Players:
Summary: Aiden and Mason have different opinions on fame and fortunes and technology.
Date: May 16, 2011
Log Title: What Is This MTV?
Rating: PG
NYC - Union Square
Always bustling with life is Union Square, with its large statue of George Washington standing in the center. Live music, dancers, artists, activists, vendors, and more can all be seen here on a daily basis. There are even some tables set up for chess games. The Green Market can be found here, selling fresh fruit, breads, vegetables and other farm products. Union Square has more of a younger feel as most the kids who hang out here have that artistic, indie look to them, making Union Square one of the more open minded parks in the city.
Union Square is a place Aiden likes to come to practice. It's in the middle of the city, there's open space and a lot of people doing their own thing. Dressed in a black kilt, black knee high boots with plenty of buckles and a black button down t-shirt, Aiden is doing a sort of dance with metal baton. There's no music playing at the moment as it looks kind of odd but he seems to be quite focused. The tattoo like markings that are visible on his neck and arms are green and yellow at the moment as he moves with a certain grace, even the movement of his large wings matches the dance. At one point he stops, and tosses the baton a few feet into the air and moves to try to catch it behind his back but misses, the metal baton hitting once of his wings instead.
Mason is playing hooky. Why? Because he didn't feel like going to class, so he's taking the day off. He has his aviators on, a red t-shirt, and a pair of slightly sagging khaki shorts. No girls are hanging on him, he's going quiet for the moment. Of course he does have his acoustic guitar slung across his back. A blue icee is in hand, and he sips it as he grows closer to his current point of attention. A man with large blue wings dancing at the park. The teen pop star's eyes follow the wings until the moment that the baton is missed, and he comes to stop near the performer, but he doesn't comment on the missed baton. "Those are some pretty crazy moves," he observes. "You do this for a living?"
"Thanks." Adien says flexing his wing a bit the way someone might move their arm after they bumped it. "Yeah…kinda. Though when I do it the baton is usually on fire. I'm a fire dancer…among other things." He grins. "I practice like this to make sure that I get everything perfect so I don't seriously injure myself and it's not like I have a…what are they called, those people that come up with dances for stuff?" Aiden says trying to think of the word. "Anyway, I come up with my own routiens for the most part. I'm Aiden by the way." He says offering a hand.
Mason takes another sip of his icee before answering. "Choreographer." He takes the hand, and gives it a confident shake. "I'm Mason," he responds to the introduction. "That could make you good money, you know. Doin' all those cool tricks. How long have you been doing it?"
Aiden shakes his head. "No, fire breathing, sword swallowing and stuff, it doesn't make that great of money. Enough to keep me afloat." He says with a casual shrug. "Nice to meet you Mason." He says as the green becomes a bit more prominant in his 'tattoos'. "I work for the Freakshow down in Coney Island. I started working for Freakshows when I was about tweleve but I didn't get taught much until I was sixteen."
Mason frowns, as if he were slightly offended. "What, they make you work the freak show because you're a mutant?" he asks. "You can sword swallow and eat fire? Gotta get yourself on some music videos and MTV and stuff, that's where you make cash at it, not just kickin' around Coney Island for people who think mutants are freaky." He takes another sip of his icee. "Those actually work? Or they just for show?" He points with the hand holding the icee. "Cuz if you can really fly, there is all kinds of fly stuff you could do."
Aiden laughs and shakes his head. "No, that's not it." He says still chuckling a little. "Well when I first learned how to do all this the group I was with we were all mutants. We were all picked up by Howard at some point and brought into the life style. I'm not a freak because I'm a mutant, but because of the Freakshow and because of learning how to do this stuff it helped me realize that being a mutant isn't something to be afraid of as a kid. And I don't want to be on television or anything. It's not about that, it's about fun. And yes the wings are real and yes I can fly with them and depending on the side and height of the stage I do work flying into my acts." He then pauses for a second in his train of thought before asking a question in regards to something he's confused about. "What's MTV?"
"What's MTV?" Mason echoes, as if Aiden hadn't known the color of the sky. "It's only got the best TV shows on the planet. Used to do music videos and stuff, now they just have cool TV shows." Mason unslings his guitar, and rests the case against his side, the neck pointing up. "You could make bank if you got your own show on MTV. Probably a good couple mil a year. You'd still do what you like, and you could make good money at it.
Aiden gives Mason a skeptical look. "I don't really watch television. I don't own one and I haven't had much access to one once I left home at twelve. Not really my thing. I prefer a live stage and I really like the Freakshow. It's who I am. I don't do this to make money and honestly it doesn't matter. If I had the choice I'd go back to traveling with a Freakshow again but right now staying here is probably my best opition. So..you're a guitarist?"
"Hey, if it spins your wheel," Mason concedes. "Yeah, I play a few instruments," he answers, expecting that Aiden has no clue who he is. So he takes off his shades, and then hooks them over the collar of his shirt. "Been playin' since I was little. I'm going to Julliard right now, not sure what I'll do with it in the end. Might just be a rock star for the girls, or be a composer if I get bored with that. Composers get to write the really cool stuff."
Aiden raises a drawn on eyebrow at Mason in confusion. "For the girls?" He seems almost skeptical about that. "Don't do anything for anyone but yourself. If you do something cause you think you're going to get laid for it more then likely you're not going to be happy." Aiden says. "What's Julliard? Sorry I'm still kinda new to New York City. I moved here about seven months ago. And if you like composing then go for it."
"I like getting laid, so I am doing it for myself," Mason answers. "Julliard is the top music college in America, and one of the top in the world, so I'm pretty excited to get to be in it." Not a whole lot of humility in the declaration, there is a wide grin on Mason's face. "I've only been here for about the same amount of time, I grew up in Los Angeles."
"Who doesn't?" Aiden asks. "But it's not as important as you make it seem. I haven't seen my girlfriend in two years but I'm not running around looking for it cause love is more important then sex." And he really does believe that. "That's cool, congratulations on getting into that school. And I'm from all over North America I guess but orginally I'm from Nova Scotia."
Mason has a completely unrecognizable glance that comes over his face. "Um, if you say so," he says. "I figure you only go around once, so get all the fun I can. I've never been to Nova Scotia, what's it like?" He takes another slurp off of the icee, getting close to the end.
"Woodsy?" Adien says. "I haven't been back since I left. From the age of tweleve till I was twenty four I lived out of a Winnebago with my Freakshow family so I traveled all over the United States and Canada. I think I have to say I like the Rockies are the best, like Colorado, Wyoming, actually any place where you can really see the stars." Then back to the earlier topic Aiden's tattoo like markings start to turn colours to shades of purple and blue. "Mason, have you ever been with someone you truly loved, that special someone that you'd do anything for? That girl who just makes your heart skip a beat when you think of her?"
Huh," Mason seems to consider the question. "I…" his mind seems to be broken. "That's a kind of personal question," he tries to buy himself time. "I mean, I was with my first girlfriend for a long time. Thought it was her, it pretty much crushed me when we broke up. I dunno, I know some girls who are really great, but I dunno." His eyes bounce briefly to watch the tattoos. "Um, why?"
"Well, maybe it's because I'm an empath but having sex isn't just about a number. It's about what it is." Aiden says. "Maybe it's because I've only ever been with Lauren but she's the only one that I want to do that with. I know it's personal and you don't know me but I just think that 'doing something for the chicks' or having as many notches on your belt as you can get just seems…lonely to me. Like it'd take away what's special."
Mason seems very uncomfortable with the turn of the conversation. "Well, I have people around me all the time, I don't have any danger of getting lonely," he answers. A flat out lie, and it sits like a lead weight in the middle of his stomach even as he says it. "So you think you're gonna stick with Coney Island for a long time? Or are you going to try to get back with your old friends?" Change of subject needed, the other topic downright terrifies him.
Aiden gives Mason a bit of a curious look and some hints of orange seem to come into the tattoo like markings. The look is almost as if he knows Mason is lying. He then folds his hands behind his head and shrugs. "I don't know. Right now I plan on sticking with it. Finding my friends is the main reason I'm sticking with it. We got sepereated and I haven't been able to find them for two years. I figured if I got a steady job here and got my name out they'd be able to find me that way."
"Just look them up on Facebook or something," Mason says. "This is the new millenium, finding people is easy." He laughs and pulls out his smartphone. "You can find just about anyone these days. Don't even need a private eye." He seems to relax a bit with the change of subject, and the frightened feeling is gone as quickly as it appeared.
"Okay you're telling me to use this bookface thing but I don't know much at all about what it is. I've heard it, it's one of those talking networking computer things right?" Aiden sounds quite unsure of himself. "I don't even own one of those cellphone things, my friends don't either. I grew up in a winnebago. We didn't have telelvision, computers or any type of gadget dohickies. Our entertainment was preforming, practicing, singing and dancing at night. Honestly, I really don't like technology stuff." Aiden says as he's kinda of a modern day gypsy.
"Wow, you're like a real caveman," Mason answers. "How do you survive?" The concept of living without the internet or a phone is an alien one to Mason. "You really should learn, your life would be much better." He shakes the icee. "Well, I kinda gotta take off, but it was good to meet you, Aiden. Good luck with bein' a stage performer. Maybe I'll bounce down to Coney Island soon and see you with the flames and all."
"How do you survive being so dependant on gadgets?" Aiden asks raising a drawn on eyebrow with a grin. "Happiness is how I survive, and I never lived in a cave. Just a R.V." He says as he nods to Mason. "Well take care Mason and you should, it's a great show and not just my performance but the others." He says as he goes to go back to practicing and getting his routine down.
