[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

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

With a sigh, Tommy vanished the milkshake with a dismissive flick of his wrist and moved to sit down beside her, resting his forearms on his knees as he watched her.

"You don't have to be sorry. You're upset." he replied simply. "Look, Sass...I like you. A lot. And I think you're fantastic. You're gorgeous, you're funny, warm, ballsy, and I don't care what you say to me? You've got high hopes, and that's a beautiful thing. But...you're eighteen."

Realizing how that sounded, he made a face and tried again. "The age ain't an issue for me, all things considered. Maybe a couple months ago, but not now. Still, your age is a thing to consider...and I guess that's what I'm doing."

Hesitating for a moment, he reached out to caress her cheek with the backs of his fingers.

"I guess what I'm saying is I'm interested...but I won't let you tie yourself down when you still got options. Just...I see you, okay? Let's just kinda go with the flow. See what happens."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Picking at her nails she frowned thoughtfully. "You know, my dad's never said no to me? If he wanted to say no he'd just say we'd see how it went. That way he wouldn't feel bad about just saying no. So you can just say no. I mean, I'm eighteen right?" She laughed slightly, bitter and soft, and looked up with a crooked smile that was so obviously for show.

"This is probably just some silly crush and I'll get over it in no time. No worries. Hakuna matata, or whatever." Crossing one arm against her ribs, she stuck her index finger between her teeth, grinding it across her teeth with a clicking noise as she looked at a stain on the ground.

Funny how the most interesting things popped up on the ground when you didn't want to look anywhere else.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Taking the initiative was not what Tommy did. He took his time, he thought things out, and making a move on a girl? One of countless reasons he hadn't had a lot of girlfriends in his life.

But something moved him then...maybe the way hope faded from her so quickly, that mercurial ebb and flow of teenage emotion, or maybe he just wanted her that bad. There were a lot of maybes, but still no explanation for what he did.

Letting his hand slide to her chin, he turned her head to face him, leaned in, and kissed her...it wasn't much more than a soft, lingering press of lips, but it was still a kiss.

His cheeks were flaming with heat, his stomach was filled with butterflies...but damn it, at least he was making his point.

He hoped.

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

This? Was not fair. Tugging her bottom lip between her teeth, Sassy gently eased away from Tommy.

She was eighteen, and as much as she hated her age defining her and as old as she was for her age, she was still eighteen, and as such, incredibly naive and breakable. And she knew it.

"Tommy..." Biting down harder on her lip, she frowned. It was a desolate picture and she couldn't even figure out how to say... anything.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Tommy let her pull back, reaching out only to lay a hand against her cheek in a comforting gesture. "I'm not asking you for anything." he whispered. "I'm offering you something...I'm serious here, Sass. I don't want you to get tangled up in anything you can't get out of if you want to, but I don't want you thinking for a second that I don't want you. Okay? Just...I'm here. Whenever you feel ready, I'm here. Ten minutes or ten years from now...I'm here."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Sassy nodded slowly, taking a deep breath. She exhaled as she straightened up, turning her head to look at him with an apologetic smile. "I'm done being a girl now, I think we can go back in."

She paused though, reaching up to take his hand. "Can you just kiss me again first?"

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

As she straightened, Tommy climbed to his feet as well, smiling at her request as she caught his hand.

He pretended to think about it, then gathered both her hands in his and drew her close with a grin.

"Might have to think about that." he teased gently before leaning down and capturing her lips gently one more time.

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"Swear to God, Tommy Karras," she murmured against his lips, smiling a little in spite of herself. "The brain twins say one word about this? I might cry." With that she rose up on her toes, pressing against him as her lips found his again, silencing herself fully.

It was true though, and she'd be taking a nice long slay that night to work off all the frustrated energy deep in her bones. There was too much emotion in too short a time, it made her reactions that much more instinctive, that much more volitile. And occasionally, she cried for no reason at all.

Oh yes, being a Slayer was just delicious.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Laughing a little against her lips, Tommy wrapped his arms around his waist as he kissed her, just letting himself hold her for a moment. It was an amazing feeling, having her this close, catching that too-brief taste of her...feeling the aliveness of her so close, so vibrant.

Yeah, he definitely wanted her...how could he have not realized how much until only now?

When the kiss finally broke, he rested his forehead against hers for a moment before letting her pull back if she wanted to. "The brain twins won't say shit about fuck." he assured her softly, grinning as he ran a hand through her hair. "That I can promise you."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Sassy did pull back, not because she wanted to, but because she had to go back into a room full of people that had just seen her have a temper tantrum, one of whom -- Ben -- she knew wasn't against teasing her. It was part of his charm most nights, but now she was just nervous. And embarrassed.

And Jesus, she'd done that all in front of his uncle, who was like a big deal and... epic fail. She was just full of epic fail. The whole dictionary entry with her picture kind of fail.

Tucking her hair behind her ears and smoothing her dress down until she looked a semblance of put together, she tried to will the butterflies away. Chastising them getly in her head. Bad butterflies! It didn't work, but with Tommy less than a foot away at least she felt better. "

"Are you ready?" she asked, smirking a little. Hmm, those words were familiar.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Chuckling, Tommy just kissed her forehead in response, slipping her hand in his before leading her back into the club.

When they reached the table again, the usual party time ritual had begun: a magic duel routine had broken out between the twins as they tried to one-up each other.

"Who's winning?" Tommy asked Martin with a grin as he and Sassy sat down again.

"Ben, I think." Martin laughed, pointing at the man in question, who kept producing cards from thin air and flicking them at Jay and Mike. "He keeps gettin' in the way. It's really pretty damn amusing."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"What are they doing?" she asked curiously, edging her chair closer to Tommy's and watching the boys curiously. Boys, it seemed, whether magical or not, were always going to be little boys at the heart of it.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

"Challenge routine." Dog explained with a grin. "Trying to see whose got the bigger unit by way of playing cards."

"Mine's always been biggest." Jay teased, producing a fan of cards from behind his own ear.

Tommy laughed, rolling his eyes. "You ever watch dancers, Sass? Those challenge routines where one does something and the other tries to top it? That's what this is, only with magic tricks...and Ben's just bein' a dick getting in the middle of it. Knock it off, Benji, I wanna see if Mike can nail that double backpalm!"

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"Oooooooooh," she nodded, smiling as the whole thing clicked in her head. "I do that with vampires."

... And no, that wasn't weird at all. Nope. Not one bit. Because who didn't go out and tease vampires and try to out talk them before instigating a nice little friendly fight to the death -- theirs, naturally.

Such was the life of a slayer. In her defense, and she sure had a lot of them, she didn't have any friends. She had to have fun somehow.

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

"Vampires? Dude, you were serious about that thing?" Mike asked curiously, glancing over his shoulder at the two of them incredulously as he made a fan of cards vanish.

"Yep." Tommy declared with a grin, reaching into thin air to produce the same fan Mike had vanished, distinguished by the unusual yellow and orange backing on the cards. "Badass superhero gig, right, Sass?"

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"Mhmm," Sassy answered absentmindedly, she was itching to reach out and take one of the cards. "I kick ass, take names and don't even break a sweat."

After the briefest of pauses she corrected herself. "Well, I don't actually take names, that would just be silly. I mostly just kill things and look pretty doing it." Lifting her arm up she made a muscle. It didn't look like much since the Slayer genes had kicked in when she was still growing, the muscle was lean and smooth like cat's so when she flexed it barely did a thing.

But as Tommy knew first hand from her bone crushing hugs, looks were vastly decieving. "I'm a ninja."

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

The diminutive swell of muscle, however, was ignored by Tommy as he reached over and pretended to test the girth of her arm with one hand. "Yeah, see that? Serious guns she's packing there. You should try hugging her." he quipped good-naturedly.

"I got a feelin' that, super powers or no, that girl'd crack a rib with her smile, if not a hug." Martin laughed, tossing Sassy a charming wink. "The cute ones usually do."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

She wrinkled her nose at Martin. "You Southern boys are all the same," she noted, reaching for her condensation covered milkshake. "Talkin' a girl up till she melts like butter on a frying pan."

Taking a sip of the shake, she nearly batted her eyelashes. "But being as you're the only straight up gentleman so far as I can tell? You don't have to stop. I don't mind."

[now-youseeit.livejournal.com]

Martin laughed at that, nodding to her deferentially. "Well, my momma, God love her, didn't raise me to argue with a lady, so I'll hold my tongue there." he drawled, teasing her only a little as he watched Ben roll his eyes with a patient smile. The boy had none, as far as his peers were concerned, but Martin knew his nephew far better than most.

He thought his uncle was an old-fashioned stuffed shirt, but let him have his high-minded manners. It was, in his mind, a kindness, and Martin loved the boy for it.

"I think you do a disservice to our friend over here, though...if ever I saw a Yankee that could hold a candle to down home manners, it's this boy." he went on, pointing at Tommy and grinning as the boy promptly started blushing. "You're a lucky girl to have a fella like him on your arm."

"Aw, geez, Martin..."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

Sassy's smile matched Martin's and she shrugged half heartedly. "He's not so bad. I guess." Reaching over, she gave Tommy's knee a squeeze, just to make sure he knew she was teasing.

"So, Mr Mackenroy, I kinda get the gist of what the rest of ya'll do -- which, by the way is like an inferiority complex waiting to happen over here, but what about you? Please say it involves Jimmy Choos. I'll so be your best friend!"

[now-youseeit.livejournal.com]

"Me? If you mean my particular talent, it's vanishing." Martin replied honestly, reaching into thin air to produce a fan of playing cards, then making them disappear again. Any fool can do small stuff, like cards and coins..."

"Gee, thanks Uncle Marty."

"Yeah, thanks, Mr. Mack."

Martin grinned at Ben and Jay, then gave Sassy his attention again. "As I was saying, small items are simple, but I can do vanishes in varying and complicated degrees. Anything from buildings to living creatures. Whole, pieces, parts in and out, I can manipulate matter on a level you can't even conceive. It's a fairly rare talent."

"See, this guy? He could vanish a vampire before it ever got close enough to stake him, long as he saw it coming." Tommy threw in with a grin, gesturing to Martin. "No dust, no ash...just gone. Like something outta Heinlein, swear to God."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"You say that now..." Sassy countered quickly. The idea of any of them near a vampire gave her goosebumps. "Where would said vampire go? Are you actually vanishing things or just displacing things? Like, by vanishing a vampire in LA would you really just be sending him to Timbuktu to prey on people without a slayer? Is there a slayer in Timbuktu? I should probably look that up. Anyway, that's not the point. Are you actually creating and destroying particle matter when you do it? And if so do you realize you're breaking like a billion laws of physics and matter and mass?"

Tucking her hair behind her ear she smiled sheepishly. "Sorry about the third degree, Daddy raised a nerd."

[now-youseeit.livejournal.com]

Laughing good-naturedly at her eagerness to understand magic, Martin leaned back in his chair, reaching only to pick up his scotch and take a slow sip before answering her question, giving himself plenty of time to consider an answer.

"If you really stop to think about us, what we are...not one of us here should even exist." he began. "So, it stands to reason that the laws of the physical world don't apply to us. You see, darlin', when the gods gave Hope to Pandora, our ancestress? They put the virtue in her blood and in her flesh. Essentially, they made her hope...a manifestation of human virtue. Now virtues are incorporeal as a rule, so that violated the laws of nature. But...the gods let it be so. Science rarely considers divine power in the grand scheme of things."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"Oh," Sassy said slowly, slidding her tongue back and forth across her teeth as she thought. After a moment of silence, she said the only thing she could come up with. "I guess that'd be a no with the Jimmy Choos then. Gosh, what are you guys even good for, hmm?"

[magic-fratboy.livejournal.com]

Half the table dissolved into laughter at that, Tommy included as he draped an arm around her shoulders to give her a sideways hug.

"There is also that whole thing about using power for personal gain being bad that you gotta contend with, too." Tommy pointed out with a grin. "I think they teach that in superhero school."

"Yeah, we can't get cool shit unless it's a promotional deal, like the T-Bird Ben won by using his powers. Jay grinned. "Now that was pretty sweet right there."