magic_fratboy

I checked the link, this pic is off a website for a local Greek Orthodox church my Uncle Milos belongs to. The guy kneeling is Great Uncle Stagros. They're putting together stuff for the war effort in 1942, according to the blurb with the picture. Donations and shit...Great Uncle Stagros was a member of the Fraternity, so is Uncle Milos. They couldn't fight, so they did the only thing available to them: they helped the humans help themselves.

It's who we are. It's what we do.

“Mom, will ya cut that out?” Tommy laughed as he walked into the kitchen, stooping to kiss his mother’s cheek as she struggled with the bag in the trash can. “Lemme tie that up and take it out. You spent my whole fuckin’ childhood trying to make me do this, let me now that I’m volunteering.”

“Truth be told, moro, I’m almost afraid to let you.” she admitted with a smirk, kissing his cheek in return as she relented and let him help her with the trash.

Snickering, he deftly tied the bag and yanked it out of the can. “You asked me over and cooked yet again, it’s the least I can do.” He assured her. “Go on, Dad’s in the living room warping his granddaughter. Save my kid, huh?”

Laughing, she left the room as Tommy headed for the back door to take the garbage out around to the side of the house. The air was chilly, even for the desert, but he didn’t pay it much attention as he made it through the gate and into the pitch blackness surrounding the city trash bins.

He didn’t realize anything was wrong until he’d shut the lid and looked up to see the neighbor’s porch light blazing in the darkness without casting a single ray of light across the cement walk or the lid on the can. Only then did he feel the chill penetrate his skin and sink down into his core.

The sound of the back door opening was faint in his ears as his heart began to pound, ready and eager for battle.

“Tom Tom! Did you feel…oh Gods.”

( “Dad, get back in the house!” )

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 671

“Do you have any fuckin' idea how ridiculous that is?”

Elpis merely smiled, wearing the old skin of Dog Carter as he set the little teddy bear holding a golden apple in Mayilia's crib. He looked just like the man Tommy knew, jeans and a tank top, twin barbells gracing one eyebrow. Yet...Tommy knew it wasn't his comrade in arms, not anymore.

“Keep that in her crib, and she'll never need a doctor. The old saw holds truth, especially when the golden apples of immortality give their blessings to the young.” he quipped in response.

“But she's not...”

“It's a talisman, nothing more. She'll stay healthy as you please, but she's as mortal as you are.”

Tommy hated himself for being instantly comforted as he reached in and rubbed his little girl's stomach, watching as she reached out to grab at the new toy in front of her. He already knew she was an avatar like he was, but if she turned out to be an Immortal as well...if that was even possible...the idea frightened him.

( It hit without warning as Mayilia began to whimper in her crib, then wail mightily... )

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 627

The rain poured down. He got back up.

The knife flew. He stopped it, caught it, and threw it back again.

The darkness was thicker than usual, even with streetlights illuminating the end of the alley, showing him the path to freedom. A path blocked by a personification of evil incarnate, sure, but still it was a way out. If he had the strength, he could escape.

You’re weak. You’ll fail.

Another body came at him, the pavement hitting his back hard enough to sting, hard enough to break. Still, he was whole…he was stronger than a man.

And he was tired.

He was used to getting up because he’d done it so many times before. Once upon a time, the shoulders had been broader and the body stockier, but it was the same routine. It didn’t change a lick, and he almost wished it would. A slight deviation, a smarter servant…even a different look to the Faces would be welcome.

The rain poured down. He got up, slower this time.

You’ll fail. You’ll die.

The human servant scrabbling at his feet began to scream as Tommy called a tongue of fire to life and tossed it into the older man’s hair. It caught quickly, flickering as the rain struggled to douse it under the downpour. More darkness, more clouds…the rain was ice cold and evil in origin.

You’ll die. They’ll all die.

Weary and drained, he turned to face the shadow in his path. It had no face or form, but the heaviness in his limbs and the painful pins and needles stabbing him from the inside out were all too familiar.

“Surrender.” He called out, his voice thin and tinny over the sizzle of rain on pavement. “Its favorite son.”

Knowledge was a minor setback, a fleeting weakness, but it was all Tommy needed. Shutting his eyes, he struggled for the image in his mind of black and white, first stirrings of flesh and blood filled with potential and possibility. He saw her eyes, and another pair of eyes he had yet to meet.

Her mother. Their creation.

Tipping his face back into the sting of hail now raining down, he opened his mouth and let it choke him as he screamed the name at the top of his lungs. It was the name of possibility, the name he’d chosen with love and care, the name of a new generation whose power was his to call even now by virtue of its very existence.

He hadn’t shared it with Zee yet, but it was the name he wanted for their unborn daughter.

And with the hope of new life and light, the California rainstorm turned warm. Electric light was nearly blinding in the wet and gleaming darkness.

One more human servant came, a blade burying itself deep in his belly as Tommy fell back again. Shoving off his attacker, Tommy pulled out the blade and rolled with a slicing motion, cutting the newcomer’s throat with a single clean move.

The rain poured down. He got back up…slow, shaky and bleeding, he got back up.

And went home.

Just like he always had.

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 579

He was wiped out after the whole thing was over, but the important thing was that the whole goddamn thing was over.

He'd made it.

"Howzabout another round of karaoke, bro?"

Tommy rolled his eyes at Ben, flipping him off as he finished the last of his beer. "Man, I ain't doing that again for the rest of my fuckin' life. Make Jay and Mike sing with Lola, I'm gonna go take a leak."

"Real attractive, loser."

"In your eye, don't mock the mark." Tommy grinned, shoving his left wrist under Ben's nose for the umpteenth time to proudly brandish the small set of handcuffs that were now tattooed there...mystically, sure, but still there nonetheless to symbolize his permanent link to the order.

Setting his bottle down on the table, Tommy headed for the bathroom in the club and relieved himself, then caught the time when he was washing his hands and realized how late it was. Damn it, he'd promised to let the girls know...

After a little magic made to send word to Lauren, Baileigh, and Sophie, Tommy slipped out of the magician's club and onto the street, rummaging through his cell phone for the address to Sassy's place...right there, as promised. He wasn't sure she was there, but it was a link to her all the same.

Being a full member of the Fraternity meant he was completely unrestricted in using his power as he saw fit. Still riding an adrenaline high, he made a bit of a production of it and walked about a block away, turning the corner with a small use of power...

...and instead of walking into a young girl's bedroom, where he expected to be by focusing on Sassy, he found himself in a slightly hairier situation. And, from the looks of it, she was in equally dire straights. Jesus, what was wrong with those dudes faces?...

Blanching as he watched Sassy stake one, then watched it explode, he couldn't decide whether to help or leave her to it.

"Yo, Sass!!"

"Everything you can imagine is real."

It’s really not such a huge leap, believing. The mugging was the worst part, catching the bullet that would have ended his life the hard part. Believing...that’s easy. It’s all faith and acceptance of something bigger than he is, something that’s ultimately good, beautiful.

When he gets the facts, learns the truth, understands the nature of what he’s hearing...only then does he realize that he’s always known. Somewhere, secretly, he’s always been sure that the things living in his head were as real as darkness and light.

His hand is still sore, that’s his proof. What’s more, according to Jay it shouldn’t hurt. It won’t hurt, not once he figures out how to use his powers. That’s almost as hard as the bullet catch itself, because it’s hard for him to imagine. Jay and Mike, sure...they’re confident and charismatic in their own right, they own the world without power. Ben, too...he was born into the world of the Fraternity, but even without magic at his call he’s got more knowledge and self-awareness than Tommy could ever dream of having.

He can imagine the reality of magic and monsters...he can accept the mystery and put total faith in the world under the world, but he can’t imagine or quite accept that he has any claim to it.

That’s wrong, though...because he caught that bullet. A man meant to shoot him, and he caught the bullet in front of his own face. His hand is still throbbing...seeing, feeling, these are real things that require no blind faith. These are facts, amazing and painful.

He doesn’t believe these things are real, he didn’t imagine them. He experienced them...so maybe he can imagine the rest. Not now, but later...maybe with time, he’ll be good enough to belong to this larger scope of life that he’s suddenly been dropped into.

And with that thought, with that first step...the pain in his hand is gone.

Only when he closes his fingers does the bruise on his palm ache...only when he remembers the heat of ignited lead and tries to feel the curvature of that tiny weight cradled in his hand does he feel the echo of that agonizing impact and believe, just for a moment, that the magic is actually alive inside of him.

And a moment to imagine is all the magic needs.

Muse: Tommy Karras
Fandom: Original Character
Words: 399