[Are you ready] Are you ready to go? (rp for no_substitution)

[magic_fratboy]

The new paint job looked damn good.

It was one of a thousand things Tommy was noticing as he sat in the dining area of the club, absently rolling a quarter across his knuckles while his brethren chatted all around him. The bright red paint cheerfully illuminating the scene behind the bar was eyecatching and vivacious...but at the same time, too plain. Maybe if he offered, Belle would let him do a mural back there...

"Dog's right. Something's different about you, T."

Tommy glanced back at the group of men who were all staring at him with odd looks. "What?"

"You're like...the man tonight. Do you see yourself?"

Tommy frowned, looking down at the way he was dressed. He'd been sick for days, so what if he'd traded his usual neat jeans and t-shirts for a pair of stylishly worn jeans and a black leather vest that laced down the front? He wanted out of the casual and into something that felt more human. Besides, it looked kind of interesting with his new haircut, and with his usual sandals on, it felt good to be able to slip them off and pad around the club in his bare feet.

They were right about one thing, though...he did feel stronger, stronger than he'd ever felt in his life. And the coin was rolling between his fingers more easily than it ever had...

"I feel good, that's all I know." Tommy admitted with a shrug. "But I've felt like shit this week, so how's that bad?"

His compatriots were saved from an answer as a familiar figure caught Tommy's eye, weaving her way through the club. Grinning as he spotted her, Tommy stood up and climbed on his chair, waving his arms to flag her down. "Yo, Sass! Over here!!"

Comments

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

She had stopped at the church again on her way over. She knew, intellectually, that she didn't need to be at a church to pray, but something about it made her feel better, safer. A little bit like it mattered more. It was an odd feeling, but she didn't take the time to wonder about why. She told Hank she'd pray and she was going to do her damnedest to make sure it counted.

After that she'd swung by her useless hotel room to change into something not so... homeless chic. She threw one of her many dresses on -- they were easy to roll up in a ball and thus easy to pack -- and ran a brush through her hair before heading back out to the car.

She was tired by the time she got there, but wired with excitement and absolutely starving. Winding through the crowd, she laughed when she spotted Tommy. Standing on his chair. Which was definitely a welcome change to the lethargy he'd exhibited before. Stepping up to the table she rolled her eyes at him. "Oh there you are Tommy," she teased. "I almost didn't see you there."

Quickly, she made her hellos around the table, leaning over to kiss both of the twins on the cheek -- she felt bad for being a bitch to them before -- before turning back to Tommy. "You. Look. ... Hot."

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

As the men around the table accepted their due from Sassy, Tommy hopped off his chair and met her when she was done, wrapping her in a warm hug...and in spite of Dog's observations, her praise was met with his usual blush and shy smile.

"Uh...er...thanks?" he laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck and inwardly starting yet again at the lack of hair settling against his hand. It felt weird, damn it...he was used to feeling something there...

Shaking himself, Tommy draped his arm around her shoulders and gestured to the group. "Brothers? This? Is the girl who saved my life! Give it up!"

"Three cheers for our little sister!" Dog threw in, adding a short howl of approval before the table broke into three cheers on her behalf.

Leading her to a chair next to his, Tommy pulled hers out for her before he took his own seat. "I'm glad you came...we're celebrating me not getting myself into serious trouble with this shit."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Sassy wasn't one to blush. It wasn't part of her repetoire. Usually she was the one making people blush, case in point being Tommy himself. But oh no, this time she was the one blushing, hiding her face behind her hand and flipping Tommy off with the other. Stupid boys and their stupid cheering.

"Oh the Great Marshmellow Adventure of 'Oh eight," she said conversationally as she settled in her seat, pulling one leg up and wrapping her arm around it. Resting her elbow on the table she plopped her head in her hands and looked at the boys. "Someone oughtta spill, I'm not known for my patience and as I'm no longer of the jailbait persuasion I've decided not to wait for anything. So.. How'd I save the day?"

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Tommy couldn't resist a smile as Sassy hid and flipped him off, leaning over to kiss her cheek as they sat down. When she got comfortable and asked about her feat, he nodded in silent recognition of their earlier agreement.

"Before Dog can step in with some flowery answer," he replied, earning him the finger from Dog's side of the table, "it ain't that hard to explain. What happened to me was like...a spiritual blockage. I was cut off from hope, completely. We got no spirits of our own, just hope keeping us alive. Imagine someone shut down your heart, but you were still alive, and all you had left to survive was the oxygen flowing in the blood you still had in your veins. That's what happened to me."

"What you did, sweetheart," an older gentleman on Sassy's other side offered with a charming smile, "is reoxygenate that blood Tommy's talking about. You inspired hope in him, with that sweet little speech he told us about earlier. That's something that we are more prone to doing for humans, rather than the other way around. You're a credit to your people, Miss Lally."

Tommy grinned, gesturing to the other man. "Sorry, sir...Sassy, this is Martin Mackenroy, Ben's uncle and leader of the Fraternity. Mr. Mackenroy, this is my best girl, Sassafras Lally."

Martin accepted Sassy's hand and kissed it gallantly. "Charmed and grateful, my dear. I hope you know what a treasure this fella is. We're all pretty fond to him, and owe you a debt. If you hadn't come along when you did, Tommy could've never performed the rite that restored him."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

As if she wasn't already embarrassed by the cheering, Ben's uncle who was like... all charming and stuff, had to go and make her blush harder. For a girl that didn't blush, she was doing it an awful lot this evening. Someone was going to get drop kicked for not warning her she was going to be talking to, oh, the leader of the Fraternity.

"Uh. Um. No problem? No offense and all, 'cause you're really cool for an old guy and I love all the boys? But I so did that for me." Smiling a ridiculously endearing smile, with the dimples, she shrugged apologetically. She thought she was getting way more credit than she deserved. She was just the defribulator, Tommy was the charge to her paddles... and she really couldn't keep going with that metaphor.

But the fact remained. If she shoved some hope into him, it was his to begin with. She was just holding on to it until he needed it.

"It was entirely selfish. Sooo, I don't think you guys need to be all indebted to me. Unless it's like free strawberry milkshakes for life? I'm pretty much set with the pretty boys staying alive. That kinda fulfills le debt."

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Tommy hid his face to keep from laughing as Martin grinned, letting out a chuckle of his own as he gave Sassy's hand a warm squeeze before releasing her.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say we understand the sentiment." Martin assured her pleasantly while Dog threw his head back and laughed, then promptly signaled a waitress to order Sassy a strawberry milkshake.

"I'd say you're batting a thousand tonight." Tommy finally chipped in with a grin. "Mack likes you, Dog's calling you 'little sister,' and he just bought you a drink so I don't have to 'till next time."

"Where I will buy the milkshake, and chat up the pretty girl, and you can stay the hell home, pretty boy!" Jay called out with a grin.

Laughing, Tommy nodded, flashing Sassy another smile. "You may get those lifetime milkshakes yet."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Sassy wondered briefly if this was what family felt like, but she shook the thought off before she could really focus on it.

"Hey hey hey," she mock protested, shifting a little so her leg pressed against Tommy's. "Don't I get a say in who gets to date me next? 'cause really, if we're playing pass the Sass I'm gonna pick Tommy, hands down. I love ya, Jay, but I prefer brunettes."

Reaching up to prove her point, and to get Tommy back for making her blush, she ran her fingers through his now short hair, letting her hand rest against the back of his neck. The short hair was going to take some getting used to, but like she said... he looked hot.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Grinning, Tommy shook his head. "Aww, it ain't like that." he assured her, then after a moment sobered, a kernel of concern in his expression as he blushed beet red. "Really, it ain't...y'know, like that..."

The rest of the table dissolved into laughter at Tommy's trademark earnest sense of decency, the Kellar twins in particular.

"Okay, forget what Dog said about you acting weird, Karras...you're fine." Mike chortled, wiping his eyes.

Tommy shot Mike a look and flipped him off good-naturedly, leaning in to press a friendly kiss to Sassy's temple as she ran her hands through his hair again, making him squirm just a little as her fingertips brushed over bare skin at the base of his neck.

"That still feels too weird." he complained mildly, flashing her a sheepish smile. "I've literally had long hair since I was ten, my damn neck feels naked."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"You just have to get used to it," she told him sagely. As if she of the long hair had ever known what it was like to have short hair. Maybe when she was two. "Or alternately, if the rest of you was naked I bet your neck would feel fine."

She looked at him with a perfectly serious expression for a moment until she had to purse her lips to keep from grinning.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

It took Tommy a full minute to register what she'd actually said, then promptly ducked his head to hide the fact that his face was beet red. Yeah, now he really wished he still had long hair just so he could hide...

Ben, however, found it endlessly amusing. "Sass? Might want to lay off, he's still recovering. He blushes any harder, and he's going to rupture something important."

"If the pretty girl wasn't giving him the business, Benjamin, I'm sure y'all would be." Martin pointed out with a grin, saluting him with his martini before taking a sip.

"Spoil my fun, why don't ya, Unc?"

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Sassy stuck her tongue out at Ben before wriggling out of her seat, crouching in front of Tommy's chair with her chin on his knee. She had some serious deja vu going on.

"Tommy?" she whispered, reaching out to tug on a strand of his hair. "I can't help it. You were all pale and ghosty and now you're not and can you really blame me for trying to get you to blush? Say you forgive me and I won't make you blush the rest of the night, 'kay?

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

The gesture and her earnest look were enough to pull him from his mortification as he glanced up at her, giving him that face that always melted his heart.

"Sass...aww, get over here." he chuckled, taking her hands in his and gently tugging her up, pulling her in to sit on his leg for a moment as he hugged her warmly. "I'm not pissed or nothin'...I'd be worried if you weren't giving me a hard time. I'm fine, promise...healthy enough to blush, and glad to be out and about so you can give me all the crap you wanna. I don't forgive you, 'cause there's nothing to forgive, 'kay?"

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"You might wanna rethink the thing about letting me tease you 'cause that was just the tip of the iceberg? But okay!" she agreed happily, leaning into him. She was very fond of her current seating arraingment and she wasn't going to like leaving it so she figured she'd get in all the good as she could before she was forced to vacate back to her own seat.

Tapping his nose with her index finger, she gave him a goofy smile. "Besides, you don't have to worry about me. I've got my hope back."

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Some of the Brothers might have called it a misuse of power, unduly influencing a human heart not in desperate need, but he wanted to see her eyes light up like they had at home.

Reaching up to frame her face between his hands, he smiled and reached into himself, letting a brief connection flare between them so she could feel it...the living, breathing essence of hope that lived inside him, feel it rise inside her heart as if it were her own.

"News flash: you never lost it." he replied softly before pulling her into another hug, letting the link dissolve naturally on its own.

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Oh she was getting spoiled tonight, that was for sure. But for some wacky reason she didn't have it in herself to feel in any way put off by that fact. She kind of enjoyed being spoiled. Especially so when the waitress placed the lovely milkshake in front of her empty seat.

As much as she loved being hugged... With a beaming smile and slid off Tommy's lap and back into her seat barely hesitating a second before diving into her drink. She was starving, okay? Give her a break.

After another second she let the straw fall from between her lips and her nose wrinkled up. "Oh damnit," she whined quietly, pressing the heel of her hand against her forehead. "Brainfreeze!"

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Tommy chuckled as she overdid it on the milkshake, leaning over to press his hands to her temples, pretending to try and warm up her brain.

"Easy, Tigger." Jay laughed from his seat, staring at her hard for a moment. As he did, the illusion of warmth flooded her, easing the ache in her head that came from drinking the milkshake too fast.

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"Thanks Jay," she murmured, glaring at the offensive milkshake. It sat there, looking delicious and mocking her. The milkshake was the Sassy version of temptation. It was her jailbait. Damn it.

Taking breath, she softened her look, picking up the glass and sipping it. Like a normal human being. When she got past the first sip without her brain exploding she looked up to beam at Dog. "Thanks Puppy!" she singsonged, her cheeks dimpling up as she smiled.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

"Hey, when the hell did I become a puppy?" Jay laughed as he eased back in his seat.

"When you loyally ran forward to fetch her slippers, that's when." Tommy joked, casually letting his arm circle Sassy's shoulders as he shifted to prop his feet on the edge of the table.

"That'll be enough outta you kids." Martin joked with a grin before he became slightly more serious. "At any rate, back to what we were discussin' just a bit before the twins started up and Miss Lally got in here...this title ain't something I can give or not give, Tom. You are who you are, and last time you were here, you were the King of Handcuffs. That's not changed."

Tommy wilted a little, returning still more true to form as his gaze fell and a deep sigh of uncertainty escaped him. "That's not me, sir...with all due respect, I can't do what he did. I can't even remember all of it."

"You can do what he did and more, son. I ain't handin' you no undeserved titles, just giving back your mantle. Harry Houdini, Tommy Karras...you're the King of Handcuffs and, by right of that position, a full and proven master level magician."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Letting her head tilt to rest on Tommy's shoulder, Sassy listened to Ben's uncle with a sort of confused curiosity. She got the whole title thing and the idea that Tommy didn't want it, but then it all went fuzzy and didn't make sense.

"Tommy," she whispered, tugging on the hem of his shirt and looking up at him, the curiosity outweighing the confusion in her expression. "Not to totally interrupt again, but what does he mean?"

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Glancing over at Sassy's prodding, Tommy sighed and ran a hand back through his hair, seeming more troubled by the title than her curiosity.

"It's...who I was before." he explained. "Harry Houdini was the King of Handcuffs. It was a public moniker for a private level of power and status he'd reached within the Fraternity. He was a master level magician. That made him a leader within the order, and a serious threat to the Darkness."

"Power touched him twice, and touched him like no other." Dog explained. "He stood toe to toe with that coming night and won the day."

"Translation: Houdini's the only man that ever took on the Darkness alone and almost beat it." Tommy added with a rueful grin.

"Some even believed Houdini was a Titan god born in human form." Ben threw in. "At any rate, he's the most powerful magician anyone's ever known, and as a master magician, he was one of our elite. Uncle Martin's a master level magician, and there are others around the world leading chapters of the Fraternity, some of them even masters in training."

"It means Tommy's a leader among his own people now, as it should be." Martin added. "In his lifetime, Houdini guarded his title as the King of Handcuffs jealously for just this reason. He also took on the Spiritualist movement head on, a direct attack on us by the Darkness. Now he's back...and the title, the prestige...it all belongs to him."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Frowning in thought, she chewed on her pinkie nail, mulling over everything they'd said, glancing up at Tommy between every new tidbit of information.

"So... it's a destiny you don't particularly want from a past you can't really remember that was thrust upon you from birth that you're going to have to take up whether you want to or not, but you don't think you can entirely live up to He Who Came Before? Am I kinda close? Getting warmer?"

Smiling, almost shyly, she nudged Tommy with her shoulder. "You're like magic Slayer. Kickin' ass and killin' Darkness."

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

In spite of himself, Tommy had to smile at her sweet, shy expression, rocking a little with the nudge even though it was gentle enough not to actually move him. It kept her shoulder in contact with his arm a little longer as he moved back and forward again until she straightened completely, and he was almost loathe to lose that little bit of warmth that came from the contact.

"I guess so. Sorta." he admitted with a bashful grin of his own, shrugging. "I mean...in a way."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"Cool. I mean, I knew you were a rockstar but..." Pausing mid thought, her lips slowly curved up into a devious smile. A smile she turned on everyone around the table before settling on Tommy.

"You know, I'm thinking now that I should rethink my indebtedness, y'know? I mean, I just saved the magical Jesus or something and all I asked for was a lifetime of strawberry flavored brain freeze? Not real smart of me. I think I'd like to sweeten the pot."

Deviousness, she assumed, was a genetic trait.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

The look on her face was laughable, but not in the name of mockery or ridicule. Just seeing that deliberately wicked, fiendish grin on Sassy's face was an absolute joy. It was all Tommy could do to hold his laughter in, and he could feel it around the table: the rest of them were gripped by the same mirthful joy.

He needed to have her around more often...the kid was like a battery pack, she could keep the whole damn Fraternity running.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say that I move forward with trepidation and fear in my heart." Dog declared, not meaning a word of it. "Just what exactly does your lovely heart desire, little sister?"

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Oooh, fear and trepidation, she liked that. She also liked being called little sister, it made butterflies go spastic crazy in her stomach. Generally, she just liked Dog.

Glancing up at Tommy and suddenly finding herself at an absolute loss of words -- because really, the man did not know how attractive he was to the opposite sex in general (and Sassy in particular) -- she merely shrugged.

"I'm thinking about it," she finally said, moving he focus back to her milkshake. For all her bluntness and complete and utter lack of filter between her brain and her mouth, the one thing that could quiet her was a fear of rejection.