during the week as well; it should have happened as part of Thursday.)

Quinn's contact with the NY PRT is a sergeant named Luis Prior. Through him, Quinn let the NY branch know you'd be willing to turn over the three Empire capes because you were 'unsure that storing so many capes in the Brockton Bay facility wouldn't cause security concerns'.

…transparent as hell, but apparently a fiction that everyone was going to run with. You did get, via Quinn's office, a official complaint from the local PRT that more-or-less reprimanded you for not giving them the right of first refusal on the captives. It's labeled as coming from Piggot's desk, but looking at the stilted verbiage you're pretty sure the original note said something like 'So I heard you was a little bitch. Fuck you for crying to New York you little bitchboy' and it had to go through a lot of editing before they were willing to send it.

Anyhow, after lunch you walk up to the (non-glass) sides of the cells, silently open a hole, and hit each cape with a stun/bodybind/incarcerous combo. You loop a rope over each of them and appear in Quinn's conference room, your lawyer joining you few moments later.

"They are apparently in position on the roof, waiting. We need to get there in the next five minutes. You are going to take years off my life," he mutters to you.

"You're getting free 'cosmetic alterations' out of it, so at least you'll leave a good-looking corpse," you respond, vigorously air-quoting.

"We're not going to appear off the side of the building and die, are we? Was that a warning that I need a touch-up before we go?"

You'd scryed the rooftop drop-off and even made a portkey and tested it via broom earlier in the day. "Nah, I don't feel like dying today, I got plans later." You hand Quinn one end of the rope and tap it with your hand. It glows blue, and you smirk behind your mask as he eyes it suspiciously. "You wanna say the magic word?"

"No—"

You're whisked away spinning to a stop on the helipad of the PRT New York building. Reaching out, you steady Quinn and do your best to project a curious eyebrow at the almost twenty PRT agents standing around with guns at the low-ready. Probably not a time to act out too much, but you're unwilling to be cowed by a show of 'force'. "Delivery for a Sgt. Prior?"

A black guy stepped up, clearly trying to seem unamused by this. "I didn't order anything."

"It's from a secret admirer."

"Oh for fuck's sake…"

You both look over at Quinn, who seems like he was seriously regretting things like 'leaving the house today' or 'taking me as a client'.

YouI turn back and cleared your throat. "Three Empire capes, Victor, Rune, and the newest—I think—one, Nebeltrupp."

Waving some agents with foam sprayers up he eyes you. "Calle gave me the basics, do you have any additional details about their abilities?"

There's an odd ping in your mental radar from one of the agents standing around the roof access, so you keep a bit of thought on them as you offer some assistance. "They were on a platform being controlled by Rune and were attacking another group in the Bay—the Undersiders, if you're familiar?" At the headshake and wave you continue, "So I blitzed them and they didn't have a chance to actually put up a fight. However, Rune did not seem to handle being restricted like they are well, may have an issue with confined spaces. Nebel makes rockets out of… anything, I guess, he was using random debris. The rockets launched what looked like chemical weapons once, and a second salvo exploded a roof." There's a noticeable rise in the twitchiness of the sprayers pointing at him all of a sudden. "Victor is a skill vampire, or skill leech, or whatever you want to call it, and I don't know if it's limited by sight. I could feel him trying to use it while being on the other side of a wall, so look out for that."

Some additional uneasy shifting later you vanish ropes and let them foam each cape separately. Quinn passes over some paperwork and you get a handshake from the good Sergeant. You're about to head back when you finally figure out what's going on in the strange agent's head.

It's Legend, in disguise.

His shard doesn't whisper into his mind like Scion shards do—the dead piece of Eden inside him, no the chunks—merely sigh and groan, the death rattles of the beast a macabre, maddening melody. You don't know why this shard is so different from Gallant's or Coil's, perhaps it's because he'd been given one of the original, more powerful versions of their vials?

He's a bit too far back to attempt it, but you find yourself unwilling to do a brain dump anyhow—even the feel of the shard from here makes your skin crawl and the phantom scent of rot waft by your nose.

Just before you and Quinn disappear, do you acknowledge the head of the Protectorate?

-=-=-

You don't react to a legend's presence, merely tossing the other side of the rope to your lawyer and flicking a parting wave as you disappear. Back in Quinn's office, you turn to him and cock your head. "We were being observed by the big apple of the Big Apple's Protectorate office back there."

Quinn takes a second to parse that one. "Legend was there? Are you sure?"

"He was overseeing things from a distance, but I could tell he was around. I'm sure if he really wanted to they'd let him operate the foam sprayers and stuff, though."

-=-=-

Hopping back to the lair you scry Regent, as he's the most likely to be in at the time and find him playing video games on one couch while Grue lays on the other with what looks like a stab wound of some kind. The bigger man is obviously conscious and is talking on the phone to his sister, telling her he'll meet with her tomorrow. Tattletale and Bitch move past at different times, so everyone is accounted for, at least, but they obviously got into a scrape after you saw them last.

Crystal has classes all during the afternoon, but you text her details of the capture last night, and Amy stops by after school to look over the work you had continued on the greenhouse building. That there's a fair amount of kissing and caressing amongst the budding plants is a given, but a welcome one.

You end up sending her back off home with a pat of her butt and go to get ready for this party. You're not sure who decided that 'Thursday is the real beginning of the weekend', but you won't complain about a chance to dance with the S Klub or especially Crystal.

Wasting some time posting on PHO while the girls get ready, you stir up some trouble by pointedly not responding to questions about your 'step-sister'. If you drop small hints, then it's not really your fault….

[X][PHO] Your step-sister is Gallant

-=-=-

►Totally_not_a_wizard (Verified Cape) (Verified Warlock)

Replied On Feb 24th 2011:

Say it with me now: I can neither confirm nor deny....

...but anyhow, there may be a step-sister. I don't want to prejudice things, especially because there's some of the same issues as with my mother, but I'll say she's always been kinda the soul of chivalry, very knight-in-shining-armor, and getting hit with a Degender Bomb didn't change that.

-=-=-

The party is on campus this time and you find yourself once again with the beautiful ladies of S Klub swirling around Crystal and yourself as you walk. Sarah is missing, and when you softly ask Susan why she tells you that all of the girls of the Nu Tau sorority are confined to the sorority house for the moment, as other instances of, well, 'breaching moral guidelines' were apparently found. The fact that this one triggered someone has the authorities coming down hard on them.

Once inside the party Crystal drags you into a bump-n-grind dance that is really only a layer of clothing away from being public sex. She uses the close contact to lean in and talk into your ear. "Amy told me about what you did with her yesterday."

You are familiar enough with her mind that you can connect to it without eye contact. She's not mad. She's actually so not mad that she is almost dripping with lust from hearing her little cousin talk about how you made her cum from just your fingers and dirty talk in public, and all of the pictures Amy shared with her. There were even pictures that Amy hasn't sent you yet of the brunette using the conjured vibrator Aelfie left under her pillow that Crystal probably wasn't meant to see but did anyhow.

At the start of the next song, Karen is pulled in between the two of you and Crystal mouths 'magic hands' to you as the three of you manage to get into rhythm. You pump a little magic out and run your hands up the redhead's side. Crystal almost has to peel her off of you to let the rest of the girls get a ride as well.

With your girlfriend urging your teasing on, you apply a lightly erotic touch to the rest of the S Klub except for Susan. Susan gets a bit more charge than the rest of them and manages to sneak in a three-way kiss between you before grudgingly letting Savannah slide in.

Crystal and Susan dance to either side of you while you and Savanna share your first dance without Amy in between you. You may have left your magic pushed up a touch too high as you hear a soft 'Oh mah gawd' and one of your hands is redirected right to her ass. Her dancing changes to a style that somehow has your hand fastened tight to the crack of her ass and what looks like her hiding her face in your next involves a lot of nibbling on her part.

You and Crystal walk the girls back to their dorm rooms and your girlfriend bids them all adieu starting with Susan, who she hugs and briefly kisses on the lips. The short brunette is passed to you with a look, and you repeat Crystal's actions to her approving nod, and the two of you repeat on the rest of the unresisting maidens.

A few moments later you're walking to the stairs and can feel the psychic weight of the stares that follow you as your athletic blonde girlfriend struts next to you in her dress.

The door to the stairwell hasn't even closed completely but Crystal is in your arms. "Can you keep people from coming up or down to find us? I want you here, now!"

[X][Crystal] Engage in a spot of exhibitionism

-=-=-

"I can," you murmur against her lips, waving general repellers and silencing spells against the floors above and below you. You have a sneaking suspicion that Crystal wants the girls to hear her, though, so nothing goes on the door.

The two of you wrestle your tongues together as she fishes your cock and balls out of your fly and you pull away and let her win that battle as you drop to yank the minuscule scrap of lace acting as her panties off and into your hand.

Tonight she's not just wearing stockings—there's an entire garter belt and stocking set framing her dripping, needy slit. You run your tongue along it before standing up and swinging her around to face away from you. Nudging her legs apart she settles herself on her heels and wiggles her pert little ass back at you, her skirt bunched up by her hips and her hands on the wall.

"James, please…"

Pausing just long enough to make sure you're lined up correctly you slam yourself forward and pause, fully sheathed in your suddenly-quivering girlfriend before pulling back out and jackhammering her at a furious pace. Crystal's cries are shouted to the ceiling and she squeals as you spank her ass.

Leaning over her and bracing yourself on the wall—and incidentally blocking her view of the door with your arm—you grab her hair with your other hand and put your mouth by her ear.

"You're loving this, aren't you?"

"Yeeeees."

You sense three of the girls approaching, and a moment later Susan, Soon-Yi, and Karen are staring through the small glass window in the door.

"You want all the girls to see you, don't you? You want all of those girls to watch you get fucked by my cock until you cum your brains out."

Her cries get louder and you growl, "They're watching, you know."

Crystal cums at those words, her moans breaking into sharp little cries as you pull on her hair and nibble at her ear. All of the girls are watching now.

"You were getting them to grind on me earlier… you want me to fuck the hell out of all of them and leave them all a gigantic cummy mess?"

Crystal was already ramping back up to a second orgasm and those words have her almost there. "Yes, maybe, yes, yes yes."

You pitch your voice lower, "I should make you a strap-on that feels like a real dick and we'll fuck them all together. We'll spitroast Susan between us."

That pushes her over the edge and she trembles as you drop her hair and smack her ass again as she locks up, her eyes squeezed shut.

You slow down as she catches her breath for a moment before musing, "Only problem is she doesn't know about the magic. We'd have to fuck Amy instead."

"Oh Jesus fuck James!" she jerks and cums suddenly, throwing her head back and staring you in the eyes. You push in her head and see that's treading close to her kink limit, so you decide to back off on that a bit.

"They all just watched you cum," you tell her, and turn her face to you when she tries to look, "Every. Single. One of the girls is watching me rail the hell out of your sweet ass, but they're not seeing nearly enough." You pull the top of her dress down and flick at her diamond-hard nipples. "Now they're going to watch me breed you."

You charge a little magic to your cock and ramp up the tempo as much as you can and her legs start trembling. "Don't you collapse on me, if your legs give out I'm picking you up and turning you to face the door. Now," you swat her ass as you start to fire thick ropes inside her, "cum!"

Even with you slapping a hand over her mouth a the last second, her cry of "Fuck, James, yes!" is loud enough to echo. Her hands slip off the wall and you bend down to catch her, slide your elbows into her knees and with a featherlight charm pull her back against your chest as you turn both of you towards the window. The S Klub has a perfect shot of your balls contracting as you cum inside her, Crystal's head laying against your shoulder as she pants harshly and moans.

After that mindbending orgasm, Crystal's a bit out of it so you levitate her off your cock and pull a handkerchief from your pocket to clean yourself, which you continue to do in full view of the window. Crystal you levitate behind you so it looks like she's flying herself.

The entire S Klub has given up on subtlety and is blatantly staring. Susan looks at you hungrily while Karen's eyes are glazed over. Sierra is swallowing repeatedly and Savannah keeps licking her lips. Soon-Yi is staring unblinkingly at your cock and trembling slightly. As one of the smallest of the girls—possibly tied with Susan—it might be more than she's comfortable with contemplating. Every single one of the girls is screaming their arousal in their minds, each with an array of kinks. You are the star of five sets of fantasies from Susan kneeling and orally servicing you and Crystal, tender missionary sex with Soon-Yi, or Savannah's contemplation of you fucking her ass while she eats Crystal out.

You flex your cock and watch the array of shrieks and sighs on the other side of the door with a smile before tucking yourself back into your pants. Their lusty gazes travel up to your face, where you try to look them each in the eye before blowing a kiss, collecting your blissed-out girlfriend into your arms and heading down the stairs.

Crystal's recovered a bit by the time you apparate home. Stripping her dress and lingerie off of her the two of you swap slow, tender kisses. "So that goes in the 'yes' column?"

Gloriously nude except for her heels, your girlfriend strips you bare and hops up to wrap her legs around your waist. "Yes, for small groups, or maybe with a chance of getting caught. No sex on the Boardwalk."

"Sex on the Boardwalk while invisible?"

"Oh. Huh… I'll have to think about that one." Her mind is happy and content, blasting loving thoughts as you start to walk towards the bathroom. Being Lady Peverell would totally be worth it. I think love him.

-=-=-

Friday after a jog with Taylor you 'happen' to jog over near the local Catholic school. Immaculata High and its surroundings are… very white. Even the few stores open this early are white-washed. There's a French cafe, the woman with the hand-cart selling coffee and donuts is a particularly light-skinned Latina… It takes a bit, but you do see subtle signs of Empire tags. They're in alleyways just far enough back that you can't see them easily from the street, or a flag or sticker in an upstairs window of a building.

It's not really overt—passing by the school itself there's a pretty even mix of races, honestly—but this area at the edge of Captain's Hill is likely an incubator for Empire sentiment.

Your only text from Templeton says 'Tue or Wed, l8r is g8r', so hopefully there's a light at the end of that Coil-ed tunnel.

Later in the day you find an abandoned lot in the Commercial District with plenty of space around it to try out fiendfyre. You also raise earthen barriers in the hope that if things go south the magical flame would be channeled away from the city.

With a portkey strapped to your left wrist, you aim at one of the targets you've set up and cast.

Rage hits you as the cursed fire rockets out of your wand. Hippogryffs and basilisks form and devour all of the targets as the mental backlash screams in your head. Burn destroy KILL.

You had already pulled up your mental defenses, but you reinforce them and reach out and crush the malevolent desires within the flames and enforce your will upon them. It only takes a split second, but even still the fire has crept closer to you, the asphalt around you beginning to smoke.

Cutting power to the spell, you cast the counter-charm and the fire is gone, causing a loud crack as the air rushes in. Even with that short of a exposure to the fiendfyre your face feels burt and your skin is tight, and your wand hand feels like you held it right next to a blast furnace.

You heal yourself before fixing some of the damage and cast the curse once more. Now that you know what to expect you immediately force obedience upon the dark magic, turning it from a barely-controlled torrent into a writhing snake of flame. It is very much like being in control of a flamethrower, knowing that even a momentary lapse could cause your death.

Smothering the flames again you hide any traces of your presence and apparate to your lair to heal and rest.

You end the day…

[X][Friday] You, Crystal, and Taylor go out to be seen in public with the girl

-=-=-

Friday evening you find yourself alone in the front seat of Crystal's car while she and Taylor chat in the back. You'd managed to find a little concert at one of the smaller museums going on late afternoon/early eveningish so you can go to that and still have plenty of time to stroll on the Boardwalk. Your girlfriend wanted plenty of chances for people to get pictures of the high-school girl and her being friendly.

The concert itself is pretty interesting, it's a history of jazz that you sit back and enjoy, bracketing Taylor between you. Afterwards you stroll the Boardwalk, Crystal walking arm-in-arm with the dark-haired girl while you orbit around them holding doors and keeping up conversation.

When you finally settle down to eat you feel a buzz in your mental map that draws your attention—Sophia and Emma are walking vaguely in your direction with another, older, girl. They haven't seen you yet, so you lean over and nudge Crystal. "Hey, I saw someone give Taylor the stink-eye, I wonder if it's one of the people giving her a hard time at school?"

Cutting her eyes over to you, Crystal frowns, "And you have an idea?"

"Yeah, go hover out of sight and let's see if they come over without a cape around."

When Crystal excuses herself you continue the conversational thread with Taylor as you reach out and poke Emma and Sophia's brains just enough to draw their attention your way.

Like dumbass sharks who think they smell blood in the water, the two girls plus their older hanger-on are coincidentally standing near your table shortly thereafter.

"Oh my God Sophia, did you hear about how Taylor is just whoring herself out to older guys?"

The black girl snorts. "It's probably because she's all wrinkled like an old woman anyway. No one our age wants her."

Taylor doesn't even turn to face the bullies, just flinches and pulls in to herself. You, however, look up at the girls and the somewhat embarrassed woman with them. "Those sound like completely made-up, bullshit rumors that only small children would believe. Don't you agree, Crystal?"

From her position flying behind the group with her phone recording and looking pissed, Laserdream seems to agree vehemently. "Hello Anne. Care to introduce the bitches talking shit?"

Anne Barnes sees the phone and turns her head away. "No, they can handle themselves."

Emma and Sophia don't look nearly as confident when all of the attention is turned on them. You decide to help your girlfriend out. "The ginger looks related to the other girl. Sister?"

"Oh, hello Emma. I see you're taller than the last time I met you, but you haven't actually grown up any. Still a bitchy little brat." Her eyes flick to the girl standing next to her. "You don't look familiar, but I'd swear I've heard you complain about shit before." Turning to the embarrassed older Barnes sister she leans forward a bit. "Take the bitches and leave. I'll be giving my aunt copies of this. Your father still hasn't made junior partner, now has he?"

Not two minutes later Taylor is once again between the two of you and Crystal is rubbing the girl's back. The two women are in the middle of what seems to be a pretty heavy conversation so you instead turn your attention outward and glower at anyone looking their way.

The rest of the evening ends up being cut short as you drop both ladies off at Taylor's house. Crystal catches you up on things when she's laying in bed with you later that night.

"The Barnes bitches are both self-important twats who liked talking about how their daddy was a lawyer. When dealing with other lawyers' kids. I remember Vicky complaining about Emma for years when she had to deal with her at parties and stuff." She snuggles into you and relaxes a bit. "I have my suspicions about the other girl—"

"She's a cape, in other words, since you're being evasive."

Crystal zips your lips with her fingers and then kisses you. "I didn't say anything. D'you think Warlock could magic up some protection for her house, though?"

[X][Taylor] Put up intruder wards at her house

[X][Taylor] Have Aelfie watch Taylor