[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]

"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."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"I don't believe in personal gain," Sassy admitted bluntly, her smile slipping to a scowl. Sassy didn't embrace her destiny -- she actually kind of resented it. But hey, who didn't want to fight for her life every night? "That kind of makes it seem like I gained something when Buffy shot me up with the special magical powers de slayage. And since I fully didn't gain crappola, I think I deserve some personal gain. Karma can kiss my ass."

"Anypoodle, T-Bird?"

[not-cardini.livejournal.com]

Ben grinned, nodding. "Yep! Promo stunt I did for a classic car dealer in Monrovia. Corporate magic's my gig, and the twins here taught me a few technical maneuvers in the mentalism field, since I can't do it for real? I put up $50,000.00 against a 1959 cherry red Thunderbird. I was blindfolded and used a technique called Hellstromism to identify the car in the lot by having a sales guy lead me around the lot. It's muscle-reading...I moved based on his subconscious psychological cues."

[no-substitution.livejournal.com]

"Sneaky mind magic," she mused before flashing Ben an impressed smile. "Classy."

[callme-animal.livejournal.com]

As Ben made a huge show of being "embarassed" by her praise, Dog dissolved into deep, warm laughter as he shook his head, jerking a thumb in Ben's direction.

"Little sister, the size of his head is already a monstrosity...you're just contributing to the problem." he teased. "Before long, the man won't be able to make a graceful exit anywhere, because it won't fit through the damn door."

"Hey, she's praising my name here! Don't interrupt the praising! Come on, Sassy, tell me more about how classy I am."