Don't call me 'Brucey'

Who: Porter and Tad
Where: Tad's house
When: Just after school

Thankfully, it wasn't too hard to beg some time outside for Porter. Sure, he'd already spent the day 'sick' at home, but when his mom got in, all it took was a steady smile and a friendly request for some fresh air. She'd assented all too easily, only making him promise to be home for dinner with Carter that night. The chance for fresh air and to make a few housecalls was plenty of incentive for Porter to agree, and once he did it was all blue skies and slushy ground.

He'd headed down towards Tad's house, feeling a little winded from the walk but nowhere near shaky yet as he lingered under a bare tree. Porter knew he had to feed soon, and his choices right now? Mice, maybe a deer, or... other. But he wasn't ready to consider the third option, not until he had a chance to talk with Kaysen. So for now? The plan would be a few mice after dinner, and a chance to talk with Tad. To tell him the truth, and maybe help him be a little more prepared.

Tad hadn't wanted to go home after school, but it made the most sense. He'd talked to Grams the night before but she hadn't actually grounded him, but who knows if he was actually in trouble or not. Just to be on the safe side he'd sloshed home as soon as school let out, drenched up to his knees on his as his bike did nothing against the slush. He would have looked like a complete idiot but briefly he was wishing he'd worn those big rain boots instead of his now soaked red chucks.

Pulling into his driveway he spotted Porter waiting in his yard. A surprise, but still a welcome surprise. "'Sup Porter?" Tad called leaning his bike against the house and crossing the yard to his friend. "Missed you at school today dude."

"Yeah, wasn't really feeling like it today," Porter called in response, smiling thinly and taking a couple of steps to meet Tad en route. "Weird dreams, you know? Slept in. But, uh... I kinda thought we should chill. You have a little time?" Dimly, he was aware that Tad still had his laptop, and although Porter would've been shocked by himself? He wasn't too worried. He still had his computer at home, the comic was getting worked on regularly.

"I hear ya, I didn't want to go either, but..." Tad trailed off. He wasn't sure why exactly he felt so damn compelled to behave today. Grams hadn't gotten mad at him yet. "Come on in," he said instead pointing over the shoulder to the door. "You hungry? I'm freaking starved." He led the way up the yard and into the house. Tad stopped the door, pulling off his drenched shoes and socks and padding barefoot down the hall. "I have your computer by the way, I grabbed it at the asylum. Don't leave without it or I'm calling finders keepers."

Following after, Porter shed his shoes with a grin aimed at Tad's back. "Good save, man, thanks. I'd let you keep it, but I've got, y'know... porn. Tons of it. And maybe a trade to make you for it." He'd picked Tad up before, but now Porter was taking a chance to glance around at the interior details of the house curiously. "Go ahead and eat, don't worry about me. I promised my mom I'd actually have an appetite for dinner tonight, so..."

"Man, maybe I should hang on to it," Tad quirked in response to the porn comment. "A trade?" he asked sticking his head in the fridge, digging out a diet coke and a few slices of leftover pizza from a night or two before. "Dude, you don't eat anywhere near enough. I'm like hungry all the time. And before you say anything it's not the diabetes." Tad pointed the pizza slice at Porter.

"Hey, I eat enough!" Porter protested lightly, smirking Tad's way, "You just don't see me do it, I guess? As for you..." Porter's eyes narrowed intently for just a moment. "You smoking a lot of pot, maybe? That'll bring some munchies." He was happy for the levity while the chance for it was there; Porter was still dreading this talk. He needed his friends, needed the support to be able to face what was coming. "Uh, is your grandma home or anything?"

Tad eyed Porter curiously. "I guess that's eat. It's all good, one day you're gonna be like healthy looking and I'll be a fat ass cause I'm still eating everything in sight. And no, it's not the pot. I mean come on...I'd be a hella lot more interesting. And Kaysen would purposely set me on fire for being a dumbass." He glanced up at the clock over the kitchen doorway, an old fashioned looking thing that Grams swore she'd had since his mom was young. "Um no, she's got church stuff for a little longer. 'Nother hour at least."

Honestly, Porter wished he could eat more. He would've loved to be a fat guy in his thirties, but really? He wasn't even sure he'd reach his thirties. It was a somber thought, one that Porter came back to regularly. He tried to push it aside, nodding at Tad's words. "I, ah... I got something for you? And... we need to talk about some stuff, too. And can I steal a soda?"

"Fridge is yours dude," Tad said motioning towards it with is coke as he swallowed the last of the second piece of pizza. He was a little worried now, especially since Porter's whole attitude seemed to change. And wanting to talk? What did that mean? Shrugging it off, he waited for Porter to grab a drink and then started off towards his room. "We'll go up to my room."

"Sounds good," Porter told him simply, grabbing a soda and shutting the fridge soundly, then moving from the kitchen. "You seen Kaysen since we all got back? I was gonna stop by her place today, maybe, if there's time before dinner." He had different reasons than Tad entirely, too, but Porter knew how his friend felt. If his longterm goals were to happen, he needed to hope for Tad on that one. Really, he was just hoping anyway, knowing first hand how great it felt to connect with someone like he had with Medea.

"Heh, about that," Tad ran his free hand through his hair as he cleared the stairs quickly and elbowed the door to his room open motioning for Porter to go in. "I went by her place last night. Did the whole waiting outside her window thing and she chewed me out for being outside on a full moon." Tad rolled his eyes because if anyone would understand it would be Porter. "We talked though, but you know how Kaysen works," Tad sighed.

Porter laughed slightly, even if he understood the problem in an instant. "Actually dude? I only know a little of how she works, and it's mostly just a list of ways to piss her off," Porter mused as he walked into Tad's room, breaking into an impressed grin. "Nice setup!" he went on, nodding emphatically at the array that would thrill any kid who considered themselves a gamer, "But hell, Tad? I don't know how any girl works. I'd bet she was pissed because you were out on werewolf night, though. Which, really? She kinda has a point."

"Well start with the list and add everything that you'd think would make a girl smile," Tad said. "I dunno, I think she's still bent out of shape about the Chance thing. She says she's still dealing with it so I'm trying to give her time ya know? It's just almost dying makes you sort of rethink the importance of waiting around." Tad shrugged, dropping into his desk chair and opening the bottom drawer to retrieve Porter's laptop. "And don't remind me, she pointed out how I should be thankful I've got a friend like her. At least she let me in and didn't send me home right away right?"

"Yeah, everything with Chance must still be sucking," Porter agreed quietly, setting his drink down and taking his laptop when Tad offered it, "And I know she's got other things to worry about? Some lady she'd mentioned, her brother's gone, we all just survived a nightmare... I could keep going." Still, he'd wished for things to be going better for both of them. Tad seemed to need strength, Kaysen needed someone she could believe in. And call it the flaws of first love, but Porter had found both when he'd found Medea. "Instead, I'll just do this, I guess," he went on, setting his laptop down and digging in his backpack.

Closing his hands around a bundle, Porter dug it out and unfurled it in front of Tad. It was a new, black sweatshirt emblazoned with the Space Ghost logo on the chest, and he figured it might take Tad a minute to find the bundles of throwing knives he'd stuffed in the front pocket with the half mask, but it'd be worth it for the guy's reaction.

Tad raised an eyebrow at Porter's mention of "some woman." He wasn't sure if Kaysen had told Porter about Chance's mom so he didn't say anything more. "Well yea, I've been trying to be supportive, but sometimes she wants you there and other times she's a little prickly." When Porter laid out the sweatshirt Tad grinned wildly. His nickname was a little stupid, but it was Kaysen who continued to call him Ghostal and as a result he was completely attached to it. "This...this is kick ass dude." He reached forward, dragging the sweatshirt towards him, only it was heavier than he expected. A good bit heavier. Tad looked up from the hoodie to eye Porter curiously. "Porter?"

Taking a deep breath, Porter steadied himself for what he had to say. Even if it wasn't immediate, saying anything would begin an inevitable segue to the details he wasn't comfortable sharing. "Okay, so... things are bad, right?" he said at first, "Like... horror movie bad. And we don't know when they'll get dangerous again, you know? And I... I guess I'd just feel better thinking that you or Kaysen or me isn't going to be caught entirely unprepared?" He sighed, leaning over and rapping his knuckles on one side of the sweatshirt's chest to get an audible tap. "So I armored this. Kevlar bi-weave plates, straight out of Batman. Don't ask me what it costs, okay?"

"Guess I should be lucky that it doesn't have a Robin logo on it then huh?" Tad joked, but mostly because he didn't know how else to react. Picking up the sweatshirt Tad started getting a feel for the plating in the sweatshirt. Although when he lifted it up, the stuff shoved in the front pocket dropped heavy in his lap. He raised his eyes to meet Porter's while pulling out the knife sheaths and mask. "Porter?" he asked again, because face it, he wasn't sure what else to say.

"We need to fight back," Porter told him plainly, watching Tad handle the bundles of blades. He'd gotten two sets of four because, really, spares would come in handy unless Tad was somehow an expert at eye-shots. "Dude, people died, and next time we might not be able to get to Kaysen. We might be separated. And..." he sighed heavily, unzipping his own sweatshirt enough to show the halfmask he wore folded down around his neck, "I can't do this on my own."

Tad's grip on the sheaths tightened in anger. "I'm not leaving her alone Porter," even though it was a little ridiculous to assume. What if something happened while she was at home and he was at home. He saw the mask though and that Porter was wearing it and dropped his eyes from him and focused on what was in his hands. The knives seemed light and sharp. He slid one out, turning it over in his hand and then sliding it back into the sheath. He had no idea how to use them but he knew someone who would, and it meant he needed to call Hunt again. "Porter, you armed us?" Tad was still in disbelief, but that didn't stop him from sliding the sheath into place against the inside of his wrist. It was a lot more comfortable than he'd expected. Finally he looked up at his friend, his face worried, but his eyes burning with a fierce fire.

There was time there to study Tad, to watch the play of emotion running through him as he looked over the knives. This was going to suck, and it raised Porter's nerves in apprehension as he nodded. "We can't know what's coming next, man. The best we can guess is that it'll try to kill us, you know? So... yeah, I armed you." That was a deliberate change of wording, and Porter took a long drink of soda before he let his head hang. "Tad, I... there's some shit you need to know, and I really hope you'll still count me as a friend? But I get why you might not want to. I, um, I kinda have... super powers."

Tad's eyes hadn't left Porter, so he caught the change in wording and he noticed that his friend was so uncomfortable that he couldn't be lying. "Super powers as in radioactive spider or freak nuclear accident?"

"More like I think I was born with them?" Porter explained cautiously, "Like, maybe my mom sat too close to a microwave or something, I... I don't know. But I guess more like a mutant." Or a psychic vampire. The second part of that term was still a sore one for him, but he was doing his best to keep being honest; Tad deserved that much. "I just..." he struggled, "I've kept it a secret for my whole life, but when I got here? I saved people, I saved Medea! I killed one of those things in the hospital, man! This is what I'm supposed to do, Tad! You and Kaysen and me? We can do something about what's happening!"

There was a moment before he did anything. The silence stretched between them while Tad tried to figure exactly how to answer. "Mutant?" It wasn't much of anything, but he felt bad just ignoring the situation. "It was a demon," he pointed out. "A rakshasa. Or well a few of them if the one you took out looked like the ones we saw later." He didn't doubt there was something they could do, it was something he wanted to do. "I'm not sure I've earned this Porter," he said holding up the mask. "Kaysen's got the whole burn shit thing and now you're telling me you've got powers? I'm me dude, just you know a guy. Who only just recently learned to throw a punch." He paused, then asked the vital question he seemed to have forgotten somewhere. "What kind of powers exactly?"

Rakshasa? Porter made a mental note to try and find out more about that down the road, for now focusing in on Tad's apparent uncertainty. He hadn't expected this, but at the same time? Porter knew how daunting it was. "Tad, you kept your shit together in the hospital. You kept an eye on Kaysen when I had to bail. If you don't think you earned this yet? Start thinking that you can live up to it, I guess. Because we can do this, okay? Kaysen might have weaknesses she doesn't know, I might too. Yours are whatever you decide they are." He didn't think he needed to go into the long list of heroes they both probably idolized, heroes who didn't always have powers, but substituted it with will.

"I... my power, or ability or whatever it is? I can sorta channel this power, this energy? And it wrecks shit." He smiled fleetingly, a bitter flicker as he watched Tad. "But the thing is, I have to use it. Whatever it is, I think it's killing me, Tad. I have to steal it from other things to keep going. I guess I just..." Porter sighed softly, shaking his head, "I know I don't have forever. Maybe I can do something good before I run out of time."

He looked back down at the mask in his hand as Porter talked. Maybe Porter was right, maybe Hunt was right. Maybe he did need to learn how to do this. Tad certainly didn't like thinking about Kaysen having a weakness, or Porter for that matter. Was he really their last hope? That seemed like a death sentence.

Tad watched Porter talk, watched the way he spoke, taking in everything. "What do you mean have to use it Porter? And where does it come from? I mean besides stealing it. Are you like stealing a life force?" Tad was a little confused, but figured they were questions that needed to be asked. "And killing you? How?" How do I stop it?

This was a point Porter thought Tad could get more than anyone else, and at least here and now it felt easier to try and explain, like he wouldn't even need to defend it. "I mean that I have it, right? And I can help people with it if I choose to? So... if I don't use it, I'm just waiting for someone to murder Uncle Ben, you know?" he explained, figuring the Spiderman reference was the most obvious, "I have it, so I have to use it. I don't know where it comes from originally, either, but you nailed it dude. No 'like'... I steal life. And whether I use the power or not? I have to keep stealing life, mine just... fades." Surprisingly, confessing didn't hurt nearly so much this time around. Maybe it was the trust, and that idea made the gifts he'd brought Tad seem so fitting.

Leaning back in the desk chair Tad considered what Porter had said. It was a lot to take in, and for once Tad was trying hard not to just jump to conclusions, trying not to make assumptions. Blame it on being yelled at more than once yesterday for doing just that. He spun quarter turns in the chair, not all the way around, but just enough to force Porter in and out of view. Porter felt like he had to use it out of some sort of moral responsibility, and even if he didn't use it, it still faded. "With great power comes great responsibility eh?" Tad quipped, finally stopping the chair from spinning. "If you have to steal life force, where exactly are you taking it from?"

"Animals, mostly," Porter answered, frowning with the words. He didn't want to outright lie to Tad about any of this, so the best idea was one that simply didn't involve his plan to track down an evildoer and drain them. "In the hospital, I drained one of those demons, those.. rakshasa, right? And last month I took down a werewolf that was after Medea and I." He still wanted another one, a healthy one that he'd have the drop on; it had just been too nice to go that entire month without cravings.

"Rakshasa, yea. That's what Mr. Hunt called it," Tad said so he answered Porter right away. Everything Porter was telling him was hard to comment on properly, but he didn't want Porter to feel like he was pulling away. So, his best friends could light shit on fire and suck the life out of something. Surprisingly he was having an overwhelming sense of self doubt more than anything. "Animals...No people?" It was a rough question and it was coupled with a look of concern on Tad's face. These were hard questions, but they were questions that needed to be asked.

Unfortunately, they weren't questions Porter was eager to answer. In his head, there was still room to consider people, so long as they were a real menace to the world around him. That made him wonder, of course, who he was to decide such things, and while he tried to justify the question with the idea that Kaysen knew about a real murderer? It didn't assuage the worry on Porter's face. "There's people out there that need to be stopped, Tad. Even if we don't kill them, we need to make sure they aren't hurting anyone." he said in an evasive sort of way, "I... I've only used it on a person once, I was a little kid, I didn't even know it was happening."

Tad didn't say anything, he just looked down at the sheath strapped to his forearm. Carefully he slid the blade out one handed, surprised at how easy it was. Holding the knife in his hand he caught a glimpse of his reflection in it. The last set of bruises from getting beat up were almost completely gone, but the slash above his eye shown red against his skin, healed over but in the state wounds take before they scar. Porter was right, there were people that needed to be stopped, but were they the ones to do it? Demons, monsters, that was one thing, but people? It all seemed surreal. Finally Tad just nodded. "Okay," he said, raising his eyes to meet Porter's.

Porter followed suit, silent for a long moment after Tad gave his sparse answer. There was hesitancy there, but it he'd still said yes. "You know what this means, right?" Porter gradually asked, daring to grin, "You need to pick out your name. Tell me you never dreamed of doing it, dude." He had to find the bright spots where he could, because they'd both seen what he was proposing they do. Fighting the monsters out there? It never ended well in the comics.

He glanced up, eyes brighter than before and the lopsided half grin was tugging at Tad's lips. "A name? I veto Robin or any other side kick name off the bat," he told Porter pointing the loose blade at him, but not menacingly. Leaning back in the chair again he twirled the knife a little, thinking. "I dunno. I guess I thought about it, but nothing serious. I mean come on, look at me, I'm a scrawny teenager with diabetes who gets the shit kicked out of him. Even dreaming about being a superhero felt like living a complete lie. What's your name?"

"So you're Peter Parker with diabetes, not really that far of a shot away," Porter said first, still feeling like they could both use encouragement, "And no, no Robin for you. Your pick, dude, but you could go with something like 'Ghost' y'know? We already call you Ghostal, and it's not like someone has a real life claim on the name." He sighed a little, wondering if he might have to explain his other secret to Tad, if his friend had somehow joined the small audience for his comic. "My name? I'm The Conduit," Porter told him, feeling much better about those words than he had been when he'd told Caleb.

Tad kept the comment about radioactive spiders to himself because he could tell that Porter was trying. Hell, Tad did have a fiery Mary Jane of his own, only their storyline was closer to the SpiderMan 3 storyline than the understanding love story from the comics. "Ghost could work," Tad mused, not completely sold but eying the logo on the sweatshirt. "The Conduit? Like the webcomic?" He'd heard of it, and read it a few times but didn't follow it as closely as he did the gaming webcomics.

Porter laughed quietly, shaking his head at himself for feeling so tense over this. He'd just confessed to being something other than human, and he was worried about his secret website? Sad, he chided himself. "Yeah, it's, ah... it's my webcomic," he confessed, "I kinda started it when I found out what I could do? It just sorta... helps me vent." And it helped him pay for body armor, among other things. But Porter felt relieved, finally. His secrets were out, his friend seemed okay with it all. What could go wrong?

"Hold up. Your webcomic? No fucking way dude. That's the just awesome. I'm more of a Penny-Arcade guy, cause you know it's all video games and such, but seriously Conduit is just as good as their stuff and they've been doing it a hella lot longer." Tad leaned back again, smiling at his friend. "That straight up kicks ass."

"Yeah, no dude, Penny Arcade kicks my ass," Porter agreed quickly, laughing a little, "My thing's just, you know, superheroes? Except it's supposed to be me under the hood. It's a weak reveal, right?" He shrugged, still not someone who took direct praise too well even if it was cool to hear. "But hey, at least I've finally got a use for some of the cash the site made." Not that he hadn't before, but it was much more practical now than his videogames.

"Not a terrible reveal. I mean if the idea wasn't that normal guys like us could be superheroes, it wouldn't be Peter Parker and Clark Kent. Hell the X-Men wouldn't exist. So no, not bad at all." Tad held up the sweatshirt, smiling around it at Porter. "Body armor is always a better use of your money Brucey."

Porter's cheeks bunched in a grin as he raised a hand, flipping Tad off quickly. "Okay, no Brucey, I'm making that rule right damn now," he protested with a laugh, "Or you'll get stuck being Robin, maybe even Dick if you push it. And here's hoping we don't need replacement plates any time soon, I need to push some stuff on the readers and make some money back, y'know? I'd been planning on getting a car, but I think keeping our limbs intact takes priority."

Tad grinned despite the middle finger salute. Actually he'd settle for being called Dick if he could get away with the Brucey comments. "Adam West then?" He flinched internally when Porter said he passed on the car for the gear. They could have used a car, just for surviving life, but then again the game had changed hadn't it? Tad was still wrapping his head around that. "You said you were going to go see Kaysen later? I'm guessing she's getting a similar package?"

"Yeah pretty much identical," Porter confirmed, shrugging his shoulders, "Except I stitched these crude little pockets in the sleeves? Figured she could stash lighters or something in there." He wondered if Tad already knew the truth about Kaysen too, thinking the guy had to have found out by now but not wanting to blow the secret if he hadn't. "What's up with you two anyway?" he asked, wondering just how much room there'd been for emotional turbulence what with everything they'd been surviving lately. Given that Porter himself had found the girl of his dreams just before a werewolf attack? He figured there'd been room.

"She'll appreciate that, the pockets for the lighters," Tad told him. She'd also probably think Porter had lost his mind, but she'd warm up to the idea eventually. At least the idea of protecting themselves. "I dunno dude. I mean there's the whole dealing with the break up, but while everything was going down? She never left my side. It was different. Even when I saw her last night? By the end of the night we were actually having fun, enjoying ourselves. Kaysen was smiling and laughing. So who knows?"

Porter grinned over at Tad, shoulders bunching in a shrug. "Not me, that's for sure. But hell, knowing her? If there was no chance for you, you'd have a black eye as evidence that that door was closed," he mused, laughing briefly, "Just... take your time, I guess? I know I said to go for it before, but if it hasn't happened yet? Just keep letting her know you're there for her, you know? And when she's ready, I'm thinking you'll end up with some different bruises." He laughed again, not wanting to tease Tad too much, but knowing that if things worked out for his friends, Tad would be walking on cloud nine.

"Oh God, dude," Tad flushed hard. "Other bruises. Shit." It reminded Tad of another important issue: he still had no idea what he'd be doing in that territory. "You're right though. I know I have a chance, even if it is a slim one." Porter's support meant more to him than Tad could explain. His friend could be against it, against his other two best friends hooking up, but Porter seemed to almost support it.

He didn't mean the laugh to sound malicious or derisive, but Porter couldn't help laughing when Tad flushed like that, reaching over to slug his friend in the arm lightly. "Dude, no sweat. Seriously, I was just there myself," he consoled, knowing how awkward it was to be on the precipice of physicality with someone you were attracted to. And really? He encouraged his friends there, both of them. They'd do each other a world of good, strengthen each other against what came next. Huntress and The Question, he thought, smiling to himself. "Whatever I can do to make it less slim? Count on me, man. Heck, I'm heading her way next, so I can at least get both perspectives."

"You could ask her about it I guess. Find out if I'm completely off base. I think she'd tell me straight up if she wasn't interested, but she might not cop to it if she is." He could see Kaysen not wanting to toy with him, but he could also see her being reserved when it came to actually admitting she had feelings for him. "I keep getting this feeling that she wants me to make a move, but then I remember that she's prone to violence and I chicken out."

"Whatever you decide, man?" Porter said, sitting forward, "You seriously need to just decide. I'm not trying to push you or anything, I get why you'd hold back. Just..." He sighed, scratching at his head and debating how to phrase this best without sounding pushy. "The next time you're in that moment? Do what you're gonna do, don't back down. Don't apologize. I know you wouldn't push her, she knows it too. So commit to it, you know? No second guesses, no self-doubts. Medea's not Kaysen, sure, but I had to just... take the chance. I guess if you're in the moment, you need to decide if you'd rather have the consequences of trying? Or the consequences of holding back."

Tad nodded, knowing this is the advice he'd get from Porter. It wasn't really worth the effort to explain that where Medea might politely shun Porter if he made the wrong move, Kaysen could very well lay a black eye on Tad. "I'm getting there," he told his friend, ducking his head to avoid Porter's eyes. Sure it wasn't much but it was the best he could offer. When it was all said and done he was scared out of his mind about the whole thing.

He stood up from his seat, nodding in understanding to Tad. "I know, dude," Porter offered, "And I know it's tense when you're working your way there. I was just there myself. So, y'know... if you're stressing over it? Call me up, I'll grab my folks' car and we'll take a cruise." It was something Porter liked doing all for his own reasons, the chance to get clear of Carter was always a welcome one. "Think I should bail though, if I'm gonna catch Kaysen before I'm supposed to be home. Careful with those knives though, okay?"

Getting up as well to walk Porter out, Tad smiled at his friend. If someone had asked him just months ago if he'd be here, with a best friend who was also the object of his affection and another best friend who seemed like a kindred soul he would have told them they were full of shit. Tad really did consider himself one of the lucky ones, finally after all these years. "Thanks man, I appreciate it." He patted Porter's shoulder. "Tell Kayce I said hi ok?" In response to Porter's warning Tad pulled the sheath off his arm, laying it back on the sweatshirt. He'd probably have to hide them somewhere in his house, but considering the last time they ran into trouble they were on a school thing it was tempting to just wear them constantly, despite the giant issues that could come up in class if he was caught with them. "Glad you came by, besides the gear."

"I'm glad I did too, man," Porter told him, shouldering his backpack. "Figure we should all chill soon, just for the hell of it. I'll shoot you a text or something," he said as he turned to head out, hoping that talking with Kaysen would go half as smoothly as this and highly doubting it in the same thought. "Stay cool, Ghostal," Porter said in parting, moving for the stairs and the door beyond with a smile. He was hopeful, maybe too hopeful, and even if some part of Porter knew that he was bound for disappointment? Most of him was just buzzing with the potential they suddenly seemed to have.