Flashes Of Light

Present Day

"So," Logar says, smudging purple lipstick all over his lips and looking a bit like the Joker. "We could ditch this thing, you know. Pack our bags. I won't go back to prison, and you won't reply any more idiotic questions about who killed your father."

"You ruined the mood," Sveta replies. She has tried not to think of The Anti as a father figure for a long time.

"Or," Logar adds. "We could go back there and kick ass. Which will it be?"

Sveta smiles. "We kick ass," she says. And for the first time in years, she pops a pill in her mouth.

And then she pops another.

Sveta was never an addict, her own life too complicated even to focus on a drug of choice. But she's always liked what pills can do for you. They all appreciated it, before the recent researches about pills and how damaging they were came up. 

One pill to make her voice a little deeper.

One pill to make her hair a lot blonder.

And when Sveta leaves the room, she is Jonath Cincinnati. She wouldn't like to go on with this farce. She would prefer to be Jay, who is both Jonath and Sveta and neither. But as of now, the audience thinks Jonath Cincinnati is a whole another person, and the audience wants to see him.

"So freaky," Logar comments, when he witnesses the transformation. "Freaky in a positive way."

Sveta grins, and they share a hug. It is perhaps, in a way, the most intimate thing the two ever shared.

When they're back, the presenter isn't thrilled to have the young Cincinnati in his TV show. Jonath was famous for his terrible public presence and the way it was inflated by The Anti. One could say, actually, that he put the famous in infamous.

"Howdy," Jonath says, uncaring that it's not Texas and nobody says words like these anymore. What he wants to say, he will.

"Hello, Jonath," the presenter replies. "You took your time."

"It is you who were early," Jonath bites back with a charismatic smile. To those who know him, it is a sweet and simple smile. To those who don't, it's the shark showing his teeth.

"Where is Sveta Metis?" the presenter asks.

"About that..." Percie says.

"Shut up, Legolas," Logar replies.

Jonath clears his throat. "I've been thinking," he says. The presenter laughs, because he thinks that this is where the sentence ends.

"I've been thinking," Jonath tries again. "That I would like to be called Jay from now on."

"Is this some sort of coming out thing?" the presenter asks.

"Actually? Yes."

"You know you don't have to change names to marry Logar Iris, do you know?"

Logar hates it. They all treat Jonath as if he was slow. They did it to Jay as well, but most people were intimidated to see a badass woman, and they wouldn't even stop to look and understand every badass woman is different from one another.

And what's more, he's sure the audience at home is laughing at this gay joke.

"Actually? Yes," Jonath replies. "I would. I would be called Jay, or any variation of it, Iris. So yes, I would have to change my name."

"Jay Iris does not sound good," Logar says. "I'll be Logar Cincinnati."

"What the heck are you doing?" Percie whispers.

"We're giving them what they want," Logar bats his eyelashes. "Mayhem."

"Well," the presenter comments. "Jonath Cincinnati changes his name! Now, that is something worth tuning in for!"