Who: Keegan MacAlister, Maxwell Landon, & OPEN to anyone What: The Goth Kids are having a concert, and everyone's invited. Where: The London underground When: Saturday, February 18, 2017; evening Warnings: Language and UST, in this first part; individual subthreads TBD, put warnings in subject lines if necessary Notes: The initial post will cover what's happening up on the stage, and give you some cues as to what your characters will experience during the gods' performance. When posting closed and open subthreads with your character, make use of the standard subthread format. Everyone is welcome to attend this concert, but it wasn't exactly the easiest thing in the world for your character to find their way to the location, and they should be aware that it's very illegal to be here in the first place, considering that it involves some breaking and entering. Have fun, kids! Don't do anything Keegan would do.
Keegan didn't know what the big fucking deal was. This concert had been a fantastic fucking idea, no matter what Maxxie had thought about it, at first. So what if it was only happening because he'd maybe gotten into a little dick measuring contest with Baal? Keegan was always going to get into a dick measuring contest with that asshole, and he was always going to win. Fuck those racist assumptions that just because the guy was black, he'd automatically come out ahead in that kind of thing. That was Keegan, combating stereotypes. He was a fucking hero, honestly, they should all be thanking him for his good deed.
The stage was dark and quiet, still. Of course it was, they hadn't fucking started, had they? Weren't supposed to for a bit, still, but Keegan couldn't resist the urge to take a peek before what was supposed to be their grand entrance. He and Maxxie, they'd both known how to put on a show already. Baph and Morri, they were even better at it. Not that Keegan was resentful of that little tidbit. They were gods, they ought to be better at it, and he and Maxwell were the ones who were getting the payoff for their specialized knowledge, still. The crowd looked good. Decent, at least. Hard to get a real headcount, in the dark of the underground, the abandoned subway station where they'd set up for their first joint show. Ever, not even just since they'd become reincarnates. If someone had told Keegan a year ago that he and Maxwell Landon would be putting on a concert together, he'd have...
Well, it wouldn't have been pretty, and he'd probably have done it with a middle finger and a laugh in their face.
They were supposed to go out and wow the crowd together, him and Maxxie, get 'em all warmed up before they started their performance and blew them away. It'd be fucking awesome, what they had planned. Thing was... Keegan, he wasn't much on plans. Plans were for people who weren't true artists, who couldn't run off inspiration and luck. Keegan was a fucking rock star, an entertainer, not an actor with some kind of script. He didn't need some kind of plan for what he was going to do out on the stage, a few costume changes, all that fuckery. He just needed the spotlight on him.
Maxxie would be mad. Maxxie was fucking hot when he was mad.
Where he was standing, it would sound like his voice was coming from nowhere, and everywhere, all at once. "Looking a little dead out there!"
The 'dead', of course, was accompanied by a snap of his fingers, a pale, green light, and the rush of a few spirits through the gathered crowd... poor fuckers who'd jumped, or just starved down here, now fulfilling their destinies as part of his show. Nice of them to kick it down here, right where he needed them to wow the crowd, wasn't it?
Once they'd all had a chance to appreciate the genius of Keegan's first overture, he tossed an arc of fire in the air (another click) to illuminate himself while he stepped forward. The orange light caught a flash of fang as he opened his mouth in a grin, the implants he'd gotten after he'd gotten Baph doing just as much for his image as the ones Baph had sprouted on his own had ever done for him. The black leather he wore, that absorbed the light, but it threw the lines of his bare chest and stomach, beneath the open jacket, into sharp relief. He looked fucking amazing. He knew it without even having to look. He always looked fucking amazing.
"I know, you all came here looking for a double header." Wait, fuck, that would have been a perfect time to take a note from Baph's book. Keegan was disappointed in himself. Then again, wouldn't want to look like he couldn't manage any original content, would he? "Afraid Morrigan's a little... tied up. Boys and their bondage. He might be flighty..." Ha, because birds, that was an excellent one. "But Baphomet doesn't disappoint." Just in case they didn't get that message (some people could be really thickheaded), he skated a hand down, fingers brushing over his groin. What? He hadn't shoved them in his pants, he was showing some restraint.
He probably had a few seconds left before Maxxie figured out what he'd done and came running. "ARE YOU FUCKERS READY FOR THE REIGNING KING OF THE UNDERGROUND?"
It wasn't easy to find this place, or any other place that the Morrigan chose to perform. While all the other gods in the pantheon were pop stars who enjoyed soaking up the limelight, the Morrigan was more underground. She thrived in the shadows, in complete darkness, in the places that most of those bubblegum pop worshippers wouldn't ever dare to tread. Those weren't the Queen's followers, now Max's too. Their followers always knew where to find her because they already knew how to find the darkness within themselves - or they wanted to. All they had to do was seek her out and she would show them, they always came back for more. Sometimes they brought others, sometimes the others came of their own volition, but no matter what, the Queen's believers always returned, ready to worship at her altar of metal and bone.
The way to get down here was a closed subway station and through the underground tunnels in the middle of the night, which meant that anyone planning to attend the show would have to have the guts to break in. No self respecting goths respected things like the law, after all, not unless you were posers. The Morrigan never, ever performed above ground, and she also never performed in places where you could get to them without breaking a few rules. Number one none-more-goth rule, fuck the rules. There were no laws down here, except for one. She ruled the Underground, not him. Not anyone. No one else reigned here except for her. Apparently, there was still someone who needed to be reminded of that. "Boy."
Of course Max was going to be mad. He liked things a certain way, and he absolutely hated surprises. Keegan knew that about him, but that wasn't going to stop him anymore than it would stop Max, if the situations had been reversed. Even before Morrigan and Baphomet, they'd always been pushing each other too far, falling too fast, making it impossible for the other to exist without being nearly suffocated by the other. Now it was only worse between them, though they might as well get off on it. The only difference was now they were actual gods, instead of the ones they'd only claimed to be before, and the damage they could do to each other infinitely more significant. Even fatal. They ruled the whole damn Underground, the two of them together. And right now, Keegan was taking all the credit for it.
His voice echoed off the caverns on that one syllable as Max emerged from one end of a tunnel, cloaked in darkness, close by where Keegan was putting on his little show. The performance outfit he was wearing was a modified version of the Morrigan's, made to fit his own personal tastes. Black leather pants, and a sleeveless leather shirt, covered in feathers, his pale skin looking almost ghostly against all of the black and the length of his left arm lined in fishnet while tattoos of crows covered his bare right arm. Max looked every bit the Queen of the Underground like this, dramatic makeup covering his eyes and his dark hair spiked to meticulous perfection. His tone was clearly one of anger, but he was still mostly Max, just in fragments. He wasn't going to let Badb out if he could help it. Without warning, a murder of crows materialized around him and descended on the entire area, making people in the 'audience' startle and shout in surprise, though the crows weren't aimed at them. Only Keegan. Max's pale face was illuminated by a snarl as he advanced, completely ignoring everyone else in there with them, including the spirits Keegan had raised. This? This was nothing. A few cheap tricks, compared to what the two of them would do next. "You forget yourself, little king. Just like you to come early."
Little secret between Keegan and himself... the way that Max, or Morri, whichever one of them it was talking to him right then... the way that they called him boy sent a shiver down his spine. The good kind of shiver—though he'd be even less likely to admit to the bad kind, even to himself. No, he wasn't scared of Maxxie, or Morri, even if he ought to be. He was a god too, after all. Nergal or what the fuck ever, and really, what fucking sort of name was Nergal? Not one that any of his fans was ever going to hear, that was for fucking sure. He wore Baphomet's symbol around his neck, one he'd bought for himself since the fucker hadn't been considerate enough to bring it along on his own. Probably would have brought fucking Nergal's, anyway, even if he'd bothered. It's what he'd come with, after all, wasn't it?
But, yeah, point being, Maxxie was even hotter than usual, when he was pissed off, even if it meant he was ready to fuck Keegan up. Badb wasn't out to play yet, though, so he hadn't pushed it too far. Or maybe that meant he hadn't pushed it far enough... Badb could be pretty fucking fun to play with, too. Of course, then all their adoring fans would probably die before they got out of there, and that wasn't going to do anything about getting the word out about them, now, was it? "Uh-oh, kids," he told the audience, "mummy's home." Maybe Max had forgotten all about them, but Keegan hadn't. Keegan couldn't. They were the reason Keegan bothered getting out of bed in the morning, even knowing that he'd be dead in two years, these fans who would be screaming for him before the night was over.
He did turn to Max, though, throwing his hands up to set the crows sweeping toward him on fire, too. Really, Maxxie was going to stick to that old trick, when he knew exactly what Keegan was going to do about it? "Come on, Morrigan, have to get some new material. Don't last in the music scene by letting yourself get all stale and crusty." Though he was going to have to prove him wrong about that 'coming early' thing. Later, after the concert, when they retreated back into the real depths of the underworld to celebrate what was going to be a certain victory. Nobody could rule the dark like him and Max, and fuck them if they even wanted to try to pry that throne out of his cold, soon-to-be dead fingers.
"Gotta get them warmed up, don't I? You may want to skip the foreplay..." This was the foreplay, though, wasn't it? Him and Max, snarling at each other, picking a fight just like they'd done ever since Maxwell fucking Landon had burst onto the scene in the first place, given Keegan the challenge that he'd never expected. "But I know how to satisfy." And they were enjoying it, weren't they? Eating it all up, those little gothlings that had crept down into the underground to meet their gods. Couldn't leave them disappointed, because then they wouldn't be coming back. Then they wouldn't be whispering to their little friends about how they'd gone down into the underworld and then come out the other side of it changed. This wasn't the sort of show that they'd be forgetting anytime soon, with fire and darkness and fucking crows.
Max's form nearly rippled as he moved forward, if that were possible. As if he were reacting to the physical sensation of having his feathers ruffled. Only Keegan could do that, get under his skin like that. Under their skin. It was especially bad now that it wasn't just Max anymore, now that it was the three of them. The four of them. Sometimes it was difficult to separate himself from the Morrigan, but when he managed to remember, he remembered that he was himself first. He had been Max, before he'd become the triple-goddess. And as much as Keegan had gotten under his skin since the day they'd met, it was nothing compared to this. When one of them pushed the other always pushed back, except now when that happened, one or both of them could end up bringing the whole house down and the subway tunnel with it.
That would definitely make headlines, but despite all appearances to the contrary, Max wasn't all that keen on killing their audience in a freak cave in accident (though Badb was definitely all for it, no surprise there). It was bad for business and bad for publicity, to have fans actually dying to be with you, no matter how none-more-goth that probably actually was. Not to mention Max really didn't want to have to clean up the mess. This was his and Keegan's first performance together, even if Keegan had already done his best to hijack it, it was still theirs. Maybe this thing between them was only ever going to end in fire, but call Max sentimental, he wanted it on his terms. He didn't want their unexpected joy ride for the next two years cut off short because something happened like a little accident with the foundation of the tunnels.
At the sight of his precious crows on fire, feathers flying everywhere and raining down on the crowd, Max hissed, low and deadly. The Morrigan's crows could take care of themselves, but they were hers, and no one but her was permitted to touch them. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Max was on him, toe to toe with Keegan and right in the other man's face, eyes bright with excitement and lips twisted into a smile as sharp as a knife. Just looking at them, it might not be immediately obvious whether they were about to fuck each other or kill each other. Maybe a little of both. Max and Keegan had never been all that sure about it either, at least not until they'd finally fucked each other. That, at least, Max knew he liked. The fighting, though. The snarling in each other's faces got each other off almost as well as the sex did.
"Satisfy yourself, more like. Baphomet is a selfish lover who thinks his flashy tricks are enough to fill the Queen's believers, but I know what they truly want." His gaze was still locked on Keegan, though now he was speaking mostly to the crowd, all huddled together as the crows on fire illuminated some of their faces, frozen half in fear and half in wonder. This was their foreplay. If there had been any doubt before, there definitely wasn't any now, not with the way Max was looking at him, eyes lit and lips wet, reading for the taking. Or in this case, ready for a fucking show. In the end, it was all one in the same to them. "You think you have the stamina?"
If Keegan hadn't loved the attention from the crowd just as much as he loved... fuck, didn't matter, he'd have dragged Max right off the stage and kissed that look right off his face, if it wouldn't have disappointed their audience. Or maybe it wouldn't have, maybe they'd have been just as happy seeing the two of them all over each other. They were both hot, who wouldn't want to see that in action? They could make a killing off of it. As much as Keegan wanted Max, though, right then he wanted the screaming crowd just that little bit more, knowing how much hotter it would be, coming off the high of a good performance. Their first. He'd performed, since he'd gotten Baph, of fucking course he'd performed, but performing with another god... fuck, it was an entirely different world, wasn't it, when there was more than one god on the stage.
The rest of them, they were missing out with their solo acts. Keegan fucking loved those, too, loved being the center of attention, but there was nothing like Max looking at him like that, knowing what they were going to do together, that they were going to take everyone else down with them when they sang. Maybe they'd be dead in two years, but tonight... tonight, everyone in the audience was going to know what it was like, first. That was what they fucking did, wasn't it? Made them feel like they were dying, and then made them want it, made them come back for more of it. He leaned in closer, close enough that their lips were almost together. Close enough that Max would be able to feel Keegan's breath on his face, hot, fast, just as ready to take Max as Max was to be taken. It was going to be good, he could feel it already, deep in his bones.
"I can outlast you," he told Max. Made it a game. Made it a dare, a competition. They'd always done their best work when they were fighting, when they were trying to get the upper hand on each other. Keegan had never been better than when he was trying to outdo Max. It would be the same, with a performance. It had to be the same, didn't it? It wasn't like singing, wasn't like just giving a fucking concert, like anyone else could do. The only one that could even come close to them was Sparky, was another god, and he wasn't performing with someone else. They were a double act, him and Maxxie, and there wouldn't be any beating them. Not for anyone. That vampire douchebag could suck his cock, his little band of wannabes couldn't out-Goth him and Maxxie. Couldn't even come close, even if his fangs were actually real, and not cosmetic.
They'd fucking show them all that they were the kings. And... maybe he'd give Baph his way, use one of his lines. "Let's none-more-goth this hole into the ground." What? Still a good fucking line, even if it was a rerun. None of these fuckers would know that it wasn't original content, anyway, and if they'd read the fucking comics and did, they'd probably just lose their shit over him saying the line. Fans were fucking weird. He loved them, he thrived off of them, but they were weird.
The connection between them was near palpable at this point. It always had been, but now, it was almost like a living entity crackling between them. Something beyond just raw chemistry, though they had that in spades, lighting off each other like fucking fireworks. They weren't just passing ships in the night to each other anymore, no trading insults over separate interviews or shooting off at the mouth at their respective shows. They weren't a solo act anymore, in any sense of the word, on or off the stage. They were tethered together by fate and music and sex, love and hate, creation and inevitable destruction, they were pure adrenaline and unchecked power. So much power that it was a good thing they had something like this to channel it all into, or they really might end up accidentally burning the world down, and themselves with it.
Keegan's breath on his face and the close proximity of their mouths at the moment was tempting. It was always tempting, but Max really felt it now, in the heat of the moment. If they didn't have a show to do… But this was almost better. Almost. They could make this thing between them part of it too, and Max leaned into it willingly, almost like they'd already rehearsed it. They hadn't. They were putting on a show for the audience as much as they were for each other, and Max was fully into it, tilting his head like he was going to lean in the rest of the way, but he didn't, leaving them suspended where they stood facing each other, too close but always never close enough. With Keegan's hot breath making his skin tingle and Max itching to close the gap, but he didn't, only fluttered his long eyelashes briefly closed before he opened them and shifted on his feet, the two of them looking like a confusing mixture of a standoff and like they might just decide to rip each other's clothes off instead. Honestly it still could go either way.
His challenge, though, Max couldn't ignore that even if he wanted to. Leave it up to Keegan to make it into a game, into something that Max couldn't help but play into, every cell in his body practically screaming for it. Keegan made him feel like he was on fire when they were like this. When they were in a room full of people and they still only had eyes for each other, whether that was out of hate or lust or something inbetween. It would still probably be polite to give the rest of the people in the room what they wanted. Max and Keegan could have what they wanted later, in the privacy of their Underworld. Max still looked furious, but Keegan's claim somehow managed to transform his mouth into a shit eating grin anyway, leaning in a bit closer and biting at the air in front of Keegan's lips in answer to the other god's challenge before finally taking a step back.
Underground performances weren't like any other performance by a god. They could try as hard as they wanted, but they'd never measure up to what Max and Keegan could do. What they could do was reach into people's hearts and find their deepest, darkest fears, turn them inside out and show them to their audience, make them accept the inevitability of their own deaths like one might accept a friend, willingly embracing death into their arms. That was a gift no other gods were capable of, just them. The only ones who could truly understand what it meant to be the dying and the dead. The way Max looked at Keegan then before the atmosphere around them began to change, the way he held that look for a moment longer than necessary, that was the sort of intimacy you couldn't buy. They were all doomed. But not yet. Max snarled the beginnings of a count off as an unnatural dark cloud began to swirl around them, slowly enveloping the stage and everyone near it. "1… 2… 3…"
The snap of teeth startled Keegan into a short laugh, his mouth stretching into a matching grin. There they were, on the same page again, something that he still wasn't quite used to when it came to Max. Yeah, Maxxie would take it all out on him later, when they were alone, but for now... for now, this was what they were doing, this was where they were, and they were going to be fucking killer. Not much longer before these fuckers would all know, and then as soon as they knew... as soon as they all knew, it was going to spread like wildfire. And if there was one thing that Keegan knew, it was fire, and the way that it could spread. They were an inferno, him and Max, blazing and consuming everything in their way until the day that they burned out. If they did it right, they'd leave a part of the world ash when they went, so that they'd never be forgotten.
Of fucking course, Max had started the count while he was busy being distracted by his teeth. He started a beat behind him. "Fucker! 1… you have to... 2 let me ca—3…"
They hit "4" together, him and Max, in sync the way that you could only be with someone you knew inside and out.
KLLK.
The snap of their fingers was sharp in a world gone suddenly quiet, a moment of calm before the storm, and then...
It's everything and nothing at all, when that dark cloud swirls and spreads over the whole room, over everybody in it, until you can't see so much as an inch in front of your face. A flutter of wings, feathers brushing your cheek. The high, raspy cry of thousands of carrion birds. The low roar of a lion's rage while the sun is buried alive, and there's nothing but the darkness swallowing you whole. There's nothing but the sound of two voices, entwined, voices that aren't, that never have been, the sort of thing that could ever emerge from a human throat. It's a funeral knell, a dirge in two parts, a duet of doom. It's the sort of thing that your brain shouldn't be able to handle, the sound that they make together. It makes you want to die, when you hear it, when you hear these gods of the dark, of the places underground that you're too afraid to go, scream out the pain, the anger, the defiance, and yet...
It's nothing. The world is nothing. You're nothing, aren't you? You're already fucking gone, you just didn't know it before tonight.