Are you down?

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner usually got catcalls of some sort when he performed, mostly because the room was often filled with horny, slightly older women who wanted to impress their friends with how bold they could be after a few strong drinks. But when someone suggested he remove his shirt, he instantly recognized the voice as that of Lucy. They had, after all, just been talking.

“Uh, gonna keep that on for now,” he replied simply through a wide smile. The crowd didn’t exactly need to know who had said that.

The music started – it was prerecorded so that it would sound like the actual song, as opposed to being performed live by the House band – and the blonde started singing.

“You oughta know,
Tonight is the night to let it go,
Put on a show;
I wanna see how you lose control.
So leave it behind, cause we have a night to get away;
So come on and fly with me
As we make our great escape…”

As he reached the chorus, Tanner tried to remember what Callie had taught him the other day about acting sexy. So he tried swaying his hips to the beat, grabbing onto the mic stand and running his hands up and down the pole. He closed his eyes, letting the music be the only thing he sensed.

”So baby don’t worry,
You are my only,
You won’t be lonely,
Even if the sky is falling down;
You’ll be my only,
No need to worry,
Baby are you down, down, down, down, down?”

Ultimately, the song was over, and he gave a quick bow before heading back offstage. A few moments later, he was back on the House floor, and as he wove his way through the tables to return to the bar, he found Lucy sitting closer than she had been before. Hmm, interesting. “So, uh, I’m back,” he said a bit uncomfortably, rubbing the back of his neck with one of his hands as he was apt to do. He’d never actually had to talk to someone right after performing, especially someone he knew, so he felt a bit awkward about it. “What… did you think?” Probably a dangerous question to ask this girl, but it was the only thing he could come up with.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy snerked, resisting the urge to call out how gay that was. Maybe on one hand she was trying to help. But more than likely, she wanted to embarrass him by calling out like that. Or maybe both. She probably wouldn't say.

She couldn't say she knew the song in any capacity. Lucy watched it all really curiously, unsure of what was really going on or whether or not she was enjoying it. She settled down into a seat that was closer, significantly so though not close enough that he might be able to see her on stage through the lights. When he was finished she looked around at the way people called and cheered, and then back down into her glass. By the time she realised he was coming at her she was throwing the rest of her drink back.

"It was..." Lucy paused, unsure of what words she was supposed to use. "Dude, it was pretty gay." She replied finally with a laugh. But she waved her hand at him, as if to try and say that she didn't mean it. "Not in the mean way?"

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner blushed furiously, hand immediately finding the back of his neck as it usually did whenever he was put in a situation that made him nervous. Needless to say, that was not exactly the reaction he had been expecting. Not that he really knew what he had been expecting, but surely it was not to be insulted. "Is there a nice way for that to be meant?" He asked with an anxious laugh. He wondered if everyone thought it was gay, or if that was just her. She did tend to think pretty much everything was gay...

"So, um..." he began, desperately trying to move the conversation in another direction. "You... said you can move ink?" He seemed to recall her mentioning that right before he had left her company.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy eyed him curiously, unsure of what she was supposed to say to that. Did she just make him super awkward? It wasn't like it was strange for her, but still she pressed her lips into a line and just watched him for a second or so. "Like..." She paused, bringing her hands up as if their movement would somehow help articulate what she meant, "It was good, okay? Jeez, just take it as it is."

She responded with a nod at first, pulling up the sleeve of her shirt to show the lion tattoo on her lower arm. Her eyebrows lowered in mild frustration and after that, the curls of the lion's mane started to shift and twirl. "Try not to think about how weird it is, okay?" She warned. A lot of people were weird about it, anyway.

[Tanner Larson]

The girl's reaction to his sudden anxiety over his performance clued him into the fact that she hadn't meant to be rude, even if her little comment had been a bit off-putting. Okay, perhaps he was just going to have to get used to that. "Okay, okay," he said, smiling a bit to show that he wasn't feeling as tense as he probably seemed. The blonde wasn't trying to start an argument, after all. He had just been a bit, well, taken aback.

Tanner's eyes widened when he saw the girl's tattoo begin to move, but not because he was weirded out. "Dude, that's... so awesome," he said, lips spreading into a wide smile. "So you can just, like, draw anything and make it come to life?" He asked. He sort of wanted to reach out and touch the girl's arm where her tattoo was, but he figured that probably wouldn't be well-received. "Do you... have any others?"

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy couldn't help but grin when he said it was awesome. A lot, if not all the people she'd shown were totally put off by the sight of it. It took a lot of getting used to. Hell, even the guy she just told over the internet was a little freaked out by it. "Yeah, that's pretty much how it works. Same with most in in general. Books and stuff, though that takes a little time cause it's normally so old." She had fixed the words in her roommates book once; that was a pretty decent accomplishment.

"Y'know World of Warcraft and Finally Fantasy and all that kinda shit?" She asked, rolling up the same sleeve she already held more so to show the rest of what she had. She pulled up her other sleeve to her elbow to show the other one. "Twinblade of the Phoenix style." She explained shortly.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner listened with interest as Lucy explained her abilities a bit more thoroughly. That seemed very interesting, certainly more so than his ability to manipulate fire. Sure, it had saved his ass when he'd gotten snowed in at the reservoir, but while it was useful, it wasn't all that fun. "Ah, cool," he replied with a nod. "I'm, uh, I'm a pyrokinetic," he replied, figuring he'd might as well share.

The blonde looked at her various tattoos. "Wow, you have a lot," he observed aloud. He was definitely not the type of boy to get a tattoo - hell, he'd probably cry just looking at the needle - but he thought it was pretty cool that she'd put various interesting designs on herself, especially considering what she could do with them. "I, uh, don't know World of Warcraft," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck, "figured it would distract me from my studies." Way to be cool, Tanner. "But Final Fantasy, man, wow..." Catching himself about to display just how much of a nerd he could be, he demurred. "Ah, no, I'm not gonna geek out on you," he added quickly, shaking his head as he gave a nervous laugh. "That's really cool, though. I don't have any interesting things like that."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"Making fireballs and shit?" Lucy asked, clearly interested by the fact. If she had a power like that she could probably fuck with a lot more people. But awesomely dangerous powers didn't make a hard person, personality did. "Or do y'just carry a lighter around and fling it at people from there?"

She nodded once, clearly looking a little proud of the fact he just stated. "I can get rid of them whenever I want." She pointed out. It would hurt, but she could still probably do it.

"It's an alright game. Swords and shit are cool, too. I could probs find something philosophical to say, but I don't care." Yes, she know how potentially stupid that sounded but she didn't really care. "Nah, you should. It might make you more likeable." She laughed, offering him the best smile she could muster. But as per usual it appeared with a sense of arrogance. "There's gotta be something interesting about you. Like something no one else knows, or something."

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner grinned. He did sometimes like to brag about what he could do; he supposed it just came with the territory of being a proud nerd. "I don't need a lighter," he said, lifting his pointer finger, out of which came a small candle-like flame. "I am a lighter." He had spent a lot of time practicing - at the expense of a real social life, as it were - and as a result had gotten to be fairly good with his power. He rarely walked around displaying it for people, though; the way he saw it, what he was capable of was his own business.

The blonde laughed, shoulders rising and falling gently as he did so. "Well, it's a good series," he admitted; he was starting to catch on to the fact that she herself was kind of a closet nerd - she did, after all, have World of Warcraft tattoos - but he still wasn't totally comfortable geeking out in front of her. When she suggested that he might have something interesting to say about himself, at first he could only shrug; he never really thought of himself as all that interesting. "I mean, I guess some people would find this pretty interesting," he offered, gesturing with one of his hands towards the stage. "Or queer, as the case may be," he added with a laugh. "Something interesting, something interesting..." he repeated, leaning in towards the girl. "Well, why don't you start?" He asked, giving a soft smile. "You seem much more interesting than me, anyhow."

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"You're a flamer." Lucy replied shortly, sinking her teeth lightly into her tongue as she poked it out towards him. In all seriousness, what he could do was pretty cool. A lot more interesting than what she could, but she supposed she just had to work with what she had. And what she had was creepy moving tattoos.

Lucy wasn't entirely sure what happened next. She knew that he was being weird about something, but she couldn't figure out why. She looked to the stage when she gestured towards it, "Well yeah. Interesting. But everyone knows about it, Tanner. Stop fucking up the game." She rolled her sleeves down, staring over at him through her fringe again. "Bitch, I got tattoos! That I already showed you. I mean, they're no secret but that's still a lot more than you've given me."

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner couldn't help but laugh as he let the flame go out on his finger. "And it all falls into place," he said, referencing the connection between his ability and her fascination with his sexuality. Suffice it to say, however, that he was intent to leave it at that; his body could also radiate heat, but he figured a demonstration would probably only lead the girl to believe he was trying to get her to come closer to him. Which wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world for the blonde, but he could only imagine how she would react to that.

In truth, he wasn't trying to act weird; he just didn't think there was anything all that special about him, not worth sharing at least. He grimaced as Lucy said that everyone knew about his job: that hadn't been his intention, but he supposed it was more or less true now that he had mentioned it at the auction. Stupid auction. "Well, be that as it may, it sure beats waiting tables or making coffee for people," he replied with a shrug. He wracked his brain, convinced that he didn't have anything to share. He smiled as Lucy protested that she had already shared something. "Well, I can't think of anything," he replied, leaning in a bit more closely; it wasawfully loud in there, after all. "How about you ask me whatever you like, and I'll answer it truthfully?" That, at least, would get him out of having to think of something fascinating, while also satisfying this girl's curiosity.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

"You can't think of anything cause there is nothing or cause you just don't think there is?" Lucy asked, though she was aware that it would probably take him a second or so to figure out what she just said. "Fuck, dude. You sing and dance around in a club and you don't think there's anything interesting about you? What's that shit about?" Her eyebrows lowered slightly and she looked away to see what was going on around her. "Why don't you tell me like, where you came from? Unless you told me that already." She really hoped it wouldn't be some piece of crap town in America she knew nothing about.

But it probably was.

"Or like, how you got here. Working here." She wanted to go on about how he was being a proz, but she thought it was probably better to stop there and see how he answered instead.

[Tanner Larson]

Tanner actually had understood what she meant right away, mostly because he had been asking himself the same thing: he always hated those situations in which he had to say something interesting about himself (like on the first day of a new class when they all went around the room introducing themselveS), and he often wondered whether that was because he was truly uninteresting, or because he just had no idea how very interesting he was.

He was pretty sure he knew which it was.

The blonde nodded at her first question. "Well, I'm from New Jersey," he stated; he wouldn't get any more specific than that, since this girl wasn't even from this country and probably had no idea what that was. "It's a state just a few south of here. Like five hours maybe? My hometown is pretty similar to Pilot Ridgem, but... not quite as cold," he explained.

As for why he was working at the House, that answer was slightly more complicated. "Well, they just picked me up at my street corner one night..." He joked; would she even get that joke, or would it get lost in cultural translation, so to speak? Given that she had called him a prostitute earlier in the evening, he thought she might appreciate the gag. "Um, my friend, Zac, convinced me to audition here one day," he answered, more seriously this time. "I don't think it actually went so well, but Cynthia - that's my boss - worked on it with me and... I guess the rest is history," he finished with a shrug. He didn't like to talk about himself too much, since he often felt like he sounded as though he was bragging, which he usually wasn't. "What about you? You do anything outside of school?" He asked, turning the conversation back in her direction.

[Lucy Serrano-Blaise]

Lucy was glad he didn't get very specific. She knew what New Jersey was but not where, or anything about it other than it was where that dumbass show was filmed. "Mine either." She replied, shaking her head at the thought of the cold. "It's meant to be hot right now. And it doesn't snow in Queensland at all. Still don't get it." She hadn't seen snow until she'd come to the states, so she supposed that was one plus about it all.

"I fucking knew it!" Lucy called out, pointing over at him with the look of satisfaction. She was just glad he was willing to joke around with her as opposed to getting offended, nervous and totally awkward. Still she took on the information given to her and nodded along. Okay, so it sounded legit. "Oh me? Nothing. Don't work or anything like that." She almost felt bad that her answer wasn't very useful, so she continued; "Except for like, classes in art. I guess that's a hobby or whatever too."

[Tanner Larson]

When Lucy mentioned that the winter months were supposed to be warm in Australia, Tanner couldn't resist: lifting a hand to the girl's face (not on it, but about five inches away), he radiated some of his heat out towards her. It wasn't a very strong aspect of his abilities, but she would feel a small wave of warm air as the heat left his body. "Better?" He asked, a proud smile dressing his features. People usually thought that was pretty cool, and it had even come in handy once when he had gotten stuck in a very cold cave with one of his friends. He took his hand away almost immediately after, though, not wanting the girl to think he was trying to get close to her. Some girls, he imagined, wouldn't mind that, but she seemed a lot more self-respecting. He liked that about her.

The blonde chuckled as Lucy proclaimed her certainty that he was, in fact, a prostitute; even though it was more or less at his expense, he appreciated the fact that they were laughing together and geting along, which was leaps and bounds over where they had been at the beginning of the night. "Oh, you draw or something?" He asked. "Did you design those?" He asked as a follow-up question, gesturing towards her tattoos; that had been something he had wondered back at the bar when he had seen her laser tattoo but hadn't gotten the chance to ask. "I, uh, like cooking," he offered, figuring he'd might as well share one of his hobbies since she had given him one of hers. "I know, I know, gay," he added quickly with a bit of a laugh. He was making a pretty convincing case, as it were...