Magical, Life's A Ball

[Star]

They didn't have to sing in Yiddish.

They almost didn't get to sing at all. Shoe-horning a magic show into a wedding reception ended up being as brow-furrowing-what-the-hell as it would sound to anyone but an aspiring magician, and it was pretty obvious the guitars had to come out earlier than Magick Jack (yes, that really was the name given) wanted.

Jack's not a bad magician. In fact, he's amazing. Cards spun, coins and balls danced, and a bevy of scarves kept appearing from Aether-knows-where. There was even an incredibly indignant and confused goldfish who kept losing it's bowl of water (it survived). But it's still the same guy that could walk through a room unnoticed or be standing right next to someone and they ask where he is. And soon enough the applause became obligatory golf claps and conversation that began as a hum turned drowned him out.

So, guitars. And singing.

And BassJacker (yes, that's another name) plays like he does magic: with deft, freakishly fast magical fingers and the personality of ten year old socks being used as house slippers.

Thankfully, Tuesday's the singer.

But all parties come to an end and after they'd gone through Tuesday's catalog and the obligatory Eighties music and finished with Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin'' like all cover bands do, there was rice to be thrown and gear to pack up.

"So. What'd you think. Of the show. The magic show. I've been thinking about using a cat instead of a goldfish. I think that would, like, make it pop. People like cats better. Most people. Not, like, me. Maybe a hairless cat. You think hairless cats are friendly?"

The Angel's eyes are a little too wide and bright from more than one drink as they loaded up the van.

"Oh, hey, you dropped this."

Yes, he totally just pulled another scarf out of her hair.

[Tuesday]

"I want a real life bog unicorn." the self proclaimed unicorn says instantly. Like it was always on her mind. Even if they were creepy as fuck, they were cute as sin. Also. She wants Cole's floppy hat. And Cole. He's just adorable.

A blink. "Ooooh. About the magic show? Good." water snagged to sooth a voice way more raspy then the norm. "But if you want more words. I'm assuming so. Even if there's an ass-out-of-me-and-you moment later. I wanted to throw something at someone's head. It was better then anything I've seen in a long ass while. There should have been whoooing. Mosh pit. Something."

Because a magic show wasn't a magic show without a mosh pit.

"Just no bunnies or doves. That been done to death." Tuesday offers helpfully between sips. "...maybe. People like cats. There's a whole Egypt level of cat worship on the Internets...I'm just not to sure about hairless one. Even if they are called sphinxes." shrugs. "I'd love a hairless mascot sphinx-cat. Is that why the no pet rule. Hair? Fur? Whatever." Allergies. They were a thing. Even with magic.

Then Star's there. Another scarf dangling from his freakishly long fingers.

Why wasn't the angel a pianist? They could do sooooo much more band stuff with some keyboard-piano stuff. Should they just make Fisher they're default piano gal? Cabal-Bands for the win!

Tuesday claps as a fond, amused smirk curls her lips. "Bravo!"

She might have had a wonderful time with that open bar.

[Star]

"A... what?"

He knew what a unicorn was. Heck, he even knew what an alicorn was. Or a Unicron. But a 'bog'... ?

"Is that a game thing? That's, like, one topic I'm, uh, spotty on." If spotty meant completely ignorant. And if Tuesday thought about it, she's never heard digital noises from the theatre he shared with Avis or even seen him play Candy Crush. "Like, I used to. When I was, you know. Younger. And they had arcades."

At least until the third (and most serious) threat to completely kick a ten year old's ass whose quick hands were unbeatable at fighting games.

"But, yeah. Never birds. I mean, aside from the whole stigma about, like, magicians killing birds back in the day, you just never know when they'll poo. Probably rabbits, too. I think random poo would really, like, I dunno. Tank a show. Plus dry cleaning." He settled on the open floor of the van, springs creaking slightly under the sleight weight. A smile slipped out as he started folding the scarf. "Well. Asp had a cat. Maybe more than one. I dunno? I just don't really go for small animals. Especially cats. Then there was the dog lady, what was her name? Filet? Flilelegh? Something. I think she was a Sudsie, always had a dog. Always talking about dogs. Even called her cabal a 'pack'. Suuuuper weird. And familiars, oh em gee, familiars. Talk about creepy."

A spirit, trapped in a body, that a mage rode. *shiver*

"Just seemed like when it was just Avis and I, might as well? Make the rule. Since neither of us, you know. Walks around with a pirate parrot on our shoulder. Although, who knows? Maybe there's a bovine clause in there."

He snickered.

"You, uh. You wanna grab a case and whip apples? Or you have stuff to do."

[Tuesday]

"A bog unicorn. Yeah it's a game thing. They're an undead mount with a sward shoved into the bottom of their skulls so the pointy sward part is sticking out of their forehead. Like a uni~corn!" Because Star totally needed to know. His education was sorely lacking, what with him not even getting her Harry Patter references. So of course, now was the perfict time for a lesson.

"Arcades?" that explained a lot. "I've been to one. But it was just for the dee dee arr. And the quarters." you could never have enough quarters.

She hums, "Yeah having something that poos randomly would be a major downside for your show. Not to mention being totally gross." stop the presses folks Tuesday thinks poop is gross. "Really?!" Tuesday squints. "Like really?" her brain still not going past the chick who was calling her cabal a pack. "Was her cabal okay with that? The pack thing? Like it's fine if it's all fine...but..." more water! "Like I like Spirit. That's why I'm learning. But binding a Spirit to you...it'll watch you and be there and never go away. I like my privacy. Most of the time."

"Ha! Bovine clause...hehe!" Tuesday is a mess of giggles.

It takes her a minute to stop. Mostly because Star's snickering. Giggle fits are like yawns. Totally contagious.

"I have zero stuff to do." each word punctuated with a Tuesday nod.

Wait...

Was that a sentence that made sense?

Meh.

"Because I'm totally the chick who'd make a whole bunch of plans on the day she's doing a wedding band thingy."

[Star]

"Oh, man."

He hopped to his feet.

"Dude, I love Dee Dee Arr. Like, wait. You do like this?" He bounced up and down, feet spread should width, alternating facing her with turning sideways. It's a legit tactic. Whatever the game calls for, you can hit a ton of squares that way. "Or legit like this?"

She gets a Running Man demo. Finished off with a Michael Jackson ankle swirl. He doesn't say it, but she can probably see it. The sparkly implied challenge in greenish-blue eyes. Maybe it was the little unicorn's giggling, but now his own smile won't go away.

"Also? Your sword-icorn, wait, bog unicorn sounds, uh. Weird. Not bad weird, just who-thought-of-that weird." He waved a finger towards the passenger door and headed to the driver's door. "Maybe weird-weird. Don't, like, undead things keep, you know. Rotting?"

Yeah, decay is right there with poo.

"And super really. I'm telling you, that chick was odd." That's right. Vee Tee is labeling people as 'odd'. "No clue what her caballeros thought of it. That was kinda like, before Truce and I were cool. I mean, whatever, right? We're all cool with your Weird Stuff."

Deadpan delivery. He got in. Buckle up. Offered a fist bump. The van rumbled to life and swung out on the street heading back to the theater.

"Cool. We're totally whipping apples. While trashed. You're gonna love it. Totally better than zero stuff to do. Promise. Also? Didn't figure you for a Spirit-y person. That's interesting. Does Baby, as in, I-Can't-Touch-Baby, have a Spirit? Is that how you got into it?"

[Tuesday]

"Both!" she gets out between giggles. "Sometimes I'm like I wanna Do This. And other times...well I get my Fancy On."

The Unicorn shifts. Like now. Because Star's not the only one who knows how to to a Michael Jackson ankle swirl.

"I don't know who made it a bog unicorn. Marketing maybe. I would have given it a waaaay more awesomer name." finger notices and a halfhearted salute given, she totally Dose Not giggle again. "Yeah. I mean eye arr ell. But It's held together by game lore and coding. So there's not the rotting thing." because. Yeah gross.

"Wow." How odd did this chick have to be to make Star call her odd? "Yay." Ignoring the deadpan, she does a mini happy-dance. It's more like a wiggle as she finished climbing into the van, "It's awesome to find some peeps who are All Good with your Weird. And you're Good with Their Weird. Pure effin' awesome!" Tuesday nods. Then stops. Was she nodding too much. There was a little bit of dizzy in her world right now. Was that the booze or the head nodding?

A blink. Then she hear a click and remembers to buckle up too.

Fists Bumped.

And the road starts to look, more and more familiar the closer they got to home.

"Okay. Sounds good. Like really. Well now it does. I thought you said 'wiping apples' and me I'm like 'I don't wanna clean some apples. but I don't wanna be a buzzkill...but wiping apples...'" her voice cuts off with a snort. "Sorry. But yeah. Smashed. Sounds good."

She's quiet for a movement, "Oh! Right! Baby!" a blink. "Yep. Well..probably. I haven't tried to wake Baby's Spirit. Figured I'd leave that for when I got more of an understanding instead of jumping in feet first and end up hurtin' Baby. But yeah-no. Not why I got into Spirit at all." didn't they have this conversation before? Thinking back. It was sorta jumbled. And in a really bad code. "I got into Spirit 'cause there was this Shammy who was muddling through in alone, cause of stupid Consilium-Charter Rules and shit. But he was really good at it. Me...sorta. Like enough that I know enough to be considered an Initiate." a shrug. "I'mma gonna go poke at Fisher until we get into some Spirit-y style shenanigans. Not now! Since not wiping-apples...but later. Sometime. Eventually."

A lazy blink. A cat-like one. One eye after the other.

"You're a-totally gonna have'ta help me with Forces. Sometime. No now. Since apples." a smile, "I'm not a Big New Magic and Smashed gal. but later. Since. Unicorn vee Angel. For the Forces learning. Advantage Angel. But that's for later. Probably. Eventually. Sometime."

[Star]

"Sttttttoooppp. Stop cracking up, you're cracking me up."

Little ripples of laughter keep washing through.

"Wiping apples? Whipping doesn't even sound like wiping. I mean, it could. You know, with an accent. Did yew whip your hahnds efter yew warshed? No, no, no. Whip it. Whip it good." He made a cracking motion with his hand. The one not on the wheel. "Besides. I wiped the apples already."

What.

"You know, the wax. They put wax on them to make them shiny. Yuk. I don't want us all, you know. Eating lies. Not all my Weirds. Weird caballeros."

He looked over with a Dubious Eyebrow that got lost in the mop.

"Uh huh. I see how it is. How you are. You just want to learn Physics. Mmmmm hmmmm. I see it now. Me for Physics, Fish for Spirits. So you're gonna jam Avis up for... let me see. What would a Tuesday go for. Mind or Space. Yeah, Space. You got that whole," fingers waggled, "Going on. What's it called. Newman said it. In 'Color of Money'. Right, right. 'Student of human moves.' Like me." Cheeks puffed out, words swallowed. "We should talk. About A Thing. But not now. Later. And, I'm just messing. Sure. But I'm not your Angel. I totally failed Physics. That was Ermac's thing. I mean, I want to, but, you know."

Stuff and stuff. Life gets in the way. Besides, spelunking. The van pulled up to the theater, bumping on a curb.

"Yeaaaaaah maybe I shouldn't have driven." Shrug. "Okay. Grab the apples and meet on the roof?"

[Tuesday]

"I-I-caaan't st-stop! You're-you're cracking me up!" The giggle fountain was a vicious cycle.

"I don't know okay!" wow that sounded harsh. "Like there's something fuzzy. Your words are like words. But then there different when they get passed the fuzzy and into my brain." Made sense.

Blink.

"Oh wax. Right." more blinks. "Did you have to wipe them if were-ah gonna go whip them?" Wait. Did this mean they were gonna use whips?

Was that in the kinky that Avistar dealt with?

...

"With whips? Are we whipping with whips?" she asks. Making her own cracking motion.

Then like a slight time delay as her mind followed the rest of what Star said. "N'awwww! You don't want us to eat wax lies!" it was the most thoughtfullest thing she'd ever heard.

"Yeppers. Devious plans. Unicorn's full of 'em. Wanting to learn and shit. It's almost like I wanna learn stuff and get closer to my...cabaileros...?" Tuesday tried the Star word. "Is that like Cabal and Oreos? Cause I could eat some Oreos right meow." a thoughtful look comes upon her. "So. You think if I ate the nummy inside parts of the Oreo and leave cookie outside parts...would Fisher eat them?" because then none of the Oreo would go to waste.

As the van bumps the curb, Tuesday bounces with it. A frown on her face, and in a voice like she's admitting to an emarassing secret. "I don't know Ermac." was that a person that was around? Because Tuesday would feel like slime if there was a person around that she didn't know. Well a mage-person that she didn't know the name of. Cause there were a few mage-peeps she didn't know-know. But...Star's talking again.

Blinking!

"Sure. But I don't think having a Tuesday driving would be good either."

Star's off and she's supposed to...? "Apples! Yeah!"

First stop Apples. And Oreos!

[Star]

"Well I didn't know we were going to whip them."

Because that explains everything. At the mention of whips, Tuesday gets a skeptical look. Skeptical as in, that's one word in the volumes conveyed that also included 'whoah girl', 'wtf', 'are you kidding me', 'are you kidding me', and 'are you kidding me'.

"I'll eat the cookie parts!"

The last was thrown over his shoulder as he disappeared. He liked the texture. And hint of bitterness. And totally did not get people who just basically ate frosting. Stale frosting at that. One morning he'd whip egg whites, powdered sugar and butter together, lightly roast dollops and be a Goddamn Hero up in this theatre.

Night-time on the roof is broken up by random strings of LED lights bought on post-Christmas sales that have no rhyme or reason to color or blinky-ness. There's also an industrial looking halogen worklight blasting a wall for some ambient light. The Adirondack chairs have been joined by a small potted lime plant, a suspiciously clean ash-tray, and a handful of Gatorade bottles with varying remnants of drinks in them.

"You didn't know Ermac? Clark Kent?" As if there'd never been a break in the convo. "Huh. Yeah, I guess not. Uh. Wellll. Picture Clark Kent. Plus Obrimos. Instead of, you know, Kryptonian. He was a Threat back when, like, it was all guys. Like Avis was the only chick. Let's see. There was Ermac, July back before we knew July was crazy, Emrys who was a total dick and we all knew it but I guess Avis felt sorry for him, and Arthur who was pretty cool. But, yeah, Physics was Ermac's thing. Huh. And I guess Arthur's. And Asp's. Oh my god. Oh. My. God. Am I the only Angel that isn't a Physics Major?"

It's a revelation.

Also, Tuesday gets a long stick. Thin and tapered like a fishing rod, shorn of branches and leaves (which are totally in a dead brown pile over there) and an expectant look.

tssssss

And a bottle of Hoegaarden.

[Tuesday]

It totally explains everything. Wax Lies. A Sage Nod is nodded.

While she's Sagely Nodding she misses the Look. In fact her head keeps bobbing until Star becomes the savior of the wasted cookie parts. "Awe~some!" she's pretty sure Star missed part of that. His retreating form was a fast. and ninja like. Or maybe it was that Tuesday was still in the van.

Stumbling out of van Tuesday was determined to beat the ninja-angel-speedy gonzales. She's almost to the roof when she remembers. Apples.

Next time. There will come a time when She is the Night! Err...Flash. The Flash. The Girl Flash. Not that she's flashing anyone. Well. Unless she wanted too. But would she look good in the costume? She could totally do some lightning bolts on a tee, or maybe a headband! Or would that make her Thor...?

Oh. Apples. Right.

Apples in hand. Well in a bag in her hand, Tuesday ogles the skyline, "Ooooooooh~! I gotta come out here more often. It's pretty."

A blink.

"Yeah I know Clark Kent. Not in person. Cause fictional. But sure yeah. Okay. Mind's eye working....now!" eyes closed to get a better picture. "Did he do the curlicue hair thing?" because that was the most important thing.

Tuesday turns to look at Star, "Are you having a crisis?" Blunt Tuesday is Blunt. "Cause it's okay. If you need a study buddy. I game. But you'd have to help the slow kid. Since. Me. Plus." her fingers wiggle.

Yay! Stick.

Tuesday takes a few experimental swings.

Then her nose is crinkling. Cause beer. yay beer. She takes it. Then sets it next to one of the chairs. "I wanna get some apples whipped!" she says to distract from the beer. And where it was. Taking another swing for good measure. The a few more. Because swish.