Mike
Mike put aside the book and rubbed his eyes. He knew from looking at the tattoos that Scott had drawn that most of them were home-made, or created by the mage himself. He wished that he still had access to the Akashic Records that he did just a few short years ago, years before he gave up his soul to Hades. The Akashic Records contained everything that was ever said, done, created in this timeline. With the guides there, he would easily be able to find who had created these tattoos, who had done them, and who was wearing them.
As it was, he had to tease out the tats, break them up into component pieces. Some he knew. Others were specially made by the mage. He was using an old method of rune-making: Take a phrase, parse it down to its bare bones, take out duplicate letters, and create a rune. Using that method, he got some runes out such as “many” and “power”. But what was C-A-T-S other than the obvious word?
He put the scroll aside. Time for some food, check in on the kids, and then later back to work.
Arcanist (Phil)
To prove to himself that he wasn’t gay, he bought a copy of Penthouse.
The girls there were too thin, but the letters were just as racy as they always had been. He found himself hard enough after reading a couple, so he felt better about himself.
What the hell was he thinking last night, saying he wanted Scott and only him? Never, ever, ever, let them see your vulnerabilities, his mentor had told him. They’ll use it against you.
But strangely enough, he was enjoying himself, enjoying exploring this new frontier. Maybe he should try it with another man, Maybe he should go to the Minefield and pick up one of those goth kids, and fuck him in the back alley.
That thought made him want to relieve himself. With his imagination and the spellwork he knew, he conjured a boy in his mind. He knew once he brought himself to climax, that the spell would let loose and the Universe would search for the boy, bringing him in his life. It wouldn’t take long. Not long at all.
Cybermancer (Rey)
Although he lost the ability to control machines with a glance and a thought, he was still able to hack into anywhere he needed to go. This time, he found the Crimson Lounge, and was able to hack into the security cameras.
Well, wasn’t that a nice scene, seeing his employee fucking his mortal enemy’s husband. Although his mortal enemy had fallen to #2 on his Shit List, the young ginger that his employee was plowing into happened to have moved up to #1. However, Rey was not going to directly attack him, no. He had to hurt him.
And his employee was going to do the job for him.
Because he’d be damned, he was not going to let this little ginger control him. Scott had healed him, and when he did, he put some of his essence into Rey to do it. Rey fought every day to not be passive, to continue to be ruthless; to not be gentle and patient, to be forceful and direct. He would not do it. He would not let the boy have him.
But he needed Scott. He ached for him. When he saw him, he wanted to take him in his arms and keep him. His blood called out for him. It seemed like his very soul, his body wanted to be one with him.
He shook his head, but continued to watch the scene. He watched and was filled with something akin to envy. Was it jealousy?
Jealous? Him?
He shut the laptop and turned away to look out into the night.
Knight
Another night alone.
He had gotten used to it now. How many nights had he slept alone before Mal? How many nights had he found any place to sleep and just bedded down, with Kitty in arm’s reach and his rattan sword next to him?
At first, he cried himself to sleep after the children were in bed. A couple of weeks of that, and he just climbed into bed, muttering a prayer that Mal was safe before he would fall asleep
Today was the end of the third month that Mal had disappeared. He marked this day with a candle in the room, as he sat staring at it. He sighed. This was the end. Three months, no word. He decided that starting tomorrow, he would be the single parent of three young children.
“I miss you, Mal,” he said, and repeated it over, and over until he drifted off to sleep.