The First Age

He was right. He didn't really know what he wanted. Wasn't that what your twenties was supposed to be about. College was boring. They weren't teaching him anything new. And none of the classes offered him anything he wanted to know. He already had a job. But it looked better if the heir had a college degree. His father had not finished, he became Atharim and then joined the CCDPD. It had been a secret until Nox told the family about the Atharim. Revealed his father's hidden secrets. Secrets even Christian knew. He didn't trust his own son. It still irked him.

Cruz had ambitions, knew exactly what he wanted to do. But that was different than what he was feeling now. Things were going well with the work he and Sage were doing -- mostly Sage these days he had to admit, he'd been lost in the fog of whatever this was. The flash of the disk that brought him to this very place caught his attention and the question Ezekiel asked drew his eyes to the man flipping the coin in the air.

Second chances came rarely. And he hadn't expected it of this, but he nodded his head. He truly believed that whatever it was he was ready to let go of his past and become whatever it was he was supposed to do in the future. "Yes. Yes I would. Whatever you need." Cruz didn't really remember what was offered, but if it put an end to all of it, or begin something new -- he knew he had to take it.

Cruz was eager, and that was all Zeke had ever really wanted – for the boy to understand he offered good things to those who deserved it. There was no gloating about it and no dwelling on his previous mistakes. Zeke wasn’t after humility, and he did not truly care if Cruz learned any lessons from his escapades. After a beat, he grinned and flicked the coin in the air for Cruz to catch. He barely moved from his lazy recline, but he did enjoy the expression on Cruz’s face then. The coins were always random, and each one was its own journey. Sometimes they represented favours, sometimes they were invitations, sometimes something else. Truth was Zeke made it up as he went, according to whim and the interests of his… investors. He knew who Cruz was. What Jivana did. And there was some interest in putting strings on a toy like that.

Cruz caught the coin that started the journey. Not completely sure what to do next. Wasn't exactly a manual or anything and he wasn't sure what Ezekiel really wanted, and he wasn't sure he wanted to ask either. Cruz was feeling a little better about life, about things, and the shared joint had helped ease whatever anxiety he might have for coming here again. But the coin represented something. "So what now?" Cruz asked. "Life as normal until you need something? or I do?" Cruz hadn't really ever done anything like this.