Cabaret & Candy (TONIGHT ONLY!)

[Aiden Finnegan]

Sage slid his wallet onto the table with a video of the speech that this ‘Ass-Candy’ man was mocking. Aiden was very tempted to snatch it up and watch it then and there. He had been hungry for information over the course of the last two days; that was all thanks to Nox and Cruz. The show had been incredible so far, however, so Aiden restrained the impulse and instead reached for the fluted glass of champagne and downed the last of it before pouring himself another glass, he topped Sage off before setting the bottle back into its ice bucket.

                Aiden leaned over and kissed Sage just because he felt like it. The night was moving along swimmingly… Until nine women dressed in distinctive cultural garb walked out onto the stage. The scene took on a maniacal tone swiftly as ‘Ass-Candy’ started cutting down, literally cutting down, the women on stage. Aiden leaped up from his seat, about ready to rush the stage to stop the carnage. He finally had a tiny modicum of control over his magical abilities, nothing to brag about at all, but someone had to do something!

                No one else moved. Sure. Some gasped, others vomited or fainted, and then there were those that laughed at the carnage. Aiden’s head whipped towards Sage. He whispered furiously at his boyfriend, “What the fuck kind of show is this, Sage?!” He looked around and no one did anything. Not a soul moved to stop the ‘performance.’

                Then it clicked.

                Aiden sat back down in his chair, brows furrowed. Out of curiosity, Aiden began to sing to himself, swaying slightly in his chair. Matthew Sweet's song, 'Dark Secret.' 

                “You are sickened by the weakness…” That ethereal light sprung up behind his shoulder as if on cue and Aiden kept singing quietly to himself, “Of a heart that’s filled with fear… And if the world won’t understand you… You can make it disappear…”

                Countless lights sprung up all over the stage. Ass-candy, the women being mowed down, even the lethal looking scythe had a bright shine to it.

                Channeling… Aiden thought to himself with a gasp.

                He stopped singing for an instant, every single phantom light of the Power winking out as Aiden shifted his focus back to Sage. He whispered to him, “Sorry for the outburst, babe… Sage. He’s Channeling! None of that is real! I’m sure of it! I didn’t know that we could do such a thing with magic! But… how!?” Aiden’s head whipped back around to survey the room, scanning the faces of the raucous crowd. It was too dark and there were far too many patrons for Aiden to find the man he had been looking for. Again, he whispered to Sage, “I fucking hope Nox is here. Has he ever done something like this before? Well… Not this precisely… But… Lord! If I knew how to do that, my movie career would have never tanked! Think of the possibilities, Sage! Not just with movies or special effects, but in real life! We need to figure out how he did that. It might be useful in defending against the… well… Our adversaries.”

                Aiden started singing to himself and swaying again, the lights springing back into his vision. Nox had said that you could figure out how to pull off certain tricks if you witnessed them, but Aiden couldn’t see shit from their table; nothing save the shining lights on stage.

                “Cause there’s a dark secret… Carry with you… Carry with you…” He sang as Ass-candy mounted the pile of ‘corpses,’ “And deep inside the way you hate them… On the outside doesn’t show…”

                Aiden was marveled at the spectacle. Had he not known that this was all fake, he might very well sick up. As it were, he watched every single move that this ‘Ass-Candy’ made. Part of him wanted to tell everyone there that there was nothing to fear, the ladies were fine, it was just some very realistic performance art. Why bother though? No one had called the authorities, as far as he had known, and still, no one made a move to stop the show.

                “And though they think that they will find you… They are slave to what you know,” Aiden sang as a lamb was slaughtered on stage. No light shone off the lamb, nor the blade that was used for the ‘offering.’ Aiden continued on in a shaky voice, not daring to look away, “And it’s a dark secret… Carry with you… Carry with you…”

                The song died on his lips as the lamb made one final cry as it walked into the arms of death. Astral lights winking out all across the stage and from behind his back. The curtain fell as the mock-Ascendancy fell into his vile throne, the rest of the actors bowing to him.

                Names were blared over the speakers and the cast and crew took their bows. Ass-Candy was the last one on stage, making a very dramatic sweep of a bow (one that Aiden’s twin-sister, Rowan, would have been jealous of.) The name ‘Jaxen Marveet’ echoed throughout the room as one final illusion dropped from the man, revealing a completely different man than the one they had been watching. Aiden shot up from his chair, clapping enthusiastically and wolf-whistling amidst the rest of the crowd. He grabbed his fluted glass and downed its contents before dropping back down into his chair.

                Aiden looked directly into Sage’s eyes and said, “Forget the Ascension’s speech. We need to find out more about this Jaxen character… How’s about a little hacking, later on, babe? I’d very much like to know what this man is about… Friend or Foe? Either way, the man has serious talent… Someone we should watch… Does Nox or Cruz know him, by chance?”

                Glancing back at the stage once more, Aiden uttered the word, “Fuck…”