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| What: Sometimes even a dance battle can be more than meets the eye. | |||||
It's that hour when one has to ask one's self: am I up too late, or am I up too early? The Cuckoos almost never sleep, so it's an hour they see a great deal. Arm in arm in arm, they're walking through Times Square, which is still occupied but not crammed the way it is in the day. The air has a chill, everything is slightly shimmery with a slick of water from the heavy mists that rolled through a few hours ago.
|"I still don't like it."| |"You sound like Sophie."| |"What's wrong with sounding like me?"| The argument from three days ago is still ongoing whenever they have a minute to spare. |"Why can't I dislike something you two like?"| |"You can when it makes sense."| |"You just don't have to be so -disapproving- about it!"| |"You should talk about disapproving!"| |"She has a point."| |"I only disapprove about things that are bad for us."| |"Alcohol IS bad for you!"|
And on it goes. The girls are oblivious, studiously so, to all the looks they're getting even in such a sparse crowd. The argument would escalate except that something interesting catches their attention... people, music, bubbling thoughts. Ooooh.
People. Music. That's pretty much the entire process of what makes someone like Mark Sheppard stop and pay attention. Granted, though, there's probably something to be said about the way that this Mark Sheppard is not in the crowd, really. To be more specific he's kind of in the middle of the crowd. There's a huge radio off to the side that's playing Drop - Timbaland & Magoo (f/ Fatman Scoop) at this exact moment at a way too loud for this hour volume level.
There's a handful of Red & Yellow clad dancers jerking and sliding around at the moment, as if they are all having some kind of coordinated seizure that's got the crowd bouncing and waving their hands at this exact moment. It's clearly something that would take way too much practice to really be doing right now. As one of them spins the 'AutoBotz' logo can be seen on the back of his jersey and he falls backwards, his crew sliding out of the way and a pair of AutoBotz girls catch him just before he hits the ground and 'throw' him back up into the air. He somersaults and drops down into a split, before pulling himself back up from the street to punctuate with a B-Boy Pose.
"OHHHHHHHHHHH!" That crowd is feeling that apparently. Because they are scrambling all over each other at that exact moment.
On the other side of the crowded circle, though, there's the Black and Purple clad 'Decepticonz'. There's only five of them (compared to the seven AutoBotz) but they don't seem to be worried about anything. Especially with the Instigator stepping out into the middle of the circle next. He's clad in a crazy ensemble of blacks and purples. Dark jeans and a ripped t-shirt, that's missing one sleeve. There's a purple bandana wrapped around his left arm and he's rocking a custom designed Instigator fitted cap with his 'Decepticonz' logo printed right above his name. He barely even seems to move his feet as he literally slides to the center of the circle. Fingerless gloved hands go up to tug at his cap and he pulls it down over his eyes. His head drops and he holds his position, his body pumping itself to the beat that's bumping from the radio. Behind him, his crew are in full on mime-mode pushing down invisible air pumps. Mark holds his hands out to his sides as they start to spark and crackle lightly. Within a moment those hands of his starts to become engulfed in flames. That's right, his hands are on fire.
This, of course, causes the crowd to go somewhat crazy... as well as backing up. It's /fire/.
Mark just kinda' looks up from beneath his lowered cap and winks a glowing eye across the 'battlefield' at his opponents and turns his hands over, sending flames down towards the ground and creating more smoke than he's probably needing at this point. But it's all part of it because through the smoke his crew rushes in front of him and pulls a synchronized 4 - 3 - 2- 1, before diving out of the way and allowing Mark to blast himself off with the flames. He goes skyward (not too high) but just enough to flamersault through the air and come back down with a victorious B-Boy stance landing of epic proportions which is finalized with a 'throat cut' motion towards the AutoBotz.
At this point the crowd is allowed to go Bananas.
Luke Cage may not be from this part of town, but Times Square has really become like a second home to him. He walks tall through the square, looking like he owns the place. He's in jeans, shiny black dress shoes, and a black collared shirt with the top two buttons undone. He's not really stumbling, even though he's had /plenty/ to drink. His metabolism just won't let him get drunk.
When he steps out into the night air though, he's immediately drawn to the crowd. He must not have noticed the Cuckoos yet, but then again, /flamersaults/ are happening. Grinning like a kid, Luke struts up behind the crowd gathered and peers over the tops of most people's heads to see the ongoing dance battle. Having just caught the end of DJ's bit, he's thinking this must be pretty damn impressive. "Oh shit," he says, looking to a random hot blond next to him, "Is that the Decepticonz?"
"Hello, Luke." One of the triplets recognizes him immediately. They're all dressed for a night out, matching black leather micro-mini dresses, tall boots, and cropped biker jackets. If they'd just make all that white, they'd look like three young Emmas.
"This is interesting, whatever it is." One of the sisters looks over at Luke. "We checked, that's the word they use." "It's a cartoon?" "Yes, it seems so." They turn to Luke with identical whisks of their ponytails. "Do you know them?"
Luke blinks as he realizes he knows these women. How could he forget? Of course, he doesn't remember their names, but he has a lot of experience covering for that. "Well, hello again!" he says, smiling broad, offering hugs all around, or handshakes if they're not into it. "It's great to see you three. And yeah, yeah, they're named after an old show. I've been reading about these guys in the trades. Supposed to be off the chain." He gestures at the ongoing dance battle. "The Instigator is a mutie, of course," he uses the word mutie in a flat, almost empathetic way. He's not a mutant of course, but he was /mutated/. He can relate. "So it sort of seems like cheating," he laughs. "But who the hell cares? He's incredible!" Luke Cage: Fanboy.
Hugs are always welcome. In fact, it's only manners that kept the girls from snuggling Luke the moment they saw him. He's listed as -friend- in the gestalt and the gestalt thrives on contact. |"He could be a mutant and still be a terrible performer,"| the girls say to Luke as they all manage to give him a hug at once. That's the best thing about big hugs, there's room for everyone. |"So it's not quite cheating."| |"It's just special."|
|"His mind is very interesting,"| the gestalt notes without shame about having scanned it. |"Far more interesting than the dancing."|
Luke raises his eyebrows, solidly putting all the implications together. Then he just shrugs. He knows his primary weakness is psychic attack, but there's nothing he can do about it, so why worry? "Well yeah, I'd imagine so. Don't know anything about that myself, but his performance is outstanding. Throwing down break beats like that, /and/ maintaining the physical performance is just impressive." He watches the dance battle progress for another moment as individual dancers face off, one-on-one and nods as the Decepticonz take on a commanding lead in crowd support.
"So, how are things with you," he asks over the music. They probably don't even need to hear the words coming out of his mouth, but he doesn't think about stuff like that. He thinks about the things most men would when speaking to these three, though not in particularly gross detail. The only real difference is that he doesn't dwell on it so much, because he doesn't feel ashamed about it. It is what it is, and so is he, is his general thought process. Self-acceptance is a wonderful thing!
|"We learned about getting drunk."| They're very pleased about that, it comes through very clearly. |"We don't think we'll do it again."| |"No, it's not very nice the next day."| Telepathic gestalt mind the size of Boston with a hangover? No one wants that again. Like, ever. |"We got in a fight, too."| |"That part was fun."| |"Definitely doing that again."| The burbling glee - over a bar brawl - is irrepressible.
Luke lights up like Christmas. His face is very expressive, but his mind is enthusiastically approving. He had nodded along with the getting drunk part. He can remember that from before his 'accident', but a barroom brawl? Outstanding. "Oh, I understand completely! A good, clean fight is just terrific. I have to be a little more careful these days," he shrugs, admitting the obvious. "And sometimes people recognize and aren't into it, but sometimes it's great. I let them knock me around a bit if they don't know me, just to keep it going." He whispers this last bit, in the midst of blasting music, probably figuring out that they hear him in their heads anyway, but he can't really organize his thoughts like that without physically speaking them. "Then, I make sure everyone gets a cab and is generally ok before they head out. It's always a downer though when some fool pulls a knife or some shit. Have to clamp down on that real quick." He shrugs, thinking about all the shirts he's had ruined.
The girls are just surrounded with bad influences. |"It was fun."| |"We have to be careful like this."| |"But no one can hurt us the other way."| They share with Luke the dismayed face of someone finding out that organic diamond is just as hard as the stones. |"We don't want to hurt anyone."| |"But it is kind of fun if they're asking for it."| |"Esme! That's bad."| Esme - must be her who sticks out her tongue - is unapologetic.
Luke's face never wavers. He's /more/ than practiced at dealing with people he /knows/ but can't remember their names. <cough> Especially with women. He smiles though, and actually has the thought, hears his momma's voice in his head, chastising him for not being able to tell these girls apart. "Ok, so look," he begins. "You read minds easy a riding a bike, so you know I can't keep your names straight, right? But. What if you like, I dunno, put a thing," 'Hypnotic suggestion' is what he's thinking of, but can't come up with the word for it. "In my head, which will keep your names straight for me? It just feels rude to not call you by the right thing. That's fine in business, but not with friends." But implanting a mind altering thought isn't weird? Good logic, Cage. Nice work.
The girls giggle in unison - telepathically, as well - and give Luke another hug. |"You don't need to tell us apart."| |"We're never really apart."| |"If it matters, well tell you."|
A pause. |"Besides, if someone's being bossy, it's Sophie."| |"Esme, you...! If someone's being a pain, it's Esme."| |"No fighting! All you two do is fight!"| Phoebe does the mental equivalent of shoving her sisters. The result is a telepathic dust cloud of Calvin and Hobbes proportions, complete with flying profanity symbols. It's bad enough sharing a room if you're sisters - try sharing a brain.
Perhaps surprisingly, Luke experiences a brief flash of sympathy for the girls. /Never/ apart? That must make maintaining a meaningful relationship difficult. I mean, he's certainly already considered the short-term implications, and that's all well and good, but Luke's a bit older and actually thinks about these types of things as well. He lets the ensuing mirth and amusement buoy him back up, but apparently Lukes are like Onions. And ogres. But not like parfaits. He holds his hands up as if that can calm the mental pillow fight in progress and smiles when he says, "Ok, ok! If that's cool then that's how it is." He reinforces side-hugs all around, happy to keep the ladies close (it IS chilly out!), and Cage radiates like a heater. "Oh look," he says, pointing, "Looks like the battle's wrapping up. Maybe we'll get to meet the Instigator!"
With the music finally dying down and the Decepticonz having wiped the floor with the AutoBotz this round, there's clearly a winner. Instigator collects the cash and the crowd starts thinning out now that the battle has been decided. Which has the Decepticonz doing their celebrating and bouncing, all the whilst Mark is collecting his music and his radio, hooking the S-Pod back up to his headphones and dividing up the money with this crew.
"Yo, good shit tonight, guys. This city ain't even ready for us, haha." Mark is just all about the gloating, before he folds his own bit of the cash and shoves it into his back pocket. His black and purple chucks are already in the process of moonwalking and sliding off into a direction that will prep him for heading back to his van, while the rest of the dancers get their dispersing on. He's really not paying attention to anyone that may or may not be headed in his direction for pictures and autographs or to hand him phone numbers.
The mental scuffle stops quickly and one of the girls disengages from Luke to intercept DJ. Super tall blonde hottie in leather at 12 o'clock. That would be Sophie... networking like a boss.
"Hi," she says, holding out her hand to DJ. "You were fantastic, but I know you know that." She tilts her head and gives him a super-charming smile.
Behind her, the remaining girls giggle, each with one of Luke's arms. |"She's better at that than us,"| they say. |"She's always got a -plan-."|
DJ is right in the middle of lifting his headphones to plop them in place when there's a blonde hottie in leather in his way and the speed at which those headphones are wrapped back around his neck is so fast and smooth it looks more like he was just straightening them out than anything else.
"I don't really like to brag." is all DJ says in regards to his fantastic moves. "The moves speak for themselves." It's not really meant to be as 'I'm Awesome' sounding as the words are, but he's at least throwing on the humble tone with it. Which is normally a rarity in this type of introduction. Finally, though, he's reaching out to shake that hand of Sophie's. "I'm Mark. Aka Instigator. Aka DJ Paragon. Aka..." Deej just waves a hand dismissively to stop himself from going down all his aliases.
"... More Than Willing To Take You To Breakfast." And immediately diving right into asking out hot blonde girl. Oh DJ.
"Well, we'd like that." Sophie smoothly captures DJ's arm, then waves at her sisters now heading their way after seeing Luke off. "But why don't you let us take you out. I'm Sophie, that's Esme, and that's Phoebe."
"Don't bother trying to tell us apart," one of the triplets says, helping herself to DJ's other arm. The third sister takes Sophie's hand. "We're almost always together, so it hardly matters," she says, leaning over a little to smile at DJ.
"Did you know that you have an -amazing- mind?" Sophie asks, her blue eyes luminous with what could be admiration or avarice... or a mix of both. "What you do is so unique."
One... Two... Three?
The level of JACKPOT that's bouncing around in DJ's mind matches the way his eyes are lit up when he's met with the other two of the triplets. There's just so much hot blondness around him at the moment that he can almost barely function. It's actually more about the fact that he's surrounded by hotness that's malfunctioning his own cleverly flirtatious mindset... so he's more than willing to just go with the flow.
"Oh? Let me guess, you three can read my mind, huh?" DJ's got a little bit of sarcasm pouring off his words with that, though the smile on his face is just kind of teasing. He knows all about the possibilities of others having weird abilities like him so he's not going to put it past these girls. Not while they are all over him like they are. "You girls know that wherever we go, I'm gonna' look like The Man, right? I mean, this is totally fine with me. But there will probably be pictures. Which is also fine with me."
Luckily, there's a diner not too far...
The girls can't help laughing. |"Actually, we can."| The gestalt mind is very big and possibly a little intimidating. |"That's how we know how amazing you really are."| |"And how... multidimensional."|
"Pictures are fine." The girls know they've been caught on all kinds of cameras by now, if The World wants to find them, it knows where to look - at least in general. "Diner food sounds perfect." They head that way with DJ. "The only thing better at this hour is, maybe, Indian." And then only if one skipped dinner, as far as they're concerned.
DJ is all grins with the heading off towards the Diner with a trio of hot blondes that look exactly alike. Perhaps the random people on the street get their chance to actually give Deej some appraising looks of jealousy. Whatever. DJ is more than happy to look smug and at the Diner, he pulls free enough from one of the girls to grab the door and open it for them. He may be Pimpin', but he's still a gentleman.
"This place is off the hizz, girls. Serious. I'm always up in here after servin' some crew." DJ explains, giving a wave to the diner workers and nodding the girls back in the direction of corner booth. "Multidimensional? Why, whatever do you mean?" DJ is playing innocent and doesn't even seem to be weirded out by words popping up in his head.
"Don't be coy." The girls allow DJ to escort them into the diner and settle themselves around him in the booth. |"Oh, and if you were wondering..."| |"People are madly jealous of you right now."| |"Of course."| They give DJ a little taste of the seething frustrating of his opponents and their fans as they watched DJ saunter off with all three girls. Oh, the impotent rage.
"But, really, we just thought you were lovely," they say, the words drifting between them. "We're only starting to understand music." "We like what it does to people's minds best."
Deej is all smiles in his booth, leaning back and not even really hungry anymore. He just didn't want to leave without having the chance to talk to triplets that are so fine. Not to mention the fact that they happen to read minds. Maybe he's going to have to keep some tabs on them or something. Somehow. This could be the beginning of... oh who knows what. It doesn't even matter. There is fun to be had.
"Shit, music is my life. I've been all about music as far back as I can remember and I still don't know everything there is to know about it. Kinda' like women." DJ flashes a smile. "But I do love them both so it kinda' works out." There's a shrug that follows that statement, as if it is just thrown about casually and not another compliment of flirtatiousness.
"We didn't have any for a long time." "We didn't know to pay attention to it when we first heard it." "It was just noise and we didn't know why people would want it on." Somehow, someone feels compelled to deliver coffee to the table. Thank you very much. Amazing how telepathic influence can do that.
"But then we started listening." The girl across from DJ where he's settled between her sisters - Sophie - has her chin in her hands and a wistful expression that's more reminiscent of Phoebe. "It's very nice as it is." "But what it does to the brain is even more amazing."
After a successful mission to find the wallet he left in the bar (for some reason, no one tried to steal Luke Cage's wallet...), Luke finds himself hankering for that diner around the corner. It's been a long night, and that place is great. Plus, it doesn't hurt that his mind is an open book to the Cuckoos, and if they sort of feel like maybe they'd like to have Luke Cage join them for breakfast, well then, he's headed there.
When he walks in, he spies DJ and the girls. Hey, what a coincidence! He winks at the waitress on his way by, which obviously means, 'Hey, when you get a chance, I'd love a coffee and a menu, thanks hon.' Inviting himself to the table, Luke slides in to the lighter side of the booth, to keep the odd-girl-out company. He slides his arm out across the back of the booth, which technically puts his arm around Sophie, but who's counting technicalities?
"Hey man, I saw you earlier. That was incredible." Apparently Luke doesn't think either man needs an introduction, and he obviously knows the ladies.
"Thank you, thank you. Please, forward all Entertainment Venue Inquiries to my MyFace page." Of course, DJ is just kidding, which is mucho obvious because he's got a big smile on his face. "Sup, man, I'm DJ." and a hand is offered across the table towards the Luke of Cage. Granted, Deej may or may not know about Cage but he's certainly just playing it nice and cool right now.
And then he's looking over at the girls. "Wait. You thought music was noise? Oh no no no. You girls got a lot to learn. I foresee many, many all nighters ahead for the four of us. Y'know, if I'm gonna' teach you everything I know about music." Granted, if they ever get around to studying it, that'll be a plus. Considering the other things that Deej has in mind. Which they are probably privy too, also. Oops. "What /does/ it do to the brain, anyway? I mean, besides just being epic."
"Hi, Luke!" The girls greet him in unison and Sophie leans into him companionably. Snuggles. The best ever. Even Sophie can be swayed by snuggles.
"The whole mind lights up," Sophie says, making 'fireworks' gestures with both hands. "It's amazing," says one of the sisters. "And then when you get a whole crowd going..." They can feel all of it.
"Look," Sophie offers. The gestalt touches DJ and Luke with the memory of the tiny hip hop club where they went to dance with their friend Zen - though they don't share anything about the blue man, of course. It's like being submerged in a churning hot tub of sound and light and endorphins and sensations of bodies - everything awesome about the best dance party ever, only all at once. |"Amazing."|
Luke squeezes Sophie into his side briefly, shakes the man's hand and leans back against the seat again. "Luke Cage," he says, in trade. He listens in on DJ's decent pass at getting to spend more time with the ladies in question. Luke doesn't have to be a mind-reader to pick up on when guy is making his move, and he's not one to get in DJ's way. The Cuckoos will do what they do.
At their explanation, and subsequent /demonstration/ of what they mean, he's left speechless for a moment, and then he finally pulls himself together. "Wow... I see what you mean. That's a whole new level of appreciating music."
Taken asunder by the images of a night of awesomeness definitely has DJ smiling. Of course, this is almost what it already feels like to DJ in the first place so he's got a more knowing smile on his face as he goes on the mini-journey of musical discovery. "Yeah, music is like... I can't even explain it. It's like everything you could ever want or ever need all wrapped up into one empathic package of perfection. And different music hits you in different ways. So it's not all fun and games. Music can be just as brutal as it can be beautiful." Realizing he may be sounding like some old music fuddy duddy, proceeds to cough and wave a hand. "Or whatever. Y'know."
"We were missing out," the girls say seriously. "So now we're making up for lost time." "We like dancing as well." They pause and think for a moment. "It seemed like a waste at first." "You can't eat it or anything." "But there are more things than surviving." That, too, is something of a revelation. "We're envious that other people already know all this. "We just learned about drinking," they confide in DJ, just as they told Luke. "It's not as fun as other people make it look." Not -quite-.
Luke nods along with DJ's continued explanation. He's definitely engaged, and interested in the topic, but he's only getting a fraction of what they mean about the music. His brain just isn't wired to experience it in the same way. He also doesn't call DJ out on his momentary lapse into eloquence. Now dancing, on the other hand, is primal and physical, and something Cage can relate to better. "Totally," he says in response to the girls. "Dancing makes sense to me. It's... It just... includes everything." Of course, he /means/ something a lot deeper, about how it triggers that primal part of one's humanity, but he just doesn't have the vocabulary to express himself. The virtues of a prison-based education, one might assume.
"I guess I like dancing too." Hopefully, this is a big in joke to the entire booth considering the moves he was just doing not even an hour ago. It's really all about the making people feel good. "I use 'em both every day. Music, dancing... it's all expression. It's all about opening yourself up or giving a part of yourself over to something bigger than you. Something bigger than just living." He's in agreement with Luke and hopes those words help get the Cage's point across even more. "I mean, for me, I don't think I could even live without music in my life. Like I'd be lost. Wandering around in some desert looking for a reason to exist. Of course, if that reason happened to be getting you girls drunk, then maybe I could manage just fine after all." Smile. More Mackadociousness.
The girls can't help laughing at Deej. "No one likes a drunk telepath," they point out. "Much less three of us." "Especially when we have bad influences around us."
Sophie gives Esme a dirty look and Esme hides her face in DJ's shoulder. "Of course, some of us ARE a bad influence," Sophie says." Esme giggles, but then sounds contrite when she mutters, "Someone's still mad that I made her kiss Tony Stark." Phoebe picks up her coffee and rolls her eyes at both of them. "I can't believe either of you. Though, seriously, Esme. Ew."
Luke looks appreciative as DJ elaborates, "Yeah..." And then shrugs when bad influences are mentioned. He knows better than to deny his own. He thanks the waitress as she brings his coffee over. While she's there, he orders a plate of bacon and eggs, and thanks her again. Sipping at the coffee black, he shakes his head. "Seriously? Stark? Sorry E, I'm with Phoebe on this one."
"Wait wait. Back that up. You know the S-Pod dude? /Nice/!" Deej is more than willing to be impressed at this. "I got like twelve of those things. All filled up with different kinds of music. His gear is awesome." Another shrug of his shoulders, even though there's a girl all up on one of them. "Y'know, we can totally fix that memory for you girls. It takes a good one to erase a bad one, they say." Oh, DJ. The ability to never stop trying to get into girls pants is one that just kind of pours off this boy. But it's all in some weird, good natured, style. Possibly even cute.
"We should all get together and party our asses off sometime." This is tossed to the Girls and Luke. "I'ma' be in town for a while on business so I wouldn't mind some partyin' to keep me busy in the meantime."
|"We know most people we want to know,"| the girls say, with a wink at DJ. It is cute, the constant attempts to get into their collective pants because, on the most fundamental level, they're totally immune to it. They only show off and flirt because it's what 'people' do.
"We agree with the going out idea." The girls nod enthusiastically. "We're always looking for new things to see." "And to learn." No flirtation in that, because, pfft. They already know all that business and, yeah. Test tubes are the best way a mommy and daddy can express their love for each other. Still sure about that one.
Luke just grins down at his coffee as the young man keeps trying. Can't blame a guy for trying. And hey, who knows? "Hey, I'm always down for a party. No problem. You know what though? I've been trying to nail someone down for another promotional gig for my business. Maybe we should hire the Decepticonz. Your crew do paid engagements?" Luke is not fully convinced about the girls' eschewing the mattress mambo, but that really wasn't any of his business. He knows them, and their rep well enough by now, to just plain old 'know better'.
At that moment, his cell phone buzzes. He tries to ignore it, but then it goes off again. And a couple more times. Finally he looks at it and sighs. "Damn. Sorry guys. Looks like we got a lead on this case we've been working. I need to go check this out while it's warm." He takes a business card from his pocket and hands it to DJ. "Get in touch, if you want to sort things out. We won't be your highest paying clients, but we're fun to work for." He squeezes Sophie once more too, gives her a peck on the cheek, and slides out of the booth. On his way out, he intercepts the waitress, gets his food to go, and then he's out the door.
Business card is put away into his pocket faster than he knows what to do with it. DJ is then back to being surrounded by hot blondes and all of that. "Well, I can show you some things. I'm something of a master of music, myself. In more ways than one." He grins and gets comfortable in his seat. "Music makes me do a lot of different things. Things I'm almost always ready to share with a trio of beautiful girls. Oh hey. I just happen to be in the middle of a trio of beautiful grils right this instant. What a coincidence!" Oh, DJ. It is just never going to stop, is it? "I actually got a DJ gig comin' up soon, I think. Over at Terminal 5. You girls should come check it out. I can probably get you on the VIP List but... something tells me you're not gonna' need the help."
"We can get into most places." "But if it'd make you happy to get us in." "You should do that." |"We like our friends being happy."| They confer briefly, check the place that DJ's thinking about, and then nod. "We know where you mean." "We can be there." "We like that place." It's big, it's got multiple bars, what's not to like? The rooftop patio? No, they like that, too.
"Your skill with music is what we meant when we said how clever you are." "We'd love to see you at work." "To watch you at work." DJ is the focus of three identically adoring looks.
DJ is almost ready to blush but he's too cool to actually let it happen. He plays it off with a smile and a stretching out of his arms over the back of the booth. He can barely keep his eyes on all three of the girls so he just keeps looking from one to the other, even if there's no reason to be looking at a particular one. They all look and sound the exact same. It's insane. And awesome.
"Looks like i got my own hot little fan club. I can dig it." DJ cracks a smile. "I got some t-shirts back in the van if you want. I think I could maybe hook you girls up." He's not exactly ready to just start busting out his musical power mastery just yet. It's different when he's battling. There's a purpose. A reason. Blatant showing off of abilities in a diner is probably not a good look.
It's probably wise not to bust moves like that in the middle of a diner, yes. The Girls still would like to see. Some time. "Do you ever go to Vegas?" Sophie puts her chin in her hand and gives him an intent look. "Atlantic City?"
"Ooh, good idea, Sophie," one of the other girls says, as though they couldn't read each others' minds.
"You completely remind us of Vegas." The third girl bats her lashes at DJ. "Shiny, slick, money." That's got to be Esme.
"Vegas is awesome. I've been a few times." DJ just kinda' shrugs at this moment, if only because he's trying not to relive some of the more horrible experiences he's had there. "There's a couple of casinos I'm not allowed in anymore but it really is Sin City. I love it there." DJ's grin is one that means he has probably spent so so so so SO many nights in various hotel rooms in that city. And then he's getting complimented. Again. Which is awesome. "Y'know, we could totally just skip breakfast and go back to my van. I'd be more than willing to show you some things you won't believe there." Uh. Deej /is/ talking about his mutant ability, right?
RIGHT?!
The girls are aware of the entire range of things DJ would like to show them. Some of them are the same thing most men want to show them. The rest? Are actually interesting.
"Someone will bring us breakfast," Sophie says, sliding out of the booth and offering her hand to Phoebe. "This is New York." "Everyone delivers." The challenging little look DJ gets is that, yes, whatever it is he's offering, he'd better deliver too.
Now see, you don't give DJ a challenging look like that? You just don't. And that's when he's following the girls out of the booth and proceeding to hurl his arms around whichever two are the closest to him. "Don't you worry about a thing girls. I'm 'bout to show you why I'm so much more than meets the eye." And yeah, that is probably also backed up by a hundred different thoughts and meanings because if DJ's not speaking in double entendre it's not DJ.
"So are we." One of the girls waltzes ahead so that DJ gets to enjoy all the views and opens the door for them. The gestalt has the giggles over all the things that are running through DJ's head right now, though they're pretty sure that some of their acquaintances wouldn't be so amused. Too bad. They're having a good time. "This is going to be fun."