You're a Wizard

[Sage]

There were too many people. Too many voices, too many things happening all at once. The power of the drugs he was on had since faded and Sage had known going in that there would be a lot of people at the concert. Nox had left them to be the hero - always the hero - always fighting things that go bump in the night. Saving the world...

Cruz was younger, but he was stable, he helped Sage home despite the idea Nox had planted in their heads to have a good time. Sage just wanted to go home - to his bed. But he had no home - no bed to call his own. Brian had trashed that life. Phaser no longer existed. Sage no longer existed...

The basement was cold. It was home. It reminded him of the server room minus the freezing chill to keep the server safe and the hum of the powerful machine. Sage missed his home. Missed his life. He missed information... it called just out of reach. He could access it with his fingertips but now it was gone - lost to his mind. Sage felt lost.

Christian offered his unused room - the cool basement air, the silence of the world around. All except Nova who was now scratching at the door at the sounds coming from the other side. Sage rubbed his eyes as he crawled out of the sheets that were not his own. He opened the door of a room he was only a guest. Nova shot out, eager to see his master. Sage could hear the taunting of his friend. But he was still bleary eyed from sleep when he stepped on to the rubber floor and put his hand on the shoulder in front of him. He was about to tell Nox to keep it down, but Sage found himself on the ground and a knee in his shoulder.

Sleep was gone. Fear replaced it. Panic replaced it. The world turned black in fear, he didn't know the face that stared down at him. Sage had a vague recollection, he reached for the processor out of habit and the emptiness of it's state left Sage cringing from loss. He was cut off from everything he'd ever known.

The stranger got up and left Sage lying on the floor dazed and confused. Nox knelt down next to him but his eyes never left the strangers. A quick glance down at Sage as Nox took his hand to help Sage upwas all the look he got from his friend before he asked. "You alright?"


Sage didn't answer he didn't know how to answer. He didn't even shake his head. He didn't really know what was going on, what the hell had just happened... But the one person who could ask was busy saving someone else's life.

[Nox]

Nox watched as events unfolded unable to either help Sage or stop Jay from hurting his friend. But in the end it didn't matter too much. Jay stopped himself but the power coursed through him, he'd formed a knife without thought. It was self defense mechanism. Sage's life had hung in the balance. Wherever Jay went, was not a good place. It was dangerous. The toll of war on a body most likely.

Jay grinned back at Nox in disbelief. Nox didn't blame him. At least Jay didn't have to worry about what his friends would think - he'd spoken of his wizard friend. Now Jay was himself a wizard by his own name. Nox still found it awkward. But wizard was no different than a god. It was at least more clever.

Nox didn't feel like a god as he knelt down to check on Sage. Sage didn't answer him. He didn't look hurt, but not speaking was not good. He'd had a rough day.

Nox grinned back at Jay. "Looks like you lost."


Nox scratched the puppy's head now that things were calmer. Nox stood up pulling Sage to his feet. Then walked over and grabbed two more beers. "Dorian has something a lot stronger upstairs if you want me to go get something."
Nox wrapped the power of the gods around him and chilled his beer while he handed one to Jay. "But first you need to touch the power knowingly. None of this cowboy shooting from the hip stuff. If you don't, you will die from it. I don't know how to tell you how to do it. It's always there. Like a dark light just out of reach. You feel it more than you see it. It calls to you and you have to tame the beast inside it. Be the iron fist as you take it's reigns and hold on, break it. You should see the colors, see the weave of threads I just did. You need to do it of your own free will. Free will is the key to survival."


Sage had stayed where Nox had helped him up. He stared at nothing. Nox turned to look at his friend with a frown. "You should go back to bed. We'll keep it down."


Nox grinned at Jay. "A few more drinks in you before we settle up?"

[Jay Carpenter]

When Nox helped the kid to his feet, Jay rubbed the back of his neck, grin faded. The kid didn't exactly land in a featherbed; he looked dazed. Nox was more dismissive than Jay anticipated. Basically checking that the kid was in one piece and kicked him out.

"Is he going to be okay?"
Jay asked, more concerned than he thought he would be. Maybe he felt bad for kicking his ass, so to say, or maybe it was the deadpan look in his eye. Either way, Nox distracted him with a simple reminder.

"Looks like you lost."


Jay turned, face paling briefly. "You know I was kidding about that bet, right Nox?"
He added an innocent grin to defuse the serious air.

Beer was definitely not going to be enough. "You get whatever is upstairs and I'll sit here and try to touch myself."
A chuckle and he, "I mean, touch this magical power, right?"
He punched Nox on the arm and shoved him toward the stairs. "Whiskey, if it can be found in moscow."


It had been a long time since he'd taken to anything stronger than a beer. But for some reason, the occasion seemed to call for it. Or maybe that was the slightly sick feeling building in his gut.

[Sage]

Sage wasn't really paying much attention. He knew Nox was there and helped him up. They had a small conversation before Nox suggested he go to bed. Sage felt lost in his own thoughts. He wanted to connect to the world, to feel that information flow again. But it wasn't there. He could feel the processing power at his thoughts, but the connection to the outside world was gone. Nox had the little dongle he'd use. Why wouldn't he give it back....

Bleary eyed and tired still Sage followed his friends suggestion. Nova yipped and followed on his heels as he closed the door behind him. The small white and black fluff ball jumped up on the bed and Sage followed after the pup and when he was settled the little one curled up at his back. It was a small comfort. He wished the warm was more than just the fur ball at his back. A warm body to keep him safe and sane.

[Nox]

Jay asked about Sage. Nox gave him a warm smile. Memories flashed through his mind. Things Nox didn't remember yet they felt real - the feelings the emotions. It was only an instant before they were gone back into the recesses of his mind. He hated this shit. "He's fine."
Nox ressured Jay. "Sage is going through withdrawal and people aren't exactly his thing. The concert left him a little worse off. He thought you were me and was probably going to tell me off for leaving until he wound up dazed and confused on the floor."
Nox laughed a little. Sage was likely just going to tell them to be quiet. Or to keep Nova quiet or something. I didn't matter, now that Jay beleived him he could keep it down so the hacker could sleep. "I didn't know he was down here or I'd not have made so much noise."


"You get whatever is upstairs and I'll sit here and try to touch myself."
Nox did a double take a the man standing before him. He heard the joke but the thought brought images of things Nox didn't remember happening. But the rush of emotions, the feelings were real. The eyes... the hands.. the touch. Nox shuddered and made his way towards the stairs and left the comment hang as he went for Dorian's study.

Jay thought he was joking eh? Nox chuckled and mumbled loud enough to be heard as he headed up stairs to get something a little bit stronger for Jay. "We'll see about that."


Jay requested whiskey and Nox didn't really drink hard liquor so that was all he brought back down with two of Dorian's glasses meant for such drinks. There was no ice, but with the power he didn't need it. And Jay was going to have to chill his own drink if he wanted it cold.

At the bottom of the stairs Nox held up the bottle and two glasses. "Hopefully it won't cost me a couple grand to replace it, but it's all Dorian had."
Nox grinned playfully as he sat down on the couch and set the new drink and glasses on the floor in front of them. "Any luck with that touching yourself thing?"
Nox winked at Jay as he downed the last of his beer he'd started before.

[Jay Carpenter]

In the wake of Nox's departure, Jay sank into the couch and rubbed his eyes. The minutes leading up to now were a blur, yet moments stuck like shards in his mind, clear and painful. For the first time the entire evening, he let his mind empty.

His hands rest in his lap, tame for once, and not doing what he joked about with Nox. In fact, they lay on his knee. Beneath the denim, his legs were taut despite the apparent rest, and now that he focused on the remainder of his body, he found everything to be tense.

He let his head drop back, suddenly heavy, and he just stared at the ceiling. For a basement, it was strangly lofty. What the hell was he doing here? He just wanted to go to a concert. His ticket should have gone to Jacques, and instead, fell to him. The fucked up cannibal guy, didn't Nox give him some kind of name? Whatever it was, that guy was probably coincidence. But everything after that was bizarrely entrapping. Maybe it was some plot to go after Jacques? Eh that was stupid. It was a terrible place to assassinate someone. Or given the blood on their hands, maybe it was the perfect place. And magic? He'd seen Vanders use it. It was real enough.

He rubbed his eyes again, and jumped when Nox's voice obliterated the silence.

"Fuck,"
he muttered, sitting up, and wondering why he was so jumpy.

He took the glass and bottle, studying the label. "Macallan Private Eye Single Malt Scotch"
and glanced upward, "never heard of it."
He'd heard of Macallan of course, but if he were to judge anything from the cover, this looked crazy expensive.

With a shrug, he twisted off the foil and popped it open with a satisfying thwap.

He recalled the way that Nox iced up their beers, and although Jay's was sitting abandoned and half-empty, the glass was still cool. But even if he could chill the scotch, he'd not do it. It seemed wrong.

He tipped the glass of amber liquid back. It was smooth as silk as the warmth passed over his lips. He took three long drinks before he realized how easily it went down.

He turned to Nox, blinking with a mix of awe and fear. A healthy fear. He could drink that entire thing without even realizing it. God save him if he ever had a real reason to drink. Well, a recent reason, at least.

"So who is this Dorian guy? And how'd you get tied up with him and the kid,"
he nodded toward the door where Sage disappeared just as he poured himself another glass, shoved off his boots, and sank into the seat cushions once more.

Not that he really cared about their scotch-benefactor. He did sample another taste, though. That stuff was good. Dangerously good.


((Sorry this is a really boring post, couldn't think of anything "to do" really.))

[Nox]

This was a lot to take in and Jay looked tense. Nox hoped the drink would help. It looked like it was starting to work, but he wasn't sure what that look meant. He asked about Dorian and Nox took a swallow of the amber liquid and set the glass aside. It wasn't his drink of choice. He used a rope of air to pull a beer to him and then chilled it. "To expensive for my taste."
He said to explain pushing the expensive drink away.

Jay asked about Dorian and Sage. "Dorian's son is like us. He hired me to help him and to protect him from the Atharim. Two things he couldn't do himself. Sage, well he stalked my sister and when she died he was there for me. Then he fell ill and came to Moscow to have some doctors here fix him up."
I took a swig of the beer. "I don't understand half of it."


Nox leaned back against the back of the couch and put his arm behind Jay and stretched out. It was a long day. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back. The smells, the sounds, the company was all very familiar. Nox lifted his beer and pulled back another swallow. Broken images floated to the surface with each breath. Dark eyes. Strong hands. Low sounds. Happiness, regret. Hope. His sister staring down at him with a huge smile. He warm fingers pressed against his neck. "He left a mark."


Nox was caught up in the moment of his own lost memories and hadn't realized his hand had slid down to Jay's neck and was rubbing the tense muscle. Kneeding and pressing his fingers into the skin. Running a single finger along the hair line and down the far side of his neck before continuing with working the knots out. When his sister spoke to him in his returned memory, Nox's eyes popped open. His heart was racing. His pulse in his ears made it difficult to hear anything. Other memories, flooded his brain, things Nox didn't remember happening, but that one memory said all the rest were true. Nox looked at the man sitting next to him. Lost in the new feelings, new memories, the forgotten things. Nox pushed everything else away as he pulled the last of his dredges away from the beer he had. He set the bottle down and took Jay's chin in his hand and held him gently, the prickly growth of today's beard growing in rubbing at his fingers. Nox leaned in and kissed Jay tentatively. There was nothing but the forgotten memories and Jay. Nox didn't want to think about any of it - nothing but this...

[Jay Carpenter]

Jay laughed when Nox pushed away the drink and stole it before Nox did something stupid, like spill it. The warmth slammed his lips, and he vaguely wondered how Dorian was so rich to have a mansion and staff and thousand-dollar bottles of scotch sitting around unguarded. Nox did ramble off something about Dorian and the kid -- Sage, Jay caught his name -- but like most everything associated with the guy, it made no sense to Jay.

He wished for the ability to float the bottle to him as Nox had. Honest to God, Jay stared at that bottle and wondered how to make it levitate. Was he suppose to do something? Wave a hand? Recite a spell? Say a prayer? Nox did nothing but stare at it, the melodramatic bastard, and it obeyed his every thought. Maybe that was the key? Thought. Concentration. Focus. It reminded him of the first time he held a firearm, scared to death he was going to look like an idiot on the range. Just take a deep breath, he remembered telling himself, focus, and relax. He had control of the weapon, not the other way around. His hands cradled the grip. His eyes found their target. By his command did the weapon operate. Maybe it was the same thing here. Maybe he was concentrating too much on making it work, and that was the exact thing not to do. He'd shoot himself in the foot that way.

"Agh,"
he winced at the sudden pinch on his neck. Weird that his arm didn't fly up to restrain the offending breech of his personal space. Instead, he sat there, oddly accepting of the touch. The whole night was a blur. Man, that Macallan was good. Mac the Manallan. He laughed to himself and rubbed his eyes. "What left a mark?"
He asked as darkness hovered on the edge of his senses. Wasn't there something he was suppose to be doing?

Next thing he knew, he was kissing someone. But that didn't make any sense. There was no one around. No one except..

"Nox?"
He pushed him away slightly, frowning and blinking.

He looked to one side, stared at the empty cushion, then to the other side, then to the guy's hands and finally back to his face. "Really?"
Color Jay shocked. That was the last thing he expected from Nox. The guy was -- clearly a cold-hearted killer and a pretty much damned to hell -- but who wasn't these days? Hell, this whole time, Jay figured if he was going to hook up with anyone, it'd been Vanders by now. But this worked too. He grinned and pulled his shirt over his head.

[Nox]

The press of lips stirred far more emotions that it should have - then it had ever done before. Strange memories. Weird feelings. Alien things, but how could something that felt so good but wrong. The dichotomy was too much to think about. Jay pushed Nox away and Nox nearly bolted in that moment. What the fuck was he doing?

But the next moment Jay was pulling his shirt over his head and Nox got lost in another memory. The first touch of strong hands on his skin and Nox shivered as he reached out to the man in front of him. Nox returned Jay's grin and pushed him backwards to feel the man's body below his...

Memory mixed with reality. Emotions from past and present blurred together and Nox wasn't exactly sure where things started or ended. His head was a buzz with alcohol, his body was tight with desire and he was very much in need of release. But the couch was not comfortable. There was a bed, just the other side of the room.... they just needed to make it there. It wasn't the best room in the house, nor a room with a door, but it had a bed - a small bed but so much better than the couch...

[Sage]

A scratching sound woke Sage from his dazed sleep. The clock in his head said not much time passed. But Nova wanted in, or out? he couldn't exactly remember. The last thing he remembered was lying flat on his back. His head pounded as he crawled out of bed and opened the door. Nova scurried outside and ran out into Nox's play room and hid under the stairs.

It took a moment for Sage to comprehend the other noises he heard from the small room. His breath caught in his throat as they became clear. They weren't being overly loud, but it was clear both were laboring to breathe. Moans and groans of pleasure escaped the room and Sage's heart raced. Nova always left Nox's room when .... poor pup was traumatized by sex.

Sage stood in the doorway with it half open hiding in the shadows of his own room and listened. He tugged on his connection and forgot that he couldn't pull up Nox's phone, or any phone or anything...

Sage smiled. His head hurt. It hurt because he didn't have information. Nox was distracted. The sounds of his passion making Sage want to curl up in his own bed and watch, but he couldn't watch if he couldn't get a camera...

He wasn't the stealthiest person in the world, but the basement floor didn't creek. And Sage tip-toed across the hall. On the bed two bodies rutted and ground against one another. Sage slipped inside the small room on his belly and found a pair of jeans. The sounds above him on the bed were intoxicating. The jeans were Nox's and he pulled the wireless dongle from his back pocket.

Sage slipped out as quietly as he slid in but as he was about to leave, he caught sight of what was really going on. Sage knelt on the floor and watched as the man from before sat up to readjust their position...Sage froze in the shadows. He couldn't stop watching what was happening. Nox was.....

It was different watching from the perspective of real life - everything was, and Sage remembered he could get caught. He moved slowly away listening to their breathing, the sounds of their bodies coming together. The moans and pleasure they had and Sage had a twinge of jealousy as he popped the wireless dongle into the port. He left his door a jar and crawled in bed while he pulled up all the wallets in the area, He found what he was looking for and he curled around his pillow and listened and watched the digital stream. Hope coursed through his body... There was still a problem, Nox had a girlfriend... but that wasn't likely to last. Not now.