POINTLESS DISTRACTIONS (Ch. 11)

Raven finds himself inside the makeshift tunnel leading to the stage with uniform untucked with a gray blazer on and a mic in hand, to his side Luke takes huge gulps of air before exhaling,

"Deep breaths" he murmurs, with Luke to his side, the two walk out unto the stage at the announcer's beckoning, shutting his eyes momentarily he exhales shutting out the anxiety and fear, steeling his trembling hands, Silver's voice filters into his mind

{I refuse to believe a simple performance could make you so weak in mind!}

(i might have a new body but i haven't changed, not yet, but i will, one step at a time).

with the performance gone and the adrenaline slowly receding, the bustling audience the applauding visitors and lastly the flushed face of his tall companion Luke's smile stretches ever wider as he takes in the first glimpse of his greatest dreams, the applause rise's into a new high as the two depart the stage and are quickly intercepted by a man in flamboyant golden shades with a similar gold chain around his neck a partially unbuttoned red shirt,

"Your that kid that came for an audition right, sorry about the audition your great"

(He remembers me, he acknowledged my work!), Luke listens exitedly

"This is my card, please contact me, Raven Voss" he says pulling out a business card and handing it to Raven

"What?, What about Luke?" Raven replies with a flustered expression

"Who?, Oh him?, he's great, if not with our record label then with another, he'd fit in pretty well in the states but you know how hard it is to sell in the country, it's not me, it's the industry the consumers, I have to give them what they want" turning back to Raven he continues his ramble, "hey kid, we're ready to offer you a training contract, i'll even pay you for it and gaurantee a debut, one million credits!, your exactly what the market's looking for!"

Pretending to contemplate the offer Raven looks up towards the man,

"i refuse"

"Wha..." Cutting the man off Raven walks off to find Luke.

Raven lookes to his phone to see he and Luke's performance online on facefiles, (it's been four days since the festival now, I've agreed to help Luke start up his wetube channel in my real body, if i'm going to focus majorly on training?, How do i make money then?, Should i try making money with this body?)

Getting to his seat Ari a good-looking girl with long black hair and almond-shaped eyes who'd been overly nice to him since the performance walks up to him

"I saw your performance, i really liked the song you sang" she says beaming him a smile "i bought this by chance and on second thought realised it suits you"

Looking at the branded Wallet Raven could tell,

(it's expensive i bought one of their bags for mom and it cost an arm), "thanks for this but it's too much", (wait does she like me? Or rather i should say this body?) Raven watches Ari with kern interest, for the first time in his life he had a girl on his mind, a girl who actually liked him.

"Konan! behind you!" Yanick shouts, Konan duck's sweeping his legs out from under his attacker he launches himself at the lanky assailant sending his fists into his face with repeated punches Yanick launches a kick at another and Konan shouts

"Yanick!"… "I know!" Yanick growls forcing his already forward swung right leg back while using the momentum to send the same leg into the crotch of the assailant behind him, the two pant heavily as they look at the bodies on the ground numbering over thirty,

"The way they fought, they're clearly just school thugs Yanick, someone made them do this, it's a distraction" Konan concludes eyes boring into Yanick's…

"I know what you want me to do, i can't do that Konan, you know why i can't' order an attack, no matter how well prepared we are we're dealing with crews that possibly have a connection to murim, murim means shifter's, and the boy's aren't ready" Yanick replies unwilling to change his stand on the matter, Konan concedes

"Fine, but i'm beginning to think something bigger is at play here Yanick, with what we know so far i don't think the four major crews are the only ones involved" Konan says while slapping one of their many assailants awake,

"Wha...." and again "oww!" "What the ff..." Another hit

"Sto..." And again

"oka..." Again..

"Please!" Followed by another slap

"That's enough Konan!" Yanick chides

"Aww your no fun" Konan pouts "after nearly having my head caved in with a bat you should at least let me have this much" turning back towards the now conscious boy Konan begins his interrogation

"Who sent you?!" Konan inquires in a deathly-low voice

"i ...i don't know!, Some guy ...so..some guy in a jacket, he beat the shit out of us then gave orders!"

"What jacket?" Yanick interjects

"B...b..black, it had a writing and designs be... hind it"

"What writing?" Konan questions with furrowed eyebrows

"CERBERUS"

"FUCK!"

Laura watches Raven and Ari walk into the distance,

(so that's why she's been coming at me since the performance, they do look good together), her thoughts seep out as her distaste becomes visible,

"she's been buying him gifts almost everyday, it seems she makes a lot of money off switch streaming, It's just streaming while talking to a bunch of horny boys, it's not that hard"

The day rolls by and she finds herself seated before a streaming camera and a make shift setup,

(it's barely been an hour since i started and I've gotten more than ten thousand kites 'hundred thousand credits' , is it cause i'm new? Is this really okay?, It's a streaming service and people are free to do as their choose it's their own money after all.....but....why do i feel like a scammer?)

"Oh i'm a high school student.... sorry I can't tell you my school, but you my names Laura" Laura states looking to see she'd been gifted another thousand kites,

(i only told them that i'm a high school student and show a bit of cleavage, and that's all it takes?, these guys keep sending me absolutely ridiculous amounts of money especially this 'landlord'. He must be quite rich, he alone has gifted me over sixty thousand credits in cash today)

"Thank you mr landlord!" She states shooting a pose after the gift notice.

Ari watches the kites pile up as she notices the absence of her most infamous watcher 'landlord',

"that's for the best, thing's were getting quite dangerous" she murmurs pulling her cigar away from her mouth as she lets the pilled smoke filter out, "he always spent a lot of money but it started feeling quite unpleasant"

"Ari!" A voice calls loudly, she turns to see a tatted read haired teen in shades pull away the white sheet beed covers off his frame,

"how long do i have to hide while you stream?, How long are you going to hide going out with me?" He states with obvious distaste,

Ari's eyes glimmer contemplatively on how to deal with the ever present situation,

"just be patient babe, you know if i say i have a boyfriend on stream these pushovers won't keep giving me money, look i even got this for you" she says handing him the Wallet Raven had rejected

"Thanks babe" The red haired teen exclaims in satisfaction as he examines the wallet with keen interest "it's a newly released edition too" he murmurs, Ari who'd been watching sighs in condescending exasperation,

(I can't believe this dumbass is the leader of Sheron high, i've long since grown tired of him, i wonder what my handsome prey's doing)

"Hey Ari, What'd you think of Luke?" Raven inquires watching the girls expression acutely,

"He's a nice kid, really talented too, I'd really like to get to know him" Ari replies being her usual smile

(she's different, she doesn't judge people)

Silver who'd been observing remain silent, {he mist learn foe himself, only real experience's will force him away from naivities clutches}, it watched as Raven went about like a bumbling fool having quickly forgotten his quest to become a shifter, {You still fail to realize what you're to come against, for now i will allow you waste away till you do},

Ari's eyes catch Laura's and the two proceed to stare down the other while Raven remains lost in thought, holding back her anger Laura affirms her decision to confess once she overtakes Ari on the trending page.

Ari who's now home at her apartment's face visibly contorts with fury as she watches Laura's stream, (she's copying me down to the socks on her feat!, landlord's switched to her.....well that's fro the best really, she's just two positions beneath me on the rankings though, how the hell did she move up so fast?, at this rate she's going to catch up...but still. It really might be for the best, that landlord... Something about him creeps me out, he always gives a lot of cash and asks wierd questions, people like him are always the most dangerous), "there's no need to worry i still have enough pushovers to work with."

Raven is seated beside Luke as they both stare into the camera, immediately after his arrival the views go up exponentially, two new viewers enter a gifting war with user 'hayun' beating 'richies' with thirty thousand kites to twenty eight, making a certain teen smile as he stares at the screen from his home, the auburn haired young man watches raven and Luke as the former sings while the latter raps.