Æ̶a̶̶̶rȯn [i'm 12 and what is this] (
mysterzie) wrote in
diversified2015-01-10 10:29 pm
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Entry tags:
This is what you want, to belong. [ psl ]
WHO "Aaron" (
mysterzie), Jason Marks (
blackjackofall)
WHAT Meetcute little shit.
WHEN 2013.
WHERE Las Vegas, Nevada.
WHYbecause Leo is a terrible father what
Things were coming up red tonight. Color was better than none, and that philosophy was serving Aaron well. They weren't always hits, but the roulettes were hot and he had little doubt that it was thanks to the pretty ladies who insisted on blowing on his chips before he'd lay them down. Whether it was because they had a power or were just that lucky, he didn't care. It was fun. This face was a good one, respectable and handsome and adult and everything Aaron needed to be virtually invisible to have a good time.
Laughter and cries of despair were common, but Aaron was attracting quite the crowd. He wasn't cheating (not yet, anyway, the slots would come later) but it seemed like his run of luck wasn't going unnoticed. That was okay. If he started to get in trouble, he would just pop out and let the poor dealer sap deal with the aftermath. Aaron really didn't like dealers and that was what made it so easy to use their faces to get away with whatever he wanted.
"One more time?" he asked, a playful grin spread across his face while he lifted a chip to his shoulder. "I'm thinking... Red 14."
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WHAT Meet
WHEN 2013.
WHERE Las Vegas, Nevada.
WHY
Things were coming up red tonight. Color was better than none, and that philosophy was serving Aaron well. They weren't always hits, but the roulettes were hot and he had little doubt that it was thanks to the pretty ladies who insisted on blowing on his chips before he'd lay them down. Whether it was because they had a power or were just that lucky, he didn't care. It was fun. This face was a good one, respectable and handsome and adult and everything Aaron needed to be virtually invisible to have a good time.
Laughter and cries of despair were common, but Aaron was attracting quite the crowd. He wasn't cheating (not yet, anyway, the slots would come later) but it seemed like his run of luck wasn't going unnoticed. That was okay. If he started to get in trouble, he would just pop out and let the poor dealer sap deal with the aftermath. Aaron really didn't like dealers and that was what made it so easy to use their faces to get away with whatever he wanted.
"One more time?" he asked, a playful grin spread across his face while he lifted a chip to his shoulder. "I'm thinking... Red 14."
no subject
Finally he got to the table and saw something that unsettled him greatly. That was his face--well, not exactly, but close enough to count--sitting at the table and playing the roulette. Thankfully his expression didn't reveal anything and he sat down next to the face thief, setting his own chips down on the table. "I'll place a bet. Red 21," he said softly as he looked over at the person pretending to be him. "Let's see how I fare against your luck."
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"How about a bet of our own?" he suggested. Higher stakes made it higher entertainment, for him and everyone around, and it was infectious enough to be worth the try. In a world without consequence, it was easy to mouth off and do what everyone else did. "If one of us wins... the loser has to go to dinner with the winner."
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"How about we up the ante?" If they were going to play this game, then Jace was going to have a little fun of his own while pretending to be a bored and lonely woman. "Loser has to pay for the meal."
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"Now here I was trying to be nice to the loser," he said. It was possible for Aaron to be nice sometimes, when he had nothing else to lose. It was this lady's fault for calling him out on it. "Sure. Loser pays for the meal, too. Winner finds the restaurant?"
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The bets were all taken and the wheel started to spin, the ball bouncing around it a bit and Jace focused most of his attention on the ball. Casinos might be bright, but there were still shadows and and he was going to use them to drop the ball on his square and win the bet without anybody ever noticing.
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It wasn't until the wheel started to slow that Aaron found his mouth again, turned to regard the woman as well. "And what's yours?"
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"Jay," he answered, his tone slightly distracted as he watched the wheel and he focused on the shadows as it took hold of the ball as it started to slow down too until wheel and then ball stopped, the ball neatly slipping itself onto 21, just like Jace had wanted.
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At the ball landing in Jay's spot, Aaron huffed and leaned back in his chair. He turned to his companions and gave a big ol' shrug. "Guess I gotta go," he said. "She's probably getting ready to spend all my money." Somehow, Aaron didn't seem all that broken up about it.
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The crowd was starting to thin out now that it seemed like the two were going to leave and no longer give them any entertainment. Jace took a moment to count his chips and seeming satisfied, looked over at Aaron. "How about we go put these away and you can treat me to a nice dinner? Like I said, I'll be gentle with you."
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"Sure," he said easily. "Sure. Do you already know where you want to go? I'm not from around here myself."
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"Oh, I know a place, but I have to ask you something first." He shifted his illusion back to his normal appearance, grinning. "You know it's a felony to impersonate a federal officer, right?"
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It explained why he was thrown off when Jay suddenly turned into Jason, the face that Aaron was using. Figuring out their names was far too easy when people thought you were that person. His vision snapped back to their regular dimensions, blinking a few times before he puffed out his lips like his hand had been caught in the cookie jar. "You know it doesn't count unless you actually catch me first, right?"
And then he was gone.
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"Son of a bitch," he muttered as he looked around. "I found a rogue dealer."
Of course, luck was either good or bad because even after that, Jace was going to run into Aaron again, though not on purpose. He was in a liquor store this time, wanting to get something to enjoy for the evening. His regeneration was a pain in the ass and ruined the buzz alcohol gave outside of large quantities, so he had to stock up. Ditching his babysitters once again, Jace had decided to have his illusions off and go with his natural forever young face, hiding in the shadows of the store and avoiding being noticed by anyone. Grabbing a couple bottles of the strongest stuff he could find, he heads to the counter, hat obscuring his face and he startles when he sees a very familiar face at the counter buying something.
"You've got to be kidding me."
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At the exclamation, Aaron checked over his shoulder. The hat got in the way and he was already turning back to the cashier to receive his change when he stopped and turned back around, concerned and momentarily wide-eyed. That couldn't be... What? That was Jason, but not Jason. Something was definitely weird about this.
"Hi," he said. It was rather lame but just ignoring it wasn't even part of the question. "Fancy meeting you here."
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The guy behind the counter looked at the ID and then to Jace and frowned. "You bullshitting me? There's no way you were born in '74. You trying to give me a fake ID?"
With a sigh, Jace pulled out his badge and slammed it against the counter, looking at the guy with no small amount of annoyance. "Here's some other ID for you, meathead. It's called cellular regeneration and it means I make a very young forty year old dealer, so if you think a government agent's gonna be scamming you, then why don't you take it up with my superiors?"
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He pulled his paper bags of booze along the counter with him, watching. "Maybe I went with the wrong life," he joked. No, he didn't. The actual idea of it was terrifying, but Aaron was really, really good at not really thinking before he started talking. The fact that they were currently sharing different versions of the same face wasn't even a problem right now. "You can get around being carded just like that?"
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"We leave the facility at twenty, stay in one area for a couple of years to get experience, and then we're allowed to be mobile afterwards," he said easily. "Guys like him never see a dealer unless they're over twenty-one, so it's usually safe to figure that if we flash a badge, we're legal."
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It was a pretty good day, after all. Aaron had managed to obtain a wallet someone had carelessly left behind full of cash for whatever reason they thought it a good idea to carry so much. He had money today and wouldn't even need to sneak inside to belong there. If Jace was hung up on it, Aaron could buy him dinner and then they would be all okay. Yeah, he could do that.
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"Not tonight, sadly. I've got a date with these lovely bottles of booze tonight and I plan to get shitfaced," Jace responded with a grin. "Let's say you owe my dinner in the future because knowing my luck, I'll run into you again."
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Ugh, a rain check. Aaron didn't like those because it meant owing someone. It was a responsibility and he tried to keep as few of those as possible. Where was the fun in that? Always looking over your shoulder for when you'd have to do something because you had to, not because you wanted to? "Fine," he said, a little grumpy. It wasn't like his own night wasn't going to be interesting, anyway. He planned to try at least a little bit of everything he had bought today. "Next time, dinner. Then I don't owe you, okay?"
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Hey, he already had plans for the evening and he wasn't going to back out just to deal with a rogue dealer, even if it meant dinner. "Next time, dinner. Then we're even until the next time you decided to bet against me."
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"Then maybe you'll owe me," said Aaron impishly. That was always a possibility. Having a dealer owe Aaron a favor would be awesome. Maybe he could try giving that a go sometime. Maybe. If they actually met up again.
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Jace let out a sharp laugh of amusement, looking over at Aaron to see if he was being serious. "Not if you keep betting on games you won't."
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He was definitely being serious. What, didn't he look serious? Aaron tipped his head, tried to keep the puzzlement out but he wasn't so great at hiding what he was feeling no matter the face he used. "What else would we bet on?"
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There was a shrug from Jace in response. Games were Jace's area of expertise, even without cheating with his magic. "Guess you'll just have to figure that one out on your own."
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"Guess so," he muttered. "But if we're lucky, then we'll never see each others' faces again. Wouldn't that be great?"
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"That'd be wonderful, actually," he said with some amusement. "Seeing somebody else with my face creeps me out, if I have to be perfectly honest."
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With a large grin unfitting for Jace's demeanor, Aaron said, "Then you won't have to see it any more. 'Bye!" At least this time, he walked out instead of teleporting. Doing it where people could see and would report it was a pain.
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It was another night and another city and Jace was at the club enjoying the lights and sounds and everything. His babysitters left him alone when he was out clubbing, preferring to stay in their hotel room and watch his tracker instead of joining in. Their loss. Jace was currently sitting at the bar dealing with a couple, a man and a woman, that he was trying to convince to come back with him for the night. So far, they seemed willing. It was always a pain in the ass to choose between either gender, so whenever the opportunity arrived for a threesome, Jace took it.
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On her latest sweep, she stopped, frowned, barely stopped herself from gaping in insult when she realized who else was there tonight. "Are you kidding me?" she said, only a few feet away from Jace's table. "Stop that! How do you keep doing this?"
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"Maybe you should stop stalking me," he pointed out, looking definitely annoyed by her. "At least you're not using my face this time."
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"I'm not stalking you," she said. "You're stalking me. God, do you want that?" She looked between the couple, then back to Jace and got a mischievous look. "Maybe they'd like that. Maybe you'd like that," she realized, her smile dropping. "Ew."
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"Why would I want to stalk you? I have better things to do with my life than follow you around," he responded somewhat distractedly. "And you wish, don't you? But no, I think I'll pass."
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"You'd be the only one," she said grudgingly. Every other dealer who understood what Erin was made as if she would make a good trophy mounted on their wall. Apparently she was valuable with the abilities she'd displayed so far but really she just wanted to be left alone to do her own thing. Casting a halfway-longing look to Jace's companions, she continued, "Fine, have fun. See if I care. Toodles."
It went on like that for ages. One would bump into the other, insult would occur and things would be derailed just long enough for them to lose the plot of what they were doing before one or both of them parted again in order to continue on with their lives. It wasn't until Aaron had accidentally stumbled upon Jace conducting a deal, a swap of powers for money, that an idea had formed. Those cards that Jace used spoke of promise, something amazing and scary and probably exactly what Aaron wanted after being deprived of it for so long.
So it was with that thought in mind that Erin approached Jace on purpose this time, using a face he wouldn't recognize as another dealer. It was one of her few that... well, wasn't her own, but wasn't intended for use to shift any trouble or blame onto other dealers. It was a face used in keeping hidden and trying to keep peace for herself. "Hi," she said, somewhat nervous about this and unable to hide it at all. Her acting could use some work, too, but hopefully the unfamiliar face would be enough to hide it from Jace. "You're a dealer, right?"
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"I am," he said gently, his focus split between both her and the cards. It was comfortable, something Jace had done many times in his life and was going to do more in the future. "What would you like to discuss with me?"
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"I wanted to see if you had something specific," she said. Her hands had folded over on the table, fingers lifted just slightly to allow the dealt cards a place to rest underneath her palms. "That's all I want from you."
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Picking up the King of Spades, he showed it to Erin. "I only deal with people who can pass a test. In this card you'll see something that is unique only to you. Your desires, your fears, possibly the truth about yourself, I don't know. I've never seen what's on it. Only you will know the answer, but whether you pass the test is up to my discretion." Once he was done talking, he activated an illusion on it, showing to her whatever she either wanted or needed to see.
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Staring at the King that Jace held, she found herself sitting up and back as the image manifested. It was her family. Her family. Parents, sibling, house and even the cat. They were inside and enjoying themselves and still living their lives without Erin no matter what she wanted to pretend had happened in her absence. She reached out to take the top of the card with intent to push it down and avoid the sight any longer. It was the first time she'd seen them in so long and it made her want to cry with happiness and a sudden wellspring of loneliness. "This is stupid," she muttered. What did this have to do with getting her power back from those terrible dealers who had stolen it?