diversified | This is what you want, to belong. [ psl ]

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This is what you want, to belong. [ psl ]

WHO "Aaron" (

mysterzie), Jason Marks (

blackjackofall)
WHAT Meet ~~cute~~ little shit.
WHEN 2013.
WHERE Las Vegas, Nevada.
WHY ~~because 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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It was the crowd that drew his attention. He had used a mix of his shadows and illusions to get away from the agents that tended to play babysitter despite the fact that they didn't really care if he went off to play a few games between appointments with people who needed to swap out their powers for something less dangerous or more useful. Sometimes he just wanted anonymity and being alone and under the cover of his illusions helped. Right now, he was under the guise of a young woman, mid-twenties and nicely dressed, but not provocative enough to catch anybody's attention immediately. He made his way to the crowd, politely getting people to move out of the way.

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."

Oh, that was interesting. Aaron smiled for the woman, polite and intrigued and he knew enough by now to know that the space meant something more than he really understood. But there were plenty of ways to play this game, and he placed a few more chips on his own pile. He didn't even intend to cash out on them, too much stuff going into making it all real. It sucked the fun right out of everything and made the game into a chore.

"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."

Jace couldn't help but smile at the situation. Here he was gambling with someone that had stolen his face and he didn't exactly want to stop the game by turning off his illusion and pulling out his badge just yet. He wanted to see how this played out and what exactly what this person was up to by borrowing his face.

"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."

Aaron laughed. Not giggled or anything as childish as that, just a simple laugh while he played with one of his extra chips. It was a hard-learned lesson not to fidget or react too strongly, to sit and be proper and adult. At least it was easy once you had it down. He tilted his head, smile easing.

"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?"

"Winner picks the restaurant," he conceded easily. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that he was going to win, what with him being a card shark and all. With his powers, he could just as easily cheat as roulette as he could the cards and slots. so this was easy enough for him to rig. "You have a name, handsome?"

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.

"Aaron," he said. Watching the ball rotate, he took his eyes off his competition and went entirely still. It was that moment of chance and luck that had him on the edge of his seat. Every time he won, it was an amazing accomplishment. Every time he lost, there was a chance of surging back just as strong as before if he kept going. It kept people around, kept people interested and pushing as far as he could go always drew the crowds. At the mercy of lady luck was the way to go, since all these chips and winnings were as good as Monopoly money to him.

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?"

Relying on luck was something Jace hated and why he ended up becoming a card shark instead of a regular gambler. Casinos had everything stacked in their favor and the only way to make money was to cheat and it was something he did well. Besides, he never won enough to cause trouble with the casinos and the men in charge loved to see a dealer around since it always meant there'd be money spent.

"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.

Stacked in their favor, perhaps, but casinos also assumed that their patrons would have the attention spans and obsession enough to stick it out when the going got tough. Aaron was more likely to call it quits once he hit a certain low and while it kept him from being a schmuck, it also helped keep him off the radar. He wasn't looking for any kind of trouble, anyway, just something to fill the time.

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.

He merely gave Aaron a small, knowing grin as he picked up the chips he had won and then laughed softly at Aaron's words. "Oh don't worry," he said with an amused tone. "I promise I'll be gentle."

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."

Aaron hopped to his feet once there was room around him. He held a hand out to help Jay stand as well, hoping to give off the impression of an interested and responsible adult. There were a lot of things Aaron didn't really understand about the world he frequently stepped into, but that was hard to misinterpret. Staying long enough to actually pay with money he didn't have wasn't part of the plan, but he did intend to stick around for a while longer.

"Sure," he said easily. "Sure. Do you already know where you want to go? I'm not from around here myself."

Jace didn't take the offered hand. After all, he was a strong independent woman who didn't need no man and was really only stringing this guy along until he could get him somewhere less crowded. Thankfully that wasn't going to take long as Jace was already leading Aaron away from the crowds. Before they got to the counter to turn chips back into money, Jace turned to Aaron and smiled.

"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?"

Once they were further from the crowd, Aaron fiddled with the one power that didn't quite feel right. It wasn't settled in like the rest that he chose to keep; it was useful, but it was like wearing a glove instead of being an extension of his hand. It was just... icky. His vision expanded to watch everything around them: back, front and sideways, without anything about his appearance changing to match. It had been a while since he'd stolen it off that terrible dealer, but he was still getting used to it.

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.

At first, there wasn't really a reaction when Aaron teleported away. It took a moment of the gear whirring away in his head for him to finally realize what had happened to him. He had found a teleporter. A teleporter with his face. And it was the one everyone knew and Jace ran a hand through his hair as it all went together in his mind.

"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."

It wasn't just one something that Aaron was buying. There was a wine bottle, a pack of beer, even some of the harder liquor all together. The cashier was joking with him about having a party while Aaron was just grinning along and pulling out two fifties to pay, quietly happy that they weren't trying to prove how adult he was. Because clearly, he was an adult and he was just buying something for himself with no children in sight to get in trouble over.

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."

"Out of all the liquor stores in the country, you have to walk into this one," Jace replied slightly dramatically as his tipped his hat back and let the shadows recede. He was no longer trying to hide, so it didn't make sense to keep it up when he didn't need it. Placing his assortment of liquor on the counter, he pulled out his wallet to hand him a credit card and the ID that matched his current face. "You still owe me dinner, by the way."

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?"

Aaron jumped just a bit at the badge slamming on the counter and stepped aside while Jace had his little show. He didn't know what cellular regeneration was, but apparently it had to do with looking young and Aaron suddenly wasn't sure if Jace was pulling out another illusion or messing with people through what was real. Either way, it was hard to say what Jace was up to and Aaron didn't really want to stick around for too long to find out. Maybe just a little longer, though.

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?"

The guy behind the counter didn't argue with the badge and rang up Jace's purchases without much fuss, giving the ID and credit card back when he was done with them. Jace put them and the badge away and waited for his booze to be bagged up. Once that was done, he grabbed them and finally turned back to Aaron and shrugged.

"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."

"That's a long time," Aaron said. That meant Aaron would have been with the government for longer than he had already been running if they caught him. The fact that Jace wasn't threatening to put him up on charges again was pretty okay with him. Maybe he realized Aaron couldn't be caught? That would be cool. That would be smart. Other dealers were probably still on the lookout for Aaron even if they didn't know what face to look for. Then a thought occurred and Aaron gave Jace a very intense scrutinizing look. "Did you actually want dinner?"

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.

"It's not too long, when you think about it. Twelve years or so in the facility compared to the rest of your life? Not too bad of a trade off, if you ask me." Jace had his own reasons for not actively pursuing Aaron, most of which involved him not giving a shit about hunting down and catching rogues. That wasn't his job and he wasn't going to get involved with it if he didn't have to. Besides, he had better things to do with his time.

"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."

Aaron scowled at that. Twelve years was a lot, especially considering that it wasn't even over once you left. It was like being permanently grounded and under watch, he knew that much. How anyone didn't go completely crazy like that was beyond him. Maybe they just didn't have a choice because they didn't have the same awesome powers Aaron did. That was actually not such a great idea and he ended up shrugging. "What about your buddies?" he asked. Just because those other agents weren't there right that moment didn't mean Jace was free.

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?"

Twelve years was a lot to a ten year old, but not so much to the man now in his mid-fifties. Besides, the leash Jace was trapped on now was far better than the cage he was forced to live in during his childhood. He wouldn't share the truth about the facility because Aaron hadn't called him out on it, which meant that he hadn't been there because after all, nobody's escaped from the facility and Jace knows that far better than anyone. "My bodyguards? Oh, they keep their distance most of the time and they have a tracking device in me if they get too worried."

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."

"Tracking device?" Aaron couldn't help but pull a face at the idea of it. Putting a machine inside of another person sounded incredibly gross and uncomfortable, and what if it got wet? Yeah, it was terrible and another reason Aaron was forever happy that he had avoided getting taken in the first place. Just the whispers were enough to give nightmares and those were probably the scariest things he could imagine all wrapped up into one, then he heard even more and it got worse.

"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.

"They think I'm going to run off. This way, if I do, they'll find me," he said with a shrug. Everyone thought that Jace's cellular regeneration was far weaker than it was, so they had no idea that he could just remove it without any lasting damage, but he was going to stay on his leash until he had everything ready to escape and live his life the way he wanted to until he died, whenever that was going to be.

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."

"Do they think every dealer is going to run off?" he asked. Was it for every single one, or did they only do it for the bad dealers? No doubt Aaron would have been one of them, but there was still so much he didn't understand. It was that unknown that definitely kept him on edge and on the run, a powerful upset in him that kept him taking other dealers' faces to use for whatever he damn well pleased.

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?"

"No, just the ones who kept trying to break out of the training facility." He sounded proud of that fact, far more than anyone would ever expect him to be, but Jace does hold the record of getting the furthest in escaping than anybody else could claim and he was going to flaunt that when he could.

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."

That was definitely interesting. Aaron didn't entirely know what it meant, but that was something he was going to remember about Jace. Not that he wanted to run into him again once things were settled, but there was a lot to be said about knowing other people making it easier to run away from them. "For twelve years?"

"Guess so," he muttered. "But if we're lucky, then we'll never see each others' faces again. Wouldn't that be great?"

"Actually, only a couple. I learned pretty quick that it was easier to bide my time until I graduated." Jace was not going to mention that it was better to sit through the training than fail to escape and be punished severely for it. That'd probably only confirm to Aaron that he did the right thing by going rogue.

"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."

There wasn't much Aaron could say to that. As enlightening as the conversation was, there was much more interesting things going on in the world and stuff that he wanted to do without a dealer standing so close. They were dangerous, even if this guy was apparently not on the clock right now or just really wanted his booze or whatever.

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.

Unlike last time, when Aaron leaves, Jace continues on his way without issue. He already reported him once before and it didn't really matter if he did it again because hopefully they'd never see each other again. Besides, it was time for him to get drunk and he wasn't going to waste precious time caring about some rogue dealer that wasn't any of his business.

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.

Another place, another time, and another face entirely. Aaron wasn't one to stick with one boring old thing, mixing it up and matching to whatever the situation called for. Tonight, actually, she was Erin and she was perfect for the club. Adorable dress that wasn't very showy but definitely hugged, a drink in her hand and she was making her way through the club looking for anyone particularly lonely or fun-loving to join. There were plenty of ways to go about it, she'd discovered, but most of the time it was easiest to just insert herself and let the adults do the job for her.

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?"

Edited 2015-01-15 08:23 (UTC)

There was a familiar face in the crowd and he knew it as one of the other dealers. Not somebody he was too personally acquainted with, but well enough to recognize her and from the words she was saying, it was definitely someone else. He frowned and looked at her, his companions leaning against him while he did.

"Maybe you should stop stalking me," he pointed out, looking definitely annoyed by her. "At least you're not using my face this time."

Erin took in the scene, noticing Jace seemed to be up to just about the same thing as she was. That was a bit irritating, because it was her fun tonight! What was he doing trying to do her fun thing? She stepped forward and placed herself opposite him at the table, crossing her arms comfortably to take a sip from where her rested near her intertwined wrists. It was almost a challenge, but really she just wanted him to go away.

"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."

No matter what, Jace wasn't going to let Erin ruin his fun. He turned his attention back to the couple and murmured a few things to them before the woman moved to kneel under the table and her companion started to kiss Jace's neck. Letting out a sigh, he finally turned back to Erin, looking at her as if she had no right to be there and she technically didn't.

"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."

Grunting in disgust, Erin stood up from the table. It had nothing to do with Jace's choice in company or how eager they were to keep going in her presence, it was that she didn't have anything to show for herself yet. She was here to have a good night, and Jace's presence was just ruining the vibe she'd had going on.

"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?"

When Jace wasn't on the clock, he usually was found in a corner of the lobby of whatever hotel he was staying at, playing solitaire as he waiting for people to approach him with the request for a power. Erin's arrival didn't make him look up and instead Jace merely gathered his cards and started to shuffle them as he gestured for her to sit down across from her. Finally, he looked up and studied her, appearing calm and professional as he started to deal out cards between them.

"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?"

Since he was offering, Erin took the seat and sat down. So far, so good. It seemed like Jace was expecting this sort of approach and she let it help her calm down. If this was how it was going to go, she could figure out a dealer's game, their process, and maybe reclaim something of hers all at the same time. That would be fantastic, and she had to take a breath to calm down, brace for whatever was going to happen next. It might just be this easy.

"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."

"Everyone's looking for something specific," Jace pointed out and once they both had five cards in front of them, he placed the deck in between them and flipped over his five cards. They look like normal playing cards, but with Jace, it was never as simple as it seemed. "You might even be lucky and I could have what you want."

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.

Without truly thinking about it, Erin began to set out her own cards out like Jace had. She was following his lead but paused in a moment of incredulity when she could feel the auras hidden inside of the thin cardboard. She glanced up to Jace, down to his hand, then back to her own. She finished laying them out and listened to the explanation.

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?

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This is what you want, to belong. [ psl ]

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