Illusion and Fire

[Sterling]

[[ @"Elyse" you can jump in here for the interview ]]

Sterling hadn't been to school in three days. The first two days she spent wandering the streets looking for ways to learn how to use this gift she didn't know much about.  Today she was tired of trying to find a better way to do it and headed back to Kallisti. Her parents were already pissed she was missing school.  So it wasn't going to make things any worse.  What were they going to do?  Stay home and make sure she didn't leave?  Take her to school and watch her the whole time?  They both had lives and neither of them really cared anyway.  Her brother was all in and they had diverted their attentions to him -- the good kid now.  Sterling rolled her eyes.

Raisa was pissed too -- Sterling hadn't invited her on her outings, and she wasn't about to take her down here and meet her cousin.  She'd fawn all over him and embarrass her even more than she already did.  Raisa was so into hot boys... Too bad Nox liked boys too and had his own boyfriend.  They were cute, but Sterling was hardly interested her cousin's love life.  She wanted to learn to make illusions and bend fire like Juls did.  Or even half of what she'd seen Nox doing.  He was amazing in comparison.  But he couldn't teach her no matter how hard she tried.  He didn't even try though which pissed her off more than anything.

Sterling slipped down the alley and into the side door.  

The moment she was inside Juls was standing there hands on her hips and tapping her foot like she was her mama. "Why aren't you in school?"

Sterling grinned, "I can't think so why should I be? I'll die if I don't get this mastered."

Juls rolled her eyes. "You aren't going to die. You know how to do the basics."

Sterling giggled. "But I will."  She started gagging and holding her throat.  "See."

Juls sighed. "Be glad Nox isn't here.  He'd march you back to school and tell your parents."

Sterling shook her head. "No he wouldn't.  He'd make me in enroll in some stupid online school and make me do work before I can touch the power.  You won't tell him I'm here will you?"

"We'll see." Juls said. "Come one, you can watch while I practice and then maybe after the interview is done you can get up there and try."

"Oh. Thank you." Sterling said following Juls into the lounge area where the rest of the girls waited with smiles and waves and a hug from Mae.

[Elyse]

Elyse arrived at Kallisti, wearing comfortable dance attire. It wa what she had been told to wear after her interview with Carmen. The initial interview went well. Well enough to warrant dance audition with the girls today and a job as a bouncer if that didn’t work out.

That at least gave Elyse a smile. She had a job no matter what. Still, the thought of dancing exciting Elyse. She had a feeling this was the release she needed. On top of that, Elyse felt free. For the first time since they ha revealed themselves, Elyse’s golden eyes were not covered with color contacts. She had made the decision after she had confirmed with Nox that the other dancers knew of this.

Before entering the club, Elyse paused, centering herself with a few deep breaths. She entered andas soon approached by a man who informed her that the club was closed.

”I have an interview. I’m supposed to meet with someone named Juls.” Elyse said with a smile.

The man led her to a lounge where several girls were waiting - including Mist. Elyse gave her a smile and introduced herself. ”Hello! I’m Elyse Andersen. I was sent here by Carmen for an interview.

[Sterling]

Sterling sat and watched as the girls all got up on stage and did their thing. They were all in a rush to polish up the moves they'd been working on and off again with Nox. He'd finally decided to put on another show. Not that she's seen the first one -- though it was all over the internet.

Juls was practicing her flames and illusions and the others were mostly just polishing up their moves. That was until a woman with golden eyes stepped into the lounge and all things stopped. Everyone but Mae froze, but Mae grinned and smiled at the golden eyed woman who had introduced herself as Elyse. "Nox warned us, but it's still disconcerting seeing it for real. Kas was safe and then he wasn't. My name is is Mae. The red head over there is Juls with her protégé Sterling. The kid isn't a dancer she's Nox's cousin and like Nox and Juls. Candy is up on stage. Anna, and Amaya are over there rehearsing. Claire's behind the bar taking inventory and the big guy standing by the door is Bruno. Either he or Nox are here at all times."

"You talk about Nox like she knows him." Sterling said.

Juls giggled. "Elyse is his ex-girlfriend."

Sterling covered her mouth and her eyes went wide. She had so many conflicting thoughts about that. Why would she want to work with her ex? There wasn't a boy she'd want to hang around with that much if he had dumped her and especially if she dumped him. And then there was the whole he was seeing a guy now... But from the way Mae and Elyse looked at each other there might be some of that in the air all around.

Juls hopped of the stage and gave Elyse her hand. "I'm Juls, don't mind Sterling, much like her cousin she's a handful and just as blunt sometimes. I have a few questions before you get up on stage. Do you feel comfortable doing a solo act? Most of us do, but then you have Nox who puts on an entire show for one night only involving all of us. And we've smaller acts that are twos and threes. "

Sterling skipped out of the lounge and headed up to Nox's room and found it empty. She pouted. His laptop was gone. Even Lily was gone. She knocked on Raffe's door and there was no answer. With that failed attempt she grabbed her wallet from her pocket and sat back down at the table she'd commandeered to watch Juls and the girls. She sifted through all the new videos and all the fun things she'd missed while she slept.

[Elyse]

Elyse smiled at Mae. There was something about hearing someone’s name for the first time. Elyse nodded at everyone as they were introduced. Sterling was Box’s cousin, and Elyse wondered at her age. Was she even old enough to be here. Everyone here seemed comfortable with her however.

Elyse took Juls’ hand and shook it, then placed her bag on the ground. ”I would be willing and able to do solo work.” She gestured toward the bag. ”i have an idea for a gimmick and have a costume change in there if you’re interested in seeing it. Of course, I’m also willing to listen to any advice and criticism.”

Elyse was quite proud of the work she had done in a short time. She had danced in high school and had combined it with some martial arts to show her balance and grace. Still she felt nervous. She hoped she did well enough to show these girls that she would fit in with them.

[Sterling]

[[ ooc: sorry forgot to respond ]]

Juls smiled. "We are more than happy to see what you've prepared."

Sterling sat down with her wallet and started stitching together some video. Nox wouldn't mind.

Juls set down an old school box with giant speakers. "It's old school sound, but new technology. It's fun to use for practice. Candy uses it for one of her retro acts. You can hook your wallet to it and set up whatever you need."

One of the guys behind the bar brought all of them a cup of coffee. He even had a drink for Sterling who giggled with glee and Juls gave the kid a stern look -- both of them. Aaron grinned. "Hot chocolate. I wouldn't piss of Nox. He's fucking scary when he's angry."

"He's quiet and dark." Sterling said. "And it's only getting worse." She giggled and grabbed another drink off the tray and took a sip before Aaron or Juls could say anything. "Sucks to be you."

Juls growled. "We all saw that kid. He finds out it's all on you."

Sterling shrugged. But Juls took the hot chocolate and offered Elyse a cup off the tray. "Coffee. We'll learn your order soon enough and you'll get your own cup with your name on it and Nox and Raffe and Aaron and the rest of the guys will bring us coffee and food on their runs."

Mae giggled from the other side of the room "He might even cook for us. Which is a fun sight since we have no kitchen." Mae hoped up on to the edge of the stage and beckoned Elyse. "Let's see what you got darling."

[Sterling]

Sterling got bored. And Nox's computer was no where to be found. Even the entertainment was meh. Not that it wasn't good. Or that Nox's ex-girlfriend didn't have it. Sterling was fourteen and had the attention span of a spider. And she was bored. Juls was busy. Nox wasn't around and neither was Raffe. Boredom struck and Sterling slipped out of the club.

She overheard Juls say. "Kids gonna get us all in trouble one of these days." And then she went right on back to coaching their latest recruit. She'd picked that up too. Elyse'd be working the stage. That was nice, she guessed.

But Sterling was sneaking off through the red light district back home, catching the train home. Or maybe not. Someplace else that was for sure.