Explosions in the Sky

Billy let out a small hum before holding his stomach slightly. “Oh my God, Korean food sounds so good right now. Let’s go there.” He decided rather quickly before gesturing for her to lead the way in the direction they needed to head. “What have you been up to lately, Kate?” He asked. “Are you staying out of trouble?” He gave the woman a slight smirk before stifling a small chuckle.

Tommy reached down to pet Lucky as he kept talking. “So I got the job and some other stuff happened,” he was just going to gloss right over that part. “Thierry ended up in a bad way one night and I helped him. We started hanging out, I guess. You know. It happens. Anyway, the guy who owns that club got pissed when he didn’t get his way about something he wanted from Thierry, started making life difficult. Goodbye apartment.” Maybe he was being too vague, but the details just didn’t feel like they really mattered. Tommy had never been the type to over-explain anything. “So here I am. What’s up with you? Besides this whole…business. Is this a real business, even? Or did you just move in here and stick a sign on the door?” 

The mentioning of ‘Mother’ made the witch shudder some. “Let’s not think about that woman ever again. She’s erased from this existence, after all.” He remarked before stepping into line alongside her. “So where do you want to have lunch? Your choice; since I haven’t exactly made an effort to get together before now.” He said with a small smile to the woman.

@adorable-archer liked for a starter!!

Another day, another hit. It was like Rose was making the rounds among the wealthy and secretly powerful, the people who acted like they owned the city—because, in actuality, they did. They had politicians and policemen on their payroll and it all came back to bite them in the ass. Those murders could actually be considered public services, considering the good consequences, even if there was a bad intention. This hit, however, was nothing of the sort. She killed a single mother in front of her child—that mother had been a state representative’s mistress, and the last thing a career politician needed was for it to get out that he had a piece on the side. She didn’t even flinch at the arterial spray that marred the front of her suit. She just sheathed her katana again as the child started wailing.

Tommy was pretty sure it was the kind of story best left untold, but Kate was the first person who’d even bothered to ask, so…might as well. Billy hadn’t even remembered Thierry’s name. Excellent show of brotherly love. He stretched his legs out in front of him. “I guess if there’s snacks involved,” he finally conceded. 

A second later, he launched into the story. “So I was out walking around one of the more questionable parts of the city. We keep getting more of those, by the way. Like they’re everywhere now. Anyway, I found this building with people outside of it and it looked shady, so I wanted to go in. Obviously. There was a guy hanging around out front, asked him what it was, he said some kind of club. Strip club, turns out. And like…other stuff. Use your imagination. It’s nice inside. Not that it matters. I told the guy I need a job, which I don’t even remember if I did or not, it just seemed like a thing I needed to say right then.” She’d understand. Tommy lived life in the moment. Really, really in the moment sometimes. “With me so far?” 

“Bummer… if only you knew someone that could, I don’t know, make things appear from nowhere – or that had a little bit of cash to spare for a lunch date.” Billy spoke up, folding his arms and looking at the situation from behind a pair of black shades. He had been a terrible former-teammate, not just to Tommy with not remembering Thierry’s name, but also to Kate for not bothering to come see her sooner than now. Moping over the situation with Teddy until the big oaf had shown up and explained it away had really gotten in the way of Billy’s non-existent social life.

With a flip of dark hair the archer turned to the boy wizard and scrunched her nose. “No offense my favorite magician but I’m always gonna be weary of things appearing from nowhere. The encounter with Mother will always leave a bad taste in my mouth. And that case literally. But I could never say no to a lunch date with you.” She grinned brightly. 

Elysia covered her mouth, a bubble of a giggle escaping her at the dog’s seemingly confused expression. Man, she needed to try to convince her uncle for them to get a pet—she needed something. Maybe then she’d be happier. Her brows lifted then at the mention of pizza and how the dog responded, though her smile was ever persistent and teasing at her lips. Pulling out her phone, she typed in a response in her handy dandy app and let it speak for her, he’s adorable! also, super jealous. what’s his favorite kind?

The archer’s head tilted at the device and then back at the girl with a large smile, this was how she communicated and the archer was no stranger to different ways of communication. “don’t let the praise go to his head, he’ll start getting more and more lazy.” She laughed lightly. “Well see Lucky and I are both New Yorkers but we also feel extremely comfortable on the west coast, LA. So we found the middle ground is pepperoni. You honestly can’t go wrong on either coast but don’t let anyone know i said that.” Kate placed her hands on her hips, “You can always join us if you wanted.”

He was used to repeating himself. Billy usually put it together by the second time. Maybe it was just a twin thing, but he’d always thought that sounded like bullshit. “Nah, boyfriend has money, we’ve got it worked out. Thanks for the offer, but hopefully my couch surfing days are over.” Not that this carefree and unattached thing hadn’t been fun. Kinda. Except for the whole depending-on-other-people bit. “Uhh…anyway,” he knelt down beside Lucky and scratched behind one of his ears. He could be lazy if he wanted to. “The rest of it is kind of a long story.”

“Kinda wild,” he shrugged. For Tommy to use that word, it really needed to be wild. “Started dating someone I met at a strip club. Did I leave that part out? Because I was doing that for awhile. Turns out everybody wants this,” he gestured at generally all of himself, “but then it was like this whole thing with a car crash and getting kicked out of our apartment and then-” he rambled on so fast that even he knew it wasn’t making sense. He paused to take a breath. “So anyway, now I’m here. Oh, and I got a dog.” He pointed Lucky, who had been napping roughly the entire time he was there. “They should be dog pals.”  

As much as she preferred creatures that lived in the deep, dogs were a close second, followed by cats, and the rest of the animals kingdom. She loved them all, so when she was uncerimoniously knocked into by a particularly adorable dog, undoubtedly searching for something good to munch on. Elysia immediately knelt down and held out her open palm, hoping not to spook him. She turned her bright eyes to the brunette and shook her head, waving it off as if it was no big deal. It really wasn’t, truthfully. She was probably equally excited to see the furry boy as much as the fish.

the dog looked at the girl, back to kate and then back to the girl. the archer crossed her arms and shook her head. “Lucky, i need you to apologize to her right now.” The dog made a cute sound and her heart melted, god she loved that dog. His tail waged and nudged against the girls legs before returning to Kate’s side. “he’s a sweetheart, won’t hurt a fly. would save a fly and loves p i z z a,” she spelled out the word but lucky still tilted his head. “that’s where we are headed right now.” 

“Ah, of course.” Smiling, Leo gently tossed the ball at the dog’s feet. “Well he’s lucky he didn’t hit me in the face with it. Sorry, I had to.”

The archer scoffed a laugh. “Very lucky.” She grinned. “Well he wasn’t aiming at your face, cause we both have this talent where we never miss. So yeah.” She shrugged, trying to act cool.

“I mean, it was technically in a bag so I guess not really. It gathered…” Tommy looked up at the ceiling, like the word he was searching for would just appear up there or something. A couple of seconds ticked by and he snapped his fingers. “Metaphorical dust.” He walked over and flipped through the calendar on her wall, which mostly just had doodles on it. Very important stuff. “Jail couldn’t hold me the first time. Not too torn up about the idea.”

OPEN!

Elysia had been in Star City all of two days, but she was already learning the layout of the surrounding neighborhood her uncle had decided to move them to. With her messenger bag slung over her shoulder, she had happened upon a little pet store maybe a few blocks from their apartment. Normally places like that displayed their puppies or kittens, or even cute outfits for them to wear, but this one had the fish tanks in the front. It was the little things that made her smile, so she pressed a hand to the cool glass, her smile growing as the fish congregated to that one spot, their mouths moving as if they were trying to give her little kisses. A strained giggle of a sound escaped her, her blue eyes fixed on them, as if the rest of the world didn’t matter.

Lucky was leading Kate. Despite how much work she had the archer always made sure to take time for the dog. He was her bestest friend. She walked with a smile, just enjoying her time. Lucky spotted the pet store and she knew what he wanted. Just a treat, and the store always left treats outside. “Alright, alright, keep walking.” The dog pulled her along nearly bumping into the young woman who was looking at the fish. “Lucky, apologize to the nice girl. Sorry ‘bout that, he gets super excited about treats.”

Leo’s hand came up reflexively, stopping the soccer ball inches from his face. He looked around, waving down the closest person. “Hey, is this your ball?”

Kate chased after the ball and nodded. “Well it’s not mine, it’s my dogs. That’s Lucky.” Lucky raised his head, smiled and laid back down. “He’s a bit lazy.”