The First Age

The show ended. The lounge was just as brusque as the performance. The menu made Bradley laugh, but it wasn't a funny laugh, more like I think we are in the wrong place laugh. But they ordered and the girl brought them their drinks dressed as anti-american as the decor. She said nothing about his accent. Just smiled that shy smile some girls got when they meet someone famous. This wasn't like Manifesto, more common folks were around and they had no problems swarming them, which meant he had to deal with the fans first before he could speak with one Jaxen Marveet. Or he could politely inquire to his presence if he were so inclined. Which seemed the better option. Adam whispered to the waitress as she left. "If you wouldn't mind sending the star of the show his favorite drink and invite him to our table if he so pleases." There was no point in being rude and interrupting. There was more than enough time for everyone.

Boda lifted a wrinkled, bony hand and moments later staff placed sparkling rocks glasses in theirs. Jaxen swirled the icy liquid and greedily drank. It was only heartbeats until people surrounded them.
“To Boda,” he raised the glass, others joining with theirs. The old man guffawed, but he was soon swallowed up by his own circle. The old fart was never short on fawning fans, who traced his days to the European discos of the 1990s when the pride movement was in its infancy.

Meanwhile, Jaxen was content to arm himself with a second glass, one he savored this time. It would take probably 20 such glasses to get him drunk, and then, the only one who would be able to tell would be his mother. Thankfully, Irina Marveet was far from here tonight. The news of Jaxen’s spectacle and the blight upon his father’s ambitions would come to Scion’s attention any time soon. It was entirely plausible that Scion might kill him before Ascendancy would. Jaxen wasn’t exactly worried, though.

A woman with flaming red hair was on his arm soon afterward, rubbing her palm up and down. His grin quirked. A blonde on the other side verged her way nearer as well. Jaxen was all theirs. Meanwhile, the stabbing voice of an American accent edged its way to his hearing. He beamed at the compliment, “Oh? Do you have a suggestion on who to skewer next?”

It was about then that another drink was placed into his possession. The third of the night, complements of one whom was pointed out to him. A genuine Rockstar was in their midst, Jaxen lifted the glass in a silent toast toward Methos, only to realize that they were graced by the presence of not one, but two rockstars.

Now this was interesting.

Red-head on one arm, blonde on the other, he moved to the center of the room, gesturing at their two celebrities. They had to be competitors.

His voice raised like the pounding of a staff upon marble, “Have you ever seen dueling pianos?” He laughed.  Boda and the others slowly fell quieter.

“How about dueling rock stars? Shall we? Loser sings an ode to the winner?”  

The man of the hour thanked him for the drink and then without warning he invited a challenge. Adam looked to the other man who Marveet indicated and gave him a smile. Finnegan hadn't been on the scene in a while - that flopped movie of his made him go awol. So this was where he had landed.

A duel? Adam looked to Bradley and his husband just shrugged and waved his arms like it was his show. His love was so understanding. He owed the man a lot and while this was their night out still Methos came to perform. The gig was not far behind, the man he was on stage was different than the man he'd been seconds before. With a bright smile Methos stood with a flourish of his coat jacket and waved his hands for the masses. A few women screamed, not uncommon.

"Well Aiden, are you up for the challenge?"

Aiden’s eyes popped out at the sight of Methos. They had never actually hung out, oh, they had been to the same parties and swam in the same circles; it didn’t hurt that both had hailed from Louisiana. His first album, the one inspired by Bowie, had enraptured Aiden at a young age. This other man had been making music well before Aiden had ever even picked up a guitar or the microphone. He would never have thought to challenge this legend… But… Then again, Aiden had weight to throw around with his own name; and it hadn’t been his suggestion.

                Pulling Sage along towards the center of the room, Aiden looked both humbled and intensely excited. If music was involved, there would be no chance that Aiden’s abilities would escape his grasp. He wasn’t sure if he was ready for others to know of them yet. Nox and Cruz had both put the fear of God into him concerning that matter… Still… The rascal rockstar inside of Aiden giggled at the prospect of adding a little flair to his performance, especially after seeing Jaxen put on such an intense show…

                Perhaps… Perhaps not… Aiden thought as a wide smile wound up on his face.

                “A remarkable evening, Jaxen, thank you for hosting,” Aiden announced over the noise, “Methos? It would be a personal honor. What is our ‘weapon’ of choice tonight? Pianos? Guitars? Voice? All of the above?”

                The old song ‘The Devil Went Down to Georgia’ started playing in the back of Aiden’s head.

                A fitting song, if only superficially.

The boy came with his own attached friend. It hadn't surprised Adam to see the youngster with a boy. Not after the band broke up. There had been rumors, but Methos didn't pay into them. And he had only followed the mans career because of Bradley. He liked the music Stoned Blarney played. And had been eager to see the film by the boy. But ... that was another time. Now Finnegan was showing his face in Moscow after years of being off the scene. They needed to make this a show.

Methos laughed. "Whatever we have available young one. But the biggest question is who should start." Methos looked to their host, and the star of the show. Adam wondered if there might be some other agenda here. They were both citizens of a country obviously looked down upon. But still the show must go on and Methos had never had any problems in any of the Custody's dominions. "Perhaps a toss of the coin, Mr. Marveet?" Methos pulled a coin from his pocket. it was a trinket something he'd taken from his son before leaving as a come home soon gift sort of thing. Never really understood why his son did them, but he didn't care it was his son and he loved him.

Methos tossed it to Jaxen with a smile. "I'd like that back when this is all over, win or lose." The only thing Methos was missing was Troy and Bev, he'd have naturally brought them but there was a sorrowful look on his face before he plastered on that winning smile and paraded his way up to join Jaxen.

The man- Jaxen Marveet was it?- had an easy smile. His retort gave Beto pause. In fact, it was a good question. Who would he like to see skewered? President Dawson perhaps. Not out of malice. But those in power needed the pricks to keep their heads at manageable sizes. Secretary Holden certainly. Bilson Iron Cloud.

Marveet would know none of them, though, not even Dawson. Parody and farce was based on in-jokess and familiarity; caricatures that required you to know the original in order to recognize and laugh at the distortion.

Brandon- Ascendancy here in the CCD- was known the world over. But even Beto confessed that some of the barbs had gone over his head due to lack of familiarity.

All of which said something about Marveet. He was powerful enough that he feared no reprisals. And he was, perhaps, familiar with Brandon.

He was about to probe further when the gift of a drink arrived, pulling the man's attention away to another table. And then two.

Beto knew who Methos and Finnegan were only by virtue of the images that plastered the holoscreens in Times Square. Their music was not something he listened to. Curiously, he found his tastes ran to industrial rock, Nine Inch Nails, White Zombie, Deified, Spatter, Nihilo.

They spoke to him.

The moment gone, Beto decided to leave. Watching two pop stars battle it out held little appeal. Paying his tab, he began to head out when his eyes fell on a rather striking woman.

A smile appeared. Daved Henlon. The man was a pencil pusher of the first order. Their meetings had been fruitless. But at the Institute he had been all order. Here, in drag, he was someone else entirely.

Beto slowly walked to his table, the man's eyes not noticing, fixed as they were on Marveet and the commotion he was causing.

He pulled out the other chair. "Madam? May I join you?"

Anatoly was incognito. His MO when out on the town. Especially now. Leonid- the whole Consulate, really- was in a mood. Anatoly got it, of course. Fuck but shit had hit the fan.

Elouera was out, of course, visiting churches and mosques and temples and meetings and study groups. Gauging the temperature. Looking for fall out.

Leonid looked about ready to pull his hair out. His perfectly dyed, I'm not in my 60s, yes this is really my hair, self. Yeah Alex colored too,  but women did that and no one cared. For men...

Anatoly was happy for the slight wings of white at his temples. Contrasted with his sharp features, piercing eyes, and flamboyany style, he always caught attention.

But, as he was now, he needed to guage feelings...he was ok to be more non descript.

And fuck but it was good tonight that he did. The little shit Marveet had caused a stir. It had only been happenstance. Boda was known to him. Of course he was. And a little birdie had told him Boda had something special planned.

No hints as to what, or Marveet might have found a room full of CCD loyalists. Or better yet, a cell.

Yeah, he channeled. But Anatoly had access to channelers. Between Vellas and DuBois he might have found a very different reaction. The Dominions even might have been a very interesting addition to the show. That would have been glorious.

Because Anatoly was pissed. This fucker was mocking Ascendancy. Denigrating him. Not thay he personally liked the man. No. He was a prick. Seriously. But he was proud of the fatherland. His heritage. The latent prestige and priviledge that was a result was not to be sneered at, especially by a Marveet.

And Jaxen was pissing all over it. Poor Scion. He suspected Jaxen may have ruined his chances to join the Sphere. That dude would be pissed.

He wouldn't deny the showmanship. But it was unnacceptable. His inside sunglasses hid his glare as he faked an applause. Watched Jaxen stroll about as if king of the world, hangers on fluttering nearby.

Methos and Aiden. Of course he knew them. Any other time, this would by amazing. And if he revealed himself- or was outted- it would truly become a party.

But Jaxen was chipping at their structure. The bread and butter. The fuck was he thinking?

And then the world spun out of control. He'd been wondering were all of Aiden's fans were and then suddenly the prospect of performing had his boyfriend playing the part tugging him along with him. Which as much as Sage had wanted to say he's mine. He did not want to do so in the public eye. If people wondered who the fuck he was and they started digging into how he was that could spell trouble. Like the fact that was the hacker who had leaked Ascendancy's burns.

As Aiden started talking Sage kissed his cheek and whispered. "I can't be in the public eye like this." Sage took a step back and kept backing up slowly until the bar hit him in the back. There was a soft chuckle to his left and Sage didn't need to look to know Nox was standing next to him sipping at his faked beer. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

Sage looked over at his friend and blinked at his appearance. He hadn't looked hard enough before. But Sage didn't let his eyes linger, he was still in the spotlight having been on Aiden's arm a moment. He wasn't flirting with Nox. "Looks good on you."

Sage could tell Nox was lost someplace else even as he replied. "That's what Jaden said too." Sage just smiled and watched Aiden in his element. His guy was pretty fucking hot being rockstar.

Nox ended up back at the bar just as Jaxen called Methos and Aiden out. Fucking coincidence that these two had such an influence on his life. Though he'd never actually tell Aiden that. He'd never tell him Aurora wasn't the only fan. Nox was not a fan boy. He didn't go girl crazy at seeing someone rich and famous. He was more inclined to laugh and make jokes. But to see two of his favorites from a time in his life that was mostly happy was good. Though those memories were quickly becoming tarnished as the truth came out.

His life just sucked all around!

But whatever. But it was Sage that caught his attention as he backed away from the guy he could hardly keep his hands off of any other time. Sage was just as camera phobic as he was. And for pretty much the same reason. The more people who know who you are the worse your life can be. He was a hacker and Nox was an Atharim hunter. And even if he couldn't be part of the Atharim now he was still Atharim.

Sage's back hit the bar and Nox chuckled knowing what was going on. But he was still lost in his own thoughts. He responded with his normal things. And he remembered seeing a man for the first time in a way that made him hot and bothered. And those memories were why he'd slept with Jay. And why he'd been okay with Sage. He looked back his friend and wondered if he could have. Now, he didn't want to, but they were friends. Close friends. Ones that Nox didn't want to ruin their dynamic.

The compliment made Nox beam inside, it made the reality of it hit home. Jaden had said the same thing. Nox had been dressed similar for the Methos concert. And here he was again about to hear the man sing again. For the fourth time, Nox wondered if it would have the same out come.

Jaxen and his companions chose a plush, velvet sofa for a throne. There was little in the way of bad views within the lounge. Yet he made sure to keep an eye on the door just in case the Custody decided to join them for the night.

The metaphorical coin flip resulted in Aiden’s win to start the duel. Whatever he wanted could be synthesized digitally, of course. Instruments, microphones, anything was at the disposal of the lounge’s technology. It was someone else, however that snagged Jaxen’s immediate attention while the others set up.

“Save my seat, girls,” he kissed one on the cheek before hopping up. It took a little effort to peel groping hands as he passed, but he quickly made it to the side of a familiar face.

“Hey, Nox.” He grinned at the flamboyant attire. Course, it was nothing compared to Jaxen’s fashion straight from the runway. He had the body to wear it, too.

“Well, was it everything I promised?” His grin spoke volumes.