Another week almost past, well, actually wasted in Zane’s' case. From the rejection to Keaton University, he wandered the streets until he just happened to stop by Faded. It wasn't much to get in; just a few bucks under the table and he could get past without any trouble. People were so corrupt in this new age. When he had entered, he looked about the club, there were many people standing, sitting, eating, drinking...to his surprise, the only people that had gotten drunk were only a bit tipsy, not drunk to the point of slapping you in the arm and asking "Isn't this great?" He took a seat by the bar, far away from the rest of the real crowd, or at least away from the real drunks. A little weird that the ones that drank the most alcohol didn't just sit near the tap. When the bartender walked up to him, he ordered a Sprite. Alcohol and Elves don't mix. Or at least, they don't mix well.
On stage, a group of teenagers were playing. A boy on the bass, another on the drums, one was on a mixing board, and a young girl was doing the vocals. It was just another amateur band, trying to make it big. He didn't pay attention to the name, but they were fairly good. Their performance went undisturbed by the crowd, but many people swayed and danced to the moderately paced rhythm. Even Zane tapped his finger on the counter. They must have been pretty good, because in about 4 minutes, when they had finished, the crowd bust out with applause. Either they were so good that they got an encore, or they had been hired for the whole night, because they started up again with a slightly slower song. Zane raised his head to the new tune. The swaying teenagers, if it were even possible, moved their bodies even slower to the new song.
"At least it’s quieter..."
But he was probably wrong. As slow as the music got, the band was playing with a much deeper tone, holding the cords longer. When his drink had arrived, he looked down at in disappointed. It was what he ordered, but the entire glass was filled with ice, and the actual drink surrounded the leftover spaces and crevasse. There was a long transparent straw, but he took it out and chucked it into the wastebasket behind the counter. He took a small sip, and then set the glass back down. Half the original drink was gone. He let out a heavy sigh, drank the last of it, and ordered another glass.

Monique had wandered in moments before Zane, and was still sitting at the bar counter looking blankly across it to the rows of bottles. The human needed a drink, but she knew it was too early. Her apartament had come for cheap and with one rule: she was allowed in after the day's occupants were gone. Today, her check-in time was 11 PM, and she had to fill up the space before that somewhere. Today, somewhere was Faded.

The dark-haired woman had deliberatly chosen a seat away from the other people so she could think to herself. And just as the slightly slower song ended, she brought out a textbook. A real, live, third-year-university calculus book. Not only that, she flipped to page 698 with long, calloused fingers and began studying. No use wasting the time, and it was quieter here than beside the highway. Not to mention warmer.

After a moment, she loked up to order a drink. As she still had hours to waste and she was trying to think, it was a coffee. No, nothing in it. That's right, just plain. Cream, please. No; normal, unalcoholic cream. Yes, she knew. Thanks. Here's $1.50, keep the change. And as she sipped the stimulant, she went back to her math problems, checking her watch frequently.

The tall, strong-featured woman was wearing her usual garb, which kept away people who might think she was a prostitute using a new technique. Today's pajama pants were dark blue and loose. She hadn't yet taken off her jacket, an item which had to be at least thirty years old, inscribed on the sleeve with the name Steve. She'd gotten used to answering to Steve as well as her own name, or it's short version Mon, because of it.

In a matter of minutes, he had exhausted 5 glasses and $6.25. He was playing around with the ring of moisture the last glass had left on the table, sliding his finger across the smooth surface of the table and tracing figures in the water. He was quite bored for being in one of the biggest and most popular nightclubs in the city. But there really wasn't much to be excited about. He gave a heavy sight and swivled in his stool and watched the band play.
"This is so boring..." he said to himself in a low groan. His vision spread across the whole crowd, and then a small grin flashed on his face.
"Maybe I should cause a little excitement..." he mused as he turned back around and bent down low to the table. In the dark below him he weaved his hands around, chanting an incantation quietly to himself. A silvery blue light sparked within his hands, and a wave of light went across the whole building. He smiled as he spell was ready to be set.
"But what to do?" he wondered. The illusion spell he had woven would only work if the recipiant (or resipiants, in this case) believed it was real. But in this new, simple minded age, they would believe anything. The small core of his spell rested in his hands, like a small orb. He held it up a bit, contimplating what he should make it do.
"Perhaps a forest...?" he suggested to himself.

All of a sudden, Monique stopped squinting. She could read easily, and she didn't know why. Nevertheless, the univertisy's student got through half a page of equations before she realized that she shouldn't be able to see. A blink, and a look of confision crossed her face as she stared at the textbook, then looked up to the bar counter. Nope, not coming from there. A glance upward. Nope, the lights up there were just as bad as before. She gave the bridge of her nose a light pinch and rub, then touched her eyes behind the thin glasses frames, but it wasn't coming from her own eyes, either.

Finally, she found the source of light by looking to either side in confusion. Crouching below the bar was aman holding some kind of blue light, she couldn't see exactly what was in his hands because of the counter. It was powerful, though, and she couldn't see any cord. Why would anyone bother lighting a bar up like that anyways? The tall woman gave a mental shrug and stretching out her cramped neck, rolling it while she worked her shoulders softly to ease out the kinks in those. It was time to take a break, she could gauge by the pain in her arched back and the mild headache the dark and smoke gave her. She ordered another coffee and a glass of water, murky as the latter was likely to be.

Her order place, she gave another glance over to Zane, still wondering about what he was doing with his hands and why he was looking so secretive about it. Maybe bars were banning blue lights these days, or maybe there was something in the light. Maybe it was even a signal of some kind. Unware that she was staring straight at him, Monique's mind went off to tangentize about the possibilities and the likelihood that it would affect her. She'd pack up and find someplace quieter if he was going to start doing disturbing things.

He gave a manicacle laugh. He always tried to keep his magic and identity secret, but sometimes it was just too great of an oppertunity to pass up. He flicked the spell core into the air, and it hovered over silently across the crowd and positioned itself in the center of the room. He got up out of his seat and watched it carefully.
"Well, forest it is then!" he said as the orb sent a wave of magic across the crowd. In an instant, everyone inside of "Faded" believed that they were inside of a lush, green forest. Anything that might have tipped someone off to the illusion would appear as a tree, a bush, or a stump. Instantly, people began to panic, and ran about screaming. But this only made Zane laugh harder. His laughter was drowned out only by the cries of the crowd, however, so no one noticed as he walked toward the exit of the club.
"They'll be okay in a few minutes...bwahaha!" he bust out laughing as the guitarist took of his guitar and threw it to the ground, thinking it was a piece of wood.

The Frenchwoman narrowed her eyes as he did something and suddenly she was in that park by her university. Where had he put her, and how? However, she was rather used to supernatural things occuring, and so she calmly gathered her textbook up, grabbed her bag which was thankfully still a 'Keaton' bag, and headed east- towards the exit of the club as she remembered it. Of course, it took her a bit, because the club had been fairly full before and now there was a bunch of trees in the way. Normally she didn't mind trees, of course, but trees that appeared out of nowhere rather spooked the normally unflappable woman.

Finally reaching what looked like a rock wall, she felt her way along it until one of the protrusions gave. Oops, it was an emergency exit, and it set off alarms into the forest, adding to the confusion. Nevertheless, she stalked out into the alleyway and took a good breath of air, glancing around intently. Where was that little man? He was the root of this, Monique was fairly sure, and not just because he'd managed to get out so easily after he'd set off his little trick.

Seeing a form farther down the street, she ran to catch up, grabbing him by the shoulder with little warning. She was getting annoyed, and an annoyed Monique was no good thing. Though she didn't know it, she had the power of setting things on fire, and it tended to give in most when she was annoyed. For now, her dark eyes were focused on him, which should have been enough warning to not mouth her off. When a girl grew up with two older brothers, she learned how to take care of herself. "What did you do back there? I was trying to study, in case you didn't notice."

Zane glanced at her for a moment of awe.
"What? You were IN there?" he asked, taken by surprise. He raised an eyebrow at her for a moment, and then turned around, brushing her off like nothing happened.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." he said casually as he put his hands into his pockets. He prided himself on flawless illusions, and was in complete denial that someone could see through his magic. He strode away slowly, trying not to act suspicious.

That was the wrong thing to do, according to her. Actually, just about anything he did right now would be the wrong thing to do. Monique took a few deep breaths, willed things NOT to set on fire, then strode after him and was in front of him in just a few strides, blocking him again with her arms crossed and eyes flaming. "Yes, I was in there, and I was not happy about loosing that cup of coffee. Maybe you have all the money in the world, but I don't, and it's cold out. At the very least, you owe me $1.25." And she wasn't going to leave until she had her money, that was quite obvious.

But after that, where to? Where else had she seen that would house a starving student for a few hours until it was 11 o'clock and she could finally get to 'home'? She could try one of the other clubs, but they were home to more people in general and would be more noisy, not to mention pepole jostling her. She began to get angry again, still staring straight through Zane. It was a habit of hers, zoning out and forgetting where her eyes were going. Soon enough, she blinked back into reality and started to get just the least bit confused. "How did you do that, anyways? It's tough to make that many people pack into an area like that." Pause. "I got out by finding a door, stupid. How did you get out so quickly?"

Realizing that she probably knew what he had done, he sighed and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Look," he said blunty. "Those people didn't go anywhere. It was an illusion. They all are still in that nightclub. I left by simply going out the front door." he finished, turning around again. He glared at her from over his shoulder, and waved her off.
"I don't know how you got somewhere else, but I didn't take them anywhere. SO if you don't mind..." he said, taking out two dollars from his pocket and tossing them at her. "I will be going now."

His superior manner irritated Monique. A lot. Besides, he hadn't even answered any of her questions, just pretended like it didn't happen or like she shouldn't have been able ot get out. As it turned out, she gor out because she didn't believe in the trueness of the forest, and just wanted to move on with her life. Caught up in her thoughts, she didn't notice her temper red-flagging until a rock sitting beside the sidewalk, maybe five paces in front of Zane, set on fire. If he could turn the inside of a club into a forest, she could set solid iron and granite on fire. It tok her maybe five minutes and the next rock on the pathway turning to white ash to realize that she was mostly likely the only doing the damage... which made her angrier at him, which made the scum sitting by the curb on the other side of the sidewalk ignite and flare for a moment until it died away to ash as well.

Oops. This was why the tall woman tried not ot interact with people, because it just made her frustrated. Nevertheless, she crouched to scoop up the two dollars, and started walking aftr him. Not to catch him this time, but because it was warmer to walk and she had to be getting somewhere. Maybe that small store she'd seen off seventeenth ave, or wasn't there a library closer to the downtown area from there? She was pretty sure there was. In a library, she could get lost, so to speak, and not get kicked out as quickly.