The First Age

Sebastian- Bas to his friends- walked down the sidewalk. The sun was warm despite its being the middle of winter. Not enough to lose his green military cut jacket, of course. He wasn't gonna freeze his balls off just because the sun decided to show itself after weeks of hiding behind clouds.

Didn't matter though. The cold air in his lungs invigorated him. Well, it wasn't just the cold air. He looked down at his black boots and saw the small smudge on it. He didn't bother cleaning it off. He never did. Blood always blended in with the rest of the shoe anyway once it dried. He smiled. Those fuckers thought they could jack them, huh? Get in on their turf?

Mr. Mordvinov had been pretty adamant that he and Roman teach those dicks a lesson. That asshole Vlad got himself offed by the police and everyone had pretty much scrambled to take a chunk of what he had while his underlings fought over control of the family. Course, didn't help that Vlad was such a control freak. His ambrosia was like no other drug they had ever seen. He knew he'd never had such a good high. It was like X and Viagra and weed and every other good drug he'd ever taken rolled into one. Fuck, but that was a great night! For him and the girls. He wondered if there was any more ambrosia out there. Cuz Vlad's people were sure as shit not making anymore. Vlad had kept the formula secret. And now that he was dead? Gone. They'd tried to recreate it- had their white-coats analyzing it or some shit, to try to figure out how it was done. But so far nothing.

But in anycase, Vlad's death had left a nice big opening and Mr. Mordvinov made sure that they moved into that territory. Course, that meant the occasional scuffle. But that was what Bas liked best. Roman gave him the nod and Bas and a couple of guys went and decided to give them a little taste of being on the wrong side.

But shit, he was hungry now! His wallet buzzed and it was his brother Arkady. "Sup brateek....Man, you read my mind. Yeah, eating sounds good...Chesterfields?...Nah, I'll look it up. See ya."
A quick check of the phone for directions- and a couple trains later- and he was walking into the place. His green military jacket, black jeans and boots fit in as good as any. His close shaved head was uncovered. He saw Kady and Karl in a booth and thrust his chin out in greeting. The blonde hostess said, "How many?"
She was cute. Little thin, but that was ok. In the end, that didn't necessarily matter. He smiled to himself. In the end. Hah! As long as she wasn't too thin there. He always liked a little more ass.

He leaned forward on the hostess stand, smiling at her, his voice low. "Well, let me think. There's me. And there's you."
He looked down and idly touched her hand that held the wax pen. Then he looked up at her giving the smile that the girls seemed to like. "How many does that make?"


The look on her face was friendly and he could tell she liked his moxy. But she could play along too, it seemed. With a seductive smile, she leaned in and in a louder voice called out, "Table for one!"


He busted out laughing and so did she. He gave her a sweet smile."You win gorgeous."
He nodded to his brother and Karl. "I'm with them."
He gave her one more look that said he thought her pretty cool and started to walk away before turning around quickly and saying in exaggerated almost singing tones, "You broke my heart woman,"
holding his hands to his heart. "But imma win you back."
A last smile at her, to show that it was all good, and he was at the table. "What's up brateek?"
He clapped Kady on the shoulder in affection, and also to shove him over so he could sit on the end of the bench. "What's going on?"

Ayden groaned as she saw the Mudaks show up at her table. She glanced at Sasha, and she gave Ayden that I'm so sorry look, but... Lovely, probably her last customer on this shift. Ayden wondered if it was all worth it. Connor had said she didn't have to work, but she felt like she had to. Waiting tables was easy if mindless work, the people were usually nice. It made her feel like she was doing something. But with these two she was doubting her decision.

Ayden stalled going to their table. She stayed in the back a bit longer than she liked. Mayor gave her a knowing look but it also said, get to it girlie. Ayden sighed. By the time she'd walked back out to the lobby a third man had joined the Mudaks. Lovely!

He wasn't a regular, but he clearly knew the other two. Ayden didn't like him already. Friends with those two put him pretty far down on her give a shit list. But she put on her friendly smile and went to their table. "Hi I'm Ayden, I'll be ya'lls server this afternoon. Can I get ya'll anything to drink?"
She only stated her name for the new comer, the other two knew exactly who she was and her name was hardly news to them. And per her usual charm, her Texas accent shown through. It was only here she actually used it. It kinda just slipped out as if she were still playing a character. Perhaps she was.

Kady and Karl laughed and moved over. "Not much man. Just the usual shit. Were down at the trains watching over a shipment of merchandise. Nothing much happened." Kady looked disappointed. Bas understood that. Whenever you were moving merchandise, though, no activity was best. They dealt pretty much in black-market stuff, aside from drugs and stuff like that. A few strings of girls. But Mordvinov didn't touch none of that under-age stuff, for which Bas was glad. He'd do a lot of shit- had done a lot of shit. But running little girls and boys for the pervs was not one of them. He was glad Mr. Mordvinov felt the same way.

Plus there was that building over in the Zamoskvorechye district. That was one of the Kolomov's places. Building straight went up in flames. Served him right, though he kinda hoped the kids made it out. If not, well....better to be dead then in that kinda business. Word was that asshole Kolomov had even hired a hitman to take out a Kremlin aide or whatever who was going to expose him- his being a nice upstanding member of the community and all. Well that all had blown up in his face, literally. The Kolomovs were on their way down anyway. That little ambush a few years back had put them on that path.

Anyway, Bas was glad that Kady was finding his place, even if it was with a mudak like Karl. Sometimes Bas wondered at Kady and Karl. If that's how he went, that's fine. But Karl was a prick. But whatever.

The two of them were giggling like a bunch of girls and he shook his head. Maybe not that way, then. Just became retarded around each other. The waitress was heading over from the front of the building.

Pretty. Had a mass of red and orange hair tied back, framing some very kissable lips. Had that whole fire thing going, cuz even from this distance, he could see that her contacts were fire too. Nice figure too. Black hugged her curves. Definitely something to hold on to. He looked over and his brother seemed to have become 12, the way he and Karl started talking. He rolled his eyes. He bet they had drunk a lot of spit in their coffees if they'd been coming here and acting like that.

"Man! Shut the fuck up, assholes!"
he said irritably, looking at them briefly, just as the waitress came over.

"Hi I'm Ayden, I'll be ya'lls server this afternoon. Can I get ya'll anything to drink?"


Her accent made him smile and he let it show. American. Sounded like a cowboy. "Hi Ayden. I'm Sebastian. And I bet you know these two mudaks already. My brother Arkady and his friend Karl."
He lowered his voice- though he made sure they could hear him- "You'll have to forgive them. Whenever they get together they seem to go back in age."
His voice returned to normal. "I'll have an amber. Whatever's on tap is fine with me."
He looked over. "Hey, assholes! Tell the pretty lady your drink. And don't be dicks about it!"
He loved his little brother. But geez. At this rate, he was never gonna get a girl.

"Hi Ayden. I'm Sebastian. And I bet you know these two mudaks already. My brother Arkady and his friend Karl. You'll have to forgive them. Whenever they get together they seem to go back in age. I'll have an amber. Whatever's on tap is fine with me. Hey, assholes! Tell the pretty lady your drink. And don't be dicks about it!"


Ayden's smile was genuine now, at least the brother was decent, he'd gone up a level on her list. Which really wasn't hard, the pretty lady comment alone would have done, that, but the reprimand to the mudaks made it all worth it.

So now the Mudaks had names. Ayden didn't memorize them, she didn't want to know their names. They were shit customers and even worse tippers. And she only expected it to get worse now that big brother had put the kubash on their little fun. Ayden could almost see them sulking in their chairs. She wanted to laugh at that, but she was still standing in front of them. They waved their hands with "the usual" and Ayden sighed. Nope they weren't going to get any better because Sebastian was here.

"I'll bring your drinks on over, and give you some time to look at the menu. Let me know if I can be of any assistance. Mayor's got the chef cooking his specialty this afternoon - Borscht."


Ayden went to get their drinks at the bar, the mudaks were already ready, even the bartenders didn't want to deal with them. Ayden told him what Sebastian wanted as Sasha came over. "I know you are spoken for, but isn't he cute?"

Ayden turned back and looked at the man who joined the Mudaks and grinned. "If you like em rough."


Sasha giggled. "You're from Texas, ain't ya'll rough?"

Ayden laughed. The bartender brought the amber on tap and Ayden left Sasha pinning over the man. Ayden deftly carried the tray with the three drinks to their table. "Here ya'll go. Are you ready to order?"



Edited by Ayden, Sep 12 2014, 12:29 PM.

After the waitress left, he eyed the boys. "What's wrong with you fuckheads? You're never gonna get her attention acting like that."
He shook his head. Sad. Did Kady learn nothing?

He flipped through the menu. Nothing really jumped out at him. The borsht sounded good actually. Hopefully they put a lot of meat in it. When she got back with their drinks, he tool a pull on his beer and then looked at her with a smile. "I knew you couldn't stay away."
His smile became a full on grin. She was definitely his type but...his eyes flicked to the blonde who'd been talking to their waitress and then had returned to the hostess station. Something about her got his engine going, with a growl in the back of his throat. Oh yeah, game on.

At her question, "Tell you what, I can see why my idiot brother acts like he does around you. Good God but you are gorgeous."
He seen the ring earlier and reached for her left hand gently and held it, examining the ring as if he was an expert. Inside he laughed. A ring? Hah! Not him. Well, not from him anyway. He didn't give a shit if the girl wore one or not. "I sure hope your man knows what a prize you are."
He let her hand go, but the smile stayed. Charming. Respectful. The perfect gentleman.

After a moment he said, "I'll have the borsht. On your say so."
Hey, if it put him in good, then she'd tell her friend. To Arkady, "What'll you two knuckleheads have?"
They ordered the usual bar food, sliders or some such. Too American for him. He liked the traditional Russian meals.


Edited by Sebastian, Sep 12 2014, 04:40 PM.

"I knew you couldn't stay away."
Ayden grinned, she really didn't have a choice in the matter it was her job after all to wait and serve on these fine outstanding citizens of Moscow.


"Tell you what, I can see why my idiot brother acts like he does around you. Good God but you are gorgeous. "
Ayden blushed, he was hitting on her yet he took her hand in his and examined her ring. He glanced back at Sasha who was busy out front.

"I sure hope your man knows what a prize you are."


Ayden laughed. "He does."


They made their orders and Ayden took them back to the kitchen. She stopped by Sasha's station, she was fixing to take off too. They had plans afterwards as it was, wedding stuff, stuff that Sasha was all to happy to help with. Ayden hadn't told Connor what she was doing. But she wanted to be married to him sooner rather than later after nearly getting shot at. It was a life altering decision but there was no point in waiting.

Ayden smiled as Sasha. "He's been checking you out."


Sasha looked over her shoulder and smiled. "Has he?"

Ayden nodded. "We can hit the coffee shop before we go window shopping."


Sasha looked at her with questioning eyes. "You'd do that for me?"

Ayden nodded. Sasha hugged her tightly. "You are so great."

There food was ready shortly and Ayden placed Sebastian's first and then the Mudaks sloppily on the table. There was no charm to theirs. But she wasn't rude about it either. Ayden smiled at Sebastian. "Sasha and I are going for coffee after this. She'd love it if you joined us."
Ayden turned to the table. "Let me know if ya'll need anything else."

When Ayden walked away, Sebastian's smile lingered as he watched her back. Oh yeah, he'd definitely hit that. He looked back at the two chuckle-heads at his table and gave them a smirk. They should be taking notes. He sat back and drank his beer. "Fuck, but that's good!"
He shook his head. "Shoulda seen this guy we had to hit today. One of Kolomov's guys. He was a tough son-of-a-bitch. Me and Gregor and Stefan ended up really working him over. Gregor's nose is busted up bad though. Stefan eye's pretty fucked too. But they got a enough of a hold of him for me to work."
Another pull. "Tell you what, my hands hurt though."
He looked at the bruised knuckles. "May have broken one."


"Let me see," said Kady. Bas gave him his hand and Kady probed at the knuckles gently. It hurt, but that was no big deal. Just part of the job. "Not swollen. Probably just really bruised." Bas shrugged, taking his hand back. It didn't really matter. He'd broken 'em before and he'd break 'em again. Just a part of life. Course if he wanted to, he could pray and use the Holy Mother's power. But he didn't enjoy it as much. He liked the adrenaline rush that came from actual fighting.

The waitress came back with their food- Bas could see that she definitely did not like Kady and Karl from the way she'd put their plates down- and the borscht smelled delicious. Reminded him of when he was a kid. "Thanks Ayden. Smells great. You sure you don't got someone's babushka back there cookin?"


She smiled at his stupid joke- she was a good waitress. Prolly did pretty good in tips too. He'd leave a nice one for her. If his eye wasn't on the hostess, he'd try to see if he could giver her something else too, ring or no. But...one goal at a time.

"Sasha and I are going for coffee after this. She'd love it if you joined us."


He grinned. Nice. Very nice. "Sasha? The hostess right? Cool. Cool cool cool."
This was gonna be a nice day indeed.

"Just let me know when 'yall'"-
he tried her American accent- "get off."
He smiled to let her know that he was just teasing. When she walked away, he caught Sasha's eye and then smiled, jerking his chin out. Yeah, this would be fun.


Edited by Sebastian, Sep 14 2014, 10:59 PM.

Just let me know when 'yall' get off."


Ayden laughed. With the Russian accent his Texas accent came out interesting to say the least. "Ya'll are my last customer. And Sasha is waiting on me."


Ayden looked back at Sasha who was trying very hard not to pay attention to them. Ayden grinned and turned back to the Sebastian and the mudaks. "Can I get ya'll anything else?"


Ayden left the table and poked Sasha in the side. "We are on for coffee. You owe me."


Sasha giggled. "I'll be sure to be the best maid of honor ever."

Ayden smiled. "You better."


Ayden checked on them periodically and refilled their drinks and finally handed them the check. All in all it wasn't a bad experience, it was the first enjoyable night the Mudaks had been there. And probably the last.

Sasha waited by the door and Ayden waited with her, their coats were on and they just waited for Sebastian to finish up whatever he was doing with his brother and his friend. Sasha was impatient. Ayden honestly could care less. This was for Sasha, nothing more. He was cute, but she had Connor. And that was not something she was willing to give up.

The meal was good and it was nice to bullshit with Kady. Lotsa stuff was going on with the Mordvinov's now and a guy like Bas or even Kady could really make something of themselves if they were smart.

Ayden brought the check and Bas reached for it without even thinking. Though he couldn't help himself. "You know, one day you little pricks are gonna have to pick up the check instead of me. I know you get some money."
But it was only a half-serious. For Kady anyway. For Karl, definitely. "Especially you Karl. Kady's my brother. You're just a little punk that I'd'a soon leave here to wash dishes or maybe suck dicks to get out of your bill."
A smile to show that he was just razzing the guy. Mostly. Well, just a little bit anyway. He really didn't like the guy. Ayden took the ticket and then disappeared into the back.

He looked toward the door and saw Ayden and that hot hostess- Sasha- standing by the door. Guess they were ready. He needed to shift into nice guy mode. "Alrighty boys. I gotta jet. I'll see ya sometime."
A grin and a wink. She had such a nice ass.

He threw on his green military cut coat and walked toward the door. With an apologetic smile, "Sorry I kept you pretty ladies waiting. You know how family can be."
He looked at Ayden. "So...Ayden I know. Gorgeous waitress. Engaged to some lucky bastard who probably doesn't have a clue how he won the lottery."
Then he turned to Sasha "And you...you are Sasha."
He paused, looking at her, just peering at her face. "Breathtaking. From the moment I saw you....I am Sebastian."
And then he took her hand and kissed it.

He stepped back. "Shall we? There's a coffee shop I saw just a couple blocks down the street."
They made their way outside into the late-afternoon sun and talked. Ayden was quiet mostly. It was clear she was there only for moral support for Sasha. That was ok for now, but Bas hoped she'd bail soon. They didn't need any chaperones. In the meantime, he made sure to include her in the conversation, to tease and flirt with her as much as Sasha.

As they walked, though, he became uneasy. Something was wrong. He kept looking at window reflections as they passed them. Something definitely wasn't right. He was about to recommend something else when he felt something hard press against his back. Warm breath on his ear, "What's up Bas? Heard about your little meeting with my brother this morning. His heart sank. Awww Shit! Boris. They'd worked Marco over bad this morning. Guess word had traveled fast. He wasn't sure how they'd found him, especially this quickly.

He turned around and saw Boris and two other guys. The girls looked concerned, Sasha especially. Her eyes were wide with fear. For some reason he felt like smirking. Marco had been a little bitch anyway. "What's up Boris? Long time no see? How's the family? Heard your brother got into a bit of trouble this morning."


"In here!" the man snapped shoving him into an alley. The other two herded the girls with them. What a fucked up situation. And here he was probably gonna get some too. These assholes were gonna pay for that. Such a sweet ass...

Something was wrong, and Ayden wasn't the only one who'd notice. Sebastian seemed to be uneasy as well. Sasha, the poor dear was oblivious to everything until they were being herded like cattle into the alley way.

Instinct drove Ayden she drew upon her gift. But that was all she did, they seemed to only want Sebastian. Ayden put a protective arm around Sasha, she was not worried for her own life. These bastards wanted to come at her, she could react faster than they could, and fire was one hell of a way to die.

Ayden could have probably sweet talked her way away from the new men. But Ayden wasn't sure Sebastian could take the three men alone. Ayden wished for a gun. She might have to talk to Connor about that, just for protection. She walked home late at night, and a gun was easier to explain than whipping out a fireball out of thin air. But Ayden really only stayed for Sasha, her doe eyes were all concerned with Sebastian's well being. She must really like him? Why? He was rough around the edges. Cute, charming, but clearly a thug. He reminded Ayden of guys she'd taken out many a times, and even more she had worked for.

Ayden turned to one of the guys. "Why don't ya'll let us go. We don't want any trouble you have here with Sebastian."
She'd thrown the man under the bus if it meant getting out a live. Sasha clung to Ayden, but reached for Sebastian as if she were going to say not with out him. Ayden kept the innocent girl from reaching him. Sasha was a lot stronger than she looked, but Ayden kept her easily at bay.