The First Age

It felt odd to be going to the burlesque club. It wasn’t really Emily’s scene. Elyse worked here, but Emily never really thought she’d go to one. In this instance she wasn’t going to see a performance though. She was sort of curious now though. Maybe she’d show up sometime. If she ever got the courage to go. 

She set up a time with Nox so he could inform people to be there and Liv would have a chance to get off work to do learn. This was a big deal and possibly would open many doors. She sighed as she drove there, Jared in the passenger seat. 

”You ever go to these types of clubs?” she asked him. 

Jared chuckled. ”That feels like a loaded question,” he gave her a disarming smirk. ”Burlesque, no, but I’ve been to my share of gentlemen’s clubs”

Emily smirked back. ”I see. I’ve never been to anything like it. I know - it’s not like it’s a show or anything.”

”They’re people just like anyone else. No need to be nervous.”

She nodded. ”More worried about feeling out of place.”

”Just be yourself and you’ll be fine.”

Emily nodded and arrived at the location. She went to the door that Nox had told her to go to, and pressed the buzzer. A security guy came to the door and Emily introduced herself. She was expected so they were taken to a lounge area. There they found some others already waiting. 

”Hi, I’m Emily and this is Jared,” she introduced themselves and took a seat. ”Here to teach people how to link and to try some things.”

Ana was the best boss, when she asked for time off she gave her a hug and smiled and said "Do whatever you need to hun? Specially if it's to help Nox." Everyone had noticed the change in him, and everyone wanted to help. It was hard because there was nothing anyone could do. Until now. Maybe she could help. Maybe they could all help.

Jared had left the house with a goal and he'd come back telling Nox that they found a way to combine power. It was exciting. Everyone was going to be there. Juls, and Sterling. They invited Ilesha and Cadence. Claire too. All the guys who could channel Nox had hired. They even invited Oriena, though Liv was prety sure that she wouldn't show. According to everyone at Kallisti she hadn't been around much. Nox had seen her, but he was special and they were fucking.

Emily and Jared were already there when most of the crew from the house showed up. Everyone wanted to see even if they couldn't help. Helping Nox was their highest priority. Hayden might even show up. It was going to be an all out party. Except it wasn't. Learning how to combine powers was new -- it was exciting and they would probably be the first group to learn how to do it. At least that she'd heard of.

Liv sat down next to Emily at their chosen table with a smile. She'd seen Emily before, when Rachel had first come to the house for help. But they hadn't officially met. "I'm Liv, you must be Emily."

Emily smiled as Liv introduced herself. Emily had remembered seeing her when she brought Rachel to the house. ”Very nice to meet you, Liv,” she gave a genuine smile. ”And thank you for your help with my sister.”

Emily took this moment to get names of the people here. Besides Liv, there was a woman named Juls, Anna, Elyse’s friend, Cadence Mathis, a woman named Ilesha, the blackthorn crowd, a couple burly men named Adrian and Bruno, a girl named Sterling who was flanked by the wolf girl Marta. Emily smirked as Marta seemed to be glancing towards cadence and then turning away embarrassed. Cadence caught one of these glances and gave the girl a wink which caused Marta to let out a giggle. Elyse was absent, staying with Rachel so Jared and Emily could be here. The two were cute together, but Rachel had turned Elyse down. Emily hoped that would change. They would be good together. Nox was absent, but upon asking, she was assured he would be there.

Emily brought herself back to the meeting. ”Okay - so Jared and I found out that we could combine our powers. What we do know is this. Only I could start the link, but only he could form the weaves. Connected as we was, he was utilizing my power. He could see the flows, I could only see half of it. It looked like there were holes in his weaves. It sort of feels like, he’s drawing my power through me.” she smiled, meeting the eyes of those there as she scanned the crowd. ”What Id like to do today is teach you all how we linked and then maybe answer some of the questions we have about it - like can men link by themselves and can more than two people link. I think this is pretty amazing and I think the added power will not only make magic more effective, but will create more possibilities with what we can do with it.”

Emily stood up. ”I was able to establish the link by reaching through Jared to embrace my power. But he had to be just at the cusp of embracing…I’m sorry…seizing,” she gave Jared a grin that was returned. ”His power. When he had hold of his power, it didn’t work. When he wasn’t trying at all it didn’t either. He had to be right at the edge of it for it work.” she looked to the group of men. ”How about you guys go off and try it on your own and I’ll work with the ladies?”

The men nodded in approval and headed off to conduct their own experiments. She turned to the women present. ”Linking with a man is scary. I don’t know if you’ve been told what it is like to seize their power, but it is different from ours. So if we do link with men, be forewarned. Let’s start with trying to see if I can link with one of you. Liv - would you be willing to let me link with you?”

When Liv agreed Emily smiled. ”Alright - prepare to embrace your power, but don’t do it. I’m going to attempt to link…now.”

Emily did so and smiled as she felt the added power coming to her. ”Liv and I are now linked. I can feel her power flowing through her and into me.” Emily began to form weaves, using both of their power. Mostly simple weaves like spheres of light (that seemed to glow brighter) and chilling a few glasses of water on the tables (ice crystals actually formed in the water). ”Jared and I haven’t tried much while linked. With the pregnancy, I’m wary to try anything new that might blow up in my face.” she said with a slight chuckle. ”Anyone want to see if o can link with more than one person. Cadence and Anna both raised their hands and when they let Emily know they were ready, she attempted the link with them while remaining connected to Liv. Her eyes widened as the connection worked. She was linked with three other channelers. ”oh wow - that’s a lot of power.” she said with a smirk. One by one she asked the other women if they wanted to connect, and brought them into the link as well. She had never felt this much power before.

Liv did as she was instructed, I t was a little scarey feeling the power pulled through her without her own control. It almost made her panic, but she felt the presence of the rest of the family there and knew it would be alright. She didn't really see or feel the power Emily spoke of but she only felt her own power flowing through her. That loss of control still made put her on the edge of it.

Juls and the others all joined in. One by one Emily took their power and the glow around all the women was bright. She wondered what it felt like. "We should all try to lead. I expect some of us would be better than others." Juls voice sounded strained, like it was difficult to talk while someone pulled that much power through you. Liv didn't try to talk just nodded. This was about Nox -- about healing him. It was more than just an experiment. What could they heal with all the power Emily spoke of? What kinds of shows could they put on with it here at Kallisti. It opened up many doors. And maybe Nox would be whole again...

Having others attempt to establish the lead was what she planned on doing next. It would be beneficial for them all to try it. At first she wanted to see if she could connect multiple people. Not only for her curiosity, but if this boosted the power, having multiple people connected might help more. This was all new stuff they were figuring out.

”I know it’s quite a bit rattling to feel it without being able to control it. Since it requires you to be close to embracing, I’m assuming it can’t be done forcibly.” she said releasing the link. ”Thats a good idea Juls. How about we split into small groups and try it. How about Ilesha and Cadence work together, Anna can work with Juls, and I can work with Sterling and Liv?”

The group nodded and broke into groups. Sterling came over by her and Liv and Marta followed, taking a seat nearby with her wolf companion, watching with curiosity. ”Alright - one of you try to establish the link. It can’t be with me or the each other. I’ll hold myself ready just in case. Reminder - you have to reach through the person to embrace the power.”

Post by Liv

They split up into groups. Liv hasn’t worked with Sterling much but the girl was always around. And she was family. Nox’s cousin to be exact.

Liv reached for the power. “Okay I'm ready.” Liv reached through Emily as suggested. It was a lot easier than she thought it might be.

But the inner door opened and Liv dropped the power when she saw Nox walk in. It wasn’t. Strange sight to see him in the club. But it was when he wore next to nothing. He had come to dance on the stage while they worked on trying to find a way to heal him. He couldn’t help even if he wanted to.

Liv tried again even though she could have watched him dance. his body was distracting. And maybe that was why he was doing it. Treating those who would heal him. Even if they knew how yet to fix the hole.

Nox wasn’t the only one on the stage, some of the others were theretoo. He was helping them with their routine.


Liv turned her attention back to the channeling.”I’m sorry!” She reached through the power through Emily again. This time it worked and she felt the power flow through her. It was amazing.

An opening door caused Emily to turn and see a half naked Nox enter the room. He and some other dancers began to work on a routine. Some got distracted by this, Liv among them. Emily found her gaze seeing the man and then to her surprise, just passing it by without another thought.

It took awhile before it hit Emily. It hadn’t been too long ago she would have blushed at seeing someone dressed in so little even if she had already seen them wearing nothing. But her gaze didn’t linger, nor did Emily look away in a panic. She saw him, recognized it, and moved on. It had nothing to do with his attractiveness; Nox was a good looking man. Even as she turned to Liv, seconds after seeing Nox enter, she knew the answer was simple. He wasn’t Jared. There wouldn’t have been anything wrong with having thoughts about it - it was natural, but since she met Jared, she had no desire for anyone else. They were like two puzzle pieces that fit perfectly together, so much so that she couldn’t even think about anyone else in that way. It was both strange and endearing.

”No need to apologize,” Emily said with a smile, as she felt Liv establish the link.

Feeling her own power going through her to Liv wasn’t scary this time around. Of course, Jared’s molten river of power wasn’t involved yet. Emily felt a hand on her waist and turned to see Jared there. ”Seems we can’t link on our own.”

Emily looked around and it seemed like most of the women were able to do it. That most likely meant men literally could not start it on their own. Interesting.

Emily turned back to Liv. ”So you have some options here; practice using more power, link with more people - Sterling and/or Jared, or let Sterling try to link. We need to eventually do the last one for sure.” Part of the reason they all were here was so everyone could learn. ”I will remind you just so you’re aware. His power is kind of scary - and he will get control of the circle. It won’t hurt you though.”

Marta had come to watch. Seeing people do stuff with the power was so cool. She had her own abilities, but she sometimes wished she could do the magic stuff too. Today wasn’t going to be so explosive though. They were learning how to combine powers. Marta stuck by Sterling. Quite a group had showed up, and among them was her. Cadence Mathis.

Of all things, Marta hadn’t expected that. Her favorite singer was here, and Marta felt her gaze going to the woman quite a bit before she looked away embarrassed. Marta knew it was rude of her to stare, but when Cadence caught one of her gazes and gave Marta a wink, she couldn’t help but giggle at the attention.

They began to work in small groups to practice connecting or linking or whatever it was called and Marta took a seat on the floor with splash. She began to look at some computer parts. She was beginning to make quite a bit of money between Sage’s gig and watching Lily. Ultimately she’d wait until after Christmas to see what she still needed after Ricky and Elyse got her some parts.

Then Nox entered dressed in very little, and as he began to dance, she felt her gaze move towards him. It wasn’t his lack or dress or attractiveness that drew her to him. She never seemed to have any sort of attraction towards men who were much older than she was. She wondered if that had to do with her trauma. No - it was the scent of nothing that stood out in this crowd. That drew her attention.

Marta looked away feeling her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. She hadn’t looked because of his lack of clothing, but most would probably think that was why she did. Once again, it was also rude. Marta thought of Matias and how he was praying for her friend. For some reason she felt it was a big deal that Matias was praying too. Why - she didn’t know. It was odd she had found a friend in a former member of one of the cartels, but she was glad for his prayers for Nox.

She looked up and saw Jared moving towards Emily. He gave her a questioning look and a thumbs up, asking if she was okay. She returned the thumbs up with a small smile. Jared gave her a nod, but his scent gave away that he knew something was up, but wouldn’t press unless she asked. Marta heard Emily say something about being pregnant earlier. She had a feeling Jared would be a good dad.

Marta closed her laptop and set it aside. Splash took the laptops position by placing her head in Marta’s lap. Marta began to stroke the wolf’s head and scratch behind her ears.

The whole linking training was something Nox was sad he was missing. Sad in that he didn't get to participate, grateful they were trying. But it still made the whole thing strange not to participate. The sadness didn't linger long it drifted from his mind almost as quickly as the thought had arrived.

The club was quiet as most of the people were out in the longue watching the proceedings. But he was here for multiple reasons -- the linking but also because a group had asked him for help with their newest routine. They were having some issues with the choreography not being as good as they wanted. It was one thing Nox could still do even if he couldn't be as perfect a dancer as he had been pre-kidnapping. Though he was getting stronger and more agile as the days went on. Practice was the key and Nox did that religiously -- one of the few things that helped him adjust to things.

Many eyes drew his way. Liv being one of them. Eyes didn't bother him. Even with the scars that littered his body now. Hayden said it made his body more interesting. It annoyed him that the clean lines that had been most of his body was now a mangled mess but it is what it is and he still drew those lingering eyes.

He tried to ignore the linking stuff, but he listened as best he could while not distracting himself from his actual job. He couldn't participate down there either way. It mattered and it irked him. He'd get the power pack -- he hoped. He might even pray if he believed in that sort of thing.