Shamans In Love

About This Series :

This is a role-play between another author and I that we like to have fun with. We designed characters and used a fictional world we enjoy to set the scene. One of us types a bit of the story, then e-mails it to the other, who types a bit of a continuation, and so on and so forth. Here is the resulting published version.

**Disclaimer**

I own nothing related to the original inspiration for this series. This is a fan-fiction role-play created by myself and distributed with no intent for financial gain.

There will be nudity, sex, gay stuff, kink/fetish acts, etc. Don't like it? Don't read it.

Contact :

If you would like to reach me or the other author, it's very easy! We both have dedicated e-mail accounts AND have character roleplay tumblr's that you can follow us on!

JasonBellaraux@aol.com /// jasonbellaraux.tumblr.com

Vlad.Strelok@yahoo.com /// vladstrelok.tumblr.com

----

Part 1 - The Meeting

Jason Bellaraux was fast asleep, head on his desk, in his "History of the Dream speakers" class. He was awake earlier, but found the tedious droning about the past. He had nodded off sometime in the midst of a few Technocratic politicians scheming over the plans for the Inquisition. He didn't care about the subject, and he was only required to take the class mainly as a formality, he had more important things to get to.

As the professor droned on, still explaining the early planning stages for one of the Technocracy's uprising, the bell rang. Jason awoke and began to shake off the sleep as the other students shuffled their notes away and headed for the door. He left, but not without ignoring a glare from his professor, and headed for the passageway that led down to the lake far below the school. There he knew he could escape the bore of a phony education and get to his mentor to train in magic.

As Vladimir Strelok watched the cute boy who had slept all through class hurriedly leave, he wondered where it was he was off to. He shrugged off the idea and began neatly putting his things away. He was always slower than the rest, preferring to finish his notes with poignant thoughts and provoking questions to ask the next class. He thanked the professor for his lesson and left, headed for his own room in the living quarters; being finished with his only class for the day. He exited the classroom into a large stone hallway with round, vaulted ceilings. Among the ceiling were little orbs of light, magical of course; he knew that. He didn't know how they worked but he appreciated the fact that there was light in the school, considering they were underground. He turned and headed down the hallway, past arched doorways into various classrooms as he headed towards the living quarters. He walked along, head down, secretly eyeing the various students' flashy shows of magic as they walked the halls; stopping once in a while to steal a glance through a doorway to watch a professor give a grand demonstration of a magical feat. Having no abilities himself, he was entranced by the others' powers and envied them deeply. He wasn't even sure why his parents would send him to such a school. He was 16 and still showed no signs of Awakening. He knew he was disappointing them, not fitting in as well as they had hoped. What were they thinking, that some of the other students' abilities would rub off on him?!?!?

As Vlad stood silently, fuming with his thoughts, he was suddenly knocked over by none other than the cute boy who was sleeping in class earlier. Papers flew everywhere, they both ended up in a heap, and Vlad knew that the boy would not be pleased with him.

Jason quickly turned a corner and ran smack into some guy standing right in the middle of the hallway. He knocked him over, tripping on him, and they both fell. Jason felt exasperated by the unnecessary diversion and quickly started grabbing papers off the ground and piling them up in his arms. He stopped to apologize, turning to the guy he ran into. He was a short, mousy guy with short, spiky blond hair, blue eyes, and funny-looking glasses. He looked to be a lot younger than Jason, with pale skin and strong bone structure, underneath a slightly rounder baby face; making Jason assume he was not much older than 13 or 14.

"Sorry" Jason managed to say as he stood, offering the papers to him. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

Vlad looked up from his scrambling to rearrange the mess, and realized that he was right to think that the boy was cute, as he stood, Vlad took in the boy's entire appearance, and his annoyance about his notes quickly turned into excitement about it being this particular boy. Vlad glanced him over, making note of his every feature. He was half a foot taller than Vlad, making his own 5'3" frame seem meek. The boy had a darker skin tone than Vlad, but lacked any distinguishing features of a race that Vlad could put his finger on. His ocean-blue hair was in pencil-thin dreadlocks, held back by a black bandana, and falling to his shoulders. Vlad stopped for a moment on the boy's body, as he clearly worked out or something. He wasn't hugely muscled, but his arms and calves were thick and strong, but loose-fitting robes covered in magical runes led the rest to Vlad's imagination. The boy was about his own age, 16 or 17 by Vlad's best guess.

"S'okay" Vlad managed to stutter out, as he accepted the rest of his papers from the boy.

Jason cracked a half-smile, jutted out a hand to greet him, and introduced himself. "I'm Jason Bellaraux."

Vlad shifted his papers around and quickly readjusted his glasses before grasping the boy's forearm in proper greeting, reaffirming his earlier observation of Jason's musculature. "Vladimir Strelok, but please call me Vlad."

"Well good to meet you Vlad! And it's good to finally put my finger on where you're from. You looked foreign, but I couldn't quite place it until you said something." Jason chuckled over Vlad's slight Russian accent.

Vlad rolled his eyes, not appreciating being made fun of. "Yeah yeah, Soviet Russia; car drives you," Vlad mocks, thickening his own accent. "I've heard them all."

Jason was taken aback. "Nah man, it's not like that. I didn't mean any offence. Hey, Shamans are from all walks of life, the Umbra chooses those who are worthy. Colors and creeds are naught but an earthly fancy; all are equal in the great dance of the Quintessence." Jason said in an almost poetic tone. There was clear power behind his words, that much Vlad could tell. He felt better, calmer, and re-assured that the boy, Jason, wasn't actually making fun of him. A nice change, from what he was used toà

Jason noticed the guy Vlad drifting off again into thought, and decided that this was a great time to make his exit. "Well Vlad, it was nice to meet you, but I have training to get to, so I'll see you around!" Jason hurriedly left, again towards the underground lake.

Vlad immediately snapped out of his reverie just as Jason waved a hand as he turned around, and watched him disappear around a corner. He sighed as he shuffled his messy papers again and headed home himself.

----

Contact :

If you would like to reach me or the other author, it's very easy! We both have dedicated e-mail accounts AND have character roleplay tumblr's that you can follow us on!

JasonBellaraux@aol.com /// jasonbellaraux.tumblr.com

Vlad.Strelok@yahoo.com /// vladstrelok.tumblr.com

Shamans In Love

About This Series :

This is a role-play between another author and I that we like to have fun with. We designed characters and used a fictional world we enjoy to set the scene. One of us types a bit of the story, then e-mails it to the other, who types a bit of a continuation, and so on and so forth. Here is the resulting published version.

**Disclaimer**

I own nothing related to the original inspiration for this series. This is a fan-fiction role-play created by myself and distributed with no intent for financial gain.

There will be nudity, sex, gay stuff, kink/fetish acts, etc. Don't like it? Don't read it.

Contact :

If you would like to reach me or the other author, it's very easy! We both have dedicated e-mail accounts AND have character roleplay tumblr's that you can follow us on!

JasonBellaraux@aol.com /// jasonbellaraux.tumblr.com

Vlad.Strelok@yahoo.com /// vladstrelok.tumblr.com

----

Part 2 - The Tutoring

Vlad walked into his class, and stopped dead in the doorway. He saw the guy he had met just yesterday; Jason Bellaraux, having a heated discussion with their professor and what looked to be a blue ball floating in the air.

"What do I care whether or not I do well in the class? It's pointless! I am training to take Western seat of the Four Winds, I need to focus on that, not this silly little history class." Jason threw his hands up in the air, exasperated.

Vlad then heard a deep voice, seemingly coming from nowhere. "Jason, learning our history is important to your future position. How can you be expected to act as a spirit guide if you don't know everything you can about the people you are guiding? This is the only class I'm having you take, because your training is important but so is this. You will not gain the respect of the community if you do not first show them the respect they deserve themselves."

Jason gave a loud, annoyed sigh. "So, what am I supposed to do?"

Professor Eliade exploded, "Try staying awake in class! Doing your work! Anything that actually shows effort, maybe?"

The voice spoke again, "That's quite enough Robert, I think that Jason understands. Is there anything Jason can do that might be able to bring his grade up? Making up his missed work? Doing extra credit?"

Professor Eliade sighed and rubbed his temples. "What, pray tell, do you think will suddenly possess this boy to actually do any extra work I can drum up to assign him?"

Vlad continued to watch in silence for a few moments, unsure of how to react to what he was witnessing.

Finally, the strange voice broke the silence. "If you are willing to come up with some way for him to raise his grade, then I will come up with the way to ensure that he will do the work.  Understand this Jason, there will be no shirking your duties. Learn now that respect must be given before it is earned. I trust in your judgment Professor, assign him what you will, and it will be done; or Jason, you'll not have any training to use as an excuse for failure. Good day to you both."

Vlad watched as the ball quivered, it's surface rippling like a pool of water disturbed, just as it began to fall. Jason whipped out a hand, palm-down, fingers outstretched; and the ball stopped just short of the ground. As Jason moved his hand, so did the ball; Jason was moving the ball with magic! Vlad watched in awe as Jason pulled the ball closer to himself, seemingly absorbing it directly into himself. Vlad saw his clothes dampen where the ball made contact, proving it to be water; but the dampness soon faded as Jason seemed to absorb that too.

"Mr. Bellaraux, I don't feel I can do anything more to impress upon you the importance of this class beyond what your mentor just did. I will work with you, seeing as how now this is your only chance to become a Mage in your own right." Professor Eliade leaned back in his chair, seemingly absorbed in his thoughts. Finally he sighed and said "Give me the day to think this over, class is starting very soon. Take your seat. You might as well come in now Vladimir, I don't appreciate the eavesdropping but I know that it was unintentional. Please, come in." He stood, walked out from behind his desk, and began arranging papers on the lectern.

Vlad blushed and hurried in, avoiding Jason so as not to further embarrass him.

Jason sulked over to his seat, slumping over, but Vlad noticed much less than what he normally did. Jason was upset, but clearly intending on paying attention.

Jason sat, upset at the circumstances, but not letting himself be defeated. How dare Magnus put such a restriction on him? He knew he had to respect his mentor, but didn't see the point of the class. He wouldn't let some stupid school's history lesson get in the way of him and his training. He was determined to do whatever it was he had to in order to get where he knew he was destined to be. Jason sighed and sat up straight, not having brought anything to take notes on, he knew he would just have to pay that much more attention. He stared at the table, trying to drown out the chatter of the other students shuffling in the door, hoping that he could somehow transfer his own shame and embarrassment into the wood, allowing the tumultuous feelings inside him to move into the grain. Maybe they would drown in the knots and whorls of the wooden patterns. The class suddenly fell silent and Jason looked up. The professor stood at the ready and began into his lecture. He started explaining the different ways in which the Technocracy put themselves into positions of power to begin the Inquisition in 12th-Century France.

Jason was immediately perplexed. 12th-Century France? The last thing he remembered, the last time he paid any attention, Professor Eliade was discussing Emperor P-something-or-other in the Roman Empire, in the first few centuries of the Common Era. He was completely screwed.

All throughout class Jason tried to keep up, but the professor kept mentioning things he had already gone over previously. Jason realized how completely lost he was in the material and how little he had apparently paid attention over the semester. He was going to have his work cut out for him trying to figure out the material, much less do the work that the professor was going to assign him. Jason was overcome with relief when Professor Eliade ended his lecture, calling the class to a close.

Students got up to leave and Jason waited for them all to shuffle out the door. He stood and walked up to the lectern like an ashamed dog with its tail between its legs. He got up to front and waited, dreading whatever punishing assignment the professor had cooked up.

Professor Eliade finished filing away all of his papers and finally sighed. He began, "Jason, the issue is you have no respect for the importance of our history. The Technocracy wants all of us dead and gone, plain and simple. It is only with the study of the history of our relationship with the Technocracy that we as Mages can truly understand how much danger we are in, the lengths that they will go to in order to destroy us, and how important it is for us to do everything in our power to keep not only ourselves but our brethren safe. This school is a way to do that. This is our only safe place on the continent; we only have a few around the world. Doesn't that fact alone impress upon you the state of the world that we live in now?" He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He continued, "Prove to me that you have respect for what it is you are learning here. Show me that you really do care about this class and I will gladly pass you and let you move on to your training. I know it's important, I know the great purpose that the Four Winds serve. I'm not trying to sabotage you or your Mentor's work; I'm trying to help you become a great Mage." Professor Eliade looked behind Jason and said; "Mr. Strelok, come on up here. I know you're waiting for me to be finished but I think someone needs your help."

Vlad stood, put his papers away, and scurried up to the front. "Yes sir? What can I do for whom?"

The professor gestured toward Jason. "This boy is finally showing some initiative towards my class, but joined the game a little bit late. You are the most attentive note-taker in my class and with what your father does for a living; you may be able to impress the importance of this class upon your classmate. Would you care to help him?"

Jason turned towards Vlad, glad to have a small relief on his shame in that the one he was turning to for help was someone he had at least already met. Vlad looked up at him and smiled, relishing in the thought of being a study-buddy to the cute boy.

"Sure professor, I'll help him." Vlad's smile turned to the professor, who smiled in return.

Professor Eliade waved them both out and said "Go on then, get to it. Come back to me with some work done Mr. Bellaraux."

Jason turned around in the doorway, stumbling out a quick "Thank you." to the professor before turning to leave.

"Mr. Strelok, hold on just a moment." said Professor Eliade.

Vlad stopped and turned around in the doorway, anxious to leave in order to keep up with Jason. "Yes?"

Professor Eliade sighed. "Go and make a friend, yeah?"

Vlad flushed, nodded, and sped out the door to catch up to Jason.

----

Contact :

If you would like to reach me or the other author, it's very easy! We both have dedicated e-mail accounts AND have character roleplay tumblr's that you can follow us on!

JasonBellaraux@aol.com /// jasonbellaraux.tumblr.com

Vlad.Strelok@yahoo.com /// vladstrelok.tumblr.com

Shamans In Love

About This Series :

This is a role-play between another author and I that we like to have fun with. We designed characters and used a fictional world we enjoy to set the scene. One of us types a bit of the story, then e-mails it to the other, who types a bit of a continuation, and so on and so forth. Here is the resulting published version.

**Disclaimer**

I own nothing related to the original inspiration for this series. This is a fan-fiction role-play created by myself and distributed with no intent for financial gain.

There will be nudity, sex, gay stuff, kink/fetish acts, etc. Don't like it? Don't read it.

Contact :

If you would like to reach me or the other author, it's very easy! We both have dedicated e-mail accounts AND have character roleplay tumblr's that you can follow us on!

JasonBellaraux@aol.com /// jasonbellaraux.tumblr.com

Vlad.Strelok@yahoo.com /// vladstrelok.tumblr.com

----

Part 3 - The All-Nighter

Vlad ran around the corner and rushed to catch up to Jason, heaving his books and notes away into his bag so he could hurry faster and not worry about his things flying everywhere. He got his things tucked away and swung his backpack back over his shoulder and hurried off to go find Jason. He turned a corner, away from the classrooms towards the living quarters, guessing at where he might find him. Luckily, as he rounded the corner, he saw a flash of blue hair disappear behind a closing door and sprinted towards it, panting slightly wondering why Jason was in such a hurry to get away from him; he was just trying to help. 

Vlad opened up the door and saw a staircase leading downwards, with Jason jumping them two at a time. He yelled "WAIT!"

Jason stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned back towards the call. He saw Vlad, the boy that was assigned to help him with catching up in class. He sighed and turned and began trudging back up the stairs.

"Sorry," he said. "I just needed to get out of there. In my rush to get away, I started just turning towards home to get to training. Since that's on suspension, guess I'm all yours. Do with me what you will Oh Great Note-Taker!" Jason said snidely.

Vlad giggled at his joke and smiled at him. "It won't be that bad" he said. "I can catch you up pretty easily, as long as we stick to the main points: important dates, influential people, and major events. I think I can get you up to speed with a few days' work."

Jason sighed and shook his head. "Well I don't have anything else to do since my training is on hold and this is my only class. I can't keep you from your other classes though, please don't let me." Jason reached the top of the stairs and motioned Vlad out the door so he could close it.

Vlad stepped back into the hallway, letting Jason close the door and began to explain. "Actually, History of the Dream-speakers is my only class as well." Vlad got very quiet, but continued. "I haven't actually Awakened yet. My parents are pretty high up Mages, and got me in anyway, but since they're Virtual Adepts, they don't have too much pull around the DreamSpeakers; so the school will only let me take basic courses in small spurts. My parents are hoping that being around all of this, what they call 'simpler' magic might spark an Awakening in me, and I think the school was trying to just bore me to death so they wouldn't have to deal with me."

Jason chuckled at this. "Yeah well it bores me to sleep every day." He turned and began walking down the hallway.

Vlad followed behind Jason, not knowing where they were going and not caring, as long as he got to talk to Jason. "Actually, I find the class fascinating. I love information, in all shapes and kinds; so even if that is the school's goal, it isn't working." Vlad laughed nervously, unsure of what else to say. He looked around at where they were, wondering where they were going. "Um, Jason?" he said, stopping.

Jason turned, stopping as well. "Yeah?"

"Where are we even going?" asked Vlad. "This is the living quarters wing, but we are at the end and we haven't turned down a hall to your room and you just kept going, soà." Vlad trailed off.

Jason laughed and said "Actually, I was hoping we could get some food. With the news of you not having any other classes, it looks like you and I are in it for the rest of the day, so we might as well get food before we dive into it right?" Jason turned and continued walking down the hall up to a set of double doors that led into the dining hall. Jason opened the doors at the same time with a push from both his hands and walked through the doors.

Vlad hurried behind him, holding one of the doors open so as not to hit his backpack on his way through. The dining hall was large, with enough tables and chairs to seat 100 people easily. There was a main aisle from the doors leading up to an area filled with buffet tables and refrigerators with clear doors, powered with a small portion of the electricity the school managed to siphon off of the grid above-ground, Vlad knew. On either side of the aisle, there were tables and chairs. Each side had one long table, with 22 seats each, a few tall, round tables with 2 chairs each, and then the rest of the tables were square, with four chairs apiece. Vlad took this all in, counting the seats on either side of him. He had never been able to before; he had always come in for food at breakfast time on Mondays, and simply gotten enough food for himself to last himself the entire week. He had never been in here while it was empty, and was taking the opportunity to finally count the seats and study the arrangement of the tables and chairs and -

"Vlad, are you coming?" Jason asked from across the room.

Vlad's head snapped forward, as he realized he had stopped halfway down the aisle but Jason was already collecting food in the white paper to-go boxes. Vlad sighed at himself and scurried up to him and began helping him load up the boxes.

Jason began to explain. "This box is fruit, this one is vegetable, I'm making myself a salad in this one, so you can have this one to make your own salad. Also, I like their sushi, so I have another one here for that. You know where the boxes are right? You can get whatever you want for yourself as well. I'm also going to grab a juice quart for myself, but I mostly drink water. Get whatever you want, I can help carry everything." Jason kept working, piling the boxes full of food and stacking them on the counter next to the empty boxes and bags. He finished getting food and filled the bags with 2 boxes each, tying the bags as he went.

Vlad was comforted by the sight, it was clear that he was not the only one who came in here to get a lot of food for himself all at once.

He went over to help Jason pile boxes full of food, and as he helped, he thought that Jason might know more about the dining hall than he himself did. He figured Jason would be a good person to ask.

"So where is all the meat at? Even their sushi is all vegetarian." Vlad asked as he pilled sushi into a box.

To his question Jason chuckled and answered; "Shamans are inherently tapped into the divine forces of the Quintessence. Plants can be harvested without necessarily being killed, animals on the other hand cannot. Most shamans do not wish to actively participate in the taking of a life, as it breaks down the Quintessence. Alternatively taking parts of plants simple transfers the Quintessence from the original plant into ourselves as we consume their parts, this in turn feeds our own magical abilities. In this way we keep it more of a regenerative cycle instead of destructive linear process."

Vlad stood for a moment in awe as Jason took on a powerful poetic tone during his explanation.  He was overwhelmed with pride and a desire to be part of this grand cycle Jason spoke of. He listened carefully and decided to take part in this cycle as well, and from this moment onward he vowed to no longer eat meat. He didn't think it would be that drastic of a change for him, thinking back he realized he never ate a lot of meat anyway, but this way he could feel like he was an active participant in this grand cycle of the Quintessence. Who knows, maybe it would help his magical abilities come to the surface? He pondered a bit more before Jason stepped up to him, bags of food in hand.

Jason stepped to Vlad and smiled at him; "Ready to go?" he asked. He then handed Vlad two bags, and began to head for the door. Vlad quickly moved to the refrigerators and grabbed himself a quart of milk, and hurried after Jason.

He managed to catch up to Jason just outside the dining room doors, as Jason had waited for him in the hallway. Once he was by Jason's side, Jason turned and asked; "So where do you live?"  Vlad simply smiled and for his response he began to lead Jason towards his room.  Vlad knew that getting to his front door at least would be the simple part. He lead Jason down a side hallway in the living quarters and up toward one of the doors. Vlad opened the door only to reveal more stone wall behind it. He pressed his hand up against the stone. The stone responded to his touch by lighting up. An eerie blue light began to trace its' way up and down Vlad's palm as he spoke his name aloud, as if talking to the stone. A female voice responded; "Welcome back, Vlad" and the stone slide away to reveal darkness. A moment later an electric light flared to life to reveal a metal shaft with a runged ladder built into the near side leading downward. "After you." Vlad said, doing his best to be a proper host; though the experience was odd for him as he had never had someone else visit his home before.

Jason took a step back and asked in awe; "Metal? Electricity? Did I miss something? The school only has limited access to electricity; it's not for personal usage."

Vlad shrugged, "Like I said, my folks are pretty influential. With them being Virtual Adepts they insisted on me having access to all the technology I grew up with, environment notwithstanding. They got the school to allow the installation of my quarters; and I brought my own home from my home, so to speak." Vlad laughed as he slid up one section of the metal wall, to reveal a dumbwaiter. He set his backpack and grocery bags inside, and motioned for Jason to hand him the other bags. Vlad continued as he loaded up the metal tray. "I like my privacy, and I like my comfort. Of course, since the school steals all of their electricity and reserves it for only the barest of necessities, then I have to have a generator system as well, but being as its just one living space, it's not that hard to power." Vlad closed the grate to the dumbwaiter and pressed a switch just above the grate.

Jason heard a mechanical whir followed by a small ding signaling the arrival of the tray at the bottom of the ladder. Vlad once again motioned for him to go ahead in front of him and began to descend the ladder, rung by rung. It felt strange to him to be around so much metal; it was even uncomfortable to a point. He reassured himself that everything was fine by checking his internal flow of energy, just to make sure that nothing was being altered or sapped away from him. He was sure that everything was fine by time he had reached the bottom. He turned away from the ladder to see the dumbwaiter to one side of him, presumably with Vlad's backpack and food inside, and opposite the ladder was a large metal door with a strange, spoked wheel on the front.

When Vlad finally reached the bottom of the ladder, he moved over to the dumbwaiter, opened the shaft, and started pulling out the bags. Jason asked "This looks like the kind of doors they have on those giant bank vaults, or the security deposit vault rooms. What the heck is in here?"

Vlad laughed as he handed Jason the four grocery bags and slung his backpack over his shoulder. "It's actually a huge hyperbaric chamber that was once part of a Soviet K-Class U-Boat used in World War II. It was an emergency backup chamber inside the boat in case the submarine itself failed to maintain its own pressure. It was sort of like an emergency shelter setup that I converted into a living space, with full accommodations. It's cozy, and since it's just me and not an entire submarine crew, it's kinda nice." Vlad realized he was probably yammering on again and shut up quickly, blushed, and turned away from Jason towards the door.

Jason was smiling the whole time, accepting bags of food from Vlad, enjoying hearing about his home. He shifted the bags around so he could hold them all and waited for Vlad to open the door.

Vlad grabbed two of the spokes on the wheel and flipped the wheel around, stopping it after it spun a few times. He pulled the door partially open and cleared his throat. "Um, the door opens out, and with the shaft being so small, its just going to be a tight fit with the two of us in here. So, um-" Vlad tried to nonchalantly clear his throat. Jason backed up against the dumbwaiter and nodded his head. Vlad again tried to fake clearing his throat and backed up against Jason as he swung the door open. It was in this moment that Vlad had a better understanding of the size of Jason as he pressed up against him. Jason had a wider frame than him. This, coupled with Jason being taller than him, made Vlad feel slight and small, but he found that to be comforting. Vlad couldn't help but let out a little sigh as he melted against the larger boy's frame, but caught himself and cleared his throat again as he, reluctantly, stepped forward into his home and motioned for Jason to follow.

Jason stepped through the doorway into a large metal room, with an arched ceiling. The entire room was metal and had electric lights spotted along the line where the wall stopped and the ceiling began to curve up. The room Jason was in had a large sectional couch off to the left, a long box that looked as if it served as a coffee table in the reach of all of the seats of it, with a large carpet underneath it all. To the right, Jason noted the large cabinet with what he knew to be a television on top, and several glowing boxes on the shelves underneath. Across from him, there was a short hallway leading down towards more rooms. There was a small kitchenette with a stove, oven, sink, counter, refrigerator, and cabinets on the left protruding from the wall, then further along a large closet. Opposite the kitchenette in the hallway was solid wall, but had writings on it and papers hung up with magnets. The hallway led down to a room with more televisions, but these were huge, and had all sorts of boxes, even more than the ones here in the living room had. Jason couldn't see all of the room at the end of the hall, but still he wondered why a person would need two such setups.

Vlad closed and sealed the door behind him, took the bags from Jason, and went to put them away in the fridge. He also tossed his backpack onto the sectional and said "Please, make yourself comfortable, there is lots of work to get to."

Jason took advantage of the invitation to sit and did so, settling into the couch, resting his head back, and closing his eyes; as he didn't get his usual nap in for the day.

Vlad came back into the living area after putting the food and drinks away, and walked over to the sofa, waving his hand over the table as he went. The table quietly whirred into life as a blue hologram began to form; a floating head of a round-faced woman with victory curls in her hair, giving her a 40s Hollywood starlet look that Vlad always loved. He styled the hologram after his favorite movie poster he kept above the sofa, from "You Were Never Lovelier" with Rita Hayworth in blue sequins and red curls. He admired the poster with a smile before being interrupted by a greeting.

"Hello Vlad, I see you've brought company." said the head, her holographic face moving with the words as they were heard.

Jason's eyes flew open as he heard the voice from the door earlier again, and his mouth fell open in shock as he saw a floating head made of light hovering between the large black box on the floor and a shallower box on the ceiling. She seemed to be speaking, but he thought that Vlad said he was incapable of magic. Regardless, here he could very plainly see a very advanced illusion before his very eyes, realistically shaped, moving, and with sounds to boot! Jason sat up straight and looked over at Vlad, who was merely smiling.

Vlad stole his own gaze away from the poster over to Jason and said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot introductions, Jason, this is my A.I. hologram program that assists me at home with anything technologically-based. Alarms to wake up, sending e-mails, data storage, re-configuration of various networks to better manage the server-to-client relations in environments with high computing demands."

Jason gave him a dumbfounded look, "I only sort of understood the part about e-mail, and not a thing after that."

Vlad just laughed, "This is my Reliable & Intelligent Technology Assistant; or Rita, for short."

Jason chuckled awkwardly as he stood, turned towards the floating head, and jutted out a hand to her. "Rita, a pleasure."

Rita gave a giggle. "No hands Jason, sorry. But, yes it is a pleasure. Vlad never brings company!"

Vlad gave a heavy sigh and waved her comment away, "Jason, you may notice that Rita doesn't sound very robotic, and she seems rather human in animation as well. Remember me talking about my parents? Well, they are at the forefront of the technological world and they ensure that I have access to the latest and greatest computers, projectors, and devices that exist! Rita is somewhat of a mystery to me still, I found her on a drive in a storage cabinet that my parents keep extra spare empty drives in. I needed some space for a pre-OS update backup, but I hooked up the drive and she appeared on my screen! My parents assumed she was some side project of a colleague and didn't give her another thought, letting me have her to use; hoping maybe she would help me come into some sort of power technology-wise. So far, she's just become a very good friend, so of course I had to bring her with me to the school." Vlad's eyes shined as he started babbling on at Jason, hurriedly telling the tale of how the two came together.

Jason simply nodded and smiled, understanding that; save a few moments of jibber-jabber mumbo-jumbo, Vlad was speaking of Rita as if she was his dear friend, and Jason knew that it was something that kept Vlad happy in a depressing situation of being non-magical in a school of mages taking the most boring class that ever existed. With the thought of the class, Jason sighed and flopped back down into his seat.

Vlad smiled and nodded, "Yeah, I know what you're thinking, we need to get to work." he said. He turned towards Rita and asked, "Rita, could you access my notes from class? Pull up all the files, organized by date, and lay them all out on the table." He sat down next to Jason, and sighed.

Jason looked over at Vlad and said, "We're going to be here a while aren't we?"

Vlad just laughed and nodded. "Alright now," he said, "pay attention because this is going to be a lot, but we need to get through this. Do you have something to take notes with?"

Jason shook his head, and said "No, but I don't need to. I learn fast, that's why I got so bored in class so easily, he just drones on and takes forever to go over stuff. Don't worry about me, if I miss something or need you to slow down, I'll let you know."

Vlad nodded and turned towards his table, Rita floating upwards towards the top projector to get out of their way. Vlad swiped his fingers over the surface of the table and the files moved with them. As he shuffled around and tapped on certain documents, he soon had all of his notes lined up for them to get through rather easily.

So, Vlad began to read. His notes recorded mostly everything gone over in class, but had key names, events, and concepts all highlighted so that review would be made simpler. He went over everything, who did what when, how it changed the world in that region, and how those changes affected the future events of that region and others, trying to help Jason understand that even today's events are shaped by the ones in the past. Vlad went on for hours, through the centuries, across the world, all while Jason listened intently, nodding along when he understood, yet stopping and asking questions when he needed. Every so often Vlad stopped, and went to the refrigerator to grab a drink, and Jason took the opportunities to try and predict what might happen next. Early on, Jason was making wide assumptions that were mostly right, and understandable conclusions. However, as they continued through the night, Jason began to make detailed predictions, using evidence and citing examples from what had been discussed earlier to back up his assumptions. Vlad began to get excited! Not only was Jason learning the material, but he was understanding it, using it to make predictions on what was going to happen next, and getting those predictions fairly correct the majority of the time.

Vlad finished another glass of juice and smiled at Jason. "That's actually exactly what I think we're going over next, the end of the Inquisition in the 17th Century and straight into the Renaissance, the period of enlightenment that you were talking about. Radical Mages rising up with new concepts about art, politics, science, LIFE! It gets very exciting, and I can't wait to touch on it in class."

Jason leaned back in the sofa and smiled. "I think I get this! Now I understand why he's been harping on me to stay awake and learn this. I guess it really does have an effect on us. It's like when my mentor once took me into the ocean, and we saw a fight between two big fish over a smaller one. The one fish wins, eats and swims away full of energy and life and goes on to mate. The other fish died, and it ended up being the end of his species because he was the last of them able to reproduce. One small battle leading to devastation in one place yet growth and renewal in another; it's all part of the balance."

Vlad noticed Jason take on that tone again; the one he always seemed to take on when talking about 'the bigger picture'. He smiled at it, remembering earlier in the day when he spoke in that same tone explaining to him about the no-meat policy that the DreamSpeakers have.

With that though, Vlad's stomach rumbled, and he looked at his watch. They had been working for over twelve hours, and now it was the wee hours of the morning. He opened the fridge back up, grabbed another glass, and called over to Jason. "Hey Jason, can you come here?"

Jason stood up and walked over to Vlad at the sink. He offered to take the bags of food, reaching out to grab them from Vlad.

Vlad handed the bags over to him, and opened up the cupboard next to the stove, pulling out a large, rolled-up mat. He carried it over to the table, gesturing it off with the wave of a hand, and laid it out over top, adjusting the mat to fit the table more squarely.

Jason stood back, letting Vlad work, and saw Rita disappear from mid-air as Vlad adjusted the mat on the table, but then the same blue light that accompanied her before come from the television on the opposite wall from the sofa. He moved over to the table, setting the food down on the mat, and saw that Rita had moved to the television, now a flat image of herself instead of the hologram. "Is she connected to everything? Can she just move wherever she wants?" asked Jason.

Vlad chuckled and sat down, opening the boxes up and laying out chopsticks, the only eating utensils the cafeteria offered. He began to explain, "Rita is an AI, so she does adapt and learn as she needs to better suit me. It may seem like she 'went where she wanted to' but she doesn't have 'wants' like you're thinking. She is here to help me. I turned the table to sleep, and therefore the projection, off. I hadn't asked Rita to leave yet, so she simply transferred herself over to the TV, staying around and aware of anything I might ask for until I tell her otherwise. I could ask her to stop projecting, stop listening, and even shut down for a while, but I've become used to her being around; she is normally my only company. I don't often ask her to leave, so she is in the habit of moving around with me, or out of the way, et cetera."

Jason sat next to Vlad, still confused. Rita hadn't disappeared when Vlad turned the table off, she just moved. He decided to let it go, he didn't really understand all of this technology stuff anyway. He knew it was past high moon, they had been here almost all day and almost all night, and his hunger was starting to distract him. He helped Vlad open all of the boxes, grabbed himself an empty one, and started to fill it with food. He started first with mostly fruits and vegetables, but grabbed some of the sweet dessert sushi too. After grabbing a pair of chopsticks he unceremoniously started to dig in.

Vlad was a bit taken aback at how quickly Jason was eating his food, but they had been here a while and Vlad had always eaten small portions, he was a small guy. He wondered if it wasn't just the work he did and his size that made Jason so hungry, but the fact that Jason had powers, if that increased his metabolism and he needed to eat more. He wondered if that had ever been studied, the difference in physiology between the Sleepers and the Awakened. He thought that there was probably a course on Mage biology taught at the school for the more scientifically inclined students, especially with the similarities he had seen with some of the DreamSpeakers and the Cult of Ecstasy; with their drug dosing to help fuel or get in touch with all of their magical abilities. He wondered if that was a class that he would be able to take once he was finished with his History of the DreamSpeakers course; he would have to talk to an administrator about it.

"Hey man, I'm not going to be able to finish all of this food by myself you know." Jason interrupted.

Vlad snapped his attention to Jason, who had already finished his first box and was reaching for a juice carton. "Sorry," he said. "I zone out sometimes, just thinking about stuff." Vlad reached for the other empty box and started filling up his own, mostly with the sushi, but some fruit on the side. "Rita?" he asked as he finished grabbing his food and reached for a pair of chopsticks.

"Yes Vlad?" she replied.

"Remind me at about 1400 that I should send an e-mail to that administrator my parents know to ask about a Biology of Mages course, I just had a thought about it. Do you remember his name?"

"Yes, Administrator Perkins, from the Baruti Tradition. I'll make a note of it and remind you later today." Rita answered.

"Yes! Perkins! Thank you Rita." Vlad smiled at her and began to eat.

Jason, no longer feeling hungry, took a big swig from the carton and turned to Vlad. "So, tell me about your parents, you've mentioned that they are powerful Mages, but not what they do to hold so much influence." he asked.

Vlad swallowed a mouthful of sushi, sat back, and began. "Well, Dad is a Cypherpunk, one of the people that keeps the Mages protected, keeps an eye on the Technocracy's activities, and that comes with that in the digital age. Mom is pretty opposite of that. She is a Dream Hacker, so she's very interested in getting inside people's heads to try and understand the realities experienced while dreaming. She is actually a lot of the reason I came here. They probably could have sent me anywhere, but the simplicity of shaman magic and the 'connectedness' that seems to be had by all factions of the DreamSpeakers really attracts her. She uses computers to view and record the realities that permeate dreams, and don't get me wrong, she's a whiz at it, but she is constantly researching this world that she can't yet experience. I think that she thinks me being here might help me at least bring home some insights to her work, if not some magical talent as well. Dad was pretty opposed to the idea of me coming here, insisting that working in one of his think-tanks would have been better, but Mom has got him figured out. He will play the opposite side of an argument, even if he agrees with what you're saying, just to irk you and make you prove that you're right. She's got him pretty pegged and has figured out how to get him on her side pretty quickly, and on top of it make it seem like he had the idea in his head the whole time." Vlad just laughed, but then sighed; feeling a bit homesick for them. He picked at his food with his chopsticks, not feeling all that hungry anymore.

"I'm sorry," said Jason. "I didn't mean to make you miss home; I understand that it can be pretty hard to have to be apart from those you care about for extended periods of time. Remember, no matter the time or distance we are all connected through the networked web of Quintessence that makes up all of existence and therefore connects us all to each other." Jason sighed, finishing his thought and then his juice carton and set it down onto the table, allowing the following silence to overtake them as they sat on the couch together. He laid back into the couch, resting his head back and sighing again, feeling satisfied with his work and his meal.

Vlad felt quite finished with his meal; he laid down his chopsticks, took a small sip of juice from his cup, and settled back into the couch as well. He looked over at Jason, smiling at the clearly exhausted guy quickly falling asleep on his couch. Vlad examined his face, visually going over every inch; the severly squared jaw, subtle cheekbones, large brow, wide nose, and full lips. Vlad imagined what kissing those lips would feel like, taste like, happen like. Would he jump on top of Jason's lap right this very moment and do what he wanted? He couldn't! If he did, what would happen? Would Jason react well? Would he be filled with the same excitement that Vlad was feeling? The kind of excitement that was making his pants very tight and in desperate need of a readjustment. Vlad reached down and tugged at his pants when he heard a light snore. Jason had seemingly fallen asleep, it was no wonder after the night they had just had. Vlad stood up, ignoring his earlier thoughts, and went to the end of his living quarters to his work room. "Rita?" he said aloud.

Rita appeared on one of the several monitors in the room and said, "Yes?"

"Make sure that Jason is comfortable, lay him down at least if not pull the bed out. I think you'll be able to lay him down easily without waking him, but lifting him, being gentle, and pulling the bed out of the couch might be a bit beyond your functionality; the physical manipulation programming and attachments are still new. I'll go clean up the mess." Vlad finished speaking and went back into the main room, thankful that his erection had gone. He began to move the food laid out on the table into the refridgerator, wiped down the mat, rolled it back up, and put it away.

Meanwhile, the table in the center of the room had panels slide away from it as robotic arms emerged to, rather delicately, nudge the sleeping Jason onto his side, laying him across the couch into a more comfortable position, in which he began to snore steadily, clearly fast asleep. Vlad giggled at the snoring, thinking it to be rather cute; got his pillow and blanket out from in between the wall and couch, laid the pillow underneath Jason's head and gave a longing look at Jason's sleeping form. He shook his head clear before he could form a single thought, sighed, and left with his blanket underarm into his work room. He folded it up even smaller to form a makeshift pillow, and laid down with it under his head. "Rita?" he asked.

Rita's voice seemed to quietly whisper, yet her face did not appear anywhere as the lights began to dim in Vlad's quarters. "I'm already setting an alarm to wake you in time for class, don't worry. Sleep well Vladimir. "

Vlad mumbled out a "Thank you." as he too began to drift off into sleep.

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Contact :

If you would like to reach me or the other author, it's very easy! We both have dedicated e-mail accounts AND have character roleplay tumblr's that you can follow us on!

JasonBellaraux@aol.com /// jasonbellaraux.tumblr.com

Vlad.Strelok@yahoo.com /// vladstrelok.tumblr.com