diversified | Death ain't nothing but a heartbeat away [closed]

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Death ain't nothing but a heartbeat away [closed]

He's late.

Being in the employ of Shannon Vaughn means that being late is a bad thing and Eli knew that well, but living with his father and having to deal with him meant that sometimes he ran late because of a conversation had gone on too long or he needed to go run an errand for him. Normally, he could cheat by just teleporting to get there on time, but he still wasn't familiar with this part of town and he didn't want to be seen by anyone who didn't know about his powers. Plus, he had been ordered to go to an alley and teleporting in would just be a bad idea all around in that case.

So Eli had to run all the way from the apartment he shared with his father to the specific alley he had been told to go to, nearly getting turned around at a couple of points due to the mental map he had of the area not being fully complete yet. But he successfully got to the street the alley was connected to only a few minutes late, looking like he had run all the way from home. He took a moment to slow down his breathing and heart rate and did his best to make himself presentable. Once that was taken care of, he slipped down the alley and did his best to try and make sure Shannon didn't notice when he got to where he was dealing with whatever unfortunate person who had gotten on the wrong side of his boss.

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"I can multitask," he said, his tone rather subdued considering how much he believed he wasn't the best choice for this at all. "I see how you act. You're smart and try to control any given situation with the pieces you're given. You have power, which makes you unafraid in nearly every circumstance you find yourself in, but you think time is valuable, which could get confused for being impatient, and can get bored if your mind isn't challenged properly, which usually ends up badly for the poor idiot who wasted your time. But you can also be frightening just with your presence alone."

He stopped after a moment and realized what he was saying. He really was an idiot sometimes. "I mean, if I'm not presuming too much."

Remember what Shannon said about questioning him, Eli. He would allow questions, but not the sort that undermined his decisions or conclusions. Eli's fit of self-esteem issues was treading dangerously close and Shannon made note to work on training that vocalization out of him. It would be the first step to erasing the thoughts themselves and getting Eli to actually grow up into his talents.

There was an amused scoff from the back seat at the assessment. "Good. You've got that. So if you understand how I tend to operate, what makes you think I would even bother with someone who wasn't worth putting the time into? I wouldn't. Now focus on what we talked about on the street instead."

Hopefully Shannon's patience will be long enough for him to bust through over a decade of insecurities hanging over Eli's head. He will be a difficult one to get through to.

"Right, I should trust your judgement more, boss." After all, Shannon was older and smarter than him. Plus, he was the boss and what he says is law. "Do you have any ideas relating to the subject? I don't want to put something up that you don't approve of."

Shannon had practice in that sort of thing. From the lowlies in his business up to his numbers man, everyone had their issues. It was one thing if they needed help working through them; it was another entirely if they refused to let go. Luckily, Shannon could tell the difference between wearing someone down and an unwilling student.

"Go for the cliche," Shannon instructed with a smile to his voice. "Was always fond of those. I'm gonna make ya an offa ya can't refuse, and all that."

So Eli's just one more project Shannon's decided to work on. Whether or not that'd make things better in Eli's mind about the whole thing is another question entirely.

He partially stifled a laugh and grinned widely like a child. "Cliche I can do. I'll get to figuring it out right now and we can do a practice run whenever is most convenient for you."

It was a long term plan. Heirs weren't groomed in a matter of months, but years and possibly up to the death of their mentors. There would be plenty of time and Shannon didn't intend to squander any of it.

"When does Marcus expect you home?" If he could get away with it, Shannon had a plan to dump Eli right into it all over again. "Matter of fact, can you change things like cars, too?"

"He wants me back before curfew, so eleven or so?" He could just teleport back home if need be, but that's only something for him to keep in mind. He went quiet for a moment, thinking about it for a long moment. "I could, but that would take more concentration and tire me out quicker. Why do you ask?"

"I can deal with eleven," Shannon mused. They had a few hours yet to go through with his plan and then followup and see whatever else they could get through before Eli would be sent off back home.

Taylor tilted his head back and gave a quick notice that they were almost to the sporting goods place that doubled as Shannon's offices. Taylor knew better than to speak up when his boss was entertaining anyone else, but he also knew they'd been talking about doing something before getting there. Well, he could guess at his boss's intent, anyway. Stick around Shannon long enough and you started to sense the moods the man went through.

"Do it now, Eli. Change the car to look like something else 'til we pull into the parking garage. No one is to know it's us who arrived," Shannon instructed. "Capisce?"

"Got it, boss." Eli took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he placed his hands on the dash. He needed to have some contact with the object he's covering with his hands, having not had the chance to fine tune his control enough to use it with only his mind. As he changed the car into a '73 Cadillac, his eyes glowed a dim blue. To those in the car that could see, there was no difference, but outside it was a different story. His illusion was successful. "That should do it."

"Taylor?" asked Shannon. He wanted confirmation that Eli had followed through. He waited the moment where Taylor glanced about, then opened the window and glanced around outside. There was a quiet pause while he rolled the window back up and tilted his head back for Shannon to hear.

"Don't know how you keep finding the freak shows, Vaughn, but whatever he did..." Taylor trailed off meaningfully.

Shannon grinned. "Great. Eli, you can stop when Mr. Raines here gives the say-so."

"Understood." His concentration was all on the illusion staying up and while he heard Shannon speak, his mind took longer to process the information. Taylor would be telling him to stop, so he would have to pick up on him saying things so he could drop it at the proper time. With more practice, Eli could do this without too much trouble, but what Eli hadn't told Shannon was that it was his first time hiding a car, which explained his intense concentration.

Thankfully it wasn't long from there to the garage. About three blocks, which Taylor cleared with expert timing and maybe running a few definitely-not-actually-yet-red lights. "We're here," he said with a side glance to Eli. He was going to have a hell of a time trying to explain this to the others. All of the Aspects had been accounted for this generation and yet here was this kid with his own set of impossible powers. Shannon Vaughn sure knew how to pick them.

"We good, Eli?" Shannon was already sitting up by that time, getting ready for when they would park and he could get out. It wouldn't do to break his new toy, but if Eli said he could keep going then Shannon would hold him to that. It was important to be able to honestly gauge your own abilities.

As soon as Taylor said they were there, Eli dropped the illusion and sat back in his seat. It was more draining than he had expected, but he could continue on with no problem. After all, how often did he get to show off his powers without people freaking out.

"We're good, boss. What next?" He sounded slightly out of breath, but there was a bit of eagerness and excitement in his voice as well. Eli was having fun with this.

Shannon tilted his head toward Taylor. "Give us ten minutes before you get out. People see you, they'll know I came back." He didn't wait for any sort of indication, turning to Eli next. He could hear the tiredness at the edge of Eli's voice, but did not comment. "Make me look like a schmoe. Someone who would work for me, but not anyone you'd think twice on. We're heading to my office and I don't want to be stopped by anyone with questions.

"Think you can do that?"

Even while Shannon is still speaking, Eli was already thinking up a good cover for him. He knew the sort of person that would work for this, an average man lacking any sort for presence and would have to hold himself differently than Shannon did. He tilted his head thoughtfully at the idea of it. It was a bit more work than just slapping an illusion on him, but if he focused, he could pull it off.

"I'd need to stay in direct physical contact with you for it to work, boss, but it's doable."

"Take my elbow," Shannon said easily. "Stay behind me. If I'm someone else, then I won't be blind, either."

It was a bit thrilling to think that he might get to walk around completely unrecognized. With no one the wiser, he could be one of the laymen. Someone who walked down the street and the world didn't care. When he was growing up or even in the current day, there was always some reason or another people would pay attention to him; his blindness, or his confidence or his cane. Unfortunate facts of life that were just the perfect thing to make people assume they knew him. Shannon did not want to disappear, did not want to lose anything about himself, but infiltrating the lazy world of ordinary people did appeal. A wolf in sheep's clothing sort of thing.

He opened his door partway, then tapped on the back of Eli's seat. He would go first and Shannon would follow suit once they were ready. "On your go."

There was a soft "ah" at Shannon's words. Of course, that made sense. His boss, always thinking ahead. Eli would need to get himself up to speed if he wanted to prove himself to be worthy of being Shannon's heir. But then again, Eli is a bit tired, so his thinking isn't as sharp as usual.

He gets out of the car, instinctively turning invisible as he moves to lean on the car behind Shannon's door, reading to reach out and bring him into the illusion. "Ready to start, boss."

Edited 2014-02-01 04:41 (UTC)

Shannon wasted no time in letting himself out of the car. It was a graceful movement, no doubt at all, no question of what they were about to do. He tilted his elbow out in Eli's direction and rolled his shoulders. Even before the illusion was cast, he was changing his posture and bearing to something more meek and less refined. Shoulders at an angle, feet wider apart, head held up but not high and challenging.

"Can you work with this?" he asked. It was only natural to wonder at the extent of an illusionist's capabilities. What exactly did the illusion cover and how much would Shannon need to make up for it?

"Perfect, boss. That takes some of the work off my shoulders," he answered, smile present in his voice. "I can change that stuff myself, but it would probably be a lesser glamour because I'd have to be concentrating on multiple things at once."

Then Eli placed his hand on Shannon's elbow and activated the illusion. It would feel like that fuzzy static feeling one would get, but it soon smoothed out into nothing as the illusion settled properly onto him. Eli looked at the illusion carefully, adjusting a few things to make it seem more unassuming and fit in well with the others. "There we go. Lead the way, boss."

It felt strange, like someone had suddenly put a balloon to his hair except also everywhere else at once. He took a moment to shake his head and clear his mind from the odd physical sensation and began to walk. He knew where they had parked, Taylor never parked anywhere else, and thus could place himself exactly within the building. Making it inside was simple, as was getting to the second floor.

He stopped when someone grabbed him by the shoulder and put on his best put-upon face. The someone was silent for a long moment, before they said, "You new here? Where you going?"

"Boss ordered a report," Shannon said with just enough snotty cockiness that he heard from the new recruits all the time. "You gettin' in my way?"

"No, no... nah, man. Just—forget it." He was let go, and the someone meandered off. Shannon waited a moment as if watching him go, then tilted his head just enough.

"I'll count that as an exception," he murmured for Eli's benefit. No one had yet stopped him with intent of speaking to Shannon Vaughn and that was the most important part. They continued onward and made it to the office without further incident. Shannon let himself in and paused at the threshold. With an annoyed tone, he ordered, "Jasper, get off the chair. You better not have shed on it."

Edited 2014-02-07 16:49 (UTC)

"Sorry, boss." His voice sounded distracted, like he wasn't really paying attention to Shannon and he wasn't, his attention all on keeping the illusion up. It wouldn't be any good for him if he got distracted and lost the illusion now. Shannon wanted to see if it worked and despite the one major screw up thus far, it was working beautifully. He definitely wasn't planning on letting it fail completely. All during this, Eli's touch on Shannon's elbow turned to a hold and then a somewhat tight grip as he got more and more drained by the illusion.

On Shannon's chair was what would be best described as a giant monster cat and yet despite it being both giant and monstrous, he was a lovely looking feline with sleek sand colored fur and dark brown eyes to match. There was a deep rumble in his chest and he moved fluidly out of Shannon's chair, slinking over to where Shannon and Eli stood, sniffing his boss carefully as if to confirm that the unknown person with his boss' voice really was him.

Now that they were in Shannon's office, Eli finally dropped the illusion and his hold on Shannon's elbow. He blinked at the giant monster cat for a moment, as if he wasn't sure if it was really real and swayed on his feet slightly. "Cat!" He sounded more like a toddler than a twenty-something adult when he said that one word.

And then he promptly collapsed on the floor, ending up on his back and looking up, dazed by both the fall and his body being as drained of energy as it was.

"...When did you get so tall, boss? You're like a building way up higher than me. And there's a cat! Can I pet the cat? It's a really pretty cat. I bet it would be the best cat to snuggle with. I mean, it's a really big cat." He paused to stick his hands up into the air and wiggle his fingers. "Oh man, everything's so light and fluffy. Am I in a cloud?"

Shannon absentmindedly scratched behind Jasper's ears when the shapeshifter came to give him an inspection, then moved past toward his chair once he felt the feeling of static-like energy fade. He was already settling down into his chair when he noticed Eli go down, his body temperature dropping to match the motion. Eli said he could handle such an illusion and Shannon was still holding him to that.

"You'd better not be dying on my floor," he said, no real anger in his tone. More like censure. "Jasper, make sure he isn't dying."

Jasper tilted his head into the scratching, eyes closing until Shannon stopped. Sure, he'd check if the kid was alive and once he's done, maybe he'll go check in with the others about Eli's newly revealed abilities. At least, that was the plan until Eli reached up and starting rubbing under Jasper's chin, causing him to purr like a small engine and lay down next to Eli, making sure not to get away from the chin rubbing.

"M'not dying. Just drained. Never covered a car before, boss. It was a lot more work than a person." He moved his head around a bit to try and look at Shannon in his chair. "Man, I am so hungry. Is it wrong to be hungry after watching a man burn to death? And I'm really craving some bacon right now. Does that ever happen to you, boss?"

"All the time," Shannon replied blandly. It was certainly not uncommon to react with hunger after smelling something cook alive. Wasn't that what humans were conditioned to do from birth and onwards? Whatever. That was easily remedied. As a matter of fact, Shannon was getting hungry himself; the scent had long since stopped enticing him, but that didn't meant he wasn't going to take advantage of the opportunity presented.

Reaching for the phone at the corner of the desk, Shannon tilted his head toward Eli. "Try not to spoil Jasper too much. He still has a job to do. Waffles sound good to you?"

"Oh good. That guy was an idiot, but he smelled delicious when he burned." Eli tilted his head back so that he could see Shannon sitting at his desk. That was dizzying, looking at him upside down, so he closed his eyes so it didn't give him too much of a headache. "Can I come with you the next time you set somebody on fire? I liked it. It was really beautiful. Wish I could've heard him scream."

If there was any doubt that Eli was a bit mad, that flew out the window. He happily rubbed Jasper under his chin, moving his petting to the side of his face and back to behind his ear, Jasper tilting his head to give Eli better access. "I can deal with waffles," he said, his tone somewhat sleepy. At Shannon's comment about spoiling Jasper, he stops petting him. "Sorry kitty, you heard the boss."

Jasper moved into a sit and looked directly at Shannon as he chirped indignantly, appearing to be annoyed at the implication at him being able to be spoiled by Eli. Of course, once hearing Jasper's chirping, Eli squealed in delight and attempted to latch himself onto Jasper, failing due to being completely drained of energy. Jasper sighed and laid down again so Eli could wrap his around his neck in a loose hug. "I didn't know you could do that. You're wonderful."

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Death ain't nothing but a heartbeat away [closed]

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