Black Cat Magic

THACKERY BINX || 28 || SERVER || NEW SALEM

“H-hey, Ryan! You look fantastic! What do you think of mine? Too much?” Binx lightly laughed, doing a little spin. It had taken him thirty full minutes, and a couple of shots,  to fully muster up the courage to walk up to Ryan and compliment him on his costume. He hated how nervous he got around Ryan sometimes, honestly, it felt like the bundle of butterflies in his stomach was more of a curse than his actual curse at times! For the most part, though, Binx knew how to keep his external appearance and mannerisms around the other as casual as ever when they hung out, but there were times in which those butterflies got the better of him and made him overthink everything. At at the same time, Binx had actually practiced numerous times in front of a mirror on how he would approach Ryan this even, because he already knew he was going to compliment whatever he dressed up as, and he really thought he had it in the bag. Of course, he was wrong, the nervous stutter still came.  “I hope I’m not interrupting your time here with anyone! I just knew if I didn’t at least say hi while I had the chance, I would feel terrible about it.”

.

Max had been standing at the bar area for awhile, trying to get a good buzz in case he saw his ex. It was working so far, a good distraction, but he knew he should find his sister pretty soon. He found himself beside the somewhat familiar guy that Dani knew, eyeing him through his sunglasses as if trying to pinpoint where he knew him from.

“Hey, I won’t judge. The more the merrier for me,” he admitted truthfully. If anything, he could make Dani drive them home later. “Deal. My only 2 conditions are to make sure my sister gets home safe, and that I don’t end up embarrassing myself in front of my ex,” he mimicked the other’s set of conditions with his own. Though he may not follow through with what Binx was asking of him, he’d still keep him company while he stayed near the bar. He clinked the glass against his, throwing his head back as he downed the tequila. It went down smoothly, warming Max up and relaxing his body a bit. He sat the empty glass down, “Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“I can assure you that your sister will make it home safely no matter what,” Binx replied almost instantly, not an ounce of doubt in his voice, “and I’ll try my hardest to make sure you don’t embarrass yourself in front of your ex.” Of course, Binx knew he would probably only fulfill the first half of that promise and the second half would have to be left up to the universe to take care of. He hoped the other didn’t end up embarrassing himself in front of his ex, though, because Binx had no intentions of letting Max walk away from the bar without at least a couple of shots of liquid courage. Maybe Binx had a bit of mischief in him after all or perhaps he simply felt like Max deserved a couple of shots. Watching the other take the shot with ease left a little jealously in Binx because he wished he could handle liquor just as easily, rather than doing his embarrassing dance.

“So,” he says, reaching for the next shot, “are you having a good time tonight?” He looked at Max’s outfit, clearing his throat, “you look, uh..great! Yeah, very, um,” Binx pauses for a second, searching for the right words,”terrifyingly ordinary! Yeah, there we go! In the land of ghouls and creatures of the unknown a ordinary human is the most terrifying thing there is,” he encouraged with a little nod, giving Max a confident grin. He took the second shot back a bit more easier than the first and this time his dancing did not happen, instead only a small face scrunch in it’s place. “I don’t know how you can just down this stuff without making at least a face,” he chuckled, “I’m jealous, Max. That’s a skill I wish I had.” When the bartender came back to see if they needed anything Binx let Max place whatever he wanted to order before he did another round of shots for them and a drink as well. Just one more never hurt anyone, right? 

All it took was her best pouty face and Binx was wrapped around her finger. Once Dani had an inch from him, she knew she could take a mile without a problem ahead. Maybe it was a little mean of her to think this way, but Max wasn’t as easily convinced to let her get away with shit like this, and she had to take advantage where she could. Not only that, but it was a Sanderson party, and there was no way she was getting through one of those without at least feeling something on the side of buzzed.

As she saw the bartender slide him an extra few shot glasses, Dani’s eyes widened in delight, and she looked to him once more with hope. “No way!” she squealed, taking the clear glass from his hand and downing the liquid like it was water. With a scrunch of her face, she took the next one in her hand as she waited for Binx to finish the first. “You’re the best, you know that? No, I haven’t been avoiding you, I was looking for fucking Maxwell, who might as well be a ghost. He has my fake, and I was going to use it at the bar until I found you. I would’ve gone a little less Broadway, but hey, at least you pulled it off nicely.”

It really didn’t take much for Binx to cave into almost any idea Dani had, unless, of course, that idea really involved too much risk to her life. A couple of harmless shots, perhaps a nice buzz, hardly felt like he was putting her in danger.  He TRIED not to think about about how her being even an OUNCE under the influence was an advantage to any Sanderson sister, because if he thought about all of that, well, then he’d become just as much of a stickler as Max in Dani’s life and he truly wanted to avoid that at all costs. But only because he wanted her to be comfortable enough to come to him for things like, well, shots. 

Binx’s smile brightened up like the light of a Jack O Lantern when Dani called him ‘the best’ and he couldn’t help how he sat up a little straighter at the compliment. “Yeah, well, I mean, it doesn’t hurt to hear it repeated every so often,” he chuckled, only teasing. He looks down at his costume at her comment about it, tilting his head, he looks back up at her seconds after, “you think so? Maybe next year you can help me pick out what to wear. I don’t know why you let me do that this year, you know how hopeless I am without your expertise to guide me.” His hand reaches for the other shot, bringing it up in front of him, “you know, I think I can be swayed to get you a drink for the road,” he grins, “on one condition, but first, what should we cheers to?”

Ken liked his drinks and he liked his guys who were absolutley as messy as he was when it came to drinks. He didn’t know this guy very well; he had really only met him the other night, but Ken had decided then and there that he was intersting and that he wanted to get to know him better. So if that meant taking a few shots to get to know each other, then so be it. He threw the shot back with ease and grinned widely at the guy after doing as much. “You know, you ramble a lot,” he said, his voice teasing. “It’s kinda cute though, so I’ll give you that.” He was just fine with him getting another round of shots and he just placed his hands on the counter as he did as much. “Your little dance was dangerously adorable, too. Are you trying to make me think you’re the only cute guy around this area?”

there weren’t many things that could capture binx’s tongue and leave it silent, unless it was his curse, but the guy before him had managed to hush him up with just one simple comment. suddenly he felt a bit shy, a coy smile spreads on his lips, binx could even feel the heat rising on his cheeks a little the more the other kept talking. honestly he had never come across someone who both thought him and his rambling were cute. “h-hey,” he lightly chuckled, “you weren’t supposed to point out the dance, remember?” his smile widened a little and he hoped the other wouldn’t notice too much just how much his mood shifted from overly talkative, energetic, to a bit shy and slightly talkative. “i’m glad you found it adorable, though, as i mainly find it to be a little annoying. in a group of people, being the only tequila shot dancer around, it kinda feels like a curse.” and, oh boy, wouldn’t thackery binx know a thing or two about curses. “you know, you’re awfully charming, dangerously charming even.” a small pause passes, one of his arms goes to rest on the counter next to them, “what’s someone as dashing and charming as youtself doing talking to someone like me? i’m surprised your arm isn’t snatched up by one of the other cute guys around here.” 

After searching the bar line many a time for someone to give her a drink, Dani had her eyes locked on her next target: Thackery. He was someone she could maybe convince to let her take a secret shot behind Max’s back while he was off doing who knew what. Binx was pretty much like a stand-in for her older brother, though, and the line between being cool and protective was a thin one when it came to him. She approached just as she heard him talk about a tequila dance, stifling a chuckle to herself and making note to use that exact tidbit for blackmail. “Next round on you?” she asked, looping an arm around his shoulders. “I’ll even walk you home after if you let me take one and a half measly ounces of liquor. That’s, like, nothing.”

“Dani, no. I’m not letting you have even half an ounce of liquor, let alone one and a half.” Thackery was going to remain firm this time, no amount of pouting would make him cave in, he refused to cave and have Max mad at him. And then he looked over at her, once her arm was looped around his shoulder, the moment their eyes locked, Thackery knew he was a goner.  He lets out a small sigh, accepting that Dani had won this one, “one and half ounces of liquor, and that’s it, okay? I’m not letting you have an ounce more. I would feel horrible if we got carried away and you woke up with a hangover.” He looks over to the bartender, ordering another round of shots. 

There must have been some sort of miscommunication between himself and the bartender, or the bartender just felt like being heavy handed with the liquor, because he paid for one round of shots and was brought two rounds of shots. “....fine,” he turns to look at her, holding one of the shots out for her to take, “two and a half ounces of liquor. How do you always manage to get so lucky? Also, where have you been the whole night? Were you hiding from me? I don’t look thaaat bad, do I?”

"I don’t know,” Binx looked at the shot in his hand, “I just know that it’s a slippery slope with tequila shots and me.” The last time he had let himself indulge in tequila Binx lost about two days trying to recover from it, then again, he had also done a great deal of drinking without eating that particular night.  The little voice in his head was reminding him that he had agreed to let himself relax and indulge tonight, but he wasn’t sure if tequila was pushing it or not. His blue-green eyes, the colors that resembled the ones of mountains, looked from the shot over to the person whom had handed it to him, “I’m not going to let you take a shot by yourself, though, that’s just rude. My only two conditions are that you don’t make fun of my tequila  dance too much and if I end up getting too heavy handed with the tequila just make sure I fall asleep somewhere comfortable,” he laughed, bringing the tequila glass over to clink against the other’s glass, “cheers!” He throws the shot, doing the inevitable wiggle dance he always does at the first taste of liquor, but he’s surprised at how smooth the shot goes down. “Next round is on me, are you ready?”

All Hallow’s Eve Costume Party: